Movies

           Sometimes I find movies I want to write about and don’t for some reason.  The two main reasons for this are A) I have to return the disc before I get the chance to write, and B) I don’t know if I have enough to say for a full post.  And, okay, sometimes I just don’t feel like writing at all.

Film Reel/Artwork by Kate Dorsey

                

               No matter what the reason for why I don’t create a full post for something, it still remains on my mind, because I do want others to see what I have seen.  Below are three films I did not write their own post, for one reason or another, but I still want people try for themselves and enjoy.        

Gifted

                Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is trying to raise his niece Mary (McKenna Grace) as normally as possible.  Mary’s mother, Diane, committed suicide, leaving Mary in Frank’s care, and far away from their mother.

                With the help of his neighbor, Roberta Taylor (Octavia Spencer), Frank raises Mary as best as he can.  It is why he does not encourage Mary’s mathematical abilities when they are discovered at school.  He saw what those extreme abilities did to his sister, and he wants to protect Mary from the same happening to her.

                One way Frank can do this is by keeping his mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), away from Mary, as Evelyn will only harm and use Mary as she did Diane.

                When the principal of Mary’s school gets involved things start to fall apart.  Ms. Davis (Elizabeth Marvel) believes Frank’s reluctance to push Mary’s abilities makes him unfit to raise his niece.  With her help, Evelyn returns to the scene and gets Mary taken away from Frank.  Mary is put into foster care, and into a house that lets Evelyn repeat history all over again. 

                This is a really sweet movie.  That’s really the best way for me to sum it up, but there are some specific things about it I want to mention.

                First, how in the world did Frank not take out that principal (I mean legally and nonviolently)?  Ms. Davis’s interference in Mary’s life was horrible, and definitely overstepping.  Yes, Mary needed encouragement in her math for her own sake, but not for some glory of someone else, which I felt was more what Ms. Davis had in mind.  Mary’s well-being was not her first concern, and I really wanted her to get eliminated from her job.

                Second, I love the fact the cat helped everything resolve in the end.  Without Fred, there is so much Frank would have never found out, or at least not until it was too late.  For me, it’s the cat who saved the day.  Yes, Frank helped, but I still give credit to the cat. 

                Third, this is the first time I really consciously saw Chris Evans as something other than Captain America.  I know he’s been in the industry for years, but Captain America is what I know him most for.  Which is funny, because I have never watched a Captain America movie all the way through.  For me the Marvel Universe is all about Loki (Tom Hiddleston).  Without him, my mind starts to wander.

                Fourth, how can you not love Octavia Spencer?  I mean, really?  How can you not?

               

Battle of the Sexes

                I will be the first to admit I have a problem when it comes to tennis.  I get far too involved when a tournament is on, especially with the men’s game.  This has eased over the years, fortunately, but that does not mean I don’t still watch or read about the history of it.  One of the biggest historical events in tennis history is the Battle of the Sexes with Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.               

                It’s the early 1970s and Billie Jean King (Emma Stone), along with other female tennis players, are fed up with how they are treated compared to the men.  They decide to form their own tennis tour (ironically sponsored by a cigarette company), and show the powers that be they will no longer be pushed around.  They will show the world just how much they can do on their own.

                While on tour, Billie Jean finds herself falling in love with her hairdresser, Marilyn Barnett (Andrea Riseborough).  It is a turn of events Billie Jean never expected, especially since she is married to a man, Larry King (Austin Stowell).

                No matter what is going on with her personal life, Billie Jean must also concentrate on the professional.  She has been dealt a challenge by male tennis player Bobby Riggs (Steve Carell).  He wants to play Billie Jean in a tennis match to prove which gender is better at tennis after all (he of course believes it’s his).  Margaret Court (Jessica McNamee) already played him in a match he won.  Now he wants to play Billie Jean, believing the result will be the same.  He is definitely in for a surprise.

                Oh, my goodness.  Bobby Riggs is so incredibly obnoxious in this film.  I have no idea how Billie Jean King put up with him.  In the film she seemed to do it relatively calmly.  I wonder if that was the case in real life.

                Something else I found fascinating was people’s thoughts on the match back then; both males and females.  There were so many women supporting Bobby Riggs, not having any idea how a Billie Jean King win could, and would, change the future for everyone.

               

Rocketman

                Elton John has lived quite a life.  And to think, this film covers only part of it.

               Reginald Dwight (Matthew Illesley and Kit Connor) started out in the not-so stable of families.  His mother, Sheila (Bryce Dallas Howard), is always angry and put-out about something.  His father, Stanley (Steven Mackintosh), is certainly not caring and compassionate.  If it weren’t for his grandmother, Ivy (Gemma Jones), who knows where the future Elton John (Taron Egerton) would be?

                Dwight is very young when his musical talent is discovered.  He can play pretty much anything on the piano once he hears it.  This leads him to begin performing publicly at an early age, then going on tour with a group.

                After being with the group for a while, Dwight decides to change his name and go out on his own.  He teams up with lyricist Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell).  Using the name Elton John, Dwight’s musical career starts to rise, to places he probably never imagined.

                As his notoriety, fame, and success grows, the newly named Elton John runs into great difficulties.  But through the addictions, relationships, and money troubles, there is one constant.  Bernie Taupin.  He is there for Elton through everything, helping Elton become the man and legend he is today.

                Taron Egerton did such a great job as Elton John.  He really was perfect for the part, even when it came down to the singing.  With the way the music was placed, I could easily see this film becoming a stage musical.  It would be interesting to see if Mr. Egerton would be willing to do this role again for the stage.

                I also have to give acknowledgement to Bryce Dallas Howard.  It must not have been easy to play such an unpleasant and distant character.  When playing one, it is easy to automatically make them an awful person, but she didn’t.  Ms. Howard made it seem something else was going on in Mrs. Dwight’s head that made her do the things she did.  Were Mrs. Dwight’s actions acceptable?  No.  But Ms. Howard made it clear, in a subtle way, there were reasons and thoughts behind her behavior, instead of making Mrs. Dwight a flat-out awful human being.