Movie Review The Meyerowitz Stories

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) 

Directed by Noah Baumbach 

Written by Noah Baumbach 

Starring Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Marvel

Release Date October 14th, 2017 

My friends and fellow podcasters on the "Everyone is a Critic" podcast like to joke about my disdain for Adam Sandler. They seem to believe that I harbor some personal grudge against the man. It’s not true but it makes for a funny running gag. In reality, I have a professional grudge against Adam Sandler, nothing personal. I am professionally irritated by Adam Sandler because he continually works so far below his talent.

That’s right, I believe Adam Sandler is talented. In fact, I believe Adam Sandler is remarkably talented. Unfortunately, he chooses to abandon his gifts in favor of a steady, high dollar paycheck and the chance to goof off with his friends. It’s irritating to me as a critic to watch a man I know can act pretending that he can’t. Make no mistake, Adam Sandler can act. When he works with a real director, one with vision and the ability to bend Sandler to his or her will, Sandler can deliver a genuine powerhouse performance. His new film, under the direction of Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories, reinforces my point.

In The Meyerowitz Stories, Adam Sandler plays Danny, a single father to a college-bound daughter, Eliza (Grace Van Patten), and the son a respected sculptor and professor, Harold Meyerowitz (Dustin Hoffman). Danny has a wonderful relationship with his daughter and a terribly fraught relationship with his father. Unfortunately for him, Eliza is leaving for college and having recently broken up with Eliza’s mother, Danny is going to stay with his dad and dad’s flighty gal-pal Maureen (Emma Thompson).

Danny has a sister named Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) and a half-brother, Matthew (Ben Stiller), whom his father adores and can’t resist mentioning in front of Danny. Where Danny has never had a job, he was essentially a house husband and father after abandoning his musical aspirations, Matthew has moved to Los Angeles and become a successful financial advisor to celebrities. That Matthew left to escape their father, is something Harold ignores, and Danny is unaware of.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Classic Movie Review The Remains of the Day

The Remains of the Day (1993) 

Directed by James Ivory 

Written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Harold Pinter 

Starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, Christopher Reeve 

Release Date November 5th 1993 

Published November 16th, 2023 

When I was growing up my perception of Merchant Ivory films was that they were homework. The names were synonymous with glowing critical reviews and awards shows. Merchant Ivory made prestige pictures and I was not a fan of prestige pictures. You could not have convinced me to watch a Merchant Ivory movie when I was a teenager. I would sooner give up soda and baseball cards than watch a movie like The Remains of the Day, a British post-war drama of quiet and methodical precision and melodrama. I would sooner stop playing Nintendo than watch a Merchant Ivory movie. I was as immature as any other teenager. 

But now I am an adult. I have more refined tastes. I watch foreign films and I write lengthy articles about the duality of the movie All About Eve or the hypnotic beauty and pacing of a Sophia Coppola movie. Surely, in middle age I will have reached a place where I find a Merchant Ivory movie appealing. Surely, an Oscar nominated film like The Remains of the Day will find new meaning for me as a grown man. But, Sadly, no. I find The Remains of the Day as tedious and boring as I likely would have as a teenager. I'm sorry, I just don't get what anyone sees in this movie. I've been told by older critics and friends of my mother, essentially boomers, that this is the height of sophisticated drama and I just don't buy it. 

The Remains of the Day stars Anthony Hopkins as Stevens, the head of the staff at stately Darlington Manor. He's a butler, just like his father before him and he takes pride in his position. Keeping an orderly house and a mannerly staff is a point of great pride for Stevens. And he values employees who feel a similar sense of pride. When he hires a new head maid, Miss Sarah 'Sally' Kenton (Emma Thompson), he finds a kindred spirit. She also values an orderly house and a well managed staff and together they serve the master of the house, The Earl of Darlington (James Fox). 

In flashback we are taken to prior to the start of World War 2. Darlington is the center of political intrigue. Big English politicians come to Darlington to quietly debate over what to do about the growing threat of Germany. We will come to find out that Lord Darlington is on the side of appeasement, a side that will not fare well when the war comes to England and will be nearly wiped out once the war ends. The other half of The Remains of the Day is set in post-war where Stephens is now working for a former American Congressman (Christopher Reeve) and he's seeking to rehire Sally who'd left years earlier over Lord Darlington's stance on appeasing the Germans. 

She was greatly upset when Lord Darlington welcomes German officials to the manor and prior to their arrival, he has Stephens fire a pair of young Jewish maids so as not to upset his visitors. The firing is a large part of what causes Sally to accept a proposal from a suitor, a middle-class businessman who offers her the chance to join him in opening an Inn. The other part of her reasoning is being upset with Stevens for willingly allowed the young and desperately poor maids to be fired. The rupture in their relationship becomes the subject of the final act of The Remains of the Day. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review What's Love Got to Do With It

What's Love Got to Do With It (2023) 

Directed by Shekhar Kapur 

Written by Jemima Khan 

Starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, Emma Thompson, Sajal Aly 

Release Date May 5th, 2023

Published May 4th, 2023 

What's Love Got to Do With It has some hard work to do to overcome a rote, predictable outcome. The film follows a documentary filmmaker, played by Lily Collins whose new documentary is about her Pakistani friend, played by Shazad Latif, going through the motions of an arranged marriage. She's supposed to document his marriage to a stranger arranged by a matchmaker but since this is a movie and both Collins and Latif are young and attractive, we know that the movie is arranging for them to be married. 

Knowing that, the movie needs to find a way to be charming while also being insanely predictable. The film has an uphill battle to try and build tension into a movie story that has no tension whatsoever. It can be done, most romantic comedies are built on a highly predictable conceit. The key to a modern rom-com is scribbling in the margins, creating laughs and charm amid the highly predictable machinations of a pre-destined ending. 

Zoe (Collins) doesn't believe in love. She's not a romantic, she's a pragmatist. When she tells fairy tales to her best friends daughters, her cracked fairy tales invariably find the female protagonist rejecting the Prince in favor of independence and adventure. Her retelling of The Princess and the Frog has the hero failing to kiss the frog, preferring to take her new talking frog on the road to show off for audiences. Hey, how cool would it be to have a talking frog, right? 

Zoe's conceptions of love and marriage are put to the test when her long time neighbor and friend, Kaz Khan tells her that he's agreed to see a matchmaker for an arranged marriage to a Pakistani woman, one approved of by his mother. His choice is fraught with backstory, Kaz's sister has been cast out of the family after she married a white man and had a child. Kaz's desire to be a good son to his traditional mother and grandmother drives his actions but it's clear his heart is not in this idea. 

Zoe is compelled to capture the wedding process on film after she finds out that her latest documentary idea, something dreary about war or famine or some such thing, has been rejected for being too bleak. Needing a pitch in a pinch, she pitches Kaz's arranged marriage process as a documentary and receives a greenlight from her producers. Getting Kaz's green light however, is a little harder, he's not exactly thrilled about this idea. He reluctantly agrees and the documentary becomes the bomb under the table, that McGuffin that threatens the status quo of Kaz's plans for his arranged marriage. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility (1995) 

Directed by Ang Lee 

Written by Emma Thompson

Starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman

Release Date December 13th, 1995

Published May 14th, 2011

Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility helps me get over my childhood fear of period chick flicks.

Movies are not living things; they don’t grow or change or evolve over time. Once a film is completed it will, generally speaking, be as it is forever. What does change? We do. We age and we mature and our intellect and tastes evolve over time. Our ever-evolving tastes and growing intellect can change the way we experience a movie.

It is with this in mind that I endeavor to look back 10, 20 and 30 years at some of the most well remembered movies of all time and see how my own evolving tastes affect the way I experience these movies. I invite you to join me on this unique journey and offer your own insights ever changing opinions.

Period Chick Flick

Were I to ask my 1995 self about Sense and Sensibility he would have dismissed it as a chick flick. I have no doubt that my naïve, headstrong younger self would have no time for period pieces. Choosing to seek out Sense and Sensibility today in all honesty was a random, flighty decision and not the academic pursuit of a mature film buff that I would have liked it to be.

Regardless of my curious motivations I’m glad I chose to watch this film. The story by Jane Austen transformed by the scripting of the intelligent and insightful Emma Thompson and elegantly captured by the astute camera of director Ang Lee is a cinematic feast.

No Place Like Home

The death of Mr. Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson in cameo) leaves his second wife and three daughters at the mercy of their well meaning but cowardly step-brother John (James Fleet) and his domineering wife Fanny (Harriet Walter). The new Mrs. Dashwood is eager to take hold of her husband’s inheritance, the estate on which Mother Dashwood (Gemma Jones) and her daughter have lived all their lives.

Seeing as neither Elinor Dashwood (Emma Thompson) nor her younger sister Marianne (Kate Winslet) have a suitor, or even a prospective suitor, who might rescue the Dashwood women from their circumstances they are quite lucky to have a distant relative who offers them a cottage on his land to live in.

Secrets and Love Triangles

It’s not that the Dashwood women aren’t desirable. Indeed, Elinor had recently caught the eye of Fanny’s brother Robert (Hugh Grant); an attraction Fanny made sure to interrupt. The mutual ardor between Robert and Elinor is something they both seem aware of but neither can bring themselves to speak of it. That Robert also has a secret that holds him back will be revealed as the story unfolds.

Once decamped to their new cottage home, and after they have weathered the good nature of their hosts the gregarious Sir John Middleton (Robert Hardy) and gossipy Mrs. Jennings (Elizabeth Spriggs), Marianne finds herself the object of the affection of two men; stoic and earnest Col. Brandon (Alan Rickman) and the dashing John Willoughby (Greg Wise).

Engaging and Entertaining

Romantic travails are the main subject of Sense and Sensibilities which doesn’t so much offer a plot as a group of characters and series of experiences. There is a good deal of waiting and wailing; horses and carriages; sewing and piano playing. What makes Sense and Sensibility engaging and entertaining is the witty dialogue and the charm of these wonderful actresses.

Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet have a tremendous sisterly chemistry punctuated by quick clever dialogue that sounds authentic to sisters. The fraught romances ring true to a period where feelings bubbled under masks of propriety and societal expectations. Yes, if certain characters were slightly more forthcoming it would alleviate a good deal of anguish but the characters sell the contrivance.

Elegant and Understated

Finally, Ang Lee’s elegant, understated direction perfectly captures the mood and romance of the period. As Roger Ebert points out in his more mixed review of Sense and Sensibility Ang Lee’s background makes him perfectly suited to give life to this material. Many people in Lee’s home country of China still live by a code of conduct very similar to that of Austen’s period.

There is a scene shortly after Elinor has fallen for Edward. He was supposed to visit the family in their new cottage but he does not come. Lee’s camera slowly backs away from Elinor as if to spare her from the piteous glare of the audience. The subtle suggestion of the camera to the audience that we should not witness Elinor in this way is very moving and evocative of a period where emotions were a great deal more guarded than they are today.

There are a number of subtle moments, like the one I just mentioned, throughout Sense and Sensibility. Lee’s direction is expert in its sensitivity and acute observation of these characters. There are flaws here; the film could stand a bit of a trim from the two hours and fifteen minute run time among other things, but that and other flaws are minor compared to the rich pleasures found in Sense and Sensibility.

Movie Review Late Night

Late Night (2019) 

Directed by Nisha Ganatra 

Written by Mindy Kaling

Starring Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Max Casella, Amy Ryan 

Release Date June 7th, 2019 

Published June 6th, 2019 

Emma Thompson delivers the most nuanced, engaging and charismatic performance of 2019 thus far in the new comedy Late Night. Written by and co-starring Mindy Kaling, Late Night stars Emma Thompson as Kate Newburn, a staple of American late night television, despite her British roots. Now in her late 50’s Kate has grown complacent and while she remains sharp, her show has grown stale and a network busybody, played by Amy Ryan, wants to replace her with a young, foul-mouthed comic, played by Ike Barinholz. 

The simple notion of Late Night, sold by the film’s trailer, is that Kate fires her male staff and hires Molly, played by Kaling, and their opposing personalities lead the show to renewed greatness. Thankfully, Late Night is far more unique and demanding than such easy to swallow fluff. Sure, Molly does shake things up among the roomful of Harvard educated, male comedy writers, including Hugh Dancy. Reid Scott and Max Casella, but only a couple of the unnamed writers actually get fired. 

What actually happens in Late Night is not so simple to describe. As much as Late Night is a genuinely funny and very engaging movie, its story is about the search for an authentic voice, a nuanced and not easily captured idea. Emma Thompson may have elements of Meryl Streep’s nasty 'The Devil Wears Prada' persona but there is a great deal more depth here. Thompson plumbs the depths of Kate Newburn and seeks a truth that applies both to the male dominated landscape of late night television and into something human and true about relationships, business, aging and love. 

John Lithgow plays Walter Newbury, Kate’s exceedingly educated house husband. Walter doesn’t go out much since the diagnosis of his disease. This however, is by design for both he and Kate as they are exceptionally private and insular people. Part of the journey of Late Night is forcing Kate out of that insular comfort zone and out into a world that changed around her while she stood still in the midst of depression and a few bad decisions. 

Mental and physical health, gender, and bad decisions are each a big part of Late Night. Emma Thompson combats each of these but not in a way that is simple. She may be the main protagonist of Late Night but that doesn’t stop her from being exceedingly prickly or narcissistic. It’s a journey for her to become a better person but part of who Kate is remains a narcissistic, attention seeking know-it-all. She gets better at being kind but she’s not becoming a saint and that makes the journey of Late Night so very authentic. 

I have barely made mention of Mindy Kaling, the other side of this double headed movie. Kaling’s Molly is rather underwritten. We know she doesn’t come from a comedy background, that she’s young and unafraid to say what is on her mind but in terms of actual incidents in Late Night, she’s mostly sidelined. Editing appears to have cut much of her romantic subplot opposite Dancy and Scott while her scenes with Kaling and Thompson are heavily charged, filled with back and forth, they are exclusively about Thompson’s character and not Molly. 

Kaling does provide a solid foil for Kate, a wide-eyed innocent in a cutthroat comedy industry but don't expect to learn much about her struggles, it's not her movie in the end. Molly's earnestness is the counterpoint to Kate’s stultifying cynicism and while we know Molly will win her over eventually, I enjoyed the ways in which the movie subverts expectations in Molly and Kate’s relationship by focusing on Kate. The script, written by Kaling, has a contempt for earnestness that I really appreciated and Thompson is at her best puncturing Molly’s enthusiasm. 

Late Night is funny because Emma Thompson makes Kate funny. She’s harsh and depressed and yet, razor sharp when she wants to be. Watching Molly see just how sharp she is off camera versus on camera is part of the plot of Late Night but, again, just making Kate speak her mind is too simple for this super-smart movie. Kate has to psychologically get out of her own way first before she can be authentic on her show and the pitfalls of that self-examination are at the heart of this brilliant little movie.

Movie Review: An Education

An Education (2010) 

Directed by Lone Scherfig

Written by Nick Hornby

Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson

Release Date February 5th, 2010

Published March 17th, 2010 

Wading through the “A Star is Born” hype surrounding Carey Mulligan in “An Education” is a bit of a chore. Coming to the movie late as I am; research is filled with endless paeans to her brilliance and innumerable comparisons of Carey Mulligan to Audrey Hepburn. If I sound a little bitter it has nothing to do with Ms. Mulligan's actual performance. It's that I find it hard to move about the muck of repeated praise and find my own feelings.

Carey Mulligan stars in “An Education” as Jenny, a 16-year-old with dreams of Oxford University and romantic sojourns to Paris with some lovely boy of her future. Jenny's parents, Jack and Marjorie (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour), don't mind Jenny’s daydreaming as long as it doesn't interfere with good grades and extracurricular activities such as band.

Jenny's first real distraction arrives in the form of a sports car and the charming cad inside. The cad is David and while he feigns interest in keeping Jenny’s cello from getting wet in the rain, his real interest is apparent to everyone. Jenny is naïve but not unaware. She accepts the ride home and is soon accepting much more.

David offers Jenny the life she has daydreamed about; including that romantic Parisian adventure. Meanwhile he charms her parents so thoroughly that he could have his way with Jenny in their home if he chose to. If 35-year-old David's designs on 16-year-old Jenny weren't troubling enough, he has even more sinister secrets waiting to be revealed.

“An Education” was directed by Lone Scherfig, a Danish director making her English language debut. Scherfig shows that a young girl coming of age is a relatively universal story no matter your country of origin. Many a beautiful young girl will find elements of their own lives reflected in Jenny's wide eyed willingness to be seduced. The allure of the older man, with the daddy issues inherent, is yet another seemingly universal story reflected in “An Education.”

The script from Nick Hornby, only his second screenplay, the first not based on his own work, is bittersweet, intelligent and warm in its way. Jenny's life at home is not miserable or drab, just realistically dull, as seen from the perspective of a 16-year-old girl. Hornby does a terrific job of balancing the dull home life with the adventurous life with David, never making either seem overly hellish or overly romantic.

Ms. Mulligan is a radiant presence who never overplays Jenny's youth or faux worldliness. Her talent with Jenny is capturing the moment and one in particular stands out. In a nightclub with David and his friends after a night at the symphony, Jenny smokes her first cigarette. Watch the way she balances Jenny's embarrassment with a desperate attempt to look like she belongs. It's a little detail but so knowing and a great instinctual acting moment. None of the other characters had taken notice, well aware of how young she really is, but Jenny knew and that's what Ms. Mulligan knew.

Carey Mulligan adds these seemingly minor but brilliant touches throughout “An Education.” Her supporting cast is right there with her. Peter Sarsgard has not been this good since his degenerate performance in Zach Braff's, “Garden State.” Alfred Molina deserves an Oscar nomination for his controlled doddering as Jenny's dad and Cara Seymour is the quiet soul of the film, supportive, frightened but stalwart and trusting.

It's a fabulous cast and a very well told story. So what is holding back my appreciation? There is a musty quality to “An Education.” The film is set in the 60's so, of course, the filmmakers want to give a feel for the time, I get that. What I am talking about is content not quality; it's an exceptional re-creation of period. My issue is the values and ideas of the film that feel old and dated. The link that baby boomers have to Paris as the embodiment of sophistication and romantic adventure is severed for my generation. We are more likely to think of New York or even London before Paris. The idea makes the film feel old, even if it is true for the character and her time.

Emma Thompson's cameo as an officious schoolmarm holds one of the film's other pitfalls. As she shoulders her way into the film as a representation of an authority the film simply doesn't need, Ms. Thompson’s cameo sticks out, calls attention to itself.

Finally, in the third act another actress is employed to force the ending back to an acceptable place for the simple audience. Olivia Williams plays a teacher with convenient sympathies and paves the way to a much easier ending than what may have been true for the situation.

These are minor quibbles really. “An Education” is in so many ways a brilliant movie, maybe one of the best of the year. Just, be forewarned if you are approaching “An Education” based on the amazing hype you may come away as slightly disappointed as I am.

Movie Review Pirate Radio

Pirate Radio/The Boat That Rocked (2009) 

Directed by Richard Curtis

Written by Richard Curtis

Starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Emma Thompson

Release Date April 1st, 2009 

Published November 12th, 2009 

Oh how sad, a good premise gone bad. Pirate Radio has a sensational premise. Set in 1966 it tells the story of a Rock N' Roll radio station moored off the shores London. Why is the radio station on a ship in the Atlantic? Because 1966 was the year that rock music was banned in the UK. Brilliant subversives took the cause of rock n roll to the sea and broadcast rock, soul and pop tunes to millions.

If you think the premise is good, how about the fact that Pirate Radio is written and directed by Richard Curtis, the brilliant mind behind Four Weddings and A Funeral and Love Actually, with a cast that includes Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, January Jones and Emma Thompson. How could this have gone so very, very wrong?

Pirate Radio tells the story of some heroic music lovers. Quentin (Bill Nighy) is the fun loving; sea-faring owner of Rock Radio, the most listened to pirate radio station on the high seas. His ratings are high thanks to an American DJ known as The Count (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and a collection of oddball jocks including failed comic Angus (Rhys Darby), shy morning guy Simon (Chris O'Dowd) and ladies man Dave (Nick Frost).

Together they roll the high seas rocking, drinking and engaging in general debauchery. Or so we are told, one of the failings of Pirate Radio is how often the film leaves the best stuff off screen. This is supposed to be a movie about rock radio in the 60’s. Girls, drugs, booze, sex. And yet, we rarely see any of it. It's one thing to imply wild, rock n'roll good times but Pirate Radio can't even imply good times well enough.

Into this allegedly wild environment young Carl (Tom Sturridge) arrives. Kicked out of school for some reason, Carl's mom (Emma Thompson) sends him to stay with Quentin who may or may not be his father. What Carl or his new roommate, known to everyone on the boat as Thick Kevin (Tom Brooke) , do in exchange for staying on the boat is anyone’s guess.

Then again, motivation for any of these characters is lacking throughout Pirate Radio. So truncated is the character development in Pirate Radio that scenes arrive, exist and disappear seemingly at random. One moment a character is on the radio and in the next he's sitting around with the other DJ's laughing and drinking and while it's all congenial, even occasionally funny, there isn't much of anything going on.

Tension is supposed to build with the arrival of a new DJ named Gavin (Rhys Ifans) but again we aren't sure why. Yes, he's cocky and dismissive but we know too little about him or the people he rubs the wrong way to care why anyone is so terribly upset. Gavin is initiated in a bizarre contest with the Count that wastes a good 10 minutes of screen time.

Kenneth Branagh, playing the necessary villain as the officious government prat Sir Allistair Dormandy, is the only actor to discover his character's purpose. Though his proper British stiff is well lampooned he too lacks nuance beyond repeatedly defining himself as a jerk. At least he has a definition. Branagh's put upon assistant Mr. Twatt, yes you read that right, is a one note joke that gets less funny each time it is uttered.

There may be a behind the scenes reason for the complete failure of Pirate Radio. The film was released 8 months ago in England; then called The Boat That Rocked. The film was 20 or so minutes longer and allegedly had a lot more character stuff. Maybe, just maybe, there is something in there to explain the actions of these characters and give them depth beyond the caricatures. Then again, as it is Pirate Radio feels over long; making the film longer has rarely improved any movie.

Then again, there is a rumor that the original didn't have this version's prolonged, shipwreck of an ending, or at least didn't linger on it as much as this version does. That could definitely be an improvement. No matter what the first version of Pirate Radio/The Boat that Rocked looked like this version stinks out loud.

Movie Review Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction (2006) 

Directed by Marc Forster 

Written Zach Helm 

Starring Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson

Release Date November 10th, 2006

Published November 8th, 2006 

Director Marc Forster is an exceptionally underrated director. In four features he has yet to make a less than brilliant movie, how many directors can say that. The resume is extraordinary. Monster's Ball, which won an Oscar for Halle Berry, a feat that looks more and more amazing with each ensuing performance from Ms. Berry. Finding Neverland, the J.M Barrie bio with the equally brilliant Johnny Depp, was a deserving Best Picture nominee.

Then there is the curious sci fi thriller Stay. This ingenious, marvelously directed film divided critics and met with complete audience indifference. For me Stay was a revelation and one of the best films of 2005.

Forster's latest is another movie that is dividing critics and only catching a modest audience. Stranger Than Fiction, starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson, couldn't be any more different from Stay. This wonderfully wordy, literate, deadpan comedy has a complicated premise that is executed with breezy ease and light hearted intelligence. It's just simply a terrific little movie.

Will Ferrell stars in Stranger Than Fiction as Harold Crick. Harold is an IRS agent with a penchant for counting everything from steps to the strokes of his toothbrush. Harold's life is regimented, scheduled and timed to the minute. Timing becomes a crucial aspect of Harold's life as his unique wrist watch begins mixing up his life. Of course if a wacky wrist watch were Harold's only problem, he'd be happy.

Along with the wacky watch Harold has begun hearing a voice. Not voices, mind you, but a single voice that happens to be narrating his every move. Harold does what comes naturally in a situation like this, he consults a psychiatrist who immediately diagnoses him a schizophrenic. Unconvinced, Harold pleads for help in a more literary fashion to explain why his life is being narrated.

Enter professor Jules Hibbert (Dustin Hoffman) , a literary professor with a keen insight into narration and the art of the novel. Hibbert also believes that Harold is crazy until he hears the words ``Little did he know '',  a literary device that professor Hibbert has written volumes on. The phrase leads Hibbert to help Harold find his narrator and devine whether Harold is trapped within a comedy or a tragedy.

Parallel to Harold's story is that of novelist Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson). A long respected writer, Ms. Eiffel is dealing with a case of writer's block so severe that her publisher has assigned an assistant (Queen Latifah) to keep her on track. Karen happens to be the narrator that Harold is looking for and her writer's block is a function of her inability to decide how to kill Harold Crick.

Writer Zak Helm came up with this wonderfully quirky story but it is director Marc Forster who gives it a visual life. Using various visual devices to lay out Harold's quirks and Karen's fantasies, Forster takes an exceptionally literary story and gives it texture and its own very unique reality. The story of Stranger Than Fiction is a bit of a mindbender at times but Forster manages to make it accessible, even comfortable and easy to follow for those willing to follow the movie's unique brand of logic.

Will Ferrell is terrific as the downbeat, average Joe Harold. Known more for his wildside, Ferrell indulges his rarely seen mild side to craft Harold as a believable character in an unbelievable situation. When Harold does come out of his shell and expresses his exasperation in more typically Will Ferrell ways, he manages to remain true to the character while delivering a few of the kinds of laughs we expect from a Will Ferrell character.

Maggie Gyllenhaal shows up in Stranger Than Fiction as Ana, the unlikely love interest for Harold. The romance in Stranger Than Fiction unfolds in the most wondrous of ways. Harold, unable or unwilling to approach Ana, has this crush thrust upon him by the narrator who leads him into the romance and then leaves him to cultivate it on his own. Harold is far from a natural romantic and the relationship develops strangely but in the most lovely of ways.

What I loved about Stranger Than Fiction is how smart it is about literature and literary conceits. The way Dustin Hoffman, as the literary professor Harold speaks to his narrator, speaks of the phrase 'little did he know', how he could write reams of papers about that phrase and its role in literature, its various meanings and interpretations. Part of the wonder is the way Hoffman delivers this line, with impish gleam in his eyes and boundless enthusiasm, but a bigger part is the truth of why he and we find it such a wondrous phrase.

Director Marc Forster's approach to Stranger Than Fiction was to create unusual characters and a universe in which those characters can exist in their own reality. A reality similar to our own but with its own unique beat. Compare Forster's approach to the one note approach of director Ryan Murphy in the film Running With Scissors, a film that wants a similar note of eccentricity but ends up just crafting weird characters being weird without regard to the world that formed them. 

Movie Review Love Actually

Love, Actually 2003 

Directed by Richard Curtis

Written by Richard Curtis 

Starring Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley

Release Date November 7th, 2003 

Published November 4th, 2003 

In Hollywood, the romantic comedy has been beaten to death by clichés and predictable, cookie-cutter plotting. For fans of the genre, our only solace comes when Working Title Films out of Britain releases yet another ingeniously witty, romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis. The man wrote Four Weddings and A Funeral and Notting Hill, and adapted the screenplay for Bridget Jones's Diary. Now, stepping behind the camera for the first time, Curtis shows he could be an industry all to himself writing and directing hit romantic comedies forever. His seemingly endless wit is once again on display in Love Actually, an epic romance if only for the names in its cast.

There are so many different actors and plots in Love Actuallythat it's difficult to condense, so I will lay out the best of the numerous plots individually. Hugh Grant has the best part as the newly-elected British Prime Minister. The film is set apparently sometime in the near future and there are some very funny moments where the script takes loving shots at current real-life Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

As the new prime minister prepares for the arrival of the American President, he begins a flirtation with his tea server Natalie (newcomer Martine McCutcheon). Curtis does an excellent job in balancing the job of prime minister with the script’s flights of romantic fantasy. When the American President arrives, a priceless cameo that I won't spoil, Grant's Prime Minister is allowed to have a point of view on world politics, especially Britain's perceived position as America's bitch, where less courageous directors would have glossed over any actual politics.

Laura Linney has another terrific part as a shy American transplant who is constantly glued to her cell phone. She is nursing a serious crush on one of her co-workers, a crush that everyone in her office from her boss (Alan Rickman) to the bitchy secretary knows about. Even the object of her affection knows about her feelings but is waiting for her to act. This subplot is bittersweet because Linney has a secret that is linked to her constantly ringing cell phone. It's another great piece of work by Linney who has long been one of my favorite actresses.

The most romantic of all the plots involves Colin Firth as a writer who moves away to France after finding his wife cheating with his brother. After moving into his French villa, he hires a maid named Aurelia (Lucia Moniz). The two have an interesting working relationship because Aurelia is Portuguese and doesn't speak a word of English. Their attempts at communicating are sweet and funny moments of misunderstanding. This plot shouldn't work but it does because of the subtle complicated work of Colin Firth. The plot is rushed and predictable but Firth is so winning you can't help but cheer for his happiness.

That is only a minor brushing of the characters in Love Actually, each of the characters I already mentioned have connections to other characters who have their own subplots. Emma Thompson plays Rickman's wife who wonders if her husband is cheating on her. Liam Neeson shows up as a widower left to raise a 10 year old stepson. Keira Knightley is a newlywed who has a secret admirer who happens to be her husband's best man. Bill Nighy plays an aging rocker, modeled on Mick Jagger, whose awful Christmas song plays throughout the film. The song, a holiday reworking of the pop standard “Love Is All Around '' is intentionally bad and Nighy's character freely admits it and his honesty makes the song defiantly a hit.

And there are still more plots I don't have the time or patience to describe. The cast is unwieldy but Curtis finds an almost awe-inspiring way of giving each time to develop and be resolved in ways that are satisfying and funny. Towards the end, just when you think there is no way to resolve all of these plot strands Curtis returns to a piece of dialogue from Hugh Grant's opening voiceover and uses it to unite the entire cast and make a grand point about the nature of love and life. It's a work of subtle brilliance that will cause audience members to leave the theater smiling at the conclusion of the film.

This is a wonderfully exuberant film filled with music, love, and romance that is never saccharine. That wonderful British wit is always in place and keeps the plot from spilling over into super sweetness. Something about the British accent that makes even the most wildly over-the-top flights of fancy seem smart and meaningful. This is one excellent romantic comedy from the last group of producers, director, and actors that can do it right.

Movie Review Men in Black International

Men in Black International (2019) 

Directed by F. Gary Gray 

Written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway 

Starring Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rafe Spall 

Release Date June 14th, 2019 

Published June 13th, 2019 

Men in Black International stars Tessa Thompson as Molly. As a kid, Molly witnessed the mythic Men in Black neuralyzer her parents after their home was invaded by an alien. Molly avoided the mind erasing and developed a single-minded obsession with finding aliens and becoming part of the Men in Black. Cut to adult Molly and she is still seeking the Men in Black. She has dedicated her life to finding her way into the super-secret secret agency and her opportunity has finally arrived.

Molly uses her computer hacking skills to locate an alien that is returning to Earth, with a nod to the Weekly World News tabloid, a callback to the original 1997 movie which posited tabloid alien stories as real stories. Molly's investigation stumbles over the MIB HQ and she invites herself inside. Once inside, after a chat with Emma Thompson’s MIB boss, a character introduced in MIB3, she gets Molly a probationary gig as an agent.

As Agent M, Molly is assigned a task in the London office where she will be partnered with long-time agent, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth). Agent H is a bit of a washout. Something happened the last time that he saved the world and he’s never really recovered. Since then, he’s bounced around from case to case, narrowly avoiding being killed and generally being a pain in the backside for his boss and former partner, Agent T (Liam Neeson), cheekily referred to as High T.

Together, Agents M and H go on a worldwide whirlwind that takes the duo from London to Morocco, to the lair of a criminal dealing in Alien technology, Riza, played by Rebecca Ferguson, and to Paris where the Eiffel Tower serves as a bridge for the worst aliens in the world to attempt an invasion that is being coordinated by a rogue MIB agent. M and H must find the rogue Agent and prevent the alien invasion while overcoming M’s inexperience and H’s broken spirit.

The story I have described for Men in Black International sounds like a story that should work. The arcs are clear with M pursuing her dream and overcoming her inexperience and H seeking redemption while not being sure of what needs redeeming. It’s not a special story but if you build in good gags and solid action and effects, this is a good enough structure to support them. Sadly, director F Gary Gray brings absolutely nothing new or fresh or funny to his take on MIB.

Men in Black International differs from the original, 1997 Men in Black by not being particularly funny. Neither Thompson or Hemsworth appears interested in being funny, each appears to be waiting for the movie around them to be funny and it never happens. Kumail Nanjiani, playing an alien, nicknamed Pawny, is the closest thing to a character that is genuinely funny but the laughs remain few and far between.

The only innovation that the makers of Men In Black International bring to bear on the MIB franchise is moving the action from New York City to London and several other international locations. Beyond that, the aesthetic of Men in Black has not changed much in 22 years. The ending of the first Men in Black had more innovation than this modern sequel and all that did was update the suits to high fashion and put Will Smith in a more modern car.

If anything, Men in Black International is a step backward for the franchise. That’s odd since the MIB3 literally traveled into the past and felt more modern than International. Men in Black International looks like Men in Black in every way which is fine for a sequel but the movie doesn’t innovate on the franchise in any way. Without bringing something fresh to the franchise and without being funny, Men in Black International struggles to justify its very existence.

Men in Black International is a bizarre failure. We know that Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth are funny, we saw that in Thor Ragnarok. And yet, there is no evidence of their humor in Men in Black International. Thompson is remote and occasionally withdrawn, delivering a perfunctory approximation of the uninspired script. Hemsworth meanwhile, rehashes pretty boy cliches that weren’t all that funny in Ghostbusters or the Vacation reboot and certainly don’t feel fresh here.

Men in Black International is professionally made. The film looks as if it should be entertaining. There is nothing wrong from a cinematography or design perspective and yet the movie is lifeless. The cast is going through the motions of a story that isn’t anything special and without any big laughs, Men in Black International just lingers on screen going through the motions of a very average action movie.

A good example of the failure and lack of inspiration in Men in Black International are the film's villains. Les Twins, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois play characters literally referred to as Alien Twin 1 and 2. The pair is known for their innovative dance videos on YouTube and yet we get barely a sample of what makes the twins special. A scene in a nightclub is intended to give them a showcase but the scene is clumsily shot and the dancing is blink and you will miss it. 

The twist is that a rogue MIB agent is the true big bad which explains why the Twins have no real characters to play but then why include them at all? The inclusion of Les Twins in Men in Black International is further evidence of the mercenary, marketing driven motivation behind this lifeless, soulless rehash of a well known property. The makers of Men in Black International hired Les Twins for their high social media profile and not to actually use them to serve a story being told. 

Why was this movie made? If the makers of Men in Black International had nothing new to say with this inventive premise then why did they make this movie? It appears to have been a purely mercenary effort on all sides. Everyone in the cast and crew appears to have been on hand solely to pick up a paycheck and deliver the absolute minimum effort with the only goal being to capitalize on a well known intellectual property.