My Review: Philomena (9/10)

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started, and know the place for the first time."

Philomena surpassed my expectations considering I thought it would be just another pairing of two unlikely companions on a road trip (the terrible Guilt Trip comes to mind here), but I was surprised to see how well the two main actors played off each other sharing a great chemistry on screen and how well balanced the script was, allowing me to feel completely moved by the story. First of all Philomena is based on a tragic and upsetting true story, but somehow director Stephen Frears (The Queen) manages to tell it with such grace that it feels subtle and humbling at the same time. It never feels like Frears is trying to manipulate the audience through all the sentimentality, on the contrary he treats the subject with light heartedness. A lot of credit has to be given to Steve Coogan who adapted the script along with Jeff Pope (it's actually ironic that it was written by a "Pope" considering how bad the Catholic Church comes off here) because it is extremely well written delivering genuine moments with an honest tearjerker. The emotional weight was handled perfectly. I would have never thought a film dealing with such a dark subject could be so inspiring and uplifting, but it was mainly because Philomena decided to respond to the cruelty and injustice very differently than we would (which would be with outrage), and chose to forgive instead. That is how they turned a sad story into an entertaining and enlightened one. Simply put Philomena is a clever film with genuine emotions.

The film is based on the true story written by former BBC correspondent and political journalist, Martin Sixsmith (played in this film by Steve Coogan), The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. After a political scandal which leaves Martin without a job, he accepts to write a human interest story when he hears about Philomena (Judi Dench), a woman in her late 60's who had her son taken away when she was forced to live in a Catholic convent after getting pregnant as a young teenager in Ireland. Martin begins investigating her story which eventually leads to some surprising discoveries and a trip to America. Martin and Philomena learn several things about each other despite their differences and uncover some astonishing answers along the way. 

Philomena is a highly entertaining and feel good movie which reminded me a lot of Saving Mr. Banks in the way the story was told without being manipulative and looking for the easy emotions. Steve Coogan and Judi Dench also proved to be quite a powerful duo in this enjoyable film. Philomena is also extremely well balanced, mixing genuinely funny moments with dramatic ones. It also includes mystery elements and the actual procedural part of the film is what hooked me the most. I enjoyed the way in which the discoveries were being made and how they reacted to each new revelation. Philomena is a charming film that deserves the four Oscar nominations it received. The two main actors are given complex characters with a lot of depth and they deliver brilliant performances, however the secondary cast doesn't do much more than get the procedural moving. Philomena deserves to be considered amongst the best films of 2013.

My Review: Skyfall (8/10)

¨ It always makes me feel a bit melancholy. Grand old war ship. being ignominiously haunted away to scrap... The inevitability of time, don't you think? What do you see? ¨

¨James Bond will return¨ is one of the few promises that have never been broken, and that is where Skyfall jumps in as the 23^rd film of the franchise. There have been several changes along the way, this is the third film Daniel Craig stars as the main character, but it is the first time Sam Mendes (American Beauty and Road to Perdition) directs. Long time screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are back again writing the script although this time John Logan (Gladiator, Hugo) was brought on board to help out. I think these new additions improved the film and gave the characters a lot more depth. This is a very different James Bond film; it begins as your average spy thriller with a motorcycle chase but ends like a Western film with a final shoot out in an open field. Skyfall is beautifully shot by cinematographer Roger Deakins who should receive his tenth Oscar nomination for his work in this film. The film has a much more artistic feeling to it than most other blockbuster Bond movies and much credit has to be given to all these new additions. The film has a nostalgic feeling to it as we finally begin to see how the inevitability of time can catch up to even the greatest spy on Earth. Like we saw in the Dark Knight Rises with Batman, James Bond too has begun to feel the weight of time over his shoulders and he is much more vulnerable in this picture. Sam Mendes also does another thing very well in this film: he pays homage to some of the earlier Bond films near the end. Skyfall was a great film and definitely among the best Bond movies. However I would still rank Casino Royale as the best one so far.

Unlike with Quantum of Solace that picked up right where Casino Royale left out, Skyfall takes place several years later as we see an aged Bond (Daniel Craig) chasing yet another foe who has stolen a computer drive which contains all the names of the MI6 British agents and their locations. Bond is not on his own; his partner Eve (Naomie Harris) is also following the evasive man who is getting away with the drive. Bond chases him to the top of the train and Eve is waiting for the perfect moment to take the shot but time is running out. M (Judi Dench) orders Eve to take the shot before they get out of her reach and the bullet hits Bond. The man disappears with the drive, and Bond is declared death after he falls wounded into a river. A few months go by and M is in trouble for having lost the drive and putting all the MI6 agents in harm way. Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) insists it is her moment to retire, but she refuses since she wants to solve the problem. An explosion takes place inside the headquarters and several other agents die. M receives a threat claiming that the name of 5 agents will be revealed and that she should pay for her sins. Bond, who of course hasn’t been dead but enjoying of his early retirement decides to return to England after hearing about the explosion and enlists once again as 007, although a bit more rusty. M sends him on a mission to find the man who has the drive and retrieve it before more harm is done. Here we are introduced to some other characters like Q (Ben Whishaw), Severine (Berenice Marlohe), and Silva (Javier Bardem) and the spy games begin.

I must say that Javier Bardem portrays one of the best Bond villains I´ve seen. He steals the show from the minute he walks in. I think another Oscar nomination is on the way for his supporting performance here. It is a villain unlike most other ones. Silva is seeking revenge but in a much more calculated and methodic way. Skyfall is much better thanks to him. Daniel Craig is in my opinion the best Bond and he had a lot more depth in this film as well. The Bond girls were also perfectly cast. You can´t have a Bond film without them. Berenice Marlohe and Naomie Harris were both great in their roles. Judi Dench is marvelous as M. She has been playing this role for nearly two decades and here we see her making a lot more difficult decisions. She is portrayed in a much darker light here. The film works extremely well, I loved the new characters, the nostalgic feeling to the film, and the beautiful cinematography. This is a different kind of Bond film, but one you will want to see.

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My Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (8/10)

¨Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end.¨

There is a scene near the beginning of the film where you have Tom Wilkinson, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith all sitting next to each other in the airport. Just to get these talented actors together in one movie is an impressive accomplishment. To take them to the beautiful and colorful India is another. How can you go wrong with such a talented cast? Well we´ve seen it go wrong in Hollywood with films like Valentine´s Day and New Year´s Eve, but here director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) was able to give each actor enough screen time for their characters to develop and interact with one another. Another difference between those films is that here all the characters are connected with each other and are living under the same roof: the Marigold Hotel. That allows for the film to flow smoothly. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has one weakness in my opinion, which is the title, but the film does work really well as a feel good comedy. It wasn’t the kind of film that made me laugh really hard, but it did have me smiling throughout the two hours. The beginning is a little slow since we are introduced to each character individually, but once they are all in the hotel together the film works really well. It moves really smoothly from comedic moments to touching and emotional ones, balancing things out really well; and you will leave the theater with a big smile in your face. It is a wonderful film with a talented cast and an interesting script adapted by Ol Parker from Deborah Moggach´s novel ¨These Foolish Things.¨

In the very beginning of the film we are introduced to the main characters of the story. On the first hand there is Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench), who recently lost her husband and learns that she has to sell her home due to his debts. Then we are introduced to Judge Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson) who decides it is time to retire from his job and move to India. Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean Ainslie (Penelope Wilton) have been married for nearly 40 years and lost their life´s savings after lending it to their daughter for a business proposition. Just like Evelyn they are searching for a retiree home that they can afford. Muriel (Maggie Smith) on the other hand is in desperate need of a hip surgery and the hospital gives her the option of having it done in India. Norman Cousins (Ronald Pickup) is single in his 70´s and is searching for a companion or at least a memorable night. And finally there is Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie) who is also searching for a partner after having been divorced multiple times and is tired of living with her daughter and grand children. Each one of these people decides to retire at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in India after being attracted by the ads on internet of such a magical palace. Once they arrive at the hotel they discover that it is nothing like it was on the ads, but sometimes the unexpected things in life are what make it so enjoyable. Dev Patel plays the Hotel manager and he has a love interest, but the true stars are the senior actors.

Director John Madden has given us a lesson on how it is possible to make a film with several talented actors and give each one of them character depth. We all know how great Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, and Maggie Smith are, but the rest of the cast was also outstanding. Ronald Pickup had the funnier character and he got the most laughs from me. Celia Imrie was also a delight on screen as well as Penelope Wilton. The film deals with some very interesting issues and I loved the message it got across about being able to adapt to different changes. It is never too late to welcome changes in our lives, and the more willing one is to embrace those changes the better because humans have this special ability to adapt to change, but the problem is that many times we are so comfortable with our lives the way it is that we end up fearing change. Jean Ainslie wasn’t willing to adapt to the change in her life and became a bitter person, but Douglas on the other hand began to see things differently when he was willing to embrace life in India. Another issue that arises here has to do with the way society sometimes treats seniors like a sickness instead of finding better ways of life for them. It always seems like an easier solution to send them to some sort of retirement home, but we fail to treat them the way they deserve to be treated. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel teaches us that there is some wisdom in these senior citizens and that it is never too late to adapt to changes. The cast alone is proof of what a magnificent job these seniors can still do.

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My Review: My Week with Marilyn (6/10)

¨It's agony because he's a great actor who wants to be a film star, and you're a film star who wants to be a great actress. This film won't help either of you.¨

My Week with Marilyn is a biographical drama about Monroe`s trip to England to star in The Prince and the Showgirl, a film directed by Sir Laurence Olivier. The story is told through Colin Clark`s eyes, the young man who got his first job as the third assistant director of the film. He tells the story of his relationship with Marilyn during that week of production and how that moment changed his life. The film is actually based on his autobiographical book, and the screenplay was adapted by Adrian Hodges who worked in the past with director, Simon Curtis, in the adaptation of Charles Dickens`s novel, David Copperfield for a made for television movie. Curtis had some great actors to work with in this film, but I just felt the movie moved to slow. It is only a 99 minute long film, but it felt like two and a half hours because it lacks intensity and a decent plot. Fans of Marilyn Monroe will definitely love this film because Michelle Williams plays her brilliantly, but it just wasn’t my style of movie. People interested in art history or autobiographies may also enjoy this film which dates back to the mid 50`s when Marilyn was a film star and Sir Laurence Olivier was considered amongst the best actors of the world. The tumultuous relationship between Olivier and Monroe as he tries his best to keep his cool while directing her is also dealt with in this film. Monroe may have been a star, but she was always forgetting her lines and getting to work late making it impossible for Olivier to direct her. Not everything we see in film is as it seems and this movie proves it. A lot of headaches are involved sometimes in the production of big star films.

Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) is only 23, but he dreams of working in movies. His father is an important art historian, while his brother is always ahead of him. He feels like the failure in the family, so he decides to pack and travel to London for an important job interview involving the production of a film directed by Sir Laurence Olivier (Kenneth Branagh) and staring Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams). Clark is hired as the third assistant director so he basically is the errand boy. Olivier`s wife, Vivien Leigh (Julia Ormond), likes Clark and asks him to keep an eye on her husband as he works with Monroe. The request is quite ridiculous because Olivier and Monroe don’t get along from the get go. The production of the film, The Prince and the Showgirl begins with several difficulties due to Marilyn`s behavior. Monroe hasn`t come alone to England, she is accompanied by her then third husband, Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott), and her acting coach, Paula (Zoe Wanamaker). Olivier feels he can`t direct her with Paula always around trying to tell her how to read her lines. Both come from different schools of acting, and there are several jokes about this throughout the film. Dame Sybil Thomdike (Judi Dench) also has a role in the film and she is always treating Marilyn nicely. However, Marilyn finds it really hard to adapt and finds in Colin the friend she needs to make her stay more comfortable. Colin who then was dating a girl from the wardrobe department named Lucy (Emma Watson), begins to fall for Marilyn despite everyone`s warnings. This is the story of what happened during that week of production.

The cast in this film is probably the best thing about it. Let me begin by saying that Michelle Williams is just brilliant in this role that gave her her second consecutive Oscar nomination for lead actress. Williams has come a long way from her early teen Dawson`s Creek years. She has matured into one of Hollywood`s best. In this film you forget you are seeing someone playing Marilyn and actually believe it is her. Another great performance came from Kenneth Branagh as Olivier. He is just brilliant in this film and a great actor who has several similarities to the character he played. Just like Olivier, Branagh is passionate about Shakespeare and adapted several of his plays to the big screen. I could think of no better actor to play this role. Eddie Redmayne is the lead character of the film and he is good, but is completely outshined by Williams and Branagh. The rest of the characters don’t get nearly enough screen time and it is just a mystery as to why they were included in the film. Emma Watson has barely any screen time and her character is easily forgotten. The same can be said about the rest of the cast. The story is interesting but not entertaining enough for a feature film. I give this film a fresh rating however thanks in most part to the performances from Branagh and Williams. If you are a fan of any of these characters or actors than you might enjoy this film more than I did. Personally I never really was a big fan of Marilyn Monroe or her work.

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My Review: J. Edgar (6/10)

¨Do I kill everything that I love? ¨

J. Edgar is Clint Eastwood`s latest biopic that tells the story of Edgar Hoover`s life and how he created the FBI during a span of over fifty years. Hoover was a very controversial character, some people hated him and others loved him, but Eastwood doesn’t take any sides; he simply allows us to judge his work for ourselves showing us the good and the bad. Hoover didn’t have an idealistic life either; Eastwood also focuses on his personal life and exposes some of his secrets. The film was written by Dustin Lance Black, who also wrote the Oscar nominated biopic: Milk, but unlike in that movie, this time the story suffers from a very slow pace. The weakest thing about J. Edgar is truly its pacing. The subject matter is just so wide that the movie fails to focus on just one particular detail and tries to mash everything together with a series of numerous flashbacks. There were some very interesting moments during the story, but they were just too far spread out and most of the film was really a bore to sit through. I wish the film would have focused more on just one or two aspects instead of trying to include such a broad range. By trying to show everything that went on in Edgar`s life, we truly end up not knowing much. This movie suffers from the typical case of trying to say so much that you end up not saying anything at all. The film should of focused on a much shorter time period (let’s say the Lindbergh case for example which was probably the most interesting part of the film) instead of covering all the specific details. The highlights of this film however are the performance from Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, and the art direction which is just beautiful (like in every Eastwood film).

As for the story, the movie begins with an older version of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) narrating his memories to one of the agents and telling him to write his memoirs. It was during the communist hunt that J. Edgar found the opportunity to tighten his grip in the law enforcement agency and make important arrests after several communist revolutions began taking place across several major cities in the US. Hoover was completely dedicated to his job and slowly began building what today we know as the FBI. He had a very awkward social behavior, and very few friends. They called him Speedy for the way he talked, and he was very close to his mother (Judi Dench), to whom he looked up too all the time for advice. He trusted very few people, one of them was his personal secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) and the other his right hand man and personal assistant, Agent Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer), with whom he had a secret love affair despite the fact that he tried to deny it and hide it. After the witch hunt was over with, Hoover`s attention shifted to arresting important gangsters and mafia groups, and in doing so he slowly began to build the Bureau. He had secret personal files on every United States president he served under, whether it was Roosevelt or Kennedy. The true highlight of the film and the turning point for the Agency`s autonomy came with the Lindbergh case which received a lot of media attention after a child was kidnapped from his own home. Hoover used this case to build prestige for the Bureau and create a fingerprint database of every citizen in order to solve crimes easier. He built the Federal Bureau of Investigation and this is how he did it.

One of the most distracting things about J. Edgar is the makeup. Some of the actors really looked bad when they had to play older versions of themselves (Armie Hammer above all). They should`ve stuck with hiring older actors to play those roles because the makeup really didn’t work. It was awful. Leonardo DiCaprio does save this movie however, from being bad thanks to a great performance. He deserved an Oscar nomination, but I guess the film just wasn’t good enough. Armie Hammer also was great in his supporting role, but his makeup when playing an older version of himself distracted us from his true performance. The rest of the supporting cast just doesn’t have enough time to shine on screen, with the exception of Judi Dench who is as brilliant as usual. Naomi Watts did have plenty of screen time, but she really didn’t have a memorable performance. I`d have to say that J. Edgar is one of Eastwood`s weakest films, but I am still a huge fan of his work and wish him the best in his upcoming projects. The subject matter in this film is interesting, but the pacing is just poorly done. I recommend it only for DiCaprio or Eastwood fans although I wouldn’t be watching this film a second time.

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My Review: Nine (5/10)

¨Directing a movie is a very overrated job, we all know it. You just have to say yes or no. What else do you do? Nothing. "Maestro, should this be red?" Yes. "Green?" No. "More extras?" Yes. "More lipstick?" No. Yes. No. Yes. No. That's directing. ¨

Those are the words that Lilli, a costume designer, tells Guido, the director, in the musical Nine. I don`t think Rob Marshall has the same opinion about that after directing this difficult film which was based on Federico Fellini`s famous movie 8 ½. It is very difficult for someone to try to make a movie based on one of the greatest films from director Fellini who is considered to be by many the best director of all time. Rob Marshall had big shoes to fill, and it had been seven years since he directed his latest musical, Chicago, which gave him an Oscar for best director and best picture. But that was way back in 2002 and this time the film falls short. It counted with an all star cast (5 of the actors won at least one Oscar), an Oscar winning director, a pair of Oscar winning screenplay writers, and Oscar winning designers, but this film went home empty handed in the 2010 Academy Awards because it just failed to live up to expectations. The story just felt flat and it didn`t accompany some of the great musical numbers very well. Compared to Chicago and Moulin Rouge, this film is miles away from those excellent musicals and can`t even be named alongside them. I never saw the Broadway Musical for this movie which won several Tony Awards, but something went wrong between that theatrical version and trying to bring it to the big screen. The Musical Nine was first produced in Broadway back in the 80`s and the main character Guido was played by the late Raul Julia. A more recent version was produced in 2003 starring Antonio Banderas, who was considered for the role in the movie, but it finally went to Daniel Day Lewis. The screenplay for this movie was written by Michael Tolkin (The Player and Deep Impact) and Anthony Minghella (The English Patient and Cold Mountain), but I have to admit they didn`t do a very good job with the transitions from dialogue to musical numbers, which at some points felt too forced.

Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood) plays Guido, a famous Italian director who is having trouble coming up with a story for his ninth film which will be entitled Italia. His latest films have all been flops after enjoying a very promising career during his early years. Guido tries to get away from all the pressure and the media in order to find inspiration. He is having an affair with an actress named Carla (Penelope Cruz from Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Vanilla Sky) while his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard from La Vie en Rose and Public Enemies) stays at home very suspicious of her husband. Guido can`t find his inspiration in his wife because their relationship seems to have cooled down, and he can`t find it with Carla either. Claudia (Nicole Kidman from The Hours) is his Muse and she always works in his film, but this time he can`t even find the inspiration in her. He searches all over for inspiration or ideas for his next film spending time with: his mother (Sophia Lauren), his costume designer Lilli (Judi Dench from Notes on a Scandal), a beautiful Vogue reporter named Stephanie (Kate Hudson from Almost Famous), and even remembering a prostitute from his childhood named Saraghina (played by Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas). Guido`s life begins to unravel in front of his eyes as he sees his directing career going down the drain along with his love life.

Nine is not a terrible movie, but it doesn`t live up to other musicals like Moulin Rouge or Chicago, because it seems to rely solely on sexuality. There are some very good musical numbers which I enjoyed a lot, but the story didn`t seem to work in Nine. The musical numbers were all pretty decent; Fergie`s Be Italian, Hudson´s Cinema Italiano, Cruz`s A Call from the Vatican, and Cotillard`s Take it All, stand out from the rest of the film. But these musical pieces are far too spread out in a movie that lacks a more involving story and better transition from one scene to the next. I think that any director would have died to be able to count with such a talented cast, but this time things didn`t go as planned. Nicole Kidman who was so good in Moulin Rouge, seems to have been the weakest actress in Nine and they could have used her a little better. This could have been so much better, but Rob Marshall didn`t seem to be able to fit all the pieces together this time around and hopefully he will do a better job with his next film which just happens to be the fourth part of the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. Nine is a film you will remember only for a couple of musical pieces, but the rest is very forgettable. I don`t really recommend this film unless you are a fan of one of these actors. Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson all stand out from the rest along with Daniel Day Lewis who is always solid in his performances.