MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (2016) – My rating: 8/10

Manchester by the Sea is an intense movie but not for some time. You will sit though some pretty boring dialogue before you get to the real gist of what’s going on. I kept wondering, why all the rave reviews? Eventually, there came a time in the story when the events changed and as a result, everything else was effected, including my thoughts about how mundane I thought Manchester by the Sea was.  It turned out to be a monster of a movie with brilliant acting, just don’t expect more than a good, sad story.

From the onset of Manchester by the Sea, you see Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), who seems to have an extremely lax attitude, working as a super or janitor with no satisfaction as he idly moves from task to task.  He seems robotic, unambitious, uncaring and unmotivated as if life has little meaning.  Suddenly, he gets a phone call that requires him to go back to his original home in  Manchester where his brother, Joe Chandler (Kyle Chandler) has just passed away, unexpectedly.  Once there, we get the true story of Lee’s current situation.  His late brother has a 16 year old son, Patrick Chandler (Lucas Hedges)  who is still in high school and is now in need of a guardian.  Lee struggles with having to take on the responsibility of guardianship.  The reasons for Lee’s behavior and lackluster existence is the heart of the story, Manchester by the Sea. We find that Lee had real roots in Manchester that he could never go back to.  In order not to spoil the surprises, twist and turns in this story, I will say no more.

I find Manchester by the Sea to be a very sad story but one that is profound, touching and heartfelt.  It is definitely worth seeing.  Casey Affleck was brilliant as Lee Chandler.  Michelle Williams also delivers a fantastic performance as Randi Chandler.  Check it out!

[Manchester by the Sea is nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor,  Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Writing: Original Screenplay]

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THE FINEST HOURS (2016) – My rating: 8/10

The Finest Hours is the first movie released in 2016 that I’ve reviewed. It is also one of many new movies  based on a true story, which I found to be pretty good. If you enjoyed “The Perfect Storm”, then chances are, you’ll also like “The Finest Hours”. Handsome Chris Pine plays Bernard “Bernie” Webber, who falls in love with Miriam Pentinen Webber (Holliday Grainger).  Bernie is a crewman at the Coast Guard station in Chatham, MA on Cape Cod.  The new Chief Warrant Officer, Daniel Cluff (Eric Bana) is new to the station and is making questionable decisions.  After learning that an oil tanker was split in half somewhere off the Chatham coast, as a result of the current nor’ easter, Daniel sends Bernie and his crew out on a suicide mission to rescue the damaged oil tanker (SS Pendleton). After picking his crew, Engineman Third Class: Andrew Fitzgerald (Kyle Gallner), Seaman: Ervin Maske (John Magaro) and Seaman: Richard P. Livesey (Ben Foster), they head off into one of the worse storms they’ve encountered as a rescue team.  Adding to an already bad situation, Bernie’s lifeboat (CG 36500) was not adequate to make it over the bar in the current storm or large enough to rescue the oil tanker.

The Finest Hours is an emotional thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat with tears rolling with the waves and a new respect for the coast guard.  The year was 1952 and technology was not what it is today.  On the way to the rescue, the CG 36500 lost it’s compass, making it almost impossible to find anything.  I loved the way the movie was filmed, showing the problems on each side of the rescue, simultaneously.  Many of the scenes focused on Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) who was so devoted to the SS Pendleton, he was able to keep it afloat despite one half of the ship was missing.  There are many lessons to be learned, both on land and at sea.  Of course there were a lot more problems than mentioned in this review but as usual, I don’t want to spoil the movie by telling all.  I recommend The Finest Hours and think you’ll enjoy it whether you elect to see it in 3D or 2D/standard format.  BTW:  The real Bernie Webber and his crew received the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their rescue efforts, which was a great honor.

 

OUT OF THE FURNACE (2013) – My rating 7/10

The best thing I can say about Out of the Furnace is Woody Harrelson who played notorious Harlan DeGroat, a drug addicted gangster who ruled in the Appellation Mountains and Christain Bale who played Russell Baze, a steel worker that’s down on his luck.  Their performances were outstanding.  Other than that, it was pretty much down hill.  This movie was oh so slow — even the music seemed slow except at the end when Pearl Jam’s “Release” permeated the screen.  There were no happy endings and no real message that I could determine.  The story takes place in North Braddock, Pennsylvania’s  steel mill  country and in the Ramapo Mountains of New Jersey.   The plot is basically about Casey Affleck’s character, Rodney Baze (Russell’s brother) who goes missing after he agrees to take a dive in DeGroat’s bare knuckle fighting event to even a debt between Willem Defoe, who plays Bookie, John Petty, himself and DeGroat.  Russell who lost his woman (Zoe Saldana) to Chief Wesley Barnes, played by Forest Whitaker, decided to go rogue while looking into Rodney’s disappearance.  This movie presented many questions for which I didn’t get many answers.  In fact, I had to read up on Out of the Furnace to find the truth.  I recommend Out of the Furnace on DVD if you have some time to kill, it’s interesting at best!

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THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS THAT PRETTY MUCH TELLS THE WHOLE MOVIE — IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW, STOP HERE — DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!
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Scene:  One night, Russell slams into a car backing out of a concealed driveway.  The camera zooms in on what appears to be the lower, lifeless half of a child’s body.  We know Russell had at least one drink before starting his journey home.

Question: Why is Russell in Prison?

Answer:  The child and the driver died in the car crash and Russell was arrested for a DWI.

 

Scene:  The movie opens with Russell and Lena (Zoe Saldana) in a loving relationship, playfully laughing and tossing around in their bed.

Question:  Why hasn’t Lena been to see Russell in prison considering how much she loved him?

Answer:  She left him for Chief Wesley Barnes.  One can only assume she thought this would be a more stable life — she also is pregnant by Barnes.

 

Scene:  John Petty reiterates the deal between  himself and DeGroat — (Rodney takes a dive which evens any debt between DeGroat and Petty).  DeGroat reluctantly agrees.

Question:  Why did DeGroat kill Petty and Rodney after the fight?

Answer:  You have to guess at this one because it’s not clear — I think he may have felt threatened by Rodney’s fighting skills.

 

Scene:  Russell larges two bullets in DeGroat.  While limping away, Russell makes a final shot from about 60+ feet away from DeGroat.  DeGroat falls.  We see no movement.  Chief Barnes is standing behind Russell shouting “don’t do it”, “put the gun down”, “let me make this right”.

Question:  Is DeGroat dead?

Answer:  Yes!

 

Scene:  The last scene shows Russell sitting in his dining room reflecting.

Question:  Did the chief not arrest Russell for murder?

Answer:  No he did not!

 

I was able to find out these answers via research, not the movie!