Passengers

Director Morten Tyldum previously dramatized the story of Alan Turing, the father of the computer in The Imitation Game. He goes far from Oscar-bait into Science Fiction for Passengers. Its plot twists have shocked some viewers but not me. I thought the voyage was OK.

Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is one of 5000 colonists aboard the starship Avalon. The whole personnel is asleep in cryotubes for a 120-year voyage to the planet Homestead II. But a meteor shower jolts Jim awake 30 years in. Jim can't go back to cryobed because the ship's makers are idiots who can't foresee the possibility of failure. So Jim's all alone except for the android bartender Arthur (Michael Sheen) and other droids. Plus side is, he can do anything he wants.

But Jim's bored without other conscious humans. He decides that journalist Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) will be his companion and wakes her. He knows that he can't put her back to cryo either. He tells her that her cryotube screwed up too. And a friendship is born. Little do they know that the Avalon is on the verge of doom. They'll have to find a way to stop it.

Jim and Aurora's relationship is founded on lies and deceit. But the film does admit that Jim is in the wrong ... then sweeps that aside. Halfway through, our couple is joined by another premature awakened guy, Gus Mancuso (Laurence Fishburne). He tells Aurora that it's natural for a drowning man (i.e. Jim) to try to take someone with him. That's not love. Their relationship would've worked if Aurora was indeed jolted awake. It would've also jolted the plot awake too.

What about the characters we have? Jim starts off as a likable, funny guy. He is sympathetic when his isolation gets to him and tests that sympathy when he wakes Aurora. Aurora's fury once she realizes the deception is perfectly understandable. Michael Sheen's Arthur provides great comic relief. Gus Mancuso is a cool character taken too soon. Andy Garcia is too big a name for his wordless cameo as the Avalon's captain in the very last scene.

The visual effects team is among the ten shortlisted for Oscar consideration. They visualize a pretty cool ship designed by Guy Hendrix Dyas. The Avalon is a nice place for a cruise if you can afford it. A gravity loss which nearly drowns Aurora in a floating pool is a visual highlight. Jim and Aurora's space walks were pretty awesome too. Thomas Newman sets these visuals to another memorable score.

Passengers' love story just needed a few rewrites to be romantic. It does work as a satire of suicidally overconfident shipmakers. It would've been better if it was all about that. The film we have is a fine matinee with cool visuals. I don't know what else to recommend about it.

Fences

Denzel Washington made his directorial debut with Antwone Fisher and his followup with The Great Debaters. His latest directorial effort is the long-awaited big screen version of August Wilson's career-defining play Fences. Washington directs himself and most of his co-stars from the 2010 Broadway revival for a strong screen rendition.

Troy Maxson (Washington) was a star of the Negro Leagues in the days before Jackie Robinson. Now he's a garbageman in Pittsburgh. He spends his days with his pal, Bono (Stephen Mckinley Henderson), his wife Rose (Viola Davis) and his son, Cory (Jovan Adepo). His brother, Gabe (Mykelti Williamson), is a mentally-impaired wanderer and his other son, Lyons (Russell Hornsby), stops by asking for cash. Troy's greatest accomplishment before baseball was the time he fought off (literally, he says) Death. He now barely makes enough to support his family.

Troy finds solace with a mistress, Alberta, who we never get to see. We do see him construct a fence for his house, though. We also see his relationships with his family and friends tried and tested by his bitterness. How will anybody get into Troy's life now?

Wilson, who died in 2005, wrote the screenplay for the film version. One can recognize its theatrical origins with its heavy dialogue alone. A lot of major events are depicted off-screen and silent montages tell a few more. A huge chunk of the story is told around the Maxson house. The theatrical limitations may confine some viewers but not me. Here's why:

The cast. Washington, as Maxson, is a sympathetic jerk. He does mean things to Cory and Rose but he still attempts to be a family man. But it's still selfish when he voices favor for his mistress and their child in front of his wife. Davis, as Rose, is a sympathetic housewife who lets loose with her frustrations in the end. Adepo, as Cory, is a great foil for Washington and gets to have two powerful confrontations with him. Williamson, as Gabe, is likable, funny and tragic all at once.

Cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen and Production Designer David Gropman paint a nice picture of 1950's Pittsburgh. Editor Hughes Winborne pieces the monologues and confrontations with strong tension. These aspects work their best in Troy's last scene; it would've been an excellent ending for him if the real finale wasn't seven years later. The finale works best with Marcelo Zarvos's great score; it ends the film on such a powerful image. 

This is a film that does right by its source. Fences is a strong transplant of a legendary play. Its themes of race and familial loyalty smash down any physical or metaphorical fence. It definitely deserves all the praise coming to it.

Rogue One

Or, Star Wars Episode 3.5: Anyway that is Green.

Disney isn't done making money from Star Wars on the big screen. Star Wars Episode VIII will arrive in this galaxy this time next year. So in the meantime, it goes back, "a long time ago, in that galaxy far, far away" for a prequel, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It's a prequel destined to be remembered for the right reasons.

Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) was a farm girl until the Galactic Empire came knocking. The evil Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn) killed her mother, Lyra, and seized her father, Galen (Mads Mikkelsen). She was found and raised by extremist Rebel Saw Gerrera (Forest Whittaker). Years later, Jyn is a career criminal in Imperial Custody. The Rebel Alliance bails her out in the hopes she can help them find her father, the chief scientist of the Death Star. An Imperial deserter, Bodhi Rook (Riz Ahmed), exposed the base's existence.

Jyn finds herself paired up with Rebel officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and his reprogrammed Imperial Droid, K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). They later meet Rook, blind monk Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen) and his soldier friend Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen). The Rebel Alliance plans to disrupt the Death Star by killing Galen. Our heroes discover that Galen hid an explosive surprise in the Death Star for the Rebels to exploit. They just need to tell them somehow; perhaps they can steal the plans for the station.

Director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) keeps it going for a nicely paced 133 minutes. His four writers, including Tony Gilroy and Chris Weitz, populate the story with memorable new characters. Jyn is as capable a lead as Rey from The Force Awakens. K-2SO provides great, dry comic relief. Chirrut gets the best action scenes and some of the best lines. Krennic is a good, slimy villain. The most high-profile returning character is Darth Vader, voiced again by James Earl Jones, who gets two scenes to show off brutal villainy. The tragic ending is alleviated by the fact we know how it all goes down. It all leads just inches away from A New Hope.

The crew is most impressive once again. K-2SO and a few other creatures are visualized with great motion capture work. Guy Henry pulls off a pretty good digitally-assisted impersonation of the late Peter Cushing to play Grand Moff Tarkin. The set makers an exceptional job recreating sets from A New Hope for the film. The Death Star firing scenes recreate the original film's so flawlessly it looked like stock footage. The action looked and sounded great. Michael Giacchino provides a new great score mixed with John Williams' classic themes.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a strong side story to the Star Wars universe. It's a great space opera and war movie. It's a great way to pass the time before Episode VIII finally appears. It's a prequel that fits pretty good with its established lore. It's a lot of things. So what is it not? A disappointment. 

Manchester by the Sea

Playwright Kenneth Lonergan transitioned to writer/director with 2000's Oscar-nominated You Can Count On Me. His second feature, Margaret, was an epic post-production trainwreck. His third film, Manchester by the Sea, was smooth-sailing; the end result is a good family dramedy.

Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is a janitor in Quincy, Massachusetts. He's good at his job but not good with people. He was married to Randi (Michelle Williams) but not anymore. His solitary life is disrupted when his brother, Joe (Kyle Chandler), has a fatal heart attack. Lee finds himself the legal guardian of his nephew, Patrick (Lucas Hedges). This requires him to move back to his hometown of Manchester-by-the-Sea to tend to family matters. While Lee doesn't consider himself a good legal guardian, he soon softens and confronts a tragedy in his life.

And that's pretty much the whole movie. In 137 minutes.

It's largely character-driven rather than plot-driven. Lee's misery is the antagonist; his current relationships are poor and starting new ones is agonizing. He just wants to return to his old life. He even bookends the film in bar-fights. Flashbacks explain his misery, though they're so abrupt you might not know they're flashbacks.

But this film has a surprising sense of humor. Much of it comes from Patrick, a sarcastic teen more open than Lee. He's mostly unfazed by his father's death until a scene involving frozen chicken. Jill (Heather Burns), the mother of one of Patrick's girlfriends, is welcome comic relief. Lee's personal interactions in the opening was funny.

Affleck as Lee was a compelling character. He's still a hard worker despite his misery. He'll still sort out Joe's matters even if he wants some one else to. One can tell a lot about him by his miserable face. We still sympathize with him when his major tragedy is revealed.

Meanwhile, Randi mostly appears in flashbacks save for one memorable scene with Lee at the end. The supporting cast also features Matthew Broderick as Patrick's strict stepfather. There's also an amusing cameo by Lonergan himself as a pedestrian who questions Lee's parenting.

Manchester by the Sea's leisurely stroll across New England may bore some. But its characters make the runtime and sparse plot more enjoyable. The dramedy is the best part as it says there is laughter after grief. And I need some laughter after the stress in my life these past few weeks.

Moonlight

This December begins a ridiculously compressed window for the Critics Choice Awards. The nominations were announced yesterday for a ceremony scheduled for the 11th. At least we know what films to look out for the next few months. One of these films is the coming-of-age story Moonlight.

Director Barry Jenkins adapted the screenplay from Tarell Alvin McCraney's unproduced play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film's three-acts portray a Miami boy, Chiron, as he grows into a man. Unlike Boyhood, a different actor portrays Chiron at each stage of his life.

I. "Little" (Alex R. Hibbert), as he is known by his peers, is relentlessly bullied. His mother, Paula (Naomie Harris), is an abusive addict. Chiron's peers and mother label him gay. He meets Juan (Mahershala Ali), a drug dealer who becomes a surrogate father. Juan and his girlfriend, Teresa (Janelle Monae), provide a stable home environment. But he's also Paula's dealer. He still helps Chiron not let labels define him.

II. Chiron (Ashton Sanders) is a High Schooler bullied by Terrel (Patrick Decile). His mother's cocaine addiction has overwhelmed her and Juan is long dead. Chiron's best friend is Kevin (Jharrel Jerome). Their feelings become more than platonic; but Kevin is forced to betray Chiron.

III. Black (Trevante Rhodes) is Chiron's street name as a drug dealer. His relationship with his mother has improved. But his personal life hasn't gotten better. Kevin (Andre Holland) hopes to reconcile with Chiron. Maybe things will get better.

The cast is outstanding. The three Chirons create a convincingly cohesive character. Their often silent performances speak a lot for Chiron. The Kevins provide great moral support for Chiron. His betrayal is a tragic moment and their reconciliation is heartwarming. Ali's Juan is an excellent father figure and selfless role model. His presence is sorely missed in the later portions of the film. Monae's Teresa makes for an excellent surrogate mother. Harris's Paula goes from unsympathetic to sympathetic throughout the course of the story.

Cinematographer James Laxton's images are crisp and colorful. Everything from Juan teaching Chiron to swim to the final shot is powerful. Editors Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon assemble these images into an unforgettable whole. They can build up tension for so long and release it in one quick swoop (see Chiron's retaliation on Terrel). Nicholas Britell's score is spectacular; the songs are pretty good too.

Moonlight is a movie about being a man. It makes one think about some hypocrisies about "manhood?" How does beating up a "weakling" make you a man? Being you is a real man. That's the message. Its subtle approach gets the point across so well.

Allied

I almost didn't get to see Allied this past Tuesday. The projector failed to start on time. It was a half-hour before it got to work. It skipped past the trailers to the main attraction. The main attraction was much better than the maintenance that day.

The film gets going quickly as Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) parachutes into Morocco. Max is a Canadian Intelligence Officer stationed in England. His mission, that he's already accepted, is to assassinate the German Ambassador (Anton Blake). French Resistance fighter Marianne Beauséjour (Marion Cotillard) is to go undercover as his wife. Sparks legitimately fly between them. So after they do the deed, they go back to London to be husband and wife for real.

One year later, Max and Marianne survive the blitz with their infant daughter, Anna. Max's commanding officer Frank Heslop (Jared Harris) and an S.O.E. Official (Simon McBurney) drop a bombshell. "Marianne" might be a German spy posing as a deceased resistance fighter. Max is ordered to help them rat her out and kill her himself if she is a spy. They'll hang them both if he gets in their way. So what now?

Director Robert Zemeckis works from a script by Steven Knight. The first act is about Max and Marianne getting together in love and war. It builds up gradually and nicely to the assassination scene. The second act throws the audience for a loop; not just about Marianne, but about the ambassador. We don't get much of a reason to question Marianne until the ending. There's a neighbor who is an actual Nazi spy; I think I missed the foreshadowing. The climax resolves the dilemma with a tough third option.

The stars are the best thing about it. Pitt and Cotillard's chemistry makes the slow pace of the Morocco part worth it. They go from acquaintances to allies to lovers in a nice span. And we feel every bit of it. Jared Harris as Heslop is a tough but caring C/O, especially in the climax. Among the supporting cast, Thierry Frémont and Matthew Goode stand out as soldiers pivotal to the mystery.

There's plenty of good work behind the scenes. Everyone looks good thanks to costume designer Joanna Johnston. Its depiction of the Blitz is realized by strong visual effects, cinematographer Don Burgess, the production design and sound design. The editors' best moment is when they turn cheers to terror as a shotdown Nazi plane screeches to our leads' neighborhood. A fierce sandstorm provides another technical workout. Alan Silvestri's score is recognizably him but worth a listen.

Allied is a pretty fine World War II epic. There's plenty of great acting and technicals for its 124 minutes. The writing isn't perfect but it's still good. It's one of those films that's worth seeing on the big screen. Hopefully, you won't have issues at your screening.

And I hope to have no issues on any more screenings.