We Live in Time is a decent little drama that relies solely on the acting chops of its two leads, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, to carry the film, and thankfully they are up to the task. This movie hits you hard and fast. In the first scene, Almut is waking Tobias up with a taste test (she’s a chef). In the next, some unknown time before or after the first, she is waking him up with labor pains for a very advanced pregnancy. In the third (again, unknown when) scene, they are receiving news that her cancer has returned, and Almut hypothesizes that maybe, instead of going through a year of chemo, surgery, and more chemo, just maybe they don’t do anything and live life to the fullest for the 6-8 months they have left. All that in the first 10 minutes, setting the viewer up for an emotional rollercoaster of a film. The movie continues to bounce around, from moments when they first met to the end (and you know, there will be an end, so get your hankies ready), but as a whole it paints a picture of their relationship, good, bad, and ugly, but mostly good. The story is pretty standard stuff, and if it had been told linearly, it probably would’t have had as much of an emotional impact, but it was put together well. Garfield and Pugh are tremendous, so even if this kind of movie isn’t typically your cup of tea, it’s worth seeing for their performances alone. Both have received a few major award nominations in the past (one Globe Best Actor win for him, for Tick, Tick, Boom), but they’re both still young and this film showcases that each has a bright future. ★★★½
In the Summers is a fantastic indie film about the repercussions of your actions, and how those actions can affect those you care the most about. Vicente is a recently divorced man living in Las Cruces, NM, and his two daughters, Violeta and Eva, come visit him during school summer breaks. The film is told in four chapters, each a few years apart from each other, so we see how their relationship changes over a 15-ish year period. In the first, the girls are young. Eva is maybe only 6 or 7 and is delighted to see her dad and spend time with him. You can tell that Violeta, a year or two older than Eva, has some reservations, perhaps based on past summers with him or some knowledge about some of Vicente’s shortcomings. All is forgotten soon though, as Vicente fills their days with joy and play, even as we viewers recognize that some of his actions aren’t exactly kosher (drinking a whole pitcher of beer, encouraging unsafe behavior, etc). As kids, the sisters are none-the-wiser, until chapter 2, when they are both a bit older. Vicente is also further along in his alcoholism, and isn’t nearly as engaging with them, leaving them alone at his house several times while he goes out. Violeta is starting to show affection towards other girls and cuts her hair short, much to Vicente’s chagrin. When he takes them out one night, he has too much to drink, causing a terrible car accident on the way home. We don’t know their fates until the next scene, chapter 3, when only Eva comes to visit Vicente one summer a few years later; Violeta has obviously not forgiven him. Vicente has gotten worse, to the point that in chapter 4, when Violeta and Eva both come back as college grads (Violeta has now transitioned to present as male), and neither of them want anything to do with their dad. Which is unfortunate for him, because it looks like he has finally turned his life around. Now that he wants to have them in his life, they have already moved on. There’s a really powerful scene where Vicente tries to engage them in conversation, telling them that he’s been saving money so that he can pay for their plane tickets next time they visit. The two siblings share a knowing look, and I could see plain as day that they don’t plan on ever coming again, but Vicente either misses it or tries to ignore the writing on the wall. Such a wonderfully sad and compelling movie, with a cast of mostly unknowns or, at least, untried actors. Vicente is René Pérez, a Puerto Rican rapper in his first film role, and the eldest version of Eva is Sasha Calle, who had a memorable role in the last The Flash film as Supergirl, but that’s it. If you love indie film, this one is worth checking out. ★★★★★
I had heard nothing about The Gorge until it was already released on Apple+, even though it has big names both behind the camera (director Scott Derrickson, of Doctor Strange and The Black Phone) and in front of it (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy). Seems Apple knew it wasn’t going to be a knockout, thus the straight-to-streaming release. Still, it isn’t awful, and some parts are really good. It takes place in present day where a crack shot American sniper, Levi, is sent to a super-secret watch tower in some unknown country, to watch over “the gorge.” On the other side is his counterpart, Drasa, a Lithuanian who is his equal with a gun, who is charged by her country to do the same job. Turns out Western Powers and Eastern Powers having been manning these opposing towers since just after World War II, but not to watch each other; they are there to prevent evil creatures, nicknamed the Hollow Men, from coming out of the gorge. In the 1940s, a battalion of 2400 men went in to try to clear it out, and none ever came out. All Levi and Drasa have to do is make sure nothing makes it past their defenses. They aren’t supposed to talk to each other, and as far as we know, the two sides have always followed rules, but Levi and Drasa buck tradition and start sending messages to each other. Loneliness leads to a relationship, until one day Levi makes the risky move to cross the gorge for an in-person visit. Things go south when he tries to return to his side, and creatures coming out of the gorge break his tether and he falls in. Drasa jumps in to save him, and together, they uncover the mystery of the gorge and the powers-at-be that want to keep it secret. A strange blend of romance, action, and horror, this movie sort of has it all. The first half is great, with lots of mystery and emotion, but the movie loses itself a little just when it should be picking up, as the second half isn’t nearly as exciting (despite it having the most action). Slightly better than average, overall. ★★★
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an animated film taking place in Peter Jackson’s version of Tolkien’s world (unrelated to the Amazon series; Jackson is a producer here and there’s a handful of casting carryovers in voice work from his film series). The movie takes place 200 years before the sextet of Jackson movies, and focuses on the daughter of King Helm Hammerhead in Rohan (remember the big scene in Helm’s Deep in the movies?). Héra is a headstrong young woman who is allowed free reign, as her brothers are set to inherit the kingdom. An alliance is proposed by marrying her to Dunlending lord Wulf, but she balks at the arranged union, upsetting Wulf’s father who challenges King Helm. Helm kills the man in a fight, and Wulf swears vengeance, leaving Edoras to go out into the fields to build an army of rebels. They attack Edoras, but Helm is able to get his people to escape in time and make the trip to the fortress of Hornburg (future Helm’s Deep). Wulf’s army begins a long siege, but when whispers go through his camp that Helm is raising the dead to defend his people, they are spooked and begin to desert. Wulf calls for an all-out attack before his forces dwindle too much, leading to an epic battle. This film got some middling reviews but I really liked it. I’m definitely a fanboy though, having read Lord of the Rings a half dozen times (or more) in the last 35 years. It’s a neat little story about the history of a small kingdom in Tolkien’s great big world, and honestly I’d like to see more such tales. ★★★★
The Order is a based-on-a-true-story movie about some bad people in the American northwest in the early 80s. Terry Husk (Jude Law) is an FBI agent looking for some quiet cases, as his last couple of highly fraught, tension-filled assignments have led to problems with his wife at home. He’s not going to find peace in Idaho though, as a man has recently gone missing and it is suspected that he was killed by a local group affiliated with the Aryan Nation. Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan, who grew up fast in the last 10 years! I remember seeing him in the early 2010’s in Mud and Joe and thinking this kid is going places.) is a sheriff’s deputy with knowledge of the locals, and helps Terry connect the dots. What they come up with sends chills down your spine. A neo-Nazi named Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult, who is in everything these days!) is going around robbing banks and armored cars, and counterfeiting money on top, in order to put together a cache to hire an army, with the endgame of starting a race war. Terry and Jamie need to find the mastermind before it comes to that, but unfortunately for them, no one is talking. This is a very well put-together film, with fantastic, tense, building music in all the right spots, and gorgeous landscapes captured by director Justin Kurzel (an Australian, and it always seems Australian directors have an eye for wide open spaces). Strong acting and good action, even if you pretty much know what is going to happen before it does. It is a bit disconcerting that the people that are being chased so hard by law enforcement in this movie are the same kind of people that are given free reign on X today in the spirt of “free speech.” ★★★½
- TV series recently watched: The Zeta Project (seasons 1-2), Daredevil (season 1), Cobra Kai (season 6.3), Dexter Original Sin (season 1)
- Book currently reading: What if Loki Was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux
Jons Movie Takes 