Wonderstruck (2017)

This visual masterpiece gracefully weaves together stories of a grieving 1977 boy and a willful deaf 1927 girl, both 12 years old, both eventually enchanted with New York's Museum of Natural History. We loved it. Not having read the book, we didn't know that Ben's story was written in words, while Rose's was all in pictures, so that explains why the 1927 scenes are wordless (and black and white). Jack pointed out that the movie is not sensitive to visual impairments, with lots of dark photography, tight moving close-ups, and blurred shots that focus just before cutting away, if at all. I have very good vision and had to concentrate to catch it all.

The kids are wonderful actors. Oakes Fegley (he turned 13 on Saturday and has a handful of credits over the past six years, including This Is Where I Leave You and three episodes of Boardwalk Empire) gives us Ben's anxiety to a T and Millicent Simmonds (now 14, in her acting debut) is actually deaf and shows Rose's impatience and disregard for authority. Some of the adults are played by Julianne Moore (last blogged for Maggie's Plan), Michelle Williams (earned her fourth Oscar nomination for Manchester by the Sea), and James Urbaniak (he has over 100 credits but seldom stars--in American Splendor (2003) he played R. Crumb; I saw him in four episodes of The Starter Wife, one of Weeds, one of The Good Wife, two of Homeland, four of The Office, one of You're the Worst, and he's done much more. He did play two characters named Venture in 69 episodes of The Venture Bros. but we didn't see any).

Director Todd Haynes (most recently in these pages for helming Carol) works from a script by Brian Selznick (wrote the book which was adapted for Hugo), who adapted his own 2011 book (wrote and illustrated) in this case. Here's the book's official website. The aforementioned dark photography is from Edward Lachman (also shot Carol) and the detail in the shots as well as in the drawings seen onscreen is remarkable. The depictions of 1977 Times Square (when it was still filthy and dangerous) and other New York locations are just great.

Carter Burwell's (last blogged for scoring Goodbye Christopher Robin) lovely score is mostly played over Rose's scenes and can be streamed from this youtube link. Fifty years later we get pop tunes, especially David Bowie's Space Oddity and more, available to stream from here, with misspellings of Austin and Deodato. As a musician, I have a good ear, and the Langley Schools Music Project recording of Space Oddity, played over the closing credits, which you can stream from the pop tunes link, is jarring for its discordance, especially towards the end. This wiki page about the Project gives me an idea why.

Jack and I liked this better than Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 72% and its audiences at 68 and think it should be seen on a big screen. It will be difficult to watch on video at home unless you can get your living room very dark and can sit back from the TV if you are afflicted with MPMS or Motion-picture-motion-sickness. It's going on the list. We recommend it highly for middle schoolers and up.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)

We liked the acting and cinematography in this story about the love triangle of William Moulton Marston (creator of Wonder Woman comics), his wife Elizabeth, and their teaching assistant Olive at Harvard/Radcliffe in the 1920s. Luke Evans (last blogged for playing Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beast) as William and Bella Heathcote (most recently in Dark Shadows) as Olive are great but can't hold a candle to the smoldering Rebecca Hall (after Everything Must Go she was in Iron Man 3 and The BFG) as Elizabeth. Connie Britton (last in Beatriz at Dinner) and Oliver Platt (after Chef he had a cameo in Rules Don't Apply) have pivotal supporting roles.

Director/writer Angela Robinson (one of the directors, writers and producers of the serieses The L Word, Hung, and True Blood) has made a very sexy movie, including some perhaps-too-long erotic sequences. Marston's actual granddaughter Christie has said the polyamory in the movie is fictitious. But wikipedia says Olive Byrne (1904-1990), niece of Margaret Sanger, was the "live-in mistress" of Marston (1893-1947), a psychology professor who developed the DISC (Dominance, Inducement, Submission, and Compliance) theory of human interaction. His wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston (1893-1993) did work with him and they were fascinated by, though perhaps did not actually invent, the polygraph, or lie detector. Olive did live with William and Elizabeth, and wikipedia says that each bore his children, and the women stayed together after his death for the rest of their lives. But Christie wrote an article for the Hollywood Reporter, debunking the "truth" of the movie, though she refused to see it. The article has an unsubtle promotion for another movie about her family, seemingly in development.

The beautiful pictures are shot by Bryce Fortner (we've seen some of his work in the first season of Flaked as well as Ingrid Goes West).

I read a lot of comic books as an adolescent, including Wonder Woman, but the 1940s ones shown in the movie are much racier than mine from years later.

The pretty music by Tom Howe (new to me despite dozens of credits) can be streamed from this link.

For a change, we're a little less enthusiastic than Rotten Tomatoes' critics who are averaging 87% to its audiences' 80. That said, Hall may get some kudos at year end for her formidable Elizabeth.

Goodbye Christopher Robin (2017)

Jack and I loved this lushly produced story of writer A. A. Milne (creator of Winnie the Pooh) and his family, beginning with his PTSD following World War I and up to the early years of WWII when he got famous for his writing. The acting is just as good as the wardrobe and production design, and that’s saying a lot. Domhnall Gleeson (last blogged for American Made) really makes us feel Alan Milne's post-war despair (with the help of troubling flashbacks) and Margot Robbie (most recently in The Legend of Tarzan) is his fun-loving wife Daphne with exquisite taste in clothes and interior design (more on that in a moment). Kelly Macdonald (last blogged for T2 Trainspotting) is the loving nanny to Christopher AKA Billy, played at age 8 by Will Tilston, now 10, in a stunning acting debut (here's an article about his casting). Stephen Campbell Moore (was one of the teachers in The History Boys, both the 2004 original play and the 2006 movie, and Burnt, to name a few credits) is Milne's supportive war buddy, illustrator Ernest Shepard.

Simon Curtis (last helmed Woman in Gold) directs from a script by co-writers Frank Cottrell Boyce (adapted Hilary and Jackie (1998) and Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005, under the pen name Martin Hardy) as well as writing the original screenplay for Millions (2004)) and Simon Vaughan (it's his first screenplay after a credit for the story of a 2004 TV movie A Bear Named Winnie). The struggles of love, family, war, and writer's block feel very real--there's a fair amount of sadness mixed in with the imagination and wonder and I don't recommend this for children.

I kind of want to see it again just to focus on Robbie's divine beaded dresses. Costume designer Odile Dicks-Mireaux has worked on, among others, Dirty Pretty Things (2002), The Constant Gardener (2005), An Education, One Day, Quartet, Brooklyn, Denial, and The Sense of an Ending. And the parlor/living room in the Milnes' London house is so magnificent I was delighted each time I got to see it again and notice something new (this is the first theatrical feature, after many TV movies and series, for production designer David Roger).  The country estate in Sussex is also quite beautiful and beautifully shot by Ben Smithard (last blogged for Viceroy's House). Jack wanted me to mention the sweet animation, morphing Shepard's original drawings into real life and back again.

There is one delightful sequence that's a total anachronism, where 1928 Billy is enchanted by penguins in a part of the London Zoo that was actually built in 2011. But who cares? It's gorgeous. A later scene shot in the Zoo will remind present-day viewers of a recent tragedy but it's based on a real event, depicted in photos at the closing credits.

The movie means a lot to me because my mother read to me the poems of A.A. Milne when I was a child in the 1950s, and I have no doubt her mother read them to her. I reread some today, the day after seeing the movie, specifically Disobedience, which is foretold in the movie, and The King's Breakfast, a family favorite, both of which are in the collection When We Were Very Young, first published in 1924, when my mother was five years old.

Carter Burwell (most recently scored The Founder) provides lovely orchestral music, which can be streamed for over an hour (including a few pop songs of the 20s) from this youtube link.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 63% and its audiences at 77 aren't as warm as we are and we don't care. Go see it.

Marshall (2017)

Jack and I enjoyed this movie about an early case of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court justice, when he was an NAACP lawyer in the 1940s. Chadwick Boseman, who played James Brown in Get On Up and Jackie Robinson in 42, gives a strong performance adding another important historical figure to his resume. Josh Gad (last blogged for Beauty and the Beast) shows some range in a perfectly serious role as Marshall's co-counsel Sam Friedman, defending chauffeur Joseph Spell (a terrific Sterling K. Brown,  who was new to me before winning Emmys for playing Christopher Darden in the miniseries American Crime Story and Randall in 29 episodes and counting of This Is Us) from the rape accusation of his boss Eleanor Strubing (also a fine performance by Kate Hudson, whom we last saw in Rock the Kasbah) in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Director/producer Reginald Hudlin (directed Boomerang (1992) with Eddie Murphy and a ton of TV episodes and produced a few projects, including Django Unchained) brings the 40s to life from a script by Jacob Koskoff (co-wrote two others) and his father Michael Koskoff, 75, a Bridgeport lawyer who defended some of the Black Panthers in the 1970s. Here's an origin story of the screenplay.

Wonderful production design is credited to Richard Hoover (did the honors on 29 episodes of the original Twin Peaks (1990-91), Bob Roberts (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995), Girl, Interrupted (1999), North Country (2005), Temple Grandin, 42, and The Last Word, to name a few), though I'm not sure to whom I should credit the spectacular picture cars. We liked the historic court houses shot in Buffalo and Niagara Falls (NY) locations.

Composer Marcus Miller (a jazz musician, he scored Hudlin's other movies as well as I Think I Love My Wife (2007), Good Hair, and 88 episodes of Everybody Hates Chris for Chris Rock, among many fiction and music projects) delivers delightful tunes with Wynton Marsalis sitting in from time to time. You can stream the playlist on youtube as I'm doing right now.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 83% and its audiences at 88 join us in recommending this historical courtroom drama as Oscar season begins with many first rate options.

American Made (2017)

Jack and I really liked this story of Barry Seal, a real pilot who worked for the CIA, the Contras, and others in the late 70s and early 80s. Tom Cruise is perfectly cast as the impulsive, audacious Seal, in an entertaining performance.

Cruise (last blogged for Edge of Tomorrow) makes us think of Top Gun and even Risky Business as his Seal has talent, charisma, and guts to get ahead. Domhnall Gleeson (rhymes with PHONE-ull, most recently in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens) has bravado of his own as "Schafer," Seal's CIA recruiter, and Sarah Wright (I can't be sure why she looks familiar, maybe her series arc on Parks & Recreation?) is great as Barry's devoted wife Lucy.

There are occasional historical film and still clips from the real events, including the disclosure that director Doug Liman's (helmed Edge of Tomorrow) father Arthur L. Liman was Chief Counsel to the Senate committee investigating the Reagan Administration's arms-for-hostages scheme known as the Iran-contra affair, which definitely involved our pilot, Barry Seal. The script by Gary Spinelli (his second) was on the 2014 Black List of most liked unproduced screenplays. We also appreciated the technical explanations of some of the aeronautics feats.

The cinematography by César Charlone (last blogged for Blindness) is terrific, and I must mention the magnificent aerial photography by Dylan Goss (here are the movies in this blog for which he's done that job: Up in the Air, Valentine's Day, Samsara, Rock of Ages, Now You See Me, Elysium, Million Dollar Arm, Annie, Sicario, Straight Outta Compton, Concussion, The Boss, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and Blade Runner 2049. And that's not close to all of his aerial photography credits).

A warning to my fellow sufferers of MPMS, also known as Motion-Picture-Motion-Sickness: you will not do well watching this on the big screen without medication, so be prepared or wait for video. Here's my full list.

We boomers loved the period music from one of the periods we lived. Here's a playlist that includes pop tunes as well as some original music by Christophe Beck (last scored Sisters, another one full of recent period music). Imdb has a pretty complete list of the songs.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 87 and its audiences at 80 are flying high with this one and we agree.

There's a little bonus written at the end of the credits--geography buffs will enjoy it. And with 32 producers, this movie goes on my list for the producers plethora prize, though it's going to be hard to beat the current leader with 41. Here's my list of those.

This movie is a big milestone for babetteflix. It is number 1000--I have now written about one thousand movies on this blog since September 3, 2008 (a few weeks after my only child left for college). Inspired by Julie & Julia, wherein Julie Powell kept count in her blog of how many recipes she cooked, I began counting movies on my blog. Sometimes I forget to write about one and add a short summary later in honor of my obsessive-compulsive personality (not a disorder in my case, I guess). Another milestone will be coming up because the blog contains summaries of nineteen movies that I saw before the start date and OCP makes me want to know exactly how many distinct movies I have seen in that time period. Three drafts to write (as of today) and still counting! I have an alphabetical list where I update the numbers each time.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Jack and I liked this sci-fi action story of the future interactions between humans and robotic/android beings known as replicants. A sequel to the 1982 hit, it features magnificent cinematography, production design, and special effects.

Ryan Gosling (last blogged for Song to Song) puts aside emotions to star as K, a youngish replicant who works for the Los Angeles Police Department hunting older replicants who might interfere with the new world order, as led by his human boss Robin Wright (most recently in Wonder Woman). Two comely replicants are played by actresses new to me: Ana de Armas as K's holographic girlfriend Joi and Sylvia Hoeks as Luv, assistant to corporate warlord Niander Wallace, played by Jared Leto (last blogged for his Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyer's Club), who despite being pictured on all posters, isn't in the movie much. Harrison Ford (most recently in these pages for Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens), starred in the original movie and reprises his role of Deckard, making his first appearance after an hour and 45 minutes of the 2:44 running time has elapsed. It's nice to see Mackenzie Davis (after The Martian, we appreciated her starring role in the Emmy-winning episode of Black Mirror) and Carla Juri (played Inka, a nice German friend in Morris from America) as the immune deficient scientist.

Director Denis Villeneuve (Oscar-nominated for Arrival) works from a script by Hampton Fancher (he co-wrote the original and a couple of other movies) and Michael Green (co-writer of Logan).

The aforementioned photography is thanks to Roger Deakins (last in these pages for shooting Hail, Caesar!), and includes wide shots of sci-fi milieux, with a nod to production design Dennis Gassner (won an Oscar for Bugsy (1991), was nominated for Barton Fink (1991), Road to Perdition (2002), The Golden Compass (2007), and Into the Woods; and is also known for fine work on The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Truman Show (1998), Field of Dreams (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Big Fish (2003), Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall, to name a few) and his crew.

Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer, who collaborated on the sweet score for Hidden Figures, give us a scary soundtrack that can be streamed for an hour and a half (including five short songs by others) from this youtube link.

I moved to LA and began film school in 1982. We saw the first Blade Runner in one of our screening rooms and I distinctly remember being depressed by the dark, foggy atmosphere shown in the future of Los Angeles, wondering what I had gotten myself into. It took place in 2019. This 2049 LA is even more depressing but I didn't take it personally when we saw it two weeks ago.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics at 88% and its audiences at 81 are liking this one a lot. Fan-kids should see it.

Gotham award nominations for independent films

The nominations came out last week. The awards will be at the end of November. Some of these movies haven't been released anywhere yet, those that are in the blog are linked.

http://variety.com/2017/film/awards/gotham-awards-nominations-2017-1202594047/

Best Feature
Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Florida Project (A24)
Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Good Time (A24)
I, Tonya (NEON/30WEST)

Best Documentary
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library (Zipporah Films)
Rat Film (MEMORY and Cinema Guild)
Strong Island (Netflix)
Whose Streets? (Magnolia Pictures)
The Work (The Orchard and First Look Media)

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Maggie Betts for Novitiate (Sony Pictures Classics)
Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird (A24)
Kogonada for Columbus (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Jordan Peele for Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Joshua Z Weinstein for Menashe (A24)

Best Screenplay
The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani (Amazon Studios)
Brad’s Status, Mike White (Amazon Studios)
Call Me by Your Name, James Ivory (Sony Pictures Classics)
Columbus, Kogonada (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Get Out, Jordan Peele (Universal Pictures)
Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig (A24)

Best Actor
*Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project (A24)
James Franco in The Disaster Artist (A24)
Daniel Kaluuya in Get Out (Universal Pictures)
Robert Pattinson in Good Time (A24)
Adam Sandler in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Netflix)
Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky (Magnolia Pictures)

Best Actress*
Melanie Lynskey in I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore (Netflix)
Haley Lu Richardson in Columbus (Superlative Films/Depth of Field)
Margot Robbie in I, Tonya (NEON/30WEST)
Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird (A24)
Lois Smith in Marjorie Prime (FilmRise)

Breakthrough Actor
Mary J. Blige in Mudbound (Netflix)
Timothée Chalamet in Call Me by Your Name (Sony Pictures Classics)
Harris Dickinson in Beach Rats (NEON)
Kelvin Harrison, Jr. in It Comes at Night (A24)
Brooklynn Prince in The Florida Project (A24)


* The 2017 Best Actor/Best Actress nominating committee also voted to award a special Gotham Jury Award for ensemble performance to Mudbound, The award will go to actors Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks.