November 22, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “The Irishman” (R), “Frozen II” (PG), “21 Bridges” (R)

Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci deliver the goods in Martin Scorsese's epic, violent gangster flick, "The Irishman." In a sweeping tale that takes place over a number of years, DeNiro plays a truck driver and hitman who serves as a go-between linking the Teamsters Union and the mob. Pacino plays the colorful union boss Jimmy Hoffa and Pesci is a soft-spoken Mafia boss. “The Irishman” is the work of a master filmmaker and a cast in full command of their craft. The length may be excessive, but "The Irishman" is an impressive, blood-soaked morality tale and savvy character study.

The much-anticipated sequel to the 2013 Disney blockbuster “Frozen” has arrived. While it isn’t quite as magical as the original, “Frozen II” successfully maintains its atmosphere, tone and themes of female empowerment. The plot is a little complicated, but the visuals are top notch and the vocals are stirring. It’s just what 7-year-old girls crave and “Frozen II” is likely to warm the hearts of parents, too.

Chadwick Boseman stars in the police thriller, “21 Bridges,” an action flick about the hunt for cop killers in Manhattan. After a number of cops are ambushed when they stumble into a drug robbery, the city closes all 21 of the borough bridges in an attempt to trap the perps. The terrific cast also includes Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons and Stephan James, but their efforts only emphasize how badly this lamebrained movie needed their talents to make it seem better than it is. It’s an ugly, cynical mess.

Also opening this week, “3022” is a sci-fi thriller starring Omar Epps. “Give Me Liberty” is a chaotic farce about one difficult day in the life of a Russian-American van driver. Tom Hanks plays Mister Rogers in the gentle drama, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

November 15, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “The Report” (R), “Ford v Ferrari” (PG-13), “Gift” (Not rated), “The Warrior Queen of Jhansi” (R)

“The Report” is an intriguing and political drama that focuses on the investigation that uncovered the CIA torture program during the Gulf War. Adam Driver stars as lead investigator Daniel Jones who spent years fighting to find the truth and then battling forces that tried to keep that truth under wraps. While the drama is somewhat reserved, it’s smartly written and involving.

You don’t have to be a race fan to enjoy “Ford v Ferrari,” but it sure helps. Matt Damon stars as the legendary car designer Carroll Shelby who, in 1966, recruits driver Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale, to help Ford defeat the Ferrari team in the grueling Le Mans Grand Prix race. There’s plenty of clashing egos, back-stabbing and testosterone-fueled action. While the movie has flaws, the cars speed past them in an entertaining petrol-headed blur.

“Gift” is a documentary inspired by the writing of Lewis Hyde that focuses on art as a philanthropic act and not as a commercial endeavor. Examples come from Burning Man, an occupied warehouse in Italy and from a community of the natives of Canada’s Pacific coast. “Gift” is sweet and very low-key.

“Warrior Queen of Jahansi” is a sadly pedestrian treatment of an amazing true story. In 1857 India, Rani Lakshmibai led an insurrection against the occupying British Empire that eventually led to the demise of the repressive British East Indian Company. It a dull historical epic.

Also opening this week, Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren star in the senior con artist drama, “The Good Liar.” Kristen Stewart stars in a reboot of the female private eye series, “Charlie’s Angels.” “Take Home Pay” is a Samoan/Kiwi comedy. “Line of Duty” is a police drama starring Aaron Eckart. “Radioflash” is a post-apocalyptic thriller involving virtual reality. “Immortal Hero” is a Japanese drama about a man whose life changes after a near-death experience.

November 8, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Midway” (PG-13), “Playing With Fire” (PG), “Tel Aviv on Fire” (Not rated), “Pain and Glory” (R)

Hollywood's 'Master of Disaster,' director Roland Emmerich, is best known for big screen spectacles like “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” He gives the famous South Pacific WWII battle "Midway" that same splashy, special effects-heavy treatment. While the action sequences are impressive the human drama is soapy and superficial. Stars like Woody Harrelson and Dennis Quaid give it their best, but only the Japanese characters seem authentic. Still, “Midway” is a fitting tribute to those who served and sacrificed.

The broad and goofy John Cena comedy "Playing With Fire" plays a bit like "Kindergarten Cop" with firemen. A group of California smoke jumpers rescue three kids from a fire and realize that their babysitting skills are lacking. If you're over the age of six, don't expect many laughs from this juvenile and labored effort.

“Tel Aviv on Fire” is a winning Israeli comedy about a Palestinian man who stumbles into a job as a TV writer. Things get complicated when an Israeli border officer forces him to alter the plotline of a politically charged soap opera. While this movie won’t bring peace, it finds common ground and a respite from conflict.

Antonio Banderas reunites with acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar for the eighth time in “Pain and Glory,” a wistful and melancholy drama about an aging filmmaker reflecting on the joys and regrets of his life. Yes, it’s a semi-autobiographical work that provides Banderas with his best role in years.

Also opening this week, “Last Christmas” is a holiday rom-com starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. Ewan McGregor stars in “Doctor Sleep,” the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s sequel to “The Shining.” “Cold Brook” is a fairy tale about middle-aged enlightenment. “Danger Close” is an Australian Viet Nam war drama. “Love is Blind” is a comic drama about a woman unable to see or hear her mother.

November 1, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Motherless Brooklyn” (R), “Jojo Rabbit” (R)

With a great cast and a riveting true story to work with, “The Current War” should have been an electrifying movie. It tells the remarkable tale of the bitter competition between Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse over the use of AC or DC in the early days of electrical power. Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon and Nicholas Hoult are all fine, but their efforts can’t overcome the film’s awkward pacing. “The Current War” simply runs out of juice.

Naomi Harris and Tyrese Gibson star in “Black and Blue,” an action thriller about a rookie cop who goes on the run after she records some dirty cops murdering a drug dealer on her body cam. While the story is pretty predictable, Harris is terrific in the lead role and it’s a taut thriller with plenty of suspense.

Is it really possible that a documentary about an impoverished middle-aged female beekeeper in rural Macedonia could be one of the year’s most moving films? Astonishingly, the answer is “Yes.” “Honeyland” is more than just a cinema vérité

glimpse at another world. It’s a canny observation of delicate social and environmental balances. It’s heartbreaking, but “Honeyland” is also surprisingly sweet.

Emma Roberts stars in “Paradise Hills,” a visually vibrant sci-fi thriller about a near-future spa-like island where unwilling women are sent to be reprogrammed into the perfect obedient bride. This first feature from Spanish costume designer and photographer Alice Waddington is overly familiar, but stylish.

Also opening this week, “The Lighthouse” is an acclaimed art house horror fantasy starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. “Countdown” is a horror flick about a killer phone app, “The Great Alaskan Race” is a drama about the Serum Run of 1925 when mushers trekked 700 miles to bring life-saving medicine to a remote village. “The Dead Center” is a horror thriller about evil in a psych ward. “Western Stars” is a music documentary featuring and directed by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.

October 25, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “The Current War” (PG-13), “Black and Blue” (R), “Honeyland” (Not rated), “Paradise Hills” (Not rated)

With a great cast and a riveting true story to work with, “The Current War” should have been an electrifying movie. It tells the tale of the bitter competition between Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse during the early days of electrical power. Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon and Nicholas Hoult are all fine, but their efforts can’t overcome the film’s awkward pacing. “The Current War” simply runs out of juice.

Naomi Harris and Tyrese Gibson star in “Black and Blue,” an action thriller about a rookie cop who goes on the run after she records some dirty cops murdering a drug dealer on her body cam. While the story is pretty predictable, Harris is terrific in the lead role and it’s a taut little thriller.

Amazingly, a documentary about an impoverished middle-aged female beekeeper in rural Macedonia is one of the year’s most moving films. “Honeyland” is more than just a cinema verité glimpse at another world. It’s a canny observation of delicate social and environmental balances. It’s heartbreaking, but “Honeyland” is also surprisingly sweet.

Emma Roberts stars in “Paradise Hills,” a visually vibrant sci-fi thriller about a near-future spa-like island where unwilling women are sent to be reprogrammed into the perfect obedient bride. The first feature from Spanish costume designer and photographer Alice Waddington doesn’t all work, but it’s stylish.

Also opening this week, “The Lighthouse” is an acclaimed art house horror fantasy starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson. “Countdown” is a horror flick about a killer phone app, “The Great Alaskan Race” is a drama about the Serum Run of 1925 when mushers trekked 700 miles to bring life-saving medicine to a remote village. “The Dead Center” is a horror thriller about evil in a psych ward. “Western Stars” is a music documentary featuring and directed by The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.

October 18, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (PG), “Lucy in the Sky” (R), “Greener Grass” (R), “Villains” (R)

Disney’s Halloween season offering is a sequel to a 2014 hit that flipped the script on “Sleeping Beauty,” turning the evil sorceress into a heroine. Angelina Jolie is back in the titular role of the gargantuan production, “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Apparently, the filmmakers wanted to make a kiddie version of “Game of Thrones,” giving us a story that is more about war and palace intrigue than fairytale fantasy.

The tone shifts are jarring and the visuals, while very impressive, are so frenetic that they weigh the movie down. Parents should be warned that the body count is high, the bad guys are humans and the story may be a bit too dark for little kids. But Jolie’s sly performance is the movie’s saving grace. She provides more magic with an arched eyebrow than all of the special effects combined.

Natalie Portman gives it her all, but the over-directed arthouse drama “Lucy in the Sky” is a misfire. The movie is a fictionalized version of the case of former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak who was infamously tried in 2007 for the attempted kidnapping of a romantic rival. The premise asserts that astronauts have some kind of existential crisis after having flown in space. “Lucy in the Sky” is flashy, but spacey.

The wacked out midnight movie comedy “Greener Grass” takes place in a pastel-colored alternate universe suburbia where one woman slowly takes over the life of her best friend. While it generates some twisted laughs, the movie’s peculiar absurdist sense of humor makes it a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

“Villains” is a comic thriller with Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe as a couple of small time crooks who get more than they bargained for when they break into the home of some hardcore sadists. It’s a modestly involving little creeper.

Also opening this week, “Zombieland: Double Tap” is a sequel to the hit 2009 horror comedy. “Monos” is a drama about an American woman taken hostage by teenage commandos in Latin America. “Loro” is an Italian comic drama about infamous industrialist and politician Silvio Berlusconi.

October 11, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

FREEZE FRAME: “Mary” (Not rated)

Gary Oldman has always been a busy actor, but since picking up his Oscar as Winston Churchill in 2017’s “Darkest Hour,” he’s made ten more movies. If the horror entry “Mary” is any indicator, perhaps Oldman should seriously consider slowing down the pace a bit. In what is essentially a haunted house movie set at sea, Oldman plays David, a struggling sailboat captain trying to keep his head above water financially. Against the better judgement of his longsuffering wife, played by Emily Mortimer, David buys a ramshackle sailboat that was discovered after years of apparent abandonment. After some paint and plenty of elbow grease, David, his wife, two daughters and a two-man crew hop on the boat named Mary and set sail for (where else?) the Bermuda Triangle.

The actors are too good for this material and they do their best to add some spark to an overly familiar script. “Mary” isn’t terrible, it just drifts.

Also opening this week, Will Smith stars in “Gemini Man” a sci-fi effort about an assassin who goes to battle with a much younger clone of himself. Oscar-winner Ang Lee directs. “Addams Family” is a computer animated reboot of the popular horror comedy clan. “First Love” is the latest unrated crime flick from Japanese auteur Takashi Miike. “High Strung Free Dance” is a backstage drama about a love triangle among dancers in a Broadway show. “Jexi” is a high concept comedy starring Adam Devine. He plays a pop culture writer whose artificial intelligence phone assistant interferes in his love life in a jealous rage. And, finally, “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie” gets a brief big screen run before its appearance on Netflix. Aaron Paul returns as drug dealer Jesse Pinkman who’s on the run as the story picks up where the series left off.

October 4, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Joker” (R)

Joaquin Phoenix gives a riveting performance in “Joker,” undoubtedly one of the more controversial and provocative movies of the year. Can the hard knocks of life rob a person of the gift of empathy? On one hand, that seems to be the story’s underlying theme, but, intentional or not, “Joker” is sending mixed messages.

This character study attempts to explain why a seemingly nice guy turned to the dark side long before he became Batman’s evil nemesis. Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a party clown and wannabe standup comic just barely surviving in bleak 1970s Gotham City. Things never go his way. A mix of mental illness, societal apathy and social class strife are enough to push him over the edge. The ensuing violence and unrelenting darkness make “Joker” excruciating to sit through.

Writer/director Todd Phillips is best known for his broad comedies like “Old School” and the “Hangover” trilogy. His turn to the dark side is skillful enough to be taken seriously even though the movie is sometimes repetitious and its point of view, muddled. That leaves us with Phoenix’s immersive performance to carry the day…and carry it, he does. Phoenix may well become the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the Clown Prince of Crime.

Also opening this week, “Memory: The Origins of Alien” is a documentary about the making of Ridley Scott’s 1971 sci-fi horror classic, “Alien.” “Desolation Center” is a documentary about guerrilla desert happenings of the 1980s that served as the inspiration for later events like Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella. Gallows humor is the order of the day with “Harpoon,” a dark horror comedy about a group of bickering friends aboard a boat that becomes stranded in remote waters…and attempt to refrain from killing one another.

September 27, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Judy” (R), “Abominable” (PG), “The Death of Dick Long” (R)

If ever there were a role designed to attract gold statuettes, this is it. The last tragic months in the life of Hollywood legend Judy Garland provide Renée Zellweger the role of a lifetime in “Judy.” After 30 years of drugs, insomnia and loveless marriages, Garland attempts a comeback on the London stage. Zellweger captures the physical and emotional fragility of the offstage Judy even though she’s not quite able to nail Garland’s on-stage magnetism. The movie’s execution is pedestrian, but Zellweger’s empathetic performance boosts “Judy” a notch above the standard biopic.

Following “Smallfoot” and “Missing Link,” the animated family flick “Abominable” is the third animated movie about a yeti in the past year…and it’s probably the best of the three. A young abominable snowman escapes from an evil corporation. A teen girl and two friends help the magical creature return to his home on Mount Everest. Although the story feels like they were making it up as they went along, “Abominable” is a likable and beautifully animated fantasy.

From the “What on Earth were they thinking?” file comes the redneck comedy, “The Death of Dick Long.” Two bumbling hicks in a small Southern town dump a bleeding friend at the hospital and take off in fear. After their inept coverup attempts, we ultimately learn that the trio were involved in bestiality. It’s well acted but otherwise completely misguided.

Also opening this week, “Bliss” is an ultraviolent horror film about an artist who partakes of a potent drug to spark her creativity. “Love, Antosha” is a documentary about the late actor Anton Yelchin. “The Day Shall Come” is a comedy about the feds attempts to frame and entrap would-be terrorists. “Before You Know It” is a backstage drama about a small New York theater. “The Sound of Silence” is a drama about an acoustics expert and his sensitive clients. And “Aquarela” is a documentary about man’s relationship with water.

September 20, 2019 Arts & Culture, Podcast, Short Segment

Freeze Frame: “Ad Astra” (PG-13)

Brad Pitt takes an impassioned space odyssey in the earnest sci-fi epic, “Ad Astra.” Pitt plays an astronaut who is sent to the far reaches of our solar system to see if he can locate his long-lost scientist father, played by Tommy Lee Jones, who is believed to still be living on a remote research facility orbiting Neptune. Problem is, dear old dad’s pesky experiments appear to be bombarding Earth with deadly rays.

Written and directed by James Gray, this ambitious film attempts nothing less than to probe the emotional gravity of the father-son relationship. Pitt gives an extremely subtle but utterly effective performance which carries the movie to the stars. Plus, the visuals in this big screen spectacle are truly sensational. Problem is, “Ad Astra” lacks a satisfying conclusion. It takes us on an intriguing and involving journey, but the destination is empty space.

Also opening this week, Sylvester Stallone returns to the role of “Rambo” for the fifth time in the action thriller, “Rambo: Last Blood.” This time out, the former Green Beret veteran goes to Mexico to save his niece kidnapped by a cartel. And, yes, Stallone is already planning a sixth entry in the franchise.
Most of the original cast returns in the big screen version of the hit BBC TV series, “Downton Abbey.” In 1927, the King and Queen visit the Crawley estate and the family and staff members contend with an attempted assassination.
“Tokyo Ghoul S” is a Japanese sci-fi action fantasy sequel based on the manga comics. “Trauma is a Time Machine” is a drama about the aftermath of a rape.
“One Cut of the Dead” is a low budget Japanese zombie comedy that has made box office history by grossing over a thousand times its budget in worldwide release.