Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

"Preamble...preamble...gotta work on my preamble." -Hector

"Sweet Potato Stew!!!!"  -So many people

This movie proves my rule that if Simon Pegg is in a film.  I will in all likelyhood enjoy it. Something about him on screen is just magnetic.

As to Hector and the search for happiness. I personally detest the internet mantra that negativity gets clicks or interest:  -Buzzfeed top 10 things wrong with American Sniper. -The real problem with Obama's state of the union. -13 horribly racist things from last week. and on and on.  However, I will break from my above bashing to take Hector and the Search for Happiness to the cleaner on one point.

Africa is a continent not a country. It's like saying, "I'm going to North America." and then spending all of your time in suburbs of Winnapeg. The film deliberately goes on a grand adventure to specific places like Shanghai, Tibet, and Los Angeles...and then goes to Africa. Not a specific nation, region, or city. Just Africa.  And the film repeats this often.  I might add that in "Africa" our hero immediately gets in a conversation with a drug lord. This then proves important as he gets abducted by unnamed bad men with guns. His only recourse to release is through his drug lord connection. I don't have so much a problem with the story as a problem with the idea that this experience speaks for an entire continent that stretches from Egypt to Mauritania to South Africa. 1.1 Billion people. This may have come directly from the book..but I do not abide the perpetuation of this long held geographical farce.

Apart from the above point, Hector and the Search for Happiness was a pretty good movie. But, I am not likely to watch it again. I liked the cast, the messages, the script, and especially the book with all the drawings and one liners about happiness that tied the story together. I also think that we should all expect to see Ming Zhao in more movies.  She played her part perfectly.  @Christopher Plummer and Stellan Skarsgard. You were on screen for may be 15 minutes a piece and stole the show.

On a scale of despair to elation, I give Hector and the Search for Happiness 2.88 out of 5 stars.

*I've really notice that my new scoring system will bring down the scores from here on out. A purely average film will get 2.5 stars.  If you are an avid reader please make note of this change going forward.

     

American Sniper (2014)

"There are only three kinds of people in this world: wolves, sheep, and sheep dogs." -Chis Kyle's father.

*spoilers* obviously

These is no doubt that anyone who sees American Sniper will be changed and should either engage in productive introspection on the nature of the material presented or, should they be more social, attempt to engage others in spirited and productive discussions of the tale presented.  I am of the opinion that the worst outcome for all involved in the production of this film would be unproductive shouting that degenerates into white noise, and changes nothing. -This is the likely outcome, and that makes me a little sad.

My little blog is only a movie blog and so I will keep my review mostly focused on the actual film, and its lower score reflects that the copy that I watched was of poor quality in addition to my opinions on its merit.

First and foremost, I admire the acting work of Bradley Cooper.  He was extremely convincing.  Second, Clint Eastwood understands shot selection, pacing, transitions, and cuts extremely well. Mr. Eastwood and I seem to agree that using a handheld camera does not automatically make a shot more authentic.  Additionally, I am a fan of jarring and chaotic scenes that give a better sense of true chaos, but a lot of times war and action films will use this technique to avoid hassle ie time, money, editing, location shoots et all.  Clint Eastwood does gritty right.  I liked it.

But, I do have a critique that I won't hold this against him. The ending to American Sniper through me for a serious loop.  I am not sure exactly when production started on this film...but obviously the real Chris Kyle died in 2013, which may have been too late to change a lot of the film.  My guess is that upon Chris's untimely demise the decision was made to use as much if not all of the original film as possible and tack on the ending. I think there is a chance that the last shot of his wife staring at him with sad eyes was redone or purposefully orchestrated to end the film on a moment of sadness This would hopefully soften the blow to the audience of Chris's untimely passing in the next frame. -I still felt this was technically strange, thematically off putting, and abrupt, but I completely understand.

Now to the messy part of my review.  I distinctly understood this film to take and proclaim an extremely simplistic universe view.  I don't mean geopolitical or psychological...those these are also true...but in a pure sense.  ie There are always only 2 options. They are with us, or against us.  They are american or they are not.  They are a terrorist or they are not. Even my quote at the top is a simplification to the idea that there are only three kinds of people. There is no nuance. None.  There is no grey. There is black and white; good and bad. I fully pin this overarching pervasive message on the book- which was written by Chris Kyle along with ghostwriters Jim Defelice and Scott McEwen. It may be that they in fact believed in simplified world and present their vision on paper.  I do not hold this view and believe nuance and ambiguity to be a strength. This would be a difficult book for me to read and it was a strange film to watch.

The previous opinion is going to contrast with the fact that I found the directing acting choices of the film deliberately attempting to buck with the narrative in order to humanize our character and his story. My understanding after watching the film is that Bradley Cooper and Clint Eastwood's Chris Kyle looses his warrior mentality and fighting edge the moment he allows even a hint of ambiguous thought cloud his military clarity.  This is an interesting artistic statement. Is a simplistic worldview required to maintain an edge and stay alive under extreme pressure situations?

In short, I do not personally hold to an assortment of views and statements presented throughout American Sniper. I sincerely hope that those that see the film do reflect on its premises accordingly. But the acting (3.8), directing (3.5), foley effects (4), and stunts (4) are excellent.     -4 out of 5 for Bradley Cooper in the lead role.

On a scale of pin up gals on the side of WW2 bombers to skull cross bones with lightning bolts on tanks in Iraq, I give American Sniper 3.42 out of 5 stars. 

The Great Escape (1963)

"Where did you get that?" -Roger Bartlett -Big X
"You don't want to know." -Robert Hendley -The Scrounger

"Well, how many are we talking?" -Virgil Hilts-Cooler King
"200-250" -Roger Bartlett -Big X

"Cooler."- basically every German officer.

If you are an avid reader of my blog you might know that basically any movie with Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and Elmer Bernstein, I will like.

The Great Escape has all 3. In addition to James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, David McCallum, and a superb cast of other inmates.

For the modern movie goer, it is basically impossible to watch The Great Escape and not immediately understand the impact that it has had on virtually every war film since and many non-war films.

"The first duty of any prisoner is to escape." -any movie with prisoners since.

Code names, sacrifice, teamwork, costumes, forgery, theft, scrounging, you name it and The Great Escape likely had a major role in influencing a generation of writers, directors, and producers.

There would be no Hogan's Heroes without The Great Escape.

Very is little as cool as watching Steve McQueen ride a motorcycle and attempt to cross the Swiss-German border. The Cooler King in his cell with the wall the glove and the ball is iconic.

On other notes;  I use this opportunity to learn more about The Great Escape.  This time I looked into the career of David McCallum, aka The Man from U.N.C.L.E. aka Ducky from NCIS. First, I found out that he was a musician and is the genius behind Dr. Dre's Next Episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pG_3jZxzlo  way back in 1967.

Best scores:
Acting: Casting, ensemble, individual, memory, coheions etc. (4.7)
Original Music: (5)
Shot Selection (4.4)
Story arc (4.5)

On a scale of 3 weeks in the cooler to 3 days in the pit of dispair, I give The Great Escape 3.92 out of 5 stars.   

Stand and Deliver (1988)

"The only thing I ask of you is "ganas". (Jaime Escalante)
"What is the domain?" (Jaime Escalante)

"What do I get?" (Jaime Escalante)
"Protection homes." (Angel Guzman)

So I was thinking up Movie Title "before and afters" and I came up with X-Men 3: The Last Stand and Deliver.

And about an hour later I found myself watching Stand and Deliver. I hadn't seen it in a long time.  I mostly remembered that Edward James Olmos taught Latino kids calculus. And true to form, I got basically everything I expected, and it was glorious. Movies about teachers being inspiring are cliche,but I think of this as one of the genre makers. I hope there were people who were inspired to be teachers by this movie. Movies with positive societal outcomes are rare.  This is probably one.

On a historical note it is extremely interesting to look back and realize that Stand and Deliver and Dead Poet Society were released within a year of each other.  Stand and Deliver (1988): Dead Poet Society (1989) And each got their lead actor and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.  Obviously, there wasn't enough time for DPS to look at the return and acclaim for Stand and Deliver and then make changes.  So each was conceived independently and by competing studios.  It was the Volcano and Dante's Peak of inspirational educators in 1988-89.  I mean no disrespect to DPS or Robin Williams...but Edward James Olmos and Stand and Deliver did it first.

Lastly, I want to comment that I actually loved the acting of the supporting cast of Latino students that includes Lou Diamond Phillips, though I will not single him out as spectacular.  I will single out Ingrid Oliu as being perfect and putting a lot of heart into her role.

On a scale of limit is 0 to limit is 1, I give Stand and Deliver 3.79 stars out of 5.

****  Important announcement for those if any of you that are avid readers.  I heard some feedback that most of my movies fall into the 3's out of 5 stars.  I decided that I should standardize my scoring in hopes of giving you all some basis of comparison. (I have an excel that outlines my new scoring system.)  For reference .1 differences are actually quite significant given that I generally bracket into 5 parts.

0.00-1.00 Stars:  This would be reserved for technically, emotionally, artistically unsaveably bad films.  In essence one must try hard to get in this category as one's film must be available for mass consumption ie: MADE and not be in any way laughably bad. (That would at least make it into the 1 star range.)  Be on the look out if this ever happens as most youtube clips would still merit 1 star.

1.01-2.00  This is the range where I believe that somewhere someone  sometime thought that the idea for this film could be good. It ended, Hindenburg style, but still has celluloid value. Films in this category will generally contain innumerable technical errors, lack clear direction, violate good taste, and are a waste of life. They may even be harbingers of bad choices by directors, actors, film houses etc.

2.01-3.0 This is the general domain of just worthless time sucks. Films without merit and without heart will find this range their home. Films in this bracket will only have mild technical errors, generally poor acting, vaguely competent editing, and fail on the higher arts of story, writing, drama, interest, costumes, effects etc.

3.0-3.9 If the film is made with any kind of cohesion and attention, it should fall into the 3 star range. Anything over 3.5 is really a pretty good.  No shame. Lots of films are at least made with this level of dedication and thus in this category a .1 or ,05 difference is significant. Many films in this category are actually quite good or excellent in specific categories like acting, editing, directing, music, dance, story, special effects etc. Even some (many) Oscar winning films -which I don't necessarily like as a metric- fall in to this bracket.

4.0-5.0  This is the realm of the spectacular.  Films in this bracket have the makings of or are timeless and iconic as they get closer to 5. Movies here are flawless or so close as that no one can care when it comes to direction, shot selection, and editing.  The actors don't all have to be their most brilliant but they must be perfect in their roles and as an ensemble. Sound editing, foley, and lighting are of highest caliber. In particular, the stories must be spectacular and inspiring (good or bad). Quotes should be easily memorable and usually have application in the world around us.  Films in the category often dive successfully into the deep end of symbolism, art, color usage,and connect to the lives of the audience.  These are the kinds of movies that change hearts and minds. (not all have to.) They usually have historical or temporal significance too.