Adore

First Hit:  There was something not real, or lacking engagement about or between these characters that left me uninterested.

There was a bit of noise about this film in the press. The idea of two women, friends for life, having two sons with whom they each have intimate physical relations is thought provoking. How did these mothers allow intimacy with their best friend's son?

That's what the film attempts to address. For me I was anticipating the moment when the intimate line was crossed and by whom. However, this is exactly what didn’t work for me. I didn’t see the pre-moment buildup that would have been needed for any of the characters to move into this sort of intimacy.

The film did a good job of showing the connection between the two mothers Lil (Naomi Watts) and Roz (Robin Wright) as they grew up together from young kids into adulthood. Their respective sons Ian (Xavier Samuel) and Tom (James Frecheville) are also best friends and grew up together as well.

The idyllic beach life on the coast to Australia adds to the surreal adventure this film attempts to take the audience on, actually subtracts from the intensity of the situation when Ian decides to reach out to Roz for affection.

Watts is beautiful and effective as a mother, but as Tom’s lover it didn’t quite work. I didn’t see the spark and alluring fire. Wright was gorgeous and seemed distanced from her husband as well as her son although there was an emotional flicker as Ian approached her for affection. Samuel was the person who most pushed this film and subject the most. His aching over his father’s loss and movement to be loved emotionally and physically by Wright was the films strongest character. Frecheville seemed to have more of a laissez faire attitude towards his intimacy to his best friends wife, but interestingly enough, he was the one to cement them all in the end. Christopher Hampton wrote the screen play that came from Doris Lessing’s novel. I don’t think there were enough story creating scenes to develop what could have been a strong film of what some would call taboo behavior. Anne Fontaine did well with what she had.

Overall: An interesting attempt to broach a controversial subject but it ended up being very vanilla.

I Give It a Year

First Hit:  Laugh out loud funny in moments and a little overdone and mishandled in others.

Maybe there is a trend these days to portray therapists as dolts and in need of more therapy than their own clients, and this film does it as well.

The first few scenes with the therapist and then at wedding reception telegraph the ending a bit more than I liked. Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh (Rafe Spall) have a torrid 7 months together and marry. Was this too early? That is the question the film attempts to answer.

Their friends and family “give it a year”. That their minister gags, coughs, and cannot get our “I now pronounce you man and wife”, also is a dead giveaway to the film's ending. Danny (Stephen Merchant) is one of Josh’s friends and his monologue scenes (wedding toast and during dinner conversations) are horribly distasteful and made me cringe.

That anyone would tolerate anyone with such poor taste and not be guided to alter their behavior was unreflective of any truth.

On the plus side, many of the scenes with Nat and Alec (Terence Harvey) were great and funny while scenes with Josh and Diana (Jane Asher) were touching and reflective.

Byrne is both beautiful and effective as a reserve, active, interesting, and a successful woman who is flustered by Alec from the moment they meet. Spall is strong as the husband who lives by the beat of a different drum from his wife. He isn’t very active, has an odd sense of humor, and is less sophisticated than his wife. Merchant is great at being a total disgusting jerk but I thought his character was really unnecessary in this film. Harvey is perfect as the guy who steals Nat’s heart. Asher is very good as the somewhat shy idealist who wants Josh to fight for her. Minnie Driver plays a friend of theirs and her scenes are wonderfully effective. It was good to see her again. Dan Mazer wrote and directed this. Some of the comedy was gross and ineffective but other aspects of the film were good and spot on.

Overall:  Although uneven, there are good lines and qualities in this film. However it is better suited to watching On Demand.

Drinking Buddies

First Hit:  Better than expected film about an alcoholic comfort zone and relationships.

Kate (Olivia Wilde) likes her independence. She chooses when to see and have sex with her boyfriend Chris (Ron Livingston). She works at a brewery with Luke (Jake Johnson) with whom she has a close, flirty drinking relationship.

Luke is obviously attracted to the beautiful Kate but also has stable, grounded, thoughtful girlfriend named Jill, (Anna Kendrick). Immediately the story lets you know that Luke doesn’t want a lot of responsibility, lives in Jill’s home and likes the laid back boozy life of making beer, drinking any time at work and after work with Kate and their work mates.

Jill is a responsible teacher, wants a long term plan, marriage, and a family. Kate is lost and although we never get why she is so afraid to commit to Chris or any one, Wilde makes the audience want her character to find happiness.

Chris, with limited screen time makes his presence known that he’s looking or more than a boozy late night booty call. The lynch pin of the film is a 2 day trip the four of them take together to a mountain cabin, where it becomes obvious who is better matched to whom.

The obvious issue of functional alcoholism is never addressed directly, but we see where it is going although the protagonist may or may not.

Wilde is excellent at being the beautiful girl who is afraid to commit personally. Livingston, makes his presence known in his few pointed scenes - good job. Johnson is superb at being the laid back, nice guy, and friend to all while being a functional alcoholic. His verbal manipulation not only tricks others but belies himself as well. Kendrick, is very good as the controlled woman, who has a plan for her life and seems to love Luke for all the wrong reasons. Joe Swanberg wrote and directed this film. He’s writing is spot on for the characters although they might be too clearly defined, he cannot be faulted for this. His direction and scenes are set up well and work really well.

Overall:  A surprisingly enjoyable and thoughtful film.

The Great Gatsby

First Hit:  Visually arresting at times, but the story lagged and acting was spotty.

A good actor can create believability in a character. Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby had me believing. I like how he’s matured and the lines in his face are giving him an air of reliability.

Carey Mulligan (as Daisy Buchanan) didn’t quite make it for me. She appears too intelligent and strong to make me believe she would choose to stay with her husband given the love she had for Gatsby.

Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway, the storyteller, is good at showing vulnerability, intelligence and obsessiveness. One thing that perplexed me from the beginning was how I was expected to believe that Nick and Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) went to school together – the perceived age difference between the two characters didn’t work for me.

I sat there and said to myself multiple times, these two guys didn’t go to college together. Baz Luhrmann directed this film with visual flash at the expense of substance and the real Fitzgerald story is about substance in the world of flash. The choice of using modern attempts at music from the 20’s was extremely poor and seemed way out of place. DiCaprio wanted me to know more about his character and there is where the film could have spent more time.

I did like how the filmed opened with black and white Warner Bros logo and moved into the beautiful 3D world of the film. Another strong aspect of the film was the way we (the audience) were introduced to the story – by having Nick writing his experience while in a mental hospital.

DiCaprio was the strongest character in the film and I wanted to know more about him and the script and director didn’t quite deliver. Mulligan didn’t quite make me believe she was as weak as her character was made to be. Edgerton was a strong Buchanan and was solid. Maguire was good and I believed his character and way of telling his story. Craig Pearce and Luhrmann wrote a good, not great, script but Baz overdressed this film and relied on the glitz and left the story behind.

Overall:  The film was a letdown although some of the performances were very good.

To the Wonder

First Hit:  I was left wondering.

My guess is that if you were in Terrence Malick’s mind or maybe on the set, you “got” this film.

I can tell you, I’ve seen more films than maybe 98% of the population and conceptually I’m not sluggish about “getting” what the point is. Therefore, I don't think this film worked. 

The power of love as it expresses itself in a relationship and between people, isn’t well served here without dialogue. OK, I’ll correct myself there is occasional muffled dialogue and I will say when it was there I found myself straining to get more so I could engage myself with the story.

Neil (Ben Affleck) spent most of the time with his mouth semi-open which gave me the sense that he was in disbelief about the behavior of his girlfriend Marina (Olga Kurylenko) who had wild mood swings. Then Neil's old girlfriend Jane (Rachel McAdams) appears on the scene and Neil likes her but ....

This film was too long, lacked a way to connect to the audience and created little vision for an audience. On another level – the pictures of the midwest were wonderful and visually well done.

Affleck was mostly silent with his mouth open emoting little. Kurylenko was interesting to watch go from crazy like behavior to loving like behavior – she did troubled well however there was little context for either realms. McAdams was the character where I wanted Affleck’s character to land because there seemed to be joy and peace. But as we know people are rarely satisfied. Javier Bardem didn’t fit as a priest to which Marina was linked. Malick didn’t really write much of a screenplay but he must have done a bunch story boards that he hoped would tell his version of love. Malik also directed this effort and the tedium was apparent.

Overall:  This isn’t worth watching.