The Card Counter

 

Don't let this one get lost in the deck of movie releases! The Card Counter isn't really a film like The Hustler or The Cincinnati Kid, both films referenced in The Card Counter by character William Tell (Oscar Isaac) aptly noting the Hustler was about pool, not cards. Like The Mauritanian or The Report this is a fictional story about the crimes committed by American soldiers in Abu Ghraib prisons. Horrific abuses occurred there for which William Tell went to an American prison and learned to count cards. He always plays it cool, knows when to get out and not bring unwanted attention to himself. This all changes when he runs into his old torture-master boss, Gordo (William Dafoe) at a hotel doing the security conference circuit. William meets Cirk (Tye Sheridan) who wants to kill Gordo as revenge on what he did to Cirk's father. William talks him out of that and the two go on the gambling road with a baker, La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) - she is the love interest. The movie is about revenge and redemption, PTSD, and finding love. It felt like a Michael Mann film (Heat, The Insider, Manhunter). It's produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Paul Schrader. This movie is aces. Catch it in theatres if you can. 

Maid

Domestic abuse is the subject of this Netflix series. Margaret Qualley plays Alex, the mother of Maddy, who is running away from Sean (Nick Robinson) her controlling alcoholic husband who is mentally abusive, especially when he's had a few. Alex packs up Maddy in the middle of the night to escape their trailer home only to be swept up in a bureaucratic nightmare of social services. Alex has nothing, no job, no schooling, nothing. To qualify for housing, she needs a job and lands temporary employment as a maid - hence the title of the show. Alex's mother is Paula, played by Andie MacDowell (Margaret Qualley's actual mother). Paula is an artist also living in a trailer and she is bipolar. Alex's father is a born again Christian who is remarried with a new family, an alcoholic abuser himself. The show is packed with sad characters, a ton of mental illnesses and depressing situations all around - if that sounds grim, it is. Surprisingly I found the show rather uplifting - maybe uplifting isn't the term. I was happy to cheer for Alex, who remained, for the most part, positive and resilient enduring one terrible hardship after the next. Margaret Qualley is fabulous as is the entire cast. After you finish Squid Game, here is another great show about financial inequality (as well as domestic abuse, bureaucracy, mental illness, PTSD, and lots more fun). Ultimately though, the show is about the power of a mother's love (and the dream of becoming a writer) to overcome the toughest of obstacles. Catch this fabulous show on Netflix. 

Old Henry

I will watch anything Stephen Dorff participates in. If he feels like it's a worthy project, I'm in. Old Henry is a Western and Dorff plays the villain. Tim Blake Nelson plays the lead - a character actor who shines as Old Henry. He plays a farmer with a hidden past, a past which we suspect is going to come out when the bad guys show up. I won't write more plot wise. It's a simple story and we have seen it before. Imagine The Equalizer, but a Western. The film has  a great sense of dread which builds slowly throughout accompanied by the films score. It's a gorgeous looking picture, both in colour palette and composition. There are many long scenes in the tall grass that will grip you longer than you thought possible. It won't be nominated for best picture but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Tim Blake Nelson gets a nomination for lead actor - a Golden Globe or Oscar or maybe even both. Catch it on Streaming services or in the theatre if you get a chance.   

No Time to Die

 Ian Fleming died in 1964 at the age of 56. He didn't get to see the movie version of Goldfinger. No Time to Die marks the 27th James Bond movie. Fleming, I believe,  would be overwhelmed with pride and delighted to see how far his character has travelled- like any great Bond film, it's been international locales. This is Daniel Craig's fifth Bond film and it's said to be his last (although I think he said that two films ago) - Never Say Never. I would argue, with a ridiculous runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes, it's his best and one of the best Bond films ever. For me, the almost 3 hours flew by, with all the bad guys in hot pursuit of course. No Time to Die has a great story, drama, bulletproof cars with machine gun lights, cool bad guys, martinis, and a new black woman double oh seven (I would have like to have seen more of her). What more could you want? Go catch this one in the theatres while you can - the bigger the screen, the better.  

Titane

Titane is a head trip. It's a cross between the 1977 film Demon Seed and David Cronenberg's Crash - I will translate my own film geek nomenclature for you - a woman gets impregnated by a car. Yes, that's correct, a car. Then she goes on a random killing spree and then changes her appearance to evade police and pretends to be a man's long lost son. If that sounds bizarre, it is. For those of you who like to be challenged, who like films that push boundaries, movies which leave you asking, "What was that?" Titane is the movie for 2021 to do the job.  How strange are we talking? Think Under the Skin, Santa Sangre, or Wild at Heart strange.  It is about sexuality, identity, toxic masculinity, violence, mutation - lots of moving parts and stunning visuals. It's violent, grotesque, and it will haunt you long after you have stopped watching. It is one of the most interesting films of 2021. Catch it in theatres or on streaming services. 

Malignant

I think one could argue Quentin Tarantino's whole body of work is a homage to films Tarantino loves, like B-Westerns, B-Kung-Fu movies, B action films,  Peckinpah films, De Palma's films, etc. James Wan, the Australian director who has brought us Saw, The Conjuring, Insidious, and many other great horror films has brought us what I consider to be his homage to 80s VHS B-Horror films, Tarantino style. Malignant is an extraordinary B-"Midnight-Madness"-horror movie. Taken in that context, it's a blast of fun. What's it all about? Annabelle Wallis plays Madison Mitchell, a woman who is haunted by The Eyes of Laura Mars type visions where she can see murders happening in real time. The source of these visions is so outlandish that you will howl with laughter - this is great B-horror movie stuff. With castle-sized hospitals with classic accompanying lighting and thunder, plus weird experiments being performed by people in white lab coats, we are in a B-horror happy place. To top it off, there is a Matrix style fight scene in a jail holding cell that will bring you joy. Catch this wonderful trash pick in the theatre or on streaming services.