June 19, 2023

Day: 19, Movie: 19

Last year, Andrea Riseborough received a controversial Best Actress in a motion picture Oscar nomination from out of nowhere for her role in the independent film, To Leslie. It was unexpected and got a lot of people talking.

She deserved that nomination 100%.

I watched To Leslie this morning for the June Swoon 2 on Netflix and this movie was excellent. Andrea Riseborough played Leslie, a former lottery winner who drank away her winnings and ended up leaving her son, James (Owen Teague).

Hitting the bottom, Leslie returned to her hometown trying to find any way to survive. When local motel clerk Sweeney (Marc Maron) offered her a job as a maid, Leslie finally had to confront the demons that had sent her down her life’s path.

Andrea Riseborough was amazing as Leslie. Her performance was stellar, with every look, every glance filled with pain and meaning. The struggle of alcoholism was real and Riseborough portrayed it with an achingly powerful realism.

She masterfully played on the emotions of the viewers. At the beginning of the movie, I found her to be a horrible character and, before long, I was rooting for her. She ran the gamut of emotions and I was never quite sure what the end result of the film was going to be.

Marc Maron as Sweeney was a awesome supporting character as well, bringing a lifeline to Leslie just when she needed it. At first, you wondered why he decided to do what he did for Leslie, but as the film progressed, his motivations became obvious and perfectly understandable.

The film also featured an epic performance from Allison Janney as Nancy. When we first meet Nancy, you could understand and support her and as the movie moved along, Nancy became more of an antagonist that the audience could hate. This character was so three-dimensional that she felt like a real person who held grudges and who had reasons for them.

These characters in this movie were extremely well written and developed. They were real people facing the difficulties that life brought and not always facing then in a positive manner. There is an authenticity to the story and the characters that serves this film well.

June 18, 2023

Day: 18, Movie: 18

The June Swoon 2 continued today with another interesting documentary that was on Prime. Wildcat focused in on a British war veteran Harry Turner who left Afghanistan suffering from PTSD. Harry traveled to Peru where he joined up with wildlife biologist Samantha Zwicker, who was involved in the rescue of wild animals threatened by poachers.

As he was joining up, they received a baby ocelot named Khan and Harry became very connected to the wildcat. They began working with the baby ocelot in order to be able to release him into the wild in about a year and a half.

However, tragedy struck, leading to the cat’s unexpected demise, and the subsequent arrival of a second ocelot baby for the pair to raise.

I will say that this documentary was only partially about the cat; it was really more about Harry and Samantha and their traumatic backgrounds. The film does a remarkable job showing the mental distress that Harry was going through, and the illness that he suffered. The portrait of a man who tried to deal with his mental illness by cutting himself on the arm. How he spoke about the suicidal thoughts that troubled him. This was one of the most compelling parts of the doc.

There was also some great moments with Harry and his parents and younger brother who came to Peru to visit him. The relationship between Harry and his brother came through extremely well.

This was a top notch documentary that really has a solid and emotional story at its core. Wildcat is a great story for animal lovers as well as those who are interested in human drama.

June 17, 2023

Day: 17, Movie: 17

After a busy day at the theater and writing reviews, I was able to finally get to the June Swoon 2. Today, I went on to Shudder at Prime and picked out a horror/thriller called Burial.

A group of Russian soldiers have the task of taking the body of Adolf Hitler from the bunker where he had shot himself and deliver it back to Russia to Stalin. They are being pursued by German soldiers determined to reclaim the body of Der Fuehrer.

The Russians included translator/intelligence officer Brana Brodskaya (Charlotte Vega) who was determined to not fail in the transition of the body back to the Soviet Union.

The film also included a local Polish man Lukasz (Tom Felton) who helped the Russian avoid capture by the German, which included the  German “Werewolf” partisans.

There is not much of a horror element to the movie, being more of a thriller/war movie. Still, there are some suspenseful scenes with the characters in the woods and some of the images connected with some delusions that were tense.

I enjoyed this movie. I liked the way this movie was framed, with actor Harriet Walter, playing an older version of Brana, narrating the story of what happened during the final days of the war in Europe. The film truly picks up steam when Tom Felton arrives and we first learn about what is inside the box.

This was a good watch on Shudder and is a quick watch too. I liked this one.

June 16, 2023

Day: 16, Movie: 16

Hulu is the location today for the June Swoon 2 as I came across a dark comedy/drama film directed by Jerrod Carmichael called On the Count of Three. This was a film where the premise really snagged me when I came across it.

Two long-time friends are both at a point in their lives where they are both suicidal and agreed to shoot each other. Played by Jerrod Carmichael and Christopher Abbott respectively, Val and Kevin have had horrendous backstories that have led them both to stand opposite each other with a gun pointed at their heads.

However, Kevin hesitated and knocked the gun aside, wanting to have one more day to do some things that they wanted before the end.

Dark and funny at times, Val and Kevin run around the town doing some shocking things that do a great job of informing these two characters. They are so messed up, but you can’t help but find yourself rooting for them and hoping something happens to change their minds on the ultimate end.

Tiffany Haddish, Henry Winkler and J.B. Smoove have vital supporting roles in the movie that give the pair some dramatic characters to play off.

The third act of the film is dramatic and the ending is amazing. No spoilers, of course, but it is a satisfactory ending to the movie.

On the Count of Three is an excellent dark comedy with some wonderful character development.

June 15, 2023

Day: 15, Movie: 15

Today’s June Swoon 2 film is on Netflix and it deals with a very heavy subject. The Son was a film directed by Florian Zeller and starred Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern. Depression is a tough challenge that many people struggle with daily.

Peter (Hugh Jackman) and Kate (Laura Dern) split up years before when Peter met and fell in love with another woman Beth (Vanessa Kirby). The divorce was tough for their son, Nicholas (Zen McGrath), who held on to the pain he felt.

When it was revealed that Nicholas had been skipping school, Kate chose to have him go live with Peter to hopefully help him. Peter was very busy at work and he saw what he wanted to see when it came to Nicholas.

Nicholas continued his struggles at his father’s home, slipping back into some negative behaviors.

There was a lot of melodrama in this movie to the point where it felt like there was too much. While the performances were solid, the material was not up to par. It seemed as if there was nothing deeper than what was shown and some of the dialogue was iffy.

I had a major problem early on that pulled me out of the story. As someone who works in a school, I can not imagine how a student could skip school for a month at a time without someone checking on him. It happened in this movie with two different schools and that just did not feel realistic to me and that caused me to disassociate myself with the story.

Anthony Hopkins appeared as Peter’s father, but he was completely wasted in the film. His appearance was literally just a few minutes, making this role nothing more than a cameo.

The key is that there is not enough specifics or development of the character of Nicholas. He is very surface level and, because of that, we are unable to access the important part of the story that would help with the emotional beats of the film. Zen McGrath does a good job with what he was given, but there just was not enough of a portrait of this character.

The Son was a sad story that does not go any deeper than that. The actors are very good with the limited details they are given and instead of three dimensional characters we get melodrama.

June 14, 2023

Day: 14, Movie: 14

This Places Rules was the latest movie released in 2022 that will be today’s entry on the June Swoon 2 list. It was released on HBO on December 30, 2022 and then on HBO Max the next day. This documentary followed the events that led up to the January 6th insurrection, and was directed and hosted by journalist and YouTube content creator Andrew Callaghan.

The film went to several of the major events prior to Jan. 6th, interviewing the extremists on both sides. This doc does a great job of not only laying out the bizarre thoughts of Trump supports, Qanon wackos, and Proud Boys, but also extremist on the left like Antifa and BLM.

Some of the wildest scenes of the movie involved Alex Jones, host of Info Wars. His far right propaganda highlighted some of the worst natures that we as the people have, while truly showing that what Jones (along with others) really wants is to make money off the selling of merchandise. It was revealed that Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio not only sold Trump merch, but also merch for Joe Biden.

The interviews of random people at the rallies are jaw dropping. Some of the insanity that comes from these people defy all logic. Another fascinating moment of the doc was his interview and time spent with the Spencer family, who were big Trump supporters and Q-believers, in particular the young kids of the family. Then, at the film’s end when Q’s dates passed without anything happening, the disappointment and realization of this family that Q was not what they thought was an amazing punctuation on the film.

Callaghan’s confrontation near the end of the film of “The Inglorious Patriot” Dave Todeschini was epic. Todeschini spent all of his times talking about his personal battle against the pedophiles of the world, how Hollywood would drink the blood of babies, only to have Callaghan point out to him that in 1999, Todeschini had been arrest and convicted on sexual abuse charges of young boy.

While This Place Rules is not a laugh out loud film, the humor comes in the shocking realization of what some people really think and what they are willing to say or do.

June 13, 2023

Day: 13, Movie: 13

Olivia Colman has become one of our best current living actors working, and she brings her best no matter what project she is in. This is a perfect example as today’s June Swoon 2 is Empire of Light, a film that did not receive near the amount of love as many had anticipated.

According to IMDB, “Hilary (Olivia Colman) is a cinema manager struggling with her mental health, and Stephen (Micheal Ward) is a new employee longing to escape the provincial town where he faces daily adversity. Together they find a sense of belonging and experience the healing power of music, cinema, and community.“

There was a lot of good things here. First was the performances, led by Olivia Colman. Michael Ward was excellent as Stephen. There were solid supporting performances from Colin Firth, Toby Jones, Tom Brooke, Crystal Clarke, and Tanya Moodie.

There were also several very good scenes in the film that brought some emotional heft and strong character development. The film looked beautiful too.

This is where things kind of went off the rails. The positives of this film are there, for sure, but there are other issues that drag this down, most of which deal with the story being told.

The film did lack a general narrative throughline. It felt as if it tried to do way too many different things and none of them worked together very effectively. The movie lacked a focus as this film felt as if it were about mental illness, racism, the power of the cinema and theater experience, relationships at the work place, adultery and the use of power to get your way. These all were used and most of them used equally which made the film feel too muddled.

There also seemed to have a couple spots at the end of the movie that could have served as an effective ending, but it kept going back to continue the story. Some times that works, but here it just felt like the movie wasn’t sure how to end.

Empire of Light had its moments and Olivia Colman is, once again, exceptional, but it feels to much of a mess to be a great movie. It is currently passable at best.

June 12, 2023

Day: 12, Movie: 12

With the June Swoon 2 in full swing, I came this morning to an Academy Award winning film that I had not seen from 2022. Women Talking was written and directed by Sarah Polley and won the Oscar for the Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as being nominated for Best Picture.

Women Talking featured a powerful ensemble cast that included Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jesse Buckley, Frances McDormand, Judith Ivey, Kate Hallett, Shelia McCarthy, Ben Whishaw, August Winter, Liv McNeil, Michelle McLeod, and Emily Mitchell.

It was 2010 and a group of women from a Mennonite colony discovered a horrendous secret. There were men in the colony who would take horse tranquilizers and drug the women in order to rape them. When one of the men were captured, he revealed the others involved too.

These men went to a neighboring city for trial and most of the men from the colony went to help with bail, leaving the women and children behind. The group of women who had all at one time been raped or assaulted came together in order to decide what they were going to do. Would they stay and allow it to keep happening, would they stay and fight or would they leave the colony?

Most of the movie was this debate among the women, trying to keep themselves and their children safe as well as keep their religious faith.

There is a reason this was a screenplay winner at the Oscars. The dialogue and the character interactions here were remarkably powerful and covered every aspect of the situation. The conflicts within each woman was shown with understandable relatability. There was anger, grief, guilt, confusion all beautifully portrayed by a very talented ensemble cast. None of the survivors had the same reactions and that made it all the more potent.

There is not much action going on, but you do not miss it because the tension of the conversations were so high, you feel as if you’ve seen such a dramatic decision.

Women Talking could be a challenge for some people, but it is an outstandingly acted film with amazing character driven dialogue that provides an empowering message.

June 11, 2023

Day: 11, Movie: 11

I have been waiting anxiously to watch this Korean made film for the June Swoon 2. Decision to Leave was a popular hit of the international films last year, but I have been pushing it off because of the length. The film was almost 2 hours and 20 minutes, which was long for a film that required reading.

Before I go on about the movie, I have to complain about the captions. The English translation was small on the screen and some of the dialogue went too fast. It was difficult to keep up with the flow of the story without being 100% sure what they just said. I have said that in previous subtitled films, you forget that you are reading and just fall into the story, but this time the reading was more difficult at times that it never truly allowed me to lose myself in the story.

That is not necessarily a flaw of the film as much as it was Vudu and its presentation. I will not hold that against Decision to Leave, but there is no doubt that it affected my viewing pleasure.

According to IMDB, “From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). But as he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire.”

I did enjoy this movie with its mystery at its core. Exactly how much of a role had Seo-rae played in her husband’s demise or was it actually just suicide? The film does a great job of keeping the story going as you are never sure what the truth is.

The relationship between Hae-joon and Seo-rae felt wrong for most of this movie as you could never be sure if she were playing him or if she was just a victim of the situation. This relationship caused Hae-joon’s marriage to crumble, although there are some hints in the movie that implied that Hae-joon was already not very happy with the path of his life.

Reason to Leave was directed by Park Chan-wook, who also directed the iconic film Oldboy. Park Chan-wook created a beautiful look to the film and brought a great deal of magic to the love story.

Decision to Leave tells a solid romantic story with touches of tragedy mixed in. The performances are all really strong and the film looks lovely. It is a touch long, but it takes its time telling the story effectively.

June 10, 2023

Day: 10, Movie: 10

The June Swoon 2 continues today with Breaking, a movie based on a true story starring John Boyega.

Former Marine Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega) “is denied support from Veterans Affairs, financially desperate and running out of options, he takes a bank and several of its employees hostage, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with the police.” (IMDB)

John Boyega was amazing as the desperate Marine was and how he was trying to shine a light on the problem that he was facing. It was not just that he needed the money, which he did, but he wanted that the VA, which had denied his money, to make things right.

Boyega showed how troubled Brian was, both with the situation and with the mental aspect. He was more than just a troubled man. He was shown to be a good man even though the two hostages he kept in the bank were afraid for their lives. Nicole Beharie and Selenis Leyva are tremendous as the two bank employees remaining as hostages. The negotiator was played by Michael Kenneth Williams and he brought an empathy unlike most any other character in the film.

There was a lot of tension developed in the film by not only the situation but also the character dialogue. You were never sure exactly what was going to happen. You might feel that this situation was going to end up tragic, but there were plenty of uncertainty about what was going on. That made this an effective way to create a mood.

I am not sure if the film was able to shine enough of a light on the problem facing Brian. There are issues with the way the VA treats some vets and this film touched on it, but it needed to go into it more if they wanted it to be a message.

Breaking was a film that I had always heard positives about, but I never got around to seeing it in the theater or on streaming. It made a great film for the June Swoon 2.

June 9, 2023

Day: 9, Movie: 9

The June Swoon 2 this morning features a movie that was utterly beautiful.

Bill Nighy gave an Academy Award nominated performance as Mr. Williams, a grim and humorless bureaucrat whose life changed after receiving a diagnosis giving him just a few months to live.

Mr. Williams decided to do something worthwhile will the few months he had remaining and he took up the fight for a local playground.

Bill Nighy is absolutely transcendent in this role. He is subtle and powerful with every glance and every slight word. He is never over-the-top, even though the situation could call for it. He was reserved yet determined to not fail in his final effort.

He had become withdrawn and callous within his job before the diagnosis altered his thinking. He spent some time with a former co-worker, Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), whose energy and willingness to embrace life attracted the old man. He wanted to remember how to engage in the daily joy of being alive while he still had the opportunity.

The film started off making it seem as if the leading protagonist would be Mr. Williams’s newest co-worker, Mr. Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp), but he ended up as a supporting player in the story. Through his eyes, we get the chance to see the results of what Mr. Williams was able to accomplish.

Living was directed by Oliver Hermanus and the film is an adaption of a 1952 Japanese movie Ikiru which had been directed by EYG Hall of Famer Akira Kurosawa.

I have not seen the original film from Kurosawa, but this new adaptation is lovely, life-affirming and filled with a zest for life that is too easily lost. Bill Nighy is spectacular in his reserved and measured performance that will no doubt break your heart while inspiring you to do better. Living was a wonderful experience.

June 8, 2023

Day: 8, Movie: 8

A Netflix documentary featuring Robert Downey Jr and his father Robert Downey Sr. has been on the streamer for awhile now, existing on My List since it came out. The June Swoon 2 allows me the chance to actually watch this.

Robert Downey Jr. is clearly one of the most charismatic actors we have today and this documentary shows that. It also spends a lot of time with Sr. and we get a good idea where a lot of RDJ’s personality came from.

The best parts of the doc were when we saw Jr. and Sr. interacting, especially when they included RDJ’s son Exton.

The documentary was shot in black and white and it added that gravitas to the film. It was a feel of something special and you get some truly amazing moments between father and son.

One of my favorite moments in the doc was when RDJ was singing a German folk song, “Fischerweise” with Sean Hayes on the piano. It was a request from Sr. and it is apparently something young 15-year old RDJ did in a contest. This section of the doc was hilarious.

Thinking back, I probably should have saved this film for Father’s Day in the June Swoon 2, but it fit today better, time wise. This is a beautiful love letter to a father from a son and from a couple of classic filmmakers.

June 7, 2023

Day: 7, Movie: 7

The June Swoon 2 gets really gross today with the horror/comedy film that can be found on Shudder called Glorious. The film was directed by Rebekah McKendry and featured one basic location, a rest stop bathroom.

Wes (Ryan Kwanten) is traveling with all of his stuff in his car. He was depressed and sad and stopped at a rest stop where he promptly begins to drink and burn items from the car. He could not bring himself to burn the photo of Brenda (Sylvia Grace Crim), the woman he had just lost.

Passed out, Wes laid on the ground all night. In the morning, Wes rushed into the bathroom to throw up. When in there, he was engaged in conversation by a voice form the next stall. Not really wanting to start a conversation, Wes tried to get away, but he realized that the bathroom door could not be opened and that the voice had something to do with it.

The voice told Wes his name was Ghatanothoa (J.K. Simmons), a demigod who was trying to hide from his father, a primordial who had accidentally formed the universe, and Ghatanothoa needed a favor from Wes to avoid its father’s detection and, thus, the destruction of the entire universe.

Glorious was bloody, grimy and darkly funny. The dialogue between Wes and the demigod was both ridiculous and informative. Wes’s constant desperate attempts to escape kept turning out to be failures and he kept flashing back to memories of Brenda.

JK Simmons is, as always, great. His voice was the perfect catalyst for the craziness that was going on in this bathroom. The tale was insane, yet you believed what was happening.

There was a hilarious situation involving a glory hole that has to be seen to be believed. Then, the unexpected twist at the end of the film was shocking and completely out of nowhere, challenging everything that we had known up until that point, and yet, made total sense.

Glorious has a down ad dirty feel to it, much like the setting of a rest stop bathroom, and it keeps you off-balance. The end had that Twilight Zone type feel to it. It is a short film (only 79 minutes) but it uses every second well.

June 6, 2023

Day: 6, Movie: 6

It is amazing to think that this is the same actor who played Ms. Trunchbull in last year’s Matilda the Musical.

Emma Thompson is an unbelievable actor and the range that she can show in a calendar year of performances is astounding.

In Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Thompson played a retired teacher who had recently lost her longtime husband and she wanted to experience some sexual experiences that she never had with him. So she hired a young male sex worker to make those experiences come true.

Thompson, whose character was named Helen, got more than she was expecting. She showed such an amazing amount of nervous energy and uncertainty over what she was planning that everyone could relate to the feelings that this was stirring up.

Daryl McCormack played Leo Grande, the sex worker who is much more than a hired prostitute. He ran his own company and provided services to his clientele that they required. Well-spoken and intelligent, his very nature confounded Helen as she was not expecting someone like Leo Grande.

The dialogue between the two actors was impeccable. The dialogue gave us glimpses into who these two individuals were as people and was sexy and uncomfortable at the same time. There was an undeniable chemistry between Thompson and McCormack that pulled you into the connection between them. The movie becomes much more than just a sexual encounter. It is a character piece between two people who are able to bring the best out in each other.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is currently on Hulu and it is a film that gives two outstanding performances in a sexual coming-of-age story for any age.

June 5, 2022

Day: 5, Movie: 5

The next June Swoon 2 movie is Candy Land, and it is not a happy-go-luck children’s saccharine sweet game adaptation. There is nothing for children in this film.

The movie dives into the world of truck stop sex workers and the inherent dangers that these workers face as there is a slasher in their midst. The likable group of sex workers who formed a bond between them are faced with the brutal slaying of several individuals.

I don’t want to go into too many specifics here to avoid spoilers, but the film does not shy away from any of the graphic imagery that one would see in a slasher movie. There is a lot of blood here. It also does not leave out the sexual section of this environment either.

The film does take some time to introduce us to these characters and understand why many of them are living the life that they are living. They are not portrayed as victims here, but it does not ignore the ugliness that can come with this lifestyle.

It is a movie that can be extremely uncomfortable to watch at times, and it is unapologetic for its choices. I expect that there would be plenty of people who will not like this film because it deals with several scenes that are tough to watch.

This is a movie that I am glad I saw, but not one that I will revisit any time soon. Candy land was directed by John Swab and is currently available for rental on Vudu.