Sing Street

Sing Street, the latest musical film from Irish director John Carney (“Once”, “Begin Again”), which is now out on VOD, is easily the best of his three musical films.  It has an infectious energy that lasts with you long after the movie is over. The only recognizable name in the cast is Jack Reynor, who was chosen by director Michael Bay based on his sole performance in the haunting Irish film “What Richard Did” to be in the last Transformers movie.

 

Sing Street is the story of Connor (played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) of a lower middle class family in Ireland in the 1980’s, who escapes the drama of his cash-strapped family by forming a band in order to win the affection of an enigmatic young girl, Raphina (played by Lucy Boynton). Complicating matters is Connor is forced to attend a rough and tumble Catholic School where he’s bullied but ultimately finds his voice through his music.

 

Sing Street is at its best when it’s showcasing the looks that were so much a part of the time period.  Musician Ferdia Walsh-Peelo acquits himself in his first film role as Connor.  His sidekick, Eamon, played by Mark McKenna, is a musical prodigy who’s trying to be the man of the house in a broken home, has an affinity for rabbits despite his truncated childhood, and it makes him something other than a stock character.

 

Reynor, who plays Connor’s older brother, is a standout, especially when he unloads on his younger brother out of sheer frustration over his own life choices.

 

The music completely captures the essence of the 80’s, and if you’re not dancing by the end of the film, you might want to check your pulse.

The Help

“The Help”, based on the book by Kathryn Stockett, was by far one of the standout films of 2011. While it wasn’t the best reviewed film of 2011, it was definitely one of the most poignant.

The story takes place in 1960’s Mississippi during the Civil Rights Era. Skeeter Phelan, played by Emma Stone, returns from college to spend time with her ailing mother, played by the always reliable Alison Janney and the rest of her affluent family. She is also the odd woman out when it comes to her small circle of girlfriends, who have all married.

Skeeter lands a job at the local newspaper, where she is forced to write a homemaking column. It becomes increasingly obvious that this is not the writing gig for her and she decides to write a book about the black maids and nannies who were largely responsible for taking care of the debutantes children, including herself. While this sounds like a great idea on the surface, it’s not such a great proposition for the maids, who are afraid to tell their stories to Skeeter, until she agrees to keep their names anonymous.

The first maid to come on board is Abileen (played by a very affecting Viola Davis), followed by Minny Jackson (played by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer). Abileen has had a rough go of it, having lost her son, and is trying to do her best to raise her boss’s daughter. Minny is employed by the town bigot and his wife Hilly Holbrook (played by Bryce Dallas Howard); she’s also been physically abused by her husband. Finally, in a highly comical scene, Minny offers a peace offering to her nasty in the form of a pie, the likes of which sends Hilly into orbit as her mother (played by Oscar winner Sissy Spacek) bursts into gales of laughter.

Before long, Skeeter’s book comes out, raising eyebrows and the blood pressure of everyone in town, and ultimately the fallout challenges Skeeter and the maids to make some life changing decisions.

“The Help” is a timeless movie that provides a touching, heartfelt tribute to the maids, and is definitely worth another viewing.

The Hollars

Every once in a while, there’s a movie that sneaks up on you and before you know it, you’re so caught up in the characters that you are willing to overlook a dangling plot point.  This is the case with “The Hollars”, a terrific little indy film from first time director John Krasinski of NBC’s “The Office.”

 

In this film, Krasinski gets the bad news that his mother Sally, played by the always endearing Margo Martindale (Emmy winner for “Justified”) has a brain tumor.  His father Don, played by Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins, apparently misdiagnosed her and sent her to Jenny Craig, and now things have gotten worse, and she’s in the hospital. Add to this John’s brother, played by Sharlto Copley (“District Nine”) who hasn’t quite gotten over divorcing his wife and is insanely jealous of her new beau played by Josh Groban.  And on top of this, John has unresolved feelings for his childhood sweetheart, but also is about to become a father, so there’s that.

 

Did you get all that?  The story does become convoluted, and we lose a plot point and payoff along the way in this dramedy, but the performances by Krasinski, Martindale, Jenkins and Copley as well as Anna Kendrick are so engaging that you are willing to accept the script’s shortcomings and go along for the ride with this dysfunctional family as they navigate their personal revelations.

 

All in all, this is a solid first effort for director Krasinski, and well worth watching.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

2015 saw the Star Wars universe return to its roots under the direction of director J.J. Abrams in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

 

Audiences throughout the world were enthralled by the return of their beloved characters from the original trilogy, including Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C3PO, R2D2, and Han Solo, as well as Luke Skywalker, but that same token, others thought that the movie was much too derivative and was a bit of a letdown.

 

The new protagonist is a young girl by the name of Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), who rescues a droid by the name of BB-8, who has some top secret information as to the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill, in a cameo role). She meets up with Finn (played by John Boyega), who’s had it up to here being a stormtrooper and goes AWOL on the First Order, and together, they work together to return BB-8 to the Resistance.

 

With the First Order hot on their heels, they make a break for it in the Millennium Falcon. Finally, the inevitable happens: Han Solo, along with Chewbacca, show up. They want the Falcon back, but Rey won’t be swayed in her quest to return the BB unit.

 

Meanwhile, the First Order is up to no good, and have built the mother of all Death Stars which harnesses the power of the sun to obliterate entire solar systems, and it’s up to Rey, Finn, Han, and Chewbacca to thwart their efforts, or it’s curtains for the rebellion and General Leia.  What makes things even more complicated is that Han and Leia have a son, a hipster version of Darth Vader prone to temper tantrums, and it’s up to Han to try and talk Kylo Ren out of sticking with the First Order and to go into Dark Side rehab. Let’s just say that the father and son talk doesn’t go particularly well, and it’s all hands on deck to stop the First Order.

 

The combination of new and old characters works particularly well. Ridley and Boyega work very well together, as well as Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron, a hotshot pilot for the Rebellion. Their chemistry bodes well for future installments, and having Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill on board for future installments provides continuity that will ensure continued success for the franchise.

 

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

What happens when you put some of the UK’s best actors over 50 including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, and Tom Wilkinson in an ensemble dramedy set in India?  You get a warm, poignant film called The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

 

The setup is pretty basic: each of the characters facing the twilight of their lives, decide to retire to a beautiful hotel called… you guessed it, the Best Marigold Hotel. There’s only one problem upon their arrival: the hotel doesn’t look anything like the picture in the advertisements. The Best part is that the run-down fleabag of hotel is still standing. There’s certainly nothing exotic about it; it’s a disaster in the making.

 

The manager of the run-down motel is a young man by the name of Sonny played by Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire fame; at first, the elderly guests are pretty put off by the young man’s deception, but they decide to forge ahead. While it’s not Shangri-la, it’s home, at least for now.

 

Of course, some of the challenges of growing older are played out for laughs, but there’s one thing that aches within each of the guests: their being alone and wanting to be loved.  There’s one storyline in which Tom Wilkinson’s character searches for a lost love and seeks to rekindle the relationship with devastating results that this cynical reviewer never saw coming. Even the only married couple is distant and dreadfully alone.

 

As these retirees come to life through discovering the love they’ve so desperately been missing, so does the hotel. The relationship between the guests and the young manager thaw; he’s also experiencing relationship issues as well and has to prove to his intended that he’s a catch.  While most of the stories are sweet and well played by this group of fantastic actors, some relationships turn sour as well, and one of our intrepid group decides they’ve had enough and can’t adjust to life so far away from home that they head back to what they feel is home.

 

The film, directed by John Madden and based on a book titled These Foolish Things, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, like Slumdog Millionaire, takes advantage of the best and the worst locations that India has to offer. The film was made for $10 million and grossed over $140 million worldwide.  The Brits know how to craft beautiful ensemble pieces that are the perfect movie for Valentine’s Day… or whenever you need a good cry.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

One of the biggest movies to come out of Sundance in recent years was a movie based on a best-selling book called “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl”.

 

The self-explanatory title of the film centers around Greg Gaines, an extremely awkward teenager who hides behind his insecurities through his sarcastic wit. His mother (played by Connie Britton) find out that Rachel (played by Olivia Cooke), the daughter of a family friend (played by Molly Shannon) has leukemia, and she persuades Greg to spend time with Rachel. At first, Rachel passes on a visit from Greg, who is browbeaten by his mother into showing up on Rachel’s doorstep unannounced.  (The camera work as Greg is chased throughout the house by his mother is nothing short of amazing.)

 

We then meet Greg’s best friend Earl (played by RJ Cyler); they’ve been friends since grade school. Ironically, the emotionally detached Greg can’t bring himself to call Earl a friend, but calls him his co-worker; we learn that these teenage co-workers have made movie parodies of classic films throughout the years including “Blue Velvet” and “My Dinner with Andre”, and after some prodding by Greg’s friend Madison, they agree to make a movie for Rachel.

 

Making Rachel’s film is easier said and done, and Greg finds himself becoming increasingly drawn to Rachel, whose condition is worsening, but he can never find the words or the ability to be honest about his feelings for her.

 

This dark comedy has some golden moments, including Greg and Earl unwittingly getting high and showing up at Rachel’s place to entertain her. The classic movie parodies are downright hilarious. Hugh Jackman makes a hysterical cameo appearance as a movie poster in Rachel’s bedroom, and the claymation sequences throughout the film make for some necessary comic relief.

 

The indie film featuring the performances of some heavy hitters such as Nick Offerman, Connie Britton and Molly Shannon, along with the younger cast, was critically acclaimed, but unfortunately for this gem of an indie film, failed to live up to box office potential.  Regardless, it’s a great film and worth a viewing.

Worth a Second Look? Star Trek Beyond

i decided to revisit Star Trek Beyond to see if my opinions were changed now that it’s been out on BluRay for awhile. Here’s a fresh look:

After the last Star Trek movie called Star Trek: Into Darkness, many fans were upset by the extremely dark tone of the film, not to mention the role reversals mirroring Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. J.J. Abrams’ choice to take a more cynical perspective of the future instead of Gene Roddenberry’s vision of hope left moviegoers extremely disappointed.

 

The initial trailer for Star Trek: Beyond released by Paramount which reflected director Justin Lin’s previous work on the Fast and the Furious franchise had longtime fans up in arms. People were calling this latest film The Fast and the Federation.  Things did not bode well for this third installment in the rebooted Star Trek franchise.

 

Movie trailers can be very misleading, and thank goodness this was the case of Star Trek: Beyond.  It was not Fast and the Federation.  It turned out that writer Simon Pegg, who plays Montgomery Scott aka Scotty, crafted a pretty decent tale which delivered on several fronts set against the backdrop of Jim Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) who were at crossroads in their lives; Jim was questioning his motivation for joining Starfleet. Did he have something substantive to offer, or was he just trying to be like his father?

 

Spock was questioning what we was doing on the Enterprise any more; should he be more true to his Vulcan roots and help preserve his race?  Spock was also on the outs with Lieutenant Commander Uhura (played by Zoe Saldana); between Star Trek: Into Darkness and this film, they had a falling out and ceased being the galactic supercouple of the franchise.

 

These questions hardly had time to be articulated at length before once again, the Enterprise was yet again attacked and destroyed by what seemed to be a never ending swarm of killer drones, forcing the the crew to abandon ship and head down to the nearest planet.   Before we move on, can we make a request that Paramount stop destroying the Enterprise as a plot point?  Pretty please?

 

Moving on, the survivors of the crash, including a very badly injured Spock try to make sense out of what happened. It’s there that Scotty meets an ally; a female rogue warrior called Jayliah, who’s the last of her crew that was attacked by the evil Krall (played by a totally unrecognizable Idris Elba), a nemesis of the federation. With Jayliah’s help, well, you can probably guess what happens from there.

 

Looking back on the film, it was pretty formulaic, and the really true emotional moments of the film didn’t happen in the film, but at the end as they dedicated the film to the late Anton Yelchin as well as the late Leonard Nimoy.  Rumor has it that the next film will concentrate on Daddy issues with Chris Hemsworth signing on to reprise his role as Kirk’s father.  Star Wars Episodes I-VII have all dealt with Daddy Issues. Why not Star Trek?

Slumdog Millionaire

What if the only way you could find your lost true love was to go on a wildly popular game show and hope that she was watching at the same time?  As preposterous as it sounds, this was the premise of a film that was supposed to go straight to video, but Fox Searchlight saved it from obscurity and it went on to win several Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film, if you haven’t seen it, is called Slumdog Millionaire.

 

Director Danny Boyle’s unflinching yet uplifting tale based on the book Q & A by Vikas Swarup centers around a penniless 18 year old boy (played by Dev Patel in his breakout role), who becomes a contestant on the wildly popular Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and his uncanny ability to answer questions night after night, despite the fact that he never received a formal education.

 

As the film opens, the show’s producers, suspecting that Jamal Malik is cheating, has him hauled down to the police station where the jailer forcibly tries to extract the truth out of him. There’s only one problem: the correct answers are coming from moments coinciding with his life, starting from his life as an orphan and moving forward in time to present day.

 

His life begins with he and his brother Salim losing his mother in a riot and having to fend for themselves.  While Jamal uses his brains to survive, Salim chooses a darker, more violent path.  They also find themselves torn as brothers in their love for a beautiful young girl by the name of Latika, who comes and goes out of their lives, in and out of puberty and into young adulthood. At some point, they decide that it’s time to part company and find their own way.

 

Ultimately, realizing that he can’t live without Latika, he reunites with her, but his reunion is fraught with peril, because she’s now living with a crime boss, which just so happens to employ teenage Salim. Ultimately, Salim, realizing that he’s not meant to be with Latika, makes the ultimate sacrifice, providing the diversion that Latika needs to escape and to be with Jamal now and forever.

 

Director Danny Boyle provides us with an epic story set in gritty as well as beautiful locations. He doesn’t shy away from the violence as well as one particularly gross scene where young Malik has to take a dive in a latreen to escape being caught. The ending took this reviewer by surprise as Danny provides an ending credits sequence that is right out of Bollywood movies, which means there’s a lot of music and a lot of dancing.

The Wave

After the debacle of 2009’s remake of The Poseidon Adventure, simply called Poseidon, Hollywood decided to cool its heels from making any more multimillion dollar disaster epics and concentrated on making some pretty high-budget disasters in their own right (can you say last year’s Ghostbusters remake?)

 

When it comes to disaster movies, here’s the basic setup: you introduce the setting, the characters, albeit briefly, and bring in the natural disaster, and then move the survivors around like little chess pieces in elaborate settings where some people live and some people don’t survive.  At some point, the big rescue happens and everyone, except the dead people, live happily after ever.

 

The country of Norway decided to dip their figurative toe in the water with the movie The Wave, which was inspired by a story of a rogue tsunami destroying a small town located in a fjord, which by the way has no way out.

 

What set The Wave apart from Poseidon were a few things: first, the absence of rich pretty people.  The lead doesn’t look like he’s carved out of granite and buffed to a high sheen. He’s a burned-out geologist who’s on his way out of town.  His wife seemed normal.  Secondly, by not just creating cardboard cutout stock characters, we got to know the working class family before all hell broke loose. Third, the Norwegian film was budgeted at a paltry $5 million as opposed to Poseidon’s hefty price tag of $160 million. And finally, the dialogue was in Norwegian which means that we didn’t have to worry about the usual cringeworthy dialogue.

 

What was really exceptional was the creation of true tension in the film; yes, there was the initial rock slide that morphed into the tsunami, but they built in the ticking time bomb device by setting up that in the event of a Tsunami, the warning siren would let the citizens know that they had twelve minutes to get to higher ground before they would be washed away.  When the siren went off, not only did the characters get swept up in the fear and the panic, but this reviewer did, too.

 

Where The Wave started to falter was maintaining momentum after the monstrous wave struck the tiny town. The tension dissipated to a great extent and while there was that moment where things might not turn out well for those needing to be saved… well, you can’t kill off family members. That would be too cruel.

 

The Wave had some truly spectacular camera work and the leads acquitted themselves nicely.  It’s a great popcorn movie.  Just be ready to read the subtitles.

 

 

Captain America: Civil War

One of the saving graces of last year’s mostly disappointing Summer movie season happened early on with “Captain America: Civil War.”  This film brought most of the Avengers back together, with the noticeably conspicuous absence of the Incredible Hulk and Thor, who must have been vacationing on the Island of Misfit Superheroes or something. But I digress.

 

The film is all about Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America/Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) and the end of their super bromance due to irreconcilable differences: Iron Man/Tony Stark believes that due to the catastrophic damage caused by the Avengers whenever they go out to rumble with some evil entity, while Captain/Steve believes that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Their rift widens even more as The Winter Soldier aka Bucky, Captain America’s friend, has been wreaking havoc and is a brainwashed man on the run from not only Iron Man, who blames him for his parents’ deaths, but also the Black Panther, who wants to avenge the death of his father.

 

This movie has way too many moving pieces/superheroes, and several of the regular Avengers are reduced to near-cameo appearances, such as Scarlett Johannsen’s Black Widow and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. Since Thor and The Hulk were unavailable for comment, Captain America and Iron Man have to enlist the second string; Ant Man (played by Paul Rudd) joined Team America, and we’re treated to the introduction of the umpteenth incarnation of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (played by Tom Holland) who thinks that Iron Man/Tony Stark is the coolest thing ever. With the players choosing sides, they dash toward each other like they’re about to play an epic game of dodgeball, but they decide to settle things with a superhero slugfest for the ages, with most of the combatants getting a superhero time out in some kind of underwater prison.

 

The battle goes on way too long, and then things quickly shift to the mastermind behind this confrontation, but like the rest of the Avengers movies, the villain ends up to be pretty flimsy.  The film winds up with a climactic battle between Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky/AKA The Winter Soldier. It’s a brutal battle, and by the end of the fight, we quickly learn that there were no winners, only losers.

 

Although it was well received by moviegoers, it seems like the Marvel Cinematic Universe has exhausted the possibilities of its core superheroes and it may be time for a breather and let the universe expand to other interesting (albeit relatively unknown) characters. Tony Stark’s snark is wearing thin, and it may be time for the character to join Thor and the Hulk on a well-deserved vacation.