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Flash Movie Review: His Three Daughters
THE FUNERAL SERVICE STARTED OUT ODD and only got weirder. I was in attendance to support my friend, whose mother had died after a prolonged illness. Her mother was such a character, I almost expected the service to have a jovial element to it. However, once I walked in and saw the receiving line of people paying their respects to my friend and her siblings, I knew something was not right. I could feel the tension in the air. My friend and her brother were standing in the middle of the front row, right in front of their mother’s casket that was flanked at both ends by a huge bouquet of flowers. The other sibling, the sister, was standing alone at the beginning of the row, to be the first stop for guests. What I found unusual about this, besides her not sitting with her siblings, was the fact she was wearing a fur coat. It was not that cold outside, I thought. The coat looked odd on her, it was too big; her hands were not visible due to the long sleeves. I did not know each of the siblings’ financial situation, but I thought it was strange that a woman in this day of age would have a fur coat. Plus, the length of the coat hung close to her ankles. Once the guests and I made our way through to give our condolences and to find a seat, there was a brief service. Never once did the sister and her siblings make eye contact. A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER, I called my friend to see how she was managing. It was the first time we talked since the funeral. I asked how she was doing and she said she was angry. I asked her why and she said dealing with her sister had been awful. It turned out she was still upset that her sister went into their mother’s closet, without telling anyone, and took the fur jacket. Well, that explains it, I thought to myself. My friend spent a good deal of time ranting about her sister. It turned out the sister had gotten into a fight with the brother before the funeral and refused to sit with them. Evidently, this sister went through their parents’ house and took things she wanted, such as old photo albums and jewelry; never discussed it prior with her siblings. I would like to say I was of course only hearing one side of the story but taking that kind of stuff without discussing it did seem wrong to me. My friend said she and her brother were waiting for the lawyer to have the reading of the will. The curious side of me would like to be a fly on the wall to see how that would go for them. I had the same curiosity for the three sisters in this drama. THREE SISTERS CAME TOGETHER TO CARE for their dying father, at his New York City apartment. How were they supposed to do it when they did not know how to take care of each other? With Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age-TV, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) as Katie, Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll-TV, Poker Face-TV) as Rachel, Elizabeth Olsen (Wind River, Ingrid Goes West) as Christina, Rudy Galvan (Megan is Missing, Slice) as Angel, and Jose Febus (Law & Order-TV, East WillyB-TV) as Victor; this film festival winner captured me immediately due to the outstanding performances of the lead actors. I thought the actors took the thoughtful and authentic script and wove it into cinema magic. Without the need of explanation, Carrie, Natasha, and Elizabeth were able to convey so much to the viewer with a simple look or expression, to convey their emotional states and feelings. It felt like everyone was authentic in this movie and the fact that most of the scenes took place in the father’s apartment over a few days, my attention never wavered. I believe even if the viewer cannot relate to the relationship between the three sisters, they would still get something out of this story.
3 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Ghostbusters Frozen Empire
THE LAST TIME I WAS IN this city was when I was twelve years old; in other words, it was a long, long time ago. On my recent trip, I found myself staying at a hotel that was right next to the one I stayed in decades ago. It was the same curved building but now it had two other buildings on its property. Funny how we stayed at the hotel next door because this one was considered too fancy back then. I did make a point of walking over to the other property to see if anything looked familiar to me. The lettering on the sign out front was the same except the lighting had been upgraded to LED lights. When I walked into the hotel lobby, I remembered the wide sweeping staircase that was off to the side; it was there that a family friend snapped a photograph of me dressed in white pants, a nehru shirt and around my neck a strand of puka beads. I am really dating myself here. It is funny, back then people tended to dress up more; or at least that was my perception. Now, as I looked around, both inside and outside, pretty much anything was good to wear from thongs to moo moo dresses to dress slacks to speedos. AFTER I WAS SETTLED INTO MY hotel room, I decided to take a walk to see if I would recognize anything else. I remembered the main avenue where the major hotels were situated was a bustling place of commerce and activity. Once I got over the bridge, I was in the heart of all the retail establishments. The street looked foreign to me. Where this famous delicatessen sat in the middle of the block, where I had indulged in some incredible meals, was now an ethnic supermarket. Further ahead on the next block, I remembered a candy shop that had this huge gumball machine out in front, that charged a quarter for its jawbreaker candies. Instead, there was a convenience store now, the gumball machine a thing from the past. As I walked block after block, I was surprised how much I remembered from that trip when I was a kid. Being in a warmer climate, the buildings were all light colored and clean, with a row of palm trees in front that stood like sentinels all the way down as far as one could see. The street before me now had a tiredness to it; or better said, it looked exhausted. Some stores were boarded up while others appeared neglected. I found it sad and depressing, which surprisingly was how I felt about the latest installment in this adventure, comedy fantasy. WHEN AN ANCIENT ARTIFACT IS UNWITTINGLY opened, it releases an evil spirit that was trapped inside for centuries. The Ghostbusters would need all the help they could get to stop the evil spirit from changing the world into an ice kingdom. With Paul Rudd (Ant-Man franchise, Ideal Home) as Gary Grooberson, Carrie Coon (The Post, The Gilded Age) as Callie Spengler, Finn Wolfhard (Hell of a Summer, Stranger Things-TV) as Trevor Spengler, McKenna Grace (Young Sheldon-TV; I, Tonya) as Phoebe Spengler and Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals, The Big Sick) as Nadeem Razmaadi; this latest production was a snoozefest for me. I found myself nodding off even in the theater. The script was packed with so many story lines which cast a somber color over all the activities. There was hardly any humor, and it seemed the writers wanted to make sure the appearances from the previous cast had their fair share and more throughout the picture. I still could not believe there was no excitement, thrills or memorable moments like the original film produced. This will probably come out as a joke, but I am serious, this was an unholy mess.
1 ½ stars
Flash Movie Review: Boston Strangler
IT WAS EARLY IN THE MORNING on a Sunday, before the city came to life. We were eating breakfast; or I should say, I was eating breakfast. My friend was too busy fielding all the work texts and emails that were blowing up on his phone. I sat there, thinking to myself, what kind of environment must his company have where so many people were up and working before the sun came out. I mean, it was not an international company with offices all over the world. It crossed my mind that maybe my friend was a “workaholic.” The other option could be he was just a devoted employee; however, that did not explain the senders necessarily. Could they all be true company employees? I have had jobs where I had to put in overtime once in a while, but it never was a consistent requirement. Now that does not mean I have not thought about work over the weekend. I have written memos, reviews and such on my own time, to help me handle an extra busy workload. However, my company encourages its employees to unplug and take time to relax and re-energize themselves. To me, this is a healthy attitude to have in the work world. AMONG THE VARIOUS COMPANIES WHERE I have been employed, there has always been at least one individual I knew who was “married” to their work. I use the word “married” because it was a strong relationship, where the person had elevated their position into a pseudo relationship. Think about it; they spend more time with their company than any individual outside of the workplace. The reasons are not all the same, but I have seen where the employee’s actions could almost be considered loving. Whether it is for recognition or prestige or power or for the greater good, their job is their number one priority/relationship. This reminds me of a person I met who was a doctor from New York City. It was during the AIDS crisis, where he explained the demands put on him that caused him many times to sleep at the hospital instead of taking time to drive home to go to sleep. He said he was barely able to keep up between the treatment of patients, press conferences and the consultations between medical staff and outside resources. I had to admire his willingness and dedication; it sounded like a brutal and draining routine. I knew it took a certain kind of person to be willing to make such a sacrifice for the “greater good.” In my work situations I have seen a few individuals who came close but nothing on that type of scale. Though, the female reporters in this historical crime drama certainly give their all to make their world a better place. NOTICING A CONNECTION, A BOSTON REPORTER starts to piece together random killings of women in the Boston area. Her work spawns the name that would captivate a city in fear, the Boston Strangler. With Keira Knightley (The Aftermath, Silent Night) as Loretta McLaughlin, Carrie Coon (The Post, The Gilded Age) as Jean Cole, Chris Cooper (Little Women, August: Osage County) as Jack Maclaine, Alessandra Nivola (American Hustle, The Many Saints of Newark) as Detective Conley and Rory Cochrane (Antlers, White Boy Rick) as Detective DeLine; this movie based on a true story succeeded because of the work and chemistry between Keira and Carrie. I thought they did an outstanding job of acting that overcame the deficiencies in the script. There were places in the script that needed more emotional heft and intensity, which would have turned this story into a gripping tale. For example, Loretta’s home life needed more drama in my opinion. I still enjoyed watching this picture because of the acting and the look of it. I can only imagine what life must have been like for women back in 1960s Boston during the time of this tragic killing spree.
3 stars
Flash Movie Review: Ghostbusters: Afterlife
I CANNOT SAY I TOTALLY BELIEVE or disbelieve; I simply believe anything is possible and that is why I am fascinated to hear people’s experiences with unexplainable events. A friend was telling me about a recent encounter her daughter experienced. While driving to a family function, the daughter looked in her rearview mirror and saw her grandparents, who were deceased, sitting in the back seat. They just sat there and smiled at her for the entire trip. When they arrived and she turned off the car, the daughter turned around in her seat, but the grandparents had disappeared. She went into the house to join other family members but during her time there she felt the presence of her grandparents for most of the night. The daughter was not surprised since her grandparents had visited her multiple times before. Her mother started believing her daughter ever since her first encounter because at that occurrence the grandparents said something in their native language which the daughter would not have known. When the daughter repeated what she heard to her mother, my friend knew something unexplainable had taken place around her daughter. I enjoyed listening about the event and asked my friend if her daughter ever had an encounter that scared her. She said as far as she knew, no. IN MY EXPERIENCES, THINGS HAVE TRANSPIRED that I could not easily explain. I used to workout at home on a cable exercise machine for several years. One day while working on it I felt like my eyes were mildly hurting me. When I clenched my eyes shut the pain subsided. I had no idea what was going on and even inspected them in the mirror to make sure I had not broken a blood vessel or something. For a week every time I did this one particular exercise on the machine, I would just close my eyes through it. However, after a week I started turning my face to the side while keeping my eyes shut. I knew this did not make any sense, but I kept doing it. After a few days when I went to exercise, the cable snapped as I grabbed the pull-down bar before sitting down on the bench. I was shocked but immediately realized that if the cable had held up a few seconds longer until I was seated and pulling up the weights attached to the cable, it would have snapped right into my eyes. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I felt there had to be something else that I could not explain that made me start to clench my eyes and turn my face away from the cable. Once I replaced the cable my eyes stopped hurting. It is things like this which have kept my mind open to any possibility and that is the way I went when I decided to go see this movie. AFTER MOVING TO A SMALL TOWN to take possession of a rundown house she inherited from her father, a single mom and her two children were unaware there was something special about the house and land around it. With Carrie Coon (The Post, Gone Girl) as Callie, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man franchise, Our Idiot Brother) as Grooberson, Finn Wolfhard (It franchise, Stranger Things-TV) as Trevor, McKenna Grace (Gifted, Annabelle Comes Home) as Phoebe and newcomer Logan Kim as Podcast; this long-awaited adventure, comedy fantasy in the franchise did not fully materialize for me. The acting was good; I especially admired the performances of McKenna and Finn. However, I thought the script was weak. There could have been more excitement, humor and suspense; everything seemed like a light version of what it was intended to be. Of course, there also was the nostalgic aspect which made things more bearable, especially the last part of the movie. I went into this film with no expectations and came out with just an okay feeling that I saw it, but no wow factor. There were a couple of extra scenes during the ending credits.
2 ¼ stars
moviejoltz 