Being the Ricardos (2021)

It is 1953 and the hugely successful I Love Lucy program suffers twin blows: an article reports that Desi (Javier Bardem) is unfaithful to Lucy and Walter Winchell accuses Lucy (Nicole Kidman) of being a communist.  Can the show survive?  The movie is told over the period of a production week and is generously sprinkled with flashbacks.  The flashbacks are chronological, starting with Lucy and Desi meeting on the set of Too Many Girls in 1940.  Their hectic schedules mean that they are seldom together.  Lucy parlays her successful radio program, My Favorite Husband, into a television show that co-stars her real-life husband and thus aligns their schedules.

Not only must the cast and crew contend with a potential show-ending disaster regarding Lucy's communist past, they must also determine what to do with Lucy's pregnancy.  Philip Morris, the show's sponsor, is adamantly oppose to a pregnant Lucy on the show.  Lucy and Desi want to have it as part of the show!  Of course, there is also the running problem that William "Bill" Frawley (JK Simmons) and Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) detest one another though they play Fred and Ethel Mertz.  Bill proves to be a confidant for both Desi and Lucy, a man not afraid to speak his mind.  The writing staff are prominently featured and are the putative narrators of this tale.  Madelyn Pugh (Linda Lavin), Bob Carroll (Ronny Cox), and Jess Oppenheimer (John Rubinstein) are interviewees at some unspecified later date to detail the events of that hellish week.  As such, they feature prominently and provide a firsthand look behind the scene in producing a hit show.

Far from historically accurate, this is a mash-up of the time that samples some of the best of Lucy and provides a very entertaining tale.  Kidman makes for an excellent Lucy.  Some of the best bits were when she would visualize a gag in her head, running through how it might look on the show and the audience reaction.  Bardem has everything except the looks to play Desi.  He does a surprisingly good job of singing and mimicking Arnaz.  Arianda is Vivian Vance.  Of all the principal cast, she most looks like the character she plays.  She does a terrific job of bringing her to life though she seems to have the smallest part of the main four.  Simmons is outstanding as Frawley.  He shines with that 'I don't give a damn' attitude that old men often develop.

Of particular note, communism is a bad thing and all the characters agree on this.  Bill is virulently anti-communist, as is Desi.  Lucy only flirted with communism on account of her grandfather.  The sponsors might abandon the show if it is shown that Lucy is a red.  This is not painted as an unjust facet of the Red Scare, but an honest assessment by the characters.  After lionizing a communist scriptwriter in Trumbo (2015), it is a nice change of pace to see communism viewed negatively in a Hollywood production.

Overall, an excellent movie and quite fun.  Recommended.

Aquaman (2018)

The movie opens during a storm on the coast of Maine.  Tom Curry, the lighthouse man, sees a figure on the rocks.  He finds a woman in an odd wetsuit and a trident nearby.  She is wounded.  He carries her to the lighthouse and bandages her.  When Atlanna (Nicole Kidman) awakens, she is initially hostile but she soon warms to Tom and the two settle into a blissful life together that soon includes a son, Arthur.  However, Atlanna's past catches her and she is taken back to the sea.  Arthur grows to manhood and gets trained by Vulko (Willem Dafoe).  Arthur wants to see his mother again but Vulko always sets another test for him before a meeting can be arranged.  He finally realizes his mother is dead and mostly swears off Atlantis and Atlanteans.  Meanwhile, his half-brother King Orm (Patrick Wilson) wants to go to war with the surface dwellers.  With the help of Black Manta, a human pirate, he triggers a crisis that will lead to a war.  Black Manta has revenge on his mind.  Aquaman let Manta's father die.  This only scratches the surface of the story.  It is epic.

 

It feels like the previous DC movies in that much of the CGI is over the top.  When we see the vast undersea empires, it becomes impossible to believe that folks on the surface would be unaware of them.  However, the tone of the movie allows that to be ignored.  Unlike Batman and Superman, Aquaman isn't a brooding stick in the mud.  He's well-adjusted and hangs out with his dad when he isn't stomping pirates at sea or joining the Justice League to save the world.  Unlike Zack Snyder, James Wan knows he is making escapist entertainment, not high drama.  That makes all the difference.

 

Jason Momoa is great in the role.  He can be hard edged here, comedic there, serious when needed, and silly on occasion but is works.  This is a faceted character, a rarity in the current string of DC movies.  Let's get the Aquaman & Wonder Woman movie and forget about those others.  Well, I am curious to see the Flash.

 

It is a long movie but it has good pacing.  The fight scenes are reminiscent of some of the hyperactive space battles in the Star Wars prequels.  Lots of fun.  If DC can shift gears to make them like this, it might start competing with Marvel.

Lion

India, 1986.  Saroo (Sunny Pawar) worships his older brother, Guddu.  He insists on going to work with Guddu and Guddu reluctantly acquiesces.  However, the 5 year-old Saroo is too tired to do anything so Guddu leaves him on a bench at the train station with a stern "Stay here."  A few hours later, Saroo wakes up and started looking for his brother on an empty train.  Not finding him, Saroo falls asleep on the train.  When he wakes up, the train is on its way across India.  Stranded in Calcutta, Saroo is eventually put in an orphanage.  Soon thereafter, he is adopted by an Australian couple, Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John Brierley.

 

Australia, 2008.  Saroo (Dev Patel) is taking classes to learn about hotel management.  Some students are of Indian descent and spark his memories.  It is suggested that he use Google Earth to locate his home.  Once on the path, it consumes him.  He must find his birth mother and let her know that he is alive and well.  It is a foregone conclusion that he finds her.  It is then that he learns his name is not Saroo but Sheru.  Sheru means Lion.

 

The movie spends too much time on side stories that go nowhere.  Saroo spends a considerable amount of time and effort to ruin his relationship with Lucy (Rooney Mara), the film's love interest.  She is often the voice of reason that he unreasonably ignores.  Then there is his brother, Mantosh, who has behavioral problems.  These are tacked-on opportunities for emotional conflict that do not advance the main plot.  It's just filler.

 

The adventures of young Saroo are far more entertaining and engaging than adult Saroo.  Rather than splitting the movie in half, one for young and the other for adult, maybe two thirds for young and the rest for adult.  Really, Google Earth can only entertain for so long.

 

Wait to see it on Netflix.