The Report

First Hit: A strong film shining a light on the United States of America’s illegal torture campaign.

Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) wants to be a part of our government, so he meets with Denis McDonough (John Hamm), who is Chief of Staff in the White House. McDonough’s advice is to get involved with a project of importance and make a name for yourself.

Working as a Senate staffer for Senator Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening), he is selected and enthusiastically agrees to investigate the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes for her. His life is his work, and he’s dedicated to finding out the truth.

Reviewing online documents, Jones discovers damning evidence that the CIA used “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture) as promoted by Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith) and James Elmer Mitchell (Douglas Hodge) at secret, “black” (hidden offshore), locations. It appears that the videotapes were destroyed to conceal evidence that the US violated the Geneva Convention rules against torture.

The reason the CIA contracted with Jessen and Mitchell is that they believed they could get information out of captured personnel that would stop future terrorist bombings like 9/11 and maybe apprehend the individuals that instigated 9/11.

In a windowless high-security office in an offsite facility, Jones and 5 others reviewed 6 million pages of CIA materials only to discover that these contractors imprisoned and tortured some 119 detainees and got no valuable information. Their techniques were a total failure.

The move to legalize this program was shown in scenes with White House staff working with John Yoo (Pun Bandhu), who made legal arguments that later were discovered to be unfounded and unsupported.

There are graphic scenes of the torture which aren’t easy to watch, but what really stood out to me was the lack of guts on the part of Senators (including Feinstein) and Congressmen to expose and publicly bring to light our failings and illegal actions. The politicians, who represent us, were mainly worried about being re-elected. Finally, because of political pressure and worries that the information would be leaked to the press, the information is shared with the public.

The film does a great job of intermixing real footage, like John McCain talking about how torture is an anti-American value on the Senate floor, with the story.

Driver is sublime as Jones. His focus and willingness to push all bounds to get the information and get it correct was phenomenal. The film did state that Jones’ full report was some seven-thousand pages long. Bening was excellent as Feinstein as she got her voice and mannerisms down perfectly. However, what disappointed me was how Feinstein seems to play politics for sake of her job instead of getting the truth out. Scott Z. Burns wrote and directed this film with a clear focus of showing how the CIA was exposed and how politics almost keep the facts from US Citizens.

Overall: Although I wasn’t surprised by the actions of the CIA, Senators, and The White House, it’s disappointing to see how we try to hide our horrible and illegal behavior.

Dark Waters

First Hit: An excellent portrayal of corporate malfeasance and arrogance, finally getting its comeuppance.

Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a corporate attorney, is a thorough pragmatic defender of corporations. He’s just made partner in his firm and is a powerful asset to the company because he’s so good at his work.

During an important meeting, he’s interrupted by Wilber Tennent (Bill Camp) and friend who come from a farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia. They come to see Bilott because Roberts’s grandmother, “Grammy,” is a friend of Tennent. They hand Bilott a box full of videotapes explaining that no local Parkersburg lawyer will help them with the problem of their cattle dying. They believe the animals are dying because the town’s largest employer, Dupont, is polluting the water with chemicals from their facility.

Bilott tries to deter Tennent and not get involved, but Tennent’s plea knags at him, so he visits his Grammy, verifies she knows Tennent and then drives to Tennent’s farm. When Wilbur shows him his field full of buried cows, “190 of them,” he realizes there is a problem.

Although Bilott’s firm doesn’t have Dupont as a corporate client, they are reluctant to take on a nonpaying client that is going to end up suing Dupont as it will hurt their reputation with their own corporate clients.

However, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), Bilott’s boss, supports Robert continuing his investigation even though his client cannot pay. There is a great scene when all the partners convene to hear and discuss Bilott’s work.

Finally, Dupont sends over all the discovery information that Bilott had requested, and it is massive. Hundreds of boxes of memos, reports, and other documentation. Being a team of one, dutifully Robert sits down on the floor and begins categorizing each document by year and subject. This is a great scene because it cements Robert’s commitment to do the right thing no matter what it takes.

His years of research comes up with proof that Dupont knew that they were poisoning people and animals through the creation, use of, and byproducts from POFA (C8), a chemical creation used in Teflon© the non-stick coating that everyone was using. C8 is one of those chemicals that cannot be broken down by nature, let alone the human body and therefore it stays in the body and slowly causes various types of cancer.

The film takes us through this story as it develops over the years of difficult lonely hard work on Bilott’s part. The filmmakers did a great job of showing the passage of time by giving the audience quick glimpse of his three boys growing up in front of him. He barely interacts with them because he’s so clearly focused on this one case, this man is all in.

In the meantime, because of the court's slow processes, Dupont’s putting roadblocks at every turn, and the slowness of a medical testing company that was reviewing over sixty thousand blood tests, people were continuing to be poisoned and die from being exposed to C8.

We watch as the stress of doing the right thing for his client requires him to take reductions in pay because he’s spending all his time on this case that has no paying client. We watch him feel the pain while he watches his clients deteriorate because of the poison.

His wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) tries to keep their family together, showing undying support, even as she sees the deterioration of her husband because of the deeply committed compassion to see this lawsuit through for the people who are being harmed.

One thing the film made sure of was the darkness of this subject. Every scene is dark in color or filled with gray skies.

Ruffalo was excellent as the committed attorney who gave up almost everything, including his life, to find and fight for the truth. Hathaway was superb as his supportive wife attempting to keep their family together while Robert fights for the truth. Robbins was influential as Bilott’s boss and senior managing partner of their law firm, showing support for Robert on this long trail to truth. Camp was terrific as the driven farmer and rancher who committed his life to making sure Dupont was charged for their crimes against his community. Victor Garber, as Phil Donnelly, a senior executive in Dupont, was supreme in his portrayal of being the mouthpiece of corporate malfeasance. Mare Winningham, as Darlene Kiger, a Parkersburg resident, was fantastic. It was lovely to see her on the screen again. Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote a powerfully detailed script. Todd Haynes did a great job of creating the feel corporate malfeasance and the difficulty of making wealthy companies pay for their crimes against humanity.

Overall: This is an excellent story about the power of perseverance.

Midway

First Hit: Besides being too long, I didn’t like and couldn’t engage with the main character Dick Best (Ed Skrein).

As portrayed here, Best was a pilot who liked breaking the rules, thought highly of himself and his flying skills, but eventually, his arrogance, depicted as bravery, helped to win the war over Japan at Midway.

I don’t know what it was, but if another actor played Best, I might have better related with this character. Actors, from another time, who might have made this role work are Steve McQueen or Paul Newman. These guys had a way of being edgy and arrogant but likable.

There are other issues with this film that stood out as well. There were sections that were supposed to provide a depth to the story but seemed needless. Additionally, the strategic planning of the attack on Midway became muddled.

On a positive note, many of the action scenes were well choreographed and very exciting to watch.

This film is about how the battle of Midway became the turning point of the Pacific War between the United States and Japan. Early on, we see Pearl Harbor being bombed. This was particularly effective and was well depicted with the surprise and the panic that set in after the attack.

The US goal was to hit back at Japan in a way that would have them rethink their choice to attack the United States.

The key players in this story are Best, Lieutenant Commander Edwin T. Layton (Patrick Wilson), who was an intelligence officer, and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (Woody Harrelson). Layton had developed data, with a team of intelligence analysts, that gave him a hunch that the Pearl Harbor attack was coming. Nimitz had heard about Layton’s ideas and after his assignment to head the Pacific Fleet, he told Layton to bring him information that would allow his decimated fleet to execute a surprise counterattack.

Midway was that surprise attack. In addition to this story, there were side stories. One was about Vice Admiral William “Bull” Halsey (Dennis Quaid), who was the on-boat commander of the aircraft carrier leading the fleet. He had a horrible case of shingles, which eventually put him out of commission. There was also a story about Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle (Aaron Eckhart) who first bombed Japan, and because the way the mission worked out, he and his entire squadron had to ditch their planes because they ran out of fuel.

There are also sweet scenes with Best and his wife Anne (Mandy Moore), one of the few who understood and embraced her husband’s erratic intensity. There are also depictions of Japanese ship commanders and Admirals, which are brief and attempt to show the ignorance of and blind devotion to the war effort as commanded by their emperor.

Skrein was not likable as Best. What I don’t know was it Skrein or his character I didn’t like or want to champion. Eckart, in the bombing of Japan side story, was solid as Doolittle. Wilson was excellent as the intelligence officer Layton. The scene where he is pressed for the details on the theory of a Midway attack by the Japanese was powerful. Harrelson gave a strong performance as Nimitz. His belief in his team, especially Layton, was well executed. Quaid was good as Halsey, a “bull” of a man. Moore was excellent as the trusting and understanding wife of the film’s wildcard character. Wes Tooke wrote a meandering script that seemed to take in too many stories. Roland Emmerich had an excellent eye for many of the action scenes, but the story seemed to take too large a bite.

Overall: Because I couldn’t get into the main character, the film fell flat.

The Current Wars: Director's Cut

First Hit: Although informative about three great men Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla, the story wasn’t very compelling about how we electrified the United States.

Growing up, I believed that Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) took Benjamin Franklin’s discovery of electricity and put it to use for all of us. I made the assumption that he alone brought electrical power to the people. I must not have paid attention in school, or the textbooks were wrong, or I was misled by my teachers. My guess was I wasn’t paying attention.

If the information in this film is correct, Edison’s pure genius was in the plethora of products he dreamed up and made real. The electric light bulb was probably his legacy, but he also made products like the phonograph and ways to see motion pictures. Both the phonograph and motion picture machine started as hand-powered units that eventually became electrified.

Yes, he did electrify sections of cities using his DC (direct current) generators and underground copper wires.But it’s limitations, including economics and distance shortcomings, were the downfall of his company to electrify whole cities.

On the other hand, George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) decided to be Edison’s competitor by using AC (alternating current), which allowed him to provide electrical power over long distances inexpensively. The AC system was an invention of Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), who sold it to Westinghouse. The perceived issue with AC current was that if improperly installed or used, it could harm or kill people.

Tesla first worked for Edison, but because Edison didn’t want to listen to the possibilities of AC power, Tesla left after a short period.

Tesla and Westinghouse worked together to bring inexpensive electrical power to all of the United States. And although each were inventors in their own right, it was Edison who invented many of the practical products we use today.

One of the sweetest parts of the film was when Edison tells Westinghouse about how he felt when one of his many experiments with the incandescent bulb worked. The power of trying and not succeeding. Then trying again and again was meaningful and enduring and beautifully shared.

The critical component of the film was the different personalities of these three men and how it affected their approached to work. When Edison breaks his much-touted promise to not bring harm to another human gets challenged, he’s heartbroken. Tesla was creative in how he documented his inventions. Westinghouse had an ability to look at the big picture and to methodically persevere.

Both Edison and Westinghouse had exciting and intense discussions with the dominant banker and financier J.P. Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen) about how to finance the electrification of cities and about the money they all could make on it through his support.

I thought many of the scenes were interestingly developed but faltered with less impressive follow-through. How did Edison really feel about his wife dying? Did the use of electricity to kill someone as corporal punishment advance this practice of putting people to death for crimes?

Cumberbatch was excellent in many scenes as Edison by bringing a single and driven focus to his work. But I didn’t have a sense of how he became this amazing inventor. Shannon felt a little miscast. He usually plays a darker character because of his looks and intensity; however, as Westinghouse he’s given to be more gentle in his words and actions and it seemed incongruent. Hoult was solid as Tesla, quietly working in the background pulling ideas out of thin air and creatively documenting them in his notebook. Macfadyen was terrific as the financier J.P. Morgan. His practicality and drive to support geniuses were well presented. Tom Holland, as Samuel Insull, Edison’s right hand man, was outstanding. His belief in Edison was well earned. Michael Mitnick wrote a thought-provoking screenplay that will have me do further research on how the US became electrified. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon did a good job of directing this film. I do think there were opportunities missed to delve deeper into the impact of these men and also their histories.

Overall: This was a solid film, but not great, and I think it could have been a great story to tell.

Judy

First Hit: This film opened the door to possibly seeing a more in-depth and human Judy through her last year of life.

I loved and was deeply touched by this story.

After seeing this film, and then reading some of the reviews, I found that the reviews saying that they should have dubbed Judy’s voice on the songs that Renee Zellweger sang as Judy, missed the point of the story that was presented.

This story is about Judy’s final year of life, her voice worn out from surgery, drinking, smoking, and her soul ripped out by enablers and poor decisions. Have a dubbed voice of a Judy in her prime would have been both dishonest and not real.

Judy died at age 47, six months after she was removed from the set of London concerts which are the focal point of this story. Judy was strung out on pills and booze most all of her adult life. It felt as though Judy was simply a commodity that people used to make money, and in this way, Zellweger nailed what it must felt like.

As this movie pointedly shows in scenes sprinkled throughout, as a child, Judy was fed drugs by the head of motion picture companies to keep her alert and awake when they wanted her to work, to keep her thin, and then to have her sleep when they didn’t need her. The story shows that people had only one focus, use her voice, to make others, including her parents, husbands, and movie studios money.

With little real support from husbands (she married five times) or someone who had her best interests at heart, Judy ended up broke, strung out, and desperate to find inner peace.

This story begins with Judy and her young children Lorena and Joey Luft being shuttled on staged and in front of a live audience to do a quick song with a silly dance. They were handed an envelope with $150. Heading back to the hotel, where they’ve been saying, they find out that because Judy was in arrears to the hotel, their room was repurposed.

Getting into a taxi, Judy, with kids in tow, ends up at Sidney Luft’s (Rufus Sewell) home. The scene that shortly follows sets up their antagonistic relationship. Leaving the kids with Sid, and nowhere to go, she heads to a party where her older daughter Liza Minnelli (Gemma-Leah Devereux) is located.

Meeting Mickey Deens (Finn Wittrock) at this party, Judy decides to stay at the party instead of leaving with Liza because Mickey is charming and flirtatious with Judy. It’s here we see out easily she’s influenced and charmed.

We move forward a few weeks and, in need of money to buy a home, pay her debts, and become a full-time mother, Judy signs a 5-week agreement to do concerts in London. With Roslyn Wilder (Jessie Buckley) assigned to keep Judy in line and show up sober to the sold-out engagements, Judy does try her best, but her inner demons continue to gnaw at her, and soon she shows up on stage drunk and ends up walking out.

However, she does get a swan song helped by her true fans - this was a lovely scene.

Zellweger was absolutely fantastic as Judy. The, I don’t know what to do, and I’m a fish out of water, look Zellweger brought to the role absolutely fit with the story as told. Over the years, I’ve listened recordings of Judy and could easily imagine her voice losing its sublime tone after surgery, drugs, alcohol, and lots of cigarettes. That some think that Judy’s premiere voice should have been used in the singing scenes, would have been a false story. Buckley was excellent as Judy’s minder while in England. Slowly seeing the depth of Judy’s suffering was beautifully portrayed when she presented Judy with a birthday cake she could eat. Deans was good as Judy’s last savior husband. Royce Pierreson as Judy’s bandleader in London, was beautiful. I felt as though he knew the path Judy had taken and would do anything to make it work for her on stage. Andy Nyman and Daniel Cerqueira play two London gay men who are full-fledged fans of Judy’s and the scenes with them and Judy in their apartment were incredibly sweet and heartfelt. Sewell as Sidney Luft was excellent but unexplored. Lastly, Darci Shaw as a young Judy was excellent. The scene of sitting with Mickey Rooney in a restaurant with Judy’s minder not letting Judy eat anything was incredibly telling of how her life was controlled. Tom Edge wrote an interesting script about the final months about Judy’s life. Rupert Goold did a fantastic job of creating pointed scenes and excellently staged sets. But ultimately his getting Zellweger to take on and embody Judy Garland was perfect.

Overall: I was deeply touched by this story.