Tag: Keira Knightley

Collateral Beauty

“Collateral Beauty” is about an executive in a successful N.Y. Advertising Company who loses his six year old daughter. She dies unexpectedly and basically the executive never recovers. He totally retreats from day to day life. The other executives in the company spend an undisclosed amount of time trying to communicate with the executive. He totally ignores their calls, visits, emails, and letters.

The company decides they need to divest the executive of his shares in the company, they hire someone to watch him so that they can try to get evidence to show he’s unfit. The story unfolds from there…

“Collateral Beauty” starts off ok, but goes downhill quickly. It’s a colossal waste of some powerfully strong actors and actresses. Besides the main story there are several side stories that pop-up and take control, but are never completed. This causes the movie to appear and feel disjointed.

I had high hopes for “Collateral Beauty”, after all it is the holiday season and this is when the best movies make their appearances. Unfortunately there is no beauty in “Collateral Beauty”.

This is a 2 Star Movie!

The Imitation Game

Nominated for Best Picture “The Imitation Game” is a very well executed movie.

Based on a true story, in 1952 the British Authorities entered the home of, celebrated professor Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) because of a reported burglary, but after their investigation they arrested Professor Turing on a charge of “Gross Indecency”. Back in those days homosexuality was against the law.

The authorities had no idea that they were arresting the man who along with his merry motley crew broke the code that would lead to stopping the German World War II Enigma machine.

“The Imitation Game” takes you through Professor Turing’s life from his school days to his working with Intelligence Agents to over throw the Enigma Machine.
Richard Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Alan Turing is haunting. The movie could be boring, but it’s not. It’s very educational from the stand point of the machine that Alan Turing created, we know today as a computer.

“The Imitation Game” is worth the price of admission.

This is a 4 1/2 Star Movie!

Begin Again

“Begin Again” is another one of those “Sleeper” movies, what I mean by that is; it’s a really good movie with very little advertisement. It’s open in limited release across the country.

Two ambitious young song writers, Gretta & Dave (Keira Knightley and Adam Levine) move to New York in search of stardom. Dave gets signed by a major record company. As his star starts to rise, the temptations that go with being a music sensation get the best of Dave. Devastated and disappointed Gretta breaks up with Dave and moves on.

Gretta struggles to put her life back together. She performs one night in the East Village and is heard by a once well respected music producer Dan (Mark Ruffalo) who has since fallen on hard times. After hearing Gretta sing Dan is very interested in trying to get Gretta signed to his record label. The story unfolds from there…

The music in this movie is great. I love the sound track. I was tapping my foot and popping my fingers. You hear songs by Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra just to name a couple. The movie starts off slow, but once you get past the first 10-12 minutes it’s great.

“Begin Again” is definitely worth a look. It’s also not for anyone under the age of 16. There is no nudity, but the tone and theme are very adult.

This is a 4 Star Movie

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

It’s always fun to see a Tom Clancey character brought alive on the big screen. “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” would be brilliant if the storyline weren’t so weak and the plot so “Been there before…”

To his friends and family, Jack Ryan (Chris Pine) is just another executive working to make a living. Little do they know Jack has been working for the CIA for years. He was originally brought in to handle Global data, but Jack soon uncovers a carefully planned scheme to crash the Global US Economy and create mass chaos.
When Jack flies to Russia to put a stop to the scheme, he soon finds himself caught between a Russian Leader, his clueless fiancée, and his secret handler. The story unfolds from there…

“Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” is fast paced, non-stop action, a bit of intrigue and some nice cinematography. Unfortunately that’s where it ends. The story, the plot and the reasoning are all very weak. There are quite a few holes in the story at the beginning, so you are forced to draw your own conclusions.

The movie appears to end when things just seem to be heating up. If the movie had been made with a bit longer running time, the extra time would have served it well.