Movie Review The Last Word

The Last Word (2017) 

Directed by Mark Pellington 

Written by Stuart Ross Fink 

Starring Amanda Seyfried, Shirley MacLaine 

Release Date March 3rd, 2017

Published April 13th, 2017 

Shirley MacLaine is a national treasure. Sure, I don’t like several of her films but when she’s good, there are few better. Don’t believe me? Watch “The Apartment” and then try to tell me I am wrong. MacLaine is in the twilight of her career and with her new movie “The Last Word” she has decided to write the last chapter of her career in glorious fashion.

“The Last Word” stars Shirley MacLaine as Harriet Lauson, a lonely, bitter woman whose control freak tendencies have driven away most everyone in her life. After a failed suicide attempt, Harriet stumbles across the obituaries page of her local paper and wanting the chance to control even her death, she decides to go to the paper to start the process of writing her obituary, so she can make sure she gets the last word on what is said about her.

Ann (Amanda Seyfried) is the paper’s obituary writer, a lonely but quite talented writer who lacks the courage to strike out on her own. When Ann meets Harriet, they don’t exactly hit it off but it’s only a matter of time before Harriet’s unique life and domineering personality begin to inspire Ann. After hearing that most of the people in her life despise her, Harriet decides to change her life completely to change her story and what a story it turns out to be.

I will leave the rest of the plot for you to enjoy. Shirley MacLaine is a joy to behold as Harriet makes one oddball choice after another to give herself the obituary and indeed the life she truly wants. As I write this, the story does sound clichéd but trust me when I tell you that MacLaine is so delightful that it doesn’t matter if the story seems overly familiar.

Amanda Seyfried’s job in “The Last Word” is mostly reacting to the bizarre twists and turns of MacLaine’s Harriet but she does put a nice spin on that role. Seyfried seems at times in awe of MacLaine and it feeds well into the character who, though she may not be in awe of Harriet, she’s at least consistently surprised by her new friend’s sudden evolution from crotchety old hag to fun loving yet still domineering, hipster.

Director Mark Pellington makes the smart choice to just let MacLaine drive the train. There is nothing special about the direction of “The Last Word,” but just allowing MacLaine to take the lead fits the character and the movie quite well. MacLaine’s Harriet is the dominant force for everyone around her so it makes sense that MacLaine’s performance dominates the film.

“The Last Word” is funny and sweet, sad at times, yes but with a genuine heart and wit behind the sadness. It’s a film about age and the cruelty of time and about a woman who refused to be defined by that time. In many ways that reflects MacLaine who has approached aging in Hollywood with wit and aplomb. MacLaine’s wit is as strong as ever in “The Last Word” and I recommend you enjoy it while you can.

Movie Review Get Out

Get Out (2017) 

Directed by Jordan Peele 

Written by Jordan Peele 

Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener, Stephen Root, Lil Rel 

Release Date February 24th, 2017

Published February 23rd, 2017 

There isn’t much to write about “Get Out,” the new horror-thriller from writer-director Jordan Peele. Not that “Get Out” isn’t brilliant, it is and I am happy to write that. No, I just don’t want to spoil the myriad pleasures of “Get Out” by telling you too much about it. The film’s trailer gives away too much already, a full-scale review would likely only take away from what should be a surprising, shocking, funny, and edgy ride that Jordan Peele has concocted.

“Get Out” stars newcomer Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a TSA employee and budding photographer who is nervous about the upcoming weekend. Chris is headed to Connecticut to meet his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. This would-be nerve wracking for anyone but Chris has the extra edge of being a young black man who is dating a young white woman, Rose (“Girls” star Allison Williams), who hasn’t told her parents who is coming to dinner.

While Rose assures Chris that her parents won’t care about his ethnicity, Chris’s best friend Rod (Lil Rel Howery, stealing the whole movie) instructs his friend not to go. Putting aside Rod’s seemingly comical warning, Chris loves Rose and figures one weekend in Connecticut won’t kill him. Upon arriving at the Armitage estate, Chris meets the parents, Dean (Bradley Whitford) and Missy (Catherine Keener), each extra awkward in their overly ingratiating, white liberal manner; Dean assures Chris he would have voted for Obama a third time minutes after meeting him. 

Things quickly get weird however when Chris is introduced to the help, Georgina (Betty Gabriel) and Walter (Marcus Henderson). While Chris assumes that fellow black people will make him feel more comfortable, Georgina and Walter are anything but welcoming. In fact, there is something quite menacing in their manner. The pair act and speak like aliens inhabiting the bodies of black people with nothing familiar about them.

I will stop with the plot description there as to avoid any potential spoilers. I can say however that the portrayals of Georgina and Walter are some of the most biting and universal satire we’ve seen in some time. Walter and Georgina implicate all of us from Chris to each member of the audience in the way we expect people to be one way. We expect Georgina and Walter to have familiar, stereotypical traits. We may not know what those traits are specifically but each of us has a model for Georgina and Walter to live into and it is disturbing when they don’t live into it, for us and for Chris.

White liberal guilt is in for quite a workout in “Get Out” as the film takes a few sharps stabs at the ways in which those who don’t consider themselves racist pat ourselves on the backs for the ways we aren’t racist. Newsflash, you are not supposed to be a racist. You don’t get a cookie simply for being better than those who would commit hate crimes. “Get Out” is a perfect jab right to the consciousness of the complacent masses who believe simply having elected a black President has made this a post-racial society.

Don’t be mistaken however, the politics are much subtler and implied in “Get Out” than in the outward example I am giving you here. “Get Out” is first and foremost a horror thriller that uses race as a catalyst. Jordan Peele has said in interviews that he simply wanted to make a movie he’d never seen before and he’s certainly created something original. “Get Out” has horror beats and even a touch of science fiction, often the best genres for subtle satire, but it’s also brilliantly funny, channeling the incredibly sharp wit of its creator.

Again, I don’t want to give anything away about “Get Out.” With that said, I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that Lil Rel Howery steals this whole movie. Howery, a stand-up comedian by trade, is put in place as comic relief but just wait, Peele fills out this character in ways that the Coen Brothers might appreciate. Watching Howery I was reminded, in a rather obscure way, of John Goodman’s Walter in “The Big Lebowski.” You will need to see the movie to understand why I say that and probably need to be a huge Coen Brothers fan as well, nevertheless, Howery deserves the praise of the comparison.

“Get Out” ranks next to “Split” as one of the best movies I have seen in the last 12 months. That each has arrived so early in 2017 is a wonder, we usually aren’t this well spoiled so early in the year. Usually, the first two months of any year Hollywood clears the shelves of the dreck they are contractually obligated to release. Does this mean 2017 will be better than any other year? No, but at the very least we have two early masterworks to enjoy for the rest of the year. 

Movie Review Get Low

Get Low (2009) 

Directed by Aaron Schneider 

Written by Chris Provenzano, C Gaby Mitchell, Scott Seeke 

Starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Sissy Spacek, Lucas Black, Lee Cobb

Release Date July 30th, 2009 

Published July 29th, 2009 

“Get Low” is some kind of miracle of modern movie-making. No, the film doesn't change the way you look at movies. Rather, “Get Low” is a throwback to a time before bombast took over cinema. “Get Low” reaches back to a time when acting and storytelling dominated over the urge to constantly goose the audience with effects. In this day and age, that qualifies as a miracle.

”Get Low” stars Robert Duvall as Felix Bush, a hermit living in some unknown, early 1900's wilderness on the edge of a small town. Within that town are residents who believe Felix is just a crazy old hermit and everyone seems to have a story about being threatened by the crazy old man with the wild eyes and ratty beard.

After being informed of the death of a former friend, Felix decides that his time is drawing near as well. Felix decides that it's time to get low but before he goes he wants to attend his own funeral. Carrying out Felix's final wishes are the local funeral home proprietor Mr. Quinn (Bill Murray) and his young assistant Buddy (Lucas Black).

While Quinn is eager for the old hermit's wad of balled up money, Buddy is worried for Felix and wants to know why he is so eager to get busy dying. Buddy is the stand in for those of us who find Felix's motivations morbid yet oddly fascinating. Felix is even more intriguing than his final wishes imply; he carries a deep dark secret that relates somehow to an old flame, Mattie Darrow (Sissy Spacek).

I will leave you to discover Felix's secret and I will only say that it is a stunner of a payoff and yet not a thrilling shock but rather a resigned, unfortunate tale related with such skill by Duvall that you will struggle to hold back tears. Duvall has long been an actor of awesome, earnest strength but “Get Low” is the first time, arguably, since his Oscar winning turn in “Tender Mercies” that he has been this moving.

When Duvall shares the screen with Sissy Spacek “Get Low” takes on an effortlessly romantic air that never plays ironic or creepy. Yes, these are two older people but there is no joking about sex or winking about their romantic prospects being that they are old. Instead, “Get Low” offers scenes of such tenderness most modern movies featuring the young beautiful cannot hope to match.

The revelation of “Get Low” is Lucas Black. To this point in his short career Black's biggest credit had been the “Fast and the Furious” pseudo sequel “Tokyo Drift.” Needless to say, that performance said little about Black's ability as an actor, other than his ability to look blandly handsome. In “Get Low” Black demonstrates earnest vulnerability, humor and caring that never lapses.

Bill Murray is, well, Bill Murray. The former SNL and “Ghostbusters'' star has become one of the most consistently ingenious actors working today. Whether he is playing himself for laughs in “Zombieland” or playing romantic, longing, drama in the little seen but utterly glorious “Broken Flowers,” Murray finds new beats to play within what we expect of Billy Murray. In “Get Low” Murray may be expected to be a huckster, and he kind of is, but by the end of Get Low Murray's Mr. Quinn is as steady and good-hearted as anyone.

Don't let me mislead you, Murray and the rest in “Get Low” do earn laughs. The film has a great sense of humor, one that offers laughs that come organically from characters who aren't trying to be funny, they just are. Robert Duvall gets laughs from his temperamental performance that seems coiled for an explosion of crazy and then surprises with gentility and soul. Sissy Spacek is magical with her wide smile and big eyes, she exudes warmth and then when hurt she changes the temperature of the film and you feel everything she feels.

This is what great actors do, they draw you in, surprise you, move you and can devastate and restore you all in the space of three acts. Given a great script as these actors are given in “Get Low,” by writers Chris Provenzano and Gaby Mitchell, this wondrous ensemble does all of the above and more. 

”Get Low” is directed with a shambling good nature by Aaron Schneider who also edited the film. He is not the most likely of directors, his training was as a cinematographer for little seen TV shows. Yet, Mr. Schneider delivers in “Get Low” a pro level performance. Schneider's low watt direction and great eye for deteriorating, period scenery plays perfectly to the story of decrepit yet feisty Felix preparing for his grave. 

Most importantly, Schneider knows just when to get out of the way and let his superior cast carry the day. Watch in particular a scene between Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek set at night in Felix's hermit hovel. There is no need for flourish, no need for directorial histrionics, Schneider just sets his camera on these two actors and the warmth rises and the romance comes effortlessly as if evoked from a nonexistent yet fully shared memory. What a scene. 

”Get Low” is wonderful. Romantic, sad, funny and very moving, it is undoubtedly among this year's best films, an honest to goodness miracle of modesty in an era of often ugly, insipid bombast.