I’m (still) a sucker for these superhero films, so despite Madame Web getting lambasted by everyone (including its own actors; Dakota Johnson has stated she hasn’t bothered watching it herself) I gave it a go. It starts out well enough. In 1973, a woman and crew are exploring the jungles of Peru in search of a spider whose bite is supposed to provide mythical healing properties. She hopes to use it to heal the world’s sicknesses, but when they find a specimen, one of her crew, Ezekiel, kills her and steals the spider for himself. The woman’s unborn baby is birthed at her deathbed by a tribe who honors/worships the spider. Flash forward 30 years, and the baby has grown up in New York. Cassandra is a paramedic who lives alone when she starts having eerily prescient visions whenever a catastrophe is about to occur. An older Ezekiel lives in the city too, and with the spider’s bite, he shares those powers. He’s been having a vision of an older version of himself being killed by a trio of female superheroes, so he goes out to find them and kill them while they are teenagers. Cassandra comes across these girls on the subway one day, and her visions of Ezekiel attacking them on the train leads her to saving their lives and escaping in time. Until this point, not too bad, but here the film starts to fall off the rails. Why does Cassandra’s visions continually allow her to save herself and her new young friends, whereas Ezekiel can’t tell when anything is about to happen despite having his powers longer? Cassandra is dodging hits and explosions left and right but Ezekiel can’t get out of the way of a speeding car? And you can tell that Dakota Johnson is just mailing it in by the end of the film, not even bothering to look interested. This is the second Sony Marvel bomb in a row, and even the one before that wasn’t all that great. Since there is no chance in hell they’ll give these characters back to Marvel/Disney, here’s hoping they right this ship at some point. ★½

Thunder also had a promising start, but wasn’t able to keep it all together by the end, at least for my tastes. Elisabeth was the second daughter born on a rural farm in Switzerland but sent to a convent at the age of 12 to become a nun, after her parents birthed their fourth daughter in a row. That was the last she heard of her family until now, 5 or 6 years later, when she receives news that her older sister Innocente has died (a little on-the-nose for that name, as you’ll see). Her family has called Elisabeth back home to help work the farm. She is curious as to what happened to Innocente, but her inquiries are met with silence, and her mother says “that daughter’s name is no longer spoken in this house.” Elisabeth is able to discover that Innocente was sleeping around with many of the young men in the village, and it all makes sense once Elisabeth finds Innocente’s hidden diary. In a society that revolves around church and God, Innocente claims to have found God in the ecstasy of flesh, and didn’t care what others thought about it. She pursued men at a time when that was more than just taboo, it was forbidden, leading villagers to say the Devil had her. Elisabeth finds herself following her sister’s footsteps, and begins pursuing 3 young men too. This will lead to dire consequences for her, but of course in that day and age, only the women faced persecution for such acts, and the men would only get a slap on the wrist and told to say their prayers. I get what the director was trying to say, but it honestly didn’t make much sense. Elisabeth had devoted her life to God (even if it wasn’t her choice in the beginning) and to throw that all away in a very sudden manner, because of a sexual awakening of whatever you want to call it, didn’t ring true. Very fine acting from up-and-comer Lilith Grasmug in the lead role, who also was spotted in a great film I saw earlier this year, The Passengers of the Night, but the plot just falls apart under scrutiny. ★★

Turtles All the Way Down is based on a young adult book and makes for a fine drama, touching on a subject not often explored. Aza is a 16-year-old struggling with severe OCD, nearly debilitating. She is obsessed with germs and bacteria, even the thought of the digestive bacteria in her own stomach doing its thing makes her break out in a sweat. Her best friend is Daisy, a free spirit and the source of the comedy in the movie. The town is abuzz with the recent disappearance of wealthy investor Russell Pickett, who was under investigation for shady business deals. There’s a $100k reward offered for news about Russell, and Daisy coerces Aza to get involved for the money. Aza once went to summer came with Russell’s son Davis, and the two bonded over the recent death of one of their parents (his mom, her dad). Though it has been a few years, they immediately step back into that familiarity, but this opens up new challenges for Aza. With her fear of germs, the thought of kissing another person fills her with anxiety. At the same time, Aza must confront her friend Daisy when she discovers that Daisy has been painting Aza in a not-favorable light on an online blog she writes. The first half of the film is light-hearted and funny, with Daisy providing much of the laughs, and while the middle third of the movie is a bit bumpier, it comes out well in the end, even if it finishes up a bit too perfect. It is refreshing to watch a coming-of-age sort of film these days that isn’t covered in sex and presents a decent message. ★★★

Ordinary Angels is based on a true story and stars Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson. In Louisville in 1993, Sharon is a go-getter and a people person but always ends up self-destructing, unable to kick her drinking problem. It has ruined her relationship with her adult son, but she finds a new purpose when she reads an article in the local paper about a 5-year-old girl, Michelle, who’s just lost her mother and is herself in dire need of a liver transplant. Sharon takes it upon herself to start a fundraiser at her work (she’s a hairdresser) and comes up with over $3k in one day. When she barges in on Michelle’s home, with Michelle’s father Ed, and sister Ashley, she is thanked for the help but told no more aid is necessary. The proud Ed doesn’t want a handout and likes to keep his personal life private, but Sharon will not be dissuaded, especially when she learns that the family is nearly $500k in debt due to all of the medical bills for Michelle and the lengthy illness her mother went through before death. For the rest of the movie, Sharon puts those people skills to work and is able to make miracles happen, until the only thing keeping Michelle from getting her liver is her spot on the donor list, and even that is only an obstacle to be beat. Swank and Ritchson are solid in the leads, and though the movie is a bit (or, more than a bit) heavy handed, you can’t help but tear up in the end. Little Michelle is just too cute not to root for. Usually I reserve big ratings for movies that I’d watch again, and while this isn’t necessarily in that category (I think the emotional heft will lose something on a second viewing), I recommend it for anyone looking for a good family film. ★★★★

A Mads Mikkelsen film in his native Danish? Sign me up! The Promised Land is very loosely based on a true story, with a highway full of liberties taken from what I can find, but it is a very good story. Mikkelsen plays Ludvig Kahlen, a retired soldier who worked his way up to captain though hard work, in a time when generally only high born were given a rank that high. Kahlen is no noble, being the bastard son of a maid, the product of rape from her lord. Kahlen knows how to fight to earn anything in this world, and his next goal is taming the Jutland heath, an inhospitable land between Denmark and Germany where kings and lords have been trying to harvest for generations, to no avail. Kahlen has an idea though: potatoes, which can grow anywhere as long as he can find some kind of soil amongst all the dry brush and sand in that region. He gets the lords at court to promise him a noble title with lands and a manor, if he can produce a sustainable harvest on the heath. It will not be easy, as he faces outlaws, mid-18th century prejudices and superstitions, and a local magistrate who sees the heath as his own land, no matter what the King says, and the little pissant will stoop to any misdeed to foil Kahlen’s pursuit. Against all odds though, Kahlen does have help, from others in the bottom of society, including a married couple who ran away from the magistrate’s cruel household (on pain of torture and death if they are discovered) and a Romani girl who was going to be sold by her former traveling companions. It’s a great film with twists and turns, and a determined hero to root for. ★★★★½

I was excited for Asleep in My Palm for several reasons: its an indie film about a family living off the grid (I tend to like these kinds of movies), it stars Tim Blake Nelson (who never disappoints), and it was from a first time writer/director (I have a soft spot for these, in this case, Blake’s son Henry Nelson). The trifecta doesn’t let me down, with a tremendous movie bolstered by top-notch actors. Single father Tom and his 16-year-old daughter Beth (relative newcomer Chloe Kerwin in her first starring role) aren’t just off the grid, they are completely invisible, to the government and even to society. They sleep in a temperature controlled storage unit, living off what they can steal and sell. Tom has one contact, an eccentric young 20-something who talks too much and acts as his fence,, but Beth doesn’t even have that; she has no contact with anyone in the world outside of her father and the nice gas station attendant where they use the restroom and buy snacks. Tom, suffering from obvious PTSD and a disdain for the establishment, likes their situation, away from everything and everyone, but Beth is at an age where her eyes are opening to all of the things she is missing in life, and is no longer willing to just take her father’s word that nothing is better outside of their storage unit. When Tom gets stuck out one night, Beth ventures out on her own and ends up hanging with college kids from the local university. A fairly benign evening, the sort that any college kid goes through a hundred times a semester, but for Beth it is a whole new world. But that’s not the end of the story. When Tom gets in trouble and startling revelations are made, the carefully crafted world he has created for Beth comes crashing down. A wonderful film that shines a light on people living on the fringe of society, with a heart wrenching ending that will stick with you.  ★★★★★

The Beekeeper is the polar opposite of the above artsy film, which you can guess based on the fact that its star is Jason Statham. He plays Adam Clay, a seemingly peaceful beekeeper renting a barn from a retired schoolteacher. The woman invites Clay to dinner one evening, but when he arrives, he finds her dead by suicide. Earlier that day, the woman had fallen victim to a cyber attack which wiped out her savings as well as the $2 million charity fund she managed. Clay decides to seek vengeance for the one person who ever treated him well, and he has the skills to do it. Turns out a beekeeper isn’t just one who harvests honey; Clay is a former member of a super-secret international military unit whose only mission is to keep balance in the world and root out evil and corruption. Long retired, he still has his skills, and nothing is going to stop him from finding the “evil queen” at the center of this hive of villainy, the group that is preying on innocent people and stealing all that they have. There’s some off-the-wall plot twists, unbelievable gun and fist fights, but damn if it isn’t all entertaining. Sit back, turn off your brain, and let the violence wash over you, and you’ll enjoy it enough, as I did. ★★★

The Boys in the Boat, directed by George Clooney, is based on a book, which is itself based on the true story of a men’s rowing team that came together to compete in the 1936 Olympics. In early 1936, Joe Rantz is a student at the University of Washington, but struggling to pay his tuition. The Great Depression is still in swing, and Rantz lives alone in an abandoned car in a shanty town, his mother having died and his father abandoned him; Rantz has been on his own since 15. There are no jobs to be found. When Joe hears that the school is putting together a new JV team and will pay the men who make the team, he tries out. Obviously during a depression, many show up during tryouts, vying for just 8 seats in the boat. Joe has never rowed before but is willing to do anything to keep himself in school, and he works hard to make the team. The coach (Joel Edgerton) sees something in Joe, and as the team comes together and start winning tournaments, they capture the imagination of a nation, a team of hard-working every-men who go up against Ivy League students whose families aren’t struggling. When it comes time to qualify for the Olympics, the coach makes the unpopular opinion to enter the JV squad instead of the Varsity, knowing that they have a won’t-quit attitude. Very stirring film, especially when they do get to the Olympics in Berlin and go up against Hitler’s German team. A little rote at times maybe, and there aren’t any surprises, but it is an entertaining film with emotional heft. ★★★½

Tótem is an emotional film too, but it’s a very different kind of emotion. Rather than the intensity of a competition, we have the sorrow and trepidation of an impending death. Sol is a 7-year-old on the day of her father’s, Tona’s, birthday. Her dad has been living at his father’s (Sol’s grandfather’s) house so that his sisters can help care for him, as cancer has ravaged his body. They have hired a caregiver too, but have run out of money to pay her, and are basically out of money for any future treatments, even to ease Tona’s pain. Everyone knows this will be Tona’s last birthday, so they are throwing a big party, inviting all his friends, and all of the family is turning out. In the beginning, the camera follows Sol (her mother/Tona’s wife is at work) since we know she is losing her father, but she’s not the only one losing someone. Everyone at the party is losing a brother, a son, or a friend, and we get a glimpse into how each person is dealing with that. It ventures towards stream-of-conscious style, especially during the day leading up to the party that night, as people are just going about their business in the house, but you feel the the weight of Tona’s presence in the bedroom down the hall the entire time. And even with the sadness everywhere, there are still moments of brevity, humor, and life. ★★★½

I tend to enjoy the quiet dramas out of China, which always seems to churn out contemplative, moving films. The Breaking Ice follows some of that formula, but unfortunately is much too all-over-the-place to reach the heights it should have. The film follows a trio of young adults but begins with Haofeng, a man from Shanghai who is in northeast China near the North Korean border for an old friend’s wedding. Haofeng doesn’t partake in the festivities and ducks out early, instead joining up with a tour group going through the city. The tour guide is Nana, an attractive young woman who takes an instant liking to the quiet and subdued Haofeng. He is shy and very obviously depressed, always walking off to be by himself, but Nana continually ropes him back in. The two go out that night for some drinks, and tag up with Nana’s friend Xiao. Xiao is a cook in a restaurant and sees his young life as a failure, as he didn’t apply himself in school and has no great outlook on future prospects. He has a crush on Nana, but she only sees him as a friend. The trio party it up that night, causing Haofeng to miss his morning flight, so he stays around for the weekend. The film follows these three for those couple days, and we learn where each came from and about their hopes for the future. Should be great, and some reviewers really thought it was, but for my tastes it never comes together all the way. I don’t mind that there isn’t a satisfying conclusion in the end, but I almost wish the film had been longer for some more diving into the psyche of each of these three. Lost potential on this one. ★★½

• TV series recently watched: Constellation (season 1), Superman: The Animated Series (season 2), Star Wars: The Bad Batch (season 3), Star Wars: Tales of the Empire (series)
• Book currently reading: A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan

I don’t think I’d ever seen a Bruce Lee film all the way through, so it was time to rectify that. Bruce Lee bounced between USA and Hong Kong in the 60s in pursuit of an acting career, but it wasn’t until his first leading role in 1971’s The Big Boss that he started to take off. He plays a Chinese man who has moved to Thailand for work, moving in with family to work at an ice factory. Unfortunately the head of the factory has a shady business: hiding heroine in the ice. When a few workers find out, they are killed and their bodies hidden. Lee’s character is promoted to foreman in an attempt to keep him off the pursuit of his missing friends, but he doggedly keeps asking questions, and when the factory owner sends thugs to silence him, Lee answers with his supreme martial arts skills. The movie gets repetitive after awhile with the constant “where are my friends” and the reply “oh I’ve got the police looking into it” that goes on for way too long, but the fight scenes are good, as you’d expect. Nothing too remarkable as a whole, but it is a start, and at the time the movie was very successful (over 1/4th of the entire population of Hong Kong went and saw it). A star was born. ★★½

Lee cemented his reputation the next year in Fist of Fury. He plays Chen Zhen, a martial arts student in Shanghai. His teacher, master Huo Yuanjia, has suddenly died. Huo preached peace, never to pursue combat, and to only use martial arts as a form of exercise and mental relaxation, but those tenets in his school are put to the test when a rival Japanese martial arts school starts flexing in the area. Chen is not about to let his beloved master be belittled and goes over to the Japanese school to rough up their students. It gets worse when Chen learns that Huo was killed by those rivals, by poison. It all leads to a big epic fight, with Chen taking on the entire opposing school, and an big battle against its master in the end. The action is constant and quick, with only minor breaks here and there for the story, and Bruce Lee dominates the screen. Much better overall film, that is exhilarating from beginning to end. It was a huge hit, made on a budget of $100k and making $100 million. A young Jackie Chan can be spotted as an extra in Huo’s school, and apparently was a stunt double for the rival school’s headmaster during his big fight against Chen in the final confrontation. ★★★½

The Way of the Dragon goes in a different direction than the above movies, unfortunately to worsening results (until the end, more on that later). You can tell from the opening scenes that this one is going for more of a comedic angle; in fact, it takes nearly 30 minutes until we really know the plot. Tang Lung (Lee) arrives in Rome and spends awhile getting into high jinks, like accidentally ordering 5 bowls of soup in a restaurant and ending up in a hotel room with a prostitute, all because he doesn’t speak the language (which is, apparently even in Italy, English). Finally he ends up in a restaurant owned by his uncle, who called home to Hong Kong asking for help. Tang is there to act as protection against some thugs who have been scaring off customers to the restaurant, trying to force the owner to sell to a wealthy developer. Tang is there to act as muscle and fight the thugs off, eventually working his way to the head honcho to keep the baddies away for good. Pretty tame movie until, all of a sudden, the bag guy makes a phone call for America’s best fighter to take on Tang. Showing up: Chuck Norris, in his very first film role. Suddenly this movie got good. I’d give it 1 1/2 stars until the final fight, but who doesn’t love Lee vs Norris, and in the Colosseum no less?! ★★★

Here’s the big one, 1973’s Enter the Dragon, a movie both famous for being hailed as one of the best martial arts films of all time, and infamous for being Lee’s last fully filmed movie before his untimely death at age 32 (it was released one month after his death). The first of these films in English, Lee plays a martial arts instructor in Hong Kong recruited by the British intelligence to infiltrate a martial arts tournament on a remote private island. The tournament is held every 3 years by a shady character named Han, who the British believe is involved in human trafficking and drugs, but they need proof, thus Lee’s involvement. They entice him with the news that Han’s bodyguard, O’Hara, was responsible for Lee’s sister’s death. Lee signs up, and enroute meets others going to the island for fame or fortune: Roper, a former soldier with a gambling problem, and Williams, an American Vietnam vet. On the island, Lee gets to work sleuthing around (I definitely got James Bond spy vibes) while kicking ass in the games. This movie has it all: outstanding nearly non-stop action, conflicted characters, and a devilish bad guy complete with a prosthetic hand where he can attach vicious tools of torture. I think even if the mystique of Lee’s death hadn’t surrounded the release, it still would be considered one of the best (it nabbed $400 million at the box office, an eye-popping number today, much less in 1973). Since it is irrevocably entwined with Lee’s sudden death, the legend has grown even more. ★★★★★

Lee had started filming Game of Death before the offer for Enter the Dragon. Upon his death, changes to the plot were made and it was later finished with doubles and stand-ins, and released in 1978 (actually, very little of the original footage was used, after the changes to the movie). Lee (and, mostly, his stand-ins) plays a version of himself, an actor and martial artist named Billy Lo, who has recently hit it big in Hollywood. He is being coerced to join a big crime syndicate, but with his fame and fortune, he doesn’t see the upside and continually declines. As payback, a thug shoots Lo in the face during filming one day, and everyone thinks Lo is dead (in a tasteless scene, they show Bruce Lee’s actual funeral and body/coffin as Lo’s cover). Instead, Lo did survive, and he plans his revenge. Lo makes the trip to the enemy’s encampment and works his way up to the boss. Literally up, as the finale has Lo climbing floors with a video-game like boss at each floor before he can move on to the next one. Honestly the movie is really rough. The scenes where Bruce Lee is inserted are so obviously fake and the re-used footage from his past movies stands out like a sore thumb. His stand-ins are always hidden in shadow or wearing thick sunglasses (even in a dark restaurant!) to try to keep up the illusion. The ending is really the only good part, and those are the scenes that Lee filmed before his death. His climb up the tower, battling villains on every level, including a towering Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, are as thrilling as any fight in Lee’s oeuvre. But, at the same time, those scenes only give a glimpse of what may have been. ★★

Should have stopped going to the well before Game of Death II. Another film culled from stock footage, it isn’t even a sequel to the above film, sharing only the name of the main character. This Billy Lo isn’t a movie star, but is a well respected martial artist. Honestly I was a bit lost in this film. It was something about a friend of Billy’s dying, and then he chasing down the friend’s daughter. It’s hard to follow because they tried to fit in as many old scenes of Bruce Lee as they could, and tried to get dialogue to match his lips, so most of it doesn’t make any sense. About 35 minutes in, Billy Lo dies (queue more scenes of Bruce Lee’s funeral) and his younger brother Bobby Lo goes on the hunt for Billy’s killers. I thought, maybe the film will get better now, when not trying to pigeonhole stock footage of Bruce into every scene. But no, without him, there’s really no reason to watch. The dialogue, if anything, gets worse, and I only lasted 20 more minutes before quitting. ½

• TV series recently watched: Curb Your Enthusiasm (season 12), True Detective (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Starlight Enclave by RA Salvatore

Reviews of Vietnamese film Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell are squarely divided, with critics lauding it (it won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes) and regular moviegoers calling it a slog. It is slow, I’ll give you that, but anyone that says it has no meaning isn’t paying attention. It opens in Saigon, where two motorcycles have collided head-on. The driver of one is killed instantly; the driver of the second, a woman named Teresa, is mortally injured and later dies at the hospital. Remarkably, her passenger, 5-year-old son Dao, walks away from the crash without a scratch. Teresa’s brother-in-law Thien claims her body and takes it back to the rural village they came from, to be buried with family. Thien is the main character, a man without a compass in life, struggling to find meaning, even when there is meaning all around him, if he would just open his eyes to see it. Thien asks around town for the whereabouts of his brother, who abandoned Teresa and their son, and during his search, Thien is confronted time and again with the faith of those around him. He talks with an old man who fought against the Vietcong during the war, who claims he only survived through the grace of God. Thien runs into an old flame, who has since taken vows to become a nun, and flat out asks her why, seeking answers that have thus far eluded him. There’s even a “good Samaritan” episode when Thien’s motorcycle breaks down on the side of the road. Throughout it all, there are depictions of Jesus and reminders of Teresa’s faith. There’s a very profound moment about halfway through where Dao asks Thien where is heaven, since people keeping talking about it in relation to his mom. Thien starts by painting a rosy picture, but then honestly admits that he too is looking for faith, before returning to a more simplistic, happier definition for the young and hurting Dao. Thien so badly wants to have faith, but maybe doesn’t know how. Of course, that is just about the definition of faith. It is a very languid film (and clocks in at 3 hours) so bring your patience, but to dismiss it as meaningless is a mistake. ★★★½

Out of Darkness is an interesting film that I really enjoyed. It takes place 45000 years ago, following a sextet of people who are arriving to a new shore in the beginning of the film. These are early men, scared of their own shadow (they refuse to approach forests for fear of the demons that live there), but they do have an adventurous spirit and are obviously seeking something better than they had in their old land. However, they are unable to find food in the bleak landscape, and begin to starve. Things turn worse one night when an unseen scavenger grabs the youngest, a 10- or 11-year-old boy named Heron, and takes off. Heron’s father Adem pursues, but the chase leads them into the woods. Adem blindly runs in, and the rest of the crew reluctantly follow. Things get creepy, mostly because these people don’t know what is what (they think an animal den, with its scattered bones and meal leftovers, is a demon pit) and there are some jump scares, but the plot of the film takes an intriguing turn when we learn what is really stalking our protagonists. The film was advertised as a horror film, which maybe turned some viewers off expecting something different. It’s got some thrills but isn’t really what I’d call a horror movie, more of an adventure film with some light scares. And there’s even a lesson to be learned in the end, by those that survive to see it. ★★★½

Driving Madeleine is a very lovely movie out of France. It follows (mostly) a day in the life of taxi driver Charles, who is at a rough moment in his life. His marriage is rocky, mostly over stress about money. Charles works long days and nights driving his taxi, and one day, takes a fair that will take up his whole day. Madeleine is 92 years old, born before “the war” (World War II), and needs to be taken across town to a senior care facility, which she views as a march to her death. She gets in the car and immediately starts regaling Charles with the story of her life. At first, Charles is annoyed; he just wants a quiet drive to get paid. However, he gets wrapped up in Madeleine’s fine story-telling, about her first kiss as a teenager to an American soldier during the war, her abusive marriage later, and so on. Along the drive, she keeps asking Charles for pit stops and detours to see places she knew from years ago. At first, Charles is exasperated, but Madeleine has led an incredible life, and as she tells of it, Charles comes to realize what is really important, and becomes a better person for it by the end. This movie will tug at the heartstrings, mostly from Madeleine’s amazing and, at times, tragic life, but we root for Charles by the end too. ★★★★

Article 370 is a (sort of) true story about the political climate in Kashmir, India, in the late 2010s. When India gained independence in 1947, the states of Jammu and Kashmir were given special status, basically their own government and flag, because the people were mostly Muslim (and leaned towards the newly created Pakistan) but the government was Hindu (and thus pro-unified India). This film picks up in 2016, as tension in the area has been ratcheting up. Terrorists, backed by Pakistan, have been brewing trouble and gaining new followers among the younger generation, so the Indian government has decided it is finally time to bring Kashmir back into their fold. The movie follows many government officials on both sides of the debate, but in particular a special forces agent named Zooni. Zooni does it all in this film, from hunting terrorists to digging for lost documents in dusty libraries to confronting heads of state. She’s an all-around badass. The movie is a little overdramatic, but is certainly interesting, teaching me something about recent history in a part of the world I sadly know very little about. Not one I’d care to watch again, but it did get me on the google for a couple hours researching stuff. ★★½

Going into Rebel Moon 2: The Scargiver, I wasn’t expecting much. After 20-30 minutes, when I was (almost reluctantly) enjoying it, I chalked it up to just being better than my initially low expectations, after the disaster of the first film. 20 minutes after that, when I really started liking it, I had to admit there was more to it than just a gloomy presumption going into the movie. It picks up right where the first film ended, with Kora and her band of small team returning to the farm village to protect it from the Imperium forces, who will be returning for revenge. Her ragtag group of ex-soldiers have to train the villagers to fight seasoned warriors in just 5 days. After the setup, we get right to the big, final battle, which takes fully the second hour of this movie. It is visually dazzling and completely engaging. Don’t get me wrong, this movie still has its issues: lots of cliches, some outlandish plot elements, and you have to suspend belief a couple times to get through more-than-a-couple moments, but it is still a whole lot of fun. I think as a whole, these 2 films would have been better as 1 longer picture, with a good amount of editing to trim the fat, but this second film at least delivers, and gives me hope for more (it does set up future installments). Still, it is getting lambasted by reviewers, but in the words of Nick Hexum, f*k the naysayers cause they don’t mean a thing. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Star Trek (season 1), Shogun (series)
• Book currently reading: Starlight Enclave by RA Salvatore

Talked to a good friend and movie buff the other day, who couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen American Fiction yet, one of his favorite movies last year. Gotta say, it is a great one. Equal parts drama and good old fashioned satire, it stars Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a college professor and author, but who can’t get his latest book published. Publishers are wanting “black fiction” that sells, and the fact that Monk is black isn’t enough, as his books don’t race to the lowest racial stereotypes; case in point, the newest lauded bestseller is new author Sintara Golden’s “We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.” Frustrated with the system, and almost as a joke, Monk takes the pseudonym Stagg R Leigh and writes “My Pafology,” based on the fake Stagg’s “real life” in prison and on the streets. To Monk’s surprise but no one else’s, publishers swoon over it and want to turn it into a movie, even before it comes out, and they don’t shy away even when “Stagg” changes the name of the book to simply “Fuck.” Outstanding satire on our society’s views on racism, especially on how black men and women view themselves, but it doesn’t just stick to Monk’s views either. When he gets a chance to meet and talk with Sintara, we see that she put a lot of work into her book and does have a story to tell. It’s not all jokes though, there’s a whole side plot involving Monk’s family dealing with the deteriorating health of their mom, who has advancing Alzheimers, and the pain of hidden family secrets from decades ago. The drama enhances but doesn’t take away from the comedy though, which is hilarious throughout, but with some hard-hitting poignancy here and there too that will definitely make you think. ★★★★½

The Zone of Interest also received a lot of attention on the awards circuit this past season. A German language film, it tells a fictionalized tale of Rudolf Höss and his family as they lived in an idyllic house just outside Auschwitz during World War II. Höss, the commandant of the concentration camp, goes about his life throughout the film, and it only shows his interactions with wife, family, and friends, never taking the cameras inside the camp. Höss and his wife Hedwig fight, like all couples do, while their kids play, get into trouble, or have swim parties with friends. Of course, the elephant in the room is the camp on the other side of the wall, where you can see the glow from the incineration chambers at night, hear the pop of guns near-constantly, and the occasional wails of anguish. But of course, what we don’t see is that in the camp, they can probably hear the squeals of delight from Höss’s kids, who seem completely oblivious. It’s a stark movie, and has a powerful ending that is completely open to interpretation, but not sure the film is all that great at anything other than giving the viewer the heebie-jeebies. It almost wants you to feel sorry for Hedwig when Höss isn’t listening to her marital complaints about not spending enough time at home, and then later she makes a crack about sending their house servant to the furnaces when she messes up. Will make you feel icky for sure. ★★★

Bob Marley: One Love is a biopic about the man, covering a pivotal moment in his career for a couple years in the late 1970s. At the beginning of the film, Marley is already a big star, and he is using his influence to preach peace in his home nation of Jamaica. The right and left wing parties in the country are at each other’s throats, a conflict that has even brought about violence in the streets, but Marley is pleading for peace between the sides. Two days before a planned concert though, Marley and his friends are targeted in an assassination attempt by one of the political parties, who felt that Marley was cozying up too much to the other faction. No one is killed, and rather than deter Marley, it only strengthens his resolve. In order to bring attention to the country’s problems, Marley embarks on an international tour, first to London where he and his band finish up a new album, but with the ultimate goal of performing in Africa to inspire his ancestors’ people there. Much of the movie is heavily music based, with us hearing many of Marley’s popular tunes throughout. Big fans may find plenty to love, but for me, it started to distract after awhile, because a (long) tune or performance would break up the action of the film and grind the story to a halt. Fine performance from Kingsley Ben-Adir as Bob Marley, and I did come away from the film with a better understanding of what made Marley tick, but it’s not all that memorable of a film. ★★½

I thought I’d find a diamond in the rough with low budget film (with no recognizable faces) The Stolen Valley, but unfortunately it is about the worst kind of action drama you can find. It follows two women, Navajo descendent Lupe and a rough-and-tumble nomad named Maddy, who come together through fate to embark on an adventure. Lupe’s mother is deathly sick with cancer, and Lupe sets out to find her mother’s ex-husband, who owns land in a nearby valley. Lupe is hoping to beg for money for her mother’s treatments. Along the way, she stumbles on Maddy, who seems to know every bag guy in the state, and she agrees to help Lupe on her path in exchange for a payout. I very nearly gave up on this film just 20 minutes in, after Maddy ends up in the backroom of a business with some hoodlums whom she owes money to. Literally every line of dialogue dropped was a cliche, like, “You walked into the wrong place,” and “Get in (the car) if you want to live,” and, “They won’t stop until they kill us both.” One golden oldie after another. I pushed on to see how it all was going to end, but even the plot twists in the second half were overworked. My eyes were starting to hurt from rolling so much. The acting is as bad as you could expect, though newcomer Briza Covarrubias as Lupe wasn’t (always) bad. Can’t say the same for any other character in the film. One star because I did stick around to the end, but maybe that’s just on me. ★

The Crime is Mine is a delightful French comedy with a throwback kind of feel, which makes a bit of sense as it is based on a 1930s play and takes place in that era. Maddy and Pauline are a pair of friends who are broke, months behind on rent and living without water and power in their apartment. Maddy is a bad actress and Pauline is a poor lawyer, so they don’t have much in the way of prospects either. Fame falls in their laps when a wealthy film producer is found dead of a gun shot, and Maddy was the last to see him. She is suspect number one by the hilariously bumbling police, but rather than refute the flimsy evidence (and the viewer definitely thinks she didn’t do it), Maddy pleads guilty, while Pauline scripts a trial worthy of a film production, à la Chicago. They are able to get Maddy set free based on self defense against the groping producer, and Maddy is famous. All could be wrecked though when the true murderer, a silent film era has-been named Odette (played by the always perfect Isabelle Huppert) shows up and wants a cut of the fame, or at least the profits. From the beginning, I got a French New Wave kind of vibe, with its fast dialogue and quick camerawork, but there’s “too much” of a narrative story for a New Wave film. Still, has a classic feel and is supremely entertaining and very, very funny. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Black Knight (series), The Reluctant Traveler (season 2), Ripley (series)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of a Lost Star by Weis & Hickman

Finally got around to seeing Anatomy of a Fall after it won tons of awards this past season, and it’s a great film, well worthy of the praise. In a picturesque chalet in the French Alps, author Sandra is being interviewed by a reporter when their conversation is interrupted by super-loud music in the attic, where Sandra’s husband Samuel is doing some work on the house. Samuel is obviously doing it on purpose, and Sandra is perturbed. Her friend leaves, and shortly after, so does the couple’s son Daniel, who takes the dog for a walk. When Daniel, who is blind from an accident years ago, returns home, he literally stumbles upon the body of his father, lying dead in the snow in front of the house. Daniel screams for his mom, and Sandra comes running out. Over the next few days, she is interviewed by police, who don’t immediately believe her story that Samuel must have fallen out the window from the attic, and when it comes to light that their marriage was rocky, she becomes a prime suspect. The rest of the movie plays out as a courtroom drama, with neither Sandra nor Samuel looking completely innocent in the problems with their marriage. Ultimately, the film doesn’t give you any hard answers; I kept going back and forth on whether it was an accident or murder. The unspoken but glaring hints that are dropped in the final scenes paint a whole new picture on it all too. Great film with absolutely terrific acting. ★★★★½

Unlike the above film, Disney’s Wish was a much-maligned release last year, so I was in no rush to see it, and unfortunately, the critics were right about this one too. It tells the story of a magical kingdom known as Rosas, where the king, Magnifico, has magical powers. When people come to his kingdom, which is an idyllic place with few problems, they must give up their one wish in life. The person giving up their wish forgets it once Magnifico has it, so they don’t remember what they longed for. Once a year Magnifico chooses someone to restore their wish to. Of course, he’s the one deciding, so it is only wishes that he thinks would be for the good of the kingdom. 17-year-old Asha is interviewing to become Magnifico’s apprentice and hopes to persuade him to restore her 100-year-old grandfather’s wish. What she learns though is Magnifico isn’t as benevolent as the people think, hoarding his power and only choosing to restore wishes that don’t threaten him. With all of her heart, Asha wishes on a star, and the star comes down to her. Magical things start happening around her, and Magnifico, who feels magic being used, is threatened. It all leads to a good ol’ good vs evil battle in the end. It’s a very interesting premise, but poor execution and a paper-thin plot with no twists or surprises dooms this movie. Unremarkable and forgettable songs, and humor that my 2-year-old granddaughter may laugh at, but no one else will. The only real redeeming factor is the beauty of its animation, but that’s to be expected these days, and it doesn’t make up for all of the film’s flaws. ★½

If there was ever a true revisionist western where the “good guys” are anything but, The Settlers is it. Taking place in Chile in the late 19th century during the Selk’nam genocide (look it up, pretty dark time in that country), there is currently a land grab going on, and those with the power are the ones getting the land. The government has given a swath of country to a man named José Menéndez, who wants it reclaimed from the indigenous people as well as settlers from other countries who have moved in to the territory. Menéndez charges British expatriate MacLennan with finding a path to the ocean for his roaming sheep herds, and MacLennan picks two to accompany him: American mercenary Bill and Chilean mestizo (of mixed local and European heritage) Segundo. Segundo is quiet and unwilling to butcher the locals en route, but Bill and MacLennan have no such inhibitions, but the indigenous people will not be the only danger. The land grab has brought crazy people (literally insane, it seems) from all over the world, and lets not forget, there’s a genocide going on too. The film does an excellent job of capturing the bleakness of a land without law and order, where no thought is given to fellow man and people only care for their own personal advancement, told from the viewpoint of the resigned and powerless Segundo. Excellent film, if you can stomach it. ★★★★

Ferrari, the newest from award-winning director Michael Mann, stars Adam Driver in the title role as Enzo Ferrari. It takes plays in the late 50’s, a couple decades after he started his racing car company. As he says it, he sells cars to finance his race cars, not the other way around like his competitors, but Ferrari is in financial straits, as they just don’t sell enough vehicles. He is betting heavy on the upcoming Mille Miglia, Italy’s premier distance road race, in order to entice new investors without having to sell portions of his company to people who will want some control over it. On a personal level, Ferrari is at a crossroads too. His wife Laura (Penélope Cruz) owns half the company but they are on the outs, and she is fed up with his womanizing. His longtime mistress, Lina (Shailene Woodley) is pressuring Ferrari to publicly acknowledge their 10-year-old son Piero, a fact that all of the city knows except for Laura. As the big day approaches, Ferrari has to balance his separate family lives with his business, and keep everything afloat. The film finds the perfect balance between drama and thrills, provided by the pedal-to-the-floor thrills of the race. I was totally into it from the very beginning, rooting for Ferrari (despite him being egotistical and bombastic to everyone except Lina) and hoping he could find a way to keep it all together. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Superman: The Animated Series (season 1), Turn of the Tide (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of a Lost Star by Weis & Hickman

I’ve got a set of Japanese films up today, some older, and a couple newer, starting with 1956’s Crazed Fruit, directed by Kô Nakahira. The film follows a young straight-laced man named Haruji, who, for the summer, is hanging out with his older brother Natsu and Natsu’s friends. The crowd tends to hover around an “ultra cool guy” named Frank; he has American looks to go with this American name, though his parentage is never given, and in general, they are a bunch of teens with raging hormones out looking for love. Haruji, being a bit more staid, doesn’t care for the group much, but he is attracted to a young woman in the area named Eri, so he tags along as a way to see her. Eri and Haruji start dating and he falls head over heels, but she’s got a secret: she’s married to an older American. Natsu finds out, and uses the threat of exposing her to get Eri to sleep with him. Just wait until Haruji finds out! The movie starts slow but really gets going in the second half. It reminded me a bit of the classic 80s teen movies à la John Hughes, but was obviously very risqué for its depiction of a post-war teen society in Japan, an upcoming generation who didn’t care for the traditions that previous generations held so dear, and who saw the free-wheeling, caution-to-the-wind American culture as the wave of the future. ★★★½

After recently watching a very good (and long) film from director Masaki Kobayashi, I found a couple more. Kwaidan is an semi-horror anthology film of 4 segments, each dealing with ghosts or spirits. In The Black Hair, a samurai leaves his loving wife to marry another, in order to advance his position, but his new marriage is unloving, and he longs to return to his original wife. When he is finally able to, many years later, he finds the house dilapidated, except for his wife’s room where she is still waiting for him. But she may be as dead as the house… In The Woman of the Snow, two men are caught out in the snow, where a snow spirit kills one but spares the second. She does make him promise to never tell a soul about her, a secret he keeps for many years, while he gets married and has kids, but a slip-up one day ruins his idyllic life. Hoichi the Earless tells of a blind musician who unknowingly is brought to a ghostly hall every night to serenade the long-dead spirits of a long-ago war. When the priests try to protect him from the dead, they end up doing more harm. The last segment, In a Cup of Tea, is the purposefully-unfinished story of a tale-within-a-tale, a writer chronicling a samurai haunted by a malevolent spirit inside a tea cup, which may come to haunt the writer too. Each one of these tales is entirely gripping, with gorgeous hand-painted sets (apparently filmed inside a plane hangar, the largest space they could find to accommodate the big sets). Coming off some big hits, Kobayashi was newly signed to studio Toho and they invested in the film heavily; it was the most expensive film ever produced in Japan at the time. And it is a lovely, scary, tense journey from beginning to end, a true masterpiece. It won a prize at Cannes in 1965, and was nominated for an Oscar here in the states. ★★★★★

Kobayashi followed up in 1967 with Samurai Rebellion, its attention-grabbing English name since samurai films played well here, though in Japan its original title was more akin to Rebellion: Receive the Wife. The original title better conveys what the film is, not really an action film (though there is plenty of that before the end), and more of a family drama, and a taut one at that. In Edo Japan, Isaburo Sasahara (the incomparable Toshiro Mifune) is head-of-household and one of the Aizu clan’s premier swordsman. Isaburo follows his lord in all things, but fights back a bit when the lord commands Isaburo’s son Yogoro to marry the woman Ichi. Ichi is the former lord’s mistress and even bore him a son, but she fought back against him one day and he now wants her gone. Isaburo has long been in a loveless marriage himself, and doesn’t want to see his son follow suit, so they give some pushback but ultimately agree, in order to keep the peace. Thankfully, Ichi is nothing like what her reputation told, and is a loving wife who gives Yogoro a daughter, Tomi. Turns out Ichi only made a scene at court when the lord’s eye wandered to another, and she didn’t want to be with him anyway. All seems settled until the lord’s eldest son gets sick and dies, setting up Ichi’s son to be the new heir. It would not be proper for the heir’s mother to be married to a vassal, so she is called back to court. Yogoro will not see her go, and this time, Isaburo will not just acquiesce to the lord, setting up a standoff. Really great film, and I’d like to rate it higher, but unfortunately it does really drag at times, with characters constantly repeating themselves (over and over again) so that some 5 minute scenes turn into 15, for really no reason at all that I can tell. Still, a very enjoyable film about standing up to the abuses of power. ★★★½

After a few classics, thought I’d turn to more modern films, so finishing with a couple from director Hirokazu Kore-eda. I’ve seen a trio of his more recent films and liked them all (especially Shoplifters and Broker, but also his French film The Truth), so today I’m going back to some earlier films, starting with 1998’s After Life. If you tend to cry at movies, bring a handkerchief to this one. It opens at a school-like building, with counselors wrapping up last week’s visitors (having sent all 18 “on their way”) and discussing this week’s 22 newcomers, assigning a third of them to each of 3 caseworkers. As the new people are being interviewed, we learn that this place is a sort of way station for the newly dead. Over the course of the week, each person has to choose one memory from their life, the only memory that each will retain, to relive for all of eternity. The counselors are there to guide them to this moment in life, and by the end of the week, the crew and actors will reenact that moment on a film stage for the newly departed. After the person sees this newly created moment based on their memory, they are able to move on. The memories the people choose are as varied as humans are from one another: an old lady picks an early memory of cherry blossoms raining from trees when she was 9, a child who died at 1 recalls warm sunlight through the window while their mother was nearby, a middle-aged woman recalls a dance she did as a little girl, etc. Some have a hard time picking one out of so many good memories, while others have difficulty finding one good memory out of a lifetime of mundane moments. One young man flat out refuses to choose a memory, and hints that he didn’t lead a good life and is just thankful that there isn’t a hell waiting for him. Told almost as a documentary as the counselors interview and get to know these people waiting to move on, the viewer takes a trip through those cherished moments in lives, some of which may seem insignificant at the time, but which leave lasting impressions. And what of those counselors themselves? By the end we learn their stories and why they have not advanced to what is next. As touching a film as you will find, if you are loves movies (and don’t mind subtitles), it doesn’t get any better. ★★★★★

Finished a string of really good movies with Kore-eda’s Still Walking. This is a quiet, subtle family drama, with an almost Ozu-like feel. It takes place (mostly) over one day, on the 12-year anniversary of the death of Junpei Yokoyama. The family gets together every year on this day to remember his life cut short in a drowning while saving a friend. The father, a retired doctor named Kyohei, wanted someone to take over his family medical clinic, and while the popular Junpei was headed in that direction before his death, surviving son Ryota went in a different direction. Ryota is a disappointment in his father’s eyes in more ways that one, going into an unpredictable field (art restoration) and marrying a widow with a child (historically a no-no in Japan). Also at the house for the day is Ryoto’s sister Chinami and her unassuming husband and kids. The glue in the family, as is the case for most families, is their mother and Kyohei’s wife Toshiko, whom everyone acquiesces to. Ryota feels the weight of lost dreams, walking with a hunch around the house though straightening when he is outside, and the family constantly tells fond stories of Junpei, even when memories are wrong and it was actually Ryoto who did some of the deeds now credited to Junpei. And whereas Ryoto’s old room has become storage, Junpei’s remains much as it did all those years ago. Some family drama comes to light throughout the film, but there are no significant revelations or “gotcha” moments ever; it stays strictly a realistic film about how a sudden death can change the course of an entire family. Outstanding, understated movie that won’t necessarily move you while you are watching it, but one that will leave an impression long after it ends. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Mr Robot (season 4), Mindhunter (season 2), The Completely Made-up Adventures of Dick Turpin (season 1), The Brothers Sun (series), The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (series)
• Book currently reading: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Color Purple is a movie based on a musical which is itself based on a book, which I read just a few years ago. If you’d like to get the gist of the story, you can read my blurb on the book here. This film is fantastic, and a fairly faithful adaptation, though events are a bit out of order here and there (at least, from the book; I have not seen the musical). But the important message is the same: Celie is born into a hopeless situation and finds nothing but adversity throughout much of her life, but is able to persevere and find happiness in the end. The movie is dark at times but not nearly as dark as the book, leaving out much of the constant beating Celie received from her husband for all those years, and only touching on other dark moments in her life; I think they would have been hit with a hard R rating if they’d kept some of those elements. It also plays a bit better in book form, where it reads as letters written instead of a narrative story, but still, this is a very good interpretation and is as moving a story as you will find. ★★★★

Eileen is a story of two halves. The first is in getting to know Eileen, a young woman in the 1960s who works at the local teenage prison/correction facility. Everyone knows who Eileen is because her father is Jim, former chief of police in the small town, who lost his edge on life when his wife died. Jim is now an alcoholic and is emotionally abusive towards Eileen, something that grants her the sympathy of the townspeople. At work, Eileen daydreams about sleeping with the handsome guards, and at home, daydreams about killing herself or her father (or both). It’s a dreary existence, but excitement comes in the person of Rebecca, a newly arrived psychologist brought in to talk to new inmate Lee Polk, a teen charged with brutally killing his police officer father. Rebecca is everything that Eileen is not: outgoing, sexy, self-assured, and the eye-catcher for every man she walks by. When the hint of a love affair sparks between Eileen and Rebecca, I thought this film was really going somewhere. And then the shoe fell off. The movie takes a very strange, out-of-character turn, and it never finds its way back to the path (Spoiler ahead). Rebecca invites Eileen over to her house, but when Eileen gets there, Rebecca is a nervous wreck, and eventually admits it isn’t her house. It is Lee’s parent’s home, and in the basement, Rebecca has tied up Lee’s mom in order to extract a confession that Lee’s dad was abusing him, to help in Lee’s defense. It’s so out of left field that I couldn’t settle in after this, even though ultimately the film tries to show more of Eileen’s character than Rebecca’s. Anne Hathaway is Rebecca, and she was OK if a bit stereotypical, but Thomas McKenzie is spectacular as Eileen. Since I saw her first as a teen in Leave No Trace, she’s continued to surprise me. ★★½

If Tilda Swinton is in it, more times than not I’m going to like the film; she just seems to have a good eye for scripts. In The Eternal Daughter, she reunites with director Joanna Hogg (I loved her film The Souvenir, its sequel… not so much). In this film, Swinton has two roles: a middle-aged woman named Julie and her mother, Rosalind. The two are checking into a large house that has been converted into a hotel, and get flack immediately from the front desk clerk. She doesn’t want to meet their requests for a certain room or accommodations, despite the hotel seeming empty with no other guests (in her defense, Julie is pretty overbearing and exacting). The movie gets into the “action” pretty quick, which is the eeriness of the hotel. Julie will take a long look at a window, like you would do if you think you see something, but we the viewers never see what she is seeing, so we don’t know if there’s something there or if Julie’s just seeing things. And there’s strange noises at night, which gives the viewer the creeps for sure, but they could easily be explained by Julie’s sleep deprivation and the fact that it is an old house (I live in a 100 year old house, and all kinds of things “go bump in the night”). The reason for Julie’s and Rosalind’s choice of this location eventually becomes clear: it was once owned by Rosalind’s family and she had some happy (and some very sad) memories of the place. Julie is a filmmaker, and she’s trying to write a story about her mom’s life while she is still alive, but severe writer’s block is keeping her from even getting started. The tension builds to a big surprise (which wasn’t really a surprise to this tired old critic who has seen it all) but the climax isn’t really what this movie is all about. It’s about Julie coming to terms with her mom and how she has put much of her life on hold to care for her. Fantastic acting by Swinton and a sure hand by Hogg, but the slow pace will test some people’s patience. Not mine. ★★★★

Fitting In is an outstanding coming-of-age indie film out of Canada. Lindy is 16 years old, new at school with just a single friend, and her life is about to come crashing down. She likes a boy at school and her friend urges her to get on birth control before Lindy starts having sex, so she goes to a doctor for an exam to get on the pill. Despite being 16, Lindy has not had her period, something that she never really thought too much of, since her mom too was nearly 17 before she started menstruating, and Lindy and her mom just figured late blooming ran in the family. However, when Lindy tells this to the doctor, he takes one look at her well developed body and knows something is up. A vaginal exam confirms it: Lindy has a rare disorder called MRKH syndrome. She was born with ovaries but no uterus and only an inch of underdeveloped vagina, something not discovered previously since she looks completely normal on the outside. Not only can she not sleep with her boyfriend, but she can never birth children. The doctor sends her home with various sized dildos in order to stretch out her vagina over the next “3 to 18 months, however long it takes” so that she can have sexual intercourse one day, but that’s not the kind of thing a 16-year-old wants to hear. If we can all remember what life was like trying to survive high school without something hanging over your head, try to imagine what Lindy starts thinking about. Maddie Ziegler’s performance as Lindy is a revelation, and while the film delves down into too many clichés, it lands on its feet by the end, and is able to visit several modern-day issues teens face (whether parents want to hear about it or not). ★★★½

I.S.S. brings together a decent cast of recognizable faces for some space adventure, but unfortunately it doesn’t all come together. Aboard the International Space Station, Americans and Russians have always been able to work together, no matter what political turmoils are going on down on Earth. However, one morning, the astronauts glance out the window and see flashes of light from the surface of the planet, which immediately seem to be the detonations of large, possibly nuclear, bombs. Communications are down for awhile, but when they come back up, the Americans receive a message that they are to take command of the I.S.S., by any means necessary. Guessing that the Russian cosmonauts have received the same message from their country, tension on the station ratchets up, with everyone playing dumb and saying they’ve received no new messages from the planet. It isn’t long before someone makes a move though, and out in the space, there’s really no where to hide. That could have been a good tagline. Anyway, the whole thing isn’t as suspenseful as the filmmakers would have hoped, and the talented cast is wasted on this gussied-up B movie with some neat effects. ★★

I had originally intended to do a whole series of Japanese films (been awhile since I last did), but the first film on my list was Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition. When I saw it clocked in at nearly 10 hours, I decided to split this one up! Originally released in 3 parts over 3 years between 1959-61, it is based on a 6 part epic novel. Because it is a 3 part, there will be spoilers obviously in the first two synopses.

The first part, subtitled No Greater Love, begins during World War II and introduces us to main character Kaji. An idealist and socialist, he is at odds with the powers-at-be during Imperial Japan. He’s in love with Michiko, but refuses to marry her and make her a widow if he gets drafted to fight in the war. He finds a way out though when he hears of a job at a in Manchuria, China, where Japan has annexed the area and is using it as POW forced labor camp. Helping the government in this way, he won’t be drafted (thus, marrying Michiko), and he hopes to make the lives better for the Chinese prisoners. Kaji quickly finds out that his ideals are at odds with how the camp is run. The overseers at the mines are brutal with the Chinese detainees, whipping them and withholding food as punishment, however, Kaji does have the backing of the camp administrator, who is open to any ideas to increase productivity. Kaji is able to win over a handful of Japanese coworkers at the camp, but most stay vehemently opposed, and the prisoners don’t help. They see Kaji as nothing more as the latest puppet of Japan’s government, a government which hates the Chinese people. To make matters worse, a few Chinese men are able to escape, and when Kaji leans of how they are doing it, he doesn’t tell his supervisors. This will come back to haunt him, when an overseer who has been skimming off the top targets Kaji to get him out of the way. When a group of prisoners are wrongfully accused of an escape attempt and the military comes down hard with a verdict of execution by beheading, Kaji attempts to stick up for the Chinese and sets himself right in the military’s crosshairs. They revoke his special status, and the first part ends as Kaji is drafted and being sent to war.

Part 2 (Road to Eternity) picks up there. Kaji is at basic training and is excelling at soldier duties, earning high marks for marksmanship and duty work, but the rumors that he is “a red” are keeping him from advancing. He also has a propensity for helping those who need it, aiding one recruit in particular, Obara, who is always targeted by superiors for his physical weakness and poor “soldier skills.” When the hazing gets too rough, Obara takes his own life. The brass are going to look the other way, blaming Obara for his own deficiencies, so Kaji takes it upon himself to right those wrongs. He keeps needling the officer who led the poor treatment of Obara, even after the two of them are transferred to the front. There, Kaji fights to be given his own platoon to train, with respect rather than brute force, and his men love him for it. But when the war finally comes to their doorstep, with Russian tanks and soldiers indiscriminately killing, Kaji will have to see if his ideals hold up to the brutality of war. I found this section wasn’t as great as the first, with some slow sections that honestly felt repetitive and even a bit like filler, but am hoping for a rebound in the upcoming final film.

The last film, A Soldier’s Prayer, starts immediately where the previous ends. Kaji and two other soldiers are in a land overrun by Russian soldiers, their unit having just been slaughtered in the previous battle. Kaji is facing an existential crisis, trying to reconcile his beliefs in the good of humanity while now considering himself a murderer. Kaji is filled with self loathing, to the point that he stops caring for anything or anyone. He and his fellow soldiers set out across the countryside, picking up a group of ragtag displaced citizens and other lost soldiers along the way, in search of food and shelter. The journey is hard, and people fall dead along the way from starvation, exhaustion, or suicide when they’ve lost hope, and that is before the group starts facing off with Chinese farmers who’ve been armed by the Soviets. When they get in a skirmish and the Chinese kill a woman who was traveling with Kaji’s group, he decides to stop running and start fighting. The very Chinese people that Kaji defended in the first film become his target. On his journey south, Kaji will see all of the ravages of war: Chinese villages plundered by Japanese, Japanese settlements living in fear as the countryside has turned against them, and women and wives who have turned to prostitution to survive. There’s also the growing fear of civil war in the area, with Russian-backed Communists forming up against the current government, backed by the Americans. Though the nation of Japan has long since surrendered, the war for Kaji is far from over. Eventually they are captured and put to work in a Soviet work camp. Until now, Kaji has praised the Soviets, even when they were enemies, for their socialist platform as being good for the common man, but he finds that working in their camps is no different than how the Chinese were treated in Japanese camps in the beginning of the film. Through all of this, Kaji’s thoughts often turn to his wife Michiko, wondering if he will see her again, and if he does, if he is still worthy of her for the things he has done. As a harsh winter sets in, you start to realize that Kaji is never making it home. All in all, a very moving film,  though definitely feels long and paced at times. It’s a bleak look at humanity at its worst, and makes you consider a lot of things. ★★★★

• TV series recently watched: Masters of the Air (series)
• Book currently reading: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I’ve liked a lot of films from director Yorgos Lanthimos (links to all of his stuff here), and was intrigued by his newest, Poor Things, especially after it recently won a few awards. It follows a young woman named Bella (Emma Stone, who just won the Oscar for this role) in 19th century London. Bella is under the care of a doctor and scientist named Godwin, who has recently hired a student named Max to study Bella and record all of her deeds and doings. Bella is Godwin’s experiment, the result of taking the brain out of an unborn child and implanting it in her mother’s recently deceased body. So while Bella has the body of an adult, she is mentally no more than a child, and Godwin intends to record her progress. Finding her childlike innocence endearing, Max falls in love with Bella and proposes (once she can put more than a couple words together), but Bella is still very young mentally, and wants to see the world. When an older worldly man, Duncan (Mark Ruffalo), asks Bella to run away with him, she does, and finds a sexual awakening with him. However, of course it isn’t all peaches and rainbows, and Bella will have to do some serious growing up before the end. The acting is great, and the movie has Lanthimos’s trademark weirdness, but honestly I wasn’t enamored. For a long time, Bella is all about sex; it is the driving force in her life for a big portion of the movie. Very Freudian for sure, but it got old after awhile. And while I’m sure the main point of the film was letting Bella become an individual without a man controlling her (because everyone does, from Godwin, whom she not-so-subtlety calls God, to Max, who wants to put her in a box and keep her the same forever, to even society, which wants to make her a prostitute when she runs out of options), that moral becomes muddy when Lanthimos gives the audience a cheap laugh in the final minutes of the film. This is two of his films in a row that didn’t wow me, despite them getting more national attention than any of his older stuff. I definitely liked his older, smaller films better. ★★★ 

To do a play on the famous line from Stephen King’s The Stand: this is how a franchise ends; not with a bang, but a whimper. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the finale to the DC Extended Universe, a franchise that started over a decade ago to go up against Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. There were some good moments in the franchise, but its bad movies were very bad, and DC is starting over with a reboot in 2025. Aquaman 2 picks up after the first film. Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is king of Atlantis and rules the sea, but he is still the target of David Kane, who survived the last film. Kane finds a magic item, a trident, which houses the spirit of an ancient evil that wants to destroy everything and everyone in the world. The spirit possesses Kane, and with its power, he builds an army to fight Curry, while also using the sea’s power to increase climate change to threaten humans on land. The film throws everything at the wall to see what sticks, and I mean everything. We’ve got a Star Wars bar scene, some Land Before Time, a little buddy cop feel (Curry and his brother Orm, who was a bad guy in the first film but now has to be good for the betterment of all), and a host of other film clichés and tropes. If the action were better, it could hide some faults, but like the first film, because it mostly takes place under water, it all looks a little fake. DC, c’est la vie. ★½

Hands That Bind is a tale of two movies. The bulk of the story is fantastic. It follows a man named Andy who is living on a farm in western Canada in the early 1980s, with his wife and kids. They don’t own the land, but have been working for owner Mac for a long time. Mac is estranged from his adult kids, so Andy has dreams of taking over the farm when Mac is ready to hang it up. But one day, one of Mac’s kids shows up. Dirk is a complete jerk, bossing his wife around in public and putting Andy down any chance he can get, making sure Andy knows his place as a hired hand. With Dirk back, Mac makes it clear that he’ll be getting the farm, and since Dirk is young and can do the farm chores (despite no real desire to), they give Andy a timeline of a month or two to find a different job and move on. The problem is there is no real work to find in the area, and Andy has been reluctant to contact his own father for help over some fight decades ago. All of that story is great, with a slow-burning tension that pervades throughout, and you watch patiently hoping Dirk gets what’s coming and Andy comes out on top. However, there’s these weird subplots that don’t make any sense. Andy dreams about his wife eating bloody meat. There are dead cows found strung up in trees, cows which have been surgically sliced up. And then there’s weird noises and strange lights in the sky. Are they being visited by aliens? If so, it is never explained, and left for interpretation by the viewer. I wasn’t buying it, and would have preferred a more straight-forward story. Still, solid acting from Paul Sparks as Andy and the always-scene-stealing Bruce Dern as a neighboring farmer. ★★½

All of Us Strangers is the latest from English director Andrew Haigh. Not super familiar with his work, but I did like his film 45 Years a few years ago. This movie follows a gay man living in London, a man who is carrying around a lot of baggage. Adam has no friends and only ventures out of his high-rise apartment for work or food. One out-of-the-norm visit happens though when he gets on a train and heads out to the suburbs, where he goes to his childhood home. His parents are there, though they look awfully young to be his parents, and admonish him for not visiting for years. They seem loving though, and they have a nice evening catching up. Back in his apartment building, Adam meets Harry, and they begin a timid relationship. In a very poignant moment, Adam tells Harry that his parents died in a car wreck when he was 12; turns out when he is visiting them at home, he is really just seeing visions of them, of how they were last he saw them (thus, why they appear so young). Because Adam lost them so young, and never got to come out to them, he’s lived his life finding it very difficult to make attachments. His visions with his parents are now a way to work through those conversations that he never had a chance to have. His parents tell him the kinds of things he would have in his own subconscious, putting words to thoughts that he himself may not be aware of, all in the process of finally healing. At the same time, Adam is starting this relationship with Harry, which brings a whole new set of feelings. Harry is a lot younger, about 10-15 years, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but there’s a generational difference between them. Adam grew up in a time when he was bullied for being gay, whereas Harry came out to his parents and the world without much blowback. The ending has a bit of a surprise that I did not see coming, and not sure how I felt about it, but there are some truly heartwarming and heart wrenching moments in this movie that will move you. I think everyone who loses a loved one, especially a parent, would love to have one more day with them. ★★★½

I always try to catch the handful of sci-fi films that come of Korea, because I’ve had good luck with them in the past. Not so much for The Moon. In 2029, South Korea is trying to become the first country since the USA to put a man on the moon. NASA and an international alliance have built a lunar space station, but Korea has struck out on its own, and its program is under pressure for results. 5 years ago, a deadly disaster killed 3 of their astronauts, so there’s a lot of urgency to make this mission go off without a hitch. Unfortunately it does not. The trio gets up into space OK, but a solar flare wipes out major systems on board. The 2 most experienced astronauts do a spacewalk to repair the systems, but a sudden explosion of leaking fuel kills them, leaving just one man in the hobbled ship. And that man isn’t really an astronaut, he’s a former military soldier picked for this mission because his dad (now dead) was a pioneer in Korea’s new space program. Alone up in space, the soldier-turned-astronaut has to navigate meteor showers (three of them!) and so much contrived drama that your head will spin. I lost track of how many “countdowns” I had to endure, and the numerous “Abort! Abort!” instructions when something went wrong. Horrendous acting, completely unbelievable disaster after disaster, and some graphics straight of Babylon 5, decades ago. ½

• TV series recently watched: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (season 1), The New Batman Adventures (series), The Witcher (season 3)
• Book currently reading: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell