25th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival [2018] - Pt 1

Of the films that recently played at the 25th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival [2018], I was able to view and review the following:

Humboldt en México. La mirada del explorador [2018] (directed by Ana Cruz) is a documentary about Alexander von Humboldt [en.wikip] [es.wikip]*[de.wikip]* a late 18th-early 19th century German (Prussian) naturalist / ethnographer / explorer traveled extensively in Latin America including spending two years 1803-04 in Mexico (then New Spain), writing about it, its landscape and its people for the first time in a scientific manner -- in a style that would remind Viewers of the writing and illustrative style (now photographic style) of the articles of National Geographic Magazine.  So impressed were subsequent government officials of Mexico, that when Mexico won its independence, they gave Humboldt honorary Mexican citizenship, even though later in the aftermath of the Mexican American War, he was accused of having been a Gringo spy.  That rather odd accusation -- said war took place 45 years after Humboldt's time in Mexico -- was born of the fact that his writings were considered so good / accurate, that the U.S. Army used them as background information (notably his maps ...) to plan the invasion of Mexico during the War! ;-).  However, beside the reminder that all sorts of writings could end up being used in all sorts of unexpected ways, the film gently presents a beautiful report of how Humboldt saw the people of Mexico (then still New Spain) across the whole spectrum of its classes and ethnicities, and it reminds us of the perennial value of such "snap-shots" of cultures in time, helping us all to appreciate who we are and where we came from -- 3 1/2 Stars

Broche de Oro: Comienzos [2017] (written and directed by Rául Marchand Sánchez) is a LOVELY second volume (a prequel) to the (already largely) DELIGHTFUL Puertorican family comedy Broche de Oro [2012].  I saw the original at the 29th Chicago Latino Film Festival [2013], when I was still stationed in Chicago, and have to say though I already largely liked the first one, I liked this second film even better.

Now why have I liked these films?  And why did I like this film even better than the first?

Well, as I mentioned, these films are family comedies, and interestingly enough FOCUSED HERE PRIMARILY ON THE GRANDPARENTS.  The films take place in the context of a Senior living community / nursing home operated, since the series takes place in Puerto Rico, by a local congregation of Catholic Religious Sisters.  In the first film, the Religious Sisters were portrayed perhaps a bit too harshly / stereotypically.  In the current film, their portrayal has been softened and even deepened significantly resulting in a much more recommendable film on my part.

Then, the initial relationship focused on in the series has been that between a grandfather named Rafael (and played wonderfully by Jacobo Morales) and his quite guapo/surfing but still learning his way through life grandson Carlos (played by Luis Omar O'Farrill).  The value of grandparents is shown beautifully in this film.  Then in the current film, many of the _other_ characters at the senior living community / nursing home are much more developed.  What's presented in this film is a _lovely community of life_ present _even in_ "a senior living community / nursing home" AND ONE CAN NOT BUT APPLAUD THIS!   Viewers may be reminded of the even then highly successful American-TV series The Golden Girls [1985-1992] but even in a more serious (yet FUN) / realistic way.

There will be some Catholic Viewers who may find problems with ONE (or possibly two) scenes in the film, both of which come near its end (and for this reason, I'm not giving this film a flat-out 4+ Star rating (yes, the film is THAT GOOD AND THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY POIGNANT / FUNNY).  But as I wrote in reviews before, in a Free Country, Artists have the right to use their Art to express the opinions that they hold.  We may not like them, and may respond accordingly, but they certainly have the right to express them.  Further, GENERALLY SPEAKING (as is _certainly_ the case here), noting that many Catholics / Christians would have some problems with some of the film's resolutions, there is SO MUCH ELSE THAT IS EXCELLENT IN THIS FILM that it'd simply be unfair to judge the film on its few problems.

So overall, A SIMPLY EXCELLENT PORTRAYAL OF "LIFE AMONG SENIORS" and I wish the director and the cast all the best in the world.  This was a story / film WORTHY OF BEING MADE, and I hope that there will be more like this in the future -- despite aforementioned reservations (but mentioned in a vague / non-spoiler alerty way ;-) ... 4 Stars.

Road to Mars (orig. Camino a Marte) [2017] (directed and cowritten by Humberto Hinojosa Ozcariz along with Anton Goenechea) is a simple/low budget Mexican young adult oriented sci-fi film of the Twilight Zone [wikip] [IMDb] tradition -- I've seen several similar films of this style coming out of Mexico in recent years, including The Incident (orig. El Incidente) [2014], and The Similars (orig. Los Parecideos) [2015]) -- though a film that does "move the ball" a bit.

For one, this is a film where the main protagonists are two young 20-something women Violeta (played by Camila Soli) and Emilia (played by Tessa Ia).  With one, Violeta, dying of cancer, after escaping the hospital, the two go on a Themla & Louise [1991] like road-trip down the Baja California coast.  Along the way they encounter a young man (played by Luis Gerardo Méndez) who appeared to really need some help.  Apparently unable to speak, and wearing what appeared to be a beat-up motor-cycle helmet, it initially seemed to them that he had had some sort of a terrible motorcycle accident resulting in him having amnesia.  HOWEVER ... (not much of a spoiler alert) he turns out to be an extra-terrestrial and one on a very specific and quite somber mission.  All this takes place in the context of a massive hurricane, named Mark, approaching the coast from the Pacific Ocean (Note that the most powerful hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere was Hurricane Patricia which barreled down on the Mexican coast from the Pacific Ocean in 2015).

Well much of course ensues.  I did find the film fascinating for being simultaneously a sci-fi themed film and one oriented above all to young women.  There are some aspects of this film, notably involving sexuality, that would certainly make the film unsuitable for minors, and more generally put-off many/most adult Catholics.  Still, bearing these criticisms in mind, for the college-aged / 20-something crowd, this would make for a thought provoking film, and one that brings to mind some of the themes of the pre-flood chapters of the Book of Genesis. -- 3 Stars


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Gringo [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)


IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Walsh) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Kenny) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Gringo [2018] (directed by Nash Edgerton, story and screenplay cowritten by Matthew Stone along with Anthony Tambakis) is an odd mix -- arguably the story of Job re-imagined as the principal protagonist in a dark yet by the end almost Shakespearean tragicomedy.

Poor Harold Soyinka (played by David Oyelowo) a hard-working educated Nigerian-born immigrant in his late thirties, who begins the story working as an accountant for a vaguely-shady certainly b-tier Chicago-based pharmaceutical company and with, at minimum, a spendthrift wife (played by Thandie Newton).

Early in the film, Harold is warned by his own accountant, a friend, that the company he's working for is being setup for a merger and when that comes along, he could be out of a job.  So when Harold comes to work, he asks his boss, if "all is okay with the company," and assured by his ever smiling, but take one look at him and you'd be insane to trust him boss Richard Rusk (played wonderfully by Joel Edgerton) "of course it is, and besides I look after my friends."  That's not exactly an answer...

Well, assured that all is fine, Harold is nevertheless sent down to Mexico to "clean up" some accounting "problems" with a medical marijuana pill that that the company had been developing there -- apparently "some of the product" was "going missing" and while one _could_ have considered that "the cost of doing business" especially with THAT particular "product" ... IF ONE'S COMPANY IS GOING TO BE BOUGHT BY ANOTHER, these kind of "discrepancies" would have to be explained / covered over.

So poor Harold, a Nigerian immigrant, but to absolutely EVERYONE down in Mexico he's "the Gringo" or "the black (somewhat exotic) Gringo" is sent there to "fix" something that's not exactly easily "fixable."  His Mexican counterpart, a lovely Mexican accountant, who's adopted a soccer team sized number of orphan-kids on his salary gets one of big toes clamped-off by the local drug lord who ... unsurprisingly, would like the previously "negotiated arrangement" between "his organization" and "the gringo medical marijuana" er "pharmaceutical company" to ... "continue."

And it just gets worse.  Soon there's a hit man, actually even a series of hit men, representing all kinds of "interests" big and small, originating from across both sides of the Border, who'd just prefer Harold, the little Nigerian-born "Gringo" account to be ... dead.

The key scene in the film is when facing one of these hit men, one actually sent by his slimy boss (remember "his friend" back in Chicago), poor Harold drops to his knees and begins to pray: "O God, save me in this my hour of distress!"

The hit man, asks incredulously: "O come on, you don't believe in God do you?"  To which Harold, remember a GOOD MAN from Nigeria, answers with similar incredulity: "What kind of man does not believe in God?"  to which the hit man, taken aback, answers: "Well, I guess, I kinda do..." and ... quite soon, quite randomly another gang of two bit thugs, ALSO looking for Harold, run the hit man over saving his life ... for the moment.

And so it is.  I suppose the "redeeming value" of the film is perhaps that in Shakespearean fashion pretty much ALL the bad people GET THEIRS while the good people ... Harold, his heart-of-gold Mexican counterpart, and one other sweet young American lady named Sunny (played by Amanda Seyfried) turn out okay.

But did this movie _really_ have to be made?  Well, I'll leave that question up to you ;-)


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Thoroughbreds [2017]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB ()  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (A-)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)


IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review

Thoroughbreds [2017] (written and directed by Cory Finley) is an extremely simple if also extremely deadpan / dark "comedy" about two super-rich teenage girls, Amanda and Lily (played superbly by Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy respectively), awash apparently in ritalin, from the "horse country" of upper suburban Connecticut (where even cross border Westchester County, NY appears to be considered for the non-super-rich hence unwashed/unfortunate masses) who ... come to plot the murder of one-of-the-two's creepy (if still chiseled) lawyer step-father named ... Mark (played by Paul Sparks).

To do so, they enlist a local same-age-as-they amiable loser named ... Tim (played in joyfully / "without a clue" fashion by Anton Yelchin, the poor actor, most famous for playing the amiable Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek films, himself, died tragically in a freak auto accident outside his Hollywood Hills home shortly after finishing shooting for this film).  Tim's the guy who they'd _never_ invite to their parties if not for him supplying them with their drugs.  If stupidly, then certainly sincerely Tim believed himself to be "an entrepreneur" and kept telling _everyone_ who'd listen (not many, as most would just roll their eyes and leave ... after buying their drugs ... from him...) that "in a few years," he'd be "sitting pretty," living just as they were ;-).  Yes, Lennie, everybody deserves to dream...

Well ... much happens, though ... not particularly quickly ;-) but then ... they're all on ritalin, right?, holding back filled-to-the-brim oceans of resentments.  SOOO, this can't possibly end well ... right ...?  And ...

It all makes one recall the great opening line to Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" ;-)

An awesome if very, very dark film ;-)


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A Wrinkle in Time [2018]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller-Seitz) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review


A Wrinkle in Time [2018] (directed by Ava DuVernay, screenplay by Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell based on the novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Madeleine L'Engle [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) is IMHO a fascinating story that COULD be understood as a truly feminine counterpoint to the popular Spider Man [2002] / [2012] and Thor [2011] Marvel Comics inspired films of recent times.

For the protagonist in this story, is a quiet, uncertain 14 year old  girl (in the film biracial) named Meg (played wonderfully by Storm Reid) not unlike Marvel Comics' Peter Parker of Spider Man [2002] / [2012] fame.  Her parents (played by Chris Pine and Gugu Mbatha-Raw - I've loved everything that Gugu Mbatha-Raw has ever been in since Belle [2013]) were scientists.  Meg's father working for NASA had mysteriously disappeared from his lab some 4 years before.  He had been working on tesseracts, or multidimensional objects which offered the possibility to move across great distances in our universe instantaneously.

Disappeared though he was, Meg's father's research is validated when the first of three celestial beings in the story, a Mrs Whatsit (played in the film by Reese Witherspoon) appears to Meg's little brother Charles (played by Deric McCabe) in their living room and tells her and her brother that tesseracts are real and travel like their father had imagined was indeed possible.

The rest of the movie unspools through there.  Meg, her brother and then a seemingly random friend Calvin (played by Levi Miller) but at the time was really _her only friend_ are soon introduced to two other celestial beings in the story -- Mrs Which (played by Opray Winfrey) and Mrs Who (played by Mindy Kaling) -- and together they set off, using the three celestial beings' knowledge of tesseracts to travel (in arguably Marvel's Thor-like fashion) to far flung worlds across the universe search for Meg's 4-years-missing dad and ... save the universe from a dark de-humanizing celestial force called "It" spreading across the universe in a cloud dark, storm-cloud like fashion.

I found the movie surprisingly fascinating, not the least that the original writer, Madeleine L'Engle [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] did see herself as a Christian (Anglican) writing in the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.  Readers here could perhaps discern a feminine echo to the Christian Trinity (and perhaps even of Mary [1] [2]) in those three (feminine) celestial beings who appear to the children. 

I also believe that this film COULD "move the ball" in contemporary North American science fiction, moving us away from the grand "Cosmic Battles" of Star Wars / Star Trek and glass smashing mayhem of the Marvel Comics / Transformer stories to a more mature and less 2-10 year old "let's just smash things we don't like" vision of the Cosmos. 

Finally, this story could actually serve as a fascinating CONCEPTUAL BRIDGE between contemporary SCIENCE FICTION and RELIGION, reminding us that truly _advanced beings_ MAY NOT NEED such _pedestrian devices_ as "star ships" (warp drives, etc) to travel the universe, that they could have developed far more elegant / civilized ways to make their way and communicate across great distances. 

All in all, there's much more to this story / film than it may seen initially and it may require a second or even third look to see it.  So very, very good job here Ana DuVernay and cast, very, very good job!

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Annihilation [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (B. Tallerico) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review


Annihilation [2018] (screenplay and directed by Alex Garland based the novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Jeff VanderMeer [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]), is a _slow-moving_ though _intentionally so_, ever creepy Sci-Fi / Horror film set in the near future in which a small but slowly yet relentlessly growing section of isolated coastal Florida marshland has been absorbed by a strange, eerie phenomenon called "The Shimmer."

Those sent on scouting missions into the region absorbed by The Shimmer, generally don't come back, and even the few who do, return very disoriented with poor recollections of both what took place while they were "inside the Shimmer" and even of their lives prior to their entry into it.  Further, the region inside The Shimmer appears to be a Universal Dead Zone for all communications and navigation equipment: Radios, GPS, even compasses don't work there; those inside The Shimmer can only navigate by means of following the movement of the sun, and since the story was taking place in Florida marshland, even the sun need not be always visible because of tree / cloud cover and mist.  What the heck was going on in there?  Well, that's for the characters in story (as well as the Viewers) to figure out. 

The principal character in the story is Lena (played by Natalie Portman) a once marine now biologist who had been married to Kane (played by Oscar Isaac) still U.S. Special Forces who was, in fact, sent on a secret mission into The Shimmer, and one year later, becomes the first person to ever return from it alive, though extremely disoriented, recalling neither much of his time (again, nearly a year) inside The Shimmer, nor of his previous life outside of it.  When he comes down with a virulent form of cancer, Lena goes down to region of Florida, otherwise sealed off from the public, where she finds out he had been sent.  Eventually, because (1) she was a biologist (a skill deemed useful by the military officials there, (2) she had been previously military (hence could fire a weapon / defend herself) and (3) she simply insisted on coming along, in hopes of figuring out what happened to her husband, she's allowed to participate in a four person, interestingly ALL WOMAN scouting expedition into The Shimmer and ... the rest of the story unspools from there.

Again, what the heck is going on?  Well, if interested / intrigued, go see the movie ;-)


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Red Sparrow [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (1 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (C, Lemire) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review


Red Sparrow [2018] (directed by Francis Lawrence, screenplay by Justin Haythe based on the spy novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Jason Matthews [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) while having had potential -- the film's about a Russian (previously Soviet) program which trains / trained young Russian women spies into becoming agents of seduction, manipulating (yes, often but not always sexually) potentially useful men from adversarial countries into serving the Russian Intelligence Service -- becomes an UTTERLY UNWATCHABLE FILM about 20 minutes from its end with a torture scene that while perhaps "realistic" was otherwise SHOCKINGLY APPALLING -- a Russian intelligence officer is shown using a portable electronic instrument (think of it as "an electric shaver PLUS" to SHAVE OFF 1/4" THICK PIECES OF FLESH from an American intelligence officer "under interrogation."  OKAY, I imagine that these kind of things "do happen...," BUT ... 

As such, whatever else one could say about the film -- among them that the performances were generally quite excellent if somewhat "cut and dry" (the Viewer can generally quite clearly see who were intended to be "the good people" and who were "the bad" ones...), with Jennifer Lawrence playing Dominica Egorova, a once Bolshoi Ballet ballerina who after having had a dancing career ending accident (or perhaps "accident"), finds herself manipulated / recruited by a creepy, Vladimir Putin-resembling uncle / upper-level Russian intelligence official (played by Mattias Schoenaerts) into this Red Sparrow "agents of seduction" intelligence program.  Eventually, "on assignment" in Budapest / Vienna on the trail of someone who was apparently a mole in the Russian Intelligence service (working for the West), she runs into an American intelligence officer (played by Joel Edgarton) and the rest of the story un-spools from there -- that rather shocking scene makes it, I'm not kidding NC-17 deserving, _utterly inappropriate_ for ANY young kids and as I mentioned UTTERLY UNWATCHABLE for most people in general.

It's a shame ...


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90th Annual Academy Awards - Review: Most Uneventful Oscars in Memory [2018]

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years

Perhaps everyone was just scared.  Between the fiasco with which the Oscars ended last year and then reverberations from the spectacular fall from grace of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after several dozen (!) women came forward with allegations against him of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape, it seemed that everyone just wanted the Academy Awards to be over this year and ... without incident.

So while the moderately fun African American-centric horror movie Get Out [2017] (affluent white suburbanites were the "bad guys" / "monsters" ;-) won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the more problematic gay-themed coming of age story Call Me by Your Name [2017] won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay (it was also a summer of love story between a 17 year old and a 25 year old...), the Mexican Day of the Dead themed Coco [2017] won Best Animated Film and Mexican born Guillermo del Toro's film, the 1950s-set SciFi period piece The Shape of Water [2017] won four Oscars including for Best Director and Best Picture, there really were no great surprises.

There were multiple references to the plight of Dreamers (young undocumented aliens who were brought here by their parents while they were still young children and now don't really know any other country other than ours), and Frances McDormand, winner of this year's Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role did make an impassioned appeal for gender equality in both pay and career opportunity in Hollywood, but nothing really stood out.

Indeed, young Greta Gerwig and her film Lady Bird [2017] nominated for FIVE Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Supporting Role came away with none.

Well "maybe next year," maybe next year indeed.


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My 2018 Oscar Picks

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years

It's Oscars Time again, so as in previous years, I dutifully present my picks here ;-)


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Woody Harrelson for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Woody Harrelson for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017], Christopher Plummer for his role in All the Money in the World [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION -  Armie Hammer for his role in Call Me by Your Name [2017]


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Allison Janney for her role in I, Tonya [2017],
    SHOULD WIN - Allison Janney for her role in I, Tonya [2017], Laurie Metcalf for her role in Lady Bird [2017], Mary J. Bilge for her role in Mudbound [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Isabela Vidovic for her role in Wonder [2017], Holly Hunter for her role in The Big Sick [2017]


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Gary Oldman for his role in Darkest Hour [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Gary Oldman for his role in Darkest Hour [2017], Woody Harrelson for his role in Glass Castle [2017], Daniel Day Lewis for his role in Phantom Thread [2017], Timothée Chalamet for his role in Call Me by Your Name [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Woody Harrelson for his role in Glass Castle [2017], Jason Clarke for his role in Mudbound [2017], Kumail Nanjiani for his role in The Big Sick [2017], Ryan Gosling for his role in Blade Runner 2049 [2017]


  BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Frances McDormand for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Frances McDormand for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017], Sally Hawkins for her role in The Shape of Water [2017]
   DESERVED CONSIDERATION -  Jessica Chastain for her role in Molly's Game [2017],  Vicky Krieps for her role in Phantom Thread [2017], Jessica Chastain for her role in Zookeeper's Wife [2017]


BEST ORIGINAL SCREEN PLAY
    WILL WIN - Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017] by Martin McDonagh
    SHOULD WIN - Get Out [2017] by Jordan Peele, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017] by Martin McDonagh, Lady Bird [2017] by Greta Gerwig, The Shape of Water [2017] by Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor
   DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Dunkirk [2017] by Christopher Nolan  


BEST ADAPTED SCREEN PLAY
    WILL WIN - Call Me by Your Name [2017] by James Ivory based on the novel by André Aciman
    SHOULD WIN - Wonder [2017] by Stephen Chbosky and Steven Conrad  and Jack Thorne based on the novel by R.J. Palacio; Mudbound [2017] cowritten by Dee Rees and Virgil Williams based on the novel by Hillary Jordan; Molly's Game [2017] by Aaron Sorkin based on the memoir by Molly Bloom;
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Wonder [2017] by Stephen Chbosky and Steven Conrad  and Jack Thorne based on the novel by R.J. Palacio.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    WILL WIN -  The Shape of Water [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Blade Runner 2049 [2017], The Shape of Water [2017], Dunkirk [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets [2017], Baby Driver [2017]


BEST DIRECTOR
    WILL WIN - Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk [2017], Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water [2017], Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Denis Villeneux for Blade Runner 2049 [2017]


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
    WILL WIN - Coco [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Coco [2017]


BEST PICTURE
    WILL WIN - The Shape of Water [2017]
    SHOULD WIN - Dunkirk [2017], The Shape of Water [2017], Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [2017], Lady Bird [2017]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Coco [2017], Blade Runner 2049 [2017], Star Wars VIII: The Last Jedi [2017], Wonder [2017]


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Game Night [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J.. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review


Game Night [2018] (codirected by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, screenplay by Mark Perez) is an amiably goofy comedy about a 30 something couple of (mostly old-school board) game fanatics -- Max (played by Justin Bateman) and Annie (played by Rachel McAdams) who literally met at a collage scrabble (or what-not) tournament and began to date after "becoming allies" one evening after playing Risk with friends. "Oh come on, Alliances never last" warned their friends ... Yet, they took their Alliance all the way to the Altar and 10 years later, seem to be as happy as ever, their weekly "Game Night" with friends being the cement of their relationship.

Okay the premise is rather corny and though the two love gaming, neither seems to "need to win."  Instead, they seem to "game" for literally for "the love of the game" (almost any game).  Moreover the circle of friends with which they game seems to be of the same spirit.  As such, though nerdy, the characters, even at their nerdiest -- and neighbor cop, still smarting over why his wife left him, Gary (played wonderfully by Jesse Plemons) is one heck of a slow-moving nerd -- remain fundamentally like-able. 

Their quaint if fundamentally happy existence is rattled, a bit, with the re-entry of Max's far cooler and apparently far more successful brother Brooks (played by Kyle Chandler).  Now, HE'S super competitive and so soon after he arrives HE invites Max, Annie and their group to HIS (much larger than Max/Annie's) house for the next "Game Night" where he promises to take their quaint weekly night of gaming "up a notch."

When they arrive, it appears that Brooks had set-up for them an "evening murder mystery" game, 'cept ... of course Brooks _isn't_ what he seems.  Yes, he has a lot of money, but it isn't because "he invested in Panera" really "early in the game."  Instead, he has apparently several groups of mobsters chasing after him.  SO ... this initially "friendly evening murder mystery game" begins to blend reality and fiction in ways that both take the story somewhere and ... at times gets confusing (how many groups of mobsters were after him, and why?). 

Still, as experienced gamers, it turns out that Max and Annie and friends become what Brooks really needs in this moment of crisis and confusion (even he might not have fully realized how many baddies were after him).

It all makes for a kinda fun, and generally harmless movie, though some of the jokes are definitely geared to an R-rated audience.  And so, it's not necessarily a bad film for a "date night," but leave the kids at home ;-)

A pretty job folks!  Pretty good job!


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Black Panther [2018]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


Black Panther [2018] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Ryan Coogler along with Joe Robert Cole based on the Marvel comic by Stan Lee [wikip] [IMDb] and Jack Kirby [wikip] [IMDb]) premiered in Los Angeles at the annual 26th Annual Pan African Film Festival held at the Rave Cinemas in the Baldwin Hills.  Yes, it was a big deal.

The release of the film was a big deal because it is the first superhero film involving an Afrocentric story and cast.  Yes, the story fits into Marvel Comics' (Avengers) Universe [MC] [Wikip].   But it also stands on its own.

Set largely in a fictionalized kingdom called Wakanda [wikip] [MC] located "somewhere in the mountains of central Africa," a kingdom that was able to cloak its technological prowess (FAR MORE ADVANCED than the rest of the world) from the outside world thanks its sitting on an enormous deposit of "vibranium" a mineral brought to the mountains of Wakanda eons ago by a meteorite.

The mineral proved able to store and redirect energy, which made even ancient Wakandan battle axes and spears more effective than their rivals' weapons.  Over the centuries the Wakandans found all sorts of ways to take advantage of "vibranium's" properties, to build (and again, even _cloak_) their entire technologically advanced civilization based on the material.

The central question facing said Kingdom and especially its Royal Family was the degree that the Kingdom ought to engage with the outside world.

After all, Africa is supposed to be backward and poor.   Indeed recently our  (U.S.) President apparently declared the entire continent of Africa to be made-up of "s-hole" countries... Yet here, in Marvel Universe [MC] [Wikip] was a [fictionalized] country, Wakanda [wikip] [MC], that did not fit the image.

Now truth be told, Africa IS a continent that's ENORMOUSLY RICH in mineral wealth, from OIL to GOLD to DIAMONDS to VARIOUS METALS / SEMICONDUCTIVE SUBSTANCES that drive the world's reusable batteries and cell phones -- A good part of the reason for the nearly decade long conflict in the 1990s across the Democratic Republic of the Congo [wikip] [CIA Factbook] in Central Africa was PRECISELY ABOUT control of those deposits of SEMI-CONDUCTIVE SUBSTANCES present there.  Yet, of course, most Africans remain desperately poor.  Why?

Well, a good part is, of course, the legacy of the exploitation that occurred during the European Colonial Era.  Yet, there remains much more current problem of endemic corruption:

I remember about a decade ago attending a presentation "Bottom of the Barrel" at the annual Catholic Relief Services Conference in Washington D.C. about the oil wealth existing in central West Africa and being surprised to hear the CRS officials asking us to lean on multinational oil companies working in those countries to declare how much oil they were actually extracting in that region.  This was because OIL PRODUCTION STATISTICS WERE ACTUALLY BEING HELD AS _STATE SECRETS_ by VIRTUALLY ALL THE WEST CENTRAL AFRICAN COUNTRIES INVOLVED.  Why?  Well ... the governments of pretty much all of these countries DIDN'T THEIR OWN PEOPLES TO KNOW how much oil was being drilled AND SOLD / EXPORTED out of their countries.  Why?  Because their leaders were pocketing the ABSOLUTELY STUNNING PROFITS from these sales.

And Dear Readers, this is just one commodity -- Oil.  North Africa is sitting on lakes of Oil.  Central Africa has Copper, Chromium, Diamonds various rare semiconductive materials as well as Oil.  Southern Africa has GOLD, Diamonds (again) and Coal. 

So there _is_ an ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY BEING MADE in Africa, it's just that it's "hidden" (KEPT FROM) the vast majority of its people [Transparency Int'l] [CRS].

Well, in the story here, the fictional mountain kingdom of Wakanda [wikip] [MC], perhaps modeled after some of the more isolated African kingdoms like Lesotho [wikip] [Recent Film] in Southern Africa, untouched by colonization because it seemed just too remote and (unbeknownst to the Western Imperial Powers cloaked by a "vibranium" powered shield) appeared "just as poor" as the rest of Africa to bother with.  This allowed the Kingdom of Wakanda [wikip] [MC] keep its independence and continue its remarkable "vibranium driven" development path, respecting traditional African institutions (notably the Monarchy) free from Western interference.

To be sure, the Wakandians prudently sent both spies and diplomats to the West to learn how things were going in the outside world, but they were _very reluctant_ to share with outsiders as to how things operated at home.  Keeping the level of its technological prowess secret actually proved quite easy as most Westerners considered Wakanda to be "just another poor isolated African "s-hole" of a country ... AND ACTUALLY many Wakandians from the Royal Family on down WERE JUST FINE WITH THAT.  Western dismissive Racism actually kept the Wakandians safe.

Yet even as Wakanda [wikip] [MC] proved capable of keeping the level its technological development a secret ... its diplomats and spies had become keenly aware of the poverty, backwardness and sufferings of their African neighbors and kin.  What to do?

That becomes the central question of the film.  T'Challa who becomes "The Black Panther" King (played by Chadwick Boseman) after his father's death, initially wished to continue to keep the true capabilities of his Kingdom secret.  However, his cousin, M'Baku (played by Winston Duke), whose father had been one of those spies sent out by Wakanda [wikip] [MC] to better learn about the ways of the outside world returns to the Kingdom with the demand that Wakanda use its vibranium-based technological power TO HELP ARM / FREE their African (and African American) brothers and sisters suffering outside.

Also appalled by the way Africans and African Americans are treated, yet wanting to protect his own Kingdom, T'Challa has to "grow into the job" of being King quickly to chart a wise and sustainable course.

The rest of the story ensues ...

Now Dear Readers there are some great performances, often by women, in this film -- notably Leticia Wright's performance as Shuri, T'Challa's ever smiling technologically savy teenage younger sister, Danai Gurira who plays Okuye the head of a bad-A all African female "vibranium spear-wielding" Palace Guard, and Lupita Nyong'o who plays T'Challa's once and presumably future fiancee' Nakia, and as also a trained Wakandian spy, is no wilting flower either. 

Yet, I've chosen to focus my attention on here on the story's central question -- what should a good / wise African "with some means" DO in face of the sufferings of so many Africans and members of the African descended diaspora around the world? -- because it's a question that the Catholic Church has actually challenged Africa's political leaders with as well.  Some 25 years ago, in the aftermath of the Synod on Africa, some of Africa's political leaders (many of which remain in power to this day, or until recently ...) apparently asked then Nigerian Cardinal Arinze: "Do you want us all to become 'Saints'?"  To which he famously responded: "Yes, Africa needs a number of its Leaders to become Saints."

I've noted above that Africa is rich in all kinds of special and often extremely valuable minerals.  There should be a way that this mineral wealth could used to transform the destinies of the vast majority of Africa's people for the better rather than just make a very small number of people (both African and non) mind-bogglingly rich.

Africa does need strong leaders with superhuman wisdom and honesty.  Yes, (like all the world) it needs its Saints [1] [2] [3] [4].


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The 15:17 to Paris [2018]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (2 Stars)  AVClub (C-)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


The 15:17 to Paris [2018] (directed by Clint Eastwood, screenplay by Dorothy Blyskal
.based on the book [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spenser Stone and Jeffrey E. Stern [Atlantic] [GR] [Amzn] [IMDb]) despite lackluster reviews (above) is thematically a quintessential Clint Eastwood directed movie (of this time):

For this is the story of three utterly average guys, Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spenser Stone in their early 20s, okay two of them were in the U.S. military, who knew each other since middle school (the three play themselves as adults, and Paul-Mikél Williams, Bryce Gheisar and William Jennings play them as tweens).  Near the end of a "reunion trip" of sorts -- Stone, a male nurse serving in the U.S. Air Force was stationed in Portugal, Skarlatos took some R&R near the end of his Oregon Army National Guard tour in Afghanistan and together they convinced Sadler, still in college, to "just get himself a credit card" and fly out to meet them in Italy -- while on the 15:17 train from Amsterdam to Paris on August 21, 2015, they found themselves suddenly present to nascent terrorist attack.

A young Moroccan man, Ayoub El Khazzani (played in the film by Ray Corasani), had entered one of the train's bathrooms with his suitcase, pulled-out the weapons / cartridges that he prepared, stepped-out of the bathroom and started shooting.  The first two passengers that he passed, tried to tackle him and one of them was shot / seriously wounded.  But then the three heroes in the film were present a little further down the first compartment that he had entered (and were actually sitting in the wrong part of the train -- they had "cheated," sneaking-up into 1st class to use the train's wifi ;-). THEY charged, tackled and disarmed him.  And Stone though himself somewhat wounded, since he was a nurse, was actually able to save the life of the passenger who first tried to tackle the assailant and had been shot by him.

It all made for A REMARKABLE STORY all the more so because the three really were utterly "regular people" who simply "stepped-up" BIG-TIME in a moment that they needed to.

Yes, a fair number of reviewers complained that the three's lives were perhaps _too average_, BUT THAT WAS CLEARLY Clint Eastwood's point.  These were three regular guys who did EXACTLY THE RIGHT THING in the moment when they were called to do so.

And then honestly, to me, IT DIDN'T HURT THAT THE THREE WERE CHRISTIAN (perhaps even Catholic -- as one of them, again A TOTALLY "REGULAR GUY," liked praying the Prayer of Saint Francis -- "Lord make me an Instrument of your Peace...")

I loved the movie, applaud Clint Eastwood's willingness to do it, and even in the way that he did it, with the three heroes simply playing themselves, and find the film's message VERY VERY NICE -- We all need to be prepared (and brave enough) to do the right thing at the right time when circumstances call us to "step up."

Excellent film / story!

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12 Strong [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (C+)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


12 Strong [2018] (directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, screenplay by Ted Tally and Peter Craig based on the book The Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by Doug Stanton [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb]) tells the in good part truly remarkable story of a unit of U.S. Special Forces Green Berets, led by Capt. Mitch Nelson (played quite admirably by Chris Hemsworth) who were dropped into Afghanistan some six weeks after 9/11, to link up with a General Dostum (played in the film by Navid Negahban), the leader of one of the factions in Afghanistan's then quite tattered Northern Alliance.

Riding on horseback with said Afghan warriors, while repeatedly calling-in absolutely devastating B-52 airstrikes from the sky, they helped the previously tattered Northern Alliance army capture just IN THREE WEEKS a key Taliban supply choke-point that led to the Taliban regime's collapse in Afghanistan ONLY A FEW MONTHS LATER.

IT IS A REMARKABLE STORY _definitely_ deserving both a best-selling book / film.

But there are some "nagging issues" that _in fairness_ deserve to be mentioned here as well:

(1) We AMERICANS actually _don't_ have a monopoly on these kind of films.  In recent years, RUSSIA, POLAND and even INDIA (and these are just the countries / films that I know of) have made SIMILAR MOVIES involving true stories of individuals and/or units in legitimately "against all odds" situations who "came through for their countrymen-women" or "their country's honor."  These films include:

The Russian film Kandahar (2010)[MC.ru]*, about the resourcefulness of the members of a Russian civilian flight crew after finding themselves taken hostage by the Taliban in Kandahar in 1995,

the Polish film Karbala [2015], about a Polish unit (as part of the "Coalition of the Willing") in Iraq that held off Sadr's Shiite Militia in that holy city during an uprising there in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, and

the Indian film Airlift (2016) [FiBt] [IMDb] about an initially cynical Indian expat businessman who found himself along with his family trapped in Iraq-occupied Kuwait and who organized the evacuation of some 170,000 of his countrymen-and-women from the country in the weeks just before the commensement of the Persian Gulf War; and

(2) While this film is about a unit of twelve U.S. Green Berets who were dropped into a hostile country where in all honestly, at least initially, they could not trust ANYBODY, what this seemingly "little band" of American soldiers did have is A SKY SEEMINGLY FULL OF B-52 BOMBERS that could be called-in at any time to _absolutely obliterate_ ANYTHING in front of them.

Well that's what we pay for with our Defense dollars.  And in the nearly two decades since 9/11 we've developed a fleet of drones that make even the small squads of human Green Berets largely obsolete.

And I do think that this is (largely) GREAT because it allows our troops to be deployed far more safely than otherwise.

Still to portray this story as an "against all odds" or even "fair fight" is NOT EXACTLY TRUE.  Indeed, there is a dimension to this movie that resembles the still early 1960s era British film Zulu (1964) [wikip] [IMDb] which was apparently made to commemorate the 85th Anniversary of "the stand" during the 1870s-80s "Zulu Wars" of 150 red coated British soldiers who ARMED WITH GATLING GUNS ... "fended off" (cut-down / massacred) hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of (to the British, utterly incomprehensible) spear-and-shield charging Zulu warriors (who were arguably just trying to KEEP THEIR LANDS THEIRS, FREE OF BRITISH IMPERIAL ENCROACHMENT / OCCUPATION).

Anyway, the current film is a compelling story of a squad of 12 American soldiers who (backed by THE WHOLE OF OUR NATION which has invested (probably rightly) so heavily in our Air Force that we literally OWN THE SKY) led a previously tattered rebel Afghan army to victory in a key battle over the Taliban.

IT IS A GREAT STORY, but as much as we'd like it to be, it's not exactly "David and Goliath."  Still I'm certain that the twelve soldiers involved (as well as families) certainly WOULD NOT CARE.  Those B-52s kept those twelve soldiers, OUR twelve soldiers, on task and ... alive.

Good / great job!


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Have a Nice Day (orig. Hao ji Le) [2017]

MPAA (UR would be R)  RogerEbert.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (S. Abrams) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


Have a Nice Day (orig. Hao ji Le) [2017] (written and directed by Jian Liu) is a fun / irreverent Quentin Tarantino-ish CHINESE INDIE (!) animated film, that "displeased" the censoring authorities in China (it was banned there ;-).

To understand the achievement of this film, think honestly of Quentin Tarantino deciding to set Pulp Fiction [1994] in China's equivalent of (though more prolitarianish) South Park [1997-].  And from this perch of a random Chinese industrial town in the middle of nowhere, the writer / director skewers absolutely everyone / everything, from capitalists to communists to even simple random small-town consumerists.

This is because film is setup with a rather desperate robbery: a construction worker Xiao Zhang (voiced by Zhu Changlong) who also serves as a driver for a local crime boss "Uncle Liu" (voiced by Siming Yang) decides one day to steal a bag filled with money from said crime boss' "bag man."  Why?  He _needs_ (or "needs") money to send his girlfriend all the way to South Korea repair the results of botched, presumably locally-performed, cosmetic surgery...

The robbery sets of in motion the rest of the film as "Uncle Liu," clearly unhappy / "disappointed" sends out his men, notably a normally quite efficient old-time enforcer named "Thin Skin' (voiced by Xiofang Ma) to recover the money.  However, with it becoming known through the grape-vine that "there's a large bag filled with money" out on the streets, all kinds of people, INCLUDING some arguably RELATIVES of poor Xioa Zhang, come out of the woodwork to try to get a hold of that "bag of cash" as well.

In the midst of this all kinds of other smaller "dramas" playout -- two other enforcers for "Uncle Liu" discuss religion: "Tell me, who's bigger? God or the Buddha?"  "I don't know, I'd imagine that they're both BAD-A Dudes."  "Yes, but I want to follow the bigger one." ;-)

Then poor "Thin Skin" on THIS particular day, EVERY TIME, he's about _whack somebody_, gets interrupted by his cell phone: "No I'm NOT interested in any Shanghai investment opportunities _right now_ ..." ;-)

A particular joy is an utterly random Big Lebowski [1998]-like detour / music video which envisions two of the film's characters (the girl is actually related to Xiao Zhang) suddenly being thrown into a EuroVision-like song contest, with the random music video SPECTACULARLY conflating BOLLYWOOD DRAMA / SOUND, still 1950s-60s (Mao era) SOCIALIST-REALIST ICONOGRAPHY with DC / MARVEL COMICS (as well as some traditional Chinese Buddhist / Imperial) IMAGERY thrown in as well.

 That video is a JAW DROPPING experience and about as gleefully "South Park-ish" as it gets.  It alone probably killed (indeed gleefully SELF-IMMOLATED) the film's chances with China's censors ;-).

Anyway, while certainly violent and often gleefully irreverent, hence not for everyone, I LOVED THE FILM, AND ITS MERE EXISTENCE.  For this film reminds us of THE VALUE OF FREEDOM.  Sure the film is often "stupid" but it's a "stupidity" that's often knowing and pointed. And the "powers that be" -- ALL "POWERS THAT BE" -- ought to be BIG ENOUGH to either answer _directly_ the film-makers' challenges (rather than try to "ban" the film, as China's authorities apparently have) or simply laugh along as well saying: "You know, it's a bit more complicated than you portray, but we get your point ..."

GREAT FILM! (if again, NOT for kids and many adults will probably find offence in the film as well ;-).


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