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.

Weathering With You

Weathering with You      4 ½ stars

Weathering with You is the creation of Japanese writer and director Makoto Shinkai, who has made several animated films, but this is the first that I have seen. The animation looks a lot like the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki, of which I have seen several, like Kiki’s Delivery Service. The story centers on teenager Hodaka who has run away from his small town for the big city of Tokyo. There the city is engulfed in horribly gloomy rain that reflects the circumstances of the runaway. While he is taken in by a man who seeks to exploit him in his gossip magazine business, Hodaka meets a young girl named Hina that he takes an immediate liking to. She also comes from an unfortunate home situation and has a younger sister and brother to look after. Hodaka discovers something very unusual about his new friend. Hina possesses the power of a Sunshine Girl, a being of a Japanese myth who is able to control the weather through prayer. Her explanation is that she came to be this way through her praying by her dying mother. The pair find that they are able to make a living off of this power by bringing sunshine to Tokyo for payment. They soon become quite the celebrities on social media, but find that this power comes at a price when it endangers their lives. The weather aspect of the movie reflects the mood on screen of the main character and has a message about climate change as Tokyo is threatened by the rising water level. I found the movie to have a dramatic message about the power of love and self-sacrifice. It has some very detailed animation of an urban landscape drenched in rain and some well placed songs to support the mood of the film. Shinkai is also known for his very successful earlier film in Japan called Your Name. I have not seen it but it apparently has a similar theme to Weathering with You and sounds like it would also be worthwhile to see.

Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi    5 stars

The Oscar nominated film from Poland, Corpus Christi, is about a young convict who wants to go to seminary, but upon being released from prison is told that no seminary will take an ex-con. Thus, what does Daniel do? He finds a parish in a small village and convinces the people that he is in fact a priest. Not only does he convince the local priest of this, he is asked to fill in for him while he is sick. Soon Daniel is hearing confessions and is leading the Mass delivering heartfelt messages that the people love to hear. There is a subtle message in the fact that he was working in a sawmill while in prison. Of course, the audience is wondering how long can he get away with this charade? The premise is not exactly believable when it is set in the present where information on people is readily available online, but never mind that detail. Fortunately, there is more to the story as the village has recently suffered the terrible tragedy of losing six young people to an accident and it is clear there is a lot of healing needed by these people. Thus, there may have been a very good reason that Daniel happened to do his impersonation at this time. The story develops slowly throughout the movie and is aided by a superior performance by the protagonist, Bartosz Bielenia. It keeps the viewer guessing as to where the movie is going throughout. I could have seen this movie winning the Best International Film Academy Award.

Wildlife

Wildlife                 3 ½ stars

One type of movie I like to find are the dramas set in small rural towns in the West, South or Midwest. Usually these films feature characters who face bleak prospects and have troubling family problems. Set in 1960 rural Montana, Wildlife fits that description well. It’s about a young couple, Jerry and Jeannette (Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan) and their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) who have recently moved to town and are struggling financially. Then Jerry loses his job at the country club, so Jeannette and Joe have to pitch in with low paying jobs. In a seemingly desperate act, Jerry volunteers to help fight the forest fires that are ravaging the area for little pay. Of course Jeannette is outraged at the decision, but can do little to change Jerry’s mind. It is here that the film takes a dark turn as Jeannette meets a local wealthy man (Bill Camp) on her job at the YMCA and begins to see him outside of work. She also enlists 14 year old son Joe in the affair by not hiding anything from him. The acting from Oxenbould and Mulligan is excellent and the representations of 1960 America in the cinematography is spot on. The actions that Jeannette and Jerry take often seem unrealistic contributing to an uneven tone throughout the movie.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm      4 ½ stars

It’s been fourteen years since that odd-looking foreign journalist, Borat Sagdiyev invaded America and made a mockery of American values in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Now he has returned after spending years in a Kazakhstan prison and is sent on a mission to deliver a wise monkey to a prominent American politician in order to restore the glorious image of his native country. He arrives in America, only instead of the monkey his teenage daughter Tutar has stowed away, so the mission is changed to delivering the sexy girl to Vice President Mike Pence! The film by master funnyman Sacha Baron Cohen takes a hard look at America under Trump, Coronavirus and all and finds plenty for us to laugh at. This includes getting a cake decorator to write “Jews will not replace us” on a cake, getting a makeup stylist to recommend a skin shade to suit a racist family and getting a plastic surgeon to describe a Jewish nose, all without hesitation. The comedy is mainly done by filming people in real life situations without the knowledge that it is all part of a satirical comedic movie, just like was done in 2006. The targets of the film are mainly right leaning or hard right people who are the type that support Trump. Since most of the film takes place in Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia it wasn’t hard to find these folks. (Romania was a stand in for Kazakhstan.) In one scene Borat goes to an alt right rally and appears on stage where he sings a song about physically attacking President Obama getting cheering approval from the audience. The crowning achievement of the movie comes near the end when somehow he gets Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney to agree to a fake interview with Tutar (who calls herself Sandra Jessica Parker). The unsuspecting Giuliani ends up in a hotel room with the girl with his pants unbuttoned and his hand reaching in his pants! I believe everyone has heard of the scene by now and something about there being a lawsuit over it. The amazing thing is how Cohen hasn’t been beaten up during the making of the movie. Sasha Baron Cohen is known for his outspoken views against racism, religious bigotry and sexism. He uses this latest film as a biting satirical message against those that hold such beliefs and does it in hilarious fashion. The viewer should be warned that there is abundant use of crude scenes and graphic language throughout the film, so you are warned.

The Assistant

The Assistant     4 stars

I first heard of The Assistant when it was released at Sundance in January. I even managed to attend a panel there with the director, Kitty Green and the star, Julia Garner, though I had not heard of them before. Garner won an Emmy earlier this year for her role in Ozarks. She plays a young woman who has recently gotten a job as an assistant to the assistants of a powerful movie executive at a major movie studio. The movie becomes a realistic portrayal of a day of working for a predator who seems to be immune to criticism. We see the woman as she arrives for work in the dark and goes about her work day which includes cleaning up the boss’ office, cleaning dishes in the kitchen, preparing schedules, making copies and taking phone calls. She has coworkers, but for the most part she goes unnoticed with no one calling her by name. She also has the unwanted job of dealing with the boss’ wife, making excuses for his whereabouts. We never see the boss, but hear his voice on the phone as he expresses his displeasure when something is not to his liking. He even makes the young employee put apologies to him in writing when she makes a mistake, pledging not to let it happen again. Eventually, another young woman arrives at the office and it becomes an open secret that the boss is preying on the new arrival, leading Garner to approaching HR with a complaint. The movie is slow and seems very mundane until we get the point of what is being presented here. It’s a realistic representation of a misogynistic workplace and the total lack of power that female employees have in such an environment. One can’t help but notice the similarities that the boss has with the disgraced Harvey Weinstein. The movie is a good production, but not all moviegoers will appreciate the choices made by the writer/director in portraying what it must be like to work for a predator.

Honeyland

Honeyland          4 stars

Honeyland is a most unusual film, a documentary that unexpectantly became an environmental drama. I heard about it at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival but had not seen it until now. The filmmakers set out to make a documentary about one of the last natural beekeepers in Europe, a woman in her 50’s in Macedonia named Hatidze. She harvests the honey from beehives she finds in the mountains for survival and lives in an abandoned village with only her elderly mother and has no electricity or running water. She makes occasional trips into the city to sell jars of honey for what she can get. Otherwise, she takes care of her mother who can neither walk nor see. The drama starts when a nomadic family of cattle herders moves in next door with their herd and seven children. The patriarch of the family sees how Hatidze tends the bees and decides that would be a good way for him to make a living too. Hatidze gives instruction to the father and one of the sons telling them they must always leave a portion of the honey for the bees; otherwise the hive will collapse. Unfortunately, the warnings go unheeded leading to disastrous consequences. The filmmakers manage to film all this giving no hint of the presence of the crew. The beekeeper, Hatidze has a commanding presence when on screen and has a natural way of dealing with children and animals. The film itself is like a parable of man’s responsibility of taking care of the environment. It would have been fascinating to hear the director’s account of the making of the film. Unfortunately, there were no extras provided on the DVD copy that I used. The only other film like this that comes to mind is The Story of the Weeping Camel in 2004.

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Bill & Ted Face the Music              2 stars

Those dimwitted time traveling rockers Bill and Ted (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) are back 29 years after their last film and are on another adventure, this time to save the universe throughout time by finding their greatest song and uniting the world. This time around they are married to princesses Elizabeth and Joanna and each have a daughter, Thea and Billie who adore their dads even though their dads’ band Wyld Stallyns have not written a good song in all this time. The two girls even sound like their dads saying things like “Woa, dude”. The characters then embark on parallel adventures with Bill and Ted traveling to future years in search of their future selves who may have written great song that will unite the universe through all of time, while their daughters travel back in time trying to put together an incredible band composed of history’s greatest musicians with the likes of Jimi Hendricks, Louie Armstrong and Mozart. The film has some truly funny moments but for the most part it is full of glitzy special effects and loud retreads of the material from the original movie. There is an amusing reappearance of Death in the movie when Bill and Ted try to persuade him to let them leave hell. They finally agree to letting him join their band so they can make their escape in a SWAT van. George Carlin makes a magical appearance as Rufus from the future. I would rather not mention the robot sent from the future. Other than that there was not a lot to get excited about as many routines fall flat after a while. I would recommend revisiting the original Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure to get more entertainment.

Eddington

Eddington                           4 stars

Do you remember what life was like back in 2020, in the time of COVID, the mask mandates, the social distancing and the countless demonstrations for Black Lives Matter? Would you like to revisit that time? Well, in Ari Aster’s new comedy western, Eddington, we get to do just that from the point of view of rural America where there was deep resentment over government mandates and where conspiracy theories proliferated like weeds. Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix (Joker and Beau is Afraid)) is the sheriff of Eddington, New Mexico in May of 2020 when the reaction to COVID is in full swing. He must deal with the anger of the locals along with the normal disturbances. Besides this, he has trouble at home with his depressed wife, Louise (Emma Stone (Poor Things)) who makes creepy-looking dolls and his mother-in-law, Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell (Diane)), who is fascinated by conspiracy theories. There are protests going on in the streets shortly after the George Floyd incident, led by some of the local activists resulting in confrontations with the police. The mayor of the town is Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal (Materialists and Gladiator II)) who is very full of himself. He is trying to get a high-tech company to build a factory in Eddington as that will make him look good. Garcia believes in the mask mandates, but Sheriff Joe wants nothing to do with them. Joe has arguments with Garcia as well as with the employees at the local supermarket. There are rumors that Joe’s wife, Louise, had some sexual history with Garcia and now she is spending time with a self-help guru crackpot (Austin Butler), who has her under his spell. All this is enough to make a person snap and for Sheriff Joe it’s enough to make him want to run against Garcia in the upcoming mayoral election. You may have seen Ari Aster’s earlier movies, Midsommar, about an American couple visiting a violent cult in Sweden, or Hereditary, about a family investigating the terrifying past of their family. If so, then you might have an idea of what you are in for. The movie progresses into a murder thriller expanding into utter mayhem. The characters face some harrowing and confusing experiences that they may or may not have been responsible for. It is all very exciting for the audience but probably goes on for too long. Aster’s movie is ultimately about America’s cry for help in a very troubling time and what a mess we have made of things. You can choose for yourself whether this appeals to you. I find that I am a fan of Aster, so I was thrilled to see it.

Rough Night

Rough Night       1 ½ stars

Rough Night is an uneven 2017 comedy about a group of girl friends from college who get together for a wild bachelorette party when one of their group is about to get married. It stars Scarlett Johansson as Jess who is the one getting married to Peter (Paul Downs who I never heard of before) and happens to be running for a state office. It’s an unusual comedy role for Johansson who is often found in drama and action roles (The Avengers). Alice (Jillian Bell) is her funny best friend and roommate from college who sets up the wild weekend in Miami, Florida. Her two other friends are Blair (Zoe Kravitz) and Frankie (Ilana Glazer). Then Pippa from Australia (Kate McKinnon) arrives who is Jess’ friend from Australia. McKinnon provides a lot of comedy to the movie being quite an accomplished improv actor, but the Australian accent is not convincing. The group arrives at a million dollar mansion on the beach (where most of the scenes are) and before long they manage to accidentally kill the male stripper that Frankie has hired for the party. The rest of the movie is made up of the hijinks that ensues as the women struggle to come up with a plan that will keep them out of prison and save Jess from a career ending scandal. Since that isn’t enough to carry the movie, another comedy bit is added involving Paul’s misguided efforts to drive to Miami to save their relationship. (Somehow in one of the most contrived aspects of the movie it becomes necessary for him to travel wearing diapers and no pants!) The movie feels like it has borrowed material from other comedies involving bachelor/bachelorette parties and has little originality. And since it is a bachelorette comedy there is no shortage of sex related scenes and jokes throughout, especially with Jillian Bell’s Alice who seems obsessed with penis jokes. The movie was made mainly by Lucia Aniello who has few credits to her name. I would advise Scarlett Johansson to find better comedy material in the future and that goes for the rest of the cast as well.

The Two Popes

The Two Popes 4 ½ stars

In The Two Popes two master filmmakers team up with A list actors to create a thoughtful what-if vision of a meeting between two widely different individuals who have held the lofty position of the Papacy in the Catholic Church. Screenwriter Anthony McCarten (Darkest Hour, The Theory of Everything) imagines what might have happened if the previous Pope, Joseph Ratzinger and the present Pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio met at the pivotal time when Pope Benedict decided to step down from his leadership position for the sake of the church. Director Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) directs the meetings between Ratzinger (Anthony Hopkins) and Bergoglio (Jonathan Pryce) in convincing fashion that makes us believe the two could be friends trying to support one another through difficult times in their lives. The film opens and closes in typical documentary style. At the beginning we see scenes of the Cardinals gathering in Rome in 2005 to choose the successor to Pope John Paul II who had just passed away. The choice was Cardinal Ratzinger from Germany who became Pope Benedict. The end of the film occurs in 2013 when the Cardinals came together again following the shocking resignation of Benedict amid the scandal of child abuse that rocked the church. Here the new choice was Bergoglio of Argentina who took the name of Pope Francis. The interesting part of the movie comes in between in 2012 when the two popes meet and converse about the church, their faith and their respective roles in the church. We also get a picture of what it was like for Bergoglio as a young priest in Argentina in the seventies when a military dictatorship carried out a reign of terror against those that resisted including the priesthood. It’s clear that the two men have very different visions about the future of the church, but at the same time they are very supportive of each other. Even though the meeting between the two is considered fictional, it’s a very interesting take on what these two leaders must be like on a personal level. The film earned Academy Award nominations for both Hopkins and Pryce as well as screenwriter McCarten. Surprisingly, it was left out of the Best Picture category.