9 Of Note

Today's Vault explores films from classics to current films worth your while. Remember:   Life is too short for bad movies.

Christopher Plummer as J.Paul Getty in All the Money in the World

     
             All The Money In The World
             2017 - Ridley Scott
             Rated R: 2hrs 22min
            Vault Rating: 6






J. Paul Getty was the guy who first figured out how to get oil out of Saudi Arabia.  In doing so, he became the richest man in the history of the world.  He is an odd subject, then, for Director Ridley Scott, who's made some of the great science fiction films in cinema history.

"All the Money in the World" is a dark portrait based on the 1973 abduction in Rome of Getty's grandson and his ensuing reluctance to pay a ransom for the boy's release.  You could be forgiven for not missing Kevin Spacey in the lead role.  Scott fired Spacey after sexual harassment allegations surfaced and re-shot his scenes with Christopher Plummer in a lead performance that is Oscar-worthy.

The portrayal of a man who would make Ebenezer Scrooge seem generous is unkind at best and, for this writer, calls into question either the man's mental health or, more broadly, the potential disastrous effects of wealth on the wealthy.  The man is unlikable.  There are few people in the film who are likeable.  Thus, having played the story more or less straight, you get an unlikable film.  That said, Scott presents it expertly.  Just don't go and expect to see the typical ransom story pay-off, okay?

Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf in "Lady Bird"

                Lady Bird

                2017 - Greta Gerwig
                Rated R : 1 hr 34 mins
                Vault Rating: 9





"Lady Bird" has to be hands down the best picture of  2017.  If you don't wanna take Vault's word for it, ask the Golden Globes or stroll on down to Rotten Tomatoes where this little gem is the top rated film in the web site's history.

It is the story of a headstrong girl (Saoirse Ronan) coming of age in a catholic school in Sacremento, California.  She's got a passive-aggressive mother (Laurie Metcalf) and challenges every convention in her world which leads to a humorous, poignant and heart rending film.  I think I wept at least twice and was happy when the audience combusted into warm applause at the film's end.

It is refreshing to have a feminine story told from a feminine perspective.  With female directors asserting themselves more broadly these days, stories like "Lady Bird" will seem less and less like they come from some foreign country.  The winner is the film-going public.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri

2017 - Martin McDonagh
Rater R : 1 hr 55 mins
Vault Rating: 9


Three Billboards plays like a Cohen Brothers' movie and not just because it stars Cohen favorite Frances McDormand as a mother grieving the unsolved murder of her daughter.  The film takes wild Cohen-esque turns that at first surprise the viewer and then seem downright plausible when you think about it.

It all begins when Mildred (McDormand), frustrated at the lack of arrests in her daughter's unsolved murder, pays for three billboards that question local authorities.  What follows are very natural, often shocking and in some cases predictable consequences.

What you don't get are one-dimensional characters.  Each role in this film is complex, dynamic and lively and it makes for a real crowd-pleaser.    Nominated for 6 Golden Globes including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress.

The Red Shoes
1948 - Michael Powell / Emeric Pressburger
Britain : 2 hrs 14 mins
Vault Rating: 8

Drama musical about a young ballerina (Moira Shearer) who is torn between her love, composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring ) and the iron willed manager of the ballet (Anton Walbrook).

Regarded as the most beautiful in cinema about the ballet, it is a phantasm for the eyes and rightly won Best Art Design-Set Decoration and Color Oscar and best Music and Scoring Oscar on top of that.

Shearer is a top flight dancer and should be hallowed among the screen's most radiant beauties for this stunning performance.

The story is adapted from the Hans Christian-Anderson story of the girl who puts on the red shoes and dances until she dies.  Here, however, she portrays a rising dancer torn between her two loves.

The performance numbers are masterpieces and would reward many, many viewings.

Setsuko Hara  as Noriko in Yasujiro Ozu's "Late Spring."

               Late Spring
               Japan - 1949
               D: Yasujiro Ozu
               Drama - 108 minutes
               VR: 8


A classic of Japanese cinema observes life, love and loss between a widowed man and his daughter in post-war Tokyo.

It is late spring, thematically when flowers and forests burst with life, and we find Noriko, at age 27, rather old for a single woman in the culture, lovingly taking care of her father, Shukichi, who, at age 56, is in the autumn of life.

The cultural imperative toward marriage is heavy, yet there are divorcees (gasp!), working women (shocking!), women pregnant out of wedlock (terrible!) and men who’ve remarried (filthy!).  You know: Life.

Noriko is the classic devoted daughter who wouldn’t think of leaving father to fend for himself.  But Ozu shows us subtle longing when she takes a platonic bike ride to the beach with a male friend of the family who, happily or not, is engaged to marry a younger woman.  Indeed, the prospects of arranged marriage run throughout and Noriko’s auntie has found her a nice 37 year old man who rather “looks like Gary Cooper.”

Through it all, we observe the very real feelings of familial and cultural drift in a world that is also changing.  There is honor.  There is duty.  There is doing the right thing.  But there is also moving on.

               My Happy Family
               2017 Republic of Georgia
               D:  Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Groß
               Run time : 2 hours
               Vault Rating: 8

A middle aged school teacher, Manana ( Ia Shugliashvili), leaves her family to live on her own in 1992 Tiblisi.  This thoughtful drama examines the thick bonds of a Georgian patriarchal family and women's issues of the time that are still relevant today.

The story finds the ever suffering Manana living under the same roof as her parents, her husband, their children and even their fiances.  Every day she endures the nagging of her mother and the demands casually placed on the shoulders of a good wife.  She is not even allowed to enjoy her birthday in peace without her family inviting over the entire neighborhood, forcing her to entertain deep into the morning hours.

It is another feminine story written and (co) directed from a woman's point of view, something that is coming more and more into vogue and its about high time.  This one can be found on Netflix and kudos to them for bringing such original voices to the screen.

Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon in "Atlantic City"

              Atlantic City
              1980 - Louis Malle
              Rated R - 104 mins
              Vault Rating 8.5

Here is a film that captures Atlantic City in all of its colors at the beginning of its casino development.  There are old style thugs, racketeers and number runners competing in the same space as corrupt politicians and developers intent on building gambling shrines.  There are loners and losers and lucky ones all packed into the land adjacent to the famous boardwalk.

The story follows Sally (Susan Sarandon), a sexy casino employee, whose no-good husband, Dave (Robert Joy) turns up with her knocked-up, hippy-dippy sister, Chrissie (Hollis McLaren).  These audacious grifters turn to Sally for a foothold in the city.  But Dave runs into real trouble when he starts dealing drugs and drags his estranged wife back into his seedy world.

Enter longtime low-level mobster Lou (Burt Lancaster, in a masterful role), who is fading and past his prime.  Much like the decaying city in which he lives, he has his charms.  He helps people along if he can and seeks only to have real gangster credibility, if he ever had any to begin with.  He meets and falls for Sally, decides to protect her, and surprises himself by rising to the occasion.

Director Louis Malle's richly textured, atmospheric drama was nominated for multiple Oscars and earned numerous critics' awards.

Magnolia features perhaps the best ensemble cast in film history.

               Magnolia
               1999 - Paul Thomas Anderson
               Rated R : 3 hrs 8 mins
               Vault Rating: 10

Just a perfect film and still this writer's favorite of all time, Magnolia is a mosaic piece dealing with the interconnected lives of 10 lost souls in and around Los Angeles during the space of one fateful day.

Each individual in a top notch cast (Tom Cruise, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore and John C. Reilly to name just a few)  locks themselves in their own personal cages of guilt and then suffer their painful longing to be set free.

There are themes of suffering and forgiveness, pain and healing, sin and redemption, all magnified by amazing actors all going at the top of their powers and by the most perfect original soundtrack written by Aimee Mann.

There are layers and layers and layers to this breathtaking film which rewards this viewer time and time again.  There is, of course, the single most unexpected scene for me in movie history too, which you can either shake your head in disbelief over or think it through and uncover the many hidden metaphors that all point tightly to the core of the film.

             Justice League

             2017 - Zack Snyder

             PG-13: 2 hours

             Vault Rating: 6

You don't get away without a comic book based superhero mashup.  You just don't.  So here's a decent one.

Justice League is a better than average comic book romp.  Superman (Henry Cavill) is dead and the world grieves, opening a chance for Steppenwolf to come to earth and wreak havoc.  Batman (Ben Affleck), with all his gravity, forms a team that "won't be enough" consisting of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), the hipster cool Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and the comic Flash  (Ezra Miller) along with a cyborg (Ray Fisher) named, appropriately, Cyborg. 

The first half of the film sets up the plot and introduces in turn its principals.  The second half is mostly gee whiz comic book fights.  In a small wonder, the thing hangs together probably way better than a script with ten credited writers ought to, but that's probably because of Chris Terrio, Joss Wheadon and director Zack Snyder doing a nice job of knitting.  

Probably the best part of the film is that it keeps its sense of humor and balances that against the gravitas of the sometimes too heavy Batman to good effect.

So there.  We're all caught up.  Please feel free to share the link to the blog and if you'd like to comment just below, please remember that your comments gain in stature when your actual name is associated with what you say.  Thanks for reading today, dear reader, and until next time, Enjoy!