TOMB RAIDER

Alicia Vikander     Dominic West     Walton Goggins     Daniel Yu     Kristin Scott Thomas     Derek Jacobi

     This Tomb Raider movie is based on a videogame series, which it tries to emulate and serve as a kind of prequel to the 2001/2003 Tomb Raider series starring Angelina Jolie.  Here, we get a few scenes of Lara’s (Vikander) childhood with her father (West), in which he is teaching her things about life she should know and saying goodbye as he takes off on an adventure.  Years go by; it appears he is not returning, and Lara has become a risk-taking bicycle courier and aspiring boxer (which she is not very good at).

     Multiple times when she is asked to sign documents related to her father’s company, she shows little interest, but when shown a puzzle cylinder left to her by her father, she is fascinated.  She easily solves the puzzle and finds a message from him.  That sets her off on a daring journey (she is her father’s child) that will take her to faraway exotic locations in an attempt to continue her father’s life-long odyssey.

     The film does have the look of a video game made into a movie.  The production design is artistic and somewhat enticing; however, the story comes across as completely improbable with a rather clunky script so that it keeps the viewer from becoming fully engaged.  Seeing Lara getting tossed about on raging seas, beaten and battered by evil men, and surviving a tomb that is disintegrating around her on a video game is very different from seeing such events in a movie.  After a while, the reaction is “Oh, c’mon!”

     Alicia Vikander is a gifted actress, but her fine, nuanced, dramatic talents are lost in this action movie that is all about brawn and physical feats (most of which turn out to be unbelievable, really).  I don’t know how many of the stunts were done by her or someone else (if by her, they’re impressive!), but look at her work in Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Anna Karenina, A Royal Affair, and The Light between Oceans, for instance, if you want to see award-worthy acting.  Other actors like Dominic West, Walton Goggins, and Daniel Yu likewise have diminishing roles that don’t serve their talents.  The only supporting actor given a juicy tidbit is Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays it up admirably.  She is always good, and the script serves her well here.

     This is a film for video game fans, but for the rest of us—no.

Do you really want to see another Tomb Raider movie?

Grade:  C-                                     By Donna R. Copeland

GENIUS

Colin Firth   Jude Law   Nicole Kidman   Guy Pearce   Laura Linney   Dominic West

          Genius is a most eloquent account of the human cost of vast creativity in one person.  Often, few people can appreciate it when they encounter it, and it always seems to be a curse for those who try to live with a genius.  The black and white film begins appropriately with dense foreboding—It’s a dark, rainy day, with a man standing without an umbrella, smoking cigarette after cigarette, and gazing up at a brick building and its sign, Charles Scribner’s Sons.  The camera focuses again and again on the man’s shoes stamping out his cigarette butts while pedestrians hurry by under the protection of their umbrellas, completely oblivious to him.  Behind the one light visible in the building sits Max Perkins (Firth) tirelessly editing manuscripts written by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, and now as well, Wolfe’s manuscript, O Lost (subsequently changed to Look Homeward, Angel), a fictionalized account of his childhood.

         Presently, Thomas Wolfe (Law) appears at Perkins’ door, and we can tell it took a lot of nerve for him to approach.  He opens with the statement about not usually liking to get bad news face to face, so he seldom asks in person.  But now he inquires nervously, “Have you read my manuscript?” certain that it will be rejected as it has already been turned down by numerous publishers.  When Tom is given an encouraging answer, he spews out his gratefulness effusively, and swears he is willing to honor the editor’s precondition to work tirelessly to make it publishable.  Little does either of them realize the amount of effort it will take.

         It turns out that the two men will be completely in sync in their commitment to the project (willing to sacrifice time and family), a developing father-son relationship filling the thwarted needs of both, and their views of literature.  This is despite the sharp contrast in their personalities.  Max is often eloquently silent to Tom’s verbosity. Perkins is 1920’s conventional, proper, faithful, and disciplined.  Wolfe, in his own words, never knows when to stop, is always pushing against boundaries, and is wide open to all the experiences in life he can grasp.  All this is captured perfectly by two versions of the 19^th Century song, “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton”, which Perkins has said is his favorite.  He and Tom are in a jazz bar, and Tom gets the band to play it first in the old version to satisfy Max and then again in his own preferred jazzed-up version of it. 

          The film Genius (screenwriter John Logan) is based on the book by A. Scott Berg entitled Max Perkins:  Editor of Genius about the fascinating relationship between the aspiring novelist Thomas Wolfe and his first editor, Max Perkins.  The movie is a tour de force in its direction (Michael Grandage), its music (Adam Cork), cinematography (Ben Davis), and acting.  Suppressing his British persona, Colin Firth gets across the dignified New England stoicism and Puritan values of Max Perkins.  Jude Law’s portrayal of the outrageous, self-entitled writer is sometimes obnoxious, but always entertaining, even in his darkest musings.  Nicole Kidman, Guy Pearce, and Laura Linney round out the stellar cast.  Although someone might object to the dominance of British/Australian filmmakers, I think they are successful in their efforts to capture the American spirit of the times.

          A most interesting sidelight is how Genius makes references to how women were regarded in the 1920’s.  Max casts a dim view of his wife’s playwriting and acting aspirations.  He and Tom talk over her when she tries to turn the conversation to her own work; they’re not interested and don’t consider it important.  Tom has no appreciation for his lover’s passion as a Theater set and costume designer, even after she has been continuously supportive of and made huge sacrifices for his work.  This will go largely unnoticed, even by today’s generation.

A tour de force in its account of the life of a genius and of those who are close to him.

Grade:  A                        By Donna R. Copeland

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH

Alicia Vikander     Kit Harington     Taron Egerton     Dominic West     Emily Watson

This film is truly a testament of youth and an eloquent and moving argument against war.  It is based on Vera Brittain’s autobiography in which a young woman is passionate about being accepted into Oxford, but when her brother and their friends get caught up in the spirit of serving their country at the onset of WWI, she feels compelled to join them by taking a leave from her studies and becoming a nurse in the war zones.

The work of James Kent, the director, has primarily been in television productions (e.g., “The White Queen”), but here he demonstrates that he is well prepared for making full-length drama films, as proven by his being recognized this year with a nomination for Breakthrough British Filmmaker by the London Critics Circle Film Awards.  Testament of Youth is indeed well directed and beautifully filmed (Rob Hardy, cinematographer), with an evocative musical score (Max Richter)—all of which, along with the acting, elevates the production. 

           We recently had the pleasure of seeing Vikander in Ex Machina, Anna Karenina, and A Royal Affair, and her considerable talent and skills are in evidence here once more as a cheeky young British woman, Vera, willing to buck all kinds of obstacles in achieving her goals.  In addition to jumping the major hurdle of being accepted into Oxford as a female, she skillfully manages to get her fiancé to open up to her when he returns from his first stint in the service traumatized by the death of one of his men, and later badgers a commanding officer for the true story of what happened to someone very dear to her.

           Also noteworthy in the realization of their roles are Harington as Roland, Vera’s love interest, and Egerton as her brother Edward.  It’s refreshing to see these male characters supporting Vera’s aspirations and being sensitive to women’s issues, particularly in that day and age.  We know Harington best from “Game of Thrones” where he has been a hit and heart throb.  Here, he is more an artist type like Vera, and the poems of both of them grace the film very nicely.  Vera’s and Edward’s parents (West and Watson) are veteran actors who can always be relied upon to give fine performances. 

           This is a period film of beauty, but with much heartache as the horrors of war are graphically displayed.  It’s plain to see why Vera Brittain, the author of the memoir, devoted her adult life to advocating against war.

Beautiful, moving, and heartbreaking—but oh so real.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland