18 - Oblivion (2013)

I should begin with the caveat that I generally avoid all Tom Cruise films. The blending of his personal life and film career has put me off. The trailer for Oblivion intrigued me and I was soothed by the fact that Morgan Freeman was in the film.

Based on an unpublished graphic novel, the film focuses on a post planetary-war world some 40 years after the human race has been sent off to a new life on Titan. The final two human beings have been left to oversee the final mining of the earth's resources. The two have had their memories wiped clean, but look forward to leaving earth and joining the surviving humans in a couple of days.

Jack (Cruise) dreams of images of an earth he can't explain from before the war. He and his partner talk about their memories having been wiped so they can function as the final survivors of mankind on earth. His job is to provide maintenance for the droids which kill any remaining life forms. As Jack investigates a remaining building, he discovers a library and is drawn to the world the books describe. We recognize the rubble among the unfamiliar terrain as being New York City. Jack's encounters suggest that there may be other remants of the human race left. Unbeknownst to his partner, Jack has a small cabin near a lake all set up with his books and it becomes his refuge when he want to recapture his memories of earth.

From the remains of the Empire State building, Jack realizes a beacon impulse is being sent into space. When an earth-made rocket ship crashes on earth, he saves the only survivor from the droids which kill all other survivors. Later he recognizes the survivor as the woman he has been remembering ...his wife, thus creating jealousy of the partner as she sees Jack's affections recentered.

Later as Jack and his wife find other humans living in the seeming rubble of the earth, Jack also discovers the world he knows may not be at all the world that really exists. The film poses many intriguing questions: What makes us who we are? Do memories define us? If we could duplicate people, what happens to the concept of self.

What more can be said about a film that references the Lays of Ancient Rome and A Tale of Cities. Filled with high energy action and many special effects, I found myself totally caught up in the story and highly satisfied with the ending and the questions the film poses.

Oblivion (2013) ****

104 - The Magic of Belle Isle (2012)

At 74, Morgan Freeman automatically brings a lot of gravitas to the roles he plays. The qualities he seems to personify include intellect, wisdom, humor. One thing Freeman generally doesn't get to play is a romantic lead.

In The Magic of Belle Isle, as Monty Wildhorn, Freeman has to stretch our credibility while playing an alcoholic irascible wheel-chair-bound author of American westerns. We know from his other roles that he has a soft chocolate center inside his hard shell and know that by the end of the film he (and we) will find it.

Monty, a depressed widower, has given up writing when he moves to a summer home by a lake in upstate New York beside divorced pretty blonde mother of three, Charlotte O’Neill (Virginia Madsen). Charlotte’s daughters seem are stereotypical: Willow, the pouty teen; Finn, a precocious 9-year-old who wants to learn to tell stories, and Flora, the youngest sister who still loves to be read to by her mother. 

Having given you the situation, I’m pretty sure you can see where this gentle movie is heading: Monty becomes the loving, caring person we know he is. Charlotte finds in him the caring companion she seeks. Willow finally sees life through her mother’s eyes and reaches out to her. Tomboy Finn learns to see things that aren’t there and create the stories with the imagination she doesn’t know she has. Flora finds a father figure who actually cares about her. 

The playwrights (Guy Thomas, Rob Reiner, and Andrew Scheinman) seem to really like their characters, and as we would expect, the town (and film) are filled with characters that we can learn to appreciate. Although the situations are pretty predictable, we can leisurely enjoy the character studies director Reiner presents. [Spoiler Alert] The surprise of the film is the romance that develops between Freeman and Madsen, moreso because of the age differences than the racial differences. The two have enough charisma that we care about them and their future. In that way, the ending becomes a surprise because it allows us to have the romantic ending we think should be but which more “realistic” directors might disdain. 

I really enjoyed the film and the various characters. As Finn, Emma Fuhrmann gives a charming performance. The interaction between her and Freeman is one of the fun things about the production. Once again by the end, however, it is Freeman I came to see... and once again he shows himself one of our Living National Treasures.

The Magic of Belle Isle (2012) ****