Hidden Figures

— It’s hard to find anything negative about this film. It’s a period piece with wonderful characters crafted from a real-life, fascinating story, and everything just looks good—the pictures are pretty, the costumes are perfect, and the sky is blue. As much as anything, it’s a crowd pleaser that can’t help but leave viewers wondering how such a thread in our recent history could have been hidden. Assuming the basic facts are true, it’s an example of the rewriting of history by omission, delaying a generation of women and blacks additional role models, and if this story was withheld, what others? It's definitely a film to see.

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[2016. 127 min. Directed by Theodore Melfi. Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, and Jim Parsons.]
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/movies/hidden-figures-review.html

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

— I didn’t run out to see “Rogue One” as soon as it hit theaters but now, after the rush and seeing it in a half-empty IMAX theater, I was surprised by how well it worked. It certainly has action and clever bits of humor here and there. It has some decent characters including a heroine Princess/General Leia would be proud of. It walked an interesting line as a standalone story that still has a few threads to the “Star Wars” franchise. It started quickly, jumping around the solar system and making me feel like I was on amphetamines and introducing a pretty large cast of characters. I was a little disappointed that eliminating the death star was the focus yet again, but that was a minor hiccup and didn’t detract much from the overall experience. I think anyone who casually liked the “Star Wars” films will like “Rogue One”. I did and I feel better about the “standalone film” concept now.

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[2016. 133 min. Directed by Gareth Edwards. Starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, and Donnie Yen.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-2016

Fences

— August Wilson’s play makes for a good film under Denzel Washington’s loving hand. The only problem is that it knows its own importance and, while watching the film, recent events are hard to shake and “Black Lives Matter” looms in the background, skewing the play's perspective. It’s also still more a filmed stage play than a bona fide film in spite a Hollywood budget and 360-degree camera shots to show off great interior sets. The dialogue feels like stage dialogue too—not many quiet conversations or much subtlety as the actors seem to be projecting their voices, amplifying the dialogue for a theater audience instead of conversing among themselves while being filmed. That’s not to say the acting isn't very good; Viola Davis' performance stands out. It’s hard not to appreciate August Wilson’s words and this is a good rendition that I’d recommend seeing.

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[2016. 139 min. Directed by Denzel Washington. Starring Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, and Jovan Adepo.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/fences-2016

Top 20 of 2016

— Here are the 20 films I've liked from 2016.

• The Arrival
• A Bigger Splash
• Deadpool
• Florence Foster Jenkins
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hail, Caesar!
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figures
• Jackie
• La La Land
• Lion
• The Lobster
• Loving
• A Man Called Ove
• Manchester by the Sea
• The Meddler
• Miss Sloane
• Moonlight
• Nocturnal Animals
• Swiss Army Man

Eleven other films almost made the list: "Deepwater Horizon", "Dr. Strange", "Genius", "Hello, My Name Is Doris", "Fences", "Hunt for the Wilderpeople", "The Infiltrator", "Maggie’s Plan", "Sing Street", "Sully”, and "20th Century Women”,

Documentaries aren't included in my list, but these were my favorites during the year: "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week", "City of Gold", "Fire at Sea", "Harry & Snowman", "Kate Plays Christine", "Life, Animated", "Tickled", "The Music of Strangers", "Sherpa", and "Weiner".

Lion

— “Lion” had the potential to become trite but careful direction, a decent script, and spot-on acting elevated it to one of the better films of the year. It’s the story of Saroo, a 5-year-old Indian boy lost in Calcutta with no way home, surviving on the streets until he’s adopted by an Australian family. Twenty years later he sets out to find his lost family using Google Earth. Dev Patel does a remarkable job as the older Saroo living one life with another just out of reach, and I’d forgotten just how good Nicole Kidman can be—her performance is incredible. I wanted the film to be just a little shorter but I couldn’t find anything to edit that wouldn’t disturb the flow. It does an admirable job of dealing with issues of identity, family, loss, and culture. It’s well worth a viewing.

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[2016. 118 min. Directed by Garth Davis. Starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara, and David Wenham.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lion-2016

The Family Fang

— What a curious film [DVD]! This is a little odd, even as it sits among its brethren in the “dysfunctional family” genre. Adult siblings come together when their parents go missing, the same performance artist parents who had referred to their children as Child A and Child B and used them as props and participants in some rather bizarre performance art—things like staged robberies and bloody killings so real that bystanders are convinced they’re real. As adults, both are stalled in their careers and there’s a possibility their parents aren’t really missing, just pretending to be to bolster their careers, which is nothing new since they always placed their art above their children who are, of course, both artists too (one an actress and one an author). Although the parents have less control now, the children are still not fully in control of their own lives. The relationships are clear—an over-the-top, dominating father, a wife who assists him, and children players for the father’s art—but becomes a bit unwound as it tries to end, and tries to raise questions about art and humanity.

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[2015. 105 min. Directed by Jason Bateman. Starring Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Walken, Kathryn Hahn, and Maryann Plunkett.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-family-fang-2016

Passengers

— Not even Jennifer Lawrence could rescue this from mediocrity. It’s pretty enough and does what it does predictably, but compared to recent offerings like “interstellar”, “Gravity”, “The Martian”, and “Moon”, it’s not much of a story. That said, it’s rather far-fetched script and uncertain purpose just gets tedious. If you’re looking for sci-fi, check out “The Arrival” instead. If you’re looking for a love story, see “La La Land” instead.

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[2016. 116 min. Directed by Morten Tyldum. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/passengers-2016

La La Land

— This is one of the more tightly controlled films I’ve seen in a while—its kind of Wes Anderson meets Baz Luhrmann. The opening scene alone was worth it from a technical perspective—Any edits are so well done that it looks like a continuous camera shot. By the end of that first scene, you know you’re in for something different and fun. It’s essentially a love story and a story about dreams and reality. It’s also a contemporary musical that manages to have the feel of classic musical films and the technique and pizzazz of today. Since it’s a Hollywood story, Hollywood naturally is engaged in a love fest with it (remember “The Player”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “A Star Is Born”, “The Artist”, “L.A. Confidential”, “Gods and Monsters”, etc.). The truth is, the first part of the movie was a little too much singing and dancing and not enough character development for me but that may just be me. Once everything got established, it really worked on me. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have great chemistry and, aside from one number at Griffith Observatory that was just too much, it really worked. I was worried about how the story might end but things unfolded exactly as I wanted, leading us to a place where memories and the present overlap and co-exist, and reminding us that there isn't just one right path in life. Given all the hype, I was expecting something great. What I got was something darn good. Our audience applauded and I did too.

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[2016. 1228 min. Written and directed by Damien Chazzelle. Starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.]
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/dancing-with-the-stars