Category Archives: Drama

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.

Defending Your Life

Defending Your Life         4 ½ stars

I recently took in Defending Your Life, the 1991 Albert Brooks movie about an advertising exec who is killed in an auto accident and ends up in an afterlife where the new arrivals must face a sort of trial and defend how they lived their life. Brooks is quite the master at writing material that is bitingly funny, taking aim at the selfish nature of people. Unfortunately, of the seven movies that Brooks has written and/or directed, I can’t recall seeing any of them before; (though I do remember seeing the shorts he created for Saturday Night Live in the seventies.) In Life, Daniel finds that instead of going to heaven he is in an existence between lives in Judgment City, a place he shares with many other recently departed souls. The place is nothing like how the afterlife is depicted in many other movies with clouds and angels with wings, but instead resembles corporate America with spotless hotels, restaurants and trams to carry the inhabitants to various destinations. The staff is polite and makes sure that the arrivals are comfortable. In Judgment City the subjects are assigned a defense attorney and a prosecutor and face a trial where their lives are reviewed and a judgment is rendered based on whether they have done enough to face their fear during their lives and thus either advance to the next level of existence or be returned to Earth where they will live another life. In the more advanced levels people learn to use an ever-increasing portion of their brain. Daniel is assigned to Bob Diamond (Rip Torn) for his defense and to Lena (Lee Grant) as his prosecutor and must view segments of his life showing what he did in certain stressful situations. Both sides argue their case in front of the judges. During his stay, Daniel meets a young, sweet woman, Julia (Meryl Streep) who is also facing trial and quickly forms a bond with her. (It does seem odd to Daniel that Julia has scored a much nicer hotel than he did.) Thus, besides being an imaginative take on the afterlife, the movie is a romantic comedy as well. Albert Brooks has created a movie that is low key, very funny and conveys a good message about how people live their lives and try to meet expectations. And even better, it has a happy ending that will make everyone feel good about it. Apparently, Defending Your Life is much less harsh than Brooks’ other movies, especially Lost in America. But I haven’t seen them so have to take the critics word for it. I do know that you can’t go wrong with this movie, so I highly recommend it.

Kinds of Kindness

Kinds of Kindness                             2 stars

If you are a big fan of movies like me you remember the unusual movies made by Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek filmmaker. His most memorable movie, Poor Things, in 2023 featured Emma Stone as a sort of Frankenstein monster created from body parts by an eccentric doctor played by Willem Dafoe. Last year (2025) he made Bugonia, also starring Stone as a woman taken prisoner by a fanatic played by Jesse Plemons who believed her to be an alien from space. Both of those films are known for their extremely bizarre plots and surprise endings. In between there was another lesser-known film that I finally watched called Kinds of Kindness. It stars Stone, Plemons and Dafoe as well as Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau and Mamoudou Athie. This film consists of three separate tragic, comedic stories all of which are very strange and meant to say something about human behavior. None of them really exhibits aspects of the title as far as I could tell. All of them feature death in some way and are hard to watch at times. In the first of the three stories, Robert (Plemons) is a man whose whole life is controlled by a father figure, Raymond (Dafoe) who provides his house, his job, tells him who he can marry and whether he can have children. In return Robert must do as Raymond says and that includes trying to kill a man by colliding with him with his car. Robert tries to follow this request but is unsuccessful. At the hospital, Robert meets Rita (Stone) and finds that she is also under the control of Raymond. Since Robert is unwilling to make a second effort at the killing, Raymond withdraws his support as this is a sign that Robert does not love him anymore. This all leads to a shocking ending that I won’t reveal. The other two stories are equally strange and brutal. There are bizarre death scenes as well as sex scenes in unexpected circumstances. The movie is described as a triptych fable using dark comedy to describe human nature. They all use the same group of actors, all in different roles. The actors are certainly talented, but some of the dialogue seems to be purposely stilted which is Lanthimos’ style. Though I liked his other movies, I found Kinds of Kindness to be too weird for my taste. I haven’t found any new planned productions from him in the works but look forward to any that turn up. I do recommend that you go back and find The Favourite from 2018. It stars Emma Stone, Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz and was one of the best movies of that year. But you should skip Kinds of Kindness.

Toy Story 5

Toy Story 5                          3 stars

No, I still haven’t seen either of the two major blockbusters of the summer, but I did finally see Toy Story 5, the fifth installment of Pixar’s flagship franchise that started back in the nineties. After four of these popular animated movies that chronicle the adventures of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Bo Peep, one might ask do we need another one. How can the story be expanded beyond what has already been told? The answer is, of course we do, so that more money can be made for the studio and all the others involved. Back in Toy Story 4 the familiar toys have been separated into two groups, one is led by cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) and are the toys belonging to an introverted child, Bonnie. The second are the abandoned toys that Woody the cowboy (Tom Hanks) keeps together. Little Bonnie is a lonely girl without any friends. She would like to play with the twins next door but is too shy to talk to them. Besides they don’t play with toys. Instead, they spend their time playing on their tech devices, called LiliPad, where kids can talk online and watch videos. This is the new villain that has entered the Toy Story universe and threatens to destroy everything special about childhood and kid’s toys. In order to get Bonnie connected with other kids, her parents get her a new Lilipad (Greta Lee). This leads to a sleepover that goes horribly wrong for Bonnie and creates havoc in the toy collection. Some of the toys even get placed in storage in the garage! Now taking center stage, Jessie and her steed Bullseye are the ones that must correct things. While on her mission Jessie discovers another girl, Blaze, who lives in the same house that Jessie shared with her first child owner. Blaze does play with toys, so Jessie’s new mission is to bring the two children together somehow. (We see that Jessie must work through her own abandonment issues as she has now been left by two children.) She is aided by Smarty Pants, a toy used for potty training. (It is so appropriate that Conan O’Brien is the voice of Smarty Pants. Be ready for an abundance of bathroom humor.) There is also a pair of old tech toys, a toy camera and a GPS toy that join in. Eventually, Jessie calls in the help of Woody and an army of Buzz Lightyears (Tim Allen) that all work together through more misadventures and action scenes. Naturally, everything will eventually work out all right for all involved. After five movies telling this story, it feels there is little originality left to present. It was technology that made the Toy Story style of animation possible. Now technology has become the villain. Can we just realize that this story has been beaten to death over these thirty plus years and that it is time to put these characters to bed?

The Favourite

The Favourite                    4 ½ stars

The Favourite is the latest film from director Yorgos Lanthismos who famously brought us The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The film is an unusual costume drama to say the least that covers part of the reign of Queen Anne of England in the early Eighteenth century when England was at war with France in the War of Spanish Succession.  The English forces under the command of the Duke of Marlborough were victorious over the French.  The great cost of the war created a division in policy between the war hungry Whigs and Tories who pushed for a peace settlement.  None of the above matters much in the course of the movie as it is mainly concerned with the relationships between the Queen (Olivia Colman) and her close friend Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Wiesz) who is the wife of the Duke of Marlborough, and a new arrival at the palace, a lowly maid formerly from an aristocratic family, Abigail (Emma Stone).  This is no ordinary period costume film.  It is a roudy and uproarious comedy full of sharp wit and sexual innuendo.  The movie never leaves the setting of the palace and we only hear about the war through the reports that some English nobles provide.  In fact, all but the main three women in the cast fulfil fairly minor roles.  The movie is completely carried by Colman, as the ailing Queen who requires constant attention from the staff, Wiesz, who constantly manipulates the Queen to get what she wants and Stone, as she apples her womanly charms to gain favor in the Queen’s eyes.  Sarah and Abigail spend most of the film finding ways to better one another and become the Queen’s favourite friend and advisor.  I would say the movie portrays a completely irreverent depiction of English royalty which contributes to its success.  I believe the movie will be rewarded when awards time comes around and thoroughly recommend it.  Also, the movie reveals a little known fact, that there were plenty of lesbian love affairs going on in the English palace in this period, something I had not heard in any history courses.

Boy Erased

Boy Erased          4 stars

Writer-Director-Actor Joel Edgerton brings to film the true story of Jared (Lucas Hedges), an eighteen year old boy who is outed as gay to the shock and disapproval of his parents.  In order to get over the shame felt by his father (Russel Crowe) young Jared is convinced he should undergo gay conversion therapy and be sent away to a camp for an undetermined period of time where little is known of the practices there.  The movie gives us a peek into the world of Conversion Therapy, as it is usually carried out on underage children, where they are to be converted into heterosexuals.  This practice is nearly unanimously condemned by psychologists as ineffective and harmful, but it still exists in most states.  The leader of the therapy sessions is Victor Sykes (Joel Edgerton) who employs techniques that can only be described as cruel and disturbing.  The methods used only seem to instill a sense of self-loathing in the young subjects.  The movie also shows us the attitudes toward homosexuality held by most in certain religious institutions, in the case, Southern Baptist and the weight of guilt that can be placed on young people.  Despite the dark material of this movie there is eventually an uplifting feel to it by the time the credits role.  Last year’s “Call Me by Your Name” gives a sharp contrast of a parent’s reaction to realizing they have a gay son.  In that movie, the father had an accepting and even loving treatment toward his son.  In “Boy Erased”, there is the threat of being expelled from the family if the gayness is not removed.  I found all of the performances in the film to be first rate, especially that of young Hedges who is building a long resume of significant dramatic roles.

Creed II

Creed II                 4 ½ stars

The sequel to 2015’s Creed continues the story of Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) after he has achieved his goal of heavy weight champion and has to defend the title against a challenging adversary.  Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is back again at Creed’s side at the right time to help Creed through circumstances that have tied the two together.  Ivan Drago (Dolph Lungren) who Rocky defeated over thirty years earlier has returned to have his Russian boxing legend son, Victor challenge Creed to a fight.  Since it was Drago who killed Adonis father in the ring, Adonis cannot turn down the fight and it will be up to Rocky to get Creed to understand his desire to face this opponent and to get properly trained for this life changing event.  To further complicate things for Creed, he has married his girlfriend Bianca (Tessa Thompson returning in the role) and learned that he will soon be a father.  This movie brings much of the thrill of the earlier movie and combines it with the heartfelt moments when the fighter has to question what is really important in his life.  The choreography of the fight scenes combined with a sound track that combines the old Bill Conti songs with a modern rap style music will keep your attention on the action.  Much about the movie is meant to appeal to a black audience, but there is a solid about perseverance through life’s challenges that all viewers should love.  The director of the first Creed, Ryan Coogler stepped aside for this one in favor of new comer Steven Caple, Jr. whom I have not heard of before.  Judging by this effort he should have a long future ahead as a director.

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.

Ferdinand

Ferdinand                           4 stars

One of the more engaging animated films of 2017 was Ferdinand brought to us by Blue Sky Studio and director Carlos Saldanha.  It is based on the children’s book about a sweet bull who is not interested in fighting but just wants to enjoy life and the people/animals around him.  His adventures take him to a peaceful farm in Spain, to a ranch where he “trains” to fight with the other bulls and finally to the fighting ring.  Through it all he keeps his peaceful nature as he deals with trying to keep his fellow bulls safe from the humans who seek to exploit them.  There is plenty to enjoy with the comical characters and the colorful animation.  Especially good are John Cena as Ferdinand and Kate McKinnon as the female “calming” goat, Lupe.  Though not on a level of Lion King or even Rio, this is a fun movie to watch and very suitable for children.

Welcome to Marwen

Welcome to Marwen                     4 stars

Welcome to Marwen from director Robert Zemeckis employs some very imaginative techniques to tell the story of Mark Hogencamp (Steve Carell), an illustrator who lost his memory after being beaten by some local thugs.  Having lost his drawing talent Mark has created a fantasy world made up of miniatures dolls and models in an imaginary town in Brussels during World War II.  Mark has an alter ego named Hoagie represented by an American airman doll who frequently takes on Nazi soldiers aided by some very courageous women who make up the town’s population.  Each of the women figures represents a woman who plays a part in Mark’s life.  Mark lives alone outside of town and seems to be a broken man, but he manages to stay connected to people through his town called Marwen which he photographs creating intricate stories about his characters.  I found the movie quite engaging with the way it moves from the fantasy world to reality and how the events in Marwen are related to things going on in Mark’s real world.  The special effects are well done using stop action photography and animation to create some great action sequences.  The story is based on the actual true events of Mark Hogencamp who created this imaginary world and became famous through exhibitions of his photography.  I found the movie uplifting and entertaining which apparently most movie critics don’t see based on the mostly negative reviews it has been getting.  Robert Zemeckis has been making movies for ages and I am sure most viewers have seen some which includes Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Cast Away and Forrest Gump.  In my opinion he has another winner that more people should be seeing.