Get Duked! - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Samuel Bottomley, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben, and Viraj Juneja in ‘Get Duked’.

‘Get Duked!’ offers regal shenanigans

Written and directed by:  Ninian Doff

Starring:  Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben, Viraj Juneja, Samuel Bottomley, and Eddie Izzard

“Get Duked!” – The Duke of Edinburgh Award is an outdoor adventure challenge that takes “young delinquents out of the city and into the countryside.”

Misguided teens may be a more appropriate moniker for the program’s target audience, and “Get Duked!” features three perfect candidates.  Outside education teacher Mr. Carlyle (Jonathan Aris) recruits (aka forces) troublemaking teenagers Dean (Rian Gordon), Duncan (Lewis Gribben), and DJ Beatroot (Viraj Juneja) on a trip to the Scottish Highlands for four days and three nights. 

Hopefully, the boys can ingest some fresh air and work together.  To rightfully complete this expedition in exile, they need to demonstrate Teamwork, Orienteering, and Foraging.  These classmates have a rich history of collaboration, because they recently set a school bathroom on fire and posted the act on social media, which – naturally – triggered their immediate enrollment on this hiking and camping trip. 

How will these city kids make it in the wide-open spaces?

“Get Duked!” certainly made it at SXSW 2019, because it won the Midnight Audience Award (when the film was previous-named “Boyz in the Wood”).  After watching writer/director Ninian Doff’s sometimes-zany tiptoe-into-the-rural-unknown, this critic agrees that the midnight-madness genre perfectly fits.  With an industrial, rap score accompanying our three heroes – who pick up a mild-mannered fourth named Ian (Samuel Bottomley) – along with lots of drug use and gregarious physical comedy, Doff’s picture steps into cinematic delights for adolescent and college-aged kids (mostly guys) everywhere.  

With the UK as the setting, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (1975) and “Trainspotting” (1996) act like nurturing grandparents and parents for this new generation.

When Dean, Duncan, DJ Beatroot (although this hopeful rap star’s God-given name is William), and Ian step into the hilly, green landscape and complain of cow manure aromas, one might instantly picture Tommy (Kevin McKidd) encouraging his “Trainspotting” mates to enjoy the great outdoors in Danny Boyle’s landmark picture.  Alas, Tommy and his buddies turned around and hopped on the train back to Edinburgh.

These 21st-century fellas don’t spring across grassy buttes and run into the Knights Who Say “Ni!”, but Doff includes a couple moments of Python insanity that pop up at the most unsuspecting times. 

Filming a group of city slickers trekking and setting up camp in an isolated, pastoral locale is ripe for lush comic blossoms, but the lads also run into terminal danger.  The struggle with the rugged terrain slides away a bit, because dodging this ominous threat (which will not be explained in this review) becomes their primary tussle. 

Of course, frequent screw-ups - like Dean making a (hash) cigarette wrapper out of their only map – showcase the kids’ short-sighted thinking and clumsy innocence. 

The young actors carry generous heaps of charisma and chemistry to hold our attention, and Duncan’s boneheaded judgment and DJ Beatroot’s/William’s hip-hop potential sing warped-joy throughout the picture.  

The script throws them into a different world, like some unseen force setting teenage mice into a maze constructed of emerald fields, empty valleys, some local farmers, and a mysterious menace.  A dozen missing posters taped on the Scottish Wildlife Council bus stop foreshadow impending doom, so luckily, our four young men arm themselves with a few weapons, including a very, very sharp fork. 

Throw in a few Keystone Cops for pointed, good measure, and Doff draws up a funny and quotable escapade that clocks in at 83 minutes.  This movie doesn’t stand as tall as the two previously-noted UK movies, but slews of 19-year-old boys will certainly stream “Get Duked!” on random weeknights close to 12 am.  Hey, these future fans may not personally tackle the Scottish outdoor adventure challenge, but they’ll assuredly employ teamwork, orienteering, and foraging in their dorms and fraternity houses, and especially foraging, if you catch my drift.

(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.

Chemical Hearts - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Austin Abrams and Lili Reinhart in ’Chemical Hearts’.

‘Chemical Hearts’ has some magic

Directed by:  Richard Tanne

Written by:  Richard Tanne, based on Krystal Sutherland’s novel

Starring:  Lili Reinhart, Austin Abrams, and Sarah Jones

“Chemical Hearts” – “You’re never more alive than when you’re a teenager.” – Henry Page (Austin Abrams)

Raise your hand if you’ve heard a version of Henry’s aforementioned statement during your teenage years.  Parents, teachers, or older brothers or sisters are usually the main prophets to bestow this wisdom, but in this case, Henry is narrating his story, as he looks back on his high school senior year.  Before meeting Grace (Lili Reinhart), Henry never really believed it, though.

He never felt it.

Nothing emotionally noteworthy rocked Henry’s universe, but Grace did.  On the surface, she’s a prototypical prom queen, an all-state track star, or a combination of both.  Blonde, beautiful, and considerably intimidating to the hundreds of mere mortals – donning the shapes of adolescent boys, ages 15 to 18 - drifting throughout the locker-laced hallways.

Henry doesn’t know a lot about Grace.  She is the new girl from nearby East River, N.J., but this observant introvert quickly surmises that Grace is hurting, both emotionally and physically.  Since they are editors of the school’s newspaper, they’ll need to work in concert.  Therefore, sparks could fly between these two single teens during the most vibrant period of their lives.

Based on Krystal Sutherland’s novel, “Chemical Hearts” director/writer Richard Tanne  (“Southside with You” (2016)) sends his audience back to this volatile stretch of youth and offers a turbulent teen romance, built on a makeshift foundation of gloom and grief, but perhaps some lasting, bright passion may bloom from the gray groundwork.

When they meet, both teenagers reside in glum spaces, and a mystery surrounds Grace.  This young woman prefers silence.  Finding an invisibility cloak at a local garage sale would solve all her problems, but Grace will curtly respond to small talk or schoolwork-discourse while continuously internalizing her aggravation.  She has a noticeable limp and resents using a crutch to march across campus and everywhere else.  The aluminum aid reminds her of a past autonomy and better days, which are unknown to Henry and us.

Meanwhile, he isn’t exactly bitter or dejected, but his writing, classes, small group of friends, and stable family have occupied his time and space, leaving no room for dating.  Surely, Henry could’ve fit girlfriends into his daily planners, but filling his mind with apprehension is an easier path than establishing confidence.

Fate, however, brings Henry an opportunity to connect with someone, and leaning on his habitual trepidation is no longer an option.  In the high school pecking order, reclusive, inexperienced teenage boys don’t customarily begin dating deep-thinking, all-American girls, although many have tried.  Movies like “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “Secret Admirer” (1985), and “Some Kind of Wonderful” (1987) peppered big screens during the 1980s, as the clumsy male leads attempt – (sorry, *spoiler alert*) in vain – to date future NFL cheerleaders.

Thirty-one years later, “Say Anything…” (1989), however, rightfully earned its staying power for many reasons.   One key explanation is because an unfocused slacker Lloyd (John Cusack) and valedictorian Diane (Ione Skye) meet on equal terms, as meaningful relationships are missing from both of their resumes, albeit for different reasons.

In “Chemical Hearts”, Henry is the lone person in need of emotional growth, while Grace tries to heal her broken past.  While the possibility for love is right here, a good therapist would recommend, “Hey, just stay friends.”

Still, at any age, relationships can get complicated in a hurry, and Tanne’s film takes a unique approach by explaining – like a science class – the chemical reasons behind joy and pain. Henry’s older sister Suds (Sarah Jones) expounds on dopamine, stress hormones, and withdrawal, which is tremendously helpful to him and the audience, at least this critic.  Where was Suds when I was growing up? 

(By the way, if you’re playing at home, C8H11NO2 is dopamine’s molecular formula.)

She thankfully captures needed screen time, but since the movie clocks in at 89 minutes, there’s not much room for anyone else.  Henry’s three friends don’t add to the narrative other than prove to Grace that our hero is not a complete loner, which melts away an unwanted Unabomber-vibe.  No, this is Grace and Henry’s movie.  Abrams is pitch-perfect as young man lost in foreign, misunderstood euphoria, and Reinhart fills her character with complexity, wonder, and despair, as she slowly unveils the roots of her sorrow.

The reveal does feel shoehorned within the confines of a feature film.  It most likely plays out more rhythmically in the novel, and the four school newspaper issues that are supposed to coincide with Grace and Henry’s journey seem like an afterthought.  Still, the movie’s overall message - on the joyous and blustery feelings of first love - does resonate.  Maybe that's enough, but will "Chemical Hearts" echo with the same impact in 2051?

“Say Anything…” probably will.

(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.

Tesla - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Writer-director: Michael Almereyda

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Jim Gaffigan, Eve Hewson, & Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

Review by Jen Johans

One of the most difficult things to convey onscreen is human thought, particularly what happens when an epiphany washes over us. We do, of course, have an accepted shorthand for these moments in animation. Most commonly depicted by the image of a lightbulb going off above a character's head, we watch as their eyes widen, perhaps a finger is raised, and then they run to go put their ideas into motion. Taken together, these actions are easily understood; we know we've witnessed intellectual serendipity.

And while we've all seen actors attempt to externalize the internal onscreen – usually with the camera closing in on their faces before pulling back to see them start working on a new, grand opus – there are only a precious few actors who we routinely believe we are seeing think in character. It's a short list, to be sure, but one man who is definitely on it is Ethan Hawke.

One of those actors whom you believe that – for both good and bad, depending upon the project – has the soul of a philosopher, a musician, and an inventor, we've seen Hawke triumph when he collaborates with a filmmaker who knows how to "play" him like Chet Baker played his trumpet . . . or Hawke played Baker playing his trumpet in Robert Budreau's "Born to Be Blue."

Still, while he's worked so well with iconoclastic writer-director Michael Almereyda in the past – most notably on his controversial "Hamlet" adaptation in 2000 – their latest effort "Tesla" feels more like a jam session played on rusty instruments by an out-of-practice jazz band than it does the smooth, rich, wrap you in velvet sound of musicians who are perfectly in sync.

It's a damn shame, too, because if anybody knows how to bring a lightbulb moment to life, it's Hawke, so when it was announced that he was going to be playing a man who literally played with electricity, expectations for "Tesla" were set unbelievably high.

The first time we see Nikola Tesla (Hawke) in Almereyda's unconventional biopic, he is wobbling around on roller skates, which is an apt metaphor for the film overall. Awkwardly trying to keep his balance in formal wear, Tesla skates along with his friend, the daughter of J.P. Morgan, Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson), who wishes she could be so much more to the shy inventor. So undone by the sight of pearls on a woman's neck because it reminds him of his mother back in Serbia, (who, for all intents and purposes is the only woman he ever loved), their relationship is doomed long before he ever put on those skates.

Wedded to his pursuits and only very casually intrigued by women from a platonic perspective, Tesla puts everything he has into his work with alternating currents – a practice which alienates his first big American employer, Thomas Edison (a sublime Kyle MacLachlan) – before he eventually finds a patron and financial champion in George Westinghouse (Jim Gaffigan).

Coming off the heels of Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's underrated 2017 film "The Current War," which chronicled the same three figures (with Nicholas Hoult, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Michael Shannon playing Tesla, Edison, and Westinghouse respectively) and was finally released to little fanfare last year, I was somewhat familiar with "Tesla"'s turn-of-the-century electrical terrain.

And while the first act of the film is very engaging – especially with a surprisingly vulnerable turn by MacLachlan and moving supporting work by Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Tesla's best friend from overseas, the hard-working but creatively stymied Anital Szigeti – it's a bad sign when your film happens to be called "Tesla" and the least compelling character in the film is also named Tesla.

As subdued as he is single-minded in his quest, Nikola Tesla is on paper, at least, a perfect character for Ethan Hawke. A highly verbal actor, Hawke sometimes gives his most affecting performances when he's limited by how much he can say since it's in such a stark contrast to his most famous onscreen alter-ego as Jesse Wallace in Richard Linklater's "Before" trilogy.

Yet whereas Paul Schrader knew exactly how to balance the pathos and conflict just below his reverend's collar in "First Reformed," he flounders in this film so much that he nearly blends in with the scenery. And in "Tesla" this is a feat in and of itself considering that, in paying homage to Derek Jarman's minimalist production design in "Edward II" (and other films) and Denmark's Dogme 95 filmmakers, "Tesla" frequently opts for basic projected backdrops you might find surfing the web instead of artfully decorated spaces.

An experimental biopic that (shockingly) isn't weird enough to break any new ground, save for a truly puzzling performance by Hawke as Tesla of the Tears for Fears song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" toward the end of the movie – which made me wonder why we hadn't seen that level of innovation before – Almereyda's film is an overall yawn.

Struggling to hold our attention as it drones on and away from Edison, who is honestly the most fascinating figure in the film, I found myself fighting to stay awake even though I watched it the very first thing in the morning. A long-gestating passion project from the director who penned his earliest version of the script in the early 1980s, regrettably the 2020 filmed version of “Tesla” is sorely lacking the same level of youthful enthusiasm that Almereyda had for it nearly forty years ago.

The first onscreen reunion of MacLachlan and Hawke since they played Claudius and Hamlet in Almereyda's 2000 film, the two crackle with electricity in the few scenes they share, whether they're sparring verbally or with ice cream cones (don't ask). And while it's always hard to showcase creative thought, when it comes right down to it, no matter how hard Almereyda tries to flick the switch for Hawke in “Tesla,” this is one bulb that never lights up.

(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.)

Boys State - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Here’s an enthusiastic vote for ‘Boys State’

Directed by:  Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss

Starring:  Steven Garza, Ben Feinstein, René Otero, and Robert MacDougall

“Boys State” –  “Political parties are likely to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government.” – George Washington, 1796

The aforementioned quote appears at the beginning of “Boys State”, a highly compelling documentary - from directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss – that presents Texas Boys State, an American Legion-promoted event in which over 1,000 teenage boys descend on Austin to engage in a government simulation. 

Given the current combative state of American politics, the thought of this many young men dividing up into two parties (the Nationalists and Federalists), organizing rallies, writing and delivering speeches, forming coalitions, and culminating their week-long endeavors by electing one governor might cause your head to spin.   

“You have no time to take it all in.  (On the) first day, they throw you into that arena, and it’s like a battle royale.  It’s crazy.”  - Steven Garza, Nationalist Party, during a July 23, 2020 Zoom call

McBaine and Moss also dive into the fray with cameras in hand.  They follow streams of kids – all donning identical, white Texas Boys State T-shirts and red lanyards – throughout the University of Texas courtyards and lecture halls.  For anyone who felt anxious during their first days of high school or the initial 24-hour maze of the college experience, these Boys State meet-and-greets – both big and small – might trigger some previously-buried flashbacks from yesteryear….or yestercentury.     

Some boys’ voices do not quite resonate.  Others, however, do ring with their fellow Nationalists and Federalists.  As leaders emerge, McBaine and Moss feature four key players.  

Ben Feinstein, a well-spoken political junkie, carries the ambition of David Plouffe or Karl Rove and sizes up every individual with the speedy, cold calculations of Joshua from “WarGames” (1983).   Even though Global Thermonuclear War isn’t at the top of Ben’s agenda, he’s not someone to play games with when the stakes are sky-high. 

Since Austin is the setting, it’s difficult not to reminisce about Richard Linklater’s “Dazed and Confused” (1993), and especially when Robert MacDougall graces the screen.  He seems like a combination of three characters from that landmark high school comedy: football players Don (Sasha Jenson) and Pink (Jason London) and also Matthew McConaughey’s memorable turn as Wooderson.  No, Robert doesn’t declare, “Alright, alright, alright,” but he does deliver a misplaced off-color joke to kick-off his campaign speech.

René Otero leans politically left.  After listening to some of his fellow Boys State colleagues opine on conservative positions, he feels isolated.  René’s core beliefs seem to conflict with this massive group.  He’s also black and mentions, “I’ve never seen so many white people…ever.”  Wondering if he’ll fit in, René decides to proudly pronounce his individuality to the audience, and their acceptance becomes an open question. 

Steven Garza discovers similar obstacles.  Former U.S. Congressman Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) is one of his favorite speakers, so Steven runs in Democratic circles.  He’s also a person of color, and in the previously-mentioned Zoom call, Steven adds, “I felt like a fish out of water, not only as a brown person in a sea of mostly white faces, but also personality-wise.”  Soft-spoken and a bit on the shy-side, Steven might not pound his chest and tout his successes, but he carries a quiet confidence and oceans of altruism.  When he speaks, it’s from the heart, duly noted by folks on-screen and off-screen.  

McBaine and Moss spent plenty of off-screen time to pull this film together.  They edited this project for a year and condensed the hours and hours of footage into a tightly-woven 109-minute documentary that plays out like a Hollywood yarn.  Indeed, this is on-the-edge-of-your-seat stuff, especially as the election results arrive in the third act’s crescendo.  The Federalists and Nationalists soar and suffer through ups and downs, as moments of fair play are balanced by hardball gamesmanship.  

Keep in mind, these are 17-year-old kids. 

Although Boys States and Girls States exist throughout the U.S., one of the reasons that the filmmakers chose Texas is because in 2017, the noted Lone Star State assembly gained national attention by voting to secede from the Union.  Okay, in practical terms, those boys didn’t really create a new law (or break an old one), but are these Boys State teens serious about this program, one that doubles as a sociological Petri dish? 

Sure, they learned from “adult” legislators and campaigners, but about 328 million Americans could discover key life lessons from these 1,000 young Texans.  At first, Texas Boys State does seem like a battle royale, but it may or may not end that way.  Let’s hope that the grown-ups keep the combat to a minimum in November 2020.  This critic isn’t too optimistic.  

(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.

Sputnik - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Courtesy of IFC Films

Director: Egor Abramenko

Cast: Pyotr Fyodorov, Oksana Akinshina, & Fedor Bondarchuk.

Review by Jen Johans

“Sputnik” is a work of Russian space horror that takes place in 1983 – it has to be 1983. Not only is that, as the film's director Egor Abramenko acknowledges, the “golden age” of science fiction as “Sputnik” shares a direct lineage to Ridley Scott's masterful “Alien,” but it's also the ideal time for its allegory about the complexities of identity to pay off on the upcoming fall of the Soviet Union. Additionally, 1983 was the peak time after the rise of astronauts in the space race – both in Russia and here in the states – where kids grew up dreaming of being one of those chosen few, the heroic explorers who represented their country and the entire planet as they journeyed into outer space.

This was before the devastation of the Challenger explosion in 1986 and before kids were old enough to see some of the (then) contemporary works of space horror from “2001: A Space Odyssey” to the 1978 remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (before its director Philip Kaufman would go on to make the brilliant, flag-waving space docudrama “The Right Stuff”) to “Alien” and beyond. Not only brilliant works of existential science fiction, these films serve as cautionary tales, warning us that perhaps not all of the life forms that awaited us in space were as friendly as the one in “E.T.”

In setting his film in 1983, Abramenko taps into all of these contradictions, including the desire to answer that childlike call in all of us to be a pioneering national hero and the body horror that occurs in its protagonist as a result that is so perfectly suited to '83.

Written by Oleg Malovichko and Andrei Zolotarev (and inspired by Abramenko's short film “The Passenger,” penned by Roman Volobuev, which played at Fantastic Fest), “Sputnik” tells the story of the sole survivor of a space wreck. Chronicling the crash of the Orbita 4 spaceship at the start of the film, after the ship lands, Russian cosmonaut Konstantin Veshnyakov (played by Pyotr Fyodorov) is held under observation in a secure facility in Kazakhstan while scientists work to deduce exactly what happened and what if anything might be wrong with the man who walked away.

Having traveled to Moscow to recruit risk-taking neuro-psychiatrist Tatyana Klimova (Oksana Akinshina) to evaluate the man with promises that he'll take care of her ethics board inquiry from the health ministry, Semiradov (Fedor Bondarchuk) listens to Tatyana's cursory diagnosis that the cosmonaut is suffering from PTSD, knowing full well that the riddle that is Konstantin becomes far more complex by nightfall. Left in the dark right along with Tatyana, we soon discover that although the cosmonaut arrived back on Earth alone, he is very much not alone in a truly shocking reveal that's as disturbing as it is a genuine throwback to the type of space and/or body horror fare we saw in the late 1970s through the early '80s.

An intelligent puzzle that grows progressively scarier as it continues, while the film lays on some of the psychoanalysis regarding the root of the man's troubles a little heavily (and far too early, when it could certainly use one more twist before its thrilling climax), “Sputnik” is still one sophisticated scarer, overall.

Exceedingly well-crafted and featuring chilling antiseptic production design that's heavy on barriers, mirrors, glass, and mazes – all of which become, in Abramenko's hands, an effectively symbolic motif – "Sputnik" benefits from its uniformly excellent cast, particularly Fyodorov and Akinshina who ably carry the film. Infused with an intense, percussion-heavy score from composer Oleg Karpachev that feels at once both well-suited to this film as it also does very reminiscent of the scores of 1983, “Sputnik” is a damn strong calling card for Abramenko in an assured feature filmmaking debut.

The latest in a long line of films that were inspired by “Alien,” from a quality standpoint, “Sputnik” belongs to the upper echelon of these movies and I appreciate just how much it paid tribute to and deviated from the blueprint that is the Ridley Scott classic.

Frustratingly never paying off on a twist involving one of our main characters that it foreshadows but then abandons, “Sputnik” admittedly does start to run out of gas in the last half of the film. Polished and unrelenting nonetheless, it remains gripping enough to hold your attention as we watch the scientists try to figure out who the real Konstantin is deep down and how to separate the “passenger” from its host for good.

Trying (and at times struggling) to juggle both horror and allegorical satire, Abramenko's film is intriguing from a historical perspective as well. Watching its leads question the ethics involved in their work as they wonder if they should report their superiors when things fall apart (just like the Soviet Union would eight years later), Abramenko's “Sputnik” plays especially well to kids who remember the '80s and dreamed of going to space, before Hollywood informed them that the greatest risk might come from within.

(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.)

Out Stealing Horses - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Tobias Santelmann and Jon Ranes in “Out Stealing Horses” (2019) © 4 1/2 Film

Writer-director: Hans Petter Moland (based on the book by Per Petterson)

Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Bjørn Floberg, Jon Ranes, & Tobias Santelmann

Review by: Jen Johans

Last month, after seeing and loving director Joseph Losey's 1971 film “The Go-Between,” I was asked on Twitter just what it was about the movie that I responded to so much.

“It's hard to sum up in a tweet,” I replied, and by way of explanation of the film's finest qualities, added that I admired “the way that it unfolds slowly like a summer's day, brings you back to childhood being in rooms with adults having conversations you don't fully understand, coming-of-age and discovering love.”

And although those remarks described my reaction to “The Go-Between,” intriguingly, when I watched “Out Stealing Horses” this week to review, I realized that while writer-director Hans Petter Moland's adaptation of the bestselling book by Per Petterson was in no way as narratively successful as “The Go-Between,” what I loved most about Losey's film is exactly what drew me into this one.

A straightforward adaptation of Petterson's novel, “Out Stealing Horses” centers on Trond (played by the always outstanding Stellan Skarsgård), a sixty-seven-year-old grieving widower who moves out to the Norwegian countryside to live a solitary life. Shortly into the film, he discovers that his new imposing, slightly off neighbor (played by Bjørn Floberg) is none other than the younger brother of his best friend from childhood but since Trond chooses not to acknowledge this, we gather that this reunion is anything but joyous. A framing device shot with drab colors, dim lighting, and a general sense of malaise, the more “modern” sequences set in 1999 never really pull us in quite as well as Trond's recollections of life in the 1940s, which make up a bulk of the film.

With the rich shimmer of cerulean hued water and the lush, deep, jade-colored greenery of the surrounding trees, when fifteen-year-old Trond (Jon Ranes) skims his hand over the lake during the film’s extended flashback, “Out Stealing Horses” nearly takes our breath away, thanks to the cinematography of Danish cameraman Rasmus Videbæk. Reveling in nature in a way that recalls the work of master director Terrence Malick, as we watch Trond and his father (a fine Tobias Santelmann) rely on rain for showers, boats for transportation, and trees for their prosperity in their wooded existence, we realize that their work chopping down tall trees serves as a terrific metaphor.

For, just like the two men clear the woods while logging, with each tree they chop down, Trond begins to see the complexities of life a little more clearly as he comes of age. Following a shocking tragedy in the life of his best friend Jon's (Sjur Vatne Brean) family, which he uncovers on the day the two went “out stealing horses” – which just means going for a ride – Trond begins to realize that things aren't always what they seem.

And this certainly hits home when his father insists that Trond's mother and sister should not join them in the countryside and Trond realizes this rule doesn't apply to all women. Observing but failing to fully process his father's closeness to Jon's mother (Danica Curcic) since – at the exact same time – he's developed a crush on the beautiful married woman as well, “Out Stealing Horses” is a languid yet engrossing account of a fateful summer.

As specifically tied to its time and place as the film is, just like Losey's “Go-Between,” and many other contemplative chronicles of an adolescent being thrust into adulthood when they realize that the most important people in their life are flawed individuals of flesh and blood, the thoughts and feelings that Moland's film conveys are universally relatable.

Additionally, by emphasizing the ways that the events of our life – and in particular our role models – can shape us whether we want them to or not, the film will undoubtedly make us think about some of the big early turning points of our lives, which occurred before we could truly understand their significance or impact on others.

Structurally challenged, while it takes a good half-hour or so to truly become invested in the plight of its characters since the 1999 sequences seem to belong to an entirely different movie, overall, it's an uneven yet ultimately compelling work anchored by Videbæk's romantic cinematography and uniformly strong turns by Ranes and Santelmann, in particular.

The fifth collaboration between Moland and Skarsgård might not be as thrillingly riveting as “In Order of Disappearance,” (which Moland later remade in the states with Liam Neeson as “Cold Pursuit”) or as emotionally draining as “Aberdeen,” but it's still an intensely personal work for the filmmaker.

A moderately cogent adaptation of Petterson's novel, which has been translated into more than fifty languages, the film's shortcomings left me wanting to read the book to get the full impact of the storyline. Yet Moland deserves credit nonetheless for transforming this very Norwegian tale into an emotional saga that we all can feel a kinship with even if we've never showered in the rain or chopped down a tree a day in our life.

Though hindered by the pacing of its opening act, “Out Stealing Horses” is at its best when it flashes back to Trond's life as he moves between childhood and adulthood and discovers the gray between the black and white that exists out there in the countryside amid all that blue and green.

(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.)

Made in Italy - Movie Review by Jen Johans

Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson in “Made in Italy” (2020)

Writer-director: James D’Arcy

Cast: Liam Neeson, Micheál Richardson, Lindsay Duncan, & Valeria Bilello

Review by: Jen Johans

For Jack (Micheál Richardson), getting divorced means more than just changing residences. Having managed the swanky London art gallery owned by his in-laws for years, Jack is in for a rude awakening when his ex-wife-to-be Ruth (Yolanda Kettle) informs him that not only will he be out of a job as soon as the ink on the divorce decree dries but the art gallery he knows and loves is going on the market for sale.

Begging Ruth not to sell the gallery out from under him, Jack embarks on a quest to seek out the funds he needs to purchase the place from his estranged father Robert (Liam Neeson). Whereas Jack's a level-headed optimist, his carefree painter father's head is always the clouds. And their differences are magnified as they travel to the village of Monticello Amiata in the Grosseto province of Tuscany, Italy to check on and sell the palazzo they'd inherited from Jack's mother and Robert's late wife, Raffaella (Helena Antonio). Arriving in the dead of night, they discover not the pristine villa that Jack barely remembers from his youth but the ornate Tuscan equivalent of a falling down shack, complete with no electricity, and a weasel in the bathroom.

An obvious metaphor for the men's need to repair their relationship and deal with their repressed grief over the tragic loss of Raffaella when Jack was a young boy, as the two get to work fixing up the villa with the help of some locals, they begin to break down their own walls as well.

Meeting cute with the lovely chef and trattoria owner Natalia (Valeria Bilello), Jack strikes up a friendship with romantic potential that much like the villa, also pays off on his need to face the past, since she's a loving mother of a daughter who's only slightly older than Jack was when he lost his mom.

Although inevitably, some will call this the male version of the 2003 film “Under the Tuscan Sun” from director Audrey Wells (just like they did when Russell Crowe fixed up a relative's residence in France in the 2006 Ridley Scott movie “A Good Year”), this one hits a bit harder than the rest from an emotional standpoint overall.

Located roughly ninety-five minutes away from the gorgeous Villa Laura just outside the walls of Cortona in Tuscany where Diane Lane impulsively moved in “Under the Tuscan Sun,” the vibrant scenic views of Monticello Amiata in “Made in Italy” are undeniably eye-catching.

Yet more than just a romantic travelogue, since the tragedy at the core of “Italy” closely resembles the sudden shocking loss of Liam Neeson's wife and his onscreen (and offscreen) son Micheál Richardson's mother Natasha Richardson, when the two gifted actors angrily confront one another over a loved one's death and how to grieve, it cuts extremely close to the bone. And while Neeson and Richardson have revealed that they felt like sublimating and addressing their pain through art was cathartic, it's nonetheless heartbreaking to watch.

This plot point aside, however, writer-director James D'Arcy's film remains an otherwise pleasant, airy, lighthearted, perfect for the dog days of summer trifle, just like “Tuscan Sun” and “A Good Year.” Undeniably predictable, of course, it still warms the heart just like a bowl of risotto made with love.

(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.)

Zoom call with the "Boys State" directors and stars by Jeff Mitchell

Sure, 2020 is a different type of election year, but “Boys State” - the 2020 Sundance Film Festival’s Documentary Grand Jury Prize winner – shows a very unique slice of politics.  Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’ film presents Texas Boys State, an American Legion-promoted, one-week event in which over 1,000 teenage boys gather in Austin and engage in a government simulation. 

The Phoenix Film Festival, along with several media outlets, joined a Zoom call with McBaine, Moss, and three Boys State participants: Steven Garza, René Otero, and Ben Feinstein.  The Phoenix Film Festival’s questions were not selected during the call, but we were honored to attend.  Here is the insightful, thoughtful discussion!   

“Boys State” arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday, Aug. 14.

Q:  How did you find Steven, René, and Ben for your film?

AM:  Finding the main characters (for) any vérité film is always a challenge.  (They are) never really the people (who) we initially expect to find.  Out of a pool of 1,000 kids heading to Boys State, we had to whittle (our choices) down to four.  We had a checklist of things that we needed.  We needed them to be diverse, have different political views, be politically savvy, ambitious, (and) vulnerable.  There are all kinds of things we needed, but then there’s the irrational piece of “I don’t know what else we’re looking for.”  It (took) a long time to find them, but when we did, there was an instant moment of recognition.

Steven was a quieter voice in the one of the orientations that Jesse (attended), and we didn’t find René (until after the) event started.  You meet him in the film the way we met him (and we thought), “You! We’ve been waiting for you!”

Fortunately, (René) was game to let us follow him, so it was a little bit of luck too.

Q:  René, we are introduced to you after you gave an incredibly powerful speech.  Tell us about that experience and being a subject of a film.

René Otero in “Boys State”

RO:  (It) was an empowering moment.  I wasn’t entirely certain that I wanted to be part of Boys State yet.  I felt isolated.  Do I conform to survive, or do I proclaim myself?  I was mostly quiet about my political views, but I heard some speeches that just stabbed me in my heart.  I was angry, so I (went) up there, gave the speech, and it worked out for me.  It really, really worked out for me, because Amanda and Jesse happened to be there, and it felt so electrifying to know that they interrupted (their project) and shifted it around to include me. 

Q:  At Boys State, 1,100 of your peers are interested in the same things: government and politics.  I’m curious about that energy.

BF:  It took a good day or two to find my niche.  The whole energy of the week started in this very intimidating place, but it felt like controlled chaos far more than just chaos.  The film captures it to a degree, but the heat, the walking, and the lack of sleep -  especially for an amputee walking 38 miles on prosthetics in 100 degree Texas heat on four hours of sleep day-in and day-out - isn’t the easiest thing.  So, adrenaline (kept) me going.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a week (when) I felt that kind of passion and a raw desire to finish.  Unbelievable.  That’s the best way to describe it. 

SG:  You have no time to take it all in.  (On the) first day, they throw you into that arena, and it’s like a battle royale.  It’s crazy, and my friends who have seen the trailer have said, “Oh my God, it looks insane.”  

Steven Garza in “Boys State”

It’s even crazier in person, and I believe (Amanda and Jesse captured) about 300 hours of footage, (that they) compressed into an hour and 45 (minutes).  Shenanigans (went on) on the entire week, and I felt like a fish out of water, not only as a brown person in a sea of mostly white faces, but also personality-wise.  (I’m not) a rowdy guy that gets involved and (does) backflips.  I couldn’t do a backflip.  I’d break my neck.  That’s not me.  I was just keeping to myself and trying to find quiet throughout this hurricane of a week.  

JM:  It was a bit like taking a little prop plane into a hurricane.  Fortunately, we knew (that) we had exceptional subjects and a great crew.  We had a crew of 28 people, probably - by a factor of 20 - bigger than any crew we’ve ever had. 

We also expected to find some of that crazy energy.  We (also) found some real intimacy and emotion that we didn’t expect.  That was the surprise for us: to get past the “Lord of the Flies”.  We were blown away by René’s speech, but I was more surprised that he captured the room.  That was a really conservative room.

We knew (Boys State) would be predominately white and conservative, but René and Steven (got) traction and rose in their party.  For us, there was a challenge of (properly) capturing the week, which was hard, (and) the edit was very long.  It was a year-long, and I think we wanted to convey the emotion and exhilaration that we experienced in the room.

Q:  In retrospect, it appeared that many candidates were focused on winning rather than governing.  Is that solely because of the nature of the one-week event, or do you feel that this is systemic of American politics?

Ben Feinstein in “Boys State”

BF:  I feel it’s both.  Texas Boys State is a simulation where there’s no history of governance, and there’s no shadow of the future.  It’s one week where everything is isolated, and people can say whatever they want, and if it sounds good, then it gets the votes.  To a larger degree, I think it’s an unhealthy trend in American politics.  It spills over into things that shouldn’t be political at all, like business, foreign policy, human rights, and other areas that we’re willing to score points on each other. 

I feel like to a dangerous degree, our politics and morality have crossed to the point where more aspects of our (lives) are a part of this team sport.  If you’re a conservative, you get those liberals, and if you’re a liberal, screw the conservatives.  It’s an extremely unhealthy trend for a democracy that relies on citizens’ responsibility.

Q:  You are all phenomenal speakers.  Who inspires you?

RO:  My older brother.  I grew up in a black church, and you do a lot of presentations, spoken words, or Easter speeches, and I was very competitive with him.  He (received) a lot of praise and applause, and I (thought), “I want to do that.”

I’m also really into comedians – like Michael Che and Paris Sachay - and I always say that if none of this works out, I can be a comedian.

SG:  Three individuals.  Two are real, and one is fictional.  Beto O’Rourke.  You can disagree with his positions, but he tells you what he believes, and you never have to (wonder), if he’s telling the truth.  The second one is Bobby Kennedy.  His speech after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. is probably my favorite historical speech.  The third person.  I love “The West Wing”, (so it’s) Josiah Bartlet.  Martin Sheen is a phenomenal actor, and it’s an amazing show.  People criticize it for being pie-in-the-sky, liberal utopia, but out of (the) three, I probably get the most inspiration from him. 

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 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.)