A Short Collection of Film Reviews

Over the past few days, I've viewed four films that were all worthy of mention. All of them are from a few years back, which shows how current I am on the latest films.

The first from 2009 was Precious, about a highly uneducated and overweight black woman struggling to overcome her life situation. I recall that it won some academy awards, at least for the actress in the title role. It was a much better film and story than I expected. A sad and moving story, well worth the time to watch.

The second from 2015 was TRUMBO, about the blacklisted screenwriter and communist sympathizer Dalton Trumbo. A well-written, well-acted story illustrating the events and characters at that time in politics and old Hollywood. As usual, Bryan Cranston is superb in the title role. The only film I'm aware of Dalton Trumbo's writing was SPARTACUS, from 1960, also one of my favorites. I'm sure there were many other credits to Dalton Trumbo under many different names.

The third film, also from 2009, is called MOON, with actor Sam Rockwell in the lead role. This is an exciting story with a tiny cast and some intriguing ideas. I missed the opening scenes, so it had me guessing from the beginning and trying to figure out what was happening. There were no setups in the front that gave away any of the surprises. It's like The Martian from 2015. Similar in a way but different in that the story revolves around one guy based alone on the moon. In this story, the main character is working for a big corporation, maintaining a vital mining operation, and learning over time that things are different from what they seemed. I liked the film MOON a lot and will probably watch it again.

The fourth film I watched early this morning was Cinema Verite, with Tim Robbins, Diane Lane, and the late James Gandolfini, among others. This HBO-produced film retells a documentary about the Loud Family, one of the earliest examples of reality television. The original documentary, a production of An American Family, a 1973 PBS television series, was controversial in its day due to the effects of the filming on the subjects, namely the lives of the Loud Family members, and the manipulation pushed upon them by the director and the networks to create some conflicts to exploit. One of the reasons I liked this film is because of the 1970s setting. They captured the vibe of the time very well. I give this one a thumbs up.