Tulip Fever

First Hit:  This film personifies the idea that having wonderful actors doesn’t mean the film will be good; this one isn’t.

How can a film with Judi Dench, Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Zach Galifianakis, Jack O’Connell, and Tom Hollander be so unentertaining? Easy have a lousy script and screenplay and a director that didn't see the problems and fix them.

An Abbess (Dench) takes in lost children and raises them to be taken into homes, be married or become an apprentice nun. One of her grown children is Sophia (Vikander) who is solicited for marriage by a wealthy Amsterdam spice trader named Cornelis Sandvoort (Waltz).

This story takes place when the Dutch in Netherlands become infatuated with Tulips. The bulbs of particular flowering types are auctioned for enormous sums of money. They are bought and sold, as commodities in a riotous bar and brothel near the canals.

Sandvoort is much older and is looking for a wife to bear him a child, preferably a boy. He’s proud of his new young wife, Sophia, and commissions a young painter, Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan), to paint a portrait of them.

The film shows their live as very routine and their nightly unenthusiastic sexual attempts to conceive. as time goes by, they become disheartened.

Meanwhile their maid Maria (Holliday Grainger), is having an affair with Willem Brok (O’Connell) and she becomes pregnant. By buying and selling a particular tulip, Willem makes enough money to marry Maria, however he thinks he sees Maria having an affair with the painter, Jan, and in shock and being distraught, leaves Amsterdam without saying goodbye.

The mistake was made because Sophia took Maria’s coat to hide herself while going to see her new lover the artist, Van Loos. Sophia is in love and wants to leave Sandvoort and escape with the artist. To make enough money he gets involved in the tulip options market which is regulated and controlled, in part, by the Abbess. However, the blossom is falling from the tulip market and bidding becomes stagnant. He's panicked that he cannot make enough money.

I won’t bore you with more of this plot but the intense part of the film has to do with fooling Sandvoort about pregnancies and Sophia’s very life.

Vikander did the best she could do with the part. Waltz was strong as the wealthy merchant and his “first to flower, first to fall” line was quintessential Waltz. Dench was good in her limited role as Abbess and tulip controller. Galifianakis was very good as Gerrit, the drunk who lets Jan down. DeHann was okay as the young idealist painter. Hollander was very good as well as Dr. Sorgh, the guy who helps the deception of childbirth. O’Connell was great as the man who loves and eventually comes back to his love. Grainger was fantastic in her role as maid and friend to Sophia. Deborah Moggach and Tom Stoppard wrote a poorly conceived screenplay. Justin Chadwick directed this mess. The overly dark scenes of Amsterdam, Netherlands canal districts with constant fighting, drinking and debauchery didn’t add to this film whatsoever.

Overall:  This film was uninteresting and lagged from beginning to end.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Overall:  Visually entertaining, poignant message and fun to watch.

The “setup” I thought was a bit weak when there’s an explanation as to how and why this very large spaceship/planet/thingy named Alpha become home to species from a thousand planets. However, getting past this we are introduced to Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne) who work for the government of Alpha. Therefore, the best interests of the government, not any particular species is their focus.

The film also documents, at the beginning, the destruction of planet Mul, which was occupied by highly evolved and functioning humanoids that focused on giving back what it receives.

The Defense Minister (Herbie Handcock) instructs Valerian and Laureline to guard Commander Arun Filitt (Clive Owen) because the Commander warns that the ship has an expanding radioactive bubble in the middle of the ship and they cannot figure out what it is or why it's there . Unfortunately for the film, Filitt acts in such a way that he gives it away that he’s implicated in this radioactive bubble. This could be because of the way the character was written or because Owen often plays this type of double crossing character.

Valerian and Laureline are also sent to find the “converter” which replicates items it ingests. It is a survivor from the planet Mul and really belongs to the remaining humanoids as part of their way of life. They also find a pearl which was used by the Mul members to feed the converter and then the planet itself.

Filitt is then abducted and Valerian must search the ship to find him discovers that the “radioactive” menace in the core of the ship is not what they think it is. As they figure out what really happened to Mul and why Filitt is implicated, Laureline convinces Valerian to give the converter and pearl to the rightful owners, allowing them to restart their nirvanic race. It is hard for the major to break his dutiful role and use love as the answer.

DeHann was good and embodied the youthful character required to make this film work. Delevingne was, to me, the star of the film. Her wide-eyed soulful intelligence worked and made the film complete. Owen was, and is always, good as a self-righteous villain. Rihanna was very strong as Bubble. Ethan Hawke was wonderful as Jolly the Pimp. Hancock was OK in a pivotal but distant role. Luc Beeson wrote the screenplay as well as directed this film. It was a visual extravaganza and this made it worth watching.

Overall:  The film’s visuals,  Delevingne and DeHann are what kept me watching this film with interest.

The Place Beyond the Pines

First Hit:  A good job of attempting to create a film about a very difficult idea and concept.

How much of our behavior comes from watching and being around our parents and what role does genetics play?

This has always been a difficult question to solve/resolve in science and how would a film address this? This is a film about what fate might be, about loss and about what drives a man to do certain things.

Ryan Gosling (as Luke) is a daredevil motorcycle rider. He unknowing father's a son with Eva Mendez (as Romina) and upon the discovery of this, turns to a life of crime to give his son the things he never got from a father he never knew.

This part of the film is exquisitely done. Enter Bradley Cooper (Avery) a cop which his father, a judge, thinks is a poor life/job choice. In a shootout he kills Luke. He learns that Luke has a 1 year old son just like him. 15 years later A.J. (Avery’s son) meets up with Jason (Luke’s son) and unknowingly of their father’s history, become friends.

However, they get into trouble and Avery realizes that the boy his son is hanging out with is the son of the man he killed. The story continues to develop from here as the sons begin to learn about their father’s earlier interaction.

There are aspects of this story that bring out the character of Avery, A.J. and Jason which are well done.

Gosling is amazing. The scene where he sits in church during his son’s baptizing, I realized, again, how good he can be. Mendez is great and perfect for the role. Cooper is very strong and can be believed as both the cop and Attorney General. Ben Mendelsohn as Robin a friend of Gosling's was fantastic. His character added depth to Gosling's role as well. Dane DeHann as Jason was very strong and carried through a believable Luke’s son. Emory Cohen as AJ was very good as well and brought enough darkness to make his angst believable. Ray Liotta was amazing at being able to make me dislike his crooked cop character in just 2 minutes. Ben Coccio co-wrote with Derek Cianfrance who also directed this very challenging and interesting film.

Overall:  This film can stay with you long after you leave the theater.

Lawless

First Hit:  Violent and a well-acted film about bootlegging and the perceived invincibility of a family.

Forrest Bondurant (played by Tom Hardy) is a quiet and focused leader of the Bondurant family bootlegging operation.

His Howard (played by Jason Clarke) is a hard drinking, quick tempered, and the more obvious strong arm of Bondurant boys. Jack (played by Shia LaBeouf) is the “runt” of the boys. Jack is afraid of killing and violence, has wondrous ideas, and likes some of the trappings of the money they make through bootlegging.

The government sends in Chicago Special Officer Charlie Rakes (played by Guy Pearce) to work with local officers to clean up the bootlegging operations. The government is willing to make a deal with the bootleggers and all the local bootleggers do except the Bondurant’s.

This starts a war between the family and law enforcement officers. This is a mano-a-mano film mixed in with a bit of romance. The anxious romance of Jack with preacher’s daughter Bertha Minnix (played by Mia Wasikowska) was one of the more lighthearted aspects of the film.

This romance was juxtaposed by the smoldering slow build up of drifter Maggie Beauford (played by Jessica Chastain) who works for the Bondurant’s in their roadside café.

The violent aspects of the film are not necessarily easy to watch and that humans can do this to one another it is sad. Despite this violence I did like this dark film about a piece of Americana.

Hardy is beyond powerful and excellent in his role as the solid, immortal, Forrest Bondurant. Clarke is less evocative, yet his critical supportive role is well acted. LaBeouf is very good as the young man that shies away from the violence but tries to prove himself in other ways. Pearce is superb as the very twisted Rakes. Wasikowska is excellent as the preacher’s daughter who is hooked on the wilder Bondurant boy. Chastain is very good as the woman who’s seen it all and will do anything to find a home for herself. Dane DeHaan was outstanding as the rickets laden genius who assists the Bondurant’s in their business. Nick Cave wrote an excellent script from Matt Bondurant’s book about his family. John Hillcoat did a wonderful job of giving the audience a feel for this way of life.

Overall: If you can get by the violence, this is a very good film.