Movie Review: "The Girl On The Train"

"The Girl On The Train": C+.  Other than realizing that The Girl On The Train is based on the best selling novel by Paula Hawkins, I went in cold to see the movie of the same title.  I had not read the book nor even a snippet of any movie review.  What I expected, something similar to Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express, proved to be way off.

The story centers around three very imperfect women.  Their imperfections are what drives the plot.  Rachel (Emily Blunt) is the girl on the train, and the story's first narrator.  Unlike Orient Express, she is not traveling across the continent; in fact, it's a commuter train.  As the train slowly passes by the back yard of a beautiful suburban home with an ocean view, she tells us it's her favorite house.  She even knows the street address.  How weird!  It's not until later we learn why she has that info.  Much of the story telling follows suit, waiting until a later point to explain head-scratching actions and dialogue.  That is not to say all such puzzles are explained.  Rachel is an alcoholic and thus, as a narrator, not all of her recollections of events are made clear for the viewer.  She can fairly be labeled a stalker.

 

Megan (Haley Bennett) is the young nanny whose face could launch several thousand ships.  (I wonder, has Ben Affleck has seen this film?)  Her employers are Tom (Justin Theroux) and Anna (Rebecca Ferguson) who have an infant daughter, Evie.  Megan appears trustworthy until she surprises Anna with the announcement that she is quitting immediately.  She justifies her inconsiderate behavior by pointing out to Anna that the young mother does not have a job, the implication being that Anna does not really need a nanny.  Megan goes to a psychiatrist, Dr. Kamal Abdic (Edgar Ramirez), to whom she admits that she is incapable of telling the truth, even to him.  She also reveals that the first thing she does when she gets off work is to jump in the shower "to wash off the baby smell."  Megan is a liar with mental health issues, and can fairly be labeled a nymphomaniac.

 

The character of Anna is underdeveloped, but we do know that she is "the other woman" who is now married to Rachel's ex, Tom, and lives with him in Rachel's wonderful old house.  Anna may appear angelic, but don't let that sweet countenance fool you.  She is a conniver and a manipulator.  Granted, she is a victim, but she might fairly be labeled as an enabler.

 

The men in this story are no bargain either, each of them devoid of moral fiber.  The psychiatrist lacks will power and makes stupid, career-jeopardizing decisions, while the other two lead males are abusers to different degrees.  It is accurate to write that, with exceptions that you can count on one hand, all of the characters are unlikable.  With an ensemble like that, the story itself better be good.  Alas, it isn't.

 

To use a low-hanging metaphor, the tale is slow to leave the station.  After the first half hour we wonder if it will ever kick into high gear.  The herky-jerky time line, with an abundance of flashbacks, contributes to this drag effect.  How sad is it that Rachel feels compelled to ride the train time after time and gape at her old stomping grounds?  She is stuck in neutral, mostly because her alcoholism and probable depression hold her captive.  Blunt's portrayal of the wounded Rachel, sometimes lucid but often downcast, confused and memory-challenged, is the main reason to watch this film.

 

The present day catalyst occurs when Rachel, through the train's window, spots Megan standing on her home's ocean-side balcony, passionately kissing a man who Rachel knows is not Megan's husband, Scott (Luke Evans).  Rachel is certain of what she's witnessed because, on several prior rail journeys past Megan's home, Rachel has become almost fixated by what she's deemed to be a couple (Megan and Scott) in the throes of wedded bliss.  Rather than let it ride -- no pun intended -- Rachel decides to right a wrong.  This, even though Rachel herself has plenty of her own problems which she'd be better off addressing.

 

At least three of the six main characters do something so far fetched that I almost want to skim through Hawkins' novel to determine whom to blame, her or script writer Erin Wilson.  I am guessing Hawkins is the culprit because those unlikely actions are needed to advance the plot.  One example: Character A, knowing s/he is under twenty-four hour surveillance by the police in connection with a missing persons case, goes over to the residence of Character B, also under police suspicion, and spends the night.  Yeah, right.

 

I am usually a sucker for train stories, but to label this film as such would be a misnomer. Rachel spends as much time walking around Blenheim Road as she does on the train.  My fondness for train stories remains intact.

Table Setters & Big Knockers

The Cubs like to stay in the cellar where it's nice and cool.

- Serafino Porcaro, summer of '57

 

 

I grew up in the fifties as a Milwaukee Braves fan, but I was surrounded by friends and relatives who were die hard Chicago Cubs fans.  One of them was my maternal grandfather, whom I've quoted above.  The 2016 World Series starts tonight, and the opponents are the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians.  The Tribe fans have only had to endure a dry spell of nineteen years since their team last appeared in the Series.  But Cleveland has not won a Series since 1948.  That is peanuts compared to the North Siders' futility.  The Cubs have not participated in the World Series since 1945, and have not been world champions since 1908, eight years before the Cubs played their first game in what is now called Wrigley Field.  It's amazing enough to realize that the Cubs have come this far, but what's equally improbable is that they are favored by most of the gurus to capture the title.

 

The World Series is the biggest stage for the world's best sport.  Given the history leading up to tonight, I am pumped.  To help set the mood and pass the time while waiting for the first pitch, I have written this post.

 

***

 

There are two frequently cited individual statistics in sports which I find particularly opaque and annoying.  One is a quarterback's rating (QBR).  In the NFL, a QBR can range from 0 to 158.3.  The formula used to determine the exact number can only be understood by two groups of people, Mensa members and graduate students at Cal Poly.  QBR is not something you can calculate in less than seven minutes, and if the game is in progress your data is probably obsolete by the time you figure out the answer.  QBRs are only useful when making quick comparisons.  For example, if Tom Brady's QBR is 141.2 and Aaron Rodgers' is 126.9, I can surmise that Brady is the better QB, at least at that moment.  But don't ask me how those two figures were arrived at.  I prefer a measurement that's much more digestible such as yards per pass attempt.  Just give me those two relevant starting numbers (passing yardage and pass attempts) and I can calculate that in seconds while simultaneously downing an Oktoberfest.

 

In baseball I've decided that W.A.R. is not the answer.  A player's W.A.R. number, which stands for "wins against replacement," purports to tell us how many extra wins that individual provides his team in comparison to some make believe replacement player who would assume his position.  The concept and goal of such an idea are noble, but the execution is a combination of pie in the sky poppycock, what-ifs and guesswork.

 

I caution you not to look up either the QBR formula or the W.A.R. formula unless you've got a bottle of Excedrin handy.

 

Despite my misgivings about W.A.R., admittedly the young breed of new baseball executives are all about sabermetrics, of which W.A.R. is a popular component.  The Twins' recently-hired executive vice president, Ivy League educated thirty-three year old Derek Falvey, is a sabermetrician.  Sabermetrics have been in the forefront of statistical analysis at least since noted author Michael Lewis published Moneyball: The Art Of Winning An Unfair Game in 2003.  The non-fiction book featured Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane.  Beane helped make his small market team playoff qualifiers for several years despite a very low budget.  His use of sabermetrics in analyzing both major league and minor league players was the main ingredient to his success.

 

I maintain that the most useful individual statistic in measuring a non-pitcher's offensive value to a team is not his W.A.R.  Rather, it is his OPS.  If you watched the baseball playoffs for the last three weeks, you might have observed that OPS is a statistic which both television networks, TBS and FS1, flashed on the screen.  So, what is OPS?  It is an acronym for the sum of  On-base percentage Plus Slugging percentage.  On-base percentage tells the media and the fans how good the player is at getting on base, either by means of a base hit, a walk or being hit by a pitch (HBP).  If a player reaches base through a fielder's choice (e.g., he hits the ball to a fielder who throws to a base other than first for a force out) or an error, the batter does not get credit.  Similarly, he does not get credit for reaching first base if the ball gets by the catcher on a strikeout.  To calculate on-base percentage, divide the sum of the number of base hits plus walks plus HBP by the number of times that batter has come to the plate, aka "plate appearances." Not to complicate things, but successful sacrifice bunts do not count against the batter as plate appearances, but sacrifice flies do.

 

The players who have high on-base percentages are good table setters.  They would make Billy Beane's A List.  When a batter reaches base, new pressures are placed not only on the pitcher but on the other fielders as well.  The stage is set for subsequent action.  But a team needs more than those table setters; it needs guys who can finish the job by driving in those runners.  That's where slugging percentage comes in.

 

Slugging percentage is easier to calculate than on-base percentage, because it is very similar to batting average.  When you are determining a player's batting average, you divide the number of base hits by the number of at bats.  All extra base hits count the same as singles; either the batter got a base hit or he didn't.  By comparison, when you are determining a player's slugging percentage, a double counts as two hits, a triple counts as three hits, and a home run counts as four hits.  Thus, to calculate a slugging percentage, divide total bases by the number of at bats.  Did you notice that a player could have a slugging percentage greater than 1.0?  Some all-stars do.

 

The players who have high slugging percentages are sometimes called "the big knockers."  Their job is to drive in the baserunners, i.e., the table setters.  Baseball is a game that offensively usually relies upon stringing together a bunch of base hits.  The more extra base hits a team gets, the shorter that "string" has to be.  Former Baltimore Orioles manager, the highly quotable Earl Weaver, once said, "My favorite play in baseball is a three run homer."  Playoff caliber teams like the Cubs and Indians almost always have a good combination of table setters and big knockers. Consider these rankings:

 

The Cleveland Indians' on-base percentage, excluding pitchers, is .329 (ranked 4th in the fifteen team American League), their slugging percentage is .430 (ranked 5th) and OPS is .759 (ranked 4th).  Their top OPS guys with at least 100 plate appearances are Tyler Naquin (.886), Carlos Santana (.865), Jose Ramirez (.825), Jason Kipnis (.811) and Mike Napoli (.800).

 

The Chicago Cubs' on-base percentage, excluding pitchers, is .352 (ranked 1st in the fifteen team National League), their slugging percentage is .444 (ranked 4th) and OPS is .796 (ranked second).  Their top OPS guys with at least 100 plate appearances are Kris Bryant (.939), Anthony Rizzo (.928), Willson Contreras (.845), Dexter Fowler (.840) and Ben Zobrist (.831).

 

As you can see, the Cubbies have more fire power than the Indians, both in terms of getting on base and smashing extra base hits.  The only ways the underdog Indians can compensate is by out-pitching the Cubs and by playing nearly flawless defense.  Pitching is arguably the most important ingredient, but the Cleveland starting rotation has been decimated by injuries.  If the Indians can get the Series to Game 6, it will be a moral victory.

First Annual Columbus Day Movie Guide

Ever since we were kids, my sister, Michele, and I have always been quite familiar with the real Columbus Day.  There was no such thing as Explorers' Day.  Leif who?  There was no phony mid-October federal holiday, which now always conveniently falls on a Monday for the purpose of creating the coveted three day weekend.  Nope.  Columbus Day, the only Columbus Day, was always October 12.  How did we know that?  Because October 12 was our father's birthday.  The Marquis Donald (doe-NALD) Joseph (joe-SEEF) Gerard (czhe-RARD) de la Periolat (perio-LAH)!  I think about The Marquis -- one of the coolest dude's I've ever known and the biggest influence on my life -- almost every day, and without fail on Columbus Day.  He would have been 98 years old today.

My dad always maintained a wacky sense of humor, sometimes calculated and other times unintentional.  He was not afraid to divulge a story or admit a shortcoming on himself.  Such an admission which came into play on several occasions had to do with his voracious appetite for reading.  In his later years he was especially fond of western paperback books by Louis l' Amour and Zane Grey, who collectively wrote more than 175 novels, plus countless short stories.  Other than fishing, reading these stories was the old man's favorite pastime.  There were familiar, repeated themes: a lonesome cowpoke riding his faithful horse across the high desert plains; a hero rescuing a lovely maiden from the black hatted mean guys who were trying to steal her cattle; the reformed tough hombre who used to run afoul of the law but was trying to turn over a new leaf; the quick draw who was the town's only hope to keep a murderous gang from running rampant; a friend of the Indians who helped them battle exploitation at the hands of dishonest white men.

Because of the similarities among the books, my dad often unintentionally read the same book more than once.  Sometimes he'd get about two-thirds of the way through, or possibly all the way through, before realizing he'd already completed it months, or even mere weeks, before.  I always thought it was admirable that he'd tell us of his mistake, instead of simply shelving the book or returning it to the library.  We'd get a large collective laugh out of his blunder.  [True Confession, following in my father's footsteps:  The same thing happened to me with Scott Turow's 1987 legal thriller, Presumed Innocent.  There is a unique plot twist which occurs in the last quarter of the novel.  It wasn't until I reached that point that I realized I'd read it before!]
 

I believe I have now reached the point with my movie viewing where I find myself in a predicament not all that different from the Marquis'.  When I see a movie scheduled on the on-screen guide, I am not always sure whether or not I've seen it before.  It wouldn't be the end of the world if I unwittingly watched a film twice.  Some films almost command multiple viewings.  But, there are so many good movies available that, unless I make a conscious decision to do otherwise, I'd prefer not to re-watch one at the expense of a chance to view a different, unseen one.  With that in mind I sent my crack research team into the vault to make a list of the movies I have seen since my September 2007 retirement.
 

As I explained in my introductory post on December 6, 2011, I started blogging as kind of a "next step" beyond writing movie reviews which I had been e-mailing to my kids.  The earliest e-mailed movie review my research team can find goes back to November 8, 2007, approximately four years before I started The Quentin Chronicle.  During that four year span, I wrote short reviews of 121 new movies I watched at the theater.  I also drafted six bi-monthly "Cinema Scans," comprised of 54 movies which I watched at the Quentin Estates during calendar year 2011.  (Those bi-monthly Cinema Scans, which contain brief descriptions and grades but not reviews, were the genesis of the nineteen Quarterly Cinema Scans which I have posted here since the inception of this blog.)  Finally, I also e-mailed my kids three annual Movie Ratings Recaps, the first of which was sent January 13, 2009.  (Those MRRs were the genesis of the five MRRs which I have posted here since the inception of this blog.)  When I put together that first MRR in 2009, I included (as a bonus!) grades for 4 other films I had recently watched on TV; this was before I started the Cinema Scan format in 2011.

As you can see, that's a lot of post-retirement/pre-blog movies -- 179, to be exact.  Writing about them has been a blessing and a curse.  The reasons for labeling the writing regimen "a blessing" are fairly obvious, e.g., mind sharpening, a correspondence topic, creating a lasting personal memory of the work of art which many films purport to be, etc.  In some ways it's a curse too because, similar to a jogger who feels guilty if she doesn't get her three miles in at least five days a week, I am disinclined to go to a movie if I have not yet written a review for the last one I attended.  Obviously, when you consider how few people actually read what I write, the feeling of guilt over such a circumstance is part pathetic and part ludicrous.  (Would this kind of guilt trip be present if I hadn't been educated by the good sisters in my youth?  Good question; but, I digress...)

My original intention was to make one alphabetical master list of all the movies I've reviewed and/or graded both pre-blog and on this blog, and post that list today, October 12.  I chose Columbus Day intentionally as a way to pay homage to my dad.  Alas, a recent three week trip to Europe followed by the irresistible temptation to watch a plethora of televised baseball playoff games have derailed full execution of my plans.  But, what I am going to post today is an alphabetical list of the 179 pre-blog movies to which I referred above.  Then, at some future date, perhaps Columbus Day 2017 or 2018, I will put my comprehensive master list together.  After that I'll have no excuse for unintentionally re-watching a movie.  Time is money, to coin a phrase.  Of course, aside from my selfish aforementioned motive, I hope some of you will use the list to select or avoid, as the case may be, movies for your viewing pleasure.

In the interest of time I am only listing the films' titles, usually one actor, and the genres.  With respect to the 121 movies I reviewed, I'll include the date of my related e-mail, preceded by a capital E for "e-mail."  That will give you an idea of their approximate release dates.  With respect to the 54 movies included in the six pre-blog Cinema Scans and the 4 bonus movies added to my initial pre-blog MRR, I'll indicate the year of their release preceded by a capital CS for "cinema scan" or RR for "ratings recap."  Instead of alphabetizing all the movies in one chunk, I have segregated them by my letter grade ranking.  You can refer to my January 12, 2012 post if you have a question about my grading methodology.  Finally (almost), I am sticking the following sentence in here because of my expectation that few people will see it.  If you are registered as a follower of this blog and would like me to send you a copy of any of my e-mailed reviews (due to laziness, a maximum of five), let me know by the end of this calendar year and I will do so.

*****

Movies Graded A:

Bagdad Cafe, Marianne Sagebrecht, dramedy, CS-VI 1988
Dial M For Murder, Ray Milland, crime drama, CS-I 1954
The Kids Are All Right, Annette Bening, drama, E 8-12-10
Kramer vs. Kramer, Dustin Hoffman, drama, CS-I 1979
The Maltese Falcon, Humphrey Bogart, detective noir, CS-VI 1941

Michael Clayton, George Clooney, drama, E 11-8-07
The Miracle, Carroll Baker, drama, CS-V 1959
True Grit, Jeff Bridges, western, E 3-11-11
You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks, rom-com, CS-II 1998 

Movies Graded A-:

Bridge On The River Kwai, Alec Guinness, war drama, CS-I 1957
Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges, musical drama, E 2-1-10
Doubt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 2-26-09
Drive, Ryan Gosling, drama, E 10-28-11

Eastern Promises, Naiomi Watts, drama, E 12-11-07
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Michael Nyqvist, drama, E 8-12-10
Inglorious Basterds, Brad Pitt, war drama, E 11-12-09
Inside Job, financial documentary, E 10-29-10
Juno, Ellen Page, drama, E 1-17-08
The King's Speech, Colin Firth, biopic, E 1-30-11
The Kite Runner, Khalid Abdalla, drama, E 1-3-08
Moneyball, Brad Pitt, biopic, E 10-28-11
Paris, Je T'aime, Juliette Binoche, dramedy, RR 2006
Roman de Gare, Audrey Dana, drama, E 7-16-08
Ship Of Fools, Oskar Werner, drama, CS-VI 1965
A Shot In The Dark, Peter Sellers, comedy, CS-II 1964
Shutter Island, Leonardo Di Caprio, drama, E 3-28-10
Superbad, Michael Cera, comedy, E 12-24-07
Under The Same Moon, Kate del Castillo, drama, E 6-16-08
Win Win, Paul Giamotti, drama, E 4-14-11
The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke, drama, E 1-31-09 

Movies Graded B+:

Appaloosa, Ed Harris, western, E 10-15-08

Before The Devil Knows You're Dead, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 11-30-07
The Big Heat, Glenn Ford, crime drama, CS-V 1953
The Black Swan, Natalie Portman, drama, E 2-27-11
Bridesmaids, Kristen Wiig, comedy, E 6-13-11
Brute Force, Burt Lancaster, drama, CS-V 1947
Burn After Reading, George Clooney, dramedy, E 9-14-08
Charlie Wilson's War, Tom Hanks, drama, E 1-17-08
Chloe, Julianne Moore, drama, CS-I 2010
Crazy Stupid Love, Steve Carell, comedy, E 9-14-11
Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams, drama, CS-VI 1989
Definitely Maybe, Ryan Reynolds, rom-com, E 3-12-08
Easy Virtue, Jessica Biel, comedy, E 6-30-09
500 Days Of Summer, Joseph Gordon Levitt, romantic dramedy, E 8-31-09
The Ghost Writer, Ewan McGregor, drama, E 4-29-10
God's Little Acre, Robert Ryan, drama, CS-III 1958
The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfuss, rom-com, CS-III
Good Neighbor Sam, Jack Lemmon, rom-com, CS-IV 1964
Hereafter, Matt Damon, drama, E 10-29-10
The Ides Of March, George Clooney, drama, E 10-28-11
Into Temptation, Jeremy Sisto, drama, E 9-13-09
Jane Eyre, Mia Wasikowska, romantic drama, E 3-31-11
J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio, biopic, E 11-14-11
The Killers, Burt Lancaster, drama, CS-I 1946
Michael Jackson's This Is It, documentary, E 11-12-09
Midnight In Paris, Owen Wilson, dramedy, E 6-29-11
Milk, Sean Penn, biopic, E 12-30-08
The Music Man, Robert Preston, musical, CS-VI
My Week With Marilyn, Eddie Redmayne, biopic, E 12-14-11
No Country For Old Men, Tommy Lee Jones, drama, E 12-11-07
Ocean's Eleven, Frank Sinatra, crime drama, CS-I 1960
Page 1: Inside The New York Times, documentary, E 7-15-11
Pride And Glory, Jon Voight, police drama, E 11-13-08
Robin Hood, Russell Crowe, adventure, E 5-29-10
The Savages, Philip Seymour Hoffman, drama, E 2-1-08
The Secret In Their Eyes, Ricardo Darin, drama, E 5-13-10
Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey, Jr., detective drama, E 3-28-10
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, Jude Law, E 1-1-12
Slumdog Millionaire, Dev Patel, drama, E 11-29-08
The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg, biopic, E 10-14-10
Some Came Running, Frank Sinatra, drama, CS-III 1958
Stop-Loss, Ryan Phillippe, war drama, E 4-30-08
Sugar, Algenis Soto, baseball drama, E 5-19-09
The Town, Ben Affleck, drama, E 9-30-10
Transsiberian, Woody Harrelson, drama, E 9-14-08
Unstoppable, Denzel Washington, drama, E 12-14-10
Up, voice of Ed Asner, animated comedy, E 7-28-09
Water For Elephants, Robert Patterson, romantic drama, E 4-28-11 

Movies Graded B:

All The President's Men, Dustin Hoffman, biopic, CS-I 1976
Amelie, Audrey Tautou, comedy, RR 2001
Avatar, animated drama, E 2-14-10
The Big Sleep, Humphrey Bogart, detective noir, CS-VI 1946
Contagion, Matt Damon, drama, E 10-28-11
The Descendants, George Clooney, drama, E 11-29-11
Elegy, Ben Kingsley, drama, E 9-29-08
Fair Game, Naomi Watts, drama, E 11-13-10
Father Of The Bride, Spencer Tracy, comedy, CS-I 1950
The Fighter, Mark Wahlberg, drama, E 1-30-11
Five Easy Pieces, Jack Nicholson, drama, CS-I 1970
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Jason Segel, rom-com, E 4-30-08
Friends With Benefits, Justin Timberlake, rom-com, E 7-29-11
Frost/Nixon, Frank Langella, biopic, E 12-17-08
Get Smart, Steve Carell, comedy, E 7-1-08
Going My Way, Bing Crosby, drama, CS-I 1944
Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood, drama, E 1-14-09
High Sierra, Humphrey Bogart, drama, CS-VI 1941
The Hurt Locker, Jeremy Renner, war drama, E 2-27-10
In Bruges, Colin Farrell, drama, E 7-30-08
Like Crazy, Felicity Jones, romance, E 11-29-11
Love And Other Drugs, Jake Gyllenhaal, rom-com, E 12-31-10
The Lovely Bones, Saoirse Ronan, drama, E 2-11-10
Morning Glory, Rachel McAdams, comedy, E 11-13-10
My Dog Skip, Diane Lane, drama, CS-1 1999
North To Alaska, John Wayne, western, CS-IV 1960
One Day, Anne Hathaway, romance, E 10-28-11
Please Don't Eat The Daisies, Doris Day, comedy, CS-VI 1960
Revolutionary Road, Leonardo DiCaprio, drama, E 1-31-09
Secret Life Of Bees, Dakota Fanning, drama, E 1-31-09
Seraphine, Yolande Moreau, biopic, E 8-31-09
Seven Days In May, Kirk Douglas, drama, CS-V 1964
Sweet Land, Elizabeth Reaser, drama, CS-II 2005
The Tender Trap, Debbie Reynolds, comedy, CS-VI 1955
The Trip, Steve Coogan, comedy, E 7-15-11
Twenty-seven Dresses, Catherine Heigl, rom-com, E 3-3-08
Two For The Seesaw, Robert Mitchum, drama, CS-V
Valley Of The Dolls, Barbara Parkins, drama, CS-IV 1967 

Movies Graded B-:

The American, George Clooney, drama, E 9-14-10
The Band's Visit, Sasson Gabai, drama, CS-IV 2007
The Blind Side, Sandra Bullock, football drama, E 3-28-10
Bright Star, Abbie Cornish, dramatic romance, E 9-29-09
Cedar Rapids, Ed Helms, dramedy, E 3-11-11
Changeling, Angelina Jolie, drama, E 11-29-08
The Class, Francois Begaudeau, drama, E 2-13-09

Dan In Real Life, Steve Carell, rom-com, E 11-8-07
The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart, drama, E 7-30-08
Date Night, Steve Carell, dramedy, E 5-13-10
The Defiant Ones, Tony Curtis, drama, CS-III 1958
The Double Hour, Kseniya Rappoport, drama, E 6-13-11
An Education, Carey Mulligan, drama, E 3-14-10
The Extra Man, Kevin Kline, drama, CS-II 2010
Flash Of Genius, Greg Kinnear, biopic, CS-III
Get Low, Robert Duvall, dramedy, E 11-30-10
The Girl Who Played With Fire, Noomi Rapace, drama, E 8-12-10
The Group, Joanna Pettet, drama, CS-VI 1966
Knight And Day, Tom Cruise, adventure, E 8-30-10
Knute Rockne All American, Pat O'Brien, biopic, CS-VI 1940

Lust, Caution, Tang Wei, spy/war, E 11-8-07
Mamma Mia!, Meryl Streep, musical, E 9-14-08
Miracle At St. Anna, Derek Luke, war drama, E 11-29-08
The Mouse That Roared, Peter Sellers, comedy, CS-IV 1959
Nowhere Boy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, biopic, CS-I 2009
The Outlaw Josie Wales, Clint Eastwood, western, CS-II 1976
Pearl Harbor, Ben Affleck, war romance, CS-VI
Rachel Getting Married, Anne Hathaway, drama, E 10-31-08
Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn, romance, CS-III 1953
Slap Shot, Paul Newman, comedy, CS-II 1977
Up In The Air, George Clooney, drama, E 1-12-10
Valkyrie, Tom Cruise, war drama, E 1-14-09
Vincere, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, wartime biopic, E 4-29-10
Winter's Bone, Jennifer Lawrence, drama, E 7-30-10 

Movies Graded C+:

Atonement, Keira Knightley, drama, E 12-24-07
Certified Copy, Juliette Binoche, drama, E 4-28-11
Dr. No, Sean Connery, adventure, RR 1962 
Footloose, Julianne Hough, rom-com, E 11-14-11
Fort Apache, Henry Fonda, western, CS-V 1948
The Girl From Monaco, Fabrice Luchini, dramedy, E 7-28-09
Gone Baby Gone, Michelle Monaghan, police drama, E 1-3-08
Last Chance Harvey, Emma Thompson, rom-com, E 1-31-09
Melancholia, Kirsten Dunst, apocalyptic drama, E 1-1-12
Nights In Rodanthe, Diane Lane, drama, E 10-15-08
Ondine, Colin Farrell, romantic drama, CS-I 2010
The Postman Always Rings Twice, John Garfield, drama, CS-IV 1946
The Searchers, John Wayne, western, CS-VI 1956
Suspicion, Irene Dunn, drama, CS-VI 1941
What Happens In Vegas, Cameron Diaz, rom-com, E 5-15-08 

Movies Graded C:

Australia, Hugh Jackson, drama, E 12-17-08
Clash Of The Titans, Sam Worthington, mythological adventure, E 6-16-10
A Fistful Of Dollars, Clint Eastwood, western, RR 1964
Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, drama, E 7-30-10

The Mist, Marcia Gay Harden, horror, E 11-30-07
Mister Roberts, Henry Fonda, war drama, CS-III 1955
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Jimmy Stewart, drama, 1939
Public Enemies, Johnny Depp, drama, E 8-31-09
Nick And Norah's Infinite Play List, Kat Dennings, teen romance, E 10-31-08
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?, Bette Davis, drama, CS-VI 1962
The White Ribbon, Christian Friedel, drama, E 2-1-10 

Movies Graded C-:

The Reader, Kate Winslet, drama, E 1-14-09 

Movies Graded D:

Vantage Point, Matthew Fox, drama, E 3-12-08 

Movies Graded D-:

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past, McConaughey, rom-com, E 5-19-09 

Movies Graded F:

None    

Quarterly Cinema Scan - Volume XXV

The scripts of more than twenty-five movies have either been written by Neil Simon or are based on one of his plays.  The beloved, prolific eighty-nine year old New Yorker has a keen awareness of what makes audiences laugh, mostly by finding humor in common people or in situations to which the average film patron can personally relate.  His critics might justifiably claim that his work is either hit or miss, but when he connects it's at least an extra base hit if not a home run.

One such home run is his famous 1965 play, The Odd Couple, for which Simon won the coveted Tony Award.  Three years later Simon turned his script into a screenplay for the film comedy of the same title, starring Walter Matthau as the lovable slob Oscar Madison and Jack Lemmon as his neat freak friend and boarder, Felix Unger.  Felix is on the verge of falling apart when his wife dumps him, so he turns to Oscar for temporary shelter in the latter's grossly unkempt apartment.  It doesn't take long for Oscar to regret his generosity.  Perhaps Simon's personal life, which includes five marriages to four different women, gives him the unique perspective which helped him create Felix's character.  Simon was nominated for an Academy Award for the adaptation of his own work.  In fact, Simon has been nominated for more Tony Awards and Oscars, combined, than any other writer.  He has also won the Pulitzer prize for his 1991 play, Lost In Yonkers.

 

In addition to The Odd Couple, which is on the list below, you might also want to check out The Goodbye Girl, another romantic comedy written by Simon and starring his own then-wife, Marsha Mason.  I gave this 1977 film a pre-blog grade of B+.  As a bonus, you'll get to hear the great title song by David Gates, who is mostly famous as the lead man in the band Bread.

 

Here are the films I watched on the idiot lantern during the third quarter of 2016.

 

1.  Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore  (1974 drama; When Ellyn Burstyn's unloving husband dies, she packs up her meager possessions and young son to head west in pursuit of her long-delayed singing career.)  A-

 

2. All About Eve (1950 drama; Ann Baxter is enamored with older theater actress Betty Davis, but is the young aspirant overstepping her bounds as she becomes more involved in the veteran's off-stage life?)  B+

 

3. Braveheart (1995 war drama; Mel Gibson is William Wallace, the heroic thirteenth century Scottish warrior who battled English kings and some of his own country's traitorous noblemen to win independence for his people, all the time inspired by the memory of his wife, Catherine McCormack.)  A-

 

4. Eye In The Sky  (2015 war drama; military officer Helen Muren is itching to order a drone strike on a building in Kenya where two of the most wanted Al-Shabaab leaders are unsuspectingly located, but a little girl selling bread right outside the target causes ethical and tactical problems.)  B-

 

5. The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (1972 western comedy; Paul Newman is an outlaw who appoints himself as judge in a tumble weed west Texas desert oasis, and presides over the town's growth while living with Mexican Victoria Principal and pining after a celebrity he's never met, Ava Gardner.) B

 

6. The Odd Couple (1968 comedy; Walter Matthau is a slovenly divorced sports writer who lets recently separated Jack Lemmon, a neat freak nerd, rent a room in his spacious Manhattan apartment, thus putting their friendship at risk.)  A-

 

7. The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974 drama; NYC transit officer Walter Matthau negotiates by phone with bad guy Robert Shaw who, along with three accomplices, has highjacked a subway and is holding a carful of passengers hostage.) B+

 

8. The Teahouse Of The August Moon (1956 comedy; In post WWII Okinawa, pompously funny Colonel Paul Ford assigns local interpreter Marlon Brando to accompany meek Captain Glenn Ford to a remote village on the island, where the mission is to assimilate the villagers to American ways.)  C

Home Stretch Not Going Smoothly

Things don't always go well for the end of presidential administrations.  And before you accuse me of being distasteful, no, I am not referring to Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy.  In the modern era alone, LBJ was unable to bring a dignified end to the Viet Nam War, and announced in 1968 that he would refuse to accept his party's nomination to take another run at the presidency.  He added, for effect, "And if elected, I shall not serve."  Tricky Dick was forced to resign under pressure in 1974 when he realized his tenure was on life support following Watergate.  Gerry Ford lost his bid for re-election in '76 mostly due to the voters' refusal to forgive him for pardoning his former boss, Nixon.  Jimmy Carter was humiliated by the Iranians, whose final dagger was releasing American hostages, held captive for well over a year, on the very day the peanut farmer left the White House, January 20, 1981.  George H.W. Bush wanted to serve a second term, but lost by over 200 Electoral College votes to Slick Willie in 1992.  Clinton, the first baby boomer president, brought disgrace to the White House and was impeached by the House Of Representatives in the second half of his second term.  Although acquitted by the Senate, the names "Clinton" and "Lewinsky" shall forever be linked in history.  He is also famous for finger wagging while lying to his constituents.  As for the second Bush, will anyone ever forget his immortal words, "Mission accomplished?"  Only Ronald Reagan, who survived an assassination attempt less than three months into his first of two terms, is an outlier from this group.

So this brings us to the incumbent, President Obama.  How are things going as he heads into the last one hundred or so days in office.?  One does not have to undertake a massive research project to get a feel for the answer.  Yesterday's front page headline in the Star Tribune read, "North Korean [Nuclear] Test A Grave Threat."  Maybe President Dub wasn't too far off when he labeled North Korea and Iran the "axis of evil."  The pajama-clad lunatic running North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is dangerously unpredictable.  And the Iranians enjoy playing war games in the Gulf Of Hormuz, daring our navy to blast them out of the water.  It's hard to imagine our president has many waking hours when the threat posed by those two countries does not weigh heavily on his mind.

Speaking of the Iranians, Obama claims that the $400 million paid by the US to them in January simultaneously with the release of American hostages was merely a coincidence, not ransom.  Hmm.  If so, why cash?  I guess the Swiss banks, which the US usually uses for transactions with countries where we don't have a commercial relationship, were closed that day.

 

Within the last two weeks it has been reported that the US negotiations with the twenty-eight member European Union regarding free trade (the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership, aka TTIP) has gotten nowhere, despite Canada's success at a similar  arrangement with the EU.  Twenty-seven "chapters" of the TTIP have been negotiated between the US and the EU this year.  On how many of those twenty-seven has agreement been reached?  Answer: zero.  A subplot to this news is that the Democrats are the party which is most eager to consummate this deal.  Their stated goal is to put pen to paper by year's end.  Good luck.

 

Also within the last ten days we've learned that Turkey, one of our most important NATO allies, is conducting air strikes on the Kurds in northern Syria.  This is, indeed, strange behavior given the fact that the Kurds' brave battle against ISIS is being militarily backed by US air strikes, intelligence and tactical advisors.  To recap, our supposed ally is killing the people we have chosen to lead the ground fight against ISIS in Syria.  I thought the US was supposed to be the most superior military in the world.  How do we let Turkey get away with this?  Where is our commander-in-chief?  Turkey's leaders, perhaps a bit paranoid, think the US was behind the failed coup which rocked their country last month.  Vice President Biden even paid a visit to Turkish President Recep Erdogan to assure him that we were not behind the coup.  That was the wrong primary topic and the wrong primary message.  It's hard to imagine President Reagan dispatching an underling for that purpose.  Biden's message should have been, "Stop bombing our guys or we won't send you another nickel."

 

It is commonly believed that Obama's legacy will greatly hinge on the continued success of Obamacare.  That national health plan almost terminated out of the shoot when the legality of a key element of the plan, mandatory purchase of insurance by individuals who may not otherwise have desired to buy it, was challenged.  The plan has managed to survive for the time being, notwithstanding a thumbs down vote by the swing voter on the US Supreme Court, Justice Anthony Kennedy.  Usually Kennedy's vote determines the outcome of every case decided by a divided court.  However, Chief Justice John Roberts, perhaps not wanting to go down in history as the man whose court killed Obamacare, surprisingly sided with the liberal wing and voted for the constitutional  permissibility of mandatory insurance.  Still, warning flags are out for the future longevity of the president's health coverage plan, which has generally met with disapproval by small businesses.  Spikes in insurance premiums are prevalent, making it hard for the plan's supporters to assert that it benefits the middle class.  Some families, upon finding out about their skyrocketing premiums, are opting to pay the government-imposed fine rather than re-up for the following year.  Several insurers are bailing after losing millions of dollars.  If Donald Trump becomes the next president, putting an end to Obamacare will be high on his list.  No wonder the prez is making time to campaign for Hillary.

 

Two of President Obama's personal decisions made in August have also been severely criticized by his political opponents.  First, while old folks, the infirm and a variety of household pets were being rescued off of rooftops in severely flooded Baton Rogue, Louisiana and its environs, the president was playing golf near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  Days later, when he finally showed up to survey the disaster area, he said, "I guarantee ya, when help arrives those flood victims won't care if the provider is a Democrat or a Republican."  Well, yes, that's true; and ice cream has no bones.  But...

 

Secondly, when given the option to have his future presidential library built in either of two Chicago South Side neighborhoods,  the impoverished Washington Park, which desperately could use an infusion of dollars, or Jackson Park, a relatively upscale area along the Lake Michigan shore, the Chicagoan chose the latter.  As the Republicans were quick to point out, there is a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.

 

While we're on Chicago, the Windy City is on a course to be the scene of over 800 homicides this calendar year.  As of September 1, more murders had been committed in Chicago, the nation's third largest city, than in New York (largest) and Los Angeles (second largest) combined.  Who is running the show in the City Of Big Shoulders?  It's Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was picked by Obama eight years ago to be his first Chief of Staff.  Is it fair to link the president with the failed mayor?  I would say "no," but then again who claims politics is fair?  Emanuel's time at Obama's right hand were often, shall we say, less than pleasant, and there were not a whole lot of insiders who were sorry to see him leave for his current position.

 

What about the president's secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton?  Even the FBI Director, James Comey, who was appointed by Obama, called Clinton's intentional security lapses "extremely careless."  Yet, in a head-scratching conclusion, after laying out the facts regarding Clinton's disregard for the law which arguably imperiled (among others) our military, he chose not to charge her with a crime.  My take:  Just as was the case with the aforementioned Chief Justice Roberts, Comey did not want to be the guy who would be responsible for such a major impact on the course of history, i.e., the withdrawal of a major party's presidential nominee from the November ballots.  With President Harry Truman, who, by the way, was a Democrat, the buck stopped at his desk.  Does that platitude hold water with the Obama administration?  And since I'm asking that question, how have the veterans, especially those depending on the Veterans' Administration for their medical needs, been faring under the Obama regime?

 

Perhaps trumping -- no pun intended -- all other issues is the question of how President Obama performed as commander-in-chief.  I believe it was in the Washington Post where I read that when Obama took office the United States was at war in nine countries, meaning that's how many countries in which we either had ground troops (including special forces) stationed in the line of fire or we were supplying air support to allies' ground troops.  That number has grown to fourteen during the last eight years, a reflection of how violent and dangerous the world has become.  That growth is also a reflection of how important the role of commander-in-chief of our military has become.

 

As a sports fan, I can't help but notice how a pitcher will usually put his glove to his mouth so that lip readers can't decipher what he's saying to his catcher.  Same thing in football, where the coaches use their play sheet as a shield to obscure what they are saying into their headset microphone.  If that is smart protocol for something as unimportant as baseball or football, why is it not so important when the lives of thousands of American troops are at stake?  Here is what Commander-in-Chief Obama said on October 21, 2011:  "I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.  After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over." Unbelievably, two and a-half years later, Obama made the same mistake when, on May 26, 2014, he announced that he would order the withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.  Nothing like tipping your hand!  Many foreign affairs experts attribute the rise of ISIS in Iraq, if not the emboldened continued presence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, to Obama's disclosures.  The bad guys lied in the weeds until the US presence was drastically diminished, then having only the woefully inept local national armies to deal with.  There is an old saying that the reason we study history is so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.  Of course, Obama comes from a background of constitutional law and community organizing, not military strategy.  Still, I thought he, too, was a sports fan who twice should have known better.

 

We have seen how the pressure of holding the office of president has aged the men who have served in that capacity, especially those who were in the job for eight years.  Part of it has to do with the natural aging process.  Even butchers, bakers and candlestick makers will look older in the present than they did eight years ago.  But as noted above, going into the home stretch of a presidential term is not a cake walk, and the Obama administration will be no exception.  The president, who already looks weary, might be in for an unpleasant final act.  His record is almost complete for the historians to judge.  Unfortunately for Obama, the Clinton-Trump campaign, particularly the debates, is likely to revisit many of the topics covered in this post.  The tenor of the campaign continues to be one of the nastiest ever.  Many verbal darts will be thrown Obama's way.  The outcome in November will impact Obama's legacy because, as is true with each presidential election, the November vote will be to some extent a public referendum on the Obama presidency.   I'm sure the president is looking forward to the day when he can hand over the reigns to his successor, whoever that may be, and retire to the serene confines of Chicago's South Side.  If Hillary currently commands a fee of $250,000 for private speaking engagements, what do you think a former president will get?

Movie Review: "Indignation"

She was brown and I was pretty green

And I learned quite a lot when I was young.

- "When I Was Young," Eric Burdon & The Animals (1967)

"Indignation": B-.  The latest Philip Roth novel to be brought to the screen is Indignation, the story of a smart but inexperienced Jewish boy from New Jersey who enrolls in Winesburg, a small Ohio college where he meets a complex beauty.  What follows is usually the unexpected.  For a serious, almost humorless, young man like Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman), the only child of a Newark butcher and his wife, a well-planned college career becomes vulnerable to derailment.

That possibility is not to be taken lightly. The time is 1951 and deferments from the military draft are made available to college students.  Those not fortunate enough to continue their education beyond high school are likely to end up on the front lines of the Korean War, a sad reality brought home to roost in the opening scenes.  Marcus and his high school buddies knew the young man killed in action overseas whose funeral they are attending.

Substitute the word "blonde" for "brown" in the above-cited Animals song, and you have the theme of this film.  The blonde is Olivia Hutton (Sarah Gadon) who, by draping her bare leg over the arm of a chair, wrecks Marcus' concentration while he's attempting to study in the library.  The cultured daughter of a Cleveland physician, she is amused by his awkwardness and naivete on their first date when he takes her to a fancy restaurant called L' Escargot without actually knowing what escargot is.  Sensing his nervousness at the table, she tells him to relax.  He responds, "Believe me, I'm trying."  Later the quietly assertive Olivia directs Marcus to pull into a dark cemetery where she proceeds to perform a bold move in the front seat of the parked car. Clearly she has been down a path where Marcus has never gone.

At first blush Marcus has everything going for him.  He is a straight A student, and his high school resume includes varsity baseball and being captain of the debate team.  Yet he is a misfit in many ways: his well-meaning but overbearing family; his choice of college, which requires each student to attend ten chapel services a year, regardless of the student's religious preference (which for atheist Marcus is none); his dormitory roommates, at least one of whom is freakishly odd, maybe even certifiably disturbed; and now his love interest.  Not a typical freshman, Olivia is a transfer student from Mount Holyoke with a troubled past -- evidenced by a healing scar on her wrist she does not bother covering -- which is revealed a layer at a time.

The storytelling here is hit and miss.  My main objection is that I simply did not find the main characters interesting. The best thing going for Gadon is her almost platinum blonde hair.  For a movie romance, she does not appear on the screen nearly as much as her male counterpart.  Most of what we learn about her character, Olivia, happened in the past, and there is a key conversation which she has with another character (not Marcus) which is not shown.

Lerman, who strongly resembles comedy actor Paul Rudd, only younger, ironically plays Marcus as phlegmatic.  While the character is serious and introspective, traits more easily fleshed out in a novel than a movie, neither Lerman nor director James Schamus succeed in developing Marcus beyond a typical college freshman.  This is Schamus' first shot at directing after years of producing and writing.  I will be curious to see if he pursues his new line of work going forward.

It is too bad there could not have been more scenes like the interrogation through which Marcus suffers when he's called on the carpet by Dean H.D. Caudwell (Tracy Letts) to explain why he requested a room transfer.  In all fairness to Schamus, who wrote the screenplay, the dialogue between the student and the dean is perfect, evolving from a "make yourself comfortable" opening to an all-out debate several minutes later.        

The film starts and ends with the observation that sometimes one encounters a series of seemingly random minor events which brings that person to a turning point in his life.  There is a clever tie-in between the movie's opening shots and the fade-out.  It's those pesky intervening random minor events which could have used an infusion of energy.

Movie Review: "Cafe Society"

"Cafe Society": A.  Woody Allen, writer and director, has done it again, coming up with a 1930's "period piece" combining romance, humor, interesting realistic characters, exquisite costumes, groovy jazz, and a perfect ending.  Having a superb cast, led by Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart and Steve Carell, doesn't hurt either.

At the core of Cafe Society is the budding romance of Bobby (Eisenberg) and Veronica (Stewart), who goes by "Vronnie."  They are introduced by Bobby's Uncle Phil (Carell), a big shot agent whose Rolodex contains an A-List of Hollywood stars.  Of course he lives in a Beverly Hills mansion where he and his wife host pool parties frequented by the glitterati. He is incapable of uttering three sentences in a row without name-dropping a handful of celebrities with whom he does business.  When Bobby decides to leave his Bronx home for the west coast, hoping that Uncle Phil will employ him or at least use his connections for landing Bobby a job, Phil keeps him waiting for a week before clearing five minutes of time for the nephew.  Phil's original intent was to give Bobby the brush-off, but he finally relents and offers him menial work as a gopher.  Phil calls in one of his agency's many secretaries, Vronnie, and asks her to show the "kid" around town to familiarize him with LA.

Bobby and Vronnie hit it off immediately, but she doesn't waste much time admitting to Bobby that she already has a beau.  Bobby, no doubt fully cognizant of Vronnie's bare midriff/short skirt attire, is disappointed that this cute girl isn't romantically available, but he's still happy spending time with her platonically.  Bobby is a flirt, not above throwing out a line here and there with unmistakable connotations that if she changes her mind he'll be ready for her.  For example, when Vronnie tells Bobby that her boyfriend travels on business, Bobby responds that if she were his girl he would never leave town without her.

There is a generous helping of the Jewish family Bobby left behind in New York.  It doesn't take long for us to conclude he made the right decision to head west.  His father is an opinionated slug, his mother is a worrywart, his older brother is a gangster, and his sister is an alpha dog who bosses her submissive husband around.  This colorful crew supplies ample opportunity for Allen to intersperse numerous quips, a majority of them with a Jewish bent.  Allen is a master at this technique, which was immensely appreciated by our fellow movie patrons.

There are several surprises throughout, including a major one a third of the way into the story.  About two-thirds of the way in there is a shift in setting and plot, including the introduction of a recently divorced woman (Blake Lively) who is a head-turner also named Veronica.  Her entrance into a night club where Bobby works can only be described as "grand."  It is easy to be distracted by Lively's beauty, so take care not to lose focus on plot development and dialogue when she graces the screen.

Why does Cafe Society deserve a rating of A?  One explanation is that it has no defects.  I'm not sure how one could improve upon the finished product.  The casting is perfect.  A particular strength of Eisenberg is that he has the ability to play a Woody Allen-type character as if he were stepping into his director's body.  He has the body language, the quick wit, the inner suffering, the nervousness and the emotional queasiness that we used to see from Woody in his younger days.  As for Stewart, I was so impressed by her it almost makes me want to check out the Twilight series.  I would, except I don't believe in vampires.  While watching Carell take on the movie mogul character, I did not think of Michael Scott from The Office even once, so a tip of the cap to the multi-dimensional actor. 

I loved hearing the big band music which was popular at the time, particularly the vocals by Kat Edmonson. The settings, the cars, the hair styles, the clothes, even Allen's spoken narrative, all fit perfectly with the '30's era of glamorous film stars.  It was the Golden Age of Hollywood.  As mentioned above, the ending is a definite highlight, ingeniously filmed by Allen with two shots in quick succession which parallel and practically synchronize with each other, almost as if on a split screen.  Such filmmaking design is unique, and could only have been executed by an eminently skilled director.  

In my August 31, 2013 review of Blue Jasmine, to which I also granted a grade of A, I wrote that it was my favorite Woody Allen film of all time. Now I'm not so sure it hasn't been displaced.