The day Marvel (and many fans) have been waiting for: the return of Marvel’s “first family” into the fold. There’s (rightfully) been a lot of attention to Disney’s acquisition of Fox and how that would bring the X-Men back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but The Fantastic Four, a team of superheroes who debuted in comics way back in 1961, were a close second. This film was under a lot of pressure. The MCU has had uneven results in recent years, and while still at Fox, the last couple attempts at Fantastic Four films were major busts. Could Disney right the ship in more ways than one? In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the answer is a resounding yes.

This is not an origin film. When it starts, the foursome has already returned to Earth from their first mission to space, having encountered cosmic rays that gave each person special powers. Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) is basically Stretch Armstrong; his wife Sue Storm is Invisible Woman and can also project powerful invisible rays to pull or push objects; Sue’s brother Johnny Storm is Human Torch; and Reed’s best friend Ben has become The Thing, with a super-strong rock-like skin and super strength to go with it. With their powers, they have already defended a retro-futuristic 1960s style Earth from several attacks, but its newest threat may surpass their abilities.

The Earth is visited by a herald in the form of the Silver Surfer, who announces that the world has been chosen for destruction by the all-powerful Galactus. Galactus, a giant being and consumer of worlds, is on the way, so the Fantastic Four jump in their spaceship to go meet him before he can arrive. They quickly see that they are sorely overmatched, and so they plea for mercy. Galactus amazingly agrees on one condition: he wants Sue’s and Reed’s unborn child in payment. They obviously refuse and flee, barely making it out alive. Back on Earth, they have a limited amount of time to come up with a plan to stop Galactus and Silver Surfer when they arrive.

This film is a complete breath of fresh air for the MCU. Its a series that now consists of 37 films and 26 TV series, many of which are interconnected. It’s no wonder that people new to the series struggle to keep up; even for fans like myself who have been in since the beginning have to dig hard to remember how they are all criss-cross. In this film, which takes place in a different universe (think “alternate reality”) that is (so far) unrelated to the Marvel films that came before it, you can go in completely blind with no knowledge of any other Marvel film, and be just fine. And it is a great movie. Stylistically, it looks beautiful, and gives off the vibe of a future that would have been envisioned in the 50s/60s; I bet my parents would watch it and get a feeling of nostalgia. Full of action, suspense, and, yes, lots of heart and emotion, it is gripping from start to finish. Can’t wait to see where Marvel can take this team next. ★★★★★

Long before The Last of the Mohicans and Heat, writer/director Michael Mann’s first film came out in 1981, though he had a strong, recognizable face in James Caan as the lead. In Thief, he plays Frank, a high-end jewelry thief looking for an avenue out of this way of life. He wants to marry his girlfriend Jessie and settle down, but needs serious cash to set himself up to do so. His latest heist goes sideways when his fence his murdered with the goods and the cash, and turns out the hit was done by crooks who were also working with the fence. Frank goes to them, and gets an offer that he can’t refuse. They have a lead on a new job, high risk/high reward, that could net Frank $800k+ if he can pull it off. He agrees, on the caveat that it is his final job after which he can walk away, and the group agrees. But as we all know, there is no honor among thieves. The end of the film went weird for me, turning what was a good, tense drama and heist film into an amateurish coda of pure violence. Director Mann was definitely still learning on the job. It was good I guess, the ending just felt really out of character for my tastes. ★★★

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling is a biographical film from Richard Pryor, in my opinion one of the best comedians of all time. In the 80s, while he was settling in to more “tame” movie roles (compared to his very un-family-friendly standup routine) like Superman III, Brewster’s Millions, and See No Evil Hear No Evil, he took the time to write, direct, and star in Jo Jo Dancer. It begins with the infamous moment in his life when he set himself on fire during a cocaine freebasing incident and ran down the street bathed in flame, and nearly died from his second- and third-degree burns covering over half his body. As he is lying on the hospital bed fighting to survive, “Jo Jo” has an out of body experience, and his spirit goes back in time to see the events in his life that shaped the man he became. From a young boy growing up in a brothel (his mother was a prostitute) to being kicked out of the house by his abusive father as a teen to his rise as a star comedian, we see it all. I’m sure it was a very cathartic film to write and release, and Pryor never shied away from that low point in his life, cracking jokes about it as soon as he returned to the stage (his most famous: Lighting a match, waving it around, and asking the audience, “What’s that? It’s me running down the street.”). Still, I didn’t laugh as much as I expected to. Sometimes a person needs to get it all out, and its good for them, but not always great for the person watching them do it. ★★½

Matewan is a historical film about the 1920 Battle of Matewan, a bloody shootout between pro-union coal miners and detectives hired by the mine owners. Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) is a socialist who has worked with getting unions started across the country, and he’s lately come to the town of Matewan in West Virginia to help its people get organized. The miners there, most of whom are 2nd and 3rd generation, slave away in the mines with no safety protocols and little help from the owners. They’ve been trying to unionize for awhile in hopes of getting better wages and safer conditions, but have been thwarted thus far. Joe provides a small glimmer of hope. When the owners bring in scabs to work the mines, including Italian immigrants and black laborers, led by the big burly “Few Clothes” Johnson (James Earl Jones), Joe convinces the West Virginians to bring the newcomers over to their side; the Italians and black men end up not doing a single day’s work in the mines, much to the chagrin of the owners. Tensions continue to mount on both sides, until the expected gunfight ensues in the finale. When the film came out in 1987, James Earl Jones was the only recognizable face/name; the rest of the cast is chuck full of actors who would go on to iconic roles in the coming years, including future Oscar winner Chris Cooper (this was his very first acting role), Mary McDonnell (3 years before Dances With Wolves), Bob Gunton (the warden in ’94’s The Shawshank Redemption), and longtime character actors David Strathairn and Kevin Tighe. ★★★★½

La Bamba is the 1987 film detailing the life and tragic death of Ritchie Valens. The film picks up when Richard Valenzuela is 16 and living with his mother and siblings in southern California. Very poor, his mom Connie picks fruit at a farm by day, and Richie works too after work, but he has big dreams. A lover of rock and roll, he carries his used guitar around with him everywhere, and hopes to make it as a rockstar. Recently released from jail, Richie’s older brother Bob joins the family, and they all soon after move to a quieter neighborhood where Richie can attend a nice school. There, Richie falls for a girl named Donna (the muse for Valens’ hit song “Donna” later that year), and while Richie starts playing gigs in the area and catches the eye of a record producer, Bob continues to go offtrack. He struggles with feelings of being the black sheep in the family, which leads him to alcoholism, and he fails to be a good partner to his pregnant girlfriend Rosie. With “Donna” and his follow-up hit “La Bamba,” Valens starts touring nationwide, but his star shines bright and is snuffed fast, when he is killed in the crashed flight that also took Buddy Holly (the inspiration for Don McLean’s “American Pie”). A fantastic film with highs, lows, and a rocking soundtrack to sing along to, with superb acting from Lou Diamond Phillips (Valens) and Esai Morales (Bob). ★★★★★

Well, we had Battlestar Galactica’s President Roslin earlier (Mary McDonnell, in Matewan), so now let’s get Admiral Adama in here too. Edward James Olmos stars as the title character in 1982’s The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez, based on a book which itself is based on the legendary Chicano figure. In central Texas in 1901, the state is still reeling from a few decades of turmoil, having gone from a Mexican state to an independent nation to a US state. This left a lot of racism in the area, and it plays out over the course of this movie. In the beginning, a sheriff is investigating a stolen horse when he and a translator come to the home of Gregorio and his family. Gregorio doesn’t speak a lick of English, so when he is asked if he traded for his horse, he replies in Spanish that, no, it is a mare (female horse). If you’ve ever taken Spanish or French in school, you know a big difference in those languages vs English is the masculine and feminine words. Anyway, his reply in the negative isn’t translated properly, so the sheriff comes down to arrest him. Texas law at the time stated a man could defend his own property with lethal force, so Gregorio lawfully resists. This gets Gregorio’s brother shot, and Gregorio returns fire, killing the sheriff. So sets off two weeks of being on the run, where Gregorio is hunted by sheriffs and Texas Rangers in what would become the largest manhunt in the history of the US. When he is arrested (someone gave him up for the $1000 reward, in 1901 money!), he is tried and quickly sentenced to 50 years in prison. Though that conviction was later overturned, we learn in final credits that he would go on to face 6 more trials (government really wanted to nail him) before finally being pardoned by the governor of Texas, shortly before his death. Crazy story, made all the more so because all of it is true. The legend of Gregorio Cortez grew, as he became a folk hero and anti-persecution symbol for Mexican-Americans living along the border. A very strong story, even if the movie is a bit uneven at times. Still, it’s a solid revisionist western. ★★★½

I haven’t seen a lot of Gus Van Sant films, but I love My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting, and yet anytime his name is brought up, so is Drugstore Cowboy, so let’s sneak in a 6th film today. Released in 1989, it was his second film (after Mala Noche). It stars Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros, and Heather Graham as a quartet of dopers who get their fixes by stealing behind-the-counter drugs at pharmacies. Bob is the ringleader, and he’s a pretty smart guy, even when high as a kite. Dianne has been his sweetheart since they were kids, and he admits in the opening narration that, unlike him, she’d do anything for a fix and would never give it up (foreshadowing?). Rounding out the group is Rick, Bob’s best friend, and Nadine, Rick’s girlfriend. Bob doesn’t think much of Nadine, calling her “just a pretty face,” and uses her thusly, as a distraction when they do the crimes, and only giving her half doses of drugs afterwards. The friends are on a good run lately until their luck runs out, and Bob is a big believer in luck. You might say it’s the only thing he believes in. A pesky detective keeps harassing them, so they try to hightail it out of town for some new scenery, and three of them (leaving Nadine at home) attempt to break into and rob a hospital’s drug stash, only for the heist to go sideways. Back at the motel, they find Nadine dead from an overdose, but not before she put a hat on the bed, a huge no-no for the superstitious Bob. Perhaps finally seeing the error of his ways, Bob makes a deal with God or whoever is listening that if he can make it out of this jam, he’ll enter rehab and turn his life around. This is a great, gritty film where you really despise a person in the beginning and then do a 180 on him by the end, and is about finding hope in a hopeless situation. ★★★★½

Here at last: James Gunn’s reboot of the DC Universe in his own vision. After Zack Snyder’s turn fizzled (his and other films in the DC Extended Universe often made plenty of money, but were never hits with the critics), Warner Bros turned the franchise over to James Gunn in their latest attempt to rival the juggernaut that is (was?) the Marvel Cinematic Universe. James Gunn made a name for himself there too, as the writer/director of the popular Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy of films. Can he inject something new into DC as he did at Marvel, and maybe the superhero genre as a whole? If Superman is any indication, the answer is yes. 

Gunn made it clear from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be an origin story; everyone already knows where Superman came from. And sure enough, when the movie begins, Superman has already been saving the world time and again for 3 years now. In fact, we don’t even get to see his latest battle. In the opening scene, we are told in text that Superman has recently prevented a war between two nations (Boravia and Jarhanpur) and in retaliation, an armored metahuman going as the Hammer of Boravia has targeted Superman and amazingly, just handed Superman his first loss. As the movie begins, Superman is lying in the snow outside his Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica, bloodied and unable to stand. He whistles for his trusty dog Krypto, who arrives to help carry Superman inside the Fortress for healing.

I’m hesitant to give much more away than that opening setup, because the film is a wild ride with plenty of surprises (more superheroes!). If you’ve seen the trailers (and you probably have, Warner Bros has been hyping the snot out of this one) you know Lex Luther is behind it all, as he usually is when Superman is involved. We also get teases from some of the past DC characters whom James Gunn wants to bring over into this new DC playground, including John Cena as Peacemaker.

I loved this film. In complete opposite to Snyder’s vision for Superman (and I did enjoy his Man of Steel and the director’s cut of his Justice League), Gunn’s Superman is a bit of a throwback to a cleaner cut Last Son of Krypton. He’s a do-gooder, an eternal optimist, and a true hero (he even saves squirrels when they’re in danger!). This film hammers home that Superman is Earth’s greatest hero, and the result is exhilarating. You can’t help but cheer for him, even when the world turns its back on him. After a couple upcoming TV shows (another Peacemaker and a show on the Green Lanterns), the next film will come in about a year with Supergirl. I’m pretty hyped about all of it.

Sinners is the latest from one of the best young directors out there, Ryan Coogler. Since he broke onto the scene a decade ago with Fruitvale Station (which also was the film breakout for Michael B Jordan, who would continue to star in Cooglar’s films like Creed and Black Panther), the director has been very consistent. Jordan is back for Sinners too, in which he has a duel role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack. In the year 1932, they are lately returned to their hometown of Clarksdale, MS, after having run afoul of gangsters in Chicago. The brothers have a plan to set up a juke joint just outside the town, and quickly recruit musicians, bartenders, door security, and suppliers of food and drink. Coming home has brought reunions too though, including ex-girlfriends and baby mommas, which provide some drama for the evening. As if they need any! One of the musicians, young Sammie, is a talented guitarist whose music is so powerful that it can call spirits, and as he plays, his music transcends time and space, and we see dancers from years past and future (American Indians and 60s hippies) engage on the dance floor with everyone else. The powerful tunes draw unwanted guests too, as a vampire near the area is pulled towards the revelers. The rest of the night becomes a cat and mouse game, as the vampire grows his army outside the venue, biding his time until the partiers make a mistake and invite him in. What starts as a gripping drama becomes a supernatural horror film, with plenty of gore to satisfy the grisly minded. I usually save my 4+ ratings for those movies that I’d rewatch, and while this probably isn’t a film I’d return to (once all the surprises are out, not sure how much fun it’d be the second time through), it’s a really good film that is definitely worth watching. ★★★★

The Actor is another good one, and an entirely different kind of movie. Buoyed by the talents of lead André Holland as Paul Cole, it is about a man who awakens in an Ohioan city in the 1950s with full-on amnesia, absolutely no memory of who he is or how he got there. The hospital staff tells him that he is an actor, and was brought in by his fellow acting troupe after it was discovered that he (Paul) was sleeping with one of their wives. They roughed him over pretty well, causing his amnesia, and then abandoned him. All that Paul knows is the troupe hailed from New York. Once he is healed, Paul is run out of town by the constable, as adultery is a serious crime at the time, but without enough money to make it back to New York, he settles into a little town further up the rail line. There, he meets Edna, a very nice unassuming woman who is the first kind face he’s come across. She urges him to forget whoever he used to be and stay there with her, but that gnawing curiosity makes Paul take the trip to NY to find out who he is. He may not like the answers. The film is very “artsy” with some slick camera tricks, and written in a way that makes the viewer sometimes feel as confused as Paul, with scenes that end and merge with each other suddenly, so that it is hard to get a grip on what is sometimes happening. We feel just as unsure and confused as Paul! In the hands of a less skillful actor, the movie could have been a real mess, but Holland brings us along and pulls it off. ★★★★

The Shrouds is the latest from renowned director David Cronenberg, forefather of the body horror genre. This newest is more of the same, and while not his best, it is an enjoyable film if you are into the weird shit. Vincent Cassel stars as Karsh, who has been unable to get over the recent death of his wife Becca (Diane Kruger). As such, he has invented a technology where he can bury a person in a high-tech shroud, and allow their surviving family to see the decomposing body on their phone (or even a view screen on the grave’s headstone). Becca’s sister Terry (also played by Kruger) knows Karsh is hurting, and while giving a shoulder to cry on, the two become close. This is to the chagrin of Terry’s ex-husband Maury (Guy Pearce, who always seems to find good roles), who happens to be the techie code writer for Karsh’s shrouds. One day, someone hacks Karsh’s system, preventing access to the video feeds, and shortly after, he is approached by a woman who wants to put one of his high-tech graveyards in Budapest. Then the AI personal assistant that Karsh reacts with constantly (who shares a voice with Becca/Terry and has been written to look like his dead wife) starts behaving strangely, and then Maury comes to him with a wild tale about Russian hackers and Chinese mobsters. Through all of this, Karsh is having dreams about his dead wife, dreams that are growing increasingly disturbing about the cancer that destroyed her body, even while she began an affair with her doctor near the end of her life. Like I said, weird shit. I really liked it all the way through, but the ending was weird (or, weirder, anyway). ★★★½

There’s a lot of tales of atrocity and bravery out of World War II that many, myself included, have never heard. One such story is of the Chełmno extermination camp in Poland, and the 1942 escape from the camp by two Jewish men. In The World Will Tremble, a group of men have already been in the camp for some time. They are young and able-bodied, and have been tasked with burying the mass amounts of dead that the camp produces every day. They see tragedy every day, such as one day when one of the men pulls a woman off the truck and finds that it is his wife, and next to her, their daughter. He begs the Germans to shoot him, so that he may join his family, but they refuse, stating the he still have enough strength to do more work (for now). These Jewish men together have a plan though: to escape out of a transport one day, where there are usually just a handful of German guards, and run through the woods to a nearby town that still has an unliquidated Jewish Ghetto. Rumor has it that a rabbi there has ties to the underground, where the men hope to smuggle messages and get the word out about these new death camps, both to warn Jews and to tell the world at large for support. The men care nothing for themselves, and only want to do what they can to save others. It’s a tremendous film about the courage of man when faced with unthinkable brutality. ★★★★★

A Working Man is the latest teamup from director David Ayer (whose hit and misses are well chronicled) and Jason Statham; the two did last year’s The Beekeeper, which I enjoyed a bit. In this film, Statham plays Levon, an ex-special teams operative trying to live a simple life as a construction foreman. He’s employed by the Garcia’s in their family owned business, and is called in for some “overtime” when daughter Jenny is kidnapped by the Russian mob, a victim of being a pretty face in the wrong place at the wrong time. Levon doesn’t initially want to get involved, but he owes much to Joe Garcia and the money Joe is offering would help him personally, to get more time with his young daughter, currently living with her grandfather (Levon’s dead wife’s father, who is not so caring of Levon’s situation). As Levon goes undercover and hunts down mob boss after mob boss, the body count rises, and so does Levon’s peril. Statham is good; after all, he’s got this kind of role down pat, but everything else about this movie is so bad that he can’t make up for it all alone. Cheesy dialogue, throw-noodles-against-the-wall-to-see-what-sticks kind of plot twists, and just downright bad acting (even from stalwarts like Michael Peña) make me think that everyone was just showing up for a paycheck on this one. Whole lot of eyerolls. ★½

• TV series recently watched: The Chosen (season 5), Justice League Unlimited (seasons 1-3), Poker Face (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Aftermath: The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Today I’ve got a series of films from “the father of African film,” Ousmane Sembène. A prolific author and film writer/director, he told stories from the perspectives of his native land and people in the 50s and 60s, long before much thought was given to such. Up first is his first feature film, 1966’s Black Girl. A biting narrative on the lingering colonial attitudes in a post-colonial world, the film follows a young woman named Diouana as she is hired by a white couple to be a nanny to their children. In the beginning of the film, Diouana is struggling to find work in Senegal, but fortune seems to strike when she gets the above mentioned job. The family brings her to France, where Diouana hopes to see the world and to make money to send home. However, the work is not what she expected. The children aren’t even around, currently off at boarding school, and Diouana is instead the family maid, cooking and cleaning. Weeks go by and she isn’t even allowed to leave the house; the only parts of France she can see is from her bedroom window. The family’s matriarch quips, “Who would she go see? She knows no one here.” It’s easy to hate this woman, she’s demanding and condescending, and frankly a real bitch, but her husband is just as bad in his own way. Though seemingly kind to Diouana, his apathy and his failure to grasp why Diouana is unhappy is appalling. The couple thinks they are “giving Diouana a better life” but being a prisoner in a home, barely a notch above slavery, isn’t any life at all. The fate awaiting Diouana is really her only choice. Very stark film. ★★★½

Two years later, 1968’s Mandabi shows one earnest man’s struggles in a city where corruption has bloomed in every other man’s heart. In Senegal, fervent religious Muslim Ibrahima is poor, having been unemployed for 4 years, but he refuses to let his two wives beg or borrow to help support their 7 children. He goes out every day to scrounge what he can, but usually returns home empty handed. Once again, fortune comes when he receives a letter from a nephew working in Paris, attached with a money order for 25 thousand francs. Illiterate, Ibrahima is unable to read the letter, but he immediately praises his good fortune and goes to the local store to get rice for the family (on credit this time). The next day, Ibrahima tries to go to the post office to cash the money order, only to be turned away because he lacks a proper ID to prove identity. A man at the post office offers to read the letter for 50 francs, which Ibrahima reluctantly agrees to (on credit), and in it, the nephew asks Ibrahima to give 20 thousand to his mom (Ibrahima’s sister), 3 thousand to another, and to keep 2 thousand for himself. Unfortunately Ibrahima is already over that 2000 thousand in promises for his recent purchases, but that’s a worry for another day. He is directed to the police station to get an ID, but they refuse without a birth certificate and photo. He goes to the City Office for a birth certificate, but they refuse because he doesn’t know what month he was born in. He approaches a wealthy nephew in the city, who promises to help get the items he needs (for a fee), but Ibrahima is swindled out of another 300 francs when he tries to get a photo taken. All along his trips around town, Ibrahima is constantly approached by beggars and friends (who have heard about his good fortune), all with their hands out, and being the good man that he is, Ibrahima can never say no, until his crippling debts start hanging over him, even as the promise of wealth seems further and further away. If you needed a poor vision of what humanity has become, look no further. Also has the distinction of being the first film made in an African language (Wolof). ★★★½

Emitaï is more about an event covering a specific time in Senegal’s history, more than a traditional story with a plot (or even main actors). During World War II, local men in tiny villages in Senegal are conscripted by the French army to go fight against the Germans, or as the villagers call it, the “white man’s war.” The men obviously don’t want to go, so a contingent of French soldiers (made up of all-ready drafted men from other villages in the area, led by a French white man) are brought in to force the enlistments. The film follows one long day during a standoff between the French army soldiers and one local village. First, men are rounded up and put into service, and then, when the army demands rice as a contribution to the war effort, the women hide the rice. To force compliance, the soldiers round up all the women and stick them in the middle of the village, exposed to the hot sun all day long. The elder men and tribe leaders, men who were too old to be drafted, consult their gods for ways out. They initially try to fight back, but the soldiers set up just outside of spear range and can easily shoot back with impunity, killing one leader. And since only women can perform the burial rites, and they are all stuck in the village, there’s a clash of cultures as to what happens next. I learned a lot from the movie, but as a piece of art it was more informative than enjoyable, with nonprofessional actors and a shoestring budget that distracted from the overall story. It’s also pretty dark (obviously), such as one French soldier who is from the area and knows all the village’s customs, using that knowledge to help his bosses rather than alleviate the plight of the villagers. And some misplaced humor doesn’t do enough to lighten the mood (when the French tear down posters extolling Marshall Petain and replace them when new ones of Charles de Gaulle, and act as if nothing has changed; for the villagers, nothing has). ★★

Xala is a comedy (I guess? Though a heavily political satire one) about the changing of the guard in Senegal after the end of French colonial rule. In the beginning of the film, there’s a big ceremony as white men are ushered out of the Chamber of Commerce and a new board of black men are given offices (though there’s a funny scene as the white men return with suitcases full of cash, and are given desks in the building again, obviously implying who is still running things). The rest of the film follows one man in the new financial system, El Hadji. El Hadji has two wives already and is currently set to marry a (much younger) third, when things start going sideways for him. On his wedding night, he is “unable to perform,” and suspects that someone has put a curse on him. He starts consulting local shamans, some of whom give good advice, some bad. While this is going on, his business ventures start having problems too, and he comes under investigation from the same Chamber where the film started. Though he points out that all of them are as corrupt as he, doesn’t seem like that will save him in the end. This movie, though quite funny at times, suffers from much the same problem as the above film. No real acting going on from the nonprofessionals, who are simply delivering lines, and often with long delays between the lines; it almost seems like (and probably was) they were being fed lines from offstage. Sometimes they even flub their lines, pause, and continue on, with no editing! It’s very distracting, to the point that it was, again, hard to enjoy, which is a shame because there are some truly funny moments in El Hadji’s tribulations. ★★½

Ceddo is a historical film, looking at one village as it tries to protect its culture from invading forces. At the beginning of the movie, Islam and Christianity have already made their mark on the local population. The King and his immediate family have converted to Islam; this may have been due to self preservation, as when the influential imam gets a chance later in the film, he gives villagers the choice to convert or be sold into slavery. While the Muslims do hold sway politically, white Christian slavers are still very much in the picture as well. However, there is pushback from the general population too. Those who have not converted are called the Ceddo, or pagans, and they are trying to adhere to the old ways. One man, the King’s nephew, is by tradition supposed to marry the King’s daughter (his eldest child) and thus become next in line to the thrown, but the King has instead promised her to a warrior (who has converted to Islam), even has the King’s own son (second born) had hopes for the throne himself. To try to force the King’s hand, some Ceddo have kidnapped his daughter to try to force the King to stick to tradition. The two converted husband hopefuls (warrior and King’s son) attempt to rescue her, only to be killed by the Ceddo. The movie has some of the same problems as the two preceding films, but the story is very engaging, and presents a stark picture at a people’s resilience as they face the death of their way of life. ★★★

• TV series recently watched: Iron Fist (season 1), Ironheart (series)
• Book currently reading: Aftermath: Empire’s End by Chuck Wendig

F1 is Apple’s latest big budget film, and their most successful to date. It stars Brad Pitt as a race car driver at the end of his career, who gets a second chance at racing glory. A fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants action film, this one deserves to be seen on the big screen.

Sonny Hayes lives out of his van and travels from race to race, but it seems to be the life that he wants. He’ll race anything with wheels, and is en route to Mexico to race Baja when he is approached by former friend Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem). Ruben and Sonny were up-and-coming teammates 30 years ago in F1 racing before a crash nearly killed Sonny. He stepped away from the sport despite being highly touted at the time, and never returned to F1. Ruben went on to be successful and is currently team owner of F1 racing team APXGP, though after a few years, the team has yet to win a race and Ruben is facing a jittery board of trustees ready to oust him for new leadership. He is there to enlist Sonny for help.

Sonny has enjoyed his nomadic lifestyle and has demons in his closet, but he is not going to turn down an old friend. Ruben wants to bring him in to race his # 2 car and to mentor the team’s # 1 driver, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris). Joshua is very talented but also very young and inexperienced. Sonny may no longer have the reaction times of a young man, but he has a lifetime of experience to teach Joshua how to be a smarter driver. The film follows the final 9 races of the season, as Sonny and Joshua butt heads, and Ruben prays for a victory to both keep his job and also to keep him afloat, as he has invested every dime into the team.

Some films in this genre only find excitement on the track, and that is obviously where most of the action lies. While those films are exciting, if there isn’t enough drama when there isn’t any racing, they aren’t “firing on all cylinders.” F1 has it all, from the extremely tense, first-person view of flying down the track at 200+ miles an hour, to the relationships behind the scenes between the racers, owners, pit crew, and support. The film clocks in over 2 1/2 hours, but I didn’t feel it at all, and those hours flew by faster than the cars on the screen. And as I said, see it in theaters, because your heart will pound as you feel those engines rev through the theater speakers, and it will take your breath away when they peal down the straightaway towards the finish line. ★★★★½

In the Fire of War, or Ka Whawhai Tonu as it was released in the Māori language (which is celebrated throughout the film, for good reason), takes place in New Zealand and is based on the true story of the land wars in that country in the 1860s. While our country was going through a civil war, New Zealand’s indigenous Māori people were very nearly seeing the end of their culture. British colonizers have been in the area for some time already and there’s been an uncertain truce, but the Brits have increasingly been encroaching inland, and now have sent a full army down to take care of the local resistance. A few of the Māori tribes have come together to decide if they will try to make a new deal with the English or to fight back. One chieftain, who has perhaps had more dealings with the British (he prays to Jesus and practices the “white man’s religion”) councils peace, knowing the English’s superior numbers and weaponry will overwhelm them, but he goes along with the others when he is outvoted. So sets up a climactic battle at Gate Pā, in which a small contingent of Māori were able to fight against a vastly larger British force. The battles take place around the lives of the two leads in the film, one a young woman who is the avatar of her tribe’s God of War, and a young man with a conflicted past, the son of a white British settler and a Māori woman, who isn’t accepted by either group. For the Māori, it seems their whole world is ending, and while they were very nearly wiped out (the film states only around 40,000 survived the land wars), they were able to survive and their numbers have grown over the last century. A brutal film about the effects of war. ★★★★

The online summary of Las Tres Sisters states, “Following in the footsteps of their beloved grandmother, three Mexican-American sisters take an adventure through Mexico to complete a traditional pilgrimage and repair their relationship.” I went into the film expecting some heavy drama with a side of laughter, but unfortunately there was far too much of the latter for my tastes, and most of it asinine. One of the sisters has recently been diagnosed with cancer and wants to take the pilgrimage from which legend states miracles can happen, but she doesn’t tell her sisters that this is the reason for the trip. In fact, she doesn’t even tell her two sisters that the other is coming, because they’ve been estranged from each other for years. One is very nearly penniless and has led a carefree life, the other is a strict Type A personality who cares for their ailing mother. The reason for their long feud comes out later, and while that side of the story is (somewhat) powerful, the message is lost in the silly, goofy comedy that is far-too-prevalent throughout this movie. No one talks like these ladies, and while I like a good Dad joke as much as the next 40-something, I couldn’t even laugh at the hokey gags. ★★

I think my reaction to In the Lost Lands is simply one of going into a movie with low expectations and then finding that the movie wasn’t as awful as I was expecting. Certainly not a great movie, but not horrendous either, and when you have low expectations, it doesn’t take much to impress. It’s sort of Resident Evil meets 300 meets Mad Max, which makes sense as it is from director Paul WS Anderson (who directed the former film series), has cinematography that at least “borrows” from 300, and takes place in a Mad Max-ian dystopian future. The movie stars Anderson’s wife Milla Jovovich (who still looks pretty good as she nears 50) as Gray Alys, a witch with the power to compel others with whom she makes eye contact. In the beginning of the film, she is about to be hanged by the Church, the ultimate power in this destroyed world, when she takes control of a watcher who then helps her escape. Pursued by the Church’s zealots, Gray Alys is then tasked by the Queen to find a way to make her into a shape changer. To do that, Gray Alys must kill a shape changer in their own lair during the full moon, just one week hence. Gray Alys flees the city with the Church on her heels, and teems up a warrior/survivor named Boyce (Dave Bautista), who also happens to be the Queen’s secret lover, to get through the wastelands to the shape changer’s country. Yes, I know the film sounds like a hot mess, and some of it is, but damn if I wasn’t entertained. I’m a sucker for dystopian films, even ones like this that aren’t all that original, and while the story is staid, the action and adventure is anything but. It throws every cliche in the book at the viewer, and some of them actually stick! ★★★½

Deep Cover is a very funny comedy (and I generally don’t do comedies) with a bizarre premise. Kat (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a stuck-in-the-rut comedian living in London and teaching improv classes at a local bar when she is approached by an undercover police officer (Sean Bean) with an intriguing proposition. For a nice payday, he wants Kat to pretend to be a buyer for counterfeit cigarettes to take down an entry-level crook. The cop says improv comedians are best for this kind of low-level work because they think and react fast, and he wants Kat to take along 2 of her comedy troupe as backup. Her only options are Hugh (Nick Mohammed), an unfunny IT tech, and Marlon (Orlando Bloom), a “serious actor” who has only been able to land cheesy TV ads. The ragtag trio are ill prepared for the trouble they get into. During the cigarette buy, Marlon gets too into character and Hugh takes the improv lesson of “always say yes and…” too seriously, leading to them quickly moving up the food chain and going from entry-level to mid-level, meeting a serious, much more dangerous criminal named Fly (Paddy Considine). The cop who started it all is ecstatic, as his makeshift undercover agents are further along in one day than his precinct has been able to get in months, but as the team gets deeper, the risk level gets higher. Way past fake cigarettes and small-time money transactions, they are now dealing with heavy drug deals and murder, and it gets even worse when they meet Fly’s boss, underworld crime lord Metcalfe (Ian McShane). Great film with some mild action and a whole lot of laughs, as the ridiculous, completely unprepared comedians have to fake their way through situation after situation. ★★★★

The Assessment is a psychological thriller taking place in the future (how far in the future is undetermined, though much of the technology shown isn’t far-fetched from where we are heading today). In this future though, some kind of global calamity has forced the government of “The New World” to outlaw pregnancies in an attempt to control the population and the world’s finite resources. Women no longer conceive, but when they want to have a child, they petition the government for the right to have a child conceived in vitro and grown in a lab, at which time the newborn is handed off to its new parents. Before they get there, couples must past the assessor, a woman sent to would-be parents to live with them for 7 days, to determine if they are suitable. Mia and Aaryan (Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel) are the latest parent hopefuls, and so at the beginning of the film they welcome their assessor Virginia (Alicia Vikander) into their home. After cold and awkward introductions, Virginia begins play-acting as a child, obviously in order to gauge Mia’s and Aaryan’s reactions. The couple was not expecting this; no one talks about what it is like to have an assessment or what to expect, by government order. Thus, there’s a learning curve for the first day, whenever Virginia throws a temper tantrum or is expected to be coddled, in sometimes very uncomfortable ways when it’s one adult trying to “take care of” another adult, and a stranger at that. Over the course of the 7 days, Virginia’s tests progress from the absurd to the socially forbidden, such as making advances on Aaryan, leaving the married couple wondering what is part of the test and what isn’t. When the truth of assessments comes out, it hits hard. Excellent acting and a tight story, even if it goes from 1 to 11 a little too fast for my tastes. I would have preferred a more slow burn, but ultimately it comes off well in the end. ★★★½

Awhile back (more than a little while, I’m ashamed to admit) I saw some films from the team of Powell and Pressburger, and came away from that wanting more. Six years later, I’m finally there, and starting with the first film they made together, 1939’s The Spy in Black. In some ways you can tell it is from a young team of filmmakers, but it’s got a great story. Taking place in 1917 during The Great War, it follows a female German spy who has taken the place of an English schoolteacher at the far north of Scotland. Why so remote? Because it happens to overlook the British naval fleet. Undercover, she is able to provide a base of operations for a German U-boat commander, who comes ashore to plan an attack for his waiting submarine, with the help of a disenchanted British officer, who lost his command due to a drinking problem. The trio of nefarious villains seems to have everything in control, until the story takes a turn that I did not see coming. It’s a great twist, the like of which would still play well in any modern action/spy film today. You can tell from the beginning, this writer/director team had it going. ★★★½

The Red Shoes was their tenth film together, and has become one of their most famous. It follows two young artists, composer Julian Craster and dancer Vicky Page, as they try to make it big. Vicky wants to dance ballet for the very popular traveling company Ballet Lermontov, but its director Boris Lermontov doesn’t seem to have much interest in performers who haven’t already made a name for themselves. Still, he happens to catch one of her performances at a small local theater one night, and sees that she has potential, and hires her to be an extra. It’s a foot in the door, anyway. At the same time, Julian is a talented composer who does an arrangement of an upcoming ballet for Lermontov, and the director is impressed enough to hire the young man to assist conduct and to arrange an entire new show. The troupe continues to travel the world, to Paris and Morocco, with Vicky and Julian respectively climbing the ranks. Vicky gets her chance to be principal after its current one announces she is to be married; the strict Lermontov has a firm “no relationships” rule for his leads, believing whole heartedly that an artist can either be married to their art or to another person, but not to both. Thus, his former principal is kicked out of the show, and Vicky has her chance. But what will happen when she and Julian start to fall in love? A beautiful film, shown in vibrant technicolor, which wowed audiences in 1948, and a full ballet performance during the film to boot (actress Moira Shearer as Vicky was a trained ballet dancer before her film career). ★★★★½

The Small Back Room is the rare dud from this team. Another spy film, it is about a British scientist, Sam Rice, and his girlfriend Susan, who work for the military during World War II. Sam can’t fight in the war due to a prosthetic foot, which pains him constantly. Susan is always begging him to take it off when they are alone in the evenings, but he refuses in his pride. He’s on dope for the pain (common enough back then), but the only thing that really takes the anguish away is whiskey, which turns Sam into a raging, angry drunk. Sam’s friend comes to him with a new kind of German booby trap, which is being dropped off by planes flying overhead. The trap is volatile and has already killed 3 children and one adult, the poor passerby’s who happen to come across the laid bombs. When Sam’s friend is killed trying to defuse one of the bombs, Sam is brought in to try to solve the problem. This movie took an awfully long time to get going, where it hammers repeatedly the relationship issues between Sam and Susan. It’s really more of a drama dressed up as a wartime thriller. If I’d been in the mindset of a drama going in, maybe I’d have liked it more (although, maybe not…), but I was wanting some spy goodness, and it has none of that. When there are some real thrills at the end as Sam is defusing the bomb, it’s too little, too late. ★½

For the musically inclined, seeing a film adaptation of an opera (probably more aptly an operetta, to be precise) is a nice experience. Based off the unfinished final opera from French composer Jacques Offenbach, and nearly unchanged despite bringing it to film, the sung-through The Tales of Hoffmann follows the eponymous Hoffmann as he relates his misfortunes in love to a rowdy, full bar. In the beginning, he is supposed to be meeting his latest girlfriend Stella, but her message to him is intercepted by Hoffmann’s rival, a devious Count (and the actor who plays the Count shows up as other bad guys in Hoffman’s tales). As he waits, Hoffmann begins his story. In three stories, Hoffmann tells about his failures in finding a partner. First, he falls in love with a beautiful woman, only to find out that he’s been swindled out of money, and the woman is a mechanized creation. In the second, Hoffmann is swept off his feet by a woman who turns out to be a prostitute, and is working him to steal his reflection for an evil magician. Finally, Hoffmann truly finds love with a singer, but she is ill from consumption, and gets worse whenever she sings. Rather than rest, an evil doctor forces her to sing until she dies. Throughout it all is wonderful, soaring arias that took my breath away, and exquisite dancing, costumes, and sets which transport you to magical kingdoms. Nothing beats a live performance, but if you are going to watch a musical or opera on screen, this is a good one. ★★★★

Cheating a little on my last film today, as it is sans Pressburger, but I’ve been wanting to watch this one for awhile. The film that almost ruined Michael Powell’s career (he made just a handful of films after its release, and unless I’m mistaken, no more in his native England), Peeping Tom came out in 1960 and was extremely controversial in its day. As soon as it opens, we meet the villainous Mark Lewis, as he holds his handheld camera to film himself approaching a prostitute, following her to her abode, and then murdering her, taping it all. As he watches the footage later in his home, we get to know a man who is very detached from his emotions, but clearly has a goal. As the movie goes along, he murders again, and we learn that he most seeks to see his victims experience debilitating fear before their deaths; he wants to see that fear more than he wants to kill. When Mark meets a woman in his building, Helen, she is very kind to him and he starts to open up to her, and we learn about the terrible treatment Mark suffered as a child from his scientist father, with no nurturing in his upbringing. It is telling when Mark refuses to film Helen, so we know from the beginning that he likes her, even if he lacks the social cues to show her (or us). But Mark will not let Helen disrupt his master plan, and he does have a plan, which moves forward even as the police tighten their search around him. The movie was lambasted when it came out, but in the decades after, became very influential. In his late-life autobiography, Michael Powell quipped, “I make a film that nobody wants to see and then, thirty years later, everybody has either seen it or wants to see it.” ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Luke Cage (season 1), ST The Next Generation (season 7), Walking Dead: Dead City (season 2)
• Book currently reading: What if Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings by Seanan McGuire

Predator: Killer of Killers is the latest in a franchise which, until 2022’s Prey, was on life support. Prey resurrected the film series, so its director Dan Trachtenberg seems to have been given the reigns to keep it going. He has another live action film due later this year, but to tide us over, we have the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers (which Trachtenberg also co-wrote and co-directed). If you think just because it’s a cartoon that it can’t be as good, then you are sorely mistaken. The film takes place when predators, the ultimate hunting and killing machines, have visited Earth three times in our history: once attacking Norse raiders in the 9th century, once against samurai in feudal Japan, and finally against American fighter pilots in World War II. Each story stands by itself, but they are all brought together in the end for an excellent finale, in which we see a glimpse of a home world of the predators. Great film, full of action and (animated, of course) gore, but one that fans of the film series should definitely check out. Can’t wait to see Predator: Badlands in November! ★★★★★

Magazine Dreams took a long time to be released, due to the controversy over its star Jonathan Majors. When he was charged and convicted of assault on his girlfriend, a lot of attention was given to his firing from Marvel as its “next big villain,” but this film was shelved too. It’s too bad such a good actor has to be (seemingly) a bad guy, because he is extremely talented. This film stands on his shoulders, as he plays a mentally ill young man obsessed with bodybuilding. Killian Maddox stays with and helps care for his ailing “Paw Paw” (both of his parents are dead, violently as we learn later), and Killian is completely fixated on becoming a star in the sport. He eats enough calories to feed a family of 8, works out continuously, is taking steroids, and eats, breathes, and sleeps nothing but his regimen. When he goes on a date with a girl one night (awkwardly, because his mental issues include social problems), he scares her away with his constant stream-of-conciousness on his goals. Unfortunately the lack of social cues aren’t the only thing Killian suffers from; he is also prone to violent outbursts, such as breaking into and wrecking a paint store when they refuse to come put a second coat of paint on their house after Paw Paw said it needed it. Killian also has an unhealthy obsession with a star bodybuilder and fitness champ named Brad, to whom Killian constantly writes letters/fan mail. Killian’s fixation on his physique and his preoccupation with Brad both do not end well, when he does poorly at a competition and Brad stands him up, leading Killian to buy an assault weapon and contemplating serious crimes. Stellar acting from Majors, who I hope gets a chance to do more in the future. I’m not into cancel culture; if you took away every bad character from the movie and music industry, we’d lose half (or more) of the great pieces of work in our history. This film is definitely worth watching. ★★★½

Julie Keeps Quiet is a Dutch film with possible inspiration from some recent events. At a premier tennis program, Julie is a much-hyped teenager with a promising future in the sport. Like any promising young athlete, she doesn’t have time for much more than training and working out. Her friends are others at the tennis academy, but even they go out once in awhile, while Julie hits the gym. However, her longtime coach, Jeremy has recently been suspended by the academy, and a new instructor put in place. The other kids are asking a lot of questions, like what did Jeremy do, but Julie is doing what the title says, and is mum. In fact, she is still in contact with Jeremy via text and phone in the evenings, and he continues to coach her from afar, prepping her for a big upcoming tryout, and contradicting her new coach. As the film progresses and we learn what Jeremy is accused of, it comes as no surprise, though how it relates to Julie may be. For much of the film, we don’t know what is going on in her head, because she just doesn’t open up to anyone, so when she does start to speak up for herself near the film’s finale, her words have a very strong impact on the viewer. Outstanding film, with charged emotions on all sides, and it really takes this scenario and examines it from all angles, from the student athletes to the parents to the school program. ★★★★★

I wanted to like Shayda more than I did, but it’s still pretty good. Taking place in the mid-90s but still very much relevant today, it follows an Iranian mother, Shayda, as she is going through a divorce from her husband Hossein and trying to keep their daughter Mona innocent through it all. Shayda and Mona are currently living in a women’s shelter in Australia, where Hossein had brought his family for work, but Shayda fears that he will abduct Mona and flee back to Iran, where men have much more powerful legal rights over wives and children. Shayda is wanting the divorce because of Hossein’s violence, which would give her standing for divorce even in Iran (where women need a very good reason to divorce their husbands), but even so, she is shunned by other Iranians living in the area, as they see her as going against her husband. As the film progresses, we learn what Hossein did, and things get even murkier when a judge grants him visitation rights with Mona, and Shayda meets another young man too. Until her divorce is finalized, this would very much be considered adultery under Iran law, and she would be killed in her home country for it. A strong story, with surprisingly good acting from young Mona (I’m traditionally not a fan of child actors). ★★★½

Misericordia is marketed as a black comedy, but honestly the humor is as dry as it gets until the very end. It follows a young man named Jérémie, returning to his hometown after the death of childhood friend Vincent’s father’s death. The dead dad was the town’s baker and he originally inspired Jérémie to become a baker too, though he hasn’t been back to this town to visit for years. Rather than take the long drive back home afterwards, the widow (Vincent’s mom), Martine, invites Jérémie to stay at her place in Vincent’s old room, and starts whispering that Jérémie should stay and become the new baker here. Vincent seems to take affront to that, and starts dropping innuendos that Jérémie is “sniffing around” his mom. This later leads to a lethal confrontation between Jérémie and Vincent. Jérémie tries to come up with an alibi, but the police don’t seem to be buying, even when unlikely people come forward with cover stories, which include the town priest, all of whom seem to want to get into Jérémie’s pants. The movie starts out as a fairly gripping drama with a lot of intrigue, leaving me wondering what exactly it was building to and what Jereme’s motives were, but it devolves into a dumb romp. By the end, it’s a ridiculous chain of events, and then, it just… ends. Suddenly, and with no resolution. Really weird film. ★★

Ballerina, or, as it is marketed in order to fill the seats, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, is the latest in the “John Wick universe” (can it really be an expanded universe if John Wick is in every movie?) and takes place between John Wick 3 and 4. A decent enough action film, though if the John Wick team was hoping to move past Keanu Reeves to tell other, somewhat related stories, I’m not sure they’ve succeeded.

Ana de Armas stars as Eve Macarro, who as a young girl watches her father killed by intruders, and then is raised in a Russian school where girls are taught ballet as a front, but also how to be assassins and bodyguards and whatever-have-you. All grown up, Eve is given her first job to protect someone, and in the course of that job, fights off someone sporting the same tattoo/mark as the men who killed her dad all those years ago. Turns out they are in some weird mob-like cult, an offshoot of Eve’s ballerina school, which believes that all things happen due to fate. They are led by a shadowy figure known as the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne). Eve wants her revenge for killing her father, so she goes to the cult’s headquarters in a little picturesque town in Austria, where everyone from the police to the baker to the homemaker is a member of the cult and ready to kill with one word from the Chancellor. Eve must avoid or kill them all if she’s going to get to the boss, but thankfully she gets a little help from John Wick before the end. 

The movie is fine, and that’s it’s problem: it’s just fine. For one, I’m sure de Armas is a fine actress, but she has a bit too much of the “doe eyed innocent” look to be able to pull off the role of a stone cold killer. Just not very believable. If they want to expand the universe, they should bring in some characters already introduced by people behind the camera in some other (much better) films: Atomic Blonde (from original John Wick co-director David Leitch and starring Charlize Theron) and Nobody (writer of 3 John Wick films Derek Kolstad, starring Bob Odenkirk). Now that’s a team-up I’d be down for! ★★★