Arrival And Others!

Enough, for a minute or two, of this petulant baby about to be President, and lets talk movies.

Arrival has been out in theaters for a couple of weeks or so. And it is fantastic. Much like Contact before it, or Close Encounters before that, or even Inception, this movie will not lay it out for you to absorb. You have to put the effort in to think about what is going on.

Amy Adams (who is just great in whatever she does) plays a language professor named Louise haunted by a tragedy involving her daughter, who is born, grows to adolescence and dies of cancer. Told in flashbacks that keep entering Louise's mind as she is recruited to attempt to translate alien speak, much easier than Trump speak I'm sure. You see, gigantic eggplants have entered the earth's atmosphere and illegally parked over twelve spots around the globe. And the Earth is pissed, or baffled, or just wants to fight as usual. But Louise, and her trusty sidekick, Ian, played by Jeremy Renner (very toned down from his usual manic self), a geeky scientist, enter the giant crafts and attempt to communicate with these heptapods that look like big hands with long fingers that spew out Rorschach test looking crap at windows. Well of course in time, Louise and Ian learn to communicate as the flashbacks and weird dreams keep Louise going full blast.

Arrival is not a fast paced movie, its not an Independence Day where dumbass earthlings try and beat the things that traveled zillions of miles with their AR-15's and tanks. It is a thought provoking film where you must figure out the connection between the 12 spots where the big eggplants landed, the dreams and flashbacks in Louise's head, and what the hell Ian has to do with any of this.

I loved it. And it takes subtle shots at Fox News, Alex Jones and maybe even the Short Fingered Vulgarian Elect. Man those hands and fingers those heptapods have sure are big. Expect Trump to take shots at it on twitter. Once somebody explains it to him that is.

Allied is a film about World War 2 spies. Played by Brad Pitt ( Max) and Marion Cotillard (Marion), this spy duo, posing as a married couple, infiltrates Casablanca to assassinate a German ambassador and they do it very very well. Cut to a couple of years later, when Max is back in London and he and Marion fall in love and actually do get married and have a surprisingly homely baby considering the DNA involved.

And here is where I do not like trailers. The trailer gives the fucking plot away. The Brits believe that Marion is a German spy and if found to be true, Max is to "execute" her on the spot. Well Max isn't really on board with this whole execute deal (I mean come on LOOK at her for chrissakes, nobody is perfect) so he sets out to prove she aint no spy. Or issssss she?

The rest of the movie basically that, is she or isnt she? And what will Max do if he finds out she is a spy?

It's a thriller, it's a love story, its pretty good.

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is for the Harry Potter crowd. Now I got over the Harry Potter thing about when Max learned how to read and I didnt have to read the books to him any longer, which with him was about age 3. But I saw all the movies and was mildly entertained by all of them.

This one mildly entertained me also. It takes place in 1920's New York. It has Colin Farrell in it. And too much of a surprise guest who Colin eventually turns into.

But it's ok. It didnt put me to sleep like I feared it would. But why does Eddie Redmayne constantly look like he just listened to Kellyanne Conway not answer a question? Dont get me wrong, I love the guy, I think he's a great actor, but that puzzled little boy look annoyed me.

Next up are Loving and Manchester By The Sea, which are only at our local "art theater",which I love but is far away and costs a lot more than other theaters. I dont know, both will probably make me weep, but for once it wont be for my dying country.