 |
| Franky and Jimmy |
Movie Dearest wraps up 2019 in Film with a new review round-up of this year's Oscar nominees, all set in the good ol' U.S. of A.:
A Martin Scorsese epic gangster biopic starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci? No, this is no Goodfellas, but an epically overlong slog through the violent life of labor racketeer/"house painter" (mob-speak for hit-man) Frank Sheeran. The use of digital technology to "de-age" its stars through the years mostly works, and likely looks better on the home screen where most will probably watch it as an unofficial "mini-series". Despite crackerjack performances from Pesci and Al Pacino (in his least "Al Pacino-y" performance in a while) as ill-fated Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa, The Irishman is never as Good as the fellas. (6/10)
A sequel of sorts to directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert's other Oscar nominated doc, the 2009 short The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, this first film from the Obama's Higher Ground Productions focuses on that same Ohio plant after it is bought by a Chinese billionaire and converted into a glass factory, staffed by both American and Chinese workers. The "fly-on-the-wall" style candidly captures the varied culture clashes and setbacks between the local working class and their Asian co-workers, bringing into sharp relief the fact that the metaphorical chasm that separates the East from the West is still as vast as ever. (7/10)
This amazingly true story — about a St. Louis teenager who, through his mother's unwavering faith, miraculously survives a plunge into an icy lake — was pretty much ignored until its Oscar nod for yet another Diane Warren end credit ballad. Don't let its "Christian drama" designation cloud your judgement though, as its refreshingly even-handed with its religious overtones, plus it features a surprising host of (mostly TV) talent in its cast, including This Is Us' Chrissy Metz and, as a skinny jeans-wearing "hip" pastor, Topher Grace. Although its "inspirational" plot is awfully familiar, this marks a solid feature debut for director Roxann Dawson (of Star Trek: Voyager fame). (6/10)
Matt Damon and Christian Bale (actually using his own accent) headline this crowd-pleasing dramatization of the public feud between the two automotive super-powers of its title that came to a head at the '24 Hours of Le Mans' endurance race in 1966. On the surface this may seem like the butchest movie ever, a period Fast and the Furious, but director James Mangold and his stars (along with some standout supporting turns from Tracy Letts as a blustering Henry Ford II and Jon Bernthal as a shockingly sexy young Lee Iacocca) ground it; it's more "average Joe against the system" than "us (as in U.S.) against them". Naturally, kinetic racing footage abounds. (7/10)
Clint Eastwood continues his unofficial series of "American hero" biopics (see also American Sniper, Sully, etc.) with the story of the security guard who discovered a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The hailing of the hero is short-lived though when the press reports that the FBI fingered him as the prime suspect; cue the media circus. It's almost laughable how broadly Eastwood paints his antagonists; fed Jon Hamm might as well be twirling an oily mustache, and Olivia Wilde's femme fatale journalist is just plain embarrassing. The film is saved by a truly outstanding performance from Paul Walter Hauser as the wrongly accused Jewell. (6/10)
Retelling the events that led up to the ouster of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes after his sexual harassment of newscasters Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson and others came to light, this docudrama hits the screen just three years after the events it depicts, yet it feels oddly dated in this post-"#MeToo" age. Much has been made about the cast's transformations into the real people they portray but I found Charlize Theron's distinctly deeper voice as Kelly, Nicole Kidman's prosthetic chin as Carlson and pretty much everything they stuck on John Lithgow as Ailes distracting and counterproductive to telling a story that boils down to "appearance shouldn't define you". (6/10)
Reviews by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.
No comments:
Post a Comment