My Cousin Rachel

First Hit: Although the story was telegraphed from the beginning, it almost worked.

Ambrose Ashley (not credited) owns a large estate on the Cornish coast of England. He’s kind hearted and is guardian to an orphan boy who is his cousin Philip (as an adult Sam Claflin). Because Ambrose is sickly, he goes to Italy to heal in the sunshine.

There Ambrose meets Rachel (Rachel Weisz) who he falls in love with and marries. We know this through the letters he sends some to Philip. Then the letters get fewer and far between but each letter that comes through tells a tale of Ambrose thinking Rachel is poisoning him.

After Ambrose’s death, Philip swears he will kill Rachel if he ever see’s her. Because Ambrose never signed a new will, Philip inherits the estate but will not have sole control until he’s 25. Prior to his 25th birthday Rachel shows up to his home. Instead of disliking her, Philip finds Rachel appropriately humble and thoughtful.

It is obvious that she is not really being kind for the sake of kindness but because she has a plan. This is the failing of the film. There are too many obvious hints that Rachel is at Philip’s estate to make money. There is nothing really hidden. I don’t know if it was the script or acting but I didn’t buy the premise and therefore the ending seemed obvious.

Weisz was strong, beautiful and seductive; however, I think the script had too many breadcrumbs to make it mysterious. Claflin was OK as Philip. He was naïve enough, but again I think the script was overtly obvious and therefore, knowing the story before it unfolds in not a good trait for a film. Iain Glen was strong as Nick Kendall, the role of Philip’s Godfather. I liked the way he carried the aristocracy of his position. Holliday Grainger as Louise Kendall was the best of the lot. Her desire for Philip was perfectly subdued and obvious. Roger Michell wrote and directed this film. It was a mediocre attempt to create suspense and mystery.

Overall: Despite being a good idea, it didn’t quite make it.

Their Finest

First Hit:  A very sweet and thoughtful film about making a propaganda film in World War II England.

The story takes place in London during war time and between the German buzz bombing. Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) interviews for, what she thinks is, a secretarial position at the Ministry of Information only to discover she gets the job as scriptwriter for propaganda films. She needs to money as she is supporting herself and her, almost, husband Ellis Cole (Jack Huston) who is an artist and was injured in Spanish Civil War. She's not officially married to Ellis but wears a wedding ring and takes his name.

The British propaganda films, designed to motivate the population to work hard for the war effort, are not being well received. Fellow writer Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) is hard on Catrin because she’s a woman and screenwriting is a man’s world.

However, he sends her on an assignment based on a newspaper article where twin women stole their father’s boat to go to Dunkirk to help save the lives of men. When Catrin interviews the women, she discovers that the boat stopped off shore. Never getting to Dunkirk, they did get wounded home because some of the boats that came from Dunkirk were overloaded and those boats gave them wounded personnel to take home.

The written article makes it more than what they did, but Catrin, Tom and the film making team make a variation of the adventure. The film uses an older famous actor Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy) as part of the characters and as the only strong actor, he has ideas of how the plot and his part needs to go.

However, he begins to trust Catrin’s writing as she knows what she’s doing and when writing in concert with Tom, they excel.

What was interesting was this film also showed how important women were and their strength in helping the country defeat Germany. It also showed how people had to scale back their lives to support the war effort. I genuinely enjoyed watching Catrin watch the film she wrote and how the audience around her were engaged with the story. This was touching.

Arterton was fantastic in this role. Her reserved, yet expressive ways through the film created a wonderful character. Huston was good as the injured artist. Buckley was strong as Catrin’s fellow writer. His disbelief in women being able to write subtlety changing as the film enfolds was wonderful. Nighy was superb as the aristocratic and self-obsessed actor who comes to appreciate what he has. Gaby Chiappe wrote a wonderful screenplay, which unfolded with greater strength as the film went on. Lone Scherfig did a great job of directing this story and keeping the feel of the time and how films were constructed in the 1940’s just right.

Overall:  I was surprised by how much I liked and felt this film as it moved along.

Me Before You

First Hit:  I bought this story fully because of Emilia Clarke's ability to create joy and hope.

Lou Clark (Clarke) is a priceless and amazing character.

In this story, she’s got a boyfriend named Patrick (Matthew Lewis) who is clear about what he wants out of life but doesn’t really hear Lou or understand her needs and therefore there is a gap in their relationship.

Lou is a pleaser (not in a bad way) and suffers through her relationship with joy because she wants to please and support Patrick. We also watch her please customers in the small bakery where we see her working when the film opens. She pleases her family by working to keep the family in their home because her father had lost his job and her working provides for the entire family.

After losing her job at the bakery she interviews to be a caretaker for a young man who has had his spinal cord severed. Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) was an extremely active, risk taking, wealthy man who gets hit by a motorcycle. He’s in constant pain, doesn’t smile much, and everything has to be done for him. His paralysis means just about everything below his neck cannot move without assistance.

Lou is offered the job and brings her joyous pleasing personality and wild clothing style to Will’s home each day. He resists her charm but slowly, over time, he cannot be but infected by her joyous view of life. He hears and understands her.

As the film unfolds, the audience, might expect a particular type of ending, however it is a bit different and that alone makes this film socially poignant as well.

Clarke is so wonderfully strong on the screen; she steals every frame she is in. I bought her character hook, line, and sinker. Claflin is really good as the suffering Will. His indifference towards Lou at the beginning was perfect. Stephen Peacocke as Nathan is wonderful as the physical therapist that does the heavy lifting for Will and his family. Jojo Moyes wrote a fantastic script. Thea Sharrock did an excellent job of directing the story and the actors.

Overall:  I really enjoyed and was touched by the this film.

Snow White and the Huntsman

First Hit:  Mostly slow and uninteresting with a few moments of brightness.

Why this film took so long from beginning to end is because the scriptwriter and director thought they had a great story to tell.

Reality is that yes this is a great story, just not the way they told it. Although Kristen Stewart is a much better actress than her partner in the Twilight film series, here she doesn’t get to do a whole lot.

The age old story where the evil queen Ravenna (played by Charlize Theron) has banned the beautiful Snow White (played by Stewart) from living free. She has her locked up in the north tower of the castle. But Snow White escapes and with the help of the Huntsman (played by Chris Hemsworth), the dwarfs, and her cousin William (played by Sam Claflin) she’s able to mount a challenge to Ravenna’s hold on the kingdom.

The highlights of the film are most all the scenes with Ravenna as Theron keeps her part of the film alive, with intensity. Also the scenes when Snow White are with the fairies and the leader of the fairy kingdom.

The rest of it was slow, boring and without the level of energy required to keep a 2 hour and 7 minute interesting.

Stewart is OK at times and looked great in her Joan de arc metal outfit. She does show some abilities to be believable in strong female physical role, which is good. Theron is the very best thing about this film. I loved the shot of her in the white (milk) liquid bath and thought that this was an amazing shot. Claflin was soft in his role and almost unnecessary. Hemsworth gave it his all in a familiar role as a fighting hero. Evan Daugherty and John Lee Hancock wrote a mediocre and long screenplay from an age old tale. Rupert Sanders directed this too long unfocused film.

Overall:  Not worthy of a paid seat but one can while away the time having it on in the background at home someday.