Thursday, November 7, 2024

Fighting Spirit: A Combat Chaplain’s Journey (2024)


This is a look at the role of chaplains in the military. Using the discovery of the remains of a POW chaplain  after 70 years the film looks at the role of chaplains over the years and the sacrifices that they have made through interviews with chaplains who served in various conflicts over the last few years.

If you ever wanted to know what t’s like to be a chaplain both during and after deployment this film is for you. This is a film that tells you everything you wanted to know and then some  about the position. While the film focuses on a Christian chaplains the film also introduces us to other men of other faiths.

This is a solid film.

If I was to quibble with the film it’s that the film is a little too slick for my taste. I know from several friends who are men of the cloth of various faiths that the job is incredibly tough and takes a toll. While we get some of that in this film the film doesn’t quite lean in the way it should. I never quite felt the emotional connection I should have. I blame the editing which at times is a little too frenetic.

Quibble aside this is definitely worth a look.

GO LIKE HELL (2023)

 


Portrait of the independent rocket company Firefly over a several year period during which time they struggle to find money, fight off a lawsuit from Virgin and desperately try to get into space. An dependent company not tied to a billionaire the company is run by people working with the promise that when it all comes together they will make money on the backend.

At times the presentation is kind of bland an matter of fact, there are lots of talking heads. At the same time the charming nature of the people on screen and the unending turns of the journey keep us glued to the screen and wanting to see what happens next. By the time the rocket launches we are fully invested and there and the odds are by the end we are cheering and crying with joy. In all honesty it fully earns the tears of joy.

The rating of 8 is splitting the difference. I say that because while the final sequence is the payoff is part of the story it is so much more emotional than the rest of the film that it seems to be from some other film. In no way would it work without what went before, but it’s some how so much better that it over powers the rest of the film. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it’s just a bit odd.

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (2024)


Seemingly coming from nowhere and seemingly unexpectedly wonderful THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP is a glorious feature film starring Porky and Daffy, who along with Petunia, end up fighting an alien invasion.

And when I said this is a feature film, I meant it. The film is not a series of black out sketches but a genuine feature film with a beginning middle and ending. There are blackout pieces but the film is entirely focused on a narrative thrust. Honestly the film shouldn't work, you shouldn't have eleven people credited its writing it and still have it work...and it does...pretty much flawlessly.

What makes the film work is that the film gets the characters dead on right and expands them. The film charts Daffy and porky's friendship from when they were kids to now. It lets them grow and be real people and yet the same characters. When the farmer who raised them essentially dies, we are moved. There are other deeply emotional moments, say Porky discovering and being frightened by Petunia, that bring out genuine emotions that you never really felt with any Looney Tunes project previously.  I never teared up with Looney Tunes before.

The best thing I can say is that this is on the level of the best animation being turned out today. It stands shoulder to shoulder with most of the great animated films of the last decade. Watching the film I was struck that the film would make a brilliant co-feature with WALLACE AND GROMIT VENGEANCE MOST FOUL, the film from Aardman and Netflix because it's a film that takes classic characters and breathes new life into them. There are emotions and complexity in both films that raise the stakes.

This film is one of the best film in the Looney Tunes canon and it is a film that probably would have delighted Chuck Jones, Friz Freling, Bob Clampett and the other animators because it shows how the creators of today built on what they did and went in directions they could only have hoped to go.(Warner studio heads would never have gone for a feature, never mind one with this much complexity and emotion.)

This is one one of the great films  and great finds of 2024. I honestly had little hope for this and instead founf myself completely blown away.

Highly recommended.

It's on the festival circuit and it's going to be released early next year- go.

Starring Jerry As Himself (2023)



This is a documentary narrative hybrid about Jerry Hsu who tells us the story of what happened after he was recruited by the Chinese police.

The less you know about the arc of this story the better it's going to play for you. I say that because this is a beautiful puzzle box of a film. This is a film about what happened to Jerry, his life, his family and the making of the film.  Its a film that is full layers and as the film goes on doors are opened and the layers of the story are peeled away.  

It's a hell of a ride...and a bracing cautionary tale that you need to see.


Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Drive Back (2024)


Newly engaged couple are heading home after a big party. Getting lost in the wood after an encounter with a hitchhiker the couple slowly realize that they have crossed into a different reality.

This is a really weird film that plays all sorts of games with reality. There are lots of questions about what is going on. I was, for a much of the film completely locked and loaded, willing to go anywhere the film was taking me...

And then suddenly the film lost me. It didn't do anything.  It just stopped being compelling being compelling because it didn't seem to be going anywhere.  Sure I wanted to see where it went, but all of the tension was gone. It seemed like it was just going on to reach feature length rather than having a definite ending.

While the conclusion is fine, it doesn’t recover from the loss of suspense.

Monday, November 4, 2024

MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (2024)


In the wake of the death of her friend, Grace Pudel relates the story of her life and her obsession with snails.

Another home run from animator Adam Eliot, and another film I never want to see again. A film filled with humor and the darkness of life, what happens to Grace and her brother is largely terrible,  it's a kind of weird parable about finding light and hope where you can. The problem is that so many terrible things happen it becomes overwhelming. I wanted to check out several times during the film and kept wondering if it wouldn't be better to just eat poison.

Don't get me wrong, I love the film, but the bleakness of it all is almost too much to bare.  It's so over powering that I kind of have mixed feelings about the ending, the happily ever after turn feels more like an attempt not to have people killing themselves in the aisles than anything that would follow. 

Honestly my quibbles about the darkness aside it's a great film, and is recommended, just don't see it if you're having a down day.

100 Yards (2024) opens Friday


When you see 100 YARDS just go with it. Give it time to set the table and get going. I say this because the plot, about the son of the head of a martial arts school battling the first apprentice who now runs the school for control of it has been done to death in martial arts films and other genres as well. You've seen this a thousand times before. However the setting in 1920 Tianjin city and the vast array of characters are something new.

Playing at times as a jazz age western in modern dress 100 YARDS is truly something special. A one of a kind film that takes a well worn plot and makes it into something you've not really seen before. I say this because despite the film having a plot line I knew, I had no idea where this was going to go. I mean I really had no idea where this was going because the film is so filled with characters I've never seen before that I couldn't make a guess what was going to happen.

If you need an example of how different this film is consider the women in this film. There are four vitally important roles for women in the film and every one is not what you expect. One is the cross dressing spokesman for the The Circle, the martial arts group controlling the city's schools, whose back story is unexpected. Another is another member of the the Circle and while seemingly minor plays a key role several times. As for the two romantic partners for the men at the center of the tale... let's just say you aren't ready for who they are, so don't even try to guess. The women are seemingly not important but the truth is not for them most of the story wouldn't happen.

The action sequences are wonderfully atypical. The fights are compelling and culminate in a battle that runs the better part of the last 45 minutes. Amazingly it also advances the plot because of the things that happen during it. While a couple of people do die over the course of the film, their deaths are not the result of the fights.

To be honest I was ready to hang it up ten minutes in,certain this was a form over content film with a plot I'd seen before, and five minutes later I was staring at the screen gob smacked because I had no idea where this was going. Characters and situations were changing before my eyes.

I need to see this film again.

If you can give yourself over to the film and let it work its magic I think you are going to have a great time.

Highly recommended.

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Anora (2024)

A joyous moment that is being used to sell a downer of a film

I liked ANORA. It has some great moments and one extended set piece that is one of the best things I've seen in the movies all year. However this talk about it being the best film of 2024 and the probable Oscar winner has to stop.  I mean the film is easily the least film from Sean Baker and it has all sorts of narrative, character and tonal problems.

The plot of the film film has a girl named Anora, but who goes by the name of Ani, meeting Ivan, the son of a Russian oligarch, who becomes infatuated with her. On a trip to Vegas he proposes and they get married. Right after they get back to New York his parents find out and send their men to put a stop to it. Ani's husband flees and she is forced to help run him down before the parents arrive the next day. Billed as a romance the film is a grand tragedy as it all goes to shit in the end.

The simple response to the film is that once the first act ends the second starts with the family's men showing up and Ani being forced to help them track down her errant husband the film actually works until you realize that you knew how this was going to go from the start and you were just waiting to see how everyone is emotionally left broken (The not so romantic comedy is going to end as an unhappy tragedy). It's largely unremarkable story telling with nothing to say that we couldn't have worked out in the first five minutes.

The one thing the film has that makes me really like the film is a stunning sequence that is the start of the second act when the father's men are sent to find out what the hell is going on and if the rumors of marriage are true. The sequence in the house from their arrival until they head off on the chase is quite simply one of the best sequences in any film this year. Hell, it's better than most other complete films. The problem is it's the only one where you actually have real characters doing real things. Its the only one that doesn't feel contrived and angling to get us to the predetermined downbeat ending.

As I've said one of the biggest problems with the film is that there are no characters. Everyone, with the possible exception of the fixer, is one note. No one arcs. That maybe the point, Baker may have wanted to show us characters who never learn, but they never feel real as a result. Watching characters who are not real so much as cliche cut outs is tough. And while it maybe the point, I didn't want to watch characters who spend the first third of the film smoking, drinking and screwing and nothing else.

The truth is Baker's so incredibly lazy in his construction of characters that you know how empty and vapid a character is by how much a character smokes.  The more some one smokes anything the less complex they are simply because their use of tobacco, weed or vape is their character trait. Its also true of a lesser extent alcohol or pills which is only brought in so that something bad can happen. It's as if Baker created everyone on a spread sheet checking off traits to signify who they are or how they will react. The result is characters who are limited in characteristics and personality. 

What is truly annoying is that Baker's view of anyone in their twenties seems to be that they are still children who never learned impulse control or to grow up. He views his characters as simply as the person who once reduced Romero and Juliet down to the statement that it's "a three day love affair between a 13 year old and a 1 year old where  6 people die", except no one dies here. And while that simplicity is true of the Shakespeare play, which works because of the shading, Baker gives us no shading so his characters are non-entities. Baker has no real respect for his characters because there is nothing to them, their lives are getting wasted or getting laid. These are the least interesting people you can think of. Their selling point is one is a sex worker and the other is rich. What is there to them beyond that? Nothing. Honestly I would not want to be with these people in real life because they have nothing going on in their lives so why would there be a reason to see them on film? Baker never gives us a reason, even in a throw away line so the characters remain one note. The only two interesting characters in the whole film are the fixer (who we see at a christening indicating a bigger life) and the bald goon Igor, who takes pity on Ani who we see go to his grandmothers apartment indicating a bigger life.

The lack of arcing in the characters makes the film kind of pointless and ultimately dull. I mean why watch the story when you know that in the end Ani is going to be back where she started  but with the addition of the emotional kick to the gut of her relationship being bogus because her husband is really just a horny infant. More to the point why didn't you just make this a tragedy from start without the bogus comedy center? This isn't a story, so much a pointless shaggy dog story.

Tonally the film is a mess. It';s billed as a romantic comedy but there is no real romance just sex confused as love. The opening bit is a by the numbers meet cute and "romance" between people who only have sex in common. It's so by the numbers that there is no emotion, the sex scenes are not sexy, sure Ivan enjoys, but it it's mechanical and by its largely rote for Ani, who has to teach Ivan to be a lover. The film then shifts for the kick ass scene in the house which mixes humor and suspense, before shifting to broader comedy for the chase around the city, before turning again, this time into something tragic in the final bit as the parents come to town. Very little of it feels genuine, all of it feels as though it was set up to manipulate the audience. Again it's Baker working off the spreadsheet instead of writing about life.

I dragged from section to section, never carried along.

Looking at Baker's spreadsheet design, the dramatic structure  isn't really well done. Things happen just to drive the film and kill time until we get to the ending which reveals the film to be a remake of the original draft of PRETTY WOMAN. The opening act is rather cliche in that we know where it's going to go, we have to have a "romance" for the rest of the film to have a reason to happen. The start of the second act may be brilliant, but after confounding our expectations the film settles into a more or less chase mode where funny things happen but nothing is serious until a certain amount of time runs when Ivan is found to be hiding at Ani's old place of employment. Why did he go there? Because he never would have been found otherwise. Baker needed him to be found by Ani's friends so they could be directed to him. And in perfect example of why the film is badly and unoriginally plotted, not only did Mr Baker do the cliche thing of having him hide out in Ani's old work place but he also had him fool around with Ani's enemy.  Seriously? The film truly lost my respect there. The final third of the film has the parents arrive result in several sequences that wrap up the action but do so in a completely unremarkable way. And I don't mean that so much as we know how it's going to go, but rather the sequences and characters of the parents are so badly written  as to be cliche and events are so minimally written as to not let events play out but simply march the characters through events because we have to get to the ending. There is no shading to anything just what is required to explain where things are going as if it was pulled off an outline.

It's not bad, but it it isn't really good either. It all just sort of is. This feels more like a film made from a first draft script instead of one that was worked on over time. 

Walking out of the theater to the train with Nate Hood  He argued that the point of the film is to show that these people didn't change and didn't arc, and that they were vapid. But my argument back was then why tell us this story? What is the point of telling this story, in this way with heightened emotion and comedy, if we are going to end up with a depressing down beat ending? Honestly the final scene in the car should have wrecked me, and would have had Baker had any handle on the film's narrative rhythms. I don't see the point of giving us expectations of one thing of a possible Hollywood romance, only to have us crash into a brick wall? As I said this should have been played as what it really is trying to be, namely a real world PRETTY WOMAN (what that film was supposed to be) without the humor.

Personally if the film had ended with the shot of Ani's confused face staring at the Igor, who was nice to her, instead of her screwing him the film would have worked better because at that very moment the film would have given Ani an entire arc because she seemed to grow up and realize how badly she fucked up and how things could have/ should have gone. We did not need, nor should we have seen her slip back into her old ways of connecting through sex. For me had the film ended with her face and the instant arc I would have loved the film because the film would have come together in an instant, instead of coming together in order to simply fall apart.

Despite the many serious flaws I do like the film, but I can not see why anyone thinks this is anything near the best of the year because it's not. Anyone saying that is wrongly over hyping the film.

Born To Fly (2022)


The story of Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, who was infected by his father's love of pole vaulting and became the best there ever was.

Unexpectedly great look at a champion pole vaulter is strangely one of the most compelling sports docs I've seen in a long time.

There is something about the construction of the film that pulls us in and infects us with the mania that infects Mondo” Duplantis. Its so cleverly told that while it’s clear that Mondo is really good, we are still fooled into thinking that maybe possibly he isn’t going to be as great as he is. Additionally he and his family are absolutely charming and by the end they are family. 

I want to see this again when I can just watch it for fun. A truly great film.

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Point Break (1991)


Until I went to RIfftrax riff of POINT BREAK, I had never really seen the film since it originally opened. I never thought much of it and never went back.

Watching the film again for the first time in decades I realized why I had never gone back, it’s not very good.  The story of a hot shot ex-jock who became a lawyer, joined the FBI, gets partnered with a renegade agent and seeks to take down a team of surfing bank robbers is now a cliché of sorts. Its been ripped off and parodied  to death.  It feels like its been cobbled together from parts in a closet.

How or why any of this ties together makes zero sense. There are plot holes that the Grand Canyon could get lost in. Things just happen-because (Jump out of a plane- twice? Sure why not. Do it with the guy who is trying to arrest you? Absolutely). That Reeves is an FBI agent at the end is a head scratcher.

That people were upset about the film being remade a few years ago is a head scratcher. I mean people were upset that they turned a turd ball into a bigger turd ball.

Even the action isn’t that good. Even allowing for 33 years of advances in film techniques, its still not good.  It’s a mix of over edited moments (The house gun fights) or things a half a step slow (everything else).

Clearly this connected with people that 33 plus years on we are still talking about it. I have no idea why- more so since so many better films from the same time are lost to time

Friday, November 1, 2024

Agent of Happiness (2024) opens today


Amber Gurung is a Happiness agent in Bhutan. He is tasked with quizzing people about their happiness in an effort to make the kingdom a better place to live. As he ponders the happiness of the nation he also takes stock of his own life and happiness.

Small quiet gem of a film is filled with small delights as the people Amber meets open up about their lives and make us smile and feel kinship.  Less a film of highs and lows then of mediation the film shines in making us think about our own lives and experiences.

This film is a joy and is recommended.

Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

 


Some how this Guy Ritchie film got lost. Despite getting really good reviews the film kind of went no where at the box office and I only caught it on cable.

The true story of a bunch of soldiers willing to fight war down and dirty, the film follows a band of misfits as they go to a Spanish island to stop a German freighter from being used as submarine supplier Ship.  Of course t goes side ways and in unexpected ways. Sporting a cast that includes Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding among others, the film is an old school film done with modern sensibility. Blood flows and curses spoken. It’s a film that doesn’t rely on rapid cutting for effect but on situation and character. The result is a wonderful popcorn film.

I had a blast.

Is it high art- no but it’s damn entertaining.

Recommended

Thursday, October 31, 2024

No Other Land (2024) opens tomorrow


HARUN (a qudraplegic man crippled by an Israeli bullet): Is anyone coming?
HARUN's MOTHER: No, no one is coming

Exchange in a tent between parent and child after they are left alone for the night

As people move to close down this year's NYFF because of the financial support from Israeli sources, they seem to be completely unaware that NO OTHER LAND is playing the festival  and that with in it's crushing 95 minutes is an emotional bomb that is going to change hearts and minds in ways that protests will never manage.

The film a record of the systematic destruction of an West Bank community from 2019 until 2023. It's a document of how the Israeli government is using the military and the settlers to drive out the Palestinians so that they can claim the land.

Finished literally days before the October 7 attack, the film is a blistering explanation of where the anger that spawned that attack came from. It's a film that broke the audience of writers at NYFF and was the first in 10 films screened to get long applause from most of audience.

The filmmakers make clear that the people in the village have been there for generations with some families living there since 1830. This is not a reclaiming of land the Palestinians took for a new settlement but the removal of a people who had been there since the beginning of time.

My attitude toward the film as a film was, for a certain amount of time, that the film was a solid retelling of Israeli human rights violations and then the story of Harun takes center stage an the film drops the gloves and it makes clear, in no uncertain terms, that the treatment of the Palestinians is nothing short that genocide. My heart, and the hearts of those around me were crushed.

Harun was shot for defending his home and then left for dead. He survived but as a quadriplegic who had to be cared for my his mother, because there is no medical help for him and literally moved around in a cart. It's no wonder seeing things like this day after day that the light in director Bael Adra's eyes dims and fades over the course of the film.

Let me make clear that is not a statement directed at all Israelis but the government under Netanyahu, they are criminals. 

Many will call this a political film, but it is not. It is made by a group of directors and reporters who are both Israeli and Palestinian. There is no side. Frankly it is simply a document of a great wrong against humanity. The only politics in the film is that it's Israelis with guns and heavy machinery against Palestinians with cameras.

A week before I saw this film I saw the film WE WILL DANCE AGAIN, about the October 7 attack and was shocked at the brutality of what happened, and then I saw NO OTHER LAND and my single thought was of course the October 7 attack happened...but why didn't it happen sooner?

This film is an absolute must see.

Easily one of the best and most important films of not only the festival but 2024 as well.

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Liz Whittemore on MISSING FROM FIRE TRAIL ROAD (2024)

This originally appeared at Liz's home REEL NEWS DAILY

Sabrina Van Tassel‘s TRIBECA 2024 documentary MISSING FROM FIRE TRAIL ROAD speaks for those without a voice. Indigenous women are in crisis. Why aren’t we talking about the statistics of missing native women? The number is vastly higher than any other group in the United States.

The film focuses on the story of Mary Ellen Johnson Davis, missing since 2020, as her family tries to piece together all the information they can, while also showing up for those in their community with similar circumstances. There are far too many unexplained disappearances and deaths for one community not to call it an epidemic.

The reservation has its own justice system, under which not a single white man has been prosecuted in connection to a disappearance. Families must rely on the Feds to intervene. They never do. It is endless, lawless mayhem.

Story after story, family after family, one thread connects them all. That is abuse from white outsiders. You can’t tell this story without delving into the trauma of native children stolen from their families and physically and emotionally tormented in boarding schools. MISSING FROM FIRE TRAIL ROAD delivers the horrific truth through the words of survivors.

A quote from a manual given to households when children the government was ripping from their homes reads, “The goal is not to make scientists, or doctors or lawyers out of these citizens. The goal is to make domestic housewives and farmers and laborers.” Keeping the population suppressed remains the goal. It’s cyclical genocide. It is the continuation of colonization, plain and simple.

The question remains. How many of these documentaries need to be made to get the message across? Tribeca 2024 audiences can share the native plight and, perhaps, move the dial toward justice. Do something.

Tuesday, October 29, 2024

SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D'ETAT (2024)


SOUNDTRACK… is a staggering a achievement. Hands down one of the very best documentaries of the year, it’s a film that you are going to watch multiple times because it is so full of information and amazing sequences that you will need to see it again and again to process it all. Structured like a jazz piece the film moves and breaths and dances around like something that is a living breathing entity. It’s an overwhelming piece of filmmaking.

The film is the story of what happened in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1960’s when all the hope was crushed by the intervention of non-African powers made sure that Patrice Lumumba's life was cut short. It’s a sad tale that set the stage for a great deal of what has happened in the last 60 years.

This is a hell of a film which doesn’t seem to leave any stone unturned. It goes into all sorts of unexpected places and connects them up via a brilliant structure that bounces us from point to point with out losing our attention and making sure we are following along. I was kind of shocked at the details this film shows us,  including the insanity of what happened during the shooting of the infamous documentary AFRICA ADDIO (the directors may or may have paid to film an execution). When the two and a half hours were done I was ready to go again.

I need to see this again in order to really write on it. For now, just see it. 

Know I love this film a great deal. I can’t imagine it not getting on the Oscar short list and making a run for the award.

Highly recommended.

Liz Whittemore on CHASING CHASING AMY (2023) which opens Friday


Liz Whittemore of Reel News News Daily drops by to share her thoughts onCHASING  CHASING AMY

12-year-old Sav Rodgers watched the film Chasing Amy, and his life was forever changed. Developing a kinship — and maybe a slight obsession — with it as he grew into his queerness, he decides to fund and direct a documentary that examines its role in LGBTQ+ film culture. He makes significant progress, even garnering the support and collaboration of its director, Kevin Smith. However, as the production of the documentary continues, Rodgers realizes that the legacy of the film and his relationship with it might be changing. So where does that leave him?

Sav Rodgers brings Tribeca audiences a personal story of self-discovery, being othered, and catharsis. Kevin Smith‘s 1997 film CHASING AMY is a snapshot in time. While younger generations might perceive it as problematic, for those who saw the movie during its theatrical run, it represented a sexual awakening, a different point of view, and an “oh shit” moment. A complicated love letter to a controversial LGBTQIA+ film CHASING CHASING AMY is one of the best docs at this year’s fest.

The moment Sav Rodgers meets Kevin, it’s fireworks. Kevin gives Sav access to everything the rest of us have always wanted to know. Smith confesses that Holden is him. The film plays through his lens, and much of the story comes from real people in his life. Some conversations are word for word. Just ask a close friend of Kevin and GO FISH screenwriter Guinevere Turner, who put much of herself into Amy when collaborating on the script.

The film includes interviews with critics from all generations. Each has a different perspective on the characters and the dialogue. This aspect is fascinating, filled equally with smirks and head nodding for a Gen Xer such as myself. Jason Lee talks about his hesitancy in some of Banky’s dialogue. Everyone involved understands that the film would in no way fly today.

Joey Lauren Adams, who gives us the iconic performance as Alyssa, explains her power in the role through archival interviews and a sense from the film. Kevin was, perhaps, ahead of their time in featuring a strong bisexual woman. But, the biggest irony may be Joey’s truth about CHASING AMY. This pivotal interview changes everything for everyone. Both Kevin and Joey get into their complicated past with Harvey Weinstein. Their experiences are vastly different. I am so grateful for their honesty. It means so much to so many survivors. *Waves hands in the air*

Intertwined with everything else in this glorious doc, Sav lets us into their relationship with his girlfriend, Riley. Delving into deeply personal issues, he may or may not realize how universal they are until now. One part fanboy film, another part film history, all self-discovery story, and a love letter to Riley, CHASING CHASING AMY is tailor-made for Smith fans and indie fans, the queer community, and allies.

Read more of Liz's writing here

Monday, October 28, 2024

LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE (2024)


The film is the true story of 12 year old Donn Fendler who got separated from his family while they were hiking on a mountain and the a storm moved in. The film charts the course of the next nine days as nDon tries to find his way home and his family, along with an army of searchers, tried to find him.

Sadly LOST ON A MOUNTAIN IN MAINE is going to get lost in the shuffle and it’s a major loss. This film is the sort of thing that back in the days before home video, say the mid 1970's, would have been a major it and played for weeks in theaters near you.

This is great filmmaking. What makes the film work is the inclusion of select interviews with some of the people involved. Filling in details that are not in the story (for example sneakers are not good for being lost in the wilderness since they tend to disintegrate rapidly) the film gets a weight it might not have. Make no mistake this is not a typical TV docu-drama but something else entirely. It’s closer to what Warren Beaty did with REDS rather than the History Channel.

To be certain you know going in that Donn comes out the other other end, but the enormity of what he went through and his ability to actually survive keeps us riveted. It’s a stunning achievement and highly recommended.

Luther: Never too Much (2024) opens Friday


A look at singer, composer, producer and godlike entertainer Luther Vandross.

This is gloriously celebration of a man and his music. Pointing out a lot of things you probably didn't know (I never knew about the Bowie stuff)  this is a film that will make you fall in love with the man and his music all over again.

It is also a sad tale since everyone's focus on his weight resulted in damage to his body that eventually killed him.

I was moved, as was many in the screenings (I saw this twice at Tribeca) I attended - I could see them wiping their eyes.

Highly recommended. 

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Nightcap 10/27/24: Random notes including Timmy Williams, The Indie Awards


Back at Tribeca I started talking to this guy on line for a public screening. We were a good way into the conversation before I found out the guy was Timmy Williams of The Whitest Kids You Know. The conversation continued to the movie and briefly afterward. It was such an amazing talk that I asked if I could send Matt Schulman his way so he could go on Overdue Rentals, Matt's podcast. Tim said yes. 

A couple of weeks ago Matt welcomed Tim to his show. The result was an almost two hour talk, nominally about George Romero's KNIGHTRIDERS but it goes all over the place in the best possible way.

If you want to listen to some great film talk go here.

And while you're at it listen to some of the other Overdue Rentals episodes because there are some great talks there.

(For those curious, I am mentioned a couple of times the first time around the 16 minute mark)

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If you didn't see the piece about the Indie Awards which I was involved with it can be found here.

I'm mentioning it again as a shout out to my mom, who wanted me  to either make movies or write on movies. It's something she would have been proud of.

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The plan for November and December is to do Doc NYC, some new releases and a lot of catch up posts - including some of the films I discovered while doing the Indie Awards.

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I just shifted posts around and Unseen is now set to go into mid July of 2025

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A random note about FLOW, which will only make sense once you see the film,  I got into two discussions about the characters in the film and about how there are so few. You have to understand that outside of the small fish, the only animals we see are just the ones we are introduced to.  If we see a herd of deer, its the same herd later. The dogs come back. If there are single characters, the cat, the whale, they are the only ones we see. There are no multiples.

That's the only thing I am going to say about what is in the film and what it means.

Artifact War (2024) Austin Film Festival


Jump to see ARTIFACT WAR. This under the radar gem is one you’ll want to see repeatedly.

The film is the story of a group archaeologists and academics who, even before the war in Syria, took steps to chart the antiquities and museum artifacts in case anything happened. Once the war started and the factions inside the country either sought to steal the work or destroy it, they took steps to either rescue the material or provide a trail so that if anything ended up in the markets it could be identified as plundered.

A collection of talking heads, archival footage and recreations (because somethings were too dangerous to go shoot) this film pulls us in and drags us along. It tells a story that probably none of us have heard before, but which, thanks to films like the Indian Jones films we have more than a passing interest in.

I loved this film a great deal. I did not expect to get sucked into. I never looked at my watch, I just watched and waited for the next twist or turn.

What a delight.

And know that my saying that isn’t lessening the story being told, but rather it is a way of saying that because the story of trying to protect our heritage is told so compellingly people might be more willing to do something to help prevent this from happening again or at least be aware when something appears in museum or somewhere else to realize that it might have been looted.

Recommended.