Richie's Reel Reviews 2015

Richie’s Reel Reviews 2015

It’s been a middling year for movies.  While I am sure that there are many under-the-radar quality films that I rarely have the privilege to enjoy--foreign, indie, and others that don’t fit into the mass distribution formula-- this review pertains to movies that do.  As I said, if you long for more in a movie than action, violence and boring, repetitive story-lines, it was not a banner year.  Still, there is always enough to keep the corn a poppin’. 

BEST OF 2015

The Martian—Science, drama, humor intergalactic Gravity-inspired cinematography, heart-tugging human sacrifice culminating in ultimate victory for the whole world!  This movie has it all—it’s one of the few (only) films I went back multiple times to see.

The Intern—A Robert De Niro tour de force.  It was as if the breadth of his entire movie career molded his conglomeration of characters into the perfect specimen of humanity, which Mr. De Niro played perfectly as Anne Hathaway’s intern.  I found myself hoping beyond hope that this was the REAL Robert De Niro, that this was how he was in real life.  I know he’s a good actor, but such humanity, grace, sacrifice and class is hard to fake, even for the best actors. 

Cinderella—Surprisingly, OUTSTANDING, EXCELLENT, UPLIFITING and entertaining!  I was just searching for SOMEthing to watch so I could feed my popcorn fix.  I thought I’d CINDERELLA a try and boy am I glad I did!  Story, color, costumes, acting and wow, what a moral.  As Cinderella teaches:  BE KIND, ACT BOLD AND ENVISION THE WORLD AS IT COULD BE, not as it is.

Spotlight—This true story covers the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of child abuse in the Catholic Church.  “Spotlight” refers to the special team of reporters who focus on big assignments.  Liev Schreiber plays Marty Baron, the new editor of the Globe, an outsider, who was the first, and—being an outsider—possibly the only one to see the story for what it was, and who had the guts to direct the Spotlight team to prove it despite the enormous pressure the Catholic Church exerted in Boston.  Spotlight shows how absolutely indispensable good journalism is to our world.  A fabulous cast includes Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci and John Slattery.  Certainly one of the best and most important movies of this century.

Bridge of Spies—True story of 1950’s Cold War intrigue, heroism in the face of public scorn and, in the end, justice for all.  Tom Hanks plays the attorney who takes to heart his duty to defend a Russian spy.  He then engineers a swap for American spies held in the USSR and East Germany.  You shiver with him as he snakes his way across the Berlin Wall on a typical German grey, freezing and snowy winter day, where he wheels and deals with various Communist officials.  The period detail, from New York streets in the fifties, to the jail cell, the wood paneled law offices, the courtroom, the still war-torn Berlin society—with stark differences between east and west—combine with a suspense-filled script and outstanding acting to create an outstanding movie.

Selma—A long overdue true account of the quest to make America’s laws match its pledge, “And liberty and justice FOR ALL.”  SELMA covers the crucial three-month period in 1965 when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the violent, dangerous movement to secure equal voting rights.  You can never appreciate the gauntlet the marchers from Selma to Montgomery had to overcome:  an intransigent army of white citizens BACKED BY STATE and local POLICE! Who beat, clubbed and killed those who dared to march…IN PEACE.  I had no idea what was involved, the courage and sacrifices made, and the backroom politicking Dr. King did on LBJ, to get the power of his Presidency behind basic human rights in America.  SELMA is a gripping story you can’t look away from, even as you tell yourself “this could not have been this bad before…”

The Big Short--Just released movie about the mortgage crisis.  It shows on the one side the smug and greedy bankers and mortgage brokers, greedy and foolhardy, all the while knowing the American taxpayer would bail them out when things would inevitably collapse, and on the other those who profited from the collapse by creating the "credit default swaps."  It is a repeat tale from the 1929 crash and ensuing Depression, where government, corrupted by big money insiders, de-regulated the system, allowing the wolves to oversee the chicken coop.  Privatization of profit, socialization of the risk, i.e. the few won, the many lost. Watchable movie, but bring a puke bag.

Mission Impossible—Rogue Nation—I love international locales, high-tech glitz, and plot twists and turns on par with well-placed action.  This film has it all and I should know:  I chomped through nearly two big tubs full of popcorn!

Mr. Holmes—Ian McKellan is unreal as an aging Sherlock Holmes.  The period detail and cinematography are stunning, from Holmes’s haberdashery to the billowing plumes of the locomotive as it winds through the verdant English countryside.  Plot twists and human compassion combine with Holmes’s cold objectivity to create a winning and very satisfying movie.   

Max—Great true man’s-best-friend story of Max, a Belgian Malinois dog used by Marine Kyle Wincott in Afghanistan to root out weapons and bombs.  Max gets injured in an advance on a suicide bomber and Kyle gets killed in a shootout.  Fast forward to the funeral in Texas, where Kyle’s family lives.  Max is barely held on the leash as he struggles towards the casket in the front of the church.  He paws it, then lays at its base, legs outstretched, eyes looking up over forlorn, wrinkled brows.  In this early scene you can easily relate to the connection we all feel with our pets, as real and as deep and as heartfelt as the dearest human relationships.

Max, however, is a wild dog, inconsolable as he is uncontrollable at the loss of his master.  Uncannily he gravitates to Justin, Kyle’s younger brother after the funeral.  The army brass tells him that he is the only chance to save Max from the executioner’s blade, so Justin and his parents agree to take Max.  The rest of the story is an exciting and feel-good triumph, with a surprise ending.  The movie celebrates both our furry friends’ invaluable contribution to the service of mankind, and also the truth that they are often as good or better humans than their owners.

DECENT movies of 2015 (watchable)

Ex Machina—Cool movie about a reclusive billionaire tech genius who has developed the latest robot.  He runs a contest for a volunteer experiment, and another tech genius-in-waiting wins.  He is aired off to the very, VERY remote secret location, in an ultra-secure structure deep within the forests of somewhere (Alaska? Siberia?).  In it he meets the inventor and his new love-to-be, the seductive robot who eventually convinces him that their mutual attraction is real, and that the inventor is really an inhuman bad guy.  The end is shocking, surprising and will leave you wondering about the unintended, but entirely possible, consequences of science run amok.  NOTE:  Last year’s CHAPPIE was a great movie about a good robot who is a model for how humans should be.  By contrast EX MACHINA shows what computer perfection looks like divorced from human values.

My All American—Blink and you missed it, but go get it!  True story of a real hero, Freddie Steinmark, who famed University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal called his favorite player.  A brilliant movie about a fine young man and his infectious optimism and positivity. 

Spectre—The umpteenth James Bond entry BARELY makes the cut.  And only the international settings and the fact Daniel Craig is the perfect model for today’s svelte suits save this boring overdone, and (yet again) humorless movie from my “avoid at all costs” list, which I can hardly wait to get to, so I will!

Daddy's Home--Just released Will Farrell movie.  Just okay, but enough laughs and a nice ending to while away an hour and a half.

HORRIBLE, OVER-RATED AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Mad Max—I finally had to walk out about half way through, feeling as though I needed to take a shower to get rid of the dirt, dust and muck and heavy-metal noise that dominates this wretched excuse of a movie.  Avoid at all costs!!

The Hunger Games Mockingjay—Part 2—OMG, horrible!  I tried TWICE to sit through the whole thing but HAD to leave.  Not even the terrific Jennifer Lawrence can save this one.  

The Force Awakens—They should have let sleeping dogs lie.  Actually, that’s an insult to dogs (see Max above, e.g.).  This movie breaks no new ground, repeating refrains and storylines that were new and kind of neat (just “kind of”, I never was all that impressed with the Star Wars phenomena) in the 70’s.  Long, boring, over-hyped and underwhelming.