The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Netflix)

 

The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Netflix)

The Chicago Seven trial was about 52 years ago (1968). I remember some parts but not to the detail of the movie. The historical and cultural significance of this event is enough reason to watch the film. Chicago of 1968 belonged to Mayor Richard Daily and he was not going to tolerate “hippie anarchists” demonstrating in his city. The police were his private l tug force. The protests were against the Vietnam war.

The film is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film’s excellent production is as a result of his detailed and emotional script. Trials can be as dry as toast but here the film is engaging and tense. The movie uses cuts from actual news footage of the riots and beatings which are edited into the film. As to the authenticity of the movie I am sure there was some poetic license  but from what I read most of the events were true. The production went out of its way to have the actors reassemble the actual people.  Abie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were quite accurate. Abie Hoffman is played by Sasha Baron Cohn, of “Borat” fame. I can not watch any of the Borat movies, they are cringe worthy and in poor taste. But Cohn was outstanding in this role. Not only did he mimic Hoffman but he displayed sincerity to Hoffman’s beliefs. Another outstanding performance was presented by Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, the main  defense lawyer. He sported Kunstler’s ubiquitous glasses atop he forehead. What he  lacked in appearance he made up in his passionate performance. Frank Langella was brilliant as the autocratic Judge Julius Hoffman. Langella used a modified Nixon voice and some of his repartee was almost  Vaudevillian.  Obviously, there were no cameras in the court room so Langella did a lot of over the top ad-lib acting.  He must have had great fun.

This is an ensemble performance with a talented cast too many to list. Sorkin has directed a master peace. For all you kids below 40 this film is a required civic lesson. For the rest of us it is a bittersweet through back. In 1969  I was eighteen and required to register for the draft. In the lottery I had a low number which increased my chance of being inducted. I was not picked.

 

 

Ready Player One

Ready Player One

I am not the right person to write this review. I do not play video games, nor do I know the culture. This movie is targeted to gamers and probably those under 40. The movie is based on a book of the same by name Ernest Cline. In the gaming/sci-fi genera it is a classic. The movie is like a video game. A super rich (first trillionaire) game creator hid a virtual Easter Egg in a virtual world called the OASIS. The winner gets his fortune and control of the OASIS.

The movie switches back and forth between the real world and the virtual world. Maybe I do not have the attention span of a teenager, but the swapping was disconcerting. The Lego movie was more enjoyable since for the most part it stuck to one reality. This movie gave homage to other some movie classics. Scenes from The Shining were prominent and the Iron Giant made an appearance.  The film is littered with other gaming icons which are above my head. For some reason every time a virtual bad guy losses a limb coins gush out him.  Mario was not in the movie; him I would recognize.

The plot is convoluted (in my mind) and simple. Win the egg and make sure the bad guys don’t and you get the cash and the OASIS, whoops spoiler alert. There are A listed actors and lots of B’s. Mark Rylance plays James Halliday the creator of the OASIS. Simon Pegg has a small part and not screen time. Other actors are recognizable and other not. This picture is not about acting, it about the “experience” which the aficionados buy in.

This is a $175m plus advertising (could be 50% of production cost) production cost. To date the box office looks OK, especially with overseas tickets. Spielberg needs a win and not another goose egg (The BFG).

Dunkirk

Dunkirk

Dunkirk is ponderous. It is somber and British. Using Saving Private Ryan as a reference, Dunkirk is the polar opposite. Whereas Saving Private Ryan is dynamic and has forward motion Dunkirk is stagnant and stoic. If Christopher Nolan wanted to convey anxiety and desperation he did so splendidly.

The movie is a series of vignettes. There are the stranded troops on the beach with Kenneth Branagh as Commander Bolton. Then there are the RAF spit fighter pilots engaging Nazi planes. One of the pilots, Tom Hardy, is totally unrecognizable since he wears an aviators hat. The other piece of the movie focuses on the flotilla of small boats sailing to Dunkirk to rescue the solders. One of the best performances of the movie takes place on one of the boats with Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy. Given the chaos of war this compartmentalization is an effective approach. The vignettes are puzzle pieces of the whole.

The film is epic in scope. The cinematography is sweeping with aerial views of the vast of the beach and the thousands of British troops waiting in neat rows for reuse. The vulnerability of the troops was striking. The coming attractions conveyed images of slaughter on the beach, but the majority of the troops were evacuated. There were attacks by the Luftwaffe on the troops but only with one or two planes.

There are moments of bravo when RAF spitfire downs a Germain plane or when the little boats arrive. It makes does little hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

Some historical facts:

• ·         Of the 338,226 soldiers, the majority were rescued by the Royal Navy. The small boats ferried soldiers from the beach to waiting vessels. Some sailed back to Dover.
• ·         Why weren’t the troops slaughtered on the beach? Hitler gave his infamous Halt order stopping Panzer tanks from continuing the assault. A major blunder.
• ·         Nolan’s film is getting tagged with #ohsowhite.  There were troops of color at Dunkirk. There was the Royal Indian Army Service Corps and other soldiers from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. In the film, there is one shot of a French solider of color.

This is an important movie. Reviews are positive and the box office is healthy. As with all historical films their veracity is debated. This is a war movie of elegance.