Highest 2 Lowest is the newest Spike Lee film and is based on the masterpiece Japanese film High and Low from Akira Kurosawa. Denzel Washington plays David King, a successful record company executive whose glory days may be behind him. In the modern TikTok age of fast-changing trends, King hasn’t had a really successful musical act on his label in a decade, and others in his company are considering selling out before the ship sinks further. King however doesn’t want to give up on the company he founded, and has secured investors to buy out his partners and thus keep control. On the eve of the deal though, his high school son, Trey, is kidnapped, along with Trey’s friend and King’s godson Kyle, who is King’s chauffeur’s (Paul’s) son. Paul is an ex-con and owes much to King, and is willing to do anything to bring back Trey, but is the reverse true? We’ll find out, because Trey shows up at the house after a day, and it turns out the kidnappers grabbed Kyle instead, thinking it was Trey. Though they have the wrong kid, they still want their ransom, $17.5 million, all of the money King has rounded up to buy control of his company. Initially hesitant to do the deal, as it will leave him and his family penniless, King is persuaded to go through with it (mostly from fear of public backlash), and the rest of the film plays out as a quasi-action drama. This “middle” of the film is undeniably thrilling, with hot pursuits and some light cop action, but the beginning of the movie felt a little weird, sort of like a low budget flick with Grade A actors, and an (at times) off-putting and distracting soundtrack. The very ending, the coda, also was a bit out-of-place. Solid 3 1/2 stars, but could have been really great. ★★★½
Sister Midnight is an Indian film with a funny, quirky feel, with some dark elements that come out at points that add lots of tension. The film begins on the wedding night of Uma and Gopal. Like many marriages still to this day in India, it was an arranged marriage, and Uma has been brought to Gopal’s tiny little hovel in the city, where she, a country girl, knows no one nor how to get around. Uma shuts herself off from Gopal and her neighbors. She starts going out at night, and her encounters after dark are sort of funny, sort of haunting, but always entertaining. Something strange starts to happen thought. She starts gathering dead animals she finds, mostly birds, and wrapping them up and bringing them home to hide under the bed. Sometimes, after a strong emotion, one or two will come back to life and fly out the door. After Uma and Gopal finally start to develop a relationship and eventually sleep together, many of the dead animals are brought back to life. But when Gopal dies suddenly one night, and Uma props him up in the corner of the room like a decoration, the town starts to whisper that she’s a witch. Very quirky film, and you can definitely see some Wes Anderson influences in the way the actors move and the camera work and whatnot. However, while I was entertained throughout, I got a little lost somewhere and the style started to rub me wrong after awhile. I’m going with an average 2 1/2 stars, with the caveat that it is probably a much better film than I’m giving it credit for, and I bet if I were to watch it on a different day or different mood, I would have been more into it. ★★½
The New Boy stars Cate Blanchett, which is usually a sign of a good film. Taking place in the Australian Outback in 1944, she plays a nun, Sister Eileen, who is overseeing a very remote orphanage. She and the other nun there take in abandoned or found aboriginal boys, convert them to Christianity, teach them to read and write, and then send them off to work at farms in the area. Sort of a win-win for everyone, except for the boys themselves, obviously. As a nun, she’s not supposed to be in charge, which is supposed to be a priest, but he died a year ago and Sister Eileen has kept up the illusion of him still living to the outside world, for fear of others coming to interrupt her work. Into this environment comes the newest boy, who comes in without a name, and even without any way to communicate with others; he doesn’t speak English and seems to have no interest in learning to do so. He does, however, grow to have a weird fascination with the large statue of Jesus on the cross above the alter of their church building. And while Jesus healed people 2000 years ago, miraculously, this “new boy” (who won’t get a name until he is baptized) is able to cure ailments, pains, and even near-death in the always-dangerous outback. Really startling movie, and whether you agree or not with message it is delivering, it is powerful. Excellent acting, as you’d expect from Blanchett, but also from Deborah Mailman as Sister Mum and newcomer young Aswan Reid as New Boy. ★★★½
It’s strange to think this about a Pixar film, but the newest, Elio, is just… boring. Not all Pixar movies are great, but they’re usually at least entertaining, and this film has almost none of that. It’s about the eponymous Elio, whose parents die when he is a young boy, so he is raised by his Aunt Olga on her military base. A few years later, Elio is a middle-schooler, and has grown obsessed with finding aliens. In a world where he feels alone (despite his aunt’s best intentions), Elio is lonely, and he wants to find some people where he can feel wanted. He thinks aliens are the key. He uses the satellite dishes at Olga’s base to send a message out into space, and amazingly, someone hears. A spaceship comes and takes Elio, and he learns of an intergalactic group of explorers ready to bring him into the fold. Unfortunately, they think that Elio is the leader of planet Earth and that he has more pull than he does, and maybe more unfortunately, the group is currently being threatened by a warmonger who was refused entry into their numbers, and who is hellbent on subduing them to gain access to their extremely advanced technology. It seems the only way Elio can cement his membership is if he can turn away the attacker. Should be a great movie about finding a home in maybe the most unlooked-for location, but I couldn’t stop the yawns from coming and was ready for it just to end long before the credits came. A rare miss from the company. ★½
Sovereign stars Nick Offerman in one of his dramatic rolls (when he’s at his best, imo) and is based on a true story. He plays Jerry Kane, a self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizen (this is a batshit crazy group of people, look it up), raising his son Joe (Jacob Tremblay, who stole our hearts 10 years ago as a little kid in Room) to believe as he does. Joe is a teenager though, and sees others his age doing things that he wishes he could do, even mundane things like going to school (Jerry would never send his kid to that brainwashing institution, so Joe is homeschooled). Much of the movie is exploring what it means to be a Sovereign Citizen, with Jerry refusing to pay his bills since “he never entered into a contract with an entity that has power over him” and getting into trouble when he gets pulled over and has no driver’s license. As the film goes along, Jerry becomes increasingly combative towards police, judges, basically anyone of authority in a world that he refuses to recognize, so Joe may find himself on the wrong side of the law too. A very powerful film, and it blows my mind that there are radicals out there that actually believe this craziness. Seems like just a way to try to get out of paying for stuff (didn’t Jerry “enter into a contract” when he bought his house, a house that the bank is trying to foreclose on?). Anyway, well worth watching, it will open your eyes. ★★★½
- TV series recently watched: Breaking Bad (season 2), Landman (season 1), Alien Earth (series)
- Book currently reading: Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan
Jons Movie Takes 