The Founder

Well, Michael Keaton was on a role, until this film.
It has the skeleton of an excellent film, how the international fast-food chain McDonalds was formed, but it wasn't executed brilliantly at all. It was rather square.
Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) is a travelling salesman, trying, in vain, to sell a milkshake machine and it isn't going well. He's also upset with how poorly run most of the drive-in restaurants are operating. Until he is shocked at how efficient a little place out in San Bernardino California is doing with their speedy service and simple products. He is hooked and wants to franchise the business. The brothers of the restaurant, Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) are skeptical but force him into an iron-clad contract, or so they think.
But the franchise grows and the standards are usually overseen by Ray himself and he is particular. He also wants to make money and is upset when the business doesn't even break even. Fortunately, he runs into Harry Sonneborn (B.J. Novak) encourages him to invest in the real estate business where he would own the land on which the restaurant was located. This creates him a fortune but he wants to change how the restaurant is won as the walk-in freezer costs far too much money. This leads the brothers to want to sue but they can't. Even though it is their name on the restaurant, their idea for the noticeable golden arches, they don't have enough money so they settle. For one million dollars each and some of the profits, which they never see. They were honest and ethical while Kroc, all he saw was money.
Now, while that part was mostly done fine, it is Ray's personal life that is done badly. He has a nice, mostly supportive wife, Ethel (Laura Dern). While she is wonderful, she isn't as involved as he would like in a wife, so he divorces her and marries the lovely, blond Joan (Linda Cardellini) who is far more involved. The problem? She is married to the franchise owner Rollie Smith (Patrick Wilson) but she eventually divorces him and marries Ray. Who in their right mind would marry Michael Keaton over Patrick Wilson? Certainly not me. But whatever. His personal life was the film's weakest point.
While Ray Kroc is credited for founding McDonalds, the brothers deserve their due; it was their idea and he could have stolen it, but it was the name that attracted him to it in the first place. That didn't ring true. He was confused and shocked that there were no plates at the restaurant where he was served food. The whole thing was surprising until he saw the mechanics of the place and was intrigued. That was when it struck him but not until then.
Despite the solid performances (I still felt that Keaton could have been better) and the authentic feel of the film, it left me feeling nothing. I don't like McDonalds foods and this film cemented that firmly in my mind. Grade: B

The Middle: Adult Swim

Well, Axl (Charlie McDermott) and Lexie (the unseen Daniela Bobadilla) are still together, which means that Axl is at Sue's (Eden Sher's) luxury apartment all the time and making himself too much at home, wearing her robe and using her lady razor, both of which are beyond disgusting. Men are gross for the record, and idiots also.
Mike (Neil Flynn) gets the pool all ready for the summer. He's so proud. He probably put more money into that pool than the rest of the house. But Sue and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) barely care. Brick has his microfiche machine and Sue is busy twiddling with her phone. Mike isn't having that. He put all that time getting the pool ready and it's gone to waste. So he tries to take down the pool but Sue and Brick beg him not to. But they don't use it. Instead, Brick skims the bottom for quarters and dampens two towels. When that doesn't cut it, he has his friends stand in it which also doesn't work. Sue doesn't want it to go because it is a reminder of childhood and she isn't ready for them to move on to a life without children. But in the end, though Mike is willing to change his mind, they end up letting the family next door with young children who will enjoy it more.
Axl arrives home just before Sue, somehow, even though he declared he was waiting for Lexie to return. He has a speed interview event but his nice jacket is slightly off-colored so Frankie (Patricia Heaton) gets him to wear Mike's, even though it is extremely large and bulky. His speed interviews don't go well. At first, he blames the suit. So he and Frankie go shopping for a new one. It is actually going well. He even breaks the news about him and Lexie being an item. They really like each other and are taking it slow. Frankie is fine with the news, not thrilled nor pissed off.
However, when she finds he doesn't use a wallet, she snaps. Yet, it was her credit card which was declined. Though she promised she would treat him, he ends up buying his own suit. He is actually pretty good with money, not using all of his meal plan (different from two seasons ago) and made all that money last season selling the grilled cheeses. So he saved up.
However, the suit wasn't the problem. He has no idea what he's getting into and is scared. Frankie tells him that after some time, she actually (miraculously) got good at her job. It just takes time. But being scared is what really makes you an adult, even more than the wallet. When you are an adult and especially a parent, you're scared all the time.
Though this episode wasn't anything special, it was touching with each character staying true to themselves. Axl and Sue and Brick are all growing up, just like in real life and I can't wait to see what happens. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Axl really should use a coaster.
-Brick has a sign-in clipboard for the microfiche machine. And, of course, no food or drink near it.
-Mike kicks out all the animals from the pool. He even got the good kind of chlorine, which doesn't cause rashes.
-Brick tried frolicking when he was eight and didn't care for it.
-Frankie brings Axl her nightstand cookies to comfort him after his disastrous interviews.
-The shop owner declares that East Indiana's football team is horrible but Frankie merely responds with they didn't play the right people.
-Mike doesn't understand how Brick can want something he ignores. By that logic, Brick wonders how Mike is still with Frankie.
-Putting money behind your ear is never a good idea.
-Frankie's credit card is declined the fastest the clerk has ever seen it.

The Middle: The Confirmation

I'm just going to state the obvious: men are idiots. Okay, enough for the public service announcement, let's get to this interesting episode.
The Hecks are rather lax parents including when it comes to this son's religious well-being. Brick (Atticus Shaffer) should have been confirmed two years ago and despite Frankie's (Patricia Heaton) excuses, the reverend just doesn't care. So Brick is getting confirmed in a week's time and he's not ready. Fortunately, Frankie decides to attempt to get out ahead of it and sends Brick to a wilderness Jesus Jam hosted by the always amicable and welcome Reverend Tim Tom (Paul Hipp). Here, he actually does pretty well at Biblical trivia and meets his nemesis, Blake Ferguson (Kevin Thomas Mitchell) and tells Blake the truth about being switched at birth, something which Blake had no idea had even happened. And then when Brick returns home, Blake's parents arrive, and they are livid. Especially Blake's mother, Anna (Monica Horan). They are clearly appalled by how uncaring the Hecks are while they showered Brick with love and affection, including throwing him a month-one birthday party as he was their first. In order to attempt to compete, Frankie gives Blake Mike's (Neil Flynn) lucky Colts towel which Blake loves. It is a small price they must pay.
In the meantime, Sue (Eden Sher) and Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) decide to cheer Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla) up because she's crushing so hard on Axl (Charlie McDermott) and they are still under the impression that Axl doesn't know she's alive. Except for the fact that he does. They are busy making out at the diner right now. But Axl doesn't want to tell anyone as he just ended things with April (Greer Grammer) and he doesn't want his parents to interfere as they did last time, perhaps even ruining his relationship with April and that is not something he wants to happen.
Lexie doesn't really want cheering up; she just wants to make out with Axl but he doesn't even attempt to make a stand until they set her up with a better version of Axl. Chester (Trent Garrett). He's also a business major, taller and nicer than Axl and he's so much better that when Axl tells him that he's actually in love with Lexie and Chester leaves, just like that. And then when someone else shows up, Axl declares his interest in front of everyone. Sue is both thrilled and a little grossed out, but she hugs Lexie nevertheless.
As for Sue's love life, she is also crushing on Sean (Beau Wirick) and he does drive up to proclaim his love for Sue though Axl misinterprets the situation believing that Sean still likes Lexie so while he ends up happy, Sue's happiness might never happen. He doesn't deserve her as a sister.
The show ends with another classic car ride, with Axl declaring that when Sue dies, he will freeze her head. But Brick, while he might fit in better with the Fergusons, he's glad he's a Heck because life is never dull and writers have never had a normal, conventional upbringing. Eventually the whole family will be characters in his books. Life is well.
This episode was directed by Charlie McDermott and he should probably direct more episodes. This is a solid episode, with some great guest performances, including Heaton's Everybody Loves Raymond co-star Horan. I just hope that Axl and Lexie can go the distance. Only time will tell. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Apparently straighter is a thing.
-Brick is scared of enclosed spaces and now also being crushed by the upper bunk.
-Going to the bathroom downstream is important.
-Reverend Tim Tom doesn't know how to handle
-Who Begot Whom? is one of the categories of Biblical Jeopardy.
-Swimming with the Savior and canoeing with Christ are two of the activities at the wilderness camp.
-Axl didn't know that there was a business library.
-The Hecks blame the recent flood in the basement for the loss of Blake's baby pictures and videos. It is actually a good enough reason if we didn't know the Hecks as well as we do.
-Brick learns why he really loves classical music as the Ferguson's played it for him in his early days.
-Axl is generic ice cream while Chester is fancy ice cream. Lexie accuses Axl of being the jealous type.
-Sue is a very special snowflake, for the record.
-Sue wants to happy throw up over Axl and Lexie dating.

Fences (2016)

This is a rare film based off a celebrated and highly-praised Broadway play by August Wilson.
It is a simple story, with a simple cast and set. Troy Maxson (Denzel Washington) is a garbage worker, upset that blacks must haul all the groceries while the white man does all the driving. He is a simple man, so old-fashioned that you can't help but cringe as you watch him order his wife around as though he's the boss of the gentle Rose (Viola Davis, excellent). He provides for his son, Cory (Jovan Adepo), but doesn't like him or care about Cory's hopes and dreams. Troy's youth was troubled with neglectful and abusive parents and then a stint in prison ended his dreams of being a star baseball player and now he doesn't care that Cory is great at football; he just wants Cory to have a job after school. His brother Gabe (Mykelti Williamson) is brain-damaged after being shot in World War II but Troy used Gabe's money to buy his house and it is his house, not Rose's. His other son, Lyons (Russell Hornsby, good but too old for the role) is always borrowing money so he can be a musician. Both of Troy's sons have failed him.
And though Troy loves Rose and she's a good woman, he nevertheless cheats on her and gets his (unseen) mistress pregnant. She dies giving birth but Rose does agree to raise his child, as the sins of the father shouldn't be passed on to the child. She takes on the baby, named Raynell, but pushes Troy aside, as he is now a womanless man.
Though his death reunites everyone, his life had a strong impact on everyone. Cory is now in the marines and Lyons is surviving time in prison for money fraud and poor Gabe is in the mental hospital because Troy signed papers to commit him and didn't even realize it as he is illiterate and won't admit it. But nonetheless, Troy entered heaven to the relief of everyone, especially Gabe.
While this film is simple, you don't miss the fancy sets, elaborate camera angles and cast of thousands when only a few will do. Washington and Davis chew the scenery off the sets in their scenes, deserving every award they were nominated for and won. This film is about average people, struggling to get by and, for me, Hollywood can never do enough films like that to suit me. There was nary a false note. Grade: A-

Miss Sloane (2016)

Jessica Chastain kills it as Madeline Elizabeth Sloane, a successful and sometimes ruthless lobbyist in Washington D.C. She has strong opinions and will do anything to challenge herself including quitting her current lucrative position for something more difficult. She joins forces with Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong) to support a bill that will require stronger background checks, working against her previous employer, which angers them but they know how to defeat her.
The plot contains many twists and turns, including Elizabeth ousting her new, accomplished co-worker Esme (the excellent Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who survived a high school shooting and is dedicated to the cause. Ironically, Esme is nearly killed by someone against the new law and is saved by someone also carrying a concealed firearm. This major event changes the course of how senators will support the bill and Elizabeth now knows that she is fighting a losing battle; there is no way that they will be able to gather enough support to pass the senate. And now she finds herself on trial for an ethics violation, which she did commit, bribing a senator with an overseas trip so he would support a bill. That is illegal. Yet, she lies under oath, also illegal and even her gigolo (Jake Lacy, the lone miscast in this cast of thousands) lies also, though she denied him in public. That's right, this often cold woman pays for sex, as she needs that physical release.
But Elizabeth has the last laugh. She kept a spy (Alison Pill) at her old firm the whole time and ousted the presiding senator (John Lithgow) as a snake by illegally spying on him setting the whole courtroom ablaze and shocked. She turned the broken system upside down all with a chilling look on her face.
The stark change in her appearance when she enters prison is shocking, but her actions will never be forgotten.
Though the plot is complicated and messy and difficult to understand, the cast is excellent. They have a nature report, something that can't be faked and Chastain is brilliant as the overworked passionate lobbyist who wants to succeed and is ambitious but isn't well-liked. She has the perfect make-up and manicured nails but is deeply lonely. I do wish the film had delved into her past more, as she had to lie constantly as a child but we never learn why.
And this film brings up the important issue of universal background checks, Elizabeth compares getting a firearm easier than getting a driver's license, the only test she ever failed, a good point. Though this film is too complicated and has too many background characters, it is nevertheless important and good enough to make you think. Grade: B+

The Middle: The Par-Tay

Well, this episode is off to an awkward start. Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is eating his dinner out on the porch so Mike (Neil Flynn) can poach the neighbor's plumber because of the whole basement situation and it needs professional help. Bill Norwood (Pat Finn) is beyond pissed because that is not how you hire a plumber and whatever sort of relationship he and Mike had before is completely over.
Speaking of Brick, he decides that it is high time Axl (Charlie McDermott) invites him back to spend time at college. Axl does this reluctantly only to discover that Brick doesn't really want to actually look at museums or libraries, but instead wants to par-tay. So Axl and Hutch (Alphonso McAuley) throw one of their legendary Bago-bashes and Brick brings an odd sort of  class to this party, not to mention old music.
After the party does end, Brick isn't ready for the night to be over, while Axl is exhausted, but Brick manages to appeal to his sense of adventure. So the night continues, finally ending after they see a sheep get born and having a tater tot battle in the cafeteria, eating at a diner. Brick believes that this one girl likes Axl and she probably does, so after some simple persuasion, if he doesn't act now, someone else could snatch her up, Axl does set off to get himself a woman, only it isn't the one Brick expects.
Sue (Eden Sher) and Frankie (Patricia Heaton) have a delightful picnic only to be picked up by some singles as they are having a singles mixer in the middle of the park. Frankie is incredibly impressed and though one of them is interested in Sue, she might like someone else and won't tell Frankie about it. Frankie, of course, being typical Frankie, begs and pleads with her to just tell her even going as far as breaking into her phone but can't figure out the password. But then she drops the phone, forcing her to come clean and surprisingly Sue isn't even mad. But she just doesn't know if this crush is anything real so she doesn't want to tell anyone. However, when she does decide to tell people, her mom will be the first, even before Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla).
Speaking of Lexie, she gets a knock on her door and it's Axl. That's right, she's the one who Axl really likes. He kisses her and even though her teeth need brushed badly, he doesn't even care. So I guess there's something between the two of them now and I'm shockingly happy for the two of them. I certainly do ship them.
Mike even mends the fences with Bill with jumper cables, so things end on a good note all-around.
Sure, we don't know who Sue has a crush on, but it doesn't completely matter. Frankie needs to understand that everyone is entitled to our secrets and that they need to be respected. She won the jackpot with having Sue as her daughter. I certainly don't tell my parents everything; they have yet to know that someone did pick me up at the laundry mat. Not that they needed to, considering it didn't work out, but it did happen, sadly one of the best moments of my life.
For the record, I think Sue's crush is either Sean (Beau Wirick) or Tyler (Keaton Savage), though honestly, I'm not thrilled with either of those choices but as long as Sue's happy.
This was another solid episode, though the fight over the plumber was just plain old weird and I wish Frankie wasn't so invasive in her children's lives, but still another great episode. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Mike does an excellent impression of Bill Norwood.
-Brick stalls the plumber by throwing a ball into the middle of the street.
-This episode has some great callbacks, including Bill's sunglasses, and the community service Brick and Axl must perform.
-Mike has a bread heal sandwich for lunch.
-During the picnic, Sue declares that the world is like your television.
-Hutch doesn't like being read to.
-For the record, Bill and Mike are in a girly fight.
-Perry Como is a singer, not a gateway drug.
-Frankie likes being politically correct in her head. She thinks that it makes her a nice person.
-Brick has the phone numbers for a lot of libraries in his cell phone.

20th Century Women (2016)

This is a very good film, if short on plot.
Jamie Fields (Lucas Jade Zumann) is a teenage boy and his mother, Dorothea (Annette Bening) is struggling to raise him by herself. She was an older mother and then divorced his father. Dorothea is a true character, brimming with personality.
The film details a small portion of Jamie's life, during the time he had a platonic relationship with the older Julie (Elle Fanning) who was rather sexually promiscuous, and the cancer survivor Abbie (Greta Gerwig, great), struggling with her art of photography and the fact that she shouldn't have children. There is also another tenant in the house Dorothea owns, the mechanic and potter William (Billy Crudrup), but Jamie doesn't connect well with him. He is the least developed character of the quintet.
The film is excellently told, presented in a way that shows the private personality of Dorothea to the whole world, but she wouldn't mind.
There isn't really a love arc in this film. Sure, Abbie and William do sleep together, though William assures Dorothea that it's nothing serious. (Her response is one of the greatest lines in the film, 'Then why do it?') and Jamie has a rather large crush on Julie, but she likes him too much for anything stronger or physical.
With the lyrical style and the transportation back to 1979, this film is a wonder and is better than the slightly overrated Beginners, writer and director Mike Mills ode to his father. The reason is simple, there are more characters and they are better developed, without ever becoming stock characters. Grade: A-