Stan & Ollie (2018)

Jack and I loved this bio-pic of Laurel & Hardy, centering on their last theatre tour in 1950s Great Britain. Fine acting and writing, gorgeous production design, and flawless makeup are but some of the reasons we enjoyed it so much.

Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly (last blogged for The Dinner and The Little Hours, respectively) were apparently the first choices of the director and screenwriter for the title roles, and they disappear into their characters, with their performance antics compartmentalized from their private lives. And Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda (most recently in these pages for T2 Trainspotting and Florence Foster Jenkins, respectively) add much to the roles of the pragamatic Mrs. Hardy and the narcissistic Mrs. Laurel.

This is the third feature for director Jon S. Baird (I haven't seen the others) and the first on which he hasn't written or co-written the script. That job went to Jeff Pope, co-writer of Philomena, which also starred Coogan.

I just about swooned at some of the art deco furniture (that hotel bedroom suite!) and general set dressing, thanks to production designer John Paul Kelly (some of his work that I've seen includes Enduring Love (2004), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), The Guard, About Time, and The Theory of Everything).

On my list of this year's nominations, you'll see three for Reilly (two losses, one not done yet). What I haven't included on the list this year are the British awards. As I said last month, The Favourite won ten awards at the British Independent Film Awards, beating out Stan & Ollie's seven nominations (Best Actor for Coogan, Best Supporting Actress for Arianda, Breakthrough Producer, Casting, Costumes, Makeup and Hair,  and Production Design). This movie also has three BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) nominations: Outstanding British Film, Coogan for Best Actor, and Makeup and Hair (those awards are next month).

I haven't been able to find any of Rolfe Kent's (last blogged for Downsizing) soundtrack music online, so have been listening to other tracks while I write.

Don't rush out of the theatre at the end, because you'll be treated to not only clips of the actual Laurel & Hardy, but also a sort of dream sequence, with Coogan and Reilly inserted digitally into an old movie (you'll totally get it when you see it).

You don't need us to recommend you see this--Rotten Tomatoes' critics' average is 92% and its audiences' 88.

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Jack and I did not love this acclaimed movie about a veteran with PTSD who tracks down missing girls. Joaquin Phoenix (last blogged for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot) is well cast in the lead but the story is disturbing and hard to follow. I said at the time that it’s like a train wreck—I couldn’t look away.

Director/writer Lynne Ramsay (most recently in these pages for We Need to Talk About Kevin, also troubling but not at all hard to follow) adapted the novella by Jonathan Ames (he's best known to me as creator/writer of the Jason Schwartzman HBO comedy series Bored to Death--Ames appeared in two episodes).

Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood (last blogged for scoring Phantom Thread) gives us a mostly terrific soundtrack, exciting and hip, that can be streamed on Apple Music, Spotify, and probably more.

Among the acclaim for this movie: at its Cannes Film Festival premiere a year and a half ago, there was a seven-minute standing ovation, Ramsay won the award for Best Screenplay, and Phoenix won for Best Actor. On my list of nominations, it has four Spirit Award nominations (Best Feature, Best Director, Best Male Lead, and Best Editing) and the National Board of Review dubbed it one of the ten best independent movies of last year. Here's some TimesUp trivia: three out of the five Spirit Award-nominated directors are women, two of the five Best Picture nominees in that race were directed by women, and zero women directors and woman-directed movies are Oscar nominees.

As part of my membership in Film Independent, we were able to stream this movie with a password and I can vote against it before the awards ceremony on February 24. It's also available for hard core Phoenix fans to stream on most of the usual outlets for a fee.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 89%, do not agree with us, but its audiences, at 64, do.

Oh yeah, though watching at home is easier, bouncy camera work earns this a spot on my MPMS or Motion Picture Motion Sickness list.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

This love story of a woman and her wrongly imprisoned fiancé in 1970s New York is wonderful, powerful, and sad. KiKi Layne, in her feature debut, narrates the movie, jumping back and forth between her character Tish falling in love with Fonny and his time in jail. Stephan James (last blogged as Jesse Owens in Race) gives us plenty to work with as Fonny has to deal with prejudice both in and out of his own family. Tish's family is beautifully portrayed by Regina King (most recently in these pages for The Hate U Give) as her mother, Colman Domingo (made appearances in Lincoln, The Butler, Selma, The Birth of a Nation, to name a few) as her father, and Teyonah Parris (last blogged for Chi-Raq) as her sister.

Director/writer Barry Jenkins (most recently in these pages for the multi-winning and nominated Moonlight) has adapted the 1974 novel by James Baldwin into more Oscar bait. Not having read the book, Jack and I were frankly confused about why it's called "Beale Street," which is in Memphis, but this movie is all New York. The lovely photography by James Laxton (last shot Moonlight) is a love story to the city as well.

Nicholas Britell's (last scored Vice) original soundtrack can be streamed on spotify and Apple Music, and maybe more. Apparently the score started out mostly brass but Britell decided late in the process that strings were the sound of love and added lots. Also, I was able to get the exact list of songs and made my own spotify playlist for your and my listening pleasure.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 95%, are talking up this one, while its audiences, at 71, are less vocal. Ignore them. This is good cinema, and will be included tomorrow when the Oscar nominations are announced.

On the Basis of Sex (2018)

Jack, Deb, and I really liked this bio-pic of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's early years. With solid performances and wonderful wardrobe and sets, we really get the feel of the 50s, 60's, and 70s of the movie's stories.

Felicity Jones (last blogged for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and Armie Hammar (most recently in Sorry to Bother You) give us the brilliant, loving couple Ruth and Martin, the latter a feminist before his time. As I frequently remind you, I usually keep a running list of nominations and wins. I like that this one is nominated for AARP's Best Grownup Love Story (as well as its Best Director). Martin and Ruth's love story is delightful. We should all be so lucky. Sam Waterston's (covered in Monkey Business) Dean Griswold, however, asks the first year female Harvard Law students why they deserve spots that should have gone to men (that's not a spoiler--it's in the trailer).

The large cast is supplemented by Justin Theroux (last blogged for The Spy Who Dumped Me) as Mel Wulf of the ACLU, Stephen Root (most recently in Get Out) as Professor Brown, and Cailee Spaeny (she was the little sister in Bad Times at the El Royale, though I failed to mention it) as Ruth and Martin's daughter Jane. Every time we saw the trailer we were sure that Kathy Bates (last blogged for Complete Unknown) would be playing Bella Abzug--pretty much because of the hat--but she doesn't, making an appearance in the second act or so.

Director Mimi Leder (lots of episodic TV including a few episodes of Shameless, Emmy nominations and wins for ER, and the movie Pay It Forward (2000)) keeps it moving, working from a script by the Ginsburgs' nephew Daniel Stiepleman in his screenwriting debut. I happened to read this New Yorker article shortly before seeing the movie and was glad I did. Martin's cookbook, mentioned in the article, is available at the Supreme Court Gift shop.

The wonderful wardrobe is thanks to Isis Mussenden (dressed, among others, The Blue Iguana (1998), Krippendorf's Tribe (1988), Albino Alligator (1996), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and eleven episodes of Masters of Sex (2015-16), the last of which takes place in the same time frames as this movie).

As I write I'm streaming the soundtrack by Mychael Danna (most recently in these pages for scoring The Man Who Invented Christmas) and you can, too, on youtube, spotify, or Apple Music.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences aren't as enthusiastic as we are, averaging 71 and 72%, respectively. In these trying times, do see it.

Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku - 2018)

As a fan of Japanese director/writer Hirokazu Koreeda, I expected to love this story of a family scraping by with light fingers, and I did! Jack liked it, too. This is the fourth of Koreeda's AKA Kore-eda (last blogged for I Wish) thirteen features that I've seen and, like the others, there's more to the characters than meets the eye.

The only actor I've seen before is Kirin Kiki (in these pages for Still Walking) as Grandma. The man/father called Osamu is played by Lily Franky and the woman/mother is portrayed with equal parts sugar and spice by Sakura Andô. Don't be fooled by the headband--Shota, played by Jyo Kairi, is a boy. The young woman living with them, Aki, is Mayu Matsuoka and Yuri is played by Miyu Sasaki. The relationships are a bit unclear but it all gets sorted out in the end.

This came to my radar because of its nominations and not because I saw a trailer. A few months ago I joined Film Independent so that I could watch (mostly streaming with a password) the nominees for their Spirit Awards and this is the first one I picked.

The cinematography by Ryûto Kondô is striking. I also commented that there was lots of food in Still Walking and in this one I noticed they're often eating.

The soundtrack by Haruomi Hosono is available on Apple Music and spotify and, as usual, I'm listening as I type.

This movie is playing limited engagements around the country and will be released digitally in February. Rotten Tomatoes' critics, at 99%, and its audiences, at 90, agree this is a must.

Support the Girls (2018)

Jack and I enjoyed this lightweight dramedy about the manager of a Hooters-style sports bar in Texas. We rented/streamed it because of its nominations (and win!) on my list but don't quite get why it's that beloved.

Regina Hall's (last blogged for The Hate U Give) story takes place over one day, involving the employees, patrons, and boss of the bar called Double Whammies. The noteworthy employees are wild Maci, played by Haley Lu Richardson (most recently in these pages for Columbus); "the smart one" Danyelle, played by Shayna McHayle (in her film debut--she's also a rapper, going by the moniker of Junglepussy); and sneaky Jenelle, played by Dylan Gulela (Xan in eleven episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Aubrey in seven of Casual, among others).

Most of the patrons are men, but there's also Lea DeLaria (best known for 62 episodes of Orange Is the New Black) as womanizing lesbian Bobo. The harried boss is played by James Le Gros (last blogged for Nostalgia).

This is the sixth feature for director/writer Andrew Bujalski. He won the Someone to Watch Spirit Award in 2002 for his first feature Funny Ha Ha, which I don't think I saw, but its name does ring a bell.

There's no composer credited, and a quick glance at Bujalski's other works shows this to be his M.O. One site lists some of the songs, including one by Junglepussy. I didn't pause the video to take note of the songs so we'll have to trust the site.

The movie has full support of Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 93%, while its audiences are at a chillier 60. You can watch yourself from these outlets, or wait for it to be free.

First Reformed (2017)

Jack and I appreciated this disturbing, powerful story of a pastor whose historic church has been subsumed by a multinational corporation. Star Ethan Hawke (last blogged for Juliet, Naked) is among the filmmakers lauded for this, and he is joined by Amanda Seyfried (most recently in these pages for The Last Word, she was pregnant in real life during shooting and her character is pregnant as well) as Mary and Cedric the Entertainer (last blogged for Top Five), billed under his real name Cedric Antonio Kyles, as Jeffers.

Director/writer Paul Schrader has a long career with many seminal projects. Among those I've seen are, as writer Taxi Driver (1976), as co-writer Blue Collar (1978), as co-writer Old Boyfriends (1979), as director/co-writer American Gigolo (1980), as co-writer Raging Bull (1980), as director/co-writer Cat People  (1982), as co-writer Mosquito Coast (1986, as director Patty Hearst (1988),  as co-writer The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and as director Auto Focus (2002). Viewers familiar with Schrader's work will certainly see references to his other pictures in Pastor Toller's crisis.

This movie came to my attention for its nominations and wins so far (here's my running list) for Hawke, Schrader, and cinematographer Alexander Dynan (new to me, but he shot Schrader's Dog Eat Dog (2016)) for the magnificent photography.

There's not a lot of soundtrack, credited to Brian Williams AKA Lustmord (also new to me). Two tracks are available on his website. A few lovely church vocals are featured, with singer Julia Murney (debuted the song Defying Gravity from Wicked at the composer's request) dubbing in the voice of Esther, played by Victoria Hill (again, new to me).

This movie is a bit long, and slow to get going, but worth it in the end. Rotten Tomatoes' critics love this, averaging 93%, but I'm guessing that its audiences' average of 68 reflects the slow pace. I think we paid iTunes to watch this ten days ago but it's now available with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Jack and I really liked this fun musical, continuing the story of the magical English nanny, though decidedly too long at 2:10, especially for the youngest part of its target audience. Everyone's singing voices are good and the orchestrations worthy of a Disney extravaganza. This was one of my choices for our Christmas day movie, but Amy wanted something a bit less fluffy (we saw Vice), so Jack and I saw it a few days ago.

Emily Blunt (last blogged for A Quiet Place) aptly fills the title role, a more prickly version than Julie Andrews' in 1964. As depicted in Saving Mr. Banks, the book author P.L. Travers was a bit prickly herself, and was unhappy with Walt Disney for making the nanny so nice. The book's story took place in the depression of the 1930s, as this sequel does, but the older movie was set in the teens. Lin-Manuel Miranda (before Hamilton, he wrote and starred in In the Heights for which he was nominated for a Pulitzer, won one Tony, and was nominated for another; he's had a few TV roles, including a Sopranos, a Modern Family, two Houses, and two Curb Your Enthusiasms; as an Emmy and Grammy winner, he just needs one Oscar to complete the EGOT--he has one nomination, for How Far I'll Go from Moana) steps in (one of the best numbers in the old movie was Step in Time) as Jack the lamplighter, an updated substitute for Dick van Dyke's Bert the chimney sweep.

Ben Whishaw (most recently in these pages for The Lobster) plays the grown-up Michael as a sad widower with three cute kids, played by Pixie Davies and Nathanael Saleh (each with some experience) and Joel Dawson in his film debut as little Georgie. Emily Mortimer (last blogged for The Bookshop) is a more optimistic and practical grown-up sister Jane, now a labor organizer, as her mother was a suffragette in the 1964 version. Supporting strength comes from Julie Walters (most recently in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool; fun trivia: not only was she considered for the 1964 role of Poppins, she used to get mistaken for Andrews out in public) as the cheerful cook, Colin Firth (last in Kingsman: The Secret Service) as the crooked banker, and Meryl Streep (most recently in these pages for The Post) as the crazy cousin Topsy, using the Polish accent she developed for Sophie's Choice (1982). Then we have fun cameos by Dick Van Dyke (covered in If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast) as a nice uncle and Angela Lansbury (three Oscar nominations, including her debut in Gaslight (1944) which I didn't see; she has 113 credits on imdb with 264 episodes of Murder, She Wrote counting as one; and we mustn't forget her Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991)) as the balloon lady. She is a few months older than Van Dyke and they're both 93. She stays seated for her scene but Van Dyke, apparently at his own request, climbs onto a desk and dances.

Director/choreographer Rob Marshall (last blogged for Into the Woods) works from a screenplay by David Magee (most recently in these pages for Life of Pi). The screen story is credited to Marshall, Magee, and John DeLuca (worked as a choreographer on Marshall's Chicago (2002), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Nine, and this one, and gets his first writing credit here). The choreography is entertaining, with Trip a Little Light Fantastic taking the place of Step in Time.

The costumes by Sandy Powell (just mentioned in The Favourite) are great, too.

Other than short instrumental references to the Sherman brothers' melodies from the 1964 version, all the music is composed by Marc Shaiman (he has five Oscar nominations: for two songs and three scores, including The American President (1995) and The First Wives Club (1996); he also scored City Slickers (1991), The Addams Family (1991), Sister Act (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Forget Paris (1995), Mother (1996), In & Out (1997), Simon Birch (1998), The Out-of-Towners (1999), Down with Love (2003), Hairspray (2007), The Bucket List (2007), six episodes of Smash (2012), Parental Guidance, among the ones I have seen) and he is Golden Globe nominated for this score.

Miranda gets to sing two slightly rap numbers, and I also particularly liked the bike race in the fog as well as the many production numbers. If you saw Marshall's Chicago (2002), you will surely notice that Blunt's hairstyle in The Cover Is Not the Book is the same bob that Catherine Zeta-Jones wore in that musical. I've been streaming the soundtrack on Apple Music (also available on YouTube and Spotify)

Recently we saw the touring company of Aladdin on stage and stayed for a visit with some cast members. One person asked my question: how did the carpet fly? The actors answered, in unison, "Disney magic!" There's plenty of flying in this movie, and some swimming, in this magical production. Also, during the opening credits, while the overture is playing, there are lovely pictures. The movie is full of Easter eggs, or hidden gags, some of which are revealed in this spoiler-filled article.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging a respectable 78% and its audiences 70. It was nice to see it on the big screen, but it should be available for home viewing on disk and streaming in March 2019.

Ben Is Back (2018)

Liz and I appreciated the excellence of this sad story of a teenage addict and his family, though it's hard to take. Julia Roberts (last blogged for Money Monster) is terrific as Holly, the mom who is thrilled to see her son show up on Christmas Eve. Lucas Hedges (most recently in these pages for Boy Erased) matches Roberts' star power in the title role, and the main cast is rounded out by wonderful performances by Kathryn Newton (last blogged for Blockers) as Ben's wary sister Ivy (Holly named her daughter Ivy? Really? Not a fan of that gag) and Courtney B. Vance (first came to my attention in The Last Supper (1995) and I've seen him in The Preacher's Wife (1996), Cookie's Fortune (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), four episodes of Revenge (2012), three of Masters of Sex (2014), one of Scandal (2015), eleven of American Crime Story (2016) as Johnnie Cochran, and the narrator of Isle of Dogs) as Holly's realistic husband Neal, the father of Ben's young half-siblings who adore him unconditionally.

Director/writer Peter Hedges made his feature debut writing the screenplay adapted from his own novel of What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), he was Oscar nominated for co-writing the adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel for About a Boy (2002), then he directed and wrote Pieces of April (2003), then directed and co-wrote Dan in Real Life (2007). I loved all of those. The next project of his that I saw was all 27 episodes of the series About a Boy (2014-15), which he wrote. Apparently it took some convincing for his son Lucas, already a bigger star than the dad, to play Ben.

There are obvious similarities to Beautiful Boy, which is based on memoirs of the father and son. This one, however, is an original story.

The nice exterior shots of upstate New York are brought to us by cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh (after I wrote about him in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty he shot several more, including Gifted).

As I write I'm streaming the eerie/pretty soundtrack by Dickon Hinchcliffe (just blogged for Leave No Trace) on Apple Music (it's also available on Spotify).

I'm going to take a wild guess that Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 79%, and its audiences at 76, also found the subject matter a little too difficult. I think it's worth seeing, still on a few big screens now, and available digitally in your home in March 2019.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Liz and I enjoyed this costume drama about the rivalry between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth I in the 16th century. Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie are appropriately intense as the monarchs of Scotland and England (last blogged for The Seagull and I, Tonya, respectively).

The main men in the story are Elizabeth's consort Robert Dudley, played by Joe Alwyn (after The Sense of an Ending he was in The Favourite, though I failed to mention it); Mary's Lord Darnley, played by Jack Lowden (he appeared in '71, A United Kingdom, Denial, and Dunkirk but I'm writing about him for the first time now); David Rizzio, Mary's close friend and favorite fiddler, played by Ismael Cruz Córdova (five episodes of The Good Wife and three of The Catch); and William Cecil, Elizabeth's "work wife," played by Guy Pearce (most recently in these pages for Iron Man 3). I stared at Darnley's father Matthew Stuart, trying to figure out where I'd seen him before, until it finally came to me: Brendan Coyle was in 52 episodes of Downton Abbey as butler John Bates.

Apparently there are many historical inaccuracies in this movie. The two queens' meeting is in the trailer, and most of the movie builds up to that moment. Yet many historians vehemently state that they never met in person. Attending each queen are several people of color and an Asian person or two. That was unlikely to have happened. And, on a lighter note, though I quite liked Mary's five hoops in her right ear and the unmatched dangle in her left, it's improbable as well. Here's an amusing article about the inaccuracies. The writer mentions Ronan's carefully cultivated Scottish accent (she's actually Irish) and pooh-poohs it. There is a dalliance, however, that I won't give away (this spoiler-filled article does) that historians agree may have happened.

Celebrated British stage director Josie Rourke makes her film debut, working from a screenplay written by Beau Willimon (Oscar nominated for co-writing The Ides of March and wrote 73 episodes of House of Cards) and based on the 2004 book by John Guy.

The costumes designed by Alexandra Byrne (covered in the Murder on the Orient Express remake) and the hair and makeup are quite wonderful and should get recognized when the Oscar nominations come out January 23. The movie's only recognition on my list of nominations and wins so far is a SAG nomination for Robbie as Best Supporting Actress.

Max Richter's (last blogged for scoring The Sense of an Ending) classical soundtrack can be streamed on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. Jack just walked by as I was writing and said, about the music, "That sounds serious!"

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are not losing their heads over this, averaging a weak 62%, and its audiences like it even less at 43. But we thought it worth seeing.

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

Despite dismal reviews, Jack and I quite liked this story of a PTSD patient who creates a miniature town of dolls in his upstate New York home. Displayed in both live action and animation, it's not for kids, with violence, war, and a PG-13 rating. It's based on the lauded 2010 documentary Marwencol (read about it here and/or rent or buy it on iTunes) about Mark Hogencamp.

Steve Carell (last blogged for Vice) is wonderful as Mark, in both his live version and heroic doll persona Hogie. Leslie Mann (her last appearance in these pages was for The Other Woman, though it was out of order chronologically) is sweet as his caring neighbor Nicol-without-an-E. Some of the other women are Janelle Monáe (last blogged for Hidden Figures) as GI Julie, Merritt Wever (after Tiny Furniture she was in seven episodes of New Girl, eighty of Nurse Jackie as Zoey, and made an appearance in Birdman) as Roberta, and Diane Kruger (most recently in these pages for The Infiltrator) as Deja. All of the dolls were animated with the actors doing motion capture.

Director/co-writer Robert Zemeckis (last blogged for Allied) and co-writer Caroline Thompson (co-wrote Edward Scissorhands (1990) and The Addams Family (1991), adapted The Secret Garden (1993) from the children's book, and co-wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and Corpse Bride (2005)) pay homage to Zemeckis' early work, with definite references to Back to the Future (1985) and Death Becomes Her (1992). See if you can find them.

Kudos to the production design team headed up by Stefan Dechant (worked as art director on Cast Away (2000),  Jarhead (2005), Avatar, Alice in Wonderland, the True Grit remake, Oz the Great and Powerful, and The BFG, among his credits).

The soundtrack by Alan Silvestri (most recently in these pages for Avengers: Infinity War) can be streamed from Apple Music and YouTube. There are also lots of songs, listed here and here.

Rotten Tomatoes's critics have not welcomed this movie, averaging 29%, with its audiences only slightly more hospitable at 56. And, with a budget of about $39 million and an opening weekend box office of $2.4 million, it's been officially deemed a flop. We still enjoyed it and there's a chance it will recoup its costs.