AIR

 

Air

I originally went to see Dungeons and Dragons-Honor Among Thieves, a mistake. Now I know why I never became a gamer.

On my way out I snuck into theater 15 and watched Air which is an origin story about the creation of the Air Jordon sneaker and how Nike signed Michael Jordon to their brand. A fabulous movie with a stellar cast. Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, Ben Affleck plays Phil Knight, Jason Bateman is Rob Strasser, Chris Tucker is Howard White, and the always wonderful Viola Davis plays Jordon’s mother. Besides the strong chemistry of the cast this is a great script. This is not a jock movie; it is a story of believing in some one and making a full commitment.

Over many years and movies, the relationship between Matt Damon and Ben Affleck is well established.  However, with good roles their collaboration remains fresh. Affleck is Phil Knight, CEO of Nike. Damon is pitching Michael Jordon and creating a line of sneakers on one player, which was very risky for the company. In 1984 Nike was not the juggernaut it is now; it was competing against and behind Adidas and Converse. Signing Jordon was the golden ring.

Matt Damon is a true believer and is willing to bet everything on signing Jordon. This is to the consternation of Affleck who as the CEO has to balance Damon’s passion with hard business calculus. Jason Bateman delivers his trademark understated performance. There are some funny exchanges between him and Damon. Chris Tucker was reserved but even the way he speaks is funny. Another character is David Falk played by Chris Messina. He is Jordon’s agent and some of the funniest scenes are between he and Damon. Viola Davis is the boss. She is the gate keeper to Michael Jordon. She does not negotiate she just demands. Davis plays his mother as confident and tough.  

The movie employed a gimmick. You never actually see Michael Jordon. They show the back of his head or a shoulder. I do not know if there was a copywrite issue, but it was a bit silly. The movie’s sound track is great with 80’s songs.

So, either Dungeons and Dragons or Air. Make your pick.

 

 

John Wick Chapter 4

 

John Wick Chapter 4

John is back. This film is campish and cartoonish. If you are a fan of the John Wick franchise or appreciate this genre, this is your film. Besides the mayhem there are other appealing aspects. The venues are an important part of the movie taking place in New York City, Paris, Osaka and Berlin. The staging and productions are luxurious from Versailles to a throbbing Berlin disco. The plot is about revenge and cashing in on Wick’s bounty. Before seeing this movie, you may want to take a fresher on chapters 1, 2 and 3, especially if you are over 70.

John Wick is somber like his black suit. His speech is sparse and communicates better with his fists and guns. For Keanu Reeves the John Wick character is a second skin and he wears it well. Even though John Wick is an assassin his character is likable. Presumably the villains he kills are worse than him.

The rogue gallery is back. Ian McShane is Winston Scott the manager of the Continental Hotel. Lance Reddick the hotel concierge, and Laurance Fishburne, the Bowery King reprise their roles. There are new characters. Donnie Yen is a blind assassin with unique skills. He uses motion detectors to dispatch his enemies. Bill Skarsgard is the main villain as the Marquis a powerful member of the High Table; his wardrobe redefines the term dandy. Dogs are an integral part of the Wick films and the dog here has a mean bite and a low target.

The stunts are a big part of the Wick movies. The car crashes around the Arc de Triomphe do not bode well for French drivers. Wick bounces off cars with little damage reminiscent of Wiley Coyote. Tumbling down the hundred plus stairs of Sacre-Coeur is almost comical. The gun fights are too numerous to count. John is a master of the head shot because everyone is wearing Kevlar armor or suits. DuPont should pay a fee for product placement.  

If you are into it the film is fun.

Babylon

 

Babylon (Amazon Prime)

Babylon is a movie of ascent, descent and excesses.  The period is the tipping point for silent movies with the onset of the talkies. Handsome silent screen stars now had to talk and some with Jersey accents.  The silent film industry was at its apex, awashed in money, sex, and drugs, descending into debauchery. Some scenes were excessive and in bad taste. The more colorful sex scenes could have been implied and rather than depicted in technicolor. These drawbacks are the fault of the writer and director who in this case is the same person, Damien Chazelle.

The cast is impressive. Brad Pitt is Jack Conrad a matinée idol in descent. Pitt’s best performance depicts Conrad’s decline. He is a metaphor for the silent screen. Margot Robbie plays Nellie LaRoy who is absolutely manic. She is at her best when she is depressed and paranoid. Some scenes are over the top and instead of being impactful they are cringe worthy. Unlike Jack Conrad she rose from the bottom to the top of stardom, but her descent was the same as his but quicker.

Diego Calva, who plays Manny Torres, gave the best performance. He goes from being a truck driver to being a film executive and down again. He plays the role with passion and without histrionics. He loves Nellie but she is toxic and he suffers.

This is not a religious movie, but there was a resurrection. Eric Roberts, the estranged brother of Julia Roberts, was cast as Nellie’s father. His appearance was brief, but the snake fight scene was hilarious. Jean Smart plays the gossip columnist Elinor St. John. She tried to groom Nellie’s appearance and diction but utterly failed. Tobey Maguire is a brutal sadistic gang boss. It is wonderful to see someone play against type. Even with hideous make up and evil intent, he is still your friendly Spiderman.

This movie cost $80m to make and took in $63m, the price of a bad script and poor directing. Watch it at your own peril.

 

Women Talking

 

Women Talking (Amazon Prime)

This is an outstanding drama. The film is sparse and intense. It has the feel more of theater with dialogue being the main element of the film. The film is based on a book by Miriam Toews, but the story is true. In a colony of Mennonites living in Bolivia, the colony’s women were raped in their sleep by the men using a cow tranquilizer to seduce them. It is implied the rapes were going on for some time. A group of women meet in a hay loft to decide either to do nothing, stay and fight or leave. In their deliberations they give voice to their violations. The rapes are flashbacks with the victims awaking in their beds with bloody sheets and bruises on their legs.

Rooney Mara’s character, Ona, is a victim of rape and is with child. She gives a subdued but powerful performance. She is one of the main debaters of what the women should do. Claire Foy is the firebrand who is passionate about fighting and protecting her daughter (young girls were also raped). Foy’s character is unforgiving and capable of inflicting violence.

Frances McDormand has a brief but important role. She is called Scarface, because of a y shaped scar on her cheek. How she got the scar is not revealed, but violence is implied. She is a traditionalist and is for doing nothing and remaining. She shows forbearance but her price is heavy.

The only man seen in the film is Ben Whishaw as August. Since the women cannot read or write August is recruited to take the minutes of the meeting. As opposed to the brutalities inflicted by the men he is a gentle soul, soft spoken and sincere. The women hope he can teach the boys to grow to be caring men.

The movie gives the impression of being black and white given the lack of any distinguishing color. This approach sets the tone of the movie; the present is bleak, but the future may be brighter.

The film is Oscar nominated for best picture and best adapted play.

Triangle of Sadness (Amazon Prime)

 

Triangle of Sadness (Amazon Prime)

The Triangle of Sadness is the space between one's eyebrows where the struggles of life manifest as wrinkles. The phrase is only used once in the film, but other terms can be used. The film is a dark satirical comedy with farcical scenes combined with slapstick plus lots of poop. It is a story about the idle rich and the perils of being idle.

The movie starts with two “influencers” Yaya played by Charlbi Dean and Carl her model boyfriend played by Harris Dickinson. My British friends would call them a pair prats bickering over who pays the check. The tiff goes on too long and becomes annoying. From the start neither character is endearing.

The next big part of the film takes place on a luxury cruise on a $250m yacht. The guests are like a bunch of Agatha Christie extras. They are a comical bunch with crew members admonished to cater to the whims of the guests, no matter how ridiculous. The guests include Dimitry played by Zlatko Buric, The king of shit (fertilizer), Clementine and Winston who made their fortune making munitions and the captain played by Woody Harrelson. For Harrelson this was a cake walk. He played his usual no fuss character just short of a southern drawl. His part is narrow, and the director could have made more use of his talents. There is a captain’s dinner which takes place during a violent storm at sea. It was like a Monty Python skit with passengers projectile vomiting, pratfalling and toilets overflowing.

The last scene is akin to Lord of the Flies where a toilet maid is elevated to queen for a day (a few days). Abigale the maid, played by Dolly Le Lemon, does a superb job transforming herself from a lowly toilet maid to leader of the pack because of her skills. The ending is perplexing and deliberately made ambiguous by the director.

All the actors do an excellent job with the script they are given. If you like dark comedies in the spirit of Monty Python this is for you. The film was awarded the Palme d’or.  It is also nominated for 2023 Oscar Best Picture.

 

All Quite on The Western Front

 

All Quite on The Western Front

This is a brutal movie with scenes of carnage. If this bothers you do not watch this film. This is not a remake of the 1930 version, the classic butterfly scene is absent. It is based on the same book Nothing New in the West, by Erich Maria Remarque. Every cliché about war applies to this movie: the futility of war, the horror of war and the fog of war. The film’s message has been mitigated by modern history: World War II, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is still poignant.  

 The movie follows the main character, Paul Baumer, played by Felix Kammerer. He experiences horrendous battles all for a few feet of territory. Before becoming a soldier, he was an enthusiastic   schoolboy who wanted to enlist. Germany was gripped in the rapture of nationalism. A crack in this fervent facade is when the young recruits are given the patched-up uniforms of dead soldiers. There are some joyful scenes when the soldiers steal a goose and enjoy an eager feast.

The film shows a countdown to the date of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, armistice day. In the last fifteen minutes before eleven am, an aristocratic general ordered a futile attack on the enemy which caused more pointless deaths, epitomizing the senselessness of the war.

Aside from this gripping story an outstanding feature of the film is the cinematography. The battle scenes are brutal with detailed close ups of suffering soldiers. By contrast there are beautiful vista shots of the countryside.

This is a well-crafted film but be prepared for some brutal reality.

The Whale

 

The Whale

This is a sad but joyful movie. Charlie is a home bound six-hundred-pound English professor who teaches via zoom. He is trapped in his body. His partner Alan is dead, and Charlie is trying to reconnect with his daughter. This parental dynamic is one of the chapters in this layered story.

Brendan Fraser gives a hugh performance. Fraser portrays Charlie with deep pathos. On the surface he looks repulsive, and he hides his appearance from his zoom students and from the pizza delivery man. But Charlie is a caring individual who is not defined by his appearance. He pushes his students to write honest essays. He dearly loves his daughter and is torn by guilt by his absence. Fraser displays all these emotions. Castigating himself as pathetic, he remains resilient in the potential of people.

What makes this story rich are the supporting actors. Supporting is an inadequate adjective to describe their great performances. Hong Chau is his nurse and his only friend. She plays the role with tough love. There is a special connection between them that weaves into the story. She is tough but tender.

Sadie Sink is Ellie his estranged daughter. Sink performs the role with explosive energy. She is disrespectful, angry and belittles her father. At the same time, she feels abandoned by him and misses his affection. Her performance is eclipsed only by Fraser.

Ty Simpkins is Thomas, a missionary for the New Life Church. He is trying to bring Jesus into Charlie’s life and won’t take no for an answer. He is the object of abuse from Ellie. His role lightens the mode of the story.

On the outside the whale may not be appealing but it is a message of hope wrapped a different way.