The Reel World

“The worst thing that can happen to you in sports is fourth place at the Olympics. Seriously……f$*& you.”

So I only had a vague knowledge of the name Molly Bloom when I initially heard about this movie. Basically, I knew that she used to organize poker games for celebrities and masters of industry. I even recall hearing about her getting into legal trouble, but the specifics regarding her situation escaped me. I imagine that was the case for many people that don’t closely follow the tabloids. Molly’s Game, the film based on the experience, sheds a great deal of light onto her legal trouble as well as providing an in-depth look into the titular character herself. Narrated by Jessica Chastain, who also stars as Molly Bloom, the film shows her as an intelligent woman with integrity (it’s worth mentioning that certain liberties are taken, even in based on true stories) who finds herself facing a lengthy criminal sentence after being connected to a racketeering case which includes the Russian mob.  Intercut between the circumstances leading up to her arrests and her court case, Molly’s Game provides the audience with every detail they could possibly want about the character. I cannot imagine a better feature directorial debut for Aaron Sorkin.

I suspect that at about this time last year too few Americans knew anything about Dunkirk and the pivotal role it played in the early moments of World War II. In July Christopher Nolan brought his 70mm cameras out to play and we relived the courageous evacuation of over 300,000 British soldiers from their surrounded position just across The English Channel. Dunkirk was an incredible film that will likely take away some Oscars for the year. But what Nolan's spectacle failed to demonstrate was the reason for all of that action. Why were civilian vessels picking up these soldiers? Those questions are answered in Darkest Hour. I suspect that this film might be sharing some of the stage come Oscar night. e two films appeared less than 6 months apart in the cinemas but they make extraordinary companion films. As movie-goers we couldn't have asked for a better one-two punch on a subject a lot of people have been learning more about just by going to the movies.

Gary Oldman looses himself completely as Winston Churchill here. It starts with the clever use of prosthetics that make the unlikely actor look more like the iconic British Prime Minster. How much of his body was a fat suit and how much was pounds put on by the actor ala De Niro in Raging Bull, I'm not sure. But the work on the actor's face hides away the actor and brings out Churchill. But it's not just the look alone that sells this role so completely. It's one of Oldman's finest performances that makes this character so compelling. Winston Churchill was a force of nature and Gary Oldman delivers just that in Darkest Hour.

"You may think, "That thing looks human." Stands on two legs, right? But - we're created in the Lord's image. You don't think that's what the Lord looks like, do you?"

A couple of years ago I talked to Joe Dante about a variety of subjects. One of them was The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Dante along with several other directors like John Carpenter had once been attached to a remake of the Universal classic. I asked him why it never worked out. He told me it was the suit. We agreed that no one could ever improve upon the original design and that the temptation would be to go computer-generated and that would be a bit of a shame no matter what it looked like. Andy Serkis has changed my mind a bit over the years but along came Guillermo del Toro to restore my faith in the idea of a man in a costume, once again. del Torro is a self-avowed fan of the Universal horror films and has thrown his hat into the Creature ring in the past. Universal didn't quite see it then. They had their own Dark Universe plans. Now I've had the chance to see The Mummy as part of the Dark Universe and was instantly underwhelmed. But after seeing del Torro's The Shape Of Water I think it's time Universal took another look at their Creature From The Black Lagoon plans. Bang it here to listen to that Joe Dante chat: Joe Dante Interview.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."

It was exactly 40 years ago that we first saw those words flash across the screen. Star Wars was born, and it has become one of the most enduring franchises in film history. The franchise survived a long drought when it didn't seem likely we would ever see those words again. The franchise survived the throes of George Lucas, who created it all and then went a little rogue when he finally did follow up his iconic trilogy. If The Last Jedi and the two previous films are any measurement at all, the best thing George Lucas ever did for the universe he created was to give it up. Of course, I wouldn't necessarily call $4 billion quite giving it up. Since then he's been a bit critical of the path Disney has taken and feeling somewhat left out of the decision process and has openly shown concern for his child under the Disney flag. And after the soap opera that has become the Han Solo film, the fans were getting a little worried as well. It's still too early to know what will become of that particular journey, but that's next year's concern. For now just sit back and revel in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

“Wish we could just make our own movie.”

I have more than 800 reviews to my name on this site, and I've probably watched several thousand movies overall throughout the course of my life. A lot of them are bad. Some are even worse than The Room, which has been dubbed “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” However, I've never seen a movie that is bad in the way The Room is bad. It seems a substantial chunk of Hollywood — led by star/filmmaker James Franco — feels the same way. The creation of The Room is chronicled in The Disaster Artist, but there's more here than just an anatomy of a trainwreck. The film also works as an ode to underdog Hollywood dreamers who take a DIY approach to (accidental) stardom.

A great assembling of actors, excellent control by director Martin McDonagh and a vicious script make Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri a winner. The crime drama, laced with cynical comedy, puts the film up there with the movie Fargo and even TV’s Fargo.  While I may like the film, it does have some racist tones that may offend. That said, McDonagh has a penchant for turning the tables on the offensive comments and actions, and here he does it big time.

In the small town of Ebbing, Missouri, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) has a bright idea to light a fire under Sheriff William Willoughby’s (Woody Harrelson) inability to find the murderer of her daughter Angela (Kathryn Newton). On a lonely stretch about a mile from her house, she rents three billboards that contain a sharp accusation.

“Sometimes I think I'm cursed.”

Up until recently, Pixar Animation Studios had a pretty spotless reputation. (At least when it came to the quality of their films.) But while the studio's last three efforts (Cars 3, Finding Dory, The Good Dinosaur) have been financially successful, Disney's own in-house animation studio (Moana, Zootopia, Big Hero 6) has been out Pixar-ing Pixar in terms of delivering creative, crowd-pleasing blockbusters for all ages. (I didn't even mention a little movie called Frozen.) That's why I'm pleased to report that Coco — Pixar's moving, colorful and exhilarating take on Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday — is a thrilling return to form.

It is very likely that no story has been retold in films and television more than A Christmas Carol. It has been made as animated specials and computer-generated features. There have been comedy versions. Most television shows, if they're around long enough, get around to spoofing at least the themes. If by now you’re wondering what the dickens I'm going on about, well... you're correct. It's all about classic author Charles Dickens, who literally invented many of the modern trappings of our Christmas celebrations with that one little holiday ghost story. You know the story. But do you know how it came to be? Dickens' writing process is legend to those of us who know his work intimately. Now everyone can get the inside scoop with the charming The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Dickens (Stevens) has just come off of three relatively big flops in his last three books. He's spending money faster than it's coming in, and he has a young wife (Clark) and children depending upon his efforts. There's also desperation going on for him that he's reluctant to let anyone else see. He's haunted by the memories of his childhood. His father (Pryce) was sent to debtor's prison, and he was forced to work as a young lad in a blackening factory under harsh conditions and cruel people. It drives him to success, but it also holds him back with an almost paralytic fear that he is still that poor lad and he and his family are destined to the same harsh realities. But after three disappointing books, his publishers are a little reluctant to put much out for whatever comes next. They are even more put off that he intends to champion the poor and needy. So he decides to write a Christmas book and publish it himself. There are huge hurdles to conquer. He has only three months until Christmas, and the cost of publication could put him in the dire finances he's running from. Still he sets out to make this book nothing but the best. He hires an artist of renown for the illustrations and puts out for gold leaf and the finest materials. Now all he needs is the story.

Last Flag Flying was adapted from a book by Darryl Ponicscan which is a sequel to his The Last Detail. That book was adapted for the screen in 1973 and starred Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid and was directed by Hal Ashby for Columbia Pictures. In The Last Detail we find two characters taking Randy Quaid's character to the Navy prison for stealing $40 from the CO's wife's favorite charity drive. Along the way they all bonded a bit, and the film played out as a statement, of sorts, to the Vietnam era we were just finally about to put behind us in a year. Last Flag Flying is based on the written sequel but is not exactly a true sequel to the earlier film. Once again Darryl Ponicscan has adapted the screenplay from his own novel. But there were some complicated rights issues to deal with here. Columbia owned the rights to the characters for film purposes but not the sequel novel. So the characters’ names are changed, as are the circumstances that played out in The Last Detail. The result is a film that's as much a remake or reboot of the original as it is a quasi-sequel.

It's 2003 and 30 years after the "events" of the first film. Bryan Cranston plays Sam Nealon, who is the representative of the Nicholson character. Sam now owns a bar that's not doing all that well. On a particularly slow night a man walks in and engages Sam in some small talk before he finally asks Sam if you recognizes him. It takes a minute, but he finally greets Larry "Doc" Shepherd (Carell), the young sailor he once had to escort to prison. Doc settled in the area of the prison and eventually had a family. His son followed in his footsteps and joined the service only to be killed in action. Doc asks Sam to accompany him to retrieve the third member of the original gang. They find Reverend Richard Mueller, played by Laurence Fishburne, heading a congregation of his own. He's a long way from the whoring and cussing man they knew 30 years ago. Now Doc wants them to travel with him to pick up his son's remains and attend the Arlington Cemetery funeral. Mueller is most reluctant to go but is shamed by his wife into making the trip.

"I wish I could live through something."

Actress Greta Gerwig finds herself in the director's seat for her first feature film, Lady Bird. No, it's not a film about the First Lady during the Johnson administration. It's an easy mistake to make. It's not one of the most common monikers out there, and when I first heard of the project, that's where my mind went. This is actually a warm coming-of-age story that feels very much like an autobiographic effort by Gerwig. There are certainly some common elements in the story and Gerwig's own past, even if it's just the Sacramento, California locations that give the film a nice anchor and rather immersive environment for the story. The city is obviously a big part of the narrative, and I suspect that there is far more in common with Lady Bird, the character and Gerwig than merely a setting. If not, she's done a wonderful job of making the film extremely personal and intimate for the audience. Either way, you're in for a bit of a treat with Lady Bird.