Review: "The Favourite"

Two years ago, I came close to ranking Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster as the worst picture of 2016. What (inexplicably) enamored countless film buffs stuck me as dreary bombast, made only faintly tolerable by Colin Farrell’s committed leading turn.

If Lanthimos’ latest picture, The Favourite, is also hardly my cup of tea, it is at least an exquisitely designed and memorably acted picture. If anything, it most recalls last year’s Phantom Thread, a film unimpeachably not without merit that ultimately left a far greater impression on most of my fellow moviegoers.

The Favourite, which despite this middling review is destined for a healthy awards season run, opens on England toward the beginning of the 18th century. The nation remains at war with France and presiding over the throne is Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), the fragile, volatile leader who is immeasurably assisted by friend and adviser Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), the Dutchess of Marlborough.

Throwing this world for a loop is the entrance of Sarah’s cousin Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), who has arrived at the castle in search of employment. Sarah looks down upon Abigail, whose gambling father ravaged the family name, but agrees to provide her with humdrum work. Abigail gradually wins over Sarah and especially the Queen and, before long, plots to win Anne’s favor at the expense of Sarah. When Sarah becomes conscious of Abigail’s manipulations, a battle of wits is set in motion to dispose of the other and secure a place alongside the Queen.

The Favourite is a feast for the eyes, sumptuously photographed by Robbie Ryan, with lavish costumes and art direction by Sandy Powell and Fiona Crombie & Alice Felton, respectively. Weisz does some career-best work as the increasingly irrelevant Sarah, while Colman does not allow an inch of scenery to go uneaten as the disorderly Queen.

Less convincing is Stone, who portrayal rings as strained vis a vis the lived-in turns by Weisz and Colman. Where Weisz especially is able to convey so much through so little, Stone’s performance is more elaborate, yet less full of surprises. The screenplay, by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, provides Colman with a handful of zesty zingers, yet otherwise makes for an only intermittently uninvolving picture, one which provides the rest of the cast, beyond the central trio, without much of anything to do.

There’s no denying the visual beauty of The Favourite, nor the spunk with which Weisz and Colman approach their roles, but it otherwise never takes off as it should - another clumsy effort from a filmmaker whose cinema I evidently just don’t much like.

B-

Review: "Creed II"

Three years ago, following decades of languishing in junk cinema, Sylvester Stallone rebounded with a magnificent, career-best performance reprising his iconic turn as Rocky Balboa in Creed. His loss in Best Supporting Actor, and to the lackluster Mark Rylance of all people, remains for me one of the more heartbreaking Oscar decisions of recent years.

If Creed II does not quite find Stallone reaching Oscar-caliber heights, it does prove the 2015 picture was no fluke - he again turns in one hell of a performance and is matched every step of the way by the brilliant Michael B. Jordan, who too richly deserved recognition for his work in the first film.

Creed II opens on Jordan’s Adonis Creed riding high. He has scored a series of high-profile boxing victories and, more importantly, successfully proposed marriage to girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson). Adonis is torn over Bianca’s desire to begin a new life together in Los Angeles, a move that would bring them closer to his adoptive mother Mary Anne (Phylicia Rashad) but create enormous distance between Adonis and Rocky, who will surely never leave Philadelphia.

While Adonis considers his options, an old foe from Rocky’s past has the young boxer in his sights. Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren, reprising his role from Rocky IV), the former Soviet boxer who killed Adonis’ father in the ring and went on to lose to Rocky in a Moscow showdown, is hellbent on getting his son Viktor (Florian Munteanu) into the ring against Adonis. Viktor issues a formal challenge, which Adonis ultimately accepts - despite Rocky’s refusal to support and train him for the match.

With Rocky on the sidelines, Adonis and Bianca indeed make the move westward, settling down in a lavish apartment near Mary Anne and preparing for the upcoming fight. When the face-off produces no winner but leaves Adonis riddled with injuries and overwhelmed with melancholy, Rocky agrees to travel to LA to get him back on his feet in preparation for a rematch against the pugnacious Viktor.

Creed II was directed by Steven Caple, Jr., who proves himself a plenty capable filmmaker, albeit not a master at the same level as Ryan Coogler, who so vividly directed the first picture. Likewise, the Sylvester Stallone-Juel Taylor screenplay is a more familiar, less engrossing effort than the writing from the 2015 film - but that’s hardly to say it’s a disappointment. Stallone is deeply invested in not only Rocky and Adonis but also the supporting players, providing Thompson, Rashad and even Lundgren grand opportunities to shine and flex their talents.

For fans of the Rocky franchise, Creed II is a downright must-see that delivers the goods in a fashion far more stirring and satisfying than most entries in the series. If you haven’t yet seen it, go soon - and with as full and ebullient an audience as possible.

A-

Review: "Widows"

About half an hour into Steve McQueen’s Widows, I found myself questioning whether the filmmaker could really pull this picture off - will it, with its topsy turvy plot and clown car of characters, prove a haphazard and bloated endeavor or a deliciously dizzying heist yarn? The answer, I am pleased to report, is far more the latter than former.

The film, McQueen’s first effort since 12 Years a Slave barnstormed the Oscars five years ago, is a dazzling piece of entertainment that expertly puts to work its starry cast. To know it is presently struggling to catch fire at the box office is a disheartening development to say the least.

Viola Davis, in one of her very best big screen turns, headlines the proceedings as Veronica Rawlings, a lobbyist for the Chicago Teachers Union who is widowed following the death of husband Harry (Liam Neeson), a notorious thief killed amidst a police shootout. Shortly after his passing, Veronica is approached by crime boss and aspiring politician Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry), who informs her Harry robbed him and his partners of $2 million. Manning presents Veronica with a deathly deadline - get him his money or face the consequences.

Rattled by Manning’s entrance into her life, Veronica comes upon a notebook Harry left behind, detailing a heist plan that, if executed, would secure $5 million. Unable to carry out such a mission on her own, Veronica reaches out to the widows of the other gunned-down thieves to assist in the operation. Two - Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) - reluctantly accept and get the ball rolling on this daunting assignment.

Meanwhile, amidst their undertaking, there is a contentious local election being waged between Manning and Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell), the latter the son of a seasoned Chicago politician (Robert Duvall). Manning is counting on those millions from Veronica to finance his campaign, while Mulligan, no surprise, will also find himself tangled up in the madness at play.

Like a roller coaster ride, Widows proves an anticipation-building slow burn through much of its early-going, only to gradually accelerate into pitch-perfect pandemonium. The script, written by McQueen and Gillian Flynn, is sharp and unpredictable and provides every actor, from Davis and Debicki to Daniel Kaluuya and Jacki Weaver (in memorably menacing turns), with heaps of meat to chew on. Henry continues to prove himself one of today’s great up-and-coming actors, while the veteran Duvall vibrantly plays every precious moment on screen like a possible Oscar clip.

Widows is an all-around marvelous picture that should be a grand crowd-pleaser…if only such crowds would get their asses into the theater to see it.

A-

Review: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

Once in a blue moon, Joel and Ethan Coen will deliver a picture that is far more stimulating on the screen, in a purely visual sense, than on the page. A film like The Man Who Wasn’t There, for instance, was less a triumph in screenwriting than a brooding feast for the eyes, made all the more captivating by Billy Bob Thornton’s masterful leading turn.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs marks one of these instances, except it lacks a performance on Thornton’s level. It’s a western anthology and, like so many anthology pictures, is a mixed bag, its half dozen chapters ranging from droll and delightful to uninspired and anti-climatic. The lone bright spot that lingers throughout the proceedings is how drop dead gorgeous it all is, Bruno Delbonnel’s photography richly deserving of Oscar consideration.

The film’s six stories are presented through an ancient book, titled The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier.

Kicking off the series is, well, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” a chapter equal parts funny and gruesome as the title character (Tim Blake Nelson), an outlaw cowboy, sings and shoots his way through the glorious Monument Valley. Nelson’s buoyant turn is irresistible stuff, so it’s a shame the entry flies by in no time. Likewise, the second story, “Near Algodones,” is terrific but fleeting. It features James Franco as a bank-robbing cowboy but it’s Stephen Root, as the plenty prepared bank teller, who steals the show.

“Meal Ticket” has heaps of promise but, despite a intriguing turn from Harry Melling, never takes off as it should. It sports Liam Neeson as a struggling impresario who travels from town to town with his performer Harrison (Melling), a limbless man who recites classic works of poetry and literature. As Harrison increasingly proves less of a draw, the producer must consider alternative talents to support a living. It’s a fine concept that isn’t sufficiently fleshed out.

The very best story comes next - it’s the prettiest (like, jaw-droppingly splendid) and most absorbing and expertly performed. “All Gold Canyon” is centered on an old prospector (Tom Waits) on the hunt for gold in a magnificent mountain valley. Through tireless work and determination, he finds precisely what he was looking for…and don’t you dare try robbing him of his findings.

The fifth story, “The Gal Who Got Rattled,” is headlined by Zoe Kazan, portraying Alice, a young woman venturing across the prairie to Oregon with her brother (Jefferson Mays). When he dies, she decides to continue on westward and becomes close to the wagon train leaders (Bill Heck and Grainger Hines) in the process. If Kazan rings too contemporary to quite convince in her role, Hines is pitch-perfect as the seasoned Mr. Arthur.

Last and least is “The Mortal Remains,” a chatty tale about a quintet of stagecoach travelers (Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson, Saul Rubinek, Jongo O’Neill and Chelcie Ross) en route to a mysterious destination. The novelty of seeing Daly, per usual giving it her all, in a semi-major motion picture isn’t enough to much lift this uninvolving dud.

In the end, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs emerges more a haphazard curiosity than anything close to top-tier Coens. It is a must-see for Waits fans and sure is a pretty picture but otherwise - mark this down as one of the more disappointing efforts of 2018.

B-

Review: "Boy Erased"

Boy Erased has all of the ingredients of a Best Picture Oscar winner, including three of the most devastating performances to this year grace the screen. What it ultimately lacks, holding it back from reaching masterpiece territory, is the right filmmaker to get it across the finish line.

This isn’t to completely lambaste the picture’s writer-director-actor-producer Joel Edgerton, who in the past has proven himself a marvelous talent both in front of (in It Comes at Night and Loving, among others) and behind (with The Gift) the camera. Edgerton here delivers a very fine film, albeit a frustratingly workmanlike effort that leans heavily on its actors and source material. It’s an endeavor that finds Edgerton an immense talent at getting the best out of his actors, while sporting very little visual flair himself as a filmmaker.

The film, based on Garrard Conley’s eponymous 2016 memoir, follows Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges, yet again proving himself one of today’s finest young actors), the son of Baptist parents (Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman), who, upon revealing his homosexuality to them, reluctantly agrees to enroll in a gay conversion therapy camp. There, Jared befriends other participants, each struggling to navigate and survive their way through this hellish experience. The program is spearheaded by “therapist” Victor Sykes (Edgerton), whose conversion methods are equal parts manipulative, traumatizing and sadistic.

Boy Erased is at its most compelling when focused on the family dynamic, with Hedges, Crowe and Kidman having an absorbing, all too convincing rapport that often rings of Ordinary People. Each actor is turning in some of their very best work, perhaps Crowe in particular, who absolutely kills it in his final scene toward the picture’s end. There’s also a terrific cameo from the always fabulous Cherry Jones, portraying the family physician, none too sold on Jared entering the program.

Less stirring are the camp scenes, with Edgerton too muted as the ringleader to pack the necessary punch. There are, however, very affecting scenes around the lead-up to Jared’s coming-out, including a shattering sequence involving classmate Henry (Joe Alwyn). Constantly jumping back and forth between past and present, and compellingly so, Edgerton’s screenplay is a greater success than his direction, which veers from the uninspired to the heavy-handed.

My qualms with some of Edgerton’s contributions aside, Boy Erased remains a mostly riveting production, with its trio of stars in pitch-perfect form. I just wish I could give the film these masterful performances grace a tad higher grade than…

A-