The Lost City of Z was a movie with all the makings of a film I should love. I love a good adventure movie, and the idea of floating down a wooden raft in the Amazon River sounds like something I’d enjoy. I’m a big fan of John Grisham novels. Still, most law thrillers (except ones like A Time to Kill or The Firm, adapted into films) often tend to blend except for The Testament, a novel that was equal parts a big city courtroom as an Amazon Jungle adventure. I find something about the Amazon intriguing, almost like I can’t get enough of it, especially when it’s displayed onscreen as a true adventure story. This is precisely what James Gray’s (Two Lovers, The Yards) is.
Category Archives: Based on a True Story
Hidden Figures (2016)
I get knocked a little bit when I talk to my friends about Hidden Figures. The Ted Melfi (St. Vincent) directed movie based on the untold story of Katherine G. Johnson (Taraji P. Henson – Hustle & Flow, Four Brothers), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer – The Help, Snowpierecer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe – Moonlight, Made in America) as brilliant African-American women who were hired by NASA and who served as the brains behind the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race and galvanized the world. When I rip on the movie a bit, it is not because I think it is not good, but because it’s just a little too predictable and too PG for me. While I enjoy and recognize a movie based on a true story, I appreciate a darker, edgier movie. When I say a movie is too Disney for me, it has nothing to do with Disney. It concerns a movie being too toned down for my jaded self to appreciate. And, unfortunately, that’s my feeling on Hidden Figures.
Patriots Day (2016)
Too soon? Money grabber? These are two fair questions about the timing of Peter Berg’s (Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor) 2016 Patriots Day. The movie is based on the April 15, 2013, Boston City Marathon bombing, killing three people and wounding hundreds of others. It might seem too soon for a movie studio to be capitalizing on the tragic events of that day. For many, the event is still fresh in their minds. When I saw the trailer for this movie for the first time, I tended to agree. But after seeing this movie, I have changed my mind and instead will go with the mindset that if you’re going to make a movie out of a tragic event such as the Boston City Marathon bombing, you better get it right. And I’ll be the first to say that Berg and all those associated with this movie did get this right. It was a respectful movie that looked at the incident from various angles.
The Founder (2016)
As John Lee Hancock’s (Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side) progressed, I couldn’t help but compare his lead character, Ray Kroc (played by Michael Keaton – Spotlight, Birdman), to, perhaps, the most iconic television figure in the last 25 years. But, of course, I’m talking about Walter White from the AMC series Breaking Bad. Now, the founder of The McDonald’s Corporation certainly didn’t go to the extremes that Walter White did when he transferred himself from a quiet high school chemistry teacher to a ruthless, cutthroat drug Kingpin, intent on destroying everything in his path by any means necessary to get what he wants. Nevertheless, Hancock’s version of Kroc felt similar in that when we met him, he was a man of integrity, doing whatever he could within the confines of the law to make a living. But, by the film’s end, he is an entirely different man, caught up in his greed, power, and wealth. But, like White, he reaches a point where he feels virtually invincible to those around him and the laws of the land. And just like Breaking Bad, The Founder becomes a must-watch.
Lion (2016)
Prepare yourself. I’m unsure if I’ve had a movie theater experience with a more constant stream of tears since 1997’s Titanic. I know there have been movies that have scenes that have affected me more, and there have been home viewings where I don’t feel the same pressure to hold it together as I would in the theater. So, while I was having sort of a sentimental day before I engaged with this movie, for whatever reason, I was wiping away tears early and often in this movie. In some ways, it was eerily reminiscent of 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire. It starred Dev Patel (Chappie, HBO’s The Newsroom) and revolved around the story set, mostly in the present, with flashbacks to childhood memories in India. Much like the fantastic Slumdog Millionaire put Patel on the map for the first time, Lion will certainly launch him to leading man status for years. Though he didn’t appear on screen until the movie was about 40% over, he commanded every scene he was in from that point going forward to transform this movie from extraordinary to must-see. In a year where the top lead actors have portrayed characters riddled with guilt, doubt, regret, and self-loathing, Patel holds his own with the more accomplished Denzel Washington (Fences), Ryan Gosling (La La Land), and frontrunner Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea).