DARK PHOENIX

Sophie Turner     Jennifer Lawrence     James McAvoy     Michael Fassbender

Nicholas Hoult     Tye Sheridan     Kodie Smit-McPhee    Jessica Chastain

     Enter the world of super powers where the X-Men need only concentrate—perhaps with furrowed brows and taut faces—and the most formidable foe or metal structure can be violently repelled or disintegrated into a puff of smoke.  When you get a whole cast with these powers it can be dizzying, but that doesn’t keep you from being engaged in the story.

Jean is a child in the back seat of her parents’ car tooling down the highway, complaining about the music they’re listening to.  Suddenly she’s in a hospital asking where her parents are. Dr. Charles Xavier (McAvoy) appears and gently verifies her fears that her parents are dead.  It will be OK; Dr. Xavier has a school that might be just right for her, since she is “special” (which she scoffs at). But seriously, he says, it’s a place where children are taught to take pride in their differentness.  It’s clear from this short introduction that Jean has realized that she is different, and can harm others, so despite her misgivings—which voices later on—she agrees to enroll in the school.

     That’s Jean’s childhood; now she is almost grown up (played by Sophie Turner) and has joined the Xavier’s X-Men, albeit still in training.  She’s chosen to go with the group to rescue the NASA space flight of Endeavor, which has run into trouble.  During this mission, she is asked to do a heroic save in the last few seconds, and it’s apparent when she barely escapes with her life that she is changed.  That is, her powers are much stronger.   

     How this happened is a puzzle, although another character later on explains that “it” was given to her for a specific purpose.  The rest of the story is about these powers and the havoc they create for Jean, along with anyone around her.  The story hearkens back to Dr. Xavier’s when he first met Jean; that is, that such “gifts” to someone can be used for good or ill.  The person receiving them can make the decision as to how to exert them.  Although Dr. Xavier will be discredited from time to time, many of his principles will come back to Jean when she is in dire turmoil and pulled in two directions.

     Directed and co-written by Simon Kinberg, who was a producer on previous X-men films (X-Men:  Apocalypse, X-Men:  Days of Future Past, X-Men:  First Class), the film moves along at a fast clip, doesn’t overstay its welcome (less than two hours long), and incorporates substantive moral/ethical issues and emotional truths into an engaging story.  That is, it depicts remorse for mistakes, tensions around the use of power, the importance of “family”—however constituted—and the construction of an identity that “fits.”  

     Following her “Game of Thrones” success as a girl/woman undergoing numerous transformations, Sophie Turner proves she is ready for big-time movies and a starring role.  Aided by creative special effects, as Jean she is transformed into a “phoenix” (mythologically, a bird that regenerates) with powers that overwhelm her at first until she can figure them out.  Here, her upbringing—such as it was—will guide her in making decisions about who she wants to be.  Turner personifies these subtleties in good and evil to a tee.

     An unnamed character, a deliciously evil being without a soul and preoccupied with a quest for power, then appears to try to swing the odds.  She has in mind to use Jean to resurrect the power of a race in decline.  Jean has been a surprise all along, so we wonder what she will do…

     Fine casting strengthens this film’s success in storytelling.  James McAvoy embodies the person who has achieved acclaim but has to come to terms with mistakes he’s made.  The remorse shown is palpable.  Michael Fassbender’s initial befuddlement and subsequent resolve helps keep the tension at an optimum level, and supporting actors, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, and Kodie-Smit-McPhee contribute significantly to the drama.

     Although knowledge of previous X-Men films will help in making sense of this rendition, it’s not a strict necessity, except perhaps in identifying the characters.

An exciting journey into the X-Men universe, with women holding their own—even starring.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

TOLKIEN

Nicholas Hoult     Lily Collins     Derek Jacobi

Harry Gilbey     Patrick Gibson     Anthony Boyle     Tom Glynn-Carney

     J.R.R. Tolkien’s image as a mystical figure with a magical mind makes a story about his life quite the challenge.  But director Dome Karukoski and writers David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford have made a valiant effort in capturing his early inspirations (an imaginative mother who home schools her boys in Africa, acts out the stories she reads to them, teaches them languages, and instills in them a reverence for books), his traumatic experiences (deaths of parents, a horrific WWI), and the love of his life, Edith, that almost assuredly influenced his popular and revered works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  

     Above all, the film shows Tolkien adhering to values that were ingrained from childhood, ones so internalized that he was able to comply with his strict guardian’s proscriptions against associating with his love for three years (ages 18 to 21) and risking his life to seek out and protect a friend during wartime. 

     I understand the film is not endorsed by the Tolkien family and his estate, which may put a negative light on it, and well-versed readers of the books may have problems with the film as well—all perhaps justifiable.

     As one not well versed (having seen only a couple of films), I thoroughly enjoyed the film’s sensitivity to the emotional elements and entanglements shown, the artistic technique of inserting graphic memories of his life into Tolkien’s war traumas, and the abiding love story between him and Edith, all of which, I think, have a ring of truth to them.

     Nicholas Hoult (as well as the young Harry Gilbey) captures the role of Tolkien seamlessly, showing all the sincerity, befuddlement, and playfulness of the character.  Lily Collins shows the mischievousness and intellect that must have been Edith’s in the appealing manner intended.  Derek Jacoby’s ingenious cameo as a philology professor is priceless.  

     Much to be admired in this production include the artistic contributions of cinematographer Lasse Frank Johannessen and musician Thomas Newman. Johannessen’s camera serves as a guide throughout, showing devastating images of war, the playfulness of a group of friends, and the nuances of urban and rural scenes.  Newman’s music brings the cinematic and story portrayals together to make an emotional and meaningful whole.

A film worth your while whether or not you’re a hardcore fan/expert on J.R.R. Tolkien.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

REBEL IN THE RYE

Nicholas Hoult     Kevin Spacey     Hope Davis     Sarah Paulson     Zoey Deutch     Victor Garber

     In some of the early scenes of the film, we get a graphic picture of J. D. Salinger’s personality as a highly self-confident, even cocky, social climber in his flirtations with Oona O’neil (Eugene’s daughter, charmingly played by Zoey Deutch).  He does capture her attention just by the way he introduces himself, and although she flits away very quickly, she’ll remember him later, and they will develop a romantic relationship.

     The essence of the film is about Salinger’s passion for writing and a compelling need to be published.  This is partly related to his father’s (Garber) wish that he would go into business rather than pursuing the arts, which is encouraged by his mother (Davis).  Interestingly, his grandfather had insisted that his father Sol give up piano and go into business, which he did, and the family lived in very comfortable circumstances.  But horrified at the thought, J. D. was not to be deterred.  I have heard from writers, as well as other artists, that to practice their craft is a given like breathing, not to be ignored, as I suppose was the case for Salinger.

     Salinger subsequently developed a mentoring relationship with one of his professors, the unorthodox Whit Burnett (Spacey), who had an eye for talent and could see into Salinger’s having antiauthority issues and knew how to deal with them.  Burnett was just what Salinger needed for continual encouragement, tolerance for Salinger’s biting sarcasm, and vacillation between feelings of superiority and hopelessness.  He is shown to be critically responsible for Salinger’s writing and finishing his most famous novel, Catcher in the Rye, which is partly autobiographical. Salinger’s agent, Dorothy Olding (Paulson) also provided support, and was instrumental in his getting a lucrative contract with The New Yorker to publish his short stories.

     Although the meaning in the title is a puzzle, Rebel in the Rye (1951) does an excellent job in capturing Salinger’s personality, his prickliness, his need for privacy, his condescension toward others and an unforgiving attitude, along with the single-mindedness with which he approached his profession.  Even family seemed to have been a secondary priority.  He served in the military during WWII, and suffered thereafter from what appears to be PTSD, from which he received some measure of relief in Buddhism and meditation.     

     Director Danny Strong, who wrote the screenplay based on Kenneth Slawenski’s novel, J. D. Salinger:  A Life, relates his story well, although perhaps superficially, showing Salinger’s relationships with family members, friends, publishers, his work, and people in general.  Perhaps the span of time Strong tries to cover is too wide, given the rich experiences of its subject; this necessarily abbreviates many events that could have given the work more depth and texture.

     Nicholas Hoult captures the look and personality of Salinger in a convincing way, and the supporting cast is very fine as well, especially Kevin Spacey, Sarah Paulson and Zoey Deutch.  The scenes with Hoult and each of these characters enliven the pace and pulls us in.  This is distinctly in contrast to the recluse we have come to know as Salinger, who lived in the woods and never published again after 1953, although he lived for another 57 years.

An account of a recluse compelled above all else to write:  J. D. Salinger

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Tom Hardy     Charlize Theron     Nicholas Hoult     Hugh Keays-Byrne

In a post apocalyptic world, Max (Hardy)—the silent type—guiltily broods about not having saved his loved ones.  He is so “haunted by the living and the dead”, he doesn’t know whether he is mad or everyone else is.  The hallucinations plague him so much they distract him at critical times, causing him to slip up and allow someone else to take advantage of him.  As he’s a loner, these images are his most constant companions amidst repeated life-threatening attacks by war parties cruising the land, intent on bringing everyone under the power of Immortan Joe (Keays-Byrne).  Not only does Joe hog almost all the available water for himself and dole it out to the public in the scantiest way he can think of, he keeps a number of wives who are “breed cows” making children that will resemble him. 

           After Max manages to escape from being an attachment at the front of a fierce warrior’s vehicle, his path crosses that of Furioso (Theron) and they each grab their weapons and guardedly become acquainted, but it will be some time before a modicum of trust is built up.  She is driving a wondrous junk heap of a truck that spews and sputters, but is equipped with all kinds of tools and weapons for defense.  Secretly, she is driving five of Joe’s wives to the “green place” where there will be hope for them to establish satisfying lives.  All the women are heroically skillful in adapting tools and fighting their way out of a jam.  In fact, a strong point of the film for me is that there is little difference between the male and female roles when the women get a chance to fend for themselves and go beyond simple breeding.  Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron are perfectly cast, with alarming tugs of war, then oh-so-gradual softening and respect for one another.

           Much of the film is this small motley group fleeing Joe, with his war parties nipping at their heels—or their back bumper.  There is one kind of loud violence after another, with pyrotechnics bursting in the air, sloshing mud underneath them, gunfire going in all directions, and hair-raising deaths.  Yet, George Miller, the director and co-writer with Brendan McCarthy and Nick Lathouris, manage to weave an allegory about finding/creating one’s authentic self in the desert through much suffering and effort, so characters develop and change across time (shout-out to Nicholas Hoult).  Unlike with many action films, I wasn't waiting just for it all to be over.

           In fact, this is one of the most unusual action films I’ve seen.  Not only is there an interesting, suspenseful story, there are creative special effects that allow for elaborate stunt work (Guy Norris et al.) and contraptions to use as props, breathtaking scenery that shows a natural but ruined world, spectacular camera work (John Seale), and a soaring musical score (Junkie XL) with a red-suited, screaming electric guitarist stuck in the middle and playing for all he’s worth.

More than your usual action movie.

Grade:  A By Donna R. Copeland