by Michelle Keenan & Chip Kaufmann –

Bridge of Spies ****

Short Take: Good old fashioned story telling about good old fashioned courtroom drama and cold war espionage, based on the true story of an American attorney called upon to defend a Russian spy in the late 1950’s.

REEL TAKE: Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies is an old fashioned, beautifully crafted and ultimately entertaining film based on the true story of the capture and defense of Russian spy Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) and a subsequent negotiated prisoner exchange – Abel for captured American U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers (Austin Stowell) and Frederick Pryor (Will Rogers), an American college student on the wrong side of the Berlin wall. The unlikely protagonist and hero at the center of the action was insurance litigator James Donovan (Tom Hanks). The result is Spielberg’s best work in many years and a real crowd pleaser.

Spielberg, who of late has had a penchant for browbeating his audience with message movies, returns to what he does best – storytelling. Not that there are not very deliberate points made throughout the proceedings, but he wisely lets the events of the story speak for themselves.

The film starts in 1957 with the capture of Rudolf Abel, suspected Soviet spy. Donovan is the attorney tasked with Abel’s defense, a job [given the sentiment of the day] he understandably does not want. His job is to make it look like our great, fair and oh-so-just country gives Abel a solid defense and a fair trial, all the while knowing that Abel will be found guilty.

While the country and even Donovan’s own peers clamor for a guilty verdict and the death penalty, Donovan keeps a cool head and deftly wins Abel’s life, with the back room negotiated strategy, based on using Abel as bargaining power if the Soviets were to ever capture any of our guys.

Fast forward to 1962; When U-2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers is captured, it’s time to bargain. Only this time, when Donovan is selected for the job, the arena is not a courtroom, but covert conversations in well guarded rooms with Russians and East Germans.

Despite its long running time Bridge of Spies is taut. It’s a wonderful combination of well played drama and smartly built suspense, with flecks of humor and humanity in just the right measure at just the right times. The film is beautifully photographed and given a rather chilly look with dark tones and cold hues of blues and green. Spielberg and his team shine here, but taking it over the top are the performances of Hanks and Rylance.

Not since Gregory Peck’s portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird have movie audiences seen such a decent, level headed and humane defense. Hanks owns it. Like Peck, and reminiscent of roles by Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart and Joel McCrea, Hanks imbues Donovan with an every man quality that makes Donovan’s legal mind accessible and likable.

While Hanks may earn himself a few nominations this red carpet season, the real revelation in Bridge of Spies is Mark Rylance. His portrayal of Abel is reserved and thoughtful. He brings a wonderful humanity to the character as well as an unexpected humor. To my knowledge the only thing I’ve previously seen Rylance in is “Masterpiece Theatre’s” Wolf Hall (he plays a wickedly wonderful Thomas Cromwell), but I eagerly anticipate seeing more of his work.

Bridge of Spies, along with The Martian is one of 2015’s must-see movies.

Rated PG13 for some violence and brief strong language.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Crimson Peak **** ½

Short Take: Guillermo del Toro’s lavish salute to the Gothic Horror genre is a visually stunning tour-de-force that is dripping with atmosphere and full of palpable dread but its less than stellar box office performance means that it will be a one and done effort.

Reel Take: Of all the movies to come out this year, none was more eagerly anticipated by me than Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak. I’m a big fan of the director and his 2006 film Pan’s Labyrinth (see my DVD pick) is among my all time top films. But even more important is that this is a Gothic horror film which is my favorite film genre and they have been out of fashion for over 40 years.

The director is a true classic horror movie geek and often references them in his films. The heroine of the film (Mia Wasikowska in a role intended for Emma Stone) is named Edith Cushing (hmmm, where have I heard that surname before?). She is a socially awkward young woman from a well-to-do family in 1914 Buffalo NY. She has a Romantic temperament and enjoys writing not ghost stories but stories “with a ghost in them”. She hopes to have them published but is constantly being turned down.

Enter Thomas Skye (Tom Hiddleston in a role intended for Benedict Cumberbatch) and his sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain in a role intended for Jessica Chastain) as impoverished English aristocrats who have come to America to seek financing for some special machinery to dig up rich red clay on the family estate. They approach Edith’s father (Jim Beaver) but are turned down flat.

After the father is murdered in what is believed to be an accident Edith, who dreams of living on an English estate, marries Thomas and goes to live with him and his sister. The ancestral home, Allerdale Hall, is vast but seriously in need of repair. In true Gothic literature fashion, once she arrives, things go downhill from there as various skeletons from various closets are revealed (in some cases quite literally).

If you know your Gothic fiction, then you know how it will turn out. The ending is a foregone conclusion so that isn’t the point. The point, as in a gourmet meal, is in what it contains and how it is presented. The overall look of the film is a combination of the “old dark house” genre and the European Gothic films of the 1960s. Imagine James Whale’s The Old Dark House as directed by Mario Bava.

Not since the heyday of the Hammer Horrors have I seen a movie use color, camerawork, and editing like Crimson Peak although del Toro has tools and a budget that Terence Fisher or Freddie Francis never dreamed of. I realize that I’m getting into horror movie geek territory here with names that most people won’t recognize but you don’t have to be one to appreciate what is going on here. If you have a Gothic or Romantic temperament than this movie will stay with you long after it’s over.

My initial reaction after seeing the movie despite unreserved admiration for it is that it goes on a little too long and that in a couple of sequences, it was more explicit than it needed to be. A little more restraint as in The Woman in Black (which it closely resembles) would be in order. On reflection though I realized that the European Gothic films I loved when I was younger were just as graphic only the effects weren’t as good.

While I plan to revisit Crimson Peak a couple of times before it leaves the local theaters, my meager efforts will not keep it from being classified as a box office flop. It will probably break even when all is said and done but that lackluster performance will ensure that there will be no new Euro-Gothic films on the horizon and that’s a prospect that saddens me greatly.

Rated R for bloody violence, sexual content, and strong language.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

The Martian **** ½

Short Take: When an astronaut is accidentally left on Mars, he works against the odds to stay alive and NASA works against the odds to bring him home.

REEL TAKE: Ridley Scott’s The Martian, based on the book by Andy Wier, is the most suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience so far this year. And for a movie with a running time of almost 2 and half hours that’s saying something. It’s smart, absorbing and entertaining.

The film takes place in the not too distant future. Manned missions to Mars are part of NASA’s space program. When a fierce and sudden storm forces an evacuation of one such mission, the crew’s botanist, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is separated from the others when he is hit by a large piece of debris. Unable to locate him, and receiving no signal from his vital signs monitor, his crewmates fears the worst and reluctantly leave the planet.

After the storm passes, Watney awakens to realize that he has not only been left for dead but he has also been impaled by an antenna (talk about a bad day at the office). He quickly and methodically administers first aid, which is nothing short of major surgery, and then sets to the business of figuring out how to survive until the next mission arrives. We’re not talking days or weeks here, but years! Meanwhile back on Earth NASA scientists realize, through satellite images of the Mars surface, that Watney is in fact alive. What ensues is two riveting hours of Watney working against the odds to stay alive and NASA working against the odds to bring him home.

Along the way there is a lot of NASA speak. Most of us wouldn’t have a clue if the terminology, science, and math stacked up or not. However, according to credible sources much of it actually does check out. In the end, it ends up really working to the story’s advantage and it’s downright inspiring to think about what we could do and become, and where we could go, if we had actually paid attention in math and science class (or if math and science had been taught with tangible applications, like planting potatoes on Mars).

Keeping the adventure utterly balanced and likeable is our ‘Martian’ – Matt Damon. There’s no denying Damon is a great talent, but he also possesses a sensibility that makes him pretty much universally likeable. That attribute is used to its full potential here. Watney keeps a video diary as a means of documenting his survival and as a lifeline to sanity. This offers the story great moments of levity, but also strength of character and fragile vulnerability. While Damon’s efforts are largely solitary, the film boasts and amazing ensemble which includes Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, Donald Glover, Jeff Daniels, Kristen Wiig and Michael Pena.

This particular story is an exceptionally good vehicle for the spectrum of Ridley Scott’s talents. Beautifully filmed, flawlessly directed and impeccably acted on all counts, this space castaway sci-fi adventure returns science fiction to its more credible and intelligently stimulating roots. That said, one does not have to be a sci-fi fan or nerd to enjoy this film, in fact quite the contrary.

The Martian is mainstream moviemaking at its best. If you see nothing else on the big screen this year, see The Martian.

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury images and brief nudity.

Review by Michelle Keenan

Pan **

Short Take: Unbelievably wrong-headed attempt to create a back story for Peter Pan is a huge mistake for everyone involved especially director Joe Wright.

Reel Take: There are just so many things wrong about this latest cinematic version of Peter Pan that it’s hard to know where to begin. Of course it really isn’t Peter Pan but an attempt to create a back story for how Peter came to Neverland. In other words, it’s a prequel and a most unsatisfactory one.

The biggest problem for me is the storyline that director Joe Wright and company use as the basis for the film. Taking the story out of its original setting (1904) and transferring it to World War II is the first mistake. Turning Peter into a Dickensian character like Oliver Twist or David Copperfield is the next. Throw in the topical subjects of evil Catholic nuns and child abuse and you begin to get the picture.

Here’s a brief synopsis of what goes on and believe me, you’ll need one. Peter is left as a baby on an orphanage doorstep. During WW II the head of the orphanage has been hoarding food for herself and when Peter (Levi Miller) and a friend try and distribute it to the other orphans, they are caught and sold to pirates who whisk them away to Neverland to mine fairy dust for Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman). It is here that Peter befriends another miner named James Hook (Garrett Hedlund).

After angering Blackbeard and forced to walk the plank, Peter discovers that he can fly. Peter, Hook and his friend Smee flee into a forest where they meet Tiger Lilly (Rooney Mara) the daughter of a native chief. Peter has a pan flute pendant which means his father was a Fairy Prince. He then learns that Blackbeard killed his mother and has plans to attack the Fairy Kingdom. Aided by the fairy Tinker Bell the fairies along with Tiger Lilly and Hook battle the pirates and defeat them. They then take Blackbeard’s ship, the Jolly Roger, return to London, and bring the orphans now the Lost Boys to Neverland. Peter & Hook vow to be friends forever. What!? The End.

This is a heavily condensed version of the plot but it does give you some idea of just how far afield writer Jason Fuchs and director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Predjudice) have gone from J.M. Barrie’s source material. Throw in the anachronistic use of Nirvana’s Smells like Teen Spirit and you have to ask yourself what were these guys thinking (or perhaps smoking). There is not a fairy’s thimble full of charm or whimsy to be found in the film’s nearly 2 hour running time and that is the most serious of its many flaws.

What might have made Pan bearable would be engaging and/or capable performances and there are really none to be found here. Levi Miller looks the part of Peter but leaves little impression despite having the most screen time. Rooney Mara looks out-of-place as Tiger Lilly and I’m not just talking about her being a non-Native. Garrett Hedlund’s James Hook is faux Indiana Jones and as for Hugh Jackman well, he gives overacting a bad name.

I could go on but I’m running out of space and it’s just as well. Nothing disturbs me more than to see something old that I cherish revamped for modern sensibilities. I had high hopes for Pan and we all know what happens when reality fails to live up to expectations. Two good things to say about the movie are 1) the CGI special effects are most impressive and 2) it ends (but not soon enough).

Rated PG (not PG-13 which it should have been) for fantasy violence, language, and thematic material.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

Rock the Kasbah ** ½

Short Take: This comedy-drama about a down and out Rock promoter who discovers a hidden talent in Afghanistan is everything I hoped it wouldn’t be.

Reel Take: I went to an advance screening of Rock the Kasbah with some trepidation only to discover that my fears were justified and this “comedy” turned out to be everything that I hoped it wouldn’t be. In other words Bill Murray plays an overbearing jerk that the majority of people find funny. I, as you can already tell, am not one of them.

It isn’t that Murray can’t be funny or isn’t talented, he’s both, but for me to accept him as such he needs to do something other than be Bill Murray. Two good examples are St Vincent and Lost in Translation. Both of those films were story driven and while Rock the Kasbah has a story, a good one, it is forced to take a back seat to Murray’s antics.

Here he plays a down-on-his-luck Rock-n-Roll manager reduced him to taking money from talentless individuals who audition for him in hopes for a shot at the big time. He bamboozles his “latest discovery” (Zoey Deschanel) into appearing in a USO show in Kabul, Afghanistan but she leaves him in the lurch with no money and without a passport.

He is then “recruited” by an ill-tempered mercenary (Bruce Willis) and two opportunistic gun runners (Scott Caan & Danny McBride) into helping them smuggle weapons to an Afghan village chief. Once in the village he hears a young woman (Leem Lubany) singing in a cave. It turns out that the Village chief is her father and that she must keep herself veiled, be married off to a local villager, and never, ever sing especially in public.

She dreams of being on Afghan Star, the Afghani version of American Idol and when Murray finds this out, he sees his ticket back to America. So, after smuggling her into Kabul, he gets her on the show where she sings unveiled and in English and then all Hell breaks loose. It is then that Murray’s eyes are opened to her plight and that of the Afghan people and he decides to do something about it.

His conversion is brought about not only by the girl’s situation but by a high class hooker (Kate Hudson in the film’s best performance) who is trying to make enough money to open a real estate business in Hawaii. After stating that “I am not a loser, I’m a quitter”, Murray uses his one gift, that of bullshitting , to go back to the girl’s village, rescue her from her father, and then stand up to rival tribesman who want her and her father dead.

On the surface this storyline sounds fairly interesting and it could have been but Murray, screenwriter Mitch Glazer, and director Barry Levinson drop the ball on numerous occasions. The first   of the film in Van Nuys is as funny as a toothache and the second   after Murray arrives in Kabul is like having that tooth pulled without anesthesia.

The last half is certainly the best the film has to offer but it winds up being undermined by trying to make an important statement regarding the Afghan situation that is both simplistic and heavy handed. I won’t even discuss the Beau Geste like ending except to say that I wish that they had followed it to the letter.

For once I am in agreement with most critics regarding this movie. Rock the Kasbah has a less than 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and that is what it deserves. Don’t believe me? Go and see it for yourself but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Rated R for language, drug use, and for brief violence.

Review by Chip Kaufmann

Truth *** ½

Short Take: The story of the making of “60 Minutes” segment questioned President George W. Bush’s military record and culminated in Dan Rather’s resignation after leading the CBS news team for decades.

REEL TAKE: Adapted from Mary Mapes’ memoir Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power. Truth tells the story of the making of the 60 Minutes segment that ultimately led to Dan Rather’s retirement and Mapes firing.

Mapes was a longtime producer for 60 Minutes. She and Dan Rather were a tight team. They trusted one another implicitly. They considered what they did on 60 Minutes to be the gold standard of journalistic integrity in television news. This relationship is illustrated capably and eloquently by Cate Blanchett as Mapes and Robert Redford as Rather.

In 2004 Mapes revisited a story that she had begun researching four years earlier. The story questioned President George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard. (It should be noted that this happened in the wake of the ‘Swiftboating’ of presidential nominee John Kerry.) CBS rushed the story and the segment aired just weeks before the 2004 presidential election. Immediately it elicited a maelstrom of scrutiny, criticism, accusations of document forgeries, questionable and recanted sources. In a matter of days the journalistic integrity of one of the most respectable news teams in the industry was shredded in salvo of sensationalist headlines.

First-time director James Vanderbilt (writer of Zodiac) does a solid job. Vanderbilt is aided by a talented cast that clearly cares about the project. Blanchett is fascinating to watch as Mapes. At first Redford is a seemingly odd pick to play Rather, but in the end he bridges a nice blend of both men, affecting Rather’s cadence and demeanor without rendering an imitation. Blanchett and Redford are flanked by an appropriately reserved yet strong Dennis Quaid, a surprisingly good and impassioned Topher Grace, and an under-utilized Elisabeth Moss. Stacy Keach as Lt. Colonel Bill Burkett, Noni Hazelhurst as Burkett’s wife, and Bruce Greenwood as CBS Exec. Andrew Heyward all deliver pitch perfect performances as well.

Truth is reminiscent of All The President’s Men, and with Redford’s presence that’s certainly not an accident. Truth however doesn’t quite earn the credibility that Woodward and Bernstein did. Evidence leans towards the story’s truth and legitimacy, but painting her team as journalistic martyrs, burned at the stake by political and corporate posturing, Mapes may earn our sympathy, but somehow lessens the journalistic objectivity and ergo the significance of the story.

Unless you are a right wing nut or Fox [not] News fan, the Truth is worth your while. It will likely pick up a nomination or two during awards season, so hopefully more people will see it than would be inclined to otherwise. By the time you read this, Truth should be playing The Fine Arts Theatre in downtown Asheville and The Carolina Cinema on Hendersonville Road.

Rated R for language and a brief nude photo.

Review by Michelle Keenan