The Art of the Wager

Every December as the Oscar season approaches, I look forward to the handful of artsy indie films that somehow emerge among all the big studio releases with much larger marketing budgets (like ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,’ ‘Frozen 2’ and ‘Jumanji: The Next Level’) and generate buzz among film critics.  What stood out this year for me is ‘Uncut Gems,’ the Safdie Brothers’ fascinating, genre-defying portrait of a sports gambling junkie played to manic perfection by SNL-alum Adam Sandler.

 

In what had to be his best performance to date (though admittedly that’s not too difficult considering his body of work), Sandler is perfectly cast as Howard Ratner, a Jewish jewelry store merchant in NYC who, despite his station and relative wealth, racked up such a large gambling debt that his own loan shark brother-in-law had to sic goons to intimidate him.  Instead of paying off his debt, Howard is ever looking for the next big payoff, which usually involves betting on Kevin Garnett in risky all‑or‑nothing parlays during the 2012 NBA playoffs between the Celtics and Sixers.  Will Howard win the bet of his life by turning his wager of $155,000 to over $1.2 million in an unlikely three-way parlay, or will he be just another cautionary tale of how gambling has ruined “many a poor boy”?

 

If ‘Good Time’ didn’t place the Safdie Brothers as avant-garde auteurs of singular talent on your radar, ‘Uncut Gems’ certainly should.  In Howard, Sandler had outdone himself inhabiting the role of an obsessive‑compulsive sports gambler, husband, father and philandering mistress-keeping sleazebag despite the fact that his wife is played by none other than the lovely and opera-voiced Idina Menzel.  Yet for all his flaws – like an uncut gem – we can’t help but trail him as closely as the Safdie Brothers’ camerawork in this movie appears to because this fast-talker radiates as much manic energy and desperate intensity as a star about to go supernova.  And semi-consciously and half willingly we may even find ourselves somehow pulling for the schmuck.  Go figure.

 

Grade: A
 

Return of the Living Sith

The Star Wars sequels trilogy which began in 2015 with 'The Force Awakens' (TFA) and continued in 2017’s 'The Last Jedi'  (TLJ) concludes with a whimper in the final chapter, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ (TROS), as J.J. Abrams retook the reins of the beloved franchise from Rian Johnson (or rather Colin Trevorrow) in the wake of the latter's highly controversial and deeply divisive middle installment.  Just as the conflict between the light (Jedi) and dark (Sith) sides of The Force is an eternal one, the tug-of-war between those among the SW fandom who want to see it go in exciting new directions and others who prefer to wrap themselves in the warm blanket of familiarity and nostalgia will likely rage on.

 

In the aftermath of Johnson’s presumptuousness by taking SW in a direction some fans did not like, the pendulum swung back entirely the other way as Abrams (and Disney by extension) waved the white flag of capitulation and gave the rabid fandom exactly what they wanted.  TLJ was “retconned” as the long believed-to-be-dead Sith Lord Emperor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious was miraculously resurrected with little exposition in a direct sequel to ‘Return of the Jedi’ (ROTJ).  While TFA opened the door to bold new possibilities and TLJ took the ball and ran with it, TROS brought everything to a screeching halt and rolled them back in a classic case of “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”

TROS is a mess of a SW movie with only fan service as its raison d'être.  Other than Darth Sidious’ return, which pretty much invalidated the redemptive sacrifice of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in ROTJ by the way, the rollicking space adventure we've taken for granted in SW is lacking.  Chewbacca didn't die because, God forbid, fans would be upset.  There is an utterly preposterous scene in which a rebel cavalry charge took place in the vacuum of space on top of a Star Destroyer that would make Leia’s much ridiculed ejection into space in TLJ pale by comparison.  I can hardly fault Abrams and Disney for their lack of a backbone in groveling to the fanboys who buy the tickets to see TROS, but it came at a steep price by stunting the evolution and growth of the SW movie franchise.  In undoing Johnson’s work, SW is back where it started at the end of Episode VI.  There is little room for growth and for SW to breathe because some of the most vocal and toxic fandom just simply couldn't, in the words of Kylo Ren, "let the past die."  Que Lastima.

 

Grade: C

 

Trial by Presumption

89-year old actor and director Clint Eastwood’s latest film based on real life events is ‘Richard Jewell,’ named after the chubby security guard who, after being initially hailed a hero for discovering a backpack full of pipe bombs at Centennial Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, became the FBI’s prime suspect for the domestic terrorist act in what had to be his worst nightmare come to life.

You probably know the gist of the story.  After being slapped on the back for preventing the bombing from inflicting more casualties than it actually did, Jewell became a convenient suspect of the FBI agents investigating the incident because he fits their profile to a T based on a combination of precedence and his own somewhat checkered background as a cop and security guard.  And also probably because they had no other likely suspects.  So when SAIC Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) leaked the identity of their chief suspect to overzealous Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde) because she needed her “scoop of the century” and may have provided Shaw with a quid pro quo "favor" (which caused quite a controversy for the movie with the AJ-C for slandering their late ace reporter), Jewell’s life became a living hell from the resulting media circus and “court of public opinion” fall-out even as he was never formally charged.

 

RJ is a tale told with humanity and compassion about how a grave injustice was done to an innocent man, but it’s also an interesting primer on how to fight back when, in the words of his lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell), two of the most powerful forces in the world (the government and the press) are arrayed against you.  This movie should also serve to remind us (not just the FBI and the media) not to be too quick in jumping to conclusions.  I know I was among those who believed he was the perp when the news broke.  Sorry Richard, RIP.

Grade: B+

 

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A Not Very Merry Xmas Movie

Christmas, that most joyous holiday of giving and good will toward all, and horror should be like oil and water, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a bloody good scare during this  “most wonderful time of the year.”  Since the dawn of slasher flicks in the early 1970’s, films like ‘Silent Night, Bloody Night’ (1972) and ‘Black Christmas’ (1974 original) have shown that Christmas is as good a time as any to get a slay ride, I mean, die in gruesome fashion.

 

So when the second remake/reboot of the sorority house slasher ‘Black Christmas’ was released last weekend (the first was in 2006) appropriately on Friday the 13th, I thought “why not?”  BC2019 - like the first remake - stays true to the setting of the original, in which a close-knit group of sorority sisters at a fictitious college campus (Hawthorne College in this case, as if it matters) is terrorized and murdered one-by-one.  However, director Sophia Takal’s ambitions are much higher than simply making another disposable and mindless slasher movie, oh no.  So she also made it the latest “I am woman, hear me roar” declaration of female empowerment in our “Me Too” era.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work and seems out of place in a genre viewers never took seriously.

 

While I found the movie’s misandrist tone and political/social agenda off-putting, BC2019 also had little merit as a popcorn slasher movie relying on cheap thrills.  It’s neither scary nor offered any fresh twist to the two films before it, I was able to deduce the movie’s main villain roughly 30 minutes into the film, and the protagonists are so unrelatable, unsympathetic and unlikeable that it’s difficult for me to root for their survival.  Does that make me a bad person?

 

Grade: D

 

Muddied Waters

Legal dramas, like doctor and cop shows, provide great fodder for television and movies.  Vying for our attention (and maybe the Academy voters’ as well) as 2019 draws to a close are two “compelling” based-on-true-story legal dramas, the upcoming save-an-innocent-man-from-death-row movie ‘Just Mercy’ featuring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, and the civil litigation sue-DuPont sleeper ‘Dark Waters’ starring Mark Ruffalo.

 

‘Dark Waters’ is based on a NYT Magazine article published back in 2016 called “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” which (though I haven’t read it myself) detailed the PFOA (“forever chemical”) scandal and how a tenacious “legal eagle” torts lawyer named Robert Bilott (played by Ruffalo) took on the chemical giant DuPont in a high profile civil case over the dangers of Teflon spanning some two decades and won.  Yes, you read that right.  Two decades and it’s still ongoing today.
 

In its teaser trailer, DW would have us believe that it’s a paranoia-filled suspense thriller with the scene of Ruffalo hesitating when he was about to start his car (is it going to blow up?) in an empty building parking lot.  While part of me understands why the marketers of the film felt they had to mislead us like that, I still can’t forgive them for it because DW is exactly the opposite, a two hour and six minute bore of a movie that almost put me to sleep.  DW is a perfect example that civil cases dragging on for years and years are simply not very exciting or nearly as compelling as its more glamorous “criminal” cousin.  You won’t find indignant self-righteous Marine colonels bellowing in defiance at his good-looking young JAG prosecutors (played by Tom Cruise and Demi Moore circa 1992) that they “can’t handle the truth!” here.  What we get instead are half-chastened stiff DuPont executives playing a long game of give-and-take.  Yawn.

Grade: C

 

Murder, He Wrote

Rian Johnson, the most maligned director of a Star Wars movie for the “travesty” that was ‘The Last Jedi,’ ditches Padawans and Stormtroopers for the Whodunit in his latest project, ‘Knives Out,’ a deliciously devilish but immensely fun reinvention of the murder mystery genre beloved by casual ‘Clue’ players and hard-core murder mystery party aficionados alike.  If you’ve seen the teaser trailer, no doubt you are as intrigued as I by its Agatha Christie-esque premise of a family patriarch’s death and the suspected foul play surrounding his untimely demise with all the attending family members as potential suspects with motives (and presumably also means and opportunity).

 

With a talented all-star ensemble cast including Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon and Christopher Plummer, ‘Knives Out’ is the tale of a typical dysfunctional rich family bickering, I mean celebrating the 85th birthday of famous and wealthy mystery fiction author Harlan Thombey (Plummer) at his mansion, which unexpectedly turned out to be his last.  In comes Benoit Blanc (Craig), an accomplished and highly respected private detective who appears to be an amalgamation of Hercule Poirot and Jacques Clouseau in equal parts with a sprinkling of Sherlock Holmes, whose name unlike the others doesn’t sound French at all.  Unsurprisingly, Blanc solves Harlan’s murder in the end, but not in the way you might think.

 

On a certain level, ‘Knives Out’ is Rian Johnson’s love letter to the classic whodunits of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.  It is also (did I mention?) a fun, inventive and refreshing take on the genre filled with dark humor and wry wit, with enough twists and red herrings throughout to satisfy even the most jaded whodunit aficionados among us.  The title of the film may be a playful metaphor for the dysfunctional and entitled rich family it portrays and the family members’ willingness to backstab one another but, more literally, there is a “web of knives” in the film’s mansion setting that provides the perfect ending to the story.

 

Grade: A

 

An Ugly Night in the Neighborhood

Unlike the vast majority of moviegoers last weekend, I wasn’t much in the mood for happy feel-good movies like ‘Frozen 2’ or the therapeutic ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ starring Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers.  OTOH I love morally ambiguous, hard-boiled crime thrillers like ‘Heat,’ ‘The Town’ and the criminally (pun fully intended) underrated ‘Triple 9.’  “Black Panther” Chadwick Boseman’s new movie, ’21 Bridges,’ seems to fit the bill from what I’ve seen of its trailer so I decided to give it a look despite its rather lackluster score on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

’21 Bridges,’ so named because there are that number of bridges in and out of Manhattan that had to be “locked down” during an intensive manhunt in the ungodly pre-dawn hours, begins with a crime gone hideously awry when two small-time drug robbers’ seemingly easy snatch-and-run job ran afoul of what I would call a “most unfortunate coincidence.”  Okay, they unexpectedly ran into cops who miraculously appeared at the scene of the crime and had to shoot their way out, killing seven of New York’s finest before they could make good their getaway.  The rest of the movie then follows Detective Andre Davis (Boseman), who’s under investigation by Internal Affairs for being trigger-happy, as he and his forced-on partner, Narcotics Detective Frankie Burns (Sienna Miller), attempt to track down and apprehend the cop killers by 5:00 a.m. before the city wakes up to the hustle-and-bustle of everyday life.

 

’21 Bridges’ is a dark, suspenseful and gripping thriller told with the immediacy of desperate men on both sides of the law going about their business with single-minded conviction.  It has a certain “clock is ticking” real-time feel to it, like those ’24’ TV shows where Kiefer Sutherland runs around town racing against time trying to stave off one crisis after another.  While ’21 Bridges’ is gritty, ultra-violent and operated in shades of gray rather than in simple black-and-white, it is nevertheless a solid, competently made thriller that I would heartily recommend.

 

Grade: B+

 

Secrets and Lies

The latest film from accomplished director/screenwriter Bill Condon (‘Chicago,’ ‘Dreamgirls,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘The Greatest Showman’) is ‘The Good Liar,’ which doesn’t have a single song‑and-dance number in it but reunites the eclectic director with ‘Mr. Holmes’ star Ian McKellen in a slow-burning, twist-filled mystery/revenge potboiler set in contemporary England.

 

In ‘The Good Liar,’ the 80-year old McKellen takes on the role of a dirty rotten scoundrel, a con-man who swindles big-time investors through his well-designed and elaborate schemes and one who’s not above pushing a man onto the subway tracks when confronted afterwards.  Not simply content with stealing money from unsuspecting businessmen, he set his eyes on the nest egg (over $2 million pounds sterling) of 74-year old Helen Mirren who, as a retired Oxford professor, picked the wrong man on “Silver Singles” so to speak.  Alas, he seems to develop a particular “fondness” for her as he grew to know her more.  Is he having second thoughts and growing a soft spot, or will he proceed with his plan to enrich himself and render her penniless?

 

Let’s just say that, unless you ruin the movie by reading the plot on Wikipedia, the twist ending of ‘The Good Liar’ will surprise and maybe even shock you.  This movie is ultimately about settling a score, and how people can hold a grudge for over half a century and bide their time exacting sweet revenge.  As such I find it rather incredible, but that doesn't mean it wasn’t altogether entertaining.

 

Grade: B
 

Car Wars

The box office winner (at $21 million domestic and $52 million worldwide) of the past weekend is ‘Ford v Ferrari,’ based on the true story of the rivalry between Ford Motor Company and the world famous Italian racing/sports car manufacturer in the 1960’s.  No doubt it will be easily buried in a massive ‘Frozen’ avalanche the next couple of days, but it’s not a bad start out of the gate at all for this fascinating, well-told and acted movie from ‘The Wolverine’ and ‘Logan’ director James Mangold.

 

You may have heard of this story. Ford attempted a friendly take-over bid for Ferrari back in 1963, which failed spectacularly when it was “played” by Enzo Ferrari to get Fiat to up its bid for the cash-strapped Italian racecar (can be spelled forward or backward, it makes no difference) company.  Adding insult to injured pride, Enzo then made a comment (conveyed second-hand by then Ford executive Lee Iacocca) that Ford “makes ugly little cars in ugly little factories.”  And oh, by the way, he also allegedly said that Henry Ford the Second may be fat.  Them are “fightin’ words” you might say, and an enraged Henry II immediately hired American racing legend and sportscar maker Carroll Shelby, one of the few Americans who won the prestigious and grueling marathon of a race known as the “24 Hours of Le Mans” or just simply Le Mans.  Given carte blanche, Shelby (Matt Damon) recruited his friend and fellow racecar driver/mechanic Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to help engineer the perfect Ferrari killer (the GT40) and to settle this grudge and win the war in the name of baseball, mom and apple pie, I mean Henry Ford  II's wounded pride, by beating Ferrari in their own game at Le Mans.

 

‘Ford v Ferrari’ is a splendid movie that’s simply impossible not to love.  It’s got compelling drama, heart-felt bromance and a fascinating real-life story, topped off with exciting, heart-pounding racecar action revving with rpm.  Admittedly I may be a bit biased here because I like movies about car racing in general, but going by the crowd reaction in the theater this film transcends beyond being just another feel-good “sports movie.”   It’s about friendship, overcoming near impossible odds and, of course, the triumph of the American can-do spirit.  No wonder it’s already getting some early buzz about being an Oscar contender.

Grade: A
 

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Angels have Fallen

I feel kinda sorry for Elizabeth Banks.  The actress-cum-producer/director’s reboot attempt of ‘Charlie’s Angels’ flopped at the box office, prompting her to make dumb excuses like “the movie bombed because people just don’t want to see females in lead action roles,” presumably by which she meant because men, the main audience of such movies, are sexist and would prefer to see their own gender filling those roles.  I went to see ‘Charlie’s Angels’ anyway, before she made those comments mind you, because I fondly remember watching reruns of the syndicated TV show as a kid and liked the campy 2000 and 2003 CA movies starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu well enough. Mostly it’s probably because I thought Brit actress Naomi Scott is pure hotness.

 

In CA 2019, Bosley is a rank rather than a person.  “Charlie’s Angels” (patent pending) is now an international espionage/law enforcement agency, staffed with lovely but lethal female 007’s all over the world and answering to a slew of Bosleys acting as handlers much like CIA station chiefs manage the agents under their charge.  The movie follows the adventures of two sassy angels – what about the third, you ask? – played by Kristen Stewart and Ella Balinska as they attempt to stop a mysterious criminal mastermind from “weaponizing” an energy device thingamajig that looks suspiciously like the Tesseract in the Marvel universe, with the help of a nerdy computer scientist-turned-whistleblower played by Naomi Scott (there’s the answer to your third angel question).

 

CA 2019 took on the style and sheer over-the-top ridiculousness of the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies while trying too hard to be fun and flirty and sexy at the same time.  It has its rare moments, but the movie fell flat for the most part due to its paper-thin (and rather dumb) plot, easily predicted "twist," tired action sequences that lost their “wow” factor about three or four ‘Fast & Furious’ movies ago, and the mere fact that Stewart, Balinska and Scott just couldn’t manage to replicate the same campy synergy Diaz, Barrymore and Liu had in the 2000 and 2003 films.  Those McG flicks grossed about $260 million apiece by the way, Elizabeth Banks, so don’t tell me that men don’t go see women kick ass in the movies.

Grade: C

 

 

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Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 horror classic ‘The Shining,’ based on Master of Horror Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name, is rightfully on most top 10 lists of the greatest horror movies of all time.  Combining a great gothic scary story, creepy atmosphere in a haunted hotel and excellent performances by Jack Nicholson as a loving father transformed into deranged psycho-killer (“Here’s Johnny!”), Shelley Duvall and others, ‘The Shining’ is arguably the most successful Stephen King adaptation next to the one about a killer clown with red balloons who dwells in the sewers.

 

Which is why it's a bit mindboggling that ‘Doctor Sleep,’ the long-awaited (for Stephen King fans at least you would think) sequel to ‘The Shining’ and also adapted from King’s best-selling 2013 follow-up novel, failed to awaken (pun intended) moviegoers to go see it, managing a disappointing $57 million at the worldwide box office after nearly two weeks of release on a budget of $45 to $55 million.  'Doctor Sleep' is the story about a grown-up Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) who uses his “shine” and knowledge to aid a young girl against the predations of the supernatural True Knot gang, led by the beautiful but evil “Rose the Hat,” who torture and kill kids in order to steal their "shine" (psychic essences) in the form of steam so they can maintain their immortality.

 

While ‘The Shining’ takes place almost entirely in the Overlook Hotel, ‘Doctor Sleep’ jumps across various locales in America before reaching its climactic showdown between the forces of Good (Danny and the girl) and Evil (Rose the Hat) at the famous but now-abandoned and decrepit former winter lodging.  It is only fitting for such an epic battle, and the slow build-up setting up the final act is also well done.  Don’t let the two-hour, thirty-two minute running time of ‘Doctor Sleep’ discourage you from seeing this excellent film because it will do anything but (put you to sleep).

Grade: A

 

Midway: Total War

1942 was a year of reckoning for the Axis Powers.  It was the year when Germany lost the initiative (if not the war) in the hellish rubbles of Stalingrad.  Just a few months earlier in the Pacific, Japan was dealt a blow she never recovered from in a decisive naval and air battle over a 2.4-square mile atoll called Midway, a major showdown pitting the might of the imperial Japanese navy (IJN) in its heyday and the legendary Harvard‑educated strategist Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto against a reeling US Navy still licking its wounds in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.  Schlocky B-movie director and producer Roland Emmerich (‘Independence Day,’ ‘Stargate,’ ‘The Day After Tomorrow’) updates the 1976 movie starring Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda with the latest advances in computer imagery and moviemaking technique, bringing this exciting “battle of the carriers” to life as we’ve never seen before.

 

‘Midway’ is what I would call an “old-fashioned” war movie, the kind that rugged Hollywood leading men like John Wayne and Robert Mitchum used to star in.  With its "Who’s Who?" ensemble cast including Ed Skrein, Luke Evans, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart and one of the Jonas brothers, ‘Midway’ is a robust and full-blooded modern war epic, packed with enough “Top Gun” machismo and aerial derring-do featuring SBD Dauntlesses and TBF Avengers to make a giddy 10-year old boy grab his WWII model airplane and run out of the house waving it around making engine noises.

 

With action as its main bread-and-butter rather than storytelling or strong characterizations (the history isn’t deep and the characters are only thinly sketched), it’s not surprising that ‘Midway’ isn’t enamored by the critics (42 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), but that's like faulting something for being true to itself.  What we have here is a solid action-driven WWII war movie from the same guy who gave us 'Independence Day' so many years ago, unencumbered by forced romantic subplots ('Pearl Harbor,' anyone?) and contrived characters.  It is a simple movie set in a simpler time during which things were more black and white than it is today.

Grade: A-

The Rise of Legion

James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi thriller ‘The Terminator,’ starring Austrian muscle-man Arnold Schwarzenegger, is easily hands-down one of my favorite movies of all time, with its bleak depiction of a post-apocalyptic landscape ruled by a calculating and merciless AI called “Skynet.”   A cautionary tale of unchecked technology running amok and mankind sowing the seeds of its own destruction, Terminators, whether as skeletal chrome-plated killer robots eliminating their erstwhile masters with built-in arm blasters or cool sunglasses-wearing facsimiles in disguise, have rightfully taken their place as one of the most iconic “monsters” in cinematic history.

 

35 years after the original movie, we are treated to the sixth installment of the Terminator franchise, which has certainly seen its share of hits-and-misses (more the latter of late), in ‘Terminator: Dark Fate.’  A direct sequel to 1991’s ‘T2: Judgment Day,’ considered by many to be the best in the series (although I still liked the original a little better), ‘Dark Fate’ picks up 22 years after the events of ‘Judgment Day’ and is set in an alternate timeline (has it gone “Marvel”?) that’s eerily similar to the one that was averted.  Instead of ‘Skynet,’ the dark future portrayed in ‘Dark Fate’ is ruled by an equally merciless AI called “Legion” which, like Skynet, sent a killer robot called Rev-9 back in time to terminate the leader of the resistance who’s been a thorn in its side, an unassuming young Mexican woman named Daniella (“Dani”).

 

‘Dark Fate’ borrowed (okay, so it blatantly ripped off) the plotlines of ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Judgment Day.’  As the soldier sent back in time to protect Dani, Grace (Mackenzie Davis) played the exact same role as Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese sent back to save Sarah Connor in the first film, and septuagenarian Arnold Schwarzenegger essentially reprised his role in T2 as the “reformed” terminator T-800 aiding Grace and Dani (female John Connor) against the implacable Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), the latest and greatest Terminator model of them all even if he still ultimately failed in his mission – big surprise.  Why not?  Those two are the best in the franchise, aren’t they?

 

Grade: B+ 

 

Rich Family, Poor Family

I’m a big fan of South Korean cinema, having seen a number of notable films from that country in many genres over the last two decades such as ‘Joint Security Area,’ ‘Shiri,’ ‘Taegukgi,’ ‘A Tale of Two Sisters,’ ‘War of the Arrows,’ ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,’ ‘Lady Vengeance,’ ‘The Host,’ ‘The Good, the Bad, the Weird,’ ‘Masquerade,’ ‘The Villainess,’ ‘Train to Busan’ and of course, ‘Oldboy,’ the 2003 neo-noir mind-fuck of a suspense thriller later remade for American moviegoers by Spike Lee starring Josh Brolin.  So when a colleague at work (thanks, Bob!) recommended the latest offering from S. Korea, a rather mysterious feature that took Cannes by storm earlier this year by winning the prestigious Palme d’Or, he didn’t have to tell me twice.

 

‘Parasite’ tells the tale of a down-on-its-luck family of four struggling to make ends meet and, more importantly, how far they will go to improve their collective fortunes.  When an opportunity presents itself, what will you do?  It is a fascinating premise that not only delves into human nature but also examines how seemingly innocuous occurrences can have a “snowball effect” and spin out of control on a path to destruction.  The less said about the plot and twists of this movie the better, because boy oh boy you will never see what’s coming and when it does you will be floored.

 

Unlike ‘Midway’ above, ‘Parasite’ is a movie the critics will lavish universal acclaim upon (99 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) because it has a great story which defies our expectations, solid acting from its cast of characters and tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, all served up with a generous dose of delicious dark comedy.  The fact that it also provides social commentary by highlighting the divide between the rich and poor is just an added bonus.

Grade: A+

  

The Good Little Aryan (Rabbit)

Some of the best comedies are set in the most unexpected times and places.  ‘Jojo Rabbit,’ the latest feature from the talented Taika Waititi (‘What We Do in the Shadows,’ ‘Thor: Ragnarok’), adapts Christine Leunen’s novel ‘Caging Skies’ into a scathingly funny satire of Nazi Germany’s final days as seen through the eyes of a young “Hitler Youth” fanatic who happens to have a wacky imaginary friend named Adolf.

 

British newcomer Roman Griffin Davis plays Jojo Betzler, a 10-year old who, like many others in his position at the time, dreamed of greatness and glory for his beloved Fatherland as promised by his idol, Adolf Hitler.  In fact, he speaks with his so-called “best friend” - to the chagrin of his non-imaginative real life best friend, Yorgi (Archie Yates) - every day.  So imagine his dismay when he discovered that his dear mama Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) harbors a Jew (Elsa played by Thomasin McKenzie) in the attic, henceforth pitting his loyalty to the state (and imaginary friend) against his love for his mother and his own sense of self‑preservation.

 

‘Jojo Rabbit’ isn’t the first movie to successfully mine humor from what has to be the greatest human tragedy of the last century; Roberto Benigni’s 1997 Oscar winner ‘Life is Beautiful’ pretty much did the same thing to great effect, so let’s not get unduly sensitive here.  Loony, heart-warming and extraordinarily wonderful, ‘Jojo Rabbit’ is a refreshingly different coming-of-age comedy about the ultimate redemption of a boy, with a hugely talented cast including Waititi as the imaginary Adolf himself.

 

Grade: A

 

The Wickies Men

Since his debut feature 'The Witch' made quite a splash in the indie horror genre and recouped 10 times its meager budget of $4 million back in 2016, theatre designer-turned-director Robert Eggers has proven that he’s not just a “one hit wonder” and is in fact a young talent (at 36 years old) to keep an eye on.  His sophomore effort, the equally unique and anachronistic black & white film ‘The Lighthouse,’ is another masterpiece of creeping dread and slow-burning suspense from a bygone era.

 

‘The Lighthouse’ is about strange occurrences at a lighthouse on a small island off the New England coast in the late 19^th Century, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as two unfortunate lighthouse keepers (or “wickies”) on a routine 4-week rotation to ensure that the lighthouse operates smoothly for its intended purpose in maritime navigation.  While important during an age without GPS, what the men are entasked to do can only be described as most boring and tedious.  Is it any surprise that madness would follow?

 

Like ‘The Witch,’ ‘The Lighthouse’ is steeped in history and New England myth, with superstitions of mermaids and sailors reincarnated as seagulls.  There is a certain old-fashioned, even vintage quality to Eggers’ filmmaking technique that harks back to the early days of Hollywood, not simply just because this movie was shot entirely in B&W but also due to its overall style, tone and feel.  And like ‘The Witch,’ the English dialogue in ‘The Lighthouse’ can be hard to follow to today’s audience, but don’t let that discourage you from seeing this excellent film.

Grade: A

 

Edison versus Westinghouse

Originally slated for release back in 2017, ‘The Current War’ (as in electric current, not “now” current), was unfortunate in having its distribution rights owned by The Weinstein Company at a time when Harvey's "casting couch" activities finally caught up with him in our enlightened Hollywood.  So when the final theatrical cut of the film hit cinemas at last on October 25 two years later, it did so with little marketing or fanfare.  I wouldn’t even have caught on to it had I not browsed through my weekly list of potential movies to watch on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

For those of you who know your scientific history, the movie’s subject should be familiar.  In the late 19^th Century (a mere coincidence that the other movie reviewed this week was also set at that time), brilliant – how many times have we heard that pun - American inventor Thomas Edison (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) perfected the incandescent light bulb and went about setting up a network of DC power generators to light up American homes.  A rival in the form of entrepreneur/industrialist George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) emerged, propounding his own ideas based on AC power, which has more potential and eventually became the winner of the so-called “War of the Currents.”  Key to Westinghouse’s efforts was the famous European scientist and engineer Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), a legend in science (and science fiction).

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The Current War’ could easily have fallen into the trap of being just another boring lesson from the dusty annals of history, but director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon manages to give the movie a brisk and snappy pacing pitting the two men against each other while highlighting (and at times embellishing, no doubt) actual historical events.  This film is far from perfect, but it’s more than illuminating enough for us to give it a watch.

Grade: B

 

Zombieland: 10 Years Later

With all due respect to ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ the 2009 box office hit ‘Zombieland’ has to be my favorite zom-com (or zomedy) movie, combining an oddball menagerie of zombie apocalypse survivors – named after various American cities – on a roadtrip and the real-life Bill Murray into a hilarious smorgasbord of undead-killing fun that ended appropriately at a Southern California amusement park.  So when its planned sequel ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’ finally hit theaters exactly 10 years later, I immediately hitched up for a second ride.

 

In sync with the long wait, ‘Double Tap’ takes place 10 years after the original as cowboy Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), nerd Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) and resourceful sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) travel back across the American wasteland to take residence in the White House.  The foursome split up when the girls left, but was eventually reunited by circumstances after Little Rock took off with a hippie musician (Berkeley) to the promised land, a safe haven and hippie commune called Babylon.  Bill Murray is sorely missed in this sequel as he was mistook for a real zombie and killed by Columbus in the first film (stick around for the end credits though), but the group took a detour to “Graceland” (Tallahassee loves Elvis) and met tough-as-nails Nevada (Rosario Dawson).  A fifth survivor, the dumb blonde Madison (Zoey Deutch), also tacked on with the group and provided some great comedic moments.

 

If you, like me, enjoyed the original ‘Zombieland,’ you will find much to like in this second go‑round.  Part roadtrip comedy and part travelogue, ‘Double Tap’ holds up well compared to its predecessor and does not disappoint. It's a movie about zombies, yes, but it's ultimately about a dysfunctional family who may bicker now and then but look out for each other because that’s what a family does to survive a zombie apocalypse with ever evolving strains of undead like the new “T-800” super zombies.

Grade: A

Mistress of Not-So-Evil

Despite lukewarm reception by the critics (53 percent on RT), 2014’s ‘Maleficent’ starring Angelina Jolie as the iconic devil-horned villain in Sleeping Beauty was beloved by audiences (with its CinemaScore of A) and raked in over $750 million worldwide for the Mouse House.  I sided more with the moviegoers and thought it was a pretty good dark fantasy tale with an abundance of CG eye-candy so signed on for this sequel.

 

The title and preview trailer of ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ would lead us to believe that, in this highly anticipated follow-up, Maleficent’s true colors and evil nature will emerge when her god-daughter Aurora (Elle Fanning) decides to marry young Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson), heir to the Kingdom of Ulstead ruled by King John and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer), thereby ushering in an era of peace between the mythical and human realms.  Alas, as in the original, everything is not as black-and-white as they appear (especially in costume) and treachery awaits in every corner.  How so?  Well, you’ll just have to watch the movie and find out for yourself.

 

With its RT score of 41 percent based on 218 reviews, ‘Mistress of Evil’ is even more maligned by the critics than its predecessor, but then again that doesn’t really matter anymore than it did before because the audience loved it, giving it the same CinemaScore as the original.  So what did I think? I’m happy to say that I enjoyed it enough to more than recommend it.  While its story is a familiar one, the movie is (like the original) a feast for the eyes packed with great visuals and epic fantasy battle scenes as the mythical creatures of the Moors do battle with Queen Ingrith and the Army of Ulstead.

Grade: B+ 
 

Quick Takes, Take Three

Interestingly enough, all three movies I’ve seen since my last post were certified “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes.  Goes to show there’s a first time for everything.  I won’t waste too many words on them even though I’m much more forgiving on two of the three.

 

Bad Assistant

In our age of smartphones and tablets, it is only inevitable that someone would take the conceit of a raunchy, foul-mouthed and misbehaving AI Virtual Assistant and make it into a slightly less than 90-minute comedy (84 minutes to be exact).  ‘Jexi’ (voiced by Rose Byrne), a not-quite-portmanteau of Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, has its share of cringeworthy moments, but it is also very funny as she makes the life of her master (Adam DeVine) a living hell.  Think Scarlett Johansson’s “Samantha” (in the Joaquin Phoenix movie ‘Her’) being very, very bad.

Grade: B- (14% on RT) 

 

My Own Worst Enemy

Will Smith's latest is the long-awaited sci-fi actioner ‘Gemini Man,’ a project that’s supposedly 22 years in the making.  Part ‘Universal Soldier’ and part ‘Mission: Impossible II,’ this tale of a perfect Defense Intelligence Agency soldier (warning, spoiler ahead!) cloned to take himself out in the future is entertaining enough, packed with copious amounts of gunplay, chases and explosions via director Ang Lee’s tightly focused third-person shooter-esque camerawork (accompanied with suspenseful music in its slower moments) to make us overlook the fact that it doesn’t have much of a plot to speak of in spite of its delicious irony.

Grade: B (25% on RT)

Space Case

The last critically panned movie of the week is ‘Lucy in the Sky,’ a movie which borrowed the name of a Beatles song (later covered by Elton John) about floating on the clouds of LSD’s (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, get it?) in its depiction of an accomplished female NASA astronaut who suffers a nervous breakdown.  Inspired by the true story of Lisa Nowak: The Nutty Astronaut, even Natalie Portman’s considerable talents cannot hope to salvage this (space) disaster of a movie about a seemingly well-grounded naval aviator/astronaut’s gradual psychological and emotional unraveling in the midst of an ill-fated love triangle.  A crashing and burning cautionary tale of what spurned love and jealousy can do to even the most exemplary of women?

Grade: D (23% on RT)

 

Birth of a Psychopath

As if there’s any doubt.  When I first caught wind that comicdom’s greatest villain (there can be no debate on this) and archenemy of my favorite hero Batman, The Joker, is about to get his own stand-alone movie, I became madder than a hatter in a good way.  And what’s that???!!!  The talented Joaquin Phoenix is cast in the lead role?  That’s icing on the cake!  Its gritty low-fi trailer reminiscent of ‘70’s movies like ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘The French Connection’ only whetted my appetite that much more.

 

Simply titled ‘Joker,’ Todd Phillips’ (best known for comedies and ‘The Hangover’ trilogy) latest is an origin story loosely based on ‘The Killing Joke,’ the 1988 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland which served the same purpose.  In this movie, we see how the prince of mayhem is born, gradually evolving from a luckless clown-for-hire and failed comedian who lives with his mom to whom he’s destined to become and folk hero of the disenfranchised masses through a series of unfortunate and tragic events.  While there were quite a few actors before him who had put on the clown makeup and portrayed Joker in their own twisted ways on screens both large and small (Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Cameron Monaghan to be precise), Phoenix’s interpretation may be the most fascinating yet for its complexity and sheer manic magnetism, with apologies to the late Heath Ledger (R.I.P.).

 

Story-wise, there is much to like in ‘Joker’ for diehard comic book fans and casual moviegoers alike.  The movie takes a decidedly minimalist approach and places its focus on the psychological rather than physical action, and the setting of a metropolis riven by discontent and class division ready to explode should be familiar to fans of FOX’s recently ended TV series ‘Gotham.’  While comic book purists may bemoan the fact that the Joker depicted in the film isn’t a chemical engineer who fell into a large vat of industrial-grade acid bleaching his skin white and turning his hair green, I actually like it more because it’s believable and real. 

Grade: A
 

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

A star is waning in ‘Judy,’ Rupert Goold’s bittersweet and poignant biopic starring Renée Zellweger about the final year of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ star Judy Garland’s remarkable life, shining a spotlight on the legendary actress’ last performances in a London nightclub called “Talk of the Town” while coping with a range of personal/professional problems and chronic depression.  Perhaps I can be forgiven in thinking that this movie about Dorothy (who’s not in Kansas anymore) is all “rainbows and unicorns” upon reading the following Google synopsis:

 

“Thirty years after starring in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ beloved actress and singer Judy Garland arrives in London to perform sold-out shows at the Talk of the Town nightclub. While there, she reminisces with friends and fans and begins a whirlwind romance with musician Mickey Deans, her soon-to-be fifth husband.”

 

While none of that is technically untrue, this movie left me a bit melancholy because Zellweger’s Judy is a 46-year old “has been” (as Leo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton thought of himself in Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’) who’s on the downward arc of her career where she had to go to London to draw a crowd.  Having divorced four times and being unable to see much of her two youngest children (not Liza) certainly didn’t help her overall disposition.  Given in to drink, smoking (though that’s pretty normal back then) and prescription drugs, the only seemingly bright spot in her life at the time (1969) is the charming musician and nightclub owner Mickey Deans (Finn Wittrock) who, being 12 years her junior, managed to make her “feel young” again if you catch my drift (wink wink).

 

The talented Zellweger (whom I haven’t seen on screen in a long time, even though I typically stay away from the rom-coms she had a propensity to star in) portrayed Garland with style and grace, giving her tortured and oft irritable character a vulnerability and humanity hard for us not to empathize with.  Alternating between the present of 1969 and the past when she was a child star in a series of flashbacks, ‘Judy’ manages to be quietly subtle yet memorable, a deeply affecting and compassionate behind-the-scenes glimpse at the last days of a waning star.  

Grade: B+
 

My First Bollywood Review

Despite a brief appreciation for Aishwarya Rai around the mid-2000’s, I was never into Bollywood movies, dismissing them as little more than vacuous and disposable fluff filled with cheesy song-and-dance numbers (in an unfamiliar language) not worth much attention.  So imagine my surprise when, on a whim, I went to see ‘War,’ a Hindi-language spy-versus-spy actioner in the mold of James Bond/Mission Impossible/Jason Bourne (it pays homage to them) that set a new box office record for the biggest Bollywood opening ever, in India that is.  I was bored, so sue me.

 

Starring Bollywood veteran Hrithik Roshan and rising newcomer Tiger Shroff (both of whom I never heard of, big surprise), ‘War’ tells the story of a decorated veteran RAW (acronym for Research and Analysis Wing, India’s CIA) operative (Roshan) who went rogue for undisclosed reasons, and his former protégé who adored him (Shroff) tasked to stop him, by deadly force if necessary.  Not exactly anything we haven’t seen before, but ‘War’ has enough twists and turns to keep the audience guessing throughout its 155-minute running time, which somehow didn’t seem overlong because the film more than holds is own compared to Hollywood blockbusters and is packed with so much set-piece action sequences that we easily lose track of the time.

 

Even for a jaded spy movie junkie like me , ‘War’ is different and makes for a fresh movie-watching experience.  Of course, there are the requisite cheesy song-and-dance numbers (it wouldn’t be a Bollywood movie if it didn’t, after all), but they’re strangely entertaining and, dare I say, even fun.  Besides, watching Roshan and Shroff gleefully strut their stuff effortlessly in well-choreographed dance routines that would do even boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N’ Sync proud goes fully hand-in-hand with the harmless dose of wholesome homoerotism between the two male leads.  See?  Even Forbes resident movie critic Scott Mendelson agrees: Read It Here 

Grade: A-

The Hard Road to the Stars

It is perhaps fitting that, in the year marking the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong et al.’s historic landing on the moon, a movie like ‘Ad Astra’ would come along (the more direct treatment, ‘First Man’ from Damien Chazelle, was released last year).  Directed by James Gray (‘The Lost City of Z’) and starring Brad Pitt, ‘Ad Astra’ represents a different kind of space adventure drama, one whose DNA is much closer to Stanley Kubrick's ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ and Steven Soderbergh's ‘Solaris’ than ‘Gravity’ starring Sandra Bullock or ‘The Martian’ starring Matt Damon.

 

Set in the not-too-distant future, ‘Ad Astra’ posits an alternate world in which humankind has explored and settled planets (outposts if not entire populations) well beyond earth to the very edge of our solar system, as far as Neptune to be exact (Pluto isn't a planet anymore after all).  When earth is rocked by a series of unexplained power surges causing heavy losses of life, intrepid and cool-under-pressure U.S. Space Command astronaut Major Roy McBride (Pitt), who survived one such power surge, is recruited and sent out on a mission to make contact with his father (Tommy Lee Jones), a brilliant scientist and astronaut who failed to return from his own mission 16 years earlier going “where no man has gone before” to seek out intelligent lifeforms, because his continuing experiments are what's believed to be the cause of the deadly power surges (something to do with the release of anti-matter).

 

Abstract, dreamlike and ruminative, AA may not be the rollicking feel-good space adventure to everyone’s liking on account of its snail-like pacing and occasional scenes of graphic violence (moon pirates and angry space baboons anyone?), but for all that it's not a bad movie at all.  Not by a long shot.  AA is a profound and thoughtful piece, making us self-reflect and contemplate our place in the larger universe.  Comparison to Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece is definitely warranted, but I also can’t help but detect subtext of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Apocalypse Now’ in this excellent and well-crafted film. 

 

Grade: A
 

The Final Cut (and Slash, Stab & Shot to the Head)

Fully 37 years after he first drew blood (not the Red Cross way) from the poor and unwitting sheriffs of a small town who mistook him for easy prey and mistreated him in the 1982 macho "right wing" actioner ‘Rambo: First Blood,’ Hollywood’s most iconic “one-man army” draws blood for the very last time before riding into the sunset in the aptly named closing chapter of the five-movie saga, ‘Rambo: Last Blood.’  The grizzled and traumatized Vietnam vet with a fetish for hunting bows may have softened with age, but he proved once again that he’s not a hombre you want to mess with.

 

‘Last Blood’ sees Rambo settled down into retirement, living the simple and unassuming life of a cowboy/rancher in the middle of nowhere, Arizona with his housekeeper/friend Maria and her granddaughter Gabriela.  When Gabriela, heedless of her grandmother’s and Rambo’s advice and wishes, attempted to find the long-lost father who abandoned her while she was young in “lawless” Mexico and disappeared without a trace for her troubles, “Lone Wolf” John Rambo put on a headband (okay, not really) and went on one last mission to recover her – dead or alive – (it turned out to be the former) and deliver God's own righteous vengeance upon the Mexican cartel flesh-trader scum who dared to make her a prostitute and administer the fatal drug overdose which took her life.

 

Like 2017’s ‘Logan,’ ‘Last Blood’ has the soul of a western.  One can also easily say it’s ‘Taken’ (you know, the Liam Neeson movie about another man with a “particular set of skills” whose daughter was kidnapped by similar bad people) by way of ‘Home Alone.’ Yes, ‘Home Alone,’ the 1990 Macaulay Culkin movie about an 8-year old who defends his home by booby-trapping it against hapless would-be home invaders during Xmas.  Because what Rambo did to defend his homestead against the invading army of Mexican cartel goons would do Kevin McCallister proud.

Grade: B

 

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