Fifty Shades of Grey

I may have been one of the few in the audience, who had not read Fifty Shades of Grey or knew the story.  I was glad of that.  It gave me a chance to enjoy the film from a non-biased point of view.  And, I did.

 

First off, Casting Director Francine Maisler hit a home run bringing Dakota Johnson in as the female lead Anastasia Steele.   She brought the right mixture of innocence, curiosity and lustiness into the role.  And, while there may have been other actors equally qualified for the main role, Jamie Dornan made a fine Christian Grey.

Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey brought out the beauty of the cast as well as David Wasco’s sets.  And, Danny Elfman’s music perfectly set a tantalizing mood.

So, what was wrong with the film?  Not much in my opinion. 

The only thing I didn’t understand was why the producers Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and E. L. James opted for an “R” rating as opposed to letting the audience have more of what they expected with an “NC17” rating?  How many under 16-year-olds did they expect would come with their parents?

I’m sure fans of the books may have all kinds of debates about the film, but the fact is they are coming.  Whatever anyone’s opinion, it’s a classy production.  I give Fifty Shades of Grey a 4 out of 5.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

Start with a layer of ‘60s James Bond, add in a dose of James Coburn’s Our Man Flint, a dollop of Dean Martin’s Matt Helm and finish off with a dash of Austin Powers…and what will you get?  A lot of fun…with Writer/Director Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service.

After the last two week’s insipid Project Almanac and the lame Jupiter Ascending, it was a pleasure to find a witty action film like Vaughn’s.

The Kingsmen are a clandestine group of upper class British gentlemen patterned after the Knights of the Round Table, who started protecting the realm after the first World War.  Harry Heart (Colin Firth) wants to recruit the son of a former Kingsman, who gave up his life to save several colleagues years ago and whose wife and the the young man (Taron Egerton) have been living in the projects.

However, like all would-be Kingsmen, he has to compete under an extremely difficult elimination process before being able to join and fight against the world’s newest nemesis billionaire (Samuel L. Jackson), who speaks with a lisp, and his henchwoman (Sofia Bouella), who, instead of having feet, moves on blades…real blades that can cut a person in half,.

The billionaire is giving away free cell phones with a chip that can ignite a users’ emotional rage at the flick of a switch; his way of reducing the world’s over-population.

Thanks to Vaughn and Co-Writer Jane Goldman, there is constant action and, as I said at the top, kitchy fun.

I give Kingsman: The Secret Service a 4+ out of 5.

Only Lovers Left Alive

Writer/Director Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive is a modern vampire tale about a musician (Tom Hiddleston), living in Detroit, and his lover (Tilda Swinton), living in Tangiers, who reunite and have their centuries-old lives disrupted by the lovers’ sister (Mia Wasikowska).

 

The film is beautifully photographed by Yorick Le Saux, with fascinating sets by Production Designer Marco Bittner Rosso and the performers are wonderful.   

The problem is the languid story is boring.  Old vampires simply aren’t that interesting...to themselves and us.

 

I give Only Lovers Left Alive a 3 out of 5.

Force Majeure

It’s easy to see why Writer/Director Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure has been nominated for Best Foreign Film.

It’s a powerful story of a Swedish family on a ski holiday in the French Alps. 

Wonderfully performed by Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli and real-life brother and sister Vincent Wettergren and Clara Wettergren, all starts off well until, while at lunch, early in the week, an avalanche comes very near the lodge and the father bolts from the table with no regard for his family.

It’s an unforgiveable act of cowardice.  Or, is it?


Östlund weaves an interesting story of a family in crisis that is well worth seeing.

Kudos, also, to Cinematographer Fredrik Wenzel, who, successfully, took on the extremely difficult task of shooting in snow-covered terrain without getting the dark cast to the scenery usually obtained by most, who have tried it.

I give Force Majeure a 4 out of 5.

Jupiter Ascending

Writers/Directors Andy and Lana Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending, that might have better been titled Jupiter Descending, is an extremely stupid story that makes ill use of the talents of Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean and Eddie Redmayne, not to mention the rest of the cast. 

 Only Tatum seems to, occasionally, rise above the dreck.

Yes, there are some amazing digital effects, but none are really engaging and the film is devoid of tension.  And, if Academy voters subtract Redmaynes’s disastrous performance, here, from his brilliance in The Theory of Everything, there goes the Oscar.

Only Cinematographer John Toll and the Costume Department turn in their usual fabulous work.

Otherwise, Jupiter Descending comes off like last week’s terrible Project Almanac, with the only difference being that this was done by and with professionals.  But, what a waste of good talent and money.

Jupiter Descending only gets a 2 out of 5.