Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story

There's no denying the fact that women often get the short end of the stick (so to speak) in many aspects of life. Granted, within the last thirty years or so, (some) changes have been made towards the course of gender equality. But that doesn't rectify the past entirely.

In fact, there are numerous examples throughout history where a woman's contributions were either disregarded or flat-out ignored altogether. Mary Anning was a crucial figure in the field of paleontology but wasn't recognized as such until after her death. The same can be said for Rosalind Franklin and Cecilia Payne, both of whom made scientific discoveries that others (read: men) took credit for. And what can be said of Hedy Lamarr?

Many associate her as the gorgeous leading lady from Hollywood's Golden Age (or the inspiration for a running gag in Blazing Saddles). But as Alexandra Dean's Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story shows, there was so much more to Lamarr than her looks. She was a deeply complex woman, one whose mind was constantly in overdrive. But how overshadowed by history was she?

Fittingly because what she had created, nowadays people are aware of Lamarr creating the basis for WiFi and Bluetooth during World War II. (She didn't get proper credit until shortly before her death in 2000.) For years since co-patenting such an invention, she didn't know that she could renew said patent after it expired (she found out years after the fact). Still, at least she didn't go to her grave feeling she achieved nothing outside of making movies.

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story shows there was much more to the movie star than her stunning (and oft-copied) beauty. She was a woman who was unfortunately born into a time of rampant sexism (and anti-Semitism) but thankfully such respect was restored to her and nearly two decades since her passing, it looks to be staying put. (And rightfully so, too.)

My Rating: *****

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold

How much of one's life and their work can be told? There are the dark periods that they would prefer to avoid, and there are the happier times they've revisited in later years. Regardless of what they've encountered, everyone has a story waiting to be told.

Take for instance Joan Didion. Here's someone who rose to prominence as the world's many facets began to change, and she was right in the center of it all. From the rise of the counterculture movement to the Manson trial to the shift in political power, it would require someone who knows Didion closely to capture her life's accomplishments. And who better to do such a task than her own nephew?

Griffin Dunne's Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold focuses on the writer's work and existence, how she captured the changing world she's a part of. He captures his aunt as someone who saw society constantly on the verge of destroying itself. (She's not wrong.)

Also on focus in Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold is the subject of loss, something both Didion and Dunne are all too familiar with. With her losing her husband and adopted daughter in a matter of two years (and he losing his sister back in 1982), the wounds of the past still linger for both of them. (Time doesn't always heal all wounds.)

Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold is more than just a portrait of her as a writer; it's a portrait of her. She's a woman whose social circle and influence have a wide reach amongst both the famous and the anonymous. Here's someone who has an opinion on the world and if anyone didn't like it, to hell with them.

My Rating: ****1/2

Becks

Life is full of ups and downs, regardless of the person involved. One's luck could be another's misery, and so it goes. But even then such luck is fleeting.

The titular character (Lena Hall) of Elizabeth Rohrbaugh and Daniel Powell's Becks goes through this repeatedly. After a nasty breakup, she moves back in with her devout mother Ann (Christine Lahti). As she settles back into small-town life, she offers guitar lessons to make some money and she gets close to her student Elyse (Mena Suvari).

Similar to Desert Hearts decades earlier, Becks depicts lesbian relationships not as something that's carefree (or for the sake of male viewership) but rather as ones that are just as complicated as straight ones. Infidelity, personal hangups, how society perceives them...none of these liaisons are without their flaws.

Now what Becks and Elyse go through is a little more complicated than what we've seen before. How so? Well, Elyse is a married woman, for starters. (Becks meanwhile has something of a drinking problem, a flaw her mother strongly disapproves of.) But as the end of Some Like It Hot claims, nobody's perfect.

Becks follows similar tropes found in similar works but Hall and Suvari (who had more or less disappeared after American Beauty) surely make up for those slight faults. In this time of homophobia regularly cropping up in daily life, it's nice to see those (albeit fictional) works where the characters are unashamed of who they are. This is something we should be seeing more often, both in fiction and in real life.

My Rating: ****

Menashe

It's not easy to run a household by yourself. Society expects two people to maintain it: one to run it, the other to keep it running. But what if someone feels confident that they don't need a hand in such matters?

Joshua Z. Weinstein's Menashe follows the titular character (Menashe Lustig), who is somewhat of a pariah amongst his colleagues. He doesn't adhere to some of the traditions within the Hasidic Jewish community (such as the hat and coat the men often wear), the most glaring being not re-marrying after his wife's death. But he's determined to make a good life for his son Rieven (Ruben Niborski) by himself.

In contrast to other works revolving around Jewish characters, Menashe is more in-depth with the general culture of the religion. It's not presented as "oh, this character's Jewish" but rather as something important to said character. (And not as a punchline either.)

Also on display in Menashe is the attempts at single parenthood. (Rieven is under the care of the family of his uncle, his mother's brother.) Similar to Kramer vs. Kramer before it, trying to balance raising a child and surviving on a meager paycheck is far from the ideal situation. (Of course, it's single mothers that get focused more because what woman would willingly abandon their own flesh and blood?)

Menashe provides an unbiased glimpse into both a religion and domesticity. With his film, Weinstein captures the slightly chaotic life of one person as they try to restore order (with varying success on their part). And one can hope that this won't be the only time we see Weinstein at work.

My Rating: ****1/2

Village of the Damned

Wolf Rilla's Village of the Damned starts off normally. The residents of Midwich go about with their day, expecting nothing out of the ordinary. But at the stroke of eleven o'clock, they all go unconscious. Nearly four hours later, they wake up unharmed...or are they?

A few months pass and several of the village's women have given birth to blonde-haired children.(The news of these simultaneous pregnancies sparked some rumors throughout town.) These children develop faster, much to the amazement of Prof. Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders), whose "son" David (Martin Stephens) is amongst this group. But soon things take a dark turn...

Usually when people think of British horror films, more often than not their first thoughts are towards those made by Hammer Film Productions and/or ones where Christopher Lee is involved. But with Village of the Damned, it has an Oscar winner as its lead. (And in a bit of playing against type too!)

Speaking of which, this was clearly a change of pace for Sanders. Here's a performer whose roles usually consisted of his character his utter disdain for humanity, so to see Sanders as a more kindly figure is something of a shock. But surprisingly, it's a casting decision that's an inspired one.

Village of the Damned was amongst the coming decade's many films wrought with paranoia. (Hey, it was during the Cold War.) It may not have the blood and gore usually found in the horror genre but this is the kind of picture even the squeamish can enjoy. (Oh, and it predates Rosemary's Baby in convincing the viewer to never have children ever.)

My Rating: ****

Two Weeks in Another Town

The opening moments of Vincente Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town shows Jack Andrus (Kirk Douglas) walking around the grounds of the sanitarium that's been his home for some time. Once a big movie star, now nobody would touch him with a ten-foot pole. Well, except for director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson), and even that isn't without its own melodrama.

Temperamental actors, a movie going overbudget and way past schedule, snarled romances, and feuds on set and off. These are the things plaguing both Jack and Maurice in Two Weeks in Another Town. Jack's ex-wife Carlotta (Cyd Charisse) -- who was responsible for landing him in the sanitarium -- tries to seduce him back while Maurice's wife Clara (Claire Trevor) spends most of her time screaming at her husband. No wonder they're the way that they are.

This isn't the first time Minnelli and Douglas tackled Hollywood; in the previous decade, they had made The Bad and the Beautiful. (Snippets of the earlier film are shown as a previous work of Jack's.) But in comparison with the two, Two Weeks in Another Town is decidedly less jaded in depicting behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

And seeing as how their last two films resulted in Oscar nominations for Douglas, it would make sense to see if the third time's the charm. But in contrast to The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life, it's not as focused on the story at hand. (Though Robinson and Trevor's scenes are an interesting reversal of their roles in Key Largo.)

Two Weeks in Another Town may not be quality Minnelli but it does have its good points. (Its running time is not one of them.) His films with Douglas are an underappreciated collaboration, making one wonder what it'd be like had it been a regular teaming...

My Rating: ****

It Should Happen to You

Gladys Glover (Judy Holliday) hasn't had the best day at the start of George Cukor's It Should Happen to You. She just lost her modelling job due to a slight shift in her measurements, and now she's despondent at losing her chance at becoming a somebody. Then she sees some available billboard space, and an idea pops into her head.

As she proved with her previous collaborations with Cukor, Holliday is the star of It Should Happen to You. Making the ditzy (not dumb) blonde her noted role, Holliday precedes Marilyn Monroe in making the character type her own. And no one could get the best of that character out of her than Cukor. (Just watch Adam's Rib or Born Yesterday.)

Also of note in It Should Happen to You is Jack Lemmon in his first major film role. As he would later show with his Billy Wilder collaborations, his Pete Sheppard keeps a can-do spirit despite being the universe's human punching bag. You just can't help but root for him.

In this day and age of people getting famous for the most menial of things, It Should Happen to You seems almost quaint. Of course those involved (Cukor, Holliday, Lemmon, Peter Lawford, et al.) aren't around to witness fiction becoming reality. (Lord only knows what it'd be like had they lived long enough to see the age of the internet.)

It Should Happen to You is deeply charming, which is something to be expected when Holliday and Lemmon are involved. Being released the same year as On the Waterfront and Rear Window (and Cukor's own A Star is Born), it's a nice breather from the heavier titles that year. (Is it ever wrong to go for Cukor as a pick-me-up?)

My Rating: ****

A Ghost Story

What is there after it's all over? It's been speculated for centuries what happened when someone dies, if there's anything in the hereafter. Does heaven actually exist or does reincarnation? Or is there nothing waiting for us in the end?

David Lowery's A Ghost Story explores what waits for us in the hereafter. Following the bedsheet-clad spirit of a man (Casey Affleck), we watch as he stands idly by in his home as his wife (Rooney Mara) tries to cope with the loss. But there's more to the story Lowery has presented.

In a way, A Ghost Story is similar to Affleck's previous film Manchester by the Sea in their depictions of life and its hardships. It's true that you can't expect everything to be either in your favor or to stay the same. Everything in life has to change, it's natural order. To expect routine is impossible.

Also explored in A Ghost Story is how you'll be remembered when you're gone. (In fact, there's a segment in the film that focuses on that very thing.) That's why so many people want to become famous in some way: to know that they're not forgotten.

A Ghost Story is a deeply meditating (and equally depressing) piece of work. It will linger in your mind long after it's over, making one contemplate their own worth and meaning in life. (But boy, you're going to be making -- and eating -- a lot of comfort food afterwards.)

My Rating: ****1/2

The Little Hours

A few lines into Jeff Baena's The Little Hours, and its general mood is quickly established. What initially is perceived as something along the lines of The Nun's Story turns into a raunchier version of The Devils. (No, seriously.)

Then again, when the likes of Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Dave Franco make up part of the cast for The Little Hours, the outcome is perhaps inevitable. Sure, we've seen a number of profanity-laden sex romps over the last few years but there's something here that makes it funny. (Maybe because it's primarily set at a convent?)

We've seen a number of films pertaining to pious folk throughout the years, their level of devotion varying from title to title. Whether they hold the Bible close to their chest or slowly break each of the Ten Commandments, it's women that are more scrutinized for their behavior. (Can you say "double standard"?)

Similarly, the matter of women's sexual urges is another theme explored in The Little Hours. It always seems to be when they're in a situation where acting on them would result in societal scolding that such desires are amplified. Is this something men commonly think how women honestly behave when they're frustrated in that sense? (If so, the concept of self-pleasure must be foreign to them...to an extent.)

The Little Hours is funny in spots but it's rather misogynistic as a whole. (Generally, if someone vows to serve God, wanting to get laid should be at the very end of their list.) But hey, apparently this is the path comedy is going down as of late. (Why that is, it's hard to properly explain.)

My Rating: ***1/2

Dunkirk

World War II is often a go-to source for media both fictional and factual. Sometimes those involved in these projects were also participants of the many battles, other times it's from those who did extensive research. Either way, there's been a barrage of them ever since the fighting's conclusion over seventy years ago.

With Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, he explores what happened after the Battle of France and the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the benches of the titular French commune. Using three perspectives of the events (and using his now-familiar non-linear storytelling), he depicts a non-glorified re-telling of history. But how well does he do it?

Nolan recruited only three of his regular actors (Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine) for Dunkirk, the rest of the cast being made up of established actors and relatively fresh faces. Was this aspect a deliberate decision on Nolan's part? Perhaps, but as his previous films showed, he's more interested in the story rather than those responsible for acting it out. (Okay, The Prestige possibly being the lone exception.)

But Dunkirk isn't only Nolan's shining achievement; many of the technical aspects make the film what it is. The combination of Hans Zimmer's score and Hoyte van Hoytema's cinematography make for a claustrophobic pairing. (That's a good thing, mind you.) And like Saving Private Ryan before it, it'll take your breath away.

Dunkirk is probably Nolan's best film to date, showing that there's obviously more to him than star-studded CGI-heavy productions. It's perhaps the most human of his career, and hopefully he'll do more films of a similar nature. (But maybe on a smaller scale.)

My Rating: *****