Dark Waters (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Todd Haynes

Starring:  Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman, Bill Camp, Victor Garber

Like 1998's A Civil Action, one of the best movies ever made about the litigation process, Dark Waters names its defendant (DuPont) and takes us through a startling, yet not unexpected series of revelations in which the monster chemical company knowingly poisoned the rivers and streams near its West Virginia plant while manufacturing Teflon.    DuPont had to know, yet do those who are looking to oppose the chemical giant have enough money and fortitude to see through the years of soul-sucking litigation to its end?   We find one in Rob Billott (Ruffalo), a Cincinnati attorney (and former West Virginia resident) who was recently made partner in a law firm which specializes in defending corporations like DuPont.    A farmer named Wilbur, a family friend of Rob's, asks for his help in bringing suit against DuPont for poisoning his animals, and soon himself.   Rob, sensing a conflict of interest, humors Wilbur (Camp), but soon discovers DuPont may indeed be dumping its chemicals into the local water supply endangering people and animals alike.

Rob asks his boss Tom Terp (Robbins) to work the case, and before we know it, years pass and Rob is plowing through boxes and boxes of discovery documents by himself in hopes of finding the smoking gun linking DuPont to the sick and dying people near its plant.    DuPont hopes Rob will simply be overwhelmed and give up, but they underestimate Rob's indefatigable spirit.    He knows DuPont is wrong, and will do everything in his power to bring them to justice.    Not that it will be that easy.   

As per the tradition of such movies, Rob is a married man with three children who spends more time at the office than at home.    At first, his wife Sarah (Hathaway) supports her husband, but soon openly laments that he isn't spending any time at home.    Hathaway's role is the epitome of thankless.  She is there either to chide him about his lack of quality time with his family, and to support him when the screenplay requires her to.   She isn't allowed much of a personality of her own, which is a pity.    Since many movies based on true events play loose with the facts, it wouldn't have been such a bad idea to make Rob a bachelor so we are spared the perfunctory domestic squabbles with the Mrs.    It worked for A Civil Action.

What is refreshing is how Rob's bosses support him in his endeavor (within reason) and aren't there to try and dissuade him from working the case to its bitter end.  Robbins is permitted a convincing speech in which he blasts DuPont for their negligence and their lies, and it doesn't seem forced or redundant.    When you see Robbins and Ruffalo stand next to each other, the stark difference in their respective height makes me wonder if Robbins is that tall, or Ruffalo is that short.    Maybe a bit of both.

Dark Waters isn't a legal thriller in which spunky attorneys crack a big case and reveal their findings in a courtroom finale.    It instead takes us through a legal process which is flawed, painful, and most of all very, very long.    Months drag into years, and Rob clears one hurdle while only to have to jump another.    His clients grow sicker, while others settle for a fraction of what they could receive.   We don't see DuPont executives conspiring behind the scenes to cover anything up or hatch a plot to pollute the world, and we don't need to.    Ruffalo is our guide, and while being stressed and exhausted, still plunges forward because he cares so deeply.   This is a story near and dear to Ruffalo the actor, producer, and environmental activist. 

Knives Out (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Rian Johnson

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, LaKeith Stanfield, Christopher Plummer, Noah Segan

Even at a two-hour, ten-minute running time, Knives Out moves briskly and keeps us guessing, although the resolution suggests many of the suspects were kept around just to be suspects.    Knives Out contains an A-list supporting cast with each given a scene or two to relish and then more or less kept on the sidelines.    The major players are led by Benoit Blanc (Craig), a private investigator anonymously hired to get to the bottom of the apparent suicide of Harlan Thrombrey (Plummer), a wealthy mystery writer whose death is shrouded in a cloud of suspicion.    He seemingly slit his own throat, so the local police think it's an open and shut case.    Blanc suspects foul play, but how was it done?   And by whom?

Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi, Looper), is a whodunit in the Agatha Christie tradition in which each player's guilt or innocence is toyed with.   We can't rule out anyone, yet we know only one or two cast members' involvement will emerge as significant.   The ending doesn't cheat, and it plays fair by not springing another suspect on us in the eleventh hour.   Harlan's family, consisting of daughter Linda (Curtis),a successful business owner, Linda's cheating husband Richard (Johnson), their openly freeloading son Hugh (Evans), hapless Walt (Shannon), who runs Harlan's publishing business, and Harlan's ultra liberal daughter-in-law Joni (Collette), has reasons to want to kill Harlan, and have a particular interest in the will reading with a revelation which stuns the gold-digging Thrombreys. 

The character who takes center stage is Marta (de Armas), Harlan's Paraguayan nurse who is the picture of innocence and may or may not be the prime suspect, or someone who is being framed.    Harlan is not shown as an irascible codger, but a sensible, caring man who is tired of his family sponging off of him.    The free ride is over for many of his kin, and that doesn't sit well.   

As played by Craig, Blanc is a private eye with a Foghorn Leghorn Southern drawl and an eye for detail which would rival Sherlock Holmes.   Or at least Hercule Poirot.    Craig has fun with the role; fun he didn't allow himself when playing James Bond.    There are even political debates between Richard (a clear Trump supporter) and Joni (a clear Trump non-supporter), although these are pigeonholed in without any reason for existing.   This crew has enough to fight over without introducing modern-day politics into the mix.

The Irishman (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Martin Scorsese

Starring:  Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemons, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, Anna Paquin

Roger Ebert once wrote, "No good movie is too long,"   Now we have The Irishman, which is good, but entirely too long and bloated.   Yet, there is enough here to recommend, especially the contrasting performances of Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa and Robert De Niro as Frank Sheeran, the Philadelphia mobster who answers the question once and for all about Hoffa's fate following his 1975 disappearance.

Sheeran, an Irish fella who got in good with the Angelo Bruno crime family in the 1960's and later became Hoffa's trusted confidante, claimed shortly before his death that he indeed shot Hoffa and had his body shipped off to be cremated.    There was once an urban legend that Hoffa's body was buried under underneath one of the end zones in old Giants Stadium in North Jersey.    As if mobsters would risk detection by murdering Hoffa in suburban Detroit and shipping his body to East Rutherford, New Jersey for burial during construction of a football stadium.    The method of disposal depicted in The Irishman is more logical and a whole lot cleaner.    I hope my revelation that Hoffa was indeed murdered isn't a spoiler for you.

Frank Sheeran started his career as a truck driver who stole meat from his own truck and delivered it to the mob instead of Food Fair's customers.   He is fired, and with help from mob boss Russell Bufalino (Pesci), he avoids being sent to jail and becomes a gofer for Bruno and Bufalino.   A World War II combat veteran who killed more than a few Nazis in Italy;  Sheeran is not above putting a bullet in anyone's head who crosses Bruno or Russell.   Frank then is elevated to the position of trusted right-hand man of Jimmy Hoffa, who owes the mob more than a few favors and allows them unfettered access to the Teamsters pension fund worth billions. 

Frank plays things close to the vest.   He sees, he observes, and he tries to steer clear of conflict with his superiors.   He may not like having to be the one to kill Jimmy after years of loyal friendship, but he is one of the few people Jimmy trusts who can get close to him without Jimmy smelling a rat.   Pacino's Hoffa is a bombastic, stubborn politician whose mouth gets him into hot water with the mob one too many times.    We witness how Jimmy Hoffa was able to gain control of the Teamsters and how that same personality caused his downfall.

Frank narrates the story by breaking the fourth wall and telling us his story as he withers away in a wheelchair in a nursing home.   He is old, hardened, and wants to tell us his secrets before death silences him forever.   Scorsese employed a seamless de-aging CGI method which took decades off of De Niro's, Pacino's, and Pesci's faces.   Unlike Goodfellas and Casino, De Niro and Pesci not only don't swear much, but they don't smoke either.    This is rather refreshing to see.

De Niro's Frank is as quiet and cool as Pacino's Hoffa is loud and hotheaded.   They are a study in opposites, and their chemistry is palpable.   Pesci, whose famous role is that of hothead Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, is a man of power who no longer needs to remind others of his status.   His presence can either diffuse a situation or bring it to a swift, violent conclusion.    There is violence, to be sure, but in each instance we understand why it had to be used, and how De Niro feels about it.    He refuses to dime out anyone to the authorities, but he allows us to be his confidantes.    He needs to let us in on what drives him and what is in his soul, because human nature dictates that he can't hold it all inside.

The Irishman contains numerous instances which could've been left on the cutting room floor, including the scenes of back and forth communication between Hoffa and Russell, with Frank as a willing mediator.    The Irishman could've clocked in at two hours, forty-five minutes without losing any power.    The Irishman doesn't have the energy of 1990's Goodfellas or even 1995's Casino, both of which depicted mob influence on various facets of American life, but Scorsese is now 77 and prefers a methodical, reflective approach.   His camera forever moves, as if it is pulling back the curtain to allow us to witness events we shouldn't.    Is The Irishman good Scorsese?   Yes.   But it is not excellent Scorsese, and the fact that Scorsese made The Irishman elevates the material while at the same time fomenting disappointment for not being as strong as his past cinematic gems.  

The Good Liar (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Bill Condon

Starring:  Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Russell Tovey, Jim Carter

It is our pleasure to witness Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen onscreen together as a con man and his next mark, an elderly former teacher who isn't quite the pushover he expected.    Mirren and McKellen make The Good Liar much more palatable than the material.    However, the movie trudges towards its inevitable ending, one which doesn't surprise us because it is telegraphed by holding onto shots of certain characters a moment too long.  

Someone in the movie has to be a liar, because the title gives it away.   The Good Liar opens in 2009 with Roy (McKellen) and Betty (Mirren) agreeing to meet in person after connecting on an online dating site.    Both use false names, and each confesses to using pseudonyms, but that is just the beginning of the deceit for Roy, who in his twilight years is a con artist who bilks unsuspecting people out of hundreds of thousands of pounds with fraudulent investment schemes.

Betty has a nice home in the London suburbs, and quietly has stashed away nearly three million pounds in her accounts.   Roy ingratiates himself into staying at her home and plots his next move with his business partner Vincent (Carter), who pretends to be a financial analyst.    Betty and Roy become companions, although hanky panky is off the table per Betty, and they travel to Berlin where part of Roy's shady past comes to light thanks to the research of Betty's ever-suspicious grandson, Steven (Tovey).    Steven smells a rat from the beginning, and his voiced concerns are promptly dismissed by Betty.




We're set up for a thriller with twists, and I won't reveal those twists, except you can see them coming from a mile away.   There is no other way for The Good Liar to end, so it isn't a question of how it ends, but why things play out as they do.    When The Good Liar is over, we see one good liar, one better one, and a movie which isn't satisfying enough for either.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Marielle Heller

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, Susan Kelechi Watson, Maryann Plunkett

Fred Rogers created a soothing, calming persona amidst the madness of the world around us.    He was so kind, gentle, and near saintly that the more cynical would simply count the minutes until the other shoe would drop and dear Mr. Rogers was exposed as a phony.   This was not the case.    As documented so excellently in last year's Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Fred Rogers the children's show host and Fred Rogers the real person were practically one and the same.    He would not have it any other way.   Mr. Rogers believed if you presented anything less than your true self, a child would sniff it out right away.

Who better to play Mr. Rogers than Tom Hanks, the actor who epitomizes the kind everyman?   A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is based on true events, but it is not a Mr. Rogers biopic.    Fred Rogers is the catalyst for the sad, angry reporter interviewing him for an Esquire article to forgive his own father and let go of the anger which has been gnawing at him for years.    This is not a simple thing.    Lloyd Vogel (Rhys) carries that emotional baggage around in his face and his posture.    He looks sad, he is sad, and he takes his anger out on those who love him.    His reputation as a writer is not a good one.    He can write, but he tends to take his frustration with the world out on his interview subjects.  

Lloyd isn't thrilled with being assigned what he thinks is a puff piece, but he soon learns he is being interviewed by Fred Rogers as much as he is interviewing Fred Rogers.    That is because Fred feels Lloyd's pain and tries to ease it.    He cares for Lloyd and wants him to deal with his emotions in a much healthier way.    Mr. Rogers discusses forgiveness and handling negative feelings on his show, and now Lloyd is someone for him to practice on.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood doesn't present Lloyd's troubles in a perfunctory way.    His story is compelling, made more so by his father Jerry (Cooper) who clearly wants to make amends for his past misdeeds.    Lloyd won't let him in, and Jerry is heartbroken by his son's unwillingness to let bygones be bygones.    Jerry wasn't a great guy once upon a time.    He drank, and he left his family as Lloyd's mother was dying from cancer.    At his sister's wedding, Lloyd punches Jerry, and feels no catharsis, just more regret.   Lloyd's scenes aren't just built in to kill time until we see Mr. Rogers again.    Even when Mr. Rogers isn't present, his spirit is all around.

Hanks doesn't give us a Mr. Rogers impression, but instead he dissolves into the uniquely generous man whose presence is missed...especially today.   The role is a natural for Hanks.    However, it would give me equal joy to hear Chris Cooper's name read for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.   Hanks is practically a shoo-in for the nomination in the same category.    Cooper takes what could've been a one-dimensional role and filled it with life.    The fact that Jerry wants so badly to reconcile with his son makes his scenes with Lloyd all the more touching.    Rhys is also perfectly cast.    His face tells the story, and with a countenance like that, the acting takes care of itself.  

Marielle Heller, who directed last year's delightful Can You Ever Forgive Me?, takes potentially sappy and melodramatic material and makes it moving.    You hear the instantly recognizable twinkles which made up Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood's theme music.    Some of the segues between scenes take place with sets built just like Mr. Rogers' land of make believe.    And watch the final scene in which Mr. Rogers takes his own advice and bangs the low keys on the piano when something is troubling him.    We didn't need any other words besides that to empathize with the man who gave joy to so many others.

21 Bridges (2019) * *

Directed by:  Brian Kirk


Starring:  Chadwick Boseman, JK Simmons, Sienna Miller, Taylor Kitsch, Stephan James

Despite the participation of Joe Russo and Anthony Russo (of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), 21 Bridges is a by-the-numbers police drama with few thrills and, upon reflection, some serious plot holes.    Chadwick Boseman (of Black Panther) provides a sturdy lead as Andre Davis, a cop brought in on a case involving eight cops killed in a shootout with armed drug dealers.   Davis has a Past, which necessitates an internal affairs hearing held hours before the killings.    He has killed nine people in eight years, which must be some kind of record, and internal affairs is concerned he may have an itchy trigger finger.   

Davis is asked to spearhead the tracking of the dealers (Kitsch and James), who expected to steal fifty kilos of cocaine stashed in a restaurant safe.    There are three hundred kilos, not fifty, and the dealers are surprised to see eight cops descend on the place so quickly.    A deadly shootout occurs, the dealers flee the scene, and Davis is soon asked by the precinct captain (Simmons) to find the dealers and swiftly dispatch justice.    Davis suspects the dealers are heading to Manhattan, where they can unload the drugs less conspicuously in the wee hours of the morning, and demands the mayor close the island to make it impossible for the dealers to escape.    Judging by how easily the dealers are found, this is equivalent to using a shotgun to kill a mosquito.   The dealers, especially James, are allowed some depth and a backstory.  

Davis is assigned a partner in Frankie Burns (Miller), who worked in the same precinct as the deceased cops.    There is little suspense as to what will happen, why, and to whom.    The villains may as well be wearing t-shirts stating, "VILLAIN," and one of them makes an amateurish mistake which allows Davis to discover that person's involvement.    I also found it particularly odd that Davis, who as you may recall is under investigation for killing nine people in eight years, is allowed to leave the crime scene shortly after dispatching more people with his gun.    Surely, someone would have questions, or have him at least fill out a report.    He is allowed to leave as if he simply rescued someone's cat from a tree.

If IA didn't like him at the beginning of 21 Bridges, they will like him considerably less at the end. 

Ford v. Ferrari (2019) * * *

Directed by:  James Mangold

Starring:  Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas, Catriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Noah Jupe, Ray McKinnon

The best scenes in Ford v Ferrari involve the racing of the Ford vehicle challenging Ferrari's supremacy at Le Mans, a harrowing 24-hour race which never had an American-made car win the event.    Ferrari was in the midst of a five-year run of domination when Ford CEO Henry Ford II (Letts) turned an insult from Enzo Ferrari into a mission to dethrone him at Le Mans.   Henry Ford II wasn't exactly a nice guy either, and neither was his right-hand man Leo Beebe (Lucas), a corporate snake who makes it his mission to undermine Carroll Shelby (Damon) and mercurial driver Ken Miles (Bale) at every turn.   Why?   Because Miles doesn't behave like a "Ford Man" and even when Miles finally succeeds in making his way on to the race team, Beebe doesn't sit back and take it.   He's a prick because he can be. 

As if putting the Ford team through a daunting 24-hour hell race isn't enough, Shelby and Miles have to withstand corporate interference and politics just to get their car on the track.   Shelby is a successful racer turned race car designer, while Miles is a stubborn hothead racer who alienates corporate sponsors and is in trouble with the IRS.    But both would love to not only win Le Mans, but give Beebe the symbolic finger in the process.  

Ford v Ferrari is a satisfying film with authentic racing scenes and some great chemistry between Damon and Bale, who play guys with different personalities with a love of race cars at their core.   This is where they find common ground.    That, and telling guys like Beebe and Ford where to go.
Do they win Le Mans?   I won't spoil it for you, but the ending, which one would think is a screenwriter's invention, actually happened.    As does Miles' fate shortly after, which truth be told makes the final fifteen minutes more of a downer than Ford v. Ferrari needs.

If you're a racing enthusiast, you'll love the technical jargon thrown about by the mechanics and techs working on a superior race car.   You'll also love the Le Mans scenes.    Those not as crazy about races will still love the give and take between Shelby and Miles, and the convincing recreation of the period in which Le Mans was the center of the racing universe.