MOVIE REVIEW: DEATH ON THE NILE

 

Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot's Egyptian vacation aboard a glamorous river steamer turns into a terrifying search for a murderer when a picture-perfect couple's idyllic honeymoon is tragically cut short.

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Cast:  Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, Letitia Wright

Release Date: February 11, 2022 

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Rated PG-13 for violence, some bloody images, and sexual material

Runtime: 2h 7m

Review:

Death on the Nile is another lavish follow up to Murder on the Orient Express stacked with stars and style.  Kenneth Branagh is again pulling double duty in front and behind the camera with his love of the material shining thru each moment.  Branagh for his part adds a bit of sensitivity and heart to his turn as Poirot this go around.  The cast is each given their moment to shine with Annette Bening, Sophie Okonedo and Emma Mackey leaving the biggest impression.  The film's pacing is meticulous and measured as we meet all the potential suspects but it falters as the film hits the third act and the bodies continue to pile up with Poirot failing to live up to his legendary detective status.  Death on the Nile is the type of film that works well with in parts but is ultimately an uneven experience especially considering the collected star power behind and in front of the camera.

B

MOVIE REVIEW: ON THE BASIS OF SEX

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a struggling attorney and new mother who faces adversity and numerous obstacles in her fight for equal rights. When Ruth takes on a groundbreaking tax case with her husband, attorney Martin Ginsburg, she knows it could change the direction of her career and the way the courts view gender discrimination.

Director: Mimi Leder

Cast: Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, Jack Reynor, Cailee Spaeny, Sam Waterston, and Kathy Bates

Release Date: December 25, 2018

Genres: Biography, Drama 

Rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive content

Runtime: 2h 0min

Review:

On The Basis of Sex is an engaging if cliched bio pic that is elevated by it's direction and performances. Mimi Leder directs the film with a steady caring hand that treats it's characters with a gentle hand.  Leder moves the film at a steady pace but the film would have been better served focusing on a tighter timeline since it covers a fairly large portion of Ginsburg's life.  At the film's center is Felicity Jones who provides the story it's heart.  Jones turn as Ginsburg captures that intensity and drive that propelled her throughout her early years.  Sure her Brooklyn accent comes and in and out through the film but she does a fine job of carrying the film.  A swoon worthy Armie Hammer is excellent as Ginsburg's loving and ever supportive husband.  The supporting cast is made up of familiar faces along with a rare evil turn from Sam Waterston. There are a few missteps mostly due to the script which over does the schmaltz factor that makes certain sequences feel a bit too "Hollywood" which robs moments of authenticity.  Still it's a solid film enough biopic of an amazing woman who deserves this type of recognition.

B+

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of The Girl on the Train & The Birth of a Nation

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for the buzzkill double-bill of The Girl on the Train and The Birth of a Nation. 

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers. First on the docket: The Girl on the Train. An unhappy divorcee makes up stories about the people she sees on her daily commute, then becomes entangled in the case when one of them goes missing. 

 

The Girl on the Train is such a pedestrian mystery that, never having been anywhere near the novel, it took me approximately 23 minutes to clock exactly how it was going to play out...and that was far from my final check of the time, believe me. 

 

Emily Blunt plays the titular girl as a sloppy, irritating drunk, and the supporting characters are so odious it's impossible to care what happens to any of them. (Though I'd forgive Luke Evans for pretty much anything once he started peeling off those clothes.) 

 

A few laughable bits--including a full-on Cameron Frye moment in a gallery--spell a miserable whole that plods along with varying versions of events. Who's telling the truth? Who's lying? 

 

You'll stop caring long before this mess crawls to its predictable finish. About the only things The Girl on the Train has to recommend it are a properly menacing score by Danny Elfman and a couple frames of Evans' glorious bod. 

 

The Girl on the Train runs an excruciating 112 minutes and is rated R for "violence, sexual content, language, and nudity." The Girl on the Train is a slow, dull exercise that made me want to throw myself on the tracks. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Girl on the Train gets four. 

Fangirl points: Luke Evans. Luke Evans' abs. Luke Evans' bottom. 

 

Also, a girl in a Damned shirt...yay! Next up: The Birth of a Nation. The true story of Nat Turner, a slave and preacher who orchestrated a rebellion in 1831. 

 

The Birth of a Nation is difficult to watch, and more than once I had to look away from the brutality and abuse. Performances are fantastic across the board, with Nate Parker and Aja Naomi King outstanding in the leads, and Armie Hammer his usual reliable self in an important supporting role. 

 

Turner's Christian faith is central to the story, but the movie also exposes the contradictory nature of the Bible and those who presume to speak for their gods. 

 

The subject matter is unpleasant enough to make the film feel much longer than it is; for the duration I kept thinking the last thing we really need right now is yet another reminder of how horrible people can be to one another. 

 

Only afterward did it occur to me, maybe exactly what we need right now is a reminder of what happens when people are encouraged to treat others as less than themselves. 

 

The Birth of a Nation clocks in at an even two hours and is rated R for "disturbing violent content and some brief nudity." The Birth of a Nation is a well-acted picture with a timely, important message, but, sadly, none of that makes it a truly great movie. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Birth of a Nation gets five. .

 

 Fangirl points: The aforementioned Armie Hammer. Mark Boone Junior (Bobby Elvis)! 

 

Until next time... 

 

Cindy Prascik''s Reviews of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mr. Holmes

Dearest Blog: today it was off to the pictures for a pair of highly-anticipated (at least by me) titles: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Mr. Holmes.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

First up: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

An American C.I.A. agent and a Russian K.G.B. agent reluctantly team up to keep a nuclear bomb out of dangerous hands.

Ladies and gents, it will surprise exactly no one when I say I know nothing about the original Man from U.N.C.L.E. TV series, aside from the fact it's where Ducky from NCIS got his start. If you're looking for comparisons between this big-screen outing and its small-screen ancestor, I fear you'll have to look elsewhere.

On its own merits, the big-screen Man from U.N.C.L.E. feels like it can't quite decide what it wants to be. It's amusing, but not nearly funny enough to be called a comedy. It's a little too silly to sell its attempts at drama. There's some nice action, but none of the big stunts we've come to expect from great action pieces. In other words, it's a lot of "what might have been."

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are as good-looking a pair of guys as you'll find anywhere, perhaps cinema's most dashing double-leads since Newman and Redford. Unfortunately, Cavill has all the charisma of a used lunch bag, and Hammer (whom I adore, for the record) has been shoved into a role that never seems to fit. They have a few genuinely good moments together, but overall it seems a waste of two capable leading men.

Female lead Alicia Vikander is absolutely stunning and absolutely unremarkable in every other way. It's only when Hugh Grant turns up you feel like you've got someone who knows what to do with a feature film. As mentioned, the action is good fun at times, but nothing very exciting or new. There's espionage and double-crosses and triple-crosses and none of it is ever much of a surprise. Some of the locations are almost as pretty as Cavill and Hammer, but if I had to name the one thing I actually really, really loved about The Man from U.N.C.L.E., it'd be Daniel Pemberton's fantastic score.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. clocks in at 116 minutes and is rated PG13 for "action violence, some suggestive content, and partial nudity."

It's a passable couple hours of brainless summer fun, but, to be honest, if your cinema is still playing Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation, you'd do better just to see that again.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. gets six.

Next on the docket, Mr. Holmes.

An elderly, failing Sherlock Holmes is haunted by a past blunder.

Dear Reader(s), every once in awhile, even *I* need a break from car chases and explosions, and this weekend my cinema was kind enough to accommodate with this well-regarded showcase for Ian McKellen.

Mr. Holmes is a pretty slow-moving vehicle; in the interest of making that not sound like a negative, we'll call it "deliberately paced." This movie is in no hurry to get anywhere, but that's not to say there's not plenty going on. A couple of old cases nag at the edges of Holmes' fading memory, and his declining health adds its own drama. McKellen and Laura Linney are expectedly great, but it's the youngster Milo Parker who steals the show, comfortably holding his own opposite his two decorated co-stars. It's a quietly intense film that will have no trouble holding your attention from start to finish.
Mr. Holmes runs 104 minutes and is rated PG for "thematic elements, some disturbing images, and incidental smoking."

A nice respite from shoot-em-up summer blockbusters, of a possible nine Weasleys, Mr. Holmes gets seven.

Until next time..

Somebody get me in the middle of that...STAT! :-)

MOVIE REVIEW: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin (Armie Hammer) are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.

Release Date: Aug 14, 2015

Rated: PG-13 Action/Violence, Some Suggestive Content and Partial Nudity

Runtime: 1 hr. 56 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure

Director: Guy Ritchie  

Cast: Armie Hammer, Henry Cavill, Alicia Vikander, Hugh Grant, Jared Harris

Review:

The Man from U.N.C.L.E isn’t breaking any new ground and it borrows heavily from other better filmmakers but that doesn’t keep it from being a fun little romp.  Guy Ritchie’s film moves at a steady pace throwing 60’s fashion, good looking people and funny little quips throughout.  His trio of stars are all game and they all share great chemistry together.  Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer are clearly having a ball indulging in their characters.  Alicia Vikander is a perfect as the female lead.  Her and Hammer have plenty of fun scenes together while Cavill is filling out his tailor made suits elsewhere.  It’s never deep or thought provoking and it probably overstays it’s welcome by about 15 minutes but that doesn’t keep it from being fun.  

B

Cindy Prascik’s Review of The Lone Ranger

Dearest Blog, yesterday I trekked to the cinema to see The Lone Ranger. Should have been The Lone Ranger and Despicable Me 2, but, alas, the lure of Star Trek remains too strong, so Gru will have to wait.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

A reluctant masked hero and his Native American sidekick seek justice in the Old West.

Now, dearest Blog, my great affection for Johnny Depp might reasonably lead reader(s) to assume I'd have a positive bias towards this film, so I must stress that nothing could be further from the truth. I was flatly against this movie from the outset, and prayed every bump on its troubled production path would be the one that kept my adored team of filmmakers (Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Elliott and Rossio) from embarrassing themselves with what seemed like the mother of all bad ideas. When trailers started popping up, I was relieved it didn't look quite as bad as I'd feared. Yesterday at the cinema, to my great surprise, I was in love from the first frame.

The Lone Ranger is not without flaws, and, since I always prefer to get my bad news out of the way first, we'll go ahead and start with where it goes wrong.

Regular reader(s) won't be too stunned to hear me complain about the length. At almost two and a half hours, The Lone Ranger is 30-45 minutes longer than it needs to be. Bad enough when a complex drama or some epic fantasy runs long, but it's inexcusable in a summer popcorn flick.

The Lone Ranger derives much of its humor from cheap sources: horse manure, a guy in a bonnet, a dead bird. Not that I didn't laugh, but at some point that kind of thing does wear out its welcome.
Mostly, though, as an idea, The Lone Ranger seems too broadly drawn to be updated effectively for 21st-century cinema; such a vanilla good guy is almost a joke by current standards. Having said that, the original intent was sincere, and for a different time, so playing the bumbling hero for laughs feels like an insult to the source, as does the extreme violence in the film.

Onto the positives, starting where I always will, with the cast. Ahhh, this cast! Armie Hammer stars in the title role and does a fine job of it, despite being relegated to sidekick in his own film. Hammer is the perfect leading man, a solid actor with a flair for comedy--painfully good looking to boot--and this kind of "white hat" role suits him to a T. Johnny Depp enjoys top billing as Tonto, his Tonto portrayed as the wise one who (reluctantly) guides the Lone Ranger on his path. I am the truest of true Depp fans, so I desperately wish he'd return to roles that remind people why he's the best actor in the world, but he's entertaining in a part that does little to tax his extraordinary talent. The Lone Ranger's chief baddie is the amazing William Fichtner, and wow, what a baddie! I think the last time I was this in love with a villain was Fichtner in Drive Angry. Tom Wilkinson, Helena Bonham-Carter, and Barry Pepper turn in terrific performances in supporting roles, and I give myself full marks for picking out favorites James Frain, W. Earl Brown, Stephen Root, and Leon Rippy despite their having limited screen time and being covered in dirt and/or fake hair!

For my money, there is no genre that suits the big screen quite so magnificently as the Western. Everyone knows I love big explosions and big effects and I'll pay my money any day for great monsters and huge spaceships and sweeping shots of superheroes overlooking their fair cities, but none of it quite compares to a panorama of rock and sand and galloping horses. But for one wonky CGI shot near the beginning, The Lone Ranger is a glorious feast for the eyes, the likes of which I've not seen in some time.

The humor is effective, though, as mentioned, mostly lowbrow, with some solid physical comedy thrown in for good measure. My packed cinema was roaring with laughter throughout.

Despite The Lone Ranger's excessive runtime, I was never bored, never inclined to check the time, never wished it'd just get over already. That doesn't mean it's not too long, and it certainly would have been a more-effective and better-regarded 100-minute movie, but it never stopped entertaining me.

Finally, The Lone Ranger's final act boasts one of the best action sequences in recent memory, exciting and beautifully filmed. Any problems the with rest of the film are quickly forgiven and forgotten once that train gets a-rollin'.

The Lone Ranger is taking a critical drubbing and will undoubtedly be considered a "flop" by this team's usual standards, but I think its worst enemy is those who are so swayed by what they've heard that they can't just enjoy the movie for what it is. I'm not talking about low expectations, which I firmly contend are the key to a happy life; I'm talking about people who are so determined to hate it that they've left themselves zero chance of being pleasantly surprised. Much like 2009's The A-Team, I understand why everyone won't love The Lone Ranger, but the film does NOT deserve the pure spite being leveled at it.

The Lone Ranger clocks in at 149 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of action and violence, and some suggestive material." As certain as I was that it would be awful, I'm delighted and surprised to call it one of my favorite films of the year so far.
Of a possible nine Weasleys, The Lone Ranger gets seven and a half.

Until next time...


All the evil awards all the time to you, sir!

MOVIE REVIEW: J. EDGAR

IN THEATERS

J. Edgar



Acclaimed actor Leonardo DiCaprio stars in Academy Award-winning director Clint Eastwood's richly detailed biopic exploring the life and career of controversial FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. For nearly 50 years, Hoover (DiCaprio) fought crime as one of the most powerful law enforcers in America. During Hoover's extended stint as Director of the FBI, however, his penchant for bending the law in the name of seeking justice and using the secrets of high profile leaders to gain personal leverage won him just as many supporters as detractors. Little did many other than his loyal colleague Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) and faithful secretary Helen Gandy (Naomi Watts) know, however, that Hoover himself was a man with many secrets to hide. Josh Lucas, Judi Dench, and Stephen Root co-star in film written by Oscar-winning Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, Josh Lucas, Judi Dench

Release Date: Nov 09, 2011

Rated R for brief strong language

Runtime: 2 hr. 17 min.

Genres: Drama

Review:

Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar is a solid biopic even if it occasionally turns into a chore to watch as it slowly recounts the highlights of Hoover’s life. Eastwood work on screen is precise and deliberate but surprisingly detached as well. Usually Eastwood has a strong emotional connection with his subject matter but it’s strangely missing here. What he delivers is a slightly unfocused hodgepodge of snippets from Hoover’s life, bouncing around from the past to the present, not always with a clear purpose. The script comes off as more informational than thought out; the main characters are fleshed out but only to a certain degree. The audience is kept at arms length for the most part; a few scenes allow us into Hoover’s psyche a bit more but not enough. In the titular role Leonardo DiCaprio is impressive, working a strong accent throughout, breaking out of his traditional mold. His performance showcases the massive contradictions of the man and he tries to give us as many layers as possible. A well groomed Armie Hammer is the film’s heart and soul. It’s a shame the script doesn’t allow him to do more because I’m sure he could have really expanded on this role if he’d been allowed to. His and DiCaprio’s interactions lay the ground work for so much of the inner turmoil that Hoover experience, one can’t help but feel that it could have been explored more thoughtfully. Naomi Watts is left on the sidelines for the most part, more of a spectator than an actual player in the grand scheme of things. The real crime is that her character, especially in the final years of Hoover’s life, seemed fertile for exploration. Since this is one of those films that travels across nearly half a century, heavy make up and prosthetics play a prominent role. DiCaprio and Watts seem to have the best luck with the make with poor Armie left with some the looks like a bad burn victim with liver spots. As a whole J. Edgar engages but lacks the emotional punch you’d expect.

B-

Bluray quality; Video is excellent really showcasing the muted visual tone of the film; Sound is basic with very little flair to make it stand out.

I was hand-selected to be a member of Blu-ray Elite, a beta program from Warner Home Video which has graciously sent me this free Blu-ray disc.

[Trailer] MIRROR, MIRROR

About as far removed from the tone of last week’s Snow White and the Huntsman, Tarsem Singh's Mirror Mirror has an almost comedic tone with Julia Roberts chewing up scenery like a crazy. Lily Collins does seem like a more suitable Snow White in my opinion.

Singh’s visuals, as usual, are incredibly impressive but it’s a totally different genre on the same material, should be very interesting to compare and contrast when both projects come out…..