A Quiet Place

First Hit: Well done film and the silence of the actors made all the difference in the world.

The film takes out all the drama of how these aliens arrived and take over the planet by starting at day 89.

We surmise through captions of their sign language, that the Abbott family is one of just a few families surviving the alien invasion. Husband Lee (John Krasinski), wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt), and children Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe), and Beau (Cade Woodward) are introduced scavaging through an empty store, in a vacant town, for food and supplies.

The aliens cannot see but have a highly-developed sense of hearing. They hunt for their food by listening and attacking. Therefore no one talks and uses sign language. Due to a child’s curiosity and desire to play with a toy, he turns on one of the toys they get from the store and the noise elicits a swift response and killing of Beau early in the film.

This was an effective way for the audience to become anxious of any noise the characters make during the scenes. When Evelyn becomes pregnant with a child, I sat their shocked because I know how much noise a baby makes let alone the noise the mother may make giving birth.

The film moves along in time by showing a graphic of how many days have gone by; we assume that it’s the number of days after the alien invasion.

We learn that there are other survivors because in the evening Lee lights a fire on top of a tower and as he looks around the valley and hills we see other fires.

The careful laying of sand on the paths they walk show a thoughtful detail that enhances the films successfulness. Adding to this is a family drama of Regan thinking her dad doesn’t love her because she assisted her youngest in getting the toy that caused his demise. She’s also deaf which did two things: Created a way for the family to be very adept at sign language and for Lee to find ways to help her daughter by experimenting with hearing aids that also sent signals to directly through her skull.

Suspense is high in this film and the noise level is low which made for a great combination.

Krasinski was wonderful as father, husband and champion of keeping his family alive and well. Loved the hike he took with Marcus to help him move through his fear. Blunt was fantastic. Her expressions of love and fear were remarkable. Having the baby in the circumstances the film sets up, was amazing. Simmonds was truly a gift in this film. She carried her struggle at being different, smart and independent in a sublime way. Jupe was excellent as the middle child who feared their circumstance the most, yet became heroic. Bryan Woods and Scott Beck wrote a wonderful screenplay that elicited curious suspense. Krasinski did an excellent job directing this story, wife and himself.

Overall: One of the better horror films I’ve seen in that loud noise wasn’t used to try to shock and scare me.

The Girl on the Train

First Hit:  Although I was appropriately confused at the beginning, the story came together nicely at the end and Blunt’s acting was sublime.

I’ve said this before, I do not read fiction novels because if a film is made from it, I'm generally disappointed. Good books do a great job of creating images and flow inside the reader’s brain. Films from books are versions of the screenwriter's and directors (and sometimes producer’s) internal images. Film is a different medium and therefore telling a story has some limitations but almost unlimited visual options to tell the story. Failures of books I've read that totally disappointed me on the screen are Ayn Rand books and the Harry Potter books. The films based on Rand books were complete dogs. The Potter films failed in more ways than one compared to the books. This book, "The Girl on the Train", must have been enthralling because in 2015 it spent 13 weeks at the top of the national bestseller list. From what I saw in the film, I can see why they liked it. The screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson seemed very clear about how this story would unfold. Using multiple narrators, the director used captions to push the story back and forth in time, I was fascinated with Rachel’s (Emily Blunt - narrator) unraveling, the back and forth of being drunk and sober and then pulling it together revealing the truth. Rachel was married to Tom (Justin Theroux), she had a drinking problem and he divorced her for Anna (Rebecca Ferguson - narrator). On a daily basis Rachel use to look at her old house, now occupied by her former husband and Anna, from the train window. She also would see a couple whom she thought were the perfect couple a few houses down from her old home. This couple, Scott and Megan (respectively Luke Evans and Haley Bennett – narrator), would appear through the window of the train to always be happy and loving each other. However, the true story about Rachel, Anna, and Megan’s lives would reveal themselves to be different than the Rachel’s drunk, through the train's window, version. A murder happens and it’s up to Detective Riley (Allison Janney) to provide clues and pressure allowing Rachel to discover the truth about herself and what happened.

Blunt was amazingly sublime. She was perfect in her drunk and sober selves. The subtle transitions, movements and actions between these selves was true with my experience of alcohol abuse. I would not be surprised and actually expect her to be nominated for an Oscar. Theroux was good, however the depth to his characters’ intensity and darkness wasn’t fleshed out enough. Ferguson was an interesting character and I really liked how she was able to make her role work and also show more of Theroux’s character. Bennett was strong as a difficult character to like or understand. She did a great job of showing a troubled woman’s fight to open up and be authentic. Evans was very strong as the intense husband who was also an intense controlling type person. Janney was very good in her more minor role as a police detective trying to piece together a murder. Wilson wrote a strong script which appeared to be from a very complex book by Paula Hawkins. Tate Taylor had a very clear vision of what he wanted to see and to keep it paced to have this film work. I could have imagined this film to be really long given the complexity of the plot, but Taylor clearly didn’t want the audience to be bored and trusted that they would piece together the various story pieces he was presenting.

Overall:  This was a complex story and Blunt’s superb acting brought this story together.

The Huntsman: Winter's War

First Hit:  A misguided film with a weak story and little relevancy.

As actors go, I like Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. I’m not a huge fan of Chris Hemsworth as he’s shown little range in his acting.

Here, Theron (as Ravenna) plays the ruler of a huge kingdom that gets bigger all the time. She has a powerful magic mirror that tells her that she’s the fairest of them all, although Snow White in another kingdom ranks right up there - really?

Ravenna’s sister Queen Freya (Blunt) is subservient to her sister but when she falls in love and gets pregnant, the mirror tells Ravenna that the baby, when born, will be the fairest in the land. Ravenna is not going to let this happen and sets up so that the baby is killed.

Freya doesn't know her sister killed her baby and is so hurt she finds her inner anger and power (turning things into ice) and heads off to find her own kingdom where love is not allowed. She is so cold she steals children from families that her army’s defeat while turning those orphaned children into more soldiers to conquer more lands.

Two of her earliest child recruits Sara (Chastain) and Erin/Huntsman (Hemsworth) turn into her premier soldiers who continue to bring back new children soldier recruits along with new conquered lands. However they find love and .... the story becomes muddled mess while Sara and Eric end up with midgets as their supporters and the scenes fill with fairies and other odd beings become part of the storyline. Somehow they all want the missing and ever powerful mirror. The best thing about the film was some of the background scenery but little else.

Theron was appropriately evil as the person who needed to be driven by her beauty and ego. Likewise, Blunt was appropriately cold as the Ice Queen but the story let her down as well. Chastain had the most interesting role as a warrior who also wanted love. Hemsworth was his typical warrior self with tongue-in-cheek comments there to make him interesting. Evan Spiliotopoulos and Craig Mazin wrote this script trying to find a story. It was almost as if there were great actors wanting to fulfill their commitments, so a script was thrown together for them to fulfill their contracts. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan directed this aimless script. He attempted to make a film of it by putting the scenes in order with some nice pictures. In the end the story and film didn't work.

Overall:  This was a waste of time and the story doesn’t deserve the actors in the film.

Sicario

First Hit:  A strong drug war film that digs into ways the government is bending rules to gain some control over Mexican cartels.

I liked this film more the day after (the day I’m writing this) than I did watching it.

I’m not sure why, except maybe the jurisdictional confusions created by Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) of the CIA and Kate Mercer (Emily Blunt) of the FBI and assorted other agencies like the DOD and local and Mexican police agencies continued to process in my brain through the night.

While watching it I wanted more clarity about why Mercer was involved, why Graver’s associate Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) seemed so cold, perverse and with purpose.

The story revolves around a way that the US Government is trying to control the influx of drugs from Mexico along with the mindless killing of Mexicans that come across the border into this country. The initial scene is what sets this tone.

Blunt is wonderful. She plays the rule following toughened agent very well. Brolin is good and at times I thought he was too flippant to be a government agent. Del Toro was superb. His steely resolve in this character was perfect. Daniel Kaluuya (as FBI agent Reggie Wayne) was very good and a great co-companion of Blunt’s character. Taylor Sheridan wrote a script that, at times, seemed overly complex or confusing. Dennis Villeneuve did an excellent job of directing this story, through the complexities as well as the more direct violent scenes.

Overall:  This film grew on me after seeing it, which is a good thing.

Into The Woods

First Hit:  Outside a few funny bits, I was mostly bored.

I know better than to go to musicals. They are a genre of films I find, for the most part, distasteful.

There have been a few where the music is more clearly a part of the film and its dialogue works. Here many of the lyrics seem to be developed just to create amusement all while the singer is singing the song seriously.

I kept hoping for the film to end and it just wouldn’t. Crisping it up to 90 minutes might have helped but the major issue I saw was that the filmmakers tried to take three fairy tales, create an additional fourth and then encompass the first three into an interesting story. It didn't work for me.

Anna Kendrick (as Cinderella) and Meryl Streep (as the Witch) can clearly sing. The songs failed them. Emily Blunt as the Baker’s wife can also sing well. James Corden as the Baker was expressive. I found that the singing of Lilla Crawford (Little Red Riding Hood) and Daniel Huttlestone (as Jack in the Beanstock fame) to be too much. There was simply too much singing from them. It caused me to dislike their characters. Johnny Depp (as the Big Bad Wolf) was wasteful and uninspired. And although Chris Pine was pretty much tongue-in-cheek the entire time, he was amusing. James Lapine wrote the screenplay and it failed in most all aspects. Rob Marshall directed this in a darkened unclear way.

Overall:  This was truly a forgetful film.