Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

First Hit:  Very interesting characters but in the end, the story was unsatisfying, dark, and disturbing.

This is a story about grief, the processing of this grief, and challenging this small town's law enforcement abilities.

Mildred (Francis McDormand) has spent about a year hoping to get satisfaction from the Ebbing Police, headed by Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), about the rape and killing of her daughter Angela (Kathryn Newton). There have been no real leads or suspects for more than nine months and Mildred’s depression is not subsiding.

To bring attention to the lack of progress on solving the case, Mildred buys advertising on three billboards down the road from her home and near were her daughter’s remains were found. On the billboards, she calls out the police chief specifically as to why nothing has happened on the case.

Of course, Willoughby is upset at the publicity and failure to resolve this case, but he’s also struggling with pancreatic cancer and will be dead soon. His second in command Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) is bigoted, racist, and basically dumb. As Dixon gets involved in the case he manages to create havoc and is incredibly insensitive towards most everyone.

What invited me to stay engaged with the film was the hard edge of each of the characters: Mildred’s pain. Willoughby’s difficulties as his cancer begins to win. Mildred’s son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) and his dealing with his own sadness and the embarrassment his mom is causing. Dixon’s insensitivity towards everyone. Just about everyone in the cast has a defined view of the world and it represents everyone in every town.

What didn’t work for me, was the conclusion. I don’t mind films that only lead one to create their own ending, however this film either had too much information (no DNA evidence) or too little information to have the drive-away scene in the end. It fell flat to me.

McDormand was very strong in this role. It fit her well. Harrelson was very good as the police chief facing his failure with this case and that he was dying and wanted to leave on his own terms. Rockwell was almost overwhelming. I certainly didn’t like his character through ninety-five percent of the film, which was the point. Hedges was good as the moody son who is dealing with pain and embarrassment. Peter Dinklage (playing townsman James) was excellent. His wit and charm showed through. Caleb Landry Jones (as Red Welby the owner of the advertising billboards) was sublime. His willingness to make a deal and stand up to public pressure was wonderful. John Hawkes (as Charlie, Mildred’s ex-husband) was good. Samara Weaving (as Penelope, Charlie’s new young girlfriend) was amazing as the out of touch and not-so-smart girl who wants to be accepted. Martin McDonagh wrote and directed this film. A lot of the writing was crisp and to the point which I admired but I thought the story was slightly convoluted and unsatisfying at the end.

Overall:  This film was entertaining but not quite complete.

Last Flag Flying

First Hit: This film may start out to mean more to "boomers" and veterans than other people, but it wonderfully explores a lot of topics and emotions.

We join two old veteran friends, Sal Nealon (Bryan Cranston) and Larry “Doc” Shepherd (Steve Carell) getting drunk in Sal’s bar. This scene sets up who they are perfectly. Doc is quiet, of heavy mind and Sal is full of quips, pointed sarcasm and likes to drink, a lot.

They became friends when they met fighting together in the Vietnam war. But as many vets know, sometimes when thrust together in crisis, the bond that is created crosses time. In the early bar scene, who they are, what they were, and the commitment to the bond is brought to light by how easily Sal leaves his bar by turning over the keys to someone else and goes out on an unannounced road trip with his friend Doc.

The trip is to a church where Reverend Richard Muller (Laurence Fishburne) is preaching. The moment Sal and Doc walk in, Sal bursts into a broad grin. Their third friend from Vietnam is now a preacher. Sal is beside himself at the change in “Muller the Mauler.” According to Sal, Muller was one of the most raucous men he knew and hung out with. Now a preacher? Sal cannot believe it.

Muller is reticent about meeting his old buddies because he’s now a man of God and to meet again the guys because of their history. They knew him as a man who did a lot of non-Christian things. And them knowing this is tough. The reason for Doc bringing these guys together is because he wants these men help him honor his son whom was a Marine and was just killed in Iraq.

After some funny dinner and desert scenes, Muller agrees to join Sal on Docs mission to honor his son. The body is coming to Dover AFB and will be buried, with honors, at Arlington. Sal is told his son was a hero and died protecting his men. However, as the story unfolds the men discover that the boy was shot in the back of the head when he was buying a soft drink for his buddies.

They learn this from Larry’s sons best Marine friend, Washington (J. Quinton Johnson) who accompanied the body back home. When Doc learns about how the government lied about his boy’s death, he doesn’t want him buried at Arlington but wants to take him home to New Hampshire.

This decision brings on a whole host of arguments, agreements, and an uncovering of the depth of the men's friendship, Washington’s friendship with Doc’s son, how the government lies, and the importance of truth.

The film shows these discoveries while they eat together, drive together, sit on the train together and buy cell phones together. One of the most fun scenes, showing the depth of each character, is when the four of them are sitting in the luggage car of the train next to the coffin. The dialogue was sublime, real and on target for each of the characters.

This film is about friendship and how it surpasses time. It is about how men become brothers. It is about how the government will lie to parents of dead soldiers. It is about honor. It is about truth. The sets and scenes were exquisitely created and it kept the audience’s attention through each segment.

Cranston was killer. His quips, jabs, self-effacing comments, and drive created a character worth watching. I kept wondering what would come out of his mouth next. Carell was perfect as the quiet one who spoke loudly with his trust in his fellow vets. The breadth of emotions, partially bottled up by the role, was perfectly expressed. Fishburne was outstanding. His voice perfect for being a holier than thou voice as a preacher, then switching to his foul mouth Marine voice was perfect. Johnson was amazing as the Doc’s sons best friend. While lying on Doc’s couch looking up at pictures of his lost friend and the family was so touching. Yul Vazquez as Colonel Wilits was great. He exemplified the role of holding on to the governments pride of service. Richard Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan wrote a fabulous screenplay. Under Linklater’s direction this film was amazingly full-bodied and pointed. Its focus on the characters and how they unfolded through the film was spot-on perfect.

Overall:  This is a very full-bodied film and embraces both life and death equally.

Lady Bird

First Hit:  A superb film because of the acting and the embracing of learning how to love, hometown, family, and oneself.

Thus far, in her short actor’s life, Saoirse Ronan has been the best young actress I’ve seen on film. Regardless of the type of role; as Briony Tallis in Atonement (young girl who changes the lives of several people), Hanna in Hanna (full on action), Agatha in The Grand Budapest Hotel  (surrealist comedy), Eilis in Brooklyn (Irish immigrant) for which I believed she had the best performance of 2015, and now as a young coming of age girl in Sacramento. She's had about 20 roles and her impact is astonishing.

Here, she’s named herself “Lady Bird” as her given name because, as she explains, "it is her given name because she gave it to herself." Her real name is Christine McPherson. Yes, she’s a kooky young high schooler who has a pressed relationship with her mom, Marion McPherson (Laurie Metcalf). There is a scene in a store where they are buying Lady Bird a dress for a special event and they are arguing. Back and forth and on and on, then mom grabs a dress from the rack and holds it up, and Lady Bird just switches to loving her mom and the dress in a heartbeat.

Her mom is always worried about money and uses passive aggressive behavior to try to control and demean Lady Bird. Her father Larry (Tracy Letts) is a quiet and kind man who has a great relationship with Lady Bird and works hard at keeping the peace in the family.

We follow Lady Bird’s antics in class, her relationship with her best friend Julie Steffans (Beanie Feldstein), her first real boyfriend Danny O’Neill (Lucas Hedges), her second boyfriend, cool band guy, Kyle Scheible (Timothee Chalamet) and an attempt to have a friendship with the coolest girl at school Jenna Walton (Odeya Rush).

We watch her bamboozle her teachers and Sister Sarah Joan (Lois Smith) whom she tricks at one point. Lady Bird lies a lot. She tells whoppers and small white lies.

The sets in Sacramento, the bridge, river, Tower tower (was once the home of Tower Records) and the various neighborhoods of fine elegant homes and small track homes wonderfully registered on film. Each of them shot beautifully and lovingly.

I laughed out-loud many times and I cried in the many touching moments, especially when Lady Bird, in New York, calls her mom to tell her that her daughter, Christine, loves her.

Ronan is superb. She makes the part come alive, fully believable and does it effortlessly. Metcalf was extraordinary as the mother. When she delivers the line, my mother was an abusive alcoholic, it’s perfect. It sets up a nugget to her behavior for the whole film. Letts is absolutely a wonder. His soft caring and, at times, enabling tone was based on sweet intent. Chalamet is oddly familiar as the brooding boy who attracts people with mood more than substance. Hedges is fantastic as the guy everyone likes who is hiding a secret. The scene talking to Lady Bird when he breaks down and cries is powerful. Feldstein is outstanding as the friend who gets shunned and then embraced again. Rush is great as the cool rich girl, she plays it well. Smith is excellent as the nun who cares about the kids and takes being pranked amusingly. Greta Gerwig wrote and directed this film. It was a fantastic effort and filled with a sense that this film was written from both her heart and experience.

Overall:  I fully enjoyed this well-crafted film.

Novitiate

First Hit:  It was very well acted and I learned something about how nuns become nuns.

I was fully engaged with this film from beginning to end. What made this work was the story, direction and acting.

Nora Harris (Julianne Nicholson) and her daughter Cathleen (Margaret Qualley) are living alone. Nora is divorced and dates frequently and they are not religious. One Sunday she takes Cathleen to church to show her what religion is like. Nora does not believe in God or any structured religion. But something happens to Cathleen that day and after getting a scholarship to a Catholic high school, she becomes more curious about her continuing thoughts of God and Jesus. After graduation, decides to join a convent because she’s had a calling. Once there she quickly decides and commits to the process of becoming a nun.

Reverend Mother (Melissa Leo) has a very strict code of conduct and she’s exactly what you’d think of if you ever thought of a Reverend Mother being mean spirited, controlling, closed minded and fully believing she’s very self-righteous and speaks the word of God. The first six months Cathleen and the others learn about becoming a nun. Besides the very strict rules and program, and silence is observed from last bell (about 9:00 pm) till morning but the nuns in training find ways to communicate some.

A few of the new sisters begin to discover their sexuality and because it is not accepted behavior and against the scriptures, they struggle with what they’ve discovered about their bodies and the rules of being a nun.

After the initiation, the novices Novitiate, which means they marry the one they love—God. This ceremony was wonderfully staged and enlightening. I found myself fascinated with the whole thing.

When Cathleen wakes up from a very erotic dream, she becomes panicked and begins to starve herself for punishment. She also asks Reverend Mother for the knotted rope whip to self flagellate herself to make her stop thinking about sex and the feelings coming from it. She then meets Sister Emanuel (Rebecca Dayan) who arrives at this particular monastery because she wants the strictness Reverend Mother provides. We soon learn that she’s here to punish herself, through this strictness, because of the same sexual discovery at her previous monastery.

In the meantime, Reverend Mother is getting the Vatican II directives, which are communications from the Rome telling her that the church is changing and that her world is going to crumble and fall apart from these changes.

Watching Reverend Mother’s unholy behavior about implementing the rules wasn’t surprising because, for her, she was in control and in a vaunted position, and her world was about to be dismantled.

In the closing credits, the film talks about how many nuns walked away from the monasteries during the Vatican II changes. It was in excess of 90,000,  a huge number.

Dianna Agron as Sister Mary Grace was excellent as a nun that found she had to do something different. Nicholson was amazing as Cathleen’s mother. Her concern for her daughter’s welfare, especially as she lost weight, was perfect. Leo was sublime. She embodied the structure and closed mindedness of being a Reverend Mother who found her niche and didn’t have any other skills. Qualley was divine. She perfectly embodied the role of a young woman searching and believing she found her calling. Dayan was wonderful as the struggling nun, who really tried to push away her sexuality. Margaret Betts wrote and directed this film with a clear firm idea of what she wanted. I fully was transported in this film to another place, learned something and thought the storyline was excellent.

Overall: This fill will probably not be seen by a large number of people and it’s a shame because it is a really good film.

Murder on the Orient Express

First Hit:  I was bored through and through.

I’m not a Kenneth Branagh fan and he doesn’t disappoint here. The whole film from the very beginning was over-done and confusing. The opening sequence is an elongated setup to prove that Hercule Poirot (Branagh) is the very best detective of all time. Solving a crime at the wailing wall where the accused, a priest, a Rabbi, and a Imam are accused of stealing an important object from where an icon stands in a temple. Of course, the world greatest detective pontificates in front of a huge crowd as he explains the story in excruciating detail and finally accuses someone else. The capturing of the real criminal in front of the crowd was too obvious.

His friendship with the director of the Orient Express train from Istanbul to Europe gets him a first-class accommodation on the train. There are numerous characters on the train; Bouc (Tom Batemen), Pilar Estravados (Penelope Cruz), Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench), Samuel Ratchett/John Cassetti (Johnny Depp), Hector McQueen (Josh Gad), Edward Henry Masterman (Derek Jacob), Dr. Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom), Caroline Hubbard/Linda Arden (Michelle Pfeiffer), Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley), Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari) and a few others.

The murder of Samuel Rachett/Johnb Cassetti, one night in his cabin, sets Poirot off on finding out who killed him. This is where the film just sinks. It acts as more as a play than a mystery film. The pontificating by Poirot gets old very quick.

The train stopped, because of an avalanche, is supposed to make finding out who the killer is easier. However, everyone has a link to the murder of a young girl many years earlier by Cassetti and therefore everyone is vested in having Ratchett/Cassetti killed.

As Poirot puts the pieces together, the audience has to wait and wade through all the extraneous drama and storytelling.

The showdown scene where he’s going to name the killer Poirot stands in front of a long table with all the others on one side of the table facing him, just like the last supper. Really? This is so over done it becomes tedious just sitting there waiting for the end.

Yes, it is a matter of justice being served correctly and retroactively but the way we get here is a time waster. Branagh comes across as self-important both in the film and of the film. He just can't seem to get out of his own way. His poor direction makes him the standout actor and it’s noticeable. Pfeiffer was probably the best of the lot, as she had a strong role and delivered despite the direction. Depp was mediocre as the villain and he tries to do more with series of looks versus acting. Gad was OK as was the rest of the acting team. Michael Green wrote an Okay script. Given better direction and less Branagh egocentricity of having to be elevated above and separate from the role/film and rest of the cast, it might have been a better or more interesting film.

Overall: This movie was mostly “telling” versus “showing” and because of this, I just had to wait until it was over to leave.