The Magnificent Seven

It's one thing to remake a classic movie; it's another to remake a classic remake of a classic original. The Magnificent Seven, the old west transplant of Seven Samurai, is the film updated here. I haven't seen either original in their entirety to know if the new one lives up to them. But these new Seven get the job done.

The evil Tycoon Bartholomew Bogue (Peter Sarsgaard) has the town of Rose Creek under his thumb. He and his hired thugs open the movie by burning a church and killing some naturally-angry townsfolk. One of said townsfolk was Matthew Cullen (Matt Bomer), whose wife, Emma (Haley Bennet), decides to stand up to Bogue. She just needs some hired guns.

Warrant Officer Sam Chisom (Denzel Washington) is the first of the seven. Gambler Josh Faraday (Chris Pratt), Confederate Vet Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke), Robicheaux's knife-throwing partner Billy Rocks (Byung-hun Lee), desperado Vasquez (Manuel Garcia-Ruffo), mountain man Jack Horne (Vincent D'Onofrio) and Comanche Brave Red Harvest (Martin Sensmeier) are the other six. The Magnificent Seven prove themselves capable of handling Bogue's men the first round. They have to rally the townsfolk to join them when Bogue returns for round two.

The screenplay by Nic Pizzolatto and Richard Wenk was realized by director Antoine Fuqua. It's a script that knows how to introduce characters. You'll get the gist of a character within seconds. It's especially so with Bogue, who introduces himself immediately as the type of scum you want to throttle through the screen. The Seven, meanwhile, are a likable wild bunch. While the plot is relatively thin, these on-screen personalities make the 133 minutes worth it.

There's also great work behind the scenes. The production and costume design make this a suitably gritty western. The makeup effects render the actors into a variety of wild west types and give them creepy wounds. The sprawling cinematography of Mauro Fiore is as impressive as early widescreen works. The editing is great except in the final battle, where it was hard to process the images. There's also a good sound design. 

The score marks the final work of James Horner before his untimely death last year. The end result, completed by Simon Franglen, is an unforgettable soundtrack. It's both gritty and heroic at the same time. Its rendition of Elmer Bernstein's theme from the original film is a great way to start the credits.

The Magnificent Seven delivers some great Wild West action. Any cliches it employs don't overwhelm it. It's just a well-made summer blockbuster for Fall. This is the kind of movie worth seeing on the big screen. It stands proudly alongside its famous predecessors just fine. 

Snowden

His story was already documented by Laura Poitras in Citizenfour, but director Oliver Stone still dramatized Edward Snowden's life in Snowden. The end result probably won't change your opinion about the subject. But I thought it was involving.

Poitras herself appears in the movie, portrayed by Melissa Leo. Here, she and Guardian reporter Glen Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) interview Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in Hong Kong. Snowden tells them how he came to work for the US Government's surveillance programs. His government work changes him from eager patriot to disillusioned contractor. So now, Snowden has decided to tell the truth.

Greenwald and fellow Guardian reporter Ewen MacAskill (Tom Wilkinson) are ready to send the story to print. But their editor is reluctant to do so. Meanwhile, there's the real possibility that the US Government already after Snowden will come for the reporters. They'll have to keep deep undercover to break the story.

Stone and Kieran Fitzgerald's screenplay melds together Luke Harding's book The Snowden Files and the roman-a-clef, Time of the Octopus, by Snowden's lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena. The story jumps back-and-forth in time from Snowden's Hong Kong interviews to his early years in the Government. This makes the 138 minutes a bit slow especially since a few scenes look like the end but are not. The central argument may boil down to "surveillance is wrong," but the intricacies of surveillance may give you something to think about.

Levitt was a good choice for Snowden. He looks and sounds the part of a withdrawn computer nerd. He gets to open up as the movie goes on and he becomes a conflicted human. We get to understand his problems despite any existing viewpoints. The last scene is made more poignant when Levitt is replaced midway by the real Snowden. Amongst the supporting cast, Shailene Woodley was great as Snowden's girlfriend, Lindsey, and Nicolas Cage was welcome as his mentor, Hank Forrester. 

Snowden makes for a fine modern history lesson. Or it may already confirm what its audience already knows. It all depends on how much you know about the story. I thought it did its best to chronicle the humanity behind its subject. That reason makes it good for a recommendation.

Sully

I don't care what Superman says about air travel. I still don't like to fly. It's game over if I get in a crash. Game over. Maybe I won't be worried if someone like Captain Sully was on board. But enough about me, let's talk about Sully.

By the time Sully opens, Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) has already pulled off the Miracle on the Hudson. But he's haunted by nightmares of what could have happened. The NTSB isn't convinced that Sully's maneuver was necessary. Their simulations say Sully could have landed in a nearby airport without difficulty. For this, they plan to hold a hearing. And it may ground Sully forever.

The affair puts Sully's career in retrospective. From trainee to fighter pilot ... though it never explains how he started flying commercial. The Miracle on the Hudson also unfolds through flashbacks following Sully and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart), various passengers and the first responders. Those who were there agree that Sully's maneuver was necessary. Now they'll have to convince the NTSB.

Clint Eastwood realizes Todd Komarnicki's script (from Sully's memoir, Highest Duty) into cinematic form. The result is good but not perfect. The Miracle on the Hudson plays out three times, but it could have been edited into one. After all, some scenes repeat in those flashbacks. The film's conflict is Sully's looming showdown with the NTSB and his nightmares. It's like an hour-long movie stretched out into 96 minutes. A few more scenes with Sully pre-Hudson would have been nice.

The film stays in flight because of the cast. Hanks makes Sully an affable person and calm pilot. He lets us into both Sully's personal and professional lives. We admire and emphasize with him as he confronts the aftermath of the Hudson. Eckhart is also good as Skiles, who helps ease Sully's pain with warm humor. He even delivers a memorable quip for a closing line. Other memorable supporting roles come from Laura Linney, as Sully's wife, and Patch Paragh as air traffic controller Patrick Harten,

Guiding the film through friendly skies is the technical crew. The air disasters, both real and nightmare, were realized perfectly by the visual effects team, sound designers and editor Blu Murray. Cinematographer Tom Stern's best work is visualizing the frigidness of the Hudson on that day. The music by Christian Jacob and the Tierney Sutton Band is low key and memorable. The story and tone are subdued and the crew did wonders to realize it.

Sully is an admirable story of a real-life hero. A good cast makes the flight worth it. It just needed some more relevant details to zoom past the turbulence. A few dramatic liberties were taken, particularly with the NTSB, but I've seen worse. I think this is one of Eastwood's best films in a long while.

Florence Foster Jenkins

It may astound some people to know, but folks love certain entertainment personalities for their utter lack of talent. People like "Romeo" Coates, Ed Wood, Amanda McKittrick Ros and the most likely subject of Meryl Streep's 20th Oscar nomination, Florence Foster Jenkins. And it certainly earned that likeliness.

"Lady Florence," as she is called, is a wealthy patron of the New York music scene. She used to be a pianist until syphilis damaged her. She's now an occasional singer. As America fights in World War II, Florence decides to do her part and go full time singer. Her husband, St. Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant), and coach, Carlo Edwards (David Haig), sing her praises. But the public realizes how painfully funny she is.

Her pianist, Cosmé McMoon (Simon Helberg), is flabbergasted at her singing, but he comes around when she decides to perform at Carnegie Hall. Less supportive is Earl Wilson (Christian McKay), the stubborn critic of the New York Post. St. Clair decides to silence the naysayers for the good of Florence. 

Lady Florence, as played by Streep, is the reason to see this. She may wildly overestimate her talent, but it's out of goodhearted naivete and not egotism. She dedicates her Carnegie Hall show to American Servicemen to inspire them. She's likable and cordial to everyone she meets. That gets her on the audience's side right away.

Her singing is painful without exaggeration. And that's the point. Her first singing lessons hit every note like a dying bird scratching a chalkboard. And it's hilarious without overdoing it. A recording of the real Florence plays during the credits and it's just as painful as the film's version. A real powerful moment comes when Florence hallucinates herself competently singing on stage.

There's also some great technical work to envision 1944 New York. My favorite aspect, other than the sound, is Danny Cohen's cinematography, which gives the night bold primary colors. The production and costume design were also cool. The makeup designs, especially for Streep, complete the period look. There's also another catchy Alexandre Desplat score to listen to.

Florence Foster Jenkins is a good biopic for an astonishing real-life figure. It's another showcase for Meryl Streep and a highlight for everyone else. While the ending may seem to Hollywoodish, it actually has basis in reality. I was shocked to realize it. But even if it was Hollywoodish, this biopic is a fun history tour of New York.