FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY

--> Jamie Dornan   Dakota Johnson   Jennifer Ehle   Marcia Gay harden

 
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Fifty Shades of Grey certainly did not measure up to the hype it has received.  I would imagine that real S&M practitioners would find it rather tame and maybe even dull, and we would likely not find nearly so many other people interested in it without the seduction of a billionaire generous with his money.  Aside from the harsher portions, the love scenes are erotic, and Christian (Dornan) is very gentle and skillful with Anastasia (Johnson).

            The story opens with Anastasia filling in for her ailing roommate, on an interview with Mr. Christian Grey for the school newspaper.  She is clearly out of her element and very ill at ease, which turns out to attract the man who wants to be the dominator in a relationship with a woman.  She is clearly smitten right from the beginning, despite her unease, and in the coming days, will submit to his pursuits.  He is very open about what he is looking for (even drawing up a contract for her to sign), always sweetening the deal with fancy presents and getaways, and giving her the option to leave at any time. 

            For a college student, Anastasia is very naïve, and reacts as if she has never heard of the arrangement he is trying to make with her.  During the first part of the film, it is off-putting to see her appear like she is only 10-12 years old.  But at least across time, she becomes more age appropriate and begins to leave the shrinking violet stance, making Christian cool his heels while she “negotiates” the contract with him.

            This is just the first of three films that will be made based on E. L. James’ novel, Fifty Shades of Grey, so the film ended rather abruptly with the outcome ambiguous.  The filmmakers must be needing to stretch the material in order to make three films out of it, because it drags in places.  In fact, other than a meal here and there or a short trip, not much of anything takes place except Christian pursuing Anastasia and their lovemaking interludes.

            Dornan and Johnson are very attractive, with good chemistry and reasonably good acting; she is good at portraying naïveté and innocence, and he at smoothness and gentle persuasiveness.  Supporting cast is also very good.  Music by Danny Elfman and Beyonce and cinematography by Seamus McGarvey all enhance the production.  I enjoyed director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s “Nowhere Boy” about John Lennon’s childhood, but I feel like she doesn’t make the grade in this film.  Perhaps this wasn’t the best choice of books to film.

Unless you’re keenly interested in the topic, you can skip this.

Grade:  D+                        By Donna R. Copeland

KINGSMAN: The Secret Service

-->Colin Firth   Taron Egerton   Samuel L. Jackson   Sofia Boutella   Michael Caine   Mark Strong   Sophie Cookson 

Kingsman has just about everything:  Entertainment, intrigue, clever script, humorous references, constant surprises—and it’s just fun.  AND it has a female being one of the heroes!  It certainly lives up to previous successful works (Layer Cake, X-Men First Class) of the director, Matthew Vaughn, and co-writer, Jane Goldman.  The plot zips along so intelligently with all kinds of intricacies, yet is easy to follow without being facile.  Similarly, the fights and gun battles are fierce, yet come across as fine choreography.  Cinematographer George Richmond enhances these scenes with artful camera work. 

            In addition to being a spy thriller based on the comic book stories of Mark Miler and David Gibbons (“The Secret Service”), the film gets in pointed social commentary about the environment, social class, compassion, cooperation, and violence, that takes for granted the audience will comprehend, mixing it in with both serious and humorous dialog.  The crux of the story is that a private secret service has emerged that aims to be better than those run within a government.  Its agents have tended to come from the upper classes, but one agent, Harry Hart (Firth)—and yes, he has a very big and tender heart—has decided that it would be wise to recruit someone intelligent with street smarts.  That would be Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (get it?  a “loser” played by Egerton), who is getting into a heap of trouble at home and on the streets and is headed for prison.

            Eggsy and his fellow trainee, the graceful but tough Roxy (Cookson), are put through their paces in a grueling program that is full of tricks.  Out of the class of nine, only one will be selected to become an agent in the service.  Meanwhile, there is a dastardly plan dreamed up by the billionaire villain Valentine (ironic) that the way to solve environmental meltdown is to reduce the population of the world.  With the help of his tech-savvy assistant Gazella (Bouella), he has a doomsday plan that involves getting people to kill one another.  The Kingsmen become aware of this, and are committed to sabotaging it.  There are plenty of nail-biting moments in the story when it is touch and go.

            I loved Colin Firth—always the gentleman from the upper classes—in the role of a James Bond-type of agent.  It was a complete surprise to see him (at least his double) kicking a--.  Of course, always elegantly.  As his mentee who has an interesting back-story with him, Eggsy ends up recapitulating the master’s truths and actions.   Cookson gives a performance that exemplifies the naturalness and human traits (nurturance, competitiveness, intelligence) demanded by the role.  I also loved Jackson’s portrayal of a villain with a lisp (clever note) who sounds like a bro, but has nefarious plans with his loyal, ferocious assistant Gazella (Boutella). 

            Beyond all this, Kingsman brings up a knotty issue about whether secret services are best administered by the government or private companies.  Kingsman gives us a look at how private companies can be good or bad.  The clincher is that neither of the two in the film has any oversight as would a government agency.  Food for thought.

If you want exciting, intelligent filmmaking that’s also fun, go see Kingsman!

Grade:  A                        By Donna R. Copeland

SEVENTH SON: When Darkness Falls, the Son Will Rise

Ben Barnes     Jeff Bridges     Julianne Moore




 

Seventh Son, based on a Joseph Delaney novel, The Spook’s Apprentice, opens in a medieval tavern with Master Gregory (Bridges) imbibing and throwing his weight around.  His apprentice arrives to remind him the bells are ringing (there is an emergency) and he is needed immediately.  He goes out to find that the witch Mother Malkin (Moore) has escaped iron-bar prison on a mountaintop where he left her screaming her lungs out.  (The back-story is that the two used to be lovers, but when he married someone else she went into a rage and killed his wife.  He captured her, but couldn’t bring himself to kill her so put her in a prison he thought would be secure, but she only gained more strength across time, and broke out.)  She kills the apprentice, and now, Gregory must locate a replacement and train him before the full moon when Malkin plans to wage a supernatural war on mankind.

Gregory is a “spook” charged with getting rid of evil supernatural creatures on earth.  Now, he needs a new apprentice, and searches for a particular one who is the seventh son of the seventh son (one known to have special powers and a destiny).  He finds him on a pig farm living with his parents.  Tom Ward is not only the seventh son, but he is also the son of a witch, giving him even more power.  His mother voices her reluctance to let him go, knowing what lies ahead for him, but knows she must.  She takes a stone pendant from her neck—which turns out to be magical—and gives it to him, saying, “Everything that you will ever need is inside you.”

We’ve already seen the fierce struggle between Gregory and Malkin, now there is just one battle after another for the rest of Seventh Son.  It is entertaining for a time, watching the supernatural warriors morphing back and forth between animals and humans, but it gets so repetitive, and automatic (like, a fight every so many minutes without much in between), the viewer loses interest.

It is really fine to see the talented Julianne Moore take on an evil, super-aggressive role, and she pulls it off.  When she and Bridges are in a scene together, it’s electric.  For some strange reason, Bridges talks in a rough voice with what sounds like pebbles in his mouth.  But he plays the crusty old mentor very well.  Supporting cast members are good, although not outstanding, except for Jason Scott Lee, Gregory’s old loyal friend Ulag who never says anything but gets his messages across.

MAN vs. WOMAN:  FIGHT TO THE DEATH.

Grade:  D+ By Donna R. Copeland

 

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: SPONGE OUT OF WATER

Antonio Banderas and voices of original TV and movie cast.

New adventures and dangers await SpongeBob SquarePants in this 2015 3-D version, the first being in 2004.  It hinges on a magical book that a scallywag pirate Burger-Beard (Banderas) steals to rewrite stories with new endings that he devises.  Meanwhile, back at Krabby Patty, covetous Plankton (Mr. Lawrence) is trying desperately to steal the secret formula for the patties, and when he finds it and he and SpongeBob are having a tug of war with it, it suddenly disappears into thin air.  Of course, Burger-Beard is behind this with an evil plan to open his own restaurant in our land, serving the patties to get rich.  Without its beloved Krabby Patties, the town of Bikini Bottom is in dire economic straits.

            This prompts SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) and his close friends, Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke), Squidward (Rodger Bumpass), and Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown)—with Plankton sneaking in—to go after the precious recipe so their city will be saved.  It will actually require their surfacing into our world, where Burger-Beard has fled.  At crucial moments, it will also require their transformation into super-heroes, and involve torture, chases in the streets and air, explosions, water guns, and cannonballs. 

            The situation is dire for Bikini Bottom because it is the Krabby Patties that tie everyone together; so in order to retrieve it, they must all work together, and that is the primary theme of this production.  Even the self-serving Plankton may get converted in the end.

            Directed and co-produced by one of the writers, Paul Tibbett, along with Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Bleger, it’s based on the Nickelodeon TV series created by Stephen Hillenberg, who was apparently also involved in this latest production.  The filming is visually rich and colorful, and clearly engaged the children in the audience when I attended a screening. 

            I was put off by the constant barrage of references to poop, farts, and behinds, and once again wonder why filmmakers insist on putting these in.  It seems to me only a few kids still think these are funny.  I also object to the implication that torture is effective in getting information.  This has been scientifically proven not to be true.

            But for those who loved the Nickelodean series and the 2004 movie production, this will be enjoyable, particularly with the updated technologies in the story and in the film processing.

Go if you liked the earlier SpongeBob productions.

Grade:  C                        By Donna R. Copeland

           

STILL ALICE

Julianne Moore     Alec Baldwin     Kristen Stewart

  Still Alice is an excellent account of how people react under the stress of an ongoing, incurable disease.  There is the experience of the patient herself, which resembles—but is distinctly different from—that of family members’.  This film eloquently demonstrates that one cannot take for granted that people really know what it’s like from another’s vantage point.  In the case of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), both physical and mental aspects of oneself are gradually transformed across time.  To adapt, it’s a constant re-learning process of things you thought you (patient or loved one) knew.  Particularly in the beginning, tempers are short, and at a time when patience is a must, flare-ups and exasperation occur.

            I am really struck by writers-directors’ (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland) sensitively powerful depiction of the illness from so many perspectives.  I presume Lisa Genova’s novel on which the film is based provided the framework within which to convey the intellectual and emotional experience of AD, but the filmmakers have depicted it with such visual accuracy and detail it comes across as very real.  Julianne Moore is exactly the right choice to play Alice, who appears so sharp, vivacious, and engaging in the beginning, and then subtly and surely begins “mastering the art of losing” so many of the things she has valued.  She allows her facial expression to dissolve into confusion and puzzlement, and then finally into blankness.  Baldwin, as her husband, is likewise good in conveying initial disbelief and denial, and then becoming aware that this is new ground in his experience, and his usual problem-solving approach is not going to work.  Kristen Stewart especially, and Kate Bosworth and Hunter Parrish skillfully play the roles of young adult children.

            Another huge asset of this picture is its success in showing the horror of AD, while still making it a loving, enjoyable experience for the viewer.  An additional jolt comes with genetic considerations that many families must face. 

A significant film in depicting experiences associated with incurable illness.

Grade:  A                        By Donna R. Copeland

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

Marion Cotillard     Fabrizio Rongione


 

Two days and one night made a world of difference for a woman forced to ask 16 co-workers to choose between their bonuses and her retaining her job at a company—not a very nice or fair choice set up by the boss, with a foreman advocating behind the scenes for bonuses.  Sandra’s (Marion Cotillard) friend and co-worker takes up for her with the boss after discovering the foreman’s activities, and gets the boss to hold another ballot Monday morning after the weekend.  Sandra is also well supported by her husband, Manu (Fabrizio Rongione), who must keep after her to visit each co-worker and try to persuade him/her to vote for her. 

            This is especially difficult, in that Sandra has been on leave for a depressive episode; i.e., her self-esteem and self-confidence are rather weak.  Not only that, but when she begins to visit them, she sees first-hand some of the challenges some of the workers are facing in their personal lives and how her visit can make matters worse.  This increases her qualms about pleading with them, and her guilt sometimes overwhelms her.

            The Dardenne brothers (writers/directors) are in their element in devising a plot that puts the viewer in an empathic position with each of the players and, thereby, showing all points of view.  For instance, many of the workers have obligations and responsibilities for other people; some have their own personality/family issues; and Sandra herself encounters a major dilemma viz a viz her husband, her children, and a certain co-worker.  The social value of the film is in prompting every viewer to pose the question of ourselves; would we be willing to give up a handsome bonus to save someone else’s job?  During the drama, I was wondering how these extraordinary filmmakers would work their way through to an artistically/humanly satisfactory ending.  Needless to say, they succeed.

            Cotillard’s performance is up to her usual high standards, and so she captures the fragility, desperation, and vacillations of Sandra’s character.  Rongione is exemplary in his portrayal of a spouse who must have endless patience and persistence to support his wife and still keep his own anxieties at bay, because in some ways he is as vulnerable to the job loss as Sandra is. 

A film to prick your social conscience.

Grade:  A-            By Donna R. Copeland

JUPITER ASCENDING

Mila Kunis     Channing Tatum     Eddie Redmayne     Sean Bean     Douglas Booth

           

            Jupiter Ascending has spectacular special effects, production design, and flying choreography, but the dialog is unbelievably bad, in that it sounds like it was written by a high school student without a modicum of talent.  Writer/directors, Andy and Lana Wachowski, must have farmed the script out or thought that it was relatively unimportant next to the visual displays.  But the poor script actually kills the film as far as I’m concerned.

            The set-up is rather interesting; a ruling family from another planet owns earth—literally—and unknown to earthlings uses it as a farm to produce a valuable, highly prized serum.  Now that the matriarch of the family has died, the three adult siblings are vying for her ownership of earth.  A complication develops in that struggle when it is discovered that the title actually passes to an earthling, who is unaware that her genetic makeup is proof that she is royal and the sole heir to earth.  Also unbeknownst to her, her life is now in danger.

            One of the siblings, Balem (Redmayne), sends interplanetary warrior Caine (Tatum) “good at finding things” to locate her (Jupiter, played by Kunis), which he does.  However, the other two (Middleton and Booth) have their own designs on the young woman, and much of the film is devoted to the warring clashes among these groups, both on earth and in space.  It turns out that Caine has an interest in protecting Jupiter, and takes any number of risks to do so.  It takes some time for Caine to convince Jupiter of her heritage, in that on earth she is just a lowly maid cleaning houses.  Of course, romance has to be a part of the story, and part of her destiny is that not only is she now a queen, but she will also find true love.  I think you can pretty well guess who that will be.

            It is easy to stay interested throughout the film; the suspense is kept at a high level, and there are multiple times of great danger.  It’s just irritating that we’re continually brought back to reality by the insipid, unimaginative dialog.  This is despite a group of very fine actors in Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum (they have good chemistry), Eddie Redmayne (a truly creepy, deranged Balem), Douglas Barth (Titus), and Sean Bean (Stinger, Caine’s supporter).

Go for the resplendent special effects and try to ignore dialog and the lack of character development.

Grade:  D+            By Donna R. Copeland