Tag: Rachel McAdams

GAME NIGHT

(l to r) Rachel McAdams, Lamorne Morris, Billy Magnussen, Jason Bateman and Kylie Bunbury.

GAME NIGHT

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

I am reviewing this film because at least four of my cinema customers directly told me that they really loved this film.

It is a dark comedy produced by the same people who produced “Horrible Bosses.” I think what sets this film and the “Horrible Bosses” films apart is the added depth of content.

“Game Night” is about why Americans love and hate competition. The film shows us a group of friends, who get together once a week to play games.

It is about the one-ups-man-ship of constantly comparing yourself to others. It is about the constant striving to beat others. It is about sabotage. It is about an ego-based life taken to the extreme.

Jason Bateman, who was also in “Horrible Bosses,” plays Max. He stands out as the leader of this group of friends, who has an awakening, which is cradled in a lot of pain.

The entire cast ensemble is strong with many stand-out moments.

Rachel McAdams plays Max’s equally competitive and supportive wife, Annie, who catches herself, when she realizes that she is not being fully supportive.

Jesse Plemons plays Gary Kingsbury, their next door neighbor and a policeman, who is being excluded from the weekly games at a very vulnerable time in his life. Gary just lost his wife by way of divorce.

Plemons is both pathetic and endearing. When we get a look inside his home, we realize that he is one of those people, who puts others on a pedestal.

I enjoyed Billy Magnussen’s performance as friend, Ryan, who is not a couple, but rather, brings a different date every week.

Ryan’s friends criticize him for losing every week, because he brings dumb blond types with him. He responds that he does not need to win to feel good about himself.

One of Ryan’s dates, Madison (Natasha Hall), stood out for me. She is like Marilyn Monroe, because she is the only one you see, while she is there, even though she is supposed to be a minor character.

The truth is that Natasha Hall is a real brainiac. Her filmography includes credits for writing, directing and producing, not just acting.

I also loved “Game Night.” It is definitely going to be part of my DVD collection classics.

Jesse Plemons plays Gary Kingsbury, their next door neighbor.

Director John Francis Daley:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_Daley

Director Jonathan Goldstein:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Goldstein_(filmmaker)

Writer Mark Perez:

http://www.tracking-board.com/game-night-screenwriter-mark-perez-on-how-the-high-concept-comedy-came-to-be/

Actor Jason Bateman:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Bateman

Actress Rachel McAdams:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_McAdams

Actor Kyle Chandler:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Chandler

Actor Jesse Plemons:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Plemons

Actor Billy Magnussen:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Magnussen

Actress Sharon Horgan:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Horgan

Actor Lamorne Morris:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamorne_Morris

Actress Kylie Bunbury:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylie_Bunbury

Actress Natasha Hall:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1706020/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm#director

5/7/2018 # Game Night

DOCTOR STRANGE

doctor-strange-body-spirit

The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) separates the spirit from Doctor Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) body.

DOCTOR STRANGE

Film Review by Marlene Ardoin

“Doctor Strange” (Benedict Cumberbatch) learns the hard way that following the dark side is not the way to go.

As a successful, talented, young surgeon, with a photo-graphic memory, everything seems easy to him in the beginning. Until, of course, things start to get hard. And, in spite of his over-confidence, I found that he did possess a moral compass.

Our surgeon attracts loyalty, because, like attracts like. Rachel McAdams plays Christine, his love interest, who stands with him to the point of being a door mat.

When things go really bad for him, she is his point of light that keeps him sane. He leans heavily upon her for support. She is a friend/wife/muse figure in his life.

My one criticism of this story is that too much emphasis is given to the dark side. And the whole film lost me when the dark side was depicted as a male face in the universe.

What about the idea of drawing power, strength, eternality from the light side? I thought it was going in this direction with the depiction of Dr. Strange’s spirit being separated from his body.

Our surgeon tries to make a case for the light side when he says, “I heal people. I cannot kill people.”

He is described as arrogant, for humiliating another surgeon, who was ready to body wrap a patient. Should Dr. Strange have just agreed with this surgeon’s opinion, and not saved the patient? Sometimes, it takes moral courage to use one’s special abilities.

His humility is on full display in Nepal, where he seeks healing from the Ancient One, a sorcerer, played by Tilda Swinton. The scenes of his training and self-healing is very satisfying. I just could not take the face in the sky part or the part where everyone is using the dark powers to survive.

And last, but not least, the humor in this story is fantastic. Doctor Strange’s levitation cape has the kind of sass that was missing in his love life.

11/15/2016 # Doctor Strange

SPOTLIGHT

Spotlight, Child victim, Boston Globe

Breaking story in Boston Globe 2002, priests molesting children.

Spotlight, reporters with new editor.

Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, the new editor, listens to reporters.

SPOTLIGHT

By Marlene Ardoin

Spotlight is also about diversity, low income children. One of the Best Picture Oscar nominees, Spotlight shows us the process of investigative reporters of the Boston Globe 2002 breaking a story of Catholic priests molesting children in their city. To be fair, this was not about all Catholic priests, just a few bad apples. But, those bad apples did plenty of damage and turned out to be more than originally suspected.

This film points out another example of where the weak are victimized by the strong. I assume the sexual exploitation of children from poor families by priests, started out small, then gradually grew to staggering numbers, worldwide. If the gatekeepers do nothing to stop it, it grows.

The children of poor families were easy pickings. Unfortunately, the vetting of priests was not very thorough at that time. And to be fair, the Catholic Church does a lot to help the poor, probably more than any other religion. Even today, the first thing one would suggest to a homeless person is to check with Catholic Charities.

The consequences of the victimization is heart rendering in this film. What resonated with me was the point that when you take away faith in religion from the poor, they are left without any kind of support system. What they turn to instead of religion is alcohol, drugs and suicide.

What the gatekeepers did at that time was to move the offending priests to new parishes, whenever problems were revealed. As a result, the priests had no feelings for or bonds with the communities that they served. I do not understand how anyone who has received religious training could do this. Why did they become priests in the first place? Was it a cover for their perversion?

The 4,392 priests who were accused amount to approximately 4% of the 109,694 priests in active ministry during that time. The report stated there were approximately 10,667 reported victims (younger than 18 years) of clergy sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002.

When sexual scandals involving Catholic priests in the US came to light in 2002, the Philippines media began reporting on abuses by local priests. In July of that year, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines apologized for sexual misconduct committed by its priests over the last two decades and committed to drafting guidelines on how to deal with allegations of such offenses. According to Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, about 200 of the country’s 7,000 priests may have committed “sexual misconduct” – including child abuse, homosexuality and affairs – over the past two decades.

Stanley Tucci as Mitchell Garabedian, attorney, stood out for me. He was characterized as a bit of a character, but I would characterize him as noble. His clients were the victims, the poor families. One of the last scenes was of him greeting such a family in a kindly, upbeat manner, which was endearing. He was a priest in attorney clothing.

Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, the new editor, also made an impression on me. He carried a persona of a do not mess with me, quite, but deadly, intelligent boss, who was not afraid to go to battle. Apparently, the molesting priest story got lost in the machine years earlier, but he saw the merit and the value to the paper’s readership, who were largely Catholic. He was raised Jewish, so the Catholics had no one to manipulate.

Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, reporter, Michael Keaton as Walter “Robby” Robinson, reporter, and Rachel McAdams as Sacha Pfeiffer, reporter, all did excellent work in their roles.

The story this film tells was a paradigm changer for the world. It came right after the 9/11 disaster, and changed how the world viewed children. The countries most affected included the USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, Belgium, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Tanzania, Philippines, Austria, Norway, Poland, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Slovenia and Sweden, to name a few.

3/8/2016 # Spotlight