Dogs Bark

Infectious Humors - - The Big Sick (2017, USA, 120 min) - - 23 February 2018

Strongly recommended. Initially, I avoided The Big Sick, thinking it was just a Pakiwood take on that old subcontinental trope, my mother hates my girlfriend because she’s white. In fact, The Big Sick is more akin to my favorite recent romantic comedy, Silver Lining Playbook. The character’s problems are real and serious, despite the jokes. Between the ‘boy loses girl’ chapter and the ending, is a completely unexpected and seriously affecting plot disruption. It allows the ingénue’s parents  - - ably played by Holly Hunter (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) - - to seamlessly contribute their amusing skills. Kumail Nanjiani (Portlandia) delights as himself . . . and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter (along with his wife, Emily V. Gordon). His mother (Zenobia Shroff) was a bit too cliched but Nanjiani imbues his role with his wonderful sense of humor, perfect for a baffled, but intelligent, person with a foot in two cultures.

But Not His Finest One - - Darkest Hour (2017, USA/UK, 125 min) - - 18 February 2018

Not recommended.  This movie rises - - or in my case falls - - on the performance of Gary Oldman (True Romance), one of the most talented actors in the business. Since Anthony McCarten’s script so completely abandons historical truth or any insight into Winston Churchill’s essence, we’re left with caricature. That’s a disservice to the man and the people who endured the times. The backhand libel of Neville Chamberlain, an easy target, and Halifax was particularly rotten. They never threatened resignation; Churchill never seriously considered negotiation. After the brilliance of Pride And Prejudice, Joe Wright has given a practicum in incompetent direction in everything since. Fortunately, he didn’t drag Ms. Knightly down with him again. Yes, there are thrilling moments in Darkest Hour but that’s from the history . . . not the silly, totally manufactured scene on the London tube. Given all this, I did rather like Lily James (Baby Driver) as Churchill’s young typist.

Rescue Puppy - - I, Tonya (2017, USA, 120 min) - - 11 February 2018

Recommended. What perfect timing for this movie! I’m not talking about the Olympics, I’m thinking of Me, Too. I, Tonya makes the claim that Tonya Harding, the disgraced Olympic figure skater, was abused by her mother and beaten by her ex-husband . . . claims that both people deny. We do know that someone hired an idiot-thug to break rival Nancy Kerrigan’s leg. Again, Harding claims she had no foreknowledge. Her ex says she did. So, who do we believe? Do you care? Despite this, Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad) has her Olympic moment and an Oscar nod from this emotionally stirring performance. Tonya’s mother - - with another Oscar nomination to Allison Janney (Juno) - - is interpreted as a one-dimensional monster. I found I, Tonya a bit troubling; we should care about the truth in cases of domestic abuse and the script states that truth is impossible to find. Scripter Steve Rogers (Stepmom) should have written deeper.  

Believe I’m Sinking Down - - Mudbound (2017, USA, 134 min) - - 2 February 2018

Not recommended. It’s hard to not recommend a movie that is as sincere as Dee Rees’s (Pariah) Mudbound. It’s especially painful in that lesbians of color do not often get to direct movies. I hope she continues to. It’s true that the pain and horror depicted in the movie are necessary to be seen but not by me, particularly the very contrived torture scene at the end. The people that need it, won’t watch it. Cary Mulligan (An Education) delivers a solid performance and most of the cast - - including Oscar-nominated Mary J. Blige - - rise to that level, although I felt Jonathan Banks (Breaking Bad) to be a bit over-the-top. Rachel Morrison’s (Fruitvale Station) Oscar nomination seems peculiar as some of her shots are uselessly obscure.  Between the Mississippi mud and the rain, this is an unsightly movie. I’ve been to the Delta and it’s still unevolved . . . but not that ugly.

He’s Come Undone - - Phantom Thread (2017, USA, 130 min) - - 1 February 2018

Strongly recommended. So here’s the thing . . . a man whose genius can fashion a woman into an epitome of beauty must also know all her flaws. For an obsessive, they will grate like a knife on fine china. If the woman is willful, she might rub his nose in her imperfection. And the more he obsesses, she will enervate. Unless she discovers how to unravel him - - a thread only she can pull - - the coupling will die. This is the heart of Paul Thomas Anderson’s (The Master) wonderful movie, Phantom Thread. All of the distraction that has cluttered Anderson since Hard Eight, his masterwork until now, is vanished, He leaves only a central and perfect strangeness to Daniel Day Lewis’s (Lincoln) final creation, also his best work in years. Oscar nods for Jonny Greenwood’s score and Mark Bridges’s gowns (both Hard Eight) are also deserved. This is a powerful and wise film.

It's Not Nice To Fool - - Mother! (2017, USA, 121 minutes) - - 31 January 2018

Not recommended. Say one thing for Darren Aronofsky, he’s got vision - - he needs focus. Mother! begins with some good, unnerving atmosphere. As dread creeps into the house that young wife, Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), is restoring for her poet husband (Javier Bardem, Biutiful), bizarre acts of unembodied malice give the first half a dream-like randomness. Suddenly, evil moves into Mother’s Eden (Get it?), personified as an intrusive couple (Ed Harris, The Hours, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface). Until this point the allegory and the creepy story are well balanced, but when Lawrence becomes pregnant and Bardem writes his Great Poem . . . all Hell breaks out (Get it?). The latter half has a Boschian splendor but that's just yesterday's news. The acting is fine, particularly the interaction of Pfeiffer and Lawrence, which winks occasionally at Jennifer’s concurrent romance with Darren. But by the apocalyptic ending, this Adam had left the garden (Get it?).