'Lady Bird'

'Lady Bird' Movie Review

'Lady Bird'

Posted on Nov. 17, 2017 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

Photo courtesy of A24

Lady Bird (2017)

From Lady Bird’s first scene to its last, the film nails the angst, wonder, sorrow, and fun of one young woman’s journey as she navigates the halls and parties of her senior year in the high school. The film opens with Christine ‘Lady Bird ‘McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), and her mother are coming back from a long trip visiting a prospective college with her very opinionated mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf). Their relationship is summed up in their conversation, which goes from enjoyment to downright despite in what seems like seconds. As the argument gets heated, Lady Bird gets so fed up that she opens her door and rolls out of the car, no matter that she will get hurt. The heart of the film is this mother/daughter dynamic; mom can’t help herself from constantly criticizing her daughter and daughter can’t understand why her mom won’t just let her alone, let her live her life the way she wants to. Caught in between this constant war of wills is Lady Bird’s father, Larry (Tracy Letts), an even-keeled kind of guy who can see the points of view of both of the women in his life. Complicating things is Larry and Marion’s adopted older boy, Miguel (Jordan Rodriques) who, though he has graduated from college, lives at home with his girlfriend Shelly (Marielle Scott) and works as a grocery store clerk in town.

Lady Bird, who continually reminds people not to use her real name, is a high school girl who when she makes her mind up, acts on those decisions without doubt or hesitation. When she sees a cute boy Danny (Lucas Hedges) look at her in class, she sees it as an opportunity to talk to him, instantly letting him know that she is willing to go out with him. When told by a counselor that she might like theatre, she drags her best friend, Julie (Beanie Feldstein) to a tryout and gets cast in the school’s musical. When told by her mother that she should go to a local college, Lady Bird instead applies for schools on the East Coast, even though she has been told she doesn’t have the grades or the money to get in.

Lady Bird is all about dreaming for a better life. She desperately wants out of Sacramento, where she lives, thinking. Lady Bird and Julie fantasize about living in a big house, one that they walk by almost every day on their way to school. Like all teenagers, she is susceptible to following fads and other’s tastes. When she sees a boy she is interested in reading Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States; she starts reading it too.

The film takes place between 2002 and 2003, so 9/11 and the Iraq War fill the TV. It’s a time where you had email, but there wasn’t iPhones or Snapchat to obsess over, so Lady Bird’s obsessions are boys, theatre (for a while) and getting into a college far away from Sacramento. Like any other high school girl, Lady Bird is all about boys and finding someone to date. When she sees an opportunity to be a part of the ‘in’ crowd by helping out the most popular girl, Jenna (Odeya Rush), she goes for it, dropping her best friend Julie without putting any thought to the consequences.

Lady Bird moves at a quick pace as it shows snippets of Lady Bird’s life throughout her senior year and is filled with memorable moments, like Lady Bird getting into a debate with a pro-life speaker at an assembly, that leads to her getting suspended from school. Her first time having sex has a beautiful moment where she realizes that the too cool boy that she has fantasized about is not as caring and cool as she thought he was. It’s these moments that hit the hardest, that make this such a memorable film.

Saoirse Ronan gives the performance of a lifetime, making Lady Bird seem so real and making it a moving experience to watch her up on the screen. Ronan is a joy to watch, as she brings life to every scene that she is in. Ronan is perfect as the teenager who is desperate to get out from under her mother’s gaze and is ready to make her place in the world. It’s a performance that will surely be rewarded by the upcoming end of the year awards and hopefully, next year’s Academy Awards.

Equally up to the task is Laurie Metcalf who plays the mom that can’t keep her opinions about her daughter to herself. It’s to Metcalf’s acting prowess that we don’t hate Marion, in fact, we know through Metcalf’s actions and body language that she loves her daughter, she just doesn’t know how to relate to her.

Writer/director Greta Gerwig has done the impossible; making a coming of age film about a teen girl seems fresh and not contrived. Lady Bird is an enchanting film that is full of surprises, meaningful moments and performances that you don’t want to miss. Lady Bird was so unbelievably great that I didn’t want it to end.    My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

Lady Bird Website

"20th Century Women"

"20th Century Women" Movie Review

"20th Century Women"

Posted on Jan. 20, 2017 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com 

Wayback Machine Archive Post

20th Century Women (2016)

In 1979 a boy, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zuman) and his mom, Dorothea (Annette Bening), watch through the grocery store front window their car going up in flames. Later, the mom invites a fireman to her house that night for dinner. We cut to see a young girl, Julie (Elle Fanning) in some sort of teenage girl support group. Julie looks like she would rather be anywhere else than at the meeting. We cut to a young woman, Abbie (Greta Gerwig) in a doctor’s office, wearing a paper gown and getting some lab work done. She looks worried and alone.

We cut to Julie riding a ten-speed bike down a neighborhood street while smoking a cigarette. She rides her bike into the yard of the two-story house. Leaving her bike outside, she goes right in only to walk into William (Billy Crudup) taking a ceiling down. He tells her Jamie isn’t home, but she ignores him and goes upstairs. She stops in front of Abbie’s room, where Abbie is dancing to music. Abbie invites Julie in and proceeds, under protest, to take Julie’s picture, stating that she is documenting her life every day.

Jamie and Dorothea arrive home with groceries, and the entire house comes into the kitchen to greet them. Dorothea tells the group about the car fire, and the whole group is concerned for their health and safety. From this interaction, we can tell that these people care about each other, and this is not a normal living situation. It is going to be interesting to watch these people live their lives.

One of my favorite recent directors, Mike Mills (Thumbsucker, Beginners) brings us this tale of Dorothea and her home full of characters. There’s Dorothea, a 55-year-old woman who seems to be stuck in the 1960s. Jamie, her 15-year-old son who seems to be far older than he really is. William who is renovating the house and is just happy to be in Dorothea’s presence. Abbie, with her maroon hair and her ever-present camera, is recovering from cervical cancer is the other tenant of the house, though it looks as she rarely pays rent. Julie, while she doesn’t have a room in the house, she might as well, since she hates her home life and is constantly showing up to sleep in Jamie’s bed. Jamie, as any hot-blooded boy, can barely contain himself around Julie, exhibiting a big crush on her that Julie will never aqueous since they have been friends since childhood. Making matter worse for Jamie, Julie, out of either boredom or depression, sleeps around with just about anyone but Jamie.

Mills brings us into this quirky world with dialogue that is crisp and real. It’s clear that these women (inspired by his mother and sister) are important to him. It’s incredible how insightful and empathic his writing is. This is a film that is filled with quiet moments that are moving and give us insight into each character. He gives us insight into their insecurities, what they feel is their place in this world and how they got where they are at.

Elle Fanning, as the headstrong Julie, is probably the most complicated person in the film as her character speaks exactly what she is thinking. There is something wrong happening at her house, and Elle lets that hang over her character throughout the movie. Lucas Jade Zuman, as the teenage boy trying to survive in a house full of women, has great chemistry with both Fanning and especially Bening. Greta Gerwig is dazzling as Abbie, who keeps getting hit with bad situations and keeps on moving forward. Her life is moving and heartbreaking, and Gerwig is perfect for this type of part. Bening is the reason to see this film as she gives a complex and moving performance. Dorothea is trying to bring up her son as best she can, and Bening lets us see Dorothea’s compassion and anxiety over this subject. It is evident that Bening loves this character, and she gives everything to her performance.

20th Century Women is a film that will warm your heart and make you laugh. It’s a story filled with interesting women that you won’t mind spending some time with.    My Rating: Full Price 

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

20th Century Women is playing in Atlanta at Regal Tara Cinemas 4 and Lefont Sandy Springs

20th Century Women Website

"Jackie"

"Jackie" Movie Review

"Jackie" 

Posted on Oct. 24, 2016 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

“Jackie” Savannah Film Festival Movie Review

 

Film is reviewed from the 2016 Savannah Film Festival screening.

When we first see Jacqueline Kennedy (Natalie Portman), she is fiercely walking on the grounds of her home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. We cut to a man getting out of a cab in front of Jackie’s home. Jackie appears at the door but is reluctant to let the man in. It seems that the man is a reporter (Billy Crudup) here to do an interview with Mrs. Kennedy a week after the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy. She grills the reporter, setting up a series of ground rules for the interview before she lets him in.

She finally lets the reporter in, and they sit for the interview. Jackie very defiantly tells the reporter that she knows why he is here, that he wants her to describe the assassination in detail. At that point we flash back to Jackie in the open aired limo just after JFK was shot, the car speeding down the road as Jackie tries to get John to respond to her pleas. We are back to present, and the reporter tells Jackie how much he admired her televised tour of the White House a few years ago, telling her what a magical TV event it was. We flash back to Jackie very nervously rehearsing her opening line with her trusted aide, Nancy (Greta Gerwig). Once they decide what the opening phrase should be the cameras, start rolling, and Jackie is showing the world what she calls “the people’s house.”

“Jackie,” written by Noah Oppenheim and directed by Pablo Larrain moves seamlessly back and forth between the interview with the reporter and two of the most famous and influential events in Jacqueline Kennedy’s early very public life; the 1961 tour of the White House just after she had done a long-overdue renovation of the President’s residence, and the week following the assassination. These two points in time are the exact opposite of one another; in 1961 the U.S. was bright and shiny and in love with the beautiful couple in the White House, in 1963, right after the President was killed, the country was in mourning and worried that the world was out to destroy the U.S. Larrain moves between the time periods, each look back pushes the storyline forward, letting us know and understand Jackie, much more than she ever showed the public. We see her progress as someone in 1961 as a shy woman who was very unsure of herself in the spotlight under the gleaming eye of the TV cameras. While nervous, she is determined to show the U.S. how proud she is to be living in the White House. When we look back at what happened right after the shooting, we see a determined Jackie who wants to make sure her husband is shown the respect and reverence that she feels he deserves. To do that, she is willing to stand up to anyone, whether it’s JFK’s brother, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy (Peter Sarsgaard), or the new Chief of Staff for LBJ, Jack Valenti (Max Casella).

The supporting cast in the film is outstanding, especially Greta Gerwig as the First Lady’s personal assistant whose brief appearances on the screen is filled with love and support for the First Lady. Billy Crudup is given the thankless task of the reporter who has to tippy-toe around her feelings while balancing the defiance of a grieving that Jackie is going through. Crudup holds his own with Natalie Portman on camera, giving up the screen to her when it’s needed. Peter Sarsgaard as Bobby Kennedy, never pins down the distinctive Boston accent but nails the man who is trying to hold his family together after his brother’s world has been destroyed. John Hurt, plays the priest who becomes Jackie’s confessor/absolver is perfect in the role.

Make no mistake; this is Natalie Portman’s film, and she handles it with ease. It takes a few minutes into the movie to get used to her talking like Jackie, but once you get used to it, Portman disappears into the role of Jackie. It’s a tough role to tackle because after the assassination; Jackie was all over the place; at times defiant, other times subservient, always demanding that her husband is treated with respect and determined to show the world what horror had happened to him. It’s an amazing performance as Portman turns Jackie’s emotions on and off at a moment’s notice, as one in shock/grieving does. Portman dominates the film and is on the screen in almost every scene. It’s a powerful, masterful, multi-layered performance that is sure to be in the running for an Oscar.

My only problem with this film is it just doesn’t know at what point to end the film. I think the best stopping place would have been the funeral at Arlington National Cemetery, after the funeral procession through the streets that Jackie had fought so hard to put on. Instead, we get a few more starts and stops, all of which feel a little hollow and forced.

Overall, this film works as a study of a person who was larger than life by one of the few actresses who could handle that type of role. You feel after seeing this film that Natalie Portman gave us everything she could give, just like the woman she portrayed did for this country.    My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again

My movie rating system from Best to Worst: 1). I Would Pay to See it Again 2). Full Price 3). Bargain Matinee 4). Cable 5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

“Jackie” Website

For more information about the Savannah Film Festival, go to www.filmfest.scad.edu

"Maggie's Plan"

"Maggie's Plan" Movie Review

"Maggie's Plan"

Posted on June 10, 2016 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

“Maggie’s Plan” (2016)

Maggie (Greta Gerwig) is a single woman living in New York City. She works at a local university, connecting art students with potential employers. When we first see Maggie, she is meeting her best friend Tony (Bill Hader). As they walk around the park with Tony’s adorable son in tow, Maggie is complaining that she has never been in a long-term relationship. She feels that love is not in her future, and therefore, she should just get artificially inseminated using the sperm of a mutual friend of their’s named Guy (Travis Fimmel). Tony’s only objection to this idea is that Guy is a “close talker.”

Maggie meets with Guy, an artisanal pickle maker running his own business to discuss the possibility of the insemination. Guy is in and is excited that Maggie doesn’t want any participation from him when the child is born. Later that afternoon, Maggie is at the bursar’s office when she meets a part-time professor, John (Ethan Hawke) who convinces Maggie to go for a walk. Their talk goes so well, and John is so impressed with Maggie, that he gives her the first chapter of the novel he is working on.

Maggie finds out from Tony’s wife, Felicia (Maya Rudolph) that John is considered the heartthrob of the university, and that he is in an unhappy marriage to a Columbia University professor (Julianne Moore), a woman that has an incredibly successful career. It turns out that John doesn’t have the greatest of a reputation on campus, though some of that maybe due to his cold and impersonal wife. Maggie decides to continue to see John, and he tells her that he is miserable in his home life because his wife is only interested in her career, which eclipses his, and won’t let him blossom. Finally, John leaves his wife and shows up at Maggie’s door ready to advance their relationship. Maggie should have remembered the old adage “Careful what you wish for.”

Writer/director Rebecca Miller, like her past work including The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and Personal Velocity, brings us a smart, whimsical film that centers on a strong, yet slightly neurotic woman who just might be better off without the men she chooses to get involved with. The dialogue is sharp and natural, making the characters seem real. While Maggie’s Plan is rarely laugh out loud funny, it is a sly, humorous look at a modern-day woman and the choices she makes in her life. That’s the subject of the movie, we don’t always make the right decisions, especially when we go against our better judgment. It’s also about how putting other people’s wants and desires over your’s aren’t invariably for the best; sometimes you need to put you first. Miller does an excellent job of knowing when to slow down the storyline so that we can get to know the characters better and when to speed up the pace for comic effect.

There are a number of memorable scenes in this film that show off Rebecca Miller’s comedic touch. The first time we meet John’s wife, played by the brilliant Julianne Moore is a perfect example of Miller’s ability to mine comedic gold. John is so enameled with Maggie that he realizes he is incredibly late for an appointment and takes off in a run across the park. He enters a theatre to where a woman is being interviewed by a moderator on stage. We quickly realize as John takes the open seat on the stage and grabs a mike, that the event is a kind of point/counterpoint interview with his wife. As he debates the Occupy Wall Street movement with his wife, we realize that they both relish a fight, and both think they are more intelligent the other.

You couldn’t ask for a better cast than this movie has. Bill Hader is exceptional as the opinionated friend of Maggie’s that has only her best interests at heart. He plays off of Greta Gerwig extremely well, their back-and-forth banter makes some of the most amusing scenes of the film. Maya Rudolph is equally good as Maggie’s brash friend.

Rudolph has that ability to deliver a slight line and make it memorable just using her facial expressions. Ethan Hawke is perfect as John, a man that thinks his looks and talent mean the world should give him everything that he wants. Julianne Moore is priceless as John’s wife, Georgette, who has a personality full of hostility that dominates everything in the room. Georgette is Danish and Moore gives her an accent that is just funny listening to it. Moore gives us a character that why not likable; you can feel sympathy for. I am sure that Rebecca Miller wrote this film with Greta Gerwig in mind because I would have a hard time with anyone else in the role. Gerwig has great comedic timing that the movie uses to the utmost. She gives us a memorable performance that you don’t know how she does it, but she commands you to concentrate on her character even when you have scene stealers like Rudolph and Moore up on the screen with her. Gerwig gives a performance that while sweet doesn’t go overboard, making us root for Maggie even more.

“Maggie’s Plan” is a funny and surprisingly, quite moving film that capitalizes on great writing and incredible cast to give us as a pleasurable and gratifying film centered around a woman. We need more of these type of films, and I hope Rebecca Miller keeps giving them to us.    My Rating: Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst: 1). I Would Pay to See it Again 2). Full Price 3). Bargain Matinee 4). Cable 5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

“Maggie’s Plan” Website

"The Humbling"

My Review of "The Humbling" starring  Al Pacino, Greta Gerwig, Nina Arianda.

"The Humbling"

Posted on Jan. 23, 2015 on CWAtlanta.cbslocal.com

Wayback Machine Archive Post

 

Photo courtesy of Millennium Entertainment

“The Humbling”  (2014)

When we first meet Simon Axler (Al Pacino) he is talking to himself in the mirror. He is going over the odd Shakespeare line as he debates with himself on whether he is going to give his best with his performance that night. As he applies makeup, it is obvious that he is having trouble and is having some sort of crisis. He heads for the stage but gets lost / locked out and now is desperately trying to find a way to get to the stage. Just as he is about to have the panic attack of all time, he awakens and realizes that it has all been a bad dream. As he heads for the stage, he is still struggling with the panic attack that was in his dream, worried that he has missed his cue. He makes it in time to the stage and begins his performance.

Photo courtesy of Millennium Entertainment

We then see Axler near the end of the play, in the center front of the stage. He gives a speech and jumps head-first into the empty orchestra pit below. Having been taken to the hospital, there is something deeply wrong with Simon as he tries out moaning in pain, asking the nurse taking down the hallway if his performance is believable. After several dark weeks, home from the hospital, he thinks about suicide and then decides to check himself into a mental hospital. Having spent some time in the hospital, he tells his manager (Charles Grodin) that his acting career is over. That’s when Simon Axler’s life is changed as Pegeen Mike Stapleford (Greta Gerwig) knocks on his door and invites herself in. Pegeen knew Simon when she was a child, having a huge crush on him when she was younger. There is instant chemistry between the two and Simon knows he is now in big time trouble. How can he be attracted to a girl who is so much younger than him, and she is a lesbian to boot?

Photo courtesy of Millennium Entertainment

Based on a novel by Philip Roth, the film is an exploration of a very flawed man who feels that his art, his talent has left him. The screenplay, by Buck Henry and Michal Zebede, explores the loss of purpose, and if it’s enough to immerse yourself in someone else as an escape from confronting your own follies. The dialog moves at a quick pace though some of Simon’s monologues get a little longwinded. The film is at its best when the conversations are between Pegeen and Simon. They’re back and forth works as they seem to feed off each other’s thoughts and feelings.

This is Pacino’s movie and director Barry Levinson allows him be front and center, letting him dominate as Al Pacino can do. Very few actors could chew up scenery and still give a great performance. It is tough to know where Simon Axler leaves off, and Al Pacino begins. I think that is why Pacino took this role as Simon’s career seems to mirror Pacino, an incredible film actor who is known to give great performances on the stage as well. Greta Gerwig works incredibly well with Pacino on the screen, holding her own in her unique way. Gerwig has those qualities on screen, where no matter how quirky the role; we still fall in love with her. We just can’t help it.

Photo courtesy of Millennium Entertainment

Levinson lets the story steadily develop as we go on a journey of a man slowly losing his mind. While the film is overall very dark and sometimes hard to know if what is happening is real or in Simon’s mind. The film also can be funny at times, and Levinson exploits Pacino’s incredible timing to its full effect. The movie is an interesting character study, where Pacino, the actor, gets to explore the insecurities of an actor on the brink of a breakdown. It’s a role that Pacino was made for, and you won’t be disappointed in his performance.  My Rating:  Full Price

My movie rating system from Best to Worst:  1). I Would Pay to See it Again  2). Full Price  3). Bargain Matinee  4). Cable  5). You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again

“The Humbling” Website

“The Humbling” is now playing in theatres nationwide, including the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta.