“Midnight Special” (PG-13) 2 1/2 stars (out of four)
Writer/director Jeff Nichols partially channels “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” with uneven results in “Midnight Special, an indie sci-fi thriller that keeps you at arm’s length for most of the film, only to deliver an underwhelming payoff. Michael Shannon stars as Roy, the desperate father of an 8-year-old boy (Jaeden Lieberher) who has otherworldly abilities. Escaping a religious cult that believes the boy is their savior, the two, along with Roy’s best friend, Lucas, find themselves also on the run from the NSA, which perceives the boy as a weapon because he can bring down objects out of the sky. Roy has different plans, to bring his son to a specific location for reasons unexplained.
Although “Midnight Special” is slow to and uneventful at times, it’s almost a relief that it’s also not overwhelmed by special effects, especially given the genre it has originated from. Even though the cast – which also includes Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst and Sam Shepard – is stellar all around, the film seems empty when all is said and done. Ultimately, “Midnight Special” is not special, but merely above average.
“I Saw the Light” (R) 3 stars (out of four)
Loki actor Tom Hiddleston puts aside his usual brand of mischief to take on a risky performance of an American music icon with “I Saw the Light,” a biopic about Hank Williams’ rise and untimely death at the age of 29 in 1953. The film largely centers on Williams’ struggle with alcoholism and his relationship with his first wife, Audrey (an excellent Elizabeth Olsen) and how their tumultuous marriage effectively inspired the country and western star’s classic songs.
Hiddleston, who also sings such Williams classics as “Cold, Cold Heart” and “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” is spectacular in the film, yet somehow we come away from “I Saw the Light” with little insight into what tortured Williams’ soul to begin with. There’s no question he was a creative genius, but the film doesn’t fully explain why.
Though he’s phenomenal playing Loki in the Marvel movie universe, acclaimed actor Tom Hiddleston isn’t about to rest on his laurels and settle into playing only the God of Mischief the rest of his career.
In fact, he’s continuing to take risks acting in different genres by doing everything from comedy to drama and horror; and with his new film, “I Saw the Light,” he’s strumming (and singing) a new tune, quite literally, as country and western music icon Hank Williams.
“When the script for the movie came across my desk, it seemed like the most foreign territory,” Hiddleston said this week in a phone conversation from Los Angeles. “Hank Williams’ life is so dissimilar than mine. I was born in London in 1981 and he was born in Mount Olive, Alabama, in 1923. He is so much a part of America in so many respects, and I’m British, and yet, there was a human soul in the screenplay that I could relate to because he was a performer, generosity of spirit and a joy in his performances. He garnered so much from the genuine connection he had with the audience and I can relate to that.”
On top of that, Hiddleston said he was fascinated with the musician’s “spiritual struggle,” and how the emotional pain expressed through his work often stemmed from the troubled relationship Hank had with his wife, Audrey (another Marvel film star, Elizabeth Olsen, the Scarlet Witch in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and upcoming “Captain America: Civil War”).
“He was obviously wrestling with some pretty formidable personal demons,” Hiddleston said. “To me, the ultimate appeal that’s so much a part of acting is to satisfy my amateur interest in psychology. (Director) Marc Abraham’s great pitch to me was that he was making a connection to the great power of Hank’s great songs with Audrey, and the turbulent and passionate nature of his marriage gave Hank the inspiration to write great songs like ‘Cold, Cold Heart,’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’ and ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart.’ I thought that was a beautiful suggestion that the personal circumstances of this great artist generated such extraordinary music.”
In a separate interview, Olsen said while Audrey wasn’t as well-known as Hank, it didn’t make bringing the character to life any easier. After all, Audrey had to be believable character that audiences could relate to, because portraying the love and strife the couple shared was pivotal to the story.
“We wanted the fights to feel angry and important, and there were so many arguments,” Olsen said. “But, we also tried so hard to make sure that their love was very clear. When we had the opportunity to show the love that they had with each other, we needed to embrace that. You can’t care about someone falling out if you don’t believe in why they are together.”
Now playing in New York, Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee, and expanding to more theaters this week, “I Saw the Light” begins the night Hank and Audrey Williams was married, and follows the couple through their doomed marriage as Hank rises to the top of the music world – a rise and eventual fall that’s beset by Hank’s alcohol abuse and a painful, chronic back condition.
Suffering with Hank throughout his long bout with alcoholism was Audrey, and it was very difficult to contemplate how she dealt with the pain, Olsen said.
“At a certain point, obviously people who are dealing with their own demons, you can’t ever understand what that is and to be in their shoes,” Olsen said. “But to love someone deeply experiencing that and being on the other end of it, I think is a very painful place to live in.”
Sadly, Audrey met the same fate as Hank did, Olsen noted.
“She died of alcoholism as well, when she was in her 40s and there was a lot of pain, I’m assuming, on her part from being connected to his demons, and that conflict of living and loving that man,” Olsen said.
The film only follows Hank to his premature death in 1953 at age 29, revealing, that, while his career was on the downslide near the end of his life, he still wrote and performed classic pieces of Americana, such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”
“He was so authentic from top to bottom and beginning to end,” Hiddleston observed. “So the heartbreaking tragedy of Hank is, the more he suffered, the better his music was. There may be a part of him that was aware of that. Famously, in trying to appease Audrey, when they moved to Shreveport, he spent 1948 largely sober. He was on time, he was well-mannered, he was professional.
“The suggestion is, he didn’t write any good songs in 1948, and somehow the well dried up,” Hiddleston added. “I don’t subscribe to the belief that the more screwed-up your personal life is, the better your work. I think it’s possible to create great work from a healthy place, but Hank, as the facts say, he wrote some of his best songs when he was in the middle of enormous personal suffering.”
While Hiddleston perfectly embodies Hank in looks in “I Saw the Light,” perhaps more amazing is how he flawlessly sings the country music legend’s songs throughout the film. Hiddleston is humble in any praise he receives for his vocal performances, suggesting that we won’t see him on tour, guitar in hand, anytime soon.
“I’m not going to give up the day job just yet,” Hiddleston said, laughing.
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” (PG-13) 3 stars
Director Zack Snyder creates an exciting template for the long anticipated “Justice League” movie with “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which finally pits DC Comics’ two most iconic superheroes against each other on the big screen. The film picks up 18 months in the aftermath of General Zod’s attack on Metropolis, where, as we find out, involved a personal loss for Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck). Unlike others who look upon Superman (Henry Cavill) as a savior, Wayne perceives the alien from Krypton a threat to humanity, and he devises a plan to suits up as Batman to stop him.
The introduction of other members of the Justice League are sensible, especially the stunning Gal Gadot as Diana Prince and the butt-kicking Wonder Woman. The casting is terrific all around, including the return of Amy Adams as Lois Lane and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, and the introduction of Jeremy Irons as Bruce Wayne’s caretaker, Alfred, and Jesse Eisenberg — who’s great as the sniveling, off-kilter Lex Luthor.
Snyder squeezes a lot of material into the 2 hour, 33 minute frame of “Batman v Superman,” including some huge plot developments that you won’t see coming. It’s not a perfect movie: the ending feels drawn out and the special effects in the third act get to be a bit exhausting, but overall the movie is a rousing, crowd-pleasing experience that’s made for fans and not highbrow critics.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” (PG-13) 3 stars
It’s taken 14 years, but Nia Vardalos and John Corbett are back with another look at the delightfully eccentric Portokalos family in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,” a heartfelt and funny follow-up to the surprise blockbuster original. The story picks up 17 years after the events of the first “Greek Wedding,” where Toula (Vardalos) and Ian (Corbett) are fretting over the decision of where their 17-year-old daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris) will be going to college.
Exhausted already over the day-to-day happenings, Toula’s life becomes even more complicated when a huge family faux pas involving her dad and mom, Gus (Michael Constantine) and Maria (Lainie Kazan), is revealed. The film has several moments of inspired humor, and other moments that feel familiar, but overall, if you loved the first film, you’ll embrace this second invitation to a “Greek Wedding” whole-heartedly.
If you look over Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons’ immense body of work, it shouldn’t take long to realize that no genre is beneath the legendary screen veteran. He’s done it all, from biographical films like the recent Jesse Owens biopic “Race” and of course, “Reversal of Fortune” (which earned him his Best Actor Oscar); to voicing the menacing Scar in the animated Disney film classic “The Lion King” and a role in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the hit video game “Assassin’s Creed.”
Yet for all Irons has accomplished in his four-plus decades in the entertainment business, he’s never done any work in the superhero genre — that is, until he took on the iconic role as Bruce Wayne’s lifelong caretaker, Alfred, in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” The interesting thing, Irons said in a recent phone conversation from London, is that he’s never gone out of his way to see superhero films.
“I haven’t watched a lot of them — maybe only if I ran across them on television. I saw ‘Man of Steel’ and enjoyed that, and saw ‘Batman’ with Jack Nicholson as the Joker,” Irons said. “But having a chance to play in one is quite different, especially since this was multi-layered. The characters (in ‘Batman v Superman’) really have three-dimensional qualities.”
Opening in theaters and on IMAX screens Thursday night, “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” finds two of DC Comics superheroes, Superman (Henry Cavill) and Batman (Ben Affleck) at odds when the Dark Knight fears the Man of Steel man be more of a threat to humanity than a hero as his actions appear to go unchecked. Alfred stands to be the only voice of reason for the tormented Bruce, who is so blinded with rage over Superman that he doesn’t realize another threat is emerging with maniacal industrialist Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg).
Directed by Zack Snyder, and written by Chris Terrio and David Goyer, “Batman v Superman” also stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Laurence Fishburne as Perry White.
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“Batman v Superman” paints a portrait of Alfred who is decidedly different that anything we’ve seen before in live-action form. Much more than a butler and longtime caretaker of the orphaned Bruce, Alfred, as we discover, is an experienced tactician with military skills — which becomes vital in the preparation of Batman’s armory and the operation of his vehicles and weaponry when the Dark Knight faces a formidable threat.
Irons said his take on Alfred was partly informed by an experience he had with a former neighbor of his who happened to be one of the richest men in the world: John Paul Getty. The people working for him may have seemed like they were doing mundane jobs for the billionaire, but looks, as Irons found out, were quite deceiving.
“I remember arriving at his estate with my wife and the gates were opened by two gentlemen, and then I drove and parked by the house, where there was another gentleman who took my car,” Irons recalled. “Then once we went into the foyer, another gentleman took our coats and then there was another, standing with a tray of champagne.”
Later that evening, Irons said he learned that all the employees he encountered were once members of the British SAS: “They were Special Forces, so everybody, from his valet to his gardener, were all people who could turn into a very defensive force if they had to.”
“John Paul Getty, of course, had a bad experience from his children being kidnapped, so I thought, ‘Well, wouldn’t Mr. and Mrs. Wayne do the same thing for Bruce?'” Irons said. “They may call Alfred ‘the butler’ or they may call him ‘the guardian,’ ‘the mechanic’ or whatever. He’s a man who can do all those things, but behind the scenes he has a myriad of talents he could use, depending on the situation. That was very interesting to me. It was a really fascinating quality of the character that I could run with.”
Irons also noted that Alfred is different in this Batman tale because Bruce is in different state of mind than we’ve ever seen him before on the big screen because he’s targeting Superman. Being Bruce’s only voice of reason, Alfred may be the only person who can stop him from making a terrible mistake in facing off against the Man of Steel.
“I think one of the strengths of this movie is that Chris Terrio has written some scenes for Bruce and Alfred where you see Bruce tussling with his conscience and tussling with his morality,” Irons said. “I hope that you can see that these two people have spent a lot of time together over many years and that they’re interdependent in a strange way. Even though Bruce is Batman and the employer, he still needs Alfred’s support.”
Irons said he emerged from “Batman v Superman” a huge fan of Snyder, who was completely graceful under the pressure of his enormous responsibility as the architect of the film.
“I was in awe watching him and just knew how much was in his head. There’s a lot in every director’s head, but when you’re doing a movie of this scale, a director like Zack is carrying a massive weight,” Irons said. “Yet, when he was working with us on set, none of that showed. He was just there for us in that scene we were doing. He would just throw out ideas and jokes, and made me feel very much at ease. That’s important when a movie that’s been rolling four or five months and you come in and do your little bit. It’s a great talent for a director can pull you in and make you feel like you’re the most important person there.”
Original Interviews, Reviews & More By Tim Lammers
