Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what I’ve seen over the past week either in film or television. On the film side, if I have written a full length review already, I will post a link to that review. Otherwise, I’ll give a brief snippet of my thoughts on the film with a full review to follow at some point later. For television shows, seasons and what not, I’ll post individual comments here about each of them as I see fit.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

The Letter

Bette Davis was one of the few Hollywood legends who commanded the screen not through her serene nature, good looks and lovable demeanor. Davis was adept at turning a modestly or entirely despicable character into a deep, compelling character.

In The Letter, Davis is the wife of a rubber plantation owner. The film opens as she shoots to death a man she later claims was making unwelcome advances against her. As she stands trial for his death, a trial she’s likely to win based on the situation she’s well rehearsed to the investigators, a letter emerges in the hands of the dead man’s native wife that threatens to unravel her carefully laid scheme.

From the opening scenes, you recognize that Davis is no shrinking violet. She’s a fierce, confident woman whose intelligence lies clearly behind her eyes as she willfully shoots her visitor. When she lays out her lies to her husband and assembled parties, you can see her carefully tiptoeing through the potential fall-out. Davis is on fire and even when she’s discovered and must attempt to embolden one lie after another, you can see the wheels turning and her confident veneer losing its tarnish.

Even by today’s standards, the film’s finale is nothing but shocking. It’s the kind of conclusion that was far too rare during the period and showcased some fine direction by William Wyler. You can’t appreciate the cleverness of the end result until you see the film. It may seem straight forward and uncomplicated at the beginning, but by the end everything you expected from the film has been thoroughly done away with. There are some conventional elements in the more esoteric scenes of the film, but the cinematography is tense and intriguing making the film feel more sensual and exotic because of it.

Despicable Me 2

When Steve Carell’s villainous project first began airing trailers, I wasn’t terribly impressed. Here was yet another film that looked to build on the Carell style of comedy without being very funny. I caught Despicable Me anyway and came out pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t a great film, but it was an entertaining, engaging and beautifully rendered film. Going into Despicable Me 2, I expected the same level of craftsmanship, but was left wondering what could have been.

Gru gave up villainy to start a family, his three adorable children giving heart to the prior film. They are at the heart of this film as well, but seem almost circumstantial to the plot this time around, which is a shame. Instead, we’re given a new character with whom Gru can begin a connection, an inexperienced agent for the Anti-Villain League voiced by Kristen Wiig.

The film is quite funny, seldom finding a moment it cannot mind for humor. There are some slightly frightening moments, but overall, it’s a gentle, breezy film. It doesn’t have a lot going on under the hood, a somewhat generic plot that drifts aimlessly through the film, but it’s too inconsequential to care much about. Whereas the first film had a great deal to say about paternal feelings and the desire to be good, this film has no major flag around which the audience can muster. Entertaining it is, but more than superficially deep it is not.