The Secret: Dare to Dream - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas in ‘The Secret: Dare to Dream’ / Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

‘The Secret: Dare to Dream’ isn’t a nightmare

Directed by:  Andy Tennant

Written by:  Andy Tennant, Rick Parks, and Bekah Brunstetter

Starring:  Katie Holmes, Josh Lucas, Jerry O’Connell, and Celia Weston

“The Secret: Dare to Dream” – “My whole life, my gut feeling is that something really bad is going to happen, and it does.” – Miranda Wells (Katie Holmes)

These days, Miranda carries a ton - possibly two - of responsibility on her narrow shoulders.  Her husband passed away a few years ago, and she’s raising three kids on her own.  Not entirely by herself, because her mother-in-law Bobby (Celia Weston) regularly swings by and watches the kids.  This helpful soul is also the only character – in this movie (set in Louisiana) - who speaks with a southern accent.  (Come on, Team Secret, it can’t be that difficult to muster some attempts at a Cajun drawl, but I digress.)

Anyway, Miranda’s wages are never enough to pay the bills, so her debts pile up.  Her upcoming root canal operation will cost $2,300 that she doesn’t have, and to complicate matters, her house sits on a floodplain.  With Hurricane Hazel about to hit landfall, a Category Five financial crisis could batter the family.  This single mom could use a Prince Charming.  Well, it’s 2020, so the need for such a hero is dated at best, and look, Miranda already has a boyfriend.  Tucker (Jerry O’Connell) is a swell guy.  He’s reliable, like the morning mail.  Then again, he owns all the spark of a coupon book.

Enter Bray Johnson (Josh Lucas), and this Vanderbilt University professor suddenly appears in Miranda’s life – for some unknown reason – and her luck may change.

Director Andy Tennant – who, to this critic, will always be Melio in the Disney scavenger hunt flick “Midnight Madness” (1980) – has the good fortune to helm this picture, an adaptation of Rhonda Byrne’s wildly successful book “The Secret”.  Although this film project is a bit different, because Tennant, Bekah Brunstetter, and Rick Parks wrote a screenplay based on the foundation of Byrne’s nonfiction, self-help read about the power of positive thinking.

For audiences walking into this movie, knowing this aforementioned fact isn’t crucially important, but it’s helpful, because Bray frequently conveys altruistic pearls of wisdom, not unlike Reverend Desmond Tutu, Fred Rogers, or Bono.  Well, maybe not Bono, but don’t let a beautiful day get away is – admittedly - pretty solid advice.

Bray, a fella with his life in seemingly perfect order, becomes an instant ally for Miranda and her children Missy (Sarah Hoffmeister), Greg (Aiden Pierce Brennan), and Bess (Chloe Lee).  He offers to fix two major repairs at the Wells estate, and while this matriarch believes that she can never catch a break, Bray takes a contrary view. 

For instance, Miranda skeptically asks, “Why are you helping me?”

Bray responds, “Because I can.”

He proclaims that anyone can change their unwanted circumstances and also declares, “Your thoughts attract things with a force that you cannot see but (it’s) definitely real.”

Geez, Bray has a million Hallmark quotes, but these days, stranger danger could lurk anywhere, so his hospitality and moral intentions seem too good to be true.  If Tennant and the other writers dreamt up a horror flick, Bray is the perfect villain.  He could turn on a dime, wield a lengthy sharp object, and terrorize the Wells clan lickety-split.

“The Secret: Dare to Dream” is not that movie.  It’s a good-natured, rated-PG family film that swims in friendly banter, warm feelings, and old-fashioned Capraesque sentimentality.  Its folksy tone mimics the recent string of Nicholas Sparks pictures, and this movie may not parade a whole lot of romance, but the vibes feel similar. 

Although Bray requests nothing in return for his valuable insight and attention, Bobby and Tucker carry warranted suspicions about his intent.  Especially Tucker, as O’Connell pulls a familiar protective (and jealous) boyfriend act.  Yes, the film soon evolves into a (potential) love triangle, but the bigger story is Bray’s secret.  Why is he here?  Shouldn’t he tend to his professor job?  Both hooks work to some degree, but primarily because Holmes and Lucas are very likable. 

Holmes delivers a sympathetic performance as a single mom attempting to juggle a tennis ball, bowling pin, and chainsaw, and Lucas sheds his cardboard cutout villainous jerk role in “Ford v Ferrari” (2019) to believably play a 40-something boy scout.  These two competent, (but more importantly) recognizable actors raise enough audience-interest, but they are constrained within a foreseeable narrative that makes “Friday the 13th Part III” (1982) look like “The Usual Suspects” (1995). 

This feel-good, Saturday afternoon movie isn’t a horror show, both figuratively and literally, and especially when leaning on Holmes, Lucas and company.  Still, the overall message of living and breathing ever-present, optimistic attitudes gets semi-lost while Bray improbably becomes Miranda’s handyman, therapist, and rugged eye candy all rolled into one.  If anything, “The Secret: Dare to Dream” might inspire you to perform a charitable act for a stranger or perhaps offer some advice to a friend. 

For instance, “You should probably move out of that floodplain.” 

(2/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes

Summerland - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Gemma Arterton in 'Summerland.' / Michael Wharley at IFC Films

Writer-director: Jessica Swale

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lucas Bond, Penelope Wilton, & Tom Courtenay

Review by: Jen Johans

“Life is not kind,” Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton) informs a young World War II evacuee from London placed in her care, before adding, “what matters is how you deal with it.”

Sent to live with the intensely private, iconoclastic writer at her seaside home in southern England, although Frank's arrival comes as an unwelcome shock, she soon discovers that she has much more in common with the inquisitive boy (played by Lucas Bond) than she ever would have imagined in writer-director Jessica Swale's “Summerland.”

The feature filmmaking debut of the Olivier award-winning playwright, Swale reunites with the two leading ladies who starred in her London stage hit “Nell Gwynn,” in the form of Arterton and Gugu Mbatha-Raw who, in 1920s set “Summerland” flashbacks, play two college friends who fall in love before they must ask themselves just what it is they want out of life.

With Alice thinking back on her relationship with Vera (Mbatha-Raw) as the last time she let someone into her heart before Frank, “Summerland” strikes a fine balance between not only dual timelines but a third one as well. The film is bookended by scenes that take place in 1975 where once again, Alice (this time played by Penelope Wilton) types away at her desk in Kent, reclusive as ever.

Still scaring the kids of the 1970s as much as she did those in the '40s who spread rumors around the island that the writer working on an academic treatise about mythology, folklore, and paganism is, in fact, a spell-casting witch, “Summerland” uses a fluid approach to time to spin a timeless yarn about friendship, tolerance, and love.

And while the decision to cast a woman of color in a period movie without ever calling attention to her race – which is treated as matter-of-factly as the lesbian love story at its center – is sure to earn the film legitimate criticism as being overly rosy or naive, I think it's a revolutionary act overall.

Perfectly balanced in a film that feels at times like a classic fairy tale or bedtime story about the way that we deal with life at its unkindest, there's an old-fashioned safeness about the presentation of “Summerland” that reminds me of the humanistic warmth of TV's “Schitt's Creek.” Just like “Schitt's Creek” has no time for any sort of prejudice (which is why it's so universally appealing to all), “Summerland” knows that bringing any overt racism or homophobia into this world would lessen its spell as a WWII coming-of-age fairy tale.

There's a crucial scene in the film where, after Frank guesses that the “someone” that his new guardian loved was a woman, Alice asks him if he would think it strange if a woman loved another woman. Considering her question carefully, he tells her no in earnest, adding that it isn't as strange as two married people who do not love each other.

A beautiful moment of tolerance and acceptance that makes Alice gasp in happiness, in this reaction, we see all of the pain and intolerance she's shut herself off and away from and Swale respects both the viewer and Arterton enough to know that we don't need everything spelled out to understand what Alice has gone through offscreen.

Boldly opting to do the same with race in the casting of Mbatha-Raw as the student who captures Alice's heart, while I grant that – just like with the lesbian romance – it's inauthentic to leave the issue of prejudice off the table for a Black woman in the 1920s, Swale trusts that we know precisely what kind of intolerance Vera would've faced back then.

For, what matters most in “Summerland” is the moral of the story (with an emphasis on “story”) where people learn to come together during the hardest of times out of love since the biggest anomaly to young Frank is those who shouldn't be together but are.

From the light that pours onto the cliffs like the waves of the English Channel, while there's no mistaking “Summerland” for anything resembling reality, the film, which was gorgeously shot by “Stan & Ollie” cinematographer Laurie Rose is as dreamy and mythic as the stories of floating islands that Alice spends her time writing about. And while this pursuit has earned her character the rumored reputation as a witch, in the hands of Swale, Arterton, Mbatha-Raw, Bond, and company, all “Summerland” does is keep us happily bewitched from start to finish.

(Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.)

The Rental - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Alison Brie in ‘The Rental’ / Photo Credit: IFC Films

Dir: Dave Franco

Starring: Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand, Jeremy Allen White, and Toby Huss

How many different ways can you start a horror movie? How about this one? A group of young people traveling to a remote location to commit some innocent bad behavior; after some drugs and meaningless sex, a masked killer shows up to ruin the good times. This has happened in countless horror films, “Evil Dead”, “Friday the 13th”, “Cabin in the Woods” are a just a few that have done this device successfully.

Actor, now director, Dave Franco takes his swing into the horror realm with “The Rental”. Gone are the teens and inserted are a group of mature young people in committed relationships, though they still partake in the occasional party drug and innocuous sexual outing. The result offers an unusual spin on the far too common genre setup that, here, is more adult drama than actual horror film.

Charlie (Dan Stevens) and Michelle (Alison Brie) are taking a much-needed trip with Josh (Jeremy Allen White) and Mina (Sheila Vand) to a secluded rental property that sits atop a bluff near the ocean. The group quickly finds comfort in the large house, using the hot tub and going on daily hikes. But there is tension between the couples, especially between Charlie and Mina who work closely with one another. Things get worse when a small camera is found in a showerhead, and a menacing figure looms just outside of view.

Dave Franco, who co-wrote the script with Joe Swanberg, spend great attention on the group dynamics early in the film. We are introduced to the individual couples, then learn about their intertwined relationships, their impulses and irritations, and finally how they cope with stressful situations. It’s a good setup that gets you connected to the individuals and helps establish a group dynamic that becomes compromised the moment danger arrives, which it does in numerous forms more than just a masked killer.

The problem comes when the film tries to shift gears and turn from an adult relationship drama and into a straightforward horror film. So much time is spent setting up the group and a specific situation they are all raveled up in, that when the horror finally makes an appearance, the pieces established for the story, the ones that have played a main role, are abandoned for an easy compromise.

Still, there are moments when Mr. Franco displays that he understands how a horror film is supposed to work. Keeping his monster just beyond sight most of the film and using the setup of spy cameras to initiate the intensity that will ultimately destroy the group. When the genre characteristics intrude into the relationship conflicts, the film has a heightened sense of unease. Unfortunately, many of these moments are played just to remind you that there is a mysterious figure looming close instead of introducing a sense of chaos into the storyline.  

Dave Franco shows promise with his directorial debut. “The Rental” may harbor more drama than horror in the end, but even with a familiar story structure the actors are given time to make the characters convincing. And once the stalking killer arrives, the time spent in the isolated rental home assists in creating tension, it just happens too late to really make the impact it was trying for.

Monte’s Rating
2.50 out of 5.00

The Kissing Booth 2 - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Dir: Vince Marcello

Joey King, Joel Courtney, and Meganne Young in ‘The Kissing Booth 2’

Starring: Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, Taylor Zakhar Perez, Meganne Young, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, and Molly Ringwald

Film has painted the high school drama in many ever-changing strokes of emotions. While the stories today may not echo the same world settled in the visions of John Hughes, the underlying conflicts for young people are still present and far more complicated. Experiencing the many facets of love, making choices both confident and vulnerable, and finding the person you want to be past those fleeting moments inside the safety of the high school halls are still valuable lessons to explore.

“The Kissing Booth” is back to explore more of these teenage issues with a heavy scope of sappiness and slapstick. However, for Elle (Joey King), who just had the best summer of her life with her new beau Noah (Jacob Elordi), high school senior year is complicated by having to prepare for college, balance a changing relationship with her best friend Lee (Joel Courtney) and his new girlfriend Rachel (Meganne Young), and handle the strains of long-distance love while Noah goes to school across the country at Harvard.

It doesn’t take long for the drama of these feelings to take hold. As the strain on the relationships in Elle’s life take hold, with a girl named Chloe (Maisie Richardson-Sellers) garnering much of Noah’s attention in college and a new boy at school named Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez) strumming his way into a partnership with Elle for a dance competition, everything gets complicated and confusing, both for the characters in the film and the viewers at home.

There is so much going on in “The Kissing Booth 2” that even with a 2 hour and 10-minute running time, it still feels overstuffed with rambling premises. We have evolving character development from the first film, new characters to meet and insert into the storyline, side stories to explore with supplemental characters, a video game-dance competition, a Halloween school dance where tempers flare, and a heated Thanksgiving dinner where all the held back words are unleashed. We move from happy, quickly edited montages of fun and silliness to sad, long cuts of characters gazing into the sadness of their counterpart’s social media on cellphones, back and forth, over and over.

With so much being packed into the narrative suitcase, it’s strange that the movie still feels so empty. The safety-net storytelling, where characters fall but not too hard or complications arise but nothing a perfectly timed pop song can’t resolve, becomes overwhelmingly contrived and extremely predictably.

Character growth is so important for sequels, especially in matters of youth where growth happens at exponential speed. The characters here rarely have those moments of maturity, forced or otherwise, that happens in films like this. The harshest reality that exists in this film boils down to Elle having to decide where to go to college. Does her allegiance align with her boyfriend or her best friend? This question is proposed early then completely disappears, only to arrive at the tail end of the film for a resolve that can only be described as a “cop-out”.

Still, there is a charm and sweetness achieved with “The Kissing Booth 2”, one that is often preferred for many movie watchers perhaps especially during this time in our world. Joey King and Joel Courtney accomplish impressive chemistry is best friends throughout the film, with Mr. Courtney going full throttle with the slapstick elements in a scene that finds him rushing across school campus to protect his best friend. It’s funny and cute, one of those scenes that always seems fitting in a school daze comedy. Joey King has an abundance of charm, her performance is a major highlight of the movie. The rare appearance from parental figure Molly Ringwald, playing Lee and Noah’s mom, floods nostalgia into the film from the 80’s films that laid the groundwork for the teen drama.

“The Kissing Booth 2” will definitely appeal to some viewers looking for an easy and safe escape into a teen universe that is rarely threatening and often more concerned with sweet and silly sentiments of youthful exuberance. However, the lack of exploration into the real complications and struggles faced by young people keeps this film being much more than a fleeting moment in the hallways of teen movies.

Monte’s Rating
2.00 out of 5.00

Radioactive - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Rosamund Pike in ‘Radioactive’

‘Radioactive’ is a bit hazardous, because it packs too much story

Directed by:  Marjane Satrapi

Written by:  Jack Thorne, based on the book by Lauren Redniss

Starring:  Rosamund Pike, Sam Riley, and Anya Taylor-Joy

“Radioactive” - “I want to tell you about Radium, a most peculiar and remarkable element, because it does not behave as it should.” – Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike)

Marie Curie – born as Maria Salomea Sklodowska in 1867 Warsaw – did not behave as she should as well.  A physicist and chemist, Marie earned physics and mathematics degrees, and picked up her doctorate at the Sorbonne, where she became the university’s first female professor.  To say that Ms. Curie was ahead of her time is the understatement of the century, actually two centuries.

Marie was a brilliant, landmark scientist, and she also had it all, including a doting husband and kids.  In 2020, speak to any prototypical female business executive about successfully balancing a family and a lucrative career, and she may immediately direct a warranted, frustrated gaze in your direction.  These days, women may find that catching a suntan during a Seattle winter or bowling a strike with a golf ball might prove easier. 

From a film perspective, Curie deserves plenty of feature films and a mini-series or two for good measure.  Well, 77 years ago, “Madame Curie” (1943) garnered seven Oscar nominations.  Much more recently, the French/Polish production “Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge” (2016) arrived in theatres, and when Rosamund Pike agrees to play the woman in a new movie, it’s time for lights, camera, and action. 

Director Marjane Satrapi (“Persepolis” (2007), “The Voices” (2014)), screenwriter Jack Thorne, Pike, and the rest of the cast and crew take action to bring Curie’s life-story to both big and small screens.  (It premiered at the 2019 TIFF and carried a short run on the festival circuit, before the dystopian virus disrupted everyone’s lives.  It will now reside on Amazon Prime.)  Despite Pike’s convincing performance as the thinking-out-of-the-box genius, the film suffers from a straight-forward narrative that races through Curie’s life at a breakneck pace for 103 minutes.  Sure, “Radioactive” offers a comprehensive history lesson, but it feels like a collection of Marie’s greatest hits that checks off a series of boxes rather diving more in-depth with a narrower scope, like other biopics.

For instance, Margaret Thatcher’s (Meryl Streep) sympathetic dementia anchors - and provides a foundation for - “The Iron Lady” (2011).  In “My Week with Marilyn” (2011), the movie centers around a limited window with Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams).  Since her new, wide-eyed assistant Colin Clark (Eddie Redmayne) and Marilyn spend personal stretches together, the screenplay’s firsthand accounts – of just a week - present meaningful, rich moments of the megastar and her new companion.

In “Radioactive”, Marie meets her future husband Pierre Curie (Sam Riley), bears two children (which predictably includes two very brief scenes of her donning nightgowns and screaming in pain), and argues with her spouse about scientific approaches.  The film embraces many more events from Curie’s demanding and occupied adult life from 1893 to 1934.  Satrapi packs a lifetime of experiments, theories, calculations, and ideas for the audience to absorb.  In fact, the script quasi-glosses over Marie’s astonishing WWI innovation, when the filmmakers could have effectively built an entire movie on this specific, contained period.  Instead, it’s one colorful billboard on a freeway, and we zip by it at 75 mph. 

Wait.  What was that back there?

While in the same movie, Marie and Pierre spend inordinate amounts of screen time gazing at test tubes and mixing solutions in their Paris laboratory, which may be realistic accounts of their work, but from a cinematic perspective, these scenes don’t pass the eye test.

To help lift the material out of the rote moments of mixing chemicals and asserting various theories, Satrapi and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle inject a few dreamlike sequences.  For example, a Parisian performer’s fire dance blends into the couple’s experiments, or a searing, existential bright light dissolves into their lab.  Although these out-of-body visuals break up the semi-monotony, they seem out of place and overproduced, like in the dizzying and distracting “The Current War” (2017).  “Radioactive” isn’t as overheated as the aforementioned film about Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and Nikola Tesla, but it almost wants to be. 

Still, Satrapi and Thorne get some key aspects right.  This movie is an informative and comprehensive account of an extraordinary woman.  If you’re only semi-aware of Curie’s discoveries, the filmmakers include an abundance of her impressive accomplishments, personal life challenges, and far-reaching impacts well beyond her earthbound years.

Meanwhile, Pike delivers a no-nonsense approach to Curie with keen, rapid-fire precision, bold confidence, and delicate humanity, as this two-time Nobel Prize winner profoundly cares for Pierre and opens up to us. 

As focused as Pike is and Marie Curie was, “Radioactive” – unfortunately - is not.  It has all the makings of a remarkable film, but it just doesn’t behave as it should.

(2/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Amulet - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Alec Secareanu and Carla Juri in ‘Amulet’ / Photo Credit: Magnolia Pictures

Writer-director: Romola Garai

Cast: Alec Secareanu, Carla Juri, Imelda Staunton, & Angeliki Papoulia

Review by: Jen Johans

So notorious for taking notes during film screenings that a man in my life jokingly dubbed me a court reporter, by the time a movie ends, I'm usually left with several pages of notes to keep me company as I write. Mostly done involuntarily, from memorable lines of dialogue I've jotted down to random observations or rudimentary drawings of shot composition, while sometimes I can't make sense of everything I've captured on paper in the dark – and often only 5 to 10% of my work winds up in the finished review – it's an intriguing look at my unfiltered reaction to a movie.

With this in mind, it came as a total surprise to find that when I hit stop on “Amulet,” I was faced not with four pages of thoughts but four terse sentences, all circling back to one common theme, namely just how much I loathed this movie.

The type of ambitious art film I saw far too often in film school which aimed to distill highly complicated philosophical ideas about sex, gender, power, violence, war, and politics down to their essence and filter them through the lens of abstract horror, talented actress turned writer-director Romola Garai's feature filmmaking debut is as subtle as a staple gun to the forehead.

A true disappointment considering how much I respect Garai as one of her generation's greatest actresses (her “Emma” is a treasure), although it's technically well made with impressive old-school visual effects as her interrogation of gender roles masquerades as a play on “Exorcist” like horror, it's an altogether uninvolving slog of a movie.

In the film, Alec Secareanu stars as Tomaz, a veteran of an unnamed foreign war who now finds himself haunted by what he's done and homeless on the streets of London. Taken under the wing of Imelda Staunton's nun Sister Claire, Tomaz is given a place to live in an eerie, falling-down home inhabited by a sheltered young woman and her bedridden, violently demanding, dying mother, in exchange for him helping out around the house with badly needed repairs.

Positioning Tomaz as a male savior while simultaneously dismantling this role in flashbacks, Garai telegraphs exactly what's going to happen in her film from start to finish. Zooming in on certain props and lingering a precious few seconds too long on the film's talented ensemble cast (including Carla Juri and Angeliki Papoulia) as they deliver lines laced with double-meaning, nothing about “Amulet” comes as a surprise. And this is even the case when Garai takes her thesis about sex and gender to ludicrously over-the-top extremes in a graphic sex-as-horror payoff during the film's – pun intended, I'm sure – climax.

Adding salt to the wound that is the film itself, the action is punctuated by a gratingly insistent score from Sarah Angliss filled with xylophones, bells, and tribal singing so annoying that it was actually the first note I made during the very first ten minutes of “Amulet.” Although I admire Garai's intent to question gender roles and raise questions about sex and violence – all while hiring a 70% female crew where every head of a department (save for editing) was a woman – there is absolutely nothing in this film to recommend it.

So painfully protracted that even I, the opposite of a horror buff, knew how things would eventually play out, after “Relic,” “Amulet” is the second independent work of horror made by a woman to be released in the summer of 2020 that was inspired by Jennifer Kent's brilliant 2014 grief as horror treatise “The Babadook.” A cool source of female-directed inspiration to other female filmmakers, although I do urge you to check out “Relic” from Natalie Erika James, when it comes to “Amulet,” trust the fourth and final sentence I wrote down when I watched it, which summed up the film in one word: no.

(Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.)

Invictus (2009) - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela in ‘Invictus’ (2009)

‘Invictus’:  Freeman was born to play his friend Mandela in Eastwood’s inspiring movie

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

Written by:  Anthony Peckham, based on the book by John Carlin

Starring:  Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Adjoa Andoh, Tony Kgoroge, and Julian Lewis Jones

“Invictus” (2009) – “Sport has the power to change the world.  It has the power to inspire.  It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does.  Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.  It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”  - Nelson Mandela

Apartheid, a system of institutional segregation, ruled South Africa like a cold, calculating, and cruel referee that ushered whites into localities of privilege and shoved blacks into regions of poverty and distress.

In “Invictus”, director Clint Eastwood lucidly captures this dishonorable socio-economic existence from the get-go.  In the opening scene, a group of white teens - wearing sparkling, striped uniforms – partake in an organized rugby practice on a lush, green turf.  Just across the road, black kids – wearing the clothes on their backs – play soccer on a grayish-brown meadow that has four net-less, crossbar-less metal poles standing in as two goals on either side of the makeshift field.  Still, these youngsters share a collective enthusiasm for playing the beautiful game. 

On this particular day – Feb. 11, 1990 – the young football competitors have a grander motive for elation.  South African President F.W. de Klerk released Nelson Mandela from prison (after 27 years), and a caravan of vehicles (with one containing the said freeman) roared on this dividing street.  One side explodes with jubilation, while the other stares at the scene like cavemen pondering the uses for an iPhone 11.  The Caucasian teenagers couldn’t quite process the event, but their coach warns them, “It is that terrorist Mandela.  They let him out.  Remember this day, boys.  This is the day our country went to the dogs.”

From 1990 to 1994, The National Party and the African National Congress worked to end Apartheid, and Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president.  This movie bypasses these milestone happenings, but picks up in 1994 as President Mandela (Morgan Freeman) presides over a theoretically-unified nation.  Muscle memories of separation, however, still linger for every South African, regardless of race.

President Mandela - nicknamed Madiba - walks a political tightrope thinner than an eyelash because he attempts to lead a nation filled with “black aspirations and white fears.”

Anthony Peckham’s script addresses some mechanics of the new administration and mentions housing, jobs, crime, and currency challenges, but Mandela pours notable amounts of time into South Africa’s national rugby team: the Springboks.  With good reason, because South Africa will host the 1995 Rugby World Cup!  Although the team has recently played poorly, if the Green-and-Gold wins this massive tournament, everything could change, both in worldwide perceptions and nationwide outlooks. 

Madiba is not making a political bet, but – as he puts it – “a human calculation.”

Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman on the set ‘Invictus’ in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It’s not hard to compute that Eastwood, Freeman, and the cast and crew have a flat-out inspirational sports movie on their hands.  “Invictus” does not disappoint, and like Mandela’s real-life balancing act, Eastwood and Peckham had to choose from an infinite number of storylines to deliver 1995’s timely convergence of sports, politics, and revolutionary change into 134 on-screen minutes. 

Of course, the movie centers around Nelson Mandela, and Freeman truly is the obvious choice to play the man.  Look, Freeman has enough clout to play God (“Bruce Almighty” (2003)), and he was friends with Mandela as well. 

Freeman writes in a Dec. 5, 2013 “Time” article, published on the day of Mandela’s passing:  “During a press conference, (Mandela) was asked whom he would want to portray him in a film.  To my everlasting honor, he mentioned me, and thus began our 20-year relationship.”

During Freeman’s first few on-screen minutes, comparisons between the two are impossible to avoid, but after a short while, Freeman disappears and reappears as Mandela.  He offers the president’s warm smile and gentle demeanor, and also commands respect in one-on-one conversations and speeches in large rooms.  For instance, Mandela walks into a National Sports Council’s meeting and implores its members to keep the Springboks team because the Green and Gold is a cultural lifeline for the white communities.  To dismiss the team would escalate tensions. 

Admittedly, the only other time that Freeman reappeared – for this critic – is during a flashback scene at Robben Island, as memories of “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) pseudo-materialized.  Still, that’s on me.

To convey the stark racial divides for over 40 million people, Eastwood picks smaller, individual conflicts, such as the inherent distrust between Mandela’s black and white bodyguards.  Jason (Tony Kgoroge) and Etienne (Julian Lewis Jones) are the designated alpha males from opposing societal sides, and their resentments aren’t easily amputated. 

On a larger scale, Springboks Rugby represents the ugliness of Apartheid to black communities.   Generally speaking, most don’t claim it or the sport, because it’s the whites’ team, but as the World Cup gets closer and finally arrives, the film finds individual moments of unity.  For example, a young black boy listens to a rugby match with two white police officers.  In a heartwarming sequence, the Springboks players enjoy a sports clinic with a large group of children who didn’t know the game.

If you’re not a knowledgeable rugby fan, don’t fret.  Complete understanding is not necessary to follow along, and yes, Eastwood includes plenty of rugby with bright, gorgeous cinematic colors.  Snippets of about four matches – with little exposition or explanation - splash grueling scrums, passes, dropkicks, line-outs, tackles, and don’t forget the blood, sweat, and tears. 

Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon on the set of ‘Invictus’ at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park Stadium.

Rugby is rough, and 39-year-old Matt Damon competently plays the South African captain Francois Pienaar, who develops a meaningful connection with President Mandela.  Damon looks the part, and he put on some weight to take and deliver beatings on the pitch, along with other actors and former rugby players.  Although some native South Africans might nitpick at Damon’s accent, it seems fine to an untrained ear.

Eastwood filmed all the matches in Johannesburg’s Ellis Park Stadium, a beautiful locale that somewhat resembles the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium.  A special effects team may or may not have engineered computerized fans, but the screaming, flag-waving capacity crowds seem as genuine as your cousin Jimmy accidentally splattering a mustard packet or spilling a beer on your shirt.

The rugby scenes transpire at ground level rather than at wild, more challenging angles from above, but the blocky men rumble and collide at thunderous speeds within 20 yards or 20 inches from the camera.  The movie concludes with an epic match that lasts about 30 minutes of screen time.  It carries twists and turns, large masses of athletic movements, and roaring fans in the stadium, pubs, homes, and various other locations all over (the) Mzansi. 

Will the Springboks carry a victory?  A quick Google search will provide the answer, but sitting down for 2 hours and 14 minutes to watch “Invictus” is a much better choice.  If nothing else, South Africa’s positive, connected energy provides a proud contrast to Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison.

(3.5/4 stars - Tomato)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

The Painted Bird - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Petr Kotlár in The ‘Painted Bird’

Dir: Václav Marhoul

Starring: Petr Kotlár, Nina Sunevic, Alla Sokolova, Stanislav Bilyi, Ostap Dziadek

“There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” – William T. Sherman

There is no glory in Václav Marhoul’s new film, “The Painted Bird”. A young boy, who is never named, is brutalized by countless people and witnesses the absolute cruelty of war, the evil spirit of humanity, and the bludgeoning emotional toil of living in fear of losing his life. There is no relief, no calm, no peace, just unrelenting, torturous inhumaneness for nearly 3 hours.

The film, which received numerous walkouts throughout its festival run in 2019, is based on a 1965 novel by Jerzy Kosinski. The title of the film is taken from a moment in the film, where the young boy we follow through the atrocities found in different villages, with an array of different people either meant to help and sometimes just established to torture, meets the company of a professional bird catcher who teaches him a lesson that will be unflinchingly reiterated throughout the film. The bird catcher captures and paints a bird, releasing it back to find the flock. But upon its return, the other birds see it as an intruder and proceed to attack it until it falls to earth.

The young boy is left alone on a journey across a war ravaged world. When a sense of hope lingers into his life it is almost immediately snuffed out, like when a priest (Harvey Keital) entrusts the boy to a seemingly devoted churchgoer (Julian Sands) who turns out to be the living epitome of a monster. Another moment the young boy finds refuge on a farm. A young man working the fields helps the young boy but stares lustfully at the owner’s wife (Udo Kier). Enraged, the owner proceeds to take his eyes out with a spoon. Or, in the opening of the film when the young boy flees in panic, clutching a furry pet in his arms, only to be tackled and beat by a group and then forced to watch his pet burned alive. It’s distressing and disturbing over and over.

This is the focus of the film, showing the atrocities of conflict-stricken worlds and the extent of societal collapse, examining the human condition under, many times, the unbearable cruelty of warfare. Intense moments involving war violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty are often observed, sometimes in complete view and other times framed just out of focus or with enough ambiguity that your mind must connect the dots.

Comparisons to director Elem Klimov’s “Come and See” are easy for the unflinching nature of violence, but there is also beautiful monochrome photography that echo shades of Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Ivan’s Childhood”, there is no doubt that “The Painted Bird” is a beautifully composed tragedy. It’s a lens so pristine in composition it makes the awful subject matter somehow entrancing, in a way making it hard to look away even when the emotion portrayed warrants retreat.

As the film proceeds, with cameos abundant and artistic rendering saturated in every gritty frame, something begins to lose its grasp on the viewer. In films about wars of the past, there is a sense of understanding that is often trying to be examined, questions proposed amidst bullets, blood, and brutality that try to grasp some kind of answer about humanity or produce a sense of capturing a moment in time for you to feel how the world was and how it moved past that moment. “The Painted Bird” is often strictly sensory, albeit an elegantly composed painting from start to finish, but it rarely examines the deeper meaning of its viciousness or offers a sense of how life existed underneath the torment of hatred and malice.

“The Painted Bird” is a complicated, many times raw and aggressively beautiful, and ultimately a challenging experience for any film viewer. While it may not offer the glory of intriguing questions or the examination of profound answers, it does understand clearly that war is hell.

Monte’s Rating
3.00 out of 5.00

Relic - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, and Bella Heathcote in ‘Relic’.

Dir: Natalie Erika James

Starring: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, and Bella Heathcote

My mother, a career nurse, spent the majority of her life working with patients dealing with dementia and memory loss, many of them taken care of in assisted living facilities. She loved her job and working with the clients on a prolonged daily basis but hated how dementia would steal the people she fondly cared for. She would share stories with me, many of them about the trauma of watching someone lose grasp of their memory. The ones I recall concerned how a lifetime of memories would be scattered around on sticky notes, on the bathroom mirror, on the bedside lampshade, or in a book that remained at their side in bed. Remembering a loved one when they can no longer remember is devastating.

Director and writer Natalie Erika James, along with Christian White who shares writing credit, use the topic of dementia and memory loss to craft a disturbing genre film that functions as a metaphor for the terrible and terrifying loss that accompanies severe dementia in the film “Relic”.

Kay (Emily Mortimer) receives a phone call concerning the unknown whereabouts of her mother Edna (Robyn Nevin), an elderly woman who lives in a small town in a large house by herself. Kay and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) immediately travel together, once they arrive they encounter a home that feels lost amongst boxes, dust, rotting plants, and a peculiar black substance that stains the walls. But Edna is missing, nowhere to be found. They ask neighbors, contact the police, and even search the nearby forest to find her. Then one day, without announcement, Edna returns, leisurely making tea in her kitchen. But something is wrong, she has violent mood swings, talks to herself, and is reluctant to share where she disappeared to. Kay and Sam begin to notice strange bruises on Edna and the house walls begin to creak and bang as if something is trying to get out.

Director Natalie Erika James has crafted something very unique and emotional, taking the physical structure of a horror film to examine dementia and craft chilling metaphors for the traumatic experience of losing the essence of a loved one, of watching a person you once knew change into something you don’t remember them as. The depth of character development throughout the film is excellent. The film revolves around Kay, played reservedly by Emily Mortimor, as she delves into the process of understanding her mother and the extent of memory loss she is experiencing. It’s heartbreaking at times to watch the little things, such as flipping through old photographs, finding notes with messages written on them strewed around the house, and cleaning messes left unattended for long stretches of time. With every discovery about the extent of her mother’s ailing health, Kay’s journey becomes the real horror of the film.

Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin have some of the best scenes of the entire film. Their relationship as grandmother and granddaughter is played to great effect, with Ms. Heathcote’s character Sam constantly supporting the independence and freedom of her grandmother. When their relationship shifts, after an angry encounter involving a gifted piece of jewelry that Edna doesn’t remember giving, the pain and sadness in Sam’s eyes and the realization that her grandmother isn’t the same person brings reality back into the framing of the horror film being built. This foundation of reality assists the film in shifting through the supernatural tonal narrative diversions that take full grasp in the third act, which turns into a complete horror show that highlights the metaphors being explored and the experiential qualities being analyzed through the vessel of a familiar-looking monster stalking someone down a hallway.

Once the horror takes over completely, the narrative becomes less about subtle analysis and instead goes for complete extravagance. It’s never bad that this happens but it sometimes feels unnecessary, especially when the subdued narrative design does such an excellent job of creatively establishing the metaphor, monster, and emotional terror of the situation.

Director Natalie Erika James has created a very good first feature, one that will put her on the radar for future projects. “Relic” is a great conversation horror piece for adults, one that displays why the genre of horror can be so fluid in how it tackles subject matter both simple and difficult, using monsters and scares to portray an understanding of real-life trauma.

Monte’s Rating
4.00 out of 5.00

Volition - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Adrian Glynn McMorran in ‘Volition’

‘Volition’:  This crime story elevates into a science-fiction mind-bender

Directed by:  Tony Dean Smith

Written by:  Tony Dean Smith and Ryan W. Smith

Starring:  Adrian Glynn McMorran, Magda Apanowicz, John Cassini, Frank Cassini, Aleks Paunovic, and Bill Marchant

“Volition” –  “They say when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes.  I wish it were that simple.” – James (Adrian Glynn McMorran)

James - a 30-something who decidedly earned his education at the School of Hard Knocks - struggles these days.  Well, not just recently, because, he has strained against invisible chains for decades, and the emotional toll has left damaging imprints which everyone can see.

Thin, a bit malnourished, sporting unkempt rows of fine brown hair, and seemingly needing a few more hours of sleep during every waking moment, James resembles Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) from “Reservoir Dogs” (1992) but with less polish.  No, he’s not an undercover officer.  He lives by himself in an industrial-style apartment above Blue Chip Auto, Glass & Detailing, looks for new ways to make a buck, keeps close ties with small-time criminals, and feels totally at ease around casual discourse of cocaine deals and recent paroles.

On this particular day, Ray (John Cassini) summons James to his rather large upholstery business, but not to discuss pencil pleat, tab top, or eyelet curtains.  Ray is working a smuggling deal of the most risky, the most guarded and – if everything doesn’t go according to plan – the most dangerous kind, but he needs James’ help.  You see, James’ aforementioned shackles aren’t imaginary.  His torments are visible to him. 

He’s clairvoyant. 

James sees snippets of the future, which can be pretty darn handy, but ultimately, his gift instigates crippling and agonizing regret. 

You should have no regrets watching “Volition”.  This engaging crime story elevates into a twisty mind-bender, one that explores both philosophy and quantum physics, and all within a densely-packed 88-minute runtime.  Director/co-writer Tony Dean Smith and his brother/co-writer Ryan W. Smith reach for and grasp a big-time science-fiction idea (that this review will not reveal) and bend it with a fresh, new approach that confuses and disorients their characters, including James.

Although he hasn’t quite found a path towards a healthy life, James clears a wide-open route for the audience towards him.  This flawed protagonist earns our trust and gathers our sympathies just a few minutes into the picture, when he rushes to the aid of Angela (Magda Apanowicz).  She’s a damsel in distress who suffers from bad choices, but her hip red Converse high tops are not one of them.  This considerate, empathetic 20-something - with a penchant for bad boys – finds herself suddenly joined at the hip with James, as she learns about his paranormal abilities, but these two soon run from trouble due to Ray’s unlawful scheme.

Since James doesn’t carry a full Rolodex of close friends, Angela almost immediately becomes a coveted confidant.  Their thrown-into-the-deep-end alliance establishes an immediate emotional connection for the audience, as we become invested with their journeys.  James tries to overcome his intangible personal demons, and the couple attempts to dodge a menacing, tactile threat. 

Ray’s cousin Sal (Frank Cassini) and Terry (Aleks Paunovic) are a clumsy pair who figuratively play checkers on a chessboard, although they carry firearms, so there’s that.  The latter lug – a mountain of a man with a short fuse – probably sets his sights beyond board games and competes in MMA inside a cyanide-laced, barbed-wire cage surrounded by a lava moat. 

You may lean forward at the thought of that particular sporting activity, but “Volition” has the same effect. 

This straight-forward, crime-gone-wrong chase movie takes astonishing conceptual turns as well.  Your jaw may hit the floor.  You might rub your eyes or clear out your ears to regain focus, or if you’re like this critic, start looking at your fingers to perform mathematics.  Please solve the differential equations lickety-split or practice multitasking because the on-screen events move quickly, as Angela, James, and a man from his past (Bill Marchant) bid to solve a pressing crisis.

Tony reveals the film’s secrets to James and the audience simultaneously, and this is a smart choice because the narrative dives into exceedingly trippy territory.  Rather than leave us desperately guessing at events and concepts that James already knows, our hero and we learn together during this race against time.  Hey, we might be playing catch-up, but thankfully, so is James, as he offers a cinematic lifeline of normalcy under uncanny conditions.

“Volition”, however, doesn’t exclusively lean on calculations.  Like any memorable sci-fi story, this movie’s foundation is grounded with the human condition, and since James is suffering from a lifetime of hard knocks, here’s hoping that he finds a soft landing.

(3.5/4 stars)   

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Relic - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Emily Mortimer in ‘Relic’

Directed by: Natalie Erika James

Written by: Natalie Erika James & Christian White

Cast: Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, & Robyn Nevin

Review by: Jen Johans

The decision to volunteer “x” number of hours at a location of our choosing first started out as just a mandatory part of my high school curriculum. Ignoring all of the trendy businesses that the more popular kids flocked to like birds of a feather, I opted to work at a local nursing home instead. Initially helping out during weekend bingo games and screenings of classic movies on VHS, almost as soon as I started, I was given a new task.

Told I was good at making people laugh and smile, I was instructed to visit what the home referred to as the “shut-ins,” namely, the harder cases including the shy or withdrawn individuals who seldom left their room or those who had relatives or family members who rarely stopped by. Nervously, I made the rounds, hitting it off with certain residents and discovering after a few attempts with others that some people really didn't want anything more than perhaps somebody to just watch “Wheel of Fortune” with from time to time.

The cases that broke my heart the most, though, were the ones who no longer had the mental stamina they'd previously exuded due to worsening dementia. Given a sheet with a brief one or two-sentence bio of each resident and/or their likes and dislikes as provided by their families, I'll never forget seeing one resident who'd been described as a former mathematics professor and leading figure in his field who was now suspicious anytime someone told him that it was time to leave his room for meals or recommended that he put on shoes.

A shocking revelation at fourteen, yet rather than let it deter me, I soon found myself maxing out my required volunteer hours and coming back again and again, mostly to stop and visit with one resident I was particularly close to as well as others, like this gentleman with whom I mostly sat and watched TV in silence.

And while this all took place roughly twenty-five years ago, I found myself flooded by these memories throughout the slow burn shocker “Relic,” which, although heavily influenced by Gothic and Asian psychological horror, doubles as a treatise on aging with dementia. A multi-generational Australian family saga anchored by three powerful women, the feature filmmaking debut from writer-director Natalie Erika James – who wrote the film alongside Christian White – centers on an Edna (Robyn Nevin), an elderly matriarch who suddenly vanishes without a trace.

Traveling to the family's increasingly decrepit country estate, which, in a film that's loaded with symbolism is degrading the exact same way that Edna's mental capacity seems to be, Edna's adult daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) arrives with her adult daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) in tow.

After reporting her mother missing to the local authorities, Kay is shocked when Edna returns – reappearing just as enigmatically out of the blue as she'd somehow left. Riddled with dementia, which becomes obvious when the women take inventory of the state of her home and see signs of a forgetful or overwhelmed mind everywhere, Edna is disinterested or evasive regarding all questions about what happened or where she's been.

Differing on what to do now that they're faced with the fact that she can't live alone, while Kay looks into senior care, the excited Sam begins toying with the idea of living with her grandmother so that she can look after her. However, both women are in for a rude wake-up call when Edna's aberrant behavior begins to escalate into violence. Soon, they begin to question just what it is that has taken over the family matriarch and whether that thing is dementia after all or perhaps something far more devious and evil.

An ambitious, largely successful work that features a dynamic turn by the always empathetic Emily Mortimer (who's long been one of my favorite actresses), “Relic” loses a bit of its novelty when, instead of ambiguity, it pays off far too literally with regard to its demonic symbolism in the film's shocking conclusion.

Still, overall, the film is reminiscent of another strong female written and directed work of Australian horror in the form of 2014's “The Babadook,” which used similarly supernatural, haunted elements to deal with questions of grief.

A somber family drama about aging and the way that parents and children's roles change over time before it eventually eases into genre territory, “Relic” might stand on its own as a feminist work of horror in that the three actresses at the heart of the film drive the narrative forward, but its themes are universally relatable.

Body horror that is as alarming as it is tragic, “Relic” calls up all sorts of memories, guilt, and fears in us concerning the seniors we've known over the years whom, as James notes in her director's statement, we've had to grieve for while still alive. An emotionally disturbing film that is bound to resonate with some viewers more than others, while on the one hand I was completely terrified and caught up in the proceedings at the same time, I do have mixed feelings about its morality in turning a beloved relative into a vehicle of full-fledged horror.

Perhaps trying to temper that with a more sensitive yet deeply unsettling ending that I appreciate even though it didn't quite work for me, “Relic” is a thinking person's horror tale that will undoubtedly play very differently to each viewer, given their experiences. It's a truism befitting of all art, of course. Yet in my case, this flawed yet undoubtedly mesmerizing, finely crafted horror tale from Oz immediately took me back to 1995 when I walked around a nursing home with a list, hoping to see some semblance of the people described on a sheet of paper in those before me just looking for someone to sit alongside them and watch TV.

(Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.)

The Truth - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Ethan Hawke, Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, Alain Libolt, and Clémentine Grenier in ‘The Truth’

Writer-director: Hirokazu Kore-eda

Cast: Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, & Ethan Hawke

Review by Jen Johans

We are creatures of habit. From relitigating past wrongs to repeating the same mistakes, we fall back on old patterns like grooves on a record, destined to play the song we know so well until we take it upon ourselves to move the needle, flip the damn thing over, and start again. And nobody makes us spin around and around quite like family, whether it's in the joy of playing an old hit or the anguish of trying to avoid the inevitable scratches and hisses in the vinyl that we know are coming but can't escape.

Raised in the shadows of the limelight surrounding her famous French movie star mother Fabienne Dangeville – played with icy precision by Catherine Deneuve – whose demands always come first, it's no wonder that Lumir (Juliette Binoche) traded Paris for New York and married the most American man she could find (a TV star played by Ethan Hawke).

Having become a screenwriter, undoubtedly to give herself a greater sense of control by making the characters she invents say precisely what it is that she wants for a change, at the start of Hirokazu Kore-eda's “The Truth,” Lumir finds herself challenged once again by her mother, this time on a personal as well as professional front.

Returning to France with her husband Hank (Hawke) and their imaginative daughter Charlotte (Clémentine Grenier) in tow to celebrate the publication of Fabienne's memoirs, as Lumir begins reading the words that her mother had promised and failed to run by her first and finds it more fiction than fact, that sense of literary and familial control begins to vanish fast. Soon she confronts Fabienne about not only the glaring inconsistencies she has in her memory to her mother's sunshiny version of events but also her decision to completely ignore her relationship with and betrayal of a late contemporary of hers.

A woman whom Lumir idolized and looked to like the mother she always wished she'd had, as the film continues, we begin to see just how much their view of the past differs. Though it begins as a polite but firm objection, their standoff culminates in one particularly tense argument at dinner that finds Lumir snapping at her well-meaning husband to stay out of it since – to misquote Tom Hagen in “The Godfather Part II” – it's between mother and daughter, Hank.

Using an embedded narrative to add another layer to their relationship that lets them relive the past in the present, writer-director Kore-eda plants a film within his film. In “The Truth,” Fabienne stars in a science fiction movie called “Memories of My Mother” along with a younger up-and-coming actress who looks like and reminds Lumir of the late star, and as the mother-daughter drama shoots, they're forced to see each other's perspective a little clearer.

An ambitious if not wholly successful experiment, which finds the Japanese master filmmaker of “Shoplifters” and my own personal favorite “Like Father Like Son,” making a movie in both French and English, even though he only speaks Japanese, “The Truth” is a well-intentioned yet underwhelmingly slight endeavor. The passion project of Juliette Binoche who'd journeyed to Japan in 2011 to see her friend and suggest that they do something together in the future, the film, which is based upon a play he'd started to work on in 2003, illustrates the universality of the family dynamics that flood his oeuvre.

Laced with a touch of magical realism in Charlotte's relationship with her grandmother who she believes lives in a castle and might be a witch – that in itself ties into a fairy tale her mother used to love as a girl that she's reading her at bedtime – Kore-eda fills his movie with symbolism and metaphor both overt and subtle. From setting the movie in the fall as the events take place in the autumn of Fabienne's life to referencing the fact that behind her estate is a prison multiple times early on in the movie, it's clear that the imaginative Kore-eda has no shortage of ideas. Unfortunately, as clever as the film is, it's hard to empathize with the characters, as “The Truth” seems more focused on the meaning of and behind everything we see on the screen rather than on who they are as people.

Less gripping than other experimental Binoche led works from the last decade including Abbas Kiarostami's “Certified Copy” and Olivier Assayas' “Clouds of Sils Maria” that toy with narratives, nesting stories, and allusions, while the performers are tremendous and Kore-eda's thesis on family rings true, its success is more academic than involving.

Admittedly, it's worth the investment for cinephiles, if only for devotees of Kore-eda and our leading ladies, who have somehow never starred in a movie together before. Yet while the frustrated Lumir is the easiest character to understand, it's hard to watch scenes centering on the untimely death of a young actress without imagining how emotional they would've been for Deneuve who lost her own sister – actress Françoise Dorléac – at such a young age.

Relegating Hawke's intriguing if underwritten Hank to the sidelines, while Kore-eda's work is enticing in any language, sadly, it doesn't take long for “The Truth” to get stuck in the same scratchy groove – spinning around and around – in desperate need for the record to be flipped.

(Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.)

Four Kids and It - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Make room for ‘Four Kids and It’

Directed by:  Andy De Emmony

Written by:  Simon Lewis and Mark Oswin, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s novel

Starring:  Paula Patton, Matthew Goode, Michael Caine, Russell Brand, Ashley Aufderheide, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, Billy Jenkins, and Ellie-Mae Siame

“Four Kids and It” – “Here’s the story…of a lovely lady…who was bringing up (two) very lovely girls.”  

Alice (Paula Patton) is a struggling single mom, and her primary source of distress emanates from her oldest daughter Samantha (Ashley Aufderheide).  She goes by Smash and is duly named because this tyrannical teenager is angrier than Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) after classmates infamously humiliated her at the prom.   Yea, Smash is that irate, although mass murder - rest assured – is a stretch and not included in this narrative. 

Still, her parents’ divorce torments her.  Anyone within shouting distance of this human-tornado of rage and misery will need a healthy supply of earplugs and oceans of patience.  For the record, Alice’s much younger daughter Maudie (Ellie-Mae Siame) might be the lone person immune to Smash’s explosions, as this kindergarten-aged, kindhearted kid goes with the flow. 

Speaking of oceans and flows, Alice takes her girls on a trip to the coast.  This American triad lives in England, and they head to Cornwall, which is THE southwestern corner (or the chin) of the United Kingdom.  A gorgeous, spacious summer cottage, bright sunshine, a blue ocean, and scenic bluffs greet them, but three other surprises await:  Alice’s new boyfriend David (Matthew Goode) and his kids Ros (Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen) and Robbie (Billy Jenkins). 

For some inexplicable reason – that defies the laws of logic, physics, and happiness - Alice and David thought this revelation-vacation was a genius idea, but when two frustrated teens (Smash and Ros) long for their other parents, summer sunbathing on a bed of rattlesnakes in Death Valley seems like a better choice.

No, these youngsters need an escape, and thankfully, director Andy De Emmony provides one in “Four Kids and It”, based on Jacqueline Wilson’s 2012 novel that was inspired by Edith Nesbit’s 1902 book “Five Children and It”. 

This whimsical film – about the four aforementioned kiddos meeting a magical being (voiced by Michael Caine) who grants wishes - is a nice diversion for parents and younger kids.  Although, prepare for a noisy, chaotic first act due to the earthquake and aftershocks of the two families’ initial assembly.  De Emmony raises a sledgehammer and whacks the audience with this point over and over, and Smash might be the most unlikable teenage film character since Scut Farkus chased Ralphie and Randy in “A Christmas Story” (1983).  Her lack of decorum quickly rubs off on the reserved Ros, as Alice and David’s parenting/refereeing skills have all the effectiveness of decaf coffee during an all-nighter. 

It’s all a bit chaotic, but the nearby beach is serene, where this youthful tetrad encounters Psammead (Caine).  Out of the sand, a greenish-yellowish E.T.-sized wonder – a cross between Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch and The Lorax (minus a bushy mustache) - appears.  Psammead (pronounced Sam-e-ad) offers a calming presence away from mom and dad, and he’s capable of conjuring boisterous wonders.  He’s an ancient wizard of sorts who sounds like Alfred from Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy. 

He warns these four about the limits of their fanciful requests, but when one stares at a cartoonish and gentle – but admittedly odd – wise man with the ability to grant any life-craving idea, the rules of the road fly out the window and off the beach.

The children, as expected, embrace these bizarre, surreal reprieves from their unconventional 2020 family dynamics, but promises of big dreams also provide life lessons.  In other words, Ros and Smash could mend their troubled relationship.  The script, however, doesn’t give Maudie and Robbie meaningful arcs, but at least they offer moral compasses when the older kids get a little lost in the clouds.   

Aside from a couple of stray detours, the “Four Kids and It” marches on clear paths and finds its way. 

The children’s relationships with each other may evolve for the better.  With good reason, because a wealthy recluse Tristan Trent (Russell Brand) pops up and presents himself as a clear adversary, as his condescending, shifty tones complement a vast taxidermy collection in his dusty mansion.  When Tristan invites Alice, David, and the youths over – like a Bond villain extending civilities before lowering some booms - he asks, “Have you come across anything unusual?”

Ros retorts, “Other than you, you mean.”

Yes, these opponents draw their lines in the sand.

Since screenwriters Simon Lewis and Mark Oswin set up Smash and Ros as combatants, the girls’ warm turns to Psammead and their cold impressions of Tristan help forge their bond.  Alice and David hold a different story.  Patton and Goode play their characters like a lovesick pair of Keystone Cops.  Sure, this couple competently steals a few, brief moments of affection, but they rarely know their kids’ whereabouts and finding cell service becomes a monumental accomplishment.  They play clueless parents, as seen in many family movies (i.e., Kate and Peter McCallister (Catherine O’Hara and John Heard) from “Home Alone” (1990)), but at least Alice and David are located on the same continent with their offspring, so there’s that.  

Still, they are a likable pair, and quite frankly, we need mom and dad to keep their distance, so Smash, Ros, Maudie, and Robbie can work their way into and out of mischief.

These young people do take a weird time travel detour that feels way out of place, and if the movie’s runtime increased from 110 to 140 minutes, perhaps it wouldn’t feel shoehorned.  The book probably dives into a much larger narrative thread, but like any novel-to-film adaptation, the editing can sometimes cut deep. 

“Four Kids and It” is a light, family affair, but admittedly, it’s sometimes clumsy and predictable.  In a way, the movie is similar to a nearly-two-hour “The Brady Bunch” episode.  The Bradys may have cornered the nostalgia-market, but Patton, Goode, Aufderheide, Malleson-Allen, and Brand completely bought into the material, and their can-do efforts shine on-screen.  Add Caine’s much-appreciated voice work, and with “Four Kids and It”, you have a pleasant afternoon on your hands.  No wishes are needed.

(2.5/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Tony Leung Will Break Your Heart by Jen Johans

Soulful, stirring, and often somber, even when he isn’t playing a lover, Tony Leung will break your heart. Famously dubbed by “The Times” in London as “Asia's answer to Clark Gable,” the Hong Kong native (whose full name is Tony Leung Chiu-wai) is one of the most acclaimed and adored actors of his generation. 

Routinely reading his scripts at least forty times before – as he confessed to “The Guardian” – possibly calling the writer in the middle of the night with his thoughts, for Leung (who celebrates his birthday on June 27), acting is not so much a profession as it is his addiction . . . as well as his therapeutic recovery.

Giving him an outlet for the feelings he'd been holding onto since he was a shy, repressed child whose gambler father had walked out on the family when Leung was just six-years-old, the ability to exorcise his emotions under the guise of playing someone else hooked him as soon as he signed up for an acting course at the age of nineteen.

Quickly finding stardom on the small screen in the early 1980s as the protagonist of the popular series “Police Cadet” – opposite his soon-to-be frequent leading lady Maggie Cheung – Tony Leung was one of five up-and-coming young male stars who were labeled “TVB's Five Tigers,” which you could liken to Hong Kong television's answer to the Brat Pack.

Making the move to film, Leung found his way into early critically and commercially successful ventures like Taiwanese helmer Hou Hsiao-hsien's Venice Film Festival award-winner “A City of Sadness” in 1989 and John Woo's “Hard Boiled” in 1992.

Reuniting with Woo two years after he worked with the director on his personal opus “Bullet in the Head," in the now contemporary crime classic “Hard Boiled," Leung was cast opposite one of Hong Kong's biggest box office draws, Mr. Chow Yun-fat.

A veteran performer who'd starred in the epic crime series “A Better Tomorrow,” and “The Killer,” both of which had turned him and Woo into huge box office sensations, it was Chow who was given the undisputed lead role in Woo's final Hong Kong “bullet ballet” before the director made the move to Hollywood.

The end result marked a decidedly different outing for the filmmaker. Criticized for glamorizing killers in his earliest films with Chow, in “Hard Boiled” – which underwent copious changes in its 123-day shoot after the death of screenwriter Barry Wong – Woo opted to use the same formula he'd had success with before, only this time with a police officer in the role of the protagonist.

Not playing a hitman or gangster this time but a hard-headed, impetuous cop nicknamed “Tequila” who's eager to bring down the Triads responsible for his partner's death, just as he did in “A Better Tomorrow” and “The Killer,” it's the wildly charismatic Chow Yun-fat who has the showiest role in Woo's film.

Yet, written as a cross between Don Johnson in “Miami Vice” and Bruce Willis in “Die Hard,” as marvelous as he is in “Hard Boiled,” because it's missing the same quiet poetry of his romantic antihero in “The Killer,” the film's soul is found less in Chow's lead than it is in the subtly mesmerizing turn by supporting player Tony Leung. And with this in mind, on repeat viewings, you'll notice that it's Leung who manages to sneak in and – while you're being dazzled by Chow's ability to fend off a hospital full of armed assassins while cradling newborn babies – manages to sail away with your heart. In fact, the first person to acknowledge this was Chow himself who felt like the film's final cut removed some important moments for his admittedly one-dimensional character to show the depth of his feelings, which is why Leung's supporting turn rings so true.

At least partially inspired by Alain Delon's character in Jean-Pierre Melville's crime classic “Le Samuraï,” “Hard Boiled” finds Leung in the type of coolly contemplative role that has since become synonymous with the star while playing a police officer who's been on a deep undercover assignment with the Triads for far too long.

Torn by his allegiance to two father figures on both sides of the law who ask him to kill and protect in equal measure, the only peace Leung finds is from living a solitary life on his boat. Docked in the bay, much like his yacht, Leung is forever waiting to set out for a new life on a new land far away from everything he knows and wants to forget. Making paper cranes as a form of penance and acknowledgment of the lives he's taken, Leung's tragic yet compelling internal struggle adds emotional depth to what is otherwise a completely awe-inspiring work of action filmmaking.

Giving him the more romantic inclinations that wouldn't have been out of place for Chow's killer in “The Killer,” even though it's Chow who's in an on-again, off-again relationship with his superior (Teresa Mo) in “Hard Boiled,” it's Leung who sends her white roses and coded Elvis lyrics when he needs to convey a message to the police department.

And in this respect, Leung's performance in “Hard Boiled” marks a terrific precursor to his staggering turn in Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's 2002 “Infernal Affairs” trilogy, which was remade by Leung's favorite American filmmaker – Martin Scorsese – as “The Departed” in the states with Leonardo DiCaprio in the Leung role.

A top-notch work of Hong Kong cop noir and a great introduction to Leung for new film fans hoping to see something a little more western minded before they venture onto the actor's more daring art films, even though it was made twenty-eight years ago, “Hard Boiled” still feels fresher than most CGI heavy, assembly-line manufactured action movies being released today.

But as great as he is at adding hidden layers to his co-lead or supporting characters in his mainstream Hong Kong fare, it's the lovers that most come to mind when you think of Tony Leung and doubly so when you look back on his heyday in the '90s and early '00s.

So fiercely devoted to his craft that he'll learn anything for the right collaborator, film, and/or role, when it came time to meet up once again with his most frequent director Wong Kar-wai in Argentina for the gorgeous gay love story "Happy Together" in 1997, Leung took up not only the tango but also Spanish. Still, this was not the only time he would adopt a whole new language for a role. Most notably, Leung learned Mandarin for Zhang Yimou's 2002 stunner "Hero," which, despite being dubbed in the final release, paid off for Leung five years later when he spoke Mandarin in Ang Lee's startling film "Lust, Caution."

Yet, regardless of the dialect that Leung takes on in the multilingual "Happy Together," fans of Wong Kar-wai know that his films are truly universal. Dedicated to the human connection we need and crave in others (director Sofia Coppola is a huge fan), Wong's movies speak a language we immediately understand – a language Leung is more than fluent in throughout his filmography – the language of love.

"Let's start over." Habitually said by his “Happy Together” character's flighty lover (played by Leslie Cheung) whenever he hopes to reunite with Leung's romantically drained lead and begin anew, “let's start over” is the refrain that holds the pair in each other's orbit after they venture from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires and break up yet again.

Knowing that he can no longer let himself backslide into a relationship where the two men's affection for one another is outweighed by suspicion and mistrust, by the end of the film that garnered Wong Kar-wai the prize for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, Leung's protagonist knows that in order to start over, he's going to have to ignore the “let's” and go it alone.

Watched in quick succession with Woo's “Hard Boiled,” the parallels are obvious between his '92 solitary protagonist and the conflicted one he plays here who's heartbroken by his lot in life and his relationships with others, from his ex-lover to his father to a co-worker with possible romantic potential. And indeed, the double-edged sword of promise and penance wrapped up in the phrase “let's start over” seems to apply not only to his “Happy Together” character in one of Leung's strongest performances to date but to all of the men he's played for Woo, Wong, Zhang, Lee, and beyond.

Yet although his collaborations have been legendary, in the more than half a dozen films they've made together over the past three decades, in the end, it's Wong Kar-wai who seems to best understand how to use Leung's penchant for emotional complexity to disarm viewers and draw them in. Famous for his chaotic productions which find Wong shooting without a script – and often with only a kernel of an idea as to who each character should be which might change multiple times during the improvisational shoot as the actors feel things out with his guidance – the trust and respect the two have for one another is unmatched.

While “Happy Together” marked one of Leung's most soulful performances for the filmmaker, the actor is perhaps most famous for Wong's “Chungking Express” – where he played a lovesick cop so distracted by an ex that he nearly misses the chance at a new love – and the director's 2000 masterpiece “In the Mood for Love.” Starring in the latter as a repressed married man living in 1960s Hong Kong who develops an attraction to the wife of the man his wife is having an affair with (played by Maggie Cheung), "Mood" finally garnered Tony Leung the award for Best Actor from the Cannes Film Festival that everyone assumed would've been his three years before for “Happy Together.”

Skilled at bringing to life his own unique brand of morally and internally beleaguered men who fall in love without trying and want to start over but can't until they figure out what (and who) it is that they truly want, Leung shined exceptionally bright in Zhang Yimou's 2002 film “Hero" as the epitome of this type of role.

Inspired by Jing Ke's assassination attempt on the King of Qin which took place in 227 B.C., in “Hero,” Jet Li's nameless swordsman regales the king with tales of his successful battles against three of the man's most wanted enemies, including a man named Broken Sword (Leung) who fights alongside his lady love Falling Snow (played once again by Maggie Cheung).

A secondary supporting character whose true motives are uncertain for nearly two-thirds of the stylish wuxia feature, as Li shares his version of the events that brought him to the palace, we see the plot involving Leung's character unfold a handful of different ways as Li's narrative evolves from start to finish.

Is Broken Sword a jealous, possessive lover who acts impetuously and seduces Zhang Ziyi out of brokenhearted spite at Cheung's one-night affair with Donnie Yen? Is he a resigned, peaceful man who's outgrown life as a warrior? Or is he something else entirely – something that exists halfway between the two poles?

Leung's performance in “Hero” is passionate, ponderous, and (once again) predominantly quiet. A subtle turn overall, Broken Sword allows the actor to play both sides of the same solitary, zen-like coin of the man he's embodied for most of his career – a man who's looking to start again but doesn't completely know how to do so.

A gripping, somber, and lushly beautiful epic that found Leung and Cheung hired by Zhang precisely because he loved their chemistry in Wong's “In the Mood for Love,” the fascinating “Hero” questions how history is made and asks whether a sacrifice crafted from love carries just as much weight as one made of sword and blood.

Much like “Hard Boiled,” and “Happy Together,” “Hero” is proof once again that – having perfected silence as a child only to live to manifest his repressed emotions as an adult – Tony Leung plays thoughtful, quietly tormented men better than nearly anyone since Robert De Niro. (Thus, it should come as no surprise that De Niro and Leung are mutual fans of each other's work.) Always ready to learn a new skill and speak a new language besides – of course – love, in his richest and most daring performances, Tony Leung puts everything on the line to break your heart while also risking his own. He's the addiction as well as the cure.

Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.

Irresistible - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Chris Cooper, Brent Sexton, and Steve Carell in “Irresistible”

‘Irresistible’ successfully explores big, twisted political practices in Small Town, USA

Written and directed by:  Jon Stewart

Starring:  Steve Carell, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Mackenzie Davis, Topher Grace, and Natasha Lyonne

“Irresistible” – “He’s a church-going Bernie Sanders with bone density.” – Gary Zimmer (Steve Carell)

Mr. Zimmer, a Democratic strategist, describes Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) of Deerlaken, Wisc. with the enthusiasm of an obsessed teenager yearning for a dance with the prom queen.  Jack, however, is no demure beauty.  He’s a farmer, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel, and a widower.  In other words, Gary sees this man as a perfect candidate, one who the Dems could use after Donald Trump’s 2016 famous – or infamous, depending upon your perspective – success.  In Gary’s mind, if he can convince Col. Hastings to run for mayor of Deerlaken and win, they could spark a new perception of the Democratic Party throughout the nation and inspire more victories down the road.

It’s not difficult to deduce that “Irresistible” is a political film.  It may pleasantly surprise you that the former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who knows a thing or two about comedy and the United States’ political machinery, wrote and directed this movie, his second.  Stewart plays on the country’s state of affairs in a few universes currently swallowing it up.

Big cities versus Rural townships

This culture clash - that began when architects and engineers thought up multiple story buildings and housing congregated within close, confined spaces and then put pen to paper and equations to brick and mortar – plays out in a Midwestern farming and mom-and-pop business community.  It’s a place where a bar hosts local fellas, like the Two Mikes (Will Sasso and Will McLaughlin), and a little coffee shop on Main Street includes addicting, fruit-filled streusel on their menu. 

Gary decides to call this place home for a while and attempts to blend in by driving an American rental car and drinking domestic alcoholic beverages at the said watering hole.  He wants to befriend the Two Mikes and Ann (Blair Sams) from the humble caffeine stop, but he cannot find his go-to D.C. creature comforts.  Downtown Deerlaken has more boarded-up business than open ones, and for everyday farm life, let your imagination tiptoe through the cowpies.  Meanwhile, Carell shines with his character’s sarcasm and disgust, when Gary frequently mumbles under his breath, but we can hear him. 

Blue versus Red

These days, when looking at an electoral map - for nationwide, statewide, or perhaps countywide races - blue and red are the binary colors.  Democrats claim the former and Republicans maintain the latter.  Even though our brains hold these associations, this wasn’t always the case. 

In an informative Nov. 2016 The Washington Post article titled “Red and Blue: A history of how we use political colors”, this American standard only recently became unofficially official during the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election.  Surprising, right?  In 1976, the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) designated Republican-won states in yellow.  Yellow?  Pollster Frank Luntz had to be displeased when watching the returns as a kid. 

This race isn’t for kids, and Gary’s chief nemesis, Republican strategist Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne), arrives in town to prop up Mayor Braun (Brent Sexton) and his reelection efforts.  In the process, she unleashes an arms race.  Byrne is so good as a sharp-tongued killer.  She’s a hell-bent cutthroat who doesn’t need to raise her voice to slash her opponents to ribbons, either on grand stages or in close conversations.  Gary and Jack are her main targets.  That’s not exactly true, because Mr. Zimmer and Ms. Brewster primarily combat in delightfully derisive discourse, while Jack is usually somewhere else.

Faith repeatedly outfoxes Gary, when delivering her verbal jabs and right hooks, and producers and directors have proudly cast Byrne in several comedies over the last decade.  Rose seems at her best when playing the villain ((“Bridesmaids” (2011) and “Spy” (2015)), although she’s also a breath of fresh air as a protagonist (“X-Men: First Class” (2011) and “Instant Family” (2018)) too. 

Old School versus New School

The two previous themes offer chuckles and laughs, but Stewart turns to the actual mechanics of running a campaign through old school techniques (like phone banking) and new school ones as a dramatic device to prove a point:  money and technology drive almost everything.  These copilots have always fueled politics, but since the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC, they’ve done so while on human growth hormone and Monster Energy drinks.  Super PACs and also superhuman analytics - similar to the exceedingly complex derivatives that ignited the 2008 financial crash or personal data collected by HYDRA in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014) – have contaminated the system. 

Stewart goes to vast extremes, and since “Irresistible” is a comedy, his approach makes a lot of sense, but the film slips into cartoonish, groan-inducing territory a couple of times, including a bizarre billionaire donor stopping in Gary’s office to drop off a massive contribution.  Okay, we get it.

Exploring the analytical inner workings feels informative though, and Topher Grace and a somewhat-unrecognizable Natasha Lyonne deliver several helpings of snide, condescending remarks.

This twisted 21st-century soup should agree with politically-interested audiences, and the flavors speak to aw-shucks films when comedic pairs throw barbs under competitive circumstances.  “Irresistible” isn’t in the same league as a classic Hepburn-Tracy flick, but Carell and Byrne’s comedic chemistry is on point.  Cooper’s Jack may tumble into supporting territory, but his on-screen daughter Diana (Mackenzie Davis) toes the line for the Hastings.  No, Davis isn’t punching out a relentless cyborg (“Terminator: Dark Fate” (2019)), but she keeps Gary honest, when he often patronizes the town or its residents. 

Hey, Gary doesn’t realize that he’s doing it.  He’s trying to find a comfortable middle ground between wanting a macchiato with almond milk, cinnamon and a splash of caramel and listening to Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy”. 

Hey, politics is a tricky business.

(3/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Irresistible - Movie Review from Monte Yazzie

Steve Carell and Rose Byrne in “Irresistible”

Dir: Jon Stewart

Starring: Steve Carell, Mackenzie Davis, Rose Byrne, Chris Cooper, Brent Sexton, and Topher Grace

Comedian Jon Stewart, at one point during his cable television tenure as the host of the “Daily Show”, was one of the most vocal political news correspondents and satirists during the 2000s. Stewart and the “Daily Show” team tackled everything from Presidential elections to small-town blunders with a combination of honesty and humor and many times a wealth of sarcasm. It seems the perfect combination of elements to craft a biting narrative about the sordid world of the electoral process which is the focus of Mr. Stewart’s second feature film “Irresistible”, an often maddening, sometimes funny, and on occasion completely out of touch comedy.

Gary Zimmer is a Democratic political strategist who worked on the Clinton campaign in 2016, the results were not in his favor and Gary has been looking for the next campaign scheme to get his party into the driver’s seat for the next election. The hope he is looking for comes from Deerlaken, Wisconsin in the way of a veteran named Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) whose impassioned speech about the rights for undocumented workers at his town meeting when viral on the internet.

Gary understands that there is a disconnect with the Democratic party and middle America, Jack Hastings could be the solution of relatability and reliability as a Democrat contender for Mayor in Deerlaken. Gary brings the political campaign machine to the small town, in tow is major national attention and big-city money. It doesn’t take long for the opposing party affiliates to see Gary and Jack as a threat, they send their own consultant superego to Deerlaken in the form of Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne) to build a campaign to retain the Republican stronghold.

There is a moment in the film when a political ad runs for Jack and all the familiar key elements are present; the patriotic music, the old red, white, and blue waving in the background, Jack positioned in a place of authority in the corner frame. The difference here is the image of a Democratic candidate firing a semi-automatic weapon in the forest, with the final sentiment being that very familiar “I approve of this message” look into the camera. It’s a rather comical moment that has the perfect mix of satire and sarcasm. There a few more moments just like this, along with a few perfect insights about the chaos of campaign strategy and the ridiculous money involved that give “Irresistible” some clever comedic crossovers with real-world concerns.

Unfortunately, there are also quite a few moments when the film just doesn’t find the focus for its purpose. A misguided romantic subplot between Steve Carell and Mackenzie Davis encumbers the pacing and much of the political swings and jabs are surrendered for easy targets that lack the depth of the issue being handled.

Steve Carell and Rose Byrne are great together here, many of their expletive-filled banters are hysterical. Chris Cooper is always reliable and here he does a fine job of being the everyman trying his best to please those around him while maintaining his moral compass. A great moment that takes place in a swanky New York City high-rise provides a nice visual representation of the process of procuring donations, it allows Cooper the opportunity to give a speech about wealth and the common man.

“Irresistible” has enjoyable qualities that inevitably outweigh the complaints of this film not taking more chances with its comedic political punches. The cast is great and the story remains engaging because of the characters. While it may not feel in the same focused and charged vein as what Jon Stewart was doing during his “Daily Show” days, it’s still a fun and sometimes insightful look at the measures our country takes to find and support the perfect candidate.

Monte’s Rating
3.00 out of 5.00

You Should Have Left - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Kevin Bacon in ‘You Should Have Left’ © 2020 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Dir: David Koepp

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Amanda Seyfried, Geoff Bell, and Avery Tiiu Essex

Take a moment and think about how many people have stayed in a hotel room before you? How about a new house? What kind of people lived there before you? How many birthdays were celebrated? Did anything terrible happen inside the house?

The haunted house subgenre has seen its fair share of bumps in the night and scary ghosts in the closet, but these stories have stood the test of time and continue to thrive today, look no further than the success of “The Conjuring” for proof. Because of their effectiveness to create atmosphere, provide space for scares, and create designs that feel like mazes to get lost in, the haunted house film will always be a vessel to explore for filmmakers. Simple stated, houses are scary.

The mysterious house in David Koepp’s new horror/thriller “You Should Have Left” sits lavishly adorned in the countryside atop a hill. Large windows that look like looming eyes, brick walls that feel cold to the touch, dark corners that shelter lingering shadows; all these elements, creatively executed and nicely structured within a mysterious narrative, stalk and haunt a family trying to get away from their busy life in Los Angeles.

Theo (Kevin Bacon) is a wealthy former banker who suffers from terrible nightmares and a past that he is trying to escape from. His actress wife Susanna (Amanda Seyfried) and young daughter Ella (Avery Tiiu Essex) provide a new opportunity for Theo, a chance for a fresh start. Susanna has work abroad and Theo decides to rent a house for a quick getaway, but strange things begin to torment the family and the secrets of the house start reveal the secrets of the family.

“You Should Have Left” takes many of the familiar elements and setups of haunted house horror films and adds some great creative touches that composes an interesting mystery and allows the story to build on some nicely crafted chills and thrills. Keeping explanations and easy answers to a minimum is always welcome, especially for a film that is treading on well covered ground.

Director David Koepp, who last worked with actor Kevin Bacon on the standout 1999 film “Stir of Echoes”, does a great job of utilizing the house design to its fullest extent. The house, which seems to shift and warp, has a life that manipulates the family with elongated hallways that stretch longer as Theo explores, random doors that appear out of nowhere, and a mazelike structure that adds confusion to every door and corner that is taken. It all works so effectively early in the film.

Everything leads up to a place in the story that unfortunately has difficulty executing a satisfying finale. Some of the mystery needs to be solved and early questions in the film need answers, while it never completely derails the story, it does hamper the horror of everything once revelations come to light. In the final act, the scares wear thin quicker and the tension created almost completely disappears. It’s an abrupt emotional wrap-up that doesn’t accommodate the good work done in the setup.

“You Should Have Left” adds some really interesting concepts and designs to the familiar haunted house subgenre. Director David Koepp understands how to build an atmosphere within the house, a creepy utilization of unorthodox space that makes it feel like a labyrinth. Unfortunately, the good creative choices and effective jolts are almost squandered by a finale that doesn’t understand the emotion it wants to convey.

Monte’s Rating
2.50 out of 5.00

Runner - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Guor Marial in “Runner”

‘Runner’:  Sprint to Guor’s inspirational tale

Directed and written by:  Bill Gallagher

Starring:  Guor Marial, Jacob Lagu, Brad Poole, and Eric Brown

“Runner” – “I hope this (will) be an example for all the refugees across the world to not lose hope.  They might think this is the end of the world for them, but there is always the next day.”  - Guor Marial

Shortly after director Bill Gallagher’s documentary opens, the 2012 London Summer Olympics is the scene.  It’s the final day, and the men’s marathon takes center stage, center city, and center broadcast television, as 105 athletes from 67 countries hope for gold, silver, or bronze.  This film eyes one marathoner:  Guor Marial.  This 28 year old runs under the flag of the International Olympic Committee.  He does not represent a country but lives in the United States after leaving (or escaping from) Sudan in 2001. 

His story is anything but conventional, as “Runner” tries to keep up with Guor through twists, turns, and clear straightaways. 

In some ways, life handed Gallagher the easiest job on the planet, because Mr. Marial’s tale writes itself, like Rodriguez’s, the singer-songwriter chronicled in “Searching for Sugar Man” (2012).  That doc – which won 2013’s Best Documentary Oscar – delivers a jaw-dropping experience for the viewer, and “Runner” offers miles and miles of disbelief. 

Guor’s history begins in Sudan, and more specifically, Pariang County, which unfortunately lies near the epicenter of a civil war.  He was born into the deadly conflict, and South Sudanese activist Jacob Lagu explains that the fighting lasted over 50 years.  After a while – let alone five decades – warfare can become institutional and wholly ingrained in the culture.  In this case, it’s multigenerational.  As a 7 year old and beyond, Guor suffered through unthinkable physical and emotional abuse that would downright shock most (if not all) residents in first-world countries, or anywhere else.

Without photographs or film footage, Gallagher relies on animation to visually communicate Guor’s childhood horrors.  The director has little choice, but – admittedly – these recreated scenes paint emotive images that deliver vast wells of sympathy.  These disturbing encounters weren’t temporary either, so a reprieve to the U.S.A. – in the form of the U.S. Refugee Admittance Program - offered an altogether different environment and a soothing and safe support system.

Gallagher finds friendly faces from Guor’s new hometown of Concord, N.H., and they recount the young Mr. Marial’s teenage years.  Did he experience racism due to his atypical appearance in this New England small town?  That question won’t be answered in this review, but know that Guor raised big smiles during recollections of his secondary schooling, but tears also fell, some of joy and others of sorrow.

Guor’s soft-spoken personality shines throughout the movie, and a familiar pattern of the said smiles and tears are his copilots.  “Runner” is an inspirational picture, but also an emotional one.  Imagine attempting to shake memories of kidnappings, burning villages, and executions from one’s childhood.  Those images claim permanent status, so Sudan (actually, South Sudan) still calls to him, and he answers by giving back using his most obvious skill set.  This personal journey takes staggering leaps, including Guor’s rise in high school cross-country and a remarkable jump to the marathon, but his life also takes unexpected tumbles.  That old saying the measure of a person is their response after a setback certainly applies here, as another evident quality rings true with this Sudan-to-New Hampshire gentlemen: tireless resolve.

According to imdb.com, “Runner” is a 2019 movie, so the 2012 Olympics can’t (or really shouldn’t be) the last chronological moment in this film.  It’s not even close, and although Guor Marial can comfortably live in the immediate present, there’s always the next day. 

(3.5/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.

Babyteeth - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Eliza Scanlen in “Babyteeth”

Director: Shannon Murphy

Writer: Rita Kalnejais

Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis, Eliza Scanlen, and Toby Wallace.

Review by: Jen Johans

In the startlingly original coming-of-age romance “Babyteeth,” first-time feature filmmaker Shannon Murphy brings the abstract concepts of love and death deliriously to life just as they're set to collide.

Centering on the unlikely romance that develops between Eliza Scanlen's terminally ill fifteen-year-old Sydney, Australia girl Milla and a twenty-three-year-old small-time drug dealer named Moses (Toby Wallace), the film, which was written by Rita Kalnejais and based upon her eponymous play, is as starkly bitter as it is surprisingly sweet.

A far cry from director Adam Shankman's pretty as a picture adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks weepie “A Walk to Remember,” “Babyteeth” is driven less by the protracted drama that often accompanies most end-of-life movies than it is dependent upon the ever-changing emotions of the individuals at the heart of the film who are stuck in life's cruelest predicament.

Messy, soaring, angry, feverish, freewheeling, and impulsive, “Babyteeth” doesn't alternate between moods so much as it does embrace them as they happen simultaneously. Early on in the movie, this culminates in one particularly chaotic scene when Milla brings her new friend Moses home for dinner.

Barely functioning from too much anxiety medication doled out by her psychiatrist husband Henry (a tremendous Ben Mendelsohn), Milla's protective mother Anna (a strong Essie Davis) isn't quite sure how to process this new development. Hurt that instead of meeting her mother at the beauty parlor to get her hair chopped off, Milla trusted a cute stranger with access to dog-grooming equipment instead, as Anna watches the two together, you sense that the thing she's jealous of most is that Moses stole time away from her daughter that was rightfully hers.

Instantly suspicious of the twenty-something – who makes a far worse second impression on Milla's parents by breaking into their kitchen in the middle of the night to look for drugs – Henry and Anna are stopped from calling the authorities when they see the excitement in their daughter's eyes at his return. Ignoring the real reason for Moses' visit, as Milla chats animatedly with her new crush, her parents recognize something that they haven't seen in their daughter in quite some time – hope.

Defying the two by kissing Moses goodbye when her mother drops her off at school, it takes a few more run-ins with the young man for Henry and Anna to realize that no matter how much they might disagree, if their daughter likes him, right now that's all that matters.

Admirably, however, “Babyteeth” doesn't sugar-coat the fact that Moses is a homeless drug addict, dealer, and thief. Challenged to evolve thanks to Milla's love – like every single one of the film's main characters – it's to Scanlen and Wallace's credit that we begin to see Moses through her hopeful gaze early on. A powerful breakthrough by the actor who won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor for his performance at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, “Babyteeth” also marks a strong follow-up by Scanlen to her similarly tragic turn in Greta Gerwig's 2019 adaptation of “Little Women.”

Fearing and knowing that Wallace's Moses will break her heart at least once, the frenetic hand-held cinematography of DP Andy Commis pulls us tightly into the frame alongside our young protagonist. Putting us on equal footing with Henry and Anna throughout Murphy's intentionally visceral film, we feel as lost, protective, loving, and as desperate as Milla's parents do to try to make everything okay . . . at least for now.

Visually inspired by “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Breaking the Waves,” Murphy is smart enough to remember that this is a film about a teenage girl after all. Filling “Babyteeth”'s aesthetically pleasing cinematography with bright, bold hues to heighten the film's sense of urgency, as soon as those colors leave the screen for any length of time, the tone shifts almost imperceptibly and we start to feel on edge.

Stirred by the soulful, sensitive turns by the dynamic ensemble, while the entire cast is outstanding, “Babyteeth” belongs to Ben Mendelsohn overall. Having taken a backseat to Scanlen and Wallace in the third act along with Davis, the “Animal Kingdom” film star sneaks back in to give one of the most achingly true, tender performances of his entire career in the film's gorgeous, succinct coda.

A major directorial debut from the veteran small screen helmer, in “Babyteeth,” Murphy battles against the conventions of the women's weepie subgenre. A study of contrasts, the film is a fervent reminder that as prepared as we think we are for love, life, or death – since we have no idea how we'll deal with anything until it actually happens – it's better to have as much back-up as we possibly can.

(Bio: A three-time national award-winning writer, when Jen Johans isn't reviewing movies at FilmIntuition.com or releasing new episodes of her podcast “Watch With Jen,” you can find her on Twitter @FilmIntuition.)

7500 - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “7500”

‘7500’:  Take a number and get in line for this claustrophobic thriller

Directed by:  Patrick Vollrath

Written by:  Patrick Vollrath and Senad Halilbasic

Starring:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Carlo Kitzlinger, Omid Memar, and Aylin Tezel

“7500” -  “How would an event like this go down in real life?” - director Patrick Vollrath, August 2019 at the Locarno Film Festival

“Nice airplane.  Two wings and two engines.” – Capt. Michael Lutzmann (Carlo Kitzlinger)

It’s 5:23 pm at the Berlin Airport, but it is unclear which one (Schönefeld or Tegel), and security cameras offer several viewpoints throughout this sprawling locale: the check-in area, various hallways, gates, and even a bathroom entrance.  During this montage, one clip focuses on five everyday men – in their 20s or 30s – marching on granite tile with blank stares on their faces, but is this quintet together?

They aren’t a basketball team or a group of buddies on their way to an out-of-town bachelor party, and the lens zooms in on just one individual.

For pilots Capt. Michael Lutzmann and 1st Ofc. Tobias Ellis (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), their flight - European 162 - appears routine and ordinary, until it isn’t.

In “7500”, director Patrick Vollrath dispenses an intense, raw 85-minute thriller that throws the audience into a cockpit (actually, an authentic one, according to an August 2019 Screendaily.com interview) with Lutzmann and Ellis, as a calamitous encounter unfolds.  Hijackers - including the aforementioned man, Vedat (Omid Memar), earlier caught on camera - attempt to take over the plane with 85 passengers aboard.

With a bare-bones script, Kitzlinger and Gordon-Levitt frequently improvise their lines, as Vollrath very much succeeds in offering an authentic account of the perilous events.  The director films nearly the entire movie within an enclosed space. 

“7500” – which is an aviation transporter code for a hijacking – is a combination of “Buried” (2010), “Captain Phillips” (2013), and “United 93” (2006), and this public invasion in the sky also feels personal.  Our pilots sit alone in a claustrophobic venue that might be larger than a coffin, but smaller than a simple sales office or a Guantanamo Bay cell.  The seconds play out in the here and now, but we don’t hear the tick, tick, tick of an analog clock.  Instead, the constant bang, bang, bang on the cockpit door assaults any small moments of peace.

Thankfully the locked, bullet-proof entryway seems pretty darn impossible to bust open.  These baddies, however, appear bound and determined – like persistent, relentless car salesmen carrying sharp knives - so the danger is close, and the battering on steel rattles our heroes’ nerves.

Ours too.

The aviators see the aggressors’ actions through a small (maybe 12 inches by 12 inches) black and white monitor perched over the metal gate.  Sometimes this visual tool acts as a godsend for Lutzmann and Ellis – and us – because the screen is the only insight outside their immediate environment.  Still, it also frightens, because the travelers and flight attendants don’t have a barrier between themselves and the anonymous villains. 

We get a clear view.

It seems like Vollrath and his crew filmed the whole picture for $50,000 during a long weekend, since the setting rests in just one place.  That’s a compliment, because everything looks so realistic, as the camera sits within a couple of feet - and sometimes closer - from its players. 

In fact, Vollrath’s first feature film feels like the actors are genuinely flying a plane, and note that Kitzlinger was a commercial pilot for years.  How about that?  Regardless, without tricks or gimmicks, the movie’s lifeline relies on convincing performances.  Kitzlinger lends a big-time helping hand with his aircraft knowhow, and Gordon-Levitt unleashes his acting gifts to portray shock, angst, and fear convincingly.

No matter the extent of an actual pilot’s training, one’s reaction to an ugly street fight at 33,000 feet is a complete unknown, ‘til the moment arrives.  So, imagine the impact on us. 

(3/4 stars)

Jeff – a member of the Phoenix Critics Circle – has penned film reviews since 2008, graduated from ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, and is a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic.  Follow Jeff and the Phoenix Film Festival on Twitter @MitchFilmCritic and @PhoenixFilmFest, respectively.