Reviews

"You're an orphan, right? You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are, because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you?"

An all-time favorite, so well written, feeling so authentic in its characters from Southie, and touching on so many themes which resonate, the deepest of which were childhood trauma leading to issues in relationships, coming from the lower middle class, and having more potential than friends, but also including elements of baseball, math, and a soundtrack featuring Elliott Smith. The scenes between the therapist (Robin Williams) and Will Hunting (Matt Damon) are all brilliant, and the one in which he breaks through by repeatedly saying "It's not your fault" never fails to make me emotional. For a set of actors in the cast with lengthy filmographies this feels like peak work for all of them, and Gus Van Sant balanced the various tones the films took very well. I never get tired of watching this.

"To live in this world you must be able to do three things:

to love what is mortal;

to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it;

and when the time comes to let it go, to let it go."

-- Mary Oliver (In Backwater Woods)

This film was probably a little too short, but in honoring these ten elderly dogs (starting with 20-year-old Mango, who suffers from dementia) and in hearing brief anecdotes from their owners, Sophy Romvari touches on universal feelings and tugs on the heart. We are all mortal beings who will one day decay and pass away, but to see this process on a compressed timeline for the dogs we're lucky enough to have had in our lives, creatures who are such innocent, faithful souls who simply want to be with us, is devastating, and this film taps into that at a time when owners can see the end coming, and are grappling with their emotions. Despite a topic that might cause the viewer to well up with tears, somehow the film manages to be buoyant, maybe because of an underlying acceptance that this is the natural way of things, and these profound relationships with our dogs are to be celebrated for having happened, not mourned when they're gone.

"I have like five different types of moms, and that's OK, and I love each and every one of them. And I love my birth mom too. I don't know her, and still love her. Family's what you make of it, there's no definition."

I don't think you'll find a more adorable or heartwarming documentary. I kind of wish it had probed a bit more into the Anais, the European twin being introverted in contrasted to her American sister Samantha, and how that might relate to stresses in her environment growing up (no siblings, and apparently a less tolerant neighborhood), but maybe that was self-evident. Regardless, a fascinating and engaging story. Look for the ten year anniversary update on YouTube too, which aside from the usual types of updates, shows a more self-assured Anais, and a blending of personas over the past decade.

I understand wanting to connect to modern viewers, but for me Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette erred too much on the side of trying to do that, and it came at the expense of giving me a deeper understanding of this historical figure or the period she lived in. There's not enough context, the portrayal is too sympathetic, and it's also too simplistic, things that I think could have been improved without the film becoming a dry history lesson. Maybe one of the issues is that it suffers by comparison to the AppleTV series Franklin which I've been making my way through, which gets the tone and history right, beyond the beautiful costuming and location footage that Coppola gives us here. I was engaged throughout and kept hoping this would shift into another gear, to make the repeated scenes of opulence build up to something, but it never happened. Along the way, the modern soundtrack had its moments, but I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow to a montage of a shopping spree with an overload of confections was not one of them. I can't say I actively disliked it and I can see why others would be more captivated, but it left me feeling disappointed.

Oh, the things a mother will do for her family. It's laid on a little thick here, for example, the scene with Tilda Swinton literally doing the laundry while desperately trying to come up with ransom money, which will probably resonate with mothers who deal with various crises for both their children and parents on a daily basis. Swinton's solid in this role and the film has tension, but I wasn't sold on some of the character motivations, e.g. The body being put in a shallow cove, or the confession in the automobile. The relationship that develops between Swinton's character and that of the ominous man who shows up at her home (Goran Visnjic) doesn't feel authentic, undermining the second half of the film somewhat. It would have been better had it gone to darker places.

A compelling documentary, worth watching. Snowden is certainly a hero in one sense, as he bravely revealed just how far the NSA had gone in surveilling its citizens and those of the world. To have had this go on unchecked and in non-transparent ways long after 9/11 was certainly one of the disappointments of the Obama administration, and I say that despite my great admiration for the man. Aside from the fundamental affront to privacy and liberty, just imagine this power in the hands of a leader with authoritarian tendencies, and that's just one of the dangers. The documentary does a good job of conveying the many ways digital and analog interactions can be monitored, and putting us in Snowden's shoes as his story was being told to the world by Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.

Despite the respect I have for Snowden, perhaps the greatest whistleblower of all time, the level of the classified information he took, the bulk of it unrelated to mass surveillance, and its possible damage to his country is troubling, and I think this is where the documentary fell short a bit. It never asks the hard question of Snowden or presents the other side of a very complicated situation. Too often it gets bogged down in the mechanics of Snowden's interactions with journalists or his routine in hotel rooms - an incredible level of access to be sure, but more content on the debate, less on him grooming or staring pensively out the window, would have been appreciated.

A documentary of extraordinary events, reasonably well told by Bart Layton. It's hard to fathom that federal agents and the family were not immediately suspicious of the most obvious reason this could not be the missing boy, the eye color being different, in addition to a myriad other things, like the French accent, so the film may have you shouting at the TV as events unfold. It speaks to so many things - incompetence in officials like those in immigration or FBI agent Nancy Fisher, a sizable bit of gullibility, or in the case of the family, simply wanting to believe. Thank goodness for private detective Charlie Parker and the doctor who examined the imposter, both of whom immediately understood the truth. It's when the film explores a darker possible explanation, that the family were hiding a secret or maybe one of them had actually killed the missing child, that the story gets really intriguing. I just wish that so much of it hadn't been narrated by the imposter, a completely untrustworthy serial criminal over decades, and I didn't really care for how the film built viewers up with the excavation scene, only to act like Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. As what really happened here is unknown, it may lead to an interesting round of speculation among viewers afterwards.

"Trees. Birds. Rivers. Sky. / Running with my Uncle Hec / Living forever."

This film from Taika Waititi is more comedy than drama because everything is so softened here - the "troubled youth" (Julian Dennison) is hardly a bad kid from the start, and the relationship he forms with his initially aloof foster father (Sam Neill) has an arc you can see coming from a mile away. I found the jokes about child molestation off-putting and I don't think Waititi quite succeeded in weaving in the darker elements of the story, but overall this is a feel good film whose characters and quirky one-liners made it entertaining, if not quite fully "sweet as."

A tight western told straight up by the Coen brothers, perhaps making it a departure for them, but featuring three strong-willed characters and 19th century dialogue that was constantly entertaining to me. Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon are great as the hired gun and Texas ranger hunting down a wanted man, but 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld is a revelation in her breakout role as the girl who hires them and then goes along to see the job done, something the film hinged upon. It was fantastic that her character was so strong and intelligent, but I also loved the nihilism in Rooster Cogburn, a lawless character sent out to help law enforcement, maybe a trope, but the paradox of which really represents the era. We first meet him being cross examined for his violent tactics in a courtroom, and the last we hear of him is as a western vaudeville performer, somewhat pathetically play-acting a time gone by, the bookends of which seemed to capture something larger than the story. Definitely a solid modern entry in the genre.

A sketch of an artist, one of my favorite musicians, that to its credit doesn't shy away from his deeply held political and religious views, embracing them as central to everything he did. I also liked how it showed his work ethic and the genius in his songwriting abilities, all of which are sometimes overshadowed by a view of him as a ganja-smoking creator of feel-good music. The film is honest about his shortcomings as a man, which we see mostly through the eyes of his wife Rita, played by Lashana Lynch, who probably gave the best performance. If this is an introduction to Bob Marley's life or his music, you can certainly do worse, and it had me humming his songs afterwards while reflecting on their meaning.

On the downside, I thought the film got too stylized at times, and was a little too focused on certain things in Marley's life, like his white father or the assassination attempt. The scenes showing fame coming from touring in Europe seemed rather generic, when I would have loved to have seen more of his early life, some of which is shown in flashback, but, for example, only alludes to the eventual rift with legends Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. Lastly, it was a real shame not to include music from Marley's album Survival in light of the references to his touring in Africa, as that one has always seemed to me a peak for him in terms of powerful messages. I considered rounding my review score up a bit because I was happy this film got made, honoring Marley and his music, and it was enjoyable watching it, I just wish it could have been a little better.

The real-life story of the 1972 Uruguayan plane crash into the Andes mountains and ensuing 72 days of harrowing survival is certainly mind-boggling, and if you like historical dramatizations of such events, this may be for you. It seems it was largely accurate, and the crash, avalanche, and cannibalism are all gripping cinema. On the downside, it all seemed presented "by the numbers," and without a lot of artistry, which became a problem especially over 144 minutes. I wish more time had been devoted to differentiating the characters early on, or explaining the cause of the crash. I never felt as fully invested as I thought I should be as it trundled along towards its predictable conclusion.

A glimpse of a time that goes by too quickly, with a girl about to go through adolescence on holiday with her dad. It's made even more poignant by his having fathered her at a young age, and being separated from her mother, who we're led to believe he met at a rave and were probably not together long. Through a slow unraveling we also get glimpses into his past, with inattentive parents and a fair bit of partying. His relationship with his daughter shows the resilience of children when they know they're loved, and his own life probably contrasts that. I don't know if the plot delivers quite enough for me to love it, but it tugs on the heart, and the girl (Frankie Corio) is adorable.

A young woman deals with a creepy boss as well as a scammer who turns into a vindictive cyber-stalker after she confronts him online. Unfortunately, this felt uncreative and rather generic, complete with a car chase that by all rights should have been the end of the film, but no, it dragged on longer. Throughout the film the woman puts herself in unnecessary danger, the police are always understaffed and one step behind, and the killer moves in linear ways. It's reasonably well made, but I think anyone could have written this. It may pass some time on a long airplane ride if you have nothing better to do though.

The truth is so buried here, and it's in ways that only childhood pain can cause. There is a monster in this story in the conventional sense, but in revealing events out of order, Kore-eda gets us to confront our own assumptions and misguided hunches about who it might be. Meanwhile, you might call some other things monsters, like stifling conformity, the need to preserve appearances, or demonizing others who are different or misunderstood. In showing us these things Kore-eda paints a dark picture of the human condition, but it's with that deft touch he always uses. The film also finishes on a soaring emotional note where simple honesty and acceptance come through, making me forgive it for being a little bit longer than it could have been.

A vehicle for the comedy duo of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, one that's got a little bit of everything, and in vibrant Technicolor no less. There were a lot of ideas crammed into this film, not all of which work, but they're executed with a lot of energy. Here you'll find musical numbers, Lewis's wacky humor, topical issues, and cultural references, all helped along considerably by the women in the cast, including Dorothy Malone, Shirley MacLaine, Anita Ekberg, and Eva Gabor. In fact, it's MacLaine who pulls off the best scene when she reprises the song Innamorata on the staircase, one that's choreographed beautifully for both laughs and sex appeal as she throws herself at Lewis.

It's a film that families can watch, but it sneaks in quite a bit of sexual innuendo, something that amused me. There's an erection reference in the dickey of Lewis's evening clothes continuing to pop up - "I can't keep this dickey down, Ricky" he says as it springs up to slap him in the face. There's the funny scene where he and Martin get twisted up in knots with two women at the massage parlor. There's the suave Martin rubbing lotion into the back of the prone Malone while serenading her, and Lewis's vision for a comic strip including the alluring villain Zuba the Magnificent, who "uses her body like a pair of pontoons." There's the publisher's always-hungry lover, who he passes off as his niece, cousin, or daughter, depending on what comes to mind.

Perhaps unintentionally(?), there's also a fair bit of homoeroticism in the relationship between the two leads. Lewis's character "likes girls," but he's also effeminate and adores Martin's character, cooking for him in an apron, welling up in a tear when he threatens to move out, and walking into the bathroom while he's in the bathtub. After playing a wild game of charades trying to convey a message to him, he even jumping into the water, almost causing Martin to break character. Later he gives him two kisses on the cheek, one from a woman, the other "from me."

There are a lot of fun little bits dropped into the script, starting with the Bat Lady and the dangers of comic books, which predated the dangers of television, the internet, and cell phones, and had ushered in the Comics Code the previous year. We get bits of the Cold War and a couple of years before Sputnik, get a prefetch of the Space Race ("We can safely predict our nation will be the first to break through the Earth's gravitational pull and establish a space station" ... oops on both counts). There's a Rear Window reference complete with Jimmy Stewart accent, an allusion to President Eisenhower's fondness for golfing, a meta reference to Martin's success with That's Amore, and Martin imitating one of Lewis's bits by crossing his eyes while yelling at him.

It was a bit exhausting keeping up with the film, but sweet little moments like Martin singing The Lucky Song with little kids, help with that. I might have liked it even more without the spy plotting towards the end, but Jerry Lewis tickles me with his screwball zaniness and this came with the package.

Not the worst movie of all time, contrary to popular opinion, but certainly not a good movie either. It suffers from a lot of things, starting with wanting to be a drama but at the same time a romantic comedy, and failing at both. Mainly it seems to be a vehicle for Jennifer Lopez, three years after she wrote that green Versace dress at the Grammy's and still on top of the world, and who at the time had left Cris Judd for Ben Affleck to form Bennifer 1.0. She's gorgeous but you would probably be happier watching scenes like the one where she's doing yoga with the sound muted, the dialogue is so atrocious.

One of the biggest issues with the film is with her lead man, Ben Affleck, whose character is an unlikeable tool, made worse by the way he performs it. Seriously, if the thought of wanting to punch him in the face doesn't cross your mind, you're a saint. The problem is not thar he makes Lopez's character "go straight" as mentioned in many reviews because that's not even what happens (and she's pointed out she's been with men before) - the problem is he's so utterly charmless that there's absolutely no way her character would want to share a bed with him, let alone sleep with him. Affleck is caught in no-man's land here - a character too soft to be a gangster, one of the plot points, but still abrasive and arrogant in his personal relationships. It's dissatisfying both ways, and tonally the film is wildly inconsistent.

Al Pacino makes an appearance and gets his big moment in, but it doesn't fit the film at all. The other cameo, Christopher Walken, just seems awkward, with Walken trying to make something good out of the crappy lines he was given and failing. Then there's the kidnap victim, a mentally challenged man, played by Justin Bartha, who you may know as the sidekick Riley in National Treasure. Suffice it to say that unsurprisingly, this character is handled poorly and it's cringe-worthy how he's played for laughs, even if the film thinks it's showing empathy in that final Baywatch scene, which was ridiculous.

Watchable especially if you have low expectations, but be prepared to howl at the screen, and to endure 122(!) minutes.

"I do not like this side of you." "I'm not a box with sides. This is it! One side fits all!"

Not a story I would normally gravitate towards: the entitled daughter of a Hollywood actor, growing up with drug problems and "mommy issues," based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Carrie Fisher, daughter of Debbie Reynolds. Here I was won over by the powerhouse performances from Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine in the lead roles, and continuing down the line through a very deep cast (Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, Dennis Quaid, Rob Reiner, CCH Pounder, Annette Bening), as well Fisher's script, which tugs on all the right emotional chords.

Guys, here's a fun fact that I'm not sure anyone has observed before: this Meryl Streep is an incredible actor! Seriously, I've never seen as much authenticity oozing out of every little moment, every gesture. And in this film you get to hear her drop the F bomb a few times as well as belt out a couple of songs, one written by Shel Silverstein (what!). It's a brilliant performance, and it's to MacLaine's credit that she isn't completely overshadowed, and in fact more than holds her own.

Mike Nichols keeps this story moving and Carrie Fisher's screenplay wisely doesn't wallow in self-pity or assigning blame, instead sprinkling humor into what could have been a dark film. I also found there was a universal element to the parental dynamic, as I recall my father telling his children the exact same thing as Carrie Fisher does here, that "you only remember the bad stuff." This is one that I found had aged well despite subject matter that might not have for more than one reason, e.g. The characters too privileged, not a deep enough dive into the recovery from addiction. In any event, I really enjoyed it, and if nothing else, think the performances alone make it worth checking out.

As various older people were dying off amid budding connections and possible romance, I began thinking this might be Denmark's answer to Four Weddings and a Funeral, with what would end up a different number of both events.

There is certainly sweetness and humor to be found here, as well as a reminder that kindness is what counts in this too-painful world, a combination I invariably fall for. There are several characters who've lost their way on that front, including the elder Reverend who gets told off for his cynicism in one of the film's dramatic scenes, but mostly it's about being gentle and patient enough with those around us, as embodied by the younger pastor, who was a fantastic character (Anders W. Berthelsen).

As for the love connections, they feel organic and lovely, but two of the three matches didn't completely resonate: the hairdresser and the loudmouth (he's too much of a jerk), and the dorky Jørgen Mortensen and the beautiful Italian women who's ten years younger (they just didn't seem like a match, nor could they communicate with one another). The pairing of the pastor with the klutzy woman, him having recently lost his schizophrenic wife, and her having lived under a verbally abusive father, was wonderful though.

Lone Scherfig directed the film in the style of the Dogme 95 Manifesto, meaning very naturally - handheld camera, natural sound and light, etc - most of which works well, and is in keeping with the unpolished tone of the story. The beautiful city of Venice makes an appearance with about ten minutes left, but it's shot quietly, with little fanfare. In fact, the one shot on the promenade simply sets up a funny moment where a tourist helps out by taking a couple of group photos, but does so very badly.

All in all, not perfect, but charming, especially if you like the feel of indie films.

A story told through the fog of memory, 25 years after the fact, as well as from the perspective of a group of boys, who can't begin to fathom the five sisters who are the objects of their fascination. As a result, there is a certain inscrutability about what we see, a distancing. That may capture the helpless feeling survivors feel when someone they know commits suicide, especially when the reason isn't clear, or how we may remember events from our past and the emotions they caused, but spend a lifetime trying to understand them. Unfortunately, it also results in a feeling of not enough depth in the subject matter. I really would have loved to have gotten more of the perspective of the girls, and for them to have been better differentiated. Seriously, aside from the youngest and Kirsten Dunst's character, the others just blur together. We get glimpses of the double standard for young women and what strict, religious parenting might drive them to, but it was shallow, and in any event, it wasn't enough for me to truly love the film. Dreamy and elusive, it has its moments though, and it's set to a nice soundtrack.

Pure pulp, which has its appeal, especially in the hands of David Fincher, who knew how to tell this story. Like the book, it has elements showing the arc of bad marital relationships and cutting observations about men (e.g. The view of the "cool girl") as well as the media, but mostly this is just trashy fun. Unfortunately it's also a story with twists that are predictable, plot bits which are implausible, characters who are cliché, and an ending which is ridiculous. Worse yet, the central idea, a woman serially lying about rape and abuse, has a problematic air about it. Lots of great performances here, slick storytelling, and a very watchable popcorn film - just don't think about it too much.

I'm usually drawn to science fiction films set in space and this one has a decent amount of entertainment value, but it didn't really work for me. The premise of sending a crew of astronauts towards the dying sun to detonate a bomb to jump start it didn't come with answers for some obvious questions, starting with how that could possibly work. I'm usually ok with taking a leap of faith (or in this case, a leap of physics) for a work of fiction, but here it was a chasm, so wide that no explanation was even attempted. Also, why would a crew be necessary at all? Why couldn't the stellar bomb simply be sent directly into the sun?

There are some of the usual tropes here - the crew sitting around socializing early on, ala Alien, and them finding what remains of a previous spacecraft sent on this mission, which allowed for some dramatic moments, but gave the film a bit of a generic feeling. That was made worse in the second half by what they discover, which aside from feeling incredibly implausible, led to thriller type moments that detracted from what had started out as science fiction. Danny Boyle fell in love with the dizzying special effects but I just found them confusing, and would have preferred something quieter, more restrained. It's not a terrible way to spend your time, and the casting, including Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rose Byrne, was definitely a positive.

Spike Lee's telling of the sweltering summer of 1977 in New York, the year the Son of Sam murders gripped the city, is effective in transporting us to the era, especially with music references that span disco, pop, rock, and punk. It's also very well cast, with Mira Sorvino especially turning in a great performance, and John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody, and Jennifer Esposito all strong as well.

Lee's tale has the actually serial killer in the background, an interesting idea that allowed him to focus on the evils of the citizens in the neighborhood: little bits of racism and homophobia, a good dose of misogyny and the double standard in the attitude and philandering of a married guy (Leguizamo), and most effectively, the turning loose of the mob to both loot during the blackouts, and to target individuals unfairly deemed suspects in the killings, like the guy from the neighborhood who wants to be a punk rocker (Brody).

Unfortunately, Lee got a little overindulgent in focusing on these people, and aside from creating characters that sometimes seemed like shallow clichés, the script veered too often into sexual antics. The married couple going from his numerous affairs to her trying to please him through dressing up, asking for sexual advice, going to an orgy, etc felt like a little much. The friend who aside from wanting to be a punk rocker also dances provocatively and services men in a gay nightclub did too. You could say this is a hot mess of a film, and at 142 minutes, it went on too long.

With that said, I was always engaged, and found Lee's memory of this period (he was 20 in 1977) to have a certain intimacy, one with a refreshing darkness that contrasts the buoyant songs of the day, any semblance of sentimentality reserved only for his beloved New York Yankees. Speaking of which, I loved the lines speculating that the killer might be Reggie Jackson - the Son of Sam, Uncle Sam, New York Yankee wearing #44, the caliber of the handgun used.

The coded telegrams with digits were cute:

3755: a number for a poem in the Manyoshu, by Lady Otomo of Sakanoue. "Her beauty radiates over mountains and rivers that separate and incapacitate."

The reply, 666: "Little time has passed since I last saw you, yet I only think of how much I adore you."

This is a romantic melodrama in the fashion of Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters, with a little dash of Maupassant via his novella Moonlight, said here to be the one where "strangers fall in love under the moon." Mostly it consists of a spunky young woman (Mie Kitahara) trying to maneuver her older sister (Yoko Sugi) into a relationship with a man, followed by her own little mini-drama with a family friend who could be more than that to her. It's a tad too prim and staid for my taste, with harmonious family interactions the general rule, complete with the gentle and beatific father straight out of Ozu (and played by Chishu Ryu no less). The tone is not something I'm not a big fan of, feeling too wholesome to the point of being saccharine, but it had its moments, all of which came from Mie Kitahara for me. I liked the visuals from Kinuyo Tanaka but not the slow pacing, and the script left me wanting a little sizzle.

Fascinating and fun for a couple of reasons: (1) seeing Dizzy Gillespie and his quintet riffing to create music that might dub a commercial for an "Instant Rope Ladder" (the animation of which includes the ashes for one poor soul who's doom came from not having this wonderful product), and (2) the (real) old commercials that Hubley had actually created for E-Z Pop Popcorn, Heinz Worcestershire Sauce, and Speedway "79" gas, the first and last of which include jazzy horns and the hip lingo of the era. Dizzy and his band can't seem to be contained to this medium, leading to a delightful ending. Wish it could have gone on longer.

Creative and very entertaining. Its wild slapstick draws from Looney Tunes and silent movies, but it also feels highly original. It seems like it will wear thin, but the antics get funnier as it goes along, helped considerably by Cheslik's great sense of pace and use of misdirection. It's all "cartoon violence," but some of the deaths are delightfully grisly - and somehow acceptable, even though it's depicting the odious act of animal trapping. You even have Olivia Graves in a role reminiscent of Red Hot Riding Hood. Love the homage, love the update to the form; somewhere Tex Avery and Chuck Jones must be smiling.