Mr. Harrigan's Phone

Movie Name: Mr. Harrigan's Phone
Year of Release: 2022
Director: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Donald Sutherland, Joe Tippett, Colin O'Brien, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Frank Ridley, Peggy J. Scott, Thomas Francis Murphy, Randy Kovitz, Cyrus Arnold, Thalia Torio, Conor William Wright, Alexa Niziak, Bennett Saltzman, Daniel Reece, Dale Duko, Gregory Jensen
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

Director John Lee Hancock, who most recently directed "The Little Things", is back with another Stephen King short story adaptation for Netflix (the streaming platform already has in their inventory Mike Flannagan's "Gerald's Game" and Vincenzo Natali's "In the Tall Grass"). This time around the narrative focuses on a young boy by the name of Craig. In 2003 he suffers the loss of his mother, which leaves his father quite shaken, though they both soldier on. At that time a retired billionaire who has moved to the small town where they live (2 hours outside of Boston), offers him a job which consists of reading to him three times a week, for which he'll get paid 5 dollars per session. He also gets a lottery scratch ticket every Christmas as an additional bonus. Craig keeps performing his assignment, and develops a friendship with Mr. Harrigan. 5 years go by and Craig has to change schools, as the small town where he lives doesn't have a high school. He becomes the target of a bully there, but manages to avoid trouble. He finally wins 3,000 dollars in one of the lottery tickets, and since his dad has bought him an iPhone, he decides to do the same for Mr. Harrigan. While initially resistant to the device, Mr. Harrigan succumbs to it, and Craig gives him a specific ringtone, so they can quickly recognize each other when they decide to call. Sadly Mr. Harrigan passes away, but he leaves Craig a sizable trust fund for him to go to college and start his professional career in screenwriting. While heartbroken over Mr. Harrigan's death, he still calls his phone, since he secretly placed the phone inside Mr. Harrigan's coffin. Much to his surprise, he starts receiving messages from Mr. Harrigan's phone.

"Mr. Harrigan's Phone" manages to successfully tell the story of Craig as he's growing up, particularly as he deals with the loss of one of his parents, and then of one his closest familiar presences in his life, Mr. Harrigan. John Lee Hancock slowly captures the habits these characters establish between each other, even if you gradually realize you never know much about the characters who surround Craig, including Mr. Harrigan himself, his father or even his friends and foes in high school. The narrative does allow for  Craig's journey to become more palpable, but as the deaths of those who wronged him escalate, and as the messages from an inexplicably active phone also mount, there's a sense of momentum that is crafted in the film to reveal the source of those dramatic occurrences, something that really never occurs (it's subtly hinted at of course). The problem with the film, aside from the rather thin characterization of most characters, is the fact that it ultimately promises more than it actually delivers. There's nothing wrong with being subtle with the narrative, and to John Lee Hancock's credit, he manages to create an enticing narrative where one accompanies the journey of the central character, until suddenly one realizes there isn't much more to it. The final chapter somewhat fizzles under the weight of some expectations that the narrative previously set in motion. The cast solidly brings these characters to life, particularly the always fantastic Donald Sutherland, who has great support from Jaeden Martell and Joe Tippett. The production team is equally solid, including John Schwartzman's cinematography, Javier Navarrete's score and production design by Michael Corenblith. Even if it's not memorable, it's nonetheless watchable.

Black Adam

Movie Name: Black Adam
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell, Marwan Kenzari, Bodhi Sabongui, Mohammed Amer, James Cusati-Moyer, Jalon Christian
Genre: Action, Adventure
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

The team of Dwayne Johnson and director Jaume Collet-Serra reunite, after working on the successful Disney feature, "Jungle Cruise". "Black Adam" is another comic book adaptation, this time hailing from DC comics, with a character which has been around since 1945, and one that originally started as a villain battling Shazam. The film takes place in the fictional Kahndaq, and we're originally introduced to a young slave boy who in 2600 BC is rebelling against the oppression of a tyrannical leader. He is given the powers of Shazam to fight that oppression and successfully defeats the ruling of Ahk-Ton. In the present day, Kahndaq is dealing with Intergang, a mercenary organization that has tentacles everywhere. Adrianna Tomaz is an archaeologist who is trying to discover the crown of Sabbac, and she is doing so with the help of her brother Karim, while also taking care of her young son Amon. When she retrieves the crown, Intergang quickly ambushes her and her team, forcing her to speak an incantation which awakens Teth-Adam, whom she believes was the original savior of Kahndaq. As he comes to her rescue in a rather brutal and unmerciful way, other entities become aware of his existence, including the Justice Society who is sent to bring him in. Their fight leads nowhere, until they realize why Intergang is looking for the crown, and they power she unleashes. Teth-Adam and the Justice Society have to unite efforts in order to solve that challenge.

The challenge with most comic book adaptations lies in making these features more than your standard formula with dazzling visual effects and actually populate these stories with dimensional characters that are more than just eye candy or a collection of catch phrases. "Black Adam" tries to break away from the formula by also introducing and placing front and center this anti-hero, who is not as selfless nor as humane as other more well known counterparts (such as Superman or Shazam for instance). However for all the narrative threads Jaume Collet-Serra sets in motion, Black Adam ultimately is very much an under-developed cypher, someone who even though has been awaken thousands of years later than when he was originally created, questions nothing, does not feel maladjusted, and seemingly understands this new context in which he operates pretty much automatically (including the language). The supporting characters all suffer a similar fate, in the sense that they're briefly introduced, before either becoming part of a generic background (including the typical young boy in peril and the family member who is the comic relief), or transitioning into being foes/future allies without much thought placed on why they're actually there or what their intentions/ambitions are (even the villain itself, is part of an underdeveloped narrative thread, and that digital character is also quickly dispatched). In the end the moral ambiguity that is suggested by the path of this central character, is never truly expanded upon, and all the supporting characters provide very little color to what is happening on screen. The cast also seems to be working across different productions, with Pierce Brosnan trying to bring some gravitas and depth to his character, whereas his more direct counterparts seem to be in a CW show. Dwayne Johnson also fails to bring something unique/different to this character. He has by now locked in the eternal look of what can be described as a mix of "I'm perpetually at the brink of destroying something/Everyone owes me money" with "This is all silly, and I'm about to wink at the camera", which for some can be considered "edgy" and "cool", but for the most part it just comes across as lazy and repetitive. The visual effects are also a mix bag, with some impressive scenes mixed with 3D renderings which are perplexingly bad. For all the noise this film seems to stage and capture, it's ultimately a not very convincing feature. 

Music with an Impact - 2022

If 2020 and 2021 were years where the heft of the pandemic and all that it brought forth, forced us all to confront fears and re-engineer our habits, 2022 was in a lot of ways, the letting go of an avalanche of ideas that were incubated during those years. And this year in particular such great music came out, from formidable artists I’ve grown to love such as Jacques Greene, to ones who have been staples during my entire life, such as Bjork. These are artists who keep expanding their own universe, simultaneously incorporating influences from other sources, while deconstructing them in such clever ways. So much to keep enjoying and discovering. Happy 2023 to you all.

Bjork - Fossora

Phoenix - Alpha Zulu

Tourist - Inside Out

Emeralds - Solar Bridge

Christopher Willits - Gravity

Jacques Greene - Fantasy

Panoram - Acrobatic Thoughts

Jenny Hval - Classic Objects

Perfume Genius - Ugly Season

The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention

The Soft Pink Truth - Is it going to get any deeper than this?

Lapalux - Amnioverse

More favorites that are not illustrated in the list above.

Mark Isham - The Hitcher OST

Marumari - Supermogadon

Brian Eno - Apollo

Jacques Greene - Feel Infinite & Feel Infinite Remixes

Darkstar - Civic Jams

Moonfall

Movie Name: Moonfall
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley, Charlie Plummer, Wenwen Yu, Michael Peña, Carolina Bartczak, Chris Sandiford, Jonathan Maxwell Silver, Eme Ikwuakor, Stephen Bogaert, Maxim Roy, Donald Sutherland, Kathleen Fee
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

Director Roland Emmerich is back, following his big historical blockbuster "Midway". This time around he's gone back to another science fiction disaster film, which made him originally popular to begin with with "Universal Soldier", "Stargate", "Independence Day" and more recently "2012". The narrative for this film focuses on the relationship between two main characters, Jo Fowler and Brian Harper, who started as astronauts, but following a mission gone awry go their separate ways. Years later as the Moon's orbit is veering closer to Earth, Jo who is now NASA's deputy director, sends out a shuttle to the moon to investigate what is happening. That expedition is cut short when the entity who sabotaged the earlier exploration does so again. As the Moon gets closer and closer to Earth, more and more natural disasters start occurring, and Jo is finally informed that Brian was actually discredited when he detailed and recounted his version of the events that took place in their first expedition. She is informed that there is indeed an artificial swarm that has sabotaged those expeditions, and that the Moon is indeed an artificial megastructure. As Earth's integrity gets more and more compromised, Jo, Brian and K.C. (a conspiracy theorist who is also a friend of Brian's), manage to board a shuttle towards the Moon, in order to deploy a massive EMP and hopefully stop the Moon on its tracks, before completing destroying the planet. What they find at the core of the Moon however is beyond everything they expected. 

Roland Emmerich has become a skilled filmmaker in crafting these disaster films that try to be a mix of family friction stories in the context of larger natural disaster themed topics, which invariably threaten to annihilate the entire human race. Typically the problem with his films lie in the fact that the characters and situations which surrounds these humane touch points, are somewhat contrived, and the characters themselves are fairly limited from a dimension and motivation standpoint. That is indeed the case again with "Moonfall", which squarely places Jo, Brian and K.C. in the center of the narrative, each one of them dealing with family drama of their own, something that they have to push aside, in order to salvage humanity from its demise. The interesting part to this scenario, is the fact that the Moon this time around is an artificial construct, and the mythology Emmerich and his co-writers/plotters put behind this premise is not without some interest. Sadly that mythology building aspect is very limited, and the threat from that Transformers-like entity is also never entirely sufficiently developed to make the film and the action itself more riveting. The same applies to the characters which populate the narrative. Nonetheless, the film is unpretentious, and much like Roland Emmerich's previous features, it entertains with an underrated cast (including the always great Patrick Wilson), and some impressive visual effects. The cinematography from Robby Baumgartner is solid, as is the score from Harald Kloser & Thomas Wanker and the production design from Kirk M. Petruccelli. It's forgettable and not the best example of Roland Emmerich's storytelling abilities, but not his worst endeavor (at least not yet). 

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

Movie Name: Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Alejandro G. Iñarritu
Starring: Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sánchez Solano, Luis Couturier, Luz Jiménez, Andrés Almeida, Clementina Guadarrama, Jay O. Sanders
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

Following the immensely successful back to back experiences of releasing "Birdman" and "The Revenant", director Alejandro G. Iñarritu took some time before releasing "Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths", or his version of something similar or inspired by Federico Fellini's "8 1/2". "Bardo" follows the narrative of Silverio Gama, a Mexican journalist who has become a celebrated documentary filmmaker who lives in Los Angeles, California. He is going back to Mexico to receive a prestigious award for journalism, but while he does so, he also struggles with feelings of loss he has experienced in his life, namely his first child who died shortly after being born. While in Mexico he also deals with some of the aftermath of the relationships he left behind, which includes those who celebrate him and those who resent his success. He also deals with the cultural heritage he is building with his children, the adult Camila and the teenage Lorenzo, who are somewhat torn between the culture they've grown up with (American) and the one their parents were born into and always described somewhat idyllically (Mexican). While celebrating his accomplishment and award, Silverio reminisces and reconciles with his late father, before also coming to terms with some of the historic atrocities which have happened in Mexico. As Silverio moves on and comes back to the US, his sense of belonging and guilt continues to haunt him. 

Not to wax poetic about the point of storytelling, but one of the most important aspects of that experience starts with the author, who clearly always has an intention of what he/she wants to communicate, and the receiver, the consumer of that message, who at times obviously understands the intention of the author, though he/she may interpret that narrative as something closer to their own perspective and experiences. All this to say, that while director Alejandro G. Iñarritu clearly has some lofty ambitions on what he wants to say with this film, and the journey his alter ego Silverio is going on, for the most part the film feels both self indulgent, and oddly under-cooked. As if the narrative itself was edified after the shooting had been done, and the tone and content of the film was figured out in the editing room. There are some great questions and ponderous themes in motion in this film, namely cultural heritage aspects, historical atrocities, how guilt shapes decisions, self-awareness issues, the weight of mortality, all topics that make for a heartfelt filmic experience, all of which are strangely absent or feel faintly observed. It's an unusually shallow film from a director who has always aimed at probing the pained humanity that lies in his characters. For all the flaws, guilt and happiness that are showcased to illustrate who Silverio is, nothing much ever comes across about what his ambitions were, what drives his choices, or even his interactions with everyone in his life. While the point of the journey we're taken on is uncovered towards the end of the film, it still doesn't add more meaning or for that matter, pertinence for what we're supposed to empathize about. It's a visually stunning film featuring the great cinematography from Darius Khondji, and the music from Bryce Dessner which is equally fantastic. The performances are equally solid, particularly the always stupendous Daniel Giménez Cacho (who was equally great in Pedro Almodovar's "La Mala Educacion"), but in the end this portrait of a torn artist, simply isn't as compelling and riveting as it should be. It's a miss in the career of a very talented film maker. 

Broken Flowers

Movie Name: Broken Flowers
Year of Release: 2005
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Bill Murray, Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Jeffrey Wright, Julie Delpy, Mark Webber, Alexis Dziena, Christopher McDonald, Chris Bauer, Larry Fessenden, Pell James
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Amazon

Synopsis and Review

"Broken Flowers" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival of 2005, where it was met with good reviews, winning in the process the Grand Prize of the Jury. The film focuses on Don Johnston, a middle-aged man, whose current partner decides has had enough, and decides to leave him. Don has retired since he has amassed a small fortune in the computer industry and for the most part, lounges around, listening to music and watching classic movies. Don receives a pink envelope containing a message from one of his former lovers informing him that he has a 19 year old son, who may be looking for him. While Don doesn't intend on doing much about it, his neighbor Winston devises a whole plan for him (including flight logistics and accommodations) to visit the women that most likely sent the card. He starts by visiting Laura, who has a teenage daughter by the name of Lolita, who is doing quite well as a closet organizer. He soon realizes that she's not the mother of the boy. He then goes to visit Dora, who is now a realtor and is married to Ron, also a realtor. While cordial and friendly, there's a lot of tension in that conversation. He also moves on with the same feeling as before. He then visits Carmen, who works as an "animal communicator", and does so quite successfully. He also realizes she's not the originator of the card, and that he's not welcomed there. Finally he visits Penny, who is openly hostile when he shows up. He ends up being punched and left in the middle of nowhere. As he gets back to his home, he sees another pink letter, this time around from Sherry, his current girlfriend, expressing she still likes him.

"Broken Flowers" is a film that easily flows, but one that is surprisingly shallow in the depiction of its supporting characters, particularly all the women who cross paths with Bill Murray's Don. The way the central character is portrayed is quite ingenious, in the sense that Don doesn't come across as the traditional heartbreaker or lothario: he's someone who is quietly assured of himself, who knows what he has gone through in life, who accepts and enjoys his current life with tranquility. He wears his charisma with confidence and is self aware enough to navigate difficult situations with a certain ease. When the extraordinary situation presents itself, his neighbor Winston makes it more of an episode even more than Don himself. And for the most part the film manages to be quietly assured of itself, tracing just enough of Don's behaviors to understand who he is and how he faces life. Sadly his prior romantic female partners feel both underused and under-developed. And that is more noticeable in the vignette featuring Tilda Swinton, who is almost a blink and you missed it type of experience. It's a film that is nonetheless engaging, mostly because of Bill Murray's composition, who adopts a somewhat minimal, yet warm and ironic stance with the character. Sharon Stone, Frances Conroy and Tilda Swinton are great in their segments, as is the case for Jeffrey Wright, Chloe Sevigny and Alexis Dziena. The production team is effective, including the cinematography from Frederick Elmes and production design by Mark Friedberg. Worth watching. 

Nope

Movie Name: Nope
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steve Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Wrenn Schmidt, Keith David, Devon Gaye, Jacob Kim, Barbie Ferreira, Donna Mills, Eddie Jemison
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

After the successful "Us", writer/director Jordan Peele is back, with another interesting take on a well established genre, in this case the Alien visiting the planet, which has seen both its masterpieces such as Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and John Carpenter's "Starman", and those quite not as successful, such as Scott Derrickson's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" remake/adaptation. The narrative of "Nope" focuses on the Haywood family, which we learn has been training and handling horses for films for quite some time. The parental figure Otis Haywood Sr. is killed early on by a falling coin from the sky, which his son OJ assumes fell out of an airplane. OJ and his sister, the outspoken and live wired Em, inherit the ranch. In order to keep the ranch afloat OJ sells some of the horses to their neighbor Jupe, who operates a Western theme park. One night the siblings notice their horses vanishing, and discover a UFO hovering and capturing the animals. They decide to capture the existence of the alien on film, sell that footage and use the proceeds to keep the ranch going. They set up cameras all over the ranch, with the assistance of an employee from a local store. They also decide to hire a professional cinematographer for further assistance, but they soon realize that the alien disrupts the electricity and that the process may be far more complicated than they anticipated. 

The most interesting thing about "Nope" is how effective Jordan Peele builds both the set up for what is about to happen, and how he populates these events with characters possessed of interesting details that make them somewhat more vivid. The environment set up is very effective, since he manages to depict the reality of the ranch, but also the professional setting in which the siblings operate (the movie studio realities). The character definition is a bit trickier, since while at a first glance we get enough insight into what these characters do and how they interact with each other, we also soon realize that's all there is to them. They have just enough dimension not to be paper thin, but if you look a bit beyond it, there's really not much to them (why have they stayed in the ranch, what has shaped their relationships, etc.). Where the film starts to fizzle is ultimately in its premise of the Alien visitation aspect. While the narrative is focused on both capturing filmic proof of its existence and avoiding being captured by it, it's a scenario which seemingly and apparently on this day and age relies on the premise that no one else has captured any evidence of that entity. Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" smartly positioned itself as a shared experience by multiple people who reacted and responded to that visitation. "Nope" and Jordan Peele position this entity as something nefarious, solely focused on that particular area (and that particular group of individuals). The lack of further dimension or explanation for this selection/target isn't detrimental, since a powerful and menacing inducing narrative can be built out of that economy of storytelling, but at the end, considering all that is set in motion, it mostly fizzles and feels undercooked (particularly in the final chapter). The cast is uniformly solid, as is the production team, with highlight going to the beautiful cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema (who is truly formidable), and the score by Michael Abels. It's watchable, but not memorable.  

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Movie Name: Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Year of Release: 2008
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords, Justin Long, Jason Mewes, Katie Morgan, Brandon Routh, Jeff Anderson, Ricky Mabe, Gerry Bednob, Tom Savini, Tyler Labine, Tisha Campbell, Lauren Anne Miller
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

After "Jersey Girl" and "Clerks II" failed to ignite as much attention as his earlier work did, writer/director Kevin Smith bounced back with "Zack and Miri Make a Porno", which he also authored. The film follows the story of two best friends who have been living together for quite some time. Zack and Miri have known each other since they're children and have been great friends, but as they're navigating early adulthood, not all is going as smoothly as they expected. For starters, they're stuck in jobs that they don't care much for, and that don't necessarily pay much. As a result of that, their utilities are progressively being disconnected. Everything changes when they go to their high school reunion, and they meet up with Bobby Long, whom Miri has long had a crush on. While Miri is trying a seducing game with Bobby, Zack casually meets Brandon, who turns out is Bobby's boyfriend and works in gay adult features (as does Bobby). Inspired by Brandon, Zack and Miri decide that the solution to their money woes is to actually direct and star in an amateur porn feature. They start by securing funding from Zack's co-worker Delaney, and they soon open casting auditions for the remaining players, while simultaneously hiring someone to do the cinematography/editing work behind it. They also settle on a title and theme for the feature, however just as they're about to start, some location challenges occur, something that Zack creatively solves by changing the location for the coffee shop where he works. However more challenges lie ahead.

While "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" seemingly tries to tackle a subject matter that is typically not very palatable for many audiences, it only mildly does so in the context of a romantic comedy, one that contains some raunchier jokes and very brief nudity. And also for all that the title suggests, it's in reality a film that lives within the constraints of a very romanticized version of reality, as opposed to what Paul Schrader for instance captured in his film "Hardcore". Kevin Smith manages to capture the great chemistry that Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks have (which they also showcased in Judd Appatow's "The 40 Year Old Virgin"), and that is ultimately what makes the film breezy and compelling. The whole aspect of capturing the making of the porno, is of course performed for jokes (almost directly taken from David Zucker's school of comedy and "Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear"), since the film is at its core, this get together for two people who are meant to be together, and just never really realized it before. While the lead characters have charm in spades, most of the supporting and colorful players are reduced to clichés, even if at times they're quite funny ones. The cast is uniformly solid, with Justin Long however actually stealing all the scenes in which he is in. While not necessarily the most impressive film of Kevin Smith's directorial career, it's nonetheless an entertaining and sweet film worth watching. 

The Wonder

Movie Name: The Wonder
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Sebastian Lelio
Starring: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds, Brian F. O'Byrne, Dermot Crowley, Elaine Cassidy, Caolan Byrne, Niamh Algar, Kila Lord Cassidy, Josie Walker, David Wilmot, Ruth Bradley, John Burke, Mary Murray 
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

After the well received "Disobedience" and "Gloria Bell" (a remake of his own film, "Gloria"), director Sebastian Lelio is back, with "The Wonder" which had its premiere at the Telluride Film Festival to solid reviews. The film is an adaptation of the novel by Emma Donoghue which was published in 2016 (the same author also wrote "Room" which Lenny Abrahamson adapted in 2015 to much acclaim) and follows the story of Mrs. Lib Wright, a widowed nurse (as she explains in her own introduction) who in 1862 goes to a rural village in Ireland in order to observe a young girl, who has been fasting and surviving for 4 months. Mrs. Wright is to be assisted by a nun, Sister Michael, and they're both tasked with providing their reports to a council of local dignitaries (which includes the local physician). As Mrs. Wright becomes acquainted with the family, and with Anna the young girl herself, she quickly realizes how devout catholics the family is and soon hears the explanation of how this phenomenon has been happening from Anna, who justifies the reason for her resilience and strength from consuming "manna from Heaven". As Mrs. Wright continues her investigation, she soon realizes that some behaviors from the family may be at the root as to how and why Anna has managed to sustain herself. She also develops a relationship with a reporter who has come back to the village (he is originally from the village) to write about the young girl's fasting. As Mrs. Wright decides to change her tactic and curtail everyone's access to Anna, including her family's, the young girl's condition soon takes a turn for the worse.

"The Wonder" is an interesting and arresting observation of the unrelenting power of religion, when it goes unchecked and unquestioned, in parallel with an insightful look at the role of women in society, particularly at a time when their domestic shackles were being destroyed and their voices were slowly being heard across various professional domains. Mrs. Wright, played with a mix of nuance, tenderness and steely resolution by Florence Pugh, is in a way, an alien entity in that small Irish village, not only because of her views on religion, but also because in many ways she represents the future, in which women have a mix of autonomy/independence, expertise and capacity to challenge the patriarchy, as opposed to the docile individuals that many try to depict them as. Sebastian Lelio expertly captures the realities and hardship of that small community, and in particular of Anna's family. He also slowly reveals the layers that underline Mrs. Wright's own traumas, and what she has had to do, in order to keep moving forward with her life. It's a solidly built film, one which allows for some of the supporting characters to have enough dimension where their motivations are nicely illustrated, while also revealing the secret behind the young girl's apparent miracle of fasting for so long and seemingly always being healthy. It's a film that smartly weaves a reflection on the blinding aspects of religion, with the abuse and silencing of women, at a time when their voices were but a flicker in a society which refused to listen. While Florence Pugh is commanding in the central role, the supporting cast is just as fantastic with Tom Burke, Toby Jones, Brian F. O'Byrne and Elaine Cassidy all making strong impressions. The cinematography from Ari Wegner is beautiful, as is the score from the fantastic Matthew Herbert, with a strong production design hailing from Grant Montgomery. Another solid endeavor from a very talent film-maker. 

Emily the Criminal

Movie Name: Emily the Criminal
Year of Release: 2022
Director: John Patton Ford
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi, Jonathan Avigdori, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Bernardo Badillo, John Billingsley, Gina Gershon, Craig Stark, Sarah Allyn Bauer, Brandon Sklenar, Rif Hutton, Sheila Korsi
Genre: Drama, Crime
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Netflix

Synopsis and Review

"Emily the Criminal" is John Patton Ford's feature directorial debut, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival of 2022 to solid reviews. The film has since then made a mark in a few film festivals, and has also been nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards (including best first feature, best lead and supporting performances and best first screenplay). The film's narrative is focused on Emily, whom we first encounter going through a challenging job interview. She reacts poorly to the interviewer when questions about her background check come up and she has to reveal that she has a criminal record. She is currently working for a catering company, doing food delivery and set up. However Emily is in a tough financial situation, since she has student loans to pay for, and she already shares a small apartment with two roommates in order to help with living expenses. One of her co-workers sets her up with a "dummy shopper" service which promises to pay $200 an hour. Upon getting there Emily soon realizes that the opportunity is actually a credit card fraud ring, led by Youcef. She has no qualms embarking on the scheme, and since that goes so well, Youcef asks her back. The next scheme doesn't go quite as well as expected, and Emily has to resort to violence in order to get out of that situation. She and Youcef start getting to know each other better, and Emily soon asks him how to make fake credit cards, which he acquiesces while also giving her advice on not scamming the same store twice in the same week. As she gets deeper in these grifting operations, Emily's steely nerves get tested further, the same going for her resolution.

"Emily the Criminal" is an arresting and riveting film, one that lives from its premise and Aubrey Plaza's central performance. The writer/director manages to rapidly and vividly showcase the context in which the central character is living, and how some of her background informs the situation in which she finds herself in at this moment in time. There's also an underlying and constant tension to Emily that is perfectly captured, as if she knows she's constantly being judged for something she did years before and that now she has to carry on her back permanently. Even when she is with her best friend Liz, Emily is uncertain if she's going to be asked to leave, as if she's having to live always looking over her shoulder. As the narrative unfolds, and Emily gets further sucked in into the grifting, the more her steely resolve becomes apparent, the same for her determination not to let the situations get the best of her. While there are indeed some incredulous situations captured (the exchange with Gina Gershon's character is a good example for instance), the film manages to keep a somewhat unglamorous aspect to what its depicting, both from the perspective of the social malaise that is happening in society, but also from the criminal world that Emily has little ambivalence in profiting from. The film moves swiftly and convincingly, and gives Aubrey Plaza the opportunity to own the narrative through and through, which she does with charisma and nuance, with good support from Theo Rossi and Megalyn Echikunwoke. The production team is equally effective, including Jeff Bierman's cinematography, Nathan Halpern's score and Liz Toonkel's production design. Worth watching. 

Bros

Movie Name: Bros
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Guy Branum, Miss Lawrence, TS Madison, Dot-Marie Jones, Jim Rash, Eve Lindley, Monica Raymund, Guillermo Diaz, Jai Rodriguez, Amanda Bearse, Debra Messing, Peter Kim, Justin Covington, Symone, Ryan Faucett, Harvey Fierstein, Bowen Yang, Kenan Thompson, Amy Schumer, Becca Blackwell, Ben Stiller, Jamyl Dobson
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

Director Nicholas Stoller is back, following the double release of "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" and "Storks", both of which came out in 2016. This time around he's working with Billy Eichner, who is the lead actor, but also co-writer and producer of the film. The narrative focuses on Bobby Lieber, who is a single gay man living in New York, currently a host for a successful podcast, but who has also just accepted a position as a museum curator for an upcoming LGBTQ+ History Museum in Manhattan. While partying with a friend at a gay club, he is drawn to Aaron, and the feeling is soon reciprocated. While there is indeed a flirtation, there's also a mix of weird signals between the both of them. They eventually start spending some time together, though they both have reservations about where the relationship is headed. As they progressively get to know each other better, they also soon establish the things they're comfortable in doing as a couple. When Aaron's parents visit, Bobby schedules a series of activities for them, but overwhelms the family, eventually sparking a huge fight with Aaron, which results in a breakup. As Bobby assesses what has happened, he also has to come to terms with work colleagues he has also alienated, while he slowly tries to move on and date other people. Aaron in the meantime also changes his life, quitting his job, and starting to pursue his dream as a chocolatier. At the premiere of the LGBTQ+ History Museum, Bobby realizes how much he misses Aaron and texts him.

"Bros" in many ways, is identical to many romantic comedies that have come before, with the biggest difference being the fact that the central couple is comprised of two lovely men. The film squarely positions these characters in the current ruthless dating world, monopolized by dating apps, where good photos mean everything and feelings are completely trampled. In one of the scenes, there's a brief view of Nora Ephron's "You've Got Mail", and in many ways some faint traces of that type of romantic comedy exists here as well. The problem however lies in the characters' definition. Bobby gets the lion share of screen time, and for all his noise and cries for attention, it's difficult to truly understand who this person actually is and wants. While his family is briefly mentioned, the same going for his past, all of this is quickly brushed aside, being replaced by his interminable chatter. This is somewhat surprising, considering he's a man in his 40s, who it would seem has not had a serious relationship prior to Aaron showing up. Aaron in the meantime, is succinctly defined as the handsome guy (with enough shirtless screen time to prove it), who doesn't want anything serious relationship wise, is focused on a specific type of man he wants to date and his ambition is to be a chocolatier. And that is somewhat of a slim definition for a romantic interest. The script from Billy Eichner and Nicholas Stoller pokes fun at the gay world's obsessions with men's body types, the superficiality of the relationships that are established, and also at the inclusiveness momentum that seems to be going around (but only to a certain extent). However and for all its intelligence and relevance, it under-nourishes the characters themselves, failing to give both Bobby and Aaron some nuance and balance, the same going for the supporting characters, who end up having little to do (the hilarious Guy Branum and Jim Rash are reduced to very brief participations, the same going for Bowen Yang for instance). There's much to enjoy, with some good laughs included, but in trying to build up so much, fails to humanize its central characters, reducing all the other ones to rough stereotypes. Watchable, but not memorable. 

My Policeman

Movie Name: My Policeman
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Michael Grandage
Starring: Gina McKee, Linus Roache, Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Rupert Everett, David Dawson, Kadiff Kirwan, Emily John, Dora Davis, Joseph Potter
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review

Another Amazon Studios' exclusive release, "My Policeman" had its debut at the Toronto Film Festival of 2022 where it was met with tepid reviews and response. The film is Michael Grandage's sophomore effort, following his feature directorial debut, "Genius", which premiered in 2016. The film is an adaptation of the novel by Bethan Roberts, and features a script from the celebrated Ron Nyswaner (who wrote Jonathan Demme's "Philadelphia", John Curran's "The Painted Veil" and going further back to the beginning of his career, Gillian Armstrong's "Mrs. Soffel"). The film focuses on the story of three characters, whose lives we get to witness during two periods in time. In the late 50s, we get to witness how Marion meets Tom who has just joined the police force. They start going out, and Marion then meets Patrick, a good friend of Tom's who works for the local museum (in Brighton). The three of them are soon inseparable, and while Patrick with his cultured ways and charm, seems a good fit with Marion, it is Tom who proposes to Marion. Upon getting married, and on one of Patrick's visits, she soon discovers the amorous relationship which unites Tom and Patrick, something that started even before she came into the picture. The other part of the narrative takes place some 30 something years later, with Marion and Tom now retired, living in the seaside town of Peacehaven. Their existence changes once Patrick comes to live with them. He has suffered a stroke, which has rendered him quite unable of being as autonomous as before. Tom refuses to engage and even see him, but Marion desperately wants to close old wounds that were created in the past.

"My Policeman" is a film that is a somewhat of a quiet observational piece of how the persecution of homosexuals in the past destroyed not only the lives of those directly impacted by it, but also and to a certain extent, those who were in its periphery. Michael Grandage intertwines the timelines between the 50s and the more recent period, in order to showcase the atonement some characters are trying to achieve, but also how certain actions had dramatic consequences in how the lives of these characters turned out to be. While the narrative focused on the exchanges and events of the 1950s features the more media friendly performers, it's also the less interesting of the film, since not all performers manage to give the characters the same level of authenticity and inner conflict that the more seasoned performers easily convey in the other chapter of the narrative. The director is fairly successful in staging the events and bringing them vividly to life, even if some of the performances are indeed not quite as stirring as they should, but ultimately the narrative itself suffers from the fact that the sense of passion, of betrayal and ultimately of crushing defeat at the hands of injustice, is somewhat anemically portrayed. What is left and what truly registers, is a life of pain and wasted opportunities, something that the more seasoned cast captures in perfection. The film is once more a great testament of the immense talents of Linus Roache, Gina McKee and Rupert Everett, who deserve an entire feature of their own. The production team is quite solid, with highlights going to the cinematography of Ben Davis, the score of Steven Price and production design by Maria Djurkovic. Even if it is an uneven feature, it's one worth watching.