Light in the Piazza (1962)

 This was an interesting take on a typical romance film. 

Meg Johnson (Olivia de Haviland) and her daughter, Clara (Yvette Mimieux) are visiting Italy where she meets by happenstance and then by pre-arranged coincidence a native Italian Fabrizio (George Hamilton) who is able to ignore Clara's disability. Clara was kicked by a horse when she was ten and it left her with permanent brain damage and forever largely stuck with the mind of that ten-year-old. But they fall in love anyway as they both still seem to be on the same page despite the language barrier. Still, Meg decides to end it but after her husband, Noel (Barry Sullivan) comes to visit them in Rome and decides that an adult care facility is the best place for her so Meg decides to gamble and takes Clara back to Florence where her relationship with Fabrizio continues at warp speed. However, after glancing at Clara's passport, Fabrizio's father (Rossano Brazzi) abruptly walks out before they sign paperwork with the priest. In yet another twist, it turns out that Clara is roughly six years older than Fabrizio and in another twist, it appears that Fabrizio is also slightly mentally handicapped and is actually twenty-three. So they get married and appear to be very happy and Meg feels comfortable with her decision so everyone is happy and I guess the viewer is as well.

While De Haviland received most of the praise for her performance, certainly one of the best of her career, I found Mimieux to be better with a more difficult one, having to act like a ten-year-old and having meltdowns in public. The plot was also good with two interesting twists, ones that I couldn't predict which is always nice. And the scenery and cinematography is very lush actually filming in Italy. While I wouldn't consider this a must-watch, it was a great film nevertheless. Grade: B+

Side Notes:

-I don't think dogs should drink tea.

-The film needed to show more of the toil Clara's issues had on her parents' marriage. 

-The important issue of faith is also hinted at as it should have been, it was nice to see that finally being brought into a film. 

-Despite Clara's issues, she seems to be able to pick up a foreign language very quickly.  

The True Story of the Ned Kelly Gang (2019)

 First of all, I'd avoid this movie. Apparently, it's not true which makes the whole thing stupid and quite frankly, unrealistic. 

 Though the performances are great and the underlaying plot is decent, showing how native Australians don't wish to be ruled by the Brits, I feel that the turning point in the film comes far too late. It's not what young Ned (Orlando Schwerdt) is sold to a bushranger Harry Power (Russell Crowe) but rather when Constable Alexander Fitzpatrick (Nicholas Hoult) calls out the parentage of Ned's (now George MacKay's) love, Mary (Thomasin McKenzie) young son, it's the fiancé of Ned's mother, Ellen (Essie Davis) so things turn ugly in a hurry but his plans are dashed as he buys into the flattery of a hostage. 

While the idea might have been alright, the time period is a bit board and that train does not appear to be period appropriate. I just feel that all the good actors and performances are completely wasted. Grade: C-

Side Notes:

-In case anyone is counting, this the third film where George MacKay impregnates a girl with what is perceived to be a one night stand (following Daisy Ridley in Ophelia and Amandla Stenberg in Where Hands Touch), all of which are seriously flawed films. 

-Also, how in the world was Mary able to get letters to and from Ned while he was forming an army. 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

 Let the line for the best films of the year line up behind this one. 

During the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, many riots ensue and now, eight men, from different peaceful organizations are put on trial. And it is a long and bizarre trial with a prejudice and slightly senial judge, Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella). He makes it harder and harder for defense counsel (the great Mark Rylance and Ben Shankman) to get anywhere with cross-examination and he is especially cruel to the lone African American defendant, Bobby Sears's (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's) attorney is in the hospital but he isn't allowed to defend himself, which is just ridiculous, and there are plenty of twists and turns along the way, including what defendant Abbie Hoffman (the shockingly great Sacha Baron Cohen) insists is true from the beginning, this is a political trial and it is, though the jury won't know it as the key witness, the former attorney general under President Johnson who found that the police started the riots but now that Nixon is President, things are different. And then there is the real reason so many were hurt in Chicago, the police cracked open Rennie Davis's (Alex Sharp's) skull. He works for the Student for a Democratic Society and it inspires Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) to get super pissed off, and everything went south quickly. Police brutality is nothing new, it's been happening for decades, and they were just trying to peacefully protest the Vietnam War. 

Aaron Sorkin is an Academy Award winning screenwriter and this is certainly one of his best films, condensing a ridiculously long trial into something palatable without missing a beat, or really anything important, wrapping everything up nicely in the end, though the happy isn't necessarily a happy one but it does show that the prosecution's attorney, Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) does have a heart. Each character (out of the main characters) is crafted with a distinct personality and is brilliant.  The acting is impeccable and nothing seems to be out of place, editing in actual news footage flawlessly. This is not a film to be missed. Grade: A

Side Notes:

-John Carroll Lynch, as a life-long pacifist, Jeremy Strong as Abbie's right-hand man who falls in love with a mole, and the lesser known Noah Robbins and Daniel Flaherty finish out the Chicago 7.

-Schultz does convince the judge to declare a mistrial for Bobby Sears, which is only fair considering he was only in the city for four hours.

-Pay attention for a small role from Kelvin Harrison, Jr as Fred Hampton, the leader of the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers. 

-Two of the sympathetic jurors are sent threatening notes allegedly from the Black Panthers, though that is a bunch of hogwash. That mystery is never solved. 

-There are some great lines in this film, my favorite is probably Lynch's David Dellinger telling Abbie that of course he has money on him, he's a grown man. 

-Michael Keaton also has a killer cameo, even though he basically portrays the same character as he does in Spotlight, another superb film. 

-The lead defense counsel, Bill Kunstler is charged with twenty-four counts of contempt of court throughout this trial.

-A five month recovery from a gallbladder surgery is very long. 

-It should never be okay for a defendant to have to appear in court bound and gagged, that is just appalling. 

-Tom Hayden would eventually go out to be a representative and would also marry and cheat on the lovely Jane Fonda. 

Forrest Gump (1994)

 Based on a book, this film details the extraordinary life of the fictional Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) who has a slightly low IQ but has numerous hidden talents and often just happens to be in the right place at the right time. 

He has a gift for running and thus gets a football scholarship for college, serves in Vietnam and saves his fellow soldiers, winning a Presidential medal of honor. He plays ping pong, becoming a minor celebrity, starts a shrimping business with Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise) in honor of his deceased friend, Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), always killing off the minority first, and then runs across the country just because it makes sense. 

But despite all the success and fame, he is driven by his love for his best and life-long friend, Jenny Curran (Robin Wright) who has had a rough life compared to Forrest but she isn't blessed with his luck and makes some wretched decisions but they do finally end up together in the end, only to have their happy ending tragically cut short but Jenny's untimely death. 

Despite the excellent acting, including a small but pivotal part for Sally Field as Forrest's mother, and special effects which include a blending of archival news footage and splicing Forrest into history, the film amounts to nothing more than a trifle, a brilliant trifle but a trifle nonetheless. Grade: B+

Side Notes:

-I guess I should the slightly questionable parentage of Jenny's son, Forrest, Jr (Haley Joel Osment), considering she is exhausted when she arrives to visit Forrest and then leaves abruptly after taking his virginity. We'll never know for sure, but it is something that I feel should be questioned.

-The virus Jenny dies of is never mentioned but it widely thought that she had AIDs. 

-There are a lot of ways to cook or prepare shrimp. 

-Jenny's childhood including being molested by her father, but he does get arrested while she was still young though it is never mentioned what for. Her sisters are never mentioned again. 

-I'm glad that Dan finally got some legs and found love along the way. His life would have made a good film too. 

The Heiress (1949)

 This is a excellent film packed full of great performances.

In what is essentially a four-person drama, the roles are custom-made for the actors portraying them. Catherine Sloper (Olivia de Haviliand) is a wealthy young woman but she is painfully shy and socially awkward. Her doctor father, Austin (Ralph Richardson) claims that he has tried to do what's best for her, but he also basically states that she will never hold a candlestick to her beloved, beautiful and talented mother who died in childbirth. Everything changes when young idler, Morris Townsend (Montgomery Clift) comes along. He whispers sweet nothings in Catherine's ear and she falls for it, but her father puts an end to her engagement, believing probably correctly, that Morris is only with Catherine for her money and certainly he admits that she has no other redeeming qualities. 

And it turns out that he's right. After threatening to disown Catherine, meaning that she will have to survive a mere $10,000 per year (and this is roughly 1850), she and Morris decides to run away together but is honest with him and tells him about her father's threat. So Morris stands her up, leaving her bitter and alone with the very man she hates the most. She doesn't even come to her father's deathbed when he asks for her. 

But Catherine gets her just desserts. When Morris comes back, begging for her love, she says that she will take him back, even though he remains penniless and now, deep in debt, but instead she leaves him banging on the door, she has deserted him this time. 

Sure, this film doesn't have a happy ending and Catherine goes from dreamy eyed to cold-hearted in the course of the film, but she also finally gains control of her life, maybe not in the way she wanted and deserved, but at least she has the freedom she's always longed for. And Morris, that scumbag and asshole, also gets what he deserved.

De Haviliand won an Oscar for her performance and fully deserved it. The scenery and costumes are also great. This film, despite the unhappy ending, is still a must watch. Grade: A

Side Notes:

-Catherine finally gains her tongue too late and tells off her father in a great scene. Her father should have taught her independence and conversation years ago.

-I wonder if her father even really wanted her to get married.

-Catherine has the best line, after her aunt Lavinia (Miriam Hopkins) wonders how she could be so cruel to Morris but she states that she has learned from the masters.

-We'll never know if Morris was marrying Catherine for her money or because he actually loved her. Personally, I think it was just for the money.

Troop Zero (2020)

 This film contains a bunch of oddball characters who somehow together form a family. 

Christmas Flint (McKenna Grace) has a down-on-his-luck lawyer for a father (Jim Gaffigan) and a fascination with everything outer space. She has a reputation for wetting the bed and her only friend, Joseph (Charlie Shotwell) is struggling his sexuality. 

When Christmas finds out that she could have a chance to put a message into space, she jumps at it, forming a Birdie Troop along with Joseph and three other misfits, Anne-Claire (Bella Higginbotham) who is a wannabe evangelist with only one eye, Hell-No Price (Milan Ray) who is somewhat of a bully, forcing other kids to pay a toll if she catches up with them and Smash (Johanna Colon) who smashes things as her name says. Leading them is her dad's secretary, Rayleen (the always great Viola Davis) who does so reluctantly but manages to find hidden talents in the troop which gets them through to the jubilee where they face off against the picture perfect but nasty other troop from Wiggly, led by the sneakily cruel Miss Massey (Allison Janney). Needless to say, the skit Troop Zero has arranged is actually good and elaborate but their fancy costumes are not appreciated and then Christmas does wet herself, as she was nervous. 

Though Troop Zero doesn't win, the engineer with NASA is so impressed with them that he records them anyway. And Christmas finally has some solid friends and Rayleen has decided to finally go back to pursuing her law degree, not letting her past infatuation with a man get in her way.  So everyone's a winner.

Despite the film not being much or only having half of a happy ending, the quirky characters are acted brilliantly. And the idea was done well. Grade: B

Side Notes:
-Who names their child Christmas?

-It would have been super nice to learn Hell-No and Smash's real names. 

-It is also amazing that all of those kids could pee on demand in support of Christmas.

-Fluffy, the dog, needed more screen time. 

-Leaving the children basically alone in the woods is illegal. 

The High Note (2020)

 This film was not a comedy, romance, drama nor musical so it failed on many levels. 

First of all, Maggie (Dakota Johnson) is the main character, the white girl struggling to make her dreams come true, as though there aren't enough films like that already. Maggie is an assistant for the fictitious superstar Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross) who wants to  put out new music but her new songs have nothing on her hits. Maggie wishes to be a producer and does discover a hot, young singer, David (Kelvin Harrison, Jr, finally in a nice guy role) who somehow already has money. He is quite talented and Maggie thinks she has his big break in the palm of her hands but when she springs that he will be opening for Grace Davis, he walks away causing Maggie to lose her job. 

So this is when I predicted that David was Grace's estranged son and I was right which led me to the issue of when David sees her and greets as 'Mom' when they've barely seen each other in his lifetime and the fact that Grace has a child isn't public knowledge so that scene was not played out nor written well. 

Of course everything works out in the end, Maggie gets her dream job and the guy while Grace is able to finally put out new music. It's just such a shame that this film fails on so many level when the roles are good and the acting is great. Too bad the film wasn't inventive or daring in any sort of way. Grade: C+

How to Build a Girl (2020)

 Finally a film that highlights all of Beanie Feinstein's talents. 

Beanie shines as sixteen-year-old Johanna Morrigan who has two interesting parents (Paddy Considine and Sarah Solemani) who breed border collies. She also has four younger brother, including the newborn twins. She is also a total bookworm with no friends except for her heroines on her wall but then she gets a job reviewing rock bands and suddenly, she has a life. But it comes at a cost. Sure, she's making money and paying the bills even buying her parents a new van but she learns that being mean pays more than being nice so she criticizes all the bands, sure she does it with style but she is nasty nonetheless. However, she learns that this is not the way to be and family matters more than your job and alleged friends. So, she improves or rebuilds herself coming back into the love her family has to offer. 

Fortunately, while this film has been done before, and yes, just as Johanna said, her life did get a kickstart thanks to a man, her younger brother Krissy (Laurie Kynaston), who refers her apply for the job, but this was still a great film with funny, sweet, sensitive and sad moments are genuine and authentic, what more could a film ask for? Grade: B+

Side Notes:

-Pay attention to the quick cameos from Chris O'Dowd and Emma Thompson.

-I wonder how Johanna was served alcohol when she's underage. 

-Winning an award for asshole of the year is not something I'd be particularly proud of. 

-Also, who names a child Lupin?