GOOD NEW MOVIE: CONCLAVE

Lithgow, Rossellini, Fiennes, Tucci

CONCLAVE (2024). Director: Edward Berger. 

After the Pope passes away, the cardinals gather in Rome and are sequestered so as to begin voting for the new Pope -- the first man to attain the prescribed number of votes, 72, will be the new Pontiff. Front runners include Bellini (Stanley Tucci), who is a liberal who wants to affect serious change to the Church; the conservative Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto); the African Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), whom Bellini fears is even more reactionary than Tedesco; the newcomer Benitez (Carlos Diehz), whom no one was expecting; and Tremblay (John Lithgow of Obsession), who badly wants the job but is suspected of various malfeasances. On this matter Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) may have something to say. Overseeing all of this is Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes of Wrath of the Titans), the Dean of the College of Cardinals, who has no desire to be Pope due to a crisis of faith. But as one scandal after another is unveiled, Lawrence may have no choice. Or does he ...? Meanwhile there are an increasingly serious series of Muslim terrorist attacks. 

Lithgow and Fiennes

Conclave is not without flaws, but it happens to be an altogether admirable picture, with a superb cast, top of the line photography, and tense direction that practically turns the movie into a suspense thriller. That there is all sorts of intrigue going on during the conclave to elect a new pope is certainly not surprising. In fact, those who are expecting a boring picture may be delighted by all the drama and deception. As well, there isn't a performance that doesn't ring true. However, one has to wonder if one simple speech could have so profoundly affected the other cardinals that a certain person is too-easily elected, and making one character intersexual may seem just a trifle precious (but interesting nevertheless). Still, the picture is pretty much a winner all the way.

Verdict: A mostly pleasant surprise. ***1/4. 

ROUND UP OF NEW AND RECENT FILMS PART SIX

John C. Reilly and Steve Coogan 

ROUND UP OF NEW AND RECENT FILMS PART SIX. Here are some short notes on some more recent movies of interest.

STAN AND OLLIE (2018). Director: Jon S. Baird. This is an affectionate look back at what was in my opinion the Comedy Team Supreme, Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan of Philomena)) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly of Dark Water). Both of these two actors do superb impersonations of the men they're playing (with Coogan's Laurel having, perhaps, a slight edge) and their spouses are also well-played by Shirley Henderson and Nina Arianda. Rufus Jones is also notable as the smarmy manager of their late-career London tour, which is the focus of this movie. This is a well-produced and absorbing comedy-drama which besides being entertaining in its own right, will hopefully have viewers taking a first or second look at the boys' wonderful films, such as their masterpieces Our Relations and Babes in Toyland, among others. ***.

BILLIONAIRE BOYS CLUB (2018). Director: James Cox. In a true story, two friends, Joe Hunt (Ansel Elgort) and Dean Karney (Taran Egerton), embroil some of their much wealthier friends in financial schemes, unaware that they are being played themselves by one Ron Levin (Kevin Spacey). This is a remake of a 1987 mini-series of the same name, wherein Hunt was played by Judd Nelson (who plays his father in this remake). The movie portrays Hunt in a very different light from the way he was portrayed in the mini-series. But although the acting all around is excellent -- I'm glad they didn't edit out Kevin Spacey because he really scores as Levin -- the movie just never comes to a full boil. **1/4.

Melissa McCarthy

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018). Director: Marielle Heller. The true story of Ms. Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy), a writer who had hit the New York Times bestseller list with a biography but has now hit hard times, and who happens to be a lesbian. To support herself, she cooks up a criminal scheme to forge letters from famous people for profit. and employs gay pal Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant) to help her, until it all falls apart. This is an absorbing study of an interesting if not especially likable individual. Although McCarthy could easily have played this in her usual fat-girl-goes-nutso persona, instead she gives a real and very good performance as Israel. Grant is also excellent, and Jane Curtin is notable as Israel's agent. Israel is not the most positive or sympathetic representative of the LGBT community, but the movie is quite entertaining in spite of it. ***.

Emma Thompson

LATE NIGHT (2019). Director: Nisha Ganatra. A long-time talk show hostess named Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is told by the network president that her ratings have been steadily slipping and she will be replaced by a jackass of a young stand-up comic. Katherine, a self-absorbed and not terribly likable person who loves only her husband (John Lithgow) decides to fight back, hiring her first female comedy writer, Molly (Mindy Kaling, who also wrote the script), an Indian-American, to join the white guys on her staff. Irreverent, absorbing and quite well-acted, especially by Thompson and an appealing Kaling, Late Night has some very amusing moments, although one could argue that there's a little too much white-bashing, which is just prejudice-in-reverse. (The use of a swishy gay character tells you that, in Hollywood, despite all the political correctness, some things never change.) The script never quite rises above a sitcom level, but on that level it has its moments. **3/4.

Frank John Hughes with Rick Gomez in the background

LEAVE (2011). Director: Robert Celestino. Writer Henry (Rick Gomez), a cancer survivor, has been enduring a terrible recurring nightmare for months, so he kisses his wife goodbye and goes off to their country house to finish a book. Along the way he encounters a stranger, Chris (Frank John Hughes), who turns out to be someone he knows quite well. The suspenseful Leave is beautifully-done, well-directed and shot and superbly acted by the two leads -- who also did the story and script -- but it just isn't very original. (I can't even name its two primary sources because that would give the game away immediately.) However, the picture, not exactly intellectual, works on the purely emotional level and is quite moving, even if some might find it exploitative as well. ***.

GONE: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF AEYRN GILLERAN (2011). Directed by Gretchen and John Morning. This affecting if very imperfect documentary features a lengthy interview with Kathryn Gilleran, a former cop in Cortland,  New York whose openly gay son Aeyrn disappeared while working in Vienna. Gilleran came up against sexist and homophobic attitudes from the Austrian police, and there were strange stories from both them and eyewitnesses. There are hints that the police may have covered up a crime committed at an exclusive gay bathhouse in a tony part of Vienna, and that Aeyrn may have witnessed something (possibly confronted a closeted politician?) that sent him literally running out naked into the streets. Police say he committed "spontaneous suicide"  by jumping into the Danube canal! You don't expect this film to come up with the ultimate answers as to what may have happened to the man, but so much else goes unexplored. Admittedly, this is the mother's story, but the fact that Aeyrn had a long-time partner is only mentioned in passing and we learn virtually nothing about him or about his relationship with Aeryn -- such as how did he feel about Aeryn going to a bathhouse, where undoubtedly hook-ups for sex took place? As one viewer noted, this documentary leaves you with more questions than answers. You feel great sympathy for the mother but you also wonder what the partner was going through, something this film never even bothers to explore. **1/2. 

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE

A bizarre image from "Good Life"

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE (1983). Multiple directors. Narrated by Burgess Meredith.

This big-screen adaptation of the famous TV show does not begin auspiciously with a dragged-out, unfunny framing sequence with Dan Aykroyd and Albert Brooks as ambulance men who sing theme songs from old television shows to pass the time; this builds up to a gag that is neither scary nor amusing.

The first segment of the movie is a new story entitled "Time Out," in which an embittered man (an excellent Vic Morrow) takes out his dissatisfaction with life on minorities such as Jews and Blacks, but then winds up back in Nazi Germany [as a Jew] and in the South [as a black], and so on. The tragic deaths that occurred during filming this segment and the repercussions were chronicled in the superb book Outrageous Conduct. "Time Out" is well-directed and edited, but it basically marked the end of director John Landis' big-screen career.

The original "Kick the Can" on The Twilight Zone [season 3], set in the Sunnyvale nursing home in which some of the inhabitants magically turn into children, has a good idea but is poorly developed, although it has a touching opening scene when one resident packs to go home with his son only to be told he has to stay in Sunnyvale. [The old people in the episode all seem too lively and lucid to be in a nursing home, which is also true in the movie.] The movie's adaptation is an improvement -- instead of just letting the "children" run off to go who knows where, it deals with the possible consequences of their transformation -- where would the kids go and do they really want to live life all over again? Murray Matheson and Scatman Crothers give good performances along with the rest of the cast. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

The adaptation of "It's a Good Life" is discussed in the post on Jerome Bixby's short story and the different film and TV versions of it. 

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" [season 5] starred a notable William Shatner as a man who'd already had one nervous breakdown on a plane, and has the misfortune of being on another plane when a gremlin or alien creature decides to poke about on the wing outside his window. This was a good episode, even if the monster looked like a hairy Harpo Marx. The creature's appearance is improved in the movie. and the sequence -- while played like a black comedy as is "It's a Good Life" -- is often intense and exciting. John Lithgow is okay as a more nervous and hysterical passenger than Shatner played. Directed by George Miller. 

Verdict: Overall, this is really just so-so. **1/2.

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS (2004). Director: Stephen Hopkins. Based on the biography by Roger Lewis. An Australian film shown on HBO in the U.S.

This biopic skips over most of Sellers' early life and really begins with him winning the British Academy Award. But a bigger problem is that director Hopkins eschews a sensible narrative style and has Sellers [as played by Geoffrey Rush] speaking directly to the audience, or dressing up and playing his wife at one point and his mother at another. This approach doesn't help the movie and certainly doesn't help us understand Peter Sellers. Emily Watson and Charlize Theron play the wives, Ann and Britt [Ekland]; John  Lithgow is Blake Edwards and Stanley Tucci is Stanley Kubrick. Miriam Margoyles does a nice job as Sellers' loving mother, Peg, as does James Bentley as her grandson, Michael. In its attempt to celebrate a great artist yet condemn him as kind of a prick, the movie succeeds in doing neither. Rush is fine, but the movie quickly becomes tedious. Who needs reproductions of Sellers' movies when we can see the real things for ourselves? And Rush was seen to better advantage in The King's Speech, a far better picture than this. Heck, Green Lantern, in which Rush only contributed a voice, is better than this.

Verdict: All you need to know about Sellers is in his movies. **.

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

Chimp Caesar with James Franco

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011). Director: Rupert Wyatt.

San Francisco is treated to an angry invasion of intelligent apes when an Alzheimer's experiment backfires, This is basically a prequel to Planet of the Apes [either version], although the novel that film was based on actually took place on another planet. Rise has excellent special effects and is quite visually striking at times. Caesar the chimp is well-acted by Andy Serkis [with help, presumably, from CGI), and John Lithgow, James Franco and the lovely Freida Pinto all give good performances. Good musical score by Patrick Doyle and a strangely moving conclusion.  Not a movie that will necessarily stick in your mind but entertaining enough.


Verdict: Apes run wild. ***.