The Catcher Was a Spy: Movie Review

Fascinating story, interesting style.

The Catcher Was a Spy is a curiously good movie. Not quite a biopic, not quite a spy thriller, it’s actually the best of both worlds. The look of a spy thriller with charcoal fedoras and charcoal suits lit up only by street lamps and the occasional car headlight combined with the content of a biopic, and very importantly, using the intelligence of a smart character.		2018 Directed by: Ben Lewin Screenplay by: Robert Rodat Based on the book by Nicholas Dawidoff Starring: Paul Rudd, Mark Strong, Jeff Daniels

The Polka King: Movie Review

Bizarre, entertaining, half-baked.

The true story behind The Polka King is disturbing; the movie is a comedy. While those two facts can be successfully juxtaposed, it often results in an unsettling feeling, that something is missing. The comedy isn’t as funny as it could be, the tragedy isn’t as revolting as it could be. The result is a good, but half-baked tragi-comedy, light on everything but the polka music.		2017 Directed by: Maya Forbes Screenplay by: Maya Forbes, Wallace Wolodarsky Starring: Jack Black, Jenny Slate

I, Tonya: Movie Review

Uproariously entertaining with astute insight into Tonya Harding.

Craig Gillespie, director of I, Tonya, opts for a comedic breaking-the-fourth-wall type biopic where characters in mid-action will either deny or confirm what they’re currently doing. When Tonya has a rifle aimed at ex-husband Jeff’s head, she says she didn’t do it. When Jeff slams Tonya’s fingers in the car door, he says he didn’t do it. But you know they did do most of it. The style works for a too-crazy-to-be-true true story.		2017 Directed by: Craig Gillespie Screenplay by: Steven Rogers Starring: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Paul Walter Hauser

Darkest Hour: Movie Review

A mini-roller coaster of boorish, comic and political statesman.

As Joe Wright has done in all of his previous films, particularly the period pieces such as Anna Karenina and Atonement, he perfectly captures the style for the setting. In Darkest Hour, it’s a sepia-toned British Parliament, with a hundred men all wearing black suits shouting about their ineptitude to stop the German advances of World War II. It’s May 1940, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is about to resign and Britain, and the world, need a new leader to help them defeat Hitler.		2017 Directed by: Joe Wright Screenplay by: Anthony McCarten Starring: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas

The Lost City of Z: Movie Review

A beautifully imagined film leads the audience through the jungle.

The Lost City of Z is a curiously good movie. As the movie begins it looks a lot like an average historical period drama. Taking awhile to get interesting, it tells a methodical story of British Army Col. Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) who is tasked by the Royal Geographical Society to survey the border between Brazil and Venezuela in the Amazon jungle. But with each scene and employing everything at their disposal, the filmmakers build it into a mesmerizing picture of survival and mystery.		2016 Directed by: James Gray Screenplay by: James Gray Based on the book by David Grann Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller

The Most Hated Woman in America: Movie Review

Draws an interesting line between victim and villain.

The Most Hated Woman in America is a good movie, but they made a fundamental error which stops it from being a great movie: they focused on the least interesting aspect. There are actually many interesting and compelling aspects to the movie which should keep most viewers mildly interested throughout at the very least. The story is about American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O’Hair – the most hated woman in America. Granted, I hadn’t actually heard of her prior to this movie, but given the daily extreme death threats she received every day of her life, her moniker fits.		2017 Directed by: Tommy O'Haver Screenplay by: Tommy O'Haver Starring: Melissa Leo, and Josh Lucas

Jackie: Movie Review

A bio-pic that forces you out of your comfort zone.

Jackie is an odd movie, and given its genre, that will come as very surprising. Biopics generally have tried-and-true formulas to introduce you to the world of the subject. Not exactly the case in this movie. We’re not taking a look at the world around Jackie Kennedy, but getting inside Jackie Kennedy. This is the story of Jackie before the assassination, during the assassination, and after the assassination.		2016 Directed by: Pablo Larrain Screenplay by: Noah Oppenheim Starring: Natalie Portman

Hidden Figures: Movie Review

Crowd-pleasing history.

The best thing about Hidden Figures is its story. Based on real events about a trio of African American women who worked for NASA and literally helped launch a man into space, it’s a story that’s not all that well known, you’ll learn something, and it’s easy to get interested in. It also helps that the entire cast works well together and can add a lot of bravado and humour to the movie. A true crowd-pleaser in every sense of that phrase.		2016 Directed by: Theodore Melfi Screenplay by: Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi Based on the book by Margot Lee Shetterly Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner

Loving: Movie Review

Understated approach to historical importance.

Loving is about the Lovings, and that is their real last name. A couple from Viriginia whose story takes flight in 1958. The movie is an historical discussion and a romance about pure love. We’re introduced to Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred (Ruth Negga) just before they get married. She’s pregnant, he’s elated, and there is absolutely no doubt that their marriage is one of love, and not convenience or social pressures.		2016 Directed by: Jeff Nichols Screenplay by: Jeff Nichols Starring: Joel Edgerton, Ruth Negga

Snowden: Movie Review

A dramatization of Edward Snowden and the interesting man he became.

Snowden is a compelling film because Edward Snowden is a compelling person. But it’s still an odd choice for a bio-pic since he had one moment of intense significance, the rest of his life was just little things that add up to the man currently hiding out in Russia. The film cuts back and forth between his 2013 meetings with documentarian Laura Poitras and journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill, and a more chronological telling of his life starting in 2004.		2016 Directed by: Oliver Stone Screenplay by: Kieran Fitzgerald, Oliver Stone Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley

Sully: Movie Review

A hero to believe in.

While Sully is the story of a hero, the lesser-known story behind it casts doubt. The movie opens with an impressive and dramatic plane crash – not a real plane crash but the product of his nightmares. He’s a man hounded by the media, separated from his family, and the subject of a contentious National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) hearing. It’s that latter part that didn’t make the media cycle (they don’t like anything that might take away national hero status) and the part that this movie focuses on.		2016 Directed by: Clint Eastwood Screenplay by: Todd Komarnicki Based on "Highest Duty" by Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart

The Man Who Knew Infinity: Movie Review

Tells a good, well-balanced story.

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a biographical drama about a mathematician. While that is enough to draw me in, a can understand that others will need a bit more. Dev Patel as mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan provides that and more. Ramanujan is only 25 years old and from India (under British rule at the time) and is a mathematical genius. It’s been confirmed by enough teachers and others around him, that he can accept that fact without any arrogance.		2015 Directed by: Matt Brown Screenplay by: Matt Brown Based on the biography by Robert Kanigel Starring: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons

Joy: Movie Review

Entertaining bio-pic of the human spirit - flaws and all.

Joy is the story of Joy Mangano – a literal rags-to-riches story of a broke, single mother of two who took the business world, and Home Shopping Network, by storm. And that type of story needs to be in the hands of frantic director David O. Russell and his actress collaborator Jennifer Lawrence. Two people, who arguably (tenuous argument) have lived that type of story and know how to bring it to the big screen with the ferocious comedic energy that it needs.		2015 Directed by: David O. Russell Screenplay by: David O. Russell and Annie Mumolo Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Edgar Ramirez

Steve Jobs: Movie Review

The machine side and human side of Steve Jobs are detached but interesting.

Biographical drama Steve Jobs, is a very novel approach to a biography. It’s not the story of his life, but a development of who he is based on a peek into what was happening during three different periods of time. The machine side of Steve Jobs has always been described in a cynical way – cold, manipulative and only caring about results. That side gives us this emotionally-detached methodical overview. The human side doesn’t come through until the end as a father-daughter relationship drama.		2015 Directed by: Danny Boyle Screenplay by: Aaron Sorkin Based on they book by Walter Isaacson Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet

The End of the Tour: Movie Review

A battle of writers and a friendship with depth.

The End of the Tour is a conversation, a friendship, and a battle of intelligence and neuroses. David Foster Wallace (Jason Segel) has just emerged onto the literary scene with the publication of Infinite Jest, hailed as the best writer of his generation. David Lipsky (Jesse Eisenberg) is a new hire at Rolling Stone magazine and convinces his boss to let him cover the end of Wallace’s book tour, interview him and write an article.		2015 Directed by: James Ponsoldt Screenplay by: Donald Margulies Based on the book by David Lipsky Starring: Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg

Love & Mercy: Movie Review

A tragic but admirable tribute to Brian Wilson.

As the tagline says, Love & Mercy is the life, love and genius of Brian Wilson. Jumping from the early hits of the Beach Boys, to the lonely and fragile life of adulthood and back to the dramatic transition period of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, the film is a very stark, intricate and achronological examination of mental illness and musical genius. It stars Paul Dano as the young popular Beach Boy Brian Wilson and John Cusack as the older, former Beach Boy, the damaged and tragic Brian Wilson.		2014 Directed by: Bill Pohlad Screenplay by: Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti

The Theory of Everything: Movie Review

The dramatic and turbulent life of Stephen Hawking.

Celebrated scientist Stephen Hawking is the subject of the weepy romantic drama biopic The Theory of Everything. In what is presumably a good choice for the film, as it attempts to appeal to everyone, it focuses on his personal life as opposed to his scientific life. Allowing Jane Hawking (Felicity Jones) to be just as important a character as Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne). The two young Brits give star-making performances as husband and wife.		2014 Directed by: James Marsh Screenplay by: Anthony McCarten Based on the book by Jane Hawking Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones