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.

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan   3 stars

The One and Only Ivan was brought to us in 2020 by Disney and stars Sam Rockwell as a silverback gorilla, Ivan who is kept in a cage and serves as the main attraction at a small-time mall, video-arcade managed by Mack (Brian Cranston). This combination live action-CGI film is intended primarily for children and is told in a quiet manner, focusing on how the animals feel about their situation. The computer animation is excellent, but the movie lacks the action one would associate with the usual Disney style for children’s movies. Also included among the mall animals are an elephant named Stella (Angelina Jolie), a chicken named Henrietta (Chaka Khan), a glam poodle named Snickers (Helen Mirren) and Bob, a lovable mutt (Danny DeVito) who provides the comic effect. This unlikely crew vacillates between wanting to put on a good show for a dwindling audience and longing for a better life away from captivity. But it is only when owner Mack tries to get Ruby (Brooklynn Prince), a very young elephant to perform on her own that Ivan feels driven to action. The movie is based on a popular children’s novel by Katherine Applegate which itself is based on a real life gorilla named Ivan who lived for 27 years in a cage in a mall and was ultimately moved to the open spaces of Zoo Atlanta after getting the attention of protesters decrying the living conditions of the ape. The script is by Mike White who also did School of Rock. The movie is a good one for the kids but may go a little light on its subject of animal captivity. It is available on Disney +.

Passing

Passing                 4 stars

In 2021 one of the most sought-after tickets at Sundance was for the movie Passing. I couldn’t get one then but recently saw this offering written and directed by the actress Rebecca Hall (The Prestige, Vicki Christina Barcelona, The Town). The name of the movie comes from the practice of light skinned Black Americans passing as white to escape discrimination. This first effort of Hall’s tells of the relationship between two former classmates, two young Black women who meet by chance one day after twelve years at an upscale hotel dining hall in New York. It is the 1920’s so Jim Crow is very alive in this setting. Irene (Tessa Thompson (the Creed movies and the Avengers movies)) is light skinned so can be mistaken for being white, though that is not her intention. The other, Clare (Ruth Negga (Loving)), blonde and appearing to be white, gets Irene’s (Rene) attention and introduces herself. Rene finds out that Clare now has a white husband and a daughter and that the husband (Alexander Skarsgärd) has no clue that Clare is actually part black. (He also has severely racist views!) Rene lives in a nice Harlem brownstone and is married to a black man (André Holland) who is a doctor. They have two sons and a live-in maid. After some time, Clare works her way into Rene’s life saying she misses her old life. Rene lives comfortably, volunteering for the Negro League, attending balls and tea dances and associating with a white novelist (Bill Camp). All of this is very intriguing to Clare who recklessly finds a way to join in the fun. Clare even flirts with Rene’s husband who insists that he doesn’t care for her. It is clear that Rene is uncomfortable with Clare’s actions but puts up with the behavior for the sake of being civil. While Clare is the one who is pretending and playing with fire, the movie is really about Rene’s reaction to this new presence. Rene has a comfortable life but is forced to face the presence of racism that brought these circumstances to reality. Both actresses are superb in their roles with Thompson getting credit for an emotionally subdued performance. The feeling of the story is aided by the black and white filming, the old fashioned 4:3 aspect ratio and a great jazz score accompanying the film. I recommend it as a drama that will make you think.

The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin            5 stars

One has only to look at the credits of writer/director Martin McDonagh that include In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to know that we must be in for a great story in the movie The Banshees of Inisherin and he certainly does not disappoint. This is a simple story about a friendship between two friends that ends and turns into something tragic. It is one that has been brewing in McDonagh’s mind going back decades. The two friends, Colm (Brendan Gleeson) and Padraic (Colin Farrell) live on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland and have shared conversations over a pint for many years when Colm suddenly wants nothing to do with his friend anymore because as he puts it, “I just don’t like ya no more.” The poor dull Padraic has no idea what it is that he could have said or done to upset Colm and is determined to make things right again. His smart sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and the local lovable dimwit Dominic (Barry Keoghan of The Killing of a Sacred Deer) also get involved in the conflict all to no avail. Colm is just as determined to avoid Padraic because he doesn’t want to waste his time on more meaningless chatter, and ultimately issues an ultimatum to show just how serious he is. The setting of the story in 1923 during the Irish Civil War is also significant as it serves to show just how dire the situation has become. The movie is described as a comedy which is true because there is plenty of witty and amusing dialogue between the two great actors as well as among the other actors. And there is plenty of use of the word “feck” in many contexts. But the movie is also a very serious drama in which the director manages to gradually raise the level of tension to the point where things are about to explode. Neither character can be labeled as the bad guy here but that doesn’t mean that things can’t get very tragic. This is actually the second time the pair of Gleeson and Farrell have worked with McDonagh to great success, the first being In Bruges back in 2008. Based on what I have seen The Banshees of Inisherin should be considered a strong contender for Best Picture of the Year. You should not miss it.

The Vast of Night

The Vast of Night              4 ½ stars

I first heard of The Vast of Night in the early days of the pandemic and finally saw it recently. This is a very low budget science fiction thriller set in a 1950’s small town in New Mexico. Two nerdy teenagers, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and Fay (Sierra McCormick) are not interested in the night’s high school basketball game, preferring to spend the evening talking about their technical pursuits like recording conversations on Fay’s new tape recorder and going to their night jobs as a radio DJ for Everett and a switchboard operator for Fay. But this is a night unlike any other when they hear strange sounds over the telephone and learn of bizarre reports of something in the sky. Things are slow through the first half hour of the movie but pick up as the pair track down older people who have stories from their past about strange happenings involving government UFO projects and disappearances of people. The film pays homage to some of the science fiction movies of the 50’s and uses some interesting techniques like filming with a camera soaring through windows and through the streets of the town. McCormick performs magnificently in one scene where she works the switchboard for what seems like ten minutes gradually picking up clues from callers that something is amiss. The scene is done in one continuous take. The film really picks up the pace in the final twenty minutes as the two get closer to the truth about what could be an alien invasion. This is the first movie made by Andrew Patterson who filmed it in Texas on a shoestring and came up with something that is truly original.

The Menu

The Menu           4 stars

I must be hitting a theme this year with movies attacking the habits of the rich and self-absorbed. The latest film in this genre is The Menu, a black comedy-horror (my favorite kind of horror) directed by Mark Mylod (who has done episodes of Game of Thrones and Succession) where we spend an evening with a young couple journeying to an exclusive expensive restaurant on a coastal island, serving twelve guests by invitation only. The restaurant is called Hawthorne where the chef, Slowik (Ralph Fiennes), regarded as a culinary artist introduces each course with detailed descriptions and his personal philosophy and charges $1,250 a plate. Tyler (Nicolas Hoult) can be described as a fanboy of the chef who obsesses over each course while his last minute date Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) couldn’t be less interested in the food. The rest of the guests includes a restaurant critic (Janet McTeer) and her husband (Paul Adelstein), an older couple (Judith Light and Reed Birney), an aging movie-star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant, three corporate a-holes and one elderly woman in the corner. As the meal progresses it becomes clear that the chef has an agenda for the evening when personal attacks are made on each of the customers. He has a connection to every one of them and feels he has been wronged by each in some fashion. The lone exception is Margot who Slowik says wasn’t supposed to be here. At some point the film becomes full blown horror of the revenge variety when it is revealed that Slowik intends that no one is going to survive the evening, thus making things outright terrifying. Effectively, the movie is preaching about the misdeeds of the rich and privileged and about those seeking retribution. The best scenes involve the personal interactions between Fiennes and Taylor-Joy as they engage in a battle of wits and she tries to find ways to counter his actions. Both are well cast in these roles. Hong Chau of Driveways and The Whale does an excellent job as Elsa, the guide who gives the initial tour for the guests. I had not heard of director Mylod before and hope he has more interesting projects ahead. For fans of satirical comedies, this one is entertaining.

The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans                 4 ½ stars

Steven Spielberg brings his magic to filmmaking once again, this time in a personal way in The Fabelmans. This is the movie of this season that I have been waiting for. Based largely on Spielberg’s own experiences of learning to love making movies when he was a child, the film follows the childhood of Sammi Fabelman starting with his parents taking him to a showing of The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952. Sammi starts to film an electric train set using his dad’s 8mm camera and in doing so finds his passion. He is strongly encouraged to pursue his interests by a loving mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams) who gave up a career as a concert pianist to be a suburban housewife. His father Burt (Paul Dano) is a computer genius in the days when computers were in their infancy. Burt is a committed family man devoted to his wife and children, but doesn’t quite understand Sammi’s obsession with making movies. He often refers to it as a hobby. Sammi may not understand it that well himself; that is until Mitzi’s uncle Boris (a wild-haired Judd Hirsch) shows up one day and tells him how his love of art will tear him apart! Then there is no stopping Sammi as he puts together stories on film using his local boy scout troop to make movies about the Wild West and World War II (his Daddy’s war). But the film is about more than Sammi’s love for movies though. At the core of it, it is about his family and about his mother’s love for him and their family. It is also about Sammi coming to realize that his parents are people too and that they come with all the imperfections of people. He must learn to love them in spite of all their faults, which I believe is the main message that Spielberg is telling us. Look for Spielberg’s personal look at moviemaking to make a run for a Best Picture Oscar and for another nomination for Michelle Williams for her portrayal of the mother. You should not miss seeing this one in the theaters where it is currently playing.

Theater Camp

Theater Camp   4 stars

Somewhere in upstate New York at a place called AdirondACTS children who are theater fans and budding actors and singers gather for a summer filled with putting together classic and original plays with the help of the teachers and staff of this magical place.  This year at the opening however,  its founder,  Joan (Amy Sedaris) collapsed and fell into a coma.  This leaves the operation of the camp including its finances in the hands of her moronic son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro) who sees himself as a business genius,  but is clueless about what it takes to put on a play or musical.  Such is the premise of Theater Camp,  the very campy and probably cult film by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman.  The fast paced comedy is put together as a faux documentary much like the Christopher Guest films of the past.  The film really goes overboard with the stereotypes of the theater crowd in an amusing way that is aided by some very talented kids.  Mostly,  the movie creates a preposterous situation using it to produce some very funny moments in what is sure to be a cult classic for years to come. 

The Eternal Memory

The Eternal Memory   4 stars

From the country of Chile and entered in World Cinema Documentary comes The Eternal Memory,  which documents the life of Augusto, a prominent journalist in Chile who covered events during the Pinochet dictatorship.  Augusto has had Alzheimers disease for several years and is cared for by his wife Pauli. The filmmaker,  Maite Alberdi takes us into their home showing us the struggle for Augusto as he tries to hang on to his identity with his wife’s help.  There is much archival footage from the eighties and later to give us a sense of his work and of the unrest during the Pinochet regime.  We see just how much has been robbed from Augusto by this terrible disease.  He can go for hours unable to recognize his own wife and imagines there are people that will steal his books which he treasures.  But Pauli, who is an actress and still working is there to reassure him and bring him back to reality. The best moments are when she is talking to him about his life and he calmly accepts what she says.  The Eternal Memory won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary. 

The Persian Version

The Persian Version  4 1/2 stars

The Persian Version has to be one of the funniest comedy-dramas at the festival.  It is the story of an Iranian-American family in New York City as told by daughter Leila who has seven brothers.  The story begins with the family gathering when the father has to have a heart transplant.  The movie is about the difference in cultures between the US and Iran and how the characters have to adapt to it. It spans a time from the sixties up to near the present.  As far as the story itself,  it is an amusing way of showing the conflict between mother and daughter,  done brilliantly by actors Layla Mohammadi and Niousha Noor. There are many funny moments including times when the main characters directly address the camera.  Despite their differences we see how mother and daughter are both determined to do things their way and to survive in a foreign culture.  The Persian Version won the Audience Award for US Dramatic and is one of the favorites among fans.

Animalia

Animalia 3 1/2 stars

Animalia is an unusual science fiction story set in Morocco about some strange happenings that lead to an alien presence that affects the natural world and humans.  Itto is very pregnant and is to be left alone in the family’s opulent mansion while husband,  Amine is away on business.  A state of emergency is declared because of odd weather happenings and Itto is forced to evacuate with some help from the local peasants, but the locals resent her expensive trappings and she is stranded in a village far from her husband. There she sees animals that behave strangely. We never actually see the aliens.  We only see the effect they have on people as those affected become blissful and content giving us the feeling that the world is about to change.  The movie is hopeful,  but exposes the distinction in people based on class differences.  The filmmaker,  Sofia Alaoui is French-Moroccan and previously made the sci-fi short,  So What If The Goats Die which I saw at a previous Sundance. The French title is Parmi Nous which means Among Us. Animalia won the Special Jury Award: Creative Vision.