Atonement

I watched it at the Mayfair Theatre with a sparse crowd. At the end of the movie, nobody moved. We all sat in a state of collective grief, or maybe it was trauma, or a mix of both. I don't recall a similar sensation like it since I watched Schindler's List in the theatre. Do we need another film on the devastating consequences of war? Yes, until we stop having wars. Atonement is based on true events - the names of the people involved have been fictionalized. The story takes place in 2003 in Baghdad, Iraq, where a U.S. military group of marines who were there as part of an U.S. Marine unit, part of the American invasion, finds itself under attack. They petition themselves on a rooftop and returned fire. They were firing on anything coming their way. What comes their way is a family just trying to get home, away from the gunfire. In this story, a young soldier, Lou (Boyd Holbrook) opens fire on the family car thinking its occupants are hostile. He, and some of his counterparts, end up killing three members of the family. A horrible accident. Kenneth Branagh plays Michael Reid, a U.S. journalist who writes a story about it. Fast-forward ten years. Lou is not doing well. He's not sleeping, he's having violent outbursts, and panic attacks - looks like PTSD. He is a mess. The wife and mother of the murdered victims, Mariam (Hiam Abbass) is now living in the US. Lou reaches out to Michael to see if he can arrange a meeting with Mariam to apologize for what he has done. You might want to criticize this whole story and say something like, "Poor white boy shot someone and we should feel sorry for him?" This is the whole point of the film. The film is about guilt, forgiveness, and loss. There is so much sadness here, so much pain. And all of it is heartbreaking. The performances by Boyd Holbrook and Hiam Abbass were astounding - they felt as real and as raw as possible. I hope they are not forgotten during award season. Even Kenneth Branagh should get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. This is director Reed Van Dyk first feature-length film and it's a masterpiece. One of the best films of the year. Catch it in theatres now or rent it when available from Movies 'N Stuff. 

You Can See Everything

A participant in Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary, You Can See Everything says at the end of the film, "It's very complicated." This is the perfect summation. When I saw the trailer for the film a few months back, I knew nothing about Elizabeth Holmes, the self-made billionaire who lost everything and was sentenced to eleven years in prison for defrauding investors. Holmes wanted to create a machine that could analyse a single drop of blood and tell you everything about your condition - sounds like something out of Star Trek. Turns out, it is. It may be decades yet before something like this could exist. Holmes promised it and didn't deliver. The Dropout is an eight-part Hulu miniseries about Holmes and the rise and fall of her business, with Amanda Seyfried playing Holmes. Seyfried won a Critics Choice Award, an Emmy, and a Golden Globe Award for her performance (along with a few others). I watched this miniseries and the HBO documentary, The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. It was pretty clear to me that Holmes was guilty and should definitely be going to prison.

We start You Can See Everything with Nathan Fielder interviewing and eventually moving in with Holmes, her partner, and their two young kids just over a month before Holmes was to begin her prison term.  Fielder and Oppenheim like to keep the camera close - I haven't seen so many close-ups since Sergio Leone. There is an intimacy created with the subjects because of it. Fielder holds his gaze after he asks a question like he is trying to figure out a puzzle. There is something performative in his lines of questioning. The whole thing feels like performance art. Very small spoiler here: Fielder asks Holmes to watch The Dropout with him. She had never watched it before. That alone is something which is rather meta - us watching Holmes watch Seyfried play a version of her and Holmes reacting to it. It's worth to note that Holmes maintains her innocence, that she never lied about her blood machine. Then the film takes a turn that I will not spoil. It's both transgressive and humorous. You have to see it to believe it. It has stuck with me since I watched it. It's three hours long but it felt like two. I sure it will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture and it will no doubt win for Best Documentary Feature. It may even win both. One of my favourite films of the year. Catch this in theatres now. Rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.    

The Social Reckoning

Writer and director Aaron Sorkin has written and directed a sequel to the 2010 film, The Social Network - Sorkin wrote it, David Fincher directed the first one. The story of The Social Network was about the creation of Facebook. The Social Reckoning (directed this time by Sorkin) is about what evil Mark Zuckerberg has been up to since then and the reporter, Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) who outed him in the Wall Street Journal with the help of an inside source, Frances (Mikey Madison). Sorkin, or the film, implies that Facebook was radicalizing people, perhaps unintentionally, but not caring, for Meta's goal (Facebook changed it's name to Meta) was to get people to stay on their feed for as long as possible - one user logged more than 9 hours straight - Yippie for Yuckerberg. The simple psychology: feed people stuff that triggers them, gets them mad. They will click and follow. The film suggests that Facebook led them to the pages of right-wing extremist groups and the film also tacitly implies that Meta was indirectly responsible for the attack on the US Capitol when Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden. Sorkin is a gifted, smart writer. He is as good a writer as Fincher is a director. I don't think Sorkin is as good as a director as he is a writer. As a political thriller, The Social Reckoning is almost as good as they come. I think the film could have had a bit more gravitas with Fincher behind the camera. But don't let that stop you from catching one of this year's best political thrillers. Catch it in theatres now or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff when available.  

It Feeds

This Canadian dropped last year and it's a banger of a horror movie - a cross between Smile and Stranger Things. Ashley Greene plays Cynthia, a woman who runs a psychiatry practice out of her home and when traditional methods don't work, Cynthia has a gift, the ability to go into her patients' minds. Her daughter Jordan (Ellie O'Brien) has this power too, as did her late husband. One day a young girl, Riley (Shayelin Martin - from Wild Goat Surf), bursts into Cynthia's home begging for help. She sees a creature, and it's feeding off of her. The creature is terrifying - similar to a blackened version of Smile's entity. The visuals in this movie are great. The set pieces are top notch. Horror fans should love this. Cynthia is reluctant to help as it did her husband in for doing something similar - there is a Conjuring feel to this also. Cynthia's ability to enter the mind leads to an Inception dream-within-the-dream scenario. So when I say the visuals are great, we get all this crazy Nightmare on Elm Street/Dream Demon imagery too. Cynthia also has a friend, Agatha (Juno Rinaldi) who is there for comic relief. Rinaldi's performance is great and gives off a goofy Scooby-Doo Daphne vibe; I loved her. If you are hungry for horror, It Feeds will fill you up. Catch it streaming on CRAVE or rent it from Movies 'N Stuff. 

Beware Boiúna

Giant creature-features have been entertaining us since King Kong in 1933. There seemed to be an explosion of giant bugs and monster movies, post WWII, in the nuclear era - Godzilla, Them!, The Blob, etc. 1975 gave us Jaws - a bazillion shark movies have since followed. 1993 gave us Jurassic Park. 1997 gave us Anaconda, which spawned many sequels and the tepidly humorous reboot with the same title last year. 1999 gave us Lake Placid - giant croc. This year we have Hungry - a killer hippopotamus movie, and Beware Boiúna, a giant killer snake movie. Hungry is okay, but Beware Boiúna is fantastic, if you enjoy these kinds of films. I am always up for a giant killer snake movie. Most of these films have a tongue-in-cheek cheekiness to them, an almost winking at the camera that this is completely ridiculous. Beware Boiúna doesn't wink, it doesn't even blink - its eyes are wide open with terror! What's it all about? A group of doctors are on a humanitarian mission to check out small villages along the Amazon River, do health checks on the locals, provide medicine, vaccines, treatments, and advice. They run into the bad guys, who are out surveying the land and you know it's for no good. They have a run in with each other and then they have a run-in with the big-ass snake. It's a bit shaky-camera at times but that's okay. I won't spoil any of it, but this one strikes quickly and swallows you whole. Indiana Jones would hate it; you will love it. Get bit by this one in theatres now or rent it when available from Movies 'N Stuff. 

I Came By

A guy breaks into a house and discovers something dubious is going on. I feel like I have seen this premise many times before, which is why I didn't bother watching it when it came out. Yes, that's the basic plot of I Came By. Toby (George MacKay) and his best mate (it's a British movie), Jay (Percelle Ascott) are B&E graffiti artists who don't rob anyone, they are just making a political statement. They break into the homes of the super wealthy and tag a large wall with "I came by" in stylish graffiti cursive. They seem to take pride in beating home security systems. Suddenly Jay announces he is out of any further social disruptions, he has a child on the way and can't risk going to jail. Toby is on his own. And he has his sights set on a judge, Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville). And that's all I'm telling you. Giddy up. This one went to places I didn't expect at all. In fact, it took me by surprise a few times. It kind of gutted me and left me thinking about the film for long after. And the interactions between Toby and his mother, Jay and his girlfriend felt really well drawn out. These people felt real and the story packed a lot in within a short timeframe. I was really impressed. Director and co-writer, Babak Anvari is someone I need to pay attention to. And Hugh Bonneville as the villain was fantastic. I hated him - perfect. This film was a complete surprise. Break into this house, now streaming on Netflix. 

Riders of Justice

2020 was a strange year for the world, and somehow I missed this film. Riders of Justice stars Mads Mikkelsen as Markus, a highly skilled military veteran who has some deep-seated anger issues. He has a poor relationship with his daughter Mathilde (Andrea Heick Gadeberg), which he is trying to correct. He finds himself pulled back home to investigate a crime along with three nerds, who give off an X-Files Lone Gunmen/Big Bang Theory vibe. They are hilarious. One of them, Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), believes that an accident was no accident, but the police won't believe him. He enlists the help of two of his nerd friends and Markus to help take down a motorcycle gang, the Riders of Justice, who he believes are behind the crime - the killing of an informant a week before the case is to go to trial. I have tried to convey the plot without actually telling you anything because I would like you to go in blind, without knowing anything. I simply had a ball with this movie. I love Mads Mikkelsen, and this is one of his best and funniest things he has done because he plays the role straight. The three other gentlemen get into silly arguments over nerd stuff, and it's fantastic. I howled with laughter. Everyone in this movie has trauma, or some form of mental baggage/illness. In fact, the three nerds pretend to be therapists working with Markus on his anger issues so his daughter Mathilde doesn't know what they are really up to - killing motorcycle gang members. It's violent and thrilling and funny as hell. This is the therapy you need. I simply loved Riders of Justice. Catch it streaming or go rent it from Movies 'N Stuff.