The Death of Stalin

First Hit: There are very funny moments, but I couldn’t help but wonder was his regime filled with that much personal corruptness? Probably.

One of the beginning scenes has Stalin’s chief calling the radio station asking Andreyev (Paddy Considine) to call Stalin directly in 17 minutes. The ensuing discussion between Andreyev and Sergei (Tom Brooke), his co-producer, about when the 17 minutes are up was hilarious. Was it when the phone rang? Was it when he said call him back in 17 minutes? Was it when he hung up the phone?

This dialogue sets the stage about the power Stalin (Adrian McLoughlin) wielded in Russia. Everyone jumped at his every word and wanted to do no wrong or they’d be shot or sent to prison never to be heard from again. They had to get it right.

When Andreyev does call back and Stalin says he wants a recording of the live program he just heard them broadcast, they panic because they didn’t record the concert. So he rushes back into the concert hall, makes everyone sit down in their seats, and perform the concert all over again. Hilarious and pointed in that it notes the fear Stalin put into everyone.

Stalin’s governing group includes his Chief of Staff and second in command Georgy Malenkov (Jeffrey Tambor), Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale), Vyacheslav Molotov (Michael Palin), and Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi). This small group with a couple others are all vying to be the next in line and try to create power plays.

When Stalin has a stroke because of a note Maria Veniaminovna Yudina (Olga Kurylenko) sends him, the film then goes to additional funny scenes including Stalin’s governing group kneeling and not kneeling next to Stalin’s body as it lay there on the floor because he had pissed himself was hilarious.

The rest of the film deals with who will get control of the country and how will they do it. It plays through a funny set of scenes around Stalin’s lying in state and his funeral. There are so many funny bits in this film, I’d have to see it again to take it all in, but one thing is clear, what was portrayed was totally possible.

Considine was perfect as the befuddle producer who wanted to make sure he did what Stalin wanted. His questions to his co-producer and then the scenes of how he made the audience go through the performance again was priceless. Brooke was excellent as co-producer who knew well enough to only provide an opinion but not take any responsibility for the concert recording. McLoughlin was wonderful as Stalin. He even looked like some of the pictures I’d seen of him. His casual cruelty was clearly apparent. Tambor was particularly funny as second in command. Always walking a fine line and choosing many different sides as the film went on. Beale was perfect as the plodding technocrat looking for a leg up on the others in the ruling party. Buscemi was sublime as Khrushchev. His slow plotting a takeover obviously worked because he became the President of The Soviet Union. Kurylenko was wonderful as the piano player who instigated Stalin’s demise. Andrea Riseborough as Svetlana, Stalin’s daughter was wonderful. Armando Iannucci, David Schneider, and Ian Martin wrote an engagingly smart funny script. Plenty of history thrown was thrown into this mix of pointed funny scenes. Iannucci did a great job of directing this excellent comedy.

Overall:  This film has enough historical references to make it relevant and by adding comedy a fun way to see history.

The Water Diviner

First Hit:  Although it lagged at times, it was a well meaning story and was thoughtful in the characterizations of specific individuals .

Connor (Russell Crowe) is an Australian farmer who learned water divining from his father. He looks and listens to what the land is telling him. He does this alone while his wife is at home. We soon learn that his three boys went off to war together.

The war was in Turkey and the specific battle Connor believes his boys died in, was Gallipoli. He decides he must go to Turkey and bring his boys' bodies back to Australia for a proper burial. However the English, who appear to running the cleanup effort tell him he cannot go into the area where the bodies were hastily buried.

He steals his way into the area and with the assistance of the Turkish Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) is allowed to look for his boy’s bodies. His divining experience allows him to see where his boys died. The army digs up the bones of two of his boys. It the search for the third son that leads him on an amazing journey of longing, love and forgiveness.

There are scenes that are extraneous and obvious for additional and not-required emotional engagement.

Crowe is strong as Conner. Ergogan is wonderful as the Turkish major who understands Connor’s drive to find his boys. Olga Kurylenko is dynamite as Ayshe, a Turkish woman whose husband was killed in the same war and has a young son who takes a liking to Connor. Andrew Knight and Andrew Anastasios wrote a good script and I think it could have been cut a little and tightened up. Crowe directed this film and for the most part it was good.

Overall:  There are wonderful scenes with Kurylenko and Crowe and with Crowe and Ergogan.

The November Man

First Hit:  Albeit an overly complicated plot, it kept me wondering how it would turn out.

There isn’t much about this film that makes it good.

The complicated plot line: Was it about Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) and Mason (Luke Bracey)? Was it about how the CIA works? Was it about Devereaux and Alice (Olga Kurylenko)? Maybe it was about what being a CIA hit man deals with his/her life? Or was it about age and experience versus youth?

It could have been about Hanley (Bill Smitrovich) the head CIA operative and Devereaux, or was it about Arkady Federov (Lazar Ristovski) the guy trying to win a Russian Presidential election and Alice the girl he raped? There are a couple more I could have mentioned but the point being I never really understood what this film was about.

It is fine to have sub-plots and stories other than the main story, but the main story must be obvious to all – here it wasn’t. One things is for sure, there is a lot of shooting and a lot of bodies are given up for an unknown plot. What was good was Kurylenko’s Alice – she was engaging and created a believable character amongst the film’s lack of clarity.

Brosnan seemed OK but there were too many times that he looked like he was acting a character versus being the character. There was a separation of acting and being that, at times, seemed visible. Kurylenko was good and was fully engaged with her character. Bracey was pretty good as well as the young agent learning  to make choices about his personal and professional life. Smitrovich was very strong as the CIA person only caring about his agenda and what he thinks the US should be doing. Amila Terzimehic was a great unemotional assassin. Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek wrote a confusing out of focus script. Roger Donaldson directed this with few highlights and mostly just adequate.

Overall:  This will not be a memorable film and needed clarity of plot to work.

To the Wonder

First Hit:  I was left wondering.

My guess is that if you were in Terrence Malick’s mind or maybe on the set, you “got” this film.

I can tell you, I’ve seen more films than maybe 98% of the population and conceptually I’m not sluggish about “getting” what the point is. Therefore, I don't think this film worked. 

The power of love as it expresses itself in a relationship and between people, isn’t well served here without dialogue. OK, I’ll correct myself there is occasional muffled dialogue and I will say when it was there I found myself straining to get more so I could engage myself with the story.

Neil (Ben Affleck) spent most of the time with his mouth semi-open which gave me the sense that he was in disbelief about the behavior of his girlfriend Marina (Olga Kurylenko) who had wild mood swings. Then Neil's old girlfriend Jane (Rachel McAdams) appears on the scene and Neil likes her but ....

This film was too long, lacked a way to connect to the audience and created little vision for an audience. On another level – the pictures of the midwest were wonderful and visually well done.

Affleck was mostly silent with his mouth open emoting little. Kurylenko was interesting to watch go from crazy like behavior to loving like behavior – she did troubled well however there was little context for either realms. McAdams was the character where I wanted Affleck’s character to land because there seemed to be joy and peace. But as we know people are rarely satisfied. Javier Bardem didn’t fit as a priest to which Marina was linked. Malick didn’t really write much of a screenplay but he must have done a bunch story boards that he hoped would tell his version of love. Malik also directed this effort and the tedium was apparent.

Overall:  This isn’t worth watching.

Oblivion

First Hit:  Although confusing at times, an interesting story line and Cruise is solid.

The confusion around the story expresses itself with narratives and character dialogues specifically "telling versus showing" to keep the story in the boundaries the filmmakers wanted. 

When the director and writer have to do this and not let the film tell the story with pictures and non-explanatory dialogue, then there is a problem. However, this film makes up for it in visual crispness and the idea that we have been replicated and are remnants and memories of who we were.

Jack has dreams of another life with a woman and when the plot (confusingly) sends a space craft which introduces this woman of his dreams (his earthly wife) Julia (Olga Kurylenko) I had a difficult time wondering how this worked. Where did the space vehicles come from that brought real humans of our past? 

Although the answer to this is question is given towards the end of the film, Julia's arrival created confusion and took me away  from the story. Jack (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are “an effective team” whose job is for Jack to fix drones which protect machines sucking all the life out of the oceans while Team Leader Victoria guides and provides support for Jack from their home in the sky. Victoria talks/works with “Sally” (Melissa Leo) a woman who invites kindness with her southern accent.

Sally appears to be the boss of all the machines. The reason for Jack and Victoria's work is that there are "Scavs" (scavengers?) who are damaging the drones and want to damage the machines that are sucking the life out of the ocean (earth). Leading the Scavs, who are remaining humans on earth, is Beech (Morgan Freeman). His band of rebels reaches out to Jack because they think he has enough of his human memory left that he can be "turned" to help them defeat the alien force.

Cruise is as he always is, brave, charming, and the hero of his films. However, he is reliable and always delivers his role with conviction. Risenborough is good but her limited character’s role made it difficult to care much. Kurylenko is very good and is as strong as Cruise and Freeman. Freeman is perfect as the guy with a vision that humans will persevere. Leo is good in a mostly voice and video picture representation and version of the aliens. Joseph Kosinski and Karl Gajdusek wrote the script which didn’t always work. Kosinski directed the film and didn’t really get how the audience might see/interpret his vision.

Overall:  This was interesting enough to keep me engaged and wanting to see the end.