Quarantine Reviews 6: Four movie/music Documentaries to see

Dear Readers,

I hope you are having lovely Fall season. Here are several documentaries about music and movie people that I've watched recently. Happy Film Viewing everyone.

Hal Ashby w/ actress Ruth Gordon. pc: getty images

HAL (released 2018)  Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯✯ (out of four)

Hal Ashby was one of the 1970s American New Wave/Auteurs along with Scorsese, Coppola, Allen, Bogdanovich, Spielberg, etc. but Ashby has become a forgotten name among the group despite his films routinely appearing on greatest movies lists. Hopefully this excellent documentary will bring him back to prominence. Ashby started as a film editor, winning a best editing Academy Award for his work on In the Heat of the Night, before moving to directing with 1970's The Landlord. Following his debut is a string of seven critical and commercial successes from 1970 to 1979 (Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, Bound for Glory, Coming Home, and Being There). He was a free spirit and a bit eccentric (as you can tell by any one of the films listed) yet his movies had a warmth and quietness that was not often present in Coppola or Scorsese films of the era. Ashby's style, because of his editing background, was to film as much as possible and then form the movie in the editing room which worked in the artist centric Hollywood of the 1970s. When the system changed in the 1980s and the studios began to exert their control over filmmaking they often stopped him midway through the process thus leaving his released films unfinished and rearranged without his input. This also explains why his 1980s films are often incoherent his free style was butting heads with the restrictive new studios. I do want to say his final theatrical film, 8 Million Ways to Die (though very little relation to the book it is based on), is a fine Neo-Noir mystery/thriller despite its reputation as a bomb. Hal Ashby was an important director of 1970s American Cinema, his influence can be seen on directors like Noah Baumbach and many of the 1990s Independent Filmmakers. I loved this documentary and I hope it exposes more people to Ashby's work. Check this one out.

Nina Simone, pc: netflix

What Happened, Miss Simone? (released 2015) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯

I am a little ashamed to say I did not know anything about Nina Simone before watching this documentary. I knew she was a famous musician/singer usually labeled jazz (though I learned here she mixed a number of styles) but that was it. This film (made with the participation of Simone's daughter) chronicles her life from being drawn to playing the piano as a child in the local church, to her not being accepted into a music conservatory college because she was black, through her popularity in the 1960s, her struggle with mental illness, and eventual comeback in the 1980s. Simone was a spectacular songwriter and pianist with a distinct voice who embraced the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Her 1964 composition "Mississippi Goddam" became a famed protest song. Her abusive husband and manager wanted Simone to stay away from anything political but Simone ignored the demands of popular music to fight for equal rights, and she paid for it as concert venues and radio stations cancelled her and her songs. She eventually left the United States settling in Barbados and Liberia among other areas. She spent a large part of her life undiagnosed with bipolar disorder. While the documentary is well made it may only skim the surface of Simone's story. It was a good introduction for a neophyte like me. My two favorite moments herein are a scene late in the film during her 1980s comeback when she stops the concert to instruct a specific audience member to "sit back down" and does not return to performing until the person complies. The most moving moment is a performance of "To be Young, Gifted, and Black" at a college campus where only a small number of black students are studying, and the song brings everyone to their feet. Simone's piano playing is on display throughout and it is a treat to listen to.

Natalie Wood on the movie poster. PC: HBO

Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (released 2020) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯

Made for HBO Documentary Films and directed by Laurent Bouzereau (who made the excellent docuseries Five Came Back) is an American Masters style film looking at the life and career of actress Natalie Wood. Produced by Wood's oldest daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner (who also serves as the on camera interviewer). She speaks with many of Wood's closest friends/family including Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Richard Gregson (interviewed shortly before his death in 2019), Courtney Wagner, Elliot Gould, and naturally Robert Wagner among many others. Since Natasha knows all of these people very well the interviews have an intimate quality and I suspect the shared stories are ones the individuals would have only shared with Natasha. I learned a great deal about Wood's business ability in which she negotiated off-hours from filming each week to see a therapist, or as a teenager she created contracts which allowed her to pick one film a year that was not a studio choice (something very rare at the time especially for a young actress).  I didn't know she started acting at such a young age because her father lost his job and Wood, while still in elementary school, supported her whole family with her acting career. My main complaint is the film makes a statement that Wood's career and life are overshadowed by her mysterious death in 1981 at age 43 (which is true) and they state this film does not want to focus on her death as so many stories do. This sounds great but the last section of the film focuses entirely on her death with Robert Wagner recounting his memories in detail and what he suspects happened. A number of reviewers felt this turned the film into a PR stunt (also only friends are interviewed) because in 2018 Wood's death was reopened and Robert Wagner was now a person of interest. I was a bit dismayed at the fact Wood's death (again) overshadowed the story of the documentary. I am a big fan of Wood's work especially Love With the Proper Stranger and of course West Side Story and Splendor in the Grass among many other films. I enjoyed the home movies and personal touches of this documentary. If you are looking for a Dateline style expose this is not it, if you are interested in a well made documentary about an important actress this would be for you even with its flaws.

The Band with Robbie Robertson center. pc: getty images

Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band (released 2019) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯

A companion piece to Robbie Robertson's 2017 memoir/autobiography Testimony this film chronicles Robertson's history as well as the history of the seminal rock group The Band of which he was a member. In the years since the group's break up in 1977, Robertson has remained in control of the group's music and also received much of the royalties. Fellow group member Levon Helm made very vocal claims that Robertson was cheating the other members. This is Robertson's story and his view of the history of the group (as one of only two remaining members he has become sole spokesperson), it could also be an image rehabilitation as he stayed quiet regarding the one sided business accusations. He does not address those accusations directly though says he visited Helm shortly before Helm's death (but Helm was not awake due to illness). There are a number of great archival items shared here and Robertson is very charismatic throughout as he narrates the story. Also included are interviews with Ronnie Hawkins, Veronique (Robbie's wife), Bruce Springsteen, Martin Scorsese, David Geffen (seeming more pompous than usual) among others. Helm and other Band members appear in archival footage and Bob Dylan's interviews are taken from previous documentaries though edited to seem like they were conducted for this film. Your enjoyment of this movie will really depend on your taste for Robertson. I'm glad this film was made and regardless of your opinion on Robertson, the music is great and the history of the Band is always interesting.

Richard Stanley in his home. pc: Letterboxd

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (released 2014) Ryan's rating ✯✯✯

Richard Stanley is a white South African film director who made a handful of short films and music videos in the 1980s then had two cult hits with his independent Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992) both of which were science fiction/horror films that were later purchased for distribution in the USA. After these two films his dream project was to present a more faithful adaptation of H.G. Wells's 1896 novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. This documentary chronicles Stanley's plans for a film that was not made because Stanley was fired by New Line Cinema only a week into production and replaced by veteran director John Frankenheimer. The eventually released 1996 movie bore little resemblance to Stanley's vision. This is probably one of the best (though presented in a purposefully ragged style) documents of independent creators not able to work in the mainstream. This documentary features interviews with members of the cast and crew who were brought into the film by Stanley but then left adrift (and still having to make the movie) when Frankenheimer took over. Also featured are executives and back room people who shed light on the decision making process. And finally we have present day interviews with Stanley (still wearing a safari hat and vest) living seemingly in a cabin in the wild. This documentary can take a place next to It's All True, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, and the recent short TCM documentary on the UCLA and Black Independent Film Movement of the late 1980s focusing on Charles Burnett.

Kalapana: The Original Albums CD Box Set!!!

Kalapana: The Original Albums Box Set

For this post I am stepping away from my normal Movie Reviews to talk about one of my favorite bands, Kalapana. I have been a fan since I was a little kid, my father had the cassette tapes in the car, and when I was a music columnist for Ka Leo O Hawaii my first several articles were all about Kalapana. The CD box set "Kalapana: The Original Albums" was released in 2018 and is the first time their first seven albums have been collected together on CD. It also marks the first time the band members of Kalapana will be getting their due royalties from their original and most popular albums. Released through Manifesto Records, if you like physical media and are a Kalapana fan you need to get this set before it is out of print. I've made a short video with my initial thoughts on the set that I need to figure out how to share, but in this post you will find more details I want to share with you all and that add to the video review.

Some general notes about the Kalapana CD Box Set. Individual Album info below.

• All seven albums have been remastered and the sound is clearer and crisper than the previously available CDs.
• The outer box is standard thicker cardboard (common in CD box sets) and it is painted to look like wood.
• Each disc has the respective album artwork printed on its top side.
• Each of the CDs is in its own cardboard gatefold cover (or eco-pack CD case) designed to resemble the original vinyl LP records sleeves. Be careful, the individual discs slide out of the cardboard sleeve very easily and they may fall out when you least expect it.
• While the CD sleeves are very similar to the original vinyl sleeves they are not exact replicas. For instance the inner sleeves of LP vinyl often included song lyrics but no lyrics are included here (except on Kalapana II since lyrics were printed on the outer sleeve of the original vinyl). 
• Also of note, all of Kalapana's albums are now available on streaming services and download purchase on places like iTunes. This includes their albums from the 1980s all the way into the 2000s (such as Lava Rock, Hurricane, Back in Your Heart Again, Walk Upon the Water, Blue Album, etc).

Notes about the Individual albums in the box:

1. Kalapana (also called Kalapana I)

Their big hit first album, featuring many of their best known songs ("The Hurt", "Nightbird", "You Make it Hard", "Naturally"). Released in 1975 in Hawaii on Vinyl, re-released on CD in the late 1980s in Hawaii by OTB Records. Note this boxset CD follows the original vinyl song order, this results in the song "Going, Going Gone" being the sixth track as it was on the original 1975 vinyl release and not the first track as it was on the 1980s OTB CD release. This album is a must own for any fan.

2. Kalapana II

Another hit with more classic songs, ("Juliette", "Blacksand", "(For You) I'd Chase a Rainbow"). Released in Hawaii on vinyl in 1976 and re-released on CD in Hawaii in the late 1980s by OTB Records. This is the first album to feature Alvin Fejarang on drums and Michael Paulo on saxophone/flute, both of whom would become official band members on the next release (here they are listed as side musicians). Mackey Feary left the group shortly after the release of this album. 

3. Kalapana III

Here is where the details get more complicated. Released on vinyl in Hawaii in 1977 but in the 1980s when it was transferred to CD, the CD was a Japanese edition (through Pony Canyon Records) and only available in Japan or as an import CD. This marks the first Hawaii/USA release of the album on CD. The song order is different on the various editions as well. The version in this boxset has "Alisa Lovely" as the opening track and the songs follow a largely alphabetical order based on song title this follows the listing on the original vinyl LP sleeve. As mentioned previously Michael Paulo and Alvin Fejarang are listed here as band members and Randy Aloya joined the band with this record as bass player and vocalist. 

4. Many Classic Moments (Studio Album)

There are two Kalapana albums with the title of "Many Classic Moments" (the other has the subtitle of Original Soundtrack listed below). Kalapana were hired to write songs for the surfing documentary Many Classic Moments. The eight songs featured on this album are the new songs for the documentary (really six new songs, a cover of the song "Can You See Him", and "Naturally" from their first album). The new songs include the popular title track, "The Water Song", and "Down By the Sea". Released on vinyl in Hawaii in 1978, again when transferred to CD in the 1980s it was only released in Japan or again as an import. This marks the first Hawaii/USA release of the album on CD.

5. Many Classic Moments (Original Soundtrack)

Released only in Japan on Trio Records in 1978 as a double vinyl album featuring all the music in the surfing documentary Many Classic Moments. Follow me here,  the eight songs from the Many Classic Moments studio album (listed above) are included, along with orchestral music (not written by Kalapana) and dialog snippets from the film. Older Kalapana songs (such as Blacksand, (For You) I'd Chase a Rainbow, Mana, etc.) are also included here as they were featured in the documentary film. Never released in Hawaii/USA until this box set.

6. In Concert

A double live album only released in Japan in 1978 on vinyl and then CD in the early 2000s (again only available as an import or in Japan). Recorded live in Japan and Guam this is a powerhouse recording and one of three live albums released by Kalapana (the others being "Reunion" in 1983 and the DJ Pratt led Kalapana album "Japan Jam Live" in 1980). These concerts feature exciting renditions of songs from Kalapana III and Many Classic Moments as well as the Malani Bilyeu songs from the first two albums. Kimo Cornwell (later of the Jazz band Hiroshima) joins the group on synthesizer for this album and the next.

7. Northbound

The group's final album before disbanding in 1979 (they would reunite with an altered lineup in the 1980s). Only available in Japan until this boxset. Most of the songs here will be new to fans but there are some gems. My personal favorite is "Rainy Day" by DJ Pratt that is available here (also on the compilation "Black Sand: The Best of Kalapana"). In the historical booklet it's noted that by the end of Northbound's recording there were only three of the seven band members left and those three decided to call it quits once the album was released.

I just have one criticism and it is not about the set itself it is about the marketing. I wish there was a better marketing or announcement when this was released November 30, 2018. I'm someone who is often searching and looking up information about Hawaii's music but I did not know about the box until January 2021. I know Malani Bilyeu (a founding member and lead singer) passed away suddenly in December 2018 so that overshadowed the release yet it would have been a perfect tribute to Malani for this to be really promoted especially to the fans. This is a small complaint since I found my way to the music. 

I am very very happy this set has been put together with such care. Happy listening everyone.

Quarantine Reviews 11: Movies released in the last year

Hello Readers,

I realize most of my reviews are for classic or older movies, so Here is a list of films released in 2020 or 2021 that I have seen and reviewed. Happy viewing everyone!

"Carnaval del Barrio" lifts the spirits. credit IMDB

In The Heights (released 2021) Ryan's Rating: ✯✯✯ (out of four)

Is it good? Yes. Is it great? No. Is it entertaining? Yes. The long awaited film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda's and Quiara Alegría Hudes's hit Broadway musical has arrived in select theaters and on HBOMax. I watched it on my TV but it is clearly designed for the big screen and I'm certain if you see this film in a theater it will increase your enjoyment and affection. Completed in 2019, but delayed due to the pandemic, the film tells the story of a community in the largely Dominican area of Washington Heights, New York. All of the characters have dreams and hopes but the world and the wealthy keep making these goals harder and harder to achieve. The main story takes place over three days during a record heatwave; our heroes are Usnavi (a bodega owner played by Anthony Ramos), Vanessa (a hair dresser who wants to be a fashion designer, Melissa Barrera), Nina (a local girl just back after her first year at Stanford, Leslie Grace), and Benny (a taxicab dispatcher, Corey Hawkins) among many others all of whom are at a crossroads in one way or another. The screenplay, also by Hudes, has been updated with new sequences to reflect changes since the play first appeared fifteen years ago. The elements from the play and the elements added for the film do not always fit together which sometimes makes the story move in fits and starts. There is an added framing device of Usnavi telling the story to his daughter that provides some great scenes but feels extraneous. The "Piragua Song" in the play served as a fun interlude that helped to build the world and also had a reprise that gave it a punch line, in the film (with the reprise cut) the song seems merely an excuse to give Miranda a part in the movie. On the upside director Jon M. Chu has a long history with musical and dance (he made Step Up 2 and 3, two Justin Bieber concert documentaries, as well as the musically influenced Crazy Rich Asians) and he uses that background to give us numbers that range from music videos to Busby Berkeley crowd sequences, and to the MGM musicals of yesteryear. The song "96,000" is filmed at a public swimming pool where the neighborhood goes to beat the heat and the sequence brings to mind the water dancing of Esther Williams films.  All this is to say the musical numbers had me smiling, the cast is good and engaging, and despite some of the clunky pacing I was entertained. 

Angelina Jolie looking for wildfires. Credit: IMDB

Those Who Wish Me Dead (released 2021) Ryan's Rating: ✯✯1/2 

In the Montana wilderness a former smoke jumper (Angelina Jolie), haunted by a deadly mistake during a fire, is posted in a secluded watch tower when she finds a young boy fleeing from two ruthless assassins. Visceral and entertaining though sometimes feels like an assemblage of good parts and not a full unit. Jolie is perfectly cast, it is great to see her back in this type of role and her presence fills the screen, but the narrative switches points of view which leaves Jolie largely absent from the first half of the movie. Director/Co-writer Taylor Sheridan (writer of a number of hit films and co-creator of the series Yellowstone) is widely praised for his detailed characters in action/thriller situations and here is no exception but for me this film seemed overstuffed with plot and backstory. The opening sequence (an exciting parachute jump into a fire) seems out of place, while it is a grabbing opening it turns out to be an abrupt backstory explanation that gets repeated throughout the film. The run time is short, the story is only an hour and a half, causing the multiple plots at times to seem geared for a mini-series as opposed to a single film. This could also be the result of the film being adapted from a novel where there is more space to explore subplots. I wanted the story to stay with Jolie and the boy battling the elements to escape the killers (which does happen but more in the second half). At the same time there is an excellent side character played by Medina Senghore, a pregnant woman who runs a wilderness survival camp. She could have had a whole movie to herself. I am a great fan of Sheridan's 2017 film Wind River which has a similar story, but that film pulled everything together in a solid whole and I wanted this film to be more like that one. Overall Those Who Wish Me Dead is exciting and fast paced (some of the violence is brutal so be warned) but at the end I felt it was just okay when it could have been great.    

Andra Day as Lady Day. credit IMDB

United States Vs. Billie Holiday (released 2020) Ryan's Rating ✯1/2

Andra Day (in her film debut no less) is excellent as Billie Holiday and it is a shame the film is not as good as her performance. The plot concerns the FBI's (at the request of the big wigs in Washington D.C.) pursuit of Holiday, due to her popular song "Strange Fruit" (about lynchings in the United States) which the government feared would stir up the population. The film covers about twenty years of Holiday's life (as well as some flashbacks to childhood) but it is so disjointed and confusing, we as the audience are often left wondering where we are in the story. There is a framing device (Holiday being interviewed on a radio station) which could have added some focus or clarity to the events but it is not used well. To top it off there are few scenes that explain why Holiday was such a success and her ability with music. A brief scene early in the film where she is rehearsing and is telling her band how to play this line and what would work in the club gives one of the few glimpses of Holiday's musical abilities and that she was more than an excellent voice. The moment is then lost in a sea of the ways Holiday was abused (both by herself and by many others). To top it all off the two hour running time feels like five hours. Billie Holiday is an important figure in history and the story of her unjust pursuit by the FBI is an important story. Surely there is a better film to be made from these powerful stories.

Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn. credit: IMDB

Pieces of a Woman (released 2020) Ryan's Rating ✯✯1/2

As many reviewers have noted the first nearly thirty minutes of the movie is a recreation of a home birth and ends with the baby turning blue and dying. This agonizing sequence is followed by the film title appearing on the screen which hits the viewer like a hammer. Vanessa Kirby (best known as Princess Margaret on the first two seasons of The Crown) plays the woman who lost her child and her performance, with all its nuance, is excellent though the film often moves away from her character which is where it falters. About half the story involves her construction worker husband (played by Shia LaBeouf) and the way he deals with the loss of the baby. LaBeouf gives a strong forceful performance but his character is the less intriguing of the couple which made me wish for more of Kirby on the screen. Also on board is Ellen Burstyn, as Kirby's high society mom (and Holocaust survivor), who fully embodies the character in all her love and vindictiveness. It is a great showcase for the actress. The best sequence is a dinner party that turns into a mother daughter argument performed with shattering power by Burstyn and Kirby. Written and directed by a husband wife team who based it on their experiences of losing their own child, and first done as a stage production. With this backstory it makes sense why the film follows both LaBeouf's and Kirby's characters, but I thought it would have been a stronger film if it focused more on Kirby and Burstyn. There are some symbolic moments that seem a little on the nose (a literal bridge being built, the growing of apple seeds) but that is nitpicking. The movie is well filmed (though clearly in Canada not in Boston where the story is set) sometimes in long unbroken takes where the camera drifts around the characters. The acting is uniformly strong and while the dialog is well done the story structure seems to drift away from the main character a little too often.

John David Washington on a mission. credit: IMDB

Tenet (released 2020). Ryan's Rating: ✯✯

I have to come right out and say it I am not a lover of Christopher Nolan's films. He knows how to stage scenes but I often find his story pacing/timing to be problematic which makes many of his films fall flat for me. (There are two of his films that I greatly enjoy Inception and Batman Begins, I haven't seen Dunkirk or Following or Memento, I have seen all the others). Tenet tells the story of a spy (a commanding John David Washington) who gets involved in a mission to find a group of wealthy European terrorists (led by Kenneth Branagh) who are using a time travel device to do bad things (as with Nolan movies it is never truly clear when you think about it). The catch is that when you travel through time everything is reversed (inverted), the characters walk backward, cars drive in reverse, marks on walls appear and disappear. There is the typical dialogue that is made to sound important but is really just elaborate and read by very good actors while not really saying much. This is all the more evident here because the basic plot is the same as any time travel movie (Bill & Ted, Timecop, etc.). As expected the action scenes are well filmed and at times very imaginative since many of them take place in a form of reverse movement. Alas, I had the same feeling blah feeling as I do after watching many of Nolan's movies. One part of the movie I found most interesting is the wonderful actress, Elizabeth Debicki, plays almost the exact same role as she does in the great 2016 limited series The Night Manager. I wonder if she was 'Teneting' and going back in time.

Theatrical poster. credit: IMDB

Belushi (released 2020) Ryan's Rating: ✯✯✯

A documentary on the life of the late John Belushi told through many years worth of audio recordings as opposed to the normal way of interviewing the surviving members on screen. The audio is paired with archival photos/videos as well as animated sequences and the outcome is similar to the way a Ken Burns documentary is put together. I never knew much about John Belushi's life except he died very young of a drug overdose, the most detail I read is in the excellent Roger Ebert collection of essays and interviews A Kiss is Still a Kiss. I found this documentary very interesting as I am a fan of Belushi's work (Animal House, Blues Brothers, Continental Divide, SNL) but it is sadly an overly familiar story, talented comic becomes famous and gets addicted to drugs. The audio recordings (some of the speakers have also passed away like Harold Ramis, Penny Marshall, Carrie Fisher) are fascinating to listen to for fans of 1970s SNL/Second City and the late 70s early 1980s films in which Belushi starred. Those who were alive when John Belushi was creating his famed comic moments may find some of the sequences overly familiar (critic Peter Sobczynski mentions this in his review) and works such as Continental Divide and Goin' South are barely mentioned. The film serves as a good archive for those of us who were not around but have come to know Belushi through his films.

Quarantine Reviews 10: Some movie I give one star or less...

Hello Fellow Film Fans,
I hope all is well with you as we head into the summer months. Here are six movies I do not care for and I'm reviewing them for your safety. Happy Viewing Everyone.

Jeffrey Wright on the hunt. photo credit: rogerebert.com

Hold the Dark (released 2018). Ryan's Rating: ✯ (out of 4). 

A good idea, a great location, and one excellent shootout sequence all wasted in a slog of a movie. The good idea: A baby disappears in a remote area of Alaska, possibly carried away by wolves. The baby's mother writes to an aged but noted wolf expert (Jeffrey Wright), asking him to come to Alaska to hunt and kill the wolves responsible but when he arrives something more sinister is a foot. Great location: the foreboding isolated snowy wilderness is well shot. Best scene: involves a police standoff between the local authorities and a Native American veteran. This sequence is so visceral and expertly staged it seems a shame the rest of the film is not better. After the first fifteen minutes the pace is nearly immobile. The atmosphere is ominous, and the performances are (I think purposefully) lifeless trying to make a comment on the darkness and mystical elements, but all that does is make the scenes boring. There's also a sequence featuring the baby's father in battle in Iraq that felt completely out of place to me. Too bad because it had promise.

Rambo ready to inflict pain. pc: IMDB

Rambo: Last Blood (released 2019). Ryan's Rating: zero stars 

I'm a big Sylvester Stallone fan and I like the previous four Rambo films but this one is a waste. Gruesomely violent in the extreme, it is more violent than the previous Rambo movies and feels overly violent even for a Rambo/Stallone picture (which is saying something). Please note I fast forwarded through several sequences because of the violence. John Rambo (Stallone) lives on a ranch in Arizona (as we saw him returning at the end of the previous movie). He suffers from PTSD from his Vietnam War (and other) experiences but seems to find peace raising horses, all the while he's built a giant underground tunnel system beneath the ranch. Also on the ranch are a woman who works for him and her teenaged daughter. The daughter wants to meet her estranged father living in Mexico. Against everyone's wishes the girl crosses the border, she's quickly captured by bad guys, pumped with drugs, and sold into the sex trade. Rambo goes to find her and get revenge on the big Mexican cartel. The abuse of the teenage character is also tough to watch and it becomes clear the movie will hurt/kill anyone for a shock. It's a poorly made off-putting film and all the worse if this is the end of the series. While the title indicates this may be the final film the ending leaves it open. Maybe Rambo: Final Blood, or Rambo: New Blood?

Tom Berenger & Melanie Griffith out in NYC. pc: IMDB

Fear City (released 1984). Ryan's rating: zero stars 

A serial killer is attacking strippers in New York City, a detective and some mafia backed club owners band together to find the psycho. Great cast: Tom Berenger, Melanie Griffith, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia (all fairly early in their careers). Directed by famed independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara with his usual mix of grime and neon. Terrible, but then again you never know with Ferrara.

Brad Pitt with his Doodle partner. pc: IMDB

Cool World (released 1992). Ryan's Rating: ✯

I've always been curious to see this movie but I should have just stayed curious and avoided it. As many have described, this is a crazy (also bad) version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. An animated world exists in an alternate dimension but it is threatening to merge with our Earth and we need to stop it. The animation seems unfinished and when the live actors interact with the animated world everything suddenly looks like cardboard cutouts. This may be on purpose, but it was distracting and makes the film look cheap. There's an unnecessary prologue and the movie as a whole drags and drags. Only interest is the pre-fame Brad Pitt (though his performance is not great) and Kim Basinger is fun as the cartoon (or Doodle as they're called here) who comes to life. While I am not a fan, this movie does have its supporters. 

Forger and Historian on the run. pc: IMDB

Incognito (released 1997). Ryan's Rating: ✯

An art forger (Jason Patric, zero charisma here) creates a fake "lost" Rembrandt painting but is double crossed by his employer and framed for murder. He goes on the run with an art historian (Irene Jacob) at his side. Beautiful European scenery/locations in a variation on a Hitchcock plot but a poor movie. Director John Badham is a decent director but he is unable to do anything here. Also despite Patric's 1990s good looks he shows no appeal and no ability to carry this type of adventure/thriller. He and co-star Jacob also have very little chemistry. There is a neat sequence showing how the forgery is created. That scene and the locations are all we have here.

Detective and Professor uncover the crime pc: IMDB

Separate Lives (released 1995). Ryan's Rating: ✯

A retired police detective (Jim Belushi) is studying to become a therapist. One day his professor (Linda Hamilton) hires him to follow her because she is having blackouts with no memory of what she's done. The detective quickly finds out she has multiple personalities (well two), one as the straitlaced college professor, and the other as a night owl who commits crimes. The rest of the story is not really worth your time. This film was released theatrically but looks and feels like a poor TV movie. The only interest for some might be seeing a young Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale) playing Belushi's middle schooler daughter.

Quarantine Reviews 9: Six Recommended by Jim Cameron Stan

In honor of my good friend, Jim Cameron Stan, here are six movies he recommended to me and now I recommend them to you all. The reviews are listed in the order they were recommended to me.

Enjoy my reviews, thank you for J.C. Stan, check these films out, and Happy Viewing everyone.

The Half of It, released 2020, Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯1/2 (out of four, highly recommended)

Leah Lewis as Ellie. credit: Roger Ebert.com

Ellie Chiu (played by an excellent Leah Lewis), is the only Asian in her very small rural town and longs of going to art school but does not have the money. Her father, still mourning the years ago death of Ellie's mom, runs the freight train crossing at the edge of town where Ellie works late at night. She is extremely smart, and she is secretly paid by classmates to ghostwrite their school papers. Ellie also has one other secret, she is gay and has feelings for her classmate, Aster (Alexxis Lemire), the daughter of the town's church Deacon. Enter, Paul (Daniel Diemer), a football player who is kind and shy and also has a crush on Aster. He doesn't know how to express himself so he pays Ellie to write Aster some love letters. She reluctantly agrees and the story expands from there. While the plot is a modern variation on Cyrano De Bergerac (or if you prefer a younger version of Steve Martin's Roxanne) writer/director Alice Wu and a great unknown cast fill the movie with so much honesty and heart it made me forget any familiarities of the story and allowed me to truly enjoy an excellently made film. It is rare to see a film of such nuance in today's cinema and I highly recommend this one. [Side note: This film reminds me of another Asian American independent gem called Eve and the Firehorse, directed by Julia Kwan, from 2005. I saw it at the Hawaii International Film Festival and I wish this movie as well was given a platform like Netflix]. 

   

Frequency, released in 2000. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯.

Dennis Quaid in Frequency. credit: IMDB

I saw this when it came out on VHS but didn't really remember the full story, so it was fun to watch again like it was the first time. In 1999 (present day when the movie was released) a New York police detective (played by Jim Caviezel) finds his father's old ham-radio in the basement and magically the radio allows him to talk to his long deceased New York firefighter father (Dennis Quaid) in 1969. This crux of parents, their children, and time lost is the heart of the story. There is a police investigation plot involving a serial killer that feels a little too much like a standard tv cop show (not surprising director Gregory Hoblit directed and produced a number of episodes for Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue) and at times this police story feels like a distraction from the father/son story but if I didn't focus too much on the police aspect it worked fine. Another distraction is the attempt at New York accents by the two stars (they aren't very good at the accent), but that's nitpicking. The film also tries to explain some of the magical happenings which seem unnecessary, for instance a phenomenon with the northern lights that happens every thirty years has something to do with the time traveling radio signal. One thing I did appreciate is the nod to the creation of new memories when the past is altered allowing the future to change. In many time travel movies when the past is altered the main characters apparently lived a whole different life that they have no memory of (for instance Marty McFly has no idea what happened in his first eighteen years of life after he changes the events of 1955; he doesn't recognize his house, his family, etc.). If you stick to the heart of Frequency and don't get weighed down in examining the logistics this is a very enjoyable little film and you'll be glad to have seen it. I know I'm glad to have seen it.

Enemy at the Gates, released 2001. Ryan's Rating: ✯✯1/2.

Jude Law as the Soviet Sniper credit: PrimeVideo

During WWII, a Soviet sniper (Jude Law) is built up by a writer in the war department (Joseph Fiennes) as a folk hero to boost the morale during the Nazi invasion. In turn the Nazis bring in their own sniper (Ed Harris) to hunt down this Russian hero. The movie feels like three stories that could have worked well together but never really gel like they should: First story, the two snipers hunting each other (which should be the main story but really doesn't come until maybe forty minutes in); second story, there is a historical drama aspect about the effects of war on the regular people and seeing the war from the Soviet/Russian point of view (this includes an epic opening battle sequence reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan's D-Day opening); and then the third story (personally the least interesting) is the triangle between the Fiennes and Law characters (Fiennes's character eventually resents the fame he's given to this sniper) and a volunteer female soldier (Rachel Weisz). Each sort of work in and of themselves, but they never combine into a single film like the makers want. The best sequence is a stand off between the two snipers in a bombed out factory involving reflections in panes of broken glass. My least favorite of the  movies listed here.

Stranger Than Fiction, released 2006. Ryan's Rating: ✯✯✯✯ (highly recommended).

Will Ferrell as Harold finding joy in life. credit: Netflix

Harold Crick (wonderfully played by Will Ferrell in a non-Ferrell performance) is a stuffy IRS auditor who lives in routine because he seemingly knows no other way. He does everything to obsessive precision from brushing his teeth to catching the correct bus and by choice never takes any days off from work. One day he hears a woman's voice narrating his life as if it were a novel and the voice informs him he will die in the next few weeks. Harold seeks out a local college English professor (Dustin Hoffman, who has a really nice office for a professor) to explain the novelistic narration Harold is hearing. This leads them to discover the voice belongs to a reclusive award winning author (Emma Thompson) working on her next book and little does she know that her writings are effecting real life. There's also a sweet and believable love story that grows between Harold and a woman he's auditing (Maggie Gyllenhaal). And that is only the beginning. I truly enjoyed this film, perfectly cast it never goes too deeply into its meta-narrative ideas but is an engaging life affirming tale fully realized by the filmmakers and cast. Check this one out if you haven't seen it.

Mystery Men, released 1999. Ryan's Rating: ✯✯1/2.

The Replacement Heroes. credit: decider.com

When a big time super hero (played by Greg Kinnear) is kidnapped, a group of amateur heroes (Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, etc.) band together to save him and the city from the clutches of a mad villain (Geoffrey Rush, clearly having a ball). These low rent heroes (sort of) have powers, with names like The Bowler, The Shoveler, and Blue Raja, but are more of a ragtag misfit team. Based on an independent comic book series the film feels like a comic come to life with its framing and shot compositions and the elaborate sets. It is a fun movie but its pace is a bit slow and like many movies about teams has to take up a lot of story time introducing the characters. My favorite (and this is not a joke toward the Jim C. Stan) is The Bowler played by Janeane Garofalo in another tailor made part. I remember this was a big hit for my freshman class when it came out in 1999.

The Vast of Night, wide release 2020 (festival 2019). Ryan's Rating: ✯✯✯1/2 

Jake Horowitz and Sierra McCormick pc: IMDB

It's the late 1950s in the small town of Cayuga, NM, and it's the night of the big high school basketball game. The town switchboard operator (played by Sierra McCormick) and her friend the local radio DJ (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange sound coming through the phone and radio lines that appears to be otherworldly. While this basic plot has been used countless times (Close Encounters, The Blob, Them, Twilight Zone, Contact, heck this could be a 1950s Stranger Things) first time director Andrew Patterson (and writer under a pseudonym) makes it all seem fresh and surprisingly original. Patterson nods to this familiarity with a framing device of a 1950s TV show "Paradox Theater" (this neat framing has meta-narrative connotations but also works to cover up some edits or possibly moments that were not able to be filmed in the budget). Throughout the film there is a tangible unsettled feeling and the tension builds and builds as the films progresses, al based the way Patterson sets up shots and uses long single takes superior yet subtle performances by the actors. There is a close up/long take of McCormick operating the switchboard as frantic calls come in that lasts for several minutes it is handled masterfully by both the director and actress. To quote reviewer Sheila O'Malley (one of the many who operate under Roger Ebert's team), "It's old-fashioned in a beautiful way: once upon a time, a close-up really meant something, and close-ups really mean something in The Vast of Night." I fully agree. Director Patterson has a great eye for framing and camera movement and while he made this film with a very small budget (apparently paid for almost entirely out of his own pocket) it always looks like a high quality film. Patterson's feature directing career (after many years making commercials) is off to a good start and I hope he has the opportunity to make more films as well put together as this one. 

Quarantine Reviews 8: Academy Award Winners and Nominees (prime for rediscovery, and one current nominee)

Copyright Academy of Arts and Sciences

Oscar Fever, Ryan Reviews: Hud, Lillies of the Field, Only When I Laugh,  Tender Mercies, Starman, and The Trial of the Chicago Seven

With the 2021 Academy Awards coming up this weekend (an event I've watched since I was a little boy) I've reviewed several Academy Award Winners and Nominees that are prime for rediscovery!

Happy Viewing!

Cinematographer James Wong Howe. credit: AFI

 Hud. released 1963. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯✯ (out of four)

Based on a novel by Larry McMurtry (who just passed away in 2021) and like most McMurtry stories it is a coming of age character study about the conflicts between the old world and the new world.  Hud Bannon (Paul Newman), a young self centered womanizer, is constantly at odds with his father, Homer (Melvyn Douglas who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar), an aging rancher with an admirable moral code and unflinching principles. They operate a cattle ranch in a small Texas town in the 1950s. Also on the ranch is teenaged Lonnie (Brandon deWilde) who is trying to find his way in the world and is unsure if he should follow Hud's rebellious ways or Homer's more principled lifestyle. Over the course of the story an entire herd of cattle becomes infected with foot and mouth disease which could be the end of the ranch. There is a powerful scene where the entire herd needs to be killed to prevent the spread of the disease. Patricia Neal (who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar) plays the ranch housekeeper who wants nothing to do with Hud or his continuing advances. Filmed in spectacular black and white with Oscar winning cinematography by James Wong Howe (a truly important figure that should be better known, an innovator in the field and all the more impressive because he was Asian American at a time when there were none or very few behind the camera). Martin Ritt always gets exceptional performances from his actors and here is no exception in a truly moving film.

Lilies of the Field released 1963. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯✯ (out of four)

Sidney Poitier. photocredit: TCM

This film is probably best known today for Sidney Poitier winning the Best Actor Academy Award making him the second black actor to win a competitive acting award (Hattie McDaniel was the first) and making him the first black man to win Best Actor (he would be the only one to win Best Actor for nearly forty more years). I wonder how many of today's viewers have actually seen the movie? I must confess I had always wanted to see it but never took the time until 2020. It is prime for rediscovery. Poitier plays Homer Smith, a man who can fix anything and is good at construction. He is driving west to find work but makes a pitstop at a farm in Arizona occupied by five German nuns. The head nun (Lilia Skala, Oscar nominated) believes he has been sent by God and convinces (really tricks Homer) into staying with them to build a chapel. This dynamic, the push and pull between the two headstrong characters (Homer and Mother Maria), is the heart of the story, and the plot is almost like a bible parable. It is a very small and simple movie but I found it very moving and Poitier is as always commanding to watch. I highly recommend it for an old fashioned film and it is only 90 minutes long.

Only When I Laugh released 1981. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯ (out of four)

Marsha Mason and Kristy McNichol pc:Prime Video

Based on Neil Simon's play The Gingerbread Lady, with a screenplay adapted by Simon, follows a once successful Broadway star, Georgia (Marsha Mason), who lost her career to alcoholism and as the film opens she is leaving a rehab center. She returns to her New York apartment and her two best friends, one an unemployed actor (James Coco) and a debutant who is obsessed with appearing young (Joan Hackett). Shortly after returning home, Georgia's teenaged daughter (Kristy McNichol), who normally lives with Georgia's ex-husband, comes to live with her. The story continues with Georgia working to stay sober, create a relationship with her daughter, and working to get her Broadway career back on track. There is a very theatrical feel to this (showing its stage origins) and I had to get used to the rhythm of Simon's dialog here because it is not quite realistic. Once I became accustom to the film's style I enjoyed the movie, especially the acting, and I love the location filming in New York. The four main actors are great but Coco and McNichol really stand out (Mason, Coco and Hackett were all nominated for Academy Awards). Prime for rediscovery especially for fans of Broadway and Neil Simon's work. That being said I want to note, the alcoholism is not presented in a very credible way, and there is an assault of the main character (off screen late in the film) that is also not handled well, both are simply here as plot devices. This offhanded use of very real issues may effect your enjoyment of the movie or may make you not want to see it (Siskel & Ebert hated this movie for this and several other reasons). While watching the film it didn't bother me as I was swept up in the story, but as I was thinking about the film for this review it rubbed me the wrong way. I'm still very glad to have seen this film and do recommend it.  

Tender Mercies released 1981. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯1/2 (out of four)

Duvall and Tess Harper. pc: IMDB

Mac Sledge (Robert Duvall) is a once successful country musician who lost his career and family to alcoholism. As the film opens Mac wakes up from a days long blackout in a roadside motel located in a vast open area of Texas. The motel is owned and run by a young widow (Tess Harper, in her film debut) whose husband died as a young soldier in Vietnam about ten years prior, she also has a ten year old son. He asks if she needs an employee in exchange for a place to stay. She agrees and eventually they fall in love and get married. Now, that could be a story in itself but this all happens in the first ten minutes. Hotron Foote's Academy award winning screenplay is really a series of loosely connected scenes/vignettes all centered around the Mac character. For such a low key role Duvall commands the screen and is mesmerizing, he even does his own signing. This role won him a well deserved Best Actor Oscar. The entire cast is excellent and while I thoroughly enjoyed the film (and was moved by it) this may not be to everyone's liking since it is so quiet. If you're willing to stick with it there are a lot of rewards.

Starman released 1984. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯1/2 (out of four)

Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. pc: blu-ray.com

In response to the invitation from the Voyager 2 space probe, a being from outer space comes to earth. In Starman's initial arrival to Earth the ship is shot at by the military and crashes in Wisconsin near the home of a young widow (Karen Allen). Reviewing photos and home movies, the starman takes the form of the woman's recently deceased husband (Jeff Bridges). Soon Starman and the widow (against her will) are on a road trip to Barringer Crater Arizona where he must meet his pick up ship in four days. The basic story and several scenes are very similar to E.T. (which was released two years earlier) but this is a very different movie. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned into a road picture with the two characters traveling cross country, initially I thought the two would stay on her farm so this change of scenery was an exciting change and despite the fact that this is an easy way to show Starman interacting with American life it all rings true. There are some truly great shots of the open desert as they near Arizona. There is a scene where they hitch a ride in the back of a pickup with some migrant workers and we see the clouds and mountains expand in the background in a single shot/long take. I found it breathtaking. Bridges (nominated for Best Actor here) is great as the alien in an unfamiliar skin. Critic Roger Ebert notes that one of the best parts of Bridges's performance is that he never fully becomes human. His speech and movements are always slightly off center and it provides for a great performance. For me, the real key to the film is Karen Allen, who has the less showy and therefore more difficult part. Her progression from fear and uncertainty to warmth and affection is the heart of the movie. This is director John Carpenter's most a-typical film and it is arguably his best. Highly recommend by me.

Trial of the Chicago 7 (2021 Nominee) released 2020. Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯1/2 (out of four)

pc: nytimes.com

Currently nominated for six Academy Awards is another fine film by Aaron Sorkin, who in my opinion has yet to make a bad film. As the title explains this film focuses on a ludicrous trail of initially eight but eventually seven anti-Vietnam war protest leaders who were brought to trial as a scapegoat for the Nixon administration under claims that the seven started the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. As many reviews have stated, Sorkin plays with the facts and rearranges some of the events in order to tell his story so this should not be taken as a complete reenactment but more a commanding film inspired by real events. Perfectly cast. Sasha Baron Cohen (Oscar nominated here) is excellent as Abby Hoffman and this was the first time I have seen Cohen in a film where I forgot it was him. The film is ultimately timely in its depiction of a corrupt government and legal system (Frank Langella as the deranged judge is infuriating), as well as abuses of police power are all unfortunately relevant. Originally intended as a theatrical release (it had a very short run) but made its wide release on Netflix due to the pandemic. It seemed more suited to the TV screen I'm not sure why. It is a fine film and I was enthralled, engaged, and entertained.

Quarantine Movies Reviews 7: Four small town murder mysteries

Watch out who you chat with in these small towns (really three small towns and a big estate)!

Ryan's Reviews of Cookie's Fortune, Clay Pigeons, Drowning Mona, and Gosford Park.

Janeane Garofalo and Vince Vaughn in Clay Pigeons. pc: IMDB

Clay Pigeons (released 1998) Ryan's Rating ✯✯1/2 (out of four)

I have wanted to see this film since I saw the VHS cover in Blockbuster Video but at the time it was a little older than my sixth grade mind could handle so my family was not going to rent it for me. I never got around to watching it till now (though the Amazon Prime Video version is a pan & scan, seemingly copied from a VHS which maybe takes it all full circle). 

Clay (a young Joaquin Phoenix) is a lazy guy living in a small town (possibly in Texas though the film was shot in Utah) and has been sleeping with his best friend's wife. His best friend kills himself and makes it look like a murder committed by Clay. Soon a mysterious drifter, with a creepy laugh (early career Vince Vaughn), shows up and insinuates himself into Clay's life. Within a week more dead bodies start showing up all with a connection to Clay and then the FBI arrives (Janeane Garofalo) to look into it. This is a mix of Neo-Noir and a black comedy, the opening scene really pulls the audience in and the first thirty minutes are so good that the rest of the film doesn't sustain the greatness of the beginning. On top of that the pace slows down at about the halfway mark. I enjoyed the movie overall, though the ending is not a satisfying resolution and sometimes the country songs on the soundtrack dilute their scenes instead of enhancing them. It is very reminiscent of the 1980s and 1990s independent Neo-Noirs or crime films like Blood Simple, One False Move, and Red Rock West (among many others). If you're a fan of Neo-Noir and have an hour and forty five minutes give this one a whirl.

Cookie's Fortune (released 1999) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯ (out of four).

Charles S. Dutton and Liv Tyler in Cookie's Fortune PC IMDB

During Easter weekend in a small Mississippi town, a wealthy eccentric woman named Cookie (played by the always lovely Patricia Neal) dies in her sleep and her money hungry sister (played by Glenn Close) claims it was murder. Soon Cookie's longtime friend and handyman (Charles S. Dutton in one of his most appealing performances) is charged with the crime, though most of the town doubts his involvement. This Robert Altman film, like all Altman films, is an ensemble piece with a wonderful cast (including Julianne Moore, and many1990s familiar faces like Liv Tyler, Chris O'Donnell, and Lyle Lovett) and a more whimsical lighthearted approach than I am used to from Altman. And like other Altman films it is more of a character study than a true mystery as the audience knows full well what happened but we are watching to see how the story plays out with the these wonderful characters. It is a sweet funny film.

Drowning Mona (released 2000) Ryan's Rating ✯✯ (out of four).

In a town where everyone still drives a Yugo brand car because it was used for market testing in the 1970s, the most hated resident Mona Dearly (played with gusto by Bette Midler) is murdered when her brakes fail. The sheriff (excellent Danny DeVito) begins to investigate and finds a town full of suspects but all evidence seems to point toward his soon to be son-in-law (pre-fame Casey Affleck). This is a very black comedy, with much of the "humor" being downright mean. Through flashbacks we see events told by different characters and how the story changes depending on which character is speaking. The plot is a traditional small town "whodunit" mystery but run through a wacky filter and by the end I did not really care to figure out who the culprit was. The movie feels too long even at 96 minutes and the excellent cast that includes Neve Campbell (the sheriff's daughter) and Jamie Lee Curtis (not given much to do as a chain smoking waitress). It would have been better shorter and maybe as an HBO TV movie instead of a theatrical feature. There are some funny ideas, like the Yugos.

Gosford Park (released 2001) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯ (out of four).

Another wonderful late career gem by Robert Altman. At the British Estate of the title a wide array of aristocracy and their servants gather for a weekend party where the host is killed. While there is a murder and a solution, the murder element of the story doesn't really happen till quite late in the film. This is really a "upstairs/downstairs" ensemble piece as we see the lives of the wealthy and their servants juxtaposed. The Oscar winning screenplay by Julian Fellows is a precursor to Fellows later success. He took many of the elements in his story here and several years later created the extremely successful Downton Abby TV Series. An enjoyable ensemble piece that is not really a mystery but just an interesting character study with great cinematography, excellent set/costume design, and wonderful performance by a great cast.