Shirkers (2018)

Shirkers is a very personal documentary. Sandi Tan is an honest and open storyteller. The strange music coupled with the grainy film images without sound make for a mesmerizing and mysterious tone. Sandi, Jasmine and Sophie are actually really funny, and as students of the cinema there are abundant references to film history. Today, they have separated but they all work in film in one way or another. Tan and her two friends and her teacher set out to make an indie road movie in 1990s Singapore, a first for the island whose film industry has now further developed but was nascent at the time. Shirkers, the movie that could-have-been, is a poetic take on Catcher in the Rye (and dare I say there is a tinge of Donnie Darko too). Now that she has the footage, she theoretically could start post-production and fulfill her dream, but instead with this documentary, she ended up with a more interesting and meditative movie on dreams, power, time and the movies.

Ellen Degeneres: Relatable (2018)

Ellen is back doing stand-up after fifteen years. The premise of her special is that after becoming so successful, she is still a relatable person. The most relatable thing she says is her explanation for returning to stand-up. She obviously doesn't need the money. It is simply that she loves it and misses it. You can see how much fun she's having. Stylistically, her set reminded me of Seinfeld, with simple observations made funny. She pauses quite a bit with good comedic timing. She's not particularly cutting edge, but she's silly and funny as always.

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

I don't often give hearts to a movie I rate 4 stars, but this movie tugged all the right strings for me, even if it didn't quite hit all the right notes. The movie is packaged in such a whimsically charming way that gives me joy. The visuals are exciting (the animation and live action mix is even more seamless with 2018 visual effects), the pace is leisurely, and the plot is perfectly sentimental. I do believe in the power of nostalgia and the enduring magic of Mary Poppins. Derivative isn't an accurate description when the movie is done well to nostalgic effect. After fifty years, I don't think anyone was really asking for a sequel, but I'm so glad it's here.

The biggest fault of the movie (and it's a big one) is the music. It is...just fine. In most situations, it would be sufficient. But this is Mary Poppins. The music from the original is iconic. The new music simply is not that catchy. Musicals have to have memorable music, moreover Disney musicals have to have singable music.

But I can overlook that because the rest of the movie is so much fun. Emily Blunt is amazing, really making the quintessentially British nanny her own. She is the epitome of elegance. Special call-outs for Lin-Manuel Miranda and Ben Whishaw too. Meryl Streep makes a cameo appearance that does not really advance the plot. And I didn't even see her in the end in the balloon scene. They probably should have cut out that scene.One last note on Rob Marshall. He can't resist the Chicago-esque scene when Lin and Emily dance and sing on stage about book covers. Mary Poppins even wears a Catherine Zeta Jones-esque hairpiece. Don't get me wrong, it's a great scene but the wig looks so out of place for her that you can't help thinking it.

Springsteen on Broadway (2018)

No one else could do what Bruce Springsteen has achieved in his Broadway show. Forget the jukebox musicals, this is storytelling at its finest. The show is ostensibly an adaptation of his memoir but the truth is that Bruce has been building up to this show for his entire career. The consummate lyricist, yes, but always a storyteller. He sings acoustic versions of his hit songs with piano or guitar/harmonica as well as some of his lesser known ones, all introduced by a story, told rhythmically, somberly and with tons of heart. He mines his childhood, adolescence, early career and success for emotional stories that really hit home. There are lots of highlights but I think My Hometown is the most poignant and moving, and the simple piano introduction really works for me.

And Bruce is not just a musician.  In this show, he is truly an actor. Telling these stories, he is purely acting, memorizing lines, delivering them in a particular style, with dramatic timing and emotion. Bruce has always spanned different genres, but I admit all the songs sounds very similar with just an acoustic guitar. Because of this, you can really hone in on the lyrics. They are intricate stories, told with some high level vocabulary without basic repetition. I want to draw a brief comparison to Bob Dylan. It's an obvious comparison, but I recently saw Girl from the North Country, the new play adapted from Dylan's music.  It is a stage production that gives Dylan's songs new context and re-imagined melodies. It is a braver task to reinvent your own music, especially because the stories are so personal for Bruce. This is an intimate experience that must be seen. I'm very glad Netflix could share this with everyone that couldn't come by a ticket to the show in person. This will surely be Bruce's EGOT (a special Tony, yes, and an Emmy for the Netflix adaptation, and probably a Grammy too for the recording).

Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse (2018)

The critics have been saying that this movie totally reinvigorates the superhero genre. They're not wrong. But moreover, this movie takes the broader genre of animation to places it has never been before. Perhaps more than any other movie, it makes innovative use of its medium to depict a moving comic book in a way that only animation can. I want to say this is the first western-style anime in the sense that anime animates manga. And it pays homage to anime in a very obvious way. The style is so refreshing and invigorating, I hope it gets recognized for production design.

Don't let the cheesy title deter you, this is an excellent Spiderman movie .Spiderman is an iconic character, you didn't think they had anything new to say. He's you friendly neighborhood Spiderman, hailing from Queens. Queens is such an essential part of who Peter Parker is. But our Spiderman in this film is not Peter Parker, but Miles Morales, who hails from Brooklyn. This movie makes a clear distinction between Peter and Spiderman. It sends the message that Spiderman is a persona; that anyone can be Spiderman, that we're all Spiderman. It is an empowering message that we needed to hear.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coen Brothers' latest movie is a Western anthology. Comprised of six stories of varying length and depth. They are all humorous in one way or another. Some end happily, some don't. But all are entertaining. The stories have little to do with each other, sharing only the wild west theme. There is quite a decent amount of singing too--you never quite know what to expect. I must admit I did not understand the last story, but after reading more about it online, I realized juts how creepily dark and brilliant it is. Even if you're not into Westerns, it is worthwhile viewing.

Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018)

Trevor Noah is very good. For his latest comedy special, he takes us to his childhood. Noah grew up in South Africa.. A biracial man, Noah's very existence was illegal under the Apartheid regime. He manages to be poignant and funny. My favorite thing about Trevor Noah has always been his voices. They're not necessarily impressions, but he does a real good French accent. And his white man voice gets me every time.

American Son (2018) (Broadway)

I had a really incredible experience at the Booth Theater last week. A big thanks to American Express for making it possible by bringing together a selection of employees and students at a really special performance. In the audience was Eric Garner's mother and coincidentally Shaun King's daughter was one of the students. This groups of students, mostly studying theater and performing arts, were inspiring. They gave me hope for humanity by showing us their love and support for each other in the face of adversity. The post-show discussion was full of displays of emotion. Your heart breaks for them. I don't know why Steven Pasquale skipped the Q&A but he missed out on an event as powerful as the show itself. Kerry Washington was there sitting cross-legged and barefoot. She is extremely intelligent, a great speaker and a real down to Earth leading lady.

The play is brilliant. It's a must-see for our time, getting at the heart of a system that is stacked against African Americans. It illuminates the unique challenges faced by black people in America. It takes place in a Florida police station in the middle of the night. The rain pours down backstage outside the windows. Kerry Washington's son is missing. And the policeman on-duty is not providing her information about her son's whereabouts. The one thing we know is that his car was involved in an "incident". That incident could be anything, as we are frequently reminded, but we have our suspicions. Knowing our society, our mind goes to the darkest place without hesitation because it is all too common that young men of color are stopped by the police. The writing is excellent. The plot points reveal themselves with precision, every word is chosen carefully and delivered perfectly. Go see American Son.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Goosebumps. This movie gave me goosebumps in a way the book did not. Simultaneously beautiful, breathtaking, and tragic, this James Baldwin adaptation is a bold follow-up to Moonlight for Barry Jenkins. His direction is meticulous. He takes small brilliant liberties in acting out scenes undescribed in the novel (moving furniture), and sticks closely to the book in tense scenes of despair (and one big liberty in changing the ending). The cinematography and lighting are stunning. The centered head-on shots in which the audience is confronted by the helpless gaze of our protagonists are heartbreaking.

The soundtrack by Nicholas Britell is achingly beautiful. You could feel the audience in the packed theater all holding our collective breath in anxiety. The horns and swelling strings cue the viewer to exhale a sigh of brief reprieve to celebrate the love at the center of the story. The music slowly pulses the audience along to the tragic fate we know awaits. And I'd like to say that it is because I read the book that I know how it ends, but that's not it. We implicitly know how this story ends because it is the story of being black in America, in the 70s and in the 21st century just the same. The film opens with a passage from James Baldwin explaining the title. The eponymous Beale Street is a stand-in for any main street in an American city where the Fonnys and Tishes survive.  Fonny is a noir-ish character, helpless to change his fate. This is most devastating in the moments we get to soak in their joy and love (of partner, of family, of community), in the character of Daniel foreshadowing what fate lies ahead, and when the baby finally arrives.

The entire cast is superb. The leads have perfect chemistry. Kiki Layne is absolutely radiant. Regina King is gripping. The whole supporting cast, the ones with just one scene each, Brian Tyree Henry, Dave Franco, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, etc are all scene stealers. You have to let this one simmer a bit, that slow burn is unlike anything else this year.

First Reformed (2017)

Ethan Hawke stars as a reverend of a very old church for tourists who begins to question his faith. The philosophical musings of the reverend in his journal are fascinating. Here's the gist: two of his few congregants are about to have a baby, and the father is questioning the morality of bringing a child into a world destined for environmental destruction. Aren't we destroying God's creation? This is a movie for our time. Ethan Hawke is superb. And I love the cinematography; the frames-within-frames are Wong Kar Wai-esque. The movie does get weird. The first hint is the creepy eye-of-god lamp in the living room. Well, actually, I guess the first hint is the constricting aspect ratio. Then there is the magical mystery tour with the jarring digital images of environmental destruction. First off, what the hell is that magical mystery tour? And then I was very unsatisfied by the ending. If they had just cut ten seconds earlier, it would've been fine. She could theoretically save him without the awkwardly long kiss.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

This is a landmark moment for Netflix. They made a good non-prestige movie. Thus far, Netflix had mostly been operating on a quantity over quality basis. That ends with this rom-com, a genre that's hard to do well and fresh. It's not perfect, but it's refreshing. Let's start with the elephant in the room...why is this Korean girl named Lara-Jean? There is some Asian specificity to her story, but she's not that Asian, nor are any of her crushes. The plot is like a Shakespearean comedy. There are a couple minor things, I didn't like. The music is tacky and the sound mixing is a little quiet on the soundtrack. The cinematography is a little jarring. And...Josh's character doesn't really serve his purpose. Every decision Lara-Jean makes is motivated by her relationship with her sister. The movie could be about Josh alone, forget Peter. But he ends up just being her confidante, but Lucas is already her confidante. Josh's story line doesn't really get properly played out. Maybe it does in the book. Lana Condor, though, is delightful. Keep an eye out for her.

Schindler's List (1993)

It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of Schindler's List and Steven Spielberg introduces his masterwork as a story for modern times. And it is a behemoth of a movie, running over three hours. I'm glad to have seen it, but I never have to see it again. It is hard to watch. Not an easy movie to revisit, but now is as good a time as any as anti-semitism seems to never go away.

I find it daunting to comment on such epic films. I could maybe tackle small parts of it. John Williams's score, brought to life by Itzakh Perlman, is hauntingly beautiful. The liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto is a brutal scene, filmed with such horror and control. The scene in the showers at Auschwitz is extremely powerful for turning the audience's anticipatory expectations on its head. And there is so much emotion in the final scene when the war finally comes to an end. The directorial choice to close the film with the Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave at Yad Veshem is striking, pulling the audience to the "present". It continues to evoke emotion twenty-five years later, during which I'm sure many of the film's characters have since passed away. Holocaust survivors are few today, but it's important for their stories to live on. The black-and-white cinematography contributes to the documentary-feel of the movie. It tells the audience that even the most unbelievable atrocities are not exaggerations.

Creed II (2018)

Boxing may be the most solitary sport other than tennis (or maybe diving?). In boxing, you minimally have your team in your corner (Serena Williams learned at the last US Open that you you do not have your team in your corner, in spectacular fashion). But otherwise it is just you in the ring dueling your opponent. That's why I find it so curious that boxing movies are traditionally not about solitude but family and relationships.  The hyper masculine topics of boxing and cars (a la Fast and Furious) center around family. And that's what makes them interesting. It humanizes their subjects, the brutish and self-destructive journeymen (think Raging Bull).

Creed II cannot avoid the elephant in the room, that is the iconic status of Rocky. Perhaps no other movie in American history is so emblematic of a city. Without having to properly explain why, the audience inherently understands why Rocky cannot leave Philadelphia. Drago's first stop in the US is naturally the iconic steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The shot opens with the statue, arms raised, and a tracking shot of tourists following Rocky's path running up the steps. The self-reference only works because Rocky has indeed achieved iconic status in our culture.

Creed II was not directed by Ryan Coogler, but Steven Caple Jr. steady hand does a fine job with enough style and pizzazz and tracking shots to satisfy the eyes. Boxing is visceral and we feel that. Our first glimpse of Rocky is through a mirror in a doorway (a frame within a frame within a frame), with Creed on the far right side of the screen. And only when Rocky moves out of the mirror does the camera pan to him. Though the movie can feel predictable at times, it is well done, engaging, emotional and ultimately enjoyable. Michael B. Jordan is electric and Sly in his later life has discovered a penchant for hats. They suit him.

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Wreck-It-Ralph was a great movie that didn't really need a sequel but I'm quite satisfied with this. The underlying plot is deeper than a little kid could comprehend. The movie ruminates on finding meaning in life. Ralph is content doing the same thing everyday. But Vanellope is looking for something more. More familiar to children will be the internet. Kids who have grown up with the internet have an inherent understanding of what it is that the rest of us had to learn on our own. Disney visualizes cyberspace with much humor and cleverness that people of all ages can appreciate. It's hard to overlook the nonstop product placements that we are bombarded with. I'll make a small distinction between the Internet product placements and the Disney "synergies" that are written into the plot, like the Disney princesses. But it's so obvious and shameless. Despite this, the movie is fun. And the voice cast is fabulous, especially Sarah Silverman.

Secret Sunshine (Miryang) (2007)

Secret Sunshine is about grief. It's about faith. It's a bold, powerful movie anchored by a visceral performance from Jeon Do-yeon. What she conveys in just looks is as strong as the words and cries. She is such a complex character feeling a wide range of lows. There is a particularly stirring scene in a prison in which we face a murderer who has been saved. It is not her most emotional scene. But it is a turning point for her. And her blank stare we can read so much suffering. The movie goes really deep into her suffering.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

The movie has two things going for it. The visuals are cool. And the cast is fun. Johnny Depp plays the villain like only Johnny Depp could. That's about it cause the plot is all over the place full of holes and exposition with no payoff. We are introduced to a slew of new characters with familiar names for no apparent nor believable reason.  Remember the name Lestrange? Like Bellatrix? Well the central conflict centers around whether there are more of them. The opening scene is a prison transport gone wrong. But who would be so stupid as to hand over a wizard's wand for prison transport? And you expect me to believe that wizard transportation is so primitive as to be using carriages? Dumbledore has a seen at the mirror of erised, showing his utmost heart's desire...spoiler alert it's Grindelwald. Is this the homosexuality that Rowling has alluded to in interviews? Also what's the deal with Nicolas Flamel? There's a few too many needless references to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Widows (2018)

Steve McQueen knows how to make an intense movie. Heist movies, by their very nature, are intense, but McQueen takes it to another level. Hans Zimmer's score as well as the moments of tense silence contribute to the mood. There are some gorgeous tracking shots. And Gillian Flynn of Gone Girl fame writes an engaging screenplay full of twists, grit and excitement.The plot is complex, intertwining race, power, money and gender roles. And the cast is all phenomenal.  Viola Davis is a badass.

Putty Hill (2010)

I don't think I was really paying enough attention to appreciate this movie. The pseudo documentary style is jarring, and a little off-putting (off-putty hill?). The off-screen interviewer is like an anthropologist conducting research in the field of Baltimore. And Baltimoreans are a special breed but not quite interesting enough to engage me.

Nobody's Fool (2018)

I think Tyler Perry is underrated. His movies should have appeal with a much broader audience than just the African American community they're marketed to. He proves to be entertaining and accessible. Tiffany Haddish, especially, has universal appeal. Her personality is so electric and she appears to be having so much fun on screen you cannot look away. And I, for one, think Tika Sumpter is fantastic. Now there is a pretty major plot hole towards the end with the surprise twist that not only invalidates the previous hour of film we've just seen but also doesn't make sense. But if they could have patched up this hole somehow, I dare say, the plot is near Shakespearean. Catfishing is our modern equivalent of mistaken identity, the hallmark of a Shakespearean comedy. And by the end, I think it would have been more interesting if "they" didn't end up together but it then wouldn't be a Shakespearean romantic comedy.

Boy Erased (2018)

Joel Edgerton must have some issues. The writer and director cast himself as the villain. This is no sympathetic villain either. I don't think he means to condone his character's behavior. Does he identify with the hack Christian therapist Victor Sykes? Overall, the movie is good. It exposes the truth about these "gay conversion retreats" for the child abuse they are; the Evangelical audience watches it for this purpose. But for audiences on the liberal coasts, it is more revelatory than expository. This is a whole Evangelical world so far from my own that I couldn't have fathomed.  There are some very troubling scenes in this movie, absolutely appalling stuff. Maybe none more than the victim blaming and the disturbing rape that goes ignored. And it makes me dislike the movie to a degree, again even though Edgerton is not explicitly condoning it. That it goes unpunished and uncommented on, almost amounts to effectively condoning it.

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead (2018) & The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead is the accompanying documentary to the long awaited "The Other Side of the Wind". Not only is this a making-of documentary, but it also assists in deciphering the very experimental movie. This is important because the saga of the making of the movie is the majority of the allure. And in its own meta way, the ordeal of the creation of "The Other Side of the Wind" is self-referential. You see, the "The Other Side of the Wind" is about the final day of director Jake Hannaford, who is extraordinarily Orson Welles-like, who is struggling to finish a movie called "The Other Side of the Wind". Welles may have said that the movie was not autobiographical, but the documentary insinuates so much as fact. And the documentary is quite interesting because Welles was a character.

The ironic film-within-a-film structure is trippy. Welles was supposedly parodying Michelangelo Antonioni, whose style he abhorred. He does so with such disdain, it is actually spot on, very pretty looking but wondrously empty and wordless. The broader film is shot in documentary style. It seems as though Welles pioneered the modern documentary style. Though in reality, he was so far ahead of his time that we still have not caught up. Documentarians follow Hannaford's every move, on different cameras, in different colors and aspect ratios. And they're all cut together very quickly. The edits are lightning fast accompanied by a jazz score. It's so fast it is impossible to follow. And it makes the task of cutting together someone else's hours and hours of footage a gargantuan task. I don't think it's Netflix's fault that the movie is so incoherent, Orson Welles just left us with a really difficult movie. Too artsy for me.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

It's not a great biopic but it's good fun. The movie shines in the musical sections, especially the Live Aid performance (which would've been really cool as a single shot if they had the ambition and money for it). But the story is lacking. The biopic is an inherently flawed genre and it shows in this movie. Freddie Mercury had an interesting and troubled life and I don't think the movie does it justice. Take his relationship with Mary for instance. She was his one true friend. She was the subject of Love of My Life. But we don't really see how their relationship evolves. After the first third of the movie, we hardly see them interact at all. And what right does she have to define him as gay? The central conflict in the movie is driven Mercury's relationship with Paul Prenter, who is blamed for driving the band apart. But I think it really should have focused on a man vs self conflict because Freddie was a complex guy. Rami Malek is phenomenal. Freddie Mercury was quite the character and Malek's interpretation of him is engrossing. And the costumes are great.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

A lovingly-made tribute to one of the greatest Americans of the twentieth century, a television pioneer, and a decent man at a time such people are hard to find. You cannot overstate the number of lives Fred Rogers touched, teaching young children how to navigate the world by treating them like people, acknowledging their feelings and helping them understand the complex world around them. I hadn't realized how much thought he put into this show to really get a message across to the kids. Children's programming today is totally devoid of content and this would appall Mr. Rogers. Maybe I would emote better had I watched Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Maybe I would have watched it if it was a little less creepy. Something as simple and mundane as puppets, but they're some creepy looking puppets. At the beginning of television, Mr. Rogers was there. All in all he filmed over 1500 episodes. Some iconic highlights that are featured in Morgan Neville's documentary: RFK's assassination, Francois Clemmons and Fred Rogers soaking their feet in the pool, Koko the Gorilla, quadriplegic Jeff Erlanger, the Challenger disaster, and 9/11.

The Rider (2017)

What compels Chinese Chloe Zhao to make two consecutive films in South Dakota? She manages to make a compelling movie about something I would not generally care about, rodeo. She takes a very specific activity inspired by real life, and crafts a universal story about passion. It is a little slow to start but it is actually really well done, never being preachy exercising restraint. There are some gorgeous shots with a nice use of natural light. The last thirty minutes of the movie is beautiful, truly moving. She uses non-professional actors who literally play themselves to great effect.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)

Disney's latest attempt at a live-action re-imagining of a beloved tale is almost incoherent. It's ostensibly the Nutcracker, but it tries to emanate the Chronicles of Narnia, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and Wizard of Oz, making it wholly unoriginal. Some of the characters have the same names as the ones from the ballet but the story is totally different and that's a bad thing. Nothing is really quite explained enough to satisfaction. And there are a handful of plot points that frustratingly don't go anywhere. I love Keira Knightley and I've never heard her voice sound so unnatural. Also beware the mice; there are A LOT of mice in this movie.

But let's try to focus on the good. The cinematography and art direction are beautiful. Linus Sandgren's visuals are stunning as usual. The music of the Nutcracker is iconic. The score by James Newton Howard does not merely copy Tchaikovsky's composition. It does includes short snippets here and there. But Howard's excellent soundtrack has noticeable variations on the themes from the Nutcracker. There is one scene of the movie that rises above the rest: it's obviously the ballet scene featuring none other than Misty Copeland. In a movie full of CGI, the most magical scene is the one featuring practical sets on a ballet stage. I actually wouldn't have minded if more of the story was told through dance. That wouldn't have been inappropriate for the Nutcracker. They couldn't done a Chicago-esque kind of thing. The ballet is preceded by maestro Gustavo Dudamel taking his place in front of the orchestra in silhouette a la Fantasia. That's Disney invoking itself; I don't know if anyone else would be so bold but Disney.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Melissa McCarhthy is obviously a comedienne.When I heard she was doing a drama, I was naturally surprised. But there is a lot more comedy in the movie than I was led to believe. And good thing there is because McCarthy is phenomenal. She gets to shine in this dramatic-comedic hybrid role as a cynical writer who can't find work who turns to literary forgery. Director Marielle Heller does an incredible job at making something that is extremely niche accessible to a broad audience. Cause really who knows or cares anything about literary collectibles? Richard E. Grant plays her partner in crime and his character is somehow simultaneously sleazy and charming. Grant and McCarthy play off of each other brilliantly. I think Dolly Wells as Anna is really charming too. It's really surprisingly enjoyable overall.

A Star Is Born (2018)

Bradley Cooper can direct in this movie easily accessible to the masses! After multiple collaborations with actor's director David O. Russell, Cooper has learned the art of direction. The movie serves as an acting showcase for himself and Lady Gaga, who proved she can act. Part of the point of the movie is that Cooper's character, the fading Jackson Maine, hogs her spotlight out of jealousy, but at times the same goes for Cooper the actor (at the direction of Cooper the director?). Both performances are Oscar-level. Maine's voice is so deep (he emulates co-star Sam Elliot unironically, who is also very good), Cooper must have been in so much pain straining himself. When Lady Gaga gets to shine, the movie really shines. She is a star in every sense of the word. And her distinctive voice is powerful as ever. Dave Chappelle makes a curious appearance. I like Chappelle but his character sort of comes out of nowhere almost inexplicably. Is he just some friend that happens to live in Memphis? And I happen to quite like Anthony Ramos of Hamilton fame.

Lady Gaga can act, but can Bradley Cooper sing? He's actually pretty decent. He can act drunk and he can act drunkenly sing in tune AND he can act soberly sing out of tune. That's range. The original music sticks with you. Lady Gaga has been experimenting with different genres lately, and she makes it all work. Her new song Shallow is sure to win the Oscar. And of course Lady Gaga starts out singing in a drag bar. The cinematography is striking. I wonder how much Bradley Cooper had to do with the look of the movie. And the screenplay is strong. The first act of the script is actually perfect. It perfectly balances comedy, romance and drama. The initial courtship between Ally and Jackson is convincing and engaging. And the musical makes powerful use of silence.

Lastly, I want to ask what Cooper is trying to say? This is obviously a remake done no less than 3 times before. In 2018, why do we need more of this? What is the commentary on our times? Easy message number 1 is the music producer/manager is unequivocally bad. The music industry does things to you making it difficult to retain your unique authenticity. But more interestingly what about gender? Does she need him, or he-her? What is he saying about masculinity? About successful women? What are we to make of Ally's final sacrifice, the lie she tells for Jackson's sake? And what about Jackson's ultimate sacrifice, an act of love? I don't have all the answers, but he raises some interesting questions for our contemporary society.

The Girl from the North Country (Off-Broadway)

It's a NYT Critic's Pick and fresh off an acclaimed run in London, I was looking forward to this show. Rachel, always the lucky one, won two (out of four per performance) rush tickets to see the show. However, I must admit I was disappointed. I didn't really get it. The music is done in a totally different style than anything Bob Dylan has ever sang. And the arrangements are really well done (I love the double bass and fiddle, but why don't they use the piano at the front of the stage more, and is the drum really necessary?), but I'm unsure how any of the music tied into the play. Was I not paying close enough attention to the lyrics?

The story doesn't have a clear protagonist. Everyone plays support, which begs the question, who is the girl from the north country? There are several girls in the play. I felt like some of the scenes didn't play out. For example, there is a bit of blackmail that doesn't come back (unless I missed it when I dozed off a little?).  I don't really feel like we get a satisfying ending to anyone's story line. Or maybe that's the point. Depression era theater isn't exactly uplifting.

I wonder Bob Dylan would say about this. In his Nobel lecture, he talks about how Shakespeare didn't consider his works literature. He was writing plays, thinking about casting and staging. In a similar vein, Dylan doesn't consider his work literature. He writes songs, and readily acknowledges that, but maybe in the future we will study Dylan as literature. Here, his lyrics are considered in yet another context. And new context demonstrates its versatility, really highlighting his skills not as a musician, but dare I say, as a writer.

Ali Wong: Hard Knock Wife (2018)

Ali Wong really nails the delivery of her jokes. She has good timing, and has perfected the tone. There is a good balance of yelling and soft, but firm, deliberate, slow explanations mixed with physical reenactment. She is visibly pregnant with her second child now.--that's two specials filmed pregnant in a row She is radiant on stage, it's where she belongs. Let's hope she continues to represents Asians in comedy.

Free Solo (2018)

Alex Honnold is a crazy free solo climber. Alex Honnold is a free solo climber, and that is crazy. Alex Honnold is crazy, so he free solo climbs. All true statements. This documentary from National Geographic is a character study of a madman preceding the main attraction, the first and only free solo climb of El Capitan at beautiful Yosemite National Park. The camerawork, filmed by drone and by professional climbers/cameramen hanging off the face of the rock is stunning. There are some really incredible shots. And I appreciated that they also discuss the ethics of filming a free solo climb. It adds pressure to the climber, who has no ropes, who could fall at any moment. There are many points along the route where he is barely even hanging on. The stakes could not be any higher. Honnold is quite a funny and charismatic subject. I admit, I fell asleep a little around the one hour mark. I wanted to get to the main show, which does deliver.

First Man (2018)

Damien Chazelle is our American wunderkind. In many respects, he shares similarities with Xavier Dolan, the Canadian counterpart. They even kind of look alike. Chazelle takes a page out of Dolan's book with a format change a la Mommy. Except when Dolan does it, it's pretentious and forced, we watch a box format for the whole length of the movie so he has the chance to stretch it out in one scene. Chazelle does it more seamlessly, and with better finesse. The moon landing scene is filmed in glorious IMAX 70mm, while the rest of the movie is on beautiful grainy 35mm or 60mm. Film ain't dead.

Linus Sandgren's cinematography is breathtaking accompanied by Justin Hurwitz's hypnotic score. What's really extraordinary is how intense this movie is. Much like Chazelle's brilliant Whiplash, he manages to make something that is not obviously intense unbearably intense. Despite knowing how it's going to turn out, it is still exciting. We are fully immersed in the space missions, with the shaky cameras, close-up shots, and thrilling soundscape. We feel the anxiety that Gosling's enigmatic Neil Armstrong does when a mission fails. At the end of the day, it's not actually about the moon landing. It's a character study on the Armstrongs (yes, Janet too), one of whom happens to go to the moon. Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy are both excellent.

Leave No Trace (2018)

This movie takes my fear of camping to the next level. It's one-part Captain Fantastic, one-part American Sniper. It's not a very explicit movie. It leaves much to be inferred about the main character, but we know just enough to understand that this veteran with PTSD cannot reintegrate into society. What Thomasin McKenzie does is to add another dimension of tragedy to this: a young daughter who cannot integrate into society either because of her father's attachment to her combined with his affliction. McKenzie gives a quiet but deeply moving performance.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

I was thoroughly entertained by Han Solo's origin story. Han Solo is one of the most iconic characters in film history and I think Alden Ehrenreich plays Han the way exactly how I imagine young Han would have been, smug as hell. Good casting of Donald Glover for Lando too, also smug as hell. It makes it really quite enjoyable. Ron Howard did a good job swooping in and finishing the movie. The origin story is basically to fill in some gaps and expound on some of the things we know about Han from the original trilogy. There is the introduction of some new things, like the love interest Qira and the Crimson Dawn syndicate. Qira's inclusion as a character in Han's story makes perfect sense. Except at the very end, when she goes off on her own story line. Are they giving her a movie too? Because they do not explain (though heavily infer) what happened between Han's escape from Corellia and when he reunites with Qira. The whole Crimson Dawn inclusion is unnecessary, unless it's coming back in a Qira movie. Maybe putting the cart before the horse a little bit. And then for some reason, Darth Maul, instead of just any new character that would've done just fine, is brought back. Wasn't he dead?

22 July (2018)

Throughout the movie, I was reminded constantly of two different things. First, I think the style of the movie was very evocative of the Dick Wolf series of TV shows on NBC. The style was very similar to the Chicago suite of shows with the shaky handheld cameras with the uncomfortable zooms. It even cycles through the police and the doctors and the courtroom. It was like watching a 2.5 hour crossover event. It's a little too long. In a procedural TV show, we get character development over time, but the characters can only be so far developed in a movie trying to follow so many different characters little by little while keeping to procedure. Except the movie lacks any of the interest or excitement of an investigation, because the terrorist gives himself up.

The other movie I was reminded of was the German movie In the Fade, another movie about far-right European nationalist terrorism. In the Fade was grittier and Diane Kruger plays an engrossing, fully developed, vengeful character. Paul Greengrass takes a different approach on the same theme. His message, told primarily through Viljar, is one of resilience in the face of the kind of nationalism that has sprouted all over the world. Though taking place in 2011, this is an unmistakable primary source film on our own times. Maybe he's trying to say that the US is not alone, nor the first place nationalism has reared its ugly head. Maybe he's saying we should have seen it coming.

The Hate U Give (2018)

Don't judge the movie by its trailer. The trailer looks like a cheesy teen movie. It is so much better than that. The narration at times sounds a little forced, I'll admit that, with the cheesy street slang needed to be spelled out for the white folks in the audience.

So let me frame the movie for you the way it ought to be presented in a more just world. This is the story of Starr, an African American teenager of immense courage. The movie opens with a scene that is universal for black families in the US, the talk. Immediately the audience is thrust into a world in which young children must learn to remain composed in the face of the state. We are shown the incredible restraint this young woman must display everyday to those who know her best as she straddles two identities between two neighborhoods worlds apart. We see Starr display bravery as she enters hostile territory everyday at the fancy white private school she attends. At the height of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail called out those white moderates frustrating the cause of civil rights, and today those white moderates continue to feign utter blindness. And of course there's Starr's awful white friend Haley who doesn't help either.

The story is driven by a terrible, all-too-common case of police brutality. But it gets much deeper than that. It is about a black community terrorized by THUG LIFE, as so astutely put forth by 2pac decades ago. There is a secondary conflict between the drug lords that run Starr's neighborhood and her family that sort of dilutes that primary message about the death of Khalil. The fact that Khalil dealt drugs is irrelevant to his murder. Starr could have plausibly said presented her witness statement while making no comment on whether he dealt drugs, as she didn't even know firsthand. It is only when you take it in the wider context of a people systemically oppressed does its inclusion in the story make sense. It is perhaps this that makes the movie so much better than I had expected.

It is a very emotional movie, particularly a scene in which the children stand out in the yard and recite the Black Panther Ten Point Program. The ending is also really well done. Amandla Stenberg as Starr gives a starr-turning performance. Her father also has some very memorable lines, including showing the audience his tattoo of his reasons to live and die. The lists are the same. I think it gets at the source of emotion in the movie. It is not death, but life, survival, that evokes emotion.

The Old Man & The Gun (2018)

This is such an unassumingly charming movie. I love everything about the retro, sort of grainy film-style. Robert Redford, in supposedly his final acting role, is just delightful. He acts so effortlessly, demonstrating decades of experience. You can't help but smile and be charmed like Sissy Spacek. And the movie is wistful, full well acknowledging the nostalgia factor in a brilliant Wes Anderson-esque montage at the end (paying homage to a young Redford, I think). The movie is actually quite funny, too. The dialogue between Redford and Spacek is disarmingly charming.

I do have one big criticism of the film. I really cannot stand Casey Affleck. He basically plays the same character from his previous collaboration with director David Lowery, A Ghost Story. Yes, in that movie he plays a dead sheet ghost. And in this film, he plays just as lively a character unironically. Actually, he plays himself. So is he even really acting? I don't think his story line really adds anything to the movie. We clearly are meant to sympathize with the criminal, so why go to the detective's point of view at all? Tika Sumper is fine but we unfortunately have to get Casey Affleck to get her. I am willing to overlook this glaring black spot because the rest of the movie is so darn pleasing.

Quincy (2018)

This intimately presented biographical documentary is a talented daughter's love letter to her extraordinary father. Rashida Jones's amateur camerawork is full of love. She interviews her dad on camera asking questions the way only a family member could. Quincy Jones is naturally comfortable just chatting among family.  The movie jumps back and forth between two time lines, both marching to the present with tons of old photographs and home video, some really incredible footage from the 1930s/40s. I really like how Quincy soothingly narrates much of his own life story and there are audio clips and cameos of plenty other famous people who have worked with Quincy. It's a really touching movie with a great soundtrack and a fascinating subject.

Fred Armisen: Standup for Drummers (2018)

Only Fred Armisen could make this work. It's probably the most niche standup show I've ever seen. The title is quite literal. These bits are made by a drummer for drummers. And they're not naturally funny bits, but he makes them funny because he's so awkward and self aware. He somehow makes these drumming bits accessible to non-drummers too, making me smirk and smile at his short seconds long impressions that I have no particular references for. He does a bit going through accents across America, just words, hardly a full phrase per accent, but he's just so strange that he's funny.

Venom (2018)

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, no one takes themselves too seriously. This movie never really strikes the right tone. The concept is so absurd and yet no one seems to appreciate that. It is only mildly tempered with some humor towards the end that is not even all that funny. This movie is Venom's origin story. It is unclear for a very long time what Eddie Brock has to do with the opening scene in Malaysia. We never really get a proper explanation of what the alien life forms want. Nor does it really matter. Because the focus of Venom's origin story is surrounds Elon Musk--I mean Carlton Drake. Tell us what you really think about that psycho. Also, they make such a big deal out of how difficult it is to find a suitable host that could survive the parasite bonding. Then halfway through the movie, they never have this problem again. We were initially led to believe that there was something special about Eddie that he was able to bond perfectly, but then all of a sudden, everyone can bond. The dialogue is really bad, Tom Hardy is OK, and the visual effects are kind of neat.

A Simple Favor (2018)

I remember when the trailer first came out. My immediate reaction was "Wow Henry Golding is in a second Hollywood movie already? And he's married to Blake Lively? That's a pretty big deal." But my second reaction was that it looks like Gone Girl. Then I scrolled down to the Youtube comments and they were saying "Don't be deceived, it's nothing like Gone Girl." Lo and behold, now that I've seen the movie, it is very much like Gone Girl. My biggest problem with the movie is that the motivations are unclear. There are no motivations except craziness. Gone Girl has more motivation than that but the underlying drive is just her being crazy. I'm sort of confused and it bothers me a little. In retrospect, it's sort of weird that Anna Kendrick is the protagonist because she is totally external to the central plot. She actually plays the sleuth. I was sort of mislead into thinking she had more to do with the motive or maybe she was a scapegoat, but this has nothing to do with her.

It's a dark comedy, comedic in that it's absurd. I did actually laugh out loud at the absurdity, which does at times come off as fun because it takes itself pretty seriously. Even the music is funny. The glamor of suburban Connecticut is represented by French music, while her trip to New Yorker is accented by Latin music. Speaking of glamor, Blake Lively is gorgeous. The costumes on her are absolutely stunning. Oscar for the costume designer.

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

I'm not a big fan of westerns. Correspondingly, I sort of fell asleep a little bit in the middle. But it's not just a western, it's a dark comedy that's actually quite funny. It's so absurd that it's kind of funny. The cinematography is beautiful. The acting, from John C. Reilly especially (and I like Riz Ahmed), is a delightful surprise. But the best part about this movie is Alexandre Desplat's soundtrack. It's exciting and western and rhythmic and intoxicating.

The Wife (2017)

Glenn Close is divine in a role that will finally win her an Oscar. Her quiet composure is so powerful. The story is simple yet brilliant and the execution is excellent. The narcissistic novelist Joe Castleman has won the Nobel Prize in Literature and he brings his son and wife Joan to Stockholm. Close's performance manages to capture decades of marriage in her performance. Glenn Close's daughter plays younger Joan allowing us to see how their relationship developed.  The allegation is that Joe's novels were actually written by Joan. How dramatic is that?

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2017)

This documentary is just a bit too long. It's quite beautiful but I fell asleep it was so long and kind of slow (sort of Japanese-style slow). Ryuichi Sakamoto is a legend. His music is stunning--the soundtrack to . And his career is very impressive, not just as a composer but as an actor, music star, activist, etc.

Ocean's 8 (2018)

A pretty clever heist movie, albeit unrealistic but it's still quite a bit of glamorous fun. Sandra Bullock plays the lead but among this star studded cast I think she gets outshone. Actually, though they're all good, none of them really get that opportunity to truly shine. Except Cate Blanchett. She could do anything. She commits herself to playing thief as she does to playing royalty or playing an elf.

The House With the Clock in its Walls (2018)

I describe this as a kid-friendly fantasy thriller. And so it is appropriate that the IMAX screening is preceded by Michael Jackson's Thriller, in new glorious 3D. Michael Jackson is good fun and the transformation scene in 3D is actually really freaky. The whiskers shoot out in 3D!

As for the main event, the movie is well-acted and cutely cast. If you like Young Sheldon, you'll love Lewis. Man, this kid is Sheldon-level weird, a social outcast. His potential friend Tarby is a real stereotypical greaser character. The school is really remarkable in how retro it feels. Cate Blanchett is divine. She really acts like she wants an Oscar no matter what the role is. And Jack Black is perfect for kids movies. He blends just the right amount of humor and charm. The movie is really quite fun overall.

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You is a wickedly funny dark comedy. The social commentary in the film is bold and brilliant. The premise of the movie as seen in the trailer is absurd in itself. LaKeith Stanfield plays a telemarketer who has to put on his white voice in order to be taken seriously over the phone. His white voice is non other than David Cross, Tobias Funke himself who sounds supremely white. From there, the movie takes several unforeseen left turns through organized labor, modern slavery, human experimentation, and communism. The movie is genuinely scary at times because we see this absurd alternate world that is not-all-that-far from our own reality. We are slaves to a system of exploitation for profit without regard to human rights or dignity--not to mention the millions of people that live in actual slavery.  This vision of the world we live in is so dark that you can't help but laugh out of pure discomfort. 

Eighth Grade (2018)

Eighth Grade is an excellent coming-of-age dramedy by first-time director Bo Burnham, best known for stand-up comedy. Burnham's astute and sensitive take on modern adolescence is refreshing and dare-I-say spot on. Elsie Fisher, just fifteen years old, brilliantly plays Kayla. The cadence of her speech, simultaneously unsure and forcibly confident, full of 'likes' and 'ums', is so realistic.  She sounds so natural. The audience gets to see both sides of Kayla. We see her private persona, introspective, incisive, thoughtful and confident. We see her try to better herself in public, forcing herself to emerge from her shell. We see her nerves and excitement.  It's a must-see, especially for high schoolers not-far-removed from their own eighth grade experiences. I was also very impressed by the use of music, with accented beats pushing the movie forward. Enya's Orinoco Flow is used to great effect, an unusual choice that pleasantly surprises.

Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

Searching for Sugar Man is an incredibly unlikely story. It's a tale of what-could-have-beens. Rodriguez is a musician from Detroit of immense songwriting talent and a good voice to go with it. He released an album in the late 60s that did not do well in the United States. Unbeknownst to him, his music was the soundtrack of a generation of Afrikaaners. On the other end, the Afrikaaners knew little about Rodriguez, just that his music spoke to them. Rodriguez has been living a normal life out of the spotlight. The documentary is one-part history, one-part investigation, one-part revelation, and all parts humanity itself.

Searching (2018)

The innovation in storytelling in Searching is that the entire film is told on screens. I was a little misled; the execution of the episode of Modern Family in which the episode is told entirely on a single computer screen is the high standard. Searching is not just on computers, it is also on TV news, security cameras, CCTV, etc. I was a little bothered by the reliance on news stories to tell the story. I understand that it is a commentary on how modern personal tragedy can easily blow up on the internet and all over the news. But the external attention also detracts from the personal nature of the conflict between father and daughter that most interestingly drives much of the drama. Similarly, I feel like the gimmick of the screens sort of detracts from what is an excellent thriller. Oftentimes, we're watching John Cho talk on the phone through the webcam on his computer. There's no particular reason for this. Many of the shots look forced because of this "screen requirement." John Cho is great, as always. And let's just take a quick moment to acknowledge the Asian American cast with standard American accents acting in non-specifically-Asian roles. That is a quiet revolution right there, though it took an Asian director to do so. More of that!

Simon of the Desert (1965)

I don't think I got it. It wasn't as surreal as his other works that I'm familiar with. It wasn't even obviously satirical to me. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Though that cut in the end is pretty funny if it's meant to be. Rock 'n' roll is the devil's music.