Lady Bird

Girls at 16 are pretty much walking, talking balls of hormones; likewise, boys of the same age.  Here we have Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson who attends a Catholic girls school, says she’s from the wrong side of the tracks, and is aching to break free from Sacramento as soon and as far away as possible.  Been there (Seattle), done that (moved to San Diego), except for the Catholic school up-bringing.  Unfortunately, Lady Bird is not rich, a genius, nor are her parents, which limits her options for getting out of Dodge and attending an Ivy League school.  She’s sort of stumbling through her senior year.  New relationships in her life are teetering on experimental as she plots her way to something that will fulfill her magazine fantasies.  Lady Bird’s mother is stuck between a rock and hard place with how to deal with her which is sort of surprising because the apple really hasn’t fallen far from the tree.  I’m not a mother, but I am a daughter, and have first-hand knowledge of how this works.  First, you put your fingers in your ears, close your eyes, and make mistake after mistake blaming it on your circumstances and your lack of participation, rather than your choices which, if you listened to your mother, might have worked out differently because your mother, like it or not, has probably experienced exactly what you’re dealing with emotionally many, many years before you were even an idea.  Funny how that works.  Anyway, this is Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut and it’s a doozy.  Saoirse Ronan and Laura Metcalf are stellar as daughter and mother, with a supporting cast that compliments their emotional tug o’war to a tee.  Rating:  (4 hail Mary's) a container of non-consecrated wafers, a pack of clove cigarettes, best prom ever, and a trip or two to the thrift store .

Blade Runner 2049

So it’s 30 years in the future from what was supposed to be one year from now (2019), but the original film based on Philip K. Dick’s short story, “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” was filmed in 1982 based on a post-apocalyptic world in 1992, and, if that doesn’t confuse you enough, the story was published in 1968.  There has been so much talk about A.I. in the last few months, this story is getting scarily more plausible.  We now have Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and probably, HAL, in the international space station.  Machines that talk to me make me uncomfortable.  I don’t want one of those little talking boxes, that can possibly monitor my every waking moment, in my house.  I live alone and some disembodied voice responding to what it thinks I’m talking to creeps me out, totally.  I use the internet probably just as much as the average person, but I’m a human being and I have a limited shelf life of, oh, I don’t know, 5 seconds to 100 years, depending on so many factors it hurts my organic brain.  So, what does this have to do with this much overdue sequel to what most of the men in my life have claimed to be “the best science fiction film, ever”?  Actually, it has everything to do with the first film.  Do you want to know what happened to Decker and Rachel?  Do you want to know if Decker was human or replicant?  Did Rachel have a “shelf life”?  When replicants are threatened, do they “blow a fuse” and that’s why they react so violently?  Why don’t humans realize that you can destroy something that’s trying to kill you, but that something can also be rebuilt and upgraded.  When am I going to get a flying car?  Is this a fantasy or is it the real thing?  Are we just an experiment that worked really well and every generation is a new version?  Why is Ryan Gosling so effing wonderful as “Joe”?  I think I liked him in this film more than I did in La-La Land, but that’s just me.  So many existential questions…to find out the answers to these and many more…survey sez…check it out.  Rating: 3.68 stars  Sweet dreams are made of cheese…

Dunkirk

Wars are difficult for me to write about.  I see no good reason for them.  I also know that in today’s world, visual reenactments of major conflicts are probably the only way to teach massive amounts of the public, history.  If you haven’t lived it, been exposed to it through schooling, and learned from these experiences, you’re bound to make the same mistakes, and believe me, war is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. 

WWII is filled with stories of heroism, tragedy, incredible battles, bombs, guns, death, decadence, lack of hope, and despair.  It pretty much ran the whole gamut of situations one could find one’s self in both in Europe and Asia.  This is the story of how 338,000 Allied Troops on June 4, 1940 escaped the beaches of Dunkirk on the coast of France.  Cue the song White Cliffs of Dover.  This particular battle left, as I said, a large number of soldiers vulnerable to airstrikes by the Germans.  You can’t hide from an airstrike if you can’t find a space that’s not exposed while you’re waiting in a huge queue and the only way you’re getting out is to sneak onto the first available transport out of Dodge.   In this case, even if you could find somewhere to hide, it may have included swimming to the nearest  local fisherman’s trawler, pleasure boat, or even a dinghy.  Many, many, many lives were lost and it almost seemed like an open and shut situation had it not been for the talent and in a few cases, pure dumb luck, of the fighters who staved off the attacks by German Luftwaffe.  They used the beached troops as target practice, almost like shooting ducks in a barrel. 

Tension abounds, even though we know the outcome.  There’s a lot of explosions, near death situations, and extremely close calls.  Standout performances by Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, and Mark Rylance.  Yes, I know I’m supposed to applaud Kenneth Branagh, but he mostly stood around in full-tilt military garb, not much to react to, really.  So, overall, if you’re a history buff, a veteran of WWII, or just like to watch war films in general…here you go.  I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied.  My rating:  a lovely case of PTSD, a wooden boat my brother would give his right elbow for, the last remains of innocence for any of the men and women who gave their lives to keep the world free from tyranny, i.e. 3.2 stars.