My Own Private Idaho was the third film from celebrated director Gus Van Sant. Released in 1991, it features a fantastic cast including costars River Phoenix (sadly, nearer the end of his career and life than the beginning) and Keanu Reeves (who was looking for more serious roles after his breakout in Bill and Ted). They play best friends Mike and Scott, respectively. Mike is a male prostitute and gay man, working the streets hard but living with a serious mommy complex, dreaming about losing her years ago. Scott is also prostituting, but seems to be biding his time, as he is set to inherit a fortune from his father, the mayor of Portland. The film follows their adventures on the street with friends and various johns, with moments of tenderness interspersed, such as when Mike admits to Scott one night that he loves him, only to be rebuffed when Scott says he only sleeps with men for money, and is romantically interested only in women. This comes to a head when the two friends travel to Italy on a lead to find Mike’s mother, and Scott falls in love there with a woman, leaving Mike feeling lost. The film is lightly based on the Shakespeare plays Henry IV parts I and II, and Henry V, which I wasn’t feeling for awhile until the introduction of Bob, sort of the “king” of streets hustlers and Mike’s and Scott’s mentor, who delivers occasional random soliloquies in Shakespearean tongue with the best of them. Reeves is fine, though I’ve always thought he was better in action films (Matrix, John Wick) than his drama roles, but Phoenix shines. Brother Joaquin is great, but you have to wonder what River could have given us if he’d survived. This movie will move you to laughs and tears, and feels real and raw throughout. ★★★★★

Three years before the Wachowski sisters burst onto the scene with The Matrix, their directorial debut came in 1996 with Bound. It stars Jennifer Tilly as Violet, and Joe Pantoliano as her gangster boyfriend Caesar. They live in an apartment, and down the hall, ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) is renovating a neighbor’s apartment while he is away. Violet is immediately attracted to Corky, despite later admitting never having shown any lesbian tendencies. Caesar is the jealous type and always on the edge of violent anger, so Violet and Corky need to be clandestine. Eventually, they see a way out of their sticky situation. Caesar and his buddies torture a man (in their bathroom, which Corky can hear down the hall through the thin walls in the building) because he was embezzling, and Violet knows Caesar will have that $2 million in his possession for a short time until the higher ups come over to claim it. Corky and Violet hatch a plan to make off with the money and leave Caesar high and dry. As with all “best laid plans,” things do not go smoothly, leading to shoot outs, stand-offs, and bucketfuls of blood. This movie is much different than Idaho; in that one, you know you are watching a great “film.” Bound may not be that, but it is pure entertainment and one hell of a good time. ★★★★★

Finishing today with director Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, three films looking at the seedier, darker, and more blatantly sexual side of teens, lives that were not shown on film and TV at the time. First up is 1993’s Totally F***d Up. It starts with a solid 30 minutes of “interviews” with the characters, and all they talk about is sex. It might get the teen and 20-somethings excited, but for a more mature audience, I lost interest pretty quickly. Which is unfortunate, because there is a good plot (eventually) that later develops about an affair one of the men has with another, and what it does to his relationship. If they had led with that, and interspersed the interviews here and there throughout, it could have led to more interest, but by the time the plot was really going, I was already mostly checked out. If you want to give it a go, do yourself a favor: watch the characters introduce themselves, then skip past 25-ish minutes, and go from there. The film does do a good job of reminding you how bad it was for gay men and women in the early 90s. These days its almost cool to be gay, but once upon a time it was rough out there for anyone that didn’t fit in with the norm. ★★

The Doom Generation goes a mile a minute and I enjoyed (almost all of) it. The film that was the breakout for Rose McGowan (she won an Independent Spirit Award), she plays Amy Blue, the vulgar in-your-face teen girlfriend of Jordan White. One night, they pick up a drifter named Xavier Red, who exudes sex appeal with the whole “bad boy” look, and the viewer immediately knows he’s trouble. He doesn’t take long to show it; when they stop at a gas station, Xavier gets into an argument with the worker and ends up killing him. As the night goes on, that guy won’t be Xavier’s only victim. On the run, Amy first has sex with Jordan, and later with Xavier, though Jordan doesn’t seem to mind at all; in fact, he encourages them. To go along with the serious themes, the movie offers plenty of humor, so much so that I would laugh out loud many times. Every time the trio stops to buy something, the total is $6.66. They run into several guys who all think that Amy Blue is an ex-girlfriend, and each is obsessed with her, chasing after her and wanting to kill the men she is with. Before the end, they are attacked by a group of neo-Nazi’s who are out for blood, leading to a gruesome ending. I mean, seriously messed up, enough to turn your stomach. I liked the film a lot until that ending, which soured the whole experience for me, but until that point it was a wild ride. ★★★★

If The Doom Generation goes a mile a minute, Nowhere is an all-out assault on your senses. Araki called it “Beverly Hills 90210 on acid” and that’s pretty much it. It follows a group of teens over the course of one day, and all anyway wants to do is bang, or talk about banging. But it’s not all sex, there’s also a TV evangelist convincing two people to commit suicide, a Baywatch star date raping a girl, and a lizard alien thing vaporizing a trio of valley girls. The scenes come fast and furious from the get-go and it never lets up, to the point that I felt exhausted by the end. It can be entertaining at times, but it all feels like too much, though I bet today’s TikTok generation would enjoy it even more than the late 90s crowd. One cool thing about it is the cast: this movie is stacked top to bottom. Relative unknown James Duval is the lead, but the supporting crew includes Christina Applegate, Ryan Phillippe, Heather Graham, Scott Caan, Mena Suvari, Beverly D’Angelo, Denise Richards, Shannen Doherty, Rose McGowan, John Ritter (yes, that John Ritter!), and Christopher Knight (Peter Brady!). So much wasted talent in a film that is just eye candy for 80 minutes. ★★½

• TV series recently watched: Harley Quinn (season 5), The Pitt (season 1), Deep Space Nine (season 1), Daredevil (season 2), 1923 (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan

Exhibiting Forgiveness is the directorial debut of Titus Kaphar, an artist, and he draws from what he knows. It stars the criminally underrated André Holland as Tarrell, a successful painter who is asked by his mother to finally reconcile with his father La’Ron. As we see in flashbacks, Tarrell has a lot of reasons why he should hate his dad. La’Ron has been a lifelong crack addict, and we see, through Tarrell’s eyes, how awful he was to his wife and Tarrell. Like most addicts, all he cared about was getting his next hit, and everyone else be damned. He drove Tarrell hard, and to make matters worse, to this day he seems proud of it, that his administrations made Tarrell the man he is today. We do eventually learn that as bad as La’Ron was, his own father may have been even worse, so obviously the cycle has yet to be broken, but Tarrell is out to do that, if he can get past the trauma. The film explores how different it is to forgive vs forget, and is as raw and emotional film as you’ll find. Holland is incredible as Tarrell, a man battling demons to rise above. ★★★★½

Sing Sing is director Greg Kwedar’s followup to 2021’s Jockey, another personal drama with a lot of heart that I enjoyed. This one stars Colman Domingo (who broke out as Victor Strand in the Walking Dead universe, but who also has a couple Tony and Oscar nominations under his belt, one for this film) as John “Divine G,” an inmate at the eponymous prison who has found purpose in a sanctioned theater troupe that rehearses and performs plays for their fellows (a very real program at Sing Sing in New York). John takes it very seriously, so he looks askance at newcomer Clarence “Divine Eye,” a life-long criminal who John thinks is just getting into the group for parole points. However, we learn that Divine Eye is really looking for a reason to open up; he’s built so many walls around himself that he is unable to make himself vulnerable to anyone. The safe space of an acting group finally provides that opportunity, if he is willing to do the work on himself. While all that is going on, we learn that John may actually be innocent of the crimes of which he was committed, and he is resting all of his hopes on an upcoming parole hearing. This film features just a couple pro actors, including Domingo and Paul Raci, with the majority of the cast made up of former inmates who went through the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing. Domingo shows off supreme acting chops in this movie and is riveting in every scene, especially on those close-up shots where the cameraman knows to zoom in and let Domingo do his thing. Very moving film. ★★★★★

I was excited to see Companion from the first trailer, so I’m glad I finally got the chance. The trailers made it look like a horror film with lots of blood, but it is more of a thriller with a lot of comedy thrown in. It begins on Iris (Sophie Thatcher, from Heretic and the show Yellowjackets) and Josh (Jack Quaid, from The Boys and his recent breakout film Novocaine), a couple on their way to a weekend getaway with friends. Iris laments that Josh’s friends don’t like her, an idea he poo-poos, but we see that her fears are indeed founded when she gets the cold shoulder at the lakeside house. Still, she only has eyes for Josh, so everything seems OK. Until, that is, another man tries to make a move on her, and Iris retaliates by killing him. Covered in blood, she returns to Josh and the others, who freak out, before Josh tells her to “go to sleep,” at which point her eyes go blank and she freezes. Turns out, Iris is a robot, the kind that Josh bought as an expensive sex toy, and she herself didn’t know it. There’s more to the story though, which unravels as the rest of the film goes along. The funny moments are what make this film, because the rest is fairly straight forward and a bit predictable. But overall it’s fun, and a decent film for a one-time watch through. ★★★

One of Them Days is a cute comedy about two women having a day they’ll never forget, though they wish they could. Dreux (pronounced “Drew”) and roommate Alyssa can barely afford the rundown apartment they live in, and when Alyssa gives their rent money to her deadbeat boyfriend, they are facing eviction. Dreux is smart but school debt and no job prospects have her waiting tables, and Alyssa is a talented artist but she seems to be fine coasting through life. Now, they’ve got until the end of the day to come up with rent money or they are out on the street. So begins a whirlwind day, where they try everything from the mundane (payday loan, where they are laughed out the door for having the lowest credit score the worker has ever seen) to the bizarre (donating blood for cash, on a day when the nurse is on her first day after leaving her last profession, a stripper). The film finds most of its laughs poking at the stereotypes of two young black women struggling to make ends meet in a world with limited prospects, and while the movie is pretty paint-by-numbers, there are plenty of funny moments. Even I, usually not a comedy person, liked it quite a bit, and others who are more into the genre may laugh harder. ★★★

A confession: I’d never seen 28 Weeks Later. I watched the first film in the series, 28 Days Later, back when it came out over 20 years ago, but didn’t much like it, so I wasn’t too worried about the sequel when it came out in 2007. I’ve since become more of a cinephile, and gotten into the original director and writer (Danny Boyle and, especially, Alex Garland, respectively), so I rewatched Days recently. Still didn’t like it (haha!). And while this sequel has a different team behind the camera (director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo), there’s yet another film coming out soon (28 Years Later) in which Boyle and Garland return, so I wanted to “catch up.” I actually did like Weeks better than Days, but it’s still not great. The virus that came out in the first film has run its course, and all the “zombies” or whatever they are have died from starvation. The USA has come to England to help clean up the mess, burn bodies, etc, and the country is quarantined. That is, until a survivor is found living outside the safe zone, the first new survivor found in months. Turns out she is a carrier for the virus, so while not crazy and eating people’s faces off, she can spread the disease, which of course she does. People go crazy again, and ultimately the film suffers from the same problems that made me not like the first movie, namely, shaky camera syndrome, with a frenetic look and feel that makes it too hard to see what is actually going on. I get the “why” of it, but give me a steady hand and clear picture any day. Not to mention, if all the zombies were dead, why are they all over the place again by the end of the film? I’m hoping for better results when Years comes out in June. ★½

• Book currently reading: Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan

All We Imagine as Light is a highly touted film out of India, and has the rare distinction of currently being rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (and not a small sample size, with 146 reviews). With a much lower audience score though, is it really that good? Yes, if you like slow, artful dramas. The movie takes place in Mumbai and follows roommates Prabha and Anu, both nurses at a local hospital. Anu is a wild woman, who bristles at the idea of her parents choosing a husband for her, and is secretly dating a Muslim man, causing whispers at work. Prabhu is much more staid; she is already married (arranged, by her parents) but hasn’t seen her husband since shortly after their wedding years ago, before he took off to work and live in Germany; it has been over a year since he’s even called or written. The film is about how these two very different women react to each other and life around them, and ultimately how the lessons Prabhu has learned can help Anu on her path. Definitely not for everyone, as its pacing will test your patience, but a worthy art film for those who like that sort of thing. ★★★★

The French are on a roll lately with their film adaptations of Alexandre Dumas novels, first with the double feature of The Three Musketeers (which I liked a lot, both of them), and now with The Count of Monte Cristo (all of which produced by the same man, incidentally). I’ve never read the book nor did I know the story, so I went in blind, and was completely blown away. Edmond Dantès is a sailor and a good, moral man, but is betrayed by an act of kindness and sentenced to death. For 14 years while in jail, he harbors anger towards those who put him there, and plots his revenge, but that time in prison is not for naught. A fellow prisoner tells Edmond of a secret treasure, buried by the Knights Templar, and when Edmond finally escapes, he uses the wealth to set himself up with a new identity, the eponymous Count. With near endless riches and a couple accomplices who have also been wronged by his accusers, Edmond enacts his revenge. The movie is an outstanding film full of mystery and action, a true saga that spans decades, set in the historical time period just after Napolean’s rule in early- to mid-19th century France. If you don’t mind subtitles, I highly recommend it. ★★★★★

Darn critics fooled me again. I Saw the TV Glow is pretty well reviewed, but I should have known better when I saw the director was Jane Schoenbrun, who burned me on her last film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. At least I got through that one, I can’t say the same for this one. Owen is a 7th grader without friends and strict parents, when he befriends 9th grader Maddy. Maddy is obsessed with a teen show called The Pink Opaque (think bizarro Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and she hooks Owen onto it too. After a couple years of Owen sneaking out at night to see episodes of the show at Maddy’s house, she states that she wants to run away and expects Owen to go with her. Owen freaks out and goes to his parents. Maddy ran on her own and was never seen again, and that same day of her vanishing, her favorite show is cancelled. We pick up the story 4 years later, when Maddy suddenly appears to Owen one night. She tries to convince Owen that the two of them are actually characters from the show, and their memories have been wiped or something like that. I say “something like that,” because I started to get lost (honestly, started surfing the web long before this point in the movie) and I didn’t care to follow anymore. I quit with about 20-ish minutes left and couldn’t care less how it ended. It’s the case of a movie trying to be smarter than it is and fooling nobody (except for those gullible critics). ½

Sometimes you just have to see a movie for yourself to see if it is really is as bad (or good) as everyone says it is. Borderlands, an action/sci-fi movie based on a video game franchise, got torched upon its release, so I stayed away from it. I never played the game and came in with no preconceived notions, and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It stars Cate Blanchett against-type as Lilith, a gun-toting hardass bounty hunter with a soft spot (buried somewhere deep) who is given the job to hunt down Tina. Tina is the missing daughter of a very wealthy businessman, and she was last spotted on the fateful world of Pandora. Lilith is from Pandora, and as she narrates to the viewer, the place is a shithole to which she never wanted to return. Legend has it that Pandora houses a hidden vault with untold advanced technology from a long-dead race, and people have been trying to find that vault for ages, to no success, and their efforts (and battles against each other) have left the planet a trash heap. So off Lilith goes, guns a’blazing, but when she finds Tina, it looks like Tina does not want to be found. Lots of crazy mayhem, with a funny story. I thought the movie looked great, playing off its video game origins, and had plenty of action to satisfy. Not sure why all the hate, but I dug it. ★★★½

I also finally got a chance to see Anora, the film that lit it up at the Oscars (5 total, including 4 for writer/director Sean Baker, who tied Walt Disney (the man) as the only individuals to win 4 at one ceremony, though ol’ Walt’s were for several films in 1953, and not one single picture). The eponymous Anora, or Annie as she prefers to be called, is a stripper in New York when she meets Ivan “Vanya,” the son of an extremely wealth Russian oligarch. She is only sent to his table because he requested someone who speaks Russian, which Annie does from her grandmother’s heritage, but the lucky encounter goes well from the beginning. Vanya is smitten, and requests to meet her again outside of her work. In a Cinderella tale, he sweeps Annie off her feet with cash and presents, though we viewers are quick to see cracks in his veneer. Annie is obviously all about Vanya, but if the two aren’t having sex, he’s playing video games or getting drunk, and in a typical spoiled rich kid way, Vanya impulsively follows whatever idea pops in his head. So when the idea of marriage pops in, of course the couple flies off to Vegas to make it happen. But word quickly gets back to rich mommy and daddy back in Russia, and then all hell breaks loose. Vanya shows his true colors, which is to say he’s a coward in the face of his parents. This is a definite adults only film, with tons of naked people and sex, but the story is as true as they come, and it is entertaining from beginning to end. It’s not all window dressing either, there’s a great deeper look at Annie and her willingness (or lack thereof) to let people past her strongly built facade. It was a career-opening role for Mikey Madison in the lead, who won the Oscar for best actress, which is very well deserved; she lays it all out (*cough*) and is incredible. ★★★★½

• TV series recently watched: The Wonder Years (seasons 3-4), Severance (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Under the Volcano is a late career release from iconic director John Huston, and stars Albert Finney and Jacqueline Bisset. Taking place in Mexico in 1938, as the world is on the cusp of war, it follows a former British consul on the last day of his life. As the country around him is celebrating Dia de los Muertos, Geoffrey is a longtime alcoholic who, he admits, used to drink until he shook, but now has to drink to stop the shakes. He’s been depressed for over a year, since his wife Yvonne left him to go to New York to pursue acting. On this day though, she has returned to him, practically begging to be taken back. Geoffrey obviously still loves her, but doesn’t know how to respond; he thinks she (and openly accuses her of) has feelings for his half-brother Hugh, who has moved in with Geoffrey in her absence over the last year. The thing with Geoffrey though is you never know if it is him or the drink talking, because he is always drinking. There’s some great acting here (Finney received plenty of awards nominations) but the movie was just so-so for my tastes. There’s a good feeling of impending doom as you can see Geoffrey is dancing with the devil and is well past being able to give up the bottle. ★★★

Costa-Gavras is known for his politically-minded films, and I really loved his film Z. Today I’ve got his movie Missing, from 1982, which is based on a true story. If this one doesn’t get you angry at our government’s constant involvement with other countries’ affairs in the 1970s (and still to this day!), then nothing will. It begins in Chile in 1973, where the country has just had its president overthrown in a military coup. American Charlie and his wife Beth have lived there for a bit but are now trying to get out of the country amidst all of its uncertainty, but unfortunately the airports are closed and the American embassy is sort of giving them the run-around. Things are bleak, with the constant sound of gunfire and the military shooting civilians in the street. Shortly after, the film picks up a few months later, where Charlie’s father Ed is newly arrived to Chile. Charlie and Beth never made it out, and Charlie has been missing for months now. Ed meets his daughter-in-law Beth (no love lost there) and starts asking hard questions to the American consul, but no one has any answers. The consul keeps trying to say Charlie is probably in the north in hiding, but Beth feels something more sinister is going on. As the film goes along, we see in flashbacks that Charlie became aware of US higher-up soldiers (in civilian clothes) were hanging around Chile before the coup went down, including some people with obvious CIA ties. As Beth learns of this, she suspects that Charlie learned that the coup was at least promoted by the USA, if not openly started by them, in order to oust Chile’s (democratically elected) socialist president. The story of Charlie Horman’s murder by the new regime is common knowledge today, but the film really pulls you into the mystery, wanting to know how his final days went down. The aftermath doesn’t give you much hope that things ever change amongst the politically powerful elite. Absolutely fantastic movie, starring Jack Lemmon as Ed and Sissy Spacek as Beth, both of whom were nominated for Oscars (the movie was also nominated for Best Picture and won for Best Adapted Screenplay). I grew up only thinking about Lemon in his comedic roles and Spacek as Carrie; seeing them now in several other roles over the last decade has been a lot of fun. ★★★★★

Something Wild comes from the late great director Jonathan Demme, most well known for The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia. It stars Jeff Daniels as Charlie, an uptight businessman taken for a wild weekend by a chance meeting with the free spirited Lulu (Melanie Griffith). Before he knows it, he’s in a motel room with her, but that’s just the start. He dines-and-dashes, gets introduced to her mom as her new husband, and then goes with her to her 10 year high school reunion. There, they run into Ray (a young Ray Liotta), a bad boy who obviously has a past with Lulu (whose real name we learn is Audrey). Until this point, I thought the film was a lighthearted adult version of Ferris Bueller, but it gets serious from here. Ray is actually Audrey’s husband, with the divorce never finalized, and is just out of prison. He is bad news, and wants Audrey back. She doesn’t want to see Charlie hurt, so she goes with Ray, but Charlie being the good guy that he is, is willing to risk life and limb to save Audrey. There’s good laughs in the beginning, strong thrills in the end, and plenty of excitement throughout. A fun film, and a totally 80s vibe from start to finish. ★★★½

The Big Chill is one of those “smart” movies that would probably never get made today (at least, not by a big studio). It is about a group of adult friends, who once were the best of friends in college, and have stayed in touch (for the most part) in the years since. They come together for a weekend after one of their own commits suicide. Over the course of the weekend, they lament how they used to be so idealistic in college in the late 60s, they were going to “change the world,” but by 1983 (when the movie takes place) they had grown up to be what they used to rail against in school, i.e. each are successful in their individual fields, and it seemed to happen by accident (“well, we needed insurance,” or “an office job wasn’t *that* bad,” etc). All except Alex, the friend who died, who was maybe the smartest of all of them, but who bounced from job to job and who was living with one of the friends when he ended his life. There isn’t a big plot or story, rather it’s a series of moments, glimpses into each of these complex individuals, over those 3 days. This film is made for a smarter audience than films produced today. There are a lot of quick, almost throw-away lines that, if you miss them, you’ll miss much of the drama that is quietly building. Definitely makes you pay attention! Still, I couldn’t help but feel like an outsider, a tag-a-long who isn’t party to the inside jokes and comfortability of a group of friends who’ve known each other for decades. The movie is just over 90 minutes; I feel like there’s an unedited 3 hour version out there that would explain a lot and let me into the group. Still, very well acted by a who’s who list including Glenn Close, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, and JoBeth Williams. ★★★

Working Girls is a work of fiction but almost comes off as a documentary, and as such, it is a fascinating look at “the oldest profession.” Molly is a very intelligent woman, with two degrees from Yale, but to support herself and her girlfriend, she is working at a brothel in New York. The film takes place over one long day, from when Molly wakes up one morning until she returns home late that night, after working “a double.” Throughout the course of the day, we see the highs and lows of being a prostitute in the mid-80s. Molly and her fellow workers are safer than most, as they work out of an apartment with a dedicated doorman screening customers, who only come in by appointment anyway. Still, safety is in the eye of the beholder, as the many of the men that come, almost all of whom are regulars, have some pretty freaky fetishes. Molly and the girls take it all in stride, speaking frankly with each other as anyone would with their coworkers during a shift, and trying to comfort the new girl when she gets scared. Through it all, they bitch and moan about Lucy, the brothel’s owner, who was once a working girl herself but these days just runs the place and pines away for a married man who used to be one of her regulars. They don’t think the money they pay Lucy is worth what she offers in exchange, but obviously Lucy thinks differently. So often these women are marginalized (even in film, for the most part) so it was eye-opening to get a peak behind the curtain and see their hopes, dreams, and what makes them tick, each as varied as any human being out there in the world just trying to get by. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Paradise (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Wicked by Gregory Maguire

I initially wasn’t going to watch Heretic as I’m not often into scary movies, and that’s what I thought this was. Glad I gave it a chance, as it isn’t really a scary movie (though definitely has horror aspects), and is more of a psychological thriller, and a smart one at that. Two young Mormon women, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton, are doing their visitation thing (we all love those door knockers) when they knock on Mr Reed’s door. He had previously expressed interest in the church, and they are following up. Initially, Reed seems like a good-natured, religiously curious older man, asking questions and being a good host. Over time though, as he keeps putting off the women’s questions about his hidden spouse (and they are supposed to have a same-sex chaperone in the room when with a man), and gives them the run-around when they probe deeper, we start to get the creeps. When Reed goes to the back of the house, Barnes and Paxton try to make a run for it, only to find the front door locked against their exit, and their phones unable to pick up a signal in the metal structured house. They slowly follow Reed to the back of the house, where they find he has set up his own personal little church. Reed admits to knowing much more about religion than he has let on, and starts poking holes not only in their religion, but in all of them. He then gives them a choice: door # 1 is Belief, and door # 2 is Disbelief. Neither is a good option, because as we know by now, Reed is holding all the cards. What follows is a mind trippy exercise in faith. Very good movie, with Hugh Grant cast against type as the diabolical Reed. ★★★★

I’m really torn on Astrakan, a French film that is more a series of depressing moments than a coming-of-age tale, which is how it was marketed. Samuel is a 13-ish year old teen living with foster parents after his dad died; his mother’s whereabouts remain a mystery. The fosters aren’t great, with an at-times cruel, and other times almost worst, uncaring, man of the house (Clément), and his wife (Marie), who alternates between being motherly to Samuel or just admitting that they only have him for the money the government pays them to do so. Something is going on with Samuel, and his foster parents don’t seem to care to find out what. He keeps pooping his pants at night, and is withdrawn, perhaps from mistreatment by his birth parents, though the film never says. One day, Samuel sees his foster brother get lured into a van by Marie’s brother Luc, and it is implied Luc is up to no good with the boy. Samuel, who often lies to avoid trouble, can’t tell anyone, because he won’t be believed, especially since it seems Marie adores her brother and is oblivious to his sins (or is she?). Samuel also finds a girlfriend from school, but she mysteriously dumps him one day and starts kissing another guy, causing Samuel to lash out at her in a violent way. The film mostly meanders along without much of a plot, and it is hard to really get an idea what is going on in Samuel’s head throughout, leading to a loss of emotional connection at the times when you’d want it most. However, the ending I really enjoyed, which makes a lot of what you saw earlier in the movie even more ambiguous, but in a good way, leaving much to viewer interpretation. Honestly without that ending, I would have hated the movie, but the last 10-15 minutes saved it for me. ★★★

Beautiful Beings is a rare Icelandic film (don’t see many of those) and a true coming-of-age this time. When it starts, you think it is about Balli, a boy who is cruelly bullied at school and, one day, beaten severely on the way home. Balli lives in a dilapidated row house in filthy conditions, with a mother who only has eyes for her husband (Balli’s stepfather) who is always in jail, as he currently is when the movie starts. Mom is out a lot, leaving Balli home alone for days or weeks at a time. One afternoon Balli catches the eye of a trio of friends, Addi, Konni, and Siggi, and from there, the film is narrated at times by Konni, who becomes the main character. Addi and Siggi initially just want to bully Balli like everyone else, but Konni, who is more mature than his friends and possesses a strong moral compass, takes Balli under his wing and practically forces his buddies to treat him better. Over the course of a few weeks, they go from a trio to a quartet, helping Balli clean up his apartment and getting Balli his first “girl” experience. However, being friends with Konni and his group isn’t always great for Balli, as it also introduces him to the trouble they get into. All of the boys have bad home lives, and Addi in particular is beaten by his dad, which leads to a quick temper and violent fights to anyone who crosses them. Konni, who takes martial arts classes and is quite good, is worried that one day Addi will get them into a fight and he or Konni will really hurt someone, a premonition that you can feel coming a mile away, especially once Balli’s stepfather gets out of jail. There’s a lot of imagery in this film that I though was really cool, and the film presents a strong, gritty feel about youths living on the fringe. ★★★½

All Shall Be Well is a subdued film out of Hong Kong. Pat and Angie are lifelong partners but have never married, due to laws against same-sex marriage in their country. Still, they’ve shared everything for decades and are accepted by their families. However, Pat dies suddenly in her sleep one night, leaving Angie alone. In addition to having to deal with her grief, Angie must deal with Pat’s family, namely, Pat’s brother Shing. Everyone was buddy-buddy until Pat’s passing, then suddenly schisms start to surface. Pat wanted to have her ashes scattered at sea, but Shing wants to put them in an urn in a memorial so that he can have a place to visit her. While fighting him on that, Angie also learns that Shing, as Pat’s next-of-kin, stands to inherit her apartment, which never had Angie’s name on it. He tries to needle Angie into giving it up without a fight, saying how he wants to give the apartment to his son Victor (who is looking to start a family of his own), and knowing that Victor was always one of Angie’s favorites, as she watched him grow up and the two were always close. It’s an artsy foreign film, so lots of quiet introspection, and makes you want to make sure you have your will set up, as death can bring out the worst in people! ★★★

Between Borders is a lowkey religious film, based on a true story about a family of immigrants fighting the courts to stay in the USA in the 90s. They hail from Azerbaijan but are of Armenian descent, which made them targets of discrimination when the Soviet republic starting falling apart in the late 80s. First, the family moved to Moscow, but the patriarch (a literal rocket scientist) was unable to find meaningful work there, and they still faced prejudice and intolerance. What they did find, though, is religion, and converted to Christianity. The husband and wife became involved in the church, and when an opportunity arose to go to America on a fundraising trip, the church urged them to go too, to tell their story. They went to the USA on a VISA, but when that expired, they stayed, and tried to apply for asylum. The film, in the present, takes place when they are in court trying to plead their case. The film has some recognizable faces, including Elizabeth Tabish (Mary Magdalene from The Chosen, shoutout to my mom!) and Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost), but the dialogue is so awfully bad that it makes the whole thing feel like a bad made-for-TV film. Unfortunately the film falls into the same trap that many religious films do, which is oversimplifying a story to the point of making it cliche. I’m sure the real family upon which the movie is based was colorful and dynamic, but here, they are reduced to trying to get a point across. ★½

• TV series recently watched: Jessica Jones (season 1), Cheers (seasons 5-6)
• Book currently reading: Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway

I can’t remember the last time I was so disappointed in a movie. After the director’s last 3 movies (Parasite, Okja, and Snowpiercer, all of which I enjoyed), I was really looking forward to Bong Joon-ho’s latest, Mickey 17. The trailers made it look so good, so maybe by expectations were just too high, but honestly it’s not very good.

It takes place in the not-too-distant future, but mankind has come a long way very quickly. A scientist invented a procedure that prints out copies of human beings like a Xerox machine, but after the practice was outlawed on Earth (for very obvious reasons), the only way to get away with it is to leave Earth. Enter Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a TV celebrity and wanna-be politician with a cult-like following (sound familiar?), who has dreams of setting up his own colony on a new planet. He is taking applications from people who want to join him in the endeavor, but one person who really needs to get off the planet is Mickey (Robert Pattinson). Mickey owes a loan shark a ton of money and needs to disappear, but he has no skills that will get him a seat on the ship. Thus, he signs up to be an “expendable,” meaning he’ll take all the shit jobs during the 4 1/2 year trip, and if (when) he dies, they’ll just print a new version of himself. Thus, when the movie starts, we’re on Mickey 17.

As the film progresses, we get that backstory, as well as all of the stuff they put Mickey through during the trip. Between flashbacks and backstories, there is a real plot going on, involving Mickey 17 surviving his latest brush with death, but the people back on the ship are unaware and go ahead and print Mickey 18. There’s a strict “no doubles” law (why they have to follow this one and not the “no printing” one is anyone’s guess), so Mickey 17 and 18 need to quickly come up with a plan to save themselves from erasure. Also going on is Mickey 17’s run-in with an alien race, who threaten to kill all the humans.

The film is mildly amusing, in Bong’s typical zany dark humor style, but the laughs aren’t strong enough, and the story not compelling enough, to really keep you going. The political humor referencing our current climate is too on-the-nose, and perhaps knowing how Ruffalo is so anti-Trump in real life colored my viewing experience so that his performance is so completely over-the-top that I couldn’t really take him seriously. The one bright spot is Pattinson, who can flat out act. He just needs to get a couple really good roles in order to put some award hardware on the shelf. ★½

Eureka is a slow-paced, introspective film told in 3 seemingly unrelated sections, to varying degrees of success. The first part stars Viggo Mortensen (the only recognizable face in the film) as a cowboy in the old west. He approaches a lawless town with murder in his eyes, and kills a few people before we even really know why he is there. The second part takes place in modern day on a Native American reservation, and follows a police officer of their descent on her overnight shift, patrolling the reservation and dealing with the (mostly very poor) inhabitants. The third section cuts to some time in the recent past (80s maybe?) in South America, where a teen-ish native boy attacks another, jealous over the affections of a young woman in their tribe, and then runs away. The stories are only related in that they collectively look at various interactions between indigenous groups and white colonialism, and there’s a metaphysical tie-in that becomes apparent by the end too. Really slow movie, but honestly that didn’t deter me at all, as sometimes I’m in for movies like this. The first two sections are good, particularly the middle which is full of tension (I kept waiting for something bad to happen to the police officer, and the fact that when it does it is off-camera didn’t bother me at all!). The third section was a bit over my head, but I still enjoyed it. ★★★½

Wikipedia calls Memoir of a Snail an “adult stop-motion animated tragicomedy,” and that’s as accurate as it gets. It’s amazing how a stop-motion film that looks like it is for kids (it most definitely is not! It received an R rating which is probably a bit harsh, but they want to make sure you do not let the kiddies watch it) can be so full of emotion, but this movie is chuck full of laughs and tears in equal measure. The movie follows the life of Grace, growing up in Australia in the 1970s. Her mother dies giving birth to her and her twin brother Gilbert, and they are raised by their paraplegic and alcoholic father, until he dies suddenly when the two are still children. Unfortunately no one will take two kids in, so they are separated: Grace goes to live with a couple of swingers (who are nice to her), while Gilbert is sent to the other side of the country to be raised by a crackpot religious nut and his family of cultists. Since Grace’s foster parents are always off at a nudist beach or nudist cruise, she is often alone and usually sad, teased at school, and so she turns to raising and collecting snails. Her only friend is Pinky, an 80-year-old woman who has lived an eventful life and calls things as she sees it (her constant yell of “Dickhead!” to anyone who cuts her off is particularly amusing). If Grace’s life is sad, at least she is safe, which can’t be said of Gilbert, whose life on his foster parent’s apple farm is quite miserable, where he is subjected to torture whenever he doesn’t pray loud enough or follow some doctrine. There are lots of low moments in the film where you want to scream at the cruelty of it all, but there’s plenty of humor to keep you from getting too depressed, and ultimately, there’s hope at the end. Absolutely wonderful movie, I liked it way more than I thought I would going in. ★★★★★

Red Rooms is a French Canadian film, with subject material not for the faint of heart, but it is profoundly moving. In Montreal, Ludovic Chevalier is on trial for the torture and murder of 3 teenage girls. His arrest has been a media circus and his pending trial is looking to be more of the same. Successful model Kelly-Anne is completely absorbed in the trial, though for a long time we aren’t sure why. Every day she leaves her high-rise apartment and goes to sleep like a homeless person out near the courthouse, just so she can line up early and make sure to get a limited seat in the courtroom. One day she meets Clementine, a “fan” of Ludovic, who believes he has been set up and that all of the evidence against him is either fake or circumstantial (typical conspiracy theorist, the kind which is rife in today’s believers against “fake news”). At first we think Kelly-Anne is maybe a fan too, which would explain her being so caught up in the trial, but when Clementine starts spewing her theories, Kelly-Anne shoots them down, so we know that’s not the reason for her attention. What Kelly-Anne does have is an interest in the dark web, where she seems to be looking for the final snuff film Ludovic created. He killed 3 girls, and all of their bodies were found, and he sold the videos of himself doing the torturing and murdering on the dark web. However, only 2 videos were released; the third victim’s video was never out there, and Kelly-Anne is desperately trying to find it. This movie is gross; while nothing is ever shown on screen, the descriptions of Ludovic’s killings in the courtroom sent shivers up my spine, and when they played the videos, the sounds of his instruments and screams of his victims made me cry out. If you can stomach it, the ending, with Kelly-Anne’s big reveal, is well worth it. ★★★★½

Bunch of good movies in a row, until my luck ran out. The above movie took questionable material and turned it into an enthralling movie; Palm Trees and Power Lines can’t do the same. It follows a 17-year-old named Lea who falls for an adult, 34-year-old Tom, who spends the first part of the film grooming her until she has abandoned her family and friends, and the second part of the film exploiting her. It’s just gross all around, with the only bright spot being the performance of Lily McInerny as Lea, who is quite good. I couldn’t get past the icky feeling of it all, and honestly I don’t want to. ★½

September 5 got a whole lot of buzz but I really could not get into this one. It tells the behind-the-scenes story of an ABC news outlet covering the 1972 Olympics in Munich, as the Munich massacre was playing out, when a militant Palestinian group stormed the Olympic village and killed/took hostage members of the Israeli team. It was a dark day in the history of sports, and one that is worthy of a movie being made about it. However, a movie like this, where there’s no real action and most of it is news people making phone calls and trying to figure out what is going on so that they can get it on TV (and boost their ratings, which is really all anyone seems worried about) is akin to hearing about the coolest house ever built, but then seeing a close up of a wall inside said house and watching its paint dry. There’s no “action” anywhere, and it really turned me off that only rarely does someone ask how the hostages are doing. They are more worried about getting a camera in the right spot. I gave up about 45 minutes into the film, as I just couldn’t take any more. Instead, go watch Spielberg’s movie Munich from 20 years ago, which dealt more with the aftermath of this terrible event, but it is way more exciting. ★

• Books recently read: Shakespeare’s The Tempest, The Two Gentlemen of Verona

I was really excited for Scarface (not the Pacino version!) because of the legend it grew into, but unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. A pre-code film released in 1932, it has a whole lot more violence and sexual references than what you’d see just a couple years later once the Hays Code was enforced. It tells the story of the rise and fall of Tony “Scarface” Camonte in crime-ridden Chicago in the 1920s. Scarface comes in as a henchmen, but has designs very quickly for taking out rivals and superiors, inching himself up the food chain, until he sits alone on top. Of course, this makes him the most wanted by the police too, so just when he thought he’d be safe, Scarface may face his biggest obstacle. The movie was heavily censored upon its release, for its severe depictions of gun violence, pushing the boundaries past anything that came before it. And yes, the Al Pacino film of the 80s is based on this one (though this 30s version lacks his famous line, “Say hello to my little friend!”). This movie may have been groundbreaking, but honestly I thought the acting was rough, even though it is full of names from this era, including Boris Karloff as one of Scarface’s rivals. Director was Howard Hawks, who also produced along with Howard Hughes. Great team, but just didn’t do it for me. ★★½

Another great cast and crew for 1938’s Bringing Up Baby, with director Hawks back in it, and starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. This time the result is a lot better than the above film, even if it is often a bit too much for my tastes (it is a screwball comedy after all). Grant is cast against type as a soft spoken, self-unassured paleontologist named David, who needs to find funding for his latest museum project. A wealthy heiress is considering donating a million dollars to his cause, so David leaves his assistant (and fiancee) Alice to go shore up that deal. Playing golf with the heiress’s accountant, David goes to hunt for his ball only to see another woman hit it before he can get there. The woman (Hepburn) is Susan, who is everything that David is not: loud, unapologetic, in-your-face, and (often) obnoxious. The jokes fly fast and free from here on out, often at David’s expense, as he can’t get a word in edgewise. The eponymous “Baby” is a tame leopard sent by Susan’s brother as a pet, to be given as a gift to their aunt, who is, you guessed it, the heiress that David needs. Enter in a traveling circus with a leopard of their own (one not so tame), and the jokes get turned up a notch. Some crazy stuff going on here, and I did laugh plenty, but it is so over-the-top that I don’t know that I could ever watch it again. ★★★½

The Awful Truth is also labeled a screwball comedy, but it is gentle in comparison to the above film, and also has a lot more emotion and, thus, much more to my liking. Jerry (Cary Grant) is returning to his wife Lucy (Irene Dunne) after a week away. He told her that he went to Florida for work, but in reality he spent the week at his sports club hanging out with his buds. She finds out the truth of it quickly, but thinks that he was off having a fling with someone. Jerry gets to anger first though, because when he returns home with friends, expecting to find Lucy waiting for him, the house is empty and 2 days worth of mail unread; Lucy herself is just returning home with another man, her “voice coach.” She claims innocence, saying their car broke down out in the country the evening before and they stayed (separately) at an inn for the night. Just as Lucy doesn’t believe him, Jerry doesn’t believe her, and they both can’t say the word “divorce” fast enough. The judge decrees a divorce is warranted, but gives them 3 months until it is finalized, in case either changes their mind (remember, this is the 30s). Over those 3 months, each person tries relationships with others, but their new partners are hilariously not right for them. For her, an oil magnate and country bumpkin from Oklahoma who wants to take her away from the city life that she loves, and for him, a club singer with a scandalous act (to which Lucy quips, “If she hadn’t changed her name, her family would have had to change theirs”). Along the way, Jerry and Lucy continually attempt to thwart each others’ new relationships, obviously still having feelings for each other that they can’t own up to. Very funny movie with a lot of heart too, and a hell of a good time. ★★★★½

After liking The Awful Truth so much, I went back to the director (Leo McCarey) for another, 1939’s Love Affair. Irene Dunne is back too, this time as Terry McKay, an American traversing the Atlantic from Europe back to the USA aboard an ocean liner. On the way, she meets Michel Marnet (the instantly recognizable Charles Boyer), a wealthy French socialite and noted womanizer. Both Michel and Terry are going to meet their future spouses in New York, but are instantly attracted to each other. They must tread carefully though, knowing that whispers will start if they are together too much during the voyage, with people on board knowing Michel’s reputation. Still, they are unable to stay away from each other, and during a visit to the island of Madeira, Michel takes Terry along to meet his grandmother who lives alone on the island. Terry is a hit with grandma too, who would like to see Michel settle down with a woman like her. With New York getting close, the duo agrees to go their own ways to see if their feelings hold, but to meet atop the Empire State Building in 6 months should they decide to pursue a relationship. Shortly after, Terry reads in the papers that Michel has called off his wedding, and she does the same. However, when it comes time to meet him, Terry is hit by a car on the way to the Empire. When she comes to, the doctors tell her she may not walk again. Michel, who waited all day and night at the meeting spot, is unaware, and Terry doesn’t want him to find out, for fear that she would be a burden. Six more months go by until the two run into each other, but each is afraid to open up about their feelings. A very moving movie, I’m unashamed to admit I teared up at scene where they visit his grandmother, which is so sad and full of emotion. This was a popular movie upon its release and for years after, and McCarey himself would remake it in the 50s as An Affair to Remember, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. That version is probably more popular today (though I’ve yet to see it; put it on my list!). ★★★★

Ready for something a bit different, I went with the crime drama The Roaring Twenties, starring James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, and Humphrey Bogart (who did not get top billing; released in 1939, two years before his breakout in High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, Bogart was still an unknown). The movie begins during the Great War, where Eddie (Cagney), George (Bogart), and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) meet while sheltering in a foxhole. After the war, they return home but soon face an America going through the pains of an unsettled economy. Lloyd becomes a lawyer and Eddie becomes a cab driver, but with prohibition settling in in 1920, he gets swept up in bootlegging. Eddie uses his cab business to run liquor, and starts a nightclub with like-minded Panama Smith (Gladys George). Panama immediately sees that she and Eddie are cut from the same cloth, but he only has eyes for the pretty young singer Jean Sherman (Lane). While their uneven love affair is going on, Eddie is digging in further into the criminal underworld, where he reunites with George, who has been working for crime boss and rival bootlegger Nick Brown. So starts a gang war, riddling the streets with bullets and bodies. When prohibition ends, so does Eddie’s fortunes, so that when we see him again in the late 30s, he’s back to driving a cab and living at the bottom of a bottle. However, Panama has stuck by his side, and when she discovers that Lloyd, now a district attorney, is building a case against George (still living a life of crime), and that Eddie is planning on having Lloyd murdered for it, she appeals to Eddie to do something about it. There’s a startling ending waiting for you. Great film, even if it feels a bit dated with a voiceover filling in some of the blanks when the story advances a few years at a time, here and there. Bonus fun fact I discovered: Priscilla Lane had 3 sisters (the Lane sisters), all of whom went into showbiz, together as an act and separately in film and stage. Superman creator Jerry Siegel used Priscilla’s older sister Lola Lane’s name as inspiration for Lois Lane. ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Redemption by Jean Rabe

We Live in Time is a decent little drama that relies solely on the acting chops of its two leads, Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, to carry the film, and thankfully they are up to the task. This movie hits you hard and fast. In the first scene, Almut is waking Tobias up with a taste test (she’s a chef). In the next, some unknown time before or after the first, she is waking him up with labor pains for a very advanced pregnancy. In the third (again, unknown when) scene, they are receiving news that her cancer has returned, and Almut hypothesizes that maybe, instead of going through a year of chemo, surgery, and more chemo, just maybe they don’t do anything and live life to the fullest for the 6-8 months they have left. All that in the first 10 minutes, setting the viewer up for an emotional rollercoaster of a film. The movie continues to bounce around, from moments when they first met to the end (and you know, there will be an end, so get your hankies ready), but as a whole it paints a picture of their relationship, good, bad, and ugly, but mostly good. The story is pretty standard stuff, and if it had been told linearly, it probably would’t have had as much of an emotional impact, but it was put together well. Garfield and Pugh are tremendous, so even if this kind of movie isn’t typically your cup of tea, it’s worth seeing for their performances alone. Both have received a few major award nominations in the past (one Globe Best Actor win for him, for Tick, Tick, Boom), but they’re both still young and this film showcases that each has a bright future. ★★★½

In the Summers is a fantastic indie film about the repercussions of your actions, and how those actions can affect those you care the most about. Vicente is a recently divorced man living in Las Cruces, NM, and his two daughters, Violeta and Eva, come visit him during school summer breaks. The film is told in four chapters, each a few years apart from each other, so we see how their relationship changes over a 15-ish year period. In the first, the girls are young. Eva is maybe only 6 or 7 and is delighted to see her dad and spend time with him. You can tell that Violeta, a year or two older than Eva, has some reservations, perhaps based on past summers with him or some knowledge about some of Vicente’s shortcomings. All is forgotten soon though, as Vicente fills their days with joy and play, even as we viewers recognize that some of his actions aren’t exactly kosher (drinking a whole pitcher of beer, encouraging unsafe behavior, etc). As kids, the sisters are none-the-wiser, until chapter 2, when they are both a bit older. Vicente is also further along in his alcoholism, and isn’t nearly as engaging with them, leaving them alone at his house several times while he goes out. Violeta is starting to show affection towards other girls and cuts her hair short, much to Vicente’s chagrin. When he takes them out one night, he has too much to drink, causing a terrible car accident on the way home. We don’t know their fates until the next scene, chapter 3, when only Eva comes to visit Vicente one summer a few years later; Violeta has obviously not forgiven him. Vicente has gotten worse, to the point that in chapter 4, when Violeta and Eva both come back as college grads (Violeta has now transitioned to present as male), and neither of them want anything to do with their dad. Which is unfortunate for him, because it looks like he has finally turned his life around. Now that he wants to have them in his life, they have already moved on. There’s a really powerful scene where Vicente tries to engage them in conversation, telling them that he’s been saving money so that he can pay for their plane tickets next time they visit. The two siblings share a knowing look, and I could see plain as day that they don’t plan on ever coming again, but Vicente either misses it or tries to ignore the writing on the wall. Such a wonderfully sad and compelling movie, with a cast of mostly unknowns or, at least, untried actors. Vicente is René Pérez, a Puerto Rican rapper in his first film role, and the eldest version of Eva is Sasha Calle, who had a memorable role in the last The Flash film as Supergirl, but that’s it. If you love indie film, this one is worth checking out. ★★★★★

I had heard nothing about The Gorge until it was already released on Apple+, even though it has big names both behind the camera (director Scott Derrickson, of Doctor Strange and The Black Phone) and in front of it (Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy). Seems Apple knew it wasn’t going to be a knockout, thus the straight-to-streaming release. Still, it isn’t awful, and some parts are really good. It takes place in present day where a crack shot American sniper, Levi, is sent to a super-secret watch tower in some unknown country, to watch over “the gorge.” On the other side is his counterpart, Drasa, a Lithuanian who is his equal with a gun, who is charged by her country to do the same job. Turns out Western Powers and Eastern Powers having been manning these opposing towers since just after World War II, but not to watch each other; they are there to prevent evil creatures, nicknamed the Hollow Men, from coming out of the gorge. In the 1940s, a battalion of 2400 men went in to try to clear it out, and none ever came out. All Levi and Drasa have to do is make sure nothing makes it past their defenses. They aren’t supposed to talk to each other, and as far as we know, the two sides have always followed rules, but Levi and Drasa buck tradition and start sending messages to each other. Loneliness leads to a relationship, until one day Levi makes the risky move to cross the gorge for an in-person visit. Things go south when he tries to return to his side, and creatures coming out of the gorge break his tether and he falls in. Drasa jumps in to save him, and together, they uncover the mystery of the gorge and the powers-at-be that want to keep it secret. A strange blend of romance, action, and horror, this movie sort of has it all. The first half is great, with lots of mystery and emotion, but the movie loses itself a little just when it should be picking up, as the second half isn’t nearly as exciting (despite it having the most action). Slightly better than average, overall. ★★★

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an animated film taking place in Peter Jackson’s version of Tolkien’s world (unrelated to the Amazon series; Jackson is a producer here and there’s a handful of casting carryovers in voice work from his film series). The movie takes place 200 years before the sextet of Jackson movies, and focuses on the daughter of King Helm Hammerhead in Rohan (remember the big scene in Helm’s Deep in the movies?). Héra is a headstrong young woman who is allowed free reign, as her brothers are set to inherit the kingdom. An alliance is proposed by marrying her to Dunlending lord Wulf, but she balks at the arranged union, upsetting Wulf’s father who challenges King Helm. Helm kills the man in a fight, and Wulf swears vengeance, leaving Edoras to go out into the fields to build an army of rebels. They attack Edoras, but Helm is able to get his people to escape in time and make the trip to the fortress of Hornburg (future Helm’s Deep). Wulf’s army begins a long siege, but when whispers go through his camp that Helm is raising the dead to defend his people, they are spooked and begin to desert. Wulf calls for an all-out attack before his forces dwindle too much, leading to an epic battle. This film got some middling reviews but I really liked it. I’m definitely a fanboy though, having read Lord of the Rings a half dozen times (or more) in the last 35 years. It’s a neat little story about the history of a small kingdom in Tolkien’s great big world, and honestly I’d like to see more such tales. ★★★★

The Order is a based-on-a-true-story movie about some bad people in the American northwest in the early 80s. Terry Husk (Jude Law) is an FBI agent looking for some quiet cases, as his last couple of highly fraught, tension-filled assignments have led to problems with his wife at home. He’s not going to find peace in Idaho though, as a man has recently gone missing and it is suspected that he was killed by a local group affiliated with the Aryan Nation. Jamie Bowen (Tye Sheridan, who grew up fast in the last 10 years! I remember seeing him in the early 2010’s in Mud and Joe and thinking this kid is going places.) is a sheriff’s deputy with knowledge of the locals, and helps Terry connect the dots. What they come up with sends chills down your spine. A neo-Nazi named Bob Mathews (Nicholas Hoult, who is in everything these days!) is going around robbing banks and armored cars, and counterfeiting money on top, in order to put together a cache to hire an army, with the endgame of starting a race war. Terry and Jamie need to find the mastermind before it comes to that, but unfortunately for them, no one is talking. This is a very well put-together film, with fantastic, tense, building music in all the right spots, and gorgeous landscapes captured by director Justin Kurzel (an Australian, and it always seems Australian directors have an eye for wide open spaces). Strong acting and good action, even if you pretty much know what is going to happen before it does. It is a bit disconcerting that the people that are being chased so hard by law enforcement in this movie are the same kind of people that are given free reign on X today in the spirt of “free speech.” ★★★½

• TV series recently watched: The Zeta Project (seasons 1-2), Daredevil (season 1), Cobra Kai (season 6.3), Dexter Original Sin (season 1)
• Book currently reading: What if Loki Was Worthy? by Madeleine Roux

I went into Captain America: Brave New World with some trepidation. Marvel’s series of films (and television shows) have been on unstable footing for a little while now (Deadpool & Wolverine notwithstanding). The film went through a lot of changes and reshoots, which is usually signs of trouble, but the end result wasn’t all that bad. Not great, but certainly not terrible, and definitely enough to keep fans like myself entertained.

After the events of the show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is firmly entrenched as the new Captain America. He and a team are sent on a mission to intercept a valuable item for sale on the black market. After a battle and the introduction of a new bad guy (Sidewinder, portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito), we learn that the item in question is a sample of a new metal, adamantium, which is stronger than Wakanda’s vibranium and which is found on the relic Celestial (remember The Eternals? Me neither). The new President of the USA, Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, taking over the role after the death of William Hurt from the original Hulk film) is trying to broker a deal between several countries to share the adamantium and the technology found on the Celestial, but someone or some group seems intent to put the kibosh on those talks. Some brainwashed soldiers attack President Ross at the White House, and other countries go on alert, thinking America doesn’t have everything as under control as they like to think.

Wilson teams up with the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), in hopes of saving the peace talks and preventing an all-out war. But there’s another bad guy in the background pulling all the strings. The person who brainwashed those would-be assassins is a face from the past, someone Marvel viewers haven’t seen in nearly 20 years. It sets up a climactic battle in the end, and also lays the foundation for the future of the Avengers.

As I said, the movie isn’t stellar. The plot is rushed in some spots and drags in others, and definitely has the feel of being “cobbled together” to try to create a whole story. That being said, the action scenes were fantastic, and there’s a solid base there that Marvel can build from in future films. I like Mackie as a person, seems like a good dude, so I hope he gets his chance to grow the role of the new Cap in future installments (with maybe some better writing behind him). Still, I enjoyed the film and will look forward to watching it again one day. ★★★½