The Dark Tower

I have read all eight books in Stephen King's Dark Tower series and I absolutely love them so, as you can imagine, I have been anticipating the movie adaptation with both excitement and apprehension.  I was so excited when I heard that Idris Elba had been cast as Roland Deschain because, in my opinion, he is the Gunslinger.  But I was also apprehensive because I really wanted this movie to be good.  It is always bad to walk into a screening with such high expectations because they are rarely met and they certainly weren't met in this case.  The Dark Tower is such a disappointment.  I knew going in that it had received appalling reviews and the theater was nearly empty, which is very unusual for a Thursday night preview, so I should have known better.  I still hoped it would be good and I was disappointed.  This film has both too much and too little exposition.  Way too much time is squandered on Earth introducing Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) and describing his visions of the Gunslinger (Elba) and his quest to stop the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) from destroying the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together.  Then, when we get to Mid-World, the story becomes incomprehensible.  I had only the vaguest notion of what was going on (and I've read the books so I understand the mythology).  I also was quite bewildered by the cuts back and forth between Mid-World and Earth and the tone in the Earth scenes is inappropriate.  The fish-out-of-water trope is very tedious here.  The books are full of action but the action sequences here are not only few and far between but they are not very good (The only scene that really held my attention was when Roland shoots his way into a portal to Mid-World).  The special effects are pretty shoddy for a summer blockbuster.  The only character that is really explored in depth is Jake and he is played rather blandly by Taylor.  McConaughey is an absolute disaster as the Man in Black, playing him as a caricature of a villain rather than someone to be feared, and we never learn enough about him or the Gunslinger because we don't get enough time with them.  They are supporting players to Jake which is a huge mistake.  The only bright spot in this movie is Elba.  Imagine what he could have done with a decent script and a proper budget for effects.  Ugh.  Definitely give this a miss!

Lady Macbeth

Sunday night I went to the Broadway, as I often do on a Sunday night, to see Lady Macbeth.  My friend saw this film at Sundance and gave it a very unfavorable review (even going so far as to call it "indie rubbish" which has become a bit of an inside joke with us) while another friend loved it, hailing it as a masterpiece.  After viewing this film myself, my reaction falls somewhere in between.  Katherine (a mesmerizing Florence Pugh) is forced into an arranged marriage with a much older man, Alexander (Paul Hilton), who shows very little interest in her.  Alexander's father, Boris (Christopher Fairbank), continually reminds her of her marital duty which is, namely, to provide them with a legitimate heir, and he also mistreats her.  She is kept to a very rigid schedule and is never allowed outside of the house.  When both Alexander and Boris are called away, she takes advantage of the opportunity and roams the countryside.  She also begins a passionate affair with Sebastian (Cosmo Jarvis), a groomsman on the estate.  When Boris returns, he hears about the affair, which has been conducted very openly, and has Sebastian beaten and locked up.  Katherine poisons Boris so she can be with Sebastian, showing very little remorse.  As is often the case, they are forced to commit several more murders (including a particularly egregious one) in order to keep up pretenses and Sebastian begins to feel more and more guilty.  There are a few things I really liked about this film but there are definitely some aspects that I didn't enjoy.  I was quite impressed by Florence Pugh's performance as a woman who will go to any lengths to keep her newfound freedom and her journey is very compelling, at least in the beginning.  I was on the edge of my seat most of the time and the eerie silence on screen added greatly to my unease.  I also think that William Oldroyd made some very interesting choices; for example, highly composed shots of Katherine sitting on a couch wearing a buttoned up dress and corset with her hair tightly coiled juxtaposed with beautiful shots of her roaming the moor unbound with her hair blowing in the wind are highly effective at establishing her motivation.  However, some of his choices are less effective.  I found the scenes involving a cat to be completely bewildering.  I am sure that these scenes are meant to be artistic but the symbolism was lost on me because the cat disappears after a few early scenes never to be seen again.  Why?  Another problem I had was that, while I sympathized with Katherine in the first half of the film because of her ill-treatment, I found many of her actions in the latter half to be completely reprehensible.  She ends up being more ruthless than her oppressors, particularly to her maid, Anna (Naomi Ackie).  I had to look away during a scene involving a horse and the final murder (which went on for so long) of an innocent child was especially brutal.  The ambiguous ending did not hold her to account for her actions in a way that brought me satisfaction.  Finally, I don't know if it is just me but I thought there was a racist undertone to this film.  There is absolutely no discussion of race but all of the characters portrayed by black actors end up as victims and it left a bad taste in my mouth.  Hmmm.  Have you seen this film?  What did you think?

Note:  This film is not based on William Shakespeare's Scottish play (as I originally thought) but, rather, on the novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov.

Atomic Blonde

Atomic Blonde is a sleek and stylish thriller with Cold War intrigue and a kick-ass female spy.  What could be better on a Saturday night?  Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) is an MI6 agent sent to Berlin just before the fall of the wall to retrieve a list, stolen by the KGB, of every British agent under cover in the Soviet Union and to discover and assassinate a double agent named Satchel.  She is aided by the Berlin Chief of Station (James McAvoy) who may or may not be her ally.  I found it to be an interesting, if sometimes convoluted, story with one twist after another but what makes this movie so much fun to watch is the action.  The set pieces are pretty violent (Lorraine does get pretty battered and bloody) but, as I mentioned, they are extremely stylish with incredibly complex choreography and camera work with multiple angles.  There is a fantastic sequence involving a stiletto heel in a moving car, another one involving a garden hose over a balcony, and yet another in a stairway (which goes on for at least ten minutes without any discernible cuts).  Charlize Theron does most of her own stunts and it is impossible to take your eyes off of her as she punches, shoots, and kicks her way out of trouble in one fabulous outfit after another.   James McAvoy looks like he is having so much fun with a "disastrous Sinead O'Connor haircut" and a knowing smirk.  As a child of the 80s, I really loved the soundtrack which features at least a dozen pop songs from that decade.  I think I giggled out loud when I heard the opening notes to "Der Kommissar."  My only complaint with this movie is that we see Lorraine naked multiple times (she takes an ice bath, not once but, twice and she has quite the sex scene with another female agent) for no reason beyond titillation.  Can we please have a strong female character without resorting to objectifying her?  However, this is a fun movie and I recommend it to fans of the spy genre.

A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story is a film that just about blew my mind at Sundance this year.  It stayed with me for quite a while and I eagerly anticipated its wide release so I could see it again.  I have to say that I found it to be even more profound upon a second viewing on Friday night and I was not alone in my reaction.  The entire audience stayed seated in absolute silence long after the credits had rolled and the lights had come back on.  The narrative revolves around a man (Casey Affleck) who dies in a car accident and returns, shrouded in a sheet, to the home he shared with his wife (Rooney Mara).  He stays and watches her as she grieves and then eventually moves away.  He continues to haunt the house for decades as it is occupied by various people, is demolished, and is replaced by a high-rise building until he is finally able to let go of his attachment.  There is another ghost haunting the house next door until he is able to leave behind a person he is waiting for.  The ghost is one of the most sympathetic characters I've ever seen on film, even completely shrouded as he is, and the long, sustained shots with very little action are strangely compelling.  The score is very evocative and greatly enhances the otherworldly mood.  As previously mentioned, I found many of the themes to be so moving.  I've always believed that the spiritual aspect of humanity is more important than the physical which is, indeed, impermanent.  We must ultimately leave behind our attachment to people, places, and things to progress on our journey.  It is enchanting to believe that we leave behind a piece of ourselves and that we will be remembered but our time here is temporary and time inevitably and inexorably moves on.  We don't really belong here in this physical plane.  I know I will be thinking about these ideas for a long time to come and I suspect that this beautiful film will provide even more philosophical musings each time I watch it.  I must admit that A Ghost Story might not appeal to everyone.  It is a high-concept film and you must commit to this concept fully in order to appreciate it but, if you can, you will be forever changed by its powerful message.

Maudie

Thursday I spent the afternoon in a darkened theater full of senior citizens (seriously, I was the youngest person there by decades) watching Maudie, the real-life love story between Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis (Sally Hawkins) and her husband Everett (Ethan Hawke).  Maud suffers from a debilitating form of arthritis (although we don't learn the nature of her ailment until almost the end of the film) and her brother and aunt consider her to be a tremendous burden.  One day she answers an advertisement to be a maid for a curmudgeonly and reclusive fishmonger, mostly to get away from her aunt.  Everett lives in a dilapidated one room shack in rural Nova Scotia and he treats Maud very cruelly, even telling her that his dogs are more important than she is.  She begins painting simple flowers, trees, and birds on the walls to brighten her grim existence.  She eventually worms her way into Everett's heart and they marry, although he is still very gruff with her.  She paints cards to deliver to all of Everett's customers and attracts the attention of a wealthy New Yorker on vacation who commissions a painting which brings her national exposure.  She spends the rest of her life selling her paintings outside of her tiny shack and when she dies Everett realizes how much he loved her.  While the film tells the story of Maud's life and career as an artist, the narrative focuses on the relationship between the two lonely outsiders and it is such a poignant story.  My favorite line is when Maud says that they are like two mismatched socks!  Sally Hawkins gives an incredible performance that is sure to be remembered during awards season and this is an Ethan Hawke like you've never seen before.  I feel that I have unjustly pigeon-holed him as the goofy deadbeat dad that he has portrayed lately (see here, here, and here) but he surprised me because he is marvelous in this multi-layered role.  After a while I didn't even notice that I was watching Ethan Hawke.  In addition, there are some stunning shots of the surrounding landscape (Canada is a beautiful country) and I really enjoyed the score by Michael Timmins (of the Cowboy Junkies, a favorite band from my youth).  I highly recommend this lovely film.

Note:  I am not very familiar with Sally Hawkins but she seems to be everywhere at the moment.  This performance captivated me and I am really looking forward her next film, The Shape of Water.

Dunkirk

Last night I went to see Dunkirk and it was probably the most immersive movie I have ever seen.  The evacuation of hundreds of Allied soldiers from the seaside town of Dunkirk after the German invasion of France is told from three different perspectives: land, sea, and air.  On land we follow a British soldier (Fionn Whitehead) as he attempts to evacuate from the beach on one ship after another over the course of a week.  On sea we follow a civilian (Mark Rylance) who takes his boat across the Channel to rescue as many soldiers as he can in one day.  In the air we follow an RAF pilot (Tom Hardy) as he provides air support for one intense hour.  The events are portrayed in a non-linear manner and we see some of the same events happen multiple times but the three timelines eventually converge for a dramatic conclusion.  The audience is dropped in the middle of the action with very little exposition or character development and I've heard many people criticize the movie for not having a plot but in my opinion the story is survival.  I loved all of the small acts of heroism that are portrayed and Christopher Nolan lets these events unfold without a lot of dialogue or manipulative music cues (more about that later).  The cinematography is brilliant (I wish I could have seen it in 70mm) and I felt like I was in the middle of the fighting, especially the aerial dogfights.  I frequently found myself holding my breath and, at one point when the cockpit of a downed plane was filling with water, I realized that I was lifting my head up to avoid drowning myself!  The action is unrelenting from the opening scene until the final credits and much of it involved practical stunts rather than CGI.  Hans Zimmer's remarkable score, which includes a synthesized ticking clock, is incredibly ominous with a sense of urgency that adds greatly to the tension.  The large cast does a great job but there are a few standouts for me:  Kenneth Branagh has a very poignant scene as a naval commander coordinating the evacuation, Harry Styles is much better than anticipated as a soldier on the beach (his character is a bit of a jerk but he plays him well), and Cillian Murphy is quite convincing as a shell-shocked soldier rescued from the water.  This film just blew me away!  In my opinion, it is a masterpiece and it definitely needs to be seen on the big screen!

Kiki's Delivery Service

Last night I saw Kiki's Delivery Service, the next film in the Studio Ghibli Fest.  I enjoyed My Neighbor Totoro so much that I decided to see the rest of the films in the series.  This film is about a 13-year-old witch in training named Kiki who must leave her home and travel to a new place to discover her destiny.  Believing that her talent is for flying, she begins delivering items using her broomstick and we follow her on her adventures.  Eventually self-doubt causes Kiki to lose her ability to fly and her friends must help her to regain her confidence.  I loved this movie so much!  I think I loved it even more than My Neighbor Totoro because I related to much to the character of Kiki.  She is incredibly resourceful in finding her way in a hostile world, including finding a place to live and a way of earning money all on her own.  She encounters many obstacles in her delivery service but she uses her ingenuity to solve every problem and I found her to be such an empowering character.  However, the characteristic that I enjoyed the most in Kiki is her kindness.  She is kind to everyone around her and it is that kindness that eventually brings her rewards in the end.  I loved that message!  I also liked the fact that Kiki is a real 13-year-old girl with typical teenage problems, especially in her relationships with other teenagers.  She is so authentic!  Jiji, Kiki's black cat, is also a really fun character and the source of much laughter at my screening.  The setting is a beautiful, almost European, seaside city and the animation is so colorful and vibrant.  This movie is just delightful and I highly recommend it!  Go here for more information about the Studio Ghibli Festival.

Valerian

Last night I went to see Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets and, despite what many critics have said, I really enjoyed it.  The spectacle opens with a montage of the history of space travel and the establishment of Alpha, the titular city where representatives of a thousand planets live and cooperate with each other, with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" underneath it.  My attention was completely drawn in and it never wavered as one dazzling sequence after another filled the screen (it is one of the rare films I recommend seeing in IMAX 3D).  The narrative focuses on the destruction of a planet which federal agents Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delivigne) must investigate with the help of a few strange and magical creatures, including Bubble (Rihanna) a shape-shifting performer, and a few wild adventures, in multiple dimensions, before they solve the mystery.  If you have seen the trailers you know that the visual effects are absolutely incredible.  I was most impressed with the world-building and the character design, especially a sequence at a market that takes place in multiple dimensions at the same time (mind blown).  Unlike many, I thought the campy performances of DeHaan and Delivigne really worked and I laughed out loud at Ethan Hawke's turn as a pimp.  I even liked Rihanna who has an unexpectedly poignant scene.  In my opinion this film is funny, quirky, and wildly entertaining.  It never takes itself too seriously so I think it is destined to become a cult classic.  I highly recommend it for a really good time.

Planet of the Apes Triple Feature

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see a triple feature of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and War for the Planet of the Apes.  It was a long afternoon and evening but I definitely enjoyed myself (and bonded with the people around me).  It is one of the best trilogies I've ever seen, one, rather unusually, in which the films get better and better.  All three of them feature compelling and thought-provoking stories, powerful performances, and dazzling special effects.  In Rise, my sympathies are entirely with the apes.  Just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should, especially regarding the ethics of animal testing.  In Dawn, the stakes are considerably higher and the heroes and villains aren't quite as black and white for me.  There are good humans and bad humans just as there are good apes and bad apes.  I was very intrigued by the difficulties involved in diplomacy, how easy it is for an extremist to undermine the work of many.  In War, after fighting for two years, Caesar (Andy Serkis) offers the humans peace if the apes can be left alone in the woods.  However, a mysterious Colonel (Woody Harrelson) arrives and kills Caesar's wife and son prompting him to vow revenge.   As the rest of the apes try to escape, Caesar goes on a journey with a few apes to locate the Colonel at his compound in the North and then learns that his apes have been taken prisoner.  The way that the prisoners are treated is extremely difficult to watch (much like the Jews in concentration camps) but the prison-break scenes provide a bit of levity.  While there is an epic show-down between the apes and humans, the titular war, in my opinion, is within Caesar himself as he battles his hatred.  Of the three, I think this film is the most complex in its storytelling because of the themes of vengeance and redemption.  Andy Serkis is, once again, brilliant in a motion-capture performance that is incredibly powerful.  I have always enjoyed Maurice (Karin Konoval) as a character but I loved his role as Caesar's conscience in this film.  Woody Harrelson is menacing as a military leader gone rogue and I enjoyed the addition of Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) for a bit of comic relief to offset the bleakness.  Finally, I was so impressed by the CGI which I thought was incredibly realistic, almost to the point that you forget that you are not watching apes but actors in motion-capture suits.  This is a very fitting end to the trilogy and I loved it.  Actually, I loved watching all three of these films together, so much so, that I spent about forty-five minutes discussing them in the parking lot with my fellow audience members!

The Exception

As a student of history I hadn't really thought much about what happened to Kaiser Wilhelm II when he exited the stage after World War I.  After seeing a preview of The Exception, I was intrigued about his post-war life and very eager to see a film about his involvement, albeit fictionalized, in events at the beginning of World War II.  I am a sucker for films about World War I and World War II!  I saw The Exception last night and I wish that it had focused more on Wilhelm (Christopher Plummer) rather than on the romance between a German officer (Jai Courtney) and a Jewish housemaid who may or may not be a British operative (Lily James).  Captain Stefan Brandt (Courtney) is sent to the Netherlands, presumably as punishment for an incident in Poland (there are lots of flashbacks), to be the head of security for the exiled Wilhelm.  In reality, he is sent there to spy on Wilhelm.  He immediately, if abruptly, begins a passionate affair with the new maid Mieke (James), who reveals to him that she is Jewish.  When Heinrich Himmler (Eddie Marsan) visits Wilhelm, who hopes for news that the Nazis want to restore the monarchy, Brandt suspects that Mieke might be a spy.  Will he choose love or duty?  I loved Christopher Plummer in this role as a mercurial king-in-exile who longs for the past (he loves showing guests his collection of military uniforms) yet rails against his generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff for losing the war.  He insists on receiving military briefings from his aide de camp (Ben Daniels) in one moment and in the next he chops wood and feeds the ducks.  I also enjoyed Janet McTier's performance as Wilhelm's wife, Hermine, who works behind the scenes to restore the monarchy so she can order new clothes and refuse her sisters entrance at court.  Their story is incredibly compelling;  Brandt and Mieke's is less so.  Lily James does a good job in the scenes where espionage is the focus but I didn't buy the romance at all.  Why on earth does she get involved with a German soldier when she wants revenge against them for killing her father and brother?  Why does she tell him that she is Jewish when she doesn't know him well enough to trust him?  There is no motivation for their affair at all (beyond lust) and I didn't really care for Courtney's stilted performance as Brandt.  There is no tension at the climax because we already know that Brandt is troubled by the brutality of the Nazis so his decision isn't that surprising.  I found Wilhelm's decision to be much more interesting.  Bottom line:  I liked this movie but it would have been better with more Plummer and less Courtney.

The Hero

Last night I went to see The Hero, a film I saw at Sundance and really enjoyed.  To be sure, it is a cliched character study about a man with regrets who must come to term with his own mortality but it has an incredible central performance by Sam Elliott which makes it worth watching, even twice.  Lee Hayden (Elliott) is a former Western film star well past his prime who who spends his days drinking, smoking marijuana, and recording ads for a barbecue sauce when he is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  At the same time he meets a much younger woman (Laura Prepon) and begins a relationship with her and, after a drug-fueled speech at an awards ceremony goes viral, gets a big movie offer.  In the midst of all of this, he tries to reconcile with his estranged daughter (Krysten Ritter) and decide what to do about his diagnosis.  He has recurring dreams about being on the set of his most popular movie, in his current state, where he metaphorically fights his cancer.  Even though Elliott is essentially playing a version of himself, he is absolutely shines in this role (I have heard mention of a possible Academy Award nomination).  He is in almost every shot and I found him to be captivating.  He is able to convey more emotion with just a lift of a bushy eyebrow than most actors working today do with pages of dialogue.  While all of the supporting characters are pretty thinly drawn I found a scene with Nick Offerman, who plays a former cast member who is now Lee's drug dealer, to be hilarious and I enjoyed seeing Katharine Ross, Elliott's real-life wife, as Lee's ex-wife.   This film is a little gem that I recommend, especially if you are a fan of Sam Elliott.

The Big Sick

I'm just going to put something out there.  I am not a big fan of romantic comedies (and I despise it when people refer to them as rom-coms).  I rarely see them and I am almost always underwhelmed by the ones I do see.  Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back.  Blah, blah, blah.  However, I decided to see The Big Sick on Friday night because it generated a lot of buzz at Sundance this year (it receieved one of the biggest distribution deals from the festival) and I saw a preview last week which made me laugh out loud.  It is a true story which adds a bit of a twist to the standard formula: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl is put into a coma, and boy gets girl back.  Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani playing a fictionalized version of himself) is a Pakistani comic who gets heckled one night by a graduate student named Emily (Zoe Kazan).  They immediately hit it off but eventually break up because Kumail's traditional parents want an arranged marriage for him.  Emily ends up in the emergency room one night and a friend asks Kumail to check up on her.  Her condition worsens so it is decided that she should be put in a medically induced coma and Kumail must inform her parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano).  As the days go by, he bonds with her parents and realizes how much he loves Emily.  It is so funny!  I laughed out loud through the whole thing!  I almost couldn't breathe in the scene where Terry and Kumail talk about 9/11 because I was laughing so hard.  All of the scenes with Kumail's potential brides, who just happen to drop by, are also hilarious ("The truth is out there!")  There are also some very heartwarming scenes, especially when Kumail tells his parents that they can't kick him out of the family.  Kumail is so endearing and both he and Kazan have great chemistry.  Both Hunter and Romano are also great together and Kumail's fellow comics (Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler) are a lot of fun.  I should mention that there is quite a bit of profanity but I absolutely loved this hilarious movie and I highly recommend it.

Note:  I saw this at the Broadway Theater and there was not an empty seat in sight.  That has only happened for two other movies that I've seen there:  The Grand Budapest Hotel and La La Land.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

On Thursday night I saw an early screening of Spider-Man: Homecoming and I absolutely loved it!  What made it so much fun is that Peter Parker is finally portrayed by an age-appropriate actor as a wisecracking and nerdy high school student dealing with both his superpowers and the everyday problems of a 15-year-old, like who to take to the Homecoming dance.  Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) owns a salvage company tasked with cleaning up after the Battle of New York until Stark Industries and the federal government create the Department of Damage Control and take over.  Bitter about losing so much revenue, Toomes keeps pieces of the Chitauri technology to create weapons to sell on the black market.  Eight years later, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) is still on a high after his experiences with Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and is finding it hard to settle down to real life in high school.  He wants to be an Avenger but Stark wants him to start slow as a friendly neighborhood superhero (in some really amusing scenes).  Meanwhile, Toomes has become the Vulture with a crew who rob the D.O.D.C. for more alien technology to keep up their supply and Spider-Man attempts to stop him, often needing to be rescued by Iron Man (with some fun action sequences involving Peter's Decathlon team in Washington, D.C. and a fight with the Vulture on the Staten Island ferry).  Tony Stark takes away his Stark Industries-enhanced suit so Spider-Man must go it alone in an epic confrontation with the Vulture.  I thought Michael Keaton's Vulture was a very ordinary villain but I absolutely loved Holland's performance because of his impetuosity and awkwardness.  His interactions with his friends Ned (Jacob Batalon), Flash (Tony Revolori), Michelle (Zendaya), and Liz (Laura Harrier) are incredibly amusing.  I laughed out loud when Peter and Ned talked about building the Death Star out of legos!  I also think the mentor relationships with Tony and Happy (Jon Favreau), who is his minder, are great.  The action sequences are fine (although I wish the final confrontation hadn't been at night because it was so dark that I sometimes had a hard time seeing what was going on) but I had a lot more fun with the character development and dialogue.  It is such a fun and lighthearted movie and I highly recommend it.

Note:  The Captain America (Chris Evans) PSAs used at the school are hilarious.  I also loved it when Peter's Decathlon teacher (Martin Starr) is interviewed after the events in Washington, D.C. and says, "I would hate to lose a student on a school trip.  Not again."  I think I was the only person in the theater who laughed at that.  I once left a student at Kingsbury Hall...

The Beguiled

My friend and I went to a screening of The Beguiled on Friday night and, while she only liked it, I absolutely loved it!  The Beguiled is set on a large and isolated plantation in Virginia which is used as a Ladies Seminary run by Miss Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) at the end of the Civil War.  When one of the girls comes upon a severely wounded Union soldier named John McBurney (Colin Farrell), they decide to shelter him while he recuperates.  He disrupts their quiet and well-ordered life and all of them, even the young girls, begin vying for his affection by wearing their best dresses and jewelry and sneaking into the music room to speak with him.  I particularly loved a scene where all of them try to take credit for an apple pie that John praises.  John takes advantage of the situation by flirting with the no-nonsense headmistress Martha, a repressed teacher named Edwina (Kirsten Dunst), and a bored and sullen student named Alicia (Elle Fanning) with the hopes of being allowed to stay on the plantation but this eventually sets them against each other with catastrophic results for him.  There were many times when I wondered who was beguiling whom!  The tension builds very, very slowly and I almost couldn't bear waiting for the resolution (my friend had seen the 1971 original but I hadn't so I think that contributed to my reaction) which just about blew my mind with its subtlety.  All of the actresses give marvelous performances as genteel Southern belles who come undone.  Of course Nicole Kidman is brilliant but I was especially impressed by Kirsten Dunst's portrayal of Edwina's sadness and insecurity and I thought Addison Riecke was adorable as one of the younger girls (especially when she suggests looking for mushrooms).  Finally, this film is beautifully shot with lots of atmospheric scenes of moss-covered trees outside and flickering candles inside.  I highly recommend The Beguiled for it's tension, incredible acting, and gorgeous cinematography.

Baby Driver

Tuesday night my plans unexpectedly fell through so I had the chance to see an early screening of Baby Driver.  This movie is an adrenaline rush from beginning to end and I absolutely loved it!  Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a getaway driver for a criminal mastermind named Doc (Kevin Spacey) who has a rotating crew of bank robbers (Jon Bernthal, Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Flea, and Lanny Joon).  Baby suffers from tinnitus and listens to music to drown out the ringing in his ears and to energize himself for driving.  All Baby wants to do is to get out of the game so he can go on the road with his girlfriend Debora (Lily James) but Doc wants him to drive for one more heist which eventually goes horribly wrong.  It is a sleek and stylish crime thriller with some of the best car chases I have ever seen and it has an amazing soundtrack, featuring the likes of Queen, Beck, Danger Mouse with Run the Jewels, Golden Earring, the Commodores, Martha and the Vandellas, and Simon & Garfunkel.  The action is exactly choreographed to the music and Baby even rewinds a song when a conversation with the crew runs longer than expected before a heist.  I found the sound design to be absolutely amazing because every sound, from the squealing of tires to the spitting of bullets from a machine gun, corresponds exactly to the beat of the music.  I also loved the scenes of Baby dancing and singing along with the music he is listening to.  I was extremely impressed with Elgort's performance.  Even though Baby is incredibly self-contained, you always know exactly what he is thinking and feeling with just an expression.  I think he is so charismatic, especially in his scenes with Debora.  He and Lily James have great chemistry and I loved their conversation about name songs (since I have a song with my name in it!)  All of the supporting actors are very well suited to their roles.  Jamie Foxx is a hoot and Jon Hamm gives a particularly nuanced performance. There is a fair amount of profanity and violence but I think it is wildly entertaining and I can't remember when I have had so much fun watching a movie.  I highly recommend this intoxicating thrill ride!

My Neighbor Totoro

I think my friend is trying to turn me into an anime fan because she invited me to see My Neighbor Totoro with her on Monday night (she also recommended Your Name which is quite possibly my favorite movie of the year).  Her plan may be working because I absolutely loved this adorable film, so much so that I am considering seeing the rest of the films in the Studio Ghibli Festival.  My Neighbor Totoro is an imaginative look at the childhood of two sisters who have moved from the city to the country to be nearer to their mother who is recovering in the hospital from a long illness.  The younger sister, Mei, is left to play on her own outside where she meets an otherworldly woodland creature that only she can see.  Eventually both of the girls have fantastical adventures with this creature and it ultimately rescues Mei when she gets lost.  The animation is beautiful with every frame reminding me of a watercolor painting; the characters are endearing and I especially loved the relationship between the sisters and the nanny reminded me of a neighbor I had when I was young; and the story is magical, portraying the innocence of childhood as it once was.  I had a smile on my face during the entire film and I especially loved the scene where the girls give Totoro their umbrella.  I loved literally everything about this film and I definitely recommend it for everyone, especially children.  Go here for more information about the Studio Ghibli Fest.

47 Meters Down

I have made some great new friends who really love movies.  Last Friday night I met one of them for dinner and a movie.  We had Indian food and then saw 47 Meters Down and it was such a fun night.  Two sisters, Lisa (Mandy Moore) and Kate (Claire Holt), are on vacation in Mexico when they decide to dive in a shark cage.  Lisa is extremely apprehensive because she doesn't have any diving experience, the boat is old and rusty, and the captain (Mathew Modine) illegally chums the water to attract the sharks but she ultimately decides to go because her ex-boyfriend accused her of being boring.  After a great experience interacting with the sharks, the winch on the boat holding the cage breaks and the girls plummet, you guessed it, 47 meters down.  They only have an hour's worth of air in their tanks, they are surrounded by sharks, and they can't ascend quickly or they will get the bends.  Will they survive?  It is a taut thriller filled with suspense and I think I jumped ten feet every time a shark appeared.  My friend had seen it before and even she jumped during certain scenes.  The sharks are all CGI but I, obviously, thought they were extremely realistic.  Mandy Moore and Claire Holt won't win any acting awards and some of the dialogue is a bit cringe-worthy ("Oh my God!  The shark almost got me!") but I think this movie is a lot of fun.  It is the perfect summer movie to see with friends on a Friday night!

Cars 3

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of the Cars franchise and I definitely did not expect to love Cars 3, Pixar's latest installment, but I did.  I loved the story of redemption and the character of Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo) really resonated with me.  Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) continues racing on the Piston Cup circuit when a younger and more technologically advanced car named Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer) emerges on the scene and begins beating him.  In the final race of the season, Lightening tries to overtake Storm but he loses control and is involved in a devastating crash.  Many think his career is over and it is even suggested that he start endorsing products for his sponsor, Rust-eze.  But Lightning doesn't want to give up.  He is assigned a trainer, the aforementioned Cruz Ramirez, and uses a state of the art facility to get back in racing form.  When this doesn't help him get any faster, Lightening, along with Cruz, goes back to his roots and seeks out Smokey (Chris Cooper), who mentored Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), for some unconventional training.  I will not give away the ending of Lightning's race but I will say that it is brilliant.  I was not expecting the outcome and it literally had everyone in my screening cheering out loud!  The theme of youth vs. experience, while not especially original, is very well developed and I really loved the message that it is never too late to pursue your dreams.  Cruz is a wonderful role model for girls and I found myself willing to suspend my disbelief in not only an anthropomorphic car world (in a way I couldn't in the first two movies) but also one with gender stereotypes that need to be overcome.  Finally, I loved the dazzling animation, especially during the Piston Cup races.  I'm not often surprised by my response to a movie, but in this case, I was pleasantly surprised.  I enjoyed it and I recommend it!

Some Like It Hot

Sunday afternoon I got to see Some Like It Hot for the first time on the big screen and it was an absolute hoot!  This makes two Marilyn Monroe comedies this month!  Two musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon), go on the run after witnessing a mob hit in Chicago.  They disguise themselves as women, Josephine and Daphne, to join and all-female band engaged for six weeks at a hotel in Miami.  Once they get there, they face a new set of problems:  Joe falls for the vocalist in the band, Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), and Jerry becomes the object of affection of millionaire Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown).  Chaos ensues, especially when the mobsters they are running from show up in Miami for a convention.  This is a typical Billy Wilder farce with lots of physical comedy and sharp and witty dialogue.  All three lead actors give fabulous performances and I was especially impressed, once again, with Marilyn Monroe.  I laughed out loud so many times and my favorite scenes were when Jerry as Daphne wonders why men like her because she isn't pretty, when Joe impersonates Cary Grant the heir to Shell Oil in order to woo Sugar, when Sugar sings "I Want to Be Loved by You," when Jerry as Daphne tells Joe that she is engaged, and when Jerry as Daphne does the tango with Osgood.  It is just so funny watching Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon try to act like women!  Now I know why it is considered to be one of the best comedies of all time!  You have another chance to see this on the big screen June 14.  Go here for details.

My Cousin Rachel

Saturday night I met my friend Rachel to see My Cousin Rachel, the latest film adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name.  It is a psychological thriller which centers on Philip Ashley (Sam Claflin), an orphan who has been raised by his cousin Ambrose on a large estate in Cornwall.  After Ambrose dies mysteriously in Italy, his widow Rachel (Rachel Weisz) comes to visit the estate.  Philip blames Rachel for Ambrose's death because of some cryptic letters that Ambrose sent accusing Rachel of poisoning him but he eventually becomes completely infatuated with her.  Philip is impetuous and inexplicably gives away the estate to Rachel despite his earlier suspicions and the warnings of everyone around him.  Meanwhile, the special herbal tea that Rachel brews for Philip makes him tired and it seems obvious that she is poisoning him like she did Ambrose.  But did she poison Ambrose?  Is she poisoning Philip?  The audience is never entirely sure of Rachel's motivations which makes the film compelling right up to the ambiguous ending.  I was often infuriated by Philip as a character but Claflin does a good enough job at portraying his immaturity and naivete. Weisz, on the other hand, gives an absolutely brilliant performance as the enigmatic Rachel because she gives nothing away and always kept me guessing.  I love period dramas, especially ones based on Gothic novels, and this film definitely gets it right when it comes to mood.  The cinematography, production design, and costumes are beautiful!  I loved the sweeping shots of the Cornish coastline as well as the candle-lit scenes between Philip and Rachel.  This film is definitely not as intense or suspenseful as Rebecca, one of my favorite movies based on another du Maurier novel, but I really liked it and I recommend it.