This Is Where I Leave You

Despite its unfortunate title, Shawn Levy’s This Is Where I Leave You is a family dramatic comedy that grows on you.  In that regard, it mimics the story of a dysfunctional family drawn to the funeral of the head of the family.  There are all the hesitations and little quarrels before the fun and bigger quarrels erupt.

Jane Fonda, who plays the deceased’s wife, insists that the family observes the Jewish tradition of shiva, which is a 7-day ritual of sitting together in memory while friends and relatives come by to offer their condolences.  She, however, is not Jewish, her husband was an atheist and none of the children are practicing the faith of their father’s ancestors.  But, it all makes for the fun and pathos Writer Jonathan Tropper has brought about in both his novel and the film.

The cast is splendid, including Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Kathryn Hahn, Connie Britton and Timothy Olyphant.  And, the best parts are seeing some of these great performers working together, such as a scene where Tina Fey rests her head on Jane Fonda’s recently enhanced breasts...

 

....or when Kathryn Hahn, who plays the eldest brother’s wannabe-pregnant wife, tries to get the more fertile brother played by Jason Bateman to impregnate her. 

As I said at the top, This Is Where I Leave You build in both laughs and substance.  It started out as a 3+, but ended up a 4+ out of 5.

A Walk Among The Tombstones

Writer/Director Scott Frank’s A Walk Among the Tombstones is a taut, but grisly noir thriller in which Liam Neeson plays a former cop, who is, now, an unlicensed detective.

 

Some really crazy bad guys played by David Harbour and Adam David Thompson are kidnapping the wives or significant others of drug kingpins and holding them for ransom.  This mitigates their going to the police and insures they have the money to pay.  Although…spoiler alert…the kidnappers don’t return their victims alive.

Neeson’s character is brought in by one of the drug lords to handle the transfer and the situation awakens ghosts from his past.

The cast is top notch in all regards thanks to Casting Director Avy Kaufman as is the Cinematography of  Mihai Malaimare, Jr. and the Music Composition of Carlos Rafael Rivera.

I give A Walk Among the Tombstones a 4 out of 5.

The Maze Runner

The best feature of Director Wes Bal’s The Maze Runner is the fact it has a diverse cast of talented young actors such as Dylan O’Brien, Ami Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter and Kaya Scodlario, who we look forward to seeing in better fare.

It’s not that The Maze Runner is a bad film.  There is a lot of good action and suspense, but the script by Noah Oppenheim, Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin based on James Dashner’s novel becomes immensely convoluted even for someone such as me, who has an enormous capacity for suspension of disbelief.  And, perhaps, that is much the fault of the novel itself, which I have not read.

The characters find themselves on a wide expanse of land, surrounded by high walls that periodically open to a maze in which there are spider-like monsters.  Each month, some new captive appears without memory of his past from an elevator and over a three-year period a community has formed with tasks and rules.  Why they are there and who controls the opening and closing of the walls, no one knows.

 

The real question we begin to ask ourselves as the story evolves is how this enormously complex structure came into being in such a relatively short time.  But, we discover this is a test of both the characters and our indulgence in preparation for a sequel.

I give The Maze Runner a 3 out of 5.

Virunga

Documentarian Writer/Director Orlando von Einsiedel has done a heroic job in going into the heart of the Congo around Virunga, a preserve for the last of the mountain gorillas and other native animals. 

His film entitled Virunga is heroic, not only in terms of the commitment of the Rangers, who patrol the preserve to keep out poachers, but in the fact the area is, also, caught in the midst of the fighting between the Congolese Army and a rebel force known as M23.

But, that’s only half the story, as Einsiedel uncovers the attempt of SOCO, a British-based oil company with an American CEO, to illegally drill on the preserve.

Through the use of body cameras employed by a gutsy female journalist, mercenaries employed by SOCO and its employees let us see that corporate greed gives little care about biodiversity, the land, the animals or the people of the region.

Though sometimes a bit confusing as to who are the “good guys,” you come to realize that’s a plus because you’re put into the true atmosphere of the place where those who care about the animals and the land have to be on guard from several threats at the same time.

I give Virunga a 4 out of 5.  Look for it on Netflix.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby

Writer/Director Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby has an all-star cast, including Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Isabelle Huppert, William Hurt, Viola Davis, Bill Hader, Ciarán Hinds and Jess Weixler…all of whom deliver fabulous performances.

It’s a slow-paced, mostly sad story that works because it is extremely real.  You are, soon, forgiving of the pace as you come to realize that life moves slowly, especially when one is confronted by events being experienced by the two principals played by Chastain and McAvoy.

They are a couple, who has lost their infant son and go their separate ways in an attempt to deal with it.  However, neither of their ways is in any way successful.

To tell you any more would be a disservice to the film.  Just know it is intense, deeply moving and, ultimately, very loving.   

I give The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby a 4 out of 5, but Jessica Chastain gets a 4+.