Category: Film

Genre: Film       

Grade: A

Notable People: Christian Friedl, Sandra Huller, Directed by: Jonathan Glazier

Title:  The Zone of Interest

Review: This extraordinarily provocative film won the 2024 Oscar for Best International film and is available now on HBO Max-with sub-titles. Written and directed by Jonathan Glazier and co-produced between the United Kingdom, the United States and Poland-it is Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, and focuses on the life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their family in a home in the “Zone of Interest”. They are a very typical German family with kids playing in the beautiful summertime gardens and a wonderfully rehabbed country fresh property with swimming pool, trips to the lake and family picnics- and they just happen to live next door to the massive death camp where daddy goes to work each dat preside over the genocide. All very mundane, except that their property is bordered by Auschwitz and their very ordinary daily life is set against a sky with blackened smoke from the death ovens and the constant sounds of death and despair-all of which they ignore. The seemingly gentle film hovers over a brutal portrayal of the complete unimportance of those being cremated, in the horrific ovens, to the average German soldier. Many powerful moments in the film are easily overlooked given the soft blurry capturing of mundane family life. We never actually see the Camp, but are never unaware of it. A powerhouse!

Genre: Film         

Grade: B+

Notable People: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Directed by: Ethan Coen

Title:  Drive Away Dolls

Review: with the Queen on location in Vermont, I hitched up my big boy pants on Sunday and drove up the country to an abandoned mall and $6 first run move theater in quaintly Marion, Ohio- for a bit of a matinee. This is definitely not high art, BUT it definitely the Coen Brothers, the Great Purveyors of Schlock, which makes it a must-see in my book. Not their best work, but still quite an amusing take on a bad girls road trip from hell. Weird villains, strange roadside attractions, lots of inside lesbian jokes (I think I got them all), and a bizarre cast of characters, and Qualley is quite the hoot (is that accent for real?) . And the plot…I won’t even try. If you are a Coen Bros fan- ya gotta go, if not, well, depends on what else you have to distract you that day. Matt Damon cameo is charmingly weird. At the end, the title gets changed to “Drive Away Dykes”.

Genre: Film      

Grade: A-

Notable People: Timothy Chalamet, Calah Lane, Hugh Grant, Olivia Coleman, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Title:  Wonka

Review: Nicely done remake of the classic original- Chalamet is excellent, though I can’t not miss the immortal Gene Wilder. Cast is a once in a lifetime grope of great actors and the settings and cinematography wonderful. More of a musical than I remembered but it worked well and was a captivating show for both myself and my five-year-old grandfather, Sloanie, who mostly loved little Hugh Grant as the orange leprechaun type with green hair. This is a great choice for grandparents and their wee ones.

Genre: Film                

Grade: B+

Notable People: Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Title:  Killers of the Flower Moon

Review: Missed this epic the first time around on the big screen (which would be well worth seeing in that format)- but finally caught his 3 ½ hour epic on a free trial week of Apple TV+. My anticipation was too high for a Scorsese-De Niro re-collaboration –along with DiCaprio. Although the primary actors are titans and the story was complex and engaging, I found the dialog slow and film overly long with the themes repetitive. Gladstone is a scene stealer in a very quiet and low key way. De Niro still feels like he is from the mean streets much of the time, and this role is not new one for DiCaprio. The grand sweep of the film and period cinematography are great, and the supporting cast of a bunch of long-  known character actors is really good- watch for a surprise cameo by Scorsese. Some have said this is Scorsese’s beet effort in years, but it did not fully sell me, though crumbs from a master are still from a master.

Genre: Film     

Grade: A-

Notable People: Voices of: Jamie Foxx, Tine Fey, Graham Norton, Phylisha Rashad, Questlove and Angela Bassett, Directed by: Pete Docter

Title:  SOUL

Review: Released originally in 2020 and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature that year, SOUL was recently re-released tot theaters. I took my 5-year-old cutie, Sloanie, to see it this week, and all I can say, is Pixar are the masters at making films that can appeal to both kids and adults simultaneously-even little kids. Joe is a middle-school band teacher whose life hasn’t quite gone the way he expected. His true passion is jazz — and he’s good. But when he travels to another realm to help someone find their passion, he soon discovers what it means to have soul. Director Docter states that he “conceived Soul in January 2016, examining the origins of human personalities human personalities and the concept of determinism ….…. I mean, no shit. This is heavy stuff that still kept a five-year-old engaged for almost two hours, even riveted. The music is fabulous and the animation startlingly good. Go see it, with or without your 5- year- old plant.

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Lily Gladstone, Raymond Lee, Richard Ray Whitman, the Shangreaux Family, Directed by: Morissa Maltz

Title:  The Unknown Country

Review: Reeling from a devastating loss, Tana (Lily Gladstone) is pulled back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She packs up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the open road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana sets off to retrace a surreal journey that her grandmother took decades ago, searching for the spot captured in an old family photograph. As she travels, Tana finds connection in the stories of everyday people who’ve settled down far off the main roads. Quite, beautiful film with wonderful stories from real people. Well-acted, eerie soundtrack, amazingly shot. Got a 91 grade on Rotten Tomatoes. Stream for $5.99 rental on Prime or sign up for 7 day free trial on MOBI through Prime (then cancel)

Genre: Film       

Grade: A-

Notable People: Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa Directed by: Alexander Payne

Title:  The Holdovers

Review: Wonderfully done Christmas movie from the always excellent Alexander Payne, was a boon for me in my fist theater experience since last spring. Me and four wheelchair bound blue hairs in the dark matinee room- how is that not grace? If you like Giamatti, you will love this; if you’re not a fan, you may find his role a bit familiar, but the film is good enough to go see any way. Lifetime, isolated academic, Giamatti, gets left behind at prestigious New England boarding school to stay with the five kids whose parents don’t want them me for Christmas. All but one eventually get rescued leave but one, and the mayhem pursues. Sessa is a total revelation in his first role and Randolph completes the movie’s big three with aplomb. The film was surprisingly emotional- but not in a cheap sort of way, and nearly as predictable as you would think, given the concept. Best praise I can give is that I found myself thinking a lot about it two days later. Very well done period piece for 1970 with quirky cultural inclusions of Vietnam, Little Big Man, the Newlywed Game (a metaphor?), the resurgent Jonathan Edwards, Librium, and great hairdos. Very well worth an afternoon in the dark.

Genre: Film  

Grade: A-

Notable People: John, Paul, George and Ringo, Directed by: Ron Howard

Title:  Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years

Review: the always industrious and creative Ron Howard brings the Beatles touring years (1962-1965) to life with extraordinary footage and interviews with all four of the lads. Terrific images and portrayal of a phenomena unlike any before or since -and unlikely to be repeated again. The throngs of kids (and adults) wanting some piece of these four young men is presented in a manner that defies belief- and they played these massive venues around the world with one personal security person and three roadies-holy cow. It’s good to revisit the brilliance of their flame and the cultural phenomenon that changed the world. If you don’t already, you’ll love Ringo after this one.

Genre: Film       

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Directed by: Ale Winter

Title:  Zappa

Review: Very well done biopic of the man who may be the most enigmatic, iconoclastic, irreverent and idiosyncratic figure in modern music. I was never a huge fan but always a bit intrigued, and this film only encourages that more. Zappa was an extremely talented composer-equally adept at full orchestra pieces and zany one- offs. The cast of characters who paraded thru the Mother of Invention band is a dazzling array of some of the era’s finest. Frank Zappa was and is not that easy to like but he is worthy of admiration and this is an inside look at a once in a generation musical mind. Going to Montana soon- gonna be dental floss tycoon.