The Sisters Brothers

First Hit: This film had drama, comedy and interesting moments that were really strong, but overall it was an odd film.

The title alone will tip you off that this is an unconventional film. It opens with Eli and Charlie Sisters (John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix respectively) in a night time fire fight with some hombres in a cabin. The brothers are deadly and kill everyone and because the barn catches fire as well, the horses burn. One of the scenes that stuck with me throughout was when one of the horses runs out of the barn, on fire. This scene led me to believe that this film could have some difficult to watch scenes, and it did.

Think spider. Think horse mauled by bear. Think suicide. Think chemical burns. Think amputations. Yes, this film has large number of overtly horrible scenes, but there are also thoughtful scenes.

The Sisters Brothers work for the Commodore (Rutger Hauer). They are his hit men. When he wants someone killed, he sends them. After the initial scene, there are a few scenes that attempt to show the brother’s dynamics. Charlie is the younger and wilder of the two brothers. His back story, of killing their father, is briefly explored. Charlie also, like his father, drinks and gets drunk a lot. Eli works at being more thoughtful and progressive. Watch his look in using a toothbrush for the first time. Yet, when push comes to shove he’ll do anything and kill anyone to protect his brother and himself.

Their latest job for the Commodore is to track down Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has created a secret formula that, when poured into water, highlights the gold. It makes the gold glow and thereby easy to pluck out of the water bed. Warm is being tracked by John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal) for the Sisters brothers. He leaves them letters at towns along the way telling them where they are headed.

In one town, Mayfield, named after the town owner, Mayfield (Rebecca Root) the brothers run into a little trouble. She is controlling and decides she can make a name for herself if she kills the brothers. Sending groups of men after the Sisters, they all find their demise at the end of the Sisters Brothers' guns.

When the brothers finally catch up with Warm and Morris, they’ve a change of heart about their plans of working with the Commodore and together with Warm and Morris decide to create riches for themselves and move on.

The ending was a nice surprise and it did complete an odd and interesting story.

Reilly was fantastic as the older more thoughtful but loyal brother. I enjoyed his thoughtful dialogue about his life. The bit with the shawl and the hooker was interesting and moving. Phoenix was strong as the slightly touched, yet smart brother. The intensity of the brother’s dinner conversation in a San Francisco restaurant was excellent on both actor’s part. How their conversation elevated was wonderfully done. Gyllenhaal was wonderful as the bookish, thoughtful tracker and writer for the Commodore. Ahmed was wonderful as the chemist and dreamer of an egalitarian society. Root was strong as the matriarch of the town named after her. Hauer had a minor, yet pivotal role. Carol Kane (as Sisters Brothers’ mother) was great. Loved seeing Kane in a role again. Perfect casting decision. Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain wrote an odd, yet interesting and thought-provoking script. Audiard made some amazing choices about scenes and the scenery that this movie was shot in. I thought the San Francisco city scenes to be interesting as well as the Sisters’ dialogue while in the city.

Overall: Despite some difficult scenes to watch, this was an odd film, but the chemistry between the actor’s characters was amazingly wonderful.

Hunter Killer

First Hit: As far as submarine-based films, it was OK, but the added ground team made it better.

My dad (who died 23 years ago today) loved submarine films. His favorite was the 1958 thriller Run Silent Run Deep. He’d sit there and watch it every time it came on television (after seeing it on the big screen) and recite the dialogue with the actors. Maybe it was because he loved the ocean, or that he was in the Navy, I don’t know, but when I see submarine films, I think of him.

In this movie, a U.S. submarine is, at close range, following a Russian sub under arctic ice in the Barents Sea. Then unknowingly, another Russian sub, hiding in a carve out slice of ice, torpedoes and sinks the U.S. Sub. Then there is an explosion and the Russian sub sinks.

Rear Admiral John Fisk (Common) with National Security Advisor Analyst Jayne Norquist (Linda Cardellini) advocates figuring out what to do and wants to send another submarine in to figure out what happened to the sub and if there are any survivors. Chief Joint Chief of Staff Charles Donnegan (Gary Oldman) is opposed to this and wants to gear up to start another world war against the Russians.

Meanwhile we get a short glimpse of SEAL Lieutenant Bill Beaman (Toby Stephens) and his team practicing maneuvers.

Then when Fisk sends the USS Arkansas sub commanded by newly inaugurated Captain Joe Glass (Gerard Butler) to find the previously sunk U.S. Sub, they also find the sunk Russian Sub.

They hear something on the Russian Sub and make a rescue of the captain and two other men. When Glass shows the Russian Captain, Sergei Andropov (Michael Nyqvist) that his Russian sub was sabotaged and sunk by someone on board, he realizes that something is going on with his country.

Sensing Russian problems, Beaman’s team parachutes into the Russian base to find the Russian President Zakarin (Alexander Diachenko) is being held hostage by Defence Minister Dmitri Durov (Mikhail Gorevoy) who is instigating a coup.

The plan is to have Beaman’s team kidnap the Russian President and escape by getting on board Glass’s sub which will be guided into the Russian base by Andropov. All this is to prevent an all-out war between the two countries.

I thought some of the scenes in the subs were well done. I loved when the men on the con were leaning as the sub dove. I thought the attitude of the SEALs was perfect. I enjoyed the sharpshooting by the youngest member of this team. I enjoyed the grit and determination shown by Captain Glass, especially when he was challenging Andropov to help him.

There is a far amount of suspense in the film, but it does have an obviousness that we know how it will end. Thought that Donnegan’s character was over the top and don’t know if that was direction or just Oldman being over the top.

Butler was excellent as the come up from the ranks Captain of the USS Arkansas. There was a certain amount of grittiness in his approach that worked for this role. Common seemed a little out of his element in this role. He didn’t quite exemplify a Rear Admiral. Oldman's character was unprofessional, for the position, in the ranting he showed. Nyqvist was excellent as the closed mouth long time professional sailor. Diachenko was OK as the Russian President. He didn’t quite come off as being strong. Gorevoy was a poor choice as someone to pull off a coup. His character felt fearful and weak most of the time. Stephens was great and exemplified a Navy SEAL leader, rough, demanding and with a heart underneath. Cardellini was good as a NSA Senior Analyst. Arne Schmidt and Jamie Moss wrote a good script. Donovan Marsh did a good job of directing this film. Some of the scenes in the sub were fantastic as were some of the on-land scenes. However, really thought that Oldman’s role was a big downfall as was the war room scene with the US President.

Overall: An OK thriller but it will not go down as an all-time great submarine-based film.

Colette

First Hit: With the empowerment of women being in the forefront, it was great to watch Colette take charge of her life.

Colette (Keira Knightly) becomes enamored by Willy (Dominic West) who is somewhat of a blowhard male chauvinist who disrespects everyone except anyone who has more money or prestige than him.

He contracts with people to write stories, books, and plays for him and because of his spending and gambling habits, he's always in debt. After their marriage he continues to have affairs with scores of women in Paris, which infuriates Colette but more for the lying than the affairs themselves. Because they are pressed for money, he locks Colette into a room to make her write for him.

She writes books that become the talk of Paris. Everyone loves the books and Willy, the supposed author, becomes the talk of the town. Setting social and artistic trends, Willy and Colette become enamored with their life. But, tension begins to percolate because Colette is the real author of the books and no one knows.

What I really liked about this movie is that Knightly, as Colette, is definitely in her element. Her natural wit and intelligence was never a match for Willy or Georgie Raoul-Duval (Eleanor Tomlinson), Collette’s first lesbian relationship.

Knightly was superb. Her airiness and ease of sharing a strong Colette was sublime. West was excellent as the overbearing chauvinistic husband and ego driven writer. Fiona Shaw was perfect as Colette’s mother supporting Collette’s independence. Denise Gough playing Missy, Colette’s supporter and romantic lover. Tomlinson was wonderful as Colette’s first lesbian lover who was also Willy’s lover. Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland wrote a pointed and well-defined screenplay. Westmoreland did a good job of setting up wonderful scenes and sets that exemplified the era of the late 1800’s.

Overall: Using Knightly was inspired casting choice as she brought a lot of life and intelligence to this role.

Beautiful Boy

First Hit: A very personal film about a parent’s deeply felt and dark journey through his son’s addiction.

Despite excellent acting, especially on Timothee Chalamet’s part as the son Nic, this isn’t a joyful film. For anyone who has experienced addiction or has been a parent of an addicted child, it is not an easy film to watch. Its title comes from a John Lennon song about his son Sean.

The story is from the perspective of David Sheff (Steve Carell), Nic’s dad. The film jumps time confusingly but it is clear when we are watching their relationship grow and Nic is a child. David is married to Karen (Maura Tierney) but she’s not Nic’s mother. David divorced his first wife Vicki (Amy Ryan) who ended up moving to Los Angeles. There are telephone conversations between Vicki and David that are realistic in that each parent is blaming the other for not doing enough for their son’s struggle.

Confusingly we dance forward and backward in time through instances of Nic’s addiction behaviors and fiascos. I’m not sure why it was done this way, but when I have to figure out what point in time the scene is referring to, I’m not engaged and dislike having to piece the story together. I get turned off.

However, on the up side of the film, Chalamet does a great job of being an addict. His arguments and persuading his family and others to do what he wants, including giving him money, is spot-on.

There are numerous scenes that expose everyone’s engagement and caring for Nic and this is commendable.

Carell is strong as the father that will do anything to help his son. When he learns to let go, I breathed a sigh of relief because, to survive he had to let go. Chalamet was excellent. His scenes of sliding back into wanting to use again were perfect. Ryan was fantastic as the mother who cared, yet knew nothing about what to do, or how to do it. Tierney was sublime. She showed empathy towards David, cared about Nic, and loved her children. The scene when she follows Nic and his girlfriend after robbing her home, was wonderfully developed and executed. Luke Davies and Felix Van Groeninger wrote a good, if at times, confusing script. Groeninger’s direction needed to be better given the times shifts that caused confusion.

Overall: Deeply personal film that will not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The Oath

First Hit: Compelling and oddly interesting story about what happens to a family when they disagree about a restrictive mandate by the government.

I do think the idea around this film was interesting and one that would spark a host of anger and division in our country. The program, as defined here, was to have everyone in the country sign a loyalty oath to the United States and the current President. The government attempts to make clear that there will be no retaliation to any individual if they don’t sign it, but if you do sign you will be rewarded, including tax breaks. Because this is such an important issue, the President allows people nearly a year to make their decision by giving them until the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, to sign The Oath.

Chris (Ike Barinholtz) and his wife Kai (Tiffany Haddish) are adamantly opposed to such government intrusion in their lives and join campaigns designed to reject The Oath. Time passes, and Chris’ support and engagement continues to grow. He’s always looking at the news and getting upset as government troops tamp down protests against The Oath. Kai, supports her husband’s actions of support, but is less engaged to make a big deal of the oppression.

As Thanksgiving approaches and Mason and Kai are expecting all of Mason’s family to join them, tensions  and anticipation rise. After the parents arrive. Dad is hard of hearing and is technologically challenged, and when Chris asks him to turn down the television, hilarity ensues.

Then his sister Eleanor (Nora Dunn) arrives with her husband (Jay Duplass) and children. The husband is sick and is in bed through the entire film, until the end. Eleanor has many of the same beliefs as Chris. Family animosity arrives when Chris’ brother Pat (Jon Barinholtz) and his girlfriend Abbie (Meredith Hagner) come to the door. The arguments begin when Chris calls Abbie “Katie” because that was the name of Pat’s previous girlfriend.

Both Abbie and Pat have signed the Patriot Oath and are ultra conservative. The characters are made to have the look and feel of conservative Trump surrogates. This causes the dinner conversation to be both hilarious and pointedly filled with anger. All during the erupting fights Kai is attempting to calm Chris down so that they can make it through Thanksgiving. All the while, watching the news, Chris learns people are getting killed during protests against The Oath.

Then on Black Friday, agents from the CPU (a government investigative agency) come to the door to ask Chris why he’s not signed The Oath. Because everyone else in the house has signed the paper, he’s adamant he’s got a right to not sign it and without a warrant order’s them out of the house.

The agents Mason (Billy Magnussen) and Peter (John Cho) are sort of a good cop bad cop team. Peter tries to keep the situation calm while Mason is highly jacked up on conservative right-wing righteousness. When Mason’s aggression really elevates to a high level, all hell breaks loose in the home and the story and film gets very dark.

Ike Barinholtz comes off as acting his role, versus being the role. Starting with the initial scene, the tone of this pressing of this role starts and stays all the way through. He seemed to overact the part. I think another actor would have made this role and film more compelling. Haddish, on the other hand, was excellent. I loved her dance through her maniac husband's issues with the government and his family, with her love for their daughter. Magnussen was excellent as the very right-wing conservative maniac. His intensity created most all the film’s tension. Cho was excellent as the mediator CPU agent. Jon Barinholtz was very good as the conservative brother that supported and protected his brother in the end. Dunn was excellent as the sister who mediates the brothers differences while being a calming voice through the film. Hagner was wonderful as Pat’s conservative girlfriend. Ike Barinholtz is a better writer than actor and his direction of everyone except himself was strong.

Overall: In this highly charged political environment and with a President who likes loyalty, this film is very poignant.