Since I’m still taking a break from watching a bunch of “new to me” classics, I thought I’d go back and revisit a few films. Each of these critically acclaimed pictures I’ve only seen once before; four of them back when they first came out, and the last has been at least 25 years too, so I get a chance to see them with fresh eyes. Up first is Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, from 1992. A western, starring himself, Morgan Freeman, and Gene Hackman, it sets up the viewer with the preface that Eastwood’s character, William Munny, used to be a drunk and a murderer in the old west, but he met the right girl and settled down. Though his wife died, Munny still raises his kids well, but the Kansas farm is not doing well and the family is just about broke. What comes his way is news that, in Wyoming, a couple cowboys cut up a woman and there is now a $1000 bounty on the nefarious men. What Will doesn’t know is the woman was a prostitute, and that even the local law (Little Bill, played by Hackman in a devilishly bravado way) is discouraging the bounty, which was raised by the woman’s fellow prostitutes. Will calls on his former sidekick Ned (Freeman) and are joined by a young wannabe gunfighter, who idolizes the legend that is William Munny, and the trio head off to Wyoming for the promise of riches. They’ll need to face the bad cowboys, Little Bill and his fellow lawmen, and Munny will have to take hard look in the mirror about the man he used to be, and if he can be that man again. Super exciting action, nail biting suspense, and the gritty feel of the wild west make this a perfect film from start to finish. There are no good guys in a story like this, but you just have to root for the lesser of the evils. ★★★★★

For whatever reason, The Departed wasn’t as good for me this time around, despite me having good memories of it from 20 years ago when it was released in 2002. From all-star director Martin Scorsese and with an amazing cast (Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg, Vera Farmiga, and Alec Baldwin), it is quasi- based on gangster and FBI informant Whitey Bulger. Colin Sullivan and Billy Costigan are two young men on diverging paths. Colin came from a good family, but was influenced by mobster Frank Costello early in his life, and as a police detective, he is Frank’s eyes and ears inside the police force. Billy’s background is the opposite: from a family of known crooks and jailbirds, he is trying to break that mold and become a good cop. But a secret division within Boston’s force, one that oversees the undercover officers, sees an opportunity to place Billy, someone who’s family is well-known in the criminal underworld, as the perfect covert operative. Between Billy and Colin, who will sniff out their counterpart first, and what happens at the end when everyone realizes that Frank is already informing to the FBI anyway? The premise is fantastic, the delivery not so much. Far be it for me to besmirch the genius that is Martin Scorsese, but the presentation of the film just felt off. Wasn’t a fan of the editing, and while the story is engaging, I never felt completely pulled in and enveloped by the telling of it. Which is weird coming from a Scorsese film, the master of storytelling. If it sounds like I’m ragging on it, that’s not my intention, but I just expected more. ★★★½

There Will Be Blood was the opposite of the above film. I remember thinking this film was over-hyped when I first saw it around 2007 or 2008, but watching it now (maybe a little wiser and more aware of certain film techniques), I was completely enraptured from nearly the very beginning. From director Paul Thomas Anderson (his followup to Punch-Drunk Love, my favorite of his films), it stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, as ironic a name as you’ll find in film. In the late 19th Century, Daniel is mining for silver and gold, but when he accidentally discovers oil in his mine, it changes his life. Together with an orphan he’s taken in (after the boy’s father was killed in his oil well), Daniel sets out to find his riches, digging for oil in California in the first part of the 20th Century. The film shows Daniel’s deterioration in his personal life over the course of a couple decades, in direct proportion to his exploding wealth. Daniel’s greed knows no bounds, but neither does his complete lack of humanity or sympathy. The strident soundtrack, not much more than jarring, discordant sounds mostly, adds to the tension of the film, even as the pleasing-to-the-eye vast vistas of the open country show the beauty and splendor of virgin America. I didn’t like this film much when it came out, but glad I watched it again. I’m not a huge PTA fan (loved Punch-Drunk, hated Inherent Vice and Licorice Pizza, and was indifferent to Phantom Thread), but this one is well worth a watch for the experience. ★★★★

Maybe the best of today’s batch is 2007’s No Country for Old Men, perhaps the Coen Brothers’ best film. Josh Brolin plays Moss, a cowboy with some smarts, who stumbles across a drug deal gone wrong in rural Texas. Everyone is dead and there’s a big pile of money ripe for the taking. Moss grabs it, thinking his fortunes have turned, but when he returns to the scene later that night (feeling sorry for a not-quite-dead Mexican begging for water), Moss finds that taking the money is not the same as keeping the money. More Mexicans are out to take it back, and before long, Moss gets his first taste of Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Chigurh is a hired killer, and he will not let that 2.4 million go. So begins a wildly suspenseful, wildly entertaining film along the USA/Mexican border. Chigurh is very good at his job, and no matter what Moss does, he feels Chigurh constantly nipping at his heels. And though Moss immediately knows his family will be in danger too and sends his wife off to her mother’s, no place is safe. Others become involved too, including another man hired to hunt the cash (Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells) and the local sheriff, who sees the world is hurtling towards a violent end and feels he is too old to fight it (Tommy Lee Jones as Sheriff Bell). This movie is violent, but it is a mostly subdued violence, if that makes any sense. Much of the killing is done off screen; we see the evidence of it, and sometimes hear bullets fly off camera, but almost all is heard and not seen. Rather than subtract, this adds to the suspense. Once the movie gets going, early on, it never really lets up, so that my heart was beating just about the whole time. Pure perfection. ★★★★★

Malcolm X, the renowned Spike Lee movie starring Denzel Washington as the eponymous, controversial figure, rings as profound now as it did in 1992. Honestly though, the first hour (the film is over 3 hours long) is tough to get through. It deals with Malcolm Little’s growing up, and a lot with the crime he got into as a young man. While essential viewing, as it gives you his backstory and shows how different he is compared to the man he would be later, he’s such a little shit that it is impossible to root for him. Once he becomes involved with the Nation of Islam, following the teachings of its leader Elijah Muhammad, the movie gets much better. Malcolm drops Little and takes on the name X, symbolizing the name and heritage that was stolen from him by white slaveowners. Malcolm X then begins his crusade to embolden the black community. In complete juxtaposition to Martin Luther King Jr, who preached “turn the other cheek” and peace, Malcolm, while not exactly promoting violence, is angry with how his race has been treated. He isn’t afraid to point out hypocrisies in how black men and and white men react to adversity, and how those reactions are construed by society. A whole lot of what he says makes sense, even as the viewer starts to see flaws in Malcolm’s teachings, especially in regards to the hypocrisy of the NOI’s leadership, something that Malcolm is blind to for far too long. This changes when he becomes aware that his leader has been fathering children outside of marriage. Malcolm leaves the NOI and travels to Mecca. He meets Muslims of all races, and changes his stance. Instead of hostility towards white people, he starts preaching love and tolerance. But his former colleagues and mentors will not let him go so easy, and start threatening him and his family, leading to the day of February 21, 1965, when he is assassinated. This movie works because of the incredible performance of Denzel. As a biopic, it gets a little bogged down in the details, as many of these types of films can, but Denzel is captivating and larger-than-life, as Malcolm X himself was. He dominates every scene and commands your attention, and you can’t help but get swept up in Malcolm’s cause. ★★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Luther (series 2), The Mandalorian (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

When I read that The Old Way was Nicolas Cage’s first western, I thought, “How could that be?!” But I guess it is. Despite middling reviews, I wanted to see Nic Cage deliver some one-liners in the old west. He plays Colton Briggs, a former gunslinger who found love and settled down as a farmer, and is raising a daughter. However, his past comes back to haunt him when a young man, left orphaned after Briggs killed his father 20 years ago, has come for his revenge. He kills Briggs’ wife, and Briggs is ready to pick up his old guns and teach his daughter a lesson on justice. Should have listened to the reviewers on this one. Cage fooled me with a couple really good movies lately (Pig and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent), and I forgot that he is prone to “taking a paycheck” from time to time. He definitely did here, because in every scene it looks like he is just mailing it in. The rest of the cast is either doing the same, or frankly aren’t any good, and the plot/story is contrived and silly. Fooled me once Cage, I won’t be so easily tricked again! ★

Going back a couple years for 2018’s Searching, because I heard good things about its quasi-sequel, Missing (2023). There’s been a handful of films that almost entirely take place in front of a computer screen, but I don’t remember one that has been done better. It stars John Cho (most famous for the Harold and Kumar films, but he’s done some good indie flicks too) as David Kim, a single father raising Margot after his wife died of cancer. On Thursday evening, Margot is at a study group late, and tries to call home a couple times around 11pm, but David is already sleeping and misses the calls. The next morning, she appears to have already left for school when David is up and around, so he shoots her a text and goes to work. After a day at work, when Margot has never replies to his increasingly frantic texts and calls. When he calls the school, he learns she never showed up. He tracks down her study group through her social media, and learn that she left there at 9pm. A father’s worst fears are realized, and David calls the cops and files a missing person’s report. A good detective, Rosemary Vick (Debra Messing) gets the case, and begins to help find Margot, all while David sticks to the computer, hunting for clues. His search will take him on a roller coaster ride, into private details of a daughter that he finds he knows very little about. This movie is a wild ride, and like I said earlier, all shown footage is from a computer screen. We only see the actors during the (frequent) FaceTime calls, and otherwise it is online searches. It may not sound compelling, but it definitely is. I got caught up in the emotional highs when David uncovered a new lead, and the rock-bottom lows whenever a clue fizzled out. Great, fun film. ★★★★

Missing is called a “spiritual sequel.” It takes place in the same “world” and in fact opens with a news story recounting the end of the previous film, but this film then stands on its own. This time, we get a search for a missing person from the daughter’s perspective. June is 18 years old and stays home while her single mother Grace heads off to Cartagena with her boyfriend, Kevin. June throws a big party in their absence, but when she’s supposed to meet them at the airport the next day, they don’t get off the flight. June tries to get the American embassy in Colombia to help, but initially doesn’t get anywhere with them, so she hires a local man to do some street running, hunting down clues to their last day in the city. Along the way, plenty of secrets regarding Kevin’s, and even her own mother Grace’s, past are dug up, adding to the mystery. Like the first film, all is told from behind a computer, though we do see the main actor, Storm Reid as June, very often; since it’s a newer film, she’s got that computer cam on nonstop. The movie was decent in the first half, but runs off the rails by the end. There were some great twists in Searching, but the writers tried to outdo themselves on the sequel, and there’s too many implausible turns this time around. By the last scene, I just wanted it to be over. ★★

Last Film Show is supposed to be an endearing story about a boy’s love for cinema. Maybe it turns into that, but I gave up 40 minutes into this extremely boring, seemingly going-nowhere film out of India. Samay is a young boy who has hasn’t been to the movies because his parents think it below them (though his dad is a working class man, he is of the Brahmin caste, and thinks his family is above such things). That changes when the local theater is showing a religious film that appeals to the dad, who takes the family on the trip. Samay is smitten immediately, and finds ways to sneak into the theater as often as possible to watch anything they are showing. Samay befriends the movie projectionist, trading his mother’s good cooking for a chance to change reels and learn about the trade. As charming as it all sounds, this movie crawls at a snail’s pace, and I couldn’t stick around any longer to see how the rest transpired. I’m sure it’s great (it was nominated for an Oscar), but my normally high level of patience couldn’t take any more. ½

Another international film, 1982 (out of Lebanon) is so much better. Taking place over a single day as summer approaches in the eponymous year, Wissam is a third grader whose world is about to change. The school year is winding down and the students are taking their final exams, but all Wissam can think about is the crush he has on Joanna, a girl in his class who lives in traditionally Muslim West Beirut; she must pass through checkpoints every day just to go to school. As Wissam is obsessed with trying to get her attention in the cute pre-teenager way that boys and girls do when they don’t know any better, the world around him is falling apart. The adults (teachers, parents) can only talk about the increasing tensions in the area, and we hear the constant sonic booms of planes flying overhead. When Israel does invade in the afternoon, and real fighting breaks out in the skies above Lebanon between Israel and Syria, only then do the children start to realize what is happening. The shattering of their innocence is the real story, but even so, we root for Wissan to keep up his pursuit of Joanna and hold on to his childhood as long as he can. Tremendous film, with a continuing and ever-increasing sense of impending doom as it progresses. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Severance (season 1), The Bad Batch (season 2), Luther (series 1), Its Always Sunny (seasons 10-12), 
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Summer Flame by Weis & Hickman

I sort of have a thing for films with unwieldy names; it doesn’t get any better than The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic. Out of Finland, this film focuses on a man named Jaakko, and when I say focuses, I mean, he is (nearly) the only person we ever see clearly (more on that in a bit). The film begins with his regular nightmare, of himself going for a jog. It’s a nightmare because it is far removed from his regular life: an illness has taken his sight and restricted him to a wheelchair. Jaakko is virtually a shut-in, reliant upon a caregiver who visits 3 days a week, and his only other social interactions are a daily call from his father (to check in) and his “lady friend,” Sirpa. Jaakko and Sirpa met online, but have never met in person. She lives “two cab rides and a train ride” away, but in Jaakko’s condition, that might as well be on the other side of the planet. Sirpa and Jaakko talk on the phone all day long, lifting each other up, as each is dealing with their own illnesses which will ultimately take their lives. They talk about life and hobbies, including Jaakko’s love of movies, and of course, the one big one he has refused to watch. When Jaakko wins a nice sum of money playing online Kino, he decides to finally make the trek to meet Sirpa in person. But even going out the door is a dangerous proposition, and Jaakko is completely dependent upon strangers to help him with everyday tasks. Because of this, the film turns quickly from a drama to a psychological thriller. What sets this film apart from all the rest, is the director puts us in Jaakko’s perspective, or as much as he can. The camera never leaves a close-up of Jaakko’s face, and everything else in the peripheral is blurry. When Jaakko runs into trouble on his journey, like Jaakko, we can’t see his harassers’ faces. We hear them, and that’s about it. It really adds to the fear and feeling of helplessness that Jaakko is feeling. Great film. ★★★★

A Man Called Otto received middling reviews from critics, and I see why as soon as it starts. Everyone likes Tom Hanks, but in this film, he plays an asshole. No one wants to see Tom Hanks be an asshole. But there is more to the movie than that. Otto Anderson is a grumpy curmudgeon who berates his neighbors for not following the neighborhood “laws,” isn’t grateful for the retirement party his coworkers throw him, and generally is a sourpuss to everyone who crosses his path. Otto has zero patience for people who don’t do things the way he thinks they should be done. And Otto has a plan: he’s set a date for when his electricity and phone will be shut off, and plans to commit suicide that day, to join his recently deceased wife in the next life. Those plans are wrecked when Otto gets new neighbors: Tommy, his immigrant wife Marisol, and their 2 kids move in across the street. Marisol is outgoing and starts to win Otto over with her amazing cooking, and she won’t take “no” for an answer when he tries to weasel out of getting together. Before he knows it, Otto is watching the kids so the parents can have a date night, and teaching Marisol how to drive, in his own car no less (because their’s Is an automatic; he wants to teach her how to “really” drive a car). It’s a tried-and-true formula that has worked a million times, and it (mostly) works here again. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling that Tom Hanks is just play-acting. He’s just not a believable jerk. ★★★

Alice, Darling finds another actor stepping outside the kind of roles they normally take. Alice (Anna Kendrick) plays a woman who, at first, seems to be madly in love with her boyfriend Simon, but we quickly see that things are not what they appear. Alice presents a front to her friends (who she has alienated from, since being with Simon) that all is good, but when she’s alone, she seems to be full of nervous, tense energy. When we see that she has to lie to Simon about her whereabouts when she goes out with those friends for a week-long getaway to celebrate a birthday, we know that something is really up with their relationship. Turns out that, while Simon isn’t physically violent, he is extremely emotionally abusive, and Anna has become codependent to the point that she has to be constantly checking her phone for Simon’s latest message, for fear of his anger if she doesn’t respond right away. When her friends become aware of her problem, one of them hides her phone to force her to relax and enjoy her time away. Just when she starts to, Simon shows up, having tracked her phone to where she is. Not ready to face him alone, Alice will rely on her friends, now more than ever. It’s a tense film and a very real picture of an unhealthy relationship, the kind that is probably all-too-common. Kendrick gives an excellent performance of a woman living in fear. ★★★½

I kept putting off Babylon because it got such terrible reviews, but here’s one that I really enjoyed. From director Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land), it is a chaotic mess, but it is an entertaining chaotic mess. The film follows a half dozen or so film stars, mostly over a single decade from the silent era into the early “talkies,” and what that transition meant to people in showbiz. The first hour (it’s a long film at over 3 hours) takes place 1926-27, and film sets are a crazy, chaotic mess. With no need to be “quiet on set,” people are yelling and screaming, as multiple movies are being filmed in a small space (this loud chaos draws all the more attention when sound films hit, and the sets are suddenly deathly silent). At night, crazy, debaucherous parties are the norm, and you wonder how these people ever made movie magic. But they did, as things just sort of came together when they needed to. An early scene shows silent film star Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) so drunk that he can barely walk, but when the director yells “action!” Jack is able to walk slowly to the girl, and deliver the perfect kiss just as the sun sets behind them. A lasting image that will sizzle in the minds of the audience. Once sound hits, Jack’s star fades, and another young actress, Nellie LaRoy has a hard time adapting as well. She can’t remember her lines, her over-the-top style, which worked so well in silent, can’t be toned down, and the demands of early sound technology don’t make it any easier. The transition ruins careers and lives, yet the film machine (and the party that follows it) just keeps on chugging. The movie doesn’t paint the actors as saints, in fact, they are very flawed people, some of whom can be argued got what they deserved in the end, but the message is clear: stars come and go, but the audience will watch whatever is thrown up in front of them regardless, and sometimes, what is thrown up on the screen is pure wonder. ★★★★

When Brendan Fraser was wracking up awards for The Whale, I figured it was mostly because of his story. Hollywood loves a good comeback, and here’s an actor who all-but disappeared for the last 15 years. But now having seen it, those accolades are well deserved. However, the film on its own merits? Meh. The latest from Darren Aronofsky (loved his Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and even mother!, despite what others said, but hated Noah), the film follows Brendan as Charlie, a 600+ pound man confined to his condo, in the last week of his life. Charlie is a shut-in, unable to leave due to his weight, and his only friend is a kindly nurse who looks after him. The nurse, Liz, gives him the news that his failing heart will not survive the week if he doesn’t seek immediate help, but Charlie refuses to call 911. Charlie decides to make the most of his last week. He left his wife and child 9 years ago when he fell in love with a man, a man whose death led to Charlie giving up on life and seeing his weight balloon. Charlie’s daughter Ellie is now 17, and he reaches out to her to see if it is too late to mend that fence. Rightly so, she is full of anger and hurt, feeling abandoned, and she’ll never understand that Charlie did it because he fell in love. The movie is awfully heavy handed, and while I felt sorry for Charlie as he put away pizzas and buckets of chicken by the handful, it was still tough to watch (in typical Aronofsky fashion). But Fraser does shine, and it is remarkable that a man with this kind of talent was unable to find meaningful work all these years. Worth watching for his performance alone. ★★½

• TV series recently watched: Hell on Wheels (season 5), The Chosen (season 1), Servant (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dune House Atreides by Herbert & Anderson

Triangle of Sadness is the newest from Swedish director Ruben Östlund; for my tastes, his last two films included a hit (Force Majeure) and a miss (The Square). This one is another satire, which seems to be his work of choice. This one points an eye at the gap between the wealthy and the workin class. The film begins with Carl and Yaya, a young, beautiful couple. He is model, she is a social influencer. They fight a lot, mostly over money, because Yaya likes to feel taken care of (expecting Carl to pay for meals), but she also makes a lot more money than him. She later admits that their relationship is more for show than anything, as it helps her image to be with a good looking guy. I have to admit, I wasn’t laughing at this dark comedy much during this introduction, but when the scene shifts to a luxury cruise yacht, the laughs finally come. The ridiculousness that takes place on this boat, with a bunch of entitled rich assholes and the yacht’s crew who have to deal with them, is hilarious. The highlight occurs when the alcoholic captain (Woody Harrelson), a socialist, gets into a debate with a Russian capitalist on board. When a storm sets the boat to rocking during dinner, when the hoity-toity guests are being served high class food that doesn’t exactly look super appetizing, a barf-o-rama sets off, and I laughed often and hard. But that’s not the end; pirates hit the yacht and the survivors are left stranded on a island. When the rich can’t look after themselves, one of the ship’s crew, a woman who was wiping up their vomit the night before, steps up to make a fire and fish for food. She becomes the new leader, subjugating the others to the bottom rung. Despite the slow beginning, this is a great film, and one that you can watch multiple times to catch all the mockery Östlund is throwing at us. ★★★★

Bruiser is a little indie film from first-time writer/director Miles Warren. It follows a middle class family struggling to send their son, Darius, to a private school. Home for the summer, Darius gets in arguments with his mom and step-dad, Malcolm, who is the only father he has ever known. While loafing around the area, Darius runs into a homeless man named Porter, who says he was friends with Darius’s parents way back when. Isn’t too long until we learn that Porter is Darius’s biological father, and he and Malcolm have a rocky history. Porter has done jail time, and it is hinted that Malcolm was involved but never caught. Darius is drawn to Porter’s carefree nature and Porter definitely plays the roll of “cool dad,” much to Malcolm’s chagrin. It leads to an altercation that may change everything for Darius and his family. What should be a tense drama is hampered by shoddy acting by several of the cast, and a story that heralds its surprises far too often. And while I don’t mind a low budget drama (some of my favorites are), I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was watching amateurs playing at making a movie. ★½

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is the latest from the Shrek universe and the second movie to focus on the popular Zorro-like character. Puss, always one for adventure, has lived a carefree life, but unfortunately this lifestyle has used up 8 of his 9 lives. Death, in the form of a black-cowled white wolf, has long sought Puss, and his prize is now right in front of him. For the first time in his life, Puss in scared, and he flees, running to a stereotypical single woman with a house full of cats, in order to disappear from the public. Puss meets a lonely dog with a sad story, named Perrito, and is also recruited by a crime family (Goldi and Mama, Papa, and Baby Bear). The Three Bears are hunting a treasure map to the fabled Last Wish. Puss sees an opportunity to get that wish for himself and wish for more lives, but he’ll need to race The Bears, a new villain (“Little” Jack Horner, all grown up), and team up with a past flame (Kitty Softpaws) in order to get there. All with Death still on his trail. The first half of the film in particular is both fun and funny, with Shrek-style laughs at the various kids’ tales (when The Bears are roughing up a witness, Mama Bear is too lenient, Papa Bear is too rough, Baby Bear is just right), but some of the jokes do get stale by the end. By the third or fourth time we saw a close-up of Puss’s hairs stand on end, I could only roll my eyes; yes, we get it, he’s scared again. The animation is beautiful, but also a little jarring at times. After the popularity of Sony’s Spider-Verse film a couple years ago, a couple films have copied its comic-like animation style, and while it works in that film, it felt off-putting in this movie. Still, in typical Shrek fashion, there’s plenty to like here for both the young and young-at-heart. ★★★½

Vicky Krieps stars as Empress Elisabeth of Austria in her latest film, Corsage. The film begins with Elisabeth (“Sisi”) donning her “corsage” (corset), and wanting it made ever-tighter and tighter. Married to Emperor Joseph at an early age (her early life is depicted in the highly recommended Netflix series “The Empress”), she is now 40 years old and struggling to hold on to her reputation of a young, slim beauty. As the film goes along, we see Sisi sink into depression. Her husband, who once lavished her with praise and love, is now distant. Though she has attendants who fulfill her every desire, outside of her rooms, she has no power at court. She takes to visiting hospitals, both for the sick and the mentally ill, but we don’t know for what purpose. Does she visit these places because she feels a kinship with those held against their will, or does she enjoy how all the inmates still call her beautiful, when those at court whisper about her age and waistline? After she survives a suicide attempt, Sisi takes a lover and spends time at his estate, but even there, she realizes that she is little more than a trophy. I don’t see a good ending for her, and knowing a bit about what is to come, it made the film very depressing. I’ve seen a handful of films about this time period, so I knew that the son she dotes over will come suicide at Mayerling, and that she herself will be assassinated. Wonderful performance by Krieps and it should be in the running for awards for best design and costume, but only watch if you want to feel worse at the end of it. ★★★

Women Talking is the kind of movie that critics adore, but most others may struggle to get through. I did get through it, but I did have to focus to not let my attention waver. It really is women talking, with no “action” to break it up, but this isn’t a campfire chat catching up on the day’s events. The setting is a rural farming community, and at first, you think it takes place 150 years ago. There’s no technology, the women are dressed plainly, and they don’t know how to read or write, serving their husbands with religious zeal. But something has been happening to the women for a long time: they’ve been waking up in the mornings with bruises on their inner thighs and spotty blood on the bedsheets. It turns out, some of the men have been drugging and raping them. Finally found out when the act was witnessed by a girl snooping around one night, the one man who was caught (the other men aren’t talking) has been arrested in the nearby town’s jail, a full day’s journey away. All of the men in the community set out to the jail to bail their brother out, and since they’ll all be gone for 2 days, the women of the community come together to decide their own fate. They take a vote, and since none can read or write, they can only tally votes with an “X” on whether to do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. When votes are counted, options 2 and 3 are tied, so the women leaders of the community spend the full night in a barn, to decide the fate of everyone. Over the course of the night, little nuggets are dropped (a woman who walked to a “clinic” in town, and finally, we see a car drive through) until we realize that this is present day, and it is a religious community in which the men have suppressed the women. The film asks a lot of questions about what is freedom, what is choice, and it doesn’t always provide the answers, to the viewer or to itself. The women are presented a problem with no real solutions. It is easy to say all the women should just leave, but they’d be going to an unknown world with no easily transferable skills. It could also easily be said they should stay and fight, but against a system that is set up to keep them down? Stellar cast including Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Ben Whishaw (as the one man who stays behind with the women, as he is a quasi-outcast from the rest of the men, for being world-educated at a university; he is allowed in the community to teach the young men), and Frances McDormand in a small but vital role. Still, this group of all-stars can’t hide some glaring holes in the telling, and an uneven hand from director Sarah Polley. Not a film that really left a lasting impression on me, as it probably should have. ★★½

• TV series recently watched: Its Always Sunny (seasons 7-9), This is Going to Hurt (miniseries), Hell on Wheels (season 4), The Reluctant Traveler (season 1), The North Water (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Dune House Atreides by Herbert & Anderson

EO is sort of a reimagining of the classic Robert Bresson film Au Hasard Balthazar. That movie had a lot of emotional heft, but EO, while taking advantage of modern filming techniques and technology, lacks the same feeling of significance. EO is a donkey, in the beginning, at a circus. He is well looked after by his performing partner Cassandra, but worked cruelly by the circus owner. The owner loses his animals in bankruptcy though, and so starts EO’s adventures. For the rest of the movie, he bounces around from place to place, never seeming to be in one home for too long. He is at times treated well or callously. He often has bad luck immediately following an act of kindness by a human, such as the time Cassandra finds him and visits, lifting his spirits; when she leaves, EO escapes his pen to run after her, only to get lost in the woods and witnesses a wolf hunt. Through much of it, EO continues to display an innocence, so just like any film where an animal is the main character, the viewer has to root for it. But I never did get as wrapped up as I did for Bresson’s donkey, and honestly, the ending of this one is a bit ridiculous. ★★½

Steven Spielberg is well known for his big blockbuster movies, but The Fabelmans is a throwback, a smaller, more intimate film, and not just because of its subject matter. Semi-biographical, it tells the story of a boy named Sammy Fabelman, starting with the first time his parents took him to a motion picture, and his subsequent love of making films as a teenager. Never a popular kid in school and with an increasing tension at home (his father adores his mother, but she is in love with a family friend), Sammy turns to movie-making to express himself. His home-made movies, beginning with a cheap 8mm camera and increasing to larger, more expensive cameras as the years go along, The Fabelmans documents Sammy’s coming-of-age. Spielberg first thought about making this movie in the late 90s, but he shelved the idea, due to fears of hurting his parents; you can tell he’s a strong family man, and while the film doesn’t paint them in a bad light, it does air their dirty laundry. This movie has been called Spielberg’s most personal film, and you can definitely see him pouring his heart into it, to tell the tale of a boy growing to love film. Outstanding performances by all, including Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as Sammy’s parents Mitz and Burt, Seth Rogen as the family friend Benny (who is torn between his feelings for Mitz and his devotion to his coworker/boss Burt), and relative newcomer Gabriel LaBelle as Sammy. ★★★★½

Bones and All is an unconventional love story about a couple cannibals (told you it was unconventional). Maren is a teenager being raised by her (seemingly) overprotective father in 1980s Virginia. When she sneaks out of the house one night to visit friends from school, Maren nearly bites off the finger of one of the girls, and runs home. Turns out Dad is so shielding of her due to her propensity for eating others. The two run to a new state (not the first time they’ve had to do this), but shortly after, Maren’s dad leaves her, leaving only a note on where she can find her mother, and a recorded message that he can no longer protect her. Maren sets out on a cross country trip to locate her mom, and maybe get answers as to why she hungers for human flesh. Along the way, she meets others like herself, because, as it turns out, they can “smell” each other. Some (Sully) seem nice but give out creepster vibes, while others (Lee) genuinely seem to be good. Lee though has his own secrets, and is unwilling or unable to discuss his past with Maren. Lee joins her on her quest to find her mom, and the trip will bring the two close. It’s at times a gruesome film (the sounds of the them feeding, even when off camera, will turn your stomach), but the acting by Taylor Russell and next-big-star Timothée Chalamet is arresting, and the always-reliable Mark Rylance as Sully is so vile that he sent shivers up my spine whenever he ventured into the scene. ★★★½

Devotion, based on a true story, tells the tale of Jesse Brown, a black naval air fighter, over the course of a single year, 1950. With high tensions with the Soviet Union and escalating skirmishes in the Korean Peninsula, Jesse and his fellow pilots are tasked with preparing in case of war. A half dozen of them are assigned the F4 Corsair, a fast plane with a penchant for getting its flyers killed, due to the special handling it requires. Jesse, having faced prejudice and racism all of his life to get to where he is now, is not about to back down from this challenge though. His flying skills quickly earn the respect of his fellow pilots, especially his wingman, Tom Hudner. Tom and Jesse form a bond, which they’ll take into Korea once war breaks out. A powerful film, with just the right amount of storytelling to give this true story some added heft, and it doesn’t hurt that you have Jonathan Majors in the lead as Jesse Brown. Majors’s meteorite rise (his first film role was just in 2017) is something to marvel at, but it is well deserved with turns in this, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and, of course, as Kang in the next Phase of the Marvel series. ★★★½

The Inspection is an entirely different military movie, but one with more modern-day prejudices. Ellis French is a young black gay man newly enlisted to the Marines. Kicked out of his home by his mother at 16 because he is gay, he’s been on the streets for the last few years, watching his friends end up in jail or dead. The marines is a chance to avoid those fates, and maybe finally make his mom proud of him. But it will not be easy. Ellis faces hazing from his fellow recruits and even the instructors/sergeants. Only through buckling down and working his ass off is Ellis going to earn their grudging respect. Based on the personal experiences of writer/director Elegance Bratton, it’s a hard film to watch at times, but a decent one. Jeremy Pope is outstanding in the lead role of Ellis, but the others are just so-so, and unfortunately most of them are pretty staid, one-dimensional characters. Still, worthy of a watch. ★★★

• TV series recently watched: The Snow Girl (season 1), Mayfair Witches (season 1), Its Always Sunny (seasons 4-6), Hell on Wheels (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Dune House Atreides by Herbert & Anderson

Marvel’s collective Cinematic Universe just keeps on chugging, with film # 31 hitting this past weekend. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania starts their Phase 5, and after the bumpy septet of films of Phase 4 (highs such as Shang-Chi and the third Spider-Man, lows including Eternals and the fourth Thor), Marvel is trying to right the ship and give us a collective goal, i.e. the next Avengers team-up, and a new bad guy to root against. It also finally delivered a big vehicle for the Avenger’s tiniest member, and while some critics didn’t like the turn, I enjoyed seeing Ant-Man finally get his due.

Paul Rudd does comedy well, so he’s always been likable as the plucky crook-turned-superhero Scott Lang. In the beginning of the film, he’s enjoying the star life after helping to save the world from Thanos. He has his full family back together, but his daughter, Cassie, inadvertently sets up the future of the franchise when she sends signals down into the Quantum Realm for mapping. When Scott’s girlfriend (Evangeline Lilly as Hope, the Wasp)’s mom Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) previously escaped the Quantum Realm, she left behind an evil man named Kang. A conqueror of worlds, Kang is nearly all powerful, but he is trapped there, and was supposed to have been forever trapped, until he hears Cassie’s signal. Kang (Jonathan Majors) pulls Scott, Hope, Janet, Hank (Michael Douglas), and Cassie into the Quantum Realm, in order to force one of them to use their shrinking powers to retrieve the device Janet had previously made inert, a device that will power his ship to continue ravaging the multiverse in his goal of destroying worlds. Whereas Thanos wanted to destroy whole populations in our universe, Kang has the ability to destroy whole worlds across the multiverse. Infinite possibilities and infinite numbers of people can be killed. In the Quantum Realm, Scott and his family and friends must find a way to stop him from escaping his prison, even as he uses the threat of Cassie’s death to force Scott to cooperate.

I always felt Scott Lang didn’t get enough attention in the films. Though this is his fifth appearance (2 solo films, plus Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame), it seems like he never got his due. When he’s in with the Avengers, he seems to only be around for comic relief, and his solo films have been more of the small-time variety, where his actions don’t have big consequences. Don’t get me wrong, I like street level superheroes (loved the Netflix Marvel shows, even Iron Fist (second season anyway)), but Ant-Man’s been around long enough to finally do something with big ramifications. It doesn’t get any bigger so far than with Kang, who will be the “next Thanos.” This movie isn’t perfect; it glosses over how Janet left a vicious autocrat behind when she escaped the Quantum Realm, without even looking into going back or sending help for the beleaguered people living there under this thumb. And as is the norm these days, the CGI is heavy, though it is done well. Majors is fantastic as the evil Kang, and the film is just cryptic enough to finalize out this plot, while leaving options for the future in how they want to develop his character moving forward. There’s also some nice cameos, including a character from long ago. ★★★★

God’s Country is touted as a slow burn thriller; definitely hits on the former, but only lightly touches on the latter. It stars Thandiwe Newton (Maeve of Westworld fame) as Sandra, a college professor from New Orleans who has transplanted to the back country of Montana. There, she butts heads with all of the good ol’ boys. For starters, a duo of men, who’ve been in trouble with the law before, go hunting on her land. When she asks them to leave, they continue to come around, leading to a confrontation. The local police don’t seem to be much help, only offering Sandra advice to leave them be and pick her battles. Sandra decides to make this her battle. What they don’t know is Sandra wasn’t a teacher in New Orleans, she was a cop, and she has the nerves of steel to get her way. There’s an explosive ending, but there’s some weird twists in the middle that threaten to derail the film before you get there. It basically tries to portray every stereotype of backwoods rural America, throwing every idea at the wall to see what sticks. Little does. Newton is solid, and it was fun spotting Jefferson White (Jimmy from Yellowstone, a very popular show right now) in a supporting role, but the movie is far too uneven to gather much praise. ★★½

Missing (lots of films with this title in the last 3 years; this one is the 2021 one from Japan) is also billed as a thriller, but if it developed into one, I didn’t stick around long enough to see it happen. The film starts out giving almost-comedy vibes. Kaede is a teen girl trying to care for her father Harada, who is depressed, unable to find his grip on life after the death of his wife and Kaede’s mom. One morning, Harada disappears, and after trying to hunt him down, Kaede discovers that her dad is hunting a serial killer he had previously stated he’d spotted in the area, hoping to nab him and get the reward money for the family. Now Kaede is looking for her dad and the killer at the same time. If it sounds weird, it is. For my tastes, it wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t gripping, it really wasn’t anything. I gave up about 45 minutes in. ½

When Utama starts, the viewer doesn’t know when it takes place. Filmed in the desolate Bolivian highlands, it is like watching the desert planet of Tatooine from Star Wars; this was never a fertile land, but the elderly couple of Virginio and Sisa have been able to get along there, until now. We soon learn that it is present day, and the couple, along with everyone else in the region, is facing a historic drought thanks to climate change. It hasn’t rained in a year, forcing people to travel further and further to fill buckets of water to transport back to their homes. Virginio goes out every day to graze his llamas, while Sisa tends the home. Virginio has a secret too: he’s very sick, with a terrible cough and a weakening body. He knows something is majorly wrong, but refuses to leave his way of life, even when some neighbors are considering a move to the city for a more comfortable life. The couple is visited one day by their grandson Clever, whose father has been estranged from Virginio for years. Clever helps out around the house, but when he hears Virginio’s cough, he urges his grandparents to finally leave the homestead. Virginio refuses; he will die first before leaving the only home he’s known. Unfortunately it may come to that. A forlorn movie about the passing of a lifestyle of an entire people, the story is aided by the wide open vistas of this beautifully barren land. ★★★½

Next Exit is a road movie, but it is a road movie with an interesting premise. A new scientific group is claiming proof of life after death, after a little boy is videotaped playing a card game in his bedroom with a shadowy figure, a game that purportedly only his recently dead father knew. While the group in San Francisco is asking for volunteers to come end their lives under supervision in order to record their passing and prove the science, the world has taken the news in the only way our world can: in extreme ways. Suicides are way up, with people no longer scared to die, while religious and political backlash butts heads with them. In this fraught environment comes Rose and Teddy, two New York City strangers who end up sharing a rental car to cross the country and “participate in the study.” Each has reasons for wanting to end their lives, and coming to terms with those past pains is what the movie obviously becomes. I’m sort of torn on this movie. It introduces a lot of food for thought (like the aimless pastor the pair come across, who is wandering along without a purpose now that the hope of religion is no longer needed or wanted by society), but I think the movie doesn’t quite reach the emotional heft that it seeks. It’s a decent enough picture, but not an overly memorable one. However, I would be interested in seeing future films from first time writer/director Mali Elfman, as there’s obviously promise there. ★★★

Ticket to Paradise is exactly what it looks like: lots of cheese, but a fun comedy for the older crowd (which, I guess, I’m turning into). Megastars Julia Roberts and George Clooney play Georgia and David, a long-divorced couple who have spent the last 20 years bickering, but they have always been there for their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever). Lily is graduating college with her sights set on becoming a lawyer, but those plans are derailed when she and her friend go to Bali to celebrate their degrees. There, Lily meets a local, Gede, and falls head over heels for him, his homeland, and his family. 37 days after arriving, she emails her parents that she is getting married. David and Georgia set off immediately, under the guise of supporting her and seeing her wed, but actually with the intent to split up the new couple before they make the same mistake they themselves did. Hijinks ensue. You know how this is going to end, I knew how this was going to end, but I still enjoyed the ride. It’s completely predictable, but that’s not always a bad thing; it’s just the kind of throwback romantic comedy that thrived in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. If you are down for corny jokes and a little romance, you won’t be disappointed. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Dark Winds (season 1), Its Always Sunny (seasons 1-3), Hell on Wheels (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Tarkin by James Luceno

I’m late to the game on this one, as $2 billion worth of people have already seen Avatar: The Way of the Water. But I did finally have an opportunity to see it this weekend. Once one of the more highly anticipated sequels, when it finally came, it seems there were a lot of people wondering if it could duplicate the success of the first one (highest grossing film of all time, and adjusted for inflation, # 2 behind only Gone With the Wind). Those fears (by the studio, I’m sure, with its budget of $460 million, the highest for any film ever) have been put to rest; as of this writing, its total stands just over $2.1 billion, good for # 4 all time worldwide. But with all that money in the bank, does it live up to the hype? Mostly yes, but with some caveats.

The film takes place 16 years after Avatar, when the Na’vi, led by Jake Sully, repelled the Earthlings off their planet. In the intervening time, Jake and his wife Neytiri have raised a family, with two natural-born sons (Neteyam and Lo’ak) and a daughter (Tuk), and an adopted daughter (Kiri) born to Grace Augustine’s hibernating Avatar, left after she died. They’ve also taken in “a stray,” a human boy named Spider, who was left with the humans left the planet (babies cannot be put into hyper sleep for the trip back to earth). We soon learn that Spider was the late Colonel Miles Quaritch’s son, and he has been raised mostly unaware of the evil his father did.

Jake’s idyllic world comes to an end when the humans return. With Earth dying (its pollution was hinted at in the previous film), humans want to do more than just mine Pandora now, and they are looking to settle on it. And they brought new muscle to tame the Na’vi. They’ve grown new avatars, and implanted the memories of trained soldiers into those bodies, including Colonel Quaritch’s. Quaritch makes it his goal to capture Jake, seeing him as the key to taking the fight out of the Na’vi, since it was he who united the tribes to win the last war. After a close call, where Quaritch captures a couple of Jake’s kids and they barely escape, Jake decides to take his family far away, and relocates to an island village, inhabited by the Metkayina people. Despite still being Na’vi, the Metkayina are a different people. Living with the sea has brought evolutionary changes, and their entire way of life is strange to Jake and his family. While they are learning the new ways, Quaritch is not content to let his prize get away, and sets his brutal tactics to anyone who may give him information. Aided by his estranged and reluctant son Spider, Quaritch hunts Jake.

The film is long, at 192 minutes (a half hour longer than the first, which was already a long movie). Despite 3+ hours, it really didn’t feel long. That is in part to being such an incredibly beautiful film. In this day and age with every film chuck full of CGI, it’s hard to impress me, but this movie did. It is gorgeous throughout and creates a sense of wonder that you never lose. Having said that, the movie does suffer from, at times, being a bit too similar to the first entry. Jake (and this time, his whole family) has to learn the ways of the local people, in order to use those skills to fight off the bad guys. And at the end, director Cameron pulls out another old plot element from his past films (you’ll know when you see it), and it started to make me think that he only has a couple ideas floating around in his head. If, in the next sequel, Jake has to take his family to the volcano people and learn their way of life too, while a killer robot from the future travels back in time to hunt Jake Sully, I’ll really start to second guess this director’s bag of tricks. Still, looking at this film by itself, it’s solid, and worthy of more exploration. ★★★½

She Said is the based-on-a-true story about the two New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) who were pivotal players in ushering in the #metoo movement. The film follows them as they research and build a case against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein. Rumors have been rampant in the movie industry for decades about his behavior towards young women, but finally pieces start falling into place when Megan and Jodi start pulling at threads. If you followed the news about him, the movie won’t show anything really new, but the information is given in an emotionally charged way that will disgust you, as was the intent. Unfortunately there’s so much information to give that it bombards the viewer in an overwhelming way. The two reporters are constantly going to this or that person, making this or that phone call, in a breakneck speed, that little room is left for either actress to show her acting chops. I do think Kazan is a bit miscast, because I’ve always enjoyed her more in her quirky roles, and obviously there’s none of that here. There’s some emotional moments, as to be expected from the source material (an interview with Weinstein’s once-assistant Zelda Perkins, portrayed by Samantha Morton, will boil your blood; she’s amazing in everything she’s ever been in), but often the movie is just data/information overload. I don’t dispute the movie is important, and the result of the true-life revelations of these two reporters is paramount, but a movie is probably not the best way to do it (this film is based on a book, which I have not read, which is probably a better medium). ★★★

The extremely dark and morbid existence of the survivors in the post-apocalyptic world of Vesper is set with the opening title sequence: typography tells us that the world is living in a “new dark age.” In the far distant future and facing an ecological crisis, humans turned to genetic technology for its survival, but engineered viruses backfired, wiping out all edible plants and animals. Now, the elite few live in technologically advanced cities called citadels (which we never see), and the rest are scraping by as they can in the mud. The film’s main character is Vesper, a 13-year-old girl living alone with her paralyzed father. Her father is bed-ridden and can only communicate through a flying drone that follows Vesper around, which her father can talk through. Vesper, a brilliant young girl, has a lab where she is trying to break down the code in the wild (and often dangerous) plant life that now thrives in the world, hoping to make something edible again. Vesper’s mom left them a few years ago, to become a “pilgrim,” a mysterious group that salvages junk to build massive structures in a very cult-like way. The only other family around is Vesper’s uncle Jonas, who is the only person who can communicate with the citadels with his transceiver, and he trades his children’s blood for food with them (and wonders why they want young blood). However, the food he does get is very limited; food seeds given by the citadel have been engineered to only yield a single harvest, thus everyone is dependent on the citadel in perpetuity. Jonas is very much a bad guy, wanting Vesper to join his clan, as she is nearing fertility and he can use her to get more young to increase his riches. Into this volatile environment comes Camellia. She was traveling in a saucer from the citadel when it crashed, and Vesper, against her father’s wishes, nurses her back to health. Camellia has a secret though, one that will put them all in danger, and one that Jonas can use to further his ambition. This is a remarkable movie for its ideas and visual presentation, and while I thought it was really good, it could have been really great. Unfortunately it is one of those where its reach exceeds its grasp. It brings amazing, thought-provoking ideas to the table, but with a fairly thin plot, it doesn’t reach the awe-inspiring moments that it desperately wants. I feel like it could have been a genre-defining Matrix-like movie in the right hands, but it never gets there. ★★★½

The Menu is one of those quirky genre-bending films that is hard to define, with equal parts horror and dark, almost absurdist, comedy. The premise is simple: an elite chef, Chef Slowik, hosts the powerful and rich at his exclusive island restaurant, charging $1250 a person for the privilege of being served his premium cuisine. The cooks serving under Slowik are completely obedient and follow his strict regimen: they sleep together in a barracks, rise early to harvest the local fauna and edible flora for the evening’s meal, and begin meal prep. On this particular evening, the guests include the food critic who first discovered Slowik many years ago, a has-been actor still holding onto delusions of grandeur, a trio of privileged businessmen, an older couple who are regulars at Slowik’s island, and Tyler, a food lover and sycophant of Slowik’s. Tyler has brought his (seemingly) new girlfriend, Margot, who is just along for the ride. They all are in for a night they’ll never forget, if they survive it, because Slowik has a new “menu” prepared for these particular guests. Each of the guests, all expected by Slowik because of his reservation system, has a terrible secret or unfortunate event in their past, and Slowik will confront them tonight, with gruesome results. Each guest that is, except Margot, who replaced the woman Tyler was supposed to have brought. She is the one wrinkle in Slowik’s dastardly plans. The film is hilarious in its depiction of a high cuisine: when Slowik serves a bread-less bread plate for the second course (various sauces for bread dipping, with no bread), Tyler calls it a genius method of deconstructing the idea of bread as a meal, whereas others obviously think it is a joke. But the real joke on them comes when one of the cooks under Slowik kills himself in front of them, and his body is offered as a course. And even then, the night is still young. Never very scary but always very funny, this movie is engaging to the end, and you can’t help but laugh at the over-the-top machinations of Slowik and his team. Great cast too, including Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, John Lequizamo, Judith Light, among others. ★★★★

Till is one of those movies which is based on an important moment in history, but which doesn’t translate well to a full motion picture. The film follows Mamie Till, mother of 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. Raised in Chicago and unaccustomed to the way of life in the south, Emmett was visiting family in Mississippi when he whistled at a white woman one day. This led to a few men showing up at his uncle’s door one night, pulling Emmett out of bed, and driving away with him. Emmett’s body was found in the water a couple days later, bludgeoned beyond recognition and shot in the head. His body was sent back to Chicago, and to make the world aware of the persecutions of black people in the south, his mother Mamie held an open casket funeral, with pictures of Emmett’s disfigured face splashed across newspapers across the country. The film continues from there, with the trial of his murderers and aftermath regarding the civil rights movement. It was definitely a turning point in civil rights and Emmett’s story should be known and taught, but as much as it pains me to say, the movie was just ok. It’s more of a feature for Danielle Deadwyler’s considerable talents in the lead as Mamie, and she is remarkable, but the movie goes on a bit too long, and the climax comes halfway through rather than the end. Skip the movie, and instead, go do some research on Emmitt Till, Mamie Till-Mobley, and Medgar Evers. ★★½

Lighting Up the Stars is a lovely film out of China, and one of the quiet, unassuming kinds of films that often come out of that country, though it has a bit more humor than I was expecting, which was nice too. The film follows a young man named San, who is set to inherit the family business, a mortuary. He doesn’t care for the business, just as it seems he doesn’t care for his old and frail dad (there’s mutual animosity there, which will get explored as the movie goes along), but San does want to get the business so he can sell it and move on. Those plans are put on hold from his latest “client.” A woman dies in her sleep, leaving an orphan, her granddaughter Xiaowen. Little Xiaowen, no more than 5 or 6 years old, is supposed to go to her uncle, supposedly her only living relative, but the man’s wife (a bit of a shrew) initially refuses. Xiaowen chases down San, demanding to see her grandmother. The brusque San doesn’t handle Xiaowen well, but he’s her last tie to her grandmother, so she refuses to go away. San ends up taking her in, and the two develop a bond. San helps Xiaowen deal with her grief, even as the girl helps him in turn mend his relationship with his father. But will it all come apart when Xiaowen’s mother, long thought dead, turns up? At turns hilarious and heart breaking, this is a lovely film for families (if your kids can handle the subtitles) and one that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy. Having recently spent a whole lot of time with my granddaughter (babysitting, while her parents were in the hospital for a few days having my second grandchild), I laughed hard at her antics and cried when she was upset. I’m usually not a fan of child actors, but the tiny Yang Enyou is a revelation. ★★★★½

• TV series recently watched: The Boys (season 3), Reacher (season 1), Willow (season 1), Handmaid’s Tale (season 5), Hell on Wheels (season 1)
• Book currently reading: The Second Generation by Weis & Hickman

When Knives Out was a huge hit in 2019, you knew a sequel would be on the table, and that sequel finally came out, with Daniel Craig returning as offbeat sleuth Benoit Blanc (similar to Agatha Christie’s famous Poirot character). There are similarities from the first Knives Out film: once again, Blanc doesn’t know who hired him, and once again, he arrives to a rich soiree, though this time, the murder has yet to be completed. Billionaire investor Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has gathered some of the people he is most invested in for a weekend getaway and “murder mystery” dinner on his private island off Greece. Miles has his hooks in each of them, so they each have a reason to hate him, and a real murder is definitely in the cards; good thing Blanc is there to solve it. The film is highly entertaining (like the first film, an all star cast helps, this time including Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, and more), and the twists keep coming to keep you on your toes. Unfortunately, as a whole, the twists sometimes feel forced, like director/write Ryan Johnson is doing his damnedest to one-up the first film. I thought that one was nearly perfect (didn’t help my feeling for this sequel that I recently rewatched the first and was reminded of its brilliance); according to my review, I gave it 4 1/2, so I have knock this one down a notch to ★★★★

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (don’t let the wordy title scare you off) is a film adaptation of the popular musical, itself based on the popular child’s book. I saw the touring production of the musical at St Louis’s Fox Theater a few years ago, not knowing anything about it at the time (never read the book as a kid), and really enjoyed it. The film version is solid too. The story revolves around Mathilda, a young girl born to parents who, not only don’t appreciate her, they downright loathe her (her dad always refers to her as “a boy” since that’s what he wanted, to humorous effect in the film but which obviously bothers Mathilda). Her only escape is through books, and she reads everything she can get her hands on, and makes up her own stories when she doesn’t have something to read. Mathilda’s life changes when the local authorities realize she’s never been in school; her parents didn’t bother enough to send her. Mathilda starts school with dreams of learning new things, but those dreams too are dashed when she meets the school’s headmistress, Agatha Trunchbull. Ms Trunchbull calls the children at her school maggots, and rules with an authoritarian iron fist. Laughs and smiles are all-but forbidden. Mathilda’s only bright spot is her teacher, Ms Honey, who loves her kids and inspires them. There’s a secret at this school between Trunchbull and Honey, a secret that Mathilda will unravel as the film goes along. The movie starts great, with catchy songs, bright colors, and a fun atmosphere despite the dreary life Mathilda lives. The spunky Alisha Weir makes the most of her opportunity as Mathilda, portraying it with zest and a don’t-quit attitude, but it is Emma Thompson’s completely unrecognizable turn as Agatha Trunchbull that steals the show. How can the likable and attractive Thompson transform to such a despicable person?! If she doesn’t net an award or two this season, it’s a travesty. A lot of the jokes are for adults, but I think kids will like this one the most, with its memorable soundtrack sticking with them. ★★★½

White Noise is the newest film from writer/director Noah Baumbach, whose last picture, Marriage Story, was my favorite film of 2019. I read the book this film is based on back in 2016, and enjoyed its quirky and off-beat comedic style. This movie, recently released on Netflix, is getting middling reviews, but I like the director, I liked the book, so of course I was going to watch it. And thankfully, it’s a fairly faithful adaptation (big change at the end, but it works in the movie). The only knock is that the book is written from main character Jack’s perspective, so as a film, we obviously can’t get in his head. Even so, Adam Driver does a great job of giving Jack Gladney’s mannerisms life. If you’d like the gist (with some spoilers, so maybe only read the first half), read my review of the book. My thoughts on the movie: The comedy is definitely absurdist, as it was in the book. This may turn some viewers off if you aren’t expecting it, because other elements of the film (drama, even some thrills when the “Airborne Toxic Event” throws the town into a very real fear of impending death) don’t always mesh with the laugh-out-loud comedy, but it all comes straight from the pages of the book, and Baumbach expertly handles it all. Driver is the star; how he hasn’t won a major award yet is beyond me. Baumbach’s wife Greta Gerwig plays wife Babette Gladney, and she’s serviceable, though in my opinion she’s always been a better writer/director in her own right than an actor (and we’re all looking forward to her film Barbie coming out this year). I really enjoyed this film, but I can say with confidence that the majority of watchers will absolutely hate it. To each his own. ★★★★

Despite not doing well at the theaters, critics have been high on TÁR since its release, and it seems to be a dark horse favorite for multiple awards this season. I have to be honest, it takes awhile to build, and a good 30 minutes in, I was wondering if it was all hype, but stick it out and you will be rewarded. Cate Blanchett gives a tour-de-force performance as Lydia Tár, a world renowned conductor and composer, in a field that has traditionally been dominated by men. The film opens as she is being interviewed, and her list of accomplishments is staggering. Upcoming is a live recording of her conducting of Mahler’s 5th Symphony, which is generating lots of hype in music circles. Outwardly, she has everything, but as the film goes along, her carefully crafted persona begins to crumble, entirely through her own fault. First, a former protégé commits suicide, and immediately, whispers begin that the young woman was groomed and later cast off by the powerful Lydia Tár. At home, Lydia butts heads with her wife Nina, who also happens to be lead violinist/concertmaster in the orchestra, because Nina sees that Lydia is already eyeing her next fling, a young and brilliant cellist from Russia, new to the orchestra. There’s also the ousting of the group’s assistant conductor, a move orchestrated by Lydia, due to a perceived infraction, and when Lydia’s longtime assistant Francesca doesn’t get the job, more sparks flare. The narcissistic and power-hungry Lydia Tár refuses to see the cracks in her world, until by the end, those cracks are gaping chasms. It’s a brilliant film, made more interesting because, for myself coming from a musical background, I could definitely see characteristics of some of the musicians and the egos involved, and applaud the meticulous amount of research that went into making this film authentic. It’s a sharp look at how a person in a powerful position can use that capacity to bulldoze others, but how that way of life may finally be coming to an end in today’s post- #metoo world. ★★★★★

Another great film today; I can’t remember the last time I had some many good ones in a row! Hold Me Tight is not a film you’ll find easily, as it is an indie French film from 2021 that seems to have flown under the radar. I can’t talk about the movie at all without giving away a couple spoilers, so I urge you to stop here and go find it to watch. Those who don’t care to read subtitles can continue on. This film follows a woman named Clarisse who, in the beginning of the film, abandons her husband and two kids for an unknown reason. As the film progresses, we see Clarisse out on the road, while her husband Marc raises Lucie and Paul on his own. However, Clarisse has conversations with them from afar, in her head, and they answer back, and it takes awhile to know what exactly is going on. Much is explained 30 minutes in, when we learn that the family was vacationing in the French Alps one winter, when Marc took the kids out, and they were overtaken by a series of avalanches. With that particular area snow-covered now, the authorities have to wait until spring to retrieve the bodies. The whole movie so far, and the rest from here on out, is a fabrication in Clarisse’s head. Unable to confront her family’s death, she has concocted this notion that it was she that left them, so in her mind, she can pretend they are still alive at home, and their lives are continuing without her. The movie blends past and present, with scenes cutting between reality and Clarisse’s fiction, all on a dime, so you’ve really got to pay attention to keep up. And don’t forget to notice that the actors playing her kids change at one point too, and not just because they are getting older in the “years” that have gone by while Clarisse is away. It’s a beautiful and often heart-breaking film about grief and trouble letting go, and though the big surprise comes at that 30 minute mark, there’s still plenty to unwrap before the end. ★★★★★

• TV recently watched: The Witcher: Blood Origin (miniseries), The Empress (season 1), Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (season 1)
• Book currently reading: The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan