Posts tagged true story
“Philomena” a Heartbreaking Tragicomedy
Dec 8th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“A Heartbreaking Tragicomedy”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Philomena stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in a heartbreaking movie based on a true story and the 2009 memoir, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.
Back in the early 1950s, Philomena was a teenage girl in Ireland who met a young man at a fair and became pregnant after experiencing the joys of sex for the first time.
Because of the shame she had brought to her family, Philomena was sent to a convent to deliver her baby, a boy that she named Anthony, and then she was forced to work in the convent along with other young women in similar circumstances, who were all allowed to visit with their children only one hour a day.
When he was three years old, Anthony was sold by the nuns to an American couple who adopted him and took him back to the United States without Philomena being notified or allowed to say goodbye to him.
On what would have been Anthony’s fiftieth birthday, Philomena decides to try to find out what happened to Anthony and perhaps learn if he ever thought of his birth mother.
She meets a journalist, Martin Sixsmith, and although he claims that he doesn’t write human-interest stories, Philomena’s story intrigues him enough that his editor is willing to pay his expenses in order to track down Anthony and write a story about Philomena and Anthony.
Martin learns that Anthony had worked in Washington, DC, and because he has some contacts there, Martin is going to travel there and hope to learn more, which prompts Philomena to say, “I think I would like to go.”
And now we have a road trip with the odd couple of a little old unsophisticated Irish lady and a jaded young journalist who has been around the world before.
In spite of the circumstances of the story and the background, this is a warm comedy that produces both chuckles and laughs as Philomena and Martin discover the American identity of Anthony and the surprising facts about his life in the United States.
On the other hand, this is the kind of story for which the word “tragicomedy” was invented, and expect it to win many more awards than it already has.
Philomena proves once again that Dench is a terrific actress, sometimes using only her face to move us.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Captain Phillips” Goes from Bad to Worse
Oct 19th
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“From Bad to Worse”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Captain Phillips is based on the true story of an American cargo ship that was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 in an attempt to hold it for ransom for millions of dollars.
Tom Hanks plays the seasoned captain of the ship, who had a new crew of 20 men he was trying to get into shape.
Ironically, when his wife is driving him to the airport from their home in Vermont at the beginning of this trip, she says, “You’d think these trips would get easier, but they’re not.”
We also see some background of the Somali pirates on shore, too, as their warlord leaders berate them to get out on the water where they should be earning money.
The cargo ship was the Maersk Alabama, and knowing the dangerous waters they are in, Captain Phillips has practice drills for the crew and puts them all on double shifts.
Captain Phillips’ job is to move the cargo as fast as possible, but his crew members are not all happy with what they are doing and where they are going.
The Somali pirates aren’t all happy, either, and we see them fighting among themselves as they prepare to board the ship, which four armed pirates manage to do.
When Captain Phillips realizes that the ship will be boarded, he orders most of the crew to hide below decks until help arrives, stop the ship from moving, and then he tells the leader of the Somalis that the ship is broken and he doesn’t know where his crew is.
The leader of the pirates is called Muse, and he tells Captain Phillips, “Look at me. I’m the captain now.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy sends a ship to take care of the situation, and Captain Phillips offers to give Muse the $30,000 he has in the safe, but Muse believes he can earn millions.
So, when the situation goes from the proverbial bad to worse, the pirates trick Captain Phillips to get into the covered lifeboat with them, so that they can hold him hostage and improve their bargaining position.
The pirates are still fighting among themselves, and Captain Phillips tries to argue with Muse to help his own situation, because now the pirates are trying to get back to Somalia.
Captain Phillips is overrated, overlong, and underedited.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Fruitvale Station” All Story and No Movie
Aug 3rd
Posted by Dan Culberson in Hotshots Movie Reviews
“All Story, No Movie”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Fruitvale Station is based on a true story about a tragedy that occurred in 2009 in the San Francisco Bay area.
The title is the name of the station on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, or BART, where the event took place.
In fact, the movie opens with actual footage from the event, and then it goes into a couple of flashbacks in an attempt to fill out the story and show why it was such a tragedy.
The first flashback goes to the morning of New Year’s Eve, and we meet Oscar Julius Grant III, a young man 22 years old who is in bed with his girlfriend Sophina.
Oscar tells Sophina, “All I want is you and T, forever.”
“T” is their daughter, Tatiana, who is four years old.
December 31 is also the birthday of Oscar’s mother, Wanda, played by Octavia Spencer. So, Oscar calls Wanda and makes arrangements for Wanda’s birthday party that evening, which will be attended by family and friends, and we watch Oscar throughout the day taking care of the arrangements.
He goes to the supermarket where his brother works to get the food and where Oscar also helps out a customer arrange a fish fry she is hosting by having her talk to Oscar’s grandmother, who gives the customer advice.
Oscar also talks to his sister, Chantay, and promises to let her have $300 so Chantay can pay her rent that month, even though from what we have seem so far, we wonder if Oscar even has that amount of money to give to Chantay.
Then we go into another flashback to a year earlier when Oscar is in prison on drug-related charges, and his mother comes to visit him. Oscar gets into an argument with another prisoner, and it upsets his mother so much that she says that she won’t visit him anymore.
This flashback gives more background on Oscar and introduces a character who will play a part in the event that is the story that makes up the movie.
Then we are back to the events of the day on New Year’s Eve, and we see more of Oscar’s day leading up to the tragedy, which is preceded by going into San Francisco to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Fruitvale Station is all story and no movie.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”