The Exorcist III: A Review (Review #1947)

THE EXORCIST III

Have you ever started watching something and asked yourself, "Why did they bother to make this?" The Exorcist III screams out that question. Boring, unintentionally hilarious, with no sense whatsoever, The Exorcist III is a total disaster.

It has been fifteen years since the events of the original. Detective Kinderman (George C. Scott) continues a friendship with Father Joe Dyer (Ed Fladers), who comfort each other on the anniversary of the death of their mutual friend, Father Damien Karras. Kinderman is in the midst of an investigation of a set of serial murders which are eerily similar to those of The Gemini Killer. 

There is only one problem. The Gemini Killer is dead, executed years ago. Is there a copycat killer out there? Kinderman has an even more horrifying theory: the Gemini Killer is back. Could he really have returned from the dead? The case becomes personal once Father Dyer finds himself another one of this serial killer's victims. As more deaths begin plaguing the hospital that Father Dyer was at, we see that Karras is simultaneously alive and dead. 

While the body may be that of Karras, inside him is the soul of James Venamun (Brad Dourif), the original Gemini Killer. Will Kinderman be able to stop Venamun and his "Master" from killing more? Will Father Morning (Nicol Williamson) be able to expel the evil being from Karras' body? 

For as often as Exorcist II: The Heretic gets listed among the worst sequels ever made, I wonder if any of them has bothered checking out The Exorcist III. I am nowhere near saying that Exorcist II: The Heretic is any good. However, it had at least Richard Burton's wild overacting to make it bizarrely watchable. The Exorcist III could not even give us that.

To be fair, George C. Scott was doing his best to be his absolute worst in The Exorcist III. It is a thoroughly uneven performance, sometimes raging comically, sometimes looking literally sedated. His rapport with Flanders is nonexistent. No one would believe that these two even knew who the other was, let alone believe that they were longtime friends. Flanders was particularly appalling as Dyer, delivering all his lines in the same curt manner. Both he and Scott rattled their lines off each other in the same way, a robotic delivery that sounds as if it being punched out by a machine.

One feels for both Miller and Dourif, who are trying so hard to be menacing but still end up looking ridiculous. I feel especially for Miller, who agreed to be dragged into this fiasco. Father Karras' death in The Exorcist was moving and impactful. To upend all that by saying that his body was still running around and possessed by a serial killer is more than laughable. It undercuts the poignancy of The Exorcist and does not make any sense.

Dourif, forced to act in one room and chained up, did his best to make James Venamun/The Gemini Killer menacing and evil. I do feel for him as again, I think he did what he could. It did not work, but I think that has to do with the one masterminding the production.

William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original novel The Exorcist and won the Adapted Screenplay Oscar for the film, does double duty as both writer and director of The Exorcist III. I find that more often than not, first-time directors become fixated on the look of the film rather than what is actually on the screen. He wants to give moments of fright, and to be fair there is at least one moment of mild shock when a ghostly figure stalks a nurse. 

However, a lot of The Exorcist III is hilarious rather than horrifying. Of particular note are two scenes. The first is a dream sequence where Kinderman goes to what is best described as the Heavenly Grand Central Terminal. The station where people are awaiting to go somewhere heavenly looks cheap. You have odd cameos from Samuel L. Jackson and romance novel model Fabio as a blind man and angel respectively. Also popping up for reasons unknown are NBA star Patrick Ewing as the Angel of Death and both former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and talk show host Larry King in a restaurant. Why they are there one can only guess. 

Making that scene the height of hilarity is when Scott comes up to a victim he knows and says almost cheerfully, "I'm sorry you were murdered, Thomas. I miss you". One is left dumbfounded that anyone watching a cut of The Exorcist III thought that this wasn't anything other than laughable. 

The second scene is when a possessed nurse goes to Kinderman's home to try and kill him and his family. The choppy editing is bad enough. It is the acting from everyone in the scene that is unspeakably hilarious. Those not asleep by now would be howling with laughter at how poorly acted and staged this supposed terrifying attack was. Blatty was not a director and should never have been given or asked for the job. 

The performances save perhaps Miller and Dourif ranged from merely bad to downright funny. There is no sense of tension, menace or suspense throughout. Some lines range from cringe to downright hilarious. Father Dyer tells a nurse, "May the Schwartz be with you". Why he felt the need to randomly quote Spaceballs only Blatty knows. Another time, Kinderman berates his staff by complaining that one of his subordinates wrote that rabies were "Jewish priests". Dourif, I believe, speaks about having "friends on the other side". Granted, this was long before The Princess and the Frog was made. However, one can't hear that line now without hearing Friends on the Other Side in his or her head.

There was no need for The Exorcist III to exist, and now no justification for this entire franchise either. In so many ways, The Exorcist III is a parody of The Exorcist that one wonders if the actual spoof Repossessed was more restrained and intelligent. 

DECISION: F

THE EXORCIST FILMS

The Exorcist

Exorcist II: The Heretic

Exorcist: The Beginning

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

The Exorcist: Believer

The Three Faces of Eve: A Review

THE THREE FACES OF EVE

The Three Faces of Eve accomplished something rare in Academy Award history. It won its sole Oscar nomination, in this case for Lead Actress. It certainly allowed a chance for Joanne Woodward to play three different roles, which might have played a role in her Oscar victory. Looking at it now, The Three Faces of Eve was done in by one specific performance and slightly elevated by two others. 

With opening on-camera narration and occasional voiceover from Alistair Cooke, we learn of meek Southern housewife Eve White (Woodward). She is seemingly happy in her marriage to Ralph (David Wayne) and with their daughter Bonnie. However, she has headaches that precipitate memory gaps. In between those gaps there are strange moments where Eve is not herself. It culminates into Eve seemingly trying to strangle Bonnie with a curtain cord.

She now seeks treatment with Dr. Luther (Lee J. Cobb). Dr. Luther makes a shocking discovery: there is a second, distinct personality within Eve White. It is Eve Black, a good-time girl who likes to go drinking and carousing. Eve Black knows all about Eve White, but Eve White knows nothing of Eve Black. Ralph thinks that Eve is a tramp making up stories to excuse her double life. Dr. Luther knows better. Eve is temporarily institutionalized, released and still struggling with her split personality.

Eventually, Ralph divorces her and both Eves attempt to build up a life. Into this mix, Dr. Luther makes a more shocking discovery: another woman inside the two Eves. Eventually adopting the name of Jane, this third woman attempts to navigate the memories to find where, when and how the three faces of Eve came to be. Will the real woman eventually emerge? Which of the three is the real Eve?

The Three Faces of Eve was written and directed by Nunnally Johnson, who had a long and established career when the film was released. This was not Johnson's first directorial effort, but somehow it felt that way. I think the reason I think that is because of two elements in the film. 

The first is Cooke's opening narration and voiceover. Somehow, Cooke's very serious manner lends itself to parody. Long before he gained fame as the host of television's Masterpiece Theater, Cooke is pretty much doing the same here. I think the opening narration and voiceover were a mistake. It sounds slightly pompous and if they were removed, The Three Faces of Eve would have flowed just as well if not better.

The second element is David Wayne. Wayne is a fine actor, but in The Three Faces of Eve, he seemed to play his scenes as if the film was a comedy. When Eve Black finally presents herself to him, his reaction to seeing his wife looked comical more than shocked. I actually started laughing, which I do not think was the effect that the film was going for. Whenever Wayne was on screen, the effect was more humor than heartfelt. He kept referring to Eve's condition as "multiplied personality", which I think was The Three Faces of Eve's efforts to make him a simple man. Even in the dramatic moments, such as shocking scene where Ralph slaps Eve, the overall effect is less impactful and more unintentionally funny.

The film also let us know when Eve White went out and Eve Black went in when sexy jazz music starts playing. That too inadvertently makes The Three Faces of Eve look funny. I think if Johnson wanted music to make the transition from the innocent Eve White to the trampish Eve Black, he could have gone about it another way. The names themselves: Eve White and Eve Black, are a bit too on-the-nose about how the former is demure and the latter is loose. 

As the film is The Three Faces of Eve (emphasis mine), it is slightly over an hour before we get to the third face. Given that the film runs 91 minutes, that gives us little time to touch on Jane. It also does not make the case for why, out of the three, it is Jane would be the final girl, so to speak. While the film, very late, gives us the traumatic moment that began her situation, I think the actual trigger may not hit as hard today as it did in 1957. 

Lee J. Cobb tended to play gruff and tough characters. Here, his Dr. Luther was not gentle, but he was more contemplative. Cobb handled his role well as Luther, the man of science and compassion helping guide our troubled woman to the light.

Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar for this performance. I thought that it was a good performance, where she was able to balance the three characters pretty well. However, I also felt that there was a deliberately calculated manner in Woodward's acting. It is as if she knew she was acting versus being Eve White, Eve Black and plain Jane. I think that if not for Woodward's win, few people would even remember The Three Faces of Eve.

The Three Faces of Eve is not a terrible film. It has some issues that hamper it (David Wayne, Alistair Cooke) but with Woodward and Cobb lifting the material, I think audiences will find interest in all our Eves. 

DECISION: C+

Cleaner (2025): A Review (Review #1945)

CLEANER

Have you ever wondered what Die Hard would have been like if it had been Jane McClane instead of John McClane? Well, wonder no more, for we have Cleaner. A disposable effort at an action film that probably would not have worked with a male lead, Cleaner is something that works best if it used as background noise for daily tasks.

Joey Locke (Daisy Ridley) is an ex-British military trooper who has been dishonorably discharged. She is also struggling to make ends meet with her job as a high-rise window washer. As if that was not enough, Joey also has to deal with her autistic brother Michael (Matthew Tuck). He has been kicked out of his ninth placement home the same way that she was kicked out of the army. Michael, who needs a reassuring squeeze and his charger, has only Joey and his Thor's hammer to keep him safe.

Joey manages to arrive at her work late and having to lug Michael around until she can find another placement home. She has no friend in her boss but an ally in her fellow window cleaner Noah (Taz Skylar). They must complete work before the energy conglomerate Agnian Energy hosts a lavish soiree for their biggest stockholders and various government and media elite.

Little do they know that the shindig will be crashed by members of the radical environmental group Earth Revolution, headed by Marcus Blake (Clive Owen). The building has been made impenetrable, with the various protections disabled. As such, no one initially thinks of a lone window cleaner stuck outside the building. However, they did not count on Joey Locke.

Earth Revolution also did not count on a coup, where Noah ends up taking control of the group under his real name of Lukas Santos. He will force the Agnian Energy heads, the Milton Brothers, along with the other guests, to confess their various environmental crimes and then blow the building up. Joey, determined to rescue her brother and by extension everyone else, must use all her skills to bring down these anti-humanist terrorists. Only Superintendent Claire Hume (Ruth Gemmell), who is overseeing the police response, can help her from the ground. Will Joey be able to defeat the radical environmentalists and save the day?

Cleaner has one of the most deceptive trailers that I have seen. I was surprised to see that Clive Owen somehow found himself in this schlock. However, as it has been pointed out to me, the man has to earn a living and eat. While Owen may not have had the career that I think many expected him to in terms of being a big-name star, he has in retrospect not been without respectable work albeit in smaller projects.

Now, here he is in something where he deliciously devours the screen. However, in what will be a spoiler alert, do not get accustomed to having Owen's Marcus as the major antagonist. The Cleaner trailer suggests that it will be a battle between Marcus and Joey. In the film itself, Marcus is killed off in essentially a coup by Noah, who is more radical than Marcus in his determination to exterminate his opponents. "It's not a revolution. It's a reckoning," Noah/Lukas tells the dying Marcus.

From my perspective, Cleaner is a bait-and-switch when it comes to Clive Owen. The film used his name to suggest he played a larger role than he ended up playing. I suppose suggesting to an audience that Clive Owen, even in a hammy performance, will be more of a draw than Taz Skylar would be. 

I do not think that Cleaner was going to have dramatic performances. As such, I did not mind too much that Owen and Skylar were a bit hammy as the terrorists. It does bother me a bit in that even in something as dumb as Cleaner, director Martin Campbell could not get his actors to play this a more serious manner. I think Tuck did his best as Michael, the autistic brother, as he did not become annoying with the various ticks that Michael has.

Does Daisy Ridley make for a believable action heroine? I lean towards the no, especially when in the opening of the film she is made out to be this almost cat-like figure, able to move around with the greatest of ease. She seemed too hard throughout Cleaner even when Joey did not need to be. Matthew Orton, Simon Uttley and Paul Andrew Williams' screenplay does not establish that Joey has all these skills to take down a group of terrorists. 

There are quick mentions of her time in the military, but the film does not do much to make Joey this solid action figure. It is not implausible, but Cleaner expects us to basically take them at their word that she, single-handedly, is a major threat to them. More curious is how Hume, the Sargeant Powell to Joey's John McClane, feels pretty removed from things. 

Cleaner is as I said a pretty disposable and forgettable film. I did not enjoy it as an action film or character study or as a "so bad it's good" manner. I did not hate it. I figure that Cleaner is fine if you have to have some kind of distraction playing in the background.

DECISION: D+

The Ruling Class: A Review

THE RULING CLASS

There is a fine line between eccentricity and insanity. The Ruling Class, a vicious satire on the idle and entitled rich, gleefully crosses that line. Though cursed with a punishing runtime, The Ruling Class has a manic theatricality that mostly works.

The 13th Earl of Gurney (Harry Andrews) has accidentally committed suicide. He has hung himself, wearing a military jacket and a ballet tutu. His half-brother Sir Charles (William Mervyn), Sir Charles' wife Lady Claire (Coral Browne) and nephew Dinsdale (James Villiers) are none too pleased that the title, property and wealth of the Earl will not go them. Rather, it will go to Earl Gurney's sole living son, Jack (Peter O'Toole).

Jack is a figure who wants nothing but peace and love for all, and why not? After all, Jack is literally Jesus Christ, at least according to Jack. In full monk's robe and long hair, the new Earl of Gurney is utterly convinced that he is God Himself, down to having a large cross on which to sleep on at the manor. Sir Charles fumes, Lady Claire attempts to work with "J.C.", cousin Dinsdale is thoroughly confused and Lady' Claire's brother, Bishop Bertie Lampton (Alastair Sim) is befuddled. Only the Gurney's loyal but acerbic and openly Leftist butler Daniel "Tuck" Tucker (Arthur Lowe) tolerates and rolls with the Gurneys total lunacy.

Sir Charles is determined to get the title away from his bonkers nephew. The best way to do that is to have Jack sire a new heir to inherit everything, allowing Sir Charles to lock up Jack in an asylum. What better candidate for the new Countess of Gurney than Sir Charles' mistress, Grace Shelley (Carolyn Seymour). Grace is willing and even helps out Jack in convincing others that she is Marguerite Gauthier, better known as literature's Camille, the lady of the camellias.

A quick wedding ensues, but so do complications. Grace does become pregnant quickly, but she also falls in love with Jack. This does not bode well for Sir Charles' plans to have Jack locked up. Things are less helped by both the work of Dr. Herder (Michael Bryant), who had treated Jack secretly before his ascension to the earlship and whom Lady Claire seduces in exchange for him getting financial funding for his research. Things come to a head when Herder presents Jack with another god in the form of the AC/DC Christ, McKyle (Nigel Green). These two gods battle it out until the Electric God defeats the God of Love & Peace.

Jack is now able to say his name, but does "Jack" mean that the Earl has come to his senses? Or does it mean that the 14th Earl of Gurney, cousin to the Queen, now thinks he is Jack the Ripper? How will this go over in the House of Lords? Will Jack end up fulfilling his role as the Earl of Gurney or as the Ripper?

The Ruling Class runs a massive two-hours-and-thirty minutes. I figure that Peter Barnes, adapting his stage play, opted to either keep everything or possibly expand the story. To its credit, The Ruling Class' runtime only starts to feel exhausting once we get to Jack's apparent recovery. I wonder if, given the runtime, The Ruling Class could not have benefitted from having an intermission. I figure that the play had one, so inserting one in the film version might have given the audience a chance to rest and recover.

One certainly would have to rest and recover from Peter O'Toole's performance as "J.C.". He goes all-in on the cray-cray with total abandon, earning his fifth of an eventual eight Best Actor nominations. I am attempting to resist using the word "brave" to describe O'Toole's turn as Jack. However, he is totally committed into turning Jack into this paranoid schizophrenic whose wealth and position shields him from both reality and responsibility. As he begins courting his Marguerite by doing bird calls, you sit almost astonished that this is going on even in a fictional setting. In his rantings and apparent moments of sanity, in his intensity, in his mannerisms, O'Toole never holds back. 

He is more than ably supported by a group of actors who kept within the confines of the farce they were playing. Seymour's Grace is able to play the gold-digger who finds Jack eventually a good man worth protecting from his greedy family, even if he is a complete nutter. Mervyn's overtly pompous and blustery Sir Charles shows the character to be arrogant but probably the most logical even if he was horrid in his greed. Browne played Lady Claire as the more tactical of the two, playing along with her nephew's beliefs even if she knew them to be totally divorced from reality. There was an efficient coolness to her manner, even up to managing to tolerate her husband's mistress now being the mistress of the manor. Sim's befuddled Bishop and Villiers' nitwit cousin also kept to a balance of comical malevolence.

Lowe's Tucker, who had endured the Gurneys' totally loony behavior and antics, was also able to be openly antagonistic to this lot of ne'er do wells whom he had nothing but contempt for. He also was the first of a series of musical numbers that leave one astonished that they just pop out at random. I am highly reluctant to call The Ruling Class a musical. It certainly is not a musical as O'Toole's previous Best Actor Oscar nomination for Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Here, characters literally burst into song for no reason. Granted, Tucker's musical romp after being told that he will inherit 30,000 pounds is somewhat logical. How to explain, though, Jack just breaking out into Varsity Drag accompanied by two women who have come to ask him to speak to their annual church festival. More bizarre is that the women join him in the Varsity Drag.

That, however, is part of the nature of The Ruling Class. It has an anarchic manner where characters can say all sorts of outrageous things, break out into song, and have unhinged visions of the House of Lords as rotting corpses.

As a side note, O'Toole's singing did improve from Goodbye, Mr. Chips to The Ruling Class. 

The script is sharp and clever on all fronts. Jack blesses a snack to his cousin by stating, "For what I am about to receive, may I make myself truly thankful", in keeping with his ideas of being Jesus Christ. Even as he inches closer to an apparent sanity, Jack still makes his delusions logical to himself. Asked to state what he sees when seeing ink blots, Jack says with resignation, "Everything reminds me of Me".  

This wit is throughout the film. When Jack arrives to receive his title of Earl, Dinsdale states, "I'm completely in the fog". His perpetually angry father snaps, "When were you not?!". As Dr. Herber shows Lady Claire around his lab mice, he explains his experiments on them and adds, "Naturally, men aren't rats." With a mix of sarcasm and cool dismissiveness, she replies, "Only a man would say so". 

The Ruling Class has fantastic performances, the sometimes-over-the-top manner fitting to a movie about a dangerous psychopath of wealth and position. The runtime, the sometimes-crazed manner, will, I figure, put people off. However, on the whole The Ruling Class is a sharp, sometimes vicious and sometimes crazed takedown of those in the upper class and those who endure them. Be he Bert or Barnie Estwhistle or the Earl of Gurney, there is something for those willing to give The Ruling Class a chance. 

DECISION: B+

Exorcist II: The Heretic. A Review

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC

The Exorcist is continuously hailed as one of the greatest horror movies ever made. It was, I believe, the first horror movie to be a serious contender for Best Picture. Its status as one of the great films in cinema is secure. Exorcist II: The Heretic, conversely, is continuously hailed as one of the worst sequels ever made. Less a "what were they thinking" film and more a "are they quite literally insane" film, Exorcist II: The Heretic is at times an unintentional comedy, at other times flat-out bonkers.

It has been two years since the events in The Exorcist. Renegade and troubled Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) has been tasked by a Vatican cardinal (Paul Henreid) to investigate the late Father Merrin (Max von Sydow). Was he a heretic for his views on exorcism? Was he a hero for those same beliefs? It is time to find out and establish the truth once and for all. To do that, Father Lamont must go to talk, informally, to Regan McNeil (Linda Blair). Regan has no memories of her possession, though she is aware of it. Her therapist, Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) is not a believer in evil and demonic possession. She does want to help Regan, so that means getting her under deep hypnosis.

Under hypnosis, Regan and Tuskin and later Regan and Lamont delve deep into Regan's mind. The demon Pazuzu, rather than being gone, is very much around. What is his hold on Regan? What of his hold of African boy Kokumo, who has fought against Pazuzu in the past? Lamont defies the Vatican's orders to stop the investigation and goes to seek out the adult Kokumo (James Earl Jones), who is now a scientist fighting the locust plague. Locust and Pazuzu are connected, as are Pazuzu and Regan. It becomes an ultimate battle between Pazuzu and Lamont for Regan, with Dr. Tuskin and Regan's caretaker Sharon (Kitty Winn) as collateral damage. Not all will survive the ultimate battle.

I think my summation of Exorcist II: The Heretic is probably more concise than the movie itself. A lot of Exorcist II does not make any sense. For example, Regan gives Father Lamont a surprisingly well-drawn image of him surrounded by flames. Out of this, Father Lamont immediately knows that Dr. Tuskin's psychiatric center is going to go up in flames. While it does, I cannot for the life of me figure out how he made that connection. 

This plot point seems to be taken from, unintentionally or not, The Omen, where the photographer took pictures that predicted someone's death. 

Everything involving the locust seemed to be equally oddball to silly. This starts from when Lamont goes to darkest Africa to find Kokumo. He first stops at a convent where Lamont attempts to hide his vocation by telling the pilot Edwards (Ned Beatty) that he is an archaeologist. Edwards immediately picks up that he is a priest. How? That's not important. We take a long time to get to Kokumo, with scenes involving Ethiopian Christians that make them look like voodoo practicioners. To be fair, the Ethiopians seem to have fun humiliating the white priest by taking him to "Kokumo" who ends up being a prostitute. 

Another part is when Regan, under if not possession at least psychological influence, comes close to falling off the roof of her penthouse home. It already looks strange that Regan, despite being fourteen years old, seems to live alone (the explanation as to why her mother is never around a ridiculously weak one). After surviving this rather horrifying experience, Sharon comes upon Regan on the penthouse roof, feeding the pigeons and surprisingly calm. OK, I can give a little leeway that maybe she does not remember being possessed or subconsciously influenced. How, however, does she not remember almost falling to her death? 

Exorcist II seems to almost delight in not making sense. I genuinely do not know if director John Boorman or screenwriter William Goodhart intended to make a comedy. However, that is what they got. How else to explain the unintentional hilarity of "Pazuzu vs. Kokumo"? These two names, bouncing off each other with abandon, make things sound funny.  

One of the most flat-out idiotic parts of Exorcist II is what is meant to be the great dramatic conclusion. In this section, everyone goes to the old Washington house where Regan's possession had taken place. Even with Lamont initially succumbing to the lusty temptations of Regan's double, how could they or anyone else in the neighborhood not hear the fiery crash that Tuskin and Sharon were in as they literally crashed into the house? Sharon, who for reasons I don't know called Regan a "stupid bitch", seemed fine with leaving Tuskin trapped in the car. Neither of them seemed concerned that the poor cab driver was killed. Tuskin was not too perturbed that Sharon literally went up in flames.

It is all very strange, very illogical. 

Exorcist II: The Heretic is filled with such, shall I say, curious acting that it makes thing watchable only in the same way that a car wreck is watchable. Richard Burton starts out all right. As the film went on however, he started looking more crazed, figuring that he is something so looney that even he couldn't go over-the-top. As he shouted, "FLAMES! FLAMES!" when he saw the picture Regan had drawn, I thought Burton might genuinely have been drunk. Burton has an almost unhinged intensity, as if the crazier he looks the more realistic he thinks it all is. By the end, one is simply not sure if Burton even knows or cares about what is going on. He might have been yelling out "Pizazz" for "Pazuzu" for all he knew. 

Louise Fletcher is quite quiet in Exorcist II: The Heretic. It is as if she thought that if she kept still and soft, no one would notice that she was in Exorcist II: The Heretic. I felt for Jones, who was made to dress up in this faux-native African garb when Father Lamont first meets him. To his credit, he did much better when he played the adult Kokumo, cooly dismissing the idea that he had once been possessed by Pazuzu. 

I won't beat up on Blair, who was seventeen to eighteen at the time. She did her best with a script that had her tell an autistic girl, "I was possessed by a demon". The fact that Blair didn't burst out laughing at such a ridiculous thing to say is a credit to her. Ned Beatty could have been cut entirely and added nothing to things. I figure he was just glad to have a job that probably paid him well and may have sent him on location to Africa. Perhaps the same can be said for Henreid in his final role. I did not even know that he was in Exorcist II: The Heretic. My sense is that he too does not want you to know that he was in Exorcist II: The Heretic. 

Exorcist II: The Heretic is also cursed with bad production design where the African village looks like a soundstage. It also has something vaguely pretentious and bizarre in its African sequences, full of locust flying straight at us and looking terrible in more ways than one. The sweeping camera work Exorcist II tries for here almost makes you nauseous. 

Exorcist II: The Heretic is, to be fair, not the disaster that I was led to believe. It is a bad film. It is a bad film in every way imaginable: poorly acted, nonsensical, at time unintentionally hilarious. It is not even a "so bad it's good" film. Despite this, I simply cannot find it in my heart to hate on it as much as everyone else seems to. 

Exorcist II: The Heretic is like seeing what a movie on acid would look like. 

DECISION: D-

THE EXORCIST FILMS

The Exorcist

The Exorcist III

Exorcist: The Beginning

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

The Exorcist: Believer

'Round Midnight: A Review

'ROUND MIDNIGHT

Like the best of jazz, 'Round Midnight feels improvised while being perfectly planned. Smooth albeit long, 'Round Midnight is a film for those who love jazz and the brilliant but troubled figures behind it. 

In 1959, jazz tenor saxophonist Dale Turner (Dexter Gordon) is down on his luck personally and professionally. Addicted to alcohol and drugs, Dale decides that he needs a new start in new surroundings. With that, Dale goes to Paris to play an exclusive engagement at Le Blue Note. Surrounded by a group of talented admirers such as pianist Eddie (Herbie Hancock, who wrote and adapted the score), Dale is put on a strict watch by those around him. With food made by fellow expatriate Ace (Bobby Hutcherson) and watched over by Buttercup (Sandra Reaves-Phillips), Dale continuously searches for a nice cup of red wine.

French jazz fan Francis (Francois Cluzet) cannot afford entry to Le Blue Note, forced to listen to the music he adores through the vents outside. Francis, a single father raising his young daughter Berangere (Gabrielle Hacker), loves but despairs for Dale. He sees the talent that everyone, even Dale, sees. He also sees the self-destructive manner that wrecks him. Francis takes it upon himself to watch over Dale. Under Francis' care, Dale begins to find peace and life. He eventually decides to return to New York to reestablish himself and mend fences with his daughter. Francis joins him on the initial return, where things appear to be looking up for Dale's comeback. Will Dale have the strength to create new works, or will the old ways work themselves back into his life?

Jazz music can be fast or slow, energetic or meditative, intimate or universal. 'Round Midnight is closer to a slow, meditative piece on the genre and its creators. That might be an issue with some viewers. At a little over two hours, 'Round Midnight might at times feel like a bit of a slog, especially when we wander away from Dale to go into Francis' struggles with his ex-wife or raising his daughter. Even other elements, such as Dale's return to the recording studio or when he is greeted in New York by music impresario Goodley (Martin Scorsese in a cameo role), I got the sense that 'Round Midnight was meandering a bit.

However, I should remember that jazz is built in part of improvisation. As such, 'Round Midnight might be closer to a filmed version of jazz than a more straightforward narrative. 

'Round Midnight has a surprisingly good acting turn from Dexter Gordon. Gordon was not an actor but a well-regarded and respected tenor sax player. Here though, he rightly earned a Best Actor nomination for his performance as Dale Turner. Gordon has some wonderful bits of monologue skillfully delivered. In one, he speaks about how he dreams of jazz. In another, he recalls his time in the army, where he faced racist abuse but also found his journey to bebop music. 

At one point, he tells "Lady Francis" not to cry for him. "Don't cry for me, ever again," he calmly tells Francis. It is the saying of a man resigned to whatever Fate brings him, for good or ill. 

As a side note, Dale has a habit of nicknaming every man that he likes as a friend as "Lady". 

While 'Round Midnight wanders off whenever his character is on-screen, it is not a slam on Cluzet's performance as Francis. He handles his scenes well as the great fan of jazz in general and Dale Turner in particular. He makes is highly believable that Francis, a struggling graphic designer, would devote himself to attempting to rescue a man he deeply admires. 

In their smaller roles, Reaves-Phillips' Buttercup is a strong woman, able to stand up to Dale while still caring for him. She has her own musical moment at Dale's farewell party, where she sings a slightly risqué number to great effect and delight. Her scene may be smaller, but Lonette McKee's Darcey Leigh, a chanteuse and protege of Dale's, sparkles when she is on screen. 

If one appreciates 'Round Midnight, it is because of its music. Herbie Hancock won Best Original Score for his work on the film, and the music both original and covers like As Time Goes By are well-constructed, drawing the viewer in like Francis was drawn to Dale. 

If 'Round Midnight has a flaw that pushes it down for me, it is its length. I suspect those who do not like jazz may find that two-hour-plus runtime a bit taxing. Despite the runtime, Dale's end seems a bit abrupt. However, while those are negatives, they do not take away from how effective 'Round Midnight is as a love letter to jazz music and those who love it.  

DECISION: B-

Captain America: Brave New World. A Review

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD

Is there anything left in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after thirty-five feature films and numerous television series?  How much more can the world's longest and most expensive soap opera give those who have remained steadfast and loyal to the decades-long franchise? Captain America: Brave New World is neither the disaster its detractors insist that it is nor a return to form the MCU shills and fanboys insist that it is. It is serviceable, disposable, forgettable.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is still wielding the shield of Captain America, though as a black man, that is still something that he struggles with. This is especially true given the past history of his friend, Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), a hereto unknown super-soldier during the Korean War who was shafted due to racism. 

At least I think that is the gist of it since I did not watch the Disney+ show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

There seems to be a rapprochement between Wilson and the new President, his former enemy Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford, replacing the late William Hurt). Ross is on the cusp of having a major treaty between the U.S., France, India and Japan to share Celestial Island, a massive body of land created during the events of Eternals. The island is filled with adamantium, a substance more powerful than vibranium, which is being horded by "an isolationist country" according to Ross. Fine way to talk about Wakanda, Thad.

As a side note, Eternals was released in 2021, so good luck remembering details from a film that flopped four years ago. 

However, there is evil at work determined to undermine this multilateral treaty. It even goes to an attempted assassination of President Ross, with Bradley being one of the hitmen. Could he be attempting revenge for his past imprisonment or was he brainwashed? Who wants to bring about worldwide destruction, and why? With his plucky sidekick Joaquin Torres, the new Falcon (Danny Ramirez), Captain America must fight against the villainous Serpent Society and its head, Sidewinder (Giancarlo Esposito). 

He, however, is merely a hired gun for the real mastermind, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson). The gamma rays that brought about The Incredible Hulk did not affect Sterns' body but his mind, which Ross has been exploiting for his own purposes. Will Sterns be able to take a shocking revenge on his rival? Will Japan and the U.S. return to war? 

Perhaps it is best to remember that Captain America: Brave New World ties into events from a streaming television series that was made about three years ago, one film that was made four years ago, and another film that was made seventeen years ago. Those are the ones that I can remember, so I cannot vouch if other MCU films or television series were part of Brave New World's overall plot. 

The introduction of Samuel Sterns as this blend of Kevin McDonald's Medulla from Sky High and Sprout from the Green Giant commercials is simply going to go over most people's heads. I would not know who Samuel Sterns is, let alone remember anything about him from The Incredible Hulk. I literally had to look up my The Incredible Hulk review to see if Nelson was even in the film, let alone what his role was. That is the risk for this franchise, that is now so bogged down by its history that one needs an almost encyclopedian memory to know every nuance of whatever the five credited screenwriters cobbled together.

Ramirez/Falcon II and Isaiah Bradley were introduced in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If you didn't see that show, you run the risk of being a bit lost in Brave New World. Given that I went to see Brave New World at the Alamo Drafthouse which had a preshow containing a wry "Previously On"-type recap, I was not lost. If, however, you opted out of Falcon and Winter Soldier and/or forgot/did not see The Incredible Hulk, you might be scratching your head.

Moreover, you might not end up actually caring about any of the supposed stakes in Brave New World. Somehow, one would think that a war between Japan and the United States would be more tense and gripping. Same for when President Ross is almost assassinated before an international gathering. Also same for when President Ross becomes the Red Hulk and wreaks havoc on Washington, D.C. Here, all of it was nothing. 

Brave New World was plagued with production issues. I believe the film was reshot not once but twice, maybe even three times. I think the somewhat jumbled manner to Brave New World is on the screen. Esposito was in three scenes and seemed rather unimportant to things. Nelson, despite being meant as the main antagonist, was pretty absent for most of Brave New World. 

The nicest thing that I can say about Brave New World is that "everyone tried". I think all the actors tried to make their individual characters work. Mackie, to be fair, was rather humorless in Brave New World, which perhaps explains Ramirez's efforts to lighten things. Ford was shaky: bad in his opening scene, good when confronting Wilson, shifting between the two when attempting to stop the Japanese from going to war.

As a side note, the idea that Japan and the United States would go to war over the Celestial Island seems a curious one. Even if one rolled with it, it never felt as if there was a serious threat of total destruction despite Brave New World's efforts. 

The hodgepodge nature of Brave New World was such that such elements as Bradley's second incarceration (the first being from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Shira Haas as Ross' Israeli-born security advisor Ruth Bat-Seraph felt as if they were left over from past drafts and versions. Haas, whom I described in my notes as a "midget", was meant to be I figure a powerful figure. We are told that she was a former Black Widow, so that might explain why she was able to take down men who are giants compared to her. It still looks curious to see the 5'2" woman able to bring down big men. It would be like believing that NCIS: Los Angeles' Linda Hunt could take down Reacher's Alan Richson, but again, fine, we'll roll with it.

It is harder to roll with the idea that Bat-Seraph is important to Brave New World, let alone important enough to end up friends with Bradley. 

Captain America: Brave New World stumbled onto film screens when it would have perhaps worked better on Disney+. Is it terrible? No. It is wonderful? Again, no. It just is. Captain America: Brave New World is neither brave nor new. It is something to have playing in the background as you go about your day.

DECISION: C+

Next MCU Film: Thunderbolts*

Desert Hearts: A Review (Review #1940)

DESERT HEARTS

Desert Hearts takes a potentially salacious topic and treats it with a gentleness that makes it if not universal at least less shocking than it might have been, especially in the mid-1980s. Simply told, with no great flashes, Desert Hearts does not dance around its subject but does not exaggerate it either.

Reno, 1959. 35-year-old college professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) has come to Nevada to fulfill the six weeks required residency to have a quick divorce. She stays at a ranch owned by rustic pioneer woman Frances Parker (Audra Lindley). Frances lives with her son Walter (Alex McArthur) while in a nearby home is Walter's half-sister Cay (Patricia Charbonneau). Frances was the long-term mistress of Cay's father, who has recently passed away. Frances and Cay, a sculptress who works in a local casino, get on well though Frances is a bit clingy with her and Walter.

Cay is also open about her lesbianism though not overt about it. Cay is fond of flings and has a BFF in aspiring singer Silver (Andra Akers), who may be more than a friend despite Silver's engagement to the very tolerant Joe (Antoni Ponzini). Cay is drawn to Vivian, a woman of culture, letters and thoughts but who also wants to be as far away from everyone as possible. Despite this, Vivian's need for friendship allows her to begin going around town with Cay.

It is purely platonic for Vivian, until after Silver's engagement party. Going to see a nearby lake, Cay kisses a slightly tipsy Vivian, who returns the kiss and then withdraws. When they arrive the next morning to the ranch, Frances kicks Vivian out but arranges for a hotel so Vivian can complete her residency. Cay, enraged and hurt, leaves the ranch. As the clock ticks down to Vivian's impending divorce and Silver & Joe's wedding, will Vivian and Cay consummate their relationship? Will they consider a life outside Nevada? Will Cay and Frances make peace with each other and their ideas of love paternal and carnal?

Desert Hearts might now be seen as tame, especially since there is no true love scene between Vivian and Cay until over an hour into the film. Given that Desert Hearts runs a brisk 96 minutes, anyone looking to the film for just woman-on-woman may be in for a surprise. The one scene is surprisingly tender and still, perhaps a bit more explicit than audiences at the time were used to. Nowadays, I think modern viewers would say that it is not graphic enough, but I found it gentle and restrained. I was more shocked by seeing Cay and Silver in a bathtub together than I was at seeing Vivian and Cay indulge in the pleasures of the flesh.

I think this is due to Donna Deitch's directing of Natalie Cooper's screenplay. Cooper, adapting Jane Rule's novel Desert of the Heart, made clear that Cay was a lesbian, but this was never treated as something either shocking or ordinary. In reality, I do not remember the word "lesbian" being used. I did see that a lot of Desert Hearts made Cay's orientation clear while not going into detail. Instead, we can see that Cay is a lesbian by how she relates to women and men like Darrell (Dean Butler) who is open about his affection for her. She does not dislike him, but she makes clear that she has other interests.

What I did find curious is that prior to the love scene, there is little to no indication that Vivian has ever thought of being with another woman. We never hear her speak about any sapphic longings. In fact, she seems a bit put off by Cay's more open manner. Desert Hearts, looking at it now at a distance of forty years, might actually come across as lesbian wish fulfillment, a case of seducing a straight woman. Again, to be fair, apart from her being married to a man and a mild flirtation between her and the younger Walter, we get no real suggestions that Vivian is anything other than straight. She may have repressed any same-sex desires. She may be bisexual. Desert Hearts is a bit opaque on that matter. As such, it runs the risk of being seen as fantasy.

Perhaps, thinking on it now, it might be that Vivian is looking for love and wants to break free from the constraints that she has. "Have you realized your ambitions?", Cay asks when they go on a horse ride. "No," Vivian replies, "just my plans". It is hard to say, but I do not come at this from a lesbian perspective.

I can say that Desert Hearts is an extremely well-acted film. Shaver brings a cool, patrician manner to Vivian. She is by no means cold, but rather lonely and hurt. She makes the transformation from the aloof soon-to-be-divorcee to the more open and affectionate woman quite well. Deitch not only guides this transformation through her directing but on other choices. We see Vivian first in very formal attire, far too serious for the Nevadan desert. As the film goes on, we see, slowly but surely, Vivian dressing more casually, enhancing the transformation.

Desert Hearts was Charbonneau's film debut. While there are hints that reveal her inexperience on camera, she made Cay into a very open, unashamed woman who like Vivian, wanted a life of her own. Her last scenes with both Lindley and Shaver are moving. Charbonneau and Shaver worked very well together, making it a double act worth taking the time to look at.

For much of Desert Hearts, I wondered if I had seen Audra Lindley before. The voice sounded familiar, as did the face, yet I could not place it. It was not until I saw the credits again that my memory started jogging. It took a while, but I finally realized that Lindley's greatest claim to fame was as the outrageous perpetually sex-starved Mrs. Roper on Three's Company. Desert Hearts is a showcase for Lindley's rarely tapped talent, as Frances Parker is as far removed from Helen Roper as can be imagined. She is a standout as the woman who is cooly tolerant of Cay's lifestyle until it begins to draw her away from Frances. It is not strictly any anti-gay feeling that pushes Frances away. Rather, it is a fear of abandonment. Frances is loving but flawed, someone who does care for and about others but who can also push others out if they begin living apart from her. 

The film moves deliberately but not fast. It is well-directed, using a natural soundtrack of songs that would fit into the time and place. One hardly notices that the time goes by fast or that at times the low funds come through.

On the whole, I found Desert Hearts respectful, surprisingly lush at times. It may not have used minor characters well and still be a bit hard to know if Vivian was gay or bisexual when we began. However, with strong performances and an involving story, the Desert Hearts beat strongly.

DECISION: A-

The Exorcist (1973): A Review

THE EXORCIST

In the history of horror films, The Exorcist holds a high place of honor. Sometimes shocking in its imagery, The Exorcist benefits from a steady pace and from cast and crew taking everything seriously. 

The Exorcist has three story threads that eventually meet. We have Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) in an Iraqi archeological dig, where he discovers a grotesque statue which looks demonic to him. In posh Georgetown, successful actress Chris McNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is working on her newest film. She is renting a home where she and her daughter Regan (Linda Blair) are staying during the production. Also in Georgetown, another priest, Father Karras (Jason Miller) is torn by his personal crisis of faith, aggravated by the poor health and eventual death of his beloved mother. Despite being both a Catholic priest and a trained psychiatrist, Karras cannot find comfort either in the mind or soul. 

Regan, who has been contacting via Ouija board an entity she calls "Captain Howdy", soon starts displaying strange behavior. Things get worse when Chris' director and potential love interest Burke Dennings (Jack MacGowran) is found dead outside Chris' rented home. Detective Kinderman (Lee J. Cobb) seeks out Father Karras for help due to the circumstances of Dennings' death. Dennings was found dead at the bottom of the stairs outside Chris' rented home, but his head was turned backwards. To Karras' shock, Kinderman tells him that he suspects Regan pushed Dennings out of her window and that it might involve supernatural evil.

Chris, for her part, is horrified at what she sees with her daughter. Regan at one point commits a violent act on herself with a crucifix, is able to throw things at others without moving and even turn her head a full 360 degrees. Chris goes to Father Karras too, begging for help via an exorcism, convinced that Regan is possessed by the devil. Karras goes to the McNeil home and confirms the possession. An exorcism is granted, but it will be the more experienced Father Merrin who will lead the exorcism. Who will win out in the battle for Regan's soul? Who will live and who will die?

The Exorcist, despite being best known for the actual exorcism itself, does not have the unnamed demon dominate the film. For as much mocked and parodied the "The power of Christ compels you" line has become, we do not get to the actual exorcism until almost an hour and half into a two-hour movie. Even other elements for which The Exorcist is known, such as the use of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, are either sparingly used or take time to show up. Tubular Bells, which is so strongly connected to The Exorcist that many think of it as The Exorcist theme, does not show up until fifteen minutes into the film. 

Director William Friedkin and screenwriter William Peter Blatty (adapting his own novel) build up the tension in The Exorcist, taking the time to give us bits and pieces with which to eventually shock the viewer. Father Merrin appears in the opening, but he is absent for most of the film. We as the audience have an idea that he will return, but the film does not rush us. The Exorcist also takes its time in establishing Father Karras' situation, making his dreams of his mother and the devil's use of her against him chilling. Much time is taken by Regan's deteriorating condition, but that lets the viewer see how the situation is growing more perilous.

The Exorcist is enhanced by great performances all around. Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair and Jason Miller were all Oscar-nominated for their performances, and each earned that recognition. Burstyn had a tricky role in that at least early on, she played an actress. The film starts her section with her on set, preparing and performing a scene. It takes a great deal of skill to play an actress because you have to play two roles, but Burstyn did so almost effortlessly. She also had great skill in showing Chris' growing fear for her daughter. 

Miller looked haunted and tormented as the haunted and tormented Karras. This was a man of both science and faith but who could not reconcile those to himself. The Exorcist is as much about his own metaphorical exorcism as it is about Regan's literal exorcism. 

Blair handled the scenes of her possession very well. While Mercedes McCambridge supplied the voice of the demon, she was not initially credited. It was a dumb move, for I do not think filmgoers would have been shocked that Blair did not have the gravelly, husky tones that McCambridge, herself an Oscar winner, had. It was excellent voiceover work. 

While his role is probably the smallest, Lee J. Cobb was firm and surprisingly quiet as Kinderman, the rational detective brought through logic to a supernatural conclusion.

The Exorcist is filled with imagery both arresting (such as Merrin's arrival to the McNeil home) and horrifying. I confess that the first time I saw The Exorcist, I found a lot of it funny except for the crucifix part, which I do admit was creepy and disturbing. Seeing it now, particularly at the film's climax, I can see why people freaked out while watching it. The quick flashes of the demonic face popping out had the effect of making scenes frightening.

The Exorcist is an effective film, able to frighten viewers while also having us care about the characters and their various plights. Beautifully filmed, with excellent performances and an effective mood, The Exorcist will have you in its power.

DECISION: A+

THE EXORCIST FILMS

Exorcist II: The Heretic

The Exorcist III

Exorcist: The Beginning

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

The Exorcist: Believer

Hard Truths: A Review

 

HARD TRUTHS

The fraught relationship between siblings is well-chronicled in Hard Truths, a movie that is true to life while still finding humor and heart within it. 

There could be no two different set of siblings as sisters Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Chantelle (Michele Austin). Pansy, married to generally quiet Curtley (David Weber) and lay-about son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) is always on edge. Short tempered, crabby, cantankerous, Pansy is never shy about expressing her perpetually negative views about everything and everyone towards anyone within sight. She insults perfect strangers for moving too slow at the checkout line or coming up to her at a furniture store despite them being furniture store employees.

Chantelle, with two adult daughters, is a gregarious, outgoing hairdresser. While the sisters do love each other, they see the world totally different. As the fifth anniversary of their mother Pearl's death comes closer, Chantelle pushes Pansy to join her at the cemetery to pay their respects and grieve. Pansy is noncommittal but eventually goes to the cemetery with Chantelle. Here, Pansy lets her defenses down slightly, admitting that she felt Pearl favored Chantelle and that no one in Pansy's family genuinely loves her. As the sisters go to Chantelle's apartment to celebrate Mother's Day, Pansy continues to struggle with relating to her relatives. Will Pansy accept that she is loved, or will she allow her misanthropic worldview to poison the potential to build up a good life with Curtley and Moses?

"I don't understand you, but I love you," Chantelle tells Pansy. That sums up both Hard Truths and all family dynamics. There are many siblings who, despite growing up in the same home, end up on different paths, believing different things and ultimately being polar opposites. Hard Truths presents us with these two women who share a bond but who also are mysteries to each other. Writer/director Mike Leigh captures that strange unit known as family with Pansy and Chantelle, flawed but connected.

It takes a great skill to make a seemingly unlikeable character sympathetic to amusing. Marianne Jean-Baptiste was absolutely wonderful in Hard Truths. Her Pansy certainly speaks these hard truths (as she sees them anyway) to everyone, whether they want to hear them or not. She does not care if others see her remarks as insulting. To her way of thinking, everyone would benefit from her wisdom. Part of the fun in Hard Truths is seeing random people that Pansy is forced to interact with endure her constant criticisms and complaints the best they can. Except for one man who yells at her about whether or not she is leaving the parking lot (or car park in Britain), no one actually yells at Pansy. Workers attempt to grit their teeth as Pansy berates them for one thing or another. Strangers at checkout lines grow belligerent. However, Hard Truths captures so well how people endure someone haranguing them for the smallest of faults.

Yet, despite how difficult Pansy is, we do feel for her because we see that deep down, she finds the greatest faults within herself. Her fears of being unloved, her sense of personal failures, perhaps her fears of living (captured by a bit of agoraphobia and other real or perceived ailments) all reveal someone who struggles in life. At one point, I believe Curtley or Chantelle asks her, "Why can't you enjoy life?". Pansy is a woman trapped in her own prison, but whether she can escape it is hard to say. 

At the Mother's Day brunch the extended family has, Pansy starts laughing and crying. Her emotional shifts surprise to alarm her family, but it shows what a performance Jean-Baptiste gave. Her ability to show Pansy crack just a touch holds your attention.

Jean-Baptiste is matched by Austin as Chantelle. As Pansy is the product of the Moon, Chantelle is the product of the Sun. Her warmth and delight in life, her daughters and her clientele lighten the film. Chantelle is not blind to the world, and she also endures Pansy's constant criticisms of the world. Yet she does so with gentle efforts to nudge her sister towards a positive worldview. Chantelle loves people, and that makes her quite a pleasant person. Oddly, for all the harshness that Pansy has, I do not remember her being highly critical of Chantelle, at least as she is with everyone else, even Curtley and Moses.

Pansy nitpicks at her sister. She even, albeit softly for Pansy, tells her that she thinks Pearl favored Chantelle over Pansy and harbors resentment over that. In that cemetery scene, however, we see how they are still affected by Pearl's death. Pansy was displeased to be the one who found their mother dead. Chantelle, quietly and with some tears, tells her she wishes that it had been her and not Pansy to have that burden.

Hard Truths is also well-acted by everyone in the cast. Webber's Curtley and Bennett's Moses make their characters equally believable as the long-suffering husband and the son almost broken by his mother's lack of genuine maternal care.

I found that despite Hard Truths' brief runtime of ninety-seven minutes, the scenes of Chantelle's daughter Kayla (Ani Nelson) attempting to convince her employer to fund a line of coconut-free beauty products unnecessary. I think Leigh was attempting to have a counter to the relationship between Pansy and Chantelle by showing how well Kayla and her sister Aleisha (Sophia Brown) got along. Is it a major flaw? No, but I don't know how well it worked overall.

I was reminded of the relationship between my late mother and her last living sister in Hard Truths. Mom was closer to Chantelle and my aunt closer to Pansy though nowhere near as snappish and insulting. Rather, one had a more upbeat and positive view of life, while the other has a slightly darker, negative idea about the world. They were joined by love, but also separated by how the circumstances that they found themselves in. Hard Truths captures that bond between different people in two wonderful performances. Here, Hard Truths are easy to take.

DECISION: B+

The Accidental Tourist: A Review

THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

There are all kinds of grief and all kinds of ways of coping with said grief. The Accidental Tourist looks at the locked lives of individuals caught up in those griefs, and how through patience and quirky dog trainers there can be healing.

Macon Leary (William Hurt) is the writer of The Accidental Tourist, a series of travel books for businessmen uninterested in travel. He and his wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner) are struggling through the sudden death of their son Ethan, killed in a random act of violence. Macon, already pretty detached from others, has completely closed up over Ethan's death. Sarah, unable to move beyond this, asks for a divorce.

Macon's only true companion is Edward, Ethan's dog. In need of someone to care for Edward when traveling yet again for more Accidental Tourist writing, he comes upon the Meow-Bow Animal Hospital and its proprietress, Muriel Pritchett (Geena Davis). She not only agrees to care for Edward but diagnoses why Edward is mercurially aggressive.

Muriel is very open and persistent about her attraction to Macon while still being professional but forthright with him. She gets Macon to take dog obedience training from her, and soon a relationship develops between them. Macon also gets to know Muriel's ill son, Alexander (Robert Gorman). For his part, Macon's publisher Julian Hedge (Bill Pullman) starts knowing the very WASP and insular Leary siblings. There is Charles (Ed Begley, Jr.) and Porter (David Ogden Stiers) and their caretaker sister Rose (Amy Wright). Julian and Rose soon fall in love, though that would mean leaving the Leary men incapable of taking care of themselves.

Eventually, Sarah returns to the picture, wondering if Macon is willing to patch up their marriage. Macon now struggles between his past with Sarah and potential future with Muriel. Which way will he go? Will he find love again with his soon to be ex-wife or with the possible future Mrs. Leary?

The Accidental Tourist gives us that contrast between Macon's hermetically sealed and insular world and Muriel's free-spirited and outspoken manner. That allows us to see how they really are ideally suited to each other without them changing their ways. With the Learys, you see how enclosed they all are by how they behave when playing a card game of their own invention. They are quiet, generally without emotion, not able to say things like "I love you" to each other. It is plausible that they do not say that to themselves. 

Into this comes not just Muriel but Julian. These outsiders break down the walls the Learys have put around them, one by almost sheer force and the other by gently tapping it down. The Accidental Tourist gives us a nice set of love stories which works on so many levels.

Director Lawrence Kasdan, who adapted Anne Tyler's novel with Frank Galati, gives us a well-crafted script. There are many lines and situations that reveal these characters without being overt. "It's terrible when things don't fit precisely. They get all out of alignment," Macon observes. He may have been talking about envelopes, but the double meaning to his own life is clear. Realizing with whom he needs to be, Macon tells one of his women, "You don't need me, but I need her". This confession, delivered so well by William Hurt, gives us the evolution of a man who wanted little to nothing to do with others before his son's tragic death.

Lawrence Kasdan directed his cast to strong performances. Despite winning the Oscar as the Best Supporting Actress, I think Geena Davis is the co-lead in The Accidental Tourist. Muriel is quirky without being insufferable. Instead, Davis makes Muriel into someone you believe is a functioning human, with logic and sense, while still being a touch eccentric. She reacts softly when Macon reveals his son's death to her, not attempting to embrace him in a grand manner. Instead, she shows herself reflective, patient and compassionate.

William Hurt did a standout job as the sheltered WASP who allows himself, over time, the opportunity to open himself up to others and let the grief come through. Kathleen Turner had a surprisingly small role in The Accidental Tourist. However, in her few scenes, we see Sarah not as a villain or some kind of shrew. Instead, we see Sarah as a deeply pained woman who cannot find an ounce of compassion from across the kitchen table. Unlike in other films, we can see why he would contemplate giving Muriel up for Sarah. Sarah wants love and comfort from a man who cannot give it. As such, you do not think Sarah is cruel for asking for a divorce. You ask what took her so long to figure it out.

In their smaller roles, Bill Pullman and Amy Wright let the Julian and Rose romance grow, though we do not see all of it. 

The Accidental Tourist also has the benefit of John Williams' score, which like the screenplay and film itself receive an Oscar nomination. I imagine that William's music for this film is less known than such films as Star Wars or Schindler's List. However, it is a soft, moving score, lending the love story greater elegance and warmth.  

The title The Accidental Tourist captures Macon Leary well. He is an accidental tourist, but of his own life. This is a strong film, with excellent performances and well-crafted in every way. It is easy to get lost in The Accidental Tourist. 

DECISION: B+

I'm Still Here (2024): A Review

 I'M STILL HERE

History is filled with great figures, but there is room enough for those small individuals who accomplished great things despite the obstacles against them. I'm Still Here is a deeply moving powerful film about courage.

Brazil, 1970. The nation is under a military dictatorship, but the wealthy Paiva lives with little to no concern for themselves. Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a former Congressman, is not worried despite his work for those opposing the current dictatorship. His wife, Eunice (Fernanda Torres) is oblivious to her husband's work, which Rubens works hard to keep hidden.

However, the Paiva family is rocked when Rubens is taken into custody. Eunice, already having the indignity of having armed men stay in her home against her wishes, is now astonished to be taken into custody herself along with her second-eldest daughter Eliana (Luisa Kovoski), her oldest daughter Veroca (Valentina Herszage) having gone to London for school and a de facto exile.

Twelve days of psychological torture for Eunice, who is stubbornly refused information about Rubens or Eliana. She is eventually released without any information on Rubens and finding Eliana alive and safe back home. Eunice continues to push for information about Rubens, all while attempting to keep her children as unaware as possible and keep body and soul together. She gets information that Rubens is dead, but nothing concrete. Eunice will not be deterred, though she has her struggles with trying to raise her children. Eventually, even with government spies openly observing her home, she decides to move to Sao Paola with them.

Twenty-five years later in 1996, Brazil is no longer under a dictatorship and Eunice now has a death certificate for Rubens. She continues her efforts for the indigenous community, having become an attorney at age 48. In 2014, the extended Paiva family gather together and even with Eunice (Fernanda Montenegro) now debilitated from Alzheimer's disease, a television report on those who disappeared, including Rubens, triggers a moment of recognition. 

I'm Still Here expertly balances the transition from frivolity to fear in the Paiva family and by extension in Brazil. We see this early on when Veroca and her friends are happily driving down Rio de Janeiro, filming themselves and singing along to a pop song. During the drive though, they and all the other drivers encounter a military checkpoint, where they are pulled out and mocked by the soldiers as hippies. The mix of fear and irritation at the military's action are just a taste of what the Paivas have to endure.

We spend a great deal of time early in I'm Still Here with the Paivas at play. We get to know them as they mingle with each other and their circle of friends. They are jolly, lively and loving. This allows us to recognize how this one act of Rubens Paiva's forced arrest begins a shattering process. That alone makes I'm Still Here a sometimes-hard watch. It is the arrest and torture of Eunice that is almost too shocking to bear.

Director Walter Salles builds up the tension by what is not shown. The film uses great sound effects to make Eunice's imprisonment all the more harrowing. We hear the screams and torture from other prisoners while not losing focus on Eunice herself. Here, we see this tense set of days where, apart from a somewhat sympathetic guard who tells her that he finds this not to his liking, the patterns of forced interrogations and demands to repeat her full name all the more gripping, terrifying and sad.

In the entire film, it is Fernanda Torres' performance that holds the viewer. It is an exceptional one, for we see Eunice as someone who puts her family first. Her efforts to keep the children as unaware as possible, her quiet efforts to find both her husband and/or his fate and manner to keep the family going reveal a woman of strong character. For the most part, Torres' Eunice does not rage or become hysterical. 

Torres remains a firm manner in I'm Still Here. She is not stiff or stoic or making efforts to show outward courage. Rather, her Eunice reveals her strength whenever she smiles or attempts to keep calm through very tense circumstances. You see in Torres' face that mix of worry and resoluteness, a woman attempting to keep things together while holding in her rage and fear. 

It is neither a quiet nor loud performance, though it is closer to the former. In the few times where Eunice has a stronger, more intense reaction, Torres resists any efforts to make it a big moment. Whether it is when she slaps her daughter for pushing her to tell more than she wants to or berating the government spies who watched the family dog get run down, Torres is in full command. We even get a nice touch when Torres' real-life mother, Fernanda Montenegro, makes a brief appearance as the older Eunice. Even if this brief moment, we see Montenegro's skills when she communicates by just her eyes.

The film is well-acted by the entire cast. It manages to move mostly well and fast despite its runtime of slightly over two hours. Perhaps the extended scenes of the happiness of the Paiva family could have been trimmed. However, that is a minor detail. 

I'm Still Here holds the audience's attention and never releases it. Eunice Paiva is a woman who had fear but who was not afraid. The acceptance of things as they are, as brutal as the truth is, is hard. I'm Still Here works to show that strength comes in many forms.

1929-2018

DECISION: A+