Posts tagged Movie Review
“The Iron Lady” Is Slapped Together
Jan 28th
“Slapped Together”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
The Iron Lady is yet another acting triumph for Meryl Streep as she plays Margaret Thatcher, the longest-seated prime minister of Great Britain in the 20th century from 1979 to 1990, the first woman prime minister, and at various times in her political career the most hated woman in Great Britain.
In fact, she was loved and hated in office as much as her contemporary President Ronald Reagan was in the U.S. and for the same reasons: They both had conservative values and free-market ideology that helped transform their respective countries into industrially depleted and increasingly unequal societies.
In addition, they both danced–sometimes together–while the countries they led were suffering.
The film opens in the present day with Margaret as an old woman out shopping, and when she returns to her flat, her daughter, Carol, tells her that she shouldn’t go out on her own, to which Margaret replies, “If I can’t go out to buy a pint of milk, what is the world coming to?”
Then we see flashbacks to when Margaret was a young woman whose name was Margaret Roberts, played by a different actress, Alexandra Roach, and she is not portrayed as a very likable woman.
And, yes, the film shifts back and forth in time so much in the style that filmmakers seem to prefer these days that you might ask yourself is the whole movie going to be like this?
And the answer is, yes, it is.
We also see Margaret’s husband, Denis Thatcher, played as an old man by Jim Broadbent, and once again the filmmakers try to trick the audience into believing that a scene of fantasy and Margaret’s delusional dotage is reality.
In fact, Broadbent might spend more screen time dead than he does alive.
Major events during Thatcher’s career as prime minister are covered, such as the 1982 Falklands War, the 1984 miners’ strike, the 1984 IRA bombing of a hotel hosting a conference of the Conservative Party, and her replacement as prime minister after a rebellion by her colleagues.
We even see some scenes in which she is advised about her clothes and the way she speaks in public.
The Iron Lady is so slapped together that when it ends, you don’t even realize that this is the scene in which the movie is ending.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Definitely Not for Everyone
Jan 14th
“Definitely Not for Everyone”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Tinker Tailof Soldier Spy appears as if the title is missing some obvious punctuation, which is an excellent metaphor for this excellent adaptation of the 1974 novel by British author John le Carre, which many audience members will also claim is missing details.
So, prepare to be confused, but also prepare to be thrilled if you make it to the end and then start thinking about it afterwards, because you cannot lose your concentration or let your mind wander for just one second while you are watching it.
Even so, this film is so convoluted that you are still not sure what all happens and what everything means, which is another excellent metaphor for the spy business back in the Cold War of the 1970s.
In fact, the director, Swedish filmmaker Tomas Alfredson, said this in an interview about the film: “We tried to give as little information as possible. When you create music or theater or film that fits everyone, the quality and the personal touch can get lost.”
So, not only do we get as little information as possible, but there are also many scenes that are disjointed with no beginnings or ends, and the story is not told chronologically, but contains many shifts back and forth in time.
The story begins in 1973 with a British intelligence mission in Hungary that ends in failure. Consequently, the head of the British intelligence agency, MI6, who is called “Control” and played by John Hurt, is forced to resign, along with his Number 2 man, George Smiley, who is played by Gary Oldman.
However, not long after that, Smiley is called back into MI6 for a specific mission: to find a mole at the high level of MI6, who was planted there by the Russians.
Control had been working on discovering the mole himself before he left, and he had narrowed the mole’s identity down to five possibilities, whom he had referred to by the code names Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, and Spy.
In his investigation, Smiley learns that the fifth man whom Control suspected was Smiley himself.
So, are you up for a suspense thriller that does not contain any car chases or loud explosions, but does contain sex, nudity, murder, and intrigue?
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a thinking person’s film that is definitely not for everyone.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“We Bought a Zoo” All’s Well That Ends with Animals
Jan 7th
“All’s Well That Ends with Animals”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story in which the location has been moved from England to southern California and was directed by Cameron Crowe.
Crowe is also the writer-director of the 1989 Say Anything…, the 1996 Jerry Maguire, the 2000 Almost Famous and the 2005 Elizabethtown.
Starring Matt Damon as Benjamin Mee, the movie starts with the information that Benjamin’s wife had died six months earlier, and Benjamin is left to raise their daughter, Rosie, who is 7, and their son, Dylan, who is 14.
Benjamin doesn’t want to go to any of the places that he and his wife used to attend, but he reluctantly tells his brother, “I shall try to start over.”
Consequently, he quits his job at the newspaper where he works, decides to move to a different location, and is shown a “unique” option by the realtor, which is exactly what Benjamin says he was looking for.
The house is unique because the 18 acres on which it sits comes with a zoo that was shut down two years ago, and a stipulation requires the owner of the house to also maintain the zoo.
The zoo already has a staff, and it includes Kelly Foster, the head zookeeper, who is played by Scarlett Johansson.
Of course, we can predict that a romance between Benjamin and Kelly is in the future, as well as one between Dylan and Kelly’s niece, Lily, who is 13.
Naturally, however, the main part of the story is to get the zoo ready for its grand reopening, pass the required inspection, and take care of the animals, which are more than just a lion, two tigers, and a bear, oh my.
Benjamin also has to overcome the resistance of his brother, who calls Benjamin insane, the grumblings from his employees who think he will never last, and the fact that Benjamin is running out of money before the zoo can even open.
In addition, the zoo is so far out in the country that Benjamin has to drive nine miles to the nearest grocery store, which causes a problem when there is no butter to go on the corn on the cob that he prepares for Rosie and Dylan.
We Bought a Zoo shows that all’s well that ends with animals ends, well, with animals.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
