Downton Abbey [2019]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 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 (C. Steele) review

Downton Abbey [2019] (directed by Michael Engler characters and screenplay by Julian Fellowes) delivers what it promises ... a two hour visit to a place that millions of viewers across the English speaking world and beyond had come to know and love through the successful television series about "more tranquil times" ... when it was being debated and starting to be settled as to whether paupers, people of darker complexions and foreign tongues, women as a whole, to say nothing of then invisible people like homosexuals were ... worthy of rights.

And so it is here.  And all is regally blessed and proven "fine" at the Abbey as they receive word that the King and Queen were planning a visit to their part of the Realm, were inviting themselves over to the Abbey (I guess, if you're the King, you can do whatever you want, AND "what an honor it would be" in any case), and ... (mild spoiler alert) all turns out well.

But, then, how could it not...?  Directed by the steady guiding hand of the _wisest_ of local patriarchs, Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville) albeit with an American wife Cora (played by Elizabeth McGovern) but then with a stable, well-trained, LOYAL abbey staff, what could possibly go wrong?

Yes, there are the pesky Irish who want to get a shot at the King (played by Simon Jones).  But even the King "understands" (and arguably _forgives them_).  So ...

There is a loveliness to all this ... and in the crassness of our time it is certainly appealing, just as long as we realize that when we enter stories like this, we enter a world essentially of "Platonic Forms" about as real as that of Middle Earth / The Hobbit.  That said, we all need stories that give us comfort and peace. 


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Judy [2019]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
Los Angeles Times (K, Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Castillo) review
AVClub (C. Siede) review


Judy [2019] (directed by Rupert Goold, screenplay by Tom Edge based on the stageplay "The End of the Raindbow" by Peter Quilter) tells the story of the last year of Hollywood legend Judy Garland's [wikip] [IMDb] life as a troubled but still top-billed night-club singer in ... London.  She died there, of an ... accidental barbiturate overdose at 47 in 1969.  What happened to the teenage Dorothy of Wizard of Oz [1939] fame?  Well, life ...

And it was not a particularly good one.  We do get to see the costs of fame in Mid-20th Century Hollywood (1930s-1960s).  To a large extent therefore, the film follows a well beaten path.  One needs only to think of Sunset Blvd [1950].

Still, just because "we've heard the story before," doesn't make it untrue.  And it honestly MAY BE USEFUL for people be reminded from time to time what "costs of fame" are.

Here we see the effects of thirty years of "studio management" on the life of one of its biggest stars, Judy Garland (played as a teenager by Darci Shaw and later as an adult by Renee Zellwiger) who "captured America's hearts" as the wide-eyed innocent / naive Alice in Wonderland like teenager Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz [1939] and yet was even then mercilessly reminded that she could be replaced AT ANY TIME by any number of OTHER wide-eyed, innocent / naive "girl next door" types even arguably more attractive than she was, "So SHUT UP, take the 1930s-era diet and sleeping pills that we're giving you, and just DO WHAT WE SAY..."

We thankfully live now in the #MeToo era, where the worst of this abuse is being progressively exposed.  Yet while there was no indication in the film that Garland was sexually abused by her studio bosses / handlers, the film story makes clear that the Studios and their managers basically _owned_ their "stars" in any case, especially their younger ones, and almost inevitably turned them into the basket cases that we come to read about in the tabloids in their later years. 

Is it worth it?  Do these poor people even know what they're getting into? 

Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, here Judy Garland ... Pray for us.


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Joker [2019]

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

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


Joker [2019] (directed by Todd Phillips, screenplay by Todd Phillips and Scott Silver) offers an appropriately dark (and rather credible) origin story for The Joker [DCC] [Wikip] [IMDb] (played in this film by Joaquin Phoenix) among most unforgettable American comic book super-villains of all time.

Troubled little man, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) -- "fleck" literally means "spot" or "stain" in many central European languages, including German -- tries to make the best of his hard, little life in the troubled, timeless, fallen New York City-inspired Gotham (the people of Gotham drive 1960s-70s era cars, use smart phones, 1970-80s era answering machines and watch 1930s era Charlie Chaplin movies...). 

Brought-up by his similarly beaten-down by life, cheated-upon, abused, single mom (not by choice), "worth no more than change," Penny (played by Frances Conroy) for whom Arthur had been the one source of at least some joy in her life ("he was always such a happy boy...") and then told by said mom to "keep putting on a happy face," Arthur ekes out a living as a "clown for hire" ... and suffers ALL the indignities of being dressed as a clown in a hard / cynical town that is NOT laughing (except at someone's expense) ... and he becomes ... well what can anybody expect?

The film makes for an inspired, if yes, dark, character study exposing the cruelty of a society that, well, doesn't give a damn.  Indeed, Robert De Niro, whose breakthrough portrayal of a similarly invisible, troubled titular Taxi Driver [1976] put him, forever, among Hollywood's greats, plays a significant role in the current story, though NOT as another anonymous loser but rather as a Johnny Carson-like "star", whose career actually feeds on the little losers like poor Arthur and Penny Fleck, who religiously stay-up to watch his show even as he largely makes fun of their difficult lives.

Brilliant, if scathing and sad.  Definitely NOT for pre-teens nor for the weak of heart.  But can help us understand some of the madness of our times.


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Dora and the Lost City of Gold [2019]

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

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


Dora and the Lost City of Gold [2019] (directed by James Bobin, story by Tom Wheeler, screenplay by Matthew Robinson and Nicholas Stoller based on the series Dora the Explorer [2000-] [wikip] [IMDb] created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner) is a fun family friendly movie that takes the fun / inquisitive Dora to both high school and the big screen.

In the film, Dora (played first, briefly, as a precocious 6 year old by Madalyn Miranda, and then ten years later as a teenager by Isabel Moner), is sent by her "Indiana Jones"-like / clearly "field-work" enjoying university professor / explorer parents (played by Michael Peña and Eva Longoria) from the Andean jungles of Peru, where she had grown-up, to her "tios" in Los Angeles, so that she could experience, well, "the indigenous peoples of ... high school" ;-).

A little disappointed that her parents wanted to send her away just as they seem to have made a breakthrough in their search of a lost Inca city, she nevertheless takes on the challenge of learning "a whole new culture" with the enthusiasm that one would expect of Dora from the TV series (and the daughter of ethnographers).  The problem of course is that, at least initially, "the natives" of random Southern California high school are not exactly open to being understood by / much less being friends with someone who seems to have come from another world.

A plot twist sends both her and a number of her classmates to back to the jungles of Peru where of course ... much ensues ;-), and the classmates get to experience something outside of their day-to-day experience and ... come to appreciate what Dora has to offer.

Like the TV series that it is based on, the film's got an unabasshedly positive message, reminding us that we all have something to offer, and generally speaking, if at first we don't get along with each other, it's because we still don't really understand them.

Hispanic families will certainly appreciate the care taken to present the role of the extended family -- the tios (uncles/aunts), primos (cousins) and the wise/respected/saintly/kind abuela (grandma) -- in Hispanic (and actually in most non-North American) cultures.

Overall therefore a quite excellent family film!


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Where'd You Go, Bernadette [2019]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (H. Rupprecht) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Castillo) review
AVClub (J. Hessenger) review


Where'd You Go, Bernadette [2019] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Richard Linklater along with Holly Gent and Vince Palmo, based on the novel [GR] by Maria Semple [wikip] [GR] [IMDb]), though marketed as a Comedy is NOT REALLY that.  It's a Dramedy, I suppose, but it's serious enough to not really be funny at all.

The film is about Bernadette Fox (played quite thoughtfully by Kate Blanchett) a 40 something once promising young architect (in "sunny Southern California") who for reasons that become increasingly clear, left that world to marry a random if quite successful "development engineer" ("heading his own team...") working for Microsoft named Elgie (played by Billy Crudup).  So together they live in a rainy but wealthy enclave of Seattle among other highly educated 30 and 40 somethings and the two have a lively and almost necessarily naive teenage daughter named Bee (played by Emma Nelson). 

It's a wet golden cage.

And after the drip, drip, drip of the torment of clearly somehow previously frustrated dreams, Bernadette is ready to ... well, you get the picture.

Everything is still presented in a remarkably _gentle_ way (mediated by large amounts of money that most of the film's Viewers will not have), but ... a comedy?  No, there are some real issues being lifted up here.

Further, PG-13 rating notwithstanding, it's not really a film for kids or teenagers either.  It's for the Parents and deals with the central challenge articulated by Freud a century ago: balancing the fulfillment of obligation and desire.

What can religion (not present in the film at all) to the mix?  That (1) God does want us to be happy and (2) God doesn't care if we come to be "important" because God does love us all.  Finally, (3) as St. John Paul II already noted in his second encyclical Laborem Exercens (On the Dignity of Work) we were created by God to create.  It simply isn't good for us to "do nothing" no matter how rich or poor we are. 


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Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood [2019]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB (O)  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 (B. Tollerico) review
AVClub (K. Rife) review

Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood [2019] (written and directed by Quentin Tarantino) is IMHO a well-crafted affair, taking full advantage of writer/director's strengths -- creating and more-to-the-point _extending_ suspense (here through the _entire length_ of the 2 hour and 40 minute movie) even as one _knows_ what is coming, and then his capacity to creatively and IMHO utterly satisfactorily "re-imagine" endings to otherwise well known stories -- and actually / thankfully quite "light" on the most problematic aspect of his films -- violence.

Indeed, I've mentioned to a number of friends that someone must have sat down with Tarantino and told him:

"Look the best part of your movies _isn't_ the over-the-top violence.  NO, BY FAR THE BEST PART of your films has been _your ability_ to "stretch out the coming of the inevitable" -- One thinks of the ridiculously long but _fascinating_ "bar scene" or even the earlier "cafe' scene" in Inglorious Basterds [2009] or really the entire film, The Hateful Eight [2015], the latter set largely in a random 19th century mountain lodge somewhere "near the Donner Pass in the High Sierras" during a seemingly unending blizzard, when _every time_ the conversation between the bored, but colorful and ever creatively lowlife characters reaches an some critical juncture, and _everyone_ reaches to their sides for their pistols, ... some _new_ interesting but creatively lowlife character comes barreling through the door from the blizzard outside, and ... everyone lets their pistols slide back into their holsters and ... the conversation/story starts anew ;-).  SO ... no need to 'push' much less _extend_ the violence.  By far the _best part_ of your story-telling is 'getting there.'" 

The current film is _exactly this_.  EVERYONE who knows ANYTHING about what this story is about (hint: it's about the Manson Murders [wikip]), KNOWS ... "what is coming" BUT .... WHEN??? ... AND ... well, "it's a Tarantino film" SO ... ;-)

To say _anything more_ about the film would do it a great deal of damage, except that all three of the main actors in this film -- Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and even Margo Richie as Sharon Tate [wikip] -- are brilliant in their roles.  They "earned their pay" and probably had a lot of fun doing it, yes, had fun starring in a film about the Manson Murders.  How??  Well, go see the film ;-).

And yes, Parents please be sensible.  It's a film about the Manson Murders (!), so do respect the "R" rating.  It's deserved.  But understanding that, a brilliant film.


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Yesterday [2019]

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


IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (J. Hassenger) review

Yesterday [2019] (directed by Danny Boyle story by Jack Barth and Richard Curtis screenplay by Richard Curtis) is a small-ish, independent-ish film about random British born, Indian descended Jack Malik (played Himesh Patel) a B-or-C-talented, struggling musician who had grown up in "Sussex England," (yes, perhaps "a beach town" but "in the middle of nowhere...") who had exactly one fan, Ellie Appleton (played wonderfully by Lily James) okay maybe he had two fans, there's also "Rocky" (played by Joel Fry).  Ellie's loved Jack since the 5th or 6th grade, Rocky's just sort of a bouncer/roadie who's had even less prospects than Jack and thus really, really NEEDED someone, something to "cling onto" to give his life at least some meaning (and in one of the more poignant and utterly natural scenes in the film, he literally says as much... and it makes you want to cry).

So this is the setup of the film.  Jack is a random, perhaps decent enough dude, with nice, random Indian descended parents (played wonderfully by Sanjeev Bakhsar and Meera Syal, that Jack's mom gets kinda funny -- "likes to sing" perhaps that's where Jack's gotten his "talent" ;-) -- after she's had a few glasses of wine is just priceless ;-), with exactly one person who's both his biggest fan and who absolutely loves him (and of course, he's utterly oblivious to the second part...) and ... if not for ... an utterly random event ... he would have lived and eventually died in utter anonymity.  Yet ...

... just as the entire world, utterly randomly went into a single 5-10 second power outage, Jack hits his head (his bicycle is actually hit by a bus) and when he wakes up ... and feeling sorry for himself, he strums the Beatles song "Yesterday."  To his astonishment he finds that NO ONE remembered that song.  EVERYONE including his biggest fan / "I'll love you till the day I die" Ellie thought he made it up on his own.  Nor did ANYONE know who The Beatles were.

Since he still remembers a number of the other Beatles Songs, conflicted (but honestly NO ONE knows, and EVERYONE EVEN GETS ANGRY AT HIM over his "false modesty" when he tries to tell others that the songs he was playing weren't his own), he eventually records them _as his own_ and ... rest of the story follows ;-).

It's a fun story about both anonymity and fame.  And certainly part of the film's message is that all these "Nowhere men/women/people" of Jack's "before he hit his head" life were ... arguably MORE INTERESTING than those he started to meet as he became "more and more famous." ;-)

Yes, the other reviews (above) were not spectacular, but if you like these "small-ish, independent-ish" films and actually enjoy the many, many colorful people in your lives, then you could love this film ;-).


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Spider Man: Far From Home [2019]

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

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


Spider Man: Far From Home [2019] (directed by Jon Watts, written by Chris McKenna, screenplay by Erik Sommers based on the comic book by Stan Lee [GR] [IMdb] and Steve Ditko [GR] [IMDb]) continues the current incarnation of Spider Man [MC] [IMDb] (played by Tom Holland) which remains in-sync with the larger Avengers story, notably that which played out in the last two of its installments Infinity Wars [2018] and Endgame [2019].  In those two installments, first 1/2 of all sentient life in the Universe was "disappeared" and then 5 years later, thanks to the efforts of the remaining Avengers, "returned."  Part of "the joy" of watching this Spider Man installment was the way two strange events were understood by the largely teenage characters of the story -- they called the disappearance / return of their friends and loved ones "The Blip" ;-).

Returning also are some of the other characters of the current, more teenage oriented incarnation of Spider Man, including Marisa Tomei as Peter Parker's / Spider Man's very, very cool Aunt May [MC] [IMDb].  Then both Peter Parker's love interest MJ (played by Zendaya) and BFF Ned Leeds (played by Jacob Batalon) as in previous episodes of this incarnation of Spider Man are "of color" which both makes the story much more inclusive for movie going children and teenagers of color and is reflective of American demographics today.

Indeed, I only wish that a similar sensitivity had been extended to the people portrayed at the locations in which this film took place -- the story plays out on a High School trip to Europe.  For instance, the people portrayed in a bar in Prague looked like "extras/peasants" plucked out of a 19th century rendition of a Chekhovian play rather than from one of the more fashionable centers of contemporary Europe (I'm of Czech descent, I'm "kinda sensitive" to this sort of thing...).  Then if I thought the good people of Prague were being protrayed as being stuck in the time of Amadeus or the Husars from Tolstoy's War and Peace, the portrayal of the Dutch (did they even traditionally wear "lederhosen"?) seemed even more amusing... Next time, honestly ask Mila Kunis or Tom Cruise for some help ;-).

That said, what's the story about?  Well, happily surprised / coming to terms with the repercussions of "all these people coming back" five years after "The Blip" ("Hey even though we disappeared 3 months into the school year 5 years ago, our School Administrators are forcing us to retake THE WHOLE YEAR, what's with that?" ;-), with life returning, sort-of, to normal ... Peter Parker's school is taking a week long trip to Europe.  And Peter Parker's hoping to "take a vacation" from being Spider Man as well, but ... Nick Fury [MC] [IMDb] (played AWESOMELY as always by Samuel L. Jackson) has other plans for him.  Much ensues ... ;-)

All in all it's not a bad Spider Man / Marvel Comics movie.  Certainly the film is focused on bringing back Spider Man back to being "an awkward teenager" (as, for instance, the Ant Man comics are focused on the little kid characters ...).  Still, there have been better MC movies than this one.


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Tolkien [2019]

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

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


Tolkien [2019] (directed by Dome Karukoski, written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford) is a LOVELY, superbly crafted -- the writing (surprise? ;-), direction, cinematography, and acting are all honestly of the highest quality -- YOUTH ORIENTED film about the formative years of famed mid-20th century medieval fantasy (The Hobbit, LOTR) writer J.R.R. Tolkien [wikip] (played by Harry Gilby as a 12-15 year old, and Nicholas Hoult as an older teen / 20+ year-old young adult), his friends, with whom, yes, he forms "a fellowship" ;-), and his love-interest, fellow _orphan_ and later life-long wife Edith Bratt (played by Lily Collins).  Indeed, the story runs like an early 20th century set Dead Poets' Society [1989] [wikip] [IMDb], a film about a group of young boys at a New England prep school in the mid-20th century, only in the case with Tolkien, IT WAS BASICALLY TRUE.

I can not help but stress the beauty of the message of this film directed toward YOUNG PEOPLE.  I say this because Tolkien was portrayed as someone, again, an orphan from the age of about twelve, who could have easily been bitter, complaining that life gave him "a bad hand," first through losing his family when he was young, then _losing most of his friends_ in World War I. 

Instead, both he and his wife used the gifts that he was given, first from his mother (played briefly but in a lovely fashion at the beginning of the film by Laura Donnelly) an enduring love and talent for languages and , of course, storytelling, and then the gift of having had some _very good friends_ in his youth, whom AS THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF THEIR (sort of) "SECRET SOCIETY" the simultaneously quaint and (as an invention of young, teenage minds) appropriately pretentious T.C.B.S., he spent the rest of his life redeeming. 

Midway through the story, Tolkien comes across some old Gothic word for "Dying without Valor," and the four swear that they will never go down that way.  Spending the rest of his life speaking and more to the point LIVING for friends who were ripped apart anonymously by German artillery and machine-gun fire in the senseless 1916 Battle of the Somme, Tolkien proved that even one man can lift an entire generation to glory when otherwise they would have been taken senselessly from this world in methodical, giant-like bursts of flaming, swirling, unspeakable and mechanical horror. 

As teens, Tolkien and his friends had promised to change the world through their art / creation. Thanks to Tolkien, they still did.

Excellent story / film.

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Avengers: Endgame [2019]

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

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


Avengers: Endgame [2019] (directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely based on the Marvel comics by Stan Lee [wikip] [IMDb] and Jack Kirby [wikip] [IMDb] and the comic book by Jim Starlin [wikip] [IMDb]) brings to a safe and satisfying end this spectacularly successful incarnation of Marvel Comic's Avenger franchise.  At twenty plus constituent movies, call this the War and Peace of Blockbuster film series and in its own way it offers a similar level of emotional drama.  Yes, there were more than a few times that tears welled-up in my eyes.

Endgame begins where Avengers: Infinity War [2018] ended, with the Universe in tatters as a result of an extraterrestrial giant named Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) having collected all six of the Universe's "Infinity Stones" and then proceeded to use their power to ERASE (make disappear) half of all life in the Universe to "bring balance to it."

Yes, this was an insanely arrogant "project" but there have been similarly insanely arrogant projects proposed by perhaps well-meaning but certainly utterly-convinced-of-their-righteousness fanatics during the century past (when Stan Lee / Jack Kirby were inventing their Marvel characters and writing their Avenger comic).  One need only think of the Khmer Rouge who in the aftermath of the Vietnam/Indochina Wars of mid-1940s-mid-1970s set out to _kill_ every single one of their Cambodian countrymen who wore glasses (which indicated that they could read, hence had some knowledge of the past) so as to "begin the creation" of "a whole new society" from "tabula rasa" (from scratch / a clean slate).  Any number of radical ideologies of the last century have sought to accomplish similar feats making use of similar horrors.

So the near the beginning of the film, the surviving Avenger characters find the self-satisfied / "fulfilled" Thanos and yet ... even killing him did not seem to approach doing justice for his Crimes (against all Life across the Universe).  What to do?

Well it turns out that the stories surrounding "Ant-Man" (played in this incarnation of the Avenger franchise by Paul Rudd) revolved around playing with "size" (shrinking a man to the size of an ant, or sometimes blowing him up to the size of a giant).  Well, take this oscillation of size to a radical degree, one can enter into "the quantum realm" where the laws of physics become ... strange.  And so while Scott Lang aka "Ant Man" himself is not capable of doing much with the possibilities offered here -- of, in the crudest, sense "going back into time" -- two other Avenger scientists Bruce Banner/the Hulk (played by Mark Ruffalo) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr) take up Scott Lang's/Ant Man's idea and figure out a way to ... fix all this.  To be sure, they make a point of saying that it's NOT really "time travel" (events still happen sequentially, just that in the quantum realm, one could, conceivably "bounce back" to a different place in the time-space continuum, sort of "looping back" to "what once was").  And ... much then ensues.

It's a fun and, as I've already mentioned above, at times a remarkably moving story, as the various characters are able to "be brave," "meet their destinies" and yes, at times, "fix loose ends."

It's just extremely good popular story-telling that honestly will be around, certainly in the English speaking world, for generations to come.  Great, great job!


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Mary Magdalene [2018]

MPAA (R)  CNS/USCCB ()  RogerEbert.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (4 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (Nick Allen) review
AVClub (M. D'Angelo) review


Mary Magdalene [2018] (directed by Garth Davis, screenplay by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett), following long standing tradition here in the United States, is coming out in limited release as Holy Week approaches.  Last year, the film Paul: Apostle for Christ [2018] was released at approximately the same time as well. 

Like Paul of last year, Mary Magdalene here is a high quality product that will relieve many Viewers who may reluctantly come (or even decline coming at all) to see a film such as this, fearing that that the film would somehow seek to be needlessly provocative in its presentation of this extremely important Gospel figure. 

Indeed, I wish to assure Readers here that Mary Magdalene (played in the film by Rooney Mara) is portrayed in the film, not unlike the manner in which she is portrayed in the Roma Downey produced Christ centered film Son of God [2014].  That is, Mary Magdalene is portrayed as simply a good, competent, devoted disciple of Christ, JUST LIKE ANY NUMBER OF GOOD, COMPETENT, DEVOTED CHRISTIAN WOMEN IN ANY PARISH THAT I HAVE EVER SERVED.

I find Roma Downey now Rooney Mara portrayals of Mary Magdalene a welcome step forward, as I do believe that past portrayals of her have tended to overly sexualize her as either "a former prostitute" or more recently as in the Da Vinci Code as "Jesus' wife."  Did Mary Magdalene "have to be" Jesus' wife?   Of course not.  To say so would misunderstand countless women in parishes and churches across the world and across time, who like Mary Magdalene have been simply and above all faithful and thoroughly competent "Disciples of Christ."

So honestly a great job and _thoroughly intelligent_ portrayal of this key Gospel figure.


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The 2019 Academy Awards - Review: The year of the "Hollywood Spring"

Previous Years' Reviews
IMDb listing

It would seem that The Revolution or at least "Spring" came early to Hollywood this year.  After years of #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo hashtags, and even an Oscar Host, Kevin Hart, thrown to the side (for anti-homosexual comments in his past) a new day, even for this particular year, arrived.

And I do have to say that as an upper middle aged white guy it has been has not been without its mostly mild surprises / sadnesses.

Like many have already commented, I too had expected the documentary Won't You be My Neighbor? [2018], about the lovely PBS children's program hosted by mild-mannered Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers [wikip] [IMDb] in the time of my youth, to be a shoe-in for a  best Documentary Feature nomination and quite possibly / probably win.  Instead, not only did it not get a nomination but the youth oriented, adrenaline pumping documentary Free Solo [2018], about a young man, Alex Honnold, climbing without rope or gear Yosemite Nat'l Park's 3000 ft El Capitan rock face won.  Yea! or "Yea!"   But let's face it, had he fallen, it would have been a stupid / pointless way to die... (Folks, I am a Catholic priest after all, and we ought to value our lives more than to risk them in needlessly stupid ways).  Of the nominees, I found RBG [2018] much more constructive ...

Then I did find it somewhat disappointing (though here, sigh, in an "it's the end of an era" understandable) that Clint Eastwood's The Mule [2018] about "an old man with family issues," didn't get nominated _for anything_ ;-).

Finally, even Olivia Coleman, winner of the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role (for her role in The Favorite [2018]), seemed apologetic for beating Glenn Close (nominated for her role in The Wife [2018]).  But alas, The Fav had a spicier story line than the "justice finally, at the end of a long, seemingly endless life / marriage" plot of The W. 

But at least, in the absence of a host, the Academy didn't bring back a hologram of Bob Hope again ;-).

And I am happy that Rami Malek, won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in Bohemian Rhapsody [2018] for his portrayal of  Farroch Bulsara who became Freddy Mercury, the lead singer of the rock group Queen. (The Oscars began this year with the surviving members of Queen singing the anthems We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions).  I'm also happy that three African Americans won awards -- Regina King for Best Supporting Actress in If Beale Street Could Talk [2018], Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor in The Green Book [2018] and Spike Lee, et al Adapted Screenplay in BlacKKKlansman [2018] -- as well as Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón won, count 'em, four Academy Awards (Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film) for b&w cinema verité art piece Roma [2018].

A bone may have been thrown to the old by giving the Best Picture award to The Green Book [2018] reminding us all of "how it was" and that we _have gotten better_ in the decades since.  Still, this year seems to have been a celebration of the young and of the new.

Good on you ;-).


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91st Academy Awards: My 2019 Oscar Picks

IMDb listing
Official Website

Dear Readers,

It's been for various reasons a busy last several months at the Parish (my day job ;-).  I've seen more movies than I've had a chance to write about of late.  However, these then would be my Oscar picks for this year.

BEST PICTURE
Will Win -- Roma, The Favorite
Should Win -- Bohemian Rhapsody
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- On Basis of Sex, The Mule

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Will Win -- Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Should Win -- Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), William De Foe (At Eternity's Gate), Christian Bale (Vice), Clint Eastwood (The Mule)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Starwars Story), Clint Eastwood (The Mule)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Will Win -- Glenn Close (The Wife)
Should Win -- Glenn Close (The Wife), Lady Gaga (A Star is Born), Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Felicity Jones (On the Basis of Sex), Saoirse Ronan (Mary Queen of Scots)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will Win -- Sam Elliot (A Star is Born), Richard A. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Should Win -- Sam Elliot (A Star is Born), Richard A. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- 

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Will Win -- Emma Stone or Rachel Weitz (The Favorite)
Should Win -- Emma Stone or Rachel Weitz (The Favorite), Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots), Emilia Clarke (Solo: A Starwars Story)

BEST DIRECTING
Will Win -- Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favorite) or Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Should Win -- Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favorite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Bryan Singer (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Bryan Singer (Bohemian Rhapsody), Clint Eastwood (The Mule), Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born), Berry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk), Ron Howard (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Will Win -- Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Łukasz Żal (Cold War)
Should Win -- Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Łukasz Żal (Cold War), Matthew Libatique (A Star is Born)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Benoît Delhomme (At Eternity's Gate), Bradford Young (Solo: A Star Wars Story)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will Win -- Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favorite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Should Win -- Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara (The Favorite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will Win -- Berry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk),
Should Win -- Berry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk), Bradley Cooper and Erik Roth (A Star is Born)
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- Nick Schenk (The Mule)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Will Win -- Mira, Isle of Dogs, Spiderman into the Spiderverse
Should Win -- Mira, Isle of Dogs
Should Have Gotten Consideration -- 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Will Win -- Roma, Cold War
Should Win -- Roma, Cold War, Capernaum

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On the Basis of Sex [2018]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB ()  RogerEbert.com (3 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (4+ Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (N. Minow) review
AVClub (C. Siede) review


On the Basis of Sex [2018] (directed by Mimi Leder, written by Daniel Steipleman) is a well-worth-the-view biopic about the early career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (played in the film by Felicity Jones) who part of the first generation of women to be graduating from Ivy League law schools (she started law school at Harvard, graduated from Colombia) had co-founded the ACLU's Women's Rights Project.

Among the indignities that she faced was being asked at a dinner hosted by the Dean of Harvard Law School (played by Sam Waterston) to stand-up at the dinner table (along with the eight other invited women law students) and "explain" to him and to the other guests why she was at Harvard studying law when her spot could have been given to a male.  Then despite having graduated tied for first in her class (at Colombia, after being first in her class at Harvard, prior to her transfer on account of her husband Martin Ginsburg - played in the film by Armie Hammer - one year ahead of her at Harvard Law who had gotten a job in New York) SHE was UNABLE TO GET A JOB in New York except in academia at Rudgers University (despite having graduated tied for #1 in her class she wasn't taken seriously).

All this serves as an excellent reminder of what it was like to be a woman in the United States in the 1950s-60s, and why a fair number of the changes that have taken place in society since then took place.

And yes, if Ruth Bader Ginsburg had simply "stayed at home cooking dinner" the whole world would have lost a brilliant mind.

Excellent film.

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Welcome to Marwen [2018]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB ()  RogerEbert.com (1 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (D+)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

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

NY Times (P. Green) article about Mark Hogancamp


Welcome to Marwen [2018] (directed and screenplay cowritten by Robert Zemeckis along with Caroline Thompson) continues a career by Steve Carell of playing characters who often were marginalized, even considered wierdos or freaks, even as they were often simply soft-spoken and nice.

The current story tells the true story of  Mark Hogancamp (played by Steve Carell) from small-town upstate New York whose previous life was largely destroyed in 2000 when he was beaten-up / kicked in the head within inches of his life by five men after, drunk at a bar, he admitted to them that he was a cross-dresser.  After he woke up from his coma nine days later, he set about "healing" from this disaster by creating (and photographing) an entire miniature town called Marwencol out of barbie dolls and WW II action figures that symbolically told the story of what had happened to him.  The five men who had nearly killed him were portrayed, unsurprisingly, as Nazis, the women who had helped him heal, dressed in various 1940s era pinup costumes, would fight the attacking Nazis back, but they'd always return ... to try to ambush him again.

It makes for one heck of a story even if perhaps not for the average crowd.  It asks us the question: why can't we sometimes just leave nice / quiet people alone.


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Second Act [2018]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (M. Olsen) review
RogerEbert.com (N. Minow) review
AVClub (C. Siede) review


Second Act [2018] (directed by Peter Segal, written by Justin Zackham and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas) may break little new ground for Jennifer Lopez, who plays the lead character Maya, a hard working forty-something New Yorker who finds her advancement at work blocked by her lack of a college degree.  Still more than a few Viewers will relate to Maya's plight.

In the film, her Stanford attending "fairy God son" (not God-mother) invents a resume for her as well as a whole online virtual life to support it ... and ... "barrier overcome" ... but, of course, it's based on a lie ...

Some of the reviewers above are correct.  There is material stuffed into this film that could be unpacked legitimately across 2-3 movies -- Maya had a daughter in her teenage years who she gave up for adoption, who she now runs into (played by Vanessa Hudgens) as a result of her being magically "bumped up" the socio-economic ladder as a result of her "fairy God-son's" action.  And there's also the whole question of how to relate now with her previous friends, including lifelong-BFF Joan (played by Leah Rimini) and more recent, though 5 years running Significant Other, Trey (played by Milo Ventimiglia).  Yet, transporting anyone from one life into another would produce at least some unforeseen consequences.

All in all it's a nice film that reminds us that we are all much more than simply our job title.


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The Favourite [2018]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB () review
Los Angeles Times (J. Chang) review
RogerEbert.com (T. Laffly) review
AVClub (K. Rife) review


The Favourite [2018] (directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara), set in a fictionalized early 18th century England (hence a "period piece" / "costume drama"), the story, appropriately R-rated, runs, so that Readers here know, like a Lesbian-oriented Harlequin Romance:

An aging "Queen Anne" (played by Olivia Colman) frankly _relieved_ to be finally widowed after SEVENTEEN MISCARRIAGES "finds comfort" in her childhood BFF Lady Sarah (played by Rachel Weisz), who also helps her run the dang country, until ... a YOUNGER, once lesser somebody (lower nobility), now thanks also to the whims of early-unfortunate widowhood, one step from truly becoming a sexualized-nobody turning tricks at some mud-covered road-side brothel somewhere, lucky to use the last of her connections to at least have clawed her way to becoming a chamber-maid in the Queen's Court, Abigail (played by Emma Stone), comes onto the scene ... and much ensues ... :-) or :-|.

And the story asks us, the Viewers, the question if it really would have been _any more edifying_ if good ole Queen Anne had "found comfort" with some sweaty stable-hand or perhaps a strapping young red-coated officer with a big tall bushy hat and a sabre in hand.

And actually, it's not an altogether bad question to ask:

I've often joked that if one put one's characters in period clothes and placed them in some exotic locale then one could have those characters do just about _anything_.  As but one (though IMHO excellent) example: In the English Patient [1996], darling of the Academy Awards that year, set in colonial Egypt/Libya just as World War II was about to break out, the lead characters "finally" consummated highly scandalous / adulterous affair (and then in _bed-board banging fashion_) while the entire British garrison was assembled in the Plaza below singing ... "Silent Night" :-). 

So while I do think that it's fair for Readers to know what they're going to be seeing here -- a lesbian oriented Harlequin Romance type story -- after that, I'd say that its "morality" (or amorality) is no different than if Queen Anne would have come to share her bed with some early-18th century Scots-Irish Rasputin.


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