Review: The Homesman (2014)

* * 1/2
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: Hilary Swank, Tommy Lee Jones

I can't recall the last movie I saw which left me with as many mixed feelings as Tommy Lee Jones' The Homesman. The film is beautiful to look at but emotionally inert. Well-acted but anchored by characters who never really feel consistent. It seems to want to stand as a statement about the emotional and psychological hardships faced by women in the most masculine of settings - the frontier - but tries to accomplish this through female characters marginalized by society and, ultimately, by a story which leaves the final word and the last act to its central male character, who makes a sudden turn to become an avenging angel of feminine honor. I've sat with this film now for three days and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it and its bizarre point-of-view.

Review: Hope Springs (2012)

* * *
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell

There are a few things which, as a rule, Hollywood movies don't do. One is to centre a narrative on older characters and another is to deal frankly with issues of sex. Hope Springs does both and, while it isn't in any way a "risky" or groundbreaking movie, there is a kind of unflinching honesty to it that is rarely found in mainstream fare. It's far from perfect (and maybe wraps things up just a touch too easily) but there is a lot of value to the piece, including but not limited to the great performances by its two leads.

Review: Lincoln (2012)

* * * 1/2
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field

A film like Lincoln inevitably ends up being caught in a Catch-22. On the one hand, a story this important and compelling must be told. On the other, it's impossible to tell it without it having that aura of the "Important Story," which makes it feel like the kind of movie you see because it's "good for you," the cinematic equivalent of brussel sprouts. Lincoln is an "Important Story" - it just is, there's no fighting that - but it is told with a minimum of period piece fussiness and it takes material that might otherwise be dry and makes it engaging and even entertaining. Lincoln is a movie that is good for you, but it is also a good movie.

Review: The Company Men (2010)

* * * 1/2
Director: John Wells
Starring: Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Chris Cooper

There are casualties in every Oscar season, films that fly too far under the radar and just generally have bad timing. If the release of John Wells' The Company Men had been handled differently, if it had been given time to find an audience and develop some momentum, it probably would have secured a nomination or two. Coming a year after the similarly themed, and much more tightly focused, Up In The Air it probably wouldn't have cracked the Best Picture lineup, but its individual elements could have garnered some much deserved attention.