Drama

Christine

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Christine
  • IMDb: link

Christine

Depression is a hard subject matter to tackle. By its very nature it makes any character suffering from the condition standoffish at best or, as is the case here, nearly unrelatable. The subject of director Antonio Campos‘ film is 70s Florida local news reporter Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall). As a character study of a person struggling with depression and paranoia, Christine works well-enough. But as a film it’s difficult to see past the premise as anything other than Oscar-bait. Hall gives a great performance as a woman on the edge, but the sad fact about writer Craig Shilowich‘s script is we are never invested in what dark end is destined for her.

Based on a true story, Shilowich’s script showcases Christine as a hack local newswoman unable to get along with co-workers or family with dreams of the big time Christine, at least on some level, likely understands she will never achieve. Unable to deal with her loneliness, the station manager’s orders for more sensational stories, and a medical problem she refuse to share with anyone, Christine is on the fast track to ruin. What makes her story different is how public her downward spiral became.

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Hacksaw Ridge

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hacksaw Ridge
  • IMDb: link

Hacksaw RidgeGrabbing a rifle and racing straight into gunfire is certainly an act of bravery. What then is making the same mad dash while refusing to carry a weapon of any kind? The latest film from Mel Gibson is based on the true story of contentious objector Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) who enlisted for the Army during World War II to serve his country as a field medic on the battlefield but earned the ire of the Army and his own company by his refusal to even touch a weapon.

Merriam-Webster defines a hero as “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” It’s a term that is certainly overused, but it’s also impossible to describe Doss’ journey and his actions on the battlefield without using that word.

While not always a fan of Gibson’s work behind the camera, I will freely admit that the man has an unique understanding of complex emotions on the battlefield. The war scenes of Hacksaw Ridge are as brutal as any you are going to find in a war film which makes the “miracle” that Doss was able to achieve in Okinawa all the more powerful. Because of these sequences, Hacksaw Ridge isn’t a movie I’d recommend to all audiences. It certainly earns its R-rating.

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Sully

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Sully
  • IMDb: link

SullyAnointed by the media as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” Sully offers the story of pilot Chesley Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) whose miraculous water landing of a full-sized passenger plane in the Hudson River was celebrated by the world as a near-impossible feat but questioned heavily by the airline industry. Remarkably, every passenger and crew member survived Sully ditching the plane, but that’s really just where this story gets started.

More analytical than I expected, the screenplay by Todd Komarnicki spends much of its screentime on findings, data, trial strategy, simulations, discussions, and bureaucratic infighting. While this allows director Clint Eastwood to steer well-clear of the film venturing anywhere near the realm of sappy or schmaltzy, it also means much of the movie lacks the emotional impact one would expect. Other than watching his struggle to deal with reluctantly being pulled into the limelight, we don’t learn much about our title character. Although deeper family and drinking issues and are hinted at, the movie’s focus is completely on Sully being the right man in the right spot at right moment and how those few seconds effected the flight and Sully in particular.

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The Light Between Oceans

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Light Between Oceans
  • IMDb: link

The Light Between OceansIn the hands of a less talented cast The Light Between Oceans would be a tedious disaster. Soap opera dressed in drag as high drama, the manipulative tale is made watchable by its choice of leads Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander in what feels very much like a story predestined for Lifetime television. Still, a talented cast can only do so much with the sordid, and extremely predictable, source material.

Adapted from the novel of the same name, Fassbender stars as Tom Sherbourne, a WWI vet who takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on an isolated island. Falling for the daughter of one of the men who hired him for the position, Tom and Isabel’s (Alicia Vikander) life on the island is full of tragedy, but the arrival of a shipwrecked boat promises a new start for the couple. To do so they will make a choice which will not only affect themselves but a woman they have never met (Rachel Weisz) for years to come.

At more than two-hours no amount of pretty (but never quite amazing) scenery or closeups of Vikander and Fassbender can prevent the lull which director Derek Cianfrance can not seem to avoid.

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Hell or High Water

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hell or High Water
  • IMDb: link

Hell or High WaterHell or High Water is more than it appears to be at first glance. The simple story of two brothers robbing banks while literally being pursued by a cowboy (Jeff Bridges) and an Indian (Gil Birmingham) through small Texas towns is grounded in complex motivations playing as much on character-driven drama as themes from westerns and heist films which screenwriter Taylor Sheridan and director David Mackenzie use to frame the tale. Shot against the bleak canvas of West Texas (or, to be more accurate, New Mexico standing in for West Texas), Hell or High Water is an engrossing, entertaining, and often amusing, film.

Ben Foster and Chris Pine star as Tanner and Toby Howard. The estranged brothers have been reunited after years by a recent tragedy and a driving need which will push them to robbery. As the film opens, the two perform a pair of well-planned, if shakily executed, robberies of two West Texas banks. Taking only small denominations from the cashiers’ drawers, the two limit their exposure and the police’s chances of tracing the money. Needing a large amount of cash by the end of the week for purposes which will eventually become clear, the pair are just getting started.

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