Movie Review - Bridge of Spies

(Took a day off with hubby and we went movie watching! In order of awesomeness - Bridge of Spies, Crimson Peak, The Last Witch Hunter. Only have time to review one though, so picking the best of the three.) :)

Bridge of Spies

Starring: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Domenick Lombardozzi, Joshua Harto, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Dakin Matthews, Mikhail Gorevoy, Sebastian Koch, Will Rogers, Nadja Bobyleva, Michael Gaston, and more.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg Written by: Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen Cinematography by: Janusz Kaminski Music by: Thomas Newman

Premise: After a Soviet spy is caught on American soil, James B. Donovan is asked by his firm and peers to represent Rudolf Abel in a criminal trial for espionage. Accepting, Donovan tries to fight for Abel as he would any other client, believing that a fair trial and due process encompass what makes America and Americans what/who they are. When one of our own is shot down over Soviet Airspace, Donovan gets asked by the government to act as a mediator for negotiations for a prisoner exchange to had Able over for Powers, but he must do so as a private citizen. The murky waters he swam in before, just got deeper and darker. (PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Awesome performances all the way around. Tom Hanks was very likeable as the "boy scout" James B. Donovan. Mark Rylance was fantastic as Rudolf Abel - he is one capable spy! "Cool as a cucumber", too! And a nice guy to boot. Lots of fun give and take between Tom Hanks and Mikhail Gorevoy and Sebastian Koch.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: From drive by's to exploding spy planes, all the special effects were top notch.

The train scene will stay with you for a while. :) The building of the Berlin Wall was disturbing in all sorts of ways.

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: The film is based on "true events" but these occurred a little before my time, so I can't state on the accuracy one way or another. But it seemed thorough, giving multiple sides of a number of issues. I liked the fact you didn't get a lot of 'cutout' characters in the story. If anything, they surprised me several times in this area and they even gave unexpected depth to side characters which made them seem more real, and this in turn added to the believability and depth of the story as a whole.

People are people - and the plot doesn't shy from showing that. Even the good guys can be bad and the bad guys be good. And what the public or others believe is not always the truth. Also shows plainly how the interests of different parties can make even simple things extremely complicated. Oi!

As good movies do, you feel fully invested and moved by what's going on by the end of the film. The fact they show how Donovan's home life and family were affected by the decisions he made, added a nice touch, and some depth to what he might lose. There were also a ton of little moments full of levity, which just made the movie all the more fun.

4) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Filmed in multiple locations in Germany as well as in the US, the camera work was excellent. Lots of attention to detail in recreating the late 1950's at home and abroad. As I mentioned earlier, the train scene (you'll know the one, you can't miss it) will stick with you - and the cinematography for it worked extremely well there and again when done in a different but correlating way in Brooklyn.

Following Pryor as he bicycles down the road looking for a break in the quickly rising Berlin Wall and the chaos on both sides made for a subtle but strong scene. Especially when he comes back.

5) Music - Total Thumbs Up: The soundtrack by Thomas Newman is very reminiscent of John Williams' work, which Spielberg has used on a lot of his films (and for good reason!), and was the perfect touch for setting mood and pacing during several places in the film.

Conclusion: Bridge of Spies is a thought provoking, fascinating film on a topic and period of our history not often talked about. Strong actor performances and plenty of little touches and surprises make the whole work a definite worthwhile experience.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Paying Full Price to See Again)

Movie Review - Lincoln

Lincoln

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook, John Hawkes, Jackie Earl Haley, Bruce McGill, Tim Black Sheldon, Joseph Cross, Jared Harris, and many more.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg Screenplay by: Tony Kushner Based partially on the book by: Doris Kearns Goodwin Original Music by: John Williams Cinematography by: Janusz Kaminski

Premise: After four brutal years civil of war, the end might be near. Yet previously having been unable to pass the 13th Amendment, Lincoln must hurry and do all he can to get it passed before peace comes, or the measure will most likely be killed once the country is unified again. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: There are so many familiar and loved faces starring in this film it took my breath away. Daniel Day-Lewis gave an outstanding performance as Abraham Lincoln. Sally Field did a marvelous job of portraying the migraine riddled, possibly bi-polar, yet intelligent and intuitive Mary Todd Lincoln. James Spader totally surprised me as the comedic relief, a task he performed excellently. There were no bad performances here.  


2) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: Lincoln is portrayed as a real person, good habits and bad. The story shows him in all environments, as president, as husband, as father, as human. He has his quirks and fallacies just like any other man, giving even more weight to the choices and steps he makes through this time.

Though the film only covers the last four months of Lincoln's career, there are many inserted bits to recall previous matters and give a bigger historical picture. The carriage accident Mrs. Lincoln got hurt in, (which was believed to have been an assassination attempt on Lincoln, but who'd ended up not taking his usual ride), which aggravated and added several health issues for Mary Todd. The fact the White House had been in utter disrepair when handed over to the Lincolns (back then there was no budget for keeping the president's residence - all the previous presidents had been well off and had been expected to pay for the upkeep from their own pockets). They even mention the fact Mary had been investigated due to the fact she was a Southern Bell as there were those believing she was handing information to the enemy.

One factual matter not mentioned (though since I didn't see Seward in the death room, it looks to have been implied) were the two other assassinations planned to occur at the same time as Lincoln's. Those two, at least, did not entirely succeed.

The film moves well and quickly. Cute, poignant, and comedic moments are sprinkled throughout. Watching the machinations of the Democratic and Republican parties was absolutely fascinating. All sides and reasons were well represented and done in an impartial manner, which gave the film real depth.


3) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Gorgeous reconstruction of locals and superb attention to detail. The scene of current combat at the beginning was as amazing as it was brutal. Towards the end, the field of the dead was horrifying in its scope.

4) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: The costumes were fantastic. You could almost identify which state they represented by their clothing. One super subtle, yet very telling, clothing items were the shawls and inside coats Lincoln and Seward wore, hinting at heating issues and cost cutting at the White House.

Conclusion: A fabulous film well worth taking the time to see. A lot of awards deserve to be won by this one.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Totally Worth Full Price of Admission.)

If you find the film as fascinating as I did, I would very much recommend Barbara Hambly's The Emancipator's Wife - It is a fictional account of Mary Todd's life, but it's from a top-notch historical researcher, so she kept it as factual as possible. The books skirts past most of the story of Lincoln himself and focuses on Mary Todd and the culture the couple grew up in and the troubles that came along with being the wife of a non-wealthy president. Very enlightening and fantastically written.