Movies: Lost & Found, Dumbo, Transit

Lost & Found

This is a unique movie, at times charming, and other times slow.  Seven interconnected stories in and around an Irish village and its train station.  The film is inspired by true stories from the immediate area.  The stories span one week in time.

The cast includes 11 Irish actors.  Liam O Mochhain, Norma Shehan, Brendan Conroy, Aoibhin Garrihy, Liam Carney, Mary McEvoy, Sean Flanagan, Lynette Callaghan, Seamus Hughes, Barbara Adair and Donncha Crowley.

The seven stories merge into a series, heavy on Irish humor and quirkiness.  Some of it is silly, sometimes melancholy, and occasionally awkward.

This film is not rated.  It is listed as a Comedy, Drama with a run time of 92 minutes.  While there is no reason children could not view this film, some of the dialog and accents might be a bit hard for youngsters to follow.

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Dumbo

Disney and Tim Burton teamed up on this film.  Consensus is the new live action version is visually stunning with a dark cloud underbelly.  While the original 1941 version was only 64 minutes long, the newest rendition relies on Computer Generated Images (CGI) for its Dumbo character.

There is a hefty cast which includes Eva Green as Colette, Colin Ferrell as Holt, Danny DeVito as Medici, Nico Parker as Milly, Michael Keaton as Vandermere and Alan Arkin as J. Griffin.

Other notable performances include Joseph Gatt as Neils, Sharon Rooney as Miss Atlantis, Lars Eidinger as Hans, DeObia Oparei as Rongo, Roshan Seth as Pramesh, Sandy Martin as Verma and Douglas Reith as Sotheby.

Reviews have been tepid and mixed.  At times inventive and charming.  At other times it’s a dark, flawed attempt to replace a masterpiece.  Time will tell on this one.  We enjoyed it.

It is rated PG for peril/action, some thematic elements and brief mild language.  About half our audience were children who seemed riveted.  The genre is Animation, Kids & Family, Science Fiction & Fantasy running 112 minutes.

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Transit

This film has enjoyed mostly favorable reviews from the critics.  We are not sure why?!  It’s based on a 1944 book by Anna Segher.  The book was set in 1942 when the Nazi’s were invading France from the North and the South.

In this film, which is set in modern times, there is no explanation about the threats, invasion, police raids, travel papers, street violence and murders.  All we know is Germany is invading France in 2018.

It’s a shame actually.  The acting is quite good.  The cast includes the German actors Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt and Trystan Putter along with Iranian actress Maryam Zaree.

This film is not rated.  It’s listed as Art House & International, Drama with a run time of 101 minutes.  By the way, if by chance you do see this film, do wait until the very last scene for a surprise ending.  It’s (almost) worth waiting for.  French and German with English subtitles.

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