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Flash Movie Review: Speak

ONCE YOU GET SHOVED DOWN INTO that dark place it is hard to convey any of your feelings to anyone. I not only have seen this but I have experienced it. There was a boy in my class that was naturally quiet. I could count on one hand the amount of times I heard him speak in class. Honestly, I cannot say whether he was a good or poor student; he did not stand out which in itself was okay. The first time I had an inkling something was not right was in the locker room. He was in the same row as me, so I was a witness to what had happened to him. While changing out of his gym clothes, two students came up from behind and shoved him into his locker (he was slight of build) and slammed the door shut. As the two students guffawed at their antics a student a few lockers over told the two to knock it off and to go back to their lockers. The student walked over to let the boy out of his locker. Tentatively stepping out, he thanked the fellow student and continued dressing. I kept glancing over to see if he was okay but his expression never changed; it was sort of like a blank stare while he kept looking into his locker as if he had lost something in it.      I DREADED THE TIMES WHEN THAT student was not in class because I was the next likely one to be targeted by those bullies. It is a horrible thing to say, I know; but the two of us were on the bottom end of the pecking order that made up our boys’ gym class. It was as if each of us on the low end had this mentality of “every man for himself.” No one amongst us would ever bring it up in conversation and speaking for myself, I never talked about it to anyone. Even with my friends who were in the same class, I would not bring it up. I cannot tell you why that was the case; I only know there was a sense of shame and embarrassment attached to the abuse and bullying each of us had to endure. When I hear in the news about a student committing suicide, I have to say I can understand the reasons why when the act is a result of bullying/abuse. At that age I feel students do not have all the skill sets to cope with such an act of violence so they retreat into themselves. An example of this can be seen in this dramatic, film festival winner.      ONE-YEAR MELINDA SARDINE PLAYED BY Kristen Stewart (Personal Shopper, Charlie’s Angels), had lots of friends and was doing well in school; the next year, no one is talking to her and her grades are failing. How did one year make such a difference? With Elizabeth Perkins (Must Love Dogs, This is Us-TV) as Joyce Sordino, Allison Siko (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit-TV, CryBaby Lane-TV movie) as Heather, Robert John Burke (Tombstone, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) as Mr. Neck and Steve Zahn (War for the Planet of the Apes, Rescue Dawn) as Mr. Freeman; watching this movie was an eye opening experience. Seeing a young Kristen Stewart, I can now appreciate what directors see in her. For such a young performer with sparse dialog, she easily was able to express her emotions and feelings. Despite the script being predictable, my attention to the story did not waiver. Maybe because I could identify with some of the scenes, I found myself feeling closer to Melinda’s story; and speaking of the story, it was an important one that needed to be told. There was an extra scene at the end of the credits that was as equally important.

 

3 stars       

Flash Movie Review: Circus of Books

THERE WAS ONE FAMILY THAT LIVED on the block who had a Dad that was of great interest to the kids in the neighborhood. On the outside he looked like the other dads; he drove to work everyday at the same time most of the other adults were leaving their homes for work. He told corny jokes to his children’s friends and he barbequed in the backyard. But what was of most interest to us kids was this man’s profession. Rumor had it he worked for the government, some type of secret agency. I cannot recall when the rumors started but I was extremely curious about him, hoping he was some kind of spy.  Now there were other parents in the neighborhood who had jobs that sounded interesting to us kids. There was a parent who owned a restaurant somewhere down in the heart of the city; another parent was an artist who would use photographs as a base to create small and large oil paintings for customers. But there was something about this one Dad that kept most of us kids engaged in trying to figure out what he really did for a living. We would get together at times to try and piece together any clues one of us might have seen or heard throughout our day. At one point we decided he must be a double agent because someone heard him speak in a different language. After several years that father and his family sold their house and moved away; none of us ever found out if he was a spy?      HAVING A PARENT WHO HAD A COOL or interesting job was a big plus when growing up. There was one kid whose father was a city bus driver. Any time he was the driver of the bus I was taking, I felt special; as if I had something no one else on the bus could claim. I know one of the reasons I felt this way was because I did not have to worry about someone picking on me; I knew I had a protector during my trip. Out of the parents’ jobs I knew, this one meant the most to me because it was something I could see and feel he was doing something for me, namely protecting me from bullies. There were other parents who had interesting jobs and maybe their occupations meant something special to other kids, but outside of the one dad we all thought was a spy, the bus driver was my favorite. I am sure if the parents in this documentary lived in my neighborhood, all the kids would want to know what they did for a living.      WHENEVER THE CHILDREN OF KAREN AND BARRY Mason accompanied them to work, they never understood why they were told to never look up, to look straight down at the floor. Written by Kathryn Robson (Parrots Heads, Rip Rip Hooray!) and written and directed by Rachel Mason (The Lives of Hamilton Fish, Singularity Song), this film festival winner provided me with a fascinating movie watching experience. This was due to the different elements that made up the script. There were several different aspects to the story such as historical, generational and family. I immediately found Karen and Barry likeable as they talked about how they got into their line of work by happenstance. With interviews coming from a variety of sources such as Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine and former employee Alaska from RuPaul’s Drag Race, seeing the family dynamics in the mix of this was wild. I also appreciated the message about acceptance, love and providing for one’s family. All that was missing from this biographical movie was getting interviews from some of the neighbors and kids’ friends. After finishing this picture I did wonder how this family would have fared living on my block.

 

3 ¼ stars    

Flash Movie Review: The Others

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW CAN’T HURT YOU is an idiom I totally understand. Being uninformed or ignorant of something means you do not have to worry or fret about it and I am all for that! For example, if I am feeling poorly I only want to hear someone’s advice if I ask them. I do not want someone to tell me I could have this or I might be suffering with that, because my mind will latch on to their comments and I will start wondering if I am indeed suffering from that infliction. There are already so many things in the world that are scary; why would I want to purposely add something more? What makes this more relevant is what the world is experiencing currently with the COVID 19 pandemic. Listening and reading all the stories that have been coming out has been overwhelming to say the least. I cannot remember what year in school we were taught about germs, bacteria and viruses; the unseen things that could harm us.  As adults we understand the risks involved when trying to live our daily lives, but what about babies and young children? I cannot imagine how hard it must be especially now for a parent to explain to their young child why they cannot go outside to the park or go get ice cream. How do you tell them they cannot see what could harm them?      EVER SINCE I SAW THE NEWS FOOTAGE of the water buffalo trying to save her baby from a crocodile, it has never left my memory. A baby water buffalo was at the edge of a river, sipping a drink of water. All of a sudden a crocodile popped up from underneath and clamped its jaws around the calf’s leg. Without hesitation the mother water buffalo charged the predator repeatedly until the crocodile let go of the calf. It was incredible to watch. That instinct to protect is something I have seen across the whole animal kingdom. Most humans have the same instinct; however, I have seen incidents where the adult did not have that drive or let me say the awareness of the situation. For the ones that acted on instinct, I was amazed as I saw an adult beat off a coyote that was attacking the family pet. In fact, recently the news showed a mother clinging onto the side of her car as a man was trying to carjack it with her baby still in the back seat. There are so many things we do not see coming but our instincts take over to save our loved ones. The mother in this mystery horror thriller is a prime example.     WAITING FOR HER HUSBAND TO RETURN FROM the war Grace, played by Nicole Kidman (Bombshell, The Goldfinch), needed help with the raising of her children and the upkeep of the house. The servants she hired could not understand the special rules she insisted they follow because they did not see anything unusual about the place. With Fionnula Flanagan (Four Brothers, The Guard) as Mrs. Mills, Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World, 28 Days Later) as Charles, Alakina Mann (Girl with a Pearl Earring, Fungus the Bogeyman-TV) as Anne and James Bentley (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Nero-TV movie) as Nicholas; this film festival winner was the perfect spooky story to take my mind off the scary stuff going on around me. Nicole was such a strong force throughout the story; I was quickly pulled into their plight. I thought the directing and acting was a perfect combination in creating a tense story without any hi-tech special effects, creating an old-fashioned horror film. For me, watching this movie was a needed respite from the scary stuff that is currently going on around the world.

 

3 stars     

Flash Movie Review: Black and Blue

SO ANNOYING, FOR THE PAST TWO weeks I have been trying to stop receiving a company’s daily email advertisements. I receive several every day and it is getting on my nerves. At first, I thought it would be an easy thing to do by going online to unsubscribe via the link they listed on their emails. Going through several steps before finally receiving a confirmation of the stoppage, I thought I was done. Sadly that was not the case because sure enough the very next day I got the same amount of email advertisements in my inbox. Once again, I went through the same steps online to put a stop to them, receiving another confirmation of my success. I was not buying it until I had seen proof; it never came since there was not even a slowdown in the amount of emails coming to me. My next step was to call them on the phone, easier said than done. I had to search multiple pages online before I found a phone number. When I called, the phone rang and rang without anyone ever picking up.  Jumping back online, I looked for another phone number and when I dialed it I was greeted with a message that told me to dial the number I had previously dialed. This just ticked me off further; so, I set up my computer to block this company’s emails.      THE LESSON I LEARNED FROM THIS WAS believing that the larger a company was, the more chances their employees would be apathetic towards their customers’ experiences and needs. I know this is a broad generalization, but I have experienced this in other situations. I was with a friend when they tried returning a couple of items they bought online from a store’s website. Figuring it would be easier and faster to stop at the store to return them, my friend was met with an unpleasant store employee behind the customer service counter. One thing I cannot stand is when a store employee does not even look up when addressing you and this is exactly what the employee did to my friend. Explaining the situation that the items were the wrong size, the employee said they could not help because the items were bought online. My friend agreed they were ordered online, pointing out to the employee it was from their store’s website. The customer service rep then did something that if I was returning the items I would have taken the discussion up a notch or two. They rolled their eyes at my friend. It was obvious they were not going to budge so I told my friend to dispute the purchase on their charge card. Just because the company was large it was apparent its employees were not interested in bucking the system to do what was right. In a way, it was similar to what the main character was experiencing in this action, crime drama.      INVESTIGATING THE SOUND OF GUNSHOTS COMING FROM a deserted factory police officer Alicia, played by Naomie Harris (Moonlight, Skyfall), discovered something that she should not have seen, according to the people on the scene. She saw it differently and because of that there was a chance she might get killed for it. This film festival winner also starred Tyrese Gibson (The Fast and Furious franchise, Transformers franchise) as Mouse, Frank Grillo (Captain America franchise, The Grey) as Terry Malone, Mike Colter (Men in Black 3, Luke Cage-TV) as Darius and Reid Scott (Dean, Veep-TV) as Kevin. The best part of this movie was Naomie. Not only was her acting excellent, but also having her as the main character gave this story a different twist to the usual cat and mouse game. This picture was pretty much all about the action and despite it being easy to figure out, I still felt I was being entertained. The script needed some finesse to make the moral messages less heavy-handed and soften the bluntness in its delivery, especially in the latter half of the story. Despite these issues, I did feel the movie studio was not lax in trying to provide a worthwhile product for the viewing audience.

 

2 ½ stars

Flash Movie Review: The Half of It

AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED the best way to learn about someone is to talk to her or him face to face. Words are important, but seeing a person’s eyes and hearing the inflection in their voice are just as valuable. Before dating incorporated online activity, one had the choice to call the person on the telephone or arrange to meet somewhere. Don’t laugh but earlier times involved writing a letter. I enjoyed talking on the phone to someone I was interested in initially, because I felt it allowed both people to feel more comfortable. There wasn’t the added pressure of deciding what to wear or making sure the breath was good or the hair was not sticking out or checking to make sure there was no food stuck between any teeth; for some people these were important details. In my younger days when I went out on a date it usually involved sharing a meal to start off the conversation. Restaurants provided extra subject matter to a conversation, especially if the conversation had lulls in it. On a first date I tried to avoid doing an activity with a set time like a movie or concert. The reason being it did not provide a space to continue any type of meaningful conversation, not to say there always needed to be; but to sit in a dark theater for a couple of hours with someone I barely knew seemed weird to me.      HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED FOR THOSE in the dating world now. And I cannot even imagine how dating will look once states begin to open up. Let me start prior to the pandemic; there are more options now for those who want to meet someone than when I was starting out in the dating world. With online dating services and apps a person can see whom they would like to meet. I remember talking with a friend about an online dating service and telling him a good bio is the catalyst to get someone to click on your profile. Some people prefer using the apps where they simply swipe to the left of right to show interest in another person. The thing I wonder about is what is going to happen now once the stay at home orders are lifted; how will an individual be able to meet someone? Looking at the children of my peers, I cannot imagine what a person would have to go through to date someone. Would the two individuals have to take their temperatures or answer a series of questions? It is going to be a whole different world and that is why I enjoyed watching this film festival winner’s take on the classic story of Cyrano de Bergerac.     KNOWN FOR WRITING GRADE A SCHOOL PAPERS for a fee, high school football player Paul Musky, played by Daniel Diemer (Family Pictures-TV Movie, Sacred Lies-TV), was willing to pay anything to have fellow student Ellie Chu, played by Leah Lewis (Station 19-TV, Nancy Drew-TV), write a love letter to a girl he was interested in. Writing about love was not Ellie’s forte. With Collin Chou (The Matrix franchise, The Forbidden Kingdom) as Edwin Chu, Alexis Lemire (The Art of Murder-TV Movie, Truth or Dare-TV Movie) as Aster Flores and Wolfgang Novogratz (Assassination Nation, Sierra Burgess is a Loser) as Trig Carson; this romantic comedy spun a fresh take on the old story. I though the cast was excellent, especially Leah and Daniel. Despite having a few misfires in several scenes, there was a certain charm and sweetness to this picture. Also, I enjoyed the humor that was infused into the story. This film can stand proudly in the way it delivered a solid movie watching experience and who knows, someone may learn the importance of the written word.

 

3 stars     

Flash Movie Review: James vs His Future Self

AT PRESENT MY SUPERPOWER IS THE ability to withstand high heat.  However, when I was a little kid I wanted to be able to fly like a bird. A lot has happened between those two superpowers. I would consider myself an introspective person, maybe more so as an adult than my younger self. Though I would have to say, I tend to look more at the negative aspects of my life than the positive. Not to say I am a “doom and gloom” type of person, but I used to spend the earlier part of my life wondering how things would have turned out if I did such and such differently. You may be familiar with the phrase, “What would have happened if I had only…” This phrase really is two-faced. On the one hand, it gives you the opportunity to re-evaluate a past event and learn from your mistakes; however, it can also be a baseball bat to whack across your head as you beat yourself up for doing something that you later had misgivings on. There are still a couple of events that happened decades ago that I dwell on from time to time, wishing I had acted a different way in the situation. I guess some demons remain to remind me on how not to react a certain way.      THROUGH MY CHILDHOOD I DO NOT recall a superhero who had the ability to travel in time except for Superman when he flew around the earth at high speed, to reverse its rotation and turn back time. At the time I simply thought it was a cool trick, never delving into the true implications of such a feat. Imagine though if you had the ability to travel in time. You could go to the future to see how a decision you made turned out or you could travel back in time to correct something you thought you could have done better. I know one of the things I would enjoy doing is going back in time to see the older generations of my family in their younger days. Wouldn’t it be wild to see how one’s great or great, great grandparents met? I also wonder if the future would look similar to what I used to see on the Saturday morning cartoon show about the Jetsons. Having seen what could happen from that Star Trek episode about going back in time and how one moment of interference would change the world completely (I certainly am watching a lot of television during this stay at home order), I have to say the ability to time travel really is an incredible superpower. If you don’t believe me you might want to check out this comedic, science fiction film.      JUST AS HE WAS GETTING CLOSE TO figuring out the science behind time traveling young scientist James, played by Jonas Chernick (Blood Pressure, The Border-TV), was visited by his older self from the future with a message for him. The message was to stop what he was doing. This film festival winning movie also starred Daniel Stern (Home Alone franchise, City Slickers) as Jimmy, Cleopatra Coleman (The Last Man on Earth-TV, Hover) as Courtney, Frances Conroy (Joker, Six Feet Under-TV) as Dr. Rowley and Tara Spencer-Nairn (The Listener-TV, Corner Gas-TV) as Officer Walker. This story appeared as one of those typical time traveling adventures; however, there was a bit of fresh air in the script. First of all, it was great to see Daniel Stern in top form with his character as well as Frances Conroy adding another memorable character to her stable. There were some slow moments in this movie and a few predictable scenes. But you know, it did not bother me too much because I was enjoying the performances and the humor. I especially liked the way the story ended. If nothing else, this film provided me with some entertainment during this time and time really is something I am more aware of presently.

 

2 1/3 stars    

Flash Movie Review: Inkheart

THE ABUNDANCE OF LIGHTBULBS CREATED A continuous glow of light around the carnival. The Ferris wheel was the only attraction that almost reached the edge of darkness waiting above the glow. I could see the Ferris wheel was stopped and there was a man screaming he wanted to get out from the upper most car. He had broken through the car’s safely bar somehow and was hanging off the side, with one arm stretched out towards the closest metal beam. Barely visible to me were two small girls who were trying to pull the man back into the car. I had to close the book right at this point because the phone rang; however, the scary image of the man dangling out of the Ferris wheel car kept floating in my head. And that is the beauty of reading a book. Most of you know me as a person who watches multiple movies every week, but may not know I can escape into a book’s story the same way as when I am watching a film. The difference for me is when I am watching a good movie; I am falling into the visuals that are being presented to me. When reading a book, I am creating the scene based on the writer’s words; I am using my imagination to see what the author is describing to me. Both mediums are equally as powerful to me.      THE EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING A FILM (prior to our current stay at home orders) is more of a physical experience for me. Keeping in mind I do not watch movies on my phone, tablet or computer; I either have to go to the movie theater or to my living room television if I want to see a film. When I travel, the options are similar with going to a theater or using the hotel’s cable options. With a book, the story’s characters almost always can surround me anywhere in the world; all I need to do is carry the book or tablet with me. I could be riding a bus, eating at a restaurant, waiting at the airport gate for my flight or (please excuse me) sitting in the bathroom; the possibilities are endless. It is such a wonderful feeling to disappear from my surroundings, by using my imagination as I read the author’s words, to recreate their vision all in my mind. Some of you may already know when a movie is based on a book; I prefer to see the film first before reading the book. One of the reasons is because I have all the characters’ voices in my head already when I open the book. In regards to today’s review, I have the book this film was based on sitting up on a shelf waiting for me.      FOR YEARS BOOKBINDER MO, PLAYED BY Brendan Fraser (Crash, The Mummy franchise), has been searching for a particular book. If he could just read its story he was certain he could find his wife. This film festival winning movie also starred Andy Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes franchise, Long Shot) as Capricorn, Helen Mirren (The Good Liar, Woman in Gold) as Elinor, Paul Bettany (Avengers franchise, Journey’s End) as Dustfinger and Eliza Bennett (Nanny McPhee, From Time to Time) as Meggie. This family, adventure fantasy movie had all the right elements to be a fun old-fashioned thriller. Over the top characters, magical characters, big sets, everything was here except for the wandering script. The pacing was uneven as some scenes were great to watch while others were listless. I was disappointed overall with this picture; however, I was okay watching the film all the way through due to the heart and imagination at the base of the plot. Though this viewing did not pan out the way I would have liked, I am certainly looking forward to taking the book this film was based on off of my shelf to read.

 

2 stars — DVD            

Flash Movie Review: The Indian Runner

I WAS FRIENDS WITH ONE OF THE two brothers. Though I did not know much about the older brother, it was apparent the two brothers were quite different. My friend had an idea what he wanted to do when he grew up. Maybe the brother did too; but I was not aware of it. I do remember whenever the brother would mention a career path he was interested in doing, his parents would usually nod their heads and mention something else they thought was better suited for him. Now granted, a lot of the times I would hear these conversations taking place from a different room while my friend and I were doing something in an adjoining space; so I could not see the physical reactions that I am sure were accompanying the dialog. If someone were to ask me how I thought the conversations were going, I would say they sounded more combative than a calm discussion. Whether these talks had an affect on the brother, I do not know. The only thing that was quite apparent to me was how dark the older brother seemed compared to his younger brother. By dark, I mean he was more of a moody soul that rarely cracked a smile; heck, he barely said hello to me whenever I came over to their place.      ONE OF THE REASONS I REMEMBER THESE two brothers is because they were the first set of brothers I knew who were so different in almost every aspect of their lives. I always assumed my friend was much smarter, though he was not athletic like his brother. The younger one never got into a fight with his parents (at least while I was around) like the older one. There were a couple of times I was over at their house when the older son and his parents would get into a screaming match that nearly made the walls shake. The yelling would end with the son either slamming the door as he went into his bedroom or slamming the front door as he ran out of the house; it was always an awkward moment for me. I would look over at my friend and all he could do was shrug his shoulders with a sheepish grin on his face; I felt bad for him. As long as I knew them, nothing ever changed in that family. The last I heard about them was that the older son had moved out during high school and hasn’t talked to his parents since. I wondered if the family in this film festival winning drama had a similar dynamic that made their sons so different.      RETURNING TO THE SMALL TOWN HE GREW up in, a Vietnam vet’s brother hopes he can convince his brother to settle down and enjoy what life has to offer both of them. The returning brother did not see it quite the same. Written and directed by Sean Penn (Gangster Squad, Milk), this movie starred David Morse (The Hurt Locker, The Green Mile) as Joe Roberts, Viggo Mortensen (Green Book, Captain Fantastic) as Frank Roberts, Valeria Golino (Hot Shots franchise) as Maria, Patricia Arquette (Boyhood, Medium-TV) as Dorothy and Charles Bronson (Death Wish franchise, The Magnificent Seven) as Mr. Roberts. This was a slow to start story for me. It was wild to see some of the actors in their younger versions, since this film was nearly 20 years old. I thought Viggo, David and Patricia were especially strong with their acting. The script provided me a glimpse into a different world, set in a rural town at a time where things moved slower. There was a bit of repetition with the scenes dealing with the brothers; however, as bits and pieces was being revealed I found myself becoming more interested in where they were going in the story. If nothing else, it was interesting to see how 2 brothers who were raised in one house turned out in life.

 

2 ¾ stars  

Flash Movie Review: Conspiracy

THOUGH I INITIATED THE CONVERSATION, I now was trying to gracefully remove myself from it. I had been selling raffle tickets at a charity event and was on my hour dinner break. Standing over by the buffet table that nearly stretched out the length of the ballroom, a gentleman next to me commented on one of the platters of food. We both agreed it might taste good but it looked nasty. A man behind be seconded our comments. As we made our way down the table we started up a light conversation between the three of us. It turned out the 2 men were doctors. With my background in fitness, I thought I could hold my own in the conversation. However, when they started delving into different maladies and surgeries; I not only had nothing to contribute, but I did not even want to hear what they were saying. They were talking in detail about unusual surgeries they had performed, life threatening situations where time was of the essence. The ease of their dialog, to the point of almost being bantering, surprised me while at the same time giving me the heebie-jeebies. I was hearing such details about body organs, unusual tumors, spurting blood; I quickly lost my appetite. If you didn’t know the conversation you would have thought they were talking about a sporting event; they were so nonchalant about it.      I MAY HAVE FOUND THEIR CONVERSATION icky but I am sure this type of thing is commonplace for so many people. If you take the emotion out of the conversation and are conversing with a like minded individual(s), then whatever the topic is being discussed might not be startling or out of the ordinary. I guess if I was having a conversation with other yoga instructors about poses and practices, to the layman it might sound odd/bizarre to that person. When I am in such a position the thing that surprises me is the juxtaposition between the average dialog and the amazing topic. There is just something about it that can both amuse or horrify me. I am reminded of a CPR class I attended that was being led by a paramedic; his stories about his work were incredible to listen to yet he was so blasé about it. Just because this was recently in the news, I am also reminded of our past primary election where one of the candidates was a Holocaust denier. His matter of fact manner when discussing such a thing was mind blowing to me. The memory of him was in the back of my mind as I sat and watched this unbelievable, biographical drama.      DURING WORLD WAR II HITLER’S TOP LIEUTENANTS convened in a remote place to discuss how to proceed on Hitler’s final solution. The meeting for all appearances looked like a lively dinner party. This film festival winning movie based on true events starred Kenneth Branagh (Murder on the Orient Express, My Week with Marilyn) as Reinhard Heydrich, Stanley Tucci (Night Hunter, Spotlight) as Adolf Eichmann, Barnaby Kay (Red Tails, The Man Who Knew too Little) as Rudolf Lange, Peter Sullivan (The Limehouse Golem, The Bill-TV) as S.S. Col Eberhard “Karl” Schongartin and Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, A Single Man) as Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart. Seeing such a young cast of actors was my first surprise; my second was the horror I was witnessing in their conversations. Most of the film takes place in one room, but do not think you will get claustrophobic; the acting was stellar and the script was intense. These were two things that kept me glued to the screen. At times, I felt I was attending a history lesson and at other times I felt I was a “fly on the wall” listening to such world altering conversations. This film seemed like a classic to me.

 

3 ½ stars

Flash Movie Review: Lady Macbeth

EACH OF US HAS EMOTIONAL NEEDS such as love, growth and significance. If one begins to feel empty, there is usually a negative feeling ready to fill the void. During those times where I was feeling alone, as if I was the only one of my kind, I filled my emptiness with food. Coming into the house with grocery bags filled with some of my favorite foods would provide me with a short-lived euphoria of comfort. At one point I was eating frozen pizza 2 to 3 times a day; that is how intense I was reacting to the emptiness. My attempts at love kept failing because of my lack of love for myself. It took a lot of hard work and discipline to recognize what I was doing with food and deciding to make some changes. All considering, based on what I have seen regarding what people use to fill a void, I am grateful I only used food to fill the emptiness inside of me. During my period of change it always fascinated or maybe I should say troubled me that this void inside constantly needed to be filled. When I experimented with things I thought might fill it, I never found myself reaching a level of comfort. I certainly got an understanding of what it meant to be “comfortable in one’s own skin.”      WHILE I WAS ON MY JOURNEY of self-discovery, a friend of mine was being forced into one. She had been married for 20-25 years when I first met her. She had a great sense of humor and a personality to match. Yet, there was something I saw in her eyes that troubled me. It was a look that was familiar to me. During the life of our friendship I watched as her personality, humor and self-worth faded away. She would never talk about it; but I could see when she said anything about her husband, the life in her would die down like a campfire at the end of an evening. It was painful to see the life being sucked out of her and no matter what I said to her, nothing worked. It was not until a couple of years later when the door opened a crack and she revealed the pain she was in from her loveless marriage. Her outlet was to delve into the world of crafts. It was shocking to know the pain she was going through was producing some incredible pieces of art. Using arts and craft as a springboard, she found her way back to herself and became strong enough to leave her husband. It turned out her husband was abusive to her. Not feeling loved by him opened a gateway where her self-worth spilled out. Gratefully she filled her void in a healthy way, unlike the main character in this film festival winning, romantic drama.      STUCK IN A LOVELESS MARRIAGE KATHERINE, played by Florence Pugh (Little Women, Fighting with my Family), realized what she was missing when she felt an attraction to a hired hand. That discovery started Katherine on a path of filling the void inside of her with darkness. With Cosmo Jones (Hunter Killer, The Marker) as Sebastian, Paul Hilton (Doctor Faustus, Eternal Beauty) as Alexander, Naomi Ackie (The Corrupted, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) as Anna and Christopher Fairbank (The Fifth Element, Guardians of the Galaxy) as Boris; this film grabbed my interest from the beginning. The reason for it was Florence Pugh. She was such a presence in the story; I could not stop watching her in the role. Set in rural England during the 19th century, the story started out slow and deliberate. The scenes appeared authentic and only added to the shifting moods that took place through the script. I will say at times the script drifted off track, but for me this was not a glaring issue because of Florence’s acting. With the present situation regarding the ability to see films, this one filled a void in me for well-done movies.

 

3 ¼ stars