Intimate AIDS Drama ‘1985’ Is Admirable and, At Times, Very Convincing

October 23, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

New York City's struggle to cope with the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s has been well documented in films such as "Longtime Companion," "The Normal Heart," and yes, even "Rent." NYC was affected by the illness more than any other American city, especially its gay community.

There was fear, hate, and hysteria and "1985," Crafted by Malaysian-born writer/director Yen Tan, has the intention of showing us how things have not changed all that much thirty years later. His story tackles themes that have resonated in the American consciousness for decades; those of identity, the struggles of coming out, secrets (due to fear of telling the truth), acceptance, intolerance, and the crisis of loving family who may not love you back for who you are.

Paul Dano's austere "Wildlife" is anchored by a sublime Carey Mulligan performance

October 20, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

What can I say about Paul Dano‘s "Wildlife'? It's a sluggishly austere film that lacks any kind of personality or poignancy but, hey, in this day and age of style over substance, I do understand why this otherwise strongly directed and photgraphed picture is being favorably reviewed by most critics. Dano shows a real knack for distilled, freezingly detached framing. You can tell he's learned a thing or two from working with Paul Thomas Anderson -- the photo snapping sequences in "Wildlife" will remind any knowledgeable cinephile of the mall photo scenes in "The Master."

'On Her Shoulders' Tackles Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nadia Murad [Capsule Review]

October 19, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Sundance has been known to include many films about what’s happening in the middle east throughout its yearly Documentary competition and premieres sections. However, Alexandria Bombach’s documentary “On Her Shoulders” is a unique addition. With the well-honed eyes of her camera lenses, Bombach tackles the incredible story of, just last month's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman who was kept as a sex slave for ISIS when she was just 19.

‘Halloween' is a dumbing-down of the genre; It feels like a slasher film that was made in the '90s... and that's not a compliment [Review]

October 17, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Director David Gordon Green has built up an eclectic filmography since "George Washington," his visionary 2000 debut. There's Green, the artist ("George Washington," "All the Real Girls," "Snow Angels," "Undertow," "Prince Avalanche"), Green, the cult comedy filmmaker ("Pineapple Express," "The Sitter," "Your Highness") and Green, the Oscar-bait deliverer ("Stronger," "Our Brand is Crisis").

'Bad Times at the El Royale' is a grimy good time, for the most part [Review]

October 7, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

"Alias" and "Lost" writer-producer Drew Goodard turned cinematic heads back in 2012 with his meta-horror directorial debut, "The Cabin in the Woods." After the success of that film, which turned horror movie clichés in over their heads, his cinematic career consisted of mostly writing successful pop-entertainment screenplays such as 'The Martian,' '10 Cloverfield Land,' and 'World War Z.' Not too shabby for a self-proclaimed 43-year-old movie geek, mostly known, up until then, as JJ Abrams' secondhand man on television. Now, six years later, Goodard returns with an ambitious 140-minute film infused with Tarantino-esque influences, the tongue-in-cheek titled "Bad Times at the El Royale." Although Goodard has been known for never adhering to formula in the past, this latest endeavor from the filmmaker is, however, steeped in more conventional influences, even if his intentions are quite the contrary.

Not even Joaquin Phoenix Can Save Languidly-Delivered “The Sisters Brothers”

October 6, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

You can usually count on director Jacques Audiard to deliver the goods and, more times than not, he does. I was rather taken by his last four films, (in order of preference, "A Prophet," "Rust and Bone," “The Beat My Heart Skipped," and "Dheepan") all dealing with the dark corners of male masculinity. That's why his latest, "The Sisters Brothers," a grimy, gunky Western filled with absurdist nihilism, suffers from being so, well, un-Audiard-esque.

Set in 1851, the film deals with brothers and assassins Charlie and Eli Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly play the Cowboys), as it languishes its Northwestern setting, deep through the mountains of Oregon, right into a dangerous brothel in the small town of Mayfield, and ending in the gold rush-set landscape of California. Paralleling their story are Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed's lone drifters, them too set on striking it rich in California.

"A Simple Favor" is an R-rated Bonbon Spiked With Malice

October 5, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Director Paul Feig is mostly known for his female-centered comedies ("Bridesmaids," "Spy," "Ghostbusters," and "The Heat"). He loves to work with women, in fact, he's never directed a movie without one in the lead. His latest endeavor is titled "A Simple Favor," it stars Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively -- they both have never been given better roles to chew on quite like these.

The screenplay, adapted by Jessica Sharzer from Darcey's Bell novel, seems to dwell into satirical comedy territory but is also very much a thriller. This mixture of genres doesn't always work out tonally for Feig, but his film never stops entertaining as he tackles a theme that is too good to resist: female friendship.

“Venom" is a time-capsule-worthy bomb [Capsule Review]

October 4, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

I don't really want to go too much into detail about Ruben Fleischer's "Venom" because there are far worthier films that I need to write about today but, suffice to say, it's a total bomb. At some point during yesterday's press/audience screening the crowd was laughing at scenes that, I'm pretty sure of it, the filmmakers didn't intend to portray as comedic. This is a visually dull film, think back on Marvel films circa 2004 ("The Punisher" etc.) ,but more importantly, this is a project that seems to have died in the editing room.

Orson Welles’ Doc ‘They’ll love Me When I’m Dead’ is an Incalculably Important Cinematic Document

October 2, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Morgan Neville‘s "They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead," which will play next week at Alice Tully Hall as part of the New York Film festival, is more than just about the making of Orson Welles‘ "The Other Side of the Wind," his final film which will, after being touted for the better part of three decades as the 'greatest film never released,' finally be in theaters later this fall via Netflix.

Neville's narrative in 'Dead' focuses on Welles' final few decades on earth. The documentary is an attempt to dissect Welles' controversial and mysterious personality and to explain the experimental style in which Welles' worked between 1970-1990.

'After Everything (Shotgun)' should have won the top dramatic prize at SXSW

September 30, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Hannah Marks and Joey Power's "After Everything" was the best film to play in competition at this year's SXSW film festival. It represents a strong debut by the filmmaking duo because it agreeably understands, and never judges, the cash-strapped, NYC-based, millennial couple at the center of its tangled love story. The film is both idealistic and shrewdly cynical; it never necessarily sets for a settled mood because, well, that's now how life works. And yet, for a film dealing with such heavy themes, it manages to be curiously humorful.

'Upgrade' has the potential to be a new sci-fi cult classic [Review]

September 28, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Leigh Whannell’s "Upgrade" is a B movie – a riff on Paul Verhoeven's "Robocop," filled with high-tech-paranoia and nastily rendered revenge dramatics. In other words, it's just what the doctor ordered. In a movie world filled with film releases that try to scream out "me! me! me! me!" Whannell's film feels like a fresh oasis as it sets out to build up a familiar world but with a new fresh set of eyes and an irresistibly dark atmosphere.

Lee Chang-Dong’s ‘Burning' is the Best Movie of 2018 so Far

September 27, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

My favorite film of the Cannes Film Festival, and of the year so far, has been Lee Chang-Dong's "Burning," which, so it happens, is a damn-near miraculous achievement. I would go as far and say I've never really seen anything quite like it. The cinematic movement happening right now in Korea is quite special.

Bar none, the best movie I saw at the last Cannes Film Festival. There wasn't even debate. Why? Because I don't think I've ever seen a movie quite like the genre-morphing "Burning." Even if it uses many of the enticing tropes of a whodunit drama, it feels incredibly fresh. Some of the filmmaker coming out of South Korea these days are utterly fascinating.

'Roma' is a singular, meditative poem from director Alfonso Cuaron

September 20, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" was shot on 65mm, it is comprised of a series of richly detailed episodic moments, always lensed in deep-focus, in which we are asked to glance around and look for carefully detailed signs of life, these moments are meant to string the film together and pack a wallop by the very final frame.

‘22 July’ commits a grave sin: it gives voice, attention and notoriety to an evil, right-wing terrorist

September 19, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

I didn't want to review Paul Greengrass’s "22 July" last week, mostly because it portrayed the white nationalist extremist who shot and killed 77 people at a Labor Youth camp in Oslo, as a rational person. Not just that, but Greengrass lays down the terrorist's agenda quite elaborately, having him explain exactly why he committed the insidious act. Briefly, the attacks were carried out to call attention to the wave of to Islamic immigration in Europe and to his view that feminism has created a European “cultural suicide”, whatever that means. The fact that Greengrass's camera has no problem letting the guy explain his extreme right-wing agenda in a measured and somewhat neutral fashion, handheld camera in tow, irked me.

‘A Star is Born’ Starts Off Great But … [TIFF Review]

September 18, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

"A Star is Born" is a remake of a remake of a remake. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I will give some credit to actor-director Bradley Cooper for making something that feels brazenly fresh out of this tired old story, for which the 1953 classic Judy Garland version still stands as king of them all.

Jason Reitman’s timely, invigorating ‘The Front Runner’ is about ‘The Week Media Went Tabloid’ [TIFF]

September 18, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

There were a ton of Oscar Contenders that had their premieres at the Telluride Film Festival and, yet, I feel like this year's Toronto International Film Festival delivered better quality premieres.

Just look at the subdued receptions films like "Boy Erased," "Destroyer," "White Boy Rick," "Trial By Fire," "The White Crown," and even two of the more well-received titles, "Can You Ever Forgive Me" and "First Man" received at TIFF.

'Destroyer' features Nicole Kidman at the peak of her powers [TIFF]

September 17, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

De-glamming has all but becomes a cliche for well-known actors and actresses to nab that ever elusive acting Oscar. We saw it with Charlize Theron in "Monster" and Halle Berry in "Monster's Ball," among many others. Nicole Kidman also donned that infamous nose prosthetic for her 2003 Oscar-winning performance in "The Hours," but now she's back at it again, de-glammed and uglified, in "Destroyer," which is the best work she's done in years, maybe ever.

‘Free Solo’: A Thrilling, Astounding Mountain-Climbing Doc [TIFF]

September 17, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

"If you're seeking perfection, free soloing is as close as you can get." Those are the words spoken earlier on by free solo rock climber Alex Honnold, the subject of directors E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's ("Meru") mind-blowing new doc.

Jeremy Saulnier's 'Hold the Dark': A surreal Alaskan nightmare [TIFF]

September 16, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

If you haven't seen Jeremy Saulnier's films then you're missing out. He's one of the very best up and coming American directors. 2014's "Blue Ruin" is a crime-thriller masterpiece and 2016's "Green Room" was such a dark and nasty neo-Nazi revenge thriller that it felt like an avant-garde horror movie.

Steve Bannon documentary 'American Dharma' warns of an impending American civil war [TIFF]

September 16, 2018 Jordan Ruimy

"American Dharma" gives Steve Bannon a voice, if you're already turned off by that prospect then documentarist extraordinaire Errol Morris' latest movie is not for you. The rest of us can go into this beguiling film with an open mind and accepting the challenge of an open dialogue with a man that many believe to be responsible for the emergence of the "Alt-Right" movement in this country.

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