MARSHALL

Chadwick Boseman     Dan Stevens     Josh Gad     Sterling K. Brown     James Cromwell     Kate Hudson

     It’s usually inspiring to hear about how someone has achieved greatness, especially when the odds are stacked against the person.  This dramatized account of Thurgood Marshall’s journey toward sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court is just such a story.  Starring Chadwick Boseman as Marshall, it starts when he is a lawyer for the NAACP sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to defend a black man accused of raping a wealthy white woman.  Right off the bat, the judge (Cromwell) rules against his serving openly as the defense because, he is licensed in Maryland but not in Connecticut.  His colleague Sam Friedman (Gad) has obtained some kind of allowance for him, but the judge refuses to honor it, saying he can sit in on the trial, but he is not to speak.  This means that Friedman—reluctant to participate at all because criminal law is outside his practice—must take the lead, with coaching from Marshall.

    The film is something of a thriller in its focus on a trial with conflicting accounts, misleading information, the back and forth questioning and arguments of prosecution and defense, the protests in the community that condemn the prisoner Spell (Brown) from the outset and threaten Marshall, a black, and Friedman, a Jew.  The most dramatic scenes are between Marshall and Spell and later on the testimony and questioning of the victim (Hudson). 

     This case, based on the real one, The State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell, illustrated that prejudice and discrimination against blacks in the north was very similar to that in the South, and Marshall realized that the NAACP needed to shift its focus to civil rights in the north:  “We will have to spend more money on regular defense cases because these [cases for] teachers’ salaries…and university cases [which constituted their case loads at the time] will not continue to keep our name going”, he told his NAACP adviser (Daniel J. Sharfstein, 2005, “Saving the Race”, legal affairs).

     Boseman is very at-home with the character he plays, who can be cheeky, quick with the comeback, quietly reasoning, witty, or seething with anger.  He and Gad are very much in sync, despite their characters’ very different personalities.  Sterling K. Brown doesn’t see much action until he is actually on the stand, when he gives a fine performance.  Dan Stevens, James Cromwell, and Kate Hudson make a fine supporting cast.

     Director Reginald Hudlin’s work has been primarily as director and producer in television, but he does a good job with this film in adhering fairly closely to the original story and maintaining good pace and focus.  Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel is skillful in transitioning between indoor and outdoor scenes and sustaining a sense of mystery with lighting and close-ups of faces during testimony. 

A significant case for NAACP Attorney Thurgood Marshall in his ascent to the U. S. Supreme Court.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

DEEPWATER HORIZON

Mark Wahlberg   Kurt Russell   Kate Hudson   Gina Rodriguez   John Malkovich

          This is a thrilling, tense movie, but I wished I had had a tutorial about offshore oil drilling before I saw it; explaining, for instance, some of the jobs of the main characters, what the significance of mud is (it's oil), what kinds of tests were needed to assure safety, and so on.  I acknowledge that it’s not really necessary to understand these things to get a sense of the experience of a gas well blowing up, but since I like to learn things from movies, that would be my preference.  Instead of that, the filmmakers chose to open with the testimony of one of the survivors at a hearing.  The value of this is in knowing later, during the blow-up when you’re biting your nails, that this person will survive.

        Peter Berg and the writers Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand have chosen to give us a candid look at one of the main characters, Mike Williams (Wahlberg), who is married to Felicity (Hudson) and has a young girl he adores.  She idolizes him, and writes stories about his work that tie into her current interest in dinosaurs.  But we learn almost nothing about any of the other characters except Andrea (Rodriguez), one of the few (only?) women working on the rig who prides herself on her mechanical knowledge.  She represents women well in her expertise, her calmness, and her practicality in an emergency situation—most of the time.  In the end, her character is made to be a bit wimpy, but it’s hard to say how much of that is real and how much of it was in the screenwriters’ dramatizing hands.

           It’s fascinating to get a glimpse into the world of offshore drilling populated mostly with males who only know how to tease and talk rudely with one another.  But what comes through as well is the importance of knowledge, experience, and judgment in a job that could affect hundreds of people.  Deals among big international companies to collaborate on a project often underestimate the implications for those down the chain of command.  Here, BP, Transocean, and Schlumberger are all involved.  The story begins with the issue of the project’s being behind in its schedule, with the money people monitoring the cost and wanting to skip some tests of rig operations and safety.

           Long story short—corners should not have been cut in jobs like these.  Safety of the workers and the rig should be front and center.  Ah, but human fallibility and hubris must be taken into account.  In the end, the companies involved have been held accountable—to some extent.  And there are always heroes in situations like these, which inspire us and renew our faith in humankind.

      I think the real stars of this tantalizing film are the special effects, sound, and cinematography (Enrique Chediak) artists.  It really does feel like you are on an oilrig and everything is blowing up around you and fiery things are raining down on you during the conflagration.  I certainly never realized how noisy it is on a rig even when everything is going according to plan.  I guess that’s why I saw so many ear plugs/hearing aids in the workers’ ears. 

     That being said, Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, and Gina Rodriguez give stellar performances of heroes willing to risk their lives for others, and John Malkovich always nails the baddy role subtly and perfectly.

See the fiery inferno at sea and be amazed.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

MOTHER'S DAY

Julia Roberts   Kate Hudson   Jennifer Anniston   Jason Sudeikis   Timothy Olyphant   

Britt Robertson   Margo Martindale   Aasif Mandvi

          Mother’s Day is for people who like sitcoms, and this will be a treat for them because it extends for two hours.  Sitcoms are noted for their canned laughter tracks, but this film has a script that is canned.  Pick any incident/joke/situation in sitcoms, and it is plugged in here somewhere, pulling your heartstrings one moment, making you laugh at another, pulling for worries and tears at still another, and on and on.  When a character goes to a vending machine for candy, it reminded me of how the filmmakers seemed to have gone to a machine for script scenes and pushed just about every button.

       We see a newly divorced couple where the ex-husband has taken a younger, more attractive wife, a successful career woman who has yet to experience the ultimate satisfaction of motherhood (but at least she’s not the stereotypical b----), a mixed race marriage, an adopted child as an adult looking for her mother (she can’t commit to a relationship until she finds her), and a Lesbian couple.  They all run into the usual problems—clearly of their own making—develop insight, make discoveries, and all of it is wrapped up into a tidy bow at the end. 

      On the more positive side, the actors’ skills in their art/craft are readily apparent.  Foremost is Julia Roberts (Miranda) as the charming, attractive product pusher on television.  She is Pretty Woman become wiser and more sophisticated.  (As an aside, Garry Marshall directed that and this picture.)  Britt Robertson (Kristin) is captivating in her portrayal of complex emotions and ambivalence.  Jason Sudeikis (Bradley) and Timothy Olyphant (Henry) are convincing as men at sea, feeling out of control in life.  Jennifer Anniston (Sandy) and Kate Hudson (Jesse) have been well schooled to expertise in their roles.  Margo Martindale (Flo) always meshes hand-in-glove with mothers of a certain type (although she is not by any means restricted in her range, e.g., on television’s “The Americans”, in which she plays a Russian spy.  Other supporting characters’ performances are exemplary, which may speak to Marshall’s direction and to Gail Goldberg’s and Barbara J. McCarthy’s casting.

      I have no idea what the premise is of Mother’s Day—it’s certainly not a weighty message.  I think that to some extent, it is Hollywood producers’ fantasy that somehow life bumps along, and everybody gains insight and a good heart and it will all turn out in the end.  Mothers will be tolerant and forgiving, divorcees will pull together putting the past behind them and becoming loving friends, and above all, mothers and children will be reunited lovingly. 

        So spake Zarathrustra.  Not.  Alas for this script, Zarathrustra observed that to plunge the depths of the world, creativity is required; a “recipe” as presented here is not sufficient.

A collection of stories that may or may not ring true.

Grade:  C-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

ROCK THE KASBAH

Bill Murray   Zooey Deschanel   Leem Lubany   Kate Hudson   Bruce Willis

            Rock the Kasbah is billed as a comedy, but it’s really one huge absurdity.  Now, if absurd is always funny to you, then you will enjoy the picture.  A washed-up agent for musicians, Richie (Murray), stumbles on a chance to go on a USO tour in Afghanistan, and takes his young client (Deschanel) who is begging to sing her own songs.  From the plane trip over, it becomes clear that she is not up to the “adventures” that seem to be in store for her, especially when they find Kabul is on lock-down and bombs are going off in the streets.  Needless to say, she doesn’t last long, and Richie has a major dilemma.  Will she return in time for the performance?  Where are his credit cards and money?

            To cope with his grief, Richie visits an ambitious American woman (Hudson), who knows an infinite number of ways to make him feel better.  They become friends and eventually partners in his business.

            As one of the sub-plots, Richie gets involved with some gun/ammunition dealers and winds up in a small village.  In the evening when he goes for a walk, he hears singing that stops him in his tracks.  The singer is so talented he must find her and contract to be her agent.  (It only takes a handshake, mind you; no one needs a contract because his word is good.)  That this is a Muslim country and women are prohibited from singing in public, especially (God forbid!) in English(!), is no deterrent for the supremely confident Richie. 

            Of course, he is able to locate Salima (Lubany) and plans are made to enter her in Afghanistan’s counterpart to our “American Idol.”  She sings once, and is a hit; however, being a loyal and obedient daughter, her ambivalence emerges, and it’s not clear whether she will compete in the second round for her chance to win. 

            Intrigue, challenges, and conflicts abound, and it’s touch-and-go as to whether Richie will even be able to survive, much less finally score a hit.

            Murray is a fine comedian, and does his “stuff” here, but I think it’s the script by Mitch Glazer that lets him down.  We see/hear none of the cleverness that elicits spontaneous chuckles from the audience, as in his role in Moonrise Kingdom and other films.  The same thing happens to Bruce Willis, a proven artist; his character should be hilarious, but it falls flat too. 

            And of course, Barry Levinson is an acclaimed producer/director/writer, but for some reason, his talent doesn’t come across here. 

            In addition to the script, I think that perhaps the problem with the film is the choice of Afghanistan, a Muslim country, as a setting.  So much tragedy and outright horrors of all kinds have taken place there, it’s incongruent and rather insensitive to make it the setting for a comedy.  I also wonder how well received the story will be by Muslims, as they are not shown in a very good light (backward and war-like).  Why was Afghanistan chosen? 

Bottom line:  Avoid this film if you are politically sensitive and look for clever comedy.

Grade:  D                                    By Donna R. Copeland