Logan

First Hit:  As a superhero movie, it's realistically dark and thoughtful.

Most superhero films are either tongue in cheek, lighthearted, go overboard on the superpower action, or all of these things. This film doesn’t do any of this. It is downright about the characters some who have superpower traits.

We have Logan (Hugh Jackman) as Wolverine who is aging, ill, and driving a limousine to make enough money for him and Caliban (Stephen Merchant) to take care of X-Men leader Charles (Patrick Stewart) who is dying. They are living out in the middle of nowhere and seem to be counting their days till they fade away and die. There haven’t been any new mutants born in the last 25 years and the clan is dying out.

However, a Dr. Rice (Richard E. Grant) has been experimenting with genetics on embryos and young children trying to create warriors/soldiers with superpower abilities. He's trying to create his own mutants. However, he's discovered that they have feelings and minds and cannot be controllable easily. He thinks he's got a way to make mutants that don't act on their own so he decides to kill all his previous experiments. Learning this, the young kids who are still alive, stage a revolt and escape.

Laura (Dafne Keen) is assisted by a nurse in the clinic and is in search of finding Logan because Laura has Logan's genetics and his wolverine superpower. The story is about how Logan helps Laura escape Pierce (Boyd Holbrook), Dr. Rice and a group of soldiers whose job is to kill all the remaining mutant children.

The effective parts of the story include strong acting by Jackman as a superhero whose both aging and slowly being poisoned by the adamantium (fictional metal alloy) that is imbedded in his body. The high-strung touchiness by which Logan and Caliban have towards each other while taking care of an ever-fragile Charles is indicative of their fading lives. The scenes are designed to breathe and nothing was rushed to show the strength of the mutant children, Laura, Charles, Logan, or Caliban. However, the ending fight was a little elongated and the men brought in to capture the mutants were too large an army to be believable.

From an acting point of view Jackman was perfect. It would be my guess that he’s probably glad to end his reign as Wolverine. He ends it with dignity which is a good thing because Marvel has let other characters in its stable get too far afield to enjoy or believe. Merchant was wonderful as Caliban with his ability to track and find. He made this role work. Stewart was wonderful and, like Jackman, is probably glad to have this role end because series like these can get too wildly convoluted. Grant was appropriately arrogant as Dr. Rice. Keen was mind-blowingly sublime. I loved her character and silence throughout the film until the end. She was totally believable. Holbrook as the soldier tasked with finding Laura was appropriately demonized. Scott Frank, James Mangold, and Michael Green wrote a very solid, strong and not overdone script. Characters could grow and develop which is rare in a superhero type film. Mangold did a wonderful job of directing this story and making it work.

Overall:  This was one of the best superhero mutant films on the books.

Bitter Harvest

First Hit:  This film was a bitter pill to swallow let alone watch.

It is incredibly sad when the Holodomora, a hugely historical event of the last 100 years, gets such a milquetoast treatment. Russia admits that between this event of starvation, birth deaths, and war killed between 7 and 12 million Ukrainians.

The film tries to tell this story through a love affair and romance between Yuri (Max Irons) and Natalka (Samantha Barks). One unfortunate circumstance of this film is that there was little believable chemistry between these two. The film portrays her as damaged because of her family’s dynamics and him as a non-warrior because he’s a talented artist. When Russia decides it needs all the grain and riches in the Ukraine because Russia is starving and struggling to survive, Stalin orders his troops to take everything of value in the country by force.

By taking the food, their religious icons, and anything of value, the Ukrainians are starved to death. Unfortunately, the film’s treatment of this horrific event, and the lack of providing clarity around the depth of this historical precedence, turned me off. It might have worked if the love story was well done and a key driver, but it wasn’t. It was sort of a mishmash and smattering of scenes that just didn’t add up to telling this story.

One of the stories has Yuri’s grandfather Ivan (Terrance Stamp), once a famous war leader, leading their village’s resistance to the Russian occupiers by organizing the Ukrainian men. Another story is Yuri goes to Kiev to become an artist, but finding out how bad it is at home he stages, with friends, revolutionary talks in Kiev and gets jailed for his association with Ukraine. You have a story of his wife and villagers being pressed into subservience, including Natalka earning favor for her family by giving her body to a Russian leader.

Even the story of Yuri evolving to a warrior, breaking out of a Russian prison, and coming back to his home village lacked the kind of dynamics to make it work. None of the stories have enough oomph to make it all work.

Irons is flat as Yuri. I never bought him as an artist or revolutionary warrior. Barks was better in her role, but the continual dark scenes and lack of a consistent storyline hurt her part in the film. Stamp looked tired and bored as Ivan. His natural commanding presence was wasted and it seemed as if he knew this while being filmed. Richard Bachynsky Hoover wrote a weak script, especially if he wanted to share this horrific historical event with the world. George Mendeluk probably followed the script and story by Hoover, but I think he probably contributed to this mess.

Overall:  This horrible story was hidden from the world when it took place and as the first film to try to tell this story, it failed.

Get Out

First Hit:  I enjoyed it because it was both odd and interestingly good.

The very first scene before the initial credits, the audience watches a young black man Andrew (Lakeith Stanfield) who is looking lost while walking on a sidewalk in a dark suburban neighborhood when a white car pulls up next to him. He decides that it’s best that he leaves the area but gets mugged and stuffed into the car’s trunk. The way this scene is shot, the scared - this is not my neighborhood - feeling, the resulting fight, the stiffness of the body and the way it’s stuffed into the trunk is effective and encompases and the set up for the entire film.

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), who is black, is a photographer and is dating a white suburban girl named Rose Armitage (Allison Williams). She decides to take him to her home. When he asks her, "do they know I'm black?", she seems surprised and says her family isn’t racist and that there no need to tell them ahead of time.

Arriving, there is an initial openness and friendliness that supports her story about her family, but the black man, Walter (Marcus Henderson), working in the yard, and the black woman, Georgina (Betty Gabriel), working in the house seem off, not quite right. Chris takes note of this and during a conversation with Rose’s dad Dean (Bradley Whitford) things seem even more off center. Then at dinner Chris meets the Rose’s brother Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), and he makes even more odd comments about his physical characteristics that make him feel like a specimen.

Then he spends time with the Rose’s mother Missy (Catherine Keener) who is a psychologist that specializes in hypnotism. She puts him under without him knowing it and while under the guise to help him quit smoking, the audience knows there's more going on.

These events are followed the next day by a party with really odd guests that have Andrew reappearing as a zombie like friend of an older white woman. This slow buildup transitions to a rather bizarre story that has Chris reaching out to his friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery) who is a TSA agent, is talkative and curious type person. At first you think his thoughts and feedback are hyperbole but he might be onto something.

This whole thing leads to an interesting storyline that is entertaining, spooky, and fun to watch.

Kaluuya does an effective job in this role. His ability to cry while in a supposedly hypnotic state and talking about his mother’s death was wonderful. His curiosity and using his intuitive antenna to figure out what is going on was superb. Williams was wonderful and fully believable as both someone who cared about Chris and also the supported the family mission to alter lives to their best interest. Henderson and Gabriel were especially effective in their zombie like roles. Stanfield was wonderful as both the scared guy walking through the neighborhood and then as zombie arm candy. Howery was fantastic as someone who believed in himself and effectively leveraged his bizarre role of the guy who becomes the hero. Keener was strong as the psychologist mother who controlled people’s behavior though hypnosis. Whitford was clearly effective as the pleasing probing dad. Jones was excellent as the twisted brother. Jordan Peele had a clear interesting vision through his script and did a wonderful job of executing this vision as Director.

Overall:  This was a slightly different twist on horror through control of people

Fifty Shades Darker

First Hit:  Only at the very end did I sense/feel an actual connection between Anastasia and Christian, which told me that this film does not work.

There is a distance between Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) which might be reflective of “steel gray” or “gray steel”; they go together but one doesn’t necessarily mean the other and they aren’t necessarily connected.

Anyway, the set up of Grey isn't strong enough to make him realistic or believable. I didn't buy any of this characters strengths (smart and rich) and flaws (can’t touch his chest). This isn’t how one would act with his issues – it is too fabricated. However, the story wants us to believe that the superiorly damaged rich boy can’t have a relationship without out being sadist (his words not mine – “I’m not a dominate, I’m a sadist”).

One would think that this rich smart aware boy (and he’s more like a boy than a man) would seek out additional help to have him work through his maladjustment relationships with women. However, to make the film work, we are back for more of Steele’s naked body along with some submissive stuff and we're suppose to believe that she wants him, and wants to be the girl that saves him from himself.

This, of course, pisses off the woman who “taught him to fuck”, Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger) and past submissive Leila (Bella Heathcote). In fact, the scenes with these two characters are supposed to be very telling, but that don’t really add up to much. When Leila gets on her knees when ordered by Grey, like a dog, it is pathetic for both. When Steele has one-on-ones with Lincoln, they don’t work and I never felt the feeling or intensity of a deep desire or love as required by the script. Both characters, mostly Grey, were lifeless.

Lastly, there isn’t enough information or interest about each of the characters to care much. There are attempts to flesh-out Steele, but they mostly fall flat as there isn’t enough depth to her. The only scene that was really strong was her confrontation with her boss Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson – no relation to Dakota) who is seen at the end of the film signaling at least one more “Shades” film to come.

Johnson was the best part of this overall very weak film. She didn’t add much depth, but any and all the depth in this film comes from her. Dornan is lifeless for the most part. He’s not believable and lands on me the same way that Robert Pattinson lands on me; blank, with little emotion, and little projection of a real fully fleshed character. Basinger is horrible in this film. It is like the producers are using her sexuality from the long past 9 ½ weeks film to validate Grey’s weirdness. Heathcote is OK as the spurned sexual dilettante. Eric Johnson is OK as the jerk boss who uses his authority to get his way with staff at the publishing company. Niall Leonard wrote an OK screenplay but it was director James Foley and the actors’ execution that made this film lifeless and hard to watch, until the last 10 minutes, which was actually fairly good.

Overall:  Don’t know if I’ll be able to stomach the next one in this series.

Fist Fight

First Hit:  Had an interesting start, faded quickly, and tried to redeem itself at the end.

I admit that I like Ice Cube’s intensity and he shows this part off in this film, however I must also admit that I’m so far away from what it might be like in a high school these days that I was taken aback by the way the kids interacted and the lack of respect they had toward school. Granted this was the last day of school and seniors tend to act poorly believing they are justified by acting stupid. But jeez, making the school out to be this way actually made the film worse.

The plot is that Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) and Strickland (Ice Cube) work at Roosevelt High School which we assume is the worst school in this LA suburb. Strickland barks at his students and is oppressive while Campbell tries to coax his students into learning. There is something wrong with a VHS machine in Strickland’s room and he asks Campbell to help him fix it. When Campbell figures out that it’s a student who is causing the issue, Strickland goes ballistic and takes an axe to the student’s desk.

Called into the Principal’s office, they are supposed to uphold the teachers code and vow to have each other’s back by not telling the truth about the classroom event. However, Campbell falters on the teacher’s code to keep his job and tells the Principal the truth about the axe incident. Strickland gets fired and vows to beat Campbell up after school. The proposed fight has the entire school body in a twitter with excitement.

There are other subplots in this film, including Campbell singing a song with his daughter Ally (Alexa Nisenson), the school being in a financial crisis has to fire a lot of teachers, the guidance counselor Holly (Jillian Bell) uses meth, is oversexed and wants to have sex with students, and Coach Crawford (Tracy Morgan) has a losing team and is sort of a joke in the school.

The only subplot that is interesting is the one with Campbell and his daughter Ally although her song in the end is a little over the top for grade school but was done for a point.

The middle of the film is a bunch of wasted motion of trying to have Campbell find a way to get out of the fist fight. Unfortunately, little of this film seems plausible and in the end when the fight does come to fruition the film pulls back together just a bit, but not enough to make sitting through the whole film interesting.

Day is OK. His voice grated on me because it seemed overdone. It was so wimpy and whiny that it didn’t work. Ice Cube is intense through most of the film but shows some humanity in the end. He does a good job of staying himself and somewhat unattached to this poor film. Bell’s character was an unneeded distraction and not needed. Morgan was more of the same, unneeded distraction. Both were in roles that does nothing to assist them in their careers except financially. Nisenson was the best of the lot. I liked her ability to be afraid of being seen as a wimp and a nobody and then powerfully doing her inappropriate song. Van Robichaux and Evan Susser wrote a very weak screenplay. It’s use of distracting characters to keep the film moving compounded its weakness. Although Director Richie Keen had a poor screenplay to work with, he did, from time to time, make a few scenes work.

Overall:  This film was poorly conceived and the execution did nothing to make it any better.