Bridge of Spies: Ethical Espionage

Once in a while, you have a terrible week and want nothing more to do with the human race. At such times, the best course of action is to watch a Tom Hanks movie, because that man will restore your faith in humanity. His performance in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies is no exception.

Set in 1957 and based on a true story, the movie tells the story of James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks), an insurance lawyer who is given the unenviable task of defending Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), an undercover Russian spy arrested by the CIA in New York. While the judge and the entire country view this as a show trial to highlight American justice yet still condemn the man, Donovan is determined to do his best for his client. While he fails to get a verdict of Not Guilty, he does save Abel from the death penalty, arguing that one day the US might need to give him up in exchange for a captured American spy. Then Donovan's prediction comes true. An American pilot is shot down over Moscow, and the American government asks Donovan to organize a prisoner exchange in East Germany. Of course, with no diplomatic recognition until the exchange is complete.

It's a dangerous mission, full of potential pitfalls. East Germany is extremely volatile as the Berlin Wall is about to go up and Donovan is in near constant danger during the entire trip. But this affable insurance lawyer is no ordinary man. He believes in his duty to his client and his duty to his country, and he'll be damned if he doesn't do the right thing. The entire time, he seems quiet and intelligent, stoically using the law and his wits to win arguments and quip his way through uncomfortable moments. But at one crucial moment, when all seems lost, he stands his ground and makes a righteous threat. And we see that this is a man with a backbone of steel and a principled passion for justice. He is done playing spy games.

Apart from Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance is also delivering a scintillating performance as Rudolf Abel and we are ultimately presented with not just one, but two good men. They come from very different places and have very different ideas about the world, but they share the same values of being calm and intelligent in a crisis, and simply being decent. Abel eventually wins Donovan's respect, and it is clear that while these men find themselves on opposite sides of a war, they refuse to view each other as enemies. Donovan will always steadfastly stand up for his "guy" and that loyalty does not go unnoticed by Abel.

Bridge of Spies is a quintessential Spielberg movie that tells its story simply and well. I was enraptured by the score throughout the entire movie, only to discover that it was by my favorite film composer, Thomas Newman. The movie is beautifully shot by Janusz Kaminski, and the script by Matt Charman and the Coen brothers features compelling ideas about what it means to be an American and the fundamental differences between democracy and communism. Whether it delves into Donovan's family drama, draws you into courtroom bombast, or has you on the edge of your seat for the prisoner exchange on the bridge, this movie keeps you invested in its characters and never loses your interest.

Creed: Learning to Fight

I have a horrific confession to make - I have never seen Rocky or its sequels. Therefore, there is probably a LOT that I missed while watching Creed. However, as a standalone movie, this film does not disappoint.

Michael B. Jordan stars as Adonis "Donnie" Creed, the illegitimate son of Rocky Balboa's rival and friend, Apollo Creed. As a young boy, he ended up in foster care when his mother died, until he was rescued by Apollo Creed's widow, Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad), who chose to raise the troubled boy herself. Now, Donnie has a respectable job in an office, but he is his father's son. On weekends he goes to Tijuana for underground boxing matches and finally, he pulls the plug and tells the disappointed Mary Anne that he is going to go pro. He sets off for Philadelphia, finds the aging Rocky (Sylvester Stallone), and convinces him to become his trainer. Let the training montage begin.

Tessa Thompson plays Bianca, Donnie's downstairs neighbor and eventual love interest. They have a sweet and tender relationship that is very much based on supporting each other's dreams. And the relationship between Donnie and Rocky is wonderfully rich and complex. Rocky is a father figure and mentor, and when he gets some bad news, there's some touching interplay between the two characters as they realize how much they have come to mean to each other. As Donnie prepares for his big fight, there's a sense that an entire community is rallying around him to make good on his life and the movie only deploys the anticipated Eye of the Tiger at the most crucial moment.

Co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Creed is simply a great sports movie. The finale's epic fight sequence is choreographed to perfection and you can feel every punch and jab shuddering through your bones. The camera angles put you right in the middle of the action and give you a visceral thrill. This movie has characters you can root for, relationships that feel real and solid, and that uplifting, soaring spirit that makes you want to fist pump the air and cheer. This is a crowd-pleasing perfect film that successfully pays homage to the Rocky franchise and has brains, brawn, and heart.

Carol: Quiet Romance

Carol is a quiet, beautiful movie about two women falling in love in 1950s New York. That's as much detail as I want to give away about the plot, because this is a movie that has little to do with the story and everything to do with the performances.

Cate Blanchett stars as Carol, a woman who is in the midst of a divorce from her husband, Harge (Kyle Chandler). It is Christmas time and when she wanders into a department store to buy a present for her daughter, she catches the eye of a beguiling shop girl named Therese (Rooney Mara). What follows is a delicate courtship between the experienced Carol and the naive Therese, who slowly recognizes that she is far more infatuated with this mysterious woman than she has ever been with her besotted boyfriend.

Directed by Todd Haynes with stunning cinematography by Edward Lachman, the movie looks ethereal and wonderful, capturing every glance between the two women and the growing frisson of romantic understanding between the two of them. Adapted by screenwriter Phyllis Nagy from the Patricia Highsmith novel, The Price of Salt, with sumptuous costume design by Sandy Powell and meticulous production design by Judy Becker, this movie steeps you in a delicate yet dangerous world. It takes you on a subtle romantic journey and doesn't need to rely on grand declarations or sweeping statements to convey the tenuous, exciting, and difficult nature of this relationship. It is also a story about embracing one's identity, not just one's sexuality, and acknowledging your dreams and ambitions as you learn to love and accept yourself.

Carol is beautiful, but thankfully not devastating. Instead it is an intriguing portrayal of what it means to quietly and confusedly fall in love when society hasn't clearly explained to you that this kind of love can exist. It reminds you that while the LGBT community has always faced intense stigma and social pressure to conform, one thing has remained true: love is love is love. 

Spotlight: Heroic Journalism

Sometimes, being a hero doesn't require a cape and super powers. Instead, it requires a notebook, research skills, and dogged perseverance.

Spotlight follows the team of reporters at the Boston Globe who broke the story of Catholic priests molesting young children in the Boston area, uncovering a nationwide (and worldwide) conspiracy of secrecy and guilt. It is not a pleasant topic and this is not an easy film to watch. But it is an incredibly compelling movie that demonstrates the hard work and frankly unglamorous skill that is required to diligently report on these events.

Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Brian D'Arcy James, John Slattery, and Liev Schrieber play the various members of the Spotlight team. It's an all-star line-up that guarantees excellent performances, and none of the actors disappoint. We get to see every facet of these characters - their connection to Boston, their feelings about the Church, and their determination to give a voice to the families and children who suffered in silence for decades. They seem like reserved men and women, but towards the end of the film, as the damning evidence builds, we get to see the strain that this job puts on their lives and their steadfast refusal to back down. They continue to stumble in the dark, until the light goes on.

The score by Howard Shore is an insistent marvel that ratchets up the tension in the background and keeps you focused as the reporters get closer to the truth and uncover horrifying details about this pathology of abuse. Directed by Tom McCarthy and co-written by him and Josh Singer, this a tightly scripted and thrilling film in the vein of All the President's Men. It contains all the excitement of uncovering the truth while hiding none of the tedious labor that goes into fact-finding and research. Whether the reporters are poring over years' worth of church records, conducting interviews all over the country, or taking painstaking notes, this is a thoughtful and meticulous account of journalistic excellence.

Although we know how this story ends, Spotlight is a story about the process of uncovering the truth. The final moments are sobering, and while we can take pride in our heroes' success, that pride is tinged with some guilt that this story was not uncovered a decade earlier. The Boston Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the nearly 600 articles they published about this scandal. They made the world sit up and take notice, and now this film is ensuring the world takes notice once again.

The Danish Girl: Embracing Beauty

The Danish Girl is an incredibly beautiful movie. Directed by Tom Hooper with magical cinematography by Danny Cohen, every frame of this film looks like a painting, even as the heartbreaking story unfolds.

Based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff, the movie offers a fictionalized account of real-life Danish artist Lile Elbe, who was one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery in 1931. Beginning in 1920s Copenhagen, we are introduced to Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Gerde (Alicia Vikander), a couple who are deeply in love. They are both talented artists who met in art school, and while Einar is the more successful painter, he supports Gerde in all her ambitions, offering all the criticism and encouragement she needs. One day she asks him to fill in for her absent model and wear some silk stockings and shoes. And with that simple action, the floodgates are opened. A few days later, Gerde arrives home and Einar is fully dressed as a woman, calling herself Lili. At first, the two of them treat this as a game - Gerde takes Lili to an art show and introduces her as Einar's cousin. However, as time passes, Gerde realizes that Lili is here to stay.

Nowadays, we have the Internet and much more open dialogue and understanding about trans issues. But back in 1920s Denmark, being transgender was an unknown concept. To Gerde, it feels like her husband has a split personality - she asks Lili if she can speak to Einar, and Lili has to refuse. It's fascinating to see these two people try to navigate through this situation when they completely lack the necessary vocabulary. It helps that they are both artists as they have been exposed to a broader spectrum of sexuality than most of the people around them. Their friends and acquaintances are also a little more understanding, but while they are familiar with homosexuality, transsexuality is a much more tricky concept.

Redmayne's transformation from Einar to Lili is effortless and he is on track for another Oscar nomination. He holds nothing back, and with a quiet performance that relies more on expressions than dialogue, he makes it very clear that Lili is a woman who has simply been hampered by an accident in her biology. And Vikander's performance opposite him is stunning. Gerde must run through a full gamut of emotions as she discovers that Lili is no longer playing a game and is in complete earnest about her identity, and it is inspiring to watch how she refuses to leave Lili's side. There is so much fierce love in this woman that when she loses Einar, she still supports Lili as best as she can, even if she cannot fully understand her. 

This is a good movie, but not a great one. The real lives of Lili and Gerde were messy and complicated. However, The Danish Girl tells a neat and tidy fictionalized account of their struggle. The central performances are incandescent, but this movie is simply too pretty, too polished and perfect, to elicit true emotion. While it pleases the mind, it doesn't stir the soul, and as it glides to its inevitably devastating conclusion, it manages to end on as beautiful a note as it began.

The Hateful Eight: A Gory Whodunnit

I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies and was hugely looking forward to The Hateful Eight. Having watched it, I can say it's exactly what you would expect from a Tarantino movie, and yet not as great as the ones that preceded it.

The movie is a western, set some years after the American Civil War. It opens with a shot of sweeping snowy vistas and a stirring score by Ennio Morricone (who else would Tarantino ask to score a Western?). A stagecoach rattles through the snowy landscape and one by one, we get introduced to the movie's main characters. Kurt Russell plays John Ruth, a bounty hunter who is bringing the fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to the town of Red Rock, where she will answer for her crimes and hang. They end up giving a ride to two stranded men: another bounty hunter, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), and a former militiaman named Chris Mannix (Walter Goggins), who claims he is now the new sheriff of Red Rock. When they are overtaken by a blizzard, they seek shelter at a lodge called Minnie's Haberdashery, where they discover that Minnie has gone to visit her mother and left the lodge in the care of a Mexican man named Bob (Demian Bichir). There are three guests at the lodge already: retired Confederate General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), lone cowboy, Joe Gage (Grouch Douglass), and the English Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), who professes to be Red Rock's hangman.

As these eight people hunker down in the cabin, they start talking and unveil strange connections and coincidences. And soon, John Ruth starts to suspect that this is a trap, and one of these men is in cahoots with Daisy Domergue to rescue her before she makes it to Red Rock. Soon enough, things escalate in true Tarantino-esque fashion. While we get some flashbacks to flesh out the story, the majority of the movie takes place in this one cabin, and as the characters attempt to figure out who is betraying whom, we get some epic monologues, unexpected surprises, and plenty of bloody violence.

I suspect my problem with this movie was the claustrophobic setting. What I have loved about Tarantino's movies have been their epic scope. Whether we have a ragtag crew attempting to kill Hitler in Inglourious Basterds, a black man and German bounty hunter attempting to circumvent slavery in Django Unchained, or a woman who travels continents to enact her vengeance in the Kill Bill movies, Tarantino has always dealt with big, bold, and brash ideas. In The Hateful Eight, however, we have to rely on an extremely talented cast of actors who are locked up in a cabin and working through an extremely gory whodunnit. While I can't complain about the acting, the dialogue felt like it was recycled from Django Unchained, and having all that blood and gore contained in one room was ultimately too nauseating.

The Hateful Eight is emphatically a movie by Quentin Tarantino. And while it contains some genuine thrills and amazing sequences, it ultimately felt too repetitive and didn't deal in any fresh ideas. I will always look forward to a new Tarantino movie; all I can hope is that the next one is an extreme flight of fancy that tells a story I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams or nightmares.

The Big Short: How Banks Broke the World

The Big Short confirms the adage, Tragedy + Time = Comedy. In 2008, when the global financial system collapsed because of mysterious things called subprime mortgages and credit default swaps, there was nothing funny about the situation. Millions lost their homes and their jobs across the world, and every day brought some fresh news article about the greed and regulatory negligence that led to this collapse. However, seven years have passed, and director Adam McKay now brings us a movie that uses comedy to enlighten the masses about how exactly the banks screwed us over.

Adapted from the book by Michael Lewis, Adam McKay and Charles Randolph have written a zippy script that manages to educate, delight, and horrify in equal measure. The movie tells the true story of the men who spied the collapse of the housing market as early as 2005 and set about investing in credit default swaps that betted against the market. Bankers were only too happy to take their millions, viewing them as fools who were throwing their money away. But in three short years, the banks were proven wrong, and as the world ground to a halt, these men amassed huge profits.

Christian Bale plays hedge fund manager Michael Burry, who is one of the first people to realize that the housing market is built on subprime mortgages that have become increasingly risky despite their triple A credit ratings. He invests all of his fund's money in credit default swaps that bet against these mortgages, a move that earns him the ire of his investors and a stressful three years as the market show no sign of collapse. Ryan Gosling plays Jared Vennett, a cocky trader who overhears a banker talking about Burry's scheme and realizes that Burry has a valid point. He starts to invest in credit default swaps himself, and via an accidental phone call, convinces hedge fund manager Mark Baum (Steve Carell) to join in. And finally we have two young investors, Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley (John Magaro and Finn Wittrock) who stumble across Vennett's investment prospectus and enlist the help of their retired banker friend, Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), to make some big trades.

The twisted thing about The Big Short is that you have this all-star cast of extremely affable men that you are rooting for throughout the movie. And yet, rooting for them to win means rooting for the rest of the world to fail. Gosling serves as the film's narrator and he constantly breaks the fourth wall to address the audience directly or introduce cameos by Margot Robbie in a bathtub to explain what a subprime loan is, or Selena Gomez at a blackjack table to explain the concept of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). This technique did annoy me and made me feel like this film wasn't very polished. But the fact that I can still remember what a CDO is suggests this film did accomplish the goal of effectively educating its audience.

The Big Short does strive to humanize its characters and make us feel OK about rooting for them. Each of these men profit enormously but they also heartily lose their faith in the financial system. Some try to tip off the press, others try to balance what's best for their investors with what's best for the economy, and it's clear that while they are thrilled to have made the right call, they are not thrilled about what that means about the state of the world they live in. The movie points out ugly truths about the blind eye regulators turned to the warning signs, the fact that credit agencies could be bribed to give false ratings to CDOs, and that only one banker ever went to jail for all this greed and corruption. And the chilling epilogue points out that banks have learned nothing from these events and have resumed the activities that broke the world in 2008. So while you might enjoy this movie at first, you will leave the theater wondering if you need to withdraw all your money and bury it in the backyard. Turns out this comedy is quite tragic after all.

Brooklyn: Searching for Home

Every year, there are a handful of movies I watch solely because of awards buzz; and then I fall in love with them. Without a doubt, Brooklyn is one of those movies. Featuring a miraculous performance by Saoirse Ronan, this film will break your heart several times in two hours and leave you with a smile.

With a screenplay deftly adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Toibin's novel of the same name, Brooklyn is set in 1952 and tells the story of Eilis Lacey (Ronan), a girl who grew up in the small town of Enniscorthy, Ireland, but sets off to America to seek a better life. Her sister arranges the journey through the help of the local parish, and when Eilis arrives in Brooklyn, she has a place to stay, a job in a department store, and a chance to make something of her life. She finds love with Tony Fiorello (Emory Cohen), a sweet young Italian man, but when she has to return to Ireland for a family crisis, she finds herself torn between her old life in Enniscorthy and the new life she had made for herself in Brooklyn. 

It's a simple story, and there is nothing melodramatic or grand about any of the life events that transpire, but that is precisely why it wrings your heart. Saoirse Ronan's face is luminous and even when she isn't bewitching you with her lilting Irish brogue, her wide-open eyes express a thousand emotions. Her homesickness when she first receives a letter from her sister is devastating. Her smile when she finally begins to feel at home is uplifting. As brilliant an actress as she is (and she fully deserves multiple award nominations and wins), I would be remiss to not point out cinematographer Yves Belanger, who went to great lengths to specifically light Ronan's eyes so they can speak volumes in every close-up. The score by Michael Brook is particularly heartwrenching and will leave you wrecked and glad. And the 1950's production design by Francois Seguin is perfect. There is nothing calculated to bring a lump to your throat as effectively as watching a girl board a ship to America with nothing but a small suitcase that contains all her worldly possessions. 

Every performance in this movie is a little marvel. Julie Walters provides much-needed comic relief as the kind but volubly opinionated Mrs. Kehoe, who runs the boarding house Eilis lives in. Jim Broadbent is kind and compassionate as Father Flood, the priest who gives Eilis every opportunity and is determined to see her succeed in her new life. Emory Cohen is kind, charming, and romantic as Tony, the Italian plumber with a thing for Irish girls, who wears his heart on his sleeve throughout the entire movie. And then there's Domhnall Gleeson, playing the equally kind and charming Jim Farrell who harbors his own romantic intentions when Eilis returns to Ireland. It is not a mistake that I have described each of these characters as kind. Apart from one character, everyone that Eilis meets has a good heart and no matter how prickly they seem at first, she learns to value their help and generosity. More importantly, they teach her to value herself, and it is remarkable to see how the reserved, naive girl from the beginning of the movie grows into a confident, independent woman by the end.

Director John Crowley has made a beautiful, moving film that will stand the test of the time. As an immigrant myself, this story articulated the emotions that churned through me every time I moved somewhere new. And if you've never moved at all, you can sympathize with Jim as he declares his dreams of seeing the world and his fear that he will die never having left Ireland. After nervously watching Eilis struggle to make her decision, the final scenes of Brooklyn are inexpressibly comforting. As she realizes where she belongs, you breathe a sigh of relief that our heroine has finally come home. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Triumphant Beginning

I am not a major Star Wars fan. I saw the original trilogy many years ago and apart from really liking the first movie, I don't remember much about the other two. Obviously I know the basics because that's just something you pick up from pop culture - even before I saw Empire Strike Back I knew Darth Vader was Luke's father (sorry, spoiler alert?). I haven't seen the prequel trilogy except for randomly watching Attack of the Clones on HBO, even before I had seen the original movies and understanding literally 0.1% of what happened. All this preamble is to say that if you're looking for a review that delves into the fandom and assesses The Force Awakens with a great deal of in-depth, archival knowledge, you will be disappointed. But if you only care to know what this movie is like on its own merits, keep reading.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a marvel. This is emphatically a movie from 2015, one that has taken the most important pieces of the original franchise and improved upon them with all the technology and common sense of the modern era, to deliver a polished, vastly entertaining, and phenomenal film. Even though I can't claim to be a Star Wars fanatic, I found myself drawn into this movie from the very first second. As that opening crawl came on screen, I realized this was the first time I was watching a Star Wars movie in a theater, and I felt like I was finally part of this pop cultural phenomenon that I had only ever hovered on the periphery of. As the iconic John Williams score swelled, this movie promised that it would honor the original franchise and introduce us to even more characters and stories to love. And then it proceeded to deliver on that promise.

I'm not going into any analysis of the movie's plot. Suffice to say, there are good guys versus bad guys, a map that everyone wants to get their hands on, and plenty of space fights and intrigue that set up future events and wrap up past ones. The true revelations are the new cast members - Daisy Ridley is a superb heroine as Rey, a scavenger on the planet of Jakku who is strong with the Force and has some mysterious past. John Boyega is amazing as Finn, a stormtrooper who turns to the light and ultimately teams up with Rey. There's Oscar Isaac as the dashing Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, Adam Driver as the Darth Vader protege Kylo Ren, and the ineffably cute BB-8 droid that steals the entire movie. But then there's also the return of all our old favorites - Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Princess General Leia are back, so let the fireworks begin.

Director J.J. Abrams has a knack for rebooting old franchises by retaining everything that made them great and adding in elements that make them so much better. He did this with Star Trek, and now with Star Wars, he has taken what was already a phenomenon and made it even more accessible and entertaining. Finally we have an installment in this franchise that gamely passes the Bechdel Test - there are more women, not just on the light side but on the dark side too, and the passing of the hero torch to Rey feels ridiculously audacious even though it is 2015 and we should stop considering it such a big deal to let a woman lead a film. We have more diversity in the casting and more of a balance between fan service and good storytelling. Even as a casual Star Wars viewer, there were plenty of homages I could recognize to the original movies and I'm sure there were many more references I didn't get. But that didn't matter because this movie is catered to satisfy even a complete newbie.

Star Force: The Force Awakens is a tour-de-force film that is worthy of the hype and sets the new trilogy off on a promising beginning. I can only hope they keep up this momentum and continue to give us movies that feature incredible, diverse characters, engaging storylines, and the iconic music, set pieces, and thrills that bind Star Wars fans through the generations.