The Inbetween

The cold descends
and the year ends

the door closes

another opens

a collective breath

is held

and released

as we continue

into the unknown future

'Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell' A Review

Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell is a transcendental drama about Thiện(Lê Phong Vũ) a spiritual searcher, who after the untimely death of his sister-in-law, takes his nephew Đạo(Nguyễn Thịnh) back to his home village for her funeral.

The film is almost purely a mood piece and Vũ is very understated letting the images and situations wash over him, the 'action' such as it is is minimal. From an acting stand point the best parts are with Vũ and Thịnh, the two have great chemistry and the familial connection comes through, but this isn't a film about a single, childless uncle stepping up to be a surrogate parent. After Đạo is placed at a school Thiện searches for his brother through a series of vignettes and these are more poetry than narrative.

The production design is immaculate, with rich patient visuals, a superb and meditative sound design, and an inspired sound mix. There's an impressive one-shot where Thiện and Đạo go to visit a Vietnam War vet who weaves burial shrouds that is up there for best scene of the year.

If there is a criticism it is simply that the film is too long. At three hours the impeccable and transportive lowkey tone simply loses steam in the third hour, its too precarious and understated to maintain for that duration. The film raises a lot of questions and does so in a subtle, evocative way, but it very deliberately has no answers so its not as if the extended run time is building to some crescendo or conclusion. As a result it feels like it sort of peters out.

A powerful and effective work of slow cinema, but perhaps a tad too slow.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

See It.

'The People's Joker' A Review

The People's Joker is a superhero parody/coming-of-age film about the journey of trans woman Joker the Harlequin(Vera Drew also director/co-writer/editor). Through a smorgasbord of visual styles and references Drew brings an irreverent, gonzo take on the Batman comics with a beating heart and surprising pathos. She achieves a precarious ADHD narrative alchemy that is utterly unique.

Visually sumptuous to the point of being at times overwhelming with performances which are effective but that are occasionally so exaggerated it shifts into performance art creating its own kind of mode. The soundtrack has some real bops, a handful performed by Drew herself which are the highlights. There's lots of green screen, tons of 2D and 3D animation in various styles, puppetry, prosthetic work, excellent make-up design, it's a more-is-more approach and it can feel cacophonous but it works.

A singular piece of cinema, galvanic, potent, a stunning debut from Vera Drew.

Currently streaming on MUBI and available to rent on most VOD platforms.

Don't Miss It.

A Birthday Poem

 for Katie

I'll always remember
May 2009
when we went
to Star Trek
because that
was the first time
I called you friend
in my secret heart

'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' A Review

Song The Hedgehog 3 is an action/comedy based on the video game series and the third in the Sonic series. Shadow The Hedgehog(Keanu Reeves) has been held in stasis for decades because of his incredible power, he breaks free and seeks revenge, Sonic and company must stop him.

The returning cast, voice and real, are all having fun and do what they need to do, in trend with the series the only really inspired performance is Jim Carrey this time in a double Robotnik role(grandson and grandpa) which is actually pretty impressive and exciting to watch, this culminates in a best-of-the-year scene dance. 

The visuals are serviceable the soundtrack pop-y, the plot convoluted but pleasingly pretty bizarre. Overall a solid piece of entertainment with no pretentions. Not much to it but there doesn't need to be.

An effective PG family flick.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

'Nosferatu' A Review

Nosferatu is a period horror movie, an adaptation of the 1922 silent film, itself an unauthorized take on Dracula.

Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter is uninspired, similar to his turn in Juror #2, he seems lost, adrift, and unable to really find the character or appropriately transmit the greater artistic intent. Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter is miscast and stands out in the cast as not up to the demand, the extended scenes of her moaning, rolling her eyes, and convulsing move quickly from terror to laughability. In both instances Hoult and Depp simply do not have the kind of movie star wattage this kind of tone piece with minimal character dimension requires to make work. Ana Taylor-Joy was originally slated for the Ellen role and Bill Skarsgård for Thomas, knowing this its impossible not to imagine how much better the movie would have been had that initial casting gone through. Skarsgård as Count Orlok the titular Nosferatu is decent but he's shown too much too soon which hamstrings what Skarsgård is able to do in the building of mystique and tension. Similar to Gladiator II the only actor who knows what movie their in and excels is the grizzled vet in this instance Willem Dafoe who's large wild-eyed performance compliments and accentuates the mood.

The production design- across the board- is impeccable. Intricate vibrant locations, pitch perfect beautiful costuming, an ominous creeping score. There is no doubt of writer/director Robert Eggers' skill or artistry when it comes to production(not a surprise given the first part of his career was as a production designer). But after his freshman effort The Witch his screenwriting, casting, and ability to work with actors has been not bad but certainly inconsistent. And that is certainly the case here with the ultimate result clearly being negatively influenced by a protracted development and production disruptions by COVID and the actors/writers strikes.

A rather hollow tone poem caught between conventional narrative and artistic ambition.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

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Be Simple. Be Direct.

Life
doesn't need

to be exciting

to have purpose

a lesson

youth learns

only with age

'Juror #2' A Review

Juror #2 is a legal melodrama about an expectant father Justin(Nicholas Holt) who finds himself on the jury for a killing he perpetrated.

Holt is adrift in the mostly aimless, unfocused movie and deploys a painfully generic and inauthentic American accent. The rest of the cast equally struggle with the bizarre Lifetime movie tone, much of the acting is overwrought, unbelievable, and uncompelling. The exceptions are Toni Collette(as the prosecutor) and J. K. Simmons(as another juror) who's talent and professionalism are able to cut through a lot of the murk to give performances that resemble actual human beings.

The movie looks absolutely terrible, as if the cameras were purchased from a retailer like Best Buy, everything is flat, the coloring is washed out, and the various camera set ups look like they were slapped together with little to no thought.

The script itself is full of asinine plot holes that insult both the justice system and AA(Justin is supposedly a member). The "commentary" is so convoluted, self-righteous, and devoid of any meaningful real world corollary it truly boggles the mind. Billed as director Clint Eastwood's swan song the movie has been critically lauded which seem to be out of abject pity for a Hollywood 'legend' because taking this movie on its own merits it is poorly scripted, sloppily shot, and pathetically performed.

A complete and utter waste of time, money, and talent. To quote the late great Roger Ebert- I hated this movie. I hated hated hated this movie.

Currently streaming on Max.

Don't See It.

'Kraven The Hunter' A Review

Kraven The Hunter is a superhero origin story about the titular Spider-Man villain. Kraven(Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is a vigilante who hunts and kills crime bosses having gotten his powers after a lion attack and a potion from Calypso(Ariana DeBose). Kraven has to deal with his estranged crime boss father(Russell Crowe), his wayward brother(Fred Hechinger), and competing crime boss Rhino(Alessandro Nivola).

Taylor-Johnson certainly looks the part and he throws himself into the role full force, unfortunately a lot of his choices just don't really make sense or make for an actual human character. He uses a bizarre American accent the cadence of which is(weirdly) pure John Wayne. DeBose is in the movie very little and she and we the audience are confused by what purpose she is suppose to serve. Hechinger has had a good year and it's nice to see him so much, I'd take him over Austin Butler or Chalamet any day of the week, but he doesn't do much here. Crowe is having a ball and absolutely making a meal out of his Russian accent, the story may be convoluted and dumb, the majority of the actors may seem lost, but Crowe give you your money's worth. The same is true of the heavy Nivola who gives, the most bizarre, idiosyncratic, performance in any major release this year. The cast has talent but, similar to Gladiator II, the directing is absent, there is no one facilitating the casts performances, they are all seemingly in different movies and only the real seasoned pros(Crowe and Nivola) can make any sense of it.

The visuals are mostly generic with some really terrible CGI animals. There are a couple solid, surprisingly gory, action sequences but there aren't enough of them, the movie doesn't really take full advantage of its R rating. The other glaring problem is the ADR, there are multiple scenes where the dialogue is out of sync to such a degree it's laughable. The script itself is the other main offender. There's just no life to it, not enough fun, not enough ingenuity, too convoluted. It's clear it was commissioned by an executive(not a creative) and probably half a dozen screenwriters(or more) 'took a pass at it' and the end result is this pastiche of vague ideas rather than a coherent narrative. Watching it it feels like an elevator pitch.

Teetering on the so-bad-it's-good edge, destined to be a streaming hit.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

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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.

Pepper

She wasn't well-behaved
but she had heart for days

she walked with me

through the darkness

protected me

from the shadow's grip

the only one

who didn't judge

as I sprawled

at the bottom

scraping

at the floor

when I despaired

she loved

simple and fearless.

A good dog.

A beagle.

May her teeth

ever be sharp

and her bark

Thunderous.

'Wicked: Part I' A Review

Wicked: Part I is an adaptation of the 2003 stage production based on the 1995 prequel novel of the The Wizard of Oz novel/film. Elphaba(Cynthia Erivo) is an outcast with unpredictable magical powers, she attends Shiz University in order to cultivate them. There she is at first antagonized by Galinda(Ariana Grande-Butera) and her castmates but is eventually befriended by them.

Erivo is stupendous, dominating the screen any time she is on it, able to convey emotional truth in every scene as well as fit in to the more ostentatious numbers and sequences. Grande-Butera by comparison is absolutely outshone and overly relies on slapstick and comedic business in place of emotion or character. Splitting the focus between the two is a mistake and anytime the film cuts away from Erivo you are simply waiting for her to return. Plain and simple Grande-Butera's is miscast, out of her depth. She certainly has the voice for the role but she doesn't have the acting ability to round it out. This is particularly apparent when she briefly shares the screen with Kristin Chenoweth(the originator of the role). The supporting cast is mostly decent but it is so crammed, the film so bloated, it is difficult at times to track the action or follow the plot and other than Erivo there is no one to invest in.

Visually the film is glossy, overly CGI'd, there are some amazing renderings and a couple dance numbers on actual sets, but overall it conveys an un-reality that works against the emotional journey at its core. The dance numbers and songs are all great but there is not enough of them, in extending the source material into two 2.5 hour chunks it upends the effective pacing of the stage production and there are long stretches between numbers that seem to serve little to no purpose. The sound mix is also off, the dialogue track and the musical tracks are seemingly at the same level, so when a musical number does kick in it is too muted and lacks the kind of jolt of inspiration and hair raising the soundtrack usually elicits.

Unfortunately, despite an incredible Erivo, kinda boring.

Currently in theaters.

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