The Godfather

I have a confession.  Before last Sunday I had never seen The Godfather!  I know!  When I mentioned this to my movie buddies there was a stunned silence as if they couldn't believe it!  It is widely considered to be the greatest film in American cinema so when I found out that it was going to be screened as part of TCM's Big Screen Classics, I knew I had to get a ticket if for no other reason than to be able to say that I had finally seen it.  Now I know what I have been missing.  It is a masterpiece!  The plot centers on the Corleone family, particularly the relationship between Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando), the head of the family, and his youngest son Michael (Al Pacino).  Initially, Michael is a disinterested outsider but is drawn in after Vito is gunned down by a rival and eventually becomes the ruthless leader of the family.  I found the story to be utterly compelling and my attention never wavered during its three hour run time.  I was very impressed by the performances of Marlon Brando (who won the Oscar for the role), James Caan as the oldest son Santini, Robert Duvall as the consigliere to the Corleone family, and Diane Keaton as Michael's girlfriend and, later, wife.  However, it was a young (and extremely handsome) Al Pacino who absolutely captivated me by his intense portrayal of a man who becomes more and more hardened by events.  The scene in the restaurant, with a close-up shot on Michael's face as he decides to kill two of the family's rivals, is brilliant.  You can literally see the exact moment when Michael makes the decision.  I also found the christening scene to be fascinating with another close-up on Michael's face as he recites vows in a church while his associates assassinate the leaders of all of the rival crime families.  The juxtaposition is so jarring but effective!  I think what I appreciated most about this film is that, even though it is about organized crime and there are scenes of violence (there is that famous scene with a horse's head), it is not excessively gory and there is very little profanity.  I loved the use of light and shadow to convey a mood and the score is also incredibly atmospheric.  At the end of the film everyone in the packed theater applauaded enthusiastically because it is a masterpiece!  I am so glad that I got to see it on the big screen.

Note:  I found it amusing that Sofia Coppola played the baby being christened!  I am so looking forward to her film The Beguiled.

Wonder Woman

I am in full summer mode now and it is glorious!  I went to see the movie Wonder Woman in the afternoon on a weekday (with my Mom) just because I could!  To say that I was excited to see this movie would be an understatement!  After all, I have been eagerly anticipating its release since I saw Batman v Superman.  I tried to keep my expectations in check, so I wouldn't be too disappointed if it wasn't very good, but I have to admit that I didn't do a very good job of it!  Now that I have seen it I can report that it exceeded my expectations in every way!  In my opinion, it is the best superhero movie, ever!  I absolutely love the character of Diana (Gal Gadot) and the story of her journey is told extremely well.  We first meet her on the island of Themyscira as a warrior-in-training.  When a pilot crash lands near the island, Diana saves him and learns of the world war raging all around her.  She believes that the god Ares has returned and it is his influence that has caused mankind to slaughter each other.  She decides to leave with Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) to kill Ares and stop the conflict.  Even though there are Germans (Danny Huston and Elena Anaya) working to create an even deadlier form of mustard gas, I love the fact that the real villain of this movie is war itself and mankind's inclination to evil.  The ultimate lesson that Diana learns about mankind makes me feel more positive and hopeful than I have felt in a very long time and I love that she learns this lesson through her relationship with Steve Trevor.  I had a tear in my eye during a key moment between them.  In fact, I found this story to be incredibly emotional.  I love the fact that Diana is a strong woman but she needs the help of both Steve and the gang of misfits recruited for the mission in order to succeed.  There is a strong feminist message but it does not put men down in order to deliver it.  I think changing the source material from World War II to World War I was a brilliant decision because this conflict has often been called the war to end all wars and that is what Diana tries to do.  Gadot gives a wonderful performance highlighting both Diana's naivete and strength and I also enjoyed her chemistry with Pine.  This movie is very dark in tone, a oft-repeated criticism of the DCEU, and while I liked and even defended Batman v Superman because I feel like the subject matter warranted a dark and gritty treatment, I think Wonder Woman does a better job because there are also moments of levity, particularly Diana's fish-out-of-water scenes while trying on clothes, and moments of tenderness, especially after the group liberates a village from the Germans.  The special effects are amazing.  I could not look away from the screen during an epic battle scene where Diana takes the full brunt of Germany's fire.  I cannot say enough about this movie and how much I loved it.  I am especially thrilled that it is getting such glowing reviews because, in my opinion, it deserves them.  Definitely go see this movie!

My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea

Last night I met my new movie friends for dinner and a movie and it was such a fun night.  We saw My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, a quirky movie that all three of us really liked.  Dash (Jason Schwartzman) is a nerdy high school sophomore who writes for the school newspaper with his best friend Assaf (Reggie Watts) and Verti (Maya Rudolph), the editor.  He decides to write a story about the new addition of an auditorium and finds evidence that the school did not pass a safety inspection because it is located directly on a fault line.  No one listens to his warning but when the school actually begins to sink, he tries to evacuate everyone.  Only Assaf, Verti, a popular girl named Mary (Lena Dunham), and the lunch lady Lorraine (Susan Sarandon) join him in climbing to the top floor to be rescued.  As they climb each floor, which amusingly correspond to each grade level, they encounter new obstacles to their survival.  There is a great message about unlikely friendships and teamwork but what I loved most about this movie is that it is a spoof of the usual teen high school movie, with the requisite stereotypical characters such as the stoner and the jock (I loved the scene where the sports hero is sitting on a throne with the other athletes and cheerleaders paying homage to him), combined with a disaster movie with all of those usual tropes (my friend described it as if Napoleon Dynamite and The Poseidon Adventure had a baby).  The animation is innovative and psychedelic.  The characters look like they have been drawn with a sharpie but there are lots of wild and trippy colors swirling around everywhere.  This movie is what might happen if Wes Anderson were to drop acid and get his 64 pack of Crayola crayons out (Dash reminds me of Max Fischer and the school is an almost exact copy of the Grand Budapest Hotel).  It is out there but I highly recommend it!

The Lovers

Yesterday was the first official day of summer vacation and I spent it doing all of the things I love to do when I have free time:  I slept in scandalously late, I spent most of the afternoon reading, and I went to a late movie.  The movie I chose to see was an indie at my favorite art house theater called The Lovers.  It was an interesting exploration of marriage anchored by great performances by Debra Winger and Tracy Letts.  Mary (Winger) and Michael (Letts) are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has become stale.  They are both involved in long-term affairs, Mary with an uptight poet (Aidan Gillen) and Michael with a neurotic ballerina (Melora Walters), and both of their lovers are pushing them to end the marriage to be with them.  Just when they are on the verge of divorce, they suddenly become physically attracted to each other all over again and, ostensibly, cheat on their lovers.  They actually sneak around to be with each other and lie to their lovers about what they are doing in some highly amusing scenes.  I especially liked a scene when they are with their lovers but surreptitiously texting each other.  I really enjoyed this movie because it explored familiar themes about the break-up of a marriage in a new and interesting way and the ending surprised me.  Neither character is particularly likable but, somehow, I was drawn into their relationship without a lot of tedious exposition.  I haven't seen Debra Winger in a movie for a long time and it was good to see her in such a great role.  Both WInger and Letts have great chemistry (in some pretty steamy scenes) and I laughed out loud several times.  I recommend The Lovers to people who like intelligent movies about relationships.

Note:  I hope to repeat this day often this summer!

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Last Thursday I went see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and I thought it was a lot of fun.  I loved Curse of the Black Pearl but I liked each successive sequel less and less (I hated On Stranger Tides) so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this latest entry in the franchise.  Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) is searching for the Trident of Poseidon as a way to break the curse that binds his father Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to The Flying Dutchman.  He is helped by Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), an astronomer (who is periodically accused of being a witch) who has a map that can locate the Trident.  The two of them encounter Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), as he is trying to rob a bank, and the three join forces.  Meanwhile, Salazar (Javier Bardem), an undead captain in the Spanish Armada who was trapped in the Devil's Triangle by Jack Sparrow, vows revenge against him and enlists the help of Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to find him.  They all meet up for an epic confrontation on the sea for control of the Trident.  The story is kind of all over the place and there are a lot of characters to keep track of (every captain has a large crew and the British Royal Navy makes an appearance) but it has a similar tone and feel as the first movie in the franchise.  I loved all of the swashbuckling action sequences on land, especially one involving Jack Sparrow and a guillotine, and the sea battles are also pretty spectacular (although the sequence involving the Trident of Poseidon drags on a bit).  Javier Bardem is a great villain (I loved his hair) and Johnny Depp is always highly amusing as Sparrow.  I also enjoyed the (very brief) return of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann and I squealed with delight at the cameo of Paul McCartney as Jack's uncle (I guess Keith Richards and Paul McCartney are brothers?).  This movie is definitely not a masterpiece but it is a great summer blockbuster and it was a fun way for me to start my summer vacation.  If you are a fan of the franchise, then I suspect you will enjoy it.

Norman

On Monday night I went to see the dark comedy Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer.  Richard Gere gives an incredible performance (possibly the best of his career) as Norman Oppenheimer, a small-time hustler in New York City who does an enormous favor for Micha Eschel (Lior Ashkenazi), a low-level diplomat in the Israeli government, in order to get an invitation to a dinner thrown by Arthur Taub (Josh Charles), a high profile financier (the exchange between Norman and Taub is one of the most cringe-worthy scenes I've ever seen).  Norman's prospects change when, three years later, Eschel becomes the Prime Minister of Israel.  He does a few more favors for Eschel, such as getting his son into Harvard, and then attempts to use this connection to his advantage.  Will he pull off the biggest deals of his life or will it all come crashing down around him?   I enjoyed this often slow-moving film because of Richard Gere's sympathetic portrayal of a character who is pretty annoying, especially when he tries to hustle a woman on a train, but somehow you can't help rooting for him to succeed.  There is an especially poignant scene where Eschel essentially throws him under the bus to save his political career and it almost brought me to tears.  I liked how many of the phone conversations are portrayed as if the two people talking are side-by-side (there are many phone conversations because Norman is always hustling).  Finally, I also really liked the supporting cast:  Michael Sheen as Norman's much beleaguered nephew, Dan Stevens (who seems to be everywhere these days) as a financier, and Steve Buscemi as a rabbi.  This film is quite dark in tone so is not for everybody but I recommend it to those who like character-driven films about interesting people.

Smokey and the Bandit

Sunday afternoon I went to see the 1977 movie Smokey and the Bandit on the big screen thanks to the free tickets I won from Classic Movie Hub.  I actually remember watching it on the big screen when I was a kid, fueling an obsession with my Dad's CB radio (his handle was Grapevine) and warning fellow motorists about the smokeys on the highway.  It was so much fun to see it again!  The premise of this movie is that a wealthy Texas businessman (Pat McCormick) and his son (Paul Williams) want to serve Coors beer at one of their events in Georgia but it is illegal to sell it east of the Mississippi River.  They offer trucker Bo "Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds) $80,000 to haul 400 cases of Coors from Texas back to Georgia in 28 hours.  He accepts the challenge and recruits his partner Cledus "Snowman" Snow (Jerry Reid) to drive the truck while he drives the "blocker" (a sweet black Trans Am) to divert attention away from the truck.  On the way back to Georgia, Bandit stops to pick up a runaway bride (Sally Field) and, in doing so, he attracts the attention of Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason), a sheriff in Texas and the father of the groom, who pursues him all the way to Georgia.  There are epic car chases and crashes as Justice's police cruiser gets more and more banged up.  This movie is incredibly dated (with hilarious costumes and hairstyles from the 1970s) and the acting is a bit over-the-top, but I thought it was an absolute hoot and I enjoyed hearing all of the CB jargon from my youth.  I laughed out loud so many times (at just about everything Jackie Gleason said) as did everyone in the theater.  It is being screened for its 40th Anniversary in select theaters as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series and I recommend it to anyone who remembers it fondly.

Alien: Covenant

I walked into the theater last night with a little bit of trepidation.  I love the 1979 classic Alien because it scared me (I actually screamed out loud while watching it on TV) but I didn't especially like the 2012 installment Prometheus because it confused me and left too many questions unanswered.  Alien: Covenant skillfully combines elements from both movies and it was better than I expected.   Ten years after the events of Prometheus (and eighteen years before the events of Alien) a spaceship is traveling to the remote planet Origae-6 with thousands of colonists in stasis when the ship is damaged by a flare.  A synthetic android named Walter (Michael Fassbender) wakes up the crew but the captain is killed in the incident.  After the ship is stabilized, the crew picks up a radio transmission from a planet compatible with life that is much closer than Origae-6.  Acting Captain Oram (Billy Crudup) makes the decision to make a detour to the planet to investigate against the objections of Daniels (Katherine Waterston).  As they explore the planet, two crewmembers are "infected" with a spore resulting in aliens exploding from their chests which attack the rest of the crew.  They are rescued by the android David (Michael Fassbender) who has been living on the planet since the events of Prometheus.  There are scenes which expand upon the mythology of Prometheus but it ultimately becomes an intense, exciting, and bloody chase as the expendable crewmembers succumb one by one to the aliens until an epic confrontation aboard the ship.  Fassbender gives a brilliant performance as both of the androids because he imbues each character with subtle differences and some of the best scenes in the movie feature interactions between the two.  I'm not a huge fan of Waterston but she also delivers in this role.  The scenery on the planet is incredible (It was filmed at Milford Sound in New Zealand just weeks before I visited).  I liked the special effects with the aliens and the score is very effective at conveying a mood of terror.  It has flaws (there are still a lot of unanswered questions) but I think it is the best movie since the original and I definitely recommend it to fans of the franchise.

Everything, Everything

Last night my friend invited me to an advance screening of the movie Everything, Everything.  Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Nicola Yoon, it tells the story of Maddy Whittier (Amandla Stenberg), a 18-year-old girl with a disease called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) which means she is never allowed to leave the inside of her house.  She is resigned to her fate and passes her time reading and taking architecture classes online.  One day her life changes when Olly Bright (Nick Robinson) moves next door and tries to befriend her through her window.  They begin communicating and, suddenly, Maddy is no longer content with her confined life inside.  She convinces her nurse to let Olly inside and she learns that he is just as isolated as she is because of an alcoholic father.  They fall in love and Maddy decides to risk her life to be with Olly because love is everything.  Everything.  This movie really works because both of the lead actors are so charismatic and they have great chemistry with each other.  In fact, I found their entire relationship to be incredibly sweet and, more importantly, authentic.  Having the two of them actually speak to each other inside of Maddy's architectural models when they are texting is a very clever and effective device.   I also found the relationship between Maddy and her mother (Anika Noni Rose) to be very compelling and Rose gives an affecting performance as a woman so afraid to lose her daughter that she becomes obsessed with her care.  Sometimes movies about teens with illnesses can be very melodramatic but the filmmakers did everything right in this movie.  I never felt sorry for Maddy because she didn't wallow in self-pity and I loved the scenes of her exploring the outside world for the first time.  Finally, the soundtrack is just about perfect.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend seeing it when it hits theaters on Friday!

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Guy Ritchie is a very idiosyncratic director.  All of his movies feature frenetic action sequences with pulse-pounding music underneath them and his protagonists are street-smart wise-cracking hoodlums with a crew of sidekicks.  This worked for me in both of his Sherlock Holmes movies and these elements are what worked for me in his new movie, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.  However, instead of his usual formula which would have made the story of Arthur into an entertaining movie, Ritchie added some strange elements of fantasy which made it into a convoluted and bloated mess.  The movie opens with a bewildering CGI battle sequence featuring giant elephants, under the control of the wizard Mordred, attacking King Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana).  We learn that the King's brother Vortigen (Jude Law) is in league with Mordred and when the wizard is ultimately killed, Vortigen takes matters into his own hands and kills Uther himself to seize the throne (gaining power by a blood sacrifice to a strange octopus-like creature).  Uther's young son escapes to Londinium where he is raised in a brothel, becoming the aforementioned wise-cracking thug with his crew of misfits.  Arthur (Charlie Hunnam) is eventually reunited with Uther's sword Excalibur, captured by Vortigen, and rescued by a witch who can control animals (Astrid Berges-Frisbey).  Arthur must learn to control Excalibur, in a strange sequence featuring rodent-like creatures, and then face Vortigen (who has made another blood sacrifice to the strange octopus) in an ultimate show-down involving a giant snake.  I really liked the music, the fun interactions between Arthur and his crew (who eventually become the Knights of the Round Table at the end of the movie), the stylized fight sequences between the crew and Vortigen's soldiers (known as blacklegs), and Jude Law's portrayal of Vortigen.  But it seems like Ritchie didn't know what kind of movie he was making with the inclusion of these ridiculous CGI fantasy sequences filled with monsters.  This movie is incredibly disjointed and confusing and I definitely recommend giving it a miss.

Note:  I am 0-2 in my movie selections this weekend.  I find it interesting that aside from Logan and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, I have been very underwhelmed by Hollywood blockbusters this year.  My favorites so far have all been independent films.

The Circle

I am so glad it is the weekend!  It has been a rough couple of weeks because I've been trying to tie up some loose ends with student government before I turn everything over to the new advisor and I've been trying to motivate seniors who have completely shut down.  I need a weekend to recharge my batteries!  What I love most about the weekend is sleeping in late, reading until the wee hours of the morning, and seeing as many movies as I can.  This weekend started off with a late night screening of The Circle with my sister.  We both really wanted to see this movie because the premise seemed really intriguing.  Mae Holland (Emma Watson) is hired by an internet company called The Circle through a recommendation by a college friend (Karen Gillan) and soon catches the eye of founder Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) who recruits her for a new project called SeeChange.  Basically, Mae must wear a camera at all times and be transparent to the world about everything she sees and does.  She is warned by Ty Lafitte (John Boyega), the creator of SeeChange who now has reservations about how the data gleaned from the constant monitoring will be used.  At first I was completely engrossed in this movie and I enjoyed watching Mae get sucked in by the charismatic leader.  But then the message about privacy and limiting freedom got completely muddled by some giant plot holes and a bewildering ending.  What was Bailey's motivation for what he was doing in the Circle?  What was he hiding while forcing everyone around him to be transparent?  What was it that Mae exposed when she forced him to become transparent?  What happened to Bailey and the company after Mae exposed him?  What were her true feelings about transparency?  Why did her friend suddenly become disillusioned with the company?  Why did Ty lurk about in the shadows of the campus waiting for someone else to blow the whistle when he had all of the evidence needed to expose Bailey?  There is almost no character development in this movie and neither my sister nor I even understood what happened at the end.  Watson is fine in the role and Hanks gives a great performance as the cult-like leader but most of the other actors are terrible, especially Glenne Headly as Mae's mother.  This is not a very good movie and we were both pretty disappointed because it had so much potential but it was just what I needed to decompress after a long week.

The Dinner

Another film on my never-ending list is The Dinner and I was able to cross it off last night.  Paul (Steve Coogan), a former history teacher with a history of mental illness, his long-suffering wife Claire (Laura Linney), his brother Stan (Richard Gere), a successful congressman currently running for governor, and Stan's second wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall) meet each other at an exclusive and unbelievably pretentious restaurant to talk about a family crisis involving their teenage sons.  The dinner is fraught with tension and as each course is elaborately served (and labeled with on-screen titles), a layer is removed revealing their incredibly dysfunctional family dynamic and we learn that their boys have committed a horrific crime and that each of them have differing opinions about how to deal with the situation.  Much of the film involves the characters hashing it out at the dinner table and in various locations within the restaurant but there are also quite a few flashbacks which, for the most part, effectively illustrate how the relationships have become so combative (Chloe Sevigny appears in flashbacks at Stan's first wife).  One of them, however, involving a visit by the two brothers to Gettysburg seemed to go on and on, belaboring the point that a house divided against itself cannot stand.  All of these characters are pretty unlikable, even the one character who advocates that they do the right thing ultimately wavers, but all four actors give incredibly nuanced performances (I was especially impressed by Hall).  The Dinner is not an easy film to watch (at one point I had to turn away while one person in my screening left at that same moment) and the ambiguous ending left me a bit unsettled but, since I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, I highly recommend it as a thought-provoking morality play.

Their Finest

Yesterday I spent the afternoon watching the charming and delightful film, Their Finest.  I saw this at the Sundance Film Festival this year and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to see it again in wide release.   In 1940 the Ministry of Information, Film Division, is trying to boost morale at home and convince America to enter the war during the London Blitz.  They hear of an inspiring story about two young girls who took their father's boat to rescue soldiers stranded at Dunkirk and decide to make a film about their heroism.  An advertising copywriter named Catrin Cole (Gemma Arterton) is hired to write the "slop," or women's perspective, in the screenplay.  At first the other screenwriters Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) and Raymond Parfitt (Paul Ritter) are resentful of her involvement but they come to rely on her more and more and, of course, Catrin and Tom eventually develop feelings for each other.  There are some really somber scenes as almost every character deals with the effects of the nightly bombing during the Blitz (I don't know how people lived through the terror and uncertainty of the Blitz) but there are also some hilarious scenes when they begin filming on location, especially with the pompous actor Ambrose Hilliard (Bill Nighy).  I have always been a big fan of Nighy but here he is at his most overwrought best.  He pretty much steals every scene he is in.  Both Arterton and Claflin give solid performances and I was very engaged with their romance, even upon a second viewing.  I recommend this film as a pleasant afternoon diversion.

A Quiet Passion

Last night I went to see A Quiet Passion, an exquisite biopic about the life and work of Emily Dickinson.  We meet Emily as a young girl (played by Emma Bell) rebelling against the strict confines of her school, Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary.  Then she (played hereafter by Cynthia Nixon) returns to her home and family in Amherst, Massachusetts where she lives quietly and channels her overwhelming emotions into her poetry.  The story is told through a series of vignettes, mostly consisting of conversations with her stern father (Keith Carradine), her melancholy mother (Joanna Bacon), her brother Austin (Duncan Duff), her beloved sister Lavinia (Jennifer Ehle), her unconventional friend Vryling Buffum (Catherine Bailey), and her long-suffering sister-in-law Susan (Jodhi May), and a voice-over of Nixon reading Dickinson's poetry.  Because her life was so circumscribed, director Terence Davies imbues every single scene, even the most mundane shot of Emily sitting at her desk, with importance through beautiful composition and lighting.  My favorite moment in the whole film is a 360 degree shot which begins with Emily silently reading then circles the room showing members of her family spending a quiet evening in the drawing room and then returns to Emily in despair.  Nothing much is happening but it is beautifully shot and shows so much emotion.  Most of the film can be described in this way but it is incredibly moving and engrossing because of Nixon's astonishing performance.  She is able to convey all of Dickinson's innermost feelings with just an expression.  I loved this film because I am a fan of Emily Dickinson's poetry and I love character-driven biographies about complicated people but it is definitely not for everyone.

Guardians of the Galaxy Double Feature

I have been eagerly waiting for this double feature since I bought my ticket over a month ago (it is probably my most anticipated summer movie) and the day finally came yesterday!  I absolutely loved Guardians of the Galaxy and seeing it again on the big screen was so much fun!  I was reminded all over again why I loved it.  I really wanted Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 to be just as good and, in my opinion, it is but for different reasons.  In the first movie all of the characters are so fun and quirky but in the sequel I began to care about them.  Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), and Baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) are up to their usual shenanigans as they try to save the galaxy yet again but this time all of them have unresolved issues which come into play.  I really enjoyed the character development and, while there are lots of comedic moments (Baby Groot dancing to ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" just about killed me and Drax has some hilarious lines that made the audience in my packed screening laugh and cheer out loud), this movie is much more emotional and has more depth.  In fact, I think this movie is much more character-driven than plot-driven but it works for me because, like I mentioned, I became so much more invested in the characters.  The main story involves Quill forging a relationship with the father he never knew he had (Kurt Russell) but he eventually discovers that the Guardians are his real family.  I especially enjoyed the story arc with Yondu (Michael Rooker does such a good job in this role) and there were several moments when I had tears in my eyes.  I also really liked the dynamic between Gamora and her sister Nebula (Karen Gillan).  It goes without saying that the special effects are incredible making this movie a visual spectacle that is so much fun to watch and the music is fantastic, especially "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac and "Come A Little Bit Closer" by Jay & The Americans.  I loved this movie and I had so much fun watching it with a rowdy crowd.

Note:  There are five mid-credits scenes!  The funniest one involves Groot as a teenager.

The Lost City of Z

In an attempt to cross another film off of my never-ending list, I met my friend to see The Lost City of Z last night.  This is an epic adventure movie like they don't make any more and it has a very old fashioned sensibility to it.  It is based on the incredible true story of British explorer Percy Fawcett's expeditions to find an ancient city in the Amazon.  In the early 1900s, eager to make a name for himself, Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), a major in the British military, accepts a commission on behalf of the Royal Geographic Society to survey a part of the Amazon.  On this expedition, he discovers evidence of a civilization which, he believes, predates those of Europe and Asia.  He becomes obsessed with returning to the Amazon to find this lost city even though it means leaving his wife (Sienna Miller) and children behind for years.  After a failed attempt to find the city, Fawcett returns home at the outbreak of World War I to serve in the army only to be wounded at the Battle of the Somme.  After a long convalescence, he feels it is his destiny to find this city and mounts yet another ill-fated expedition, this time with his son (Tom Holland).  The theme of obsession, of striving to accomplish something to the detriment of everything else, is one that I find compelling and it is very well developed in this film.  I felt emotionally invested in Fawcett's journey which is why I found the ambiguous ending to be so distressing.  I realize that it is a true story and the filmmakers had to be faithful to the actual events but, after everything that happens in this story, I wanted a more satisfying resolution!  The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous with an almost sepia tone making the lush scenery seem otherworldly.  Charlie Hunnam gives, what I consider to be, his best performance to date because he is so commanding in a complex role but I did feel that his delivery was often very stilted.  After Fawcett's first expedition, he gives a very stirring speech to the Royal Geographic Society but almost all of his dialogue is at that same pitch which doesn't really work.  I was quite impressed with Robert Pattinson's performance at Fawcett's aide-de-camp.  I always suspected that he was a good actor!  Despite the fact that the ending left me shattered and a few other missteps, this film is a sweeping spectacle that I would recommend.

Cezanne et Moi

There are quite a few movies currently at the Broadway that I want to see and one of them, Cezanne at Moi, has a very limited engagement so I thought I had better see it last night.  This film is a luminous biopic about the turbulent friendship between Emile Zola (Guillaume Canet) and Paul Cezanne (Guillaume Gallienne) and I loved it.  The narrative begins when the two men are in middle age.  Zola is a successful author who has become one of the bourgeoisie he was so disdainful of as a young and penniless poet while Cezanne is still a fiery rebel estranged from his wealthy family who has yet to experience the success that would come to him at the end of his life.  There are flashbacks to their childhood in Aix en Provence, their days as struggling artists in Paris, and the rift in their friendship as Zola achieves more and more success and Cezanne becomes increasingly erratic.  The film reaches its climax in a scene fraught with tension as they hurl accusations at each other, each desiring what the other has.  This film is beautiful, almost as if you are watching one of Cezanne's paintings coming to life on the screen, and both Canet and Gallienne give incredibly powerful performances.  However, it is most definitely character, rather than plot, driven and the flashbacks are very nonlinear.  Also, there are lots of obscure references to art and literature that not everyone will be able to appreciate and I should mention that this film is in French with English subtitles.  It is definitely not for everyone but if you enjoy period pieces about interesting and complicated people, I highly recommend Cezanne et Moi.

The Graduate

I was quite young and very inexperienced, to say the least, when I began my teaching career.  One of my colleagues in the English department basically took me under her wing and not only became a much-needed mentor but also became a good friend.  Often, on the weekends, she would invite me to her house for dinner and a movie.  She loved movies, especially classic movies, and she had an extensive collection.  Most of the time she would let me pick and one night I selected The Graduate because I hadn't seen it before.  I remember my 21-year-old self being completely blown away by this movie!  Aren't all 21-year-olds particularly susceptible to themes of alienation?  I loved this movie so much my friend let me borrow it and I think I kept it much longer than is considered polite.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to see it on the big screen for the first time and I have to say that I was just as blown away by this screening as I was the first time I saw it if not more so.  It is amazing to see these classic films on the big screen as the were meant to be seen!  An angst-ridden young man (Dustin Hoffman) has recently graduated from college and is at loose ends when he begins an affair with a lonely and disillusioned older woman (Anne Bancroft) and then realizes that he really loves her daughter (Katharine Ross).  Hoffman, Bancroft, and Ross give amazing performances (all three were nominated for Academy Awards) which definitely stand the test of time.  Mike Nichols is a genius (he won an Academy Award) and so many of his choices still seem brilliant to me such as Benjamin's nervous tics and whimpers in his initial interactions with Mrs. Robinson.  I love the music by Simon and Garfunkel.  In fact, to this day I cannot use a moving sidewalk in an airport without hearing "The Sound of Silence" in my head.  I highly recommend this brilliant film which is being screened in select theaters for its 50th Anniversary as part of the TMC's Big Screen Classics series.

Colossal

When Colossal was screened at the Sundance Film Festival this year I honestly didn't have any desire to see it.  A couple of things changed my mind.  First, I saw a preview last week which was very intriguing and, then, a few friends who saw at Sundance raved about it in advance of its wide release so I decided to take in a matinee yesterday.  Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a young woman living in New York and, frankly, she is a complete mess.  She has been unemployed for over a year and, after staggering home from a night of drinking, her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) kicks her out of their apartment.  She is forced to move back into her childhood home, where she literally sleeps on an air mattress on the floor, and she reconnects with Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), a childhood friend.  She continues her destructive behavior by drinking every night with Oscar and his friends.  Clearly, she has a few inner demons but her demons manifest themselves as a giant lizard-like monster who terrorizes the people of Seoul, South Korea.  She is horrified when she realizes that she is responsible for the death of many innocent people and tries to discover a way to stop the monster.  As the story continues, Oscar's demons, which manifest themselves as a giant robot, are revealed and the two of them must resolve a conflict from childhood in an epic showdown.  I found this story to be highly original and entertaining, if a bit strange, and the ending was incredibly satisfying.  I usually like Anne Hathaway and I found her portrayal of Gloria to be sympathetic.  Conversely, I found Jason Sudeikis' Oscar to be quite disturbing; in fact, there were moments when I truly despised him.  Amid the bad behavior and the B-movie monsters, there is a really powerful message about bullying and I'm glad that I decided to see it.

Frantz

Last night I saw the absolutely beautiful film Frantz at the Broadway.  It is one of the best films about the aftermath of war that I've ever seen.  After World War I, a young German woman named Anna (Paula Beer) is mourning the loss of her fiancee Frantz (played by Anton Von Lucke in flashbacks).  She frequently visits his grave and one day she notices that flowers have been left by a stranger who turns out to be Adrien (Pierre Niney), a Frenchman who claims to have known Frantz before the war.  He and Anna form a close bond as he tells her about their friendship and, while his presence is initially met with resistance by Frantz's family, he eventually brings them comfort.  When Adrien leaves Germany, after a startling revelation, Anna cannot get him out of her mind and travels to France in the hopes of reestablishing their connection (where she faces the same hostility that Adrien experienced in Germany).  After another revelation, Anna must learn to let go of the past and live a different life from the one she had imagined.  Based on the 1932 Ernst Lubitsch film Broken Lullaby, it explores the lingering pain and loss after a war, the antagonism remaining in peacetime between two countries who were once enemies, and the need for forgiveness for deeds committed in wartime.  It is quite atmospheric and very moving.  Most of the film is in black and white, with brief interludes of color during scenes before the war and during moments of happiness, which is highly effective in conveying a mood, and both Beer and Niney give absolutely haunting performances.  I loved this film and I highly recommend it.

Note:  Frantz was the second independent foreign film with subtitles that I saw this week (third if you count this film because I saw again with English subtitles, which I much preferred to the dubbed version).  I am nothing if not pretentious!