I was 30 when the first How to Train Your Dragon animated film came out, in the “in between” age where you are too old for cartoons and too young for a warm-hearted family film. Thus, I never saw them, so while my son (who did at the time, and is now an adult) had no desire to mess with his childhood and see this newest live-action remake, I had no such qualms. The film takes place in a Viking village and follows 16-year-old Hiccup. The village has fought off attacking dragons for generations, but Hiccup has never been good at it, so he’s been relegated to the sidelines even as others his age are ready to step up with the adult warriors. Hiccup does manage to shoot down the fabled Night Fury dragon (called so because it is black and no one has ever seen one because the dragons attack at night). Hiccup goes out into the forest the next day and finds the wounded dragon, but rather than slay it as he is supposed to do, he befriends the beast, naming it Toothless, and nurses it back to health. By hanging out with the dragon, learning how to fly on its back, Hiccup learns all about dragons and is able to wow his fellows and the adults during their tests, but he also learns what causes the dragons to continually attack his village: there is a massive “queen dragon” who drives the smaller ones to bring it back food. Hiccup and Toothless must learn how to unite the humans and dragons to take down the huge beast and free the rest of the dragons from their servitude. A little too “kidsy” for most adults, which is a bummer because the actions scenes are heart-poundingly good, but solid entertainment. ★★★½
I’m a big Coen brothers fan, but it has been awhile since they made a film together (2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs) and of late, they’ve been going their own ways. Joel’s first solo film wasn’t great, and Drive-Away Dolls, Ethan’s first solo project, is worse. After a short intro in which a man (Pedro Pascal, who is in everything these days) is killed for a briefcase he is carrying, we meet the main characters: Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan). Jamie has just been kicked out of her apartment by her girlfriend for cheating on her, and with Marian stating that she needs to go down to Tallahassee, Jamie decides to tag along and make it a road trip. Of course the car they rent to make the trip has the briefcase in the trunk, setting off a pursuit by a set of bumbling hoodlums, led by Colman Domingo. It’s your typical buddy road film, with one (Jamie) being a promiscuous party girl and the other (Marian) being an uptight A-personality who hasn’t had sex since breaking up with her girlfriend 4 years ago, so of course these lesbians are going to get together at some point. I can only assume, because I gave up on this movie about halfway through. All of its attempts at humor (which is constant) fell flat, and the action wasn’t exciting enough to carry my attention. Ethan Coen is calling this the first film in his “Lesbian B-Movie Trilogy” and the second is hitting theaters soon; it can’t be any worse than this one. Let’s get the Coen brothers back together stat! ★
If you know what you are getting when you go into a typical Chinese drama, then you’ll enjoy it a lot more. Caught by the Tides is exactly what I thought it would be, which is to say a slow, pensive, meandering (at times) drama. If you expect it and it delivers, that can be a good thing. Ostensibly, it’s about a woman traveling around the city of Datong trying to find her boyfriend Bin, but that’s not really the story. Director Jia Zhangke started filming this movie in 2001 as a documentary, filming the area that was being irrevocably changed by the building of the Three Gorges Dam. This is the world’s largest power station, and during its construction and the subsequent flooding and new lakes, over 1 million people were displaced and entire villages wiped out, with no recourse to the powerful government. The movie was to be Jia’s way of protesting the project, in a subtle way that wouldn’t get him in too much hot water. It was filmed over the course of 20 years, and ends around 2022. Interspersed throughout, we get stories about the big events that are happening around China to remind us what year it is (the Beijing Olympics, the launch of China’s first human spaceflight mission in Shenzhou 5, COVID) but the dam and its impact is always front and center. When our two star-crossed lovers finally meet again post-COVID, the man who promised to gain wealth before returning for his girl has had a rough life, limping around on a cane, and by now she has moved on. It’s a subtle knock against the communist government in more ways that one. ★★★★
Bob Trevino Likes It is a movie that will get the tears flowing. Lily Trevino has had a rough life; when she goes to a therapist for the first time early in the film and tells her life story, it is the therapist who ends up crying. The center of much of Lily’s anguish in her life is her deadbeat dad, Bob, who is probably the most self-centered, narcissistic person you’ve met, always putting his needs first and belittling Lily if she ever didn’t go along with his latest scheme. When Lily misspeaks one night in front of Bob’s latest woman, Bob cuts Lily out of his life. Distraught, Lily goes online trying to reconnect to him, and sends Bob Trevino a friend request on Facebook. He accepts and likes her recent post. Problem is, it’s a different Bob Trevino. This Bob (played by the always affable John Leguizamo) lives an hour away with his wife. Initially trying to make him something that he’s not, Lily tells her one friend (really her boss, but she has no one else) that this Bob is her dad, and Lily finds happiness every time Bob likes her posts or sends her a message. But Bob is not her dad, and he has never faced the pain of losing his only child many years ago himself. So the movie becomes a bit of healing for both people, but man oh man, you will not see the ending coming. I’m not ashamed to admit I was ugly crying by the end, so make sure you have your tissues handy. Very funny, very heartwarming film. ★★★★★
I watched Sharp Corner mostly because it stars Ben Foster, an underrated actor who often seems to find quiet, indie films that deliver (see Leave No Trace). In this one, he plays husband/father Josh who has just moved his family to their dream home, a huge secluded house an hour outside of the city, where they can enjoy the space and quiet while commuting in for work. On the first night in their new house, a car crashes into a tree in the front yard, sending a tire through their expansive window and almost hitting Josh and his wife Rachel. Son Max was in his bedroom, but he later becomes disturbed that a person died at their house. The next morning, Josh walks outside to the street, and notices things that he failed to before buying the house, namely, the sharp, blind turn leading to his front yard, and all the tire skid marks on the road around it. Obviously cars are hitting that turn hard, and sure enough, a few weeks later, two cars collide and other person dies in their front yard. Rachel wants to sell the house and move, but Josh becomes obsessed with thinking he can remedy the situation. He takes CPR classes, and waits for crashes with an almost giddy excitement, thinking that if he can save someone’s life, it will all be worth it. Even as his marriage crumbles, Josh is consumed with the road in front of the house and his need to prove his abilities. When he starts to openly try to cause an accident, you know he’s taken a step no one else would. The movie takes some pretty wild leaps obviously, but it is interesting watching Josh go down that rabbit hole to see where it takes him, and Foster is good as expected. ★★★
Jons Movie Takes 