65 (2023) **

 

After watching this movie, I figured it was a straight-to-streaming movie, and it seemed about right for that genre. Mildly entertaining, but not really that great, “65” has the level of quality you used to find in a lot of TV movies. Turns out, though, that this film had a regular theatrical release, meaning it deserves to be judged by a higher standard. It was also written by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who wrote the outstanding “A Quiet Place,” making it that much more surprising that “65” is so mediocre.

Adam Driver plays Mills, an interstellar pilot from the planet Somaris, on a 2-year exploratory mission. His ship is damaged by asteroids, and he has to crash land on a nearby planet. Everyone on the ship is killed except for Mills and a young girl, and Mills sets out to get the pair of them to the ship's escape pod, which has landed 15 km away. Did I mention that Mills took this 2-year job to pay for medical treatment for his teenage daughter back on Somaris, or that these aliens look exactly like humans?

I should also mention that the planet Mills and his young charge find themselves on is Earth, and this is all taking place 65 million years ago. Fans of pre-history will recognize that that date means Mills must contend not only with dinosaurs, but with a certain fateful asteroid that caused those dinosaurs' extinction.

“65” is watchable for only 2 reasons. 1: Dinosaurs. That speaks for itself. 2: Adam Driver. He is such a compelling actor that he can elevate even the lamest of films. Still, in this case he only partly carries it off. For some reason, Beck and Woods, who not only wrote, but directed, this mess, spend much of the film having Driver hyperventilate as he deals with various crises. I guess it's meant to be realism, but a blind person could be forgiven for mistaking this movie for an obscene phone call. The film is also full of contradictions, including why a child would be on what is described as a mission of exploration. That title, by the way, references the 65 million years ago timeframe, but it is also how sappy this movie is on a scale of 1 to 10.

2 stars out of 5

(For a somewhat similar story in a much better movie, check out 2018's "Prospect".)

Rollerball (1975) **

 

In the distant future of 2018, giant corporations have taken over and divvied up the world, bringing an end to governments, war, poverty, disease, and all the other social ills. The only negative remaining in such a life is boredom, and the corporations have solved this problem by giving the masses a violent sport to watch. Rollerball involves skaters and motorcyclists racing around a circular track while trying to get a metal ball into a goal. Amplifying the most violent elements of sports like football, hockey, and roller derby, Rollerball routinely results in massive injuries and death for the players. The ones who prevail, however, live lives of luxury similar to those of the corporate executives.

No rollerball player is more successful than Jonathan E. (James Caan). His ability to score goals and lay bloody waste to his opponents makes him a legend in his own time, so he is surprised when his team owner tells him that the Corporation wants him to retire at the height of his game. Unable to simply take orders, Jonathan sets out to learn why he is being removed from the rink, and learns some dark truths about the society in which he lives.

I'm going to reveal some spoilers here, so if you are dedicated to watching this overlong, outdated piece of sci-fi weirdness, you should stop reading here.

Jonathan is much like most of the denizons of his world, happy to enjoy the creature comforts provided by the corporations, dulling any pangs of unease or boredom with the drugs that are widely available and with the game of rollerball. Jonathan is a bit more ill-at-ease than most people, because his wife was taken from him by a corporate executive. People aren't really supposed to fall in love in this future world. Pointedly, all the women in the film look more or less alike. A girl is assigned to you, and a man isn't supposed to prefer one over another. Jonathan's wife wasn't taken from him despite his love for her but because of it. Any individual desire threatens the delicate balance of corporate power.

It's the same with rollerball. The sport is intended to be a bloody spectacle in which the players are interchangeable and expendable. Jonathan's dominance threatens to add an element of individual achievement that runs counter to the program. This, he learns, is why the corporation wants him out of the game.

There's nothing wrong with this story setup, just with the execution. Director Norman Jewison is responsible for classics like “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “Moonstruck,” but he fell short with “Rollerball.” The film features some decent acting by James Caan and by John Houseman as an executive, and there is some impressively-framed cinematography. Otherwise, the film is self-indulgent, boring, and overly long at 2h 5 min. A better-written film with a tighter narrative arc and a shorter run-time could have served as a sharp commentary on violent sports and all-powerful corporations, but that film is not “Rollerball.” Sadly, the most memorable scenes in the film are the rollerball sequences. We are supposed to be critical of the violent game, but, like those “future” 2018 sports fans, I couldn't help but be drawn to the spectacle.

2 stars out of 5

Dry Martina (2018) ***

 

Martina (Antonella Costa) is a faded, Argentinean pop star, frustrated by the decline of both her career and her love life, when she meets a couple. Francisca (Geraldine Neary) is a fan/stalker, who claims to be Martina's half-sister. Martina is not interested in any of this long-lost-family nonsense, but she is very interested in Fran's Chilean boyfriend, Cesar (Pedro Campos), the first man she has been really attracted to in years. Her newly-revived libido leads her to Santiago, Chile, where she becomes enmeshed in these people's lives and has a little adventure.

I don't know if it is just something about spanish-speaking audiences, but Spanish and South American directors just know how to make sexy movies. “Dry Martina” borders on soft-porn at times, but like so many other erotic, spanish-language films (think “Y Tu Mama, Tambien”, “En La Cama”), there is also an intriguing story and good acting to go along with the sex. This isn't a particularly profound story, but it's very watchable, and Antonella Costa, in particular, is compelling, with her crooked smile and tussled hair. I'll have to watch out for more of her films.

3 stars out of 5

All Quiet On the Western Front (2022) **1/2

 

Comedian Marc Maron has a new comedy special called “From Bleak to Dark.” In it, he talks honestly about some heavy stuff, including the death of his girlfriend and his deep pessimism about the state of the world. You might not believe it, but Maron manages to make this stuff funny. One thing he does not talk about is the 2022, German-language adaptation of “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Maron didn't want to go THAT bleak and THAT dark.

Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel was a chilling commentary on the inhumanity and futility of WWI. The book was banned and burned under the Nazis, who wanted to re-glorify war and sacrifice-for-country. Nowadays, it is required reading in German schools. The story has already been adapted to screen a couple of times. The 1930 version won 2 Academy Awards, and there was a television version in 1979. This latest adaptation, from writer/director Edward Berger, is in German, and it has garnered its share of awards and nominations.

The story follows German youth Paul Baumer. With his friends from high school, Paul volunteers for the army during WWI. The boys are eager to prove their mettle, but the ugliness of the war quickly dispels their youthful illusions, as they are exposed to artillery, poison gas, and machine gun fire. They quickly learn that war is simply a very efficient machine for turning young men into corpses. As the meat grinder carries on its grim business, Paul struggles, not to cover himself in glory, but simply to survive. Meanwhile, in a story line not included in the novel, German officials meet with the French to negotiate an armistice, while an obsessed German general tries to pack in as much extra bloodshed as possible before peace is declared.

On its technical merits, “All Quiet On the Western Front” is outstanding. The German cast do a great job, and the cinematographer expertly blends shots of the French countryside with grim, gray battlefield imagery. The battle scenes are as gut-wrenching as those in “Saving Private Ryan.” As epic as those scenes are, it is the personal moments that really stick with you, like the scene where Paul reads a letter from home for his illiterate friend, or one where Paul apologizes to an Allied soldier he has just killed.

As well-made as the movie is, it is no fun to watch, and one has to ask if anyone today really needs to suffer through this 2 ½ hour treatise on the horrors of war. In its time, the story was a classic, and if more people had read it and taken it to heart, maybe we wouldn't have had WWII. Today, the need for an anti-war viewpoint is no less pressing, but we have moved on to different types of warfare and different types of horrors. Our age has its own cautionary tales about war, from “Apocalypse Now” to "Black Hawk Down." It is possible that “All Quiet on the Western Front” still has something to teach us, but the 2022 version, at least, takes 2 ½ long, dark, bleak hours to do it.

2 ½ stars out of 5

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool (2017) ***1/2

 

If you have any doubts about Annette Bening's acting prowess, this movie should put them to rest. The prolific actress has sometimes felt a bit sharp-edged to me. I think it's a combination of her trademark short hair and the deeply unsympathetic character she played in the film “American Beauty.” All of that is forgotten, now. In “Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool” she gives a nuanced, heartbreaking performance that has completely won me over.

The film is based on the memoir of the same name, written by Peter Turner about his relationship with a much-older woman, the Oscar-winning actress Gloria Grahame, in her last years. Grahame was a talented actress, but, like many movie stars, a bit of a hot mess. She had 4 husbands, and her fourth, Tony Ray, happened to be the son of her second husband, film director Nicholas Ray. Nicholas alleged that Grahame's relationship with Tony started when Tony was just 13, back when she was married to Nicholas. That salacious accusation was never proven, but the scandal overshadowed her career. Between that and having been typecast as a film-noir vixen, Grahame eventually found the movie roles hard to come by. She never stopped working, however. She returned to the stage, doing small film and TV roles at times, and she worked up until she died at the age of 57.

“Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool” only hints at all that backstory. The film focuses on the last 2 years of Grahame's life, the period of her relationship with Turner, who was almost 30 years her junior. This doesn't come off nearly as creepy in the movie as you might think. Bening plays Grahame as a woman who was still very vibrant and sexy in her mid-50s. Bening's performance, in fact, is the entire reason to watch what is really a quiet, little film. Jamie Bell does a fine job as Peter Turner, and Julie Walters is charming as his mother Bella, but this is very much Annette Bening's movie. She commits fully to a portrayal of Gloria Grahame that will win your heart and then break it.

3.5 stars out of 5

Cyrano (2021) ****

 

I almost gave up on this film in the first few minutes. The acting was not great, the first song wasn't that good, and I figured I should cut my losses. But then Peter Dinklage showed up, and everything was all right. From that point on, he was in every scene, and the movie just got better and better. Even the other actors were better playing off of Dinklage. The film rests on his shoulders, and he is strong enough to carry it.

Most people are at least vaguely familiar with the source material, Edmond Rostand's 1897 play “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Cyrano (Dinklage) is a soldier and poet, renowned for his skill with blades and with words. As talented as he is, he is physically unattractive. In the play, he has a gigantic nose. In this film, he is a dwarf. Either way, his self-consciousness prevents him from revealing his love for a girl named Roxanne (Haley Bennett), preferring to stay safely in the friend-zone. Then Roxanne catches sight of Christian ( Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), a handsome, new soldier in Cyrano's army brigade, and the two immediately fall into mutual infatuation. Roxanne asks her friend Cyrano to arrange an introduction, but Christian is too shy and tongue-tied to talk to her. He winds up having Cyrano write beautiful love letters on his behalf, and the two woo Roxanne, Cyrano with his words and Christian with his looks.

Any way you cut it, “Cyrano de Bergerac” is one of the great stories. Even people who haven't seen the original play are likely familiar with the story. The play has many adaptations, including the outstanding 1987 film “Roxanne.” You could argue that there is not a lot to add to this story, and that making a musical version was a high-risk, low-reward proposition. Fortunately, director Joe Wright managed to put together something wonderful here. (Wright has experience adapting classical literature into film, including 2005's “Pride & Prejudice” and 2012's “Anna Karenina.”) The screenplay is by Erica Schmidt, who is married to Peter Dinklage, and it is based on her own 2018 stage musical, in which Dinklage starred. The score and songs are written by members of the band The National. Many of the songs are forgettable, but a couple stand out, including the villain-anthem “What I Deserve” (sung by Ben Mendelsohn) and the beautiful dirge “Wherever I Fall” (with an appearance by Glen Hansard, from “Once”). I was underwhelmed by Haley Bennett at first, but her performance grows as the movie progresses, and her voice really soars on the song “I Need More.”

Sadly, “Cyrano” was not a commercial success. On a $30 million budget, the film only grossed $6.4 million. I guess it's hard to sell anything these days that doesn't involve superheroes. Then, too, maybe people are getting a bit weary of period dramas. This is one you don't want to miss, however. It is currently streaming on HBOMax, and I highly recommend checking it out. It's a beautiful telling of a classic tale.

4 stars out of 5

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) ****

 

It's appropriate that this film has such an all-encompassing name. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is many genres of film rolled into one. It's a fast-paced, Wong Kar-wai-style kung-fu movie. It's a head-trippy sci-fi story about the multi-verse. It's an immigrant story and family drama. Finally, and most importantly, it's a philosophical smack-down between nihilism and existentialism.

Michelle Yeoh plays Evelyn Wang, a stressed-out mother, daughter, and wife. The laundromat she owns with her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) is being audited by the IRS. Her father (James Hong) is visiting from China, and Evelyn doesn't want him to learn that his granddaughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu), is a lesbian. Meanwhile, Waymond is trying to work up the nerve to serve Evelyn with divorce papers. Into this scene of domestic bliss comes an alpha-male, kung-fu-fighting version of Waymond, who explains to Evelyn that he needs her help to stop her world and all the alternate universes from being destroyed. To do that, Evelyn must learn to verse-jump, accessing the abilities of alternate Evelyns to hold her family together, defeat a monstrous IRS agent (Jamie Lee Curtis), and save the multi-verse from a nihilistic baked good.

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is a lot to take in, and it takes some time to develop this story, leading to a run time of 2h 19m. The movie does feel long at times, which is my sole criticism. Even the action sequences can go on a bit long. Fortunately, the film only drags in a few spots. For the most part, the outrageous action, absurdist humor, and amazing acting are enough to keep a person engaged, and there's enough food for thought here to keep you mentally chewing for days.

I think that what really sets this film apart is that it is a story about a middle-aged woman's problems, hopes, and dreams. Hell, at the beginning of the film, Evelyn doesn't even really have conscious hopes and dreams; she just has problems. Part of her journey here is to get back in touch with the version of herself that could hope and dream, when she is trying to deal with everything, everywhere, all at once.

4 stars out of 5

Four Rooms (1995) **

 

I was really excited to re-watch this movie. I saw it when it came out, and I remembered the basic premise: 4 mini-movies based in four different rooms of a hotel, each with a different writer/director. These directors were all hot in the mid-90's: Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”), Alexandre Rockwell (“In the Soup”), Robert Rodriguez (“El Mariachi”), and last but not least, Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”). What I forgot about this movie is that while everyone was excited to see it in 1995, we were all disappointed by it.

The stories are set in the Mon Signor Hotel. On his first night on the job, bellhop Ted (Tim Roth) has bizarre encounters in four different rooms of the hotel. In the Honeymoon Suite (“The Missing Ingredient” by Allison Anders), he is seduced by a beautiful witch. In room 404 (“The Wrong Man” by Alexandre Rockwell), he is drawn into a bizarre, violent love triangle. In yet another, he gets roped into a babysitting gig (“The Misbehavers” by Robert Rodriguez), and in the penthouse he is recruited to help act out an old Alfred Hitchcock Presents story-line (“The Man From Hollywood” by Quentin Tarantino).

This is a great setup for a cinephile's wet dream. You've got four great indy directors at the top of their game, teamed with a ridiculously talented cast, including Tim Roth, Ione Skye, Antonio Banderas, Lili Taylor, Bruce Willis, and Jennifer Beals. Problem is, everyone here is so excited to be in what was obviously going to be the coolest movie of the year that they just chew scenery like a T. Rex in a Kansas feedlot. Roth plays Ted with twitchy affectations that look like a cross between a swishy, gay man and a patient in the middle stages of Huntington's Disease. Tarantino was known for scenes that feel like real conversations, but the dialogue in his segment feels manic, strained, and not real at all. Anders had the good grace and good sense to have a couple of her actresses be topless for most of her vignette, but that is its only saving grace. Rodriguez's “The Misbehavers” is probably the best story here, but that isn't saying much. “Four Rooms” should be a wonderful, little time capsule of mid-90's art cinema. Instead, it's a weird mishmash, less than the sum of its parts, and not representative of any of the 4 directors' work.

2 stars out of 5

CODA (2021) **1/2

A coda is a musical term, referring to a section at the end of a piece that brings the song to a close. A literary piece can also have a coda, which performs the same function. In the deaf community, CODA is an acronym, meaning Child Of Deaf Adults. CODAs occupy a unique space, bridging the worlds of the hearing and the deaf.

The movie “CODA” is the story of Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones), a high-schooler whose parents and brother are deaf. Fluent in American Sign Language, Ruby helps her family communicate with the hearing world, and she also helps out on the family's fishing boat. Her real passion, though, is singing. Her family obviously cannot appreciate what a talent she has, but her school choir teacher (Eugenio Derbez) does, and he helps her get an audition for the Berklee College of Music. With her family's business growing, Ruby's dreams butt up against her family obligations.

“CODA” is a re-make of a French-Belgian film, “La Famille Belier.” It is notable for using deaf actors to play the deaf characters, including Marlee Matlin (“Children of a Lesser God”). Star Emilia Jones not only had to take voice lessons for her role, she had to take a crash course in American Sign Language, as 40% of the film's dialogue is signed.

With such excellent acting talent to work with, and such an interesting setup, I wish writer/director Sian Heder had delivered a more interesting story. The film has deaf characters, but everyone in the movie can see, and everyone in the audience will be able to see “CODA”'s plot points coming from a mile away. It's a sweet, little movie, but too predictable and treacly.

2.5 stars out of 5

How It Ends (2021) ***

In this charming little movie, Zoe Lister-Jones plays Liza, who, accompanied by her younger self (Cailee Spaeny), wanders L.A. tying up loose ends on the day earth is set to be destroyed by an asteroid. Visiting her parents, old friends, and ex-lovers, the Lizas try to work through her final regrets before the end.

Written by Lister-Jones and her then-husband Daryl Wein, “How It Ends” was filmed in 2020, which was not exactly an easy time for film-making. The Pandemic was in full swing, with no vaccine yet, and so the movie is filmed in vignettes, with just 1 or 2 actors at a time playing against the Lizas. In many scenes, the Lizas are standing on a lawn or sidewalk, talking to someone on their porch, so there is plenty of physical separation between the actors, and I wonder in some scenes if they didn't film their lines separately. The movie is really a perfect, little time capsule of pandemic days, capturing in its apocalyptic theme and its film-making style so much of what that time felt like.

So, does the restrained filming make for a bad movie? Absolutely not! Resting on the charms of its costars (Lister-Jones and Spaeny), with some fun guest-star moments (Fred Armisen, Olivia Wilde, Paul W. Downs, Charlie Day, and many more), the movie is funny and heartfelt, even if Liza's regrets are all fairly garden-variety. There is not a lot of drama, and no action or plot twists. This isn't about trying to stop the asteroid or escape Earth or anything. The asteroid is just a device that prompts Liza and the people she meets to live more honestly for just one day.

3 stars out of 5