Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Dir: Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson

Featuring: Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips, B.B. King, The Fifth Dimension, and Stevie Wonder

Runtime: 112 minutes

For music fans, it's been a long time since we've been to a concert, yet we will never forget the feelings associated with enjoying live music with a group of people. It's an exhilarating, emotional, and enlightening experience watching your favorite band perform your favorite song right in front of you. It doesn't need to be a band you are familiar with to understand how universal and interconnected music can be for people.

Director Ahmir Thompson - better known as Questlove, the drummer for the hip-hop collective The Roots – takes us to a concert, a six-week summer music festival in 1969 known as the Harlem Cultural Festival. Bringing together 300,000 people, primarily Black locals from and near Harlem, the concert hosted some of the era's biggest acts. Musicians like Sly and the Family Stone, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, Glady's Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, Ray Barretto, and The Staple Singers all participated. In 1969, in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, this gathering was a significant cultural event during a turbulent and violent time for people of color in America.

The film begins with an introduction to a young Stevie Wonder, finding the artist right before the hits, awards, and accolades that will change how the world knows the artist now. He plays the piano and then moves to the drums, captivating the audience and the viewer with a brilliant freestyle. It's a beautiful introduction and one that I had never seen before this film.

How is it possible that this fantastic concert moment from a musical icon has never been seen? Because the concert footage sat in someone's basement for more than 50 years, never arranged for a music festival or fine-tuned for a movie theater release. At the same time that the Harlem Cultural Festival was happening, Woodstock was occurring upstate. When the time came to take all the footage, shot from start to finish by Hal Tulchin, from the Harlem Cultural Festival and turn it into something for the rest of the world to see, potential buyers found no interest in the "Black Woodstock."

Questlove, with editor Joshua L. Pearson, lovingly compose a documentary that is as much a concert movie as it is a journey through a critical time in history for Black America. The music played explores both diversity and unification, while the concert event displays a new movement in culture, politics, and pride. The term "negro” would be replaced and proudly spoken as "Black," gospel, jazz, and blues music would morph into Motown, and the recognized struggle for Black people would become worldwide. The interlacing of civil rights violence footage, speeches from political activists, and interviews with concert attendees, all of them thankful for the film bringing back a forgotten memory, are impeccably arranged.

The musical moments are the icing on the cake. Fun moments like Sly and the Family Stone introducing funk and rock and Ray Barretto making the crowd dance with his bongo-playing. Emotional moments, like the passing of the torch between Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples singing Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite song, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." The jaw-dropping moment with Nina "The High Priestess of Soul" Simone singing "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black." It's beautiful.

Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) is simply one of the best music documentaries ever made.

Monte's Rating

5.00 out of 5.00

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The Forever Purge - Movie Review

Dir: Everardo Gout

Starring: Ana de la Reguera, Josh Lucas, Tenoch Huerta, Leven Rambin, and Will Patton

1 hr 43 min

The absolute horror of director Everardo Gout and franchise writer James DeMonaco's film "The Forever Purge" is that their depictions of a dystopian America feel far too similar to the emotions felt during the past year and a half. The hypothetical element of imagining America in a state of despair, where the government has implemented a day-long, authority-free, crime wave to dispel the aggressions that people hold inside them all year, is the worst-case scenario with "The Purge" films.

It's the purpose for every one of these films, "The Forever Purge" is the fifth in the franchise, to incorporate elements found in the current state of the world. Whether the compromised sense of order, the political discontent, the electoral process, or the case with "The Forever Purge," the racism found in America. Its edgy surface-level analysis of the topics doesn't lend much to the conversation of these issues as a whole. However, they do find effectiveness when combined into a film with a slant towards the horror genre.

Adela (Ana de la Reguera) and her husband Juan (Tenoch Huerta) are new immigrants in a small Texas town where Juan is a ranch hand for the wealthy Tucker family. Juan is a skilled worker; while calming a wide stallion, he impresses the owner of the ranch Caleb (Will Patton), but that fuels the jealousy of Caleb's son, Dylan (Josh Lucas). A masked gang of killers attacks the Tucker family on the morning after The Purge, breaking the government's time restrictions for this event. Adela and Juan join forces with the Tucker family to fight back and make it to the haven of the Mexico border as the country spirals into chaos.

Mask wearing, weapon brandishing, bad guys stalk the streets in The Purge films. The stalker cinema tactics are on full display in all these films; jump scares, graphic scenes of violence, and a general push towards showing the demented nature of people who live without boundaries. "The Forever Purge" taps into these elements initially but soon venture into something more akin to "Red Dawn," as the Purge turns into a full-scale overthrow of the United States.

The narrative tries for some insight and social commentary surrounding racism and the state of the world regarding civil rights and freedoms for immigrants. Still, most of these moments are undercut by big shootouts and bad guys with masks jumping into the frame to introduce the scare tactics. The racism and discrimination presented within the Tucker Family towards Adela and Juan, specifically Josh Lucas' character Dylan, is easily excused when the worst racists enjoying the Purge come knocking on the door.

"The Forever Purge" tries to tap into the feelings current in the world; there are a few moments where the horror is genuine and scary with themes of racism and injustice. Unfortunately, these moments feel pushed to the side for simple thrills and explosions.

Monte's Rating

2.50 out of 5.00

Zola – Movie Review

Directed by: Janicza Bravo

Written by: Janicza Bravo and Jeremy O. Harris

Starring: Taylour Paige, Riley Keough, Colman Domingo, and Nicholas Braun

Runtime: 90 minutes

‘Zola’ runs 90 minutes, which is too long to be stuck in this on-screen weekend

“You want to hear a story about how me and this bitch fell out? It’s kind of long, but it’s full of suspense.” – Zola (Taylour Paige)

This cinematic tale – “Zola”, directed by Janicza Bravo - is based on a real-life 2015 Twitter post by A’Ziah “Zola” Wells, but this wasn’t an ordinary mention about her birthday, an adorable pet video, or a delicious meal photo. This 20-year-old delivered a mindboggling-long social media post that totaled 148 connected Tweets, and it detailed her dubious weekend with a brand-new friend, Stefani.

(A’Ziah’s viral, stormy yarn rocked the social media world and even inspired a November 2015 “Rolling Stone” feature by David Kushner. Still, this movie was my first introduction into the misadventure, but hey, I possess the pop culture knowledge of a gnat that was born yesterday.)

As noted in the aforementioned quote, Zola and Stefani (Riley Keough) weren’t pals for terribly long, and with good reason. Have you ever made a friend, especially during your youth, but quickly realized that reality tripped your leap of faith with this individual?

“You aren’t who I thought you were,” might cross your mind with the urgency of a police car siren blaring while you and your car careen off a cliff.

No question, I’ve made some terrible choices with faulty reads on supposed positive first impressions, but - thankfully – our individual Spidey Senses and aptitudes to internalize “Danger, Will Robinson” improve with age.

For Zola – a waitress - warning lights and alarms didn’t immediately go off when Stefani sat in her section and desperately wished to be her instant buddy. Within 24 hours, however, Stefani – a stripper – convinces Zola to travel to Florida for a lucrative weekend of performing at a hot club to make five thousand dollars a night…each! Zola, an exotic dancer herself, did question this abrupt invitation, but hey, Stefani seems okay, and the potential to score 10 grand for a two nights work can shove away a warning bell or two…or three.

So, our protagonist faces a 26-hour road trip to Tampa with Stef, her new BFF’s wimpy, whiny boyfriend Derrek (Nicholas Braun), and a tough guy who haphazardly barks orders (Colman Domingo).

What could go wrong?

Well, screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris and Bravo – who also co-penned the script - lead us down a 90-minute bait-and-switch and into a seedy, misguided trek. Zola becomes an unsuspecting victim, and she’s led by an idiot-triad who then meets even more imbeciles during their brief stay in The Sunshine State. The said party’s collective incompetence is as ever-present as Florida’s humidity. Bravo and Harris also promote peril and emotional claustrophobia because - as an audience – we feel as trapped as Zola due to her lack of immediate options while away from home.

On second thought, we feel stuck. At least, I did. Stuck and frustrated in acidic, shady, inept happenings for an hour and a half, and outside of Zola, no other characters show any redeeming traits.

Zero, zip, and zilch.

Stefani’s unnamed “friend” (Domingo) routinely schemes and bullies. Sure, Stefani claims that he “takes care of (her),” but that’s code for something else entirely. Stefani manipulates Zola from start to finish, and Derrek’s sad-sack routine gets old after two minutes, although he does wish that his girlfriend’s exploits would end before they begin, albeit for jealous reasons rather than an altruistic stance. In fact, Derrek might be the most ineffectual 6’ 7” character in recent movie history.

With a road trip full of trite banter, an aging, smelly hotel, and even a stop in a restroom, where an overhead shot of the women using the toilet shows clear displays of their fluids in the bowls, Bravo makes us uncomfortable and sets a mood.

But, the tones don’t quite add up. The movie feels like it should be a comedy and satirical take on Zola’s unfortunate couple of days. There’s a buffoonery of it all, but then again, I only uttered a couple of laughs, but a Florida dancer’s prayer to bring in customers is pretty darn funny. As a drama, it, perhaps, hopes to be a miserable horror show, as Bravo holds up a mirror to 21st-century American society, and we don’t like what we see.

Her debut feature, “Lemon” (2017), has similar effects, as Brett Gelman plays Isaac, the creepiest weirdo this side of the “Office Space” Stapler Guy, and he accidentally drops his phone in an actively used toilet bowl as his on-screen crescendo. Hey, following that guy’s 83 minutes of misfortune was a painful trip to the movies, but it was all by design. At least in “Zola”, the ladies’ bonding in the loo didn’t end in an iPhone disaster.

“Zola” isn’t a disaster. It’s edgy and uncompromising. Bravo has a visionary perspective in capturing backward thinking, and Paige and Keough give convincing, brave performances. The film’s repeated on-screen undertakings leave a mark, although – like “Lemon” – this is a film that you might not wish to revisit. I don’t.

Think of a bad dream, a slip and fall on the ice, or a wrong turn into an abandoned, rusted-out manufacturing plant. They are all unpleasant bothers, but we wake up, stand up, or turn around. We move on. Sure, “Zola” leaves an impression, but one of inconvenience, and hopefully, it doesn’t last.

The movie doesn’t have a grand message like other troubling features, like “The Florida Project” (2017), an open, visceral drama about the working poor. Yes, Bravo’s film does cause some anxiety, but nowhere near the torturous, suffocating thriller “Uncut Gems” (2019), where heroes are few and far between as well.

No, this is a no-frills movie about a pitiful, painful weekend, and indeed, we’ve all had lousy ones, granted, not as dicey as Zola’s. Then again, she said that this account “is kind of long, but it’s full of suspense.”

The film runs 90 minutes, which is too long to be so stuck.

Jeff’s ranking

1.5/4 stars

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I Carry You with Me – Movie Review

Directed by: Heidi Ewing

Written by: Heidi Ewing and Alan Page

Starring: Armando Espitia and Christian Vazquez

Runtime: 106 minutes

‘I Carry You with Me’ thoughtfully and uniquely conveys a personal immigrant story

“I had that dream again. I have it all the time. It’s so real. I’m in Mexico, my home. I’ve returned.” – Ivan

For Ivan, traveling back to Mexico can only be a far-out wish that will never – foreseeably – come to fruition. It’s present-day, and this 40-something is riding the New York City subway, staring out a window, and thinking about his journey that brought him to The Big Apple.

Director/co-writer Heidi Ewing immerses her beautifully crafted and acted “I Carry You with Me” with hopes and emotional and physical treks, but she constructs a couple of daunting borders too.

Born and raised in Mexico, Ivan illegally crossed into the U.S., so the literal hurdle between the neighboring countries is an obvious and – to this day - persistent one. However, our lead also faced another roadblock during his youth. While growing up in Mexico City and nearby Puebla, he coped with the social stigma of being gay.

Most of this movie’s 106-minute runtime resides in flashbacks. Sometimes, short stanzas emerge from nowhere, but (mostly) we experience long stretches in the 1990s, and specifically 1994.

As a 20-something, Ivan (Armando Espitia) struggles to find a fruitful career and preserve a relationship with his young son Ricky (Paco Luna), who lives with his mom. Right away, Ewing and Espitia effectively capture Ivan’s economic and professional contentions. Ivan’s a trained chef but currently earns a pittance by washing dishes while figuratively standing in a lengthy, invisible queue for a cooking job that will take years to materialize. He’s strapped for cash between child support and rent, but his friend Sandra (Michelle Rodriguez) is impressed with his place, one that he claims is a sardine can.

Sandra remarks that it’s a smelly shoebox, so sure, that’s a compliment.

He’s frustrated and going nowhere in his career, and this visionary believes that the U.S. is his salvation. To complicate his immediate reality, he meets Gerardo (Christian Vazquez), a university teaching assistant, and they quickly form a relationship. However, Ivan attempts to keep their love affair a secret for fear that his ex will no longer allow him to see their son.

From the film’s opening few minutes, we realize that Ivan made it to the U.S.A., but did he reach his goals? Did Gerardo follow him?

Ewing answers these questions, but she occasionally drills further into the past to Ivan’s childhood and features key milestones that formed and hardened into his adult years. These brief histories dampen and even threaten Ivan’s spirits, as his sexuality is ridiculed, stigmatized, and punished. Such parental practices are outside the bounds in 2021, but in the 1980s – generally speaking - fathers simply accepting their sons wearing makeup and dresses seems as unlikely as the same dads embracing aliens landing in their backyards and inviting them inside for coffee.

These scenes are particularly effective, and score production supervisor Matt Nelson and music supervisor Hector Vazquez frequently accompany the images with a lovely, moving new-age score that helps raise emotions during moments of persecution but also during acceptance, grace, and adoration. At times, the film is straight-up pragmatism, but during others, it’s laced with enchantment, a deeply thoughtful spell. “I Carry You with Me” conveys a Terrence Malick vibe where ideas and storytelling are voiced with music and everyday visuals rather than discourse. Granted, Ewing doesn’t transform her script into a three-hour, avant-garde presentation, but this movie bestows Ivan’s recollections, and she captures this vision by using several creative choices in her cinematic arsenal.

Heidi is a documentarian by trade, and this is her first feature, so it’s apropos that real-life events inspired this narrative. Ivan is her friend. Yes, she learned his story and began filming a documentary about him, but her focus changed.

During a Feb. 1, 2021 Film Independent interview with Zachary Quinto, Ewing explains, “I realized pretty soon that I was filming the third act of a movie. This story deserved an epic narrative treatment that only a scripted film can accomplish.”

She included some of the documentary footage in “I Carry You with Me”, so Ivan, the actual person, appears in his feature film, a movie about crossroad choices, tradeoffs, chasing one’s passion, and finding – and attempting to hold on to – love. These are universal themes that many of us actively confront, and in a perfect world, we should all discover our nirvana, wholly and without compromises or impediments. Then again, in 1994, 2021, and every year in between, maybe we’re just fooling ourselves. Perhaps, we’re not.

Jeff’s ranking

3.5/4 stars

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F9 - Movie Review

Dir: Justin Lin

Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, and John Cena

2 h 15 m

Souped-up muscle cars, motorcycles, tanks, and even rocket-propelled space mods skid, screech, and swerve over every inch of the screen in director Justin Lin's newest Fast and Furious saga entry, now called F9.

In what has become a superhero movie franchise with indestructible beings who taunt the laws of physics every time action is needed, F9 continues the adventures of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his makeshift family unit. It's escapism cinema at its best, a mindless, messy, overindulgent feat of summer popcorn movie fare. That's the strange beauty of these films; they completely understand what they are doing and have crafted a formula that straddles a line of sincerity and silliness that works to keep the absurdity from becoming overwhelming.

Dom Torreto leads a quiet life, living on the outskirts with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son Brian. The family understands that their life together will constantly be threatened; their past has forged their present. Dom's past returns in the form of his forsaken brother Jakob (John Cena), who worked on a pit crew with Dom for their family racing business when they were young but now is a skilled assassin. Jakob has a plot for world destruction and domination. Dom and his crew reassemble to save the world and each other.

Beyond the cars and explosions, the Fast and Furious franchise has always been about family at its chaotic core. F9 handles this feature most appropriately of all the films, displaying the depths that the word "family" encompasses in this world. And Vin Diesel's character is the figurehead that the world revolves around; the compassionate father, the tough older sibling, the loving husband, Dom embraces all of these parts.

F9 focuses on the familial components with returning familiar faces like Michelle Rodriguez, who returns as the always supportive love interest, Letty. Tyrese Gibson and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges provide comedic banter and amusing commentary on how the crew is invincible, not one scratch after all these dangerous scenarios. F9 plays for fan service, so there are more surprises for dedicated admirers of these films.

Most of the actors have played these roles for a few years already, so it's no shocker that the chemistry between the cast is achieved from the beginning moments. However, notably, Vin Diesel's Dom is given more character attention with this film than in the past. Dom's story is sorted out with flashbacks featuring a younger version of the character and introducing Dom's brother Jakob. F9 does a decent job of connecting the dots for the film's narrative arc while also providing connective tissue for the entire franchise.

The narrative components have grown better regarding character composition, but the action and adventure pieces have grown duller. With so many films, each trying to outdo the previous, it's inevitable that the action setpieces would lose some of their awe-inducing moments of spectacle. Whether jumping cars off cliffs, using super-powered magnets to induce destruction, or going to space, which plays more for laughs than thrills, the gimmicks here are simply fine, not fantastic.

It's hard to wonder when these films will end; I guess that depends on the demand from the committed viewers who come out for these movies. While F9 may not win any awards for its brand of storytelling, it does represent an element of why movie theaters mean so much; it's a vessel to escape from reality.

Monte's Rating

2.50 out of 5.00

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Fathom – Movie Review

Directed by: Drew Xanthopoulos

Starring: Dr. Michelle Fournet and Dr. Ellen Garland

Runtime: 83 minutes

‘Fathom’ communicates clearly, but it doesn’t cinematically speak

Other than breathing, communication might be the most natural act in the world. By definition, it’s “the imparting or exchanging of news; the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings; and social contact.”

Sounds simple enough, but according to Google, “6,500 languages are spoken in the world today.” If you’ve ever been to a foreign country where you don’t speak the native tongue, simple tasks like ordering off the menu, finding a restroom, or translating a subway map’s intricacies can be as bewildering as dumping 1,000 puzzle pieces on the kitchen table and finding a coherent image.

Where are all the sides, and we have four corners, right?

Dr. Michelle Fournet at Cornell University and Dr. Ellen Garland at the University of St Andrews are staring at an infinitely perplexing brainteaser. They wish to comprehend and decipher whale communication, and more specifically, talk to humpback whales, hope they respond, and also determine their language’s complexity and reach.

“I’m trying to start a conversation,” Dr. Fournet says.

Director Drew Xanthopoulos hopes to start a conversation with a movie audience as he films Fournet’s and Garland’s aqua-journeys in Frederick Sound, Alaska to speak to humpbacks and French Polynesia to listen to the majestic creatures, respectively.

The good doctors do not coordinate together, nor do they meet in person during the movie. Xanthopoulos films and presents the dueling stories as separate, distinct endeavors as we track their seemingly impossible tasks.

It’s a fascinating topic, but “Fathom” doesn’t translate very well on-screen.

Indeed, Xanthopoulos captures several beautiful shots of the intimate Alaska inlet(s), and after watching this documentary, you might book a flight to the 49th state and camp on the exact spot as Dr. Fournet’s site. Dr. Garland’s travels are less visually wondrous, as she and her boat captain trek all over the open ocean where everywhere looks the same, albeit under bright sunny skies and on crystal blue water. If you enjoy boating in wide-open spaces, Garland’s trip will capture agreeable sentiment.

Of course, this is no vacation, as the two dedicated, accomplished researchers are here to work and race against the clock. They both repeatedly drop their audio equipment in the oceans, as Dr. Fournet speaks to her 50-foot friends through whale calls that she created in the lab, and Dr. Garland intently listens for “song” through her headphones.

The women and their teams face no easy tasks, and especially when the whales didn’t get the memo.

The doc’s first 20 or 30 minutes draw us into the science of whale dialogue, and the scientists map out the verbal patterns, ones that resemble alien syntax in Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival” (2016). Since the mysterious, majestic beings have existed for millions of years, they are OUR earthly aliens. The film discusses several types of their calls, including droplet, swop, and growl, but the coveted one is the humpbacks’ whup, and it becomes Michelle and Ellen’s focus.

The doc centers around their research, and in fictionalized features, science breakthroughs occur through the magic of screenwriters’ written pages and directors’ watchful eyes and ears. In reality, incredible findings don’t reveal themselves each day, and not in “Fathom”. The women cope with starts, stops, and stalls, and sometimes literally, as Dr. Fournet’s boat engine breaks down and keeps them stranded on land for days, while they only have a month to make meaningful “playbacks” or contacts with the whales. Meanwhile, Dr. Garland’s microphone has a limited range – a mile, perhaps – in the wide-open sea. She’s not trying to find a needle in a haystack but a pin on a 40-acre farm. Sure, her pin is about 66,000 pounds, but the ocean is a massive space.

For much of the last film’s hour, we witness our featured leads pulling and dropping ropes in the water, writing findings in spiral notebooks, and typing away on laptop keys, because that’s the nature of this titanic linguistic endeavor. These repeated moments are necessary for the job, but the rote actions don’t necessarily inspire.

Yes, Xanthopoulos offers several glimpses of whales peaking (and peeking) to the surface, but these snippets don’t feel like nearly enough. The movie could keep this critic riveted for three hours with whale B-roll and facts about humpbacks and other species. How many remain on the planet? What are their personalities like? How do mothers interact with their offspring? How does pollution affect them? How large do they get? I retrieved the whale-size figures in this review through the Internet, not while experiencing the movie.

“Fathom” isn’t that documentary, as its narrow focus doesn’t take broader views for everyday folks. We learn a little about the doctors’ personal lives, which is refreshing, but Dr. Fournet’s moment feels tacked on during the last 20 minutes to fill runtime, which is a slight 83 minutes.

Certainly, the doctors and their assistants perform valuable and captivating work, and “Fathom” communicates clearly, but it doesn’t cinematically speak.

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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The Sparks Brothers - Movie Review

Dir: Edgar Wright

Starring: Ron Mael and Russell Mael

2h 15m

It was at my local record store that I first discovered the band Sparks. A funky combination of synth-centric keyboards, a pulsing drum beat, and the lyric "pulling rabbits out of a hat" sung with passion played on the house speakers. When I asked the clerk who was playing, they pointed towards an album cover featuring a slicked-haired, pencil mustached man holding a puppet in his hand. The music was kinetic, with a moodiness that felt suited for any variety of 1980s movie soundtrack.

On the album cover (1984's Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat) were Ron and Russell Mael, two brothers from America who formed the band Sparks in 1967. Spanning more than 50 years, through idiosyncratic rock, pop, electro, and avant-garde motifs and characterizations, the Sparks have garnered hefty cult status. They have influenced more than their fair share of artists, bands, and, in the case of the new documentary The Spark Brothers, filmmakers.

Edgar Wright, the skillful director behind Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver, among others, understands how to choreograph music to influence and engage storytelling. So Wright feels like the perfect artist to tell the tale of the Sparks Brothers. This documentary is packed with information, running 2 hours and 15 minutes. First, Wright details the brother's career with an album by album analysis, displaying the Sparks as clever musicians who have an unorthodox charm and humor and operate to the beat of their own drum. It's an energetic documentary that seldom feels as long as its running time.

The documentary features a variety of interviews from artists singing the praises of the band. Musicians like Beck, Weird Al, and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers show up, but also unexpected influenced artists like author Neil Gaiman, actor Mike Myers, and comedian Patton Oswalt make appearances to show their gratitude. Throughout the decades, the progression of their music composed a sound that always felt a few steps ahead of their counterparts. In addition, their character as rock stars, with Russell Mael crafting the atypical stoic rock star gaze and Ron Mael contrasting with his Chaplin/Hitler-inspired mustache and smirking look, displays that Sparks forged their creative path.

Wright emphasizes the musician's engagement with their music primarily, not necessarily why the two brothers compose their character in such unique ways. It's almost always about the music. Sparks' story isn't imbued with the typical sex and drugs that almost always define the rock & roll lifestyle, so the documentary doesn't have the traditional rise to success and eventual fall to defeat storyline. Instead, it maintains a strong emphasis on the celebration of music.

Edgar Wright is the perfect collaborator to tell the story about Sparks. With his first documentary, the director interjects the film with the same energy the band brings in their music. The verve and mood are achieved through the edit, the unique and different quality is the structure of storytelling, and the love for the music is heartfeltly found in every interview and clip; a perfect match for director and band indeed.

Monte's Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

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Luca – Movie Review

Directed by: Enrico Casarosa

Written by: Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones (Story By: Enrico Casarosa and Simon Stephenson)

Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, Jim Gaffigan, Marco Barricelli, and Sacha Baron Cohen

Runtime: 84 minutes

Celebrate age 13 with ‘Luca’, a pleasant Pixar journey

What’s the most challenging age during childhood? How about age zero? Sure, you load no responsibility, and your mom, dad, grandmother, a daycare worker, or some other parental unit feed and change you throughout your first year on Planet Earth. Then again, your folks completely control your daily itinerary. Walking is a problem, and so is speaking in clear, concise sentences.

Age zero is no picnic, but when looking back, 13 years young probably is – “Survey says” - the #1 answer on “Family Feud”, seven days a week and twice on Sunday. Diving into the reasons 13 is rough seems like a waste of time. Geez, anyone 14 and over already realizes that the first step into teen status is the worst.

In Pixar Studios’ “Luca”, our hero (Jacob Tremblay) is the said age, but he doesn’t “live on the second floor,” and he’s not “upstairs from you.”

Quite the opposite, Luca lives - during the late 1950s/early 1960s - in a bay adjacent to the Italian Riviera, located on the country’s northwest coast. Although, he and his family don’t reside on the lofty buttes overlooking the Ligurian Sea. Their home is underwater at the bottom of it because the Paguro family are sea monsters. Sea monsters?

Hey, this is an animated feature. Pixar can do anything.

Although pitting sea creatures as your main leads certainly is a bold idea, this Pixar story is not a broad, eclectic concept, like “Soul” (2020), “Inside Out” (2015), and “WALL-E” (2008) are. Instead, “Luca” – the tale of a tiny teenage leviathan meeting a new buddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) and learning life lessons in a brand new world – is purposely contained and intimate. Ordinary boyhood conversations fill the first act, so maybe 15 minutes in, one realizes that massive philosophical puzzles – like the afterlife or the human race polluting the globe – aren’t in the cards over this 84-minute runtime. Instead, director Enrico Casarosa’s movie is a road….err, a water and road picture, where a pair of neon green and purple fish-like fellas – Luca Paguro and Alberto Scorfano (Grazer) – explore the land.

Ah, but how does this terrifying twosome avoid freaking out the locals of picturesque Portorosso? It’s a fair question because catching a glimpse of these two skinny, 1.5-meter tall Pete’s Dragon-types in the village plaza on a random Wednesday certainly will instigate second looks…and a few shrieks, full-blown panic, and fishermen reaching for their spears.

Well, you have to see the movie to discover Luca and Alberto’s secret.

In a June 17, 2021 interview with Comicbook.com, Casarosa makes it no secret that his life inspired this movie.

“We always had the setting. I grew up in Italy, so that was a really fun flavor to bring to this, a specific flavor, and the fantastical sea monster secret was always a big part of it with (the) idea of kids (in mind). We like the idea that there’s that kind of age where you feel a little bit out of place (and) not fitting in. (So) having this secret other identity felt like an interesting metaphor for outsiders,” Casarosa says.

There you go, age 13.

So, Luca and Alberto’s journey into the “land monsters’” living space offers an opportunity for individual growth, but the audience needs to accept the boys’ choices, primarily id-based ones.

In other words, they chase the shiny object of the moment because it’s the greatest! Meanwhile, caution, responsibility, safety, and curfews are non-existent. Curfews. Who enjoyed following those?

Luca and Alberto’s expedition has some similarities to Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern’s trek in “Stand by Me” (1986), which is by design. Casarosa mentions that Rob Reiner’s film was an influence in a February 25, 2021 interview with Yahoo Entertainment. However, his characters’ goal isn’t disconcerting. In fact, their ambition is not the least bit gruesome, but it will not be revealed in this review.

Our heroes debate the states of their marine and soil ecospheres and future grab-the-tiger-by-the-tail plans with all the maturity and know-how of eighth-graders, so Casarosa and screenwriters Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones needed an inventive approach to engage the audience.

They find one. First off, both kiddos are likable, but Alberto is the seasoned expert, so he thinks, and Luca gladly follows and revels in his friend’s insight. For instance, Alberto points to the moon and claims, “I touched it once. I don’t know. It felt like a fish.”

He’s also a master originator, as he casually proclaims, “I invented walking.”

Of course, Luca buys anything Alberto’s selling, hook, line, and sinker.

Alberto pushes banter boundaries and dangerous, physical ones, so the animation team and cinematographers David Juan Bianchi and Kim White must have had a blast creating these setups. Have you ever built a makeshift ramp and pop bicycle jumps? Risky ones? Growing up, most kids that I knew did.

On a personal note, when I was in seventh grade, an eighth-grade acquaintance regularly grabbed a plastic toboggan and sledded down this one particularly steep, icy road while cars regularly whipped by in both directions. Naturally, I joined in because, sure, that made sense with my 12-years-young state of mind. Looking back, it’s a minor miracle that I survived that winter.

Again, Casarosa’s childhood helps shape “Luca”.

“I had a kernel of the idea (of Luca and Alberto through) my experiences with my best friend. Me, having been an introvert, and a little shy, and a little timid, he helped me. That was an important friendship in finding my identity and growing up,” Casarosa says in the June 17, 2021 Comicbook.com interview.

Well, Paguro and Scorfano could use a guide or lifeline in Portorosso, and they find one with bright-eyed Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman), a girl with big plans and an enormous spirit. Giulia – who dresses like Where’s Waldo’s younger sister – is passionate about school, learning, her family, and also the Portorosso Cup, an annual triathlon of sorts that features three Italian Riviera wonders, and one is a warm surprise. Luca and Alberto team up with Giulia, but it doesn’t matter the specific adventure that this triad tackles because “Luca” is about gaining wisdom through the magic and effort of becoming an active contributor in the world. That also includes reaching across the aisle and accepting others’ differences.

In 2021, that’s a good lesson! With some whiz-bang animation, Giulia’s burly father with a Mr. Incredible-like build, his mustache-sporting cat, clever inserts of the Italian language into everyday discussions and background signage, amusing underwater world-building, and celebrating small discoveries like tasting ice cream for the first time, “Luca” is a pleasant trip.

Enjoy “Luca” and celebrate age 13! It’s okay. We’ve all been there.

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It – Movie Review

Directed by: Mariem Perez Riera

Starring: Rita Moreno, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Eva Longoria, George Chakiris, Gloria Estefan, Norman Lear, and Morgan Freeman

Runtime: 90 minutes

‘Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It’ celebrates and speaks frankly

Rita Moreno loves to dance.

Dance, sing, and act!

At 89 years young, this entertainment legend became a household name on April 9, 1962, when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her treasured role as Anita in “West Side Story” (1961). This 5’ 2” thespian – with probably the shortest speech in Academy Awards’ history – has fashioned a lasting impact on the four traditional pillars of entertainment: movies, television, theatre, and music.

However, her career didn’t begin with Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s Oscar-winning musical, but as a six-year-old girl living in New York City with her mom.

Rita – born in Puerto Rico - began dancing at that tender, youthful age, and in director Mariem Perez Riera’s “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It”, she grooves some serious moves during her 87th birthday celebration at her Berkeley, Calif. home.

Although, this documentary is not all smiles and partying. Indeed, life is not, and neither is Rita’s, as this film offers frank - sometimes joyous, sometimes woeful - tales of an extraordinary human being who is still in front of cameras and microphones to this day. According to IMDb, Ms. Moreno has 160 credits from 1950 (“So Young So Bad”) to 2021 (Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake), so do the math. That’s 70-plus years, folks!

Riera finds plenty of familiar friends to tell Rita’s story. Lin-Manuel Miranda, George Chakiris, Hector Elizondo, Norman Lear (who was in his late 90s during his interview), Whoopi Goldberg, and many more – including her daughter Fernanda Luisa Gordon - rightfully gush over Rita’s influence.

“She made me feel like women could do anything because she did. She was a Latina, like me,” Gloria Estefan says.

Eva Longoria shares that she enjoyed Rita’s work from the PBS kids show “The Electric Company” (1971 - 2009) and appreciated that Ms. Moreno looked like her too. (As a side note, since I’m also a child of the 70s, I grew up rejoicing over that same program, and my brothers and I frequently yelled just like Rita’s character Millie, “Hey, You Guys!!!!”)

Moreno also sits down for extensive, in-depth recollections, and along with the aforementioned stars, the film mixes – as we would hope and expect – plenty of B-roll from Rita’s career. While many clips tender good feelings about her work, not all of them do. Not by a long shot. Rita and others recall the struggles that she faced, the power disparity between Hollywood bigwigs and a newcomer, during her early acting days. Producers and directors frequently cast her as Native American or Island women, and her characters were often portrayed as “illiterate or immoral.”

Sure, she worked in films during her 20s. Who wouldn’t love those opportunities? Still, the industry marginalized Rita and her on-screen roles. Rita, in turn, developed and mastered a “universal accent” that she applied to any character from any background, race, or country of origin. Visually, the most disturbing moments are the countless clips of Moreno with muddy “brownface” makeup caked on her face. Yes, this includes her turn as Anita in “West Side Story” (1961), and if you haven’t seen the film in a while, the makeup on several actors – including Chakiris - are terrible distractions.

The documentary purposely and surprisingly opens Rita’s dark emotional places. She was on the receiving end of verbal slights, visceral disrespect, and much worse. In Rita’s own words – including a specific four-letter one - she recalls these moments with sorrow and disgust.

Those following her work for decades are likely aware of these episodes, but perhaps not. After absorbing this 90-minute documentary, Rita’s new fans will learn about the woman’s personal life – including her long relationship with an actor who is well-known for a memorable Oscar acceptance speech too – and her extensive screen, stage, and singing vocations.

Did you know that she starred in the HBO series “Oz” (1997 – 2003)? I didn’t, but that scratches the surface on her accomplishments and jaw-dropping collection of awards.

Yes, Rita Moreno won the EGOT! If you’re not familiar with the term, this film explains it, but I did some research. Ms. Moreno actually won the PEGOT!

The “P” is for the Peabody Award that she won in 2019, and actress Diane Guerrero explains on the BESE YouTube Channel that “only three people have ever accomplished this. Rita Moreno is one of them.”

Wow, right?

For her keen supporters – who already know-it-all - “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It” – a standard documentary, structure-wise - is a more-than-worthy celluloid account, because Rita herself speaks to her troubles, insecurities, triumphs, and successes in delicate, close quarters.

She doesn’t seem concerned about pleasing the masses, and her honest talk is unquestionably appreciated. After the film ends, you’ll be grateful that she immigrated to America as a five-year-old. Sure, Rita didn’t have any say in that particular matter, but that decision helped define her because she grew into a person “who decided to go for it” throughout her almost 90 years on Planet Earth, and in 2021, she still enjoys finding that open spot on the dance floor.

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard – Movie Review

Directed by: Patrick Hughes

Written by: Tom O’Connor, Brandon Murphy, and Phillip Murphy

Starring: Salma Hayek, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman

Runtime: 99 minutes

Hayek, Jackson, and Reynolds can’t save ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’

Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds, and Samuel L. Jackson are three of the biggest movie stars working today, and hey, all three are big-screen comic book characters, to boot. Don’t forget that Jackson played a Jedi too.

So, after assessing their remarkable acting resumes, let’s all recite this together: “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!”

Well, in 2017, this superhero triad starred in the sophomoric action-comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard”, and when a film rakes in 176 million dollars worldwide on a budget of “only” 30 big ones, knocks for sequel requests become as loud and as appealing as Jules Winnfield’s Ezekiel 25:17 recitation.

So, here we are, and if you missed the first picture, Michael Bryce (Reynolds) is a bodyguard, Darius Kincaid (Jackson) is a hitman, and Sonia Kincaid (Hayek) is his wife. Bryce and Kincaid were on opposite sides of the protector-assassinator coin but became allies and saved the day.

In director Patrick Hughes' follow-up flick, Bryce struggles – but makes a concerted effort - with therapy, and actually, his therapist (Rebecca Front) finds it difficult to cope with Michael as her patient. Before you can say, “Our time is up today,” she convinces him to forget his guns and the bloodshed. In other words, find a different career, but first, take a vacation in Italy.

Bryce shelves G&B (guns and bloodshed) from his mind and discovers R&R at an Italian resort, when out of the blue, Sonia appears - among the big umbrellas and pina coladas - and whisks him away. You see, a group of baddies kidnap Darius, and Sonia recruits Michael by dragging him from paradise to help rescue her husband.

That’s fine. It isn’t, but that’s just the beginning of the story, as a Greek kingpin named Aristotle Papadopolous (Antonio Banderas) seeks revenge on the European Union for suggesting a sanction on his home country. He’s out for blood and taking down the continent’s power grid, Internet grid, or something by using a giant diamond-fitted contraption.

Isn’t Greece part of Europe? Just asking.

Perhaps, Aristotle explained the Greece workaround, and I missed it, but then again, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Hey, get it done, or to quote Toby Keith, he’s using “a little less talk and a lot more action.”

Meanwhile, Interpol agent Bobby O’Neill (Frank Grillo) needs to take action, pronto, so he recruits the Kincaids and Bryce to stop Mr. Papadopolous’ nefarious plans, because sure, why not? MI6 or no other Interpol agents are available or capable, but the Kincaids – who always act like they just guzzled triple espressos and a gallon of Jolt Cola – have short tempers and long trigger fingers, and Darius “is unkillable”, so there’s that.

Darius and Sonia seem to fire more bullets than John Wick after losing his dog and cause more accidents than The Blues Brothers (if they were) driving on cough syrup. The gunplay and car chase quotients run through the roof, but sadly, more is less. Way less, and despite danger raising its ugly, fearsome head during 80 percent of the on-screen happenings, “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” doesn’t carry one moment of audience anxiety or trepidation, including a helicopter hunting down our said heroes along a winding freeway in a scene that felt as figuratively straight and flat as the I-10 between Phoenix and Los Angeles.

Morgan Freeman’s small role does have a twist, but then again, none of it matters. At its core, “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” is simply a device to pit the hard-hitting Kincaids against Bryce and his desperate, futile attempt towards pacifism for comedic effect.

Admittedly, I chuckled a couple of times, but the natural chemistry between the three leads doesn’t make up for a paper-thin plot, the nonsensical turns, and constant kinetic beats with zero heart. But, hey, at least the cast and crew secured a trip to Europe, and they seemed to have a lot more fun than I had.

Take Hayek (who delivers the picture’s most entertaining performance), Jackson, and Reynolds out of this film and replace them with three unknown actors, and “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” is my worst movie of the year...so far. Still, not even these superheroes - plus Freeman and Banderas - can save it.

Jeff’s ranking

1.5/4 stars

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In the Heights – Movie Review

Directed by: Jon M. Chu

Written by: Quiara Alegria Hudes (based on Hudes’ book; Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hudes’ play)

Starring: Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, Olga Merediz, Gregory Diaz IV, Jimmy Smits, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

Runtime: 143 minutes

‘In the Heights’ is a satisfying musical that sometimes soars to spectacular highs

“Tell me something I don’t know.” – “No Me Diga”

For those who love Broadway musicals (and are deeply familiar with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work), there’s probably not a whole lot of new information that I can write about in his and Quiara Alegria Hudes’ film adaptation of their Tony award-winning hit “In the Heights” – which won four statues in 2008 - that you don’t already know.

Admittedly, the word of this stage triumph or its transformation to a theatrical release was first-time news to this film critic. I never heard of the play.

Well, after experiencing this tale - of Washington Heights residents wishing to reach their dreams - in a theatre, let me say, “Extra. Extra. Read all about it. ‘In the Heights’ is a visual-spectacular with dazzling, head-spinning arrangements. At times, the celluloid escapades will leave you breathless and with sheer wonderment. We’re witnessing the impossible!”

But, that’s not the whole story.

The movie also runs a bit too long at 143 minutes, and the second half offers more discourse and less music, as the leads debate their struggles against the system rather than a clearly defined antagonist.

A pair of our lead protagonists, however, are awfully charismatic. Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos) and Vanessa Morales (Melissa Barrera) are friendly acquaintances in their neighborhood.

Usnavi runs a convenience store (or a bodega) where locals – including Vanessa - quickly stop by for a soda, pastry, or coffee, and they’re off on their merry way. His little cousin Sonny (Gregory Diaz IV) helps out too, and Diaz is marvelous in the role as Usnavi’s backup with his helping hands and timely pearls of wisdom. Sonny may be a teenager, but he’s not tripping over his own feet – literally or in the game of life - as he’s a solid Robin to his cousin’s Batman.

Usnavi has aspirations for more than his modest Batcave on a New York City street corner, and now, he can purchase his late father’s Dominican Republic business, leave the U.S., and return to the Caribbean nation and its blue skies and sandy beaches. Meanwhile, Vanessa – who we first see sporting a New York Yankees baseball jersey – embraces The Big Apple and hopes to open a salon, a place that she can call hers, but financing such an operation is beyond unachievable. But, hey, you know how real estate prices have skyrocketed, so Vanessa might as well file the paperwork to buy the Yankees franchise instead.

The film offers a dueling tale about Nina (Leslie Grace) and Benny (Corey Hawkins). Nina’s a local wunderkind who “got out of The Heights” and studies at Stanford University. She’s back for the summer, but this scholar assumes that it’s for good, which would crush her dad (Jimmy Smits). Meanwhile, Benny works for Kevin (Smits) and is thrilled that Nina’s back, but the uncertainty of her future throws ambiguity into his daily routines.

Abuela Claudia’s (Olga Merediz) routine is that she’s an ever-present and loving godmother for the aforementioned characters.

Hudes’ screenplay plays in hard work and daydream themes, as existing circumstances – including the lack of cultural support in Northern California or a nonexistent co-signer for a leasing space in NYC - present socioeconomic roadblocks toward success. She paints a this-is-how-it-is picture for her characters which drives empathy and presents a sense of helplessness for the audience, at least to me.

Usnavi and Vanessa search for their golden paths. At the same time, Nina attempts to rediscover hers, and while these toiling plotlines are the film’s foundation, Miranda’s music and director Jon M. Chu’s gifts for visual storytelling (see also “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018)) lift our spirits. Astonishing numbers like the opening seven-minute “In the Heights”, “No Me Diga”, and “96,000” would instantly punch this film’s ticket to a Best Picture - Musical or Comedy 2022 Golden Globes nomination…if next year’s ceremony wasn’t cancelled. Ugh…but, I digress.

Leading up to the jaw-dropping “96,000” performance, in which all New York City residents seemingly become synchronized swimming Olympians and deliver gold medal routines in a public pool, “In the Heights” is an off-the-charts home run. It’s the film’s crescendo, and it makes the “La La Land” (2016) pool scene look like a collection of middle-aged IT professionals competing in their first-ever game of Duck, Duck, Goose around a plastic kiddie pool.

(Note, I’m a middle-aged IT professional, so I believe that I come from a place of authority here.)

After that, the film slows down. Although the skillfully-hectic “The Club” and emotional “Paciencia y Fe” are massive highlights, the big musical numbers are less frequent, and yearnings for romantic connections repeatedly become stalled. Additionally, Usnavi tells his life’s story in retrospect to a small group of kids, and this cinematic device frequently interrupts the movie’s momentum.

The film may have worked even better with a “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” (1964) approach, where Genevieve (Catherine Deneuve), Guy (Nino Castelnuovo), and others sing throughout that movie, but we do get that style in “Heights” with “Benny’s Dispatch”.

“Wait here with me. It’s getting hot outside. Turn up the AC. Stay with me,” Benny sings to Nina.

Yes, “In the Heights” is at its best when romance or the potential of it fills the big screen, and Ramos, Barrera, Grace, and Hawkins figuratively and sometimes literally dance towards relationships. The impressive leads make it easy to root for their characters’ personal and professional hopes, and I wish we had two solo films to flush out their stories even more, especially Usnavi’s and Vanessa’s. Maybe Chu, Hudes, and Miranda – who pops into the frame as a most welcome guest – can “tell me something I don’t know” in a sequel.

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - Movie Review

Dir: Michael Chaves

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ruairi O'Connor, Sarah Catherine Hook, Julian Hilliard, and John Noble

1 h 52 m

It takes less than 5 minutes for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the third franchise installment and eighth Conjuring Universe film, to jump full force into a vicious demonic possession scene involving a contorting young boy and a few obvious nods to The Exorcist. Fighting the forces of evil again, looking more withered and worn from their many encounters with malevolent spirits, are Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga). The loving staples of The Conjuring films find themselves in new territory with their latest case.

During the exorcism of young David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard), Ed and Lorraine struggle with the ferocity of the evil spirit and lose control of the situation. Ed is hurt, Lorraine is affected by a vision, and Arne Johnson (Ruairi O'Conner), the boyfriend of David's older sister Debbie (Sarah Catherine Hook), demands that the entity "take me instead." The demon abides, and the tormenting subsides; the Glatzel family believes that the exorcism worked. But slowly, Arne begins to experience strange occurrences, leading to an encounter that results in the brutal murder of his landlord. Arne, and The Warrens, take the case to the courts claiming that the incident was perpetrated under the circumstance of demonic possession.

The story for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is pulled from The Warren's case files and, as all the films proclaim, is "based on a true story." However, where this film differs from the first two arrives with the composition of frights and the story's tone. The previous emphasis on the haunted house atmosphere and the case-specific scenarios that assisted in adding another level of fear surrounding the proceedings are not the focus of this film.

Instead, director Michael Chaves composes a procedural, an investigation into the circumstances that brought about the real-life court case for Arne Johnson and a fictional story surrounding The Warren's ghost-hunting drama. Chaves doesn't explore the components of the court case, mainly because the actual plea of "not guilty because of demonic possession" was immediately thrown out by the presiding judge. However, the intrigue of a courtroom drama with The Warrens involved and the prevailing media hype in the early 1980s would be an exciting place to take the Conjuring Universe.

The fictional pieces crafted for The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, which offer a few jump scares but are the weakest offerings of the franchise, take Ed and Lorraine into numerous locations while following the clues of a curse connected to Arne. During these moments, which feel farthest from the grounded nature of the previous films, the story finds mixed results with character dynamics and scare tactics. A relationship with a local police detective, who is working on a cold case, feels unnecessary and somewhat forced for humor. A trip to the local morgue builds some great tension and finds an avenue to connect the story from one act to the next. Everything moves along, primarily because of Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson's chemistry and commitment as Lorraine and Ed, but it's a bumpier journey than expected.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It may not reach the heights of its predecessors in regards to style, scares, and storytelling, but that doesn't mean fans of this frightening franchise won't enjoy the efforts on display.

Monte's Rating

2.50 out of 5.00

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Spirit Untamed – Movie Review

Directed by: Elaine Bogan and Ennio Torresan

Written by: Aury Wallington and Kristin Hahn

Starring: Isabela Merced, Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Moore, Marsai Martin, and Mckenna Grace

Runtime: 87 minutes

‘Spirit Untamed’ is cute, but it’s also a paint-by-numbers ride

Lucky Prescott’s (Isabela Merced) name doesn’t suit her, at least for the first 10-plus years of her life. Her mom - Milagro Navarro (Elza Gonzalez), a world-class horse rider – dies in a circus accident (within the opening few minutes of this movie). To make matters worse, instead of her father, Jim Prescott (Jake Gyllenhaal), providing oceans of support, he unilaterally and inexplicably decides that his sister, Cora (Julianne Moore), will care for Lucky.

Cora says to Lucky, “Something broke in your father.”

And how!

Jim later explains his actions. He wanted to keep his daughter safe rather than raise her under his roof. If that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to you, then you and I agree.

So, Lucky lives with her Aunt Cora in a large, east coast city, while Jim resides in Miradero, which seems to sit in the American Southwest or Mexico base on the animated topography.

All seems well and good until Lucky – who’s a bit wild at heart – ruins her grandfather’s run-for-governor campaign announcement. So, for some sudden, oddball reason, Aunt Cora immediately decides that she and Lucky should move to Miradero faster than you can say, “We’re doing what now? Sure, whatever.”

Now, Jim, Lucky, and Cora all reside in one spot, and miraculously, our 10-year-old girl shows zero resentment towards her father for giving her up a decade ago. Hey, Jim seems like a nice enough guy, even though he sports the spine of a single stand of boiled angel hair pasta. All is forgiven, or actually, barely acknowledged. Since Cora is also in Miradero, they both can care for Lucky, but this plan could’ve been employed immediately after Milagro’s death, right?

Narratively, the script bumps into a few of these head-scratching logic issues, but one can suppose that these problems are less important than the animated movie’s primary goal, which is to grant Lucky a horse adventure, one geared towards small children, especially girls.

In that respect, directors Elaine Bogan and Ennio Torresan’s film delivers its promise, but adults might wish for a more regal, complex tale. Then again, this DreamWorks feature does follow Disney’s playbook of killing off the mom, so even though “Spirit Untamed” doesn’t offer a whole lot of depth, a least there’s some familiarity, albeit twisted and deeply frustrating. See also “Bambi” (1942), “Finding Nemo” (2003), and countless others, including “Cruella” (2021).

“Spirit Untamed” is preceded by the feature “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” (2002) and eight seasons of “Spirit Riding Free” (2017 – 2019) on Netflix. Admittedly, I haven’t seen the previous film or animated series, but wow, eight seasons!

Anyway, Lucky settles into this new town by meeting a couple of friends her age, Abigail (Mckenna Grace) and Pru (Marsai Martin), and also a wild Mustang named Spirit. These two kiddos ride horses, and soon enough, so does Lucky. She feels that Spirit is her kindred spirit. They are both fierce and carefree, and Lucky chooses Spirit as her horse, but does Spirit choose her?

Well, the girls tell the young Ms. Prescott that a way to a horse’s heart is through the 3 C’s: care, confidence, and carrots, so naturally, she wins over Spirit with…apples.

This genuine bliss immediately fades, however, when a crude wrangler named Hendricks (Walton Goggins) rustles Spirit’s family for auction, and Lucky, Abigail, and Pru form a girl-power triad to rescue the horse troupe. They are three tiny kids riding their ponies through rugged, mountainous terrain that would give old-school western actors John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Jimmy Stewart reason for pause, but these girls got this, and they have bracelets too! Think of the “Stand by Me” (1986) boys, except without the personal reflections, infighting, mental illness, and of course, walking. No, these girls giggle and ride their way to catch Hendricks and his associate baddies, hopefully.

Arran Baker and his animators do a commendable job with bringing the American West (or Mexico) on the big screen. It resembles a more sophisticated version of the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner backdrops, and the perilous journey includes a daunting climb up Heck Mountain.

(Note, This critic watched “Spirit Untamed” at home, but the purple buttes and orange skies probably pop even better on the big screen.)

Meanwhile, Jim fails miserably at preserving Lucky’s safety or even keeping track of his daughter, but then again, he is way out of parenting practice after abandoning her. Still, he and Cora may find a way to catch up with this determined preteen.

You’ll have no problem keeping up with “Spirit Untamed”, a paint-by-numbers animated feature that will probably delight kids under 8 years young, as it delivers its aforementioned intentions. It’s cute and harmless, but it’s also generally forgettable, although it’ll be difficult not to shake Jim’s lousy decision-making. Well, I guess there’s a lesson for adults too.

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

A Quiet Place Part II - Movie Review

Dir: John Krasinski

Starring: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, Djimon Hounsou, and John Krasinski

1 hr 37 min

In the beginning moments of John Krasinski's A Quiet Place Part II we are placed in the past, on Main Street somewhere in Small-town, U.S.A. The Abbott family gathers at a Little League game for Marcus (Noah Jupe), who tentatively stands in batting position while fastballs whiz past him. Lee (John Krasinski) arrives a little late to the game, having to stop at a general store for snacks before sitting atop the bleachers with his daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds). Suddenly, something strange happens; a large fiery object explodes and streaks across the cloudy skyline as the crowd scatters in confusion. Alien creatures crash onto the scene, smashing into vehicles and chasing down running humans. It's chaotic, scary, and emotional. It's also cinematic, a brilliantly executed introduction for this exciting sequel.

In A Quiet Place, the tension-filled horror origin story, the Abbott's survived the creature invasion by building a shelter, growing their food, and using sign language (their oldest child Regan is deaf) to communicate with each other. The arrival of a newborn baby, a brilliant character to introduce into a world that is ultimately supposed to remain silent, and the domino effect of decisions that call the monsters into play leads the family to abandon their shelter. Lee, making the heroic sacrifice, saves his children from death by offering himself to the alien beings.

A Quiet Place Part II takes place immediately following the events of the previous film. Evelyn (Emily Blunt) leads her children from their home and into the wilderness towards a signal fire that serves as the only beacon of hope for the mourning and traumatized family. Evelyn plays the role of sole protector for her family, carrying a newborn across her chest and trying to instill a level of comfort and safety for her older children. Emily Blunt is excellent in this role, combining emotions of disbelief and grief with grit and tenacity in the face of everything that is falling to pieces.

Krasinski demonstrates with this film a keen understanding of horror characteristics and, most impressively, the expectations that smart movie fans have for the genre. On numerous occasions, Krasinski will indicate that a scare is coming, whether through framing, with the exceptional immersive sound design, or with a shadow that feels out of place. Then, just as the audience thinks they grasp what is coming or how it might present, the big scare will come from a different location or with a different emotional emphasis.

Krasinski, who also wrote the film, does this manipulation of expectations with the narrative also. There is a sense of where this story is going, but figuring out how the start will meet the finish is composed of ingenious trips and traps. However, beyond these finely tuned moments of tension and terror is where Krasinski shines with the narrative, with the story of parents and children and the roles that shift and emerge as they continually grow in the apocalyptic landscape. The young actors Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe do a great job of embodying their characters' contrasting emotions at the beginning of the film. Where one is strong-willed and impulsive, the other is timid and cautious. As the film moves into a place where the children must fight for their future, the young characters become the focus of the action. It's an interesting transition that separates the sequel from its predecessor.

A Quiet Place Part II has a few noise-induced jump scares but again establishes its horror focus with a motive of tension-building driven by character and the bonds formed between them. There are only a few moments when the film loses track of its emotional core, mainly when the family must separate, but Krasinski masks this issue by ramping up the action and tension. When three separate stories converge during the finale, it's wholly cinematic and will have you on the edge of your seat.

Monte's Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

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Cruella - Movie Review by Jeff Mitchell

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Written by: Dana Fox and Tony McNamara

Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland, Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry, and Mark Strong

Runtime: 124 minutes

‘Cruella’: A film to behold rather than enjoy

Cruella de Vil is one of Disney’s most feared villains, right up there with Maleficent, Ursula, and Scar. The Hunter in “Bambi” (1942) won’t win any Man of the Year awards, especially from this critic. “Bambi” was my first movie experience in 1975, and I remember crying my eyes out when the title character’s mom died. I haven’t watched that film since, so yea, Disney antagonists sometimes leave a mark. In that case, a permanent one.

Of course, Cruella originates from “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” (1961). She sets her sights on the animal kingdom too, as she wishes to make a fur coat out of Dalmatian skins. Nice. That’s a demented endeavor on par with dumping toxic waste in the Colorado River or suggesting to watch the Adam Sandler (so-called) comedy “Jack and Jill” (2011) for date night. Glenn Close also starred as the infamous anti-PETA baddie in the 1996 live-action remake and 2000 sequel. Twenty-one years later, we have a Cruella origin story, whether the world needed one or not.

Disney tapped director Craig Gillespie to tap into this ominous character, and he helmed the fabulous “I, Tonya” (2017), so he knows a thing or two about disreputable female leads. For Cruella, physically, she sports naturally bloodshot eyes, a unique salt and pepper hairstyle, an angular face that could cause paper cuts, and according to Google, she stands – in the cartoon world – somewhere between 5’ 7” and 5’ 9”. To an 8-year-old kid in a theatre, Ms. de Vil stands about 6’ 8” and a straight-up 7-foot with heels.

She’s an intimidating soul, but does she have one? “Cruella” tries to answer that question, and Emma Stone plays the lead as an early 20-something, and Tipper Seifert-Cleveland is a 12-year-old Cruella for a hot minute, or rather an unhealthy 15. Actually, Emma and Tipper are Estella, but Cruella is their alter-ego when they feel an “I am woman, hear me roar” moment coming on.

The picture doesn’t run for a moment but for a lengthy, winding 124 minutes. The narrative’s twists and turns are compelling, but who knows how long young kids can hang. Then again, “Cruella” is rated PG-13.

Anyway, the first hour pits pre-teen and adult Estella as a big-time victim(s), a human being slighted, bullied, overlooked, disrespected, and something far more brutal. The latter is a plot point that Disney loves because it’s a featured tragedy that they’ve paraded around for 80 years, but hey, why mess with a “winning” formula.

The screenplay effectively plays on our sympathies, but thankfully, Estella (or Stella) finds some reprieve from her pain in the form of new bosom buddies, Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jasper (Joel Fry). They are two lifelines when no one else accepts her. However, the moral dilemma is that this dubious duo begs, borrows, and steals to make a living but scratch out the first two interests. Horace and Jasper are grifters all the way and always looking for an angle. Our featured personality soon shares their slanted perspective, as theft – in countless forms – is their business, and business is booming!

Filmed in London, Gillespie captures the pomp and circumstance of The Swinging City. Since the movie is set in 1964 and then 1974, he and his team offer almost two dozen music snippets from the period. Generally speaking, there’s a distinct joy in listening to fond tracks that match the on-screen events, and The Zombies’ “Time of the Season”, The Doors’ “Five to One”, and Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” help fit that toe-tapping, head-bobbing bill. After a short while, however, this precise novelty wears off, because instantly recognizable songs constantly pop over the speakers throughout the movie, and the 20-second clips feel like gimmicks rather than organic harmonies.

Ohio Players’ “Fire”, Deep Purple’s “Hush”, ELO’s “Livin’ Thing”, Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy”, and the platinum record list goes on and on. Since the film cost about 200 million, perhaps 10 million quid went into music rights. How much does Blondie’s “One Way or Another” cost?

The soundtrack feels overplayed, but Gillespie and cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis offer glorious visual captures of the fashion world and the land of galas and cotillions. Stella eventually lands a designer gig with The Baroness (Emma Thompson), and the film delivers dizzying, gorgeous set pieces, and every color in Crayola’s The Ultimate Crayon Bucket models themselves on the latest perfectly cut and draped fabric imaginable.

The on-screen textile cornucopia will bring tears to Tim Gunn’s eyes and massive appreciation from style pros and novices alike.

So, with high-profile music, Martin Foley’s sweeping art direction, Jenny Beavan’s glorious costume designs, a fabulous locale, and Disney’s towering support, one would surmise that “Cruella” would be a blast. Sure, the movie captures plenty of eye and ear candy – and Cruella’s chalky-white plastered cheeks and two-tone hairdo is a look that simultaneously draws awe and nightmares, but the story is a bleak and dreary tale, and purposely so.

Hauser and Fry – who would hopefully provide some comic relief – aren’t given many chances, if any, to bump some funny bones, and the former was a hilarious scream as Shawn Eckhardt in Gillespie’s “I, Tonya”. Just check out Hauser’s Eckhardt mock interview or any of his moments in that film. This triad even has two dogs for good measure, but other than a Chihuahua named Wink sporting an eye patch and playing a rodent for an important grift, their natural cute and mischievous gifts are lost or forgotten.

Here’s what’s not lost. “Cruella” is a dark tale of revenge, and murder looms over the entire movie. Cruella is an anti-hero because her foe (who will not be named in this review) is much worse than her, at least at this point. The narrative is not exactly a party, but the chess match against her adversary delivers some surprises…during Estella’s schizophrenic journey. Horace and Jasper refer to their friend as two entirely different people without a second thought, and she appears to snap into a psychotic break to begin the second half of the picture.

Hey, Venom (Thomas Hardy) is a demented, schizophrenic, outer-space, murderous anti-hero, but “Venom” (2018) is a noticeably more festive time at the movies. If only Cruella jumped into a lobster tank and bit the head off some live seafood. Let’s save that for the next prequel.

“Cruella” is a movie to behold rather than enjoy, and if your 8-year-old does watch it, brush up your knowledge on mental illness and mommy issues when your child inevitably comes to you with questions. On the positive side, you can reminisce about the visual magic of movies and brag about your The Clash and The J. Geils Band record collections too.

Jeff’s ranking

2.5/4 stars

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Cruella - Movie Review by Monte Yazzie

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Written by: Dana Fox and Tony McNamara

Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Tipper Seifert-Cleveland, Paul Walter Hauser, Joel Fry, and Mark Strong

Runtime: 124 minutes

By: Monte Yazzie

In Disney's 1961 animated classic, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, audiences were introduced to one of the most memorable, inherently evil, villains in cinema history with Cruella de Vil. The apparent motivation of the chic, flamboyant, and unstable London heiress is simple, to make fur coats out of Dalmatian puppies!! It seems like a hard corner to turn this devilish designer into someone moviegoers would care to watch.

Director Craig Gillespie, who last helmed the darkly humorous yet heartfelt I, Tonya, takes the iconic villain from its animated inspirations and crafts an origin story of a young woman living outside the realms of good conduct. Cruella, which arrives in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access on Friday, is simply a fun time at the movies. Gillespie imbues the film with filmmaking and costume style, allows two magnificent actors the opportunity to compose campy and colorful characters, and wraps the entirety in a killer soundtrack.

Estella (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) is a troublemaker in the best sense, a curious and rebellious young girl with an appetite for fashion and a hairstyle that matches her bold tendencies. Adult Estella (Emma Stone) narrates her upbringing, which tragically includes the death of her mother (Emily Beecham) and the journey to London into a life of pickpocketing and thievery. She finds a makeshift family with two other orphans, Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser). But Estella is still drawn to her fashion dreams, and with some help, she finds herself employed and quickly in the limelight working for a ruthless fashion designer known as The Baroness (Emma Thompson).

The first hour of Cruella is an absolute feast for the senses. Gillespie composes the roots of Estella's story like a music video, keeping the camera in perpetual motion while choreographing music needle drops with absolute precision. The Doors, Ike & Tina Turner, Queen, The Clash, Nina Simone, and a show-stopping cover of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog" make appearances throughout the film. It offers unique pacing and presentation that makes the story sizzle with high energy.

Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan, who is sure to be back in awards consideration after this display, adorns the screen with unique visions of fashion that embody a range of elegance. Whether in a messy shopping window display, with an evening gown that glimmers with life, or in the abandonment of thrown-away dresses from the back of a trash dump truck, it's all so beautiful to watch.

Emma Stone gives Estella a charming attitude, transitioning into more punk-rock aesthetics with every turn of the story. Once Cruella makes her inevitable appearance, new accent and style intact, Stone chews the scenery with absolute glee. She is a joy to watch. On the other side playing, unusually, the film's real villain is Emma Thompson as The Baroness. The cutthroat, unforgiving fashionista may feel sewn from the same cloth as Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada, but Thompson makes the role her unique portrayal. When the actress stares daggers, with three snarling Dalmatians sauntering around her presence, it's hard not to smile at the performance on display.

All the visual bravado hides the narrative flaws, which never makes a villain out of Cruella. Yes, the character grows snobbish and less concerned about the well-being of her improvised family once Cruella takes over, but still, there is a heroic quality surrounding her quest in the third act. While, in a different movie not connected to the 1961 Disney property, this wouldn't be so much of a complaint. But the way Cruella is composed in this film almost eliminates the character seen in the animated movie.

Cruella might have worked better as a story without the ties to the original animated icon. But that doesn't stop Gillespie and the team from making a thoroughly entertaining, crowd-pleasing film.

Monte's Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

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Emily Blunt Triple Feature

Emily Blunt stars in “A Quiet Place Part II”, the much-anticipated sequel to the 2018 science-fiction/horror masterpiece. In celebration of the new film and her career, here is a terrific Emily Blunt Triple Feature that features this London-born actress’ turns at comedy, romance, and action-adventure.

These three movies are available to stream right now.

“A Quiet Place Part II” arrives in theatres on May 28.

Emily Charlton

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Even the most oblivious fashion-novices will appreciate director David Frankel’s light and bright adaption of Lauren Weisberger’s novel. In “The Devil Wears Prada”, a recent Northwestern Journalism School graduate, Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway), accepts a second assistant position for Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), “Runway” magazine’s editor-in-chief. Sounds simple enough for a young woman who turned down Stanford Law School, but Miranda – nicknamed The Dragon Lady - is so demanding that the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would quake in his boots. Andy has big shoes to fill because she’s taken over the job from Emily Charlton (Blunt), who is now Miranda’s first assistant. While Andy initially fumbles over the new culture and her sense of style, Emily is right there with jabs, put downs, and criticisms that would make Regina George (Rachel McAdams) from “Mean Girls” (2004) green with envy, including their first meeting.

“Human resources certainly has an odd sense of humor,” Emily quips.

Despite Emily C.’s coarse verbal shade, she isn’t a monster. She’s a semi-neurotic upstart looking to find her place in the world, and Blunt delivers proper empathy for this highly memorable supporting character and leverages a legit hurdle for Andy to leap over. Blunt’s breakout performance in this big-time blockbuster launched her career, so thank you, “Runway”!

Elise Sellas

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

U.S. Congressman David Norris (Matt Damon) loses his U.S. Senate race but walks into momentary success when he unexpectedly meets Elise Sellas (Blunt), a ballerina, while rehearsing his concession speech. It’s love at first sight, and David and Elise make an emotional connection, even for just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, a collection of cryptic “case officers” actively sabotage a potential relationship between the newly acquainted pair and offer bizarre, science-fiction reasoning for their measures. Writer/director George Nolfi adapts Philip K. Dick’s short story for the big screen that’s a 21st-century thriller and old-fashioned romance mash-up, and Blunt flawlessly balances Elise’s first-encounter magic with congenial warmth.

These mysterious, fedora-sporting fellas continue to keep them apart, but David is determined not to let Elise get away, and just about every straight male watching the film will feel just as desperate for our ill-fated lead. In a 2011 Self.com interview, Blunt reportedly said that she “never bloody danced before.” Well, after six weeks of training, she danced beautifully on screen, like she studied ballet for years.

Sgt. Rita Vrataski

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

– Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Blunt) - a deadly-efficient hired gun against the Mimics, a murderous, vicious race of aliens - owns a couple of proud monikers. Fellow soldiers refer to her as The Angel of Verdun and Full Metal Bitch, but Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise) knows her as a brave warrior who slices up the aforementioned invaders - like Beatrix Kiddo carves up the Crazy 88s - during a chaotic, futuristic D-Day-clash.

They soon partner up in the hopes of defeating the Mimics and saving the human race from global genocide. In director Doug Liman’s massively entertaining sci-fi puzzler, adapted from Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s novel, Cage finds himself repeatedly dying on the battlefield (and countless other locales) and then reliving the day…over and over again, not unlike Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) in “Palm Springs” (2020).

It turns out that Rita attained that same “gift” but lost it. Hence, she relies upon William for guidance because this aptitude for uncanny resurrection might be the key to winning the extraterrestrial war. Blunt is an entirely credible badass, and she and Cruise light up the screen with tough-girl and tough-guy vibes, and get this, a sequel – “Live Die Repeat and Repeat” – is supposedly in pre-production. Oh, sign me up…and again…and again.

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Dream Horse – Movie Review

Directed by: Euros Lyn

Written by: Neil McKay

Starring: Toni Collette, Damian Lewis, and Owen Teale

Runtime: 107 minutes

Experience every uphill step and thrilling downhill gallop

“Can’t be that bad. The pigeons keep coming back.”

Jan Vokes (Toni Collette) walks by the aforementioned message – purposely painted on a closed florist shop - when walking home with a couple of plastic grocery bags in hand. Economic hard times have hit her little Welsh community, as high-dollar corporations haven’t yet discovered this village that charmingly sits like a dollop on the bank of a rolling green knoll assembly, a classic example of the country’s landscape.

It’s not a surprise that director Euros Lyn captured Jan at this moment – while filming in Blaenavon, Wales - because she’s striding uphill, not both ways, but it feels like it. She and her husband Brian (Owen Teale) struggle to make ends meet. Jan works two jobs – at a local supermarket and a neighborhood pub – while Brian spends his days watching television. He’s a pleasant sort but believes that his best days are long gone and isn’t shy about asking Jan for a refreshment just after planting himself in his favorite chair.

He frequently asks, “What’s with tea, Love?”

Jan will make his beverage straight away, but she burns for a more purposeful life now that they are empty nesters.

A vision.

A dream.

She hopes to find it in the form of a gorgeous, regal colt named Dream Alliance.

We do too.

“Dream Horse” is a lump-in-your-throat, put-a-smile-on-your-face, stand-up-and-cheer, and sometimes hold-on-for-dear-life underdog movie, one based on the Vokes and Dream Alliance’s true story. Yes, we’ve seen this type of film play out in all forms and walks of life, but Lyn’s picture finds righteous, authentic beats, led by Collette’s approachable, relatable performance, some flat-out exciting horse races, and featuring Wales as the backdrop.

Regrettably, this critic tends to overlook Wales when thinking about the UK, as England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland first come to mind. However, there’s no reason to skip this seaside nation - about the size of New Jersey with a population of 3.1 million - especially from a film point of view.

Anthony Hopkins accepted his 2021 Best Actor Oscar – for “The Father” (2020) - from his home in Wales. His “The Two Popes” co-star Jonathan Pryce is from The Land of Castles, and so are Richard Burton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Sheen, and Collette’s co-star Teale.

“Pride” (2014) - a true-story feature about London-based gay activists supporting striking Welsh miners - is the most recent stand-out film with a Wales-based tale that I can recall.

Well, add “Dream Horse” to the list. No, it won’t win a Best Picture Oscar, but it’s a lovely time at the movies.

It’s about ordinary folks attempting to stake their claim in the game of life. Jan jump-starts this aspiration by rolling the dice but also supplying a gameboard and inviting all the players. Not too long ago, she enjoyed breeding and raising pigeons, so why not elevate the stakes to horses, or in this case, one? Of course, the horse racing business falls well outside the Vokes’ budget, so they form a syndicate. Fourteen additional townsfolk chip in every week for Dream Alliance’s stable and training expenditures.

No, Lyn and screenwriter Neil McKay don’t burn too many calories into each investor’s backstories; save a couple, including Howard Davies (Damian Lewis), an accountant who daydreams about the track rather than tracking down tax loopholes for his wealthy clients. Sure, it would be wonderful to learn everyone’s personal yarns, but this is a 107-minute feature, not a television series. Ah, just know that they are a colorful bunch who scrape up enough spare quid together each week to grant the finest for their young, four-legged boy. For the most part, this enthusiastic lot see green, not necessarily from cold, hard cash, but the lush, emerald track.

In fact, the new owners aptly named Dream Alliance. During the contests, several characters cheer on their beloved hero.

“Come on, Dream!”

“Let’s go, Dream!”

“Dream!”

After absorbing one or two shouts of on-screen encouragement, it becomes clear that this proper noun also doubles as a verb. Dream’s supporters seem to declare these earnest, pure moments as theirs too, and it’s infectious, at least to this movie spectator. Lyn grants us a front-row seat to the heated contests as his camera takes a first-person – err, first-horse - perspective. He throws us in the middle of Dream’s Hurdle races, which carry a legit sense of danger. These 2-minute matches have us biting our nails, pumping our fists, and silently screaming, “Dream!”

Maybe not so silently.

Collette – who is grand in everything - stands front and center in “Dream Horse”. She completely sells Jan’s challenges, love for Dream Alliance, and all other emotions across the spectrum. We feel them too…during every uphill step and thrilling downhill gallop.

Jeff’s ranking

3/4 stars

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The Dry - Movie Review

Director: Robert Connolly

Cast: Eric Bana, Keir O'Donnell, & Genevieve O'Reilly

From the desolate, sun-drenched terrain of beige, brown, and yellow as far as the eye can see to the constant threat of bushfire thanks to the dryness of the environment and its unforgiving temperatures, the moody mythos of rural Australia is perfectly suited to western noir storytelling.

Not quite John Ford and not quite John Dahl – to audiences in the American southwest watching director Robert Connolly's new adaptation of Jane Harper's award-winning first novel “The Dry,” the film's overwhelmingly massive landscape seems equal parts foreign and familiar as it spools out before us onscreen.

Easily the most important character in this slow-burn thriller, in the hands of Connolly, his co-scripters Harry Cripps and Samantha Strauss, and his gifted lead actor Eric Bana (who also produced), the setting serves as a terrific allegory for the internal battle playing out in the mind of our main character as well.

As Australian federal police officer Aaron Falk, Bana's conflicted protagonist leaves his residence in Melbourne to return to his rural hometown of Kiewarra for the first time in over twenty years in order to bury his best high school friend Luke (Martin Dingle Wall) who killed his wife and young son in an alleged murder-suicide. Unwilling to believe that their son could do such a thing, after visiting with Luke's parents, Aaron promises them that he'll look into his family's deaths, even though he has no jurisdiction or any real link to the man his former friend had become after all this time.

An intelligent, evocative look at the way that the past and the present can coexist simultaneously, as Aaron investigates the present-day crime alongside a young sergeant (played by Keir O'Donnell), the film reveals more about his complicated history with Luke, including the suspicious death of a beautiful young woman they knew in high school that still haunts Aaron to this day. Feeling like the two cases are inextricably linked (or perhaps just needing them to be in order to find closure), just like the dry tinder of the ground beneath his feet that could catch fire at any moment, Aaron must figure out what is and what is not in his power to control.

A methodical actor who's at his best when playing contemplative characters who keep their cards close to their chest while embarking on external missions that wind up having to do more with what's going on internally than anything else, “The Dry” boasts one of Bana's strongest and most introspective turns in years.

Shot four-and-a-half hours outside of Melbourne in the flat, dry landscape of the Wimmera region of Victoria with its wide-open spaces that convey both mystery and danger and the secrets of a small, deceptively close-knit community beginning to come undone, “The Dry” feels like a western neo-noir descendant of “One False Move” and “Flesh and Bone.” But like an existential mystery made by a post-“Paris, Texas” era Wim Wenders, “The Dry” is much more intrigued by the psychology of its people rather than the traditionally plot-heavy machinations of a '90s thriller. Richly atmospheric and decidedly deliberate, it's the best Australian film of this type since director Ivan Sen released the brilliant sequel to his breakout hit “Mystery Road” in 2016 with “Goldstone.”

Taking time to develop, as we meet the people of Kiewarra, we aren't quite sure who and how many of these citizens and threads might prove to be connected in nefarious ways. One of those films where you find yourself following Bana into a small-town bar, look around and instantly know that every single person onscreen has an unpredictable story to tell, while a few of its supporting characters – including Aaron and Luke's old friend Gretchen (well played by Genevieve O'Reilly) – are a bit shortchanged by the narrative as a whole, it's a truly effective sleeper overall. Preferring to take the long way around in such a way that the film's first hour requires the patience of a prestige TV mystery series, once “The Dry” finds its footing, everything clicks into place.

Building up energy as it continues like a cyclone whipping around dust in the Victorian flatlands, as Aaron works to solve both cases using his heart as well as his head, the film reaches a conclusion as shocking as it is true. Surprisingly stellar in its deployment of red herrings and misdirection, in offering viewers a brainy, unexpected respite from mindless studio ventures, “The Dry” strikes a match against celluloid and brings the heat of summer movie season directly to the screen.

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Those Who Wish Me Dead – Movie Review

Directed by: Taylor Sheridan

Written by: Taylor Sheridan, Charles Leavitt, and Michael Koryta

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Jon Bernthal, Finn Little, Jake Weber, Medina Senghore, Aidan Gillen, Nicholas Hoult, and Tyler Perry

Runtime: 93 minutes

‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ plays it safe and flatlines

Connor Casserly (Finn Little) lives a comfortable, orderly existence in Jacksonville, Fla. His attentive dad (Jake Weber) and he enjoy a strong relationship and play by the rules at home, school, and work.

He’s about 11, an age when boys still listen to the fathers. If need be, Connor will follow his pop to the ends of the earth. In director/co-writer Taylor Sheridan’s “Those Who Wish Me Dead”, he does. Owen (Weber) and Connor find themselves in grave danger because two assassins decide to hunt them down and play for keeps.

So, the Casserlys make a cross-country road trip to Montana for safe harbor to stay with Owen’s brother-in-law, Ethan (Jon Bernthal). Not only is Montana about as far away from Florida in the continental United States as one can imagine (and please disregard Idaho and Washington from this conversation), but culturally opposite as well.

Sheridan’s first three screenplays – “Sicario” (2015), “Hell or High Water” (2016), and “Wind River” (2017) – are set in the spacious west, so adapting Michael Koryta’s novel - for the big and small screens – is on point. During a 2014 Amazon Books interview, Koryta explains that he felt inspired by our nation’s massive landscapes during a backpacking trip through the Beartooth Mountains in Montana and Wyoming.

“I was standing on the edge of this cliff looking out, and I realized I (could not) see another soul, quite literally. I think we were 40 miles away from cellphone reception at that point, and with my warped, twisted mind, I immediately began to think, ‘I could put a character in a lot of trouble up here,’” Koryta said.

Koryta, screenwriter Charles Leavitt, and Sheridan do precisely that, as Connor finds himself (due to events that will not be revealed in this review) caught in the middle of nowhere on his own. By the looks of things, our young protagonist seems about 40 miles away from cellphone reception as well.

The film’s title, “Those Who Wish Me Dead”, speaks for itself, as Sheridan isn’t placing any hidden double meanings here. This story is a straight-up chase picture set in the Big Sky Country wilderness, but the cast and crew actually filmed in New Mexico. Unfortunately, that’s about the only surprise in this movie, and that’s a problem.

The picture has all the elements for a nail-biting, twisty thriller that we have come to expect from Sheridan, including the great outdoors, murder attempts, and big-time actors. He corralled a terrific ensemble with Angelina Jolie, Bernthal, Nicholas Hoult, Aidan Gillen, Weber, and even Tyler Perry makes a brief appearance. Weber is especially welcome to this critic, as he played the grounded husband for seven seasons on NBC’s “Medium” (2005 – 2011) with Patricia Arquette. Here, Weber plays the same sort of responsible, resourceful rock, but the leading players are Jolie’s Hannah – a gritty but caring firefighter – and Connor. She finds him treading through the wild and attempts to escort him on his journey.

The movie doesn’t focus on the specific details for the Casserlys’ misfortune, such as who are these assassins? What specifically did Owen do (or discover)? Who are the larger forces at work? These questions fall by the wayside, or since we’re in Montana…off a cliff.

Instead, Sheridan pits Hannah and Connor on the run against the aforementioned baddies (Gillen and Hoult), the rugged terrain, and a forest fire for good measure. Although the film places this woman and kid in harm’s way, there are just a scant few moments when the tension resonates.

Rather than face and climb intimidating gradients constructed from Mother Nature’s granite, this motherly figure and her young protégé – in many cases – casually stroll over flat open fields.

Does anyone have a frisbee?

Perhaps, a couple of absurd, first act moments – including Jolie surviving a 50-foot drop from a tower, landing flat on her back, and simply (although slowly) standing up – creates an insincere, fabricated mood. Rather than sharing the on-screen struggles, I could almost see the film crew standing just off-camera and Sheridan declaring, “Action.”

The movie’s frank mission becomes more character-driven. Hannah seeks redemption (for a past on-the-job error) by steering Connor to safety, and with a scant 93-minute runtime, there’s not a lot of runway for much else. Early in the first act, the film attempts to establish Hannah’s post-traumatic stress for a heartbeat or two, but the emotive thumping doesn’t punch through.

We get that Hannah swallows her sorrow through some daredevil antics and bonding with her male firefighting crew. She’s a sympathetic character, but her banter with Connor is paint-by-the-numbers with familiar, scripted ink. Hannah builds Connor’s spirits by talking about trust and his future girlfriends, but their arc is safe and uninspired.

Anyway, Bernthal and Medina Senghore play a likable couple with a baby on the way, and Gillen and Hoult deliver some degree of menace. Probably the movie’s best scenes are Allison (Senghore) trying to fend off the pair of mercenaries and Ethan’s breakfast meeting with his boss, a crusty but fair sheriff (Boots Southerland). He seems like a first cousin to Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) from “Hell or High Water” or retired lawman Ellis (Barry Corbin) from “No Country for Old Men” (2007).

Whoo-hoo! Geez, let’s give this sheriff more than three minutes of screen time.

Look, there’s nothing horribly wrong with “Those Who Wish Me Dead”, but I can’t help but think about a line that Ellis said to Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones).

“What you got ain’t nothing new.”

Jeff’s ranking

2/4 stars

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