I finally got to the theater to see the Oscar nominated film The Theory of Everything. It tells the story of Stephen and Jane Hawking’s marriage and life together.
They meet before Stephen’s ALS diagnosis and everything is shot through sepia tones with dew filled lighting, very picturesque. (That technique is called upon far too often in the movie…). I wish they had let us know why Jane falls in love with Stephen. She just says kind of out of the blue that she is in love with him but I would have liked to have gotten more into her heart.
Then the film chronicles his diagnosis, their marriage, his progress on The Brief History of Time and his physics theories. They do a good job making the theories accessible and easy enough for the viewer to understand. You might not really get them but enough to see why they are so important. (I mean it is black holes after all!). There is also a continuing theme of Stephen’s atheism conflicting with his theories which was interesting.
There is an extended section where Jane meets a choir director named Jonathan and that was a snoozefest. I never felt like I got to know Jane well enough. I found myself anxious in her sections to get on to Stephen because more concrete things were happening to him and the performance by Eddie Redmayne is very good. Felicity Jones is just ok but the script doesn’t give her a ton to work with.
The movie also has constant twirling which I guess was supposed to mimic the universe but got annoying after a while (seriously even the coffee twirls).
My feelings at the end of the movie is- it is fine. It’s a perfectly standard adequate satisfying biopic about a very unique man. I found myself getting anxious for the story to move along and all the dew filled picturesque cinematography got on my nerves. It kept the two main characters at a distance. I rarely felt I got in their hearts or who they really were.
But I still enjoyed it. It’s competently made and a good story. I liked it. I just didn’t LOVE it. It’s such an interesting life that it may work almost in spite of itself.
I liked they didn’t try to give it more of a perfect ending than was deserved. From what I understand they stuck to real life events pretty well.
I couldn’t help but think of A Beautiful Mind while watching A Theory of Everything. Both are shot with a similar style about women married to geniuses who become ill. I think A Beautiful Mind is better because it gets a little more into both characters heads and I liked the twist (and the script is tighter). But they are very similar.
So if you liked Beautiful Mind than you will probably enjoy A Theory of Everything. I’m certainly glad I saw it. It’s always great to watch stories of people who defy the odds and do incredible things. A Theory of Everything gives us such a story and I enjoyed it even if I didn’t think it was spectacular. I was inspired by the events of the movie more than the movie itself.
This would be a good movie to watch on a Sunday when you are looking to be inspired and it would certainly be a good way to introduce students to Hawking’s life and ideas. Like I said it doesn’t reinvent the wheel but I liked it.
As far as content there is hints of affairs but it is kept very PG and a brief but very tame penthouse magazine. Maybe a little language and a scene where a trachea is installed that was tough to watch.
Today I tried something different and made 2 videos for my channel. One that summarized the movies I saw in the theater in January and another the movies I saw at home. If you read my reviews you already know my opinion but this is a summary. I would love if you took a look and subscribed to my channel.
Definitely going to ruffle feathers on this review. When I got home from Comicon I decided to watch a movie last night and put on Gone Girl (trying to catch up). Gone Girl is a very well made completely preposterous movie that I just couldn’t get behind. I realize I’m in the minority on this one and I’m ok with that.
It’s very hard to talk about Gone Girl without giving away spoilers. Basically it is about a man named Nick played by Ben Affleck who’s wife played by Rosamund Pike is missing. A detective named Rhonda begins to suspect Nick of murdering his wife.
All the performances are good in Gone Girl. It is well directed by David Fincher using his typical harsh lighting and overall style.
I really loved the commentary it gives on our 24 hour news cycle although I’m not sure we needed two TV women in Missi Pyle and Sela Ward. Carrie Coon, Neal Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry are all good in their various roles. Of the entire cast I actually thought Pike was the weakest performance-wise. Again, I know I’m in minority on that one. It was very predictable and one note.
All that said, the movie requires the viewer to accept a character makes and executes a plan with perfect precision, never making mistakes. To me it was a preposterous twist I just couldn’t buy. Nobody is that perfect. It made the character a lot less interesting because he or she could do no wrong. And then the ending was bizarre and impossible to believe. It made no sense given everything we have been told about either characters. There is no way. I was left thinking again and again throughout the movie ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’.
Because this particular character twist is so over-the-top their actions and story became very predictable. They are the psychopaths we’ve seen a million times in a million other movies (and law and order episodes for that matter).
Occasionally I will like a predictable movie that does what it’s trying to do well but usually that is because I bond with a character or it has special effects or other unique appeal. I didn’t have that in Gone Girl. It reminded me of a movie like The Village or Signs (not that bad) but slickly made, good performances but a plot that defies credibility and made me groan.
I just didn’t buy the plot so despite good performances and interesting commentary, the movie was in the end a frustrating experience. I really didn’t care for it.
I’d also say it is a hard R definitely adults only for sexuality, violence, blood, gore and language.
That said, I can see if you can go with the scheming and plan than you’d like the movie. I just couldn’t. Sorry…
Content Grade- D, Overall Grade- C
I have not read the book it was based and so don’t know how it relates to the story in the book.
So I’ve heard of this little thing called Snowmogeddon that many of you are experiencing. It is gorgeous here in Utah so go figure! As many of you are stuck inside with travel restrictions I thought I would help you out and suggest some great movies for watching on a snow day. I figure you either want something you can cozy up with, something long or something cold.
For some reason I always think of making popcorn, hot cocoa and brownies when there is a blizzard outside. Yum!
I am also specifically not picking any Christmas movies because most people don’t watch those in January.
Here we go!
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy-
What better for a day stuck inside than a good trilogy and it’s hard to top Lord of the Rings. You could even watch the extended editions with all that time. What Peter Jackson did truly fits the word epic. They hit every movie lover need- great action, beautiful worlds, good performances and a battle against evil that has real heart at the core. When you get to the final scene with Samwise, Frodo, Gollum and the ring it is so satisfying.
2. Up
Perfect time to watch a movie about a floating house when you are stuck in the house! I can’t think of a time when I wouldn’t want to watch Up. It’s sweet, funny and touching. I love the opening sequence more than any other piece of filmmaking I’ve ever seen. I love that a character passes away yet her presence is felt throughout the film. It’s a reminder to us that those we love and have lost are still a part of our lives. It’s also very funny and has some nifty action, a good villain, great voice performances and a perfect score.
3. Shining
Got a little cabin fever? I can’t think of a more appropriate and terrifying movie than Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. It is the only horror movie I like because it is about a man going insane not some outside force attacking. The artistry is a huge step above the typical horror movie and there is a lot of symbolism that can keep you thinking. Plus, great performances from all involved.
Of course I have to include a Disney and I almost went with Lady and the Tramp because that is a very cozy movie but I decided on 101 Dalmatians because it is warm, funny and has a lot of scenes in the snow. Cruella is one of Disney’s best villains and the dogs get really close to getting caught many times. The scene getting into the van makes me always hold my breath. Cruella’s plan is so outrageous it also gives us some great laughs. One of my favorites and a rare time where the sketch style is actually a benefit to all those spotted puppies.
5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
What is a snow day but an unexpected day off, so this is a perfect film for the occasion. Ferris’ antics are obviously over the top but there is a real heart to the film which I actually find quite moving. There is a theory that the whole day is planned by Ferris because Cameron is going to commit suicide and it is all set up to get him to the moment with the car and confronting his father. I don’t know if that is true or not but it makes sense. It’s one of those rare pictures which balances comedy, great writing, likable performances, 4th wall jokes and pretty intense drama. I like it more each time I see it.
How could I not put it in? Let the cold never bother you anyway and watch one of Disney’s most satisfying movies and one of the best musicals in a long time. I love the relationship between the sisters as I have 3 sisters and trying to figure out what’s in their heads is really hard. I thought the ending worked and the villain twist surprised me, which is hard to do in a fairytale. They also used just enough of Olaf to be funny without overdoing it. I know it has its detractors but I love it!
7. Pride and Prejudice
Technically this is not a movie but a miniseries but I figure you have 6 hours when snowed in why not watch Colin Firth stare longingly into Lizzie’s eyes…Sigh? This is the standard by which all Jane Austen adaptations are measured. Andrew Davies is such a great director for period pieces and the whole cast is engaging with the exception of Susannah Harker who is a rather blank Jane. I love Jennifer Ehle as Lizzie and of course Colin Firth with the staring, eloquence, and a little dip in the lake we won’t soon forget. Other great miniseries to watch are North and South (my favorite book), Wives and Daughters, Little Dorrit, Downton Abbey, Persuasion/Emma/Sense and Sensibility. They are all great!
8. Groundhog Day-
It’s only a few days away from Groundhog Day so why not watch a hilarious comedy about the holiday? Bill Murray is at his best as a cranky weatherman named Phil who is forced to cover the groundhog day ceremonies in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Then he lives that aggravating day over and over again. It is funny but there is also a nice heart to the story where he learns to see people in a new way including Andie MacDowell as the love interest. He starts looking at her very cynically but as the days continue he understands her and starts to think a little less selfishly. Terrific writing and directing by the great Harold Ramis.
9. Fargo-
I admit the ending I have to look away. It’s pretty bloody but aside from that a perfect mystery set in cold Fargo, North Dakota. William H Macy is great as the man who’s plan begins to unravel. Steve Buscemi is so creepy as one of the kidnappers. But the real star is Frances McDormand as the pregnant sheriff Marge who is one of the most likable characters in recent memory. She is smarter than everyone else in the room but everyone discounts her because of her sex, way of speaking and being pregnant. It makes you root for her and smile at the same time. Great direction by the Coen Brothers making the cold landscape of Fargo practically a character in the story.
10. 7 Brides for 7 Brothers
A classic musical directed by Stanley Donnen and starring Jane Powell and Howard Keel as a couple who marry on first sight which gives Keel’s backwoods brothers a bad idea for getting their own brides. It is silly and over-the-top premise but it works almost in spite of itself. The engaging cast of mostly dancers helps keep it likable and light. It also has some of the best dancing in any Hollywood movie of its era. The barn raising scene alone is amazing. And it is a perfect musical to watch in a blizzard because the girls get snowed in by an avalanche!
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There are a lot of other movies I could have picked. What are some of your favorites? Please share in the comments and stay warm!
Last year I went into Mr Peabody and Sherman with a certain amount of dread. Hollywood’s track record at adapting beloved franchises from the past has not been very good. Inspector Gadget, Yogi Bear, Smurfs, Lorax, TMNT, Transformers Cat in the Hat, Garfield are some of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. But to my great surprise Mr Peabody and Sherman was clever, funny, competently animated and an enjoyable time at the movies.
I had a similar experience with Paddington which is based on the popular children’s books by Michael Bond. The trailer was very slapsticky and a dreaded January release made me nervous. I was expecting the worst. But then I saw some youtube reviews from England praising the film and Rottentomatoes currently has it at 98%. So, I went to see it today with my friend and her kids and was delightfully surprised! Paddington is a completely charming family film.
If you didn’t know Paddington is about a bear family in Peru that are discovered by an explorer and taught English and how to serve tea and the joys of orange marmalade (the perfect food for a bear!). The explorer tells the bears that if they ever come to London they will have a home and about the child refuge program of WWII where orphans were given tags and left for strangers to welcome home.
An earthquake occurs causing the youngest Paddington to stow away and travel to London with a tag hoping to be welcomed. At first the English aren’t as friendly as he had hoped but he meets the Brown family led by the always luminous Sally Hawkins as the mother and the overly-cautious Hugh Bonneville as the father.
Paddington is clumsy and there are some Dennis the Menace moments with Mr Brown losing his cool at Paddington’s shenanigans but it was never over-kill and I enjoyed the scenes. The kids are initially resistant to Paddington which I thought was an interesting choice but it made their eventual kinship all the more endearing.
In many ways I think Paddington is very similar to a Muppets movie. In fact, 20 years ago he would have looked more like Fozzie the Bear instead of being CG. The key in a Muppets movie working is the human actors must play it straight while acting with a pig, frog, alien etc. That is what happens in Paddington. Nobody is surprised to be talking to or walking with a bear just like Kermit is treated like any other character in Muppets movies.
This helped us stay away from the ‘OMG he’s actually a talking bear’ scenes, which have been done to death and the bear getting civilized because he is already drinking tea and making marmalade to start.
He’s a klutz but pretty quickly the movie moves to the main plot trying to find the explorer and we get introduced to a taxidermist played with great gusto by Nicole Kidman (who’s face actually looked semi-normal in this).
She has some hilarious interactions with the Brown’s neighbor Mr Curry played by Peter Capaldi who falls for her charms.
Julie Walters is also great as the Brown’s aunt who lives with them. She looks so different from Harry Potter movies I hardly recognized her but is very funny. She senses the weather with her knees.
The script is so well done by Paul King and Hamish McColl and I laughed a lot. The kids around me were laughing a lot and of the 3 kids that came with me 2 really liked it and 1 said she didn’t. Not sure why but 2/3 aint bad!
The production design is so lovely. Whimsical without being over-the-top (like Tim Burton or Wes Anderson sometimes do). There is a tree in the Brown’s house that changes from summer, winter, spring depending on moods. The antique shop run by Jim Broadbent is perfect and the children’s bedrooms were magical without being cheesy.
Paddington reminded me of Babe. How many terrible animal kids movies have there been? Well, Disney has a pretty bad one with Home on the Range. But then Babe comes out which is funny, sweet, and lovely movie that for my money is one of the best family films ever made (with a very underrated sequel that is brilliant). I wouldn’t put Paddington at that level but I though it was really strong with a nice message about family, great design, very funny script and engaging performances. It’s just a winner.
It is also a pretty wholesome film- no innuendo or winking to the camera although some of the jokes may be funnier to adults it is never in an uncomfortable or unseemly way. One scene a character dresses in drag but it is played for laughs and isn’t offensive in any way.
There is also a scene where Paddington is in serious peril and a moment where the crowd watching gasped but overall it is a gentle movie the whole family will enjoy.
Any of you seen it? Would love to hear your thoughts and comments.
Today I got the chance to see the Best Picture Oscar nominated film Whiplash and it is a very good movie. It is not my favorite movie of 2014 or anything but an extremely engrossing one, that I have a feeling I might like more the more times I see it.
Trailer:
It is about a boy named Andrew played by Miles Teller. He is a freshman drummer at Shaffer Conservatory, the best music school in the US and has dreams of being the greatest jazz drummer in the world right up there with Buddy Rich (I got to know that name quite well through this movie!).
The ‘Studio Band’ at the school is conducted by a man named Terence Fletcher played by the always great JK Simmons. He is a beast of a man who believes by manipulating and pushing his students he will push a student beyond what is good to what is great.
My friends who have more experience in the arts felt this type of teacher could exist. It seemed a little over-the-top to me but Simmons is mesmerizing in the role so whether it is or isn’t I bought it for the sake of this movie.
Fletcher throws chairs, yells, curses, makes Andrew play until his hands are raw and bloody. A little challenge for me is unlike singing where I know when a singer is off key, the bad and good jazz music here sounded exactly the same. But it doesn’t really matter because even if Andrew played perfectly Fletcher is not going to tell Andrew that. He says the worst words in the English language are ‘good job’ because it makes you rest.
I wonder about this basic premise. I know for me when a mentor says ‘good job’ nothing makes me want to work harder and do better, so I’m not sure that Fletcher is right. What do you think?
Andrew becomes totally obsessed with pleasing Fletcher and you can feel the meltdown coming. He even breaks it off with his girlfriend because he is afraid it will distract him from the drums.
I would have liked to have learned more about why it is so important for Andrew to be the best? There are a few quotes and we see him listening to Buddy Rich albums but nothing more. What is it that makes him want to be first? So many are satisfied with simple things but Andrew wants more. Why?
The movie is basically like a pot of water getting hotter and hotter till it boils over. Andrew practices like a mad man and Fletcher does not let go for a second and the ending is surprising and extremely satisfying.
Whiplash made me think a lot which is always a good thing. It made me think about success or greatness. According to Fletcher to give such greatness to the world is of prime importance at any costs.
On a certain angle it is tough to argue with. I’ve thought about this many times. For example, if a young Mozart came to you and said ‘I’m sick of this. I’m going to live on a farm the rest of my life. I know this music thing isn’t going to end well for me” Would anyone in their right mind say “Absolutely, do what makes you happy and live a good life”. No, not when we know what resplendent masterpieces he left us with.
To continue on the Mozart comparison in the movie Amadeus Salieri is jealous over the seemingly lack of effort Mozart has to go in order to produce sublime works of music. He is even angry at God for blessing Mozart with these gifts and only giving him mediocre talent. Whiplash is a different approach. Fletcher seems to think greatness is either cultivated or it is wasted. Andrew works so hard it literally destroys his hands. Is it worth it? I don’t know. That’s kind of the question the movie and there isn’t a tidy answer.
I would have liked to have gotten in Andrew’s head a little more about these issues and had maybe one less practice scream session. Andrew feels a little robotic at times and again I was left wondering why it is so important for him to be the greatest? The creators may assume it’s human nature to want to be the best and it can be but it can also be human nature to be lazy and do just enough to get by which is why Fletcher justifies his treatment of the students. There has to be some underlying motivation for not doing the bare minimum for Andrew and I don’t know if I quite got that in Whiplash.
But that’s a bit nitpicky. You certainly know he loves jazz music and maybe that’s enough. Andrew’s father wanted to be a writer but ended up being a teacher and this is treated in the movie as a sell-out and maybe it is. Did his father not work hard enough, not innately talented enough or did he realize he wanted other things? It’s a tough but insightful question the movie allows us to think about and ponder. I love that!
Andrew even has a moment where he tells Fletcher ‘where is the line? When do you go too far and discourage people from playing at all?’. Are the truly greats so great they can only be pushed, and pushed and those that give up simply weren’t good enough? Or is someone with a slower more methodical training approach turned off from achieving their goal, which could be equally great? I don’t know.
Another interesting question the movie had me pondering is isn’t it almost inevitable that someone better will eventually come along and then what have you sacrificed it all for? Again, that’s the struggle with Salieri in Amadeus. In another era he could have been great but someone who was simply better came along.
In contrast we have roles that only we can do like being a mother, father, sister, friend. Doesn’t sound as glorious as being the greatest but in a way doesn’t it actually matter much more? I mean if you are going to offer your life up for sacrifice shouldn’t it be for something that only you can and should do? But in the movie Fletcher says he has never found a truly great player (perhaps a testament to the problem of his methods…) so maybe they aren’t as common and repeatable as it might seem? After all, Mozart died in 1791 and I’m still talking about his genius on a blog in 2015. It’s really tough. (See how this movie makes you think!)
So to sum it all up- Whiplash is an excellent movie that asks a lot of intriguing questions with great performances. All the music scenes are done incredibly well and it builds tension to a very satisfying ending. I wish we had gotten inside Andrew’s head a little bit more and understood more his desire for greatness but it still definitely earns a recommendation from me. Worth your time to check out!
As far as content goes there is a fair amount of profanity including some homophobic slurs. It is bloody and tense with shouting and other disrespectful behavior. Whiplash is most appropriate for mature teens and adults, and I think it would be a good movie to show young people who have great ambition and talk about what success looks like and what is worth sacrificing to get where they want to go.
If you see it I am very curious what you think especially if you are an artist or musician. Please share your thoughts and feelings in the comments. Thanks!
Hi guys! Just a quick post this morning and it is my 200th post! Can you believe it! Thanks for making this such a fun part of my life. My other personal blog http://smilingldsgirl.com is just about to get 1000 posts (and has 500 followers!) but I’ve had that for 7 years. This has only been since August Crazy!
Just thought I would give a little response to the Oscar noms, not that these awards matter that much. Still, it is nice to see quality praised.
I’m still working on seeing the nominated films and of the Best Picture noms I’ve seen Boyhood, Grand Budapest Hotel and Selma and they all deserve their noms. Probably the surprise was only 8 noms this year when they can have 10 (the best picture nomination process is so convoluted and ridiculous).
I’m going to see Whiplash on Saturday so excited for that and should get to everything else in the next couple of months. What’d you think of list?
Best Picture: American Sniper Birdman Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
The biggest surprise is no nomination for Lego Movie. This is probably the result of it being an early 2014 release and it being a comedy. The academy tends to praise dramas at the expense of comedies which I think are in many ways harder to pull off especially for kids. It was also a definite tip of the hat to hand drawn with Tale of Princess Kaguya and Song of the Sea both getting nominated.
The fact is it was an incredibly competitive year in animation. I know a bunch of you disagree with me but I still think this is the strongest year in animation since the 90’s. Just my opinion but for a movie as inventive, creative and funny to be off the list as the Lego Movie says something about the strength of the year.
While I haven’t seen Song of the Sea it looks amazing, so I can’t argue with the 5 on the list. They were all great. Of the one’s I saw I gave them all A’s.
Other surprises- no nom for Life Itself which I thought given Ebert’s popularity would be a shoe-in but it is kind of appropriate as the documentary branch consistently let Ebert down (example- Hoop Dreams not being nominated in 1994).
No nom for David Oyelowo for Selma is a big surprise because it is a great performance and typically the academy loves actors who portray famous people well. Also it would have been one non-white nominee (amazing how non-diverse Hollywood can be?). All the 20 nominees for acting are white.
Surprised but not surprised with a Meryl Streep nom for Into the Woods. She is great and it was a fun performance, but at this point her getting nominated has become such a bore. I almost wish she’d just take herself out of contention. I would be stunned if Patricia Arquette doesn’t win in that category.
Robert Duvall is kind of the same way with his nom for The Judge which I haven’t seen but didn’t hear great things. I am also a little surprised Ethan Hawke got nominated but happy.
No nom for Gone Girl (or its director David Lynch) which is a surprise although I haven’t seen that yet either.
Tom Hardy deserved to be nominated for Locke. I mean who else can say they kept audiences transfixed talking on a car phone for 84 minutes? Oh well. Not enough room on the list. I’m surprised no love for Nightcrawler which I probably won’t see because of the violence but heard is pretty great.
While not a surprise, disappointing to only have 1 nom for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for visual effects. Andy Serkis deserves to be recognized for the amazing ACTING he does. Apes really affected me and made me think about life and conflict. It was a fun blockbuster but with something to say.
My prediction is it will be a big night for Boyhood. It certainly was the movie that impacted me the most in 2014. I think it will win picture, director, and supporting actress.
I also think Big Hero 6 will win for best animated movie. It’s a battle between it and How to Train Your Dragon 2. Both deserving.
Tonight I had the chance to see the new movie Selma about a moment in the Civil Rights Movement (1965 to be precise) when Martin Luther King led a protest in the town of Selma over the discriminatory practices used to keep black citizens from voting.
I’m almost ashamed to admit it but I will- before this movie I didn’t know that much about the Selma riots. I knew about the march on Montgomery, bus boycotts, march to Washington, Medgar Evars, and the Greensboro Sit-ins. I know about a lot but for some reason this particular event had escaped my education.
Not that you can ever take all of your education on anything from the storytelling of a movie, but I am grateful to this film for introducing me to the subject and doing so in a very moving, motivating way. I feel inspired to learn more.
Trailer:
Selma is an extremely strong movie I think everyone should see (even you non-Americans). We all should know about these injustices. We should know because they persist in today and unfortunately always will. The human brain has a hateful side to it that always wants to prop one group over another and feel superior for a variety of reasons. This then provides a rationale for all manner of hate because it is not a person we are hating but a ……….(fill in the blank). My own ancestors had an extermination order written against them and were forcibly evicted from this country. We all have those stories in our heritage and need to know about them.
But that does not mean that Selma is preachy. It is a lot like Stephen Spielberg’s Lincoln but I think more effective in some ways. Just as in Lincoln we learn about the passing of the 13th Amendment, Selma focuses on the months leading up to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Martin Luther King is played very well by David Oyelowo who even sounds like King and captures both the loud and soft moments very well. This is not a perfect version of King. It shows him as a man who is unfaithful to his marriage and perhaps an idealist to a fault. I was glad he is not shown as a paragon of virtue like a Lifetime Movie might have.
God uses very imperfect vessels to further his work and someone like Dr. King was used to do great things. Imagine what we imperfect souls could do?
The cast is huge and features many famous names like Common, Cuba Gooding Jr, Niecy Nash, and of course Oprah Winfrey in a small but moving role (you forget sometimes she can really act).
If I was going to nitpick the casting of 2 Brits as LBJ (Tom Wilkinson who’s accent roams) and George Wallace (Tim Roth) was odd. They are both fine in their scenes but the accents could have been better.
Liberals might be ticked off at this movie because their patron saint LBJ is painted as an adversary of King. Someone who had to be talked into a corner in order to bring the bill to Congress. I liked how it shows people how complicated governing is. Something which seems so cut and dry to us may be littered with land mines for the folks in Washington. Doesn’t mean you don’t act but it is harder often than we realize.
Another aspect of the movie I liked was it is not a ‘white people are evil’ message. In fact, thousands of white clergy came at the call of King to join in the march across the Selma bridge. There were nuns, rabbi’s and many of other faiths, which was something I didn’t know about.
If I had to nitpick there are quite a few stops and starts. I kept thinking the big moment was coming and then there would be another but it didn’t bother me much. The characters were interesting enough and I was engaged throughout.
The music by Jason Moran is also excellent. One thing that annoyed me in Lincoln was the John Williams score telling you what to think every 5 seconds. This was more subtle while still being dramatic when it needed to be.
I had no idea Dr King was so young when he died- only 39! It’s shocking really. One of the most fascinating men who have ever lived (I mean that), Malcolm X, also makes an appearance and if you have read his Autobiography (which you absolutely should) you totally get what he is trying to say.
Again if I was going to nitpick the filming could have been better. There were lots of extreme closeups when a 2 shot or crowd would have been more interesting.
But it really is a very satisfying picture. I left learning a lot, crying a little, inspired much and wanting to learn more. Can’t ask much more from a film than that. The performances are excellent even if a few of the accents could be improved. Especially Oyelowo deserves all the praise he is getting. It is quite the accomplishment.
So go see Selma. Take your families and friends. Go see it and talk about what it means and what we can learn from it. As far as content goes it is pretty tame. There are 2 f words and a few other sprinkled profanity but it’s nothing to worry about. The violence against the protestors can be tough to watch with innocent people getting gassed, struck at by police and beaten until a few are killed by redneck thugs. But we need to know and have imprinted in our hearts these things. And if you think the white people are bad in this movie see Rosewood. That movie is brutal. This is enough to show us what happened and teach us something without scarring us for life (although there is a place for that as well. Some things should be taught to us so bluntly). This movie however is more subtle and totally appropriate for mature children and teens. I can see it being shown in schools in years to come and that’s a good thing.
What are some of your favorite movies based on real people or moments in history like Selma? I’d love to hear and if any of you see Selma put in the comments what you think. Thanks!
Content Grade- B+ Overall Grade A ( few little qualms but overall really liked it)
A few months ago I really geeked out over the Star Wars trailer. I still think it is one of the most solid teaser trailers I’ve ever seen. It did what it was supposed to do- it teased us and made the fans excited. Yesterday the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer came out and I watched it with the same eagerness and my response was more mixed.
Avengers is my favorite super hero movie ever. I know, I know most of you would pick the Dark Knight but not me. What I liked about the first Avengers is that it was fun without being stupid. It reminded me of Spiderman 2 (from 2000s). Some humor mixed with great visuals and a terrific villain in Loki. I give the credit to director Joss Whedon who is so good at finding that balance- whether it be in his TV shows like Buffy that have a cheeky self-awareness to them or Cabin in the Woods that both embraced and laughed at horror movie tropes.
What worries me about the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer is it has a Man of Steel feel about it and for me that is a very bad thing. The music is ominous, speeches are deep and profound, backdrops and settings look very CGI’ish. I hated Man of Steel. I thought it was ponderous, preachy, violent, ugly, muddled, and confusing. It had its director Zach Snyder written all over it. He loves making CG grim ponderous movies.
Especially for Superman shouldn’t it be a little bit fun? We don’t have to stoop to Superman 3 levels (or certainly Superman 4) but a smile every now and then? Is that too much to ask? There wasn’t even a convincing romance in Man of Steel. The product placement was also incredibly obnoxious in Man of Steel. Just all of it I hated. (I realize some of you love it and that is great! I’m glad when anyone enjoys a movie).
A lot of the things in the trailer feel Man of Steelish to me and that has me worried. But Joss Whedon hasn’t let me down yet, so if anyone can pull it off it is him. Fingers crossed!
What did you guys think of the Avengers 2: Age of Ultron trailer? Would love to hear your thoughts.
I finally got to the theater to see the Oscar nominated film The Theory of Everything. It tells the story of Stephen and Jane Hawking’s marriage and life together.
They meet before Stephen’s ALS diagnosis and everything is shot through sepia tones with dew filled lighting, very picturesque. (That technique is called upon far too often in the movie…). I wish they had let us know why Jane falls in love with Stephen. She just says kind of out of the blue that she is in love with him but I would have liked to have gotten more into her heart.
There is an extended section where Jane meets a choir director named Jonathan and that was a snoozefest. I never felt like I got to know Jane well enough. I found myself anxious in her sections to get on to Stephen because more concrete things were happening to him and the performance by Eddie Redmayne is very good. Felicity Jones is just ok but the script doesn’t give her a ton to work with.
My feelings at the end of the movie is- it is fine. It’s a perfectly standard adequate satisfying biopic about a very unique man. I found myself getting anxious for the story to move along and all the dew filled picturesque cinematography got on my nerves. It kept the two main characters at a distance. I rarely felt I got in their hearts or who they really were.
But I still enjoyed it. It’s competently made and a good story. I liked it. I just didn’t LOVE it. It’s such an interesting life that it may work almost in spite of itself.
