The Front Runner

First Hit: I liked the feel of the film in that it felt almost documentary like versus a deep dive into the character(s).

Like Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) the candidate himself, the film didn’t go into his feelings or into the deeply personal aspects of the main character. Gary, as portrayed here, only wanted it to be about good ideas, a government that runs well, a government that focuses on people, and a strong ethical honest government.

The problem is that he didn’t think the public's opinion about his ethics towards his marriage and wife mattered. Gary comes across as if the big picture of what he represented for government was the only thing worth discussing and everything else he was above discussing. This was his downfall, because as we know, people must also relate to a Presidential candidate at a personal level as well and if they cannot, any flaws that are publicly played out will find a life of their own and possibly doom the candidacy.

His wife, Lee Hart (Vera Farmiga), liked her life living on a Colorado ranch and didn’t like engaging with and traveling with Gary as he campaigned for President. The scenes where Gary and Lee are together, were strong in how they related to each other at a level that worked for them and maybe it wasn’t typical.

In one scene, Lee states, “I only asked that you not embarrass me.” He did embarrass Lee and did so by attending a gathering of supporters on a boat called “Monkey Business” where he met a young woman named Donna Rice (Sara Paxton). The press then, and a little in the film, made fun of where he met Donna Rice, a young beautiful blonde and smart (graduated “summa cum laude”) woman. Hart’s disdain for the party and the people on the boat, except Donna, is aptly shown.

In press interviews, like on the boat, Gary only wanted to talk about the important stuff and this philosophy was echoed by his campaign manager Bill Dixon (J.K. Simmons). They didn’t want to appear on food shows or go to fairs in Iowa. He didn’t want to be asked about what he liked and, on the occasion, where he’d show up to a public event, like the lumberjack contest, he wanted to be seen as honest, strong, and the man with the answers who could also throw an axe.

The film floats, with distance from all the characters, from scene to scene. We pop into press briefings, strategy sessions, team meetings, telephone calls, press interviews. Everything is done with some distance except when Donna and Irene Kelly (Molly Ephraim) spend time together as Donna gets moved out of Washington DC, where she had a tryst with Gary, and back to Miami FL.

The scene when Donna goes down the escalator in Miami’s airport is heartbreaking because she’s alone and Irene can no longer help her. Irene sitting at the bar, is so telling.

With a slight distance, we watch newspaper editors discussing covering Hart and reporters doing their job of digging up stories that either support or do not support the candidate. The Washington Post reporter Roy Valentine (Nyasha Hatendi) interview with Gary and the press interview where Roy asks very poignant questions were very powerful scenes. The breakdown of Gary’s façade was perfect.

When his team learns, that Gary is leaving the presidential race, the team, who so believed in him, are disappointed, and it shows.

Jackman was excellent as the handsome, smart politician with great hair, Gary Hart. His ability to keep people at a distance, while drawing them in with his ideas was perfect. Farmiga was wonderful as Lee Hart. Her hurt was appropriately displayed while showing her strong independent nature as well. Hatendi was outstanding as the reporter learning the ropes of asking the hard questions. Loved the scene in the final press briefing Gary gave. Ephraim was sublime as the key woman on Gary’s campaign team, who also had a heart. When she asked Gary at dinner about how Donna was doing, his response showed so well on her face. Simmons was great as Gary’s campaign manager. His distaste for making it personal was perfectly aligned with Gary’s view of the world, until it didn’t. Paxton was wonderful as Donna. I loved her telling Irene about her previous boyfriends over drinks. Matt Bai, Jay Carson, Jason Reitman wrote a strong telling script that was well executed by director Reitman.

Overall: I liked how story played out on film.

Tully

First Hit: I was genuinely surprised by the ending of this powerful film about motherhood.

Marlo (Charlize Theron) is 9 months pregnant, mother of two other children Emmy (Maddie Dixon-Poirer) and Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica), and wife to Craig (Mark Duplass). The family home is rather chaotic and stems, in-part, because of Jonah’s “quirky” presence and because motherhood has wiped her out and taken her spirit.

Craig is a good husband, it is apparent that he loves his wife and does support the family process by doing their children’s homework with them and helping Marlo to make the children’s lunches. There is a scene towards the end of the film that shows this sweetness and togetherness.

Marlo’s brother Drew (Ron Livingston) has made it financially and as his new baby gift to his sister offers to pay for a night nanny to assist his worn-out sister.

She resists because she perceives that this will show weakness and a lack of ability. After the new baby arrives, her worn out life gets worse and there is little she can do given the pressure of Jonah’s school is asking her to remove Jonah because of his “quirky” behavior, along with trying to meet the new baby’s needs.

She resigns herself to making the call to a night nanny. Tully (Mackenzie Davis) arrives one evening with a bright open smile, lots of empathy, and skills far beyond her age of 26. Each evening Tully arrives and takes over the care of the new baby Mia. She brings Mia up to Marlo for the night feedings, sits and watches until the feeding is complete, and takes Mia back downstairs.

Tully, also cleans the house, bakes cupcakes and does lots of other things that release Marlo from the heaviness of raising a newborn at night. Because she’s now getting sleep, Marlo becomes more present and active with her children and starts to make elaborate meals for her family instead of the “frozen pizza” dinner she often throws down.

Tully and Marlo become friends and what they share together slowly reveals who Marlo is, who Tully is, and Marlo's love for Craig.

This film speaks directly and pointedly to the difficulties many women have being a mother. For this alone, many men need to see this film.

Theron is dynamic in this role. Not only did she put on about fifty pounds to make the role feel real for her and the audience, her embodiment of the frustration of raising children was spot on. Davis as Tully was amazing. I loved her joyful embrace of being an empathetic, smart, supportive nanny. Duplass was very good as the caring loving husband who needed to learn more about helping his wife. Dixon-Poirer was wonderful as the daughter. Her slow emerging as part of the family was great. Fallica was excellent as the quirky young boy. His ability to slowly evolve as Marlo evolves was perfect. Diablo Cody wrote an excellent script and the film’s direction by Jason Reitman made this story come alive through great acting.

Overall: I was truly moved by the representation of motherhood, family, and life as this film unfolded.

Men, Women & Children

First Hit:  Interesting film about how social media is navigated and used.

I’m not a big Social Media person. I have a Facebook account which I look at about once every six months and I’ve a twitter account that I used 5 times 2 years ago.

However my company uses these and other social media vehicles to help us be seen and to grow our presence. In this film we have a paranoid mother Patricia (Jennifer Garner) monitoring every interaction her daughter Brandy (Kaitlyn Dever) has in her social media accounts. All except a secret account where Brandy dresses up and posts pictures as someone else.

She begins to like and meet up with Tim (Ansel Elgort), a loner guy whose mom left him and his dad and he’s wondering if life is worthwhile. His mom posts her adventures in California with new boyfriend on Social Media - then blocks his access to her account. Then there is Hannah Clint (Olivia Crocicchia) whose mother Donna (Judy Greer) takes suggestive photos of her and posts them for payment and view by clients.

There is also Don and Patricia Truby (Adam Sandler and Rosemarie DeWitt respectively) who have lost sexual interest in each other and use websites to find sexual partners. There were a lot of stories in this film and above were only some of them.

The point, which it did well, was to highlight how over control, under awareness, and not knowing what is going on with your child or partner leads to interesting uses of social media. With social media we separate ourselves and don’t talk face to face.

Conversely, we also will use it to also connect with strangers, call them “friends” although we don’t know them, and create relationships. Scenes where people were walking in shopping malls and school halls with their phone’s text message bubbles over them while they walk, heads down, looking at their screens was very telling.

Sandler was good as the man and husband who has lost his way and finds that treading old water won’t be helpful. The last scene in the kitchen with this wife as very good. DeWitt was very strong as the wife who was looking for some excitement in her life. Garner was so over the top (in a good way) and great as the paranoid mother. Dever was wonderful as the young girl hamstringed by her mom (Garner) and finding strength to live her life. Crocicchia was perfect as the girl who would do anything to be on reality TV and who thinks that what she looks like is the most important thing. Greer is very good as the mom who wanted to be a Hollywood star, didn’t make it, so she pushed and sold her daughter’s beauty. Elgort was excellent as the boy, who lost his mom, and was trying to make sense of his life and what was important. Additionally Elania Kampouris was very effective as the girl who made a guy’s opinion of her more important than her own opinion of herself. Chad Kultgen and Jason Reitman wrote the interesting but a bit too scattered script and Reitman got good performances out of his actors and the script.

Overall:  I think the story tried to tell too many stories and therefore there wasn’t enough depth in any one of them.

Labor Day

First Hit:  What was disappointing about this film was that it didn’t seem realistic.

Why would someone who’s hiding from the law, be so openly visible through the front windows and in the backyard? He was supposed to be hiding.

This is what I kept thinking while the story on the screen unfolded. Did I like the basis of the story? Yes, but it was this poor direction about the story that made it not work. We had great actors working with a reasonably good script/story and ignore the reason behind the story - one of the main characters was hiding out. An emotional and feeling based story, such as this, must also be logical in its execution.

Adele (Kate Winslet) is a depressed mother of a young pre-teen boy who, as we learned, is depressed because of 4 miscarriages and a stillborn child she had. These events put her into a tailspin from which she couldn’t escape. Her then husband wasn't strong enough to help her so he left. Her son, Henry (Gattlin Griffith), tries to be everything to his mom, her only friend, her housemate, and the man to do the chores around the house to help her survive.

In an infrequent outing to a store, Henry gets corralled by Frank (Josh Brolin) who is an escaped criminal. Frank talks Henry and Adele into letting him stay there a few hours which turns into a weekend. What we learn is that Frank, despite his physical presence of strength, is thoughtful, kind, wants to be helpful, is smart and cares.

His background story is told in flashbacks, that aren't very well scripted or put together - but the audience does figure it out. His strength of character comes through as he becomes a strong male role model for Henry by showing him how to hit a baseball (yes, they’re all openly in the backyard though he’s supposed to be hiding out). He cleans the house and fixes things a "man" might around the house. His coup-de-grace is that he shows Adele and Henry how to make a pie (this is a turning point scene).

However, despite engaged actors, the scenes weren’t congruent with the story – someone hiding out trying to escape being captured.

Winslet clearly knew how to take this role and deliver it. Griffith is really engaging as Henry and he did a good job of being both protective and open to change. Brolin was commanding of the screen when he was in it. Almost too commanding. Jason Reitman wrote and directed this film from Joyce Maynard’s novel. Felt that the screenplay was more effective than the direction which seemed too loose with the hideout theme.

Overall:  Just didn’t hit the mark.

Young Adult

First Hit: Theron fully embodies this depressed disillusion woman’s journey to the past.

There were multiple great and wonderful scenes in this film and a couple of the ones that I thought captured the depth of the character were: When Beth’s (played by Elizabeth Reaser) band, Nipple Confusion,  dedicated and played a song for Beth's husband Buddy (played by Patrick Wilson). This song was Mavis (played by Charlize Theron) and Buddy’s song in high school.

As the band and Beth played their heart out, Mavis’s face moves from one feeling to the another all encased with this semi stoic shocked looked. She was angry, hurt, and marginalized all in one place and time. All of these feelings were clearly transmitted to the audience.

Adding to the impact, her heart begins to beat so hard and strong with this pent up hurt and frustration and shock that that the gold heart necklace hanging around her neck starts to move with each beat of her heart.

Another amazing scene was the climactic scene where family and friends are at Beth and Buddy’s house for the baby naming party. Mavis goes off on everyone, especially Beth, noting that she thinks it should have been her and Buddy’s baby they were naming not Beth and Buddy’s.

A very rich scene carried off with pointed revealing clarity. I also loved her slightly off key singing of Buddy and her song over and over again as Mavis drove to her old town of Mercury, Minnesota to steal Buddy away from his current life and wife. The other strong story in this film is of another high school acquaintance named Matt (played by Patton Oswalt).

Matt had a locker next to Mavis but when they meet in an old bar, Mavis only really connects with who Matt is after he tells her that he was the guy all the jocks nearly killed because they thought he was gay (which he wasn’t). He is also caught in a life based on the past, but his is holding on to the pain of what was done to him by others.

These two continually meet up to share their depressed sadness with each other and the ore we watch them the more we know they are so very much alike.

Theron was amazing at embodying this depressed, alcoholic and living in the past character. The subtleties of her work through her expressionless and expressing eyes along with her body language was amazing. Reaser was perfect as Buddy’s wife. Confident in her relationship with Buddy and also with who she is made for a perfect character. Wilson was very good as the husband who really loves his wife and daughter along with being clear about what he was about. Oswalt was very strong as the guy who was holding on to his pain as a badge for his depressed introverted life. Louisa Krause played the hotel front desk girl so well she deserves a mention. Mavis’s Pomeranian dog was way too cute and deserves credit. Diablo Cody wrote a very strong crisp script. Jason Reitman directed this film cleanly and well getting the most of the script and actors.

Overall: I really enjoyed this film and realized at some time or another, people look back thinking that their high school days were where they were their best. This film shows you that this view probably isn’t true.