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.

Feels Good Man

Feels Good Man.   5 suns

For anyone interested in politics or the dark side of the internet,  Feels Good Man is a documentary you must see.  It covers a cartoonist who created a comic character called Pepe the Frog some 20 years ago that was part of a mildly amusing comic strip about a group of friends living together.  We then learn of various underground groups on the internet who used the character in memes to promote whatever bad message they wish to share.  The means of distribution is called 4chan, sort of an underground version of Instagram.  All of this was completely foreign to me, but perhaps some of you have heard about this.  The type of individuals doing this are characterized as young men living in their parent’s basements with no job who spend all their time on the internet denigrating people they disapprove of.  They even have a name.  They are called NEET or Not in Education,  Employment or Training.  They are the type that live on the fringes of society and are very angry over their situation.  Around the time of the 2016 presidential election,  Pepe found his way to white nationalist groups and became a hate symbol that even got the attention of the ADL.  This was all terrible news for the creator of Pepe who just saw Pepe as a symbol of friendship.  Finally,  this all blew up on the internet with the frog actually helping Trump to get more votes among the white racists and young NEETs.  It all seems like too much to believe but there are national news organizations that covered the story as real.  The film was in the works for at least for years and was just seen here at Sundance for the first time.  It was a fascinating story and was done very well with many interviews and news footage to back it up.  I would be interested to learn from any readers who were aware of this while it was happening.

Coded Bias

Coded Bias    4 1/2 Suns

The documentary Coded Bias concerns the biases that have been found present in the algorithms used mainly in facial recognition software and the effect this has on people’s lives.  It follows the efforts of some very smart computer researchers including Joy Buolamwini, an MIT Media Lab researcher.  She discovered that this software when tested on women and non- white people has a markedly lower accuracy rate than on male and white people.  This inherent bias comes from how the software learns what faces look like based on the thousands of images in the database which in turn was provided by the designers.  Other issues raised were how the same technology is being used in China to deny rights and privileges to dissidents by the government as well as the individual’s rights to their own personal data.  The film also speaks of how these algorithms are used to profile people looking for loans and employment.  Some of those concerned about these matters have established the Algorithm Justice League to raise awareness of these issues and find ways of combating the biases of such software.  The issues here are far more complex than I can relate here,  and I hope the film receives wider distribution after the festival. I found it the most interesting documentary I’ve seen so far. 

Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights    5 stars

A few months ago, I saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest movie, One Battle After Another, and realized I had seen almost all of his movies. One that I missed was Boogie Nights from 1997, his second film and arguably one of his best. It follows several characters involved in the porn movie industry starting in 1977 through 1983 and shows each as having very human qualities, including their faults and how they have dreams for the future. Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds in one of his best performances) is the director who makes his films at his luxury home (where he also has large pool parties for his guests). He has a following of several “actors” and crew who he employs, but one is special. That is a young kid named Eddie (Mark Wahlberg in one of his early roles) who Jack discovered at a nightclub and decides to give him an audition. Jack discovers that Eddie has a special “talent” that is valuable in porn films and soon Eddie is starring in several movies where he comes to be known as Dirk Diggler. This is at a time when the movies are still shot on film and are shown mainly in theaters. Jack has a dream that his movies should evolve into an art form where people actually stay for the story. What he doesn’t realize is that a revolution is coming called videotape that will result in most films being watched at home. In reality the action scenes look like they belong in bad B-movies. If you have seen it then you know that Boogie Nights doesn’t really look like a porn movie as the sex scenes have a business-like quality to them and much of what we see are the behind-the-scenes aspects of filmmaking. (The film avoided getting an NC-17 rating.) Besides Jack and Dirk Diggler, the film focuses on a wide variety of characters, showing the role of each and their hopes for success. But about an hour into the movie things fall apart for each one as they get lost in a world of crime and drugs. They include Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) a former housewife who has lost custody of her child, Rollergirl (Heather Graham) who always wears her roller skates, Reed (John C. Reilly) who has a crush on Dirk, Scotty (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is especially lacking in confidence, Buck (Don Cheadle) who dreams of owning his own wi-fi business, club manager Rodriguez (Luis Guzman), Little Bill (William H. Macy), the assistant director, whose wife likes to have sex with every man in the business and Kurt (Ricky Jay) the cameraman. The lives of each one spiral downward into chaos with only some of them making a recovery. Dirk in particular hits rock bottom after he gets a very inflated idea of his own stardom. In one notable scene he and two of his friends try to take advantage of a playboy in a drug deal that takes a turn for the worse. Anderson catches the feel of the seventies and early eighties with his attention to detail in the sets and the wardrobe. He adds to the atmosphere with the wide range of music from the period. Like his other films, Anderson makes Boogie Nights all about the human qualities of his characters. This is one that I’m sorry I missed when it came out as it created quite a splash at the time for Anderson as well as for Burt Reynolds. I also recommend you check out some of Paul Thomas Anderson’s other notable films that include Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and Inherent Vice.

Hamnet

Hamnet                 5 stars

We start with watching a woman alone in a dense forest who has tamed a falcon that obeys commands. She appears to be completely at home in this natural environment. Then we see a young man who meets the woman and is instantly taken with her. The pair marry and have three children and will suffer the worst nightmare that can be imagined by a parent. The pair is William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes, and this is the movie Hamnet. Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet and directed by Chloé Zhao (The Rider, Nomadland), the movie imagines the married life of Shakespeare and his wife and the raising of their three children while he is embarking on a writing career. There has long been speculation that after the death of their son, Hamnet at 11-years-old, the tragedy was the inspiration of one of Shakespeare’s most loved plays, Hamlet (Hamnet and Hamlet being synonymous). Zhao brings the story to life thanks to her style in displaying the closeness of the characters and their grief when Hamnet is taken from them in the pestilence sweeping the country. Much credit must be given to the two actors, Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose, The Lost Daughter, Women Talking) and Paul Mescal (Aftersun, All of Us Strangers), who make us feel their love for their children and their unimaginable pain when the son is lost. Buckley, who has had a string of successful and quirky roles, especially deserves praise for perhaps the most emotional performance of the year. As if that were not enough, she follows this up with pure wonder, when witnessing the first performance of Will’s play Hamlet where the final scene of Hamlet’s lament and death is played out. The scene, in the setting of the Globe Theater can be described as overwhelming.  Audiences will also be very pleased by the performance of young Jacobi Jupe who plays the playful and mischievous Hamnet. The casting was perfect with this choice. The movie will likely be most remembered for Jessie Buckley’s emotional performance as the young mother, so expect there to be a few awards this season for her plus in a few other categories.

Saudi Runaway

Saudi Runaway.   4 Suns

Saudi Runaway is an amazing documentary about a young 26 year old Saudi woman who decides to flee her country and her domineering father because of the oppressive laws against women in Saudi Arabia.  Muna connected with the director through social media and secretly filmed her story on her iPhones for a period of two months before making her escape while on her honeymoon which means she also fled from her new husband.  She had to secretly send the phone footage to the director just to have space on the phones for more of the story.  The film is full of Muna’s emotional dilemma and family scenes. In order to live out her dream she must hurt the people she loves including her mother.  I didn’t know what to expect from this film but was very pleased.  It is an important story to tell as Saudi Arabia is one of the most oppressive regimes toward women in the world.  A postscript noted that women are fleeing the country at a rate of 1,000 per year.  I hope this film gets distributed soon. 

Train Dreams

Train Dreams     4 ½ stars

Movies like Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams don’t come along very often. Based on an award winning book by Denis Johnson, it follows the life of an ordinary man, Robert Granier (Joel Edgerton) who worked as a laborer in the early 20th century as a logger in the Pacific Northwest. We see him first as a child who has no parents, up to the time of his death as an old man. In between he experiences love, joy and immense tragedy. As played by Edgerton, Robert doesn’t use a lot of words. He is often an observer, watching others in this world and seeing the beauty of nature. We also have the services of the narrator who fills in all the blank spaces we need to know this man. This is not a film with a lot of plot, but rather a character study about a man seeking to find his place in society. He is one of thousands like him that built this country in the early part of the last century, those that we don’t hear about in our culture or the history books. As a point of reference, think of a Terrence Malick movie like Days of Heaven and you may have an idea what this movie is like. (That would be a good thing for fans of Terrence Malick.) The narrator says that Robert is hoping for some great revelation that will reveal to him what life is all about. But the closest thing that comes to it is at the end when he has the chance to take a plane ride and see the world from the sky for the first time. The way the cinematography is shot shows the beauty of nature, showing the thick forests and the hills. And it shows that while nature is beautiful, it can also be quite deadly. Robert also sees the violent nature of man seeing people killed for no discernable reason. This is a very different role for Joel Edgerton. Here he is quite passive and reflective as opposed to the more active roles he has had in Warrior, Black Mass and Zero Dark Thirty. I saw the movie on Netflix but advise that you see it in a theater if possible. Look for it to get a few Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery          4 ½ stars

Rian Johnson’s third installment of his iconic Knives Out murder mystery series, Wake Up Dead Man is out, and one thing is certain. He has hit a winning formula by casting Daniel Craig as the southern gentleman crime solver who is a master at working through some of the most convoluted murders this side of Sherlock Holmes. Johnson’s two previous films of the series, Knives Out and Glass Onion, were set in a mansion and a billionaire’s island retreat. This time around he gives up the usual extravagant location and cast of detestable rich people for a gothic church and a small flock of loyal church goers. The mystery to be solved is just as complicated and full of possible suspects as those earlier outings and with some misdirection’s. We start by meeting Father Jud Duplenticy (Josh O’Connor who we remember from Challengers), a young priest who just assaulted a church deacon. His superiors must find a new parish for him so send him to Chimney Rock, New York, the location of Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude. There he meets Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), who he is to serve under. Wicks is not your normal priest. He is a real firebrand and has a style of preaching that is all about anger toward the world, something that poor Father Jud doesn’t find very comforting as he is more about serving the world. (He also goes to extreme lengths in confessing his masturbation habits to Father Jud.) Wicks tends to turn newcomers away from the church, leaving him with only a handful of dedicated worshippers. Without going into details about all the characters and giving much away, I’ll say that we have an all-star lineup of a cast that includes Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Thomas Hayden Church and Jeffrey Wright. The story requires us to have a little background information that includes Wicks’ grandfather who served the church as priest and died at the altar many years ago, Wicks’ mother who was a harlot and Glenn Close’s character, Martha Delacroix, who has served the church for sixty years. It is after Wicks suddenly falls dead during the Good Friday service, and the police are stumped by the crime that sleuth Benoit Blanc is brought in to solve the murder. At this point I will not give away any spoilers and will just say there are plenty of clues the viewer learns of along with Blanc. It is not so much about identifying the murderer as about the how it was accomplished and the motive that really keeps things interesting. Of course, much of the entertainment value comes from the performance that Daniel Craig puts on with his dramatic way of speaking making him the modern-day Sherlock Holmes. I hope we don’t see the end of this series for a long time to come. It’s a really fun ride.

Jumbo

Jumbo     3 stars (or suns in Sundance World)

Jumbo,  from Belgium by director Zoe Wittock tells us the story of a young withdrawn woman who lives with her very outspoken mother.  Jeanne is very shy and has trouble relating to men.  Her mother seems determined to do something about that.  Jeanne works in an amusement park as part of the cleanup crew. We find she has a certain fascination with the rides as she builds models of them out of pieces of metal and wire.  However, there is one particular ride she is fascinated by where the riders rotate in multiple directions that goes by the name of Move It. Jeanne’s name for it is Jumbo. She is so enamored by the ride that she imagines it has a soul and that it is something she can have a sexual relationship with.  So you can see it is your classic romance of girl meets machine,  girl gets machine,  girl loses machine,  then finally girl gets machine back.  It is certainly an odd movie and one hard to relate to. The filmmaker said she has been working on the movie for eight years and got the idea when she saw a story about a woman who “married” the Eiffel Tower.  The movie was done well enough with some excellent acting which helps make up for the very unconventional story.

Cold War

Cold War                              4 stars

Cold War by director Pawel Pawlikowski is a passionate and tragic love story between two talented musicians who are caught up in the tensions between the East and West during the Cold War in Europe of the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Music teacher Wiktor meets young student Zula in a dance and music ensemble where the talented young people are taught folk songs and dance in post-war Poland.  The two are obsessed with each other while also training for performances that serve the communist state.  Eventually, Wiktor comes up with a plan to defect to the west, but Zula is reluctant to leave her home and travel to Paris where life would be foreign to her.  The movie then covers the period in the fifties when tensions were the highest, but still the pair are able to meet in various European cities as the ensemble goes on tour.  Even though the two have their own separate lives by now they still have a passion for each other accompanied with fierce disagreements and fighting.  This is all set against the background of musical performances that compare the communist influenced folk music of the East with the decadent jazz and pop music of the west.  And the entire movie is shot in black and white giving it a depressing feeling.  Pawlikowski says that his inspiration was the marriage of his parents which was characterized by separations and fighting and a tragic ending, thus he had a real story to tell.  Pawlikowski made the movie Ida, another tragedy set in Poland back in 2014. Cold War was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Academy Award last year.

Little Women

Little Women                    4 ½ stars

Greta Gerwig, the writer/director behind Lady Bird brings us her take on Louisa May Alcott’s classic Civil War era novel Little Women.  In her version, the tale of the four March sisters is blended with Alcott’s struggle to be a successful author placing older sister Jo, (played by Saoirse Ronan) as the creative writer of Little Women.  Another difference from earlier movies, of which there may be as many as seven, she puts the timelines in parallel showing us the older siblings trials alongside scenes of the girls living together in their family home with their mother (a good natured Laura Dern).  And it is done using the same actors in both settings where previous versions have used younger actors to portray the teenage sisters.  They may not all look like teenagers, but I thought the approach worked well especially with how active and energetic the actors are.  The movie shares the aspect of the earlier films that shows how dependent women were on finding a good husband in order to succeed in life.  Of special note is the role of Amy (Florence Pugh) as Gerwig makes it clear that she is the obstinate and ambitious one, as she is seen maturing the most of the sisters and the one who ends up with the boy next door, Laurie played by Timothee Chalamet.  The film is rather long but I find I didn’t really notice it all that much as the scenes seem to fly by at a fast pace keeping us engaged the whole time.  Gerwig is said to have read the book Little Women multiple times growing up and it is clear that she gave it her best effort as a writer/director.  Be sure you see it.  It is bound to earn a few Academy Award nominations.