Emma

First Hit: This version of the Jane Ashton tale, isn’t very funny, somewhat long at over two hours, and, at times, oddly entertaining.

I’m not a big fan of period pieces, and this one spends a lot of time showing us how the class structure and social hierarchy in England produced rude behavior.

The rude behavior is characterized by having the people guessing what others think and then responding without knowing what they really think. The culmination of this lack of communication is when Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) and George Knightley (Johnny Flynn) are under a tree, having extreme difficulty telling each other how they feel about each other.

The innuendos, the backhanded slights, and the occasional direct put-downs throughout this story were, on occasion, amusing. Still, mostly they struck me as arrogant attacks on people who had less social standing than others.

Emma is a rich girl in her early twenties living in a large house on an estate in England. She lives there with her father, Mr. Woodhouse (Bill Nighy). It is near a small town, and because of her wealth, she’s looked up to by everyone in the village. When Emma walks into a store, everyone bows or curtsies. She hires friendships and people to spend time with her; Harriet Smith (Mia Goth) is one such person.

We watch Emma try to influence and control who gets engaged to whom, including Harriet. Emma is devoted to her father and has no intention of ever marrying. Emma is also forever being prodded and challenged by Knightly, her neighbor.

Knightley lives in a vast empty estate by himself. Interior shots of the house show most of the furniture covered up.

Although I didn’t like the character, Taylor-Joy was good as the arrogant Emma. Nighy was appropriately clueless as Emma’s father. Flynn did a terrific job of being the rich neighbor who suddenly harbored deeper feelings for Emma. Goth was sublime. She portrayed innocence and faith that Emma was looking out for her in a beautiful way. Eleanor Catton wrote this screenplay, that to me, was way to elongated. Autumn de Wilde directed this movie. It was at least 40 minutes too long and uninspired.

Overall: Despite the brief moments of hilarity, it was painfully long and contrived.

Their Finest

First Hit:  A very sweet and thoughtful film about making a propaganda film in World War II England.

The story takes place in London during war time and between the German buzz bombing. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) interviews for, what she thinks is, a secretarial position at the Ministry of Information only to discover she gets the job as scriptwriter for propaganda films. She needs to money as she is supporting herself and her, almost, husband Ellis Cole (Jack Huston) who is an artist and was injured in Spanish Civil War. She's not officially married to Ellis but wears a wedding ring and takes his name.

The British propaganda films, designed to motivate the population to work hard for the war effort, are not being well received. Fellow writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) is hard on Catrin because she’s a woman and screenwriting is a man’s world.

However, he sends her on an assignment based on a newspaper article where twin women stole their father’s boat to go to Dunkirk to help save the lives of men. When Catrin interviews the women, she discovers that the boat stopped off shore. Never getting to Dunkirk, they did get wounded home because some of the boats that came from Dunkirk were overloaded and those boats gave them wounded personnel to take home.

The written article makes it more than what they did, but Catrin, Tom and the film making team make a variation of the adventure. The film uses an older famous actor Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy) as part of the characters and as the only strong actor, he has ideas of how the plot and his part needs to go.

However, he begins to trust Catrin’s writing as she knows what she’s doing and when writing in concert with Tom, they excel.

What was interesting was this film also showed how important women were and their strength in helping the country defeat Germany. It also showed how people had to scale back their lives to support the war effort. I genuinely enjoyed watching Catrin watch the film she wrote and how the audience around her were engaged with the story. This was touching.

Arterton was fantastic in this role. Her reserved, yet expressive ways through the film created a wonderful character. Huston was good as the injured artist. Buckley was strong as Catrin’s fellow writer. His disbelief in women being able to write subtlety changing as the film enfolds was wonderful. Nighy was superb as the aristocratic and self-obsessed actor who comes to appreciate what he has. Gaby Chiappe wrote a wonderful screenplay, which unfolded with greater strength as the film went on. Lone Scherfig did a great job of directing this story and keeping the feel of the time and how films were constructed in the 1940’s just right.

Overall:  I was surprised by how much I liked and felt this film as it moved along.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

First Hit:  At times funny and joyous while at other times it seemed to be trying to tell too many sub-stories.

There is always a risk in creating a follow-on film because of the comparison between it and the original. Sometimes films move the same character into a totally different situation, others expand or further develop the original storyline. Here we have the later.

Making a success of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, proprietor Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) have set their sights on adding a new hotel to their mix. They make a pitch for co-financing with a San Diego company.

Then we have Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) and Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) are still dancing around getting together as a couple – “we aren’t together, but we aren’t not together”. And, Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) is still trying to decide whom to settle down with. Then there's Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and Carol Parr (Diana Hardcastle) who are testing each other about the exclusivity or non-exclusivity of their relationship.

Besides these stories and other smaller stories and then there is the major story of Sonny and Sunaina (Tina Desai) planning and having their wedding - which is treated as a second hand story. Then there is this story about a hotel inspection by Guy Chambers (Richard Gere) who happens to fall in love with Sonny’s mother Mrs. Kapoor (Lillete Dubey). Their interaction lacked chemistry which is unfortunate because it could have been a interesting story (for a follow-on film).

There is a lot going on in the film and it’s great that the director wanted to tell something of all the stories, however it became distracting.

Patel is a wonderful personality and his joy in what he does brings his character to life. Smith is really great as a dour person. There are moments of shared internal dialogue that are wonderful as well. Dench is strong as someone who wants to reach out and is afraid to take the step. Nighy is amazing and is such a joy in this film. The film is much better with him in it. Imrie is really good as someone who is doing her best to settle down. Pickup was OK as someone who likes his fantasies but wants to be in reality. Hardcastle is strong as the woman who wants a full relationship but tries to be less monogamous. Desai is joyous to watch as the bride to be. Gere is OK as the hotel inspector want-to-be writer. While Dubey was just OK as Sonny’s mother. Ol Parker wrote the screenplay which was a bit too busy. John Madden captured lots of the Indian magic of Jaipur – one of my favorite cities in India.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film. I liked seeing the city of Jaipur again but felt that there were too many strong stories being expressed.

About Time

First Hit:  It was thoughtful, funny and makes a good point – pay attention to each moment because that is where life exists.

The men in Tim’s (Domhnall Gleeson) family have the ability to go back in time and redo/retry events. They, like Tim, get told by their fathers when they are 21 years old. Tim’s dad (Bill Nighy) tells him that the best way he can use this power is for something he loved.

Tim wants to be loved and to love. He meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) in a dark dinner house (this is actually both funny and interesting) and gets her phone number. Because he re-winds the night to help is uncle with his opening night play, he doesn’t get to keep the phone number and although he has the experience of meeting she doesn’t.

The whole film is about the choices he makes, some for himself and some for others and the resulting consequences. In the end he realizes it is about paying attention to each and every little thing. The actors, especially Nighy, are lively, interesting and funny.

Gleeson is very good as the thoughtful young man who wants to and finds love. McAdams is funny and delightful as Mary. Nighy is so wonderful to watch and steals every scene he’s in. Lynda Wilson (playing Kit Kat), Lindsay Duncan (playing Mum) and Richard Cordery (playing Uncle D) were all very good. Richard Curtis wrote a fun crisp script and directed this cast in the same way.

Overall:  This is a very fun film and worth the price of admission.

Total Recall

First Hit:  I enjoyed this version more than the 1990 version.

Unlike “The Dark Knight Rises” (see previous review), the opening sequence sets up the story well.

The point of the opening sequence of a film like this is to set us up to get our buy-in, to have us suspend our reality and invite us into a story.

Total Recall does this and that is why I enjoyed it. Douglass Quaid, aka Houser, (played by Colin Farrell) is stuck in a life he doesn’t understand. He goes to work making robot enforcers in Great Britain from Australia by getting on and riding the “Fall”.

The Fall is what people call the vehicle which transports people through the only two habitable places on earth, Great Britain and Australia. Its path is through the middle of the earth and when it reaches the core there is a few minutes of gravity suspension because gravity switches its pull.

Australia is called the colony and everyone there is poor. It is ruled by Great Britain and Chancellor Cohaagen (played by Bryan Cranston) and they suppress everything for control. There, of course, is an underground group fighting the rule and Matthias (played by Bill Nighy) is their leader. Quaid’s wife Lori (played by Kate Beckinsale) is a cop and works a lot of nights investigating and killing the rebels.

We learn quickly, she’s one of the best and toughest investigators. Douglas, in his frustration with his life, goes to “Total Recall” which promises dreams that make you feel good. His visit takes us into a new story of what is reality and what is truth.

Although an unbelievable story, it works because the actors, script and direction allows us to believe it.

Farrell is very good and strong in both the physical challenges of the role but by also giving us a true sense of being lost and wanting to find the truth. Cranston is great as the Chancellor. Beckinsale is so strong in her physical role and was fun to watch. Jessica Biel (as Melina) was very good and shows strength in this physical role. Nighy is good in a limited but pivotal role. Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback wrote this effective screenplay while Len Wiseman gave this film believability, fun and action.

Overall: Enjoyable version of this story and worth the price of admission.