Ian McKellen

The Good Liar

First Hit: I loved seeing refined actors Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren parry their way through this story.

McKellen, playing Roy Courtnay, is confidence flim-flam man. He bilks people out of their money with confidence schemes.

In initial scenes, we see him setting up to dupe, what we think are a couple of Russians out of money. As the con unfolds, we learn differently because of the twist in the second meeting. Roy appears trustworthy and it is not lost on the people being conned that this is because he’s old and creates an air of age-old trust and confidence. His leading partner in his schemes is Vincent (James Carter).

Mirren, as Betty McLeish, is introduced to us by showing her entering information on the “Distinctive Dating” site. She lives in a tranquil neighborhood, is a widow, and has a son. Her son Stephen (Russell Tovey) is portrayed as working in Germany as a researcher, visiting his mom often, and being very productive of her

Roy knows that he can find well-to-do women on this dating site and maybe con one of these women out of their money. He sets his sights on Betty.

Betty and Roy email back and forth and then meet at a restaurant. It’s a sweet setting, and the dialogue is disarming, but because we know Roy’s intent, we worry for Betty. They both confess that the names they put on their website profiles are fake, and this confession brings them closer.

Roy tells Vincent that Betty might be worth a couple hundred thousand pounds and they begin their plot to con her. The sticking point is that Roy begins to like Betty. At least, that’s what we are supposed to believe. It was hard to buy Roy’s suddenly becoming attracted to Betty because it has been revealed that he is playing the doddering old man and is really an experienced and sharp-as-a-tack swindler.

As Roy and Vincent begin to run their scam, Stephen speaks out several times, letting Roy and Betty know that he thinks this relationship is going too fast, and when Roy moves into Betty’s spare bedroom, he’s on high alert. Vincent and Roy also learn that she’s worth well over two million pounds, and with this knowledge they salivate at this potentially huge score.

Roy and Betty plan a trip to Germany together to celebrate their relationship. After arriving in Berlin, Stephen surprisingly shows up to be their tour guide. The very surprised and wary Roy is led to a room in a building where Roy’s real past is partially exposed. Stephen has done his research. This set of scenes allowed me to figure out the ending early, though there are numerous other twists after these events.

However, know that nothing is really telegraphed in this film, and the additional twists and turns make this storyline work.

Eventually, Roy and Betty decide to spend their time together in a more permanent way and determine that by combining their bank accounts they can take advantage of some investment opportunities and tax advantages as outlined by Vincent.

When the scheme unfolds in full bloom, just deserts are well served and wonderfully delivered.

McKellen was excellent as Roy. It’s lovely to see him get a juicy role that allows him to be different characters. As Roy he had to slide from one to the other effortlessly and quickly. Mirren always delivers her role in a way that makes it believable. She can be soft and vulnerable and fierce all within a single scene, and it works well here as she is outstanding. Carter was also strong as Roy’s partner. He’s so smooth when presenting his investment scheme knowing just when to back off and let the target finish the selling job for him. Tovey was perfect as the “son” of Betty, who tied all the pieces of the puzzle together and made the story work. Mark Lewis Jones, as Bryn, one of Roy and Vincent’s earlier targets, was solid. Jeffrey Hatcher wrote an excellent screenplay. Bill Condon let these veteran actors come alive.

Overall: It was fun to watch veterans work together to make this story come alive.

Beauty and the Beast (3-D)

First Hit:  Although sweet enough, this film is why I generally don’t like musicals.

Those that have read me for years know I’m particular about and generally not a fan of musicals. The songs have got to work, not take me out of the flow and feeling of the film, and make sense. Songs that are difficult to understand or take too much thought, or fail to help the film’s flow, are not worth singing or having in the film. This movie fails to meet my tolerance levels from the get go and therefore it was hard for me to sit through it.

In the prologue, prior to being introduced to the oddity of Beauty (aka Belle - Emma Watson) and the townsfolk, the film sets up the reason why we have the Beast (Dan Stevens). He’s full of himself and because he doesn’t care about anyone else, a spell is put on him by the Enchantress (“Agatha” - Hattie Moran) that damns him and others around him to a life of non-humanness unless he is loved by another. The Enchantress gives him until the last petal of a rose, encased in a glass cover, falls to find someone to love him. When the last petal falls, he dies and the others are doomed to a life as inanimate objects.

After the brief prologue, we segue back into the local town we have Belle prancing and walking through town with the townsfolk singing out how odd she is because she reads books. Because we’ve no other background, except knowing that her dad Maurice (Kevin Kline) is a tinkerer, lives with his daughter and her mother is long gone; were just suppose to believe she's odd. It was hard for me to believe this. The film story just wants us to believe this "oddity" story.

Belle is being wooed by Gaston (Luke Evans) who is all brawn (self-labeled) and no brains. Belle sees through Gaston and spurns him at every pass. Gaston’s man Friday LeFou (Gosh Gad), is one of the best parts of this film with fanfare, flair, and a jousting way, he quips through this role only to backtrack on them later.

One of the difficulties of listening to the songs was that Watson’s singing was overly processed and, at times, sounded like it was through a vocoder and unnatural. I’m not sure if this was done for effect or because Watson doesn’t have the kind of singing voice that worked for the character. This use of processing singing voices cropped up in multiple places throughout this film.

Although many of the characters were cute, Lumiere (Ewan McGregor), Maestro Cadenza (Stanley Tucci), Cogsworth (Ian McKellen), Mrs. Potts (Emma Thompson), Madame de Gerderobe (Audra McDonald), Chip (Nathan Mack) and Plumette (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), I only found an occasional enjoyment watching their interaction with each other and with Beauty or the Beast.

For the most part, within fifteen seconds after a song started I wanted it to end as these songs were taking me out of story.

Watson was good and believable as Belle, although I really didn’t like what was done to her voice when singing. Her slight English accent and obvious intelligence was helpful in making this film seem enchanting. Kline was even keeled, believable and strong as Belle’s father. His character felt grounded. Stevens was OK as the Beast although the CG Beast was what the audience mostly experienced. Only in the beginning and end did we have Stevens as the Prince. Evans was good as the swashbuckling Gaston. Gad was the best part of this film. He was funny and was obviously committed to his role. The remaining of the actors were basically CG objects for most of the film which makes reviewing their work difficult. Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos were responsible for the screenplay. Given it is an established story, their modifications were OK. Bill Condon had a clear vision of what he wanted and for the most part it was executed well, however it just isn’t my cup of tea.

Overall:  My wife loved the film, and I was occasionally amused and mostly bored because the songs took away from the actual story.

Holmes

First Hit:  A slow meandering beginning that builds momentum towards being a more interesting film at the end.

This film is about forgiveness, aging, kindness, facts and uncovering the real story of Sherlock Holmes.

We meet Sherlock (Ian McKellen) when he’s 93 years old. He’s retired, has difficulty remembering things, his housekeeper Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney) and her son Roger (Milo Parker) are his only touch with the outside world.

He thinks that Mr. Watson reimagined his detective exploits into interesting books/stories. He’s hung up on his last case, what happened, and why he quit being a detective.

The film traces brief memories of what happened and when we do the film transports us back to that time. McKellen plays both parts and it almost works. Him being the doddering forgetful old man and the younger Sherlock who is logical and only thinking about and using the facts to deduce his actions. When he realizes the times in his life he could have been more compassionate, the film softens and lands beautifully.

McKellen was great as a 93 year old man whose faculties are failing him. His covering up his forgetfulness (looking at his sleeve for the boy’s name) juxtaposed with the times he’s feeling full of himself (swimming with Roger) was really good. Linney did great in a very restrained role where she eventually embraces her lot as Holmes rewards her loyalty. Parker was very strong as the curious, inventive, thoughtful, and independent boy and friend of Holmes. He was the best part of the film. Mitch Cullin and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a up and down script, which at times was too doddering. Bill Condon did a great job of sharing the beautiful English countryside and some of the interior shots were very effective. The story was too slow to start which I think he could have made different.

Overall:  A strong good film, but not in the upper echelon.

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