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.
Category Archives: 2016
Elle (2016)
Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Total Recall) Elle opens with a scene that even the most jaded person would find difficult to watch. Whenever we see a rape scene on the big screen, we are mortified. Rape is a crime we abhor and, next to murder, the one we find most unacceptable in society. To start a movie with a brutal rape sets the immediate somber tone of the movie and, ironically, a tone that we often get away from. There are so many genres in this French-subtitled film. It can be classified as drama, romance, suspense, thriller, revenge, mystery, and even comedy. I’d be lying if I said I understood every component of this movie without having to do some research for it afterward. The older gentleman didn’t have that problem and began clapping as we rolled to the credits. I saw this film because Isabelle Huppert (Things to Come, Amour) is a lock for a Best Actress Academy Award nomination after winning a Golden Globe. I think she has a solid chance to win. Natalie Portman (Jackie) and Emma Stone (La La Land) are her only real competition.
Live by Night (2016)
For the last three or four years, I hope Ben Affleck can be our generation’s Clint Eastwood. Affleck has completely transformed himself into a Hollywood A-lister. With a career that began with Kevin Smith movies like Mallrats and Chasing Amy, Affleck became a household name when he won an Academy Award (best original screenplay) for Good Will Hunting, a film in which he co-starred with Matt Damon. Affleck then stars in big-budget blockbusters such as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and The Sum of All Fears. But after he started dating Jennifer Lopez and co-starred with her in both the forgettable Jersey Girl and Gigli, a movie that many people have called one of the worst movies ever made, his perception as an actor began taking a turn for the worse. Forgettable money grabbers like Daredevil, Paycheck, and Surviving Christmas accompanied tabloid fodder, and seemingly, in the blink of an eye, Affleck became sort of a joke in Hollywood circles.
Passengers (2016)
Passengers is one of those movies that interest you, and it would be better served if you looked at the audience score rather than the critics’ scores. A 30% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes would suggest skipping this one. However, a 70% audience score suggests something more. This was one of my most anticipated movies of the year. Plus, I try to see everything. But even I was skeptical when I saw how it was getting panned by so many different critics. Even my most respected site (Roger Ebert) only gave the movie 1.5 stars. But I talked to a couple of other people who go to the movies a lot, and they said, despite some holes, that they recommended it. The only thing I knew about Passengers going in (I never saw a trailer) was that it starred Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, Joy) and that they were lost in space. And while I suppose there were holes in this movie, they didn’t deter my enjoyment of it. The parts that I found more troublesome than anything else were the personal emotions and the relationship between the two leads, and I didn’t even have a problem with that.
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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).