Reign over Me

 

Reign over Me 2007

• Director: Mike Binder
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Don Cheadle, Adam Sandler, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Don Cheadle – Many.
• Adam Sandler – The Wedding Singer
• Jada Pinkett Smith – Matrix etc
• Liv Tyler – Many.
• Donald Sutherland – Many.
• Why? Don Cheadle
• Seen: 10 April 2024 

       Alan (Cheadle) is a well-to-do dentist with a family and beautiful apartment but he is not happy. He runs into his roommate from dental school Charlie (Sandler) who is a wreck because he lost his family in 9/11.

       Sandler looks like a young Bob Dylan. I like Cheadle a lot but not his character here. The story is lame without any of the emotional impact one would expect.

       The music is good – the Pretenders, Bruce Springsteen – which raises it ½ *      

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Departmetnt Q - Journal 64

 

Department Q: Journal 64 (2018)

• Director: Christoffer Boe
• Based on the book by Jussi Adler-Olsen
• Cast: Nikolai Lie-Kaas, Fares Fares, Johanne Louise Schmidt
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Nikolai Lie-Kaas – The Whistleblower, Flaskpost från P, Fasanjägare, Kvinnan i rummet
• Fares Fares – Chernobyl, Rogue One, Jalla jalla, Flaskpost från P, Fasanjägare, Kvinnan i rummet
• Johanne Louise Schmidt – Fasanjägarna, Flaskpost från P
• Why? The first three.
• Seen: 8 April 2024 

       Department Q takes over the case of mummified corpses found in a wall behind a flat in Copenhagen. It’s all connected to a home for ‘fallen women’ in the 60s.

       Twists, suspense, emotions. This is best of the four.      

5* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom Road

 

Freedom Road 1979

• Director: Jan Kadar
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Muhammad Ali, Kris Kristofferson, Alfre Woodard
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kris Kristofferson – He’s Just Not That Into You, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
• Alfre Woodard - 12 Years a Slave, Black Panther, American Violet, Down in the Delta, Bopha
• Why? Muhammad Ali
• Seen: 7April 2024 

       Reviews warned me that Muhammad Ali can’t act. Kris Kristofferson is not my favourite. But the subject, the Reconstruction period after the American Civil War, interests me.

       Ali plays a former slave, one of the first black men to be elected to the US Senate, and a defender of the property of ex-slaves and poor whites. Among their enemies is the Ku Klux Klan.

       It’s good enough to watch but nor much more. Ali’s acting is as good as anyone else’s here. It’s the story behind the clumsy script, the mostly amateurish drama and the irritating music that gives it

 2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Argo

 

Argo 2012

• Director: Ben Affleck
• Based on the book by Howard Fast
• Cast: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ben Affleck – Gone Girl, He’s Just Not That Into You, Daredevil, Dogma, Shakespeare in Love, Armageddon, Good Will Hunting  
• Bryan Cranston – mainly Breaking Bad
• John Goodman - many
• Alan Arkin – many
• Clea DuVall – Jacklie & Ryan, 21 Grams, Ghosts of Mars, Girl Interrupted, The Astronaut’s Wife, A Slipping-Down Life, Life During Wartime
• Scoot McNairy - Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Black Sea, Gone Girl, 12 Years a Slave, Six Feet Under, In Search of a Midnight Kiss
• Why? Good reviews
• Seen: 6 April 2024 

       In 1979 the US embassy is stormed by Khomeini revolutionaries and a lot of people are taken hostage. A very hot conflict, a lot of enflamed patriotism and bad guys on both sides.

       Six Americans escape from the embassy and hide out in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Ben Affleck is the super-spy who is going to get them out by pretending to produce a movie in Teheran. True story, sort of.

       This won the Oscar for best film instead of Lincoln which I saw yesterday. Is it better? Not really. Not worth the Oscar. Django Unchained should have won. Or even Life of Pi. Or even Les Misérables. The others I haven’t seen. 

3* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lincoln

 

Lincoln 2012

• Director: Stephen Spielberg
• Seen by this director: many
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and a slew of other familiar faces.
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Day Lewis – many.
• Sally Fields – many  
• Why? The subject
• Seen: 5April 2024 

       In 1863 US President Abraham Lincoln signed the Proclamation of Emancipation, freeing all slaves in the states waging war against the United States. In 1865 he proposed an amendment to the constitution forbidding slavery. It was controversial. He and his colleagues used different kinds of pressure against various congressmen to get it passed.

       If the film had started with this explanation, shortening it by an hour or so, it would have been so much better. As it is, the first hour or so is boring, confusing, plodding to the point that I almost DNF. It does pick up during the vote and there are some moments of emotional drama, but it is far from the Oscar nominee I expect. It was, simply, a disappointment. 

3* of 5   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colossal

 

Colossal 2016

• Director: Nacho Vigalondo
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, Austin Stowell, Tim Blake Nelson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Anne Hathaway – many.
• Dan Stevens – Beauty and the Beast, Summer in February, The Turn of the Screw, Downton Abbey
• Tim Blake Nelson – Fantastic Four, Detachment, American Violet, The Darwin Awards, Warm Springs, Holes, The Good Girl, O Brother Where Art Thou, Hamlet, Donnie Brasco
• Why? Anne Hathaway
• Seen: 4 April 2024 

       Gloria (Hathaway) is a drunk and her fed-up boyfriend Tim (Steven) throws her out of their artsy luxury NY flat. She goes back to her home town and hooks up with her grade school friend Oscar (Suseikis).

       Seoul is attacked by a Godzilla like monster and a humungous robot.

       Gloria and Oscar are connected to the monster and the robot.

       Weird, but more interesting than it sounds. It gets even more interesting when it becomes nasty.

       A most unusual monster story. Better than I expected. I think I even have to give it 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Cake

 

Snow Cake 2006

• Director: Mark Evans
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Hampshire
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Alan Rickman – many, including Romeo and Juliet
• Sigourney Weaver – many.
• Carrie Anne Moss – many.
• Why? A good film.
• Seen: Once before. Now 4 April 2024 

       Alex (Rickman) is for an unnamed reason driving to Winnipeg. Very much against his wishes – he is burdened with his own demons – he gives young Vivian (Hampshire) a lift to Wawa. After a dreadful accident he seeks out Vivian’s mother Linda (Weaver). To his dismay and discomfort he discovers that she is severely autistic and he doesn’t know how to deal with her.

       It’s tragic, it’s funny, it’s Rickman and Weaver. Even Carrie Anne Moss is there and Emily Hampshire is a real gem.

 

5* of 5