Author Archives: Ron

About Ron

I like to watch movies and share my thoughts on them. I have been writing reviews and distributing them since 2013.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues                3 stars

It has been forty-one years since director Marty DiBergi brought us the documentary (or rockumentary) This is Spinal Tap that followed the legendary rock band Spinal Tap as they went on a meandering tour facing some rocky times and ended with a peculiar performance of their hit Stone Henge. The three rockers: Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls continued to perform, but eventually, fifteen years ago they split up and went their separate ways having not spoken to one another in all that time. But ultimately, these talents couldn’t stay apart and started to explore the possibility of returning to the stage for an ultimate performance. That’s where Marty picks things up and follows their journey once more. The resulting sequel captures many moments of them reuniting in New Orleans where Nigel, David and Derek discuss the future of the group and rehearse for the big show. (The house they choose to rehearse in is thought to be haunted and is open to tours.) There are certainly some familiar things about them that many can remember from the original documentary including their odd sound system (“It goes up to eleven!”) and the many arguments and conflicts between them. This time there is a foot pedal contraption that goes beyond ridiculous. David and Nigel once again start their comical open hostility over the chords in a song they are writing. They even get Paul McCartney, who stops by for a visit, to (accidentally) join the arguments! There are some familiar faces that they run in to including Bobbi Flekman “The hostess with the mostest” and Artie Fufkin. Their manager has passed away so now it is his daughter, Hope Faith who assumes the manager role. You may remember the trouble that the band had finding a drummer because they keep dying in peculiar ways. (We learn that they lost a total of eleven drummers.) This time around they find a very talented drummer named Didi Crockett who fills the role. There are many chuckles in the movie, but it’s not exactly gut busting. Back in the eighties the group had a real over-the-top approach to things and their music was actually good. Now the aging rock stars are shadows of their former selves, but still fun to have around. They perform some of their hits that include All the Way Home, Hell Toupee and Listen to the Flower People. Be sure to stick around till the end. Do you remember the mini Stone Henge in the original movie? Well, it makes a return appearance in the final act and it is a real showstopper for sure!

EO

EO                          4 stars

The movie EO by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski from 2022 is very dramatic, highly unusual and not for everyone. It follows the life of a fictional donkey named EO as he moves from one environment involving humans to another, with everything told from the point of view of the donkey. EO is a very obedient and compliant animal who never hurts anyone (with one surprising exception). He encounters people that are kind to him, like the trainer, Kasandra in a circus act who he mourns when they are separated, as well as people who treat him poorly like the owner who ships him to a show horse ranch after going bankrupt. The imaginative aspect of the film is in the unusual cinematography and colorful hues in scenes where the donkey is wandering through the landscape. Some of it made me think of the last scenes of 2001: A Space Odessey. EO’s various encounters seem disconnected from one another, some caused by the humans involved and others just by random events as EO chooses his own route. He often sees other animals in situations that he may be relating to like the show horses in one scene, a wolf who is shot, or other animals in an animal hospital. But there are always people in each place. Some want to take care of him (like an animal doctor) while others are indifferent or would see him suffer (like a group of rowdy football players). There are a few funny moments like when EO knocks over shelves containing show horse trophies. Unfortunately, he will have to face the consequences of his actions. Toward the end there is a surprise appearance by Isabelle Huppert as the stepmother of one of EO’s caregivers. As usual, she gives an especially emotional performance. The movie seems to be mainly about morality as we see how various individuals treat someone who is completely defenseless and at the mercy of them. EO is mainly in Polish and English. It was nominated for Best International film in 2023. The film being highly unusual, you will have to decide whether to see it based on the subject matter and your own tastes.

Lizzie

Lizzie     4 stars

The psychological thriller Lizzie from 2018 is a retelling of the Borden family murders in Falls River, Massachusetts in 1892.  It was a personal project of Chloe Sevigny who served as producer and star and is made more relevant by the recent MeToo movement for women’s rights to be heard in cases of sexual abuse.  Sevigny has the title role with Kristen Stewart starring as Bridget, the hired maid for the rich family.  Lizzie’s oppressive situation is clearly outlined with her life being controlled by her domineering father Andrew (a lecherous Jamey Sheridan). The family also includes her step mother (Fiona Shaw) and her sister Emma.  Even though she is 32 years old she is not allowed to leave the house at night.  Lizzie strikes up a close kinship with Bridget (who is called the diminutive “Maggie” by Andrew Borden) especially when it is discovered that her father has been molesting her regularly. In this version their close relationship develops into more than being just friends.  The movie focuses little on the investigation of the murders and the trial and concerns itself mainly with the oppressive situation of the female characters and how they are trapped in their world and can see no escape from it.  Lizzie can’t even count on an inheritance as Andrew takes steps to ensure her life would be controlled by men even in the event of his death.  The way Sevigny plays the role and the way the scenes are shot gives the movie a closed in feeling.  Of course the gruesome scene of the actual murders is included so the audience has no doubt what happened even though the jury could not find a guilty verdict.  Lizzie brings new life to this classic American tragedy.

The Hunt

The Hunt                                             2 ½ stars

Since I haven’t been to a theater in a long time, I went looking for a new release. I landed on The Hunt which has been called one of the most controversial recent movies. The Hunt is a violent political satire horror action movie that features the hunting down of people for sport on an isolated patch of land by a few rich elites.  The elites are believers in the usual left-wing issues like climate change, follow leftist authors and are led by Athena (Hilary Swank), a left winger who hates the kind of people who love Donald Trump.  A group of twelve people awake to find themselves in an unknown countryside and discover that they are all believers in the conspiracy theory that there is a place called The Manor where right wing types are hunted down by leftist elites. There are a few utterings of second amendment rights and the evils of immigrants. In a clearing there is a giant crate, that when opened reveals a pig and a giant cache of arms. It doesn’t take long till the shooting starts and the group finds that they are the prey. They gather the weapons available and try to escape while each is gunned down in ever increasing bloody and violent fashion.  The violence level is high in this one, (comparable to Revenge from a couple of years ago). There is an assortment of well known actors playing the right wingers. There is Emma Roberts who is Yoga Pants who doesn’t last very long. Justin Hartley from This Is Us is a hunter of exotic wildlife. Ike Barinholtz of The Mindy Project is Staten Island. Wayne Duvall is Don??. Ethan Suplee of My Name is Earl is Shut the F*** Up Gary. There is another character referred to as Target for reasons that become clear. As the body count increases one person emerges as more than Athena was counting on by the name of Crystal (Betty Gilpin of the TV show GLOWS) who is quite proficient with a gun and various hand to hand weapons. While it may not be entirely appropriate for our times, the movie effectively satirizes the common behavior of believing conspiracy theories without checking out the facts.  If you feel like combining political lunacy with bloody violence, then The Hunt might be for you as there is something in it for both sides. Who knows? President Trump might even like it.

Solo: A Star Wars Story

Solo: A Star Wars Story                  4 stars

By now everyone has seen the origin story of Han Solo titles Solo: A Star Wars Story, part of the Disney expansion of the Star Wars universe.  So I won’t go into any great detail about the story, other than to say it was an interesting departure from the other Star Ward movies.  Here story is that of an outlaw, Han Solo, joining with other outlaws to put together a colossal interstellar heist to steal some valuable treasure from some very sinister folks.  There is little mention of the empire or the force and we only see a couple of the characters that are so familiar from the other movies.  There is no shortage of action be it high speed chases, shootouts or space dog fights.  It looks like the critics were split on this one and I come on the side of those who thoroughly enjoyed the film.  Woody Harrelson does his usual bad guy impression as Beckett, the outlaw that Solo teams up with.  Paul Bettany is a convincing evil villain who you better not cross and we even get to see how Chewbacca and Han got together.  Also, Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge make a well matched and very mouthy pair.  I could see there being a follow up film starring Alden Ehrenreich as the young Han.  If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

Blaze

Blaze                     4 stars

Blaze is a sad biopic about Texas singer songwriter Blaze Foley, a promising but tortured talent in folk/country music in the seventies and eighties. This film, written and directed by Ethan Hawke explores the music and life of this little-known musician through three different periods told in nonlinear fashion. We see his early life with Jewish girlfriend/wife Sybil (Alia Shawkat), his later days performing in local bars and diners shortly before his untimely death and a later radio interview where his songwriter friends, Townes and Zee talk about the almost legend. I had never heard of Blaze before who is compared to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. I am not really a fan of this type of country music, but the songs sung by star Ben Dickey, himself a rock/country artist are done well and are mesmerizing. The story of a talented musician who shows signs of greatness but whose life is destroyed by his own ego, addiction to drinking and a short temper are all too familiar in the long list of musician biopics we have seen. The largest part of the story is about his relationship with Sybil who does everything in her power to support Blaze and their marriage but is eventually doomed to failure. The tall and large Ben Dickey who is a friend of Ethan Hawke, does a nice job as Blaze making him appear like a poet/philosopher about life. This film seems to be his only acting credit. I recommend the movie to anyone who enjoys folk and country music and would like to learn about this near legend. Fans of Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) would enjoy the movie as well.

The Photograph

The Photograph                4 ½ stars

The Photograph from this year is a well told film about two different love affairs taking place in the past and present. It has an all black cast of mostly known actors and I found it refreshing to have such an all black movie that is not about police brutality and racial injustice. Michael (LaKeith Stanfield from Sorry to Bother You and Knives Out) is a magazine writer on a story about a photographer, Christina Eames who has just passed away. His investigation puts him in contact with Isaac, a New Orleans fisherman who has a relationship with her in the eighties and he is eventually led to Mae (Issa Rae of HBO’s Insecure and Little), a New York museum curator who is the deceased photographer’s daughter. Michael and Mae hit it off and try to have a relationship that has to deal with the complexities of their career intense lives. The other story about Christina and Isaac is also told as the two stories are intertwined. We see how young Christina resents being limited by her life with Isaac and wants more out of life. Her ambition is to be an artistic photographer is New York so life in New Orleans does not exactly appeal to her. There aren’t really any surprises in the movie and there aren’t any conflicts involving police or any other outside characters. It is basically a romance story about the challenges that these couples are facing through the realities of life. This is a nice relief given what we have been going through lately. Issa Rae shows that she can do more than comedy in this dramatic role. The movie also features Lil Rel Howery (from Get Out) as Michael’s brother and Rob Morgan (of Just Mercy, The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Mudbound) as the older Isaac. Law & Order fans might also recognize Courtney B. Vance as Mae’s father. The movie also features some smooth background music of R&B and jazz. I have seen only a few 2020 releases so this one has to be the best so far.

Colossal

Colossal                                1 ½ stars

Colossal received generally positive reviews from critics and I have to say that I just don’t get it. Colossal is not your typical monster movie even if it does feature a pair of gigantic creatures attacking buildings and killing people in the city of Seoul, South Korea. Gloria (Anne Hathaway at her best) is an unemployed party girl living with her boyfriend in New York City, who gets kicked out since the boyfriend can no longer put up with her irresponsible behavior. So she head back to her hometown and occupies her parents vacant house. She happens to meet an old childhood friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) who takes pity on her and donates some old furniture to her and gives her a job at his bar. There are strange stories on TV and the internet about a giant creature, several stories tall that has been going on regular rampages in Seoul but they seem to be just background to the story of our two characters. That is, until Gloria finds out that the monster has this mysterious connection to her and only appears at a specific time in South Korea. As the story develops Oscar is revealed to have a damaged personality as he does things only a sociopath would do. Only then does the significance of the previously mentioned foreign giant monsters become clear. The rest of the movie becomes a battle of nerves between the pair as you wonder just how far they will go. Through much of the movie I was left wondering just where is this going especially when what you would think would be the center of attention, (the monsters) seem to be only a distraction, like people playing a video game. When Oscar’s personality and intentions became clear I thought a good write could make this a good story leaving out the monsters altogether. In spite of the good acting, I was left disappointed by this movie. I don’t know much about Nacho Vigalondo, the writer director, but apparently he is known for movies featuring characters with very twisted minds. I did see his science fiction movie, Paradise Hills last year which was a very bizarre film.

Breakthrough

Breakthrough                    2 ½ stars

Breakthrough is a faith based movie that came out last year that looks a lot like Lifetime movies on TV (or at least how I imagine them). The movie is about a true story of a 14 year old boy who fell through ice on a lake and was under for 15 minutes before being rescued, which makes up about the first half hour of the film. The remainder is concerned with his long recovery and how the boy’s mother stays with him and prays that God will heal him in spite of the enormous obstacle ahead of him. For the most part it was well acted featuring Chrissy Metz of This Is Us as the boy’s mother. Topher Grace is horribly miscast as the pastor of the mother and boy’s church. Grace is fine as a wiseass or a good villain, but is not who you would think of for a sympathetic pastor. Of course the nearly two hour film has an inspiring message of the power of prayer and love, but it could have been done in about thirty minutes less.

The Half of It

The Half of It                      4 stars

While looking for new and interesting movies I happened upon one on Netflix called The Half of It. This is a new variation on the Cyrano de Bergerac story set in a small town high school with the kids going through the tortuous path of looking for love. Here we find Ellie Chu, a 17-year old Chinese American who seems to be the only minority in school and has not made any friends. She is very intelligent and well read as she seems to know about the great philosophers and great books. She also plays the piano and guitar and can write songs. Ellie lives with her immigrant father in a train station apartment where they are in danger of having their power cut off since they are poor. So, it makes sense that she makes a little extra money by writing class essays for her classmates for a fee. Along comes Paul, a jock who plays on the football team and is a little dimwitted but very sweet. Paul needs Ellie to write a love letter for him to the girl he is infatuated with, Aster, and is willing to pay for it. Ellie is soon drawn into this scheme and is soon coaching Paul on subjects like great books, films and art, so that he will sound more interesting to Aster. This arrangement only becomes more complicated when we see that Ellie is also attracted to Aster, so when she writes things for Paul she is really writing about her own feelings. Of course Ellie and Paul become closer too through the experience as he appears to be her first real friend. Eventually, things spiral out of control when the truth of what is going on is revealed. The movie is based on the director’s own life experiences. Alice Wu has written a genuine film that deals with the subjects of race, religion, family traditions and sexual orientation that feels real for the most part. Later in the film there are situations that depend on manufactured coincidences that felt contrived which goes along with the territory of teen romances. Viewers will not have to be concerned about any uncomfortable scenes. There is nothing more graphic than an occasional kiss throughout the movie. The Half of It is one 2020 movie that I highly recommend.