papacorn

"The Light Between Oceans" slowly comes off the spindle like thread. It's a story that takes patience. The setting off the coast of Australia, a lighthouse, is stark, austere, and lonely. The main characters try to make a life there. The cinematography sets the emotional tone like a faded photo. A couple brought together by a strange fate go sailing off to begin their married life on a small island as keepers of the light. Fate continues to insert itself into their lives. How they deal with it becomes the crux of the movie. Will a heart wrenching dilemma unite them or tear them apart? Who is the woman who plays a big role in this? Sometimes it's easy to see someone as bloodless and not capable of warmth and emotion. As the story unfolds the young husband's heart becomes exposed and we see his real self. Fassbender and Vikander, at first, seem an illogical match. Eventually the logic of this pairing shows itself. It's not a thriller, but a thought provoking journey that evokes the wisdom of Solomon.

I've enjoyed this series and wouldn't have missed this one. It didn't disappoint me. I think the actors did a fine job of handling the gap in years and picking up the story and going with it. Other series that have been filmed years apart can be jolting, like something is "off." Bridget is still leading the kind of life and living in the same kind of surroundings as when we last saw her. It flows out of the past and into the present. The scenario of her old flame, Colin Firth, having made his own way, is believable. As art imitates life, so goes "Bridget Jones's Baby." It's a brave new world where old norms can unwittingly get trampled. People adjust and learn to deal with it. Renee is Bridget. The part fits her like the casting director had psychic power. It brought me in to see her just as I'd be delighted to see an old friend again.

Going into this I was a skeptic. How do you make a movie about something that was in the news for days and days? Something that everyone feels they could repeat from start to finish due to all the exposure? And how would you hold people's interest when we all know how it ends and possibly all the details? This movie accomplished all in a mesmerizing, edge-of-the-seat delivery. I didn't go with enthusiasm but because my husband wanted to see it. "Sully" uses flashbacks as a person does when mulling over something from the past. The pilot examines what happened, what he and his co-pilot did, and raises the question as to whether anything was missed. I can't criticize the way "Sully" was staged but find it close to flawless. It was as close to the actual experience as one can get. Even the scene involving the NTSB, something that might come off as dull, was not. You know this movie is moving toward a frightening, inevitable, event. This kind of thing anyone who flies, openly, or secretly, fears. There was something a little cathartic in taking the dive from the sky. I can't say whether everyone would feel that way but it satisfied my curiosity. I wasn't there but...close enough! Tom Hanks and his co-pilot, Aaron Eckhart, bring this story to life again in the best way. It also made me aware of how much experience plus instinct the real Sully had, and used, to bring about a happy ending.