Spotlight [2015]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (4 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing

NCROnline.org (Sr. R. Pacatte) review

CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

Spotlight [2015] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Tom McCarthy along with Josh Singer) is a testament to the value of "Checks and Balances" and then specifically of a Free / Independent Press.

Writing out of Chicago, with its decades-long history of corruption scandals big and small, I've long valued the scrappy reputation of Chicago's "second paper" The Chicago SunTimes.  Obviously, it's not as if corruption has come to an end in my fair city as a result of the SunTimes' screaming tabloid- format front page, but I can't help but feel that it has had at least SOME deterrent value: "NO ONE wants to be pictured on the front page of the Sun Times," I've joked over the years to friends.

In this regard, the Catholic Church in the U.S. has had a similar paper, a well-written if ever screaming _independent weekly_ called the National Catholic Reporter, which the U.S. Bishops have chosen to try to ignore for the last 20-30 years rather than recognize it for what it's always been: A PAPER WRITTEN BY / OF THE LOYAL and STILL BELIEVING "Church-going opposition/dissent."   AND WE HAVE CERTAINLY PAID FOR THIS WITH THE SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS which were being ROUTINELY REPORTED THERE _FOR YEARS_ prior (!!!) to the Boston Globe's exposes celebrated in this film.

The NCR has _also been SCREAMING FOR YEARS_ for the Catholic Church to RE-EVALUATE its teaching on Women's Ordination as well as on Homosexuality.  WHY?  BECAUSE IT'S STILL WRITTEN BY _BELIEVERS_ WHO DON'T WANT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO BE RUN-INTO-THE-GROUND BY A _COMFORTABLE_ / INTELLECTUALLY-LAZY CLUB OF YES-MEN.

We may be at a time (with a definitely DIFFERENT THINKING POPE and EVEN WITH THE RELEASE OF THIS FILM) WHEN THINGS COULD ACTUALLY CHANGE.

Yes, there are things to criticize in the film.  Its own statistics -- 50% of priests supposedly violating their vows or even 6% of priests being pedophiles (presumably defined in the more general sense of being attracted to minors rather than more strictly to prepubescent children) -- actually make the Catholic priesthood sound very much like a "cross-section of society" -- After all, we live in a society where over half of marriages end in divorce USUALLY BECAUSE OF INFIDELITY and half of all children molested appear to have been molested by their own parents (and this actually fits my own pastoral experience: In each of the three parishes where I've served since my diaconate, I've known at least one adult woman who had been molested as a minor by her own biological father).  A fairly extensive survey of statistics on the matter of child molestation has been collected here.

Still, the film BEAUTIFULLY PRESENTS HOW "SOFT POWER" within _A CLOSED SYSTEM_ works to suppress (and frustrate action on...) embarrassing / "inconvenient" information EVEN TO THE POINT OF DAMAGING / DESTROYING LIVES ... But WHAT LIVES?  Well those "outside the loop ..."

Anyway, it took an "outsider," a Jewish editor named Marty Baron (played by Liev Schrieber), coming to the Boston Globe from Miami to shake things up in largely Catholic Boston enough to break the story open.

Can we listen to our still loyal opposition now as well?


< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Love the Coopers [2015]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (L)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com ()  AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. McAleer) review
ChicagoTribune (K. Walsh) review
RogerEbert.com () review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  

Love the Coopers [2015] (directed by Jessie Nelson, screenplay by Steven Rogers) is truly a "different kind" of "family Holiday movie" that I'm not surprised irritated a fair number of the critics above.  Why?  Well, it's IMHO _not intended to be cheerful_.  Instead, again, IMHO, it's intended to be a reality check and then on _multiple levels_.

For while this is a movie nominally about Christmas:

(1) GOD / CHRISTIANITY IS NOT MENTIONED AT ALL, NOT ONCE, IN THE FILM (Honestly, on the surface "What else is new?"  This would seem like "standard Hollywood fare" of the past generation or two).  Instead, the story is about a fairly large (by Anglo/US standards of today) multi-generational family (starring a remarkable all star cast) many of whose members are really focused primarily on their particular hurts, slights and issues.

Yet (2) IN THE BACKGROUND of this multidimensional story in which A LOT of the characters are trying to get their lives together (if only for the day) and "to have a decent enough holiday this time around," PLAYS A RELENTLESS (and GENTLE) SOUND TRACK THAT HAS MORE RELIGIOUS CHRISTMAS CAROLS IN IT THAN I'VE HEARD (in an American movie) IN MY 52 YEAR LIFETIME -- Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High, We Three Kings, Good King Wenceslas, Little Drummer Boy.  (What's going on? ...)

AND (3) the story is largely set up / told THROUGH A KINDLY, EVER-PRESENT NARRATOR FIGURE WHO SEEMS TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT ALL THE CHARACTERS (including ALL THEIR PAST FAILINGS, HURTS and DISAPPOINTMENTS) and when AT THE END OF THE FILM it's revealed WHO that NARRATOR is, I certainly chuckled, smiling-from-ear-to-ear in recognition.  Very, very clever ;-)

Yes, this is NOT a movie to play on Christmas Day (or even Thanksgiving Day).  BUT IT'S NOT A BAD MOVIE TO WATCH IN THE LEAD-UP TO THESE GREAT LARGELY FAMILY HOLIDAYS:  What are we doing?  Why?  And can we at least open ourselves TO THE POSSIBILITY that "Someone out there" (call it "The Force" if you have to ...) wants us / ALL OF US to be happy.

Excellent and surprisingly good / thoughtful film!


< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

A Grain of Truth (orig. Ziarno prawdy) [2015]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmWeb.pl listing*

Film.onet.pl (D. Sobolewski) review
KulturaLiberalna.pl (K. Siwoń) review*
Newsweek.pl (Ł. Rogojsz) review*
Polityka.pl (Z. Pietrasik) review*
sPlay.pl review*
wPolityce.pl (M. Fijołek) review*


A Grain of Truth (orig. Ziarno prawdy) [2015] [IMDb] [FW.pl]* (directed and screenplay co-written by Borys Lankosz [IMDb] [FW.pl]* along with Zygmunt Miłoszewski [IMDb] [FW.pl]* based on Miłoszewski's [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] novel by the same name [GR-Eng] [WCat-Eng] [Amzn-Eng] [GR-Pol]*[WCat-Pol]*[Amzn-Pol]*) is a Polish Angels and Demons [2009]-like thriller that several of the (younger) reviewers (Polish) listed above have _enthusiastically_ declared "the best film of its kind made in Poland since (the fall of the Communists in) 1989."  The film played at the 2015 (27th Annual) Polish Film Festival in America held here in Chicago.

As in Dan Brown's [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] novels, so to in Miłoszewski's [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] [FW.pl]*, at the center of the story is an investigator.  In this case, he's a brash, no nonsense (some reviewers above would add "arrogant," "piggish" / "misogynistic") Warsaw based prosecutor named Teodor Szacki (played in the film by Robert Więckiewicz [IMDb] [FW.pl]*). There's an entire Entanglement [GR-Eng] [WCat-Eng] [Amzn-Eng] series of books that Miłoszewski [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] [FW.pl]* has created around him.

In the current story while in a process of a divorce (presumably deserved because he is something of a male chauvinist when it comes to women) back in Warsaw, Szacki decides to take a case "out in the Provinces" in a "sleepy little provincial town" named Sandomierz [wikip].  And, oh my, what a shocking mess he walks into ...

A woman has been murdered.  But murdered in a spectacularly bizarre way.  Her body, her throat having been slit, was found dumped, clean, on the steps of the local historical archives, and had been drained (prior to her dumping) of all of her blood.  It was as if she had been slaughtered rather than simply murdered.

The single gash at her throat and the bizarre draining of her blood _immediately suggested_ THE WORST.  She was killed in a way that resembled the way that the Jewish community slaughters animals to fulfill its kosher laws and this IMMEDIATELY EVOKED the MOST EVIL / LIBELOUS accusations made against the Jewish Community (back in Medieval times), that is, that the Jewish community would somehow capture and slaughter Christian innocents and use their blood to make their matzo bread for Passover.

And it turns out that in THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH in Sandomierz [wikip] _actually_ HANGS A GHASTLY PAINTING by Karol de Prevot [pl.wilip]* (now thankfully covered by red velvet veil and a pious picture of St. John Paul II, though significantly, the painting has NOT been destroyed) DEPICTING these horrendous practices of which the Jews of the time were -- EVER IN THE DARKEST OF RUMOR / CONSPIRACY -- accused.  

Note to the Reader here, OF COURSE, THE MURDER (and A STRING OF SIMILAR MURDERS SOON FOLLOWS) was NOT committed by someone who was Jewish, but RATHER as a Rabbi from Lublin named Zykmunt (played excellently by Zohar Strauss [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) who Szacki consults in the case, by someone fascinated by and thus eventually "self-schooled in" this dark legend.

Szacki's investigation then uncovers ALL KINDS of "dirty laundry" hanging about this previously seeming "sleepy little provincial town."

There's a wierdo "medieval implements" collector who "runs a blog / YouTube channel" on said topic living in the town.  And after enthusiastically first explaining to inspector Szacki the ritual-like nature of the woman's murder even asks him: "After you find the murder weapon, oh yes, after you're done with it, can I have it?"

There's a rich guy living at the edge of town, who turns out to be a "Polish Patriot" (meaning POLISH FASCIST ... yes, these people EXISTED and EXIST TODAY) who had no love for either Jews (wrong nationality) OR for the "Pedophile Church" (again, too "universalist" for his ideology's liking ...).

Then there's the media, as well as local idiots, demanding that said media "declare the obvious" that there's "a grain of truth" to the ritualistic nature of the murders (and _presumably_ to the libelous myth that seemed to inspire them ...)

And of course, there's even the story of a Jewish family that had moved into the town in the years after WW II (after the town's previous / indigenous Jewish population having been wiped out by the NAZIS _and_ with POLISH LOCALS HAVING HAD MOVED INTO THEIR PREVIOUS HOUSES).  It wasn't entirely clear "what happened" to that Jewish family that had strayed into the town after the war, but it was suggested that _perhaps_ "a relative of theirs" could now be "wreaking vengeance" on the local Polish populace.

Anyway, in the midst of this _truly_ TOXIC SOUP of previously repressed history, the hard-nosed / no nonsense Warsaw-ite procurator Szacki has to do his investigation.

What does he find?  I'm not going to tell you ;-)  But obviously NO ONE JEWISH was involved, and even the "Conspiracy" was not "great."  Sometimes / OFTEN ... EVIL IS ... QUITE ... BANAL.

Still one heck of a nerve-wracking if well-crafted / jittery tale.


ADDENDUM:

I have to say that the _continued existence_ of the shockingly anti-Semitic painting (albeit perhaps covered) by Karol de Prevot [pl.wilip]* in Sandomierz's [en.wikip] Cathedral Church [pl.wikip]* has certainly surprised / shocked me.

Normally, I do oppose art / artifacts being destroyed.  I've considered the Taliban's 2001 destruction of the GIANT statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan, Afghanistan or more recently ISIL's razing of the ruins at the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud to be shocking crimes against history / humanity.  But a good part of me would honestly want this painting by Karol de Prevot [pl.wilip]* destroyed.

I do understand the dilemma (it is history) and that the Catholic Church has that picture, for the most part, covered with a big red drape and the above mentioned pious portrait of St. John Paul II.  I also wonder if destroying the picture could _perhaps_ give it more power (provoking all sorts of conspiracy theories surrounding its destruction).

HOWEVER, if there exists such a thing of an object that would be truly _possessed_ or _evil_ -- I think here of the "Storage Room," kept by the American / Catholic paranormal / anti-demonic investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and portrayed in the film The Conjuring [2013] -- I would DEFINITELY consider this painting to be one such object ... as it can not but produce profound unease in people and "lead them to Evil." 


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

< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Life Must Go On (orig. Żyć nie umierać) [2015]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmWeb.pl listing*

Film.com.pl (G. Raubo) review*
NaEkranie.pl (O. Rogalski) review*
Onet.pl (M. Steciak) review*
Wyborska.pl (J. Szczerba) review*


Life Must Go On (orig. Żyć nie umierać) [2015] [IMDb] [FW.pl]* (directed by Maciej Migas [IMDb] [FW.pl]*, screenplay by Cezary Harasimowicz [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) is a dramedy inspired (loosely) by the humor, life and death to cancer of Polish actor Tadeusz Szymków (1958-2009) [pl.wikip]*[FW.pl]*) that played recently at the 2015 (27th annual) Polish Film Festival in America here in Chicago.

The film's about a Polish "b-actor" named Bartosz Kolano (played by Tomasz Kot [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) who's spent most of the last 20+ years of his life drinking himself into oblivion destroying virtually every relationship he's ever had, and now, confessing to his AA group meeting there by the Vistula River each day (and to us Viewers) after drinking "a half liter of vodka, day after day, every day, 365 days a year for (said) 20+ years," thanks to AA, he's been sober for 6 months.  Wonderful. 'Cept ... after the AA meeting that day, he goes to the doctor and is told he has cancer (cancer of what? guess ...) and has 3-4 months to live.

What now?  What now indeed?

His best friend, and perhaps sponsor, nicknamed Żuk (meaning "Bug", played wonderfully by Janusz Chabior [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) tells him that he has three options: He could live those 3-4 months in denial, or despair, or use those 3-4 months to make peace / amends with those that he's hurt.  Of course, he opts for "option #3" BUT WHAT MAKES THE MOVIE IS THAT THIS PROVES _NOT_ EASY.

First, he's given the "added surprise" / potential "punch in the gut" when his current girl-friend Ewka (played by Marta Malikowska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) tells him that she's leaving him for her girlfriend.  He tries to negotiate with her "Well you'd cheat on your lesbian-lover with a heterosexual, then it wouldn't really be cheating would it."  She, young enough to be his daughter anyway, just tells him basically "I'm done." And he does understand.  Besides there are other people he needs to repair things with.

So he goes to see his ex-wife Szarlota (played by Iwona Wszołkówna [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) who, living with her husband of more than 15 years, does not know what to say: "I haven't seen you in twenty years, and here you come to say ... goodbye?"  And even when she recovers her thoughts / bearings and proceeds to be basically a nice host to a former spouse who hasn't seen in twenty years, she calmly and even kindly tells him: "Look [Bartosz], I really don't really hold any ill feelings toward you anymore.  If not in part because of you, I would not have found my (second) husband, had my wonderful kids with them.  I am sorry about your current condition, but ... [all that I can basically say is that I'm happy]."  And Bartosz again isn't even mad.  He knows who he's been and he knows that he had hurt her.

And there's a 20-something daughter, Monica (played by Paulina Gałązka [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) living way out in Budapest with a Hungarian boyfriend named Isztvan (played by Dawid Szomlo [IMDb] [FW.pl]*).  Probably the Reader would imagine (correctly) how Monica reacts to see "dad" suddenly at her doorstep after many years.  The Hungarian boyfriend is of course amusing because he speaks no Polish and Bartosz speaks no Hungarian and between the two of them them say know maybe ten words of English, both being able to say "I love ... [and point to Monika]" to which especially when "dad" does this, she just rolls her eyes ...

SOO ... wow for "comedy" / "dramedy" this is pretty dark ... Well there are "lighter moments" and things seem to go better after Bartusz goes to a Vietnamese acupuncturist named Mr. Lu (played by Nam Trinh Hoaj [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) and seems to get better.  (Why a Vietnamese acupuncturist rather than a Chinese one?  Well there's actually a former Cold War reason for this ...).  But then Reality has to return ...

So what's the point?  Did Bartusz actually get to "fix" anything?  That's probably for the Viewer to decide.  And yet the answer seems pretty clear.

A great / wonderful film for those who have "screwed up" / "accumulated regrets" in life ... and let's face it, that's probably (certainly ... if we're Christian believers) most of us ;-) 


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

< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

The Peanuts Movie [2015]

MPAA (G)  CNS/USCCB (A-I)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (K. Walsh) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemier) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review  


The Peanuts Movie [2015] (directed by Steve Martino, screenplay by Bryan Schultz, Craig Schultz and Cornelius Uliano based on the comic strip by Charles M. Schultz [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) a lovely and gentle kids movie built around the characters and the story lines that we, America's adults (and possibly/probably beyond), ourselves grew-up with.  In the current film (made to suit 3D viewing), the characters look "rounder" and "cleaner" even in the 2D version than in the C.B. animations of the previous generation (which is, of course, somewhat amusing when one thinks of the character "Pig Pen" ;-).  One also smiles with (mild) insight / recognition when one realizes that the lovable-if-goofy gibberish-speaking "yellow colored minions" of this generation's children's movies were at least in part inspired by ... Woodstock [wikip] [IMDb] and his friends ;-).

That said, while this film is _utterly_ safe and could certainly serve as a wonderful "first film" for the youngest of child viewers, adults might find it, well ... "a little bit boring" and even anachronistic:

Though certainly still relateable to children today, the TELEPHONES STILL HAVE CORDS, Linus (voiced by Alexander Garfin) still types ON A TYPEWRITER, Schroeder's (voiced by Noah Johnson) "idol" STILL IS BEETHOVEN and he STILL BANGS ON A TOY (non-electric) PIANO, Lucy (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) STILL CHARGES "5 CENTS" FOR HER "PSYCHIATRIC ADVICE,"  Charlie Brown (voiced by Bill Melendez) STILL TRIES TO FLY A KITE (rather than perhaps a drone...), the kids "SHARE NOTES" (rather than text ...) and still SPEND THEIR "OFF" (non-school) HOURS OUTSIDE in a LOVELY ALMOST _PASTORAL_ SETTING SKATING / PLAYING ICE HOCKEY (rather than perhaps "zip-lining", taking martial arts classes or playing any number of dungeons-n-dragons / world-of-warcraft / clash-of-clans or even 'candy crush' / 'angry birds' video games), and perhaps most disappointingly (to parents of young girls today) Charlie Brown's "crush interest" is still largely known to us in quite objectified fashion as "The Little Red-Haired Girl" (voiced by Francesca Capaldi).  Honestly, compare this film to this year's Inside Out [2015] (which even utilizes many of the same situations portrayed here in this film and yet in far more updated fashion).

Perhaps the most interesting "new(er) development" in the current film is some development in the relationship between Charlie Brown and his younger sister Sally (voiced by Mariel Sheets) who does seem to struggle with trying to love / be proud of her older brother even as she recognizes that he's, often, well, "kind of a loser ..." ;-). 

It all makes for a NICE (if certainly SAFE...) story, BUT ... unfortunately, we're going to have to wait for an ENTIRELY NEW REBOOT to bring the characters / story up-to-date.  And that is a shame ...

That said, still honestly a nice, if above-all nostalgic job.


< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Karski [2014]

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

IMDb listing
Filmweb.pl listing*

Telewizja Polska article*


Karski [2014] [IMDb] (directed and cowritten by Magdalena Łazarkiewicz [IMDb] [FW.pl]* along with Dominik W. Rettinger [IMDb] [FW.pl]*, dramatic concept by Marek Warnitzki [IMDb] with prof. Szymon Rudnicki [IMDb] serving as historical consultant) is a studio theater production made by Polish Television* as part of that country's commemoration of 2014 as The Year of Jan Karski.  The film closed the first evening of screenings at the 2015 (27th annual) Polish Film Festival in America in Chicago.

Jan Karski [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]* [IMDb-nm] (played in the film by Łukasz Simlat [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) was the famous courier for the Polish Underground Government [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]* during Nazi occupation who first brought news to the Allies of the Holocaust.

The current film, which is structured as "a film about making a film about Karski" allows use of a great deal of actual archival interviews with Karski, who after the War lived and taught at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.  Much of that archival material is available on YouTube.

The structure of the film as "a film about the making of the film" also allowed dramatizations of key episodes in Karski's story, notably his meetings with several key members of the Jewish underground resistance in Poland, notably Leon Feiner [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]* (played in the film by Marek Kalita [IMDb] [FW.pl]*), Menachem Kirszenbaum [google] (played in the film by Marcin Bosak [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) and Szmul Zygielbojm [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]*[he.wikip]* (played in the film by Bartłomiej Topa [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) one of two Jewish representatives in the London based Polish Government in Exile.

Key here was the specification of Feiner and Kirszenbaum's messages to the outside world relayed by Karski:

(1) to the Western Allied leaders Churchill and Roosevelt: "YOU must do something to stop the annihilation of the Jews of Europe, WE (the Jewish Resistance) CAN NOT DO IT OURSELVES;"

(2) to the Holy See: "Please issue A PUBLIC PROCLAMATION of AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION of ANYONE who murders Jews;" and

(3) to the Polish Underground State: "WE (JEWS) ARE LOYAL POLISH CITIZENS, THEREFORE WE ASK YOU TO FIND AND THEN EXECUTE ANY COLLABORATORS WHO TURN OUR (Jewish) PEOPLE OVER TO THE NAZIS and PUBLISH THE NAMES OF THESE EXECUTED NAZI COLLABORATORS IN THE UNDERGROUND PRESS."

The tragedy of this was, of course, that only SOME of this was done BY THOSE WHO COULD (For further discussion of this matter please read and as appropriate add Readers comments below).  (Szmul Zygielbojm [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]*[he.wikip]* FAMOUSLY COMMITTED SUICIDE in 1943 in PROTEST to the Western Allies inaction) hence one of the very poignant debates in the film among the film's "fictionalized film makers" Olga (played by Julia Kijowska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) and Łuk (played by Piotr Głowacki [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) asking the question: "WHY make a film about someone who, BRAVE as he was, _tragically_ SAVED NO ONE?"

The other similarly heartbreaking question asked by Olga: "Doesn't the Holocaust essentially continue today?  Every three minutes someone dies of hunger somewhere in the world.  WE HAVE THE FOOD, MONEY AND RESOURCES TO STOP THIS but ... WE DON'T."

All in all it makes for a very interesting film and a story that does deserve to be told.  I would add that young film-makers the world over would find the film-makers' approach here VERY INTERESTING.  A compelling historical story is told here using very simple sets / resources: There are a couple of rooms designed to resemble simple indoor spaces in Poland of the 1940s, another set is basically a "control" or "editing room" set in the current day, and then archival footage is played on essentially on a laptop as the film's "film-makers" discuss its importance to the story being expressed.   A LOT OF COMPELLING TALES COULD BE TOLD IN QUITE SIMILAR AND _SIMPLE_ FASHION.  Good job!


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

< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>

Spectre [2015]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

Univision.com coverage*
Telemundo.com coverage *
TV Azteca coverage*

Corriere della Serra coverage*
LaRepubblica.it coverage*

Spectre [2015] (directed by Sam Mendes, story by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, screenplay by the same three along with Jez Butterworth, based on the characters from Ian Fleming's [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] James Bond novels [wikip] [GR] [Amzn]) is a good if not great / somewhat uneven Bond Film [wikip] [IMDb] that will probably please if not entrance most fans.  And it offers some tantalizing possibilities for the future at its end ...)

The film does begin strong with an extended introductory segment set in the context of an "amped-up" celebration Day of the Dead (All Souls Day - Nov. 2nd) held in Mexico City.  [Actual celeb. 2010] [2013]. 

The actual commemorations of the Day of the Dead  / All Souls Day held throughout Mexico is both more tranquil (involving visiting the cemetery / the graves of one's loved ones) and arguably more complex (involving not merely "costuming" / "performance arts" but also the making special altars at home in memory one's loved ones, baking / eating specific foods, etc).  Nevertheless there is a definite celebratory "laughing in the face of death" aspect to the day that inspires thoughts of parades (desfiles in Spanish).  Here in Chicago, the Day has inspired 5K "Carrera de los Muertos / Run of the Dead" held annually in Chicago's heavily Mexican Pilsen Neighborhood. 

So certainly, the makers of Spectre [2015] were onto something, and if the presentation of the celebration in Mexico City was a bit "over the top" (obviously evoking Rio / Carnival, my sense would be that both "the D.F.'s" tourism officials and even most Mexican viewers would probably be proud of the film's presentation of the festivity.  The center of Mexico City certainly seemed like "the place to be" on that day. 

Well ... in the midst of the raucous outdoor celebration on and around Mexico City's Zócalo, James Bond [wikip] [IMDb] (played here ever quite well by Daniel Craig - I'd put him in 2nd or 3rd place among the actors who've played the role, behind, of course, the legendary Sean Connery and possibly behind Pierce Brosnan), nominally "on holiday," catches a lead about a shadowy conspiracy involving an Italian assassin named Schiarra (played by Alessandro Cremona) who had been sent there to Mexico City to cause havoc (blow up a stadium full of people) precisely on this Day (of the Dead).  Of course, James Bond "saves th(at) day" and in trademark SPECTACULAR FASHION but ...

... When he comes home, he's dressed-down by the current "M" (played by Ralph Fiennes since the previous "M" played by Judy Dench was blown-up in a bombing attack on MI-6 in the previous Bond-film Skyfall [2012]). 

Why is Bond dressed-down?  Because "spy-craft" is supposed to be subtle "under-the-radar" and here, Bond, admittedly having saved thousands upon thousands of people in Mexico City, nevertheless did so in anything but "subtle" fashion.  Besides, since the "blowing-up" of MI-6's headquarters in Skyfall [2012] the British intelligence community was being restructured into a "joint intelligence task force" that was going to include NOT just "all the British intelligence branches" but ALSO the intelligence services of eight other countries world wide. 

Indeed, the new London HQ of joint British intelligence was being built as a "public-PRIVATE" PARTNERSHIP (HMMM.... partners WITH WHOM?????) with a NEW DIRECTOR who the MI-6 folks quickly code name "C" (played by Andrew Scott) but who DOESN'T particularly like MI-6s "quaint code names" and who seems to look forward to simply firing the lot of them (including "M").  To "C" human intelligence officers are antiquated and the future of ALL INTELLIGENCE WORK -- surveillance, analysis, even "targeted assassinations" -- is to be found in machines (spyware programs, surveillance cams, computers, drones).  People just get in the way.

So "M" is afraid that the ever rogue James Bond, 007, is going to get them _all_ fired.  But, James Bond, just broke-up this massive terrorist plot in Mexico City and isn't just going to "stand down" (even when ORDERED TO ... ;-) whether by the kindly if rather spineless "M" or the far more bureaucratic / spreadsheet oriented "C").  Besides he had a lead, a name "Schiarra," who then he was going to follow-up on, in Rome.

Much then ensues as he discovers that this "public-PRIVATE INTELLIGENCE PARTNERSHIP" seemed ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY MADE FOR ... well come on folks, if you remember ANYTHING of the first James Bond stories (written by Ian Fleming [wikip] in the 1950s and made into movies beginning in the early 1960s) ... the nefarious organization of EVIL "industrialists" going by the name of ... COME ON ... GUESS (if you DON'T already know it).

In this regard, Ian Fleming [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] must be smiling ... in whatever chalet or casino of the afterlife he'd be inhabiting.  He predicted the possibilities here 50-60 years ago.

The rest of the film unspools from there, with Christoff Waltz playing the story's chief villain,  Oberhauser, who comes to be revealed to be (and on multiple levels) much more than simply a random "Bond villain" by with a surprisingly "bland" name.

To be honest, I was somewhat disappointed with Waltz's performance here.  It seemed quite flat.  BUT my hunch / hope is that we're not done with seeing him.

Anyway, to some extent this film feels like "an end" of a particular era of James Bond films: "Is there a place for a super-agent like OO7 James Bond, in a world of super computers, surveillance cams and drones?  But honestly, it could also become the spring-board to whole new one.  A key to watch would be what (if anything) will be done with Waltz's character in the future.

So all in all, this is not a bad Bond film (not great but not bad) but one that could send the story to a whole new level.  And if nothing else, it does leave one wondering: What's next for Bond, James Bond?


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

< NOTE - Do you like what you've been reading here?  If you do then consider giving a small donation to this Blog (sugg. $6 _non-recurring_) _every so often_ to continue/further its operation.  To donate just CLICK HERE.  Thank you! :-) >>