The Batman, the latest box office smash and a small reboot of the franchise, stars Robert Pattinson as the titular hero. Casual filmgoers may wonder if the Twilight star was up to the task, but any film lover, who’ve seen him shine in a serious of indie films over the last 10 years, was probably, like me, looking forward to this new take. I was not disappointed.

From director Matt Reeves (known mostly for Cloverfield and the Planet of the Apes reboot series), The Batman steps away from the shared DC Extended Universe to start its own shared universe (2 sequels and 2 separate HBO Max TV series are already in the works). Leaving Ben Affleck’s Batman behind, Pattinson steps into the role with a whole new version. In this one, Bruce Wayne has been fighting the fight for 2 years (thankfully, we don’t get the origin story yet again). Despite his best efforts, crime has only gotten worse, and Bruce is starting to think that he isn’t making any difference in Gotham. This depression seeps into his vigilante life; Batman goes out at night and, in frustration, beats lowlifes to within an inch of their lives, but more always come out. And his biggest villain is waiting in the wings.

When the city’s mayor is brutally murdered, and an enigmatic note is left for Batman at the crime scene, police detective James Gordon reaches out to the Bat for help. None of the rest of the police force trust Batman, not liking that this vigilante is out doing their job better than they are, but Gordon knows he is perhaps Gotham’s only hope. Just as Bruce is unraveling the riddle left for him, another victim pops up. This time, it is the current Gotham police commissioner, Pete Savage. Obviously this new criminal is targeting men of power and influence in the city, but not because they are “good guys.” In fact, his notes elude to the fact that these victims weren’t victims at all, but were liars engaged in criminal activity, unbeknownst to the city at large. It is up to Batman to follow the clues to see if he can take down this new “riddler” before he continues his killing rampage on Gotham’s elite. Batman is aided by Gordon, his trusty Alfred, as well as the sexy Selina Kyle (Catwoman, portrayed by Zoë Kravitz), who has her own agenda to follow.

This is a long film, sitting right at 3 hours long, but I didn’t feel it for most of its length. In fact, I was all in for the first 2 hours or so, and loving every minute of it. Reeves does a fantastic job of getting the viewer into the dark and depressing atmosphere that is modern day Gotham City, and we feel Batman’s hopelessness along with him. I’ll have to say though, Riddler’s last big plan, the finale of his long-planned revenge on the city, felt wrong, like it was just thrown together, and didn’t fit as well as the steps leading up to it. Still, it’s a strong film and great leaping off point for the future of the franchise. Unlike others, I did like Affleck’s older and beaten-down Batman and wish he would have had a chance to make the movie he wanted (before it was abandoned and turned in this new direction), but Pattinson does an admirable job of this new, younger Batman just getting into his crusade. ★★★½

Checking out a few films from Italian director Francesco Rosi today, a director known for his realism. I’m starting with the one that put him on the map: Salvatore Giuliano. Based on the life of Giuliano, it tells the tale of his recruitment and subsequent life of the Sicilian bandit as he doggedly struck at police and was generally a thorn in the side for right-wingers who wanted Sicily to be part of the unified Itsaly in the mid 1940s. Despite circling his life, he is shown on screen very little. The film begins at the end, with his body found shot up in a plaza and the public spectacle that it becomes, but then rewinds to his activities in the years leading up to his death. The story is told through those he ran with, and the authorities who chased him. I guess this was done to add to the legend, but whatever. He was a modern day Robin Hood character, and was very popular amongst the general pop, who wanted freedom from Italy. About halfway through, the film turns to the courtroom, and the final half was like watching paint dry. I’m sure it’s a great film, but I was bored out of my mind by the end. I did appreciate that film was shot in and around Guiliano’s spots: the plaza of his death is the same in real life as the film, as are the mountains that were his hideout. ★½

Hands Over the City is even more political than the last, shining a light on political corruption in the Italian government. Land developers see the value of land, but not with old buildings on it. So they start tearing down empty buildings, but unfortunately the disturbances cause damage and even a couple deaths in neighboring old buildings that were still inhabited. While some in the government are intent in pointing blame to those in charge (mostly to further their own political ambitions), the developers don’t see anything wrong with the outcome; you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. This is a thinking man’s thriller, with a lot of charged dialogue. When it too turned to a courtroom (or, more precisely, a city meeting that looked like a court), I thought, “Here we go again…” But it was better this time. Still, not a really entertaining film in my opinion. I don’t mind dialogue driven movies, but Rosi obviously cared more for getting his point across than entertaining. ★★

The Moment of Truth is less political, and for my tastes, much more entertaining. It tells the tale of a young man named Miguel, who leaves his father’s farm and moves to the big city, with dreams of success. Unfortunately he finds jobs scarce and really struggles to find his footing. A family friend who was supposed to get him a start doesn’t help. Miguel finally finds a level of success in bull fighting. It seems he has natural instincts and a flare that pleases the crowd, and quickly rises in the ranks to become a well-known matador. After he is injured in a match though, Miguel has a hard time finding his mojo again, and definitely loses a step. Miguel is portrayed by a real-life matador (also named Miguel) and while the actual bullfighting is tough to watch (it shows their deaths and all), I enjoyed this movie more than the first two, though animal lovers will obviously find plenty to fault. The ending is at least much more exciting than my previous trips through Rosi’s oeuvre. My biggest gripe is the same I have with many realism films (both post- and neo-): the use of non-professional actors leaves much of the picture feeling dry. ★★★

Christ Stopped at Eboli, a true story based on a memoir, follows a man named Carlo, who is sent to the remote city of Aliano as a political prisoner for having been a vocal opponent to Mussolini’s fascist regime. The title of the film comes from Carlo’s first view of the town, saying that Christ’s love and influence spread all over the world but stopped at this desolate land, where “only conquerors and the lost happen through.” The land is unforgiving, the inhabitants poor, and their struggle made worse under a cruel and tyrannical mayor. Carlo was schooled as a doctor but never practiced; that doesn’t stop the locals from seeking him out when they get sick. Before he knows it, he is treating everyone and has become very popular. Unlike the other people of authority in the city, he actually cares for the poor, and they love him in return. The leaders in Rome want to squash his popularity, by issuing an edict that he not be allowed to medically treat people, but the Mayor is forced to allow it when his daughter becomes ill. The film ends with his Carlo’s freedom and return north to Turin, but his views are forever changed by his time in the south of Italy, and how the people there are forgotten by the rest of the country. I watched the full 4 hour version of this film (it was also edited down to a 2 hour feature), and I highly recommend the full movie. I’m sure the shorter version loses a lot of the character building that makes this such a lovely piece. Ol’ Rosi started off rocky for me, but I’m warming up to him. ★★★½

In Three Brothers, the matriarch of the family has died, and her widower has asked their three boys to come home to bury her. The three have gone in very different directions with their lives, and the film looks at each of them. The oldest, Rafaele, is a judge who is looking at taking on a case about local terrorism, a case that has already gotten police and other judges killed. Middle son Nicola, is a laborer who flirts with communism ideas. Nicola’s marriage is on the rocks, and he’s brought his daughter for the weekend. The youngest son is Rocco, who has devoted his life to helping at-risk children, trying to help them turn their lives around before they end up incarcerated for life or dead. Each person is wrapped in their own world, too much to notice the suffering of their father, but Nicola’s daughter latches on to his side; she and her grandpa become inseparable. Rosi drops some of his trademark realism for this film, delving a bit into the dreams of each character, and it is better for it. He can’t help himself but throw some political talk in the end, but that didn’t distract too much. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Star Wars Rebels (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of the Dwarven Depths by Weis & Hickman

Steven Soderbergh’s latest, Kimi, just hit HBO, and as luck would have it, I just watched some of his stuff, so let’s keep it going! This one stars Zoë Kravitz as Angela Childs, a young woman living with a serious case of OCD and mysophobia, which COVID has not helped. Thankfully she has a job that allows her to work from her apartment, so she never has to leave. She works for a company called Amygdala, which has launched its newest smart speaker named Kimi (think Alexa or Siri). Angela goes through moments when Kimi wasn’t “smart enough” to answer a question or problem for its user, and writes a quick bit of code to make the system smarter. One day, Angela hears what sounds like an assault on the recording. It all being anonymous, Angela has to get her hacker friend to track down more info on the file and put it in context to see if her hunch is correct. When she finds she’s right, she tries to go to her bosses at Amygdala. They give her lip service about going to authorities, but with the company about to go public, no one wants the bad press, and they are more than willing to silence Angela, permanently. The film starts a bit slow but really heats up in the second half. There’s just a hint of Soderbergh’s trademark goofy humor in the end, but it doesn’t distract from the thrilling climax. Little goofy, but I loved the ride. ★★★★

In the long history of film, I’d be willing to bet there are more romantic comedies that start strong and fizzle out before the end than the other way around. I Want You Back is the rare example that starts slow but builds to a satisfying journey, if you can stick it out that is. Starring Charlie Day and Jenny Slate, the movie starts off with 2 separate couples whose relationship have just fallen apart. Peter and Emma have each just been dumped by their significant others, and they meet each other while crying in the stairway of their large office building. After telling each other their stories, they make a pact to help either other. Peter will get close to Emma’s ex, and vice versa, with the intent to break them up from their new relationships and draw them back to each other, respectively. The movie starts out slow, and for a comedy, I honestly didn’t laugh once in the first 30 minutes. But it did grow on me after awhile. I had put the movie on in the background of my computer while I did other stuff, and around the hour mark, I realized I’d stopped doing anything else and was watching and enjoying the movie a lot more. It does get better, funnier, and becomes a solid romcom by the end. I’m not a big fan of the genre, so maybe others will like the entirety of it more. ★★★

Riz Ahmed gave a powerhouse performance in Sound of Metal, about a musician who suddenly loses his hearing. His followup, Mogul Mowgli, is in a similar vein. Zahir, stage name Zed, has always wanted to be a rapper, but after decades of struggling, he’s about to age out of this young man’s game. His last chance is an upcoming tour that he’s signed to, the first big tour of his career. On the eve of his big break, he collapses and, at the hospital, is diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, which quickly takes away his ability to walk. Desperate for a quick solution in hopes of still making the tour, he tries everything from religion (at the urging of his conservative British-Pakistani parents) to an experimental procedure which may leave him impotent. Ahmed is just as good as the last film, but this one doesn’t hit as heard emotionally. It goes for more of an artsy feel, which may earn points with the critics, but I often prefer more realism for my tastes. ★★½

Titane is French director Julia Ducournau’s followup to her acclaimed 2016 film Raw (though it freaked me out). Specifically, I said at the time that that film was “sort of fucked up.” Titane is even worse. As a child, Alexia is badly hurt in the backseat of a car when her dad gets in an accident, and she has a titanium plate inserted along her skull. After leaving the hospital, Alexia coldly walks past her parents, but greats the car with hugs and love. Fast forward a few years and Alexia is all grown up, working as a showgirl at a car show. She’s popular among the circuit goers, and when she is followed to her car by a fan one night, she gruesomely kills him by stabbing her metal hairpin through his ear. She goes back inside to shower, but leaves the bathroom to see an empty car revving its engine in the showroom. She goes into the car and proceeds to have sex with it. Later, she realizes the car has impregnated her, after she sees she’s leaking motor oil from her vagina. A pregnancy test confirms it, and Alexia tries to give herself an abortion with that metal hairpin. All this happened in the first 20-30 minutes, and that is where I checked out. I’m not in to such grisly and disturbing films. Like Raw, this one is getting plenty of praise, but it is just too gross for me. ½

They Say Nothing Stays the Same is a lovely, contemplative film out of Japan, about a man who is seeing his way of life come to and end. Toichi leads a simple life, inhabiting a ramshackle hut right next to the dock where he ferries people back and forth across the river. He’s been “the boatman” all of his life, transporting local villagers to the other side to hunt or visit the larger town down the road. However, a large bridge is being built just upriver, close enough that Toichi can hear the constant banging and work every day. On his daily trips across the river, his clients range from the friendly and kind (mostly the villagers who know Toichi well) to the downright rude (bridge workers or people from the town), who belittle Toichi and his life from a bygone era. Toichi takes it all in stride, smiling and nodding and never rising to anger. His simple life changes one day when he finds a young woman floating in the river, barely alive. He brings her to his hut and nurses her back to life, but there are rumors that a girl was involved in some murderous deeds in a village up river, and Toichi believes it may be his new guest. This is not an action packed drama; it is a quiet, simple film which hearkens back to the classic Japanese dramas of decades past. It will make you think about what true kindness is, and is great for later reflection. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Hit Monkey (mini-series)
• Book currently reading: God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

It’s been over 2 weeks since my last post, which is a lifetime for me! I’m an Olympics junky, and spent that time cheering on my country. It was nice to just sit back and let my mind rest too, but I’m excited to get back into some new movies!

I’m starting off with Moonfall, which I did go see in the theaters at some point the last couple weeks. This one is about, well, just what it sounds like. The moon has gone off its orbit and is slowly headed towards a crash course with the Earth. Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) is a disgraced astronaut who got in trouble during a mission a few years previously when his space trip came in contact with an alien presence. His former friend Jocinda Fowler (Halle Berry), who didn’t stick up for him back then, now needs his help to see if they can stop the moon before it kills everyone here at home. They are aided by a conspiracy theorist named KC Houseman (Game of Thrones’ John Bradley), who has suspected for a long time that the moon isn’t exactly what it has always seemed to be. Lots of computer-aided special effects as the approaching moon causes gravity mayhem and other disasters, but the action is about the only thing going for this movie. The dialogue is truly eye-roll worthy, and the plot “twists” make less and less sense as the movie goes along. It’s the latest disaster flick from director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow), but generally I like his action dramas better (The Patriot, Stargate). Decent eye candy but that’s about it. ★★

I was not expecting to be moved so fiercely by The Fallout. The film follows Vada, a normal 16-year-old girl, whose life is shaken when a student shoots up her school one day. Vada takes shelter in a bathroom with 2 other students whom she doesn’t know well: Quinton and popular school beauty Mia. Afterwards, Vada feels lost and hollow, and doesn’t know how to return to normal life. Nick, previously her best friend, becomes involved in activism against school violence and gun control, but Vada isolates herself from him and her family. Living through that moment with Quinton and, especially, Mia brings Vada closer to them, and she starts hanging out with them more. With Mia, whose parents are often off traveling for work, Vada finds someone with whom she can share her innermost feelings on feeling lost and unmoored. I’m lucky to have graduated high school in ’98, when the worst school violence I saw at the time were bad fist fights in the hall that would bring teachers running. We had fire and tornado drills but never a shooting drill. Thus, this movie was eye-opening for its stark portrayal of what our teens have to deal with today. More than that, Jenna Ortega is fantastic as Vada, a girl struggling to find footing in a world that doesn’t make sense anymore. ★★★★½

I don’t have a ton of experience with Turkish films (outside of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, whose movies are of an entirely different feel). My Father’s Violin is a family film about a girl who finds herself in the center of family drama. Özlem is an eight-year-old girl whose father, Ali, has raised on his own. Ali is a street musician and while they are poor, Özlem is happy. That is, until Ali dies suddenly. Özlem is faced with heading to an orphanage, so her father’s musician friends reach out to Ali’s estranged brother Mehmet, the only surviving family she has. Mehmet is a celebrated violinist and he doesn’t have time to take a little girl into his life. Mehmet is persuaded by his wife to take Özlem on paper, with the intent to hand her over to Ali’s friends, but a wrench is thrown into the works when the child welfare group mentions they will have perform a surprise visit to Mehmet’s house at some point in the next month to make sure Özlem is being well cared for. In the next month, Mehmet will have to balance caring for a child, preparing for a big upcoming concert, and facing the demons that separated him and his brother long ago. It’s a decent family flick with a good message, cheesy in all the right places. Maybe it’ll be popular in Turkey, unfortunately I can’t see any American kids sitting through a film with subtitles. ★★★

Munich: The Edge of War is a historical drama based on a book from a few years ago. It tells a fictional story set inside a real-life event. After an initial introduction showing a trio of friends graduating from Oxford in 1932 (British citizen Hugh Legat and German couple Paul and Lena), the film jumps to 1938, on the precipice of World War II. Legat works in Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s office as an aid, when he is approached by MI6 with a mission, something that no one will know about, even Chamberlain. British intelligence has been approached by Paul in Germany, who has information about Hitler’s longterm plans. Once a Hitler supporter, Paul has had a change of heart, and he hopes to influence Chamberlain not to agree to the summit to be held in Munich, a meeting between the four European superpowers in play. It’s a high stakes attempt at altering the course of history and preventing what seems an inevitable war. There’s some great actors here (Jeremy Irons as Chamberlain, 1917’s George MacKay as Legat), and while the film has its moments, it comes off as awfully wordy and light on tension. One of those cases where I’m sure the book is a lot better, and something gets lost in the transfer to screen. ★★½

Paper Spiders follows Melanie (Stefanie LaVie Owen) as she approaches high school graduation. She’s a bright kid with a bright future, but her home life is suddenly on the rocks. Her dad died a few years ago, and her mom, Dawn, is showing signs of cracking. Dawn (longtime indie film actress and award winner Lili Taylor) has it in her head that their new neighbor is harassing her. At first, she thinks he is throwing rocks at the house and trying to break in, but later Dawn is certain he is crawling on the roof, using a machine to give her headaches, and following her to work. When Dawn loses her job and Melanie tries to reason with her boss for a second chance, he gives Melanie a revelation: Dawn’s behavior is not new, and she’s been suffering from paranoid delusions for quite some time. The house is already under financial stress, even more so when Dawn pays out $5000 to a private investigator to rig up the home with CTV cameras and spy on the neighbor. Melanie doesn’t know what to do. She’s doesn’t want to turn on her own mom, but by not confronting her sooner, she faces disastrous consequences later. Living with someone with a mental illness is obviously never easy, but this picture shows how it can be infinitely harder when all of that responsibility falls onto a 17-year-old, with no family or friends to help. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: The Book of Boba Fett (mini-series)
• Book currently reading: God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

Been hearing a lot of good things about Guillermo del Toro’s latest, Nightmare Alley, but finally getting a chance to see it. It stars Bradley Cooper as Stanton, a down-on-his-luck drifter in the late 30s. The film opens with him dumping a dead body in an hold farmhouse before setting the place on fire, but we don’t learn until much later what all that was about. Instead, we see him mosey into a carnival, and finding work there. A smart and charismatic man, Stanton works his way up from stage hand to assistant on several of the acts, making a lot of friends along the way. One in particular is clairvoyant Madame Zeena and her husband Pete. Pete was once an esteemed mystic, but alcoholism has relegated him to the background. After learning the secrets to their act, Stanton convinces another performer, Molly, to run away with him. Two years later, in Buffalo, Stanton and Molly are doing the psychic act on the city’s wealthy elite, and making good money doing it. Stanton’s greed gets the better of him, and he starts to ply his trade on the filthy rich, but instead of using Molly to feed him clues, he finds a psychologist to feed him private info on his marks so as to earn their trust. But the stakes are high: these are not the kind of people you want to piss off. Nightmare Alley is a fantastic neo-noir, a great throwback to the genre of the 40s. I’ve read some thought the movie was slow, but worth it for the explosive and exciting ending. The finale is that, but I didn’t think it was slow at all. It builds well and the all-star cast (Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Cate Blanchett, and Richard Jenkins) are all equally arresting on screen. ★★★★

Only the Animals is a French film which is hard to describe without giving away the fun of the movie. It is told from the perspective of five characters, whose lives intersect, often in jaw-dropping fashion. You get the point of view from each person one at a time, which means often I thought one thing had happened, and later learn that events went down quite differently. At the end, I think the director (Dominik Moll) tried to make it a bit too “clean” and tie everything up in a pretty bow, but I still really enjoyed the movie. It is surprising, often gut-punching. I’m sorry I’m being so vague on this one, but it really is worth it if you avoid spoilers and go into this one blind. ★★★½

The Weasel’s Tale is a Spanish language film out of Argentina. The premise is that of 4 elderly people living in a huge house together, alone and apart from the world. Mara was an acclaimed actress 50+ years ago, and the house is filled with her awards, honors, and mementos from that long-ago time. Her husband Pedro was once an actor too, but you get the impression he was only cast in movies with Mara due to their connection, and jokes abound about his acting ability (or lack thereof). The other inhabitants are Mara’s longtime director Norberto and his preferred screenwriter Martin. This film is billed as a dark comedy/thriller, and the jokes come fast and free. All 4 of the people can’t stand each other, and belittle each other at every turn. However, they (mostly) unite when someone comes to disturb their easy existence. Francisco and Barbara “mistakenly” wander over to the house and are in complete awe of the once-celebrated actress Mara, bombarding her with compliments. Mara’s ego laps it up, but the trio of men smell something rotten. And of course, Francisco turns out to be a land developer, and the viewer is quickly let in to the secret of his intent to get Mara’s house and land away from her. But the men of the house have a secret of their own, and they can fight fire with fire. This is a supremely delightful comedy with a surprising semi-dark twist in the end. The type of humor was right up my alley, though some may find it a bit hokey. I myself laughed and chuckled through much of the film. I’m mostly a “single viewing” comedy watcher, as the laughs often lose their luster on subsequent watchings, but this is one I can watch again. ★★★½

I had high hopes for Last Night in Soho. A great director (Edgar Wright) and a strong cast (including Anya Taylor Joy and up-and-comer Thomasin McKenzie (go see Leave No Trace if you haven’t yet)) couldn’t bring this one all together. It starts well enough. Eloise “Ellie” loves everything about the 60s, including its fashion and music, and draws inspiration from that time period to pursue her dream of being a fashion designer. She gets accepted to a fashion school in London and heads there, but a partying roommate leads to her finding a new place to live while in school. Her new digs are in the top room of an old boarding house, and in her first night there, she dreams about Sandie, who once lived in the same room. Sandie is a hot blond, newly arrived to the Soho area sometime in the 60s, with the goal to be a singer. It starts off well enough, and as Ellie dreams of her every night, Sandie is taken under the wing of a manager named Jack. Ellie dyes her hair blond and starts designing clothes based off of those worn by Sandie in her dreams. But something weird is connecting Sandie and Ellie, and as Sandie’s life spirals, with Jack pimping her out and putting her on stage, scantily clad and in rough joints, so too does Ellie start to become unhinged. Advertised as a psychological horror film, the horror aspect doesn’t really emerge until the final third or so of the movie, when Ellie’s dreams become nightmares, and her visions extend into her waking world as well. The movie is visually stunning: bright and colorful, with the vibe and feel of the hopping nightlife of 60’s Soho. But the plot devolves into a bad B movie hack-and-slash, relying too heavily on jump scares to startle the viewer. 3+ starts for the visuals and acting, but the totally letdown conclusion crashes that down to ★★

French sports drama Final Set opens with a look at young tennis stud Damien Thosso, who, at 17 years old, is ready to take the tennis world by storm. But the movie isn’t about about him, it’s about Thomas Edison, who was once in Damien’s position. Thomas was supposed to be the next big thing 18 years ago when he made the semifinal of the French Open in 2001, but he never got close to that feat again. Now 37 years old, fresh off a reconstructive knee surgery and well past his prime, Thomas is under pressure from his wife to finally retire and move on to something else, but Thomas doesn’t know what “something else” is. His only passion is tennis, and he wants one more attempt at the French Open. Unfortunately with his current ranking, he has to go through qualifiers to even make the tournament. He plays well in qualifiers, earning him sponsors as well as talk of future tournaments, much to the chagrin of his wife, who has put her career on hold waiting for Thomas to finish up. As a sports film, I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying he does indeed qualify and, wouldn’t you know it, his first round opponent is Damien Thosso. Regular readers of mine know that I’m a sports movie buff, and I enjoyed this one too, though it does tend to stretch the sentimentality hard in the final act. It touches on several stresses in Thomas’s life but doesn’t quite resolve enough. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Silicon Valley (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Redwood by Mark Danielewski

I’ve seen a lot of Steven Soderbergh’s filmography (Erin B, Traffic, the Oceans films, etc), but with a prolific career like his, there’s a lot I haven’t too. Starting today off with his first film: Sex, Lies, and Videotape, from 1989. Ann (Andie MacDowell) is sexually frustrated in her marriage to John (Peter Gallagher), and she suspects his lack of interest in her stems from an affair. John refuses to admit it, but he is in fact cheating, with Ann’s younger sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) of all people. Ann is afraid to confront her husband, as he’s the only breadwinner and Ann is completely dependent on him. She finds solace in the most unlikely of people though: an old friend of John’s, Graham (James Spader), has moved back to the area. Graham too is suffering from lack of intimate relationships in his life, and his only release is to interview women about their sexual experiences, taping it for later viewing. Graham and Ann form a tentative friendship, and through his blatant talk of sex, Ann comes to realize the sad situation she is in. The film is rough around the edges, and was I’m sure much more startling with its sex talk in 1989 than it is today, but I couldn’t help but get pulled in to root for Ann’s fight for happiness. ★★★½

King of the Hill came a couple years later, and is the coming-of-age story of a boy named Aaron. In St Louis in 1933, the city, like the country, is struggling through the Great Depression. Aaron and his brother Sullivan’s dad is a German immigrant who can’t land a steady job, and their mom has been sick with tuberculosis. The family has lost their home and has been living in a rundown old hotel, and even there, are months behind on their pay. Events snowball when Dad gets an opportunity for a sales run covering a few states, taking him away from home for awhile, and Mom gets put in a sanitarium to recover from her sickness. Sullivan is shipped off to live with an uncle, leaving Aaron alone in the hotel room. He continues to go to school (he is close to graduating from the 8th grade), but has to also deal with starvation, the local cop who wants to clear out the “dregs of society,” a hotel manager who wants to kick him out, as well as having to navigate girls, friends, and all the normal things a young teen has to deal with. Maybe not the best acting around, but it is wonderfully shot with a real gritty feeling of the desolate times Aaron found himself in, and varied characters that interweave in and out of his life. Surprising to see some very young versions of Adrien Brody, Katherine Heigl, and Lauryn Hill back before they were famous, as little more than kids themselves. ★★★★

Schizopolis is considered one of Soderbergh’s “duds,” but I have to say, I enjoyed it a whole lot. It is an off-the-wall comedy revolving around 2 characters, both portrayed by Soderbergh himself. Fletcher Munson works for a self help/religious guru named T Azimuth Schwitters (with obvious parallels to L Ron Hubbard). Fletcher doesn’t know that his wife is sleeping with another man, dentist Jeffrey Korchek. Korchek and Munson, being played by the same actor, obviously look identical, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg on the humor. Later on, Korchek falls in love-at-first-sight with a woman (which he names “Attractive Women # 2”) who happens to look exactly like Munson’s wife/his sex partner. Too bad he’s already asked her to leave Fletcher and move in with him… And did I mention the exterminator going around sleeping with all the women on the street? Or the short interludes of a naked man, clothed only in a T-shirt, being chased by men in white coats? Or that conversations often lapse into other languages (without subtitles) or even 1984-style doublespeak? Somehow this movie bombed, but I laughed out loud throughout the whole thing. It’s Soderbergh’s humor, unchecked, and it’s great stuff. ★★★½

I usually do these films in order of release, but I’m saving the 4+ hour epic for last. So next up is 2013’s Behind the Candelabra, telling the story of the last 10 years of famed pianist Liberace’s life. The movie is told from the perspective of one of his lovers, Scott Thorson (Matt Damon). Liberace (Michael Douglas) seems to have a thing for young blond men, and is instantly smitten by the 18-year-old Thorson when they meet. Liberace persuades him to move in, and spends lavishly on anything to make him happy. After a few years, when Liberace is getting plastic surgery to keep himself looking younger, he gets Thorson to have work done too. No expense is spared. But as the years go by, Liberace starts to want a younger, fresher face to smile at. This is a better-than-average biopic, with lots of insights into Liberace’s life. I have no idea how accurate it is, but they do a good job of painting him as a man who craves attention and lives for the spotlight, casting off things that no longer do it for him, while trying to maintain his persona as a lady’s man, even when he is as gay as they come. Strong acting from the 2 leads too. ★★★

The aforementioned epic is 2008’s Che, a 257 minute film made up of 2 parts, telling the story and life of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, as portrayed by Benicia del Toro. Part One begins with his meeting of Fidel Castro in Mexico, and their journey to Cuba to fight against its USA-backed president and dictator Fulgencio Batista. It’s not a linear story; it is more about moments here and there over a 3 year period from 1955 – 1958, as Castro’s movement gains support. Guevara is painted as a fair man who fights for the people. He has no tolerance for theft or brutality, but has a singular goal of taking down the regime that is hurting the country’s people. The first part culminates in Guevara’s leading the fight to take the city of Santa Clara. Interspersed throughout are scenes from 1964, where Guevara is being interviewed by an American (journalist Lisa Howard), and also his speech on the floor of the United Nations.

Part Two jumps ahead a couple years to 1966. Guevara has found running a country much less glamorous than fighting for one. After a failed attempt at revolution in the Congo (never mentioned in the movie, only his year-long absence), Guevara sneaks into Bolivia to attempt to take down the government there. But things do not go as well for him as they did in Cuba. In Cuba, he and his troops starved, and were outnumbered, but they still had the will of the people on their side. Guevara does not have that luxury in Bolivia; the local people may not love their leaders, but they see Guevara and his fellow Cubans as outsiders, and aren’t rushing to join his cause. Also, the Bolivian government is getting a lot of help from the USA, who doesn’t want to see a repeat of Cuba with a Communist regime put in place. To make matters worse, Guevara has to fight his own body, as his asthma finally catches up to him when he has to abandon a camp quickly and leaves behind his medicine. From very early in Part Two, you see the writing on the wall, and it is a long descent towards the end of Guevara’s fight. Intriguing film. It’s overall length will probably turn a lot of people off, but it’s a fascinating look at a person who continues to be seen as a hero and a villain. I enjoyed the second half more than the first. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Silicon Valley (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Redwood by Mark Danielewski

Mass is an emotionally charged film about an uncomfortable subject: school shootings. But it does something that most films don’t touch, which is giving us the perspective of the parents of the killer, not just the parents of the victims. Taking place almost entirely in the back room of a church where the two sets of parents have come to meet, the events take place 6 years after the shooting. The meeting is meant as part of the healing process, ant it is obvious from the beginning that both couples are still carrying a lot of anger and hurt. In these situations, we want to defile the perpetrator’s parents, but in this film, they seem like good people. They struggle with what they could have done differently, and try to reconcile the monster their son is named in the media with the good boy they remember. The victim’s parents just want answers: they want to know how and why the other’s son came to school to kill that day. I’m torn on this movie. On one hand, it has four tremendous performances by very good actors (Reed Birney, Ann Dowd, Jason Isaacs, and Martha Plimpton), and while there definitely great moments that take place, there’s also a lot of reiteration and oftentimes awkward dialogue. Some of that is purposefully so, as the characters are feeling each other out, but even later on, I kept thinking, “Real people don’t talk like this.” A solid effort though from first-time director Fran Kranz. ★★★½

Beans is a coming-of-age film wrapped inside a true life crisis. In Quebec in 1990, a land dispute took place where a developer wanted to build a golf course on the Mohawk people’s ancient land. This lead to barricades, protests, and a 77 day standoff between local police (and later the Canadian army), and the Mohawk people. It is in this charged environment that Tekehentahkwa, or Beans as she tells “white people” to call her, is trying to find her way. Beans has the grades to go to a good high school, and wants to attend a prestigious school in Montreal the next year, but she gets pushback from many amongst her people, including her own father, who feel she should stay local. Like most preteens, Beans looks up to an older girl named April, but April is perhaps not the best influence. Emulating April, Beans starts dressing older, cussing, and doing pranks with the older boys. She’s having a good time, until those times when she has to go into town with her family, and sees the hate aimed towards the Mohawk people; the white townsfolk start with taunts and later turn violent towards her and her family. The performances in this film from the unknown actors are hit-and-miss, but Kiawenti:io Tarbell as Beans is very good, and, using a lot of actual footage from those 77 days, the film is eye opening about the hate that come out when people feel wronged or are inconvenienced. I’d never heard of this event, and while I could use the excuse that I was only 10 when it happened, let’s be honest: most of us only see things that happen in our country. Even if this went down now, I’d probably only read the headline and move on. Shame on me. ★★★½

Not often that I watch a Wes Anderson film that doesn’t do something for me, but that’s the case with his newest, The French Dispatch. The film sets up with the death of the editor of the magazine The French Dispatch, and it was his dying wish that the popular newspaper close up with one final issue, to be made up of 4 articles. The film is the story of these 4 articles, so it is more of an anthology film. The three main stories that make up the movie are that of an artist struggling to get his work noticed while he is in jail; a group of student protestors; and a kidnapping plot involving the police chief’s son. Anderson pulls out all the stops, and the movie is a non-stop carousel of big names and faces; even the minor roles are a lot of big stars. Super fans of his work will dig the continuation of his trademarked style, but for me, it was way too much. He chose to go style of substance in this film, and it bombards the viewer from the opening scene. I like his movies that blend his style with a heart-warming message or great plot, but this film is really light on any of that. It seems like it’s the result of an artist making a film for himself, and everyone else can enjoy it or not; makes no difference to him. ★½

A Hero is the latest from another great director, albeit a much lesser known one outside of world cinema circles. Asghar Farhadi has made some good ones, but A Hero doesn’t quite reach the heights of some of those others. This one follows a man named Rahim who is in prison for debts (a common-enough reason in Iran). On a 2 day leave, his girlfriend shows him a purse she found on the street recently, with 17 gold coins inside. The money would be enough to pay back half of Rahim’s debt, and he hopes to beg for a chance to get out of jail and start earning to pay back the rest. However, when he takes the gold to a dealer, the amount is only half of what he was expecting. Knowing that will not be enough, and wracked with guilt that someone is missing the large sum of money, Rahim decides to find its owner. He is able to do so, and the story gets out to the press. The local newspapers and TV hail Rahim as a hero, a noble person willing to forgo his freedom for a stranger, but over time, Rahim is forced to tell more and more lies to keep the story straight. A charity organization, who initially raises money for Rahim’s debt, starts poking wholes in his story. It would be easy to make Rahim out as a good guy with bad luck, or a thief with a heart of gold, but Farhadi chooses to paint a much murkier picture. Rahim is both: sometimes he makes good decisions, and sometimes poor, and oftentimes it is the most inconsequential lies that come back to bite him. Great acting and a subtle story, but not as moving as this director’s other big hits. ★★★½

I saw Spencer for one reason alone: Kristen Stewart’s performance. I used to think nothing of her, but starting with Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria, I started to change my mind. I expected a tremendous rendition, and I got it. Stewart plays the iconic Princess Dianna, in a fictional story of a Christmas weekend in 1990. Dianna arrives to an estate in rural England on Christmas Eve, late to the party as always, and the film follows her throughout the weekend as she becomes unhinged under the insurmountable pressures of her current position. The house is fully aware of the affair going on between her husband Charles and his then-mistress Camilla. On top of that, every servant in the house seems to be a spy for Charles and the Queen, and no one seems to be on Dianna’s side. No one, that is, except her two sons, and her lone trustworthy servant, her private dresser Maggie (the always brilliant Sally Hawkins). When Maggie is sent away, by Charles or someone else intent on torturing Dianna, she is left alone. Dianna begins to hallucinate about Anne Boleyn, the famous former queen who was beheaded when her husband King Henry VIII wanted a new wife. Seeing corrections between Anne and herself, Dianna’s already unstable mind (she is shown struggling with self mutilation, bulimia, etc) lurches further down. This is not a straight forward biopic; it flows in a fantasy, often dreamlike state, especially towards the end. The audience scores are quite a bit lower than the critics, but I have to agree with the critics on this one. Incredible, moving picture, and Stewart would get my vote for the Oscar this year. ★★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Silicon Valley (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Redwood by Mark Danielewski

French director Jacques Rivette hails from the French New Wave era, but is not as famous some of his contemporaries like Godard and Truffaut. I heard about him in passing, where an article mentioned his film Out 1, one of the longest movies ever released, at nearly 13 hours long. I’m not ambitious enough to start there, so today I’m looking at 5 other films of his.

Rivette started filming Paris Belongs to Us before his fellow New Wave’rs, but they got theirs released first, and Rivette’s picture wasn’t released until 1961. The movie follows a college student named Anne, who starts hanging out with her older brother Pierre and his friends. They are an artistic, bohemian group, mourning the loss of friend Juan, who recently committed suicide. No one knows why, but there are whispers that his girlfriend, American Terry, knows something. Terry has moved on awfully quickly, now dating another in the group, aspiring theater director Gérard. Gérard is putting together a production of Shakespeare’s Pericles, in which Anne finds herself performing. As she gets to know everyone, including another former boyfriend of Terry, fellow American Philip, a growing sense of doom settles on her and the group. When together, they speak of art and politics and society, but when she meets each individually, the viewer sees that they all share a foreboding gloom. Anne begins to be worried for Gérard, thinking that Terry brings death to her partners. What started as a simple drama turns into a subtly thrilling mystery. When Philip, who is paranoid of a secret agency hunting and killing his friends, starts talking to Anne, even the viewer starts to wonder who’s next to go. ★★★★

Celine and Julie Go Boating continues the mystery-esque approach, but adds in a lot of silliness. Julie is a redhead sitting on a bench in the park reading about magic spells when she spies a hot mess of a woman hurrying by, dropping items from her bulging sack. Julie picks up the stuff and follows, and ends up meeting Celine. Right away, the two girls hit if off, and Celine moves in to Julie’s apartment. For awhile, the two are content with messing with each other’s lives: Celine puts on a red wig and stands in for her with Julie’s boyfriend; Julie goes to Celine’s childhood home and pretends to be Celine to her former nursemaid. Lots of laughs. But the big mystery in the film revolves around an old secluded mansion. It was this house that Celine was running from in the beginning, and each of the girls has gone again since. When one enters, they relive a day in the life of a nanny. At the end of the day, the child mysteriously dies, and the person who entered is expelled from the house to become herself again. They are left in a daze, with no initial memories of the events in the house, but if they later suck on a candy found in their mouth upon exit, their memories return. Celine and Julie are dead set on finding the murderer of the little girl and stopping it, saving her in the process, even if those inside the house are just a bunch of ghosts. It’s a genre shifting drama/comedy/mystery/fantasy. I dug a lot of it, but the two female leads are just too foolish at times. You can tell that a lot of the dialogue and antics are improvised, and the movie gives off a feeling of just a couple actresses having a good time with the camera turned on. I could have done without all the silliness, especially when they are in the house together in the end to finally save the girl. Less goofiness and more story would have been better. ★★★

Definitely starting to get a feel for Rivette’s style. Duelle continues the trend, and again is heavy on the mystery, with an even larger fantastical element. Unfortunately, it starts out giving the viewer nothing, and I was left wondering what the hell was going on for a long time. It begins with Leni, a woman shrouded in dark, visiting a hotel late at night looking for a man named Christie. The hotel worker, Lucie, points Leni to a nearby nightclub. Meanwhile, Leni’s polar opposite, a blond bombshell decked out in light colored clothes named Viva, is also asking around for Christie. It turns out Christie died about a year ago, so both women are starting out with those he hung out with. What are they looking for? And when people starting dying, who is the murderer and what is the urgency with Leni and Viva? The film finally explains some at the 60 minute mark, when we learn that Leni is a goddess of the moon and Viva a goddess of the sun, and gave us the rest of the info at 90 minutes, that they are seeking a jewel held by Christie a year ago which would grant one of the goddesses a chance to stay on Earth longer than their 40 day timeline. I think I would have rated this movie a lot higher had I had some clue what was going on for so long. It’s almost worthy of a re-watch; I think knowing how it all fits together would make the whole thing more enjoyable. Despite all my negative thoughts here, the noir-like feel and sense of doom that pervades the film from start to finish create a wonderful cinematic atmosphere. I just should have read a quick synopsis instead of going in blind. ★★★½

Holy shit is Noroît one of the dumbest movies I think I’ve ever seen. The basics are thus: Morag (Geraldine Chaplin) swears revenge over the death of her brother Shane. He was killed by a local band of pirates, headed by a woman with witch-like powers named Giulia (Bernadette Lafont). To fulfill her goal, Morag first hires a spy, and later infiltrates the group herself, posing as a bodyguard. Once in, she goes about killing those closest to Giulia, before setting her sites on Giulia herself. Fairly straight forward plot, but the film is as wonky as they come. Overly melodramatic, with long scenes without dialogue as the characters prance about on screen, and even the sword and knife fights are ridiculously farfetched. It’s like Rivette told everyone to ham it up, and they couldn’t be too over the top. I got an hour in, and then started skipping ahead just to see if Morag met her goal or not. Complete opposite to the above films as far as entertaining goes. ½

When Merry-Go-Round started, I thought, “Here we go again…” It shows on screen the musician duo playing the soundtrack of the film (scenes further on cut to them again and again when they play), and this was the case in Noroît too; in that film, the music of the film was performed by musicians set up in the corner of the stage, in a sort of breaking-the-fourth-wall kind of ploy. But thankfully Merry-Go-Round is a much different movie than Noroît. I was hooked from the beginning. Parisian Elizabeth has invited her boyfriend Ben from New York and sister Leo from Rome to Paris, while she sells their father’s estate there. He was killed in plane crash 4 years ago, under mysterious circumstances. Ben and Leo arrive, having never met, but Elizabeth isn’t there. Clues lead them out to the country, but they seem to be one step behind the elusive Elizabeth. When they do find her, she states that she thinks her and Leo’s father never died, but that he set up the crash to avoid paying back debts. Rumor has it that he is sitting on 4 million in ill-gotten cash, and now he is trying to “come back from the dead,” now that his debtors are no longer looking for him. But with that kind of money involved, a lot of people are interested. The film involves a lot of characters, and we don’t know who’s on who’s side. It’s very intriguing for awhile, but it does start to peter out; it seems Ben and Leo are continually hunting somebody or something and never getting anywhere. After about 45 minutes, I also came to the realization that this was nothing more than a trumped up B movie. And then it got weird too. Intermittently we see scenes of Ben running through a forest; later scenes he is being chased by dogs; later still, they jump the shark and he is being run down by a knight in armor on horseback. What is going on?! Lot’s a good mystery in this film, but by the end, so much flip-flopping was going on that I became thoroughly lost, and honestly I had almost stopped caring. ★★½

• TV series currently watching: The Great (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis & Hickman

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a new adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play. It features an all-star cast led by Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand, and Joel Coen (the first time one of the Coen brothers has done a solo project without the other). I won’t rehash the Macbeth story, you’ve either heard it before or don’t care at this point. This version forgoes realism for a more dream-like approach. It is shot in stark black and white, with a cloudy atmosphere and stage-like scenes. The foreboding soundtrack enhances the dreamlike feeling, creating an almost nightmarish impression. Great atmosphere and great acting, so great movie, right? Wrong. I could not get into this one, and I know that leaves me in the minority, looking at the glowing reviews. I much preferred the realistic approach (Polanski’s version takes the cake in my book). 30 minutes in, I started looking at my watch. 50 minutes in, I started counting down to the end of the film. The ending is exciting enough, but doesn’t save the picture for my tastes. ★★

Les nôtres (Our Own) is a French Canadian film about a small community rocked by a teenage pregnancy. The small town of Sainte-Adeline is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, and they are all a tight-nit group, especially after a warehouse disaster 5 years prior killed a handful of them. The popular mayor, Jean-Marc, has just unveiled a memorial park to those killed. Isabelle is one of the woman working in Jean-Marc’s office, and it is her daughter, Magalie, who becomes pregnant. Magalie, just 13 years old, refuses to name the father, but when the news spreads, which it does like wildfire in this small town, suspicion immediately falls on fellow teen Manuel. Manuel and his brother are adopted immigrants, children to none other than the popular mayor and his wife. But, known only to Magalie and the viewer, the father is actually the mayor himself. This is one of those films which, while good, had the potential to be great, but doesn’t quite pull it off. It touches on a lot of subjects, including predatory grooming, teen bullying, racism, etc, but doesn’t examine any of the topics closely enough, and nothing gets resolved by the end. That’s probably the director’s intent: that Magalie navigates all these problems her own way, but I wanted more. Émilie Bierre’s performance as Magalie is quite good though. ★★½

After my initial surprise that I’m Your Man is in German (I saw actor Dan Stevens and assumed English; who knew he was fluent in German too?!), I settled in to watch a “sci fi drama.” Alma is an archaeologist and long-time single woman who has devoted her life to her work. She doesn’t seem to need or desire a relationship, which makes it all the more surprising that she has agreed to personally review an android romantic partner for 3 weeks. She’s been nudged by her boss, who is on the ethics committee tasked with the job of determining if the robots should be given human rights. Alma wants no part of it, but knows her boss can open up funding for her projects, so she has agreed. Her 3 week companion is named Thomas, and he has been programed and built to be her ideal man. Initially Alma wants nothing to do with him, leaving him alone for hours on end while she works or does errands, but over time, she does begin to open up to him. The movie is light on the sci-fi and heavy on the rom-com, with humor provided by Tom’s deadpan delivery of uncomfortable and ill-timed questions and observations. I didn’t laugh for a long time in this movie (we’ve all seen movies about humanoid robots saying the wrong thing at the wrong time for comedic effect; that schtick’s been done a million times), but like Alma, I grew to like Tom over time and warmed up to him. The movie is much less about Tom and his rights, which are hardly mentioned after the introduction, and more about Alma coming to terms with her chosen loneliness. Decent enough flick, but not all that memorable once the credits roll. ★★½

I’m not sure what I was expecting from Bergman Island, but it certainly wasn’t what I got. The plot is simple: a married couple, each a filmmaker, goes to Fårö, the island inhabited by the great filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, and also the location where he shot some of his most famous films. As in real life, the old Bergman properties are vacation destinations for writers, artists, and directors, who go for the peaceful environment and the hope that some lasting influence of Bergman’s greatness may seep from the very stones. Tony is a celebrated writer/director and is quickly churning out his latest screenplay, but his wife Chris has hit serious writer’s block, and is struggling for a conclusion to her latest idea. While Tony enjoys the touristy aspects of the island, Chris wanders off for more of self-guided walking tour, meeting local inhabitants and other artist types who have come to the island seeking a muse. As the film progresses, reality and fantasy collide, as Chris shares her idea and we get a film-within-a-film. Unfortunately the whole thing is pretty boring. The movie can’t decide if it wants to pander to Bergman fans, sharing little tidbits of knowledge about his life and career, or break down even basic knowledge of his films for the uninitiated. I’ve seen nearly 40 Bergman films, and picked up on just about every reference they dropped, but a lot of it just comes off as pretentious pseudo intellectual fluff. And there is zero resolution to either story, for both Tony and Chris or for the characters in Chris’s story. ★½

After so many middling movies today, I was hoping Ema would send me off with something better. Ultimately not so, but at least it is more exciting. The rare film out of Chile, this movie focuses on married couple Ema and her older husband Gaston. Ema is a popular dancer and the lead in choreographer Gaston’s troupe, but on a personal level, the two have perhaps the most toxic relationship I’ve ever seen. They can’t have a conversation without it resorting to terrible insults; Gaston in particular tries to think of the most vile things he can say to hurt Ema, and he has ample ammunition. The couple had adopted a 10-year-old named Polo, because Ema had always wanted a child but Gaston proved sterile. But Polo, either a bad kid or a product of bad fostering before coming to the new family, was a problem child and did a terrible thing: setting fire to Ema’s sister’s hair and burning her face. Gaston convinced Ema to give Polo back to the adoption agency, but now relishes in reminding her that she failed Polo and will never be a mother now. Riddled with guilt, Ema has a plan. She learns who has adopted Polo now, and sets out to bring down the new parents. She separately goes to each, and begins a sexual affair with each of them, both the husband and the wife. How it all plays out is grotesquely brilliant. The sex scenes are definitely NSFW, but it is hard to argue that it isn’t an arresting film. Ema is a women willing to do anything it takes to get to Polo again, and she’ll hurt anyone in her way. The film oozes sex, pain, heartache, and, if you’re lucky, redemption. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Star Wars Rebels (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis & Hickman

When some of my friends read that I’ve never seen a single Rambo film all the way through, I’m probably going to get some flack. I know these aren’t necessarily “great cinema,” but they are undoubtably popular. And after so many slow dramas and foreign films lately, I’m hankering for some mindless action.

So obviously I wrote the above intro before watching any of these. The first Rambo film, 1982’s First Blood, has plenty of action, but it is far from mindless. Honestly, I was surprised at how unexpectedly emotional it is. John Rambo is a Vietnam vet still struggling to find his way in a country where he oftentimes feels like an outsider. He’s homeless and wandering along the west coast when he goes through the tiny town of Hope, Washington. There, he runs afoul of the local sheriff, Will Teasle (the late great Brian Dennehy). Will is a good sheriff and loves his town and its people, but he has little sympathy for a man who fought in a war he didn’t believe in, and wants Rambo to skip out of town as fast as his legs can carry him. When Rambo resists, Will arrests him, and he and his boys treat him a bit rough at the police station. This treatment gives Rambo flashbacks to his torture at the hands of the Vietnamese during his capture there, and Rambo lashes out. He beats up a few officers on his way out the door, and they give chase, leading up into the woods outside of town. When one officer ends up dead (from Rambo purely defending himself), Will calls in the state police and the national guard to hunt Rambo down. Rambo has one defendant through this: his former military commander, Sam Trautman. Trautman tries to get Will to back off, telling him that Rambo was the best Green Beret they ever had, and that he will take a lot of men with him if he is pursued to the end. Will can’t let it go. Great action, but as I said, I lot more emotion than I was expecting too. John Rambo is a man trained to fight, and without that, he’s found little purpose in his life. In addition to those chasing him, he has to combat his inner demons if he’s ever going to find peace. ★★★★★

As a kid, I remember the jokes pointed at the sequel’s title, with the unwieldy name of Rambo: First Blood Part II. That aside, this film picks up shortly after the conclusion of the first. Having turned himself in, Rambo is serving jail time in a labor group when he is visiting by Trautman. Trautman has a new mission for him: a top-secret reconnaissance trip into Vietnam to look for proof of still-held American POW’s. All he is supposed to do is get pictures and get out, and let the higher-ups negotiate to get them freed. Of course, this is Rambo we are talking about, and a simple camera op is not what he is all about. He gets into the camp and does indeed find Americans being held and tortured, and escapes with one man. While being pursued, they are ready to get picked up by the escape helicopter when the team leader, a sniveling mercenary named Murdock, calls in to abort the mission, abandoning Rambo and his escapee to the Vietnam soldiers and their Russian backers. Murdock was hoping to not find evidence of American POW’s, so as to not ruffle feathers in the USA, and thinks it better to let them all be killed. Rambo isn’t going to go down so easy. This sequel has less emotional nuance but maybe even better action than the first. In true sequel fashion, they up the explosion and body count to insane levels, and even introduce a (short-lived) romance for Rambo. Check your plausibility levels at the door, and sit back and enjoy. ★★★★

Now we’re talking. Rambo III displays the kind of no-nonsense, no cerebrum needed type of action flick that I was looking forward to in this franchise. There’s no love interest, no emotional attachment, no higher-leveling thinking needed; Rambo is just here to kick ass. Trading the forests of Vietnam for the deserts of Afghanistan, Rambo goes in to rescue Trautman, who has been captured by Soviets while training Mujahideen resistance fighters during the Afghan War. The big bad Soviet commander is a sadist who loves torturing his prisoners, which makes him Rambo’s number one nemesis in this go-around. This movie received fairly poor reviews when it came out in 1988, and it isn’t as good as the two previous, but if you know what you are wanting when you go into it, it is pretty enjoyable. Yes, the ridiculous factor is up to level 10 now (a bad guy is hung and then his body explodes!), but if you don’t want a stupid action movie, then go watch something else. ★★★½

It took 20 years to make another film. The fourth film in the franchise takes the simple name Rambo, and was released in 2008. It finds John Rambo living back in Thailand, where he was at the onset of the previous movie. He hates war, and because that’s the only thing he’s ever been good at, he hates himself too. He lives a solitary life, alone, trafficking people up and down the river and capturing snakes for the locals for money. One day, he is approached by a group of missionaries who want transportation up the river into Burma, which has been going through a deadly civil war. Initially reluctant, Rambo eventually agrees. He sneaks them in under cover of darkness and returns back to Thailand. A week later, he learns of the capture of that group; the American church’s head pastor has hired a band of mercenaries to get into Burma and get them out. Rambo has little faith that they can do it, but he joins up. I think he was just looking for some meaning in his life again, but he goes and does what he does best. This is by far the most gruesome of the Rambo movies. It depicts war atrocities in Burma including killing of civilians, rape, torture, etc. And with modern day computer-aided enhancements, the gore level is kicked up to extreme levels. No real story here, no character development, but it is undoubtably exciting from start to finish, and its 90 minute runtime passed in an instant for me. ★★★★

Rambo: Last Blood is the last film made to date, just released in 2019. After returning to his family ranch in Arizona at the conclusion of the last film, Rambo has finally find a semblance of peace in his life. He cares for horses, and looks after Maria, an old friend, and her granddaughter Gabriela. Rambo has been Gabriela’s surrogate father figure for 10+ years, since her father abandoned her after the death of her mother. Now that she is getting ready to go to college, she wants to look up her birth father and find out why he left all those years ago. Against Rambo’s and her grandmother’s wishes, Gabriela drives south to Mexico and looks him up. He rebuffs her, as Rambo knew he would, but before Gabriela can return home, she is kidnapped by a sex trafficking ring. The next morning, Rambo puts two and two together, and heads south to find the girl. Initially beaten up by the sex traffickers, Rambo heals up and gets Gabriela out. A turn of events leads him to lure the head of the sex ring to his Arizona ranch, which Rambo has prepared Home Alone-style with deadly booby traps. Though I did like the development of Rambo’s character, the overall arc from where he started in the first film, I found this movie to be the weakest of the series. It devolves into a bloody war of attrition in the end, and doesn’t have the satisfying conclusion that the fourth Rambo film gave us. ★★½

• TV series currently watching: Dexter New Blood (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr