Ad Astra

 Slow burns are sometimes produce the best food for thought. Brad Pitt solidifies his position in acting as one of  the best in the business. He should be nominated for an Academy Award for this film and not Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.  Ad Astra takes aim at the common feeling of being left behind by both loved ones and life. Pitt plays Roy McBride, an astronaut who followed in his father's giant footsteps ind order to make sense of the of the world. He shuts himself down both emotionally and physically, he is divorced and his resting heart rate never goes above 80, even in life or death situations. McBride is tasked with finding his father (Tommy Lee Jones), who left on the Lima project to find intelligent life outside our known galaxy. On the trip McBride must come to grips with the fact that his father left him when he was 8 years old and he may not like what he finds on the Lima station. It is a journey of self discovery, reminiscent of 2001: Space Odyssey with challenges arising throughout that you would expect to have show up later but in a satisfying way, they don't. Donald Sutherland makes a satisfying cameo as a person from McBride Sr. past to aid Roy on his journey. More of this calm, reserved, sparse Sutherland please. Ad Astra looks at how barriers we put up in life to survive actually might be suffocating the very life out of us, begging the question, are you truly still living?Some will find this film boring and pretentious but that is what is often said of out past space epics. Think of Interstellar, Gravity and 2001: Space Odyssey. Ad Astra definitely needs to be considered in with these epics for truly analyzing the human experience by reaching for the stars. 

An easy grade of an A for this fantastic film. The ending really can hit you hard.

Lincoln

4 pipes out of 4

Daniel Day-Lewis tackles one of the most ominous historical figures of all time, Abraham Lincoln, and does so masterfully. He fully deserved the Oscar that he was given and the film itself deserved Best Picture instead of Argo. Day-Lewis humanized Lincoln for the common man after centuries of heroification. He brings out Lincoln’s faults showing us that Lincoln was a normal man pushed into abnormal situations. What was truly amazing about the film is that it focused on the little known aspect of the 13^th amendment freeing all slaves in the United States. Because Lincoln was assassinated before he could sign the amendment it is often thought that he had little to do with it. While Lewis does a wonderful job as Lincoln he is absolutely engulfed with superb supporting actors from Sally Field as Mary Lincoln to Tommy Lee Jones as Senator Thaddeus Stevens with many in between.  The script is both dramatic and witty, relieving tension with a snide remark or long winded story by Lincoln. The movie follows Lincoln in the final months of the Civil War and how he manipulated the Senate as well as the South in order to get the 13^th amendment passed. There are a number of instances that crack the indestructible moral man shell of Lincoln leaving the question did he do the right thing? Do the ends justify the means? Steven Spielberg skillfully directed the cluster of big name actors to get everything out of them, even after some might already be in the moonlight of their careers. Sitting at a whopping 2 ½ hours with only a brief battle in the beginning, it might seem to get a bit lengthy but the history and intrigue draw you in from start to finish.

The Last of the Mohicans

4 pipes out of 4

At first glance The Last of the Mohicans is simply another white take on the Native American story, glorifying the white and keeping the Native American story hidden. Upon closer inspection it helps share both the plight of the Native American while placating the mostly white audience. Daniel Day-Lewis plays a white man who was adopted by a Mohican father after both his parents were murdered at a young age. While Lewis does a masterful job as he always does in his films, it is his Native American father and brother who steal the show. Their portrayal is both honest and heartbreaking, giving the audience a partial view into the Native American colonial life, caught between war and famine, slowly being eradicated. The true relationship to watch in this film is not Day-Lewis’s character Hawkeye and the daughter of a British Colonel Cora (Madeleine Stowe), but the Native American brother Uncas (Eric Schweig) and Cora’s younger sister Alice (Jodhi May). One is obvious that will happen while the other develops slowly and with subtle cues, giving us hope for the future between Whites and Native Americans. If we take our cues from Alice and Uncas then a resolution can be found between these two parties. The film develops around the French and Indian war in the Colonies prior to revolution. There are a number of instances where the film plants the seeds of why the colonies declared independence, for instance the inability to leave their post while their homes and families were burned and murdered. The love relationship between Hawkeye and Cora seemed slightly rushed but the message behind the film and the development of the relationships between the other characters far exceeds it. The development of the villain character Magua (Wes Studi) was extremely well done in that while remaining the villain and not seeing reason, the audience gets a view into what has caused him to become this way. The Magua character demonstrates that there are no clean hands when it comes to the Native Americans be they French, British, Colonists or even Native American.