GREEN BOOK  4.0***

by saying this is the BEST movie I have seen this year !!!!

I love it when directors who are usually identified with one type of film break  out of that cycle do something radically different. Such is the case with writer/director Peter Farrelly who is  known for mostly doing gross out, or raunchy and immature comedies such as the Dumb and Dumber( very dumb movie) and There’s Something About Mary (which I liked a lot) doing a 180. This time around, with Green Book, Farrelly takes a true story and helps write the screenplay and directs. The film  has just as much humor, better humor, as the films he would normally do, but here he elevates his style by giving the film a timely message of friendship and acceptance.  

Green Book is based on a true story about a black concert pianist (played by Mahershala Ali) who tours the American Deep South in the early 1960's, and takes along a rough-and-tumble Italian bar bouncer as his driver/fixer (played by Viggo Mortensen). The driver (Viggo) begins the tour as a northern racist who takes the eight week assignment because he needs quick cash. The pianist (Ali) starts the tour as a lonely and pompous uppity concert pianist unable to fully navigate the white world where his music is highly valued, and equally uncomfortable in black-America. The couldn't be more different if they tried.  Through the film we see the two characters slowly find each other and themselves as they subtly bond, and we feel the connection as a real friendship blossoms. One of the things I liked best is the movie teaches tolerance as much by example without preaching at you.. It all unfolds through a myriad of natural moments between two great actors and a strong supporting cast. 

The title of the film  (“Green Book”) comes from a once essential tour book for African Americans that listed hotels and other businesses willing to serve black customers, in a shameful era when American blacks were legally equal to whites but discrimination in the South remained grossly overt.  

This is a wonderful film about putting prejudices aside and seeing goodness within your fellow man and learning to appreciate that. This road trip truly reshapes the two characters in marvelous ways. This is an absolutely an outstansing film that made me laugh more than any other film this year and at the same time warmed my heart  while shocking me by the deplorable racist attitudes and actions of the 60's.  It  shows how far we still need to move ahead as a society.

The performances by the two leads are I think the two best male performances I have seen this year and the characters are so wonderfully vibrant and full of emotions, personality and life all thanks to a meticulously researched screenplay based on a true story. A film of this type of quality does not come along too often, so I suggest you see it while you can and do not be surprised to see  Oscar nominations and even wins coming from it

. One of the best films of this year.

Sara and I re-watched “Field of Dreams” (1989) and once again  were swept away by this magical fantasy story. This is about as close as it comes to a perfect movie. In fact it is my #1 Sports movie in that genre. While the sport is baseball, you don’t have to be a baseball fan to love it. It’s really more about dreams and redemption of the best kind.

Here’s my review:

FIELD OF DREAMS  4.0***

    I truly believe that every once in a blue moon, a film comes along which contains a remarkable sense of wonder coupled with the power of dreams. The title says it all: "Field of Dreams” which has become an American classic. This film  reaffirms that dreams can come true and people can be saved by what they  believe in. And to top it all off, baseball is its subject. The great American pastime takes on a mystical quality that adds to the magic of the story

Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, an Iowa corn farmer who seems to be stranded in his life.  One day, while roaming aimlessly through his cornfield, he hears a unknown voice speak to him saying the words that have become synonymous with the film itself, "If you build it, he will come." He is compelled by the strange message and comes to believe that the words mean he is to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield, and he sets out to do just that, and indeed does one heck of a great job.  Nothing comes of it until one night somebody in a 1920's baseball uniform turns up on the baseball diamond ready to play baseball. This happens to be the great Shoeless Joe Jackson who is dead but has come back to play the game he was banned from playing.  Other Baseball greats soon join him to play. When the voice continues, Ray seeks out a reclusive author played by James Earl Jones to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his baseball diamond. For Ray it’s a journey of self-discovery with some truly beautiful moments.

It's not just  the film/story that delivers, it's also the actors who make this delightful tale come to life. Kevin Costner is surrounded by other great actors in Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan and Burt Lancaster, and he wisely lets these actors dominate the scenes that he shares with them . However, Costner is the glue that binds the whole film together … his is a very engaging performance for which he should have gotten more recognition.

"Field of Dreams" is one of the most fascinating films I've seen, and one of the best. I was deeply moved like Costner and Jones were by the miraculous incidents put in front of them. Anybody who likes a “feel good” film like “It’s a Wonderful Life” will also fall in love with this movie .  

This is a DO NOT MISS movie.

Rating: PG

First MAN   2.8***

               Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle ( La La Land and Whiplash) reteam for a mostly understated  dramatic account of Neil Armstrong (Gosling) and his life during the 1960s. The film presents more of an intimate focus on the man and his family  and his sacrifices rather than a “rah rah" retelling of the space race. Much screen time is devoted to Armstrong and his wife Janet (Claire Foy), including dealing with tragedy (the death of his 3 year old daughter to brain cancer and the harsh realities of the dangers of being an astronaut ( as movingly shown by the scene of Armstrong painfully telling his sons that he may never come back from his moon mission).

Any  discussion of this movie  brings up a comparison to The Right Stuff,  Apollo 13 and Gravity. Those were space movies. On the other hand, First Man is a movie set partially in space. Specifically, it's a family drama - an intimate and personal portrait of a man and his family.  As for the space scenes, they are spectacular and better than most movies before it. They aren't sexy or glamorous. They’re realistic in a way I don't think I've seen before and all the more powerful for it. I strongly believe this movie captures what it feels  like to actually ride in those small claustrophobic space vehicles in a way that’s not  been done before.

Nonetheless , the movie was somewhat of a letdown for me for given reasons.The focus is on the man, Neil Armstrong, who was a  great hero but as a man he was reticent, withdrawn and a man of few words. This does not make for good drama. And there is also the fact that everyone knows how it turns out.... he’s the first man to walk on the Moon and return safely . So all the dangerous events he encounters beforehand, though quite well done, are not very suspenseful because we know he survives . Finally the movie is too long ( 2 hr & 21 min) and whatever tension could have been generated is sucked out by the time it’s over.

 Overall I  liked the movie for what it is; a well-made biopic of a fascinatingly courageous  man with awesome scenes in space.