Hail Caesar (aka Hail, Caesar!)

This week we screened the most recent film from the Coen Brothers: Hail Caesar.

early on in our society's existence we screened Fargo (on the basis that it is mandatory for all film societies to show it at some point in their existence), but Hail Caesar was quite different: a screwball comedy set in 19502 Hollywood. It went down well, but some people were a little disappointed by George Clooney's role, as it was quite different from his more box-office friendly work. I enjoyed it very much.

Here are my notes:

Hail, Caesar!

USA 2016                    104 minutes

Director:                      Ethan and Joel Coen

Starring:                        Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum

“The Coen brothers’ lovingly goofy latest comes on like a breezy flipside companion-piece to Barton Fink – a jaunt through the underbelly of old Hollywood which finds not the fiery hell of the tortured artist but the upbeat splash of synchronised swimming, On the Town toe-tapping and toga-wearing biblical balderdash. With a ramshackle plot that appears to have been cooked up after drawing deep on the Dude’s biggest bong, the film pinballs between awol movie stars, red-scare nightmares and Bikini Atoll bomb tests, while raising important questions of whether God is still angry (“what, he got over it?”), how to make a lasso out of spaghetti, and the secret of balancing a bunch of bananas on your head (it’s all in the hips, lips, eyes and thighs, apparently).”

Mark Kermode

In Hollywood in the 1950s Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) works for Capitol Pictures as a fixer whose role is to keep scandals relating to film stars out of the press. His current work load includes concealing the news that DeeAnna Morgan (Scarlett Johansson) is pregnant, rescuing alcoholic actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) from a group of kidnappers whose members include Burt Gurney (Channing Tatum), an actor currently filming a musical comedy about sailors, and arranging for Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes) to cast young singing western film star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) in the period drama he is directing.

In Hollywood the 1950s was the time of the Cold War and the Red Scare: its response was to create escapist entertainment: westerns, musicals with extravagant dance sequences, aquatic spectacles and Roman epics with massive casts. The Coen Brothers saw the films of this period on TV when they were growing up and commented:

“We loved that stuff. We just didn’t realise we were watching crap.”

For the purposes of this film they re-created their own versions of these films and for verisimilitude shot them on film rather than employing digital cinematography which they have used for their most recent films.

The Coen Brothers first created Capital Pictures for Barton Fink (1991), but Eddie Mannix was a real character, although his real life was far more sordid than depicted in this film: he used his network of contacts to cover up, among other things, Judy Garland’s drug use, Great Garbo’s bi-sexuality, and was even suspected of involvement in the murder of Superman star George Reeves. The Guardian contains a regular feature called Reel History which a historian rates films based on real events for both Entertainment and History. For the former it receives an A- but a fail for the latter. In mitigation the article contains    the following verdict on the film:

 “The Coen brothers have done an Eddie Mannix on Eddie Mannix, covering up all the darkest, dirtiest parts of his story to create a sparkling comedy. Everything you see on screen is completely historically inaccurate – but that’s the point. Hail, Caesar! can wear its fail grade with pride."

 Here is the trailer:

 

 

 

Argo

We'd decided to end our season once the clocks went forward, as the lighter evenings meant that people were less likely to turn up to see a film, even one so carefully chosen as those we try to screen.  However we'd had so many requests to screen Argo and had already booked the Village Hall for last Thursday, so we went ahead with our screening. 

There was a slow trickle of people to start with, but we needed with one of our biggest audiences of the season - and we were all rewarded with an excellent film: we know in advance what the outcome would be, but the film was real edge-of-the-seat stuff.

Here are my notes:

Argo

USA 2012                    120 minutes

Director:                      Ben Affleck

Starring:                        Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Christopher Denham, John Goodman, Tate Donovan and Victor Garber

Nominations and Awards

• Won three Oscars (Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing) and nominations for four Oscars
• Won three BAFTAs (Best Film, Best Director and Best Editing) and nominations for four BAFTAs (Best Actor (Ben Affleck), Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin), Adapted Screenplay and Best Music)
• A further 54 wins and 53 nominations

“The craft in this film is rare.  It is so easy to manufacture a thriller from chases and gunfire, and so very hard to fine-tune it out of exquisite timing and a plot that’s so clear to us we wonder why it isn’t obvious to the Iranians.  After all, who in their right mind would believe a space opera was being filmed in Iran during the hostage crisis?  Just about everyone, it turns out.  Hooray for Hollywood.”

 

Roger Ebert

In 1979 six American officials managed to escape from the US embassy just as it was being overrun by a pro-Ayatollah mob that held the remaining personnel hostage.  The six escapers hid in the Canadian embassy from where they were exfiltrated by Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), an unorthodox CIA agent, who claimed to be a Canadian movie producer scouting locations for a sci-fi film called Argo.

 

The film is based on The Master of Disguise by Tony Mendez and magazine article by Joshuah Berman called The Great Escape in which Mendez exposed this startling piece of declassified secret history to the world.  There is no official corroboration to the story, but it is so incredible that it somehow compels belief. 

Ben Affleck first came to attention as an actor in Kevin Smith’s films such as Mallrats (1995) and Chasing Amy (1997).  As a writer he won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the screenplay of Good Will Hunting (1997) which he co-wrote and starred in with Matt Damon.  Subsequently he starred in a series of films including Armageddon (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001) which were box office successes despite receiving negative critical reaction.  Subsequent films including Gigli (2003) and Surviving Christmas (2004) were critically panned box office flops and in 2007 Affleck turned to directing, with Argo being his third film as director.  All of his films have been thrillers, with Gone Baby Gone (2007), involving a conspiracy of honourable public servants, and The Town (2010) depicting a heist by likable boson crooks, with Affleck co-wring the screenplays for both films.    

On its release Argo received widespread acclamation from US critics, with Roger Ebert choosing it as his film of the year. The film received seven Oscar nominations, although to the surprise of many Ben Affleck did not receive a nomination as Best Director.  Entertainment Weekly commented on this controversy as follows:

Standing in the Golden Globe pressroom with his directing trophy, Affleck acknowledged that it was frustrating not to get an Oscar nod when many felt he deserved one.  But he's keeping a sense of humor.  "I mean, I also didn't get the acting nomination," he pointed out.  "And no one's saying I got snubbed there!"

Here's the trailer:

The Descendants

Our plan was to screen The Descendants, but a mix up over the DVD meant that we had to screen an alternative.  The screening of a film with George Clooney had attracted a certain demographic, so we offered everyone a freee glass of wind and screened The American instead.

We will screen The Descendants at a later date, but here are my notes anyway:

The Descendants

USA 2011                    115minutes

Director:                      Alexander Payne

Starring:                        George Clooney, Amara Miller, Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard, Michael Ontkean, Nick Krause, Robert Forster, Shailene Woodley

Awards and Nominations

·         Won Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and four further nominations including Best Director, Best Film and Best Actor (George Clooney).

·         BAFTA nominations for Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor (George Clooney).

·         A further 47 wins and 66 nominations.

“Nothing gives me more pleasure than to welcome a new film by the gifted writer-director Alexander Payne, especially as The Descendants, his first movie since Sideways eight years ago, is so good, and in so many ways.”

 Philip French

After his wife has been left comatose by an accident while water skiing Matt King (George Clooney), a rich landowner in Hawaii, discovers that she has been having an affair.  The accident forces him to face up to his responsibilities as a (failed) husband and father and he sets off on a scenic tour of his life.

The film received its first screenings at the Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals and was then scheduled to have a limited release in December 2011.  However the positive critical response from its initial screenings resulted in its release date being brought forward.    The film subsequently appeared in many critics’ lists of the best films of 2011 and won many awards for George Clooney, Alexander Payne (as writer and director) and as Best Film.

 In his four star review of the film Roger Ebert was particularly impressed by George Clooney:

 “And George Clooney? What essence does Payne see in him? I believe it is intelligence. Some actors may not be smart enough to sound convincing; the wrong actor in this role couldn't convince us that he understands the issues involved. Clooney strikes me as manifestly the kind of actor who does. We see him thinking, we share his thoughts, and at the end of The Descendants, we've all come to his conclusions together.”

Alexander Payne made his name as Director/Screenwriter of films such as Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002) and Sideways (2004).  George Clooney lobbied Alexander Payne unsuccessfully for a part in this latter film, being turned down by Payne on the basis that he was too big a star for a role in such an ensemble cast.

	Here's the trailer:

Up In The Air

These are my film notes for our first screening which is due to take place on Thursday 16th September:

Up in the Air

USA 2009 (109 minutes)

Director: Jason Reitman

Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick

Awards and Nominations

• Nominated for 6 Oscars: Clooney (Best Actor), Farmiga (Best Supporting Actress), Kendrick (Best Supporting Actress), Best Film, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay

• A further 44 wins and 53 nominations (including BAFTA nominations for Clooney, Farmiga and Kendrick)

“In one sense, it’s a movie about a man who fires people for a living. In another sense, it’s a movie about a man who collects air miles excessively. In another sense it’s about a man who meets a woman who’s so similar to him that even though they both believe in the idea of living solo, they begin to fall in love.”

Jason Reitman

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) loves his job as an outplacement counsellor, travelling around the US laying off staff for managers too cowardly to do it for themselves and aiming to achieve a personal goal of earning ten million frequent flyer air miles with American Airlines. He is enjoying a casual relationship with Alex Goran (Vera Farmiga), another frequent flyer, but his footloose life becomes complicated when his boss asks him to mentor the dynamic Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who has developed a new method of lay-off using a webcam which saves money by reducing the need for expensive air travel.

Reitman wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Turner and, although it is based loosely on a novel by Walter Kim, stated that he wrote the three main parts with Clooney, Farmiga and Kendrick in mind. Both Reitman and Clooney were aware of the apparent similarities between Clooney’s public persona and the role he played, and Reitman confirmed that the casting of Clooney was key to the success of the film:

“If you're going to make a movie about a guy who fires people for a living and you still want to like him, that actor better be damn charming and I don't think there’s a more charming actor alive than George Clooney. I was very lucky he said yes.”

In his review of the film Philip French described George Clooney as giving his best performance to date and the character of Bingham as the best role that he has played: Bingham is “Arthur Miller’s Willie Loman reshaped as a romantic hero for the post-industrial world, burdened not by a case of samples but credit cards”.

But the film is very much an ensemble piece and both Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick won much praise for their supporting performances. Prior to her success in Up in the Air Vera Farmiga was better known as a stage actress, although she did appear memorably as the Mother in The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008). Anna Kendrick played the role of Jessica in Twilight before being cast in this film, and has subsequently played the same character in each of the sequels. Her most recent role is in Scott Pilgrim vs the World (2010).

Jason Reitman is the son of Ivan Reitman who directed the two Ghostbuster films in the 1980s. His first film as a director was Thank You For Smoking (2005) but he made his name with the multi-award winning Juno (2007).