THE WORLD: a review of "Room"

"ROOM"
Screenplay Written by Emma Donoghue, based upon her original novel
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson
**** (four stars)
RATED R

This film left me sitting silently in my theater seat for several minutes after the end credit scroll, final fade out and the theater house lights going back up, for its quiet power packed that tremendous of a punch.

Director Lenny Abrahamson's "Room," his adaptation of the best selling novel by Emma Donoghue (who also wrote the film's screenplay), is a compulsively watchable and superbly wrenching film that I feel will disturb and haunt unlike most films released in 2015, especially if you have not read the novel (like myself). In fact, what is even more surprising about the experience of this film, is how empathetic and life affirming it actually is considering the excessive horror that fuels the story. In some ways, I am finding it difficult to figure out how to review this film without revealing too terribly much about the plot but I will try as I do think that "Room," while not only being compelling, poetic, as well as being an intelligently emotional and cerebral steam roller, it is also one of the very best films of 2015.

I'll try to keep it brief...

"Room" stars the sensationally naturalistic Jacob Tremblay as 5 year old Jack, who lives within a tiny room with his young Mother played beautifully by Brie Larson. The crowded room in question contains a bathtub, equally small yet functioning kitchen, a closet, television, and bed, which Jack shares with his Ma. Yet, there are no windows other than a skylight...and no means of leaving.

For Jack, the entirety of the world is this very room, as if it existed as its own planet, where Jack and Ma are the only people, animals and plant life don't exist and even the images on television are invented approximations of human beings. Only through a seismic event does Jack begin to view and experience the world as it truly exists through his own eyes and growing perceptions of what constitutes reality, with its complete horrors and wonders.

Lenny Abrahamson's "Room" is a remarkable, multi-layered film that richly merges aspects of a thriller, psychological drama, survival story and a family drama, with the bonds of a Mother and child at its core. I will strongly warn those of you reading who happen to be parents that this film just may be too agonizing to sit through. Frankly, for myself, I found the film's first half to be intense to the point of excruciating. But that being said, there is nothing presented within the film that is gratuitous in any fashion. All violence is suggested and for a film that does indeed contains vibrant themes of abuse, imprisonment, and rape, and unflinchingly so, Abrahamson handles every moment with as much restraint and unquestionable truth to the story he is attempting to tell.

For "Room," with all of its nightmarish qualities, is a story of survival, healing, the protection and cultivation of innocence and the resiliency of the human spirit, especially the spirit contained within a child. Often as I watched the film, memories of Director Peter Jackson's unfairly maligned, undeniably weird yet deeply effective "The Lovely Bones" (2009) as well as those from Director Terry Gilliam's repugnant, career worst "Tideland" (2005) entered my brain, as each of those films covered similar thematic territories that deal with searing trauma told from a child's perspective.

Perhaps, it is that very perception, as Abrahamson elegantly visualizes, that keeps the terror and pain of the film's story simultaneously upfront but is never presented tastelessly. As I have previously stated, there is no on-screen violence whatsoever as Abrahamson stages the film as viewing the world through Jack's eyes. Even during one climactic moment, we are given the untainted purity of Jack's perception of the world while also sitting on the edges of our seats, with nerves completely frayed and fried.

Jacob Tremblay, with his piercing eyes and androgynous appearance due to his lengthy, uncut hair, is enormously riveting as Jack. While never cloying or treacly for even a second, Tremblay possesses the talent to carry the superior load that "Room" has placed upon his tiny shoulders, much like when I viewed Quvenzhane Wallis' powerhouse and unforced performance in Director Benh Zeitlin's "Beasts Of The Southern Wild" (2012). Just as unforced, Tremblay conveys an enormous depth of simultaneous wonder and pathos as he not only is forced to navigate a world that is ever changing and growing but also one who is able to carry an inner strength and resolve weighty enough to sustain himself and his family, especially his Mother. I am hoping this young actor receives some attention during awards season for he deserves it greatly.

Speaking of awards season attention, get ready for heaps of accolades to be bestowed upon Brie Larson, who takes what could have existed as nothing more than Lifetime television histrionics and transformed it into a subtly devastating psychological portrait of a woman undergoing an unfathomable experience while also attempting to provide strength and inconceivable normalcy for her son.

To that end, both Tremblay and Larson are aided heroically by the great Joan Allen, Tom McCamus, Sean Bridgers and even William H. Macy, who makes mountains out of his two or three scant scenes. All of these participants congeal masterfully to create a feverishly dark and demonstrably hopeful ode to the prevalence of the human spirit even when life presents itself at its bleakest and hopeless. Never for one moment did I feel the wheels of manipulation creaking along as Abrahamson clearly mined the material for every kernel of truth, most distinctly from this child's eye of the world and his specific place within it, be it a room, life outside of it and the world that encases himself and his family.

Lenny Abrahamson's "Room" is a deeply effective drama that will indeed come just this close to shattering you. But, even greater, it also engages us in a distinctly philosophical fashion, forcing us to take note of the even the most seemingly mundane aspects of the world(s) that surround us.

For how much would we miss even the slightest elements if they were to be taken away.

THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR: a review of "Bridge Of Spies"

"BRIDGE OF SPIES"
Screenplay Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
Directed by Steven Spielberg
*** (three stars)
RATED PG 13

What a violent period of time the 21st century has turned out to be.

It seems fitting that I have seen Director Steven Spielberg's political drama "Bridge Of Spies," his first new film in three years, just a mere two days after the massacre in Paris and three days after the bombings in Beirut. Beyond those massive horrific events, we are indeed caught in a time where gun violence and acts of terrorism are functioning at crisis points. Additionally, we are also dealing with the constant barrage of racial, sexual and verbal violence inflicted upon each other through the landscapes of the streets, social media to the so-called debate stages for the legion of Presidential candidates all jockeying for power, making me question if there really is anyone who is truly altruistic in their quest.

What have we become? Certainly, we are all afraid to varying degrees but when that state of fear is compounded by the relentless images and stories depicted through the media and the rancorous political discourse of our leaders, I cannot help but to harbor the even greater fear that we are closely reaching a point of no return, where compassion is rejected in favor of vengeance, recrimination and self-righteous. To quote the iconic Stevie Wonder, "love's in need of love today."

I suppose these sentiments are what permeated my thoughts as I viewed Spielberg's latest film as he presented a world from our recent past that was truly the definition of "precarious" due to political and of course, nuclear tensions between the United States and Russia and yet filtered that world through this individualistic story fully depicting what could actually be accomplished is we did just listen to each other. Yes, there are times were we need to fight. But, possibly, Spielberg may be suggesting, the times for understanding are more prevalent than we just may realize.

"Bridge Of Spies," set at the height of the Cold War in 1957, stars Tom Hanks as Brooklyn insurance settlement attorney Jim Donovan, a man as devoted to the justice and fairness inherent within the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution as he is to his wife Mary McKenna Donovan (Amy Ryan) and their three children.

Inexplicably, Donovan is asked by his partners to represent suspected Soviet KGB spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance in a performance of sharp subtlety and shading), to ensure he receives a fair trial solely for the purpose of the Soviet Union to not be able to utilize Abel's incarceration as propaganda. While Donovan takes his assignment with the utmost seriousness and sincerity, even all the way to seeking an appeal for Abel through the United States Supreme Court, his partners, his firm and even his family grow increasingly disgruntled with Donovan's actions. Even the court of public opinion turns upon Donovan, who soon begins to receive hate mail and death threats for treating Abel with the same dignity as he would an American citizen.

Meanwhile, pilot Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell), embarked upon a U-2 spy plane mission over the Soviet Union, is shot down, captured, interrogated and convicted. In Germany, as the Berlin Wall is being erected, American Economics  graduate student Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers) is arrested as a spy as he attempts to bring his girlfriend back into West Berlin.

Utilizing a backchannel message, the U.S.S.R. contacts Donovan and proposes an exchange; Powers for Abel. Donovan then goes one further and suggests a 2 for 1 exchange, both Powers and Pryor for Abel. And thus, family man and insurance attorney Jim Donovan is thrust into the middle of negotiations between the CIA, the U.S.S.R. and the East German government, all the while attempting to ensure success through diplomacy over destruction.

Steven Spielberg's "Bridge Of Spies," while functioning an an espionage thriller and containing some of the hallmarks and visual aesthetics of film noir (as beautifully lensed by longtime collaborator Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski), has delivered a sobering and more deliberately paced cerebral affair, much in line with some of his past films including "Amistad" (1997), aspects of "Munich" (2005) and most definitely, "Lincoln" (2012).

Just as how Spielberg provided the historical and thematic links to both Presidents Lincoln and Obama at the dawn of their respective second terms in office, "Bridge Of Spies" certainly utilizes the concepts of diplomatic discourse and overall human dignity as they function within intense political situations, all the while holding a mirror of the past up to ourselves in the present. Tom Hanks, purposefully operating in full Frank Capra/Jimmy Stewart mode, has made for a perfect conduit of Spielberg's vision. Hanks delivers a commanding performance of deep, steadfast integrity. While for some, he may be a bit of a Boy Scout due to his unshakable idealism, I found his performance and this representation of this real world figure to be endearing and undeniably refreshing, especially as I am bombarded by the endless morass of vitriol that has encapsulated our present day political dialogue.

I found it fascinating how Donovan was able to maintain his sense of resolve with preserving the human dignity of every individual he came in contact with, regardless of the obstacles. Yet, what impressed me most was his ability to ultimately ingratiate himself in essentially any situation and emerge unscathed simply though the act of listening and displaying a non-judgmental stance, regardless of whom he was speaking and communicating with, whether dignitaries, agents, underlings or even a band of threatening East German youths who accost Donovan during one tense sequence.

In many ways, "Bridge Of Spies" fits perfectly within one of Spielberg's ever present themes: the tales of an ordinary individual placed within an extraordinary situation. Even so, I wish to stress that "Bridge Of Spies" and Hanks' role in the film, do not serve as some sort of reprisal of Robert Zemeckis' "Forrest Gump" (1994), for this film is never presented as fable or fantasy. Quite the contrary, it is a film, while celebrating a certain idealism and platitudes about our common humanity which should be upheld and defended, that serves as a pointed lament for all that we have forgotten in our trigger happy-bombs away rhetoric.

Yes, in several scenes Donovan receives much retaliation from members within his own community for committing the so-called audacity of treating Abel respectfully and fighting for his day in court as he would perform for any of them. Certainly, the film is designed for us to find the connections inside of those scenes with the same and even uglier language that is currently being hurled against the entirety of the Muslim community since September 11, 2001, the increased racist language and violence against African-Americans ever since President Obama's election as well as the horrific language launched again the Hispanic community repeatedly spoken by a certain reality television star now as a Presidential front runner. Could any of you, dear readers, just imagine if a similar situation occurred, what would happen and how it would be handled if a figure from today's world were at the helm? Terrifying isn't it? When one does not profess to have any sense of dignity towards those different then themselves, how can there possibly be any sense of understanding, especially upon the world's political stage? "Bridge Of Spies" provides a much needed alternative to the vitriolic energies on display in 2015.      

"Every person matters," proclaims Donovan at one point during "Bridge Of Spies," and I think if there was any moment that has lingered for me, during the remainder of the film and even afterwards, it is that one because I fear that we, as a human race, have forgotten that conceit. There is an inherent dignity to us all, regardless of which part of the world we may reside or what ethnicity we happen to be. "Bridge Of Spies," is a good not great but definitely thought provoking film that illustrates just how much can be attained when even one person just takes the opportunity to place himself/herself aside in favor of a higher sense of authority, the kind of which that can hopefully alleviate another's struggles and baggage and benefit society as a whole.

Yet, if we close our ears and hearts to each other, our collective downfall is imminent. The choice is ours.

DOWNFALL: a review of "Spectre"

"SPECTRE"
Based upon characters and situations created by Ian Fleming
Story by John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade
Screenplay Written by John Logan and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth
Directed by Sam Mendes
*1/2 (one and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

The higher you fly, the harder the fall. And this one was definitely a crash landing.

Three years ago, I was supremely elated by a cinematic sight that I really thought that I would never really see: an unquestionably GREAT James Bond movie. For a bit of background, throughout my life, I have seen every single James Bond motion picture adventure from the Roger Moore years onwards. While there have been some that I enjoyed very much, including "Live And Let Die" (1973), "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "GoldenEye" (1995) and "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), several of the films (perhaps too many of them) were ones that I felt either indifferent towards or even found to be terrible, the worst offenders including "A View To A Kill" (1985), "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "The World Is Not Enough" (1999). 

Essentially, and as I have expressed on this site in the past, I think I liked the idea of James Bond more than as an actual character. And yet, I continued to see the next adventure, possibly because it was just time to see another one...and truth be told, it felt to me, to an increasing degree, that new James Bond films were being made for no other reason than it was time to make one.

My feelings towards this series changed dramatically once Daniel Craig took over the iconic role and emerged in Director Martin Campbell's thrilling and terrific "Casino Royale" (2006). Where Campbell and Craig delivered the requisite Bond action set pieces with a newfound vitality and two-fisted, white knuckle energy,  it was a film where, for the very first time, I truly cared about the proceedings as Bond transcended his own archetype and became a compelling character with a backstory, a psychological outlook that demanded exploration and a welcome sense of pathos, especially concerning the most effective love story shared with Eva Green.

The success continued with the slightly abbreviated yet feverishly paced "Quantum Of Solace" (2008) from Director Marc Forster. But it was with the outstanding, towering "Skyfall" (2012) where Director Sam Mendes delivered what I thought would have been impossible after all of these years, the finest James Bond film that I had ever seen. Everything, and I truly mean absolutely everything, from the performances, writing, action sequences, cinematography and even Adele's theme song, came together superbly within "Skyfall," as James Bond's journey was undeniably emotional and psychological as well as sensationally exciting and placed him against a most formidable and frightening adversary in Javier Bardem. "Skyfall" reached a level of greatness that, in my mind, informed me that the series had reached a new level; a level that needed to be equally matched in future installments because, as far as I was concerned, there was no reason whatsoever to return to those lackluster, assembly line level Bond films of the past ever again.

Now, we arrive with "Spectre," and what a tremendous fall from grace this is.

Sam Mendes, who returns to the director's chair for this 24th official James Bond film, has unfortunately delivered a bomb. Believe me, I am as stunned to write those words as I am certain that you are with reading them, but even so, "Spectre" is awful. It is a lifeless, uninspired experience just as the series should be flying over the top. But, there I sat in my theater seat, shifting uncomfortably and often, even yawning several times throughout for as uninterested I was in the proceedings which were so elongated, I wondered if this 2 1/2 hour film had even undergone an editing process. While "Spectre" has already earned a box office fortune and will continue to rake in more dollars, for those of you who have not yet seen the film, trust  me, use your hard earned dollars and go see something different for "Spectre" is a time waster so tremendous even 007 himself would declare it as "rubbish."

For all intents and purposes, Sam Mendes' "Spectre" essentially serves as the culminating installment after the previous three Bond films, as agent 007 James Bond (again played by Daniel Craig) encounters the titular sinister global criminal organization for the first time. Again aided by new MI6 head M (Ralph Finnes), M's assistant Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and computer expert/gadget inventor Q (Ben Whishaw), Bond embarks upon his globe-trotting escapade which leads him to his ultimate confrontation with SPECTRE mastermind Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz), a figure who has not only served as the puppeteer of Bond's most recent excursions, but a man with whom Bond shares a dark secret as well as one who possesses an identity familiar to Bond iconography.

As much of a surprise as the greatness of "Skyfall" was to me, so much so that it made everything so familiar about the James Bond universe feel striking and refreshingly new, "Spectre" presented a James Bond experience at its most mundane and tired to the point of exhausted. Now truth be told, the film certainly did not begin at such a sub-par level. Quite the contrary, the pre-opening credit sequence, set during a Day Of The Dead festival in Mexico, is sensational. Beginning with a virtuoso unbroken and beautifully choreographed long take to a dizzying set of fisticuffs inside of a helicopter, dangerously spiraling over the heads of the crowd down below was so razor sharp, so spectacular an opening, I was already feeling that we would have another Bond success upon our hands. But, after that opening, and Sam Smith's theme song, "Spectre" settles and nearly solidifies itself in the cement of cinematic time and space.

Aside from some strong moments here and there (a fist fight aboard a moving train, a sequence late in the film where Bond is nearly lobotomized), "Spectre" ultimately becomes a film that possesses no momentum, a complete lack of urgency, potency and even purpose. All told, it is the anti-thesis of everything "Skyfall" happened to be.

Granted, it would not be unfair if any of you out there are wondering if perhaps I had set my expectations too high and am being overly harsh upon "Spectre." But, do trust me and the words I write. I entered "Spectre" considerably less with high expectations and moreso with an anticipation I typically do not carry towards new James Bond movies. The high bar set by "Skyfall" simply made me excited to see a new installment and as I watched "Spectre," I just sat open-mouthed wondering just how what I was watching had gone so terribly wrong.

First of all, the molasses ensconced pacing made the film drag on to its interminable length. It was as if Mendes, his cast and crew, expended all that they were able to muster in the film's opening sequence and just refused to become invested in much of anything else afterwards. In fact, it felt as if there had been several films made in between "Skyfall " and "Spectre," and the audience just happened to be witnessing the long-in-the-tooth episode in the series where the cast and crew are along for the ride purely out of obligation (and certainly more than a little bit of money) rather than any vested interest. Daniel Craig in particular just appeared as if he could not wait to be rid of 007 once and for all. Yes, he demonstrated a powerful physicality and he does look smashing in those tailored suits. But even so, he just looked as if he would rather have been anywhere else and if Bond doesn't want to be involved within his own adventure, then why should we sit there and watch it?

Furthermore, whatever sexual tension and chemistry that needed to exist between James Bond and his latest love interest, Dr. Madeleine Swann (played by Lea Seydoux) was negligible. Not only did the relationship feel more arbitrary than authentic (especially after what we witnessed between Craig and Eva Green in "Casino Royale"), this was the first time where the age differences between the actors (Craig has a good seventeen years on Seydoux), looked uncomfortably awkward, as if James Bond was romancing his niece rather than any sort of femme fatale.

And then, there is Christoph Waltz, whose measured line readings can make nearly any dialogue sing thrillingly, but let's face it, he doesn't ave anything approaching Quentin Tarantino dialogue to work with this time around. Yes, he makes for a most shadowy and sinister figure and there are some good moments, but in many sequences, he felt to be almost a parody of the classic Bond villain, you know, the one who just talks and talks about his plans to take over the world ad nauseum. Within "Spectre," there were quite a number of moments where Waltz's dialogue was so voluminous that Bond could have escaped his clutches ten times over and shot him just as many times while he kept blabbering on and on and on.

Basically, I spent much of "Spectre" remembering the feelings I had when I saw Director Christopher McQuarrie's spectacular "Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation" earlier this year, as I did think to myself about how much James Bond would have to live up to once "Spectre" arrived. Come to think of it, both films happen to share somewhat similar plots, but somehow, McQuarrie and Tom Cruise deftly figured out ways to enliven the long running franchise, making a fifth film in the series that is possibly the best film to date. Through smart, sharp dialogue, a strong attention to the characters and their relationships with each other, plus one eye popping set piece after another and most importantly, displaying a sense of unadulterated fun, McQuarrie and Cruise made a film that I am anxious to see again as well as excited for a sixth installment (long past the time most film series should advance). With "Spectre," nobody, seemed to be having any fun! It was so ponderous, so torpid, so bloated with stagnant air...it just was not enjoyable at all, truly a cardinal sin for a James Bond movie. .

"It's not over," James Bond announces to Dr. Swann late in the film and after yet another cataclysmic explosion. To that line, I let out a long, exhausted sigh (which I hope wasn't terribly audible to the audience members around me), to which I could not hep myself. Sam Mendes' "Spectre" finds James Bond practically crawling to a finish line and dragging us along with him. I realize that it truly is a miracle when films get made, and even moreso of a miracle when the film in question turns out to be a great one. Sometimes the stars just are not in alignment, for whatever the reasons. But, once James Bond returns, as promised at the conclusion of the end credit scrawl as always, I seriously hope that he finds himself properly rejuvenated or else the time to just make another cinematic 007 adventure may come to pass.

CITIZEN DICK: a review of "Steve Jobs"

"STEVE JOBS"
Based upon Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Screenplay Written by Aaron Sorkin
Directed by Danny Boyle
**** (four stars)
RATED R

We are really living within a precarious time for adult dramatic films.

Last week, Director Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs," a film that has already received its share of superlative reviews, opened to very meager box office returns, so meager that industry trade magazine already deemed the film to be a financial flop...even though it had only been in theaters for three days. Post-mortem articles were being written and then published by last Monday, wondering if the failure to catch monetary fire was due to the fact that this film marks the third feature film in two years (including a documentary and a narrative feature starring Ashton Kutcher in the titular role) concerning the late pioneer of the technological sea change that delivered computers into everyday life.

Herein lies the problem...

First of all, we are now living within a time when films just do not have a chance whatsoever to find and build an audience as box office expectations are now seemingly designed to be met and exceeded, breaking all manner of records within the first 24-48 hours of release. The general population simply does not go out to the movies, albeit all movies that quickly and some, especially more adult themed films, do need time to catch some fire and gather the necessary word of mouth. Nowadays, movies are truly not considered to be works of art (or at least artful entertainment) meant to be cherished, discussed and debated. Movies are designed to be consumed and forgotten before you even return home from the multiplex.

Secondly, to the argument that audiences were overwhelmed with he presence of three Steve Jobs themed film within a two year period, I vehemently disagree, especially as the previous two did not receive nearly the large media push that Danny Boyle's film has received. Furthermore, please don't speak to me about any sense of over-saturation concerning the topic of Steve Jobs when how many superhero movies have been released just this year?! Honestly, when we live in a world where there have been five "Spider-Man" movies within a 13 year period and is also about to be re-booted for the second time, I think we can handle another film about Jobs.

To that end, Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is an electrifying film, a riveting, verbally rancorous adult drama that not only paints a brutally impressionistic portrait of this inscrutable figure but also transcends it primary subject to speak again about the nature of genius and to our increasing lack of humanity when filtered through the very technology that was intended to elevate our humanity. It is a dramatic triumph featuring an unforgiving powerhouse, award season worthy performance by Michael Fassbender and it also serves as a complete return to form for Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin whose focus and dialogue is sharpened to the point of a knife's edge with a script that is also unquestionably awards season worthy. If word of mouth truly is the key, then let me provide that voice to you, imploring all of you to head out and see this superior, intelligent, artful, and often infuriating drama before it finds itself lost in the cracks.

Completely and boldly eschewing any biopic trappings and cliches, Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is divided into three designated acts, each spending time within the years of 1984, 1988 and 1998 and all behind the scenes of three project launch events, all hosted by Jobs, played with intense ferocity by Fassbender.

Whether struggling to find ways to make the Apple Macintosh's voice demo say "Hello" to the audience in 1984, preparing for the NeXT computer launch in 1988 or awaiting the premiere of the iMac in 1998, Jobs is relentlessly confronted by several primary figures within his life.

Steve Wozniak (an excellent Seth Rogen), Jobs' former creative partner, co-founder of Apple and creator of the Apple II, simply wants Jobs to acknowledge the Apple II team's role in Jobs' success, a request that Jobs constantly refuses to Wozniak's increased fury. Apple CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels), essentially Jobs' Father figure, possesses a tenuous, and at times, raging personal and professional relationship that builds, explodes, and restructures itself to a most strained degree. Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg), a beleaguered member of the original Mac team is constantly on the receiving end of Jobs' wrath. And finally, we have Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston), Jobs' former girlfriend and Mother to their daughter Lisa (played at the ages of 5,9, and 19 by Mackenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine, respectively), a daughter whom Jobs repeatedly denies is his.

Serving as Jobs's conscience, as well as the film's moral core, is Joanna Hoffman (the great Kate Winslet), marketing executive for Apple and NeXT, plus Jobs' confidant and self-described "work wife." Hoffman is the sole figure able to not only stand up to Jobs' unrepentant turbulence, she is the sole figure able to break through his otherwise impenetrable walls, much to her own depleting patience and tolerance for Jobs' truly ugly behavior towards seemingly everyone in his life on his unstoppable personal quest for greatness and the legacy branding of "visionary genius."

Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" is an interior backstage drama that is as bracing as it is incendiary, with its unforgiving exploration of the titular figure. Boyle smartly tempers his typical visual extravagances, as seen within the likes of "Trainspotting" (1996), "28 Days Later" (2002), his finest film to date "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008) and the wrenching "127 Hours" (2010), to create a visual palate that is more theatrical than cinematic, wisely allowing all of the actors and especially, the writing of Aaron Sorkin to take the center stage.

The entire cast of "Steve Jobs" is uniformly excellent, with a real surprise arriving in Seth Rogen, who truly raises his game and is completely able to go toe-to-toe with the extraordinary Michael Fassbender but also with Sorkin's trademark mountainous, difficult dialogue which is exquisitely constructed and again contains a velocity that forces the actors and the audience to keep pace or find themselves lost in the dust. "Steve Jobs" is indeed a film without a traditional plot structure and it is indeed all dialogue, the the words, emotions, motivations and performances are entirely in lockstep, making for a film that is furiously bracing, exciting viewing.

Where Sorkin's work on his now defunct HBO series "The Newsroom" was sometimes brilliant, sometimes infuriating and often completely tonally erratic, his work with "Steve Jobs" reminds us of why he has been so revered in the first place. Conceptually, Sorkin has written what serves a as stellar companion piece to his writing within Director David Fincher's "The Social Network" (2010), another technological/interpersonal drama that painted a grim picture of another computer based and so-called "visionary" Mark Zuckerberg (played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg) and mirrored it with our increased societal alienation from each other as our reliance upon the technology has grown.

But, as remorseless, arrogant, jealous and embittered Zuckerberg was portrayed, he does not even come close to the seemingly bottomless cauldron of rage that boiled within this version of Steve Jobs. Michael Fassbender's performance is nothing less than relentless, as we can easily witness the wheels spinning within his mind, always seeing his deeply desired goal post in sight, often to a most cunning, unscrupulous degree and fueled by recrimination, a sense of superiority to exists as a God complex, and a desire to be thought of as a singular visionary, despite the influence and the work of countless individuals, most notably, the endlessly short-shrifted Steve Wozniak.

Boyle and Sorkin, with Fassbender as a tremendous conduit, have utilized "Steve Jobs" to create a portrait of self-aggrandizement that borders on the delusional, and the level of his cruelty is indeed unbelievable as well as unbearable, especially as he consistently denies his daughter Lisa and only tends to display any stitch of humanity after being either one-upped by others (for instance, a sequence where Andy Hertzfeld takes it upon himself to pay Lisa's college semester tuition and even suggests the possibility of therapy), or coaxed and coached by Joanna Hoffman.

And yet, what was housed inside the core of Steve Jobs on his feverish pursuit of genius? Certainly, with the film's structure and conceits, Boyle and Sorkin are essentially modeling "Steve Jobs" upon nothing less than Orson Welles "Citizen Kane" (1941), as it attempts to find what precisely drove a person, and better yet a persona, that is so unknowable, frustrating and impossible. Yes, the film does incude some internal pathos about Jobs forever dealing with his individual pain with being adopted, a process in which he supposedly felt rejected instead of accepted. But even so, I don't believe that Boyle is offering this route as any sort of an easy answer.

I think what is at the center of "Steve Jobs" is Boyle and Sorkin's ruminations over the process of self-mythologizing, a process that exists for every single one of us in the real world and now, even moreso in the 21st century, the virtual world. Just take a moment and think about how we all choose to present ourselves as we navigate our daily lives. How the figures we envision ourselves as, or aspire to become, fuels our personalities as we engage with the larger world.

What is the persona we wish to present when making that all-important first impression? What is the persona we deliver to the world within our daily lives at school, at work, with acquaintances, with friends, with romantic partners and so on. Never do we reveal every single fabric of our being, do we? We show what we wish to show, doing all we can to push what we feel as undesirable aspects out of view. Certainly, within social media, this aspect of our humanity has exploded for we can truly become even more selective with the personality traits and successes and attributes we wish to present to the world at large. Within the gaming community, we can even re-design ourselves, functioning as avatars that may not even remotely resemble who we are in the real world, and armed with talents and skills we do not possess.

We are all in the process of creating our own mythologies, our own legends to such unprecedented degrees that we do indeed run the risk of completely living within fantasy rather than reality. And in the case of Steve Jobs, as presented within this film, we witness an individual who has mythologized himself to such a titanic level, justified or not. In his mind and through how he presents himself outwardly, Steve Jobs is one who can stand on equal footing as Albert Einstein, Alan Turing, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis (whose portraits, at one point, surround his stage--which just may function as a physical representation of his own head space), and therefore, has given himself the right to not suffer anyone he deems to be lesser than himself, regardless of the damage he leaves behind on his road to glory. In Jobs' mind, genius cannot co-exist with simple human decency. Why? It would seem that Jobs barely ever slowed down to ponder the reasons.

Who are we, how do we envision ourselves, what do we desire and what are we becoming all sit at the heart of Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" a character study that also functions as a stern warning about our increased reliance/addiction to technology and social media. And in addition to "The  Social Network," it is a film that sits smartly alongside recent features like Spike Jonze's "Her" (2013) and even Kevin Smith's "Tusk" (2014), other films that also delivered impassioned pleas for us to not lose ourselves within the rabbit holes of the internet, our dreams and even our own psyches.

This is indeed the gift of an exceedingly well presented adult drama, the kind of which that has become more difficult to get made within the Hollywood studio system and definitely more difficult to not find itself lost among other and bigger films. It's amazing to me that Robert Zemeckis' wonderful "The Walk" has already come and gone and with the rapid arrivals of James Bond, Katniss Everdeen, the Peanuts gang and the latest Pixar offering in the coming weeks, this powerfully excellent film will undoubtedly suffer the same unfortunate fate.

Of course, not every film can be a hit. But, something this engrossing, this compelling, this worthy of examination and debate and something of this high quality more than deserves a fair chance.

SAVAGE CINEMA'S COMING ATTRACTIONS FOR NOVEMBER 2015

I have to play some catch up.

When new film releases arrive each week, I try my best to get myself to the theaters each Sunday afternoon to check out the latest offering that I may happen to be interested in. Last month, as I so happily attended the Garbage concert, that did indeed take one weekend out of my movie going and then, the floodgates opened.

Today, I am planning on taking in Director Danny Boyle's "Steve Jobs" but then, the latest James Bond adventure "Spectre," again directed by Sam Mendes, arrives next week and I still haven't had the chance to see Steven Spielberg's "Bridge Of Spies." 

And even then...

1. "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2," the final installment in the series arrives and I am hoping that this chapter returns the series to the glories of the first two episodes.

2. On the indie film front, I am especially looking forward to Director Tom McCarthy's journalism drama "Spotlight" starring Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo.

3. "Creed," the "Rocky" spin-off film from Writer/Director Ryan Coogler who last delivered "Fruitvale Station," does have me somewhat intrigued.

4. And then, Pixar will release "The Good Dinosaur," their second film this year after their creative rebirth and triumph of "Inside Out."

That is more than enough to try and somehow find a way to see and experience for the month. But, as always, I can only ask for you to wish me well...

...and I'll see you when the house lights go down!

I'M NOT A LOSER. I'M A QUITTER: a review of "Rock The Kasbah"

"ROCK THE KASBAH"
Screenplay Written by Mitch Glazer
Directed by Barry Levinson
** (two stars)
RATED R

How is it possible that a film with a title as anarchistic as this one be as dry as an Afghanistan desert?

I am not sure precisely what it is about Bill Murray, but he, perhaps more than any other of his comedic contemporaries, has ingratiated himself so deeply within the public consciousness and pop culture, has built an affection from his audience that only seems to continue to grow and has also continued to surprise with the depths of his acting abilities and yet, so very often, the films he makes fall short. "Rock The Kasbah" is yet another effort that possesses quite the potential to become a Bill Murray classic yet never reaches the brass ring, let alone contains enough juice to even jump for it in the first place.

Under the surprisingly laconic direction of legendary Director Barry Levinson, "Rock The Kasbah" is an intermittently entertaining yet ultimately underwhelming film that merges the Murray persona of his early and current career with a political satire and even an earnest feminist drama that unfortunately settles and sludges along when it otherwise should be as explosive and as dangerous as a firecracker left to explode inside of your hands.

"Rock The Kasbah" stars Bill Murray as Richie Lanz, a down and just-this-close to being out of business rock music manager, who takes his final singing client (yet employed as his secretary), Ronnie (a funny Zooey Deschanel) on a USO tour of Afghanistan, yet finds himself abandoned in war torn Kabul without funds or his passport.

As he attempts to figure out a way to return to Van Nuys, California, Richie runs afoul of two hard partying war profiteers (Danny McBride and Scott Caan), a gruff mercenary (Bruce Willis), the worldly wise and weary hooker (Kate Hudson), the Afghani disco music loving cab driver (Arian Moayed) among others including dangerous war lords. Yet, on one deep, dark night in the desert, Richie  stumbles upon the sight and sound of Salima Khan (Leem Lubany), a Pashtun teenage girl with a golden voice and enormous dreams of becoming the first woman to sing and compete on Afghanistan television's version of "American Idol."

It is here where Richie Lanz discovers his meal ticket, and ultimately his purpose, as he knows in his bones that he is the only one able to make Salima's dreams come true, life threatening cultural objections be damned.

With "Rock The Kasbah," I can confidently express that Bill Murray has absolutely nothing to do with any of the film's failures. On the contrary, whatever successes the film does achieve rest almost solely with him as Murray truly carries the film and he delivers yet another strong performance to add to his expanding collection. Yes, and as previously stated, Richie Lanz is cut from the same cloth as the characters from Bill Murray's earliest films. Like the gently anarchistic heroes he portrayed in Director Ivan Reitman's "Stripes" (1981) and "Ghostbusters" (1984), for instance, Richie Lanz is another cantankerous, wayward layabout on an existential downward slide who finds himself placed within an extraordinary situation or series of circumstances armed mostly with his brilliantly wicked wit and restless ingenuity.

Yet, as Murray also demonstrated in Director Harold Ramis' "Groundhog Day" (1993), Director Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation" (2003), Director Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004), Director Jim Jarmusch's "Broken  Flowers" (2005) and Director Theodore Melfi's "St. Vincent" (2014) among others, he unearthed a powerfully effective level of dramatic pathos to give his characters a newfound gravity, helping us to see the pain housed inside the laughter and how the laughter is indeed the essential fuel to keep him placing one footstep in front of the other.

Richie Lanz is no exception as we can study all of those wonderful lines in Murray's aged face, detailing all of the deep miles this character has undertaken in his long and not-so-illustrious career. Lanz is a charlatan, more than a bit of a cheat, a schemer and a scoundrel and even shades of Nick the Lounge Singer, Murray's iconic character from "Saturday Night Live," make an appearance. And still, Lanz carries a certain moral code and sense of  honor that is indeed unshakable, and as the film continues onwards and situations grow more dire for Salima, he becomes quite endearing. Bill Murray's peerless turn of a phrase and Wile E. Coyote-like persona goes a tremendous way within the entirety of "Rock The Kasbah." You are unable to take your eyes away from him and you never want to for even with the smallest raise of an eyebrow or the slightest shrug of a shoulder, Bill Murray remains in a class by himself.

So, it is a shame that like the very good yet terribly predictable "St. Vincent," we are given a terrific Bill Murray performance in a movie that never matches his inventiveness. The faults of this film for me do lie directly at the feet of Screenwriter Mitch Glazer and definitely Barry Levinson, who showed little of the comedic and directorial gifts he has displayed in the past time and again.

For Glazer, I can certainly express to you that "Rock The Kasbah" is not remotely short on ideas but that was the problem for me; it felt as if the film never really advanced beyond the idea stage. Character development, aside from Richie Lanz, exists at a bare minimum. Kate Hudson's character, especially arriving in 2015 is just thankless as well as a sad reminder that her finest work remains in Director Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" (2000). Honestly, can we please just place a moratorium over impossibly gorgeous hookers with hearts of gold once and for all?

Beyond that, the characters of the mercenary, the war profiteers, and frankly, all of the Afghanistan people are paper thin at best, even though they all feel as if there is much story to tell, especially as they all exist within a very real and dangerous world. Yes, "Rock The Kasbah" is a comedy, but I did feel frustrated that Glazer's screenplay would have the audacity to enter into a world of deep moral, political, social, sexual, theological complications that the inevitable culture clash would be one worth exploring and therefore, satirizing, and Glazer just did not go for it. These characters all exist solely as ideas and never transcend the idea to become three-dimensional human beings, which would then give the proper gravity to the film to add essential weight and tension to the comedy.

The entire film truly hinges upon Salima Khan and it is a shame that "Rock The Kasbah" only seems to give brief lip service to the harsh reality implicit in a young woman daring to go on television, with fully exposed hair and face (with makeup to boot)and singing the songs of Cat Stevens in English. That concept by itself shows what a movie "Rock The Kasbah" could have been if Glazer fully committed to--once again with feeling--the ideas he set to paper in the first place. But all we have is a very pretty young woman looking hopeful and offering plastic platitudes and I firmly believe that a character like this deserved so much more than what was given to her.

But Barry Levinson certainly did Glazer's screenplay and the film overall no favors with his dry as the desert direction which had no energy, no snap, and no bite--all of which were on superior display in his brilliant "Wag The Dog" (1997) and most certainly, "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1987), two films of which "Rock The Kasbah" certainly could have existed as a companion piece. This was more than confounding to me as "Rock The Kasbah" is not only screaming for a go-for-broke teeth baring satire like John Cusack's wildly brutal passion project "War, Inc" (2008), but I was stunned that Levinson carried the same banal, dispassionate tonal quality throughout, even as the film slides from comedy to tragedy and back to comedy.

At one point late in the film, as situations are looking particularly grim, one character expresses to Richie Lanz and he is about to cut his losses and head for the hills, that he is a loser and a quitter, to which he replies, "I'm not a loser. I'm a quitter." "Rock The Kasbah" feels like that. While it is by no means a disaster, and does indeed find Bill Murray completely committed to his part of the proceedings, the film as a whole just kind of gives up...even before it ever really gets itself revved up.

'SCUSE ME WHILE I KISS THE SKY: a review of "The Walk"

"THE WALK" 
Based upon the memoir To Reach The Clouds by Philippe Petit
Screenplay Written by Robert Zemeckis & Christopher Browne
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
**** (four stars)
RATED PG

"I won an Academy Award when I was 44 years old but I paid for it with my 20s. That decade of my life from film school til 30 was nothing but work, nothing but absolute, driving work. I had no money. I had no life...The goal from here on is to balance my passion, because I do love it so much. It's kind of like the old saying about climbing a ladder and then realizing that it's up against the wrong wall. When you make one of the biggest movies of all time and you win an Academy Award, it forces you to look into the void, because it doesn't ultimately fulfill anything."
-Robert Zemeckis
Interview with Academy Of Achievement: A Museum Of Living History 1996

For nearly 40 years, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis has long established himself as one of our greatest cinematic magicians. Time and again, Zemeckis has delivered one eye popping sight after another and always filtered through his ever inventive directorial vision, providing generations with films that are truly for the ages.

Just think, within his very first film "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1978), he gave us a front row seat to wide-swept Beatlemania and somehow made us feel that we were witnessing The Beatles even though they never appeared upon screen. Or how about the deliriously awesome spectacle of witnessing human beings interacting seamlessly with cartoon characters in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" (1988). What of regarding Goldie Hawn parading through scenes with a shotgun blast hole blown completely through her middle in the wicked satire "Death Becomes Her" (1992). Or the life odyssey of a bumpkin, played beautifully by Tom Hanks, rubbing shoulders with all manner of historical dignitaries and iconic celebrities as if he were actually, truly present in "Forrest Gump" (1994). Zemeckis has allowed us to travel with Jodie Foster through the universe and back in "Contact" (1997) as well as through harrowing existential crises as presented in both "Cast Away" (2000) and "Flight" (2012). And of course, we cannot even begin to ignore the collection of air-tight time travel conundrums, paradoxes and near catastrophes experienced and endured by Marty McFly and Doc Brown in the...well...timeless "Back To The Future" trilogy (1985/1989/1990).

With the arrival of "The Walk," I feel that Robert Zemeckis has made one of his most magical films. It is exquisitely filmed and the ultimate effect is nothing short of exhilarating (even in 2D!). But beyond the sheer spectacle of the high wire escapade, Zemeckis has also presented a film that is not only multi-layered but one that just might possibly be his most personal, in regards to his artistic drive and determination and the successes and potential failings that accompany a relentless attention to his specialized brand of imagination and ingenuity. Yes, everyone is heading out to see Ridley Scott's "The Martian" and with a new film from no less than Steven Spielberg, as well as the rapturously well reviewed "Steve Jobs" waiting in the wings, there is the possibility that "The Walk" just might find itself lost in the cracks. But trust me, dear readers, Robert Zemeckis has delivered the goods once again, triumphantly so, and I would just hate for you to miss this glorious film upon the BIG SCREEN that is was purely designed to be seen.

"The Walk" stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a thrilling, fully engaging performance as real life French high-wire artist Philippe Petit as he prepares and performs his historical (and illegal) tightrope walk between the two, as yet unfinished twin towers of the World Trade Center on August 7, 1974.

Over the course of just a hair over two hours, Zemeckis, utilizing the direct to the camera/audience narration by Petit, takes us through Petit's childhood, origins as a French street performer and fascination with becoming a wire-walker, his romance with street musician Annie (Charlotte Le Bon), his teachings from legendary tightrope performer Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley) and his voyage to New York as he builds a covert crew to assist him with his covert quest to nearly reach the clouds.

The film's dazzling, nearly 20 minute, climax features Philippe Petit's historic walk to the awed eyes of the citizens of New York plus his crew and the arsenal of police officers hoping to reel Petit back to safety.

Robert Zemeckis' "The Walk" is unquestionably a feast for the eyes from the 1970's period details to the almost vertigo inducing sequences miles high above the ground. For those of you who just may see this film in 3D, I firmly believe that Zemeckis has pulled out all of the stops and you just may find yourselves hanging onto your theater seats so as not to feel as if you are falling off of the world. Awards season had better to be most generous to Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, who in collaboration with Zemeckis, has fashioned a visual palate from beginning to end that is completely immersive and stunning, making the special effects entirely seamless with the real world surroundings and actors.

It is a film that sits beautifully with the remainder of Zemeckis' filmography, especially his friskier features like the aforementioned "Back To The Future" series and even the raunchy satire "Used Cars" (1980), as those films each featured a collective of characters hatching all manner of plots and schemes to which we in the audience would fall into sheer delight viewing how their plans would inevitably go awry and how they wriggle themselves out of the jaws of failure over and again. Essentially, Zemeckis has even outdone Director Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean Eleven" (2001) as he has made almost the ultimate caper film, as Philippe Petit, the consummate showman, wishes to deliver an unexpected experience, the likes of which could never be performed again and one that crucially has to be kept secret from the public in order to make its intended impact of jaw dropping awe.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is absolutely wonderful as Petit. While his French accent may not be perfect, he more than makes up for any discrepancies through the energy, intensity, balletic physicality and existential pathos he pours into his full performance. His magnetism is as infectious as it is exciting, fully making us understand how Annie, French photographer Jean-Louis (Clement Sibomy), French speaking New Yorker J.P. (James Badge Dale), life insurance salesman Barry Greenhouse (Steve Valentine) and even a genteel Frenchman named Jeff (Cesar Domboy), who incidentally houses a fear of heights, would follow him entirely during such a foolhardy scheme, and eve remain with him as they endure Petit's arrogance, anger, and moments where he seems to be slipping away into madness. But Petit remains fully steadfast, either with his crew or addressing the audience from atop his perch at the peak of the Statue Of Liberty, fully serving his muse, his inspiration, his reason for being as well as the city of New York itself, making him a figure we want to believe in as well as follow.

Even so "The Walk," just like "The Martian" is a testament to what we as human beings are able to achieve and accomplish just by working together and believing in one another. With that, Zecmekis has crafted a film that works as a metaphor to the life experience itself, for what is the unpredictable nature of life but a veritable tightrope walk each and every day. What of the changes and curve balls life throws at each and every one of us at one time or another. From changes that are either self-induced or forced, to be thrown from one's perceived path into another requires unquestionable strength and agility and may also house tremendous doubts of one abilities and fears of absolute failure. Every step we take each day is yet another step into the void, the unknown and Petit's walk across the twin towers serves as a powerful image to all lives lived but also as a stirring testament to the people of New York City and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  

And still, there is the matter of the quotation with which I opened this review. With Philippe Petit and his crew, I could not help but to think that "The Walk" may also serve as an allegory to the filmmaking career of Robert Zemeckis himself as Petit could easily be viewed as the Zemeckis stand-in, a feverishly creative figure surrounded by a team of individuals, all working to serve his artistic vision no matter where it takes him. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have worked alongside this man for many years and on the projects he has released to the world as well as what role his brand of dogged determination and dedication may have played within his personal life. A final scene between Petit and Annie certainly does present an interpersonal tension that can arise when both people are attached to one person's dreams and I do believe that we just may be asked to wonder how Zemeckis, and therefore, how all of us, are able to achieve that sense of balance in life--itself another tightrope walk that is often precarious yet not impossible.

I am so very thankful as a film-goer that Robert Zemeckis has indeed dedicated himself so thoroughly to his art, repeatedly providing me with glorious times at the movies. But he is indeed a human being first, and I would hate to think that he may have sacrificed a certain sense of personal happiness for artistic glory. Hopefully, he has indeed found that balance and furthermore, with a circle of individuals to offer him support and encouragement in turn.

That is indeed the beauty of a film like "The Walk" as it successfully merges the thrill ride with the profound, one that transcends its primary subject matter, making for an experience that is specific to the life experience of Philippe Petit, personal for Robert Zemeckis and universal for all of us watching, gasping in awe as we regard one risk filled step after another into the unknown.