Movie Reviews - The Greatest Game Ever Played, Margin Call, Winter's Bone

The real Francis Ouimet and Eddy Lowery

The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) - So this is either a movie that has a lot going for it (a rags to riches story, the poor boy rising up to challenge the rich and powerful) or has a lot to fight against (it's a golf movie about an event most people have never heard of 100 years ago).  In the end what it has to struggle the hardest to overcome is somebody's lack of belief in the story.

It's the story of the legendary 1913 U.S. Open Golf Championship.  Harry Varden is the visiting English champion and the greatest player of his day.  To everyone's utter surprise a local boy, Francis Ouimet, plays himself into a tie with Varden and one other golfer (Ted Ray who like Varden was from the British Crown Dependency of Jersey) at the end of regulation.  Ouimet was a 20 year old amateur and a former caddy at the course where the Championship was being played that year.  Adding a unique twist to it all was Ouimet's caddy, a fifth grade boy barely taller than the bag he carried.  Golf was a "gentleman's game" back then and none of the three were anything of the sort.  The final 18 hole playoff is one of the legendary rounds of golf history.

Sadly either Director Bill Paxton or screenwriter Mark Frost don't seem to trust the story.  My bet is that it was Paxton (Frost wrote the book that the movie was based on).  In a movie about a simpler time and place the effect heavy opening credits strike me as grossly out of place.  Periodically during the rest of the movie we get odd flashbacks and strangely placed effects.  Ouimet's story in real life is one of the most astounding in the annals of the sport.  The 1913 Open was a stunning event (in which the actual end of the tournament was not close) that should have provided all the story telling "juice" needed.  But Paxton's work here is heavy handed and virtually tone deaf.  There's a romance story line that never gets developed, the caddy's story gets treated like comic relief (in real life Ouimet and Eddy

For the million of amateur players like me this is the event that opened the game for us.  Ouimet became the premier amateur player in America (until Bobby Jones came along).  We should all know the name of the man who led the way.  If you're a golf history afficionado this is worth a look.  Otherwise...

Rating - ** Not Impressed

Margin Call - (2011) Remember 2008?  When the worst stock market crash of most our lifetimes took place, the bottom fell out of the market and lots of us lost lots of money?  (My wife made me stop watching the news because what was happening to my very small investment portfolio was making me beyond crazy). This is a movie about why that happened.

A Wall Street firm is making a bundle by taking all kinds of mortgages, lumping them together and then selling them as a new commodity.  The problem is that as the value of the mortgages fell the books got way, way, way out of balance.  The folks in the know at the top f the company did whatever they could to save themselves at any cost.  It's a story of venality, greed and and capitalism without heart or ethical direction.

So it's a real cheerful movie.

The good news is that it's a solid story, nicely directed and with an absolutely grade A cast.  Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Demi Moore, Simon Baker and Paul Bettany.  You give these actors a shot at a story this good and you'll get something well worth watching.

The problem is that it's still a depressing, depressing story.  And one that will probably make you sick to your stomach by the end.

Rating - *** Worth A Look  (the cast deserves ****)

Winter's Bone (2010) - This is one of just a couple movies nominated for Best Picture last year that I hadn't seen yet.  In fact I don't even remember even hearing of it.  It is a stark and unflinching look at life in the part of modern America most of us try to never think about.

 Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrenc,e who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) is a 17 year old Ozark girl forced to care for her two small siblings and her mentally ill mother.  Her father is a meth cook who has disappeared leaving their house as collateral for his bail.  When he doesn't show up for his hearing Ree and her family face eviction.  Ree will do whatever it takes to keep her family together but the options are few and dangerous.  That includes an alliance with her uncle Teardrop (John Hawkes who earned an Oscar nomination for the role) who is one of the most dangerous men in that part of the country.

This is not a movie for the faint of heart.  Life is hard in this part of the world and it makes for hard people living hard lives.  Methamphetamine is a plague throughout the poorest regions of our country. It is slowly destroying families and ways of life.  In a world where choices are few too often many of them are bad.

Compelling, horrifying yet uplifting at the same time.  This is a truly amazing movie and launched Lawrence onto the movie world's radar.  There is a strong premonition of her role in "Hunger Games" here as well.  This is not a movie like all the others you'll see.  It's the kind of movie that leaves me searching for words to describe and finding myself just landing on "Wow".  I'll leave it there.

Rating  **** Recommended