Unhinged

My View:  Unhinged (2020) R   After a minor traffic confrontation with an unstable man (Russell Crowe), a woman, Rachel (Caren Pistorius), and her son become a target of his rage. Not exactly the type of film you want to re-open movie theatres with, this feels like it was meant for a drive-in. With a script that is about as thin as the weird accent Crowe tries to use (slightly Southern, maybe New Orleans adjacent), this film has plot holes that a mac truck could drive through. The film opens with a ton of news reports about how society is falling apart and how that is reflected on our roadways. We cut to Russel Crowe, murdering his ex-wife and her partner, then setting their house on fire. Russell is having a bad day, and when Rachel honks her horn at him, it sets him off to make her life a living hell. Crowe gets to go over the top, and it looks like he is having fun with the performance, I just wish the script had given him a little more to work with. The film ends about how you expect, with a cringe-worthy final line that had me wincing. If you have been waiting for theatres to open up to see a new movie, you might want to wait a bit and let a few other films open before taking that trip to your local movie palace.    My Rating: Cable     Unhinged Website     Now playing at a theatre near you.

My View:   Words on Bathroom Walls (2020) PG-13   Adam (Charlie Plummer), halfway through his senior year, has a breakdown in his chemistry class and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Adam doesn’t just hear voices, he sees the people talking to him. Adam transfers to a new school, with thoughts of graduating and going on to cooking school. He then meets Maya (Taylor Russell), and she gives him hope that together he can make it in the world. Words on Bathroom Walls isn’t your typical teen romance film, as it goes deep into what it is like to be a teenager with schizophrenia. From the start, I rooted for Adam as Charlie Plummer gives us a multi-faceted performance that provides us with insight on a complicated and perplexing world, one that is hard to stay grounded in. It’s a world that most of us can’t even come close to understanding, but the film tries to give us some insight into just how much a scary world it is for someone with this illness. Russell and Taylor have an excellent rapport together and makes the off-kilter romance believable. The film has a few nice twists and turns, making the film moving at an interesting pace, keeping you guessing a bit on how Adam is going to survive high school and the outside world.   My Rating: Full Price    Words on Bathroom Walls Website     Now playing at a theatre near you.

My View:   Chemical Hearts (2020) R   Seventeen-year-old Henry (Austin Abrams) has never been in love. On his first day of senior year, he meets transfer student Grace (Lili Reinhart), and his luck changes when they are picked to co-edit the school paper. Grace is hiding a secret that deeply impacted her life and will come between her and Henry. I enjoyed this film that features Lili Reinhart in an impressive performance as a damaged (both physically and mentally) teen, Grace, who Henry falls for. Sure the film is a little cliched in its plot, but I think fans of Young Adult romance will enjoy the pull of heartstrings at the two young people find love and heartbreak.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Chemical Hearts Website    Now playing on the Amazon platform.

Indiefest:  Desert One (2019)   Documentary on the daring and failed mission in 1980 to rescue the 52 hostages being held in the American Embassy in Iran. The story up to now hasn’t been entirely told, and legendary two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple brings us a documentary that will explore both sides of the story. When student radicals in Iran invaded the American Embassy, it shocked the American public and became a huge story, so much so that the late-night news program Nightline was created to give us a daily report on the crisis. President Carter was running for reelection and was running against a strong and outspoken Ronald Regan, who wanted military action to save the hostages. This documentary explores the little known rescue effort that ended in disaster, with 8 Americans losing their lives and the hostages remaining at the mercy of Iran and bringing Carter an overwhelming defeat, one he never recovered from. The film uses footage from the time and never before heard communication between President Carter and his military advisors, giving us an insider look at an essential part of American history. The film is a fascinating look at how the rescue attempt came about, with incredible interviews with most of the principals, including President Carter, Vice President Mondale, and the soldiers who went on the mission and the families they left behind. It is time that we salute and celebrate the brave men who went willingly on a mission that failed but not because they didn’t give the mission everything, including their hearts, their minds, and in some cases, their lives.    My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Desert One Website      Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

Indiefest:  Tesla (2020) PG-13   Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) fights to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition, battling fellow inventor Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan), who is determined that his system will win the battle to bring electricity to the US. I knew we were in trouble right away when J.P. Morgan’s daughter gave us background information about the main characters of the story using Google. The film isn’t your ordinary bio-pic as it uses unique sets (such as a green screen of cattle on a plain, as Hawke as Tesla, is in front of the green screen offering the cattle an apple) and jump cuts to show us that this isn’t your orthodox story. I have a feeling that some film critics are going to love this offbeat movie that has Hawke, as Tesla, singing a modern-day song, but I found the film taxing and tedious. The film continually hits you over the head that Tesla is an inventor, not a businessman. While he might be smarter than Edison, Tesla has no way to match Edison in money-making or getting publicity. The underlining theme of the film is that greed is bad, that a man like Tesla was doomed from the start because he couldn’t compete with the greed of Wall Street. The film also does a horrible job of letting us know exactly what Tesla was working on and whether his inventions were indeed better than Edison’s ideas. I never felt I never knew what made Tesla tick and, therefore, never quite got in his corner to root for him.   My Rating: Cable     Tesla Website    In theatres and available for rent on participating on-demand services.

My View:  The Sleepover (2020)   Two siblings ( Maxwell Simkins, Sadie Stanley) discover that their mom (Malin Akerman) has a big secret, she used to be a high-end thief who has been in the witness protection program. When their mom is forced to pull one last job, the two kids decide to rescue her over the course of an action-packed night. Lately, Netflix has given us some quality films that have been hitting them out of the park; this isn’t one of them. In fact, when Netflix first talked about creating its own movies, I worried that they would go the low budget, low-quality route, and this film gives us just that type of product. The film goes for the easy joke, including a horrible sequence in which Ken Marino, playing the clueless dad, gets sick a number of times, always for the easy, atrocious bit. The film wants to be a poor man’s Spy Kids, but it fails on almost every level, including several fight sequences that feel like the kid actors themselves choreographed them. Kids may enjoy some of the highjacks, but I guarantee that parents are going to bored senseless.    My Rating: Cable      The Sleepover Website    Now available on the Netflix platform.

Forgotten Film: Defending Your Life (1991) PG   Daniel Miller (Albert Brooks) unexpectedly dies and is sent to Judgement City where your life goes on trial to determine if you can move on to the ‘next stage’ of existence or are sent back to earth to spend another life as a human. While on trial, Daniel meets Julia (Meryl Streep), who is also there to defend her life. Daniel and Julia fall in love, but it seems that Julia is destined to move on, and it sure looks like Daniel is heading back to earth. One of my favorite movies of all time, Albert Brooks, not only stars in this beautiful comedy/romance, but he also directed and brilliantly wrote the screenplay. I can’t tell you how many lines of this film I can recite, and I have the original movie poster hanging on my wall. The storyline is creative and funny, and the chemistry between Brooks and Streep is off the wall. The film is greatly enhanced by an outstanding performance by Rip Torn as Daniel’s defense attorney. So go on a journey with Daniel, maybe visit the Past Live Pavillion (hosted by Shirley MacLaine) and have fun watching him defend his life.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Defending Your Life Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Unhinged: Grip Nifty 50

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020) PG-13 Bill (Alex Winter), and Ted’s (Keanu Reeves) lives haven’t quite turned out the way that they were told they would. Both are middle-aged dads that have never produced that big hit song they thought they were destined to. Now it’s time for the guys to dream big and fulfill their destiny. I didn’t like the sequel, but I sure enjoyed the first Bill & Ted, and Keanu has been on a hot streak lately, so let’s˜Party on Dudes!’    Bill & Ted Face the Music Website

Until Next Time!

Project Power

 

My View: Project Power (2020) R     A pill that gives its users superpowers for five minutes hits the streets of New Orleans. A teenage dealer (Dominique Fishback), a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and an ex-soldier (Jamie Foxx) team up to get the drug off the street before people start dying. The film asks, would you take a pill that could give you a superpower, if you didn’t know what that superpower would be and oh, by the way, can kill you, sometimes instantly? The film moves at a quick pace as the lives of the three principals merge together (sometimes pretty awkwardly), and the action becomes at us at an almost blinding speed. Foxx and Gordon-Levitt are fun to watch, doing their badass bits but its Fishback, as a quick-talking, wannabe rapper, who deals in the pills that give the superpowers. Fishback, who delivers wisecracks with a rapid flurry, has excellent chemistry with both Foxx and Gordon-Levitt, making up for the shaky plotline that stretches incredibly thin to keep Fishback’s character involved in the attempt to find the source of the super-pills. So, sit back and go on a ride with quite a few thrills and spills, just don’t take the pill because you might blow up.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Project Power Website    Currently available on the Netflix platform.

Indiefest: Boys State (2020) PG-13    Every year, a thousand 17-year-old boys from Texas come to Austin to build a representative government from the ground up, culminating in the elections of their government. This is one of those films that takes what could have been a boring subject and makes it into magic, holding your attention and suspense until the end. The program takes boys, separates them into two political parties, then the boys must decide party platforms, create legislation, and nominate boys to run against each other for various statewide offices, including the most significant office of all, governor. The film centers on four boys; the first two are running against each other in the same party. Steven, an underdog candidate who is earnest and willing to talk about issues, Robert, Steven’s primary opponent who is all about being popular and talking about what he thinks his voters want to hear. We also meet Rene, who has the charisma and the speaking ability to go far, and Ben, a double-amputee, whose run for governor dies before it even starts and realizes he can do more behind the scenes with a dirty tricks campaign to get his conservative ideas across. The film has you rooting for Steven, who is just marvelous as someone who wants to make a difference in the world, contrasting with the almost Darth Vader villain in Ben, willing to do anything to get his party elected. It’s a brilliant and compelling film that will give you hope for our political future.     My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Boys State Website    Available on the Apple TV+ platform.

Indiefest: Sputnik (2020)    During the height of the Cold War, a lone survivor (Pyotr Fyodorov) of a Soviet spaceship accident has returned home, but he didn’t come back alone; inside, his body is a parasite, and a scientist (Oksana Akinshina) is charged with separating the two. An enjoyable and sometimes quite scary film that reminded me of the classic Sci-Fi horror films of the 70s and 80s. Taking place in the 1980s, this Russian film, perfectly sets the tone from the start, with a harrowing trip home by two astronauts. We don’t know exactly what happened, but we know it wasn’t good, with one of the astronauts killed and the other barely hanging on to life. The hero of the story is a headstrong scientist who is brought to a remote location, not told anything about her subject other than he is an astronaut who doesn’t remember what went on when his fellow spaceman died. As the film continues, a sense of dread and suspense starts building as we learn, along with the scientist, that there is something sinister going on. The film is more suspenseful than horrific, though there are a few killings that are quite graphic and bloody. The film will keep you guessing until the end, filled with outstanding performances by the two leads, which will keep you on the edge of your couch.    My Rating: Full Price      Sputnik Info      Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

Indiefest: Jazz on a Summer’s Day (1959)   Legendary documentary on the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. The film is considered the first concert film ever made and was named to the National Film Registry in 1999. The film has been newly restored funded by the Library of Congress in time to celebrate the film’s 60 anniversary. The film is a classic jazz lover’s dream with performances by some of the greatest jazz masters of the 20th century, most at the height of the artistic genius. The lineup includes Chico Hamilton, Anita O’Day, George Shearing, Jack Teagarden, Thelonius Monk, and even Chuck Berry. The film splendidly captures the sights of the Newport jazz fest scene, with plenty of closeups of people enjoying the performances. The highlights are a brilliant set by Gerry Mulligan, several songs by the wonderful Louis Armstrong, and a powerful performance by one of the greatest gospel singers ever, Mahalia Jackson, who closes out the film and the night as Saturday turns into Sunday morning. The film is a marvelous trip back to a time when jazz was the music of its time. Now, through the magic of cinema, we can experience one of the greatest music documentaries of all time.     My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again     Jazz on a Summer's Day Website      Available for rent on participating on-demand services.

Indiefest: Martin Margiela: In His Own Words (2019)    Influential fashion designer Marin Margiela has been called the ‘Banksy of fashion,’ as he has famously avoided publicity and interviews throughout the years. Now through this documentary, Margiela has decided to come from behind the curtain and share his drawings, notes, and personal items in this intimate profile of his vision. I’m not big into fashion or clothes, but I have always been fascinated by the spectacle of the Paris/New York fashion scene. This film gives a fashionista and insiders look at a legendary designer who, for twenty years, created groundbreaking designs that people are still talking about. Margiela was a mysterious man at the time (and still is), as his face has never been seen by the public, hence the Banksy reference. I will admit, at times I got a bit bored by all the clothes that we see before our eyes, but the film does a brilliant job of giving us the look and feel of what Margiela’s almost mythical runway shows were like and while we don’t get to see the man, we do get to see inside the mind that created fabulous and storied creations year after year.    My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Martin Margiela: In His Own Words Website     Available for rent on participating on-demand services and on the Plaza Theatre Atlanta Website.

Forgotten Film: French Postcards (1979) PG   A group of exchange students from America come to Paris to study the language and the culture for a year. The film centers on three students; Alex (David Marshall Grant) who is in love or is it lust with his instructor (Marie=France Pisier), Joel (Miles Chapin) who falls for a cute assistant at a bookstore and Laura (Blanche Baker) who misses home and her boyfriend. Add in a very young Debra Winger, and this is a highly enjoyable film about Americans in one of the world’s most romantic cities. The film feels a little dated, but the performances are delightful, and the film feels more like a romance than one of those quirky Americans going nuts in a foreign country kind of film.   My Rating: Full Price     French Postcards Info

Weird Credits: From the credits of Project Power: Phantom Technician

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Words on Bathroom Walls (2020) PG-13   Adam (Charlie Plummer), halfway through his senior year, has a breakdown in his chemistry class and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Adam doesn’t just hear voices, he sees the people talking to him. Adam transfers to a new school, with thoughts of graduating and going on to cooking school. He then meets Maya (Taylor Russell), and she gives him hope that together he can make it in the world. The trailer looks fantastic, and the supporting cast includes Molly Parker (Lost in Space), Walton Goggins (Justified), and Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Eleven).       Words on the Bathroom Walls Website

Until Next Time!