Allied

First Hit:  Although interesting and at times good, the acting and/or storyline didn’t really hold up well for the life of the film.

This WWII based film is about two agents Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) and Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard) who are charged with assassinating the German Ambassador to Morocco. Although he’s Canadian and she’s European when they meet they must act like they're married and that he’s been in Paris working and is finally taking a little time off to visit his wife in Morocco. They meet for the first time in a restaurant in front of her friends and it goes off well, with everyone believing they were a couple.

The film spends a nice amount of time letting the audience see them learn about each other. They each learn about the other's skill sets including their marksmanship. Nearing the time for the party where they expect to assassinate the Ambassador, they head out to the desert. After gazing out across the massive sand dunes, back in the car they consummate their relationship with lovemaking.

I bring this up because this scene was one of the best scenes in this film and one of the best, in a car lovemaking scenes, I’ve ever witnessed. The use of a revolving camera and the wind and sand swirling around the car in an ever-rising intensity. It was very effective and it sealed their relationship.

After the job, they head to England together with plans to marry. However, there are complications and that is where the film feels a bit forced. The head of “V” tells him that they think that his wife Marianne is a spy for Germany and that she took the identity of the real Marianne Beausejour.

The remaining part of the film is about Max trying to find out if this story is true or not. In doing so he breaks military rules. There are times that following Max is enjoyable and interesting and other times where it was either overkill or I didn’t believe the character’s (and actor) actions.

Lots of the period items were wonderfully well done, but interestingly I felt that the main actor’s clothing was too well done. It had the feeling of being staged.

Pitt was good, but it was not great by any stretch. Cotillard was one of the best things about this film. She was consistently strong and created an interesting role. Steven Knight wrote a good screenplay and there was some interesting banter and dialogue between the main characters. Robert Zemeckis directed this film and it felt very old style in the way it was presented. Some of the scenes seemed a bit too staged for my liking. In the end, the film didn't seem to know what it wanted to be, was it  Drama, Suspense, Thriller, Romance, or Action?

Overall:  It was engaging most of the time, but quickly left my consciousness after leaving the theater.

Nocturnal Animals

First Hit:  Outstanding acting in a film that lives to the feeling of its name.

The opening credits are viewed on the backdrop of one of the oddest art displays I’ve ever seen. The display is of very large and overweight naked women dancing live. The rest of the exhibit is of live heavy women in various positions on platforms in the gallery.

The art gallery owner is Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) who lives with her husband in an amazingly large modern house in the LA/Hollywood hills. Her husband Hutton (Armie Hammer) is distant from her, appears to be wealthy, but also indicates there’s money trouble. His illusive and distant behavior points to something else going on in his life and then he abruptly tells Susan he has to go back to New York for business.

Susan receives a package from her ex-husband Edward Sheffield (Jake Gyllenhaal) and it is a book he’s written. She opens the book and sees that it is dedicated to her and the title, “Nocturnal Animal”, was Edward’s nickname for her. As she lies awake in bed, she begins reading the book hoping to help her sleep. However, the story is very intense and it peaks her interest immediately.

From here the film slips in and out of the book’s story, the present time of her reading the book, and past reflections of her former husband and their life together. The past story is about how much she loved Edward and finding that her mom, Anne Sutton (Laura Linney), may have been right that eventually Susan would seek out someone more financially successful and strong than Edward.

The book’s story is very intense as it describes Tony Hastings (Jake Gyllenhaal in a different role), his wife Laura (Isla Fisher) and daughter India (Ellie Bamber) being driven off the road during a road trip through Texas. The men shoving them off the road Ray, Lou and Turk (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Karl Glusman and Robert Aramayo respectively) are local miscreants known for having a slightly troubled past.

The story continues where they give the Hasting family a hard time and end up separating Tony from his wife and daughter. Eventually finding assistance, Sherriff Bobby Andes (Michael Shannon) takes the case to help Tony find his family. Finding them raped and killed, Tony is crushed while Andes makes it his focused mission to find the killers.

As the film slips from the present of Susan reading the book, to her memories of her relationship with Edward and then to the intense book she’s reading, you can tell that she’s unhappy with her current lot in life, and wants to accept an invitation offered to her by Edward to meet for dinner.

She says yes to the dinner invitation and doesn’t seemed surprised by the outcome.

I really liked the way this film moved between the three different sets and scenes. The coolness and sadness of the current time, the intensity and fury of the book’s story of Tony, and the ideal and joy in Susan and Edward’s budding relationship of the past. These stories and their settings were wonderfully choreographed and  delivered. Additionally, the  transitions between them were wonderfully done.

Gyllenhaal continues to deliver top notch performances. The way he delivers his two characters which have a common theme was excellent. This is an Award worthy performance. Adams, is divine. She’s perfect as the hauntingly beautiful “Nocturnal Animal”. Sitting in the theater, I could feel her struggle. Just as with her role in “Arrival”, Adams is showing everyone why she is so good. Shannon is really on his game here. I’ve really come to appreciate his work and here as an intense, "I don’t give a fuck" sheriff, he’s wonderful. He is this role. Fisher and Bamber were wonderful as Tony’s wife and daughter. I also loved how director Tom Ford used their red hair to tie in Adams’ character as well. It created connections and a tie between the book and Susan’s current life. Hammer was perfect in this small role. Taylor-Johnson, Glusman and Aramayo were great as the books antagonists and the way for Tom to express his rage and gain strength in the end. Linney is perfect as Susan’s well-healed mother. Her look and use of language was great. Ford wrote and directed this film with a clear vision for what he wanted. His effort is worthy for Award consideration to say the least.

Overall:  This is a dark moody, thriller that really worked.

The Girl on the Train

First Hit:  Although I was appropriately confused at the beginning, the story came together nicely at the end and Blunt’s acting was sublime.

I’ve said this before, I do not read fiction novels because if a film is made from it, I'm generally disappointed. Good books do a great job of creating images and flow inside the reader’s brain. Films from books are versions of the screenwriter's and directors (and sometimes producer’s) internal images. Film is a different medium and therefore telling a story has some limitations but almost unlimited visual options to tell the story. Failures of books I've read that totally disappointed me on the screen are Ayn Rand books and the Harry Potter books. The films based on Rand books were complete dogs. The Potter films failed in more ways than one compared to the books. This book, "The Girl on the Train", must have been enthralling because in 2015 it spent 13 weeks at the top of the national bestseller list. From what I saw in the film, I can see why they liked it. The screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson seemed very clear about how this story would unfold. Using multiple narrators, the director used captions to push the story back and forth in time, I was fascinated with Rachel’s (Emily Blunt - narrator) unraveling, the back and forth of being drunk and sober and then pulling it together revealing the truth. Rachel was married to Tom (Justin Theroux), she had a drinking problem and he divorced her for Anna (Rebecca Ferguson - narrator). On a daily basis Rachel use to look at her old house, now occupied by her former husband and Anna, from the train window. She also would see a couple whom she thought were the perfect couple a few houses down from her old home. This couple, Scott and Megan (respectively Luke Evans and Haley Bennett – narrator), would appear through the window of the train to always be happy and loving each other. However, the true story about Rachel, Anna, and Megan’s lives would reveal themselves to be different than the Rachel’s drunk, through the train's window, version. A murder happens and it’s up to Detective Riley (Allison Janney) to provide clues and pressure allowing Rachel to discover the truth about herself and what happened.

Blunt was amazingly sublime. She was perfect in her drunk and sober selves. The subtle transitions, movements and actions between these selves was true with my experience of alcohol abuse. I would not be surprised and actually expect her to be nominated for an Oscar. Theroux was good, however the depth to his characters’ intensity and darkness wasn’t fleshed out enough. Ferguson was an interesting character and I really liked how she was able to make her role work and also show more of Theroux’s character. Bennett was strong as a difficult character to like or understand. She did a great job of showing a troubled woman’s fight to open up and be authentic. Evans was very strong as the intense husband who was also an intense controlling type person. Janney was very good in her more minor role as a police detective trying to piece together a murder. Wilson wrote a strong script which appeared to be from a very complex book by Paula Hawkins. Tate Taylor had a very clear vision of what he wanted to see and to keep it paced to have this film work. I could have imagined this film to be really long given the complexity of the plot, but Taylor clearly didn’t want the audience to be bored and trusted that they would piece together the various story pieces he was presenting.

Overall:  This was a complex story and Blunt’s superb acting brought this story together.

Deepwater Horizon

First Hit:  Although this could have been an interesting film, the disappointing and needless jerky camera work took away from actually seeing what was happening.

I found myself engaged in this film was when the ideological conflict arose between BP (British Petroleum) and Transocean, (owners of the drilling platform). However, I wasn’t engaged as much when the well blew up and everybody was running around trying to save themselves and others. What made these scenes worse was the shaky camera work and lousy editing. It simply was difficult to be engaged with anything when nothing gets into focus. The conflict between the Transocean and BP was, at times, riveting as each side wanted something. BP led by Vidrine (John Malkovich) wanted to hurry the project along because they were 43 days behind schedule. Transocean led by Mr. Jimmy (Kurt Russell) wanted to execute all the appropriate and timely tests to ensure that drilling hole was secure. The lead role in this film was the view from Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg) who worked for Mr. Jimmy and was responsible for all the operating systems on Deepwater Horizon. However, as much as we wanted to care about Williams, his wife Felicia (Kate Hudson) and his daughter Sydney (Stella Allen), the real story in this film was about the differences of opinion between BP and Transocean.

Wahlberg was good in this role, however where he was supposed to shine was in the saving of crewmembers from the exploding rig. However, the lousy camera work and poor editing made his segments of the film far less interesting. My favorite part of his role is when he detailed a listing of issues that needed to be fixed on Deepwater Horizon while talking to Vidrine. Malkovich was OK in his role of pushing BP’s agenda. His accent was odd to me, however his intensity was excellent. Russell was wonderful as the know-it-all General Manager of Deepwater. I loved his tenacity and presence to stick to what was important. Hudson was good as Williams’ wife. Gina Rodriguez (as Andrea Fleytas) was engaging and I would have like more from her part. Matthew Michael Carnahan and Matthew Sand wrote a strong script. What failed this film was the direction by Peter Berg who focused on the blowing up of Deepwater Horizon and doing it in a way that didn’t allow the audience to see what was happening. Shame, this could have been good but this shows you how lousy direction and focusing on blowing up stuff doesn’t always make a good picture.

Overall:  Really disappointed how the director got swayed by the possibility of blowing up something and not focusing on the story and reason for the explosion.

Don't Breathe

First Hit:  A fairly good horror thriller that had me jumping in my seat a couple of times.

I’m not a big horror fan, but going to this film with my daughter, who loves horror films, was fun. My first jump in my seat happened when a dog jumped up to a window of a car, the second is when a man came through a door. There are a number of car and door type sequences, so I’m not giving anything away here.

The story is about three people; a young mother named Rocky (Jane Levy) who is living a repressed life with her mother and daughter, a nice thoughtful young man named Alex (Dylan Minnette) who cares about Rocky, and a sleazy boyfriend of Rocky’s named Money (Daniel Zovatto). Together they break into houses taking no cash, but gathering and taking as many valuables as they can to fence for cash. Tired of not making much from their efforts and Rocky promising her daughter they’ll move to California; they decide to rob a blind man (Steven Lang) who won a large financial judgement when his daughter was killed by another motorist.

Because he lives in an deserted neighborhood, they believe that robbing blind man will be easy pickings. However, they discover differently. Much of the film is shot in darkened rooms, but there’s enough light to ensure the audience sees all they need to see. The blind man is very adept at creating fear and seems to have multiple lives because just when you think he's out of the picture, he shows up again. The script is clean, simple and not overly complicated. The director got everyone to buy into the script and each played their part well. It had suspense and moments of tension which was the purpose of this story.

Levy was strong as the woman who had lived a hard life and wanted something better for her daughter. She expressed the right amount of fear and courage. Minnette was sufficiently kind and driven to participate in robberies to be close to and help Rocky. Zovatto was OK as an uneducated thief who was brutish towards Rocky and domineering towards Alex. Lang was very good as the blind old man. His unshaven face and blind eyes were intimidating. Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues wrote a strong script which director Alvarez did a great job of getting tense suspense from the actors and scenes.

Overall:  This was one of the better horror films made in the last few years.