What classics did you see last week ? (26 Apr - 02 May 2020)

The Mysterious Mr. M / Lewis D. Collins, Vernon Keays (1946). Universal Pictures. 13 chapter Saturday kids’ matinee programmer. A missing inventor, Dr. Kittridge, has drawn up plans for a submarine as big as an ocean liner which could travel as fast. Kittridge had divided his plans into parts and hidden them all over the Universal back lot. Serial vet Dennis Moore is Grant Farrell, a federal agent assigned to collect the plans and prevent foreign spies from getting their hands on them. The title Mr. M is the whispered voice that sends orders to his scheming minions via phonograph record. At the end of each 15-minute chapter, Farrell is seemingly either shot, blown up, burned up, crashed in an airplane, jumped out of an airplane with a faulty parachute, has driven his car over a cliff or met some other kind of inescapable doom. SEE another exciting chapter next week at this theater. It is all total nonsense, of course, but I grew up watching serials and I can’t help it but I just love them.
7


The Chapter 1 ending



Limitless / Neil Burger (2011). Mildly entertaining but not very thought provoking sci-fi thriller based on the unsupportable and long ago debunked idea that we only use 20% (sometimes you hear 10%) of our brains so what if we could harness 100% brain power. How cool would that be?” Well, the sad fact is that we already use 100% of our brains but only a part is useful for cognition, the rest keeps our body running. (Luc Besson’s “Lucy” from 2014 also taps this pseudoscience as a premise.) The story: Depressed and creatively blocked writer Eddie Mora (Bradley Cooper) runs into the drug dealing brother of his ex-wife. The brother claims to now be a chemical company consultant and offers Eddie a sample of a new FDA tested pill to boost brain power. Well, everything he says is a lie but one pill allows Eddie to write half of the novel he was blocked on in one night. Eddie soon learns that he needs to keep taking the drug to maintain, that there are unexpected side effects, and that Dark Forces are behind the creation of the pill. Abbie Cornish is Eddie’s on and off girlfriend. She has a good scene where she has to take one of the pills to figure out how to escape a killer. Robert DeNiro is a financial wizard who hires Eddie. A harmless enough time waster, I suppose, for science fiction movie buffs.




The Lighthouse / Robert Eggers (2019). Cinematography by Jarin Blaschke. This was the same director/cinematographer team that brought us the innovative and mysterious “The VVitch” (2015). Like their earlier film, the story of “The Lighthouse” is another foray into mysterious what-is-really-happening-here unexplainable mystery with black and white cinematography – but in the case of “Lighthouse” it is more like black and a very dim gray. A “dark” film in literal terms as well as figurative. Two men, an old seaman, Tom (Willem Dafoe) and novice Ephraim (Robert Pattinson), are to spend a four week tour on a remote rock with the title edifice, maintaining the light and the buildings with the new guy doing most of the work. When a bad storm that could go on for weeks extends their stay, things get crazy. First, the good news. The acting from the only two cast members couldn’t be equaled. Dafoe’s old salt (at times he falls into a Robert Newton pirate voice) is alternately fatherly to Ephraim and then turn around to be a cruel taskmaster. Pattinson continues to rack up an impressive resume as his character’s grip begins to crumble first, or so it seems. While I really enjoyed “The VVitch,” the murky (both senses of the word) Lighthouse just seemed to get on my nerves even though watching the two talented actors try to out act each other kept me going through to the end.







VIDEOS OF LIVE STREAMING EVENTS OFFERED FREE DURING QUARANTINE

National Theatre Live: Twelfth Night / Stage Director Simon Godman (2017). Set in a fanciful modern world (the country of Illyria is a dreamlike fantasy to start with) this colorful and imaginative staging from the National Theatre in London is a real delight to experience. The first in a cast of equals is Tamsin Greig (who I understand in a well known comedy actor in the U.K.) as Malvolia (a gender switch from Malvolio), the household and property manager of the grieving Olivia, who is strict, authoritarian, and greatly disliked by those who work for her. The comedy is light and bright but the sub-plot of the servants, and guests, of Olivia taking their revenge against Malvolia turn the proceedings decidedly dark. The two tones are balanced precisely. Greig’s performance, especially in her last scene, is a treasure.

Tamsin Greig as Malvolia



National Theatre Live: Frankenstein / Danny Boyle (2011). Johnny Lee Miller takes the role of the monster and Benedict Cumberbatch is the title creator of said monster (the two men alternated the roles during the play’s run) in an adaptation of the classic novel by Nick Dear. Another cast member familiar to moviegoers is Naomie Harris as Victor Frankenstein’s fiancé, Elizabeth. To quote a review originally about the film of “Inherit The Wind,” this “Frankenstein” is the acting battle of the year, heavyweight division. The first meeting of man and monster at about the half-way point is great thrilling scene for the audience and a battle of words and ideas between the two characters. This should be available on YouTube through next Thursday, May 7 so check it out.




Stratford (Ont.) Shakespeare Festival: King Lear / Antoni Cimolino (2015). Coming from the much respected Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Colm Feore leads the cast as the deluded King of ancient England. Wonderfully acted, this production (available on YouTube) is cleanly spoken and accessible. One thing I have noticed about recent stagings of Shakespeare’s tragedies is how much humor is mixed in with the serious matter and how these modern productions are bringing it out. I noticed many laughs in the recent Hamlet and R&J I have seen and reviewed. The same is true for King Lear. Edmund, for example, is quite the witty and sarcastic villain. His observations about the goings-on around him and his own actions can bring laughter. One knock on Shakespeare that I sometimes run across is that his comedies, his jokes, are no longer funny even when they are understandable. The three tragedies already mentioned (Hamlet, R&J, Lear) plus the comedy Twelfth Night completely disprove that accusation.

The Forest (2016).



Bedazzled (2000).



Scream (1996).



Scream 2 (1997).



Scream 3 (2000).



Scream 4 (2011).

imdb.com/title/tt0062035

imdb.com/title/tt0037441

Excellent,enticing reviews Mike. After kicking myself over missing NT's Treasure Island,I decided to use a YouTube converter,and save Twelfth Night for a upcoming viewing. Staying at the NT,what did you think about Frankenstein's production design,linking the story to the era of the industrial revolution? 

A reunion interview with Tamsin Greig and director Simon Godwin from this year,remembering Twelfth Night:


 

"The Big Sick"  Distributed by Amazon Studios and Lionsgate Films, 124 Minutes, Rated R:

In "The Big Sick," a stand-up comedian of strict Pakistani Muslim ancestry and a Caucasian psychology student conduct a cross-cultural American romance. Although the relationship eventually founders, it’s inadvertently rekindled when the girl experiences a life-threatening illness and the comic to his own surprise finds himself drawn to her hospital bedside...and bonding with her conservative family.

Written by comic Kumail Nanjiani and former psychologist Emily V. Gordon and based on their own real-life worlds-colliding romance, "The Big Sick" was one of the most well-reviewed films of 2017 and a real Cinderella story at the nation’s box office. Placed into a limited release on June 23 of that year, the picture opened to a wider pattern on July 14 because of audience acclaim, and continued adding more and more theaters until it was playing practically everywhere.

Starring in the movie, essentially playing a slightly fictionalized version of himself, is standup comic Kumail Nanjiani, while spouse and co-writer Gordon is renamed Emily Gardner and played by the wonderful Zoe Kazan, familiar to some viewers from the old HBO miniseries "Olive Kitteridge." Both actors turn in performances which are terrifically endearing—always funny, sometimes infuriating, occasionally exasperating, but invariably and incomparably human, honest, and truthful. The picture itself, while flawed, rings just as true as the actors' performances.

About halfway through the movie, old pros Ray Romano and Holly Hunter turn up as Emily's parents. And one small problem with "The Big Sick"—if it is a problem—is that the always-reliable Romano with his deadpan observations and hangdog delivery turns in the movie's most sidesplitting moments...in what is essentially a straight dramatic role. Likewise, the Academy Award-winning Hunter shows the youngsters a thing or two about acting. And when the unlikely team of Hunter and Romano appears together onscreen, the picture really begins to zing and hum.

Produced by Barry Mendel and Judd Apatow for Apatow Productions and directed by Michael Showalter, "The Big Sick" is one romantic comedy which works beautifully in its entirety, through moments both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Viewers might well find themselves laughing and crying at the same time, early and often, throughout the picture. Despite the sometimes-tragic nature of the drama, this is one romance—and one motion picture—you’ll find yourself rooting for.

Among Nanjiani’s standup comic friends are familiar SNL veteran Aidy Bryant and the multi-talented Bo Burnham, who earned impressive critical notices the following year as the director and writer of the comedy “Eighth Grade.” Playing Nanjiani’s traditionalist father is Bollywood superstar Anupam Kher, familiar to American audiences as Dr, Kapoor on television’s “New Amsterdam.” Nanjiani and director Michael Showalter collaborated again for the comedy “The Lovebirds,” originally set for theatrical release but now scheduled to premiere next month on Netflix.

Rated R for language concerns and some sexual references.



“A Hard Day’s Night” Distributed by United Artists, 87 Minutes, Rated G:

Once Upon a More Uncomplicated Time, a quartet of young musicians from England burst like a meteor onto the world’s entertainment scene, infused rock ‘n roll music with pop and classical sensibilities, and made modern music trends palatable for not only rebellious teenagers but also older mainstream audiences.

Over the course of the next six years, the four young men not only changed the course of music history, but also influenced almost every other aspect of life on the planet--style, fashion, manners, politics, and even humor. Occasionally even their idle observations sometimes became front page news, and their impact caused cultural shifts which continue to affect us to this day. As a character in 2019’s hit movie “Yesterday” correctly observed, “A world without The Beatles is a world that’s infinitely worse.”

“A Hard Day’s Night” captures The Beatles--John, Paul, George, and Ringo--at the beginning of their career together, a fanciful snapshot of the four most famous young men in the world, still in their early twenties, living in the calm eye of a global storm of their own creation. Directed in black-and-white in a fast-moving quasi-documentary style by innovative filmmaker Richard Lester from a freewheeling script by writer Alun Owen that exaggerates the elemental character traits of the group’s individual members, “A Hard Day’s Night” captures the viewer’s attention from its explosive opening chord until the final jangling note of its closing credits.

In “A Hard Day’s Night,” while the band has their hands full with a hectic schedule of concerts, personal appearances, television performances, and travel from “a train and a room, a car and a room, and a room and a room,” the members of the group also find themselves babysitting Paul’s mischievous grandfather while simultaneously contending with an identity crisis in the hapless Ringo...a problem provoked partially by a conversation between the drummer their “clean old man” temporary charge.

But the plot’s just an excuse for a breathless 87-minute blast of comedy, music, dancing, singing, all swirling like a kaleidoscope around the most irreverently engaging entertainment personalities since the Marx Brothers in their 1930s prime. Besides their raw musical talents, The Beatles might’ve been the fastest and funniest comedy quartet since Groucho and company, and in this wonderful little picture they leave the viewer breathless with delight and exhausted with mirth. A major influence on both Monty Python and Saturday Night Live, seeing The Beatles in their prime might be a real revelation to some--as quick with a quip or a droll observation as they are with a hit song.

“A Hard Day’s Night” shows the viewer the idealism and innocence of the early 1960s in all its optimistic glory, and rocks the beginning of the 20th century’s most turbulent decade with a half dozen or so classic pop compositions by band members John Lennon and Paul McCartney that’ll make even older viewers want to get up and dance. For younger viewers, this is how modern entertainment began. For those who are old enough to remember, watch “A Hard Day’s Night” one more time...and feel young again.

“A Hard Day’s Night” is appropriate viewing for the entire family.



“Miss Sloane” Distributed by EuropaCorp, 127 Minutes, Rated R:

Sometimes a problem or a complex situation can be clarified by examining it through the impartial eyes of people unaffected by the issue. And that’s both the primary strength and the major weakness of “Miss Sloane,” a political drama released by a combination of independent motion picture production companies, originally distributed in the United States by EuropaCorp USA, and now streaming on Amazon Prime.

“Miss Sloane” takes a quintessential and controversial American issue—gun control—and places it squarely into the hands of European filmmakers. And although the film’s producers insisted in 2016 that the picture was not intended as a tirade or a criticism of United States laws governing access to firearms, it’s nearly impossible to see the picture from any other perspective.

Set in the world of Washington insiders and political power brokers, “Miss Sloane” details the experiences of a fictional lobbyist, Elizabeth Sloane, described as the most formidable and sought-after political activist in the nation’s capital. Miss Sloane, we are told, is known equally for her intelligence, her cunning and ruthlessness, and her single-minded pursuit of success by any means.

When new legislation is proposed and gains traction in Congress which would increase accountability and background checks on gun buyers, Sloane is assigned by her firm’s director to work with the National Rifle Association to defeat the bill. But on a whim of principle, Sloane impulsively decides to leave the firm for a more sympathetic agency, and instead use her particular skills in an effort to have the controversial legislation enacted.

Written by first-time screenwriter Jonathan Perera, a British citizen living in South Korea, the genesis of the picture occurred when Perera happened to see a television documentary on Jack Abramoff, the former American lobbyist convicted and imprisoned in 2006 for mail fraud, conspiracy to bribe public officials, and tax evasion. Perera’s completed script was optioned by Europe’s Filmnation Entertainment, where it attracted the attention of British filmmaker John Madden, then best known for directing 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love.”

“Miss Sloane” is an extremely well-made little drama, with sterling production values and a customarily brilliant performance by Jessica Chastain in the difficult and vastly unsympathetic title role. Employing ruby red lips and an icy blue-eyed stare against her alabaster pallor, with dark power suits and fingernails lacquered black, Chastain’s characterization of Sloane is of a person so single-minded and focused that she seems barely human—a bloodless, pill-popping, bullets-for-breakfast Princess of Darkness preaching a gospel of trump cards, earthquakes, and accomplishment at any cost.

While supported ably by a cast including such old pros as Sam Waterston, John Lithgow, Dylan Baker, and Christine Baranski, Chastain is in firm control of the screen from the first frame of film to the last, although she’s nearly matched in power and intensity by British actor Mark Strong, sporting an eminently persuasive American accent as Sloane’s employer. The versatile Strong also appeared as Chastain’s CIA boss in 2012’s “Zero Dark Thirty.”

“Miss Sloane” stakes its claim in what is nominally writer Aaron Sorkin’s territory, but with Sorkin’s signature rat-a-tat American vernacular dialogue filtered through the European sensibilities of screenwriter Perera. Where Sorkin could’ve made the words leap and soar, the rhythm of Perera’s phrasing is often labored and flat and the tempo plodding and stagey, like swing music played by a marching band. And the jaw-dropping denouement of “Miss Sloane” needs to be seen to be believed...although in retrospect clues are scattered like crumbs throughout the picture.

Dating from the earliest film adaptations of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” and “A Tale of Two Cities” through “Schindler’s List” and up to the present time, a popular device of motion pictures has always been the amoral character who experiences an epiphany of conscience,and as a result becomes an altruist and an humanitarian. And that general description fits “Miss Sloane.”

But lying beneath the moralistic fiber of “Miss Sloane” is a rich vein of cynicism. The tone of the movie is uneven enough to unnerve the NRA and other opponents of gun control, who at the time of its original release unsurprisingly took to openly criticizing the picture, even in some cases without having even seen it. And with a debate in the United States as vehement as the regulation of firearms, any uneven handling of the issue, no matter how well-intentioned, will inevitably result in division and dissention.

Although director Madden at the time of the picture’s release acknowledged candidly that he expected an enormously different and more sympathetic political climate to prevail in the United States by the time of their picture’s release—i.e. the election of a certain female US president—the point remains the same: When a contentious political situation is presented in a manner which is more favorably weighted to one side of the debate, drama can run the inherent risk of becoming propaganda.

Although thematically relevant, sharply intelligent, deeply effective, and extremely well-crafted, “Miss Sloane” probably—and unfortunately—cannot be judged as anything other than a curio, and a fascinating failure in its intent. While it’s revealing to view the argument through European eyes, possibly in the hands of American filmmakers “Miss Sloane” could’ve found the moderation it needed to examine the issues more fully. “Miss Sloane” aims high, but ultimately misses its mark by pulling just a little too hard to the left.

“Miss Sloane” is rated R for adult language and some sexuality.


“Lizzie” Distributed by Saban Films and Roadside Attractions, 105 Minutes, Rated R:

As almost every former schoolboy of a certain age knows,

Lizzie Borden took an ax,
And gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

And it likely speaks volumes about the effectiveness of popular verse that when the ax begins to swing at about the halfway point of the new motion picture “Lizzie,” the viewer’s mind almost automatically begins to count the number of strokes the title character administers to her stepmother and, a few minutes later, her father.

But it also speaks well of the movie’s fidelity to the facts of the case that the number of whacks dispensed by the younger Borden in the picture ultimately tops off in the teens, as in the actual 1892 murders--eighteen and eleven respectively, instead of the low forties suggested by the famous Mother Goose rhyme.

The events surrounding the real-life murders of Andrew Borden and his second wife Abby--first wife Sarah, Lizzie’s biological mother, died when Lizzie was three--have been the subject of two previous film productions: “The Legend of Lizzie Borden,” a 1975 television movie featuring actress Elizabeth Montgomery in her post-”Bewitched” years as Borden, and a 2014 Lifetime television network production entitled “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax” starring actress Christina Ricci as the young Lizzie.

Directed by Craig William Macneill from a screenplay by Bryce Kass, “Lizzie” is mostly accurate to historical detail...at least in the beginning. Lizzie Borden is depicted as equal parts feminist pioneer and social outcast. Unmarried at the age of 32, Lizzie and her older sister Emma live in the home of their father and stepmother. A successful and prosperous furniture and textiles magnate, Andrew Borden rules his home with an iron will.

As a result of the domineering Andrew, the Bordens’ modest Fall River, Massachusetts home is austere and airless enough to seemingly stifle life itself, although Lizzie in plain defiance of her repressive father is shown to occasionally attend theater and social functions unescorted--scandalous in 1892. Lizzie additionally suffers from epilepsy and is subject to occasional seizures, a medical condition often misunderstood in less-enlightened times.

Into this emotional powder keg steps Bridget Sullivan, an Irish immigrant about Lizzie’s age. Penniless and desperate for work, Bridget arrives at the Borden house to begin employment as a live-in maid...a position which also occasionally requires the young woman to provide involuntary clandestine sexual favors for her lascivious employer. Still, Lizzie finds in Bridget a kindred spirit, confidante, and friend.

At this point in the narrative, the picture begins to transition into a speculative drama, plainly inspired by mystery author Ed McBain’s 1984 novel “Lizzie.” A chance encounter between Lizzie and Bridget blossoms into romance and intimacy. And when Lizzie overhears in a conversation between her father and his business manager that Andrew intends to disinherit his rebellious daughter and possibly commit her to an asylum, the repressed Lizzie and the abused Bridget conspire to kill their tormentor before the modifications to his will can be completed.

“Lizzie” benefits strongly from the empathetic performances of the three actors occupying the picture’s central roles. One of our most fearless actresses, Chloe Sevigny displays a remarkably nuanced combination of vulnerability, shrewdness, and resolve in the title role. Hope and despair seem to inhabit her otherwise dispassionate eyes in equal measure in a characterization that’s effective enough to be at times painful to watch. This is a Lizzie Borden for the #MeToo generation.

Kristen Stewart belies her sullen and often controversial persona to appear persuasively delicate and wounded as Bridget. Tabloid notoriety aside, Stewart is actually a fine actress, although in “Lizzie” her Irish lilt makes her dialogue sometimes difficult to decipher. And veteran actor Jamey Sheridan, familiar to viewers from his role on television’s “Homeland,” plays against type as the monstrous Andrew, and his performance is that much more effective as a result.

Ultimately “Lizzie” becomes a viable biographical picture, a fascinating character drama, and as a result of its release date (September 14, 2018) was an unusually respectable entry into the 2018 Halloween sweepstakes. This is a picture, after all, in which the focal point of the drama is a double ax murder, a difficult activity to portray with taste and restraint. And while it’s not unnecessarily graphic, the brutality of the scene is still potent enough to compete with exploitation films’ big boys like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.”

But viewed exclusively from its perspective as a horror picture, most of the impact of the film is generated by the domineering Andrew Borden rather than his violent and supremely messy death. The aura of fear and repressive dread Andrew creates and trails in his wake, and the growing sense of desperation and slow death of the soul reflected in the eyes of his youngest daughter, are as difficult to witness than the manner in which he’s eventually dispatched.

“Lizzie” is rated R for violence and grisly images, sensuality and nudity, and implied rape.


“Black and Blue”  Distributed by Screen Gems Pictures, 108 Minutes, Rated R:

Powerhouse performances and taut direction made all the difference in “Black and Blue,” an urban thriller from Screen Gems, the subsidiary of Sony Entertainment that formerly licensed Columbia Pictures productions for television broadcast.

In “Black and Blue,” a rookie New Orleans police officer and US Army veteran of Kandahar witnesses the gangland-style execution of the surrogate son of a local crimelord by a few of her colleagues, including her temporary partner. Detected by the executioners and wearing a body camera which records the event, the rookie cop needs to make a run for it...into an inner city neighborhood where police officers are considered enemies.

Framed for the murder by the guilty parties and trying to elude both the cops and the criminals who’ve placed a bounty on her head, the rookie cop begins an odyssey to safety at police headquarters, shunned by wary and distrustful civilians, hoping only to stay alive long enough to deliver her body camera footage to law enforcement administration.

Written by Peter A. Dowling, the veteran British screenwriter and filmmaker responsible for 2014’s “Reasonable Doubt,” “Black and Blue” on the strength of the story alone would probably be a routine urban crime drama, little distinguished in quality from a typical cable television drama or a drive-in exploitation picture from the 1970s. But lightning bolt direction by Deon Taylor (“The Intruder,” “Traffik”), fast and gritty photography by Italian cinematographer Dante Spinotto, and breathless editing by Peck Prior produce a little thriller that ranks among the best of the decade.

But really selling “Black and Blue” to the audience are its compelling and richly empathetic performances, led by Naomie Harris as the rookie cop and Tyrese Gibson as the reluctant Good Samaritan who risks his life to save hers.  Known for her appearances as Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond thrillers and as the irresponsible mother in 2016’s Academy Award-winning “Moonlight,” the British-born Harris inhabits the role of the rookie officer with a sense of tightly-controlled emotions on the raw edge of panic. If she sometimes seem shrill...well, with nowhere to run and nobody to trust, wouldn’t you be too?

Tyrese Gibson, familiar to audiences for both his music career and his role as Roman Pearce in the “Fast and Furious” series of action pictures, establishes himself as a persuasive dramatic actor with his appearance in “Black and Blue.” Displaying a laconic, low-key acting style that gives him the ability to project authority even when his character’s being harassed and threatened by crooked, bigoted cops, speaking with reassuring tones in a voice so deep that it seems to be rumbling forth from the earth's mantle, Gibson’s eyes as the sympathetic grocery store manager project a vastly different reality. This actor’s talent is instinctive, and extremely well delivered.

“Black and Blue” is rated R for violence and language concerns.



“Countdown” Distributed by STX Entertainment, 90 Minutes, Rated PG-13:

...or “Final Destination” for teens and younger audiences.

The “oh, come on” factor is sky-high in “Countdown,” a supernatural horror picture from STX Entertainment that looks like it came from the horror specialists at Blumhouse Productions, but didn’t.

In “Countdown,” a new computer app called Countdown supposedly gives a user information relative to the date and time of his death. Rookie hospital nurse Quinn Harris on an impulse downloads the Countdown app onto her smartphone and is surprised to discover the program predicts her death will occur in three days. As the app’s predictions prove accurate to other Countdown users, the horrified Harris feverishly attempts to outwit the program, and prevent her imminent death.

With plot holes, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, continuity problems, and leading characters who either die or disappear abruptly, “Countdown” seems to have been produced by filmmakers who skipped Narrative Structure 101 classes while enrolled in film school. The final result looks like rookie writer and director Justin Dec assembled the picture from outtakes from better movies, and edited them together in time for the Halloween holiday in a cookie cutter style more reminiscent of a carnival funhouse than a coherent and persuasive motion picture.

As the rookie nurse, Elizabeth Lail displays a certain Jennifer Lawrence quality but lacks J-Law’s signature courage and resolve. And in fact, most of the film is populated with stilted performances by nervous-looking people walking through a virtual glossary of horror movie jump scares and cliches. Only writer, comedian, and podcaster Tom Segura hits a bullseye in a peripheral performance as a smarmy and sarcastic computer technician who just might be able to defeat Countdown...for a price. Where’s the FCC when you really need them?

“Countdown” is rated PG-13 for terror, violence, bloody images, suggestive material, language, and thematic elements. Skip it.



“The Current War”    Distributed by 101 Studios, 107 Minutes, Rated PG-13:

Delayed for nearly two years by scandal and re-edited by its director for its general release, the historical drama “The Current War” finally managed to drift indifferently into movie theaters across the United States and Canada and then to a video release. And the verdict? Well, the movie’s...eh, interesting. Which is what a person usually says about a dryly informative but fairly bloodless and even boring historical drama, just as a means of being polite.

Set mostly in the years between the invention of the light bulb in 1879 and the opening of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, “The Current War” depicts the professional rivalry between inventor Thomas Edison and industrial engineer George Westinghouse. The picture details the battle between the two to determine whose electrical system will deliver power to cities and towns across America, culminating in the beginnings of the international industrial conglomerates General Electric and...well, Westinghouse.

Edison advocates the use of DC--Direct Current--to carry electricity into America’s homes, but his system is expensive and limited in range. The more practical and budget-conscious entrepreneur Westinghouse sets out to prove that AC--Alternating Current--is more effective in carrying electricity over greater distances, and can significantly lower the cost of energy use. Pretty compelling stuff, eh?

The plot thickens when the brilliant mechanical engineer and futurist Nicola Tesla departs Edison’s employment because of the inventor’s unwillingness to consider his ideas, and eventually joins company with Westinghouse. Simultaneously, after long resisting entreaties by the US government to invent new weapons for use in warfare, the pacifist Edison attempts to smear Westinghouse’s public reputation by associating the businessman’s “deadly” Alternating Current system with the development of the electric chair for use in capital punishment.

Filled with memorable dialogue, ingenious cinematic touches, and frequent colorful speechifying by Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison and Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, as well as occasional maternal scolding from Tom Holland’s Samuel Insull and fussy theorizing from Nicholas Hoult’s Nicola Tesla, “The Current War” still turns out to be a fairly tough slog through American History 101, about as lively as a powerpoint presentation at an energy seminar or a stroll through a wax museum.

Part of the problem is that the screenplay by Pittsburgh-born playwright Michael Mitnick is short on exposition and character development: Even after two hours of debating the relative merits of DC and AC, it’s difficult for the viewer to grasp the difference between the two systems...or why we should care. And although the audience gets brief glimpses of the personal lives of the monolithic historical figures involved (Katherine Waterston’s Mrs. Westinghouse is a real pistol), it’s the respective electrical currents rather than the lives of Westinghouse or Edison which form the dynamic of this dusty saunter through the history books.

Using the same broadly Midwestern American tones he employed as the title character in 2018’s “The Grinch,” actor Benedict Cumberbatch contributes his customary studied performance as Thomas Edison, breathing what little life he can into a role that’s never allowed to develop beyond a passable cosmetic resemblance to the photos of Edison you see in the encyclopedia. Conversely, the twinkle in Michael Shannon’s eyes suggests he’s having a ball playing George Westinghouse, taking a big bite out of his role and chewing the scenery with relish. Shannon provides the only fun contained in this otherwise airless museum piece.

In various stages of production since 2012, “The Current War” first premiered in its original version at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2017, and was scheduled for release in the United States and Canada two months later, in November of 2017. Originally the property of The Weinstein Company, the picture was pulled from the company’s release schedule after the sexual abuse allegations against company founder Harvey Weinstein. Distribution rights were eventually sold at auction and purchased by the independent 101 Studios.

During the interim, director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, also the filmmaker behind 2015’s acclaimed “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” discovered a final cut privilege in the producer’s contract, and used the clause to enable the filming of five additional scenes for the picture while trimming ten minutes from the picture’s original running time.

“The Current War” ends with a brief scene depicting Edison’s inventing the motion picture camera, an event which might’ve made for a vastly more entertaining movie...although one you’re unlikely to see produced by the US film corporations in the near future: During the early years of the 20th century, the laws of the eastern United States were mostly unenforceable in the west. The early film pioneers relocated the fledgling industry from New York to Hollywood in part to avoid paying royalties to the New Jersey-based Edison for the use of his equipment. Some people just can’t get a break in the movie business.

“The Current War” is rated PG-13 for some disturbing and violent images and thematic elements.

The Garden of Women-1954-Japan
outdated tradition vs. new ideology at a girls school


Z-1969-France
corruption is afoot in the French government


David and Lisa-1962
Look, look, what do you see, a spectacular movie staring at me


Torrid Zone-1940
Cagney's mustache battles bandits and Ann Sheridan's one liners and her 14 karat Umph.


The Purple Plain-1954
pilot loses it after he loses his wife. Gets it back when he meets somebody.


Teorema-1968-Italy
An entire family seduces Terence Stamp and his baby blues.


Passing Fancy-1933-Japan
single father tries to get back in the game and his son objects. Ozu silent film


D.O.A.-1949-
A dead guy looking for his killer runs more than any character in Chariot's of Fire ever did.


Crazed Fruit-1956-Japan
Teenage angst in Japan


Ceddo-1977-Senegal
religion and politics in an African tribe


Down by Law-1986
3 guys escape from jail and start an adventure


King of the Ants-2003
A man double crosses then seeks revenge on one of the Baldwin boys.


Dead and Buried-1981
Something strange is happening in the sleepy town of Potter's Bluff. Not many films star Freddy Krueger and Grandpa Joe!


Sleep Tight-2011-Spain
A man makes it his life's work to make happy people sad in the most strange and creepy ways possible


Ben X-2007-Belgium
A look inside the world of a bullied autistic teenager


Even the Rain-2010-Spain
While making a film about the treatment of Indians 500 years ago a film crew gets involved in a dispute with Indians and water rights


Double Happiness-1994
Young Asian woman fighting tradition at home and fitting inton modern society


1945-2017-Hungary
secrets and karma in a Hungarian village when 2 strangers come to town shortly after WW2


Europa Report-2013
First manned mission to Jupiter has a few surprises


Once Upon a Time in Hollywood-2019
Ahhhh, what could've been...

Sunday
ARTHUR THE KING (1985) 35TH ANNIVERSARY TV-Movie (made in 1982) with Dyan Cannon visiting Stonehenge and ending up in a dimensional cave with Merlin (Edward Woodward) and Nimue (Lucy Guttenberg) who tell her the fall of King Arthur (Malcolm MacDowell) by his half-sister Morgan LeFay (Candice Bergen). First watched this (in its truncated video form entitled MERLIN AND THE SWORD) in the summer of 1995. Back then, I knew of MacDowell, Cannon, Woodward, Bergen, Michael Cough, and Liam Neeson. By now I’ve recognized Philip Sayer, Peter Ryecart, Guttenberg, and Rupert Everett. My viewing is the full 140 min version on Internet Archive. I also watched on Youtube the CBS commercials that played on its broadcast in April 26, 1985, among them THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (a CBS bit where a network star honors an American from past to present, in this case John Walsh) and a promo for the upcoming Mini-Series CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.

DAVID COPPERFIELD (1986) “Episode Three” David becomes a man again, with introductions to Paul Brightwell’s Uriah Heep, Nyree Dawn Porter’s Mrs. Steerforth, and Francesca Hall (who had played Clara) as Dora. Just Entertainment PAL DVD.

JUST ONE OF THE GUYS (1985) 35TH ANNIVERSARY. 1980s comedy of aspiring female Journalism student (Joyce Hysner) masquerading as a man in a different school. First saw commercials of this in the 1980s, but didn’t really watch it until the 1990s. RCA Columbia VHS.

Tuesday
THE SLAYERS (2000) “Dash! Run For It! My Magic Doesn’t Work!” 25TH ANNIVERSARY Lina Inverse is temporary depowered, because…it’s that time of the month. Japanese with English Subtitles. Sculptor Software DVD.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING (2000) “The Victoria Nightmare” 25TH ANNIVERSARY Gundam pilot Wufei gets the spotlight. The first appearances of antagonist female confidantes Lady Une (Trieze) and Lieutenant Noin (Zechs). Japanese with English Subtitles. Bandai DVD.

Thursday
THE DIVORCEE (1930) 90TH ANNIVERSARY MGM adaptation of Ex-Wife about a cuckolded wife (Norma Shearer’s Oscar-winning role) having her own affair, finds her adulterous husband won’t forgive her in this double standard, and then quits the marriage to find love. First read of this film from Jerry Vermyle’s THE FILMS OF THE THIRTIES, but didn’t get to see it until the millennium. Warner DVD.

ARABIAN NIGHTS (2000) 20TH ANNIVERSARY Back in the turning of the century, the networks made a renaissance of the Mini-Series, with all-star adaptations of classic fantasies. This one takes the legend of Scherenzade (Mili Avital) averting execution with her tales to her husband. Here, the sultan (Dougary Scott), driven mad by betrayal from wife and brother (James Frain), has his problems slowly treated by Scherenzade’s stories. Among the tales include Ali Baba (Rufus Sewell and Tcheky Karyo), Aladdin (Jason Scott Lee and John Leguizamo), the Poor Hunchback, the Sultan and the Beggar, and the Three Brothers. Also starring Alan Bates, Andy Serkis, Jane Lapotaire, Jim Carter, and Burt Kwouk. First saw this on ABC on its premiere in 2000, interested by its emphasis of strong female characterizations. Hallmark Entertainment VHS.

TENCHI MUYO TV (1995) “No Need For Partners” 25TH ANNIVERSARY After setting up the established cast, the series comes to its own by introducing Kiyone, Mihoshi’s long-suffering partner (she did appear in the OVA, although only in flashback separate from the main story and cast). Having watched TENCHI MUYO IN LOVE first, I had already known about Kiyone, and was initially puzzled by her absence in the OVA. I first saw this episode in its edited form on Cartoon Network in 2000. It was the first Anime I watched on DVD (getting it on October 2000), and subsequently the first episode I watched in its Japanese & English Subtitled form, which is what I am viewing it today. Pioneer DVD.

THE ROSE OF VERSAILLIES (1980) “Andre, a Blue Lemon” 40TH ANNIVERSARY Japanese with English Subtitles. Right Stuf DVD.

IN SEARCH OF (1981) “Eva Braun” Episode of the IN SEARCH OF… series, narrated by Leonard Nimoy. It discusses, via home movies and reeanactments, Eva Braun’s fateful relationship to Hitler and her suicide, and the possibility (at the time) that she actually survived the suicide pact. Interviews include the infamous David Irving. I first saw this on Arts & Entertainment in the Fall of 1991. This was my first film experience of the Bunker story (comic books like WHAT IF THE INVADERS STAYED TOGETHER AFTER WORLD WAR II and THE LAST DAYS OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY informed me of what happened). YouTube.

Friday
THE FOOL OF THE WORLD AND THE FLYING SHIP (1990) 30TH ANNIVERSARY. Stop-motion special by Cosgrove-Hall (COUNT DUCKULA, THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS) of what was one of storytelling’s first super-gifted group. I have seen many variations of this story from Folklore (Baron Munchausen), Anime (GRIMMS FAIRY TALES), and Animation (a picture book montage narrated humorously by Robin Williams). Revelations PAL DVD.

Saturday
AN EASTERN WESTERNER (1920) 100TH ANNIVERSARY. Harold Lloyd comedy has our milquetoast hero sent to the Wild West. Music composed by Carl Davis, who uses motifs like the “William Tell Overture”/THE LONE RANGER piece as well as- when the villains ride off masked- “The Ride of the Valkyries,” definitely a nod to the infamous KKK ride in THE BIRTH OF A NATION (come to think of it, aside from HOLLYWOOD and D.W. GRIFFITH: FATHER OF FILM, I don’t think Davis ever did a score for the 1915 film). Criterion BluRay.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (2000) “Full Moon Rising” 20TH ANNIVERSARY. Seth Green makes his last ‘real’ appearance as Oz (his final appearance will be in a dream fantasy at Season’s end), coming back seemingly cured to get back with Willow…except that Willow has moved on with Tara, in a relationship that deeply struck for Gay/LBGT portraits in the Media. FoxVideo DVD.

ANGEL (2000) “Sanctuary” 20TH ANNIVERSARY The conclusion of the crossover “Faith” storyline brings in Buffy (in her final appearance in the spinoff) and the Watchers’ Operatives strike force (from BUFFY’S “Who Are You?”) to conflict with Angel’s stand to protect the Rogue Slayer. Fox Video DVD.

Watched parts of:
NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2015) “The New Chunin Exams,” “The Chunin Exams Begin,” “The Three Questions”, “One Worthy of a Leader,” “The Night Before the Chunin Exams,” “Demon Desert Survival” Episodes of the “In Naruto’s Footsteps” Arc, telling what the Konoha 10 were doing during the time skip; In this case, becoming Chunins. This storyline was also the first filler storyline made after the series concluding THE LAST: NARUTO THE MOVIE, a harbinger that Studio Perriot was not going to soon finish the series at that time (It will take 2 years and four months). English Dubbed. Viz Media DVD.

The continuation of the 75TH Anniversary of the end of Hitler continued as I watched parts of the following films on the days of April 26 to April 30 (Hitler’s suicide) and May 1. I would see four depictions of Hitler’s marriage to Eva (five if you count IN SEARCH OF) & their suicide (although tell the truth, most of them have the action happen off screen), three depictions of Hitler’s reaction to Himmler’s betrayal and the execution of Braun’s brother-in-law, the burning of the bodies, two depictions of Frau Goebbels poisoning her children, what’s left of the Bunker crew escaping the place (the secretaries doing smallpox make-up to evade lustful Russian soldiers), and one depiction of the Goebbels suicide.

THE BUNKER (1981) George Schaefer’s TV film of the Last Days, starring Anthony Hopkins as Hitler, Susan Blakeley as Eva, Piper Laurie as Frau Goebbels, Richard Jordan as Speer, with Michel Kitchen, Marvin Jarvis, Julian Fellowes, Michael Lonsdale, and David Swift (Napoleon to Hopkins’ Pierre in WAR AND PEACE). I first saw the second part of this film in the Winter of 1992-93. I finally saw the whole film on HBO Video VHS in December 2002. For this anniversary viewing, I watched it on Youtube.

HITLER: THE LAST TEN DAYS (1973) Alec Guinness plays Hitler in this dramatization, using a great amount of stock footage to contrast the reality to Hitler’s lack thereof. First saw this on Arts & Entertainment back in the summer of 1993. Back then, the only actor I knew was Guinness. In later years, I would discover Simon Ward, Joss Ackland, Julian Glover, Diane Cliento, Eric Porter, Sheila Gish & John Bennett (Soames and Bossiney from THE FORSYTE SAGA). Olive Films DVD.

WAR AND REMEMBRANCE THE LAST CHAPTER (1989) The final episode of the WWII mini-series has Steven Berkoff end things through the eyes of Wouk’s fictional character General Von Roon (Jeremy Kemp). MPI Video DVD.

DOWNFALL (2004) German-Language film dealing with the Last Days through the eyes of his secretary. First saw this on DVD in the summer of 2006. Sony Pictures DVD.

Earliest film watched this Month: IVANHOE (1913)
Latest film watched this Month: AMERICAN MASTERS “Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel” (2012)