The Beguiled

Overall:  This film was a slow-moving beast that was ultimately unsatisfying.

With a cast consisting of Nicole Kidman (as Miss Martha), Colin Farrell (as Corporal McBurney), Kirsten Dunst (as Edwina), Elle Fanning (as Alicia) and Oona Laurence (as Amy) and being directed by a Sofia Coppola, you’d hope to see a strong interesting film.

However, I was bored through most of it as it languished in the dark moody scenes both inside and outside the home where the girls lived.

The basic story is that Miss Martha runs a girls home and school in her large southern styled columned mansion. The civil war is going on around her home, but she does her best to keep the home going and girls shielded from the outside strife. One day, when Amy is collecting mushrooms, she finds an injured Corporal McBurney. Carrying him back to the home Martha puts him in a locked room and fixes his wound. His presence changes the tone of the home because the girls start discussing him and do little things to get noticed by him.

The film takes forever to move the story along and finally the corporal shows his lusty stripes by sweet talking Martha, tells Edwina to run away with him, and gets caught in Alicia’s bed by Edwina. As the corporal attempts to calm Edwina down she pushes him down the stairs and reopens his leg wound.

Martha determines she has to cut it leg off. When McBurney wakes up to find his leg missing he freaks out and goes on a rampage. Using guile and pressure on Alicia, gets out of the locked room and takes control of the home by using Martha’s gun.

Martha and the girls decide they must do something to protect themselves and find a way to get rid of the corporal.

Kidman was good as the head of the home. However, the script and direction let her down. Farrell was good as Corporal McBurney but the story let the audience down as to how he ended up in the woods and as to what his motivation was for seducing all the women. Dunst was strong as the pretty and dour Edwina but I wondered why McBurney selected her as the one he wanted to love and run away with. It didn’t make much sense. Fanning was very good as the young girl wanting to be an adult and experience more in life. Laurence was excellent as the young Amy whose kind compassionate heart was put to the test. Albert Maltz wrote an uninteresting script from a very interesting novel. Coppola had a vision but it was an uninteresting one and the result lacked reason and engagement unlike one of her other efforts “Lost in Translation.”

Overall:  This film was painful to watch as the two women sitting down the aisle would attest to by their comments while the film played on.

Bad Moms

First Hit:  Although it was quite crass at times, there were more than a few laughs, which made this film worth watching.

The story follows Amy (Mila Kunis) as she is taken advantage of by her young, uninformed, boy boss because she shows up each day although she only works their part time.

She has this demanding job, is a mom doing all the mom type running round, tries to stay active with the PTA, and wants to be a good wife. Her primary focus is to help her kids, including doing their school work, so her kids get good grades. After dropping the kids off at school, she shows up to work and is the only grown up in the company.

Her husband casually works, and Amy catches him, one day, having skype sex with a woman he’s never met. This online relationship has been going on for 10 months. She kicks him out.

The pressure to be a good mom and be active in the PTA, led by Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) is fierce. Amy meets and bonds with Carla (Kathryn Hahn) and Kiki (Kristen Bell), two other moms who struggle with the pressures of motherhood.

Carla is divorced and is man hungry. This is where most of the film’s crassness comes from. Carla is foul mouth and man hungry. This is the largest detriment to the film. It might have been better if this character was either cut or the role toned down somewhat.

Kiki, on the other hand becomes empowered through the film and this is nice to see. The three of them are fed up with the power that PTA President Gwendolyn and her henchwomen Stacy (Jada Pinkette Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo) exude with prissiness and entitlement based on money and what they think is right for everyone.

The PTA is the battle ground and Amy decides to challenge Gwendolyn for the presidency of the organization. The film has lots of scenes that show the PTA in all its glory. It shows women deciding to take their lives into their own hands while juggling their children, and their lives outside of school.

I did think the crassness of Carla was overdone and had me wanting to cut her lines. I thought Amy’s relationship with her kids Jane and Dylan (Oona Laurence and Emjay Anthony respectively) was a strong part of the film. The most touching part of the film were the credits, as the actresses and their moms were revealingly interviewed.

Kunis was very good and her ability to carry multiple looks (mom, party girl, and responsible workmate) were strong. Hahn was good and I disliked the script for her. The man and sex hungry woman with a foul mouth didn’t work for me. It never works for me male or female. Bell was wonderful. She brings an engagement to her roles that is always watchable. Applegate was very good and she clearly knew this role. Laurence, for me, was the star of the film. It was a minor role, yet what she brought to it how she engaged each scene was wonderful. Anthony was good as the son trying to figure out his path now that dad was gone. Smith was strong as a henchwoman. Scott Moore and Jon Lucas, together, wrote and directed this film and outside of the overt crassness, it captured some of the life of moms.

Overall:  For the most part my experience was positive, but it wasn’t a great film.

Southpaw

First Hit:  Although at times hard to watch, this is an extremely well-crafted and acted film.

It is hard to see someone get hit in the face. It is even harder when they mug and beg the person to hit them.

Boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal) does this time and time again as a way to get angry enough to beat his opponent. As the Light Heavyweight Champion he uses this tactic to win all his fights. Outside the ring he has one focus, his family. When he looks over the ropes, face looking like beaten hamburger, his wife Maureen (Rachel McAdams) gives him the look – the look that says “I love you and let’s go home”.

When he finishes the job, she takes him home, and he goes to his daughter’s Leila’s (Oona Laurence) room and becomes a heart filled father. Maureen and Billy have a single focus around their love and interdependence; recoup from the battering Billy takes and ready himself for the next one.

Maureen and Billy were both brought up by the State of New York and share a deep bond and connection that works perfectly for this film. Maureen makes all the decisions for their family; when to fight and when to rest is the primary focus. She is his rock and life, while he is the spirit and strength. A tragic shooting sets Billy’s life spinning out of control and everything falls apart. Billy becomes lost and he’s left to find his way back home.

This is when Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker), who owns a boxing gym becomes a trusted guide for Billy’s salvation. All the fight scenes are extremely well choreographed. The settings and feel of the locker rooms, boxing arenas, charity gatherings, and the 300 square foot apartment Billy finds himself living in are spot on. 

The dialogue (of which Billy has little) between everyone; Jordan (Curtis Jackson 50 Cent) the fight promoter, Willis, Leila, Maureen, Hoppy (Skylan Brooks) the kid who’s looking for guidance, and all the characters is well timed, has the right flavor and are perfect for the roles.

Gyllenhaal is jaw-dropping amazing. By far and away, performance of the year. He does so much with his eyes, face, posture, that one doesn’t notice that he doesn’t steal the film with dialogue. McAdams is wonderfully centered and perfect for the role of a beautiful woman brought up in a tough life and who loves her man. Jackson (50 Cent) was a very good opportunistic promoter who’s only thinking of himself despite his words. Whitaker, as usual, steals every scene he’s in – you just can’t take your eyes off him (he seem always on the edge of bursting). Laurence was sublime and if this young person’s performance is any indication of her future – we’ll be seeing a lot more of her. I won’t list them all here and everyone’s performance in this film was very well done. Kurt Sutter wrote an amazing script that captured the tenderness and bravado of the people in the sport of boxing. Antoine Fuqua got everything and more from the script and actors – not sure this film could have been done any better by anyone.

Overall:  This film is filled with the highest level of craftsmanship imaginable by everyone who had a hand in creating it.