Category Archives: 2023

The Creator

Leave a reply

The Creator        1 star

There has been a lot of talk in the news about AI lately including that it may be a threat to the very existence of humanity. So, it is appropriate that I saw the 2023 movie The Creator by director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One). I don’t recall there being much promotion of it before it came out. The movie stars John David Washington (BlacKKKlansman) as Joshua, a retired soldier of the war against AI. In the opening sequence we learn that AI served people well as robot servants, then as police and soldiers, until a war started against humans. The US then banned AI, but the country of New Asia embraced it, developing it further. The US has a super weapon called NOMAD, a sort of space station armed with missiles that can be easily seen in the sky but cannot be attacked and can destroy any target. US intelligence discovered that the New Asian AI creator, Nirmata has created a new AI weapon called Alpha One that will be able to destroy NOMAD and thus win the war against humans. Joshua is called back into service as he is the only one familiar with the New Asia base where Nirmata is believed to be located. Now, the AI robots or “simulants” look and behave exactly like humans except for the hardware around their necks and head. (That is except for the police who are just human shaped hardware.) The Creator follows a cinematic tradition of AI beings that threaten mankind from films like Terminator and 2001: A Space Odyssey. What makes this movie different, and problematic is that the AI robots think and act just like humans to the point that many humans see them as people. This point is exemplified by the robot that Joshua finds that turns out to be the weapon, Alpha One. The robot looks like a small female child, to the point that it seems adorable and has no idea that it is a super weapon. Instead of destroying the child, Joshua abandons his mission and protects the child, who he calls Alphie, hoping it can lead him to his wife, who was believed to have been killed in the war but now is reported to be alive. All this is the setup for the action that ensues, consisting of the many violent combat scenes of the war between the Army and the New Asian military and their AI robots, all in Asian settings giving the movie a Vietnam War feel. The portrayal of robots as so humanlike went too far in my opinion, with them being thought of as alive. Whatever they may look like, they are still machines designed by people. The depiction of the weapon, NOMAD, was another problem. If a nation had the technology to create such a destructive device, why wouldn’t they make more of them? The movie seems to have borrowed elements from other science fiction movies like the Death Star in Star Wars, the dark sets of Blade Runner and the tentacled robot in The Matrix. Finally, it makes the US the bad guys who are trying to kill off the AI beings who just want to live. (This is illustrated in a scene when Alphie is asked what she wants and she simply says, “to be free”.) One would think that a war with AI would involve hacking through the internet, but no. There is no mention of the internet or computer servers. AI seems to exist only in the form of robots. The Creator does not help in our dilemma of what to do about the ever-expanding AI in today’s world.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Leave a reply

Killers of the Flower Moon           5 stars

In the year when the movie Oppenheimer was making headlines as an epic masterpiece telling an important piece of American history, there was another equally epic movie that told of a long forgotten, shameful part of our history. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon tackles the subject of Davd Grann’s true crime book of the same name, bringing this tale of greed and genocide and the ensuing federal investigation to the big screen. The subject of the film is the mysterious deaths that plagued the Osage Indians in 1920’s Oklahoma after the tribe became wealthy following the discovery of oil on their land. Their good fortune attracted the attention of whites moving to the area and what followed can be described as a systematic murder of these beautiful people. Only, Scorsese tells this story on a personal level. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio in what may be his best performance) returns from World War I and needs to find work. Ernest is none too bright and loves money and whiskey. He is prone to being manipulated, which is an attractive trait to Ernest’s uncle, William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale sees himself as a friend to the Osage people, calling himself King. He sees an opportunity and encourages Ernest to become acquainted with a young Osage woman, Mollie (Lily Gladstone). If they get married, then Ernest will become heir to Molly’s oil money should something happen to her. The two do get married and have children. Similar schemes are carried out throughout the region that include many mysterious deaths of the Osage people. Some of the deaths involve Hale and Ernest revealing the strange thing about Ernest’s character. Simultaneously, he loves his wife but also helps to carry out the murders of her family. Somehow, he is able to justify this in his mind or maybe it is just the control that his uncle holds over him. Whatever it is DiCaprio portrays the character’s confusion brilliantly. But the film really belongs to Gladstone as she makes the audience feel the pain she is going through with each death in her family and her growing mistrust of her husband. Her subtle expressions convey her feelings with a simple look or glance at Ernest. She certainly deserved the Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The latter part of the movie covers the investigation of the murders, also a subject of the book. After seeing the film, one wonders how this scheme could have gone on for so long. It is a real American tragedy that should not be forgotten. I should note that in Scorsese fashion this movie is nearly three and a half hours long, but I felt that I never lost interest in it.

Io Capitano

Io Capitano         5 stars

In Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano we follow the journey of two teenage boys from their home in Dakar, Senegal across Africa to Tripoli and then across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy as they follow their dream for a better life. After earning what they think is a lot of money, Seydou and his cousin Moussa leave their mothers without telling them and despite all the warnings of how dangerous this journey is. Along the way through Africa they are taken advantage of by anyone who senses they have money, including a passport forger; they ride in the back of a pickup truck with up to twenty men across the Sahara Desert and when one man falls out the driver will not stop, leaving him to die in the desert, they are robbed by the police in Libya and sent to prison where they are tortured so that they will call home for more money. And they are finally put on a boat crammed full of refugees where Seydou is forced to be the one piloting the boat without any experience. Fortunately, along the way they do encounter some kind souls that help them out. Besides this being Seydou’s story, it is also the story of so many refugees who risk death and deplorable conditions to make it to Europe for the promise of a better life. The movie is remarkable in two ways. It shows the immensity of the landscape these people are facing making you wonder how bad things must be for them to attempt such a punishing trip. And it displays the acting skills of young Seydou Sarr as Seydou who genuinely displays the emotions of joy and terror and back again as his character endures unimaginable cruelty at the hands of those who only see these unfortunate people as a way of profit. The movie received an Academy Award Nomination for Best International Feature in 2024 and must have been in contention to win. After seeing this movie, you will not think of boat people the same way.

2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films Live Action

2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films Live Action

“Invincible” by Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron

From Canada, comes the live action short Invincible which was inspired by a true story. It is about a young teenage boy who at the beginning of the film finds himself being chased by police, calls his mother on the phone and then in an act of desperation kills himself to prevent being captured. The shocking opening is followed with a flash back to a happier time being spent with his parents and sister swimming at a lake. Then we learn that he must be returned to the juvenile facility that he has been sentenced to. For the rest of the short we share in his experiences of anguish over his situation. He is clearly in a great deal of pain despite the encouraging words from one of the counsellors. It is a gripping tale of the hopelessness and self-loathing that this young man went through before escaping through the only means that he could see.

“Red, White and Blue” by Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane

Finally, there is Red, White and Blue, starring Brittany Snow (of Pitch Perfect, American Dreams and Almost Family) in this searing indictment of the abortion laws that are taking over much of the country. Snow plays Rachel, a single mother of two young children who is trying to make ends meet by working as a waitress in a diner. Early we see that she is struggling to raise money for a much needed abortion. Because of the laws she must travel several hundred miles from her home to get to an abortion clinic and find a way for her kids to be cared for. Then she is able to make the long journey thanks to the generosity of a stranger she meets at the diner. It is only later that we learn how much worse the situation is for her. The short lays out just how inhumane some of these abortion laws are and the effect they have on the less fortunate.

2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films Animated

2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films Animated

“Pachyderme”, by Stéphanie Clement

This animated short film tackles the delicate subject of family incest and repressed memory. It is very colorful and uses a more traditional method of animation. The main character is a little girl in the south of France who visits her grandparents in the countryside. Her adult self says she doesn’t like when her mother leaves and speaks of battling monsters in the narrative. She often spends time with her grandfather, but also, she is alone on a swing set or in a lake. The “pachyderme” reference of the title is of a large elephant tusk that is in the house as a trophy which seems to reference the monster that we never see. Any inappropriate actions are only barely hinted at on screen. The only sense of something being wrong is the disconnected way that the girl is drawn. The film effectively creates mixed feelings from the audience.

“WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” by Dave Mullins and Brad Booker This animated short is also done in a traditionally drawn manner and depicts an alternate version of World Way I with long periods of inaction in the trenches. The nationalities of the warring sides seem to be generic not representing any specific combatants, but they are obviously different from each other. The action centers on a carrier pigeon that flies from one side of the trenches to the other while carrying chess moves written on a scrap of paper. A soldier from each of the two countries are having a chess match that moves one turn at a time whenever the pigeon makes its journey. The action starts out very slowly and gradually builds generating more interest from the other soldiers until the match is interrupted when the order comes for the assault to begin. The climax comes when the two opposing soldiers meet face to face on the battlefield with one recognizing the notes with the chess moves written on them. It is only at the end of scene when John Lennon’s familiar song “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” plays that we see the inspiration for the short that gives hope for a time when war can become a thing of the past. We may have forgotten that Lennon’s song was originally a protest against the war in Vietnam.

The Teachers’ Lounge

The Teachers’ Lounge                    5 stars

Who would think that a middle school could be the setting of a top-rated mystery thriller? That is what we find in the Oscar nominated 2023 drama The Teachers’ Lounge by Turkish Director Ilker Çatak. Carla (Leonie Benesch of The Crown), a Polish immigrant is a new teacher in the German middle school and is full of ideals as she navigates instructing her sixth-grade students in math and physical education. She approaches the class with enthusiasm and is very encouraging toward the wide variety of students in her classroom. Then it is reported that a series of thefts have taken place including in the teachers’ lounge and it is suspected that one of Carla’s students is the thief. Carla finds it offensive when some teachers try to persuade the student leaders to rat out who they might suspect. When a Turkish immigrant student is accused, Carla is especially incensed being an immigrant herself. She takes matters into her own hands and in a lapse of judgment does something against school policy resulting in accusations against one of the school’s long-term staff members. Tempers flare and more people become involved pitting teachers against each other and bringing parents and students into the conflict. Carla’s own students turn against her, launching a smear campaign against her and staging a participatory strike in the classroom. Finally, one student decides to resort to violence. The pressure on Carla rises to such an extent that she and her class execute a primal scream together. The screeching violin score behind the film serves to further escalate the tension as things get more frenetic seemingly through the entire movie. You will be kept guessing about the outcome in this exciting thriller about institutional control and freedom of expression in a middle school. And you will never find it boring. The movie received numerous awards and nominations.

Golda

Golda                    2 stars

If you are as old as me, you can remember the days in 1973 when there was a war raging when Israel was attacked by the armies of Syria and Egypt that was called the Yom Kippur War. This was the fourth of the Arab-Israeli wars and a very closely fought one that lasted for 19 days. The outcome was uncertain until Israel succeeded in trapping and isolating an Egyptian army forcing a cease fire. The movie Golda tells that story, but mainly from the perspective of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir with an unrecognizable Hellen Mirren buried in makeup in the role of Meir. The movie focuses primarily on her interactions with the cabinet and the generals as they struggle to make the best decisions to save Israel and her conversations with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schrieber of Asteroid City and Ray Donovan: The Movie). There are also frequent scenes of Meir, who is suffering from lymphoma, being cared for by her personal assistant (Camille Cottin of A Haunting in Venice and House of Gucci). What’s missing are any battle scenes showing what is going on in the field. Instead, we have the generals discussing the situation over battle maps and radio transmissions from commanders and soldiers yelling of how they are being swarmed and killed by the Egyptians. We get no background of what led to the war or even much about the general international situation. While Mirren’s acting talents are on full display here, showing Meir’s pain over the casualties suffered by the Israeli troops, we don’t get much in the way of her own background. Golda is mainly a history lesson about this war of long ago and not a very good one.

Society of the Snow

Society of the Snow        4 ½ stars

You have probably heard the story before. I know I have a few times. In 1972 a plane carrying a Uruguayan rugby team and friends and family crashed in the snow-covered Andes mountains while on their flight to Chile. The plane had 40 passengers. Several of the passengers survived the crash. Weeks later after the search was abandoned two members of the team crossed the Andes on foot and told the world that they were alive. 16 people were still alive having survived in part by resorting to cannibalism on the bodies of those who died. The incredible story was previously made into the English language movie Alive in 1993. Society of the Snow is a Spanish language telling, made by J. A. Bayona, who previously made The Impossible, the story of a family caught in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The new film depicts the events of the tragedy including acts of heroism performed by several of the young victims who were mostly young men in their twenties. It shows the initial crash that most of the passengers somehow survived, the hope for a rescue that didn’t come, and an avalanche hitting the fuselage taking more lives. The movie shows how they were forced to choose to use the dead as nourishment and how a select few had the task of retrieving the food so that the rest would not know who it was they were consuming. The film also focuses on the emotional aspects of the ordeal and the members’ devotion to one another. Bayona and the actors have made the film one about survivalist adventure but also about spirituality. At times it is a tough one to watch but is certainly worth it. It was nominated for two Academy Awards in 2024. The film is available on Netflix. If you see it be sure to check out the How the movie was made, video. The roles were all filled with non-actors, and they had to do the scenes chronologically so they could lose weight progressively during the filming.

Flamin’ Hot

Flamin’ Hot         2 ½ stars

A few years ago, we saw the release of Flamin’ Hot, a movie about the inventor of a new flavor of Frito Lays Cheetos, matching the name of the movie. Although I had heard of the film at the time I hadn’t seen it until now. It tells the story about Richard Montañez, a poor, young Mexican-American man trying to support a family who snagged a job at the local Frito Lay plant in the early eighties as a janitor and then had and sold the idea of making a new, spicy flavor of Cheetos that came to be known as Flamin’ Hot. This is another of the corporate success movies that have shown up in recent years, like Air, Tetris and Blackberry that tell of the people behind a successful product. It is also the directorial debut of Eva Longoria who you may recognize from TV shows like Only Murders in the Building and Desperate Housewives. There are appealing things about Flamin’ Hot like the enthusiasm of the main character, Richard (Jesse Garcia) and his never say quit attitude toward his mission to save the jobs of those who work in the factory and his love of family. His story is inspirational as he goes against the protocol of the corporate structure to try to sell his idea of a product that would appeal to the Hispanic community despite his being just a janitor. Unfortunately, according to a few sources the story is mostly untrue with events in the movie being exaggerated. Parts of the movie I found corny like the narration that Garcia gives and scenes where the executives speak like Mexican fighting cholos voiced by Garcia. Though parts of the movie were entertaining, I couldn’t lose sight of the fact that it was selling a story of identity consumerism that apparently is not quite true. The movie earned an Academy Award Nomination for Original Song for “The Fire Inside” in 2024.

Robot Dreams

Robot Dreams   4 ½ stars

I had not heard of Pablo Berger’s animated movie, Robot Dreams before but after viewing it I have to call it a masterpiece about lost friendships. Set in 1980’s NYC, the movie is based on a graphic novel by Sarah Varon. Using a simple style of animation with no dialogue, all the characters are animals living in a busy urban environment. The main character, DOG, lives alone in a small apartment and is very alone. That is, until he sees an ad for a mail order robot, which he acts on. After a few days he receives a package in the mail containing the mechanical robot, plus some assembly instructions. Before long ROBOT is up and running and a fresh relationship blossoms. The pair become fast friends, sharing activities in the city as ROBOT takes it all in with a sense of awe. DOG is equally inspired as they go roller-skating to Earth, Wind and Fire and hang out under the Queensboro bridge. They spend a day at Oceans Beach going swimming and sunning, until ROBOT suddenly freezes up and can’t move since salt water is bad for his circuitry. The tone changes as DOG is forced to abandon his friend at the beach but hopes to return to retrieve ROBOT the following summer. This is where the movie turns sad, as DOG pursues other activities such as sled riding alone and endures the abuse of other riders like an evil pair of anteaters and going bowling with a snowman. ROBOT, still alone on the beach encounters other creatures too, some abusive, but others caring. We also find out that this mechanical being can dream as he fantasizes of being reunited with his new friend. As time goes by, the close friendship slowly fades and the relationship becomes a thing of the past, though each character treasures the memories. The audience is left wondering if the two friends will find a way to reunite. And if they do, what will it be like. This is the Spanish film director’s first effort at an animated film. Previously, he made Biancanieves, a take on Snow White. He has an effective style of portraying human emotions in his characters using facial expressions and a lack of any dialogue. Aspects of the film have been compared to Charlie Chaplin, who the director is a fan of, as he gives us moments of hilarious comedy alternating with a punch in the gut. The movie is available on Disney + and Hulu. If you see it, I advise that you be emotionally prepared and be ready to be humming EW&F’s September. The movie is also appropriate for children. Robot Dreams was nominated for the Animated Feature Academy Award but lost out to The Boy and the Heron in 2024.