Been nearly a decade since the first Zootopia film, a movie that didn’t blow me away, but which has grown on me with time. I liked the sequel much more upon first viewing. It picks up right where the first ended: Judy Hopps (a rabbit) and Nick Wilde (a fox) have just taken down the corrupt mayor in the city of zoo animals and are public darlings, though the police force isn’t exactly ready to give them good cases yet. Thus, Judy and Nick team up to find their own, and in doing so, uncover a scheme 100 years in the making. At first, they think a snake is trying to steal an ancient journal chronicling the creation of the weather walls (which allows animals from various habitants to live near each other). Others scoff because snakes, and reptiles in general, haven’t been spotted in society in years, but Judy is undeterred. Her investigation ends up going deep into Zootopia’s past, and an entirely new bad guy hiding in plain sight. Unlike my initial thoughts on the first film, this movie has tons of “inside” jokes that kids won’t get but which are aimed squarely and Gen X and older, so this is one for kids, parents, and grandparents alike. The message is much the same as the first movie (being accepting of “animals” of all shapes and sizes) but delivered in a new way. Very funny and very endearing. ★★★★½

Frontier Crucible is a neowestern made on a super low budget, but does have a couple recognizable faces (Thomas Jane as the cruel leader of some thugs, and Armie Hammer as one of his henchmen, though not sure Hammer counts as he’ll take any gig at this point in his career; there’s also a 5 minute cameo by William H Macy which was probably filmed in 20 minutes). The film takes place in the Arizona territory of the late 19th century and follows a man of few words but strong actions named Merrick, who’s been tasked with getting medical supplies through Apache lands to the city of San Carlos. Soon into his trip, he stumbles upon a wagon that was recently attacked by the Apache, leaving the wagon’s owner, Jeff, suffering from a gunshot to the stomach and his wife, Valerie, distraught. The wagon was also being “protected” by three thugs who came out of the wilderness and latched on: Mule, his adult son Billy, and evil-looking Edmund. The five of them beg Merrick to help them get north to Tucson, the closest city, but Merrick is adamant about getting his supplies to San Carlos. Thus, they all team up to head south through the worst of the Apache areas. Merrick will have to keep an eye out for the natives, but also his own ne’er-do-well “friends,” whom Merrick starts to suspect played a part in torturing and killing his own brother in the area 2 years ago. Not very well acted and some truly rough dialogue, but there’s some nice surprises, and the bloody ending is as exciting as you could hope for. If I’m just rating the whole of the film, probably 2 stars, but that ending got to me. ★★★

No Other Choice is kind of a weird film. A South Korea black comedy, it is about a man, Man-su, who is fired from his job at a paper-making company when he refuses to lay off some people under him. His wife Mi-ri is forced to start working again, and their kids Si-one and Ri-one are left wondering if they’ll be able to keep their house. After taking a menial low-paying job that doesn’t really help pay the bills, Man-su gets an idea: he can get a good job at a paper company again, if he can “take out” the other qualified candidates that may get hired before him. Thus, he makes a list of 2 or 3 people in the industry who may see more attention than himself, and sets out to accomplish the grisly task. For my tastes, the humor was really out there, with some quirky laughs at Man-su’s expense, but I can see how others may be laughing their asses off, as he is just about the worst kind of assassin. I want to rate this one higher, but it’s just not my cup of tea. ★★★

Is This This On? Is a comedy drama starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern as married couple Alex and Tess, with small roles for Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Peyton Manning (who is an awful actor) and Bradley Cooper (who also directed). Married for 20 years, they’ve made the decision, jointly it seems, to end their marriage, as neither are really happy. They set out to do a good job coparenting their sons and Alex gets a small apartment. Over the ensuing months, they each try to restart lives on their own, figuring out what it means to be single for the first time in a quarter of a century (and times have certainly changed!). Alex stumbles into a bar one night, but doesn’t have the cash to pay the $15 cover, so instead signs himself up to do stand-up comedy at the bar’s open mic night in order to get in for free. Unprepared, he goes up on stage and actually gets some laughs, nervously talking about his failing marriage. He enjoys it, and continues going to open mic nights around the city and making friends amongst the other comics in the area. Tess also starts fresh. She was once an esteemed volleyball player, playing for USA in the Olympics, but gave it all up to be a wife and mother. She puts out feelers about getting back into the sport as a coach. The movie mostly follows Alex though, as he continues performing on stage, using material gleaned from his evolving personal life. When Tess, on a date no less, stumbles upon Alex’s routine one night, shit might hit the fan. There’s some good laughs, but honestly for my tastes it was a bit cringy at times, as Alex’s act is really just that of a sad man who can’t come to grips with his derailed life. I’m not one to laugh at someone else’s misfortune, even if he’s the one making the jokes (as a defense mechanism). ★★½

The Housemaid is a thriller from a unlikely source, director Paul Feig (more known for his comedies like Bridesmaids and the latest Ghostbusters reboot, not to mention the show Freaks and Geeks). Sydney Sweeney stars as a down-on-her-luck woman named Millie, who is homeless and desperately in need of a job, in order to meet the requirements of her parole. She lands a seemingly plush gig as a live-in housemaid to a wealthy family: husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar; Spencer Dutton from the show 1923), wife Nina (Amanda Seyfried), and their daughter Cece. Things only look perfect for a day though, because very soon Millie realizes Nina is a few screws short. Nina is demanding and self-contradicting, asking Millie to do tasks and then reprimanding her for doing them wrong, or arguing that she never gave Millie those tasks to begin with. Millie even overhears their peers talking about how Nina spent time in a psychiatric ward after trying to drown Cece. Things come to a head when Nina asks Millie to set up a romantic weekend for Nina and Andrew, only to berate her for “choosing the wrong day” and buying non-refundable musical tickets and hotel accommodations in the city. When Andrew defends Millie, and Nina retreats to a ballet camp with Cece, Andrew tries to make it up to Millie by taking her to the city instead. Of course this leads to sex, which leads to Nina blowing up at them both. But when Andrew kicks Nina out of the house, why is it that Nina seems excited rather than depressed? Turns out there may be more to Andrew than what appears… This is one of those movies that maybe isn’t great cinema, but it is definitely entertaining (as shown by better reviews from average moviegoers over the “true” critics) with plenty of nice twists and turns. Seyfried is spectacular as the troubled Nina. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: ST Voyager (season 5), The Punisher (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed

Hamnet is a dramatization of a part of the life of William Shakespeare, beginning with him as a young man in Stratford. A smart man, he is tutoring a local family to help pay his father’s debts when he becomes smitten by a woman, Agnes. Agnes is rumored to be a witch, as she spends a lot of time in the forest and was taught herbal medicines and whatnot by her mother. William gets Agnes pregnant, forcing a marriage, and while he loves her, he is depressed. Agnes knows William needs the hustle and bustle of a big city to get his creative juices flowing, so she tells him to go to London while she remains in Stratford to raise their daughter Susanna. Over the ensuing years, Williams spends much of his time in London, returning home between theater seasons to see Agnes and their kids, with twins Judith and Hamnet soon following Susanna. Unfortunately, William is in London when Judith contracts the bubonic plague, and though she recovers, Hamnet catches it from her and does not. William arrives to see their dead son lying in wake and is distraught, further so when Agnes blames him for not being home. Until now in the film, I was wondering what all the fuss about this movie was about. It has a high critic’s score, which is expected based on the subject matter (and it is beautifully shot and well acted, especially by Jessie Buckley as Agnes), but the 92%+ audience score had me baffled. And then the finale came, as William returned to London to perform his newest play, Hamlet, in a break from his previous output of comedies and now into tragedies. Agnes and her brother secretly go to the opening performance, and see the effect her son’s death had on William. Not ashamed to admit I was ugly sobbing by the end. ★★★★★

The Secret Agent is, in my opinion, a misleading title, because while it is billed as a political thriller, we’re not talking about spies or anything. Taking place in the late 70s during a military dictatorship in Brazil, it follows a man, Armando, trying to get out of the country with his young son. Armando has a history of speaking out against some politically powerful men. Those men have hired a couple contract killers to take Armando out, so he is in hiding, under a new name, while some sympathizers are working on getting him fake papers to get clear of the country. That’s the movie in a nutshell, and while it has some highlights and some tense moments in the final act, it’s pretty ho-hum in general. It was a dark time in Brazil’s history, but doesn’t translate to a tremendous picture. Did have an Udo Kier sighting as a German Jew trying to quietly live out his final years after surviving World War II; it was Kier’s final role before his death. ★★½

Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Even if you’ve never seen a single musical, you’ve probably heard of those four towering successes from the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Blue Moon isn’t about them, but it is about Lorenz Hart, the lyricist who worked with Richard Rodgers before Oscar Hammerstein II. The team of Rodgers and Hart wrote some popular musicals in their day, including some lasting songs that have stuck around (like the eponymous movie title), but their output hasn’t stood the test of time like the musicals Rodgers did with his second partner. The film takes place on opening night of Oklahoma!, as Hart (portrayed incredibly by Ethan Hawke) drowns his sorrows at a local bar. He’s just seen his former partner’s new show, and while he recognizes it will be a tremendous success, he bemoans Hammerstein’s too-family-friendly lyrics and the musical’s overall lack of artistry and subtlety (“Did you hear the line about the corn as high as an elephant’s eye? Have you ever seen an elephant in Oklahoma? That may be the dumbest lyric ever written in a musical.”) Hart regales the bar with stories of the past, and it is evident that his boisterous flare is popular amongst the regulars and non-regulars (he befriends author E.B. White who was sitting by himself at a table in the corner), but becomes sullen when Rodgers and Hammerstein arrive to great applause. Hart nearly begs Rodgers to work with him again, but Rodgers is hesitant due to past arguments and Hart’s often debilitating alcoholism. Supremely entertaining, very funny in a mature way (no visual gags here, all laughs come from wordplay), and with lots of heart too. Director Richard Linklater released two films in 2025. Nouvelle Vague is tremendous, and so is Blue Moon. ★★★★½

A Little Prayer is a quiet, subtle indie film starring David Strathaim as Bill, owner of a metal factory with a full house at home, despite being up there in years. His son and successor David and his wife Tammy live in a second house on Bill’s property, so they often share meals all together, and Bill’s and his wife Venida’s daughter Patti is recently returned to home (with her young daughter too) after leaving her husband. Just when Bill and Venida are probably eyeing things winding down, the house is bustling. Bill learns that David is cheating on his wife with a woman from work, and does not approve, but when he approaches David about it, David tells him to mind his own business. It’s a tricky situation, since Bill sees Tammy every day, and knows that Tammy is struggling with not having children, a forefront thought now that Patti’s daughter is now around the house too. Things get worse before they get better, as Bill learns that Patti left her husband because he’s addicted to drugs (though she might return to him anyway), and David has more evils in his closet too. Bill, a genuinely good person who wants the best for his loved ones, doesn’t know what to do. Not a complex movie, but full of complex emotions. ★★★½

Videoheaven is a documentary for film lovers who lived in the 80s and 90s, so early Millennials and older, and thus right up my alley. That’s because it is all about the rise and fall of the video store, and is great nostalgia for anyone with fond memories of renting VHS tapes from your local store. Narrated by Maya Hawke, it dives deep into how video stores came to be, how they thrived for a couple decades, going from small independent havens to sprawling chains, to their decline and complete disappearance. I’ve seen a lot of movies, more than most people, I think, but there are tons of clips in this film from movies and shows that I’ve never seen (or even heard of), showcasing actors together that you never knew did a movie together, or others in very early roles “before they were famous,” all taking place in the confines of a video store. Also goes into how those video stores themselves were depicted on screen, from famous scenes in Seinfeld and Clerks to subtle clips of video stores in the background of big blockbuster action flicks. Sometimes it gets a little too deep, focusing on certain movies longer than it should, but there’s lots of good stuff here. It does bring back the nostalgia, making me remember running into classmates at the local video chain, renting a movie from the grocery store (remember when that was a thing?!), and interactions with clerks asking for recommendations. A time that is gone, never to return, but which holds plenty of memories for those of us in the 40+ age group. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Stumble (season 1), Starfleet Academy (season 1), ST Deep Space 9 (season 7)
• Book currently reading: Paul of Dune by Herbert & Anderson

If anyone is cheering the regime change in Iran, it is Jafar Panahi. It Was Just an Accident is his newest film, and the most directly outspoken against the evils going on in his country. It begins simple enough: a man, his pregnant wife, and their daughter are driving home when they run over and kill a dog, resulting in car damage. The man, who has a prosthetic leg, takes it to a repair shop where one of the workers freezes up, visibly shaken, when he hears the man’s squeaky steps on his fake leg. The shop worker, Vahid, follows the man, and the next day, kidnaps him in broad daylight and drives him out to the desert. He digs a shallow grave and begins to bury the man alive, despite the man’s protestations. Turns out Vahid recognized that squeaky noise from the man’s prosthetic from his days of being tortured in Iran’s prisons. The lead torturer was a man named Eghbal, and the sound of his squeaky leg has haunted Vahid’s nightmares ever since. The man being buried, though, says he is not Eghbal, vehemently enough that Vahid starts to doubt himself. Vahid was always blindfolded, so he never saw Eghbal. Vahid knocks Eghbal out and puts him in the back of the truck, and spends the rest of the movie finding others who were tortured by him. All of them were always blindfolded, but a photographer, Shiva, recognizes Eghbal’s sweat scent, and a bride-to-be, Goli, Eghbal’s voice, while another man, Hamid, is convinced from when Eghbal forced Hamid to feel the scars on his leg stump. Still, Vahid is unsure, as he doesn’t want to murder an innocent man, and even if it is Eghbal, do they want to resort to the same methods that were forced on them by Iran’s government? So much to delve into here. There’s a great video online where Jafar Panahi visits the Criterion Closet and talks about the film Bicycle Thieves, and how in Iran, society is similar to that movie in that it is impossible to escape from your circumstances, that it repeats in a circular fashion. This film is about breaking out of that circle. With the current ending of the regime in Iran, hopefully a brighter future is on the horizon. ★★★★★

Nuremberg is based on the Nuremberg trials, when the surviving high profile Nazi commanders were tried for their crimes against humanity after World War II. The four superpowers after the war, USA, UK, France, and USSR, each want to deal with the criminals in different ways, whether it be summary execution or show trial and execution, but the USA is determined to give the men a true trial by tribunal, not so much because they want to make sure the men are truly guilty, but to show the world (and in particular the citizens of Germany) what really happened, so that it never happens again (and not to make martyrs out of them). However, when you have a real (and not show/fake) trial, there’s always the possibility that someone is found innocent, so the governments want to build their case and get this right. They bring in experts from all fields, including a young hotshot psychologist to get to know the criminals and see what makes them tick. There’s an all-star cast including Michael Shannon as lead prosecutor Robert Jackson, Rami Malek as psychologist Douglas Kelley, and Russell Crowe as the head bad guy, Hermann Göring, who was second-in-command to Hitler. Stellar performances across the board, and obviously the subject matter is emotionally charged, especially when the world is shown what really was going on in the labor and death camps, but it didn’t all come together for me. Worth watching for the acting (especially Crowe, who makes a great bad guy), and maybe for the younger generation who might not be as up on the evils of World War II, but I didn’t glean anything new and it came off as pretty matter-of-fact. ★★★

When Sisu surprised everyone and made a lot of money, you knew a sequel would be coming. I enjoyed the first one despite it being kind of silly, and the sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge, is more of the same. Aatami Korpi returns home after the war, but with his wife and child killed, and his home now behind the moved border between USSR and Finland, Aatami is forced to move. However, he wants to take his house with him, as the only reminder of his family, so he tears down the house board by board, loads it onto a huge truck, and heads for the new border to his native Finland. USSR isn’t ready let him go so easily. The powers-at-be pull Draganov out of prison, the man who killed Aatami’s family, and task him with finishing the job in exchange for his freedom. Draganov has all the resources of the red army at his beck and call. What follows is even more ridiculous than the first movie, with tanks, trains, and planes all trying to kill “the man who refuses to die.” In typical sequel fashion, it turns up the gore level, and bad guys fall in increasingly absurd ways. Should have stopped at one film, but if you go in knowing what you are getting, it is entertaining enough. Not sure I want to see a third though… ★★½

War Machine is your typical straight-to-streaming (the “new” straight-to-DVD) war movie, and basically a new take on Predator. I only watched it because I like Alan Ritchson from his Reacher show, but I should have passed. After a (very long, like half the movie) introduction when we see an unnamed army sergeant lose his brother to a Taliban strike in Afghanistan, and then the survivor’s attempt to join the Rangers (his dead brother’s last wish), we finally get into the action. The sergeant makes it through training with a handful of others, and they are given one last exercise out in the field. However, they stumble upon an alien killing machine, something from outer space, which kills with ruthless precision. Sergeant and the new ranger team, those that survive the initial strike, run for the hills, while the alien machine pursues. Lots of explosions, lots of frightened looks, lots of hiding in the trees (only to be found seconds later), all as you’d expect from this kind of movie. And of course, the machine is taken out in the end, but with the ominous “more machines spotted” tag to set up a sequel. God, I hope it isn’t made. ★½

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is now the second sequel (and a fourth film already announced!) in the magician/heist series, though it has been nearly a decade since the last. I really liked the first, didn’t think much of the second, but this newest brings in the director from the Zombieland and Venom movies, so I was hoping for a good one. It opens (we think) on the original Four Horsemen: Daniel Atlas, Merritt, Jack, and Henley (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Isla Fisher, returning after being absent from Part 2 during a real-life pregnancy). They put on an underground show and steal a bunch of money from a rich asshole, before Robin Hood-ing it to the average Joes in the audience. Turns out it wasn’t the horsemen though, it was 3 new, younger magicians named Charlie, Bosco, and June, masquerading as the famed Horsemen team. They are soon after visited by the real Daniel Atlas, who says he’s been told to recruit them all for a super-secret, super-big heist by the mysterious mystical society known as The Eye. Their goal, it seems, is to steal the large and valuable Heart Diamond from Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), whose mining company launders money from some of the world’s worst people. Atlas and his new proteges meet up with the rest of the Horsemen, also recruited by The Eye, and set out to fool Veronika and the world at large, with more guest appearances from the first two movies (including Morgan Freeman and Lizzy Caplan, who filled in during Fisher’s absence). Lots of magical hijinks. The movie starts off rocky, and I had the same general complaints as I did from the last film, but it ends much better, with a grander “tada!” moment in the finale. However, with another film coming, I think it’s time I get off this roller coaster. ★★½

Been awhile since I saw a Jim Jarmusch film; Father Mother Sister Brother is his newest. In a throwback to earlier Jarmusch films, it is set up as 3 separate vignettes. Father is about two adult children (played by Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik) visiting their father (Tom Waits). No one seems to want to be there, and while the kids are wondering how Dad is doing financially, he is hiding his Rolex and expensive car in the garage. Kids don’t want to be there in Mother either, where sisters (Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps) are doing their yearly afternoon tea visit with their mother (Charlotte Rampling). Both girls are trying to measure up to their mom, a successful author. The final act, Sister Brother, has siblings (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) going through their parents’ belongings after their sudden death in a plane crash. Not sure what to make of this movie. It has some very touching moments, some very sad ones too, but is short on the deadpan humor you’d expect from a Jarmush film. Almost seems like the director had a couple ideas for the makings of a couple movies, but then said, “Shit, we’ll just make 1 movie with an all-star cast, and just do this.” And of course, if you are an actor and Jim Jarmusch says, “Wanna be in my movie?” you of course say yes. ★★

Rental Family is a fun, family-type, old school comedy drama starring Brendan Fraser, the latest in his comeback to the movie industry. He plays Phillip, an American who came to Tokyo years ago for an acting job, but who stayed and hasn’t exactly been the most successful. Struggling to make ends meet, he takes a job at a “family rental” company. Need an American at your funeral? Check. Need someone to play as your boyfriend so you can tell your family you are moving to America? Check. What he doesn’t plan for is growing to really care for the people who hire him. A single mother is hoping her bright daughter can test into a really good school, but knows a solid home life is part of what the school will look for. The mom hires Phillip to be the little girl’s “dad,” but to keep it authentic, she tells her daughter that Phillip really is her long-lost father, who’s been living in America all these years. The girl believes it, and while obviously hesitant at first, the likable Phillip wins her over and the two grow a close bond over the coming weeks. However, Phillip is wracked with guilt, because he knows he’s going to break this girl’s heart when she learns the truth. Not a complex movie, but does elicit complex emotions. I wish it had ended 5 or 6 minutes earlier than it did, because they couldn’t help but Hollywood the shit out of the ending. Still, a nice film. ★★★

Happyend takes place in the near-future, again in Tokyo. It follows a group of 5 high school friends, and particularly focuses on best friends Yuta and Kou. Yuta is completely carefree and goes with the flow, but Kou always has a small chip on his shoulder, partly from his upbringing. Though his family has lived in Japan for four generations, he’s of Korean descent, which as you know has a complicated historical relationship with Japan. Many of the students at school are middle or upper-middle class, but Kou alone among his friends has to work to help his family. When the group of friends pull a fantastic practical joke on the school’s principal, the man flips out and installs a state-of-the-art surveillance system in the school, which identifies students based on AI and docks them points for transgressions like smoking, flipping the bird, or inappropriate attire. This, against the backdrop of an increasingly nationalist government (like in many nations across the globe these days), with the new head of state of railing against immigrants. Kou’s family starts facing racism, and Kou becomes active in protests, while Yuta continues his laissez faire attitude. It’s a great film, a microcosm of right vs left in today’s society, and would maybe open some eyes (though doubtfully would change minds). ★★★★

Tornado is just the second movie from writer/director John Maclean; his first, Slow West, was a decade ago, and I thought at the time that this was a great up-and-comer. That hasn’t panned out yet, but my thoughts haven’t changed after this movie. It begins with action immediately: a young Japanese woman, whose name we later learn is Tornado, is running from a gang of thugs through 18th century Scotland. We don’t even know why she is being chased, only that the men mean business. When she hides in a large house, the group rough-houses the owners while searching for her. We then get a flashback to what started the chase. The men have just stolen a couple sacs of gold, before coming across Tornado with her father, a former Samurai warrior, performing a puppet show. Somehow Tornado ends up with the gold, and in protecting her, her father is killed. She runs, and thus the chase. Back to the present, she is able to elude them, even as the group performs more atrocities in the area, until she is able to start exacting her revenge. The film is a bit uneven, with some really great, startling moments, but others that feel rushed, and not given enough time to breathe (which is an odd thing to say about a film that moves at a languid pace at times). There are swaths of gentle, slow drama intermittent with quick bursts of extreme violence. However, it’s a good homage to the classic samurai genre, and told in a unique and startling way, even if the film itself isn’t all that unique. ★★★½

Peter Hujar’s Day is a two-actor show, starring Ben Winshaw and Rebecca Hall as Peter Hujar and Linda Rosenkrantz. It’s based on a true event, when in the 1970s, Linda had an idea for a new book in which she’d interview people about what they did the day before. Peter Hujar, a popular photographer at the time, was this day’s subject. Based on the description, I was thinking along the lines of My Dinner With André, which I absolutely adored, but it’s more akin to watching paint dry. They literally just talk about what Peter did that day. If you want to hear every inane event, sure, knock yourself out, but I could not get through this movie. 30-ish minutes in, it came down to turning it off or falling asleep. ½

• TV series recently watched: Tehran (season 3), The Studio (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Paul of Dune by Herbert & Anderson

Song Sung Blue, based on a true story, tells of a Neil Diamond tribute band named Lightning and Thunder, which played together for a couple decades starting in the 80s. Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) is on the impersonator circuit as Don Ho with the “Elvis’s” and “James Browns” of the world when he meets his future wife, Claire (Kate Hudson), who’s been performing as “Patsy Cline.” With his look, it is her idea to do a Neil Diamond band. They put together a decent band and hit the local bars in the Wisconsin area. Mike is initially reluctant to start every show with Sweet Caroline, even though that’s the tune everyone wants, since Neil Diamond has so many other good songs, but once he gives in, the band starts growing in local popularity. When a “new” band is touring through the area and lead singer Eddie Vedder reaches out to Mike to have Lightning and Thunder open for them on a Friday night, Mike accepts only when his daughter goes nuts that the band is Pearl Jam. Doing so brings Lightning and Thunder new fans, and the sky looks to be the limit, until a car goes off the road in front of their house and hits Claire. She loses a leg in the accident, derailing their career and maybe their life together. The movie is awfully predictable, and I guessed how it was going to play out within the first 20 minutes or so. However, the music is full of bangers, and Hugh Jackman is the kind of throwback entertainer who can do it all. Very average, but I’ll bump it up a half star for the great musical performances. ★★★

There’s a few actors that I will see in any movie they do, and Tim Blake Nelson is one of them. The dude has the rough-and-tumble, down-on-his-luck routine down cold, which is exactly what the character Bernard “Bang Bang” Rozyski is. Once a promising boxer in the Detroit area, Bernard is still loved in the area and is living off his one-time fame, but his past reputation as a heavy hitter is pretty much all he has left. One day his ex-wife asks Bernard to look after his grandson Justin for a short time, as Justin’s mom has recently left the family and the father is in jail. Justin is nearly an adult, and no one wants to see him go down a bad path, but Bernard may not be the best role model. He starts training Justin up on boxing, even though Justin’s heart really isn’t in it, and seems to only be doing it to please his grandpa. For much of the film, we think the villain of the movie is Darnell, the boxer who took down Bernard and, we learn later, Bernard’s brother, changing the trajectory of an entire family. However, the final revealed bad guy ends up not even a character in the movie, though his ghost hangs over the entirety of it. Is that obtuse enough for you? Fantastic acting from Nelson, in a movie about the flaws of humanity, even when everyone is trying to do the right thing. Very raw and “real” feeling. ★★★½

Eternity is a delightful romantic comedy for the more “mature” (older) crowd, which somehow I’ve found myself in (when did that happen?). It opens innocuously enough: an older couple, Larry and Joan, married for 65 years, are going to a gender reveal in the family, bickering in the car the whole way there (anyone with older parents can relate). At the party, someone picks up an old picture of a young Joan with another (very good looking) young man, and someone remarks that he, Luke, was Joan’s first short-lived marriage, because Luke died in the Korean War. Joan looks at the picture longingly, just before Larry chokes to death on a pretzel. He awakens on a train, as a much younger self (Miles Teller), and is told that he has died and is now at Junction, where souls get to pick which Eternity they would like to live from now on. They get 1 week to decide, or they must take a job there at Junction, because once they pick an Eternity, there’s no changing. Larry takes the full week, and finally picks Beach World, leaving a note with his case worker to tell Joan when she finally dies, so that she can join him there. On his way out though, he sees a much younger Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), as she only lasted another week on Earth without him. Unfortunately for Larry, he’s not the only person waiting for her. Luke (Callum Turner), dead now 67 years, took a job as a bartender on Junction, and has been patiently waiting for the love of his life. Now Joan has a decision to make, because, again, she can only pick one Eternity, and she has a week to decide: her first love, which she never really had a chance to explore, or the man (who may have been her “second” choice) that she shared a lifetime with. Cute, funny, and heartwarming, it’s a great date movie for middle-agers and older, especially if you’ve shared a life with a partner who can relate to all of the things couples go through together. ★★★½

Urchin is the directorial debut from Harris Dickinson, who seems to have been around a long time but whose first acting role, Beach Rats, was less than a decade ago. Urchin stars Frank Dillane (recognizable as Nick from Fear the Walking Dead) as Mike, a homeless young man addicted to drugs. He seems like a good kid, but hints at a hard childhood and addiction have veered his life off course. When a man tries to do well for him by offering a meal, Mike punches him and steals his watch. He is arrested shortly after and spends 8 months in jail. It might be a blessing in disguise, as Mike reenters the world clean and sober, and social services helps him land a job as a chef’s assistant at a hotel and a place to stay. However, Mike’s past experiences haven’t taught him to handle discord well, and when a customer complains about a meal, Mike loses it. His work suffers, and he ends up losing the job. At his new job as a trash collector, he starts hanging around the sorts of people from his former life, including some that do drugs, and it isn’t long before Mike is back on the street and looking for a fix. It’s a powerful film about the baggage we can carry around if we don’t learn how to deal with it. Lots of promise from the first-time writer/director, who has obviously learned a lot on the sets of all the indie movies he’s acted in over the last decade. Solid first effort. ★★★½

La Grazia is the latest from Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, whose unhurried films can test some patiences, but I really dig him. It follows the waining term of a fictional Italian president, Mariano, who has to make some tough decisions in his final weeks as President. A lifelong and fervent catholic, who counts the Pope as a close friend, Mariano has a bill on his desk to legalize euthanasia for the extremely ill. It’s a popular bill amongst the people, but obviously he is struggling with its religious significance. There are also 2 pardons for him to consider: a wife who stabbed her husband to death after 15 years of abuse, and a husband who strangled his wife who was suffering from Alzheimers. Through all this, Mariano’s private thoughts often turn to his recently deceased wife, and an affair she had 40 years ago. Mariano is determined to find out who that man was. The film is beautifully shot, delicately written and delivered, and is about as touching a film as you’ll find today. The kind of movie that gives you plenty to think about after the credits roll. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Daredevil (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Paul of Dune by Herbert & Anderson

I usually don’t review the shows I watch, but I think Hal & Harper (an 8 episode miniseries) is worth saying a few things about. Written and directed by (and starring) Indie film darling Cooper Raiff, it follows the lives of the eponymous siblings (Raiff is Hal, Lili Reinhart is his 2-year-older sister Harper). Their story unfolds in an unhurried, sublimely emotional way. We know early on that they lost their mother (for a long time, we don’t know how or why) at an early age, when Hal was going into first grade and Harper into 3rd. They are thus raised by their newly single father, an unnamed “Dad,” played by Mark Ruffalo. We initially don’t think much of Dad’s fatherly skills, as he is curt with the kids and doesn’t exhibit much in the way of parenting knowledge (in present day, he apologizes to his adult kids for making them grow up too fast, and his comment leads to the adult actors playing their younger selves in a very Indie way), however, you do learn as subsequent episodes continue that Dad did the best with what he had, as he was fighting his own depression and the loss of his loving wife. In the present day, Dad is having a baby with his (much younger) girlfriend and has told Hal and Harper that he is selling their childhood home, so that brings up all kinds of emotions to the twenty-something adults. These two, with their lifetime baggage of fearing the loss of loved ones, have never been able to find lasting relationships with others and have become very codependent on each other, with Hal often sleeping on Harper’s couch and each turning to each other whenever they dump their newest partner (often in fear that the relationship was getting “too real”). Wonderfully heartfelt series, you’ll laugh and cry (I did both within seconds of each other in the last episode), and told so extremely well. Highly recommended, and probably one of those series you’ll return to again and again for its emotional depth. ★★★★★

The Wrecking Crew is one of your typical straight-to-streaming action films, albeit with a couple bonafide stars in the leads (Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista). Name recognition notwithstanding, there’s a reason this one was straight-to-streaming. James and Jonny are two estranged brothers and their father, Walter, was recently killed via a hit-and-run in their home state of Hawaii. James (Bautista) lives there still, but Jonny (Momoa) left years ago and has had little contact with either his brother or father in years. He initially isn’t even going back for the funeral, but when he is attacked in his home in Oklahoma by some Japanese Yakuza thugs, seeking a package he may have purportedly received from Walter before his death, Jonny suspects there’s more to this than meets the eye. He heads to Hawaii and starts digging into his dad’s death, while James does the same. Lots of action ensues, which is the best part of the movie (including a pretty dynamic, if completely implausible, bridge scene where they are shot at by a flying-over helicopter). The mystery behind Walter’s death isn’t all that intriguing, and outside of the action scenes, the movie is pretty boring, though there are some good one-liners between the fighting brothers. ★★½

Predator: Badlands is the newest in the franchise, though can be watched as a stand-alone film too. Dek is a runt in his Yautja (the predator species) clan, and in a society that favors strength, he should have been killed as a child. Still, his older brother has trained him to become a decent fighter, to the point that Dek wants to earn his right to carry the predator’s cloaking device. When he declares his intentions though, the brothers’ father kills the eldest for insolence, while Dek gets away before he too can be murdered. Dek finds himself on the planet Genna, a hostile world where every living creature, including the plant life, is out to kill you. Dek is on the hunt for the monstrous Kalisk, a beast so deadly that even Dek’s clan is afraid of it, since that trophy will finally earn him some respect. On his hunt, Dek picks up to would-be friends: an android synth named Thia (cue the Alien franchise crossovers, as she’s on the planet on a mission from Weyland-Yutani), and a local monkey-like creature that Thia names Bud. Together, the trio hunt the Kalisk, even as Thea’s former team of deadly synths also seek the same prize. Writer/director Dan Trachtenberg, who also helmed Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, has this franchise on solid footing again, can’t wait to see where they take it next. ★★★★

Sentimental Value is the latest from Norwegian director Joachim Trier, and it’s been getting plenty of acclaim in the last year. It stars Stellan Skarsgård (showing no signs of slowing down) as Gustav, a one-time acclaimed director whose drinking has derailed his career, and he’s having a hard time getting movies financed these days. He’s written a new one though, that he thinks has potential to be great, if he can get it made. Semi-biographical, it is about a woman who commits suicide, as Gustav’s mother herself did when he was a child of 7. Gustav wants his daughter Nora, herself an acclaimed stage actress, to play the lead role, but she is not interested. Nora and her sister Agnes are estranged from their father after he walked out on them and their mother when they were little girls, and he always seemed to put his career before being a father. It is their mother’s recent death that brought the family back together, and stirred up all kinds of feelings. As luck would have it, a film restrospective about Gustav’s films has intrigued American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning, proving that she can do it all; she was in the above Predator film as Thia). Rachel is an up-and-coming star, and she is chomping at the bit for a serious dramatic role, and thinks Gustav’s new film is just the ticket. She signs on, which gets Netflix interested in financially backing the picture, and so they begin. But there is still family healing to be done, and the result is movie magic. Be patient with this movie. Absorb every word, every nuanced movement by the actors. It builds without you realizing it, until a powerful conclusion. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. ★★★★★

From wiki: As-Sirāt is, according to Islam, the bridge over which every person must pass on the Yawm al-Qiyamah (“Day of Resurrection”) in order to enter Jannah (“Paradise”). Whether you want to take the film Sirāt as narrative or allegory, it is definitely Luis’s journey to make. At the beginning of the movie, he and his son Esteban are searching the deserts of Morocco for news of missing daughter Mar. A large group of Bohemian-esques are throwing a rave in the middle of the desert, and Luis is there looking for Mar. After a couple days, soldiers arrive to break up the party, telling Europeans that they must go home, as war is breaking out in the area. A group of free-thinkers break off from the others and head back into the desert, and Luis gives chase, hoping they’ll lead him to his daughter. They tell Luis that there’s to be another rave soon, and let Luis and Esteban tag along. Islam says As-Sirāt is thinner than a strand of hair and as sharp as the sharpest knife, and danger lies everywhere for Luis on his path. He will face hardship and anguish, with no guarantee of paradise in the end. While I was watching the movie, and even as it neared its end, I was thinking, “What the hell even is this?” But there’s no denying its emotional punch, whether you want to take it as allegory or fact, of a man going through hell to reach (maybe?) something new on the other side. Awesome soundtrack too, that keeps the tension ratcheted up throughout. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (season 1), Breaking Bad (season 5)
• Book currently reading: Paul of Dune by Herbert & Anderson 

After recently watching her newest, The Mastermind, and enjoying 2 others I’d previously seen (First Cow and Certain Women) I decided to dive into more. A running theme in her films tends to be a slower pace, leading critics to call her masterful and viewers (on RT) to call her boring. I tend to like slower paces, so I think I’m in for a treat today.

I think we’ve all had those times where we try to revisit or relive a time or place from our past, some moment that was special, and it’s never the same the second time around, because you are a different person now than you were then. That’s at the crux of Old Joy. Mark is married and getting ready to have a baby when he gets a call from old friend Kurt, asking if he wants to go camp out for a night or two and visit some hot springs in the Cascades. While Mark has settled down, Kurt is still living the hippie lifestyle of their youth, in a state of near-homelessness, crashing on couches and very carefree. Against his wife’s apprehensions, Mark heads out with Kurt. It’s a poignant film that can be summed up in a scene that takes place about halfway through, when the two friends are lost and camp down overnight. Kurt is talking about a (probably drug-induced) theory on the universe he once had, and Mark asks, “Did you tell *them* about your theory?” It’s a question out of left field and takes Kurt by surprise. Mark seems to be referencing Kurt’s time in a mental hospital, and Kurt is obviously taken aback, thinking that Mark sees him the same way that everyone sees him these days. Kurt can only shake his head at the gulf that has opened between himself and his old friend, and finally says something along the lines that he wishes they could still be friends like the old days. When Mark replies that of course they are still friends, Kurt (and we viewers) see that time has moved on. Very melancholic movie, but in a good way, if that makes sense. The kind of feeling you get when you look back fondly at a good memory, enjoying it for what it was, but a little sad that you can’t go back to it. ★★★★★

Wendy & Lucy stars Michelle Williams (in the first of many collaborations between the actor and director) as Wendy, a homeless young woman trying to get to Alaska from Indiana, pursing a job at a cannery. She’s made it to Oregon with her trusty dog Lucy, but it’s here where she hits a wall. She gets a warning from a store security guard for sleeping in her car on the private parking lot, and then her car won’t start. While waiting for the mechanic to open, she goes to a local grocery store, ties up Lucy in front, and then gets nabbed shoplifting dog food. After being booked and released at the jail, she makes her way back to the grocery store hours later, only to find Lucy is gone. The kind security guard from earlier lets Wendy use his cell phone to keep tabs with the local dog rescue, in hopes that Lucy will turn up, but in the meantime she gets bad news from the mechanic: the repairs will be far more money than she has left. Wendy is out of options, at the very end of the road. It’s a bleak movie about a woman out of options, powerfully acted by Williams, and emotionally taught. ★★★★

Meek’s Cutoff is how Reichardt does westerns, and is loosely based on a fateful voyage along the Oregon Trail in 1845. Led by Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood), a wagon train of a trio of families has left the traditional Trail for a cutoff, or “shortcut,” that Meek hopes will shave some time off. However, the trip takes the group through the Oregon High Desert, and the lack of water becomes a real problem very quickly. To compound matters, the travelers notice an American Indian watching over their progress from time to time. Some of the wives worry they’ll all end up dead from thirst or Indian attack, while Meek tries to waylay their fears, stating he knows the area and he’ll get them through to the other side, but as the miles and days of endless parched earth compile, death seems pretty certain. When the trailing Indian is captured one day, Meek wants to kill him immediately, but some, in particular Mrs Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams) argue to keep him alive, as he must know where water is. This movie doesn’t have a lot of answers and ends on a very obtuse note, but is expertly crafted to create that sense of real, growing danger with no end in sight. Great cast too, including Will Patton, Paul Danoe, and Zoe Kazan. ★★★

Night Moves brings another great cast (Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, and Peter Sarsgaard; I’m always amazed that auteur directors can get big names to do these low budget films) together for a lowkey thriller. Josh and Dena are friends who share common ideals about the environment and sustainability, and view a local dam as a real threat to the area’s ecosystem. Thus, they want to blow it up. They bring in an ex-Marine, Harmon, with knowledge of such things, and together hatch a plot. The first half of the film is blowing up the dam. With fake ID in hand, Dena buys 500 lbs of fertilizer and Josh procures a boat. The actual act goes off more or less without a hitch, but the next day, they learn from the news that a camper who was in the area has gone missing and is presumed dead. Dena was determined from the beginning that no one would be hurt, and she is wracked with guilt. Josh and Harmon start to wonder if she’ll go to the police and turn them all in, so something needs to be done (in sinister voice). There’s slow burn, and then there’s Night Moves. Using the term thriller is a bit misleading as the tension is light at best, and when there is action, it mostly takes place off camera, but I was still completely engrossed at this trio, who think they are doing a good thing, but who obviously have no idea the ramifications of their actions and who are in way over their heads. ★★★½

After Night Moves came Certain Women (2016) and First Cow (2019), but after that was Showing Up in 2022, her penultimate film before The Mastermind. Michelle Williams is back, this time as an artist/sculptor named Lizzy. She works in the offices of an art school in Oregon, while also working on her own art in the evenings. Lizzy is prepping for a showing of her latest works, but the world seems bent on slowing her down. Her landlord is a fellow artist who doesn’t seem to value Lizzy’s time (and is a terrible landlord to boot), and then her cat maims a pigeon one night. Lizzy throws the bird out the window, but of course the landlord finds it and starts to nurse it back to health, only to ditch it on Lizzy in the end anyway. Lizzy is also dealing with a brother with mental health issues and divorced parents who bicker over anything when they run into each other. As Lizzy’s show nears, she starts to wonder if anyone will attend, even her own family. And that’s it, that’s the movie. There isn’t really a plot per se, it’s just the normal, everyday machinations of a mundane life. Williams is nearly unrecognizable as a slouching, disheveled woman, the kind of person who disappears in a crowd and isn’t noticed. I didn’t connect with this movie at all, I just get what it was trying to say. The rare dud from this director. ★½

• TV series recently watched: Girl Taken (series), Fallout (season 2), Hal & Harper (season 1), The Artful Dodger (season 2), Lost (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Paul of Dune by Herbert & Anderson

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die intrigued me the first time I saw it’s trailer, and when a friend said he wanted to see it because he liked Sam Rockwell (I didn’t even realize it was Sam in the trailer, he’s all done up), I knew I was in for a treat. The premise is thus: a crazy-eyed man from the future (Rockwell as an unnamed character) walks into a diner one night and proclaims he is there to save the world. He is convinced there is the right combination of heroes in this diner, but that he has tried 116 times so far to find the right group, and they haven’t succeeded yet. As crazy as it sounds, he doesn’t seem to be making it up, because he knows everyone in the diner and some personal things about them too, in a Groundhog Day sort of way. It’s all a pretty hilarious game of finding volunteers, When he finally has his ragtag group for this attempt, they are ready to begin.

The man tells the group that they must work their way across town to a 9-year-old who is building an A.I. The group scoffs, saying isn’t that a thing already, but the man says that this particular A.I. will grow to control social media and thus people’s minds. People get so absorbed in their phones that they stop doing their jobs, and half the world’s population will die off within 50 years from failing systems and lack of food. It’s bleak, but the man knows they can stop it from coming. Viewers may think it might be too late, as people are already absorbed in their phones constantly as the movie goes along (one of the man’s volunteers, a teacher played by Michael Pena, has recently had a run-in with smartphone-obsessed students at school who seem to be brainwashed into a zombie-like mob). The team’s leader uses his knowledge from past attempts to guide them across town, but the hardest part awaits when they finally get to the kid’s house, as he has never made it inside. It seems everything in the world is trying to stop them.

The film’s laughs come a mile-a-minute, which does drown out some of the tension in the final act, but I still had a great time. Rockwell is perfect as the crazy (yet somehow sane?) future figure with nothing to lose, and there’s some great twists here and there. It’s also the kind of comedy that has a high re-watchability factor, and that always wins points in my book. ★★★½

It’s rare that my wife wants to see a thriller in theaters, but Crime 101 stars Chris Hemsworth, so I’m sure that’s what changed her mind on this one. He plays a high-end jewelry thief named Mike Davis. Mike’s MO is hitting couriers who transport jewels from one location to another in the LA area, and he’s disciplined enough that he’s been doing it awhile without leaving any real clues for the police to follow. The lead investigator for some time has been Lou (Mark Ruffalo), who knows they are looking for a thief who plans every heist down the most minute detail, but Lou can never seem to get any closer to fingering a suspect.

On his most recent job, Mike is grazed by a bullet which does leave a spec of blood in the otherwise completely clean getaway car, but Mike goes about his business in hopes that it won’t be enough. He has other problems, as his planning partner (an old Nick Nolte) doesn’t care for Mike’s penchant for choosing safe jobs where no one will get hurt, and doesn’t care if they were to “crack a few eggs” in order to get the jewels. When Mike steps away from the next job due to too much risk, the old man hires a thug, Ormon (Barry Keoghan), to do the job anyway. Ormon has no such qualms about hurting people, and he beats a few heads before making off with the bag of jewels and cash. Afterwards, Ormon is directed to tail Mike to learn about the next job Mike is planning, and then to take over to elbow Mike out of the way. The next job Mike has in mind: convincing a frustrated luxury insurance agent (Halle Berry) to betray her company and give up some rich prick who’d be ripe for getting some jewelry stolen. While all this is going on, Mike is getting to know a woman and falling in love, something he’s kept himself from doing all these years. He must move past his emotional hangups even as his professional life is facing hardship.

The tense moments in this movie are very good, with edge-of-seat thrills. Keoghan is always great and he plays a fantastic bad guy. Hemsworth is purposefully emotionally detached, as Mike comes from a poor, rough upbringing and possibly is on the autistic spectrum too. The only problem with the film is there’s too much unsaid and undone. It’s longer than 2 hours but it feels like there were subplots left unexplored, and just about all of the characters are one-dimensional but could have been more interesting with a little more fleshing out. It’s the kind of thing that would have worked better as a 5 or 6 episode miniseries than a feature film. Still, I was entertained, and anytime I go to the theater, that’s what I’m looking for. ★★★

The Rip is one of those straight-to-“video” action films that have thrived in the streaming era. It stars Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as members of a narcotics team who bust up drug houses. Sometimes they find drugs or guns, but usually they find money, so it is a team that is always under suspicion from internal affairs, on the lookout for dirty cops pocketing money. The suspicion is heightened lately too, after one of the team’s own is murdered in what may be an inside job, and the feds have no suspects The day after, the team gets a tip about a drug house where there is $300k on hand, a big haul. When they arrive, they instead find $20 million. Matt and Ben’s characters, the two leads, know they are in serious trouble, from inside and out, because that kind of money will tempt anyone, and the criminals won’t let that kind of money walk out the door without trying to get it back. It leads to these two best friends to start second-guessing each other and everyone in their team. It’s a gritty action film that keeps you on your toes, even if there are a couple too many plot twists; it keeps going “Clue-style” in getting the viewer to suspect one person, and then flipping it on you to suspect someone else. Still, not a bad way to spend a couple hours in mindless gunfights and tension. ★★★

To a Land Unknown is another immigrant movie (lot of those lately) and a rather straight-forward one at that, though it is presented well. Chatila and Reda are two Palestinians who’ve been trying to raise enough money to buy fake passports to Germany; thus far they’ve been stuck in Greece, living in an abandoned warehouse with a bunch of other homeless immigrants. They just about have enough money when Reda relapses to his heroine addiction and blows it all. Chatila wants to say “enough is enough” and go it alone, but he cannot abandon his lifelong friend Reda, who was raised as his brother. Thus, Chatila will do whatever it takes to get them out of Greece together. His first scheme involves helping a solo teen traveler make the trip to Italy, hoping for a payment from the boy’s aunt awaiting him there, but after the trip, Chatila never hears back from them. He then settles on conning other Palestinians out of their voyage money, but this is a much more dangerous proposition, with some violent, powerful men who may not look kindly on Chatila’s machinations. It’s a tense movie, especially in the final act as everything goes wrong and Chatila tries to keep his head above water. Not a complex movie, and the acting is hit-or-miss from a bunch of unknowns, but it is a powerful and timely story. ★★★½

Die My Love is the latest from director Lynne Ramsay, who had a big hit in her first film Ratcatcher (been a long time since I saw it, but I remember it’s powerful story), but who’s failed to match it since. In this one, Jackson (Robert Pattinson) and his pregnant girlfriend Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) move in together to an abandoned old house left to Jackson by his recently deceased uncle. After the baby’s birth, Grace’s behavior grows increasingly erratic, and sometimes violent; she’s definitely high on the Hot-Crazy Matrix. She’ll destroy the bathroom in a fit of rage, or shoot the family dog with a shotgun. Jackson’s mom Pam (Sissy Spacek) tries to comfort Grace by sharing stories of the difficulties new mothers face, with all the stresses and anxieties that come with it, but it doesn’t seem to get through to Grace. Sometimes she’ll have “good days” when things go well and everyone is happy, but most days are a chaotic mess. Jackson tries to save their relationship by marriage, but on their wedding night, Grace makes an advance to a worker at the hotel, crashes her head into a mirror in the bathroom, and then walks home barefoot. Jackson has her committed to a hospital, but that is a short-term fix, and she snaps at a welcome-home party shortly after. This film was a lot like Ramsay’s last, You Were Never Really Here, in that the acting by the lead (Jennifer Lawrence here, Joaquin Phoenix in the other) is absolutely phenomenal and award-worthy, but the movie by itself is just so-so. It is definitely worth watching for Lawrence’s performance, but you probably don’t need to watch it more than once. ★★★

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is the story of a woman who has no power over where her life is going, despite her best efforts. Linda (Rose Byrne, in a career-defining role) is caring for her young daughter alone, as her husband, a commercial pilot, is off for work for an extended stretch. He picked a bad time to be away, as calamity after calamity keeps hitting Linda right between the eyes. Their daughter has a feeding tube because she’s been refusing to eat, and Linda has been told in no uncertain terms that the girl needs get up to 50 pounds within a couple weeks or the hospital will look at new (very ominous-sounding) measures. Then, the roof of their apartment caves in after a water leak in the apartment above, so Linda and the little girl have to move into a shabby motel while repairs are made. Of course, the hired contractor disappears after a couple days, leaving them in a lurch. At work, where Linda is a therapist, she is bombarded by patient after patient, each with a worse story than the one before, until one even abandons a baby with Linda after a particularly rough therapy session. To top things off, everyone Linda comes in contact with seems to have it out for her, giving her shit left and right. As the movie progresses, she is looking progressively haggard and run-down, as each day brings new challenges that never let up. The movie paints a great portrait of a woman who is expected to balance everything in life but who gets absolutely no help from anyone, but the film also does a good job of not always giving Linda a free pass for her behaviors; sometimes she deserves the ills that come her way (like when she continually leaves her daughter alone in the motel room). Excellent performance by Byrne too. ★★★★

The Mastermind is the latest from critics’ darling indie director Kelly Reichardt, and is “the other” film (with a much smaller budget) that Josh O’Connor did last year, the other being his Rian Johnson smash in the Knives Out series. Taking place in 1970, he plays JB, an unemployed carpenter struggling to find a job. He has an appreciation for art, having studied it a bit in college, and he and his wife and kids frequent the local art museum. One day, he steals a small trinket on display there, and his wife looks the other way as they enjoy their little thrill of “being bad,” but it gives JB the nugget of an idea. He brings in two buddies to his plan to rob the museum of 4 high profile and valuable paintings, but the job goes sideways from the very beginning. One of the friends bails out at the last minute, forcing JB to bring in a newcomer, a two-bit criminal who shows up with a gun. While the heist does go off without (much of a) hitch, the criminal newcomer is nabbed shortly after while trying to rob a bank, and fingers JB as “the mastermind” behind the art heist. Police knock on his door to question him, and it is only his ties to his father, a prominent local judge, that keep them from arresting him on the spot. JB flees immediately, first to some friends out of town, and then on to whatever comes next. The movie has a great jazzy soundtrack that feels like it is moving the plot along even in slower moments of the film, and adds tension to JB’s plight. And despite being a crook, you really root for him, a seemingly good guy just trying to get ahead. Taking place in 1970 against the backdrop of the anti-war efforts and a down economy, there’s a lot of parallels events of the last few years too. ★★★½