America's Pastime

All I can think to write about
is baseball
the stadium, the togetherness
the grass, the open air
the singularness of purpose
the blessed fleeting moment

'The End Of Oak Street' A Review

The End Of Oak Street is a scifi flick about a neighborhood in the 80's that gets transported back to the pre-historic era. A family- Denise(Anne Hathaway), Greg(Ewan McGregor), Audrey(Maisy Stella), and Brian(Christian Convery) deal with emotional baggage as they attempt to survive.

I like Anne Hathaway but this is the fourth feature she's appeared in in 2026, with one more still to go. This is too much Hathaway. She could give an incredible performance and I don't know if it'd register simply because she has been to ever present in the release schedule this year. McGregor fairs slightly better but they as well as Stella and Convery are burdened with a confused script and clashing tones. The movie doesn't know what it wants to be- is it a family drama wrapped in a scifi conceit, is it a nostalgic family adventure a la Spielberg, is it commentary wrapped in a blockbuster? It's unclear and signals at all those achieving none.

Visually the film is uneven, the production design is pretty flawless(although there seems no reason to set it in 1982 other than as nostalgia bait) but the CGI is surprisingly uneven. A scene involving an injury to McGregor's character is particularly cartoonish and looks cheap. It's a diverting enough summer flick if you've already seen The Odyssey and Spider-Man but it's kind of a stunningly benign third feature from writer/director David Robert Mitchell.

Overwrought familial melodrama hamstrings what this should be(and sometimes is)- fun.

Currently in theaters.

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'Teenage Sex & Death At Camp Miasma' A Review

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma is a meta slasher romance about director/writer Kris(Hannah Einbinder) who goes to meet the original final girl of the Camp Miasma slasher series Billy(Gillian Anderson) as she attempts to write a reboot/legacy sequel. Themes of identity, cinema, sex, coming-of-age, and horror are explored.

Anderson gives a titanic performance, awards worthy although she will most likely be overlooked as this is a genre indie. She's totally present, totally evocative, in full control of her powers. Alluring and vulnerable, melancholic yet hopeful. It is stunning and even if some of the film's eccentricities may not be for a wide audience(it's pretty out there) she alone makes this a must watch. Einbinder's character is a bit more straight-forward but she too is compelling and emotional. The two fluidly glide between the myraid of ideas and tones with a grace the film absolutely requires.

Visually the film is rich and evocative, packed to the gills with love of the cinema, horror, and particularly slashers. Reminiscent of Stephen Graham Jones's Indian Lake Trilogy in that it celebrates the slasher, pays homage, and takes it further, providing more depth, for our modern times. The sets, the paintings, everything is lovingly and meticulously constructed. It is so full of ideas, so ambitious in what it's doing, it can be overwhelming but it is, without question, worth the investment.

A love letter to cinema, horror, and identity with a performance-of-the-year from Anderson.

Currently in theaters.

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Cross Town Classic

The Cubs
may be more popular

more historic
on average

the better team
But
The White Sox
will always be

more scrappy
more Chicago

'The Dink' A Review

The Dink is a sports comedy about Dustin(Jake Johnson) a once promising tennis player who flamed out early and now works as an instructor for his overbearing father(Ed Harris) at his athletic club. After an injury he gets into pickleball and makes a friend Candace(Mary Steenburgen).

Jake Johnson does what he does here, which is fine, but incredibly limited. Aside from a sub-90-minute mumblecore flick this guy has no business leading a movie. His performance is more geared towards a sitcom or a sketch rather than a feature. It doesn't really feel like the character is an actual human, just Jack Johnson trying to be funny within this certain context. Disappointing. Much more compelling is Steenburgen, makes you wish she'd get bigger and better roles at her age, she's just gotten better. Ed Harris is having fun and it's nice to see him in something more broadly comic. The supporting cast is mostly good but the overall tone doesn't really work and the script is thin to emaciation.

The production one presumes was on a budget, it looks like generic made-for-streaming mass-assembly cinema. At least it was filmed on location in LA and gave some local actors jobs.

Honestly, it's not offensive as far as content but its sheer laziness(aside from Steenburgen) and lack of ambition was.

Currently streaming on Apple+.

Don't See It.

'Cookie Queens' A Review

Cookie Queens is a documentary about four Girl Scouts as they strive to hit their goals during cookie season. The film follows Ara, Nikki, Olive and Shannon Elizabeth all with different motivations for selling via fly-on-the-wall footage, there are no interviews(although some discussions seem to be a bit staged to provide some necessary info).

Through rich visuals the compelling character of these four young women are explored, their humor, determination, charm, intelligence, and complexity are all on display. Themes of race, class, and gender are addressed but mostly indirectly. It's not an indictment of the Girl Scouts or the cookie biz nor is it some triumphant celebration. What it shows is the need for these young women to have a place they can find community and purpose, to learn soft and hard skills, regardless of income or background and the avenue by which the Scouts provides that. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than nothing? Yes. But ultimately, like all things in the U.S. of A. it's still(at least in part) a hustle. There's still money to be made, ultimately the cookie business is big business.

A dimensional look at four driven young women through the lens of the annual Girl Scout cookie push. 

Currently in theaters.

See It.

Galena River

On the water
life is simple
purpose- paddle
direction- ahead
stroke and rest
watch the depth

watch the currents
look out
for fallen trees

critters

navigate

continue

continue

continue

'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' A Review

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a superhero movie, the latest in the MCU, the 4th Spider-Man with Tom Holland as the titular hero. Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home the world has forgotten Peter Parker and he grapples with the loss of his Aunt May while also not having his friends around to console him until a new threat emerges that shakes things loose.

Holland continues to be great as the titular hero, emotionally compelling, physically sharp, it's a great performance and the script continues to give the character both internal and external problems to grapple with. Zendaya also is wonderful and the chemistry between them crackles. Nice to see both of them really explode after both of their unsuccessful performances in The Odyssey(the fault being Nolan's not theirs). Jon Bernthal as The Punisher brings some broad comic relief but also heart and a good use of the character and kudos to Bernthal for bringing an equally true but tonally different vibe to the character than he has in other appearances. The new comer to the MCU Sadie Sink, also pitch perfect casting, provides a complex and engaging heavy and hopefully sets up a bigger role in future MCU flicks.

Visually the film is rich, colorful, and thrilling with some great fight choreography and striking imagery. The soundtrack is effective, the runtime is over 2 hours but the pacing is relatively tight. All-in-all a good entrant in the MCU, more a return to form, focused on entertaining action and a story that has actual human stakes. There is some wonton destruction in the finale which is unnecessary, even so it's not the focus.

A solid piece of summer entertainment with enough heart to tear you up a time or two.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

The Green Heron

The long-beaked hunter

our curious companion
our fleeting fellow
for a bend or two

welcoming

but not obsequious

like all creatures

on the river

benignly indifferent

to our brief sojourn

The City and The City

And are we
always
in communion
with one another

on the street

the train

out to eat

at the beach

solitude

is only internal

we may feel lonely

isolated

dwarfed by the pillars

of concrete and glass

unmoored wanderers

amid the tumult

amid the churn

but we are never alone

we are never separated

division is only illusion

the reality-

we are all connected

each akin to the other

thrumming cells

in pumping arteries

moving, living, breathing tendrils

of this great and wonderous ever unfolding City

part and parcel to the incessant growth and shrink

the inevitable and ceaseless decay and renewal

small but integral, vital parts of this

transcendent municipal experiment back a thousand years and more

on the banks and beaches where the River meets the Lake

expressions of its endurance

'Mortal Kombat II' A Review

Mortal Kombat II is a fantasy/action movie a direct sequel to the 2021 reboot. The tournament comes again, Earth's heroes must defend it from the machinations from the villians out Outworld, this introduces two new characters Johnny Cage(Karl Urban) and Kitana(Adeline Rudolph).

Urban is really fun and Rudolph brings some soul but there's way more lore and plot in this installment and basically all of the supporting cast aren't given much to do other than reiterate exposition and, overall, there's just not that much action.

The action there is is compelling with some really deliciously gruesome kills but everything is weighed down but convoluted plotting and a baffling McGuffin. A Mortal Kombat movie should, above all, be fun and this one takes itself a bit too seriously to hit that benchmark consistently, sacrificing entertainment for attempts at 'worldbuilding' and setting up a broader franchise.

Classic, fold-laundry-to quality.

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

Stream It.

'Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass' A Review

Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a comedy about the titular Gail(Zoey Deutch) a hairdresser and Kansas who embarks on a trip to LA to sleep with her celebrity crush Jon Hamm after her fiancé hooks up with his.

Deutch is an energetic, committed, effervescent lead but doesn't have a particular facility for comedy or at least the kind of broad bordering-on-surrealist style deployed here. The supporting cast is chock full of talent, notably Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ben Wang, and John Slattery(playing himself) along with other mainstays of writer/director David Wain. But the cast isn't given anything to do beyond the surface level, it all just feels like empty calories.

The production is decent, for a comedy it looks pretty good, there are some decent effects and one or two fun and funny fight scenes, but overall you get the feeling that money and time were tight. Everything feels truncated, abridged. Any emotional development or depth seems to have ended up on the cutting room floor, all that's left is a streamlined plot and jokes. It's diverting enough and nice to see Wain come out with a new picture but you can actually feel how difficult it was to get the movie made and get it in theaters. It's nice to see a straight-up comedy in theaters but this, unfortunately, fails in justifying a full fledged release. It feels like it was made for streaming.

Noble effort but lacking much impact.

Currently in theaters.

Stream It.

America's Pastime

The stadium
a communal cathedral

a place to gather
and in our togetherness
are we focused
on the moment
the present time

the wind

the grass

each other

and of course

the game

a celebration

not of past or future

not of outcomes or potentials

but only the glorious

and ever unfolding

Now

'The Odyssey' A Review

The Odyssey is a period action/adventure movie an adaptation of the epic poem by Homer. Odysseus(Matt Damon) helps to sack Troy via the Trojan Horse and then sets of to return home with his men but loses his way. His wife Penelope(Anne Hathaway) waits in Ithaca for his return, surrounded by mustache twirling suitors insisting he is dead.

Damon, Hathaway, Tom Holland, and Robert Pattinson are miscast, the inconsistent and emotionally thin script don't help them out, they're not bad but it's clear they're are all taking different approaches, feel like they are in different movies, the performances overall just don't really mesh, aren't cohesive. The supporting cast is full of big names, all are fun to see, but not all are successful. Samantha Morton gives the most successful performance in the most interesting scene of the movie. Lupita Nyong'o is wonderful but her appearance is brief. Himesh Patel brings some much needed emotional reality. Benny Safdie's appearance is bizarre and jarring, Charlize Theron isn't given enough to do. It's just odd, with all this talent, with all these names, the acting in aggregate is mostly forgettable and bland.

To be fair it seems clear the acting nor the story is really the focus here, it's the production and in that respect the movie is revelatory. The costuming, the Göransson score, the set design- all are incredible. Rich expansive visuals explode in every shot. The non-linear structure and the frequent cutting seem to be a necessity of shooting on IMAX rather than motivated in any way by the narrative. The ending involves some incredibly shoehorned moralizing but the commentary is such a stretch it doesn't even come across as totally cogent.

A spectacular spectacle with nothing much under the hood.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

'Remake' A Review

Remake is a documentary from Ross McElwee about grief and memory. Similar to McElwee's breakout 1986's Sherman's March the film is framed around a conceit(in this case a fiction adaptation of Sherman's March in development) but is really an exploration of McElwee's personal struggles, in this case the untimely overdose of his son.

Through footage shot over the course of his son's lifetime, clips from Sherman's March, footage McElwee's son Adrian shot himself, all accompanied by narration from McElwee- his son's life, their relationship, the act of filmmaking, addiction and death are explored.

Visually the film is intimate and evocative, shot and cut in McElwee's typical analogue fluid style. As a documentarian McElwee is a singular talent. As a father though it is difficult for the viewer not to judge him. The effect feels incredibly honest, immensely human. But it is clear McElwee is culpable, to what degree who knows. But his obsessive need to document, his inability to identify his sons struggles, and his ignorance around addiction are very much apparent. McElwee himself has no insight to provide, he simply bares his soul and grief and pain and confusion to the viewer. Is this powerful? Yes. Is it cathartic? No.

Many artists have made art inspired by the failings of their parents or the failing of themselves as parents. It's a deep well, this joins a large catalogue. But other than sharing his grief with us and some musings on the nature of memory and film McElwee does not go beyond that. In any therapy session, in any 12-step meeting, in any bitch session between friends around the world the foibles of parents and children are discussed. This looks great, it is very effective, but it does not offer anything beyond which anyone with a child or a parent has some insight on. Every parent instills in their child some level of dysfunction or neurosis(however well-meaning), any substance abuse problem is potentially fatal. This is reality and unfortunately this only serves to reflect back to us that reality and does not go beyond that.

Incredibly crafted, brave, made by a flawed man who may not be an entirely worthy subject.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

Certainty

As a child
you think of adulthood
as omniscience
the truth is

the older you get

the less you know

'Maddie's Secret' A Review

Maddie's Secret is a melodramedy inspired by a 1986 Lifetime movie, that follows the titular Maddie(writer/director John Early) as she has success as a food influencer while concurrently dealing with the resurgence of her bulimia.

Early gives a very stylized and committed performance as the titular lead and the cast is chock full of talent.  Kate Berlant as Deena Maddie's obsessive best friend, Eric Rahill as Jake Maddie's soulful husband, Kristen Johnston(great to see her) as Beverlee Maddie's wayward mother. On and on everyone in the cast is great and for the most part extremely talented but lesser known character actors. The casting is impeccable. Where Early falls short is in the director's chair, tonally there's confusion as to what the film actually is or wants to be, so the performances run the gambit from extremely presentational to deeply grounded and emotional- different groups of actors all seem to be in different movies.

The visuals are relatively simple but stylized and effective, the score equally so. It's an incredibly ambitious and specific freshman feature from Early and shows significant promise. Much like the first feature of many filmmakers there's simply too much going on, it's trying to do too much, and in doing so in aggregate fails to deliver something cohesive. There are some really compelling moments, some really funny ones, it all feels very topical but also bizarrely esoteric. It's intriguing no question. But the line it walks in regards to eating disorders and the ultimate message(or lack there of) the movie attempts to make with that subject matter could certainly be activating or even offensive to some.

A blend of sincerity and satire that doesn't quite harmonize.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

Best Movies Of The Year So Far

Backrooms

By Design

Exit 8

The Furious

I Love Boosters

Pillion

Project Hail Mary
Rose of Nevada

Send Help

The Sheep Detectives

Worst of the Year Contenders:

The Mandalorian And Grogu

Wuthering Heights

Perspective

There are some
who approach living
as strategists

life as a game of chess

with plans set

moves and counter moves

wheels within wheels

Others

take it as it comes

play the cards in-hand

one day

and then the next

surmountable in their scale

more favorable for peace

The latter

the easier softer way

'Rose Of Nevada' A Review

Rose of Nevada is a sci-fi drama about two men in a Cornish fishing village in economic decline, Liam(Callum Turner) a itinerant worker and Nick(George MacKay) a struggling husband and father, take work on the titular fishing boat which has mysteriously reappeared after 30 years lost at sea.

Both Turner and MacKay do some of their best work here, both giving subtle but deep performances. Inhabiting the lives of the characters and the bizarre situation at it's heart with a commitment and authenticity that harmonizes perfectly with the story as well as the expressionistic design elements. The supporting cast is limited but are equally well-cast and locked-in particularly Rosalind Eleazar and Francis Magee.

Shot in a truncated aspect ratio and on grainy film stock(or with a digital effect to evoke such) the film has an eerie, timeless quality from the jump, enhanced by a simple, repeating, monotonous score and protracted seemingly innocuous shots of rusted equipment, robes, chains, feet etc. It's all very avant garde and experimental but grounded by MacKay and Turner and evokes a dream-like journey. 

Avant-garde indie cinema at its best. Artistic and rich without being pretentious or losing sight of the humanity at the core.

Currently in theaters.

Don't Miss It.