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First Hit: Although Brad Pitt is excellent in this role, the expanse of the story, lack of substantive depth, and slow pacing left me unengaged.

The opening scene has Roy McBride (Pitt) is servicing an antenna that reaches from Earth deep into space. Then there’s a discussion about outposts on the moon and mars.  These two items alone tell the audience that we’re way into the future.

Roy’s job outside on the spacecraft type antennae tower gets interrupted by a power surge from space, they believe near the planet Neptune, causing part of the antenna to collapse, killing someone, and sending Roy falling from space back to Earth. Entering the more massive atmosphere his parachute finally opens. However, the chute gets punctured from pieces of the collapsing antenna and McBride cashes to the ground.

A theme throughout the film is McBride’s mental and physical state. His heart rate never goes above 80 bpm, even during the fall, and his responses to the questions about his psychological state are monitored by a machine. Approval by the machine voice is required for him to continue his missions. We see him sit down with the computer multiple times. Because he’s the only one we see take these tests, I wondered if others had to take these tests as well.

After the antennae accident which proves his mental, physical, and mettle to solve problems and that he has real guts, he’s called into a meeting with senior NASA and government officials.

In this meeting, we learn that the government believes that the Lima Project, which was headed to Neptune and led by Roy’s father H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), may be causing the power surges and destroying Earth. They also believe that the senior McBride is still alive although, in Roy’s mind, his father is dead.

They want Roy to help them locate his father or the ship they were using so that they can send another ship, near Neptune, and destroy what is sending the power surges back towards Earth. In other words they want to use Roy as bait to coax his father out of hiding, if he’s alive. Once that is done, they don’t want Roy to actually go out and retrieve his father.

This is the premise of the story: Will Roy find his father alive? Is Clifford creating the power surges? Will Roy and his father make amends for all of the senior McBride’s absence in Roy’s life? Will the team be able to stop the power surges that are threatening Earth’s existence?

Roy wants to be an integral part of the final mission to Neptune, but he’s not given a chance. He’s only used to create messages that are sent to the Neptune area and see if his father respondes. After finding that his father is alive, because he cannot join the final mission to Neptune, he steals aboard the ship to Neptune and to confront his ever-absent father.

The film has multiple events and circumstances that do not make sense. One such set of facts is while on the moon and being transported from one base to a rocket launch base, Roy and Pruitt (Donald Sutherland) are attacked by pirates in other moon rovers. My question is where did these pirates come from? Where did they live? And, why was this scene needed? It seemed like they needed some action in the middle of the film so this is what the story used.

Pitt was great. There’s an integrated quality he brings to the character that made me believe, he loved what he did and was able to do it expertly and dispassionately. Ruth Negga (as Helen Lantos) was excellent as someone who supports Pitt on his journey. Sutherland as Thomas Pruitt, a friend of Clifford McBride and Roy’s guardian during part of the trip, was okay, but I’m not sure the role was needed. Jones was engaging and entertaining in this role as someone who only cared about his mission and learning if there is life beyond our solar system. James Gray and Ethan Gross wrote, and script that languished while hoping the philosophical concepts the story proposes will make the story engaging. Unfortunately, it doesn’t entirely fill the bill. Gray also directed this film, and although it seems he borrowed heavily from some of the pictures presented in 2001: A Space Odyssey, it fell short of being as engaging.

Overall: This movie was entertaining enough to keep me present, but lacked enough depth to make me really want more.

The Leisure Seeker

First Hit: This film is, at times, funny, sad, and depressing, and well acted.

Donald Sutherland and Helen Mirren are two very strong actors and I’d be hard pressed to find two other actors capable of pulling these characters off as well as they do.

Donald plays John Spencer a former literary professor who loves the writing of Ernest Hemingway. He’s losing his memory but can remember long passages of Hemingway’s writings. He often forgets much of his past life including the names of his grown children. But his wife Ella (Mirren) remembers almost everything, likes to talk to strangers freely but has cancer and it’s taking over her body.

The film opens with son Will (Christian McKay) coming by John and Ella’s house with a cake for John’s birthday. He finds no one home. He calls his sister Jane (Janel Moloney) who is on her way over for the party asking her if she knows where their parents are.

Not discovering anything, they look in a covered storage area next to the house only to find their Winnebago Indian, they call the Leisure Seeker, gone. This thing is old and hasn’t been driven for years.

The audience catches up the John and Ella as they tool down the highway, Ella navigating and John behind the wheel.

Many of the scenes and dialogue while they are in the Leisure Seeker and during their stops, allows the audience to learn about their histories, current foibles, and mostly how they really adore each other.

There are some very funny scenes, like when they visit Ella’s first boyfriend. The ending is apropos in that, they do not want to be a burden to each other or their children.

Sutherland did an excellent job of being lucid in sparse moments. The color of his life were added in these moments showed why he was a good man. Mirren was excellent at putting up with having to be John’s memory as well as keeping herself together. The character liked to talk and would talk with anyone, and she did this extremely well. Her flowing segues were perfect. Moloney was wonderful as the daughter. When John shares his pride of her, her reaction was perfect. McKay was good as the son who was more lost in life and used his parent’s challenges for his martyrdom. Stephen Amidon wrote a smart script as it had a wide range of emotions. Paolo Virzi did a great job of putting enough of these wide-ranging emotions to us.

Overall: Although most critics didn’t give this film much regard, my own experience tells me the writers had some real life experience to draw upon.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

First Hit:  I was barely able to watch, let alone like, the screen for its 137 minute running time.

I thought that Part 1 was one of the worst of this series until I watched this final film of the 4 part series. I enjoyed the original film, the second, “Catching Fire”, was too long and wasn’t up to the first film’s stature.

Part 1 (#3 in the series) was one very long uneventful setup for Part 2 (#4). This series started on a high note and fell into the gutter. For instance, what was the fighting scene in the sewers about? It had no value except to get some people killed and make Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) feel more pain to spur her on.

The ending was obvious and exposed way too soon. There was no surprise (reminded me of the line from a Who song: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss). The acting in most cases seem stilted and without feeling, like the actors just wanted to get through it.

Watching a purposefully elongated story was absolute torture. It is hard for me to conceive of people with active and useful brain cells objectively watching this film and thinking it is good. There is nothing that I can say that is good about this film except I don’t ever have to watch another Hunger Games film again.

Lawrence was good at times but generally, it felt as though she wanted it to be as over with as I did. Josh Hutcherson as Peeta had one of the most difficult and awkward roles. As a plot ploy, he had to pretend to be both in love with and be a hurtful enemy of Katniss. It’s difficult to pretend to be brainwashed and Hutcherson didn’t pull it off. Liam Hemsworth as Gale was a poorly executed character. His role of hero martyr felt stilted and without soul. Woody Harrelson as Haymitch tried to bring adult thinking to the role – he failed because the film failed to make it important. Donald Sutherland as President Snow, did his job and it felt like it. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Pluarch was painful to watch because it’s a lousy role, his performance poor, and it is the last time we’ll see him in a new film – sad. Julianne Moore as the new President Alma Coin was so below her recent performances that I cringed. Peter Craig and Danny Strong’s script was lazy, without interesting dialogue, and bloated. Francis Lawrence’s direction provided little interest and absolutely no excitement.

Overall:  I wanted to leave the theater so bad that I felt like a runner waiting for the starting gun and when final credits began to role – like a flash I was gone.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

First Hit:  A long and mostly uninteresting run-up to Part 2.

This movie is a set-up, and like most set-up movies it is trying to lay enough interesting groundwork to make the audience want to come see Part 2. God help us if there is a Part 3 because I’m not sure I could sit through another sloggy long set-up film.

In this movie, we catch up with Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) as she discovers that her home District 12 has been destroyed. Most everyone has been killed. She is staying with District 13 and their President, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore), wants Katniss to become the symbol for her goal to overthrow the Capitol which is still being led by President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

What is holding Katniss back is Peeta, her love, (played by Josh Hutcherson) who is being held by President Snow. She's afraid that Peeta will be killed. Most of the film is about getting Katniss to become a convincing propagandist. In other words, it is an action film without action. Katniss does this fairly well although, I couldn’t help but wonder why she had to have a role that made her act reluctant - and that it appeared that she did this reluctantly.

We have many of the previous actors back from the earlier films: Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) as a young man who cares deeply for Katniss. Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) a previous and crazy Hunger Games winner. It is also, and probably, the next to last unseen film footage of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee.

Lawrence is OK as Katniss; an uninspired person trying to become inspired. Something about the brooding look made me wonder if she really like doing this particular film. Moore was OK but I kept wondering if she will turn out to be as bad as President Snow when she becomes empowered ("hail the new boss, same as the old boss"). Sutherland is OK. I didn’t think he was a good choice for the other films and I hold with this thought. Maybe just not regal and scary enough. Hutcherson is in a minor role here but is set up for a larger role in Part 2.   Hemsworth was worthy in his role as probably the best on the screen here. Harrelson is also one of the better actors in this film. Hoffman is OK, but I cannot look at him without thinking of his recent demise. Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket steals scenes with her persona. Peter Craig and Danny Strong wrote this lead-in script which at best was mediocre. Francis Lawrence directed this film and we hope the lead in works to something better to come.

Overall:  It was entertaining enough, but certainly it lacked some real grit and content.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

  First Hit:  Longer than it needed to be and despite some good acting it certainly didn’t catch fire.

I enjoyed the first of film of this series and was hoping that this middle film in the series would hold up.

Unfortunately it didn’t mostly because Francis Lawrence didn’t keep the film crisp, moving along, and with a clear end in sight. From an acting point of view Jennifer Lawrence was strong as Katniss Everdeen and it was obvious that she was hampered by the script.

The basic story is that Katniss and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), winners of the 74th Hunger Games, are moving public opinion against the government. Therefore President Snow (Donald Sutherland) wants these two to go on tour to each of the districts and soothe the citizens. However, it doesn’t happen and the government, under the guidance of Plutarch Heavensbee (William Seymour Hoffman) – chief game engineer, decides to pit a selection of the surviving Hunger Games winners against each other. By doing this Katniss will probably die and hope could be extinguished.

Many of the faces in the previous film are part of this film like Cinna (Lenny Kravitz) who is Katniss’ dress designer, Cesar Flickerman (Stanley Tucci) as MC of the Hunger Games television program, Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks) as stager of Katniss and Peeta, and Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson) as a Hunger Games winner and coach.

Jennifer Lawrence was very good as Katniss although, she seemed to be constrained by the script. Hutcherson was strong as the guy who loves Katniss but she doesn't return it. Sutherland seemed totally un-leader like and un-presidential in his role. I don’t think it was his fault but the issue resides in a week script. Tucci does the most with his role and, as before, was outstanding. Kravitz role is minor, yet his makes his presence known. Banks was OK as the stager, and Harrelson was strong as the coach. Lastly, Hoffman was good, but the telegraphed way the script had him show that he was part of the resistance, was poor. Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt wrote a lazy, long and uninteresting script. Francis Lawrence had some nice staging but overall the week script kept this film long and not very interesting.

Overall:  A mediocre middle film in this series.