Won't You Be My Neighbor? [2018]

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

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (K. Jensen) review
Los Angeles Times (K. Turan) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (N. Murray) review


Won't You Be My Neighbor? [2018] (directed by Morgan Neville) is a perhaps tragically timely, nostalgic documentery about a man, Fred Rogers [wikip] [IMDb], a 1950s-70s era Presbyterian Minister who was the creator and host of the iconic (and supremely _gentle_) PBS television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood [1968-2001] [wikip] [IMDB].

Yet the film _could be more_ than just said "tragically timely nostalgic remembrance of a man" who in the context of the extraordinary harshness of contemporary American culture could seem like an extraterrestrial.

We could, for instance, choose to remember -- as this film noted -- that as gentle as Fred Rogers was in his demeanor (and yes, his family and friends emphatically insisted that he was exactly the same in his gentleness in his private life as in his public persona) he was no wilting flower or doormat:

Readers, consider simply that his program WHICH SOUGHT TO HELP _CHILDREN_ better comprehend the world around them BEGAN in EXACTLY THE SAME YEAR and DURING EXACTLY THE SAME MONTHS as the MLK and RFK assassinations.  One of the archival clips presented in this documentary showed one of Mr. Roger's puppet characters asking him: "What's an assassination?"  OMG, how poignantly sad.

Then, at a time when MILLIONS OF (WHITE) AMERICAN FAMILIES were still _sincerely_ if _utterly misguidedly_ asking themselves whether people of different races should share public spaces -- and more to the point, whether their kids should share public swimming pools with other kids of other races -- GENTLE MISTER ROGERS put this question UTTERLY TO BED with a remarkable scene:

One of the perennial characters on his program (about a neighborhood after all) was an African American beat cop named Officer Clemons (played by Francois Clemons).  So on one supposedly "very hot summer day" GENTLE MISTER ROGERS told the children of his audience that since it was so hot, he was just going sit down in his chair on the front lawn of his house and put his feet into a nice pool of cool water.  Officer Clemons came by and GENTLE MISTER ROGER asked him: "Hey Officer Clemons, it's such a hot day and you've spent so much time walking around all day.  Would you like to take off your shoes and socks and rest your tired feet with me in my nice little pool of water?"  Officer Clemons took off his shoes and socks, AND THERE ON NATIONAL TV, the feet of GENTLE MISTER ROGERS (White) and Francois Clemons (African American) shared the comfort of a nice little cool pool of water TOGETHER.  How could segregation of public swimming pools possibly continue thereafter?

What a lovely gentle example of kindness and universal community for a time -- today -- when Latin American children are being ripped from their parents at our border and (overwhelmingly white) panels are then judging whether the parents are "worthy" of getting their children back.

And yet GENTLE MISTER ROGERS lived at a time when "uppity black families" could still stand to have crosses burned in their front yards as well.

Honestly, in the best of Catholic traditions, "Gentle Mister Rogers, pray for us."


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Mission Impossible: Fallout [2018]

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

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


Mission Impossible: Fallout [2018] (written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie based on the Television Series [Wikip] [IMDB] by Bruce Geller) delivers, IN SPADES, what it promises -- a simultaneously likable / engaging "buddy movie" (about a team of super-super-deep-deep-cover spies ;-) yet also a thoroughly heart-pounding, _often_ literally _cliff hanging_, spectacularly convoluted thriller that keeps one guessing _on multiple levels_ until the very end. 

Indeed, the combination of the "buddy movie" with a "conspiracy movie" -- a story about trust in the midst of so many reasons to mistrust -- is fascinating even on the conceptual level.  Yet, these ideas are fleshed out in the characters and the plot of this story / film series.

Near the beginning of the story, super-secret spy Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) is given "the Mission should [he] choose to accept it" of recovering plutonium, enough for three nuclear bombs, that had gone missing (from some Russian base somewhere near Kamchatka), that, we're told, is being coveted by a Norwegian unibomber-like nuclear scientist named Nils Debruuk (played by Kristoffer Joner) who had just written a radically anti-religious manifesto and in league with jailed, anarcho-terrorist -- Solomon Lane (played by Sean Harris) the principle super-villain from a previous installment in the MI film series -- organized a shadowy group of "18 Apostles" dedicated to inflict massive, nuclear, harm on humanity "to bring about peace." 

"Choose to accept this mission?"  Of course Ethan's gonna accept this mission.  This is _exactly_ why he and his super-secret agent unit (the IMF or Impossible Missions Force) exists.  And it initially seemed easy.  Ethan and his team -- Benji Dunn (played by Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickwell (played by Ving Rhames) -- set-up a "sting operation" in Berlin to _buy_ the plutonium.  Well "the exchange" goes south and Ethan finds himself with the choice of EITHER sacrificing his team members OR recovering the three balls of plutonium in essentially a carry-on bag-sized suitcase.  He _chooses_ to save the lives of his team members and the nuclear arms traders are able to flee with their plutonium to try to sell it to someone else -- perhaps Debruuk/Lane and their "Apostles.

Needless to say, CIA Chief Erica Sloan (played wonderfully with icy seriousness by Angela Bassett) -- the IMF is but one, if super-secret, group operating under the overall umbrella of the CIA -- is quite appalled at Ethan's somewhat surprising humanity.   IMF head Alan Huntley (played by Alec Baldwin) tries to defend Hunt's actions to Sloan: "But Hunt's two other agents would have been lost."  She replies: "But recovering the plutonium was the job.  In saving his two friends he put millions at risk."  But Alan Huntley is so impressed by Hunt's choice that he tells him, "Precisely because you weren't willing to sacrifice even one person to save those millions, you are the best possible person to send out to recover that plutonium."

The rest of the story -- which of course involves coming up with a new plan to recover that plutonium -- ensues...  And it becomes, of course, ONE WILD RIDE, taking us to Paris, to London, and finally to the mountains of the Indian controlled part Kashmir. 

The closing sequence which is 40 HEART-THUMPING MINUTES LONG is spectacularly complex and leaves the Viewer gasping: "Well they don't call these stories 'Mission Impossible' for nothing" ;-)

And yet we witness a super-secret agent who ... cares.

AWESOME FILM !


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Sorry to Bother You [2018]

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

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


Sorry to Bother You [2018] (written and directed by Boots Riley) is a fun African-American centric Kafkaesque near-future dystopian scifi flick in which Cassius Green (played wonderfully in mildly grifter - hey, I'm just trying to stay afloat / eke-out a living - fashion by Lakeith Stanfield) finds himself in a way, way, way more bizarre "this is how the world works" conspiracy than he could imagine.

The story begins with Cassius at a job interview in which he gets busted in an awfully embarrassing way for padding his resume -- "Cassius, do you know WHY I know that you never ever got 'employee of the month' nor even worked as a bank teller at that Oakland branch that you put in your resume?  BECAUSE I WAS THE MANAGER THERE at the time ;-) -- "HS, am I horribly busted!" -- But before you get a cardiac here son, as many lies as you've put on that resume of yours, you've taught me the only two things I know to give you this (entry level telemarketing) job; (1) You show initiative ;-), and (2) you can read.  THAT'S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW to be a telemarketer: STAY ON-SCRIPT and FIND A WAY to make it sell.  That's all you need to know."

Yea!  Cassius is now on his way to finally be able to pay rent to his uncle for the two car garage which he and his ever big-earring-always-with-a-message-wearing girlfriend named Detroit (played by Tessa Thompson) have called "home" ;-).

Ah yes, but how to you sell stuff -- on the phone -- that people don't really need and at times can't really afford?  Well after a few days of - "OMG I'm going to lose this job again" - he's told by an older / more experienced coworker (played by Danny Glover) "Cassius, you're going to have to find your 'white voice.'"  "WT... does that mean?"  "No, not a white, white voice, but the voice that tells the person on the other end of the line 'You know, I don't need to make this sale, after I finish talking to you, I'm taking the rest of the day off to take my Ferrari for some detailing again.  I'm not calling you because I need you, I'm calling you today because you need me, and you need this product that I'm offering you.'"  

Cassius figures it out ... and ... soon he's becomes one of the company's best sellers, indeed being "bumped up" to its "Diamond Sellers" level.  Those who "make this level: get special perks -- a special gold plated elevator, activated by an insanely long "security code," that literally takes him to said "new level."

But it's there of course, that he finds that things are _far, far, far weirder_ than he even would have imagined.  But does he "play the game?"  Or say something?  And who would actually even believe him if he did?

A FUN and GREAT MOVIE that would have made Kafka of "The Castle" fame proud ;-)



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Eighth Grade [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 (S. O'Malley) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review


Eighth Grade [2018] (screenplay and directed by Bo Burnham) is one of those small summer, often enough teenage / young adult angst filled, indie films that like Safety Not Guaranteed [2012], The Way, Way Back [2013], the "Before" series (Before Sunrise [1995], Before Sunset [2004] and Before Midnight [2013]) and Boyhood [2014] reminds a film lover like me _why_ I love films so much.

Yes, thanks to Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air, I already knew a little about this film before I went to see it here at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles, but I WAS COMPLETELY SOLD in the film's first thirty seconds, as one of the most jaw-droppingly sincere -- OMG this _couldn't possibly_ have been simply "read from a script" -- scenes that I've ever witnessed played.  It featured Kayla (played with dead-on sincerity throughout by Elsie Fisher), a thoroughly average, stumbling, a smattering of pimples and all, eighth grader video-recording herself for her little Vlog (with all of five subscribers ;-) on her entry's decided theme of the day -- "Confidence."   Once again, OMG, one just wanted to give her a hug.

And so the story went ... Kayla's just a thoroughly _normal_ middle school kid just about to finish eighth grade, young -- again, only in eight grade -- but already realizing that her life's not going to be what younger self (when she was in 6th grade (!) ...) thought it was going to be.  And yet, of course, that wasn't necessarily awful: there was always someone who'd drop into her life, even if for a moment, including not the least her single parent dad (played also with appropriate "OMG this parenting is sooo much, much harder / more complicated than I ever could have imagined but I've got keep smiling" honesty by Josh Hamilton) that helps her make it through.

The performances here are simply remarkable and the film's destined to be one of the best "teen age angst films" since The Breakfast Club [1985].  Indeed it may make that previous film (that I grew up on) feel positively like kitsch.

A simply outstanding job!


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Mamma Mia! Here We go Again [2018]

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

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


Mamma Mia! Here We go Again [2018] (directed and screenplay by Ol Parker, story by Richard Curtis, Ol Parker and Catherine Johnson, originally conceived by Judy Craymer, based on the original musical by Catherine Johnson) continues the fun if certainly on-one-level morally questionable ABBA-based [wikip] [Amzn] story of "Donna" (played here wonderfully in her youth by Lily James and then in her middle-to-older age by Meryl Streep) who, back the late-1970s, had found herself pregnant with a daughter she later named "Sophie" (played in the near present by Amanda Seyfried, hence about 30) with the father being as many as three different men "Sam, Bill and Harry" (played in the current film in their youth by Jeremy Irvine, Josh Dylan and Hugh Skinner respectively and in their middle-to-older age by Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth). 

Yes, it's all kinda scandalous, and yet, for better-or-for-worse kinda possible as it "all happened" back in the hedonistic late 1970s.

That said, as I would say about the Meryl Streep starring first film (made in 2008 and based on the already decade-long popular ABBA based musical) HOW GOOD IT IS TO SEE SWEDES  _smiling_ perhaps "messing around sexually" BUT SMILING rather than wondering if they should be "goose stepping" like their previously similarly sexually repressed German cousins to the south.  Yes, it's a false choice, but "free love" IS SO MUCH BETTER (and literally more LIFE GIVING) than OPPRESSION and WAR.

For as nominally immoral as this story is IT'S SO MUCH BETTER (and again LIFE-GIVING) than ANYTHING that Franco, Pinochet or Milosevic could offer or for that matter what Putin / Trump would offer today -- though Putin / Trump and Berlusconi before them (Italy's always seemed to be a "trend-setter" when it comes to Fascism...) have now proven that one CAN be _both_ RANDY and FASCIST at the same time.   Sigh ...

Still I will definitely say that FASCISM -- ripping children by the thousands from their shocked and sobbing moms -- IS INFINITELY WORSE than any strictly lustful transgression.  And even Dante would bear me out on this.  His levels of Hell for the Incontinent were near the top of the Pit while the levels Below were reserved for Violent and at the Bottom for the Treacherous. 

So please folks, if you don't already understand, then please do ... it's _not_ supposed to be "normal" for someone to not be sure which of three possible men could be the father of one's child.   That said, while not exactly "for the little ones" for the rest of us, please if you go see it, _enjoy the film_ FOR WE'RE WITNESSING FAR GREATER AND MORE VIOLENT CRIMES IN OUR TIMES TODAY than this.


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The Incredibles 2 [2018]

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

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


The Incredibles 2 [2018] (screenplay and directed by Brad Bird) is a fun Disney-Pixar animinated family-oriented superhero film, IMHO even better than the original, about said "Incredibles" a family -- mom Helen (voiced by Holly Hunter), pop Bob (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), teenage daughter Violet (voiced by Sarah Vowell), tweenage son Dasheill (voiced by Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack (voiced by Eli Fucile) -- with superpowers, that as in the first film finds itself shackled and arguably made "illegal" by a world / society afraid of their superpowers. 

Thus even though in the opening sequence of the film, the family foils the evil plot of a simultaneously family-friendly but FIENDISHLY GOOFY mole-like super-villain calling himself The Underminer (voiced by John Ratzenberger) "Haha, I'm ALWAYS beneath you, but NOTHING is beneath me ..." who tries using ridiculously HUGE tunneling machines to burrow-under, collapse, and break-into Municiberg's (the city in which the Incredibles live) banks, the city shows its "gratitude" by actually arresting The Incredibles for using their super-powers (to save them) and forcing them to leave to the outskirts / margins of town: "You mean, you wanted us to just leave The Underminer alone when we could do good and stop him?"  "Yes, we had everything under control" is the response of the hapless police official arresting them.

Well fortunately for The Incredibles / the world, there were people, including a billionaire named Winston Deaver (voiced by Bob Odenkirk) and his sister Evelyn (voiced by Catherine Keener), who appear to be on their side and accept the occasional wanton collateral destruction that super-heroes cause often in the defense of the rest of society.  But said wanton destruction caused by super-heroes leads Winston to ask that Helen aka "Elastigirl" be the face of his "Bring back the Super Heroes" campaign instead of Bob aka "Mr Incredible" who was, well, known to be far more destructive.

Well much ensues and Helen and later the whole family along with fam BFF / fellow superhero Lucius Best aka Frozone (voiced wonderfully by Samuel L. Jackson) get into a battle with a new and again amusingly super-villain known as The Screenslaver (voiced by Bill Wise) who hypnotizes people into doing fiendish things through the various screens that they'd be looking at.

All in all, it makes for a FUN family oriented film -- emerging super-baby "Jack Jack" steals the show every time he's on the screen ;-) -- with messages of (1) being allowed to become who one's destined to be, (2) using one's gifts in the service of others, and (3) the benefits of working together as a family and/or team.   Good job!  Very good job!


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Adrift [2018]

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

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


Adrift [2018] (directed by Baltasar Kormákur, screenplay by Aaron Kandell, Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith based on the memoir [GW] [GW2] [WCat] [Amzn] of Tami Oldham Ashcraft [GW] [WCat] [Amzn]) tells the true story of Tami Oldam Ashcraft (played in the film by Shailene Woodley) who (it was 1983) had been sailing a yacht with her fiancé Richard Sharp (played in the film by Sam Claflin) from Tahiti to San Diego when they got themselves caught in a Hurricane Raymond (they were unable to outrun the storm).

The 40+ foot waves severely damaged the ship and threw Richard overboard.  The story that followed was about getting that ship, again severely damaged, with only a make-shift sail, from the middle of nowhere in the Central Pacific over to Hawaii (without missing the islands ...) to safety.  It took 41 days.

As compelling as these stories always are [1] [2] -- "alone on the sea" -- the current film IMHO did have a somewhat CREEPY DIMENSiON in its filming.  Yes, the film involved a young attractive actress portraying who would have been a young attractive woman first sailing and then adrift for over a month in circumstances where keeping clothes clean, dry and not covered with salt, would be really hard + one would have had _a lot more to worry about_ than about what one was wearing (largely alone) and how.  But one got the sense that the film makers took the approach of "trying to show as much of" the actress, here Shailene Woodley, as she as the contract with her would allow.

So ... while there actually wasn't a lot of actual nudity -- indeed there was EXACTLY ONE VERY SHORT SCENE that could have been _easily_ cut from the film WITHOUT LOSING ANY OF ITS CONTENT ("But Shailene, you're contractually obligated to "give us" at least one scene like this no matter how stupid or pointless to the story it may be...") -- there were _a lot of shots_ with her in tight, wet, form-fitting clothes (get the picture...) that after a while made one roll one's eyes thinking "Oh come on ..."

Seriously, it was silly ... but I do hope that in the post-Weinstein / #MeToo Era this would be one of the last Hollywood films that oozed such creepiness.

Those who would read my blog regularly would know that I rarely complain about either sex or violence portrayed in film SO LONG AS IT LEGITIMATELY FURTHERS THE STORY.  But when it is gratuitous (even of a "glass shattering" variety) or exploitative as it felt here, I make mention of it.

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