My Cousin Rachel

First Hit: Although the story was telegraphed from the beginning, it almost worked.

Ambrose Ashley (not credited) owns a large estate on the Cornish coast of England. He’s kind hearted and is guardian to an orphan boy who is his cousin Philip (as an adult Sam Claflin). Because Ambrose is sickly, he goes to Italy to heal in the sunshine.

There Ambrose meets Rachel (Rachel Weisz) who he falls in love with and marries. We know this through the letters he sends some to Philip. Then the letters get fewer and far between but each letter that comes through tells a tale of Ambrose thinking Rachel is poisoning him.

After Ambrose’s death, Philip swears he will kill Rachel if he ever see’s her. Because Ambrose never signed a new will, Philip inherits the estate but will not have sole control until he’s 25. Prior to his 25th birthday Rachel shows up to his home. Instead of disliking her, Philip finds Rachel appropriately humble and thoughtful.

It is obvious that she is not really being kind for the sake of kindness but because she has a plan. This is the failing of the film. There are too many obvious hints that Rachel is at Philip’s estate to make money. There is nothing really hidden. I don’t know if it was the script or acting but I didn’t buy the premise and therefore the ending seemed obvious.

Weisz was strong, beautiful and seductive; however, I think the script had too many breadcrumbs to make it mysterious. Claflin was OK as Philip. He was naïve enough, but again I think the script was overtly obvious and therefore, knowing the story before it unfolds in not a good trait for a film. Iain Glen was strong as Nick Kendall, the role of Philip’s Godfather. I liked the way he carried the aristocracy of his position. Holliday Grainger as Louise Kendall was the best of the lot. Her desire for Philip was perfectly subdued and obvious. Roger Michell wrote and directed this film. It was a mediocre attempt to create suspense and mystery.

Overall: Despite being a good idea, it didn’t quite make it.

Wonder Woman

First Hit: I was put off at the beginning and the movie didn’t get much better from there. Unfortunately, this spring there has been a lack of quality and interesting films. This film is another one of those failed films that attempted to make a point of some sort and fails to deliver. What I thought the points that this film wanted to make were: Women are powerful and that love is the only way we can all live in peace. To do this the movie spends its time in titanic wars between entities that are not real.

On the first point, yes it shows a woman as a physically strong woman, but I think Hidden Figures and Zero Dark Thirty model stronger women with mental fortitude in more realistic settings. On the second point, our history from WWI is self explanatory.

The odd thing about this film and an obvious failure, is that after Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) defeats Ares/Sir Patrick Morgan (David Thewlis) in a battle during WW I, which is suppose to bring peace to the world but doesn't because a few years later the world experiences WW II. So the point or mission of Wonder Woman to kill the God of Death, Ares, doesn't really do anything.

The early background scenes of the hidden island of Themyscira, which is home to the Amazon race and Diana Prince, were horrible. The waterfalls were obviously not real and against the live background really looked fake. Additionally the dialogue between Hippolyta (Connie Nelson) and Antiope (Robin Wright) was stilted and seemed forced. The other item that struck me as amateurish was the beginning voice overs telling us the story so that we would buy into the premise. I didn’t.

Although everyone who doesn't live on the hidden island is skeptical of a God of Death and War, Ares, Wonder Woman knows he exists and leaves the island to kill him and make the world safe for all. When a young spy accidentally travels through the hidden island’s cloak (not a very good cloak) she follows him back out of the cloaked island ready to find and kill Ares.

There are numerous scenes where Wonder Woman is an anomaly to this WWI story and that’s part of the point. However, the film does not do this well and therefore I ended up wondering if this was a poor action film or a very poor tongue-in-cheek comedy.

The fight scenes were attempting to be grand gestures, however it just seemed too fake. Wonder Woman rarely got dirty and the long slow buildup to the supreme war between her and Ares just wasn’t very good. It lacked excitement and well-designed choreography.

Gadot was okay as Wonder Woman, but the storyline and direction let her down. I think there is more to her than she was able to give us here. Thewlis was mediocre as Ares. Didn’t think the casting was right for this. Chris Pine as the spy Captain Steve Trevor was appropriately amusing if this film were more aimed to be a tongue-in-cheek comedy. There are a host of other people playing parts but I don’t think it is appropriate to review their performances. I disliked Allan Heinberg’s screenplay as I thought it was lost and without a clear genre. Patty Jenkins seemed as lost as the screenplay and if the point of this film was to make an impact, it failed.

Overall: Cannot recommend anyone sitting through over 140 minutes of this celluloid.

I, Daniel Blake

First Hit: Excellent acting shares a heartwarming and heartbreaking story. The intense realism Dave Johns and Hayley Squires (Daniel and Katie) bring to their respective parts was amazing. Daniel is a 59-year-old British carpenter who has worked with his hands all his life, suffers a heart attack and his physician indicates he cannot go back to work until his heart gets stronger.

He gets a phone call from the employment department in Newcastle, England, they go through a round of idiotic questions to determine whether he’s qualified to receive unemployment benefits. The questions could pertain to someone who didn’t suffer a heart attack and who might be scamming the system, but they are laughable to Daniel. He does answer them the best he can.

At one point, he asks if the person on the other end of the phone line; are they a qualified medical person who can make a correct decision? They are not and everyone knows this, but they are just doing their job. He’s told that a “Decision Maker” will decide if he’s qualified to continue to receive benefits.

After we see him visit his heart doctor and she tells him he cannot go back to work he receives a rejection notice for his benefits. He decides to go to the Employment Benefit office in person to complete a request for a reassessment. Entering the office, it is typical government agency type of office whereas the workers only do what they are told and what the procedures dictate.

Here is where we meet Katie. She is a  single mother in her twenties with two small children and is late to her appointment because she has just moved to Newcastle from London after being evicted from her London flat. Newcastle was only place where she had been able to find living accommodations.  She is late to her appointment for government assistance because she had taken the incorrect bus. The desk person she’s supposed to meet with tells her she cannot meet because she is late and therefore will not get her benefits.

Katie throws a small tantrum and Daniel tries to intercede to help Katie with the supervisor and security people at the agency. Alas, he gets thrown out of the office as well.

Daniel returns on another day and is told he must fill out the forms online. He doesn’t have a computer nor does he know how to use one. In one scene, when a librarian attempts to help him, she says "move the mouse up the screen", he takes the mouse in his hand and puts it on the screen and rolls it towards the top of the computer.

The frustration Daniel and Katie have with the agency grows and Katie turns to theft and prostitution to keep her children alive. Daniel loses everything, furniture and other personal stuff, just to stay alive while they fight the bureaucracy. Daniel finally gets fed up and gets arrested for putting graffiti on the Employment Offices outside wall.

When his solicitor (lawyer) discovers Daniel’s predicament, he gets a hearing and is assured of a win for his employment benefit case, but then tragedy strikes.

The realism of the bureaucratic offices, the story line, the confusion, and the helplessness as shown in this film were wonderful, although it was difficult to watch how easily the haves dismiss the have nots.

Johns was fantastic. I loved how he did what he could, in deference to his own life, to make Katie’s life easier. He was amazingly perfect for the part. Squires was equally fantastic. When she was in the food bank picking up food, her struggle to stay alive broke my heart. Watching her do her best to shield her children from their predicament was amazingly pure. Briana Shann as Daisy, Katie’s daughter was fantastic. I loved when she came to the Daniel’s door to draw him out. Dylan McKiernan as Dylan, Katie’s hyper active son was sublime. With the attention, Daniel paid to him, he found a way to focus. Kate Rutter, as Employment Office worker Ann, was very strong as someone who wanted to help and was hindered by her supervisor and job procedures. Paul Laverty wrote an outstandingly realistic screenplay. Ken Loach got everything and more from this screenplay and actors.

Overall:  All bureaucratic workers would do well to see how they are sometimes seen.

Wakefield

First Hit: Very enjoyable along with being witty, funny and introspective.

Have you ever wanted to just checkout, or get out of the rat race? This story is about how we fall into traps of our day to day life and how one man decided to checkout.

A key moment in the film is when Howard (Bryan Cranston) recalls his wife Diana (Jennifer Garner) telling him “I’m just hoping to make it through the day”. We know the couple is struggling because they each are getting through the marriage with difficulty.

He works in the city and is a highly-paid litigator, she works at a museum as assistant curator. At home he watches her closely and at parties and other gatherings he accuses her of flirting with other men, whereby he gets jealous and for him, and maybe her, this is when he gets aroused enough to have sex.

On his way home one evening, feeling the pressure and unhappiness of his life, the train breaks down because of a power shortage. His wife keeps calling him and he doesn’t answer the phone, he's feeling pressure. He is on the edge of a breakdown. Finally arriving at home, instead of going in the house, he chases down a raccoon and finds himself in a room above the garage. Looking out of the ornamental window, he decides he cannot face his wife and decides to sleep in a chair in the room. Next day, after his wife leaves, he washes up but then gets this crazy idea to sneak out and go back to the attic. But before he does he puts everything back just as if he wasn’t there.

Being able to spy on his wife and kids from the windows in this room, he decides to stay a couple days, then they turn into weeks, which in-turn turn into months. He becomes a homeless person but with a sheltered place to sleep.

He goes out at night and the early morning to collect food from trash cans and wash off in a local lake. As he becomes more engaged with his new life, above the garage, the conversations he has with himself are amazingly poignant about life, each of us and his character. Truly this was a great aspect of this film. The evolutionary aspect of this character as he sees life through the pane of his upstairs hideaway.

I loved the way this was filmed. It made Howard an everyman and how easily things can change and what one can do to find their path to where they want to be.

Cranston was magnificent. He fully engaged with and in this role. His sarcasm, insights and love towards his wife were fully explored. Garner was fantastic. Although having little speaking scenes, watching her be Howard's wife, as seen through his eyes through the small windows, was fascinating. Robin Swicord did an amazing job creating an engaging and fascinating script and expertly directed the actors based on this screenplay.

Overall:  One of the better films to show up on the big screen this year.

Alien: Covenant

First Hit:  This version was laughable if compared this with the engagement, thrills and horror of the first film, ‘Alien’.

The opening sequence has Peter Weyland (Guy Pierce) activating his latest humanoid robot David (Michael Fassbender), who is named after Michelangelo’s statue. After a short discussion about Peter being David’s creator,  the question David asks is, who was Peter’s creator? Peter looks at him and says, he doesn't know but that they will search for mankind’s creator together. This dialogue tells the audience that this question is important to the film.

Then we switch to the spaceship Covenant, which is now just seven years away from landing on a planet they believe is perfect to colonize with ship's the crew, two thousand colonists and a thousand embryos that are all stored on the ship.

Minding the ship as it sails along through space is Walter (Michael Fassbender) who looks like a replica of David. At first I was confused because I thought it was David and that he had been re-named. This is an initial flaw in the film but makes obvious that the two characters, David and Walter, will be the drivers of what happens in the film and the film doesn’t disappoint with this thought as a plot device.

The crew led by Captain Jacob “Jake” Branson (James Franco) who dies immediately because of a neutrino burst that hits the ship. This happens just a few minutes into the movie and starts the story’s spiral into trouble for the ship and crew.

The newly awakened crew is thrust into action to fix the ship’s issues from the neutrino burst and while managing the repairs they receive a transmission from an unknown planet that sounds vaguely familiar to Tennessee (Danny McBride). What he discovers is that it sounds like the song “Country Roads” by John Denver.

Jake’s wife, Daniels (Katherine Waterson), helps the next in command, Orem (Billy Crudup), figure out their next steps to fix the ship and what he needs to do to take charge. The side story that the crew doesn’t respect him plays no aspect in the film’s story and is a waste of dialogue.

Following the signal, they find a planet that appears to have everything they need for colonization and it is only a week away. Although the audience knows, as do some of the crew members suspect, the choice to explore this “new” planet will be the wrong choice but they do it anyway. Not much in the way of suspense.

One rule about thrillers is that to be thrilled one must be surprised and given a full dose of suspense or it won’t work well. And from here on the film dives into wasted energy. We are not surprised, nor is there suspense. They land, they discover it isn’t a friendly place, the immensely strong aliens are back and we discover that here, ‘David’ is the creator of life. A few of the crew get away. But remember my third paragraph where I stated that the look alike humanoids David and Walter will be the dark story, it is true.

Fassbender is strong in both roles, David and Walter, but the film doesn’t do much justice to his abilities. Waterson is very good and is a highlight as first the grieving widow. She is strong as the clear headed person who really needs to be in-charge. McBride is funny and very good as Tennessee, the guy who is homey and smart. Crudup is wasted in his minimal role and doesn’t show strength. Dan O’Bannon wrote a mediocre script and screenplay that showed its hand way too early and really lacked suspense. Ridley Scott appears to have been in this for the money because the film is simply uninteresting and is at times, a joke (meaning people laughed out loud and the preposterousness).

Overall:  Don’t waste your time on this poorly conceived story.