Morbius / ** (PG-13)

 

Dr. Michael Morbius: Jared Leto

Milo: Matt Smith

Martine Bancroft: Adria Arjona

Dr. Emil Nicholas: Jared Harris

Agent Simon Stroud: Tyrese Gibson

Agent Rodriguez: Al Madrigal

Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present a film directed by Daniel Espinosa. Written by Matt Sazama & Burt Sharples. Based on the Marvel Comics character. Running time: 104 min. Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of violence, some frightening images, and brief strong language).

Sony finally gets around to expanding its Marvel Comics based universe of characters following its long running Spider-Man franchise and the more recent Venom pair of movies. Thanks, Covid! Like Venom, Morbius concentrates on more of an anti-hero than the wholesome character of Peter Parker in the Spider suit. Morbius, in plain pop culture speak, is a vampire. Like all vampire films, Morbius is often a dank, dark exercise in straining to see what is happening in the blackness. Like most superhero movies, it is also an origin story filled with CGI creativeness and excess, and all too often sloppiness that adds to the dank, dark, difficult to see action. 

We are introduced to Dr. Michael Morbius, played by Jared Leto, as an adult in an under-explained opening sequence in which he is taken to a remote cave in Costa Rica to trap a rare species of bat. His treatment of the crew of men he’s paid to bring him here is reckless to say the least. Then we are flashed back to his childhood to discover that he was born with a rare blood disease that requires him to “get an oil change” three times a day. We also meet another boy with the same disease whom Michael befriends and renames Milo. The explanation for this renaming is thin and obviously designed to divert the audience’s attention from the true identity of Milo. Considering this would only be understood by the few movie goers that are fans of the comic book character along with the fact that Milo’s real name is used when he’s introduced, this seems like a magician trying to convince you this isn’t a trick even though the cards already fell out of his sleeve. We also meet Michael’s mentor Dr. Emil Nicholas, played by Jared Harris in a bit of casting misdirection.

Back in the present, Dr. Morbius’s partner, Martine Bancroft, discovers that Michael is illegally experimenting with the bats in developing a cure for his blood disorder. Rather than firmly questioning the morality of his actions as she first suggests, Martine is quite supportive of Michael’s experiments. She joins him on a cargo ship in international waters to administer the potential cure to him. The credits fail to respect Martine with a doctor title despite the fact that she insists upon it when challenged by men with guns. Although Martine is underwritten as a love interest, Adria Arjorna is a competent and compelling choice for the role. 

Needless to say, the cure doesn’t work quite as intended. Although it does appear to at least temporarily cure the disease, its side effects are vampirism. Most of the side effects seem beneficial to our hero–increased strength and agility, augmented echolocation hearing, and even a form of flight. It’s just that pesky need to feed on human blood that is problematic. Luckily, Morbius’s previous scientific contribution to humanity was a synthetic blood that is a milky blue color for some reason. Unfortunately, this blue blood provides diminishing returns for the good doctor. Also unfortunate for the doctor is how a shipful of dead mercenaries washed up on the city shore draws the attention of two FBI agents. Also, Milo’s desire for a cure is so strong that he ignores Mobius’s warning that the cure is also a curse. Soon people are being exsanguinated all over the city. Look it up. The writers did.

Now, if it seems I’m being hard on the movie, it isn’t all bad. Most of my issues are aesthetically based, rather than structural. Unlike what so many jokesters on the internet have suggested, Jared Leto’s presence in the leading role is anchoring rather than disruptive. He carries the weight of the role properly, even when the screenwriters insist on putting out-of-character one-liners in his mouth. The plot and design of the characters and production are also sound, providing an intriguing origin to a complicated character without over-complicating it. 

Matt Smith, as Milo, can be a bit much at times. Unfortunately, Smith seems a little more willing to give into some of the writers’ and director’s worst instincts, especially in a scene where he dances while dressing for an evening out with his newfound muscles and powers. It’s the action sequences that are the most problematic, however. The editing is too quick and the scenes are so dimly lit that their murkiness is indecipherable to human eyes. Vampires might be able to see in the dark, but I can’t.

I’d hardly call this the worst comic book adaptation I’d ever seen, but it doesn’t live up to the more nuanced standards that Marvel has built an interlocked universe out of over at Disney. I welcome some of the simplicity of storytelling here that has all but been expelled from superhero movies these days. The movie does dip its toes into the Disney formula in its final moments, however. Thanks primarily to a surprise cameo, these are the best scenes of the movie. I wonder, though, if the MCU has spoiled us on the more straightforward storytelling of classic action/fantasy movies. Morbius isn’t the best of what comic book filmmaking has become and perhaps the old ways just can’t succeed anymore. It’d be nice if they could.

Critic’s Note: Actually, the less complex style of plotting that once served all of our spectacle needs is successfully on display in the second Venom movie, Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). In it the filmmakers embrace Tom Hardy’s unique characterization from the first movie and throw out most of the newer tricks of universe referencing and twist endings that make you reevaluate all you’ve seen. Well, if you don’t count the credit cookies, it does.

Horror Thoughts ‘15—Manhunter (1986) ****

R, 124 min. (director's cut)

Director: Michael Mann

Writers: Michael Mann, Thomas Harris (novel “Red Dragon”)

Starring: William Petersen, Denis Farina, Tom Noonan, Kim Griest, Joan Allen, Brian Cox, Stephen Lang, David Seaman, Benjamin Hendrickson

So, the best show to get canceled from television this year was “Hannibal”, which remarkably made it through three very dark and twisted seasons. Of all things Hannibal Lecter related, it is by far my favorite. But, Lecter has certainly made an impression before. In celebration of those three wonderful seasons, I decided to watch all five of the Hannibal franchise films for Horrorfest.

The police procedural aspect of most of these films generally places them outside of the horror genre in my mind, yet Hannibal Lecter is one of the greatest movie monsters ever created. So I wanted to look at them from a horror mindset. Certainly the television show is rooted solidly in horror, yet its creator, Bryan Fuller, intended to keep references to the novel storylines throughout the series. So, how much of that horror do the movie versions of these stories contain?

“Manhunter”, the first adaptation of Thomas Harris’s novel “Red Dragon” and first movie appearance of Hannibal Lector, retains the least amount of horror movie aspects of the bunch. Directed by Michael Mann in full 80’s gear, it retains the crisp “Miami Vice” feel to his imagery. Note that in this vision, the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane is depicted with entirely white walls and features. No colors of any kind. This is, of course, how Mann envisions the clinical, completely sanitized. It is 180 degrees removed from the grimy, dungeon-like depictions of the institution in “The Silence of the Lambs” and the later adaptation of the same story.

Horror Thoughts ‘15—Maximum Overdrive (1986) *

R, 97 min.

Director/Writer: Stephen King (also short story “Trucks”)

Starring: Emilio Esteves, Pat Hingle, Laura Harrington, Yeardley Smith, John Short, Ellen McElduff, J.C. Quinn, Christopher Murney, Holter Graham, Frankie Faison, Pat Miller, Jack Canon, Barry Bell, John Brasington, J. Don Ferguson, Leon Rippy, Bob Gooden, Giancarlo Esposito, Stephen King

It is well past time I began posting for this year’s Horrorfest, which I began over two weeks ago and already includes five titles (posts for each coming soon?). Anyway, I started this year’s Horrorfest off with a fizzle, for a change. I usually try to kick off each Horrorfest with one of the year’s better horror flicks. This year I said, “Screw that!” I literally did. I said, “Screw that. I’m going to kick this year’s festivities with a piece of crap.” And, there are few horror flicks that are as big a piece of crap as Stephen King’s directorial debut—and luckily only feature length directorial effort—“Maximum Overdrive”.

Mad Max: Fury Road / **** (R)

Max Rockatansky: Tom Hardy

Imperator Furiosa: Charlize Theron

Nux: Nicholas Hoult

Immortan Joe: Hugh Keays-Byrne

Slit: Josh Helman

Rictus Erectus: Nathan Jones

Toast the Knowing: Zoë Kravitz

The Splendid Angharad: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a film directed by George Miller. Written by Miller and Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris. Running time: 120 min. Rated R (for intense sequences of violence throughout, and for disturbing images).

They say it is a fine line between genius and madness. When I was in college, we had a professor that might’ve proved this adage. He was a brilliant teacher and director known for sometimes spectacular behavior to get what he wanted out of his casts. As a teacher he loved to ask his students each Monday which movies we had wasted our money that weekend. He chortled at the latest “artistic” cinema we’d consumed as some sort of deep commentary on society, but… get him talking about George Miller’s post-apocalyptic adventure “The Road Warrior” and you’d hear him extemporize about the genius of modern cinema.

Ebert Thoughts ‘15—The Motel Life (2012) ***½

R, 85 min.

Directors: Alan Polsky, Gabriel Polsky

Writers: Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Willy Vlautin (novel)

Starring: Emile Hirsch, Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Joshua Leonard, Noah Harpster, Kris Kristofferson

Saturday is always the most surreal day of Ebertfest. I don’t know why. I wonder if they try to program the films in a way to produce an eerie sense of being adrift. It’s not a criticism. It just always seems that Saturday is the “lost” day of the festival, with characters trying to find their way through the morass of life. Saturday is the longest day of films and the atmosphere created by them makes it a sort of wonderful cinematic experience.

This year’s Saturday schedule included the films “Wild Tales”, “Ida”, “The Motel Life” and  “99 Homes”. I watched two of these this year and both have a distinct feel of despair about them. The first was “Ida”, with its black and white cinematography and somber subject matter; it certainly played into that atmosphere I described. “The Motel Life” is another strong fit for the Saturday feel.

Ebert Thoughts ‘15—Moving Midway (2007) ****

UR, 95 min.

Director/Writer: Godfrey Cheshire

Featuring: Charles Silver, Robert Hinton, Godfrey Cheshire, Dena Silver, Abraham Hinton

“Moving Midway” is exactly the type of movie that makes Ebertfest the unique cinematic experience that it is. Sure, Ebertfest screens movies with big name stars. They program incredible auteur works. But you’ll also find these little surprises here. “Moving Midway” is one of those rare masterpieces that becomes so through heart and passion that shines through without the flash and flare of budgets and known commodities. These cinematic treasures often come in the form of a documentary. This year, it is “Moving Midway” that wows and moves me with its simple premise that informs one of the most compelling and ambitious films of this year’s festival.

Penny Thoughts ‘15—Moneyball (2011) ****

PG-13, 133 min.

Director: Bennett Miller

Writers: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin, Michael Lewis (book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game”)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, Stephen Bishop, Reed Diamond, Brent Jennings, Ken Medlock, Tammy Blanchard, Jack McGee, Vyto Ruginis, Nick Searcy, Glenn Morshower, Casey Bond, Nick Porrazzo, Kerris Dorsey, Arliss Howard, Reed Thompson, Spike Jonze

The 2015 regular season of Major League Baseball began today. There was a time when I never would’ve known it was the first day of baseball. I wish I still did not. I hate baseball. I hated it when I played it as a child. My parents made me play. Despite my hatred of it, that was probably the right thing for them to do. It did help build my character. They only made me play for so long and once I was a certain age they let me decide. The last year I played was the first year my age group did our own pitching; and the coach wisely chose me to be a pitcher. For the first time ever I actually enjoyed playing the game. No more left field. But sure enough, when I had a choice the next year, I didn’t even flinch when my parents asked if I wanted to play again. Nope! I was done with baseball.

A Million Ways To Die in the West (2014) **

Albert: Seth McFarlane

Anna: Charlize Theron

Louise: Amanda Seyfried

Clinch: Liam Neeson

Edward: Giovanni Ribisi

Foy: Neil Patrick Harris

Ruth: Sarah Silverman

Universal Pictures presents a film directed by Seth McFarlane. Written by McFarlane & Alec Sulkin & Wellesley Wild. Running time: 116 min. Rated R (for strong crude and sexual content, language throughout, some violence and drug material).

I read a misguided article about acting recently that took the stance that many Oscar nominated performances thought to be great were somehow holding back and playing it safe. A much wiser friend of mine, and excellent actor in his own right, debunked this fool’s theories with a simple truth about the art of acting. He essentially said that what is required for a good performance is that the performer find some sort of truth in the material. This is really the case with all art. Including the entire effort of a film. Even good slapstick comedy is anchored in truth.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Me and My Moulton (2014) ****

NR, 14 min.

Director/Writer: Torill Kove

Narrator: Andrea Bræn Hovig

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences narrowed its list of possible nominees for Best Animated Short Film to 10 about a month ago. This category that is usually a key to winning the Oscar pool. The reason is that it is often difficult for the general public to see the nominees before the awards ceremony without going to a special art house screening of all the nominees.

Mike Nichols (1931-2014)

If someone were to create a cineaste major for higher education (which may have been done), the introductory courses would most certainly contain a few movies from Mike Nichols. The renowned director redefined cinema with movies like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966), “The Graduate” (1967)—for which he won his Best Direction Oscar—and “Carnal Knowledge” (1971). In fact, Nichols’s films would populate every level of such an education trajectory.

He dabbled in nearly every genre, including broad comedy “The Birdcage” (1996), tragedy “Silkwood” (1983) and “Wit” (2001), political satire “Primary Colors” (1998) and “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007), war “Catch-22” (1970), science fiction “The Day of the Dolphin” (1973), confidence “The Fortune” (1975), horror “Wolf” (1994), heart-wrenching drama “Regarding Henry” (1986), satirical melodrama “Postcards from the Edge” (1990), farce “What Planet Are You From?” (2000) and even stand-up/sketch comedy “Gilda Live” (1980). He helped lead the cinematic feminist movement by directing the female-led, Oscar-nominated “Working Girl” (1988). He directed a couple of terrible movies, but an inordinate amount of his films are masterworks.

The Maze Runner / *** (PG-13)

Thomas: Dylan O’Brien

Gally: Will Poulter

Newt: Thomas Brodie-Sangster

Teresa: Kaya Scodelario

Alby: Aml Ameen

Minho: Ki Hong Lee

Chuck: Blake Cooper

Ava Paige: Patricia Clarkson

20^th Century Fox presents a film directed by Wes Ball. Written by Noah Oppenheim and Grant Pierce Myers and T.S. Nowlin. Based on the novel by James Dashner. Running time: 113 min. Rated PG-13 (for thematic elements and intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, including some disturbing images).

It must be a great time to be a developing reader. It seems the young adult fantasy/sci-fi/horror literature genre is gong through some sort of renaissance of late, if the movie adaptations are any indication. In truth, there have been a great number of romances and dramas to come out of young adult literature of late as well. As I get older I find it harder to get excited about these films, but I would imagine were I reading the material that inspires them, I’d be very excited about them. As Toby Maguire complained this past week, it seems young adult novel adaptations and superhero movies are the only options left in film for young performers.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Muppets Most Wanted (2014) ***

PG, 107 min.

Director: James Bobin

Writers: James Bobin, Nicholas Stoller

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell, Tony Bennett, Hugh Bonneville, Jermaine Clement, Sean Combs, Rob Corddry, Mackenzie Crook, Céline Dion, Lady Gaga, Zack Galifianakis, Josh Groban, Salma Hayek, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hollander, Toby Jones, Frank Langella, Ray Liotta, James McAvoy, Chloë Grace Moretz, Usher Raymond, Miranda Richardson, Saoirse Ronan, Til Schweiger, Danny Trejo, Stanley Tucci, Christoph Waltz

Voices: Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz

At the beginning of “Muppets Most Wanted” the entire muppet cast sings a musical number about the fact that they’re making a sequel. During the song they admit that sequels aren’t quite as good as the original. “Muppets Most Wanted” isn’t as good as its predecessor, simply titled “The Muppets”, but it retains the same spirit captured by that one, inspired by the original “The Muppet Show” television series.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend’s Boyfreind (2013) ****

NR, 75 min.

Director: Seth Barrish

Starring: Mike Birbiglia

Mike Birbiglia’s stand up concert film “My Girldfriend’s Boyfriend” should go down as one of the great stand up films. Along with Richard Pryor’s “Live on the Sunset Strip” and George Carlin’s “Carlin at Carnegie” and even a little bit like Spalding Gray’s “Swimming to Cambodia”, Birbiglia’s comedy concert transcends mere stand up comedy and ventures into performance art and autobiographical enlightenment.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom (2013) **

PG-13, 141 min.

Director: Justin Chadwick

Writers: William Nicholson, Nelson Mandela (autobiography)

Starring: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Zolani Mkiva, Simo Mogwaza, Fana Mokoena, Thapelo Mokoena, Jamie Bartlett, Deon Lotz, Terry Pheto

“Critic proof” is a term frequently used to categorize types of movies that are aimed at certain types of genre fans. These movies are critic proof because it doesn’t matter how bad they are, the fans will still eat them up. I believe the “Transformers” franchise has proven itself critic proof, given its universal critical disdain and its relentless success at the box office.

It often seems to me that dramatic fare can also be critic proof to some degree, if it involves a subject that is worthy enough of a cinematic treatment. If any subject would seem worthy enough, it would be the life of Nelson Mandela. Mandela is best known for bringing the South African nation together in racial unity after more than 50 years of racial unrest under the prejudiced rule of Apartheid. Before that he spent 28 years in prison, 18 under a life sentence in one of the country’s harshest prisons. And before that he was a leader in the civil rights movement against Apartheid who did not denounce the use of violence as an acceptable form of civil unrest.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 1 (2013-2014) ***

TV-14, 22 45-min. episodes

Creators: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee (Marvel Comics), Jack Kirby (Marvel Comics)

Directors: Joss Whedon, David Straiton, Milan Cheylov, Roxann Dawson, Jesse Bochco, Vincent Misiano, Bobby Roth, Jonathan Frakes, Billy Gierhart, Holly Dale, Kevin Hooks, Kenneth Fink, Paul Edwards, John Terlesky

Writers: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jeffery Bell, Brent Fletcher, Paul Zbyszcewski, Rafe Judkins, Lauren LeFranc, Monica Owusu Breen, Shalisha Francis, DJ Doyle

Starring: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain DeCaestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge

Guest starring: J. August Richards, Shannon Lucio, Ron Glass, Cobie Smulders, Leonor Varela, Carlos Leal, Samuel L. Jackson, David Conrad, Ian Hart, Pascale Armand, Michael Klesic, Ruth Negga, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Cullen Douglas, Vincent Laresca, Titus Welliver, Saffron Burrows, Maximiliano Hernandez, Ilia Volok, Peter MacNicol, Michael Graziadei, Erin Way, Molly McCook, Ajani Wrighster, Paul Lacovara, Rob Huebel, Daniel Zovatto, Christine Adams, Carlo Rota, Bill Paxton, Elena Satine, Robert Belushi, B.J. Britt, Jaimie Alexander, Brad Dourif, Charles Halford, Adrian Pasdar, Patton Oswalt, Patrick Brennan, Amy Acker, Tsai Chin, Austin Lyon, Glenn Morshower, Josh Daugherty

So, my family finally got through season one of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Our delay wasn’t because we didn’t enjoy it. A little addition to the family made it difficult to find quite family TV time together. But, I’m glad I’m finally getting my chance at this one.

During the run of the season, it seemed that MAOS was the punching bag for anybody who wanted to see the Marvel/Disney deal falter. Throughout good (but not mind-blowing) ratings, it seemed that every business website that could tried to jump in the ring with Marvel on this one, posting new stories every week about “Why MAOS will fail.” The biggest culprit was a site called the Motley Fool, who based most of their facts on conjecture and seemed to conjure their conjecture from bitter resentment. Their consensus was that MAOS is only still around so they can cross promote all of the Marvel big screen ventures, not with traditional advertising but an expensive 22 episode television show that requires countless more employees and money than producing commercials from footage that has already been produced as part of each movie. Sure, that seems plausible. That’s also probably why ABC also ordered a new Marvel tie-in show, “Agent Carter”, which takes place 50 years ago, since a period piece will offer countless opportunities for tie-ins to movie that are taking place in the present. Or maybe, people liked it.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) **½

NR, 89 min.

Director: Ishirô Honda

Writer: Shin’ichi Sekizawa

Starring: Akira Takarada, Yoriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yû Fujiki, Yûmi Itô, Emi Itô, Yoshifumi Tajima, Kenji Sahara, Jun Tazaki

Toho Studios continues the Godzilla series with more sophisticated storytelling in 1964’s “Mothra vs. Godzilla”, originally released in the U.S. as “Godzilla vs. the Thing”. The storytelling elements are much improved over 1955’s “Godzilla Raids Again”. It seems some sort of executive decision must’ve been made to shore up their storylines with more human elements.

Ebert Thoughts ‘14—Museum Hours (2013) ****

NR, 107 min.

Director/Writer: Jem Cohen

Starring: Mary Margaret O’Hara, Bobby Sommer, Ela Piplits

Jem Cohen’s “Museum Hours” is one of those quite, intimate movies that help to define Ebertfest as a unique and truly original film festival. It’s an unobtrusive film that might seem too quite outside the Ebertfest atmosphere, but makes for a perfect second day afternoon film. It doesn’t bang at the audience. It just exists and through it you can discover a piece of humanity.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Mickey Mouse in Third Wheel (2014) **½

TV-G, 4 min.

Director: Clay Morrow

Writers: Derek Dressler, Clay Morrow, Paul Rudish, Aaron Springer

Voices: Chris Diamantopoulos, Bill Farmer, Paul Rudish, Russi Taylor

I’m a big fan of the new set of Mickey Mouse shorts that Disney has produced as interstitials for its cartoon network programming. I’ve seen a few now, and they do a wonderful job recapturing the original spirit of the Mickey Mouse shorts originally created by Walt Disney himself. They’re more innocent than today’s cartoons, and yet they’re indelibly clever. They’re bright and vibrant. They’re never too loud and boisterous.  At 17 and counting, it seems the studio is also quite committed to them.

The Monuments Men / *** (PG-13)

Frank Stokes: George Clooney

James Granger: Matt Damon

Richard Campbell: Bill Murray

Claire Simone: Cate Blanchett

Walter Garfield: John Goodman

Jean Claude Clermont: Jean Dujardin

Donald Jeffries: Hugh Bonneville

Preston Savitz: Bob Balaban

Sam Epstein: Dimitri Leonidas

Columbia Pictures and Fox 2000 Pictures presents a film directed by George Clooney. Written by Clooney & Grant Heslov. Based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Running time: 118 min. Rated PG-13 (for some images of war violence and historical smoking).

I’ve long had a fascination with World War II based movies. I was never much of a history buff, but when it comes to WWII on film, I can’t get enough. It’s hard to come by new stories of that war, since it was so heavily mined by Hollywood over the years. Somehow, I’d never heard of the Monuments Men though. In this movie that’s what they refer to themselves as, a unit of the Army made up of art scholars and architects who were tasked with the job of finding and identifying the great amounts of artwork stolen by the Nazis throughout the war.

Penny Thoughts ‘14—Munich (2005) ****

R, 164 min.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writers: Tony Kushner, Eric Roth, George Jonas (book “Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team”)

Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Ayelet Zurer, Geoffrey Rush, Gila Almagor, Michael Lonsdale, Mathieu Amalric, Marie-Josée Croze, Lynn Cohen

Well, this is kind of a sober note on which to exit the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but it isn’t really about the Olympics, is it? Steven Spielberg’s 2005 film “Munich” examines the aftermath of the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich during which 11 Israeli athletes were killed after being taken hostage by the political terrorist group Black September. In the days following the internationally televised incident, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Mier makes the decision to retaliate with a group of Mossad assassins tasked with killing 11 Arabs linked with the Munich Games massacre.