Winter Solstice

As the night encroaches

we are reminded

to slow down

to stop

to reflect

and take stock

to express gratitude

and give

to come together

with our fellows

to gather

around the light

to fend off

the long dark.

'Red One' A Review

Red One is a holiday fantasy action movie about the kidnapping of Santa.

The Rock as Santa's head of security Callum Drift is inoffensive and non-descript, The Rock phones it in which for him still means there some magnetism there. Chris Evans as Jack O'malley(the hacker who helped locate Santa for the villain inadvertently and is forced to help get him back) is doing something we've seen him do before(wisecracking jerk with a heart) but with less success. Lucy Liu and J.K. Simmons aren't in the movie enough to make much of an impression unfortunately. There's not much in the way of a supporting cast beyond that but they're all serviceable aside from the heavy Kiernan Shipka as Grýla who is miscast and Kristofer Hivju as Krampus who is excellently cast.

The action is all pretty generic, the CGI plentiful and cheap looking, the score forgettable, the story mostly sedentary and predictable(other than the inspired interlude in Krampus's domain). It's all tailor made to be a streaming success- big names, box office flop, critically panned, absurd premise- not enough to get a lot of folks to the theater but absolutely enough to get people to watch it when it shows up on a streaming service they already pay for. And as that implies it is just good enough to watch for free.

An odd, corporate, curiosity.

Currently streaming on Prime.

Stream It.

'The End' A Review

The End is a post-apocalyptic musical about the family of an oil tycoon that live in a bunker in a salt mine. After 20 years of isolation the group accepts a new comer into their group disrupting the status quo.

The ensemble is all incredibly talented and bring those considerable gifts to bear. It's always a joy to see Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon and they don't disappoint, the supporting cast Bronagh Gallagher, Tim McInnerny, and with less screentime Lennie James all really deliver. The 'kids' George MacKay and Moses Ingram are also adept. All of them, and its very much an ensemble piece, are able to navigate the bizarre stilted tone, the breaking into song, and the scenes of massive emotion with grace and an honesty that really work.

This is co-writer/director Joshua Oppenheimer's first feature and his first work in a decade(following 2014's doc The Look of Silence) and you can tell so much thought and effort went into this. It looks great, presumably mostly on sets with no CGI, it really evokes an actual place and feeling. The musical numbers, if too similar in melody and tempo, are effective, particularly a prolonged Michael Shannon dance sequence and a little tap dance interlude by McInnerny. Overall the production is rich and evocative and bodes well for Oppenheimer's future efforts in narrative film.

The film falls short in the third act and in its overall messaging. First of all it is too long, this glut of "serious" movies that have a 2 1/2 - 3 hour run time is absurd. Not that long runtimes are inherently bad but they have to have a purpose and the pacing needs to be amended accordingly. Here, like in many overlong movies, the film ends multiple times. The pacing drags and as a result interest is lost. There is no real need for it to be this long. The wonderful Shannon dance sequence referenced above very much feels like the end of the movie but then there's another anemic half an hour. 

And then there's the messaging, similar to many of these end-of-year overlong serious movies, the message seems to be 'life is bleak' and 'the world is fucked', which 1. is boring, 2. is not entertaining, and 3. no shit. Not that movies with a depressing message can't be compelling but it seems like the industry says only these type of movies are cinema(just look at critics top 10 lists or awards nominations that are just now starting to percolate) and that is simply not true particularly in a time where these same industry people are saying 'movies are struggling'. Art(in this instance cinema) is about hope, it is about transformation, it is about inspiration. And The End is actually kind of on that track for 2/3 of its story, the characters contend with their pasts, their regrets, their culpability, and there seems to be some growth as a result. The work itself seems to be indicating this is the trajectory, this small enclave of what's left of society finally starts to be honest and, finally, begins to make some progress. But then they don't and you can clearly see Oppenheimer's will here, he goes against what the work itself wants to do and forces his embittered nihilistic worldview, a character dies, the rest of the characters compartmentalize and regress and its just feels very contrived dramatically and unsatisfying thematically. The film ultimately falls echoingly flat.

Ambitious, intriguing, haunting, but sour and in the end empty.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Rent It.

'Flow' A Review

Flow is an animated adventure about a cat and a flood. In a nameless jungle the cat prowls, tries to steal a fish from a pack of dogs, flees but is interrupted by a massive flood. The cat hops on a boat with a capybara and the two gather other animal friends as they travel towards a distant monolith.

The animation style is simple but rich and the characterization of the animals is complex. There's no dialogue and relatively minimal scoring, its more an experience than a narrative, which is fine although at 90 minutes the film drags, it feels like a short that was expanded into a feature. There's, seemingly, a lot of ideas here(is this a biblical fable? environmental?) but its all rendered in relatively vague, abstract terms in a way that we are meant to interpret.

This is clearly meant to be an adult piece of animation which is commendable although if the animals can sail ships and have sophisticated social interactions it feels kinda silly not to just have them talk. Nonetheless it looks great, is unique, if lacking some thematic oomph.

Interesting if not particularly engaging.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Rent It.

In the ecstasy of the present time

everything is new
the newness intoxicating

each moment discovered

unearthed, excavated, a surprise

ideas woven into precious immediacy

actualized then dispersed

hauling up and flinging

bucket after bucket

from that Great Well

potential

and it is Now

and can only be Now

and it is only ourselves here Now

in this place

Now!

'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story' A Review

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story is a documentary about the life, career, and activism of Christopher Reeve. Through talking head interviews, archival footage, and home movies his story is told.

Although visually conventional(other than an odd, not particularly effective, continued motif of a CGI nude Superman floating through space) the non-linear structure, crisp/smart editing, and stirring(but not overpowering or leading) score pair brilliantly with the subject matter delivering not only one of the best docs of the year but one of the best retrospective celeb portraits of this type ever.

Reeve's story, and by extension his family, is a powerful one. Impactful, insightful, and unique. The telling here is pitch perfect and evokes the same inspiration that not only Reeve's portrayal of Superman did but also his activism later in life.

A portrait of a singular man with an incredible reach.

Currently streaming on Max.

Don't Miss It.

'The Last of the Sea Women' A Review

The Last of the Sea Women is a documentary about the haenyeo, a community of women seafood divers in Jeju Island, South Korea. It profiles the women and their current struggle with maintaining their culture/profession given environmental threats.

Beautifully shot with several diving scenes and great moments with the haenyeo themselves the film feels mildly intimate and breezy. The history of the haenyeo is summarized, the culture the haenyeo came from is abbreviated, the environmental issues at play lie mostly passive in the background until the end sequence which is not without its power but also feels somewhat contrived within the structure of the film. These women and their story is powerful and engaging and the film is a solid watch however in aggregate there is a NatGeo kind of sanitized feel about the whole endeavor. There is just clearly so much more here that the film does not get into. More nuance, more richness that the film doesn't have the time(or perhaps interest) to plumb. Even the haenyeo themselves clearly have more to say but their access to speak freely seems constrained.

This is director Sue Kim's first feature length doc and some of its lack of dimension could be a result of this being a freshman effort, she shows promise and knows what to shoot and how and seemingly developed a good relationship with her subjects but there is a kind of a glossy marketability feeling that isn't oppressive but is definitely noticeable, maybe that was out of necessity, Kim needed to sell it. But compare this to something like 2019's Honeyland and it's clear the haenyeo deserve something with more depth, more courage, more artistry.

Incredible subjects but only a decent film.

Currently streaming on Apple TV+.

See It.