Arrival

I sort of have a degree in linguistics. My MA is in English with an emphasis in “language, writing, and rhetoric.” I enjoyed Amy Adams’ character in this film as a linguist. I have reservations about nearly all the rest of this popular film.

img_1128[imdblive:id(tt2543164)]

[imdblive:title_nolink]
Cast

[imdblive:cast_nolink]

Directed by

[imdblive:directors_nolink]

Written by

[imdblive:writers_nolink]

Other Info

[imdblive:genres]
[imdblive:certificate]
[imdblive:date]
[imdblive:runtime]min
IMDB Rating: [imdblive:rating]

My wife and I just saw this last night on opening night at an antique theater in Santa Barbara. Please be warned:

The rest of my review contains spoilers.

Fans of Interstellar may enjoy Arrival most. It has to do with time and getting outside it. I personally feel this has been beaten like a dead horse in movies. Here, Villanueva uses the theme in attempt to “Ooh and Ahh” audiences once again, in my armchair opinion.

It didn’t move me.

Amy Adams plays a linguist and single mother who has a daughter who dies of cancer. Forest Whittaker commissions her to translate an alien message. It climaxes when she realizes that language determines how you see reality and therefore because she learns the alien language, she is outside of time. She then realizes she married a guy she works with and had her daughter but after sharing all this with her husband, he doesn’t “look at the daughter the same way,” assuredly because he knows she will die.

The big idea is to choose to have the daughter with her short life even if you know she is going to die. Carpe diem.

In short, there are so many effects like the gravity of the space “stones” that are never explained. I wasn’t impressed with the aliens nor with the whole “a language makes me see through time” concept.

It was just ok. I was moderately entertained. Mostly, in the daughter/mother scenes and flashbacks, I was glad I had popcorn and red vines for distraction. I recommend this film for people who have lost someone too soon and fans of Interstellar. Too bad, this could have been a science fiction film as advertised.

The Changeling

Mysteries are great. I love when I piece together significant things to paint a picture of the end. The Changeling is one such movie and a true story.

img_1018[imdblive:id(tt0824747)]

[imdblive:title_nolink]
Cast

[imdblive:cast_nolink]

Directed by

[imdblive:directors_nolink]

Written by

[imdblive:writers_nolink]

Other Info

[imdblive:genres]
[imdblive:certificate]
[imdblive:date]
[imdblive:runtime]min
IMDB Rating: [imdblive:rating]

In the early days of Los Angeles, there was some intermingling between police and mob business. You see it reflected here. Beyond that, the police department was responsible for some really shady stuff on its own. This story chronicles some of that. I really liked the vintage cars and costumes, what I didn’t like was seeing such corruption from the very people who are supposed to protect and serve. We ca only hope times have changed since then.

The rest of this review may contain spoilers

Angelina Jolie’s character loses her son one day. By that, I mean she comes home and finds her 10-year-old missing. She naturally calls the police and a search ensues over weeks. At this point something so bizarre and unbelievable happens. Flabbergasted viewers must remember: this is a true story.

The police call her saying they have her son when in fact it is clearly not her son. She tells them so but they insist. It even gets so pushy on their part that eventually they have her illegally committed to a mental ward.

This is one part of the film. The other is woven as a texture and it involves the real fate of her son. Why the police pull this odd switcheroo on the mother is never completely revealed but I would figure it had something to do with PR in a pedo/murder case that they are making no progress on. They wanted the press to show progress so they did what they did..

After some really good drama/thriller stuff, the location of the pedo is found. We surmise Walter was killed there. Then the film begins to really feature Malkovich. He plays the preacher in a local church with a lot of political complaints. He is really her only hope when the police turn against her.

All in all, this is an amazing thriller with a compelling true story-line. All the acting is great and the costumes/props are vintage to a fault. I recommend this film for fans of the major actors in it as well as for fans of the thriller/crime genre.

Thanks for the 100 Likes on WordPress.com!

100likesrileyonfilm

Thanks everybody!

The Story of Us

Some movies are feel-good the whole way through. Others are just sad. Others still take you through ups and downs to leave you sighing because you have just experienced life as it is, or almost anyway. This film is definitely one of those. I won’t call it feel good but it can still be called a romantic comedy. Hat tip on this one to Rob Reiner.

story_poster
[imdblive:id(tt0160916)]

[imdblive:title_nolink]
Cast

[imdblive:cast_nolink]

Directed by

[imdblive:directors_nolink]

Written by

[imdblive:writers_nolink]

Other Info

[imdblive:genres]
[imdblive:certificate]
[imdblive:date]
[imdblive:runtime]min
IMDB Rating: [imdblive:rating]

Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer play a couple who have been married for 15 years and have reached the breaking point. It’s a series of flashblacks intermingled with present day challenges. There are some real keen insights into marriage: what works and what takes years to work out.

The rest of the review may contain spoilers

They have two kids, which makes the film more heart-rending. In one scene their daughter lays in bed with them pulling their hands together, very touching. You go through the whole movie asking yourself if they will get back together. In fact, you sometimes hope they won’t, the fighting is stressful to watch. You ask yourself if she has a real gripe with him because he “talked intimately” with another woman at work. She caught wind of it and initiated the separation. The issue of affairs and what really constitutes one comes up again and again.

It seems to me there were a lot of conflicts prior to the questionable “talking.” As you watch the film it seems questionable whether they should have ever gotten together at all. She is a mathematical, ordered thinker whereas his head is in the cloud. Can an analytical type ever be happy with an artist? That’s another question brought up here again and again.

It’s a movie singles and couples can enjoy. If you don’t identify with the couple, perhaps you were the children at a younger age. The great thing about this film is that it dares to present real people. I’ll take that over a fake romance, unless I want to watch fake romance, which from time to time I do, then I wouldn’t watch this. Still, I’m glad it’s here, I’m glad this film was made.

Donnie Darko

Weird things are just simple things you don’t understand yet. For many, this film appears weird but I would argue it’s not quite as weird once you have a little research under your belt and of course, you actually sit down and watch it, credits to credits. If you have done those things, I’ll bet it’s less weird for you. Am I right?

darko_poster
[imdblive:id(tt0246578)]

[imdblive:title_nolink]
Cast

[imdblive:cast_nolink]

Directed by

[imdblive:directors_nolink]

Written by

[imdblive:writers_nolink]

Other Info

[imdblive:genres]
[imdblive:certificate]
[imdblive:date]
[imdblive:runtime]min
IMDB Rating: [imdblive:rating]

Jake Gyllenhaal plays this evil-eyed high school kid very well. He is haunted by this vision of an evil bunny. The research I alluded to in my introduction will tell you what that’s all about as well as how he cheats death in the beginning of the film. After that, he is unwittingly on a journey to understand the bunny and his own mental health issues. 

Donnie is seeing a therapist. She increases his medication which seemingly should make the evil bunny go away but it does not. We can only reason from that he is not a hallucination. When we start understanding more about this creepy bunny, the film takes a strange Ray Bradbury-like turn and if you can follow this as a sci-fi film, the creepy turns to sensibility.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying this film s simple ir that most viewers will “get it.” I am saying, just like Bird Man, you can read many interpretations into this. It has multiple meanings and all can be successfully argued.

I think I can safely say you will not understand this film without reading something about it on the internet. I’ve read quite a few lengthy posts about it. The general idea put forth is that there are 2 realities: the real life one and some other-worldly dimension. I’ll let you chew on that and see if you agree once you see it. I think the ending is great, it shows Donnie to have the capability of being self-less. Incidentally there are a lot of great names in this film. You have some great actors giving excellent performances. In my closing words I would just reiterate that this film is not weird. I would encourage interested parties to look around at some interpretations online and then make your own. I do wish more was explained but that’s my only criticism. I recommend this one to ’80’s movie’ fans, sci-fi geeks, and dark movie fans.

Breaking Bad

A beleaguered teacher who becomes a meth dealer, now there’s an idea for a series! At this point, I’m not sure who hasn’t seen Breaking Bad. If you haven’t, I’ll give you quick run-down on why I think it’s a great watch.

breaking_bad
[imdblive:id(tt4981636)]

[imdblive:title_nolink]
Cast

[imdblive:cast_nolink]

Directed by

[imdblive:directors_nolink]

Written by

[imdblive:writers_nolink]

Other Info

[imdblive:genres]
[imdblive:certificate]
[imdblive:date]
[imdblive:runtime]min
IMDB Rating: [imdblive:rating]

Walt is nothing like me. I’m a 4th grade teacher, he’s a high school chemistry teacher. He’s unhappy in his married, I’m quite happy. The one thing he has going for him that I identify with is the desire for something better. He wants better healthcare and instead of waiting for the union to come through for him, he takes the situation into his own hands.

Through the course of a few episode he becomes a meth maker and small time distributor. The drama follows that as well as the rapidly deterioration of his marriage. His wife is a total bitch. I can’t really blame him for wanting to get out f the house. She dreams up ideas that he should do and then forces him into them. You get the fleeting notion from time to time there was once something between them but as for the now, the marriage is on its last leg.

Walt partners up with an ex-student Jesse who knows the street smarts of the game. Between the two of them they rake in cash along with mounds of trouble. It seems the more they make, the closer they come to being caught or killed. They have adventures involving local drug rings and you get to see the dark side of all that.

In conclusion, this show has a lot of cool action sequences and certainly some well-written drama. Still, it also has a lot of dry episodes where literally nothing happens except that the cactus grows. If you ca hang in there through these episodes, the story is great and enjoyable up until the final episode. I recommend it as an excellent binge watch.