THE SQUID AND THE WHALE (2005), MARRIAGE STORY (2019)

 Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney at counseling

in The Squid and the Whale

Noah Bambauch's The Squid and the Whale tells the story of Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) and his wife Joan (Laura Linney), a couple going through a divorce in 1986 Brooklyn. The Berkman's are an academically minded couple, with Bernard being a writer and professor and Joan being an aspiring novelist. They both love their kids, Walt and Frank, but express this love in odd ways at times exacerbated by the fact that they are now living in different houses. 

This is an interesting character study of all four of the main leads. Bernard is a bit of a stuffy academic, who looks down on people like Ivan (William Baldwin), the local tennis pro, who he refers to as a philistine. Joan's disconnect with Bernard led to her having affairs (including Ivan) which is explored here also. Walt Berkman (Jesse Eisenberg) admires his dad-He has a poster of one of his dad's favorite films, The Mother and the Whore on his wall for Heaven's sake! Walt seems to blame his mom for their troubles more than dad. He has trouble finding a girl that he considers good enough and openly plagiarizes Pink Floyd at the school talent show. The younger brother Frank (Owen Kline) is starting to have troubles of his own involving his own relationships and experimentation with drinking and masturbation...the latter of which wouldn't be a problem if he wasn't doing it in the library!

This is an intellectual and fascinating story of the dissolution of a marriage and family. 

Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline in

The Squid and The Whale

Didn't every 80's kid have a poster of  Jean Eustache's

The Mother and the Whore on their wall?

Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver

in Marriage Story

Noah Baumbach goes to the broken family well again in 2019's much praised Marriage Story. I was at first a little taken aback by the fact that the couple are both in show business, but this is later an important plot point in that Charlie directs plays in New York and Nicole has moved to Los Angles to further her professional career in television. Their son Henry (Azhy Robertson) is caught in the middle. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is legally. Divorce isn't cheap, financially or emotionally. Nicole finds a lawyer (Laura Dern) that takes no prisoners. Charlie finds a older but caring lawyer (Alan Alda) at first, but then realizes he's got to get his own "asshole" lawyer (Ray Liotta).

The film is very well acted and is a strong emotional piece. Adam Driver is especially solid and his performance of the song Being Alive at the end of the film is a fitting catharsis to the film.

Noah Baumbach and his wife Greta Gerwig (Little Women) both have films nominated for Best Picture this year...I hope that doesn't cause them any problems at home...

Marriage Story has been nominated for six Oscars, including: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

Lawyering up...Alan Alda assists Adam Driver

in Marriage Story

Lawyering up...Laura Dern advocates for

Scarlett Johannson in Marriage Story

THE TWO POPES (2019), FIRST REFORMED (2017)

Toller (Ethan Hawke) tries to comfort

Mother Mary (Amanda Seyfried) 

in First Reformed

Today's crisis of faith double feature begins with Paul Schrader's First Reformed, a story of a minister named Toller (Ehtan Hawke) in upstate New York who has to wrestle with an interesting conundrum-How can Toller spread the word of God in his little church when it is being backed by a megachuch that has financial backing of polluters? How can God's word be spread when we seem to care so little about the planet he has blessed us with? Toller's other demons include a son that was killed in Iraq and an ongoing drinking problem. Much of Toller's viewpoint is exacerbated by his ministering to a stuggling environmental activist and his pregnant wife Mary (Amanda Seyfried).  

First Reformed reminds me a lot of Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (The pastor keeps a diary as his health deteriorates in both films). The film also appears to be headed for a finale reminiscent of Schrader's own Taxi Driver script. However, the conclusion didn't go at all the way I expected. There is really a lot to unpack in this film and it is well worth the effort. Despite many accolades, First Reformed only received on Oscar nomination, that being for Schrader's Screenplay.

I've liked Schrader's films over the years, many of which were heavily influenced by his strict Calvinist upbringing in which he wasn't even allowed to see a movie until he was seventeen! This struggle between his religiosity and the secular is exemplified in many of his films such as Hardcore (1979) and The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). 

Current Pope (Anthony Hopkins) tries to pick

the brain of future Pope Francis (Johnathan Pryce)

in The Two Popes

Another crisis of faith is in store for Pope Benedict XVI (Anthony Hopkins), as he struggles with the unprecedented decision of retiring from being Pope and likely having the new Pope be the much more progressive Cardinal Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce). The back and forth between the stodgy Conservative Benedict and the more liberally minded Bergoglio provide for much of the meat of this film. The script by Anthony McCarten nicely shows the confrontation between the two men without being overly preachy (for lack of a better word) about the dogmas of the two men. It is also necessary for the leads to be two heavy hitters and Hopkins and Pryce fill that bill nicely. The two of them carry most of the movie with the exception of some flashback scenes of the early life of Bergoglio.

Director Meirelles has been praised in the past for his films such as City of God (2002) and The Constant Gardener (2005).

The Two Popes has been nominated for three Oscars: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

JOKER (2019), JUDY (2019)

 The frontrunners...

Joaquin Phoenix about to perform

as Joker

The frontrunner in the Best Actor Oscar race by all accounts is Joaquin Phoenix as Joker. 

Joker plays fast and loose with the origin story of most famous of Batman villains known by so many from DC comics. In this movie, he is know as Albert Fleck, who lives with his mother and manages to scrape by with the money he can make as a party clown. Arthur suffers from various mental issues that require his taking several types of medication to keep in control. Personal issues develop with his sickly mother and funding cuts that deprive Arthur of the drugs he needs. Arthur subsequently transforms into the Joker as he slowly loses control of his sanity and discovers some sobering truths about his life that push him over the edge for keeps.

Phoenix gives his all here. I can't imagine anyone better or stranger to take on this role both physically and mentally. I thought his only potential detriment to winning the Oscar might be the fact that Heath Ledger won an Oscar for the same role in The Dark Night. From every prediction sight I've looked at, this doesn't seem to matter and he's a heavy favorite.

Joker was nominated for 11 Academy Awards: including Best Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay and Music.

Rene Zellweger about to perform

as Judy

Even more of a sure thing seems to be Rene Zellweger taking home the Best Actress award for her performance as Judy Garland towards the end of her life in Judy.  Most of the film is set in Swinging London of the late 60's, as we see Miss Garland performing to make money to keep custody of her kids. The movie shows Judy's drug/pill problem which it intersperses with clips of young Judy on The Wizard of Oz set where the pressures of the studio and willing accomplices get Judy hooked on pills at a very tender age.

Zellweger gives a wonderful interpretation of the latter day Garland, including performing her songs in a very convincing way. It's a sad story that seems to play a bit loose with the facts and condenses some of what actually happened for the sake of the plot. I don't know if Judy actually ate omelettes with a gay couple she met at the end of one show, but it's a nice enough scene!

Judy was nominated for two Academy Awards: Best Actress and Best Makeup/Hairstyling 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015), ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)

Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh

in The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight or maybe Agatha Christie's Kill Bill, but set in a Western setting?

A stagecoach with bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) picks up another bounty hunter (Samuel L. Jackson) and a southern soldier from the war (Walter Goggins) on their trek to the city of Red Rock. Bad weather forces them to stay at a haberdashery who has as guests an assortment of characters, many of whom are not what they seem to be. Who and what these desperadoes are up to is the question of this film, which is well over three hours in the expanded version I saw on Netflix. You can say that Tarantino borrows liberally from other movies...hell!, I even recognized some rehashing of some of Tarantino's own movies like Inglorious Basterds and Reservoir Dogs...but...I found what was going on on the screen compelling enough and the characters interesting enough to never think the running time as being too long...

Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Pacino
in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

...This leads us to Tarantino's latest effort, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I originally heard about a year ago that Tarantino was making a film about Charles Manson, so it surprised me now that I've seen it that Manson as a character only has a walk on part here. The main plot of the film involves actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo Di Caprio), who is experiencing a similar career arc to Clint Eastwood and his loyal stunt man Cliff (Brad Pitt). The two get involved through being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the Manson family, which comes to a head on August 8, 1969...but not in the way you might think. Shraon Tate (Margot Robbie) is also featured prominently here. 

Tarantino certainly has an eye for detail and an intense nostalgia of the time and has created a most entertaining film. I am concerned that the The National Review gave this film such a positive review. I'm going to have to think on that one a bit.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has been nominated for ten Oscars, including: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.