Film Dictionary

March 3, 2017

The Sinner: Season 1 (2017) ***

Christina P: Mother Inferior (2017) ***

February 2, 2017

Roman J. Israel Esq (2017) **

Uneven, but fascinating drama about an excentric lawyer. Very surprising, but the ending is all wrong. One of Denzel Washington's best and most unique performances.

Mudbound (2017) **

Old-fashioned melodrama about racial conflicts in the Deep South.

Marshall (2017) **

Courtroom drama about a future Supreme Court justice defending an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman.

Beauty And The Beast (2017) **

Emma Watson is wonderful as Belle, but the film is way too similar to the classic animated version from 1991, and not nearly as good.

Wonder Woman (2017) **

Gal Gadot is terrific in the title role, but there are very few good action scenes in this overlong World War One drama.

Ferdinand (2017) **

A feature-length remake of Disney's Oscar-winning short animated classic from 1938.

Last Men In Aleppo (2017) **

White Helmets are trying to save lives of hundreds of victims in the besieged city of Aleppo during the Syrian Civil War.

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017) **

Following the 2008 financial crisis that nearly destroyed the world economy, none of the largest American financial institutions faced prosecutions for their shady dealings because they were considered "too big to fail". But a scapegoat had to be found. Abacus Federal Savings Bank, a small Chinese-American bank that catered to the neglected market of their community, was indicted on fraud charges and loan falsifications. As the bank disputed these accusations, many in the mainstream news media noticed that far larger competitors appeared to have committed similar misdeeds without legal consequence. This film explores the history of Abacus and its legal battle for survival against this hypocritical and racist application of the law.

Heaven Is A Traffic Jam On The 405 (2017) **

Documentary about a mentally-challenged artist. Length: 40 min.

January 1, 2017

Cars 3 (2017) *

The weakest Pixar animated feature ever.

Strong Island (2017) *

Despicable Me 3 (2017) *

Average.

War For The Planet Of The Apes (2017) *

Very disappointing. Clearly inspired by "Apocalypse Now", but boring and repetitive.

All The Money In The World (2017) *

Uneven drama about the kidnapping of J.Paul Getty's grandson in Italy in the early 1970's. Christopher Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey long after the entire film was finished, resulting in complete reshooting of numerous scenes. The results are uneven - Plummer's performance is much better than might be expected under such difficult circumstances, but many of his scenes feel awkward, especially in reaction shots that were often shot much earlier with Spacey. Plummer still received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor, but it felt more like a political statement in support of Spacey's firing for sexual harrassement, than an honest and impartial evaluation of a performance. Moreover, Plummer's role isn't really a supporting one. He has far more screen time than Anthony Hopkins had in "The Silence of the Lambs" - and who won an Oscar as best actor because it felt like a leading performance even though, in terms of actual screen time, it was actually a supporting role. But Plummer doesn't leave such a strong impression, and as result, he was only nominated as a supporting actor because his role felt like a supporting role even though, in terms of actual screen time, it could have been considered as a leading performance. One can only speculate whether the film with Kevin Spacey was actually better, or whether Spacey would have been nominated for best actor and whether he would actually won. And unless the other version of the film will eventually be shown, we will never know.