Mary Poppins Returns

When you've got  a theater star like Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), a director like Rob Marshall (Chicago) and Uncle Walt Disney's Money ($130MM), you're bound to have a Spectacle with a capital S. 

Mary Poppins Returns does not disappoint as a singing and dancing spectacle, but as a story line, the English Nanny coming to save the hapless Father from the difficult single parent task is as dated as the midcentury era where it became so popular.  In fact, the storyline is kind of hard to remember, but they make it easier to follow as you will see.

Emily Blunt does a wonderful star turn.  She looks great in every scene.  Not a hair or a eyelash out of place.  But she could be better utilized that simply looking good.

Best parts are the big singing and dancing scenes.  Plus the Disney dream scenes.  And some nice cameos.

Big budget entertainment with familiar characters and backstory, but a pretty basic Clock-is-Ticking plotline.

*** of 5

Free Solo

From the filmmakers of one of my favorite recent movies Meru comes this similar climbing story of Alex Honold, who does rock climbing with no supporting rope- called free soloing.  One false move and you fall to your certain death.  In fact as they say in the movie, just about everyone who does free solo has died.

So what better challenge than to scale El Capitan in Yosemite National Park?  But our hero is not dumb.  Unfeeling?  Selfish? Single minded?  Perfectionist? Borderline Aspergers?  All yes.  But not dumb.

The fun part is how they tell the story to include all of these aspects.   Honold is an accomplished climber and he took great effort to prepare for this climb, mapping out the route in great detail and spending much practice time.  Most everyone around him wanted to support him, but also wanted him not to do it - too risky.

As the great supporting actor cameraman said,  "I can't look at this".

Superman (1978)

Forty years ago (!) the first big budget superhero movie emerged.  Superman directed by Richard Donner set the stage for the others:  the origin story, the secret identity, the worthy opponent villain.  It also added a bit of the camp:  the underground hideout, the goofy sidekicks, the crazy outfits.

At heart it is quite an old fashioned movie, reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz, Philadelphia Story, the Shop Around the Corner.  Best parts were the chemistry between Clark and Lois as well as the coast to coast story.  A few scenes I remembered:  the car lifting, the flying, the Fortress of Solitude.  But otherwise, it was a pleasant walk down Memory Lane.

* * * * *

Can you believe there was a Superman 2, 3 (starring Richard Pryor) and even 4.

Some of the scenes definitely reminded me of a later Richard Donner movie The Goonies.

Bohemian Rhapsody

The story of the band Queen, which era-wise, was after the Led Zeppelin era and before the MTV heyday, approximately 1975 to 1985.  That just happens to be my heydey as well, so a lot of this was familiar.

Freddy Mercury is the lead performer and he is played by Rami Malik very well.  He's an unlikely front man for this otherwise square band, cut in the mold of Mick Jagger, but with an LGBTQ twist.  They meet up, get discovered, get told that Bohemian Rhapsody will go nowhere, too long for radio.  And guess what, the experts are wrong.

An interesting culmination leading up to Live Aid in 1984, which is the flashback from the opening scene.  Good music of course and nice casting and the look of the era.  Kind of reminded me of Almost Famous but with a real band.

* * * * *  highest rating

The Front Runner

When I told my wife about seeing this movie, she said "What did Gary Hart ever do to warrant a movie"?  Needless to say, I did not take her to see it.

The answer to her question would be, if you have the right viewpoint, he was an idealistic Democratic Presidential candidate at the right time in the 80s, but was brought down by a changing view of what moral compass we expect our politicians to be guided by.  If that sounds a bit fuzzy, its because it is.

Most of the movie looks, sounds and feels like the 70s instead of the 80s.  In fact it reminded me of a Mary Tyler Moore show in some parts.  But we do have obligatory 80s product placements:  TRS-80 computers, landlines, brick cell phones, VHS technology.

The story can't quite go to #MeToo lengths but it tries.  It ultimately doesn't really say or answer much, but tries to get a feel in time.  At best it's the usual American President/West Wing/Definitely Maybe about the wonderful candidate whose close handlers see all the promise but have to swallow the flaws.  At worst its a pat-on-the-back story in search of a politically like-minded backer abou the good old days and what might have been.

Directed by Jason Reitman in the bleak realism of Up in the Air.  Starring Hugh Jackman (a yawner, IMHO), Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, and Alfred Molina as Ben Bradlee and Mahoumou Athie as A.J.

How many movies can we have about the Washington Post/ The Post ?  Perhaps that is the politically like-minded backer....

* * * of 5

Daddy's Home 2 (2017)

While you're not looking, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay as producers are cranking out a lot of pretty decent movies, mainly based on the average white guy (Ferrell) in over his head in the real world.

Case in point:  Daddy's Home 2, where Brad (Will Ferrell) and Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) are 2 men co-parenting children of Sara (Linda Cardellini).   Dusty is divorced from Sara.  Sara is now married to Brad.  Just when they are getting along, more dads show up Don (John Lithgow) and Kurt (Mel Gibson).  Each granddad is a lot alike the son.

A pretty good comedic premise, with a Christmas family theme, quite reminiscent of Christmas Vacation.  John Lithgow steals the show, in my opinion.  And it all end with a Christmas day scene that took a lot of imagination.

* * * * Surprisingly better than expected

The Girl in the Spider's Web

Claire Foy takes a turn as Lisbeth Salander in this new iteration based on "characters created by Stieg Larsson (now dearly departed).  While I expect he would like to see others having a turn, I did try and read this book before and it really couldn't compare to the other 3.

All other 3 Larsson books were made into Swedish language movies and were excellent.  David Fincher's version of Dragon Tattoo was well done.  In fact he returns as Executive Producer here.  Just enough, but it'd be nice to have more.

Lisbeth and Mikael return, this time to recover some state secrets.  But she is robbed by even badder guys and she of course seeks revenge.  The movie reminded me of a female version of Mission Impossible (which is awesome!) but it degenerates into more creative ways to show torture and violence.  Not my favorite big screen shots.

Probably closest in plot to the 3rd book Hornet's Nest which mainly deals with Swedish secret police, SAPO.

Also starring Lakeith Stanfield in a winning performance.

* * * of 5