Sinners

In the midst of the great depression  identical twins Elijah "Smoke" and Elias "Stack" Moore, (Both played by Michael B Jordan) return from Chicago to Clarksdale Mississippi with their ill gotten money to open a juke joint, recruiting their younger cousin Sammie the son of a preacher and a  guitar playing prodigy, along with other localist fill out the band. On the joint’s packed opening night, Sammie, Delta Slim, and Pearline – a singer with whom Sammie becomes enamored – perform on stage. Sammie's music is transcendent, unknowingly summoning spirits of performers both past and future to join the crowd. Here the film transitions from a blues biopic into a vampire blood fest with all the traditional accoutrements. As amongst the people attracted by the performance is Remmick and his Irish band of vampires, who offer money and their own raggedy music in exchange for entry. A suspicious Smoke refuses, realizing that the intruding vampires have to be invited in before they can turn the uninfected patrons. Mayhem and confusion ensue, with the time tested battles between good and evil. (Guess who wins). At the very end Buddy Guy makes a cameo appearance, giving the film some authentic gravitas.

An odd but effecting mixture on genres.  High production values and acting by the entire cast, but especially by Jordan will prevent you from fast forwarding through any of the scenes.

425 fangs

One Battle after Another

If social unrest, doomed left wing insurgent groups, military government crackdowns, a psychotic army colonel,  a stoned single father, battling a rebellious teenage daughter, and an elderly cabal of white supremacists.  Is your idea of entertainment and not too close to the world we actually live in this film could be just what the doctor (or psychiatrist) ordered.

The product of gifted director Paul Thomas Anderson this somehow a worthy but exhausting gloomy film.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Pat Calhoun who along with his partner Perfidia Beverly Hills played by Tanaya Taylor play the two leads and lovers in said left wing revolutionary group. From there the plot gets super complicated. There are as suggested in the intro many conflicting groups all jockeying for supremacy. Apart from DiCaprio, the star attraction in a hilariously intense standout portrayal from Sean Penn as the deranged colonel Steven J Lockjaw. Always on the trail of the baddies at the same time trying to erase his own mortal sins. A fun musical this is not, but I did watch until the end to see some version of redemption but you really have to look hard. 236 stars  

 Last Tango In Paris.

It’s hard to remember what the world was like 54years ago when this groundbreaking film was first released. How many boundaries and taboos that seem today so mundane and ordinary were broken. 

From the title sequence featuring paintings by Frances Bacon this was destined to be an unprecedented film, the eighth film in an already remarkable career for 31 year old Bernardo Bertolucci, who went on to direct many other notable films.  The story of an older man who as they are both serendipitously viewing a vacant Paris apartment, almost immidiately begins torrid affair with a woman (Maria Schneider) young enough to be his daughter in a vain attempt to blot out his grief after the suicide of his unfaithful wife. While initially trying to base their relationship on anonymous sex he eventually falls in love with her just as she is falling out of love with him. In the leading role it was the last time Marlon Brando did any serious acting. 

Maria Schneider as his sexual plaything is initially perplexed by his advances, transitioning into enamorment of this lonely man before realizing that her true love is with her age appropriate film director boyfriend. 

At the time the explicit sexual depictions were the most controversial aspects of the film, although Brando’s acting raw and convincing was also a draw. This is a handmade product of a bygone era but there are still many startling  scenes of acting and cinematography which hold up as much today as when they were first shot. 454 stars

 

Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die.

Completely brilliant on EVERY level. A cinematic and directorial tour de force. An Oscar and Golden Globe worthy performance by 

Sam Rockwell.  Haley Lu Richardson amongst a terrific cast  giving a good female portrayal as the indestructible side kick  Genius director Gore Verbinski, backed with the equally brilliant writing of Mathew Robinson sets news of the coming apocalypse at Norms diner in LA.   The messenger is the mesmerizingly goofy Sam Rockwell on his 117th attempt to recruit a team to help him with his mission. Announcing to stunned patrons a specific combination of which will help him succeed, but as he doesn't know which combination is correct, to help him change the outcome and save (At least 50% of the world's population). Their ultimate mission is to find a nine-year-old boy who is about to create an AI that will take over the world, they do not want to stop the process, but merely introduce a security protocol that will secure the AI. 

More scientifically inventive than 2001,  More thrilling than Towering Inferno. As funny as blazing saddles. And with romance of on par with You’e got Mail. The time traveling plot is dizzying in its inventiveness and keeps you guessing until the very last frame. (Do they still have frames?)   12000 stars

                                                                                                       

Sentimental Value..

This is a story of family estrangement trauma and possible redemption. 

In this predictably gloomy yet  completely engrossing Norwegian drama renowned but now declining film director Gustave Borg played by Stellan Skarsgard tries to reconnect with his two estranged daughters. Nora an actress played by Renata  Reinsve who steals the film with her riveting portrayal and Agnes a historian played by Inge Ibstotter. 

His new and perhaps final project taking place in what was their family home based on the life and suicide of his mother. (The gloomy Norwegian part)  He tries as a way of a possible reconciliation to get Nora to perform in the lead role. Initially refusing because of their fraught past he hires an America actress (Ellie Fanning) to take on the part.

Director Joachim Trier (no relation to Lars von) has crafted a somewhat overly long intense thoughtful, detailed portrait of a complicated (aren’t they all?) family dynamic. 

Well worth your attention 426 stars

The Phoenician Scheme

With this latest tale Wes Anderson firmly retains his crown as a  preeminent  director who has consistently created his own unique cinematic world. In this mostly hilariously convoluted story in which none of the numerous eminent cast ever cracks a smile, Anderson creates (as usual) an unlikely, (is there such a thing in his cinematic world?)  With his customary stunning attention to detail, unique set design, color palette and odd structure, he is here in full song.  Set in the 1950’s this tale of industrialist and financier Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda, a ruthless yet charismatic business tycoon, expertly played by Benicia del Toro narrowly survives an assassination attempt. While unconscious, he enters the afterlife, where a divine court judges his worthiness to enter Heaven. Knowing he cannot run from assassins forever, Korda tries to mend his testy relationship with his only daughter, Catholic novice  Sister Liesl, startlingly played by Mia Threapleton, trying to get her to quit the church and take over his business. Governments around the world band together to stop Korda's unethical business practices. This is only slight sketch of the plot  which becomes more and more dizzyingly convoluted, giving the many members of what is becoming his repertory cast including:  Michael Cera, Tom Hanks,Bryan Cranston,Richard Ayoade, Jefferey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbach, Hope Davis,Bill Murray, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe and F. Murray Abraham, plenty of rapid fire rotating appearances  with many funny asides. It is once again a breathless endeavor that Anderson has brought to life which might require more than one viewing to absorb.     658 stars

If I had Legs I’d Kick You.

A relentlessly depressing film that I could not look away from. 

Rose Byrne in a rivetingly eloquent performance single handedly carries this tale of a mother nearly drowning in a series of mishaps. Byrne playing Linda a therapist caring for a daughter with an eating disorder requiring a peg  tube which must be replenished every night while struggling to manage a series of other mishaps including the collapse of the ceiling in her apartment which floods the house forcing her to move with her daughter into a seedy motel while she tries to get the landlord to repair the damage. (With no success). Her absent husband has nothing to offer other than criticisms over the phone of how she is coping with these crises. On top of this barrage she has to deal with her array of clients with their own problems who further burden her adding to the mounting impossibility of her position. Seeking council from a fellow therapist, played by Conan O’Brien. His initial apparent indifference to her plight  soon turns into exasperation after she inadvertently crosses professional boundaries and he drops her as a patient. The clinic monitoring her daughter as well as Lindas increasingly desperate behavior is putting additional pressure on her that if certain weight gain targets are not met, additional custodial options would have to be considered. The way that Byrne expresses the mounting impossibility of her plight is a thing to behold… remarkable. 

Her performance already garnering awards from the Berlin Film festival Written and unflinchingly directed by Mary Bronstein. 

Harrowing but you cannot look away. 648 Stars