Tag Archives: Ana de Armas

Movie Review ~ Blonde (2022)

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The Facts:

Synopsis: After a traumatic childhood, Norma Jeane Mortenson becomes an actress in Hollywood in the 1950s and early 1960s. She becomes world famous under the stage name “Marilyn Monroe,” but her on-screen appearances are in stark contrast to the love issues, exploitation, abuse of power, and drug addiction she faces in her private life.
Stars: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher, Evan Williams, Toby Huss, David Warshofsky, Caspar Phillipson, Dan Butler, Sara Paxton, Rebecca Wisocky
Director: Andrew Dominik
Rated: NC-17
Running Length: 166 minutes
TMMM Score: (8/10)
Review:  The more we tell the same story over time, the more it can grow and gradually change form. Fact becomes fiction, and fiction becomes the legend passed down like a campfire story from one generation to the next. Each culture has its lore, and even established social circles find it hard to rebound from its stars that burn bright and then fade. Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson, is a glittering example of a celebrity that captured the attention of an adoring public for her beauty and has remained an elusive mystery in the decades since her untimely death from a barbiturate overdose at 36. Her marriages (and more famous affairs) have fueled books, movies, television, and even a stage show or two. Has anyone ever told the real story of Marilyn Monroe?

Those looking for ultimate truths aren’t going to find it in Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Joyce Carole Oates’ 2000 novel Blonde. A bestseller and finalist for the Pulitzer prize, the author claims her work is pure fiction, and still, it’s hard not to read between the lines of the salacious details and align them with the meteoric rise of Monroe during the ’50s through to her demise. Already adapted in 2001 into a television mini-series, Blonde has been Dominik’s pet project for over a decade, with A-listers like Naomi Watts and Jessica Chastain attached to star over that time. Ultimately, the film was made for Netflix, starring Ana de Armas (Knives Out), a surprising choice given her Cuban heritage. 

The de Armas casting aside, Blonde faced an uphill battle with viewers wanting a look after it was slapped with the dreaded NC-17 rating by the MPAA. Having a limited theatrical run to qualify it for awards consideration, the rating limits where it can play and who can see it while it plays in theaters. On Netflix, it’s fair game, and the rating doesn’t carry nearly the same stigma it did back when it was equitable to an X. It earns that rating through several hard-to-watch, graphic sexual acts of violence Monroe experienced and a few camera angles that are looking out from a, shall we say, nether region.

At 166 minutes, watching Dominik’s film is a commitment, but one that I think is essential in beginning your understanding of the Marilyn Monroe persona that Norma Jean took on to disassociate from her painful childhood. Later, we see that Norma Jean becomes the safe haven when “Marilyn” is taken advantage of by a series of perverse men, overwhelmed, or needs solace. When learned coping can satiate neither side any longer, Dominik starkly shows the destruction within an already fragile soul. That’s as hard to take in the first time we see a budding Monroe violated by a studio head when she thinks she’s auditioning as it is when she flies in to meet JFK only to be disgustingly objectified while others sit in the next room, doing nothing.

To deny the film is to disregard the exceptional work on display from de Armas. In Blonde, she’s giving the kind of haunted, go-the-distance, audience-challenging performance we ask for every year of a Best Actress and then are too scared to reward or acknowledge. And who cares if de Armas doesn’t “sound” totally like Marilyn Monroe? The voice is far better than the early reviews said, not to mention it’s eerie how much she resembles the real woman she’s playing. This film isn’t a Vegas revue being mounted, and the spirit inside the performance counts. Remember a few years back when Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for Walk the Line while looking (and sounding) nothing like June Carter Cash? 

Identified as The Playwright (really Arthur Miller), Oscar-winner Adrian Brody (Clean) reminds us why he won that prize for The Pianist two decades ago. His scenes with de Armas are gold; quiet moments of a soft-spoken man and a woman used to people raising their voices at her are so touching and played with strength. I almost wanted the movie to be exclusively them chatting. Her marriage to The Ex-Athlete (Joe DiMaggio, played by Bobby Cannavale, Thunder Force) and complicated relationship with her mentally unstable mother (Julianne Nicholson, August: Osage County) are also examined, albeit with more of the histrionics that give the film more of a tabloid feel.

Flipping between black and white and color photography, as well as employing multiple aspect ratios, the small screen experience of Blonde can be more than a little dizzying. I’m betting the aspect ratio changing works better in theaters where the impact can be felt more, its point clearer. All these changes feel like gussied-up tricks instead of choices at home—distractions from the shiny object at the center that keeps us watching Blonde and de Armas. Recreating many of Monroe’s famous appearances but never going full-on into impression or parody, Dominik isn’t above jumping away into another scene right as we think we’re going to get a restaged musical number or see a familiar appearance. 

Though it’s already long (too long, some would argue), I was surprised at how much Dominik omits along the way. While mostly told chronologically, several leaps ahead can leave viewers unsure of where they are in the Monroe timeline. One moment, she’s a child being dropped off at an orphanage; the next, she’s posing for Playboy. What happened between that fateful day and her first appearance in the magazine that began to shape Norma Jean into the woman she’d become? Most of her relationships have no actual start and end. They just “are,” and that’s that. 

Bound to be an endurance test for some, a fascination for many, and potentially triggering to others, I found Blonde to be a powerful watch based solely on the performance de Armas was giving. It’s not hard to root for Monroe, but what the actress brings to it is a doomed vulnerability we don’t want just to protect but help her find the tools to do it on her own. Like most legendary tales in Hollywood, the details may be fuzzy, but the ending is always the same, and the final shot of Blonde is a telling reminder that even in death, some only saw the Marilyn Monroe they wanted.  

Movie Review ~ The Gray Man (2022)

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The Facts:

Synopsis: When the CIA’s most skilled operative—whose true identity is known to none—accidentally uncovers dark agency secrets, a psychopathic former colleague puts a bounty on his head, setting off a global manhunt by international assassins.
Stars: Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Regé-Jean Page, Billy Bob Thornton, Jessica Henwick, Dhanush, Wagner Moura, Alfre Woodard
Director: Anthony and Joe Russo
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: 122 minutes
TMMM Score: (3/10)
Review:  When directors Anthony and Joe Russo wrapped up their boundary-busting run in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the epic final two films in The Infinity Saga (2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame), no one could blame them for wanting to shift gears. Not only did they pump the brakes on their action-heavy output, but they also changed direction altogether, delivering 2021’s sour Cherry on Apple TV+ to viewers and critics who thought it was the pits. Though the public could wholly attribute the blame for the failure to their lack of conscious oversight, that misguided biopic did precious little to help out star Tom Holland’s career post-Spider-Man. Still, it seemed to be a minor bump in the Brothers Russo Road of directing.

On paper, The Gray Man reads like it should be an enterprise worth undertaking for the directors known for their large-scale action sequences and creative camerawork, and it doesn’t hurt they’ve roped in three appealing stars as headliners. Like last November’s Red Notice, the trio and the material rarely mesh, resulting in a directionless film that is often voraciously senseless, frequently misogynistic, and unusually dull. That it took two directors to make a film so mediocre is almost incredibly commendable in a way, but that is little consolation when you’re an hour into the endless movie, and barely anything has happened.

Commuting the sentence of a young man convicted of murder and recruiting him to a fledgling covert ops agency of skilled killers, Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) knows there is potential in the man that can be developed over time. Flash forward eighteen years, and Six (Ryan Gosling, Blade Runner 2049) is indeed the cool as a cucumber assassin his mentor knew he’d be. We know this because he’s wearing a slick suit, barely talks above a whisper, and looks up at his contact, Agent Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas, Deep Water), from under heavy-lidded eyes. Six is on a mission ordered by agency head Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page, Sylvie’s Love) to take out a target when the plan goes awry, and he’s left with a piece of information that holds the answers to corruption from inside the organization. Of course, this puts a target on his back, and he’s soon on a globe-trotting run for his life while trying to expose the cover-up.

Unwilling to let this data leak, Carmichael calls in an outside clean-up crew led by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans, Lightyear), a former recruit alongside Six that was kicked out for his unscrupulous methods. We get a good idea of those methods early on (it involves a car battery) and later when a set of fingernails gets threatened by a pair of pliers wielded by Lloyd. Lloyd is determined to take Six out, partly because he wants the bragging rights, which is why he’s willing to play dirty. Pulling all the stops out and ready to incite a worldwide news event to take out one man, Lloyd makes a final play for engaging Six…, and that’s when he goes too far.

If you haven’t gleaned it yet, The Gray Man comes down to Six and Lloyd proving who is the best bad guy, and it doesn’t matter how much collateral damage there is. Seeming to forget that both men are supposed to be experts in espionage and stealth, the Russo’s never provide an opportunity for them (or anyone) to be sneaky about anything. I don’t think they’d be able to film Evans creeping up behind Gosling competently; there must be some grand gesture to accompany it. It’s an example of brutish toxicity that feels disingenuous to both characters. Neither had to take on these tired tropes to be exciting, and the fact that they’re reduced to men that have to prove their might rather than finish the job and go home is more for the movies than anything honest and character related. 

Gosling is far dourer in his role than Evans, who seems to be having a lot of fun in his ultra-tight retro-designer polo shirts and, according to Six, “trash stash.” As much as Gosling is having fun with the action sequences, he seems to get the dramatic scenes to be hokey pokey. A side plot involving Julia Butters (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) as Fitzroy’s kidnapped niece is so shoehorned to achieve one story contrivance it’s almost laughable. I almost wish we discovered de Armas played the same role from No Time to Die…or even Knives Out. At least we’d understand why she’s putting forth so little effort to set herself apart from the background extras. 

The Russo’s make a critical error in casting Page and Jessica Henwick (On the Rocks) as two of Langley’s agents with dirty hands, but how bad either of them is remains to be seen. The undisputed star story out of Bridgerton, I think Page played his cards too early and jumped from that Netflix show to the next level before he was ready. There’s not much going on with him, both in personality or performance. While I appreciated another female character, Henwick spends most of the movie watching a monitor and giving an out loud recap of what we saw, lamenting how “bad this looks” for her. If only we cared enough to feel for any of these people. Don’t even get me started with the raw deal dealt to the esteemed Alfre Woodard (Clemency) or the utter ridiculousness of the performance of Wagner Moura (Elysium) playing a contact Gosling reaches out to.

If you watch for someone, you’ll be rewarded briefly when the mononymous Dhanush appears as a Tamil killer who gives Gosling and de Armas a good stomping. These action sequences land with a swift punch and makes you wish Dhanush had a more significant part to sustain the movie’s back end when there are no twists to divert The Gray Man off its standard path. Whenever I thought the filmmakers would introduce an unexpected wrinkle, the Russo’s opted for the easiest out and never looked back. Yes, they try to whip out their bag of camera tricks, but it looks like the fast-roaming lens-work Sam Raimi used decades ago in his Evil Dead films and even recently in Michael Bay’s Ambulance.

While the action sequences are big and loud, they mostly come off incredibly phony due to an overabundance of CGI, green screen, and composite filmmaking. Again, as I mentioned in my review of Thor: Love and Thunder, I’m shocked that in 2022 we’re still willing to accept effects that look so terrible or large-scale blistering shootouts that are impossible to follow. In the centerpiece scene of The Gray Man, Gosling is in the middle of a park chained to a bench and is descended upon by 15 men with gigantic guns trying to take him out. They wind up shooting at everyone BUT Gosling. Where’s the logic (or fun) in that? You stew on that because I’ve already thought about The Gray Man more than anyone involved has.

Movie Review ~ Deep Water

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
Stars: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Dash Mihok, Lil Rel Howery, Jacob Elordi, Finn Wittrock, Kristen Connolly, Rachel Blanchard
Director: Adrian Lyne
Rated: R
Running Length: 115 minutes
TMMM Score: (3/10)
Review: The gossip-grabbing headlines that have followed Deep Water from its filming during the later months of 2019 through its numerous release delays have been the stuff that set the tongues wagging of both viewers and critics alike.  Audiences with their home screens set to Page Six are keen to know if the relationship between the stars of the film, Ben Affleck (The Last Duel) and Ana de Armas (Knives Out), equated to erotic chemistry in this adaptation of a 1957 Patricia Highsmith novel.  On the flip side, critics were increasingly desperate to watch the return of director Adrian Lyne after what would turn out to be a twenty-year gap between films.  When the film was announced to debut on Hulu in March of 2022, Affleck was back with Jennifer Lopez, and de Armas is doing just fine on the cusp of A-list stardom.  On the other hand, Deep Water should have been submerged at the bottom of a shallow creek.

I actually went into Lyne’s first film since 2002’s Unfaithful with hope all the early lousy buzz was wrong, the result of too many eager beavers ready to tear the movie to shreds.  We’ve certainly had those films before.  Unfortunately, this is not one of those cases.  Highsmith’s novel is about a husband and wife in a loveless marriage stained with adultery who use the men the wife sleeps with as pawns in their psychological torment of one another.  When one of these games goes too far, it creates a fissure in their routine that changes the rules they’ve seemingly agreed to and ups the ante for unpredictable danger.  While Highsmith’s novel isn’t as overt as the screenplay from Zach Helm and Sam Levinson (Malcolm & Marie), its framework would have made for a sophisticated (and, sure, sexy) adult drama that Lyne could have molded to his style.  It’s absolutely in line with the films he has overseen before, like 9 ½ Weeks, Indecent Proposal, and Fatal Attraction. 

So why is Deep Water so shallow and dull?  Perhaps it’s because there’s no chemistry between the leads, a strange occurrence for the actors who found romance offscreen.  You don’t once buy for a second that de Armas would choose the lean and lanky boys she flounces around with over Affleck’s more mature and handsome frame.  Even if she’s trying to provoke him into what eventually happens, the character de Armas is playing is supposedly repulsed by the thought of being with her husband. It just doesn’t come across as believable.  In that same vein, Affleck is tasked with having to act like he’s above all of the flirting de Armas does in front of him and his friends (more on that later), but the most addled he gets is contorting his face as if he has a piece of rice stuck in a back molar. 

More than anything, Deep Water has no erotic edge to it.  Lush lust might have saved the film from its rather bland exchanges between husband and wife, and let’s face it, some of Lyne’s previous films were significantly assisted by the suggestive content.  Instead, we get several large dinner parties where the most exciting thing that occurs is de Armas playing the piano badly at one and de Armas asking her newest boy toy (Jacob Elordi) to tinkle the ivories at another.  At that particular party, when he starts playing, you would have thought Amadeus himself was playing Elvis Presley the way the guests begin to jive to the melody.  Also, Lyne films each of these gatherings so gauzy and dimly lit that I swear it felt like it would erupt into a key party at any moment. All of their friends seemed a little…too friendly.

If I told you there was a murder mystery at the core of Deep Water, would it excite you any more to see it?  It shouldn’t because it’s barely part of the plot, though previews might make you think otherwise.  No, most of the movie is focused on Affleck looking jealous of de Armas and de Armas apparently hating her life with Affleck and their young daughter.  It’s hard to feel much sympathy with anyone involved; even the people that are intended to be helpful are pretty abysmal.  Lyne also includes one of the most bizarre scenes to show over a closing credit in some time.  It’s almost entirely a miss, recommended only for the curious that don’t mind giving away two hours of their time to have nothing to show for it.

Bond-ed For Life ~ No Time to Die

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The Facts:

Synopsis: James Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading the former MI6 agent onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.

Stars: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, David Dencik, Rory Kinnear

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 163 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (9/10)

Review: So…here we are.  After a long, very long, extremely long, wait…the new 007 film has arrived.  It’s also the last time Daniel Craig will don the James Bond suits, drive the fancy cars, and play with the cool gadgets, so it’s understandable why the producers and studio behind No Time to Die kept firm with their decision to push back the release date over and over again so audiences could only experience this important chapter in theaters.  This, after the movie was initially delayed on its way to the screen because of a departing director (Oscar-winner Danny Boyle left after disagreements on how the story should go), cast injuries, and damage to the filming studio.  For a time, it looked like James Bond would NOT return, to riff on the famous last words at the end of each previous films’ closing credits.  A release date was finally locked in but then…pandemic.

All that is behind us because the movie is arriving and now the question for the viewer will likely be two-fold.  1) was it worth the wait and 2) is it a fulfilling sequel?  For me, as a life-long Bond fan and with a certain affinity for most of this last cycle of Bond movies with Craig as the star I will tell you what I responded when both the studio and my friend asked me what I thought.  To me, when the 163-minute No Time to Die was over I felt like I had eaten a nine-course meal of my favorite dishes and then topped it off with an extra dessert.  After something so huge, you need time to digest so I was happy to have over a week to think more about it.  Craig’s tenure as Bond has had its highs (Skyfall, Casino Royale) and lows (Quantum of Solace, Spectre) and I would place No Time to Die smack dab in the center of them all, leaning strongly toward high praise for the elegant way it manages to close this part of what has already been a long adventure.

For the first time, a James Bond opening begins in the past and doesn’t even feature Bond at all.  This intro becomes a key piece in action and location later in the movie and is but the beginning of the longest pre-credit sequence in any Bond film yet.  By the time Daniel Kleinman’s haunting opening credit sequence pays over Billie Eilish’s spine-tingling title track (I originally found this song to be slow and boring but, in the context of the movie, the tone and purpose make it near perfect), retired 00-agent Bond and his love Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux, The Grand Budapest Hotel) have faced down a vicious attack in Southern Italy and in the process revealed certain secrets from the past that have come back to snap at both of their hearts.  Five years later, Bond is alone in Jamaica when he is visited by both his old friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright, The Good Dinosaur) from the CIA and an MI6 agent (Lashana Lynch, Captain Marvel) who has been assigned his 007 number in the field.  Both are interested in Bond getting involved with Project Heracles, a chemical weapon that has been stolen by a rogue villain.  The CIA wants Bond’s help, 007 wants him to stay out of her way.

Bond can’t help but be curious and when he travels to Cuba to investigate, he’s teamed with new CIA agent Paloma (Ana de Armas, reuniting with her Knives Out co-star Craig) to infiltrate a secret SPECTRE party where they find an old friend has been keeping a watchful eye over them all.  The deeper Bond seeks the truth, the more he finds that Project Heracles has ties not just to his old foe Ernst Blofeld but to a new enemy, Safin (Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody), as well as Madeleine.  And all three are about to re-enter his life in a big way…with a number of surprises yet to come.

As is usually the case, there are a stable of screenwriters credited for this 25th Bond film but it doesn’t feel slap-a-dash or story by committee.  Aside from usual suspects Neil Purvis and Robert Wade, director Cary Joji Fukunaga (Jane Eyre) contributed to the final script, and it’s widely known that Emmy winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to punch up some of the dialogue and give the film some humor.  Hold that wince if you are thinking there’s an extra dose of comedy that’s been shaken and stirred…yes there is more of a sense of humor to the proceedings, but they are small touches here and there which result in the characters feeling more fleshed out than anything. 

It’s great to see the players back in action, from Ben Whishaw’s (Cloud Atlas) tech-guy Q to Naomie Harris’s (Rampage) Moneypenny.  I’m glad the writers gave Ralph Fiennes (Dolittle) as M a bit more depth this time around because in Spectre there seemed to be a bit of stunted growth after being introduced so nicely in Skyfall.  (Note, make sure to keep your eyes open for a scene where M is sitting in a portrait gallery and observe the paintings – it’s just one of several nice touches that callback not just to other Craig films, but all the way back to the beginning.) Waltz (Big Eyes) had his chance in the previous film to make an impression and he was sort of just…Waltz.  There’s little more to elaborate on than that.  Of the new crop, Lynch has the best success in a role that feels like a good step forward for the series but, like Halle Berry’s Jinx who played opposite Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day, the character becomes a second thought once Bond decides to get back in on the action.  Per usual, I’m not entirely sure what Malek is up to in performance or accent but it’s one of the weaker villains in the Bond franchise…yet he has one of the deadliest lairs.  The appeal of Billy Magnussen (Into the Woods) is totally lost on me.  So, there’s that.

Fans have been waiting eons for Bond to return and he’s come back with a high-wire epic that delivers maximum bang for your buck.  It’s a hefty movie with a generous run time so be prepared to settle in and I’d advise skipping any/all bathroom breaks so you don’t miss any action.  Things change on a dime in the life of a secret agent and despite the constant aural reminder of another title tune from an older Bond film, you do not have all the time in the world to take it in.  When the stakes are this high, there’s no time to wait for No Time to Die.

Movie Review ~ The Night Clerk

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The Facts:

Synopsis: While on duty, a young, socially challenged hotel clerk witnesses a murder in one of the rooms but his suspicious actions land him as the lead detective’s number one suspect

Stars: Tye Sheridan, Ana de Armas, Helen Hunt, John Leguizamo, Johnathon Schaech, Jacque Gray

Director: Michael Cristofer

Rated: R

Running Length: 90 minutes

TMMM Score: (6/10)

Review:  As a lifelong fan of all things mystery and thriller, I’ve come to know my way around a whodunit.  At first, being able to decipher the plot twists and guess the solution early on in a film was frustrating because I felt I was somehow being let down by the movie not playing its cards closer to the chest.  I wanted to have to work to figure it out – that’s the fun of it all, right?  Well, as I kept watching over time I found that it became more interesting to see what else the film was offering up even if it couldn’t keep its secrets safe until that final reel.  Often, I’d wind up appreciating performances more when I saw how they lined up with where the outcome was heading and that showed signs not of a weak script but a well-thought out one.

I mention this at the beginning of my review for The Night Clerk because the murder mystery plot that writer/director Michael Cristofer uses is well-worn and easy to solve almost from the top.  I wouldn’t dare spoil it but Cristofer has not built this tale on a series of complex plot machinations and, y’know, I think that helps the movie at the end of the day because it allows for more interesting moments to emerge.  Though working with a tiny budget that doesn’t call for much in the way of sets or location shooting, Cristofer has assembled an appealing cast that approaches the material as a drama first, a mystery second.

Working the late shift for a modest hotel chain, Bart Bromley (Tye Sheridan, Mud) is trying his best to overcome his socially awkward ways.  Clearly on the spectrum but high functioning and living in the basement of his mother’s house, Bart has taken to hiding video cameras in the hotel rooms but not for the reasons you may think.  Instead of being a peeping Tom, Bart observes the way the guests interact and models his speech patterns and conversation starters off of the topics he overhears.  While he still eats the meals his mother prepares alone in the basement as she dines solo upstairs longing for her son to sit with her, you can tell he’s trying to forge some kind of connection that makes sense to him.

Thriving off his routine, Bart’s precision and order is upended after a guest is murdered while he watches remotely, unable to help, on his video monitors.  He’s haunted by the event but unable to say anything to his mother (Helen Hunt, The Sessions) or the cop assigned to the case (John Leguizamo, American Ultra) who can tell Bart knows more than he’s letting on and is further perplexed by Bart’s over-interest in the homicide.  Complicating things further is another guest at the hotel, a mysterious beauty (Ana de Armas, Knives Out) that seems to understand and accept Bart more than others.  Is she the kind soul he’s been waiting for, or is there another plot underway that’s tied back to the earlier murder?

Surprisingly, the murder plotline and everyone associated with it (including Johnathon Schaech’s hammy overacting as a grieving widower) becomes the least interesting part of Cristofer’s film once de Armas arrives.  As Andrea, at first you wonder if she’s just a figment of Bart’s imagination until you realize that isn’t the kind of movie Cristofer is trying to make.  The enigmatic figure struts into Bart’s life late at night and captivates him for all the right reasons.  Sure she’s beautiful but she also appears to be a genuine person and the scenes Sheridan and de Armas share are quite good and interesting to watch.  It’s always a gamble when someone without autism takes on a character on the spectrum but Sheridan doesn’t make Bart a jumble of tics and clichés.  He slightly overdoes it at times but for the most part, it’s an admirable take on the challenge.

Running a trim 90 minutes, the interludes with Sheridan and de Armas can’t carry the entire running length and when Cristofer attempts to pull a series of last minute twists it starts to fall apart a bit because he’s tugging at too many strings all at once.  I would have been more interested in this one if it was just a drama about two people that found each other in an unlikely situation and managed to develop something interesting out of it.  Introducing some seedier elements cheapens that special relationship Sheridan and de Armas create but it doesn’t take away from it fully.  Worth checking this one out if you can catch it on your streaming service.

Movie Review ~ Knives Out

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.

Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Lakeith Stanfield, Michael Shannon, Ana de Armas, Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christopher Plummer, Toni Collette, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, K Callan, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, Raúl Castillo

Director: Rian Johnson

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 130 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (8/10)

Review: Readers, there’s a mystery to solve and I need your help finding the solution.  Who killed the whodunit?  The suspects are as follows.  Studio execs that didn’t see the value in continuing to produce mid-range budgeted films that would often make their money back but didn’t have franchise possibilities.  Screenwriters that grew lazy with their material and started to rehash well-worn plots that didn’t keep viewers guessing as much as it did counting down the minutes until the inevitable twist was introduced.  Audiences that stayed away, preferring their trips to the theater be reserved for spectacles of populist entertainment.  The death was slow but not unexpected, with the last gasp occurring in the dead of a summer’s night in the mid 2000s.

A life-long fan of mysteries, I’ve been starving for an old-fashioned whodunit, the kind of jigsaw puzzle of a movie that wasn’t just about unmasking a teen slasher but doing some detective work to get answers.  It’s probably why I welcomed 2018’s remake of Murder on the Orient Express with an extra warm hug (more than most critics) and why I was eagerly anticipating the release of writer/director Rian Johnson’s Knives Out.  Here was the pre-Thanksgiving feast I’d been waiting for and if the early previews delivered on its promise, there was a distinct possibility it could lead to more of its kind in the future.  Boasting a star-studded cast, cheeky humor, and a solid but not entirely complex enigma at its core, Knives Out is decidedly entertaining but curiously lacking in connection.

You’re in a spoiler-free zone so read on with confidence knowing nothing not already presented in the trailers will be discussed. 

Famed mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World) has been found dead the morning after his birthday party where his entire family was in attendance.  Originally ruling the death a suicide, the police have gathered the family for another round of questioning when an anonymous tip attracts the attention of famous detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig, Skyfall).  One by one, every family member recounts their memory of the last night they saw Harlan alive, each producing a slightly different take on the evening.  Only Harlan’s young attendant/nurse Marta (Ana de Armas, Blade Runner 2049) seems to be able to speak the truth, but then again she has a physical aversion to lying that causes her to…well, you’ll just have to see for yourself.

The first forty five minutes of Knives Out is occupied with Blanc and Lieutenant Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield, The Girl in the Spider’s Web) getting to know the family better, giving us a chance to see their internal dynamics as well.  Daughter Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween) is a self-made businesswoman married to loafer Richard (Don Johnson, Paradise) and their charming but churlish son Ransom (Chris Evans, Avengers: Endgame) is the clear black sheep of the family.  Running his father’s publishing house is Walt (Michael Shannon, Midnight Special) and he grows frustrated with his dad’s refusal to take advantage of the profitable endeavors he has been proposing.  Married to a third sibling that passed away, Joni (Toni Collette, Krampus) and her daughter Meg (Katherine Langford, Love, Simon) are kept close even if behind closed doors they aren’t truly considered family.  Then there is Harlan’s mother (K. Callan, American Gigolo), a near silent crone that’s always watching and definitely always listening.

That’s a lot of people to juggle, and I haven’t even discussed a few extra bodies, but by some miracle Johnson’s script manages to make time for all of them.  Still, it never quite feels like enough.  Viewers will be surprised how little certain stars are participatory as the movie unfolds.  Sure, they have an impact on the plot and get moments to shine but with an ensemble this large it’s natural to miss out on featuring everyone all the time.  Thankfully, Johnson (Looper) learned a thing or two from his time on Star Wars: The Last Jedi and knows how to pepper the movie with spikes of energy if the pacing is starting to drop off.  Each time the plot seemed to be hitting a bit of a wall, it pivoted in some tiny way to keep you off kilter.  I would have liked there to a bit more, ultimately, to this family.  The way it’s scripted, they are slightly walking jokes waiting for a set-up and punchline.

As for the mystery of what happened to Harlan Thrombey, well I wouldn’t dream of giving that away.  What I will say is that I appreciated Johnson didn’t cheat when all was revealed.  Having seen enough of these movies over the years I can easily start to piece together the clues and so when I saw them pop up I started to place the important pieces to one side.  When it was time to step back and see the big picture, it was nice to see it all fit together…and not precisely in the way I thought it was going to.  The performances and cinematography are key to pulling this kind of sleight-of-hand off more than anything and Johnson’s cast of experienced professionals all are more than up to the challenge.

The biggest take away I have for you is this: Knives Out is a lot of fun.  In a movie-going era where so many films that get released are dependent on existing intellectual property, it’s a welcome relief that a studio like Lionsgate went the extra mile with this and supported Johnson in his endeavor to try something old but in a modern way.  It’s a little light, if I’m being honest, and I’m not sure what a second viewing will be like.  I know I do want to see it again and that’s saying something.  It’s supposed to snow this Thanksgiving weekend where I am in the Midwest and I can’t think of a better way to spend a gloomy snow day than in a warm theater watching a movie like this play out — the community experience for this one should be fun.

The Silver Bullet ~ Knives Out

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Synopsis: A detective investigates the death of a patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.

Release Date: November 27, 2019

Thoughts: This November, writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) is hopefully going to give this Agatha Christie murder-mystery loving guy something to be thankful for when Lionsgate releases the star-studded whodunit, Knives Out.  Packed to the brim with A-listers and a few solid B-list mainstays, this looks like a cheeky and fun black comedy with a bit of death thrown into the mix.  With favorites like Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween), Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding), Chris Evans (Avengers: Endgame), Daniel Craig (Skyfall), Michael Shannon (Midnight Special) among the suspects and sleuths, all bets are off on what Johnson has in store for us but I expect some twists to be turned and rugs to be pulled as we get to the final reveal.  Fingers crossed this is as entertaining as it looks.  Though I’m sure this must contain some sort of spoilers – the first look at Knives Out is fairly sparse and feels like it’s holding back big reveals for the finished product.

Movie Review ~ Yesterday

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The Facts:

Synopsis: A struggling musician realizes he’s the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.

Stars: Himesh Patel, Lily James, Kate McKinnon, Ed Sheeran, Joel Fry

Director: Danny Boyle

Rated: PG-13

Running Length: 116 minutes

TMMM Score: (4/10)

Review: It’s not like we haven’t had a movie featuring the music of The Beatles before. Starting with A Hard Day’s Night in 1964 starring the quartet from Liverpool themselves followed by 1965’s Help! and 1968’s Yellow Submarine, the songs lived on in more films. There was the infamous Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band released in 1978, the same year future Oscar-winning director Robert Zemeckis made the underrated comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Along with the various biopics and documentaries, I can’t forget 2007’s powerhouse but eternally divisive Across the Universe which found director Julie Taymor incorporating the music of The Beatles into an original story within a full blown movie musical.

What would happen, though, if The Beatles never became famous and their music never heard? What if only one person remembered their songs and claimed them as his own, riding their timeless sincerity and undeniable musicality to potential fame and fortune? That’s the set-up promised by the supposed romantic comedy Yesterday and judging from the trailers and promos I was expecting a light musical fantasy positing an intriguing question to a summer audience. Halfway through the summer, a movie free of exploding planets and avenging superheroes was a tune I was interested in hearing.

How strange, then, to find Yesterday one of the more heavy-handed films so far this summer. There are many elements of the movie that work fairly well independently of each other but put them all together and there is a perplexing discord no one can overcome. Looking at the pedigree of those involved, including an Oscar winning director, a much-lauded screenwriter known for making his comedic romances float without being fluff, and two appealing leads, this should have been a slam dunk sleeper summer hit. Instead, it just becomes a snooze.

Struggling musician Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is getting ready to hang up his guitar for good. Living with his parents after quitting job as a teacher, he’s been trying to make it as a singer-songwriter while working a part time job at a local superstore. The gigs organized by his childhood friend and manager Ellie (Lily James, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) aren’t leading to anything of substance and though his friends are loyal supporters, the work he’s putting out into the world isn’t catching fire. The night of his last gig, after telling Ellie he’s quitting, he’s struck by a bus during a worldwide blackout, losing two teeth in the process. It’s not the only thing lost when the lights go out.

Shortly after he recovers, he’s plucking out the notes to ‘Yesterday’ for Ellie and his friends and discovers not only do they not know the song, they’ve never heard of the men that wrote it or the famous band they were a part of. Searching the internet for John Paul George Ringo only brings back the page for Pope John Paul II and looking for The Beatles keeps directing him to the Wikipedia page for insect. Could it be that the entire world had forgotten…or that they never existed at all? At first, Jack is reluctant to use the music to his advantage but the more positive responses he gets the more emboldened he becomes to “write” more and more of the back catalog for The Fab Five. The only trouble he faces is remembering the lyrics to several key songs…after all, if the songs only exist in his head the lyrics aren’t scribbled down anywhere for him to reference.  That’s why he struggles mightily with the complex ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and mixes up the order of ‘For the Benefit of Mr. Kite.’

As Jack starts to skyrocket to fame, his relationship with Ellie changes from chums to maybe something more. All these years they have been best friends…but were both hoping for love to blossom and waiting for the other to make the first move? With Jack’s path taking him away from home and keeping the two apart, the movie unfortunately tries to shoehorn in a romance that doesn’t feel like it wants to be there. Part of that problem is that, for as likable as Patel and Collins are individually, they generate absolutely no romantic chemistry at all. In the friends department, they are believable as pals but every time they are supposed to be pining for each other there are no sparks created.  I get that Yesterday is first and foremost supposed to wear its romance on its sleeve but that the movie keeps returning to this plot that utterly halts any and all forward progress is a major failure.  Without any true pull for the audience to root for Jack and Ellie to be together, I was left wondering if they were meant to be a couple at all.  Why?  Because the movie laws say they should be?  It’s not like either make any huge sacrifice (save for a hammy grand gesture near the climax) for the other…I just couldn’t understand why we should care.

Some of that is the fault of the script from Curtis (About Time) which is uncharacteristically free of heart. What I’ve always appreciated about the way Curtis fashions a screenplay is the way he is able to bring not only the two leads together in a witty way but in the method he involves the supporting players as well. Think about the ensemble casts of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. Yes, the stars stick in your mind but so do the nicely drawn people surrounding them. That’s another problem here. Aside from Patel and Collins, the supporting cast in Yesterday are completely forgettable. The ones that stick out do so for the wrong reasons. As Jack’s annoying friend and roadie Rocky, Joel Fry (Paddington 2) is basically the exact same character Rhys Ifans played much better (and to 100% more laughs) in Notting Hill. Treating her performance like an extended SNL sketch, Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters) squares herself as Jack’s Los Angeles manager to be so nasty that what is supposed to be funny just comes off as mean-spirited and, ultimately, exasperating. McKinnon started as such a breath of fresh air but her act is stale.  Playing himself in an extended cameo, Ed Sheeran shouldn’t quit his day job.

The biggest issue with the movie is the director. At the end of the day Danny Boyle (Trance) was just, I think, not the right director for this film. Though he’s shown an agility with movies that have a bit of a fantastical edge to them (go watch Millions if you don’t believe me), he seems totally lost at how to keep Yesterday from dragging almost from the beginning. The movie should have a snap to it, especially considering the numerous up-tempo numbers sung by Patel who has quite a lovely singing voice. Instead, these musical moments feel cold and unwelcoming. For a movie with so many magical points of interest there is little whimsy to be had. Curtis introduces an extra twist to the circumstances where we find out that it’s not just The Beatles that were erased from existence and Jack isn’t the only one that remembers how things once were…but Boyle never takes those ideas further so they become footnotes to the unexplained phenomena instead of additional clues.

In some ways I wonder if this wouldn’t have worked better as part of some sort of Black Mirror-ish type of show. Pushing up against the two-hour mark, the film struggles to justify that length and stretches on longer than it has to. One thing I will say that it has going for it (aside from the soundtrack which I secured fairly quickly) was that I didn’t quite know what to expect from the ending and what I thought would happen didn’t. There was an easy way to end the movie and a more complicated resolution and the film took the road less traveled.  I don’t think it will satisfy the average movie-goer, though the woman next to me was bouncing around in her seat throughout and practically dancing during the hummable closing credits.  Under the watchful eye of a director less interested in reality and the recasting of McKinnon’s character, Yesterday would be an improvement.  Right now, it’s helter skelter.

Movie Review ~ Blade Runner 2049

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Blade Runner 2049 Movie Poster

The Facts:

Synopsis: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. The discovery leads him on a quest to find a former blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Jared Leto

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Rated: R

Running Length: 163 minutes

Trailer Review: Here

TMMM Score: (10/10)

Review: Though it’s enmeshed in pop culture now, it’s worth noting that when Blade Runner was originally released in 1982 it wasn’t anywhere near the hit it probably should have been. Way ahead of its time (as most Ridley Scott directed movies were in those days) and arguably overtooled for less than discerning audiences, the movie was a wonder of visuals but lacked a certain depth. Scott would later make some cuts and remove a tiresome voiceover narration from star Harrison Ford (Working Girl) and that started guiding Blade Runner to a new audience while reenergizing its original fan base. Honestly, the movie has had so many different versions released that I have trouble remembering which is which…but the Blade Runner you can view in 2017 is much different (and better) than the one first seen over thirty years ago.

In this age of nostalgic and reworked reboots, when I first heard that Scott was coming back to the Blade Runner universe I was curious to see what the outcome would be. Having already dipped back into his canon with a prequel to Alien (Prometheus and, later, Alien: Covenant) would he be able to find that same new way in without totally destroying the memories of his original creation? Turns out, Scott did the wisest thing possible and stepped out of the director’s chair but kept his producer cap on for oversight. Handing over the reins to red-hot director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy, Arrival) was a stroke of genius because Villeneuve has delivered not only an exceedingly worthy sequel to Blade Runner but one of the most exciting visual spectacles of the year.

At the end of the screening I attended for Blade Runner 2049, we were read a laundry list of items the studio and director would rather we not mention in our review. I’ve no problem keeping those secrets as to go into the film with any hint of spoilers would be doing a disservice to yourself. What I can tell you is that the film picks up 30 years after the events from Blade Runner when the original replicants from the first film have been all but obliterated, replaced with newer models that are programmed to obey at all costs. There are a few early replicants still roaming the overcrowded wasteland cities of the future, though, and a new blade runner (Ryan Gosling, The Big Short) is tasked with rounding them up and retiring them for good.

During one mission, Gosling’s character makes a discovery that sets into motion a series of events that is equal parts mystery and sci-fi action suspense. His superior (Robin Wright, Wonder Woman) wants him to get to the bottom of things and eliminate any threat before anyone else does. That puts him in opposition with the new manufacturer (Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club) of state of the art replicants who dispatches his cold as ice henchwoman (Sylvia Hoeks) to get to Gosling’s target before he does. His journey eventually bridges the gap between the past and the future when he meets up with a familiar face harboring secrets of his own.

That’s all! I can’t say more or the studio will send a blade runner to retire me!

Villenueve has shown time and time again that he’s a master of both style and substance and Blade Runner 2049 is likely the pinnacle example of that. With jaw-dropping visuals incorporating seamless effects with Roger Deakins (Skyfall) gorgeous cinematography, the film is overwhelming in all the best possible ways. At 163 minutes, it could have had some major dips in momentum but miraculously the film keeps rocketing ahead, gathering speed and tension as it goes. There so many memorable sequences that it’s hard to pick just one that rises above the others, but be on the look-out for Gosling’s fight sequence set in a showroom amongst holograms of throwback Vegas entertainment. The finale showdown is also a white knuckle mini-masterpiece.

While the A-list stars are pitch perfect, it’s the lesser-known supporting players that stuck with me long after the movie was over. Hoeks, in particular is a most exciting find. The Dutch beauty actually has more screen time than Leto and she’s scary good because you never know quite what her angle is. Carla Juri and Mackenzie Davis (The Martian) also contribute strong work as important contacts Gosling makes along the way.

Answering some of the questions that Blade Runner left open may or may not happen here and this sequel may or may not close up shop with even more questions left for you to ponder…I won’t spoil some of the biggest surprises screenwriter Hampton Fancher and Michael Green (Logan) have waiting for you.

See this movie on the biggest screen you possibly can find, preferably with the best sound system too. Villeneuve has provided a full-bodied entertainment package for you and it deserves to be seen and appreciated for the knockout it is.

The Silver Bullet ~ Blade Runner 2049

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blade-runner-2049

Synopsis: A new blade runner unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. The discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

Release Date:  October 6, 2017

Thoughts: When Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was first released in 1982 it was a little too ahead of its time.  Though Alien, Scott’s previous effort, successfully transcended its era there was something too cool to the touch in this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick short story.  Over time Blade Runner has become a respected classic, endlessly released in new edits that attempt to make the somewhat obtuse movie a bit more focused.  Instead of tinkering again with the source movie, Scott (busy with his second Alien prequel) wisely handed over the reins to skilled auteur Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival) and boy am I glad he did.  As much as I love Scott’s work (I’m still ornery that he didn’t get an Oscar nomination for The Martian), Villeneuve is rising in the ranks of ‘can’t miss’ directors.  Set thirty years after the original film, it introduces a new blade runner (Ryan Gosling…ever heard of him?) who tracks down Harrison Ford’s character for…well, we don’t know quite what for yet.  All I know is that this is what a true teaser should be like and the hype growing around this one seems to be quite real and potent.  What a cast too, joining Gosling (The Big Short) and Ford (Star Wars:The Force Awakens) are Robin Wright (Wonder Woman), Mackenzie Davis (That Awkward Moment),  Lennie James (Lockout), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Jared Leto (Suicide Squad)