Knives Out

First Hit: An enjoyable investigative romp with a group of very capable actors in an old fashion story.

This film reminded me of an old fashion crime drama, sort of like a “Clue” game. What makes this movie work is the way these capable actors tell this tale of crime and deceit in both a comedic and dramatic way.

Marta Cabrera (Ana de Armas) is an in-home nurse who has also befriended her only client, Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer). Harlan is very wealthy from writing eighty successful mystery novels. His health is failing, hence the need for Marta. Marta has become his only true confidant because the rest of the family, except his daughter Linda Drysdale (Jamie Lee Curtis), totally lives off his generosity.

Linda and her husband Richard (Don Johnson) live in Harlan’s home and don’t fully escape from Harlan’s largeness because he funded Linda’s successful real estate business. They have a son Hugh Ransom Drysdale (Chris Evans), who is arrogant, flippant, and smart while living off an allowance from Harlan.

Harlan’s home is large and his mother, Great Nana (K Callan) lives with him. She doesn’t talk and sits in a wheelchair throughout the film but plays an important role in the story. Other family members who are living off Harlan’s wealth and success include; Walt Thrombey (Michael Shannon), his wife Donna (Riki Lindhome) who run Harlan’s publishing company. Joni Thrombey (Toni Collette) who is Harlan’s deceased son Neil’s wife, and their daughter Meg (Katherine Langford), who receive an allowance from Harlan for Meg’s schooling. Each of them are taking advantage of Harlan and during the film’s story, each of these ways are explored more fully.

The family has gathered to celebrate Harlan’s 85th birthday. During this party, most of the family, we learn, have discussions with Harlan about his largeness towards them.

The next morning, after the party, the housekeeper Fran (Edi Patterson) finds Harlan dead in his study with his throat slit, it appears to be a suicide.

However, someone has anonymously hired Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) a famous southern investigator to find out if it was murder or suicide. Blanc, working with the police, begin to unravel the mystery as to why Blanc was hired to be involved.

The police are convinced it was suicide, but the extraordinary questioning skills of Blanc and his inquisitive mind of solving puzzles begins to shed a different light on Harlan’s death. Slowly, and methodically, his interviews begin to piece a different story together.

One of the funnier parts of the interviewing process by Blanc, we learn that Marta cannot lie. If she lies, she throws up. There are a couple hilarious, slightly gross, scenes of this.

When the lawyer comes and the Will is read, everyone gathers to find out that Harlan has left everything, I mean everything, to Marta. The family doesn’t know what to do, or how they will survive, or do they?

Craig is hilariously fantastic as the investigator Benoit Blanc. His slow southern drawl and idiosyncrasies, during the interviews using the piano, are spot on funny and pointed. Evans is perfect as the conniving Ransom. His ability to be both charming and evil are perfect. Armas is sublime as Marta. Her expressions of the fear of doing something wrong, her caution because having a mother who is illegally in the country, and also wanting to do the right thing for Harlan are excellent. Curtis is outstanding as the daughter who wants more. Shannon is terrific as the son who thinks he’s in charge of Harlan’s business but really is just a pawn. Collette is perfectly flighty and conniving as the social influencer and thief in the name of her daughter Meg. The rest of the cast is equally good in making this a wonderful romp. Rian Johnson wrote and directed this fun filled mystery and got the best out of everyone for their roles.

Overall: This was a perfect, fun filled, and enjoyable movie to sit through.

Waves

First Hit: I’m not always a fan of revolving cameras and frame sizing to create a feeling, but this time it worked.

In an opening scene, Alexis (Alexa Demie) and Tyler (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) are driving in a car. They are young, the music is blaring, and they are drunk on their love for each other and being young and alive. The camera keeps going in circles creating a feeling of erratic motion, and that something is going to happen. I kept holding on to my armrest thinking that an accident was coming soon. It didn’t.

This opening scene gave me a sense that the film was going to be a roller coaster of feelings because of all the joy in this scene and the spirit of impending doom riding in the background.

Tyler lives with his father, Ronald (Sterling K. Brown), his stepmother Catharine (Renee Elise Goldsberry), and sister Emily (Taylor Russell). They are clearly middle class, and as a black man Ronald is very proud of his work ethic, what he’s achieved, and makes a point of instilling his driven work ethic in his children.

Tyler is on the wrestling team in high school. Ronald is very engaged with his son’s wrestling. He works with Tyler by practicing wrestling moves in their garage. He pushes him to be the best wrestler on the team. They not only practice wrestling moves in their garage; they also lift weights together, and they challenge each other while working out and wrestling. In one telling scene during a school wrestling match, after Tyler pins his opponent for a win, his father tells him if he would have made different moves, he would have pinned his opponent 20 seconds sooner.

So it wasn’t only about the win, but how fast and what moves Tyler performed in each match that was challenged by Ronald. What Ronald doesn’t know is that Tyler is hiding a shoulder injury from everyone, and the doctor is quite clear that the injury is so severe that he’ll have permanent damage if he continues to wrestle.

Tyler likes to party with his friends and is very popular at school. He and his girlfriend Alexis spend a lot of time together and are sexually active. During one text message exchange, she tells him her period’s late.

As the film proceeds, the pressure is building up in Tyler; his father is riding him to be better, his shoulder is irreparably damaged, which could cause him to lose his college scholarship, and his girlfriend is pregnant. His drinking is getting worse, he’s smoking more pot, and taking lots of pain pills. His life is spinning out of control.

When Tyler and Alexis go to the abortion clinic, she changes her mind and says she wants to keep the baby. Tyler goes ballistic, they get in a massive fight in the car, and she breaks up with him.

The tension in the film is enhanced by the use of different camera movements, image focus slipping, and color splashes only add to what is about to happen.

Violence breaks out, and Tyler finds a reason to express the rage within and without thinking hurts the people he loves and who love him. The tensions in Tyler’s life build to a point at which he can no longer control them. He commits a violent act, is arrested, and is sentenced to decades in jail.It ends up in an act to which he finds himself arrested and sentenced to jail.

Shortly after that, Tyler’s sister Emily, who has been nearly a forgotten person in the family, meets Luke (Lucas Hedges). The early scenes of their meeting and getting to know each other are magnificently done. They feel real and authentic to the characters. Both are damaged in different ways. Luke because of his father’s alcoholic rages and because his father left him and his mother. Emily, because she’s the forgotten one in the family and is now embarrassed because she’s the sister of her once-popular imprisoned brother.

When the film moves into this new story, the relationship between Luke and Emily, I started wondering where it was headed. Then I started worrying about Emily because she began to party and experiment with pot in the same way her brother did. I thought more trouble was brewing.

However, the story unfolds towards the power of forgiveness and speaking openly and truthfully. As Emily supports Luke in his healing, she, herself, is being healed.

I am not a fan of camera movement becoming a significant part of the story, but for some reason it worked. I could have used less of the swirling circular motions, but it did add to the sensation the film was attempting to make.

Also, as I recently wrote, I reviewed a different film recently, I’m not a big fan of changing the image size on the screen as a way to affect the viewer. But again, here it worked. At times it was letterbox style, other times almost portrait, like what one sees from a phone video, and at other times it was full screen. This is a story about a family on a journey through love, tough times, tragedy, and forgiveness, it worked.

Harrison Jr. was compelling as the young man attempting to live up to his father’s ideals, failing, and spiraling out of control. The angst leading to his lashing out is probably familiar to many a young man. Russell was sublime as Harrison’s younger sister, who had to come out of the shadows to be seen and own her own life. Demie was wonderful as Harrison’s girlfriend, who didn’t want to be controlled and wanted her feelings to be heard and honored. Brown as Harrison’s dad was terrific. His portrayal of a man who was blinded by his own work and not seeing the effect it was having on his wife and kids was convincing. Goldsberry was terrific as the stepmother who empathized with the kids and struggled to find her place when her husband refused to be empathic to her pain. Hedges was excellent as Russell’s boyfriend, who reached out in her time of need, and in turn was supported by her when he needed to deal with his own past. Trey Edward Shults wrote a strong and powerful script which he then in-turn directed. As a director he knew what he wanted, and I, for one, liked what he did.

Overall: This film captured the power of love and forgiveness over the expression of anger.

Dolemite Is My Name

First Hit: At times, hilarious, but also a surprising true and touching story about the birth of rap by a man who just kept trying to be famous.

More than anything, Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) wanted to be famous. He would like to stand on a stage, be admired, be seen, and create laughter.

An opening scene shows him being allowed a few minutes on a small local club stage, introducing other acts. He tries to be engaging and funny, but the audience ignores him.

We learn that he’s already tried his luck at singing and even got his aunt to finance the production of a record that didn’t sell.

There’s a delightful scene with Rudy trying to convince a DJ Roj (Snoop Dogg) into playing cuts from his record, and all Snoop keeps saying is that “this old shit ain’t any good and I ain’t playin it because it ain’t hip, man.”

Then he gets an idea after listening to a homeless man speak about a comedic character called Dolemite, who tells rude rhyming jokes. He works on developing this character named Dolemite, and watching him grow the role, we begin to see the comedic genius of Murphy and this character, Dolemite. I really enjoyed these scenes.

Thinking he’s got it down, he convinces the small night club owner he MC’s for to let him do five minutes of his new Dolemite act, and to everyone’s amazement, he’s funny as hell. Dolemite is a hit.

Scraping together some cash, he makes a comedy record in his home with friends as his audience. Selling the record from the trunk of his car, he makes a good number of sales, and soon the album is selling everywhere.

A record company picks it up, and now Rudy begins promoting the record in the Deep South, where Dolemite and this record is a hit. In one club, he comes across Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) whom Rudy Ray thinks is funny. Inviting her to join him on stage and on his tour, together, they are amazing and also develop a great friendship and trust for each other.

At one of the stops, they watch a film called “The Front Page” and his mind starts working again. If he could be filmed, he could really spread the Dolemite character to lots of people everywhere. Taking this idea to a film company, they decline, thinking that creating a Dolemite film will be a bad investment. Not to be deterred, he mortgages his future record earnings, and he gets a crew together to write and make a Dolemite film.

The film he makes is one of the first kung-fu-themed Blaxploitation movies ever made. Watching them make the flick is hilarious as they really do some silly things. The director is disgusted by the way the film is being made. The lack of good acting and the scenes are absurd. At the end of filming, the director walks out and states that this film will never show anywhere.

But the irrepressible Rudy Ray (AKA Dolemite) finds a way to get the film shown at a high risk to his financial wherewithal.

Murphy was solid as Dolemite. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an Eddie Murphy film, and this story fits his engaging enthusiastic personality. Dogg was slick as Roj, the DJ. Randolph was outstanding as Lady Reed, a woman who just needed to be seen and supported. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski wrote a hilarious script and also had depth. Craig Brewer did an excellent job of directing this story into a cohesive story about a true legend of today’s rap scene and Blaxploitation films.

Overall: I relaxed and had fun watching this film.

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.