ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD

Christopher Plummer     Michelle Williams     Mark Wahlberg     Charlie Plummer     Timothy Hutton

   OPENING CHRISTMAS DAY!

    The film begins on the streets of Rome in the evening, and Paul (Charlie Plummer) is outside strolling among the women who are inviting, but when they see his age, they tell him to go home.  Even though he is a sixteen, he looks even younger, with bright blue eyes and an innocent expression.  Still, “I can take care of myself”, he replies with quiet confidence.  And as immediate disproof of that claim, he is grabbed and whisked into a blue Volkswagen van, which speeds off.  The statement becomes even more ironically prescient when it becomes clear that he has been kidnapped and held for ransom—17 million dollars.

  Thus begins a stellar struggle between his mother Gail Getty (Williams) and his grandfather, J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), the richest man in the world, who stubbornly refuses to pay the ransom, despite his wealth, retorting that with his 14 grandchildren if he paid for one’s ransom, he would have to pay for 13 more of them.  He is a notorious modern-day Scrooge, who periodically delivers mantras about money (e.g., “There is very little in life worth paying full price for”) and is known for his merciless haggling over even low sums.  He is eccentric in his tastes, as well as in his complete preoccupation with himself.

     But one of the most entertaining aspects of this film is seeing Gail, his daughter-in-law, resembling him more than does his own son, her husband.  She is a fair match in making deals with him that ultimately win, despite his vast resources and personal cunning.  It’s a delight to see her negotiate with him during her divorce, but even more, later, during the kidnapping-ransom process.

     All the Money in the World recounts the well-publicized event when J. Paul Getty’s grandson was kidnapped in 1973.  Getty’s recalcitrance in paying the ransom was covered by the news media, and tidbits about his chintziness, such as having pay telephones in his mansion for guests, was in the newspapers.  (This is noted in the film in a light-hearted moment for the viewers, but exasperating in reality to Gail.)  Ridley Scott and the writer David Scarpa (based on a book by John Pearson) have made it an exciting romp with lots of tension and suspense, as well as demonstrating for us the realities of a kidnapping situation [perhaps prompting discussions about the current U.S. policy of refusing to negotiate with political kidnappers].  It diverges from the real story to some extent in the interest of dramatization and thrill, and it cuts back and forth between the past and the present and different parts of the globe, creating some disorientation for the viewer.

     Michelle Williams is a wonder as a character who is sharp and ever creative in managing an eccentric billionaire’s sometimes bizarre machinations and paradoxes.  One example is his distaste for children except as possessions and as an extension of himself, and fighting with Gail for custody of his grandchildren.  Inserted into the film as a last-minute replacement for Kevin Spacey, Christopher Plummer demonstrates his acumen by showing full embodiment of the Getty character. 

This is a thriller, highlighting a wealthy man’s eccentricities.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Mark Wahlberg   Anthony Hopkins   Josh Duhamel   Laura Haddock   Isabela Moner   Stanley Tucci   John Turturro   Peter Cullen

Reno Wilson   Gemma Chan   Jim Carter

     We start out with a bit of history of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table—with the addition of “knightly” autobots who stand behind each knight and who will help the English save their country from the Dark Age invaders.  They’re at a standoff with the invaders and are calling for Merlin the Magician, for aid.  He is on his way to engage a dragon—ancestor of the autobots—to align with the English to renew their partnership and save England.

     Fast forward to modern times.  The hero-bot Optimus Prime is missing, and autobots—which have been outlawed on earth—keep falling mysteriously from the sky.  Some land in a Bot junkyard overseen by Cade Yeager (Wahlberg), who regards the autobots as friends.  He is trying to repair their injuries by restoring lost parts.  Unbeknownst to him, a young girl Izabella (Moner) has lost her family and is now living in the junkyard, having made friends with the bots, especially Squeeks, trying to restore them just like Cade is.  But when he discovers she’s there, he tries to get rid of her, saying she is just a kid.  Little does he know, she is his persistent heir apparent, and will turn up intermittently throughout the film.  Needless to say, in this testosterone-filled fantasy, it takes him a long time to realize her value.

     Earth is in a state of panic now as it has realized that the autobots are attacking earth, and doesn’t really know why.  We the audience do; it has something to do with intrigue among the Bots.  Optimus Prime is devastated to find his beloved planet Cerberon—his home—has been destroyed.  Quintessa (Chan) the sorceress tells him that to save his planet he must go to earth, where a valuable artifact is buried.  If he brings it back to her, Cerberon will be restored.  He is bewitched, so although his reclaiming the artifact will destroy the earth, his ally, he proceeds to recapture it.

     Back on earth, Cade gets a message that he is to meet with Sir Edmund Burton (Hopkins) in London, and is transported to his estate by his trusted Bot Cogman (Carter).  The earl Burton explains his historical connection to a family descended from Merlin, one of whose ancestors has passed down the power of the artifact sought by the Autobots.  She is Vivian Wembley (Haddock).  She and Cade, who has a significant medal picked up from the junkyard wrapped around his arm signifying that he is the last knight, must recover the artifact, thereby saving earth.

     Just as in all action movies these days, multiple intrigues and battles ensue between the autobots and earth, the central struggle being the recovery of the artifact to the rightful heir. 

Michael Bay has directed all five of the Transformers renditions, and his experience is evident in this production, in that the film perpetuates the theme of humans vs. robots, has impressive special effects, and recruits fine actors to play the roles.  Where it lapses is its repetition of well-worn themes and too many battles in which the protagonists are not well defined.  This rendition could have been reduced from its 148 minutes by eliminating extraneous elements, such as the Izabella character trailing after Cade and the spoof of a bad scientist.  Why discount science in this day and age??!!  Humor bits could also have been eliminated:  Vivian’s mother and aunts trying to marry her off and wise cracks made by many characters are tired jokes that fall flat.

     Parents, please don’t bring your children to this movie unless they’ve shown a particular interest in robots and have loved previous Transformer movies.  A measure of interest for children is the 20+ exits/entrances during the movie by people from my row, mostly by children. 

This is a continuation of the theme of humans vs. robots in the Transformers series.

Grade:  C                   By Donna R. Copeland

PATRIOTS DAY

Mark Wahlberg     J. K. Simmons     Kevin Bacon     John Goodman     Michelle Monaghan     

Jimmy O. Yang     Alex Wolff     Themo Melikidze

       A dramatic account of the 2013 bombings at the Boston Marathon refreshes our memory of what happened that day and the investigations to find the perpetrators that followed.  It’s fascinating and informative to see how the rescue and investigation proceeded, and how quickly the suspects were identified with security cameras.  With that information in hand, a police officer knowledgeable about the area knew where to look for them.  There was disagreement initially among the FBI and city/county/state officials about when to release the names, but as soon as they did, they began to get leads.  (The FBI preferred to withhold the names so as not to tip off the bombers and allow them to escape.)

        The film gives us glimpses of some people’s lives beforehand, such as Sgt. Tommy Saunders (Wahlberg) who had been temporarily suspended from the force, some of the victims, and the Tsarnaev brothers, the bombers.  This helps make the shock more real and important to us, and gives us a glimpse into how private lives are affected (tragically, sometimes) by civic duties.  The most dramatic of these is when the Tsarnaevs on the run hijack a car driven by a student (Yang) whom we’ve been introduced to earlier as a son talking to his family in China and to his friends.  Dzhokhar (Wolff) and Tamerian (Melikidze) Tsarnaev are shown to be bumbling and argumentative in their execution of the terror and their attempts to get away.  In the aftermath of the explosions, it’s eerie to see them at home watching TV reports of their work, and Tamerian sending Dzhokhar to the store on an errand.

       Peter Berg, the director, moves the story along, with frequent cuts—sometimes so frequent it makes you dizzy—but covering the scope of the massive event well, including preparations for the race and some of the back stories, law enforcement during the race, the bombings and chaos that followed, the rescue, and finally the investigation and pursuit of the criminals.  There is an especially interesting interrogation of the older Tsarnaev’s wife by the FBI.  It did not produce much information, but showed the FBI’s expertise in connecting with someone to elicit information.

          No one character really stands out, although Sgt. Saunders seems to turn up at every important event.  Wahlberg’s performance is not as outstanding as in some of his previous work, although it is adequate, and it could be that the writers/director wanted a lower key persona for this role.  Experienced actors in supportive roles that measure up to their reputations include J. K. Simmons, Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, Alex Wolff, and Michelle Monaghan.  Relative newcomer Themo Melikidze playing the older Tsarnaev is entirely convincing.

A reminder of the fateful day in 2013 when two brothers wreaked havoc in Boston during the marathon.

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

MOJAVE

Oscar Isaac     Garrett Hedlund     Mark Wahlberg     Walton Goggins

            Mojave suggests that the Mojave Desert is the go-to place for reflection and revelations about oneself and the world.  Thomas (Hedlund) embarks upon that journey, but encounters experiences he never dreamed of.  This happens because out there he encounters Jack (Isaac) who inserts himself into Thomas’s life after they engage in cryptic conversations about who they are, Jack being much more forthcoming than Thomas.  After a brutal encounter, Thomas walks away, assuming he will never see Jack again.  But then a man appears at the entrance of the cave where he is sleeping.  Nothing will be the same after that.

            Thomas is a successful screenwriter with all the accoutrements it offers (mansion, beautiful wife, child) in partnership with a studio executive.  But that doesn’t mean he is happy; he is filled with ennui and existential anxiety.  Hence, the trip to the desert.

            Thomas and his partner Norman (Wahlberg) embody America’s fantasies about the successful Hollywood stars and executives who are completely unaware of the disillusioned and broken “99%.”  This is shown by the cool confidence of both Thomas and Norman, who are preoccupied with mundane problems that confront them daily.  In contrast, Jack is bothered, very resentful, and determined to “make them pay” for his unhappiness (about which we never get details).  None of this happens quickly; it’s a slow slog through their encounters. 

            The basic point of this film is difficult to discern.  Jack is clearly sociopathic (well played by Isaac) and Thomas is troubled.  But the film never clues us in to the background trauma for either.  Thomas seems to have “everything”, but the film does not make clear what troubles him so much he is suicidal.  We would also need to hear something about Jack’s story that made him well read and possibly educated; but what has happened to him that made him outraged enough to commit criminal acts?

            As told, Mojave leaves us begging for more; as it stands, it doesn’t make much sense.

A film that tells you little about the three main protagonists.

Grade:  D+                             By Donna R. Copeland