Movie Review: Crooked House (2017)

Genre: Crime Mystery  

Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner  

Starring: Max Irons, Stefanie Martini, Glenn Close, Terence Stamp, Julian Sands, Gillian Anderson, Christina Hendricks  

Running Time: 115 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1950s England, Sophia Leonides (Stefanie Martini) asks private detective Charles Hayward (Max Irons) to investigate the death of her grandfather Aristide, a wealthy Greek tycoon. Sophia believes Aristide was poisoned, and the suspects include his new young wife and former Las Vegas showgirl Brenda (Christina Hendricks), his ex-sister-in-law Lady Edith (Glenn Close), his son Philip (Julian Sands), and daughter-in-law Magda (Gillian Anderson). Charles' investigation is complicated by memories of his brief wartime fling with Sophia, and growing interest in the case by Scotland Yard's Inspector Taverner (Terence Stamp). 

What Works Well: This classy adaptation of the Agatha Christie whodunnit benefits from brisk pacing, lavish locations, and a colourful cast of suspects. As a relatively low-key but still astute investigator, Charles Hayward doggedly reveals a complex web of motives, conspiracies, illicit affairs, and interpersonal jealousies, casting suspicion in all directions. Even Aristide's younger grandchildren, the astute pre-teen Josephine (who observes and writes everything) and the cynical teenager Eustace (who is unafraid to ask the boldest questions), get involved in the machinations, along with their tutor. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Too many characters within the Leonides mansion vie for the same screen time, and many have to settle for shorthand representations. Given the complexities within this family, the ending is rushed, and although the gather-all-the-suspects-in-a-room climactic scene is mercifully avoided, Charles' sleuthing efforts also don't amount to much.

Key Quote:

Josephine: The murderer is never the one you initially suspect.

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Movie Review: American Woman (2018)

Genre: Drama

Director: Jake Scott

Starring: Sienna Miller, Christina Hendricks, Amy Madigan, Aaron Paul
Running Time: 112 minutes

Synopsis: In rural Pennsylvania, the anarchic Debra (Sienna Miller) is a single mom to teenager Bridget (Sky Ferreira), who herself is a single mom to infant Jesse. They live across the street from Debra's more settled sister Katherine (Christina Hendricks) and her family. When Bridget goes missing without a trace, Debra's life is upended. 

What Works Well: Director Jake Scott (Ridley's son) and writer Brad Ingelsby construct a teasing story of one woman's scrappy life in the working class shadows. Economic survival depends on snaring a man, and the threats of abuse, unplanned pregnancy, and personal ruin are always close. The narrative circumvents convention: Bridget's disappearance is only one chapter in Debra's life, and the plot adopts a stubborn and ultimately rewarding commitment to the climb from the depths. Sienna Miller registers a career highlight with a realistically slow evolution of emotional maturity, and is well supported by Christina Hendricks as the responsible sister.

What Does Not Work As Well: By design, the structure settles into episodic rhythms, including some forward lurches that skip ahead several years. 

Conclusion: A soulful portrayal of the arduous journey towards individual betterment.



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The Movies Of Christina Hendricks

All movies starring Christina Hendricks and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Life As We Know It (2010)

Drive (2011)

I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)

Dark Places (2015)

Crooked House (2017)

American Woman (2018)

Toy Story 4 (2019, voice only)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Dark Places (2015)

A crime thriller mystery melding the past with the present, Dark Places has a promising, brooding premise but flubs the resolution.

The film takes place in two timelines: 1985, when a notorious crime happened, and the present day. In 1985, eight year old Libby Day is the only survivor of a Kansas farmhouse massacre that kills her two sisters and her mother. Based on young Libby's confused and fractured testimony, her teenaged brother Ben, a heavy metal music fan who dabbled in Satanism, is convicted.

In 2015, Libby (Charlize Theron) has wasted her life doing nothing and living off the charity of others. Now nearly broke, she accepts an offer from amateur murder sleuth Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult) to research the real story of what happened at the Kansas farmhouse. Libby visits Ben (Corey Stoll) in prison for the first time and starts to piece together the events preceding the murders.

Prior to the massacre Libby's mother Patty (Christina Hendricks), divorced from the sleazeball Runner (Sean Bridgers), was struggling to make ends meet, while Ben was spending time with his older girlfriend Diondra (Chloë Grace Moretz) and criminal hardhead Trey Teepano. Ben was also facing accusations of sexually abusing young girls, including Krissi Cates. The grown up Libby tries to track down Diondra, Krissi and Trey among others to finally understand what really happened and why.

Based on the book of the same name by Gillian Flynn (of Gone Girl fame), Dark Places builds up a satisfying head of steam as the past and present story of Libby Day is revealed. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner actually plays in three time zones, adding in increments a jerky recreation of the night of the murders, mostly from the muddled perspective of young Libby, to the two main narratives.

And there are enough subtle riddles about the events of the night to create a rich atmosphere of evil, and open up possibilities for motives and villains. Many family members, friends, associates and hangers on had reasons to unleash violence on the fateful night. At the centre of the mayhem then and still suffering now, Libby has to decide how much she wants to care, and whether poking away at the scars of the past is worth the emotional pain.

But the narrative thrust starts to unravel the closer Paquet-Brenner gets to his conclusion, and in some ways the story picks the weakest path towards resolution. The ending is rushed and jumbled, and in many ways inconsistent with some of the more determined character traits that the film invests in.

The choice for the two lead actresses gets in the way. Charlize Theron and Christina Hendricks don't do anything wrong; they are simply too glamorous for their roles, and have to work back from the starting line to convince as rural, poor and borderline white trash folks. Theron spends the entire movie covering her hair and eyes under a baseball cap in an unsuccessful attempt to get into the skin of a woman with nothing going for her except an offer for a few paltry bucks from true-life murder nerds.

As for Lyle Wirth and his club of amateur crime solvers, they fade out of the story after contributing a base level of interesting irritation.

Dark Places launches into a captivating and twisty mystery, but flubs the landing.

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Movie Review: Drive (2011)

An artistic journey into the heart of crime, Drive is an intense, occasionally violent but slow moving character study. However, it is dubious whether there is enough of a character here worth studying.

In Los Angeles, The Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a mechanic by day, a movie stuntman when the work is there, and a crime getaway driver when seeking excitement. A man of few words who rarely displays any emotion, The Driver moves into an apartment building and meets his neighbour Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother living with her young son and awaiting the release of husband Standard (Oscar Isaac) from prison.

To capitalize on The Driver's exceptional talent behind the wheel, his boss Shannon (Bryan Cranston) tries to secure a loan from mobsters Bernie (Albert Brooks) and Nino (Ron Perlman) to start a racing team. The tentative relationship between The Driver and Irene is interrupted when Standard returns home after finishing his sentence. Standard has debts owing to some uncompromising criminals represented by Cook (James Biberi) and his moll (Christina Hendricks), and The Driver agrees to help in a seemingly straightforward robbery of a pawn shop. But events quickly spiral out of control, and The Driver finds himself on a violent collision course with Bernie and Nino.

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn constructs an alternate reality where few words are spoken, violence is sudden and intense, the nights are tinted blue and the days are a harsh yellow. Echoing the western man-with-no-name anti-hero who is as violent as his enemies, The Driver has no name, hardly a background, and certainly no appetite to talk about much of anything. The film often satisfies the through-the-windshield visual appeal of a first-person video driving game, while characters interact with each other through looks and violence rather than coherent conversation.

While the style is abundantly on display, it is not backed-up be a compelling narrative. A film awash in flair needs the foundation of a simple story to serve as an anchor. Here the money problems of Standard quickly disintegrate into a muddle of ill-defined Mafia goons resorting to extreme measures, and The Driver's interest in helping Irene through Standard is at odds with his apparent lack of commitment to any cause other than his own.

Drive does eventually suffer from its own excesses, the pace quite slow as the standing-and-staring takes precedence over any plot momentum. There are scenes where Gosling and Mulligan are pretending to be all dark and brooding, but they also seem on the verge of breaking out into laughter at the absurdity of the timed delays between sentences.

In amongst the pregnant pauses, Winding Refn throws in brief bursts of action. Given the title and subject matter, the amount of actual car-oriented carnage is limited. More memorable are the bloody beatings, head-bashings and knifings that take over towards the end of the movie, as the body count mounts and every death attempts to outdo what came before in terms of gore.

Drive enjoys cool stretches, but can't avoid all the tricky potholes.

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Movie Review: I Don't Know How She Does It (2011)

A breezy comedy about the status of women in the workforce, I Don't Know How She Does It is sometimes sharp but wholly inoffensive.

In Boston, Kate Reddy (Sarah Jessica Parker) juggles a demanding, travel-intensive career at an investment bank with a household full of responsibilities. Her husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is also working hard to establish the reputation of his new architecture firm, and together they barely keep up with the hectic schedule of their two young kids. At work, Kate's highly capable young assistant Momo (Olivia Munn) is all business, and has no intention of ever having kids.

Kate's life is thrown into a higher level of turmoil when her business proposal for establishing a new mutual fund is accepted for further study by the company brass, requiring her to travel frequently to New York to work closely with senior partner Jack Abelhammer (Pierce Brosnan). At the same time, Richard lands a major new client. Kate does her best to keep up with school bake sales, the children's birthdays and her demanding work responsibilities, while fending off Jack's tentative advances and keeping some semblance of a relationship with Richard. To add to the chaos, Momo goes ahead and unexpectedly gets pregnant.

Based on the best selling novel by Allison Pearson, I Don't Know How She Does It is a snapshot of middle class women in the workforce circa the 2010s. A high wire juggling act in which balls are occasionally dropped, picked up, dusted off and juggled again, there is no longer any expectation or ambition of having it all. Kate is finding satisfaction at work while keeping her home life functional, and does not expect anything to be quite perfect, and does expect everything to be just a bit harried. Her hair is never properly combed and her clothes are rarely free of food stains. She gets by with a good attitude and plenty of support from her husband.

I Don't Know How She Does It can almost pass as a movie companion for Sheryl Sandberg's 2013 book Lean In. Many of the concepts in the book, including saying yes to challenging opportunities at work, the need for a supportive spouse, and the imperative of women supporting each other at work, find an echo in the film. Kate even grapples with an episode of lice, similar to Sheryl's real-life experience.

Parker almost succeeds in finding the necessary depth to carry the movie, but does sometimes slips into her lightweight television persona. She is rescued by a strong supporting cast. Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan and Olivia Munn are joined by Kelsey Grammer (as Kate's boss) and Christina Hendricks (Kate's sassy best friend) to ensure that there is plenty of presence in every corner.

Director Douglas McGrath keeps the mood light, steers away from farce or serious romance, and makes good use of the Boston and New York locations while avoiding travelogue traps. I Don't Know How She Does It is a slice of life, modestly successful in juggling mild humour with social commentary.

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Movie Review: Life As We Know It (2010)

The biggest challenge for romantic comedy writers is coming up with designs for new hoops to be jumped through by the inevitable lovers, prior to their arrival at the pre-determined happy ending.

Life As We Know It succeeds in reaching for a fairly new premise: Holly and Eric, who initially can't stand each other, are forced to jointly care for a baby under tragic circumstances. Life As We Know It turns a typical couplehood stress point on its head: instead of the pressures of planned parenting rupturing a pre-existing relationship, Holly and Ken are unexpectedly thrown into unwanted parenting roles, and the experience brings them closer.

Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Eric (Josh Duhamel) once went out on a date that turned into an unmitigated disaster. But Katherine is best friends with Alison (Christina Hendricks), and Eric is best buddies with Peter (Hayes MacArthur), and Alison and Peter are a happily married couple. Holly and Eric are therefore the appointed godparents of the newborn Sophie, the first daughter of Alison and Peter. The worst does happen, and Sophie is orphaned. Holly and Eric are suddenly thrust into becoming the parents of a baby, having to deal with overwhelming responsibilities while learning to tolerate each other.

Eric is a hopeless womanizer, and his new role as a parent makes him even more irresistible to a succession of one-night hook-ups. Holly attracts the attention of Sam (Josh Lucas), Sophie's pediatrician. But inevitably, Eric and Holly are drawn together and transition from mutually repelling each other to parents who become lovers. Life for Eric gets complicated again when he gets the career opportunity of a lifetime, but accepting it would mean relocating away from his new roles of an accidental father to Sophie and unexpected partner to Holly.

Watching adults muddle through early parenting responsibilities is funny but well-worn movie territory. Life As We Know It trots out the typical laughs that stem from diaper changes, baby-sitters who are more capable than the parents, and exhausting night-long car drives to sooth the baby. But director Greg Berlanti keeps his eye on ball, and the travails of parenting in Life As We Know It are all about Holly and Eric discovering what they are individually capable of, and seeing in each other as partners something much more than what they were as singles.

The film demonstrates more than the usual bravery in hinging a romantic comedy on a tragedy, and the drama that underpins the narrative ensures that a serious undertone permeates through Life As We Know It, keeping the laughs in control and allowing plenty of time for examining themes of loss and sudden responsibility -- not the typical fare for what is often a light-headed genre. The relatively unique setting of Atlanta, Georgia is another plus -- romantic comedies can exist outside of New York.

Heigl, still struggling to carve out a post-Grey's Anatomy movie career, is a likable female lead, more approachable and earthy than a Jennifer Aniston, and less brash than a Kate Hudson. From the mild and predictable menu of comic, dramatic, attractive, sexy and romantic emotions required in the genre, Heigl is not brilliant at any one thing, but is at least above-average in all of them. Josh Duhamel is only in the movie for his hunky I-think-I'm-so-cool-on-my-motorcycle looks, and not even he appears to be attempting to pretend otherwise. The supporting cast is bland enough to inoffensively deliver the expected sideline quips while barely leaving a mark.

The movie does suffer from a typical fundamental weakness of romantic comedies, in glossing over exactly what triggers the attraction between Holly and Eric. A lot of minutes are invested in highlighting why these two simply do not get along. After episodes of splattered baby poo, diaper changes, and loud arguments, they suddenly fall into each other's arms, just because the running time is dangerously approaching the two hour mark.

The interesting premise of Life As We Know It does not a great movie make, but in this genre, interesting is often quite good enough.

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