Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk (2017): written and directed by Christopher Nolan; starring Fionn Whitehead (Tommy), Damien Bonnard (French Soldier), Mark Rylance (Mr. Dawson), Tom Hardy (Farrier), Kenneth Branagh (Commander Bolton), and Cillian Murphy (PTSD Soldier): Between May 26 and June 4 1940, about 400,000 troops from Belgium, the British Empire, and France were trapped on the French beaches of Dunkirk. Then, for various reasons still argued about by historians, Nazi Germany chose not to overwhelm those trapped forces with infantry, tanks, and heavy bombing. 

The result was the greatest and most important Maritime evacuation in military history as a fleet of British military and civilian ships of about 800 evacuated approximately 350,000 of those troops to England. Lose those troops and the Allies probably lose the war long before the United States of America joins it.

Christopher Nolan doesn't attempt a wide-reaching, expository historical epic here. Instead, he focuses his film on three targets operating on three different but converging timelines. That would be a week on the beach with the waiting troops, a day on a civilian-piloted boat helping with the evacuation, and an hour in the air with RAF pilots engaging the Nazi air force over sea and land.

It all works beautifully. The only drag is a fictional sub-plot on the boat that seems clumsy and obvious. Otherwise, Dunkirk is a war movie that portrays the fear and tension of warfare in a number of set-pieces. The only traditional war-movie 'release' comes with the RAF's battles with the German fighters and bombers. Otherwise, Dunkirk is the war movie as psychological horror, with groups of men listening for the sounds of bombs dropping through the air, pinned down under fire from an enemy they can't see, or struggling to escape the flooding compartments of a sinking rescue ship.

Civilian boat captain Mark Rylance and Commander-on-the-beach Kenneth Branagh supply the personable acting here, with smaller turns from several of the young actors who portray the troops and Tom Hardy as one of the RAF pilots. The aerial combat scenes are thrilling and expansive; the rescues at sea are thrilling and horrifying. It's a marvelous, focused movie (less than 2 hours long!), and it may come to be regarded as Christopher Nolan's best. Highly recommended.

Quest Love

The Walk (2015): adapted by Robert Zemeckis and Christopher Browne from the non-fiction book by Philippe Petit; directed by Robert Zemeckis; starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Philippe Petit), Ben Kingsley (Papa Rudy), Charlotte Le Bon (Annie), and James Badge Dale (J.P.): Robert Zemeckis has used his later career to good, often startlingly uncommercial advantage. Good on him. The Walk is a slightly fictionalized account of a real even previously detailed in an award-winning documentary, Man on Wire. 

The film details the attempt by French aerial artist Philippe Petit to high-wire walk between the recently completed World Trade Centre towers in 1974. It's a charming, vertiginous movie about Art with a capital 'A'. All the primaries are good, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt does a credible French accent. And it all manages to remain vertiginous, even on the small screen. Recommended. 

Watership Down (1978): adapted and directed by Martin Rosen from the novel by Richard Adams; starring the voices of John Hurt (Hazel), Richard Briers (Fiver), Michael Graham Cox (Bigwig), Ralph Richardson (Chief Rabbit), Harry Andrews (General Woundwort), and Zero Mostel (Kehaar): Lovely hand-drawn animation is used to adapt Richard Adams' out-of-nowhere 1970's bestseller about heroic rabbits. The rabbit creation myth, done in extremely stylized animation at the beginning, is a stunner and a beaut. The rest of the movie is good too. Adams combined the animal fable and epic fantasy in a way that no one managed before or since. 

The movie is a bit short, but exciting and affecting. The voices, especially John Hurt as the leader of the rabbits who leave their burrow because of a prophetic dream by visionary rabbit Fiver, are all top-notch. Well, Zero Mostel goes a bit overboard as a helpful Greek seagull. Only an occasionally incongruous score detracts from the proceedings, but otherwise this is a terrific, forgotten work of fantasy. Highly recommended.

Interstellar (2014): written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan; directed by Christopher Nolan; starring Matthew McConaughey (Cooper), Ellen Burstyn, Jessica Chastain, and Mackenzie Foy (Old, Middle, and Young Murph), John Lithgow (Donald), Bill Irwin (Voice of TARS), Anne Hathaway (Dr. Brand), Wes Bentley (Dr. Doyle), Michael Caine (Professor Brand), David Gyasi (Dr. Romilly), Casey Affleck (Tom), Topher Grace (Dr. Getty), and Matt Damon (Dr. Mann): Christopher Nolan's love letter to epic science-fiction films and the Power of Love is visually stunning, especially when one discovers that many of the effects involve old-school models and not CGI. Matthew McConaughey continues his run of excellence as the pilot charged with leading a somewhat convoluted mission to save humanity from the dying Earth. And boy, the science goes completely screwy once a black hole shows up. 

Nolan's tendency to bury dialogue behind Hans Zimmer's bombastic sound stylings can grate at points. And in another Nolanesque moment, Michael Caine delivers an almost incomprehensible death-bed confession while talking through what seems to be a mouthful of marbles and oatmeal. Still, the alien vistas and space sequences are impressive. The plot even makes sense if you assume that beings in the future are stuck enacting the convoluted and somewhat ridiculous humanity-saving plan in the movie's present because that's how things happened. They would have made things easier, but time is a flat circle, baby. Recommended.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015): adapted by Jesse Andrews from his own novel; directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon; starring Thomas Mann (Greg), RJ Cyler (Earl), Olivia Cooke (Rachel), Nick Offerman (Greg's Dad), Connie Britton (Greg's Mom), Molly Shannon (Rachel's Mom), Jon Bernthal (Mr. McCarthy), and Katherine Hughes (Madison): Excellent teen-centric movie based on an acclaimed Young Adult novel and adapted for the screen by that novel's author. Thomas Mann , RJ Cyler, and Olivia Cooke do great, funny, and sensitive work as the (respective) characters of the title. The adult characters are a bit more humourously two-dimensional, which is how teens often see the significant adults in their lives. For a movie about death and loneliness, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is awfully funny and surprisingly wise. How this wasn't a hit is beyond me. Though maybe all the Werner Herzog jokes curtailed its earning potential. Highly recommended.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Man of Steel: written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan; based on characters created by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and others; directed by Zack Snyder; starring Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Russell Crowe (Jor-El), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Ayelet Zurer (Lara), Christopher Meloni (Colonel Hardy), Antje Traue (Faora), and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White) (2013):

The sequel to Man of Steel is more interesting to think about than Man of Steel. The North American opening weekend and the international take will guarantee that sequel; the massive North American second-weekend box-office drop and the often-terrible reviews may mean some sort of shake-up in the trio (Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer, and Zack Snyder) primarily responsible for Man of Steel. Let the betting begin. I'd put money on Nolan's brother Jonathan being brought on in some writing capacity while Goyer and Snyder may be pushed into executive producer credits.

Man of Steel manages to be both heavy-handed, especially in its Superman-as-Christ imagery, and remarkably slapdash in its execution. The plot and mythology are complicated in that off-putting Green Lantern way, with ideas from 75 years of Superman stories shovelled into what should be a relatively simple origin story, along with some truly wonky additions by the film-makers.

One of these additions is worth mentioning because it's a great example of how bad writers create problems for themselves and then try to solve them with more bad writing. Here, for the first time in Superman's history, he's depowered by exposure to Krypton's atmosphere. As the movie had earlier established, quasi-canonically*, that his powers derive from Earth's lower-than-Krypton gravity and its yellow sun, this seems like gilding the lily.

But Snyder and company have put Lois Lane on the Kryptonian ship, a decision that apparently made it difficult for them to figure out how NOT to have Lois crushed by artificial Kryptonian gravity. But adding 'atmosphere' to Superman's list of weaknesses and putting a breathing mask on her -- that's easy. If you're stupid that day, anyway. Would Superman have gotten his powers back if he'd held his breath?

They've also given us a Pa Kent who's apparently a sociopath, another new twist, and such a great idea. Kevin Costner is mostly wasted as Pa Kent, and when he's not wasted, he's morally odious. Diane Lane has one good scene and then plays a spokesmodel for Sears. International House of Pancakes also plays a supporting role, as does Budweiser and, in a nod to Superman's Canadian origins, Alexander Keith's Pale Ale.

Michael Shannon and Russell Crowe might have been better switching roles -- Crowe, as Superman's father Jor-El, can act big even in this vacuum, while Shannon seems too reserved and weirdly shrill for a world-threatening villain. He's not going to make anyone forget Terence Stamp as Zod in Superman 2, anyway. Crowe, meanwhile, occasionally seems to be playing Jor-El as he's been written: as Obi-Wan Kenobi, young and old. Mostly he's dead and giving advice, but he even gets a Kenobi-esque swimming sequence that quotes directly from Revenge of the Sith. What is up with that?

As a director, Snyder has exactly one stylistic touch that seems to be his -- a love of visual effects in which people and objects are floated into the air and then smashed into the ground. He did it in Watchmen and he does it here in the Metropolis-smashing finale. I can only see this as symbolic of what he does to an audience.

The rest of the time, we get a lot of Superman-as-Christ poses, along with visual quotes from Avatar, Alien, The Matrix trilogy, and even Apocalypse Now. The destruction of Smallville and Metropolis during the interminably action-packed final hour make me think Snyder would probably make a good Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla director. But he really shouldn't be allowed near movies with people in them. Nor should (credited) lead writer Goyer, though on a project this big, there may have been many, many script doctors. Recommended if you're a masochist.

* Quasi-canonically in the sense that Siegel and Shuster originally posited that all Kryptonians had superpowers wherever they were, including Krypton, because they were 'more evolved' than humans.

Mumbling Towards Gotham

The Dark Knight Rises: written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer; directed by Christopher Nolan; starring Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Michael Caine (Alfred), Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon), Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/The Cat), Marion Cotillard (Miranda), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake), and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) (2012): I enjoyed seeing this again, this time on the small screen, but unlike The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises doesn't become more understandable on TV.

And by 'understandable,' I mean, 'What the hell was Nolan thinking with the godawful sound-mixing on this movie?

Either Christopher Nolan is deaf or the sound mixing on The Dark Knight Rises was designed for some ideal, 100-channel speaker system that most homes and theatres don't have or Christopher Nolan was trying to make the action-movie equivalent of Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller, with its purposefully muffled dialogue. Whatever. Add in the periodically incomprehensible electronically altered voice of Tom Hardy's Bane and the periodically self-parodic growl of Christian Bale as Batman and you've got a movie that should be sub-titled.

I suppose the other funny thing is that the Nolans lifted a bunch of stuff from Batman comic books for the TV show Person of Interest, and Person of Interest is a better take on Batman than any Batman movie. So it goes. I mean Jesus, Fusco IS Harvey Bullock! Recommended.

Everything That Rises Must Converge

The Dark Knight Rises: written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer; directed by Christopher Nolan; starring Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Michael Caine (Alfred), Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon), Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/The Cat), Marion Cotillard (Miranda), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake), and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) (2012): Given the dire history of the third installments of superhero movies (Superman III, Blade III: Trinity, Spider-man 3, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, to name four stinkers), Christopher Nolan has done a remarkable thing in making a third Batman film that's actually a worthy finale to his vision of the Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Rises is a bit draggy at the start, and its main villain, Tom Hardy's Bane, occasionally lapses into incoherence when speaking words of more than two syllables. But we also get a third movie that actually builds upon what the first two films created both in terms of story and in terms of characterization. And while it lacks the extreme highs of The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises nonetheless satisfies while giving its audience something more to think about than simply, 'Wow, the Hulk is actually funny!'

Some credit must go to what the Brothers Nolan and David S. Goyer pull from the comic books. This is easily the most intertextual of all Batman movies. Lines of dialogue from great comics that include Kingdom Come (created by Mark Waid and Alex Ross) pop up in the right places. Epochal Batman storylines that include The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, Batman: Year One, Batman RIP, and No Man's Land are used in ways both justifiable and, sometimes, offer an improvement on the original (Gotham's sudden geographic isolation makes much more sense here than in the near-endless, deeply stupid No Man's Land storyline, for instance).

The story itself also holds up. It chugs along like a well-oiled action machine, as much James Bond as it is Batman (though Bondaphiles Nolan et al. also take inspiration from the most James Bond-y incarnation of Batman, the globe-trotting Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams version). Some cuts would have been fortuitous, especially if accompanied by expansions in other areas -- the subplot involving fallen cop/administrator Matthew Modine goes nowhere and elicits nothing, while somewhat short shrift is given to both Michael Caine's Alfred and Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox.

Nonetheless, this is a surprisingly generous and character-minded superhero film, with fine performances throughout from both the established principals -- Christian Bale is terrific, though his Bat-voice still grates -- and the newcomers -- Joseph Gordon-Levitt does nice work as a Gotham beat-cop, and Ann Hathaway shines as the movie's lightest character, the skin-tight-suited Cat (woman).

Several action sequences astound, though I wish they hadn't teased the football scene in the trailers. While there's nothing quite as thrilling as the lengthy chase in The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises does do a better job with understandable action choreography. I didn't get lost in some sequences the way I did in the previous film. The movie may be nearly three hours long, but it earns its length as a satisfying end to a trilogy. Highly recommended.

In Dreams Begin Responsibilities

Inception, written and directed by Christopher Nolan, starring Leonardo di Caprio (Cobb), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Ellen Page (Ariadne), Tom Hardy (Eames), Ken Watanabe (Saito), Dileep Rao (Yusuf), Cillian Murphy (Fischer), Tom Berenger (Browning) and Marion Cotillard (Mal) (2010): A gleaming, machine-tooled puzzle box of a movie which has justifiably spawned a plethora of theories about what's "real" in its narrative (and justifiable complaints that it didn't snag Christopher Nolan a Best Picture or Best Director nod).

One's assessment of what's real hinges on one's assessment of the film's somewhat Byzantine explanation of how dreams work. Do you take at face value the "infinite subconscious" and the accelerated time of the dreams or don't you? Are the emblematic names of a couple of characters coincidental, aimed only at the viewer, or aimed at the "realness" of the dreamscape itself?

Nolan's tale of a group of dream thiefs hired to implant an idea in the head of the new head of a multinational conglomerate falls down only, I suppose, in the realm of emotional depth and richness of characterization. But the actors are all so good at combining competence with a sort of post-James-Bond bitchiness that the whole affair goes down smoothly, though the James Bondian third level of the dream world bogs down a bit in pyrotechnics and too much gun-toting action.

South Park accurately skewered the gobbledygook of the dream-world dynamics (Ellen Page has an occasionally thankless role as a sort of reverse-Basil Exposition, repeatedly getting DiCaprio's Cobb to explain how things work, sometimes at credibility-stretching moments). Nonetheless, the movie is a serious fun machine, and DiCaprio has really started to grow on me as an occasionally dewy eyed action hero. Recommended.