Movie fans are blessed in January. Studios release their very best work in December so that they are candidates for Golden Globe, SAG, and Oscar awards benefiting from the updraft of publicity. Here are some reviews of the very best work now showing locally.
Theory of Everything.
Brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking fends off Lou Gehrig disease with wife Jane at his side to further the work of a universal theory linking gravity, electromagnetic force, weak and strong forces….something Einstein was not able to do. The technical side is only brushed, overpowered by the love story.
The movie portrays Hawking, warts and all, but like most biopics there is a scarcity of plot which makes for a bland movie. Eddie Redmayne as Hawking gets the most out of a grimace, squirm, or half smile which justifies his Oscar nomination. Felicity Jones as Jane is good, but not that good.
B for the movie, A for Redmayne, A for cinematography and editing and keeping background music down to a minimum.
Imitation Game
With the resurgence of their army in the early 1930’s, the Germans develop a mechanical coding device so complicated that it had billions of possibilities. The British called it Enigma and set about the nearly impossible task of breaking the code at their conclave in Betchley Park.
Much of the credit for breaking the code goes to Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch), an eccentric mathematician recruited for the job. He develops the first mechanical computer which churns out combinations looking for the words “Heil Hitler” that eventually brings the system to its knees. Off assignment, he ventures into a white arrangement with fellow cryptographer, Joan (Keira Knightley) to hide his sexual preferences for which he is later punished.
Political intrigues, Russian spies, and the shear effort to “Beat those Nazis” make this show tick. Give this it a solid B.
Personal Note: On assignment by the US Navy to the London Embassy during the cold war, my primary mission was to periodically carry new rotors (top secret moving wheels) for the US version of Enigma to key locations in Europe.
Historical Note: The Polish underground delivered a captured German Enigma machine with keyboard to England in 1940. See it in the foreground of many scenes.
Birdman
Riggin (Michael Keaton) is known on the silver screen as the comic book superhero Birdman. He has three blockbuster movies to his credit—but nothing else. As his career stalls, he bets everything to prove his legitimacy by writing, directing, and starring in his own show on Broadway. Not easy. Egos ebb and flow like tsunamis. His own alter ego, Birdman, haunts him with thoughts that he is not good enough and should return to being the comic book icon.
Much of the action takes place back stage, a delight for theater lovers. Film scenes are long, single camera shots that demand the very best from actors. Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone are terrific in battling their own particular demons.
Far-out symbolism is everywhere, so it is no wonder several exiting patrons had the same comment: “It’s different.” It is different and may be the best show of 2014.
Beware: The F word is used to excess. If you can turn a deaf ear to most of the F’s, this show gets an A for exceptional acting and emotional excitement.
Personal Note: Do not believe anything said in the movie about us theater critics.
Villager Jack Petro reviews movie and theater for Villages-News.com
