Reel Facts & Opinions: Here Comes THE IRISHMAN

One of the most anticipated films of this year, if not the decade, is the Martin Scorsese-directed, Netflix-produced THE IRISHMAN. The mob drama, which is based on the book I Heard you Paint Houses by Charles Brandt, brings Scorsese back to the mafia genre; a genre that he defined with his films GOODFELLAS (1990), CASINO (1995), and THE DEPARTED (2006). The film also reunites him with frequent collaborator Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci (out of retirement), and also marks his first film with GODFATHER alum Al Pacino. Although the film is still a couple months away from release, THE IRISHMAN made headlines this week with news concerning its running time and release plan. 

The release plan was settled this week, with Netflix, the home-streaming company who produced the film, announcing plans to release THE IRISHMAN in a limited theatrical release on November 1st. The film will add cities over the following three weeks before launching on their streaming service November 27^th. Scorsese himself was seeking a more traditional rollout, but this plan is similar, if not just like what Netflix did with ROMA last year. 

Similar to the news surrounding Spider-Man last week (read about that web HERE), this move has been met with controversy with many blaming either side. Long-time fans of Scorsese are eager to see THE IRISHMAN in theatres, but larger chains such as AMC and Regal will likely not get the film as they demand a minimum of 90 days in the theatre. With THE IRISHMAN leaving theatres in just 26 days for the home streaming service, the film does not meet their long-standing requirement. The film will likely go to smaller, independent chains such as Alamo Drafthouse and Landmark (chains that don’t exist all over)…who were willing to run ROMA in limited fashion last year. It’s disappointing that Netflix has chosen to not play by the rules once again, and robbing people of seeing the return of cinema legends to the big screen. It seems that they want to have their cake and eat it too; they want to be treated like any other studio, but then they don’t act like any other studio. And if THE IRISHMAN is good enough to be considered for awards, the argument of home-streaming films being eligible for Oscars will erupt again (Oscars want minimum time in theatres as well). 

The other bit of news about THE IRISHMAN is its running time. Although it is subject to change, it will run at 210 minutes, or three-and-a-half hours. This would be Scorsese’s longest film to date, and the longest mainstream American film in more than two decades. This news was met with glee from long-time cinephiles who grew up with Scorsese’s films, as such a stellar lineup deserves a long film. And it also harks back to the glory days of Hollywood, when films like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), clocked in at nearly four hours. Of course, this news was met with griping from the attention-span deprived crowd who watch too many YouTube videos, and ironically, probably the same crowd that doesn’t think twice about binging a TV show on Netflix without moving for 10 hours. 

All this is subject to change, and since there is no such thing as bad publicity, THE IRISHMAN will be talked about all during the fall season and earn its label as one of the most anticipated of 2019. 

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THE IRISHMAN debuts at the New York Film Festival on September 27^thbefore hitting select theatres on November 1^st, and Netflix at home November 27^th. 

Reel Facts & Opinions: New Footage from THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

Since 1977, no news has been able to stop the world like news coming from the STAR WARS galaxy. Such an event happened this past weekend, at Disney’s biennial exposition event known as D23.

The bulk of the new news came from the pending release of THE RISE OF SKYWALKER; the 9^thepisode in the STAR WARS “Skywalker” saga, poised for release this December. The film promises to end the generation-defining saga which began over 40 years ago; altering the film-industry and the lives of kids and parents everywhere. The first shot across the bow came early in the expo, with the release of this stunning new poster: 

And that was just a taste. Although we didn’t get a new, full-blown trailer, we did get a “sizzle reel” which debuted new footage and tied the new film to the legacy of STAR WARS. It begins with John Williams’ incredible new score, which has new variations of the old, favorite tunes. The beginning of the reel was a montage of previous films, from the Original Trilogy to the Prequels, to the first two episodes of the Sequels…all tied together by the voice of Luke (Mark Hamill), re-using his dialogue from the first trailer (HERE), released in April. 

The reel then takes us to a shot of the core of the new STAR WARS; Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Poe (Oscar Isaac). Behind them are legacy characters Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels). What follows next are shots of the General Leia (Carrie Fisher), and some breathtaking shots of a pending battle between the heroic Resistance and the evil First Order. 

And then oh-my-gosh it looks like the lovable C-3PO may have gone evil…

All this is capped by a fantastic-looking shot of Rey and the big bad Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), slashing it out amongst crashing waves: 

And then boom…a quick shot of a dark-looking Rey with a black cloak and a double-bladed lightsaber with more swinging action…with the voice of the Emperor (reprised by Ian McDiarmid), saying “your journey nears its end”. 

What does all this mean? Not much of the storyline was revealed; none at all as a matter of fact. But if the mission of a reel like this is to generate excitement, then mission-accomplished. The footage looks great, and raises more questions than answers. And the callbacks to the prior films form a straight line that has been in the works for decades. As a good friend of Reel Speak said today, this reel had the mile-markers of our lives in once place; all the best of STAR WARS brought together. Masterfully done. 

You can watch the reel HERE. 

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STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER lands on December 20^th. 

A Reel Review: READY OR NOT

One of the best sub-genres of horror is the closed-quarters thriller; where a victim, or victims, are trapped in a singular location with nowhere to go, while being pursued by a bloodthirsty villain. This has worked as far back as JAWS (1975), to ALIEN (1979), to SAW (2004), and here in 2019…is given a new angle with READY OR NOT.

Grace (Samara Weaving), marries Alex (Mark O’Brien), who is a member of the Le Domas family, who are super-rich from decades of manufacturing board games. On her wedding night, Grace is asked to take part in an old family tradition of playing a game at midnight…that leads to the entire family trying to kill her. 

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet, READY OR NOT does not have much by way of plot, and spends most of its time following Grace around the large mansion, as she ducks into dumb-waiters, under tables, and behind counters as the family hunts her down with guns, axes, crossbows, and spear-guns. It’s a thrill-ride, as Grace runs for cover, with the added element of the family, who don’t really know what they are doing with the antique weapons they have to use. 

Reasoning is everything in a movie where everyone is out to kill the main character. For the Le Domas family, they sincerely believe that if they don’t kill the bride before sunrise, then they themselves will be destroyed. The real mystery behind the film isn’t why they’re trying to kill Grace, but if in fact the “curse” as they believe it, is true or not. Hints are given here and there throughout the chase, and by the time the bloody finale hits…it all makes perfect sense. It’s a fresh angle on an old tale, and it works. 

The co-directing team of Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillet keeps the pacing brisk and the energy high. The film isn’t a scare-fest as much as a bloodbath, and the laughs are perfectly timed. READY OR NOT has feet planted in both comedy and horror, and balances them both well. 

Samara Weaving is terrific in her role and shows her bravery in doing what it takes to get the shot. Weaving is shot, stabbed, splattered with blood, and dropped down a pit with rotting carcasses and she sells every scene in an amazing performance. The rest of the cast handles their parts well, with Andie MacDowell a highlight. 

By the time the film wraps, our Grace has been through some sort of hell, and she emerges a hero that we want to root for. READY OR NOT is a great ride; full of horror and laughs and perfectly executed. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

Reel Facts & Opinions: Spider-Man No More

In the world of cinema, nothing can be more complicated, frustrating, or aggravating than the web of red tape involving the rights of characters and properties; which studio owns what character and what they are allowed to do with it. This week came news that many fans of superheroes have been dreading; an inability by Disney and Sony Pictures to reach an agreement over the rights to Spider-Man, which means the property will no longer be involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)…the long-running series of films that has been populated with characters such as Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Rocket & Groot. 

How did this happen? How could Spider-Man, one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic characters, be taken away from them? The rights to bring the web-slinger to the big screen in live-action form were purchased from Marvel way back in 1985, and moved through various companies before being secured by Sony Pictures. Sony brought on director Sam Raimi of EVIL DEAD fame to bring Spidey and his alter-ego Peter Parker into summer blockbuster territory. Tobey Maguire took on the lead role, which resulted in the pretty-good SPIDER-MAN (2002), the excellent SPIDER-MAN 2 (2004), and the shitty SPIDER-MAN 3 (2007). 

From there things got messy. After a planned SPIDER-MAN 4 with Raimi fell apart, Sony rebooted the character with a new cast and director. This time Andrew Garfield stepped into Peter’s tights, and the result was the boring THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN in 2012 and the awful THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 in 2014. 

At this point, Marvel Studios had been picked up by Disney and were dominating the superhero film universe with their connected series of super-films. In 2015, a deal was reached between Disney and Sony to share the Spider-Man film rights, and this brought yet another new version of the character to screens. This time, Tom Holland became Peter Parker, and the character was allowed to play in the same playground as famed characters Iron Man and Hulk. Holland appeared in two solo films, along with CIVIL WAR (2016), INFINITY WAR (2018), and ENDGAME (2019). Holland’s performance, and the new Spidey were fully embraced by fans. 

But today, the dispute between Sony and Disney has yanked Parker out of that playground. The dispute is all about, of course, money. Disney wanted any future Spidey films to be a 50/50 co-financing between the studios, while Sony wanted to keep the arrangement going under the current terms where Disney receives 5% of the gross. Disney refused. This is coming off the heels of Holland’s two solo films breaking many box office records, including the recent one, FAR FROM HOME (2019), becoming Sony’s highest-grossing film. 

We can debate endlessly over who is really at fault here. Disney certainly got greedy, and Sony shows their greed here as well, but Disney is the one with the better reputation in making movies. Their success with Marvel characters is unprecedented, while Sony in the meantime hasn’t made a decent live-action superhero movie since 2004. A year ago they tried their hand at making a solo-villain movie, with Spider-Man’s top villain VENOM…and the result was hot garbage. The fans are the ones who will be on the losing end, as Sony is bound to take Holland’s Spidey and go back to making crappy movies, or worse…reboot the character again. Marvel of course will be fine with the hundreds of characters they have and are planning to roll out over the next decade. The MCU will survive, but this is clearly not what fans want. Cinematic superhero history shows that the public likes quality, and they like consistency…which means Sony has nothing to gain by this result. Negotiations may still happen down the road, but for now the real Spider-Man is no more.  

A Reel 40: APOCALYPSE NOW

“I couldn’t believe they wanted this man dead.”

This month marks the 40^thanniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW. 

Regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, APOCALYPSE NOW was a Vietnam War film inspired by the classic novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The film followed the journey of Captain Willard, who is secretly sent upriver to terminate Colonel Kurtz; a U.S. Special Forces commander who has raised his own army and secluded in his own outpost…where he is worshipped as a demi-god. 

In the 1970’s, there was a revolution in filmmaking happening. Filmmakers such as Coppola, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Milius, and Martin Scorsese were re-defining the way films were made, marketed, and distributed…and that was just the business side. New approaches to filmmaking were being used by these men, which embraced the classic style of storytelling while breaking boundaries. For APOCALYPSE NOW, the journey up the celluloid river began as far back as 1969, when John Milius was encouraged by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to write a Vietnam War film. Milius came up with the idea of using Heart of Darkness as the plot, and changed the setting from the 19^thcentury Congo to late 1960’s Vietnam. Milius wrote over 10 drafts amounting to over a thousand pages, and came up with the title APOCALYPSE NOW after being inspired by a badge popular with hippies that said,  “Nirvana Now”. 

Milius did not want to direct the film and felt Lucas was perfect for the job. The two worked for four years developing the film, alongside Lucas’ work for his dream project, STAR WARS. The initial idea was to film on-location in Vietnam with real soldiers while the war was still happening, but due to safety concerns that was scrapped. Coppola was determined to make the film and got the job, while Lucas went off to that far, far away galaxy. 

Filming began in 1976 with Harvey Keitel cast as Willard, but he was replaced by Martin Sheen just three weeks into production. Kurtz was played by Marlon Brando, who had worked with Coppola on THE GODFATHER…along with Dennis Hopper, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, G.D. Spradlin (another GODFATHER alum), Scott Glenn, and a 14-year-old Laurence Fishburne. 

The production, taking place in the Philippines, had more than its share of problems; so bad that the cast and crew went through their own journey through darkness in a surreal way of life imitating art. Storms devasted sets, scripts were re-written and re-written again, payroll was stolen, Martin Sheen had a heart attack, and Brando showed up for work very overweight. At one point the film was six weeks behind schedule and $2 million overbudget, and Coppola had to offer his car, house, and his profits from THE GODFATHER as security to finish the film. 

The gamble paid off. Principal photography wrapped in 1977, and after a lengthy editing process, the film was ready for a 1979 release. In won best film at its debut at Cannes, and performed well at the box office. Critical praise was initially mixed, but the film gained more appreciation and near-mythical status over the years. It was nominated for eight Oscars and won two, and also won three of the four Golden Globes in was nominated for. In 2000 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, and today it is considered to be a masterpiece of the New Hollywood era. 

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APOCALYPSE NOW is one of those films that becomes more legendary as time goes up the river. From its many stories of a disastrous production to the entire crew going insane, its reputation is as great as the viewing experience itself. Amazing to look at and stunning in its storytelling, it transcends the typical war picture by straying away from the old bombs and bullets, and works as a character piece so deeply that the film feels like a dream; ethereal and spiritual. It is set in an ugly war but feels beautiful, and has a timeless quality which earns its label as greatness.

“Someday this war’s gonna end…”

A Reel Review: THE KITCHEN

In the last century, mob movies have taken on many shapes and sizes; from historical pieces, to dramas, to comedies, to parodies. In 2018, director Steve McQueen gave the genre a much-needed fresh look with his magnificent WIDOWS, which had the ladies of the mob stepping up and taking the lead. But to coin a sports-term, Hollywood can be a copycat league…and here in 2019 the same approach is taken with Andrea Berloff’s THE KITCHEN. 

Hell’s Kitchen, 1978. Three mobsters (James Badge Dale, Jeremy Bobb, James d’Arcy James), are sent to prison. Their wives; Kathy (Melissa McCarthy), Ruby (Tiffany Haddish), and Claire (Elisabeth Moss), are left with no income and decide to take over the criminal empire. 

Based on the Vertigo comic book miniseries, THE KITCHEN follows the trio as they take on the Irish Mob for no other reason than to support themselves and their families. It’s a money game at first, as the mob leaders promise to support the ladies in their husband’s absence, but provide barely enough to make rent. With the stakes high, the film goes into a clunky and clumsy path for them to take power, which involves providing protection for the local businesses and securing union contracts for upcoming construction projects. Along the way they dodge the FBI, whack whoever gets in their way, and drop F-bombs to let others know how tough they are. The pieces for a solid story are there, but the script takes many shortcuts as things advance in leaps and bounds, and its difficult to believe the trio would advance so quickly. 

A major issue that arises early is with the characters. From the leads to the minor ones, everyone acts inconsistently and erratically; often saying one thing and doing another with their actions changing from scene-to-scene. It never make sense and its hard to keep track of who wants what. Another issue is that the characters act so smug and cocky its impossible to root for them, and not wanting to see main characters succeed is a genuine problem. There is also a lot of bluntness to the film as dialogue is simple to the point of cringe-worthy and sounds like something a 13-year-old boy would write on a bathroom wall. 

And a bathroom wall is exactly where THE KITCHEN looks like it was edited. Scenes transition abruptly and many feel like they start in the middle; making for a very choppy and awkward flow. Pop songs from the era are chosen to reflect what’s going on in a scene, but there’s zero subtlety to it and it’s too obvious and way too on-the-nose. The film also wants to drive home the point of anything-men-can-do-women-can-do-better, which is fine, but it’s handled with the precision of a meat mallet as characters have to blurt it out every two minutes, and it just gets in the way of the story. It’s amateur-level crap. 

Also crap is the acting. Melissa McCarthy is bland and makes an occasional attempt at a New York accent that sounds ridiculous. Tiffany Haddish is completely out of her element in a drama and can’t emote anything. Elisabeth Moss comes off mostly unscathed but feels restrained. Domhnall Gleeson shows up as a hitman but also feels underutilized.

After all the issues, THE KITCHEN has a chance to salvage itself towards the end, but wraps with one of the dumbest endings of all time…and despite a half-assed attempt at a major twist (it can be seen from a mile away), the credits come as a relief. At only 103 minutes THE KITCHEN should feel like a breeze, but it’s such a painful, dysfunctional, and dull watch that it feels much longer. This one needs to be whacked and buried. 

BOTTOM LINE: Fuck it 

A Reel Review: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

In the 1980’s, the horror genre had a blast playing with the anthology-style of film; several short-films under one feature with only a single theme or event interlocking them…or sometimes none at all. Films such as CREEPSHOW, CAT’S EYE, and TWILIGHT ZONE are the best examples, and even though they are cult-favorites now, many audiences could not latch onto them; perhaps not preferring having to “reset themselves” for a new story every 20 minutes. Seemingly aware of this, the filmmakers behind SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK finds a new angle to the old anthology film, while staying true to its core. 

On Halloween 1968, a group of teens; Stella (Zoe Nicholls), Auggie (Gabriel Rush), Chuck (Austin Zajur), and newcomer to town Ramon (Michael), enter an abandoned mansion and leave with a mysterious book…a book that writes its own tragic stories in blood which come true as they are being written. 

Based on the children’s book series of the same name, SCARY STORIES takes the anthology concept and draws a line through its episodes. Each time a new story is written in the book, one character faces a supernatural threat; you don’t read the book…the book reads you. It’s a singular story as the kids go from one threat to another trying to unravel the mystery behind the book and its former owner, with the stories and threats they face paying homage to the old anthology style. 

Directed by Andre Ovredal and produced by Guillermo del Toro, SCARY STORIES seems simple on the surface but does good character work by way of its spooky threats. Each specter they face is drawn from their past, and the script does clever work in developing characters through that. There’s a lot of showing and not telling which is welcome in a film that has a lot information to pass along; not just backstories but also the history of the book, its old owner, and the mansion it came from in a fascinating story-within-a-story. And storytelling is the point of the film. How stories can affect us is the central theme, and it carries a weight that gives the film meaning and not just scares. 

And when those scares come, they come in horrifying style. The entities come in all shapes and sizes; a scarecrow, a pasty-white woman with bug-eyes, walking skeletons, and a tall lanky creature that comes down the chimney one body part at a time. It’s scary as hell, and doesn’t rely on jump-scares (although there are plenty), but instead a feeling of hanging dread. Being that it’s based on a series of children’s books, younger audiences will certainly be in the seats…and the film deserves a lot of credit for not being afraid to scare the shit out of them (and their adult parents). 

Acting is OK from the young cast. Zoe Nicholls gets the bulk of the film and has the most heavy-lifting to do and is fantastic. Everyone else is fine albeit a little stiff in places. 

The finale is a mind-bender and ends on a bitter-sweet note; not quite a happy ending but not a total loss either. It wraps as one of the most unique takes we’ve seen on the anthology style, and its imagery and scares are good enough to stick with us and show up in our nightmares. With the kids carrying the film and the blood & guts kept to a bare minimum, SCARY STORIES lends itself to the younger crowd that has out-grown light fare like GOOSEBUMPS but aren’t quite ready for chainsaws yet. But anyone who can appreciate a good scary story will certainly find a lot to admire here. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it 

A Reel Opinion: Ranking the Films of Quentin Tarantino

Believe it or not, Quentin Tarantino has turned 60 years old. The former "wiz-kid" of Hollywood that exploded onto the scene in the early 1990's has moved into the senior class. His moving into his sixth decade has sparked the discussion of his best films. Reel Speak did this ranking in 2019, and after four years...it's time for a revisit. 

10. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

A platoon of Nazi hunters crosses paths with a revenge-seeking theatre owner. Quentin Tarantino’s knowledge of cinema is unmatched, and his films reflect that. This is the best example of him letting his film homages get in the way of the story. BASTERDS begins as a classic men-on-a-mission WWII flick in the spirit of FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE or KELLY’S HEROES, but then slips into a boring foreign language film. The antagonist of the story, played by Christoph Waltz, is built as a cool and calculating character but goes psycho near the end for no reason, and the troop of Nazi-hunting soldiers, whom the film is named after, vanish from the story for an intolerable amount of time; it’s more like the INFREQUENT BASTERDS. 

9. DJANGO UNCHAINED (2012)

An escaped slave looks to free his true love. The prospect of Tarantino doing a Western was exciting for us all; it was the genre loaded with the classic sensibilities that he thrives on. Toss on a liberated slave, and the table was set for something important. Instead, we got a feature-length cartoon with cartoon characters doing cartoony things. Waltz returns to play the exact same character he played in BASTERDS, and the material does not get treated as seriously as it deserved. The deal-breaker comes towards the end, when Tarantino makes the head-scratching decision to put a rap song in the soundtrack. This was QT’s first film without his long-time editor Sally Menke, and it really shows. 

8. DEATH PROOF (2007)

A group of women are stalked by a sadistic stuntman. This exploitation/horror flick was made as part of a double feature in the GRINDHOUSE film with Robert Rodriguez. It’s a dialogue-heavy movie where not much happens for what seems like an eternity, but it does give us one of Tarantino’s best characters in Stuntman Mike, played by the great Kurt Russell. The endless amount of talk-talk-talk make it a (ahem) grind to get through, but it does showcase Tarantino’s talent for writing dialogue; only he can make ordinary conversations about nothing seem interesting. 

7. THE HATEFUL EIGHT (2015)

Eight strangers in the Old West seeking refuge from a blizzard are stuck in an inn. What’s great about the EIGHT is that it was filmed in the glorious 70mm format. What’s not so great is that 90% of the film is set indoors, which seems to be a waste of the detail-capturing format. But EIGHT rolls out as a classic closed-quarters, paranoid thriller where not one cowboy (or cowgirl) trusts each other. The dialogue is excellent and the finale a glorious bloodbath that only QT can deliver. 

6. RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)

Diamond thieves are assembled to pull a heist and things go wrong. This was his smash debut and an excellent showcase of Tarantino’s love of non-traditional storytelling. The movie unfolds in a non-linear fashion; a skill that he would hone throughout his career, and the many twists and turns keeps it interesting and fun. 

5. PULP FICTION (1995)

This Blogger considers PULP FICTION to be the most overrated film of all time (read more on that HERE), but its merits are many. The cast is excellent, the dialogue sharp and witty, and once again the non-traditional, non-linear unfolding of the story is handled with precision. It often feels like three different movies rolled into one with loose connecting threads, but that was the whole idea. It also has one of QT’s best directed and acted scenes; a drug overdose scene with John Travolta and Eric Stoltz that is as funny as it is horrifying. 

4. KILL BILL VOL. 1 (2003)

A former assassin sets out on a bloody rampage of revenge against her old boss and his underlings. Tarantino took two of his favorite genres; the Old West and samurai/kung-fu films, and put together an opus of vengeance. Once again told non-traditionally, it had plenty of clever reveals, strong character work, and fantastic fight scenes. Uma Thurman as The Bride gives her all, and the final fight is a splatterfest which ends in a twist leading to the second chapter which had the biggest surprise of all…

3. JACKIE BROWN (1997)

An airline steward gets caught smuggling dope and cash and schemes her way out of trouble. Sweet and intricate, it’s one-half heist film and one-half hang-out movie, and works very well thanks to Tarantino’s well-crafted dialogue and characters. He sprinkles in a love story with lead actress Pam Grier and supporting actor Robert Forster and finds time to explore people finding love after 40. Much like its characters, JACKIE BROWN gets better with age. 

2. KILL BILL VOL. 2 (2004)

The biggest surprise of QT’s finale to his revenge opus was the shift in tone; where VOL. 1 was a splatterfest of blood and guts, VOL. 2 slowed things down and dug into its characters. Backstories are fleshed out not only for The Bride but for the rest of the underlings and for Bill himself. Sub-plots such as a brother in self-exile are excellent homages to the Old West that don’t get in the way of the story, and the usage of classic Western themes in the soundtrack are perfectly placed. But the real surprise comes late in the film, when The Bride finds out that she has a daughter. The reunion makes for a gasp and a few tears…and for the first time ever Quentin Tarantino makes us really care about his characters. 

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)

An aging action star and his stunt-double wrestle with the future in this loosely-based true story. This is Tarantino’s fairy tale and love letter to cinema, and a movie that he had been working towards his entire career. The 1960’s are brought to life in a way that we just want to wrap ourselves up in it, and his characters, which are usually very cold and distant in his films, are guys and girls that we would love to hang out with. Acting from the ensemble cast, especially Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie is tremendous. And as a treat, its status as a Hollywood fairy tale allows QT to offer a happy ending for the late great Sharon Tate. The bloody conclusion offers an incredibly satisfying end that has us rising out of our seats, and that's what a wiz-kid does best. 

The Films of Quentin Tarantino

1. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
2. KILL BILL VOL. 2 
3. JACKIE BROWN
4. KILL BILL VOL. 1 
5. PULP FICTION
6. RESERVOIR DOGS
7. THE HATEFUL 8
8. DEATH PROOF
9. DJANGO UNCHAINED
10. INGLORIOUS BASTERDS 

A Reel Review: YESTERDAY

Over the years, many movies have been built on the simple question of “what if”; what if a shark terrorized a resort town, what if a local boxer was given the chance to fight the champion, and what if there was a rebellion against an evil galactic empire. For Danny Boyle and his new film YESTERDAY, its a question of what if The Beatles were suddenly gone from history, and can only be remembered by one man…

Jack (Himesh Patel), is a struggling singer and songwriter who gets run over by a bus during a worldwide power outage. When he comes to, he finds that he is the only person who remembers The Beatles, who are suddenly erased from history. Jack begins to re-compose and record their music, which leads him to fame and fortune. 

The bulk of YESTERDAY is spent with Jack struggling with his secret as he finds fame. He skyrockets into the world view as his new songs, Beatles songs that no one has ever heard before in this new reality, become insanely popular. It’s mostly a morality tale and we can see where things are going early, but Boyle finds more to the plot in the form of a love story and a romantic comedy. Jack’s life-long friend and manager Ellie (Lily James), loves him but can never get him to see it…and Jack’s new music career and messed up moral compass are intertwined nicely with his relationship with her. There is a lot of heart to the story, and it’s difficult for any of us to say that we would do things any differently if the chance to take credit for The Beatles’ music were in front of us. 

The simplicity of the story works for and against YESTERDAY. The absence of The Beatles in history should have a massive domino effect on the world, as they clearly influenced future generations of musicians and pop culture. But the film dances around this, and keeps things within Jack’s perimeter only. It makes for an intimate personal story, but it does feel like the larger impact should have been explored more. There are a few surprises here and there; other items from history are missing, and a late twist really complicates Jack’s dilemma of taking all the credit for writing the songs…as he is actually doing the world a favor for bringing this great, lost music back to the world. There is also a late surprise cameo that is sure to take breaths away, and the scene is so good, almost too good, that it feels it should have been longer. 

Performances are fabulous. Himesh Patel does amazing work in singing the songs and wrestling with his quandary. He is matched perfectly with Lily James who turns in one of her best performances. Kate McKinnon pops in as his new manager who is like a Mephistopheles to Jack, and it is one of her better outings on film. Singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran appears as himself and does an okay job. 

YESTERDAY ends just as we would expect it to, but it’s a film that has so much heart and is executed so well that we barely notice its simplicity. It’ll send audiences out of the theatre feeling like a million bucks with an extra spring in their steps…and perhaps inspiring a fresh look at The Beatles’ back catalog. YESTERDAY is a tribute with classic sensibilities, and in the end shows us that love was all that was needed. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it