Category Archives: book

Blake Lively in “The Age of Adaline”

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ageadaline

The Age of Adaline appears to have everything a movie needs to be in order to be a really good movie, so it seems.  Two main elements are missing – a really good script and a seasoned director.  Nevertheless, it is the number one romance movie at Amazon as I write this review.  The wave of potential has carried over to On Demand, Blu-ray and DVD because of the astounding cast and cinematography.

The Age of Adaline tells the story of Adaline Bowman, played very well by Blake Lively (Gossip Girl). She is a woman born in 1906, and she looks like she is in her late twenties when we meet her in 2014. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would know the big part of the story is that she will never age another day.

In a series of flashbacks, the movie narrates while showing how Adaline was given the baffling curse of never aging past the age she was at the time of the curse. The narration is where both the writer and the director made their big mistake. Any filmmaker will tell you to let the story unfold. Don’t tell us. Show us.  The imagery worked just fine, but the narration is used unnecessarily twice. The narration made it all seem so hokey. As if the director had to convince us that this transformation really happened to Adaline. The narration isn’t needed because her curse is so believable throughout the movie. It’s like a fairy tale. Lively is convincing, and her talent held my attention throughout the movie. Along with a very talented ensemble of co-stars kept me hoping for a better story.

What is fun about the movie is the story shifts through history with some hitches along the way. Adaline worries she will be recognized as a curiosity and is terrified that she will be used as a guinea pig for governmental experimentation.  Adaline decides to live on the run, changing identities and locations in a timely manner. Until she encounters Ellis Jones, played charmingly by Michiel Huisman, he is a man beguiled by her inscrutability and decides to woo her with her own medicine – history. He captures her heart, but not without a disquieting concern. It just so happens that another Jones family member, Ellis’ father (played by Harrison Ford), might have a stronger connection to Adaline than anyone knows.  Ford is great, as always, and I just love watching him in this movie.

Lively is gorgeous in personality and body.  Yet, while watching the movie, I kept feeling that she didn’t get along with the director, Lee Toland Krieger, or he didn’t know how to bring her over the top as the star of the movie and let the story be told. He just placed her in the scene, hoping something would happen.  What she did was fantastic. Kriegerm just didn’t know who to capture it. The reason I say this is that the seasoned actors like Harrison Ford were true to form. Kathy Baker and Ellen Burstyn had minor roles, but I had a great time watching them in the movie.  They knew what to do with an inept story and director.

Being number one on Amazon merits a mention, as the movie has its qualities. The overall story is engaging because of the concepts it explores, such as love at first sight, lasting love, growing old, becoming wiser, and finding old friends and family. They are magical, endearing through Adaline.

“Camilla Dickinson,” a Love Story

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camilla

Camilla Dickinson caught my eye because my daughter enjoyed reading A Wrinkle in Time by the same author, Madeleine L’Engle, who authored Camilla, which the movie is based.

Co-written and directed by L’Engle’s goddaughter, Cornelia Duryée Moore, the movie is refreshing and a reminder that films can be simple and poignant without the box-office bonanza. We so often see movies encased with special effects and evil villains out to destroy the world – not the case with Moore’s feature film debut.

Moore was primed to direct this movie with a resume that includes quite a bit of writing, acting and theatrical familiarity. She even co-founded the Seattle Shakespeare Company.

Adelaide Clemens plays the daughter of an affluent family in 1948 Manhattan. At first, she seems shy and withdrawn because her mother, played by Samantha Mathis, is being romanced by a Frenchman. She can’t tell her dad, played by Cary Elwes, because he is stoic and feels his wife is too emotional and immature to confront the issue.

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Camilla meets her best friend’s brother, Frank, played by Gregg Sulkin. They begin an innocent courtship that is true enough to reinstate her trust in true love.  Like any story, complications crop up and keep the plot moving along, but never really hinder Camilla’s newfound independence.  Her independence is nurtured through Frank, his friends and music.  Camilla shares her desire to be an astronomer and study celestial bodies. Frank encourages her, and her confidence grows.

The whole cast is very good, but the movie is a bit too long and could use some trimming, especially where scenes start too soon and end too late. Still, I enjoyed the movie since it is a believable story of the 1950’s.

The period look is attractive and adds to the era’s story. It is an interesting tale, considering that the author, later in life, wrote wonderful, inspired stories with women as central characters.

“Serena” With Lawrence and Cooper

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serena

Directed by Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who is known for taking on big and complicated stories, took a wrong turn with Serena.  The movie is beautifully shot by Morten Søborg, but that is about as far as it goes, which makes this topic a little tough for me to write since I like to keep them positive.

Serena is a well-known book by Ron Rash and was adapted for the screen by Christopher Kyle. The movie has a stellar cast and a beautiful backdrop. Yet, the production company had the movie in the can and on the shelf for two years before it ever premiered in the movie theaters. A sure sign something is amiss. Yet, the book is very popular with rave reviews on Amazon.

I watched the movie, and it’s a hodgepodge of scenes that end terribly. I was left empty after spending nearly two hours watching a beautifully shot movie, only to care about the characters in a story not worth watching.

Skilled adaptation of a popular book is hard to find.

The story takes place around the time of the Great Depression, when we see classic automobiles and new empires being built from the bottom up by dedicated, hardworking individuals.

Jennifer Lawrence plays Serena, a beautiful and poignant young woman with a suspicious past involving her family’s Colorado lumber company. Bradley Cooper plays George Pemberton, a logging magnate in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains.  The time is before the infamous 1929 stock market crash, which puts his ability to secure a loan in peril. He also has to ward off a humane push to turn his land into a national park. That much is clear, but Serena’s role in his life is not. Sure. They love each other dearly, but what is the real story that caused Rash’s book to be so popular? What was left out of the movie or not explained in the movie that caused it to sit on the shelf for 2 years?

Serena becomes Bradley’s wife and partner in his lumber company. She does a dam good job.  They both share the goal of moving to Brazil after cashing in on the Smoky Mountain timber.  One thing that I found ambiguous was Serena.  She is a remarkable woman who can outshoot and outride any man, but she is neurotic or borderline psychotic.  Her parents ran a logging company and were killed in a fire along with other members of the company. Serena was the sole survivor, and there is a hint that she had something to do with the tragic fire.

Another unclear point is where Rachel, the mother of George’s illegitimate son, is put on the run by George after she saves Rachel and his son from murder. She tells him she is going to meet up with Jacob, who will now take care of her.  Who is Jacob? How come we didn’t see her and Jacob together before this scene?

I wish Bier had made these plot points clear-cut.  At the end of the movie, Serena’s suspicion becomes somewhat clearer. Yet, it means nothing because I am bored. The story is confusing and has a sad ending.