Category Archives: 2022

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.

Chanshi

Chanshi,   4 1/2 stars

A category that was recently added to Sundance is the Indie Episodics. These are typically short series that are intended for TV audiences,  the producers of which are hoping will be picked up by some network. I picked Chanshi, a very amusing comedy series written by and starring Aleeza Chanowitz. Chanshi is a Jewish young woman from Brooklyn who is engaged to a young Jewish man that she does not know well.  Everything should be going well for her.  But the first episode starts with Chanshi traveling to Israel to surprise her best friend who is getting married soon.  It seems that Chanshi’s dream is to have sex with lots of Israeli men,  but not only that,  with men who are soldiers.  So she is basically a train wreck who could destroy her own life while being very disruptive to all those around her as well.  The character is very engaging and funny and involved in some interesting story lines bringing in other characters who can’t help being attracted to her and wanting to straighten her out.  Unfortunately I was not able to stay for the Q&A. I hope this one finds a way to a wider audience. 

She Said

She Said               4 ½ stars

She Said takes on the subject of sexual abuse and misconduct in Hollywood from a journalistic approach and from an entirely female perspective. This is the true story of the New York Times investigation and take down of one Hollywood’s most powerful producers, Harvey Weinstein. We have all heard the story before, of the decades of assaults and intimidation and coverup payouts that centered around Weinstein and in the end how it led to the Metoo movement throughout the corporate world. In the film we see the efforts of the two Times investigative reporters, Megan Twohy (Carey Mulligan of An Education and Promising Young Woman) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan of The Big Sick and The Plot Against America) as they follow leads, knock on doors and are rebuffed at nearly every turn. Through a series of interviews and flashbacks we get the stories of not only repeated abuse of Hollywood actresses (including Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd) and Mirimax employees, but of the multitude of enablers in the industry that allow the abuse to continue. The formula of the movie is one we have seen before, in All the President’s Men, Spotlight and The Post, only this time the reporting is down exclusively by women who in addition to their jobs have to deal with raising children and fending off creeps in bars. Even though we know the eventual outcome we feel the frustration of the reporters as they hear the stories but can’t persuade the victims to go public out of fear of their families learning what happened and retaliation from Weinstein. It is only after being informed of the payouts by the lawyers and accountants that they learn the true scope of the crimes. For the documentary treatment of the subject, see the 2019 movie Untouchable. It gives a firsthand account from some of the women victims and the exposing of Weinstein’s crimes.

Bones and All

Bones and All                     4 stars

From director Luca Guadagnino comes a story of two young lovers on a road trip travelling across the country in the 1980’s in a search for purpose. Timothee Chalamet is Lee, reuniting with the Call Me by Your Name director, and Taylor Russell is a teenage girl, Maren in this teenage romance horror as a young pair learning to deal with the secret that they both share. I won’t reveal what that secret is but let’s just say that it involves a lot of blood and they are not vampires. Bones and All is actually based on a young adult novel by the same name where the heat between the two young travelers gradually intensifies as they drive from one rundown  Midwestern town to another. The story is actually reminiscent of Badlands or Natural Born Killers as they commit certain crimes against the unsuspecting victims. We must understand that this is not a matter of choice. It’s just that this is who they are. Maren is on this journey to try to find her birth mother accompanied by a cassette recording from her father and her own birth certificate that reveals her mother’s hometown. She encounters Lee by scent, revealing that they share something in common. Oh, and there is an old man she meets along the way (Mark Rylance of Bridge of Spies) who teaches her some things about their kind. (This has to be the creepiest role of Rylance’s career to date! He plays it perfectly.) He will show up at the most unexpected of times. The well paced movie alternates between slow cinematic scenes of the country and loving interaction to scenes of utter bloody horror. There are also a few single scene roles for some well known actors including Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny, David Gordon Green and Jessica Harper. Despite their acting skills the movie mainly belongs to Taylor Russell who is very believable as the young Maren. Besides 2017’s Call Me by Your Name, Guadagnino is also known for his films Suspiria (also a horror film), and I am Love. This one is probably best meant to be viewed by the strictly horror movie fans. I look forward to his next project, Challengers, starring Zendaya coming in 2023.

Avatar: The Way of Water

Avatar: The Way of Water            4 ½ stars

The most anticipated release of the holiday season has finally arrived with James Cameron’s return to Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water. Following the success of the original Avatar in 2009, this sequel can’t help but have some high expectations to aspire to. In the first movie we had the conflict between the technologically advanced humans from Earth and the primitive tribespeople of the planet Pandora called the Na’vi. In that battle one human, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), an avatar in the form of a Na’vi man switched sides and aided the Na’vi leading to the expelling of the humans with the help of the sentient natural world. Now after many years of peaceful living, the humans or “sky people” have returned to Pandora where Jake has made a new life for himself with his Na’vi family. Everything about the humans is violent as their very landing on the planet destroys the environment in a firestorm. Leading a commando unit of humans converted into blue Na’vi bodies is Quaritch (Steven Lang) whose mission in life is the capture of Sully the traitor in order to help subjugate the indigenous population and conquer the planet for human habitation. That’s the background but there is much more to the movie and more than I can adequately describe. The scenes of the natural world of Pandora with the otherworldly creatures of the air and the sea are amazing to watch. The color and movement we see on the screen are beautiful and something we never grow tired of. The story itself is rather basic with the focus on the struggle between the invaders and the primitive but determined defenders represented by Jake’s Na’vi family. They are forced to flee their home in the forest and learn the ways of the island people who survive with the help of some incredible sea creatures. There are a variety of subplots that involve the four Na’vi children, the island people and the giant whale-like creatures called tulkun that may be as intelligent as people. Part of the wonder of the movie is the way that it was filmed. Most of the movie is animated but the animated characters are superimposed over the human actors. So this means that the scenes taking place underwater were actually filmed that way with the actors having to act out their scenes underwater, requiring them to learn to hold their breath for several minutes at a time for the filming. Then the creation of the world of Pandora is done with an army of animators. Part of the attraction is the amount of detail that went into making the facial expressions of the Na’vi characters. This goes a long way toward making them seem real. As far as the story itself goes, the conflict involving Jake seems small when you consider that an entire planet is being invaded. But since this movie is actually the second of an expected five movies in the franchise, I can forgive that. The situation is similar to that of The War of the Worlds where Earth was facing a technologically superior race, which itself was said to represent the plight of the American Indian. The ending is definitely set up for a sequel that is to come in 2024. Look for a multitude of awards for Avatar, The Way of Water and repeated viewings from the fans. But be prepared for a long sitting for a runtime that exceeds three hours!

Babylon

Babylon                2 ½ stars

One word can summarize the Damien Chazelle tribute to old Hollywood known as Babylon. That is extravagance. In the opening scene there is a lavish party for the rich and famous taking place in the mansion of a Hollywood producer complete with drunkenness, cocaine use, nude dancing and a live band. The scene seems to go on forever, only ending with a live elephant being led through the ballroom in order to distract the partiers from the possible overdose death of a drugged out teenager. The movie is full of over-the-top situations and scenes full of extras that are designed to give us a sense of utter chaos. This is how Chazelle sees the world of Hollywood filmmaking in the twenties and thirties (which may not be far from the truth). Other scenes take us to the California desert where elaborate sets are created involving hundreds of people for simultaneous filming of movies. In the silent film era you don’t have to worry about the noise interfering with your scene. Throughout the movie we follow the exploits of three main characters, Manny Torres (Diego Calva), a young Mexican American man starting at the bottom of his career in Hollywood, Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) an unknown actress who is ambitious and certain that she is to become a star and Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt), an aging Hollywood actor who doesn’t realize yet that his career is rapidly coming to an end. Their stories as well as those of a handful of other characters show us how people achieve fame in the film industry only to see their lives ruined or suffer humiliation after the public becomes tired of them. It is a theme as old as Hollywood itself, only Chazelle is determined to assault our senses with all the debauchery, treachery and extreme cruelty that he can pack into Babylon’s three hour runtime. It feels like he is trying to give it a Baz Luhrmann treatment only without the caring for the human qualities of the characters. This is from the same man who brought us La La Land, First Man and Whiplash, all more interesting and entertaining films than Babylon. There is a fascinating scene about the making of the original Singin’ in the Rain (not the Gene Kelly version) and a final homage to Hollywood where we see some of the most famous images from popular films including 2001:A Space Odyssey and Avatar. Margot Robbie I must say gives an amazing performance of the confident Nellie LaRoy and should not be blamed for this overproduced and overhyped movie.

The Whale

The Whale          4 stars

Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of the play, The Whale is a devastating character study of a broken man on a path of self-destruction, but with real redeeming qualities. We meet Charlie, (played by Brendan Fraser who we have not seen on the screen in several years) a severely obese man living in a dirty, cheap apartment who is an English professor still teaching classes online. His laptop camera is always turned off when talking with his students. We slowly learn of his circumstances through his interactions with the other characters that include Liz, his friend and a nurse (the great Hong Chau), his estranged daughter, Ellie (Sadie Sink of Stranger Things), a young door to door missionary (Ty Simpkins) and his ex-wife (Samantha Morton). Charlie is a man who has suffered great pain in his life and abandoned his family years earlier. His great weight gain is attributed to this pain, resulting in his massive size of over 600 pounds and restricting his movement inside the apartment where he can only get around with the help of a walker. The entire movie takes place in the apartment where Charlie spends the majority of his time on the couch with his laptop and watching TV. The sight of his massive body created by a fat suit and some effective special effects is something that the audience cannot forget. Fraser does the best acting of his career, as the critics have said, expressing a wide range of emotion, from despair to self-loathing to hope for those around him. His greatest moments come when he sees the best aspects of others including seventeen year old daughter, Ellie, when others can only see failure. Much of the movie will feel like a real downer, but Charlie’s eternal optimism brings some real uplifting moments by the time it ends. Look for Fraser to be nominated for the Best Actor Oscar and I would not be surprised if he ends up actually winning. As for director, Aronofsky, The Whale adds to a list of successes that includes Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan and mother! (the last one especially for horror fans). For those that have yet to see The Whale, the title does not refer to the main character. I highly recommend it.

Women Talking

Women Talking                 4 stars

The title of Sarah Polley’s new movie Women Talking is indeed very descriptive of the events that transpire on screen. There are both plenty of women and talking. We are introduced to the women of a religious community where something horrific has occurred that must be dealt with. At first it is hard to tell when and where the movie takes place as the furnishings and the wardrobe are fairly primitive. It could be in the early 1900’s but the events eventually reveal that the year is 2010. Periodically, a woman of the community wakes up with bruises or an infection or is pregnant resulting from being raped while being drugged. The elders of the community (all men naturally) attribute this to “an act of wild female imagination”, but the women are not fooled. The movie consists almost entirely of a debate among the women held in a barn to decide what action they should take. They can stay and fight for their rights against the men or they can collectively leave the community and start over somewhere else. The women are brilliantly portrayed by actors Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Michelle McLeod, Sheila McCarthy, Judith Ivey and Jessie Buckley, among others. Each has their own way of expressing their feelings ranging from relative to calm to outrage. The violent acts are never portrayed on screen and we only capture brief glimpses of the men. There are peaceful scenes that take place in the fields with the children that remind us that there are more lives at stake here. The only man with a film role is August (Ben Whishaw), a teacher who was educated at a university and is present to take the minutes of the meeting because none of the women can read and write. Also, August is secretly in love with one of the women. The movie, written and directed by Polley is based on a book of the same name by Miriam Toews, itself based on actual events that occurred in Bolivia. The actor turned writer/director has been away from filmmaking for many years, but has created some memorable works including Stories We Tell, Take This Waltz and Away from Her. This present work is a subdued and effective way of dealing with a culture of violence against women that is all too prevalent worldwide.

Tár

Tár                          4 ½ stars

I returned to the theater to see Todd Field’s long awaited treatment of a successful female first class orchestra conductor who may be a monster in Tár. Cate Blanchett takes on this challenging role in what must be one of her best performances as the talented and arrogant Lydia Tar who conducts the Berlin orchestra and fills in her time with a book tour, writing original compositions and teaching at Julliard. The movie starts with her doing an interview with The New Yorker about her conducting. Most of the time I couldn’t understand what she was talking about, but Blanchett makes you believe that she is an expert, so convincing is her acting. After seeing examples of how she can control and damage the lives of those around her, including her assistant Francesca (Noemie Merlant), events catch up with her and her world begins to unravel. Much of the movie will make you feel uncomfortable which is what Fields is going for. Some of the scenes are meant to make you believe that Tar is mentally not well. Two of Field’s previous works are In The Bedroom and Little Children, both telling stories that are unsettling. The success of the movie rests on Blanchett who commands your attention every minute she is on screen. It is hard to imagine her not winning the Best Actress Oscar for this performance.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery           4 stars

Rian Johnson brings us the return of Benoit Blanc, the world’s greatest detective in Glass Onion. The sequel to Johnson’s 2019 hit Knives Out finds Blanc (Daniel Craig) at the scene of a gathering of wealthy friends at a private Greek island owned by entrepreneur Miles Bron (Edward Norton) that includes a giant glass enclosure that Miles calls the Glass Onion. This time the friends are there for a game of whodunit prepared for them as an amusement for one weekend. There we find Bron with his old pals that include Claire (Kathryn Hahn), the governor of Connecticut, Lionel (Leslie Odom, Jr.), an engineer at Bron’s company, Alpha, Birdie (Kate Hudson), a model and “social influencer” who can’t avoid making accidental racial slurs, Duke (Dave Bautista) a YouTube channel host who promotes conspiracy theories among other popular subjects on social media and Andi (Janelle Monae), Bron’s old business partner who dropped out of the business after Miles screwed her over. All were brought here by solving an elaborate box filled with puzzles that revealed the invitation. That is; except for Blanc, who seems to have shown up for mysterious reasons. Bron refers to this group as The Disruptors, but I prefer Blanc’s name for them: the shitheads. Since this is a classic murder mystery we eventually get to a point where bodies start dropping and everybody present seems to have a motive for wanting someone dead. At this point I have to be very careful about not revealing too much of the plot. The situation is well written following the rules for a murder mystery. All of the characters are suspects and we gradually find out more about them and events that happened in the past like as Blanc says, the layers of the onion are peeled back until we reach the center. Each of the actors brings out notable aspects of their character like Norton’s Miles who only cares about himself and Monae’s Andi who has a mysterious air about her. I think I preferred the original Knives Out slightly more, but this one will certainly keep your interest and keep you guessing until the startling conclusion.