The Report

First Hit: A strong film shining a light on the United States of America’s illegal torture campaign.

Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) wants to be a part of our government, so he meets with Denis McDonough (John Hamm), who is Chief of Staff in the White House. McDonough’s advice is to get involved with a project of importance and make a name for yourself.

Working as a Senate staffer for Senator Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening), he is selected and enthusiastically agrees to investigate the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes for her. His life is his work, and he’s dedicated to finding out the truth.

Reviewing online documents, Jones discovers damning evidence that the CIA used “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture) as promoted by Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith) and James Elmer Mitchell (Douglas Hodge) at secret, “black” (hidden offshore), locations. It appears that the videotapes were destroyed to conceal evidence that the US violated the Geneva Convention rules against torture.

The reason the CIA contracted with Jessen and Mitchell is that they believed they could get information out of captured personnel that would stop future terrorist bombings like 9/11 and maybe apprehend the individuals that instigated 9/11.

In a windowless high-security office in an offsite facility, Jones and 5 others reviewed 6 million pages of CIA materials only to discover that these contractors imprisoned and tortured some 119 detainees and got no valuable information. Their techniques were a total failure.

The move to legalize this program was shown in scenes with White House staff working with John Yoo (Pun Bandhu), who made legal arguments that later were discovered to be unfounded and unsupported.

There are graphic scenes of the torture which aren’t easy to watch, but what really stood out to me was the lack of guts on the part of Senators (including Feinstein) and Congressmen to expose and publicly bring to light our failings and illegal actions. The politicians, who represent us, were mainly worried about being re-elected. Finally, because of political pressure and worries that the information would be leaked to the press, the information is shared with the public.

The film does a great job of intermixing real footage, like John McCain talking about how torture is an anti-American value on the Senate floor, with the story.

Driver is sublime as Jones. His focus and willingness to push all bounds to get the information and get it correct was phenomenal. The film did state that Jones’ full report was some seven-thousand pages long. Bening was excellent as Feinstein as she got her voice and mannerisms down perfectly. However, what disappointed me was how Feinstein seems to play politics for sake of her job instead of getting the truth out. Scott Z. Burns wrote and directed this film with a clear focus of showing how the CIA was exposed and how politics almost keep the facts from US Citizens.

Overall: Although I wasn’t surprised by the actions of the CIA, Senators, and The White House, it’s disappointing to see how we try to hide our horrible and illegal behavior.

Dark Waters

First Hit: An excellent portrayal of corporate malfeasance and arrogance, finally getting its comeuppance.

Robert Bilott (Mark Ruffalo), a corporate attorney, is a thorough pragmatic defender of corporations. He’s just made partner in his firm and is a powerful asset to the company because he’s so good at his work.

During an important meeting, he’s interrupted by Wilber Tennent (Bill Camp) and friend who come from a farm in Parkersburg, West Virginia. They come to see Bilott because Roberts’s grandmother, “Grammy,” is a friend of Tennent. They hand Bilott a box full of videotapes explaining that no local Parkersburg lawyer will help them with the problem of their cattle dying. They believe the animals are dying because the town’s largest employer, Dupont, is polluting the water with chemicals from their facility.

Bilott tries to deter Tennent and not get involved, but Tennent’s plea knags at him, so he visits his Grammy, verifies she knows Tennent and then drives to Tennent’s farm. When Wilbur shows him his field full of buried cows, “190 of them,” he realizes there is a problem.

Although Bilott’s firm doesn’t have Dupont as a corporate client, they are reluctant to take on a nonpaying client that is going to end up suing Dupont as it will hurt their reputation with their own corporate clients.

However, Tom Terp (Tim Robbins), Bilott’s boss, supports Robert continuing his investigation even though his client cannot pay. There is a great scene when all the partners convene to hear and discuss Bilott’s work.

Finally, Dupont sends over all the discovery information that Bilott had requested, and it is massive. Hundreds of boxes of memos, reports, and other documentation. Being a team of one, dutifully Robert sits down on the floor and begins categorizing each document by year and subject. This is a great scene because it cements Robert’s commitment to do the right thing no matter what it takes.

His years of research comes up with proof that Dupont knew that they were poisoning people and animals through the creation, use of, and byproducts from POFA (C8), a chemical creation used in Teflon© the non-stick coating that everyone was using. C8 is one of those chemicals that cannot be broken down by nature, let alone the human body and therefore it stays in the body and slowly causes various types of cancer.

The film takes us through this story as it develops over the years of difficult lonely hard work on Bilott’s part. The filmmakers did a great job of showing the passage of time by giving the audience quick glimpse of his three boys growing up in front of him. He barely interacts with them because he’s so clearly focused on this one case, this man is all in.

In the meantime, because of the court's slow processes, Dupont’s putting roadblocks at every turn, and the slowness of a medical testing company that was reviewing over sixty thousand blood tests, people were continuing to be poisoned and die from being exposed to C8.

We watch as the stress of doing the right thing for his client requires him to take reductions in pay because he’s spending all his time on this case that has no paying client. We watch him feel the pain while he watches his clients deteriorate because of the poison.

His wife Sarah (Anne Hathaway) tries to keep their family together, showing undying support, even as she sees the deterioration of her husband because of the deeply committed compassion to see this lawsuit through for the people who are being harmed.

One thing the film made sure of was the darkness of this subject. Every scene is dark in color or filled with gray skies.

Ruffalo was excellent as the committed attorney who gave up almost everything, including his life, to find and fight for the truth. Hathaway was superb as his supportive wife attempting to keep their family together while Robert fights for the truth. Robbins was influential as Bilott’s boss and senior managing partner of their law firm, showing support for Robert on this long trail to truth. Camp was terrific as the driven farmer and rancher who committed his life to making sure Dupont was charged for their crimes against his community. Victor Garber, as Phil Donnelly, a senior executive in Dupont, was supreme in his portrayal of being the mouthpiece of corporate malfeasance. Mare Winningham, as Darlene Kiger, a Parkersburg resident, was fantastic. It was lovely to see her on the screen again. Mario Correa and Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote a powerfully detailed script. Todd Haynes did a great job of creating the feel corporate malfeasance and the difficulty of making wealthy companies pay for their crimes against humanity.

Overall: This is an excellent story about the power of perseverance.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

First Hit: I was deeply touched by this film about how kindness and forgiveness can move internal mountains.

Unlike the recent documentary about Fred Rogers, which gives an insight to the man, this film opens the door on this enigmatic kind soul named Fred Rogers by watching him work with an adult.

The opening scenes with Rogers (Tom Hanks) talking to the camera as he enters the famed neighborhood set, sitting down, taking off his shoes and putting on tennis shoes and a sweater was precious. While watching this scene, I was transported back in time, sitting in the living room with my young daughter watching Mr. Rogers open the door to children’s hearts and minds.

In this story, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), is an investigative reporter who has a reputation of taking cheap shots at people or discovers the darker sides of individuals and writes stories that do not reflect positively on his subjects. He’s not the reporter you want to have to write your story.

Getting an assignment to write a short four-hundred-word piece about Rogers for Esquires Magazine’s hero edition, Lloyd chastises his boss for assigning him to write a fluff piece. When Vogel gets home and tells his wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson) about this horrible assignment, she bemoans, “don’t ruin my childhood.” This is the perfect setup.

As Lloyd and Fred meet for an interview, Vogel is perplexed by the way Rogers approaches the question, sometimes answering it directly, and other times deflects or answers a different question – the one not asked. Slowly, Roger’s magic of compassion and kindness begins to work on Vogel in underlying ways. He begins to question his anger and the way he’s participating in his relationship with his wife and new baby.

During the interviews, Vogel, at times, gets upset at not getting the answers he is looking for and walks away from Rogers. However, once he steps away, he knows there is something there and goes back. Each time he learns more about himself as well as Fred.

It’s through these sporadic interviews, Vogel begins to learn how he needs to change his life by processing his inner anger towards his father, Jerry (Chris Cooper). As the story unfolds, we learn that Lloyd hasn’t seen his father since he was a little kid. His mother also died while he was young, and his father couldn’t deal with it, so he bailed.

The film is a beautiful orchestration of how Fred Rogers operates in the world, how people see him, his version of kindness, and how he reaches out and touches people, young and old with honest and real sincerity.

I loved how the filmmakers interspersed Mr. Rogers's sets, set pieces, and traveling between Pittsburgh and NYC. It was ingenious, to say the least.

Hanks was sublime as Rogers. The ability to make the audience sense and feel the embodiment of Fred Rogers was terrific. Rhys was clearly perfect as the reporter who had the willingness to travel through his anger, sadness, and sorrow to come to grips with how he was going to be in the future. Watson was terrific as Lloyd’s wife. Her compassion for Lloyd’s struggles was wonderfully portrayed. Cooper was powerful as Lloyd’s father, a man who did wrong and was trying the only way he knew to find forgiveness and peace within himself. Maryann Plunkett, as Fred’s wife Joanne was excellent. Her understanding of Fred and how he worked was divine. Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster wrote a fantastic script. Marielle Heller was deft in creating a film that captured this iconic man.

Overall: This story took me on a trip and brought up genuine, deeply felt feelings and emotions.

21 Bridges

First Hit: A solid, yet predictable, thriller about corrupt cops.

The set up for Detective Andre Davis (Chadwick Boseman) was robust. We are introduced to Davis attending a funeral. He’s a young boy, and he’s mourning his father’s death. His father was a cop and served with honor and was killed in the line of duty. There is also an early scene when Davis is being questioned by Internal Affairs because Davis has created a reputation for hunting down and killing cop killers.

With this setup, we follow two criminals Ray Jackson and Michael Trujillo (Taylor Kitsch and Stephan James respectively), breaking into an up-scale wine bar to steal thirty kilos of heroin. Finding three hundred kilos instead, they realize this could be trouble or a setup. Just as they begin to leave with fifty of the three hundred kilos, four cops appear at the front door and knock.

Not getting an answer, they break in the front and back because they find Ray and Michael’s getaway car running in the back alley. Michael and Ray are armed with automatic guns and start killing cops and the lone wine bar employee.

More cops come, and Michael and Ray kill them all. Michael is a sharpshooter and is ruthless in his picking off the police. The 85th Precinct Captain McKenna (J.K. Simmons), whose precinct where this crime is taking place, wants Davis on the case along with Drug Investigator Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller). Together, these two believe they’ve only got hours to find these cop killers or they will disappear into the civilian mass.

When the detectives find all the heroin still left in the freezer, Davis and Burns question why the cops were there and why their bosses’ story was that they came to break up a burglary. The crime scene doesn’t add up to a robbery of this type.

The FBI arrives and wants to take over the case, but Deputy Chief Spencer (Keith David) and Captain McKenna argue to let the NYPD handle it for the next few hours. If they don’t solve it in a few hours, the FBI will take over.

Setting up this urgency allows Davis the ability ask that all 21 Bridges to Manhattan Island be shut down, as well as all subway lines and trains. After doing this they start to “flood the island with blue” (cops).

At this point, the movie follows both Ray and Michael trying to evade the chasing cops, Burns and Davis. This cat and mouse game are well presented as the plot adds in new characters, the owner of the three hundred kilos, a money launderer, and the suspicion that something else is up.

Boseman is excellent as a detective that is focused on justice and the law. The final scenes with McKenna and Burns present a predictable conclusion. Miller is outstanding as the Drug Investigator who is really doing a balancing act. Simmons is sublime as a guy who believes he’s helping the department’s force with his actions. Kitsch is outstanding as the highly charged marksman of the criminal duo. James is a revelation in this role. He brings a perfect blend of viciousness and emotional heart to his character. His final few scenes clearly give the audience a man who is trying to find a way while honoring his brother’s impact on his life. Adam Mervis and Matthew Michael Carnahan wrote an excellent screenplay that encompassed well-choreographed action and intellectual endeavors. Brian Kirk did a fantastic job of bringing this story together and making it all feel believable.

Overall: This was a solid film, even though it was highly predictable.

The Good Liar

First Hit: I loved seeing refined actors Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren parry their way through this story.

McKellen, playing Roy Courtnay, is confidence flim-flam man. He bilks people out of their money with confidence schemes.

In initial scenes, we see him setting up to dupe, what we think are a couple of Russians out of money. As the con unfolds, we learn differently because of the twist in the second meeting. Roy appears trustworthy and it is not lost on the people being conned that this is because he’s old and creates an air of age-old trust and confidence. His leading partner in his schemes is Vincent (James Carter).

Mirren, as Betty McLeish, is introduced to us by showing her entering information on the “Distinctive Dating” site. She lives in a tranquil neighborhood, is a widow, and has a son. Her son Stephen (Russell Tovey) is portrayed as working in Germany as a researcher, visiting his mom often, and being very productive of her

Roy knows that he can find well-to-do women on this dating site and maybe con one of these women out of their money. He sets his sights on Betty.

Betty and Roy email back and forth and then meet at a restaurant. It’s a sweet setting, and the dialogue is disarming, but because we know Roy’s intent, we worry for Betty. They both confess that the names they put on their website profiles are fake, and this confession brings them closer.

Roy tells Vincent that Betty might be worth a couple hundred thousand pounds and they begin their plot to con her. The sticking point is that Roy begins to like Betty. At least, that’s what we are supposed to believe. It was hard to buy Roy’s suddenly becoming attracted to Betty because it has been revealed that he is playing the doddering old man and is really an experienced and sharp-as-a-tack swindler.

As Roy and Vincent begin to run their scam, Stephen speaks out several times, letting Roy and Betty know that he thinks this relationship is going too fast, and when Roy moves into Betty’s spare bedroom, he’s on high alert. Vincent and Roy also learn that she’s worth well over two million pounds, and with this knowledge they salivate at this potentially huge score.

Roy and Betty plan a trip to Germany together to celebrate their relationship. After arriving in Berlin, Stephen surprisingly shows up to be their tour guide. The very surprised and wary Roy is led to a room in a building where Roy’s real past is partially exposed. Stephen has done his research. This set of scenes allowed me to figure out the ending early, though there are numerous other twists after these events.

However, know that nothing is really telegraphed in this film, and the additional twists and turns make this storyline work.

Eventually, Roy and Betty decide to spend their time together in a more permanent way and determine that by combining their bank accounts they can take advantage of some investment opportunities and tax advantages as outlined by Vincent.

When the scheme unfolds in full bloom, just deserts are well served and wonderfully delivered.

McKellen was excellent as Roy. It’s lovely to see him get a juicy role that allows him to be different characters. As Roy he had to slide from one to the other effortlessly and quickly. Mirren always delivers her role in a way that makes it believable. She can be soft and vulnerable and fierce all within a single scene, and it works well here as she is outstanding. Carter was also strong as Roy’s partner. He’s so smooth when presenting his investment scheme knowing just when to back off and let the target finish the selling job for him. Tovey was perfect as the “son” of Betty, who tied all the pieces of the puzzle together and made the story work. Mark Lewis Jones, as Bryn, one of Roy and Vincent’s earlier targets, was solid. Jeffrey Hatcher wrote an excellent screenplay. Bill Condon let these veteran actors come alive.

Overall: It was fun to watch veterans work together to make this story come alive.