Kevin Costner’s epic Western Horizon: An American Saga debuted this weekend. At least, the first part of the movie debuted this weekend while Chapter Two will arrive in August.
This film looked beautiful. There were some decent performances. However, the film has its share of problems that outweigh the positives.
What are the problems? Well, there are a bunch of characters and storylines and it feels as if there are too many. Even for three hours, they bounced around to these different storylines, all that were interesting to be fair, and it never got a good feel for any of them. There were so many characters that half the time, I was never sure who was who and what each one of them were doing.
It did feel as if Kevin Costner wanted this film to be sweeping, with multiple plots going on at once, and it felt as if some of them should have been tightened up or removed to make it more cohesive.
The last five minutes of the film featured, I assume, scenes put to music from the next film. This montage was confusing and felt silly.
There were scenes that were enjoyable, but I just do not think it matters because the story is so scattered and the characters are not as developed as they should be.
I avoided this movie not only when it was in the theaters, but this month during the June Swoon 3. I had a feeling that this would not be a film that I would enjoy. Infinity Pool was a Brandon Cronenberg directed film. Brandon’s father is David Cronenberg, who was renown for his body horror films. I am not big on the body horror.
Despite my hesitancy, I gave Infinity Pool a chance on Hulu.
Boy, was I right.
I did not enjoy this movie at all.
According to IMDB, “While staying at an isolated island resort, James (Alexander Skarsgård) and Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi (Mia Goth), they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror“
I will start with the positive. Mia Goth is a star. She has been amazing in other films such as Pearl and X and she is just as frightening here. I look forward to seeing her career move on.
That was about it. I had no character in this movie that I could support or root for. They were all just horrific people. I think I was meant to cheer for Alexander Skarsgård’s character, but I found him unlikable in just about every way.
The bizarre sequences of the film were not enjoyable to watch for me and just did not engage me with the story.
It was unsatisfying and I was right to skip it last year. I wish I had skipped it this year too.
How have I never seen anything about this movie before?
What a wonderfully charming movie. From the director of Sing Street, Flora and Son is a story of a single mom Flora (Eve Hewson) who has had trouble connecting with her 14-year old son Max (Orén Kinlan). One day, in an attempt to find something for her son to do, she rescued a guitar from the dumpster. When he rejected it, Flora decided to take online lessons to learn the guitar herself and she found a guitar instructor Jeff (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who changed her life.
This film is a love letter to music and its power to create, heal or maintaining relationships, even those that feel as if there is no possible way for those relationships to work.
The film has a complicated relationship between Flora and Max at the center, a mother and son who seem to barely stand each other, but their eventual similar love of music started to repair their bond.
The relationship with Flora and Jeff is one of the most fascinating ones of the film as they never meet face to face, only over the internet. However, the film uses some clever ways to show this online relationship that helps create a connection that benefitted both of them.
Ewe Hewson is tremendous as Flora. She is the ultimate standout of the movie and her performance carries most of the film. I found her so appealing that I bought every relationship she had and I rooted for her to be a better mom. Orén Kinlan was solid too, bringing the typical brooding teen more depth than you would think.
I did not expect to enjoy this film as much as I did, but I loved Sing Street and the vibe definitely matches that one.
“Wars don’t start with explosions. They start with silence.”
Today’s June Swoon 3 film is another Oscar winner that absolutely rips at your soul and had me crying within the first 20 minutes. 20 Days in Mariupol won the 2024 Best Documentary Academy Awards this past March with this chilling look at the Russian invasion into Ukraine, specifically into a coastal city called Mariupol.
Three AP journalists, led by Mstyslav Chernov, who wound up writing, directing and appearing in the doc, end up the final journalists inside war torn Mariupol, dedicated to getting their footage out of the country to show the world the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers.
Absolutely heart-wrenching as the footage showed men, women, children being torn apart by the shrapnel and the bombing of civilian structures. As I watched, I was taken aback by the continued filming of these tragedies and how the Ukrainian people, for the most part, wanted the filming to continue. I guess the desire to show the world what was happening, to be able to record the travesty was vitally important to everyone involved.
The switching to news clips of Russian representatives claiming these images and film was of actors, that it was “fake news” was downright sickening. The use of that phrase to try and minimize the truth and throw shade at the media is obscene, and I am ashamed of how that term has been used in the US as well as abroad.
The film was so raw and painful to watch these innocent people suffer through because of the aggression of an occupying force. As painful as it was, it also was a homage to the power of the human spirit and the dedication to one’s craft in the face of real-world horrors. This was harrowing.
A Long, Long Time Ago… in a Galaxy far away… Well, maybe not that far away.
Few fandoms are as currently as toxic as the Star Wars fandom. Not to put down the entire group of people for the divisiveness of some, but there is no denying that Star Wars fans lean towards hyperbole. One only needs to look at the discourse surrounding the new Disney + series, The Acolyte, to understand it.
However, the Star Wars universe had something once that is both beloved and reviled unlike anything else. It was something that George Lucas himself wanted to see banished from the canon of his creation. It was something that Star Wars fans desperately tried to see for decades… a badge of honor among those who truly called themselves Star Wars aficionados.
The Star Wars Holiday Special.
So today’s June Swoon focused in on a documentary from Jeremy Coon and Steve Kozak all about the creation of and response to on of the most infamous TV specials of all fandom.
Between the release of Star Wars and Empire Strikes back, the CBS network wanted a Star Wars special to broadcast over the holiday season and they turned it into a variety show, featuring Chewbacca’s family as well as Bea Arthur, Harvey Korman and Art Carney. It aired once and then disappeared, only to be seen by those who could find a bootleg copy.
This documentary included clips of all of the Star Wars performers, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher with their thoughts on the special. Harrison Ford’s responses are always the most entertaining as he is clearly hoping the special would disappear forever.
There were also interviews of a ton of famous people in the geek community giving their comments and thoughts on the special including such notable stars as Kevin Smith, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Bobcat Goldthwait, Seth Green, Paul Scheer, Donny Osmond, Gilbert Gottfried, and Patton Oswalt. There were a lot of interviews with people involved in the creation of the special including Bruce Vilanch, Mick Garris, Bob Mackie among others.
Though the doc certainly says that this special was bad, there was items included that show how some people, particular those who may have seen the special as a child, loved the show. Jon Favreau is an unapologetic fan of the special and they showed how he included Easter eggs from it in The Mandalorian. The clips from the animated section of the special was shown as the first place we saw Boba Fett.
The documentary was very funny and gave real opinions of people who were desperate at the time for content in the Star Wars community. One wonders what the fandom today would do if something like the Star Wars Holiday Special were to be released on Disney +. The review bombing that would happen would be generational.
All Star Wars fans should be looking for this documentary, which I rented on Amazon Prime. If you are interested in how something like this able to be created, you should check this out. It was highly entertaining and an easy watch.
Today’s June Swoon entry is a piece of historical fiction blended into a vampire tale that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography this past Oscars.
El Conde tells the story of Chile’s brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) as a 250-year old vampire who arrived at a point that he wanted to die. His sycophant children came to see him, with the hope that they would receive their inheritance. When they were unsure of the plans of their father, they hired a nun named Carmen (Paula Luchsinger) to find the missing fortune, although Carmen has ideas of her own to put into place.
The film is a black comedic satire of not only the vampire movies, but also of the political world of the time. One only needs to wait to discover the mother of Augusto Pinochet is to understand that.
There are some really gross moments in the film, but everything is shot in black and white which makes it more artistic. Again, to avoid spoilers, the use of a blender definitely stands out as one of the creepier aspects of the film.
The film may drag on a bit, but it does have its funny moments and makes the most of its gimmick. The performances are decent and the film looks amazing. El Conde is available for streaming on Netflix.
I have enjoyed seeing June Squibb in just about every supporting role she has ever had, from the movie Nebraska to the role of Mee-Maw on The Big Bang Theory. She was just recently the voice of Nostalgia in Inside Out 2 as well as voice acting in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Soul and Toy Story 4. She has had a tremendous career so far.
That is extremely impressive for the 94-year old actress. You can add another accolade to June Squibb’s resume. A lead role in a funny and heart-warming movie called Thelma.
Thelma Post (June Squibb) is still living alone, two years after the death of her long time husband, and, as a 93-year old, she is worrying her family who wonder if she can continue to live unassisted. Her grandson Daniel (Fred Hechinger) tries to help her out, but truth be told, he has enough trouble keeping himself moving forward.
So when Thelma receives a scam phone call stating that Daniel had been in an accident and needed her to mail $10,000 to help, Thelma fell for the act and mailed the money.
Embarrassed by her naivety and with the police being no help, Thelma decides to take things into her own hands and starts out to find the scam artists and get her money back.
June Squibb is excellent here. She is so charming and she is clearly a force of nature that I believe every far fetched situation that she is place within. Some of her choices are remarkably dangerous, and you just know that something was going to go wrong with this, but you can’t help but root for her anyway.
It is also great to see Clark Gregg once again. Our beloved Agent Phil Coulson is playing Thelma’s son-in-law, a twitchy, over-protective father married to a neurotic woman, Thelma’s daughter Gail (played by the ever awesome Parker Posey). Gregg and Posey are excellent here as the overbearing parents of Daniel, whose love for their son may get in the way of his development.
Despite some of the credibility-stretching scenes, there is a lot of heart to this movie as well. There are plenty of comments directed toward the aging process and how some have more troubles than others. There are several scenes set at a retirement/old folks home that show the whole gamut of the aging process. It has several jokes directed at aging, but they are done with surprising kindness.
Richard Roundtree had a major supporting role in this film as an old friend of Thelma who owned a scooter that she needed for her own independence. Roundtree was fantastic as Ben and brought a new element to the story.
This was a lot of fun and, despite being far fetched in a lot of things, it was charming enough to overcome any issues it might have.
I wonder what the producers have on Russell Crowe? They must have something for him to appear in this train wreck.
Russell Crowe played Tony Miller, an actor with his share of personal problems, takes a job playing a priest in an exorcism/possession movie, and the role is bringing up all kinds of past troubles. Meanwhile, his estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) is trying to get past her own problematic history with her dad.
David Hyde Pierce is here too, playing Father Conor, and being a huge distraction as he just looks too much like Niles Crane. Sam Worthington is in the movie, but he is totally underused, and Chloe Bailey is here too for some reason.
I found this to be trash. The first two-thirds of the film was dull and then the final act of the film was so off-the-track that had there been any goodwill generated previously, it would be spent completely. The story was ridiculous. The characters were wasted. The backstory of Tony was jumbled and not delivered in a manner in which it could be understood. Poor Niles was there looking for Frasier.
The acting was not very good. I mean, I believe that Russell Crowe was giving it his all, but I felt as if the director of the film in the film, played by Adam Goldberg, was constantly berating Tony’s performance and it made me question what Crowe was doing too.
There was a potential story that was here that could have been different and potentially fascinating, but this was not it. This was another terrible movie this year, which seems to be packing them up all over the place.
It is another busy day, so I made time this morning for another Oscar nominated documentary short film, and it is one whose topic is close t my heart. The ABCs of Book Banning is a look at some of the books that have been banned, challenged or restricted in schools across the country and the thoughts from children about the banning.
The film showed many books and gave excerpts from them in order to show a type of book that seemed to be banned more than others. A high percentage of these books appear to be about those segments of society that are different from the “normal” public. Black & Jewish history, those dealing with LGBTQ + community, those dealing with power for women… these are the majority of the books shown.
The film began with 100-year old Grace Lin speaking to a school board about the banning of books and how it went against everything that she believed and that her husband, who died in World War II, fought for.
The most effective part of the film was the comments made by the children. These kids were asked about the books. These children were very well spoken and convincing.
The slideshow-like was less effective, basically just showing images of the banned books and animating some for illustration. I saw several books that I have on my own shelf show up on the screen, including EYG Hall of Fame graphic novel Maus.
This film does feel slight and does not go into the specifics of the topic. I do not have a problem with the film stating that they wanted to give voice to the one side of this issue since the voice for the banning has been so loud, but I needed more substance to it.
I am totally opposed to the idea of book banning and find the act repulsive. This is not quite as powerful as I would have liked.
The Bikeriders is a new film from director Jeff Nichols and was inspired by a photograph book by Danny Lyons of the same name that depicted the life of a motorcycle gang in Illinois. Despite the fact that this is inspired by this photo-book, the film itself is a fictional story.
According to IMDB, “After a chance encounter at a local bar, strong-willed Kathy (Jodie Comer) is inextricably drawn to Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of Midwestern motorcycle club, the Vandals led by the enigmatic Johnny (Tom Hardy). Much like the country around it, the club begins to evolve, transforming from a gathering place for local outsiders into a dangerous underworld of violence, forcing Benny to choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.”
The ensemble cast in The Bikeriders is tremendous and they all provide great performances no matter how long they were on screen. Austin Butler is wonderful and the relationship between him and Jodie Comer are the backbone of the movie. Tom Hardy gives a top notch performance as the head of the bike group. Others in the ensemble include Michael Shannon, Boyd Halbrook, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist, Damon Herriman, Emory Cohen, Beau Knapp, and Toby Wallace.
The story is solid as we see how much this motorcycle club means to the individual. Tom Hardy and Austin Baker work very well together. I enjoyed the struggle within the story for Baker.
I also liked the format for the narrative as we see Jodie Comer being interviewed by the character played by Mike Faist, who was a former member of the motorcycle club and returned as the photographer Danny Lyons who would be the person who did the photo-book this was based upon.
I was not looking forward to this movie, but it was better than I expected it to be. Great actors working well together to tell a solid story.
The next movie in the June Swoon 3 is the third film in a sequel called My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.
This really feels like a sitcom that has done that special episode that sends the family to a vacation spot and they go on location to film. You know, like the Brady Bunch in Hawaii or the Grand Canyon, Happy Days in Los Angeles with shark jumping, or Blossom in Paris.
The plot of the film centers around a family reunion in Greece after the death of Toula’s (Nia Vardalos) father. However, most of the film just has a bunch of individual moments among the run time for the different characters. These conflicts through the film appeared, were mostly solved easily and then the film moved on. Just like a sitcom.
There are a few giggles throughout, but most of the film’s humor is at that ‘bad-sitcom’ level. Most of them fall flat.
I do like Andrea Martin and Maria Vacratsis and their little old Greek women characters. They had the best one liners and, if something was funny, it usually came from them.
There was some beautiful exterior shots of Greece. It’s like a postcard for tourists.
There is not much here for a movie. It feels very disposable and fluffy. Nothing of substance here.
All of Us Strangers is the next film on the schedule for the June Swoon 3, and it is a lovely movie that deals with deep seeded loss and grief, while not falling into the trap of making the film maudlin or depressing.
Adam Scott gives a tremendous performance as Adam, a screenwriter who has a chance encounter with Harry (Paul Mescal) at his apartment building. Harry was drunk and looking for someone to spend time with, but Adam rejects him. Then, Adam goes to see and spend time with his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) at his childhood home. The only drawback… Adam’s parents died in a tragic car crash when he was a little boy.
As the audience member, you are never quite sure through the run of the film what was going on. Was this a ghost story? Was this all invented inside Adam’s mind? What exactly was happening? The uncertainty of the film played well as you connect with Adam and feel the pain that his unresolved grief was causing in him.
The film was beautifully shot. Andrew Haigh was the director and he did a fantastic job constructing the scenes, such as the trip to the night club, which had a dream-like aesthetic to it. It helped to create the mood of the piece, keeping the magical feel of the film while still rooting everything in the loneliness and grief felt by Adam.
I also thought the ending of the film was wonderfully constructed. While I had an idea by this point of what was going on, the actual truth of the story was unexpected and fit amazingly in the structure of the story. The very end was a lovely design to express such a hope of the world.
The four main actors: Adam Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell are astonishing in these performances and their interactions with the others. The performances are the best part of the film, but far from the only parts that make this a beautiful film.
The directorial debut by Randall Park is today’s entry in the June Swoon 3. It is an unconventional rom-com called Shortcomings.
According to IMDB, “Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want.”
This was an interesting film. Usually, I have problems when the protagonist is such an unlikable character, and Ben (Justin H. Min) is absolutely in that category. He is opinionated, mouthy, rude and arrogant. It seems like every scene he is in, all I want to do is yell at him to shut up. Yet, there was something about Ben that was appealing. Don’t get me wrong, I was cheering actively for him to understand what a jerk he was being, but I was also ready to support him learning from the events of the film and adjusting his behavior.
I have to say, I did like this conclusion to the movie. It felt real and played with all of the conventions of the rom-com.
The movie had some great laughs in in, although nothing that was going to be over the top hilarious. The situations are where the humor came from and they all worked very well. Probably the one moment that stood out was when actor Jacob Batalon joked about loving the Spider-Man movies, considering he played Ned in the MCU Spider-Man movies
Sherry Cola played Alice, Ben’s friend, and she was the standout performance for me in the movie. She had an Awkwafina type vibe about her and she was both funny and an excellent ‘straight-man’ character.
I found this to be very entertaining and a creative way to take the rom-com genre in a new way.
The June Swoon 3 film for the day was on Hulu and it was called Eileen.
It was another movie that I had a difficult time getting involved with as the first part of the film did not seem to have much of a story or progression. Then, the ending was disturbing and shifted everything in a completely different, nonsensical, direction.
According to IMDB, “The stagnant waters of Eileen’s dull, stifled life as a solitary worker at a juvenile detention center in 1960s Boston, are unexpectedly disrupted when the institution brings in a new psychologist, the vibrant Rebecca. The fervent enthusiasm that blossoms between the two women almost immediately gives way to a closer relationship, until their fragile connection takes a dramatic turn.“
There were some solid performances in the film from both Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway. Their performances were not an issue for the movie.
Nothing happened in the first hour of the film that would set up the finale, that seems to take the characters involved in a totally different direction. From what we had seen before, I did not buy the end result as anything more than just shock value. Then, it simply ended.
I found this one really disappointing as it sounded very intriguing. The film was based on the 2015 novel of the same name.
This is another Oscar nominated film from 2023 that I missed. Flamin’ Hot received an Oscar nomination for Best Song, which was quite an accomplishment for this biopic about Richard Montañez and the beginning of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
I will address the controversy off the top. As I was researching the film, I discovered that a report from the LA Times indicated that Richard Montañez did not have any direct involvement in the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and that the film was inaccurate. I won’t lie, when I first saw this, it did affect my thoughts on the film, but, the more I thought about it, the more I let that go. This is not a documentary. I know plenty of biopics that have exaggerated or downright made things up. So the accuracy or lack thereof of Flamin’ Hot, as a movie, will not go into my consideration of the film.
And, when it comes to my consideration of the movie, I loved it very much.
This was the first time directorial feature from director Eva Longoria, well known actor from Desperate Housewives among other shows. Longoria does a tremendous job of telling this story with a very distinct voice and a humorous touch.
Some of the scenes of Richard’s narration, which remind me of Luis (Michael Pena) from Ant Man, are very funny and show how the mind works in many ways.
Jesse Garcia played Richard Montañez and he has a natural charm in doing so. You can’t be help to root for him as an underdog, looking to escape the life of crime that threatened to ruin his life.
Two distinguished actors had supporting roles in Flamin’ Hot that gave the movie even more credibility. Bennis Haysbert played Clarence Baker (whose middle name is Charisma) as one of Montañez’s co-workers, and Tony Shalhoub, the star of Monk, appeared as Roger Enrico, the CEO of Frito Lays. Both actors are excellent as always and their roles do a great job of elevating the performance of Jesse Garcia.
The tone of this movie was very light and engaging, as Richard told the story of his life. The film’s focus was on the character of Richard Montañez, not specifically on the Cheetos.
This was an easy, enjoyable watch and worth the time. It is currently streaming on Hulu and Disney +.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 