The Taste of Things

The second foreign film in my double feature at the Broadway last night was The Taste of Things.  I was really excited to see this because of everything I had heard about it and it certainly didn't disappoint.  Dodin (Benoit Magimel) is a French landowner in 1885 who meets regularly with a group of his fellow gourmands for a meal he prepares with his cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) with whom he has been having an affair for over twenty years.  She refuses to eat these meals with him and his friends and refuses his frequent proposals of marriage.  When Dodin and his friends are invited to an elaborate eight hour meal prepared by the distinguished chef of a visiting prince, they are all disappointed because they prefer the artistry of Eugenie's cooking and Dodin makes plans to invite the prince to his chateau for a simple meal consisting of a pot-au-feu.  However, Eugenie begins having fainting spells that worry Dodin so, while she rests, he prepares an exquisite meal for her after which she finally accepts his proposal.  This is a beautiful and moving story about how the purest form of love is preparing food for someone!  The vast majority of the runtime involves the meticulous preparation of gourmet meals featuring many different courses followed by people eating them with pleasure and there is very little dialogue (and no score beyond the sounds of nature from the open windows) but these scenes are absolutely captivating because the food looks amazing and you can almost smell the aromas through the screen.  Binoche (who is luminous as always) and Magimel give lovely performances because, not only do they have insane chemistry with each other (this is one of the most romantic movies I've seen in a long time), but they also really seem to be cooking all of the food!  The cinematography, whether the camera is panning over simmering and sizzling pots or the sun-dappled garden where many of the ingredient are freshly picked, is simply gorgeous.  I loved everything about this delightful film and highly recommend it.

The Teachers' Lounge

Last night I decided on a foreign film double feature at the Broadway and I began with The Teachers' Lounge.  I had an almost visceral reaction to several scenes because I am a former teacher and this is an incredibly accurate portrayal of what teaching sometimes feels like.  Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is an idealistic first year teacher in a middle school that has been experiencing a series of thefts.  When one of her students (who is Muslim) is accused, she objects to the way in which her superiors abuse their power to single him out and decides to investigate the thefts herself.  She surreptitiously gathers evidence that seems to lead to an administrative assistant as the culprit but her accusation puts her at odds with the administration, her students (especially the son of the accused who is in her class), the parents, and the other teachers.  What I found fascinating is that Carla is initially very well-liked by her colleagues and is a great teacher with a lot of participation and engagement from her students but, as an unintended consequence of her well-meaning action, they all quickly turn against her and events spiral out of control.  The school becomes a microcosm of society where everyone is looking for someone else to blame and misinformation abounds.  All of the action takes place within a few areas of the school and this really heightens Carla's sense of claustrophobia when she finds no support.  The tension slowly escalates until it is almost unbearable and a scene where every student in her class refuses to comply with her directions gave me a panic attack.  Benesch gives a brilliant central performance, which is enhanced by an unnerving score, and I often found it very difficult to watch.  My only criticism is that the ending is a bit anticlimactic after all of the build-up but I highly recommend this thought-provoking film.

Madame Web

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was Madame Web and, after reading some horrible reviews, I really wanted to give it a chance but it is just so bad.  Cassandra "Cassie" Webb (Dakota Johnson) is an antisocial paramedic who gains the ability to see into the future after a near death experience.  While on a train she has a vision of an attack on three girls, Julia Cornwall (Sydney Sweeney), Anya Corazon (Isabela Merced), and Mattie Franklin (Celeste O'Connor), by a man with spider-like abilities.  She rescues them before the attack can happen and then recognizes the man as Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim), an explorer who was in the Amazon with her mother when she was researching spiders right before she died (this meme-able line from the trailer is not actually in the movie).  It seems that he stole a rare spider with healing properties from Cassie's pregnant mother and he can see his death at the hands of the three aforementioned girls in the future and wants to kill them before they can do the deed.  After another attack on the girls, Cassie reluctantly takes responsibility for them, learns her backstory and why she has this strange ability, and finally faces Sims in a fiery confrontation.  Much like the Venom movies (which I disliked) and Morbius (which I didn't even bother to see), this is another attempt by Sony to create a full-fledged narrative about a side character in the Spider-Man universe and it doesn't really work on any level.  The story is often nonsensical even though there are plenty of clunky exposition dumps in the dialogue.  The action sequences are not very interesting because the writers and the director have no idea what to do with a character whose power is mental rather than physical (she tells the girls to get down a lot) and the editing is so disjointed that it is hard to even see what is going on.  The villain is not very compelling or well developed (I have so many questions) and Rahim's ADR is some of the worst I have ever seen or heard.  Johnson can be a great actress (I love her in Cha Cha Real Smooth and The Lost Daughter) but she needs good material to elevate her performance and, in this mess, she seems completely disengaged from what is happening.  Sweeney gets the most screen time out of the three girls (I have lots of questions about them and their powers, as well) but she is incredibly bland.  Ugh!  The best part of this movie, in my opinion, is Cassie's partner Ben Parker (Adam Scott) who becomes an uncle (wink wink) during the final confrontation.  Even with very low expectations I was still disappointed with this movie and I highly recommend giving this a miss.

Note:  Don't even get me started on the product placement...

Lisa Frankenstein

Yesterday I decided to spend the day at my local multiplex for a double feature starting with Lisa Frankenstein.  I had so much fun watching this monster movie/romantic comedy mash-up!  It is 1989 and Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is still traumatized by the brutal murder of her mother and is struggling to adjust to her cruel new stepmother Janet (Carla Gugino) and popular stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano) while trying to fit in at her new high school.  She would rather spend all of her time at a cemetery and, after an unfortunate incident at a house party, she returns there to her favorite grave of a young Victorian man.  When she wishes that she was there with him, his corpse is reanimated, albeit with a few missing parts, during a lightning storm and he finds his way to her suburban house.  She hides the Creature (Cole Sprouse) in her closet but, when he begins killing those who have wronged her, she uses their body parts to stitch him back together and creates her perfect boyfriend.  The story about a misunderstood teen looking for someone to acknowledge and appreciate her is a familiar one and, honestly, it is the weakest part of this movie but it doesn't matter because I loved everything else!  The production design is an over-the-top pastiche of all of my favorite 80s teen comedies and I especially enjoyed the use of a tanning bed to produce the necessary electricity for the Creature's transformations.  The absurdist tone balances the horror with the humor really well (think Heathers) and I was laughing out loud during a particularly grisly and blood-splattered scene in slow motion with the song "On the Wings of Love" in the background.  Newton is hit or miss with me but I think this is her best performance to date because she nails the quirkiness of the character in one fantastic Madonna-inspired outfit after another.  Sprouse gives a hilarious physical performance (he has almost no dialogue beyond grunting) and Gugino steals every scene she is in (I laughed so hard when she lamented the destruction of a Precious Moments figurine).  This is a silly and campy good time that teens and those of us who were teens in the 80s are sure to love!

Out of Darkness

I was very intrigued when I saw a trailer for Out of Darkness so I decided to see it last night.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story of survival set 45,000 years in the past.  A group of prehistoric humans, including the leader Adem (Chuku Modu), his mate Ave (Iola Evans), his son Heron (Luna Mwezi), his younger brother Geirr (Kit Young), a wise elder named Odal (Arno Luening), and a "spare" named Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), leave their home and tribe to escape a famine and travel across the sea to a new land.  However, the landscape is barren and inhospitable so they become weaker and weaker from lack of food and shelter, especially Ave who is pregnant.  They begin to suspect that there is something demonic stalking them in the darkness and their fears are confirmed when Heron is taken in the middle of the night.  Soon everyone is in danger from the mysterious threat but the greatest danger comes from their growing distrust of each other.  The dialogue is in the completely invented language of Tola, which is really cool and adds to the authenticity, and the characters, based on archetypes, are very compelling with committed performances from the relatively unknown cast.  The action, once it gets going, is tense with some incredibly unnerving moments enhanced by immersive cinematography, eerie lighting, menacing sound design (the sound of footsteps during a particularly fraught moment is almost unbearable), and a pulse-pounding score.  I was genuinely scared several times but it was more for what I didn't see than for what I did so, once the monster is revealed, it is a bit anticlimactic even if the message about the origin of hatred for others who are different is powerful and thought-provoking.  I would highly recommend this atmoshpheric thriller, especially on the big screen.

Argylle

I finally had the chance to see Argylle last night and I really enjoyed it until it was completely derailed by the third act.  Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is the anxiety-ridden author of a series of books based on a spy named Argylle (Henry Cavill).  In her latest novel, Agent Argylle is searching for a computer drive that implicates a secret agency known as the Directorate but she is suffering from writer's block and can't finish the final chapter. She decides to visit her mother Ruth (Catherine O'Hara) with her cat Alfie but she encounters a real spy named Aidan Wilde (Sam Rockwell) on the train.  He saves her from a group of assassins and then informs her that her novel is eerily similar to his current mission to expose the secret agency known as the Division run by Director Ritter (Bryan Cranston) and that he needs her to finish the final chapter to help him find the computer drive before Ritter does.  This premise is initially very intriguing and the big twist about Agent Argylle's real identity actually worked for me (I somehow avoided all spoilers).  Rockwell and Howard are a great comedy duo with lots of chemistry as opposites who are thrown together by circumstances.  The action sequences on the train and in a flat in London are a lot of fun, especially the scenes from Elly's POV that show Aidan and Argylle fighting interchangeably.  However, there are so many twists and turns in the third act that the narrative becomes overly convoluted and it is hard to keep track of (or even care about) who is double-crossing whom and Rockwell and Howard's performances become less compelling (and even cringe-worthy) as their characters' motivations change.  In addition, the action sequences in the final act are laughably bombastic and look terrible (I think I groaned out loud at one point) with lots of messy slow-motion choreography and obvious CGI.  It is especially ridiculous when Aidan and Elly recreate the opening sequence performed by Argylle and a femme fatale named LaGrange (Dua Lipa).  I found this to be incredibly disappointing because it started out so well and I definitely recommend giving it a miss.

The Promised Land

Last night I went to the Broadway to see the epic historical drama The Promised Land and, since that is one of my favorite genres, I absolutely loved it!  Ludvig Kahlen (Mads Mikkelsen), the illegitimate son of a Danish nobleman and a maid, spends twenty-five years working his way to the rank of captain in the German army and, when he is discharged, he petitions the King of Denmark for permission to build a settlement on the barren moors of the Jutland peninsula.  The only compensation he requests for successfully cultivating the land is a noble title.  However, the local landowner and magistrate, Frederik de Schinkel (Simon Bennebjerg), claims that the land belongs to him and initially tries to bargain with Kahlen for control but, when he refuses, he lures his workforce away.  Tensions escalate when Kahlen hires two of Schinkel's indentured servants, Johannes and Ann Barbara Eriksen (Morten Hee Andersen and Amanda Collin, respectively), who have broken their contract and run away and when he begins a relationship with Edel Helene (Kristine Kujath Thorp), Schinkel's cousin and betrothed.  Even though he overcomes numerous challenges and a harsh winter through sheer determination, Kahlen must eventually face Schinkel in an epic confrontation with stakes that might be too high to bear.  The story, which is a fictionalized version of real events, is incredibly compelling and I was very invested in the fate of Kahlen and all of the people who become a surrogate family for him (especially a young orphan girl played by Melina Hagberg) because the characters are so well developed and the performances are outstanding.  I even had to stop myself from cheering out loud during one dramatic scene because Bannenbjerg does such a good job of making the audience hate Schinkel!  The closeups on Mikkelsen's face show every emotion he is feeling and it is a highly nuanced, yet powerful, performance.  The cinematography is gorgeous and, while I was impressed by the sweeping shots of the desolate landscape, I was just as blown away by a closeup shot of a budding potato plant.  The costumes and production design are very effective at immersing the audience in 18th century Denmark and my attention never wavered during the two hour runtime.  This is one of the best historical dramas I've seen in a long time and I highly recommend it!

Origin

Last night I went back to the Broadway for an early screening of Origin, a film by Ava DuVernay based on the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson which draws parallels between the treatment the Dalit, or "Untouchables," in India, the Jews in Nazi Germany, and slaves in the American South and argues that they are victims of caste, a structure based on the idea that one group of people is inherently better than another, rather than racism.  This is more than just an adaptation of the book because it puts Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) in the middle of the story as she writes it.  She formulates her thesis and conducts research while experiencing the deaths of her husband (Jon Bernthal), mother (Emily Yancy) and cousin (Niecy Nash).  Much of her research is dramatized as it is uncovered and I found it very compelling and emotional (I cried several times), especially a study conducted by Allison and Elizabeth Davis (Isha Blaaker and Jasmine Cephas Jones, respectively) and Burleigh and Mary Gardner (Matthew Zuk and Hannah Pniewski, respectively) on segregation in the South and the work of B. R. Ambedkar (Gaurav J. Panthania) advocating for the rights of the Dalit in India.  I also found much of her research to be very eye-opening and thought-provoking, particularly a document from the German archives about the Nazis using Jim Crow laws in America as the inspiration for codifying the persecution of the Jews.  Ellis-Taylor gives an incredibly powerful and affecting performance but I think this may have worked better as a documentary because I found it difficult to connect the meandering vignettes depicting Wilkerson's grief to her specific research on oppression and subjugation.  I walked out of the theater wanting to read the book to learn more.  I didn't love the structure but I would definitely recommend it because the topic is so important.

The Zone of Interest

The Academy Award nominations were announced last week and the only nominee for Best Picture that I hadn't seen yet was The Zone of Interest (click on the titles for my commentaries about American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, and Poor Things) so I decided to see it as part of my double feature at the Broadway last night.  It is one of the most unsettling movies I have ever seen because it is a brilliant depiction of the mundanity of evil.  Rudolf Hoss (Christian Friedel), the commandant of Auschwitz, lives an idyllic existence with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Huller) and their five children in a large house next to the camp.  Hedwig is able to ignore the sound of trains, screaming prisoners, gunshots, and furnaces (the sound design in this movie gave me so much anxiety) because she is living in her dream house and enjoys having prisoners as servants in the house, being given her choice of all of the prisoners' belongings, and working in her extensive gardens and greenhouse.  Her mother (Imogen Kogge) is initially impressed by her daughter's status when she comes to visit but is horrified by the flames from the crematorium and soon leaves.  Rudolf is able to speak dispassionately about the death happening all around him because he sees his efficiency in disposing of the prisoners as a means of gaining advancement.  He is so numbed by death that he casually calculates how much gas it would take to kill the officers attending a party.  The scenes of the family going about their daily life with picnics by the river, birthday celebrations, and parties by the pool are disturbing because there is always a hint of the horrors taking place in the camp just out of sight.  However, I was most disconcerted by the scenes of janitors blithely cleaning the gas chambers, ovens, and museum displays at Auschwitz in the present because this serves to emphasize how easy it is to become accustomed to evil in plain view.  Both Friedel and Huller give chilling performances that convey so much without a lot of dialogue and the haunting score emphasizes the unease.  I was very unnerved by this movie (people in my audience sat in silence long after the credits finished rolling) and I know I will be thinking about it for a long time to come.  It is very difficult to watch but I recommend it because it is so powerful.

All of Us Strangers

A few movies on my list came out in wide release while Sundance was going on so I decided on a double feature at the Broadway last night to get caught up.  I started with All of Us Strangers and I loved this moving portrait of a man who must reconcile with his past in order to move forward in the present.  Adam (Andrew Scott) is a lonely screenwriter living in an almost uninhabited new apartment tower in London.  He meets Harry (Paul Mescal), the only other inhabitant of the building, who drunkenly flirts with him one night but, even though he is desperate for a connection, he is too uncomfortable to let him in.  When he finds some photos of his parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy), who died in a car accident when he was twelve, he is prompted to visit his childhood home where he finds them alive at the ages they were when they died.  He is able to interact with them so he comes out as gay to them and tearfully recounts his struggle to find a sense of belonging as a child.  He begins a tentative relationship with Harry (who is charismatic and outgoing but also feels a crushing loneliness) and, as his parents express their pride in him and love for him, it grows stronger and he is able to see a future with him.  However, there is a heartbreaking twist (while "The Power of Love" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood plays) that left me absolutely devastated.  I also cried in a beautiful scene where Adam remembers a happy moment from his childhood and his parents sing along to "You Were Always on My Mind" by the Pet Shop Boys and during a scene where his parents tell him to let go of his grief and be happy (this is probably not the best movie to see if you have recently lost both of your parents).  There are some incredibly powerful themes, including identity and the search for acceptance, unresolved grief, and the need for connection, as well as some intriguing metaphors throughout (I want to see it again if I can bear it).  The needle drops are highly effective at conveying both a feeling of nostalgia for the 1980s and a feeling of longing in the present.  Finally, all four performances are absolutely brilliant but Scott is simply amazing, especially in a highly nuanced scene with Bell.  I highly recommend this but it will probably make you cry.

Sundance Film Festival 2024

I was so happy to be back at the Sundance Film Festival again this year!  Just like last year I got a Salt Lake City pass and I recognized quite a few pass holders from last year!  I'm usually really wary of talking to people I don't know but, for some reason, I love talking to people at Sundance about independent film and I had so much fun!  I was able to see 21 films (which beats the record of 18 set last year) and I liked almost all of what I saw (I only disliked one).  My first film was How to Have Sex which was one of my most anticipated films because I had heard so much about it.  It begins as a fun and lighthearted look at three young girls on holiday in Greece after taking their exams but then it suddenly becomes more sinister as it explores themes of peer pressure and consent.  I was very impressed with Mia McKenna-Bruce's performance because it is so raw and powerful.  My second film was Eno, an innovative documentary (it uses an algorithm to change the sequence of scenes and the footage used so every screening is different) about the innovative record producer Brian Eno.  I loved the deep dive into his creative process and, as a huge fan of U2, I especially enjoyed his discussion about producing the song "Moment of Surrender" (Bono also wrote about recording this song in his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story).  My third film was Frida.  This documentary about the painter Frida Kahlo is incredibly compelling because her own words from letters, interviews, and diaries are used to tell her story and I loved the beautiful animations created from her paintings.  My fourth film was Out of My Mind which, as a former teacher, I absolutely loved!  Melody Brooks (Phoebe-Rae Taylor) is a non-verbal sixth-grader with cerebral palsy who fights to be placed in a mainstreamed classroom because, even though she cannot speak, she has a lot to say.  This is such a powerful film that, in my opinion, should be seen by every educator because more often than not the education system fails students who are different.  Taylor, who has cerebral palsy, gives an authentic and affecting performance that moved me to tears at times.  The audience gave her a standing ovation when she appeared on stage for the Q & A after the film!  My fifth film was The Greatest Night in Pop which is a behind the scenes documentary about how some of the greatest pop stars of the day came together to record "We Are the World" to aid those suffering from famine in Africa during the 80s.  I remember when this song was released so this was very nostalgic for me.  I especially enjoyed the contemporary interviews with some participants, such as Lionel Ritchie, Huey Lewis, Bruce Springsteen, and Cyndi Lauper, because they all mention feeling intimidated by all of the talent in the studio!  My sixth film was Thelma and it is both delightful and heartwarming!  When 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb) is scammed out of $10,000 by someone impersonating her grandson, she is inspired by the Mission: Impossible movies to go on a quest to get her money back!  Squibb (who is 94) is so charming as an unlikely action hero and the packed crowd at my screening howled with laughter at her antics!  My seventh film was Love Me, which was another one of my most anticipated films (I’m a big fan of Kristen Stewart).  After humanity has been annihilated, a smart buoy and a satellite make contact and interact as Me (Stewart) and I Am (Steven Yuen).  As they get to know each other, they access the internet to learn what it means to be human and adopt the personas of Deja and Liam, a popular influencer couple, but in order to love each other they both must eventually learn to be their authentic selves.  It features live action, motion capture performances, as well as animation and I think it is incredibly clever.  It meanders a bit but I really dug it!  My eighth film was The American Society of Magical Negroes and this satire is hilarious but also very thought-provoking!  A mild-mannered Black artist named Aren (Justice Smith) is recruited by Roger (David Alan Grier) to be a member of a secret society dedicated to making white people comfortable around Black people (referencing the "Magical Negro" movie trope involving a Black character who only exists to advance the arc of a white character).  However, it is only when he realizes that he has been doing this his whole life that he begins to assert himself.  I was a bit uncomfortable because I recognize the reality being satirized but there were lots of moments when I laughed out loud!  My ninth film was Sasquatch Sunset which I found strangely compelling.  It chronicles a year in the life of a Sasquatch family (portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, David Zeller, and Christophe Zajac-Denek who are very expressive even though they are covered in makeup and fur) as they eat, vomit, defecate, urinate, copulate, give birth, and die (very realistically).  They periodically encounter civilization as man encroaches on their environment and the film ends with a powerful visual.  It was weird (is it even Sundance if you don't see something really out there?) but I couldn't look away.  My tenth film was Presence which is another film I was eagerly anticipating because it is directed by Steven Soderbergh.  A family in turmoil, including Chris (Chris Sullivan), Rebecca (Lucy Liu), Chloe (Callina Liang), and Tyler (Eddy Maday), moves into a suburban house hoping for a new start.  However, their chaotic relationships with each other are not improved when Chloe begins feeling a presence in the house.  This is more of an atmospheric psychological thriller than the horror movie I was expecting (a good thing) and I loved all of the camera work because it shows the POV of the ghost for the entire film.  My eleventh film was Winner which tells the true story of how Reality Winner (Emilia Jones) leaked information about Russia's involvement in the 2016 election to an online publication.  I've seen several versions of this story before but I really liked the use of dark humor in this one.  My twelfth film was Love Lies Bleeding which was the one I was most hyped for because, as a fan of director Rose Glass and of Kristen Stewart, I was excited to see a collaboration between them.  Jackie (Katy O'Brian) is an ambitious bodybuilder who stops in a small town in New Mexico on her way to a competition in Las Vegas and becomes involved with Lou (Stewart), the manager of a gym.  Her life becomes increasingly chaotic when Lou introduces her to steroids and to her dysfunctional family, including her gunrunning father (Ed Harris) as well as her sister (Jena Malone) and her sister's abusive husband (Dave Franco).  This is sexy, violent, and absolutely bonkers and I loved it but not as much as I thought I would because the ending didn't quite work for me.  My thirteenth film was Between the Temples and it was my only big miss at the festival.  Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is a grief-stricken cantor who is brought back to life when his former grade school teacher (Carol Kane) comes to him for instruction before her bat mitzvah.  I liked the story and the performances but I hated how it was shot and edited because all of the extreme closeups are incredibly jarring.  My fourteenth film was A Real Pain and I really loved it!  Two cousins, outgoing and charismatic Benji (Kieran Culkin) and uptight and reserved David (Jesse Eisenberg), take a guided tour through Poland to see where their grandmother, a Holocaust survivor who has recently died, came from.  They come face to face with the tragedy of the Holocaust (scenes where they visit a concentration camp are incredibly poignant) but they also feel the pain of realizing that, even though they were once close, they have drifted apart.  Kulkin gives a brilliant performance that made me laugh out loud but a monologue by Eisenberg had me in tears.  This was definitely my favorite of the festival.  My fifteenth film was DEVO and, while it is pretty straightforward documentary, I did learn a lot about a band I loved in my youth.  They formed during the aftermath of the Kent State massacre in an attempt to combine music, performance art, and their philosophy about the de-evolution of mankind and unexpectedly rose to prominence with the song "Whip It" which they say was misunderstood.  My sixteenth film was Your Monster and this screening was the most fun I had at Sundance!  Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) is an actress in the middle of a cancer diagnosis when her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) breaks up with her and gives the part in a Broadway musical that he wrote for her to another actress.  As she wallows in self-pity, the monster (Tommy Dewey) she banished to the closet in childhood appears again to help her find love, and revenge, again.  I laughed and laughed at this musical theatre, romantic comedy, and horror mash-up and so did the entire audience (much to the delight of the producers who were there for the Q & A).  My seventeenth film was Girls State which is a documentary about a program run by the American Legion Auxiliary for high school girls to participate in a week long immersive simulation to learn about the workings of government.  It follows several girls from Missouri and I found all of their stories to be compelling but my favorite was about a girl who investigates the disparity between Boys State and Girls State (Fun fact: I applied to participate in Girls State when I was in high school but I wasn't selected and I am still bitter!).  My eighteenth film was Super/ Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.  I didn't necessarily learn anything new about the actor but I liked the structure because it emphasizes that Reeve became Superman when he was cast in a movie but he became a real superhero after his paralysis.  It includes lots of footage from his personal home movies and it is incredibly moving (lots of people near me were wiping tears from their eyes throughout).  My nineteenth movie, Hit Man, was another one I was really hyped to see!  Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a mild mannered psychology professor and amateur bird watcher who sometimes provides technical support for the police.  He is roped into going undercover as a hit man during a sting operation and, because he uses psychology to appeal to the would-be criminal (and some hilarious disguises), he is very successful.  Complications ensue when he falls for a woman who hires him (Adria Arjona).  This is wildly entertaining and I predict it will be a big hit when it streams on Netflix.  My twentieth film was The Outrun which was another one I was excited to see because I am a huge fan of Saoirse Ronan.  Rona (Ronan) is an alcoholic who attempts to get sober by returning home to the Orkney Islands where she is inspired by the beautiful but wild landscape.  The non-linear narrative didn’t always work for me but Ronan gives a brilliant performance.  My twenty-first (and final) film was My Old Ass which I decided to see because I am a fan of Aubrey Plaza.  Eighteen year old Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) is restless and eager to leave her small rural town for the big city but, when she is visited by an older version of herself (Plaza), she learns to appreciate the life she has now.  This is a fun YA romantic comedy and I really loved the message about labels.  Whew!  I loved every minute of Sundance this year and I am already looking forward to next year!

American Fiction

I have been looking forward to American Fiction ever since it premiered at TIFF so I was really excited to finally have a chance to see it at the Broadway last night.  It is a hilarious social satire but it also includes incredibly poignant themes about identity.  Thelonious "Monk" Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is an uptight and curmudgeonly Black author and professor in Los Angeles whose books are critically acclaimed but not popular.  He attends a book conference in his hometown of Boston to try and sell his latest novel to a publisher and is dismayed when he hears a reading by best-selling author Sintara Golden (Issa Rae) because he believes that she is pandering to Black stereotypes.  He impulsively decides to write his own book featuring every offensive Black stereotype he can think of as a joke but, when his agent Arthur (John Ortiz) sells it for an exorbitant amount of money, he decides to publish it using a pseudonym because he needs the money to care for his mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams), who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  As the hype builds for his book (a movie deal and a possible literary award) and his relationships with his brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) and his girlfriend Coraline (Erika Alexander) deteriorate, Monk faces an existential crisis.  This features a powerful and scathing commentary on how the entertainment industry views the Black experience but it is as laugh out loud funny as it is thought-provoking.  This is juxtaposed with a compelling family drama about siblings coming to terms with the roles they have been playing all of their lives and how to break free from them.  However, the journey to understanding that Monk goes on is somewhat undermined by an unsatisfactory ending that leaves him back where he started as he gives in to a choice that he has criticized Black artists for making in order to succeed (my only criticism).  Wright gives a brilliant performance, especially with all of his interactions with Tracee Ellis Ross (as his sister Lisa) and Brown and his humorous code-switching dialogue with his publisher (Miriam Shor) and a Hollywood executive (Adam Brody).  The rest of the cast is also outstanding and I especially enjoyed Brown's affecting performance.  Despite the third act, I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it.

Mean Girls

I have never actually seen the original Mean Girls (one of my former colleagues was absolutely incredulous when she heard this) but I love the stage musical, especially the song "World Burn," so I was really excited to see the new adaptation yesterday.  I thought it was a lot of fun.  Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) has recently moved back to the U.S. from Kenya, where she was home schooled, and is finding North Shore High School to be as brutal as the African plains.  Two social outcasts, Janis 'Imi'ike (Auli'i Cravalho) and Damian Hubbard (Jaquel Spivey), attempt to help her fit in and advise her to avoid The Plastics, a clique made up of Regina George (Renee Rapp), Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood), and Karen Shetty (Avantika).  Regina shows an interest in Cady and allows her to sit with her and her friends at lunch until she discovers that Cady likes her former boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney), and takes him back.  Cady devises a plan for revenge against Regina and, when it is successful, she takes her place as the leader of The Plastics.  However, this alienates her real friends Janis and Damian, angers Aaron, and disappoints her Calculus teacher Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey).  A math competition shows her that it is better to be yourself than to pretend to be someone else to fit in.  I was a little bit disappointed that two of my favorite songs from the musical, "Where Do You Belong?" when Damian describes all of the cliques at school to Cady and "Fearless" when Gretchen and Karen finally stand up to Regina, were cut but I really loved the staging of the musical numbers that remain because the camera work and choreography are very dynamic, especially in "A Cautionary Tale" and "What Ifs" because it is one long continuous take from a garage to the plains of Africa to North Shore High School, "Apex Predator" because the camera follows Regina through the school as her classmates mimic the actions of animals who are afraid of her, "Revenge Party" because it is an explosion of pastel as Janis and Damian fantasize about getting even with Regina, and, of course, my favorite song "World Burn" because it is so chaotic as the students discover what has been written about them in the Burn Book.  I liked all of the performances from the cast (including hilarious small moments from Busy Philipps as Regina's mom, Tim Meadows as Principal Duvall, and Jon Hamm and Ashley Park as teachers) but my favorites were from Cravalho because she is both fierce and vulnerable, especially in "I'd Rather Be Me," and Rapp because, in addition to her powerful voice, she is incredibly charismatic and commands the screen with attitude to spare.  I obviously cannot compare it to the original movie but I thoroughly enjoyed this version and would recommend it (especially to fans of the musical).

The Beekeeper

Last night I went to an early access IMAX screening of The Beekeeper and I had a lot of fun with it because it is the type of movie that I would have seen with my dad (he would have loved it).  Adam Clay (Jason Statham) practices his hobby of beekeeping and making honey on a farm owned by his neighbor and friend Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad).  When Eloise commits suicide, Clay discovers that she was the victim of a sophisticated phishing scam perpetrated by a vast criminal organization.  He vows revenge and, as Eloise's daughter FBI agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and her partner Matt Wiley (Bobby Naderi) investigate in his wake, they learn that Clay is a retired operative in a covert organization, known as The Beekeepers, with vast resources and no oversight.  When Clay's brutal quest for vengeance leads to Derek Danforth (Josh Hutcherson), a seemingly untouchable CEO protected by the former director of the CIA Wallace Westwyld (Jeremy Irons), he is forced into an epic showdown.  Statham (doing what he does best) executes thrilling fight choreography featuring single-handed combat against highly trained FBI agents, Navy SEALs, hired mercenaries, and secret service agents (sometimes all at once) with almost no dialogue other than a few witty quips (the bee analogy is a bit belabored but I have to admit that I laughed out loud at one reference).  The plot does descend into the ridiculous at times but Irons, who provides most of the exposition, plays it straight so I was completely riveted and Hutcherson is a lot of fun as the villain.  The action set pieces are completely over the top, especially an extended fight sequence in a long mirrored hallway, and they had my audience cheering out loud!  This was exactly what I was expecting and I thoroughly enjoyed it (I just wish I could have watched it with my dad).

The Color Purple

I really enjoyed the Broadway touring production of The Color Purple several years ago so I was excited to finally have the chance to see the movie adaptation of the musical last night.  It was my first movie of 2024 and I certainly picked a good one because I loved it!  Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi), a young Black girl living in the rural South in the early 1900s, has already had her two children by her abusive father Alfonso (Deon Cole) taken away from her when she is forced to marry an older man known only to her as Mister (Colman Domingo).  He beats her and forces her to cook, clean, and take care of his three children but, worse than that, he separates her from her beloved sister Nettie (Halle Bailey) and hides all of Nettie's letters to her.  After several years of this treatment, Celie (Fantasia Barrino) has had her spirit completely broken but Sofia (Danielle Brooks), the wife of Mister's son Harpo (Corey Hawkins), teaches her that she can stand up for herself and Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson), a blues singer who was once Mister's lover, teaches her to love herself.  These relationships eventually help Celie find the strength to stand up to Mister which also helps Sofia find her voice again and helps Shug reconcile with her father.  The importance of female friendships in overcoming adversity and finding the beauty in life when it seems so bleak are incredibly powerful themes and the performances, especially by Barrino and Brooks, are amazing.  I also really enjoyed the music, particularly "Keep It Movin'" by young Celie and young Nettie, "Hell No!" by Sofia, and "I'm Here" by Celie, and I loved the staging of the musical numbers (many have called it too theatrical because the choreography seems to be happening on stage but this really worked for me).  As much as I loved this movie, the pacing sometimes suffers because it tries to incorporate elements from both the stage musical and the novel by Alice Walker which means that some of the milestones in Celie's life happen very quickly before the audience has a chance to experience the emotional impact (especially in the first act).  Even so, it still feels too long.  Aside from these pacing issues, the themes, the music, and the performances make this adaptation worth seeing and I highly recommend it.

Favorite Movies of 2023

This year I was able to see 133 new releases in the theater (which is a record for me) and, as in year's past, I have compiled a list of my top ten favorites.  My ranking is not based on the critical response or on the box office performance but, rather, on how much I enjoyed both the movie and the experience of watching it.  As always it is a very eclectic list!  (Click on the title to read my original review).

10.  Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret

I was completely charmed by this heartwarming adaptation of the classic book by Judy Bloom.  This movie portrays the awkwardness of early adolescence in an incredibly empathetic way as Margaret navigates the travails of making new friends, dealing with peer pressure, experiencing her first crush, and trying to understand her changing body.  There are lots of poignant moments as Margaret turns to God for answers after being raised without religion but there are also some laugh out loud moments, such as when she and her friends attend a socially awkward party with the boys in their class.  Abby Ryder Fortson gives an incredibly compelling and honest portrayal of a teen girl and all of her complexities and I also loved Rachel McAdams as her mother.  This is the most delightful movie I saw all year!

9.  Asteroid City

Seeing Asteroid City at the Broadway on opening night was probably the most fun I have had watching a movie because there wasn't an empty seat and the audience, full of Wes Anderson aficionados, laughed out loud through the whole movie (as did I).  It is a hilarious take on the ultimately futile search for the meaning of life but it is also about the power of art to explain the unexpected.  It doubles down on everything Wes Anderson is known for and I especially loved the stylized and elaborate production design, the pastel color palette, the symmetrical shot composition, the deadpan delivery which belies deeper emotions (Jason Schwartzman and Scarlet Johansson are brilliant but the entire cast is also outstanding), the subtle humor (especially the astronomical ellipses), and the title cards.  I think this is one of Anderson's best and I loved it.

8.  Barbie

Seeing Barbie with my nephew was another one of my favorite viewing experiences (I think we were the only ones in the capacity crowd not wearing pink).  Greta Gerwig effectively straddles the line between social commentary about female empowerment and nostalgia for a beloved toy in this movie through brilliant production design, costumes that recreate some of Barbie's most famous looks, and witty self-referential dialogue that had everyone in the audience laughing out loud.  Margot Robbie perfectly embodies the iconic doll but Ryan Gosling is an absolute hoot who steals the show as Ken (especially his performance of the power ballad "I'm Just Ken") and America Ferrera is outstanding in her delivery of a powerful monologue about the difficulties of being a woman in today's society.  In addition to the laughter and the applause during key moments, a montage to Billie Eilish's song "What Was I Made For?" brought tears to my eyes.  It exceeded my expectations in every way!

7.  John Wick: Chapter 4

I saw the final installment of the John Wick franchise opening night with a loud and boisterous crowd and I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath, and cheering out loud!  The stakes are higher than they have ever been for our protagonist and the action sequences are absolutely amazing with spectacular set pieces that are intense and unrelenting with dynamic fight choreography and visually stunning shot composition.  Keanu Reeves gives an incredibly poignant performance, Bill Skarsgard is perfect as a petulant villain, Donnie Yen almost steals the show with his amusing line deliveries, and Rina Sawayama is outstanding in one of the best fight sequences in the movie.  Wick's character arc is very compelling because he must finally face the consequences of his actions in a very visceral way and I found it to be surprisingly satisfying.

6.  Ferrari

After reading Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates, Michael Mann's adaptation of this fascinating biography was one of my most anticipated movies of the year and it did not disappoint.  Enzo Ferrari reaches a crossroads in his life during the summer of 1957, both personally and professionally, but he is fiercely determined to win the grueling Mille Miglia road race at any cost.  Adam Driver is brilliant in an understated but powerful performance and Penelope Cruz is the perfect foil to him because she is as explosive as he is restrained.  While this is a meditative character study, there are some thrilling racing sequences and one of the most brutal car crashes I have ever seen.  It is both epic and intimate and I found it extremely compelling.

5.  Killers of the Flower Moon

I was able to see an early screening of Killers of the Flower Moon in a packed theater and I was blown away by it.  It features a riveting story that is equal parts epic Western, lurid crime drama, tragic love story, and scathing commentary on greed and corruption as white men lie, cheat, manipulate, steal, and eventually murder the Osage to gain control of their wealth from oil.  Frequent Scorsese collaborators Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio are outstanding but Lily Gladstone is absolutely captivating in a highly nuanced performance in which she portrays every emotion imaginable.  All of the technical elements, from cinematography to production design to editing, are brilliant and the score by Robbie Robertson really adds to the tension.  I loved this dark and melancholy masterpiece.

4.  Oppenheimer

I was able to see Oppenheimer with my nephew at an early screening and we both found it to be incredibly powerful and thought-provoking.  Cillian Murphy gives a brilliant performance that perfectly embodies a man who is conflicted after he succeeds in creating an atomic bomb because he knows that it is needed as a deterrent but is horrified by the prospect of using it.  The scenes where Oppenheimer envisions the consequences of his actions while everyone at Los Alamos celebrates are some of the most haunting I have ever seen.  Robert Downey, Jr. gives one of the best performances of his career and the supporting cast is also excellent.  The sound design and the score by Ludwig Goransson (especially when it mimics a ticking clock) are incredibly effective in creating an anxious atmosphere and the visuals are striking because they give the audience access to the cataclysmic visions in Oppenheimer's head.  I was incredibly impressed with this masterful exploration of power and accountability.

3.  The Holdovers

I did not expect to love The Holdovers as much as I did but it is the most heartwarming movie I saw all year.  A curmudgeonly professor, a depressed and acerbic student, and a cook who is mourning the loss of her son in Vietnam are left at a New England prep school over the Christmas holidays.  They initially clash with each other but, after a series of misadventures, they form an unlikely bond.  I loved all three characters so much because Angus helps Paul make peace with his past, Paul helps Angus see a future for himself, and they both help Mary get through the present without her son and Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa (in his first role) give incredibly affecting performances.  I also loved the 1970s aesthetic in the production design and the grainy film effects.  This is a movie that I can definitely see myself watching every holiday season.

2.  Poor Things

As a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos I knew that I would love Poor Things but this dark and twisted masterpiece exceeded my expectations!  This is a fascinating take on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and I loved the themes of rebirth, self-discovery, transformation, liberation, and empowerment.  Emma Stone, as Bella Baxter, gives a brilliant and fearless performance and I found her disjointed movements, mannerisms, and facial expressions as Bella develops to be so much fun to watch.  Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo (who is hilarious), Ramy Youssef, and Christopher Abbott are also outstanding as the men who try, unsuccessfully, to control Bella.  The production design is gorgeous and I especially loved all of the steampunk elements.  The costumes are also fabulous and the merging of Victorian silhouettes with the theme of freedom from societal norms is ingenious.  It is quite explicit but I absolutely loved it!

1.  Past Lives

I had an incredibly emotional response to Past Lives when I first saw it at the Sundance Film Festival in January and no other movie that I saw this year impacted me as much!  It is a beautiful story about two people, Nora Young and Hae Sung, who yearn for the past and the life they might have lived together but understand that the lives that they now lead are the ones that they are meant to have.  Greta Lee and Teo Yoo give highly nuanced performances where just a glance expresses more emotion that pages of dialogue ever could.  Two incredibly poignant moments brought me to tears, including when Nora tells her husband that she is where she was meant to be because it is where she ended up and when she tells Hae Sung that the twelve year old girl he remembers was left behind in Korea.  I felt a deep connection to Nora because I often wish that I had stayed in Canada but I know that I am who I am because I left and seeing Nora come to the same realization was extremely cathartic for me!

Honorable Mentions (I loved too many movies for just ten this year):  Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, The Boy and the Heron, Anatomy of a Fall, Godzilla Minus One, and The Iron Claw.

Ferrari

When I heard that Adam Driver was starring in a biopic about Enzo Ferrari I decided to read the book upon which the movie is based, Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates, and I was fascinated by this enigmatic and larger than life auto maker.  Needless to say, Ferrari was one of my most anticipated movies this year and I finally had the chance to see it last night at the Broadway.  It is an incredibly powerful character study and I was absolutely blown away by Driver's performance.  During the summer of 1957, Enzo Ferrari (Driver) is at a crossroads in his life.  His business is on the brink of bankruptcy because he is more interested in racing his cars than in selling them.  He needs his wife Laura (Penelope Cruz) to give him power of attorney over her shares in the company so he can deal with investors but his relationship with her has been damaged by the recent death of their son Dino and with her discovery that he has another son with his mistress Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley).  His relationship with Lina is also deteriorating because she pressuring him to legitimize their son Piero (Giuseppe Festinese).  Juxtaposed with these distractions in his professional and personal life is his fierce determination to win the Mille Miglia, a grueling road race across Italy, at any cost, including the lives of his drivers Alfonso de Portago (Gabriel Leone), Peter Collins (Jack O'Connell), and Piero Taruffi (Patrick Dempsey).  This will definitely not be for everyone because, even though there are some thrilling racing sequences (that are enhanced by brilliant sound design and cinematography that puts the audience in the driver's seat) and one of the most brutal car crashes I've ever seen, this is a slow and meditative exploration of how Ferrari responds to these professional and personal challenges as well as to the people in his life.  Driver, in one of his best performances, is understated but incredibly compelling because, despite an outwardly calm demeanor, you can see see Enzo's inner turmoil behind his eyes and in his microexpressions.  Cruz, in an equally powerful performance, is a perfect foil to Driver because she is as explosive as he is restrained in expressing Laura's grief and rage.  Their scenes together are amazing because they are so dramatic.  I also really enjoyed the editing of certain scenes because they show Enzo's compartmentalization of his life, particularly scenes while he is at mass and at the opera.  I really loved this because it is so character driven and the character portrayed is so complex (but I think that is the reason why the critical response has been so divisive).

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Yesterday afternoon I took Tashena and her fiance Tucker to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (I took both Sean and Tashena to see the first movie on Christmas Eve but Sean, the actual DCEU fan, didn't want to see this one).  It isn't great but it definitely isn't as bad as I was expecting.  Arthur Curry/ Aquaman (Jason Momoa) has become a husband and a father and is finding the bureaucracy of being the King of Atlantis tedious.  Meanwhile, David Kane/ Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), with the help of marine biologist Stephen Shin (Randall Park), finds a powerful black trident created by Kordax (Pilou Asbaek), the ruler of the now lost kingdom of Necrus who was imprisoned by his brother King Atlan for trying to usurp the throne.  Black Manta wants to use the power of the trident to release Kordax in order to destroy Aquaman, his family, his kingdom, and the entire planet in revenge for the death of his father so Aquaman frees his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) from prison in order to enlist his help.  The story is incredibly convoluted with way too much silly exposition and, even though there some really fun action sequences involving a bunch of cool new gadgets in some cool new settings (I loved the pirate's lair made out of sunken ships), the CGI is really messy and the world-building is a bit derivative (I noticed lots of allusions to Star Wars and other movies).  However, I really enjoyed Momoa's performance because he is very charismatic and funny (with some one-liners that made me laugh out loud) and he fully commits to the spectacle.  I also loved his chemistry with Wilson and their hilarious interactions with each other as they work together to save the world, and work towards a poignant reconciliation, are the best part of the movie.  Amber Heard (Mera), Temuera Morrison (Tom Curry), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), and Dolph Lundgren (Nereus) don't really have a lot to do but Abdul-Mateen is a compelling villain because he is such a sinister presence.  The three of us had fun watching this but it is not nearly as entertaining as the first one and the stakes are a lot lower knowing that this is the end of the DCEU (which is why Sean did not want to see it).

Poor Things

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Poor Things. I am a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos and I had heard a lot of intriguing discourse about this movie (both good and bad) so I was beyond excited to see it.  I absolutely loved this dark and twisted masterpiece!  Victoria Blessington (Emma Stone), a pregnant woman in Victorian England, commits suicide by jumping off a bridge.  A brilliant but disfigured surgeon named Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who was experimented upon by his father, discovers her body and reanimates her by transplanting the brain of her unborn baby into her body.  He names her Bella Baxter and hires Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), one of his medical students, to record the data as her intellect develops rapidly.  Max falls in love with her and she agrees to marry him but she wants a grand adventure first.  She learns about physical pleasure and other forms of hedonism (my favorite is when she dances with wild abandon) from a feckless lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) while in Portugal.  She learns about philosophy and compassion for the the suffering in the world from fellow passengers Martha Von Kurtzroc (Hanna Schygulla) and Harry Astley (Jerrod Carmichael) while on a cruise ship.  She learns about resourcefulness and socialism from Madame Swiney (Kathryn Hunter) and a prostitute named Toinette (Suzy Bemba) while working in a brothel in Paris.  She learns the truth about her origins from Victoria's husband Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) when she returns to London and finally discovers her purpose when she reunites with Dr. Baxter and McCandles.  I loved the themes of rebirth, self-discovery, transformation, liberation, and empowerment and I know that I will be thinking about this movie for quite some time.  Stone gives a brilliant and fearless performance and I found her disjointed movements, mannerisms, and facial expressions as Bella develops to be so much fun to watch.  Dafoe, Ruffalo, Youssef, and Abbott are also outstanding and it was fascinating to see the different ways in which they portray their need to control Bella (Ruffalo is hilarious).  The production design is gorgeous and I loved all of the steampunk elements, especially the modes of transportation.  The costumes are also fantastic and I particularly enjoyed how they change as Bella develops and how they represent both the Victorian aesthetic but also freedom from the societal norms of that time.  I enjoyed this so much and so did my audience because they applauded at the end!  I highly recommend this to fans of Lanthimos and black comedies but it is extremely explicit so keep that in mind when deciding to see it.

Note:  I thought that Barbie had a lock on all of the production design and costume awards this season but I think Poor Things will give it some serious competition!

The Iron Claw

Last night I saw The Iron Claw as part of a double feature at the Broadway and I loved this incredibly moving true story about the Von Erich family.  Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) was once a major star as a professional wrestler but he was never able to win the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) World Heavyweight Championship so, now that he is a father to Kevin (Zac Efron), David (Harris Dickinson), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), and Mike (Stanley Simons), he exerts tremendous pressure on them to win the title for him as a wrestling promoter.  He compels them all to wrestle despite the fact that Kerry and Mike have other interests, he pits the brothers (who are fiercely loyal to each other) against one another for opportunities, promotion, and approval, he pushes them to the limit in their training, and he berates them mercilessly when they fail to live up to his expectations.  After a series of unimaginable tragedies befall the family, Kevin goes to extreme lengths, even jeopardizing his relationship with his wife Pam (Lily James) and his children, to win the championship for his father.  The story is incredibly compelling with powerful themes about toxic masculinity and the perils of unrealistic parental expectations.  It is unbelievably tragic but I really appreciated the message of hope portrayed in a beautiful scene between Kevin and his two young sons at the end that brought me to tears.  All of the performances are amazing but Efron is almost unrecognizable with his physical transformation for a role that is also emotionally demanding and he has never been better in my opinion (I wish he was getting more awards buzz).  I am not very familiar with professional wrestling but I found the sequences in the ring to be exhilarating, especially a montage to "Tom Sawyer" by Rush which is played in its entirety (apparently it was their signature song).  Finally, I really liked the production design, costumes, and hair because they evoke the time period so well.  This movie will make you cry but it is a must-see this holiday weekend.

Note:  After watching this movie I wanted to know more about the Von Erich family.  I was shocked to discover that their story is even more tragic than what was portrayed on the screen.