Shortcomings

I recently watched "Joy Ride" (2023) which I had heard great things about - a feature film with Asian leads being touted as the next "Bridesmaids." It was raunchy and pretty much unfunny. Quite frankly, it was dumb and disappointing. However it did explore interesting material - what it's like to be Asian growing up in a white society. If you want to see one of the best films of the year about this, please watch "Riceboy Sleeps." So what does all this have to do with "Shortcomings?" Well it has three Asian leads and it's about living, working, and dating within a white culture; oh, and this film, well it's brilliant and funny. This little indie picture stars, Justin H. Min as Ben, a late twenties/early thirties Asian man who has fading dreams of being a film maker while he continues to toil away working at an independent movie theatre as the manager. The film starts off with Ben attending an Asian film festival with his girlfriend, Miko (Ally Maki) watching what would be the equivalent of "Joy Ride" - a dumb mainstream movie to appeal to the masses. Ben's high-art snobbery is a problem for Miko (that and Ben's "thing" for white girls) and it marks the beginning of the end of their relationship. "Shortcomings" is honest, clever, and well made. If you are looking for a dramady, then please catch Randall Park's smart film at your local rep theatre or on streaming services when it becomes available. 

Sympathy for the Devil

It was when I watched the first and second season of AMC's "The Killing" that I developed my man-crush on Swedish born actor, Joel Kinnaman. I thought to myself, this guy is an amazing actor. Kinnaman is one half of "Sympathy for the Devil." The other half is Nicolas Cage. Everyone knows Cage. He's known for his over the top, crazy performances. So you might chalk up this performance as just that, just another wackadoodle one. I would argue it's not. Cage looks like he has lost weight for this role (hopefully intentionally). It gives him a mean look. I think his boyish face, besides from granting him the appearance of youth, had never giving him the gravitas I think catapults other actors into the spotlight. So I think the leanness of Cage's face (not to mention the flamboyant hair!), but also the leanness of the manic energy Cage expels, a kind of powder-keg waiting to blow, makes this performance one of his best since "Pig."  What's this movie all about? Two guys in a car with a possible case of mistaken identity. I don't want to say any more. It's a violent thriller and I loved it. You may have seen this story before but this version, it's a killer. Catch a ride with "Sympathy for the Devil" in theatres or soon on streaming services.   

Arnold

"Arnold" is a three part, three hour, Netflix documentary series on the life and times of Arnold Schwarzenegger. When I was a teenager, fifteen I believe, I remember watching "The Terminator" in the basement of my father's home with my stepbrother and cousins. The format was VHS and the year was 1985. I thought to myself, this movie is dumb, but it did pull me in. I also thought, this Arnold Schwarzenegger guy, what a meathead. It took a long time to change my mind about Mr. Schwarzenegger. I grew to like him more and more over the years, over many action films. I came to admire his environmental action when he was governor of California. When I finally watched "Pumping Iron" (about seven years ago) I had an all new appreciation of the man. Now this series. This is a warts-and-all portrait - although his infidelity and elevator groping are only dealt with in the last twenty minutes of the series. However, it lands as an ugly stain on the fabric of  Schwarzenegger's extraordinary life - hence, for me, it gave the series some emotional gravitas. I found the series to be fascinating and inspirational (although I don't think at this point in my life I need any inspiration to do the things I love). Catch this documentary series on one of the most influential people in the world of the last half century, now streaming on Netflix.

Barbie

It's not a film I expected to land on my blog. But here it is, in all it's pink plastic glory. "Barbie" is no dumb blonde. This movie is funny, smart, and self aware. Margot Robbie plays stereotypical Barbie and Ryan Gosling plays Ken. They are both really fabulous. What's it all about? Barbie must travel to the real world to find the girl who is playing with her who has thoughts of death before Barbie's feet go flat and she turns into a weird Barbie, like the one played by the hilarious, Kate McKinnon. Ken tags along for the ride and discovers The Patriarchy in the real world. Ken brings back such forward thinking to Barbieland and the next thing you know, all the PhD Barbies, and the Supreme Court Barbie Justices and the Nobel Prize winning Barbies are serving beers to all the Kens - chaos! The head of Mattel (Will Ferrell) and his board of directors need to set things straight. What a hoot. From the set pieces to the costumes, "Barbie" is a delight to behold. It looks amazing. Greta Gerwig (cowriter and director) has made a very special and funny film. Do yourself a favour and go beach yourself off by catching this one in theatres now. 

Oppenheimer

Almost 200,000 people died in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think Nolan makes the case Robert Oppenheimer felt the weight of his creation and allowed himself to be abused at his security review in 1954. "Oppenheimer" uses the template of "Amadeus." Lewis Strauss ( Robert Downey Jr) is Salieri and J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) is Mozart. "Oppenheimer" marks the 12th feature film Christopher Nolan has directed. I'm a Nolan fan, however the director has made a few turkeys, in my opinion; "Tenet" and "Dunkirk". "Oppenheimer" will rank up there as one of his best. It's a good film; solid enough to make a blog entry (as you know, only good stuff goes on the blog). Will it be good enough to make my top ten list of the year? Doubtful. Why? It lacks an emotional element - I felt like I should be feeling more at the end of the film. I didn't. There is a cold precision to Nolan's films which I both admire and detest at the same time (how can something be both a wave and a particle?). So what makes Nolan great is also his demise, fission and fusion. So let's talk about why "Oppenheimer" is great. This is a three hour film and I wasn't bored for a minute; it chugs along at a good clip for a film which is mostly a bunch of men standing around talking. The look of the film is gorgeous. The performances are all fantastic - Matt Damon always brings so much humanity to his roles. And the bomb sequence, well it's a masterpiece. For these reasons alone, "Oppenheimer" is must see cinema. Catch it in theatres now.  

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

So the last Mission Impossible film, Fallout, (the 6th in the series) to my utter surprise, made my top ten list of 2018. This series started back in 1996 with Brian De Palma as the director. If you told me it would still be going in 2023 and that it would be not only good, but amazing, I would have scoffed. But here we are. Welcome to what is likely to be the best action movie of 2023. I have watched so many action movies, so to impress me with a car chase, well it’s a rare thing. “Mission Impossible: Dead reckoning” (the 7th film) impressed me greatly. Contrast it with “John Wick 4,” a boring, relentless action picture that never stops to breathe - hence we don’t care about anything or anyone. “Mission Impossible” has moments of rest, characters grow; and it has a cast of likeable characters, played by Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, and Rebecca Ferguson. What’s it all about? A chatgpt like super computer entity has become sentient and whoever can control it can control the world! There are two pieces of a physical key that unlock something, and that something will control the entity - the MacGuffin! Tom Cruise and his band of merry force hunt for their key. It’s ridiculous but it’s also a ton of fun. Enough reading, go catch this one on a big IMAX screen. In theatres now.

Lynch/Oz

"Lynch/Oz" is for hardcore film geeks and/or David Lynch fans. If you aren't one of these people, you can stop reading and give this film a skip. If you are still with me, then let's get our geek on! I'm not a hardcore David Lynch fan. I confess, I have never watched "Twin Peaks" - I know, I know. However I have loved a good body of his work, "The Elephant Man," "Blue Velvet," "The Straight Story." and "Lost Highway." For this film, it's more than enough. "Lynch/Oz" is a nerd documentary broken into six video essays by six different individuals. It compares and contrasts Lynch's work to the "Wizard of Oz." I realize this sounds a tad dry and maybe for some, it will be. However the documentary is far more than just this. It's more about story templates and a small history of film in relation to the Wizard of Oz and other films. There is so much other film stuff discussed that even if you aren't a die hard Lynch fan, your inner film nerd will be delighted. It reminded me a little of Mark Cousins's "The Story of Film." So grab a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon (Heineken, you know what you can do with that) and follow the yellow dotted lost highway line to Oz, all your dork cinephile friends will be waiting there for you. Catch this in a rep theatre near you.