Little Women (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Greta Gerwig

Starring: Saorise Ronan, Emma Watson, Laura Dern, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts

Louisa May Alcott's famed novel has been remade numerous times, including Gillian Armstrong's 1994 version which netted Winona Ryder a Best Actress Oscar nomination.   We now have a remake written and directed by Greta Gerwig, who announced her arrival loudly as a prominent filmmaker with Lady Bird (2017).   What new insights can Gerwig provide with such familiar material?   Plenty, including storytelling steeped in flashbacks and four young women who are allowed to have personalities and thoughts of their own.

It took time to get used to Gerwig's bold attempt to reinvent the story, especially with the utilization of flashbacks.    But then we are swept up in the stories of the March sisters, led by Jo (Ronan), who wants to be a writer, Meg (Watson) who has acting aspirations, Amy (Pugh) who feels she is always second-best to Jo, especially since the object of her affections clearly makes a play for Jo's heart, and Beth (Scanlen), who is frequently ill and would love nothing more than to live long enough to experience the joys and sorrows of young womanhood like her older sisters.

The March sisters are led by their strong, determined mother Marmee (Dern), whose husband is away fighting the Civil War, and family matriarch Aunt Josephine (Streep), who prefers her nieces to follow compulsory tradition and marry rich men.  On the periphery always is Theodore "Laurie" Laurence (Chalamet), a family friend who loves the wild, stubborn Jo and tries in vain to win her heart.    She likes Laurie well enough, and may even love him, but enough to sacrifice her individuality for the sake of marriage?    Amy, who loves Laurie herself, is forever jealous of her older sister.

Little Women's subplots play out closely to previous incarnations, but what makes Gerwig's version better is its spirit.   She has affection for the material and gives her women their true voices, although as Jo learns when attempting to publish her novel, that women in the 19th century had to play ball in the male-dominated world at least somewhat.   We see the first printing of Jo's novel being produced, and Jo stands and watches with satisfaction.   She was able to write her story (except for a shoehorned happy ending forced upon her by her publisher) and achieve her dream.    Can she live with the concession she made?   The smile on her face says everything.

Saorise Ronan, who played the title character in Gerwig's Lady Bird, remains one of the best actors around.    Her Jo is pig-headed, forthright, and honest sometimes to a fault.   She knows who she is and what her place in the world will be, and it won't necessarily be as someone's wife.   But, yet, like all people, she aches from the loneliness she has created for herself.    Ronan's Lady Bird and Jo March are similar in many ways, as well as equally touching.  

Uncut Gems (2019) * * * *

Directed by:  Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie

Starring:  Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Kevin Garnett, LaKeith Stanfield, Judd Hirsch

Uncut Gems is relentless; a pressure cooker of a movie bearing down on the hapless, luckless Howard Ratner (Sandler), a degenerate gambler with a shady jewelry shop in New York's Diamond District.    Howard owes $100,000 in gambling debts to his brother-in-law Arno (Bogosian), who is not shy about using goons to rough up Howard, and the deadline is fast approaching to pay or be killed.    He juggles so many personal and professional balls in the air that, if one of Arno's thugs don't kill him, a heart attack might.    When we first meet Howard, after the excavation of a rare uncut diamond in Ethiopia which will soon finds its way into Howard's possession, he is undergoing a colonoscopy.    As if this guy didn't have enough to worry about.

Howard's problems are all his own doing; a byproduct of his self-destructive nature.   He is not happy unless he's hustling someone or trying to worm his way out of a jam.    He lives for the adrenaline and stress of having to solve one escalating issue after another.    He barely has time to sit down, let alone enjoy his daughter's recital.   Howard is stretched so thin he is about to snap, with a family in a posh house and a mistress put up in a Manhattan apartment.   His wife Dinah (Menzel) can't even look at him anymore, and the two are waiting until after Passover to announce their divorce to the kids.    Arno and the thugs are forever lurking.    Howard believes the uncut diamond is his ticket to paying off his debt and living a life of relaxation and luxury (ha ha).   He values its worth at about three million, the auction house he consigns it to has a much lower evaluation. 

Taking place in 2012, with the NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers looming as the source of Howard's parlays and dangerous bets, Celtic Kevin Garnett (playing himself) has a key role in the events concerning the uncut gem.    For a while there, Kevin is sucked into Howard's vortex of swindling, double talk, and shadiness.    The closest thing Howard has to a genuine relationship is with Julia (Fox), his mistress/employee who, gulp, may even love Howard.  Or is she trying to stake her own claim should his desperate plans bear fruit?

We all know Adam Sandler's sketchy filmography.    He has made some awful comedies, some funny ones, and showed the world his dramatic acting chops in Punch Drunk Love (2003).   But Sandler was born for this role.    He sure looks like Adam Sandler, but we forget it is him.   His transformation into Howard is seamless.    The most astounding trick Sandler is able to pull off in this tense, high-wire performance, is managing to evoke sympathy from the audience.    Sure, he is digging his own grave, but do we root for him to lie in it?    No, because we pity the poor schmuck. 
His insatiable need for more is going to kill him, and we can't look away.   

Josh and Benny Safdie announce their arrival as top flight filmmakers here.   Their previous crime caper, Good Time (2017) started out with the same full throttle approach only to be sidetracked by a middle which screeches everything to a halt.    The Safdie Brothers keep their foot on the accelerator in Uncut Gems, and the experience is riveting, with a flawed, troubled man at its center who lacks the insight into his own sickness to stop himself from sealing his fate. 

Bombshell (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Jay Roach

Starring: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Mark Moss, Allison Janney, Malcolm McDowell, Alanna Ubach

Maybe if The Loudest Voice didn't premiere as recently as this past summer, Bombshell would seem fresher.   The Loudest Voice starred Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes, and the focus was how such an egomaniac misogynist formed Fox News and made television history.   Bombshell is more about the women who were finally fed up with Ailes' bullying and harassment and put the wheels in motion to remove him from his lofty perch.    But Bombshell isn't as angry as it needs to be.   When Ailes gets his, (no spoiler alert to anyone hopefully), the payoff isn't as emotionally satisfying as it could've been.    If The Loudest Voice wasn't shown until after Bombshell, maybe I would be writing a more glowing review.   Maybe.

Bombshell begins with business as usual at Fox News circa 2016.   Donald Trump is the leading Republican candidate and makes war with Fox's lead anchor Megyn Kelly (Theron) after she asks him some pointed questions during a Republican candidates' debate.   We all know what Trump said about Kelly and how it made Kelly the story as much as himself.   Ailes feigned support for Megyn, but in reality, he did his best to urge the conflict on.   When Megyn Kelly finally sat down with Trump for a "hard hitting" interview, she is accused of softballing the interview.   Megyn simply wanted to put the whole ordeal behind her and her family.

Then, there's Gretchen Carlson (Kidman), who is bumped from her morning show to a less desirable afternoon slot after rejecting repeated advances from Ailes and decides to sue Fox News and Ailes after being fired.    Gretchen's lawyers feel her case would be strengthened if other female employees came forward to join the lawsuit.    There are plenty of prospective plaintiffs, since Ailes made intimidation and harassment a cottage industry while running the Fox News empire.  Among them is Kayla Pospisil (Robbie), a newcomer looking to get on the air.   She goes to Ailes to convince him to give her a shot, and he does, after sexual quid pro quo.  Kayla feels dirty and cheapened by the experience, and blames herself. 

Naysayers claim women like Kayla could've said no to Ailes and his advances.   What they fail to realize is that a power monger like Ailes wasn't merely asking Kayla or others to sleep with him.   There was an implied consequence to rejecting him, such as firing, demotion, or further harassment.   Women like Kayla, Gretchen, and Megyn were forced to make career choices entirely upon Ailes' whims or the desires of other powerful men who wielded their power like a weapon.

Another character forced to suppress her sexuality (and her admiration of Hillary Clinton) is Jess Carr (McKinnon), who shows Kayla the ropes and has a one-night stand with her.   For Jess to actually declare herself a Democrat and a lesbian would be tantamount to revolution at Fox News.   There are female supporters of Ailes, like show host Jeanine Pirro (Ubach), who rallies the troops with "Team Roger" t-shirts. 

Bombshell is replete with terrific performances from among the very best actors around.   Jay Roach has directed Recount and Game Change, two superior political dramas, so the stage was set for a pointed, topical storm of a movie which never developed fully.   I expected more anger, more bile, more scathing commentary.   Instead, Bombshell plays like a Cliffs Notes version of the story.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  J.J. Abrams

Starring:  Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Richard E. Grant, Ian McDiarmid, Keri Russell, Billy Dee Williams

This is now Episode Nine and the Star Wars series is now old hat, like it is turning back on itself and repeating the same things we saw in better Star Wars movies.    The First Order is no Empire, and even the re-introduction of Emperor Palpatine, who was thought to be long dead after Darth Vader threw him off a platform and into the Death Star abyss in Return of the Jedi, feels like a desperate attempt to make the First Order seem like something more than the lightweights they are.

We finally discover who Rey's parents are, the Rebellion obtains a tracking device leading straight to Emperor Palpatine's hideout, Lando Calrissian (Williams) returns at the age of 82 to steer the Millenium Falcon into battle once more, and battles of dizzying proportions occur where First Order and Rebellion fighters whiz at, past, and through each other.   The air dogfights are hard to follow. 
Unlike Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope for fanboys), we can't gain any sense as to who is shooting at whom or why.   It is CGI overload of the highest order. 

A Star Wars movie, no matter how the story lines play out, will always have superior production values that won't fall below a certain level of quality, although Rogue One was iffy with its CGI de-aging of Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia.   Speaking of the Princess turned Rebellion general, Carrie Fisher again appears in The Rise of Skywalker despite passing away three years ago.   Her scenes are a distraction.   I found myself concentrating more on the editing techniques which make her appear as if she is actually occupying scenes with other actors.   They were pretty good, by the way, but were they necessary to be included at all?

The Rise of Skywalker's best scenes involve the conflicted Kylo Ren, whose fate is never in doubt, but Adam Driver is up to the task of leveraging pathos to his role.   His relationship with Rey is more complex than expected, and contains some touching nuances.   The rest of The Rise of Skywalker, where Poe (Isaac) and Finn (Boyega) continue taking it to the Empire, er First Order, despite being outgunned and outmanned and making banal declarations about being both, are mostly marking time until we get back to the more engrossing drama of Kylo Ren. 

We have cameos from not just Billy Dee Williams, but other past Star Wars notables brought in to tidy up subplots or just to elicit a "whoa" reaction from the audience.   One is particularly effective, and echoes back to a similar scene in The Force Awakens, which seemingly set Star Wars back on course before The Last Jedi exploded it.   J.J. Abrams was brought in to clean things up, and maybe send this Star Wars trilogy out on the right note, but even he is seemingly recycling past Star Wars movies with Palpatine urging Rey to strike him down and thus allowing the Dark Side to win.   It isn't fully explained how Palpatine even survived his fate in Return of the Jedi.   Let's say he was able to survive an infinite fall, didn't the Death Star blow up again ten minutes later?   There was some offhand mention of cloning, but did Palpatine get cloned only to reenact the same death wish he had before?   He said he foresaw Luke killing him thirty years earlier, and now Rey doing the same thing.  The evil emperor had better get the batteries checked on his foresight mechanisms.

I conclude by saying The Rise of Skywalker was better than The Last Jedi, but it is hardly a satisfying conclusion to this third Star Wars trilogy.   (Spoiler alert, although probably not), when the First Order is eliminated and the rebels win, I wasn't stirred as much as relieved it was over.   Is Star Wars over for me?   I should hope not, and I'm sure we will see more Star Wars in the future, but will anything bring back the inspiration and spirit which made the original trilogy such a trio of masterpieces? 

Richard Jewell (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

Starring:  Paul Walter Hauser, Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde, Kathy Bates

Richard Jewell, a Centennial Park security guard during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, discovered a pipe bomb in an abandoned backpack and saved lives by warning bystanders away from the eventual explosion.    He was rightfully lauded as a hero, and after an interview with Katie Couric, his world was rocked by an FBI investigation targeting him as the bomber.   The reason for the initial investigation, detailed by Agent Tom Shaw (Hamm), is the natural suspicion akin to suspecting the person who discovered a murder victim's body.    What made Jewell a target of intense media scrutiny was Shaw's leak of the investigation to reporter Kathy Scruggs (Wilde), who promised sexual favors as quid pro quo for the tip, at least in the movie.  

Jewell went from hero to perceived monster in a matter of days.   The hefty, socially awkward Jewell and his mother Bobi (Bates) did not anticipate the media would be camped outside their home 24/7.   Because of Jewell's worship of law enforcement, he is entirely too cooperative with the agents looking to build a case against him.    Jewell's lawyer, Watson Bryant (Rockwell), commands Jewell not to talk, but the guy just can't help himself.    It's as if he is giddily picking out just the right size noose for his own hanging.

Clint Eastwood's Richard Jewell is a story of an innocent man's life being wrecked by an overly ambitious FBI agent and a reporter looking for a scoop.    Both refuse to even contemplate the possibility that Jewell is innocent.    Despite the mounting lack of evidence and unsubstantiated speculation, Shaw and Scruggs dig in like ticks, mostly because they don't wish to look foolish.   They've painted themselves into a corner and come out swinging, mostly because they must.

Jewell, as played by Hauser (he was one of the dimwitted conspirators in I, Tonya), is not a lovable teddy bear, but someone who doesn't quite understand the situation he's found himself in.    In the early scenes, he is a police officer wannabe who insufferably throws his weight around as a college dormitory security guard.    The dean fires him for doing his job with too much zeal.   Years later, he is in Centennial Park pathetically trying to ingratiate himself with the police officers on duty, who don't see him as an equal.    That changes briefly following the explosion, until Shaw and Scruggs intervened.   We sympathize with Jewell because, how could we not?  

Eastwood moves things along efficiently as he usually does.    Despite the two-hour plus running time, Richard Jewell doesn't drag.    Eastwood, working from a script by Billy Ray, doesn't pound us over the head with a damnation of the media or government who got this whole story wrong.    Sam Rockwell's Bryant is not on a crusade, he simply wants to have his client exonerated and protect him, even from himself if necessary.    Kathy Bates gives the movie's most passionate performance, as a mother who only wants everyone to leave her and her son alone.    She implores in a statement to the press to declare her son innocent so she and her son can go on with their lives.   It is a speech that resonates.

At 89, Clint Eastwood is a marvel.    He has made a copious output of films in recent years tackling misunderstood heroes and older characters who can teach the technologically advanced youngsters a thing or two.    Richard Jewell is an example of the type of movie Eastwood does best:   Lean, efficient storytelling with resonant themes.    He likes the audience to think, not simply react.    His Richard Jewell is human, and not simply a symbol of what happens when professionals with the power to wreck lives recklessly perform their duties.    The aftermath of the Olympic bombing should've been one of professional pride for Jewell.   Instead, he is fighting for his life against allegations which had no substance, and may have eventually hastened his death in 2007. 

Marriage Story (2019) * * *

Directed by:  Noah Baumbach

Starring:  Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta, Julie Hagerty, Azhy Robertson, Wallace Shawn

We hear in voiceover narration and witness in montages what Charlie (Driver) and Nicole (Johansson), married for a dozen years or so, love about one another.    They speak so glowingly that we think this is an ideal marriage, but we soon discover they are headed for divorce.    The list of things they write is part of a couples therapy assignment, and Nicole refuses to read hers aloud.    Charlie and Nicole don't want to involve lawyers in their divorce.    They delude themselves into thinking it will be amicable all the way down the line.    Once Nicole moves with their son Henry (Robertson) to L.A. and Charlie stays in New York, the amicability flies out the window.

Noah Bambauch's Marriage Story could've easily been called Divorce Story, since the bulk of the story focuses on Charlie's and Nicole's split.    It is dramedy, to be sure, and some of the material is paced and spoken in ways which would make Woody Allen proud.    At two hours plus, there are superfluous scenes which slow things down, but Marriage Story is grounded with relatable, vulnerable performances by Driver and Johansson.    Each person has strengths, weaknesses, and long-held resentments which took a while to bubble to the surface.   

Nicole was once a teen actress who moved with Charlie to New York to work in his fledgling theater company.    He is meticulous in his direction of a play, how he cooks dinner, and how he keeps his home.    Nicole doesn't mind leaving a bra lying around and leaving the apartment a little messy once in a while.  Through the years, she feels she has allowed herself to lose her own voice in the marriage.  Charlie has a way of getting what he wants, until one day he doesn't.   Despite their deal to divorce without contention, Nicole hires hardball divorce attorney Nora Fanshaw (Dern) after gentle persuasion from her mother (Hagerty).   Charlie responds in kind by hiring the less aggressive Bert Spitz (Alda) and then his own pit bull lawyer (Liotta), who is expensive but willing to go low blow for low blow with Nora.

Besides the leads, there is excellent supporting work from Dern, Alda, Liotta, and Shawn, an actor in Charlie's company who advises him to get laid as much as possible now that he's divorcing.    There is a critical scene, maybe even Marriage Story's best, in which Nicole and Charlie start out with a superficial conversation which disintegrates into shouting, accusations, and crying.   The pent-up anger toward each other comes spewing forth like spitting lava from an erupting volcano, and there's no stopping it.    We now know this marriage can't be saved, and it is sad.

Baumbach made 2005's The Squid and the Whale, which semi-autobiographically depicted his parents' divorce.    They too deluded themselves into thinking they could be friendly with each other and cool about each dating other people.    That didn't work, no more than Nicole's and Charlie's futile attempts at civility.    Now, Marriage Story mirrors his own divorce, and it is told with insight and knowledge he wishes he didn't have to go through such pain to obtain.  

Honey Boy (2019) * * 1/2

Directed by:  Alma Har'el

Starring:  Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, Lucas Hedges, Laura San Giacomo, Clifton Collins, Jr.

Honey Boy works best when Shia Labeouf's James is onscreen.   He is the Little League Dad and Stage Dad rolled into one, which is to say he is resentful, insufferable, and his rage is like a powder keg threatening to explode any second now.    When James isn't around, the movie loses focus and drifts, like it's just marking time until James comes back. 

Shia LaBeouf wrote the screenplay for Honey Boy based on his life as a child actor and his subsequent battles against substance abuse.    When Honey Boy opens, Otis (Hedges) is a working actor who finds it more difficult to keep pace with the Hollywood lifestyle without drugs or alcohol.    He is soon arrested for his third DUI and put in rehab.    Rehab is a bit tougher this time around.   He can leave, yes, but then he will go to prison for four years.    He figures he can b.s. his way past the counselors and be out in a matter of days.   The rehab psychologist (San Giacomo) wants him to dig deep into his past and figure out what fills him with such seething anger towards everyone.   We don't have to wait long to find out.

Circling back to 1995, Otis (Jupe) is a twelve-year child actor on the rise.   James, his father, lives with him in a fleabag motel on the edge of town.    Otis rides on the back of James' motorcycle too and from the studio.    While Otis is performing, James is growing marijuana on the side of the highway.    James is a former rodeo clown, convicted sex offender, recovering user, and takes his resentment at his lot in life out on his son while ostensibly supporting him.    Otis pays his father to be his guardian, otherwise James would probably want nothing to do with him.

When the adult Otis is diagnosed with PTSD, he is stunned.   PTSD is something an Iraq war veteran experiences, not an actor, but as we witness his interactions with his father, we see he had to survive a trauma not unlike a war.   James is a veteran himself, and his sobriety is just one more pressure he endures in his daily life.    James' issues are self-inflicted, but he in turn inflicts them on his son, who experiments with drugs and hangs out with a teen prostitute in order to find some relief.

With The Peanut Butter Falcon and now Honey Boy, LaBeouf has given us his two most powerful and multi-dimensional performances.    We would feel more sorry for James if he didn't take his grudge against the universe out on Otis, who didn't ask to bear James' burdens.   Otis' mother is absent, and a potential Big Brother named Tom (Collins) is soon attacked by a threatened James simply for wanting to help Otis.    Tom is a much more stable force, but James will have none of it because he's his, gulp, father.

Honey Boy has all the parts in place for a searing drama, but only electrifies when LaBeouf is on screen.    The rest meanders and turns a potentially heartfelt conclusion into a dud.   The Jupe and Hedges performances are also spot on.  We see the evidence of James' destructive influence in both, but in the end, we aren't exactly happy or moved for Otis.   We just remember some strong performances in search of a captivating story.