The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part II (2015) and one more Movie Round Up

Don’t let any of this let you think I don’t bow to the acting power that is Jennifer Lawrence … or Donald Sutherland, the latter one of my favorite actors, whether he’s saint or sinner. But, barely 400 pages, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay did not deserve two films. Yet here we are, me watching a two-hour-plus film of the back half of a slim YA novel that was a quick dystopian read, but can’t sustain 4-plus hours of film. Serious time suck. You know the plot? Teenage hero Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) lives in a “Nineteen Eighty-Four” world with Sutherland as a fascist dictator who hosts annual war games on TV with kids killing kids, for fun. Rebellion hits. This is the final (final) fight-the-power war film, but a slog; limp where it ought to bite. Author Suzanne Collins never had the drama for this much movie. Katniss suffers a devastating loss midway through. On page, it killed. On screen, it whimpers. Two films one year apart, the tension vaporizes. “Mockingjay” ought to leave a viewer restless, dizzy, hungry. This third sequel, coupled with its cringing long first half left me tired, listless. RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman in his final film. B-

Dwayne Johnson battles an angry Earth in San Andreas (2015), a goofy earthquake drama that matches endless CGI to 1970s disaster flick kicks. Millions die. Johnson saves his family. F those other people. A film made to endlessly mock, safely from the East Coast. B

In The Swarm (1978), a regretful-looking Michael Caine plays a scientist battling a massive bee attack on America. The bees aren’t the threat. It’s the dialogue: “By tomorrow there will be no more Africans,” a hero says. Seriously. A white guy says that. One wonders how this movie ever saw the light of day. D-

Gaslight (1944) is so famous a mind-fuck film, the title has become its own phrase, Gaslighting. Ingrid Bergman plays a young wife driven mad by her husband (Charles Bergman) in a mystery plot that still burns. Fantastic photography and a great performance by Bergman, with Angela Lansbury, too. Watch it, with the lights out. A

Matt Damon goes to Iraq in The Green Zone (2010), a war drama that takes on the great WMD FUBAR by the Bush Administration, but with such a heavy lib hand of self-righteous finger-waving, Michael Moore might weep. Paul Greengrass directs. Less is more, guys. B-

I re-watched Casino Royale (2006) weeks before new Bond film “Spectre” came out. I post out of order. Forget that film. This is classic. Daniel Craig’s first outing sticks (kind of) close to Ian Fleming’s book with untested 007 taking on an arms-dealing crook (Mads Mikkelsen) at a poker table. Brutal, thrilling, and constrained, this is near Bond’s best. A

Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite actors. He sells everything he ever did with seemingly no effort, a guy who has done more off screen than most heroes and villains have on. In Yakuza (1974), Mitchum is a WWII vet who returns to Japan as a private dick to do private dick stuff, and gets roped in a conspiracy dating back 30 years. The clunky swords-and-guns finale is way much, the thump chopping way way much, but there’s a pulse of haunted, ragged blood in this Sydney Pollack film that can’t be faked. B+

Tim Burton’s best film remains Edward Scissorhands (1990) a satire and love story about a misfit boy (Johnny Depp with little dialogue, but perfect) left incomplete by his kindly creator (Vincent Piece, in his final role). Instead of fingers, Edward has long sharp scissors that can slice his own face and slice others. Taken in by a Florida family (Alan Arkin and Diane Wiest) with a teen daughter (Winona Ryder), Edward learns the American Dream is lovely, as long as you never question the American Dream. Burton has rarely worked with a more soulful, playful screenplay, and he is given a masterpiece score by Danny Elfman. Ryder dancing in a storm of ice iBurton’s best moment, ever so brief, as she is cut deep, and accidentally, by Edward and blood spills. As remarkable as when I first saw it. A

Midnight Run (1988) -– never saw it until now, imagine that -– is part of the 1980s staple of buddy flicks, mismatched characters played by marque actors bicker and fight ’ti they have be friends. “48 Hrs.” “Lethal Weapon.” “Trading Places.” Y’know, right? Here, Robert De Niro is an ex-cop turned bounty hunter taking Charles Grodin’s thieving mob accountant with a heart of gold to jail. Cross county. By car, train, biplane, and foot. Funny. Smart. With an edge. Grodin driving De Niro nuts is great, great fun. B+

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