Kong: Skull Island [2017]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

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

Kong: Skull Island [2017] (directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, screenplay by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly, story by John Gatins) ON ONE LEVEL does to / for the King Kong [wikip] [IMDb] story what Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now [1976] did to / for Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness [wikip] [GR] -- both moved stories about turn-of-the-20th century colonial Africa to 1970s era South East Asia in the context of the Vietnam War.

Now the King Kong story about great and misunderstood Ape was always campier than Conrad's far darker parable about the "limits of Civilization," but in truth the two treaded on similar territory.  And so it is here.  As one of the reviewers I cite above already noted, King Kong is really only one (qualifying) adjective from Viet Cong ;-).  And while it _may be_ that for _some_ A GIANT (!) HUNDRED FOOT APE would _immediately seem_ like "an enemy," it's _probably_ worth taking the time to figure out whether _either_ sheer brawn or mere strangeness would AUTOMATICALLY _make_ someone (or SOMEthing) such.

But there are actually _more_ send-ups, conflations and homages present here than just mashing up the King Kong story with Conrad's Heart of Darkness / Coppola's Apocalypse Now [1976].

There's a Back to the Future [1985] / Forrest Gump [1994]-ish aspect to the film as two truly goofball "scientists" -- a burly, confident (with no particular reason to be) Trump-ish, Paul Randa (played wonderfully by John Goodman) as his quieter, if just as loopy Ben Carlson-ish "Hollow Earth" theorist assistant Houston Brooks (played by Corey Hawkins) get out of a taxi by the Washington Mall (crazy anti-Vietnam War Protests taking place at every side).  They were there to hit-up some Senator in his office for funding for their expedition). "Mark my words," Randa tells his colleague in typically confident form, "There will NEVER BE a goofier time in Washington D.C. than now."  People at the screening that I attended audibly laughed ;-)

The two were going to the random Senator's office because the (then) new Landsat imaging satellite had supposedly discovered some previously uncharted island somewhere in the South Pacific (an island previously undiscovered because it was surrounded by a perpetual hurricane storm system).  They wanted to go there, why?  Because they believed that it could be precisely _there_ that an entrance into the two's postulated "Hollow Earth" could be found.  Such an entrance could not be found _elsewhere_ across _the known reaches- of Earth, so it had to be located a place such as this ... a place previously undiscovered.  Needless to say, the Senator was not impressed.  However, when Randa suggests that the Russians have satellites of their own and could soon discover the island themselves, he gives them the go-ahead ... and the rest of the (ever campy) story ensues.

To get to the previously unknown island, the two "scientists" ask the Senator also for military helicopter escort.  Why?  Well to _test_ whether or not the Island is an entrance to "the Hollow Earth" they hope to "scientifically bomb" it ;-).

This escort is led by a Col. Preston Packard (played wonderfully by Samuel L. Jackson) who was previously quite depressed that the U.S. was pulling out of Vietnam ("After all the sacrifices, why are we leaving now?" he asks rhetorically at one early point in the film).  Well, this mission gives him and his men something still to do (even if a fair amount of his men were just hoping to get home -- alive -- soon). 

Well _bombing_ said island, "scientifically" or not, WAKES UP SAID ONE HUNDRED FOOT GORILLA ... KONG who starts flailing at the Helicopters.  Well, Col. Preston Packard knows an enemy when he sees one (even if he does not understand it, or even doesn't really have the resources to defeat it), and directs the remainder of his helicopter squadron to attack said ONE HUNDRED FOOT GORILLA, which makes a short course of them, swatting them around and around like flies.

What to do now?  Well poor Col. Packard becomes really pissed off (to a CAPT. AHAB / MOBY DICK-like level) and spends the rest of the story trying to find _some way_ to defeat this MONSTER, even as he (and the others in the group) are being given more and more information that would suggest that the GORILLA wasn't really an ENEMY but ACTUALLY SOMETHING OF A HERO ... keeping even more vicious / reptilian monsters from entering our world from below (well, what do you know?  Randa and Brooks were right ;-).

This information came from a jolly ROBINSON CRUSOE-like WW II vet named Capt Hank Marlow (played wonderfully by John C. Rilley) who the expedition encounters on the island after it had been brought down and scattered by Kong.  Capt. Marlow had been shot down over the island during World War II and stuck there ever since.  He (and a Japanese pilot, shot down at the same time) had come to see Kong as a friend. 

What to do?  It becomes clear that there are multiple ways to look at Kong.  Col. Packard keeps trying to fight him.  Others, who come to see some of the reptilian monsters that stranded WW II vet Capt. Marlow was talking about start to see that Marlow may have a point.

As goofy as this film is, it leaves one with much to talk / think about ;-)


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2017 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival

Of the films recently shown at the 2017 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, I've seen and reviewed the following:

Quarries [2016] (directed and cowritten by Nils Taylor along with Nicole Marie Johnson) plays like a feminist and, yes, in part lesbian Deliverance [1972].   Just having left an abusive relationship Kat (played by Nicole Marie Johnson) decides to join a week-long all-female wilderness backpacking trip.   Because of raging nearby forest fires, the group gets dropped off in an alternative spot.  This proves to be a nightmare as unbeknownst to them, the group has to pass through a wilderness inhabited by unemployed, since like forever, gun-toting white male supremacist / survivalist weirdos, who yes, also happen to be Christian Fundamentalists.

This can't go well and it doesn't.  Much, often very violent ensues.  What I have to give the film is its cleverness even if, in retrospect, a film like this was inevitable.  It basically corrects what was missing in the largely all male Deliverance [1972] -- in place of the "effeminate" / "city slicker" males who find themselves "out of their element," this film makes the conflict between increasingly (rightfully) assertive women (who are coming out of their own pain) and really the men _most lost_ by the changes around them.  Yes, the men here are nuts, but they find themselves in the one place (a wilderness) that they feel that they still control (if only by violence) even as THE FOREST IS BURNING ALL AROUND THEM ANYWAY.  It is ONE STARK YET FASCINATING FILM -- 3 1/2 Stars

Island Zero [2017] (directed by Josh Gerritsen, screenplay by Tess Gerritsen) plays like a fun 1950s style low-budget sci-fi horror movie:  All across the Eastern Seaboard, fisheries seem to be collapsing, one by one, yet no one seems to understand why or even see a pattern.  Well almost no one; one lone marine biologist, named Sam (played with appropriate craziness by Adam Wade McLaughlin) seems to be literally "connecting the dots."  He doesn't know _why_ the fisheries are collapsing, but he sees the pattern, and goes out to a lonely island (Zero) fifty miles off the coast of Maine to test if his hypothesis is right.  It is.  But then, whatever is ravaging the fisheries ... seems to want more!  To be stuck on a quaint if lonely island when SOMETHING REALLY HUNGRY seems to be "just offshore" doesn't seem smart and ... it isn't.  The residents of said quaint little island, fifty miles off the mainland, start to be eaten, one by one as well.  What's going on?

Well that's the rest of the movie ... and, of course, the military becomes interested ... but do they want to stop this thing, or try to bring it to its side?  Who's really really going to save the people of this Island (and humanity at large) ... Again, a clever 1950s style sci-fi horror flick ;-) -- 3 1/2 Stars 

Ribbons [2016] (directed by Elias Matar, screenplay by Edward E. Romero, story by both) is psychological thriller about an Afghan War vet named Vincent (played by Patrick Hickman) who's come back to the Antelope Valley region in the far reaches of Los Angeles County.  Of course he's not well but he finds a kindred spirit in Rachel (played by Haidyn Harvey) who though underage (to drink) he finds in a bar.

Rachel has her own issues, notably an abusive father named Kenny (played by Brian Krause) and a mother named Joan (played by Anna Easteden) who won't do anything.  Well Rachel brings her new beau Vincent home to meet her dysfunctional parents and needless to say much ensues, notably Vincent, a true hero, but one who's "seen too much" has to find the renewed strength to face down an abusive loser who's never done anything substantial in his life.  Can he find the strength / courage to do so?  Well that's the movie ... As often is the case with really low-budget independent films, there's a lot of intergenerational / cultural commentary present underneath the film. -- 3 Stars


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25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles - Part 2

Among the films that played recently at the 25th Annual Pan African Film Festival - Los Angeles, held at the Cinemark 15 Baldwin Hills Theater at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, I was able to view and review the following:

 White Colour Black [2016] (written and directed by Joseph A. Adesunloye) tells the story of a Senegal-born photographer named Leke (played by Dudley O'Shaughnessy) who begins the story living a quite dissolute / hedonistic lifestyle in London among the glamour / fashion model set.  Then he gets word that his father had died back in Senegal and decides, reluctantly, that _for this_ (his father's funeral) he has to go back.  Complicating things are (1) that the two, Leke and his father, had last parted not on good terms, and (2) Leke had seemed to acquire something of a drug habit up there in London.  So it takes him a while (at least a few days) after arriving from London in Senegal's capital of Dakar before he gets around to heading out to the seaside town where his father's family was from.  TO SOME EXTENT, the beginning of the film feels almost like a take on Apocalypse Now [1979] -- "Saigon [Dakar], damn Saigon [Dakar], I'm only in Saigon [Dakar]..." 'Cept when Leke finally makes it out to the lovely seaside town where his dad's family's from, it turns out to NOT really be "The Apocalypse."  SURE he finds that he has to "make amends" and not only to his uncle Dabo (played wonderfully by Wale Ojo), the keeper of Leke's father's legacy, but TO THE ENTIRE VILLAGE that simply does not understand _how_ he could have missed his father's funeral.  But, after initially stumbling, he finds a way ... and the film becomes a LOVELY tribute to the enduring power and beauty of both Family and Reconciliation -- 3 Stars



The Last Disciples [2016] (written and directed by the Isabelle Brothers) well produced, MTV "Reality Show"-like modern-day adaptation of several Biblical stories -- notably of Cain and Abel, Noah and Job.  The language is often quite offensive (so it would not be for kids).  However, for teenagers who've already "heard the bad words" as well as college-aged young adults, I do think that the film offers a quite captivating approach to comtemporizing the stories of the Bible -- the story of Job, for instance, is really presented in "Entertainment Tonight " / "reality show" like format.  What's also remarkable is that the Isabelle Brothers made this film working out of their hometown of Huntsville, Alabama.  As such, they provide a tantalizing glimpse of a decentralized future of video / cinematographic storytelling, one which won't necessarily need to be centered in major cities like New York or Los Angeles. -- 3 Stars

Rebecca [2016] (written and directed by Shirley Frimpong-Mansa) is a very simple film GHANA-originating film that's presented then in a quite interesting format -- in English _with_ English subtitles.   First about the story, then a few words about the format.

The story's about a couple, Clifford (played by Joseph Benjamin) a rich Ghana-descended businessman who flew back "home" from the U.K. to get himself a wife through an arranged / brokered marriage, and then Rebecca (played wonderfully by Yvonne Okoro) the village woman who he basically bought for himself.  The two find themselves "stuck in their car," which had broken down on the road somewhere in the hinterlands of Ghana between Rebecca's village and the airport from where they would fly then (back) to the U.K.

So at the beginning of the story Clifford's clearly "in charge."  After all, he was "the one with the money" who flew out to again effectively "buy" Rebecca.  But, sitting there on the clearly not well traveled road, awaiting someone to pass by to give them assistance, power and the initiative begin to clearly swing back to Rebecca.  After all, they find themselves "stuck" in _her country_, SHE knows what's going on, HE doesn't have a clue ...  As simple as the story is -- nominally about a couple stuck in the car at the side of a largely abondoned road -- it leaves Viewers with _a lot_ to talk / reflect about.

Now about the film's format.  THE Los Angeles based DISTRIBUTOR of the film was present at the end of the screening to take questions.  He said that the format -- English with English subtitles -- was intentional, noting that there are over 2 billion people across the world for whom English is a second language.  The format English, with English subtitled may irritate many (younger) North Americans for whom English is their native language (and they are still NOT "hard of hearing").  However, he said that EVEN IN THE UNITED STATES about 35% of the potential viewing public would appreciate those subtitles.  Who would they be?  Immigrants AND older people.  Then outside of the United States, this format would allow those 2 billion people to practice their English.

Again both the story and the film's viewing format offered much to think about -- 3 Stars

AfroLatinos: An Untaught History [2016] (directed by Renzo Devia) is a DOCUMENTARY that given the size of the audience present at its screening at the PAFF-LA has an audience.   For all the problems that African Americans have had in the United States to (re)discover their voice / identity, this _excellent_ documentary (which will actually be exploded into a seven part documentary series) notes that across ALL OF LATIN AMERICA over 150 million Afro-Latinos have yet to really do so.  Almost everywhere, again ACROSS ALL OF LATIN AMERICA, almost EVERY _African descended / imported characteristic_ from curlier hair, to darker skin, to African-descended languages, dialects or accents to African-descended religions / religious conceptions are MARGINALIZED / LOOKED-DOWN UPON by the wider culture.  And yet, ALL OF THESE CHARACTERISTICS have SELF-EVIDENTLY CLEAR / INTRINSIC BEAUTY.

What's going on?  What happened?  While taking some time to explain some of the history of Afro-Latino marginalization in Latin America, the great and truly _beautiful_ strength of this Documentary is that it's A CELEBRATION OF AFRO-LATINOS and all that they can and at times already offer the larger society / world.  For instance, modern West Africans travel to Latin America, notably to Brazil, Suriname and coastal Colombia to _learn_ African languages / dialects and about African religions / religious conceptions now largely lost in their native West Africa.   Then the mixing of the cultures and races produces some truly fascinating and beautiful conceptions in both fashion and the arts.  All in all, this really promises to be A GREAT / FASCINATING DOCUMENTARY SERIES -- 4 Stars

The Healing Passage: Voices from the Water [2004] (written and directed by S. Pearl Sharp) is a remarkable DOCUMENTARY that presents AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS, POETS and PHILOSOPHERS grappling with the MEANING and LOSS resulting form the FORCED TRANSPORT OF 10-12 MILLION AFRICANS AS SLAVES FROM WEST AFRICA to THE AMERICAS (and the DEATHS OF MILLIONS of OTHERS in transport) during the Era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Imagine simply THE BONES of MILLIONS OF BODIES spread along the bottom of the Mid-Atlantic between Africa and the Americas.

Neither is it simply an issue of simply Blacks coming to terms with the Horror and Magnitude of this Tragedy: One of the more striking moments in the film involved a twenty-something young woman from an old Massachusetts family that made its fortune (presumably) in 18th early 19th century through the Slave Trade.  She and several of her relatives when back to Senegal to partly atone for their ancestors' part in this horror.  Truly a beautiful and again _very_ powerful / thought-provoking film -- 4 Stars

Nawara [2015] (written and directed by Hala Khalil) is a striking EGYPTIAN film about the tragedy of the by now quite defunct Arab Spring.

Taking place during the 2011 Protests on Tahrir Square which eventually brought down the Regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the film's about an ever-smiling 20-something  Muslim domestic worker named Nawara (played magnificently by Menna Shalabi) living seemingly on one side of Cairo and -- three buses later -- working completely on the other side (Note that while stationed in Chicago, I knew of Latina domestic workers who made similarly crazy daily commutes from South Chicago all the way to the wealthy suburbs of the North Shore). 

It was clear that Mubarak was on the way out.  The news on both State TV and Radio were now suddenly (but consistently) about the corruption of the Mubarak Regime.  Nawara and her family were excited by the promise that so much looted wealth will be returned to Egypt that EACH EGYPTIAN would receive some 200,000 Egyptian pounds in compensation.  Among other things, Nawara and her largely unemployed / working odd-jobs electrician boyfriend Ali (played by Ameer Salah Eldin) would FINALLY be able to get married.  But of course such a prospect -- that so much wealth could possibly be returned back to the county -- was horribly ... naive.  How could ever smiling, ever optimistic, but POOR Nawara possibly hope that "things would turn out well" for her and her kind?  All in all an excellent film _personalizing_ the supreme tragedy of the betrayal of the Arab Spring -- 4 Stars


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Logan [2017]

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

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

Logan [2017] (story and directed by James Mangold, screenplay by Scott Frank, James Mangold and Michael Green) could perhaps be called "The Passion of the Mutants."

Perhaps even more than with the other Marvel Comics franchises, the X-Men series seeks to play things completely straight.  It is simply assumed that "Mutants" with extraordinary abilities live among us (and are often persecuted by us for their  "Otherness" from us, even as the Mutants have their own conflicts within their ranks including the famous one between the more peace-making Professor Charles Francis Xavier (or Professor "X") [MC] [IMDb] (played here again by Patrick Stewart) and the more hardline "Mutant and Proud" Magneto [MC] (who does not appear in this film).

Since the X-Men Series _does try_ to "play things completely straight," THIS FILM touches on A FASCINATING QUESTION: What happens when EVEN "Mutants" (or Superheroes) GROW OLD?  AND AS IT'S WITH US, it's _not just_ that their bodies / abilities begin to fail, but even their "guide post belief structures" on which one previously could "hang one's hat" / define a good part of one's life seem to change, that is, "mutate" as well? 

So the film begins in the "near future" (2029) with a noticeably older, noticeably more _run down_ Logan (aka The Wolverine) (played again excellently throughout by Hugh Jackman), as _always_ "laying low" working as an utterly nondescript "Über-like" limo driver in the El Paso, Texas area.  Why THERE?  Well, some miles across the border, at a even more utterly nondescript abandoned factory out in the Desert, he and another Mutant named Caliban [MC] [IMDb] (played here by Stephen Merchant) are "caring for" an now nonogenarian (90+ year old) Professor "X" [MC] [IMDb] (played ever beautifully, even to Shakespearean levels of pathos by Patrick Stewart).

Again, WHY THERE?  Well Dear Readers, do remember that Professor X was famously a "telepath" (he could communicate with people / mutants often over great distances with his mind).  But NOW, in his 90s, HIS MIND IS FAILING HIM -- he has something akin of a Mutant cross between Alzheimers and Epilepsy.   Yet what mere human doctor could really understand his special condition and _special needs_?  So Logan and Caliban found a LARGE METAL CONTAINER (a huge knocked over former Water Tank) at that ABANDONED FACTORY IN THE DESERT that they converted into Professor X's "living quarters."  WHY THIS AS A QUITE _SPECIAL_ LIVING ARRANGEMENT?  Well he was a powerful telepath.  Now he has a combination of both Alzeimers and Epilepsy, and OUTSIDE OF THAT TANK / OFF HIS "MEDS" HE COULD HURT OTHERS WITH HIS (UNCONTROLLED) THOUGHTS / SEIZURES ;-).

And actually it's really "kinda nice" to see that LOGAN (aka THE WOLVERINE), who's NEVER been known in the X-Men world to be a particularly "caring" sort of a guy.  He's had a lot of issues with his seeming _immortality_ even as loved ones all around him seemed to be dying all the time.   And yet, here he finds himself helping "to care for" (sort of ... Caliban complains that _he's_ doing "most of the work" ;-) the again Professor X. 

Yet, of course, there are "other things" going on.  One is Professor X (and for that matter Logan / The Wolverine) is "kinda depressed" that whereas in the 1950s-1970s he was encountering ALL KINDS of MUTANTS all the time, it's been something like TWENTY YEARS since he's met his last "new" Mutant: Are we dying off?  Were _we_ (Mutants) just some special "flash in the pan"? both he and Logan wonder.

Well, it turns out ... no.  One day, one random day, in 2029, a woman named Gabriela (played by Elizabeth Rodriguez) comes frantically looking for Logan / The Wolverine with a "special cargo" -- a 12 year old Mexican "Mutant" girl named Laura (played wonderfully by Dafne Keen) who had been created as part of some crazy "super secret genetics experiment" (using, it clearly turns out, at least in part, Logan's DNA) at some clandestine laboratory somewhere near Mexico City.  Laura's life was now in danger and Gabriela asks Logan to help her get Laura "to Canada" (interestingly NOT simply to the UNITED STATES) to safety.

Logan's of course, reluctant, but the aging, now half-senile, but as always OPTIMISTIC Professor X, is HAPPY AS PIE.  He has a NEW Mutant to SHARE FOR _ONE LAST TIME_ HIS KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCES with.

Much adventure (and at times fairly violent mayhem) ensues ... 

IMHO it all plays out very interestingly, though I would caution Parents about the violence (and at times course language). 

There's a closing, quite provocative scene that COULD BE TAKEN as an INSULT by some Catholic / Christian viewers.  At the burial of one of the older Mutants (Logan or Professor X, I'm not going to reveal here which one ...) the younger Mutants (Laura and her other genetically engineered friends) PUT UP A MAKE-SHIFT CROSS (!) at the GRAVE'S HEAD.  I FOUND IT IMPRESSIVE THAT THE MUTANT CHILDREN DID THAT AT ALL.  At the end of their impromptu funeral for their deceased Mentor / Protector, as the other children were leaving, Laura piously turns the Cross to its side, so that it makes instead an "X."

Again, it's a provocative scene, BUT I DID ACTUALLY FIND IT RESPECTFUL.  Laura seemed to take the Cross and OWNING IT turned it into a SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SYMBOL to which she identified (given her experience) somewhat more: Those older mutants _sacrificed themselves_ for her and her friends.  It's not _entirely_ a bad "transmutation" of a symbol (though of course, the adventures of the X-men, are _not_ exactly "a new Gospel")

In any case, as (presently) always, this Marvel Comics based movie left one with much to reflect on / think about. 



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The Shack [2017]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review

Nat'l Cath. Register (S.D. Greydanus) review
Nat'l Cath. Reporter (Sr. R. Pacatte) review
Christianity Today (CTPastors) review of the novel

Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (P. Sobczynski) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review 


The Shack [2017] (directed by Stuart Hazeldine, screenplay by John Fusco, Andrew Lanham and Destin Cretton based on the novel [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] by William P. Young [wikip] [GR] [WCat] [Amzn] [IMDb] in collaboration with Wayne Jacobsen [WCat] [IMDb] and Brad Cummings [WCat] [IMDb]) continues a string of quite good and, often enough, _quite excellent_ Lenten offerings put-out by Hollywood in recent years (I think of the History Channel's quite excellent The Bible,  Series [2013] and the following year's Son of God [2014] theatrical release).

Yes, the current film (as also the book that it's based on) does carry with it some controversy: God the Father (of the Holy Trinity) appears first in the story as "God the Mother" (played again quite well by Octavia Spencer).  That God "the Father" (in many languages "Father" is the default word for "Parent" ...) would be appear first in the story as "Mother" will initially rile many Christian traditionalists.  However the story here has God _having a purpose_ to coming to the story's chief protagonist, a Job-like, American (white) "Everyman" named Mack Philips (played _quite excellently_ by Sam Worthington) IN THIS WAY.

God as "Divine Parent" answers Mack's question on this point (even Mack finds it rather odd ... his whole family "back home" had been calling God "Papa") telling Mack: "Based on what you've been going through lately, I don't believe appearing to you as "Father" now would be particularly helpful to you.  You're not ready for that yet."  

So what then has been happening to Mack?  Well, we do learn that he did grow-up with an abusive father.  However, more recently, he was mourning the truly TERRIBLE (and seemingly utterly RANDOM and RANDOMLY EVIL) loss of his youngest, cute as button, daughter named Missy (played again wonderfully in the story by Amélie Eve).

At the point in the story when Mack encounters God as the Trinity (Son played by Avraham Aviv Alush, Holy Spirit by Sumire Matsubara) IN THE SHACK where his beautiful 8-year-old girl HAD BEEN KIDNAPPED TO and MURDERED, a SHACK that's _transformed_ into a LUSH AND BEAUTIFUL PLACE (though it was Winter) by THE DIVINE PRESENCE, _all_ that Mack really wanted was REVENGE or, if not that, then at least Death (for himself).

God, appearing as a TRULY all-Loving MOTHER, _helps_ him get through the first steps of letting go of the ANGER / HATE and above all CRUSHING PAIN.

And I have to admit that I both sympathized at times and ADMIRED at other times, Octavia Spencer's playing of her Role (and then also ADMIRED the scriptwriters):

When She first appears to Mack, She tells him that She had "a special love for him."  Then in the course of the seemingly several days conversation Mack has with Her, as well as with both Jesus (the Son) and Divine Breath (Holy Spirit), She repeatedly says: "Oh, I have a special love for [this or that person ... including, amusingly, [random] singer Neil Young] ;-)."  Getting tired of hearing what seemed to be an increasingly tiring cliche', Mack asks her sarcastically: "Is there ANYONE that you DON'T HAVE 'a special love for.'"  And er times, Octavia Spencer (playing GOD here, remember...) smiles and answers ... "No."  YES, our (CREATOR) GOD WOULD HAVE _A SPECIAL LOVE_ for ... US ALL :-)

There's another scene where Divine Wisdom (again portrayed, unquestionably accurately here, as a woman played by Alice Braga) offers Mack the "Judgement Seat" and then gives him the challenge of sending one of his two remaining children, teenagers Kate (played by Megan Charpentier) and Josh (played by Gage Munroe), one to Heaven and ... the other to ... Hell.  Mack refuses, saying "I can't do that."  To which Divine Wisdom answers ... "Exactly.  When they're YOUR CHILDREN, ALL YOUR CHILDREN, it GETS VERY VERY (EVEN IMPOSSIBLY) HARD." 

Finally, there does come a point when God appears at Mack's door as Father (played by Native American actor Graham Greene), to whose appearance Mack replies "I was just getting used to seeing her you as a Mother," to which GOD ANSWERS: "We're going to go now on a hard Spiritual Journey (to finally make peace with what what happened to Mack's daughter), and here you're _going to need_ a Father."

Dear Readers, I am truly IN AWE of this story.  Yes, it challenges Viewers / Readers to look at God a little bit differently than perhaps we are used to.  On the other hand, the pay-off is great.   

I don't think I've heard a better explanation of why God would permit Evil than that prsent in the exchange between Divine Wisdom and Mack -- even someone as misguided, Evil as Hitler began life ... as a Child of God. 

And yes, there are times that we need a compassionate God to _cry with_ and other times a still compassionate God to _lean (and cry) on_.  And seeing God as, above all, a Divine Parent in whose image, male and female, we were created [Gen 1, 27], helps make this work.

A excellent, and if nothing else, thought-provoking work!


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The Great Wall [2017]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (1 1/2 Stars)

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


The Great Wall [2017] (directed by Yimou Zhang, screenplay by Carlo Bernard, Doug Miro and Tony Gilroy, story by Max Brooks, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz) is a high budget Hollywood / Chinese "Historical / Fantasy Epic" coproduction that's both fascinating and partly worrisome in its concept:

Two medieval European mercenaries, William and Tovar (played by Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal), stumble their way to China (along presumably a northern branch of the Silk Road) in search of stealing the secret to black (gun) powder.  Just before they arrive, they run into (and successfully kill) a strange green alien monster.  With its severed head (or perhaps limb) in a bag, the two arrive at The Great Wall there at the frontier between China and the lands China then considered "barbaric" to its North.

They get promptly arrested, but the knightly William quickly notices that Chinese sentries at the border appear to mobilized / on high alert.  What were they mobilizing against?  Well, against hoards of those strange green alien monsters (called Tao Tei).  According to this film, they had arrived by means of some crashed meteor some centuries before.  Ever since, every 50-60 years or so, the barbaric / alien Tao Tei would attack China along said Wall.  Defending China was a _huge_ Army led by a woman General named Lin Mae (played by Tian Jing).  Much, that could be described as medieval fantasy meets the alien invasion / zombie apocalypse scenarios of World War Z [2013] / the Edge of Tommorrow [2014].

Perhaps the simultaneously most interesting and _disconcerting_ aspect of this film reveals itself when when considers the question: Who lives "up North" of China these days? 

So a film that invents an "AGE-OLD" alliance between the English and the Chinese against the "Green Alien Hordes" coming from where RUSSIA exists today ... ought to raise some eyebrows.

While I'm certainly no fan of Putin, it's generally not particularly helpful to cast one's (potential) enemies as UTTERLY UNRELATABLE ... MONSTERS ...


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89th Academy Awards (2017) - Review: A Truly Messed-Up (and Even Dangerous) Ending

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years

Wow, what a Mess.  At the end of a show that had already seemed like a mirror opposite of the first Academy Awards that I reviewed five years ago -- when a film about a stuttering, dead English King, (The King's Speech [2010]), the very epitome, pinnacle, DEFINITION of WASPishness, _swept_ the Awards -- all Hell broke loose:

The Sweet but Old (and certainly still about as _white as can be_) Bonnie and Clyde [1967] stars Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty came-up to announce the winner of Best Picture for this year and ... were given the wrong envelope.  They announced, as winner, the _lovely_ but also (one has to say it) the MOST MILK-TOASTY _WHITE_ / SAFE film of those nominated this year, La, La Land [2016], when _apparently_ the QUITE LITERALLY _MOST GHETTO_ FILM (populated _almost completely_ by actors / actresses of color) Moonlight [2016] had, in fact, WON.

What the heck happened?  Where did the second envelope come from?  Who printed it?  Who gave it to Warren Beatty?

Now for full disclosure here, I LOVED La, La Land [2016] (giving it 4+ Stars) and really QUITE DESPISED Moonlight [2016] (giving it then 0 Stars).

Now why would I give the latter such a low mark?  Well, I thought that with the exception of film's lead character -- a gay gang-banger (Soprano's star James Gandolfini ALSO played a gay mobster / hitman in the unfortunately named comedy The Mexican [1997]) -- ALL the other characters in Moonlight [2016] played to _some of the worst stereotypes_ of the inner city.  Indeed, interestingly, Naomie Harris, who played the lead character's "crack whore mother" initially declined the role precisely for the reason that it played to a terrible stereotype, and consented to do it only after being told by the writer-director Barry Jenkins that it was based on his own mother (IndieWire).  At the end of my review of Moonlight, I wrote: "Honestly, if THIS FILM gets Oscar nominations and Hidden Figures [2016] and Fences [2016] (both far more positive / honest) do not, then the Academy should just go to Hell."  Well the other two films did get plenty of nominations, Viola Davis did win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences [2016], and of the nominees, I myself believed Mahershala Ali to be most deserving of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Moonlight [2016].  So if Moonlight [2016] did indeed win, I'd certainly accept it, now.

However, I honestly would like to know: Was there then an attempt _to steal_ the Best Picture Oscar from Moonlight [2016] at the Awards show (OR conversely did Moonlight [2016] actually steal the Best Picture Oscar from La, La Land [2016])?  At minimum, there was an extra envelope back stage.  Again, who printed it?  And who gave it to Warren Beatty?

Presently laughing are certainly Putin and Trump.  If our society can't trustworthily audit an election involving only a few thousand ballots for an (admittedly significant) Awards Show, how can Democracy as a whole remain safe?


ADDENDA --

STATEMENTS:

Statement of PricewaterhouseCooper Accounting Firm (2/27/2017):

Statement of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences:

89th Oscars Best Picture Statement (2/27/2017)

We deeply regret the mistakes that were made during the presentation of the Best Picture category during last night’s Oscar ceremony. We apologize to the entire cast and crew of La La Land and Moonlight whose experience was profoundly altered by this error. We salute the tremendous grace they displayed under the circumstances. To all involved — including our presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the filmmakers, and our fans watching worldwide — we apologize.

For the last 83 years, the Academy has entrusted PwC to handle the critical tabulation process, including the accurate delivery of results. PwC has taken full responsibility for the breaches of established protocols that took place during the ceremony. We have spent last night and today investigating the circumstances, and will determine what actions are appropriate going forward. We are unwaveringly committed to upholding the integrity of the Oscars and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

COVERAGE:

Jimmy Kimmel Live - 2/27/2017 - Oscars' Host Jimmy Kimmel Reveals What Really Happened at Craziest Oscars Ever

The Hollywood Reporter - 2/27/2017 - 12:09 AM PST  by Erik Hayden, Oscars Accountants Apologize for Snafu, Vow to "Investigate How This Could Have Happened"

The Hollywood Reporter - 2/27/2017 - 7:07 PM PST  by Gregg Kildray - Oscars Accountants Offer Another Apology as Academy Launches Investigation of Snafu

CNN - 2/28/2017 - 12:55 AM ET, by Sandra Gonzalez, contributing Brian Stelter and Stephanie Elam - Timeline of a Historic Blunder

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Get Out [2017]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (L)  RogerEbert.com (3 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


Get Out [2017] (written and directed by Jordon Peele) is one twisted/funny horror-comedy centered on race -- call it a Guess Who's Coming For Dinner [1967] "of a different kind" ;-).

Nice (black) guy Chris Washington (played by Daniel Kaluuya), college student, arts / photography major, gets invited by his laid-back / liberal (white) girlfriend Rose (played by Allison Williams) to meet her parents Missy and Dean (played wonderfully by Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford), one random late fall or early spring weekend at their quite modern "country living" far-outlying suburban estate some hours away (Readers here could think of far-outlying suburban Dallas or Atlanta, Chicagoans could think of Barrington). 

Chris not altogether excited asks Rose, "Have you told your parents about me?"  More to the point, he asks her, "Have you told them that I am black?"  Rose responds, "Yes" to the first question and "No," (continuing with a slightly embarrassed smile), "I have not" to the second.  Chris sighs slightly /  rolls his eyes.  Rose assures him: "Oh come on, it'll be okay!  My dad's so laid-back liberal, he'd vote for Obama a third time if he could."  Chris, who's been dating (and film certainly implies has been sleeping with) Rose for those last four months, suggests that "it may be a little too early" -- Apparently, it _never occurred to him_ that at some point he'd be asked by his girlfriend (again, one who he had been happily sleeping with ...) to meet her parents... -- but he realizes, now, that he really "kinda has to go" as to not do so would require him admitting that he was _never_ "particularly serious" when he was dating (and sleeping with...) Rose.

Chris' best friend Rod Williams (played by LilRel Howery) who hasn't made it to college (but works for the TSA) senses that something's wrong.  "She's just asking me to meet her parents.  They're supposed to be liberal.  She tells me that her dad would vote for Obama a third time if he could," Chris tries to assure his (perhaps long) disapproving BFF.  But Rod (again, amusingly "working for the TSA") senses something wrong (when pretty much nobody else would). 

Well Chris and Rose set-off / and after a random mishap (they hit a deer) on their way, arrive at her parents' large, and again quite modern "country living" estate out somewhere at the far-outskirts of some random American metropolitan area.  And yes, Rose's parents, Dean and Missy are "kinda cool."  He's some kind of a neurosurgeon, she a psychiatrist, specializing in treating people with behavioral issues through "suggestion" under _hypnosis_. 

Okay, the last part, about hypnosis, is immediately _mildly creepy_.  Indeed, it comes up fairly early because the _one thing_ that Rose's parents find immediately somewhat "disappointing" about Rose's "catch" (Chris) is that he _smokes_.  No matter, Dean tells Chris that Missy could cure him of that, right then and there, through _hypnosis_ ("Heck she did that for me.  One time under hypnosis, and I can't pick-up a cigarette now without feeling immediately physically ill.").  Yea ... thanks, but ...

Now the _odd thing_ that Chris (and Viewers) notice about Dean and Missy's estate is that they have two domestic workers, Walter and Georgina (played by Marcus Henderson and Betty Gabriel), he a groundskeeper, she a maid, both "nice," but don't really talk much, and both ... are black.  And early on, Dean notices that Chris appears to have noticed this as well, and assures him: "Look I know it may seem kinda wierd that we live out here in this nice estate out in the middle of nowhere, and _both_ of our domestic workers _happen to be black_ but it's honestly _just a coincidence_.  Look, Missy and I are so liberal that we'd vote for Obama a third time if we could..."  (Yes, Dear Readers, that line appeared in the film three times ;-). 

Assurances aside, yes, it did seem kinda creepy that the two domestic workers were both black, but certainly _even creepier_ that they _didn't really say much_ ... ever.

What's going on?  Well that's the rest of the film ... I do think that I've set things up quite nicely here ... and it all makes for a quite interesting / often quite funny _race_ themed horror / comedy.  And Dear Readers: BE CAREFUL of what you're getting into when you _decide_ (or just _slide_) into a "casual relationship" ...  
  

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My 2017 Oscar Picks

IMDb listing
Previous/Other years

As in previous years, I dutifully present my Oscar Pics here.  In previous years, I've also "given out my own (Denny) awards."  THIS YEAR, after starting "a new job" ;-), it's been a little harder to find the time to do the latter.  But I'll still hope to do so later.   


So let's go through the list of this year's Oscar Nominees anyway ...


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Mahershala Ali as a step-dad figure Juan in Moonlight [2016]
    SHOULD WIN - Mahershala Ali from Moonlight [2016]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION -  Hugh Grant as the part cad / part sympathetic long-time companion St. Clair Bayfield of / in Florence Foster Jenkins [2016]; Liam Neeson as the Jesuit priest named Fereira who may (or may not...) have renounced his Faith after the Japanese Mission (started by St. Francis Xavier) began to suffer horrifying persecution in Silence [2016].


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
    WILL WIN -  Viola Davis as lead character Troy Maxon's wife Rose in Fences [2016].
    SHOULD WIN - Viola Davis as lead character Troy Maxon's wife Rose in Fences [2016], Michelle Williams as lead character Lee Chandler's ex-wife Randy in Manchester by the Sea [2016]. 
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION -  Greta Gerwig as Abbie one of lead character Dorothea's boarders in 20th Century Women [2016].


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Denzel Washington as the bitter "born a little too early to make his mark" late 40-something / early 50-something Troy Maxon in the African American "Chekhovian" drama Fences [2016]; Ryan Gosling as the young 20-something Jazz musician idealist Sabastian in the lovely "Hollywood of all our Dreams" film La La Land [2016].
    SHOULD WIN - Denzel Washington as the bitter "born a little too early to make his mark" late 40-something / early 50-something Troy Maxon in the African American "Chekhovian" drama Fences [2016];  Casey Affleck as Lee Chandler, the paralyzed by crushing guilt 40-something shell of a man put in charge of his nephew by his older brother after his older brother's death in Manchester by the Sea [2016];  Andrew Garfield as WW II-era Pacifist / Medic in Hacksaw Ridge [2016]; Ryan Gosling as the young 20-something Jazz musician idealist Sabastian in the lovely "Hollywood of all our Dreams" film La La Land [2016]; Andrew Garfield as the 17th Century Jesuit Priest Rodrigues sent to the Japanese Mission (started by St. Francis Xavier) after it began to suffer horrifying persecution in Silence [2016]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Andrew Garfield as the 17th Century Jesuit Priest Rodrigues sent to the Japanese Mission (started by St. Francis Xavier) after it began to suffer horrifying persecution in Silence [2016]; Ryan Reynolds as the title character / anti-hero in the Marvel Comics superhero movie Deadpool [2016].


  BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
    WILL WIN - Isabelle Huppert in the lead role as Michèle Leblanc a survivor of rape in Elle [2016];  Emma Stone as the lovely aspiring young actress (who everybody would understand / want to be) Mia in La La Land [2016].
    SHOULD WIN - Isabelle Huppert in the lead role as Michèle Leblanc a survivor of rape in Elle [2016]; Annette Bening as late 40-something Dorothea seeking to raise her teenage son to be a good man, with (or without) a good role male role model to help her in 20th Century Women [2016]; Emma Stone as the lovely aspiring young actress (who everybody would understand / want to be Mia in La La Land [2016];  Natalie Portman as the just widowed Jacqueline Kennedy in Jackie [2016].
   DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Annette Bening as late 40-something Dorothea seeking to raise her teenage son to be a good man, with (or without) a good role male role model to help her in 20th Century Women [2016]; Emma Suárez in the title role in Julieta [2016] as 40-something woman who finds herself terribly punished for something that could have happened (if should not happen) to anybody; Lily Collins as the bright-eyed "aspiring actress" Marla Mabrey who finds herself in a different (and unfortunately much "more real" Hollywood) in the Howard Hughes inspired drama Rules Don't Apply [2016]


BEST ORIGINAL SCREEN PLAY
    WILL WIN - Damien Chazelle for La La Land [2016];
    SHOULD WIN - Damien Chazelle for La La Land [2016]; Mike Mills for 20th Century Women [2016]; Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea [2016].


BEST ADAPTED SCREEN PLAY
    WILL WIN - Eric Heisserer for Arrival [2106]; Allison Schroader and Theodore Melfi for Hidden Figures [2016]; August Wilson for Fences [2016]; Barry Jenkins for Moonlight [2016];.  
    SHOULD WIN - August Wilson for Fences [2016]; Eric Heisserer for Arrival [2016].
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for Deadpool [2016].


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
    WILL WIN - Linus Sandgren for La La Land [2016]
    SHOULD WIN - Linus Sandgren for La La Land [2016]; Bradford Young for Arrival [2016]; Rodrigo Prieto for Silence [2016].


BEST DIRECTOR
    WILL WIN - Damien Chazelle for La La Land [2016]
    SHOULD WIN - Damien Chazelle for La La Land [2016]; Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea [2016]; Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge [2016].
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - Martin Scorsese for Silence [2016]; Mike Mills for 20th Century Women


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
    WILL WIN - Moana [2016]
    SHOULD WIN - Moana [2016], Kubo and the Two Strings [2016]


BEST PICTURE
    WILL WIN - La La Land [2016]
    SHOULD WIN - La La Land [2016], Fences [2016]; Manchester by the Sea [2016]
    DESERVED CONSIDERATION - 20th Century Women [2016], Silence [2016]


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Fist Fight [2017]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (G. Goldstein) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Kenny) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review


Fist Fight [2017] (directed by Richie Keen, screenplay and story by Van Robichaux, Evan Susser along with Max Greenfield) is an often FUNNY if often needlessly / stupidly raunchy escapist comedy for 30-something parents who (it's now _their_ generation's turn to think so) believe that there's something deeply wrong with today's youth / society.

It's the last day of the school year.  Yet white, 30-something, "every man" high school English teacher Andy Campbell (played by Charlie Day) is not celebrating.  It's "contract signing day" at the school for the coming year (once the students are let out) and Principal Tyler (played by Dean Norris) has let it be known that there are going to be deep cuts in the teaching staff.

Andy's very pregnant wife Maggie (played by JoAnna Garcia Swisher) reminded him as he left for school that day that they simply can't afford him losing his job.  Their other child, cute as a button if picked-on third grader Ally (played by Alexa Nisenson) is also looking for her dad to show her (lead by example) how to stand-up for oneself / not be bullied by others.

When he arrives at school, it's obvious that "morale is low."  The approaches being taken by the other teachers to the impending "coming-of-the-axe" range from really disturbing levels of denial exhibited by (1) "okay, so you're telling me to cut down on my _homemade_ meth use next year" _guidance counselor_ Holly (played to studied, clueless perfection by Jillian Bell) and (2) "willing to praise just about _any effort at all_ on the part of his students" by _Coach_ Crawford (played with honestly hilarious, you feel for the guy, desperation by Tracy Morgan) to wildly differing styles of combativeness ranging from (3) the self-centered "if I'm going down, I'm going to take down as many of you (fellow teachers) as I can" approach taken by the school's "Femme Nikita" (!) / _bombshell_ French teacher Ms. Monet (played again to "yes, you'd be _insane_ to trust her" Machiavellian perfection by Christina Hendricks) to the (4) more altruistic if wide-eyed "if I'm going to go down then LET IT BE A STATEMENT" approach taken by _embattled_ history teacher Mr. Strickland (played again wonderfully in eyes glazed / "okay HE CARES ... perhaps TOO MUCH" fashion by Ice Cube).  For Strickland, this last day begins with him just trying to get the stupid school-issued VCR (who uses them anymore?) to work so that he could remind his students through Ken Burn's excellent 1985 documentary [wikip] [IMDb] [Amzn] that "The Civil War _wasn't_ about Batman vs Superman" ;-)

The students?  Well, ... they're world-class a-holes: Since it's the last day of school, the Seniors spend THE WHOLE DAY performing one absolutely awful / sadistic (if often very funny...) prank after another on the teachers / administration.  


So in the midst of this absolutely awful "day to remember" Andy (who just doesn't want to lose his job) and Mr. Strickland (who if he is going to lose his job just wants to "go down making a statement") have ... an altercation.   And the rest of the story ensues ... ;-)

Yes, both the language and the humor is often stupidly crude, but a lot of middle aged parents would probably enjoy the film.  Just honestly, don't take your kids (or even teens) to it ...


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