Red Joan

First Hit: Laborious story of a woman who gave away British state secrets.

My intuition told me this film would be a shot in the dark, not the Peter Sellers kind, and it was.

Although, based on the true story of Melita Norwood, here her name is Joan Stanley (Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson as the young Joan).

This movie begins with an eighty plus-year-old Joan (Dench) sitting at home alone when there’s a knock on the door. It’s a special branch of the police and she’s taken away to be questioned.

It’s an okay opener, but the story rises and falls and eventually peters out at the end.

What happened? Why does an eighty plus-year-old woman get arrested? It’s interesting, in that she’s being detained because she’s accused of giving Britain’s atomic bomb secrets away to the Russians during WWII. Was it true? And if so, why did she do this?

These are the questions we hoped would be answered as the investigators probe her for answers while her lawyer son Nick (Ben Miles) sits shocked next to her in the interrogation room. It’s apparent that he knows nothing about his mother’s past.

To develop the story, the film slips back in time when young Joan (played by Cookson), is entering college to get a physics degree. Back in the late 1930s, this was almost unheard of, and throughout the film, there are numerous scenes where she gets mistaken as a coffee or tea server.

Graduating she gets a job as an assistant for Max Davis (Stephen Campbell Moore) one of Britain’s lead researchers for developing the atomic bomb. He hires her because she’s smart and knows she’ll contribute to Britain’s success. The scenes where she proves him right are lovely.

While in college Joan became friends with Sonya Galich (Tereza Srbova) who happened to be linked with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. While socializing with Sonya, she meets Sonya’s brother Leo (Tom Hughes) who is gregarious, smart, handsome, and very active in the party.

When Leo and Sonya learn that Joan is working for Davis on in a project to figure out how to make an atomic bomb, they begin to pressure Joan to share the secrets with them so that they can pass them on to the Russian government.

What put Joan over the top and start supplying the secrets was either her love for Leo or that she really believed that if Russia has the bomb as well as the United States, there would be peace, a stalemate in warlike aggression in the world.

This is where the film falls apart. Neither story was convincing. It wasn’t that these arguments weren’t or couldn’t be valid, I just didn’t believe Joan’s attraction to Leo, and I didn’t think she was credible about the case about a stalemate. I wasn’t convinced.

Dench was OK as the slightly surprised and shaken older Joan for being arrested for a crime some fifty years earlier. Being discovered that she was the person who leaked these secrets and why she leaked them could have been more exciting. Cookson was good as young Joan, but it was either her acting ability, the script or direction that didn’t have me believe Joan was really in love with Leo. Nor, did I think she was anxious about the destruction and death of war. Yes, there were shots of results of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I didn’t get an impassioned sense from Cookson. Moore was beautiful as Britain’s lead researcher on their own atomic bomb project. I believed he really loved Joan. Srbova was strong as one of Russia’s conduits to obtain secrets. She was alluring and stealthy. I didn’t like Hughes’ character Leo, and that was purposeful. He was a user, and Hughes was excellent as that. Miles was okay as Joan’s son who didn’t seem shocked enough that he knew so little about his mom and dad. Lindsay Shapero wrote an uninspired screenplay. Trevor Nunn didn’t get a lot out of this story and his actors.

Overall: This is a great story that lacked inspiration on the screen.

Murder on the Orient Express

First Hit:  I was bored through and through.

I’m not a Kenneth Branagh fan and he doesn’t disappoint here. The whole film from the very beginning was over-done and confusing. The opening sequence is an elongated setup to prove that Hercule Poirot (Branagh) is the very best detective of all time. Solving a crime at the wailing wall where the accused, a priest, a Rabbi, and a Imam are accused of stealing an important object from where an icon stands in a temple. Of course, the world greatest detective pontificates in front of a huge crowd as he explains the story in excruciating detail and finally accuses someone else. The capturing of the real criminal in front of the crowd was too obvious.

His friendship with the director of the Orient Express train from Istanbul to Europe gets him a first-class accommodation on the train. There are numerous characters on the train; Bouc (Tom Batemen), Pilar Estravados (Penelope Cruz), Princess Dragomiroff (Judi Dench), Samuel Ratchett/John Cassetti (Johnny Depp), Hector McQueen (Josh Gad), Edward Henry Masterman (Derek Jacob), Dr. Arbuthnot (Leslie Odom), Caroline Hubbard/Linda Arden (Michelle Pfeiffer), Mary Debenham (Daisy Ridley), Pierre Michel (Marwan Kenzari) and a few others.

The murder of Samuel Rachett/Johnb Cassetti, one night in his cabin, sets Poirot off on finding out who killed him. This is where the film just sinks. It acts as more as a play than a mystery film. The pontificating by Poirot gets old very quick.

The train stopped, because of an avalanche, is supposed to make finding out who the killer is easier. However, everyone has a link to the murder of a young girl many years earlier by Cassetti and therefore everyone is vested in having Ratchett/Cassetti killed.

As Poirot puts the pieces together, the audience has to wait and wade through all the extraneous drama and storytelling.

The showdown scene where he’s going to name the killer Poirot stands in front of a long table with all the others on one side of the table facing him, just like the last supper. Really? This is so over done it becomes tedious just sitting there waiting for the end.

Yes, it is a matter of justice being served correctly and retroactively but the way we get here is a time waster. Branagh comes across as self-important both in the film and of the film. He just can't seem to get out of his own way. His poor direction makes him the standout actor and it’s noticeable. Pfeiffer was probably the best of the lot, as she had a strong role and delivered despite the direction. Depp was mediocre as the villain and he tries to do more with series of looks versus acting. Gad was OK as was the rest of the acting team. Michael Green wrote an Okay script. Given better direction and less Branagh egocentricity of having to be elevated above and separate from the role/film and rest of the cast, it might have been a better or more interesting film.

Overall: This movie was mostly “telling” versus “showing” and because of this, I just had to wait until it was over to leave.

Victoria and Abdul

First Hit: The story was funny, interesting and predictable.

Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) is portrayed as not very interested in her duties or her life. She sleeps through state dinners and when she eats, she scarfs her food down with gusto. During this time, England is a world power and as such, England rules India and therefore she is Empress of India.

During the Queen’s Golden Jubilee (50 years on the throne) leaders of countries came to celebrate and bring the Queen gifts. India sent two Muslim servants to England to present the Queen a special coin. They are told to not look at the Queen when they present the coin. However, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) does look at the Queen and she responds in kind.

Inviting him to be her man servant, he gains her trust and friendship and soon she makes him Mushi, which means teacher. With Abdul, she begins to learn Hindustani and of Indian culture which she thinks is appropriate because she’s Empress of India.

The film is focused on her loyalty to Abdul, his loyalty to serve the Queen, and the Queen’s staff worrying that their relationship is inappropriate because he is different and beneath them. There are comical scenes, sad scenes and scenes that share information about the rules of the time.

Dench was perfect as someone who was lost in the boredom of her role as a Queen only to come alive with new interest and energy by way of Abdul. Fazal was excellent as Abdul. His expressions of both wonder at the spectacle of it all and the seriousness of his role as Mushi were very engaging. Eddie Izzard (as Bertie, Prince of Wales) was very good as the resistant son who wanted Abdul gone because without him the Queen’s general health was becoming worse which put him closer to the throne. His cruelty as he takes the throne is horrible. Lee Hall wrote a very good script that brought this story to life. Stephen Frears did a nice job of sharing the story. He provided a plausibility while shedding light on their relationship and deep caring for each other.

Overall: It was entertaining and informative.

Tulip Fever

First Hit:  This film personifies the idea that having wonderful actors doesn’t mean the film will be good; this one isn’t.

How can a film with Judi Dench, Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Zach Galifianakis, Jack O’Connell, and Tom Hollander be so unentertaining? Easy have a lousy script and screenplay and a director that didn't see the problems and fix them.

An Abbess (Dench) takes in lost children and raises them to be taken into homes, be married or become an apprentice nun. One of her grown children is Sophia (Vikander) who is solicited for marriage by a wealthy Amsterdam spice trader named Cornelis Sandvoort (Waltz).

This story takes place when the Dutch in Netherlands become infatuated with Tulips. The bulbs of particular flowering types are auctioned for enormous sums of money. They are bought and sold, as commodities in a riotous bar and brothel near the canals.

Sandvoort is much older and is looking for a wife to bear him a child, preferably a boy. He’s proud of his new young wife, Sophia, and commissions a young painter, Jan Van Loos (Dane DeHaan), to paint a portrait of them.

The film shows their live as very routine and their nightly unenthusiastic sexual attempts to conceive. as time goes by, they become disheartened.

Meanwhile their maid Maria (Holliday Grainger), is having an affair with Willem Brok (O’Connell) and she becomes pregnant. By buying and selling a particular tulip, Willem makes enough money to marry Maria, however he thinks he sees Maria having an affair with the painter, Jan, and in shock and being distraught, leaves Amsterdam without saying goodbye.

The mistake was made because Sophia took Maria’s coat to hide herself while going to see her new lover the artist, Van Loos. Sophia is in love and wants to leave Sandvoort and escape with the artist. To make enough money he gets involved in the tulip options market which is regulated and controlled, in part, by the Abbess. However, the blossom is falling from the tulip market and bidding becomes stagnant. He's panicked that he cannot make enough money.

I won’t bore you with more of this plot but the intense part of the film has to do with fooling Sandvoort about pregnancies and Sophia’s very life.

Vikander did the best she could do with the part. Waltz was strong as the wealthy merchant and his “first to flower, first to fall” line was quintessential Waltz. Dench was good in her limited role as Abbess and tulip controller. Galifianakis was very good as Gerrit, the drunk who lets Jan down. DeHann was okay as the young idealist painter. Hollander was very good as well as Dr. Sorgh, the guy who helps the deception of childbirth. O’Connell was great as the man who loves and eventually comes back to his love. Grainger was fantastic in her role as maid and friend to Sophia. Deborah Moggach and Tom Stoppard wrote a poorly conceived screenplay. Justin Chadwick directed this mess. The overly dark scenes of Amsterdam, Netherlands canal districts with constant fighting, drinking and debauchery didn’t add to this film whatsoever.

Overall:  This film was uninteresting and lagged from beginning to end.

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

First Hit:  At times funny and joyous while at other times it seemed to be trying to tell too many sub-stories.

There is always a risk in creating a follow-on film because of the comparison between it and the original. Sometimes films move the same character into a totally different situation, others expand or further develop the original storyline. Here we have the later.

Making a success of the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, proprietor Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) and Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) have set their sights on adding a new hotel to their mix. They make a pitch for co-financing with a San Diego company.

Then we have Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) and Douglas Ainslie (Bill Nighy) are still dancing around getting together as a couple – “we aren’t together, but we aren’t not together”. And, Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) is still trying to decide whom to settle down with. Then there's Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) and Carol Parr (Diana Hardcastle) who are testing each other about the exclusivity or non-exclusivity of their relationship.

Besides these stories and other smaller stories and then there is the major story of Sonny and Sunaina (Tina Desai) planning and having their wedding - which is treated as a second hand story. Then there is this story about a hotel inspection by Guy Chambers (Richard Gere) who happens to fall in love with Sonny’s mother Mrs. Kapoor (Lillete Dubey). Their interaction lacked chemistry which is unfortunate because it could have been a interesting story (for a follow-on film).

There is a lot going on in the film and it’s great that the director wanted to tell something of all the stories, however it became distracting.

Patel is a wonderful personality and his joy in what he does brings his character to life. Smith is really great as a dour person. There are moments of shared internal dialogue that are wonderful as well. Dench is strong as someone who wants to reach out and is afraid to take the step. Nighy is amazing and is such a joy in this film. The film is much better with him in it. Imrie is really good as someone who is doing her best to settle down. Pickup was OK as someone who likes his fantasies but wants to be in reality. Hardcastle is strong as the woman who wants a full relationship but tries to be less monogamous. Desai is joyous to watch as the bride to be. Gere is OK as the hotel inspector want-to-be writer. While Dubey was just OK as Sonny’s mother. Ol Parker wrote the screenplay which was a bit too busy. John Madden captured lots of the Indian magic of Jaipur – one of my favorite cities in India.

Overall:  I enjoyed the film. I liked seeing the city of Jaipur again but felt that there were too many strong stories being expressed.