Loving (2016) * *

Directed by:  Jeff Nichols

Starring:  Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas, Nick Kroll, Bill Camp

Loving is based on the true story of an interracial marriage between Richard Loving (Edgerton) and his black wife Mildred (Negga) whose arrest in Virginia for violating the state's miscegenation statutes led to the landmark Supreme Court decision deeming such laws unconstitutional.     The story has almost inherent power that the film manages to miss.    It concentrates so much on the saintly Lovings that it glosses over the legal maneuverings which led to the case being presented to the Supreme Court.    Writer-director Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special) makes a conscious decision to avoid the courtroom drama and focus on the Lovings. I'm sorry, but the Lovings are presented as so saintly and even-tempered that they are boring.    If you see one lovey-dovey stare across the room or field between Richard and Mildred, you see ten.   If there is ever a movie that needs more courtroom, or drama, it is this one.

As the film opens, Mildred tells her boyfriend Richard, a mechanic and construction worker, that she is pregnant.   Richard is happy and the two travel to Washington, DC to marry.    Richard buys some land in which he plans to build a house for his family.    Her family accepts Richard as one of their own and life is pretty good, until one night the sheriff barges into their home and arrests the couple for violating the state's laws against interracial marriage.    It is amazing to think that not even 50 years ago, there were still anti-miscegenation laws on the books in many Southern states.    The county sheriff (Csokas) is blatantly racist and has the law on his side, even if the law is unjust.

The Lovings plead guilty to violating the law and as part of their parole they must leave the state for 25 years.    Lacking money to afford better legal representation and wanting to avoid prison, the Lovings move to Washington, DC and try their best to make a home there.    The civil rights movement takes shape in the early 1960s and the Lovings see this as an opportunity to fight their conviction and move back to Virginia legally.    An ACLU attorney (Kroll) helps them with their case, which faces several uphill legal battles.

The Lovings remain steadfast in their love and devotion to each other.    But they don't seem to communicate much.    Because Loving makes the conscious choice to focus on the couple rather than the controversy, shouldn't we see a few more scenes in which Richard and Mildred actually have more than a two-sentence conversation?     We wonder why they are going through all of the trouble.    I think if either Edgerton or Negga (or both) are nominated for Oscars, it will be difficult to select a clip to showcase the performances because neither seems to say more than one sentence at a time.

Edgerton and Negga still have a heavy load to bear, especially Edgerton, who plays a man who doesn't speak much but carries the burden of his situation physically.    We see how much this weighs on him.     Negga plays Midred as more of a catalyst in the legal proceedings.    Both maintain quiet dignity in their performances.     I just think it would not have been such a bad thing to let them communicate their feelings more.     Most movies based on true stories are criticized for taking dramatic license.     Loving should have taken such license.

So when the Lovings finally win their case with the Supreme Court in a unanimous 9-0 vote, we find we aren't moved really.    The Lovings, and the movie, almost takes it in stride, as if we can thank the Supreme Court for allowing these two to forever stare at each other from across a room.    There are talented people here who should have been given an opportunity to do more and say more.    Instead, Loving feels like a missed opportunity to expound on a truly remarkable case in the history of civil rights.  

Field of Dreams (1989) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Phil Alden Robinson

 

Starring:  Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Gaby Hoffman, Burt Lancaster, Ray Liotta, Frank Whaley, Timothy Busfield

 

"If you build it, he will come," is the whisper Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Costner) hears in his large cornfield one day.    He hears it repeated.    What does it mean?    He doesn't know, but it means something.     Soon he sees a vision of a baseball diamond constructed in the middle of his field and Ray follows it without question.    He cuts away acres of lucrative farmland to build the diamond and waits to see what happens next.     Not much does, until one spring morning when Shoeless Joe Jackson (Liotta) appears wearing his Chicago White Sox uniform and asks to play ball.    

 

That is not the end of the story, but only the beginning.    Field of Dreams is an unapologetic fantasy which dares to dream, challenge the audience, and tug at its heartstrings.    It is romantic about baseball and, as put so succinctly in Moneyball, (2011): "How could you not be romantic about baseball?"    For those unfamiliar with Shoeless Joe Jackson, he was one of eight White Sox players banned from the sport for life for throwing the 1919 World Series.    He contends he played as hard as he could, despite taking money from gamblers to fix the series.    Many believe he should have his lifetime ban rescinded and he should be allowed entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame.    Jackson died in 1951 maintaining his innocence.   

 

The Jackson here laments his ban from the game he loves, but is thrilled Ray gave him the opportunity to play again.    Other long dead legends follow and soon they are playing ball on the field with only Ray, his wife Annie (Madigan) and daughter Karen (Hoffman) able to see them.     Annie's brother Mark (Busfield) is a banker whose job is to think Ray is crazy while repeatedly warning him how keeping a seemingly vacant baseball diamond in the middle of valuable land will lead to financial ruin.     He makes sense, but then again, he doesn't see what we and Ray see.    He doesn't know what Ray and we know.    

 

But as I said, there is more.    Much more.    Without revealing too many plot developments, Ray is soon met with more cryptic whispers which lead him to track down a former writer (Jones) in Boston and then a former ballplayer turned doctor (Lancaster)  who never had a chance to bat in the big leagues.    Their involvement with the plot becomes clearer.   The movie never rushes to reveal its secrets.    It holds us spellbound with its magic.   It earns its emotional ending which we don't see coming.   Yet, it never cheats.   The answer is obvious, only if we looked.  

 

Field of Dreams loves the game of baseball.    It still believes it is the national pastime, even if football has replaced it in popularity.    Baseball is a business, to be sure, but there is something pure about a game with no clock, rules that have stood the test of time, and its certainty.    You are either safe or out, no in-between.    Games have no time limit and the atmosphere of a ballgame remains unique in sports.     The movie understands that and understands also about regret, wishes, and dreams.    Ray's Iowa cornfield provides a focal point for the dashed hopes of Shoeless Joe, the writer, and the baseball player turned doctor.    It provides closure for all and especially for Ray, who never did ask what was in it for him.     We soon learn what's in it for him and the results are extraordinary.    What an amazing movie. 

 

 

 

 

Funny Farm (1988) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  George Roy Hill

Starring:  Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith Osborne, Kevin Conway, Kevin O'Morrison, Joseph Maher

I recall the trailers for this film when it was released.     Holiday Road, the theme for Chase's Vacation movies, played throughout and audiences likely expected another Vacation-style comedy.    Funny Farm is an altogether different comedy.    It is quieter, more insightful into human nature, and creates its own clearly realized people.     It is also very funny, with minimal slapstick and plenty of smart verbal humor.     I don't even think Chevy Chase trips over anything.  

I was surprised how much care went into Funny Farm.     It is unique.    The fish-out-of-water plot is not new, but how screenwriter Jeffrey Boam and director George Roy Hill (The Sting) make it fresh.    As the movie opens, sportswriter Andy Farmer (Chase) and his wife Elizabeth (Smith-Osborne) are leaving their lives in the big city and moving to rural Vermont.    Andy wants to complete his novel, "The Big Heist", which is apparently so bad it inspires his wife to advise, "Burn it."   Life in the country is not as simple as expected:   The movers are lost and are late with the furniture.    There is no telephone service in the house, only a pay phone.    A corpse is buried in the yard and will cost thousands of dollars to bury properly.    Andy alienates fellow townsfolk in many ways, including accidentally catching a fishing rod hook into another man's mouth.     And Elizabeth writes a children's novel which is immediately sold, while Andy languishes in mediocrity, writer's block, and drinking himself silly with envy.   Oh, and don't forget the new family dog, which is so lazy it can't even be bothered to remove its own tail from the fireplace.

A lesser comedy would milk the slapstick for all it is worth or move from one situation to the next with unseemly haste.     Funny Farm takes its time and enjoys its moments.    The humor is based on people and not just situations, so we find it funnier.     Chase does not have to carry the load by  himself.   It is refreshing to see him play someone unlike Chevy Chase.    His Andy is as bewildered by small-town life as anyone else.   Imagine his surprise when he sets the record for eating the most lamb fries in one sitting; only to discover what "lamb fries" actually are.     Smith-Osborne is every bit Chase's comic equal in her own intelligent, understated way.     She made a strong impression in Urban Cowboy (1980) and here we see her considerable comic ability.    

Funny Farm peppers in other memorable characters with small comic touches.     The sheriff who can't drive and keeps failing his driving test.     A drunken mailman who flies by in his truck, throwing Andy's mail out the window while Andy tries daily to stop him.    An antique shop with stuffed squirrels.    And ducks which never seem to fly south for the winter because they fear being shot.     It is difficult not to be charmed by Funny Farm, which takes a seemingly routine plot and makes magic with it.   


 

  

The Devil Wears Prada (2006) * * *

Directed by:  David Frankel

Starring:  Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Grenier, Simon Baker

I approached The Devil Wears Prada as a stranger to the world of fashion.   I'm a guy who wears t-shirts and sweatpants mostly everywhere, so it is no surprise I never heard of Anna Wintour until this movie's release, and only because Meryl Streep said her Oscar-nominated performance (which one isn't?) was inspired by her.     Ms. Wintour took that as the highest compliment.    I hope I never have the pleasure to meet Ms. Wintour if this movie's Miranda Priestly is anything remotely like her.

Streep has a ball making everyone else's life miserable as she throws her coat and purse at her assistants and calmly, but degradingly, orders them around.     She is not interested in your problems or your life.    As the veteran assistant Emily (Blunt) tells newcomer Andrea "Andy" Sachs (Hathaway), she must devote herself 24/7 to the job and change her wardrobe immediately.     Not exactly in that order.   Andy is a recent Northwestern grad using Miranda's Runway magazine as a stepping stone to greater things.    She wants to be a journalist and her long term plans do not escape Runway lifer Nigel (Tucci), who is kind to her, but gives her sage advice about her employment and her wardrobe.   ("Others want to work here.   You only deign to work here")

Andy, after numerous introductory "foul ups" such as failing to land Miranda a flight home from Miami during a hurricane, straightens up her act and her wardrobe with help of Nigel.     She befriends the initially hostile Emily and becomes Miranda's right hand.    This is met with some consternation by Andy's boyfriend Nate (Grenier), who misses the old Andy who wasn't consumed by her job.    I don't know what kind of journalist Andy would turn out to be, but she is a loyal assistant who learns to sweetly look after Miranda, who is the last person in the world who needs looking after.

The Devil Wears Prada has moments of insight into Miranda.    She is seen without makeup and vulnerable in one scene in which she laments another pending divorce and the impact it will have on her twin daughters.     Miranda dotes on the girls; tasking Andy to obtain the latest Harry Potter novel for them to read.   No, not the one in the stores, but the unpublished manuscript of the next novel.    But her moment of self-pity and reflection is fleeting, and soon she is ordering Andy on to the next task.

Streep could have played Miranda as a screaming witch, but by underplaying her as a cold, condescending taskmistress who can't be bothered to raise her voice, she is all the more compelling.    She doesn't need to remind others of her power.    Employees straighten up their work areas and vacate the elevators at the mere mention of her arrival in the building.     An employee who accidentally walks into the same elevator as Miranda jumps out and profusely apologizes.    Why would anyone with that kind of power need to expend any more effort to exert it?

Hathaway, though, holds her own by staying as true to herself as possible, while growing into an assistant who takes her job seriously.     Blunt is at first a woman who disdains Andy and suffering from burnout, but softens up enough to become Andy's friend.    Emily dresses the part and gives her all, only to be disappointed that it is never enough.     Trying to get Miranda to acknowledge anyone's hard work is a fool's errand.

The Devil Wears Prada will appeal to fashion enthusiasts and those with bosses not unlike Miranda.    Is Miranda so demanding because she has to be, or because she can be?     Andy will soon realize the answer.    As will Miranda. 

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) * * * *

 

Directed by:  Mel Stuart

 

Starring:  Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear, Julie Dawn Cole, Denise Nickerson, Paris Themmen, Michael Bollner

 

Gene Wilder's recent passing shone a spotlight on how much his deft comic acting touched the hearts of many.     From the skittish accountant in The Producers to Dr. Frankenstein (that's Fronk-en-steen) to Willy Wonka, Wilder made us laugh.    Who else could play a guy in a love affair with a sheep (Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex) and actually earn a modicum of sympathy?     He even took on villains in Silver Streak as an unlikely action hero. 

Willy Wonka is a mysterious character whom we can't make quick assumptions about.    Quirky, yes.   Odd, yes.    Colorful, yes.    With a bit of malice underneath his pleasant demeanor, yes.    Willy Wonka is all of those things and none of those things.    His candy factory is a visual feast with hidden delights and horrors.    The orange-tinted Oompa Loompas not only are his employees, but a chorus which sings songs after each bratty child which won a golden ticket to tour the factory meets his or her demise.    The songs are catchy little tunes outlining each child's major flaw, such as one who chews gum incessantly, one obsessed with TV, one obsessed with eating, and one spoiled brat with a milquetoast father.     The only seemingly normal child is Charlie (Ostrum), who supports his very poor family with his paper route and tours the factory alongside his beloved Grandpa Joe (Albertson).

It is tough to nail down exactly what Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is at heart, which makes all the more delightful.    It is part musical, part children's book (written by Roald Dahl) brought to life, part freak show, and of course a tour de force by Wilder who keeps us spellbound because we are not sure even he knows what he will do or say next.    Through it all, there is a plan and a reason for everything, which isn't revealed until the end, but it is very moving and sums up Charlie's character in one action in a way 1,000 words can't.   

 

Primary Colors (1998) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Mike Nichols

 

Starring:  John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Adrian Lester, Maura Tierney, Kathy Bates, Larry Hagman, Billy Bob Thornton

 

Why would anyone want to be President of the United States?    We are about to elect one today at the end of a grueling campaign which seems to have lasted eons.     I can only hope the job is worth it, although I don't see how that's possible considering the intense scrutiny that comes with it.    Primary Colors was made in 1998 before the advent of social media and during the Internet's infancy.    It is not just loosely based on Bill Clinton's 1992 Presidential campaign, it changes a few letters in Clinton's last name, but otherwise changes very few facts.    Stanton, like Clinton, is Governor of Arkansas, involved in numerous sex scandals, and has the charm and charisma capable of making people forget about his foibles.    He has a way of relating to common folk, which is never more evident than in a scene in which he is eating a late night meal at a Waffle House.

 

Primary Colors doesn't excuse Stanton's actions, but we do see his innate goodness.    He is a man who truly seems to care about people.    He just has trouble keeping it in his pants.    His long-suffering wife Susan (Thompson) is his biggest supporter and his harshest critic.    There comes a point when even her faith is tested in whether Jack can pull it together to win the election.     Stanton also faces stiff competition for the party nomination from a former Florida governor (Hagman) who seems almost like a candidate for sainthood.

The movie captures the high stress and frenzied pace of a campaign.    Jack is whisked off to points all over the country while his campaign staff figures how to spin the latest controversy, one of which involves a pregnant teenage girl Jack may or may not have had relations with.     Jack and Susan employ Libby Holden (Bates) to dig up dirt on opponents while fact checking to refute allegations of misconduct.     She discovers something crucial about an opponent which she is hesitant to reveal to her friends and employers.     Libby works because she believes in the Stantons, but the outcome of her findings shatters that.    

Primary Colors wouldn't work if Jack Stanton were seen as an incorrigible bad guy.    As played by John Travolta, who really nails Bill Clinton's Southern drawl and charisma, we see Jack Stanton as a primarily decent man underneath all of the bad decisions.     We almost root against some of the allegations being true as he continues his march to the White House.    We like him despite his shortcomings, mostly because we see his intelligence and charm.  

Confidently directed by Mike Nichols, Primary Colors is about smart people who can think fast and react faster.     The campaign stress could cripple a lesser person.     Where does someone like Jack Stanton ever find the strength to govern after undergoing this torturous undertaking of campaigning?     Maybe he figures the worst is behind him and dealing with matters vital to the nation is a walk in the park.

 

The Da Vinci Code (2006) * * *

Directed by:  Ron Howard

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou, Paul Bettany, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno

The Da Vinci Code is at its heart a mystery.    Why is a sect of the Catholic Church employing an albino priest to commit murders?    What secret is it protecting?    How does the Holy Grail, long believed to be the cup Jesus drank from at the Last Supper, play into the events?    Professor Robert Langdon (Hanks) is asked by French police to find out why a museum creator was found murdered in the Louvre while striking a pose found on a Da Vinci diagram.    Symbols and clues were written in blood by the dying man, who was shot, but maybe his killer should have shot him a few more times as insurance.     He seemed to have enough energy to go through all of these machinations as well as strip himself naked.    

Langdon has a knack for interpreting clues and symbols within moments after looking at them.    He is a Harvard professor specializing in symbols and whatever type of history needed to move the plot forward.     He is well versed in a great number of things, but even he has to be in awe of his colleague Sir Leigh Teabing (McKellen), who presents us with a fascinating theory which completely debunks what was widely accepted as the cornerstone of the Catholic faith.     His belief is the Last Supper painting by Da Vinci has been altered to erase one person whose relationship with Jesus could shed a whole new light on what is believed by just about every Christian religion on Earth.

I won't reveal much more, except to say the Holy Grail isn't really a gold chalice and this secret is worth killing for in the eyes of certain members of Catholicism.     Langdon is accompanied by police officer Sophie Neveu (Tatou), who plays a closer part in these proceedings than initially anticipated.     The albino hitman (for lack of a better word) is played by Paul Bettany, who practices self-flagellation in response to his obvious guilt about his crimes.    But, yet, someone's gotta do the dirty work.

Ok, no more revelations.    The Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown was a huge bestseller that was a source of outrage among some.    The theories about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Holy Grail were considered blasphemous.    They are certainly irreverent, maybe even preposterous, but you can't deny they produce a juicy plot which director Howard and star Hanks sink their teeth into.    The Da Vinci Code is not expected to be taken seriously.    It is meant to be a smart, engaging thriller, which it is.    Is it ludicrous at times?   Of course, but we find ourselves wrapped up in it anyway.    Isn't that what a good thriller does?  

No ending spoilers here, but I think it is well done.    It casts a new light on the supposed irreverence of its theories and restores natural order to a point.    But I'll bet Langdon wishes he didn't have to avoid bullets and partake in chases to find out he didn't really have to go far to solve the mystery.