From Out of Peru and into England, a Bear Finds a New Habitat

Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) in "Paddington"

Paddington Bear was a very beloved children's-book character to me when growing up.  This adorable bear, with his red explorer's hat and blue duffle coat, still holds a special place in my heart.  I am extremely pleased to say that in director Paul King's “Paddington,” he delivers a charming and fun film that's every bit as entertaining for adults as it is for children.

Deep in the jungles of Peru, an English explorer by the name of Montgomery Clyde (Tim Downie) comes across a home belonging to two bears, Lucy and Pastuzo (voiced by Imelda Staunton and Michael Gambon).  Decades later, their nephew, Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), comes to live with them.  After an earthquake destroys their home and supposedly kills Uncle Pastuzo, Aunt Lucy has Paddington go on a cargo ship that’s heading to London, where he will try and find a home, while she moves into a community for retired bears.

Upon arriving in London, Paddington is taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Brown (Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins) and their two children (Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin).  While living with them, Paddington begins a search for the explorer who visited his family long ago, all the while being pursued by a dastardly taxidermist (Nicole Kidman), who wants him for her museum collection.

All of the performances from the cast members show that they must have exhibited a wonderful deal of enthusiasm when making the film, and it is a complete delight to see talented actors and actresses be involved in bringing the story of this bear to the big screen.  The ease with which the cast members perform alongside the CGI bear is further evidence of their superb acting abilities.

The film’s settings are gorgeously detailed, such as the jungles of Peru, the Brown family's home, and an antique shop that Paddington and Mrs. Brown visit.  The beauty of these settings is one of several factors in the film that call to mind the imaginative spark that Paddington creator Michael Bond put into his books.

Paul King and Hamish McColl have written a screenplay that, thankfully, doesn't lower itself to childish humor, but instead provides jokes that audiences of all ages can embrace.  The story is both funny and heartwarming, one that is written in such a way that it seems as though Bond wrote the screenplay himself.

Director King fully captures the magic of Bond's book series, allowing older viewers to enjoy and reminisce about their own childhood experiences with Paddington, while also introducing the lovable character to a younger generation of readers and moviegoers.  I have to admit, after seeing the film, I wanted to revisit the books. 

As people who are familiar with Paddington know, the note that he wears around his neck when arriving in London says, “Please look after this bear.  Thank you.”  It’s safe to say that King took these words to heart with his handling of this adored bear. 

Final grade: A

Fighting a War Overseas, and Thinking About it at Home

Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle in "American Sniper"

After Clint Eastwood’s latest contributions to war cinema in 2006, “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima,” which were companion-piece World War II films, he returns to the genre with “American Sniper,” a film that follows the Navy SEAL assignments of Chris Kyle, an individual who is considered to be the most deadly sniper in the history of the U.S. military.

Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is a Texan who spends his time as a cowboy in the rodeo.  After watching news coverage of the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi, he enlists in the Navy SEALs, where he soon becomes a sniper.  After the 9/11 attacks, he is deployed to Iraq.  During his four tours of duty, Chris will become more and more accustomed to fighting overseas and will soon be burdened by the thoughts of war during his time at home.

In what is Bradley Cooper’s most dramatic performance to date, he successfully shows us how the war is changing his character.  As a marine who quickly becomes a top sharpshooter, Cooper shows in his eyes and facial expressions how he processes the moral dilemmas he faces when positioned behind a gun.  We can sense everything that is going through his mind as he decides whether or not to pull the trigger on certain targets, especially in the suspenseful opening scene.  Chris calls to mind Jeremy Renner’s role from “The Hurt Locker,” a character who can’t seem to pull himself away from the field of battle and eventually has some trouble adjusting to a normal life once he’s taken out of the danger he has become accustomed to.  By the time Chris is ready to go home and calls his wife to tell her, you can easily perceive the emotional toll that this war has had on him.  With all of this, Cooper powerfully offers us a look into the psyche of his character and the changes that the war had on him.  

Sienna Miller, who plays Chris’ wife Taya, has a strong presence as a military wife and exemplifies the challenges and heartache that a loved one experiences when someone close to them is fighting overseas.

The screenplay by Jason Hall, which is based on an autobiography by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice, transitions between Chris’ four tours of duty and his family life, so we’re able to see how he functions as a SEAL and a family man, and we see how the two sides of his character process the war.  The story serves as a study of Chris as he grapples with his hunger to serve his country and task of having to assimilate back into civilian life whenever he returns from a tour. 

With the time that the story spends to focus on Chris at war, I do wish, however, that the film used some more time to concentrate on his family and the effects that the war had on his home life, both in between his tours and at the end of his time overseas.  The couple of scenes near the end of the film with Chris trying to get used to living at home again are especially compelling because we see what the war has done to him, both emotionally and mentally, and a little more of that would have benefitted the film.

After Eastwood’s last three movies as a director didn’t reach the heights of the talent that he is capable of showcasing, “American Sniper” is his best movie since “Invictus.”  In the segments that take place during the war, Eastwood provides several scenes of high tension, particularly the opening minutes and a thrillingly shot, climactic sandstorm near the film’s end; and in the segments with Chris at home, the drama that Eastwood constructs between Chris and Taya shows how the former’s time overseas is impacting them both.  

Despite a few previous directorial missteps, Eastwood shows that he still has his treasured ability to make a great movie, and after this summer’s “Jersey Boys,” that’s a considerable relief.

Final grade: A-

Marching in Pursuit of Full Equality

David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Selma"

There are many stories that can come out of the Civil Rights Movement.  It’s a defining period of America that has an abundance of history to share.  In “Selma,” director Ava DuVernay gives us a highly inspiring historical drama that recounts the bravery of Martin Luther King, Jr. and his protestors as they journey to have their voices heard.

Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 desegregated the South, there were sections that were still heavily discriminatory, which made it a challenge for African-Americans to register to vote.  In response to this, Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) begins a new mission to help them obtain equal voting rights.  To achieve this, King travels to Selma, Alabama to gather a group of protestors to stand up for their suffrage.  Despite the dangers that the protestors face, King will stop at nothing to have his group march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama and bring national attention to the cause. 

David Oyelowo, with the impassioned speeches he delivers throughout the film, provides a performance that holds the power to give the viewer chills as he brings this American figure to life.  From his dynamic public speaking, to his unfaltering courage, to the perseverance of his task, Oyelowo brings across the heroic nature of MLK, and watching him address hundreds, and then thousands of people gives you the feeling of what it must have felt like for spectators to watch this individual bring change.  Oyelowo fully embodies this individual who fought with his words, and right when the film begins, you know he is going to do complete justice to this national hero, but it’s when you first see him addressing a church full of protestors that you know he holds the spirited speaking power of King.

As Coretta Scott King, Carmen Ejogo fully conveys the stress of being apart from her husband during his time with the protest groups, while she takes care of the rest of their family at home.  The fear and worrying for her husband’s safety truly makes you understand the anxiety she’s experiencing.  It’s a rather quiet performance, but one that really emphasizes her support of her husband and desire to keep their family together in the midst of adversity.

Seeing as the Selma-to-Montgomery march is the story’s emphasis, the screenplay by Paul Webb focuses on how, even after the passing of the Civil Rights Act, African-Americans still had a significant distance to go before they achieved full equality.  The film jumps around between King’s time at home, his protests in Selma, and his trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to try and gain his support, all of which gives us great detail of the work that went into trying to get voting rights.   

What’s intriguing about the screenplay providing focus on just the Selma-to-Montgomery march is that, instead of detailing King’s whole life and several of his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, it focuses on one aspect of his quest for civil rights, which helps to show the effects of a single event in the scope of the whole CRM, a movement that had plenty of important events within it.

One fault I did find with the screenplay, however, was the somewhat lack of focus on King’s flaws.  Normally, I wouldn’t think much of it, but toward the beginning of the film, there’s a scene that sets up a possible subplot that will detail the supposed affairs that King had on his travels.  Instead, we see this issue played out in one other scene about halfway through the film, and not much else.  Although the movie is meant to celebrate King for being the activist he was, it would have been interesting to see a little more of what went on in his personal life.

Director Ava DuVernay expertly captures the narrative's historical events and films the violence between victims of racism and their oppressors in the type of unsettling detail that makes the injustice against the oppressed infuriating to watch, such as the horrible violence inflicted on them during “Bloody Sunday.”  DuVernay also makes effective use of different camera angles during King’s big speeches to provide the viewer with the maximum impact of the power of his words.  Using all of this, DuVernay fully expresses the importance of everything that happened at this point in the Civil Rights Movement and pays tribute to one of our nation’s greatest heroes. 

Final grade: A-

Deciphering Hidden Messages in the Background of War

Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in "The Imitation Game"

This season, we’ve had two biopics that each tell a story of a famous British figure.  One of those was James Marsh’s “The Theory of Everything,” which detailed the marriage of renowned physicist Stephen Hawking to Jane Wilde.  The second one is Morten Tyldum’s “The Imitation Game,” which tells the remarkable true story of cryptanalyst and computer scientist Alan Turing and the breaking of the Nazis’ Enigma code.  With his film, Tyldum brings forth an interesting look at the workings of Enigma and the life of Turing.

During World War II, death and destruction are sweeping across Europe.  As England enters the war, its government wants to do whatever it can to ensure the defeat of the Nazis.  The country’s secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park soon recruits Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) and a team of scholars to help crack the Nazis’ seemingly unbreakable code.  After some time at the school, Turing begins to build a computer-like device that can decode Nazi messages more efficiently.  During his work, however, Turing will face some animosity from both his employers and his team.

Benedict Cumberbatch wonderfully portrays the many aspects of Turing’s character, such as his shyness, persnickety nature, standoffishness, and cleverness.  It’s a performance that is beautifully fascinating to watch because of how he conveys the intelligence of his character, but is also equally devastating when you see what local law-enforcement did in response to discovering his homosexuality, which they viewed as indecent.  With Cumberbatch’s considerable acting talent, seeing him portray Turing is like watching a genius at work, just like Turing with his code-breaking. 

The screenplay by Graham Moore, which is based on Andrew Hodges biography, “Alan Turing: The Enigma,” interestingly goes through three different timelines to tell the story of Turing and flesh out his character.  We have the main story of him at the Cypher School during World War II; scenes of him as a teenager in a boarding school; and scenes of him in the ‘50s being interrogated at a police station.  Each of these story lines contributes considerably to giving us an idea of Turing’s character before, during, and after the war, with all of them linking thematically to each other.

Director Graham Moore makes this film into a thoroughly interesting historical drama and thriller.  The performances he gets from his cast reliably deliver in the movie’s more emotional moments, and the scenes of the team trying to decipher the hidden messages provide terrific tension.  

Similar to “The Theory of Everything,” which is another awards-contending British biopic, this film does have some Oscar-bait moments.  Luckily, the splendid work from the cast and the intriguing historical account save it from being overshadowed by this flaw.

“The Imitation Game” is an admirably detailed story of Alan Turing and the contributions he made towards combatting the Nazis, and this film is a great opportunity to learn about him.

Final grade: A-

Cleansing the Soul in the Magnificence of Nature

Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed in "Wild"

Movies that focus on a character’s solo excursion through the great outdoors tend to show the beauty and danger of nature as the protagonist faces the elements.  We’ve seen this in fairly recent true-story films, such as Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours” and Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild.”  

Now, we have another movie similar to those two, this time from director Jean-Marc Vallée with his latest film, “Wild,” which chronicles hiker Cheryl Strayed’s journey of self-discovery as she takes the odyssey of her life as a way to better herself from a self-destructive past.  

In 1995, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) decides to walk more than a thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trail as a way to heal after her mother’s death, divorce from her husband, and careless behavior.  Although she faces difficulties along the path, Cheryl will do what she can to persevere and prove that she has what it takes to turn her life around.

Reese Witherspoon provides a performance that is equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring.  We learn what Cheryl has been through in her childhood and adulthood, everything that will influence her to become the strong woman that her mother hoped she would be, and we have the chance to see her transformation, a damaged individual trying to repair her life.  Witherspoon superbly displays her character’s painful history and personal achievement, as well as the moments of frustration and triumph that come with being on your own in nature, all in a performance that is one of the most emotionally rewarding of the year.

The cinematography by Yves Bélanger gorgeously frames the landscapes of the PCT and allows us to appreciate the topography of the trail every bit as much as Cheryl, scenery that anyone on such a journey through nature would be abundantly lucky to experience. 

The screenplay by Nick Hornby, which is based on Cheryl’s memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” transitions between her present journey and her past, and he’s able to establish a balance between the two timelines so we are given enough focus for each.  We see the woman who Cheryl once was and the woman she’s setting out to become, and the flashbacks provide us with the reasons and understanding behind why she is going on this trek.

Just like what Jean-Marc Vallée did last year with “Dallas Buyers Club,” he has made a biographical drama where the main character is someone who, after periods of irresponsible behavior, takes on a significant undertaking as a path to a better well-being.  Vallée gives us a film that intimately follows Cheryl through her life-changing experience, and he constructs it all with a loving dedication in order for us to get to know her character.  

“Wild” brings us on travels that exemplify the determination to make oneself a better person and the power of second chances.

Final grade: A