2026 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

5 hours ago, J.H. said:

Atlantic City is a movie I didn't understand when I saw it when I was 8. I haven't revisited it and think it is high time a I did 

James 

Watching arthouse stuff like this at age 8 would be really fn boring. There's not enough explosions or blood or guns (which is what 8 year old me would want). 

Well to be honest, even for 45 year old me it can be boring too. For whatever reason, Atlantic City stuck with me. 

[J.H.]

2 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Watching arthouse stuff like this at age 8 would be really fn boring. There's not enough explosions or blood or guns (which is what 8 year old me would want). 

Well to be honest, even for 45 year old me it can be boring too. For whatever reason, Atlantic City stuck with me. 

Lil James got taken to movies that were waaaaaaaay over his head at a young age. You think Atlantic City was deep for an 8 year old?

You'd be right but a year later Dad took me to see Reds and I was enthralled. My folks were weird in what my sister and I could watch. I wasn't even allowed to read Batman comics or watch the TV show (I had a stash of Batman and FF) but a movie about noted Communist John Reed or a movie about a small time gangster trying to move coke?

Perfectly acceptable viewing for Lil James. Honestly, I think my Dad was just too cheap to pony up for a babysitter. My sister was 6 years older so that story tracks.

Damn it, I mentioned Reds and its all I can think about. Cripes that is good movie!

James

Edited May 26 by J.H.

[Andrew POE!]

Now I want to watch Reds. @J.H. has me wanting to watch this, Red Sun, Shaft in Africa....

[J.H.]

Hey I have vehemently told you not watch Shaft In Africa!

It is the Manos the Hands of Fate of the franchise!

The Guy From Harlem is better than Shaft In Africa!

Reds, however, is a masterpiece!

James

Edited May 26 by J.H.

[odessasteps]

I really only remember once scene in Atlantic City,

[odessasteps]

 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

My Name Is Khan (Peacock, leaving on 5/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about My Name Is Khan. This is probably my only second exposure to "Bollywood" style films from India and there's some things it gets right and a lot that it gets wrong.

What seems to prevalent with "Bollywood" films is the fact that the movie is longer than the story really calls for it to be. The movie sets up everything in the first hour of the movie, but it seems quickly be resolved in the last 30 minutes of the movie. I don't know how much of that is due to editing, due to writing, or due to directing. If it's part of the director Karan Johar being an 'auteur,' in this case with My Name Is Khan, the movie has a somewhat 'same-y' look to the scenes.

The positives though is the fact that the movie strives to tackle Islamophobia and prejudice against people from India. Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) and Mandira Rathod Khan (Kajol) get painted with the same brush due to prejudices from mostly white Americans. In fact, their son Sameer (Arjan Aujla) dies because of a group of mostly white teenagers attacked him while his friend Reese (Kenton Duty) did nothing.

The other positive is Kajol. She is absolutely transcendentally beautiful; her acting is much like an early Julia Roberts where she didn't have to do much other than smile and deliver lines and her charm and personality made you want to watch her. Kajol does show acting chops, in the scene where she wants Rizwan to leave for the 'quest' the movie takes on (although she is a bit melodramatic to be honest).

Shah Rukh Khan's portrayal of Rizwan at times feels "Oscar bait-"y, excuse me, "Stardust bait"-y. It's like Rizwan Khan is a combination of Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. The story of the movie is about the journey Rizwan Khan takes to meet the President of the United States and to tell him he's not a terrorist. It's just once the movie gets going with that, it begins to fall apart.

Where the movie is great is in the relationship between Rizwan and Mandira. There's something relatable about not having all the answers much less understanding of relationships, what attracts people to each other. Rizwan tells Mandira to marry him and then recounts what Mandira's first husband did with it being an arranged marriage. The differences between the two - Khan is Muslim, while Mandira is Hindu - is a sweet story, even for a country like India. Muslims and Hindus in India killed each other over their religions and for them to find love in America is a triumphant.

With the journey through America, the movie attempts to become a political movie, but it rings falsely. America is almost viewed in a stereotype, with the people that Khan meet really lacking in any nuance. Those that work for Homeland Security or FBI are brutish and want to see Khan as a terrorist, despite every indication saying that he isn't. Sadly, nowadays, the movie's point there may be correct. The US has a Secretary of Defense nicknamed "Kegsbreath" and the head of Homeland Security owned a contractor service with two first names (I guess his parents couldn't make up their minds about which name to use, so it was both). They both would view people like Rizwan Khan as the enemy when he clearly isn't.

What's troublesome as well is the caricatures of a 'small Georgia town' called Wilhemina, that's apparently near the coast. The real Wilhemina, GA is near Mableton....which isn't near the coast. It has to be a pretty fucking strong hurricane (like Category 6 or 7 Hurricane) for it to hit that far inland. Atlanta would be underwater too. I'd probably be dead too. I would have heard about a hurricane hitting Wilhemina. Why not have Rizwan Khan go to New Orleans? I mean, there was a lot of awareness and a famous broadcast where Kanye West said that George W. Bush doesn't care about black people. And why are the people in Wilhemina in this acting like they came from Gone With The Wind? What year is this?

Then there's the part where Rizwan overhears a doctor vent his frustrations in a mosque about how Israelis are killing Palestinians (I mean...) and how he's prepared to spill blood with relaying a story from the Quran about Ibrahim being told to spill blood of his son. Rizwan corrects him and tells a different interpretation of the story. Yet from that, the movie has Dr. Faisal Rehman (Arif Zakaria) being deemed a terrorist and one of his followers (Sumeet Raghavan) stabbing Rizwan. I'm not exactly sure Dr. Rehman would be willing to want to do an attack on America, especially given how flimsy the setup for that was. He'll voice his anger at his unfair treatment, but will take Americans' money to be a doctor and to practice medicine.

So the movie resolves a bit too quickly as Reese fesses up to Mandira about his involvement with her son's death, Rizwan gets released from custody due to apparently foiling Dr. Rehman's plans, Rizwan leads efforts to help Wilhemina, GA where thousands of people would have died if the hurricane really did hit that far inland, Mandira and Rizwan patch things up and are a happy couple, and Rizwan finally meets Barack Obama (Christopher B. Duncan) who really doesn't look like Obama.

I'm hoping to find better movies from the continent of India; I think my patience with longer movies has grown quite a bit. My Name Is Khan is very much a Westernized presentation, using a lot of what American dramas would use for their shot setups and compositions. The movie does use music, but it's more of a montage purpose than anything else.

My Name Is Khan isn't bad, but maybe it could have been better.

Cool World (Hulu/Paramount+, leaving on 5/31) - 1/2 star

Spoiler

If you want to know how not to make a movie, watch Cool World.

Literally nothing makes sense. I could recite the entire plot, but why even bother? The movie has a starting point where Frank Harris (Brad Pitt) is sucked in from 1940s after the death of his mother in a motorcycle accident into "Cool World" from an animated doctor. It then fast forwards to 1990s Las Vegas where Jack Deebs (Gabriel Byrne) is a convict and is drawing Holli Would (Kim Basinger) and apparently created "Cool World."

So let me get this straight: a cartoon world that an illustrator created in the 1980s and 1990s sucked in a person from the 1940s?

I couldn't bother to figure out how any of this works and neither did anyone involved acting wise. Brad Pitt seems clearly bored and frustrated with his role and reads like lines as if he's being held hostage. Byrne looks around cluelessly at everything. Basinger, the lone highlight, at least does something with a cartoon character that wants to be real.

So much of the movie is animated scenes that have nothing to do with the story; it's filler. The story stumbles into the idea that Holli Would has sex with Jack Deebs and becomes a real person. Then they both escape to the real world with Frank following after them and....I can't. I just can't. The movie can't decide what it wants to do.

Then the story has Holli becoming the villain (?) and pulls out a spike that turns the real world into "Cool World." None of that makes any sense. Jack turns into an animated superhero with tremendously bad voice acting and puts the spike back into place, restoring the balance. Frank is thrown off the roof in Las Vegas and back in Cool World...becomes animated and stays with Lonette (Candi Milo). Jack and Holli are animated / cartoons now.

Cool World would have had something if there were a commentary about the nature of underground comics and animation be a way for its creators to 'escape.' Much like the documentary Crumb was about its creator R Crumb using his comics to escape the tragedies and loneliness of his real life. Instead, the movie doesn't do any of that.

It would have been better if it stuck with the horror movie. If the movie started from its premise and its initial 15 minutes where Frank watched his mother be killed, his escape into "Cool World" could have been a way for him to process his grief from losing his mother, losing his friends in WWII, and losing touch with his humanity in the aftermath. He could have to decide between what life he wanted - the life in the real world where he is alone or the life in "Cool World" where he's a Sam Spade/Phillip Marlowe type of detective. It could have been a 1990s take on High Sierra or Key Largo or any number of Bogart movies that John Huston did.

But it wasn't. None of this wasn't.

The culprit for why this movie ended up the way it did is Frank Mancuso Jr. It seems that producer has done nothing but crappy movies. I don't know if he doesn't understand the movies he's involved with or just wants to see them finished regardless of the director involved. Ralph Bakshi as a director is better suited for animated movies; I feel like the reason why the live actors are so terrible is what they are given. A lot of their scenes are in empty rooms and against flat backgrounds. Occasionally, like the romance scene between Holli Would and Jack Deebs, it stumbles into something better.

Just face it - Cool World isn't very cool.

Rocketman (2019) (saw in the theaters) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

While watching this, I was struck with how much Better Man borrowed and practically lifted whole sections from this. "Rock DJ" while more of a longer 'one shot' scene (and still is visually impressive) wouldn't have happened if Rocketman didn't do it first with "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)."

Compared to most other music biopics, it doesn't spare the feelings of its subject - Elton John (Taron Egerton). Elton is tossed through the wringer about his background - his mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) tolerates him and orders him around, his father (Steven Mackintosh) barely stands him despite talking about music with him. What seems to help him is his musical abilities and that's it.

The movie covers his musical partnership and friendship with Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) and then his manager and romantic relationship with John Reid (Richard Madden). What should be noteworthy is the fact that Elton goes from trying to gain acceptance with his parents and then trying to gain acceptance from John Reid. Over time, Elton John finds himself angry with himself and turns to the usual suspects, booze, drugs, and sex.

The movie's approach is almost akin to what was done with Hedwig & The Angry Inch. In fact, I would say it's a 'mainstream' version of John Cameron Mitchell's films. One scene while Elton is under the influence and surrounded by men and women in various stages of undress felt like something from Mitchell's Shortbus. The love scene between Elton and Reid was especially fitting with Mitchell's type of gay cinema. (In fact, it's actually a bit tame in comparison).

A lot of the scenes fit into being a musical more than a standard musical biopic. The opening scene where a young version of Elton John (Matthew Illesley) singing "The Bitch Is Back" in 1950s England has contrasting bright colors of grown up Elton with the drab coloring of the suburbs. Where it works best is when the scenes convey Elton's emotions perfectly - like "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" when he has problems with his mother and Bernie. The scene where he goes into rehab using "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" shows him wanting to confront his issues and "I'm Still Standing" shows him wanting to leave his past behind (with a recreation of the music video to boot).

The costuming and Egerton's commitment to playing Elton John is a highlight - it's a bit like how Timothee Chalamat committed himself to being Bob Dylan. Elton John in this is fully displaying his emotions and his frustrations in his life with his sexuality, his music career, and his dependencies. The end of the movie had clips of the actual costumes and the movie costumes/images looked pretty close.

The drawback with this is it does tend to be a bit like other music biopics, but a bit more raw emotionally to make up for it.

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (Hulu/Paramount+, leaving on 5/31) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

1/2 star because I never learned about what things I could do in Denver when I'm dead.

Anyway, seriously.....the movie is one of those "Miramax Core" movies that came out around the time that Quentin Tarantino became famous for Pulp Fiction. For me, I found it to be less like a Tarantino movie and more like a Barry Sonnenfeld movie. The characters a bit more morose compared to Tarantino and maybe a bit more self-aware. Although JFC, the white people in this movie use the 'n-word' with the hard 'r' like it's going out of style.

Jimmy "The Saint" (Andy Garcia) is an apparent 'noble gangster' who doesn't kiss on the first date with Dagney (Gabrielle Anwar) then he and his crew are supposed to rough up a guy who is dating Bernard's ex Meg (Sarah Trigger) to 'scare straight' Bernard (Michael Nicolosi) that is a pedophile. Of course, the plan goes awry, the guy and his girlfriend are dead, and The Man With The Plan (Christopher Walken) sends "Mr. Shhh" (Steve Buscemi) after the crew screwed up the mission. (Personally, I would think The Man With The Plan would be more mad at his son for getting arrested for being a creep towards kids, but I didn't write this movie).

The movie has a more reflective tone as everyone in the crew dies; one scene I actually was with Andy Garcia and Christopher Lloyd as "Pieces" where the character says he has 'no regrets' unlike the guy he knew. People end up dead in the movie.

No one did anything in Denver while dead, unless having 'boat drinks' count.

 

Edited May 27 by Andrew POE!

[odessasteps]

Cool World was the worst parts of Ralph Bakshi all rolled up in one place.

[caley]

Tribute to a Bad Man: Weird little western with Jimmy Cagney (1 of 3 or 4 that he was in!). Cagney plays a rancher named Jeremy Rodock who takes in a kid looking for work after the kid helps him fend off some cattle rustlers. It's odd because Cagney is sort-of a fatherly figure who supports all his employees and has a romantic-ish relationship with Jocasta (Irene Papas) and, oh, he also really likes hanging bad guys. No, seriously. One of his ranchhands even tells the kid "He has hanging fever" because whenever someone robs/steals or wrongs him, he wants to hang them. And he does that. And it's treated kind of like a character flaw, rather than something rather...homicidal. Anyways the kid and Jocasta eventually become upset with his all-consuming vengeance and begin to contemplate leaving. Then the last stretch is real weird:
 

Spoiler

The kid decides to leave but before he can, realizes a group of bandits (including the kid from the next farm over whose dad was hanged by Rodock for helping bandits) have stolen his mares and foals so he goes back to him. They track the bandits down and after Rodock sees that they have cut all the mare's feet to keep them from moving, he is so upset by their inhumane treatment of the horses that he decides to march them a great distance to the next police outpost. But instead of this being a good thing (Rodock not hanging them, letting the law handle things for a change and making them suffer the way they made the horses suffer), the movie treats it as the most horrible thing he's done (Seriously the tone for this is harsher than when he hung that farmer!). Eventually he feels bad, and transports the kid back to his farm and offers them some of his horses, I guess as repayment for killing his dad. Jocasta and the kid ride away and Rodock is sad, but then he rides out to give Jocasta her earrings and she realizes she'd rather stay with him after all in a happy (?) ending.

Grizzly: (Rifftrax version) This is your typical 1970s vicious creature kills people movie. The Rifftrax guys are very adamant that is an almost lawsuit-worthy rip-off of 'Jaws'. I'm not really familiar enough with Jaws to back that up (I HAVE seen it but it didn't really have an impact on me...I should probably give it another shot at some point!) but it's a rather violent version of the 70s deadly animal trope. Limbs go flying, people get savaged, it even mutilates a kid. Then gets blown up with a rocket launcher. I'm sorry if that's a spoiler, but I don't feel like the movie is adequate enough to warrent a spoiler alert.

Second Chance: Linda Darnell is a mobster's girlfriend on the run in Mexico from said mobster's gunman Cappy (Played with crazy-eyed menace by the incomparable Jack Palance) who meets and falls in love with a disgraced American boxer played by Robert Mitchum. You would think these three in a Noir-ish love triangle would be a lot of fun but it's pretty mediocre. Also, it's WEIRD. Like the little subplot of some city celebration where a woman dances with a man who isn't her husband and brings shame to her family until her husband shows up and knocks both of them around. Then, overnight, he strangles her to death and, somehow, is treated as a sympathetic character over the last thirty minutes where they all end up in a distressed cable car standoff. Apparently, looking it up, and it was originally in 3-D which actually probably would have made the cable car stuff more tense and interesting and also probably explains why this film largely looks like something you'd find badly transferred onto a DVD back in the early 2000s. Still Palance is great fun.

[HarryArchieGus]

On 5/24/2026 at 11:52 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Jojo Rabbit (Peacock, leaving on 5/31) - 3/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Jojo Rabbit attempts to both humanize and trivialize the Nazis through the eyes of Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), who believes himself to have an imaginary friend with Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi). At times, the movie really doesn't work more than works. In a clearly Wes Anderson inspired camp for Hitler Youth lead by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) and including Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson) as an instructor, it visually is appealing; Anderson's symmetrical framing of shots is used during those scenes.

Over time, Jojo discovers a girl named Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie) that his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) has hidden. After a visit from the Gestapo, Elsa acts as Jojo's sister and Rosie is discovered hung in the town square for being part of the anti-Nazi movement. The conclusion has Jojo learning about the defeat of the Nazis and Hitler's suicide as everything falls apart around him with the Allied soldiers advancing on the town. Klezendorf is found and acknowledges Rosie's murder before disowning Jojo and being killed by the US forces.

Jojo and Elsa are finally safe to go into the streets at the end of the movie as they dance to a German version of "Heroes," seemingly hearing the music.

Jojo Rabbit seems to fall into the trap that a lot of late 2010 movies have fallen into; visually, it's non-descript with the digital camera work has given everything an overly lit look to it. Save for the earliest scenes in the movie, a lot of the shots aren't distinctive at all. Even night time dinner time scenes are swarmed with an artificial lighting originating from nowhere. I found McKenzie's performance to be the best in the movie, far better than Johansson's.

This is probably one of the weaker Best Picture nominations for 2019.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette (Peacock, leaving on 5/31) - 2.5/5 stars

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Where'd You Go, Bernadette is concerned with Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett), a sort of a similar "Keep Austin Weird" figure that would be better suited with another Texas auteur Wes Anderson's Tennebaums than with the sort of people that inhabit Richard Linklater's movies.

The chief premise is the fact that Bernadette is continuously under a crisis and wants to escape it; she has an overwhelming sense of agoraphobia as well as an aversion to dealing with people. Her long-suffering family including husband Elgie Branch (Billy Crudup) and daughter "Bee" Branch (Emma Nelson) has granted her grace until certain things fall apart for Bernadette.

The collapse isn't as dramatic as it is sudden. The virtual assistant that Bernadette was using turns out to be a front for the Russian mob; this coupled with an intervention staged by Dr. Janelle Kurtz (Judy Greer) leads Bernadette to flee the country with the help of neighbor Audrey (Kristen Wiig) takes her to the airport for a flight to Antarctica.

In some respects, the movie resembles Hologram for a King, a Tom Hanks vehicle where Hanks' character goes to Saudi Arabia and has realizations about himself. With this, Bernadette begins to see herself as designing the Antarctica base; she asks about the ratio of men to women, which the documentary feature within the movie has her asking about. Bee and Elgie track down Bernadette to the Palmer Station and Bee gives her blessing for Bernadette to go to the South Pole station and begin her plans to redesign it.

Occasionally, the movie lands on winning moments like Bee and Bernadette singing "Time after Time" in the car and the contrasting scene between the party at Audrey's house and the mud slide that is about to occur. For the most part though, the movie just is merely okay and is boring at times.

Which like a line said from Bee later in the movie, there are other things to be boring about.

 

I think Bernadette would be the weakest Linklater I've seen. So disappointing to see Blanchett starring, and for the result to be such a misfire. Curious of 'I Love Boosters', but I found Boots Riley's 'Sorry to Bother' a weird for the sake of weird slog. I sense Boosters might not stray too far from the formula?

It's interesting what a divisive movie Jojo oddly seems to be. As for your review, I don't really get 'visuaully indescript' - you mention it's similarities to Wes Anderson in your opening. I don't think it apes Anderson, but I think it's in the DNA. I thought Jojo was deeply affecting and Waititi's crowning achievement. And one of the best family films to come along in quite some time. I love the comedy-drama balance he strikes. This isn't an easy story to tell. And I have no shame in admitting, by the end, the German rendition of Heroes and Jojo's Bowie-esque dance had me wiping away tears of joy. 

Edited May 27 by HarryArchieGus

[Andrew POE!]

9 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I think Bernadette would be the weakest Linklater I've seen. So disappointing to see Blanchett starring, and for the result to be such a misfire. Curious of 'I Love Boosters', but I found Boots Riley's 'Sorry to Bother' a weird for the sake of weird slog. I sense Boosters might not stray to far from the formula?

It's interesting what a divisive movie Jojo oddly seems to be. As for your review, I don't really get 'visuaully indescript' - you mention it's similarities to Wes Anderson in your opening. I don't think it apes Anderson, but I think it's in the DNA - a part of the fairly distinct style. I thought Jojo was deeply affecting and Waititi's crowning achievement. And one of the best family films to come along in quite some time. I love the comedy-drama balance he strikes. This isn't an easy story to tell. And I have no shame in admitting, by the end, the German rendition of Heroes and Jojo's Bowie-esque dance had me wiping away tears of joy. 

For whatever reason, Sorry To Bother You spoke to me and got five stars out of me. I think if I watched it today, it may land on 4.5 or likely 4 stars. 

I found Hunt For The Wilderpeople to be Waititi's best movie. Jojo Rabbit just seems like Taika Waititi said, "Yay, I got Hollywood money to make what I want after Thor: Ragnarok did so well and I want to do this." Jojo Rabbit and Next Goal Wins left me feeling about the same afterwards (although the ending dance to German version of "Heroes" was a neat touch). 

[J.T.]

18 hours ago, J.H. said:

Hey I have vehemently told you not watch Shaft In Africa!

The Guy From Harlem is better than Shaft In Africa!

The Guy From Harlem does not have Are You Man Enough? by The Four Tops playing during the intro. This song fucking rules.

The Guy From Harlem also holds the record for the blaxsploitation movie with the largest number of sexually suggestive scenes in one movie that fail to lead to someone getting laid. This is completely unacceptable.

Shaft In Africa! has Vonetta McGee in it, Andrew. That woman is hotter than lava. Go watch Shaft In Africa!

Edited May 27 by J.T.

[J.H.]

26 minutes ago, J.T. said:

The Guy From Harlem does not have Are You Man Enough? by The Four Tops playing during the intro.

I concede this point. But man, Shaft In Africa is easily the most boring Blaxploitation movie I've a man or woman can watch

James

[J.T.]

40 minutes ago, J.H. said:

I concede this point. But man, Shaft In Africa is easily the most boring Blaxploitation movie I've a man or woman can watch.

Black Samson has Shaft in Africa beat by miles when it comes to being a total slog. Shaft in Africa is definitely the least of the trilogy.

The Black Gestapo is also pretty sluggish and never pays off on its premise.

Black Mama, White Mama is surprisingly meh for a women in prison / blaxploitation movie. There are definitely better movies like Coffy that are not only entertaining but also have the added benefit of Pam Grier showing her boobs. 

Edited May 27 by J.T.

[Curt McGirt]

Speaking of which, Pam turned 77 yesterday and Jackie Brown was on one of the black-oriented streaming channels on Dish yesterday; I caught the finale. I always get misty when Max does (which is shot just wonderfully with him walking away and the screen going blurry so you know he's breaking down). Who could or would possibly walk away from her? I've made similar mistakes and regretted them forever. And then she sings "Across 110th Street", which apparently she did background singing on for Bobby Womack in real life back in the '70s. Just a perfect movie. 

[Technico Support]

14 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

Cool World (Hulu/Paramount+, leaving on 5/31) - 1/2 star

This movie was ass but the soundtrack was amazing.  It, along with the burgeoning grunge movement, and whatever wild shit the local alternative station was playing, was the soundtrack of my post high school, pre-college Summer.  Damn, now I'm flirting with the idea of making a Summer 1992 playlist, but it might hit me in the old man feels too much.

[J.H.]

Trilogy?

Blocked 2001 and 2019 from your memory did you?

James

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast (HBO Max, leaving on 5/28) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Documentary that's a bit for the AARP crowd, although somewhat depressing to think about in 2026 since most of those shown are no longer around. A lot of the entertainers of the 1930s/1940s/1950s had an easier time to gain a living due to radio, movie and television audiences being wider range and expanding then; nowadays, it's tougher to have a living in those fields due to companies for those drying up the money allocated to them and consolidating into one company essentially. Curry Barker, for example, has the hottest movie out right now and he started from YouTube videos. Whether he has a career as long lasting as Carl Reiner remains to be seen.

The documentary isn't really focused on Carl Reiner, but rather people he knows and older people that the documentary highlight.

2 Days in the Valley (Hulu/Paramount+, leaving on 5/31) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

For Pulp Fiction clones, it's slightly better than Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead, but miles behind The Big Hit and Go (I don't really consider Go a Pulp Fiction clone) and nowhere near The Boondock Saints (that's a special universe of crappy movies that magically became better due to the sheer amount of crappiness).

It's just merely okay.

Every male lead involved seems like they came from the same scuzzy school of Scorsese/Tarantino 'tough guy' acting and were virtually indistinguishable from each other. James Spader as Lee Woods being a time obsessed assassin was fairly interesting. Danny Aiello as Dosmo Pizzo (WTF kind of name is that?) apparently is the 'hero' character even though he holds a bunch of the characters hostage in an art dealer's house.

The only interesting thing is Teri Hatcher as Becky Foxx and Charlize Theron as Helga Svelgen fighting each other over a gun in tight outfits. Tarantino would had them do that barefoot and probably ripping each other's clothes off.

The movie is competently shot, it's just not very interesting to watch.

Western (Mubi, leaving on 5/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

What Western talks about is in what's not shown. The initial setup of the documentary is about two communities - Eagle Pass, TX and Piedras Niegras, Mexico. The mayor of Eagle Pass Chad Foster is able to live in the English speaking world and the Spanish speaking world easily. Chad's English sounds like a lot of easy going South Texas types - he's not in a hurry, except to get to the BBQ for brisket and talk about concerns neighbors have. His Spanish makes him sound like he's from Mexico too - two women at the start are wanting him to join their community group and he wonders if they could have picked someone else.

The other subject Martin Wall is just trying to buy cattle and get home with it to take his daughter to school. "The prettiest girl in Texas," he calls her at the start of the documentary. Martin Wall is a single dad, or if he's married, we never see his wife or girlfriend.

What troubles both men is a lot of clamor about 'issues at the Mexico/US border.' Chad note that those 'in the beltway need to fix their problems first before trying to fix them here.' A lot of what's talked about with the violence seems to be political talking points, not based in reality. Yet those translate into legitimate fears. Meat inspectors aren't allowed into Mexico due to the fear of violence. The violence is between two drug cartels at the border that result in two police officers being killed. The clamor of violence grows longer, told through radio reports. No one on screen talks about it, but they're having to deal with it. Martin is affected because if he can't go into Mexico to get cattle, he can't make money. Chad is affected because it shatters what he knows about his town and his relationship with Piedras Niegras. The mayor of Piedras Niegras talks about a 1 billion peso investment into the town to make it better for businesses going into the US and going into Mexico.

Yet, the violence gets closer and closer. Chad attempts a talk about how the mayors of towns in Mexico are now being killed. It's wondered if this will start happening in the US too. The cartels' war is growing wider reaching. The plane carrying the mayor of Piedras Niegras experiences an explosion on board before crashing; some of those working with Martin Wall wonder if the murder was planned. "The Narcos wanted him in, why would they want him out?" one of them asks. Chad attempts the Catholic funeral of the mayor.

Then, another radio report is done about a shootout at a restaurant, apparently involving Chad Foster too. Did Chad get killed in the shootout? The documentary implies that he did as the papers show his obituary. The truth, from a Google search, is that Chad Foster died of cancer. Obviously, it's not the same as what was reported on the radio.

There's remaining footage, seemingly filmed before Chad Foster died as he observes fireworks going off.

Western is the spirit of America and of Mexico too. Captured for 90 minutes.

Heartburn (Hulu/Paramount+, leaving on 5/31) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

While watching Heartburn, it had me wondering a lot of things regarding the choices for it.

Mike Nichols directed his second feature The Graduate that had Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock. Hoffman and Meryl Streep were in Kramer vs. Kramer, where infamously Hoffman acted like an asshole to Streep and threw a glass against the wall without telling her. Jack Nicholson had worked with Nichols in Carnal Knowledge, so Nichols knew he could trust Nicholson with this role. Also, Milos Forman shows up as Dmitri in a "Sydney Pollack in a Stanley Kubrick movie" type of role and worked with Nicholson on One Who Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

If Hoffman wasn't an ass to Streep on Kramer vs. Kramer, I wonder if he would have been in this movie (I mean he had a long gap between Tootsie and Ishtar, so he could have done it).

Everything is connected apparently.

Anyway, with the movie itself, Heartburn is actually a lot better than critics gave it credit for being. Roger Ebert said it was "a bitter, sour movie about two people who are only marginally interesting." Pauline Kael said, "The movie is full of talented people, who...are fun to watch, but after a while the scenes that don't point anywhere begin to add up, and you start asking yourself: 'What is this movie about?' You are still asking when it's over, and by then a flatness, a disappointment, is likely to have settled over the fillips you'd enjoyed."

Both Ebert and Kael are wrong. Heartburn is really about one person - Rachel Samstat (Meryl Streep). The movie focuses on her relationship with Mark Forman (Jack Nicholson), a columnist and a known womanizer. The movie follows their relationship and from Rachel's point of view. She isn't sure about marrying Mark; yet, she loves him. They go through the marriage ceremony and buy a brownstone to move into.

What Mike Nichols' camera does in this is focus mostly on the couple during dinner parties. It's almost equivalent to how Erich Rohmer would do his romantic comedies as well (plus, the cinematographer Nestor Almendros worked on quite a few French New Wave films including Rohmer's). The camera would go to Streep's face when another character is speaking for a reaction then goes to Nicholson's face. A perfect example was an early scene where Mark was talking to two women beside him (somewhat of a prelude to what the character would do later) and Rachel is caught in the middle between two men talking about politics, clearly not enjoying herself.

Had this movie been done five years later, it would have been a perfect counterpoint to Postcards From The Edge in some ways. The movie was made at a time where female driven/focused movies were not in vogue; Rachel as a character is a bit more complicated and doesn't just take what Mark does lying down. She finds out about the affair and finds charge card expenses in a drawer.

The scene that seems to symbolize the affair is when the burglar (Kevin Spacey) robs everyone including Rachel's ring at a group therapy session. Rachel gets the ring back from the police and Mark reappears, apparently ending his affair with Thelma (Karen Akers). Rachel finds out about Mark buying a necklace and sells the ring, severing the relationship. The final scene of them together is rather telling. Rachel makes a pie and takes it to a party; she puts cool whip on the pie while the subject of infidelity is discussed. She hits him with the pie and walks out.

The one drawback is the overuse of Carly Simon's somewhat dreadful "Coming Around Again" for the musical score (basically the bass line, the drums, and the synths show up a few times). The one scene where Carly Simon sings the song is actually fitting, as Rachel is leaving with Anne to go back to her father Harry (Samuel Hill).

As it is, Heartburn is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to actors, as Jeff Daniels, Maureen Stapleton, and Stockard Channing also appear in the movie.

The Life of Emile Zola (HBO Max, leaving on 5/31) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Probably a better title for this movie would have been The Life of Emile Zola and Captain Alfred Dreyfus, but that wasn't the case. The movie is the equivalent of eating your vegetables. It's not very exciting, much less tasty, but there's a bit of cinematic nourishment to continue the analogy.

The movie in the first hour or so is more interesting than what ends up concluding it. Emile Zola (Paul Muni) is shown being friends with Paul Cezanne (Vladimir Sokoloff) and sharing a run-down lodging with holes in the windows while they burn books for warmth. Zola is hired for a job at a book-seller and runs afoul of the French censors. Had the movie stuck with that aspect of it - a writer saying what he feels is the truth and not necessarily what is popular - it would have been a telling commentary in some ways on the United States' Hays Code restricting what is shown in films and what isn't shown.

The movie does that in some ways, but it's a bit deluded in its message.

After speeding through Zola's life literally where the books he's published are shown, Cezanne almost abruptly ends his friendship with Zola because Zola sold out to The Man, man. Zola has become complacent. Cezanne is going to wreck shit and draw the fuck outta bread and eggs, so he leaves.

The movie switches then and becomes a story about Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Joseph Schildkraut). The French military leaders (who to be honest blended together in my mind for their performances) are looking for a name to single out because of a French soldier conversing with the German army about what's used to make up a gun. Dreyfus is a good soldier, who happens to be Hungarian. In a 'blink and you miss it' moment, the movie points out that he's Jewish. Dreyfus is singled out. Yet the movie never really dwells upon Dreyfus being Jewish, just the (un)luck of the draw.

He's brought into a room, made to write a letter, and then arrested. I guess he dared to doubt the (French) Inquisition.

To be honest, this is where the movie begins to skid. The focus of the movie shifts to Dreyfus with Emile Zola hearing about it and taking up the cause for him. Zola publishes works accusing the French government of taking away an innocent man's rights. His books are burned in public (in an incredible scene even outside of the 1930s) with a large crowd of people standing. Zola is then sued for libel and undergoes the most biased court system that would make US Attorney General Todd Blanche giddy (sorry, I gotta tie political movies to today's politics, somehow).

Zola's attorney Matron Labroi (Donald Crisp) and Zola himself point out the biases of the French justice system and Zola speaks to the court, indicating that the French army were to take precedence and to be defended over actual justice. That message even today is important; the authority of a state shouldn't be abused just because those in power are upset momentarily. Even then, Zola is found guilty, has to pay 5000 francs, and go to prison.

A new boss is in town and routes out who were responsible for Captain Dreyfus being sent to "Devil's Island" in South America; those involved confess, resign, or committed suicide. Dreyfus is free - the acting from Schildkraut in that scene was extraordinary. Dreyfus silently moved from inside his cell to outside of it, in near tears, before leaving. Zola were to attend Dreyfus' restoration as an officer, but he died before doing so.

To be honest, the final scene of the movie should have been where Zola's hands stopped writing. The rest, while good, was maybe unnecssary. The funeral euology was an extraordinary bit of acting that, once again, is important for today.

Despite certain aspects of the movie not being as well as I wanted, I will say that The Life of Emile Zola handles crowd shots great; that still holds up well today. I liked a few scene transitions where it showed an explosion in a mine then cutting to a cloth before someone pulls it down then a crowd of people are shown. Quite a few modern directors (Spielberg springs to mind) has done something similar in their movies.

For the most part, The Life of Emile Zola is a great biopic, although it really could have stood to have been edited a bit.

 

[J.T.]

18 hours ago, J.H. said:

Trilogy?

Blocked 2001 and 2019 from your memory did you?

James

What is this you say? There are more than three Shaft movies?

But seriously, I did like the idea that Shaft the Third was an African-American cybersecurity specialist like myself. THEY SAY THAT GEEK SHAFT IS A BAD MUTHA~!

Edited May 28 by J.T.

[Technico Support]

52 minutes ago, J.T. said:

What is this you say? There are more than three Shaft movies?

But seriously, I did like the idea that Shaft the Third was an African-American cybersecurity specialist like myself. THEY SAY THAT GEEK SHAFT IS A BAD MUTHA~!

“Shaft’s lady comes home to Shaft, naked on the couch, perusing the latest CVEs on his degoogled, jailbroken Android phone” just doesn’t hit the same.

Edited May 28 by Technico Support

[J.T.]

6 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

“Shaft’s lady comes home to Shaft, naked on the couch, perusing r/cybersecurity on his degoogled, jailbroken Android phone” just doesn’t hit the same.

"what software should i use to build a tails os dark web vm?" is not the sexiest web browser search.

Edited May 28 by J.T.

[HarryArchieGus]

23 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

For whatever reason, Sorry To Bother You spoke to me and got five stars out of me. I think if I watched it today, it may land on 4.5 or likely 4 stars. 

I found Hunt For The Wilderpeople to be Waititi's best movie. Jojo Rabbit just seems like Taika Waititi said, "Yay, I got Hollywood money to make what I want after Thor: Ragnarok did so well and I want to do this." Jojo Rabbit and Next Goal Wins left me feeling about the same afterwards (although the ending dance to German version of "Heroes" was a neat touch). 

I felt like Waititi properly built to Jojo. I'm a fan of Eagle vs Shark all the way to Wilderpeople, and especially the Shadows movie, but Jojo felt like a level up. Sure, he had more money, but he also knew how to apply it as needed.  I'm glad he was able to parlay the success of that Marvel movie into such a thoughtful, compassionate film. I didn't see nor barely heard of Next Goal Wins, but I'm interested. 

[Andrew POE!]

7 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I felt like Waititi properly built to Jojo. I'm a fan of Eagle vs Shark all the way to Wilderpeople, and especially the Shadows movie, but Jojo felt like a level up. Sure, he had more money, but he also knew how to apply it as needed.  I'm glad he was able to parlay the success of that Marvel movie into such a thoughtful, compassionate film. I didn't see nor barely heard of Next Goal Wins, but I'm interested. 

Eagle vs. Shark is currently on Mubi, so I may be watching that soon. It's weird, sometimes I'll watch something of his and just not feeling it at all. Yeah, the movies of his set in New Zealand I enjoy a lot more. 

[J.H.]

Let me post this and we can end all this John Shaft talk. Possibly, the best dialogue in the history of cinema...

James

 

Edited May 28 by J.H.

[odessasteps]