The Good Liar

Helen Mirren, Ian McKellan
Russell Tovey, Jim Carter

"Read between the Lies"

In this age of online connectivity, lonely senior citizens have also jumped into the bandwagon of online dating. Some apps are developed to cater to people of a certain age who seek romance, companionship or both. Deceitful scams are the common pitfalls of online dating because you have no idea if the person you are chatting with is real. 

Con artist Ron Courtnay's (Ian McKellan) next target is a wealthy widow named Betty (Helen Mirren) whom he met online. After meeting in a restaurant, they hit if off, and start hanging out together. Stephen (Russell Tovey) is Betty's grandson and he often drops in to check on her. While Vincent (Jim Carter) is Ron's 'sidekick' who would often pose as an attorney when they would scam people into investing in ghost projects. But not so innocent Betty has something up her sleeves and we beg to ask the question: Who is conning who? 

In the beginning, we are invested in the two main characters' lives. It had the potential of being a senior citizen love story but it takes on a very different angle. Stephen takes us on an adventure across Germany, revealing Ron's nefarious life of fraud, identify theft, going far back to his youth as a Nazi soldier. Betty is also hiding a painful, sordid past which comes to fore and completely unravels the direction of the film.

Set in London and its suburbs, with flashbacks to a war torn Germany, the pace is a bit slow as it runs for almost 2 hours. The characters deliver their dialogue clearly. The film is based on a novel and sometimes it felt like I was watching a play at the theater. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but we need more to satisfy our short attention span. Unfortunately, this evolves through side plots which sprout like mushrooms towards the ending. So we are still spinning from the revelation and before we know it, the end credits come up. 

Helen Mirren and Ian McKellan, both great thespians can only do so much given the limiting nature of the plot. Yet they still shine, and they are be the only reason to watch "The Good Liar"  Their experience in this film further enhances the notion that it isn't safe to meet someone online, either for dating, for business or for any other purposes. 

P.S.

I did *meet* my hubby online. 12 years and counting, we are still going strong. No deceit, bribery,  nor fraud was involved. I guess we were,  are lucky. =)

Ad Astra

Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones

Donald Sutherland, Ruth Negga

"The Answers we Seek are Just outside our Reach"

Mysterious power surges wreak havoc on earth so the powers that be summon Astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) to go on a top secret mission to Neptune. Apparently, 30 years ago an exploration (looking for other AI) mission called the Lima Project headed by Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones), yes Roy's father - vanished and everyone in the main ship are believed to be dead.

Roy must maintain the secrecy of his mission. He must also find out if the Lima Project ship is causing the power surges, accept that the crew might still be alive. A stoic yet fearless Roy must prepare himself both physically and most especially mentally - just in case he comes face to face with his missing father. 30 years have passed since Clifford left for Neptune. Space.com, the space agency hailed him a hero, even as they covered up the real intention (to discover other forms of life) of the Lima Project.

Roy's innermost thoughts are expressed in a voice over which is consistent through out the entire movie. Among his suppressed feelings are muted scenes of his married life (suggesting a failed marriage)  as well as his profound longing for his dad. A man built up as a hero yet was mostly an absent and distant parent.

The sci fi scenes are clearly impressive. Hollywood's version and vision of Mars as being a dangerous place with pirates attacking and pilfering from astronauts is very surreal and dare I say, realistic. Commercialism also invading the red planet with booths selling t-shirts and soft drinks. Cinematography is brilliant with wide shots of outer space, the rotating on its axis earth as seen from Mars, and  the desert and menacing vibe of Mars. 

A scene which really touched me is when Clifford tells Roy that he never wanted to be a father and abandoning his family for the Lima Project mission was the best thing he ever did in his life. Heartbreaking and cruel yet it was exactly what the young McBride truly needed to hear. Roy could finally escape from his spiraling out of control, orbit less trajectory of a life. In the end, he was able to move on. Be the best version of himself. Now that is what I call, closure. 

For the simple reason that Quentin Tarantino's films don't interest me at all, I could not bring myself to watch Brad Pitt in his award winning role in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Maybe, some other time when nothing else interests me. Highly doubtful. Heh!
But Brad Pitt does relatively well in this slow burn science fiction adventure. His reflective contemplation about meeting his father again, of idolizing him only to be washed with disappointment and contempt when he learns the painful truth bring out a soulful performance from the actor. 

"Ad Astra" unfolds like a therapeutic encounter which persuades humanity to be more expressive instead of keeping it all inside. Why do we spend too much time, effort and money searching for other forms of intelligence? When right here on planet Earth we are becoming more distant from each other. Point taken!