The Reel World

“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. 

Touching and inspirational, the movie Wonder opens the eyes of its audience to the medical anomaly of Treacher Collins Syndrome.  It’s a gene glitch that causes a facial difference that happens in one of 50,000 people*.  Based on a book by R. J. Palacio, the film handles the material in the novel in such a way that one cannot help but fall in love with a boy with TCS named Auggie Pullman.  The movie becomes an inspiration to all children and a force behind anti-bullying.

Auggie (Jacob Tremblay) was born with a facial deformity and has had limited mainstream contact of everyday outside life.  In fact, upon going out for activities he uses a toy astronaut helmet complete with a dark solar visor to hide his face. Since it has been difficult for him to take comments regarding his looks, Auggie has been homeschooled all of his life up until now.  He has finally reached fifth grade level, “middle school”, and his mother, Isabel (Julia Roberts)  has decided that he attend a public school.

"We have to be ready. You, me, the others... there's an attack coming from far away."

The DC and Marvel rivalry can be quite fierce at times. I never completely understood the polarized fan base, however. Some of us are just fans of the genre and will welcome a good comic book movie from either and preferably both studios. When it comes to a cinematic universe, however DC has had some real issues with trying to bring together a combined hero world. Most of the films leading up to Justice League have been dark and filled with brooding heroes. With Batman that kind of thing is appropriate and works. With Superman it has been a severe letdown. When the two came together in Batman vs. Superman, the disappointment started to lead to a resigned conviction that DC was doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Then came Wonder Woman, and it was no surprise that she was the single standout of the caped-hero duel. Wonder Woman, both the character and the film, appear to have changed something in the DC landscape, and she is, once again, the single most hopeful character in Justice League. And while Justice League isn't quite the movie that Wonder Woman was, there are signs that things are changing. Justice League is not a great movie. But it's not a bad film, either. Superman actually smiles and has begun to return to the "golly" innocent of his best comic years. This film may not be everything we fans of both brands were hoping for, but it's actually a good start.

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Going to see Wonderstruck is like going to see two movies at the same time. It's a rather clever narrative that tells somewhat parallel stories from two different ages. There is a story that happens in Minnesota in 1977, while the other takes place in 1929 New Jersey. It isn't hard to know which period you happen to be in, because they are filmed with distinct styles that match the environments of each time and place. The film is often beautiful to look at. But it's an ambitious course that does not always embrace the audience. As the two stories begin to make some sense to us as a whole, the narrative starts to disappoint somewhat. Have you ever tried to follow someone to a destination that only they know how to reach? It's up to the lead driver to glance backward from time to time to make sure the following car is still with them. Director Todd Haynes might not be my first choice in that lead car. He's not necessarily very good at making sure we're still with him. The closer he gets to his destination, the more frustrated and anticlimactic it all becomes.

I have to start by talking about the mustache. You've probably already seen the outrageous facial hair Kenneth Branagh rocks as Hercules Poirot, the brilliant Belgian detective who appeared in 33 Agatha Christie novels (including 1934's “Murder on the Orient Express”). But it is truly a sight to behold on the big screen! Up close, it looks like a fake, ridiculously twirly mustache has been layered on top of an even longer fake, ridiculously twirly mustache. I bring this up because the two things that truly separate this sumptuous, all-star take on Poirot's most famous case from previous (and superior) adaptations are the film's eye-popping production values and...well, Branagh's mustache.

“My name is Hercule Poirot, and I am probably the greatest detective in the world.”