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.

Bugonia

Bugonia                4 ½ stars

If you have ever seen a Yorgos Lanthimos movie you know you are in for something bizarre and odd. The Greek filmmaker also typically has something to say about the state of our society. Sometimes they can seem absurd, such as The Lobster where each person is turned into an animal if they don’t find their soulmate, or Poor Things involving transplanting a baby’s brain into an adult body. Sometimes they involve extreme torture and violence like The Killing of a Sacred Deer. In the case of Bugonia you get both. And some commentary on societal issues like conspiracy theories, our dependence on drugs and a collapsing society. It starts out as a conventional story. We see Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone of Birdman and La La Land), a CEO of a large pharmaceutical firm that develops miracle drugs. She is an expert on corporate double speak, making promises to the public and advocating for a family friendly culture for the employees as long as it doesn’t affect their work. Then one day she is kidnapped at her luxury home by two young men who tranquilize her and carry her off to the basement of their isolated house. (But first they have to shave off all her hair while she is unconscious and cover her in some white lotion.) It seems that Teddy (Jesse Plemons of The Power of the Dog and Killers of the Flower Moon), who works in packaging at Fuller’s company, has been down a rabbit hole on the internet for years and is convinced that aliens from space have infiltrated earth and are ready to take over the planet from humans. He believes that Fuller is one of the aliens disguised as human. He wants to get a confession from her and have her contact her spaceship to negotiate a peace deal and save humanity. He also holds a grudge against her because of some experimental procedures conducted on his mother that did not go well. Helping him in this quest is his somewhat dimwitted cousin, Donny (newcomer Aidan Delbis) who worships Teddy. This is where things may get tough for some viewers to watch. Fuller must endure being chained as a prisoner and tortured by electric shock while she does all she can to try to tell Teddy that he has it all wrong. She is just a human person trying to do what is right as a corporate CEO. But there is no convincing Teddy. He has done his research and is convinced that she is in fact an alien and he must save Earth. Fuller thinks he is crazy and must match each point coming from Teddy. The scope of the movie is mostly confined to these three characters and their interactions in the house or the headquarters of the resistance. Both Stone and Plemons give the roles everything they can, putting in some incredible performances. Emma Stone was all in for the movie after seeing the script despite the grueling scenes and losing her hair on screen. (Alien hair is a communication device in Teddy’s conspiracy filled world.) Lanthimos’ film, Bugonia says a lot about our world today, with the effect of the internet, inequality among classes and distrust everywhere. The film goes to some extreme places you wouldn’t expect, but maybe that is what should be expected from Lanthimos, who has put some crazy ideas on screen before. This is the fourth movie where he has cast Stone in a lead role, the others being The Favourite, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness. These two obviously have a good working relationship. Plemons shows us a character filled with rage, lost in his misguided notions coming from the internet. Delbis who is autistic shows us someone who is not crazy but is taken advantage of by someone he trusts. Lanthimos brings them all together and once again creates a strange and troubling world out of his imagination.

Border

Border                                  4 ½ stars

The Swedish made movie, Border has to be one of the most unusual movies of 2018 or for that matter any year.  It concerns a young woman, Tina, who works as a customs inspector and possesses a most unusual and valuable talent.  She has the ability to smell emotions in people such as guilt, shame and fear which is instrumental in catching individuals trying to smuggle illegal goods into the country.  She even gets involved in a police investigation of a child trafficking ring.  Her unique qualities don’t end there though.  Tina’s appearance is especially striking as she has to be one of the most unattractive women ever to appear in film.  She has a protruding forehead and a very heavy jawline so one would always notice her in a crowd.  If I would have checked ahead I would have known that the film was nominated for the Academy Award category of Best Makeup and perhaps wouldn’t have been so surprised by her appearance.  Tina lives in her isolated shack of a house with her lazy boyfriend who likes to watch lots of TV and enter his dogs in dog shows.  Besides that she makes regular visits to her elderly father in a nursing home.  Then one day her world is changed forever when she meets a man on the job who resembles her in many ways including the facial features.  And she finds that her special skills don’t work on Vore which is very confusing to her.  As she spends more time with him she finds that they have much more in common such as an interest in walking through the woods, insects and worms and the occasional snack on maggots.  And that is far from the most bizarre thing about the movie.  As she makes a connection with Vore certain hidden aspects of her life become clearer to her especially when things get weird.  And then the movie gets even weirder.  And then when you think it’s as weird as it can get, it gets so weird that I can’t even describe it.  Something happens that I have never seen in a movie before and it might make you uncomfortable in mixed company.  It is certain that Vore has a very different take on people and the world than what Tina has ever felt.  Ultimately, I think the movie is about realizing who you are and finding your place in the world.  I know that despite all the weirdness I liked it.  I can’t spoil the surprises for you.  It will be more fun to find it out yourselves.

Where’s My Roy Cohn?

Where’s My Roy Cohn?                                 4 stars

The documentary Where’s My Roy Cohn? was on my list to see at Sundance, but I didn’t get the chance to see it then.  Thankfully I found it on cable so just saw it during this time of quarantine.  This film by Matt Tyrnauer tells us about one of the most notorious (and ugliest) figures in the latter twentieth century of American politics.  It covers his career starting with his participating as a prosecutor in the trial of the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg resulting in their execution, extending to the Communist hearings with Joseph McCarthy and his connections with New York mobsters as a defense attorney often getting light sentences for them.  The film features many interviews with his various associates and relatives (including Roger Stone), none of whom have a kind thing to say about his character.  However, the point is made that he was a sharp lawyer who was always ready for a fight and would stop at nothing to destroy his enemies.  Through the seventies and eighties Cohn had close contacts with the administrations of Nixon and Reagan playing a role in some of the harshest right wing policies that continue to this day.  The film also goes into Cohn’s gay lifestyle, how it was no real secret that he associated with gay men and frequented gay night clubs.  Yet he always maintained that he was not gay up to his death from AIDs in 1986.  Included is Cohn’s role as mentor to a young New York real estate tycoon named Donald J. Trump.  According to the film Trump learned to never admit being wrong and to never make apologies.  Cohn successfully defended the Trumps in an anti-discrimination lawsuit involving denying housing to African Americans.  Trump even used Cohn’s mob ties to get his Trump Tower built in New York City in the early eighties.  Given how this man is portrayed, one would probably not describe the film as impartial.  It shows how he made a career of using lies and deceit to destroy lives for sake of personal gain throughout his career and how he had no empathy toward fellow humans.  Whether or not you are familiar with Roy Cohn’s career, I recommend you see this movie.

After the Hunt

After the Hunt                   2 stars

What can I say about Luca Guadagnino’s new drama After the Hunt? It has some of the most pretentious, condescending, full of themselves characters I can remember, but played by some of the greatest stars working in Hollywood today. We have two university professors of philosophy Alma (Julia Roberts) and Hank (Andrew Garfield) at Yale who are heavily involved in campus politics, being among the most elite in higher education. The movie has a theme of questioning cancel culture and wokeness and does it in a very heavy-handed way. The story focuses on Maggie, a PhD student (Ayo Edebiri of The Bear, Opus and Bottoms) who is a close admirer of these two professors and unfortunately gets a little too close to Hank and must decide whether to report his assaulting her to the administration but first must seek Alma’s advice. So, the characters get into questions about the MeToo movement and the impact of these accusations on their futures. Questions also arise about Maggie’s integrity as she is accused of plagiarism so there is plenty of bad behavior to go around. Alma’s husband (Michael Stuhlbarg), a therapist, is included with those with annoying behavior without being detestable other than his questioning Maggie’s motives. Before it’s all over there will be suffering and destroyed careers as a result of bad behavior. All the actors give excellent performances, but of very flawed people that one has no empathy for. I did not enjoy this movie. Guadagnino has made some good movies lately that include Queer, Challengers and Bones and All. Unfortunately, After the Hunt won’t be among them. It generally has not been getting good reviews. (Incidentally, if you like horror movies check out Suspiria by Guadagnino.)

American Symphony

American Symphony                      4 ½ stars

The 2023 film American Symphony by filmmaker Matthew Heineman started as a project to follow musician Jon Batiste as he worked on his classical composition “American Symphony” but turned into a much bigger story about life. In 2021 The band leader of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show had just been nominated for 11 Grammys and granted Heineman access to his life as he worked on this piece. Batiste was writing a classical piece but making it more modern using new styles and musicians from a variety of backgrounds to make it avant-garde compared to traditional classical music. It was quite unusual for a pop musician to enter this genre let alone a black musician, but Batiste gives it all the attention and effort he can. But while this is transpiring on screen, it is discovered that Batiste’s girlfriend/wife Suleika Jaouad has had a recurrence of bone cancer and must undergo lengthy chemotherapy treatments. So, on top of writing the new piece and preparing for the Grammys, Batiste was dealing with the crisis of supporting Suleika through this new crisis. Jaouad is herself a writer and painter producing her own works of art, continuing her efforts through the treatment. The two of them go through tough challenges, encouraging each other, while surprisingly still granting the filmmaker access to their lives. One type of film I especially enjoy is those that show the unfolding creative process of writing music. In American Symphony we see not only Batiste’s struggles with creating his masterpiece, but also the intimate look at a couple going through a difficult time in their lives. The film ends with the finished product being performed for one time only in front of a packed crowd in Carnegie Hall. It is a triumphant finish to a very emotional story. The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song It Never Went Away which is played at the end of the movie.

Free Solo

Free Solo                                                             4 ½ stars

It has been called awe inspiring and a celebration of one of the greatest athletic achievements ever.  Free Solo is a documentary from National Geographic  that covers rock climber, Alex Honnold’s quest to be the first person ever to climb the 3,000 foot face of El Capitan without a rope.  The film was three years in the making and includes interviews with Alex, his rock climbing friends, his girlfriend and his mother.  The film crew play a part in the film as well as they go into it not knowing how it will turn out.  One climber describes the event as a gold medal Olympic event, but if you don’t win the gold, you die.  We see how Alex studies the climb and memorizes every move he has to make on the rock’s most dangerous parts.  The film never shies away from the danger as it reminds us of many other free solo climbers who have died in pursuit of their dreams.  Certainly not for the squeamish, the final climb is a thrill to watch, even if you know the outcome ahead of time.  And it’s a good way to visit the national parks in a time when no one can.

Corporate Animals

Corporate Animals                                           2 stars

Here is another of the movies I heard about at Sundance and was curious about.  Corporate Animals is a dark comedy about office politics by Patrick Brice, the director who brought us The Overnight.  Lucy (Demi Moore) is a self-absorbed CEO of a small company that is launching a new product: edible cutlery.  She is taking her staff of about eight people on a team building exercise in the desert in New Mexico.  The expedition guide, Brandon (Ed Helms) is in charge of leading the group.  Since Lucy wants to really challenge her staff she decides they should take the more dangerous path on their journey, leading them into a deep cave.  Once there the group becomes trapped underground after a cave in which also kills Brandon.  When it becomes clear that there is no way out the group descends into bitter accusations, fear and hate filled rants.  Revelations emerge of office affairs, corporate mismanagement and a little friendly cannibalism and a hallucinating assistant.  There were a few clever one liners, but the comedy got old after a while despite the film’s length of under 90 minutes.  Much of the movie happens in the dark making it hard to tell who is speaking all the time.  There are some good comedic actors including Isiah Whitlock, Martha Kelly, Dan Balledahl and Nasim Pedrad.  Look some of them up and you will probably recognize some.  For a really good time, look up Brice’s earlier creation, The Overnight , a much funnier movie.  Sorry, but I can’t recommend Corporate Animals.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse           4 stars

I made a real departure from the usual movies I see and took a look at Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, 2018’s animated version of the web slinging superhero from the Marvel universe.  I have not seen all of the Spiderman movies, but I’ve seen enough to be familiar with his story and some of his various enemies.  This animated movie bears little resemblance to the earlier live action versions and looks much more like a comic book, with its bright colors and fast moving action sequences.  It departs from the usual story as it creates a new Spiderman character in the form of a black teenager who gets his spider powers in the usual way, but is very unsure of himself through much of the film.  The story is quite bizarre with a large assortment of villains brought together by the sinister Kingpin who is conspiring to build a giant supercollider in order to kill everyone or some such plot.  It also involves a collection of other Spidermen gathered from alternate dimensions that are brought together to defeat the evil Kingpin.  One interesting one is Spider-Ham, a cartoon pig Spiderman (voiced by John Mulaney) who always has a clever wisecrack in any situation.  The movie collected some of the highest marks for an animated movie so I decided to finally take it in for a change of pace.  The story absolutely does not stick to the standard Marvel background.  It’s perfectly suited to the younger viewers out there.

Clueless

Clueless               4 stars

It’s the twenty-fifth anniversary of the nineties teen comedy, Clueless, so I decided to rewatch this classic.  The movie stars Alicia Silverstone as rich teen high school student Cher, who attends an upscale Beverly Hills high school, lives in a mansion with her lawyer father and spends her time getting the right clothes, convincing others to give her what she wants and hanging out with her upper-class friends.  Her best friend is Dionne (Stacey Dash), another rich girl.  The two of them are named after “great singers of the past who now do infomercials”.  She also likes to play matchmaker to the less fortunate like she does with two of her high school teachers (Wallace Shawn and Twink Caplan).  Her latest project is new student Tai (Brittany Murphy), a nerdy girl that Cher takes a liking to.  She quickly befriends the girl and seeks to get her matched up with the right boy.  One of the fun things about watching an old teen movie is seeing early roles of successful actors.  Here we have a young Paul Rudd playing Josh, Cher’s step brother and longtime friend.  There are also roles for young Donald Faison and Jeremy Sisto as high school students. New relationships form and are broken, and there is one of the usual teenage house parties that gets out of hand.  Ultimately, the characters will each end up with the right partner after going through some pain to get there.  Clueless was an enjoyable break from the reality of being stuck and home and all ages should enjoy it.  One interesting fact: The new movie Emma, has the same basic plot as Clueless and was apparently based on the movie!  Hello! As If!  Whatever!  Uh uh. No Way.

After the Wedding

After the Wedding           2 ½ stars

When I was at Sundance last year one of the hottest tickets was for Bart Freundlich’s movie After the Wedding.  I could not score a ticket for it there so finally caught up to now.  The movie is a complex family drama with a plot that is a little too involved to fully explain here.  It is actually a remake of a 2006 movie of the same name from Denmark.  The two main characters are Isabel (Michelle Williams) and Theresa (Julianne Moore). Isabel is a dedicated humanitarian who is part of the staff for a large financially strapped orphanage in India.  Theresa is head of her own media company and is very well off.  The orphanage is contacted by Theresa’s company saying they want to make a substantial contribution to the orphanage, but in order to go through with it, Isabel must travel to New York to meet with Theresa.  The two meet at a very short and terse meeting when Theresa invites Isabel to stay longer and attend the wedding of her daughter, Grace, which she does.  It is at that point, after the wedding that all the drama starts as it is realized that Isabel and Theresa’s husband, Oscar (Billy Crudup) had a previous relationship years earlier and everybody’s world is turned upside down.  The movie is a story of family relationships and people’s choices and their consequences, showing how little control we have over our own lives.  The parts played by the two main characters are done very well by two actresses that I admire a great deal.  I saw the original Danish version back in 2006.  In that movie the two leads were men, so in the remake they were made female characters.  I can remember being more interested in the story with the male characters than I was this time.  It is still a very emotional drama, but I preferred the original version.