The Girl on the Train (2016) * *

Directed by:  Tate Taylor

Starring:  Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Allison Janney, Lisa Kudrow,  Luke Evans

Rachel travels to and from Manhattan each day.    The train speeds by Rachel's old neighborhood, so Rachel can obsess over the life she used to have.    Rachel is also soused to the point of blackout more often than not, courtesy of wounds caused by her failed marriage and her inability to have children.    She is a mess, as are most of the people in The Girl on the Train, a glum thriller with people who are all in different stages of self-destruction.    There is supposed to be a link between the three female characters because they were all, in one form or another, victims of the same man.     And there is also a murder mystery at the heart of the film, which doesn't take long to figure out.

Rachel's life has been in shambles in the two years since her divorce from Tom (Theroux), who left her for Amy (Ferguson), with whom he was having an affair.     Rachel and Tom could not conceive, although I sincerely doubt Tom needed any extra motivation to have an affair.    Tom is now married to Amy and they have a child together.     This leads to Rachel kicking her stalking into high gear.    She seemingly calls Tom at all hours of the day and drops by her old house to look around whether someone is home or not.     The drinking sure doesn't help.

There is another woman in the mix, Amy and Tom's nanny Megan (Bennett), who lives two doors down and is also observed by Rachel as the train flies by.    Megan is usually on her patio engaging in PDA with her husband, but one day Megan is holding a bearded man and this sets the rest of the film's events in motion.     Megan soon goes missing and Rachel is a suspect, because she may or may not have been following Megan down a dark tunnel at the time of her disappearance.    Rachel also wakes up battered, bruised, and covered in blood.     Not a good look.   

The movie then tells its tale in flashbacks dated "4 months ago", "2 months ago," etc.    We know very well there is more to everything than meets the eye.     A psychiatrist (Ramirez) plays a part in the events as well, mostly because he stays on just this side of the ethical line between doctor and patient.     If he doesn't lose his license soon, he soon will.     There are also flashbacks involving Megan having sex with someone whom the camera obscures, so we know very well the person's identity is being concealed for a reason.   

One of the big issues with The Girl on the Train is its lack of sympathetic characters.    Rachel is the closest thing to a protagonist, but she is an alcoholic quasi-stalker/potential baby kidnapper, so even as she is trying to piece Megan's disappearance together to prove her innocence, we don't really feel for her plight.    Rachel's troubles are piled on so heavily that there is no getting out from under them.
The entire film has a pall hanging over it, unrelieved by any humor and drowning in its own gloom.    Director Tate Taylor (The Help) lays this heavy atmosphere on too thick.    

The actors do what they can with characters burdened with such heavy baggage, although I still don't quite understand Amy's motives when she encounters some crucial information about her husband.    There is also a detective on the case (Janney) so jaded and cynical you would think she learned to be a cop by watching Jerry Orbach on Law and Order.     Emily Blunt spends the movie looking sad eyed and should take the train to parts unknown to get away from these people.     She tries mightily to give us a worthy protagonist and nearly succeeds in some scenes.     Haley Bennett (The Magnificent Seven) is sexy and sultry, and a dead ringer for Jennifer Lawrence.    But it is all at the service of a movie that is simply too much of a downer.  

Gold (2017) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Stephen Gaghan

Starring:  Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Bruce Greenwood, Craig T. Nelson

Gold is passably enjoyable, with Matthew McConaughey diving headlong into near total physical transformation mode as Kenny Wells, a down and out prospector who strikes gold in the Indonesian jungle.     Wells is not pleasant to look at.    With a thinning hairline, crooked teeth, and a paunch so pronounced we figure Kenny is due to give birth any second now, we assume McConaughey was playing a real person and trying to look like the man himself.     It turns out Kenny Wells is a fictional character and Gold is loosely, loosely based on a magazine article about a mining company that went belly up in the late '90s, nearly ten years after the period in which Gold is based.  

Since Wells is fictional anyway, why did McConaughey put himself through this?    The character is not unlike many down-on-his-luck hotshots we have seen over the years.    McConaughey's transformation is distracting.     He has enough scenes in his skivvies to show us the paunch isn't prosthetic, but he would have been better off developing a real person instead of developing his waistline.     McConaughey is great at the gift of gab and high energy characters.     He does more here with what he is given than many actors might have, but in the end do we really care enough about Kenny to go through the perfunctory highs and lows he ultimately encounters? 

As Gold opens in the early 1980s, Kenny runs Washoe Mining Company in Reno with his father (Nelson).    It is a family business and business is good, until suddenly it isn't.    The ores dry up and Kenny and a few members of his loyal staff keep the company barely afloat by working out of a bar.    Kenny has a sweet waitress girlfriend named Kay (Howard), who sticks by him and lets the staff conduct business from the bar booths.     Kenny is rarely seen without a cigarette in his mouth or a drink in his hand.     These devices give him something to do with his hands, but soon I found myself fearing for his lungs and liver.   

In a last ditch effort to save the company, Kenny hooks up with geologist Michael Accosta (Ramirez), who used to have a knack for finding precious metals in places others don't, but who like Kenny is also in a slump.    They agree to raise funds to dig up some of the Indonesian jungle where Kenny dreamed he found gold.     After nearly going broke and battling malaria, Michael and Kenny indeed hit gold and Washoe is now back in business.     The gold, and the money, flow into the coffers endlessly.    The company's resurrection does not escape Wall Street's attention, and soon investment bankers are banging down the door wanting in on the riches.

We know the ride won't last forever, mostly because the scenes of prosperity are intercut with Kenny spilling his guts to the feds.     A movie in which the hero strikes it rich and stays rich would not be anyone's idea of intriguing, so we await the inevitable moment where the bottom drops out.     It does, but not without some scenarios in which Kenny nearly loses everything only to pull a sweet deal out of his ass.    These are the false alarms.     The real crisis involves betrayal from someone whom Kenny never expected to betray him.    Only the person only kind of, sort of betrays him, which allows for a happy ending that feels tacked on.     We don't believe a person who would go through the trouble of destroying the hero's dreams would suddenly do what he does.   

Gold is similar to War Dogs (2016), another movie based on true events about a company that strikes it big in arms deals only to have it all go to hell swiftly.    War Dogs worked better because it took the time to create some desperate characters whose motives we can understand.     Gold is more like gold dust; shiny on the outside but mostly superficial.     With all of that said, I enjoyed stretches of the film anyway, mostly because a cautionary tale we've seen numerous times since Wall Street is played out with some style and energy.     But it never transcends into something truly special.

F/X (1986) * * *

Directed by:  Robert Mandel

Starring:  Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, Mason Adams, Cliff De Young, Jerry Orbach, Diane Venora

F/X was a film that underperformed at the box office, but found new life on home video and people such as myself discovered and appreciated it.    We are immediately drawn in as Rollie Tyler (Brown), a movie special effects wizard, is hired by the government to fake the death of its star witness in a mob trial, mobster Nick DeFranco (Orbach).    Through makeup, prosthetics, and some phony bullets, Rollie pulls off the job, but is quickly targeted for death by the treacherous agents who don't want to leave any loose ends.    Oh, and there be an even more sinister plot involving DeFranco's Swiss bank account hiding millions in stolen mob money.

So, we have some intriguing movie conventions already in place, including the innocent man being hunted by the government.    Rollie needs to use his wits, expertise, and ingenuity to turn the tables, which he does in satisfying fashion.     Brown, an Australian actor also featured in Along Came Polly and Cocktail, is just right as our hero.     We can sympathize with this generally nice guy who is able to summon the tools of his trade to defeat the villains.     He isn't James Bond, but he can handle himself in a fight.   

Also on the trail is NYPD detective Leo McCarthy (Dennehy), who has been after DeFranco for years and slowly begins to piece together that all is not as it seems with Rollie or the agents led by the shadowy Col. Mason (Adams), who hides his villainy under a façade of pleasantness and cooperation.      Assisting Mason is Lipton (De Young), who has the knack for appearing trustworthy and flattering long enough to lure in Rollie.     Yes, there are chases, fights, and things blowing up, but they all lead to a showdown in Mason's mansion which completely thwarts his plans.    I'm sure he is sorry he ever crossed paths with Rollie Tyler.    "You forget why you hired me," Rollie tells Mason.   

Rollie has seemingly endless props and tricks at his disposal.    Since he runs a movie special effects company, this is not unbelievable.     Dennehy takes a character we have seen countless times (the disheveled, drunk cop who gets one last shot at redemption) and makes it fresh.    Adams and De Young are indeed effective bad guys.      And then you have the visual props that befuddle and in some cases kill the baddies.     If you wonder where Kevin McAllister got his ideas for beating the burglars in Home Alone, I would think this film might have been an inspiration.   

Julie and Julia (2009) * * *

Directed by:  Nora Ephron

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, Chris Messina

Julie and Julia is about two women half a century apart who discover their passions and find their identities through cooking.    It doesn't sound thrilling, I know, but the movie is sweet and likable regardless.     Mostly because we like Meryl Streep and Amy Adams so much, plus the food looks scrumptious.

Streep plays the famed chef Julia Child, who became so popular on TV at one point her voice and face were instantly recognizable.    Dan Aykroyd lampooned her masterfully on Saturday Night Live.    The Julie of the title is Julie Powell (Adams), an aspiring writer who creates a blog and sets a goal to cook all 524 recipes in Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in 365 days.   The ingredients alone must have cost a fortune.   

Julia's story starts in early 1950s Paris.   She is married to Paul Child, a diplomat who adores her.     She takes up cooking for something to do and ends up being a natural chef.     Julia decides to write a cookbook, which goes through years of edits, rewrites, and moves all over Europe before it is finally published.     Julie's story starts in 2002 Queens, where she lives with her husband Eric (Messina) in a small apartment above a pizzeria.     Julie hates her job as a telephone customer service agent and longs to be a writer.     Her new blog gives her a chance to follow her two passions:  Writing and cooking.    While Julia's passion does not harm her relationship with Paul, Julie's quest puts a strain on her marriage to Eric.    He even walks out for a few days in protest of her single-minded obsession.

We follow these two intriguing and intercutting stories .    Streep has Child's voice and mannerisms down flawlessly, though the movie does some nice camera trickery to make her stand 6'2".    Because Julie is played by the effortlessly likable Amy Adams, we find Julie effortlessly likable, even when she has occasional breakdowns because she burns the chicken or the beef needs salt.     We like the actresses, so we buy into their stories more than if they were played by less agreeable stars. 

Streep earned one of her gaggle of Oscar nominations for Best Actress for this film.    Her career is nothing short of amazing.    Ever since she debuted in 1977's Julia (oddly enough), her career has never had a downswing.    She is a miraculous talent.     I also find Amy Adams one of the best and brightest actresses of the past decade, which I'm sure I've repeated often in reviews of her films.      Julie and Julia uses their talents to full effect and helps create a sweet, light story which made me hungry for some of Julia Child's chicken dishes. 

89th Academy Awards Nominees and Predictions

The nominations are hot off the presses.    I prefer to make my picks before other awards shows begin.     It is a true test of my prognostication skills, which over the fpst few years hasn't been great.  These predictions are best on what way I feel the Academy will vote, not on my personal preferences.

Actor in a Leading Role

Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea)
Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge)
Ryan Gosling (La La Land)
Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic)
Denzel Washington (Fences)

Prediction:    Casey Affleck.    In a very tight race with Ryan Gosling, also a Golden Globe winner like Affleck.   

Actor in a Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)
Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals)

Prediction:    Mahershala Ali.    His performance casts a long shadow over Moonlight and it is quiet and brilliant.     Michael Shannon is a surprise nominee here.    His castmate, Aaron Taylor Johnson, won a Golden Globe in this category but was shut out of a nomination.

Actress in a Leading Role

Isabelle Huppert (Elle)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Natalie Portman (Jackie)
Emma Stone (La La Land)
Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins)

Prediction:   Emma Stone.    She sings and the camera loves her.    Huppert won a surprise Golden Globe, but only a handful of actors have won Oscars for foreign language roles.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Viola Davis (Fences)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Nicole Kidman (Lion)
Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures)
Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea)

Prediction:   Viola Davis.    A slam dunk.    My personal choice would be Michelle Williams, who has some very powerful scenes in not nearly as much screen time as Davis, who I think should really be competing in the Lead Actress category. 

Directing

Denis Villeneuve (Arrival)
Mel Gibson (Hacksaw Ridge)
La La Land (Damien Chazelle)
Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea)
Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)

Prediction:   Damien Chazelle.    Won Golden Globe.   The movie has gained considerable momentum since its record award tally at the Globes.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight

Prediction:   Moonlight.    The WGA placed this in the original screenplay category, but since it was based on an unproduced play, the Academy placed Moonlight in this category.    It paves the way for a Moonlight win.  

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Hell or High Water
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
20th Century Women

Prediction:  Manchester by the Sea.    At first,  I thought this was a lock.    But with La La Land's momentum, maybe that will sneak in.    But I'll stick with my first instinct.  

Best Picture

Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Prediction:  La La Land.    Ties record with 14 nominations.    Hollywood loves movies about show business, especially in recent Best Picture wins.   (Argo, The Artist, Birdman, Chicago) 

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) * * *

Directed by:  Barry Levinson

Starring:  Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Bruno Kirby, JT Walsh, Noble Willingham, Chinatra Sukapatana, Thanh Tran, Robert Wuhl

Good Morning, Vietnam stars Robin Williams in a role he was born to play, which fits Williams' motormouth, rapid-fire style of verbal humor.    Here he is Air Force DJ Adrian Cronauer, based on a real person, who shakes loose from the strict conventions of Armed Forces Radio to deliver impersonations and comedy to the troops during the Vietnam War.   The radio station is in the demilitarized zone, but it isn't far from the eye of the hurricane.  Cronauer sees what is happening and uses humor as a way to protest that Americans are fighting a senseless war.

Cronauer's style perturbs his superiors, who would love nothing more than for him to stick to the format of playing the approved playlist of soft, "non-threatening" music like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.  Heaven forbid the troops want some relief from the peril they face every minute of the day.  Cronauer is forever being called on the carpet for his antics, which range from improvised radio bits to doctoring a taped interview of Richard Nixon which paints the then-former Vice President in an unflattering light.   One can picture Howard Stern putting his bosses through the same wringer decades later as he attempted to free radio from the constraints of convention.  One particularly funny scene involves one of the superiors (Kirby) attempting to fill the shoes of the suspended Cronauer over the protests of the radio staff.  "You're not funny, sir," the staff tells him to a man.  After a disastrously unfunny skit, the delusional Kirby says, "I think apologies are in order." 

Cronauer at first doesn't seem to let much get to him.  He is happy being a clown on the radio, but as he witnesses the violence surrounding him and his superiors' attempts to edit the news feeds to cover it up, Cronauer finds he can not abide this.  He befriends a Vietnamese woman (Sukapatana) and her younger brother (Tran), who at first seem innocuous, but may in fact be aViet Cong agent.  Cronauer so infuriates his big boss Sgt. Dickerson (Walsh) that Dickerson sends him on a news assignment through an area swarming with the Viet Cong.   Cronauer succinctly describes Dickerson as, "in need of a blow job than any white man I've ever met,"  

Williams was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role here.  I am of two minds about it.  The radio shtick is so close to Williams' stand-up style that I found myself numb to it after a while.  I am not a fan of Williams' stand-up, but I appreciate its uniqueness if that makes any sense at all.  In Good Morning, Vietnam, I appreciated the reasons behind Cronauer's humor more than I appreciated the humor itself.     I'm sure Williams' antics were largely improvised, which fits within the character's love of wacky improvisation.   But, Williams handles himself well in the transition scenes from clown to caring protester.  

Directed by Barry Levinson, who made the brilliant Tin Men earlier in 1987, Good Morning, Vietnam realizes that the bullets fired from both sides will negate each other.   There must be other methods used to point out the futility of war and how adherence to convention only compounds the problem.     Humor is among them.   Adrian Cronauer realized that and used it as the best weapon he had at his disposal to fight back.  

The Founder (2017) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  John Lee Hancock

Starring:  Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, BJ Novak, Patrick Wilson, Linda Cardellini

At the end of The Founder, Ray Kroc (Keaton) addresses the camera asking how a 52-year-old milk shake machine salesman could create the McDonald's empire.     He says "Persistence".    But that is only part of the story.    He also was ruthless, telling his partners, "If one of my competitors was drowning, I would stick a hose in his mouth,"     He asks his partners if they would do the same thing.    They said they would not.     The partners were Dick and Mac McDonald (Offerman and Lynch), who created the first McDonald's along with its unique hamburger building system in San Bernadino, CA, but were content to keep McDonald's local so they could maintain control of their standards.    Ray Kroc saw the dollar signs in franchising.    The rest is history. 

As The Founder opens, Kroc is a struggling milk shake machine salesman trying in vain to sell his machine to drive-in restaurants which have no interest.      He then stumbles across a large order of machines from McDonald's in San Bernadino.    Traveling cross country to pay them a visit, he is astonished to learn the McDonalds' precisely choreographed system for building the perfect burger and even more astonished that it takes thirty seconds to make deliver one after ordering.     Kroc enters into a contract with the brothers allowing him to franchise and off he goes.     The contract states that all changes and new ideas need to be go through the McDonalds, but as Ray eloquently states it as only he can, "Contracts, like hearts, are made to be broken,"    As McDonald's franchises open quicker than you can say "Big Mac", we see Kroc's vision far exceeds the McDonalds', but the contract is the contract...for now.

Ray is married to Ethel (Dern), who wishes Ray were home more and able to take her to dinner at the country club more often.     We all know she will be dumped, although I'm sure she was as taken aback as we were when Ray tells her matter-of-factly over dinner: "I want a divorce,"    Ray isn't one for sentimentality here either, refusing even to give his ex-wife even one share of McDonald's stock.    But, he does let her have the house and the cars.    Swell guy.   

Despite McDonald's growing number of franchises, Kroc himself is barely breaking even.    An accountant (Novak) who overhears Ray pleading with his bank to give him more time on his mortgage, looks at the books and determines Ray (who per the contract owes the McDonald's 1.4% of all profits from sales) should be buying up land to lease to potential franchisees.    He is correct, and Ray soon becomes a billionaire.      He becomes even less of a swell guy as he muscles his way out of his contract and ultimately screws the McDonalds over.

Ray Kroc, as depicted here, is not a wonderful guy and the movie does not attempt to explain or sentimentalize him, but it does understand him.     It makes no excuses for Kroc's ambition which swallows up everything in his path.    After years of failed business ventures, Kroc found something which would finally make him rich and important.     Nothing would stand in his way.    While still married to Ethel, he sets his sights on Joan (Cardellini), the wife of a Minnesota franchisee who has the same look in her eyes as Kroc does when discussing how to maximize profits.     She dreams up the idea of an ice cream-free milk shake, which horrifies the brothers, but could save franchisees oodles of cash on refrigeration costs.

The Founder's biggest strength is the Keaton performance.     Roger Ebert once described Keaton as an actor who can talk faster than many people can think.    He is correct.    Keaton approaches Kroc with zeal.    He doesn't ask for our sympathy when things go wrong and he doesn't expect applause when things go right.    He wants the audience to be in awe of his acumen, his nerve, and his ruthlessness.    We do feel for the McDonald brothers, who we know are slowly, but surely being edged out of the picture.    Dick and Mac stick to their business principles (sometimes to their detriment) and see Ray's visions as a personal affront, which we know will ultimately lead to their financial doom.    Principles don't have much use in Ray Kroc's world.    We cringe as, after all that has transpired, they agree to a handshake deal with Kroc on royalties we know will never materialize.     Keaton's trademark energy serves him well here.    We watch in fascination even if we don't approve of the methods.

Kroc eventually bought the San Diego Padres after retiring as McDonald's CEO in 1974.    He just wanted something to do with his time and money and McDonald's was already a world conquered.   It is a cruel twist of fate that Kroc died early in 1984, the same year in which the Padres would eventually go to the World Series for the first time in its history.     Or maybe it was the universe doing to Kroc what he did to the brothers all those years ago. 

Cobra (1986) * * *

 

Directed by:  George P. Cosmatos

 

Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson, Art LaFleur, Brian Thompson

 

Sylvester Stallone peppered in some movies in between the Rocky sequels and the Rambo films in the mid-1980s.     Cobra is probably the best of them.     The others that come to mind include Rhinestone (1984) and Over the Top (1987), both of which likely would be left off any Stallone career retrospectives.     In Cobra, Stallone is an LA cop who tracks a serial killer/member of a wider organization bent on killing many more people as part of "a new world".    The organization meets only at night and in poorly lit places.     Considering their overall objective of violence and chaos, this is probably wise.    Their agenda is ambitious, if unrealistic.   

 

Stallone plays Marion Cobretti (aka Cobra) with equal parts snarl and tough guy voice mimicking Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry.    Oddly, the guy who played the creep Harry blows away at the end of Dirty Harry also plays a cop here.   Cobra wears sunglasses and is forever wearing a five o'clock shadow while chewing on a toothpick, but he has a soft spot for a potential victim he must protect (Nielsen), who was Stallone's real-life wife at the time.   And he doesn't like guys leaning on his car.    "It's bad for your health," he tells such an offender.   The guy cockily responds, "What?"   Cobra replies, "Me."   

 

Many of the other actors play the straight man to Cobra's one liners.    ("You're a disease, I'm the cure").    But he has a nice, familiar rhythm with his partner Gonzalez (Santoni), who is just about the opposite of Cobra in every way, including a love for sweets.     Ingrid, the aforementioned potential victim, is also able to get Cobra to let his guard down in one of the few quiet scenes the movie contains.     The rest involves car chases, guns, knife play, and fistfights, plus a baddie who meets his end in one of those factories or mills where sparks fly around and molten liquid is just a few feet away.    The place is helpfully vacant as Cobra chases the guy there and they have their fight.    There is also a large hook that doesn't seem to serve any other purpose except for someone to eventually be impaled on it.  

 

Such movies are inherently silly.    If you are looking for realism or originality, you've arrived at the wrong movie.    But, Cobra is actually paced well and is better than your average shoot-'em-up.   The villains are evil  I would surely watch this over Rocky IV, Rocky V, or Rambo II or III, if that makes the makers of Cobra feel any better.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Robert Benton

 

Starring:  Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander, Howard Duff

 

Life gets very messy very quickly for Ted Kramer (Hoffman), an advertising executive with a new account which will require more time at the office.     He thinks his home life is covered, until his wife Joanna (Streep) informs him she is leaving him and their seven-year old son Billy (Henry) to find herself.     She is clearly unhappy in the marriage and with Ted's workaholic ways, but he doesn't seem to recognize this.     He seems more upset that he will now have to walk his son to school than he does with his wife walking out.     It isn't that Ted is a bad father or even an absentee one.     He took Joanna and Billy for granted as he plunged into work, but now he will have to assume both roles as caregiver and breadwinner.    He nearly melts down while making French toast for Billy the next morning, so we see he has a long way to go.

 

Kramer vs. Kramer is not a movie of the week nor is it a family comedy.    It is a genuine, moving drama about how people change in the face of upheaval in their lives.     Ted goes from not knowing what grade his son is in to blossoming into a loving, present parent.     Joanna disappears from the scene before returning to reclaim her son.     A custody battle ensues, which gets nasty and expensive, but there is little doubt that both parents love their son and want what is best for him.    Kramer vs. Kramer sees all sides of the issues it presents.     It doesn't go for easy payoffs nor, as the title may suggest, forces us to choose sides.     We are able to see why both Joanna and Ted are right and why they are also wrong.

Since Joanna disappears for the first half of the movie, we witness Ted and Billy learn to understand each other again.     They bond so well that, in the film's penultimate scene, they make French toast together completely unlike Ted's first try earlier.     We see them evolve and grow.    We see Joanna evolve and grow into a woman she is happier being.    There are no about faces in which Ted and Joanna fall back in love.    Joanna begins to understand herself and the situation so well that she makes a crucial decision for the best interests of all.     It is unexpected, but makes sense.    And it is kind of a happy ending.

Hoffman and Streep both won Oscars for their portrayals of two people trying to find their way through a tough situation.     It would be easy for us to side with Ted, but we see how Ted is more concerned with work than his family, so we can't necessarily blame Joanna.    In the middle is Billy, played by Oscar nominee Justin Henry with complete ease and naturalness.    He is an eight year old who understands some things, accepts others, but wonders in the dead of night why his mother left.    Ted explains it to him in perhaps the most introspective moment of his life.     It is a powerful, quiet scene of pure truth.

Ted's work suffers because he now has to juggle his roles.    His boss is not unsympathetic to his plight, but he grows tired of having to explain Ted's sloppy work and missed deadlines to his superiors.     Ted can't be all things to all people anymore.     His priorities gradually shift and we see this happen before our eyes.     The movie takes its time with Ted's changes.    We also see family friend Margaret (Alexander) who is going through a divorce of her own.      She instinctively sympathizes with the whole situation and acts as an audience surrogate in a way.   

Kramer vs. Kramer feels real and handles its themes with the complexity they deserve.     In real life, a divorce is among the most painful and complex situations one can encounter.     Even if it is best for all involved, sometimes it sure doesn't feel that way. 



 

 

 

 

Moonlight (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Barry Jenkins

Starring:  Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Alex R. Hibbert, Andre Holland, Janelle Monae, Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Trevante Rhodes

We first meet Chiron as a young boy nicknamed "Little" (Hibbert).    He is smaller than the other kids and bullied, although not just because he is little.     When the local drug dealer Juan (Ali) first meets Little, he finds him cowering in an abandoned apartment complex.    Little doesn't speak much and his mother isn't home, so Juan takes him for a bite to eat.     Yes, Juan is a drug dealer and controls the streets of his Miami neighborhood, but he takes on a paternal role with Little.    He takes him to his nice home where his wife Teresa (Monae) feeds Little and offers him a room for the night.    Juan returns Little home the next morning to his mother Paula (Harris), who appears at first to be a working mother but we soon learn is a crack addict who buys her drugs on Juan's territory.

Ali is likely to garner an Oscar nomination as Juan and it is well deserved should it happen.    We see the nurturing, paternal side of Juan (who appears to have no children of his own) as he teaches Little how to swim and has heartfelt conversations with him.    Little asks him point blank, "What is a faggot?"  We know Little has been called that often.   Juan's response is not typical of macho street hustlers looking to maintain his cred.    His answer is more sensitive and even perhaps more evolved.    Ali is masterful at showing us the conflict that must exist in him at all times.     We understand that the kindly father figure to Little is also the same man who rules his neighborhood ruthlessly.    He encounters Paula smoking crack in a car and their conversation about Little's well-being is heartbreaking.     Watch the scene where Little puts two and two together that Juan deals drugs and his mother is a drug user.    Watch the shame on Juan's face.     It is immensely powerful.

The movie suffers a bit when Juan leaves the scene.    We soon see Little grow to be Chiron (Sanders), a high school age boy still being bullied over his sexuality.    His mother is now a full-blown addict with little hope.    Teresa is still the sanctuary for Chiron and she picks up where Juan left off as a surrogate parent.     Chiron is still lost, unsure how to deal with his sexuality and the bullies who torment him daily.    He finds a friend in Keith (Rhodes), who puts on a macho front but we clearly see is attracted to Chiron.     The feeling is mutual and the two share an intimate moment on a beach at night.    Their relationship takes a downward turn as peer pressure on Keith forces him to attack Chiron, who nobly does not fight back.

The third act involves Chiron as a grown man called Black (Jerome), who is now a drug dealer himself.    He wear the gold chains and a golden grill in his mouth, but we sense his loneliness.    A call out of the blue from Keith sets the stage for the film's final resolution between Keith and Black.    Keith is now a cook, although still has 18 months of probation left, and sees hope for the future.    Black sees a dead end as a low level hoodlum.     Their meeting is a bit long-winded, but depends more on what isn't said for its power.

Writer-director Jenkins grew up in Miami and the film captures the lush greens and sunshine while the characters' desperation lurks under the surface.     We see three different actors play Chiron in three stages of his life.     In each actor's performance, we see the telltale signs of fear and pain in the eyes.     Three actors give one seamless portrayal of this boy who is never truly able to fit in.    We also see the calm and peace in the adult Keith's (Holland) eyes when he talks to Black.     He has come to terms with who he is and is finally at peace at long last.    He only hopes Black, whom he still loves, can be at peace as well.  

Jenkins' film was relatively inexpensive to make, but it never comes across as cheaply made.     I do wish the final encounter between Keith and Black was trimmed by a few minutes to condense its raw emotion.     I would have liked to have seen more of Juan, especially as an older man still looking after the boy he once knew as Little who grew up to be a man who followed in his footsteps, which I think Juan would definitely disapprove of.     But, Moonlight has enough moments of insight and genuine strength to be a unique look at a black man who grows up in an uber-masculine society, ultimately learns to play by its rules, but still frets because happiness eludes him. 

La La Land (2016) * * *

Directed by:  Damien Chazelle

Starring:  Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, John Legend, JK Simmons, Rosemarie DeWitt

The first 20 minutes or so of La La Land were not promising.     The opening dance number on a jam-packed LA freeway reminded me of one of those unwelcome musical numbers you see on Oscar telecasts.     You know, the ones you wish would end so they could give out some awards?     I thought I was in for a harkening back to the glory days of movie musicals that no one was clamoring for.     But, then once La La Land got down to business, it engaged me.     Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have a nice, unforced chemistry, are passable singers, and we find ourselves immersed in their journey.     That, and the musical and dance numbers became fewer and far between.

Gosling and Stone (in their third movie pairing following 2011's Crazy Stupid Love and the forgettable Gangster Squad (2013) are Sebastian and Mia, a struggling jazz pianist and actress, respectively, whose dreams of stardom are dying on the vine.    Sebastian is a jazz purist, which means he pauses when a former bandmate (Legend) asks him to join his jazz fusion group which may, gasp, actually become popular.    Mia is a barista on the Warner Brothers studio lot who frequently serves movie stars and is so close, yet so far, from being in the movies herself.     Her auditions don't usually go well.     Most times, the casting agents can't be bothered to look up from their cell phones.     The constant rejection is eroding Mia's confidence and smile, which Sebastian helps to restore after a few false starts to their relationship.

Sebastian dreams of opening a pure jazz club where "real jazz" lives and breathes.    In the interim, he is forced to take gigs as a lounge piano player in which the owner (Simmons) insists he play Christmas songs and as a keyboard player in an 80s cover band.     To say Sebastian looks unhappy playing these gigs is a true understatement.     He and Mia have a few near misses before finally becoming a couple pursuing their individual dreams.     Things are good at first, but once Sebastian joins his friend's band and tours nonstop, the relationship suffers and the two drift apart.     We care for Sebastian and Mia.     They emerge as smart, unique individuals who are perfect for each other if only they can fully see it.

The final act goes in directions we don't necessarily anticipate.    It involves a good deal of unselfishness on Sebastian's part to help Mia even as their relationship is on the rocks.    We are moved by how much they care for one another.     Mia matter-of-factly states, "I will always love you,".     Her line reading here is perfect.     She and Sebastian seem to understand and accept that the fulfillment of their dreams may not necessarily include each other.    Each may have to go on his or her own path.    Are they willing to do this and forsake their relationship?    The final fantasy montage of what might have been shows that they may, but there will always be regret and winsome longing attached to it.    

La La Land is a musical study of dreams deferred and dreams achieved, with side effects that include broken hearts and broken relationships.    This is essentially a two-character movie, with Gosling and Stone playing people we grow to care for and even love.    Writer/director Chazelle, like in Whiplash (2014), poses questions about what someone would be willing to endure in the quest for fame and art.     The film is visually stunning, with bright colors and sunshine sometimes belying the pain underneath.     What would have made La La Land a truly great film?    No songs or dance numbers, I'd say. 

Collateral Beauty (2016) * * 1/2

Directed by:  David Frankel

Starring:  Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley, Naomie Harris, Michael Pena, Jacob Latimore, Ann Dowd

Soon after filming wrapped, I picture the cast and crew of Collateral Beauty predicting how many, Oscar nominations would be bestowed on them and the film.   After all, look at the cast and look at the story.  How could it miss?   Critical reviews to date and disappointing box office suggest that they should all sleep in on the morning the nominations are announced.   The film has been called shamelessly manipulative and hokey, but while it isn't a total success, it nearly works.  Sometimes it is OK for a movie to jerk some tears with a story of grief and finally accepting loss.   It is no Manchester by the Sea, but then again, most movies aren't.

Will Smith stars as Howard Inlet, who three years ago was on top of the world as the big boss at a rising Manhattan advertising firm.     His partners Whit (Norton), Claire (Winslet), and Simon (Pena) were all raking in the big bucks and life was good.    Fast forward three years and things suck.    Howard is now a shell of a man after losing his daughter to illness.    Whit is now divorced and living with his mother.   Claire is hearing the ticking of her biological clock and wants to adopt a baby.   Simon has a telltale cough that could only mean bad things for him.

Howard's three partners are concerned for him, but are more concerned that the firm is suffering financially.   Howard couldn't care less, but the partners see a lucrative deal on the horizon to sell the firm at a substantial profit.   They see Howard forever building intricate rows and rows of dominoes only to knock them down.   They think he may be mentally unstable and thus be forced to forfeit his controlling interest in the company if he is found to be insane.   How to do this?     By hiring a private eye to tail him and dig up dirt.   What dirt?  Well, Howard writes three unaddressed letters to Time, Death, and Love.  He is pissed at all three concepts and writes letters to express this.    The letters are retrieved and after encountering a pretty actress at an audition for one of the firm's ad campaigns, Whit has a brainstorm.     Hire three actors to play Time, Death, and Love and have them talk to Howard.    The meetings will be secretly recorded and, after some nifty editing, the videos will make Howard appear insane.    Lovely.

The actors are Amy (Knightley), who will play Love.   Raffi (Latimore), who plays Time.   And then Brigitte (Mirren), who will play Death.  They agree to play the roles in exchange for hefty sums which will help them produce a future play.   It should come as no surprise that Time, Death, and Love are paired up with the partners who seem to need them more than Howard does.   Also helping Howard on his journey is Madeline (Harris), who runs a grief therapy session because she too lost a child.   They became friends and, if not for their inner turmoil, would be able to develop something deeper.

The movie itself feels like a Hallmark Movie of the Week with an A-list cast that made its way to the big screen.    There are plot twists indeed; one of which is fairly obvious and one which was a bit surprising and touching.    Is Collateral Beauty manipulative and after a cheap tear?     Yes, but it isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world.     The actors give much better performances than the material deserves and everyone in one way or another has his/her problem solved at the end.     Collateral Beauty isn't deep, although it thinks it is, and critics have been raking it over the coals for being a shameless tearjerker.     But, I've seen a lot worse.     Sometimes critics have a way of piling on. 

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Kirk Jones

 

Starring:  Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine, Louis Mandylor, Joey Fatone, Andrea Martin, Elena Kampouris

 

I didn't like the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), so why did I think I would enjoy the sequel which no one was clamoring for?     I guess because with movies, you never know.    But, I soon realized My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 would contain all of the elements that made the first one so annoying.     Both movies manage to stretch their one joke well beyond any plausibility.     The joke:   How meddlesome, but loving, the Greek family of both films is.     They absolutely run roughshod over poor Toula (Vardalos) and her maddeningly passive husband Ian (Corbett), whom she married in the first film.     You would think in the ensuing years between films that Ian would have found a way to run away from this family as fast he could, but that requires energy.     Poor Ian, like Toula, are more like textbook cases of Stockholm Syndrome.

 

Toula and Ian are back, with a high school senior age daughter who is debating whether to go away to college and leave her family behind.     Toula and Ian want her to stay put.     The daughter, Paris (Kampouris) isn't so sure.     And for good reason.    Her extended family seems to show up at every function and high school event as one big mass of humanity.     They huddle so close together that the concept of personal space is lost on them.     They all (usually at least six people) run towards the object of their affection with their arms outstretched like one big blob.     The victim, er, family member reacts to this with the repulsion of someone having his face licked by a dog when he doesn't like dogs.  

 

There is more.    It turns out Toula's parents (Kazan and Constantine) were never legally married since the priest who performed the ceremony didn't sign the marriage certificate.     The mother isn't sure she wants to remarry her husband of 50 years since he is a lunatic who (like in the first film) sprays Windex on everything to clean, even things that Windex likely would not work on.    But, since the words "Greek wedding" are in the title, we know they will come around and marry.     Ugh.

 

Paris seems like a sensible girl who knows her family is smothering and has a chance to break the cycle of having her life ruled by these loud maniacs.    Her mother and father simply accept their family with the patience of saints, even when their behavior is completely unacceptable.     Also, Toula's brother may or may not be gay.    And Pop's long lost brother appears.    Trying to shoehorn these subplots into this mess is a fool's errand, but Vardalos (who wrote the script) tries.

 

The final half hour or so cuts back and forth between Paris' prom and the wedding, both of which were scheduled for the same day, (much to Paris' relief, I'm sure).    You would think that Paris' prom coinciding with the wedding day would cause Toula to suggest rescheduling by one day or so.    There is a contrived stall in the nuptials which only serves to delay the inevitable wedding and reception.      Oh, and there is Pop's obsession with the possibility that he is a direct descendant of Alexander the Great.    I'm sure Alexander would be thrilled that one of his descendants is a guy who sprays Windex on everything.  

 

 

Marathon Man (1976) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  John Schlesinger

Starring:  Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller

Columbia graduate student Thomas "Babe" Levy (Hoffman) finds himself in the middle of a plot he knows nothing about and has to think (or shoot) his way out of it.    Marathon Man, a skilled, taut thriller, reteams Dustin Hoffman with his Midnight Cowboy director John Schlesinger and functions like a nightmare.   Babe is a troubled student, haunted by his father's suicide when he was a boy, whose life seems to be turning a corner when he begins a romance with a Swiss beauty named Elsa (Keller).    But, one night, his visiting brother Doc (Scheider) dies from a nasty knife wound in his apartment, and Babe is suddenly chased by government agents and Christian Szell (Olivier), an escaped Nazi concentration camp dentist looking to claim his late brother's diamonds he'll use to continue financing his exile in South America.   Are the agents CIA?   FBI?    They appear to represent a shadowy organization, called The Division, which takes on jobs the CIA or FBI won't touch.

The sides are blurred and everyone but Babe and Szell seems to be switching sides all of the time.    The conflict is soon between Babe and Szell, who, in the famous torture scene, repeatedly and coldly asks Babe, "Is it safe?" while drilling holes in his teeth.   Babe doesn't know what the question means and Szell doesn't much care.   He appears to have waited a long time to use his dental tools again.    Doc, if he were alive, would be better suited to answer the question of safety.  Babe thinks his brother is in the oil industry, but Doc is in fact part of the plot to protect Szell and act as a courier for the diamonds.  

The movie places Babe in an instantly sympathetic light as an innocent man accused, a "babe in the woods" if you will.    Maybe that is why he is called Babe.  He was just starting to discover happiness for the first time in a long time when he meets the sultry, alluring Elsa.   Doc meets Elsa at lunch with his brother and lays a trap for her to catch her in a lie. Is she what she seems?  In a movie like this, you can never be too sure.

There was a famous off-camera conversation between Hoffman and Olivier in which Hoffman put himself through physical hell, including running for miles and staying up for days, to play the role of Babe, who seems to vent his frustrations by running endlessly through the streets of New York .    Oliver reportedly (and playfully) said to Hoffman, "Why not try acting?  It's much easier,"    Regardless of Hoffman's off-screen preparations, he is right for the role.   As he teeters on physical exhaustion while running away from the bad guys, he is never less than convincing.   He also takes what could have been a one-dimensional role and peppers in some human elements of grief and pain from a past that continues to haunt him. 

Olivier received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Szell.    By definition, a Nazi is already shorthand for evil, but Olivier takes it to another level.  He is cold, remorseless, and wields a knife with deadly accuracy.   We sense he represents the Nazi pathology in general:  Someone who is able to put aside human decency to carry out the systematic torture and murder of millions.    Olivier's performance is all the more effective because he never seems to have any inflection.    All of his words and utterances are menacing and calculated.   It is an ironic twist that his next Oscar nomination came two years later playing a Jewish Nazi hunter in The Boys from Brazil (1978), someone who would likely target Szell for capture.  

Marathon Man works as a merciless thriller, made in 1976 when escaped Nazis could still reasonably pose a threat to innocents.    Even if plot points are sometimes murky, the overall tone is nightmarish.    Many people fear being chased and hunted for reasons unknown to them.    There is no way to reason or arbitrate yourself out of the situation.    It is scary and in some ways, Marathon Man seems almost like a horror film.  

Superbad (2007) * 1/2

Directed by:  Greg Mottola

Starring:  Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone, Bill Hader, Martha MacIsaac

Superbad has one funny joke in it, a fake ID with the name "McLovin" on it.    No first name.    Just "McLovin".   The teen who had the ID created was supposed to use it to buy booze for a party, but this development may ruin the entire plan.     Before and after that, Superbad is a slog through wild parties, bodily fluids flying everywhere, and the requisite amount of slapstick humor.     Jammed in there somewhere is a supposedly touching dynamic of two lifelong friends who will soon part ways after being accepted to different colleges.     That is suppose to somehow give Superbad a heart.    We need more than a heart to bail out this mess.

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, (Rogen also plays a cop in the film), the film no doubt has autobiographical underpinnings which would've been interesting if the movie chose to touch on them for longer than 10 seconds.     Make no mistake, Superbad is a gross-out teen comedy designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator.     Comedies like these are very tricky.    Most times, they are simply gratuitous and we grow weary of having to flinch in repulsion instead of, you know, laughing.

Seth (Hill) and Evan (Cera) are the lifelong friends soon to be separated since they will be going to different schools in the fall.     There are only a few weeks left until graduation and the two guys would like to make a move from being unpopular geeks to popular party animals.    Seth has the hots for Jules (Stone), while Cera has had a crush on Becca (MacIsaac) since grade school.     If there was a time to try and hook up, now would be it.     Their mutual friend Fogell (Mintz-Plasse) is tasked with securing a fake ID and helping them buy booze to endear them to their potential girlfriends.     Fogell, of course, comes back with the McLovin ID and things go awry.   

After this setup, the movie flies off the rails in a hurry.    McLovin is knocked out by a thief who robs the liquor store just as he is about to get away with using the ID.    The two cops who respond to the call (Rogen and Hader) inexplicably choose to bring Fogell, er, McLovin along for a ride in their squad car as they go about their shift.    The cops explain their actions later, but, the explanation still doesn't make much sense.     I know I'm barking up the wrong tree by expecting Superbad to make sense.

Seth and Evan have problems of their own.    Seth is accidentally hit by a car and the driver chooses to make it up to him by bringing him to a party and allowing him to walk off with some booze, which also doesn't go as planned.      Superbad becomes one huge morass of complications and not much else.    Seth and Evan try to open their hearts to each other and their intended girls, but these scenes don't feel like they belong in the same movie.    

It would be a relief to say that Seth Rogen has moved on from such fare as Superbad, either as writer, producer, or star, but, aside from occasional movies like Steve Jobs, Rogen is content to stick to the same tired routine.     I picture him really amusing himself writing movies like Superbad.    In 2007, he did what he had to do to get his foot in the door in Hollywood.     But, nearly 10 years later, he is still making the same immature junk like The Night Before.     I would like to seem him grow.    Jonah Hill has stretched himself and received two Oscar nominations for Moneyball (2011) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).    Surely, Rogen can too, if he could just stop cracking himself up. 


  

Juno (2007) * *

Directed by:  Jason Reitman

Starring:  Ellen Page, Michael Cera, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, Olivia Thirlby, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner

I gave Juno MacGuff two chances now; nearly 10 years between viewings.    My initial opinion of her was that she was entirely too snarky and too cool for the room to generate any sympathy when she inevitably transitioned into the "Look at me, I'm really as scared and vulnerable as everyone else" phase of her character.    Upon second viewing, my opinion of her has not changed.     This is not a good thing.     Juno, the character, is not as openly abrasive as some movie comedy protagonists, but she rarely seems human.     She is so confident while navigating through her pregnancy that we can only surmise she took an advance look at the script.

Ellen Page, Oscar-nominated for her role here, plays the 16-year-old Juno who is 16 going on 35.    Roger Ebert gushed over Page's performance, writing in his 2007 review, "She is going to be one of the great actors of her time."    Even Roger Ebert, great as he was, could get carried away from time to time.     Page is a capable actress, but her character is doomed by an Oscar-winning screenplay by Diablo Cody that is more concerned with showing how witty it is than developing Juno into a real person.     Juno never comes across as a real human being, but instead a vessel to recite Cody's dialogue. 

Juno MacGuff becomes pregnant after seducing her pal Paulie (Cera), a high school track star taken aback by Juno's initiative.    Juno at first decides to have an abortion, but then backs out to instead have the child and give it up for adoption.    She locates a married couple, Vanessa and Mark Loring (Garner and Bateman), who wish to adopt.    All seems well, except that Vanessa and Mark aren't as happy as they appear and Juno truly begins to develop feelings for Paulie, who may be the luckiest teen father in history because Juno does not want his involvement.    Life goes on for him while Juno undergoes the ups and downs of pregnancy,   ("You don't have the reminder of our experiment under your sweater,")  

She then insults Paulie's potential prom date by calling her Soupy Sales because she makes weird faces.    What teenager in 2007 America would possibly know who Soupy Sales was?    This is one of many times in which Cody's script resembles a group of obscure references as opposed to a screenplay.    I have no doubt Cody would know who Soupy Sales was, or Iggy and the Stooges for that matter, but would Juno MacGuff, a teen in 2000s Minnesota?

Juno is populated by infinitely more interesting than its eponymous protagonist.    J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney play Juno's grounded, reasonable parents.    Garner and Bateman are a seemingly perfect couple in a seemingly perfect home with plenty of tensions underneath that threaten to implode the entire adoption.      Paulie is a teen who loves Juno even if she doesn't love him at first.   
The biggest problem with Juno is, well, Juno herself.  



.  

Hidden Figures (2016) * *

Directed by:  Theodore Melfi

Starring:  Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, Glen Powell

There were indeed three African-American women who were pioneers in their time with NASA during the early days of the space race.    With Jim Crow laws still on the books and Martin Luther King turning up the heat in his quest for civil rights, Kathleen Goble (Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Monae) became firsts for not just African American women, but women in general at NASA.    With all of these potentially stirring stories to tell, it is a pity that Hidden Figures didn't work much for me.     The tools were all there.    The performances are strong, but it all doesn't build to a moving experience.    

We see a brief expository on the childhood of Kathleen, whose gift for mathematics was discovered early on.    The movie then jumps to 1961 Virginia, where Kathleen, Dorothy, and Mary are broken down on the side of the road.    A police officer stops by to see what is going on.    The women show their NASA id's and are soon given a police escort.    To paraphrase one of the characters, the thought of three black women chasing a police car through rural Virginia roads is something of a minor miracle in the 1961 South.

The women work in the Colored Computer Lab at NASA, where Dorothy works as the de facto supervisor without the pay or the title.    She is forever at odds with her boss Vivian Michael (Dunst), who masks her racism under the guise of "following rules" and "my hands are tied."    Ditto for Paul Stafford (Parsons), who is Katherine's supervisor when she is assigned to perform complex computations for the voyages of Alan Shepard and John Glenn.    Paul wants to assume all credit for Katherine's work under the rules of "there is no protocol for (fill in the blank)".    Katherine has a clever retort, "There is no protocol for sending someone into space either,"    Dunst and Parsons do what they can with these thankless roles in which they play rigid white people whose function is to create roadblocks to be overcome.

Kathleen is forced to rush a half-mile across campus to use the Colored Ladies Room, set to the music of an upbeat rock tune of the day.    We see this sequence four times by my count when once would have sufficed.     There is also a scene in which the ladies drink and let loose by dancing all over the living room which we've seen so many times now.    Such scenes have lost their effectiveness.   

The overseer of the flight plans for Glenn (Powell) and Alan Shepard is Al Harrison (Costner), who gradually grows to understand Katherine's gifts.    Costner is at home in roles as a wise mentor.   We learn he is a composite character, but Costner carries off the role with conviction.     I would advise him to stay away from movies like Criminal and 3 Days to Kill and instead embrace the juicier roles like this one that showcase his intelligence and charisma.     Henson, Spencer, and Monae are all strong as well.    That is to be expected considering their pedigree.    Spencer is an Oscar winner, while Henson was a nominee for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.   

So why is Hidden Figures a ho-hum experience?    Perhaps because there are too many scenes of Kathleen writing equations which take up all of the available space on the blackboard and, after approval from the bosses, the equations are used by NASA and Katherine beams.    This isn't very moving or cinematic, probably because no attempt is really made to have us understand what is being calculated and why.     We are just supposed to be happy because Katherine is.

There is also the critical scene in which John Glenn was forced to truncate his planned 7 orbits around the Earth due to a perceived heat shield malfunction.    We see Glenn re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and enter radio blackout.    The world waits for Glenn to hopefully come out of blackout in one piece.    This is similar ground covered in the superior Apollo 13 (1995), but I couldn't help but think that I've seen this all before.     Upon further research, it seemed the heat shield was fine, but the indicator light malfunctioned.   

Hidden Figures tries mightily to eke out a story here, but is there one that is compelling enough to be told?     I wondered why this story wasn't told before and now I think I know why.   

Passengers (2016) * 1/2

Directed by:  Morten Tyldum

Starring:  Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne

Passengers taxes the viewer's patience and then you realize there is so little to it.    It is thin soup and we are left underwhelmed.     It is unconvincing on nearly every level.     Sneaky little questions punched their way into my mind, which proved the movie simply wasn't working for me.     Questions such as:   How is a hibernating pod which is supposed to keep someone asleep for 120 years actually tested to see if it works?    Did the manufacturers of this gargantuan spaceship carrying 5,000 people plus crew to a new planet factor in the possibility of being struck by meteors and assorted space debris?    (Probably not).     If the crew and passengers of this ship were supposed to be asleep for all but four months of a 120-year journey, then why are all the lights on throughout the ship?   Questions, questions, and more questions.    The answers are not forthcoming.   

The movie opens with one of the ship's passengers, Jim Preston (Pratt), accidentally awakened from his hibernating pod after only 30 years into a 120-year journey.    It doesn't take long for Jim to figure that he is alone on this vast, sterile spaceship (complete with plenty of nice accommodations though) and awakened 90 years too soon.     He soon learns to have some fun with his lonely situation by learning how to have dance-off contests with hologram opponents and growing a massive Grizzly Adams beard.     It is fortunate for Jim a robot bartender named Arthur (Sheen) is on hand to keep him company, but I had to wonder:   If the humans on board aren't supposed to require a bartender for another 90 years, why is Arthur even functional?    What if his circuits fizzle out long before he could be of use to anyone?    Arthur is essentially the Wilson role in Cast Away, except he can actually speak and isn't a volleyball.    But Sheen is a genial presence, until one crucial scene in which he isn't anymore.    He must have known he would be needed.   His faux pas, whether devious or not, is not referred to again for the rest of the movie.

Jim is not alone for too long.    He falls in love with another sleeper, a journalist named Aurora Lane (Lawrence), who as far as I know is no relation to Lois Lane.    She is beautiful and according to helpful video footage, very intelligent and adventurous.     Then again, there is adventurous and then there is buying a round-trip ticket to the distant planet (which Aurora did) just to write a story which won't see the light of day back on Earth until another 250 years or so.    Anyway, Jim really, really likes Aurora and struggles with his conscience as he contemplates waking her up.    And that's another thing:   How effective is the hibernating pod if it can be disabled with a power screwdriver?

But he does wake her up, although he keeps that a secret while they get to know each other and fall in love.     Of course they fall in love.    There is nobody else around to fall in love with.    Just for the sheer sport of it, wouldn't it have been interesting if a potential suitor for either Jim or Aurora (or both) were to be accidentally awakened as well?   

Passengers covers some of the same ground as Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (2014), in which new distant worlds are explored because Earth is supposedly dying.     In Passengers, Earth is beaten up a little due to overpopulation and stretched resources, but no worse for wear.    So why would someone allow themselves to leave behind their loved ones to take a 120-year journey to a distant planet if it is not even necessary to do so?     And how does the ship restock and refuel when it gets to the new planet?    How does a crew get paid for this journey, considering they are only actually functioning for four months out of the 120 years? 

There I go asking questions again.    But, I can't help myself.     There are threats to Jim and Aurora's ideal love, such as Jim's little secret and the fact the ship seems to be failing.    A crew member (Fishburne) is also woken up, but he is sickly and it is left to Aurora and Jim to fix the problem before the ship fails completely.     Why is the ship going ka-blooey?    Those expecting an answer along the lines of 2001: A Space Odyssey will be sorely disappointed.     Those expecting anything Earth-shattering will also be disappointed.      And that leads me to another question:   Is it safe for a nuclear reactor to be separated from potential exposure by merely a pane of glass or fiberglass which could be easily shattered?    Then there is the helpful female computer voice which tells the characters and us when something malfunctions and danger is imminent, "Oxygen level low,"  "Pressure destabilized,"  "Reactor temperature critical."

I could be here all day asking the questions which only reflect the silliness of Passengers.     Jennifer Lawrence is a great beauty and can carry scenes with conviction, even the heavy load she has to carry here.    I can't really warm up to Chris Pratt.    He acts as if he can't wait to unleash his next snarky remark.    He is not the type of actor we want to be stuck on a vast spaceship with.     Sure, we can feel for his plight, but he never truly conveys how much this all sucks.    And how was able to shave off his beard, but still leave stubble?     And how did his beard grow, but not the hair on top of his head?     My guess is if Aurora had any options aside from Jim to spend her days with, she would jump at the chance.

I suppose this is why trailers should be taken with a grain of salt.    The movie's trailers cleverly disguised the fact that there is nothing going on in this film of consequence.    We begin to realize that there isn't anything to it.    I don't always like when twists are arbitrarily thrown in to plots, but Passengers is a movie that desperately needs one.

One last thing:   Andy Garcia is actually listed in the credits and he appears on screen for a whopping two seconds, complete with a beard.    Was he upset that his role may have been left on the editing room floor?    Or was he happy upon viewing the final product?     What he and the rest of the people aboard discover is not something to be admired or in awe of, but something that resembles the crap that grows on the walls of Wrigley Field.    My first thought would be:   Thank you Jim and Aurora for leaving behind all of this crap to clean up.