Movie Review The Darkest Hour

The Darkest Hour (2017) 

Directed by Joe Wright 

Written by Anthony McCarten 

Starring Gary Oldman, Kristen Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, Ben Mendelsohn 

Release Date November 22nd, 2017 

With the release of the movie Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman, there has been a new reckoning with the legacy of Sir Winston Churchill, one that has brought to light some of Churchill’s more horrific qualities. On his podcast Revisionist History, journalist Malcolm Gladwell reflected on Churchill with specific criticisms about the legendary Prime Minister’s policies toward India, policies that many feel were driven by Churchill’s Hitler-like disdain for the Indian people. Then there was the policy of strategic bombing in Germany which may have actually extended the war by two more years even as Churchill is recalled as that war’s great, heroic leader.

There is also talk of Churchill’s treatment of black people and women, none of it flattering. These revelations have cast a pall over the legacy of one of largest and most vaunted figures of the 20th Century. Thus, the release of a movie which chooses to focus on making the Prime Minister's legacy more suitably entertaining, it’s natural to cast a side eye at such a movie. Or one may be driven to madness trying to balance the notion that Darkest Hour is a very good film but one which aims its greatness at a figure who may not be so great, or at the very least, not worthy of such historic hagiography.

May 1940

Darkest Hour stars the inimitable Gary Oldman in the role of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The story picks up in May of 1940 in first days in which Mr. Churchill inherited the office of Prime Minister from the deposed Neville Chamberlain. Churchill was no one’s first choice, a suspicion confirmed by King Edward (Ben Mendelsohn) early in the film when he asks why Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane), his choice for Prime Minister, had passed on the job.

Churchill is the only candidate that both parties in Parliament will accept as a war time Prime Minister, despite what the King describes as a litany of military failures dating back to World War 1. Even with Churchill being offered and accepting the position, it’s barely a day before backbiting and jockeying for position to replace him begins, all the while Europe is falling quickly as German Panzer tanks decimate Holland and Belgium and begin an assault on France that will eventually lead to the beaches of Dunkirk and England’s "finest hour."

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Movie Review Downsizing

Downsizing (2017) 

Directed by Alexander Payne 

Written by Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor 

Starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig 

Release Date December 22nd, 2017 

The soulful Alexander Payne has ventured into new territory with his part sci-fi, part romance, Downsizing. Starring Matt Damon, Downsizing tells the story of Paul Safranek, a Midwestern schlub dealing with the daily grind of a job he doesn’t love, a home he can’t afford, and a wife, Audrey, who may or may not love him, played by Kristen Wiig. Paul’s typical Midwestern domesticity is upended by the discovery of Downsizing which gives humanity the chance to shrink to about 5 inches tall and help save the environment by consuming less.

Paul and his wife are not immediate adapters to Downsizing. In fact, the process of Downsizing is nearly a decade old when Paul decides that he is interested in the process. Paul is particularly intrigued when he’s told by a friend played by Jason Sudeikis, that downsizing means living like a millionaire on the salary of a middle class nobody. Paul and his wife’s savings turn into millions of dollars in assets if they choose to downsize.

Where the film goes from there is a real trip. Paul undergoes the procedure and is set to live out his life at 5 inches tall. Audrey pulls out at the last possible moment and Paul is left to fend for himself in this strange new world called Leisureland. Losing half his mini fortune in the divorce (I have no insight as to why Kristen Wiig was cast for such a small role), Paul is forced to take on another job he doesn’t like and begins dating another woman he doesn’t particularly like and seems content to live the same life he lived at regular size.

Thankfully, Paul’s neighbor Dusan, played with charm by two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, has other plans for his new best friend. At a party at his neighbors' home Paul drops acid and has his first trip. Then in the aftermath he meets Ngoc Lan (Hong Chau) and the two become friends. At the behest of Ngoc Lan, Paul begins following his long ago dream of being a doctor, he was a physical therapist before Downsizing, treating those who may or may not have willingly downsized, a relatively minor but intriguing plot point.

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Movie Review Princess Cyd

Princess Cyd (2017) 

Directed by Stephen Cone

Written by Stephen Cone 

Starring Rebecca Spence, Jesse Pinnick, Ro White 

Release Date November 3rd, 2017 

Princess Cyd is a movie that may make you uncomfortable, but it will also charm you and make you laugh. The film is a frank discussion of a teenage girl discovering her sexuality and for many, me included, this is not an easily digestible subject. That said, Princess Cyd happens to be a remarkably sensitive, smart and funny coming of age story with fully realized and charming characters. It’s a film that reminds us all how important it is to talk about and explore topics we may find awkward or uncomfortable.

Cyd (Jesse Pinnick) is a 16-year-old girl who loves soccer and is perhaps a little too eager to start the adult portion of her life. When she is offered the chance to get away from her often-depressed father and stay with her Aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) in Chicago for several weeks she jumps at it. Miranda doesn’t know what she’s getting herself into. That’s not to say that Cyd is some bad girl troublemaker, but being middle-aged and childless, Miranda may not be ready for the challenge of a 16-year-old girl.

For her part, Miranda is a successful bestselling author who finds her love and fulfillment in her books and her many friendships. She’s happy to take Cyd on for a few weeks but when Cyd starts to challenge her life choices, things begin to get uncomfortable. Here, a lesser movie would set the stage for dramatic confrontations, big teary, showy arguments and some sort of dramatic falling out that leads to some stock reunion over string laden score. Thankfully, Princess Cyd is not that movie.

Written and directed by rising filmmaker Stephen Cone, Princess Cyd sets Cyd and Miranda at odds and then uses sensitivity, listening and understanding to carry the way toward a resolution. That may not sound exciting but when you’ve grown used to big, giant emotions in mainstream Hollywood movies, it’s nice to watch smart, sensitive characters work through their issues by having an intelligent and emotional conversation.

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Movie Review The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon

The Rift Dark Side of the Moon (2017) 

Directed by Dejan Zecevic 

Written by Barry Keating, Milan Konjevic 

Starring Ken Foree, Katarina Kas, Monte Markham, Dragan Micanovic

Release Date December 10th, 2017 

The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon is a strange little low-budget sci-fi horror movie that has no business being as fun as it is. This American-Serbian production from director Dejan Zecevic is well paced, fun and quite creepy. Movies like The Rift are a nice reminder that low-budget sci-fi horror is still being made and can still be quite fun despite our pop cultural prejudice in favor of big budgets, big studios and big movie stars.

The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon stars Katrina Kas as Liz, an American sleeper agent in Belgrade. Liz has been inactive for two years following the death of her son when she is asked to return to the field. The agency, the CIA, has asked Liz to accompany Agent Smith (Ken Foree) to the site of a crashed American satellite outside a small village in Serbia. Joining the mission are a Serbian secret agent named Darko (Dragan Micanovic) and an American scientist and former Astronaut named Dysart (Monte Markham).

Once the team arrives at what they are told is the location of the satellite they find themselves being shot at. A local family has apparently discovered the satellite and is holding it. Darko is shot and thought dead attempting to enter the family’s tiny farmhouse but things are not all that they appear. There is a young boy who appears on the verge of death, you might call him zombie-like. His parents are eventually shot by Liz and Agent Smith in self-defense but are they really dead?

Most importantly, where is the satellite and why is there a man in a full spacesuit in the family basement? The answer, I promise you, is so much fun, but I will leave you to discover that by seeing The Rift: Dark Side of the Moon for yourself.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review The Disaster Artist

The Disaster Artist (2017) 

Directed by James Franco

Written by Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber 

Starring James Franco, Dave Franco, Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, Ari Graynor, Josh Hutcherson 

Release Date December 1st, 2017 

Pathos—a quality that evokes pity or sadness.

Pathos seemed to be the defining characteristic of Tommy Wiseau’s abysmal debut feature The Room. The film evoked pathos because it was quite pitiably terrible in every fashion. The film was/is complete and utter nonsense from beginning to end with the witless Wiseau creating a star vehicle for himself despite his complete lack of talent and then directing the whole mess despite his complete lack experience and talent.

Something strange has happened over the years with The Room. No, it hasn’t somehow miraculously improved with time. Rather, it remains terrible, but not pitiable. The film has become a genuine and quite unexpected hit. Fans, yes, real fans, have emerged not to defend the quality of the film but to defend the remarkable experience they’ve had in discovering the film. People quite unabashedly love The Room and by extension its bizarre creator.

Enter The Disaster Artist, a new comic take on the creation of this once pathos-laden effort. The Disaster Artist does not seek to mock the pathos of The Room and Tommy Wiseau but rather, to get to the heart of the genuine side of the appreciation of this once pitiable effort. The Disaster Artist succeeds by reveling in the genuine success enjoyed by the film since it was so poorly crafted and somehow slunk into our collective pop culture in 2002.

The Disaster Artist stars James Franco as Tommy Wiseau. Franco’s Wiseau is a fearless weirdo, probably because he doesn’t’ realize other people find him weird. He has what looks to be a stiff wig of long black hair, an inexplicable accent that he refuses to acknowledge and is deeply paranoid of anyone asking about his life and especially his age. He goes so far as to warn his new friend, Greg Sestero (Dave Franco) to never speak of him in public, never talk about where his money comes from and never acknowledge the enigma that is Tommy Wiseau.

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Movie Review Love Beats Rhymes

Love Beats Rhymes (2017) 

Directed by Rza 

Written by Nicole Jeffeson-Asher 

Starring A'zealia Banks, John David Washington, Jill Scott, Lucien Laviscount 

Release Date December 1st, 2017 

Love Beats Rhymes is the kind of movie that just doesn’t get made enough. This is a sweet, sensitive, and smart movie about a young, ambitious black woman who decides that she can have all that she wants, school, career, a good man, and that all it takes is a little hard work and desire. I wish more movies had the courage to tell young women that you don’t have to compromise all the time and that you can demand all that you want and work toward getting it.

Love Beats Rhymes stars Azealia Banks as Coco, a rapper with a crew that performs at rap battles in New York City. You might immediately put her in a box as if you already know who she is but you would be wrong. Coco isn’t just a talented rapper. She’s also a college student several credits away from graduating with a degree in accounting, all while she pursues a record deal. Most movies force drama by making characters choose one or the other. It’s refreshing to see a movie character, especially a young black woman, a far too rare lead character, allowed to be so ambitious.

As I said, Coco only needs a few more credits for her degree and when a friend tells her that Poetry 101 is an easy grade, she jumps at the chance, assuming that, as a hip hop artist, poetry will be a breeze. Coco finds herself challenged immediately by her professor, Nefari Dixon (Jill Scott), who has a low opinion of hip hop, especially in relation to poetry, which she puts on a high pedestal. Coco also clashes with Professor Dixon’s teaching assistant, Derek (Lucien Laviscount), who shares the Professor’s disdain for hip hop.

Naturally, Coco and Derek’s antagonism is cover for their mutual attraction and soon enough, nasty words give way to loving coos and their relationship comes under the scrutiny of the jealous professor, jealous of someone taking her handsome TA and of the talent of Coco who, when she finally discovers real poetry, takes to it with talent and passion. The love triangle aspect of Love Beats Rhymes is a rather forced cliché intended to inject drama late in the third act, in a very Robert McKee fashion, but the rest of Love Beats Rhymes is so winning I can forgive a few overly familiar moments.

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Movie Review I, Tonya

I, Tonya (2017) 

Directed by Craig Gillespie 

Written by Steven Rogers 

Starring Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Julianne Nicholson, Allison Janney 

Release Date December 8th, 2017 

It’s hard to pin down director Craig Gillespie. On one hand, he directed the wonderfully warm and quirky Lars and the Real Girl in 2007 but also directed the awful, unfunny "comedy" Mr. Woodcock that same year. Gillespie has since directed the remarkably dull sports flick Million Dollar Arm, the forgettable and unnecessary horror remake Fright Night and the wildly underrated and too quickly forgotten The Finest Hours. So, is Gillespie a great director or a hack? Is he an auteur or a Hollywood carpenter, cobbling together studio products?

Gillespie’s latest effort, the sports-bio-pic, I, Tonya doesn’t necessarily answer these questions. On the one hand, the film is quite entertaining with a rock star lead performance by Margot Robbie and an Academy Award level supporting performance by Allison Janney. On the other hand, the editing is often muddled as to who is recalling what portion of the story via the faux-documentary structure of the film and the tone is rather dissonant, inviting laughs one moment while asking to be taken seriously in others, especially those related to domestic violence.

I, Tonya tells the story of the life of the infamous figure skater Tonya Harding (Robbie). Tonya grew up with an abusive mother, Lavona (Janney) and a mostly absent father who taught Tonya how to hunt deer with precision and then ran away so as not to be destroyed by Tonya’s mother. As awful and abusive as Lavona Harding was, she instilled a toughness in her daughter that would become her hallmark as she rose through the ranks of American Figure Skating.

Tonya was thrown into the remarkably competitive and cutthroat world of competitive figure skating at just three years old, according to this story anyway. By the time she was five years old, Tonya had won her first competition against girls much older than her and by her teen years she was in high level competitions with the goal of making it to the Olympics. All the while Tonya faced down her abusive mother and a stuffy, unwelcoming figure skating world that seemed to have no place for someone as outlandish as Tonya, preferring the demure, classical music style competitors over Tonya’s less cultured, rock n’roll, power, and strength style.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) 

Directed by Martin McDonagh

Written by Martin McDonagh

Starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, Peter Dinklage 

Release Date November 10th, 2017 

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri stars Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, a mother whose daughter was brutally raped and murdered. The crime has not been solved after eight months and a frustrated Mildred is at her wit's end when she sees three empty billboards on a lonely street side outside of the town of Ebbing. Hoping to light a fire under the local Chief of Police, Jim Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), Mildred books all three billboards with a message directed at the chief.

It’s not long before Chief Willoughby is at Mildred’s door and a series of events unfolds that you will not be able to predict. Everyone from the Chief’s loyal deputy, Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) to the billboard owner Red (Caleb Landry Jones) to everyday folks like James (Peter Dinklage), who has a crush on Mildred, gets drawn into the ensuing chaos. Some, like Dixon, are the cause of the chaos. Others, like Red and James along with Mildred’s son Robbie (Lucas Hedges), get swept up in the story.

Written and directed by Martin Mcdonaugh, director of the remarkable In Bruges and the middling Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is lacking in McDonough’s usual biting wit but is nevertheless infused with the same angry energy of his previous films. Mcdonaugh is a writer-director fascinated by injustice, righteous anger, and the destructive power of guilt and those themes are dominant and well-explored in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Frances McDormand is a force of nature. Her grief-stricken performance in Three Billboards could not possibly be more effective. Mildred’s grief comes from being a mother but also from a deep well of guilt, especially over the shocking final words she shared with her daughter Angela (Kathryn Newton), seen in a powerful flashback scene. Mildred wants the police to go to all lengths to catch her daughter’s killer and McDormand gives us the tragic sense that revenge may be all the feeling she has left.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review The Man Who Invented Christmas

The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) 

Directed by Bharat Nalluri 

Written by Susan Coynne 

Starring Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce 

Release Date November 22nd, 2017 

The Man Who Invented Christmas is a remarkably dull movie. Regardless of the good intentions and the good ideas at the heart of the film, the story and specifically the character of Charles Dickens, never get going. The story about how Charles Dickens came to write A Christmas Carol likely wasn’t all that dramatic; most writing isn’t particularly dramatic, in and of itself. But where The Man Who Invented Christmas fails is in finding some aspect of Dickens that was interestingly dramatic while he wrote his masterpiece. Instead, we have an almost insufferable lead character on a predictable journey toward a well-known outcome.

The Man Who Invented Christmas stars Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens. Having published three flops in a row, Dickens is facing financial ruin if his next book isn’t a hit. An encounter with a miser at a reading of one of his more popular works leads Dickens to the creation of Ebenezer Scrooge who, in the universe of Dickens’ mind, comes to life in the form of a sad, angry, and acerbic old man (Christopher Plummer). Scrooge interacts with his creator, and this is to be the processes through which we watch Dickens form his classic.

The gimmick is cute at times and Plummer is by far the best thing in the movie, but there isn’t much else to The Man Who Invented Christmas beyond this gimmick. More of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol characters come to life, but they occasionally vanish, as well, when he gets distracted by his real-life problems, which include an unexpected visit from his goodhearted but freeloading parents, Jonathan Pryce and Ger Ryan.

Stevens’ performance as Dickens is fidgety and not particularly charismatic. He whines and moans and worries about losing everything and ending up in a workhouse like the one he was left in briefly as a child. He’s occasionally bitter, but otherwise is your average workaday nice guy who happens to beautifully string words together into stories when the mood strikes him. The Man Who Invented Christmas portrays the creation of A Christmas Carol as a particularly painful bit of creative work, but since we know he doesn’t fail, there doesn’t appear to be much at stake.

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Movie Review Coco

Coco (2017)  

Directed by Lee Unkrich 

Written by Adrian Molina, Matthew Aldrich 

Starring Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach 

Release Date November 22nd, 2017 

It’s hard for me to look at a Pixar movie as just another movie. The computer animation company has built such a remarkable run of quality work that it feels like something more than just a string of hit cartoons. Pixar movies combine heart, humor, pathos and great art unlike any other company on the planet. Toy Story, Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and the like aren’t just any other kids movie, they are highly regarded works of art.

So it pains me to report that Pixar’s latest effort Coco is just another animated movie. Don’t misunderstand, it’s better than your average animated movie and certainly aspires toward the works of art that came before it in the Pixar canon, it just comes up a little short of the Pixar standard. With a pat story and flat characters, Coco has some lovely moments but never soars the way Pixar classics have soared before. Yes, I’m complaining because Coco is great but not brilliant.

Coco stars the voice of Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel, the curious son of a family that has banned music from their hearts and homes for decades. Too bad for Miguel then that he was born with an undying song in his heart. When he isn’t shining shoes for his family shoe business, Miguel is dreaming in music and longing for the moment he can take up a guitar and play for an excited audience. His chance arrives during a celebration of the Dia De los Muertes, the Day of the Dead, a legendary celebration when it is believed the spirits of the dead can, for one night, return to the world of the living.

A competition is to be held for musicians in the town square and all Miguel needs is a guitar so that he may jump on stage and celebrate his love of music. Unfortunately, before he can head for the square, his secret is uncovered by his imperious grandmother who winds up destroying his guitar. It seems that the family has been banned from listening to or playing music since Miguel’s great-great grandfather left behind his wife and daughter, Miguel's great grandmother, Coco, to play music in nightclubs.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review The Square

The Square (2017) 

Directed by Ruben Ostlund

Written by Ruben Ostlund 

Starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary

Release Date November 23rd, 2017 

The Square, the 2017 winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s highest honor, the Palme D’or, is a provocative and strange film. At times, the film defies description in its oddity and yet its points and purposes regarding political correctness as an excuse for the rich to ignore the poor are relatively obvious and on the nose. Directed by Ruben Ostlund, whose Force Majeure was far more interestingly provocative than The Square, the film has beautiful cinematography and a handful of the most interesting scenes in any movie in 2017.

Christian (Claes Bang) is the curator of a famed museum in Stockholm that specializes in Avant Garde performance art. The museum has recently received a very, very generous donation all the while the streets of Stockholm are teeming with the homeless and the helpless. Surely this type of money could be used for something better than a museum where the lead attraction appears to be an installation of piles of orderly gravel.

The new exhibit that this donation will help fund is another Avant Garde piece titled The Square. The Square is a lighted geometric square located in front of the museum. It is accompanied by a plaque indicating that "The Square" is a place of understanding and equality, to paraphrase the high-end pretension. Christian now must find a way to market the installation and the museum board has turned to a pair of millennial artists who have a unique viral campaign in mind.

That would be enough of a plot and metaphor for some movies but it’s not enough for Ostlund, who prefers to tell his story by putting the handsome and successful Christian through the ringer. When we meet Christian, he is walking to work when a young woman comes screaming out of the distance. The woman claims a man is chasing her and threatening her life. However, when Christian and another man stop to defend the poor, frightened woman, Christian winds up getting pickpocketed, and his seeming good deed proves to be the first of many indignities to befall our hero.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal

Movie Review Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) 

Directed by Paul McGuigan

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Walters, Stephen Graham

Release Date November 16th, 2017

I fell in love with Gloria Grahame, as so many movie fans did, in her pitch perfect performance in In a Lonely Place, one of my all-time favorite films. Grahame plays one of those self-possessed, take-no-crap dames that always seemed to play opposite Bogart. He loved strong women, breaking down their defenses was what made him a screen icon, and them the envy of women everywhere. Grahame stood out, however, as she allowed herself just a little more vulnerability than the others, a note of extra sadness to go with the sass.

Gloria Grahame was rushed out of Hollywood before we truly got to know her. Her crime? Growing older and refusing to play along with Hollywood executives eager to capitalize on her beauty without respecting her talent. Screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce recalled in a piece he wrote about the movie Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, how Grahame lost the iconic role of a gangster’s moll turned lady in Born Yesterday when she refused to ride alone in a limo with producer Howard Hughes. That’s Gloria Grahame in a nutshell, beautiful and uncompromising.

Annette Bening stars as Gloria Grahame in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool and she nails the beautiful and uncompromising parts of Gloria Grahame while also exploring that vulnerability and sadness that marked the Grahame I remember from In a Lonely Place. Jamie Bell co-stars in the film as Peter Turner, an aspiring Liverpool stage actor who lived in the same rundown tenement building as Grahame while she starred in one of the few stage productions in the world that would have her.

The two met and forged a relationship that might seem icky from the outside, a May-December romance that one might assume was about an older woman’s desire and a young man’s egotistical notion of ladder climbing. That’s not this story. That’s not this couple. In the hands of director Paul McGuigan and writer Matt Greenhalgh, there appears to be little age difference at all, but rather a meeting of twin spirits, genuinely excited to find one another.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Roman J. Israel Esq

Roman J. Israel Esq. (2017) 

Directed by Dan Gilroy 

Written by Dan Gilroy 

Starring Denzel Washington, Carmen Ejogo, Colin Farrell 

Release Date November 17th, 2017 

There is just something off about Roman J. Israel Esq. The pieces are all there for a good movie but something intangible is lacking. That is strange considering we are talking about a Denzel Washington movie that is part character piece and part legal thriller. These commercial and artistic elements should work well together, especially considering that Denzel Washington is one of our finest actors, but it just doesn’t come together as I am assuming it was intended.

Roman J. Israel Esq. is a lawyer in Los Angeles who doesn’t try cases. Roman has worked with his friend Carter Johnson (Amari Cheatom) for decades, having come up together as both students and civil rights activists. Their dynamic seemed perfectly suited to Roman; he was the man behind the scenes, the savant who has memorized the legal code, and Carter was the charismatic attorney better able to articulate the law in front of a judge and jury.

Together, Roman and Jackson defended the small timers, the people being rushed through a corrupt system intended to fill privatized prisons by corrupt prosecutors burnishing their win loss records for future private practice opportunities. Roman would be too disgusted and incapable to manage among such people. So, naturally, that is where the story of the movie, written and directed by Dan Gilroy, intends to send poor Roman: into the system he loathes.

When Carter has a heart attack, Roman finds himself first having to go to court, something he is ill-suited for. Then, when the practice is set to be shuttered by Carter’s family following his death, Roman is further unmoored, forced to accept a job with one of Carter’s disciples, George Pierce (Colin Ferrell), a former idealist turned high-end defense attorney as concerned with marketing and bottom lines as he is with the guilt or innocence of his clients.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) 

Directed by Wes Ball 

Written by Josh Friedman 

Starring Owen Teague, Freya Allen, Kevin Durand, William H. Macy, Peter Macon 

Release Date May 10th, 2024 

Published May 10th, 2024

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a remarkable adventure. Smart, extraordinarily accomplished, and very entertaining. Directed by Wes Ball, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a layered and thorough adventure which uses the story of the Apes to reflect our modern culture. It's a statement movie that is easy to miss if you prefer just looking at Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as an action adventure and special effects extravaganza. The statement is a full-throated rebuke of fascism and the notion that any one person or ape should be allowed to become a dictator. 

It's also about how being a dictator can blind you to the truth. The character of Proximus Caesar has all of the tools to know that his desperate clinging to power and the piety with which he approaches his vision of ape superiority is going to be his downfall. Yes, you could argue that this merely mirrors the approach of Dr. Zaius in the original Planet of the Apes but this would require you to ignore the world we live in right now where we have a burgeoning movement of people who wouldn't mind installing a dictator who will rule with an iron fist, punish their enemies, and reward those who choose to be loyal to them. 

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague as Noa, a young ape looking to prove himself to his father, one of the elders and leaders of the Eagle Clan. Noa's clan is known for keeping Eagles who will hunt and gather fish to bring back to the clan. A rite of passage in the clan is for those coming of age to travel into the wild and find an Eagle egg to bring back to the clan. The egg will then be taken care of until hatched and then the Eagle is raised by that young person to be their Eagle. The opening action of the movie is a terrific set piece in which Noa and his closest friends, Soona (Linda Peckham) and Anaya (Travis Jeffery). It's a terrific sequence that establishes Noa as brave, resourceful and headstrong. 

The plot kicks in when members of a clan directed by Proximus (Kevin Durand) attack Noa's clan. Many apes are killed while most of the clan is captured and brought back to the Kingdom of Proximus to act as slaves aiding Proximus in retrieving a treasure trove of items that once belonged to man. In a twist on the original convention of the 1968 original Planet of the Apes, Proximus is aware of how Apes and man once lived together. He's aware of the plague that nearly wiped-out humanity, leaving the survivors mute. Most importantly, via his relationship with a human being who can speak, played by William H. Macy, Proximus knows that there are weapons in the vault he's found, and he wants them. 

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Lady Bird

Lady Bird (2017) 

Directed by Greta Gerwig 

Written by Greta Gerwig 

Starring Saorise Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Timothee Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lucas Hedges, Tracy Letts

Release Date November 3rd, 2017 

Lady Bird is a remarkably emotional experience, even if you’re not a teenage girl from Sacramento. Writer-director Greta Gerwig has, in her first directorial effort, relayed a masterpiece of the coming-of-age genre. Lady Bird is a wonderfully human, sympathetic, and smart movie, more in touch with real human emotion than most films of its kind. The film ranks next to my other favorite movie of 2017, The Big Sick, as that all too rare humane masterpiece.

Lady Bird, real name Christine, though she does loathe to be called that, Lady Bird is the name she chose for herself, is an iconoclast. At 17 years old, she has a strong sense of what she wants but not what to do with that information. What she wants is what so many 17-year-old girls wants, to be away from her mother. Don’t misunderstand; there is nothing particularly wrong with Lady Bird’s mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf), she just tries to make Lady Bird more realistic, and Lady Bird can’t have that.

Marion isn’t a perfect mother. She does criticize too much and is pushy in the way many moms are. She’s also recently the only significant income in her family of five, including her recently unemployed husband Larry (Tracy Letts), their son Miguel (Jordan Rodriguez), and Miguel’s live-in girlfriend Shelly (Marielle Scott). And, of course, Lady Bird who seems to have no concept of the limitations her family lives within, locked within her bubble of teenage self-involvement.

Boys have become a new focus of Lady Bird’s attention. Attending a Catholic all-girl school, she was rather sheltered until she found out about the school’s partnership with a nearby boy’s school to perform musicals. With her best friend Julia (the wonderful Beanie Feldstein), Lady Bird pursues acting, if only to indulge her theatrical nature and meets Danny (Lucas Hedges), a stand-out actor, up for the lead part. The teenage romance between Lady Bird and Danny is one of the most perfect presentations of first love that I have ever seen on screen, and I have seen a few teen romances in my time.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Thelma

Thelma (2017) 

Directed by Joachim Trier 

Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier 

Starring Elli Harboe, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Kaya Wilkins 

Release Date November 22nd, 2017 

Thelma is a fascinating and immersive supernatural drama that never fails to surprise. Director Joachim Trier, on his third feature following the remarkable duo of Reprise and Louder than Bombs, has crafted the most unlikely and unusual coming of age story that I have ever seen. Bristling with the awkward tension of newly discovered sexuality and a dangerous supernatural awakening, Thelma is among the most refreshing takes on the coming-of-age tale you could possibly imagine.

Thelma (Elli Harboe) is a sheltered teenager who has left home for the first time to attend college. Thelma’s over-protective parents, Trond (Henrik Rafaelson) and Unni (Ellen Dorrit Petersen), hover over every aspect of her life, calling nightly to ask about everything from classes to what she’s having for dinner. For the first few weeks of class Thelma is so tied to her phone by her parents’ calls that she fails to get out and learn to make friends.

Thankfully, that begins to change when Thelma meets Anya (Kaya Wilkins). Anya was in the college library when poor Thelma had what appeared to be an epileptic seizure. Anya cradled her head until the seizure passed, and paramedics arrived. Later, Thelma and Anya meet again at the school pool, and they make plans to hang out. Sheltered Thelma is excited to have made her first friend, so excited that she fails to see that Anya is thinking of her as potentially more than a friend.

As Thelma awakens to Anya’s feelings and begins to process her own feelings that she can hardly begin to understand from her cloistered religious upbringing, the film begins to take a dark turn. Thelma’s epileptic seizures, unbeknownst to her, have begun to affect the outside world, as if she were sending powerful psychic waves into the universe. As she seeks treatment for her seizures, Thelma begins to recover memories of her powers having a similar kinetic power when she was a child. This revelation leads to a shocking reveal.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Wonder

Wonder (2017) 

Directed by Stephen Chbosky 

Written by Stephen Chbosky, Steven Conrad, Jack Thome 

Starring Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Jacob Tremblay, Mandy Patinkin, Daveed Diggs 

Release Date November 17th, 2017 

Wonder is a real, well, wonder. Rarely do tear-jerkers work as well as what director Stephen Chbosky assembles here. Everything in Wonder seems set to be a clichéd way of sucking out tears. A child with a facial deformity, a pair of goodhearted parents, a sick dog, these are all elements that under the guidance of a lesser director, would be used to physically assault audiences in the search for tears. Stephen Chbosky is, quite thankfully, a terrific director and he employs these elements in the way a good director does.

Wonder stars the exceptional young Jacob Tremblay as Augie Pullman, a boy born with a facial deformity that caused him to go through several life-altering surgeries. Auggie is about to go to public school for the very first time on the insistence of his mother, Isabel (Julia Roberts). Isabel has home-schooled Auggie for the first years of his school life but at nearly 10 years old, she feels it’s time for him to be around other kids, to begin trying to find normalcy.

Auggie is enrolled in a private school run by Dr. Tushman (Mandy Patinkin) who has instructed several students to welcome Auggie and be his friend. Auggie is initially troubled but eventually earns a genuine friend in Jack (Noah Jupe), though not without the pitfalls of youthful struggle. The journey of Auggie toward a normal life at school would appear to be the focus of Wonder but director Stephen Chbosky, who shares screenplay credit with Jack Thorne and Stephen Conrad, smartly breaks up Auggie’s story with those of Auggie’s sister, Via (Izabel Vidovic), Via’s friend Miranda (Danielle Rose Russell), and Jack, each of whom is given the chance to give layers of much needed and welcome life and story to their characters.

The screenplay for Wonder is quite smart about not pushing Auggie’s story so much that it becomes cloying or pushy, and Tremblay does a wonderful job of giving Auggie a life we genuinely care about versus just relying on the facial deformity and a simpleminded face off with a villainous bully. Tremblay is a character beyond the face and the film is smart to let Tremblay explore the space of Auggie. Chbosky gives everyone in the cast weight and care, and the way their struggles underline Auggie’s struggling is exceptionally well-done by all involved.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal. 

Movie Review Angelica

Angelica (2017) 

Directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein 

Written by Mitchell Lichtenstein 

Starring Jena Malone, Janet McTeer, Tovah Feldshuh 

Release Date February 7th, 2015 

Angelica starring Jena Malone has had quite a struggle to get to the big screen. The film was completed and shown to festival audiences all the way back in 2015. Only now, however, is this Mitchell Lichtenstein-directed Victorian-era thriller starring Jena Malone finally making it to a release date. I have no insight as to what has held the film back from release, though the strange and ambitious story and daring sexuality may have had a role to play. Angelica is not a movie that mainstream marketers would love to be assigned.

Angelica tells the story of Constance, the mother of Angelica, both of whom are portrayed by Jena Malone in an apt, if slightly confusing choice. Constance is working in a small shop when she meets Dr. Joseph Bardon, or Bardoni, (Ed Stoppard) though he prefers to downplay his Italian roots. Bardon falls for Constance immediately and begins to court her and soon marry her. This being the Victorian age, Constance is a virgin at marriage and when the two have sex on their honeymoon it is a revelation for her.

This revelation unfortunately turns harrowing when Constance nearly dies giving birth to their first and only child, Angelica. Doctors, being quarrelsome, Victorian fools, inform Constance that due to the difficult pregnancy and birth that she can no longer have sex. This is nonsense, of course, but this being Victorian era England, it’s a common bit of a bad advice and it goes immediately to Constance’s head. As Constance denies her desires for her husband and begins spending nights curling up with Angelica to avoid him and sublimate her desires, something strange begins to take hold of the household.

As Angelica grows older and Constance continues to freeze out her husband on doctor’s orders, they practically call her a whore simply for wanting to sleep with her husband for pleasure. Constance begins to have visions of some sort of viral presence floating in the air near her daughter. This floating specter takes on several, almost corporeal forms and Constance feels them in a way that seems to reflect the desires of her husband and herself. Slowly, Constance convinces herself that her sexual desires are manifesting as an attack on her daughter, as if a demon were punishing her sexual desire by threatening the child.

Find my full length review in the Horror Community on Vocal 

Movie Review Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (2017) 

Directed by Peter Landesman

Written by Peter Landesman

Starring Liam Neeson, Diane Lane, Marton Csokas, Ike Barinholz, Tony Goldwyn 

Release Date September 29th, 2017 

It baffles me that any filmmaker could screw up making a movie about Mark Felt. How is it possible to fumble a subject so timely, important, historic, and filled with all of the great cinematic trappings. I’m left baffled by the movie Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. This Liam Neeson-starring drama should have been a slam dunk. This a subject that should be front and center in the day and age of a President who faces pressures that only Richard Nixon could truly relate to.

Mark Felt (Liam Neeson) is an FBI lifer, J. Edgar Hoover’s right hand. Felt is credited by some as being the man who restrained some of Hoover’s worst instincts in the director’s later years, or at least the film would have you believe that. When we meet Mark Felt in the titular movie about him, he is facing down Richard Nixon’s West Wing staff who’ve heard rumors that Hoover is ready to step aside. The implication of the conversation is that if Felt can show he will play ball with the White House, he will be the next FBI Director. When Felt demonstrates his loyalty to Hoover over Nixon, the die is cast.

When Hoover passes away, Felt and his team are thrown into a political maelstrom. L. Patrick Gray (Martin Csokas) is named interim director and being that he was just Nixon’s man in the Justice Department prior to this posting, Felt is aware of where Gray’s loyalties lie and what that means for the independence of the FBI. When Watergate hits, things only grow more harrowing and Felt, a man dedicated to keeping secrets, suddenly finds himself in the position of having to reveal them.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House has a story that is all teed up for the filmmakers. The story is rife with political intrigue and spy play on top of having a historic significance that could not ring more familiar and timelier. Unfortunately, writer-director Peter Landesman is just too clumsy to bring it together. Landesman’s writing and direction are all over the place, especially the script which is a shamble of expository dialogue and sloppy scene-setting.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal

Movie Review Mudbound

Mudbound (2017) 

Directed by Dee Rees 

Written by Dee Rees, Virgil Williams 

Starring Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige 

Release Date November 17th, 2017 

Is Hollywood finally being forced to grow up? On one hand, no, as the fact that Superhero movies still dominate our box office allows us all an escape hatch back to childish notions of good and evil. On the other hand however, a grown up conversation about race and racism has emerged as a significant narrative in Hollywood 2017 and it’s a conversation for grown-ups only. Get Out, Jordan Peele’s exceptional meta-horror movie, began the conversation with a spoonful of genre horror to help the medicine go down. Detroit, followed this past summer by serving up some recent true crime history.

Now, as the Academy Awards approach, Mudbound arrives as arguably the most serious and troubling movie about race of 2017. No one who sees Mudbound will be able to shake it. Dee Rees’ plodding, yet terribly visceral film works its way into the weary bones of the viewer and becomes part of you whether you want it or not. The picture of the ugly parts of southern racism is unshakable and the tragedy of the ending, though leavened by an upbeat finale, is burned into your memory.

Mudbound stars Jason Mitchell as Ronsel Jackson. Ronsel’s family works a small plot of land in the deepest part of Mississippi. Having had the land that was promised to them at the end of slavery taken from them by force, they’ve forged a land for themselves by their own sweat and determination. Rob Morgan plays Hap, Ronsel’s father and the local preacher. Mary J. Blige is Florence, Ronsel’s stalwart mother. When Ronsel hears of World War II on the radio, he decides to join the army, a decision that his mother can hardly bear, leaving him with her back turned and her eyes to God.

Parallel to the Jackson family story is that of the McAllan Family. Henry McAllan (Jason Clarke) was an engineer doing well for himself in Tennessee. When Henry met Laura (Carey Mulligan) there weren’t many sparks flying, but healthy respect was enough, given the times. The two are married and meet up with Henry’s dashing brother, Jamie (Garrett Hedlund) just as he is off to Europe to fly bombers in World War II. Jamie and Laura have an immediate connection, but neither are brazened enough to give it life.

Find my full length review in  the Geeks Community on Vocal