Joy

First Hit:  Wonderful story about a woman who learned to understand her creative inventive power and used it to change her life and the world around her.

This is the story about Joy Mangano. Yes, dramatic license was taken in presenting this story, however the essence and path of the story is true.

Joy (Jennifer Lawrence) married the wrong guy Tony (Edgar Ramirez), who lives in her basement because he cannot afford to live anywhere else. Her mom Terry (Virginia Madsen), lives in her house and spends all her time watching soap operas from her bed.

Her Dad Rudy (Robert DeNiro), helps to pay the mortgage because when he’s not living with a girlfriend he’s living in her house as well. Then, like bookends, also living in her house are her two children who require her time and attention and her grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd).

Mimi keeps pushing her to get back to the creative person she was as a child so that she can become the true successful matriarch of the family. Joy's life is filled with one problem after another. She addresses and deals with them in a robotic way so that she can take just one more step. Resignation is the sign she carries in her eyes and in her spirit.

Finally, the creative inventive person she was when she was young perks back to the surface when she cuts herself cleaning up wine and broken glass with a mop. This event pushes her to invent a mop which revolutionizes the mop and cleaning.

The rest of the film is about the difficulties of getting the product sold. She sells the head of QVC Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper) that this mop can be a success on his network. He takes the chance, it fails, but her perseverance gets her another opportunity. The interaction between Lawrence and Cooper is magnetic. They work so well together.

Another one of my favorite scenes is preceded by her admitting defeat and then with all being lost, she digs into the paperwork and agreements and shows up in Texas (think showdown on main street) with someone who claims he owns a patent on her product. The dialogue in the hotel room – perfect.

This film is about perseverance, belief, and the ability to find one’s inner strength to explore what might be next.

Lawrence gives another top-notch performance. It will be considered for possible selection in the Oscar race. De Niro is strong as the flighty unfocused father. Isabella Rossellini’s performance as Trudy, De Niro’s latest girlfriend, was inspired. Madsen was funny and oddly interesting as the soap opera watching mom. Ladd was sweet as the solid motivating family matriarch grandmother. Ramirez was great as the ex-husband who supports his former wife’s plans. Cooper was fantastic. He fully embraced the role as guide, cheerleader and occasional heavy. Dascha Polanco was outstanding as Joy’s supportive friend Jackie. David O. Russell wrote and directed this team of actors with originality, focus, and clarity.

Overall:  I loved the inspiration that emanates from this film.

American Hustle

First Hit:  From the opening moment the audience knows it is going for a real ride.

This film opens with an overweight balding Christian Bale (playing Irving Rosenfeld) fixing his hair with a comb-over that beats all comb-overs. He is meticulous in every detail of his hair, style, and the scams he pulls on everyone to make his living.

His business partner is Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who is nothing short of a miracle on the screen. She’s smart, fire, and looking out for number 1. However, Irving is married to Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) who is a stay at home mom, controlling, sassy and a lush. Irving and Sydney get caught on one of their scams and the agent who busted them, Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), wants to leverage their conning abilities to catch bigger fish – mainly Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner).

Richie’s boss Stoddard Thorsen (Louis C.K.) doesn’t want to follow Richie’s outlandish plan to catch political crooks but gets outranked in his decisions. Some of these scenes of their disagreement are outstanding. Watching Bale, Lawrence, Adams and Cooper work together is amazing as each defines their character so clearly and fully that the story just jumps off the screen creating full engagement.

I love this type of film where the story is outrageous (loosely based on the real life Abscam scandal) and the acting is spot on dynamic and engaging.

Bale is sublime, he carries the character through the film with flowing subtle changes. Adams is divine. She is sexy, vulnerable, smart, bold and focused. Her character is so much fun to watch. Lawrence is absolutely amazing. She shows a great depth to transform herself through use of language and facial expressions that keep you focused on her when she is in the frame. Cooper is so much fun. He’s wild, bold, lacks subtlety yet he’s the one that moves the story along – amazing. Renner is transformed as Mayor Polito and as he always does, turns in a sterling performance. In a very small, yet pivotal role, Robert De Niro as mob boss Victor Tellegio is powerful. David O. Russell and Eric Singer wrote an amazing script which also reflected the 1970’s and the mood of the times. Russell did an amazing job of putting together the look and feel of this story. It was like he was leading a major orchestra and everyone was in perfect tune.

Overall:  A full time fun film based in excellent acting.

The Fighter

First Hit: A very good adaptation of a true story.

Often times the adaptation of a true story heads off the rails and almost makes the story/film unbelievable.

However in The Fighter you’ve got a good solid cast creating a believable and interesting story. Mark Wahlberg plays Micky Ward a boxer who has promise and is managed by his mother Alice Ward (played by Melissa Leo) and trained by his brother Dicky (played by Christian Bale).

Alice believes she is a great manager and is doing what is best for her son but the reality is she is using Micky to keep some money coming into the family and to support her motley crew of daughters who don’t do anything but bitch. D

icky was once a promising boxer and stood over Sugar Ray Leonard in a boxing match. However, the early fame and lack of an internal compass Dicky is now a crack addict and occasionally gets it together enough to help his younger brother Micky train.

All of this falls apart when a fighter Micky is supposed to fight gets sick and his mother and brother coax him into fighting someone weighing 20 more pounds than him. He gets slaughtered in the ring. After the defeat Micky starts to date Charlene Fleming (played by Amy Adams) who is a bartender and dropped out of college because she drank too much and partied too much.

She falls for Micky and also sees the sickness in Micky’s family and gets him to change managers and trainers which allow him to win fights. After his brother gets out of jail he and his mother try to get back into Micky’s good graces. In the end there is compromise between the two factions and Micky goes on to win the welterweight championship.

Wahlberg is wonderful as the quiet brother who tries to do the best for his family and himself. Wahlberg is physical enough to make the boxer’s life real on the screen. Bale is the true wonder of this picture. He has to get an academy nominee for this performance. When he is on the screen there is virtually no one else to watch. He eats, drinks, and lives Dicky Ward. One of the more interesting revelations is during the credits watching the real life Dicky and Micky interact. Bale is Dicky. Leo is perfect as the victimized, controlling, passive aggressive mother who really only wants what she wants and has no consciousness about others. Adams is very strong as Charlene. Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy wrote a very strong and engaging script while David O. Russell directed this great cast to perfection.

Overall: This is a very strong film if one can get over some of the difficult scenes in the boxing ring.