Category Archives: Rated R

It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us, the new film adapted from Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best selling novel, is a cautionary tale. For some, it may even be instructive.

The “it” in the title is the cycle of spousal abuse which sometimes continues through generations. The movie does have many light moments and some semi-steamy romance but there’s also a dark undercurrent. 

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) is a thirtysomething Bostonian who returns home to Maine after her father’s death. At his funeral when she is asked to say a few words about him, she has nothing. Why? It is soon revealed that her father was physically abusive to her mom.

Lily meets Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) a Boston surgeon and a slowly simmering romance ensues. Lily gets signs that Ryle has a temper. In fact the first thing she sees him do is kick a chair in anger. 

Lily opens a flower shop and her first employee Allyssa (Jenny Slate) just happens to be Ryle’s sister who shares insight into her brother’s behavior.

Meanwhile, Lily’s old boyfriend from her hometown Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) reappears in her life when she and Ryle dine in his (Atlas’s) new restaurant. When Lily shows up later at Atlas’s joint with a bit of a shiner, the result of an overreaction by Ryle to a kitchen disaster, Atlas confronts Ryle. When Ryle later discovers that Atlas has given her his phone number in case of trouble, he gets upset again.

Lily has flashbacks to life back in Maine and the tension in her household. She also recalls her early times with Atlas. Young Lily (Isabela Ferrer) and young Atlas (Alex Neustaedter) also experience her dad’s volatile temper.

It Ends With Us maintains a simmering level of tension from start to finish. Lily’s mom tells her daughter that she loved her husband despite his abuse. Lily offers Ryle forgiveness for his transgressions. But how far will that go? What role will Atlas play in her encounters with him now that they are both adults? 

Blake Lively carries the film in a role that has her portrayal of Lily cover a spectrum of character types ranging from a sexy babe to a hustling business owner to an assertive woman who takes control of her life. She’s good!

Coleen Hoover has said that the story is based on the relationship of her mother and father. And that it was hard for her to write. Its success has spawned a sequel book and helped make Hoover a fan favorite.

A best-selling novel that generates a lot conversation should deliver a built-in audience for the film version. But since more people see movies than read books, the word-of-mouth opinions from early movie goers will determine if It Ends With Us has legs. I’m guessing it will. 

Rated R. Directed by the guy who plays Ryle, Justin Baldoni.

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American Fiction

American Fiction is a brilliant film about racial hypocrisy and the people—both white and black—who exploit it. Be ready to laugh. Some of the satire is over the top but much of it is not that far from reality.

American Fiction is also a story about a family in transition… a family that happens to be black. They are dealing with death, divorce, dementia, economic concerns, new romance, promiscuity, etc. Things that many families confront. Be ready to cry.

American Fiction has a talented cast, led by Jeffrey Wright as writer/teacher Thelonius “Monk” Ellison. Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown are his siblings. Leslie Uggams is his mother. Erika Alexander is his new girlfriend. Issa Rae is a Sintara Golden, a writer whose work elicits a strong response from Monk. Wright is nominated for a Golden Globe and a possible Oscar nomination may be still to come for Wright (and for other cast members, too). Be ready to applaud.

After being placed on leave from his university teaching position for offending a student’s sensibilities, Monk returns home to Boston to visit his family. He attends a conference where he observes Golden’s “authentic” black voice being hailed by a mostly white audience. He responds by anonymously writing a ridiculous book about his imagined experiences as a beaten-down black man. The book becomes a critical and financial hit and wins a big award.

Meanwhile, Monk finds new love with beach house neighbor Coraline (Erika Alexander) and addresses his mother’s descent into dementia. 

Cord Jefferson, who wrote the script and directed, could be an Oscar nominee for best adapted screenplay. He would be a long shot to get a director nod from the Academy. Not just because he is a first-time director but also because competition in that category is strong this awards season. In case you’re wondering, Jefferson is a mixed-race man. 

American Fiction is a likely nominee for Best Picture. It is a film that entertains and may trigger a response or two you were not expecting. Does the film have a “message?” That depends, I think, on your own life experiences.

In one of the film’s scenes, Monk goes into a book store and sees his previously written books included in the black authors section. He tells the store clerk that his books are not “black” books per se and should be included in the general inventory. Similarly, I would suggest that, while some may see this as a “black” movie since it has a mostly black cast, American Fiction is not just for black audiences. It’s for everybody.

 It is clever and different. American Fiction is a must-see! (Rated R.)

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The Holdovers

The Holdovers is funny. AND it has loads of genuine humanity. Once the film’s situation is set up, you’re likely to guess how things might turn out. But getting there is, as they say, half the fun. Go see this movie!

Paul Hunham, the main character in The Holdovers, is a person I (and, presumably, you as well) would not like in real life. But because this unlikable schlub is played by the great Paul Giamatti, well, you figure from the outset that he might have some redeeming values.

He’s a teacher at a residential private boys school in New England in 1970. He is not popular with his students nor with the school’s leadership. As the boys get ready for Christmas break he saddles them with homework. And when break begins, he’s the one faculty member tapped to supervise the few who are not headed home for the holidays. They are the holdovers.

Soon several of the young men are whisked away in a wealthy parent’s helicopter, leaving Hunham with just one student, the angsty Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) along with the school’s cook Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

The forced interactions between Hunham and Tully lead to a series of episodes on and off campus, some with other school staff and townies. Mary Lamb is mourning the recent loss of her son in Vietnam. Her interplay with the two men becomes a bigger part of the story than is signaled early on.

Through their time in close quarters with one another, portions of their backstories are revealed, some with surprising details. Without tipping too much of the story line, there are risks taken by each of the three that bring about, um, interesting outcomes.

This performance ranks among Paul Giamatti’s best and he is an actor who has played numerous memorable roles. My wife and I enjoyed Randolph as a sassy police detective in Only Murders In The Building. And Sessa is a rookie in his first movie appearance!

The Holdovers is directed by Alexander Payne who also directed two of my favorite films, The Descendants and Nebraska. Sideways (also with Giamatti) and Election are also highlights of his resumé. The original screenplay is by David Hemingson. It is rated R for language.

(The film’s wintry setting has helped me get ready for some snowfall. And credit to all concerned for avoiding any anachronisms. It looks like 1970.)

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The Exorcist: Believer

The Exorcist: Believer is intense. You don’t have to actually believe in demonic possession to get a bit unnerved by the the film’s climax. And it’s not just the climax that makes The Exorcist: Believer a movie that merits your attention.

Director David Gordon Green bakes in tension from the film’s opening image of two dogs fighting, to the depiction of the 2010 Haitian earthquake, to a neighbor yelling about garbage cans, to siblings arguing on the way to school, to two girls making a questionable after school choice. 

From a setting of apparent domestic bliss enjoyed by Angela (Lidya Jewett) and her single dad Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.), this young girl and her friend Katherine (Olivia O’Neill) step into misfortune when they walk home from school through a wooded area. They are discovered three days later, cowering in a horse stall on a farm. When they are brought to a hospital, the real trouble begins.

While the girls are missing, Victor has less than pleasant dealings with Katherine’s parents Miranda (Jennifer Nettles) and Tony (Norbert Leo Butz), who make their strong Christian beliefs known immediately. In short order, it becomes obvious that something terrible has affected the girls. 

In the film’s second act, nurse Ann (Ann Dowd) reveals to Victor that Angela somehow knew that the woman was once on track to become a nun but had her dream derailed when she became pregnant. 

Victor tracks down Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) who had written a book about demonic possession. She, of course, is the mom from the 1973 film The Exorcist. She offers hope to Victor, tells him she doesn’t know where her daughter Regan is, and she comes to Katherine’s home to see if she can provide in-person help.

Victor prepares his home for the exorcism. The girls are strapped in. Their parents stand by apprehensively. A Catholic priest is recruited but says the diocese recommends psychiatric help for the girls instead. When he bows out, Ann takes over. Also on hand are Katherine’s Baptist pastor (Raphael Sbarge), a voodoo type healer (Okwui Okpokwasili) and a Pentecostal pastor (Danny McCarthy). 

This team effort produces a frightening mixture of fury and sound with smoke and flames and screams and images and general tumult. The effect IS unnerving. 

This film is said to be a direct sequel to that 50-years-ago movie that gave audience members adverse reactions, with many leaving the theaters and throwing up.

In the half century since William Friedkin’s massive hit, filmgoers have been exposed to lots of horrible things on movie screens. Which means the new Exorcist film does not have the immensely shocking impact of its predecessor. But it does generate an emotional response. 

Hats off to the two young girls for whom these roles had to be challenging. Will their performances affect their future lives? TBD. Ann Dowd’s work in this film is impressive. And how cool to see Ellen Burstyn who was approaching her 90th birthday when she filmed her scenes!

The Exorcist: Believer is rated R.

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Dumb Money

This is a real movie! One might be forgiven for figuring a film starring the likes of Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen etc. with a title like Dumb Money to be a silly trifle. Yes, it has some laughs but this movie has a story, told well.

The title is a term supposedly used by big time hedge fund traders to refer to small time individual stock traders. The hedge fund folks trade in such huge volume that their influence is massive. In 2020 and 2021, a movement led by a nerdy guy in suburban Boston pushed up the price of Gamestop stock. 

Keith Gill (Paul Dano) AKA Roaring Kitty is that guy. The film also focuses on fictional folks who get into the market, mainly via the Robinhood app, and ride with Gill to keep buying Gamestop stock. Among the actors portraying those citizen stock traders are America Ferrara as a hardworking early Covid era nurse and Anthony Ramos as a clerk in a Gamestop store.

The hedge fund guys figure to make money by shorting the Gamestop stock, betting that it will crash. Real life money men, shown living in luxurious surroundings, are Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio looking quite different from how you’ve seen him before).

Davidson is Keith Gill, Kevin’s brother. He has my favorite line in the movie—sorry for spoiling—when he tells his parents, “Doordash IS a real job. I’m a first responder!” 

Also in the cast are Shailene Woodley as Kevin’s wife and Sebastian Stan as Vlad Tenev, one of the co-founders of Robinhood. (Robinhood gets a considerable amount of credit/blame for the volatility of Gamestop stock. The fictional traders become upset when the app shuts down trading in a credit crunch.)

Director Craig Gillespie punctuates Dumb Money with internet meme videos and TV news clips—some genuine, others cleverly constructed. The film moves quickly with segments that jump between scenarios to an energetic hip-hop soundtrack. 

Dumb Money begs comparison with the 2015 film The Big Short which told the story of people who made money while many Americans suffered financial losses—many even lost their homes! during the housing crisis of the late aughts. Dumb Money actually does a better job of relating what happened during these more recent events than The Big Short did telling what happened in this century’s first decade. The Big Short has many memorable scenes and a stunning cast but did not detail the big picture, admittedly complicated, as clearly as it should have. The script for Dumb Money is by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo from the non-fiction book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich. 

Among the film’s executive producers are the Winklevoss twins, made famous in the 2010 film The Social Network. Dumb Money is rated R. No nudity but lots of language. 

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The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Horror films tend to fall into two main categories: cheesy and over the top or lower key and brooding. The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is of the latter variety. Creepy, yes, with peril lurking but revealing itself gradually. The film takes itself seriously—no winking at the audience.

The title is a bit of a spoiler. The onscreen text at the film’s opening is more of a spoiler. But, even if you know the ultimate outcome—as with Titanic or Apollo 13—the journey and its challenges and surprises provide the cruxes of the tale. 

The story, adapted from a chapter of Bram Stoker’s book Dracula, has hints of trouble from the loading of cargo onto the Demeter at an Aegean port. A wooden box with a curious logo falls and is about to hit young Toby (Woody Norman) when Clemens (Cory Hawkins) saves the kid from certain death. When another would-be crew member bails, Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) adds Clemens to the ship’s crew.

As the Demeter prepares to embark on its voyage to London, Toby (and dog Huckleberry) gives Clemons a tour of the lower section including the livestock pens and the cargo hold. The ship looks great in the film, above and below deck. There’s cautious camaraderie among the sailors. First mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian) is a bit severe. Cook Joseph (Jon Jon Briones) is quite religious. 

Liam Cunningham who was Davos Seaworth in Game Of Thrones, seems to channel Sean Connery a bit in his portrayal of Captain Eliot. (Although Connery was Scottish and Cunningham is Irish.)

In short order, bad things start to happen. Among them, the discovery of a stowaway (Aisling Franciosi). A woman on board is considered bad luck by the crew. Clemons, a med school graduate, helps nurse her out of unconsciousness. She provides clues as to the source evil presence aboard the ship. The livestock is attacked and killed.

Director André Øvredal reveals small glimpses of Dracula which become more complete leading up the film’s climax. Each of the crew members has a confrontation with Drac. The outcomes are not good, some worse than others. 

Without tipping too much in this review, the final scene of the film is, to a certain extent, satisfying. 

The script by Bragi F. Schut and Zak Olkewicz was in so-called “development Hell” for nearly twenty years, per Wikipedia. A round of applause for those Hollywood folks who actually got this movie made!

Interesting credit on the film’s end scroll… for “Covid Marshalls.” The film was shot in 2021, shortly after we all got our first two vaccine shots. You did get your shots, right? 

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Oppenheimer

It’s too early to pencil in Oscar winners’ names but it’s easy to imagine Oppenheimer pulling down a few next March. Starting with Christopher Nolan who wrote and directed this epic film. Is it his best film to date? Maybe. Among his top three, for sure.

Two weird trends this summer: baseball games have gotten shorter and movies have gotten longer. Oppenheimer is a three hour movie but screenwriter Nolan delivers huge amounts of narrative in those 180 minutes. And director Nolan maintains a fierce pace with multiple time jumps to tell that story. A clever device he employs is purposeful shifts between color and black-and-white sequences.

What about Cillian Murphy as Robert Oppenheimer? He’s been great in smaller movie roles and in the TV series Peaky Blinders. Although Murphy’s is not a household name, Nolan made a wise choice in giving Murphy the mantle of carrying this film. Not unlike the way the U.S. Army’s Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) chooses Oppenheimer to run the Manhattan Project despite the physicist’s baggage. 

Part of that baggage is his alcoholic wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) who is a Communist. As is Robert’s brother Frank (Dylan Arnold). A needy lover, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh), also has red connections. Is Oppenheimer himself a Communist sympathizer? He contributed to revolutionaries in Spain. He tried to organize a faculty union at Cal. But his work as a physicist makes him the right man to head the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos.

The role of Lewis Strauss includes some of the best Oscar-bait dialogue since Jack Nicholson took the trophy with his “you can’t handle the truth” speech in A Few Good Men (which took Best Picture in 1992.) Robert Downey Jr. is up to the task of portraying a complex individual who is less well-known than the film’s title character. 

Much of Strauss’s screen time revolves around hearings for his nomination to be U.S. Commerce Secretary during Ike’s second term. He also recruited Oppenheimer at Princeton and later was head of the Atomic Energy Commission. 

Jason Clarke as AEC attorney Roger Robb has another role that  allows for some scenery chewing. His confrontations with Oppenheimer and others during an inquiry into Oppenheimer’s fitness for continued security clearance are forceful and direct.

Among the films large cast, players include Kenneth Branagh, Alden Ehrenreich, James D’Arcy, Matthew Modine, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Dean DeHaan and Rami Malek. Tom Conti appears as Albert Einstein and Gary Oldman portrays Harry Truman.

Sound plays a major role in Oppenheimer. The dynamic range between ear-splitting loudness and calming silence is finessed beautifully by Nolan and the film’s sound crew. Expect a few awards nods to the craftspersons who make the movie sound good. Ludwig Goransson’s music provides momentum and adds to the intensity of numerous scenes. 

Because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and saber rattling by both the U.S. and Russia, Oppenheimer is not just entertainment but also a timely movie. Although the film is a dramatization of real events, there’s a foundation of truth here that provides useful information for all Americans, especially younger citizens. 

Twenty-first century perspectives have revised our views of much of our nation’s history including our participation in wars. The paradox of the atom bomb’s being a good thing (ending hostilities with Japan) and a horrible thing (killing thousands of civilians) is one that has been and will be constantly examined. Oppenheimer is now part of that discussion. 

The movie is likely to make Cillian Murphy a genuine star for his strong performance. If you’re going to be onscreen for that much of a movie, you’d better be good. He is. Will he receive awards consideration? Bet on it.

Oppenheimer will bring fresh individual accolades to Nolan and Downey, among others. And the film itself is a likely Best Picture nominee. It is, as they say, a MAJOR motion picture!

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No Hard Feelings

No Hard Feelings is a fun movie. The best thing it has going for it is Jennifer Lawrence. She’s a great actress. She has charisma. And she’s funny.

Maddie (Lawrence) is a bartender who is also an Uber driver in Montauk, Long Island. She gets her car towed for failing to pay her rapidly growing property taxes. Hard to be an Uber driver without a car. 

A friend shows her a Craigslist ad posted by a wealthy couple who want to hire someone to initiate their sheltered teenage son into the ways of sex before he heads off to college. The couple (Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti) offer Maddie an old Buick if she’ll introduce Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) to her womanly charms. But she, of course, cannot let him know that she is working for mom and dad.

Even though she’s a bit older than what the parents are looking for, she agrees to give it a shot. There’s some irony in the fact that the influx of rich folks (like Percy’s folks) has pushed up the property taxes for longtime locals like Maddie who is trying to hang on to the home her mother left her.

Not only is Lawrence terrific in the movie, so is Feldman as the nerdy neophyte. She first encounters him at the pet rescue place where he works. Her pretense is that she wants to adopt a dog. As he takes down her information, she flirts shamelessly. When they meet at a bar, he’s super nervous and surprised that Long Island Ice Tea is a boozy blend.

Among the film’s key scenes is a nocturnal trip to a closed beach for skinny dipping. When a trio of locals tries to make off with their clothes, Maddie rushes out of the water to fight them off and reclaim her and Percy’s duds. Yes, there’s graphic nudity. But it’s more funny than sexy. (It appears that the naked hardbody is Lawrence’s and not a body double but in these days of amazing post production technique, who knows?) In any case, the scene has already generated significant conversation.

Another key scene has Maddie chasing down Percy a party full of recent high grads at a mansion.  She’s stunned when she opens upstairs bedroom doors in the home only to find the teens… looking at their phones.

So do Maddie and Percy ever actually hook up? Well… Let’s just say the film has a happy ending for pretty much all concerned.

Jennifer Lawrence is not exactly America’s Sweetheart like Julia Roberts was for a few years there, but she has a likability and good looks and talent that have made her a favorite. At age 32 she has compiled a resumé that includes Hunger Games and X-Men films plus three excellent performances for director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and Joy). So almost any Jennifer Lawrence movie is one that you should take notice of. The fact that No Hard Feelings is a solid, entertaining production makes it even more worthy of your attention.

Rated R. Directed by Gene Stupnitsky.

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David Crosby: Remember My Name

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David Crosby has lived a charmed life. Born with singing talent and a baby face (which he disguised with abundant facial hair), he was part of two legendary rock groups and has enjoyed success as a solo performer.

The new documentary film David Crosby: Remember My Name examines his career and his life and reveals flaws and shortcomings along with fame and fortune.

Crosby was a member of the Byrds, the band for whom the term “folk/rock” was coined in the 60s. He later joined Stephen Stills and Graham Nash to form Crosby, Stills and Nash. (They soon added Neil Young to the group.)

Unlike much of the media coverage of Crosby in the last decade or two, the film does not overemphasize his health challenges. Yes, it does mention them and he and his wife Jan both acknowledge that he’s getting on in years, but the film reveals Crosby to be alive and feisty as ever.

With fewer talking head shots than are often seen in similar films, DC:RMN presents the expected archival images of Crosby’s milestones along with recent performance footage that demonstrates he can still sing.

Crosby himself has a good deal of on-camera face time, sharing memories. And opinions. Praise for Joni Mitchell. Dislike for Jim Morrison. Awareness of reasons why his former bandmates don’t speak to him.

Roger McGuinn tells why David Crosby was kicked out of the Byrds. Graham Nash gives his take on his recent sour relationship with Crosby. Photographer Henry Diltz talks about his recollections and takes some new pics of Crosby.

A memorable segment shows Crosby examining a large photo of the 1970 Kent State shootings and suggesting that he provided key impetus for Neil Young and the band to write and record the song Ohio.

David Crosby: Remember My Name will entertain and inform baby boomers. But will younger viewers care? I think yes, based on the success of recent rock-oriented films (dramatic and documentary).

Current media reminiscences of the Woodstock festival may also generate some interest in Crosby and others who enjoyed their greatest acclaim in the 60s and 70s. No, it’s not a coincidence that the film is being released on the 50th anniversary of that iconic event of modern pop culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

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Quentin Tarantino delivers one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen in a long time with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Speaking of long times, the film runs 2:45 but is worth almost every minute of it.

SPOILER ALERT! There are NO SPOILERS in this review. But beware of social media content, word-of-mouth and even unscrupulous reviewers who might tell too much about this buzzworthy movie.

Los Angeles, 1969. Or, as iconic radio station 93/KHJ calls it, Boss Angeles. The city looks great as classic cars tuned to AM radios playing classic pop tunes drive down boulevards with theater marquees touting late-60s movies.

Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a TV/movie star whose career is at a turning point. Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) is his stuntman and buddy. Leo is terrific. Brad is also at his charming best. Both actors benefit from being gifted with great roles and story lines from QT.

Dalton has a gorgeous home in the hills above Benedict Canyon. Booth lives in a trailer in the valley. The home just above Dalton’s is rented by Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha).

In February 1969, Hollywood dealmaker Marvin Schwarzs (Al Pacino) suggests to Dalton that he go to Italy and make movies there that could reignite his fading star. He does. The film then skips ahead to August 1969 when Dalton returns to LA for the film’s climax.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood contains scene after scene that bring true movie fan pleasure. Cliff’s fight with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh). Rick’s conversation with child actor Trudi (Julia Butters). Sharon’s watching herself on screen with a movie house audience. The clips from Rick’s TV show Bounty Law and his movies. A party at the Playboy Mansion where Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis) explains the relationship between Tate, Polanski and Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch).

Other performances in the film that merit mention: Kurt Russell as stuntman Randy (he’s also the film’s narrator), Margaret Qualley as hippie chick and Manson family member Pussycat, Nicholas Hammond as Sam Wanamaker and Dakota Fanning as Squeaky Fromme.

Gotta love the soundtrack! Treat Her Right by Roy Head, Good Thing by Paul Revere and the Raiders, Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show by Neil Diamond, Snoopy Versus The Red Baron by the Royal Guardsmen, Hush by Deep Purple, Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man by Bob Seger, among many others.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is an absolute treat that should not be missed. Thank you, QT. Thank you, Leo.

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