There are slow films, and then there are films like Moon, 66 Questions, which takes pacing to an entirely new level. Out of Greece, it follows a single woman named Artemis who is tasked with caring for a man named Paris. Paris has had a stroke leaving him weak and with severely limited motor control. Artemis tells people that Paris is her uncle and that he has limited options for care, but the truth, which we don’t learn until much later in the movie, is that he is her father. The two have been estranged for most of their lives, due in no small part to his stern and unyielding parenting. Now helping him with all of his daily tasks, Artemis is closer to her father than she’s ever been, and learns a family secret that has been well guarded. When the secret drops, I think it is meant to land a weighty blow on the viewer, but by the time it does, I was just ready for the movie to be over. The movie tries to be smarter than it is, and uses every art film camera cliche in the book along the way. ★½

Sniper: The White Raven is another international film, out of Ukraine, and deals with relevant issues. It takes place in 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea. Mykola is a local teacher who is building a life off the grid. He and his pregnant wife live outside of town on a self-sufficient farm. When Russian forces come in, his peaceful life is upended when they burn his house down and kill his wife. Mykola swears vengeance, enlisting with the Ukrainian army. Coming from a pacifist background, he knows nothing about guns or military training, but he shows an aptitude for marksmanship, and graduates as a first class sniper. From that position, he reigns terror on the Russian forces. But when on a mission one day, he spots the men who murdered his wife. Mykola’s mentor and commander urges caution until they can complete their observations of the area, but Mykola rushes to take the shot. Mykkola’s haste gets his friend killed by the Russian’s top sniper, and the stage is set for ensuing battles, to see which sniper can take out the other first. Solid war film if you don’t mind the subtitles. ★★★

All My Friends Hate Me has a premise which sounded good but, in practice, was tough to watch. Pete is turning 31 and his old college friends have invited him to a big weekend bash at one of their father’s lavish estates. Pete hasn’t been in strong contact with any of them for years, and in the intervening time, has devoted himself to helping refugees with his girlfriend (soon-to-be fiancée). This goody-to-shoes life is now the butt of jokes amongst his old friends. That, and every other aspect of Pete’s life and personality. They are downright mean, to the point of discomfort for the viewer. When I read the synopsis, I was expecting a sort of The Office-like ribbing, where Michael Scott seems to always say or do something that is cringy that borders (or crosses the border) on uncomfortable, but in this movie, it takes squeamish to an entirely new level. Or maybe it just works in 20 minute intervals like a TV show, but not in a full movie. And to make it worse, it’s just not that funny here either. ★★

Hit the Road hails from Iran, and follows a family of four (along with their trusty dog Jessie) as they road trip across the country. The family members are never named, the viewer just knows them as the mother, the father, a young boy, and his older brother, who is doing the driving. There is a sense of foreboding over the car, but for most of the movie, we don’t know where they are going or why. However, there’s a lot of comic relief from the parents and the younger boy (the elder, behind the wheel, is almost completely silent, like a doomed man heading towards his executioner). The young boy in the back bounces around, and any parent who’s down a cross-country road trip with a child can relate to that feeling of being trapped in a car with a restless kid. The parents play along, doing their best to keep the atmosphere light. When the family’s destination is revealed, it is probably supposed to hit like a ton of bricks, but I didn’t feel the weight of it as much as I should have. In fact, I couldn’t latch on to this family at all. Despite generally being the kind of quiet drama that I usually dig, I couldn’t connect with their plight, and didn’t laugh at the boy’s antics. Maybe chalk this one up to just not being in the right mindset for a movie like this at the time. ★★

Montana Story is exactly the kind of underrated indie drama that I love, with the established director team of David Siegel and Scott McGhee showing a strong hand, and a couple of strong leads to keep your attention. Taking place amongst the wide open vistas of Montana, we meet Cal (Owen Teague) as he returns to his childhood home to see after his dad’s final days. His dad recently suffered a stroke and is on life support in the home, being looked after by a Nairobi immigrant nurse named “Ace” and longtime family friend/farm employee Valentina. The farm and ranch have been on the decline for awhile, so money is running thin, and Cal is there to start selling what he can in case his dad lingers on for awhile and they need the funds to care for him in his current vegetative state. Emotions in the house are high, and get higher when Cal’s estranged sister Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) arrives. You get the impression that she hasn’t been home in years, and something happened between her and her dad that created a schism. I got the distinct impression that she is now home only to see him die, and she and Cal tiptoe around each other through much of the film. This is an old school art film, the kind of family drama that you don’t see very often. It’s pace will test those with little patience, but it is a rewarding film that hits hard in the final act. ★★★★

• TV series currently watching: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (season 7)
• Book currently reading: The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

I feel like I have to start with this statement: I haven’t yet read the highly popular book from which this film is based. I’ve read many negative reviews comparing the film Where the Crawdads Sing to its source material, and in fact, those early reviews kept me from seeing the movie as soon as it came out. However, it’s higher audience score (96% currently on Rotten Tomatoes) changed my mind, and I’m glad I did. Taken by itself, without knowledge of the book, I absolutely loved this film.

The movie follows Catherine “Kya” Clark, a girl who grew up in the marshes of North Carolina, mostly by herself. In the beginning of the film, she is a mid-twenty-something in 1969 and has been arrested for the murder of a local former high school football star, Chase Andrews. After her arrest, the story turns back to Kya’s childhood and upbringing. At first, you think she has a happy life. Her mom adores her and she has 4 siblings, all of whom seem to get along. But then we meet her father, and he is a brute. He beats his wife until she’s had enough and leaves suddenly, and Kya’s 4 older siblings follow as soon as they can, leaving little 7-ish year old Kya in the remote cabin alone with her dad. By modeling after those who came before, Kya has learned how to deal with her dad and avoid his wrath, and he isn’t terrible to her for those first couple years. But one day, inexplicably, he leaves in the night, and a young Kya is left all alone.

As the story progresses, we watch Kya grow into a smart, independent woman, who refuses to bow down to anyone. Whispered about all of her life as “the marsh girl” by those in town, now that she’s on trial for a murder she vehemently denies, Kya refuses to ask those townsfolk for mercy now. A friendly town lawyer takes up her case, and he does a great job of showing all of the evidence as to why Kya didn’t commit the murder, but the outcome is far from clear until the jury comes back. Along the way, the movie fills in all the pieces of Kya’s teen years, including her first love (who teaches her how to read and write) and heartbreak, and where and how Chase came into her life.

The highlight of this film is Daisy Edgar-Jones in the lead role of Kya. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in anything before, but she is incredible here. The mystery of the film is intriguing from the get-go, and the drama, the interactions between the characters, is wholly fascinating. When I see a narrative drama, I want to be moved, and lose myself in the film. I definitely did in Crawdads, and by the end, was hanging on every word and action. Now it’s time to put the book on my to-read list! ★★★★

My Darling Clementine comes from one of the all-time best in this genre, director John Ford, and stars one of the era’s best too in Henry Fonda. Fonda plays lawman Wyatt Earp. He and his brothers are moving cattle across the west, but while stopping for a rest in Tombstone, the cattle are stolen away and younger brother James is killed. The likely culprit is the Clanton family, a group of ne’er-do-wells in the area, so Wyatt is sworn in as Marshall with vengeance on the mind. But first, he has to deal with the drama of Tombstone. Doc Holiday is a hot-headed gambler running from something. That something seems to be Clementine Carter, his former love from back east, who has followed him to Tombstone, much to the chagrin of his current girlfriend, Chihuahua. Clementine gives off a bit of a lovesick vibe kind of thing, but when it becomes apparent that Holliday has moved on, she may find a new reason to stay in Wyatt, who’s been smitten upon first seeing her. People who come into this film expecting to see the famous gunfight at the OK Coral may be a bit disappointed, but hopefully they, like I, find something more substantial that just a gunfight. While that battle is the big finale in the movie, the film’s focus is more on the relationships between these legendary characters. Through modern-day eyes, you do have to look past the bad of a classic 40’s western (Indians are bad, the Marshall is always right, and woman should swoon when a strong man walks through the door), but it’s still a highly entertaining film. ★★★★

From Henry Fonda to his son, Peter. Two years after his heralded work in Easy Rider, Peter Fonda directed and starred in The Hired Hand, his directorial debut. He plays Harry, a cowboy who left his wife and baby daughter years ago to go live free in the American west. After 7 years though, he’s found the life isn’t as exciting as he expected, and is ready to return home. He goes back to his wife, with friend Arch tagging along. A younger friend is killed by some thugs along the way. When Harry gets back to his wife, Hannah, he finds that she’s been living like her husband is dead, and their daughter doesn’t even remember him. To try to get into her good graces, Harry suggests he and Arch live in the barn and just be treated as hired help; no one, including their daughter, need know that Harry is Hannah’s long-lost husband. However, in town, Harry hears rumors that, over the years, Hannah has slept with the various men she’d hire to do odd jobs around the farm, so Harry decides to take his place as husband again and quash those rumors. As Harry and Hannah settle into a relationship again, Arch decides to head off to fulfill his goal of seeing the ocean, but the thugs from earlier aren’t done with the friends. When Harry learns that they’ve kidnapped his bud, Harry must leave his wife again. The film feels very amateur at times, which, though it was it was Honda’s first time directing, you’d think that his vast experience in the business would give him a surer hand. However, the movie features excellent sets and a real gritty, genuine feel, which offsets the uneven storytelling. And despite hailing from 1971, it avoids the trap of feeling dated. ★★½ 

Destry Rides Again, from director George Marshall, borders on being a spoof, but ends up be a hilarious comedy mixed with some of the best elements of the western genre. The town of Bottleneck has a law problem, in that there is none. The mayor is in the pocket of saloon owner and gambler Kent, who is the real power in the town. When Kent swindles a gambler out of his ranch, and the town’s sheriff steps in to stop it, the sheriff ends up dead, and everyone just looks the other way. Seemingly as a joke, the mayor selects a drunk, the apt-named Washington Dimsdale, as the new sheriff. Dimsdale, to everyone’s surprise, decides to give up drinking and take the job seriously, and sends off for a famous deputy: Tom Destry (a young James Stewart, whose star was just starting to shine in 1939). Destry’s dad was a famous lawman and he seems to be a chip off the old block. Destry arrives in Bottleneck and his aw-shucks attitude and easy-going nature, not to mention his refusal to carry a gun, makes him the immediate butt of jokes, and Kent and the others don’t take him too seriously. That is, until Destry starts digging into the old sheriff’s murder. Oh, and let’s not forget a love interest, in the person of Frenchie, the saloon’s singer/tramp, portrayed handily by the great Marlene Dietrich. Lots of belly laughs and an intriguing plot to keep you on your toes, I had a great time with this one. And who doesn’t love Jimmy Stewart? ★★★★½

Jubal comes from director Delmer Daves and also has some heavy hitters in the leads: Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine, and Rod Steiger. Ford is Jubal, a wandering cowboy who comes upon Shep’s (Borgnine) ranch. Jubal makes a good first impression and is hired on, and it isn’t long before he is made foreman. This doesn’t sit well with the ranchers who have been there awhile, most notably Pinky (Steiger). Pinky’s been dallying with Shep’s wife Mae behind his back, but Mae has now set her eyes on the easy-on-the-eyes Jubal. Jubal wants no part of that triangle, but Mae’s attention on him riles up Pinky further. The other plot line involves a religious group squatting on Shep’s land, as they tend to some sick members. Pinky wants them kicked off but Jubal urges compassion, and gets his way. He also falls for one of the member’s daughters. The best part is the cinematography; shot on location in Wyoming, the vistas are spectacular (in widescreen too!) and the colors just pop off the screen. Or maybe I’ve just been watching too many black and white films lately. The story is just OK — good but not outstanding. ★★★

Heaven’s Gate is a much-discussed film out of 1980, directed by Michael Cimino, and featuring a stellar cast of actors who, while not new to business (many coming off their breakout roles in the couple years prior), were still young in their careers: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges, and Sam Waterston. It doesn’t begin in the west; instead, we see a young couple of friends, Jim Averill and Billy Irvine, graduating from Harvard. After some foreshadowing speeches at graduation, the film jumps ahead 20 years, to where Averill is now a marshal in Johnson County, Wyoming (and Irvine will pop in later – he hasn’t changed much since college). The situation in the area is volatile. The wealthy cattle owners (Wyoming Stock Growers Association, led by Frank Canton) have targeted the stream of immigrants who’ve come looking for a new life. Canton and his fellows are contending that the immigrants are stealing cattle (some are, for food), and are ready to put an end to them. Canton puts together a “death list” of 125 names, men and women, suspected of cattle theft, and hire a load of mercenaries to come north and kill them. Canton is opposed by his right-hand man, Nate Champion, who is not a wealthy man and, while he has been Canton’s enforcer to this point, now sees that he is on the wrong side of morality. Champion and Averill, often at odds (and especially so because they share affection for the same woman, a brothel owner and also immigrant named Ella Watson), team up to see as little killing done as possible. Unfortunately, little is still a lot. This is a long film with a troubled history. Originally nearly 4 hours long, it was shrunk down to 2 1/2 after it’s opening week was lambasted by critics. They didn’t like the shorter version any better, and it wasn’t until decades later than a longer version was restored and, in retrospect and with changing views on immigrants, given more attention. I have to admit, the first solid 2 hours left me wondering if anything was going to really happen, but the fireworks in the second half more than made up for it. The cast is on their game top to bottom, and all of the characters are varied and intriguing. A couple knocks for taking so long to get going, but the end is extremely powerful. This expensive-to-make film lost a ton of money on its release. Coming off his previous hit (The Deer Hunter), director Cimino was given carte blanche in production, and its failure put an end to director-driven production in Hollywood for a long time. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Yellowstone (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of The Hourglass Mage by Weis & Hickman

Jean Grémillon was a lesser-known French director whose career started in the silent era, but ranged into the 1950s. Today I’ll be looking at three of his films made during the German occupation of France during World War II, as well as a later film, starting with 1941’s Remorques (“Stormy Waters”). It stars the great Jean Gabin as André Laurent, a tugboat captain leading a crew of men on dangerous jobs bringing in floundered ships. His wife, Yvonne, is starting to put pressure on him to retire, but his job and his men mean a lot to him. One stormy night, they bring in a ship captained by an unscrupulous man with a wife ready to leave him. The wife, Catherine (Michèle Morgan), instantly has eyes for Laurent, and he doesn’t immediately turn her away. Gives some skeezy vibes to the viewer, as Laurent’s wife is ill and getting worse, something that Laurent doesn’t know. The movie has some nice moments, but ultimately it’s not all that memorable. One of those movies that I’ll come across again a few years from now and not remember having seen it. ★★

Lumière d’été (“Summer Light”) has, in the beginning at least, a lot of moving parts that seem very intriguing from the get-go. Michèle arrives to a remote, mostly empty hotel hoping to meet her boyfriend, but he’s not there. Instead she meets the varied people living in and around the hotel. Cri-Cri came to the hotel 4 years ago with her own man, but when they separated, she stuck around and now runs the place. Cri-Cri’s current beau is Patrice, a wealthy man whose wife died (in perhaps a nefarious way?) a little while back, but Patrice now has eyes for Michèle. Also ogling over the new arrival is Julien, a working man at the local mine. When Michèle’s boyfriend, Roland, does turn up, we find that he isn’t the hunky artist that we were led to believe. This little love “pentangle” has a lot going on, all swirling around Michèle and her rather innocent outlook on life. Despite all of the characters being a bit oversimplified and one-dimensional, it’s a mostly fun film. The beginning sets the tone early, and while it does start to drag after awhile, the ending was exciting enough to make up for some of that. There’s also some quite-good comic relief by a few other hotel inhabitants: the rather-dumb bartender/bellhop/jack-of-all-trades, and an older man, living in the hotel for awhile, who laments the progress of Paris (which looked much better before that eyesore Eiffel Tower went up). ★★★

Le ciel est à vous (“The Woman Who Dared”) follows a married couple, Pierre and Therese Gauthier, and their 2 kids. Pierre is a mechanic who has a love of airplanes, but Therese has made him promise to never go up in one, as she fears losing him to an accident. That is, until she rides up in a plane one day, and falls in love with the thrill of flight. The family begins to put all their funds into working up a strong plane that would allow Therese to challenge the record for most miles flown by a woman in a solo flight. Pretty straight forward film, but there’s enough there for me to not like it. When the family is doing well financially, they buy their daughter a piano, as that is her love. But when times get tough, they tell her she can’t go to a conservatory to study music, and later, even sell the piano to fund their own adventures. Pretty despicable people, and the film lets them get away with it. In fact, it glorifies her flight, and portrays the kids as happy with their deteriorating situation. I couldn’t get behind a couple of egotistical, hedonistic people who put themselves first in all things. ★½

L’Amour d’une femme (“The Love of a Woman”) centers around Marie, a late-20-something woman newly arrived to a remote island town to be its new doctor. The previous doc, retiring at the age of 70 after having spent decades caring for the island’s people, is beloved by the folks, but Marie will have to earn their trust. In a land of couples (and their kids), Marie’s one good friend is the other single woman on the island: the schoolteacher, Madame Leblanc. When Marie worries that she will always be an outsider, and if she’ll continue to be lonely, Leblanc tells her that she has raised generations on the island, and that all of them continue to be “her kids.” Marie will have that kind of relationship with them all one day. Over time, as Marie heals people, she does start to become “one of them.” Just as this starts to happen though, she falls for an engineer working on the island for a short time. André returns her love, and wants to marry her, but he wants a traditional wife, one who will stay at home and raise their kids. Marie has to decide if she can give up the career she loves for the chance at a family. The movie has great moments, some uneven moments (which are mostly a sign of the times), but overall it’s a solid film. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Fear the Walking Dead (season 7)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of The Hourglass Mage by Weis & Hickman

I’m not a big follower of short films, so I missed the original Marcel the Shell with Shoes On when it came out in 2010, but as soon as I saw the trailer for the new movie, I knew I wanted to see this one. It looked adorable, and hearkened back to the feel-good kinds of kid movies from my youth (and not just because it is an old-school stop motion movie). I was not disappointed.

The movie follows Marcel, a tiny living shell, less than an inch tall, who lives in a vast house with his grandmother, Nanna. Doing the filming is Dean, an amateur filmmaker who’s decided to tell Marcel’s story. Dean has recently rented the house (an Airbnb), not knowing he’d have a “roommate.” Marcel is an eternal optimist, almost to a fault, and his innocence is completely charming. Despite have a hard couple years, Marcel always looks on the brighter side of life. He and Nanna used to live in the house with a huge extended family and friends, but some time ago, everyone was lost. Marcel and family used to watch 60 minutes every week (“Leslie Stahl is fearless”), but one night, when the home’s original owners got into a huge fight, Marcel and Nanna noticed no one else showed up for the show. They soon realized that everyone was in the sock drawer, the “safe place” to go when the owners were fighting, and the man emptied the drawer into a suitcase and left, never to return. It’s just been Marcel and Nanna ever since, and while it is obvious that Marcel misses his parents and everyone else, he keeps a stiff upper lip.

Dean is moved by Marcel’s story, and while he knows the chances of ever finding Marcel’s parents is slim in the big city, he does what he can. First, he uploads a video of Marcel, and when it goes viral, Dean takes Marcel out of the house to see what they can see. It’s a long adventure, and while it seems hopeless at times, Marcel never despairs. Along the way, he even coaxes Dean, who is living in the house because his own relationship is on the rocks, to open up about his personal life.

To say this movie is cute is a total understatement. Marcel’s complete guileless demeanor takes everyone and everything at face value. For example, when his YouTube video blows up, he doesn’t understand why so many people would comment without really helping him find his parents. It is easy to root for him from the very opening scene, and when something doesn’t go right, you feel his pain along with him, even as he tries to move on to the next hopeful idea. Awesome, fun movie, for kids and kids-at-heart. You’ll laugh a lot, you might cry, and it is one of those rare movies that you can watch over and over. ★★★★½

Awhile back I sat down and watched all the Rambo movies. Thought I would do the same for Stallone’s other franchise, the Rocky movies. I won’t do the Creed movies, as I’ve seen those more recently (and enjoyed them, you can find those reviews on my blog), but it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen this series (and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rocky Balboa).

Up first is the one that started it all and which put Stallone on the map. Written by and starring him as Rocky, it starts with him boxing for scraps at a local club. Rocky is an everyman and easily relatable. He has eyes for a pet store worker (Adrian) and is making money by being an enforcer for a local loan shark, but he is barely scraping by. His fortunes look like they may change with the chance of a lifetime. World heavyweight champion Apollo Creed is supposed to have a title bout in Rocky’s hometown of Philadelphia, but Apollo’s opponent backs out with just 5 weeks to go before the event. Playing up the whole “America is the land of opportunity,” Apollo has his team pick a new opponent at random from the local boxers, and it is Rocky’s name that is called. No one gives Rocky much of a chance, but as a local trainer puts it, Rocky always had lots of talent, but he’s wasted it to this point. Rocky takes his training seriously, and when the day comes, he’s ready to give Apollo one hell of a fight. The dialogue is honestly choppy and doesn’t come of f as genuine (it was 1976 after all), and while distracting in the beginning, by the end of the film, I was still completely hooked and ready for the big fight. ★★★★

I always try to avoid major spoilers in my blog, but obviously when you are talking sequels, that’s not possible. You’ve been warned. Rocky II picks up right at the end of the first, and in fact shows the final moments of the big fight, where Rocky holds his own against Apollo but loses in a judge’s decision. He seems content with his life afterwards though: he and Adrian get married and have a kid on the way, and they live large off the money he got from the fight. Meanwhile, Apollo is dogged by questions that he wasn’t the legitimate winner in the fight against Rocky, and he wants to squash those questions by challenging Rocky to a rematch. Rocky resists as long as he can, but he can’t help what he is: a fighter. When Adrian gives her assent, he starts training again, and the rematch is set. Much of the film follows the same pattern as the first movie, so while there’s some rehashing here, it’s not bad. The ending is a little too Hollywood. ★★★

At the beginning of Rocky III, Rocky is now the heavyweight champion of the world. Rocky has defended his title 10 times and made lots of money. Up-and-comer Clubber Lang (portrayed in awful stereotypy villain style by Mr T) has his eyes on him though. Rocky blows him off until he no longer can, and then learns a hard truth: the 10 fights he’s had in defense of his belt have been hand-picked by his trainer Mickey, so he’s never really been challenged since beating Apollo. And with the fight coming up, Rocky has gotten soft. He’s in love with his fame and his training is half-hearted, even as Clubber is shown pushing himself as hard as humanly possible. Predictably, Rocky loses, in part because he is distracted by the death of his trainer Mickey. Wanting a rematch to win back the title, Rocky gets help in his renewed training from an unlikely source: his former rival Apollo. Apollo will make sure Rocky is ready to face Clubber this time. Clubber is the franchise’s first real bad guy (Apollo was an opponent, but still painted as a good guy in previous films and again here). With a whole non-relevant scene involving Rocky fighting a wrestler (Hulk Hogan) for charity, if the series hasn’t jumped the shark yet, it’s at least headed towards the ramp. ★★½

….and the shark has been jumped. Rocky IV turns on the heavy 80s cheese (there’s a frickin’ robot!) and whittles down the plot to a single element. At the top of the mountain, Rocky has gotten the attention of everyone’s favorite 1980’s villain, the USSR. Their steroid-induced super fighter, Drago, challenges Rocky to a fight, but when he doesn’t immediately sign on, Drago fights Apollo instead, and in a gruesome fight, kills him in the ring. Rocky wants to avenge his friend, so agrees to go to Moscow and fight Drago on his home turf. Everything is 80s sludge, from the cheesy robot (a gift from Rocky to his brother-in-law Paulie), to not-one-but-several video montages of past events and current training (complete with the worst songs you can imagine), to our hero standing up against Communism, and getting cheered by Russia’s own people as he does it. Look how great America is! Only worth watching because it obviously sets up the later Creed films. ★½

If Rocky IV was derided for not having much of a plot, they tried to make up for it by throwing everything but the kitchen sink into its sequel. Like seemingly all of these movies, Rocky V picks up right where IV ended: Rocky has beaten Drago, but after the fight, his hands are shaking so bad that it worries him and Adrian. Returning home to the USA, they are greeted by a new boxing promoter George Washington Duke, who wants to make some money and get Rocky back in the ring. Of course, it is now obligatory that Rocky is dead set on retirement in every movie, so that’s the line they toe. Unfortunately Rocky is broke — a bad business decision by Paulie while Rocky was in Russia squandered all their millions, and they are back to living in the slums in Philly. Rocky starts training a bullish young fighter named Tommy Gunn, while also trying to build a better relationship with his son Rocky Jr (who is also dealing with bullies at his new school). After Tommy starts having success in the ring, he is lured away by Duke for promises of riches, leading to a confrontation between Tommy and Rocky right on the streets. Rocky’s return to the streets where he started is such an obvious ploy to make him an underdog again (hard to keep up the underdog act when he’s a millionaire fighter who never loses a fight), and there’s just so much going on that nothing ever is allowed to breathe or develop. All of the characters are paper thin, and when there is a moment that could go somewhere (Rocky trying to talk sense into Tommy) it doesn’t go anywhere. ★

Many thought Rocky V (released in 1990) would be the last, especially after how awful it was. But Rocky had one more fight in him, and Rocky Balboa came out 16 years later in 2006. This is probably the movie that Rocky V should have been. In his 50s, Rocky seems content in his life. He runs an Italian restaurant named after his wife Adrian, who died from cancer a couple years ago. He’s still estranged from his son Rocky Jr; as an adult, Jr seems to have to be in a rut and blames everyone else. But the crux of the film is current heavyweight champ Mason Dixon. He’s undefeated, but a lack of quality fighters has him beating scrubs, and boxing fans know it, booing him at his matches. An ESPN computer simulation throws fuel on the fire, showing that if Mason were to fight a “true” champion (Rocky in this example, of course), he wouldn’t stand a chance. Rocky hears this, and since he’s already been feeling that he still has something down in the gut to get out (“in his basement” as he says), he agrees to a big-ticket exhibition match against Mason. No one expects Rocky to win — Rocky doesn’t expect himself to win — but he does want to prove that even in his 50’s, he has heart and courage, an example to his son, and an example to Mason of what makes a true champion. It’s a solid final entry in the first Rocky series, before the Creed spinoff started in 2015, and my second favorite Rocky film behind the original. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Ms Marvel (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps going strong, with Thor: Love and Thunder being the 29th film in the series (to go along with 19-and-counting television series, many with multiple seasons). It could be overload at this point, because the films have felt a bit uneven of late. The latest Thor film suffers a bit from this too, bit it is still very entertaining.

The film starts with setting up the bad guy right away. Gorr (played deliciously evil by Christian Bale) is a caring father who sees his daughter die as their planet has, but Gorr keeps the faith to their god, Rapu. About to die himself, Rapu follows noises to an oasis in the desert, and sees Rapu holding court. Gorr confesses that while he has lost his family, he has kept his faith, but Rapu scoffs, saying that the gods don’t care for their followers anyway. Gorr inherits the dreaded Necrosword, a weapon made to kill gods, and slays Rapu with it. Gorr then makes it his goal to kill all gods.

Meanwhile, Thor has been out fighting bad guys, teamed up with Starlord (Chris Pratt) and the other Guardians of the Galaxy. Drawn back to Earth to fight Gorr’s minions, who are attacking New Asgard there, Thor runs into his old girlfriend, Jane Foster. Jane, who has terminal cancer, has become the new bearer of Thor’s old warhammer, Mjolnir. Mjolnir has made Jane strong again, but it is temporary strength. Jane and Thor team up, along with Thor’s sidekick Korg, and Asgard’s king Valkyrie, to fight and defeat Gorr. Their struggle will take them to Omnipotence City, realm of the gods (including their leader, Zeus, portrayed by Russell Crowe) and then to the Shadowrealm, Gorr’s domain.

Some of the negative reviews focus on this film’s comedy, calling it just a continuation of Thor: Ragnarok (director Taika Waititi’s first Marvel endeavor). I gave that film high praise, because it felt very fresh. I’ll admit, in the beginning of Love and Thunder, the comedy did seem to distract more than enhance, but once the death and destruction settled in and the team had a villain to conquer, the movie picked up for me. The final half or so was very engaging, and the end credit scenes set up what could be yet another Thor film. Many of the major Marvel characters have had trilogies; if another Thor happens, it will complete his 6th “solo” movie (or second trilogy!), and Chris Hemsworth’s 8th appearance overall in the Marvel series. He’s got the role down cold, and while this one was a bit rocky, I’m still hoping for more. ★★★½

At first, I thought The Worst Person in the World was a coming-of-age film for the new generation. There’s been a few of these in the last 20 years, about a person approaching 30 who is taking longer to find their aim in life than most did in prior generations, but this film turned out to be a lot more than that. Julie is a bright college student who doesn’t know what she wants in life. She bounces between majors like she bounces between lovers. Eventually she settles for working in a bookstore, and lands with her latest beau, Aksel. Askel is in his mid-40s and initially tries to warn Julie off, saying they are at different points in their life (he has a successful career as a comic book artist and is ready for a family, whereas she’s still figuring it all out) but Julie doesn’t listen and falls hard for him. However, a chance encounter with a man named Eivind at a party, and then seeing him again a couple years later, has her ready to bounce from Aksel onto the next “new” thing. At the breakup, Aksel tries to tell Julie that he’s been around and knows what they have is special, but the spontaneous Julie doesn’t listen. Eivind is good to her, but Julie may come to realize what she gave up. For a romcom, it’s light on comedy but heavy on the drama, and there are some fantastically emotional scenes. I’ve seen just one other film from director Joachim Trier (Louder than Bombs), but I’m thinking I need to check more out. ★★★★½

Everything Everywhere All at Once, for me, is one of those movies that shakes up what you expect from a film, because it hits on so many levels and checks off everything you’d want. It takes the considerable talents of Michelle Yeoh and lets her show her stuff. Evelyn is a Chinese-American woman who ran away with a young man years ago, leaving her parents in China and coming to America to open a laundromat. Unfortunately that business never paid off and now, 20 years later, the business is on the rocks, her husband Waymond is prepping to divorce her, and her daughter Joy will hardly give her the time of day. Evelyn goes a million miles an hour trying to keep everything floating when the unexpected happens. In an elevator on the way to the IRS regarding a problem on their audit, Waymond turns into someone else. Or I should say, he looks like Evelyn’s husband, but he has a completely different personality, and he quickly tells Evelyn that she is in danger. So begins a wild ride for the next 2 hours. Apparently an evil being known as Jobu Tupaki is intent on killing every Evelyn across every multiverse, and the Alpha Waymond has been jumping between multiverses to find an Evelyn who can stand up to her before getting killed. Might sound confusing, and I admittedly was in the beginning, but you catch on as the film goes, and it ends up being one of the most fun movies I’ve seen in a long time. Super funny, tons of drama, edge-of-your seat thrills, and, most surprisingly, extremely touching as well. In the special effects field, it’s hard to wow me these days, as it seems like everything’s been done, but this movie is completely fresh. I remember watching The Matrix in 1999 and feeling like that movie was so ahead of its time, and I came away from Everything Everywhere All at Once with the same sense of having seen something that sets a new bar. ★★★★★

Usually the small indie films are rewarding, but every now and then I land on a dud. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is the latest culprit. It’s from the viewpoint of a teen girl and the camera is mostly her computer’s cam, as she video blogs about her participation in the latest internet “game.” You are supposed to prick your finger, smear blood across the screen, and repeat the phrase of the movie’s title, and then sit back and watch what happens over the ensuing weeks. A quasi-horror film, we see Casey struggle with what is or is not happening around her, much of which can be attributed to just a girl fighting depression. In any case, her thoughts turn increasingly dark as the film goes along, which gets the notice of a man following her vlogs and gets worried for her condition. This “scary” movie is about as boring as they come. I don’t mind that it seems to have been filmed on a $100 budget, but you can at least speed up the pace a bit. Watching Casey ramble on with long pauses in between sentences doesn’t work. ★½

Good Luck to You Leo Grande is a very interesting movie, but I’m not sure how remarkable it is. It stars Emma Thompson as Nancy, a 60-something woman who’s longtime husband died 2 years ago. She’s also recently retired as a teacher at a religious high school. Those 2 events have made her think about things she’s never done in her life, and in particular, sexual experiences she’s never had. Her husband, the only man she’d ever been with, was very much a “wham bam thank you m’am” kind of lover; he did missionary and that’s it, and even the same way every time, with nothing else done in bed ever. To experience more of what’s out there, Nancy has hired a sex worker, Leo (Daryl McCormack), for a session in a hotel room. Leo is everything that Nancy is not: young, confident, and completely at ease in any situation. Nancy, a strong Type A personality, wants to plan everything, and at first wants to know more about Leo: what made him choose this job, what do his parents think, and how he can find an older lady like herself attractive enough to “keep it up” during sex. Leo, in fantastic shape and extremely good looking, gives all the right answers, but whenever Nancy isn’t looking, we see him glance in the mirror or become thoughtful, and we know something is going on under that exterior. Over the course of 3 meetups in the same hotel room, the two get to know each other, and Nancy is able to check off items from her sex wish list. There’s some graphic scenes near the end, and obviously a lot of frank talk about different sexual moves and experiences, so this ain’t your family drama, but it is eye-opening about the sex worker business, as well as finding beauty and confidence in yourself even as you age. There’s some good lessons in here even if the content will turn quite a few people away, but I’m not sure I’d ever watch it again. ★★★

Rise is the newest in the long tradition of Disney sports films with an uplifting story, and like many of them, it is based on a true story. It follows the Adetokunbo family as they leave Nigeria and start a new life in Greece. Illegal immigrants, they are under constant fear of being caught and sent back, a fear that grows as they birth a few boys, Thanasis, Giannis, and Kostas. The film’s focus transfers as the boys get older, and follows them more, especially the two eldest, as they become involved in basketball. Thanasis and Giannis both show talent enough to maybe play professionally one day, but their parents are weary that too much attention may get them all deported. Some of these Disney sports flicks I really like (Million Dollar Arm, Miracle, McFarland USA), but too often some of these films feel very rote, and that’s the trap Rise falls into. The acting is very uneven, and the story pauses at weird moments to keep hitting home the family’s predicament, and speeds up at other times. For instance, Giannis seemed to get awfully good, awfully fast. For you non-sports fans, he would grow up to become an NBA champion and two-time MVP of the league, so it was interesting to see where he came from, but the film unfortunately just isn’t very good. ★½

• TV series currently watching: Stranger Things (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

Minions: The Rise of Gru is the latest in the Despicable Me film series. I (mostly) enjoyed those movies about Gru, though I skipped the first Minions film because I thought it looked dumb. Should have stuck to my initial reaction on this sequel too.

The film follows young Gru as he tries to get into his first group of supervillains. The Vicious 6 need a new member as they just betrayed their last, Wild Knuckles, who was the founder but who the rest of the group thought was getting too old. Gru is turned away during his interview and scoffed at for being too young. In an attempt to woo them over, Gru sets out to find at the missing Zodiac Stone, a coveted treasure that the Vicious 6 would love to get their hands on. But the plot is secondary to what this film is really about: the minions and their antics.

The kids movies that really work are those that have jokes for the young ones, but which still have some kind of message or something that engages the parents too. This film has nothing for anyone older than about 8 or 9. All of the minions’ gags are dumb, playing off continual fart jokes or shots of the minions’ butts when their pants fall down. The kids in the theater with me were laughing hard, but I was bored about 10 minutes in and it never got better. As close to a complete waste of time as a movie gets. ★

Up today are a few films from Japanese director Mikio Naruse, who had a long career spanning some of the biggest names in the biz (Ozu and Mizoguchi to name a couple), but who doesn’t get mentioned in the same reverence as those for some reason. I’ve got 4 of his silent films from the 30’s, and a later film from 1960.

No Blood Relation is about a woman, Tamae, who, 5 years ago, abandoned her husband and infant daughter to pursue an acting career in the United States. She has had a successful run, but has always missed her daughter Shigeko, and has now returned to Japan to try to pick up the pieces. However, her ex-husband, Atsumi, has remarried, and his wife Masako is the only mother Shigeko has ever known. The viewer doesn’t think there’s any way Tamae will find an in, until Atsumi’s business lands in bankruptcy. Unable to pay his debts, Atsumi is jailed, and his mother, Kishiyo, who has always lived in luxury, will do anything to stay away from the slums. Kishiyo approaches Tamae about reuniting her with Shigeko, in exchange for a better lifestyle for herself. Tamae, however, refuses to see the bonds Shigeko has developed with Masako. I tend to prefer silent film comedies, but as dramas go, this one is decent enough. ★★½

Apart From You packs a much harder emotional wallop. The film has 3 central characters: Kikue, an aging geisha who is hanging on, trying to keep working until her son graduates high school; the son, Yoshio, who resents his mother for her occupation and has fallen into a local gang; and Terugiku, who is a younger geisha working with Kikue, but who is like a sister to Yoshio. Kikue knows her time is just about up, as she fights gray hairs and a diminishing supply of interested men at work, where she has to compete with much younger coworkers. She’s never liked her profession, but does it to support Yoshio. Terugiku also hates the job, but she has a different reason for staying at it: her drunkard father has plans to send Terugiku’s younger sister off to be a geisha too, and Terugiku refuses to see that happen. She’ll work all the harder to make sure the family has money enough to not have to send her sister. And in the middle is Yoshio. He seems to look past Terugiku’s work but can’t do the same for his mother. This film is rapturous from the get-go and kept me spellbound until the very end. If Naruse has more films like this one coming up, how come he’s not more well known?! ★★★★

Every-Night Dreams is about a single mother, Omitsu, raising her young son on her own. Omitsu is barely scraping by and relying on help from her neighbors to watch Fumio while she works at a bar. Her husband abandoned her years ago, but one day, he just shows up at her door. Mizuhara admits that he was a coward, but that he has missed his son and wants to start fresh. Omitsu denies him at first, but finally allows it, as long as he gets a job and supports them. Finding work in the Great Depression era is difficult though, and Mizuhara is unable to find work. Desperate, he’ll turn to anything to get money for his family, but will Omitsu accept ill-gotten money? Pretty straight forward film, and short at just a couple minutes over an hour, but, like Apart From You, it is very emotional in the end. ★★★½

Street Without End continues the trend of focusing on woman protagonists, this time following a cafe waitress named Sugiko. At the beginning of the film, she has a lot of prospects: a boyfriend ready to propose, and a chance to become an actress after a scout sees her at work. However, those plans all float away when she is struck by a car one day. Her fiancé leaves and the acting job goes to another girl at her work. At first, fortune seems to smile on Sugiko, because the person who hit her, Hiroshi, is a wealthy man who becomes smitten by her charm. Hiroshi marries her, much to the consternation of his mother and sister, who believe Sugiko is beneath their station. This leads to snide remarks and open hostility at home, driving Hiroshi to drink and enter a spiral that will be his downfall. Through it all, Sugiko remains strong. I liked the overall plot in this one, but, especially in the beginning, it felt a bit too “all over the place” and didn’t really settle down until the second half. The abrupt ending also snuck up on me. ★★½

Jumping well out of the silent era, up next is 1960’s When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. An absolutely brilliant film, it is about a woman named Keiko, affectionally called “mama” by her patrons. Keiko runs a bar in the hopping Ginza district. Only 30 years old, she is already a widow, and is supporting her mother, her no-good brother, and his son, who is confined to crutches after having polio. Keiko hates her job, but at her age, she knows she’s getting too old to get a proper husband, so she’s consigned to it. The first half of the film follows her daily activities and interactions at work, and we get to know her well. Keiko knows the ins and outs of running a bar and how to deal with its patrons, every one of which Keiko makes feel comfortable and important. She sees employees come and go, including one who opens her own bar as competition, but who flames out when she goes into debt. At every turn, whenever anything opens up that may better Keiko’s situation (the chance to open her own bar, rather than work for someone else, or to actually get married so she can give it up), something happens to knock her back down. The one constant, the one time in her life when she’s alone to think, is the climb up those stairs to the bar every day. Beautifully acted by Hideko Takamine in the lead, it’s a heart-wrenching film that will stick with you when its over. ★★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Mayans M.C. (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman