Weekly Movie Reviews: Jun 18-24, 2017
Favorite Movie of the Week
Two Days, One Night (2014)
I’m not sure where I heard about this Belgian movie (Deux jours, une nuit), but it’s been on our list for a while. Marion Cotillard plays Sandra, a woman about to go back to work after medical leave for depression. She finds out that her boss asked her colleagues to vote to choose between firing her and receiving a bonus, and they chose the bonus. Her boss agrees to hold the vote a second time, and she has one weekend to persuade her colleagues to change their vote.
From reading the description, I thought this was going to be a comedy-drama, but it turned out to just be a drama, and much better than I thought it would be. Sandra is still dealing with her depression and anxiety, and going around persuading people to give up money so that she can still have her job is not something that is particularly helpful to her mental state. Marion Cotillard was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her work in this movie (despite it being a foreign film that wasn’t nominated for any other Oscars) and she does a great job of putting you in Sandra’s headspace – it’s not the most comfortable thing but makes her infinitely relatable. The rest of the characters in the movie also seem like realistic people, and you think you’re just watching people react to each other in a uncomfortable situation, but by the end, a satisfying story has sneaked up on you.
I found out while doing research for this review that the directors, the Dardenne brothers, are well-known for making great movies, and I will definitely be watching more of their work.
Other Movies Watched
Genius (2016)
Genius tells the story of the relationship between famed editor Max Perkins (who discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) and idiosyncratic author Thomas Wolfe. Perkins recognizes genius in Wolfe’s long, rambling work, and he is willing to put in the time and effort to publish it, and the two of them embark on a profitable (but sometimes all-consuming) partnership. Colin Firth is great at playing dependable and reassuring characters, and he’s in his comfort zone playing Perkins. Jude Law is also well-cast as the charming, manic, selfish, incorrigible Wolfe – he’s played similar characters before (like Dickie Greenleaf in The Talented Mr. Ripley). I loved that this movie was about writing books, and a lot of the best scenes were about the business of editing and figuring out what words made sense. I’m probably biased there, but even if you don’t love books more than anything, it’s still a solid historical drama.
Twister (1996)
Twister follows a group of storm chasers led by about-to-divorce couple Bill and Jo Harding as they try to launch some new instrumentation into a tornado. It is described as a “disaster film” on Wikipedia, but I don’t really think the term applies since the protagonists actually want to be where they are – it’s not something they are unwittingly caught up in. I’ve watched this movie before, and it still holds up. I particularly love Helen Hunt’s character Jo, who plays a smart and competent (if somewhat obsessive) scientist – I think she’d get along well with Ellie Arroway from Contact. She’s also got great chemistry with Bill Paxton, and it makes you actually invested in their relationship. Some of the movie is a little cheesy, but it’s mostly just fun with a group of lovably eccentric characters.
The Constant Gardener (2005)
I’ve enjoyed the other movies I’ve seen based on John le Carré’s books (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Tailor of Panama), they are quiet and thoughtful spy movies with interesting characters. The Constant Gardener is in that same vein and did not let me down. Ralph Fiennes plays Justin Quayle, a British diplomat living in Kenya. When his wife is killed in suspicious circumstances, he tries to find the perpetrators while reexamining their relationship and the things she kept from him. It’s as much a movie about a relationship as it is about a conspiracy, and both are very well done. Ralph Fiennes is fantastic as Quayle, the setting of Kenya seems more authentic than other movies and lends a great atmosphere, and the storytelling is slow but powerful.
American Ultra (2015)
Jesse Eisenberg stars in this movie about Mike Howell, a small-town stoner who is (unknown to himself) a product of a failed CIA experiment to produce covert operatives. When the CIA decides that he is a liability and needs to be exterminated, he proves to be a hard person to kill as all his old skills kick in. This is a pretty ridiculous and over-the-top movie, but it’s also a lot of fun. Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart (who plays his girlfriend) play the stoner couple to perfection, and their chemistry keeps things grounded even when everything is exploding around them. American Ultra reminded me a little bit of Zombieland – it’s has a similar tone of campy/goofy/scary with actually likeable characters.
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
We’re slowly but surely going through all the famous buddy cop movies of the 80s, and Beverly Hills Cop was next. Eddie Murphy plays Detroit cop Axel Foley who visits Beverly Hills on “vacation” to try and solve the murder of his friend. Foley is a talented detective but he’s also willful and has a problem with authority, so he runs afoul of the local law enforcement pretty quickly – until he actually finds something, anyway. Eddie Murphy has great comic timing and makes Foley lovable instead of obnoxious, and the rest is a pretty typical buddy cop type movie. Also, I’ve been familiar with the “Axel F” theme from the soundtrack for over a decade, and I finally got to see where it came from!
Dune (1984)
I read Dune a long time ago, and as much as it hurts to admit it as a die hard science-fiction fan, I didn’t like it very much, despite its classic status. I did enjoy the worldbuilding, though, so I was cautiously looking forward to watching this movie. We follow Paul Atreides (played by Kyle MacLachlan), a young man from a noble family, as he overcomes his circumstances as the victim of a conspiracy and eventually rises to greatness. It’s a pretty weird movie, the characters aren’t quite relatable (they were faithful to the book in this regard), and the set and character designs can be pretty uncomfortable. It is unique though, and I’d happily watch more movies in this universe if they had made any.