ROMA   4.0***

Well - to start - 'Roma' is one of the most beautifully filmed movies I have seen in a while. It is done in black and white and every shot is masterfully executed, blocked, framed, and detailed. The movie was directed, written, produced and edited by Alfonso Cuarón ( he Directed the awesome “Gravity” and “Children of God” movies). Amazingly Cuarón was also the cinematographer  and  did a phenomenal job.  Right from the opening shot I knew I was in for something very special. Cuarón's  long takes are masterful. Sometimes he lingers on a subject beautifully to emphasize a point, or makes a small adjustment to a shot - giving it a completely different meaning. The symmetry and pure brilliance of every single scene is a cinematic experience.

With that having been said, I should mention that this is a rather simple story that moves at a slow pace for 2 hours and 14 minutes and many people may find it TOO slow and even boring However the slow pace allows the awesome artistic and technical features to shine and stand out. The other thing is that there is full male frontal nudity, not for a fleeting moment but for a couple of minutes while the man performs martial arts to impress his girl.  Finally, it is a Mexican made movie so it is in Spanish with English subtitles. So be forewarned.

The story takes place in Mexico City in the early 70s, and is about Cleo, a young Mexican housemaid who takes care of a family of four children, along with their parents and maternal grandmother ( and a dog that poos more than most any other dogs) . The film is set in a time of political unrest and that backdrop adds to the chaos of what occurs in Cleo's life.   The film shows her routines as the housemaid, her trials and tribulations at work and love, and how her life changes when she becomes pregnant. She becomes so accustomed to her work routine that she practically cares and looks after the kids as if they were here own family. And family is definitely one of the themes in this film. Also, another of Roma's themes is the perseverance of women within the societal stronghold of men. With its unapologetic display of evil deeds at the expense of women going criminally unnoticed every day, Roma is, in a way, a love letter to say that Cuarón did not forget the multifaceted strength of the women in his life.  

The simplicity of this film is captured beautifully with the highly skilled cinematography, which Cuaron developed by himself. Every frame is methodically crafted in the form of a black and white portrait that perfectly reflects the people and the settings.. Cuarón's visual designs appear throughout the film, tying the somewhat loose plot into a resounding and heart wrenching force. He uses planes, water, cars, dogs, and themes of birth and death to represent metaphorically and sometimes literally how characters feel and their relationships to each other .

Rated R for graphic nudity, some disturbing images, and language.

NOTE: This Mexican movie will be Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Film and could even be nominated for Best Picture,  Director and Cinematography and other categories. It shows up in most Top 10 Movies of 2018.It was backed by Netflix and can be found there and is also playing in some theaters.

I read that the title of the movie, “ROMA” when spelled backwards is “amor” which in Spanish means “love”.

Sara and I re-watched one of the best comedy movies of all tine (it’s in my top 3 comedy movies) It came out in 1970 during the Viet Nam war although the story takes place during the Korean war. Some considered it an anti-war movie but I don’t agree. It is a satirical comedic look at the military in a war time hospital unit. Robert Altman is the Director and gave us a full-time laugh movie with unforgettable characters with names like: Hawkeye, Trapper John, Hot Lips O’Houlihan, Lt. Dish, Radar and Spearchucker. We saw it in 1970 while I was in the Air Force stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB at the base theater with a full house. The laughter started in the first two minutes and hardly stopped until the movie was over.

Below is parts of a 1970 review from the Hollywood Reporter which I fully agree with . A 4*** must see for everyone.

 John Mahoney, originally published Jan. 20, 1970 in the Hollywood Reporter

     *M*A*S*H is the finest American comedy since Some Like It Hot and The Graduate of 197o.    It stars 28 of the freshest, funniest comic improvisers around. M*A*S*H is irreverent of many things: war, sex, bureaucracy, military decorum, but never of the unquenchable spirit of its people, who work with the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital near the front lines of the Korean War and acknowledge therefore that they, too, are prisoners of war in a sense. 

While the point of the comedy requires that much of it be played against some gory backgrounds of emergency field surgery, only a negligible portion of the potential audience is apt to be offended. Nor, in context, will the language of M*A*S*H greatly offend, though at its most commercially groundbreaking, it includes such lines as "Schmuck!" and "All right, Bud, your fuckin' head is coming right off!" 

If one could stop laughing long enough, he would have to admit that the overly pious, the officious, the prudish among the film's company of surgical workers fall victims to some very cruel jokes, but that is as natural to the comedy as it is to the survival of the men and women who perform their jobs with pride and efficiency while desperately striving to maintain their individuality, pleasures and sanity in the constant presence of death. It is a tough, bawdy, bloody comedy, to be sure, and it has to be. 

But despite the necessary, and highly productive, use of caricature, M*A*S*H retains an extraordinary sense of actuality through the use of improvisational delivery which gives latitude to a carefully wrought script. It is fresh and spontaneous, plausible at its most logically improbable, thanks to Robert Altman's superior direction, the script, the fine selection of actors and to an omnipresent camera .

The FAVOURITE  2.8***

    Everybody requires something different from their moviegoing experience. Some of us need explosions and high-speed chases and easily identifiable good guys and bad guys while others want quiet moments of deep thought or subtle drama. There aren't any explosions in this film but there are deafeningly loud musket shots. There are no high-speed chases but  there is plotting, brooding, mind games and manipulation. And while we have bad gals/guys, there are no good gals/guys. The general theme of the movie is "Every woman or man for themselves" and to heck with anything else including one’s country. While there is humor spread out over the story the movie is still dark and troubling given the main theme.

The story goes like this: Lady Abigail (Emma Stone, excellent in the role) wants her place in aristocracy. New to the royal court, she is a cunning ambitious wannabe who craves fame, fortune, and, most importantly, power. Her arch rival is a woman just as cruel and demanding, her cousin, Lady Sarah Churchill (a winning Rachel Weisz) who is firmly entrenched in all the decision-making for Queen Ann (ruled England 1702 to 1714. These ladies-in-waiting scheme and battle to gain control of the queen. They rely on manipulation (including sexual advances) and one-upmanship to win-over a very unstable Queen Anne (a magnificent Olivia Colman), whose physical health and mental issues cloud her judgement.

The acting is absolutely stellar, Colman, Weisz, and Stone all giving crackerjack performances. The film explores the lengths to which people will go in order to yield power over one another. Though all three ladies get plenty of screen time, the film feels more "about" Abigail (Stone) than anyone, and we watch her first wrestle with her morals as she realizes how sleezy she will have to be to beat Lady Sarah (Weisz) at her game, and then commit to doing what she has to do to be top dog, . Olivia Colman (amazing acting job) as Queen Anne is a wolf in sheep's clothing, her physical and emotional frailty a camouflage for her monstrous obsession with being adored.

Director Lanthimos stages his scenes with astute skill, filling the screen with gorgeous costuming  and an amazing production . “The Favourite" looks stunning, the kind of film that often wins Oscars for production design, costume design, and cinematography and here actually deserves them. The film reminded me of Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon" in its look and tone, though "The Favourite" isn't afraid to get its hands dirty whereas "Barry Lyndon" remained stately and pristine.

I must admit that the Director Yorgos Lanthimos is not one of my favorite directors. While his 2015 film, “The Lobster” landed on some year-end  best films lists,  it landed on my “worst” film list. That movie was a pure indulgence of dry, cruel humor. His initial premise in “The Favourite” and  his other films is intriguing, but his convoluted plotting and third act ambiguous sour endings never satisfy.       

Rated R for strong sexual content (scenes of lesbian activity), nudity and language (these folks were rather bawdy)

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY  4.0****

Wow. What a brilliantly made film .Director Brian Singer has walked a sublime tightrope in creating a wonderfully engaging, funny and emotional film without turning it into a sleezy Hollywood smarm fest. This incredible story takes us on the journey of one of the most iconic rock bands of all time, Queen, and gives us a look at not only the birth and life of the band but a peek behind the curtain into the life of one of music's biggest legends and Queen front man, Freddie Mercury. From their humble beginnings playing college shows to their historic performance at 1985's Live Aid concert, “Bohemian Rhapsody” will take you on one hell of a rock n' roll ride.

Rami Malek is of course the star and his performance as Freddie is uncanny. Rami Malek takes on the role of Freddie Mercury with all the charm and swagger that the real man gave off. He is incredible. Most of the vocals are Freddie’s originals but Malek does attempt some of his own with commendable success, and you quickly forget it's not actually Mercury himself. If Malek doesn't at least earn an Oscar Best Actor nomination for this role, there is no justice in the Oscars.

Unlike some biopics the music itself does by no means fall by the wayside and there is a multitude of Queen classics crammed into the just over 2 hours running time. I was pleasantly surprised as to how much of the movie was dedicated to the music and if I hadn’t been in a movie theater I would have spent half the time air guitaring and singing at the top of my voice. (in fact during the last 10 minutes I did sing with gusto) Of course we have a lot of the film dedicated to Freddie and his declining social life, behavior and ultimately health and this is handled with so much respect and emotion that at no point does it seem forced or uncomfortable.

The film follows a classic rise, fall and rise again formula culminating in a final fist pumping, rousing half hour which sees the band bust out in what many say is the greatest live performance of all time as they re-emerge for Wembley’s Live-Aid concert.  What we  get with this exhilarating movie is a barnstorming, foot-tapping, heart pumping movie which for me is without a doubt one of the best Music biopics ever made. Go see it.

Rated PG-13 for certain elements, suggestive material, drug content and language 

This week some of the movie theaters give us a second shot at movies we have already seen. Chief among these is Schindler’s List Remastered (Dec. 7), a new print of Steven Spielberg’s harrowing 1993 drama about how one German industrialist (Liam Neeson) attempted to save Jews from the Holocaust. The multiple Oscar winner  (7 including Best Picture and Best Director) is a great film but a tough watch but well worth it as it is in the top 10 for best movies of all time. It is long .. 3 hr 15 min.

Sara and I re-watched it on the big screen with the super Dolby sound on Thursday night, and were awe struck all over again.

Below is parts of a review from the Chicago Tribune done in 1993 when it came out.

4.0****

Michael Wilmington, Tribune Movie Critic CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“The movie is a triumph on almost every level-of artistry, technique, humanity, entertainment and spirit. Anyone worried that Spielberg has bitten off more art and history than he or we can swallow should bury their qualms. Defying all our cynicism about big-time Hollywood (is he intent on capturing Oskar or winning Oscars?), this is a great movie, one of the most powerful portraits of World War II or the Holocaust on film.

At the center is Liam Neeson as Schindler, the suave, arrogantly handsome double agent in a world of institutionalized treachery and murder. Around him is a beautifully acted gallery: the victims (Ben Kingsley as the ghetto/factory financial genius Itzhak Stern; Embeth Davidtz as victimized maid Helen Hirsch; Jonathan Sagalle as Poldek Pfefferberg, who first told writer Thomas Keneally the Schindler stories), persecutors (Ralph Fiennes, memorably loathsome as Commandant Amon Goeth) and protectors (Caroline Goodall as Schindler's long-suffering wife, Emilie).

The picture doesn't cheapen its subject. It gives us the stark, horrific atmosphere of Krakow, Poland, and Brinnlitz, near Czechoslovakia, even of Auschwitz-Birkenau itself. It gives the nerve-shattering chaos in the ghettos and camps and also provides a nightmarish portrait of Nazi evil: Fiennes' brutish, smug, weirdly comic Goeth, a sadist and voluptuary who kills prisoners as King Lear's wanton boys kill flies, for sport.

Neither does the movie slight Schindler. "Schindler's List" is based on Keneally's 1982 book and on the memories of the Schindlerjuden, Jews saved by Schindler during the war years. And the story's prime fascination lies in its paradoxical take on his nature: opportunist and benefactor, philanderer and crusader, sinner and savior.

With seemingly effortless grace and skill, "Schindler's List" balances fear and exaltation, humor and horror, love and death. It evokes, superbly, a time of savagery and grief, and the inexplicable, stunning compassion that rises within and against it.

Yet the irony is inescapable. The Jews on the List, after all, the ones Schindler saved, were the exception, the chosen-the shocked and happy few among millions who died. That's the dirge keening beneath Spielberg's psalm of unlikely benefactions. For if goodness in the face of absolute brutality were not so rare, its spectacle couldn't make us weep.

Sara and I re-watched this 1989 Christmas movie and enjoyed it all over again. It never got much acclaim.. sort of fell by the wayside so far as Christmas movies go. But it is in my Top 10 of Christmas movies. A modern but old-fashion Christmas story.

     PRANCER   3.5***

   “Prancer” is inspired by the famous newspaper article “Yes, Virginia: There Is a Santa Claus” A 9 year old girl named Jessica Riggs is being told by others around her there is no Santa Claus yet steadfastly holds to her faith that he exists. This modern day “Virginia” loves Christmas and everything about it, and is horrified to see a street decoration Prancer (the reindeer) be damaged in an accident. Later when she comes upon an injured real reindeer in the forest, she assumes it to be Prancer, and hides him in a shed on her farm and takes care of him. Jessica is feisty at times, but always shows a good heart in her effort.

For Jessica, who listens to Christmas records year-round, a belief in Santa Claus is absolutely essential. Jessica has gotten her belief in Santa Claus tangled up with her faith in God. She reasons that if Santa doesn't exist, then maybe God and  heaven don’t exist either. And if there's no heaven, she wonders about where her dead mother is?

The girl’s faith is only part of the story. How Jessica (Rebecca Harrel) touches others who have lost their hope and faith in various ways is even more profound, and touching. A village recluse (Cloris Leachman), a veterinarian (Abe Vigoda), her jaded widowed father (Sam Elliot), her skeptic friend (Ariana Richards), a newspaper writer (Michael Constantine) are all wonderful in these roles.

The cast is amazing, . Sam Elliot and Cloris Leachman are the main huge stars, but the hit of the show is Rebecca Harrell, who plays Jessica. She is enthusiastic without becoming too sugary,  she’s touching rather than cloying, and displays a real determination as she clings to her feelings longer than the adults in the story expect her to do,.  

The movie's plot plays out very well; each scene evokes different emotions and captures them all well. Sweet but not too sweet, heartfelt, genuine, touching. Everything a FAMILY Christmas movie should be. Kids and adults will get a yuletide glow from this one. One caution. The movie has a serious side and there are sad/tense moments along with the sugar and spice.

  

 

 

   WIDOWS  3.0***

   A crime thriller set in Chicago, this film is about a group of wives of career criminals who find themselves the targets of powerful political and criminal interests after their husbands die in a police shootout following a robbery of another gang’s money. Still grieving, they soon discover how much their husbands owe and who is after them for it and thus a bold heist that was to be done by their husbands is undertaken by them.

A contemporary crime drama, this one delivers well-defined characters and a fast pace that powers the story. It's all woven together by Director Steve McQueen's stellar direction (known for “12 Days a Slave). As a film taking place in Chicago, this story touches on the occasional overlap between the political and criminal worlds. The menacing backdrop of the political tug-of-war between the rich and the poor adds to the film's tension.

This film has a truly stunning ensemble cast and most of the actors and actresses are very good here. Even though the ensemble is large, most of the characters are surprisingly well-developed--a rarity in films with this number of characters. Viola Davis is outstanding as the lead actress ( A sure thing for a Best Actress nomination) . Other standouts in the cast include Colin Farrell as the son  of a crooked and openly racist machine politician (Robert Duvall,) and Daniel Kaluuya as a psychopathic criminal.

The film's heist scenes are suspenseful and well-executed although quite fleeting in duration. The same is true with the scenes regarding the actual planning of the heist. You should know that the film is more of a political/mob drama than a true heist movie.. The film's attempts at social commentary hit most of the time, but the misses don't leave much of a mark.  

"Widows" is a good film but not a great one.  With an ambitious tone rooted in urban and social issues and a number of plotlines, the film bites off more than it can chew. It is also unevenly paced, as most of the planning and execution of the heist occur in the film's final 30 minutes. Yet despite this, the film feels a bit too long. Some of the first act could have been trimmed to tighten up the story. That said, this is a fairly good heist movie  so long as you know what you’re in for. 

Rated R for violence, language throughout, and some sexual content/nudity ( This is a fairly hard R)