MOVIES, MOVIES, MOVIES!!!

I saw A Most Wanted Man today and felt compelled to write one of my mini-reviews. I then realized I had a list of 88 films I've seen over the last 15 months or so that I really should review. So, I decided to review the most recent four I've seen and the earliest four on my list. Oddly enough, 2 were written by John Le Carré.  So, here's my little offering. Perhaps the reviews will help you choose what you'd like to stream -- and perhaps you'll really disagree with me, so let's talk.


A Most Wanted Man

It's summertime, yet here's an intelligent movie for adults: a John Le Carré thriller starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman in a subtle, brilliant performance. Rachel McAdams, Willem Defoe, Grigoriy Dobrygin, and Robin Wright also deliver excellent performances. No guns are fired and no major cities are blasted to smithereens. It's all about spies and terrorism and "making the world a better place."

Ida

Ida is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I was mesmerized by this spare, terse, elegantly photographed Polish film. Set in 1962, it's the story of a young woman in a convent about to take final vows who learns she is actually a Jewish girl sent to the nuns to protect her when Hitler was ravaging Poland. For the first time in her life she comes face to face with the outside world and has her own version of an Amish rumspringa.

The Grand Seduction

So disappointing! Usually Brendan Gleason films blow me away (The Guard, In Bruges). Mr. Gleason does his best with a weak script that one reviewer called a cross between Local Hero (watch it if you've never seen it) and Waking Ned Devine. Set in Newfoundland (it won't make you want to go there), it's the story of a seen-better-days fishing village that needs to seduce a physician into making his home with them so they can get some conglomerate to build a factory. Really? Sadly, skip it.

Edge of Tomorrow

Sounds like a soap opera, but it's a Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller with a Groundhog Day plot. Like Bill Murray, Tom has a lesson to learn. In this film, it's how to eradicate the aliens who are ravaging the earth. It's a lot better than it sounds. No one does this kind of film better than Mr. Cruise, although he now seems to be on the down side of his boyish charm. Emily Blunt is amazing -- as she usually is -- as The Angel of Verdun -- a nod to the 100th anniversary of World War I. There is a lot of killing, but with aliens as disgusting as these, you get over it.

A Dangerous Method

I liked this much better than the Rotten Tomatoes Audience (only 50%).  Michael Fassbender (as Jung) can do no wrong and neither can Viggo Mortensen (Freud). People complained about Keira Knightley's performance as Jung's mentally disturbed patient, Sabrina Spielrein. But she succeeded in making me feel very uncomfortable in the way any severely mentally ill patient probably would.  She wasn't a tidied up mental patient. Definitely worth a look.

Carnage

Not so subtle satire makes this a delicious romp among the sort-of-privileged New Yorkers who try to get their kids into the right schools and try to make them behave (sort of). Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz (always amazing) have a grand time. Stream it some winter evening. You're bound to feel better about your parenting skills.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

I've read the book, I've seen the marvelous Alec Guinness mini-series -- I still didn't understand what was going on in this version.  I watched it a second time after reading a summary and felt a bit better, but that's a lot of work for a so-so movie.

The Iron Lady

Meryl Streep did a great job channeling Margaret Thatcher, but it wasn't enough to carry this movie. If it comes on cable, give it 20 minutes, and see if you like it.