Die My Love

I loved You Were Never Really Here (it was my favorite film at Sundance in 2018) so I was very eager to see Lynne Ramsay's latest, Die My Love, at the Broadway last night and I was blown away by Jennifer Lawrence's committed performance.  Jackson (Robert Pattinson) and Grace (Lawrence) relocate from New York City to a small town in rural Montana after he inherits his uncle's rundown farmhouse.  A static opening shot from within the house makes it obvious that he is more excited about the move than she is.  After she gives birth and he takes a job working out of town for long periods of time, she is isolated, bored, and unable to write (her profession).  She is also extremely frustrated by the lack of physical intimacy with Jackson since the birth of the baby, especially when she comes to suspect that he is sleeping with other women on the road, and she begins acting more and more erratically (she literally claws at the walls).  Jackson becomes increasingly desperate to help her get better but he is largely ineffective (the more he tries to "fix her" the worse her behavior becomes) and she ultimately feels like he doesn't see her which signals the end of their relationship.  What I really liked about this movie is the immersive way that Grace's descent into madness is portrayed.  It is visceral and disjointed and it is often difficult to determine if what is happening is real or just inside her head (especially the frequent appearance of man on a motorcycle played by LaKeith Stanfield).  I have seen this criticized for lacking character development but, in my opinion, that is exactly the point because Grace does not have an identity beyond the one created for her by Jackson (so much of what she does is only inappropriate because Jackson thinks it is) and she eventually loses herself.  I have also seen criticism for the repetition of the same dynamic between Jackson and Grace over and over but, as someone who suffers from depression, it felt very authentic to me because these episodes often become a never ending spiral in which you become trapped.  Lawrence gives an absolutely brilliant physical performance, the best of her career, that perfectly captures Grace's unpredictability.  From one moment to the next I never knew what she was going to do or how she was going to respond and I loved the scenes in which Grace reacts to people without a filter (especially the cashier).  Pattinson does a great job portraying Jackson's early indifference and later desperation and I enjoyed Sissy Spacek as Pam, Jackson's mother, because she is an interesting foil to Grace (she is the only character who sees what is really happening to her).  I loved the use of a 4:3 aspect ratio to show Grace's claustrophobia as well as an incredibly chaotic soundtrack to represent Grace's state of mind (the scene with Toni Basil's "Hey Mickey" on repeat is hilarious).  I really liked this but a lot of people might find it difficult to watch.

Note:  I have always wanted to tell cashiers to stop talking to me!

Back to the Future

Back to the Future is back in the theaters to celebrate its 40th Anniversary (what?) and I had so much fun seeing it on the big screen again yesterday.  Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) meets his eccentric friend Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) to test his latest invention, a time machine made out of a DeLorean powered by plutonium.  However, they are interrupted by Libyan terrorists who are not happy about having their plutonium stolen and Marty is forced to flee in the time machine which takes him to 1955.  He eventually finds Doc but he also inadvertently disrupts the meeting between his parents, Lorraine (Lea Thompson) and George (Crispin Glover), which puts his own existence in jeopardy.  Will Marty be able to get his parents back together?  Will Doc be able to get him back to 1985?  I think the action really holds up well after forty years, especially when Marty is pursued by the Libyans before he travels to 1955, when he is chased on an improvised skateboard through the town square by Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), and the incredibly tense sequence when he and Doc try to harness the electricity from a storm to power the DeLorean back to the future.  I love all of the subtle humor, particularly when the teacher judging the battle of the bands (Huey Lewis) says the song that Marty performs ("The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News) is too loud, when the Twin Pines Mall is renamed the Lone Pine Mall after he hits a pine tree in 1955, when he crash lands into a barn and the owners think he is an alien in a space ship (and when he uses this to his advantage to get George to ask Lorraine to the dance), when everyone thinks he is a sailor because of his puffer vest, when Doc refuses to believe that he is from the future after he tells him that the actor Ronald Reagan is president, when Lorraine pursues him after telling him that his girlfriend Elizabeth (Claudia Wells) is too forward, and when he performs "Johnny B. Goode" in front of Chuck Berry's cousin.  I also love the message that you can do anything you set your mind to (which Marty, who is scared to take a chance on his music, realizes after telling George to take a chance on his writing).  Finally, Fox is incredibly appealing as Marty and I can't think of anyone better than Lloyd to play a mad scientist!  I don't know how much longer this will be in theaters but, if you grew up in the 1980s, seeing this on the big screen again is a must!

Note:  My only criticism is that we are ten years past 2015 (the time Doc travels to at the end of the movie) and we still do not have flying cars!

Predator: Badlands

I am just a casual fan of the Predator franchise (the first movie scared the crap out of me when I watched it for the first time on cable while babysitting my sisters) but I was excited for Predator: Badlands because a movie from the perspective of the predator was very intriguing to me.  My nephew and I went to an early access screening last night and I really liked it!  Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is the weakest member of his Yautja warrior clan and, even though his father ordered him to be culled from the tribe, his brother Kwei sacrifices himself so that Dek can have the opportunity to prove himself in battle.  He is sent to the inhospitable planet of Genna to hunt the unkillable apex predator Kalisk but struggles to survive against the deadly native plants and animals he encounters.  He is aided by Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged synth from Weyland-Yutani Corporation who has her own reasons for hunting the Kalisk, and they eventually join together with a native creature Thia names Bud.  When they finally encounter the Kalisk, they realize that they must fight an even greater threat.  What I loved most about this movie is the relationship that develops between Dek and Thia (Fanning is great in the role).  They initially join forces because they need each other to survive (and this provides for some highly amusing interactions) but, as they go on a journey to find the Kalisk, they also go on a journey of discovery in which both of them defy what they have been taught to make different choices (somehow an alien and an android discover their humanity).  I also really loved the world-building on Genna because the plants and animals are so unique (and so deadly) and I enjoyed seeing Dek learn about this environment in order to use it to his advantage in battle.  Finally, the action sequences are tense and exciting even if some of the gore has been toned down for a PG-13 rating.  Purists may miss the brutality of the original predators but I like the direction this installment takes the franchise and look forward to a possible sequel.  This is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it!

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway with my nephew last night was If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.  I was really excited for this because it got a lot of buzz at Sundance this year but I found it absolutely exhausting to watch.  Linda (Rose Byrne) is a therapist dealing with her daughter's mysterious illness, which requires the use of a feeding tube, and the collapse of the ceiling in her apartment, caused by a broken water pipe (both of which are symbolized by a tunnel through which she travels during hallucinations).  Her husband Charles (Christian Slater) is away on a two-month work trip and, not only does he provide very little support, he chastises her for her inability to cope with their daughter and the repairs in their apartment.  Her therapist (Conan O'Brien) is very cold and distant and becomes exasperated with her escalating erratic behavior.  Her daughter's doctor (Mary Bronstein) takes great pains to reassure her that she is not to blame for her daughter's condition but is extremely judgmental about her daughter's lack of progress.  Her client (Danielle Macdonald), who is suffering from postpartum depression, abandons her baby in her office and this mirrors her own anxieties about being a mother.  She finds release with a neighbor (A$AP Rocky) who enables her drug use but eventually seeks another form of release.  This has a very important message about the unrealistic expectations placed on mothers and the lack of support available to them when things become overwhelming but it is definitely difficult to sit through because the camera work and sound design mimic what it feels like to experience a full psychotic breakdown.  I also had very mixed emotions because the audience is clearly meant to sympathize with Linda but I found her to be a very unsympathetic character (this is probably the point).  Byrne gives a bravura performance (she won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance at the Berlin Film Festival this year) and I was also impressed with O'Brien in a more dramatic role.  This is the kind of movie that I think I should like more than I actually do but I wouldn't recommend it.

Bugonia

I am a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos so I have been eagerly anticipating his latest movie, Bugonia, for what seems like forever.  My nephew and I saw it last night at the Broadway (with a huge crowd) as the first in a double feature and we both loved it!  Conspiracy theorist Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) has become convinced that an alien species, known as the Andromedans, has infiltrated the Earth and is actively destroying the environment, especially the honeybees, and forcing the population into subservience.  He coerces his intellectually disabled cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) into helping him with his plan to kidnap Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the CEO of the pharmaceutical company Auxolith who Teddy believes is an Andromedan, so that she can negotiate a meeting between him and the Emperor during the upcoming lunar eclipse.  They immobilize her (in a hilarious sequence), shave her head and cover her skin with an antihistamine cream to prevent her from sending a distress signal to other Andromedans, and then imprison her in their basement.  When she wakes up, Michelle denies being an alien, demands to be released, and then bargains with her captors.  However, in the course of their negotiations, it is revealed that Teddy works for Auxolith and that his mother Sandy (an unrecognizable Alicia Silverstone) was a test subject for one of Auxolith's experimental drugs and is now in a coma.  Absolute mayhem ensues with a bonkers third act that had me questioning everything that came before!  Both Plemons and Stone give phenomenal performances.  It is implied that Teddy has been the victim of trauma all of his life and has been desperately searching for something or someone to blame for all of his losses.  Plemons imbues him with a sadness that makes him sympathetic despite that fact that what he is doing is wrong.  Stone is cold and arrogant as an unethical CEO who is only concerned with the bottom line but yet you also sympathize with her because of her mistreatment.  The movie is at its best when the two of them interact, especially their conversation about bees, because they are both absolutely convinced that their version of the truth is correct in an age when it has become increasingly difficult to ascertain the truth (it is sometimes uncomfortable to watch).  There are many other thought-provoking themes to unpack (most notably environmentalism, capitalism, and trauma) but I think the message about misinformation is the most powerful.  This movie is definitely a wild ride (with all of the black comedy you have come to expect from Lanthimos) but I will be thinking about it for a long time to come and I highly recommend it.

It Was Just An Accident

I saw It Was Just An Accident, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year, as the second movie in my double feature at the Broadway yesterday and it is brilliant!  After a man wearing a prosthetic leg hits and kills a dog while driving late at night, he brings his damaged car to a factory where Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) is working to ask for help.  Vahid hears the distinct squeaking sound of the man's leg as he walks and immediately recognizes him as Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), the sadistic guard who tormented him in an Iranian prison.  The next day he follows him in a borrowed van, kidnaps him, and attempts to bury him alive in the desert but he isn't certain that he has the right man because he was blindfolded the whole time he was in prison.  In order to make a correct identification, he locates other former prisoners, including Shiva (Mariam Afshari), a photographer, Golrokh (Hadis Pakbaten), a bride having her wedding portraits taken with her fiance Ali (Majid Panahi), and Hamid (Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr), Shiva's volatile former partner, for confirmation.  Hamid eventually identifies him but chaos ensues (which provides a bit of comic relief in this tension-filled drama) as they argue over what to do.  Hamid advocates for killing him immediately, Shiva does not want to become like him by resorting to violence, Vahid wants him to confess and be judged before they take action, and Goli is too traumatized by seeing him again to make a rational decision.  This ultimately leads to a powerful confrontation between Eghbal and his captors with an ending that gave me chills.  Writer/Director Jafar Panahi was himself once a political prisoner who was mistreated by his captors and you can definitely feel the weight of his own moral dilemma about justice and revenge in the disparate reactions of his characters.  I found it to be incredibly thought-provoking and moving but also really funny as their journey to retribution becomes increasingly more absurd (which is an interesting commentary on taking matters of this nature into your own hands).  All of the performances, from a largely unknown cast, are riveting but I was particularly struck by Afshari's portrayal of Shiva's character arc as a woman who simply wants to move on with her life but finds that she can't (her rage-filled monologue gave me goosebumps).  This is one of the best movies I've seen this year and I highly recommend it.

Nouvelle Vague

Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon at the Broadway watching two movies with subtitles and it was definitely a great way to spend the day!  I started with Nouvelle Vague which is an amusing look at the making of Breathless, one of the most influential examples of the French New Wave movement in cinema, and I really enjoyed it. It is 1959 and Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) is the only film critic at the Cahiers du Cinema magazine who hasn't made his own film.  He convinces a reluctant Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfurst) to produce his debut based on a treatment written by Francois Truffaut (Adrien Rouyard) after the latter's success with The 400 Blows at Cannes, coerces his friend Jean-Paul Belmondo (Aubry Dullin) to star as the gangster, enlists Francois Moreuil (Paolo Luka Noe) to help him get his wife, Hollywood actress Jean Seberg (Zoey Deutch), to star as the American student, and hires war photographer Raoul Coutard (Matthieu Penchinat) to shoot it.  Godard wants the film to be as spontaneous and naturalistic as he can make it so he is rarely prepared with a completed script and only shoots when he is feeling inspired.  He insists on hand-held camera work and finds unusual ways to film scenes from different perspectives (this includes putting Coutard inside a mail cart).  He also forms an adversarial relationship with his actors to get the performances he wants.  As a result, the shoot is fraught with tension.  Beauregard is exasperated with all of the delays, Belmondo is worried that he will never work again, and Seberg is furious with her husband for convincing her to take the role and threatens to quit every day.  Everyone involved is certain that it will be the worst film of the year after a private screening but an epilogue describes its lasting impact on the French New Wave and subsequent cinematic movements.  What I enjoyed most is how Richard Linklater replicates Godard's style with grainy black and white film, a 4:3 aspect ratio, hand-held camera work, and multiple jump cuts.  I also loved the use of static shots with names listed below to introduce all of the notable players in the French New Wave (some of whom only appear for a few minutes) because it is almost as if Linklater is giving the audience a primer in film history.  All of the actors have an eerie resemblance to the real-life characters they play and I was especially impressed with the performances from Deutch (I loved her pixie cut) and Marbeck (he looks so cool in Godard's signature sunglasses).  There are lots of fun film references (at one point I was giggling out loud) and I highly recommend this to cinephiles.

Note:  Strangely enough, I became a fan of the French New Wave after seeing Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  I was fascinated by the character Claude Lacombe (I don't know why) and, when my dad told me that he was played by the famous director Francois Truffault, I immediately conspired to see The 400 Blows.

Frankenstein

I love the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (it, along with Hamlet, was one of my favorite pieces of literature to teach) so the new adaptation by Guillermo del Toro was one of my most anticipated movies this year.  I went to see it with my nephew, and a huge crowd, at the Broadway last night and I loved it!  I loved everything about it!  Baron Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) encounters a mysterious Creature (Jacob Elordi) after taking refuge on a ship, under the command of Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen), that is trapped in ice whilst on an expedition to the North Pole.  When Frankenstein hears that Anderson is willing to continue to the North Pole no matter the cost to his crew, he fears that he shares his same madness and recounts his story to him as a cautionary tale.  He tells of his obsession to overcome death after his beloved mother died in childbirth, his expulsion from the Royal College of Surgeons for experimenting on corpses, his patronage from Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) which funds his experiments in an abandoned water tower, his unrequited love for Harlander's niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) who is also engaged to his brother William (Felix Kammerer), his success in reanimating a corpse created from the bodies of soldiers killed in the Crimean War, his disappointment with the Creature's seeming lack of intelligence, and his attempt to kill the Creature by setting the tower on fire.  The Creature then describes his mistreatment at the hands of Frankenstein who sees him as a monster, his bond with Elizabeth who sees his purity of heart, his escape from the fire at the tower, his terror at being lost and alone in the woods, his interactions with a blind man (David Bradley) who befriends him and teaches him to speak and read, his search for answers about his creation, and then his search for the creator who doomed him to a life of isolation.  After Frankenstein and his Creature have a final reckoning, Anderson decides to abandon his reckless pursuit and return home.  I am usually a purist when it comes to adaptations of literature but I think the changes from the novel add to the narrative rather than detract from it and I especially loved the more sympathetic depiction of the Creature.  I was impressed by the performances from Isaac, as a man consumed by his obsession, and Goth, as the moral compass of the story, but I was absolutely blown away by Elordi.  I loved his physicality as a being with an imposing stature but the development of a newborn as well as his haunting portrayal of both innocence and rage.  I also really enjoyed all of the Gothic elements in the production design (the visuals are gorgeous and I particularly loved the use of fallen angels as a motif) and the Baroque-inspired score by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorite movie composers).  I've always loved the story but I found this adaptation to be incredibly moving and I highly recommend it (I'm sure it will be among my favorite movies of the year).  It will be available to stream on Netflix beginning November 7 and I cannot wait to watch it again.

The Mastermind

The next movie in the double feature with my nephew at the Broadway last night was The Mastermind.  I am a fan of Kelly Reichardt's brooding and contemplative character studies and I think the protagonist of this movie might be her most intriguing one yet.  James Blaine "J.B." Mooney (Josh O'Connor) is an unemployed former art student who is supported by his wife Terri (Alana Haim) and his wealthy, but disapproving, parents Sarah (Hope Davis) and William (Bill Camp) in the suburban town of Framingham, Massachusetts where his father serves as the local judge.  It is 1970 and the Vietnam War continues on but J.B. is seemingly unaffected by it and the attendant protests all around him (there are many references to both in the background of the action).  He meticulously plans a robbery in broad daylight of four paintings by Arthur Dove from the local art museum with Guy Hickey (Eli Gelb), Larry Duffy (Cole Doman), and Ronnie Gibson (Javion Allen) and, even though the heist is initially successful, everything that can go wrong does go wrong and J.B. is ill-equipped to deal with the fallout.  He ends up on the run where help is either not forthcoming, from his art school friends Fred and Maude (John Magaro and Gaby Hoffman, respectively) or his long-suffering wife, or not available until he is finally held accountable for his actions for maybe the first time in his life.  This is definitely more character-driven than plot-driven because the action in the second half is incredibly slow, almost maddeningly so, with lots of static shots of J.B. trying to figure out what to do which seem to go on much longer than necessary.  How J.B. responds is much more important that what he responds to and this is ultimately very effective but I admit that I got a bit fidgety.  However, I found the narrative to be very thought-provoking because, in my opinion, J.B. is a symbol for an America that lost its way prosecuting a war it could not win.  I also loved the 1970s aesthetic in the production design, costumes, and cinematography, the Jazz-inspired score, and the understated performance from O'Connor (he excels at playing rumpled anti-heroes).  I recommend this to fans of Reichardt but others might find it boring.

Note:  The first movie in our double feature appealed specifically to me and this one appealed specifically to my nephew!

Blue Moon

Last night my nephew and I had another double feature at the Broadway (they are becoming a regular occurrence for us).  We started with Blue Moon and, even though I really liked it, I can definitely see why others might not.  Before Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) worked with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), he had a successful 24-year partnership with Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) before the latter's self-destructive behavior forced a split.  During the opening night performance of Oklahoma!, the first collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein, Hart slips away to Sardi's restaurant to commiserate with Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) the bartender and Morty (Jonah Lees) the piano player.  He is openly critical of Oklahoma! (my favorite comment is that it will be performed by high schools until the end of time because it is so inoffensive) but he knows that it will be a bigger hit than any of his shows with Rodgers so he can barely bring himself to congratulate him when he arrives for the afterparty.  When Hart proposes a new project for the two of them to work on, Rodgers remains skeptical about his depression and alcoholism.  His spirits are momentarily lifted at the arrival of Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), his 20-year-old protege, because he has unrequited feelings for her and is hoping to impress her with his connections to the Broadway world.  When she abandons him to attend another party with Rodgers, it is a confirmation of both his personal and professional failings but he hides his heartbreak and continues regaling Eddie and Morty with yet another story.  This features a lot of dialogue (Broadway fans will find many fun references) and takes place in one location in real time (almost like a chamber play) so it is very slow but I found it surprisingly compelling because of Hawke's brilliant and transformative performance as the talented but tormented songwriter.  You can always see the pain behind the bravado (although it is distracting to see the balding wig that he wears) and I was impressed by his physicality as a man who is embarrassed by his short stature.  Scott is also outstanding (he won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin Film Festival), especially in a highly charged scene where Rodgers expresses both his gratitude for and frustration with Hart.  Qualley does a great job but she sometimes feels very out of place, in my opinion, because she is so anachronistic in this time period.  As a fan of Broadway musicals, I really enjoyed this but I don't think the stellar performances will be enough to make this appealing for those who do not share a similar interest.

Nuremberg

Last night my nephew and I were able to attend an early screening of Nuremberg which included a livestreamed Q&A with Russell Crowe and the director James Vanderbilt.  It is very compelling and, unfortunately, very timely.  After the surrender of Hermann Goring (Crowe), the Allies disagree over how to bring him and the other captured Nazi leaders to justice.  The Soviets propose a show trial with a predetermined outcome while the British advocate for summary executions.  U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) wants to punish them but he also wants to show the world irrefutable evidence of what the Nazis did so he proposes a public military tribunal conducted by the Americans, British, French, and Soviets in Nuremberg, the site of many Nazi rallies.  Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), a military psychiatrist, is brought to the prison to determine if the defendants are competent to stand trial and he engages in a thrilling battle of wits with Goring.  However, as Kelley spends more and more time with Goring, his opinion of him becomes increasingly sympathetic, especially after he delivers letters to Goring's wife Emmy (Lotte Verbeek) and daughter Edda (Fleur Bremmer), until the true nature of what occurred in the concentration camps is revealed during the trial.  This prompts him to disclose privileged information to Jackson to help him incriminate Goring on the stand.  This movie is riveting and my attention never wavered during the entire two and a half hour runtime.  There are several moments that I found to be incredibly powerful, including a scene when a translator played by Leo Woodall tries to convince Kelley to help Jackson by saying that the atrocities committed by the Nazis happened because people stood by and did nothing and a scene when Kelley is promoting his book about the trials and says that what happened in Nazi Germany will happen again because people abandon their humanity in the pursuit of power, and I think this is definitely a movie that everyone should see right now.  The supporting cast is outstanding, particularly Woodall (as Sgt. Howie Triest) who gives the aforementioned emotional monologue about being an advocate for the Jews who died, John Slattery (as Col. Burton Andrus) who provides a bit of levity as the no-nonsense commandant of the prison, and Richard E. Grant (as the British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) who has a stand-up-and-cheer moment during the trial.  Malek, Crowe, and Shannon give brilliant performances (I think it is the best of Malek's career) and their interactions are explosive, especially when Jackson reminds Kelley of the importance of what they are doing in the ruins of the Nazi parade grounds, when Kelley confronts Goring about the concentration camps, and when Jackson interrogates Goring on the stand.  Crowe mentioned in the Q&A that they were able to film the trial scene in one day because he and Shannon are from Krypton (an amusing reference to their characters from Man of Steel).  I loved the verisimilitude in the production design (most notably the accuracy in the recreation of the courtroom), because it allows for the seamless integration of real footage (the film showing the actual liberation of the camps is incredibly harrowing to watch), and in the costumes (Goring is known for wearing light blue uniforms of his own design).  This is a thrilling and entertaining movie but it is also an important one and I highly recommend it.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Yesterday I went back to the Broadway (I pretty much live there) for a matinee of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and I loved it!  Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is exhausted after a grueling world tour and, despite feeling pressure from his record company to capitalize on the success of "Hungry Heart," he decides to return to his hometown in New Jersey to relax and get away from his growing fame.  Instead, he is assaulted by memories of his childhood, especially his troubled relationship with his father Douglas (Stephen Graham), and begins an ill-fated relationship with the sister (Odessa Young) of a high school friend which leads to an existential crisis.  He writes songs that are darker in tone as a way to cope and eventually enlists his guitar tech Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser) to help him make a stripped down demo tape using a four-track recorder in his bedroom.  He also writes and records "Born in the U.S.A," "Glory Days," and "I'm on Fire," which his producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) wants to release, but he insists on releasing the rough version of his earlier songs which eventually becomes the album Nebraska.  Landau ultimately fights the record company for what Springsteen wants, even going to extraordinary lengths to find equipment that preserves the sound on the demo tape, because he sees that it is a form of catharsis for him.  After facing his demons, Springsteen is able to record the album Born in the U.S.A. which makes him a global superstar.  I love that this focuses on a seminal period in Springsteen's life rather than using a traditional biopic structure and I found the story to be incredibly emotional and compelling.  White delivers a brilliant performance because, while he doesn't look exactly like Springsteen (which distracted me at first), he captures both his physicality, especially on stage, and his singing voice.  However, it is his portrayal of Springsteen's pain that impressed me most, particularly a scene when he finally allows himself to cry (it is a very powerful turning point).  Finally, I loved hearing all of the songs on Nebraska because I wasn't familiar with them and it was fascinating to see the creative process behind writing, recording, and mastering them.  I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

Shelby Oaks

My nephew joined me once again for Shelby Oaks, the final movie in my epic triple feature yesterday.  Writer/director Chris Stuckmann is a popular YouTube movie critic (I often watch his channel) who made this movie by fundraising on Kickstarter so I was really intrigued and excited to see it.  Unfortunately, I found it to be a jumbled and derivative mess despite an interesting premise and a strong beginning.  Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) hosted the popular YouTube series "Paranormal Paranoids" with her friends David (Eric Francis Melaragni), Peter (Anthony Baldasare), and Laura (Caisey Cole) before the four of them disappeared while investigating the ghost town Shelby Oaks twelve years earlier.  Three of them were eventually found dead but Mia Brennan (Camille Sullivan) still believes that her sister Riley is alive.  She is interviewed about her search for her sister for a true crime documentary which also includes footage from one of the group's cameras showing a terrified Riley right before she disappeared.  After Mia discovers a second camera which shows footage of an abandoned prison in Shelby Oaks, she conducts research about a prisoner named Wilson Miles (Charlie Talbert) which leads her to his dilapidated cabin and answers about what happened to Riley.  I really liked the mockumentary structure because it presents the backstory about the disappearance in a way that I found compelling.  I also liked the use of found footage because it is very atmospheric and unsettling.  However, when the narrative shifts to Mia's investigation in Shelby Oaks, it loses focus and momentum and I became less engaged.  This is obviously an homage to Stuckmann's favorite horror movies but, with so many references to movies such as The Blair Witch Project, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, and Hereditary (to name a few), the story lacks cohesion and feels incomplete (I actually fell asleep for about five minutes and it felt like I missed an hour's worth of plot development).  Finally, so much of what happens strains credulity with Mia making bad decision after bad decision just to advance the plot (including an incomprehensible one that leads to an incredibly unsatisfying ending).  I really wanted to like this after rooting for Stuckmann to get it made for so long but I cannot recommend it.

Urchin

My nephew joined me at the Broadway for Urchin, the next movie in my triple feature yesterday, and we both loved this powerful and tragic portrayal of someone falling between the cracks in society.  Mike (Frank Dillane) is a homeless young man suffering from mental health issues and addiction.  After he severely beats and robs a man (Okezie Morro) who attempts to help him, he is arrested and sentenced to nine months in prison.  When he is released, he is sober and commits to a fresh start.  He regularly meets with his counselor Nadia (Buckso Dhillon-Woolley), moves into a temporary hostel, gets a job working in a kitchen at a hotel, maintains his sobriety with a new group of friends while avoiding those who have had a negative influence on him, and even listens to self-help tapes.  However, a mediated meeting with his victim damages his fragile self-confidence which sends him spiraling into self-destructive behavior once again.  An overworked Nadia abandons him, his boss fires him when his behavior affects his performance at work, his temporary housing situation expires, and he returns to the friends who enable his addiction.  I loved the gritty and realistic portrayal of what it looks like to live on the fringes of society interspersed with beautiful images of a dark cave with a light-filled opening that seems too far to reach (a very vivid metaphor).  I was also very intrigued by the recurring motif of a figure that seems to be following Mike because it suggests that what happens to him is inevitable in such a broken system.  The entire narrative is incredibly moving and there were many small moments that made me want to cry because I wanted Mike to succeed so badly.  Dillane gives an absolutely brilliant performance that is both sympathetic and frustrating (I wanted to yell at the screen when someone offers him drugs).  The close-up on his face when Mike is forced to listen to his victim describe how the attack affected him is heartbreaking because his guilt is palpable.  This is an impressive debut from writer-director Harris Dickinson and I highly recommend it.

Ballad of a Small Player

There are a lot of movies that I want to see this month so I actually had a triple feature yesterday in order to fit them all in (it has been a long time since I have done that).  I started with a matinee of Ballad of a Small Player at the Broadway and it is a stylish look at the nature of greed with a committed performance from Colin Farrell.  Brendan Reilly (Farrell) is an Irish con man on the run from a British private investigator named Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton) after embezzling the life savings of several women.  He has ensconced himself in a luxury hotel suite in Macau, the gambling capital of the world, as the self-styled Lord Freddy Doyle and believes that he is just one game of baccarat away from hitting it big.  However, his luck runs out when he amasses large debts that he cannot pay and when Blithe eventually locates him.  He flees to Hong Kong where Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a mysterious woman who understands his situation all too well, offers him a choice between redemption or Hell.  Farrell is outstanding as both a bon vivant who swaggers from casino to casino in one gaudy outfit after another in search of his next big win and as a desperate man who slowly realizes that he has no more cards left to play.  I also liked Swinton as yet another awkwardly eccentric character (I think she chooses her roles based on the wig she gets to wear).  The symbolism, particularly the use of food as a metaphor for greed and the use of water as a metaphor for redemption, is very intriguing and the bold and chaotic lights of Macau juxtaposed with the tranquility of nature in Hong Kong is also quite powerful.  The cinematography is beautiful and the bombastic score perfectly matches Doyle's false bravado. The biggest flaw is that the narrative overplays its hand in the third act with a supernatural subplot that is both obvious and convoluted.  I liked this more than others have but it is definitely one that you can wait to see when it begins streaming on Netflix later this month.

After the Hunt

Despite some divisive reviews, my nephew and I decided to see After the Hunt at the Broadway last night.  I was initially very put off by several things but, upon further reflection, I think they were intentional and, ultimately, tremendously thought-provoking.  Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts) is a well-respected philosophy professor at Yale University who is being considered for tenure along with her colleague and close personal friend Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield). She and her psychiatrist husband Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg) host a dinner party for several of her students, including her protege Maggie Resnick (Ayo Edebiri), and colleagues, including Hank, where a heated discussion takes place.  The next day Maggie accuses Hank of sexually assaulting her and turns to Alma for support but she is disappointed by her surprisingly indifferent response.  Hank also reaches out to Alma to protest his innocence but she reports him to the dean which results in his termination.  However, the situation becomes increasingly fraught as information about each of the three, and their motivations, comes to light.  I really enjoyed the juxtaposition between Alma and Maggie who are intriguing foils to each other.  They both may or may not have been assaulted (more about that later) but they each respond according to the social mores of the time in which their attacks occurred.  Alma represses what happened to her and counsels Maggie to do the same if she wants to succeed in the male-dominated world of academia but Maggie sees her victimhood as a way to publicly fight against the patriarchy.  My nephew and I, who roughly correspond to the generations depicted by these women, had an engaging discussion about their differing mindsets.  I did not enjoy the ambiguity of the narrative (Alma, Maggie, and Hank are slowly revealed to be incredibly unreliable narrators) because I wanted to know the truth but Guadagnino is emphasizing that the truth is sometimes difficult to ascertain and that it can be manipulated.  I also disliked the theatricality of the performances (Guadagnino even breaks the fourth wall to yell "cut!" after the last scene) which is further emphasized by an uncharacteristically melodramatic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross but I think that this is a commentary on the often performative nature of pursuing social justice (which is provocative, to say the least).  Both Roberts and Edebiri are definitely compelling but I was most impressed by Garfield, who is playing against type, because he is very believable as an unsympathetic character.  This will not appeal to everyone (I still don't know what I think about its themes) but I have not been able to stop thinking about it and that might be the point.

Good Fortune

I thought the trailer for Good Fortune looked hilarious so my nephew and I went to see it last night.  Unfortunately, it was not at all what I was expecting.  Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is a low-level guardian angel responsible for saving people from accidents when they text and drive but he aspires to be an angel who saves lost souls.  He takes an interest in Arj (Aziz Ansari) after he saves him from an accident and begins watching him.  Arj is sleeping in his car and working temporary jobs because, even though he has a degree, he can't find a job in his field.  He eventually starts working as an assistant to Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy tech investor, but is fired for using a company credit card to pay for an expensive dinner with Elena (Keke Palmer), a co-worker he is trying to impress.  When his car is impounded for unpaid parking tickets, Gabriel decides to intervene to show a despondent Arj that his life is worth living.  Arj is not consoled by seeing his future self because he is still struggling financially so Gabriel has him trade places with Jeff for a week to see that money does not solve all problems.  Chaos ensues when Arj sees that money does, in fact, solve all of his problems and refuses to switch back.  Gabriel's supervisor Martha (Sandra Oh) punishes him by taking his wings until he can get Arj to agree to switch back and both he and Jeff see what it is like to live the life Arj once lived.  This features a very heavy-handed message condemning the increasing disparity between the rich and poor and the inability to change one's circumstances through education or hard work.  However, in my opinion, this message is undermined by an ending that suggests finding joy in the little pleasures of life (such as tacos, dancing, and spending time with friends) as a way to endure the hardship.  This is meant to be uplifting but it is overly simplistic at best and insulting at worst.  I also found the plot to be very meandering with a lot of unnecessary tangents (so many scenes involving cold plunges).  Finally, I was expecting a comedy and I don't think I laughed once (all of the humor is shown in the trailer).  The only highlight for me was Reeves (Rogen and Ansari are portraying characters they've played many times before).  This was a bit disappointing and I recommend giving it a miss.

Black Phone 2

I was really surprised by how much I liked The Black Phone so I was excited to be able to see the sequel, Black Phone 2, with my nephew last night.  I think it takes a lot of the ideas explored in the first movie and expands upon them.  Four years after Finney Blake (Mason Thames) killed the Grabber (Ethan Hawke), his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) is having disturbing dreams about three dead boys at the Alpine Lake Camp, including one in which her late mother Hope (Anna Lore), who worked at the camp, calls her from a pay phone there.  Finney is still traumatized by his experience with the Grabber but he reluctantly agrees to go with Gwen and her boyfriend Ernesto (Miguel Mora), the brother of one of the Grabber's victims, to investigate the camp.  They arrive in the middle of a severe snowstorm and are stranded there with Armando (Demian Bichir), the owner of the camp, who remembers Hope and the three campers who were killed by a counselor and never found.  When Gwen begins having disturbing interactions with the Grabber in her dreams, Finney receives a call on the pay phone from him vowing to kill Gwen as retribution for his death.  They eventually realize that the Grabber was the one who killed the boys and that they must find their bodies in order end his power over Gwen.  What I enjoyed most about this story is that it mirrors the one in the original.  In the first movie, Gwen uses her supernatural ability to help Finney defeat a real monster and, in this one, Finney uses his real ability to help Gwen defeat a supernatural threat.  I also liked the continued use of the phone as a link to those beyond the grave, especially the connection between Gwen and her mother which becomes more significant as the movie progresses.  Gwen's dream sequences have a grainy Super 8 film aesthetic and feature plenty of gory imagery, particularly a decapitation using a windowpane, but my favorite scene is when Finney interacts with the three dead campers while in the phone booth because it is incredibly unnerving.  Thames and McGraw give great performances but Bichir is used mostly for exposition and there are a few other characters who feel a bit extraneous.  I think this is a good sequel but what keeps it from being a great one, in my opinion, is all of the cringe-worthy dialogue (of which there is a lot).  I still really liked it and would definitely recommend it to fans of horror.

A House of Dynamite

The second movie in the double feature at the Broadway with my nephew last night was A House of Dynamite and it is incredibly tense and thought-provoking if ultimately anti-climactic.  The launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile from an unknown country is shown from three different perspectives.  The first perspective introduces the threat as Major Daniel Gonzalez (Anthony Ramos) and his team at Fort Greely in Alaska first detect the missile heading inbound to the United States on radar and attempt, unsuccessfully, to neutralize it with anti-ballistic missiles and as Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), the senior  officer in the White House situation room, and her team assess the danger to the population and inform all high-ranking government officials.  The second perspective proposes possible responses as General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), the senior military officer at STRATCOM (the United States Strategic Command), advocates for nuclear retaliation against all known enemies and as Jake Bearington (Gabriel Basso), the Deputy National Security Officer, urges caution after contacting Ana Park (Greta Lee), the NSA's North Korea expert, and the Russian Foreign Minister (Andrei Kouznetsov).  The third perspective conveys the weight of making an impossible decision as the POTUS (Idris Elba) consults with Secretary of Defense Reid Baker (Jared Harris) and Presidential Military Aide Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves (Jonah Hauer-King) in order to choose between several devastating options.  One of the things I found most compelling is how the narrative humanizes the characters who are responsible for keeping the country safe, often at the expense of their own families, especially when Walker tearfully advises her husband (Neal Bledsoe) to take their son (Nicholas Monterosso) and drive as far away as possible, when Baker calls his estranged daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) after he realizes that she lives in the targeted city, and when the POTUS calls the First Lady (Renee Elise Goldsberry), who is visiting Africa, to ask her opinion.  However, this is also extremely disconcerting because we see that these very human individuals tasked with keeping us safe are also fallible and are the weakest link in elaborate contingency plans. The action is frenetic as the camera shifts from person to person in the large ensemble cast and the suspense is almost unbearable as the countdown to impact is shown three different times with an unsettling score.  I was on the edge of my seat until the ending which I found very disappointing (I may or may not have uttered an expletive under my breath) even though it is probably the only way it could have ended.  I would recommend seeing this in the theater because it is a visceral experience but it will be available on Netflix beginning October 24.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

I was absolutely blown away by Kiss of the Spider Woman when I saw it at Sundance this year so I was really excited to see it again with my sister Kristine last night.  I loved it just as much, if not more, upon a second viewing!  During a brutal military dictatorship in Argentina in the 1980s, Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), a flamboyantly gay window dresser, is jailed for public indecency and placed in the same cell as a political dissident named Valentin Arregui (Diego Luna).  The Warden (Bruno Bichir) offers Molina early parole if he can get Valentin to reveal important information about his revolutionary activities but this seems unlikely as the two of them take an immediate disliking to each other.  However, the bleak conditions in the prison prompt Molina to begin describing his favorite movie musical starring Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez) as a way to escape their circumstances and they soon form an unlikely bond.  As the musical comes vividly to life in technicolor, Molina starts to feel conflicted about betraying Valentin as life imitates art.  As a huge fan of movie musicals, I love that the characters use the genre as a way to escape from reality and as inspiration and I love all of the old Hollywood musicals that are referenced in the big production numbers (especially An American in Paris, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Singin' in the Rain).  I love the bright and effervescent color palette and the dynamic choreography, especially when juxtaposed with the drab and dreary scenes in the prison, because it really emphasizes the fantasy even if the songs themselves are largely forgettable.  Lopez is brilliant in a role that was made for her and I particularly enjoyed her singing and dancing in "Gimme Love" because she is dazzling. Luna is more subdued but I liked his sensitive portrayal of Valentin’s arc of learning how to love.  I was most impressed with Tonatiuh because he steals the show with an incredibly nuanced performance that is both tender and powerful and his rendition of "She's a Woman" is beautiful.  This might not be for everyone because there are some dark themes but, ultimately, it is about the transformative power of art and I highly recommend it.