RED SPARROW (2018)

Rated:  R

STARS: Jennifer Lawrence, Matthias Schoenaerts, Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling, Mary Louise Parker
DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence
GENRE: Action-Thriller/Drama

Ever since she outgrew her Catnip...er, I mean Katniss Everdeen persona, Jennifer Lawrence has been  moving into edgier adult roles, and now she's "gone and done it" in Red Sparrow, a spy thriller with a plot designed to get those pesky clothes off of her as often as possible! There's even one scene that I'll call soft-core porn. If she gets any edgier, we'll be speaking of her and Stormy Daniels in the same breath!  

The cold war hasn't ended, it's just gotten more sophisticated, according to the premise of Red Sparrow. Lawrence plays a former ballerina turned Russian spy named Dominika Egorova. Not your run-of-the-mill spy, but a "sparrow," mind you--a highly trained seductress who can get what she wants out of anyone or anything short of a turnip. She is compromised by the Americans and becomes a double agent, but in the end her sympathies will be swayed toward one side. Like any good spy thriller, Red Sparrow keeps you guessing as to which side that is until right near the end.  

To learn her trade, Dominika is sent to a Russian "whore school" where she and her fellow cadets, both male and female, practice the most degrading and appalling kind of sexual acts on and in front of each other--and when I'm appalled by something in the movies, you know it's pushing the envelope. Throw in a generous helping of gore as the twisty plot wends its way along, and you've got a film that stands out not for great acting or originality, but for those gratuitous elements alone. 

RANT ALERT! 

So here we have another "star vehicle" for Jennifer Lawrence. I find it rather obscene that a 27 year-old with journeyman talent is the highest paid actress in the world--more generously compensated than a Frances McDormand or a Meryl Streep. But then I  find it obscene when someone like Miley Cyrus can become a filthy rich mega-star simply for being obscene. Rome is fixin' to burn...

Now, back to our regular programming!

I've never watched a spy thriller where I didn't get lost somewhere along the way in the twisty plot. That's the nature of the beast, and Red Sparrow is no exception. You've got some of it, other parts you're shaking your head at and saying wha? Just make sure you're clear on who "Boo-Shay" is and you should be all right.

Interesting turns from Jeremy Irons, Charlotte Rampling, and Mary Louise Parker can't save a film where all the Russkies speak English only--for our benefit--in obviously manufactured Russian accents. Subtitles would have given it more of an air of authenticity.  

What Red Sparrow has going for it is that it's whorry and gory--perfect for the average American taste--so if that's your cup o' vodka...drink up my friends!

Grade:  C

JILL'S TAKE

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As some of you already know, Tim writes his review first and then I add my two cents. (In this case, rubles.) Before I begin my rant, I must praise my co-writer for making this turkey of a film worth seeing. Why? If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of reading Tim's very witty-yet-bitchy review!

Aside from nodding off during Red Sparrow, where slow doesn't begin to describe this movie's pace, I was totally lost throughout. So was my friend – who kept leaning over asking who was who and why were they doing what they were doing? Sure, thrillers are supposed to stump the audience until the very end. Sadly, I left the theater more stumped than ever!

The best thing about Red Sparrow? The casting of Matthias Schoenaerts as the villain. Why? His resemblance to Vladimir Putin is unmistakable. So many fine actors in cameo roles. Such a waste of great talent. But the one scene with Jeremy Irons made seeing this tautless thriller worth it. (Almost.)

In my movie reviews, I'm often hard pressed to find something to criticize. Such is not the case this time. I've already mentioned the slow pace, the confusing plot, the waste of talent. I might also add that director, Francis Lawrence, who also directed Ms.Lawrence (no relation) in The Hunger Games, has trouble cutting out unnecessary scenes that only befuddle the viewer. A cinematic hoarder, indeed!  

In case you haven't figured it out yet, I hated this movie. And for the first time since I began adding my two cents, Red Sparrow merits the lowest grade I can give it.

Grade: F

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY (2016)

Rated: PG-13

STARS: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Devika Bhise
DIRECTOR: Mathew Brown
GENRE: Biopic/Drama/Art House

The language of higher mathematics can be intimidating to anyone who looks at it and sees gobbledygook, which would be most of us, and that could be the first thing that might put you off of checking out The Man Who Knew Infinity. But don't allow a few equations that fill up entire blackboards and then start reaching around the block discourage you.  (Though attempting to "prove" a theory in this abstract and seemingly endless manner can appear, at least on the surface, to be unrelated to anything that has to do with life in the real world--a highly advanced form of mental masturbation as it were--but what do I know? Though I can point to numerous theories through the ages that were generally regarded as "proven" that were later shown to be false. Imagine filling up journal upon journal with these equations--shouting EUREKA!-- and then some smart-ass comes along and says, oh, but you forgot...) Fortunately, there are no attempts to explain any of that esoteric stuff to the lay person here, as mathematics is really secondary to what The Man Who Knew Infinity is about.

In 1913, Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), a humble accountant and self-taught mathematical genius from India, travels to Trinity College in Cambridge to meet and study with the brilliant G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons), the man who would become his mentor. Ramanujan has put everything on the line--leaving his beautiful wife and his mother behind to fulfill his vision of getting his theories published.

Ramanujan, today, is regarded as one of the most influential minds in the field of mathematics. But his journey to that revered status was not an easy one. He met resistance at every turn from the establishment of old fart British profs--entrenched in their positions and their thinking. When a brilliant mind meets another brilliant mind and recognizes that this other brilliant mind might just be more brilliant than itself, the result is professional jealousy of mathematical proportions!  Not to mention being upstaged by a young brown-skinned upstart from "the colonies" in an era when racism was just the accepted order of things. Ramanujan must not only fight against bigotry and closed minds, but the anguish he feels from being away from his family. He is fortunate to have a champion (Hardy) in his corner.

The Man Who Knew Infinity is the proverbial root-for-the-underdog tale of struggle and redemption. Jeremy Irons seems made for his role as the eccentric professor Hardy. Dev Patel is on familiar ground once again as a somewhat bewildered soul pitted against the odds--see Slumdog Millionaire and Life Of Pi. It's a pleasant enough way to kill a couple hours (actually 1 hour and 48 minutes), but there is no new ground being broken here. Except in mathematics, of course.

Grade: B

JILL'S TAKE

Lord knows, I tried to follow this tale of endless equations and English academe. But The Man Who Knew Infinity was no Goodbye, Mister Chips. (Both versions.) Jeremy Iron's character is the epitome of an introverted intellectual who can barely look anyone in the eye. So it's difficult to relate to, or even like this inwardly-centered man. As for his Indian prodigy? Ramanujan's mathematical brilliance is also hard for the average viewer to understand or get excited about. Hence, I found myself in the unenviable position of nodding off occasionally, praying I didn't drool on myself or someone else!

That being said, when I did manage to stay awake and follow the trials and tribulations of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the film held my interest. Sort of. As with so many movies these days, The Man Who Knew Infinity was based on a real person. If that real person's life is steeped in drama, the result is usually a good movie. But so much of this film had to do with coming up with proofs to back up equations. And there's not a whole lot of drama in that....

There was a bit of drama back home in India when his mama hid her son's letters from his wife, convinced that if she showed them to her (and she joined him in England), he would never return home. Naturally his wife assumed he had forgotten her. It was such a minor plot but one that, thankfully, woke me up for two seconds.

Grade: D

THE WORDS (2012)

Rated:  PG-13

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde
Director: Brian Klugman & Lee Sternthal
Genre: Romantic drama/ Mystery


A friend of mine predicts that Jeremy Irons' performance in The Words  will garner him an Oscar nomination. My crystal ball is somewhat murkier on that score. It's a damn good turn, to be sure, but knowing how the Academy normally has to be ga ga about the film itself to bestow such individual recognition--and The Words is getting panned by a lot of critics--all bets are off.  Those who aren't dismissing the film, however, are glowing about it, creating a dichotomy of opinion that I always find intriguing, and therefore ready to jump into the fray and lay out the naked truth...the gospel...the straight poop. (Regular visitors to this site know that I've never dispensed any crooked poop!)

Fact is, that by the time the closing credits were rolling, I was blown away by this movie--but it wasn't until the actual ending that it had grown on me to that degree. The Words is a tale within a tale within a tale, which can make you forget who the Original Storyteller is to begin with...kind of like all of us wee lost souls here on planet earth (the "riders on the storm"  that Jim Morrison sang about). 

Bradley Cooper is Rory Jansen, a talented writer, but apparently not talented enough to get his novels published. When he discovers an old manuscript that he instinctively senses is better and more marketable than anything he has created himself, he does some soul searching--but not a whole lot of it--and decides to claim  the work as his own. Now a celebrated author, Rory's karma catches up to him in the form of the old man who actually wrote the book (Jeremy Irons) 

Interwoven is the story "Old Man" (he is never given a name) created in his novel, about his days as a GI in Paris, the woman he falls in love with, and the personal tragedy they bear together. 

Eventually we are steered back to the creator of both these fictional tales, writer Clay Hammond, (Dennis Quaid). 

Or ARE they fictional?  Heh heh.

Or...has a writer so fallen in love with one of his own characters that the lines between fiction and reality have become so blurred as to be indistinguishable? 

The ending of  The Words  should leave you questioning just what is and what isn't--which may be disconcerting to some--but as a writer I was entranced by the ambiguity...by the possibilities being raised...by  a film that actually made me think enough about it as I was heading for the exit that I forgot to stop and take a pee! And one that I will definitely consider seeing again. The only question in my mind is whether the average film goer is going to find it quite as fascinating as some of us literary types will be wont to do.  

Grade:  B +
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