THE FRENCH DISPATCH

 Benecio del Toro     Adrien Brody     Tilda Swinton     Lea Seydoux     Frances McDormand     Timothee Chalamet

Jeffrey Wright     Bill Murray     Owen Wilson     Bob Balaban     Henry Winkler

            Wes Anderson’s stamp (wry humor, meaningful free association, characters in caricature, intrigue/mystery, curiosity, folksy drama, to name a few) is all over The French Dispatch, a group of stories about a Frenchified newspaper in Lawrence Kansas with that name owned by Arthur Howitzer, Jr., after his father, the founder of the publication died.  The first scenes of what look like a painting of a French village are captivating for both their artistry and the action figures that move within them.  The pictures represent the town of Ennui (pun intended), which has endured all kinds of crises during its existence.  We get to hear about some of those in this fanciful production.

            Another Anderson stamp is his continuing to engage actors and crew from his previous movies.  It gets to be another fun part of watching one of his films—identifying all the scores of actors who have appeared in his previous works.  Anderson puts them in completely different roles from what you would expect.  For instance, Tilda Swinton as an art curator is made up to look strikingly like Sofia Loren.  Well-known artists like cinematographer Robert D. Young and musician Alexandre Desplat are likewise regulars, playing essential roles in conveying the experiences Anderson wants you to have when viewing his films.

            The French Dispatch will not be to everyone’s taste, even for those who are fans.  Unlike his previous films, there seems to be no overarching point to this one.  It’s more like one where you just sit back and enjoy hundreds of moments in time with interesting people and situations that will somehow be recognizable to everyone.  The dialog is so sharp and fast-moving, I wished I had had a script in front of me or already read one where I could stop and savor the import of every scene.  It all goes by very fast.

            It’s curious at times to observe the dominance of women in this production.  Lea Seydoux does an exquisite rendition of a model/guard/dominatrix of an artist named Moses Rosenthal (Benecio del Toro), who is in prison for murder.  (Think of all the associations it took to come up with that image.)  Moreover, older women like Upshur ‘Maw’ Champette (Lois Smith) appear in decision-making scenes, and Lucinda Krementa (McDormand), a middle-aged writer for the Dispatch is shown in bed with young student activist Zeffirelli (Chalamet).  These encounters—like all others—are presented as droll pictures of a normal world.

            When Anderson seems to be spoofing or even criticizing things is not always clear.  For instance, he often shows characters smoking.  Now, Anderson does not smoke and thinks it’s bad for people, but he says, “It looks good on film.”  That is frequently seen in this movie, and, true, it often looks good; but there are also instances where he seems to be making some kind of point, say, about student protests or government agencies.  Maybe he’s leaving it up to the viewer to make up his/her own mind.

            As much as I love Wed Anderson films, I doubt this one will be a blockbuster.  I certainly enjoyed it and would like to see it again—maybe even read the script—but it is likely not to appeal to all Anderson fans, and certainly not to the general public.  

 

A quirky Wes Anderson film with a collection of stories that will only be savored by some.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

NO TIME TO DIE

Daniel Craig     Ana de Armas     Rami Malek     Lea Seydoux     Ralph Fiennes

Christopher Waltz     Jeffrey Wright     Lashana Lynch     Ben Wishaw     Naomie Harris 

            Quintessential Bond with the complex plot, hair-raising chases, pretty women, and lots of booze and gadgets.  Bond (Craig)—who has “disappeared” after seeing that arch-enemy Blofeld (Waltz) is incarcerated—is found in Jamaica by his old friend, CIA officer Felix Leiter (Wright), after Bond has just unceremoniously put his girlfriend Madeleine (Seydoux) on the train because of his suspicions about her.  She is heartbroken, proclaiming her innocence, and walks down the aisle seeing him in passing windows as the train leaves the station—an eloquent graphic image—thanks to Linus Sandgren (La La Land, The Hundred-Foot Journey, American Hustle), whose photography in the film is impressive throughout.

            Leiter points out that an important scientist, Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) (has been abducted and needs to be found to prevent a scheme that could result in the death of millions.  The plot thickens from there, with Bond having to confront forces of which he was previously unaware.  It brings him into contact with his old boss at British Secret Intelligence Service, M (Fiennes) and staff, and tensions he now encounters and must manage between the U.S. CIA and British Intelligence.  Most touchy is the fact that M has assigned another agent, female Nomi (Lynch), to be 007.  This awkward situation must be dealt with because the old 007 wants to be involved in the case because it still seems to be connected with Spectre’s Ernest Blofeld (Waltz), whom Bond had put in prison.

            The most alarming danger comes from an evil man, Llyutsifer Safin (Malek), who has a poison plan that threatens millions across the world.  Getting to him is of course a tall order, and will require cooperation among all the parties involved, including international interests.

            The film is overly long with too many implausible chases and fights—as are found in most/all action films.  But it is successful in gripping intrigues and nail-biting dilemmas.  Daniel Craig is at his best in portraying for his last time the brave strategist Bond is known to be, with the additional acquisition of personal commitment and less womanizing.  He comes across as actually gallant at times.  

            A bright spot in the deluges of combat is shown by Ana de Armas as Paloma.  She kicks a.. impressively and with a little bit of humor, giving the viewer frequent “so there!” satisfactions.  Bad guys like Blofeld and Safir send plenty of chills up the spine, both because of their physical appearances and their evil nature.  Seydoux lacks some of the glamour and keenness of mind that Bond women usually have, but Lashana Lynch, the new 007, is appealing in her level-headedness and combat skills.  Lynch attributes part of her character’s success to the contributions of Phoebe Waller-Bridge to the script.  Hans Zimmer’s music for his first Bond film adds color to the action, and has just the right number of references to music in previous Bond films, most notably, the recognizable “suspense” motif.  Billie Eilish singing the title track co-written by her and her brother Finneas O’Connell provides additional inspiration.

 

No Time to Die will reward fans of the Bond films with plenty of intrigue and spine-chilling tension.  

 

Grade:  B+                            By Donna R. Copeland

SPECTRE

Daniel Craig   Christopher Waltz   Lea Seydoux   Monica Bellucci   Ralph Fiennes   Ben Whishaw   Andrew Scott   Naomie Harris

          Increasing surveillance across the world and across institutions becomes the theme in Spectre, the latest James Bond adventure.  It would make George Orwell turn over in his grave, observes M (Fiennes) to O (Scott) after O reveals his plan to get 13 countries to agree to share their intelligence information with one another.  And we agree when we see an attempt to extend surveillance inside Bond’s brain later on to destroy certain memories.

        Now, however, Bond (Craig) is in hot water with his chief, M, after taking it upon himself to stop a terrorist attack in Mexico City.  Granted, there was considerable damage and bad press, which Bond doesn’t deny.  It’s just that his superiors are not aware that he has prevented a terrorist plot from coming to fruition.  That is, he has gotten onto the current scheme of his old enemy, Oberhauser (Waltz), who seems to have disappeared, but maybe not.  Knowing he is up to no good, Bond is determined to find him and sabotage his plans. 

        This will involve trips through multiple countries, leaving a trail of destruction behind, including humans, buildings, cars, helicopters, and planes.  When Bond calls on a Mr. White in an isolated cabin in wintry Austria, whom he thinks can lead him to Oberhauser, he has to promise to protect the man’s daughter, Dr. Madeline Swann (Seydoux).  Her life is in danger after White began to have second thoughts about the activities of Spectre.  But he also gives Bond information about how to locate Oberhauser.

       In many ways, Spectre is like the previous films in the series with the super heroic protagonist, the electronic gadgets in labs and cars, the need to buck the bureaucracy, thrilling car/helicopter/plane chases, unbelievable hand-to-hand combat, and beautiful women.  Unfortunately, when these components are repeated over and over in films across the years without much creativity, they get a ho-hum response.  As my friend and editor Evan Zimmerman observed, “If the filmmakers would spend less money on special effects and invest more in the script, it would be a much better movie.”

      There are clever jokes and quotable quotes sprinkled throughout the story, such as, “She wouldn’t let death get in the way of her job”, spoken by Bond about M (Judi Dench), who died in the last film, but left a message to Bond to listen to after her death.  There is a toast “To death”, spoken by one terrorist to another about a planned attack just before Bond shoots and kills them.  M tries to counsel O with “The license to kill is also a license not to kill”, advice that it not heeded.

      It may be that this franchise has run its course.  Daniel Craig has voiced his thoughts about it, implying that he doesn’t want to act in the next film, even though he has signed a contract for it.  The filmmakers (director Sam Mendes, the actors, musician Thomas Newman, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema) are all gifted, but unless they can bring more creativity to future productions, they run the risk of appearing dated.

Go if you are a diehard James Bond fan.

Grade:  C                                                   By Donna R. Copeland