Emily – Movie Review

Directed and written by:  Frances O’Connor

Starring:  Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead, Alexandra Dowling, Amelia Gething, Adrian Dunbar, and Gemma Jones

Runtime:  130 minutes

‘Emily’: Mackey rises to spectacular heights in O’Connor’s Bronte passion project   

“I’ve loved Emily Bronte probably all my life.  I guess like on a super-geeky kind of level.” – Frances O’Connor, Sept. 9, 2022, at the Toronto International Film Festival

O’Connor has starred in television and film since 1993, but she took a dramatic professional turn toward a passion project.  This English native put pen to paper and stepped behind the camera to fashion an engaging biopic of a notable countrywoman, Emily Bronte (1818 – 1848).  

Bronte authored the celebrated book “Wuthering Heights”, her only novel.

Note: this critic has not read the book, but – naturally – I saw the 1939 movie starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon.  

Still, I don’t claim to be a “WH” expert.

However, O’Connor is.  With “Emily”, she weaves a reverent, celebratory film to answer the question, “How did Emily write ‘Wuthering Heights’?”

No, not mechanically – via quill or pen – but the film is a fictionalized (or partially-fictionalized) account that openly presents Emily Bronte’s persona.  In a 2022 interview with Picturehouse, O’Connor says, “From the research I’ve done, we’re quite truthful to the nature of who (Emily) was as a person.” 

(For more information on separating fact and fiction in “Emily”, Becca Holland wrote a Feb. 17, 2023 Collider.com article that might be helpful for moviegoers.) 

So, who was Ms. Bronte?  

O’Connor and Emma Mackey (who plays Emily) portray her as misunderstood and rebellious.  Emily blazed her path, but under societal confines, which attempted to limit women’s opportunities through religion and traditional roles.  

Mackey, the (now) 27-year-old French thespian, studied at the University of Leeds, not far from Bronte’s birthplace, and she delivers a heroic, valiant performance.  

Mackey wholeheartedly dives into the challenging role of a woman who struggles against conventions.  In the film, Emily publicly reveals her trials through short, concentrated bursts or intrinsic reveals.  Privately, Ms. Bronte frequently divulges her feelings, especially to the two men in her life: her irresponsible but caring brother Branwell (Fionn Whitehead) and a newcomer to their village, William Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).  

Mackey is featured in nearly every scene over the 130-minute runtime, and she garners sympathy for Emily that steadily rises over everyday household boundaries, but emotions detonate when greater stakes present themselves.

The movie is mostly set at the Bronte home and adjacent grounds, and Emily lives with her dad (Adrian Dunbar), sisters Charlotte (Alexandra Dowling) and Anne (Amelia Gething), aunt (Gemma Jones), and Branwell.  

Branwell has dreams of becoming a writer when he’s not ingesting opium or alcohol.  Charlotte takes a teaching position in Belgium and only wishes for her father’s approval, while Branwell doesn’t find the capacity to match his sister’s hopes.  Meanwhile, Emily doesn’t aspire to Charlotte’s ambitions, and they develop a rivalry through passive-aggressive means and sometimes openly hostile ones.  O’Connor implies, however, that Charlotte “started it”, as siblings often claim.  

During the first act, William arrives in town.  He’s a curate for the Bronte patriarch, Patrick (Dunbar), and suddenly, William becomes a potential suitor for one of the sisters.  

Admittedly, the motion picture’s first hour moves leisurely as the film lays a foundation for Emily and her surroundings.

Domineering but not unreasonable, Patrick requires order in the spacious estate and that his children take responsibility for their actions.  Granted, Patrick pushes teaching as a profession for his daughters, but when Branwell asks Emily about her goals, she responds, “I don’t know.” 

This is a common answer for 20-somethings throughout history, no matter the century.  Without a chosen direction, Emily is a 19th-century Boomerang kid.

However, she turns to William, not necessarily for guidance but for a possible romance.  This accomplished fellow could become Emily’s first love, from their first touch of hands while Miss Bronte washes dishes in cloudy water.  

Emily’s intentions, however, aren’t murky.  Through O’Connor’s camerawork and Mackey’s dynamic articulations – with momentary, decisive looks or passionate discourse – the audience always recognizes Emily’s feelings, even if others within her confined environment aren’t reading her tea leaves.  

For instance, William delivers a sermon, and Emily intently stares up at him while attentively listening to every moment.  Well, until he declares the word “God” while speaking about the heavenly father’s presence in rainfall.  

She immediately looks downward with disappointment, and at that moment, Mackey conveys Emily’s opinions about religion.  Later, the script delivers a payoff when an assembly of the family, William, and others take a stroll in the countryside.  Emily casually mentions that rain is imminent, while William dismisses the thought.  

Soon after the exchange, the astute Miss Bronte is seen as the group’s most perceptive person, at least to the audience.  Emily may not have a relationship with God, but Mackey, O’Connor, and the cast and crew strongly relate to the material.  

Emily has experiences in the movie that tie to “Wuthering Heights” as shared emotional and practical themes emerge.  For those intimately familiar with the novel, “Emily” is probably a film that should be felt more than once.  

This critic found more cinematic treasures during a second viewing, including a stronger appreciation for the lively and lovely score that beautifully matches each pivotal scene and cheers to the five-person music department.  O’Connor also includes arthouse touches and vibes in spots that add color to a film that’s not a straightforward Jane Austen adaptation.  Meanwhile, Mackey proudly stands tall – and reaches spectacular heights - as Bronte, a woman that might feel a bit lost among 19th-century pleasantries, but this future author finds her voice. 

The opening scene presents an early glimpse of this revelation.  Emily sits by herself in a wispy Yorkshire field.  As she formulates a story idea out loud, O’Connor’s camera focuses on the young woman’s hand, gliding in the air, like she is a maestro of a literary concerto, one – of course - created on her terms. 

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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Cocaine Bear - Film Review

Directed by: Elizabeth Banks

Screenplay by: Jimmy Warden

Starring: Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Isaiah Whitlock Jr.

Based on a true story,  director Elizabeth Banks and screenplay writer Jimmy Warden meet horror and comedy fans’ expectations in “Cocaine Bear,” leaving audiences gasping, laughing and on the verge of throwing up… in a good way. 

According to AP, in 1985, a mountain bear ingested a portion of the 75 pounds of cocaine that was dumped by Andrew Carter Thornton II in the Georgia forest. In an exaggerated retelling of these events, viewers are drawn into the ‘what-ifs’ of a powerful, momma bear high on cocaine. 

Of course, viewers would not be able to experience this film without the classic lead character; a CGI bear. When not utterly incoherent from swallowing and snorting an insane amount of cocaine, the bear is featured with standard animal size and actions, rubbing against trees and moving through nature. Interestingly enough, the bear appears realistic even when given human traits, such as drawn ‘angry eyebrows’ or making snow angels on the forest floor. These humanesque qualities of the bear made for an overall laugh-out-loud experience when we realize how the bear mimics the effects of cocaine on a human. Those moments are quickly turned into a gory version of drugs making this animal uncharacteristically violent toward humans found in the forest. 

The plot thickens when humans are added into the mix. When drug dealers, led by Syd (Ray Liotta), need to retrieve the missing drugs from the forest, law enforcement, led by Bob (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) is hot on their trail. Meanwhile, ‘rowdy’ takes on a whole new meaning when three teenagers are introduced to the film. They spend their time harassing hair-trigger Ranger Liz (Margo Martindale) and getting into trouble from beginning to end of the movie. 

The character that wins her place in everyone’s heart is nurse and mother Seri (Keri Russell) as she is dragged into the woods in search of her runaway daughter Dee Dee (Brooklynn) and Dee Dee’s friend Henry (Christian Convery). While heartfelt moments are valued in the face of a cocaine-laced film, most audience members will form a connection with Henry, who doesn’t have much in terms of parental figures, and whose witty commentary sets the scene. After all, as Henry puts it, witnessing the after-effects of an addicted bear is an experience that “stays with a man forever.” 

When looking at this film head-on, while it is based on true events, all of the characters have clear wants that kept the plot moving forward. At a fair-paced 1 hour 35 minutes, and easily identifiable as an ‘R’ rated film, “Cocaine Bear” offers intriguing juxtaposition of charcter interactions, including the wild ride the bear takes us on, that keeps your eyes glued to the screen in fear of missing out. 

There’s plenty to look out for in this film, so remember kids: wear your seatbelt, stick with your mom, and stay away from cocaine bears. 

Plot: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Cinematography: ★★★★☆ 4/5

Character Arc(s): ★★★☆☆ 3/5

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Sharper - Film Review

Directed by: Benjamin Caron 

Written by: Brian Gatewood & Alessandro Tanaka 

Starring: Justice Smith, Briana Middleton, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, and John Lithgow

‘Sharper’ has a few surprising twists, but features the classic con artist drama plot.

Meet Tom (Justice Smith). A sensitive guy who spends the day reading in his bookstore. 

Oh! and his family has MONEY money. 

The majority of “Sharper” is spent shifting these funds around. The standard scheming also offers a few surprising twists from the con artists that keep the audience engaged in the film. 

From the ‘who-are-they’ question to the ‘who-done-it’ drama, “Sharper” shows how four people from different walks of life are willing to go to extremes for the things that they want. 

Each of their lives intertwines in some manner, and money seems to be involved for each of them. 

Most viewers know from real-life experience that money holds a lot of power in the world. In this motion picture, money also plays a big role. The audience is caught on a one-path mindset that money is a tool that provides. Whether money is used for persuasion or a better lifestyle, it makes its way into every nook and cranny of the film. 

It begs the question, can money have a bigger purpose in the world?

“You can’t cheat an honest man…” Max’s (Sebastian Stan) motto allows him to feel no remorse for his con man lifestyle. Especially since accumulating money is the most important part of his life. Stan’s role as a practiced con man clearly accentuated the detached and slightly unhinged characteristics of Max at the beginning of the film. 

As a foil to Max, Sandra (Briana Middleton), is easily one of the most intriguing characters to follow throughout the movie. Her background, acceptance and dissension, are distinguishable traits that allow the audience to question her actions and motivation throughout the film. 

While all of the characters are diverse, through their notable actions and levels of intelligence, the film seemed to lack a progression of thought about intelligence, skill or monetary values; which are some of the main concepts throughout the film. The plot is one-note when considering the use of money since viewers aren’t given thought-provoking revelations about the impact of its use in the world. This leaves the audience with a semi-climactic resolution that merely follows the character’s status changes. 

The cinematography throughout the film, highlighted through the introductions to Tom, Sandra, Max and Madeline (Julianne Moore), is easily digestible for the audience. Director Benjamin Caron, and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka, split the film into enjoyable chunks for the viewers, piecing together the main characters at various points in their life. Then, the audience is fed information in such a manner that when the end of the film rolls around, they can easily understand the copious amounts of new content. 

Overall, “Sharper” is an intriguing watch, but leaves the audience with nothing new. 

Plot: ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Cinematography: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Character Arc: ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5

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Magic Mike's Last Dance - Movie Review

Dir: Steven Soderbergh

Starring: Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek, Caitlin Gerard, and Gavin Spokes

1h 52m

At the press screening of "Magic Mike" in 2012, a group of talented male performers danced their way around a crowd of eager viewers ready to see Channing Tatum striptease. In the film's first minutes, the naked backside of Mr. Tatum appeared onscreen, and the entire theater erupted in hoots and hollers so loud that any dialogue following this scene was muffled entirely out. It didn't matter from this point whether the movie review would be negative or positive, "Magic Mike" already was a hit. 

"Magic Mike," directed by Steven Soderbergh, explored the glamorized lifestyle of an adult  entertainment performer in a South Florida nightclub as a cautionary tale and a star-turning stage for Channing Tatum. "Magic Mike XXL," directed by Gregory Jacobs, took the show on a road trip with a lighthearted buddy comedy with an unsuspecting heart. "Magic Mike's Last Dance," directed again by Soderbergh, takes place a decade later, post-Covid, as a film about second chances and chasing your passion. Is another journey with a retired male stripper necessary? Not at all. But "Magic Mike's Last Dance" has enough charming Channing, Hallmark channel romance, and seductively-charged dance choreography to keep fans of the series satisfied with one final dance. 

Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) experienced the same struggles as the rest of the world during the pandemic. After pursuing a dream and finding success as a furniture designer, the worldwide health event put Mike's passion out of business. Still living in South Florida, Mike works as a bartender-for-hire at a luxury charity event run by Maxandra "Max" Mendoza (Salma Hayek), a wealthy Londoner who is going through a marriage separation. A guest at the party recognizes Mike from his past life as a male stripper; Max finds out and coyly coaxes Mike to demonstrate his skill to her in private. Mike, initially reluctant, obliges Max's request, which awakens an opportunity that jettisons them to London for a unique creative collaboration.

"Magic Mike's Last Dance" steps away from the examination of desire and performance prevalent in the previous two films and instead emphasizes the theme of sex as art, performance for pleasure, and the blurry line between lust and love. Soderbergh, director, cinematographer, and editor under various pseudonyms, focuses on developing a love story between Mike and Max and exploring the connection between performer and patron that exists when the fantasy dissolves. 

The execution of the love story seldom finds its swoon-worthy stride, even though the chemistry between Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek evokes a complicated yet sweet relationship. As Mike and Max grow from artistic collaborators to emotionally connected soulmates, the story provides a few moments of love's influence that are amusing to watch. Whether a sexy private dance scene or a makeover montage, Hayek and Tatum's performances sizzle. Unfortunately, the good moments aren't strong enough to sell the journey of love for these two older, world-weary adults. Still, the non-too-serious approach keeps the emotions light and digestible for audiences looking for a simplistic love story.

Channing Tatum is comfortable with the role of Magic Mike. The Prince Charming quality of the character's development in this film suits the actor's endearing sensibilities. Salma Hayek is in prime form throughout the film as a newly empowered woman taking control of her choices. Hayek exudes confidence throughout the film, making the character arc far more interesting when Max loses assuredness as the emotions for Mike grow irresistible.

"Magic Mike's Last Dance" is a good romantic cinema date night option for Valentine's Day. Salma Hayek and Channing Tatum hold the film together; their onscreen connection is undeniably charming. While the film may not always evoke those timeless love story vibes, it has enough sweet sentiments and entertaining dance numbers to satisfy fans of the franchise. 

Monte's Rating

3.00 out of 5.00

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Let It Be Morning – Movie Review

Directed by:  Eran Kolirin

Written by:  Eran Kolirin, based on Sayed Kashua’s novel

Starring:  Alex Bakri, Juna Suleiman, Salim Daw, Ehab Salami, Samer Bisharat, and Yara Elham Jarrar

Runtime:  101 minutes

‘Let It Be Morning’ offers important messages but not a lot of sunshine    

“We gotta get out of this place if it’s the last thing we ever do.” – The Animals, 1965

The said lyric is exactly how Sami (Alex Bakri) feels.  Sami, his wife Mira (Juna Suleiman), and his young son are trapped in purgatory.  No, not in a religious netherworld due to past sins, but in a tangible place:  his hometown.  

While visiting this tiny, remote village to attend his brother Aziz’s (Samer Bisharat) wedding, a small band of military types blocks the one road in and out of town.  

The one road!

Unfortunately, Sami, his wife, and his son face this manned obstruction after sundown when attempting to drive home to Jerusalem.  They’re forced to turn around and head back to his parents’ house, spend the night, and hopefully, this unexpected inconvenience will subside in the morning. 

Well, come morning, it…does not. 

For an unknown swathe of time, Sami and his family are stuck in this isolated community, and no one can – definitively - circle a date on the calendar when the roadway will open again. 

Writer/director Eran Kolirin’s “Let It Be Morning” was released in 2021, and the film became Israel’s Best International Feature submission for the 2022 Academy Awards.  It didn’t land on the Oscar shortlist, but Kolirin’s movie does offer an anthropological study over its 101-minute runtime. 

This unnamed parish is primarily an Arab-populated community, one located in Israel.  So, tensions are built into the narrative.  However, the script – based on Sayed Kashua’s 2006 novel – does not delve into massive combative tactics between Jewish and Arab populaces.  Some mentions of the ever-present geo-political, religious, and cultural differences occur, and yes, the road is blocked, an obvious point of contention.  Still, the film’s messages pertain to a couple of universal aspects of human nature, whether the movie is set in Phoenix, Shanghai, Sydney, Nairobi, Buenos Aires, or Jerusalem.  

Granted, the given municipality isn’t one of the planet’s largest commerce centers.  Here, “everyone” knows Sami’s name, and the movie touches upon family conflicts, but not in a cliché-driven sense.  Disagreements are presented and explored as a matter of fact.  

Rather than showcase screaming matches and verbal outbursts – that we might expect from forced, paint-by-numbers American dramedies where extended families are cooped up in a home over the holidays (see also, “The Family Stone” (2005)) – general apathy is the “winning” emotion of the day in “Let It Be Morning”.

Living with regret is a common theme with the inhabitants and visitors in this anonymous settlement.  Will anyone break free?  Break free of their invisible chains, as songwriter/drummer Neil Peart famously called the emotional reasons for remaining in unwanted life circumstances.

In most (but certainly, not all) cases, listless tones and the characters’ general indifferences carry the production, and the motion picture’s deliberate lingering pace can create struggles for moviegoers.  Subdued and isolated discourse repeatedly transpires within quiet rooms or on empty street corners as Sami trudges through his given, forced circumstances.  Occasionally, words of wisdom resonate with him and us, especially from Sami’s mom and his childhood friend Abed (Ehab Salami), but we wade through lengthy, dreary stretches to get to these Promised Land exchanges.  

Meanwhile, sad-sack Sami carries an everyman suburban white-collar worker’s fate.  The man has it all but doesn’t appreciate his blessings, including Mira, whom he sadly neglects. 

Don’t cry over “Let It Be Morning”.  It’s not an invaluable time at the movies.  Still, the film is deliberately downtrodden as broken dreams aren’t forgotten, and disappointments forge an ever-present malaise.  Some moments of levity temporarily raise spirits, but not often enough to consider this cinematic adaptation a comedy.  

In addition to the last scene, a moment that stuck most with this critic is when Sami’s household-triad briefly steps away from the urban center, as Kolirin captures lovely rocky hills and buttes, complete with olive trees, fresh air, and the chance at new beginnings.  The scene makes one appreciate the natural beauty of the region.  Perhaps “getting out of this place” shouldn’t be a ubiquitous proclamation. 

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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Close - Film Review

Directed by: Lukas Dhont 

Written by: Lukas Dhont and Angelo Tijssens

Starring: Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie  Dequenne, and Léa Drucker

‘Close’ comments on the nuance of young, pure friendship in an unforgiving world. 

Remember those exciting, and admittedly nerve-racking, first days of a new school year? 

Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) are navigating the new year as previously inseparable friends. It should be easy and effortless, but the snide comments from 13-year-olds crack the foundation of their friendship. 

The kinship and innocent connection between the young boys will make everyone grin, especially at the start of the film as they play imaginative games, run through the fields and have sleepovers while sharing late-night stories. It is apparent that Leo and Remi have built a bond over time. 

Viewers are then moved through the emotional challenges that young children experience in the presence of peer pressure. Providing brilliant commentary about the social boundaries that are developed through school and how many children must ‘toughen up’ to the harsh words and bullying of others. In some cases, when being tough isn’t worth the change, giving in to social tensions becomes a better alternative.

Dambrine then takes viewers through Leo’s life and the audience truly understands the ripple effect people’s choices and actions have on others. Émilie Dequenne, who plays Remi’s mom, Sophie, naturally shows viewers a mother’s love. The reactions from Sophie throughout the film are authentic to the precautions and actions that any mother would take for their child. 

While the film brilliantly portrays the experiences of a 13-year-old, it reminds me of why I was so eager to leave those years behind me. This film allows viewers to sympathize with the hardships of middle and high school, and will most likely leave viewers bawling in the corner. 

The cinematography by Frank van den Eeden and director Lukas Dhont throughout this film provided an almost 4-D experience for viewers. As we mainly follow Leo, who leads us through friendship, school, recess, home and sports practice, there is a slight jarring motion to the camera as it is placed at the height of a young boy. This quality makes the audience feel like they are part of the movement. 

Subtle depictions of time are found in Leo’s harvest work on his parent’s colorful flower farm. Hours and months go by as Dhont spends time with Leo, his brother, mom, and dad working in the fields. While the scenery changes, Leo’s relationships with the other kids at school also change and the length of time that has passed becomes more apparent to viewers. 

The time change and Leo’s change in actions also lead to a well-rounded character arc. Young teens learn so much about themselves and their relationships with friends and family, and throughout the film, Leo shows growth in his outlook on the world. 

Dhont leaves viewers with a final homage to life; we can look back, but we must continue taking steps forward.

Plot: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Cinematography: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Character Arc: ★★★★☆ 4/5

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Knock at the Cabin - Movie Review

Dir: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn, and Kristen Cui

1h 40m

Isolated cabins in the woods always spell terrible happenings in horror films. For director M. Night Shyamalan, who adapts author Paul Tremblay's thought-provoking and terrifying "Cabin at the End of the World," a cabin plays the centerpiece for a world-defining decision that a family must make to alter the apocalypse. "Knock at the Cabin" strips down the thought-provoking terror of the novel and institutes a film taut with tension and great performances. 

8-year-old Wen (Kristen Cui) is on vacation with her two dads, Andrew (Ben Aldridge) and Eric (Jonathan Groff), collecting grasshoppers for her jar in front of the cabin they are vacationing. Out of the woods comes a giant, although gentle, man named Leonard (Dave Bautista) who helps Wen collect grasshoppers, taking extra care not to scare any of the ones already trapped in the jar. Wen, who is cautious at first, quickly lets her guard down around Leonard until three more strangers arrive holding customized weapons. Wen, scared, runs back to warn her parents.

These beginning moments display Shyamalan's skill with quickly and unexpectedly shifting gears with emotion and tone but maintaining an engaging and thrilling control. The utilization of a child's curiosity to introduce the menacing presence of strangers effectively transforms the film into a home invasion scenario brimming with terror and anxiety.

Inside the house, Andrew and Eric comfortably relax as Wen runs and pleads with them to listen to the warning from Leonard. The parents appease the young girl until a sudden knock at the door interrupts the conversation. Leonard calmly asks the family to open the door so that they can have a discussion. Andrew and Eric refuse, leading Leonard and his colleagues to break into the cabin aggressively. 

Once inside the cabin, Shyamalan introduces the mystery of the narrative, a trademark of the director's style and composition within his films. The mystery surrounds a choice that the captive family must make, a choice to save the world from an apocalypse by sacrificing one of their lives. The narrative jumps from the terror inside the cabin to crucial moments from the family's life, such as the complex adoption process for Wen, an awkward encounter with Andrew's parents, and an unexpected brutal attack inside a bar. These moments display the unfair struggles that Andrew and Eric experience simply because of their lifestyle choice; the trauma of these terrible experiences fuels aggression in every moment inside the cabin. In the beginning, these cutaway moments frame an interesting backstory for the couple, providing insight into the complicated love that has brought them to the specific and brutal moment. However, as the story builds more significant stakes, as the captor's premonitions become a reality, the jumping narrative moments to the past become unbalanced. It eventually undermines some of the established tension between the characters in the house.

Part of what makes the moments in the cabin so engaging is the excellent work of the entire cast and their character compositions. Ben Aldridge, who's steadfast and aggressive resistance against the home invaders, and Jonathan Groff, who's physically affected but protective instincts focused on his daughter, mix well together throughout their journey in the film. Rupert Grint, playing far outside the type of character he usually portrays as the hateful Redmond, is intimidating and menacing in every scene. Nikki Amuka-Bird, portraying a nurse named Sabrina, is conflicted with nearly every choice she makes. A majority of the performance happens through her eyes and facial expressions. The highlight of the film, however, belongs to Dave Bautista. The professional wrestler-turned-actor gives a thoughtful performance that is rich with emotion. His character Leonard, a school teacher, has the physical stature to be the most fearsome of the group. Instead, the performance is gentle and tormented. 

"Knock at the Cabin" is the best-directed film by M. Night Shyamalan in recent memory. The exceptional cast keeps the wheels of the mystery turning even when the story runs out of ideas to employ. There are emotionally exciting places to explore concerning the apocalyptic situation and the life choice that needs a solution within the story. While the book indulges the darker, more tangled threads of human behavior, the film never delves much further than the surface emotions. 

Monte's Rating

2.50 out of 5.00

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80 for Brady – Movie Review

Directed by:  Kyle Marvin

Starring:  Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field, and Tom Brady

Written by:  Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins

Runtime:  98 minutes

’80 for Brady’:  The big-screen legends have fun.  You might too, but the film doesn’t throw it deep.   

335; 649; 7,753; 89,214; and 97.2. 

What are these numbers?  Are they significant?  

They are related, but how?  Here are two more integers that double as hints:  7 and 12.

Okay, let’s decode the numeric mystery. 

335 games, 649 touchdowns, 7,753 completions, 89,214 yards, a 97.2 quarterback rating, and 7 Super Bowl victories belong to one individual, #12 Tom Brady.

He’s the greatest quarterback in National Football League history, an organization founded in 1920, so standing tall – at 6’ 4” – on top of his profession is an iconic feat. 

He’s #1. 

On Feb. 1, 2023, and at 45 years young, Tom retired from the game, so his towering statistics will (or should) remain unchanged when he enters the NFL Hall of Fame.  

Speaking of retirement, first-time film director Kyle Marvin employed four Hollywood legends to play a group of senior citizens who love the New England Patriots and their long-time leader Tom Brady in “80 for Brady”.  

Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field play a quartet of Boston-area 80-somethings who embark on a trip to cheer and celebrate their gridiron heroes.  In real life, Tomlin, Fonda, and Moreno are older than 80 years young, but Field is 76, a declaration and clarification that her character makes during this 98-minute comedy.  Actually, Betty (Field) proudly claims that she’s 75, the age that Field probably was during the filming. 

But let’s not digress with semantics. 

The bottom line is that Lou (Tomlin), Trish (Fonda), Maura (Moreno), and Betty are BFFs, and the ladies have been Brady fans for years, 16 to be exact.  They watch their favorite team and player every weekend and wear the man’s jersey, complete with shiny silver sequins. 

Well, the Pats are cruising through another great season, and as the movie opens, the Fab Four are enjoying Brady and Co. winning the AFC Championship Game.  Their team is heading to the Super Bowl.  The women attempt to secure tickets to The Big Game and eventually do! 

“80 for Brady” producers MUST HAVE negotiated with the NFL to make this film because the National Football League provides all kinds of footage from one particular Super Bowl that features the Patriots and Tom Terrific.  (For the record, Tom Terrific is the nickname for MLB Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver.)

Which Super Bowl?  Which year?  Which site?  You’ll have to watch “80 for Brady” to find out, but yes, it’s a classic battle.  

Without a doubt, the NFL logo is everywhere.  NFL films offers tons of actual plays that are wildly close to the action.  No, this movie isn’t in 3D, but you almost believe that you could reach out and touch the players or be tackled by them.

Before the game begins, Lou, Trish, Maura, and Betty relish their football fantasies with the NFL Experience, a pre-game amusement park that goes on for days leading up to the on-field crescendo.  Writers Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins fish for activities for our leads, and the happenings are tied to the NFL.  So much so, that the movie’s second act feels like a giant commercial for the aforementioned sports league as Halpern and Haskins crowbar our golden-years enthusiasts into sticky situations and glorious triumphs.  

(Admittedly, it is refreshing to see NFL logos and uniforms in a motion picture.  We’re not dealing with teal and magenta unis and constant references of fabricated team names like the Boston Tea Partiers or the Los Angeles Quakes.) 

Unfortunately, the contrived setups wreck any suspension of disbelief, or at least with this moviegoer.  The film is no longer the story of four AARP members basking in adventure.  It becomes a showcase for the actresses to participate in artificially crafted hijinks that just fills time.  From that perspective, “80 for Brady” reaches the end zone and scores 6.  

The film is light, breezy, and harmless, and hey, it’s a chance to see Tomlin, Fonda, Moreno, and Field together in one picture.  This flick is almost a reunion of “9 to 5” (1980).  Well, two-thirds, anyways.  We’re just missing Dolly Parton, but no one is complaining about Moreno and Field filling this cinematic dance card.  

The actresses seem to be enjoying themselves too, and it’s heartwarming to see, even for the most cynical critics.  

Look, Sally Field brings some hip dance moves!  

Still, the film is as cookie-cutter as you can get, and we’re not talking about the delightfully sinful Crumbl Cookies franchise.  Silly plot threads are created, frayed, and tied back together with more convenience than your local 24-hour gas station.  It’s eye-rolling stuff, as wishes for more substantial and creative ideas never materialize.  Although the script tries to interject some gravitas with health concerns, bereavement, dating outlooks, and marriage quibbles, these moments feel as throwaway as a deliberate incomplete pass out of bounds.  

Oh, do Tom Brady and other Pats have speaking lines outside of the Super Bowl B-roll?  They do, as Mr. Brady adds another IMDb credit to his name, in addition to his memorable cameo in “Ted 2” (2015).  

Tom no longer plays pro football, so he’ll have plenty of opportunities to step in front of a movie camera.  For Tomlin, Fonda, Moreno, and Field, “80 for Brady” is a rare chance for the superstars to perform together, and the film’s target audience will most likely rejoice and cheer.  

This critic isn’t included with that group of spectators.  Sigh, if only the script threw a Hail Mary or two or five, or at least threw it deep once.  

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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One Fine Morning - Film Review

Directed and written by: Mia Hansen-Løve

Starring: Léa Seydoux, Pascal Greggory, Melvil Poupaud, Camille Leban Martins and Nicole Garcia

Runtime: 112 minutes

Léa Seydoux’s heartfelt performance felt overshadowed by the all-too-familiar concepts of family strain and conflicted romance.

Sandra Kienzler (Léa Seydoux) is splitting up her life caring for her young daughter Linn (Camille Leban Martins) and mentally deteriorating father (Pascal Greggory), while rediscovering her sexual passion with lover Clément, (Melvil Poupaud) -who is splitting his attention with Sandra for his wife and son.

On top of this, Sandra works as a translator for various linguistic projects and helps her family shift her father from one care facility to the next. 

Sound like someone we know? 

Seydoux portrays the mothers, daughters and romantic partners of the world. More importantly, Seydoux shows the intricacies of juggling the messy everyday world through this combined character lens. 

The role expectations of Sandra, to be both a mother and adult daughter, create a commentary about familial structures for women. Seydoux’s character must simultaneously care for Linn and her ailing father, placing pressure on herself, which builds tension for viewers throughout the film.

Director Mia Hansen-Løve artfully connects viewers to Sandra’s life through the short, but key, dialogue exchanges throughout the movie. A day at Linn’s school wouldn’t be complete without school-shooter precaution training (every parent’s fear). Meanwhile, Sandra helps her visually impaired father to the restroom (the unexpected responsibility of adult children acting as caretakers). In the midst of the heartbreak, is Nicole Garcia’s laugh-out-loud role as Sandra’s hair-brained mother, Françoise. 

Sprinkled throughout the film, are Sandra’s interactions with her lover, Clément. Leaving viewers smiling, frowning and squinting at the screen. 

Seydoux handles these scenes with poised emotional responses, much like the women in our real lives, but this nearly two-hour film lacked a character arc. Sandra Kienzler faces familial and romantic challenges, but emotionally suppresses herself, which lands her in nearly the same place as the start of the film. 

The slow-paced movie allows viewers to experience the imbalance in Sandra’s life, but for the female audience, these are all-too-familiar concepts. 

Let’s dive into the nitty gritty of cinematography.

Often, it takes me multiple encounters with a movie to realize a mistake within a scene. But since each scene in the film highlights the various relationships in Sandra’s life, one silly ice cream scoop distracted my viewing experience. Sandra and Linn are an example of a goofy and loveable mother-daughter duo. There are only a few scenes utilized to highlight that relationship though. In one case, Linn is holding an ice cream cone, and in between the transitions when Sandra playfully asks Linn for a bite, another scoop of ice cream is added to the cone. If there wasn’t such a focus on the ice cream, I wouldn’t have noticed the change, but this distraction lessened the emphasis on their relationship.

Other transitions made throughout the film shifted the viewer’s attention from one scene to the next quickly, and at times, scenes were accompanied by music. While shifting throughout the scenes, viewers were introduced to the whirling storm of Sandra’s life within the first thirty minutes. The rest of the film further delves into those aspects, sharing the life of a lead female character. 

In “One Fine Morning,” Mia shows us the intricacy of a person whom most people wouldn’t look twice at. 

Plot: ★★☆☆☆ 2/5

Cinematography: ★★★☆☆ 3/5

Character Arc: ★☆☆☆☆ 1/5

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Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb – Movie Review

Directed by:  Lizzie Gottlieb

Starring:  Robert Caro, Robert Gottlieb, Ina Caro, Maria Tucci

Runtime:  110 minutes

‘Turn Every Page’:  This documentary is a big-screen page-turner

“50 years.  5 books.  4,888 pages.”

Robert Caro wrote five books, and Robert Gottlieb edited them, works that helped uncover the inner workings of American government, the invisible machinery to John and Jane Q. Citizen, and these legislative levers – constructed from backroom dealings and human ambition – forged massive changes to infrastructure and everyday ways of life for millions and millions of the aforementioned residents. 

Power is the throughline subject of Caro and Gottlieb’s labors of love.  By definition, the word means “the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.”  

Specifically, Caro wrote about two individuals who did just that:  New York bureaucrat Robert Moses and U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, one hardback account was about the former, and four (yes, four!) chronicled the latter.  

Caro, 87, and Gottlieb, 91, have not retired and are working together on a sixth book.  

When two titans of the literary world join forces on five landmark efforts over several decades, how do you capture their exclusive working relationship in just a 110-minute documentary?  

Don’t we need a 10-hour series?  

Well, director Lizzie Gottlieb didn’t, as she offers an absorbing look at Robert and Robert through several interviews of prominent writers, publishers, a household-name movie actor, a former late-night talk show host, and a former U.S. President.  Of course, Lizzie cast several candid interviews with The Bobs, and yes, being Gottlieb’s daughter didn’t hurt her chances.  

Editing must run in the Gottlieb family because Lizzie’s doc is a most gratifying big-screen affair that lands under two hours, and her film left this critic ready for another eight hours of insight.  Note that editors Molly Bernstein and Kristen Nutile also lent helping hands in this fulfilling mission.  

Robert and Robert, their supportive wives Ina Caro and Maria Tucci, and Lizzie dive frankly into the men’s childhoods, as both faced obstacles, ones that were, unfortunately, all too common for the time.  Ina and Maria are welcoming presences on-screen, and their relaxed, confident personas offer assurances that – during the last 60-plus and 50-plus years, respectively - love and patronage endure.  

With rock-solid foundations in their adult personal lives, the Roberts have untethered freedom for work.  This dynamic duo offers their secret to success, which entails good old-fashioned elbow grease. 

Their impressive declarations for hard work are undeniable but also exhausting to the ear, as Caro labors for years and years to pen (and pencil and type (on a typewriter)) one book.  During Caro’s storming and forming phases, Gottlieb is his champion, counselor, and ally.  However, the editing process reignites the storming period as the two battle over Gottlieb’s red pen.  Although, we don’t know if Robert actually uses that specific instrument, as they both, at one point during the movie, advocate the absolute need for a wooden pencil.  

Old school in all its glory!  

Caro’s methods for backing up his work and keeping an eccentric storage repository will give techies absolute fits, but Baby Boomers and Gen Xers will smile and nod with approval as that’s-how-we-did-it-back-in-the-day thoughts joyfully swing in our heads.  Younger generations will have questions, like when they are faced with rotary telephones and physical copies of Encyclopedia Britannica at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  (For the record, Britannica is now online these days.  Who knew?) 

Back to the matter at hand, “Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” offers constant moments of wonderment and awe over Caro’s comprehensive, methodical steps to dig further than just about anyone to discover the truth.  It’s all quite remarkable, as he set new standards for investigative journalism.  Robert C. is a person who meticulously takes his time to gather the deepest and darkest facts.  

Gottlieb is equally as thorough – like Bill Belichick studying a Sunday afternoon scouting report – but he works swiftly.  He spent his life as a voracious reader, and Robert G. is a machine at his craft with a star-studded list of publishing credits to his name. 

This isn’t a pairing of the immovable object versus the irresistible force.  Together, The Roberts are unstoppable forces that collide, tangle, and wrestle but also partner to craft breakthrough, transformational, and previously unseen true stories that eventually rest in paper and binding.

Their goals are the same.  

They want to make the best books possible, even though they may quarrel and quibble over cutting hundreds of pages from the final result or repeatedly dispute the values of a semicolon. 

“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” is a movie especially made for English majors, journalists, history buffs, and book lovers.  It’s also a doc tailored to anyone who hasn’t read one of Caro’s works.  

As someone who watches 200-plus new movies a year and “can never find the time” for reading, this critic – absolutely - will carve out space on the 2023 calendar to read at least one Caro/Gottlieb collaboration.  (Naturally, I’ll watch the movie again.)

It’s true…these men and this film leave page-turner impressions. 

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

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The Son – Movie Review

Directed by:  Florian Zeller

Written by:  Christopher Hampton

Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, and Anthony Hopkins

Runtime:  122 minutes

‘The Son’ doesn’t stand as tall as ‘The Father’

“No love is greater than that of a father for his son.” – Dan Brown

Author and playwright Florian Zeller burst onto the cinematic scene, and the grandest worldwide stages embraced “The Father” (2020), his poignant and distressing debut feature film.  “The Father” garnered six Oscar nominations, and Anthony Hopkins and Zeller won the coveted, prized statues for Best Actor and Adapted Screenplay, respectively. 

(“The Father” was this critic’s #6 film of 2020.  Here is the movie review.)  

Zeller (along with screenwriter Christopher Hampton) adapted his 2012 play, “Le Pere”, for the silver screen, and in 2022, this modern-day renaissance man (and Hampton) customized his 2018 stage work, “Le Fils”, for the movies too. 

“The Son” stars Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, and Zen McGrath, and although both films are troubling family dramas – and both feature Hopkins – they don’t appear related.

Hopkins only has one scene in Zeller’s sophomore effort, but the Welsh thespian’s appearance is a doozy.  It’s – arguably – the movie’s most crucial moment, as it frames Anthony’s (Hopkins) relationship with his son, Peter (Jackman), and instantly untethers fragments of recollections and spurs scores of thoughts about patriarchal outlooks between the generations.

The movie’s title can refer to Peter, a 40 or 50-something lawyer (and assumed partner) at Pierce and Grant LLP, but primarily, the story revolves around his relationship with his boy, Nicholas (McGrath).  Nicholas lives with Peter’s ex-wife, Kate (Dern), but she and her frustrated teen clash at her New York City apartment.  He regularly skips school, is emotionally unstable, and Nicholas recently frightened his mom.  Kate says that he stared at her with hatred.  Ultimately, the problematic teenager wants to live with his dad.  

“There must always be a struggle between a father and son, while one aims at power and the other at independence.” – Samuel Johnson

Peter welcomes Nicholas to stay at his spacious Manhattan flat, but this new arrangement crowds the posh space.  Nicholas must share his father with Peter’s 30-something wife, Beth (Kirby), and their infant son, Theo.  Most unfortunately, Nicholas doesn’t suddenly internalize the error of his ways, and this depressed, unfocused, and lazy kid transports his baggage from one parent’s abode to another.  

Now, life forces this industrious attorney – with a new career prospect in Washington D.C. – to carve a substantial slice of his limited time to devote to his disturbed boy, who sinks his tangled roots into this (previously) drama-free household.

Zeller’s “The Father” feels like a play, and most of the 93-minute runtime occurs in one location.  

Physically, “The Son” is not.  Although a majority of the movie transpires in Peter and Beth’s domicile, the camera occasionally finds our lead at the office, a D.C. meeting, a lunch with Kate, and another spot that won’t be revealed in this review.  More importantly, the film practically and emotionally traverses across the screen like just about every melodramatic family production you’ve ever seen, ones that can be found on Lifetime, OWN, or an ABC Afterschool Special that dominated the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.

“Father and son are natural enemies, and each is happier and more secure in keeping it that way.” – John Steinbeck

Various and predictable conversations between our lead and Nicholas, Kate, and Beth dominate the 122-minute runtime, where Peter attempts to find common ground, negotiate harmony in the home, strengthen his relationship with his kid, and provide a sturdy, reliable foundation for him.  However, in most cases, the familiar storylines unremarkably play out.  No, the subdued and sometimes animated pace doesn’t move glacially, but it may be accurate to compare its speed with The Big Apple’s traffic conundrums at 5 p.m. on a Wednesday...during a rainstorm…with construction delays.

Comparing Zeller’s two films might be a tad unfair, but “The Father” breaks tremendous ground with the subject of dementia by cleverly and thoughtfully presenting the ungodly affliction through the eyes of the man who suffers from it.  That’s not the case with its big-screen offspring.  Generally speaking, it feels like a procedural affair. 

Still, “The Son” is not void of some notable highlights.  

“Baseball is fathers and sons.  Football is brothers beating each other up in the backyard.” – Donald Hall

Jackman delivers an impressive performance as a dad struggling to grasp Nicholas’ chaotic feelings and calibrate appropriate responses to the “alien” stimuli.  As an audience, we can – always - clearly see Peter’s transparency of confusion, conflict, empathy, love, and exasperation, and Jackman carries the burden of communicating these disputing emotions like a Heavyweight Champion of the Modern-day Parental World.  Indeed, moviegoing parents will better appreciate Peter’s maddening responsibilities than childless adults.  The film doesn’t offer lifelines, but Zeller seems to say, “I see you, and I understand your struggles.” 

Zeller also distinctly articulates that mothers and fathers can imprint damage upon their kids, solely based on short-term and long-term reactions to a child’s or teenager’s fret, disarray, or turmoil.  

So, this cinematic experience has value, and Zeller is an important voice.  Still, “The Son” doesn’t stand as tall as “The Father.”

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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Plane - Movie Review

Directed by: Jean-Francois Richet

Written by: Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis

Starring: Gerald Butler, Mike Colter, Daniella Pineda, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn, Paul Ben-Victor, and Joey Slotnick

Runtime: 107 minutes

‘Plane’ doesn’t soar, but this action flick hovers, entertains, and sticks the landing

“These planes are pretty much indestructible.” – Flight commander Brodie Torrance (Gerald Butler)

Oh, famous last words.

Commander Torrance will pilot Trailblazer Flight 119 – a 6-hour 30-minute flight - from Singapore to Tokyo, and he delivers the above decree with the utmost confidence to a few of his passengers while standing in the aisle. If you’ve ever experienced flying over an ocean, this fluttering thought has probably crossed your mind: “I hope this airplane is in tip-top, because there’s a whole lot of water between here and there.”

Yes, our hero’s reassuring words are appreciated, but this feature film stars Gerald Butler, so don’t expect an uneventful trip on this commercial aircraft.

Director Jean-Francois Richet (“Assault on Precinct 13” (2005), “Blood Father” (2016)) helms a disaster movie, “Plane”, but one that isn’t a catastrophe.

The primary plot fulcrums play out quite unexpectedly, but – admittedly - the second and third acts bend into familiar B action movie tropes. Still, this flick – according to Google - carries a budget of 50 million dollars, so Richet, writers Charles Cumming and J.P. Davis, Butler, and the cast and crew didn’t seem to wing this film and make it on the fly.

First of all, the movie establishes Brodie as a likable lead. He treats the flight attendants – like Bonnie (Daniella Pineda) - and his co-pilot, Samuel Dele (Yoson An) - with professional respect and personal courtesy and even lands a joke over the intercom before takeoff that garnered pleasant laughs from the movie audience and this critic during the preview screening.

Torrance and Dele also chat about their families, so we know that loved ones are waiting for them. It’s New Year’s Eve, and Brodie speaks to his college-aged daughter – who sits in Hawaii - over the phone, which immediately triggers memories of Liam Neeson’s “Taken” flicks. Will she be kidnapped while Flight 119 is in the air?

Thankfully, no.

Brodie never utters, “I will look for you. I will find you, and I will kill you once I land this plane.”

Promise!

The danger appears dramatically closer to Singapore as a law-enforcement type brings a prisoner, Louis Gaspare (Mike Colter), on board. The detainee-in-transport committed homicide 15 years ago, and Torrance has no say in the procedural matter. Gaspare – an intimidating 6’ 3” presence – sports handcuffs and sits in the back of the sparsely populated airliner. Other passengers range from an agreeable couple, a couple of coeds, and two businessmen jerks, including a whiny, entitled American (Joey Slotnick), and you know – from the get-go – that someone will slap him around a bit before the 107-minute movie ends.

Anyways, the Trailblazer flight takes off, but trouble soon arises. What kind of distress? Well, it won’t be mentioned in this review, but rest assured, this plane, the pilots, flight attendants, and passengers find themselves in a dilemma. Richet and cinematographer Brendan Galvin ramp up the tension at 30,000 feet with some compelling aerobatics, while our brand-new aviation friends stress out in cramped quarters. We don’t exactly know the passengers yet, and all moviegoers’ eyes are fixated on the triad of natural leaders: Brodie, Samuel, and Bonnie.

That’s when the theatrical surprises begin, and “Plane” feels like two different movies, which works to the film’s advantage. Then again, this action flick falls into routines, with an array of nameless villains, plenty of gunplay, and some outlandish stuff.

Still, the picture succeeds with a couple of additional key aspects. Butler and Colter’s general machismo, and their characters find bravado creativities. Butler’s Brodie pulls some nifty MacGyver moves, plus he can handle himself in a fight, which makes one wonder about his backstory. Colter’s Louis is an imposing force who dives into treacherous imagination with weapons, leading the audience into a collective gasp.

Although more campy scenes would be welcome, the movie takes itself – by and large - enormously seriously. This fact helps the thrills feel genuine, even though Richet throws some hazardous lunacy at the screen, especially during two tent-pole sequences. Although, “Plane” isn’t a “Fast & Furious” flick, as the drivers who double as secret agents (or something) – in that series - frequently wink and nod at the camera. Didn’t a car become a rocket in “F9: The Fast Saga” (2021)?

Here, the cinematic mettle is pure, like many throwback action pictures from the 1980s. That doesn’t mean that “Plane” has other issues not mentioned quite yet. For instance, Brodie’s daughter recites the sappiest confessional in recent movie memory, and the airline’s tiger team meets in a dark bunker that resembles a military-style safe house, not a corporate boardroom.

Mostly, the “bunker” minutes are a waste of time, but Tony Goldwyn delivers some lively lines as a black-ops bureaucrat whose moral compass doesn’t point north. It twists more than a Cirque du Solei performance during a tornado watch.

Maybe “Plane” is also a throwback to the 1970s, because when reading this movie’s title, “Fantasy Island” (1977-1984) was the first thought that arrived in this critic’s mind, as memories of Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) declaring, “De plane! De plane!” No, no one reprises Ricardo Montalban’s and Villechaize’s roles, but this ABC staple – that felt like a mashup of “The Love Boat” (1977-1987) meets “The Twilight Zone” (1959-1964) – was an odd and surprising series, and hey, “Plane” – as a singular film – is too.

You might not walk out of the theatre and announce, “’Plane!’ ‘Plane!’”

Still, you might proclaim, “’Plane’. It sticks the landing.”

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

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A Man Called Otto – Movie Review

Directed by:  Marc Forster

Written by:  David Magee, based on Fredrik Backman’s novel

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Mariana Trevino, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Truman Hanks, Rachel Keller, Juanita Jennings, Peter Lawson Jones, Mack Bayda, and Cameron Britton

Runtime:  126 minutes

Hanks and Trevino are terrific, but ‘A Man Called Otto’ feels cliché and crowded

Otto.  

Who is Otto?  

Otto Anderson is 60-something years old and recently retired, but his employment ended forcibly.  

It wasn’t his idea.  

This retiree lives alone in a two-story patio home in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Anderson’s character is a cranky, crabby, and cantankerous combination.  

His neighbors mumble “bitter old man” or “grumpy old bastard” under their breath, and with good reason, because this Pennsylvanian harbors the classic “get off my lawn” tropes, and yes, Otto literally goes there about the grass.  This lonely solo artist is a damaged soul, but – initially - we don’t know the reasons that impaired his good graces.

However, director Marc Forster reveals Otto’s backstory – bit by bit throughout a 126-minute runtime - and offers opportunities for our lead – in the here and now - to rejoin neighborly camaraderie in a film with grand plans on a small stage.

The majority of the present-day cinematic activities occur within the shared-walls community, as Otto meets his collection of neighbors, who mostly annoy him to no end. 

He often curtly states, “Idiots!”  

“A Man Called Otto” is about one man’s - possible - healing that could shift this Gloomy Gus to an Opportune Otto.  

It’s about the hopeful, positive transformation of attitude and outlook.  Whether or not Anderson reaches the Promised Land of personal enlightenment, Forster and writer David Magee deliver an emotional reckoning in the third act.  Moviegoers who buy into Forster’s film – based on Fredrik Backman’s 2012 novel – will embrace “A Man Called Otto” and wipe away the tears while exiting the theatre.  Tears are also possible for those who do not quite approve of this 50-million-dollar production, because the movie effectively hits upon universal themes of true love, loss, grief, and friendship and holds up a mirror for the audience to repeatedly recollect their own experiences.   

So, what’s the problem?  The two-plus-hour film often feels forced and cliché.  Sometimes, it’s a bit clumsy.  “Otto” carries the grace of a snowplow (with its blade scrapping the open pavement) barreling around the Daytona International Speedway.  In other words, the film reaches its goal and the finish line, but not without predictable scrapes and frustrations.  

Again, who is Otto?  

Well, Tom Hanks plays Otto, and that’s a big plus for this American remake of the Swedish original, “A Man Called Ove” (2015), which garnered two Oscar nominations, including Best Foreign Language Film.  On a personal note, “Ove” was a bit unsatisfying for this critic due to the film’s back-and-forth narrative structure and Ove’s (Rolf Lassgard) one-step-forward-two-steps-backward patterns throughout much of the story.  

(At least for me, this version has the same wearisome features.  Although, admittedly, it’s been years since I’ve watched the original.)

Of course, Hanks is engaging here, and he’s playing off-type.  Hanks’ Otto is snippy, impatient, and rude, but – deep down - this killjoy has a lively spirit.  It’s just buried under years of aggravation.  We see Otto’s present – and all its gruff glory – but his yarn has spun a few layers over the decades.  

We see one from his past, an early 20-something Otto, played by Truman Hanks, and does that name spark interest?  

Yes, Truman is Tom’s real-life son, and the young Hanks rightfully delivers – with an innocent, selfless Richie Cunningham demeanor – Otto’s formative adult years.  

He’s delightful.  

Truman’s costar - Rachel Keller, who plays Sonya, Otto’s love interest - is equally charming.  Sonya and Young Otto share warm, sugary feels, but the recurrent flashbacks to the 1970s are a bit distracting because we go back so often.  Unfortunately, we only see two timeline versions of Otto, so the progression between them is – basically - non-existent.  It’s missing.  

The movie throws in several neighbors but doesn’t devote enough time with all of them.  Add a bad-land-owner thread, a random HIPAA violation, and a social media journalist investigation, and a lot is going on here.  Yes, there is a method to Forster and Magee’s madness, but this film adaptation seems better suited for a television series rather than a 2-hour movie.  Still, “Ove” worked for most folks, including the Academy but – again - not this critic. 

However, the best 21st-century moments are with Otto and Marisol (Mariana Trevino), a mom and wife who moves in across the street.  Marisol is THE neighborly muse who starts to pull Otto out of his sullen, grouchy funk, and Trevino is flat-out terrific as a friend we all could use!  Hey, let’s watch an 8-hour series with Otto, Marisol and her family, and a feral cat who becomes an unlikely pal for our hero.

Still, Forster and Magee grant important, meaningful, and universal messages, and Hanks and “Ove” fans will probably and rightfully hug “Otto”.  Others might need more artistic flair, nuance, or space for an additional six hours of Otto and his friends/frenemies.  

Wherever you land, that’s fine.  No judgment here.  Just being neighborly!  

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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Living – Movie Review

Directed by:  Oliver Hermanus

Written by:  Kazuo Ishiguro, based on Akira Kurosawa’s screenplay

Starring:  Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Burke, Adrian Rawlins, Hubert Burton, Oliver Chris, Michael Cochrane, Anant Varman, Richard Cunningham, and Patsy Ferran

Runtime:  97 minutes

‘Living’:  Nighy deserves a Best Actor Oscar nomination in this affecting, tender Kurosawa remake 

The year is 1953 in the UK.  

As director Oliver Hermanus’ film – a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 “Ikiru” – opens, London is alive!  

The city bustles with vitality with residents, tourists, various vehicles, and those classic AEC Routemaster red, double-decker busses traversing across the pavement while “Serenade for Strings in E” gloriously bounces in the background.  Also, Hermanus includes a title sequence that looks like the movie is straight out of the 1950s.  He and writer Kazuo Ishiguro offer a time machine to the last century for 97 mesmerizing minutes about the human condition. 

“Living” is an affecting, beautifully crafted, and meticulously shot picture that connects us with this specific time and space.  More importantly, the film resonates with the universal idea of making the most of our lives in the here and now.  Our individual realities can fly by without awareness when – one day - an ordinary mirror or windowpane exposes old age.  Bill Nighy taps us on the shoulder as we follow Mr. Williams’ (Nighy) journey in a performance that deserves a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

After the opening and a few pleasantries, the movie travels to the London County Council.

Several departments - like Parks, Education, and other familiar monikers - fill the LCC’s massive building.  Men wear sharp suits and bowler hats.  Women sport flowery-patterned dresses, and their hairdos are styled perfectly like the ladies took 2-hour trips to the salons each morning before their 8 a.m. shifts begin.  

Typewriters click and clack, and small metal bins - that sit on mahogany desks - hold stacks of paperwork.  Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood) refers to the paper piles as “skyscrapers.”

While the city feels lively, work goes to die at the London County Council.  

Those aforementioned skyscrapers represent projects, needs, and reports that are literally shuffled throughout the building, as bureaucrats routinely redirect responsibility for filling these requests to rival divisions.  

At the Public Works Department, you’ll find a team of six – five men and one woman – huddled around a large bureau as they speak with cordial formalities.  The dignified, reserved leader is Mr. Williams.  His subordinates follow his example with discreet, proper conversation, as they tend to procedures.  

Mr. Williams, Mr. Middleton (Adrian Rawlins), Mr. Hart (Oliver Chris), Mr. Rusbridger (Hubert Burton), and Miss Harris (Wood) spend their working days at Public Works, and Mr. Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp) – a young, plucky upstart – strolls in on his first day as an objective observer of this insulated operation.  The “misters” are all resigned to their weekday actualities, but Margaret wishes to leave the group for an assistant manager’s position outside the LCC.  Meanwhile, Peter attempts to fit in and make sense of it all.

It first appears that Mr. Wakeling is the film’s prime protagonist, a difference-maker for his co-workers, but the focus quickly shifts to Mr. Williams due to an appointment that breaks up the workday.  Williams leaves at “20 past 3,” and one might immediately wonder if this is the first instance that he’s ever left the office before 5 p.m.  

This offsite meeting triggers an immediate alert for Williams, one that requires self-reflection, and the story follows him home and other locales. 

Nighy – with his slim frame, narrow face, and dignified diction – offers susceptibility, regret, and fear with Mr. Williams, however, the Public Works head does reach out for salvation.  

Sometimes, Williams clearly and demonstratively communicates his feelings in silence, like when he ponders a frank discussion with his adult son. 

During other occasions, Williams opens up to two unlikely allies:  Miss Harris and Sutherland, a random stranger played by Tom Burke.  These two everyday heroes and their generosities allow the audience to listen to Mr. Williams’ confessionals, and the moments are eternally critical, so we can bond with our lead and help diagnose his next steps.  

There’s also one moment around the film’s 33rd minute that will absolutely break your heart, where Williams doesn’t sit in silence nor speak, but he shares his soul in the most unexpected way.    

Still, for the long game, he must initiate meaningful changes.  However, after 70 years of living in one way, how is Williams equipped to shift his mindset?  

Through Nighy’s engrossing portrayal of a leader’s attempt to transform his wiring, Williams may accomplish more than he could dream.  He will have to take that first step.  “Living” is a tender film presented with the utmost care through every gorgeous frame, pitch-perfect performances, and a hope that small victories make meaningful, eloquent differences.  

Indeed, London is alive. 

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

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M3GAN - Movie Review

Dir: Gerard Johnstone

Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Brian Jordan Alvarez, and Jen Van Epps

1h 42m

History has demonstrated that the first week of the new year doesn’t typically offer the finest selection of scary movies.  But director Gerard Johnstone, whose last foray into genre territory was 2014’s wickedly humorous and horrific “Housebound,” challenges with “M3GAN” an absolute surprise of sinister fun and killer-robot-doll mayhem.

Written by Akela Cooper, who stunned in 2021 with the script for “Malignant,” the story begins by introducing a family driving during a snowstorm.  The daughter, Cady (Violet McGraw), sits in the back seat playing with an annoying furry toy while the parents bicker in the front seat about driving conditions.  Unexpectedly, a snow plow hits them head-on, leaving Cady orphaned and sent to live with her Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). 

While the film may begin with a familiar horror movie troupe, things get much creepier and weirder once Cady meets a new toy built by her robotics expert Aunt.  The toy is called M3GAN, which stands for Model 3 Generative Android, and it’s a life-sized doll that looks like an adolescent girl with blonde hair, a rubber face, and creepy eyes.  M3GAN sings, dances, and offers emotional support while continuously adapting and learning from the child that pairs with it.  Cady and M3GAN become fast friends, helping Gemma save her job at a corporate toy company that hopes to launch the advanced technology before competition can duplicate it. 

“M3GAN” lives and breaths on its understanding of the tone it’s implementing, which consistently aims for campiness and humorous qualities with a mix of horror scare tactics.  The inclusion of a hilarious toy commercial to start the film, M3GAN singing a laugh-out-loud lullaby, and a wild dance number that transitions to a chase scene make it clear that the film is having loads of fun.  The horror elements are minor setups for unfrightening jump scares, and much of the gore and death happens off-screen.  However, Johnstone understands how to build tension and compose a scene for the thrill of seeing M3GAN inflict retribution on some awful people. 

The film sneaks some commentary concerning the overuse of technology for children and how more significant technological advancements have created a rift in the family structure.  Still, it never delves much deeper below the surface.  There are a few moments when the narrative momentum stalls, but once the film moves into “Terminator” territory with its killer robot vibes, “M3GAN” operates for pure entertainment value.  Writer Akela Cooper is an exciting voice in genre storytelling, and director Gerard Johnstone understands what to do with the script here.  “M3GAN” is an unexpectedly good time at the movies. 

Monte’s Rating

3.25 out of 5.00

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Monte's Favorite Films 2022

2022 was another fantastic year for the cinema. A year that, in the still lingering cloud of a pandemic, saw a return to the theater-going experience. It was a year that continued the surge of streaming platforms and so many media options to watch. The diversity of films released, from the big to the small and at-home streaming screens, displayed a wealth of brilliant performances, inventive stories, and exciting new artistic voices. Every month a new film competed for my favorite movie of the year. For a cinephile, that's a beautiful feeling to experience while going to the movies. Here are my favorite films of 2022.  

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10. Top Gun: Maverick

"Top Gun: Maverick" is a sequel, but it feels more like a reboot. From a story perspective, the framework is similar, in some ways identical, to the original film. Scenes feel pulled from the 1986 movie, updated with new faces, and reintroduced for modern times. The action is exceptional throughout the film, with most scenes featuring the actual actors twisting, turning, and being placed in situations with the immense forces exerted on their bodies. It's exciting filmmaking, adding another element to blur the lines between the special visual effects and reality. "Top Gun: Maverick," with its purposeful nostalgic callbacks and familiar storytelling design, is a delightful movie. 

9. RRR

The staggering three-hour and seven-minute runtime of director S.S. Rajamouli's "RRR" is nothing short of epic. A feast of intoxicating imagery, a spectacle of over-the-top action, and, at its core, a celebration of cinema in all its many forms. "RRR" implements a story about two freedom fighters, Bheem and Raju, who join forces in an epic adventure featuring a rapid-fire narrative, a spectacular musical number, and a bromance between two charismatic leads that evokes both comedic and sweet sentiments. S.S. Rajamouli proudly displays a deep admiration for popular cinema and an intriguing artistic fingerprint that showcases his cultural influences. 

8. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio 

The story of "Pinocchio" was adapted three different times in 2022. Each version handled the one-hundred-year-old story through various artistic mediums and implemented new narrative features and tones with each film. "Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio" was the best of the bunch. Del Toro builds a darker, more tragic version of the fairytale within a stunning stop-motion animation style while focusing its emotional emphasis on elements surrounding family and the unconditional love found within that structure. The familiar story of the wooden puppet who dreams of being a real boy is superbly re-envisioned by one of the finest storytellers working in cinema today. 

7. Bones and All

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, "Bones and All" is a road trip coming-of-age love story about two cannibals searching for meaning across Midwest America. But underneath the sheen of young love in peril and surrounded by horrors at every pit stop is a story using genre characteristics to delve into concerns surrounding seclusion, abandonment, and inherited trauma. At times it feels like a commentary on the opioid epidemic in America, the socio-economic imbalance felt during a crisis, and the changing, ravaged, yet still mystical and majestic landscape found on quiet roads across small-town America. The performances are deeply layered. Mark Rylance is unnervingly odd, while Taylor Russell is formidable with her conflicted emotions for her newfound urges. "Bones and All" can be brutal and beautiful in equal parts.

6. Decision to Leave 

A mountain climber falls to his death mysteriously. A detective investigates the accident but considers it a possible crime. At the center of the investigation is a woman operating with curious, suspicious motives. Sound familiar? Director Park Chan-wook's "Decision to Leave" is an elegant, confounding mix of neo-noir sophistication in the shadow of Alfred Hitchcock. Throughout his career, the director has masterfully curated genre stylings, utilizing varying degrees of meticulously strategized elements of sex and violence within each tale. "Decision to Leave" weaves a familiar mystery, one that harkens back to noir stylings of the 50s and 60s, but in the steady hands of Park Chan-wook, the result feels different. It's unexpectedly complicated, sensuous, and intriguing with every twist.  

5. The Banshees of Inisherin

Friendship is central to Martin McDonagh's humorous and heartfelt drama "The Banshees of Inisherin." Situated on the fictional island of Inisherin in 1923, the film falls directly into the dissolution of a longstanding friendship between two friends. Featuring career standout performances from Brendan Gleeson, playing the stubborn Colm, and Colin Farrell, portraying the oblivious Pádraic, the film composes a tale of morality and the fragility of relationships, both new and old. Beyond its initial humor and oddball partnership, "The Banshees of Inisherin" delves deeper into human complications that grow gravely personal and startlingly brutal for two friends. It works because of McDonagh's clever script, direction, and astounding performances from Gleeson and Farrell. 

4. The Fabelmans

Steven Spielberg's fictionalized, semi-autobiographical story of adolescence and falling in love with the movies is spellbinding. The fragments of life, the moments that profoundly change and influence humans, can be equally magical and tragic. Spielberg curates the details of Sammy Fabelman's life, from the spectacle of cinema that stole his heart to the slow collapse of his parent's marriage and the progress of chasing a dream of making art. The influence of Spielberg's love for cinema finds incorporation in subtle and obvious places. The coming-of-age story indulges in everything the director has perfected narratively throughout his career. "The Fabelmans" is Spielberg's most personal work and also his best film of the past decade. 

3. Vortex

Gaspar Noé, the controversial and uncompromising auteur, composed the only film that haunted my thoughts for days after its viewing. "Vortex" is an unflinchingly honest look at growing old, dying, and the inevitable encounter with death. The film is viewed through split frames, detailing through different perspectives the ailing health of a husband and wife, an astounding portrayal from legendary genre filmmaker Dario Argento and a heartbreaking performance from Francoise Lebrun. "Vortex" is unlike any of Gaspar Noé's previous work. The sensationalization of themes and the gratuity of violence are replaced with a subdued, although still affecting and tragic, portrayal of end-of-life emotions. "Vortex" is a film I will always admire but probably never watch again. That's the power of the emotions conjured by this film. 

2. Aftersun

The debut feature for writer/director Charlotte Wells is a poignant filmmaking exercise. The film begins with 11-year-old Sophie vacationing with her father, Calum, at a resort. It's a memory she recounts lovingly and longingly 20 years later as an adult as she tries to piece together a portrait of her father, both the man she remembers and the one outside her view. "Aftersun" is a character study of a father and daughter, of a family doing its best to hold the pieces of their bond together. The style imposed in the framing devices and photography choices portrays memories between the two family members with delicate empathy, beautiful creativity, and heart-aching feeling. The performances from all involved, especially Paul Mescal, who plays Calum, are pitch-perfect. "Aftersun" is a fascinating journey into how we compose memories of the ones we love. 

1. Everything Everywhere All At Once

Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the creative directing combo, Daniels, composed a fantastical, genre-bending spectacle of pure cinema with the appropriately titled "Everything Everywhere All At Once." The film centers around everything between the Wangs, a Chinese-American married couple who own a laundromat, and the tenuous relationships experienced in their multigenerational family. While they finish their taxes, Evelyn, a stunning Michelle Yeoh, is brought to the realization of the many versions of herself from everywhere in the multiverse. The directing duo expertly executes the extreme shifts, from dazzling to bonkers. However, the story's brilliance is that underneath all the dazzling designs is a delicate and emotional family drama. It's a film about how life can force people to try to be everything for everyone. About how experience can influence from everywhere around us. And how we can find our purpose all at once at any moment on our journey through life. 

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Honorable Mentions: 

11. Tár 

12. Nope

13. Fire of Love

14. Barbarian 

15. Is That Black Enough For You 

16. Holy Spider

17. Resurrection

18. The Northman

19. Jackass Forever 

20. Crimes of the Future

21. You Won't Be Alone

22. Babylon 

23. The Menu

24. Causeway

25. The Batman

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Jeff Mitchell’s Top 20 Films of 2022

2022 felt like the world was beginning to get back to normalcy.  Hence, many of us found ourselves back in movie theatres, including yours truly.  

I hope that you discovered some favorite new movies this year!  Via theatrical releases, film festivals (including ours), and streaming services, this critic caught over 200 new flicks, and after lots of internal debate – although not for the top spot (my #1 spot was always crystal clear) - here are my Top 20 Films of 2022! 

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 20.  “Resurrection” – Rebecca Hall gives the performance of her life as Margaret, a neurotic mother who attempts and repeatedly fails to cope with her PTSD after spotting David (Tim Roth), an abusive partner from her past.  Director/writer Andrew Semans and Hall keep us guessing if Margaret’s fears are real or imagined…that is, until the third act in this memorable and equally warped psychological thriller.  

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19.  “Sisu” – The year is 1944.  WWII is nearly over.  A gray-bearded Finnish gold prospector (Jorma Tommila) simply wants to seek gilded treasure, but he randomly encounters a squadron of about 30 Nazi soldiers looking for trouble.  However, misfortune has found these German combatants because this particular – otherwise ordinary-looking – Finn is a one-man killing machine!  Director/writer Jalmari Helander’s wild, bloody flick delivers cartoonish gore and theatrical insanity that will delight Midnight Madness audiences.

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18.  “Hawa” – Sania Halifa makes an impressive acting debut and leaves a lasting mark as Hawa, a Parisian teen who suddenly decides that former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama should adopt her.  With Ms. Obama visiting Paris for four days, Hawa races all over The City of Light to secure her future-parent dream.  Director/co-writer Maimouna Doucoure and Halifa convincingly capture Hawa’s desperation and elevate the drama around the possibilities, and Grammy-winning singer Oumou Sangare plays the girl’s grandmother in a critical supporting role.

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17.  “Bones and All” – Maren (Taylor Russell) isn’t like other teenagers.  She’s different.  Maren is a monster.  Due to a public outing, she finds herself on the run but meets Lee (Timothee Chalamet), a monstrosity in kind.  Together, this pair of fiends embark on a road trip through small town USA and attempt to survive under the radar in director Luca Guadagnino’s sicko horror film.  Russell and Chalamet are terrific, but Mark Rylance is a spellbinding scene-stealer and deserves a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.  

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16.  “EO” – A circus donkey finds freedom through happenstance, wanders through Poland and elsewhere, and meets a wide assortment of people and other animals along the way.  Director/co-writer Jerzy Skolimowski’s arthouse presentation of animal-advocate messaging presents both human kindness and depravity, and the filmmaker doesn’t pull his punches.  Isabelle Huppert makes a small supporting appearance in this grand ensemble, and six donkeys play the lead, EO, who tries to make sense of his ever-growing worldview. 

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15.  “Jackass Forever” - “Hi!  I’m Johnny Knoxville, and this is…”  Fill in the blank with your favorite Jackass stunt.  With a television series and three feature films under their collective utility belts, Knoxville and his band of merry goofballs – who have astounded, mystified, and disgusted audiences since 2000 – are back!  “Jackass Forever” is a gut-busting laugh riot, and even though our heroes sport more wrinkles and gray follicles, their act isn’t old yet.  The movie is as fresh, funny, and flabbergasting as their first mainstream appearances…during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

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14.  “Holy Spider” – A serial killer is murdering prostitutes in Mashhad, Iran, and a committed journalist (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) travels to this anxious city to investigate the hideous crimes in a gripping, grimy thriller from director/co-writer Ali Abbasi (“Border” (2018)).  Amir-Ebrahimi – who won Cannes’ 2022 Best Actress Award - delivers a harrowing turn as Rahimi, a woman fighting for the truth while battling sexism along the way.  Abbasi’s film – based on a true story - reveals the perpetrator during the first act, leading to surprising turns in the second and third.

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13.  “Tar” – Lydia Tar’s (Cate Blanchett) astounding resume is too grand to be believed, as host/critic Adam Gopnik lists her accomplishments for three-plus minutes to open director/writer Todd Field’s film, his first in 16 years.  Tar is “one of the most important musical figures of our time,” and the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic plans to orchestrate a live performance of Mahler’s 5th Symphony.  Her career overflows with success, but Field has other plans for this EGOT winner over his hypnotizing 158-minute runtime.  Blanchett delivers the lead actress performance of the year in a haunting, modern-day street fight that lingers in posh apartments, theatres, exclusive restaurants, and ivory towers. 

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12.  “Viking” – A space agency interviews and hires five ordinary citizens to live together in a Biosphere situation on Earth, so scientists can recreate, study, and hopefully resolve five astronauts’ behavioral issues on the first human mission to Mars.  Director/co-writer Stephane Lafleur’s movie sounds heavy, but it’s quite the opposite.  His eccentric and hilarious picture soars and spins on its axis with oodles of subtle and blatant sociological humor, as the players, led by a mild-mannered gym teacher (Steve Laplante), have varied responses to their cooped-up circumstances.

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11.  “Top Gun: Maverick” – “Top Gun” flew Tom Cruise into the Southern California skies and exploded his stardom into the stratosphere.  Thirty-six years later, he returns as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in a sequel that zooms higher than the original, and during the biggest, boldest moments, Maverick “takes it right into the Danger Zone.”  With real F-18 fighter jets in action, the first-person footage is spectacular, and the pilots’ training exercises and mission feel as dangerous as a heart attack during an alligator assault.  More importantly, director Joseph Kosinski defines the pilots’ goal early in the film, allowing the tension to ascend straight away from the 20th minute to the conclusion.

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10.  “The Quiet Girl” – Shy, 9-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) lives in a small Irish town with her large family.  Her father and pregnant mother generally don’t have time for her these days – or ever – and they send Cait to live with other relatives, an older couple – Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and Sean (Andrew Bennett) during the summertime in 1981.  Director/writer Colm Bairead’s lovely and affecting picture – adapted from Claire Keegan’s novella – beautifully demonstrates the power of love and care, and “The Quiet Girl” speaks volumes through rich, tender performances set against picturesque Ireland scenery.  Bring tissues.

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9.  “You Won’t Be Alone” – Director/writer Goran Stolevski’s unorthodox horror film - set in 19th-century Macedonia – is the creepiest production of the year.  The prime antagonist is a merciless witch (Anamaria Marinca) – also known as a Wolf-Eateress – who turns a 16-year-old girl (Sara Klimoska) into a similar creature, and now, Nevena (Klimoska) begins her twisted trek through the rural countryside.  Although Noomi Rapace stars in the picture, she doesn’t stay on-screen for very long due to the nature of Stolevski’s story, and the wide-open, frequent daylight settings carry a false sense of security because sinister magic always lurks in plain sight.

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8.  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – “You may be in grave danger.  There’s no time to explain.” – Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan)   Waymond says these words to his wife, Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh).  Well, she’s sort of his wife, because Waymond is from a different universe called the Alphaverse.  He attempts to recruit “this Evelyn” from our universe to fight a great evil.  It sounds crazy, and it is.  Directors/writers Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert invent and explain a bonkers premise, and they throw everything – including a dastardly bagel and a reckless fanny pack - but the kitchen sink at the big screen.  “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a sensory-overload experience that shouldn’t be missed, and the Academy shouldn’t miss Quan’s performance because he deserves the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

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7.  “Happening” –  “Accept it.  You have no choice.” – Dr. Ravinsky (Fabrizio Rongione).  Dr. Ravinsky voices this message to Anne Duchesne (Anamaria Vartolomei), a 23-year-old literature student.  Even though the doctor delivers these words with regret and empathy, his tone doesn’t soften the blow.  Anne does not consent.  She cannot concede.  Anne is pregnant and wishes to terminate her pregnancy.  However, it’s 1963 in Angoulême, France, and abortion won’t become legal until 1975.  Director/co-writer Audrey Diwan delivers a powerful, suffocating picture adapted from Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel, which details her abortion story.  “Happening” is the most timely film of the year, as we helplessly witness Anne’s harrowing journey.   

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6.  “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” – Director/co-writer Dean Fleischer-Camp and co-writer Jenny Slate also star in this endearing live-action feature with stop-motion characters, including Slate’s Marcel, a one-inch talking mollusk with a kids-say-the-darndest-things persona.  This PG-rated story might best be described as a “Garfield” comic strip and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009) combination that gently rolls around and splashes in pools of honey, marmalade, and frank, observational discourse.  Oh, and “Marcel” also has the most unlikely cameo of the year! 

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5.  “Close” – First-time actors Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele play 13-year-old best friends, but the on-screen pair’s sweet, innocent rapport turns sour, as director/co-writer Lukas Dhont moves this contemporary suburban drama into troubling spaces.  Dhont handles the delicate material with extraordinary grace, honor, and restraint, and the Academy should pay attention to Emilie Dequenne.  She deserves a Best Supporting Actress nomination. 

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4.  “The Banshees of Inisherin” - Martin McDonagh's fourth film is his most picturesque, as he shot in gorgeous Counties Mayo and Galway, but "Banshees" is also his most straightforward project. The story marches on ryegrass and clover around a simple one-sided quarrel between two men (Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell). However, the grim conflict feels like a spaghetti western/fable concoction, and these ingredients churn in a cauldron forged by Irish history. 

Gleeson and Farrell are at the peak of their powers.  Kerry Condon is delightful and grounded, and Barry Keoghan is a riot.

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3.  “Fire of Love” – Katia and Maurice Krafft.  This wife and husband also doubled as a dynamic duo, superheroes of the scientific world.  The Kraffts were world-renowned volcanologists who traveled the globe and bravely stood tall against these geologic marvels to study and film the treacherous spectacles.  Katia and Maurice are no longer with us, but director Sara Dosa and narrator Miranda July offer a front-row seat to Kraffts’ flabbergasting and up-close explorations with lava rushing - seemingly - inches away from the scientists’ feet.  This documentary offers astonishing visuals but also carves out precious minutes to explore this couple’s relationship that ties their emotional bonds to their extraordinary work.

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2.  “All Quiet on the Western Front” – Director/co-writer Edward Berger delivers his nightmarish and haunting vision of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel about the horrors of WWI.  This epic carries jaw-dropping and sweeping technical achievements but also effectively follows a young German soldier’s (Felix Kammerer) specific journey, one that lands him in trench-warfare hell.  Berger doesn’t always hold us in the trenches, as he thankfully offers some reprieves to catch our collective breath, including several moments with the ever-reliable Daniel Bruhl, who plays Matthias Erzberger, a politician attempting to negotiate a ceasefire.  

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1. “Godland” – Director/writer Hlynur Palmason (“A White, White Day” (2019)) effectively presents a decisive clash between naivete and nature in a scenic drama about a Danish priest’s attempt to establish a church in 19th-century Iceland.  Indeed, Palmason fashions the Icelandic topography as a mystical and intimating character for the audience and the aforementioned clergyman (Elliott Crosset Hove), but Lucas’ (Hove) lofty emotional make-up also collides with the locals’ earthy pragmatism.  Palmason channels his inner Werner Herzog and Terrence Malick in this instant classic.

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Wildcat – Movie Review

Directed by:  Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh

Starring:  Samantha Zwicker and Harry Turner

Runtime:  106 minutes

‘Wildcat’:  This ocelot kitten rescue documentary will trigger tears

In 1982, Werner Herzog released “Fitzcarraldo”, an epic adventure set in Peru.  Herzog - not wanting to resort to George Lucas-style special effects - and his crew famously moved a 300-ton steamship over a hill in the Amazon rainforest.  It was a Herculean task, and the event is proudly documented in cinematic history. 

Forty years later, directors Trevor Frost and Melissa Lesh capture another such undertaking in the Amazon.  No, Samantha Zwicker and Harry Turner aren’t nudging a humongous vessel through the Peruvian wilderness.  The object of their affection only weighs 32 pounds at best.  

They attempt to raise orphaned ocelots to adulthood – at 18 months - and then release them into the wild.  Apparently, this humanitarian enterprise has never been accomplished, but this modern-day Tarzan and Jane put their best feet forward with a grounded and nurturing approach.     

Ocelots are graceful creatures who resemble small leopards.  Due to their comparatively diminutive size, the two cats Samantha and Harry encounter – Khan and Keanu - appear harmless, especially due to the felines’ youthful, kitten-like charm.  As encouraging as Samantha and Harry’s combined intentions are, this 106-minute documentary also exudes “don’t try this at home” vibes.  

First, the wild, hazardous setting is no place for the weak, inexperienced, or pampered.  The pair live in a humble but sizeable wooden structure that does protect them from rainfall and includes a plank-filled rope bridge that escorts them and the occasional human visitors to a latrine.  For those audience members whose days are completely ruined when the good ol’ Wi-Fi runs too slowly, or the almond milk container in the fridge runs dry, Samantha and Harry are roughing it beyond belief. 

Second, unknown animal intrusions pose larger threats.  Who knows what predators exist in the Peruvian rainforest, even though our leads work in a conservation center, Hoja Nueva.  Thankfully, Frost and Lesh don’t often discover brawny, sinewy creatures who could devour Khan, Keanu, or their human caretakers.  Still, the danger is ever-present, as snakes, crocodiles, and other critters seem like they could slither, crawl, swim, or pounce in the camera’s frame at any moment.

So, how does one care for an ocelot kitten?  

Samantha and Harry show us the way, and Frost and Lesh devote precious minutes where Khan or Keanu coo, play, and snuggle with their foster parents.  Harry is particularly hands-on, and this former British military veteran – back from Afghanistan – handles these young cats with a careful, feather-like approach of a delicate guardian tending to a baby chick.  Harry also offers testimonials of his combative episodes in the Middle East.  By Harry reciting and displaying his PTSD, these cherished moments of human-cat support will melt away any resistance in your tear ducts.  Animal lovers will be powerless to resist a stiff upper lip and probably find themselves quivering with affection and empathy while treading in pools of tears.  

(On a personal note, this critic has been actively involved with animal rescue for nearly 11 years, and the aforementioned descriptions were my experiences during this movie.)  

Samantha truly is a modern-day Dian Fossey, but without controversy or aggression.  However, her initially rock-solid partnership with Harry shows signs of fracture.  They share the same goals, but Harry’s issues from his days of combat bleed into their relationship.  Samantha may be a brilliant ecologist from the University of Washington, but she’s not a qualified therapist.  Unfortunately, Harry needs one.  Still, his dedication to this project resonates admirably.  Ms. Zwicker also shares her past through on-camera declarations, and these humans do not appear aligned for the long term. 

No question, this documentary’s primary storyline – the kittens’ graduation to independent adulthood - gets a little lost from the film’s initial path.  It’s more like Samantha and Harry take an unwanted detour due to his past.  This emotional diversion pulls from the hopeful quest in an unpleasant way, but “Wildcat” is an actual record, and life often throws roadblocks and bypasses in front of our best-laid plans.  This deviation from Samantha and Harry’s ultimate philanthropic trail adds tension to this demanding mission.  Unexpectedly, this added stress creates more of an investment for the audience. 

Look, if you loved the Oscar-winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher” (2020), you will embrace “Wildcat” as well.  Craig Foster from “My Octopus Teacher”, Samantha, and Harry reach out to accomplish astonishingly strenuous aspirations with vulnerable animal-kingdom partners.  Like Werner Herzog’s efforts, their work is permanently and cinematically captured. 

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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The Whale – Movie Review

Directed by:  Darren Aronofsky

Written by:  Samuel D. Hunter

Starring:  Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau, Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins, and Samantha Morton

Runtime:  117 minutes

Catch ‘The Whale’ and Fraser’s Oscar-worthy performance

Since Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival on Sept. 4 and then played shortly after at the 2022 Toronto International Festival, more praise has been thrown at Brendan Fraser – for his portrayal of Charlie, a 600-pound recluse – than Pope Francis, Jane Goodall, and Lionel Messi combined.  

With good reason.  

Fraser delivers the most passionate and visceral lead actor performance of the year in a role that teeters on the edge of danger and clings to the tiniest buoy of hope, one that barely floats on a sea of heartbreak.  

Charlie’s sorrow didn’t flood his psyche overnight, but it spawned through a personal tragedy that writer Samuel D. Hunter reveals somewhere during the film’s knotty, turbulent 117-minute runtime.  

Hunter adapts his screenplay from his 2012 play, and “The Whale” feels like a stage production.  The movie only features a handful of characters, and the events primarily reside in one locale, Charlie’s modest, cluttered apartment.  This is his place of work, as he teaches online English courses at a local college.  While Aronofsky regularly features a collection of students’ faces on Zoom calls, Charlie’s camera doesn’t operate.  His late teen/early-20-something pupils can only see a blank, black screen, where Charlie’s reflection should inhabit.

The audience, however, does witness the protagonist, a regretful, self-loathing middle-aged human being whose middling days string together over months and years.  Charlie buries his grief through food and then barricades himself in his second-story bungalow, shut off from the physical world except for Liz (Hong Chau), a nurse who frequently stops in to take his vitals and stress over his condition.  Liz is also his fretful friend.

A two-person play, a movie does not quite make, so Aronofsky and Hunter introduce a few additional characters and a threat, Charlie’s perilous health.  His excessive size makes simple movements off the couch an all-day chore.  With Charlie’s constant struggle for oxygen – along with an ominous, thunderous score that storms inside the lead and his dwelling - the disconcerting tension in the air breathes unnerving agents of strife.  

Could Charlie go at any moment?  It certainly seems like it.  

One character is Thomas (Ty Simpkins).  He’s a young, impressionable missionary, one hoping to save Charlie in a spiritual sense.  Throughout the film, Fraser’s Charlie feeds a sense of mortal dread on the screen, but this story attempts to respire life to our hero through hope.  Unfortunately, religious amends are not a chosen direction, and Thomas’ recurring presence does not register on Charlie’s salvation register, nor ours.  Instead, rescuing Charlie from his current abyss will need to come in the form of his estranged teenage daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink).  

At least, one would think.  

While Charlie and Liz carry oceans of depth, motivations for their current outlooks, and a deeper connection than initially thought, Ellie is the most one-note character to grace the screen since Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s “Halloween” (1978).  Ellie is a miserable, cantankerous, mean-spirited, selfish creep, and – on the surface - her lone presence in this movie can serve as a poster child for birth control.  Her deliberately vile behavior makes the girl a more unlikable villain than a composite character of Regina (Rachel McAdams) from “Mean Girls” (2004), Scut Farkus (Zack Ward) from “A Christmas Story” (1983), and Biff Tannen (Tom Wilson) from the “Back to the Future” series.  

Aronofsky, Hunter, and Sink offer zero nuance with Ellie.  Since Ellie forever sprays her vicious bile in Charlie’s direction, she garners no pity or sympathy from the audience, or at least this critic.  Even though Charlie attempts to make amends for past wrongs, his rose-colored glasses are – in reality - clouded with mud, and the relationship between these two immovable objects fails to garner authenticity.  Well, it rings true in Charlie’s mind, anyway.

One could find parallels between Charlie and Ellie’s relationship with Randy (Mickey Rourke) and Stephanie’s (Evan Rachel Wood) in Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler”  (2008).  Both Stephanie and Ellie harbor resentments against their absent fathers.  However, at least Stephanie offered some optimism for reconciliation, while Ellie grants us none.  

However, Charlie still relents to make peace with his past and his daughter.  Hence, this is where “The Whale” earns its title.  It’s not necessarily because of Charlie’s weight.  From a literary perspective, as contemptible as Ellie and her essence are, there’s a method to Aronofsky’s, Hunter’s, and Sink’s madness.  Ellie’s not an immovable object but an irresistible force, and an elusive one.  Still, cinematically, “The Whale” garners frustration.  Then again, so can life, and Charlie’s the epitome of this exasperating concept.

Several friends and colleagues – who have not yet seen “The Whale” - have said to me, “I can’t believe that Brendan Fraser gained all that weight for the movie.”

He did not.  Fraser wore a 300-pound prosthetic suit or pieces of one to play Charlie, but the practical effects look genuine.  More importantly, Brendan’s emotional performance made you feel that he did, along with the potential for an on-screen health crisis. 

Hand the man the Best Actor Oscar.  He earned it. 

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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Memories of My Father – Movie Review

Directed by:  Fernando Trueba

Written by:  David Trueba, based on Hector Abad Faciolince’s book

Starring:  Javier Camara, Juan Pablo Urrego, Nicolas Reyes Cano, Maria Tereza Barreto, and Kami Zea

Runtime:  136 minutes

‘Memories of My Father’:  You won’t forget this touching and frank memoir

“What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.” – author Jean Paul 

For many of us – from all walks of life – our dads are heroes.  See also: confidants, educators, mentors, and philosophers, but don’t forget disciplinarians and roadblocks.  Naturally, the latter two “occupations” are designed for our well-being, in the short-term, years down the road, or both.  

For Hector Abad Faciolince - a Colombian journalist and author - it took almost 20 years after his father’s death to write “El Olvido que Seremos”, a 2006 memoir about his dad, Hector Abad Gomez.  In 2012, Faciolince’s book was published in English, “Oblivion: A Memoir”, and now, director Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque” (1992), “The Queen of Spain” (2016)) adapted Faciolince’s dear and candid memories into a feature film. 

In fact, “Memories of My Father” became Colombia’s Best International Feature Film entry for the 2021 Oscars.  With so many chronicles and accolades, Hector Abad Gomez was a remarkable man.  Trueba’s heartfelt, sincere, but blunt movie conveys this notion – through Faciolince’s and his country’s convictions – on the silver screen.  

He was a physician, professor, and outspoken human rights leader.  He was loved and respected by so many in the Medellin community, including his students, everyday folks, and his family.  

Admittedly, this critic didn’t know the man walking into the movie, but I felt a deep respect for both father and son while marching out of the theatre.  

I suspect that you will too.

David Trueba’s – Fernando’s brother - wrote the screenplay, and the pair split their film into two periods:  1971 and the 1980s, beginning in 1983.  The 70s and 80s seem to share the 136-minute runtime equally; however, Fernando and cinematographer Sergio Ivan Castano make a curious and welcome judgment in presenting life in both eras.  

At the outset, this story begins in 1983 Turin, Italy in black and white, as Hector Abad Gomez’s son Hector (Juan Pablo Urrego) – in his 20s - watches an infamous/famous Brian De Palma movie with his girlfriend.  Certainly, the opening locale, the film within a film, and the color palette are surprises.  Yet, fairly quickly, the story rolls back to 1971, and this cinematic time machine carries magical powers because the events in yesterdecade embrace rich, bright 1970s hues reminiscent of “The Partridge Family” or “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” and a bold acoustic guitar version of “Ruby Tuesday”.  

(Note: to avoid confusion, this review will refer to Hector Sr. as Abad, and Hector Jr. as Hector.)

These are the days of Hector’s youth when he (Nicolas Reyes Cano) was 12 or 13, a period of (mostly) warm recollections of his sisters, mother, father, and extended kin.  

No doubt, the Trueba brothers and the cast depict a lively, loving household, and Abad (Javier Camara) is front and center.  Camara exudes a commanding but sensitive outlook for his real-life on-screen character.  Camara’s Abad is a big, imposing presence that emits security and comfort, but he’s dutiful and affectionate, and all of these qualities set an inviting tone for the rest of his family.  

There is peace and warmth here.  We feel all of it, and so does young Hector.  

Cano plays Hector with curiosity and attentiveness.  On several occasions, the screenplay features and hones in on select everyday exchanges between father and son, where Abad donates life lessons to his boy that will spur smiles from the audience for their close relationship.  Trueba expressly lays a solid, welcoming foundation of good feelings during the first act, but he hints (and later portrays) treacherous outside forces – in the form of Colombia’s political and societal upheaval – that threaten the country’s and Abad’s security.

As a cinematic memoir, the filmmakers don’t have the luxury to include all of Hector’s years between the ages 12 to 25 for a 2+ hour movie, so the script makes a distinct break where we don’t experience his teenage years.  Instead, we skip to Hector’s 20s, but the father-son dynamic has changed.  

Abad and Hector have drifted apart a bit, and as an audience, we’re compelled to accept it without complete understanding.  So, our cinematic experience is fractured, and that’s by design, possibly due to time constraints or to directly contrast “the good old days” versus “current hard realities.”   Still, the tension feels forced at times, including a specific, peculiar argument on a winding highway.

However, Trueba and his team capture carefully-crafted and nuanced emotional beats in the third act that indeed memorialize Hector Abad Gomez.  Ultimately, these moments plus the groovy vibes from 1971 are the most important.   

In Juan Forero’s Aug. 24, 2012 “The Washington Post” article, he writes, “With his memoir, (Hector Abad Faciolince) said he believes he is also doing something his father would have wanted, rescuing his memory from oblivion.” 

No question, this touching and frank film rescues his memory as well.

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

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