Dead Man's Wire (2025)

Gus Van Sant returns to the big screen with a film that feels like it was made back in the 1970’s. The film is the story of Tony Kiritsis who took a bank executive hostage by tying a shotgun to the man’s head with a wire. Kiritsis then turned everything into a media circus in order to get his point across that he was screwed by the bank and that’s practices were at best predatory and at worst criminal.

Feeling like a slice of life 50 years ago, the film feels like the world I walked through in 1977 when I was a teenager. Nothing seems off. I say this up front because there have been several films recently (I’m looking at you MASTERMIND) that were set in the 70’s and felt like dress up.  While Van Sant mirrors the actual events, he doesn’t go for exact recreations of the video from the event with the result the film feels alive and not just a tableau. He also keeps the film feeling pitch perfect because he makes sure the film has the innocence of the time. The events happened because we are not as security conscious as we are now. What happened was because of when things happened and we are willing to go with it partly because this is what happened but also because we never get lost in cynicism.

The cast is first rate and to be honest outside of Bill Skarsgård as Kiritsis and Al Pacino as the owner of the bank, I had no idea who anyone was because they disappeared into their roles.

I like how Van Sant managed to keep the tension and yet keep the inherent humor.  This is a dangerous situation but there is a genuine absurdity to it all. We laugh and we wince, and we are forced to think at the insanity of events that transpired to make iritsis have to resort to taking a man hostage to be heard. If this was today, we probably would have had another Luigi Mangione case.

Van Sant also masterfully uses music to accent everything. Using period appropriate needle drops to move us. I never expected to hear several of the songs in a context of a hostage drama, but it works.

What an absolute gem of a film.

I have no idea how this will fare at the box office when it opens but I think this film will have a long life down the road as filmmakers see what Van Sant and his crew have done and as real life bends around more and more making the story of Kiritsis relevant to what is happening in the world today.

Highly recommended.

Radu Jude's DRACULA (2025)

Radu Jude's all over the place take on Dracula has some amazing things in it but  wraps the good things with bad  and is wildly too long and rambling to hold together.

The film feels like Jude had all these ideas about Dracula and Vlad Tepes, the inspiration for Stoker's character but he didn't know what to do with them so he through them all together. At the same time he had all these ideas on other things like AI so he put them them in there too. Thoughts appear and then disappear. We remember the things that punch through and shine and forget the rest. My over riding feeling coming out on the far end is that the film has moments but nothing hangs together.

Full disclosure, I am not a Jude fan. I find his film's tough slogs, his BAD LUCK BANGING and DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD were in desperate need of an editor, much like his DRACULA. He seems to think more is more even when it's garbage. Quite honestly I am convinced that he is scamming the cineastes who adore him by bullshitting them into thinking his works mean something. This is the result of dealing with way too many artists who scammed their patrons for big bucks.

That said, for all the messiness and crap it contains DRACULA is probably Jude's most interesting film, though I never need to see it agin.

Catch up Capsules : JAY KELLY and IT'S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY

JAY KELLY
I'm certain it's intentional but Noah Baumbach's look at celebrity with George Clooney and Adam Sandler feels like the wrong sort of fake. Filled with slick scenes and dialog that never feels real this feels more like an inflated theater piece where the arch dialog would work. For me it's fake people wandering around wondering why they live in a fake world. I am not a Baumbach fan but I can't believe that even he turned out something this superficial.

IT'S NEVER OVER, JEFF BUCKLEY
This portrait of the late singer songwriter did something I didn't think possible, it made me like him less. Stylistically told its more form over content. I was watching what it was doing more than what it was saying. I have Buckley albums, but to me too much of the music choices feel of a type and not quite as expansive as I would have liked. Any film that made me dislike Hallelujah is not to be trusted

Catch-up Capsules: EDDINGTON and WEAPONS

EDDINGTON
A battle between a sheriff and a mayor destroys the town of Eddington during covid.
Early front runner in the Oscar race is a complete head scratcher. Ari Aster maybe an interesting guy to hear speak (I've seen him talk about other people's films) but he makes films that leave me wondering how he got funding.  Yea this film is an effort to confront the issues faciung the world today but it's so obvious and messy thqat I can't believe anyone takes it serious.
Best of the Year? Oh hell no.

WEAPONS
This  fragmented tale about the disappearance of kids late one night, supernatural powers and evil was billed as one of scariest films of the year.  I giggled a lot. The performances by the kids are wildly uneven so by the time the film riffs a classic death from DAY OF THE DEAD with kids I was well past thinking of it as anything other than a comedy.

Brief thoughts on WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED (2024)

Mexico's entry for the Oscars has an older attorney who has been attempting to find out what happened to her brother in the protests of 1968 receiving some information that sends he down a rabbit hole. 

Dry black comedy/drama is a mannered affair. Shot in a moody black and white it has the feel of a film that is trying to be something more than a comedy. I was amused for the most part and I interested enough that I wanted to see where it was going. At the same time there was something about the presentation that didn't connect to me and I felt outside of the action.

At the same time there is enough here to recommend it because I think if nothing else, you'll be like me and like the film.

Three opening this week: ALL THAT'S LEFT OF YOU, SERIOUS PEOPLE and OUR HAPPY PLACE

ALL THATS LEFT OF YOU
The Oscar entry from Jordan is the story of a Palestinian family over the course of 70 years. Its a heartbreaking tale of the pains suffered the people of Palestine. 

I was moved.

As good as the film is on it's own terms I wish this film was being released earlier in the year or some time down the road since I beleieve this is the fourth film using the history of Palestine to tell the story of the current situation. 

SERIOUS PEOPLE
A video director hires a man to direct families in his stead so he can spend time with his family. Unfortunately, things go sideways.

Mannered inde comedy is one you are either going to love or hate depending upon how you connect to it. Long takes and a desire to be more than just a comedy make this film something atypical. For example, the whole opening sequence of what seems like an actual casting session gives the film a sense of documentary, that drifts in and out of the film that made it feel a bit odd.  I never clicked with the vibe and not all of the humor worked for me. At the same time, I know people who saw this on the festival circuit who loved it.

Worth a try for the adventurous.

OUR HAPPY PLACE
A woman caring for her husband keeps waking up in the woods with no memory of how she got there and vague sense of disturbing visions.

Released on VOD, Ive revisited this film because I didn't think I had seen it and I was in the mood for a good thriller.  Almost instantly I realized I had seen it before (though never wrote it up) but decided to stay with it because I needed a palate cleanse from all the awards films I'm watching.

This is a small little thriller that doesn't reinvent the wheel but simply entertains. While that may not sound like much, consider that I chose to stay with it a second time despite having some of the biggest films of the year waiting in a pile demanding my attention to be seen.

Recommended

Belen (2025)

Belen is the true story of a woman who was charged and sent to prison because authorities said she had tried to self abort a child. She said she didn’t know she was pregnant, the police didn’t believe her (and the result is  one of the most jaw dropping sequences in any film this year)

Argentina’s Oscar entry is a stunner. Even if it wasn’t true this film would kick you to the curb. It’s a beautifully acted film that gets under your skin and forces you to react. I was moved.

And the film is very much a film for our time. With the far right trying to control the lives of everyone and everything what happened in Argentina may soon happen here.

This is great filmmaking.

Highly recommended

THE MOTHER, THE MENACER, AND ME | Available Digitally Starting 12/11

This is the story about a no budget filmmaker trying to make a film about the killer called the MENACER, while dealing with his wife, and his mother and law.

This is an amusing little film about the pain and suffering involved in trying to be an artist. Can a filmmaker actually do what they were born to do? It's not always clear. I laughed. 

Worth a look

MOB WAR: PHILADELPHIA VS THE MAFIA

Mob War is a super little series looking at the mob in Philadelphia, sprcifically the battle .between John Stanfa and Joey Merlino in the '90s  The series is a refreshing break from the organized crime films that primarily focus on the mob in New York.  Blame that on John Gotti who made the New York mob fashionable even as it effectively destroyed it.

Focusing on the period when federal and local authorities decided to try and run the bad guys out of town, the film paints a portrait of a city that seemed to be under the control of the mob. The series follows how the up-and-coming mobsters tried to push out the old crowd as the cops came calling.

I had a great time with this. Living in New York it was so nice to hear a true-life gangster story that wasn’t one I had heard a thousand time before. It was also nice not to hear about Whitey Bulger yet again.

Running a brief 3 episodes the truth is this is kind of too short. There is more history here and it would have been great to hear more stories about the Phillie mob.

Recommended.

PIG HILL (2025)

 

A young woman begins to look into a series od strange disappearances in her town with the help of her brother and a friend. The disappearances appear to have something to do with “the pig people” a legendary bunch of people who do terrible things.

This is a nifty little thriller. I’m not going to say it breaks any new ground, but I will happily say that the film instead takes something similar to tales we’ve heard before and dresses it up so well that we fall in love it. There is a reason that some frequently told tales are more loved than others and it is in the hands of the storyteller. In this case it’s director Kevin Lewis who shows after the very fun WILLIE’S WONDERLAND that he is one of the best directors working today.  Lewis has made two great popcorn films and his work will make you want to see what he is doing next.

I had a blast watching this and I wish I had seen it at a packed festival screening where the energy of a similarly focused group of people makes it something greater. I will be seeing this again.

This film is a blast

Recommended.

How To Become a Mob Boss

Peter Dinklage narrates a how-to tale of what to do and what not to do if you want to be a mob boss. Focusing on the careers of various people (Whitey Bulger, Capone, Gotti, Carlos Escobar) the film charts what makes a successful boss.

This is a good look at the lives of various mob bosses and their various levels of success. It’s an informative way of doing things since it allows for the filmmakers to connect things up in unexpected ways. I was intrigued by how they did it.  I was also intrigued by the fact that their definition is kind of relative since none of the people profiled remained free, or alive.  Watching the episode on John Gotti I was struck by how he would have felt since he is repeatedly listed as the guy you didn’t want to emulate.

I originally put the series on because I wanted something “easy” to watch. I figured that it would be a bunch of stories I had heard. However the series surprised me by telling me a few tales of the early days of the mob I hadn’t heard before. I was hooked and what was supposed to be a leisurely walk through the series became a gallop.

I had a good time, though I dislike that the length of the episodes get shorter as the series goes on., with the final three running around 30 minutes.

Shortness of episodes or no this is a series that’s worth your time.

International Oscar Hopefuls: TARIKA and PALESTINE 36

TARIKA (The Herd)
This soul crushing magical realistic tale is the Bulgarian Oscar entry.  The film is the story of a father and daughter living in the country side. They are outsiders and not really trusted. Traika, has developed butterfly wings disease, a condition that makes her bones brittle. Complicating matters is the fact that the village thinks the girl is cursed and the source of the bad luck that seems to have befallen the town.

Told largely through action not words, TARIKA is a tale of what it means to be a paret and how the the herd mentality can over take reason. Its a deliberately told tale that you have to go with and pay attention to because what it important is told in actions and not words. There are long silences. If you can go with its rhythms will leave you broken at then end

Recommended

PALESTINE 36
Palestine's entry to the Oscars is the story of a young man caught up in the politics and tensions of 1930's Palestine, where the influx of European Jews is turning the status quo upside down.

This is a solid historical drama that takes the current vogue of Palestine before the Second World War tales and tries to tell a large story than that of a family caught in the march of history. I mention this because PALESTINE 36 is one of a half dozen or more films that have come out this year set in the same period, and one of at least three that is in the Oscar mix.

Of many films of a similar subject this is probably the most conventionally told, but it is also the one trying to tell a larger scale story. We are introduced to a swath of people from various groups and we are given a wider look at the politics of what is going on.

While just as good as the other films on the subject, it stands out for not taking a similar path. At the same time it is hurt by being clumped together with films that are less conventional. Don't get me wrong, I like the film, but at the same time seeing it at the end of the year in the midst of Oscar talk, I found it hard to take on it's own terms. That said I will revisit down the road.

My peronal quibbles aside PALESTNE 36 is worth a look.

100 LITERS OF GOLD (2024)

From Teemu Nikki whose previous THE BLIND MAN WHO DID NOT WANT TO SEE TITANIC comes the Finnish entry for the Oscars. It's the tale of two sisters who are known for brewing the best sahti ale. Asked to make some ale for a wedding they end up drinking it all themselves and have to scramble to find more.

Nominally a comedy this is a film that is more real then a comedy: Characters are broken, many are alcoholic in a very real way, life is messy.  Laughs come out of reality, as do the gut punches. It a film that moves you in all sorts of unexpected ways. 

To be completely honest I'm at a loss to know what its oscar chances are. It is most certainly a great film but it's not a film that behaves like a typical film.  its gloriously messy like life. Even saying its a black comedy doesn't prepare you for the real life edge to it.

The reality is this is one of the great finds of the year. Its a film unlike anything else you'll see all year.  It's proof that Teemu Nikki is one of the best directors working today. Like BLIND MAN, 100 LITERS forces us to see the world in an entirely new way.

Highly recommended.

Catch up Posts: BRING HER BACK and LAST BREATH

BRING HER BACK

A Brother and a sister are put into foster care, but there is something wrong with their foster brother and their foster mom seems to have a motive for their being there.

This  horror film that  is a little too constructed for my tastes with everything set up to make us feel off, from wounding one character at the start with poor vision on to the end, everything is set up not so much to feel natural but to be the most disturbing just to be disturbing. Its a technically well done film with a plot line that requires more and more nastiness because the characters get into an almost unbelievable death spiral which will make you want to simply say "If Woody had gone to police...". Disturbing on a purely visceral level it never pulls it enough to be as great as the parts.

LAST BREATH
True story about the efforts to rescue divers at the bottom of the ocean.
If you can give this film 15 minutes to set everything up, this is a nail biting film that will creep into your dreams. I had heard this was good and that word was right.
If you can be patient this is very recommended.

Very brief thoughts on MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG

Filmed version of the 2023 revival of the Stephen Sondhiem play is going to be a love it or loath it affair. the story of three friends over the years told backwards is not everyone's cup of tea. 

While the play has has rewrites, rethinks and assorted other iterations that added and removed songs the show has always been something I liked the idea of but never really the execution (a "proper" movie version filmed over the actual span of the play, so the actors age properly, is now being shot). Looking at the filmmed version of the show I was never fully engaged. The film is a record of the play and never transcends into anything beyond that. What works on stage doesn't completely work on the screen. Granted I am not a fan of the show so my tolerence for the piece was low

While I like Sondhiem and his shows I have always been kind of curious as to why he has become the theater god since many of his shows are intellectual and atypical and, the odd song aside, tend not to connect with the public in general.  That's not a knock on Sondhiem or the shows, only my inability to understand why theater people fall all over him.

As it stands now, this version of MERRILY is a nice record of the show, but I suspect it would have played best when it started it's run in the tiny New York Theater Workshop where it could have been an intimate experience and not one controlled bythe cinema gods.

Catch up Capsules: NOUVELLE VAGUE and IN YOUR DREAMS

 

NOUVELLE VAGUE
Richard Linletter makes a Wes Anderson film about the making of Breathless.
This is a delightful little film that is going to mean little to anyone who doesn't know film history, but those that do, and know the characters being portrayed on screen are going to have a grand time.

IN YOUR DREAM
Huge disappointing film that riffs on Little Nemo in Slumberland about a brother and sister trying to keep their family together. Awesome moments and glorious needle drops are stitched together with saccahrine  threads that have rotted from being used too much.  This isn't a film so much a polemic about life that made me physically ill.  It kills me to say that, but too much of this film is like the rotten meat the smelly stuffed animal is fond of.

An unhelpful pointer toward 100 NIGHTS OF HERO (2025)

Cinematic adaption of a graphic novel. It is based on the 1001 Arabian Nights but reduced down to 100.

I'm not going to say much about the film because five minutes into it I realized that I was not the audience for it. Set in an alternate universe and possessing a DIY esthetic, the film deliberately seems to be leaning to a camp sensibility.  I'm not sure why, the underlying story is good, it just feel jumbled in the telling. It feels like Bruno Dumont's EMPIRE.

I know that isn't really helpful but it's all I got.

Brief thoughts on BUGONIA (2025)

Two conspiracy theorists kidnap a big executive because they think she is an alien attempting to destroy the world. 

This is a bleak, black science fiction comedy is a remake of the Korean film SAVE THE GREEN PLANET. I never cared much for GREEN PLANET, there was a mean edge and an uncomfortableness that didn't like. This film was originally supposed to be a remake by the original director, however he dropped out and was replaced by Yorgos Lanthimos who madea film that reminded me too much of the original for me to like it much. Yes, the performances are fine, but I don't know why this film was needed except to have an English version.

CATCH UP CAPSULES: MATERIALISTS, SORRY BABY

 

SORRY BABY
Young woman in a spiral doesn't realize how bad she is until a friend shows up.
Okay drama would have worked better for me had I liked the main character more (and the film wasn't so deliberate in its construction)

MATERIALISTS
Celine SOng's follow up to get Oscar nominated PAST LIVES is weird misstep. Despite having a cast operating at an Oscar award level the script never feels real. Or even something that Song wrote. Weirdly conventional and feeling like an attempt to intice the Academy into giving her an award the film feels less like a singular voice in film and theater and just a product turned out byt the Hollywood machine

Come Closer (2025) Opens Friday

This is the story of a young woman named Eden. When her brother is killed in a car crash she spirals off. Realizing her brother had a whole other life which she knew nothing about she begins investigating and begins a relationship with his brothers girlfriend.

This film really didn't work for me. Blame it on Eden, a character who is either badly acted or badly written, or both. The problem begins before the accident where we see Eden smothering her brother as if he was a needy lover rather than his sister.  Its the wrong sort of creepy. Watching her spiral out after that distances us as she doesn't seem anything other than nut. What makes it worse is the performance is so ungrounded that the character seems like she is in another film entirely. That isn't a bad analogy- this is a film where everyone except Eden is in another film entirely.

I was disappointed