It has been quite a while since I gave a movie a full review. I was moved to do so by this excellent film.

This film features Nick Cage at his Nick Cagiest. But even if you aren’t a Cage completist, you should see this challenging, disturbing and thought-provoking artwork which deals with profound questions in an interesting, albeit convoluted, way. If you like to leave a film talking about its ambiguity and  intentions, Surfer is for you. You will certainly have more to talk about then after any Marvel movie..

More details on The Surfer here

Sir Paul McCartney's daughter Mary has made an affecting documentary on the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London. The rich history of the facility stretches back to late 1931, when Sir Edward Elgar led the London Philharmonic in recording "Pomp and Circumstance" — using revolutionary new technology — direct to disc. The film is full of interviews with musicians from all genres and eras — from  McCartney, Ringo Starr, Nile Rodgers, and Oasis' Gallagher brothers, to John Williams and young cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason. But the real treat is the archival footage — it's a delight to see the Elgar recording session, early Beatles work at the studio, performances by Cliff Richard, Daniel Barenboim and Jacqueline DuPre, Cilla Black, Pink Floyd, and Fela Kuti. 

Click on the link at the bottom of each capsule review for the whole review

Anora **

Every awards season, I am stunned that certain films are nominated and, in some cases, even win… This year, it's Anora… The title character (played by Mikey Madison) is surprisingly naive, conniving, and duplicitous, and engenders zero empathy. And, without empathy, there's nothing.
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Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl ****
Flow ***1/2
The Wild Robot ***

It is a pleasure to watch three well-crafted candidates for the Oscar [in the animated film] category.The Latvian-produced Flow is the most beautiful of this trio of films…Dreamworks' The Wild Robot…[is] well-produced, clever,  but more cute than engaging.

My personal favorite of these films is –Vengeance Most Fowl…After a series of W&G movies that were less than stellarVengeance is a welcome return to a more fully-realized, sophisticated, and satisfying story.

(All this being said, I'd put my money on Flow winning the Oscar.)
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This review was written prior to the emergence of the controversy surrounding actor Karla Sofía Gascón. Clever, engaging, energetic, and surprising – that is Emelia Pérez. This is the story of a Mexican cartel leader transitioning his gender, if not his personality. In the vein of La La Land, the cast bursts into song to carry along the story – at times, it feels more like a stage musical than a film. Three excellent performances anchor Emelia Pérez - Karla Sofía Gascón in the title role, Zoe Saldana as the lawyer who facilitates her change, and Selena Gomez as Pérez's "widow." There are criticisms of the film in the media for its characterizations of Mexicans and trans people – and even for some of its spoken Spanish – but I found it very deserving of its critical accolades and awards.

As if air travel wasn't already stressful enough, along comes Carry-On (on Netflix) to ramp up the anxiety. Set in my local airport (LAX) during the peak Christmas travel season, this film tracks the efforts of a mysterious terrorist (Jason Bateman) to force an anxious neophyte TSA agent (Taron Egerton) to assist him with his nefarious intentions. It's a cleverly-developed thriller that ends in a ludicrous and impossible struggle – no, airplanes don't have a hatch that connects the cabin to the baggage hold. Diverting at first, but ultimately a cancelled flight.

This is a fascinating film that purports to explore the inner workings of the Catholic Church as it selects a new Pope. I relished the frisson of getting an insight — accurate or not –  into processes opaque to most of us mere mortals. The machinations among the cardinals are many and, at times, echo the negatives that infuse some public perceptions of the Church. The outcome of the conclave, however improbable, makes for a nice, surprising conclusion to the politicking and debates. Ralph Fiennes is a masterful presence in the film – thoughtful, troubled, conflicted. His quiet, nuanced portrayal is a gem that I hope is not overlooked at awards time due to its subtlety. 

[Ed. Note: I said it was 16 years since Neal’s last appearance; turns out it was 15] This 141-minute film starts well, with an interesting premise – a mysterious product can create a second, younger version of yourself, but it demands that both parties follow a rigorous protocol in order to avoid disastrous consequences. The appeal of eternal youth is not new, nor is this type of Faustian bargain and how it inevitably goes wrong. What elevates The Substance in the early going is vibrant cinematography and production design — enlivened by an 80s Flashdance vibe — and strong performances by Demi Moore and a bonkers Dennis Quaid. But things quickly devolve into a hard-to-watch, over-the-top, gross-out horror film. Not for the faint of heart!

[after only 16 years, I welcome my former editor and long-time friend Neal Vitale back to PSACOT]

I've found myself going less often to see films in theaters, preferring the pause and rewind buttons on my video equipment at home over a half-hour of on-screen commercials and trailers. I made an exception, though, for The Brutalist, and I'm glad I did. This is a 220-minute cinematic experience that calls out for theatrical presentation. 

The Brutalist presents thirty years in the life of Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth, He has survived the Holocaust but was forcibly separated from his wife, Erzsébet, and niece, Zsófia. He emigrated to America to live with relatives and to strive for the American Dream. Stunningly-produced on a budget of less than $10 million, the film tells an epic story weaving power, money, jealousy, abuse, desire, addiction, bigotry, sacrifice, and pain.

The key players — Adrien Brody as Tóth, Guy Pearce as his pompous and mercurial benefactor Harrison Lee Van Buren, and Felicity Jones as Erzsébet — are riveting to watch on screen. A thundering score is paired with gorgeous cinematography. It is fascinating to watch the construction of a massive piece of Tóth's brutalist architecture and witness the beauty of the finished structure.

If there is a shortcoming with The Brutalist, it is the lack of empathy developed for most of the characters in the film – these are not likeable individuals. But the rich narrative development, echoing – dare I say - Citizen Kane, makes for a gratifying theatrical experience well worth the investment of time.

[after only 16 years, I welcome my former editor and long-time friend Neal Vitale back to PSACOT]

This is an entertaining and enjoyable recounting of Bob Dylan's early career, from his arrival in Greenwich Village in 1961 to the legendary "Dylan goes electric" performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Though the film doesn't attempt to be painstakingly accurate, it seems to capture many of major events in Dylan's evolution quite well. 

There is excellent acting in the film. Timothée Chalamet makes a convincing Dylan, as does Ed Norton as Pete Seeger. The key women in the film – Joan Baez and Sylvie Russo (Suze Rotolo IRL) – receive somewhat short shrift, with far less film time devoted to understanding them and their relationships with Dylan. The film is bookended with lovely, bittersweet interactions between Dylan and his hero (and, ultimately, fan) Woody Guthrie.

In terms of helping understand Dylan, though, the film is less successful. Unless, of course, the point is that he is moody, exploitative, intentionally opaque, and, in all likelihood, a fabulist and trickster who invents chunks of his past to serve his needs. Answering a few of the “whys” would have been nice but probably too much to ask. 

(Chalamet has suggested that he would be open to a "Bob Dylan trilogy," carrying on to the various Dylan incarnations that followed what is presented in A Complete Unknown. I, for one, am a fan of that idea!)

Next Week: A Review of The Brutalist

There is a lot to unpack in this arthouse film about adultery and desire. If you dislike loud simulated female orgasms, this film is not for you. Other than that it raises interesting questions, including, how could a woman (a 50-year-old Dutch woman no less) write and direct this? I am a huge fan of female centric movies, but this film reminds me that women can make barely good films the same as men.

Click here to discover every thought in my mind on the subject, as well as my wife's.