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.

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

World History: A Social Justice Warrior Interpretation.

Lord Randolph is a black man.  Scotsman George Dalgleish is black.  Andrew Ker is black.  Bess of Hardwick is Chinese.  After this, I don't want to hear another complaint about Mickey Rooney playing Japanese, Johnny Depp as Tonto, or John Wayne as Genghis Khan.  This movie screams out that it is not history.  The slave trade that brought blacks to Europe had barely begun but this movie proposes that blacks are long integrated into the society and have risen to the nobility.  If this was a high school or college play, that's fine.  But big budget film?  No.

 

David Rizzio, who served as a secretary for Queen Mary, is openly gay.  Also, he has an affair with Henry Darnley - Mary's husband - on their wedding night!  Right.  Well, it is true that Rizzio was accused of impregnating the queen because of his close association with her and Darnley was estranged from Mary very soon after the marriage but this is an interesting bit of fiction.  The brutal murder of Rizzio takes on a new meaning when he is homosexual.

 

Mary Stuart was raised in France.  She was married to the King of France, Francis II.  He died young and she returned to Scotland, where she had been queen since she was a week old.  She should not have an Irish accent.  The movie is more interested in listening to Mary titter and squeal with her ladies in waiting than ponder the decisions and crises that led to her abdication, English imprisonment, and execution.  Her menstrual cycle figures in the story because that's unique to Reformation royalty.

 

The characters are mostly unlikeable and I cared not a whit when Rizzio was murdered or Darnley strangled.  Even Mary seals her fate in an exchange (entirely fictional) in which she tells Queen Elizabeth that she is her superior.  No, Mary was quite clearly Elizabeth's inferior except that she managed to birth a child.  Mary's son became King of England and Scotland upon Elizabeth's death.

 

This is crap.  I was very tempted to walk out.  Avoid this turkey.

An Adventure in Space and Time (2013)

It is 1966 and a car pauses on the street. Seen ahead through the fog is a police box. A police man emerges and walks toward the car. “You must move along, sir,” he tells the driver. The driver is William Hartnell (David Bradley), who appears bemused.

Flashback to 1963. Sydney Newman (Brian Cox), head of BBC Drama, needs a half hour show to bridge a gap between two ratings hits. He has in mind a Sci-Fi show, which induces groans from the others in the room. He knows just the person to produce the show: Verity Lambert (Jessica Raine). Verity had been his assistant at ITV but he promotes her to show runner, the first female producer at BBC! She is assigned Waris Hussein to be her director; he is the first Indian director at BBC! As they hammer out details of the script and get props to design the TARDIS, Verity looks for the titular Doctor Who. She wants someone who is grandfatherly, a bit abrasive, but still charming. She finds William Hartnell. Hartnell has spent his career in the mold of criminals or military/authority figures. His most noted recent role is that of a Sergeant Major in The Army Game. He’s not sure he is right for the part but is convinced to try it. He loves it. From these early beginnings, the show moves through the years and the people leave. Waris is the first to go. Then his onscreen granddaughter, Carole Ann Ford, departs. The whole cast is gone but for Hartnell after two years and then Verity Lambert moved on. The later part of the show is rather depressing and sad. Though only in his fifties, Hartnell is not well and has trouble remembering his lines. By 1966, Sydney tells him that it’s time to get a new Doctor. Hartnell is heartbroken but approves the choice for his replacement.

Back on the road, the policeman knocks on the window. Hartnell rolls it down, is recognized by the now happy policeman, and then drives on. Today is the last day of filming, the day the Doctor regenerates and a new actor, Patrick Troughton, takes the reins.

This is a terrific TV movie and loads of fun. It is great to see them chat while Daleks roll in the background or the Doctor is dressed for the Reign of Terror, or Cybermen are taking a smoke break. Each year, there is a photo of the latest batch of companions. It is also quite sad. Hartnell is the central character and this is mostly a tragedy from his perspective. All those who were with him at the beginning have departed for other projects, his health is failing and not helped by the 48 week shooting schedule, and he can barely remember his lines. He takes such joy in interacting with the young fans of the show and doesn’t want to let go.

A must see for any Doctor Who fan. This is how it all started.

George H W Bush

I read an interesting article that described Bush well.  He viewed himself more as a caretaker than a leader.  He didn't have the vision thing.  Per the Constitution, the president enforces laws that Congress passes which is how he saw his domestic position.  He had spent his life preparing for the Cold War and then it ended in the middle of his presidency.  With no Soviet Union, the country was willing to take a risk with an anti-war Democrat.

 

The first opportunity I had to vote in a presidential election, I voted against George Bush.  He won despite me.  The next time around, I voted for him.  He lost.  I have a very bad record with presidential voting and it all started with Bush.

 

The most memorable thing about President Bush is Dana Carvey.  What a terrific impression.

 

RIP

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

1991: Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy), a successful writer and author, has fallen on hard times.  She has no job, her agent won't return her calls, she's months behind on rent, and her cat is sick.  It is so bleak that she takes a framed letter from Katherine Hepburn from her wall and sells it.  Later, while researching for a book she's planning, she encounters some letters that she pockets and sells.  This proves lucrative so she decides to write some originals.  When buyers start getting suspicious, she uses Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant) to sell her forgeries.  Then the FBI arrive.

Billed as a biographical crime comedy, this had very little comedy.  Melissa McCarthy, who can be enormously funny, has almost no material here.  She is a sad alcoholic cat lady who has resorted to crime.  Lee is an unlikeable character throughout the movie.  Even when she tries to be funny, it is the sort of humor that is mean.  For instance, a used book seller didn't want the majority of the books she brought to the shop so she phoned him a few days later and said his apartment building was on fire.  What a sense of humor.  The scene where she and Jack discover that the cat has been pooping under her bed - and she had gone weeks without noticing - was just pathetic.  There is virtually no comedy and the main characters are terrible people.  Jack is a homeless homosexual alcoholic and drug abuser.  His only redeeming feature is he can be charming.  Lee doesn't even have that.

 

This is the unfunny story of a criminal who got off lightly and then profited further by publishing a book of her exploits in 2008.  Unable to sympathize with their hardships or laugh at their antics, this story offers nothing to enjoy.  Skip it.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek) is working at the airport as a baggage handler when one of his co-workers call him a Paki (Pakistani).  It is 1970 and he has big dreams.  Over his family's objections, he goes out that night to see a band, Smile.  As luck would have it, Smile's lead singer leaves and Farrokh - who goes by Freddie - jumps at the opportunity.  Also that night, he met Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton), the inspiration for the song Love of My Life.  Shortly after joining Smile as lead singer, the band name is changed to Queen, Freddie switched from Bulsara to Mercury, and the hits start coming.

 

The movie is basically a history of the band from 1970 until about 1985, focusing primarily on Freddie.  There are some origin stories for the various hits, most notably Bohemian Rhapsody.  It plays as a greatest hits album with story.  Queen did the score for a couple of movies and now for their own biopic.  Cool.  The inclusion of Mike Myers (aka Wayne of Wayne's World) as a music executive who doubts the merits of Bohemian Rhapsody was great. 

 

Here is a movie that is about the rise of Queen and also the tragic life of Freddie.  I don't know how accurate a portrayal of Freddie this is.  When onstage or working on music with the band, he was aggressive and controlling.  Away from music and the band, he came off as somewhat shy and uncertain.  An interesting contrast.  He also is seen as easily manipulated into becoming a meal ticket for the unscrupulous.

 

Fun movie, mostly for the music.  A must if you are a fan of Queen.

Overlord (2018)

It is D-Day and a particular plane full of paratroopers is bound for France.  Their mission is to knock out a radio tower to aid the landing.  However, flack is heavy and the plane is shot to pieces.  Only a handful of the platoon survives and gathers.  The highest-ranking survivor is a corporal who is utterly ruthless.  The central character is Private Boyce (Jovan Adepo), who is viewed poorly by most of the soldiers.  Not because he is black but because he declined to kill a mouse in the barracks during training.  To the good, it turns out he speaks French.

 

No sooner do they arrive at the target than they notice some strange goings-on.  There are Nazi scientists who are collecting corpses for some reason.  Boyce accidentally finds his way into the complex and - inexplicably - explores almost all of it without being spotted.  He witnesses the revival of an apparently dead soldier.  The Nazis are working on a super soldier formula.  I almost expected to see Red Skull and Captain America!

 

A lot of the movie is hiding and fleeing, which provides lots of tension but gets old.  The big fight had entirely too few zombies.  The goal may have been to limit the zombies entirely in the underground complex to explain why this incident is unknown to history.  But speaking of history, the US Army was segregated during World War II.  There were no black paratroopers on D-Day.  There certainly wasn't a black sergeant in command of mostly white soldiers.  This sort of historical revisionism is rampant.  History wasn't inclusive and it was mostly ugly and brutish.  It should not be rewritten to match modern sensibilities.  If you want black and white troops together, set the story in Vietnam.  Or maybe embrace an alternate history and have the zombie run wild.  Pick one.

The movie is so-so.