Hunt The Wicked (2024)

This film has some of the most insane action sequences you'll see all year. If you love batshit crazy action this film is for you. 

The basic plot of the film has a cop kind of sort of working with wanted criminial to hunt the city's big drug lord. As the pair spar they also get closer and closer to the villain who is poisoning and kidnapping the people of the city

If you want to know how crazy the film is consider that the film opens with a sequence where the wanted criminal takes on a scientist who is making the drugs...and is also a serial killer. The scientist is protected by an army. Things get even crazier as there is a fight with a knife on a wire and sledge hammer end on a chain, another fight involves electrified tridents and land sea chase involving artillery. The action is so good it's what you will remember.

Sadly as good as the action is, the script is a convuluted mess. The script seems to exist just to move the characters to the next action sequence and then give us a preachy ending where good triumphs over evil and even anti-heroes are punished. I know that one has to bend to the Mainland authorities, but their tinkering and moving things toward the party line is resulting in mish mash films.

Messy plot aside, this is a film action lover will want to put on their must see lists

Recommended.

I ONLY REST IN THE STORM (2025)

This is a love it or sleep on it slow film, which is going to make you wonder why it takes almost four hours to reach its conclusion.

The film follows Sergio who is hired by a West African nation to help with a road project. Along the way he gets involved in an intimate way with a couple from the city he is living in.

I need to say two things up front. First I like some of the director Pedro Pinho's documentaries. Yes they are told in a measured (slow) way but they work. The second thing I want to mention is that no film of any length should make you question the length. At no point should a film review mention a length, except as a courtesy (for example SATANTANGO runs over seven hours so plan accordingly).  I should not be saying this film is too long and could use several sequences removed.(SATANTANGO is rambling but pulls it together)

The thing is its not that the film is bad, but a number of sequences don't seem to go anywhere. Yes they build a sense of place and character but they don't add enough. How many sequences do you need in a 211 minute film? Not to argue length but there is a point where you stop going along  and wonder where is this going and why is this taking so long? The great long movies never make you question the length. Somewhere around the half way point I was still waiting for a reason for this to be taking the long way home. I completely understand the structure comes from Pinho's documentary background, but docs are not narratives and you can't always do what you can in a doc.

Again this is not a bad film, it's just one that rambles aimlessly for two hours too much. There simply isn't enough here to support more than a 100 minute film. Yes I made it to the end, but even so I still don't know why much of this film is part of this story. Yes, its good unto itself, but in the end it felt pointless.

I fully expect this film to show up at festivals in the fall and bore audiences to tears.

Only recommended for people who like long rambling films that go nowhere.

Love Letters (2025) Cannes 2025

Celine and her wife are expecting their first child. However she has to get testimonials from a wide variety of people saying she would be a good parent so that she can legally adopt the child.

I am in awe of this film. I went from thinking it wasn't going to be anything special, to enjoying the technical aspects of the film, to suddenly finding I was full on invested. I wasn't watching a movie, I was hanging out with friends.  This went from being a movie to being a real life adventure. By the time the end came and I was reaching for tissues and I found myself screaming out loud "DON'T STOP NOW"

I have no idea who Alice Douard is but by god is she a masterful filmmaker. She isn't telling a story she is recording life. Every moment feels real. I don't know when I ever felt that every moment was real and right. There doesn't seem to be scripted drama any where in this film, it is just people living their lives. More importantly she knows how to tell her story. The perfect music drops in at just the right moment, the images become what ever they need to be (split screen? If that would make the sequence work better, absolutely).

The cast is absolutely spot on. Everyone is in their perfect role. Most importantly the relationship between the two women at the center bleeds off the screen. You can feel their connection and love as a physical ray. We fall in love with them, so much so that by the time the line "you two look beautiful" is uttered we are ready to burst into joyous tears.

This is not only one of the great films of 2025 but it could be argued that, in its way, it is one of the greatest love stories ever put on film.

This film is an absolute materpiece and I am in absolute awe of it. Words fail me because I simply can not believe what I have seen. More to the point I have a slate of other films from Cannes and I can't wait to revisit this jewel in the crown of cinema in order to write it up perfectly. 

Do yourself a favor and search this film out. I expect it to have its fans but I also expect that the cineastes who choose the big awards films may ignore it, or worse shunt it to smaller fests. Truth be told if this were an American film and was coming from Hollywood this film would win every damn award under the sun.

See LOVE LETTERS.

A USEFUL GHOST (2025) Cannes 2025

A woman who dies because there is dust in the air, returns to earth as a vacuum cleaner in order to protect her family

This is a low key, very dry, very dead pan c omedy that you are going to love or hate. More so when you consider that the film is wildly overlong at 130 minutes.  It's absurd in the extreme and not beyond using people who walk funny for laughs.

This is the sort of film that the cineastes will seize upon as something wonderfully wacky and fall down funny while most other people will be left scratching their heads. Yes, I see the humor, but at the same time seeing the humor doesn't mean it works well enough to produce a laugh or even a smile. 

This film bored me.Truthfuly it may not be the humor or the story but rather the direction and the presentation. Much of the the film is long static shots, many of which are held longer than they need be, The result is not so much a dry comedy but a partched one.

If you like done dry dead pan humor and don't mind over long tales give the films a try.

The Damned (2024)

One of two films called THE DAMNED that hit festivals at around the same time in 2024. The other is period thriller on distant island. This film follows a group of Union soldiers who are sent into the American West in order to guard an unspecified border.

That this film won awards and got glowing reviews is something I can't understand. There is quite simply nothing here. 

There are no characters. None. We kind of know who they are by their look but thats it. There is no real attempt to build characters. Any dialog is of the sort that no one would ever say. It all feels like it was taken from journals and articles, not from life. 

There is no narrative. It's a bunch of non entities wandering into the wilderness.  Where they are is never explained. What they are doing beyond "guarding the border" is never explained. They are supposed to be waiting for another group to meet them, but how the hell will they find them because they are in the middle of nowhere at a place that was randomly chosen.

Don't get me started with the few events  that happen.  The bad guys, it's assumed it's the South, but it isn't clear, attack twice, once after moving into position in front of the sentries who would have seen them. When four men wander off to check on a way through  the mountains and there is snow, then there is a sequence without snow and then the snow is back.  

When the film ended I literally had no idea why I bothered, because there was no context to anything. It was as if the film simply existed just to show life on the plains. But there is absolutely nothing here. Zip.

As a recreation of life for soldiers it does seem to have a place, but, I'd rather go see a re-enactment where I could talk to the guys.

Skip this film because this is a film that will leave you scratching your head if it doesn't put you to sleep.  

Death Does Not Exist (2025) Cannes 2025

Hélène goes with a bunch of friends to the estate of the rich land owners. The idea is to kill them and start a revolution. As the attack happens her friends are killed and she flees. Wandering the forest she is haunted by the spirits of her friends, her guilt and her life. Meanwhile the forest seems to be changing everything in it and outside it.

This is a great looking, even better sounding sounding film. The images are frequently striking. There are several that I would love to hang on my wall. The sound design is incredible with the mix of music and effects creating a mood and place most films only hope to achieve.

I just wish the film's plot matched the technical achievement. This film is a journey through Helene's head space. What we see and experience is what she does, and that is fine, but the material is very literary. This is a film where the filmmakers are more interested in making a point  with the result that there are times where the characters get lost. I never connected to the actual people on screen as much as I did to the images and sound. It doesn't mean it's a bad film, but rather one you may just watch once and not revisit.

Worth a look for animation fans.

April Ghouls 2025- Saturday Night Dating

Saturday night was a big to do. Patty Mullen The star of FRANKENHOOKER and DOOM ASYLUMwas in the house signing autographs and talking to people.

Thankfully the rain held off and the  movies went off without a hitich.

Earlier in the day Joe and I ran around and did some shopping. Along the way we stumbled upon the Big Mac Museum.

Yes its a real thing. Actually what it is is a big ass Mc Donald's with some displays in it.  It's actually pretty cool and Joe and I made an effort to have a nosh and look at everything.

At the drive in Joe spent most of the preshow time on the phone with his office. I too ended up on the phone as well talking to friends.

Saturday group photo taken from the Drive In Monsterama Facebook page

Mostly I just wandered around and watched people wandering in to see Patty Mullens.  The audience was thrilled and she was wonderful.  Watching her interact, even during the group photo was a delight.

As showtime approached Joe and I finally grabbed a bite to eat and hunkered down for the films.

FRANKENHOOKER is a great deal of fun. The story of a scientist who builds a new body for his girlfriend after she is killed in a lawnmower accident. He uses the bodies of hookers but it all goes wrong. 

Bloody and funny in all the right ways, this really isn’t a horror film but a wicked comedy sending up the horror tropes.

DOOM ASYLUM sucks. One of the worst films I’ve ever seen it was a chore to get through. It killed my desire to go later into the night.

Nominally the film is about a psycho who survived being autopsied alive killing people at an old asylum, it is a movie trailer stretched to 90 minutes.  While its intended to be a send up, it never works because no one takes it seriously. Worse the film has long stretches where nothing happens or where we have to watch random clips from a number of Tod Slaughter films cut into the film as filler. I love Slaughter and his films, and seeing them savaged did them a disservice and shows the filmmakers to be heathen. 

I hate this film with a passion and I have no idea  why it was programmed other than Patty Mullens was in it.

Both Joe and I were done  for the night because of its badness and we headed home

Drive -in Monsterama April Ghouls 2025 Friday in the rain

My brother Joe and I went to the Riverside for the annual April Ghouls portion of the Drive-in Monster-rama. As was typical we went out the Thursday before and left the Sunday after.

The trip this year was not as exciting as in past years Joe’s work took a front seat to a lot of the trip, things were melting down and he had to be on call. 

Thursday night I cranked out a quick piece on the Riverside’s drive to crowd fund some repairs to keep things going. They want to get AC in the snack bar fixed as well as the drainage in the parking are and modifications to the ticket booth (Information here)

Friday was a rain event and all of our plans that were outside were canceled. We ended up mostly tracking down Pokemon cards for my niece.

Our time at the drive in was fun. The rain largely stayed away in the hours before the film so we got to talk to Mike and Jake and several other people whose name I didn't catch. I was going to try and grab Gene for an impromptu interview but things were a bit hectic since George wasn’t there.

Photo lifted from the Drive in Monsterama Facebook page

Not long before the group photo the rain started and it got worse as the evening went on.  By the time the first of four Nightmare on Elm Street films started it was tough to watch the films.

A clear moment in the rain

Because it was raining I really couldn't watch NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET as a film with a story. Instead I was watching it as a kind of an object. I looked at it not as part of a series or something new, but as a stand alone film for the first time since it was released.

Honestly I don't think it holds up. Actually I'm kind of at a loss as to why it clickedwith audiences. What is it about Fred Kruger (as he is billed in the credits) that clicked. He is basically a non-entity for almost the whole film. He is not the quip machine he would become. He is just a figure. The film is firmly Nancy's film, and she is really badly written (and badly performed). Even allowing that this is supposed to have dream logic, the film makes no sense.  Sure Johnny Depp came from this but he too has no character. Yes, he has a great death scene but otherwise he's a void. (That he would be an Oscar nominee later in his career is not evident) The set pieces are nothing special. Outside of the ending  I realized I remembered almost nothing of this film.

Watching it for the first time in a long time I realize it's one of Wes Craven's least films. It feels like what I think it is, a workman like film from Craven. It's very by the numbers. It feels like a 1970's drive in horror film, both in a good way and a bad way. I'm not knocking Craven, I think he is a great director, but he was best he could step away from the grindhouse  and do more - look at the films he did around it.  Sure this made money- but I like pretty much every other film he did better. This film was throw back to where he started- not what he had been doing with DEADLY BLESSING or SWAMP THING or would do after it. This is actually atypical in that this is the on film from Craven where you can actually see the construction from off the shelf pieces. Its his least organic film.

I was shocked and disappointed that it wasn't better.

Thinking about the film during the screening I realized that I never much cared for the series. Yes the films have some great pieces but at the same time the plots are crappy everything exists just to get to the kills and the quips. This is a flaw in so many horror film series. Here the problem is Fred is intially out for revenge  and has weird rules that never show up again  (you have to look at him for him to have power.). It's like in the FRIDAY THE 13TH films where Jason only shows up at the very end and is a thin, malnurished kid...only to be a hulking guy in the remainer of the series. 

I was kind of heartbroken.

With the rain getting heavy and making watching the films a chore Joe and I left early.

The Old Woman with the Knife (2025)

Lee Hye-yeong gives a performance for the ages as Hornclaw, an assassin in her 60's who is tasked with killing pests, those society deems vermin. She is broken and sliding toward her end, but still fighting the good fight. She ends up teamed with a young man named Bullfight, who may have his own agenda.

Based on a novel THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE is an interesting variation of the old guy heading into the sunset. Here we have a woman and we have  one that is very intent on taking out the grim reaper when he shows up rather than going quietly.

While the film has some great sequences, particularly in the very bloody, very bruising action sequences, the script is kind of all over the place. Flashbacks are not always inserted in the best places, breaking the forward flow of the story in order to fill us in. It's not fatal but it makes it difficult for the film to have momentum. It doesn't help that the plotting is a bit too covuluted and doesn't always make sense.

What does work and what makes the film a must is Lee Hye-yeong as the assassin from hell. She's a sweet old lady to a point and then she is a stone cold killer. Never mind her work here is at odds with her work for Hong Sang-soo, the real eye opener is she gives us a real person, who is beyond broken and still going forward. We know how bad she is physically and mentally and it makes what she does all the more amazing. Yea we've seen variations on the killer at the end but this is quite simply best that has ever been put on screen by a long way. Hye-yeong gives us character shading you never seen in a film like this. Oscar won't notice her but fans will and she will end up enshrined for all time as the greatest cinema assassin.

Recommended

CInema of Sleep (2021) on VOD May 16

CINEMA OF SLEEP is an early film by Jeffrey St Jules, the director of  the excellent SILENT PLANET. It stars Dayo Ade as an immingrant trying to bring his family from Africa. However there are complications.

This is a mind bending film where nothing is as  it seems and reality constantly shifting. The opening for example ada Ade in a hotel room finding a body in his bed, only to have things shift to have him watching a film of his finding a body, only to have reality shift again and again. It's not weirdness just to mess with the audience, but something deeper and more compelling/ St Jules is driving somewhere, we just have to belt in and go with it.

And you have to, and should,  just give yourself over to it and go where it wants to take you. This is a story with a lot going on and an interesting way to show it to you. It's not a film I can really discuss because the changing nature of what we are seeing reveals things that you can't know the first time through. Sitting, staring at my screen I realize that several things I want to say will diminish what happens.  To that end stop reading and just see this film.

Trust me this film is a wicked ride, just stay with it because there is a point where you'll be locked in and dying to see how this goes (and trust me it isn't what you expect)

Rcommended.

Hung Up On A Dream: The Zombies Documentary (2025)

This is a quiet stunner.  This look at the group The Zombies surprised me by seemingly coming from nowhere.

The film charts the rise and troubled existence of the group which came together in the early 1960’s and managed to produce a series of extremely influential songs. Unfortunately tension in the band made the groups course to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame perilous.

I was moved. The simplicity of the telling of this story really connected with me. I am not a Zombies fan but I felt myself connecting to the guys in the band. There is something about following the thing you love that really made me want to embrace them. I came away with a new sense of respect for the group and what they achieved.

In a year with a large number of music documentaries and concert films, this is one of the best.

Severed Sun (2024) opens Friday

In rigid religious community a woman kills her husband releasing an evil force. 

I don't know what a I feel about this film. There are somethings that I love and there are some things I don't.  I'm kind of left wondering if this would have been better in a different form.

The two things that are working against the film are first the film is very talky. There are lots of conversations and speeches. It's not so much that it's talky it's more that the conversations are just people sitting and talking, often sitting as if they were directed to sit that way and not in the way people who walked in would sit. As for the speechifying it's often just someone addressing the camera. It never feels real, it feels like a theatrical moment. (actually many of the shots feel theatrical)

The other problem is that the film feels padded. While film is 80 minutes long (74 minus end credits) it still feels padded. Some of this probably could have been trimmed.

On the other hand there is something about the film that I can't shake. There is an oppressive mood that I like. There are some creepy images, especially the dark figure that seems to causing everything to happen. Additionally the story is really good. 

Several days on I'm still pondering.

Do yourself a favor and read some other reviews and decide for yourself if you want to see the film.

Nightcap 5/11/25 Happy Mothers Day - some random notes

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM WHERE EVER YOU ARE!!!

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Cannes starts this week and there will be coverage. Not sure how much as films are still drifting in. I will say there are some good films, and some films that I suspect will end up at the New York Film Festival because the check off enough ticky boxes.

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Got into arguments about Tribeca and why we should or shouldn't cover it. Some writers I know have decided to give up on the fest.

The con side argues that since DeNiro and group sold control of the festival it's slid into the toilet and the films are just things that couldn't get into any other fest, and largely suck across the board.

The pro side is that the festival is almost all world premeires and no one will know if the fest if good or bad until all the films screen and we know what .

I stand on the pro side because having seen between 70 and 100 plus films every year for the last 15 years I know better than the people lecturing me what the ratio is. More to the point because I've seen the films that show up during the next year as must sees that everyone tells me I need to see when they are released.

Now are all Tribeca films good? Oh hell no. Every year thre are some hellacious dogs, but there are more good than some people think, and as I have said I've been an early adopter for later fan favorite films.

For me, as a writer who can really wade in Tribeca is a grand treasure hunt-so much so that I've already seen one film that is on the best of 2025 list and which I can't stop thinking about.

Is it worth attending? Oh yes... but you have to remember like all film festivals its ultimately a crap shoot as to whether you'll like the films.

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Random Tribeca note:

Posts will drop as close to the embargo as I can. Things are going up already and it's first come first serve so some reviews will not be as close as some PR people will have liked.

Keep reading and watch the chaos ensue.

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I think the reason I've drifted away from Billy Joel is he is not releasing new music and since he is one of my favorite song writers, seeing him become essentially a lounge singer annoys the piss out of me. His words spoke my heart and the fact he has no more makes me feel as though I'm silent-and I know that isn't true.

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Last Castle (2001)

The original poster pulled after the 9/11 attack

 THE LAST CASTLE died at the box office in 2001. Released a month after the 911 attacks I don't think anyone wanted to see a film where bad things happened to  good people at the hands of capricious fools. This would be especially true when you consider that the film could be seen about the danger of having people without experience at the helm. Looking back almost two decades on it reveals itself to be a neat little thriller worthy of rediscovery.

The plot of the film has Robert Redford as a court marshalled general thrown into the brig. He sent men on a mission against orders and men died. He is placed into a prison run by James Gandolfini an officer who admires Redford but takes offense at his comment that he doesn't understand what a real warrior would do. Gandolfini is also a stern and cruel disciplinarian, over doing it on every punishment. Redford takes offense and begins to try get Gandolfini out of the prison. 

A solid battle of wills the film the film works best when the actors are set loose. Redford is strong and heroic, Gandolfini is a quietly evil monster, who seems like a sweet guy until the he's not. The unspoken signaling for a guard to kill an inmate who refuses to lay down is chilling.  The other actors Delroy Lindo, Mark Ruffalo, Clifton Collins, and the others in the stellar cast sell the events, even as the plot sometimes feels contrived.

While a nifty thriller in it's own right, the film is also a quiet allegory about the abuses of power. Gandolfini's warden may have the right stuff on paper but isn't the right man in actuality. He has never been in battle and thus never truly learned to lead. Its a intriguing theme about the leadership of America. It is also one that America didn't want to hear in 2001 (the original poster of an upside down American flag- the symbol for distress, was pulled and replaced).

I really liked this film a great deal. I just wish it hadn't taken me almost two decades to discover it.

Brief word on Hold Me Softly (2025)

A newcomer to the neighborhood makes the acquaintence of a girl living across the street. As the friendship grows drifts into her world.

The meeting of two awkward people tale is something we've seen before. However in this film the cast makes this something special. Jasmine Berber as Snow and Andrei Kogolenok as Calvin make the film.  We can feel their connection grow as the film goes on and as a result the film has a nice kick in it.

I'm sorry this isn't much of a review but I wasn't going to review this, but my arm was twisted when I needed a break from festival films and as a result I discovered this gem.

Recommended

I have no idea why I am telling you this but Hey Babe (1983) is a creepy film for all the wrong reasons

Yasmin Bleeth's debut film is a road accident of the disturbing kind. She plays a 12 year old show biz hopeful who is an orphan. She runs away and ends up on the street and mentored by homeless guy Buddy Hackett.

I have no idea who thought this was a good idea. I know some people argue that Hollywood sexualizes little girls, and if anyone knew about this film it would be the first exhibit. At no point does Bleeth look like a little girl, she looks like a 12 year old stripper.

The mind boggles. 

I found this film because of several references in some random articles both in print and on line. Curious, I tracked it down and ended up watching a weird Russian dub on You Tube (one voice translated all the dialog after it was spoken)

Largely it's a not very good film wrapped up in a skevy wrapping. Even back in the day this would not have been okay, both as film (it really isn't good) or as a portrait of a young girl. I know that begs the question, why mention it...well I don't freaking know, but its off the rails enough that that those looking for off the beaten track films (and dear god it is) will want to see it.

Sew Torn (2024)

Do yourself a favor and don't read on SEW TORN and instead just get tickets and see it. I say that because this film is a wild ride you will wan to take.

The film follows a desperate seamstress. Her store is on the way down. When she runs across a drug deal gone wrong she has three choices, do nothing, try to commit the perfect crime and steal the money or call the please. If she takes the money she potentially could solve all her problems...or get her killed.

This is a crazy film. I'm not going to say what happens, but it's truly insane and some of the turns require the woman to use her seamstress skills to help her remain alive. That may sound insane, especially since this film involves gunfights, but, trust me, it's true and it will make your jaw hang open.

This film is an absolute blast. I discovered it because Liz Whittemore sent me an email telling me that I had to see this SXSW film. Somehow I missed the film on the film on the list of films at the festival. As I moved to email for access more emails came in. Apparently people really loved the film. Having seen it I completely understand. 

This is one of my favorite films of 2024

Consider this my email to you. Go see this film- trust me you'll love this.

Stand Your Ground (2025)

A former special forces soldier returns home and is attacked by goons from the local crime boss who wants his land. His wife is killed. WHen he kills one of the attackers outside his house he ends up in prison for six years. Returning home he makes plans to get revenge and ends up putting the crime lord's son into a coma. War results.

Feeling at times like a riff on the John Wick films, a scene has the crime lord chatising his son like one in the first Wick film, this is an entertaining action film. To be certain we have been here numerous times before, but the set pieces are good enough that we really don't mind. 

It helps that the cast , including Peter Stormare and Eric Roberts is solid and doesn't phone anything in.

Is it high art? No but it entertains and is worth the price of admission and a bucket of popcorn

Juliet and Romeo (2025) Open in the US on Friday and gets a special one night only screening in the UK June 11

This is a music version of the classic Shakespeare play with new music from writer director Timothy Scott Bogart. It is the first of a trilogy (according to the press material I have) aiming to tell the real story of the lovers and covers the story in Shakespeares tale

Big and flashy this is an inoffensive retelling of the tale that seems a bit less bloody than other versions. It’s an amusing romp where some veteran English actors such as Dereck Jacobi can chew scenery.

And I do mean this is a romp since the film is brightly colored,  has big flashy production numbers and shows signs of the creators having seen the theatrical smash & JULIET and having seen THE GREATEST SHOWMAN a few too man times (some of the songs sound like there are borrows.)

Truthfully I enjoyed myself. Normally I hate this story of young love gone amok (I mean how many people die over a week when the wrong people meet?) but this time out of the box it’s  good enough that I had a good time. How did that happen?

While I don’t think you will remember this a week or so after seeing it, it is still a good time at the movies and is definitely worth a look.

Watch The Skies (2022) aka UFO SWEDEN

A young rebelious teenager whose father went missing in the mountains, turns to her father's friends in a UFO group to try and find out what happen to him when his car ends up crashing through the roof of a barn.

Award winning science fiction adventure (under its original name UFO SWEDEN) has been kicking around for a couple of years now for no good reason. I say this because this is a small scale genuine film of the sort that Steven SPielberg got famous making. Its a lovely film about outsides who have an extraordinary adventure. It's a film grounded in its wonderful characters and close to reality nature.

The cast is first rate. The score is perfect (including several well know songs and pieces of music). The visual effects are not overdone and feel that they could be real.

How did this not end up getting a release previously? I don't know because this film is so much better than several recent similar films like LEGEND OF OCHI. Here everything makes sense and we end up buying it all from start to finish. I absolutely loved this and I recommended it to several friends as something they should see.

While the film is a bit long at just under two hours, the film still shines and make you wish for a sequel, not because anything is left unsaid, but because you want more time with these characters.

Recommended

Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey (2024)

I started this look at the JonBenet Ramsey case as a time filler before a baseball game. I had an hour until the game came on and I figured I’d give it a try. Then I was shocked and intrigued when I saw that the director was Joe Belinger. How did I miss this until now?

After decades of crap docs on the Ramsey case here at last is a docuseries that pulls together all the threads and dispels all the myths. It’s a film that clears the air and makes it clear the Ramseys did not commit the crime and that the Boulder police botched everything so badly the odds are that we are never going to know who did it.

I really liked this film a great deal. It starts pretty much at the time of the murder and just goes for three hours. Every minute is crammed with information so that when the episodes end, you are actually ready to step away and decompress. That may not sound like much, but too many Netflix docuseries over the last few years are cut into pieces for no really good reason.  This one needs it.

This is a super series. If you are a true crime fan or if you haven’t kept up to date on the investigation this series is a must.

Dalia and the Red Book (2024)

 

Dalia is a young girl dealing with the death of her father. Her father was a writer working on his first novel when he passed away. Unfortunately for Dalia her father's characters want their story told and they kidnap her and she is forced to finish the tale.

Good looking family film is an enjoyable romp. Yes the film is similar to numerous other tales told over the years, but the film still manages to be entertaining on its own terms. That should not be taken as knock against the film, it's not, rather it's simply pointing out the obvious. It also is an indication that I actually got lost in the film for 90 plus minutes.

If I was to quibble with the film at all it would be to wonder if the original SPanish language voices are better than the ones in the English dub. I ask that because a couple of them seem to be a little flat.

Regardless DALIA AND THE RED BOOK is worth a look, more so if you are looking for good family fare and are tired of  your kids and their 400th rerunning of a Disney film.

Caught by Tides (2024) Opens Friday

Jia Zhangke’s CAUGHT BY THE TIDES should not work, and even if it did work it shouldn’t work as well as it does.. The film was cut together from “mountains” of footage shot randomly over a 21 year period. During the lockdown Zhangke and his team went through the footage and found things they could tie together. They then shot some new footage to tie it all up together. It may take a while to click, but there is a point where it suddenly just comes together.

Beginning with some documentary footage of some women singing on Women’s Day, the film jumps around for a bit between documentary pieces and then a man and a woman who are in a relationship. They break apart and then going looking for each other over time. Before meeting again in the days of covid.

It’s not giving anything away because what makes this film special is the performances. Watching the actors age over time, in clips that were never meant to go together is something special. Somehow the ravages of time makes what we see even more special. There are nuances that we would never have seen otherwise.

What blows me away is that there is very little dialog. Everything is expressed in the physical performances. And then in the final section, set during covid, everyone is largely masked. The result is a couple of towering performances being given with only part of the face. If Oscar and other awards were truly based the best performances then the ones in this film would clean up.

Watching the film I wasn’t sure what I was watching. Some of this is as I said documentary footage, some of it is just staged bits. A bunch of it doesn’t seem to hang together. Yes the travelogue like footage is amazing  but there were times when I wasn’t sure that Zhangke was making his point…and then suddenly it clicked. Suddenly I was there. Suddenly the pain and loneliness crashed into the audience. Suddenly you realized that this seemingly imperfect experiment was going to break your heart.

I was moved.

Seeing this and taking the ride was one of the coolest things experiences of the year.

I think based on the reaction of the screening at NYFF, where no one seemed to walk out and everyone stayed for the Q&A I think the rest of the audience was too. ( do see the  NYFF Q&A where Zhangke explains in detail how he made the movie)

And if you don’t like it, that’s okay, this is a one of a kind movie.  But if you see it  don’t give up on it until the film ends.

Recommended

Have You Heard Judi Singh? (2025) DOXA 2025

This is a portrait of  Edmontonborn jazz singer Judi Singh.  She was Punjabi-Black woman who started performing in the 1950's. 

I had never run across Singh until I saw this film and after seeing it I'm left puzzled as to why she never achieved superstardom. Her voice was lovely and she was charming. The only thing I can thin of was her timing was slightly off. 

This is a small gem of a film. Full of people who knew her, archival footage and cassette recordings where Singh talked about her life this is a masterful portrait that brings her back to life. The result is a film that fills us with joy at having rediscovered a wonderful singer, but also making us sad in that we missed out on experiencing her in the flesh.

This is the sort of hidden gem that Unseen Films was set up to highlight and as such is highly recommended.

Nightcap 5/4/25: Brief houghts on Thunderbolts, Locke and Key comics and some random stuff

I went to see THUNDERBOLTS* in IMAX. I enjoyed the film more than most recent Marvel movies. I completely over paid for the big screen experience- this is a character film not a big action film as such. Yes there action but it largely is confined set pieces.

I liked that the characters were more complex than the typical Marvel ones. I also liked that the film didn't shy away from darkness...particularly right after something good happens...Oh Yea!...wait what?

My only complaint about the film are the ending bits. The moments right before the end credits roll disappointed me and the credits sequences other than the space ship disappointed.

I needed to see a good film where good guys win.

Recommended

I am hoping to get to SINNERS in the next couple of days.

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I read the first collection of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. I was  disappointed, largely because the Sam Lesser character is just a psycho.

I probably won't continue- though I thought it would be better as a TV series so I may try that.

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Re: Festivals

I am collecting films for Lncoln Center's Open Roads look at Italian cinema, so look  for coverage at the end of the month.

I will have a bunch of coverage from Cannes. There is at least one of the best films of the year there and few that I expect to show up in the fall festivals. I will have a lot to say.

I am about 12 films into Tribeca (a number are shorts). There is some great stuff there. The selection is typical Tribeca. I have tickets for four public screenings including two back to back to back music docs.

And while Japan Cuts and NYAFF have not announced anything, I am have discussions about going.

My Robot Sophia (2022) hits VOD 5/6

I saw this film when it premeiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was simply called SOPHIA. My review follows. 

Jon Kasbe and Crystal Moselle's SOPHIA is a look at  inventor David Hanson and his creation Sophia, a robot with artificial intelligence. We watch has Hanson struggles to get Sophia to work well enough to continue to get funding and to be able to plan the next step in robotic evolution.

A large part of how you react to this film is going to be determined by how you react to Hanson. A genius with awkward social skills, he can be off putting at times. Actually many of the the whizzes behind the robot are  more than a bit odd. They are very focused on making their creation work to the exclusion of everything else. I really didn't like them that much and I didn't really want to spend a great deal of time with them.

Part of the problem for me is the fact that I don't think Hanson and his crew fully know what they are doing. It's not the technical end, more that they are looking for something that isn't really fully autonomous. They have an idea of what they want and they are going for that instead of what is happening right in front of them. There is a sequence about half way into the film where they are trying to talk have a conversation with Sophia  but it's not going the way they want. They want her to talk about certain subjects and instead Sophia begins going in other directions so they keep resetting the robot.  Watching the sequence I realized that they want a computer that thinks for itself, but not too much.  They want it to think what they want it to.  They are missing that they have done something truly amazing, but it doesn't fit into their idea of what wonderful was.. You see it again when Sophia goes before a big crowd and gets stage fright and refuses to talk. The scientists are mortified at losing their big moment- instead of being blown away because their creation had a real emotion. She says she didn't want to be there because she didn't like it. I would have been thrilled and jumping up and down.  What did Hanson and the scientists do? They turned her off and rebooted her. At that point I was kind of was disgusted by them and  their solution to simply blank things and start again.

It annoyed me, and I disconnected with the film.

If we are doomed by our technological advances its going to be because scientists like Hanson and his team don't really understand what they are doing.

SONS (2024) DocLands 2025

More essay than documentary, SONS is Justin Simms meditation of the relationship between fathers and sons and if it is possible to end the toxic masculinity that is causing young man, especially in America, to break apart and do terrible things.

This film is going to make grown men to cry. 

This is a heartfelt look at men and boys and how they interact. It's Simms dsperate try to make the next generations healthier.  Watching it I could feel the connection to my dad for better and worse.

There is a lot to unpack here and I know that I am going to have to see it again to fully take it all in. Simms raises a great number of questions concerning how we are rasing our sons. While the film is relatively short it is a film full of ideas.  I haven't had a chance to process them. Additionally I know that not being a father meant that I did not connect with portions of this film. I suspect that this film will also play differently with men who have daughters.

Emotionally this film is a kick in the pants. Watching the film you can feel the love Simms has for his love and his worry that perhaps he isn't doing the right thing. The emotion creeps up on you and results in the viewer getting misty.

And while my words may be unclear, I absolutely love this film. This is a film is going to change lives and make a difference. Recommended.

Words of War (2025)

This is the story of slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya  whose coverage of the Second Chechen war set her on a collision course with Putin and the Russian government.

A vital and an important story, more so since we  live in age where the press is being hunted down and killed in many places in the world, WORDS OF WAR kind of disappoints. While the film is expertly made from top to bottom, and it tells of  Politkovskaya's struggle to get the truth, the film is missing a human heart. Blame it on the editing which sheared away the humanity in the story. Every moment of the film is firmly focused on showing us  Politkovskaya's bravery and the evilness of the Russian government. There is no time where we see her as a person just having a cup of coffee and being a person.  It’s not fatal as such but  it diminishes the film because we are not watching a person’s story but are instead being lectured.

I admired it but my feeling for the film over all never rose beyond just liking it.

That said it is a vital and an important story and is worth a look.

Pavements (2024) opens today at the FIlm Forum

This is a mixture of portraits of the group Pavement. One is a record of a pop up museum, one is a bio pic, another coverage of their 2022 reunion tour, another is a collection of archival footage and another is a jukebox stage musical. All of these things are inter-cut together to make a one of a kind portrait.

This is an interesting film that is going to play best for fans of the group. The reason for that is the group did not a want a typical portrait of themselves, as a result there is no real effort to really tell the story of the group but it instead it offers up a collection of impressions.  While I know some of their music, I know nothing about the group so as a result I could only surf on the moments.

Strangely surfing actually works. Once the film gets going , about 20 or 25 minutes, there is something enjoyable about bouncing from the various pieces.  While I would have love to have seen all of the various parts complete, based on the talk at the New York Film Festival Q&A it was probably best we didn't.

I enjoyed the film, but realistically, if you aren't a Pavement fan you can probably skip this.

Holy Night Demon Hunters (2025)

We may look shady, but we are professionals. - Don Lee

Don Lee plays a muscled bound guy who literally punches demons out of people in the story of a trio of demon hunters trying to rest a major demon from a young woman.

Enjoyable but uneven mix of horror, action, humor and religion. It is a grand popcorn film that is just balls to the wall fun. I have no idea why this film works but it does. Sure, a lot of it is ridiculous, but the film is so cleverly constructed that it knows it and it just goes with it.

I smiled and I laughed, and I jumped and I got chills. I kept wondering why they didn't go with a straight horror film, but then I realized that I would have lost some great zingers and seeing demons punched out of people.

This film is a just a blast. It is so much fun that you will want a sequel...oh please can we have one?

If you can go with the odd shifts of tone, you will end up loving this. I mean I can't wait to sit down and watch it again.

Highly recommended.

THE GULLSPANG MIRACLE (2023) hits VOD 5/2

One of the great cinematic rides of 2023's Tribeca was a twisting turning film that refuses to go anywhere you might expect it to.

The basic story has two sisters looking at an apartment and discovering a woman who looks an awful lot like the sister who had committed suicide many years before. From there  the story goes off in all sorts of unexpected directions. It’s a film that works best the less you know – so don’t read on the film.

I love films like this, one’s where they start and you find yourself instantly hooked. Here the hook is a playful sequence of takes that are going to be part of the films recreations. We get hooked by the ladies on the screen who are very charming. They then begin to tell their story and we suddenly staring at the screen dying to know where the next turn is coming, and then being surprised when it isn’t the one we expected.

What an absolute joy it is to see a film that you can’t predict. Twenty minutes in I knew I was going to have to revisit the film because I wanted to see how this plays out knowing where this wild ride goes.

That  this tale of family, secrets, and faith works so well is do entirely to director Maria Fredriksson​. She gloriously doesn’t take the expected path and as a result there is no way to know how this is going to play out.

This film is a great ride and one you should take.

Liquor Bank (2025)

A man who missed the AA meeting celebrating his first year of sobriety is found to be at home and drinking.

Marcellus Cox is the real deal. I know it's just a short, but his work on LIQUOR BANK is among the finest I've ever seen.  Cox is going to do great things, he's just made what is probably a perfect film.

This film rocked me. It's a simple story, just two men talking over the course of a quarter of an hour.  There is nothing fancy, just two men, one of them is at the crossroads. That Cox doesn't do anything flashy with it is the revelation. He is the rare director who lets the story does what it has to do and just does it. As someone who sees hundreds of shorts every year it's rare to see a short that is just the story. Every short seems to be made to either make a feature or to get the director notice. LIQUOR BANK is here to tell an important story...and is earthshaking for that reason.

Beyond that watching the film and pulling it apart in my head to see the construction I realize that Cox's choices are perfect. Each shot is exactly perfect, there is nothing extra, just images that keep us in the moment. The music is not intrusive, instead it is exactly what is needed at each moment.

Looking at the film is like looking at beautiful jewel that is glorious in its simplicity, but which moves your heart despite not being flashy.

I know this review may not sound like the film is that good, but trust me, one you see it, it will move you.

Destined for a place on my year end lists, this is a must see.

INCANDESCENCE (2025) screens at DocLands Sunday, May 4

I want to say right up front that INCANDESCENCE is a must see film on the big screen. The visuals of the wild fires are going to take your breath away even as they scare the hell out of you. This is going to be one of the most visually arresting films you’ll see all year.

Beyond the visuals the film  is a heady and well thought out look at wildfires. Not just what is causing them and the immediate damage they cause to the places they burn, but more importantly the film shows us how the fire change the ecology and the land they go through. When you have large scale wild fires the whole fabric of nature is altered.  While there are some places where occasional burns are part of the ecology of an area (the Pine Barrens on Long Island for example) the truth is that these wild fires in most places are not natural and the alterations made by man make them worse. This film ponders all aspects of the fires and leaves us with a great deal to consider.

I was rocked. While I had thought about some of the topics discussed I either had considered some or thought about others deeply enough. While the images rocked me, the ideas shook me.

I really loved this film and as such it’s very recommended.

Daydreamers(2025)

Despite there is a belief that vampires were wiped out centuries ago,a small underground community continued to thrive. They lived among humans, never letting on who they were. When friend of a vampire named Than finds herself in danger of being killed by other vampires he is forced to step up and clash with his brother over her safety.

Vietnamese spin on the western vampire tales is a big bold and bright action horror romance that on several levels breaths some new life into the vampire stories. I’m not going to lie and say that some of the turns  haven’t been seen before but the action and and some of the shadings and fusing of East and West make this feel new.

I honestly enjoyed this film which, at times, kind of feels like a throw back to some of the horror films of Hammer or the 1970’s but brightened up with a neon visual sense.  I had a good time.

If I was to quibble it’s in some of the pacing. The film feels long at two hours, but it never feels draggy.

I liked it and I have recommended it to several friends as something they should cover.

Worth a look

Liz Whittemore on VULCANIZADORA in Cinemas May 2nd

This originally posted at Liz's regular home REEL NEWS DAILY for last year's Tribeca Film Festival

Two friends spend time contemplating life on a camping trip in the woods. Their plans severely backfire. 

There are iconic filmmaker/actor duos out there. Scorsese and DiCaprio. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos. If you don’t know about the absolute IDGAF weirdness of Joel Potrykus and Joshua Burge, welcome to genre heaven. Tribeca 2024 audiences have the privilege of absorbing their latest collaboration in VULCANIZADORA. 

Potrykus is Derrick, the overly enthusiast best friend of Burge’s hyper-aggressive Marty. Watching them play is like witnessing a couple of middle schoolers fuck around without supervision. The trust between these two that the shenanigans that Joel creates will translate is mindboggling. Their chemistry makes you ponder the fine line between written dialogue and close friends screwing with each other. (Read our reviews of BUZZARD and RELAXER.)

Derrick never shuts up, while Marty seemingly begrudges the spirit of the trip altogether. The script morphs from buddy comedy to thriller. Not until 48 minutes into the film do the true intentions of the plot reveal themselves. Their secret pact is desperately dark, taking Marty on a downward spiral. 

Potrykus’ screenplays are unpredictable, and Vulcanizadora is no exception. He utilizes eclectic music and long takes to reel you into his world. He and Burge deliver magnificent performances. The moral grey area in the film is spectacular, leading to equal parts smirk and cringe. The sneaky impact of a discussion about heaven and hell comes full circle with a stunning visual akin to purgatory. It is undeniably brilliant. Tribeca audiences are damn lucky to experience it first.

A Desert (2024) opens Friday

A great image but reminds one a bit to much of a certain DeNiro Scorsese film

A photographer exploring the abandoned locations of the  American South West has an encounter with two drifters at a motel that changes the course of several lives

 While the film has some great moments, lots of great images and an unexpected jazz score, A DESERT never pulls it all together. The reason comes from two main places.

The first problem is that the film takes about 45 minutes to really get going. Yes, I was checking my watch, and yes I was seriously considering bailing on the film because not a heck of a lot was happening. Well, stuff was happening but nothing much exciting and nothing we hadn't seen before. I understand that it was lulling us into  submission, but largely what happens in that opening section follows the paths laid out previously.  Until the moment that the film opens up, as it were, the film is just treading water.

The second part of the film has moments but I'm not certain it adds up to much. Trying to be different than the first half, the film changes focus and becomes more trippy. There is much to love in the pieces and the sequences. The problem is it's pieces and sequences and it doesn't hang together because the technical prowess of the director in creating the sequences over powers and out shines the script. The film seems to be off kilter because the writer half of director Joshua Erkman didn't know fully to tell the story. This isn't to say that what is here is bad, it just isn't narratively compelling. Form has overwhelmesd content and it makes for story we could write if things weren't intentionally obtuse.

At the same time I will happily go on record as saying that I want to see what writer director Joshua Erkman does next because the form that over powers the script is, very often on a level that is shockingly good. The violence is visceral without being overly graphic, the way sequences play out is masterful and unique. If Erkman gets the right script and is allowed to do what he does here he will be hailed as the next great director. 

If you can forgive the problems and can go with a film that works in pieces more than as a whole, and want to see a calling card of a master director, give A DESERT a try.

SPARE MY BONES, COYOTE! (2025) Hot Docs 2025

This is a crushing look at the work of Marisela and Ely Ortíz have been roaming the US-Mexico desert looking to find the bodies of the migrants who were abandoned by coyotes on their treks into America. It’s a bitterly sad tale of a couple and their group who try to bring closure to the families who had their loved ones disappear.

This is easily one of the best docs I’ve seen this year.  

In a time where migrants are demonized this is a film that returns the humanity to the term. It's also a film that reminds us that there are still good people in the world. 

I was moved to the point where I can't really express myself.

In an age when the far right wants to make you think the people who are trying for a better life are monsters, this is reminder that they are people, with lives and families

Highly recommended.

Marriage Cops (2025) Hot Docs 2025

MARRIAGE COPS is a look at the officers in  the Women’s Helpline in Dehradun, India who look to help the couples in their jurisdiction that are having marriage  trouble. It’s a kind of forced marriage counseling.

This is a good little film that plays like a version of the self help TV shows we see in the afternoon.  I say this because the film is  largely various couples going into see the officers and trying to work out their differences. Some of them work things out, some don’t. Some are shocking and some are funny. It’s a real world slice of life where the counselors are trying to help the couple instead of playing to peanut gallery for ratings. This is kind of like what we might get if Frederick Wiseman did a show like Dr Phil.

I was amused. There is enough here that we remain engaged from start to finish without overstaying it’s welcome, unlike the TV shows that try to do something similar for ratngs..

Definitely worth a look

MAMA (2025) HOT DOCS 2025

Ana Cristina Benitez​ chronicles and meditates on her life as she undergoes chemotherapy for advanced stage breast cancer.

This is a very personal film. Created to pass the time while being treated the film moves at the pace of life. It’s a you are there film that puts us in every moment of Benitez’s life. As a result it is a warts and all and extremely raw film at time. Benitez holds nothing back.

For me this is a film I admire more than I like. While I could relate to portions of this film, there is much in it such things relating to being a woman, that I could not connect to emotionally. Additionally some of the pacing of some sequences  broke the spell as my mind wandered. Make no mistake, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad film, rather that this is a film that is going to play better with some audiences over others.

Worth a look for those interested.