Based on a True Story – We Are Movie Geeks

Director Callie Khouri’s PATSY & LORETTA First Poster Debuts From The First Lady Of Country Music, Loretta Lynn – Produced By Neil Meron

To say we’re big fans of these women is an understatement. We grew up watching COAL MINERS DAUGHTER (Academy Award for Best Actress Sissy Spacek – who did her own singing) in 1980, followed by SWEET DREAMS in 1985 starring Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline.

Spacek’s co-star Beverly D’Angelo, who played Patsy Cline, also did her own singing rather than lip-synching; she was nominated for a Golden Globe as was Tommy Lee Jones.

Now comes Lifetime’s Patsy & Loretta.

The official Loretta Lynn Facebook page debuted this first poster from the upcoming film.

The movie will star Megan Hilty (Smash, The Good Wife) as music legend Patsy Cline and Grammy winner Jessie Mueller (Broadway’s Waitress, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) as country icon Loretta Lynn.

The movie, produced by Sony Pictures Television, is executive produced by Neil Meron, in his first solo project since the passing of longtime producing partner Craig Zadan.

Debuting later this year, the movie was filmed on location in Nashville, helmed by award-winning director Callie Khouri (Thelma & Louise, Nashville) from a script by Angelina Burnett (The Americans, Genius) Patsy & Loretta also marks a reunion for Meron and Hilty who worked together on the musical series, Smash.

If anyone can do justice to the Patsy Cline songs, its Megan Hilty….that is great casting! She played Glinda in Wicked and she can belt. Hilty was Kristin Chenoweth’s understudy and took over the role when she left.

Patsy & Loretta is produced by Sony Pictures Television and Zadan/Meron Entertainment for Lifetime. Neil Meron serves as executive producer while Mark Nicholson, who runs development and production for Zadan/Meron Productions serves as co-EP.

Co-producers are Loretta Lynn’s daughter Pasty Lynn Russell and Patsy Cline’s daughter Julie Fudge on behalf of Patsy Cline’s Estate. Oscar-winning writer Callie Khouri who also created the TV series Nashville, will direct from a script by Angelina Burnett.

By Melissa Thompson and Michelle Hannett

Must See: Filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” Debuts On Netflix

In 2012, Ken Burns made the documentary called THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE. WAMG’s Melissa Thompson wrote how the film told of the story of five black teenagers who were arrested in 1989 for the brutal beating and rape of a woman jogger in New York’s Central Park .

“What followed was one of the worst miscarriages of justice anyone could ever imagine. Starting with the New York City cops who interrogated the boys (who were minors, mind you) without parents or lawyers present, to the media, who created a mob-mentality screaming with bloodlust, with their tabloid headlines and made up term “wilding wolf pack” to whip the public into a frenzy of demands for the death penalty.

And all the while these poor kids (Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise) had nothing to do with the horrific crime, other than the fact that they were in the park on that same night. There was absolutely no evidence connecting them to the case, including DNA found on the victim that did not match any of them. Still the city proceeded with the prosecution and wrongful imprisonment of these five teenagers.”

You can read the rest HERE.

Now comes the four-part series from filmmaker Ava Duvernay, WHEN THEY SEE US.

Based on a true story that gripped the country, WHEN THEY SEE US will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color, labeled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four part limited series will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. Beginning in the spring of 1989, when the teenagers were first questioned about the incident, the series will span 25 years, highlighting their exoneration in 2002 and the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.

This must-see series is available now on Netflix :https://www.netflix.com/title/80200549

When They See Us was created by Ava DuVernay, who also co-wrote and directed the four parts. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey from Harpo Films, and Jane Rosenthal, Berry Welsh and Robert De Niro from Tribeca Productions executive produced the limited series alongside DuVernay through her banner, Array FilmWorks. In addition to DuVernay, Attica Locke, Robin Swicord, Michael Starrbury and Julian Breece also served as writers on the limited series.

The series stars Emmy Award® Nominee Michael K. Williams, Academy Award® Nominee Vera Farmiga, Emmy Award® Winner John Leguizamo, Academy Award® Nominee and Emmy Award® Winner Felicity Huffman, Emmy Award® Nominee Niecy Nash, Emmy Award® Winner and two-time Golden Globe Nominee Blair Underwood, Emmy Award® and Grammy Award® Winner and Tony Award® Nominee Christopher Jackson, Joshua Jackson, Omar J. Dorsey, Adepero Oduye, Famke Janssen, Aurora Perrineau, William Sadler, Jharrel Jerome, Jovan Adepo, Aunjanue Ellis, Kylie Bunbury, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Storm Reid, Dascha Polanco, Chris Chalk, Freddy Miyares, Justin Cunningham, Ethan Herisse, Caleel Harris, Marquis Rodriguez, and Asante Blackk.

Review Of Director Damien Chazelle’s First Trailer For Apollo 11 FIRST MAN Starring Ryan Gosling And Claire Foy

“Houston. Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed…”

On the heels of their six-time Academy Award®-winning smash, LA LA LAND, Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for Universal Pictures’ FIRST MAN, the riveting story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the years 1961-1969.

A visceral, first-person account, based on the book by James R. Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost-on Armstrong and on the nation-of one of the most dangerous missions in history.

The film stars Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Patrick Fugit, Ciaran Hinds, Ethan Embry, Shea Whigham, Corey Stoll, Pablo Schreiber.

2019 will witness the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing.

From October 2018 through December 2022, NASA will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program that landed a dozen Americans on the moon between July 1969 and December 1972. Recently NASA unveiled an official logo to observe these milestone anniversaries at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

The Apollo program and the Saturn V rocket – it is still mankind’s finest achievement and we’ll never create anything as magnificent as that ever again.

The Saturn V was developed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. It was one of three types of Saturn rockets NASA built. Two smaller rockets, the Saturn I (1) and IB (1b), were used to launch humans into Earth orbit. The Saturn V sent them beyond Earth orbit to the moon. Five F-1 engines were used in the 138-foot-tall S-IC, or first stage, of each Saturn V, which depended on the five-engine cluster for the 7.5 million pounds of thrust needed to lift it from the launch pad. The mighty F-1 remains the most powerful American liquid-fuel rocket engine ever developed. The F-1 still holds the record as the largest single-chamber, single-nozzle liquid fuel engine ever flown.

Yes, there will be other missions to the Moon and eventually to Mars (Orion rockets), but the ships that take people there won’t be as glorious as the mighty Saturn V rockets.

Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969, carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin into an initial Earth-orbit of 114 by 116 miles.

While astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin descended in the Lunar Module “Eagle” to explore the Sea of Tranquility region of the moon, astronaut Collins remained with the Command and Service Modules “Columbia” in lunar orbit.

An estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong’s televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took “…one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” on July 20, 1969.

It’s time for another motion picture to remind audiences of the massive feats people once ventured to and accomplished. The Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions were the days of brave heroes.

The exciting and thrilling trailer for FIRST MAN makes the upcoming movie a must-see in IMAX.

To director Damien Chazelle, in order to honor these explorers I respectfully recommend:

1. In the opening sequence, the trailer shows a Saturn V taking off. Those rockets took off very slowly, and the exhaust flame was very narrow and long. What they have done with the trailer is edit in the exhaust of a space shuttle with a much faster take-off, and the exhaust is fanning out wide with lots of smoke. That’s what was fun about watching an Apollo launch – the dramatic slow take off and then it really started picking up speed as it broke through the atmosphere into outer space.

2. As for how this trailer is cut, it shows a lot of scenes about Armstrong’s Gemini flight (which is true). At about the 1:46 mark of this trailer, they start a 6 second countdown, with all the scenery revolving around a Gemini capsule (those scenes looked good), then they say ‘liftoff’, and you see the 5 rocket engines of the 1st stage of the Saturn V roaring, not the two engines of the Titan rocket that launched all of the Gemini’s. If they meant for all of that to be coherent, it wasn’t. If they just want to show random scenes, they could get away with it since it is a trailer, but it will not fly with NASA/Apollo enthusiasts.

3. This first look at the film shows Armstrong flying the X-15. (The pen floating next to him.) The Gemini 8 mission is the flight he took with Dave Scott (who commanded Apollo 15), and the two of them very realistically could have died when some steering thrusters on the capsule did not turn off, and the spacecraft started spinning dangerously fast, to the point where they could have passed out. Neil stayed cool and got things quickly under control, but the mission had to abort immediately after that. The Gemini scenes looked good. The spacesuits looked authentic, so kudos to getting this right.

There are going to be plenty of potential scenes where the music will really add to the experience: around the X-15, the Gemini launch/crisis/splashdown, and of course Apollo 11 launch, lunar landing, liftoff from the moon, splashdown. I’m really looking forward to what Oscar winning composer Justin Hurwitz has in store with his score.

The first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s INTERSTELLAR was masterfully and thoughtfully cut.

“These moments when we dared to aim higher. To break barriers. To reach for the stars.”

At the time I wrote:

Filled with footage of Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1, the Mercury and Gemini space capsule missions, the Saturn V rocket liftoff to the Moon with the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle Atlantis, this superb first trailer really brings home the fact that at one time America’s Space Program was envied and unrivaled. It’s chilling to think that we may never again see the likes of when we made frequent trips to the Moon. There was a time when we had the determination, ability and huge national pride of travelling to our nearest celestial neighbor.

Matthew McConaughey speaks the truth in his voice over – “We lost all that. Perhaps we’ve just forgotten. That we are still Pioneers – we’ve barely begun and that our greatest accomplishments cannot be behind us. Our destiny lies above us”

An additional note: Ron Howard went to great lengths to get things right on APOLLO 13. See the movie launch and the real launch below.

I hope FIRST MAN does the same thing, and just doesn’t edit in stock footage or re-creations of just random footage. Just a few suggestions for a film that has an awards season, October 12, release date.

FIRST MAN is based on the biography First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.

Armstong passed away at age 82 on August 25, 2012 following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.

Photos courtesy of NASA

Johnny Depp, Forest Whitaker Star In CITY OF LIES Trailer – Story Of The Notorious B.I.G./Tupac

Who shot Biggie? Today would have been The Notorious B.I.G’s 46th Birthday….

Based on the true story of one of the most notorious and unsolved cases in recent time, CITY OF LIES is a provocative thriller revealing a never-before-seen look at the infamous murder of The Notorious B.I.G. shortly following the death of Tupac.

Watch the trailer now and see CITY OF LIES in theaters everywhere September 7th.

Written by Christian Contreras, the film is based on the novel by Randall Sullivan.

L.A.P.D. detective Russell Poole (Johnny Depp) has spent years trying to solve his biggest case, but after two decades, the investigation remains open. “Jack” Jackson (Forest Whitaker), a reporter desperate to save his reputation and career, is determined to find out why. In search of the truth, the two team up and unravel a growing web of institutional corruption and lies. Relentless in their hunt, these two determined men threaten to uncover the conspiracy and crack the foundation of the L.A.P.D. and an entire city.

Visit the official site: cityofliesfilm.com

Awards Season Hopeful MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS Release Date Set For Friday, December 7, 2018

Focus Features will release Working Title’s MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS on Friday, December 7, 2018 – limited in North America. Previously having been set for November 2, 2018, the new date places the movie in prime Oscar season contention.

Focus Features launched a successful Oscar campaign earlier this year with two celebrated films from 2017.

DARKEST HOUR, starring Academy Award winner Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, received six nominations and went onto win statuettes for Best Actor and Achievement in makeup and hairstyling, while PHANTOM THREAD, also garnering six nominations and starring Daniel Day Lewis, took home the Oscar for Achievement in costume design (Mark Bridges).

Saoirse Ronan as Mary Stuart in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, a Focus Features release.Credit: John Mathieson / Focus Features

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS stars Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. Both were Best Actress nominees at the 90th Oscars. Ronan was nominated for LADY BIRD and Robbie for I, TONYA. The upcoming awards season could very well see a repeat for both actresses. The 1971 historical drama MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, featured Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I and Vanessa Redgrave as Mary, Queen of Scots. While Redgrave saw an Oscar nod for the doomed queen, both actresses received Golden Globe nominations. (Trailer)

Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn, Gemma Chan, Martin Compston, Ismael Cordova, Brendan Coyle, Ian Hart, Adrian Lester, James McArdle, with David Tennant, and Guy Pearce also star in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS.

From director Josie Rourke (artistic director of The Donmar Warehouse), the film explores the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart. Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. But Scotland and England fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I. Each young Queen beholds her “sister” in fear and fascination. Rivals in power and in love, and female regents in a masculine world, the two must decide how to play the game of marriage versus independence. Determined to rule as much more than a figurehead, Mary asserts her claim to the English throne, threatening Elizabeth’s sovereignty. Betrayal, rebellion, and conspiracies within each court imperil both thrones – and change the course of history.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS is from writer Beau Willimon (“The Ides of March,” “House of Cards”) and based on My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots by John Guy.

Grace Molony stars as Dorothy Stafford, Margot Robbie stars as Queen Elizabeth I and Georgia Burnell as Kate Carey in MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, a Focus Features release. Credit: Parisa Tag / Focus Features

Perspective Look At The 12 STRONG Movie – Chris Hemsworth And Michael Shannon Star

By Marc Butterfield (Analyst, freelance writer, veteran)

Until 1979, most of the modern world had never heard of Afghanistan as little more than a spot on a globe in the library. In that year, the Soviet Union sent special forces commandos in to raid the royal residence and kill the occupants, installing a puppet government. From that point forward, as a people and a place, they have rarely been OUT of the news. To the British empire, Afghanistan was well known, but as Americans, we were ignorant of it. In fact, almost any country that has every tried to tame the Afghan territory has failed, and almost always after long, expensive, bloody campaigns. The lesson of futility was learned time and again.

Then, because of the Taliban, a product of soviet invasion and American intervention, acting as hosts of Al Qaeda, Afghanistan once again was put on the radar of the American people. The attacks perpetrated upon the American people by Saudi terrorists, planned and launched from Afghan camps, on September 11, 2001, changed the world as we know it. The blow dealt to America, on it’s very shores, in it’s shining city, New York, were devastating. The cost in blood and security is still being paid to this day.

This is where the story of 12 STRONG begins. American Special Forces, our elite fighters, had to go where few Americans had been, and forge alliances with the Afghans who would aid with the ouster of Al Qaeda and the Taliban. For them, culture shock would be an obstacle no less formidable than the terrain or armed enemies. These men had come armed with a more open mind than the Soviets had, and this would prove to be the difference.

Chris Hemsworth (“Thor,” “The Avengers” films) and Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road,” “Nocturnal Animals”) star in 12 STRONG, a powerful new war drama from Alcon Entertainment, Black Label Media and Jerry Bruckheimer Films that tells the declassified true story of the Horse Soldiers.

Based on the best-selling book Horse Soldiers, it is story of heroism based on true events that unfolded a world away in the aftermath of 9/11.

12 STRONG is set in the harrowing days following 9/11 when a U.S. Special Forces team, led by their new Captain, Mitch Nelson (Hemsworth), is chosen to be the first U.S. troops sent into Afghanistan for an extremely dangerous mission. There, in the rugged mountains, they must convince Northern Alliance General Dostum (Navid Negahban) to join forces with them to fight their common adversary: the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. In addition to overcoming mutual distrust and a vast cultural divide, the Americans—accustomed to state-of-the-art warfare—must adopt the rudimentary tactics of the Afghan horse soldiers. But despite their uneasy bond, the new allies face overwhelming odds: outnumbered and outgunned by a ruthless enemy that does not take prisoners.

Playing the 12 STRONG U.S. Special Forces team are Hemsworth, Shannon, Michael Peña (“The Martian, “Ant-Man”), Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”), Geoff Stults (“Only the Brave”), Thad Luckinbill (“Only the Brave”), Austin Stowell (“Bridge of Spies”), Ben O’Toole (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Austin Hebert (“Jack Reacher: Never Go Back”), Kenneth Miller (“Whiskey Tango Foxtrot”), Kenny Sheard (“13 Hours”) and Jack Kesy (TV’s “The Strain). The ensemble cast also includes Navid Negahban (“American Sniper,” TV’s “Homeland”), Laith Nakli (“24: Legacy”), Fahim Fazli (“American Sniper”), Numan Acar (“Homeland”), Elsa Pataky (the “Fast & Furious” films), William Fichtner (“Black Hawk Down,” “Armageddon”) and Rob Riggle (“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Hangover”).

Award-winning director Nicolai Fuglsig directed the film, which is produced by legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer (the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, “Black Hawk Down”), together with Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill (“La La Land,” “Sicario”) under their Black Label Media banner. Oscar winner Ted Tally (“The Silence of the Lambs”) and Peter Craig (“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Parts 1 & 2”) wrote the screenplay, based on the acclaimed book by best-selling author Doug Stanton.

The behind-the-scenes team included director of photography Rasmus Videbaek (“A Royal Affair”), production designer Christopher Glass (“The Jungle Book”), editor Lisa Lassek (“The Avengers,” “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”), costume designer Daniel J. Lester (assistant costume designer on “Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Hurt Locker”) and Academy Award-winning stunt coordinator/second unit director Mic Rodgers (“Hacksaw Ridge,” “Braveheart”).

Slated for release on January 19, 2018, 12 STRONG will be distributed domestically by Warner Bros. Pictures and has been rated R by the MPAA for war violence and language throughout.

Visit the official site: 12strongmovie.com

Interview: THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson Discusses His Emotional Score

From Focus Features comes the inspirational drama THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING. Starring Eddie Redmayne & Felicity Jones, the opens in select cities this Friday, November 7th.

Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.

Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.

Based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, director James Marsh went with Icelandic composer and musician Jóhann Jóhannsson for the movie’s score. Prior to the film’s release, Mr. Jóhannsson spoke with me over the phone about capturing the emotional themes for the moving and unusual love story that is THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING.

Mr. Jóhannsson started studying piano and trombone when he was 11 years old. In high school, he ceased formal music studies. At age 18, he started performing in rock bands in Reykjavik, and continued to for 10 years after studying literature and languages at university; he concentrated on feedback-saturated compositions, using layers of guitar to sculpt soundscapes. Setting the latter instrument aside, he started writing music for strings, woodwinds, and chamber ensembles – and combining acoustic and digital electronic sounds for a unique, seamless blend.

Among Mr. Jóhannsson’s notable compositions is “IBM 1401 – A User’s Manual,” incorporating sounds that his father, one of Iceland’s first computer programmers, created. He has recently done two ambitious multimedia projects with filmmaker Bill Morrison, including an expanded Calder Quartet interpretation of the latter composition; and “The Miners’ Hymns,” which pays tribute to the coal-mining culture of Durham, England, and which he performed with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble and brass bands at venues in the U.S. last winter.

His varied discography also includes Virthulegu Forsetar, a fanfare for pipe organ and brass; Fordlandia, a cinematic ode to the city that Henry Ford tried to build in the Amazon jungle; and “Copenhagen Dreams,” a visual and musical reflection on the city and its people.

In 1999, Mr. Jóhannsson was a founding member of Kitchen Motors, an art collective that encouraged collaboration among practitioners of jazz, classical, punk, metal, and electronic music. His first solo album, Englabörn, was a suite based on music written for the troupe’s theater piece of the same name. Writing music for plays, and for dance and theatrical performances, led to film.

He has since scored a number of movies, including Eva Mulvad’s documentary feature The Good Life; Marc Craste’s animated short Varmints; So Yong Kim’s For Ellen, starring Paul Dano; Lou Ye’s Mystery; Josh C. Waller’s McCanick, starring David Morse and Cory Monteith; János Szász’s Le grand cahier (a.k.a. The Notebook); Phie Ambo’s documentary Free the Mind; and Denis Villeneuve’s hit PRISONERS, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, on which Mr. Jóhannsson cultivated large string and woodwind presences as well as the distinctive Cristal Baschet and Ondes Martenot instruments.

WAMG: I was listening to the soundtrack again last night – it’s absolutely lovely. It has an old world classical charm about it, as if it was from a film in the 1960’s.

Jóhann Jóhannsson: Oh thank you.

WAMG: The film’s warm, romantic look about a scientist was further enhanced by your score – what made you choose the piano to convey the story?

JJ: We went with the piano as the lead instrument because it’s a film about an astrophysicist, a cosmologist, but it’s also very much a love story. The story about the relationship between Stephen and Jane – it’s this odd love story at heart. We needed to emphasize the emotion and humanity of the story.

Of course, the science of the physics is also a part of the story and a part of Hawking’s life and character, but the relationships are really the heart of the film. I didn’t formulate the piano – it kind of suggested itself naturally. When I tried to analyze it, I found it to be very expressive and precise instrument. It has this mathematical and mechanical kind of quality to it which unites the emotions and human aspects with the cerebral, scientific parts.

WAMG: You can hear a four-note piano ostinato throughout the film’s score – it’s so simple but it’s a lovely theme.

JJ: Yes, the first track on the soundtrack, “1963,” which is the music for the intro of the film, was a theme that came early on in the process. It’s a theme that needed a kinetic, driving quality that suggested a young Hawking in the full vigor of his youth as a young doctoral student at Cambridge. We had to capture that energy and the first theme shows him cycling at full speed through the cobblestone streets. That four-note motif needed a lot of power and the way that I harmonized that motif became the building blocks for many of the subsequent cues.

The four-note motif is deconstructed, played in a minor mode to break it up and used throughout the score. Regarding the harmony, I used it from the first to the last cues. It’s this lecture theme at the end of the film where Hawking is being acclaimed as this great scientific mind and he delivers this lecture where he’s demonstrating his ideas about life and God and the Universe.

The intro appears there again in a very thoughtful and philosophical mode for a much more serene kind of version.

WAMG: A few of the tracks like “The Spacetime Singularity” and “The Theory of Everything” mix in orchestral instruments along with synthesized sounds. With those themes, did the director James Marsh tell you what he was looking for beforehand and were you going for a lofty tonality?

JJ: A lot of the score is very orchestral, but there are cues like “The Spacetime Singularity” that are more ethereal and studio creations.

WAMG: I like the blend of the music with the mechanized sounds.

JJ: I love doing that. It’s my signature sound in many ways. For example, the score I did for PRISONERS is much more in that vein where I do a lot of blending of orchestral instruments with electronic sounds. They’re not really electronic, they’re more of an acoustic recording which I treat and process and create these soundscapes out of.

I love these homogeneous textures that work well with a live orchestra, so it almost becomes one sound. It’s something I really enjoy doing.

WAMG: Who are your favorite film score composers?

JJ: There are so many but one of the first I got obsessive about, way back, was Bernard Herrmann. He’s remained one of my favorites. I really love his writing. His relentlessness and beauty the of his harmonies – Also his simplicity. He’s a very minimalist composer, even though he predates minimalism.

I love Ennio Morricone. I’m a huge fan. I love his 60’s and 70’s scores. Amazing experimentation he went through and creating his amazing sounds in the studio. Of course, his melodies and orchestrations are remarkable.

I’m a huge fan of some of the European composers like Nino Rota and Georges Delerue.

WAMG: What other projects do you have coming up?

JJ: I’m in the middle of a film score right now with Denis Villeneuve from PRISONERS. He’s doing a new film called SICARIO (2015) starring Benicio del Toro, Emily Blunt, and Josh Brolin and that’s very exciting.

WAMG: My thanks to Mr. Jóhannsson for taking the time to discuss his score for THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING.

Check out his score on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/theory-everything-original/id930744739 and on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Everything-Johann-Johannsson/dp/B00NOWAM7C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415375434&sr=8-1&keywords=the+theory+of+everything+soundtrack

ZERO DARK THIRTY – The Review

Although many film makers and studios have benefited from using real-life events as movie source material, often reality has tripped up directors and screenwriters. Such is the case with ZERO DARK THIRTY. And we moviegoers are much richer for it. Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were preparing a follow-up to their 2008 Oscar winner THE HURT LOCKER. They were going to tell the story of the 2001 Battle of Tora Bora, the hiding place of 9/11 plotter Osama Bin Laden. Much of the story would have involved the effort to track him down. Then May 1, 2011 happened. US forces killed Bin Laden. The Tora Bora project was scrapped, but much of Boal’s extensive reasearch would be applied to this new film concerning one determined CIA agent’s efforts in this long mission (with its conclusion). Few films have succeeded in capturing the drama of such a recent event. ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN springs to mind back in 1976 (but much of those facts had been unearthed by the two reporters). The true tales of 9/11 have been given screen treatment before in films such as WORLD TRADE CENTER and FLIGHT 93, but none have approached the immediacy that Bigelow and Boal have delivered here. Perhaps this is cinematic lightning in a bottle.

The film opens with a black screen, underscored by actual telephone recordings of people trapped in the twin towers on that 2001 morning. Two years later we’re taken to a black site in the Mideast where interrogator Dan (Jason Clarke) uses “enhanced” methods to extract information from a prisoner. With Dan is CIA operative Maya (Jessica Chastain). For the next several years we follow this single-minded agent’s quest to locate Bin Laden. She clashes with superiors while pursuing leads that sometimes are dead ends. While the beurocrats stumble and hesitate, the terror attacks continue. But Maya forges ahead, clear in her goal. Then finally a break. A courier is tracked down in Pakistan. Could this be where Bin Laden is hiding? After much intelligence gathering and persuasion the order is finally given. The finale ends with Navy Seal Team Six flying in on stealth helicopters to storm a fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan during a dark night nineteen months ago.

As far as the acting goes, THIRTY’s impact rests on the very capable shoulders of Chastain as the doggedly determined, hopefully future role model, Maya. We never see her blowing away the baddies, but she’s just as intimidating as the Black Widow (of MARVEL’S AVENGERS) or any countless heroines based on video game characters. Nothing and no one makes her back down. We see her passion and her frustration when it seems that nobody has her back. We feel her pain as the enemy insurgents strike those close to her. But there’s no phone calls or letters dashed off to the family back in the states (no distracting romances, either). She’s there to finish the job. Chastain seemed to explode on screen (after several years on stage and television) out of nowhere in 2011 with THE DEBT, THE TREE OF LIFE, TAKE SHELTER, and THE HELP (which gave her an Oscar nomination). THIRTY firmly establishes her one of our most compelling, gifted film actresses.

But she’s not the only actor doing terrific work here. There’s Chastain’s LAWLESS co-star Clarke as the brutal, but conflicted Dan. The “interrogations” cause him internal pain as he’s dishing out the external hurt on the prisoners. He’s got to get out before he loses his humanity. Dan’s scary, but he’s really a wounded bear who wants to do what’s right. Jennifer Ehle is memorable as Jessica, the other woman in the CIA’s inner circle. She’s irked at first by the brash Maya, but soon they form a bond of mutual respect. Also great are Maya’s supervisors played by Kyle Chandler (also in ARGO) and Mark Strong. Oh, and James Gandolfini shines in a few brief scenes as the CIA director (presumably Leon Penneta). The film’s gripping final act belongs to the seal team anchored bt Joel Edgerton (WARRIOR) and Chris Pratt (TV’s “Parks and Recreation”). No flashy actor tricks on display here. All are a great cast united to make this piece of history come alive.

As great as the cast is, they’d flounder about without the expertly investigated script by Boal and the lean, taut direction by Bigelow. There’s been quite a lot of talk in the news media lately about Boal’s access and authenticity. Yes, there are horrific scenes of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (along with news video of our prez saying that we do not torture), but we also get to see the way info can be extracted almost casually. How the turn of a phrase, or vague wording can be more effective than the ropes and cages. The amount of military and Mideast jargon thrown at the viewer during the opening sequences can be confusing, but soon we’re accustomed to the rhythms of conversation in the many meetings and rushing-down-the-hallway conversations (some get close to the energy of a Howard Hawks directed rat-a-tat verbal exchange). And Bigelow knows exactly how to make this complex story work. There’s tension in the quiet scenes of Maya staring at her computer screen during the lonely wee hours (and when she must don a wig or native dress to head into the dusty streets). These are the hushed moments between some truly nail-biting sequences. There’s the arrest near a fountain in broad daylight. An uneasy meeting with a possible informant at a US military camp followed by CIA agents weaving through crowded, dangerous traffic in Pakistan as they try to get a bead on a single cell phone single. But as they say, the best is saved for last. The film’s final act is those nearly silent copters gliding through the mountains into Abbottabad. Sure, we know what went down, but you might just be digging your fingers into the theatre armrests, it’s that gripping. Bigelow’s made a name for herself over the years as an expert action film maker, and she does not disappoint here. The movie clocks in at nearly three hours, but thanks to her skills, it never lags, never wanders. ZERO DARK THIRTY is a masterful recreation of recent history. You know the outcome, and thanks to this film we get to know more about those involved, especially one fearless, intelligent woman. This is a docudrama that’s an exceptional, thought-provoking classic thriller. Most of the country’s getting THIRTY now, but it’s my choice for the best film of 2012.

5 Out of 5 Stars

THE IMPOSSIBLE – The Review

The release of the original AIRPORT in 1970 began a new type of cinema genre: the “disaster” movie. For the next ten years or so the big studios (and some small) hit upon the formula of throwing a whole bunch of stars together (often providing work for many former screen gods and goddesses) and have them try to survive a catastrophe. One producer, Irwin Allen, became known as the disaster movie king with THE POSIEDON ADVENTURE and THE TOWERING INFERNO. These films were thought of as grand escapist entertainments, popcorn flicks. But what about a disaster that really happened? True life disasters have been the backdrop for many Hollywood epics such as SAN FRANCISCO and IN OLD CHICAGO. Those films had fictional characters in stories set in those calamities. THE IMPOSSIBLE is the story of how a real family dealt with a real event that we all saw news reports of several years ago. It’s a more intimate tale than those Allen extravaganzas, but the emotions are as large as any of the cast lists and budgets as those 70’s box office champs. This is about the power of Mother Nature and the determination of a family.

This family consists of mom Maria (Naomi Watts), dad Henry (Ewan McGregor), teenage son Lucas (Tom Holland) and his grade-school aged brothers Thomas (Samuel Joslin) and Simon (Oaklee Pendergast). They’ve decided to spend the end of the year holidays at a gorgeous beachfront resort on Thailand. Everyone seems to be having a wonderful time except the sullen, surly Lucas (ah, the teen years!). Then the day after Christmas 2004, early in the morning as they frolic in the pool, a powerful tsunami hits. The gigantic title waves destroy everything and separate Maria and Lucas from Henry and Thomas and Simon. The story follows mother and eldest son as they try to get to safety, survive, and hopefully re-unite with the rest of the family in a faraway, foreign land that’s been transformed into a chaotic hellscape.

The heavy dramatics of this horrific situation require gifted actors to relay the characters’ raw emotions, and this cast is more than up to the challenge. Joslin and Pendergast are indeed adorable, but avoid the stereotypes of child actors. We want to protect these sweet tykes from all the evils and dangers. They’re naturals. McGregor showed a bit of his paternal nature in the Star Wars prequels, but here he gives us a fabulous film father, full of courage and determination. He’s not super-human, though. A scene in which he makes a cell phone call to England is heart-wrenching as all his emotions bubble up to the surface. Watts gets most of the parental screen time and this is some of her best film work. Maria may be the most physically battered of the family, but somehow she pushes through the pain to live on and bring the family back together. Amazingly, she’s also able to inspire her eldest son. Holland as Lucas has perhaps the most challenging role and gives one of this year’s best performances. In the opening scenes he’s snippy and rude to everyone. Lucas is almost an adult and is eager to distance himself from his much younger siblings and, especially, his parents. But when the tides rise he realizes how much he still cares for them all, particularly when he and his Mom encounter a six year-old all alone in the floating debris. Later, Lucas is able to put his selfishness aside and help those much worse off than himself. It’s great work from a remarkable young actor at the beginning of a hopefully long screen career.

Director Juan Antonio Bayona (THE ORPHANAGE) has done a masterful balancing act with this film. There is the grand scale tragedy, with incredible special effects topping the flood sequence in Clint Eastwood’s HEREAFTER. The tidal waves that approach the resort seem to crash forward like classic B-movie giant behemoth. But they are no fantasy, no guy-in-a-rubber-suit. Maria’s stunned confused stare turns quickly to horror and panic as she tries to get to her loved ones. Later, we wince in pain as the rushing waters batter her body and tear her flesh. And then there’s the confusion as she and Lucas try to communicate with the staff at the overwhelmed hospital (the wounded occupy every hallway and closet space). Bayona goes beyond the devastation to explore this family dynamic. It takes the fury of nature to make these people truly cherish their life together. The scenes of death and destruction are powerful, but just as memorable is the love and determination of this couple as they struggle to find each other. Yes, seeing the kids in danger may be tough for parents (well, anyone really) to watch, but its celebration of family will touch your heart. THE IMPOSSIBLE is a disaster film with a stirring paternal love story at its heart.

5 Out of 5 Stars

HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON – The Review

Abraham Lincoln’s not the only former president to get a little cinema love this year. HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON gives us another look at the man who spent the most time in the oval office: Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Like Abe, FDR served during one of the country’s most difficult periods. With the former it was the Civil War, while the latter dealt with the Great Depression and the second World War. And both men inspired extreme passion from their countrymen, either admiration or condemnation. Oddly both films concentrate on a single incident instead of the standard “rags to riches” movie bio. LINCOLN centers on his efforts to get Congress to ratify the 14th Amendment in 1865. HYDE concerns the visit by the British royal couple to the upstate New York home of FDR’s mother in 1939. While Spielberg stays out of the boudoir for the most part, director Roger Michell delves fully into the extra marital activities of our 32nd president by telling the story not through his eyes, but through one of his paramours.

That woman is distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Stuckley (Laura Linney) who takes care of her mother in a modest home not far from the Roosevelt estate Springwood. One day, out of the blue, she’s summoned there. The president (Bill Murray) needs a distraction from his job stress during this visit to his mother’s home. The two soon bond over family talk and his stamp collection. The visits become more frequent and the shy, quiet Daisy becomes a fixture there. Eventually she and Franklin share a more intimate relationship. Tensions increase around the estate in anticipation of a visit by King George VI (Samuel West) and his wife Elizabeth (Olivia Colman). George AKA Bertie has come to plead for the US aid his country against the German military. Mother Roosevelt (Elizabeth Wilson) is in a nervous tizzy preparing for their arrival while Franklin’s wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) returns in order to keep up appearances. The royals are quite perplexed by the American customs. During all the festivities, the affair between FDR and Daisy reaches a crossroads.

Michell has really assembled an all-star cast for the main American characters, but the real stand outs are the “fish out of water” Brits. With THE KING’S SPEECH still fresh in most movie goers’ memories these fine actors may be a bit overlooked. West makes a great somewhat stiff, befuddled Bertie as he tries to ascertain the hidden meanings of these New Yorkers. Colman is a great foil as she tries to inspire her hubby to show no weaknesses to their hosts. They’re not Firth and Bonham-Carter, but they’re delightful in their many conspiratorial scenes. Murray just snagged a Golden Globe nom, but he doesn’t bring anything new to FDR that actors like Ralph Bellamy and Edward Herrman haven’t already explored. It’s a far cry from the typical snarky Murray role, but his upper-crust accent and energetic lilt is more of an impression. Williams is toned down perhaps too much as the First Lady. She’s got the New England inflections and some prosthetic choppers, but doesn’t make an impact besides giving her hubby an icy stare. Unfortunately, the very gifted Linney has little to do with the under written Daisy. For most of the film she remains the passive wide-eyed innocent. In the latter part of the film we get little indication of her true feelings besides a confrontational fantasy sequence. Too often we just seeing her sitting, smoking, and staring off into the distance.

On the plus side of this work, the art direction is superb. The period fashions, gorgeous automobiles (particularly FDR’s specially equipped roadster), and plush furnishings are a marvel to behold. They’re shot with a golden. late Summer haze that captures those long-ago days and moonlit nights. On the negative side is the salacious nature of several scenes. A main source of the script was the recently discovered diaries and letters of Daisy, but is this the real story of these affairs? There have been great films made that try to humanize history’s icons, but this seems to drag down the legacy of a remarkable leader who helped the country recover after its darkest hours. The first intimacy between FDR and Daisy is truly seedy. It’s a scene of a powerful man using kindness to seduce a fragile delicate young woman. What’s perhaps even worse is the acceptance of such behavior by the film’s end, that this gifted man is beyond standard morality and decency. It seems that polio has not slowed his stamina in the least. At least Eleanor’s dalliances are just hinted at with a few lines of conversation. During the last moments, the President is pretty much excused of all sins by his paramours and even celebrated. Oh, and the smoking is way overdone. I know most folks lit up 75 years ago, but this started to get pretty nauseating (almost as much as the condoned adultery). HYDE PARK ON THE HUDSON is a well-produced story about the special relationship between the US and Great Britain that unfortunately is mired in a speculative sleazy scandal.

2 Out of 5

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