Apollo 11

I watched "First Man" last year and loved it. It made my top ten list of the best films of 2018. So do we need another film about the Apollo 11 mission to the moon? The surprising answer is: Absolutely yes! In fact you can skip "First Man" if you haven't seen it already and watch CNN's documentary "Apollo 11" which is comprised of entirely real archival footage from the 1969 trip to the moon. There is no modern voice over. All the narration comes from the commentators and reporters of the time. There may be some music added, but that's about it. Todd Douglas Miller who directed and edited this movie must be given high praise for being able to cobble together a riveting tale out of all this old footage. For me, to see how many people were actually involved on the ground was even more impressive than its docudrama counterpart had portrayed it. To see this movie is to marvel at how brilliant humanity can be when we work together. This is something to behold. Fly away with this one on streaming services or catch it at your local cinema.

If you are in Ottawa, catch it at the Bytowne now: https://www.bytowne.ca/movie/apollo-11

 

Paddleton

Maybe I'm getting old and soft, but there were tears. I've always liked Ray Romano. He played a character on the TV show "Parenthood" who had Aspergers ("Parenthood" was a fantastic show by the way). Ray's character, Andy, in "Paddleton" also seems to be a little on the spectrum. What's it all about? Well it's about two grown men, Andy and Michael who live in the same Californian apartment building who spend a lot of time together drinking beer, watching Kung Fu movies, and playing board games. They have made their own tennis game, "Paddleton" which they play against the back of an abandoned Drive-In movie screen. They aren't gay, they are just good friends who spend a lot of time together. Mark Duplass's character, Michael gets diagnosed with terminal cancer. They go on a road trip to get his die-with-dignity euthanasia suicide pills. Yes it sounds grim. It's also tender and slow, and at times, quite funny. I don't know if this will my top ten by the end of 2019 but I wanted to share it with you because it's a beautiful little film that will get lost and forgotten, like an old Kung Fu movie, unless somebody watches it. You might be a little sad when it's over.

Catch it on Netflix.

Touch Me Not

"Touch Me Not" - is a film by Adina Pintilie. I have never seen anything quite like it. It will stay with you long after it’s over and it will push even the most open-minded person to place that he or she might not be comfortable going. "Touch Me Not" is not a mainstream movie; this is as art-house as art-house gets. What’s it about? I don’t even know where to start. It supposed to feel and look like a documentary, but it’s fiction. It revolves around a middle-aged woman who seems to have serious intimacy issues – she doesn’t like to be touched, yet seems to crave it. There is a whole fictionalized touch therapy class involving real-life physically challenged individuals; this whole part reminded me of George Lucas’s "THX 1138" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest." The film raises questions about our personal relationships with our own body and the bodies of others. "Touch Me Not" is also about voyeurism, sexuality, power relations, kink, and the blurring of truth. There is so much going on here that everyone who watches might end up taking away a bunch of completely different things.

There is something lovely about the pacing of this film – it’s extremely slow, which makes it so personal and intimate. I don’t know how much was improvised and how much was scripted, but does it really matter? "Touch Me Not" is taboo breaking and pushing boundaries, but it does so in such a beautiful sensitive way, that we can face what we would normally find most shocking.
Let it touch you on streaming services or at your local art house movie theatre.

Dragged Across Concrete

If "Pulp Fiction" and "Heat" were to have a baby, it would be "Dragged Across Concrete." OMG did I love this film. I love bank heist pictures and I like dark- this is both. It's super violent and has a sick sense of humour.

Before I watched this film on a whim, I had no idea who S. Craig Zahler was. He is the writer and director of this masterpiece of a movie. He is also the co-writer of "Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich" (which was a guilty pleasure of mine from last year) and the writer and director of "Bone Tomahawk" - a violent Western staring Kurt Russell I very much enjoyed.
Mel Gibson is in the third act of his career and it's looking impressive - Blood Father, The Professor and the Madman, and Dragged Across Concrete.
With a crazy run time of 2 hours and 39 minutes, Dragged Across Concrete is one of the best action/thriller pictures of 2019 and you should watch it right now.

Leaving Neverland

I can no longer watch Bill Cosby. I grew up watching Fat Albert and The Cosby Show. I loved them. I shared one season of The Cosby Show with my daughter. I wanted her to watch all of it. Then it came out: Bill Cosby drugged and raped women. He is now sitting in jail. I can no longer watch Bill Cosby.
What is far more difficult for me is Michael Jackson. I was never a huge Jackson fan growing up, however he was the biggest pop star of my generation. Songs like Thriller are ingrained in the fabric of our Western culture. Thriller has been used in movies I like and it's a staple of every Halloween party soundtrack. I can hear it in my head and it's catchy. Michael Jackson sexually molested children for decades. I can no longer listen to Michael Jackson in the same way. Every song now has this baggage.
HBO's two part, four hour documentary, Leaving Neverland, focuses on Jackson's abuse of two boys, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who are now adults. Questions like: How could the parents allow this to happen? Why didn't anyone say anything? Are somewhat answered, at least for me. I found it to be riveting, shocking, and disturbing. I was glued to it. Catch it on HBO.

Isle of Dogs

The first Wes Anderson film I saw was Rushmore; I loved it. Then came The Royal Tenenbaums, which I thought was weird and quirky, but lacked emotional depth; it was just okay. And it wasn't all that funny. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was awful. I can't remember if I made it to the end; painful. Moonrise Kingdom I turned off after the first twenty minutes. What I had once found to be charming about Wes Anderson was now annoying. I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel was Wes's best outing in a while. So it was with great reluctance and pessimism I went into my viewing of Isle of Dogs - I didn't want to like it. It turns out I loved it. Wes Anderson's weird and quirky ways completely work in animation. Maybe all of his films would be better if they were animated.
I had so much fun watching this goofy and ridiculous film - maybe because I'm a dog owner. Bryan Cranston as Chief was wonderful; his performance had bite - pun intended. If you are looking for something light and fun, adopt this dog. Catch it on streaming services.

Shoplifters

This Oscar nominated Japanese film for Best Foreign Language Film is simply lovely. Shoplifters is why I go to the movies - a perspective that gives us insight and empathy into our fellow human beings. It's about a poor Japanese family who steal just to get by. It opens with what we believe are a farther-son duo ripping off food from a grocery store. On their way home they pick up a little four year girl who is outside on her balcony shivering, hungry; her parents can be heard inside screaming that neither of them wanted her. They give her food and ask if she wants to come with them. She is happy to go. They bring her to their tiny home where Grandma, Mom, Dad, older sister, and the son (who sleeps in a closet) live. Several days go by and the young girl isn't reported missing. So they keep her and make her part of their family. It turns out the son isn't really their son either, he was found in a car while 'Dad' was stealing something.
Shoplifters brings into focus what it is to be a family, what it means to be a mother and a father, and it puts morality out in the yard to play. Nothing in this film is heavy handed and there are no sharp tales or lessons to be had. It will give you something to reflect about your own notions of right and wrong are and what is 'family.'
Shoplifters stole my heart. Catch it at a rep cinema near you or at an online streaming service soon.