Geostorm: Be Sure to Miss It!

Movie Review: Geostorm (2017)
Version: Library borrow

In 1996 there was a film called Night of the Twisters that was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I would rate Geostorm right up there with it. Both involve impossible story lines with poor acting performances. At least with Geostorm there was a fairly good cast. Unfortunately, the script was trash.

Here is how the story is describe on the IMDB website:

When catastrophic climate change endangers Earth's very survival, world governments unite and create the Dutch Boy Program: a world wide net of satellites, surrounding the planet, that are armed with geoengineering technologies designed to stave off the natural disasters. After successfully protecting the planet for three years, something is starting to go wrong. Two estranged brothers are tasked with solving the program's malfunction before a world wide Geostorm can engulf the planet.

First of all, no governmental body, worldwide or otherwise, would name a science project "Dutch Boy Program" -- it doesn't make any sense! Second, the program has been hacked to attack the weather and create havoc around the world, but half the attacks don't actually attack the weather and don't even make sense. Third, this supposed "geostorm" is really about upsetting the climate, not the weather, and that would take much longer than the time shown in the movie. When they finally subdue the satellite system, it calms down immediately, also not realistic. Finally, the bad guys hack the space station and its network of interchangeable satellites, which they make go berserk. But when they go berserk inside the space station, there's no threat of loss of air pressure as pieces of steel go flying through windows.

The cast is all right, but they're most miscast in this film. Gerard Butler doesn't come off as a tech or scientist. Andy Garcia is supposed to be the president but he just doesn't fit the part. Ed Harris plays the character in charge of the Dutch Boy Program but he has more gravitas to play president, yet he plays the bad guy. Andy Garcia has played gangsters! Why wasn't he cast as the bad guy?

I wasn't impressed by the writing, either. The dialogue was sloppy. The plotting was unrealistic as were the conflict resolutions. The whole film was simply ugly. If someone asked me what I thought of Geostorm, I'd say, "Be sure to miss it!" Sorry, Geostorm fans.

The Post: Something Seems Amiss

Movie Review: The Post (2017)
Version: Library Blu-Ray

I am from the Boomer generation, so I remember Daniel Ellsberg, the Washington Post, and the battle with the Nixon Administration over the Pentagon Papers. The Post is that dramatic story told from the view of the Washington Post with two of the world's best stars: Meryl Steep as Washington Post owner Kay Graham and Tom Hanks as its editor Ben Bradlee.

In this film version of the story, Kay Graham has taken over as publisher of the Washington Post after the death of her husband amid doubts of her ability to lead. The Post has been operating more as a city paper instead of the national paper it should be, trying to compete against the giant New York Times, which keeps scooping them on big stories on their home turf. Ben Bradlee is driving his reporters to dig deeper and harder, but somehow the Times is more able. As leaks develop in a secret story about a government cover up in the veracity of the Vietnam War, the Post finally gets a break as the Nixon Administration takes the Times to court and shuts down reporting. A mysterious woman drops off copies of pages of the Pentagon Papers on a Post reporter's desk, and a race against time ensues to publish without suffering wrath of the White House. Meanwhile, Graham is trying to take the Post public on the stock exchange with investors tempted to pull out and financial advisers telling her the paper's finances need the cash infusion.

Also at stake for Graham are personal relationships with people in the Nixon Administration at risk, like Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (played by Bruce Greenwood). And there is Daniel Ellsberg (played by Matthew Rhys), a Defense Department staffer who faces espionage charges for leaking the documents. It's high stakes risks for everyone involved, included Graham and Bradlee, who could go to jail.

Streep and Hanks at the acting helm brings huge star power to this film. High stakes for the characters brings huge drama. As historical fiction, you can't offer greater conflict in a story than Washington power brokers going after each other in a battle over first-amendment rights versus military-industrial interests. Yet somehow something seems amiss in this film. It feels like a viewer setup, even knowing this story from having lived during the times. This is a Steven Spielberg film, which would normally be a set up for quality. But there are subtle hiccups. And I think it may be shot setups, the way the lines are so casually delivered with obvious acting versus the usual natural deliveries by Hanks and Streep. And here is my sneeking suspicion: I watched it on Blu-Ray, which brings a visual clarity to movies that lets you see all the ugly warts of production. I miss the graininess of a good film. Watching a digital "film" is like watching the "filming" live and so, watching a live performance. There's no romancing of the audience with the beauty of the celluloid. And Blu-Ray enhances that clarity. It actually spoils the movie for me. I don't want to see the action live. I want to see the story through the artificiality of the lens and actual film. And this, I posit, is what spoils The Post.

The Post is a good story. The narrative arc holds together. The dramatic story (the script) holds together. The history holds together. Maybe it's the forced acting that just doesn't hold together -- maybe they tried too hard. But for me, seeing it on Blu-Ray really spoiled it for me. If you see The Post, at least see it on regular DVD. And focus on the history that was made within the story. Because that was the story.

Thor: Ragnarok: If You Love the Marvel Universe, Likely You'll Love This

Movie Review: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Although I'm not a continuing fan of Thor stories, but my wife and my daughter loved Thor: Ragnorok, the latest installment in the film franchise. In it, Chris Hemsworth reprises the leading role with the same cheeky pluck, making it another fun film. Tom Hiddleston returns as troublesome brother Loki, although not so menacingly. Anthony Hopkins is again their father Odin, although he is looking a might old and retiring. Idris Elba is also back as Heimdall, the guardian to the entrance of Asgard who has left the guardhouse for other missions.

New to Thor: Ragnorok are some other characters from the Marvel universe: Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk), played by Mark Ruffalo, and Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch). Also joining the cast are Karl Urban as Skurge, who becomes the servile assistant to Hela (played by Cate Blanchett), Thor's older sister and chief antagonist in the story. Jeff Goldblum appears as the Grandmaster of Sakaar, who controls the bizarre world centered around ancient-Rome-like competitions for profit.

In this film, Thor is imprisoned on Sakaar while Odin has retired to some quiet retreat on Earth, as Hela returns from excile to claim Odin's throne. Thor must escape Sakaar and return to Asgard in time to save Asgard from Ragnarok, which is their word for destruction of their homeworld. Loki has disguised himself as Odin and subjected the people of Asgard to imagining all is the right in their world while doting on his very pleasure, so when Thor returns to ask for Loki's help, he's a bit resistant at first. Yet, they are finally reunited in purpose, and they battle the more powerful Hela for the survival of Asgard.

There isn't a whole lot new to this universe of stories, except the arrival of Hela. I was really bored. You have to come to this film because you love the characters. Really, they are the story.

If you are into the whole Thor and Asgard thing, you will likely love this world and the fun. If you are into the whole superheroes thing, then you will equally enjoy the interplay between the various characters from the Marvel universe uniting behind Thor and Loki. A fun time may be had be all. If.

I guess the word to the wise is, if you love Marvel-universe sequels, see it -- you'll love it. If you don't, see something else.

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens Changed the Way We View Christmas

Movie Review: The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
Version: Library borrow

The Man Who Invented Christmas is really a film for the holiday season. It recently released as a DVD so we just watched it. Although you can wait to see it sometime closer between Thanksgiving and Christmas, now is a good time to see it, too.

We likely are all familiar with Charles Dickens, the author of A Christmas Carol. Certainly, we all know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, the three spirits, and how a miserable, miserly old man learned the true spirit of Christmas and became a more compassionate human being. What most of us don't know is the story about how Dickens came to write the story. That's what The Man Who Invented Christmas is all about.

In 1843, Charles Dickens was coming off the tremendous success of his book Oliver Twist. Then he had a few flops and his career as a writer seemed to be on the wane. His finances were hurting and he struggled to write his next great novel. This film explores his struggles, both to write A Christmas Carol, and a demon deep inside himself that became the greatest block to finishing the novel that would change the way the world perceived how we celebrate Christmas and the struggles of the poor.

Charles Dickens (played by Dan Stevens) is a fairly happy family man with a brood of noisy children in a large home in the heart of busy London. He is easily distracted by their noises and demands quiet. And his father John Dickens (played by Jonathan Pryce) is a constant distraction, so he has paid for a home for his parents in the country, even provided a stipend for them to keep them there. Yet John Dickens manages to seep back into London for a bothersome visit, much to Charles's irritation. Meanwhile, redecorating his home, Charles finds himself in need of more money and his publisher is in want of another book before they will give him more money. Unable to reach agreement on a book idea, Charles decides to finance it himself, going to a money-grubbing lender with a high financing rate. But this doesn't deter Charles. What looms greater than the lending rate is the looming publishing deadline -- six weeks to write and print the book before Christmas! Charles sends his friend John Forster (played by Justin Edwards) to help make arrangements, including finding an illustrator.

And so off Charles Dickens goes to write his book, fresh without a real concept. Thus we delve into his creative process. He meets people whose names and characteristics he gathers as grist for characters. He hears people say unsettling or encouraging things that become mill for the grindstone for dialogue. A happy older couple dancing in the street become models for the Fizzywigs. And then there's Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Christopher Plummer), who seeps in from the recesses of a dark doorway as Charles works in his study, and they play off each other as the character forms himself in Charles's mind. Little by little, you other characters from the story join the chorus of voices helping Charles Dickens talk out the story and tease out its plots and themes. Should Tiny Tim die? Shouldn't Scrooge save him? Why would he do that? Can a man change? It really is an amazing look into the way a writer works and how a story develops. And then there's the moment an author develops writer's block!

What is keeping Charles Dickens from writing the final chapter, the ending of A Christmas Carol? It turns out there is a secret buried in his worst nightmares, a horrific memory from his childhood from which he cannot escape. And until he resolves that past he cannot resolve his story.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is many things. It's about an amazing nineteenth century author. It's about memorable classic characters. It's about great actors playing well written parts -- Jonathan Pryce is wonderful as the scoundrel of a father and Christopher Plummer is brilliant as an irascible and scheming Scrooge. But the art direction of this film is wonderful, too, taking you deep into the winding alleyways and bustling streets and dark pubs and other public places of Dicken's time. There is also the disturbingly dark and dank children's workhouse where Dicken's spent a part of his childhood to contend with. All this makes the film come alive and breathe as if you were actually there, looking over their shoulders.

In addition to being the story about how A Christmas Carol came to be written, it is also a story about how a popular author came to change the way the world sees Christmas and how it changed the way the world responds to need. You will see that at the end of the film, before the closing credits. It really is an incredible true story. He really did invent Christmas, the Christmas we still know and love in our own time. See and show it to your own family.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: A Great Laugh for the Whole Family

Movie Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Version: Library borrow

I haven't enjoyed a movie like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in a long time -- it was full of laughs! Grab-your-tummy laughs. Laugh-out-loud laughs. Giggle in your guts laughs.

Four misfit teens end up in detention at school. Rather than sitting at desks doing boring homework for detention, they're assigned to pull staples from old magazines as punishment, and unsupervised by the school counselor, they look for other diversions when they become bored to tears. Spencer (initially played by Alex Wolff) finds a dusty old video console with a game cartridge, which he hooks up to a dilapidated old analog TV. One by one Spencer and the other characters come over and pick out game characters to play. Spencer is a quiet nerd. Fridge (initially played by Ser'Darious Blain) is a tall, over confident jock. Bethany (initially played by Madison Iseman) is a self-absorbed blonde bomb. Martha (initially played by Morgan Turner) is a reclusive girl who lacks self confidence. As they pick out different macho sounding game characters and start the game, they are sucked into the console and are brought into the jungle land of Jumanji.

As Spencer, Fridge, Bethany, an Martha arrive, they become the characters they have chosen -- and totally unlike themselves physically. Spencer is this tall, handsome, muscular heroic figure (played by macho man Dwayne Johnson). Fridge is a short, scrawny Black dude (played by fearful comedian Kevin Hart). Bethany the young and beautiful becomes this squat, fat, bearded older dude (played by Jack Black). And Martha the insecure and unsocial becomes the fearless and badass (played by Karen Gilann). Into the story, they are joined by Nick Jonas as Alex, who had been an earlier player lost in the game and unable to escape on his own but learns to team up with the others to battle the game.

As with the original movie Jumanji, the idea is that once you begin playing you can't quit until you finish the game, and you face many ultimate dangers. In this case, the players are set on an island jungle where they must find their way across the land to locate a stolen jewel and return it to its rightful place. Working against them are a plethora of jungle animals and the bad guy who originally removed the jewel from its place of honor. As with many video games, the players are given clues and goals to accomplish before they can reach each step of the game. And each character they play has abilities and weaknesses, which they can use to help them or which provides conflict in reaching their goals. And each character has three lives to spend trying to reach their goals. If they are killed, they come back.

What's so amazingly fun about this movie is watching Johnson, Hart, and Black play reverse roles from their stereotypes. Johnson the testosterone-driven hero becomes a mild and meek guy unsure of the way to proceed. Hart whose character originally is this self-confident jock becomes this insecure little man. Black plays off femininity and girlish charm while oozing fat-old-guy ugliness. And they're hilarious. There's a scene in which Hart and Black have to take a leak and Black, originally a girl, discovers her penis for the first time, and it's handled with sensitivity but it's so funny. Just seeing Jack Black play a light-headed, self-absorbed beauty queen is uproariously funny. And when Nick Jonas's character Alex arrives, Jack Black's character Bethany becomes so giddy. Again, so funny! Karen Gilann's character Martha becomes a badass martial artist, often a scream as she tackles bad buys on motorcycles or in a fight in the jungle.

The situations the writers put these characters and actors into are imaginative and simply fun to watch. And as the story progresses, you watch them grow as persons, so this isn't just a movie about jokes, there's a message there, too.

When the movie was over, we discussed which version of Jumanji we liked best. My daughter and I thought we liked Welcome to the Jungle best. My wife thought she still liked the original best, despite having spent a good portion of Welcome to the Jungle giggling with the two of us. In my humble opinion, you get the adventure, the conflict, the danger, and the great characters of the original in this second film, but you get the added benefit of tons of laughter. And darn it, as much as I loved the late Robin Williams in the original, there was something really original about the casting of Johnson, Hart, and Black in Welcome to the Jungle.

If you want a movie where you can relax over a good laugh -- no, a great laugh -- definitely see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. You won't regret it. Giggles for the whole family.

Ready Player One: Something Spectacular You Need to See on a Big Screen

Movie Review: Ready Player One (2018)
Version: Theater ticket purchase

Being retired and thrifty, we rarely go to the theater to see a movie. When we go to the theater, it is to purposely see a film that is best seen on the big screen. Something larger than life, something spectacular, or something that can envelope you in its world by filling your vision with the screen. Such a film is Ready Player One.

Now, our daughter is really into video games and my wife and I are really into the sci-fi and fantasy genres, so this was all an added motivation to see this film. We were all well rewarded by the experience.

Ready Player One is the story about teen Wade Watts living in the harsh environs of the year 2045, when just about everyone escapes their ugly reality by playing video games using VR (virtual reality) technology. They become immersed in the gaming environment. You can be anyone going anywhere, playing any game. Watts chooses to escape in OASIS, described in IMDB as "created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday, who left his immense fortune and total control of the Oasis to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir." The inventor has buried an "easter egg" in the game, and capturing it is goal of the game, giving the winner access to Halliday's fortune and control of the game. To capture the easter egg, one must first find a series of keys, which unlock a variety of abilities. The problem is, everyone in the world is after this easter egg, including a multi-national billion-dollar corporation that has turned its considerable resources -- money and intellectual talent -- to researching and figuring out the mysteries of the game. Along Watt's journey to unlocking the mysteries himself, he meets competitive gaming friends, all disguised as characters that hide their real identities, to help him as they learn to team up to win this game together.

There are portions of the game where you meet the live analogs to the gaming characters, and none of them are what you expect. One of Watt's most bad-ass competitor friends turns out to be an 11 year old boy, who is tired of being dismissed for his young age but is a fearless ninja warrior in the game. Another is a teen girl who is unconfident in her person because of a facial blemish but who is fearsome in competition. Still another is a rad Black woman who poses as a bulky muscular Black dude. The fourth is a skinny Asian nerd whose avatar is a skilled warrior. Watts himself is an orphaned teen who lives in a junkyard community with his aunt and her abusive boyfriend, but his avatar is an awesome smooth talking, easily mobile dude who cannot fail. All are metaphors for kids with self doubts in the real world but find strength and courage and abilities in this amazing world of make believe, and together they are like superheroes whom the world learns to cheer on as they battle the evil corporate empire to win the game.

I'm not listing the actors in this film because they are secondary to the characters. Sure, the actors make the characters, but even more so does the animation. And besides the exceptional scripting that makes for excellent storytelling, here the storytelling really is brought to life by the amazing animation. You are transported to a fantastic universe of the imagination (and here I use the word "fantastic" in its literal meaning) through the animation. Speaking of "easter eggs", this film is full of them. There are tons of visual references to game and animated movie characters and worlds all over the place. The movie makers must have kept the intellectual property lawyers busy big time keeping track of all the references, some pointed and some merely in the background visuals. You may have to see this film a couple of times just to spot them all. Others are intentional, such as the use of the Iron Giant as a prop during the competition. But the sheer imagination used to create and maintain the narrative arc of this film is astounding.

There are also subtle backstory references in this film that fans of this genre of story may appreciate. Jack Rylance, who plays Halliday, has been in another film to which this part may be a vague homage. I won't tell you what it is -- see if you can figure out what it is. I didn't catch it, my wife did. It's another kind of easter egg, if you will. Aren't these the kinds of things, the little bits of extra meanings great film makers put into films that mean something to lovers of film, which tell you as a viewer or audience that they care deeply about what they are doing; as a story teller that you are in this together in revealing the truths told in the film?

To try to sum up how the three of us felt about this film, let me say it was a total hit. The story line, the setting, the characters, the universe in which it occurs, and the full embodiment in which you are wrapped in which to experience it were one wonderful experience in cinema. To me, you really need to see it on the big screen. Save that, see it on as large a screen as you can if you see in when it comes out on DVD -- get the BlueRay version. Immerse yourself in and become part of that universe. You will be glad you did. Oh, and keep your eye open for all the easter eggs.

Ready Player One is a fun romp, a joyous visual journey, and a meaningful trek into a greater truth. See it!

Lady Bird: Coming of Age? Human Interest? Or Just a Great Family Film?

Movie Review: Lady Bird (2017)
Version: Library borrow

Lady Bird is an exceptional film with great acting and a fine script. It has the feel of an independent film in which the characters are finely crafted over a deeply woven story. There are many emotional tugs among the many important characters, although Lady Bird is the main character and her main foil is her mother, Marion. So this is bumpy ride from many perspectives. But don't be fooled, Lady Bird isn't a tragedy, it has a happy ending.

The story is about a high school senior in a lower middle class family who yearns for a better, more glamorous life. Her name is Christine but she demands to be called Lady Bird. She is forced to attend a Catholic school but she deeply resents it. Her mother wants her to apply to in-state colleges but she wants attend East Coast Ivy League schools. She all but abandons her lifelong best friend for a shallow rich girl, even pretending to live in a home she has always dreamed was her home to garner acceptance. When she falls head-over-heels in love with Danny O'Neill, she is shocked to find out he is gay, and abandons him for a heart throb who turns out to be nothing like she expects. And then there's Lady Bird's family. Her mother is constantly on her case about achieving more and making better life choices. Her father is on her side, her only real anchor, but her mother berates their relationship. All comes crashing down around Lady Bird as she is forced to make the most important decisions in her life.

This is really a coming of age story, and it's played with great earnest by Saoirse Ronan as Lady Bird McPherson. She shows uncertainty and angst, engaging in mischief with ease. Then there's Marion, the embattled mother who takes on the world and the unruly daughter like a real trooper, played by Laurie Metcalf. Few play the irritable, force-of-nature mother like Metcalf. Bayne Gibby is adorable as best friend Casey and Lucas Hedges is interesting as the misunderstood gay Danny. Tracy Letts warms you over as the protective father, Larry. It's a great ensemble cast.

You might think this is a "girl's night out" movie, but it's really a great human interest movie about people who dream of living beyond their limited circumstances and the battle between generations. It would be easy to recast Lady Bird as a guy, changing the character's name, of course, and see the drama play out similarly. As such, this is a drama that families in general can relate to, and I recommend it for anyone with growing teens.