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 - Dracula Untold

Dracula Untold

Starring: Luke Evans, Sarah Gadon, Dominic Cooper, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance, Diarmaid Murtagh, Paul Kaye, William Houston, Noah Huntley, Ronan Vibert, and more.

Directed by: Gary Shore Written by: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless Based on Characters Created by: Bram Stoker Cinematography by: John Schwartzman Music by: Ramin Djawadi

Premise: When the Turks demand Vlad adds a thousand children, as well as his son, to their yearly tribute, Vlad Tepes decides it is too dear a price to pay. Killing several Turks, he turns to Broken Tooth Mountain where he'd glimpsed something evil and very powerful. It is this power he hopes to gain to allow him to save his people. Yet the power has a cost. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Luke Evans was perfect for the role - waxing from stern, to concerned, to loving husband and father, to hungry predator with ease. Charles Dance brought great presence to the Master Vampire. Sarah Gadon as Vlad's lovely and perceptive wife, made for a nice foil and wove in well into the themes of light and dark.

2) Special Effects - Thumbs Up: The film had a lot of nice effects. The different ways bats were used were very cool - both in the giant waves and the more personal combat moments. Some neat uses of dark and light as seen through vampiric eyes. The first vaporizing sunlight effect was fantastic. Some of the others weren't as well done, but still looked very good.

There's a nice scene done almost exclusively through the reflections of a sword. What I loved more was the POV being kept on the man holding the sword till his end. A very nice touch.

The art in the priest's book was fantastic! The detail was superb.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Down: Is this film in any way historically accurate? Not much. But the fact the supernatural would be involved does give a clue this would be the way of it, so it didn't hinder my interest. Bad writing, however, is a whole other matter.

Aside from Vlad, his wife, and son, there was no development of any of the other characters. The Turks were all cardboard villains. Those around Vlad about the same. And for one or two of them, if you blink while watching the film, you'd miss the only clue to their personalities that you were given.

There was nothing whatsoever to support the request for a thousand children. (If you have an army of over a hundred thousand strong sitting around, what difference would an extra thousand untrained soldiers make?) The fact Vlad and the Turkish ruler had been close friends made the whole thing that much harder to swallow.

Vlad has fought countless wars, created strategies, killed thousands before ever taking on supernatural powers - yet not once were any real tactics or thought, for that matter, ever presented by him. After the slaying of the first group of soldiers once he gained his powers, why didn't he fly straight to the main encampment and kill the ruler in his sleep? The main problem would be gone, his army and people thrown into disarray at the death of their leader, and if they didn't get the hint, he could have come back and slayed the lot without a single fellow countryman ever placed near the danger. I have more on this issue, but will stop here.

The next major affront was the ruler knowing how to combat supernatural Vlad. Since seemingly no one in the country of Transylvania knew about vampires except one priest, how the heck would the Turkish ruler have a clue? The Turks killed everyone they got a hold of. They didn't question or take any prisoners. The one they did take wouldn't hold told them, and didn't know all that much in the first place. And sadder still, they took a being with his incredible power, put him in a place that made him weak, and instead of having him step outside, pick up a spear, and using his magnified senses and superhuman strength to torpedo it through the cloth and into the chest of his enemy, you have him stay inside and "fight" it out. (Yes, they did do some cool things with visuals during that fight, but still...)  

And last, but not least, why the heck would Turkish scouts go to the most desolate mountain to scout for a possible invasion anyway? Now, if they'd mentioned the Turkish ruler having heard rumors of who was trapped there and wanted it investigated to see if he could give himself power, that could have been a fun angle. But, alas, no...

No real surprises or plot twists other than the delectable bit at the end. (Though I realized later that shot was all in sublight - so...huh????)

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Lots of fancy and destructive stunts by real people and CGI. Integration of both were pretty flawless, making for lots of combat fun. There is some shaky cam action, which always feels like a cheap tactic to me, but most of it wasn't, so that was good.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Thumbs Up: Lots of lovely sweeping views from above or panning shots over open fields in the day and the night. It all plays beautifully with the CGI bats. The land looks mostly unspoiled by people, making for lovely terrain shots and closeups.

My one complaint was the lack of Transylvanian/Wallachian style to the castle or monastery. Wallachia and other Carpathian locations have their own look and local flavor. Yet none of that really came across in the film. They just seemed typical, generic. Too bad.

Conclusion: If you turn of your logic circuits and possibly a couple of others, "Dracula - Untold" is an entertaining film. Some cool special effects and fight scenes as well as some great acting on the part of Lucas Evans, Sarah Gadon, and Charles Dance.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price To See Again.)

Movie Review - Emperor

Emperor

Starring: Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones, Masayoshi Haneda, Eriko Hatsune, Colin Moy, William Wallace, Masato Ibu, Toshiyuki Nishida, Takataro Kataoka, and more.

Directed by: Peter Webber Screenplay by: Vera Blasi and David Klass Based on the book by: Shiro Okamoto Cinematography by: Stuart Dryburgh Original Music by: Alex Heffes

Premise: After General MacArthur and his entourage arrive in Japan for the occupation after the country's surrender, he tasks Brigadier General Bonner Fellers with finding proof, one way or the other, with regards to Emperor Hirohito's involvement in the decision for Japan to enter World War II. While Bonner struggles to complete the seemingly impossible task within the ten days he's been given, he's also searching for the woman he fell in love with years before - the Japanese beauty, Aya.  (Rated PG-13)

Review: 

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Matthew Fox did a great job as Fellers. The tensions pulling his character in different directions between his hope and despair about finding Aya; his need to find evidence one way or the other about the Emperor; trying to respect Japanese traditions even as they make his efforts more difficult; his pain and horror at the devastation of places he'd frequented before the war; Matthew Fox brought these forth for the audience to see and feel with him every step of the way.

Tommy Lee Jones was wonderful in his portrayal of the enigmatic General MacArthur. Colin Moy had us guessing as he kept trying to sow discord to make things go his way. Eriko Hatsune embodied Japan's promise as well as imparting different views and troubles for women of that time.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: The film showed some of the best and most realistic looking decimated areas - and they spanned the breadth and depth of the screen without looking like they'd been added on. The shot of Tokyo's burning skyline was horribly eerie.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: The story is told from General Bonner Fellers' point of view. As we follow him during his investigations, the audience also gets to see into his past, to understand some of the needs that are driving him. Being acquainted with both worlds, he's the perfect medium by which to introduce all the different sides and points of view on both the war, the world, the Japanese people, and what drives them.

Adding in the concurrent story of his search for Aya, we also catch a glimpse of the feelings the survivors felt as they searched for loved ones and saw places they loved totally destroyed beyond recognition.

It was utterly fascinating seeing into this period of time. The many ways it could have all gone so terribly wrong will make you shudder.

4) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: Filmed in Japan and New Zealand, there was no shortage of great locations - the outside of the real Imperial Palace, old fashioned Japanese classrooms, country homes with beautiful gardens and ponds. Many places seen in the flashbacks are revisited, shocking us with the devastation brought upon them during the war. Others appear untouched by the bombings, but the wounds are hidden inside, for many of those who'd lived there are now gone.

5) Costuming/Makeup - Total Thumbs Up: Fantastic job by the costuming and makeup departments. Great attention to detail with the styles of clothing and hairstyles popular in the different places and times.

Conclusion: An emotionally moving, fascinating, and multifaceted view of a pivotal time in history. Matthew Fox was outstanding. The longer the film went on, the more human he became, and the more layers were uncovered in the complexity of those manipulating the times. If you're only looking for something full of action and explosions, though, this won't be for you.

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)