Searching

— “Searching” really is a thriller with a different perspective. The story centers on a daughter who’s gone missing and the efforts by her father and a police detective to find her. In the process, her father realizes he didn’t know his daughter very well so he starts a journey through her social media accounts and internet past. Most of the film's visuals become the screens he calls up on his journey and, aside from a few face-to-face meetings, the only real dialog comes in the form of FaceTime conversations, text messages, and archived videos. Add to that Reddit and Facebook and YouCast exchanges and images, and iPhone or laptop screens become the main character. Luckily, it’s done well and takes the viewer through plenty of suspenseful clues and plot twists. John Cho and Debra Messing both do their parts well. I expected a gimmicky film but got a pretty decent mystery/thriller with a unique plot device.

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[2017. 116 min. Directed by Todd Haynes. Starring Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Millicent Simmonds.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/searching-2018

Wonderstruck

— This is a beautiful film [DVD] with an interesting story of two deaf children, each coming to New York a half century apart. The details are wonderful and the actor now their stuff. It’s a journey to find their place in the world and Todd Haynes adds his customary sensitivity to the film, giving it a glow and a beauty as they characters make their way. With Haynes, I always feel like I’m watching his love story with the film and that may be what makes his films so satisfying. This one seems a little off in the end, but still a joy to watch.

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[2017. 101 min. Written and directed by Woody Allen. Starring Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi, and Juno Temple.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wonderstruck-2017

Crazy Rich Asians

— This is the kind of film you have see so you know what all the hubbub’s about. In a way, it’s just another romantic comedy with a Hallmark movie plot—true love triumphs over incredible odds and the girl gets the guy and his immense wealth. The thing is, it’s an all-Asian film with no martial arts and its grossing well by attracting non-Asian audiences. In a medium where Asians have traditionally been underrepresented, it’s a step forward to have a film that seems to transcend races. When you see it, you are seeing a romantic comedy with Asians, not an Asian film. When love, cultures, and classes collide, it helps that the film’s fun, entertaining, sometimes touching, and well done. I won’t be thinking much about this tomorrow, but it was a fun couple of hours watching it and it could be the start of more diverse representation in film going forward.

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[2018. 120 min. Directed by Jon M. Chu. Starring Constance Wu, Henry Golding, and Michelle Yeoh]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/14/movies/crazy-rich-asians-review.html
http://time.com/longform/crazy-rich-asians/

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot

— I want the Gus Van Sant of “Milk,” “Finding Forrester,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “My Own Private Idaho” to show up a little more often. “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” just doesn’t measure up. Joaquin Phoenix is a fine actor, but the film jumps around more than it needs to, maybe trying to keep us interested even though the film is mostly structured around AA’s 12 Steps. It's about John Callahan, an alcoholic who, at the age of 21, became a quadriplegic when a car driven by a drunk friend crashed, and the subsequent rebuilding of his life, becoming a successful but controversial cartoonist. From my perspective, too little time was spent on Callahan’s cartoons and way too much time, with very little humor, was spent on his road to sobriety. The story was originally one Robin Williams wanted to tell and I can’t help but think he would have infused the part with a less somber air. That said, it’s still a good film, something of a lauding of higher powers and counseling, but it’s not a great film. It does, however, stand out as having the worst part Rooney Mara should ever have, particularly unsettling for someone twice nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.

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[2018. 114 min. Directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dont-worry-he-wont-get-far-on-foot-2018

Wonder Wheel

— Woody Allen sure has his ups and downs, and keeps attracting some first-rate actors. This isn’t what I’d call Woody at his best—that’s “Blue Jasmine,” “Midnight in Paris,” and “Match Point.” “Wonder Wheel” is gorgeous cinematography, perfectly thought out scenes, more a feeling of a play than a film [DVD], and plenty of drama on Coney Island. Kate Winslet shines but, at the end, all you have is a beautiful piece of film that didn’t manage to move me.

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[2017. 101 min. Written and directed by Woody Allen. Starring Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi, and Juno Temple.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/wonder-wheel-2017

BlacKkKlansman

— I often think Spike Lee’s films are good, but I just don’t like them. This is one of the good films that I also like! It’s the story of a Colorado Springs’, black police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1970s. An offhand telephone call led to the black officer and his white, Jewish partner adopting a single undercover persona—one handled phone conversations with everyone from local Klansman to David Duke and the other gave a white face to the duo for physical meetings. With a plot like that, it would have been tempting to push things to absurdity. Instead, there’s something almost easygoing and believable in the telling as we’re transported back 40 years to a time when opposing white and black power forces were ready to erupt into violence, to a time before the divide narrowed and the bigotry lessened. But with good editing, powerful images, and eerily familiar words, the attitudes of the past begin to look a lot like the present. We’re left with a terrible realization that, instead of dissipating, the intolerance and racism have become normalized, to the point that mainstream politics now carries the message. The relaxed feeling floating through the story reminds us how easily we have been lulled into acceptance of an undercurrent of hatred. It isn’t lost that the black and white undercover officers may have become a single person, but everywhere else things are still very separate. It’s a frightening indictment and an excellent film.

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[2018. 135 min. Directed by Spike Lee. Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, and Laura Harrier
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/blackkklansman-2018

Murder on the Orient Express

— I missed this one when it was in theaters. Agatha Christie's story is so well known that there aren't really plot surprises even in an updated version, but someone must have assumed this group of actors would be able to make this slow-paced version somehow shine. It was still fun to watch so many first-rate actors, but the film [DVD] itself, not so much. Really, in the end, its too bad the cast didn't have something better to sink their teeth in. The film's worth it for the cast but not otherwise outstanding.

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[2017. 114 min. Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Derek Jacobi, Leslie Odam, Jr. Michelle Pfeiffer, and Daisy Ridley.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/murder-on-the-orient-express-2017

Eighth Grade

— This is an unusual coming of age film, and a very good one. Often there’s a dose of nostalgia, and sometimes of doom or anger, because most coming of age films are told in retrospect or as period pieces. “Eighth Grade” sometimes flashes back a year or two but there’s something very “in the moment” about it that gives it such a ring of truth. Well, that and video blogs, an isolation only fully evolved social media can bring, and a very talented star. Bo Burnham’s script and direction coupled with Elsie Fisher’s eighth-grade Kayla are a perfect combination. I felt like I was experiencing those awkward, anxious, awful days all over again—the situations are a lot different 50 years later, but the angst and terror aren’t much different!

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[2018. 93 min. Written and directed by Bo Burnham. Starring Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Emily Robinson, and Jake Ryan.]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/movies/eighth-grade-review-bo-burnham.html