Movie Review Madness - Spencer

 Tired of Princess Diana yet?  Her character was last seen on The Crown and I thought it was well done. There's also Diana: The Musical on Broadway. Plus numerous documentaries, books, etc etc etc. 

Now in Spencer, Kristen Stewart plays Diana in crisis over a Christmas weekend at Sandringham House. She is on her old home turf - literally seeing the home where she grew up, now a boarded up wreck - from the Queen's estate. She's on the "outs" with everyone (family, servants, etc) observing her, tailing her, and questioning her every mood. Her bulemia is out of control. Her marriage is an obvious mistake as she and Charles barely speak and she can see the exact gift of  pearls she received on Camilla's neck at Sunday church service. 

This is not a straightforward re-telling of this weekend. It's almost a stream of consciousness from Stewart, and a bit of bonkers thrown in. The woman is alone. Her only joys are her sons and as kids do, they sense her distress. The acting is great as well as Diana's walk, mannerisms, and speech. Stewart still projects a bit less fragile demeanor than that of the Diana we see from interviews. However, it's a worthy performance in an odd film. I'm glad I saw it, but it's not for everyone. 

Movie Review: American Ultra

American Ultra is not terribly original but it’s down and dirty fun. Jesse Eisenberg expands his repertoire as Mike, a total stoner dude running a convenience store. Kristen Stewart is Phoebe the stoner girlfriend. Their lives are predictable until one evening when Mike turns from dull guy into trained killer and two men are dead in the parking lot. How could this be? And how could the CIA be involved? 

Connie Britton plays the CIA agent who helped create Mike as a troubled youth into an ultra operative. But the program was not a success and was shut down. His memory was erased and he’s a twitchy sensitive guy. Unfortunately, memories are returning and that’s dangerous. Topher Grace’s job is to eliminate Mike and Phoebe. Britton disagrees with this strategy. So it’s a CIA race to a small town to surround and capture Mike. Without trying he’s a weapon wielding kung fu master, taking out opponents left and right without understanding what the heck is going on.  

Mike just wants to propose to Phoebe, the love of his life. Or is she? American Ultra is humorous and ridiculous, but is amusing. The cast classes up a low brow flick. This is a good movie to stream some night when you don’t feel like thinking too much.

Movie Review Madness: Still Alice

Julianne Moore deserved her Oscar win as Alice in Still Alice.  Based on the book by Lisa Genova, this portrait of an intelligent, talented achieving linguistics professor who learns she has early onset Alzheimer’s is devastating. We see Alice celebrate her 50^th birthday with her loving family. Then we see her jog and lose her way. We see her in a lecture falter and stumble over words – and words are her trade, her specialty. She repeats herself, forgets her son’s girlfriends name at Thanksgiving, and repeats again.  

Julianne Moore’s portrayal is reflected in her face. We can watch the flicker of confusion, the hesitation, and the despair. Alec Baldwin as her husband is dedicated and does a good job with his growing frustration and concern. The grown children all deal with the situation. The eldest daughter (Kate Bosworth) fears for her mother and also is worried about having children. The son does his best to help his father. Youngest daughter (Kristen Stewart) is pursuing acting, but does come home from Los Angeles to New York to be the at home caregiver. Stewart stretches in this role and is excellent as she asks questions, and truly touches her mother’s soul, even as Alice slips away.  

Take tissues. There are so many moments that just break your heart. Tough movie on a tough subject, and yet deep deep within she’s Still Alice.

 

Movie Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Snow White & The Huntsman is a mixture of really, really good and then a goodly portion of blah. The previews were dramatic and wow-worthy. They got my hopes up, but alas the movie dashed them during the boring bits.

So, we see how Charlize Theron's Ravenna came to be the Queen, and banished the King's daughter, Snow White, to a tower. Charlize on screen is magic. She is beautiful and cold and evil, and her powers are scary. Here's where the special effects are sha-zaam - shards of black glass flying, crows transforming, black ooze everywhere. To me, these are award winning.

Chris Hemsworth, as the Huntsman, is abworthy with his blue eyes, athletic build, and cool accent. He's hired by the queen to find Snow White after she escapes to the dark forest. He's only out for money to drink, and finds his prey easily. The key to the movie is his transformation from duty to the Queen to allegiance to Snow White. He carries this off with aplomb and good fight skills.

Then there's Snow White. Kristen Stewart does not have that extra glow of inner beauty to make us love Snow White. She always looks pained and her expression goes from bland to oh-no I should maybe furrow my brow, to oh-no this is horrible, to oh-no I'm trying to act. One would think she's grown in her Twilight Bella role, but unfortunately she needs more lessons.

To me, the movie spiked any time the Queen was conjuring more evil. Yeah, you root for Snow White to win, but Kristen doesn't urge us to love her. That's a huge downfall. Plus some of the pacing of the film is slow. They fight, scurry on, fight some more. This film needed to be edited and tightened. The dwarves are good enough but needed more distinctive personalities and again their interaction with Snow White depended on them telling us they felt her wonder and beauty - she did not emote such glory.

Snow White & The Huntsman seemed to appeal to the teens in the audience. They applauded. Some of us grumpy moviegoes wanted to be happy or dopey, but we ended up a tad sleepy during the chase scenes. I'll give this an A for special effects, Charlize/Queen, and Chris/Huntsman and a D for Kristen/Snow White. So on average it was entertaining for matinee price, but keep your expectations lowered, and don't bite into any poison apples.