Category Archives: 2023

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3     3 stars

I continue with my catch up on Marvel movies I missed with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, the third iteration of these heroes who are always there to save the galaxy, courtesy of writer/director James Gunn. This one could be called the one where Rocket finally realizes that he is a racoon. While it has all the action and the wisecracking of the earlier two movies of 2014 and 2017, it does have a more somber tone to it. Both Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) are in a funky mood near the beginning, and the end of the movie feels like the gang is breaking up. The heroes are tasked with a mission to save the life of Rocket who has been gravely injured. They must retrieve a computer file from a ship that seems to be made of living tissue that belongs to the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). We are introduced to Rocket’s backstory while he is in a coma and find out that when he was a small racoon cub, he was captured by this villain for the purpose of experimentation to produce a perfect species. (This explains Rocket’s extraordinary powers.) Now the High Evolutionary wants to capture Rocket again to learn his secrets, but in the meantime, he tries to destroy an entire civilization that he created since they are not perfect. (Does that sound like a familiar theme?) So, the stakes are certainly high enough to deserve the Guardian’s attention. The membership of the Guardians has expanded since the first movie with past differences being put aside. They include Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Nebula (Karen Gillan), of course a full-sized Groot (Vin Diesel), Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Spacedog (Maria Bakalova). The movie is worth seeing based on the emotional way that Rocket’s story is told. However, the overall tone feels off with Peter Quill and others going through internal struggles that take away from the usual upbeat feel of these movies. Of course, the soundtrack features a variety of popular seventies rock music as always. The special effects are quite impressive which explains why Guardians earned a Best Visual Effects Academy Award nomination. The ending feels like this is the end of the franchise, though of course, you can’t be sure.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse      4 ½ stars

Later this year we will have the newest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: Brand New Day in theaters. So, I took this opportunity to see the second film of the Spider-Verse series, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, made is 2023. While related, the Spider-Verse series has its own take on the web shooting super-hero. The creators, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have made a universe with a multitude of Earth timelines where superheroes and supervillains can freely travel between them, and each has its own unique Spider-Man. (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also were the directors of Project Hail Mary.) This new film took a trio of directors to create it: Joachim Do Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. In the previous Academy Award winning film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse our Earth’s Spider-Man, teenager Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) battled supervillains and met Spider-Woman Gwen Stacey (Hailey Steinfeld) from one of the other Spider-Verses. But now Gwen has been chosen by an elite squad of Spidey’s to help in the battle against a menacing supervillain called The Vulture, but first she returns to Miles’ Earth to help Miles with a troubling situation. Both superheroes are struggling with their crime fighting roles while keeping their secrets from each of their parents. Miles’ Spider-Man has had to deal with The Spot (Jason Schwartzman), an annoying villain who creates black holes at will, using them for his own type of crime. The Spot says that Spider-Man is his nemesis and is out to get even with him for destroying his life. Despite being grounded by his police officer father (Brian Tyree Henry) and mother (Luna Lauren Velez) for so many unexplained absences, young Miles ventures into the Spider-Verse to join the hundreds of other Spider-Men to track down and defeat The Vulture. Unfortunately, Miles learns that things are a lot more complicated in the Spider-Verse since as we know, in a multi-verse (or a time traveling situation) there is a space-time continuum and if it is upset, disaster can ensue. You cannot mess with a canon event! And poor Miles is at the center of it all. One of the attractions of the series is the fluidic nature of the animation that uses a fuzzy, colorful fast-moving appearance during the action sequences, and there is plenty of action to be sure. The characters constantly swing among the buildings of NYC rescuing the inhabitants while somehow not sustaining injuries despite getting beaten and falling from great heights. The movie also features voice performances from the likes of Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae, Shea Whigham, Daniel Kaluuya and Jake Johnson (as Peter Parker, but with a baby girl with Spidey powers). Despite the movie being 2 hours and 20 minutes long, it turns out to have a cliffhanger ending. Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was planned for a 2024 release date, but that has been delayed until 2027. So, there is still plenty more Spider-Man to come!

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.

The Color Purple

The Color Purple              4 stars

In 1985 Steven Spielberg made the movie The Color Purple based on the 1982 book. Then in 2006 it was made into a Broadway musical and revived in 2015. In 2023 it was again brought to the screen. I just recently came to view it. By now the story of Celie, a poor uneducated black woman in early 20th century rural Georgia who suffers brutal abuse at the hands of her father and then her husband is familiar to audiences. In this musical version the role of Celie, originally done by Whoopie Goldberg in the Spielberg movie, is performed by Fantasia Barrino of American Idol fame. Her voice in her musical numbers and her acting in scenes as she quietly endures abuse from the men in her life are the best things about the movie. (She is actually reprising the role from the Broadway production and is certainly right for the part.) She is equally engaging in the moments of expressing joy when she is with her sister, Nettie (Halle Bailey and Ciara) and others that she loves. (According to Fantasia’s resume, this is her only notable film role.) Other actors of note are Danielle Brooks (Clemency) as the outspoken Sofia (originally done by Oprah) who won’t stand for the abuse heaped on women by men, but is later beaten into quiet submission by the blatant racism of the South, as well as Taraji P. Henson as blues singer Shug Avery who brings hope to Celie by showing her the sheer joy of living when one is near the ones they love. Also excellent is Colman Domingo in the part of Mister, Celie’s abusive husband who only sees her as the equivalent of a slave that must be regularly beaten into obedience. Not only do we experience his cruelty but get a sense of how he came to be this way, enduring his own pain, and we eventually see how he realizes the error of his ways and seeks to make amends. The musical numbers are lively and cinematic, but they tend to overshadow the central message of the story, which is love of family and treasuring time together. This movie directed by Blitz Bazawule is almost entirely focused on Celie as she overcomes adversity and finds her voice. Though I enjoyed the movie, I find that I prefer the original Spielberg film over this reimagining.

Woman of the Hour

Woman of the Hour        4 stars

Last year’s Woman of the Hour is a true crime thriller that is based on the time that an actual serial killer appeared on a TV game show, The Dating Game as a contestant. In 1978 Rodney Alcala had been murdering women for years by luring them to remote locations while posing as a photographer. He appeared on the game show as Bachelor Number 3 where he answered questions from female contestant Cheryl Bradshaw and was chosen by her to go on a date. The movie, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick introduces us to Cheryl (Academy Award nominee Kendrick) and Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) separately before the fateful episode of the iconic TV show. We see how Alcala uses his charm to convince the victims to accompany him before he kills each one. As the killer, Zovatto is alternately likeable and menacing in the role. Cheryl is a struggling actress having a difficult time finding roles when her agent lands her an appearance on a TV show, which happens to be The Dating Game. She is not very thrilled about the idea but goes along with the idea as it will give her some exposure. So, she does the show where she is expected to look pretty and ask each of the three bachelors prearranged questions that will appeal to the audience. There is more to the movie though, as it is set in the 1970’s, a time defined by sexism. Cheryl must calmly endure sexist remarks from men about her appearance. She has to be overly polite with her male neighbor in conversations to make sure she doesn’t hurt his feelings. But when the big moment comes for her TV appearance, she decides she has had enough of pleasing men and asks her own challenging questions of the three bachelors that includes one dimwit and one sleazebag, causing them to squirm and upsetting the TV host (Tony Hale). Finally, when the two meet face to face, Cheryl has a conversation with Alcala and gets the sense that there is something not right about the guy which leads to the intense final confrontation between them. The way women are poorly treated is further exemplified by a scene when one woman recognizes Alcala as a suspect in a murder and is routinely dismissed by the police and other men. The movie is more than a true crime story as it paints a picture of the seventies showing how women are objectified in this man’s world. This was a challenging subject for Kendrick to choose for her first effort at directing. Let’s hope to see more projects from her.

The Burial

The Burial            4 stars

I went back and viewed a gem of a movie from last year that I had missed and was not even aware of. The Burial written and directed by Maggie Betts is a throwback to the legal dramas of the nineties. But this legal drama has the distinction of starring two of the greatest talents working today: Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones. It starts with a display on the screen: “Based on real events”. (The movie is based on a 1999 New Yorker article by Jonathan Harr.) We first see hot shot personal injury lawyer Willie Gary played by Foxx in a court room doing what he does best: performing in front of a jury in the style of a preacher on Sunday morning. Gary is rich and proud of the fact that he has never lost a case. We next see Jeremiah “Jerry” O’Keefe (Jones), the owner of several funeral homes in southern Mississippi that have been the family business for decades, at home with his large family. Jerry has run into hard times, the result of a bad business decision and needs a buyer for part his business. He turned to a megacorporation owned by Canadian Raymond Loewen (Bill Camp) for the deal, but a few months later Loewen still has not signed the contract and Jerry’s lawyers, Hal Dockens (Mamoudou Athie) and Mike Allred (Alan Ruck) think that Loewen is just trying to force the funeral home business into bankruptcy so that it can then be bought up in a fire sale. It is then that the star power of Willie Gary comes to the attention of Jerry’s legal team, so they try to recruit him for the case against Loewen. In order to convince Gary to take the case though, the lawsuit damages are increased from $8 million to $100 million, making it worth it to Gary. This is all set up for the real drama that takes place in the courtroom and in meetings between the lawyers and their client as they struggle to win the case against the corporate giant. Many confrontations happen and a few surprises are discovered in testimony in traditional legal drama fashion. Although the case is about the little guy taking on a giant over a legal contract, with it being set in southern Mississippi we find out that the case is really about race, only adding to the drama. What really makes the movie is the first rate acting or rather performance by Jamie Foxx (who is probably best known for playing Ray Charles in Ray). Add to it Tommy Lee Jones (of The Fugitive) as the southern gentleman and you have a truly entertaining movie, even if it looks a bit dated, including 1990’s references to Johnny Cochran and O. J. Simpson.

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.