Son of God [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (R. Moore) review
RE.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (B. Kenigsberg) review

Son of God [2014] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Christopher Spencer along with Richard Bedser, Colin Swash and Nic Young) is IMHO a truly welcome theatrical release as Lent begins next week.  Made by the same people who made the_excellent_ five episode (10 hour) series The Bible [2013] which aired last year on the History Channel during Holy Week (just before Easter) last year, Son of God [2013] is basically the episode on Jesus (Episode 4) of that series, somewhat reworked, so that it could serve as a stand alone film.

As a stand alone film, it's perhaps a little "weaker" than the 10 hour series taken together, perhaps because so many of us are so "familiar with the story."  NEVERTHELESS, I'M STILL EXTREMELY HAPPY THAT THE FILM WAS RELEASED IN THIS FORM.  Why?

(1) Because it's timely/appropriate.  Lent is coming up and honestly for millions upon millions of Catholic/Christian believing families in the United States (and then across the world) Son of God [2014] does offer a _very nice_ alternative to the standard movie-release fare of this time of year -- still far from the Summer Blockbuster season and eons away from the "awardable movie season" that generally only begins in the Fall.  So I am _very happy_ that there appear to be actually a fair number of Christian/Biblically themed movies scheduled to come out over the next couple of months and APPLAUD Hollywood's apparent "experiment" this year to see if offering (at least some) films that would appeal to the sensibilities of Catholic/Christian believing families during this time of year would bring more people to the theaters than offering films that generally do not. 

(2) When Son of God [2014] comes out on DVD later in the year, it will give viewers the choice of either renting _the whole_ five episode (10 hour) The Bible [2013] series OR simply renting the two hour episode that focuses on Jesus reworked here into this film.  I COMPLETELY "GET IT" and I APPLAUD THE PRODUCERS HERE.  And yes, if the film makes 25-30-50 million dollars through a theatrical release from grateful Catholic/Christian families happy to have something to take their kids to the movies to during this time of year EVEN BEFORE THE FILM MAKES IT TO DVD so much the better for them.

To the movie ... As in the case of the entire The Bible [2013] series, I do marvel at some of the creativity on the part of the screenwriters in structuring the film.  So ... who we see FIRST in this film is JOHN (played by Sebastian Knapp), NOT John the Baptist [IMDb] who does show up briefly later on and is played by a "wildman/dreadlock" wearing Daniel Percival) BUT RATHER AN ELDERLY JOHN THE APOSTLE [IMDb], near the end of his life living by tradition in exile in a cave on the Island of Patmos.  And he's recounting the story of Jesus to a group of assembled disciples.

How does John start his story of Jesus to his disciples: "In the beginning ... there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came to be through him and without him nothing came to be" Where do those words come from?  FROM THE FAMOUS PROLOGUE OF JOHN'S GOSPEL (John 1:1ff)  And as he recounts this to his disciples, little flashbacks from the first pages of Genesis to Noah to Abraham to Moses to David and beyond are presented.... "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us and we saw his glory" (John 1:14).  What viewers see at this point is the playing out of the story of the Magi following "the Star" to Bethlehem to bring gives and pay homage to the infant Jesus before his amazed parents Mary and Joseph (Mt 2:1-12). ...

The story then jumps to the beginning of Jesus' ministry with Jesus [IMDb] (played by Diogo Morgado) calling St. Peter [IMDb] (played by Darwin Shaw) by the shores of Galilee.  The story does jump a lot from Gospel to Gospel (as all conflated presentations of Jesus' life do) and it puts various events recalled of Jesus' life in the Gospels in different order, generally for illuminative/dramatic effect.  TO ME, IT GENERALLY WORKS.

For instance, the film has Jesus confronted by a random Galilean Pharisee (played by Paul Marc Davis).  The Pharisee's irritated above all that Jesus seemed to be a more successful preacher/teacher than he was ("stealing" a "few of his sheep" along the way ... NO ONE LIKES THAT VERY MUCH  ;-).  So the somewhat jealous Pharisee tries to point out to Jesus that Jesus was in a sense "cheating" by filling the ranks of his ranks with various previous sinners and even tax collectors.  Jesus' grateful desciples understand Jesus' ministry as precisely "giving people another chance." (What a lovely way of understanding what both Jesus was and the Church/Christianity are all about).

So the film has Jesus responding to the Pharisee with his famous Parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Lk 18:9-14) right then and there (rather than in Temple in Jerusalem where the Gospels place the story) telling the story of a Pharisee praying to God at the Temple saying: "'I thank you God for being not like other men -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector over there ...' while the tax collector stood off at a distance, would not raise up his eyes toward heaven, but instead beat his breast and said..." AND HERE THE FILM HAS MATTHEW THE TAX COLLECTOR (TURNED LATER APOSTLE and EVANGELIST) [IMDb] (played here by Said Bey) HEARING JESUS TELLING THIS PARABLE FROM HIS TAX COLLECTOR'S TABLE and COMPLETING IT by saying WITH TEARS RUNNING DOWN HIS EYES: "Have mercy on me God, a sinner."  For those of us who've prayed and "chewed" on passages such as these FOR THE BETTER PART OF OUR LIVES this is GREAT STUFF.

I do love the film's portrayal of St. Thomas [IMDb] (played here by Matthew Gravel) who's portrayed as ever worried/skeptical and always asking a lot of questions (he's been remembered as "Doubting Thomas" after all ;-)

I do believe that Mary Magdalene [IMDb] (played in the film by Amber Rose Rivah) was PORTRAYED VERY WELL (and indeed _right down the middle_) AS A BOTH KEY MEMBER OF JESUS' DISCIPLES BUT ALSO NEITHER A "RECOVERING PROSTITUTE" NOR "JESUS' WIFE OR LOVER." Basically she's portrayed as a mature, "can hold her own" independent woman.

With regard to Mary, the Mother of Jesus [IMDb] (played in the film first by Leila Mimmack and later by Roma Downey, one of the film's/series' producers) was again portrayed quite well.  Much ink among various film critics has been spent comparing this film's portrayal of Jesus' Passion to the quite brutal portrayal in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ [2004] (Gibson had his reasons for portraying it in that way and his portrayal of Jesus' Passion did serve as perhaps a useful correction to its portrayals in recent decades past which seemed to "sanitize" / "make light" of the suffering involved.  In any case, the portrayal of Jesus' Passion here was somewhat less bloody than Gibson's.  However, viewers would still have no doubt that Jesus _did indeed suffer_ here ... for us).  HOWEVER, what I appreciate in the current film is its "nicer homage" to Gibson's film BY PORTRAYING ONCE AGAIN MARY AT THE CROSS AND THEN HOLDING THE DEAD BODY OF HER SON IN HER ARMS AFTER HE WAS TAKEN DOWN FROM IT (This was the subject of Michelangelo's famous Pieta' and s also my Servite religious Order's "6th Sorrow of Mary").

Indeed John Mulderig, the reviewer for the USCCB/CNS, noted in his review of the film that there are many aspects of this film that the Catholic viewer would happily appreciate. These include (1) the film's portrayal of St. Peter as the unambiguous leader of Jesus' Apostles, (2) its portrayal of Mary at the foot of the cross even (3) its portrayal of the Apostles using the ritual taught them by Jesus at his Last Supper to remember him (and indeed TO MAKE HIM PRESENT TO THEM) after his Resurrection.

I would also add that as I noted already in my review of the full The Bible [2013] series, I appreciated the film's inclusivity, in this film above all expressed with SIMON THE CYRENE (LIBYAN, FROM AFRICA) who HELPED CARRY JESUS' CROSS portrayed in this film AS BLACK (played in the film by Idrissa Sisco).  I honestly liked that detail.

So I do have to say that Catholic/Christian parents "could do much worse" in the coming weeks (of LENT) than going to see this lovely film about Jesus, who we proclaim to the world as the Son of God.  And even those who are not religious ought to be thankful to Hollywood for deciding to "throw us a bone" this year.  Thanks to this film (and several other Biblically themed films to be released in the coming weeks) "business will be up" in theaters this year.  Good job!


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My 2014 Oscar Picks

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years


Since beginning my Blog some 3 1/2 years ago, I've come to the conclusion that all the Oscars are basically "lifetime achievement awards," and that a lot of great performances, especially in smaller films, are ignored.  As such, each year I also offer my own "Denny" Awards.   But the Oscars are, of course, the "Biggest Show in Town."  So here is my annual survey of who IMHO will win, should win and deserved consideration for the major categories at the 2014 Oscars: 


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 
     WILL WIN - Jared Leto as Rayon in Dallas Buyers' Club
     SHOULD WIN - James Franco as "Alien" in Spring Breakers
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - James Franco as "Alien" in Spring Breakers and Garrett Hedlund as Neal Cassady in On the Road


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
     WILL WIN - Lupita Nyongo'o as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave
     SHOULD WIN - Lupita Nyongo'o Patsey in 12 Years a Slave, June Squibb as the Matriarch Kate in Nebraska or Jennifer Lawrence as Roselyn Rosenfeld in American Hustle
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION -
 Octavia Spencer as Wanda in Fruitvale Station, Kirsten Dunst as Carolyn Cassady in On the Road, Kate Bosworth as Billie in Big Sur and even Jessica Chastain as Anabel in Mama


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
     WILL WIN - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordon Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street
     SHOULD WIN - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby, Christian Bale as Irvning Rosenfeld in American Hustle or Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof in  Dallas Buyers' Club
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (2013),  Oscar Isaac as Llewyn Davis in Inside Llewyn Davis, Ernie Hudson as Marcus Wells in The Man in the Silo
 and Robert Redford in All is Lost.
  

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
     WILL WIN - Cate Blanchett as Jasmine in Blue Jasmine
     SHOULD WIN - Cate Blanchett as Jasmine in Blue Jasmine or Judy Dench as Philomena Lee in Philomena
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Mavis Fan as Lan Feng in Will you still love me tomorrow? (orig. Ming tian ji de ai shang wo), Paulina Garcia as Gloria in Gloria, Greta Gerwig as Frances in Frances Ha


BEST ORIGINAL SCREEN PLAY
     WILL WIN - American Hustle
     SHOULD WIN - Blue Jasmine, The Man in the Silo, Spring Breakers, Her
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Frances Ha, The Man in the Silo, Spring Breakers and Inside Llewyn Davis


BEST ADAPTED SCREEN PLAY
     WILL WIN - 12 Years a Slave
     SHOULD WIN - Before Midnight, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - On the Road, The Bling Ring, The Great Gatsby (2013)


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
     WILL WIN - Gravity
     SHOULD WIN - Gravity
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - The Great Gatsby (2013), Big Sur, Spring Breakers, The Place Beyond the Pines, Will you still love me tomorrow? (orig. Ming tian ji de ai shang wo),  Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Great Beauty (orig. La Grande Bellezza)


BEST DIRECTOR
     WILL WIN -  David O. Russell for American Hustle
     SHOULD WIN - David O. Russell for American Hustle or Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Richard Linklater for Before Midnight,  Harmony Korine for Spring Breakers, Sofia Coppola for The Bling Ring, Phil Donlon for The Man in the Silo and Woody Allen for Blue Jasmine


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

     WILL WIN - Frozen [2013]
     SHOULD WIN - Frozen [2013]

               
BEST PICTURE

     WILL WIN - American Hustle
     SHOULD WIN - American Hustle or 12 Years a Slave
     DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Spring Breakers, Frances Ha, The Man in the Silo, All is Lost, Inside Llewyn Davis

 

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In Secret [2013]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RE.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (B. Kenigsberg) review

In Secret [2013] (directed and screenplay by Charlie Stratton, based on the novel Thérèse Raquin (1867) [wikip] [IMDb] by Émile Zola [IMDb] and its stage adaptation by Neal Bell [IMDb]) plays-out like a sexed-up version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866) [wikip] [IMDb].  The thematics are similar and, interestingly enough, the original novels came out within a year of each other.

Thérèse Raquin (played briefly in film as a girl by Lily Laight and for the rest of story as a young adult by Elizabeth Olsen) is handed-over as child by her father to his sister/her aunt Madame Raquin (played by Jessica Lange) because Thérèse's mother had died and as her father confesses, "[he] didn't know what to do with her."  So Thérèse grows up "in the (French) Provinces" in the home of her aunt and her first sickly and (when he grows up) socially inept son Camille (played in the film by Tom Felton). 

Madame and Camille, however, had a plan.  After Camille was able to land an accounting job of sorts in Paris, they decided to pick-up sticks and move there.  What of Thérèse?  Well, what of her?  They decide to marry her to ... Camille (!).  Now remember that Thérèse and Camille are first cousins, but ... let's face it Camille's a loser and where'd Thérèse get a dowry?  From her father?  Where the heck was he?  From Madame and Camille?  Yeah, right.   Madame's been paying for Thérèse's keep since her brother dropped her off at her doorstep as a child.  So ... "That's just the way it's gonna be honey..."

The three find probably the most depressing flat in Paris.  Madame and Thérèse would run some kind of a small seamstress shop on the ground floor while Camille would be off at work and they would (all) live upstairs.  Camille was generally "off in his own little world," apparently often "stopping at the zoo" after work "to look at the bears."  When deathly bored Thérèse offers one night (in bed) that she "could also be a bear," he looks at her and responds "don't be silly," adjusts his pillow, rolls over and goes to sleep.  Sigh ... something's got to give ...

Well, things turn (in a sense ...) "for the better" for our French "Jane Eyre" [IMDb], when Camille comes home excitedly one day with a long-lost childhood friend named Laurant (played in the film by Oscar Isaac) who he ran into in Paris one day.   Well Laurant is everything that Camille is not.  He's good-looking, quite confident in his demeanor, exuding a "knowledge of things of the world."  But also as an artist (remember Camille is an accountant) Laurant was also broke. So soon enough the desperately lonely (today we'd add sexually frustrated) Thérèse and the broke bohemian Laurant jump headlong into a torrid (and admittedly, at times amusing) affair. 

The circumstances of the affair were (again, for lack of a better word) "amusing" because it turned out that the dingy, awfully depressing flat where Thérèse, Camille and Madame all lived had at least one "redeeming" (of sorts ...) "virtue" ... It apparently had a side door/staircase that led to the second floor.  SOO... good ole Thérèse started to feint headaches around noon time to go upstairs "to rest" while Laurant would skip-off on his lunch-breaks from his odd jobs to visit her using that side-door / staircase with Madame (apparently getting old) and "out of it" Camille "none the wiser."

This worked for a while ... until ... Camille became tired of his rather boring accounting job and sensing (finally) that he's _probably_ failed his wife, tells Thérèse that "Paris was not for them (him)" and that he wanted to take her and Madame back to the family homestead back in the Provinces where they grew up. 

Of course Thérèse didn't not want to go, but Camille decides to "put his foot down" on the matter (after all, "he's the husband...").  So Thérèse and Laurant come up with a desperate plan to "get rid of" (kill) Camille, and ... they do.

It's here that the story (or at least Part II of the story) _really begins_.  Okay, the two killed him.  Now how continue to see each other while NOT arousing suspicion that they did so ...?   There's Madame who's heartbroken over the loss of her admittedly socially inept son.  There turned out to be all kinds of mutual friends/acquaintances.  Then as much of "a loser" that Camille was, he had been a human being.  So it proves _really hard_ to live with this secret ... and much ensues as the two try ...

I have to admit, I very much enjoyed this story of "Jane Eyre" [IMDb] meets "Raskolnikov" [IMDb].  I enjoyed all the performances and yes as the two struggled with their guilt, it becomes ever more clear that the Moral Order has to come to be vindicated ... With themes of adultery and murder and some passionate (if covered) love scenes (Parents take note...) the film deserves its R-rating. 

Yet, for young adults and above, I do believe it makes for a good, thought provoking story and a very good film.  Good job!


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The Wedlock (orig. Zendegi Moshtarak-e Aghaye Mahmoodi va Banoo) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13) Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
Cinando.com listing
Sourehcinema.com listing*

The Wedlock (orig. Zendegi Moshtarak-e Aghaye Mahmoodi va Banoo) [2013] [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]* (directed by Rouhullah Hejazi [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*, screenplay by Ali Telebabadi [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*) is (as far as I could see...) a very well-written, well acted and certainly quite thought-provoking (for _everyone_) contemporary Iranian urbanite/upper middle class "family drama" piece that played recently at the 24th Annual Festival of Films from Iran held recently at the Gene Siskel Film Center here in Chicago.

The entire film takes place in the very nice, upper middle class home of a middle-aged urbanite (I'm guessing Tehran) couple -- of a traditional (and liking it...) had-some-college (majored in Persian poetry) yet stay-at-home wife/mother Mohaddeseh (played by Hengameh Ghaziani [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*), her more amiable, salt-and-pepper haired/mustached, some kind of professional, bread-winning husband Mansour (played by Hamid Farrokhnejad [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*) and their ipod-listening, at times eyes-rolling, talk-backing (hence quite normal...) yet still largely wide-eyed, innocent 14 year old daughter Negin (played by Tarlan Parvaneh [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*).

For not particularly clear reasons, they decide that their home could use some renovations.  The couple may be seeing their daughter getting older (and thus realizing that they are getting older), they may feel that their lives are a somewhat stagnant, or just feel "a yen to do something."  Why do upper middle class families in the United States decide "to redo the house" or "the kitchen" or whatever?  Whatever the reason, they've decided to do this, to renovate the house a bit.  And they decide to do it in a manner that a lot of nice families all across the world often decide: "Why not let [a random relative] 'who's in that business' do it?"  So they invite a niece, Mohaddeseh's sister's mid 20-something daughter Sameh (played by Taraneh Alidoosti [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*), who's apparently some sort of an interior designer, over to begin the job.

Well, it's been a while since they've seen their quite independent, university educated, "somewhat of an artist type" niece who now has an interior decorating business.  So after the initial smiles (she was apparently quite well remembered from when she was, well ... perhaps 14-year-old Negin's age... ;-), Sameh kinda stuns everybody by bringing over a guy named Ramtin (played by Peyman Ghassemkhani [IMDb] [Cin] [SC]*) to help her with doing the initial measurements for the job.

Now who the heck is Ramtin? ;-)

Well, he's something of a partner.  It becomes clear that he's definitely _more_.  Now 14-year-old Negin just loves this as she figures out that whatever the situation actually is between Sameh and Rantin it's bound to embarrass her mother, while in fact 40-something Mohaddeseh does kinda crumple into herself in despair.

How long has it been since they've seen Sameh?  Mohaddeseh remembers now that Sameh (her niece) and Sameh's mother (her sister) hadn't gotten along much in those years (about 5-10 years back) before Sameh's mother had died.  Now Mohaddeseh understood a bit of why the two didn't get along.  It's not that Ramtin was around when Sameh's mother / Mohadesseh's sister had died.  He wasn't.  But now Mohaddeseh remembered what kind of a "free spirit" Sameh had been in her early and mid-twenties.  And her daughter's just getting into that "teenage rebellious age" ;-).

Finally, the ever smiling, amiable Mansour (after all, he's supposed to be "the man of the house" ;-), and also one who appears to have always kinda liked Sameh when she was growing-up, decides to break the tension by asking: "So ... are you two married?"

They answer "No, not really" ;-).  Apparently, in contemporary Islamic Iran (as it also appeared to be in Biblical Israel/Palestine at the time of Jesus) marriage is two step process: Sameh and Rantin had taken their "Engagement vows" but not their full "Marriage vows." BUT they lied to their landlady and were essentially living together unmarried.  ("Where there's a will, there's a way..." apparently even in contemporary Iran ;-)

So Mansour (like amiable, regular/traditional folk all over) asks, "Why don't you two just get married?" to which Ramtin answers, "I'd get married to Sameh in a minute." It turns out that it's Sameh who really doesn't want to get married ;-)

Why?  The same conversation -- where EVERYBODY is at least PARTLY RIGHT (but then also where EVERYBODY is at least PARTLY WRONG) -- that we hear in this film taking place among the members of this very nice Shiite Muslim family in Tehran could be _easily_ be imagined taking place among many very nice parish (Catholic) families here in Chicago ;-)

GREAT FILM.


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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The Bright Day (orig. Rooz-e Roshan) [2013]

MPAA (Unrated would be PG-13)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

Cinando.com listing
Sourehcinema.com listing*

The Bright Day (orig. Rooz-e Roshan) [2013] [Cin] [SC]* (written and directed by Hossein Shahabi [Cin] [SC]*) is an independently made Iranian film that premiered in Feb 2013 at the 31st Annual Fajr Film Festival in Tehran where it won Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Actor and Best Actress.  Subsequently, it has done well at various international film festivals and it played recently here in Chicago at the 24th Annual Festival of Films from Iran held at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

On one hand it is a typically "small story" focused on two people, a Tehran kindergarten teacher named Rashan (played by Pantea Bahram [Cin] [SC]*) and then a random taxi driver (played by Mehran Ahmadi [Cin] [SC]*) who she hires to take her around town one school morning.  On the other hand, thematically the film is quite surprising / challenging:  Why is school teacher taking the day off to ride around Tehran running errands on this particular day?  Well, the father of one of her little students, a widower with a sick mother, is standing accused of murder.  Who is he accused of murdering?  The son of his boss, and his boss' family is relatively powerful.  Well did he do it?  Not really.  There were plenty of (coworker) witnesses to an argument between the accused and the deceased.  But at the end of it all, the boss' son fell down the stairs, hit is head on something sharp, and ... died as a result.

Now deceased pushed by the accused?  That's the question.  There were seven witnesses.  But the Boss, whose son died (or was killed) in this tragic way turns out to be from a rather powerful (and wealthy family).  And he wants vengeance (the Death Penalty).  So Rashan, who knows the accused and his circumstances (that he has a little boy and a very sick elderly mother) is making the rounds to try to convince at least two of the seven witnesses to stand-up for the accused.  None of them appear to be convinced that the accused killed the man.  But many are not sure that he did not.  And in any case, ALL are afraid of the Boss and his powerful family.

And perhaps inevitably as Rashan goes about Tehran trying to convince at least two of the witnesses to standup for the accused so that he would not be executed leaving his five year old son and orphan and his elderly mother alone and on her own, a number of the potential witnesses pointedly ask, "Hey, why are you so interested in him?"   Then, what exactly were accused and the soon to be deceased Boss' son arguing about anyway?

This is a very small and yet very pointed movie.  And the random taxi-driver increasingly plays the role of the "Everyman" in the story.  What would you do if you had her in your car and you watched this sad story play out?  His passenger has until 2 PM, maybe 3 PM, maybe (if the accused's lawyer really, really stalls ...) until 3:30 PM to get two witnesses to the court to stand-up for the accused or else the accused ... will be sentenced to die.

And yes folks, this Iranian film about Iran, made in Iran and which premiered in Iran, swept the awards at Iran's premier (and government sanctioned...) film festival last year.  Something to perhaps consider, at least for a while, as one thinks of Iran today.


* Foreign language webpages are most easily translated using Google's Chrome Browser. 

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Pompeii [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RE.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (R. Rodriguez) review
RE.com (G. Kenny) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

I think the key to understanding Pompeii [2014] (directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, screenplay by Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler and Michael Robert Johnson) is the PG-13 rating, that is, like in his "kinda crazy" rendition of The Three Musketeers [2011], Anderson was aiming for a teenage, and perhaps younger teenage audience (13-15 year olds).  When do we normally take "World History" in high school in the U.S.?  Freshman year (when we're 14-15 years old).

And here I have to give director Anderson credit.  Just like IMHO he captured _the spirit_ of The Three Musketeers (intended originally as an _adventure novel_ for young teenagers) and expressed it, yes, "crazily" but for teens of the modern day, I think he did it again with regard to teaching some basic Roman history / culture with this current film Pompeii [2014] INVOKING SOME "MEMES" FROM CONTEMPORARY CULTURE that every teenager (at least in the U.S.A. today) would know.

The destruction of the seaside city Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD was an enormous tragedy for that civilization comparable to the destruction wrought by recent Tsunamis particularly the Tsunamis of 2004 in the Indian Ocean and 2011 in Japan.  Just about every high school student in the country (and perhaps across the world) will have images of those two tsunamis burned into his/her memory.  So, even though there's no historical mention of a tsunami associated with the eruption Mt. Vesuvius that completely buried the city of Pompeii in ash in 79, it's BOTH NOT an impossibility (both Pompeii and Vesuvius were close to the sea) AND including a "tsunami scene" in the film during the course of its depiction of the cataclysmic eruption HELPS VIEWERS APPRECIATE FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE DISASTER THAT THEY WERE WATCHING.

Then, the discovery during excavations at Pompeii of eerily hollowed out remains of some of the victims (basically holes left in the ash where they would have fallen as they died) of the tragedy has over recent decades added a uniquely human dimension to the disaster that happened nearly 2000 years.  At excavations have found at times entire families huddled together (and killed and buried by the burning ash).  Thus though the tragedy took place nearly 2000 years ago, we today can actually "see" some of the victims, or at least what the ash left of their forms as they died on that day.

So I understand Anderson and his screenwriters' decision to explain the disaster in Pompeii using a similar story-telling technique to that used by James Cameron in Titanic [1997], which also sought to put a human face on that disaster.  James Cameron created "a doomed love story" between one who survived the Titanic's sinking and one who did not.  In the case of Pompeii [2014], with the hollowed-out remains of those who had died now having been found across various parts of the excavated city, Anderson and his scriptwriters basically created a story around two of the victims found in an embrace.  "Awww...." BUT THAT'S A STORY THAT A 14 YEAR OLD COULD BE HOOKED INTO: "They were in love, but then came this disaster and ..."

Then, to tell the story of the "whole" of Pompeii (or even of the "whole of Roman civilization of the time") it behooved Anderson, et al, to CHOOSE to make the two lovebirds found in that embrace OF WIDELY DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS.  Again James Cameron did the same in his telling of the "whole story of the Titanic."  In Cameron's Titanic [1997] Rose was from an upperclass family traveling firstclass to the U.S. on the Titanic while Jack was essentially a stowaway from the lower decks in steerage.  In the case of the current film, Milo (played by Kit Harington) was a Celtic "gladiator slave," while Cassia (played by Emily Browning) was a young woman from a reasonably wealthy (but still "provincial") family from Pompeii.  Further, like Rose from the Titanic, Cassia had an unwelcome yet powerful suitor, here amusingly named Corvus (played by Kiefer Sutherland) from Rome (amusingly named because "Corvus" literally translates to "Raven" or "Crow" from Latin).

Now how would the "gladiating" slave Milo ever meet the sweet and somewhat rich girl with a problem?  Well, go see the movie ;-).  And once they do meet, well, the rest of the story follows...

Certainly this film is not a documentary, nor an Alistair Cooke [IMDb] / PBS Masterpiece Theater [IMDb] quality piece.  However, I do think that a 14 year old would be entertained and would learn actually quite a bit about life in the Roman Empire at the time of Pompeii's destruction.  All the social strata are there, the cosmopolitan nature of that Empire (one could run into "anyone from anywhere" on its streets, highways or byways) and even some of the abuses of power and corruption that eventually brought the Empire down were shown.  And this was all done in a manner that a teenager could easily understand and even be hooked into seeking to go out and learn some more

So I have to say that like director Anderson's The Three Musketeers [2011] before it, I enjoyed this film and can not but be impressed by his willingness to "risk" in bringing these stories to life in a way that teenagers today could appreciate.  Good job!


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Winter's Tale [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (1 1/2 Stars)  RE.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RE.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review

Winter's Tale [2014] (directed and screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, based on the bestselling novel by Mark Helprin [IMDb]) will probably irritate a fair number of viewers perhaps particularly (but by no means exclusively) of a more conservative bent for its at times almost crushingly heavy "air of self importance."

 As in the case of many stories like this, buy-in into the story requires enduring a rather (I have to go back to the word) "heavy" introductory voice-over that helps explain to us the metaphysics/world-view of the story to follow.  In the case here: (1) We are _each_ put into this world to fulfill a particular purpose/destiny. (2) We'll remain in this world, in one way or another, until our destinies are fulfilled. (3) Time becomes somewhat elastic as we strive to fulfill our individual destinies. (4) When we fulfill our destinies, our spirits will rise to the heavens to become stars.  As the story progresses, we're also told that as we struggle to fulfill our destinies we will be (5) helped by various angelic forces or otherwise "spirit guides," while (6) there are also evil/demonic forces afoot in this world that seek to thwart our reaching our destiny.

It's easy for many to sigh at the pretentiousness and arguably narcissism (each and every one of us is destined to do something "great") of the particular metaphysical world view underpinning this story.  And certainly there have been a fair number of other stories based on other based best selling novels with similarly heavy/burdensome often pretentious metaphysics underpinning put on screen in recent years (Mortal Instruments [2013], Beautiful Creatures [2013], the Percy Jackson, Twilight Saga (!) / Harry Potter (!) series and even the Chronicles of Narnia / LOTR-The Hobbit series), but I would note to readers here that there are hundreds-upon-hundreds, perhaps even thousands-upon-thousands of pulp scifi/fantasy novels, graphic novels and even video/computer games available to interested readers/consumers that _all_ have their own metaphysics and battles between the forces of Good and Evil within them.

I suppose what made this particular story different from any number of more "pulp fictiony" experiments (and put it in the same league with other stories that have been made it from book form to the silver screen) is that this story offered a compelling enough (yet also middle-of-the-road/staid enough) blend of Romance with Fantasy genre metaphysics for Mark Helprin's original novel to have made it onto the New York Times Best Seller List. If the story proved _too_ "out there" or _too_ burdensome it would have never made it this far. 

So then, to the story ...

After the above mentioned early exposition of the metaphysical "rules" of story, we're introduced to Peter Lake, the central protagonist in the story.  It's the late 19th century and he and his parents have arrived, from Russia, at Ellis Island.  After Peter's mother fails her medical exam for "consumption" (tuberculosis) they are ordered deported back to Russia.  Still in New York harbor but already on the ship heading back to Russia, Peter's father finds a model of a sailing ship named "City of Justice" on display in the ship's museum.  Desperate, he breaks the glass case protecting the model boat and then he and his wife a la the infant Moses (Exodus 2:1-10) place their child in the model boat, put it (somehow) in the water and push it in the direction of land.  Apparently the boat lands onshore and Peter grows up in a New York orphanage where, though he was originally of Russian origin, he curiously acquires an Irish accent (most probably the orphanage would have been Catholic...).

The story then jumps several decades ahead to 1916.  At this point, Peter Lake (played as an adult by Colin Farrell) under the "care/protection" of a local (mob) boss Pearly Sommes (played by Russell Crowe) starts to have dreams of a red-haired woman who he only sees from the back.  He doesn't know what this means but Pearly certainly does.  Peary, it turns out, is more than just a local New York-Irish mob boss.  He's long ago sold his soul to the Devil (whose "regional representative" (played by Will Smith) lives and operates out of a seemingly random if rather dark and dank Manhattan warehouse along the Hudson River ... in the world of this story, agents of the Devil live and work in this world appearing to be "just like us" except ... they are not AND they tend to work in already quite nefarious fields, like in the Mob ).

Pearly understands Peter's visions as meaning that he's coming close to meeting his purpose/destiny in life AND PEARLY'S JOB, AS AN AGENT OF THE DEVIL, IS TO FRUSTRATE HUMAN BEINGS' ATTEMPTS TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR PURPOSE / MEET THEIR DESTINY.  On the other hand, other strange things start to happen around Peter Lake, notably a Pegasus-like white horse with wings (a "spirit guide") materializes by good ole Peter just as he's about to be beaten up and perhaps even killed by Pearly and his henchmen (which would have "set back" Peter's ability to meet his destiny ...).

So "Game On" ... the Peter Lake jumps onto the Pegasus-like white horse with wings and escapes Pearly and his men.  The Pegasus-like white horse takes him upriver to a mansion that turns out to be owned by a newspaper magnate named Isaac Penn (played by William Hurt) and ... it turns out that he has a beautiful young REDHEADED daughter named Beverly (played by Jessica Brown Findley).  Is she then wrapped-up somehow in Peter's destiny?  OF COURSE SHE IS, BUT ... she, of course, her own purpose/destiny to fulfill. So much then ensues ... so much so, that Time, in fact, has do be (sort of) warped to do so... but then when Love and Destiny are at stake, what's Time to stand in the way?

Yes, it's kind of a sappy story.  And as I've written above, the "metaphysics" of it all can be rather burdensome.   But the metaphysics is _not_ completely incomprehensible.  A lot of the story's metaphysics is based on traditional Christian metaphysics.  And then ... there's the white horse ... ;-).

The tag line of the film is: This is NOT a "True Story."  It's a Love Story.

It's also not a particularly profound story.  BUT a love story it is and a rather sappy "heavy on the period dress" one at that.  But if you like that sort of thing, you'll probably like the film.


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