Reviews

(Scott) Beck and (Bryan) Woods, the boys from Bettendorf (Iowa) behind "A Quiet Place," have created another great film: their latest offering, "65." The film stars Adam Driver as Mills, the pilot of a space craft from the planet Somaris, who is embarking on a 2-year run when his spaceship encounters cryogenic failure during an asteroid shower and crash lands on a planet that we will soon find out is Earth, 65 million years ago.

The ship had been carrying passengers in pods, but eleven of the passengers are dead after the crash, including the family of a young girl about the same age as Mills' (Adam Driver's) own daughter back on Solaris. Chloe Coleman plays Nevine, Mills' ailing daughter. He's being paid three times the going rate to make this long trip, and his hope is to earn enough to save Nevine's life. Alas, that is not in the cards, but the surviving pod person on his ship, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) will, in time, grow close and learn to communicate (she speaks a different language).

The acting in this film is terrific. Adam Driver selects interesting roles and this is an interesting role, dealing, as it does, with two people who are trying to come to terms with deep grief, while also staying alive on a planet inhabited by dangerous dinosaurs.

Filmed largely In Louisiana and in Coos Bay, Oregon, the end credits also mention Ireland and Australia, but wherever they found the realistic-looking caverns and mountains, the "sets" are truly fantastic.

More importantly, the suspenseful beats that beset the characters while they attempt to make it to a still-working escape pod that has landed far from the impact point of the rest of the ship, are truly terrifying. The chasms they encounter look real. The attack by a velociraptor looks real. The imagined encounters---including Koa's swallowing a large insect while asleep---are creative and new.

That is the best thing about this "Jurassic Park/Alien/Star Wars" combination movie: it does not feel derivative. It feels real and fresh and original.

I enjoyed this film more than the much more generic "Haunt" that the team of Beck & Woods followed up "A Quiet Place" with in 2019. In a month that saw sequels ("Creed," and "Scream") galore, this film is the rare indie, stand-alone, not-part-of-a-franchise. A thinking man (or woman's) film. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is also family friendly with a PG rating,

THE BAD

The "bad" of "65" is really not the writer/directors' fault.

The movie got pushed back in its release date from April of 2022 to March 10 of 2023 by Covid. Then, Sony, which budgeted it at $91 million, did not market it properly. I heard almost nothing about the film before it actually launched, slated to open against the franchise sequels mentioned in the paragraph above It should have played SXSW or Sundance, for instance, like "A Quiet Place" (and would have been far better than the "Dungeons & Dragons" one that did open Austin.

Some have mentioned that the title ("65") did not help the film, and I was not a fan of the information projected onscreen. Yes, I know that "Star Wars" did it, but saying "Prior to the advent of mankind in the infinity of the universe, other civilizations explored the universe" seemed about as cutting edge as using a voice-over to give us essential information--if this were 1970.

. Others have pointed to Adam Driver's last few films as not box office catnip. They mentioned "Annette," "The Last Duel" and "White Noise." With the exception of "The Last Duel," which looked like a real lemon from the get-go, both "Annette" and "White Noise" may find fans when they stream, because they are good movies and deserve to find their fans.

So does this excellent outing which will earn fans when streaming.

The synopsis for the series reads: "An English department chairman at an underfunded college, Professor Hank Devereaux toes the line between midlife crisis and full-blown meltdown, navigating the offbeat chaos in his personal and professional life." As IMDB further says, William Henry Devereaux, Jr., spiritually suited to playing left field but forced by a bad hamstring to try first base, is the unlikely chairman of the English department at Railton University. Over the course of a single convoluted week, he threatens to execute a duck, has his nose slashed by a feminist poet, discovers that his secretary writes better fiction than he does, suspects his wife of having an affair with his dean, and finally confronts his philandering elderly father, the one-time king of American Literary Theory, at an abandoned amusement park."

If this all sounds like a great vehicle for Bob Odenkirk, you're right. The humor and sarcasm are on full display. It's a nice change of pace from Saul of "Better Call Saul."

THE GOOD The cast, headed by Odenkirk, is stellar. Mirielle Enos ("World War Z," "The Killing") plays Hanks' wife, Lily, and she is a revelation. In the Q&A following the screening, she admitted that she "wanted to play a less closeted woman." Her serious role in "The Killing" made her a natural choice for screenwriters Paul Lieberstein and Aaron Zelman, who worked with her on "The Killing." Those representing the premiere in Austin referred to the cast as "spectacular." Oscar Nunez as the Dean is also wonderful.

The writers are similarly spectacular. Although credit must also be given to the source material, as the writers admit that they constantly "went back to the Pulitzer Prize winning book" ("Straight Man") while also adding depth to Hank's character.

Bob Odenkirk, onstage after the screening, talked about how he ended up working this hard so soon after "Better Call Saul" ended. "I had said yes to the show. I really thought it would take forever. It didn't." Factor in a heart attack that Odenkirk described as, "what happens when you don't take your heart medication" and here he is in an 8-episode series that he praised as "A place for everyone to do their best" and "A lot of variety on a journey that goes somewhere."

Odenkirk added that it was "Great use of modern TV. We had 4 different directors and travel alterations. The stories and characters progress and it is more like an 8-episode movie."

He also praised the dream cast and said, of his character, "He's so different from Saul, who was a loner. There are people in the right relationships. You love your wife and then, if you're married long enough, you hate them." (This brought laughter and an admonition from the writers, "Bob! Your wife is in the audience.") Odenkirk continued, "If it's a great relationship, you find your way back and you don't even know how." He felt that Saul and Kim in "Better Call Saul" were loners, but "I liked the way this guy relates to other people." Pointing out the fundamental differences between his Saul character and Hank he said, "It's fun to do wildly different things. It's one of the reasons I went into this business."

THE BAD For me, the bad is that I currently don't have AMC+. In order to watch this wildly entertaining series, I am going to have to subscribe, which means that my spouse is going to be gifted with a subscription to the series (which premieres on March 19th). Since his birthday is March 21st, thank you, Hank, for figuring out what to give the man who has everything. This looks like a totally enjoyable, witty, well-written and well-acted 8-episode series that will entertain us mightily.

Pikeville, Kentucky native son Eric Christopher Conn took the U. S. government, via the Social Security Administration Disability payment program, for an estimated $2.62 billion, of which $550,000 went directly into his pockets. Married 16 times and prone to flee rather than atone for his sins, Eric is a real piece of work, promising Appalachian Valley residents their Social Security checks (typically $900 a month) in 30 days rather than the 18 months that was the norm. And he delivered on that promise, no matter how it was achieved.

Did he get a lot of business? Oh, my, yes! Even after the whistleblowers trying to report his actions (Sarah Carver and Jennifer Griffith) were ignored for 6 years and the SSA failed to follow up on numerous reports of a corrupt judge, lawyer and doctor, who formed a triumvirate of evil, Conn got additional clients because he got results. He even got more clients when it became clear that is promises of prompt payment were valid.

Nevermind the fallout from all of this graft, which included at least 3 suicides, Congressional hearings, destitute victims who were legitimate, and prison sentences that seem far too lenient for most,

This is a great story, told in 4 parts, and one that was initially uncovered by Wall Street Journal reporter Damian Polito, covered at one point by "Sixty MInutes" and has everything to keep you interested for its four well-researched episodes.

"Recovery," a film written by Whitney Everton and Stephen Meek involves two sisters, Jamie (Whitney Call) and Blake (Mallory Everto) . They stage an across-the-country trip to rescue their Nana from an old folks' home during the pandemic.

It is one of the few----perhaps only---films I've seen that completely embraces Covid-19 in its storyline. The traveling sisters (Whitney and Mallory) have actually been best friends since the age of nine. The home-made video at the end confirms their easy familiarity. They are also sketch comedy veterans of "Comedy C" and do a wonderful job of embodying their characters and (for Mallory) in writing the screenplay. Comedy is not easy to skillfully create. It needs to be as light and fluffy as a souffle. These two seem like the heirs apparent to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

When the film opens, Jamie (Whitney Call) is celebrating her 30th birthday. The coronavirus is not yet a thing. Jamie is a teacher of 4th graders. She is thinking about buying airline or hotel stock and investing in a pricey gym membership. Sister Blake (Mallory Everton) has just had a one-night stand with a cute guy named Scott; that is another topic of conversation.

They are unaware that they are about to be frozen in time by the pandemic. In the background of the next few scenes we hear the disheartening news of 51,000 deaths on March 30 of 2020. (If nothing else, this film will be a great time capsule.)

Upon learning of the ravages of coronavirus on Nana's nursing home, the pair, headquartered in New Mexico, at first are counting on their older married sister, Erin (Julia Jolley), who lives in Washington closer to Nana, to ride to the rescue. Paulina Jerockova (Anna Swerd Hansen), their beloved Nana, needs to be moved out of the nursing home as quickly as possible---a plot point that is factual, as one-third of all deaths in the United States took place in the close quarters of nursing homes.

The husband of Whitney Call, Stephen Meek, helped write and direct this light-hearted film, and I recommend it for those of you wanting to see the comedy stars of tomorrow.

Unfortunately, Erin (Julia Jolley) is off on a cruise with her husband. ("The tickets were so cheap," to which the sisters in New Mexico respond, "Yes, because it's a death trap!")

There are so many funny things in this 80-minute film that I enjoyed. I was just relieved to discover that it wasn't a grim documentary about surviving some horrible illness, but a light-hearted distraction that audiences need.

There's a funny bit about the girls really getting into their music and pounding on their car horn as they tool down the Interstate. Next to them on the highway is an elderly man on a motorcycle. The girls roll their window down to explain their innocence. Thinking that they are honking at him, the Hell's Angel senior spits through the open window of their car. The panic over strange spit is merited and very funny.

There is the potential hottie "Scott," of whom Blake says, "I seriously met him at the worst moment in history." After sending Scott several funny (but meant to be endearing) memes, she gets a text from Scott's roommate, saying Scott has died of Covid-19.

Scott has simply panicked. He tried to think of a way out of responding appropriately to Blake's memes. His idea of an "appropriate" response is, after revealing that he is NOT dead, sending an inappropriate personal picture and then texts Blake to ask her for her Hulu password.

The excuse for Scott's inexplicable behavior? "He's probably just stressed about Covid." That, or he is incurably out-of-it, but the lengths to which Scott has gone do come off as funny in the expert comic hands of our two leads.

Then there's Nana's dog Bruce. The girls need to collect Bruce along the way, since Nanna is very fond of her dog. Nana has also been very fond of Fred, a fellow inmate in her nursing home. He has been making nightly visits to Nana's room. The girls are very explicit about telling Nana NOT to let Fred in, as he may have the coronavirus. The adventures retrieving Bruce are also enjoyable.

Blake and Jamie, trying desperately to be the first family members to reach Nana's nursing home before Erin, the older sister from the cruise ship, arrive.

I really enjoyed the simple asides about how Nana used to drive her car by using a mop handle on the accelerator. (I had a friend who used a brick, but nevermind about that.) And then there's the "go-to" strategy for distracting older sis Erin by asking her to share "the birth story." Every family has a similar story that will set one of its members off on a long stroll down memory lane."

"Recovery" was genuinely funny and well done.

Try it; you'll like it.

This expose of the persecution of Reality Winner (yes, that is really her name) was made possible because of a Freedom of Information Act that finally resulted in the release of the audio of Reality's interrogation by eleven FBI agents.

The director of this based-on-fact film is Sonia Kennebeck. A famous name, Wim Wenders, the 75-year-old thrice-Oscar-nominated German director, served as executive producer.

Another famous face and voice is that of international whistleblower Edward Snowden, interviewed onscreen, who released NSA classified documents to the Washington Post and The Guardian in June of 2013 and has been in exile ever since. Snowden makes the point that the only thing the authorities want to hear from you in such a case is a "yes" or a "no" to the question of whether or not an NSA employee with a Top Secret Security Clearance voluntarily released information.

Reality Winner---so named by her deceased father, because his wife picked the name of their firstborn, so he was allowed to select the second child's name---was a supporter of Bernie Sanders. In the course of her work in Augusta, Georgia, she came into possession of the documents that proved that Russia was trying to meddle in the presidential race of 2016 at a time when this fact was being disputed by the Republican party.

Reality was held over a year in jail without bond and charged with the crime in violation of 18 USC/793, the Espionage and Censorship Act, written in 1917 for World War I. The law makes it a crime to provide national defense information to a foreign government, even though the document did not endanger national security.

Despite the fact that Reality Winner had a spotless background and had, in fact, served 6 years in the Air Force, her decision to make public the document that proved Russian meddling has cost her everything---her freedom, her job, her life. She not only was held one full year without being granted bond, she is one of only 8 people ever to be sentenced under the act. She received the toughest sentence of any of them: 63 months in prison, plus 3 months of supervised release.

At first, Reality denied sending the document to "The Intercept." She said she remembered she had folded the document and put it in the burn bag. After being held in jail without bond and without trial for a year, she admitted that she folded the piece of paper and smuggled it out in her pantyhose. She sent it (with a Georgia postmark) to The Intercept for publication. Matthew Cole and Richard Esposito, two reporters for "The Intercept" contacted the FBI. Another such individual (who spent 2 years in prison for a similar crime), said, "They single-handedly got her arrested."

When the eleven agents swooped down on Reality's home, they were aware that she had written online, "The most dangerous thereat is the orange threat we let into the White House." They knew of her support for Bernie Sanders. They did not, however, ever bother to read her her Miranda rights and did their best to get her to confess guilt in a casual fashion.

Then, the government sat on the documents for over 2 years. The document that proved Russia's involvement in meddling in our presidential election is now public. It never imperiled our national security. It is fairly obvious that Reality Winner was going to be made into an example to dissuade "leakers" within the Trump Administration. She was recently denied a pardon on compassionate grounds.

The feeling you come away with after the film is that Reality Winner was trying to live up to a patriotic ideal that her father and mother had imbued in her since birth. She held out for a very long time before admitting to the mailing of the document. Conviction was a foregone conclusion, as the paperwork bore a certain "code" that would prove it had been her duty to handle it (she usually handled questions about Iranian air space and spoke Farsi, Darsh and Pashto). The details about the folded paper, plus the postmark, marked this native of Kingsville, Texas for a tough road ahead. As Reality said to her sister, "That's my whole life. That's all I had."

She did put up a good fight, writing, from jail, "This is the worst summer camp ever. There aren't even any bears."

Reality was 25 when indicted and her actions at no time put United States security into jeopardy, but her actions did clear up the unanswered question about whether or not the Russians were actively working to subvert our free and fair elections. The revelation put us in a much better position to safeguard our 2020 election from any foreign interference.

It's a cautionary tale for our time. It's certainly not the last or only unfair thing we are learning about Donald J. Trump's time in office.

"Roe v. Wade" follows Dr Bernard Nathanson (Nick Loeb), the narrator of the 1984 anti-abortion film The Silent Scream, from his first interaction with abortion in 1949 - when his girlfriend at the time terminated her pregnancy - to his conversion to a virulent anti-abortion stance in 1985." .

The 2020 "Roe v. Wade" is co-directed by Nick Loeb and Cathy Allyn. The writing credits go to those two and Ken Kushner. Vewers are subjected to 112 minutes of poorly staged treacly, unconvincing monologues, delivered by a motley crew of actors from a very bad script.

Among the veteran actors are Robert Davi ("Die Hard") as Justice Brennan, Jamie Kennedy ("Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell") as Larry Lader, Steve Guttenberg ("Three Men and a Baby") as Justice Powell, William Forsythe ("Cold Pursuit") as Justice Stewart and Jon Voight ("Midnight Cowboy") as Justice Warren Burger. Former Fox news personality Stacey Dash ("Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens") appears as Dr. Mildred Jefferson.

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, the lead, is portrayed by Nick Loeb (Loeb is also the writer/director and producer). It seems to be Loeb's vanity project for personal and philosophical reasons.

The character of Larry Lader (Jamie Kennedy) convinces Dr. Nathanson, who is, at first, very enthusiastic about earning blood money by providing abortions on demand, to perform them. The script unwisely has Nathanson (Loeb) and the others in the room sing a song about abortion as follows: "There's a fortune/In abortion/You never bother/The real father."

None of the people in the scene can sing and Loeb can't act. The scene is excruciatingly bad, but it's not the worst in the film.

The writer/director/producer and actor are all Loeb. Loeb's tuneless off-key serenade was just a small taste of the bumpy road ahead. It was really a chore to get through the scene with the actor reading as though he were an unborn fetus.

Speaking of "determining when to bear children" and having a pro-choice right to determine what happens with your own body, there has been speculation that Nick Loeb's desire to make this film stemmed from his failed 4-year relationship with Sophia Vergara ("Modern Family"), which ended in 2014. (A year later, she would marry Joe Manganiello).

Vergara and Loeb, when a couple, froze her fertilized eggs, undergoing IVF together in 2013. In 2017 Vergara filed legal documents to block Loeb from being able to use the embryos without her written consent. Loeb fought for the right to bring the embryos to term via a surrogate. Recently, a California judge has permanently blocked Loeb from using the embryos without Vergara's permission. The entire dispute embodies, in a microcosm, the film's main theory about who should have total reproductive control.

Despite my Catholic upbringing, I think women deserve a choice in what happens to their bodies (and their eggs). The ultimate decision should be between the woman and her physician, with strict guidelines (as has always been the case), not a decision by a group of old white men like those portrayed in this film, or by just one party in an IVF scenario.

"It Comes At Night" from Writer/Director Trey Shults is a riveting examination of survival under the most adverse conditions.The basic story is about a family trying to survive in a cabin in the woods while some sort of virus ravages an apocalyptic land. "Imagine the end of the world— Now imagine something worse," says the A24 press handout.

In Shults' words: "The movie is about the unknown and the fear of the unknown. Death is the ultimate unknown." So says Writer/Director Trey Shults of his new thriller "It Comes At Night." The minimalist story is not a typical genre thriller, according to Shults, but, as he said (quoting Mies Van Der Rohe), "Less is more."

The second man who brings his family to the remote cabin seeking haven and the necessities of life is headed by Will. Will is played by Christopher Abbott, who was excellent in "James White." Will's wife, Kim, is played by Riley Keough (Elvis' granddaughter, "American Honey") and his small son Andrew is played by Griffin Robert Faulkner.

Despite the best intentions of both families portrayed in the film, paranoia and mistrust fester and erupt as the horrors outside creep ever-closer, awakening something hidden and monstrous within Paul as he learns that the protection of his family comes at a huge cost.

Shults said, during a Q&A following the film's showing in Chicago on June 1st, that he was fascinated with questions about topics like genocide. He is definitely focused on death and man's mortality in this film, which is not about zombies or monsters, but is every bit as horrific as he examines the lengths people will go to to protect their own.

Since the original impetus for Shults' film came from helping his own father through terminal pancreatic cancer, the mood of the film is grim, grimmer, grimmest. Shults has said that, following his father's death (they had been estranged for 7 years prior), he sat down and wrote and "It just came spewing out of me." He's certainly in good company in musing on the temporary nature of our existence on this planet.

But Shults has made this film as scary as anything you'll see this summer. What lengths will a man go to to "save" and protect his family? What would happen if we were facing an unbeatable disease with no modern medicines or hospitals to help us? Many in the world are facing these questions right now, in real time, but Shults is still struggling with the deaths of two close family members, with memories which clearly haunt him to this day.

The uncomfortable subject matter of "It Comes At Night", says Shults, is "drawing from heavy personal experiences and placing it into a fictional narrative, hoping the same emotions come through. At its heart, this is a movie about mortality."

The script for "It Comes At Night" was actually written before "Krisha." When "Krisha" was a big hit at SXSW, Shults got a 2-picture deal from A24. This is that second film, but he has been learning from the best since the age of 18, working on 3 Terrence Malick films, starting with "Tree of Life" in Hawaii.

The film is beautifully shot and paranoia is justified and created with the skillful use of camera, sound and light (see my interview with Trey Shults on www.TheMovieBlog.com for details). This is a riveting, horrific picture of a future we can only hope never becomes a reality. I am still thinking about it today, four days later. Yet Shults resists calling it a horror film, and believes it is far more about psychological horror than a genre flick with monsters or things that go bump in the night (as they literally do in this one.)

For some, the questions we are left with as the film ends will cause criticism. There are times at the "end" of a piece (remember the finale of "The Sopranos"?) when viewers feel they have been shortchanged or cheated by the ending. For me, this was not an issue, as it was pretty clear what was probably going to happen next. Still, I understand those who want more of a "Breaking Bad" type of ending, where things are wrapped up neatly and some characters live and some characters die (and spin-offs are even made possible by the "concluded" feeling.)

Two other things that may cause Shults criticism from some sources will be his intentional intermingling of the dream sequences with reality. They will say (truthfully) that it is sometimes difficult to tell what is a dream and what is reality.

Again, this did not cause me any problems. After listening to Shults explain why this was intentionally done, it made sense. He explained that he saw the dream sequences as a way into Travis' mind. (And Travis = Trey). It is Travis' point-of-view through which we see the story, even though it is his father, Paul (Joel Edgerton), who is dictating the terms of Travis' young life.

And last, some will say, "Why is it called 'It Comes At Night'?" Shults explained that night is the time when he is at his most creative and it was a title that sounded good. Hopefully, he said, it helps put you in the heads of the main characters. It is not a literal interpretation of what occurs in the film but more a metaphor.

The beginning of a bright future for a gifted filmmaker.

This show is just going to get better and better. How do I know that? Because Jason Clarke, who played Red in Johnny Depp's Dillinger movie "Public Enemy" and also played the "good" political brother on the series "Providence" is a wonderful actor and Jennifer Beals and DelRoy Lindo aren't too shabby, either. Plus, you've got Chicago, the city of big shoulder and beautiful skylines. As creator Shawn Ryan (who grew up in nearby Rockford) said: "Chicago is the center of the universe." And, as the script on Tuesday, February 7, premiere night, put it: "If you can't love Chicago, you can't love anything. This city survived the Chicago fire and ended up building the world's most beautiful skyline. If it's one thing Chicago knows, it's how to hit back." The city of Chicago is a big part of this storyline, as many of the scenes were filmed in the streets and alleys and byways (my son walked in on one in a Bridgeport bar last summer). Trust me: This series is only going to get better and better. The anti-profanity cop who changes partners almost daily. The crusading female police Superintendent who came up as a beat cop. The 114 real Chicago policemen who have appeared in episodes so far: they're all going to come through, as long as the writing continues to have lines like, "Why are you sweating like we just entered you in a spelling bee." (See my full review at Associated Content).