As an admitted musical fan, I’ve been looking forward to the new film version for quite awhile. Unfortunately it let me down. I remember seeing a professional performance of West Side Story in high school and being enchanted; seeing it now 25 years later held none of the same magic. It’s a beautiful production, with an assured hand from director Steven Spielberg, but it feels dated and, outside of a handful of musical numbers, lifeless.
Based on the famous stage musical (itself based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), the story follows a couple of star-crossed lovers on opposite sides of a generational feud. The local white gang the Jets has seen their turf erode as Puerto Ricans have moved into the neighborhood, with their gang, the Sharks, pushing back against the Jets. Tony is a former leader of the Jets, but he spent a year in jail after nearly killing a person, and his time behind bars has changed his views; he wants to stay the straight and narrow. He’s only been out a short time when he goes to a dance and is instantly smitten by Maria.
Maria is not only Puerto Rican, but the sister of the Shark’s leader, Bernardo. Not a good situation for anyone. Maria and Tony fall for each other right away and plan to run away together, but their families come between them. A big fight between the gangs (the famous “rumble”) changes the path of their lives.
Despite fantastic sets, amazing production, solid acting (outside of Elgort, more on that soon), and everything you’d hope to see in a filmed musical, it just didn’t move me. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t great, and I was expecting great. Ansel Elgort is a good actor, but he was the wrong choice for this film. Everyone is full of emotion except him; Tony walks around with his too-cool-for-school look and blank face, which doesn’t mesh with what is going on around him. A big bummer. ★★
The Power of the Dog is a complicated film, as complicated as the characters in it. It takes place in 1925 Montana, centering on wealthy ranch owner brothers Phil and George (Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons). Phil is a rough-and-tumble man’s man, and is popular among their hired hands. George on the other hand is quieter, and more prone to wear a suit than chaps. George falls for the local restaurant owner, widowed Rose (Kirsten Dunst), and marries her. Phil doesn’t like the arrangement from the get-go, thinking Rose is only marrying into the family for their money, and his suspicions are aroused when she immediately uses some money to send her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) off to a nice boarding school for the semester. Young Peter is everything that Phil is not: he’s skinny, awkward, can’t ride a horse, is into crafts, and is basically a momma’s body. As such, Phil takes every opportunity to belittle him, and he makes snide remarks to and about Rose, even in front of company. It’s easy to hate Phil, but as the movie goes along, we learn that maybe he is the most complex of all of them. His rough exterior is definitely hiding some inner turmoil, which doesn’t excuse his actions, but does give the viewer things to consider. A great movie worthy of examination afterwards, and the kind of film that you’d pull more from in multiple viewings. ★★★★
The Humans is based on a play by Stephen Karam, who also directed this film version. I’ve never seen the play, but as a movie, it works perfectly. Taking place entirely inside a rundown New York City apartment, it follows a family coming together for Thanksgiving dinner. The apartment belongs to youngest daughter Brigid and her boyfriend Richard, who’ve just moved in and haven’t even unpacked yet. Attending the dinner is Brigid’s sister Amy, their parents Erik and Deirdre, and grandmother “Momo.” Like most families, they have their dirty little secrets, some of which are out in the open, others are only known between certain family members. As the day and evening progresses, and things come out in the open both to the family and to the viewer, we see a family that struggles like everyone’s, but which stay together through their love. This movie has it all: wonderful drama, solid acting (Richard Jenkins, Jayne Houdyshell, Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, a somber turn from Amy Schumer, and June Squibb), and even lots of tension, provided by not only the family, but by the apartment itself, as the building breaks down along with the family as the film progresses. The movie pulled me in to the point that I was moved with each character’s plights, and I shared all of their emotions with them by the end. What more could you ask? ★★★★★
I definitely wasn’t into Limbo in the beginning. A movie about the current refugee crisis, it focuses on Omar, a Syrian refugee. He was hoping to live in London, but as he awaits a decision on his asylum status, he and other refugees have been shipped off to the middle of nowhere in northern Scotland. There, they take classes on English (though most speak it pretty well already), how to act in a job interview, etc. The movie starts as an offbeat comedy, which was not doing it for me at all. But I stuck with it, and am glad I did. After awhile, as Omar makes calls home to his parents, and we learn that he has an older brother who decided to stay in Syria to fight in the war, the film shifts from a strange comedy to an endearing drama. Omar, who is a musician without a trade (he has a broken hand preventing him from playing his oud, though he carries it around with him everywhere), is left in limbo in more ways than one. As his parents’ and brother’s situations become more dire, he is helpless and nearly hopeless half a world away. If the first 45 minutes had matches the last, I’d rate it a lot higher, but still, it’s not bad. ★★★
Wild Indian, questionable name and all, begins with a couple teenage Native American boys named Makwa and Ted-O. Makwa is getting abused at home, and showing early signs of emotional detachment, bordering on psychosis. One day he takes his dad’s rifle out in neighboring fields, and shoots a classmate. Ted-O sees it happen and freaks out, but the detached Makwa explains they’ll just bury the body and know will ever know. Fast forward 30 years to the present day, and we see an adult in jail. The one surprise of the film is it’s not Makwa, but Ted-O, who has spent 10 years behind bars for various drug and assault related crimes. He is finally being released, and goes to stay with his sister and nephew. When we see Makwa, we find that he has built a career, with wife and child at home, but the successful veneer still hides a violent underbelly, urges that Makwa, who now goes by Michael, takes out on prostitutes. He doesn’t think about that day decades ago, but Ted-O still does, and he seeks out Makwa for resolution. This film has a solid scenario, but there’s just not enough here to really make it stand out. Makwa seems to be the primary focus of the film, but I’d much rather have seen more of Ted-O and his struggles to make his life right. ★★
Sweet Thing is sort of a throwback to the late 90s indie films, movies that, at least gave the impression of, a group of buddies coming together on a weekend and saying “Let’s make a movie.” It’s either super low budget, or it gives that feeling anyway. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t any good. Unknown actress Lana Rockwell gives a fantastic performance as Billie, a teenage girl looking after her younger brother Nico, as their father Adam (Will Patton) is a barely-functioning alcoholic. Adam’s a good father until his drinking makes him not so, and while he doesn’t get violent, he’s a bit too much of a happy drunk, which is just as bad in the wrong scenarios. When Adam is finally cornered by the cops and sent to rehab, Billie and Nico are shipped off to live with their mother and her new boyfriend. The boyfriend can’t blame alcohol for his bad deeds, and when he threatens the kids with unspeakable trauma, they run away. Teamed up with another outcast in search of his mythical father, the trio hit the road, but what awaits is no better than what they are running from. Shot mostly in black and white with just a few color sequences when the individuals find small slivers of joy in their lives, it’s a stark and well put-together movie, with Rockwell’s performance being the highlight. The filmmaker’s decision to have some scenes improvised is telling at moments with the younger, inexperienced cast, but on a whole, I really enjoyed it. ★★★½
TV series currently watching: Star Wars Rebels (season 1)
Passing is a great film looking at race in 1930’s New York, many themes of which still apply today. Its co-leads are two black women with lighter complexions, made to look even lighter by filming in black and white. Irene (Tessa Thompson) is an upper middle class woman married to a doctor, and while not purposefully trying to pass as white, she doesn’t dissuade shop owners, hotel doormen, or restaurant staff from thinking otherwise. In one such place, she runs into Clare (Ruth Negga), an old friend from school, who is indeed purposefully passing as white. Clare has married a wealthy white man, who hates African Americans to the point that he won’t even hire a black housekeeper. Irene is disgusted that Clare could not only pretend to be white, but live with a man who hates her people. Irene makes a quick getaway, but Clare soon reaches out to her, hoping to hang out. After so many years pretending to be white, Clare wants to hang out with her people, dance to jazz in clubs, and let loose without fear of her husband finding out. Irene sets aside her aversion to Clare’s acceptance of her husband, but never does completely warm up to her. She seems to have a right to worry, when she sees her own husband cozying up to Claire. Whether its all in her head or not, and what comes of Clare’s subterfuge with her husband, is what leads to the climax. Tremendous performances by both leading ladies, and lots of nuanced themes dealing with race relations, identity, etc. ★★★★
Son of Monarchs, a film about a Mexican man who comes to the USA to pursue a career, but who still has some family secrets to take care of in Mexico, sounds like the kind of indie sleeper that I’d be all about. Unfortunately it did not live up to expectations. A successful biologist in New York City, on the verge of some DNA breakthroughs on his research of butterflies, Mendel must return to his home town after his grandmother, the woman who raised him after his parents died, has passed. He hasn’t been home in five years, and has to face his brother. There’s a lot of animosity there, and the reason doesn’t come out until later. But don’t expect a big ah-ha moment. This film is full of build-up but light on payoff, and spends way too long on details about Mendel’s research, which stunts the progression of the film. Strong acting by Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Mendel, but that’s about the only saving grace. ★½
I usually do newer films in these sets, but I’ve got a couple older (but not quite “classic films”) that I’ve been wanting to see, based on friends’ recommendations. The first is True Romance. Written by Tarantino (of whom I am not a fan, sacrilegious I know), it has an all-star cast of actors from the early 90s. Clarence (Christian Slater) falls in love and marries a call girl, Alabama (Patricia Arquette). Wanting to free her from her pimp, Clarence goes and kills him (played by a wild and almost unrecognizable Gary Oldman), and steals a suitcase of coke before heading out. Unfortunately with that much drugs involved, the powers-that-be aren’t just going to let Clarence and Alabama walk away scott free. A mob boss follows him out to L.A., and in typical Tarantino fashion, there will be lots of blood shed. Supporting actors include Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, James Gandolfini, and Tom Sizemore, with cameos from Brad Pitt, Samuel L Jackson, Chris Penn, and many others. I liked it a lot better than most Tarantino films. Not quite as over-the-top, perhaps honed in by director Tony Scott. It’s a wild ride, sort of crime/drama/comedy all mixed up together. ★★★½
I’ve got to go up to my buddy who recommended The Rundown, and punch him in the nuts. The start of the movie is alright, with Dwayne Johnson walking into a club and throwing down with a bunch of football players, walking out nearly unscathed with a championship ring needed as collateral against some money one of the players had borrowed and is late on paying. But then the next scene showed the Rock’s next mission down to South America, to bring back a wayward son. The son in question is played by Seann William Scott. As soon as I saw this, I knew that was it for me. Has this guy ever been in a good film? I hear this movie is actually a decent buddy cop kind of flick, but man, Scott’s face just makes me want to punch him. He’s not funny, he can’t act in a serious role, and I checked out of this film after about 45 minutes. ½
I’ve seen bits and pieces of American Psycho over the years when it was on TV, but never sat down and watched it. I’m glad I finally did. Christian Bale is tremendous as the psychotic Patrick Bateman, a man who outwardly appears sophisticated and cultured, but on the inside is a cold blooded killer who can torture and murder without emotion. Bateman is a vice president at a financial institution, but he never seems to do any work. He and his fellow vice p’s try to one-up each other with better dinner reservations, better looking business cards, etc. The only time he ever shows emotion is when he feels like he isn’t top dog in the pecking order among his fellows. He has a socialite fiancee, but doesn’t have any feelings for her either, cheating on her with prostitutes, before ultimately killing them. As his spree ramps up, his mental hold starts to break down, until the viewer is as confused as Bateman is about what is going on around him. A fantastic black comedy, bordering on the silly at times, but managing to stay intense thanks to Bale’s performance. ★★★★½
TV series currently watching: Only Murders in the Building (season 1)
Red Notice is a fairly ho-hum action comedy film, with superstar power in its leads: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, and Gal Gadot. The plot revolves around the theft of 3 bejeweled eggs originally gifted to Cleopatra by Marcus Antonius. Thief Nolan Booth (Reynolds) is attempting to steal each of the three, knowing there is a big payout if they are all brought together to the right buyer. Booth is being hunted by FBI agent John Hartley (Johnson), who has teamed up with Interpol to follow Booth around the world. However, both are being played by a mysterious super thief known only as Bishop (Gadot), who wants the three eggs and the payout it will bring all to herself. If you are a fan of Reynolds style of humor (and I am), you will find plenty of laughs, but that is about the only saving grace is this chaotic mess. Too many twists to keep track of, and honestly not worth the effort for what is ultimately a pretty forgettable action film. Pre-pandemic, this is the kind of movie that would rely on its star power to pack the seats for a summer blockbuster, but watching it on Netflix doesn’t carry the same weight. ★★
Whereas the cast of Red Notice couldn’t hold that movie up, the excellent cast of The Harder They Fall is able to better. The introduction prepares you for the violence ahead: a preacher, his wife, and their child are sitting down to dinner when a group of outlaws interrupts. The leader of the gang, Rufus Buck, has obviously been hunting this preacher for a long time. The man begs for the lives of his family, but Buck shoots the wife and then the preacher. He spares the son, but carves a cross into his forehead. 20 years later, the boy has grown up to be Nat Love, and he has made it his life’s goal to hunt down and kill every man who ran with Rufus Buck. The only one left alive now is Buck himself, who’s been in jail. However, he is about to be released, thanks to a pardon from the governor for having his latest gang take care of some nefarious business for him. Love is ready to finish what he started. He puts together a team of fast draws and snipers, including the law man who who originally put Buck away, but doesn’t want to see him free after all the hurt he’s caused, and they set out to bring justice. Buck’s new crew is just as deadly as his old one though, so it will not be an easy adventure. This is a raw and grungy anti-western, with a top billed cast including Idris Elba, Regina King, Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beets, Delroy Lindo, and more. Western film fans should find plenty to like. ★★★½
After two (sometimes over-the-top) Hollywood films, I was ready for something a little quieter. Sophie Jones was the ticket. A little indie film from a first-time director and an unknown cast (including the director’s cousin in the lead), this film is about a teen trying to find herself in the year after her mother died. Sophie is an average high school junior, but she feels like the rug has been pulled out from under her. She defiantly insists to her therapist that she’s doing fine, that she hasn’t turned to drugs or other vices to help her cope, but in reality, she’s turned to sex. Previously a virgin, she finds control in her life over the one thing that she can control, and that’s her body. She sleeps with a couple guys, dumps her only boyfriend when he starts asking for more than casual sex, and even tries to make a move on her longtime friend, who has obviously had a crush on her for awhile. The film doesn’t present easy answers for Sophie, or a clear way out of her predicament, and lets her find her own way. It’s not a fast or easy path, and it shouldn’t be. Very realistic film, though the unprofessional actors were a bit off-putting for me. Or maybe teens really talk this way now and I’m just out of touch. Still, excellent film for indie lovers. ★★★½
I love a good musical, and am a big fan of Rent, so of course I’ve been looking forward to the film version of Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick…Boom! I went in fairly blind, only knowing Larson wrote this before Rent, and it was biographical about his worries regarding turning 30, and frustrations in breaking in to the Broadway scene as a writer and composer. Larson is portrayed by Andrew Garfield, who sets the scene by explaining this is the workshop (what musicals go through before hitting the stage, to pursue funding and “work out the kinks”) for Tick, Tick… Boom! In the show-within-a-show, we see Larson of two years ago, in his tiny New York apartment, and he’s been struggling on writing the a show, Superbia, for many years. What continues to drive him is some praise he received from the legendary Stephen Sondheim (R.I.P.) during a theater class awhile back. Larson is about to lose his roommate, who came to New York with him, but never made it as an actor, and is settling into his corporate advertising job, in fact, getting ready to move out and into a posh new place. If he’s not careful, Larson will lose his girlfriend too; a dancer, she was just about to get her break when she had a literal one, breaking her ankle and now seeming to have missed her chance. She’s considering taking a teaching job to pay the bills, but Larson cannot see himself doing anything but writing musicals. Fans of his know how this turns out: Larson dies at the age of 35 on the day of Rent’s first Off-Broadway performance, the musical that would go on to win multiple Tony’s and a Pulitzer, all awarded posthumously to Larson. This filmed version is chuck full of Broadway legends in roles and cameos (far too many to note) and was directed by Lin Manuel Miranda, in his film directorial debut. It features plenty of catchy rock tunes that will keep Rent fans happy, and is a great story about following your dreams. ★★★★
Musicals aren’t for everyone, but plenty will like Old Henry, a more grounded and traditional western than The Harder They Fall. Henry is an old farmer working the land with his son Wyatt. They live alone on a secluded farm, when a riderless horse trots up, with a splash of blood on his saddle. Henry follows its tracks and finds a man near death, shot, and with a gun and bundle of cash nearby. After a thought of leaving him, Henry pulls him over his horse and rides him, his gun, and money back to his farm. When he comes to, the man claims to be Curry, a lawman who was set upon by outlaws, and stole their already stolen money. Shortly after, three men do indeed come to Henry’s door, but they claim to be the law, and are seeking a thieving Curry. Henry plays dumb to get the men to leave, but he smells something is amiss. The three go and round up some more bad men, and come back. But this time, Henry is ready, and he’s not just a farmer. The big surprise is a bit over-the-top, but if you can accept it and go with it, this is an extremely fun and action packed film. The climactic gun fight is as good as it gets in this genre. Outstanding performance by Tim Blake Nelson in the lead, who seems he was born to play a gritty cowboy. ★★★★
TV series currently watching: Foundation (season 1)
The trailer for Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci promised drama and murder. There’s one of the latter, and unfortunately, very little of the former in this complete dud. Strong performances by a fantastic cast (Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, and Jared Leto) can’t breathe any life into this long (2 1/2 hour+) boring film, which left me checking my watch every 15 minutes after the first hour.
This movie follows son Maurizio Gucci (Driver), starting in the early 70s. He seems to care little for the family business, but his last name catches the attention of Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga) when she meets him at a party. They hit it off immediately, but Maurizio’s father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) does not condone the relationship, sensing Patrizia is out for the money. The dad only comes around after the marriage is made and a baby is born, writing Maurizio back into his will, and, when he dies, leaving him half the company to share with his brother (Maurizio’s uncle) Aldo (Pacino) and Aldo’s eccentric son Paolo (Leto).
While Maurizio is not one for confrontations and is more than willing to accept the situation as it is, Patrizia is a shark with blood in the water, and turns the family against each other, wanting to put the entirety of the Gucci business under her husband’s (and her’s) control. Unfortunately the family drama is, while surprising at times, not all that exciting to watch. Her machinations to bring down Aldo and Paolo are shaky at best, and downright implausible at worst. What’s worse is, as the film progresses, plot points are introduced and soon after abandoned, and I couldn’t help but feel that they were just throwing ideas at a wall to see what stuck. I stopped caring about any of the characters long before the credits rolled, and had nothing invested as a viewer to feel one way or another about the outcome. ★
I’m a child of the 80’s, so of course I was a ginormous Ghostbusters fan. I’ve seen the original film enough times that I can quote the dialogue word for word while watching it, and enjoyed the sequel too. Needless to say, I was super excited for the new reboot/sequel. Unfortunately my expectations were perhaps a bit too high.
Ignoring the female-led Ghostbusters film of 2016, Afterlife is a sequel to the original duo of films. Set in the present day (37 years after the first film), Egon Spengler has been killed by a ghost (the populace thinks it was a standard heart attack), and his estranged daughter has come to his deserted farmhouse as a last resort. Callie is broke with no other options, so she and her kids, Trevor and Phoebe, are at the farm hoping to get their feet under them. Phoebe is the new version of her grandpa Egon: a nerdy girl who loves science. She isn’t at the farm for long before she starts putting together what is going on. And what is going on is scary.
When the Ghostbusters took down Gozer the Destroyer in the first film, that was not the end of the Sumarian god. She’s been planning a return, this time in the small town of Summerville, OK. This is where Egon’s farm is, and where he’s spent the last 30 some-odd years getting ready to stop her. He’s been on his own, the other Ghostbusters long since moved on to other things. Phoebe finds the trail he left, and recruits her brother Trevor and a couple local kids to become the new ‘busters, hoping to stop the end of the world.
The movie features great special effects, but unfortunately that is one of its only saving graces, at least on its own merits. As a piece of nostalgia, there are plenty of easter eggs for longtime fans, but some of these made me groan more than excite. Don’t get me wrong, there are some clever moments, some fun scenes, and the ending is pretty spectacular, but I spent whole sections of the movie bored. Never a good thing. Maybe I was hoping for more, or maybe I’m just not 5 years old anymore. ★★
King Richard is a biographical film about the father of a couple of the most famous women on the planet, Venus and Serena Williams. Their father, Richard (Will Smith), had a plan for them to be tennis masters from the time they were born, and he makes sure everyone knows it. The film follows a four year window or so, mostly focusing on Richard and Venus, as the oldest of the duo. Richard has coached her as far as he can take her, but knows that she needs further instruction to prepare her for championship level tennis, and more importantly, the opportunities that a well-known and well-respected coach can bring her and the family. Being a poor man with a large family from Compton, he is rejected left and right, until he finally barges in on the right person at the right time, who gives the girls a tryout. The coach is blown away by their poise and skill, and agrees to start coaching Venus. The first step on what will be a marvelous career. A lot of the movie deals with Richard’s insistence that the girls take the path that he has laid out for them, making sure that they have their heads on straight so they don’t burn out too quickly, and can handle the pressures he knows they’ll face later in life. I expected Will Smith to be good, and he is, but it is the girls, and particularly Saniyya Sidney as Venus, who really steal the film. Thankfully it doesn’t stick too close to the paint-by-numbers approach that biopics can often suffer, and there’s story to go with the facts (and I have a feeling they play a bit loose with those). ★★★★
Some films want you to think, some films just want to entertain, and some have a message. The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain falls into this last group. Based on the true story of the killing of a 70-year-old man in his apartment in White Plains, NY, in 2011, it stars Frankie Faison as the senior Kenneth. He’s asleep one night when he accidentally triggers his Life Alert pendant, and sleeps through the company’s attempts to contact him. Per company policy, they alert police for a wellness check, and 3 officers show up at Kenneth’s door a little after 5am to see if he is OK. With a history of mental illness and a deep-seated racial distrust of police, the black Kenneth refuses to open the door. He tries to assure them that the call was in error, that he is fine, but their policy is to see him in person to verify he’s alright. A nearly real-time hour goes by as the cops continue to bang on the door, and Kenneth and they yell back and forth. Eventually, the fateful decision is made to bang down the door and invade the apartment, despite Kenneth screaming that their search is unlawful, that they do not have a warrant or probable cause, and that he does not need their services. Outside of Faison, no great acting here, and the story is obviously thin. All of the film takes place in that apartment and just outside it. Even so, I was most definitely moved, to the point of tears when the cops forced their way in and took Kenneth’s life. If a film is made to elicit an emotional response, this one succeeds. ★★★½
Who You Think I Am is a French film starring Juliette Binoche, but despite her considerable acting chops, she can’t save this dud, in a very familiar story that has been told before, and done better. Claire is a middle-aged woman with a young boyfriend, Ludo. She wants more from their relationship than he does; he just wants easy weekend hookups. When she gets clingy, he stops returning her calls. To try to stay close to him, Claire sets up a fake Facebook page under than name Clara, and sends out a multitude of friend requests, including Ludo’s friend Alex. Online, “Clara” and Alex strike up a conversation, which leads to a serious online relationship. Using pictures stolen from the web, Claire deceives Alex into thinking she’s a 20-something, and even when their relationship progresses to phone calls, he doesn’t suspect anything. That is, until he becomes insistent that they meet. Told in flashbacks as Claire relates her story to a therapist, we learn how deep she was willing to take her deception. Very average movie, and some weird twists in the end just seemed too “gotcha” for me. ★★½
Hope is a lovely Norwegian film about a woman and her family without any. Anja (Andrea Bræin Hovig) has been suffering from headaches, nausea, and vision problems for a little while and new eyeglasses didn’t help. She is told to get an MRI to rule out problems in her head, and this leads to the devastating news that she does have a brain tumor. It being a few days before Christmas, there’s very little immediate help, other than to take some meds to reduce fluid buildup, and try to get to January when they can do surgery. Initial news is not good though: her form of cancer appears to be incurable, and is most likely a metastatic tumor from lung cancer she had just beat a year ago. One doctor tells her that a handful of patients have recovered (so there is always some hope), one tells her to get the surgery and pray for the best, and a third tells her that she’s going to die anyway, so go on a vacation and enjoy what time she has left. Meanwhile, her older life partner Tomas (the always-recognizable Stellan Skarsgård) has to be a better partner than he has been in years. Always absent (they almost split before her cancer diagnosis a year ago), he needs to be the strong one for a change, even as they struggle to tell their large family about the news, and prepare their kids for what is coming. The film flirts with over-sentimentality, but stays grounded and real-feeling. Unfortunately sometimes it takes the worst moments in life for a family to come together, but they do come together. A very tender, and surprisingly funny at times, film. ★★★½
Jungle Cruise is the latest Disney adventure romp, starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson in the leads, opposed by Jesse Plemons as the bad guy. In typical Disney tradition, the beginning of the film gives us the setup: in the 16th century, conquistadors exploring the Amazon jungle are looking for a special tree which is said to cure any illness. One man goes so far as to destroy an entire village when they refuse to disclose the tree’s location. With his dying breath, the tribal chief curses the conquistador, forever keeping him close the Amazon River, with the jungle coming alive to prevent him from escaping. Fast forward to 1916 in London, and Lily (Blunt) wants to find that tree, in hopes that its petals can be used in the war effort against Germany. Unfortunately for her, Germany has its eyes on the legend as well, and Prince Joachim (Plemons) is also after it. Lily and her brother head to the Amazon, where they book passage on a beat up old ship captained by Frank (Johnson). Frank is rough around the edges but he claims to know the river better than anyone, and for the right price, he’ll take them to where their goal is supposed to be. Along the way, they have to fight the undying cursed conquistador and his men, the German Joachim, and Frank’s bad dad jokes (which I have to admit, I laughed very hard at. Guess I’m getting old). This film got average reviews, but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Vibrantly colorful and bright, lots of laughs and harrowing adventure too? Count me in! It’s really good all-family fun. ★★★★
TV series currently watching: Foundation (season 1)
I’ve never seen a single film by celebrated and decorated Austrian director Michael Haneke, so it’s time to fix that, starting with maybe his most controversial and the one that put him on the map, 1997’s Funny Games. This is a disturbing film to watch, about a family of three terrorized over the course of an evening by a pair of emotionless young men, who make a game of their brutality. When Georg, Anna, and their son Georgie arrive to their lake house, they are expecting a couple weeks of relaxation, but Peter and Paul disrupt those plans in a terrifying way. When the pair show up at the door, at first they seem innocent enough, if a bit awkward, but things turn ugly quick when Georg slaps Paul for being disrespectful, and Paul retaliates with a golf club to Georg’s knee. The family now know something is very wrong with their visitors, but they have no idea how bad it will get. As the evening progresses, they are degraded and made to play games in order to survive. There’s a truly frightening scene where Georgie is able to escape, only to be hunted down by Paul. What sets this film apart from others like it is Haneke’s decision to not show most of the violence on screen. We hear them attack Georg off camera while we only see Anna’s face and reaction, and the same goes for each of their acts. As a viewer, of course I felt like I was missing something, and I’m sure that was Haneke’s intent: what does it say about us as a people when we want to see the violence? It made me feel dirty, that’s for sure. There’s also a lot of breaking of the fourth wall, as Paul turns to the camera and lets us know that he is aware we are watching him and Peter inflict pain, and another scene near the end showing this is a work of fiction, but all that felt a bit gimmicky to me. A very hard film to watch, but no doubt there is talent in this filmmaker. As an aside. Haneke remade this film 10 years later, in English with a new cast, and from what I hear, it is nearly a shot-for-shot remake, same dialogue and all. ★★★
Code Unknown is one of those films which, I’m sure is great, but it’s either too smart for me, or just not my jam. The set up is thus: a teenager has run away from home and has come to the city to maybe live with his older brother and his girlfriend. The brother isn’t home, but the girlfriend tells the teen that she can get him something to eat, but that he can’t stay in the tiny apartment, as there just isn’t room. She heads off to work, and the teen, having finished his on-the-go breakfast, throws his trash in the lap of a homeless woman begging on the corner. A black man witnessed it, and confronts the teen to apologize, but the teen refuses. The altercation gets physical, and bystanders and cops get involved, as does the returning brother’s girlfriend. Most take the side of the white teenager, not knowing the whole story. At this point, I’m thinking, “Great setup for a film on race!” And I guess it is still that, but the movie takes a winding, sometimes bewildering path that, while easy enough to follow, doesn’t seem to build a complete picture. After the opening, each successive scene cuts back and forth among all those involved in the beginning, as we see where life takes them. I didn’t pick up on any overarching themes, and there wasn’t even a good denouement to go out with a bang to match the excitement of the start of the film. Again, I think this one’s just too intellectual for my measly brain. ★½
The Piano Teacher is one of those films which is a fantastic movie, but due to my own personal moral code, really turned me off. The great Isabelle Huppert plays an outwardly staid and uptight professor at a music school. Erika is strict and demanding with her students, to the point of abuse (anyone who has seriously studied a musical instrument know’s what I’m talking about; we’ve all had one of those instructors). She lives with her aging mother in a tiny apartment, and five minutes with her mom tells us where Erika gets that demeanor, as her mother is as mean as they come. What Erika is hiding though is her escapades. She visits voyeur rooms in sex shops to watch graphic porn, and practices sexual mutilation on herself for release, none of which she seems to enjoy, but that and her control over her students is the only relief she gets in her life. Enter into this picture Walter Klemmer, a very talented young man who sets his eyes on Erika. He’s a gifted pianist but doesn’t seem to have the drive for greatness that Erika insists upon her students. Walter is immediately infatuated with Erika, but she doesn’t even know how to reciprocate love or affection; she only knows the domineering masochistic sex she’s seen in porn. A typical film by any other director would have Erika learn how to love and enjoy her relationship with Walter, but Haneke is obviously not your typical director. This is a startling and oftentimes hard to watch movie. A marvelously well done picture, but not one I could stomach a second time. ★★★½
2005’s Caché is the first of Haneke’s films that I really enjoyed start to finish. The movie gets you into the action right away: Anne and Georges are an upper-middle class couple watching a video tape someone left on their doorstep, a tape showing the front of their own house as the couple comes and goes. Creepy, but otherwise harmless. However, the tapes keep coming, and become more sinister, as they are accompanied with drawings of faces or objects covered in red crayon, and of course the couple thinks of blood. The drawings even get sent to their son Pierrot’s school. The police are unhelpful. Georges begins to suspect a person from his past, a boy named Majid who lived with him and his parents at their sprawling estate when Georges was growing up. Georges begins having nightmares about Majid covered in blood, and when a new tape arrives showing a tiny apartment, Georges goes there and is unsurprised to find it is Majid’s home. Majid denies any knowledge of the tapes, but the plot thickens as new tapes continue to come forward. Over the course of the film, we learn exactly who Majid is and his ties to Georges. The movie is a fantastic psychological thriller/drama. It doesn’t give all the answers (it doesn’t give many answers!), but it is gripping from start to finish and is a great view into human’s ability to lie to ourselves for self preservation. Also wonderfully shot: even the look and lighting of the film often has a home video-like quality to it, making the viewer feel like any moment we are watching could be taped to shown to the couple. ★★★★½
The White Ribbon hit it out of the park for me too (after an uneven start, for my tastes, Haneke is rocking now!). This movie is told as a story by an elderly man, unnamed, about a year he spent as a schoolteacher in a little town in Germany in the early 20th century. The movie is about many things, but one of my takeaways was the feelings of animosity between the haves and the have-nots. The haves in this town are wealthy and socially powerful men, namely, the pastor, the doctor, and the baron, whose household and lands employ half the town. In the beginning of the film, the doctor has an accident while returning home. Someone strung a thin, heavy wire between two trees, and the doctor’s horse ran right into it, spilling him and breaking his arm and collarbone in the process. The town goes into an uproar over who would do such a thing. Shortly after, a wife in a poor family dies by falling through a rotting wooden floor in the sawmill. Her widowed husband urges calm, but their son is convinced it was retaliation against the poor by the wealthy (the baron of course owns the sawmill). The son goes out and destroys the baron’s cabbage field. The baron’s son is also kidnapped and beaten, before returning home. Other events continue, pitting the people against each other. Throughout the course of the film, we also see how the pastor isn’t nearly as holy as he claims, severely abusing his kids in the name of righteousness, and the doctor isn’t the upstanding man people believe him to be either. But who is causing all the mischief in town, and is it simply pranks in poor taste, or something more sinister? Shot in stark black and white and told as a slowly developing tale, this is a movie to bring your patience for, but it is undeniably memorable. It paints a picture of a little slice of the world just before the first world war, where sins are committed out in the open and, more often, behind closed doors. ★★★★
Amour is a much quieter film. The film’s subjects are Anne and her husband Georges, an elderly couple living in a posh Paris apartment. Georges can be a bit cranky at times, but after a life together, Anne knows his bark is worse than his bite. One morning, Georges is at the sink, talking to Anne as she sits at the table, when she stops responding. He walks over and notices that Anne is just staring off into space, and doesn’t react to Georges’ words or actions. A trip to the hospital confirms Anne has suffered from a stroke, and while surgery removes the blockage, Anne is left paralyzed on her right side and forced to a wheelchair. At home, she makes Georges promise that he’ll never leave her in a hospital again, and he intends to keep his word. Over the ensuing weeks and months, Anne’s condition worsens. Georges hires temporary nurses to help care for her, but despite his daughter’s pleas, he refuses to consider putting his wife in a home. Eventually Anne has another stroke, removing her speech and much of her coherency, making Georges job that much tougher. A movie about the lasting legacy of love and a bleak idea of what awaits some of us at the end of life, it’s an at-times powerful film, though it did start to wear on me. Much as Anne’s condition started to wear on Georges, which I’m sure was the director’s desire. ★★★
TV series currently watching: Foundation (season 1)
Inspired by the events of the Amanda Knox arrest, Stillwater is about a single dad, Bill Baker, who is trying to prove his daughter’s innocence after she’s been jailed for murder in France. Allison has already be in jail for 5 years and still have 4 more to go, found guilty for killing her girlfriend Lina. One day in jail, she hears a fellow inmate talking about a man who admitted to the murder for which Allison has been incarcerated. Her father Bill, a working class man from Stillwater OK, who’s been visiting his daughter regularly since her time in jail, makes the permanent move to France to help dig up evidence in the case, hoping to find enough to make an appeal worthwhile. Matt Damon as Bill is OK, Abigail Breslin as Allison is very good, and the story is alright, but it all doesn’t come together great. It tries hard to push the needle but I never felt all that invested in the characters, and in the end, it comes off as a fairly average crime mystery. ★★½
Nicolas Cage is good for churning out 4-6 movies a year, most of questionable, or downright bad, quality. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile, and sometimes Cage lands a good role where he can showcase his considerable acting chops. This is one of those rare gems. In Pig, Cage plays Rob, a loner with a pet pig who forages for truffles, selling them to a local young entrepreneur, Amir, who in turn flips them to high-end restaurants in nearby Portland. Rob’s pig, his only companion in this world, is stolen from him one night, and Rob calls on Amir’s help to try to track down the thieves. Asking around lands them with some junkies, who were paid to nab the pig, but from there the trail leads into the city. While they are hunting the true culprits, Amir learns more about the mysterious Rob, who seems to be very well known in Portland every where they go. A movie about loss and heart, and living the life you want, the path you choose, this is a subtle and nuanced film which will move you, if you have the patience to let it breathe. ★★★★
I’ve been burned by Rotten Tomatoes enough times that you’d think I’d learn my lesson. Coming Home in the Dark is the latest dud that website made me try. It’s about a family of three who goes out to do so fishing out in the boons, only to be attacked by a duo of sadistic young men. They brutally kill the boy, and then gather the husband and wife into the car for a little drive. Only over the next couple hours do their motives become clear, and we see that it was no coincidence that brought them together. 92% of so-called critics have given this movie a fresh rating on the aforementioned website, but I just don’t see how. It’s a dumb B movie traipsed to seem like it has some deeper thought-provoking core at its middle, but it’s just wall dressing. Not even scary enough to be called a thriller. ★
Thankfully my day turned around with Nine Days, which is just the sort of gem that keeps me watching small budget indie films. It’s a fantasy drama about a man, Will, who spends his days watching a wall of TV’s in his living room and taking notes. Shown on the various screens are the viewpoints of the people Will has selected to live a life on Earth. Will is an interviewer of souls, and it is his decision which souls get to be born and live. Will is most proud of Amanda, a musical prodigy on violin with a bright future ahead of her, but she dies in a sudden car wreck, which appears to possibly be a suicide. Will is shaken, but it is now his task to fill that blank screen on his wall with a new soul, so the nine day interview process begins. He begins interviewing a half dozen new souls, each with an individual personality, to see who will get his approval to be born. While he is weeding out the one who he thinks is worthy, Will continues to re-watch Amanda’s life tapes, trying to find the one thing he missed that drove her to her end. He is accompanied by his boss, Kyo, who is there to oversee and make sure Will is making the right choice, but ultimately, it is Will’s decision, as he once lived a life on Earth, and Kyo never did. With all this responsibility, Will takes a very emotionless attitude, and wants to pick the one soul that will live by the rules and have a good life. His normally easy interview process is thrown into disarray by Emma, a soul who doesn’t play by the rules and is very much a free spirit. Nine Days is just a beautiful film, about letting go of pain and remembering to enjoy the moments you have. Despite its setting, this is not a religious film though. No explanation is given about where the souls come from or where the dead go, or how Will got this job or who is pulling all the strings. Will is not perfect, in fact, he has a lot of flaws that are exposed by Emma, but that makes the movie that much more “human.” ★★★★★
Swan Song is another good one too. This one stars the legendary Udo Kier as Pat, an old stylist relegated to a nursing home. Once the hairdresser to all of the wealthy and socialites in town, his flamboyant dress and attitude earned him the nickname “the Liberace of Sandusky.” Those days are long gone, as he dresses in sweats and seems to have been forgotten. That changes when Rita Parker Sloan dies, and in her will, asks for Pat to style her up one last time for her funeral. But first, Pat has to sneak out of the nursing home and make it across town, with just a couple bucks to his name. On his mostly walking tour, Pat visits the grave of his longtime partner David, the site of his former business, and runs into old friends and enemies alike, including his former protege who opened her own place and put him out of business. Along the way, Pat picks up a hat here, some gaudy jewelry there, and regains his attitude, so by the end, he has transformed himself back into the proud gay man he once was. There’s a lot to unpack here, and I don’t want to give any of it away, because taking the journey with Pat is what makes this movie so great. Here’s a man who’s held grudges all of his life, and has carried hurt buried deep down, but needs to let it all go if he’s going to find solace. Tremendous acting by Kier, and such a heart-wrenching film. ★★★★½
TV series currently watching: Titans (season 3)
Book currently reading: The Wishsong of Shannara by Terry Brooks
My wife and I went out and saw the latest Marvel’s blockbuster tonight. Eternals is not receiving the rave reviews that this series normally nets, so I had a bit of trepidation going in (I’m a big Marvel fan). While the movie is not perfect by any stretch, I still really enjoyed it.
The Eternals are a group of 10 super beings sent to our planet in 5000 BC, to kill monsters known as deviants. Immortal, they’ve lived among us humans all these centuries, not meddling in our affairs, as their purpose was just to stop those deviants whenever they popped up. The group supposedly killed the last of the deviants in the 1500s, but for some reason, they were not called up by their supreme leader Arishem, a god-like being known as a Celestial. Instead, they were left on Earth, and each went their own way to live over the next 500 years until present day.
Now in the present, the deviants have shown back up, and seem to be exhibiting powers they never have before. To make matters worse, a worldwide earthquake struck the planet, and the Eternals think the two are connected. They begin to seek each other out again, despite some having lost touch for decades or centuries, and try to heal broken relationships to stop a big bad catastrophe from wrecking the planet.
No two ways to say it, this is a long movie. It clocks in at 2 hours 37 minutes, and after about 90 minutes, I was starting to feel it. The Eternals have never been mentioned in a Marvel film before, and they have a ton of backstory to be told to the viewer just to set up where they all sit. And there’s 10 of them! Imagine watching the Avengers without having seen the previous Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc… All those movies provided some foundation so you know what is going on and how each character will react to situations. Eternals has to build from the ground up, and with so much exposition to tell, the movie definitely feels clunky at times. But by the end, they do a good job of telling an engaging, entertaining story, and if (when?) there’s a sequel, the base will have been laid, and they can get right to the meat of a new tale. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for these films. ★★★★
Jons Movie Takes 