The Mule

First Hit: Film lagged and spent too much time on an aging Clint Eastwood.

I was looking forward to seeing this film, but as it wound down, I realized that I simply was watching an old man be an old man making choices.

I like Eastwood and here as Earl Stone who is a horticulturist that’s running his own business, he’s good. However, as we begin to explore his life, we discover he was once married, didn’t show up to his daughter’s wedding, likes to be the life of the party, and he slowly becomes afraid of the internet because he knows it going to ruin his business.

As his flower business fails, he needs money, so he turns to driving drugs for a dealer. At first, it’s small quantities, which he does easily. Then he starts moving larger and larger amounts of cocaine.

Eventually, the head of the cartel becomes impressed with this old guy who seems to be able to easily move drugs around the country. After meeting the head, he moves the largest shipment ever moved to a mid-west city.

In the meantime, he’s being looked for by the DEA who need a bust to prove their worth. Leading the team of men is an outsider DEA Agent named Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper) and a local DEA Agent (Michael Pena).

However, the story seems to be focused on Earl, when we’ve got Pena, Cooper, and Laurence Fishburne (as a DEA Special Agent) who are great actors that have stories to tell the audience as well.

Additionally, the audience gets cheated on a background of Earl’s family with former wife Mary (Dianne Wiest), daughter Iris (Alison Eastwood), and granddaughter Ginny (Taissa Farmiga). It could have been compelling to share more about this. Why hire great actors if they only have small, almost meaningless roles?

To me this was the downfall of the film. We spent a lot of time with Earl driving down the highway when backstories of all these characters could have been brought forth for our enjoyment.

Eastwood was good, but he seems to either lack the fortitude to take on strong roles or he wanted it to be this fumblingly self-focused old man trying to make a living and be seen by others as king of the hill. Farmiga was strong as the granddaughter who believed in him. Wiest was great, but there was so little of her. Alison Eastwood was OK as Earl’s daughter. Cooper was OK in a limited but pivotal role. I think he needed to become more of the story. Pena was, as always, an excellent sidekick. Fishburne was strong as the leading Special Agent. Andy Garcia was excellent as the drug lord. Nick Schenk wrote this film from an New York Times article. Eastwood directed himself in this film and it appears he’s lost his touch.

Overall: This was a disappointing film, lacking in suspense as well as developing scenes.

What They Had

First Hit: Touching, poignant, funny, and unless you’ve been near the subject it might be difficult to understand this story.

This film is about he hard choices some families must make about putting parents into assisted care.

We begin with Ruth (Blythe Danner) getting up, putting on a robe and walking out the front door. The ground is covered with snow, there’s no one on the streets and she heads down a empty snowy street to get to somewhere in her past. Her husband Bert (Robert Forster) wakes up some time later, notices his wife is not in bed, gives a slight here we go again look that quickly turns to caring concern, and he bolts out the door looking for Ruth.

He calls his son Nick (Michael Shannon) who lives nearby, who in turn, contacts his sister Bridget (Hilary Swank). Nick goes out searching for his Mom, while Bridget flies back to her home town to see if she can help. Ruth has increasing stages of dementia and it is getting more difficult for Bert, who has a bad heart, to manage and care for his wife, but he’s stubborn. Nick, being close by, wants to get his mom into a care facility and his father into assisted living. Bert is vehemently resisting this sort of move. Compounding this is that Bridget has power of attorney and rarely there to see what Nick, Bert, and Ruth go through.

A subplot to the main story is that Bridget is in an unhappy marriage and has huge communication issues with their daughter Emma (Taissa Farmiga). Emma has been doing poorly in college, wants to quit and her parents are pushing her to continue.

Bridget and Emma fly back together so the audience knows this sub-plot will get attention as well.

The scenes between Bridget (aka Bitty) and Nick are dynamically interesting and full of great dialogue. Their interaction when they agree and disagree is right on target. I especially liked how Nick finally tells Bridget that she’s out of touch with their parents and how exhausted he is being an upscale bar owner and the “go to” person when there is an issue with Ruth—and there’s always an issue.

Bridget tries to be a mediator, trying to find a middle path but ends up alienating both Nick and Bert. When she has a huge argument with her dad about assisted care, she finally tells him that he’s never listened to her or asked what it is she’d like in life, including her marriage. This was an excellent scene because she was doing the same thing to Emma, not asking what Emma wanted and ignoring her.

Bitty’s clumsy attempt at a flirtation with an old high-school friend was excellent. I loved how he charged her an enormous amount for changing the locks. Bitty’s surprise look was perfect.

This film has a lot to say about how families navigate through the emotions and practicalities of a loved one with dementia.

Swank was excellent and teamed with Shannon had great scenes of brotherly and sisterly love and frustration. When Swank climbs into bed with Emma, a wonderful softening takes place. Shannon was excellent as the brother who was showing up and doing his best. That his father had no respect that he was a bar owner (“…you tend bar don’t you, you’re a bartender…”) and ran his own business was perfect. I especially loved when Bert finally came to see the bar and ordered a martini. Danner was amazing as Ruth. She really captured the look and sense of someone who had forgotten who her husband was and then would remember everything. She segued from one state of presence to another with sublime clarity of the role and the disease. Forster was excellent as the stubborn husband and dad that knows best about everything. When he gets up and realizes that Ruth has left the house, there is a quick moment of, shit not again look, that segues into I care and have got to find her. This quick set of expressions was perfect. Farmiga was very strong as Emma, the troubled daughter that wasn’t being heard by her parents and she’d had enough of living their expectations for her. Elizabeth Chomko wrote and directed this wonderful glimpse into a family struggling with how to deal with a loved one’s battle with dementia.

Overall: This film is not everyone’s cup of tea, however, it is an excellent film about a real issue many families face.

At Middleton

First Hit:  This was very enjoyable to watch the dance of this relationship develop.

The essence of this story is about two adults George Hartman (Andy Garcia) and Edith Martin (Vera Farmiga) bringing their two respective kids to a college in Middleton for a campus tour but find something greater.

Edith’s daughter Audrey (Taissa Farmiga) wants to come to Middleton because she wants to work with Professor Dr. Roland Emerson (Tom Skerritt) while George’s son Conrad (Spencer Lofranco) thinks this middle American country college is totally lame.

The film gives a view of their respective parental relationships by going from car to car as they drive to the college. The personality of each of the parents becomes solidified the moment these two cars park in the parking lot and there is a disagreement. There is a spark between these parents and it is visible.

As the film unfolds the kids have their experience of the college, each other and wondering about their parents, while the film focuses on the budding relationship of the parents. The sequence when they get roped into demonstrating a married couple in front of the drama class was very powerful. The twist about what their children choose is like icing on the cake.

Garcia was very good as the uptight cardio surgeon wanting his son to experience, possibly what he hasn’t. Vera Farmiga is strong as the sarcastic, vulnerable, and engaging woman who wants to have more in life. Her younger sister (by 21 years) Taissa was very engaging and screen stealing when she was on camera. Lofranco was OK as Garcia’s son, and his performance grew as the film moved along. Skerritt was really good in his short role as the admired professor. Glenn German and Adam Rodgers wrote a snappy (parking lot exchange) and heart-warming script. Rodgers directed the film with a caring touch by setting up some wonderful scenes, including the bike theft.

Overall:  This was a pleasure to watch – heartwarming.

The Bling Ring

First Hit:  Walks a very fine line between aggrandizing these thieves, seeing them as kids trying to fit in, celebrity worship, and viewing how out of touch these affected kids were.

The moment I began to lose interest in a section of the film, Director Sofia Coppola switched gears to show the repercussions of their actions – this is the only thing that made it work for me.

It was clear that Coppola was artfully walking this fine line. The film begins by cutting between telling the story and interviews with the teens pre and post-trial. The story goes that Marc (Israel Broussard) is a soft spoken that doesn’t like to go to school. He’s dropped off by his mom at yet another new school and she says, "have a good day at your new school".

Comments by mean-spirited kids begin immediately as he walks up the steps to his new school. Just as he’s leaving school, Rebecca (Katie Chang) walks up and chats him up. Like me, Marc thinks she’s going to do or say something rude to him, but instead takes him out with another friend and they get high on the beach. Rebecca suspects she can get Marc to do things with her and eventually invites him to go steal from one of his friend’s homes.

Caught between his knowing he’s doing something wrong and wanting to be liked by this beautiful girl keeps him in the game of doing more and larger thefts with her. Her other peers Nikki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julian), and Sam (Taissa Farmiga) all join in the fun of stealing from the celebrities’ homes and blow all their loot on drugs, liquor, and partying. When they get caught, Marc is contrite, Rebecca tries to make people she didn't do anything, but it is Nikki that steals all the scenes.

Her mother Laurie (Leslie Mann) is fully immersed in the teachings of “The Secret” and has raised her kids this way. Nikki’s public interviews and expressions of being misunderstood (“it will all be clear when my side of the story gets out”) with illusions of grandeur are fascinating.

Broussard is very strong as the meek, wanna fit in boy, who goes along with the thefts but the audience always knows it goes against his beliefs. Chang is a knockout as the conniving “in” girl who is fascinated with Lindsey Lohan. Watson is amazing and is showing some real variety and acting chops since the Harry Potter series has ended. Julian and Farmiga are very good as compatriots of the thieving team. Mann is superb as the disillusioned mom. Coppola did a great job of walking the fine line although the real lack of a strong opinion of her character’s acts could have been a weakness as well.

Overall:  Scary to think that others might want to duplicated these kids’ acts. But definitely an interesting film.

Higher Ground

First Hit: An uneven film but it does open dialogue around people’s belief in God.

This is Vera Farmiga’s directorial film debut and she selected to do a film about religion and one’s belief in God.

It begins with Corinne (played by Taissa Farmiga as young Corinne and Vera Farmiga as adult Corinne) watching her parents struggle, especially when her younger brother dies. Her father begins to drink and the family splits up. Corinne is a quite introverted girl and meets Ethan (played by Joshua Leonard), the lead singer of a rock and roll band. The become very close, she gets pregnant, and they get married.

While traveling to a gig in the van with other band members they crash off the road and end up in a river. Ethan makes sure Corinne gets to the shore but she is hysterical because the baby is still in the van. Ethan goes back finds the baby alive and OK and from then on he believes that God saved him and the baby. Corinne is less convinced but tries to become more religious and to become a full believer.

The film sets this up so that we can watch the main characters and others in the film deal with their belief in God. However, here is where the film meanders and loses focus from time to time. I never did fully believe that Corinne believed in God and I’m not sure that this was on purpose or not.

The other thing I didn’t believe is that Pastor Bud (played by Bill Irwin) was a believer himself. It was almost that he preached so that he could believe which could have been the point as well. If this was the case, the film really fails to setup these questions.

Taissa Farmiga was really good as a young thoughtful girl attempting understand life and religion. Vera Farmiga was good at times and appeared lost at times which meant it was an uneven performance. Leonard was OK but like Farmiga it felt uneven. Irwin was stronger than other actors as a pastor who likes to control his flock through platitudes. Carolyn S. Briggs and Tim Metcalfe wrote this script which seemed unclear at times and pointed at others. Vera Farmiga did a good job of directing others, not so good with herself and the overall story needed tightening up and the film made more crisp.

Overall: The subject was interesting but leaving the theater I didn’t think the film gave me enough to think about or consider the next day.