Life

 

Life 2017

• Director: Daniel Espinosa
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada. Olga Dihovichnaya, Ariyon Bakare
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Zodiac, Proof, Brokeback Mountain, The Day after Tomorrow, Moonlight Mile, The Good Girl, Donnie Darko, October Sky, Homicide Life on the Street
• Rebecca Ferguson – The Greatest Showman, The Girl on the Train
• Ryan Reynolds – Woman in Gold, Life During Wartime
• Hirotuki Sanada – The Railway Man, Sunshine
• Ariyon Bakare – Rogue One, Doctor Who, Jupiter Ascending, Dancing on the Edge, The Dark Knight
• Why? Sci-fi
• Seen: 27 September 2020      

       Life on a space station. Samples arrive from Mars and for the first time ever extra-terrestrial life is found in the form of a single cell. In its new lab environment it proves to be very complex, fast-growing and adaptive. The crew find it beautiful and fascinating.

       Until it attacks.

       Exciting, suspenseful, realistic (well…) but…but.. the ending. I don’t know about that ending.

 

3* of 5

 

Django Unchained

 

Django Unchained 2012

• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Also seen by this director: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglourius Basterds, Kill Bill 1&2, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs,
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo Di Caprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L Jackson, Don Johnson, Franco Nero, Bruce Dern
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jamie Foxx – The Soloist, Dream Girls, Ray
• Christoph Waltz – Alita Battle Angel, Spectre, The Zero Theorem, Carnage, Inglourious Basterds
• Leonardo Di Caprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Great Gatsby, Inception, Shutter Island, Blood Diamond, The Aviator, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, Beach, Titanic, Marvin’s Room, Romeo and Juliet, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, This Boy’s Life
• Kerry Washington – The Miracle at St Ana, The Dead Girl, The Last King of Scotland, Ray, The Human Stain,
• Samuel L Jackson – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Jumper, 1408, Star Wars, Kill Bill, Changing Lanes, The Red Violin, Jackie Brown, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Pulp Fiction, True Romance, Jurassic Park, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues, Sea of Love, Do the Right Thing
• Don Johnson – Miami Vice
• Franco Nero – Camelot
• Bruce Dern – Once Upon a Time in Holloywood, Silent Running, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, The Wild Angels, Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte, TV series
•  Why? Tarantino
• Seen: 26 September 2020      

       1858. Django (Foxx), an enchained slave, is bought by an eloquent and eccentric German bounty hunter Dr Schultz (Waltz, who got a much deserved Oscar for the role) who needs his help in finding three slave overseers wanted for murder. Django has personal experience of these three men and is only too happy to help Dr Schultz, get his freedom and find his wife.

       Racism and violence. Yes, it’s heavy. Also, funny and dramatic. Absurd, quirky and philosophical. It’s Tarantino.

       The music is excellent, the filming and acting are superb. As Django says, ‘What’s not to like?’

       Well, it’s a tad long and a tad macho. But very good.

 

4½ * of 5

Rent

 Rent 2005

• Director: Chris Columbus
• Seen by this director: Harry Potter and the Chambre of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Jesse L Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, Tracie Thoms, Taye Diggs
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anthony Rapp – A Beautiful Mind, Six Degrees of Separation
• Adam Pascal – School of Rock
• Rosario Dawson – Jessica Jones
• Wilson Jermaine Heredia – Flawless
• Adam Beach – Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Smoke Signals
• Why? Came on a double DVD with Across the Universe
• Seen:  Once before. Now 25 September 2020      

       A group of young musicians, actors, filmers and other cultural workers in a NY slum struggle against eviction, drugs and AIDS. Loosely based on La Bohème it portrays poverty, illness and creativity in the form of a rock opera.

       There are echoes of Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair without coming close to their power. The story has its heart in the right place, but the acting and singing are no more than adequate. It seems too long. I remember it as better than this.

 

2 ½ * of 5

 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy updated

 

Update 20 September 2020

We’ve just reread the books and loved them again. So now we’ve got to see the film again.

 

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 2005

• Director: Garth Jennings
• Seen by this director: Son of Rambow
• Based on books by Douglas Adams
• Cast: Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Zooey Deschanel, Bill Nighy, Warwick Davis, Anna Chancellor, Alan Rickman’s voice, Helen Mirren’s voice, Stephen Fry’s voice, John Malkovich, Kelly Macdonald
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor/actress in:
• Martin Freeman – Breaking and Entering, Shaun of the Dead, Love Actually and many more since we’ve seen this film.
• Mos Def  – Cadillac Records, Be Kind Rewind, Monster’s Ball, NYPD Blue
• Sam Rockwell – Moon, Frost/Nixon, Matchstick Men, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Green Mile, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Zooey Deschanel – Almost Famous, The Happening, The Good Girl
• Anna Chancellor – Breaking and Entering, Longitude, Cold Lazarus, Four Weddings and a Funeral
• Warwick Davis – Star Wars, Harry Potter, Life’s Too Short, Extras
• John Malkovich – Burn After Reading, Me Myself and Kubrick, The Libertine, Being John Malkovich, Mary Reilly, Heart of Darkness, Of Mice and Men
• Kelly Macdonald – No Country for Old Men, Harry Potter, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, The Girl in the Café, Finding Neverland, Gosford Park, My Life So Far, Elizabeth, Trainspotting
• The others I’ll include when it’s more than their voices
• Why: the books
• Seen: 2008 and January 11, 2013 and again 20 September 2020 

This movie has a lot to live up to. Douglas Adams’ book and its follow-ups are among my top-ten all-time favorites. And Adams was behind the movie too so that’s a reassuring guarantee. Sadly he died before the movie was made; the movie is dedicated to his memory.  He was far too young; the loss of his brilliant wit is something the world can ill afford.

The movie is in fact a delight.  Jam packed with some of the funniest one-liners from the books, it follows the story of Earth in the process of being bulldozed out of existence to make way for an intergalactic motorway. Luckily our hero Earthling Arthur and his romantic interest Trillian are rescued by aliens, Arthur’s good friend Ford Prefect and the President of the Galaxy.  And that’s just the beginning.

The cast couldn’t be better. Mos Def is one of my favorite actors as are Bill Nighy (although he’s not completely recognizable here…) and John Malkovich. Hearing the voices of Stephen Fry, Helen Mirren and the hilariously mournful voice of Alan Rickman speaking for the depressed robot Marvin, played by Warwick Davis, is always something to look forward to.

Visually it’s colorful and funny and captures the zaniness of the book very well.

So why not a 10 of 10? I don’t know.  It’s just…not the book. Totally unfair, I know. I like the movie very much and will watch it more than a few times more. But in this case the book is just too overpowering.  See the movie absolutely. But read the book. You can’t live without it. 

4 * of 5.

 

 

Gosford Park

 

Gosford Park 2001

• Director: Robert Altman
• Also seen by this director: A Prairie Home Companion, Kansas City, Nashville, McCabe and Mrs Miller, M*A*S*H, Bonanza, The Millionaire
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Camilla Rutherford, Charles Dance, Geraldine Sommerville, Tom Hollander, Natasha Wightman, Jeremy Northam, Bob Balaban, Claudie Blakley, Ryan Phillippe, Stephen Fry, Kelly McDonald, Clive Owen, Helen Mirren, Eileen Atkins, Emily Watson, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Richard E Grant, Sophie Thompson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Maggie Smith – Downton Abbey, Harry Potter, The Lady in the Van, Hotel Marigold 1&2, My Old Lady, Quartet, From Time to Time, Becoming Jane, Keeping Mum, Ladies in Lavender, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Gosford Park, David Copperfield, Tea with Mussolini, The First Wives Club, Richard III, The Sister Act 1&2, A Room with a View, The Quartet, Oh What a Lovely War, Love and Pain and the Whole Damned Thing, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
• Michael Gambon – Fortitude, Victoria & Abdul, The Hollow Crown, Quirke, Quartet, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The King’s Speech, The Book of Eli, Cranford, Amazing Grace, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Angels in America, Longitude, Sleepy Hollow
• Kristin Scott Thomas – My Old Lady, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Contre toi, Elle s’appelait Sarah, Nowhere Boy, The Other Boleyn Girl, Il y a longtemps que je t’aime, Keeping Mum, Man to Man, The English Patient, Richard III, A Handful of Dust
• Camilla Rutherford – Yesterday, Breathe, Absolutely Fabulous the movie, Darjeeling Limited
• Charles Dance – Victor Frankenstein, Woman in Gold, The Imitation Game, Merlin, Starter for 10, Bleak House, Hilary and Jackie, Michael Collins, Alien 3
• Geraldine Sommerville – Quirke, My Week with Marilyn, Harry Potter
• Tom Hollander – Bohemian Rhapsody, Breath, The Night Manager, About Time, Hanna, Gracie, The Soloist, In the Loop, Valkyria, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Darwin Awards, The Libertine
• Jeremy Northam – The Man Who Knew Infinity, The Eye in the Sky, Glorious 39, Creation, Tristram Shandy, Happy Texas, Amistad
• Bob Balaban – A Mighty Wind, Cradle Will Rock, Swing Vote, Waiting for Guffman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Mod Squad, Catch 22, Midnight Cowboy
• Claudie Blakley – Cranford, Bright Star, London to Brighton
• Ryan Phillippe – Igby Goes Down
• Stephen Fry – The Man Who Knew Infinity,Hobbit et al, Twelfth Night, Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, Extras, V for Vendetta, Tristram Shandy, Bright Young Things, Longitude, Black Adder, Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, Wilde, Jeeves and Wooster, Peter’s Friends, A Fish Called Wanda, A Handful of Dust 
• Kelly McDonald – Train Spotting 2, Harry Potter, The Decoy Bride, No Country for Old Men, Nanny McPhee, Tristram Shandy, The Girl in the Café, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Finding Neverland, Intermission, My Life so Far, Trainspotting
• Clive Owen – Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Extras, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Children of Men, Derailed, Closer, King Arthur, Croupier,
• Helen Mirren - Woman in Gold, The Hundred Foot Journey, Brighton Rock, The Tempest, The Last Station, The Queen, Elizabeth, Calendar Girls, The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone, Some Mother’s Son, The Madness of King George, The Prince of Jutland, Prime Suspect. Mosquito Coast, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Excalibur, Hamlet, O Lucky Man
• Eileen Atkins – Beautiful Creatures, Robin Hood, Last Chance Harvey, Cranford, Cold Mountain, The Hours, Wit, Cold Comfort Farm, Titus Andronicus, The Dresser
• Emily Watson – The theory of Everything, Testament of Youth, The Book Thief, The Politician’s Husband, Wah-Wah, Equilibrium, Punch-Drunk Love, Cradle Will Rock, Hilary and Jackie, The Boxer, Breaking the Waves.
• Alan Bates – Hamlet, Quartet, The Rose, An Unmarried Woman, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Go-Between, Far from the Madding Crowd, Georgy Girl, Zorba the Greek, Women in Love.
• Derek Jacobi - Last Tango in Halifax, Vicious, Cinderella, My Week with Marilyn, The King’s Speech, Doctor Who, Nanny McPhee, Gladiator, Hamlet, Dead Again, Henry V, Hamlet, Richard II, I Claudius
• Richard E Grant – Their Finest, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who, Colour Me Kubrick, Bright Young Things, Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Twelfth Night
• Sophie Thompson – Harry Potter
• Why? The cast
• Seen: Twice before. Now 19 September 2020      

       Just about every actor in the UK is in this film. They’re all gathered for a hunting week-end at this vast country estate.

       Intrigues, secret love affairs, outrageous snobbery, class-conscious gossip, suspicious sneaking and lurking, bickering about money, false identities.

       It’s complex and flows along so quickly that it doesn’t allow you to think. No matter. Not much thought is necessary. The story is a question of Agatha Christie invading Downton Abbey (Julian Fellowes wrote it so that explains part of it). To be honest Agatha Christie is not my cup of tea and I stopped watching Downton Abbey when Matthew died. With a cast like this it should be 5* but it will have to settle for

 3½ * of 5

 

 

 

Suicide Squad

 

 

Suicide Squad 2016

• Director: David Ayer
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jared Leto, Joel Kinnaman, Adam Beach
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Will Smith – Winters Tale, I Am Legend, Wild Wild West, Men in Black, Independence Day, Six Degrees of Separation
• Margot Robbie – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, About Time
• Viola Davis – Widows, Get On Up, End Game, Beautiful Creatures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Solaris, Antwone Fisher, Far from Heaven, Kate & Leopold
• Jared Leto – Blade Runner 2049, Chapter 27, Requiem for a Dream, Girl Interrupted, Fight Club
• Adam Beach – Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Smoke Signals
• Why? Recommended by home care assistant Anton
• Seen: 18 September 2020      

       Well, it starts with one of history’s best songs, ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ by the Animals, followed by ‘You Don’t Own Me’ and for that it gets a star already.

       Superman has died. Amanda Waller (Davis) is putting together a team of the worst of the worst, Task Force X, to protect the country. She has complete control over them and she convinces the high-up generals et al to give her the go-ahead.

       In other words, totally realistic.

       It’s got the potential to be a spectacular 0* turkey but I find to my surprise that I’m enjoying it. The story is pathetically thin and it’s so chaotic that half the time I have no idea what’s going on, but it’s funny. And fun to see Davis in a role like this, and Swedish Kinnaman being a hero, and Adam Beach unexpectedly in a little role (he certainly deserves more).

       No, it makes no sense. Yes, it’s riddle with clichés. Only thing is, it’s quirky and almost seems to have some… real emotions? Even a trace of intelligence? All that plus the excellent music.

 3 * of 5

 

Sleuth 2007

 

 

Sleuth 2007

• Director: Kenneth Branagh
• Seen by this director: Murder on the Orient Express, Cinderella, Thor, The Magic Flute, As You Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Hamlet, In the Bleak Midwinter, Frankenstein, Much Ado About Nothing, Peter’s Friends, Dead Again, Henry V.
• Based on the novel: no, but the play by Anthony Shaffer, screenplay by Harold Pinter
• Cast: Michael Caine, Jude Law
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Michael Caine – Interstellar, Batman x 3, Inception, Harry Brown, Flawless, Flawless, Children of Men, Last Orders, The Cider House Rules, Little Voice, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sleuth 1972, Educating Rita, Gambit, Alfie
• Jude Law – Genius, Black Sea, Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, Hugo, Contagion, Repo Men, Sherlock Holmes, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Holiday, Breaking and Entering, The Aviator, Closer, Alfie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Cold Mountain, The Road to Perdition, eXistenZ, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Gattaca, Wilde
• Why? Kenneth Branagh, the cast and the original.
• Seen: Once or twice before. Now 13 September 2020      

       Now Andrew Wyke (Caine) lives in a mega-modernised country mansion with hi-tech surveillance security. Milo Tindle (Law) is an actor having an affair with Andrew’s wife. So the story is basically the same, the wit as pointed, the atmosphere as tense and the dialog as razor-sharp. If anything, Pinter’s screenplay is even a tad sharper. The visuals are, as always with Branagh, peculiar, dizzying and brilliant.

       Again, the choice of actors is faultless. It’s very cool that Caine is now playing Andrew and while he was the perfect Milo, here Law is the perfect Milo.

       It’s hard to know what I would think if I hadn’t seen the original, but this is as evocative, suspenseful and beautifully filmed and performed. The music of Patrick Doyle adds to the atmosphere. It twists away from the original at the end in a somewhat dark disturbing way, but I can’t say that I don’t like it.

       In its way its as good as the original and it’s possibly the best Branagh production that isn’t Shakespeare.

 

5* of 5

 

https://rubyjandsfilmblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/sleuth-1972.html

Sleuth 1972

 Sleuth 1972

• Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Seen by this director: Cleopatra, Suddenly Last Summer, Julius Caesar, All About Eve, A Letter to Three Wives, The Ghost and Mrs Muir
• Based on the novel: no, but the play by Anthony Shaffer
• Cast: Laurence Olivier, Michael Caine
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Laurence Olivier – King Lear, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Oh What a Lovely War, Spartacus, Richard III, Hamlet, Henry V, Rebecca, As You Like It
• Michael Caine – Interstellar, Batman x 3, Inception, Harry Brown, Flawless, Sleuth 2007, Flawless, Children of Men, Last Orders, The Cider House Rules, Little Voice, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Educating Rita, Gambit, Alfie
• Why? Brilliant film
• Seen: Twice before. Now 12 September 2020      

       Handsome suave young Milo Tindle (Caine) with only a thin veneer covering his Cockney cockiness, is invited to the massive country mansion of eccentric and wealthy detective novel writer Andrew Wyke to discuss Milo’s affair with Andrew’s wife. All very amiable until…the plot thickens.

       No spoilers.

       It’s extremely clever with a heavy dose of class conflict and a poke at racism. Two better roles for these characters is hard to imagine. It’s Olivier’s best performance, far better than his hammy Shakespeare roles, and nobody can do this better than Caine.

       Do not miss this classic from the 70’s.

 

5* of 5

 

 

Terminator Dark Fate

 

Terminator 5 Dark Fate 2019

• Director: Nicole Holofcener
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Linda Hamilton – Terminator et al, Dante’s Peak, Hill Street Blues
• Arnold Schwartznegger – Terminator et al, Twins, Dave
• Mackenzie Davis – Blade Runner 2049, The Martian, What If
• Why? It’s Terminator
• Seen: 11 September 2020      

       Is this a film that should never have been made? I seem to remember it getting bad reviews. But still, it’s Terminator.

       Once Sarah Connor (Hamilton) saved everybody, including John. In this one, teen-aged John is killed by a Terminator (Schwartzenegger) in the first minute. Then 22 years later an enhanced human Grace (Davis) drops onto the street from the future to protect Dani (Reyes) from the bad Terminator (Luna).

       There’s a story, somewhat plagiarised from the first film. There’s fighting and car chases too.

       Enter mega-weapon bearing Sarah to the rescue who rescues then says grimly ,’I’ll be back.’ That got a mini-laugh.

       Yes, the film is probably unnecessary but there are some good lines and it’s touching to see the aging Terminator and Sarah again. There’s even an interesting twist to the story. If there had been less mindless action and exploding it would have been, well, almost good.

 

2½ * of 5

 

Chappie

 

Chappie 2015

• Director: Neill Blomkamp
• Seen by this director: Elysium, District 9
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Sigourney Weaver, Yo-Landi Visser, Ninja, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Brandon Auret
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sharlto Copley (not that he was recognisable exactly) – Elysium, District 9
• Dev Patel - The Man Who Knew Infinity, Hotel Marigold 1&2, Slumdog Millionaire
• Hugh Jackman – The Greatest Showman, X-Men etc, Les Misérables, Australia, The Prestige, The Fountain, Kate and Leopold
• Sigourney Weaver – Avatar, Be Kind Rewind, Snow Cake, The Village, Holes, Galaxy Quest, A Map of the World, Alien etc, The Ice Storm, Death and the Maiden, Dave, Working Girl, Ghostbusters, The Year of Living Dangerously
• Brandon Auret – Elysium, District 9
• Why? Sci fi, good cast

Seen: 6 September 2020

             In Johannesburg, the world’s first robotic police force is established. Crime figures plummet. We follow the technical and economic developers (Weaver, Jackman and Patel) and a trio of young gangsters (Visser, Ninja and Cantillio) who are in desperate need of 20 million. They devise a scheme to kidnap Deon (Patel) and steal his remotes that control the droids.

       It doesn’t go exactly as planned. For one thing, Deon is secretly developing a super AI, far smarter than humans and with feelings. The gangsters get a hold of it and call it Chappie (Copley). But he’s just a baby mentally and he’s got to learn. He learns very, very quickly.

       That’s not Deon’s only problem. Villain Jackman is a violent and nasty and religious ex-soldier developing a super weapon monster robot.

       It gets quite exciting. And amusing. And sad. Chappie is adorable and Visser as his gangster ‘Mummy’ is a real treat.

       What a sweet film.

 

4 ½ * of 5

 

Enough Said

 

Enough Said 2013

• Director: Nicole Holofcener
• Seen by this director: 2 episodes of Six Feet Under
• Based on a book: no
• Cast: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Toni Collette, Tracy Fairaway, Catherine Keener, Tavi Gevinson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus – clips from this and that
• James Gandolfini – Zero Dark Thirty, Not Fade Away, Welcome to the Rileys, In the Loop, The Sopranos, Romance & Cigarettes, The Man Who Wasn’t There, Get Shorty, True Romance
• Toni Collette – Hereditary, Unlocked, Imperium, A Long Way Down, Mental, The Dead Girl, Night Listener, Little Miss Sunshine, In Her Shoes, The Hours, About a Boy, Hotel Splendide, The Sixth Sense, Velvet Goldmine, Muriel’s Wedding
• Catherine Keener – The Soloist, Into the Wild, The Interpreter, Full Frontal, Being John Malkovich
• Why? Toni Collette. James Gandolfini.
• Seen: 5 September 2020      

       Eva (Louis-Dreyfuss) and Albert (Gandolfini), both divorced, both parents to teenaged daughters, meet at a party and become lovers. Eva unknowingly becomes friends with Albert’s ex Marianne (Keener) and learns more than she wants to.

       It’s very talky and not very interesting for the first hour. It gets better when it takes a heavier turn and the end was only tentatively feel-good so that’s a tentative plus.

       Unfortunately Collette has only a small role without much room for character development (I would have preferred her in the lead), but Gandolfini is solid as always and Tracy Fairaway and Tavi Gevinson as Eva’s daughter and her friend are young actors to keep an eye on. They were both very good.

 

3 ½ * of 5

 

 

Get on Up

 

In memory of Chadwick Boseman 29 November 1976-28 August 2020 and Nelsan Ellis 30November 1977-8 July 2017

 

Get on Up 2014

• Director: Tate Taylor
• Seen by this director: The Girl on the Train, The Help
• Based on the novel: no
• Cast: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Viola Davis, Dan Ackroyd, Lennie James, Jill Scott, Octavia Spencer
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Chadwick Boseman – Black Panther, Fringe
• Nelsan Ellis – The Butler, The Help, The Soloist, Veronica Mars, Warm Springs
• Viola Davis – Widows, End Game, Beautiful Creatures, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Solaris, Antwone Fisher, Far from Heaven, Kate & Leopold
• Dan Ackroyd – Bright Young Things, Feeling Minnesota, Driving Miss Daisy
• Lennie James – Blade Runner 2049, A Midsummer Night’s Dream Re-Told, 24 Hour Party People
• Jill Scott – Fringe, Ladies’ Nr 1 Detective Bureau
• Octavia Spencer – Snowpiercer, The Help, The Soloist, Being John Malkovich
• Why? Chadwick Boseman
• Seen: 4 September 2020      

       Jumping back and forth in time from the 80’s when the legendary James Brown is high on drugs and half-forgotten, to the 60’s when he plays in Vietnam, to the 30’s when he’s a child with a loving then absent mother (Davis) and abusive father (James), back to the 60’s when his music starts taking off.

       He grows up in a brothel and a gospel music church, ending up in jail where he meets Bobby Byrd (Ellis), his friend and fellow musician for decades.

       The portrait of the man James Brown is not a pretty one but the portrait of the phenomenon James Brown, the music giant, is powerful. The megalomaniac who treats family, friends and colleagues like dirt, the public figure torn between Huey P Newton and Lyndon B Johnson complicate the picture. Boseman not only plays all these James Brown. He is James Brown. King T’Challa is nowhere to be seen.

       The only weaknesses are some key scenes that are so short that they’re easy to miss. A few more minutes wouldn’t have hurt the film.

 

4 1/2 * of 5