One Battle After Another is the latest from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, and from everything I’ve heard, I thought it would be a return to form. Unfortunately, it’s yet another miss for my tastes. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor as Pat and Perfidia, a couple involved in a radical, militant, revolutionary group known as the French 75, who bomb government buildings and “fight the system.” On one mission to free immigrants, Perfidia humiliates the military commander, Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn), of the immigrant detention center, which only leads to him being sexually obsessed with her. Lockjaw tracks her down afterwards and blackmails her into having sex with him, unbeknownst to Pat. Later, after she has a child, Pat wants to leave the group and settle down as a family, but she refuses and leaves them, to continue the fight. Lockjaw orchestrates having Perfidia arrested, and she turns states evidence to enter witness protection, only to escape and flee herself. Her testimony though gets a lot of people in the group killed, and forces Pat and their daughter Charlene to change names and go into hiding. The story picks up 16 years later, where they are living quietly, albeit always full of paranoia of being found. Lockjaw has finally located them, and the film turns into an action thriller as Lockjaw’s military group descends on the quiet little town, with a subplot involving Lockjaw’s attempts to get into a white supremacist organization. It definitely has its funny moments, like when Pat tries to call into French 75 for help, but can’t remember the code words to get through to someone who would remember him. Entertaining in spots, but the ridiculous plot elements eventually catch up to it and by the end, I was only watching to see how it ended. ★★★
I sort of knew American Sweatshop wasn’t going to be any good, but it had an intriguing premise so I took a flier on it. It ended up being exactly as I suspected, but oh well. It’s about a woman named Daisy who works as a content moderator at a YouTube-like video host company. Her job is to look at videos that users have reported as offensive or against user guidelines, and decide if the video should be removed or left up. As such, she often sees the worst of the worst, gruesome videos including murder, animal cruelty, rape, etc. Most at the company become numb to what they are seeing, but Daisy is haunted by the images, relying on drugs an alcohol after her shifts. One day, she watches a video of a man torturing a drugged woman by driving nails into her body, and Daisy wants to report it to the police. The company doesn’t agree though, with excuses that the film could be fake or consensual, and even when Daisy goes over their head, straight to the police, they too refuse to proceed. Thus, Daisy takes things into her own hands, attempting to track down who made the video, in order to meet out vigilante justice. Silly movie, which relies on gross imagery for grisly titillation. ★½
Roofman, unbelievably, is based on a true story and stars Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester, an ex-military crook who was arrested in 2000 for breaking into and robbing McDonalds stores over a period of a couple years. Sentenced to 45 years in prison, Jeffrey can’t live with the fact that he won’t see his kids grow up, despite his ex-wife promising to cut off communication with him anyway. Jeffrey hatches an elaborate escape plan and somehow pulls it off. Rather than flee the area, as he knows the police would be watching the major roads, he hides in a local Toys R Us and sets up a home. He disables the recoding on the cameras in case anyone tries to look up the history on them, and comes out at night to eat candy and baby food from the shelves. Eventually, he starts heading outside during the day and sneaking back before close. In doing so, he begins a relationship with a Toys R Us worker, Leigh (Kirsten Dunst) and befriends her two daughters. He even becomes involved in her church. Jeffrey was always a nice guy, despite his flaws, and his easygoing nature makes him popular. Things go bad one day though, when he encounters the store’s manager (Peter Dinklage) coming in to work early, so the store beefs up their security. Knowing time is short, Jeffrey reaches out to a former military buddy for help in getting a fake passport, but the friend demands a lot of money, forcing Jeffrey into an unobtainable decision. Funny movie, with a surprising amount of heart, and worthy of a single watch/date night, but nothing profound or that I’d watch more than once. ★★★
Good Fortune is the directorial debut of Parks and Rec alum Aziz Ansari, who also stars as Arj. Arj is down-on-his-luck, currently sleeping in his car and working menial jobs, just trying to squeak by, while his parents back in India brag about his other hard-working cousins are succeeding in America. His saved from a car accident one day by Gabriel, a guardian angel in charge of texting and driving, but who has aspirations of doing more. Gabriel is a bit jealous of Azrael, the guardian angel of lost souls, who regales the other angels at their weekly meetings about inspiring people who otherwise have no hope. Gabriel sees that in Arj and attempts to turn his spirits around, by giving Arj an “It’s a Wonderful Life” moment. Gabriel switch’s Arj’s life with that of a wealthy investor (played by Seth Rogan) in an attempt to show Arj that living the high life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Unfortunately for Gabriel, money does seem to solve all of Arj’s problems, and Arj doesn’t want to go back to the way things were (nor give the rich man his life back). Mildly funny at times, mostly due to Gabriel’s (played by Keanu Reeves) deadpan delivery, but no deep belly laughs. Couldn’t get more than a few chuckles from me, and when the story is feathery-light, it would need far more laughs to be a success. ★★
Left-Handed Girl was written and directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, and if that name isn’t familiar, I know the name Sean Baker is, especially after he swept the Oscars last year with Anora. Tsou co-directed Baker’s first film in 2004 and was a producer on his later films, so it was no surprise that Baker’s name showed up on this one as a co-writer, producer, etc. Out of Taiwan, it is about a family struggling to survive. Mother Shu-Fen is newly single after leaving her philandering husband, and raising her daughters I-Ann and I-Jing on her own. I-Ann is a late-teen, never finished high school, and gives off the impression of a party girl, though she does get a job to help support the family. I-Jing is only 5, and a very precocious 5 at that. As Shu-Fen opens a noodle stand (which doesn’t do well), I-Jing wanders the busy market and makes friends with kids and adults alike. Her grandfather (Shu-Fen’s father) chides her for being left-handed, calling it “the devil’s hand” in old superstition, and I-Jing takes that to heart, using her left hand to steal trinkets from the stands around her, and later, when it gets her into trouble, contemplates chopping it off to excise its evil influence. I-Ann, meanwhile, starts sleeping with her boss and gets pregnant, the ramifications which will lead to a bombshell revelation in the end. Great, subtle film that explores the fringes of society (as Baker’s films often do) and Nina Ye as little I-Jing really steals the show. The camera is often down at her level as she moves around, so we see the world from her eyes. She is up to the task, a real talent. ★★★★
- TV series recently watched: It: Welcome to Derry (season 1), Portlandia (seasons 3-4)
- Book currently reading: Amber and Blood by Margaret Weis
Jons Movie Takes 