A Wrinkle in Time

First Hit:  I love the concepts in the film but the execution was generally very poor.

I wanted to like this film more than I did.  Almost from the beginning, there was something not quite right about this film. When Mr. Murry (Chris Pine) is teaching his daughter Meg (Storm Reid) about how vibrations can affect sand on a flat plate, there was a clunky sense to their interaction.

There was little sense or buildup as to why her peers were giving her a hard time. We slowly find out that she misses her dad, who disappeared some 4 years earlier. He just disappeared and the kids made fun of her because of this? Didn’t make sense and didn’t stick with me, given Meg’s attitude and personality on the screen.

Her adopted brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) is a genius and pushes the envelope at their mutual school. He calls people out on their stupidity and Meg has to break up the fight.

Regardless, Charles Wallace believes that their father slipped through a wrinkle in time and traveled to another galaxy (I interpreted this as a different dimension). He finally convinces Meg that something like this happened and introduces her to Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) who is a quirky and a renegade spiritual human presence and form of light.

Meg and Charles Wallace are join by a classmate Calvin (Levi Miller), who says he got “a call” to join them. He struggles at home because his father beats him even though he’s a great student. This part of the film is poorly done and doesn’t work well.

The three kids meet up in Meg’s backyard and Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) take them through a wrinkle in time and end up on a new planet (new dimension).

The place is made of light as are the three Mrs. However, when they fly on Mrs. Whatsit’s back and encounter The It (the dark forces), the light bearers say that the kids might not find Mr. Murry.

The concepts of light and dark are great to express in written form and in film, but here the direction and substance of this story fails to make this journey compelling.

Pine was good as the scientist first guy, setting aside his family for the sake of science. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was good as Mrs. Murry, there was a sweet genuineness to her. Reid was very strong as Meg. Her passion and intelligence came through. McCabe was excellent as young Charles Wallace. He did a great job of being a smart kid and one that was taken over by the dark side (The It). Witherspoon was funny as Mrs. Whatsit. She brought humor but her character was also inconsistent. How can you be new as a light being and run out of energy so quickly. Kaling was OK as a seer, but I just didn’t buy the role. Winfrey was Winfrey. The extra-large size physical presence might have been more about inflating that it was Oprah than the role. It made little sense and adding the stiff gown she was fit into made her performance stiff. Miller was OK, but I struggled as to why he was part of the journey, the case wasn’t well made. Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell wrote a mediocre script when it could have been great. Ava DuVernay’s direction was poor. But some of this is based on the poorly created script. However, I think she could have made better choices about the story’s direction and how it was constructed.

Overall:  This film falls flat when it comes to telling a strong story, but it does have a strong point to make if the audience sees through the uneven film.

Selma

First Hit:  Not as engaging as I had hoped.

The Selma, Alabama march was a seminal moment in our nation’s history.

The film follows Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) through the process, thoughts and actions leading to the successful decision by President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to push an equal vote for all while King led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama securing the rights for blacks to vote.

Although I loved the story and remember it fondly, the portrayal of this story was only good at times. I thought there were long moments of waiting and indecision by the director which created a slowness in this film that wasn’t needed.

To set up the issue, the film begins with Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) trying to register to vote. The voter registrar clerk, finds ways to reject Cooper’s form. The point is the unreasonableness of the registrar’s office against blacks.

The film spends a little time with King being at home with his family. Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) is strong willed, supportive of her husband, and also keeps the family together with her strength. There are a number of historical characters in this film from Andrew Young (Andre Holland), Presidential Advisor Lee White (Giovanni Ribisi) to Gov. George Wallace (Tim Roth) which give a fair amount of context to the story – especially Wallace.

Pacing of this film was methodically slow and, to me, it made this film much longer (by 20 – 30 minutes) than needed.

Oyelowo was good as King, but I never felt moved by the documented speeches as spoken by David. Wilkinson was good as LBJ, however I’m wondering about the dialogue used to represent him. For some reason it didn’t ring true with the same person who pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Winfrey was solid as Cooper, however in two of the closing still pictures, she seemed to be the focal point by being in the center – seemed a bit egotistical. Ejogo, as Coretta, provided the strongest acting of the bunch. Holland was good as the young Andrew Young. Ribisi was OK as White. Roth was powerful as Wallace. Paul Webb wrote a good script, but needed some trimming. Ava DuVernay directed this film which had pacing problems. However, the look and feel of the time was wonderfully represented.

Overall:  I was disappointed in the result of this film.

The Butler (Original Title)

First Hit:  Some of the performances were outstanding while others were miscast and poor.

I do not like the ego of directors or writers who name their film with their name as part of the title. This film was originally called "The Butler" and now it is called and marketed as “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”.

I’m sure there are reasons why, but for me it taints a films’ integrity. Why? Because it means that the director (in this case) views himself as or more important than the film itself.

The best thing about this film was viewing changes in the civil rights movement through Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) life. Where he watched his mother being abused by the slave owner, his father shot by saying something about it to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and finally a black man being elected President of the United States. How it was portrayed by Whitaker, David Oyelowo, and Oprah Winfrey was excellent.

What didn’t work about this film? The representation of the Presidents Cecil served during his time in the White House. This is a great story about how a man learned how to serve with great strength of character and gained respect for his service and being of service. Although his home life was hard at times with his wife being an alcoholic and his oldest son becoming a radical of the sixties with the Black Panthers, he persevered these things as well as losing his youngest son in Vietnam and through it all he continued to be an honorable man.

Whitaker is wonderful and electric in this role. Winfrey is difficult to watch at the beginning because it is hard to separate Oprah from the role. If she acted more, she would be able to have the audience transcend her television persona more easily because she is a very good actress. Oyelowo is absolutely great as Whitaker’s son. Robin Williams as Dwight D. Eisenhower didn’t capture Dwight’s pace or energy. John Cusack did get the creepiness of Nixon but paled as the film moved on. James Marsden seemed more like Bobby Kennedy than John F. Kennedy. Liev Schreiber as Lyndon B. Johnson was pathetic. Alan Rickman was slightly worse than Schreiber as Ronald Reagan. However, I though Jane Fonda was a priceless and fabulous choice as Nancy Reagan – she caught the look, feel and ways of Nancy. Danny Strong wrote a good script. Lee Daniels got good performances from some actors but the choice of others for their roles was very weak.

Overall:  The real story got slightly demeaned by the actors chosen to be Presidents.