Sony Classics'Call Me By Your Name.'

“Call Me by Your Name” (Drama/Romance: 2 hours, 12 minutes)

Starring: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Amira Casar and Michael Stuhlbarg

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Rated: R (Sexual content, nudity and strong language)

 

Movie Review: “Call Me By Your Name” is a solid coming-of-age story about the fulfilling energy of a first love and the heartwrenching pain it can cause. 

Luca Guadagnino directs this Oscar-nominated script by James Ivory. It is a dramatic erotic photoplay adapted from André Aciman’s 2007 novel. Empathy for these lovers is contagious and emotional.

Summer of 1983 in Northern Italy is the setting for this coming-of-age narrative. It involves 17-year-old musical prodigy Elio Perlman (Chalamet). The young man shares a close relationship with his father, Samuel Perlman (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor of Greco-Roman culture, and his mother, Annella (Amira Casar). 

The summer for Elio changes when he begins a relationship with visiting Oliver (Hammer), his father’s 24-year-old American research assistant. The pair bond with their Jewish heritage, their sexuality and an old Italian villa.

Guadagnino directs the movie with an exacting passion. He is deserving of his Oscar nomination. He and screenplay writer James Ivory construct a movie that is riveting. They make Elio and Oliver’s relationship a summer romance. They do this by letting the characters be what author André Aciman envisioned.

Their relationship is not filled with flowers and poetry. Instead, it is a view about how two people feel about each other, naturally expressing their desire and love. Even for the intolerant, their story should be seen as emotionally fulfilling. 

A desire exists to see people happy. Ivory’s script and Guadagnino directing convey this. And cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom shooting the film on 35-mm film adds to the movie’s 1980s feel. 

Elio is a sophisticated, intelligent character. Timothée Chalamet plays him aptly. One feels for his character. He is an intelligent and multi-talented young person trying to find himself, something most can understand. His attraction to a carefree and older Oliver appears part of Elio’s becoming an adult and looking for something different in life. 

Again, Chalamet’s portrayal of him is masterful. The end scene alone warrants him obtaining an Academy Award for acting in a leading role. The emotions displayed in his face are enough to feel his pain and the joy lost. His emotions appear raw and transferable to those observing. His dramatic turn grasps viewers and holds them until the film ends.

Hammer is also good. He plays his role in a nonchalant, but very cunning, manner. He was the perfect choice, playing Oliver in an arrogant form. 

Nominated for four Oscars, Guadagnino and his team deliver a solid movie. “Call Me By Your Name” is a slow-moving drama for audiences wanting a good story delivered beautifully. Hats off to the well-played performances, a polished screenplay, superior direction, skilled cinematography and fitting music.

Grade: A (Call it a superb movie.)

“Phantom Thread” (Period Drama: 2 hours, 10 minutes)

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Rated: R (Profanity)

 

Movie Review: A splendid period drama is written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, “Phantom Thread” boasts nice performances, an engaging musical score, nice set designs and nicely tailored attire. 

With those elements, Anderson crafts an intriguing story of a man and his art, as superbly acted by three-time Academy Award recipient Day-Lewis in reportedly his last film role.

Set in a 1950s London fashion-design world, Reynolds Woodcock (Day-Lewis) is a couturier, a very private man who designs dresses for some of Europe’s affluent women. Woodcock’s main interactions are with his sister, Cyril Woodcock (Manville), who acts as his chief of staff. 

Woodcock falls for a waitress, Alma Elson (Krieps). She becomes Woodcock’s muse. The two have a fetching, yet distant relationship. They inspire each other as much as they annoy the other, causing a dysfunctional relationship.

The main character is partly the inspiration of the work designer Charles James, a British-born fashion designer notoriously possessive of his dresses. 

The designs made by Woodcock in the movie are by costume designer Mark Bridges. Bridges creates an elegant world with his designs. They are artful and a vital part of the movie as dressmaking is valuable to “Phantom Thread’s” narrative.

The characters and their abnormal relationships are paramount here. Day-Lewis and Krieps feed off each other like predator and prey; their roles are gratifyingly inviting. Lesley Manville is impressive as Woodcock’s stern sister. She often commands scenes with just a glance — her eyes conveying elegance and direct intentions. Day-Lewis and Manville received Oscar nominations for their roles. 

Anderson’s screenplay allows the characters to be whom they are throughout without changing. The characters adapt. Audiences must also appreciate the relationship between Woodcock and Elson. They are not the typical couple, yet they appreciate each other in an understandable manner. 

Music is persuasive. Jonny Greenwood’s score is impressive, inviting audiences to a waiting treat. Costumes are notable, too. 

The grandeur can be distracting. Some scenes require attention to story shifts. Get up to go the restroom and you may return to a puzzling scene.

“Phantom Thread” marks the eighth feature film director Anderson has also written. Anderson has helmed some of the best movies during the last two decades. The noteworthy are “Boogie Nights” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999) and “There Will Be Blood” (2007). With six Academy Award nominations for “Phantom Thread,” Anderson, who was nominated for direction and writing, provides an excellent screenplay. 

Hats off to astute performances, excellent music, nice costumes and good set designs to create a grand production.

Grade: A- (A nicely woven story.)

“12 Strong” (War Drama: 2 hours, 10 minutes)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Peña and Navid Negahban

Director: Nicolai Fuglsig

Rated: R (Profanity and violence)

 

Movie Review: Twelve is a recurring number for movies. This outing, the number is about 12 members of an Army Special Forces team. It is about a modern war, but it often plays like an agreeable Western, although the dramatics are typical. 

“12 Strong” is an account of the events of the first Special Forces team deployed to Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001. Under the new leadership of Capt. Mitch Nelson, United States Special Forces team ODA 595, a mature team of Green Berets, enters into Afghanistan on horseback. 

Theirs is a dangerous mission. The soldiers’ orders are to develop an alliance with the Northern Alliance under the leadership of Afghan Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) to fight the Taliban and al-Qaida attachments. The odds are against Capt. Nelson and his team but the men are strong soldiers.

This is the declassified true story of the “Horse Soldiers” as noted by the movie’s taglines. The declassification actually happened shortly after Sept. 11, 2001. That fact and a few other matters are just some of the changes or additions to make the story more dramatic. Producers also change the ethnicities of the men to add diversity. A detraction, some of the changes are not necessary, such as rewriting history to promote diversity.

That expressed, Director Nicolai Fuglsig and a team of writers make Doug Stanton’s book, “Horse Soldiers,” appealing entertainment. Character relations are dynamic in a fascinating manner. They have a patriotic goal. They accomplish it together. Audiences have a chance to observe the mission enjoyably.

Grade: C+ (Twelve strong men deserve a salute, even if their narrative is not nuanced cinema.)

“Forever My Girl” (Romantic Drama/Comedy: 1 hour, 44 minutes)

Starring: Alex Roe, Jessica Rothe and John Benjamin Hickey

Director: Bethany Ashton Wolf

Rated: PG (Thematic elements including drinking, brief violence and language)

 

Movie Review: Set in small-town St. Augustine, La., this light romantic drama is engaging, but it turns formulaic quickly. 

This narrative follows country singer and megastar Liam Page (Roe of 2016’s “The 5th Wave”). He left his hometown nearly a decade earlier for fame and fortune. After his return, he receives a chilly reception. 

When Page departed years ago, he left his high-school sweetheart, Josie Preston (Rothe), at the altar. Even more, he left behind a daughter, Billy, played with spunk by Abby Ryder Fortson. Page must reconnect with loved ones and rectify past mistakes. 

Bethany Ashton Wolf (screenplay) directs a stereotypical screenplay based on Heidi McLaughlin’s novel. The beginning half is engaging, decent cinema, but the latter is trite storytelling. Such a mishap is a shame since the movie has plenty potential.

The cast feels like neighbors, wholesome everyday people. Roe, Rothe and others supply pleasing performances, yet the story remains light, common-place dramatic material.

Grade: C (It plays like a country song, backward.)

“Den of Thieves” (Action/Crime: 2 hours, 20 minutes)

Starring: Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr. and Pablo Schreiber

Director: Christian Gudegast

Rated: R (Violence, profanity, sexuality and nudity)

 

Movie Review: “Den of Thieves'” title is appropriate. The den of moviemakers who created this action piece steals your money.

An elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, led by Nick Flanagan (Butler), tracks a successful group of bank thieves led by Ray Merrimen (Schreiber). The outlaws are a gang of former military men with expert tactical skills. 

Their latest plan involves pulling off a major heist, robbing the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles. Merrimen and his men have evaded the law, but Donnie (Jackson), a young driver for the gang turned Informant, may ruin the criminals’ plans.

Screenplay writer Christian Gudegast’s screenplay is also his directorial début. It is a poor introduction, although the movie has an engaging start. 

The writing is appalling. Gudegast tries to create something sophisticated and intelligent. Instead, he creates an overly macho story that makes little sense ultimately. Think of this as a less-intelligent “Heat” (Director Michael Mann, 1995), which starred Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer.

Law-enforcement officials watch potential and deadly crime transpiring and do nothing. Later, the same officials endanger the lives of citizens during a gunfight, when they could arrest the crooks halfway through this excessively long movie. They have enough evidence to arrest, yet do not act. 

Do not try to apply logic to this crime caper. Gudegast and Paul Scheuring concocted this plot with half a brain, and that is not the good half.

Grade: D- (Watch out for the thieves.)