Be Kind, Please Rewind

He’s a Middleclass Clown. He’s the…

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Week of February 5, 2016

Workers of the world unite in the welfare line. First up…

Suffragette

Before women got the right to vote no one cared about how the candidates’ hair looked.

Thankfully, the agitator in this drama is more concerned with working conditions.

When Maud (Carey Mulligan) innocently steps in for a friend (Anne-Marie Duff) who is to speak before parliament on women’s suffrage, she finds herself at the forefront of the matriarchal movement.

Inspired by an MP’s wife (Helena Bonham Carter) and two eminent activists Emily Davison (Natalie Press) and Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep), Maud commits acts of civil disobedience resulting in the loss of her husband (Ben Whishaw), son and her own freedom.

Mixing real life characters with fictional ones, Suffragette’s fact-based narrative may be slightly romanticized in its interpretation. However, the liberties taken are justifiable in their portrayal of the actual hardships that came along with the struggle.

Incidentally, the first law that women voted to repeal was that of Sunday shopping.  Green Light

 

Bridge of Spies

The biggest difference between American and Russian spies is Americans won’t trade military secrets for blue jeans.

Mind you, the only trading transpiring in this drama is of a human nature.

Hired by the US government to represent accused KGB agent Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), insurance lawyer James B. Donovan (Tom Hanks) goes on to negotiate Abe’s exchange with Russia for a downed U-2 pilot (Jesse Plemons) and an American abroad.

On the home front, Donovan’s wife (Amy Ryan) and family are unaware of the dangers he faces on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall.

Scripted by the Coen Brothers, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks, Bridge of Spies is award bait at its best. But it’s also those artists finest hour when balanced with the real-life intrigue of Cold War diplomacies.

Furthermore, for a successful Cold War negotiation, be sure to bring some McDonald’s with you.  Green Light

 

The Last Witch Hunter

The best way for a witch-hunter to attract their prey is to saturate them selves in warlock urine.

Fortunately, the huntsman in this fantasy has other methods of detection at his disposal.

Seconds before she is slain, the White Witch curses the witch-hunter Kaulder (Vin Diesel) with life ever after. While he survives the posthumous pandemic that she unleashes on the Middle Ages, his wife and child are not so lucky.

Eight centuries later, with help from a pair of priests (Michael Caine, Elijah Wood) and a dream-walker (Rose Leslie), Kaulder continues to kill covens content on resurrecting their ivory empress.

With its monotonous narrative, second-rate special effects and daft dialogue delivered by its disinterested and one-dimensional lead, Last Witch Hunter trudges along the well-trodden path of sorcery based stories that have come before it.

Besides, there is nothing tackier than having a stuffed witch’s head mounted on your wall.  Red Light

***Rock the Veto***

 

Strike!

Teenagers aren’t allowed to vote in federal elections because they always select: D) All of the Above Candidates.

Luckily, the ladies in this comedy are more astute than their contemporaries.

To keep her away from her boyfriend (Matthew Lawrence), Odie (Gaby Hoffmann) is sent to an all-girls school, where she aligns herself with the less reputable students (Kirsten Dunst, Monica Keena, Heather Matarazzo, Merritt Wever).

When it’s announced that the school will amalgamate with the boys' academy, the girls set out to stop the merger by demanding that the board of trustees allow them to vote on the co-ed matter.

Also known as All I Want To Do, this subliminal 1960s salute to the suffrage movement isn’t as superficial, flippant or as badly acted as most of the Girl Power movies from the 1990s.

Moreover, the only thing that girls learn at a co-ed school is where to buy Plan B.

He’s a Suffragette Pilot. He’s the…

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