A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove - 2015)

Funny and moving, this story of a cranky Swedish widower whose plans keep getting derailed is just plain great, as is the tagline: Misery hates company. For the title role, Rolf Lassgård has already won a couple of well deserved awards and the supporting cast is terrific as well. Though he looks older at first, the character and the actor are both 59 years old. Lassgård was in After the Wedding (2006), which I liked, among other projects.

Hannes Holm (new to me) directed and adapted the book by Fredrik Backman and the pacing works well. He, too, is beginning to rack up awards and nominations. You can stream clips from the soundtrack by Gaute Storaas from this page.

Averaging 93% from critics and 84 from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, Sweden's official entry to the 2017 Oscars is definitely worth your time.

Denial (2016)

This is a fine adaptation of the memoir by Deborah Lipstadt, a Jewish historian who was sued for libel by a holocaust denier in 1996. Mostly a courtroom drama, in England (wigs and all), it features a wonderful performance by Rachel Weisz (last blogged for Complete Unknown) as Lipstatdt, complete with brash New York accent (Weisz is English) and attitude. A slimmed down Timothy Spall (most recently in Mr. Turner) plays her determined accuser David Irving with zeal, and her defense team is headed up by Tom Wilkinson (last in Selma as LBJ) as Richard Rampton and Andrew Scott (one of the "Lesbians & Gays Supporting the Miners" in Pride) as Anthony Julius. The somber judge is practically a cameo by Alex Jennings, who was so delightfully droll in The Lady in the Van.

Director Mick Jackson has many credits, mostly in television, but I saw and liked the feature comedy L.A. Story (1991), the drama The Bodyguard (1992), and the TV movie Live from Baghdad (2002). He obviously is comfortable with his job at the helm. David Hare (Oscar-nominated for adapting The Hours (2002) and The Reader) adapted Lipstadt's book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier and it chugs along nicely. Apparently all of the courtroom dialogue is taken verbatim from the trial records.

I thought it might be a problem with continuity when Weisz's hair seems to change color from red to brown frequently, but then, when I looked up photos of the real Lipstadt, hers does the same thing.

The music by Howard Shore (last blogged for Spotlight) can be streamed by starting with this link and continuing to all the suggested videos with the same image.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences and critics are tied at 78%. Jack and I thought it better than that and urge you to see it.

The Front Page (1974)

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are good in this story of a reporter whose retirement plans are hindered by his boss's manipulations and a great story landing in their laps. Co-starring Carol Burnett, a very young Susan Sarandon, and a host of famous actors of the day, it's not as funny as some of director/co-writer Billy Wilder's other comedies, such as Some Like It Hot (1959) or One, Two, Three (1961). In fact, Carol Burnett happened to be on an airplane where this movie screened and apparently stood up afterwards and apologized to the passengers for her performance.

On our last trip to New York we had tickets to a revival (starring Nathan Lane, John Slattery, John Goodman, and a host of famous actors of this day) of this 1928 play so, as homework, I streamed this one on netflix in the hotel. The play was good fun.

There was also a 1931 adaptation for the screen, as well the 1940 version His Girl Friday, in which Lemmon's character was played by Rosalind Russell and Matthau's by Cary Grant. I haven't seen either one. This one is part of history and Jack, who has seen it multiple times, liked it more than I.

American Honey (2016)

I really liked this dreamy telling of a gritty story about a teenager who joins a band of other homeless kids traveling the country selling magazine subscriptions and partying. Jack didn't, primarily because of its excessive length (without which it would have been much less dreamy) of 2:43.

In her acting debut, Sasha Lane, who turned 21 in September, is remarkable as the lead, a fearless girl named Star. Some have called this a career-making role for Shia LaBeouf (when I last wrote about him in The Company You Keep, I said he was "less annoying" than in his previous movie) and he is compelling as the mercurial Jake. And you won't forget Riley Keogh, who is Elvis Presley's eldest grandchild and Lisa Marie's daughter. Keough was in but not blogged for The Runaways, Magic Mike, and Mad Max: Fury Road. And here her ice queen Krystal is formidable. Except for a cameo by Will Patton (last blogged for Meek's Cutoff), most of the others in the large cast are inexperienced actors who nonetheless contribute much to the picture.

Director/writer Andrea Arnold (most recently in these pages for Fish Tank) has crafted quite the story of Star and her new "family," and, though I don't disagree the movie is way too long, I didn't hate the cutaway shots of bug and birds on wires. Most of it was shot with natural or available light. It's also a major trigger of motion picture motion sickness (see my running list of MPMS movies here) due to lots of hand held camera work, including while running.

No composer is credited, and none needed, because of many kick ass songs, to which the kids sing along and/or dance jubilantly. Imdb lists 27 songs, and the album's 19 songs, available for sale at the usual sites, can be streamed on spotify for your listening pleasure.

Rated 81% by critics and 77 by audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie won the Jury Prize and Special Mention of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes last winter, and, just this morning, Lane was nominated for the Breakthrough Award at the Gotham Independent Awards. You may not want your teenagers to see this as it contains graphic sex, nudity, really bad behavior, and foul language. But many patient adults will enjoy it.

The Birth of a Nation (2016)

It's difficult to love something so wrenching and violent, but this story of Nat Turner, an educated slave leading an uprising twenty years before emancipation, is quite moving and beautifully photographed. Apparently after Nate Parker starred in Beyond the Lights he told his agents he wouldn't do anything else until he had played Turner on screen. Not only did Parker play the lead, he directed, wrote the screenplay, co-wrote the story with Jean McGianni Celestin, and produced. That could be the biggest drawback--with one person calling all the shots, there may be just a few too many loving reaction shots and moody meditations.

That said, the acting is good. Not just Parker, but also Armie Hammer (last blogged for The Lone Ranger) as his former playmate turned owner Samuel, Penelope Ann Miller (covered in The Artist) as Samuel's mother, Jackie Earle Haley (profiled in Dark Shadows) as a slave hunter, Aunjanue Ellis (lots of TV and her movies include Lovely & Amazing (2001), Ray (2004), Notorious, The Help, and  Get On Up) as Turner's mother, Esther Scott (I've seen some of her dozens of roles) as his grandmother, and Aja Naomi King (before 45 episodes of How to Get Away with Murder she was in Damsels in Distress and some other things) as his love interest.

The D.W. Griffiths' silent film; The Birth of a Nation (1915) showed the Ku Klux Klan in a positive light and Parker intentionally and ironically shared the name. William Styron's 1967 novel The Confessions of Nat Turner won the Pulitzer the following year, when ten African-American writers published The Second Crucifixion of Nat Turner.

Cinematographer Elliot Davis (among his varied credits I've seen, among others, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Larger Than Life (1996), Gray's Anatomy (1996) (Spalding Gray's monologue, not the TV series), Out of Sight (1998), Breakfast of Champions (1999), Forces of Nature (1999), I Am Sam (2001), White Oleander (2002), Thirteen (2003), Lords of Dogtown (2005),  and The Iron Lady) provides the sweeping photography and Henry Jackman (last blogged for Kingsman: The Secret Service) the background music, supplemented with field gospel songs, rap, and pop, some of which can be streamed here.

Thirty producers (including Parker) put this in the category of producers plethora, my list of top-heavy movies, and Rotten Tomatoes' critics 77% and its audiences' 75 put this in the category of maligned but still worth seeing, despite the revelation that Parker and Celestin, his Penn State classmate, raped a female freshman in 1999, were accused and acquitted, and the victim killed herself in 2012.

The Dressmaker (2015)

Jack and I loved this movie--part slapstick, part revenge, part romance, part tragedy--of a 1950s couture dress designer returning to the rural Australian village where she was hated as a child by the eccentric townspeople. Kate Winslet (last blogged for Steve Jobs) is marvelous in the title role and in those luscious costumes. Who better than Judy Davis (most recently in To Rome with Love) to play her mad mother? Then we have the equally luscious beefcake Liam Hemsworth (I didn't see a single Hunger Games nor any of his other credits) as the love interest and the fascinating Hugo Weaving (I saw only the first Matrix and some of the Lord of the Ringses but do remember him being scary in V is for Vendetta (2005) and Captain America: The First Avenger) playing against type as a cross dressing cop.

Jocelyn Moorhouse (directed How to Make an American Quilt (1995) and three others) runs the show with a slightly unsteady hand--at times I wondered why she kept changing genres, but it's all so entertaining I stopped caring. She and her husband P.J. Hogan (wrote and directed Muriel's Wedding (1994) and Peter Pan (2003), and wrote a few more scripts) adapted the Rosalie Ham novel which must be a humdinger considering the crazy plot twists.

This movie is a visual feast, thanks to cinematographer Donald McAlpine (Oscar-nominated for Moulin Rouge! (2001), also shot My Brilliant Career (1979), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Parenthood (1989), Stanley & Iris (1990), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Romeo + Juliet (1996), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and many more), production designer Roger Ford (some of his notable work includes Sirens (1993), Babe (1995), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), The Quiet American (2002), Peter Pan (2003), and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)) and costume designers Marion Boyce (nothing I've seen) and Margot Wilson (Bran Nue Dae), the latter of whom designed Winslet's glamorous duds.

Tracks from the original soundtrack by David Hirschfelder can be found on youtube, such as this and that. He blends western themes with classical, opera, and some pop hits of the time.

Everyone in the main cast and crew is either from Australia or New Zealand or lived or worked there (Winslet is English but her first movie, Heavenly Creatures (1994), was directed by Peter Jackson and shot in New Zealand).

Sadly, most critics on Rotten Tomatoes couldn't get past the genre-bending and are averaging only 54% and its audiences are only slightly warmer at 70, but we highly recommend this. See it on the big screen.

Queen of Katwe (2016)

Jack and I really liked this inspiring and touching story of a girl from Ugandan slums who becomes a chess master. Based on a true story, it stars Lupita N'yongo (last blogged for The Jungle Book) and David Oyelowo (recently in A Most Violent Year) as the mother and coach, respectively, and newcomer Madina Nalwanga in the title role AKA Phiona Mutesi of Katwe, Uganda, with a host of other newbies. The acting is remarkable, including the gaggle of kids in the chess group.

Indian-born director Mira Nair (last in these pages for New York, I Love You and Amelia) is very good at colorful pictures featuring strong, often brown-skinned characters. In fact, she made a docu-drama about the real coach Robert Katende. You can watch it (13 minutes long) and a six minute doc about Phiona on this page. Screenwriter William Wheeler (adapted Clifford Irving's biography into the movie The Hoax (2007)) adapted this screenplay from Tim Crothers' book about Phiona, which Crothers fleshed out from his own article in ESPN Magazine.

Nair's love of color is aided by cinematographer Sean Bobbitt, who shot Hysteria. Composer Alex Heffes (The First Grader) comes through again with sprightly African tunes, some of which can be streamed from this link and others on the right side of the youtube page.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are swooning with an average of 91%, with its audiences not far behind at 86. And be sure to stay seated for the credits, even if you don't want to read them. You will see the actors with the real people they have portrayed, as well as a fun music video of a pop song that the children sing during the movie.

I suspect that this movie could possibly cause motion-picture-motion-sickness (MPMS) in afflicted individuals. I was okay because we sat in the last row and I watched the closed caption device which kept me grounded, but I'll put it on the list.

The Hollars (2016)

I loved and Jack liked this dramedy of a man's return to his dysfunctional family when his mother falls ill. We laughed a lot at the befuddled men (except one) and the competent women (except one). John Krasinski stars and directs (he was last blogged for a voice in The Wind Rises, and, before this, directed three episodes of The Office and one other feature which we didn't see). As John Hollar, he proves his acting chops honed from 188 episodes of The Office and dozens of other roles, and, as a director, he keeps things moving at a nice pace, working from a script by Jim Strouse (the latter's sixth screenplay after four I haven't seen and a segment of New York, I Love You (2008)).

Richard Jenkins (most recently in these pages for an off-screen voice in Spotlight) apparently agreed to play the father if Margo Martindale (last blogged for August: Osage County) would play the mother, and their chemistry is adorable. Able supporting strength is provided by, among others, Anna Kendrick (most recently in Cake) as John's girlfriend, Charlie Day (from Horrible Bosses 2) as the mom's nurse, and Sharlto Copley (last heard as the voice and body movements of Chappie, he's South African and his native accent betrays him rarely) as John's brother.

Set in Ohio (there's a reference to an eight hour drive from New York, plus there are generic road signs for Cincinnati), it was shot in Mississippi.

The pretty folk music is credited to Josh Ritter, his first as composer, after having songs played on many TV shows and a few movies. Here are a soundtrack preview and a song list.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics haven't been kind, averaging 44%, while its audiences are warmer at 72. Whatever. See it this week, as it will be leaving these parts Thursday night.