Movie Review: All is True

All Is True ** / *****

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh.

Written by: Ben Elton.

Starring: Kenneth Branagh (William Shakespeare), Judi Dench (Anne Hathaway), Ian McKellen (Henry Wriothesley), Kathryn Wilder (Judith Shakespeare), Jack Colgrave Hirst (Tom Quiney), Matt Jessup (Frank), Lydia Wilson (Susanna), Alex MacQueen (Sir Thomas Lucy), Hadley Fraser (John Hall), Gerard Horan (Ben Jonson)

 

If there are alternate realties, I really hope that there is one in which Kenneth Branagh got to have the career he so obviously wanted – to basically become the new Laurence Olivier, and bring new versions of Shakespeare classics to the screen on a regular basis. On the evidence of his first decade as a director – it could have been a great career. His Henry V (1989) was great, his Much Ado About Nothing (1993) is a delight and his Hamlet (1996) is the best screen version of Shakespeare’s masterpiece we have ever seen. While he didn’t direct Othello (1995), his Iago is perhaps by all-time favorite screen version of the character. But alas, times change – and classical versions of Shakespeare don’t happen as much as they used to – so since 2000, Branagh has only managed to bring Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000) – an ambitious attempt to make the play into a classic Hollywood musical, which didn’t really work, and a TV movie version of As You Like It (2006) to the screen. Branagh has worked consistently – both in front of, and behind the camera – but as a director, he has been sucked into the studio machine with stuff like the live action Cinderella for Disney and the original Thor for Marvel. I didn’t particularly care for his last directorial effort – Murder on the Orient Express – but did think that I would love Branagh to continue the series as Hercule Poirot, because what did work there, was good enough that I wanted to see more (and thankfully, we are getting Death on the Nile sooner rather than later. But I do think we’ve lost something by not seeing Branagh do more Shakespeare – a Macbeth, a Richard III, and maybe some lesser known plays – as stuff like Julie Taymor’s Titus or Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus have been some of the best Shakespearean movies of the past 20 years.

 

Branagh’s latest film as a director is not a Shakespeare adaptation, but does feature him playing the Bard himself. The film opens with the Globe Theatre burning down, and Shakespeare retiring to Stratford to live out his days in retirement. He returns to find his wife, Anne (Judi Dench) and two daughters – Susanna (Lydia Wilson) and Judith (Kathryn Wilder) don’t much care that he has returned from so long in London. He wants to mourn the death of his son Hamnet – building a garden in his honor – but he died years and years ago, and the rest of the family has moved on. Despite his success, he is still looked down upon by the upper class in his small town. First one, then the other daughter get caught up in scandals. And he starts to wonder if his life had any meaning whatsoever.

 

People smarter than I can tell you how much of what is on display in All is True is actually true – I gather, not all that much, or at least there is a lot of speculation based on incomplete information going on here. I’m not sure it matters much, as the film pretty much has a defense built into itself when Shakespeare tells an aspiring writer that if he stays true to himself, then all is true in what he writes. I don’t think the questionable history really helps or hurts the film.

 

What does hurt it is that Branagh and screenwriter Ben Elton try to cram in so much into its runtime, and then try to shock you with late revelations that don’t have the impact you think they might. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to actually depict the time around Hamnet’s death – so that the son is an actual character in the film, instead of the cipher he remains. So much is – built upon Shakespeare’s grief for his son but we have no idea who he was, and by the end, we realize we know even less than the movie led us to believe we did. The film also introduces us to so many minor, completely irrelevant characters that just muddy the waters.

 

There are scenes that work here. The best is probably a long conversation between Branagh’s Shakespeare and Ian McKellan’s Henry Wriothesley, his only scene in the film, which has the two great actors go toe-to-toe. I don’t know if it adds much to the overall film – if it even fits in – but it works wonderfully as a scene itself. If only Branagh had given Judi Dench the same opportunity at some point – but mainly, she seems wasted in her role.

 

The film does look good – I’ll give Branagh that. That Globe fire is brief, but mesmerizing – a wall of fire in front of Shakespeare, who watches as his world burns. And apparently, Branagh only used candlelight to film the interiors, and while Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon it is not, it certainly does give the film a distinct, dark look when they are inside.

 

But overall, I could never quite tell what the point of the movie was – what Branagh and company were saying about Shakespeare, either as a man, or as a writer. The film is handsomely mounted, and well-acted – but ultimately pointless.

Movie Review: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express ** ½ / *****

Directed by: Kenneth Branagh.

Written by: Michael Green based upon the novel by Agatha Christie.

Starring: Kenneth Branagh (Hercule Poirot), Penélope Cruz (Pilar Estravados), Willem Dafoe (Gerhard Hardman), Judi Dench (Princess Dragomiroff), Johnny Depp (Edward Ratchett), Josh Gad (Hector MacQueen), Derek Jacobi (Edward Henry Masterman), Leslie Odom Jr. (Dr. Arbuthnot), Michelle Pfeiffer (Caroline Hubbard), Daisy Ridley (Mary Debenham), Marwan Kenzari (Pierre Michel), Olivia Colman (Hildegarde Schmidt), Lucy Boynton (Countess Elena Andrenyi), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (Biniamino Marquez), Sergei Polunin (Count Rudolph Andrenyi), Tom Bateman (Bouc).

 

The best thing about the new version of Murder on the Orient Express is Kenneth Branagh’s performance as Agatha Christie’s infamous detective Hercule Poirot. Sporting the best mustache I have ever seen, Branagh somehow finds new dimensions to play in Poirot – even for those of us who have seen Albert Finney’s Oscar nominated turn in the 1974 original film, and who had a mother who watched a lot of David Suchet as Poirot, and as such, watched a lot himself. Branagh’s Poirot is almost a tragic figure – he certainly is a sad one – pining over his lost love, and admitting that his curse is that he can only “see things the way they ought to be”, so when something is amiss, it sticks out. This makes much of his life miserable – but makes him a great detective. But despite being this sad figure, it’s still a joy to watch Branagh in this role – he’s funny and clever, and has Branagh swinging for the fences again, in a role a worthy of him, for the first time in I’m not sure how long (yes, he’s very good in Dunkirk – but that’s a different kind of performance). If they announced tomorrow, a new movie or television series with Branagh as Poirot, I’d be enthused.

 

The problem with the new version of Murder on the Orient Express however is that Branagh, the director, doesn’t seem to put as much care into the storytelling as he does in crafting his own performance – or growing that mustache (please tell me it was real). After a crackerjack start at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem the film never really finds it footing again once we are on board the titular train. Part of the problem is that there are so many character (this version even combines two together to help) – but with 15 other major characters, played by one of the best ensembles you can hope for, the result is that most of the cast is underutilized. Essentially, they all get introduced with one character trait, and stay that way. It isn’t that some of them aren’t having fun – Michelle Pfeiffer is a man hungry widow certainly seems to be having a blast, as does Judi Dench as an elder Princess, but the movie does a poor job of keeping the characters sorted out. Every time Manuel Garcia-Rulfo’s Marquez shows up, you wonder who the hell he is for example – and for a long stretch of the movie, you forget that there is even a Count and Countess on the train. Other great performers are barely utilized – poor Olivia Colman and Willem Dafoe – and some are given little to work with other than their costumes – to be fair, Daisy Ridley and Leslie Odom Jr. both look amazing in those costumes, but you wish there was more there. There’s a problem in your Murder on the Orient Express adaptation when Johnny Depp’s Ratchett has more screen time that practically anyone note named Hercule.

 

Perhaps some of these flaws could be forgiven in an overall better film. After all, you have a great Poirot here, the costumes and art direction are superb, and Branagh and cinematographer Harris Zambarloukos do what they can to try and open up the story a little – hard to do when the story is confined to a train, and that train is stopped in its tracks alongside a mountain. But the biggest problem with the film is that it screws up precisely the part of the movie where you cannot screw up – the finale, the “solution” to the murder – which is stories like this is always the key moment, and always takes a long time, because the plot is so elaborate that Poirot needs to explain it for a good 15 minutes or so. First of all, the way he even comes to figure everything out is never really explained – he’s putting pieces together that the audience didn’t have, which doesn’t seem fair – and second, his big long explanation is muddled and confusing. It leaves you scratching your head – and I knew the solution before I saw the movie.

 

Branagh is a talented filmmaker, who has had to change with the times over his 30 year career. Despite the fact that he’s directed some of the best Shakespeare movies of all time – I’ll take his 1996, 4 hour Hamlet over any other version of that play – no one much seems interested in financing those anymore. So he directs a Jack Ryan movie, he directs Thor for Marvel, he directs Cinderella for Disney – and all of those, he brings something of himself to the film. He does so here as well – but this time, it never quite comes together. The movie hints as a sequel – Death on the Nile – and I would love to see it. Although, I think I’d replace Branagh as director, and just let him and his glorious mustache take over the screen.

Movie Review: Cinderella

Cinderella
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh.
Written by: Chris Weitz.
Starring: Lily James (Cinderella), Cate Blanchett (Stepmother), Richard Madden (Prince), Helena Bonham Carter (Fairy Godmother), Nonso Anozie (Captain), Stellan Skarsgård (Grand Duke), Sophie McShera (Drisella), Holliday Grainger (Anastasia), Derek Jacobi (King), Ben Chaplin (Ella's Father), Hayley Atwell (Ella's Mother), Rob Brydon (Master Phineus).

Last year’s Maleficent envisioned the “villain” of the Disney classic animated film, Sleeping Beauty, as a victim out for righteous vengeance on the man who used and abused her. And that was just the latest in a string of films made by Disney that looked to update their beloved animated classics for a more modern age – the animated mega-hit Frozen, gave us two Princesses who didn’t need a man (although one got one anyway), Tangled was a more complicated look at parental abuse than you would think Disney capable of, and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland made its heroine into an ass kicking warrior – for good and bad. All of these, and more (like Sofia the First, and charming animated series I’m stuck watching approximately 1,000 time a week because of an adorable three and half year old who cannot get enough of it), seem to be Disney acknowledging the criticisms of their past, and trying to issue a corrective in the present (while still, of course, making lots and lots of money). So the latest Cinderella – directed by Kenneth Branagh – is somewhat strange in that regard, and it doesn’t seem to try and update the story at all. It gives the title character a little (very little) more moxie and spunk then the doormat of a character in the 1950 animated film, and give a little (again very little) shading to her evil Stepmother to make her somewhat more human, but for the most part this Cinderella is a straight ahead, live action remake of the 1950 animated original. Sure, it adds a few more (completely unnecessary) plot complications, but for the most part, this is the same film as we all grew up – just with real people, instead of animation. That can make watching the film kind of dull at times to be quite honest – but then again, I have to acknowledge I’m not exactly the target audience here. That three and half year old who makes me watch Sofia the First all the time? She loved it (except for those mean people who weren’t “very nice” to Cinderella).

The movie adds slightly more details to Cinderella’s childhood year. Her mother (Haley Atwell) and father (Ben Chaplin) adore her beyond all reason, and they basically spend their days in complete bliss. Then, mother gets sick (presumably with the same disease that has effected women in the movies at least as far back as Ali McGraw in Love Story, where you still die, you just look beautiful doing it) and gives Cinderella advice that she will repeat (over and over again) throughout the movie “Have courage, and be kind”. Her father continues to dote on her through her teenage years, which she also spends in complete bliss (despite their being no evidence that she ever leaves her house, or has friends beyond the servants – oh, and some mice) – but then marries the Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchatt), and brings her, and her two daughters (Sophie McShera and Holliday Grainger) to live with them. They are a nightmare from the start – but Ella “has courage” and is “kind” to them – even after her father dies, and they treat her as the maid. One day, she gets so upset, she goes racing off through the woods, and ends up meeting “Kit” (Richard Madden), who tells her he is an apprentice, but in reality he is the Prince (of course). They two immediately like each other. He’s nice and charming, she has spunk, and that’s all the really need. This is an added scene – probably there because in the original film, the Prince basically falls in love with Cinderella because she’s pretty, and she falls in love with him, because he’s a prince. At least in this version, there is a little more shading there.

We know what happens next. There is a ball – Cinderella isn’t allowed to go, but her fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up and helps her. Cinderella and the Prince meet (in this case, again), a glass slipper in left behind, etc, etc, etc. The movie throws in some more complications with the Prince as well. The Grand Duke (played by Stellan Skarsgaard, so of course, he is, as my daughter would say “not nice”) has other plans for who the Prince should marry. The ailing King (Derek Jacobi) is far more sympathetic – and eventually sees eye-to-eye with his son (in a way that makes him one of the best fathers in a Disney movie ever, which is kind of sad really). But we know how things will end, right?

The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, presumably since we no longer live in a movie era where anyone will give him money to make Shakespeare movies (and considering his 1996 Hamlet is perhaps my favorite “straight” adaption of Shakespeare ever, we are all the poorer for that). Branagh is a strange choice for the film – but perhaps the right one, as he gets on board with the straight forward screenplay by Chris Weitz, and plays the movie right down the middle. The film seems to be designed to appeal directed to girls under the age of 11 or so, and basically gets it right – lots of frilly dresses and glitter, and the castle and forest, and Cinderella’s home, and all the rest look like they are right out of a fairy tale – which of course is exactly what they were going for.

The performances are about as good as could be expected. Lily James gives Cinderella as much personality as is possible to do under the circumstances – and I guess you could say the same for Madden as the Prince. I still want to see Helena Bonham Carter play a normal person again at some point – but there’s no denying she is ideally cast as the loopy Fairy Godmother (and narrator) of the film. And it’s always a pleasure whenever Blanchatt comes on screen – for two reasons. The first is because she does so much with so little – she has a way looking at Cinderella with utter, withering contempt, and a slight sneer which is quite scary, but she’s still able, in a late scene to make us feel some sympathy for her – and for woman like her, who at the time, had little in the way of options other than to marry, and hope their husbands could care for them. The second reason, of course is because you cannot wait to see what amazing costume she is going to come out wearing next – especially the hats. No one wears a hat like Blanchatt anymore.

Ultimately, I didn’t much like this version of Cinderella. Personally, I prefer the movie that add a new twist on an old classic – really, if you’re not going to do that, then what the heck is the point of remaking a film like this in the first place? But then I watched my daughter watch the film – and saw how much she loved it. I take her to the movies as often as I can, and more often than not, she’s stuck seeing a movie about little boys who become heroes – with women as secondary characters (if they’re there at all). She likes those movies to – but I was glad to have a movie aimed directly at her this time. Sure, the gender politics in the movie are less than ideal. But I think I can wait until she’s a little older than three and half to address that, don’t you? For now, it’s enough to just let her be enchanted by a movie. And this version of Cinderella did that.

Movie Review: Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Directed by:  Kenneth Branagh.
Written by: Adam Cozad and David Koepp based on characters created by Tom Clancy.
Starring: Chris Pine (Jack Ryan), Keira Knightley (Cathy Muller), Kevin Costner (Thomas Harper), Kenneth Branagh (Viktor Cherevin), Lenn Kudrjawizki (Constantin), Alec Utgoff (Aleksandr Borovsky), Peter Andersson (Dimitri Lemkov), Elena Velikanova (Katya), Nonso Anozie (Embee Deng), Seth Ayott (Teddy Hefferman), Colm Feore (Rob Behringer), Gemma Chan (Amy Chang).

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is the fifth film starring Tom Clancy’s famous CIA Agent in the past 23 years – and is the first one not directly based on one of Clancy’s many Ryan novels. If this ends up kick starting a new Ryan franchise, not being beholden to Clancy’s novels may end up being a good thing for a new series. As good as The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear & Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears were – and they all have their charms, even if none came close to matching the first film, Red October – part of the problem with them is having to adapt Clancy’s huge, heavily plotted novels into a two hour runtime. I remember as a teenager being amazed that the first 200 pages or so of Clear & Present Danger was dispatched of in all of about 5 minutes of screen time in the movie. Such are the perils of adapting such long novels.

The film also features the fourth different actor to play Ryan – this time Chris Pine steps into the role, as a younger Ryan – an eager go-getter who leaves his studies at the London School of Economics on 9/11 and joins the Marines. Shot down over Afghanistan, his military career seems to be over – but he is approached by Thomas Harper (Kevin Costner), who tells him, jokingly at first, that he’s in the CIA. He wants Jack for his unit – which he says is responsible “for making sure we don’t get hit again”. What this means for Ryan is years undercover working on Wall Street where he’s tasked with tracking down funding for terror networks. After years of this, he finally seems to have stumbled on something big – his firm’s Russian partners are hiding some accounts from him and his firm – a big no-no and red flag for Ryan – especially since from what little he can gleam from the information he has, they seem to be American currency accounts. Given a current state of unrest – Russia is pissed at America about something to do with an oil pipeline, and a hurricane is brewing in the Gulf – the dollar should be dropping, but it’s not. It appears to Ryan that the Russians are propping up the dollar – but why would they do that?

Pine is well suited for this version of Jack Ryan. He is young, charming, good looking and has the look of an idealist and true believer. He isn’t quite a puppy dog licking your face to get you to like him, but he’s not all that far off from that either. It’s difficult to see picture Pine’s Ryan transforming into the more cynical version Harrison Ford played twice – but he’s young, perhaps he’ll learn.

 But the best performances in the movie belong to the two veterans. Kevin Costner has grown on me over the past few years as he has matured from a leading man into a character actor. He has the right world weary charm to play this role – he’s someone who still believes in what he does, even though he’s seen a lot more than Jack. Kenneth Branagh – who also directed – is even better as Viktor Cherevin, the Russian bad guy up to no good. When Branagh started making films – in 1989 – he immediately staked his claim as Laurence Olivier’s heir apparent by making Shakespeare’s Henry V – the first film Olivier made as a director as well. Branagh has done many Shakespeare movies over the years, but the changing movie industry seems to not allow him to do them as much anymore. So he’s decided to do the next best thing – and start having fun with accents, like Olivier often did. His exaggerated Russian accent here is great fun – not as fun as Olivier and his crazy French Canadian one in Powell & Pressburger’s 49^th Parallel – but fun nonetheless. Branagh makes a charming villain – but also a cruel, heartless one when he wants to be. As a director, Branagh does a good job as well. I would prefer that the action sequences not be as heavy on the handheld camera work and rapid fire editing as they are - in particular the helicopter sequence and an extended hand-to-hand combat sequence in a hotel room, which are both so chopped up they become next to impossible to follow – but for the most part, Branagh plays things straight. He knows he’s making an old school spy thriller – even if it’s set in the present day – and he gets the job done.

Keira Knightley also shows up – in a largely thankless role as Ryan’s doctor girlfriend, who has so far rebuffed his marriage proposals. She spends far too long thinking Ryan is having an affair because he’s so secretive – but she does get some nice moments with Branagh over a tense dinner. Still I wish movies like this either gave their female characters more to do, or else jettisoned them altogether. Are we really still not past the whole damsel in distress thing?

For the most part, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit accomplishes what it sets out to do. This is an action-thriller for a somewhat older audience – who like a plot and character to go along with their gunfights and car chases. The plot is, of course, more than a little ridiculous – and the film’s climax uses the tired countdown clock gimmick. But for an action film in January, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit delivers nicely.

Movie Review: Thor

Thor ***
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh.
Written by: Ashley Miller & Zack Stentz and Don Payne and J. Michael Straczynski and Mark Protosevich based on the comic by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber & Jack Kirby.
Starring: Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Anthony Hopkins (Odin), Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig), Kat Dennings (Darcy Lewis), Clark Gregg (Agent Coulson), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Colm Feore (King Laufey), Ray Stevenson (Volstagg), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun), Josh Dallas (Fandral), Jaimie Alexander (Sif), Rene Russo (Frigga), Adriana Barraza (Isabel Alvarez), Maximiliano Hernández (Agent Sitwell).

When you stop and think about it, Thor has got to be one of the silliest superheroes in history. He is, after all, the Norse Thunder God, who travels between worlds on a magical, glowing highway and has a hammer that can destroy anything and allows him to fly. It makes you wonder why he needs to join up with The Avengers, because really, Thor could destroy anything earth threw at him pretty easily all by himself. But these are questions you aren’t supposed to ask – just like why Wolverine is apparently the greatest of the X-Men, when Magneto could just pull his skeleton out of his body, and when Storm is clearly the most powerful one.

And yet, despite the inherent silliness of Thor, I have to admit, I quite enjoyed Kenneth Branagh’s big screen version of the superhero. Why they decided to get Branagh, best known for his Shakespeare adaptations (that, in many cases I think are superior to even those by Laurence Olivier) to direct this film, I honestly have no clue, but he pulls it off. The silliness of it all simply adds to the films charm.

The movie opens with Thor in his own world. His aging father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is finally getting ready to turn the kingdom over to Thor, much to the chagrin of Thor’s brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who feels passed over. But during his coronation, right before Odin is to make it official, the discover their arch nemesis, the Ice Giants, have broken into the palace, and are trying to steal back the source of their power, that Odin had taken from them 1,000 years before. Odin preaches patience, but Thor has none, and decides to travel to the world of the Ice Giants to find out what happened. This, of course, does not go well, and it looks like after a millennium of peace, war will break out again. Odin, furious at his son, banishes him to earth, as a mere mortal. He also sends Thor’s magical hammer done to earth – but makes it impossible for anyone “unworthy” of its power to possess it.

On earth, circa 2011, Thor is obviously a strange person. The first people he meets are scientist, tracking strange lights in the sky. They are led by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her mentor (Stellan Skarsgaard) and her wise cracking assistant (Kat Dennings). Of course, it isn’t long before SHIELD finds out about Thor, and his strange hammer, and sends Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) to find out what happened. Coulson is the character who ties all of the Avenger movie together – having appeared in the first two Iron Man movies and The Incredible Hulk, although I doubt they’ll be able to work him into Captain America, seeing as how in that film Captain America is fighting Nazis.

The flaw in Thor is the same flaw I find in nearly all first installments of superhero movies. They have to spend so much time setting everything up, telling the “origin” story of the superhero, that an actual plot seems secondary. And for the most part, origin stories are usually pretty lame. Even Stan Lee admitted that he made the X-Men mutants because he was tired of figuring out how to make his superheroes obtain their powers. At least in Thor, the origin story is radically different – there are no Gamma Rays or Radioactive Spiders or strange blasts from space. The stuff on Asegard, where Thor is from, actually works quite well – and could well be the reason they decided on Branagh to direct. After all, it is all about Kings and Princes, and struggles for the throne – in other words, stuff Shakespeare wrote all about. One thing I will mention about the Asegard scenes is that the special effects work there was not very effective to me – it all seemed overdone and rather fake. The special effects work done on earth is much better handled however.

Overall, I liked the scenes on earth more than Asegard. True, you really didn’t need someone of Portman’s talent to play Jane Foster – who like many women in superhero movies seems like window dressing more than anything else. Yet, I enjoyed the fish out of water comedy of Thor, this giant, Norse god in 2011 America. Chris Hemsworth finds the right note to play Thor – he doesn’t take it too seriously and become bogged down by playing this larger than life character.

I enjoyed Thor more than I really thought I would. The whole concept of Thor still seems silly to me, and I’m not sure how he’ll fit in with the other Avengers (which thankfully, will not include Ant-Man of Wasp, because really, who the hell wants a superhero whose power is to shrink to the size of an insect), but at least in this film, it works. For better or for worse, Thor signals the official start of the summer movie season – at least it started on a good note.