Film Reviews — Phoenix Film Festival

Jason Carney

Jason Carney

“The Wedding Banquet” – Movie Review

Directed by:  Andrew Ahn

Written by:  Andrew Ahn and James Schamus

Starring:  Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, Han Gi-Chan, Youn Yuh-jung, and Joan Chen

Runtime:  102 minutes

‘The Wedding Banquet’ serves thoughtful romantic-drama dishes and a few rom-com ones too


“Long-term relationships, the ones that matter, are all about weathering the peaks and the valleys.” – Nicholas Sparks

Two couples – Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan) along with Lee (Lily Gladstone) and Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) – enjoy long-term relationships, but a pair of recent emotional storms have consumed their thoughts while they live in Lee’s home in Seattle. 

Min’s visa is soon to expire, and marrying Chris would solve his citizenship woes, but coming out as gay would rattle his grandparents.  In addition to his relatives’ shock, his wealthy kin – living in South Korea - would cut him off from the family money.  

Meanwhile, Lee and Angela are desperately trying to have a child, but In vitro fertilization attempts have painfully failed, and their current financial crunch is crushing their hopes of becoming parents. 

However, Min – out of the blue - proposes a ray of sunshine against everyone’s cloudy days: He will marry Angela to earn his green card and placate his grandparents, and in return, finance Lee’s IVF.  Yay (or “Ah-ssa” (pronounced in Korean)), everyone will be happy! 

Min and Angela would live a lie, but what’s “a little” fabrication to buy some happiness, right?   

As one can imagine, this decision has consequences, especially when Min’s grandmother, Ja-Young (Youn Yuh-jung), visits the Pacific Northwest to meet Angela in person.  

Director/co-writer Andrew Ahn’s “The Wedding Banquet” is a romantic comedy/drama that explores the hijinks of attempting an immense deception scaled-down inside one household while addressing outdated judgments against the couples’ queer lifestyles.  

With “Saturday Night Live” (1975 – present) current player Yang starring as a co-lead, one might assume that Ahn’s picture, with its hectic premise, would be an absolute riot, similar to “The Birdcage” (1996), but “Banquet” delves much more into relationship turbulence and strife – rather than laughs - over the 102-minute runtime.  Although the film does have a handful of hilarious moments, including one particular compromising position between two of the four co-leads, Angela’s mother (May (Joan Chen)) ever-present over-intrusive celebration of her daughter’s lifestyle, and Ja-Young’s frequent pragmatism.  

Still, Ahn and writer James Schamus’ screenplay is primarily conversational while delving into the essentials of the leads’ feelings throughout their initial troubles and complications arising from the marital ruse.  

Ahn’s movie is a remake of director/co-writer Ang Lee’s “The Wedding Banquet” (1993) (3.5 out of 4 stars), which earned a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.  Also co-written by Schamus, Lee’s film - set in New York City and based on a Taiwanese immigrant’s story – is more romantic drama-based than comedic, but the picture is groundbreaking for its time, 22 years before same-sex marriage became legal in the United States.  

The stigma against gay sexual orientation was additionally palpable in 1993, and Lee and the cast and crew dealt with these issues head-on and with care.  Watching 1993’s “Banquet” today, one can unquestionably still feel the weight of Wai’s (Winston Chao) burden of coming out to his parents, along with their strain, while also broadly coping with a judgmental societal outlook during this period throughout the film’s 106-minute runtime.

Setting a comparable story in 2025 needs some revision.  Hence, Lee and Angela’s IVF setbacks are included in this version.  Additionally, a more significant generational divide – grandparents rather than parents – helps bring credibility to Min’s dilemma because one might opine that Gen X parents of Millennials would be more accepting.

Lee and Angela’s storyline delivers the necessary gravitas to pull the audience into the dramatic orbit.  Gladstone and Tran offer tender and sympathetic moments in quiet, heartbreaking spaces for their characters.  Meanwhile, Lee, Angela, Chris, and Min’s nerves are strained due to this upcoming and unsound martial ceremony.  However, half of the 2025 “Banquet” stakes don’t feel terribly high because Min seems more concerned with staying on the payroll rather than hurting his grandparents’ feelings.  Granted, Ja-Young states that Min’s grandfather doesn’t have much longer to live, so some of Min’s guilt does exist.  

Youn Yuh-jung shouldn’t feel guilty about being a welcome scene-stealer, as Ja-Young is the most compelling character in the film, especially when she arrives in Seattle around the 48th minute because Min and company need to impress and convince this one person that Min and Angela’s soon-to-be-marriage is legit.  

The movie offers a small traditional Korean wedding ceremony that serves Min and Angela’s purpose rather than a separate feast.  See Lee’s 1993 picture for a big, beautiful pomp and circumstance banquet.  Still, the 2025 film serves enough thoughtful big-screen dishes to root for a happy ending as Chris, Min, Lee, and Angela weather their current relationship valleys. 

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

Sinners - Movie Review

Dir: Ryan Coogler 

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo 

2h 17m

“Lord, it’s one kind favor I’ll ask of you / See that my grave is kept clean.” 

- Blind Lemon Jefferson (1927)

The blues is a cornerstone of musical heritage, an expression of cultural identity, and a statement of resiliency and resistance. The history of hardship and suffering, the rebellion and fortitude played and sang with heartbreak and sadness, pride and passion, all saturate every note and tune of the music. Blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist John Lee Hooker said it best, “The blues tells a story. Every line of the blues has a meaning”. 

“Sinners,” the new film from writer/director Ryan Coogler, tells the story of twin brothers Smoke and Stack, played expertly in both roles by Michael B. Jordan, returning to their hometown in Clarksdale, Mississippi, to open a juke joint in 1932. The blues, often called “the devil’s music,” is the heart of Coogler’s film, the soul that evokes the ears of evil on the club's opening night. Coogler’s storytelling here is filled with depth and complexity, an analysis of the Black experience told through heartfelt music and fascinating characters. “Sinners” is a bold and authentic genre film that bleeds delta blues and pays homage to the power of music for culture and community. 

Returning after some years of learning the business of gangsters in Chicago, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown in Mississippi with cash, booze, and a hustler’s mentality. Smoke and Stack buy an old sawmill on the edge of town and plan the opening night for their juke joint that same evening. The juke joint is a space for their people to be free after their hard day's work, a place to drink, eat, listen to, and dance to music. The brothers enlist the talents of their cousin, Sammie (an exciting introduction to Miles Caton), a young musician who sings the blues with a deep and soulful voice, the support of elder bluesman Delta Slim (the ever-interesting Delroy Lindo), and the guidance of Smoke’s longtime love Annie (a confident Wunmi Mosaku) who cooks and provides spiritual guidance. 

The opening night brings out the entire community, ready for a good time. It also brings unwanted guests, a trio of musicians seemingly called in the night by the music played so beautifully by Sammie. The guests, who make it abundantly clear that they must be invited into the gathering, don’t just come for the blues; they have also come for blood.

Ryan Coogler’s story of the factual and fictional horrors of the Jim Crow South is a remarkable intertwining of culture, history, and music told through the lens of genre film. The horror here revolves around vampires, a subgenre of horror so well-worn in film history that it resembles how blues influenced the landscape of rock n’ roll music. Coogler’s intent throughout “Sinners” is to craft a metaphor, evoke satire, and draw social commentary while creating a bombastic clash of imagery, music, and character. Whether the strong metaphor of Black musical artistry that is being preyed upon by outsiders who crave the soul of life experiences put to tune or the more subtle analogy of the lore of vampirism as a symbol of freedom and slavery. It’s all expert storytelling crafted in ways that will resonate differently with every viewer, just like blues music. 

Michael B. Jordan, in a highlight performance of his career, plays Smoke and Stack as distinct yet separate characters. Each character's southern drawl, unique swagger, and costuming let Jordan ease into the personalities. Smoke is the leader; he is more confident and imposing but also tender and more in tune with the emotions of everything happening, especially his relationship with Annie. Stack supports Smoke’s leader, who is more impulsive and aggressive but charming with a hint of kindness that comes out with interactions with Sammie. Support characters like Delroy Lindo, who shines as the alcohol-influenced, harmonica and piano-playing bluesman, and Hailee Steinfeld, as the one-time love interest of Smoke who is adopted into the community family because of the kindness of her mother, round out the depth of the storyline. 

Ryan Coogler continues to impress with the skill behind the camera; the quality of the filmmaker's work here is singular in both its voice and vision, a true testament to the artist’s growth over the years. “Sinners” may feel familiar in its genre execution, but its story and characters are unmatched for horror films in recent memory. Watch it on the biggest screen because, just like the juke joint in the movie, this film deserves to be seen, heard, and experienced in a unique space with a community. 

Monte’s Rating 

4.00 out of 5.00

"Warfare" - Movie Review

Directed:  Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Written by:  Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland

Starring:  D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Will Poulter, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Jake Lampert, Aaron Mackenzie, and Alex Brockdorff

Runtime:  95 minutes

Garland and Mendoza’s ‘Warfare’ is a miraculous, distressing, and must-see whirlwind. 

“Alpha Two, we might have guys starting to move on our position.”

 

This position is located at a home in Ramadi, Iraq.  On November 19, 2006, Alpha One, a Navy SEAL team, occupies a residence in a residential neighborhood and soon identifies subtle Iraqi rebel movements from across the street.   

What began as an initially benign encounter then escalates into a ferocious confrontation between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents, placing the audience squarely in the middle of the visceral, perilous circumstances alongside the SEALs in “Warfare”, one of the most stressful war films in recent memory.

Directors Alex Garland (“Ex Machina” (2014), “Civil War” (2024)) and Ray Mendoza’s “Warfare” is based on an actual 2006 clash and the memories of the soldiers who fought for their lives, their country, and each other on that day.

 

Mendoza was one of those men who battled in this particular melee.

 

Ray pulled from his memories, and in an April 10, 2025 NBC interview, he explained that he reached out to other combatants on-site that day.

“I wanted to make (the film) as accurate as possible, which is where all the other guys come in:  their memories of what it felt like, what it looked like, what color were things, what it smelled like, the emotional components.  You name it.  Everything,” Mendoza said.

 

Garland and Mendoza’s camera hovers within feet or sometimes (what seems like) inches from Ray (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Erik (Will Poulter), Elliot (Cosmo Jarvis), Sam (Joseph Quinn), and others as they take fire that pierces through windows.  The men shoot back at the enemy combatants, who sometimes seem invisible.  During other moments, the adversaries peak or peer on opposing rooftops. 

What is clear for Ray, Erik, and the rest of the team is that they cannot simply step out of the nondescript residence and march back to the base on foot.  They need bulletproof transports to help escort them out of the deadly hornets’ nest.   

With a succinct runtime of 95 minutes, Garland and Mendoza’s picture is mostly set in one location for, perhaps, 80 or 85 minutes.  The film reaches outside the aforementioned house for brief periods with moments of street exchanges, broader shots of the surrounding neighborhood, a bird’s-eye view from U.S. aircraft at God knows how many thousands of feet in the air, and one wildly distinctive scene in which perfectly healthy troops celebrate their brotherhood and youth with a specifically alluring and (almost) other-worldly music video from 2004. 

 

However, inside the locale for 80 or 85 on-screen minutes, celebrating is the furthest sensation from the SEALs’ minds.  Instead, shooting the obscure snipers, radioing for backup, maintaining their survival, and caring for the wounded dominate their thoughts amongst the chaos outside and inside. 

 

Cinematographer David J. Thompson and the makeup department do not pull punches in physically revealing the agony of war.  The movie exposes ghastly injuries in plain sight during repeated instances.  These shocking images trigger an instant horror show, and with the surrounding confusion and duress, real-life mistakes can happen. 

Even worse, screams of unadulterated anguish pour out of the theatre speakers.  At the same time, the sounds of gunfire, attempts at rational discourse, giving orders, and the roar of an occasional jet bleed in and out and over one another.   

If the 2025 calendar year ended today, “Warfare” would win the 2026 Oscar for Sound. The 14-member department offers a maze and myriad of layered human utterances and combat-familiar gunfire; they are leveled at varied tones, and silence and muffled moments accompany war’s bombastic clashes and crashes.

 

With frenzied sounds, gruesome sights, and convincing performances set in a tumultuous predicament, Garland and Mendoza’s recreation of that November 2006 day is a distressing theatrical experience.  Audiences are bound to squirm in their seats for most of the picture but also sit up straight at times while observing pure courage as the men fearlessly step out onto a balcony and into the streets in the middle of harm’s way just after brief utterances of “cover me” or at least the motions to do so. 

 

No question, it’s challenging to recall the exact details in this dizzying, miraculous whirlwind of a war film while feeling the palpable trauma during the fog of war and the pure awe of soldiers’ authentic brotherhood to leave no man behind on an – otherwise – ordinary Ramadi street. 

 

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

“Novocaine” – Movie Review

Directed:  Dan Berk and Robert Olsen

Written by:  Lars Jacobson

Starring:  Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, Ray Nicholson, Conrad Kemp, Evan Hengst, and Betty Gabriel

Runtime:  110 minutes

 ‘Novocaine’ sinks its teeth into the gruesome glory that everybody physically hurts except for Nathan Caine  

Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) feels no pain!

“If you’re on your own in this life.  The days and nights are long.  When you think you’ve had too much of this life to hang on, well, everybody hurts sometimes.  Everybody cries.  Everybody hurts sometimes.” – “Everybody Hurts” (1992) by R.E.M. 

Nathan (or Nate for short) wakes at 6:30 a.m. to start his day.  He’s a 30-year-old assistant manager at a San Diego bank.  Nate gets himself together, makes a smoothie, and drives in the roadway traffic on his way to the office in a scene that seems a lot like Peter’s (Ron Livingston) soulless freeway trip in “Office Space” (1999). 

R.E.M.’s aforementioned track on “Automatic for the People” escorts Nathan during this sequence, capturing his state of mind and emotional aches.  He’s a capable, educated fellow, but we soon discover that he doesn’t have a girlfriend, and his primary engagement with the planet outside of his workspace is with one online video game pal, Roscoe (Jacob Batalon).  

Of course, they’ve never met in person.  

Nate’s communal distance is rooted in his condition.  It’s called congenital insensitivity to pin or CIP.  The man cannot feel physical pain, which one might think may come in handy during an MMA bout, a car accident, or just a simple slip on an otherwise perfectly innocent-looking sidewalk.  

Not so fast.  Nate could become seriously or even gravely injured, and he wouldn’t know it. 

Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, who collaborated on several features, including “Significant Other” (2022) most recently, and screenwriter Lars Jacobson seize upon Nate’s disorder and exponentially explore insane bludgeoning possibilities for our good-natured banker in their wild action comedy.  “Novocaine” shoots into this premise for 110 minutes and provides a proper prescription – in the most improper ways - for audiences who love the creative pugilism genre, such as “Nobody” (2021) and “The Shadow Strays” (2024).  

Mr. Caine’s violent venture begins when three threatening robbers (Ray Nicholson, Evan Hengst, and Conrad Kemp) – dressed as Santa Clauses because it is December 24 – infiltrate the bank, steal from the place, and take Sherry (Amber Midthunder), a teller, hostage.  Naturally, Nate’s blood pressure rises due to the theft, but he made a hopeful connection with Sherry the day before, and this lonely heart may have found love with this charming 20-something.  So, her capture during the robbery immediately sets Nathan into rescue mode, no matter the jeopardy he might face, including stealing a police car and encountering a menacing, burly tattoo artist and the three crooks, each with deadly mean streaks. 

Nicholson, Hengst, Kemp, and the filmmakers effectively and immediately introduce a sense of menace as the terrifying trio willingly blaze bullets into or press punches onto anyone who stands in their way of financial freedom.  Hence, they gladly present fearsome foes for Nate and transgress his and Sherry’s safety. 

Midthunder and Quaid offer earnest chemistry as two on-screen coworkers sharing intimacy outside the office, as Sherry helps break Nate’s “invisible chains” through her genuine attraction to him and sensitive grace. 

Quaid’s soft-spoken congeniality with Nate and the filmmakers’ imaginative avenues to desecrate a human being (which will not be revealed in this review) are the two cinematic drugs that make “Novocaine” a worthwhile, entertaining, and a bit sadistic trip to the movies.  Quaid’s performance leans into the loneliness of modern singles while not placing blame on social media but on Nate’s hang-ups due to his CIP.  

Nate’s arc has a million miles of runway to transform from zero to hero.  Berk, Olsen, and Quaid find plenty of asphalt for Nate to emotionally find his backbone through physically fighting against bullies while simultaneously absorbing absurd volumes of punishment and gore to the delights and grimaces of cheerleaders sitting in theatres.  

If human desecrations splattering on the silver screen do not inspire you to stand up and shout, this is not your film.  However, for the target audience, Berk and Olsen’s ferocious and funny flick is worth a shot and, perhaps, multiple viewings.  

Still, this big-screen medication wears off in places too.

Some interactions between Roscoe, Sherry, and a police officer (Betty Gabriel) in the kinetic third act will prompt eye rolls rather than eyes glued to the screen.  

The lighting frequently feels dark, and the settings almost always seem universally grimy, which is peculiar for San Diego.  

It’s also difficult to imagine that a bank vault simply has a three-digit combination lock, like your high school locker, but it does in this movie.  

In addition, the triad of crooks – Simon (Nicholson), Ben (Hengst), and Andre (Kemp) – might be frightening, but they don’t exude everlasting criminal charisma like Ganz (James Remar) and Billy Bear (Sonny Landham) in “48 Hrs.” (1982) or Neil (Robert De Niro), Chris (Val Kilmer), and Michael (Tom Sizemore) in “Heat” (1995).  Nevertheless, that’s not this movie’s mantra.  

Instead, “Novocaine” sinks its teeth into the gruesome glory that everybody physically hurts except for Nathan Caine.  

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

Black Bag - Movie Review

Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.

Written by: David Koepp.

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Regé-Jean Page.

Runtime: 93 minutes.

‘Black Bag’ brings back sexy Soderbergh spycraft

Who cares about plot when you’ve got a cast that looks this good?

“Black Bag” starts, as all respectable spy films do, with a very sexy dinner party. You’ve got Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married intelligence agents George Woodhouse and Kathryn St. Jean, burning hot for one another under a cool and collected British reserve working in modern English espionage. To their tastefully appointment townhome, they’ve invited fellow agency colleagues played by a shaggy and charismatic Tom Burke, his young and bratty paramour played by Marisa Abela, and mismatched lovers played by Naomie Harris and “Bridgerton” heartthrob Regé-Jean Page. 

The wine flows, animosities surface, and secrets start to spill. It’s hard at any moment to tell if these people want to sleep with one another or fight. Perhaps it’s both. 

The plot is mostly inconsequential, involving dangerous malware gone missing, possibly sold to enemies of the state. With thousands of lives and national security on the line, all signs point to a mole within the agency headed by dashing spy-thriller veteran Pierce Brosnan (his field days as former 007 are over; this is strictly a desk job). Someone at that dinner party is responsible; to George’s confusion and deep chagrin, Kathryn seems the most likely culprit. 

Fassbender’s George, utterly devoted to beguiling beauty Kathryn, misses nothing in his reserved observance – not the errant ticket stub in the waste basket or Kathryn’s sideways answers to pointed questions. Could his darling wife possibly be behind the missing malware? Worse than committing treason against her country, would she dare commit treason against him, a man who exposes secrets because he so abhors them, and risk their marriage?

Those seemingly high stakes are all secondary to the film’s surface pleasures, which flow as abundantly as the wine at a sexy dinner party. Soderbergh is having a gas here, driving in the same lane as films like “Out of Sight,” “Ocean’s Eleven,” and “Haywire,” with an assist from a snappy script by David Koepp (“Jurassic Park,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Spider-Man”). Everyone looks like a million pounds sterling in Soderbergh’s vision of sleek and corporate London espionage, with Fassbender and Blanchett a sharply tailored twosome commanding the screen. 

Sure, civilian lives are on the line, but more important to Soderbergh and Koepp is the messy in-fighting between an ensemble of beautiful people trying to outsmart, double cross, one-up, undermine and have sex with one another.

Spies are just people, after all. These spies just happen to be more beautiful and charismatic than the rest of us. 

Barbara’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

“There’s Still Tomorrow” – Movie Review

Directed:  Paola Cortellesi

Written by:  Paola Cortellesi, Furio Andreotti, and Giulia Calenda

Starring:  Paola Cortellesi, Valerio Mastandrea, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Emanuela Fanelli, Giorgio Colangeli, Francesco Centorame, Gianmarco Filippini, and Mattia Baldo

Runtime:  118 minutes

 ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’: Cortellesi has a bright directorial future after her fabulous debut feature


The title of director/co-writer/lead actress Paola Cortellesi’s post-WWII dramedy, set in Rome, could speak to optimism or procrastination. 

“Hey, today was a washout, but there’s still tomorrow!”

“Geez, I wasted so much time today.  My work isn’t nearly finished, but there’s still tomorrow.”

Delia (Paola Cortellesi) - a 40-something mother, housewife, and part-time nurse/seamstress/other paying professions – is neither an optimist nor a procrastinator.  This dedicated Jane of all trades – not unlike Cortellesi, who directs, co-writes, and stars in her fabulous first feature film - is constantly on the move.  Cooking meals for her husband, Ivano (Valerio Mastandrea), his father, Ottorino (Giorgio Colangeli), and three children, Marcella (Romana Maggiora Vergano), Franchino (Gianmarco Filippini), and Sergio (Mattia Baldo), cleaning the house, and worrying about her family is beyond a full-time job.  

Marcella, in her early 20s, embarrassingly comments that her mom always wears an apron, even when company visits.  

While Marcella, Ivano, and the young boys leave their basement apartment from 9 to 5, Delia makes her rounds around The Eternal City, earning 20 or 30 lira per stop during her modest collection of jobs throughout her days.  Industrious to a fault, she only has a few minutes a day for reflection, friendship, and laughter.   

Although her tireless efforts keep her children healthy and a roof (actually, a first floor) over their family’s heads, she finds little reason for enthusiasm.  

Delia married a tyrant.  

Ivano is a physically and mentally abusive monster.  In fact, he slaps her during their first scene together, and the blistering violence (or suggestions of violence) continues throughout the 118-minute movie.  He claims his pugilistic behavior is due to fighting in two wars, but he’s brought any bottled-up hostility on the battlefields into their home.  Still, one suspects that he possessed this aggression before the worldwide conflicts.

Delia and the kids live in fear.  

From the get-go, Delia’s dicey circumstances are on display.  Still, Cortellesi and cinematographer Davide Leone sometimes take alternative measures to lessen the violence, including filming Delia and Ivano literally dancing.  While he delivers beatings and chokings, bruises appear and then vanish on her body.  In other cases, the abuse is shuttled behind closed doors and windows, even though the audience struggles with knowing Delia’s repeated fate in those moments. 

“There’s Still Tomorrow” – winner of six 2024 David di Donatello awards, including Best New Director, Screenplay (Cortellesi, Furio Andreotti, and Giulia Calenda), and Actress (Cortellesi) – sounds like it might feel as dire as “Requiem for a Dream” (2000).  

Desperation does occupy this story, no question, but Cortellesi also – ironically - preserves a quirky, comedic touch as a cinematic throughline that strums amusing delights while enduring vicious hardship in Delia’s marriage.  

Filmed in glorious black and white to fit the period, Cortellesi and cinematographer Davide Leone’s camerawork and movie magic evoke 1940s working-class vibes, where communal courtyard chitchat about making ends meet, domestic dilemmas, and spicy gossip rule the days under sunny Roman skies. 

Delia’s BFF, Marisa (Emanuela Fanelli), complains about her dim but loyal, likable husband, and our lead shares that a handsome American solider, William (Yonv Joseph), was kind and that American men, in general, seem to have more of their teeth that their Italian counterparts. 

Still, this historical account, of Italy attempting to find its way after warfare defeat, spins modern vibes and records with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and OutKast uttering hip beats on occasion.  Delia struts about Roman streets with purpose and resolve, like the fellas from “Reservoir Dogs” (1992).  

Her boys, Franchino and Sergio, also frequently argue and curse at wholly inappropriate times to hilarious effect that wouldn’t fly in a Frank Capra production.

One cannot imagine Zuzu saying, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his f****** wings.”

Delia tries to be an angel to her closest friends and children, but her connection to Marcella endures as the most caring and robust.  Delia wishes happiness and financial comfort – two ingredients lacking in her own marriage - for Marcella and her beau, Giulio (Francesco Centorame).  Meanwhile, her daughter often gazes at her mom with frustration about staying with her dad. 

Delia remarks with an air of doom, “And where do I go?”  

This movie is set during an era when women’s limited life choices damage their dreams, but perhaps Delia may find some repair or escape toward a new beginning.  The odds are against her, but there’s still tomorrow.

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

“My Dead Friend Zoe” – Movie Review

Directed:  Kyle Hausmann-Stokes

Written by:  Kyle Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez

Starring:  Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Morgan Freeman 

Runtime:  98 minutes

‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ keeps a vital message alive

When movie audiences meet Zoe (Natalie Morales) in director/co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ film, she looks alive.  Zoe is best friends with her fellow 30-something, Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green).  

The BFFs usually keep their banter light and casual, even though they attend a sobering support group for military veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.  However, we soon discover that Zoe is Merit’s creation in the here and now.  

Zoe passed away, and Merit keeps her spirit alive by imagining her as she sets about her days.  

Merit’s ingenuity also results in full-blown conversations with her departed comrade, which are often bewildering to those within earshot, including Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman), who runs the PTSD therapy sessions.  

Our heroine must work through her trauma inside and outside Dr. Cole’s assemblies.  For many veterans, Merit’s story is not unique.

Hausmann-Stokes is a five-year U.S. Army veteran, and “My Dear Friend Zoe” is autobiographical. 

In fact, during a February 2025 YouTube interview with Ashley & Company, Hausmann-Stokes says, “I keep telling people it’s 93 percent autobiographical.”

“My Dead Friend Zoe” is an extension of his 14-minute 2022 short film, “Merit x Zoe” (2022).  In both films, Merit and Zoe are played by women, but the themes are universal.  The affecting messages ring true through Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez’s screenplay and Martin-Green’s and Morales’ performances, and the actresses have gracious and deep on-screen chemistry.  

The grounded screenplay proudly marches in everyday discourse and humble settings.  Although the film’s material is taxing, the relatively calm tones allow for a welcoming space for audiences to ease into Merit’s (and Zoe’s) world.  Set in Portland, Ore. and nearby Molalla, a 10,000-person community that sits about 30 miles south of The Rose City, Merit lives in a small apartment in the former locale.  Her financial state is not topical, but she’s trying to get her emotional house in order.  She regularly stays home while Zoe watches television, like “M*A*S*H” (1972-1983) reruns, and Merit frequently rushes out the door for a run as a mechanism to shut out the world and her memories.  

Her daily patterns have her stuck in neutral, but her surroundings change – literally and figuratively – when she drives to Molalla, along with Zoe, to visit her grandfather, Dale (Ed Harris), who has early stages of Alzheimer’s.  Merit’s mother, Kris (Gloria Reuben), assigns her daughter to manage the logistics of placing Dale in an assisted living facility.  

Harris and Martin-Green have authentic grandfather/granddaughter vibes, and the gruff, by-the-book Dale keeps Merit on the right “page” (for the most part).  Still, there is love and admiration between the two family members, despite Dale’s complaints about the younger generation of soldiers.  Dale is a Vietnam vet. 

Martin-Green convincingly plays the emotionally wounded Merit.  She battles internal strife and avoids confrontation with external forces, as Hausmann-Stokes places human obstacles in the form of Dr. Cole, her mom, her grandpa, a potential love interest named Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar), and Zoe. 

Throughout the picture, she procrastinates and sidesteps responsibilities to cope in the moment, as “My Dead Friend Zoe” mostly avoids violence save for one scene when Dale punishes a helpless garbage can.  The screenplay excludes physical clashes in the present day, which is an appreciative reprieve from possible expectations, but the 98-minute film includes recurrent flashbacks to Merit and Zoe’s shared lives in the Middle East.  

The soldiers are not on the front lines but “safely” within an American base.  Still, Zoe carries a specific object during several exchanges with her friend during their duty and in Merit’s current existence that foreshadows a past tragedy.  Yesterday’s heartbreak will eventually reveal itself, and this fact accentuates the thankful, long stretches of relative peace today.   

“My Dead Friend Zoe” is an empathetic film, one that – no doubt – is cathartic for our director/co-writer and most likely for other vets, too.  During the movie, the cast – led by Martin-Green and Morales – seems to gel gently and purposefully to tell Kyle’s story.  Additionally, the actors offer testimonies after the movie’s last scene, which confirms our sense of a positive thespian collaboration.   

It’s a film that keeps a vital message alive. 

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

“Parthenope” – Movie Review

Directed and written by:  Paolo Sorrentino

Starring:  Celeste Dalla Porta, Dario Aita, Silvio Orlando, and Gary Oldman 

Runtime:  137 minutes

‘Parthenope’ is a gorgeously filmed picture, but the narrative’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder


“Are you aware of the disruption your beauty causes?” – John Cheever (Gary Oldman)

“I’m starting to suspect something.” – Parthenope (Celeste Dalla Porta)

Parthenope is a siren in Greek mythology and a city settled by the Greeks.  That municipal is now Naples, Italy, and it’s no coincidence that director/writer Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty” (2013), “Youth” (2015), “The Hand of God” (2021)) decided to make a film named after the seductress and locale.  

Naples is his hometown. 

“Parthenope” follows the journey of a breathtaking mortal (Porta) as the title character, who appears to have goddess-like powers of attraction.  She is – literally - born in the sea, the Gulf of Naples, in 1950, and Parthenope is connected to the city, water, and Greek siren throughout the eccentric, uneven, maddening-at-times, but beautifully filmed picture. 

Sorrentino merrily hops around Naples and places Parthenope in numerous welcoming circumstances and stuffy predicaments that don’t feel connected in the moment.  These individual scenes aren’t self-contained vignettes, but the situations and settings are wildly different for the audience and our lead, not entirely unlike Sorrentino’s exhibitions in his Oscar-winning “The Great Beauty”.  

We witness an imposing surf crash onto a singular figure dressed to the nines, a city bus with a bizarre steampunk apparatus that stops traffic, a regal carriage that sits on a barge and travels by horseback on a seaside road, a fetching light display that illuminates a neighborhood nook, and more.  

This cinematic celebration of indulgence overlays Parthenope’s encounters with men entranced by her beauty, slender 5’6” frame, flowing brunette locks, alluring eyes, and robust confidence. 

Sandrino (Dario Aita), the son of a housekeeper who works for her wealthy family, loved her his “entire life.”  John Cheever, an author who doubles as an alcoholic, is captured by Parthenope’s presence but doesn’t pursue romance.  Our heroine meets an affluent businessman, an attractive motorcyclist, a priest, and a knowledgeable professor.  The gentlemen employ varying degrees of interest as Parthenope attempts to write her own story as an independent, educated woman. 

Porta nicely balances Parthenope’s emotional tug of war between causing “disruptions” and pursuing a career.  She navigates this relatively uncharted territory during the feminist advancements of the 1970s.  Parthenope can easily fall back on her physicality to discover the finer things in life - outside of her prosperous family, of course – but she challenges the system and the men who appear in her purview to forge a hopeful path, which feels elusive and unclear at times for her.  

Sorrentino employs a relaxed pace over 137 minutes, allowing us to soak up Naples’ wonders, including the urban splendor and breathtaking coastlines.  The latter sparks lovely memories of Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt” (1963).  

However, the individual sequences carry sharp staccatos between one another, frequently pulling this critic out of an immersive experience and into an observational one.  Parthenope seems to cope with this same fate, even in her own narrative.  

Certainly, Sorrentino and cinematographer Daria D’Antonio offer irresistible visuals that showcase our lead, her metropolitan co-star, and its inhabitants, but also a few bizarre, off-putting ones.  In the end, many pieces fit – sometimes clumsily - into Parthenope’s odyssey, and perhaps all of them do.  However, possibly confirming that assumption requires a long night/evening of conversation at a 24-hour diner because a second viewing of this arthouse picture might be a tall order.  It depends on the person.  This narrative’s beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

Captain America: Brave New World

Director: Julius Onah

Cast: Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Carl Lumbly, and Giancarlo Esposito

1h 58m

In the television prequel, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” the newly appointed Captain America, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), begins to understand the harsh realities of carrying the superhero shield that represents a tarnished history of oppression and injustice for the sake of power and pride. In “Captain America: Brave New World,” Sam Wilson is still struggling with bearing the weight of the iconic superhero identity while battling a tumultuous political landscape with a newly elected, former Marvel antagonist, President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). 

Director Julius Onah builds this superhero story in the essence of a political, paranoid thriller akin to “The Manchurian Candidate” and “The Parallax View,” both exceptional cinematic exercises in dramatic suspense. “Captain America: Brave New World” exchanges the paranoia and suspense for a superhero spectacle and a big red Hulk. While it may not reach the narrative heights of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, and Carl Lumbly provide compelling performances and, though it’s disappointingly never fruitfully explored, the new Captain America’s emotional journey creates a thoughtful lens to view current political reality. 

Sam Wilson is feeling more confident bearing the heavy burden of representing superhero America, working to move beyond comparisons of super soldier Steve Rogers as a non-genetically altered human hero. New elected President Thaddeus Ross, a wartime general who destroyed New York City chasing after The Hulk, has softened his temperament in hopes of unifying multiple nations to establish a truce in mining a miracle metal known as adamantium from a continent-sized Celestial body left in the Indian Ocean after the events of “The Eternals.” Ross invites Captain Wilson, the new Falcon Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), and the ‘forgotten Captain’ Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) to a White House assembly to convince Wilson to reestablish The Avengers. During President Ross’ speech at the assembly, the chimes of The Fleetwoods’ “Mr. Blue” provoke a mind-controlled Bradley, along with other military personnel, to commit an assassination attempt. Bradley flees and is caught, unaware of his actions. He is sent back to prison, forcing Captain America to unravel the events and identify the true intentions of the assassination. 

Anthony Mackie is a great choice to play the embattled Captain America. Mackie’s emotional range is never utilized to its fullest potential, but during a few moments, especially with the wonderful Carl Lumbly, the depths of the character, two Black men of similar yet vastly different circumstances, are nicely layered to show the complicated nature of fighting for an America that often never fights people who look like you. Lumbly is superb throughout the film, both in moments of calm yet cautious optimism, a car ride to the White House with commentary about the importance of a good suit, and ultimate defeat and betrayal, surrounded by police officers ready to take him back to a prison Bradley never thought he’d survive. Harrison Ford is also well suited for the gruff and impatient role of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, a longtime villain hoping for sympathy in his final years of life. Ford is provided with a few scenes that display the sole saving emotional grace for the character, a connection to his daughter Betty (Liv Tyler). 

The frustrating aspect of “Captain America: Brave New World” is the unrealized, often contradictory narrative that rarely understands where to place its intents. It tries to be a political thriller, one minute crafting an intriguing story of mind control and the next minute solving its mystery with two throwaway villains, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) and Serpent Leader Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito), that never feel threatening. The attempts at social commentary are loud and in-your-face, like a Red Hulk standing atop the White House waving a flag pole with the ol’ red, white, and blue hanging on for dear life (although I did laugh quite hard at this image). The approach to providing some sense of emotional depth and compelling conversation to topics like historical trauma, racial oppression, and the state of America’s misguided attempts at acknowledging past atrocities are entirely in the realm of possibility with this story. Unfortunately, it consistently returns to its superficial ideologies and primary role of being only a superhero movie. 

“Captain America: Brave New World” explores what it means to be a hero in a broken society. While the film takes a few moments to unravel the brutal truths behind the shield-wielding spectacle, it unfortunately never finds its harmony of themes. Anthony Mackie is a thoughtful actor and will hold the focus role of Captain America for future films, which is exciting and promising for both this version of the character and the actor's growth within it. 

Monte’s Rating

2.50 out of 5.00

“Paddington in Peru” – Movie Review

Directed by:  Dougal Wilson

Written by:  Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont

Starring:  Ben Whishaw, Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Olivia Colman, Antonio Banderas, Madeleine Harris, Julie Walters, Samuel Joslin, Imelda Staunton, Carla Tous, and Hayley Atwell

Runtime:  106 minutes

‘Paddington in Peru’ might leave you hungry for something more, but it’s an appetizing family film

The distance between London’s Paddington Station and Lima, Peru is 6,314 miles.  Believe it or not, you can find a 16-hour flight for about $1,200, traveling from the British Isles to the South American nation.  

Geographically and culturally, England and Peru do not share immediately apparent commonalities, but in director Dougal Wilson’s “Paddington in Peru”, both countries connect with Paddington (Ben Whishaw), the celebrated bear from literature since 1958, television, and feature films (“Paddington” (2014) and “Paddington 2” (2017)).  

In the third film, Paddington and his foster mom, Mary Brown (Emily Mortimer), convince the patriarch, Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville), to fly the family, including their human kids, Judy (Madeleine Harris) and Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), and housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) from London to Peru to visit our beloved bruin’s Aunt Lucy (Imelda Staunton) who misses her nephew.  

Just like that!  Hey, family is essential, and you only live once, right?

The Browns were anticipating a joyful reunion with Lucy, along with embracing the culture and trying new foods, perhaps.  However, their plans became tangled in the Amazon when Lucy has gone missing!  The concerned Reverend Mother (Olivia Colman), the woman in charge of the Home for Retired Bears, a lavish rainforest campus with a scenic collection of tree houses, informs the Browns when they arrive.  

Hence, whether these Londoners are ready or not, the Browns attempt to find Lucy, who oddly left her glasses behind, in the Amazon Rainforest.  

How difficult can it be?  It’s only 2.5 million square miles, and - according to Google – “28 times the size of the United Kingdom.”   

You got this, Paddington!  

Fortunately, this PG-rated movie leaves out expected hardships while exploring this jungle, like contracting malaria or facing swarms of piranha.  Instead, Wilson and screenwriters Mark Burton, Jon Foster, and James Lamont clear a path for a lighthearted adventure that may give young kids pause at times with wonders about Lucy’s well-being, raging river rapids, and a giant spider that would cover one’s entire face, but broadly speaking, “Paddington in Peru” is a silly but amusing trip.  

Paddington’s matter-of-fact mindset of exploring the Amazon, like a weekend errand to the local Tesco, plays into his naiveté and steadfast earnestness.  He will move mountains to find Aunt Lucy!  Still, his accident-prone tenancies – in addition to the region’s natural hazards – cause setbacks, including a formidable “Raiders of the Lost” (1981)-sized runaway boulder, while the Browns attempt to leave no stone unturned.

Since it’s been eight years since we’ve turned the cinematic pages during a Paddington film, Wilson ensures to catch up the audience on the Browns’ years between movies.  

Since 2014, Joslin and Harris have grown up as Jonathan and Judy.  Now, they are on-screen teens, so we learn about their current plans during a couple of needed establishing scenes during the first act.  Also, Henry’s new boss (Hayley Atwell) asks her team to embrace risks, which challenges him to step out of his comfort zone.  Mary wishes that her family remain close, so a trek to Peru has the potential to address their needs and hopes. 

Sally Hawkins doesn’t star as Mary in this third Paddington flick, but Mortimer’s charming, sweet-tempered vibes make her a noble alternate.  

Atwell makes a bright and bold cameo, and Antonio Banderas reaps the most guest-star screentime as Hunter Cabot, a boat captain with questionable motives who chaperones the Browns on the Amazon River.  Admittedly, Hunter’s story dives too deeply into the man’s flaws, which stalls the film’s easy-breezy flow, but his rough waves give Banderas opportunities for thespian challenges and amusing diversions.  

Colman is her ever-present intriguing, plucky self throughout the film as the Reverend Mother, including a captivating and hilarious singing performance – with an acoustic guitar – of “Let’s Prepare for Paddington”, a visual and acoustic treat!

Meanwhile, Whishaw continues his stellar voice-over work as Paddington with a rich, soothing tone and a sincere, considerate intention, and he should keep this job for 40 more years.

Naturally, Paddington has the chance to indulge in marmalade sandwiches.  Still, “Paddington in Peru” might leave you hungry for something more, but it’s an appetizing family film. 

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

Love Hurts – Movie Review

Directed by:  Jonathan Eusebio

Written by:  Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore

Starring:  Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Daniel Wu, Rhys Darby, and Marshawn Lynch

Runtime:  83 minutes

‘Love Hurts’ is a dull and painful slog, even over a scant 83 minutes

“Love hurts.  Love scars.  Love wounds and marks.”  - “Love Hurts” (1975) by Nazareth

The opening line to Nazareth’s classic rock song carries a looming dark cloud over affairs of the heart.  

Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) takes an opposite outlook on life and love.  This energetic realtor from an unknown city in Wisconsin (even though the film was shot in Winnipeg) opens director Jonathan Eusebio’s “Love Hurts” with positive decrees that playfully frolic to audiences’ ears. 

“Every day is an opportunity to change your life,” Marvin spouts.  

Marvin bikes to work from the suburbs to his large realtor office, bringing pink valentine cookies in tow.  This shining star of the community is an all-around model citizen.

Unbeknownst to his coworkers, including his admin, Ashley (Lio Tipton), Marvin has a secret past.  

Sure, he can close a sale faster than you can say, “Escrow.”   

However, he can dispense clotheslines and elbows faster than you can say, “Here comes the pain!” 

Years ago, our cheerful lead worked for his lawless brother, Knuckles (Daniel Wu), as a hired heavy, an enforcer, and his hands and feet are lethal weapons.  Now, his unseemly career history – that he refrains from posting on LinkedIn – invades his present, and Marvin is forced to settle an old score with his kin.

“Love Hurts”, an action comedy in which Marvin attempts to hide his violent side from his agreeable lease (pardon the pun) on life, on paper (or in a pitch meeting), seems like a gratifying popcorn-munching thrill.  

Unfortunately, barely any of the laughs land, and although there are some clever fight sequences – with fists, darts, and knives (Oh my!), there isn’t enough bloodshed over the scant 83-minute runtime, compared to “John Wick” flicks or “Nobody” (2021), Bob Odenkirk’s ferocious vehicle.  

Let’s call out the Odenkirk movie because the “Love Hurts” poster touts, “From the producers of ‘Nobody’ and ‘Violent Night’.”

Indeed, the 54-year-old Quan rises to the challenge of this intense physical role.  He performs admirably through punches, kicks, and brawling acrobatics, but the script doesn’t give Marvin the opportunities for titular moments where he releases severe, ungodly damage on his opponents.  Marvin is a pleasant fella, but we never see him completely unleashed as a depraved, merciless fighting machine, and this potential for a striking Jekyll-Hyde dichotomy doesn’t materialize.  Although Marvin holds his own, his nice-guy persona never really leaves him, even when Knuckles calls him a “monster.”   

Come on, Marvin.  Get monstrous!  

The broader problem, however, is that the film feels recycled, tired, and ordinary.  It’s filled with supposedly colorful, intriguing henchmen who pseudo-resemble the constant collection of maniacs from “Smokin’ Aces” (2006) but have all the fearful grit of “Knight Rider” (1982) antagonists during a mid-season episode.  Here, our felons look for Rose (Ariana DeBose), who is the key to finding a pile of Knuckles’ missing cash, and the woman shouldn’t even be alive because Marvin was assigned to kill her back in the day. 

Uh oh!  Rose is on the loose, and Marvin might lose his existence on Earth or, at a minimum, some teeth.  

Actually, this is the fate of an accountant, Kippy (Rhys Darby), but Eusebio zooms in on the man’s mouth – possibly a couple of times - and reveals the cheap plastic toy gums.  

Shucks.  There goes the suspension of disbelief.

Screenwriters Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore include about a half-dozen baddies.  The scoundrels emit mindless chatter and repeated ultimatums about finding Rose and Marvin while slipping in a tale of a failing relationship over text and a potential love affair between Ashley and The Raven (Mustafa Shakir).  The small-time villains don’t take themselves too seriously, so neither did I.  None of the supporting romantic or depraved entanglements emotionally or comedically stick except with King (Marshawn Lynch).  Lynch, the former NFL running back, has charisma on-screen as he did on the football field, and this critic would love to see “Beast Mode” in more projects.  (Imagine my surprise when IMDb revealed 22 acting credits to his name.)

Otherwise, “Love Hurts” is a painful, drawn-out (even over 83 minutes) march to an ultimate showdown between Knuckles and Marvin and a reunion between Rose and our hero.  Is there love in the air?

Possibly.  But who cares?

Still, it’s hard not to root for Ke.  Ke Huy Quan famously made his triumphant comeback to the big screen in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (2022), and he’s probably at the top or near the top of actors to stand up and cheer for more success.  See also Demi Moore! 

No question, the “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” (2023) missed a golden opportunity to cast Ke as Short Round again along with Harrison Ford.  Maybe Ke’s presence could have saved Indy’s lackluster 2023 movie or presented it with some genuine joy and nostalgia.  

Unfortunately, no lead could save this film.  

“Love Hurts” scars, wounds, and marks. 

Jeff’s ranking

1/4 stars

I’m Still Here – Movie Review

Directed by:  Walter Salles

Written by:  Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva

Starring:  Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Antonio Saboia, Guilherme Silveira, and Valentina Herszage  

Runtime:  137 minutes

‘I’m Still Here’: Torres and Mello make lasting impressions in this Oscar-nominated political drama 

Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), a 40-something wife and mother, floats in the ocean alongside a Rio de Janeiro beach and enjoys the tranquility and beauty of the inviting, gentle waters and gorgeous coastline under blue skies.  

Director Walter Salles (“Central Station” (1998), “The Motorcycle Diaries” (2004)) lets Eunice’s levity only last – literally – one second as a military helicopter flies over her head.  She opens her eyes and turns to the noisy aircraft with concern as it glides away, heading inland, but its presence interrupts her peace. 

This opening shot of Salles’ film symbolizes the Paiva family’s experience in this biopic that begins in 1970.  “I’m Still Here” depicts a profoundly personal story of an unjust encounter with Brazil’s military dictatorship.    

The 137-minute movie – nominated for three Oscars (Best Picture, Actress (Torres), and International Feature Film) – is a cautionary tale of extreme government overreach, one that impacted the country, but the cinematic focus here zeroes in on the Paivas’ gut-wrenching experience.  Screenwriters Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega based their film on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s book, and Marcelo is the real-life son of Eunice and Rubens (Selton Mello) Paiva.

Once the Brazilian Army officially invades the Paivas’ space, specifically their beautiful house that’s just a short walk from a Rio beach, the film effectively creates a disoriented state of affairs in ways that will not be revealed in this review.

Until then, Salles, Torres, Mello, and the child actors joyously flood the screen with the family’s warm household.  Eunice and Rubens love one another.  In fact, Eunice’s bookmark is an old photo of them.  Their caring foundation supports and radiates throughout the family as their five children – four girls and one boy – fill their home with smiles and laughter.  

Rubens is a gregarious force.  

The former congressman now works in the private sector.  Rubens takes phone calls and labors after hours, often at home, but he seems free of political rigors and savors time with his wife and kids, the oldest of whom is college-aged. 

The Paiva residence has countless small rooms with books, posters, and current hits spinning on a record player.  Set decorators Paloma Buquer and Tatiana Stepanenko certainly capture the era’s cultural vibes.  

Rubens plays foosball with his son, Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira), and backgammon with Eunice.  He gladly gives his best wishes to his oldest daughter, Vera (Valentina Herszage), who travels to London, and his youngest when she loses a baby tooth.  Salles and the cast and crew establish heaps of goodwill between the Paivas and the audience, so when life falls into on-screen turmoil, we easily garner the angst they feel.  

This political drama carries dread and mystery, and they both consume Eunice’s thoughts.  However, appalling circumstances thrust her into the new roles of investigator, financial provider, and protective mother.  Eunice’s stresses become etched on her face as she attempts to shield her kids from potentially horrible news.  Other than a couple of specific outbursts, she maintains a regal dignity throughout constant emotional pain and an unknown future.  The real-life drama also shifts from taxing to inspirational, and Torres carries Eunice’s burden and her journey beyond the 1970s.  

Admittedly, the last act proceeds as a lengthy epilogue that breaks the engaging narrative and the distressing tones of the film’s first 105 minutes, but it also offers a chance for closure about a story that opens on a calm Rio day while Eunice floats on the water.

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

The Room Next Door – Movie Review

Directed by:  Pedro Almodovar

Written by:  Pedro Almodovar, based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel

Starring:  Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro

Runtime:  107 minutes

‘The Room Next Door’ is worth a knock on the door at your local theatre


What are friends for? 

In many cases, you, me, or anyone else will utter this rhetorical question when helping a friend move, offering a pal a ride, consoling a BFF after a difficult breakup, or other sticky situations.  

Ingrid (Julianne Moore) must say these words when Martha (Tilda Swinton), her comrade and former colleague, asks for a favor. 

Martha, sick with cancer, is planning to commit suicide, and she needs Ingrid’s assistance while temporarily living with her in the room next door.

Director/writer Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door” is an intimate drama that tests the limits of friendship through Martha’s extraordinary request.  However, “Next Door” is not an extraordinary picture, but a competent one, led by two strong performances from Moore and Swinton.  

Almodovar feels at home delving into twisty, provocative circumstances like in “Talk to Her” (2002), “The Skin I Live In” (2011), and more.  It’s often his cinematic signature, but not always (e.g., “I’m So Excited!” (2013)). 

However, this film plays it straight.  Almodovar leaves out his trademark grand surprises.  Instead, he seems to lean into a singular long game over 107 minutes as two talented, veteran actresses react to the troubling premise.  Moore and Swinton offer enough intrigue that makes “Next Door” worthy of a knock on the door at your local theatre. 

Ingrid and Martha don’t regularly pop into each other’s homes for the holidays or long weekends.  They worked together as young professionals during their glory days in journalism. 

Ingrid is a successful author, and Martha is a retired, long-time war reporter, but they haven’t corresponded in years.  They aren’t best friends forever, but Martha calls upon Ingrid for this imperative task based on trust and another reason that won’t be revealed in this review.

Martha’s revealed request is the film’s hook.  How will it play out?  Can Ingrid change Martha’s mind?  Will Martha change her mind at the last minute?  Will Ingrid fulfill her duties?  When will Martha commit to her distressing pledge? 

We ponder these questions while the affluent former colleagues revitalize their friendship through composed pleasantries and consequential planning.  Martha seems laser-focused on her march toward self-destruction while she displays discomfort from her lethal ailments along the way.  

Almodovar’s and Swinton’s subtle but seemingly ever-present reminders of Martha’s predicament offer varying degrees of assurance (depending on the moviegoer’s point of view) that she’s striding on a proper path.  

The 10-person makeup team, including supervisor Uxue Laguardia and designer Morag Ross, help ensure that Martha’s cancer takes an escalating toll on our sympathetic lead.  Their makeup work shows Martha’s physical but not overly dramatic decline, which builds a case for her extreme action. 

While Swinton copes with Martha’s malady and determined resolve, Moore arguably has the more challenging assignment.  Ingrid processes the emotional conflict between functioning as a loyal friend and grappling as an informed spectator to an eventual doom.  

Ingrid leans on Damian (John Turturro).  She and Martha have a personal connection with him, and Damian is a screenwriting device for Ingrid to express her frank feelings about the lethal predicament, one that – now - includes her.  Damian doesn’t amount to more than a sounding board, which is a missed opportunity.  Still, he offers a space as Ingrid’s reprieve.  

The film also addresses Martha’s decision not to lean on family, and Pedro explores her backstory with her estranged daughter, Michelle.  This subplot seems to cycle in place like Damian’s inclusion, however, Almodovar does include a minor surprise regarding Michelle, so granted, his first English-speaking movie doesn’t always run as straight as a Kansas highway.  

“The Room Next Door” - through temperate pacing, a matter-of-fact approach, and convincing lead performances – presents a certain acceptance of Martha’s ultimate wish (again, depending on the moviegoer), and it places the audience in an unexpected lull when tested against societal norms.  

Granted, this challenging realization is more than a routine bump in the road, but then again, what are friends for?

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

Jeff Mitchell’s Top 20 Films of 2024

 
 

2024 is another banner year for cinema, and, once again, the annual best-movies selection becomes a challenging but rewarding responsibility. 

I gladly experienced 188 new films in 2024 and proudly chronicled my 20 favorites.  

“We Grown Now” just missed my list.  Don’t let that impressive flick pass you by, and I hope you also explore the following motion pictures, my Top 20 Films of 2024.  

20. “Bird” – Bailey (Nykiya Adams) doesn’t have a stable homelife in director/writer Andrea Arnold’s movie.  She lives in a questionable apartment with her irresponsible dad (Barry Keoghan) and half-brother.  Bug (Keoghan) declares his engagement to a woman he barely knows, and Bailey turns to an eccentric adult named Bird (Franz Rogowski) for support, albeit not at first, and meanwhile, he needs assistance too.  They form a friendship and help one another with their separate out-of-reach connections on a nomadic pilgrimage, one rooted in compelling performances by Adams, Keoghan, and Rogowski.  

 
 

19. “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” – M’s (Putthipong Assaratanakul) cousin Mui (Tontawan Tantivejakul) cares for their grandfather during his final days, and she inherits his home.  When their grandmother, Amah (Usha Seamkhum), is diagnosed with cancer, M, a lazy video game streamer, is inspired to follow Mui’s lead and tends to Amah for a potential payday.  Director/co-writer Pat Boonnitipat’s dramedy offers rich characters and frank insights about family faults and devotion.  This cinematic trip flows in a foreseeable direction, but “Millions” is an enjoyable, moving, and rewarding journey, and Assaratanakul and Seamkhum are exceedingly prosperous as on-screen kin.   

 
 

18. “Conclave” - “It is a war, and you have to commit to a side.”  Director Edward Berger’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) won four Oscars and was nominated for five others.  His new film, “Conclave”, about an entirely different type of war, is destined for Oscar nominations too.  Set in the present day, a conflict embroils Vatican City.  The Pope dies of a heart attack, and Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is placed in charge of the Catholic Church’s conclave, where the acting cardinals will elect a new leader.  Berger weaves a gripping drama where a talented ensemble (Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Sergio Castellitto, Isabella Rossellini, and Carlos Diehz), in their hallowed forms, repeatedly converses in dark corners and open spaces within the Vatican as arguments between liberal and conservative views play out like private confessions and comprehensive sermons.  

 
 

17. “I’m Still Here” – Former Brazilian Congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) turned away from politics.  He’s a successful businessman now and lives with his wife, Eunice (Fernanda Torres), and their children, who reside only a few steps away from Rio de Janeiro’s beach scene.  Life is beautiful until it’s not.  Director Walter Salles (“Central Station” (1998), “The Motorcycle Diaries” (2004)) chronicles a Paiva family biopic about their deeply personal and unjust encounter with Brazil’s military dictatorship during the 1970s.  Salles’ film is a cautionary tale of extreme government overreach, while Mello and Torres deliver absorbing performances during this unsettling and inspirational watch. 

 
 

16. “Didi” – Thirteen-year-old Chris “Didi” Wang (Izaac Wang) has trouble navigating life in his world of Freemont, Calif.  His grades are average.  He often fights with his college-bound sister, Vivian (Shirley Chen), and regularly tells white lies to cover for his naivety.  He wants to get the girl, Madi (Mahaela Park), but doesn’t know how, and he also unwittingly alienates himself from his few friends.  Director/writer Sean Wang crafts a hopeless existence for Didi that every teenager and former teenager can recall while offering a nostalgia trip to 2008 and the online connections of that recent era.  

 
 

15. “Nowhere Special” - “He’s a happy wee boy.” John (James Norton), a single dad, proudly declares about his four-year-old son Michael (Daniel Lamont).  The two take a deliberate but solemn journey in Belfast as John faces the abyss.  He suffers from a terminal illness, and with no other relatives in sight, he’s forced to give up Michael for adoption. Director/writer Uberto Pasolini regularly spends the father and son’s time with simple, tranquil scenes and avoids the cliches of introducing forced arguments.  Explosive conflict between the two doesn’t materialize.  What appears is a beautiful, encouraging story about the devoted bond between father and son but one wrapped in ever-present heartbreak and vulnerabilities.  

 
 

14. “Nosferatu” – Director/writer Robert Eggers adapts the classic vampire story, and he and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke incarnate a sinister visual stunner.  This 132-minute tale of doom divulges Count Orlok’s (Bill Skarsgard) looming assault on 1838 Wisborg, Germany to reunite with Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp), his victim and object of his desires.  Eggers and Skarsgard invoke dread and hopelessness, as a male collection of would-be protectors (Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Ineson) do not inspire confidence, and that’s by design during this unsettling tale.

 
 

13. “Love Lies Bleeding” – Director/co-writer Rose Glass’ crime drama might best be described as “Blood Simple” (1984) meets “Pumping Iron II: The Women” (1985), when an upcoming female bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O’Brian), strolls into a small New Mexican town on her way to a Las Vegas competition and starts a relationship with a local gym manager, Lou (Kristen Stewart).  Jackie and Lou have good intentions, but trouble finds this pair due to Lou’s disruptive family, as Glass and co-writer Weronika Tofilska’s constantly fascinating 1980s noir flexes claustrophobic circumstances in the wide-open American Southwest.  

 
 

12. “Hard Truths” – Director/writer Mike Leigh is back with his first movie in six years, and he does not disappoint.  Neither does Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies” (1996)), who delivers the best female lead performance of the year.  Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) is possibly the most cantankerous matriarch portrayed in cinema since Violet Weston (Meryl Streep) in “August: Osage County” (2013).  The difference here is that Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy carries massive swaths of comedy during her astonishing rants, ones that rival Allison Janney’s Oscar-winning work as Tonya Harding’s mother, LaVona, in “I, Tonya” (2017).  The other characters, in this English family drama, attempt to cope with Pansy’s angst while Leigh offers no easy answers to reach harmony, as only he can. 

 
 

11. “Vermiglio” – Director/writer Maura Delpero whisks us to a gorgeous, mountainous setting in Northern Italy for a sensitive family tale at the end of World War II.  Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a war veteran from Sicily, arrives in town and meets Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the daughter of a revered teacher, Cesare (Tommaso Rango).  Lucia is shy but smitten, and she and Pietro begin cordial flirting, which blossoms into something more.  Delpero develops several intriguing supporting characters, and she and the actors easily allow our immediate investment into following their destinies in this beautifully shot and crafted picture.  

 
 

10. “The Shadow Strays” – Holy smokes.  Director/writer Timo Tjahjanto’s modern-day martial arts film is a wildly entertaining, crowd-pleasing bloodbath.  Granted, this critic doesn’t often catch flicks in this genre, but I can’t recall a more violent movie, which is Tjahjanto’s point.  Set in Jakarta, a gifted, efficient assassin named 13 (Aurora Ribero) embarks on a ferocious campaign against a vast, vicious criminal organization.  Well, its nefarious members are in trouble!  Twenty-year-old Ribero, with only four months of training, is a wondrous, charismatic phenom, and Hana Malasan plays 13’s mentor, Umbra, as her coercing, cutthroat co-star.  Swordplay, knife fights, machine-gun fire, slugfests, ruthless swings of a baseball bat, and more bombard the screen for 144 minutes!

 
 

9. “The Village Next to Paradise” – The sun always shines on a modest oceanfront village in Somalia.  Still, there isn’t enough commerce for residents to save for a rainy day.   Mamargade (Ahmed Ali Farah), a gravedigger by trade, can’t find enough work and even asks a colleague if any deadly drone strikes have recently struck…to help support his day job.  He lives with his sister Araweelo (Anab Ahmed Ibrahim) and his young son, Cigaal (Ahmed Mohamud Saleban), but Mamargade leans on her for financial support while she also grapples with the depressing economic status quo.  Director/writer Mo Harawe’s tranquil pacing and commitment to the three leads’ arcs are mesmerizing.   

 
 

8. “Santosh” – Santosh (Shahana Goswami) loses her husband, a police officer, when he is killed in the line of duty; however, through a government-sponsored program, as a widow, she is offered his position within the force.  With no background in law enforcement, Santosh attempts to navigate her new career in a male-dominated arena but finds an ally, a toughened female veteran, Geeta Sharma (Sunita Rajwar).  They follow a troubling case that leads to raw, explosive choices for the new constable.  Santosh and Geeta cooperate, endure, and duel during their complex relationship in director/writer Sandhya Suri’s impressive effort, her first narrative feature.

 
 

7. “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” – Angela (Ilinca Manolache) is stressed out.  This 30-something attractive but gruff Romanian drives around Bucharest for long hours every workday and captures videos of potential actors for corporate safety videos.  It’s a thankless job, but Angela doubles as a social media star during her shifts by reciting caustic and crude insights for 60-second snippets at a time in director/writer Radu Jude’s bonkers comedy.  Jude’s unorthodox production runs for 163 minutes, and he includes oodles of scenes where the camera simply sits in the passenger seat as the audience witnesses Angela dealing with local traffic.  However, the movie doesn’t suffer from pacing issues for those fascinated by Manolache’s industrious performance because we’re constantly reeling from her last encounter or diatribe while wondering what uninhabited curiosity she’ll execute next. 

 
 

6. “The Fox” – Franz Streitberger (Maximilian Reinwald), a farmhand, needs work, so he enlists in the Austrian Army in 1937, but he does not anticipate that WWII will erupt two years later.  As a military motorcycle messenger, he certainly didn’t foresee that he would adopt a fox cub, who lost his mother, and care for it during the middle of the war.  This unlikely pairing during this improbable time is based on a true story, and director/writer Adrian Goiginger is Franz’s great-grandson.  Goiginger, Reinwald, and the four-legged actor(s) lend profound care in capturing the duality of the gentle bond between Franz and Foxy under stressful and impractical living conditions.  “The Fox” is a must-see for animal lovers…and everyone else.  Bring tissues.

 
 

5. “The Substance” – When 50-something actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) feels the effects of Father Time, she turns to a mad-scientist treatment, a mysterious green liquid known as The Substance, and suddenly, her 20-something self (Margaret Qualley) appears!  How cool, right?  Well, there’s a catch.  Uh oh!  Director/writer Coralie Fargeat’s (“Revenge” (2017)) sensational body-horror tale gorges on gore and proudly holds up a maddening mirror to society’s demand for impossible beauty standards.  Moore and Qualley are terrific, both inside and out! 

 
 

4. “Anora” – Director/writer Sean Baker’s boy-meets-girl movie is an electric and turbulent exotic-dancer-meets-Russian-billionaire love story.  Anora (Mikey Madison), or “Ani” as she prefers, dazzles Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) with seductive charm, and his freewheeling charisma and monetary excesses astonish her.  This dynamic duo disregards their safety belts on their wild rollercoaster affair.  Baker’s films (“Tangerine” (2015), “The Florida Project” (2017), “Red Rocket” (2021)) live on society’s fringes, but this high-roller flick frequently lives in lavish spaces.  With kinetic camerawork and captivating performances, this comedy – with grounded drama too - flies as Baker’s most vivacious film. 

 
 

3. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” – Director/writer Mohammad Rasoulof’s troubling picture is set in modern-day Tehran, where a family of four – at first - internally struggle with the differing generational outlooks on the 2022/2023 hijab protests.  However, the focus changes once the patriarch, Iman (Missagh Zareh), faces a specific work crisis that spills into the home.  Rasoulof fills his whodunit with paranoia as Iman, Iman’s wife, Najmeh (Soheila Golestani), and their girls, Rezvan (Masha Rostami) and Sana (Setareh Maleki), attempt to cope with their in-house commotion as well as country-wide turmoil.  A jaw-dropping experience. 

 
 

2. “Flow” – Director Gints Zilbalodis’ lead actor is a cat, a black cat with gold eyes, and this curious, improvisational star stars in an animated tale, a touching and wondrous 85-minute odyssey which no one addresses him in English, Zilbalodis’ native Latvian, or any other human-spoken language, and he doesn’t have a name.  Our feline protagonist meets a capybara, a yellow lab, a lemur, and a secretary bird, and no one breaks into “Hakuna Matata” as they work together to survive a cataclysmic flood.  They encounter wondrous sites made by human civilizations and Mother Nature that are spiritual, soothing, and awe-inspiring with a Machu Picchu-like quality on a captivating, unconventional canvas from beginning to end.   

 
 

1.  “The Girl with the Needle” – Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a seamstress, can’t make ends meet in Copenhagen while her husband fights in The Great War.  She’s forced to move into a dilapidated flat that sets in motion her desperate journey where harsh lines of economic classes and limited choices for women lead her to an unexpected landing spot with a new friend (Trine Dyrholm).  Director/co-writer Magnus von Horn’s gorgeously shot black and white picture contrasts and compliments the exceedingly bleak narrative, a film that examines the horrors that war brings home and even darker existing pursuits in broad societal daylight.  Sonne and Dyrholm shine brightly with Oscar-worthy performances in von Horn’s disturbing and ghastly masterpiece. 

 
 

A Complete Unknown – Movie Review

Directed by:  James Mangold

Written by:  James Mangold and Jay Cocks, based on Elijah Wald’s book

Starring:  Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro, Boyd Holbrook, and Scoot McNairy

Runtime:  141 minutes

Chalamet is perfectly in tune as Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” 

“I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains.  I’ve walked, and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways.” – “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan

In January 1961, Robert Allen Zimmerman (a.k.a. Bob Dylan) moved to New York City to pursue music.   Sixty-three years later, the rest is history.  83-year-old Grammy/Oscar/Nobel Prize/Presidential Medal of Freedom-winning Bob Dylan continues to enjoy a beyond-incredible career, and he just wrapped up his 2021-2024 tour in London on November 14.  

Timothee Chalamet (“Call Me by Your Name” (2017), “Dune: Part One” (2021), “Bones and All” (2022), “Wonka” (2023)), 29 and one of the most celebrated actors today, is the opposite of a complete unknown.  He fearlessly steps in front of director James Mangold’s camera and is flat-out incredible as Bob Dylan in the biopic, “A Complete Unknown”. 

Chalamet sings and plays guitar and the harmonica, and the man performs up to 40 Dylan songs (according to Google) over the course of Mangold’s 141-minute movie.  This critic owns about 20 Dylan CDs and has seen Bob in concert four times since 1992.  

I’m a Dylan fan, and Chalamet nails it in an uncanny, jaw-dropping performance that left me impressed about 30 seconds into his first song - very early in the first act – a tune that will not be revealed in this review, so not to ruin the experience for other Zimmerman enthusiasts.  

Since Bob’s career spans seven decades, Mangold could choose from several Dylan eras (his days with The Band or The Traveling Wilburys, his conversion to Christianity, “The Creative Comeback” (as defined by “Rolling Stone”), etc.) for his movie, but the “A Complete Unknown” covers Dylan’s 1961 arrival in New York to 1965, based on Elijah Wald’s “Dylan Goes Electric!” and Mangold and Jay Cocks’ screenplay. 

“A Complete Unknown” is an appropriate title because Bob (Chalamet) suddenly appears in NY, and this unassuming high-E-string-skinny 19-year-old kid with a subdued, mumbling speaking voice soon becomes an iconic singer/songwriter in Greenwich Village and far beyond, with a bottomless well of lyrics and melodies in his mind and guitar case.

Who is this kid?  How does he formulate his ideas?  How did he develop his sound?  

Mangold and Chalamet do not really answer these questions other than a few fleeting mentions here and there, including a brief reference to Bob’s scrapbook, one that he’d rather not discuss.  These deliberate screenplay decisions could be frustrating to some movie audiences who want to know the intricate beats of the man behind hits like “Song to Woody”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, “The Times They Are a-Changin’”, “Boots of Spanish Leather”, and so many more.   

That’s not this movie.  

Instead, the narrative follows his formative musical-artist years.  Bob forges professional relationships with Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook), and others, but the key tie is with Pete Seeger (Edward Norton).  During this time, Pete is a 42-year-old worldwide folk-music hero who immediately helps introduce and elevate Bob to NY audiences.  Pete embraces Bob’s gifts and sees him as another champion for his musical style, which includes the famed Newport Folk Festival.  

Mangold, Norton, and Chalamet navigate Pete and Bob’s working relationship with grace, care, and affection.  Norton is delightful as Pete, strumming a gentle cadence and offering warm smiles.  Edward delivers a pleasing, but brief, live performance that captures the tenderness and connection with Seeger’s audiences.  

Of course, Dylan doesn’t always relish connections to his audiences.  He likes writing and performing music that he prefers, and if he doesn’t feel like playing “Blowin’ in the Wind” with Joan on stage in front of thousands, he won’t.  Additionally, if that means recording a new album that isn’t folk-based, that’s his prerogative as he sees it.  This story heads straight ahead at 55 mph (folk-music speed) towards a collision course with the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, as Pete and the community hope that Bob will stay with his roots, but as mentioned earlier, Bob’s career spanned many eras. 

Speaking of eras, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael beautifully captures the period with muted greys, browns, and greens of the period and the primarily urban locale.  The scenes in small bars and large auditoriums feel entirely authentic.  Costume designer Arianne Phillips is in tune with the era as well, as much of the film looks like we’re stepping into the “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963) album cover.  Elle Fanning plays Bob’s girlfriend, Sylvie Russo, a fictionalized version of Suze Rotolo, the woman pictured on that album.  

Sylvie meets Bob before he reaches superstar status, and sharing him with the world becomes a troubling gig for their relationship.  We see Sylvie cope with global forces, but the movie zeroes in on Bob’s working/personal relationship with Joan as the primary dilemma.  Barbaro is terrific on stage, and with Joan’s already-established celebrity, Bob and Sylvia’s fraying bond looks to tear apart. 

Making a Bob Dylan biopic is a Herculean task, and Mangold rises to the mythological challenge.  He creates palatable tension with Bob’s creative journey and personal and professional relationships, even though it sometimes feels like the film crosses off events or moments like a checklist.  This isn’t a unique circumstance with biopics, but “Unknown” is competently constructed and beautifully acted, and the film looks and sounds great.  The numbers in front of big audiences seem real, and the more personal moments in a studio (or small room) feel even larger.  

For Dylan fans, “A Complete Unknown” sings as a joyous celebration.  Those unfamiliar with Bob’s work will probably learn a thing or two or 10, including that Chalamet delivers an Oscar-worthy performance.

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

Mufasa: The Lion King – Movie Review

Directed by:  Barry Jenkins

Written by:  Jeff Nathanson

Starring:  Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Tiffany Boone, John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Keith David, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, and Mads Mikkelsen

Runtime:  118 minutes

‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ is an unnecessary prequel, but the music and ambitious production should please devoted fans

During the first hour of “Mufasa: The Lion King”, Pumbaa (Seth Rogen) exclaims, “This story is killing me.”

In a few ways, he’s not wrong.  

Now, hold on. 

To be fair, director Barry Jenkins’ prequel “Mufasa: The Lion King” didn’t kill this critic, but with a runtime of nearly two hours and several surprisingly violent and visceral lion-on-lion brawls, with claws swiping and jaws snapping, one might wonder if children will embrace this latest PG-rated incarnation of Disney’s famed circle-of-life tale. 

The animation style is like the one used in 2019’s “The Lion King”.  It’s called “a photorealistic style using 3D computer-generated imagery” to mimic live-action (and admittedly, I don’t have the foggiest of how it works) as the animals roam about an African setting.  In a December 20, 2024 “CNTraveller.com” article by Graeme Green, Jenkins and production designer Mark Friedberg looked to the landscapes of “Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya…as well as the iconic Victoria Falls” as backdrops for their film, and the varied surroundings are impressive on the big screen.

“Mufasa: The Lion King”, a family drama, is also a musical, so the lions and other wildlife sing on occasion and also volley back and forth from their natural roars, grunts, barks, and chirps to speak English.  So, it’s all a little disconcerting at first, especially because an authentic-looking warthog Pumbaa isn’t nearly as cute and cuddly as the animated 1994 original, and it looks and sounds a bit forced when a flock of ostriches suddenly burst in song while scampering across the prairie.   

However, Lin-Manuel Miranda offers his original songs to the Jenkins film, and a few of them stick with you afterward, including “I Always Wanted a Brother” (co-written by Nicholas Britell) and “Bye Bye”.  Miranda, who wrote the original songs in “Moana” (2016), was not involved with “Moana 2”, and his presence is noticeably missed in that 2024 production.  

Jenkins and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson celebrate the “The Lion King” lore as the movie begins in the present day. Rafiki (John Kani) tells Simba’s cub, Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter), the story of her grandfather, Mufasa (Aaron Pierre).  Pumbaa and Timon (Billy Eichner) are there for comic relief, but unfortunately, their jokes do not land any riotous blows.  Still, this duo is on-site due to tradition.   

Anyway, Rafiki reaches into the past, as we see cub Mufasa (Braelyn Rankins) living happily with his parents, who talk about someday reaching paradise, a place called Milele. 

“Imagine a kingdom.  The water flows.  The grass is high.  It’s not a dream.  Someday, we’ll go.”

This triad’s dream suddenly becomes a nightmare. Mufasa is separated from his parents and is lost.  He finds himself with a brand-new pride.  A cub about his age, Taka (Theo Somolu), befriends him, and they become BFFs.  

Better yet, brothers.  

On the other hand, Taka’s father, Obasi (Lennie James), doesn’t accept this “stray” as his own, so Mufasa lives and works with the lionesses, including Taka’s mother, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton).  Rather than helping protect the pride, which includes sleeping the days away, Mufasa learns the craft of hunting with Eshe.  This makes Mufasa a unique asset, as he’s physically built for battle against potential foes, and as a skillful hunter, he can also tell if antelopes are upwind due to the nature of their horns and their ever-so-slight impact on the said wind.  

Impressive, as Darth Vader once said.  

Speaking of which, the movie’s introduction states, “In Remembrance of James Earl Jones” on the silver screen, a beautiful touch.  

The beauty of Mufasa’s new living arrangements soon turns ugly.  A white lion pride, led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen), looks to seize Obasi’s land and take lethal revenge.  This new danger pairs up a “teenage” Mufasa and Taka (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) to trek on a lengthy journey, which leads to – spoiler alert – Mufasa’s future reign as King because “Mufasa: The Lion King” is a prequel and all.  

Does the world need another “Lion King” movie, especially one where audiences already know the eventual ending?   The answer is no, but the prideful Mufasa’s odyssey towards his pride carries twists and turns.  He copes with being lost, dealing with loss, feeling adversity, facing (seemingly) unwinnable odds, and confronting jealousy.  He, Taka, and Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) also trek across severe, unforgiving landscapes, including treacherous snowy mountains, rushing rivers, and deep wells.  

It’s a lengthy excursion with pacing issues at times, and the frequent cutaways back to Rafiki, Pumbaa, Timon, and Kiara act more as distractions than effective cinematic diversions.  By the end, Pumbaa voices a 180-degree different opinion on Rafiki’s take on Mufasa’s origin story!  Devoted “The Lion King” fans will probably feel the same.  The famous warthog is more enthusiastic than this critic, but – as mentioned earlier – “Mufasa: The Lion King” didn’t kill me either.     

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

Oh, Canada – Movie Review

Directed by:  Paul Schrader

Written by:  Paul Schrader, based on Russell Banks’ book

Starring:  Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill, and Michael Imperioli

Runtime:  91 minutes

‘Oh, Canada’ travels on an arthouse journey north and into a man’s internal war

Leo Fife (Richard Gere), a revered documentary filmmaker, is nearing the end of his life.  He’s battling cancer but agrees to an on-camera interview to reflect on his career.  

His former students, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), prepared a list of questions, 25 or so, to ask, but Leo seizes control of the discussion as he deep dives into his personal history, an odyssey that led this American to move to Canada during the Vietnam War. 

Director Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” is based on his friend Russell Banks’ 2021 book “Foregone”.  Schrader also adapted the screenplay and called Banks’ work a “mosaic.”  The official definition of one is “a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass.”

This critic didn’t read “Foregone”, but Schrader takes an unconventional, arthouse perspective in revealing Leo’s path by offering fragments of the character’s memories during his most consequential years.  

This movie is a confessional, and rather than ponder grandeur and glory, Leo professes his trespasses and regrets.  Indeed, Leo’s blatantly candid disclosures were not Malcolm and Diana’s vision for a celebratory interview in which his wife (Uma Thurman) was also present.  Still, our lead’s exertion toward exposing his truths makes for a worthy and complicated watch over a 91-minute runtime. 

Gere is convincing and compelling as a man riddled with the troubles that have weighed on his conscience for decades.  Leo insists that he must articulate the decisions that shaped his life.  His feelings gush from his throat with the hope that he exhausts his innermost secrets before he dies.  Leo is determined but vulnerable.  He is an esteemed celebrity, but makeup artist Scott Hersh ensures that Gere’s Leo looks sickly and frail with a grayish complexion and a balding hairline.  Schrader even includes a scene where Leo needs a nurse to help use the restroom in a moment that is not graphically portrayed, but the indignity of the moment is clear, a microcosm of his larger acknowledgment of self-perceived shame.  

The film sometimes plays in black and white but mostly in color, but it’s not readily determinable why the on-screen hues change.  Perhaps Schrader and cinematographer Andrew Wonder devised a way to define absolute accuracy with the former and shades of foggy memories with the latter, like Christopher Nolan’s applications to “Oppenheimer” (2023).  However, that is a guess. 

Wonder, costume designer Aubrey Laufer, and production designer Deborah Jensen often present convincing visual time warps or “wonders” during the frequent vibrant flashbacks to the 1960s (and possibly) 1970s, as a 20-something Leo, played by Jacob Elordi (“Saltburn” (2023), “Priscilla” (2023)), is a sensitive, caring father and husband.  

He plans to establish roots in Vermont for his family, but his father-in-law proposes “an offer he can’t refuse,” which establishes a conflict between Leo’s version of happiness and someone else’s ideals for his future.  The screen completely resembles the period, including a trip on Eastern Airlines and the stark contrasts between a bright, warm kitchen with Leo’s mother-in-law and a shadowy office with his father-in-law. 

Leo struggles with his parents and his in-laws’ aforementioned financial proposal.  He plunges into an ardent affair and more.  Schrader cuts the narrative non-linearly and purposely, which makes Leo’s journey challenging to follow as we skip around various flashbacks to yesterdecade and then cope with our lead’s dilemma in the immediate present.  We wonder what is the truth and what is fiction.  Our memories can play tricks on us, and Leo is no exception, but he’s physically declining, and perhaps, he’s mentally diminishing as well. 

However, Leo, Schrader, and Banks seem to declare that the sum of a man’s life is not his accomplishments.  Instead, at least for Leo, his life can be defined by the choices made at several crossroads, ones about intimate, personal connections.  For him, they warrant an on-camera admission to release his hidden distress into the universe.  

This includes his emigration from the U.S. to Canada during the Vietnam War, and according to Google, that number is between 20,000 and 125,000 Americans.  Since the BBC states about 60,000, that’s as valid a statistic as any.  

No matter the exact number, thousands of men have thousands of individual tales, and Leo addresses his internal war. 

  Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

Flow – Movie Review

Directed by:  Gints Zilbalodis

Written by:  Gints Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza

Runtime:  84 minutes

‘Flow’: This touching and unique animated tale splashes tidal waves of wonder and washes away conventions

“In ‘Flow’, I wanted to imagine what would happen if a solitary character was confronted by a group of curious outsiders, there to both support and challenge him.” - Director Gints Zilbalodis

Zilbalodis’ lead actor - the solitary character - is a cat, a black cat with gold eyes, and this four-legged star stars in an animated tale.   

We don’t know his name, so let’s call him Cat.  However, in Cat’s touching and wondrous 84-minute big-screen odyssey, no one addresses him in English, Latvian (Zilbalodis is from Latvia), or any other human-spoken language.  

Cat meows, growls, chirps, and purrs, and Zilbalodis, director of animation Leo Silly Pelissier, and sound designer Gurwal Coic-Gallas thoughtfully capture feline movements and sounds.  So much so that if Silly Pelissier, Coic-Gallas, and other crew aren’t “cat people”, they certainly fooled this devoted cat dad.  Cat’s everyday behaviors (like stretching, grooming, climbing, gingerly prancing, accelerating to a full sprint, and more) and nuanced voice inflections look and sound perfect, respectively, and will bring smiles to audience members whose houses are run by their own pint-sized furry friends.  

Cat doesn’t break into “Hakuna Matata” or any other song and dance.  Cat doesn’t state his age for the audience.  Instead, he behaves like a healthy and nimble 3-year-old feline living in an isolated, abandoned, spacious, and orderly home - except for the broken window on the second floor – that sits in the middle of a forest.  During the day, he explores the woodland territories, looking for food and attempting to stay out of trouble while dodging elk herds, a pack of five dogs, and other potential dangers.

Zilbalodis establishes Cat as a loner who survives without anyone’s help.  

However, for this black cat, today isn’t his lucky day.  No one else is fortunate, either.  Without warning, a cataclysmic flood pours over grasses, rocks, and soon trees.  Cat’s home is no longer a safe haven, as the uninvited liquid guest slowly rises on the property.  

He’s run out of higher ground, forced to seek help, and work with others.  

The others are a relaxed capybara (a large rodent native to South America), a friendly yellow Labrador, an OCD lemur, and a proud secretary bird.  The five find each other through happenstance or fate and travel by an obvious mode of transportation when water covers their immediate habitat.  

Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza’s screenplay offers distinct personalities for this unlikely quintet, which creates on-screen conflicts.  Still, the animals appeal to each other’s sensibilities and needs as they bond over their collective fear of this predicament.  Before the flood, each character functions in their little corner of the world, but they are compelled to cope with their current surroundings without knowing the reasons for their stressful circumstances.  

Did a dam break?  Is it global warming?  Did a tsunami arise?  Zilbalodis doesn’t specify the reason but shows us the catastrophic consequences.  Cat, Capybara, Dog, Lemur, and Secretary Bird don’t know either, and the innocence and helplessness of the animal world feel comparable to the movie audience and the rest of the 8.2 billion people on the planet.

What can one person do to combat global warming or a changing environment?  Or five people?  Individual people are helpless too, but this fivesome isn’t reading stark headlines on their smartphones, as “Flow” splashes into our connection to animals and our sympathies for this on-screen collective.

Speaking of human beings, none appear within the frame during the first act, and this critic will not reveal if they appear during the second and third.  Indeed, the script includes evidence that people walked the Earth, including Cat’s home with elegant cat sculptures placed in the front yard.  (Again, cat people had to make this movie.)   

Where are they?  It’s not explicated stated, but the film gives a clue very early in the first act with the casual placement of a man-made object sitting in a tree. 

When Cat and company embark on their journey, they encounter wondrous sites made by civilizations and Mother Nature.  The sites are spiritual, soothing, and awe-inspiring.  They have a Machu Picchu-like quality, so perhaps – due to the capybara’s origin - South America is the locale or another world altogether.  

However, this is not a luxury cruise. Several sequences of tangible, visceral tension fill the screen as “camera movements” hover and race at our hero’s height while following him on steep climbs and overwhelming plunges in treacherous waters. Generally speaking, cats hate water, but Cat doesn’t have the option to opt out of several swims.  

The extraordinary, complex, and ever-changing environments surrounding our new companions astound while Zilbalodis and composer Rihards Zalupe accompany them with gorgeous melodies that are playful, thrilling, and mystical, depending on the moment.  

The animated animals have straightforward looks without intricate details, but their expressions and personalities are authentic and nuanced.  These characters ring true, and we always know their feelings. 

Zilbalodis captivates us into his unexpected, unconventional canvas from beginning to end.  “Flow” delivers astonishing moments that capture the genuine meaning of friendship and will surely elicit theatres full of watery eyes.  This movie is beautiful.  Bring tissues. 

Jeff’s ranking

4/4 stars

Gladiator II – Movie Review

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Written by:  David Scarpa

Starring:  Paul Mescal, Connie Nielsen, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, and Derek Jacobi 

Runtime:  148 minutes

‘Gladiator II’ fights but fails to capture the magic of the first film


The night before attending a screening of director Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II”, I rewatched Scott’s “Gladiator” (2000) for the first time since experiencing the movie in theatres 24 years ago. 

I remember thoroughly enjoying the pageantry of “Gladiator” back in 2000, but it wasn’t my favorite film that year.  My personal best-picture award went to Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000).  

Still, after experiencing “Gladiator” again in 2024, with the opening battle scene, the political intrigue, Joaquin Phoenix’s dastardly supporting performance as Commodus, and a beautifully crafted, emotional ending, one can see why the Academy chose Scott’s epic as its 2001 Best Picture.  Let’s not forget Russell Crowe’s heroic work as Maximus.  When he delivers his reveal to Commodus, the famous “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius” line clarifies in this critic’s mind why Crowe won the 2001 Best Actor Oscar, almost for that scene alone.  

Twenty-four years later, “Gladiator II” invades theatres.  

Although the sequel, set 16 years after the first movie, offers sweeping production values, elaborate costume design, and intricate fighting sequences, the narrative feels meandering and forced by offering a changing portrait of the new lead while simultaneously stuffing him into a gladiator setting.

Recent Indie Film Prince Paul Mescal (“Aftersun” (2022), “All of Us Strangers” (2023)) plays the lead as Lucius, the grown-up son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and Maximus (Crowe).  Although Mescal, a terrific actor, looks convincing and effectively swings a sword as a 120 A.D. gladiator, he – for whatever reason - doesn’t carry the Earth-shaking charisma of Crowe, at least to me, and hence, his journey feels inconsequential.  

Meandering, forced, and inconsequential are not three ways to describe an Oscar-worthy sequel or a movie worth seeing.  Still, “Gladiator II” has an audience for those wanting to absorb a Roman epic with plenty of clashes (both mano a mano and communal), a continuation of the “Gladiator” storyline, and a captivating performance by Denzel Washington as Macrinus, the leader/merchant of the gladiators.  

Washington delivers the film’s best performance, given the man’s master thespian skills and a deliciously written part.  

The story opens in Numidia, in Northern Africa, where Lucius built a life for himself.  He’s a young leader in this community and is married to Arishat (Yuval Gonen), a warrior in her own right.  Soon after a brief introduction, the Romans, led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), invade Lucius’ new residence in a fierce battle with boats, a precarious drawbridge, arrows, cannons, and hand-to-hand combat.  

(For the record, Pascal needed more screen time in this movie.) 

After the battle, Lucius is thrown into a gladiator stable, which leads to a trip back to Rome.  

Maximus’ wishes for a Roman democracy didn’t quite pan out.  Twin Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger) rule the ancient roost.  Geta and Caracalla – who make Commodus look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in comparison - lead with a singular goal of satisfying their shared id of witnessing blood-stained combat.  Hence, Lucius and company have a market to sharpen and flaunt their fighting skills in the Colosseum.  

To drum up bigger conflicts than the first film, Scott, screenwriter David Scarpa, cinematographer John Mathieson, and humongous special effects and visual effects departments dream up three clashes with vastly different animals involved in the mix.  The first two encounters are not out of bounds, but the third seems a bit preposterous, with sharks roaming about a flooded Colosseum.   

Granted, a quick Google search surprisingly reveals that the Romans did flood the arena and stage naval battles on a smaller scale, but sharks seem like an obstacle too far, right?  Who knows, maybe it happened, but the way it plays out on screen, this critic was waiting for “sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.”  See also “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002).  

Meanwhile, Lucilla hasn’t seen Lucius since she sent him away shortly after the events of “Gladiator”, and the plot hinges on a reunion between the two and his thirst for revenge against Marcus Acacius.  Lurking in the background and grandstanding in the foreground, Macrinus craves power and has the will to acquire it.  

Our hero, Lucius, partakes in bold, bloody battles, including decapitating an opponent faster than you can say, “Jason Voorhees!”   

Lucius isn’t the villain, but his best moments are on the battlefield.  We know who Lucius is during combat, but the script portrays him as a sensitive husband, a cordial, respected young man in Numidia, a raging, bitter, vengeful maniac in Rome, and a battle-tested leader (all within a 2.5-hour runtime).  Then, he takes another turn, which will not be revealed in this review.  

He converses with Macrinus about his status in the stable, his mother about their past, and his best friend who regularly sews him up after bloody fights, but it’s awfully difficult to get a distinct, concise beat of who Lucius actually is.  Indeed, his arc is clear, but his persona is not.  

Apparently, he attempts to find himself on this road to his roots, but only if Mescal and the script give us enough to care.

Lucius might have glorious confrontations in the future, say, 125 A.D., but for now, he seems like a long and distant reproduction of Maximus, even though he’s only one generation removed.  When “Gladiator II” composer Harry Gregson-Williams cues Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard’s “Now We Are Free” (2000), the magic of “Gladiator” sadly seems like a 2000-year-old memory.  

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

A Real Pain – Movie Review

Directed and written by:  Jesse Eisenberg

Starring:  Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Daniel Oreskes, Liza Sadovy, Kurt Egyiawan, and Jennifer Grey

Runtime:  90 minutes


‘A Real Pain’:  Eisenberg and Culkin shine in this road-trip dramedy that addresses the pain of loss and everyday struggles


Jesse Eisenberg has acted in films for, believe it or not, 22 years.  (How is that possible?)

This 41-year-old has starred in a zombie-apocalypse comedy.  Eisenberg played Superman’s most prominent adversary and Facebook’s founder, among dozens of other roles. 

He stepped behind the camera for “A Real Pain”, his second directorial feature, a road-trip picture.  Jesse writes and stars in his film as well, alongside Kieran Culkin, who resembles Charlie Day’s long-lost brother during this production.  

David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) Kaplan are first cousins who travel to Poland to visit their late grandmother’s original home in the said country and the nearby Majdanek concentration camp.  Their grandma was also a Holocaust survivor.  

David and Benji are a bit of an “Odd Couple” with David filling the Felix-like role, and Benji is similar to Oscar.  

The two meet at a New York City airport.  Benji has a longer commute because he lives in Binghamton, a small Upstate city 180 miles from The Big Apple, but we watch David semi-panic over getting to the airport and meeting his cousin as he darts about NYC.  

It turns out that Benji was already sitting in the airport for a few hours to relax and people-watch, but, of course, he didn’t return David’s messages.  This is a bit irresponsible on Benji’s part, which is a preview of this 30-something’s nature.  

Never fear, though.  

They make the flight to Warsaw and meet their small tour group.  The handful of visitors is led by a plucky, responsible guide named James (Will Sharpe).  They plan to explore the city, see Holocaust sites, the said concentration camp, and more. 

Eisenberg introduces the other travelers, and they all seem like pleasant tourists without idiosyncrasies, odd traps, or eccentric movie tropes, which is refreshing.  They include an older couple, Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Diane (Liza Sadovy), a recently single 50-something, Marcia (Jennifer Grey), and a 30-something man, Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan), who recently converted to Judaism. 

Rather than evoke slapstick comedy and outrageous moments with the other sightseers, Eisenberg portrays them as observers of Benji’s unpredictable behavior and the stress it causes David.  The others are along for the ride but feel missing when not on screen.  Still, the energy and focus usually land squarely on Benji and David.  However, admittedly, this critic was looking for more development of Marcia solely because of my Generation X connection to Grey.   

It's difficult to recall a scene where David, Benji, or both are not on screen, and that’s a good thing.  Benji’s slacker, adrift personality allows him to get by through life while crashing in his mother’s basement, but that outlook won’t always cut it when traveling abroad.  Schedules need to be kept through group meals, train rides, and sightseeing.  Getting along to get along with the others becomes paramount, even if the Kaplans are only on the road for a few days. 

Eisenberg perfectly plays characters who dress into a full wardrobe of anxiety, and he nicely casts himself as David.  

David frequently must save face over Benji’s quirks, outbursts of disapproval, and impulsive wishes.  They share space in a hotel room, are joined at the hip on their travels, and grieve over their lost grand-matriarch, but the fellas also want to bond during the trip.  The love is there, but everyday life creates hiccups, including Benji borrowing David’s phone and taking it in the bathroom while showering and finding an inventive way to score marijuana in Poland.

Still, Benji’s heart is in the right place, and Culkin delivers a beautifully nuanced performance with this troubled, layered character.  Benji copes with falling behind in the game of life, as his struggles run deeper than occasionally sleeping in late or questioning James’ itinerary in front of the group.  This is especially true when comparing himself to David, who has a stable, white-collar job, a wife, and a child in NYC.  

“A Real Pain” runs for a thrifty 90 minutes, and the screenplay includes a great deal of emotion with the purpose of this overseas trek but also with the cousins’ relationship with one another and their stations in life.  Eisenberg doesn’t go over the top with these parallel dramatic tracks, as authenticity runs deep for these men to reach their roots and each other. 

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

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