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.