I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

--> Blythe Danner   Sam Elliott   Martin Starr   June Squibb   Rhea Perlman   Mary Kay Place

-->

I’ll See You in my Dreams is the kind of comedy many people like to see after a hard week.  It shines the spotlight on an older woman, Carol (Danner), who is widowed, enjoying her somewhat solitary life, but open to new experiences if someone else will take the lead.  She has three bridge/golf friends who are like family, and they all live close to one another in a retirement complex on a golf course.  Sally (Perlman) is always trying to fix Carol up with someone, and even hauls her off to a speed-dating event one evening. Rona (Place) is the more curious one, and unexpectedly stops by Carol’s house from time to time, creating a few awkward moments.  Georgina (Squibb) is a good sport and most like the typical older woman. 

     Carol, a singer and schoolteacher in her younger days, starts getting acquainted with a young man (Starr) who comes by to clean her pool.  Lloyd is an aspiring poet/singer, who ignores the age gap and likes to “hang out” with Carol.  He takes her to a karaoke bar one evening, and they clearly hit it off.  Enter a contemporary of Carol’s, Bill (Elliott), who likes her looks and smoothly gets her to go out with him.  He has a boat called “So What”, which says something about the man.  For the first time in 20 years, Carol is confronted with the possibility of getting married again. 

      With both men, the conversations turn to future plans and considerations about achieving a balance between living in the moment and working toward some future goal.  In talking with Lloyd, Carol observes that we wait our whole lives for something that we’re sure to get sooner or later.  It’s death, she says, with a bit of black humor.  The film does a good job in contrasting different perspectives about life between younger and older folks.

      Brett Haley, the young director and writer with Marc Basch, is well rounded in his acting, producing and editing experience. In Dreams, he has taken what could be light, even silly, entertainment and given it emotional depth and weightier subjects to think about.  The film draws laughter as well as some tears and joie de vivre.  He and his also young co-writer Marc Basch should be complimented for capturing the older years in life so well.

      Blythe Danner has a solid reputation as an actress in both film and television.  As Carol, her performance is engaging, but I think her character is written to be somewhat reserved and distant, which turned me off a bit.  I felt sorry for her daughter and her friends sometimes in situations where she could have shared more and been more warmly responsive, and looks unnecessarily withholding.  Both Sam Elliott and Martin Starr played characters as a study in contrasts, with each showing himself in naturalistic ways.  Starr as Lloyd is particularly moving when he sings a song for Carol towards the end of the film.

A loving comedy with soul.

Grade:  B By Donna R. Copeland

THE CONNECTION

--> Jean Dujardin     Gilles Lellouche

-->

The Connection has the thrill of the chase, suspense, two brilliant calculating minds pitted against one another, and awe, as it becomes more and more clear how broad the involvement in illegal activity extends up to high levels of government and across geographical space.   It also shows the value of persistence and belief in oneself in pursuing justice—but as well the tremendous price one may have to pay for it eventually.

      The star, the award-winning Jean Dujardin (The Artist, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Monuments Men), plays a newly appointed magistrate in Marseilles, France, Pierre Michel, who comes to the job reluctantly, preferring to stay on at his current job in the juvenile system.  But the drug trade has reached such proportions, he is pressured into accepting the new position, and he immediately goes to work on the case.  The kingpin of the drug cartel, Gaëtan “Tany” Zampa (Lellouche), is portrayed as a worthy counterpart to Michel—and the actors even resemble one another in physical appearance and smart attire.  I think this resemblance is purposeful in illustrating how criminals may not Iook the part, can be as measured and intelligent in solving problems as the good guys, and value loyalty and family traditions just as much.  One of the eeriest, chilling scenes in the film is the two men meeting face to face on a relatively deserted road in the mountains and exchanging veiled threats and dares.  Clearly, they are equal matches.

      Michel is persistent and calculating in setting up traps to bring in Zampa; aware of Zampa’s values in loyalty and being a father figure, the magistrate begins rounding up a wide swath of Zampa’s men, even those closest to him.  Zampa is also calculating and rather cold-hearted despite some of his other traits, and he expects to elude Michel’s efforts by ramping up his efforts to close an important deal in the U.S.   However, this means the FBI will get involved, which ups the ante.

      The film is inspired by a true story, the same one from which William Friedkin’s 1971 film, The French Connection, was drawn, but this French writer/director, Cedric Jimenez, wanted his version to be viewed from a European perspective.  I think he is successful in this effort, and the story is worth telling again as a fresh take on the drug business, which is still plaguing us today, a problem that reaches to government involvement at the highest levels in some countries.

      Jimenez is a producer who came to screen writing and directing only recently, and he does a credible job in making The Connection exciting and suspenseful, helped greatly by Dujardin’s and Lellouche’s fine acting.

The price of justice may be ever so dear.

Grade:  B                     By Donna R. Copeland

 

ENTOURAGE

--> Adrian Granier   Kevin Connolly   Jeremy Piven   Kevin Dillon   Jerry Ferrara   Haley Joel Osment   Billy Bob Thornton

-->

Entourage is a continuation in film of a hit TV show with the same title that ran for eight seasons from 2004-2011, both of which are loosely based on Mark Wahlburg’s (one of the producers) experiences in moving from the east to Hollywood with three of his long-time friends to begin his acting career.  Intended to be a comedy as well as drama, the film’s dialog runs at a fast-clipped pace with sometimes hard to catch comical and sarcastic one-liners laced with expletives hurtling past.  The audience in the screening I attended clear loved it, chuckling throughout and responding audibly to the more dramatic scenes.  As typical for the television show, guest cameos are sprinkled throughout (e.g., Armie Hammer, Piers Morgan, Emily Ratajkowski, Pharrell Williams, and Liam Neeson, to name a few).

           In the story, talent agent Ari (Piven) has landed a directorial and starring role for Vincent Chase (Granier) in a blockbuster film, despite the doubts of many about his capabilities.  They’re now over budget, and even though Vince swears the film is almost done and he is pleased with it, many have their doubts, and Ari must plead with the studio and with the financier (Thornton) and his son Travis (Osment) to support it to completion.

            That is the “spine” of the story, but much of the film focuses on Vince and his friends’, Eric (Connolly), “Drama” (Dillon), and “Turtle” (Ferrara), personal lives, carousing and getting in trouble with women.   One of the funniest scenes to me took place at an outdoor café when Eric is confronted by two women, both of whom he slept with the day before.  He gets a good scare, then is bewildered while they walk off triumphantly.  Turtle’s “love” life is also entertaining when he takes up with mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey (herself).  Other funny scenes involve a former assistant of Ari’s (Rex Lee) dogging him in the pursuit of having Ari give him away at his upcoming wedding.  It’s both funny and sad, because his own father won’t have anything to do with him after he came out, and this will be a gay marriage.

           Doug Ellin, the writer/director for this production and writer and director of six episodes of the TV series, has done a fine job in converting the television version to film.  The material flows into a film that can stand alone.  It’s very fortunate that most of the main cast of TV also appear in the film.  Piven, Grenier, Connolly, Dillon, and Ferrera give us a vivid picture of what the lifestyle of an up and coming actor is when he brings along his friends from home.

           This film will be much more enjoyable and entertaining to those who have followed the Entourage TV series.  Even though I am not one of those, I did get a kick out of it, and didn’t feel that I needed any back-story.  Viewers should be aware that derogatory references to women and the f-word are used in almost every sentence. 

Male bonding and their antics entertain.

Grade:  B                        By Donna R. Copeland

SAN ANDREAS

Dwayne Johnson   Carla Gugino   Alexandra Daddario   Paul Giamatti   Hugo Johnstone-Burt

It’s not a matter of if; it’s when…In reality, seismologists have expressed that in reference to the San Andreas fault and a big earthquake in California for some time now, and San Andreas the movie brings home this point most chillingly.  Actually, I came out of the film with teeth sore from clenching my jaw for pretty much the whole two hours. 

     It’s not all about special effects.  The film does a good job in weaving back and forth between the small dramas of normal everyday life and disaster scenes.  It gives us enough information about the main characters to make us care about them.  Right from the start is a hair-raising scene in which Ray (Johnson) of the LA Fire Department’s search and rescue squad is in a helicopter being challenged to rescue a driver whose car went off the road over a steep cliff and lodged in a vertical position between boulders.  Then we learn a bit about Ray’s personal life; he’s looking forward to spending the weekend with his daughter Blake (Daddario) before she goes back to school.  However, those plans are interrupted by an earthquake in Nevada, where he is called to for rescue work, and at the same time, receives disappointing news from his estranged wife Emma (Gugino). 

      Ray, Emma, and Blake are all going their separate ways, and how they get back together when disaster hits is some fine story telling.  Along her way, Blake picks up two brothers from London who add interest and acts of bravery, which is then contrasted with the wimping out of someone else.

      Another story line related to the earthquakes involves Cal Tech seismologists who are excited to learn that their research is heightening their ability to predict earthquakes in advance.  Lawrence (Giamatti) and his team are just on the verge of warning the citizens of Nevada about an impending quake, when it actually starts occurring.  When he narrowly escapes, makes it back to his lab, and begins looking at the data, Lawrence begins to figure out that the Nevada quake is related to the San Andreas fault, and will be spreading to California; and this time he has a chance to warn everyone.

      Special effects in San Andreas seem to me to be exceptionally good—spectacular and authentic-looking at the same time (although I hear we can't always trust the science it imparts).  Traumatic crises are practically non-stop, but they don’t seem gratuitous, as is often characteristic of special effects films.  Director Brad Peyton, Cinematographer Steve Yedlin, the actors, and the other filmmakers should be very proud of how well crafted and emotionally satisfying their work is here. 

      In some ways, it feels good to be given a preview of an event that could very well occur.  You’ll feel almost as if you’ve actually been through an earthquake after leaving the theater.  The characters bring home how important practical knowledge (CPR, wound care), problem-solving (innovation and ingenuity in adapting materials at hand), and reasoning through stumbling blocks while remaining calm could very well mean the difference between life and death.  

      Dwayne Johnson is a perfect star for a film like this; you just look at him and feel confidence.  (And he likewise performs just as well in emotional-laden conversations.)  Yes, the movie is a little heavy in depicting his superman qualities.  It was very clever to show how much his character had taught his daughter (i.e., not a son) in responding to emergencies.  When Blake is with her two new companions, each has the opportunity to be smart and helpful in getting through tough situations.  Likewise, Emma (wife and mother) is given the opportunity to be smart and heroic.  Giamatti is always a wondrous actor, and here he restores our faith in scientists to care as well as be smart. 

      The bottom line of all this is that disasters pull for collaboration and trust among those involved, although not everyone responds optimally.  For those who do, it is truly a rewarding human experience.

A must for everyone up to the tension.

Grade:  A-                                   By Donna R. Copeland

POLTERGEIST

--> Sam Rockwell     Rosemarie DeWitt     Jared Harris

-->

            Scary?  Yes.  Tension producing?  Yes.  Mysterious?  A little.  Poltergeist is even funny at times.  I’m not a big fan of the genre, and did not see the four previous versions (and since this is the fifth, I seriously doubt there is much in it that is original), but taken on its own merits and disregarding the others, I found it to be a pretty decent rendition of a horror film. 

            It starts out in a rather glum tone because the father, Eric Bowen (Rockwell) has just been laid off his executive level job, so the family must settle on a lower grade house in a new community.  Parents Eric and Amy (DeWitt) are putting a good face on it for their kids, Kendra, Griffin and Madison, but it’s clear that adjustments will have to be made with some effort.  Maddy starts to feel right at home almost from the get-go, and even seems to be making friends.  That is, she is talking to someone, but only Griffin notices, and he dismisses it as her simply being imaginative, and says she needs to get a better grip on reality.

            Griffin is known to be “sensitive”, so he starts complaining right away about bumps in the night, a weird clown left behind by the previous tenants in his closet, and the skylight on the roof of his bedroom showing trees swaying menacingly even when it isn’t stormy, and when it does become stormy…oh my!  Others in the family start to notice a few things, like static electricity on the stair banister, lights coming on in the middle of the night, strange noises, etc.  But things really get hairy when the parents go out to dinner (in hopes of new job prospects for Erik) and leave Kendra to babysit.  During the evening, her treasured possession, cell phone, starts doing wonky things, which prompts her to start filming with it, and she ends up witnessing the floor starting to crack as if there were an earthquake, and horrible black gunk arising out of it.

            The parents are so horrified to learn about this when they come home, they consult paranormal experts (Erik worries that if they call the police, they’ll be seen as psychotic and their kids taken away), who do indeed grasp what is happening, and when they realize how serious things are, call in the nationally known expert, Carrigan Burke (Harris).  He not only has the academic credentials, but he has scars to prove his entanglements with spirits.  By this time, Maddy is missing, and the family is distraught.  Will he be able to bring Maddy back?  And if he does, at what cost?

            I jumped and held onto my seat during the course of Poltergeist, and apparently most of the audience did too, from what I could hear.  It seems to me that Director Gil Kenan, screenwriters David Lindsay-Abaire and Steven Spielberg, and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe have delivered on their aims of making an interesting, exciting, scary production.  Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt are two of my favorite actors, and they easily step into their roles here.  Most impressive is Jared Harris, whose performance in a myriad of different roles, attests to his ability to provide gravitas and mysteriousness in his role here as “the fixer.”

            But I have to ask, “Why was this film made?”  Is it to appeal to those who are interested in this genre and love seeing the same film over and over again (thus being a money making project)?  What did Spielberg think he could add in making another poltergeist film?  We don’t need to do away with the past; let the viewers watch the older films—that are probably just as good—and make room for creative films that will advance the industry.

Scary—but apparently not new.

Grade:  C                        By Donna R. Copeland

GOOD KILL

--> Ethan Hawke     Bruce Greenwood     January Jones     Zoe Kravitz     Jake Abel     Peter Coyote

-->

Gaming can be so very exciting until…Tom Egan (Hawke) is an ace pilot who has been “promoted” to drone service where he goes into an air conditioned cubicle in Las Vegas and wages war in Afghanistan or wherever.  Writer/director for this film, Andrew Niccol, wants us to learn about the downside of “armchair” warfare.  Egan has already been missing the touch/feel/thrill of a physical plane beneath him when orders come from above that his unit would now be under the control and direction of the CIA rather than the army.  This constitutes a change in strike orders from one based on assuring that the target is a bad guy before striking to one that is based on a “pattern of behavior.”  That is, the kill target would be based on analysis at a higher level of abstraction with less concern for collateral damage.

Egan lives in Las Vegas in a sterile neighborhood (no vegetation to be seen) with a beautiful wife (Jones) and lovely children.  Yes, he can serve his country in his cubicle and go home to his family afterwards just like in a regular job.  But there are two problems—one is that his job is less experiential and more mechanical, and the other is the moral dilemma presented by the CIA’s practice of accepting collateral damage as no big deal. 

Hawke the actor fits the role well as a brooding, taciturn, creative guy with principles, and one who is comfortable with authority (Greenwood as his immediate superior) until it (the CIA) offends his basic sense of justice and right.  Presented in direct contrast is fellow drone operator Zimmer (Abel), who is happy not thinking much about what he is doing from a moral standpoint and rather enjoys the aggression of it and going home to his “vanilla” environment at night.  Caught between Egan, the CIA, and Zimmer, Jack (Greenwood) toes the middle ground as best he can while retaining his job.  He is tested in this role as much as Egan is in his.  Jones as a housewife and Kravitz as a drone co-operator effectively portray women in these situations who generally play a minor role in relation to the men, but here, each clearly exemplifies the female point of view.

Andrew Niccol, with significant writing/directing experience behind him (Lord of War, The Truman Show, Gattaca), again has an important contemporary social issue he wants us to think about.  The use of drones is controversial, with the pros seeing it as much more precise—although not perfect—in taking out the leaders of groups bearing murderous ill will toward the U.S.  The cons regard it as one of the reasons people in other parts of the world hate us so much.  I would be interested in knowing how much comparative collateral damage is done by drone attacks versus bombing from an airplane.  Neither is free from that downside.  Certainly, Niccol’s point is well made about the apparent unthinking, uncaring manner in which the CIA in this story ordered the drone attacks.

Musician Christophe Beck and cinematographer Amir Mokri both render their crafts well in enhancing the visual and auditory aspects of Good Kill.

The Conundrum of “Good Kill”

Grade:  B                                                                                   By Donna R. Copeland

IN THE NAME OF MY DAUGHTER

--> Guillaume Canet     Catherine Deneuve     Adele Haenel

-->

In the Name of my Daughter is based on the story of a young woman’s disappearance in France, as written by her mother and brother in a memoir about ten years after she had gone missing.  André Téchiné, the French director (and co-writer of the screenplay with Cedric Anger, and the brother, Jean-Charles Le Roux) reports that he wanted the film to adhere as closely as possible to the memoir, but with more emphasis on the relationships between the three protagonists:  the mother, Renée LeRoux (Deneuve), her daughter Agnés (Haenel), and Agnés’ lover, Maurice Agnelet (Canet). 

Early on, it is clear that the mother daughter relationship is strained, complicated by Maurice, who is initially the mother’s attorney for the casino business she owns; but he begins to side with the daughter who is trying to get her mother to release her inheritance from her father.  Maurice is already suspicious because he seems to be working a scheme not in Renée’s best interest; and when she elects not to hire him to manage the casino, he turns his attention to Agnés.  He is charming and attractive, and even though she has been duly warned about him—including by himself—she willingly enters into an intimate relationship with him, probably, in part, to spite her mother.

In gradual stages, the lives of all three take a tragic turn.  There are two trials that take place years apart, and we get postscripts about the final outcome.

I kept thinking this film should be more engrossing than I was experiencing.  After thinking about it and seeing the conclusion, I decided that most of the story is too predictable.  Based on the dialog and the behavior of the characters, what is about to transpire will not be surprising.  We’re given a clue early on when Agnés makes a remark about Maurice’s name (Agnelet, meaning ‘lamb’), and the viewer immediately thinks about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The plot actually becomes more interesting in the last half hour during the court proceedings, which Téchiné elected to skip over in favor of the emotional/relational details.  But it is the court proceedings that are so much more suspenseful, and I would have liked to hear more about the juries’ deliberations and get a better sense of why they ruled the way they did.

Deneuve brings her considerable talent and experience to the character of Rénée—slightly cool with others, unskilled in persuasion, and much more comfortable giving instructions.  Haenel plays the role well of a daughter still rather immature, overly needy for warmth and affection, and burning inside about her mother’s authority over her.  They have had control struggles dating back even before the time her mother insisted she take ballet and perform for guests when she clearly didn’t want to.  Enter a devious, insecure man without scruples who is vindictive when he is slighted.  Canet is masterful in playing a handsome Maurice who has no compunction about lying and manipulating to get what he wants.  He can be as genteel as it takes so long as things are going his way, but if he encounters obstruction or constraint, he has no problem being abusive.

In the Name of my Daughter is beautifully filmed and shows the south of France at its best.  The problem is in the script that gives away too much too soon.  In addition, it needed to show more about the trials toward the end.  It’s too bad that a story that holds so much promise turns out to be something of a disappointment.

Not exactly a potboiler.

Grade:  C-                             By Donna R. Copeland