In Theaters: ***** Young Washington (2016)

 This is an excellent movie.  I just got home from the theater.  George Washington (William Franklyn-Miller) should have been killed in the battles with the french and Indians outside of Fort Duquesne.  The movie presents two battles in the area.  The first Washington was a colonel of volunteers, rising in rank rather quickly.  However they were overrun by the french and Indians, and Washington signed a surrender in which he took blame for the death of a French officer.  The second he was an adjutant as he had resigned his commission after the first battle.  However when things started going awry again, it was he who, although he was sick, rode forwarded and rescued many men and extracted a small victory from defeat.  This is when he should have been killed.  Native Americans fired at him but say he was protected so the could not hit him.  Washington returned a third time with a larger force.  The French abandoned Fort Duquesne after the Indians had a abandoned them.  They burned the fort and left.  

Several interesting things happen before this.  The movie starts with the death of Washington's father.  Where he had no father they would not let him attend school.  So his brother, Lawerence (John Foss) educated him (boy Washington played by Will Joseph).  Joseph has high ambitions.  He throws himself towards a young woman, Sally Cary ((Mia Rodgers).  However she ends up with a British aristocrat of the Fairfax family.  However it is Lord Fairfax (Kelsey Grammar) who gives Washington a job as a surveyor.  It is during this job that he observes a French fort, Fort Duquesne, in land claimed by Virginia.  This leads him to report to the governor (Ben Kingsley) and he is given his commission as a captain of volunteers.  In his adventures he recruits his friend, Chris (Leo Hanna).  He is with him on the surveying trip and in his first commission.  However he is killed.  This partly leads to Washington's resigning. 

Very moving look at our founding and I highly recommend this movie.

In Theaters: ****King of Kings (2025)

King of Kings: A Story Told by Charles Dickens.

This is an animated portrayal of the life of Jesus.   It is very appropriate for Easter season.  It is told through the eyes of Charles Dickens, who had written this story for his children.  In this telling it is used as a way for Charles and Walter to come together after Walter behaved poorly at a public telling by DIckens of The Christmas Carol.  Walter is obsessed with King Arthur, so Dickens tells him of the King of Kings.  And shows that Kings do not always need swords.  

This movie does a good job of portraying the life of Jesus.  However inserting Walter and Charles Dickens and the cat into the scenes is sometimes a little obnoxious.

• 

  Pierce Brosnan

  Pontius Pilate

  (voice)
• 

  Oscar Isaac

  Jesus Christ

  (voice)
• 

  Kenneth Branagh

  Charles Dickens

  (voice)
• 

  Uma Thurman

  Catherine Dickens

  (voice)
• 

  Mark Hamill

  King Herod

  (voice)
• 

  Forest Whitaker

  Peter

  (voice)
• 

  Ben Kingsley

  High Priest Caiaphas

  (voice)
• 

  Dee Bradley Baker

  Willa the Cat

  (voice)
• 

  Roman Griffin Davis

  Walter Dickens

  (voice)

Movie Review: ****Operation Finale (2018)

This is a spy thriller which shows the capture and trial of Adolph Eichmann, the person in charge of the transportation arrangements for the Jews during the Holocaust.  Although there was a Jewish Mossad team, this mostly portrays Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) as they work to get Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) to sign a document where he agrees to travel to Israel for trial.  Malkin's girlfriend, Hanna (Melanie Laurent) joins them as a nurse to keep Eichmann drugged when needed.  The plan from El Al has this as a condition to flying him to Israel.  In other words, there plan was going smoothly until they are caught in a snag waiting to get the paper signed so they can go to the airport.  In the meantime they are holed in a safe house while the Nazi sympathizers, with governmental assistance get closer and closer.
Personally I enjoyed the views of Argentina presented including the Obelisco in Buenos Aires.

Movie Review: Oliver Twist (2005)

This movie was directed by Roman Polanski.  This is not the musical, but an Oliver Twist (Barney Clark) with a very different ending than from the musical.  This movie is also more strait forward, without speculation as to Oliver's parentage, but he is taken in all the same by Mr. Brownow (Edward Hardwicke, when Oliver is falsely accused of pick pocketing).  However, Fagin (Ben Kingsley), and Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman) are determined to have Oliver back, based on what he might say; and Sykes uses him to rob his benefactor's home.  However the robbery goes awry.    Nancy (Leanne Rowe) the girlfriend of Bill Sykes has a heart, and feels they should leave the boy alone.  She decides to take things into her own hand.  However this only leads to her own murder.  She and Sykes had a strange relationship based on abuse.  The group take to the country, with the police following them trying to get Sykes.  Again Oliver is chosen as the hostage of Sykes, but still things do not go in Sykes' favor.  In this version Fagin does not get away.

Movie Review: ***^The Jungle Book (2016)

The animated version of the Jungle Book was not my favorite Disney movie.  However this presentation was new and very entertaining.  The story did not follow the book, nor the original Disney totally and the changes were well received.  The action can be very intense.  Shere Khan (Idris Elba) is very mean and ruthless.  Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is not totally helpless.  Although he is encouraged to stifle his human creativity, it is this that saves him in the end.  Balou (Bill Murray) adds a breath of fresh air to a movie that would have been too intense without his addition.  Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) provides the stability and wisdom of many years.  It was Bagheera who found Mowgli, and brought him to the wolves.  It is also Bagheera who advises Mowgli to defeat Shere Khan by fighting like a human.  King Louie (Christopher Walken) is probably the scariest character of all.  He is just so big.  However, when your house comes tumbling down it is not good.  Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) the scary snake has an hypnotic quality, as Johansen does in real life.
This movie was enjoyable.  Tony wanted to go so we took him.  I think he enjoyed himself.

Movie Review: ***Box Trolls (2014)

Boxtrolls.  I think the characters in this film are a little too intense for young children.  The Boxtrolls, even though they are kind, are scary in their way.  However even more intense and scary are those that hunt the Boxtrolls.  However, Tony is eight and he seemed to enjoy this movie.  It is a bit dark, and sometimes, with the accents hard to understand.  It appears to be clay animation.  This type of animation leaves something to be desired in the fluidity of movements.  However this is a good story, and is based on the novel "Here Be Monsters"  by Alan Snow.  Ben Kingsley voices the villain, in a double role as a Boxtroll catcher and as a female singer.  Our young heroes are voiced by Isaac Hempstead Wright and Elle Fanning.

Movie Review: ****Iron Man 3

This is the continuing sage of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), and his suits.  However his love, Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) also plays a much greater part.  Iron make takes on a terrorist who calls himself, "The Mandarin" and has been responsible for explosions around the world, explosions without bomb casings.  Turns out the evil comes from a fellow scientist Iron Man slighted some years previous.  He has developed away to regenerate limbs, but the side effects are explosions; and the recipient has an ability to generate heat.  One of Iron Man's Friends is accidentally infected with this, and is in a coma after he exploded.  Iron Man, in his anger, gives himself as a target, giving his home address.  They visit and blow his residence up, sending Iron Man into escape mode with a damaged suit.  He is helped by a boy, who sees him as Iron Man.  Back on his feet, but without his recovering suit, he tracks the evidence around these strange explosions, which lead him to The Mandarin's (Ben Kingsley) lair, who is not the lead but an actor, the scientist, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) is the bad guy, and has this power to burn people with his limbs.  Iron Man is caught.  His suit is still repairing itself.
They use this power to wrest the suit from Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and use the suit to kidnap the president.  Pepper has also been kidnapped by our villain, and he is converting her into a fire woman.  This process may kill her.  We have a situation where the Iron Man is captured, but needing to save his girlfriend, and the president.  When his suit comes back on line it is no problem.  And we discover that the suit has over a hundred different suits it can call to its assistance.  However, mad scientist fire men are hard to kill.  However girlfriends who have been changed into fire women are hard to kill too.
This movie has plenty of action.  The ending is a bit confusing, and leaves them in a spot where you wonder if there will be any more Iron Man movies.

Marvel Universe

Movie Review: ****^Ender's Game

Any movie with Harrison Ford is going to be good, and this is no exception.  Ford portrays Colonel Hyrum Graf and Ender Wiggin is portrayed by Asa Butterfield.  I read the Ender series some time ago, and this movie captures the essence, but it is impossible for a movie to capture the depth.  Instead of many games in the arena, we see only two, but we do see Ender progress, to where he is given command of the entire fleet, without really knowing it.  Many years earlier the formics invaded earth, and now the humans are making sure it never happens again by attacking them.  Ender thinks he is only doing simulations, and practice for the real battles to come.  The animated computer game plays an intriguing part in the movie, because the Formaks have infiltrated it, and are trying to use it to communicate with Ender, before the end of their species. 

The last battle of the war, sees Ender make the decisions needed to destroy the formic planet.  In doing so he loses many men, and their cruise ships.  It is after the destruction of the planet that Ender realizes he has been used to kill a species.  But maybe he has a second chance, as do the Formak race. 

The relationship between Colonel and Ender is key to this movie.  He drives Ender, and then backs off, manipulating him to get what he wants.  Ender confronts him at the end, and they stand toe-to-toe.  It would be hard to stand up to the Colonel or Harrison Ford for that matter.  Ben Kingsley portrays Mazer Rackham, the hero from the first war, who becomes a tutor to Ender.
I found this review in the Deseret News and thought others might find it interesting
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865590187/The-fatal-flaw-of-the-Enders-Game-movie.html

Movie Review: ****Hugo

Tony and I watched this movie at the theater.  Hugo 2011 is a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and with Ben Kingsley who of course is better known for playing Ghandi.  It features a couple young actors, Asa Butterfield (future Ender Wiggin) and Chloe Grace Moretz, Hugo and Isabelle in the movie.  The story is very intriguing.  It never developed into the all powerful revelation I was expecting, but was surprising in the revelations and conclusions it did make.  The show is more about relationships of the boy with those around him.  He is living in a train station watching the clocks.  This is in fact his Uncle's job, who took him in when his father died.  However his uncle has disappeared.  There is an inspector who likes to grab kids and send them to orphanages.  The boy's father left him an automotron, which together they were trying to repair.  An automotron is essentially a wind up robot.  Tony liked the robot, even though he only moves and works properly once.  This once is enough however to provide the clue that leads to the adventure for Isabelle and Hugo, and in the end changes everyone's life.  This is a feel good movie, which has a happy ending for everyone, even the inspector.  I enjoyed myself, as did Tony.