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Movie theaters may soon run out of big films. Apparently there's a slow down coming though it's hard to feel that when Top Gun, Thor, The Minions and others are doing so well right now. It's also hard to grasp when there are so many new smaller and medium titles coming out right now. See below and note this: my favorite film of recent weeks, Marcel the Shell With Shoes on has now gone wider, It was in only two cities, and is now in nine more, from Halifax to Victoria.
And these are new …
The Gray Man: 3 stars
Where the Crawdads Sing: 3 ½
Hallelujah: 4
Persuasion: 2 ½
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris: 3
Murina: 3 ½
Paws of Fury: 2
THE GRAY MAN: This just might be the most action-filled blast of the summer. I haven't seen as much car crashing, bus tipping, wild driving in a movie in a long time. But there it is in a chase sequence in a big city street (in Prague, I think) about midway through this Netflix film that just never stands still. It's their most expensive film ever and is directed by the Russo brothers, Anthony and Joe, who've done this sort of thing for a few Marvel movies. In fact they've brought along writers and crew from those films and Chris Evans who played Captain America for them. They've got him playing an operative described as a “psychopath” who is hired by the CIA to bring down a former agent, played by Ryan Gosling.
Ryan was recruited into an elite program called Sierra, he's #6, by a handler played by Billy Bob Thornton. I never got clear why others now want him out, something about dark secrets, but it's the chase that's important, not what it's about. There's a lot of that in several world cities. There's zippy dialogue around it, man-on-man fighting and a subtext about questioning authority. Also a big stress on loyalty, sticking with your real friends (e.g Ryan and Billy Bob) and an agent (Ana de Armas) who backs him up. Interesting angle: Evans says he's in the private sector and therefore not hampered by government rules. There are ideas sprinkled amid the extravagent action. It's in a few theaters for a week, good for that, and then on Netflix. 3 out of 5
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING: As a novel it's been wildly popular. It's was #1 on two seperate charts in the New York Times Last week. Now as a movie it has some of the same attraction, the breezy summer-read side, but also shows what it is not. Big themes are underplayed, issues like class prejudice, judging of the poor, women maltreated by men. They're all there but a colorful picture of a wild child is what really grabs out attention.
Kya, played by English actor Daisy Edgar-Jones, lives alone in an old house in the marshes of North Carolina. Her family has left. She has to survive on her own and not be broken down by the snubbing she gets at the nearby town. People know her only as The Marsh Girl and assume she's cheap and low. Two young men get to know her but she breaks off with them and when one is found dead, she's put on trial for murder. David Strathairn plays a lawyer who takes her case out of pity and it is through flashbacks from that case that we get her story. We see a vicious father, a weak mother and her own efforts to establish herself. She's a gifted naturalist and artist. We're on her side. Edgar-Jones gets us there with her acting. But the issues that harass her are too low-key as director Olivia Newman presents them. (In theaters) 3 ½ out of 5
HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, A SONG, A JOURNEY: We've seen Leonard Cohen's life story told before in documentaries but this one is different. We see his life entirely through one song: Hallelujah. The song itself has a complex story. It's now well-known that Cohen's record company refused to release it letting it appear on a small independent label first. But the rest of story is just as incredible. Folksinger Jeff Buckley covered it and started what eventually became an avalanche. Some 300 artists have record the song. John Cale's version was used in the film Schrek and that gave it another and super boost.
Cohen spent years writing it, with dozens of verses and two versions. One addressed to God; the other to women in Cohen's life. The song reflects both Cohen's spiritual quest and everyday-life. The Shrek version is edited to clean up some racy content, which also allowed the song to be played at many functions, especially weddings. You'll hear fragments of many versions in this film. Prepare to get an ear worm. And a deeper understanding of Leonard Cohen, as well as the strange story of just one song. (Theaters in Toronto--Varsity--Vancouver--5th Avenue—and Montreal with more soon.) 4 out of 5
PERSUASION: This is the latest film version (the 5th by my counting) of Jane Austen's last novel but sadly not the best. Not that I've seen them all but I'll point out a better one below. This one has all the rich design, the big houses and the able English actors you would want to bring the Regency period alive once again. But two problems stand out. First, modernization. Not the look,but the tone. Bits of dialogue are anachronistic: one character calls another “a 10”. I doubt Jane Austen wrote that.
Ann Elliott, played by Dakota Johnson, is a modern woman—for her time—but she comes off as if she's stepped in from our time. She speaks to us directly repeatedly, even winking now and then. It may be common in theater, where the director Carrie Cracknell is from but feels wrong here. Ann doesn't really feel English either and worse, there's no chemistry between her and Captain Frederick Wentworth (played by Cosmo Jarvis). He's the beau she was persuaded to reject seven years earlier because his status was too low for her snobby family. He's come back into her life now, richer and more esteemed but is there a match to be made? The film misses a huge Austen concern: the low status at that time of women who are still unmarried. It's hardly mentioned and we're left with essentially a costume rom-com. Check out the 1995 version with Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. It tops this one (Netflix) 2 ½ out of 5
MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS: I think this could be a very pleasing fantasy for many women. Imagine a woman who cleans houses in London (Lesley Manville) popping over to Paris to buy herself a Dior gown, just to make herself feel good. Yeah, as if. But then because of a one-time circumstance getting right into a private and very exclusive showing of the latest dresses, meeting Dior himself, attracting the attention of a friendly Marquis and annoying a snobbish Dior employee (Isabelle Huppert). Now that would be a trip, vacation or not.
And there's more. The House of Dior is in decline. Ideas are needed to revive it. Meanwhile there are layoffs and worker demonstrations. No, Mrs Harris doesn't have the answers but she does manage to encourage those who do. It's thanks to her cheery manner and her optimism about people. Most are good, or can be convinced to become good. Not a widespread idea in the movies, even a bit quaint these days, but this film, directed and co-written by Anthony Fabian from a novel by Paul Gallico, makes it work and not even feel like a Pollyannaism. This movie makes you feel good. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
MURINA: We get coming of age films quite regularly, not often from Croatia though. This one is a treat and a couple of years ago so charmed the judges at Cannes that they gave it a big award, best first film. They gave it to Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic who directed and wrote the film and set it near Dubrovnic where she grew up. She also spent time in the US so we get quite a hybrid.
Teenage Julija (Gracija Filipovic) lives with a very controlling father and longs to escape. The murina is a type of eel that's very adept at that. Dad is visited by an old friend (Cliff Curtis) who is now rich and living in the US and hopes to sell his land to him. Julija senses there was something in the past between him and her mother. That gives her an idea: replace her dad with him and she can be free. There's a lot of subtle plot to come, hints of past relations and seething emotions that they evoke. The director subtly spins all this together in a tale that'll keep you involved. It's slow but appealing and steamy. (Small theaters, like the Rio in Vancouver) 3 ½ out of 5
PAWS OF FURY THE LEGEND OF HANK: Want an animated film to take your kids to that'll have them jumping and kicking in the car ride home? This one will get them worked up, not usual for American kids films these days, but you'll have to explain what all that show biz humor in it is all about. A lot of it is pure Catskills schtick. Mel Brooks, for instance, voicing a shogun character, saying several times "There's no business, like Shogun business." Brooks helped write the script and produce the movie. Don't explain what's funny about this line from Samuel L. Jackson: "What the mother father cocker spaniel's going on here?"
Michael Cera plays Hank, a dog that wants to be a samurai. His assignment: defend a town full of cats. A dog, defending cats? Well, it's a plot by a devious cat voiced by Ricky Gervais to destroy the town. It works out that it's also a call to overcoming hate and prejudice. Cats and dogs don't like each other. Hank has to earn the cats' respect. It's also a mild homage, maybe a weak copy, of Brook's classic western spoof Blazing Saddles. Kids won't get that; adults will have trouble with connection also. Noise, bombast and fart jokes abound. Chief among the three directors is Rob Minkoff who worked on The Lion King and Stuart Little. This one isn't very funny or entertaining. (In theaters) 2 out of 5
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