By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
In “The Founder,” Michael Keaton (“Spotlight,” “Birdman”) plays ruthless Ray Kroc in this backstory of the ubiquitous McDonald’s franchise, an innovative, assembly-line idea that revolutionized the fast food industry.
In 1952, when traveling salesman Kroc is peddling milkshake machines to drive-ins in the Midwest, he gets a huge order from a roadside restaurant in San Bernardino, California, run by brothers Maurice “Mack” (John Carroll Lynch) and Richard “Dick” (Nick Offerman) McDonald.
Intrigued, Kroc marvels at their mechanized fast-food operation, learning how they transformed their kitchen into a speedy “symphony of efficiency” and persuading them to allow him to franchise their carefully managed concept.
As Kroc’s enterprise grows, he becomes increasingly alienated from his long-suffering wife (Laura Dern) and develops a relationship with the wife (Linda Cardellini) of one of his business associates (Patrick Wilson).
But Kroc soon realizes that, because of his restrictive contract with the McDonalds, he’s losing money. Enter Harry J. Sonneborn (BJ Novak), a financial advisor who convinces him that he needs to own the land on which he builds.
Cold-hearted Kroc maintains “Business is war,” adapting the iconic Golden Arches into a global brand.
Scripted by Robert Siegel and directed by John Lee Hancock, it captures Kroc’s ambiguity, as Michael Keaton’s warm smile and folksy friendliness takes the edge off Kroc’s cutthroat business strategy.
TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein sums up the timely relevance of Kroc’s story, noting: “You have a persistent and, at times, calculating entrepreneur representing both the best and worst of American businessmen…It’s up to audiences to determine whether he’s a visionary, an opportunist or a crook – and how that fits in our society.”
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Founder” is a slick, slyly sleazy 7 – revealing the Faustian bargain that created one of the world’s largest food corporations.
Adapting a Broadway play like “Fences” for the screen is always a challenge – one that Denzel Washington found daunting, particularly since August Wilson’s iconic chronicle of a dysfunctional family is a Pulitzer Prize-winning glimpse into the African-American experience.
Set in Pittsburgh during the 1950s, it revolves around the relationship between a bitter, Negro League baseball player-turned-sanitation worker, 53 year-old Troy Maxon (Washington), and his long-suffering wife Rose (Viola Davis)
They’re joined by Troy’s best friend/co-worker (Stephen Henderson), rain-damaged brother (Mykelti Williamson) and adult son Russell Hornsby) by another woman. Their current conflict concerns Troy and Rose’s teenage son (Jovan Adepo), who’s hoping for a football scholarship.
When we first meet hyper-talkative Troy, he’s riding on the back of a garbage truck in the Hill District, complaining that only whites get to be drivers, sitting in the comfortable cab, while blacks do the heavy lifting, lugging the trash cans.
Although “Fences” opened on Broadway in the 1980s, the movie version was delayed since Wilson was steadfast in his insistence on an African-American director. In 1987, when Eddie Murphy wanted to transition into serious roles, Paramount Pictures bought the rights. But that never panned out, nor did other plans, particularly after August Wilson died in 2005.
Following Wilson’s poetic text like “a holy spirit,” director Denzel Washington elicits insightful, intelligent performances from his ensemble but – with action primarily restricted to the yard of a two-story brick home – it’s visually claustrophobic, unble to disguise its theatrical origins.
Which means there’s an emotional barrier between players and viewers, while the fence epitomizes Troy’s deprivation of a chance in the major leagues and his inability to empathize with his wife and son.
On the Granger Gauge, “Fences” is a formidable 8, featuring authentic, award-worthy performances.
Based on Ubisoft’s popular video game, “Assassin’s Creed” is a time-tripping sci-fi film that rarely rises above incoherency.
The saga begins with a series of ominous biblical texts, informing us that a device known as the Apple from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden contains “the key to free will itself.”
Which is why in 1492, during the Spanish Inquisition, the Knights Templar searched for this artifact to enforce peace through “the power to control all freedom of thought.” Their opponents, the secret society of Assassins, favor free will, even if that includes violence.
Flash forward to America, where “a career criminal,” Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender), is on Death Row in Texas, about to be executed by lethal injection for murder.
Instead, he’s transported to an Abstergo Industries laboratory in Madrid where – under the supervision of Dr. Sofia Rikkin (Marion Cotillard) and her creepy CEO father, scientist Alan Rikkin (Jeremy Irons) – he’s hooked up to a virtual reality/time machine called the Animus.
(Abstergo is Latin for “cleanse,” serving as the super-secret research facility of the contemporary Knights Templar.)
The Animus enables Cal to participate, via holograms, in the adventures of his genetic ancestor, a hooded Assassin named Aguilar de Nerha (also played by Fassbender), a counter-revolutionary fighting in 15th century Spain with his companion Maria (Ariane Labed).
Tethered to a scrambled screenplay, director Justin Kurzel concentrates on the swashbuckling visuals rather than the choppy, seemingly endless exposition.
On Granger Gauge, “Assassin’s Creed” is a fantasy 4, presumably following the gamers’ franchise.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
