PATRIOTS DAY  3.2 ****

        Widely known for sponsoring the oldest annual marathon in the world, the city of Boston took a devastating hit on 'Patriots' Day', 15th April 2013, from coordinated attacks by two home grown terrorists. The movie’s narrative follows the chronology of the events starting from the early hours of that fateful day. We see loved ones saying their goodbyes like any other day; some are runners getting ready for the marathon, while others are law enforcement or the onlookers who will be at the now famous Boylston Street where the explosions occurred.. While this is happening, we are also shown the Tsarnaev brothers who would perpetrate the attacks. Revealing their identities quite early in the film is a way to create a foreboding sense of what is about to happen.  Scarier than seeing them pack pressure-cooker bombs into their backpacks is the vague explanation behind the attack. Rather than explore that  the movie focuses is on the bloody and horrific aftermath of the explosions and the subsequent investigation.

What then follows is a tense manhunt for the brothers even as law enforcement teams are put through the arduous task of examining tons of video footage. There are so many scenes that are gems: Saunders ( Wahlberg) walking a reconstruction of the crime scene to help identify the stores and buildings with  video cameras; an escape by the young driver whose car is hi-jacked by the two brothers; and the explosive gun-fight showdown on  a residential street where one brother is killed and the other wounded.. The movie never glamourizes any party but simply lays out the facts in the real chronology.. The movie recreates the events faithfully with the melodrama  dialed down and so the light never fails to shine on the people of Boston and law enforcement, the real heroes of the tragedy. 

The actors include Mark Wahlberg and J.K. Simmons as police officers, John Goodman as the police commissioner and Kevin Bacon representing the FBI. Though Wahlberg appears in many scenes through-out the film, his Officer Tommy Saunders is the only character who isn't a real person.  So why does Wahlberg play a fictional character when the film is based on an actual event?  Well Wahlberg's Saunders represents a dramatized combination of the law enforcement and the Boston public who responded in unity to help find and capture  the terrorists. Besides, Wahlberg is a real Bostonian and adds authenticity to the character.

Rated ”R” for violence, realistically graphic injury images, and some language.

Clark

   IT FOLLOWS   3.7*** (for Horror Genre)

      It Follows ( 2014.. I saw it on Netflix ) is a unique horror-movie experience. Instead of effects-heavy monsters, computer trickery, and massive amounts of gore, it relies on refreshingly old-fashioned cinematic techniques and psychological terror to overwhelm the audience. It's a suburban teen horror film that has more in common with the likes of “The Shining” than with “Halloween”.  It is like a breath of fresh air in the horror genre.

 The movie begins on an exceptionally terrifying note, opening with a teenage girl fleeing from her house. She's running from someone - or something - but what? She ends up on the beach dead,  horribly mangled. We have no earthly idea what happened, but her fear and brutal death (unseen) infects us with an overwhelming and inexplicable terror.  The horror element here is something which is referred to only as "it" and "it" follows only one target person at a time. A person becomes a target through sexual intercourse with a person who is currently a target. Thus one can pass the curse of "it" to a person by having sex with that person.

Director David Mitchell knows what he's doing here. He knows what scares you, and executes it perfectly.  You feel as if we are in a 100 minute long nightmare. The worst nightmares are the ones you know you can't escape from - you can't move fast enough, no matter how hard you try.  In the movie nightmare, an inexplicable terror is following the character. It's not a matter of WHAT it is  - per se - but rather WHEN it arrives. The inevitability of its coming is by far the most terrifying aspect of this movie. You might as well be tied to your seat, forced to watch as an unstoppable, grotesque, demon-like entity walks slowly toward you...closer...closer...and closer. 

This is how horror movies should be made.  It Follows is easily one of the most terrifying horror movies I’ve seen in the last couple of years. A definite “must see” for horror fans and want-to-be’s.

Rated R for disturbing violent and sexual content including graphic nudity, and language.

Clark

  LA LA LAND  4.0***

    What a delight ... a sheer delight. I found myself often just pushing back in my seat with a smile .. no a grin on my face enjoying hugely the magic of a sparkling movie !!!! There are many movies I like but not that often does one come along like this one where I can feel the joy of great movie making.

It's in some ways a rather simple story but in other ways very complicated because life is that way . We have a guy ( Ryan Gosling ) who is a serious jazz pianist who fears jazz is disappearing & wants to have his own jazz nightclub. We have a gal ( Emma Stone ) who is an aspiring actress who for 6 years has been turned down time after time at auditions. They meet and in time they fall in love with each respecting & supporting the other's dream. This story is told with sparkling music and dancing , and Gosling & Stone do it together & are excellent. This is where the delight & joy comes in . They as a couple are a perfect match... they are sizzling together.

Well sometimes dreams and romance don't match up & that becomes a dilemma for the couple . What happens ... well I won't tell . You'll have to see the movie and I highly recommend that you do and on the big screen with the big sound !!!

The critics love this movie and the movie goers do too . It's for sure going to be up for awards & deservingly so .

This is a romance story with brilliant singing & dancing ... not a musical with a romance thrown in. It's unique .. a gamble that pays off big time.

This is the most entertaining movie I have seen this year & beyond.

Clark

  JACKIE   3.4*** 

first. If you thought Helen Mirren as THE QUEEN  and Meryl Streep as THE IRON LADY gave great  performances in biopics, know that Natalie Portman as Jackie Kennedy gives a performance here that's every bit in their league.  She will be nominated for Best Actress.

"Jackie" is a moving portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in the days surrounding JFK's assassination. We see her calm composure in the days before and her struggle to maintain this in the days after  The film is done entirely from the perspective of Jackie herself, and the film jumps around through time in such a way as if we are looking into her mind ourselves.   Considering this is a film driven by the central character of Jackie Kennedy (and her alone), this film required a great central performance, and Natalie Portman gives one. It goes well beyond  the fact that she talks with the same voice and displays the same mannerisms as Jackie Kennedy. Yet even in this horrible, terrifying situation as the wife and First Lady of the slain President, Natalie Portman never resorts to overacting.  

Through all the post assassination political dealings,  her first interview after the assassination, and, most of all, several meetings with a Priest, we learn much about this her as a historical figure. Yet too, Jackie Kennedy is humanized through this film. We learn about her conflicts during the aftermath of the assassination, and despite constantly depicting herself as strong and resilient to the public, we see that she was absolutely confused, lonely, and terrified underneath. She clearly loved her husband and wanted badly to honor him, but she also romanticized him to the point where he was no longer a real human in her mind, but instead a perfect legend, the King Arthur of Camelot . With Bobbie Kennedy in visible shock and unable to strongly support her wishes and with the new President Lyndon Johnson and his aides pushing hard to get in the White House ASAP (even demanding that the Kennedys pack up and get out of the living quarters immediately after the funeral) , that is why Jackie tried so hard often alone to make sure  her husband’s accomplishments and legacy were preserved for history’s sake.

Many moments of the film caught my eye and many others broke my heart. I will always remember the shot of Jackie, in Air Force One shortly after the assassination, cleaning the blood of her husband off of her face, weeping. And what the song "Camelot" meant to her and her husband, as they danced to it in the very last scene of the film. You feel her happiness and then her agony and loss.

This movie may be about a public figure in our recent history but if you strip away the Kennedy myth and name, the movie's beating heart, its very core, is the story of how profound grief feels and how it's handled. It's agony seeming to never end, like a hazy bad dream. “Jackie” perfectly captures every moment of that bad dream.

Clark

STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE  3.0***

       Rogue One takes place prior to and includes events  leading up to the first Star Wars film. It is a standalone film that focuses on the rebel alliance before Luke Skywalker joins them. Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) is the daughter of Galen Erso, the man who has been forced to complete the Empire's Death Star, the planet destroyer but he has also designed a weakness, an Achilles heel. The Rebel Alliance sends Jyn and a team led by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) to steal the designs for the Death Star so they can exploit its weakness and destroy it.

The movie delivers a simple-yet-captivating plot with its fair share of well placed, well made twists, a fair share of excellent CGI mixed with action scenes, and characters with sufficient depth. It has lots of action, comedy, drama (the good kind) and tragedy. It also provides good answers to one of the most recurring questions of the Star Wars universe regarding the Death Star and how the Rebel Alliance got the plans.

And speaking about the Death Star, after  knowing it will be destroyed in A New Hope (and again in Return of the Jedi), it’s easy to stop seeing it as threatening. But  the movie will surprise you by  showing the Death Star in all its terrifying glory, bringing a sense of dread that the first^t 2 movies didn't have (also it takes advantage of the obvious improvements in CGI to make it look truly awesome).  

It’s obvious  that this movie draws its inspiration and overall soul from The Empire Strikes Back But it's not just a recycled plot, but a new movie, with its own story and a new set of heroes and villains, rightfully taking its place as the prequel to all Star Wars movies (because they never managed to make episodes I, II and III ).

A fine film and a fun experience but nothing like the first 3 Star War movies.

Clark