Tag: Adam Driver

FERRARI – Review

And what’s that zooming toward the multiplex? Why, it’s yet another true-life sports film, and it’s comin’ in hot. Yes, it’s a whole lot faster than the rowing movie, as it is set in the world of auto racing. And unlike the other racing flick this year, GRAN TURISMO, there’s no video gaming involved as the bulk of it takes place over sixty-five years ago. Oh, and the director of this new film has been making some of the most interesting and stylish action epics over the last five decades. He’s focused on one year in a man’s life synonymous with the sport, so it could be considered a biography. Even after all this time that name resonates throughout the world in general. Sure it’s now a brand name, but behind all the iconic autos was the man named Enzo FERRARI.

This profile begins with newsreel-style footage of Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) churning up the dirt raceway in the 1920s. Flash forward to 1957, as he awakens and joins Lina (Shailene Woodley) for breakfast with their eight-year-old son Piero. He says goodbye but doesn’t go directly to his auto factory. Instead, he stops at the crypt of his late son Alfredo (‘Dino’) and the home he shares with his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz). Of course, she knows nothing of Enzo’s second family, perhaps owing to Italy’s ban on divorce in the day. Enzo’s arrival precedes a heated argument ending with her firing a pistol (later one would end with kitchen tabletop lovemaking). It’s a big day at Ferrari S.p.A, as a new racer, Alfonso De Portiago (Gabriel Leone) joins the company team before the next big road race. And much to Enzo’s chagrin, his movie starlet girlfriend Linda Christian (Sarah Gadon) steals some of the fanfare. He appears to have a complex relationship with the press. Enzo despises the “paparazzi” for trying to pry into his personal life, but uses them to plant rumors, like a possible merger with Ford Motors, in order to generate much-needed cash. Seems the company is teetering toward bankruptcy, which forces Enzo to make risky loans with banks and even barter with Laura over shares of the family company. Ah, but all will work out when his team wins the highly-touted race, Mille Miglia, which runs over several miles of public roads throughout Italy. But what would happen if disaster and death take the wheel?

In the title role, Driver (nice coincidence) is quite intimidating as the looming, passionate auto maven. he conveys a man completely focused on his profession, down to the smallest bit of machinery, while also juggling every penny of his company’s dwindling funds. But his best juggling is in his double life. With Lina and Piero he’s a warm nurturing patriarch, doting on his boy while frustrating his mother. But with Laura, he never quite knows what’s behind their home’s front entrance. Like the old fable, is it “the lady or the tiger”? As Laura, Cruz has a fierce bite along with her ultra-sharp claws, as she suspects that Enzo has “something on the side”, while she she to reign in his spending excesses. But Cruz also shows us that the wounds of losing a son have never healed as she lashed at him to unload her smothering grief. As the “other woman” Woodley shows us the defiant attitude that is tempered with a lingering affection for Enzo, paired with a sense of shame for having to exist “in the shadows”.As for team Ferrari, Leone oozes with machismo charm as the new “darling of the tabloids, while another charmer, Patrick Dempsey, conveys an easygoing demeanor as veteran “pedal man” Piero Taruffi.

Oh, the director mentioned above (who also serves as co-producer and “script doctor”) is the talented Michael Mann in his first sports biopic since ALI. He’s worked in many movie genres, but Mann may be best known for his action epic. That skill suits him well in this true tale, particularly in the “signature scene” that will leave audiences stunned. Some critics of auto racing believe it’s an excuse to witness a disaster, and since the film is based on real events, it happens here. Kudos to Mann for not “sugarcoating” the shocking horror of it all by “cutting away” or making it abstract or “dreamy”. The ‘blink of an eye” carnage and its aftermath will have viewers gasping and perhaps a bit shaken. Hopefully, the power of this sequence doesn’t detract from the strength of the quieter scenes like Enzo talking about racing skills with as son, or the haunting montage of the drivers preparing “goodbye letters’ for their loved ones on the night before the big race (and finding a spot for the envelopes to be discovered). The verbal sparring between Enzo and Laura verges on becoming a repetitive cycle, and we’re often not sure of Enzo’s intentions, especially in his relationship with Lina (despite the brawling there’s more heat with Laura). this is offset by the superb cinematography by Erik Messerschmidt, the expert period recreations (fashion, decor, and hairstyles), the gorgeous Italian locations, and some terrific insider info on the sport (I wasn’t aware of the two-man driving teams). Though it occasionally veers off the track, there is lots of super-charged power in the world of FERRARI.

3 out of 4

FERRARI opens in theatres everywhere on Christmas Day 2023

Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley Star In Trailer for Michael Mann’s FERRARI

NEON has released the brand new trailer for FERRARI.

It is the summer of 1957. Behind the spectacle of Formula 1, ex-racer Enzo Ferrari is in crisis. Bankruptcy threatens the factory he and his wife, Laura built from nothing ten years earlier. Their volatile marriage has been battered by the loss of their son, Dino a year earlier. Ferrari struggles to acknowledge his son Piero with Lina Lardi. Meanwhile, his drivers’ passion to win pushes them to the edge as they launch into the treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy, the Mille Miglia.

From director Michael Mann (“Heat,” “The Insider” and “The Last of the Mohicans.”), the film stars Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Sarah Gordon, Gabriel Leone, Jack O’Connell and Patrick Dempsey.

In an interview with Variety, Mann says of a certain scene with Cruz.

“There is a memorable scene where Ferrari and Laura visit Dino’s grave on the same morning, but separately. The usually emotionally shut-down Ferrari breaks as he has a conversation with his dead boy. Laura then arrives. She has a silent conversation with her son, her face full of joy, and then it crumples as she knows he cannot answer back.

“Penélope connected with Laura on almost a primordial level from the first day,” says Mann. The director and actress were completely in sync. He says, “We would have the same thoughts about Laura on the same night.”

One night, they both wrestled with how to give Laura a hint of her burden through a physical trait. “We both came in the next morning saying Laura should wear orthopedic shoes to give her a waddle,” recalls Mann.”

FERRARI will have its North American Premiere as the Closing Night selection at the 61st New York Film Festival and will have its World Premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival on August 31. FERRARI opens December 25th, exclusively in theaters.

WHITE NOISE – Review

(L to R) Adam Driver as Jack, Greta Gerwig as Babette, and Don Cheadle as Murray in White Noise. Cr. Wilson Webb/Netflix © 2022

Noah Baumbach, the director whose previous films include dramas like THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, offers audiences an absurdist comic fantasy with WHITE NOISE. In WHITE NOISE, a couple played by Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig live in a pleasant bubble of late 20th century clueless consumerism in a small idyllic-looking college town, until trouble comes to town.

Jack Gladney (Driver) is a college professor and his present and fourth wife Babette (Gerwig) is a stay-at-home mother raising their three children from previous marriages and a toddler of their own. It is the era of station wagons (the family vehicle fav before the minivan that had its peak in the ’70s), and the town is celebrating the parade of family station wagons bearing students like the return of swallows to Capistrano.

Jack’s best buddy Murray (a wonderfully funny Don Cheadle) is a fellow college professor at College on the Hill, where Murray lectures about the profound meaning of car crashes in movies, his area of academic study. Driver’s character’s equally weird field of study is “Hitler studies,” which seems to be Hitler trivia, although he is deeply embarrassed that he does not actually speak German. The family’s idyllic suburban life circles around what’s for dinner, little family kerfuffles, and modest ambitions for career advancement. At night, the couple share their deepest wishes in life, which for each, is to die before the other, because they can’t go on without the other.

The Gladney family goes about its quiet life, stressing over career advancement and a host of petty concerns, until a massive cloud of toxic gas threatens their leafy little town. Still they do nothing until the thing is right on top of them, which finally sends them scrambling.

Absurdism is at the forefront from the beginning in this ambitious film, which the director adapted from Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel. Baumbach’s script keeps the novel’s 3-part structure, although there are changes. WHITE NOISE provides some hilarious moments as well as a few insightful, even profound, ones on its journey, but ultimately, it does not completely come together as effectively as it might have.

This disaster movie chapter is followed by one that is more crime thriller. Along the way, the story deals with life, death, love and religion, sometimes in surprising, creative ways. Still, everything ends up at the supermarket, with a delightfully nutty sequence as the credits roll.

Adam Driver is the central character in this mad tale, but Greta Gerwig gets her moments too, as a parody of the classic ’80s movie wife. However, Don Cheadle, at his charismatic best, tends steal the scenes he is in. All the cast provide nice performances but this profoundly weird stuff.

Part of that weirdness is that the couple seems to live a fantasy time period, one of suburban serenity that is mostly the station-wagon loving, consumerism-heavy mid-1970s, although other story elements suggest it is the ’80s and other elements draw on the ’90s, in a kind of late 20th century stew.

The indeterminate time period actually works pretty well for the film. Greta Gerwig’s character sports the frizzy ’70s hair but wears loose rolled cuff pants of the ’90s. The family shops at the A&P grocery store, a vanished chain that was the original “supermarket” store featuring an array of goods and produce, where they are surrounded by old corporate brand names like Tide detergent and Frosted Flakes cereal in bright, candy-colored, neon-lit stores.

This absurdist satiric tour of late 20th century suburbia, and the mass market movies it spawned, touches on a number of real human concerns. While it does have its entertaining moments and even deeper moving ones, as a whole it does not really gel. In the end, maybe the title says it all – a noise that blocks out distractions from reality.

WHITE NOISE in now playing in select theaters and starts streaming on Netflix beginning Friday, December 30.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

See Adam Driver In First Poster And Trailer For Sci-Fi Movie 65 – Directed By by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods

From the writers of A Quiet Place and producer Sam Raimi comes 65, a sci-fi thriller starring Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, and Chloe Coleman, in theaters March 10, 2023.

After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Adam Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth…65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive.

Check out the first poster and trailer.

Written, directed, and produced by Scott Beck & Bryan Woods – the film is also produced by Sam Raimi, Deborah Liebling and Zainab Azizi.

https://www.65.movie/

Adam Driver stars in 65.
Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt stars in 65.
Adam Driver stars in 65.

Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, and Jared Leto in HOUSE OF GUCCI Available on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand February 22nd

“You picked a real firecracker.”

Experience the “gloriously decadent” (Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press) and “murderously delicious” (Jazz Tangcay, Variety) thriller influenced by the astounding real-life story of the Gucci family and their unexpected legacy in MGM’s HOUSE OF GUCCI, available to own for the first time on Digital February 1, 2022 and on Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand February 22, 2022 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. 

Directed by four-time Academy Award nominee Ridley Scott (The Martian, The Gladiator), the captivating star-studded film about the iconic Italian fashion house showcases incredibly powerful and emotional performances from Academy Award® winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) as Patricia Reggiani and Academy Award® nominee Adam Driver (The Last Duel, Star Wars franchise) as Maurizio Gucci as well as the extraordinary ensemble cast including Academy Award® winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Suicide Squad), Academy Award® winner Jeremy Irons (“The Borgias,” Justice League), Jack Huston (American Hustle), Academy Award® nominee Salma Hayek (Eternals, Hitman’s Wife Bodyguard) and Academy Award® winner Al Pacino (The Irishman, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
Based on The New York Times best-selling novel, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden, HOUSE OF GUCCI on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital comes with all-new exclusive bonus content including behind-the-scenes featurettes about Lady Gaga’s magnificent transformation into Patrizia Reggiani, director Ridley Scott’s brilliant vision, the creation of the luxurious wardrobes and extravagant sets, and more taking audiences deeper into the fascinating untold story behind the world-renowned fashion brand and crumbling family empire.

HOUSE OF GUCCI is inspired by the shocking true story of the family behind the Italian fashion empire. When Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately…murder.

EXCLUSIVE BONUS FEATURES ON BLU-RAY, DVD AND DIGITAL:

  • The Rise of the House of Gucci – Go behind the scenes to discover how Ridley Scott’s vision of this astonishing story fell into place.
  • The Lady of the House – An up-close look at Lady Gaga’s performance as Patrizia Reggiani and how her powerhouse charisma and unwavering dedication breathe life into this complex character. 
  • Styling House of Gucci – A deep dive into the visual delights of the film, from aesthetics to attitude.

HOUSE OF GUCCI – Review

Lady Gaga stars as Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s HOUSE OF GUCCI A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo credit: Courtesy of Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Inc © 2021 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

HOUSE OF GUCCI is based on a true story, one filled with wealth, power, ambition, family, tradition, high fashion, and murder, a story that plays like Italian opera, equal parts tragedy and farce. Ridley Scott directs, and the lush production stars Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons and Jared Leto.

Filled with gorgeous period clothes and cars, lovely sets and locations, mostly in Milan, and fine photography, HOUSE OF GUCCI delivers visual delights and jet-set style in this story that runs from the ’70s to the ’90s. The raw story material of a grand operatic epic is there too, but somehow HOUSE OF GUCCI never achieves epic levels, although it does make for a pretty good true crime thriller, set in a posh world of wealth and Italian fashion, with a satiric bent. HOUSE OF GUCCI was adapted from Sara Gay Forden’s non-fiction bestseller by writers Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna. It is one of those story that would leave audiences skeptical if it weren’t true.

Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), the pretty young daughter of the owner of small trucking company, meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) at a party, when she mistakes him for the bartender. As soon as she hears his name, she is taken with the shy scion of the famous fashion house. Maurizio is similarly dazzled, calling her Elizabeth Taylor rather than her name. Although he is too shy to ask her out, the resourceful Patrizia finds a way through Maurizio’s armor. Although Patrizia is definitely working-class, little educated and working as a secretary for her father, while Maurizio is a scholarly law student who is not much interested in his family’s fashion business, she adds a spark of fun his life lacks. It’s love, and soon he is willing to defy his coldly aristocratic father Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons), who thinks Patricia is both low-class and a gold-digger. Dad’s not entirely wrong but his son marries her anyway, despite threats of being cut off.

Patrizia’s father (Vincent Riotta) gives the now-homeless student a job, and the pair find happiness in a little apartment. For a while the film unfolds along this path, a sexy romantic comedy, with the couple enjoying an idyll in a small apartment, Maurizio ironing his own shirts and horse-playing with co-workers.

Patrizia does her best to charm her way into the Gucci family, by building bridges. Making little headway with her chilly father-in-law, she finds a pathway with Maurizio’s uncle Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino), who shares running the family firm with his brother Rodolfo. While Rodolfo is aristocratically aloof, Aldo is warm and charming, inviting the couple to visit him in New York, and treating Patrizia to a shopping spree in the family store. He seems as much to want to befriend his niece-in-law as much she wants to be accepted as part of the Gucci family, although Aldo has his reasons for that.

Aldo invites the couple to family gathering where Patrizia meets the extended Gucci family, a sequence that is a delight of over-the-top characters and comic misadventures. Chief among those characters is Uncle Aldo’s son Paolo Gucci (an unrecognizable Jared Leto with facial prosthetics), a chubby, balding, loudly-dressed klutz who fancies himself a fashion designer. As his father puts it, more than once, “Paolo’s an idiot but he’s my idiot.”

Then this fun, romantic comedy romp gives way to something darker, a twisty crime thriller with family intrigue, drama, back-stabbing and finally murder. When Patrizia marries in, the Gucci business is very much a family business handed down through generations, a well-oiled machine with its own internal rules. Patrizia becomes the wrench in those works, sparking events that never would have happened otherwise, with consequences no one could foresee.

HOUSE OF GUCCI is certainly an entertaining film, particularly fun in the more comic earlier part. But as the film becomes darker, it stumbles a bit with that turn, with the various parts sometimes failing to mesh. At a running time of over two hours, all those moving parts need to work together for it to step up from good film to the great film it could have been.

Ridley Scott gives us actors speaking English with Italian-ish accents, set in a glorious Milan straight out of old movies. This rather tongue-in-cheek approach will amuse some audiences and irritate (or maybe even offend) others. There is a strong farcical element to the first portion, so the shift to crime thriller and tragedy almost feels like you are watching a different movie, although the satiric undercurrent is still there. Audiences might also be divided on Lady Gaga’s performance, feeling she is the best thing in the film, or the weakest link in the more problematic second part, although she is perfect in the first.

The cast is stellar, if the casting is a bit puzzling at times. Adam Driver nicely plays the awkward, shy Maurizio with a firm reserve. By contrast, Lady Gaga is splendid to start as Patrizia, a broadly-drawn character more out of “Good Fellas” than anything else, whose grammar is not great and whose cultural knowledge is seriously lacking. But she is certainly fun, as she tells Maurizio when they first meet. Plus, Gaga and Driver have an unexpected mismatch chemistry together.

Jeremy Irons is at his chilly best as Rodolfo Gucci, a cold fish who can barely manage any affection for the son he claims to adore, while living in the past with memories of his late wife and long-ago movie career. In contrast, Al Pacino as his brother is the complete opposite personality, all affection and family warmth, using charm to get what he wants. The brothers are on opposite ends of the business spectrum as well, with the New York-based Aldo eager to embrace branding and coffee mugs with the logo, while Rodolfo is about tradition and dignity for the Gucci brand.

Rodolfo relies on lawyer and advisor Domencio De Sole (Jack Huston, who has his own interesting pedigree with grandfather John Huston), who is almost family although not a Gucci. At some point, Patrizia picks up her own trusted advisor, a fortune teller, Pina Auriemma, played by Salma Hayek, although the advice is mostly ego-stroking, a fateful choice.

Where the trouble for the movie, as well as for the Gucci family, comes in is when the film takes it’s darker turn, from fun and farce to thriller and tragedy. What happens blends ambition, greed and murder, in a stranger-than-fiction true story. If you don’t know the history, it is better to just wait and watch it unfold on screen. However, whether the script that is at fault or something else, Patricia’s character seems to undergo changes that do not fit well with what went before, which seems to muddy the film as it makes this shift.

All the over-the-top events of this story, both tragic and absurd, are matched with some over-the-top performances, particularly Jared Leto. All that suggests Ridley Scott intended this film as satire. It partly succeeds as in that, as a grand, operatic one at that, although the second, tragic part feels less focused.

HOUSE OF GUCCI is an entertaining, engrossing film that mixes crime thriller with farce. While it is a good film, an enjoyable film, one can’t help but feel it could have been more. All the elements were there for a great film, starting with the true story. It just didn’t get there, although it is still worth the ticket price. HOUSE OF GUCCI opens Wednesday, Nov. 24, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

Matt Damon and Adam Driver in Ridley Scott’s THE LAST DUEL Arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD December 14th

“The truth does not matter, there is only the power of men.”

Matt Damon and Jodie Comer seen on set of the Last Duel in Ireland. 30 Sep 2020 Pictured: Matt Damon and Jodie Cromer. Photo credit: MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342

20th Century Studios’ The Last Duel Arrives on Digital November 30 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD December 14

20th Century Studios’ historical epic, The Last Duel, unravels the true story about France’s last sanctioned duel. Directed by the critically acclaimed Ridley Scott, the film stars Jodie Comer and Adam Driver as well as Academy Award® winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Certified-Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes™, The Last Duel will be available on Digital November 30 and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD December 14.

Jodie Comer is spellbinding in this tale of betrayal and vengeance set in 14th century France from visionary filmmaker Ridley Scott. Based on actual events, the film stars Matt Damon and Adam Driver as friends Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris, two knights who must fight to the death after de Carrouges’s wife (Comer) accuses Le Gris of assault.

20th Century Studios’ The Last Duel Bonus Features*

  • The Making of The Last Duel – With the documentary “The Making of The Last Duel,” get unprecedented access to renowned director Ridley Scott as he collaborates with the cast and crew to make critical decisions about location, cinematography and performances.

*bonus features vary by product and retailer

Cast                            

Matt Damon as Sir Jean de Carrouges

Adam Driver as Jacques Le Gris

Jodie Comer as Marguerite de Carrouges

Ben Affleck as Pierre d’Alençon

Directed by                            

Ridley Scott

THE LAST DUEL (2021) – Review

Matt Damon as Jean de Carrouges and Adam Driver as Jacques LeGris in 20th Century Studios’ THE LAST DUEL. Photo by Patrick Redmond. © 2021 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Now, here’s some “end of the year” old-school Hollywood spectacle-blockbuster “award fodder”. It takes place over 600 years ago, a true-life medieval tale set in “days of old, when knights were bold”. And it turns out those armored warriors were a lot like folks today (as Us magazine loves to say, “Stars, they’re just like us”…sure). There are issues at the heart of this story that still resonate, even dominating the current debates and elections. Yes, this has lots of swordplay, but inflated egos fuel the flames of deadly combat. And the end result is helmed by a director known for historical epics like GLADIATOR (hey, his first film way back in 1977 was THE DUELLISTS), though many forget they he also was behind the camera on THELMA AND LOUISE. Add a trio of screenwriters which includes actors, directors, and producers and you’ve got a most interesting mix for the epic yet intimate THE LAST DUEL.

The “inspired by true events” tale begins in late 1300s France, mere moments before the big showdown between Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and Jacques de Gris (Adam Driver). As their aides assist them in donning their battle amour, countless spectators, including the royalty, line the long jousting field, as hundreds crowd around, many climbing the walls, of the massive venue. The scene shifts abruptly as the title chapter heading takes us back several years for Sir Jean’s version of the lead-up to this day. He and Jacques once fought side by side on the battlefield, pledging their loyalty and service to a member of the court of King Charles VI, Count Pierre (Ben Affleck). Later Jean returns to his family home, a castle crushed by weighty debts. He gets a visit from Jacques, who is now a tax collector for Pierre, and is warned of the hefty amount owed in back taxes. This reminds Jean that he has no heirs as his wife and only son passed away years ago. A visit to the disgraced Tribouville estate (Sir Robert had collaborated with enemies of the crown) prompts Jean to inquire about the family’s lovely single daughter, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). Eager to erase his tarnished name, Robert agrees to Jean’s marriage proposal and provides several prime pieces of land as a dowry. But it’s not long after the wedding that Jacques claims some of the property in lieu of back taxes. This drives a wedge between the old friends, as Jean even files a lawsuit. When that fails, Jean tries to mend fences by attending a festival in honor of Count Pierre. It’s there that Jacques meets and becomes somewhat smitten with Marguerite. His ardor leads to the incident that instigates their “fight to the death”. The film has two other chapter titles, with the events told from the perspective of both Jacques and Marguerite before the fateful clash of honor between the two former friends.

The power of the film is greatly bolstered by the talented cast of screen vets and a very promising newcomer. Regarding the actors, it may be best to start with the duo at the center of the title duel. Damon is quite compelling as the brusque, often boastful knight Jean, proudly trimming his beard to accent his jagged facial battle scar. He thinks of himself as a noble warrior for his country, though his plans for glory are hindered by his ego that’s paired with an obstinant streak. Away from battle, he rules his castle with an iron glove, showing little passion for his bride outside of the bed chambers (which is his own battlefield of thwarted procreation). As his BFF turned foe, Driver as Jacque is also a fearsome fighter, though he’s more dangerous out of the armor. He juggles many plots and schemes as he presents a different face to everyone. Driver gets a chance to display his comic skills as he joins the royal court debauchery with zeal while insulting all that dare to join him. And Driver certainly returns to “the dark side” in the different views of the “incident”. That scene is compelling and horrific thanks to the splendid performance by the aforementioned newcomer (a critical favorite in the lead on TV with “Killing Eve”, she made the leap to the movies with the very recent FREE GUY) Comer. She’s neither wilted victim nor “damsel in distress” as Marguerite, but rather a woman rebelling against the norms of the age. After enduring a passion-free marriage, her spirit is energized by the chance to manage the estate (she enjoys doing the books and getting her hands dirty). When the”event’ occurs she’s determined to stand up to those who would consider her “property”. Though she watches from the sidelines, Comer’s eyes and body language tell us that she’s right there in the thick of the fight. And though we see little of him in the “Jean chapter”, Affleck shines in one the year’s great supporting performances as the endearingly arrogant and lecherous Pierre. He steals nearly all of his scenes, whether reading prose to a belittled pack of dinner guests or as he tops off the evening with a naked multi-partnered bedroom romp (while his very pregnant wife sleeps next door). With his blonde hair, Affleck is the campiest “Queen B”. Rounding out the cast is Harriet Walter as the toxic mother-in-law of Marguerite.

Yes, this is the latest work from veteran filmmaker Ridley Scott (he’s now in his fifth decade behind the camera), who teams again with Damon (THE MARTIAN) for a riveting big screen (really try and catch it on the biggest one possible) entertainment with a most contemporary message (don’t be put off, thinking it’s too “woke”). Of course he’s got an excellent “map’ in the form of the screenplay adaptation (from the book by Eric Jager) by Damon, Affleck (their first collaboration since the Oscar-winning GOOD WILL HUNTING), and Nicole Holofcener (celebrated writer/director of ENOUGH SAID). It was a wise move to get such a team since the film hinges on three distinct interpretations of the “insult”. It’s amazing that a 1300s story can relate so well to the current climate, as middle-aged and elderly (often white) men make ludicrous declarations concerning the female reproductive system. Plus we get to see exchanges through the eyes of a “predator” who can’t fathom the idea of rejection from a woman. It’s incisive and smart, while never insisting that either of the duellists is wholly good (one is perhaps greatly delusional). We’re getting a lot more than a “gritter” take on the kings and knights epic. Oh but, the duel itself is more than worth the build-up, making us wince in pain as we try to avert our eyes (it’s not just about knocking you off your steed) to the brutality. Every artist excels in recreating the time period, from make-up to art direction to costume design. Plus the story really comes to life thanks to the subtle scoring of Harry Gregson-Williams, the cinematography of Darlusz Wolski, and the superb editing of Claire Simpson. Everything and everyone truly works at the top of their skills to make the medieval but very relevant THE LAST DUEL one of this year’s best films.

4 Out 4

THE LAST DUEL is now playing in theatres everywhere

Here’s the Trailer for Lady Gaga and Adam Driver in HOUSE OF GUCCI – Opens November 24th

This Thanksgiving, join the family. HOUSE OF GUCCI is only in theaters November 24. Here’s the trailer:

House of Gucci is inspired by the shocking true story of the family empire behind the Italian fashion house of Gucci. Spanning three decades of love, betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately murder, we see what a name means, what it’s worth, and how far a family will go for control.

Director: Ridley Scott

Story: Becky Johnston

Based on the Book: “The House of Gucci” by Sara Gay Forden

Cast: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Jack Huston, with Salma Hayek and Al Pacino

Rated R for language, some sexual content, and brief nudity and violence

ANNETTE – Review

This weekend sees the release of a “follow-up” film to a delightful documentary I had the pleasure of reviewing about two months ago. Yes, you read that right. This can be called a “follow-up” rather than a sequel or even a “spin-off”. The previous feature doc in question was the adoring film “fan letter” from Edgar Wright all about the fifty-year-plus musical partnership of the Mael brothers, Ron and Russell, the duo behind the rock and roll band known as Sparks (that doc’s title was the fittingly-named THE SPARKS BROTHERS). The early part of that film told of the brothers’ love of film, as they delved into the “New Wave” classics of the 60s while in college, and made some “cinema” themselves. After their music success, they hoped to branch into the movies with proposed collaborations with (most famously) Jacques Tati and Tim Burton. To the Maels’ consternation, none of them materialized, and aside from their many music videos that were in near-constant rotation on MTV (yes, they ran music videos), their only feature film work was as themselves playing at an amusement park in the 70s Sensurround “potboiler” ROLLERCOASTER. But there was hope as the doc’s last minutes told of a movie musical that was going forward (they did both the songs and script). And here it is finally. That long-in-the-works Sparks-created flick is simply called ANNETTE.

Fittingly one of the first images we see is Ron and Russell in a recording studio as they lead the film’s opening song, which has the main characters and several minor ones singing and walking down the neon-lit nighttime streets of LA. They soon split up as the story unfolds. And, at its beginning, it’s a love story between two unlikely loves at the near-opposite ends of the entertainment industry. Ann (Marion Cotillard) is a celebrated operatic soprano, selling out orchestra halls and classical music venues all over the planet. Henry (Adam Driver) is a performance artist/stand-up comic, whose one-man show “The Ape of God” has a fervent following that packs the theatres nearly every night. And after he finishes his angry, often sick and twisted, rants he hops on his motorcycle and scoops up Ann, whisking her away from her “stage door” admirers, much to the delight of the “paparazzi and theTV show biz reports. Their passion leads to a secret wedding, and later to a daughter, Annette. But then things change, professionally at first. As Ann’s star continues to rise, Henry’s career begins a fast descent, as his fans reject his darker, more intimate screeds. A restorative vacation at sea ends in tragedy, which somehow inspires an unexpected, miraculous change in Annette. Could his daughter somehow inspire a new chapter in Henry’s life, or will Ann’s former accompanist, now an orchestra conductor (Simon Helberg) derail Henry’s plans for himself and his “uniquely gifted” baby girl?

Driver dominates this musical drama experiment as the glowering, mostly anti-social, angry all-the-time Henry, only managing a semi-smile when he’s around Ann or his infant. Luckily he possesses a strong singing voice, which helps in advancing the tale somewhat. And though he’s clearily a parody of the stadium-filling 1990s misogynistic mega-stars, his Henry never really commands the stage despite his turning his microphone into a nose-smashing bolo, Cotillard is a more serene, calming presence as Ana, though her singing voice doesn’t quite fill the cavernous venues we see her work, and often a considerable distance from the audience. And while she conveys well Ann’s explosion of erotic ecstasy, we can’t quite buy them as a domestic couple, as Henry looms over Ann at every other moment. Helberg lightens things up a bit as the never-named “conductor” (which Henry calls him in a song as “my conductor friend”), especially in his big solo number. As he details his unfulfilled passion for Ann, he tells us “Excuse me for a moment” as he whips a full orchestra (and a chorus) into a rousing crescendo.

Oh my, where to start. Yes, that opening group number is catchy, but the rest of the songs just evaporate as they drift past our ears. Now there are stretches of spoken dialogue, but the singing drops in at the oddest times, almost to the point of camp. Henry can warble a melody as he…well…performs his “husbandly duties” in one of many achingly awkward sex scenes. Ah, but Ann gets equal time as she tosses off a tune while smoking and “takin’ care a’ bizness'” while on the “throne”. Oh, about the smoking…yecch! Driver’s Henry puffs away while shadow-boxing and eating a banana (!) in prep for his concerts (he really chain-smokes through the whole darn thing). And when he does make his stage entrance he sputters and hacks as he complains about the cloud of stage smoke (ala solo singers) he walks through. And who knows why he tosses off the chorus of Tom Lehrer’s “National Brotherhood Week” (now there’s a classic song), much to the delight of his lemming-like fans, who along with a quartet of lady singers (a comic has backup singers) form a massive “Greek chorus”. This is one of many bizarre choices of director Leos Carax. A scene at sea has a rear projection backdrop that would be more at home in a 50s “B” picture. But I’m skirting around the “elephant in the room”, namely the title character of Annette. Though she’s hidden in the trailer, other media news outlets have let the “secret” out. It is a puppet, or to be more precise a marionette, one that looks to have hopped (or skittishly glided) out of an early 70s Gerry Anderson kids sci-fi show. When I came to the realization, I was stunned (I can imagine movie audiences with their mouths agape similar to the reaction to “Springtime for Hitler” in the 1967 THE PRODUCERS). A friend explained to me how a doll or puppet is a staple of stage operas. Well, this is a movie and it couldn’t be more distracting. Whew, glad I vented. But this is representative of the stilted script from the Maels brothers that combines elements of so many basic cable TV “marriage misery” films with, not joking here, the theme of the Chuck Jones Looney Tunes classic “One Froggy Evening” (sorry Mr. Jones and Michigan J.) This is pretentious “artsy-schmartzy” drek that aspires to be a scathing commentary on the times. I just hope that theatre owners make sure that their now spartan staff have plenty of “return” screening passes for patrons who can’t make it through all 140 excruciating minutes (it would be barely tolerable as an extended music video or an experimental short), I think the “Sparks brothers’ are talented music-makers, but…maybe Tati and Burton really wisely listened to their instincts. At least I can say that the scenes of LA at night, as Henry races down the Sunset Strip, are well done. But as for the drivel around those scenes, well, somebody please toss a net over ANNETTE (let me at least delight in a pun)! Hey Geppetto, come get yer’ kid!

One-Half Out of 4

ANNETTE is now playing in select theatres