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Reviews
Don't Look Up (2021)
This Is Us!
What an inspired take on what could happen here if another asteroid - or comet - was about to hit Earth.
We would be as dumb as the dinosaurs, but in a completely tech savvy way. Thought it was laugh-out-loud brilliant.
Hillbilly Elegy (2020)
Brilliant adaptation of the memoir
J.D. Vance unspools a complicated family history in his memoir and many of the episodes were so over-the-top crazy, it's obvious that there was a bounty of dramatic material. The film deftly weaves together these generational stories, past and present, into a powerful narrative of faith, love, and redemption - with a whole lot of enabling going on as well. In his book, Vance does an in-depth analysis of the history and mentality of the Hill People, his people. He talks about their good qualities (fierce loyalty to family) and their negative characteristics (the violent destruction of their families wrought by bad life choices.) In the film, we see how the plague of early pregnancies, dropping out of school, low expectations, and, especially, substance abuse, undermines the fate of individuals and their communities. And those who spout "white privilege" sure aren't talking about these folks, who share many of the same problems as inner-city minorities.
The film itself is masterfully done, but would we expect less of a Ron Howard production starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams? The rest of the cast is also first-rate. An important American story well-told.
The Little Stranger (2018)
Are the malevolent spirits dead or alive?
The film is superficially faithful to the book, but so much of the depth of feeling is missing. And inexplicably gone is the charm, humor, graciousness, and allure of the manipulative Ayers family, especially Caroline. Can't understand why their film characterizations are so one-note and dour. However, the most ambiguous and haunting aspect of the book and the film is the ending. Did he or didn't he?
Bully. Coward. Victim: The Story of Roy Cohn (2019)
Propaganda, Inc.
Director/Producer Ivy Meeropol uses her documentary for a dual purpose. First, she presents Roy Cohn as the most horrible human being imaginable - a ruthless, dishonest shyster/fixer, tax evader, deadbeat, thief, and closet gay. She then makes the argument that he used false evidence in the trial that led to the conviction and execution of the notorious spies for the USRR, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - who happen to be Ms. Meeropol's paternal grandparents.
While the film doesn't go as far as proclaiming that the Rosenbergs were innocent of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Russians, she is arguing that they were unjustly convicted.
Her second purpose, making her documentary oh so timely and contemporary, is to link the demonized Cohn to Donald J. Trump with every bit of archival footage and photos that her researchers turned up. She gives the impression that Cohn mentored Trump and did him and his family many political favors. The message is clear: Roy Cohn and Donald Trump are birds of a feather.
But, wait - actually, Donald Trump is worse than Cohn, because after everything Roy had done for him, Trump abandons him when he is disbarred and dying of AIDS!
In terms of filmmaking, the documentary is a jumble of bits and pieces from an army of frenemies, enemies, and acquaintances until they all begin to feel like repetitive filler. And although we are treated to many clips of the man himself, he proves an elusive quarry.
Messiah (2020)
A Muslim, a Jew, a Christian and a Magician walk into a bar...
Trite t.v. drama masquerading as a deep mystery but coming off as pretentious mumbo jumbo. All of the main characters are unappealing and few of the many, boring subplots make any sense. For example, small-town preacher, alcoholic wife, and epileptic daughter actually have a father who is the biggest televangelist in the country. Huh? The "Messiah" character talks a lot but says nothing that made sense. Shades of Chauncey Gardner? He walks on water - but then we find out he was raised by a magician. But then he resurrects the dead - oh never mind.
The Irishman (2019)
The long good-bye
By the time we got to the wood chipper spewing out body bits, I had my metaphor for The Irishman - it was as if Scorsese had taken Goodfellas, Casino, Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and The Sopranos, put them all into an industrial sized shredder, and concocted this bloody blob of a film.
Long gone are the young Vito Corleone and Michael Corleone of Godfather II, (and the much ballyhooed "de-aging" effect doesn't bring them back.) But they are replaced by an Al Pacino who morphed into John Turturro and a Robert De Niro who has deteriorated into a sad parody of his former self. Who would have thought that Joe Pesci would be the shining star of this acting troika, but he has the one decent performance in this dreadful picture.
I didn't read the book the film is based on but the script is terrible. One example of many is Frank Sheeran's (De Niro in the title role) daughter character, played by Anna Paquin as an adult. She seems to be the only one of the four daughters and two wives who suspects that daddy may be a monster. Although she has hardly any lines, we can tell she hates him by the many repetitive scenes of her giving Frank death-ray stares. And it makes this cold-blooded killer feel really bad (calling Tony and Meadow Soprano! But at least Meadow had dialogue, a personality, and a nuanced relationship with her father.)
And speaking of dialogue, the various conversations between De Niro and Pacino (Jimmy Hoffa) and/or Pesci (a gangster whose name I've already forgotten) are beyond absurd in the nonsensical, elliptical way they speak as they keep putting out hits on their rivals.
While I'm passing out the raspberries, Robbie Robertson's musical score seems like it was written for another film entirely. But at least they used In the Still of the Night a couple of times and don't miss the short bit of Steve Van Zandt playing Jerry Vale singing Al di La in the mandatory night club scene.
And perhaps the final insult is that after three and a half hours of this mess, Frankie, we hardly knew ye.
Joker (2019)
Anatomy of a loser
This is a masterwork character study of the depths to which one might sink to through narcissistic grievance-mongering. If you are jealous, envious, rely on pills to make you happy but are still filled with hatred and resentments, you have the makings of Joker simmering inside you.
Director, Todd Phillips and star, Joaquin Phoenix, should win Oscars.
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
Action galore
Fast-paced action adventure thriller with massive destruction and lots of laughs. Loved the spitfire editing. Wonder if the editors went home with migraines as bad as Secret Service Agent Manning. Nick Nolte role an added bonus. Also the Russian Collusion hoax plot-point is very timely.