Be Kind, Please Rewind

He’s the Burnt Toast of the Town. He’s the….

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Week of April 13, 2018

Charities are too needy. First up….

The Greatest Showman

Being the ringmaster of a circus means that you get your pick of the freaks to marry.

However, that rule doesn’t apply to the host in this musical because he’s already wed.

Following a string of dead-end ventures, entrepreneur P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) finally finds his calling under the big top. After trading in his curio exhibit for the real-thing, adding a trapeze artist (Zendaya) and a songbird (Rebecca Ferguson) to his menagerie, Barnum then partners with an eminent dramatist (Zac Efron) to bring his show to the masses.

Seduced by his success, Barnum risks losing his performers and his wife (Michelle Williams).

While this socially conscience reinterpretation of Barnum’s real life has a number of toe tapping tunes and dance numbers to its credit, as well as a dynamic performance from Jackman, it is completely fictional and misleading.

Incidentally, circus sideshows still exist; they’re just called Walmarts now.  Yellow Light

All the Money in the World

You know you’ve made it when strangers kidnap your children for ransom.

So, for the industrialist in this drama, payoffs are just part of everyday life.

When her son is taken hostage Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) asks her father-in-law J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) for the $17M ransom to free him, but the oil magnate flatly refuses for fear it will encourage copycats. He does, however, hire ex-CIA agent Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) to look into his grandson’s release.

But when the payment is delayed, the kidnappers send the heir’s ear in the mail.

Based on the real-life events of 1973 that brought the reclusive miser into the media spotlight, exposing his cruelty and stinginess to the world, director Ridley Scott and cast tell a compelling and complex tale of the failings of fortune and family.

Incidentally, avoid kidnapping middle children as they yield the least amount of ransom.  Green Light

 

Molly’s Game

Poker is one activity where the facially deformed can really clean up.

Unfortunately, the action in this drama is only open to handsome Hollywood actors.

From slinging suds in a nightclub to hosting an underground poker match for her boss that included celebrity players to eventually running her own game, Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) was on top of the world by 26.

But when an unspecified celebrity (Michael Cera), doesn’t get a cut of the take he forces Molly out of LA. Things go better in NYC, until the mafia and FBI reshuffle her deck.

Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, this adaptation of Bloom’s own book is reinterpreted through the acerbic scribe’s witticisms and rapid-pace repartee. Thankfully, his writing skills translate to behind the camera, where he gets a powerhouse performance from Chastain.

Fortunately, you can make up gambling losses to a movie star by pirating their next blockbuster.  Green Light

***Half of All the Money in the World ***

High and Low

The key to being a successful kidnapper is never targeting families with twins or triplets.

However, the dimwitted abductor in this thriller can’t even swipe the correct kid.

Just as capitalist Kingo (Toshiro Mifune) is about to use his enormous wealth to acquire a company, he receives a phone call from a mysterious man informing him that his son has been kidnapped and that a ransom is demanded.

While Kingo agrees to put his purchase on hold to save his son, that all changes when it is learned that the captors took Kingo’s chauffeur’s son by mistake. Worse, they still want Kingo to pay the ransom.

A classic kidnapping caper elevated by an impossible moral quandary, director Akira Kurosawa’s black-and-white 1963 adaptation of the American bestseller is beautifully shot, briskly pace and dynamically performed by Kurosawa’s main muse Mifune.

Nevertheless, abducted Japanese children are still expected to maintain a respectful GPA.

He’s a Ransom Note Taker. He’s the…

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