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Man, I feel for Britt Robertson. She’s played in lots of poorly received films and The Space Between Us is another one. This one is a stinker of a film trying to make a sentimental galaxy spanning love story. It’s pretty saccharine and it doesn’t really come off well. I think the biggest misstep was how the story and the kid was conceived. Totally terrible which shaded the rest of the film if you didn’t know it from the start.

The kid is Asa Butterfield’s kid who was born on Mars. His story was hidden from the entire planet because it would’ve been a scandal. Except that it wasn’t told and the director of the space company, Gary Oldman, treated it like a scandal and resigned soon after leaving the kid to grow up in Mars without his mom and being a hidden figure. He is determined to come back to Earth even though it would kill him. He is determined to meet Tulsa (Robertson) because he fell in love with her from afar.

There’s an escape. He makes it to Earth. He treats it like an alien place. Except Butterfield acts weird. Geeky but smart.

I would love to have liked this movie. It tries, but the last third of the movie, when the big reveal, comes destroys any promise in liking the film. It is hard to sympathize with the people involved – the actors, director, writers. They made the ending and they gambled to throw out the good will of the first 2/3 of the films.

2 of 5 stars.

Hidden Figures highlights the contribution of three African Americans women to the US space race. The film also highlights the roadblocks and prejudice confronting the women. Sometimes it was as straight forward as the suspicion of trouble making as by a police man. Sometimes it was as subtle as assuming they’re not hard workers. Other times it was institutional because they keep the only available bathroom far, far away. The women did overcome this to contribute very much to making NASA meet it goals and explore space.

It’s an uplifting story. Not sure that it was a great film because it seemed to stick too much to the ‘triumph and tragedy’ formula of many biopics. It felt rote in the way that the story checks off plot points for any biography.

3 of 5 stars.

Martin Scorsese’s Silence is about religion in Japan and also about faith in God. How far will one go to preach the Gospel? Are you still holy if you don’t follow the faith faithfully every day of your life?

I’ve been silent on this film for several weeks now since I saw it at the theatre back in January. It is a difficult film to understand. At first, it is a straight story about missionary priests in Japan fighting to bring the Church to a country which is actively hostile to their teachings. Then you wonder why the country is so antithetical to the religion. Is it because of how it brings hope to the lowest in society? Or is it because the Japanese at the time where prejudiced against the West?

It is a film that asks us about our faith but also about our own prejudice. Should we all be so humble in life? And so strong in our faith.

There was a character who kept failing to not renounce Christ — the Japanese doubting Thomas. To avoid persecution, he would deny that he was a believer. Yet, he kept coming back to the faith. Was he faithful or faithless?

The priests who renounced Christ, the ending revealed that maybe he was still a man of Christ. Was he faithful or faithless?

In the end, it is redemption that is available to all of Christ’s children.

3 of 5 stars.

Last week, I downloaded the soundtrack to 20th Century Women. It is a mix of big band, punk, New Wave, and a film score. The punk/New Wave stuff occurred in the late 70s/early 80s just as I was a kid. The film’s sound track made me remember my youth.

20th Century Woman is about a young precocious kid who lives with his carefree mom and her tenants in Santa Barbara of the late 70s. The kid lives his life amongst three women: his mom, a slightly older neighbor girl, and one the punky tenants who has survived ovarian cancer. His mom is in her forties but grew up during the war period. His neighbor is a flibbertigibbet, sleeps around, but always ends up sleeping in the kids bed. The punky tenant is living a life she wants to live. That’s how he becomes such a punk himself. The film is autobiographical take on the director’s life.

I really liked this film. I would’ve given this 5 stars, but I can’t because that rating is for films that are truly awesome. This one isn’t that awesome, but I do think it is one of the best films I’ve seen in several years. Assume that it has a 3/4 stars extra.

4 of 5 stars.