Race (2016)

Jack and I enjoyed this bio-pic about American Olympic track star Jesse Owens, beginning with his early life in segregated society and culminating with his gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler's Berlin. Stephan James, who played John Lewis in Selma, does a great job as the young man with big dreams and the skills to match. Jason Sudeikis (last blogged in Horrible Bosses 2) is totally believable in his first dramatic role as coach Larry Snyder from Ohio State University who nurtures those skills. Jeremy Irons (most recently in Margin Call) and William Hurt (profiled in The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby) both bring gravity to their roles as members of the Olympic Committee. And I quite liked Carice van Houten (she was in Black Book (2006) and Valkyrie) as Hitler's filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

Before this, director Stephen Hopkins has helmed a lot of TV shows, including 36 episodes of House of Lies (Glynn Turman, who plays Marty Kaan's father on House of Lies, makes an appearance in this one), twelve of 24, and some features I haven't seen. The writing team of Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse are new to me as well, but I may watch Shrapnel's Oscar-nominated short The Tonto Woman (2008), which can be streamed here. I did appreciate the double entendre of the title. As with most period movies, we admired the production designer's work, especially the cars. Here we can thank David Brisbin, whose previous work I've seen only in The Lookout (2007), though he's designed dozens more.

Rachel Portman's (last blogged for Belle) urgent and majestic soundtrack can be streamed from this link.

This time the critics, averaging 60%, are harsher than the audiences at 82 on Rotten Tomatoes. Don't run out of the theatre or turn off the DVD right away, as the credits include some pertinent history.

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Arguably the best trailer of the year, if not all time, guaranteed that Jack and I would love this hilarious parody of 1950s Hollywood. To paraphrase Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980), we enjoy the Coen Brothers' work, especially their funny ones.

The top billed cast all deliver terrific, over-the-top, hammy work (Josh Brolin, last blogged in Sicario; George Clooney, Our Brand Is Crisis; Alden Ehrenreich, who played a kid in Blue Jasmine; Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Spectre, though I didn't mention him in the latter; Scarlett Johansson, Avengers: Age of Ultron; Tilda Swinton, Trainwreck, Frances McDormand, Promised Land and the outstanding mini-series Olive Kittredge; Channing Tatum, Magic Mike XXL; and Jonah Hill, How to Train Your Dragon 2), as do the rest.

Joel and Ethan Coen (most recently in these pages for co-writing Bridge of Spies and for directing and writing Inside Llewyn Davis) employ the vast talents of cinematographer Roger Deakins (Oscar-nominated for Sicario but didn't have a chance against The Revenant) with his rich colors shot on 35mm film instead of today's standard of digital. Costume designer Mary Zophres should score her second nomination, after True Grit (she also worked on, among others, Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Ghost World (2001), Catch Me If You Can (2002), The Ladykillers (2004), A Serious Man, Iron Man 2, Cowboys & Aliens, and Interstellar), for the fabulous wardrobe, especially Swinton's and Johansson's. Production Designer Jess Gonchor, also Oscar-nominated for True Grit, and by his peers in the Art Directors Guild for The Last Samurai (2003), No Country for Old Men (2007), Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, True Grit, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Foxcatcher, among his many accomplishments, should join her for a second Oscar nomination for the marvelous sets in this one.

The trivia list on imdb will tell you many connections between actual movies and this one.

The soundtrack by Carter Burwell (last blogged for Anomalisa and Oscar-nominated for Carol, but I'm very happy Ennio Morricone won for The Hateful Eight) can be streamed from this link.

The Rotten Tomatoes averages have risen a point since we saw this on vacation three and a half weeks ago, to 83% critics and 46% audiences. I can't imagine why the audiences (who voted) were so disappointed but we were not.

2016 Oscars

I thought the show was good fun. You can find out tonight's winners in every news outlet. Check out my other blog (part of my alphabetized index) for a sorted list of movies and their nominations and wins.

Creed (2015)

We skipped this when it was out the first time, saw it after the award season began, and are baffled that Sylvester Stallone was nominated for this corny sequel to the Rocky franchise. The only other time his name appears in the blog is a nomination for the Worst Director of 2011 for The Expendables, which we also avoided.

This is director Ryan Coogler's sophomore picture--his first, Fruitvale Station was fantastic, and also starred Michael B. Jordan. Tessa Thompson (last blogged in Selma) makes an appearance on screen and singing some cool songs, including Grip and Breathe, as does Claire Huxtable, er, Phylicia Rashad.

Composer Ludwig Göransson (most recently in these pages for Top Five) updates the Rocky theme, among other music.

Jack and I saw this three weeks ago and are at odds with Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences, averaging 94 and 92%. But they probably saw it because they wanted to, not because they felt obligated.

Sicario (2015)

We streamed this story of an FBI agent fighting the drug war at the US-Mexico border a month ago because of its Oscar nominations for cinematography and original score. Those parts were good but the rest of it didn't knock us out. Emily Blunt (last blogged for Into the Woods) is fine as the agent, as are Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro (both in these pages for Inherent Vice) as two of the men working with her.

It's directed by Denis Villeneuve (last blogged for Prisoners) from a script by actor Taylor Sheridan (I haven't seen anything he's been in) in his screenwriting debut. Cinematographer Roger Deakins earned his 13th Oscar nomination for this (the others were The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Fargo (1996), Kundun (1997), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), No Country for Old Men (2007), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), The Reader, True Grit, Skyfall, Prisoners, and Unbroken (2014)). He also did wonderful work in White Mischief (1987), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The House of Sand and Fog (2003), The Ladykillers (2005), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road, A Serious Man, and so much more. Jóhann Jóhannsson's (also Oscar-nominated for The Theory of Everything) score can be streamed from this link (it takes a few seconds to begin). I don't like to make Oscar predictions, but I suspect the cinematography statue will go to The Revenant on Sunday and for music, I'd like The Hateful Eight to win but wouldn't be disappointed if it went to Carol or Bridge of Spies.

For once, the critics and audiences at Rotten Tomatoes like something way more than we did, coming in at 93 and 85%.

The Lady in the Van (2015)

Jack and I loved this charming comedy about a writer who allows a dotty old homeless woman park in his driveway and, ultimately, his life. Maggie Smith gives a tour de force in the titular role of Miss Shepherd, but didn't win anything for it. Smith (last blogged in The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) said on Fresh Air the other day that her character didn't know how to say thank you. So I waited and, in fact, she never does. Alex Jennings (I did love The Wings of the Dove (1997) and The Queen (2006), in which he played the main love interest and Prince Charles, respectively, but haven't seen his extensive British TV work) is wonderful as the screenwriter Alan Bennett, on whose memoir and stage play the movie is based. 

Nicholas Hytner (directed The Madness of King George (1994), The History Boys (2006), and more) directs from Bennett's screenplay and the latter has written into the script a marvelous cinematic conceit for him to talk with himself. Watch in the very last few minutes for a man to arrive in a scene on a bicycle. Someone says, "Hi, Alan," and it is, in fact, the real Mr. Bennett. I also learned in the Fresh Air interview that the location is the home (on Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, London, England, to be exact) where Bennett lived at the time and currently owns, but he doesn't live there now. The seaside scenes were shot in Broadstairs, Kent, and are beautiful as well.

You'll see many supporting cast members flit in and out, and the most recognizable to me, besides Jim Broadbent (most recently in Brooklyn), are Frances de la Tour (in these pages for Hugo) as Mrs. Vaughan Williams with her toothy smile and Dominic Cooper (starred in The History Boys (2006) with de la Tour and is better known as Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger and its spin-offs) as an actor in one of Bennett's plays. Oh, this explains it: Bennett wrote The History Boys, both the play and the movie, and twenty (!) cast members from that play and movie are in this movie. The biggest, pun intended, exception is Richard Griffiths, the rotund star of both History Boyses, who died at 65 in 2013. However, there is another Richard Griffiths in this movie. I presume he is young (I can't find a photo to prove it), because he wouldn't be allowed to have the same Screen Actors Guild name as someone living.

Music is quite important to the plot. The opening credits roll over what is supposed to be archival film of a piano concerto. The conductor there is the actual composer George Fenton (after I covered him in (the movie) Earth, he scored Bears). I'm happy to have found this youtube link with the entire soundtrack to this one. The second to last track is my favorite: Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, second movement. You may skip right to it here, but I thoroughly enjoyed Fenton's tracks as well.

We're with the critics on this one, averaging 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences coming in at only 75.

45 Years (2015)

Very well done and not depressing, this is the story of a couple approaching their 45th anniversary party. Some reviewers want you to know in advance the past issue that pops up. I do not. Charlotte Rampling's first Oscar nomination (Best Actress for playing Kate) is well deserved. We last saw her in the lugubrious movie Melancholia. By no means a comedy, this, in fact, is somewhat of a mystery. As her husband Geoff, Tom Courtenay (most recently blogged for Quartet) is also quite wonderful. He is 78 to Rampling's 70 (her birthday was February 5, the day we saw it) and their characters accept the limitations of their age to varying degrees. One other character I enjoyed was Kate's friend Lena, played by Geraldine James (covered in the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

This is the third feature directed by Andrew Haigh, who wrote the screenplay based on the short story In Another Country by David Constantine. Cinematographer Lol Crawley (the only one of his projects that I've seen is the mini-series Hastings on Hudson) makes beautiful pictures of the seaside, meadows, and village of Norfolk, England. And, in lieu of an original soundtrack, there's a great number of songs from the 1960s including Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by the Platters.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics average a loving 96% and, though their audiences are more restrained at 74%, Jack and I think you'll like it as much as we did.