"All Is Lost" Film Review: A One Man Show for Robert Redford

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This 2013 film was written and directed by J. C. Chandor and stars Robert Redford. That’s it, just Robert Redford. Of course, Redford has long been one of our finest actors, and even though he’s now 77-years- old, he can still act rings around most of today’s much younger actors. He’s also still good-looking, though not nearly as dashingly handsome as he was in his prime, for instance, in The Electric Horseman, in which he starred opposite Jane Fonda. 

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Of course, Fonda was also much younger and better looking at that time, though she’s still an attractive woman, thanks to being able to afford the best cosmetic surgeons, makeup artists, and hairdressers in the world. What’s more, like Fonda, Redford is obviously still physically fit since, according to Wikipedia (2014), he reportedly performed many of his own stunts in this film.

Redford is always watchable. Moreover, this movie keeps your attention, and you find yourself rooting for his character to survive because he sure puts up one heck of a fight to survive and against seemingly insurmountable odds.  

Plot of the Movie All Is Lost

First, let me warn you that we never learn the name of Redford’s character, and whoever he is, he has very little to say, since there’s no dialogue in the movie, well, that is other than the line, which consists of maybe three sentences,  that the nameless man says in the beginning and a few expletives he utters out of frustration. Of course, according to Wikipedia (2014) the movie’s script consisted of only 31 pages, so Chandor is to blame for this lack of dialogue, not Redford..

That said, to summarize the plot, All Is Lost is the story of a nameless man (he is obviously a rich nameless man since he owns a big fancy boat), who wakes up after a nap only to discover that his big fancy boat is sinking. Apparently the boat has collided with a huge shipping container that has been drifting around in the ocean. How it got there, we’ll never know. When the container rammed the man’s boat, it ripped a hole in the hull; plus, the boat’s communication and navigational systems were severely damaged.

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The man attempts to fix the systems, but when he climbs the mast to repair the antenna, he glimpses an ominous cloud on the horizon. It’s a tropical storm, and the storm is headed in his direction. Now, his fight for survival begins, and it intensifies from this moment on. Just when you think he might make it, another calamity befalls him, each more intense than the other, until he has no option but to abandon ship and take refuge in a lifeboat. Of course, now he’s adrift on the ocean and totally at the mercy of the currents and the weather.

Okay, before I continue, I have a question: Just what is this man doing on a huge boat all by himself in the middle of the ocean? That is never explained in the course of the film. Then again, I guess we’re supposed to use our imaginations. All right, I’ll use mine: Maybe this wealthy nameless guy is trying to get away from his five ex-wives, all of whom are demanding more alimony. Or maybe he went to check on his boat, which was moored in the local marina, but he got drowsy, the way elderly people sometimes do in the afternoon, went below deck, fell into deep slumber, and the boat somehow came loose from its mooring and drifted out to sea. Then, he woke up and said, “Oops!”

All right enough imagining. Back to the review: According to Wikipedia (2014),  the movie received critical acclaim mainly because, as the film review site “Rotten Tomatoes” says, “All Is Lost offers a moving, eminently worthwhile testament to Robert Redford's ability to hold the screen." Well, yes, as I said before, Redford is a fine actor. In fact, he’s one of the greats. And the movie is compelling and watchable. But it would be better if we knew the man’s name and just why he’s all alone on a big boat in the middle of the ocean. Moreover, it would be nice if he’d talk to someone, even himself. If I wanted to see a silent movie, I’d watch one.

Rating: See- Again but only after a few years have passed and I’ve forgotten the plot.

Review of Man of Steel: A Real Dud of a Movie

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This is going to be a fairly short review, at least short for me. After all, there’s only so much even I can say about a movie as bad as Man of Steel. In brief, it stinks. What’s more, it’s so bad that Chet and I shut it off after viewing only an hour and six minutes, and it’s over twice that long. We would have shut it off sooner, but, silly us, we kept thinking it would get better.Trust me when I say it didn’t.     

Man of Steel Cast of Characters

Billed as a superhero film, this 2013 fiasco was co-produced by Legendary Pictures and Syncopy Films, distributed by Warner Bros, directed by Zack Snyder, and written by David S. Goyer. The cast includes:

• Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, aka Kal-El, aka Superman 
• Amy Adams as Lois Lane, reporter for the Daily Planet 
• Michael Shannon as General Zod, the villain 
• Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet 
• Kevin Costner as Clark’s adoptive dad 
• Diane Lane as Clark’s adoptive mom 
• Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Clark’s biological father 
• Ayelet Zurer as Lara Lor-Van, Clark’s biological mother

Plot of the Movie Man of Steel

You already know the plot. The planet Krypton is in self-destruct mode because its natural resources have been depleted (Sounds like another planet I know). Jor-El and his wife put their baby, Kal-El, in a spacecraft so he’ll be saved when Krypton goes kaboom, which it does immediately after the spacecraft is launched. The craft lands on a farm in Kansas. A farmer and his wife (the Kent family) find the craft, and the couple keeps the baby and raises him as their own.

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In this remake of the story, though, you need to forget about what you read in the original comic books and saw in the television series, Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, that is, if you’re old enough to remember the series. Also forget about the movies from the late 70’s through early 80’s, starring Christopher Reeve.

The first 25 minutes, or maybe it’s more, is devoted to showing us the conflict between General Zod, his minions, and everyone else on Krypton. We also get to see a sword fight in the darkness between Zod and Jor-El.  I thought it would never end. So did Chet. Anyway, we were still watching the movie at this point, mainly because we thought that once Baby Kal-El reached the planet Earth, the story would become familiar. Nope, that did not happen. For one, you really aren’t shown anything about Clark’s childhood except through a brief flashback of him as a little boy using his X-ray vision to melt a door knob and then as a teenager demonstrating his amazing strength by lifting a school bus filled with screaming students out of a river. And forget about Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet. In this movie, Clark is not a reporter but everything from an oil-rig worker to a cook in a greasy spoon to a guy who carries equipment around at the site where a spaceship has been discovered. Apparently the ship has been there buried in ice for a long time, and as it turns out, Jor-El is on the ship, though it’s really not Jor-El but a hologram that tells Kal-El all about his past, or what little past he had on Krypton, which wasn’t much since he was a newborn baby at the time.

Oh, and Chet and I both wondered why the planet Krypton, which is supposedly a highly advanced civilization, with the ability for intergalactic flight, is amazingly backward in many respects. For one, the inhabitants (who happen to look just like Earthlings) dress like characters from Lord of the Rings, and they fight with swords. Not light sabers or laser guns but swords. “Where,” Chet and I asked, “is the advanced weaponry?” What’s more, these Kryptonians, or maybe they’re Kryptonites, talk like people from Medieval England. Plus, they live in virtual darkness. I mean, my word, if they’re so advanced, why haven’t they figured out how to illuminate their dwellings?

Man of Steel Cinematography

The way this movie is filmed leaves much to be desired. The color is pitiful, for one; it's rather "grayish;" and the picture looks like it was filmed with a hand-held camera or maybe someone’s Smartphone. On the other hand, there are plenty of special effects, so if you’re into that kind of thing, you’ll be in hog heaven. If, however, you like movies with characters you can care about and to whom you can relate, and if you like an intelligent script, don’t waste your time or your money on this film. Instead, go download, rent, or buy Superman: The Movie (1978), starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, which is a thoroughly entertaining, intelligent, beautifully filmed movie, and, unlike this recent turkey, a definite see-again movie. 

Happiness Is Finding Superman in the $5.00 Barrel

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The morning after viewing a little less than half of Man of Steel, which was all either Chet or I could tolerate, and I don't know how we sat through that much, I wanted to erase all lingering dredges of that film from my psyche before it could do irreparable damage, so I jumped into my Tundra and rushed to Walmart, where I dug around in the $5.00 barrel for a good 30 minutes, until I saw it: Superman: The Movie, starring Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. “Eureka,” I shouted. “I found it!”  Of course, this reaction elicited apprehensive glances from a passing employee as well as several customers, but I didn’t care. I was happy. No, make that ecstatic. I had found Superman in the $5.00 barrel!

Rating for Man of Steel: Don’t see again even if I were threatened with enduring a colonoscopy, having a root canal, and giving childbirth all on the same day and without benefit of anesthesia.

All right, I know I said this was going to be a short review, but I got carried away. Sorry.

Review of The Lone Ranger: See This Movie for Sheer Entertainment

If you are anything like me there are times when you enjoy watching a movie simply for sheer entertainment. The Lone Ranger is one of those movies.

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When you sit down to watch the movie, though, do not expect to see anything remotely resembling the television series, starring Clayton Moore as the ranger and Jay Silverheels as Tonto, that ran from 1949 to 1957, and forget all about how these two characters were portrayed in comic books, earlier movies, or for that matter on the radio (If you remember the radio show, you’re a heck of a lot older than I am).

History of The Lone Ranger

What? You didn’t know The Lone Ranger began as a radio program? Well, it’s true. The Lone Ranger and his trusty companion Tonto existed long before Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp portrayed them in this film. The Lone Ranger, in fact, made his first appearance in 1933, albeit on the radio; and according to Wikipedia (2014), that fount of unlimited and sometimes dubious facts, the character was inspired by Texas Ranger Captain John R. Hughes, to whom the book The Lone Star Ranger by Zane Grey was dedicated in 1915. The radio series became a big hit with listeners, so the writers, capitalizing upon the show’s popularity, as writers were inclined to do even back then, introduced a series of books, which were followed by a television show, comic books, and several movies. The 2013 movie, however, is the first film to feature the Lone Ranger and Tonto in over 32 years. (Wikipedia 2014)

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Of course, as I said, the Lone Ranger and Tonto of that bygone era in no way resembled the characters portrayed by Hammer and Depp, or for that matter the horse that played Silver. For one, the Lone Ranger wore a neatly pressed pale blue shirt and pants, and he never took off his mask. Neither did Silver drink beer, nor did Tonto go around with a dead crow attached to his headdress. And quite frankly when I first heard of the movie, I thought there was no way I was going to see it simply for that reason: Tonto with a dead crow on his head? Get real.

A Bit of Trivia: Jay Silverheels was a real Native American, specifically a Mohawk from the Six Nations Indian Reservation in Ontario, Canada. (If he were still alive, I would ask Mister Silverheels what he thought of Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Tonto.)

Another Bit of Trivia: Depp said that the inspiration for his costume, including the dead crow, was a painting entitled I Am Crow by Kirby Sattler. (Wikipedia, 2014)

The Lone Ranger Has It All, Which May Be Its One Flaw

Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and directed by Gore Verbinski, this 2013 film is rated anywhere from one-and-a-half stars to four-and-a-half stars, depending upon who’s doing the rating, and it is billed action/western, action/adventure, or comedy/drama, depending upon who’s doing the billing. I myself would classify the movie as action/adventure/comedy/drama/western; and that, in my opinion, is the movie’s one flaw.

Chet (my hubby) agrees. As he said while we were viewing the film, it’s like The Lone Ranger doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up. For instance, the dramatic scenes are gripping, intensely so at times (Some can be qualified as tragic). The comedic scenes are funny and often hilarious. The action scenes are sensational. The adventure is nonstop; and of course the setting is the Old West, so the movie is definitely a western. Then again, for a film that doesn’t know what it wants to be, The Lone Ranger is pretty darn good, and it is extremely entertaining.

The Lone Ranger: Cast of Characters

Although there is quite a lengthy cast of characters, including thousands of extras (No, I didn’t count them, but it looks like thousands, especially if you include the buffalo and horses), the main characters in the movie are the following:

• Johnny Depp as Tonto, a Comanche who witnessed the massacre of his tribe when he was a child and wants revenge against the man responsible. 
• Armie Hammer as John Reid, an Idealistic lawyer who is deputized a Ranger to help his brother and six other Rangers bring Butch Cavendish to justice but then becomes The Lone Ranger following the brutal murder of the other rangers, including his brother Dan.
• William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish, an outlaw who Tonto believes is a Wendigo (demonic half-beast creature); and Tonto’s probably right in this case, since Cavendish is one mean, crazy dude (ugly as mud too). 
• Tom Wilkinson as Latham Cole, a portly, conniving railroad tycoon with designs on Dan’s wife. 
• Ruth Wilson as Rebecca Reid, Dan's wife and John’s sister-in-law (She’s also John’s love interest) 
• Helena Bonham Carter as Red Harrington, a flamboyant brothel madam with a mop of flaming red hair and an ivory leg in which she conceals a gun. 
• James Badge Dale as Dan Reid, John’s brother who suffers a grisly death at the hands of Cavendish. 
• Bryant Prince as Danny Reid, Rebecca and Dan's young son. 
• Barry Pepper as Captain Jay Fuller, a George Custer lookalike and corrupted United States Cavalry officer. 
• Mason Cook as Will, a young boy living in 1930s San Francisco, who meets Tonto in a circus sideshow.

Food for Thought: “Armie Hammer” is a weird name, don’t you think? I wonder if his parents were trying to think of a name for their bouncing baby boy and saw an ad on television for Arm & Hammer Baking Soda.

The Movie’s Lackadaisical Box Office Performance

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As I learned in my research, after its release in theaters, the movie received mixed to negative reviews in the United States and mixed to positive reviews in other countries. What’s more, it was a commercial flop, grossing only $260 million worldwide with an estimated $225 million production budget and additional $150 million marketing budget (Wikipedia, 2014). Of course, Johnny Depp earns $20 million-plus per movie, according to Google, so I don’t imagine he lost any sleep over the film’s dismal box office performance. (By the way, I would wear a dead crow on my head for less, so the producers and director should have contacted me.)

The Lone Ranger: A See-Again Movie

Okay, everything else said, even though the movie couldn’t make up its mind whether to be a comedy/drama, action/adventure, or action/western, it is a definite see-again movie because of its sheer entertainment value. In fact, when I go shopping tomorrow if I can find the DVD in the $5.00 barrel at Walmart, I am most certainly going to buy a copy, so I will have it on hand to watch again and again.  

Oh, and by the way, according to various sources on the World Wide Web, "Kemosabe," the term Tonto uses for the Lone Ranger, means "He who does not know," "He who doesn't understand," "Soggy Bush," "Horse's Rear End," "Trusty Scout," or "Faithful Friend," depending upon the source. (Don't you just love the Web?) 

Review of Nebraska: An Intelligent Film for Intelligent Moviegoers

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Normally I save my rating (See-Again or Not-See-Again) until the end of a review; however, I am going to let you know right off the bat that Nebraska is a definite see-again movie. In fact, it’s a see-again-and-again movie, and if the sky were to open and God should proclaim, “Carol, for the rest of your life you can see only one movie again and again,” that movie would be Nebraska. (I always imagine God sounding amazingly just like Morgan Freeman.)

Not that Nebraska is everyone’s cup of tea. Specifically, I doubt it will appeal to teenagers, since most of them have noodles for brains, nor will it appeal to twenty-somethings, thirty somethings, or for that matter anyone younger than, oh, let’s say forties to late fifties, and only then if they appreciate films with intelligent scripts and something profound to say about the human condition. Moreover, they won’t mind if the story is about “old” people, since the majority of actors in this film probably range from 70 to 90, and some might even be older. They also won’t mind reality, since the people in this film look like real people not like, as my mama used to say, “Glamor pusses.” For example, they do not have perfect complexions, hair, figures, or anything else for that matter. In other words, they look like you and me.

Coming Home (Google Images 2014)

On the other hand, it was hard seeing Bruce Dern so old and decrepit, and I couldn’t help thinking about how young, vigorous, and handsome he was in the 1978 anti-war film Coming Home, especially in the opening scene where he’s running and the Rolling Stones “Out of Time” is playing on the soundtrack.  

Cast of the Movie Nebraska  

Although there are numerous outstanding performances in the film, some by unknowns, the leading roles are played by: 

• Bruce Dern as Woodrow T. "Woody" Grant
• Will Forte as David Grant, Woody's youngest son 
• June Squibb as Kate Grant, Woody's wife, mother of Ross and David 
• Bob Odenkirk as Ross Grant, Woody's oldest son 
• Stacy Keach as Ed Pegram, Woody's old business partner 
• Mary Louise Wilson as Aunt Martha, Woody's sister-in-law 
• Missy Doty as Noel, David's girlfriend 

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Brief Plot Synopsis of Nebraska  

Woody Grant (Dern), who lives in Billings, Montana, receives a sweepstakes letter informing him that he’s won a prize (You know, like the Publishers Clearing House letters) and that Woody needs to bring the letter to the Prize Office in Lincoln, Nebraska in order to collect the prize. Convinced that he’s won the grand prize, which is a million dollars, Woody is determined to get to Lincoln, even if he has to walk, which he attempts on two occasions (Picture a really old man wobbling down the median on the Interstate), only to be stopped, first by the police then by his son David (Forte). Woody’s wife Kate (Squibb) thinks he’s looney-tunes and says as much, and David tries to tell Woody that the letter is only a come-on for magazine subscriptions.

Woody, though, won’t listen to reason, and he talks David into going on a road trip from Billings, where they all live, to Lincoln, so he can claim his fortune. And this is when the story really takes off, but if I were to tell you anything else it would spoil the experience for you, so you’ll just have to see the movie. Then again, you could read another review by someone who doesn’t care if he or she gives away the entire storyline, but why on Earth would you want to do that?   

Nebraska Cinematography 

The film is in black and white, which really works in my opinion, as well as Chet’s. However, according to Wikipedia (2014), that veritable cornucopia of at times dubious facts, Payne (the director) wanted to produce an "iconic, archetypal look;” and Phedon Papamichael (the cinematographer) said the choice was to use "the poetic power of black and white in combination with these landscapes and of course the landscapes are playing a huge role in this story." Finally, according to Biga (2013), the decision to film in black and white went against the wishes of the distributor, Paramount Vantage, but a color version was created in an effort to satisfy the distributor’s concerns. Payne related, though, that he hopes no one ever sees the color version, and I for one have no desire to see it. 

Academy Award Nominations for Nebraska  

Billed as a comedy-drama, the film was directed by Alexander Payne and the script written by Bob Nelson. According to the official Cannes website (2013), the film was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where Bruce Dern won the Best Actor Award. Moreover, here in the States, it was nominated for six Academy Awards, including: 

• Best Picture
• Best Director for Payne 
• Best Actor for Dern 
• Best Supporting Actress for Squibb 
• Best Original Screenplay for Nelson 
• Best Cinematography for Phedon Papamichael

The film did not win an Oscar, nor did anyone connected with the film, which in my opinion was a shame, because films and performances this exceptional come around so seldom. 

In conclusion, trust me; if you want to see a movie that has it all—great storyline, acting, and cinematography, along with characters you can actually relate to and care about—and if you like movies that make you not only laugh aloud but shed a few tears and, most of all, think, then you need to see Nebraska.  I will definitely see it again—and soon.

Sources: 

Biga, L. A. (2013). "Payne's Nebraska a Blend of Old and New as He Brings Indiewood Back to the State and Reconnects with Tried and True Crew on His First Black and White Film". Retrieved from http://leoadambiga.wordpress.com   

"2013 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved July 13, 2014 from http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/awardCompetition.html   

Wikipedia (2014) Nebraska. Retrieved July 13, 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_%28film%29