Nine-year-old Cait can't quite find her place in the rural Irish village where she lives. Her family calls her "The Wanderer" after her habit of disappearing into the fields to lie in the long grass. In desperation her pregnant mother sends her to live with relatives for the summer. Once on the farm, we gradually learn the source of the host family's grief and of Cait's dysfunctional home life. In a series of slow languid scenes, the couple and child grow together. The Quiet Girl tells a story of love and kindness. The young woman at the center of the story, Catherine Clinch, produces an extraordinary performance. The Quiet Girl competes for best foreign film at the Oscars. It's one of the best films of any type I've seen this year.
Arch Campbell
I hope you see something good at the movies
Sunday, March 12, 2023
Friday, March 10, 2023
2023 Movie Guide
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Mark Rylance stars in The Phantom of the Open |
The Quiet Girl - 4 Stars - THEATERS - March 10, 2023 - Extraordinary story of a young girl's summer with relatives who treat her with kindness and respect. Quiet, languid, and compelling.
Saturday, February 18, 2023
Sharper - 3 Stars - Theaters - Apple TV - February 17, 2023
Everybody's a con artist in the psychological thriller Sharper. The story begins as quiet bookstore owner Justice Smith asks bookish Brian Middleton to dinner on a whim. The couple bond and we think it might be the real thing until---she needs money. $350 thousand dollars later, we meet Sebastian Stan who has schooled Briana in the art of the con. Later we meet Julianne Moore, Sebastian's alleged mother now in a relationship with billionaire John Lithgow, who utters the key line in the movie "If you're going to steal---steal a lot." Sharper gives this cast a clever script. The great ensemble manages to get us beyond a couple of weak plot twists. For me, believing wasn't as important as enjoying the next twisty twist, and there are a lot of them - enough to make Sharper fun and watchable.
Friday, February 17, 2023
Marlowe - 1 Star - February 10, 2023 - THEATERS - ROKU
When it comes to hard boiled 1930's LA Noir, and movies like The Big Sleep, the Maltese Falcon, and Chinatown, count me in. How I wish I could tell you to drop everything and find a screening of Marlowe with Liam Neeson as the one and only Philip Marlowe, chasing down a missing lover for a blonde headed dame in 1939. Marlowe captures the look of the films I loved. I understand the filmmakers shot in Barcelona, Spain, where the alleys and buildings look like the art deco classics we remember in black and white. The cast has promise, with sultry Diane Kruger as the spurned lover, Jessica Lange as her mother, and Alan Cumming and Danny Huston as tough guys. Huston especially tries to channel his famous father John, appearing sometimes to recite dialog right out of Chinatown. As I said, I wish I could tell you to rush right out and find Marlowe. Alas. Save your money. This Marlowe goes through the motion but avoids any of the spark. The plot and acting offer nothing new. Noir fans - stick to the originals.
Thursday, February 16, 2023
You People - 2 Stars - January 27, 2023-NETFLIX
You People wants to update engagement classics such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and Meet the Parents. It tries, although doesn't quite succeed. Jonah Hill meets Lauren London - things start rocky but smooth out and wham! they fall in love. He's white and Jewish. She's Black and her family's Muslim. The parents include Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny and Eddie Murphy and Nia Long. The families meet, they clash, true love suffers and then triumphs. I laughed a couple of times at the awkward humor. It's great seeing Julia Lewis-Dreyfus trade barbs with Eddie Murphy. Julia's especially good as a clueless rich white liberal. You People aspires to something deeper. As it is, You People delivers gentle humor and a predictable outcome which is about what you can expect from something that comes with your Netflix subscription.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
The Son - 1 Star - THEATERS - January 20, 2023
Hugh Jackman plays a New York lawyer embarking on a new life with a younger wife and baby in The Son. Ex-wife Laura Dern arrives with news their teen aged son is in trouble. The soap suds start early and overpower the plot. The son moves in with the father and new wife and oh boy you can see the rest of this a mile away. Jackman feels particularly miscast. Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Laura Dern, and Zen McGrath (who plays the problem child) deserve better.