October Movie Reviews

*****  Exceptional

****    Great

***      OK

**        So So

*          Blah

Alex and the List is about a man in love with a woman ready to ask her to marry him, then she presents him with a list of "improvements" he must make for them to be the perfect couple who will last an eternity.  The staging was really, really bad. The actors all seemed too old to be playing their characters. Lots of talk about being immature, or not having to work, living at home, or not having to be responsible until they are forty. They all looked like they were about 39 years old!  The performances were substandard, the plot was pretentious, but I do like the premise that all women have these lists but few ever speak them aloud. I think this is true, although a mistake. Only young, silly girls think they can change a man. (Been there, tried that.) If you don't like him the way he is, he's not the one. *

Alive and Kicking is about the resurgence of swing dancing: the Lindy Hop and all the dances that were developed off it. It shows the various conventions and competitions, focusing on specific dancers or dance couples. Lots of history and historical film footage. Many of these dancers from history are in their 80s and 90s and still dancing. It also stresses community and connection, happiness, and camaraderie and that just made me depressed. Totally off limits for someone who is chemically sensitive, but fun movie. ***

American History X is about neo-Nazis and all the hate that comes with that. Derek (Edward Norton) goes to prison for killing two black men who were jacking his car leaving his little brother who idolized him to follow in his footsteps. In prison he realizes all that hate has done nothing to help his life. Excellent performances and story. ***

The Bridge This was the first German anti-war movie produced after World War II. It's about a village of boys near the end of the war. The Germans were running out of soldiers and started recruiting kids. They join up, idealistic, ready to defend the fatherland and bring honor to themselves. With only one day of training, their officer decides to keep them away from the battle front as the Americans approach and assigns them to guard their own village's bridge until daybreak when the American troops are expected and the Germans plan to blow the bridge. Their commanding officer is killed by the village police and the boys are left on their own not understanding they aren't supposed to really be guarding the bridge. The American tank show and the boys stand their ground. Great black and white film. War sucks. ***

Finding Your Feet is a British movie about a woman (Imelda Staunton) who's been living in the lap of luxury with a philandering husband who leaves her for his mistress. She moves in with her older free-spirited sister who she fell out of touch many years ago and learns how to live again. It was cute. ***

Flower was a complex, brilliant, disturbing, delightful movie about a fast-talking, smart-ass, seventeen year old girl, Erika (Zoey Deutch), who with her two friends, blackmail child molesters for money after entrapping them into accepting blow jobs.  Her mother's new boyfriend's son is just out of rehab and moves in with them. He is anxiety-prone, overweight, and not anything like she expected. He's very disturbed and after running into the teacher who molested him who was released from custody due to lack of evidence, he attempts to hang himself in their garage. Erika finds out this is guy is the "hot old guy" she has been oogling at the bowling alley. She devises an elaborate scheme to entrap him and make him pay for what he did to her new step-brother. Did he really do it or did her new, disturbed step-brother lie? Zoey Deutch is an incredibly actress. All outstanding performances. It gets very entangled and frightening when things go very wrong, but ends rather well. Excellent, intriguing movie. ****

The Hero was about an aging, unemployed cowboy-actor (Sam Elliott) known for his one good movie The Hero forty years prior. He's long-time divorced, estranged from his adult daughter, smokes too much, drinks too much and does way too many drugs. He is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and questions what achievement really is when he is offered a lifetime achievement award from a Western historical preservation guild. This was very much like the Burt Reynolds movie I saw a few months ago with the same theme, except it was more melancholy regarding age especially when he hooks up with a young, vibrant woman (Laura Prepon). The Reynolds movie also had a young woman in it, but their relationship was paternal not sexual in any way. The romance tended to put a glaring spotlight on his age especially since he keeps questioning her intentions. The Reynolds movie had more of an uplifting message about life appreciation. The Sam Elliott character was far more pathetic in his self-pity, but the plot was a little more entertaining. Prepon tends to play the same person in every role: always dyed black hair with teeny tiny drawn eyebrows, usually leather attired, often drugs, same personality. Same everything. I've never seen her do anything different and that suggests she's not acting, just being herself. That gets boring. ***

In Darkness is the Holocaust survivor story of a group of Jews in Lvov, Poland, who lived in the sewers for 14 months after the Jewish ghetto was annihilated until the end of the war. Leopold Socha, the local sewer maintenance worker and inspector, helped keep them safe and fed. Can you imagine? It amazes me they survived under those conditions, but they didn't have much of a choice. I actually read this story many years ago in a Holocaust encyclopedia. I wasn't sure if it was the same or based on the same story, but two details were seared into my brain: 1) the woman who had to smother her baby to keep it from crying so they wouldn't be discovered, and 2) when the war was over and Socha brought the Jews up to street level he proudly exclaimed repeatedly, "These are my Jews! I saved them!" It must have been hard work and his joy was overwhelming even in print. Great story, excellent performances, very violent and graphic, but it's the Holocaust and I appreciate the director didn't clean it up or romanticize it. Lots of rats. I can only imagine the smell of shit and dead bodies. I wonder how they didn't all die from disease. ****

Kings This was about the Rodney King trial and riots in Los Angeles in 1991-1992. It focuses on a husband-less woman (Halle Berry) with a whole lot of children including foster kids. She seemed to be out of control in every scene or not present leaving the children alone with older siblings who are not always competent in their care or even present themselves constantly moving in and out of the house. They are always hungry and with no food in the house, one of the older kids teaches the younger ones how to shoplift. They head to the local supermarket for some shoplifting fun and a meal of Cheetos and junk food.  (Note: this was really unrealistic as she would never be allowed to have this ratio of foster kids and with constant inspections, the neglect wouldn't go unnoticed. I think....) When the violence starts to escalate, the characters become perpetually confused and hysterical. Halle's character runs down the street and with no thought to leaving her very young kids at home. She starts screaming at and attacking police officers. Then as an afterthought she becomes a blubbering idiot wondering why they are arresting her. This leaves the seven year old in charge of two two year olds! Her kids all go running out into the streets in different directions regardless of the explosions and sounds of gunfire. Are they just stupid? The oldest kid in a hysterical fit of rage purposely stabs his friend/foster brother with a shard of window glass and then seems to come to his senses and wigs out that the kid is dying. Well, duh! Was he just not thinking? So they jump in an abandoned car, stealing it, and race around the neighborhood hysterically crying not sure where they are going with the idea they might save the kid's life by driving in circles. The whole movie was weird like that with people acting as brain dead as possible and the actors overacting to absurdity. Daniel Craig played Halle's drunk and volatile neighbor. Normally I like him, but his character was pretty ignorant as well. What adult in their right mind would harbor three young kids in his apartment without telling the parent? At one point Halle falls asleep and fantasizes about him. There was even some humor inappropriately and haphazardly interjected into some scenes that almost made it feel like a parody. Totally inappropriate for the subject matter. Is police brutality, injustice and violence funny? Maybe the writing was just bad?? Are these characters supposed to be stupid? And then it dawns on me...Is this the white man's view of the Rodney King situation? Are all African Americans perceived as stupid with too many unsupervised, out of control children? Do all black women desperately long for a white man? Are they all hysterical and unable to think in times of stress? And is all this violence their fault because they are so stupid to run out and challenge police officers? Hmmm... I wonder about the title, too. Kings. Hmmmmm.... So unable to stop thinking about how offensive and insulting this movie is, I got online and tried to find more information. Sure enough the director who is also the writer is a French white woman. Rotten Tomatoes, Rolling Stone and Roger Ebert each gave this film ONE star with comments such as "emotionally constipated" and "a really bad sitcom." So my final question: Why are Berry and Craig in such a movie? They are big box office draws. Did they not see these underlying messages?  This movie was a racist commentary on African Americans. Oddly enough, it was very thought-provoking and watchable, just appalling. *

Love, Simon is a coming-of-age, coming-out film about Simon who has a great life, great friends, great family and one big secret he desperately tries to keep for fear disclosure will change everything. Then someone at school  confesses anonymously in a chat or group and Simon and this mystery man begin emailing. Simon tries to guess who it is as the movie progresses. His emails are discovered by an asshole who blackmails him into helping him get a girl with the threat he'll tell everyone. It's a sweet movie, well-written with excellent performances and great humor while addressing nearly everything about being in the closet and coming out: the stereotypical behaviors of people, the worries and stresses, the realities, the "rules". Love the drama teacher. LOL. He has a great bedroom with really cool blackboard/slate walls surrounding his bed, but all I could think of is how he has to breathe in and sleep on chalk dust. Eeeeww.  *****

Nostalgia is about the material objects people leave behind after they die and the personal meaning and value that is attached to them. It follows several interconnecting stories of people's lives and their memories of loved ones. It was a little slow, but interesting in how it asks questions, for instance, if your house was burning down, what would you save, what is irreplaceable.  I've often thought about if I had only moments to get out of my house what would I grab. One of the stories involved a young woman who dies and because her computer and phone were destroyed, she left so little behind. Interesting thought. ***

Outside In is about a man who gets out of prison after twenty years for murder he didn't commit but took the blame. His ex-high school teacher (Eddie Falco) work for two years to get him released, talking to him several times a week. He's in love with her. She's married. Adjusting to life on the outside is difficult and he misses the connection they once had. ***

Patti Cakes This movie was a total surprise. I couldn't read the back of the DVD without my glasses, but I could make out "an inspirational underdog story" so I thought, OK. The front cover was questionable featuring an overweight blonde girl looking a little too much like Melissa McCarthy and an Indian man looking like ghetto gangsters. I was afraid it was stupid humor. I asked the librarian to read the back for me and she wasn't impressed. She read like this, "...Jersey NO!...strip-mall NO!...rapper NO!" I got it anyway, not always trusting the intuition of my librarians. Pleasantly surprised. It's about a 23 year old bartender living with her alcoholic, slutty mother and her dying grandmother. With posters of her favorite rapper covering her bedroom walls and many notebooks filled with rap lyrics, she fantasizes about being a famous rapper garnering acceptance from those who doubt her and money to pay for her grandmother's medical expenses. Playing in a man's world is difficult. Having a mother who once nearly got a recording contract when she was young and constantly beats your self-esteem down makes it nearly impossible. Most of the boys from her neighborhood still call her their junior high nickname for her "Dumbo" and resent her presence on street corners challenging their rapping skills.  Her best friend is a Indian pharmacy worker and she meets an African American guitar player at a open mic with metal rings in his mouth who calls himself the anti-Christ but goes by the name of Basterd. He lives on the edge of the cemetery in a shack filled with all kinds of recording equipment.  Together they become the rap group PBNJ and set to record a demo. Amidst the constant, debilitating rejection and negativity, she fights to escape the Jersey suburbs. Great story. Outstanding performances. ****

Permanent is about a very strange family in the 1980s. Their junior high daughter decides she wants hair like Farrah Fawcett and talks her mother (Patricia Arquette) into a perm. Her mother takes her to a beauty school where they overperm her head and she ends up with wild kinky curls. The previews looked like it might be cute and clever, instead it was stupid and irritating. *

Please Stand By is about a young woman (Dakota Fanning) living in a group home who wants desperately to live with her sister but she had a difficult time functioning, gets confused often, noises bother her and she throws violent temper tantrums. She's a Star Trek fan and enters a script writing contest in order to win money that she feels would enable her to live with her sister without costing her money. When she has missed the mailing deadline, she heads to Los Angeles on a bus negotiating the road blocks and hurdles along the way. Toni Colette is her therapist. **

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women is about the creator of the comic Wonder Woman which is based on William Marston's psychological theories of dominance, influence, submission and compliance enacted through the polyamorous relationship between him, his wife and their student assistant. It was fascinating seeing how Wonder Woman and all her sexual domination over men came to be. Great performances. Loved the 1920s - 1940s wardrobe. ***

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is about a lawyer (Denzel Washington) who has been the hidden backbone of a two-partner law firm. His partner has a heart attack and his estate along with the firm is left to the niece to close using her uncle's former law student (Colin Farrell). She makes it clear Roman is unsuited to continue the work.  I think he is either autistic or has Asberger's Syndrome. He is unkept, dresses in old suits, listens to 1970s music and constantly relives his 1970's activist days sporting an Afro hairstyle. He tends to blurt out just what he's thinking and doesn't seem to comprehend the body language of others. Although he has a photographic memory and astute knowledge of the law, his interpersonal relationship style makes him a shitty lawyer which is why he was relegated to the backroom for the past 26 years. It was a sad, depressing movie. Washington was brilliant although truthfully it was a little unsettling seeing him 50 lbs. heavier, looking like a homeless guy stuck in the 1970s, and acting like he was cognitively impaired. I was never sure if Colin Farrell was a good guy or an extremely sleazy guy. Excellent soundtrack. ***

Same Kind of Different Than Me is about rich people volunteering at a homeless shelter. It was a little mushy. Lots of A-list actors, but the dialogue was a little staged. *

Submission is about a college literature professor (Stanley Tucci) who wrote one good novel and now has a serious case of writer's block due to his mundane, lifeless existence. One of his students is writing her own novel and asks him to read it. It's an X-rated narrative about a high school girl who has an affair with her science teacher. The young woman acts insecure, but clingy, needing his advice and approval constantly, hanging outside his office waiting for him, calling him at home. Are men really that stupid not to see the manipulation, how she setting him up to use and blackmail him? It's so pathetic to see how weak and stupid he is not to see what she's doing and she gives all women a bad name. Is it any wonder women who report bad behaving men are rarely taken seriously? **

Thank You For Your Service is about veterans who come back from the war with PTSD, get absolutely no help from veteran's services, and have to negotiate life while contemplating suicide all the time. It was very sad and frustrating. Great story, excellent performances with Miles Teller as the main character. ****

We Are X Oh, good god where have I been? It amazes me how much I don't know about the rest of the world. This is a documentary film on the androgynous-looking elaborately-costumed with a foot tall spiked pink hair, Japanese heavy metal band X Japan who has been around since 1977!!!???  They are internationally well-known...although clearly not that well-known in my part of the world! Yoshiki, is an incredibly high-energy, head-banging drummer, with huge celebrity, super-hero-type following in Japan. He is a classically trained pianist, writes all the group's songs, plays a number of instruments and is the designated band leader. He has made everything happen. The film addresses his background and family including his father's traumatic suicide when he was ten years old. Most his songs have to do with that pain which is why they resonate with so many. Outstanding vocals from the lead singer who at one point was brainwashed by a cult who talked him into quitting and causing the band to break up. Shortly after the breakup, their guitarist committed suicide although I don't think it was suicide agreeing with other people in the film based on the information they gave. Another guitarist, former band member, also committed suicide after he was arrested. It was an incredibly compelling history and now forty years later, they are still performing to huge international audiences with a devoted following. What shocks me is how young Yoshiki looks! Skinny rockstar, no wrinkles, long hair...He's 52 years old now and doesn't look a day older than 25!. How does that happen? I'm jealous. The film included a lot of footage on the steroid shots he takes because of the pain in his wrists, elbows, and shoulders from overuse (drumming and piano playing) and he wears a neck brace due to neck injuries from head banging action, but it all somehow adds to his rock-star mystique. The fact he looks immortal helps. They wear face masks too, but I don't know if it's because of air pollution, a fashion statement, or vocal protection. It wasn't addressed. I know this is really popular in Japan, and with MCS I was curious. Great movie. I love it when fans cry when they meet him. LOL. *****

The Wedding Plan is an Israeli movie about a Jewish woman who has been looking for a husband for twelve years. She's about to get married and as they are sitting with the wedding planner's sampling dishes for the wedding, she asks him why he has become distant, they argue, then he finally confesses he doesn't love her. She gets back on the wagon and through a matchmaker starts looking for another suitable candidate, but she's so depressed and exhausted by the frustration and disappointment she turns them all off with her negativity. In the meantime she has booked the wedding hall and plans to get married in 22 days trusting God will find her the perfect man in time. At one point she goes to visit some rabbi's tomb and cries about how unworthy she is. A man on the other side of the gender partition starts asking her if she's alright and if she needs anything, what her name is. Again as with all men she shuns him and tells him to go away. He meets her outside...GORGEOUS, CHARMING, totally mesmerized by her and the chemistry between them in undeniable. Come to find out he's a rock star. Really! But she starts spouting off her crazy-ass wedding plan and tells him clearly their relationship would be unrealistic because she's looking for the real thing with a religious spouse and kids and homemaker responsibilities. Good god, I wanted to slap her! She continues being negative and depressed, turning off and away suitable men. It was so fucking weird, but these orthodox religious beliefs are so weird they are often unbelievable. I can't imagine the stress of being an extremely orthodox Jewish woman who feels she must get married but is so picky it never happens. The wedding song lyrics are so bizarre! Weird ending. It says on the DVD cover it's a comedy, but I thought it was depressing as hell. **

Wilson starts off hilarious with LOL moments. It's about Wilson (Woody Harrelson) who is contemplating life and how when we are young we are full of possibility, but then the older we get the more we realize it's all bull shit. Wilson has realized his life has no meaning and with the advent of computer technology, we've lost all connection to other human beings. He goes through his day trying to make connections, sitting next to strangers in cafes, on buses, on trains, people who are staring at their phones or laptops or plugged into earphones. And he has absolutely no filter saying whatever he wants. After his father dies, he realizes he has no one. He decides to try dating (Margo Martindale...who I always love) and then reminisces about his drug-addicted ex-wife from long ago. He finds out she didn't have that abortion eighteen years ago and they have a daughter who the wife gave up for adoption. They find the daughter, stalk her, whisk her away for a weekend, until her adopted parents charge him with kidnapping. That's where the movie got a little bizarre, silly and convoluted. Prior to that it was asking some really great questions about life. ***

Wind River is about a young Native American woman who is found frozen in the snow far from civilization on the Wind River Reservation by a Fish and Wildlife Ranger who is a professional tracker. The FBI is called in and together they set about solving her rape and murder. It was excellent and addressed violence against Native American women that goes ignored. ****