The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them

First Hit:  Slow, sullen, and it seemed like pieces were missing to have the film be engaging.

This film is one of three, I think. There is a “Them” meaning that there is also a “He” and a “She”. Will we ever see them? Probably not, because this one, “Them”, just didn’t have the goods to make the story interesting enough to see more.

Not that there weren't moments in this film that the dialogue wasn’t interesting, it is that the spaces between the interesting moments were few and far between. The audience finally figures out that Conor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain) are married, had and lost a small child, and Eleanor tries to kill herself (the opening scene).

Dialogue between Professor Friedman (Viola Davis) and Eleanor were highlight moments as were a few moments of dialogue between Conor and his father Spencer (Ciaran Hinds), especially at his father's restaurant. However, most of the film was watching Eleanor’s angst without having much context as to how or why her child died or why she was so lost.

Chastain was interesting and aloof in this role. Her look was great but one cannot carry a film without giving the audience something to chew on and think about. McAvoy was better because his role did have more dialogue; however it was hampered by the overall story. Davis was great. She used the most of her small but pivotal role to get the audience engaged. Hinds was equally good in his very small role. William Hurt (as Julian Rigby) was strong as the quite inward father who tries not to preach to his daughter. His story about almost losing Eleanor in the ocean was extremely powerful. Isabelle Huppert (as Mary Rigby) was also very good and I felt she was a great choice to be Eleanor’s mother. Ned Benson both wrote and directed this film and unfortunately it seemed really long.

Overall:  This film had a point but seemed to spend its time dancing everywhere else but with an engaging story.

Winter's Tale

First Hit:  A wonderful and heartwarming flight of fantasy film that may hold some truth.

This film moves between three periods of time, current time, the early 1900’s and the mid-late 1800’s.

Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) washed up ashore in New York because his newly deported parents wanted him to live in America. So while they were leaving on a boat back to their home country, they put their son into a model boat in New York harbor (the mid-late 1800’s).

Lake is partially brought up by Humpstone John (Graham Green) and then tutored in theft by Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) who is also an agent for the devil; in this case it’s The Judge (Will Smith). While in the midst of robbing a large home he runs into Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay), a sick with consumption woman who will be dying soon.

The chemistry between them in this first meeting is palpable and comes through the screen and into your lap. This love transforms him to want to stop being a thief and to open his heart to love for the first time. He thinks he’s there to save her from dying and makes a promise to her young sister Willa (Mckalya Twiggs) that he will kiss her sister and bring her back to life if she dies.

Because Lake was supposed to be the heir apparent to Pearly and Lake crosses him, Soames is out to kill Lake. Peter is fighting to keep himself safe and connected to Beverly and at one point meets her father Issac Penn (William Hurt) who accepts the thief Lake.

The film then moves to current time which has Lake not knowing who he is and trying to understand why he keeps drawing pictures of a girl with red hair on the sidewalk in Central Park. He keeps thinking that his existence is about Beverly, but soon learns that she got him to the current time and it is now about a young girl, Abby (Ripley Sobo), who is sick with cancer. Cutting across these time and generational divides with Lake is his beautiful angel white horse.

This film is about light, love and miracles.

Farrell is excellent. He does scruffy and heart-filled so very well. Findlay is very strong as the consumptive woman and love interest. Crowe is superb as the evil agent of the devil. Smith is an interesting choice as the Judge. Twiggs is sublime and incredibly endearing as the young sister. Hurt is great as the father of these two girls. Sobo is fantastic as the young girl in current time. I enjoyed seeing Green and appreciated his part. Jennifer Connelly as Abby's mother was perfect casting. Akiva Goldsman wrote a wonderful screenplay and knew what he wanted in directing this cast to tell this story.

Overall:  I thoroughly enjoyed watching this romantic film.

The Host

First Hit:  Well intentioned and not well crafted or executed.

The idea that an alien life form could use our bodies as a host and use them with less anger, violence, and angst is interesting.

The idea of what happens to the person whom had the body prior to being inhabited is thought provoking. Would our violent nature fight against the intrusion?

Would humans see the wisdom of the species taking over their body, or just see the quiet nature and simple robotic way of being as a way to kill our spirit? Or would humans know they are inhabited? All interesting questions and not explored very well in this film.

There were moments where Melanie / Wanderer / Wanda (Saoirse Ronan) who was a human holdout (as Melanie), captured and given new soul (Wanderer / Wanda). The two spirits (Melanie/Wanda) live inside Melanie’s body. She is hated by her former human boyfriend and other humans in a colony headed by Jeb (William Hurt). The souls outnumber the humans but the audience is pushed by the story and director to take sides that the humans are the righteous beings in the universe.

To me the film had a strong possibility to really explore some interesting questions, but only Ronan and Hurt gave the possibility of this interesting story a chance to live in this film. Hurt was hampered by his role as head of the human holdouts and therefore had to have a more human slant. Ronan, however, was able to bring a level of sensitivity to her role and the moment that the camera was about 6 inches above her face as she lay down on the operating table, the tenderness of her human and invader presence was truly felt. She held the film together.

Ronan was the best part of this whole film and it only worked because of her. Diane Kruger as The Seeker, the person charged with converting Melanie from human to Wanderer was very good as her own internal fight with her human aspect became clear as the film progressed. Hurt was fun to see and enjoyable to watch. His natural air of authority rang true. Andrew Niccol wrote the screenplay, playing on human emotions to protect our ways and essence, was a little naïve. It would have been interesting to explore a human getting to know and embrace what was good about the species we were hosting. Niccol also directed this film which showed the limitations of his ability to create a wider more interesting story.

Overall:  Liked some of the acting and the potential of the concept and this execution lacked depth.

The Yellow Handkerchief

 First Hit: A slow paced indie film that has a nice story to tell.

William Hurt is well cast as Brett Hanson, a loner who comes out of prison hoping to connect with his one and only true love May (played by Maria Bello).

Others who are leaving prison at the same time are met by loved ones while Hurt simply looks down a long empty road. Hanson walks into a small town, orders a beer and observes Martine (played by Kristen Stewart) having a disagreement with a young man. It is obvious that the young man took advantage of Martine and doesn’t want anything else to do with her.

He also watches Gordy (played magnificently by Eddie Redmayne), who appears to be a bit odd and goofy, ask a store owner for a disposable camera that has expired film. Martine sees something in Hanson that makes her curious about him. Each of begins to leave the cafe at the same time and they all end up together in Gordy's car heading "south." 

None of these people know each other but they are alike in that they are loners, lonely and are viewed as outsiders by others. This connection makes for a slightly uneasy ride in Gordy’s car towards New Orleans. On their trip, the stories of these three start to unfold with Hanson’s being the primary story. They learn how he ended up in prison and about his love for May.

His story is created in flashbacks with him and May learning how to embrace their love for each other. Hurt is perfect as the quiet lonely drifter who “has never made an important decision” in his life.

Bellow is sublime as May; a woman who’s made numerous important bad decisions and whom Hanson says, her "whole life" is in her face. Redmayne is wonderful as Gordy a very quirky, out of the box, kind of guy who follows his own path. Stewart is OK playing, yet another, sort of dark intense young girl who is barely finding her way. Udayan Prasad shoots this film with long slow moving scenes which, at times, takes life out of the film. However, it is clearly sensitive and can bring an emotional response.

Overall: I enjoyed the film; especially seeing Hurt and Bellow in their roles. They both brought strong characters which complemented their respective parts and created an engaging story.

The Incredible Hulk

First Hit: The second version of this comic book character is much better than the first, but nothing special.

This is the version I was hoping to see the first time through. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner as someone with depth, intelligence and thoughtfulness.

The film begins with Bruce hiding out in an expansive (fly in shot is great) poor section of a large city in Brazil. We find Bruce working a shift in a soft drink bottling plant where, as a gringo, he isn’t favored by other male workers who push him along with prodding and baiting him to react.

However, the boss likes him because he can also fix electronic problems with an overhead crane. We also see him in his little hole-in-the-wall home communicating via computer with someone in the US named Mr. Blue (played by Tim Blake Nelson).

Mr. Blue is attempting to assist him in discovering a cure to his propensity for becoming the Hulk when he gets angry. There is also a scene where Bruce is learning to control his anger and heart rate through a form of meditation.

All this is to say that there was a lot of effort to make Bruce a human being first and the Hulk second. This was effective and made the film interesting because Norton made this person someone worth caring about.

However, the film is pretty standard in the chase and be chased genre with the eventual winner known.

Edward Norton does an excellent job of bringing humanness and thoughtfulness to the Hulk. Liv Tyler is sweet and uninspiring as his girlfriend Betty. William Hurt playing General Ross, Betty’s father, and the person who is the pursuer of the Hulk, phoned it in. There were members of the audience who applauded, as did I, when Lou Ferrigno, as a security guard, showed up on screen.

Overall: This would be a good film to see on video and otherwise save you money.