A QUIET PLACE PART II

 Emily Blunt     Millicent Simmonds     Cillian Murphy     Noah Jupe     Djimon Hounsou

            Part II follows along nicely from the first one, although I don’t think the first one really warranted a sequel.  The vignettes from the previous one were helpful.  And certainly the eeriness of the silence punctuated with loud squawking of the monsters is even more effective this time.  It produced a number of jumps and convulsive gasps on my part.  

            Evelyn (Blunt) and her three children are trying to survive after the destruction of their farmhouse.  The oldest, Regan (Simmonds) is deaf, but eminently resourceful and brave.  Poor Marcus (Jupe) gets his foot caught in a trap early on, giving him excruciating pain and risk of infection.  Not only that, he has asthma, which presents an additional challenge.  The baby is still an infant in his mother’s arms, and his cries are a major threat.  It stretches plausibility that their bundling him up in a box with oxygen pumped in could be effective, but…  I went with it.  (The monsters are blind, but their sense of hearing is acute; hence, the need for absolute silence.)

            Mother and children run across an old friend, Emmett (Murphy) who is far from welcoming because of the scarcity of resources.  He is grieving the loss of his family, and Evelyn has to use guilt-inducing strategies even to stay one night.  The story gets more complicated when Regan insists on going to a place she is sure will save them and sneaks off, but Emily insists Emmett go find her and bring her back.  She also needs to go out to get medicine and oxygen for Marcus.  Each of these ventures are harrowing.

            Some relief from the tension is provided when Regan’s speculations pan out, after she and Emmett meet a character played by Djimon Hounsou, but only after a dangerous encounter that almost kills them.

            John Krasinski, who was writer/director and a major actor in the first Quiet Place, and as writer/director here, is a master of timing and sequencing to get the most out of suspense and horror.  However, he like so many other directors and editors now, love frequent cuts back and forth between scenes.  It makes me dizzy, and I resent having to try to figure out over and over again where I am in following the story.  I see absolutely no benefit to this practice.

            The ensemble cast in A Quiet Place Part II is superb, starting with Emily Blunt, who has earned her place as a top-notch star numerous times (The Adjustment Bureau, Edge of Tomorrow, The Devil Wears Prada, A Quiet Place).  Millicent Simmonds as her hearing-impaired daughter is a rising star (Wonderstruck, A Quiet Place), as is Noah Jupe (Honey Boy) playing her son.  Cillian Murphy and Djimon Hounsou as experienced actors in numerous films play their roles here perfectly.  It may be a high point in Murphy’s career.

 

A Quiet Place Part II is successful in producing jumps and gasps during a true horror show.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

MARY POPPINS RETURNS

Emily Blunt     Dick Van Dyke     Meryl Streep     Angela Lansbury     Emily Mortimer

Colin Firth     Lin-Manuel Miranda     Ben Wishaw     Julia Walters

     Everything is coming apart at the seams in the Banks household; Mr. Michael Banks is grieving for his wife, and is having a hard time managing without her. Their three children are remarkably responsible, but they are just children, and the housekeeper/cook is losing her grip as well.  Michael’s sister Jane comes by from time to time and does what she can to bolster things up, but a major threat looms with the possibility that the house Michael and Jane grew up in will be repossessed by the bank after Michael missed three payments. 

     Yes, it seems like the perfect time for Mary Poppins to drift down on her umbrella and pop in (sorry—couldn’t resist the pun).  It happens magically—as do many things having to do with the nanny—when young Georgie chases after a kite and it keeps rising with him attached. Jack, the town lamplighter, is helping Georgie pull the string with all his might to bring the kite down, when who should appear down through the clouds but Mary herself.

     Now, the three children don’t know who she is, as she was the nanny for their father and Aunt Jane when they were kids.  And when they learn that she has come to be a nanny for them—humpf!—these responsible children, especially the two older ones, can’t see the need. Michael is troubled because he can’t see how they’ll be able to afford her, but Jane—often the voice of reason—advises him to welcome her.

     Of course, it doesn’t take long for Mary Poppins to exert her authority and magic (just what the family needs). She wows them with a few things, but wins them over with a thrilling and beautiful sequence where she prepares a wondrous bubble bath with all kinds of beach-type things thrown into the bubbles then shoves each child in for their bath.  She follows, and we are treated to some of what Disney does best: a colorful fantastical trip down into the ocean filled with exotic marine life.  This is the kind of nanny to have.

     All sorts of intrigues, emergencies, and close calls follow, and it’s touch-and-go until the very end.  Director/producer Rob Marshall’s follow-up to the 1964 production of Mary Poppins is largely successful in sustaining the Poppins and Disney brands, being entertaining for children and adults, and achieving a mixture of fancy, excitement, and human values.  

     Emily Blunt has received a lot of advance press about her Mary Poppins role, and she comes across splendidly.  Contrast her role here and of that in A Quiet Place, Edge of Tomorrow, and Sicario, for example, to appreciate the full range of this actress’s talent.  Her acting here is as praiseworthy as in other films; however, as good as her voice is, she is not up to Julie Andrews’ first Mary Poppins (1964), and that is a slight detraction.  In a similar, but different way, Lin Manuel Miranda’s voice, while very fine and engaging, doesn’t quite mesh; although I think this has more to do with the composers’ (Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman) work than as a function of his voice and skill.  When he sings in rap—which he is known for, and which I presume he has contributed to the material—he is his usual fine performer.  (I dearly loved hearing his British accent.)  Overall, I think the score lacks the pizzazz of the 1964 version.  When Blunt and Miranda sing together, they almost rescue the whole score.

     A standout here is Meryl Streep as Topsy; she can immerse herself into a role so completely it’s hard to find Streep in it.  The sequence with her is one of the most entertaining in the film, and brings up important points for both children and adults about perspective. 

     Other instructive sequences for children include ways to think about and deal with the loss of a loved one, the message that even if one is a child he/she can be helpful to adults, and the optimistic idea that things that may seem impossible can actually be accomplished.

Cameo performances by Dick Van Dyke (reprised from the first rendition), Angela Lansbury, and Colin Firth are entertaining and engaging.  

An updated version of the Mary Poppins story that largely succeeds.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

A QUIET PLACE

Emily Blunt     John Krasinski     Noah Jupe     Millicent Simmonds     Cade Woodward

     This is a very quiet place, necessarily, because acutely hearing monsters might hear and attack wherever human sound is coming from.  It took a while for the audience to settle down, but before long, it was the quietest movie theater I’ve ever been in, which is a measure of just how much tension and apprehension the film elicits in the audience.  It’s clear from the beginning that there has been some kind of holocaust; there are few people around, stores have been wrecked, and the characters we see use sign language.

     The Abbott family (father, mother, daughter, and two sons) is appealing, and they’re able to communicate a great deal with sign language and visual cues. Evelyn (Blunt) is nurturing and fun with her family, doing household chores and home-schooling the kids. And one of your first questions is how she is going to keep a newborn quiet, because she is pregnant. Lee (Krasinski) is intelligent, and he and Emily seem to have thought of everything—well, almost everything—in preparing for eventualities and training their children about what to do. In addition, he spends much time in his workshop trying to get as much information as possible about the monsters and find their vital weakness.  The three children, daughter Regan (Simmonds), Marcus (Jupe), and Beau (Woodward) are typical in their propensity for play and unpredictability, as well as their desire to help.   Regan has a special burden to bear because of something that happens early on in the story.  They are all so appealing, it’s easy to care about what happens to them.

     Krasinski’s directing is something he will be proud of, in its story line (on which he collaborated with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck), the development and pace of the plot, and the selection of the cinematographer Charlotte Bruus and musician Marco Beltrami.   Much of the film is beautiful to watch, with the surreal experience of quietness as the family walks around barefoot, sometimes through the corn fields and woods in full color, punctuated by rushing waters, static in electrical and computer devices (and even in a hearing aid), and the alarming sound of monsters (gorgeously and ghoulishly designed by Industrial Light and Magic) as they groan, trying to find the source of a sound or swoosh in loudly for a kill.  

     Both Emily Blunt and her real-life husband John Krasinski show their talents in acting that conveys so much information nonverbally.  Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) is admirably expressive, and in this role brilliantly shows Regan’s complexities in her hearing impairment (which is real for Simmonds), her unequivocal love for her brothers, her ambivalence toward her parents, and her feelings of guilt, suspicion, and rage toward her father.  

     All the different special effects and production design (Jeffrey Beecroft) in A Quiet Place are noteworthy, especially for a horror film, which knows to reveal the physical appearance of the monsters only gradually.  For much of the first part of the film, they’re only heard, not visible, which heightens the fear factor.  But then, when they’re fully seen, they are fascinating and disgusting at the same time.

     As one who is not an aficionado of horror movies, I found this one to be thoroughly engaging, parsing out the horror in believable—not too fantastic—premises and scenes.  I could have done without the ill-conceived pregnancy and birth of a baby (although this amazing couple even planned that out very carefully.)  

A Quiet Place is deceptive in its title, as an unspeakable horror where sounds can destroy you and your family.

Grade:  A-                                    By Donna R. Copeland

SHERLOCK GNOMES

Voices of:  James McAvoy     Emily Blunt     Johnny Depp     Chiwetel Ejiofor     Jamie Demetriou

Mary J. Blige     Ashley Jensen     Maggie Smith     Michael Caine     Julie Walters

     With all the adult themes (such as the complexities in relationships, literary references, and details in the plot), it’s hard to see how Sherlock Gnomes is a film for children, despite its being animated.  Following Sherlock’s (Depp) reasoning through problems and clues is way over the kids’ heads; observing the intricacies of relationships between Sherlock and Watson (Ejiofor), Gnomeo (McAvoy) and Juliet (Blunt), and others would not interest them, if they “got it” at all; and Watson’s counseling Gnomeo about his conflicts with Juliet seems ludicrous in this context.  After the screening, I asked a family in the elevator if they understood it, and all three of them shook their heads and looked disappointed.

     It may be another case (now common in children’s films) of the Director John Stevenson and his writers and producers making the common mistake of trying so hard to appeal to adults, they overlook the children seeing their films—or maybe they just simply don’t know very much about children.  The literary references, such as “Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou?” and the “Hound of the Baskervilles” are purely for adults, as are the songs by Mary J. Blige complaining about an ex-lover and “Love Machine.”

     The filmmakers also make the mistake of modeling bad behavior and then having the characters getting insight and apologizing afterwards.  Here, Juliet is rude and overbearing toward Gnomeo, and Sherlock is the same with Watson.  If you want children to learn something, you model good, respectful relationships, not bad ones where apologies are called for later.  And I detest the artificial romantic sequences shown between couples, particularly Nanette (Jensen), a frog, trying to seduce one of the gnomes.

     An odd thing about the film is that it seems to be over-compensating for the past slighting of women, because here, Juliet, Irene, and Lady Bluebury (Smith) seem to have the upper hand with their men.  For instance, Juliet is shown to be much stronger and smarter than Gnomeo; Irene gives Sherlock h--- for his behavior in their past relationship, and Lady Bluebury’s husband hardly says a word.  Juliet is absolutely irritating with her constant questions and know-it-all attitude.  I can say it was encouraging, though, to see the interactions between Juliet and Irene, which showed solidarity between two women.

     About the only other positive thing I can say about this film is that the slate of actors do a very fine job.  Although the script is woeful, the actors came through with the best they could do.

This appears to be an animated film for adults; however, I don’t think many adults would want to see it.  Children are likely to be mystified.

Grade:  D                                         By Donna R. Copeland

MY LITTLE PONY

Voices of:  Tara Strong   Emily Blunt   Kristin Chenoweth   Liev Shreiber  

Michael Pena   Taye Diggs   Zoe Saldana   Sia   Uzo Adaba

     This frothy confection using a kaleidoscope of pastels is made for little girls who cherish dolls, animals, sugar and spice and everything nice.  Fortunately, it also conveys messages about friendship (“Friendship is magic”), teamwork, loyalty, creativity, forgiveness, and a sense of responsibility for those in one’s charge.  It has bold adventure, excitement, and near-escapes to balance out the sweetness and light. 

     It begins with all-too-true (for females) dithering by the main character Twilight (Strong), the friendship princess, about whether she will be good enough to lead the Festival of Friendship and convince her fellow princesses to exert their magic on the elements to create a successful party.  They look like they might come around, but suddenly the Storm King (Shreiber) and his commander Tempest (Blunt) burst in with the intent of stealing the magic of Ponyville where the princesses and their people reside.

     Twilight steps up to the plate, vowing it will never happen, and recruits her friends to look for support from Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs (Adaba).  Along the way, they will encounter a smooth-talking cat, Capper (Diggs), Captain Celaeno (Saldana) and her pack of erstwhile pirates forced to abandon their adventures and serve the Storm King, and finally, Queen Novo’s lonely, brave daughter Princess Skystar (Chenoweth).  They narrowly escape being sold and must continue to flee, with Tempest and the Storm King in hot pursuit. 

     My Little Pony was originally a television series, “My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic.”  The 2017 film, directed by Jayson Thiessen, with screenplay co-written by Meghan McCarthy, Joe Ballarni, Rita Hsiao, Michael Vogel, and Lauren Faust, is based on an original story by Bonnie Zacherle.  Its appeal is almost guaranteed for young girls, and may still be favorably received by older people who can appreciate its solid messages.  The coloring and animations are first-rate, and the music and songs by Daniel Ingram, Sia, the Lukas Graham Band, DNCE, and CL are lyrical and moving.

     I appreciated this film for its appeal to girls, with its messages about basic values of confidence, fortitude, adventure, and comedy that will stand them in good stead, whatever age they live in.

Young girls can dream of greater and greater accomplishments.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

Emily Blunt     Haley Bennett     Justin Theroux     Rebecca Ferguson    

Luke Evans     Allison Janney     Edgar Ramirez     Lisa Kudrow

          We meet Rachel (Blunt) on the train, see her scribbling and drawing on a pad, and listen to what is going on in her head.  She is clearly upset and depressed as she sips on a gin drink and weaves stories about the people she sees through the windows of houses.  Some are mixed in with her own memories, for she used to live in that neighborhood with her ex-husband Tom (Theroux).  Tom is married to Anna (Ferguson) now, and they have a child.  But a couple she sees in another house captures her imagination and her wish for a perfect marriage.  She has decided they are very happy together, an ideal couple—until she sees the woman in the arms of another man on the porch one morning.  She is furious with the woman, who reminds Rachel that her own husband left her for another woman.

       We learn that Megan (Bennett) and Scott (Evans) are their names, which Rachel discovers when she reads in the newspaper that the woman is missing.  Imaginative Rachel weaves a story around what she has seen, and without distinguishing between her fantasies and reality, she inserts herself into the case by going to visit Scott and telling him that she saw Megan with another man one morning.  Furthermore, she claims that she knew Megan personally.

      The film is good in this aspect of illustrating how memory is constructive, not photographic, and that many times, humans are prone to over-interpret what they see when they don’t have all the facts.  It’s of value as well to see how misleading and destructive it can be for someone with the best of intentions to muddy the waters when they assert themselves into situations where they don’t belong.

          The Girl on the Train is a mystery and a thriller based on the popular Paula Hawkins novel.  It’s easy to see how it would attract filmmakers like Tate Taylor, the director, (and a hungry public as well) with its intrigue, mystery, scandal, and chameleon-like characters.  The problem, is to some extent, a function of its success, in that the characters and plot stretch credulity.  The book (which I’ve read) and the film would benefit from toning down a bit.  For instance, brutal scenes that take place in a populated area near a tunnel with a fair amount of pedestrian traffic are apparently not observed by anyone else.

          On the positive side, the cast is very good, especially the star Emily Blunt in her ability to capture the complex Rachel, an imaginative alcoholic who appears spacey and impulsive much of the time, but can be smart and show genuine love and caring.  Haley Bennett as the mercurial Megan lives up to her recent reputation for playing sexy, strong, beautiful women.  Cameo roles by Allison Janney and Lisa Kudrow attest to their strengths in pungent character roles.  Men are not regarded too kindly in this movie, but Justin Theroux, Edgar Ramirez, and Luke Evans do justice to their roles and show strength behind their weak characters. 

         I have to complain once again about psychiatrists and other professional counselors being portrayed by Hollywood unrealistically in touching and hugging their patients and seeing them in their homes.  Mental Health professionals are all trained in how to deal with romantic pulls and patients appearing at our doors without an appointment—something not dealt with realistically in this film.

         This is a film that will appeal to those who enjoy being pulled into a web of intrigue and excitement and don’t mind a bit of implausibility or being “played” by the novelist/filmmakers.

What is seen from a train may be enhanced by a vivid imagination.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR

Chris Hemsworth     Emily Blunt     Jessica Chastain     Charlize Theron

            The film, loosely based on the Snow White fairy tale, is a prequel/sequel to the 2012 Snow White and the Huntsman.  It opens with a brief flashback showing Ravenna (Theron) killing her husband, the king (Robert Portal), who is also Snow White’s father.   And it gives a picture of the relationship between the two sisters Ravenna, older and dominant, and Freya (Blunt) submissive and emotionally positive.  After Ravenna destroys Freya’s chance for happiness, Freya, feeling betrayed and cynical, takes off to the north to set up her own kingdom.  Her new ability to magically create ice gives her the reputation of the “Ice Queen” and serves as a special power (Yup; think Frozen, 2013).  Her castle containing an enormous ice tower juts up into the high mountains covered with ice and snow.

            To build her army, Freya kidnaps hundreds of children and brings them to her castle to be trained for warfare by her huntsmen.  Two children are standouts for their superior combat skills:  Eric (Hemsworth) and Sara (Chastain).  Unfortunately, these two eventually fall in love, which is against Freya’s law prohibiting it.  Love is a sin, the Ice Queen has decided.  What happens to them is the major action of the ensuing story.

            With such a talented cast, excellent cinematography (Phedon Papamichael), production design (Dominic Watkins), and costumes (Colleen Atwood), it’s a shame that the story lacks substance.  It’s as if the writers (Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin) put the few elements of the Grimm brothers’ Snow White into a bottle with whatever came to mind, shook it up and threw the contents out on the table, putting them back together in such a way the plot comes out rather jumbled and marked by unfortunate stereotypes of women.  Give them power and they become controlling and mean (Ravenna).  If they start out being loving, they become controlling and icy and/or they get duped (Freya).  They’re unmerciful if they’ve felt betrayed or were misled into believing it to be so (Sara).  Out of all this mishmash, the gist of the tale is “Love conquers all”, which is stated sarcastically in the beginning, but expressed genuinely by the end, as if that is the conclusion the audience is supposed to draw.  However, what transpires in between is not convincing. 

            Light moments in the film that are intended as jokes seem out of place and out of context.  When one character gets proof that her betrayer actually loves her—a tender moment she shows with tears in her eyes—the mood is broken by the question, “Are you crying?”  And we’re supposed to chuckle at this misplaced joke.  There are numerous jolts like this which are intended to be funny, but that take the focus away from a fairy tale atmosphere to present day culture.

           

A story more a jumble than a fairy tale.

Grade:  C-                        By Donna R. Copeland

SICARIO

Emily Blunt     Josh Brolin     Benicio Del Toro

          Sicario will make you question many of your beliefs about right and wrong.  A rather naïve FBI agent Kate Macer (Blunt) is voluntarily sent to work in an operation that is completely outside her familiar element.  She has done a good job recently and is considered a sharp agent, street-wise, who is consequential in her work.  We’re shown that right away, although she is seen to vomit after a successful operation she has led.  After that, she is considered for a bigger operation in which the goal is to identify and take out a major cartel leader.

         Enter Matt Graver (Brolin) and Alejandro (Del Toro) who are engaged in a plan to go across the Mexican border and reel in the Big Fish, the head of a major drug cartel.  The tension of the film centers on Macer’s ethical pull between what she knows is right and the sensibilities of Matt and Alejandro.  They rescue her any number of times when she makes errors in judgment, yet she still questions their means to an end.  And so will the viewer, which is what I presume Villaneuve (director) and Taylor Sheridan (writer) had in mind as the essence of the film.  They want us to put ourselves in Macer’s shoes and question what we would do in similar circumstances.

       The three main actors are in their element, at their best, in their roles.  Blunt is a complex mix of strength and naïveté; Brolin is enigmatic and playful; and Del Toro is typically shiver-producing in his intricate mix of the humane and brutal.  Blunt is at her best, but I think the screenwriter did her a disservice by making her impulsive and less thoughtful than she should be at times. 

         A highlight for me was the cinematography of the master Roger Deakins.  Over and over again, his perspective artistically guides the picture, as when we see armed men in uniforms and night goggles stealthily crossing a landscape scene toward an underground tunnel within the background of a gorgeous sunset, presumably expressing the hope that aggression (war) is justifiable and humane in the end.

          All of that is left up to the viewer to decide in this finely drawn picture of the good trying to overcome evil.  It provokes good discussions about the role of someone in Macer’s position, the efficacy of torture in obtaining information, and how closely we need to adhere to Constitutional rights when apprehending criminals.

Altogether a thoughtful, evocative film.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland