Serious Movie Lover

ALBERT NOBBS (2011/IN THEATERS) Congratulations are in order for Glenn Close who has been working for years to create this film after playing the part of Albert Nobbs on stage in 1982.  Set in 19^th century Dublin, the movie tells the story of Albert, who works as a waiter in an upper middle-class residential hotel owned and run by Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins). Albert is “an odd little man,” according to both hotel guests and staff, but he’s good as his job and attentive in his own way.  Little do they know just how “odd” he is—since he’s in fact not a man at all, but a woman, who has been disguised for over 30 years without detection.  Exceedingly quiet, Albert observes much and says little, but up in his room he is stashing away his tips under the floorboards.  Life seems to be moving as normal until one day when Mrs. Baker assigns him a roommate in the form of Mr. Page, a painter working in the hotel for a day or so.  Albert is petrified of being discovered but instead finds a kindred spirit in Page (a very strong Janet McTeer) and begins to dream of using his savings to buy a little shop and start a new life.  As part of that life, he’ll need a wife and so he also begins to pursue the young and high-spirited waitress Helen (Mia Wasikowska) who is already in love with the handsome “waster” Joe (Aaron Johnson) who works as the handyman for the establishment.  It’s an odd little movie with the feel of a BBC period production.   The costumes and detail are wonderful, and the performances of the ensemble cast (which includes Brendan Gleeson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers among others) are uniformly strong.  Still, it’s hard to identify with the story.  Perhaps it’s best to appreciate it as the labor of love it is for Glenn Close—she not only stars as the title character but also is one of the producers, co-wrote the screenplay, and even wrote the lyrics for “Lay Your Head Down,” sung by Sinead O’Connor during the closing credits.   You have to admire that much dedication and of course, we’ll be seeing Ms. Close at the Oscars where she is nominated for Best Actress.  Good luck to her!

Grade: B

BTW:  Janet McTeer is also up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and for the same award from the Independent Spirits.

ALSO:  The movie is up for a 3rd Oscar for Makeup.  To learn more about the transformation of Glenn Close into Albert Nobbs, be sure to watch the featurette at IMDB.

THE IRON LADY (2011/IN THEATERS)   The general take on this film is that Meryl Streep is fabulous and the movie is not.  I think this verdict is more or less spot-on.  Meryl Streep is truly impressive in her performance as Margaret Thatcher, showing us the up-and-coming grocer’s daughter, the tough prime minister, and the dementia-ridden older version of herself.   It’s a sad story at heart, which has chosen to focus on the memories and hallucinations of this older woman, and utilizes a series of flashbacks to give us just a brief glimpse of the rise of Mrs. Thatcher and a taste of her tough-minded politics.  Thatcher is surely one of Britain’s most remarkable individuals (whether you love or hate her politics) and movie viewers were disappointed not to learn more about her in the film. You might be reminded of this year’s J. Edgar, which also chose to focus on the person, not the history, and likewise aged its character over many years.   Directed by Phyllida Lloyd of Mama Mia fame, this film is based on a screenplay by Abi Morgan (who is also credited with the screenplay for Shame).  Jim Broadbent is cast as Margaret’s husband Denis, who was her partner in life and appears in the film as her companion/tormenter in his death.  Audiences and critics have been largely disappointed by the movie, giving it a tepid 55% Rotten Tomatoes rating.  For my part, I thought the film did a wonderful job of showing us what dementia looks like and feels like, even for very powerful and famous people.  And I’ll say it again—I was blown away by Meryl Streep’s performance.  She will have earned her Oscar.  Catch this movie just for her performance, but don’t expect to walk away as satisfied as you were with “The Queen” or “The King’s Speech.”

Grade:  A+ for Streep; B- for the film itself

P.S.  One User Reviewer at IMDB perhaps said it best:  “…one must surely agree that Mrs. Thatcher deserves to be remembered as a major political figure, not as a half-mad old lady pottering about her flat.”

P.P.S. The role of Denis Thatcher reminded me of that lovely British film, “Truly, Madly, Deeply” which features Alan Rickman as the dead husband who lovingly haunts his wife.  Check that one out when you get a minute!

MARGIN CALL (2010/DVD/STREAMING)  Early this morning first-time director/screenwriter J. C. Chandor was nominated for an Oscar for Original Screenplay for this film —talk about a big day!  Chandor and his impressive ensemble cast for the film have also already won the Robert Altman Award from the Independent Spirits and the film is up for “Best First Feature” and “Best Screenplay” from the Spirits as well. As you may know, this movie was first shown at last year’s Sundance (2011) and is presently serving as an excellent example of how releasing to VOD (Video on Demand) can not only work, but end up creating extra buzz and box-office returns for small films.  This is all good.  But does the film work as a film??    I guess I was expecting more when I finally watched it last night.  True, the movie really does feature a remarkable cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, and more.  The storyline is loosely based on Lehman Brothers and takes place over two days and one very long night.  As the film opens, an unnamed trading company has just laid off 80% of its workers.  One of those laid off is Eric Dale (Tucci) in the Risk Dept. who has been working on “something big” which he hands to his young turk Peter Sullivan (Quinto) as he exits the building.  Sullivan—a true rocket scientist who has moved to trading because the money is better—plugs a few numbers and discovers armageddon arriving in the form of over-leveraged deals coming back to roost.  Sullivan calls his boss Will Emerson (Bettany) who calls old-line ace trading manager Sam Rogers (Spacey) and together they call in next level up pretty boy Jared Cohen (Baker) along with BIG Risk Manager Sarah Robertson (Moore) and CEO John Tuld (Irons).  Around a somber meeting table at 5:00 a.m., the word comes down—unload these deals in the morning, before noon and before all the poor suckers who purchase them have time to back away.  In other words, cheat all your customers as fast as possible, and then get ready to run away.  Not a pretty picture.  How about the film?  It’s been advertised as a “financial thriller”—whatever that is!  I would say it’s slow but interesting, an interior piece that will remind you of Glengarry Glen Ross.  Watch it for the performances. But don’t get your hopes up.  And as to that Oscar?  Let’s hope it goes to someone more deserving.

Grade:             B-

A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011/IN THEATERS)   Canadian Director David Cronenberg’s new film featuring a top-notch cast (Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley) appears to be much more popular with critics than with viewers—too much “talking” many say in their comments.  The reason for this perhaps lies in the film’s source since the movie is an adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s 2002 stage play “The Talking Cure” (which itself is based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr entitled “A Most Dangerous Method:  the Story of Jung, Freud and Sabina Spielrein”). Hampton—an Oscar winner for his 1988 screen adaptation of his play Dangerous Liaisons–is credited with the screenplay for this film.  Of note, he was nominated again in 2007 for adapting Ian McEwan‘s novel Atonement.   This time around, we have Fassbender playing a young Carl Jung, living in Zurich with his wealthy wife and just getting connected with Vienna-based Mortensen as his eventual father figure Sigmund Freud.  The opening shots introduce us to the third party in this triangle—a Russian patient heading to Jung for treatment.

Michael Fassbender and Keira Knightley in character

She is Sabina Spielrein who suffers from numerous afflictions and for whom Jung recommends the new “talking cure.”  Critics (and viewers) are split on Knightly’s performance, which is certainly intense, and some have criticized her Russian accent.  But I found her portrayal to be edge-y and excellent—she is a bundle of nerves with a quick brain.  As you’ll know if you’ve seen any previews, she’s also a fan of the combination of spanking and sex.  Aha!  You knew it was a Cronenberg movie after all, right?  Jung falls for young Sabina and is also influenced by another mad patient—Otto Gross (an excellent Vincent Cassell)—who encourages him to taste all that the world has to offer.  The film moves across a number of years as Freud and Jung come together, and then apart, in their ideas of just how their new science should progress.  Mortensen has received good reviews for his performance as Freud and you can see why in the film.  He gives a nuanced and quiet, but very detailed, version of the elder statesman of psychoanalysis.  I for one really enjoyed this film and would love to see it again.  I recommend it for fans of psychology and history—the costumes and sets are very well done.  It’s unfortunate that audiences have decided to diss almost anything Keira Knightley does these days.  She gives a very strong performance here IMHO.  And frankly any chance to watch Mr. Fassbender at work is more than worth it.   Recommended for a future DVD rental.

Grade:             A-

WAR HORSE (2011/IN THEATERS)    Steven Spielberg opened two family movies this Christmas:  Tintin, a motion-capture effort based on the popular Belgian boy-adventurer of comic book fame, and War Horse, an old fashioned sweeping story of war, heroism and the bond between a boy and his horse, based on a bestselling 1982 children’s book by Michael Morpurgo.  War Horse tells the story of young Albert Narracott (played convincingly by newcomer Jeremy Irvine) whose father Ted (Peter Mullan) spends the rent money to buy a beautiful colt who must be transformed into a workhorse to save the family farm.  Albert raises and trains this beloved horse Joey and teaches him to pull the plough — only to see the animal sold by his father to the British Army and sent to the front lines in France during WWI.  Albert swears to be reunited with Joey and this sets up the rest of the movie.   We witness the war from Joey’s point of view overseas where he first serves as an officer’s cavalry mount and then becomes a working draught horse for the Germans.  In between, he is cared for by a young French girl (Celine Buckens) and her grandfather (Niels Arestrup) in a sweet interlude.  Joey is paired with another British stallion and much of the pathos of events involves the two horses.  Meanwhile Albert enlists and we see the war from a young soldier’s point of view as well.  Spielberg, who has given us at least two realistic WWII epics (Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List) is said to have wanted to show U.S. audiences more about WWI, the “forgotten” war.  He accomplishes this goal very successfully with realistic scenes of the true horror of hand-to-hand combat and the claustrophobia of the trenches.  Using the horse’s point of view works well in the movie and certainly allows any children in the audience to identify more closely with something as disturbing as war.    According to Wikipedia, over one million horses were sent from the UK to Europe during WWI to serve as mounts and as work animals pulling the heavy guns, equipment and ambulances, just as depicted in the movie.  Only 65,000 returned—the rest died or were slaughtered by the French for meat.  The author wrote the book based on listening to WWI veterans who lived in his quaint English village and told him of the horrors of that war.  Spielberg shot the movie on actual film stock to give it a richer texture and it is lush.  There are several big scenes that deliver visually—most notably the advance of the British cavalry through the wheat fields (130 horses in that shot alone!) and the horrific scenes of Joey running desperately through the barbed-wire trench fields toward the end of the film.  There are also loads of gorgeous British pastoral scenes at the start and end of the picture—with the final shots looking more like “Gone With the Wind” than anything else.  Personally I found the establishing story at the start to be somewhat tedious but the build-up of the story is necessary to wring out maximum pathos in the rest of the film.   Catch this one on the big screen and don’t be afraid to bring the kids, but be ready to explain what war is all about.

Grade:            B +

BTW:  Churchill himself took an active role in bringing British horses home from WWI.  Read more about it by following this link. 

ALSO:  Emily Watson does a fine job in the film as Albert’s mother Rosie.

FINALLY:  There’s lots of debate already about John Williams’ score–as in, does it beat you over the head or is it terrific.  He has already been nominated for several awards…and certainly will be on the Oscar nominations list.  Let us know what you think!

THE HELP (2011/DVD)     If you missed one of this summer’s biggest hits when it was in theaters, now is a great time to rent the movie and get that popcorn going.  Or better yet, enjoy a chocolate pie!  We at SeriousMovieLover, for some reason, never got around to reviewing this terrific ensemble picture.  Perhaps we were nervous–as you may recall, when The Help first appeared, it was beset by a barrage of negative press, primarily from those in the black community who resented both the book and the movie for being a “simplified white version” of the painful daily racism endured by black help in the South during the 60s.   Mind you, the fault was not being found with the film, but rather with the story-line.  Nonetheless, viewers rewarded the movie at the box office with an opening weekend of $26 million (the film cost $25 million) which just kept growing, taking the top spot for weeks on end— to a total of almost $170 million right now (just in the U.S.) with the DVD only now appearing.   Obviously the film works and it is both serious and amusing at the same time, all the while dealing with a truly sad topic with a decidedly light touch.  Already a bestseller when filming began, the author Kathryn Stockett chose her friend Tate Taylor to direct, even though he had directed only one other feature film.  Taylor rewarded her faith by creating a well-shot movie which features plenty of “good to great” performances, among the best from Viola Davis as Aibileen (a sure Best Picture Oscar nom) and her sidekick Octavia Spencer as Minny (also a sure best for a Supporting nom).  Jessica Chastain turned in another amazing performance as Celia Foote, the “poor white trash” wife who married well, while Bryce Dallas Howard is perfect as the villain of the piece, socialite Hilly Holbrook.  Emma Stone is solid but nothing special as the budding liberal writer of the piece, Skeeter Phelan.  Alison Janney is wonderful as her mother, while Sissy Spacek is equally great as Hilly’s mom.  And watch for a short spot for none other than Cicely Tyson–wow!  Altogether, well worth an evening of your time….be sure to check it out.  And enjoy that pie

Grade:     B+

THE DESCENDANTS (2011/IN SELECT THEATERS)

If you are already a big fan of film director Alexander Payne, then chances are you are heading to the cinema as fast as possible this weekend to catch his latest effort “The Descendants,” which stars George Clooney in a story of family, life and property set on the islands of Hawaii.  Payne has directed only five films including this one (the others are Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt and Sideways) but all feature complex characters, unforgettable performances and locations that come to life before us.  The Descendants is his first film since 2004’s Sideways and he hits the mark again.  At the start of the film, George Clooney introduces us to his home state of Hawaii in a voice-over that reminds us that people in that state, even though they are truly in paradise, are also living real lives.  Clooney’s character is Matt King, a “haole” (white man) who is also a descendant of native Hawaiian royalty and therefore has inherited wealth, though he tries to live a normal upper-middle class life on Oahu with his family.  Because of his lineage, however, he is also the trustee for thousands of acres of undeveloped land and beachfront on Kauai—all of which is due to be developed shortly to the benefit of his extended family.  His life, which is busy and distracted, is suddenly brought to attention when his wife Elizabeth suffers a boating accident leaving her in a coma.  Matt must now pay attention to his troublesome daughters—17-year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley in a terrific performance) and 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller in her first role).  A third “adopted child” is Sid (Nick Krause), Alexandra’s Punahou buddy who hangs out at her insistence and delivers many of the laugh lines of the movie. As if all this weren’t enough, the film takes a turn that is alternately hilarious and poignant when Matt learns that his wife was cheating on him.  Like all of Payne’s films, this one moves naturally through a series of scenes and locations, giving us humor and pathos, with a real emotional kick by the end.  A big shout-out to Clooney—he shows so much range and depth in this film all the while being his usual charming and handsome self.   Oscar should definitely be watching this one!

Grade:             A-

BTW:  Besides Clooney and Woodley, there are numerous fine small performances among them from Beau Bridges as Matt’s uncle and Robert Forster as his father-in-law.  But it’s Julie Greer who really delivers in her small amount of screen time… watch for this near the end of the film.

ALSO:  The movie is based on the book of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings who has a one-scene cameo in the film—as Clooney’s secretary.

J. Edgar (2011/IN THEATERS) 

J. Edgar (2011/IN THEATERS) Clint Eastwood’s steady hand as a director can certainly be seen in this film which features a stand-out performance from Leonardo diCaprio in the title role–one sure to win him an Oscar nomination as he ages over 50 years in the film thanks to an obviously talented make-up team.  Playing J. Edgar Hoover from his early 20s through to his death in 1972 at the age of 77, diCaprio captures the driven nature of the man as well as his autocratic style and his secret insecurities. DiCaprio is joined by three other strong performers here:  Judy Dench as his ambitious mother; Naomi Watts as his loyal secretary Helen Gandy; and Armie Hammer doing a fine job as the smooth and sophisticated Clyde Tolson who became J. Edgar’s partner both at the FBI and in life. With a script by Dustin Lance Black (2009 Oscar winner for Original Screenplay for Milk), naturally the film does more than hint at homosexual relations between Tolson and Hoover, giving us one mano-a-mano wrestling scene which ends in a kiss (ala Brokeback Mountain) and one slightly over-the-top scene featuring J. Edgar trying on his dead mother’s dress and jewelry.  But these should not be over-interpreted as coloring the film IMHO.  For the most part, we see a very buttoned down J. Edgar working to build his department, laboring to establish a national finger printing system, creating a “scientific” approach to the capture and prosecution of criminals, and maneuvering the fierce politics of living through 8 (count ‘em) different presidents.  It’s not an easy life, for sure, and it’s certainly interesting but it doesn’t make for much of a compelling biopic.  Eastwood is known as a no-nonsense director who can get what he wants from actors in a single take and who shoots pictures in record time (this one in 35 days).  Here he delivers a film that is solid—its art design is gorgeous and period details are everywhere; the dialog and script are good; and of course, the acting is terrific.  But the sum is not larger than its parts and as you walk out of the theater, you may be asking yourself—was it memorable?  And did we learn a lot about this man and his life?  The answer—not as much as we might have wished.  Do catch it in the theater if you’re interested, but you can also wait for the DVD.

Grade:             B