Snowdon 2016

     The script for this film is based on the books The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena.  Snowdon began his career in Special Forces but he had weak leg bones and fractured both legs.  He moved to a job with the CIA in Virginia and his computer talents were discovered.  Snowdon starts to wonder about the ethics of spying on this country’s own citizens under the pretense of national security.  He feels burned out by his job and the extra burden of not being able to discuss anything about the work he does.

     It’s possible that if Edward Snowdon didn’t exist, director Oliver Stone could have invented him for this film?  The reason that Snowdon left his career behind is because he became so disillusioned with the depth of the deceit of this country in computer spying.  I found the story to be too long and how many scenes does there need to be of Snowden on a computer?  It is rather disconcerting that the government could be watching you through the camera on your own computer?  I wonder how many people have placed something over the lens opening after seeing this film?  Joseph Gordon-Levitt inhabits his character and he even resembles him.  I didn’t know that Snowdon had seizures from epilepsy and he was on medication for a while but found it overtaking him too much.  There is a plethora of information online with anything you ever wanted to know about Snowdon.

134 min, Bio directed by Oliver Stone with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Jaymes Butler, Robert Firth, Rachel Handshaw, Christian Conteras, Parker Sawyers, Rhys Ifans, Nicholas Cage.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, 61% critic 71% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 1033 reviews, Rolling Stone 2* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Bavaria, Germany; Moscow, Russia; Hong Kong, China; Tokyo, Japan; Oahu and Waipahu, Hawaii and Washington D.C.  The real Edward Snowden told Oliver Stone that the NSA’s command centers are on tight budgets and not as glamorous as shown in movies and on TV.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt pledged to donate his salary to facilitate the conversation between technology and democracy.  Snowdon’s parents said this portrayal of their son was the most meaningful encouragement he has ever received.

Denial 2016

     This film is based on the book History on Trial: My Day in Court with Holocaust Denier by Deborah E. Lipstadt.  Author and British historian David Irving has accused Lipstadt of libel because she declared him a Holocaust denier.  Even though he is a denier, he has sued in the English legal system.  The burden of proof is on the accused and Lipstadt’s legal team needs to walk a very fine line to prove that Irving is a denier.  Lipstadt wants to and she usually calls the shots but she can’t in this trial.  She’s out of her element in England.

     There is the idea that a lie repeated often enough and loud enough can become the truth?  Irving has written and lectured that Adolf Hitler never ordered the extermination of six million European Jews during WWII.  He states there were never gas chambers and the Holocaust did not happen.  There won’t be a jury because the legal team and Irving believe the common people could not decide on this case?  A single judge will take his time and issue a verdict.  There is a scene with Lipstadt, Barrister Richard Rampton and her team at the actual Auschwitz historical site.  The courtroom scenes are tense and moving because Lipstadt and her team are not allowed to speak.  Only David Irving, Barrister Richard Rampton and the judge can speak.  

109 min, Bio directed by Mick Jackson with Rachel Weisz, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Jack Lowden, Caren Pistorius, Alex Jennings, Harriet Walter, Mark Gatiss, John Sessions, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Pip Carter.

Note:  Imdb 6.6 out of 10, 83% critic 71% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 288 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Malopolskie, Poland and London, England, UK.  The dialogue used in the courtroom scenes is taken verbatim from the trial records.  The statue that Lipstadt sees on two of her jogging trips is the statue of Boadicea and Her Daughters on the Westminster Pier.  Boadicea was a famous warrior queen who led an unsuccessful uprising against the Romans.  The case was filed in 1996 but it did not go to trial until the early months of 2000.  The verdict was announced in April of 2000.  This is the first film directed by Mick Jackson in 14 years.  He last directed The First $20 Million is Always the Hardest in 2002.  He directed straight to TV movie Temple Grandin of 2010.

The Cowboys 1972

     The setting of this film is in late 1876.  Wil and Kate Andersen are raising cattle on their ranch and they are expecting their regular cook and drivers to come to help Wil take the cattle to market.  There is a gold strike and all the men plus the cook have gone to try their hand at panning gold.  Wil really needs to sell these cattle to pay his bills for the year.  Wil doesn’t have any choice but to go to the local school and hire boys to help him with the cattle.  Since the cook didn’t show this time, there is a new man and Wil likes having the same crew every year.

     There was a lot of criticism for the last scenes in this movie.  The ending isn’t a typical John Wayne ending.  Wayne also played a father figure in the films Goodbye Mr. Chips and Sands of Iwo Jima.  He stated about this film that, “no actor in his right mind would try to match the antics of eleven kids on screen.”  He also said that it became, “the greatest experience of my life.”  The boys are trying hard to do this job like men and Wil is treating them like men.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

134 min, Adventure directed by Mark Rydell with John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Brown, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst, Alfred Baker, Jr., Nicolas Beauvy, Steve Benedict, Robert Carradine, Norman Howell, Stephen R. Udis, Sean Kelly, A Martinez, Clay and Sam O’Brien, Mike Pyeatt, Slim Pickens.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 75% critic 88% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2 ½*, Amazon 4.8* out of 5* with 765 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Canon City, Durango, Castle Rock, Pagosa Springs, Colorado; Chama, Galisteo, Lamy and Santa Fe, New Mexico; Sonoita, Elgin and Hereford, Arizona; Burbank, California.  John Wayne and Roscoe Lee Browne had political and social differences of opinion but they shared a love of poetry.  The two refrained from any political discussions during filming.  Mark Rydell originally wanted George C. Scott for the role of Wil Anderson.  George C. Scott and Colleen Dewhurst were married.  Several of the boys’ parents are their real-life parents.  This is the first film for Robert Carradine.  Richard Farnsworth formerly was a stuntman and extra.  This is his first role to show his face.  There is another film with the same title released in 2015.  In 1974, Warner Bros. developed The Cowboys as a television series for ABC starring Jim David, Diana Douglas and Moses Gunn.  David Dortort produced this series and also Bonanza, The High Chaparral and The Restless Gun.

Bridget Jones's Baby 2016

     The single life and her career have been the focus for Bridget Jones.  She planned to continue on this path even though she is lonely.  She finds herself pregnant and she’s not sure if the father is previous boyfriend Mark Darcy or millionaire Jack Qwant.  She met Jack at a music festival and she hasn’t seen him since.  Mark is married but he says he is getting a divorce.

     It's been 20 years since the novel about Bridget Jones was released.  Then there were the films, Bridget Jones's Diary from 2001 and the 2004 sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.  Bridget started out at 30 something years old and now she is 43 years old.  Hugh Grant is absent from this new release and he is supposed to have died.  A not sympathetic Emma Thompson plays Jones's obstetrician.  This is the first film in six years for Renee Zellweger.  It's been speculated that she had a face-lift while she was away?  There are moments that seem impossible, some music scenes are just fillers but all in all this is a good film.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

118 min, Comedy directed by Sharon Maguie with Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth, Patrick Dempsey, Emma Thompson, Ed Sheeran, Gemma Jones, Jim Broadbent, Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Shirley Henderson, Ben Willbond, Paul Bentall.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 76% critic 67% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 1362 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, and London, England, UK and County Dublin, Ireland.  This film’s opening day was the biggest ever for a comedy in the UK and Ireland.  Three different endings were filmed and none of the cast knew which was used until the opening day.  This is the first movie trilogy directed exclusively by female directors.  This is the first time Renee Zellweger didn’t gain weight for this role.  The director wanted to show that Bridget had finally reached her ideal weight but hadn’t solved her love and loneliness issues.

Stage Beauty 2004

     The setting of this film is between 1660 and 1662 but could be 1666.  In the theaters of London, women were not allowed to perform on the stage.  Men act all the theater roles for women and Ned Kynaston has been playing female roles for years.  Aspiring actress Maria is the dresser for Ned and she wants to play the role of Desdemona.  Ned has played this role for years by.  Maria borrows his costumes and plays Desdemona in a secret theater.  King Charles II decides put it into law that all female roles will be played only by women.  Maria becomes a star and Ned finds himself out of a job.  He’s very bitter but he decides to forgive Maria and it’s possible King Charles could change the rule so that women can be played by either gender?

     Even though Ned has played a woman on stage for years, he plays women like men would play women?  In the beginning, Maria doesn’t change the acting style she has copied from Ned even though she is a woman.  After she relaxes on stage, she plays the role as a woman would.  Maria has feelings for Ned and she rescues him after his downfall.  I thought the plot, the characters and the acting were good.  4* (I really liked this movie)

106 min, Drama directed by Richard Eyre with Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Rupert Everett, Derek Hutchinson, Mark Letheren, Tom Wilkinson, Ben Chaplin, Hugh Bonneville, Jack Kempton, Alice Eve, Fenella Woolgar.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, 64% critic 78% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 189 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Surrey, Hertfordshire, London, England, UK.  This film is based on the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty.  Ned used it as an advertising poster slogan for his female impersonations.  Kate Winslet was originally offered the role of Maria.  Crudup and Danes became a couple after filming.  Alice Eve made her debut in this film.  In the film Shakespeare in Love, Gweneth Paltrow is confident as a woman so she plays her roles in that manner from the beginning.

Inferno 2016

     This film is based on a novel by Dan Brown and he also wrote The DaVinci Code from 2003 and Angels and Demons from 2005.  Tom Hanks played Robert Langdon when these novels were made into films. There is also another novel titled The Lost Symbol published in 2009 but not yet made into a movie.  Robert wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia.  Sienna Brooks helps him recover his memory and to escape an assassination in the hospital.  Robert and Sienna cannot go to the police because it was a policewoman who tried to kill him.  They can’t go to the WHO because they are also trying to track them.  Billionaire Dante-obsessed madman Bertrand Zobrist is ready to unleash a global virus that could erase half of the world’s population.  Bertrand believes this is the solution to overpopulation and a way to save the earth.

     My problem with this film is that I am not at all interested in Dante or anything about him?  The one scene I liked the best was when a drone was following Robert and Sienna in a garden.  Tom Hanks is adopting the Leonardo Dicaprio style of acting.  The more your face frowns, the more you are acting?  If you also add sweating, you are really acting?  Also, why does Felicity Jones need to do all her running and walking on boards with heels?  She needs safer footwear!!  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

121 min, Action Directed by Ron Howard with Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Irrfan Khan, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Foster, Ana Ularu, Ida Darvish, Paolo Antonio Simioni, Allessandro Grimaldi, Fausto Maria Sciarappa.

Note:  Imdb 6.2 out of 10, 19% critic 37% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon Video 3.1* out of 5* with 899 reviews, Amazon DVD 4.3* out of 5* with 371 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Istanbul, Turkey; Budapest and Etyek, Hungary; Tuscany, Veneto and Tuscany, Italy.  In his lecture, Bertrand Zobrist states that the Earth will reach a population of 32 billion in 40 years.  Actually, at the current rate of growth it will take 112.7 years to reach 32 billion.  The rivers of blood in visions seen by Robert Langdon were not all digitally filmed, 9,000 liters of fake blood made were sugar was also used. A new novel by Dan Brown titled Origin will be released September 2017 with the Robert Langdon character.

The Colony (Colonia) 2015

     The time period for this film is the Chilean military coup by Pinochet of 1973 and is based on true events.  Lena is a flight attendant for Lufthansa, she has been seeing Daniel and he’s an activist from Germany.  They are out on the streets at the time of protesting and arrests by the military.  Daniel has a camera and Lena tries to get him to stop taking pictures.  Daniel is detained by the military and Lena doesn’t know where they have taken him?  Daniel has been taken to an underground tunnel and he is tortured for information that he doesn’t know.  Lena joins a charitable mission run by German lay preacher Paul Schafer and she is hoping she will be able to learn what happened to Daniel.  The mission is called Colonia and no one has ever escaped alive from this compound.  The mission is based on some religious tenets, it supports a punitive agrarian lifestyle and is aggressively anti-Communism.

     There is a lot of persecution in this film and Colonia Dignidad was a real secret detention camp.  It was founded by German émigrés in the mid 1950’s.  Paul Schafer arrived in the colony in 1961.  Eventually, 300 German and Chilean people resided in the camp and it covered 53 square miles.  The main legal support of the colony was through agriculture.  At times there was a school, a hospital, two airstrips, a restaurant and a power station.  The compound also did money laundering and weapon sales to supplement their income.  Investigations uncovered child sexual abuse, confinement and torture of prisoners arrested by Pinochet.  Despite the tenseness and the terrible treatment of people, this film seems to be covered with gauze reflecting everything to be normal and the romance aspect seems to dilute what is happening?  3* This movie is OK)

106 min, Drama directed by Florian Gallenberger with Emma Watson, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey, Vicky Krieps, Jeanne Werner, Julian Ovenden, August Zierner, Martin Wuttke, Nicolas Barsoff.

Note:  Imdb 7.1, 26% critic 61% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 2*, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 183 reviews,

Special Note:  Filmed in Luxembourg; Berlin and Bavaria, Germany; Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina; Chile.  Emma Watson also starred in Regression of 2015, a film about a dangerous cult.  The cult members are given blue pills composed of drugs to make them more calm and compliant.  They could have contained benzodiazepines used to treat anxiety and scopolamine to make people susceptible to suggestion.