Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf in “Lady Bird.”
I like to think that Lady Bird is a little bit like the writer-director Greta Gerwig herself: charming, quirky, capable, and maybe, as the kids say these days, a bit extra.
The teenager’s coming of age is a perfectly enjoyable film that deftly covers plenty of the rising and falling action of major teen desires and dramas: Can I get into the college of my choice? Will my parents get off my back? Will I find love? Will I find friends? Who am I?
Daniel Kaluuya in “Get Out.”
My pick for best picture and director (though it likely won’t win those), and original screenplay. How long has it been that any movie has tapped the cultural zeitgeist like Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”? Though others have remarked that the movie isn’t a direct reaction to Trump, considering it was written before he announced he was running for president, “Get Out” nonetheless is a reaction to what has been labelled “Trumpism,” which I think just means nativist racism. There are probably spoilers below, but if you haven’t seen this movie yet—it came out more than a year ago—go see it!
The story centers on a black man in New York City who agrees to visit the upstate home of his white girlfriend’s parents. The British actor Daniel Kaluuya gives a breakout performance as Chris. He is at once warm, easygoing, and open—traits that allow the audience to quickly take his side, especially when he asks his girlfriend if her parents know he’s black and she says no. His eyes are very expressive, from the glint of joy, to furrows of worry, and tears of terror. He carries the film, and his Oscar nomination for best actor is well deserved. Unfortunately for him, he’s going up against heavy-hitters Daniel Day Lewis and Denzel Washington, and the likely winner Gary Oldman, whose won a SAG, BAFTA, and Golden Globe for his role as Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.”
A still from Dunkirk.
Writer-director Christopher Nolan has created some of the most memorable cinematic moments: the effect of the near-permanent daylight on a LA detective in Insomnia; the slippage of time between places created by a wormhole in Interstellar; the three-action-sequences-at-once in Inception; and the backwards in time unwinding of the plot of Memento. What these all have in common is a concern with time and how it functions—through the duration of a film, on the characters, and on the audience.
Though I have come to think of Nolan’s films as having great ideas, if not always satisfactory stories (the love conquers time as central to the plot of Interstellar, for example, felt like a let down), I was still eager to see Dunkirk. That the film’s running time was an hour less than Interstellar also helped.
The Spectrum 8 Theater in Albany on Jan, 29, 2018. (Image from Instagram)
This time of year—after the Oscar nominations are announced and before they awards are given out—is often called by those in the movie press as a bleak time for new releases. Some say this is why the Jumanji reboot has been able to be the number one movie at the box office after so many weeks after its initial release.
But, living as I do in upstate New York, I’m not where most of the movie press lives—LA and NYC. Instead, I’m where most of the movie-going public lives. That means that for us this is the time when many of the prestige movies are finally available for us to see in a nearby theater. In fact, the closest theater to where I live, which is known for running independent and foreign films (the Spectrum 8 theater in Albany) is showing seven of the nine best picture nominees (Get Out and Dunkirk already played there) and I, Tonya (which is nominated for three Oscars—actress, supporting actress, and film editing).
Are you one of those people who tries to see all the best picture nominees before the awards are given out? If the snows hold off, and thanks to my local movie theater, I just might be able to do it. Join me on my journey.
In “Bright,” Joel Edgerton plays Jakoby, the first Orc in the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Bright” isn’t a bad movie.
The reviews haven’t been kind. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 26%. New York Times: “a loud, ungainly hybrid”; CNN: “a bloated, expensive mess“; Chicago Sun Times: “a tired buddy-cop movie dressed up in bizarre trappings.” Ouch.
Sure, the world-building could’ve been stronger (more on that later), and it would’ve been nice to see more of Jacoby’s back story, but there’s a lot of good in the movie. Great performances by Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, and, yes, that it is a loud, ungainly, expensive, bizarre buddy-cop movie. For an escapist flick, it is different and an altogether enjoyable ride.
What drives the story isn’t so much the buddy-cop angle with wondering if an Orc can get along as the first Orc in the Los Angeles Police Department; rather, it is the presence of terrorists, a rogue Elf, the hunt for a powerful wand, and the possible return of The Dark Lord. If you don’t think too much about it, and let the movie’s strangeness wash over you, it is a fine cinematic time.
The problem with the movie is that it is both too much and not enough. Perhaps this is a fault of marketing that foregrounded the Orc-Human buddy-cop angle, and not enough of how it is really a chase movie through a world that is both familiar and strange.
***Spoilers ahead.***
Paige Tico (Ngô Thanh Vân aka Veronica Ngo) hero
Dim the lights, flash up the Lucas Film logo, and even before the title and scroll hit the screen, I’m in. Double sunsets? I’m a kid again.
I hear some people aren’t happy with The Last Jedi. I must admit I found Luke a little off-putting at first. His entire performance as a reclusive, curmudgeonly Jedi—one who is unhappy with his lot in life—is a decades later call back to his famous New Hope whine “But I was going to Tosche Station to pick up power converters.”
But there were heroes aplenty who stepped up. Paige Tico, for example, is a true hero. What an opening sequence! She is the Jyn Erso of The Last Jedi, sacrificing herself to destroy the fearsome weapon, the Dreadnaught. And, her sacrifice gives her sister Rose a great backstory and gives a role and screen time to a kind of nobody (or another nobody).
Best best picture nominee, that I’ve seen
Spotlight, but I’ve only seen Spotlight, the Martian, and Mad Max: Fury Road (I liked them all)
Best Star Wars thing
Sure, the movie was fun, but the Solo Family Portrait blew me away.
Best real depiction of journalists
Spotlight has been hailed for its realistic portrayal of the process of investigative journalism. Just as important was showing actors looking like real journalists. What stood out for me was Brian D’Arcy James in Spotlight, at right, looking so much like the Times Union’s Tim O’Brien, at left.
Best nominee I’ve met
David Lang, shown below, in the elevator at the Tang Teaching Museum — photo by me. He’s nominated for his composition “Simple Song #3” from the soundtrack for “Youth.”
Best accent to listen to
Saoirse Ronan’s Irish accent rocks.
Best accent to do
Tom Hardy’s character Ivan Locke in the 2013 movie Locke: “Yes, it’s there, it’s there. It’s got everything you’re going to need in there. All the numbers, the sign offs, the road closures that you have to confirm with the police. The drawer above the blow heater.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Desert-dwelling kid?
Weapon to destroy planets?
— A New Hope returns
Step up (2006)
These kids gotta dance
Ballet, hip-hop, whatever
— You cannot stop them
Spectre (2015)
Throwback to Spectre
A wonderful reminder
Bond can be boring
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Queen’s kid wants the Earth
Mila Kunis has other plans
— Toilet-scrubber’s might
Check out these previous Haiku movie reviews.
Michael Janairo 