The Last Duel (2021)

First impression sucked. 

The first impression and truly worst, ironically, is the star studded cast: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Adam Driver, playing Jean de Carrouges, Pierre d’Alençon, and Jacques Le Gris respectively.

Fukushima 50 (2020)

Tsunami was 43-46 feet high

 

It was one of those what-am-I-going-to-watch moments that I came upon Chernobyl among my files. But I've seen that, so I wondered if there is a series or movie about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant? That's how I came by Fukushima 50, the only movie that came up in a google search. 

According to legend, 50 plant workers remained to save the nuclear plant and the rest were evacuated. In reality, there were more than 50 workers as back up from all over country was already on site, but the zeitgeist had already favored the number 50.

The Father (2020)

Watches are more reliable than memories

 

The Father takes a brave approach to the question of aging. Florian Zeller, director and co-writer, tells the story from the point of view of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) who is obviously not in full control of his mental faculties.

3 Reasons Why I liked Into the Forest (2015)

Static

Would you have survived the lockdowns without computers, the internet, and Netflix? Would you have survived without electricity?

While living deep inside the beauty of the forest, like any of the young generation sisters Nell and Eva were looking forward to medical school and a prestigious dance group respectively. Nell was using computers for studying while the dancer Eva a great sound system in full blast when suddenly all electrical power was lost. Into the Forest is the story of their struggle.

These are the 3 things I liked of the movie. There are spoilers.

Incendies (2010)

War is brutally simple. 

It will always be just the one thing: live or die; loss or victory; longing or hatred; joy or sorrow. Incendies doesn’t get with that program. It manages to be beautifully nuanced.

Little Women (2019)

Letters from Father

Science fiction and an end of the world scenario: Contagion, It Comes at Night, 12 Monkeys, or the Walking Dead - like many others curiosity drove my choices of what to watch at the start of this pandemic. A compelling watch but with days upon days of isolation, I couldn't without flipping out. Laying low from negativity such as news, social media, and in my case certain movie genres is indeed good advice. 

Since then the movies or TV series I’ve seen to name a few are: Money Heist, Star Trek the Next Generation, All the President’s Men, and The Last Dance. Actually I am surprised to be relying more YouTube than the movies I have on file. 

Still cautiously avoiding just the one genre, for this week’s entertainment I traveled to a bygone era via a light hearted period piece from the 2020 Oscar Best Picture nominees.

The March sisters looking at the Laurence house

Little Women, the classic Louisa May Alcott’s tale said to be based on author’s own family, has been made and remade at least 10 times, I was old enough to remember only 2 movies that included this latest one. I never saw or read the story, until now.

The Circle (2017)

Spoilers

The Circle is a cautionary tale about tech companies and the ever blurring meaning of privacy.

Prisoners (2013)

From certain points of view the clean finality of death is more welcome than an unanswered question of a disappearance. Of course the question always comes down to ‘is my loved one dead?’

These Final Hours (2013)

This is how an extinction level event movie should really be. No oil workers miraculously pulling off a drilling mission on a moving object in space. No prospect of saving a select few on an ark. And no life of adventure fighting off zombies.

These Final Hours is a beautiful movie despite the restrictions of the most definite ending imaginable. Earth dies in 12 hours. What are you going to do?

Silent Night Signals a Fight - Spotlight

Legend has it that Silent Night stopped a war, at least for a night, a hundred years ago in the trenches of the First World War. 

Accounts may differ now on what exactly caused the ceasefire, what songs were sung, what things were done such as was there a game of football? Nevertheless the Christmas truce is remembered as a miracle.

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

In the Valley of Elah is about a father’s search for his youngest son. On the surface it looks like the typical family drama propelled by a detective story but in truth there is a cleverly hidden antiwar subtext underneath. Too clever that I actually missed it.

Gifted (2017)

Spoilers

Gifted reminds me very much of I am Sam. The same basic elements are there: a father, a young girl, and a third party wanting to break them up. The story also plays with the what-if half of the relationship is an outlier; for Gifted it’s the girl as she is boosted to the level of a math prodigy.

The Lennon Report (2016)

When a loved one dies it’s usually an ordinary day. There’s no sign of it coming and yet it did. You expect the world to end if only because it doesn’t feel right going on without them, yet the world moves on.

Spare Parts (2015)

Spare Parts is an uplifting movie based on the Wired Magazine article La Vida Robot made in the same mold as the Mighty Ducks. Only here instead of ice hockey it is an underwater remote operated vehicle – robotics – contest sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and NASA.

13 Reasons Why (2017)

The first thing that came to mind was the movie I Know What You Did Last Summer. Somehow tapes were made naming the 13 people who killed somebody which seems to be the voice on the tapes. Suicide disclosure on the trailer notwithstanding there was an implied darker reason to it all. 

It made some sense. 13 people, un-sportsman like odds, one girl dead – got to be a murder conspiracy. After the first episode I realize the operative word was ‘reason’ hence the title 13 Reasons Why. 

The Girl on the Train (2016)

It was a modest start. The girl on the train even looked bored; so bored her mind picks on the houses she sees by the tracks. But from modest beginnings The Girl on the Train ended with a bang.  

There is drama and mystery; everything wrapped in a theme that challenges a woman’s validation of self. An original gem giving us a brief respite in this era of superhero movies.

Louder than Bombs (2015)

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Brave; skillful with the camera; able to empathize with the locals and tell their story; Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), a famed war photographer, died in a head on collision just a mile away from her home. 

At first glance, it looked like her luck just ran out after all the near misses.

A Monster Calls (2016)

The story begins “with a boy too old to be a kid, too young to be a man, and a nightmare.”

Sully (2016)

Only death exempts the mind from wandering into the what-if especially having been so close to death.

Even after successful water landing on the Hudson River Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s (Tom Hanks) sees himself still crashing into buildings, which could have happened had he strayed off the river.

The story of that fateful flight is very straight forward. Capt Chesley Sullenberger, his co-pilot and First Officer Jeff Skiles, and three stewardesses were manning the US Airways Flight 1549 in a routine flight between New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. The flight had 150 passengers on board.

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Barely minutes after take-off, Flight 1549 endured bird strikes that took out both engines. Capt. Sully, basically left with an oversized metal glider, had the choice of either Laguardia or Teterburo to make an emergency landing. After going through a series of parameters, quickly and mentally, he glided the airplane into the river.  The plane suffered a breach but was relatively intact albeit sinking. Only the quick response of New York’s emergency services and nearby boat ferries managed to end this incident at zero casualties.

Under creative liberties the filmmakers avoided the simple straight forward. The story of Sully starts days and months after the incident. Everything is framed with the investigation of Capt. Sully and his First Officer Jeff Skiles by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB is an American agency that determines the probable cause of the accidents and issues safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. A plane dived into the Hudson; an investigation is just standard procedure.

So the start of the film wherein Capt. Sully is seeing himself crash into a building is not just a result of shocked nerves after having faced death so close; he really has to replay the incident over and over again because he’s under investigation.  The investigation also has an added benefit to the narrative as it provided a pretext to see different points of view which should culminate in a full factual picture of the incident.

Besides Capt. Sully there is his crew, the passengers of US Airways Flight 1549, the ferry boats of the Hudson River, and the City New York. Sully is a story about community as much as it is about the man. Despite being a plane crash it was a feel good moment for New York especially with its bad history with airplanes.

Unfortunately under creative liberties the movie might have made a casualty of the reputations of the NTSB panel making the investigations. Based on a Bloomberg article, the NTSB has said they were not consulted in the making of the film. Filmmakers on the other hand replied that the story was in Capt. Sully’s point of view.

Story wise, without knowing what went on in those hearings; I thought it outrageous that the investigations can boil down to simulations vs. an experienced pilot. I didn’t think it possible because I doubt NTSB would dare politically with the incident practically deified as the Miracle of the Hudson. Besides even if they dared can it really be possible to favour simulations over an experienced pilot?  Or is it a case to case basis?

I also thought than in a post September 11 world there is fear against a piloted projectile such as an airplane. Those fears are what I was thinking of every time the story cuts into Sully’s nightmares. September 11 comes to mind also in cuts of the citizens watching the Flight 1549 going down; like you can almost hear them say, ‘not again’.  And yet with all this history the investigation hinges only on the Flight 1549’s ability to make the airport or not?

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Acting wise, what negative can I say about Tom Hanks? He exudes hero even without the physicality of someone like Tom Cruise who is more an action hero.  Tom has a face you’d just believe whether it be stranded on an island or piloting a plane to the river. Tom has a brilliant support cast led by his first officer played Aaron Eckhart and his wife played Laura Linney.

Creative liberties run amuck or an expression of the pilot’s point of view? As always back reading is advised before swallowing hook line and sinker any information coming out from true-to-life flicks. Bottom line is whatever comes out of Hollywood are just movies.

Remember (2015)

Remember has the basic elements for a comedy if only Christopher Plummer didn’t look so feeble. A man hunting another man, problem is the hunter is afflicted with dementia. It’s like 50 First Dates in a retirement home only that the hunter does not recall love everyday but revenge.