A Complete Unknown

Posted on December 25, 2024 at 9:00 am

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for language
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking, and marijuana
Violence/ Scariness:	References to war, some scuffles
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 13, 2024

“A Complete Unknown” is the story of Bob Dylan’s early years in New York, based on Elijah Wald’s book Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties. It begins with Dylan’s first stop after he arrives from Minnesota, a visit to see Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who was paralyzed and unable to speak, with Huntington’s disease. Guthrie has another visitor, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton, capturing Seeger’s nerdy, generous, gentle optimism). Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) takes out his guitar to play a song he wrote in tribute to Guthrie. The two folk singers are impressed. We then follow the 21-year-old singer/songwriter as he creates some of the century’s most groundbreaking and influential music while mistreating most of the people around him, until he creates a near-riot at the Newport Folk Festival by plugging in his guitar and “going electric.”

Biographical films, especially those about musicians, tend to have the same format, as so devastatingly destroyed in the parody “Walk Hard.” There’s the precocity and one or two formative childhood experiences, then the moment someone on the board in the recording studio says, “Hey, wait, this kid can play/sing!” Success, setback, moments of inspiration, fights with managers/bandmates/romantic partners, often a descent into drugs and/or alcohol, various breakups, possibly a health crisis, and then either an early death or some kind of rebound.

Wisely, this film, from director James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks, avoids most of the cliches, and makes no kind of effort to understand or reveal the inner workings of the famously inscrutable Dylan. The title of the film, of course taken from the lyrics of “Like a Rolling Stone,” applies to its subject. It is not that the movie tries and fails to help us understand Bob Dylan; on the contrary, it recognizes that Dylan defies that kind of simplification. And that he doesn’t need it and we should not attempt it. Anything we need to know is in the songs.

And so, this movie does give us the songs, full performances with Chalamet’s singing close enough to Dylan’s voice in the 60s, and perhaps with just a bit more lyrical clarity and tunefulness. The movie thus seems like one brilliant song after another, with interludes of Dylan being a terrible boyfriend. For the fans of Dylan the icon as well as Dylan the musician, there are several well-known highlights of his biography, like encounters with other future luminaries. Joan Baez is played with verve and a sweet, clear singing voice by Monica Barbaro, but with no sense of the complexity and conflicts portrayed in the recent documentary . The most amusing is Boyd Holbrook as a young Johnny Cash, who exchanges supportive letters with Dylan and, when they finally meet at Newport, encourages him to “muddy the carpet,” and stir up some trouble. Elle Fanning plays Sylvie, a character based on Suze Rotolo, the young woman pictured holding Dylan’s arm on the cover of his Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan record. She is credited with exposing Dylan to social activism. She tells him songs should be about more than Johnny Appleseed and the Dust Bowl, but Fanning’s scenes are mostly about being disappointed at what a bad boyfriend Dylan is.

At first, Dylan says all he wants is to be a musician and eat. But then he gets successful. He feels oppressed and under pressure. The fans want him to stay the same. He wants to try new ideas. More than that, he does not want to be told what not to do. He gets more reserved, more internal. but his hair keeps getting fuzzier.

The best scene in the movie is when Pete Seeger is hosting his low-key public access television show. He thought Dylan, by then very famous and very busy, was not going to show up. He invited a back-up guest, a Black folk musician. Dylan does show up. Another performer might have apologized and taken over or just rescheduled and allowed the substitute musician to play. But Dylan lights up at the prospect of jamming with him. He starts to play. Seeger joins in. It is the most illuminating, touching, and engaging moment in the movie.

Parents should know that this film includes some strong language, drinking, constant smoking, and marijuana. There are some unhappy confrontations and references to wartime violence.

Family discussion: Was Dylan right about what people wanted to hear when they asked where the songs come from? Which song means the most to you and why? Was he wrong to play electric music at a folk festival? Why did he do it?

If you like this, try: the classic documentary about Bob Dylan during these years, “Don’t Look Back” and a later documentary, Bob Dylan–The Never-Ending Narrative

Mufasa: The Lion King

Posted on December 19, 2024 at 1:35 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for action/violence, peril and some thematic elements
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Characters in peril, flood, animal fights, references to predators, some injured and killed, attacks by predators, some disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	A metaphorical theme of the movie
Date Released to Theaters:	December 20, 2024

On the 30th anniversary of “The Lion King,” Disney tells the story of Simba’s father and uncle, how they met and grew up together, considering themselves brothers, and the betrayals that tore them apart. This version is “live action,” meaning not traditional animation but realistic CGI so that we can see every detail of fur and landscape. The action and drama is punctuated with songs (Lin-Manuel Miranda taking over from Elton John) and some silly humor to sweeten the tension.

The frame story is set as an adult Simba (Donald Glover) and Nala (Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) have a daughter Kiara (Ivy Blue Carter). As a storm comes up, Kiara is scared. Her mother is away and her father leaves her with old friends the warthog Pumbaa and the meerkat Timon (Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner repeating their roles from the 2019 “live action” “Lion King”). Rafiki (John Kani, also returning from the 2019 version) tries to comfort Kiara by telling her the story of the grandfather she never got to meet, Mufasa. (The movie is dedicated to the original voice of Mufasa, the late James Earl Jones.)

Like Kiara, Mufasa was once a young cub afraid of storms. And like Kiara, he had loving parents, Masego (Keith David) and Afia (Anika Noni Rose, already Disney royalty as the voice of Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog). The area they live in has not had rain in many months and the land is parched. They decide to go in search of Milele, a land they believe is filled with lush growth and peaceful animals. On the way there, a storm creates a flood and the young cub is separated from his parents.

He is spotted by Taka, a cub his age with an English accent (remember, in the original film, Scar was played by Jeremy Irons, “brother” to American-accented Mufasa). Taka fishes Mufasa out of the water and brings him home. Taka’s father, Obasi (Lennie James) wants to eat Mufasa. He has a firm rule against outsiders. But Taka’s mother, Eshe (Thandiwe Newton) is a warm, loving, generous soul and Taka wants a “brother.” Obasi gives Mufasa a chance. If he can beat Taka in a race, he can stay. Taka allows him to win, knowing that Obasi will judge him harshly for losing. Obasi grudgingly allows Mufasa to stay, but treats him as “other” and less than by ordering him to stay away from the male lions. This allows Eshe to teach him to hunt the way the lionesses do. They become very close. Mufasa (as an near-adult lion voiced by Aaron Pierre ) has an exceptional sense of smell that allows him to identify animals and their environments even if they are far away.

Obasi’s lions are attacked by a group of pale, ghost-like lions led by Kiros (Mads Mikkelsen). Knowing they cannot survive, Obasi and Eshe send Taka (now voiced by Kelvin Harrison, Jr.) and Mufasa away, making Mufasa promise that he will protect his friend.

The two young lions have many adventures along the way. They are joined by Sarabi (Tiffany Boone), an independent female lion with a lookout bird named Zazu (Preston Nyman) and Rafiki, a wise mandrill (frequently mistaken by the other characters for a baboon). The group learns to trust and rely on each other. But Taka begins to develop feelings of resentment and jealousy.

The movie looks beautiful and the CGI allows more expressiveness than the 2019 “Lion King” remake. The songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda are not his best. They are placed at points that evoke comparisons to Elton John’s music at similar moments in the original film and the remake. The framing story, with an elderly Rafiki telling Kiara about her grandfather, is sometimes jarringly different in tone, with Timon and Pumbaa making meta jokes. I mean, a joke about getting a call from legal for using too much from a song in the earlier film? Who is that for? And since Disney owns both properties, who is going to argue about intellectual property rights being violated? At least this time they acknowledge that predators are better off than prey. That jump from the cliff moment is awfully similar to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” There are touching moments, but a lot of loss (even with much of it delicately off-screen) for young children.

I’m losing count of how many prequel/sequel/origin stories I’ve seen this year: “Furiosa,” “Wicked,” “Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim,” “Gladiator 2,” “Transformers One.” It is hard to think of these films as anything more than fan service and brand extension. “Mufasa” is fine and most families will be satisfied. But the jubilant imagination that went into the original, make this one look as pale as Kiros.

Parents should know that this film has a lot of peril and many animals are injured and killed, mostly off-screen. Characters are caught in a flood, and a young cub is separated from his parents, who are assumed to have died. A lion speaks of eating outsiders and is bigoted of those who are not of his blood. A male cub is punished by being forced to stay with the females.

Family discussion: How were Taka and Mufasa different? Why did Taka want to change his name?

If you like this, try: the earlier “Lion King” movies and the very cute “Lion King 1 1/2”

My Top Ten Films of 2024 (and Some More)

Posted on December 14, 2024 at 9:54 pm

In alphabetical order:
“The Brutalist” – Grand in scope but sensitive to the smallest moments, it has thoughtful looks at pride, art, trauma, and the places we create for home, worship, and work.
“Conclave” – An arresting combination of visual splendor, thrilling performances, the beats of a door-slamming farce, and serious, dramatic engagement with issues of honor, faith, and leadership.
“Inside Out 2”– There is so much wisdom about how even our most painful and fearful emotions can help keep us safe, and of course so much charm, with endearing characters and imaginative settings.
“Mountains” – This low-budget indie has sensitive performances, nuanced characters, gorgeous cinematography, and an insightful, layered story about gentrification, assimilation, and family.
“My Old Ass” – I was not expecting the emotional wallop at the end of a story about a teenager who meets her future self, but by the time it ended, it felt exactly right.
“A Real Pain” – Writer/director/star Jesse Eisenberg gave Kieran Culkin the showier role, and he gives one of the best performance of the year. But what stays with me is Eisenberg’s speech about Culkin’s character that is at the heart of a film about individual and generational pain and the connections that help us bear it.
“September 5” – Mr. Rogers told us to look for the helpers when tragedy strikes. This tightly scripted, superbly acted and edited story of sports journalists who never anticipated they would be covering a terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics, is a welcome reminder of how lucky we are to have people of courage and integrity to report the news.
“Thelma” – The most lovable underdog story of the year is this heartwarming film about an elderly woman who takes on a scammer.
“Touch” – This is the tenderest of love stories, stretching over oceans and half a century, beautifully filmed.
“Wicked” – The biggest of Hollywood musical extravaganzas is wildly entertaining but keeps the focus where it belongs, on two characters who remind us that no one is all good or all bad.

Other movies I loved this year: “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “Emilia Perez,” “The Fall Guy,” “Flow,” “Fly Me to the Moon,” “Hard Truths,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Sing Sing,” “The Wild Robot,” “Wolfs”

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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Posted on December 12, 2024 at 5:43 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for strong violence
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended fantasy and action violence, scary animals, swords, fire, characters injured and killed
Diversity Issues:	Strong, fierce female characters
Date Released to Theaters:	December 13, 2024

“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” takes us back to Middle Earth, nearly 200 years before the adventures of the Bagginses and the Fellowship of the Ring. For those whose reaction to this IP brand extension is, “Great! I can’t wait to learn more about the stories behind the story and feel satisfaction when familiar places and characters are name-checked,” this animated story, produced by LOTR director Peter Jackson, will be welcome.

Fans of animation with a taste for anime style, are likely to find this a disappointment. While our heroine, Hèra (Gaia Wise) has big, sometimes expressive anime eyes, the overall style of the animation here is, in a year that included “The Wild Robot,” “Flow,” and “Inside Out 2,” disappointing. Many of the backgrounds are detailed and dimensional, some almost photographic, while the characters and animals are flat and minimalist. Their interactions with the environment seem weightless, any sense of heaviness or the impact of a punch or a fall coming more from the sound effects than the visuals.

Ancillary stories that spring like tree branches from beloved sources have to succeed as independent, stand-alone stories, and this one does not. The Lord of the Rings sagas, books and movies are memorable because of the compelling characters and storylines. The details of the world of hobbits, elves, orcs, ents, and a dragon, not to mention a complete language, are imaginative, but it is the themes of honor, purpose, and loyalty that make them beloved by generations. The characters and storylines here are close to generic.

King Helm Hammerhand of Rohan (Brian Cox of “Succession” and “Manhunter”) is a warrior by nature, physically and politically powerful ruler, generally fair-minded, though he underestimates his “wild, headstrong” daughter, Hèra in favor of his two sons. At a gathering of the noblemen, Freca (Shaun Dooley) barges in, demanding that Hèra marries his son Wulf (Luca Pasqualino) so they can take over the kingdom. Wulf and Hèra played together as children and she still feels warmly toward him. But she insists that she has no interest in marrying anyone. Helm and Freca get into a fistfight, and with one mighty punch Helm knocks Freca down, killing him. Helm banishes Wulf.

Wulf all but disappears and they hear nothing more from him for a few years until he returns, with an army, to capture Hèra and attack Rohan. This means a lot of battles, with just-passable animation and discussions of battle strategy with mostly passable dialogue. This movie never convinces us that there is a reason to make it, and that means there is only reason to watch it for those who will perk up at the mention of familiar places and characters.

Parents should know that this is a very violent film with many battle scenes and a few graphic and disturbing images including dead animals and a severed arm. A young man sees his father killed in a fight and a young woman sees her brother murdered. Characters are killed sacrificing themselves for others.

Family discussion: Why didn’t Helm listen to Hèra? Why were Wulf and Freca so angry and resentful? What was the scariest part?

If you like this, try: the “Lord of the Rings” books and movies

Kraven the Hunter

Posted on December 12, 2024 at 5:41 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R for strong bloody violence and language
Profanity:	Some strong language, f-words
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Alcohol, potions
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended and graphic action and comic book style violence with disturbing and bloody images, knives, poison darts, bombs, fire, guns, bear traps, spears
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	December 13, 2024

Another day, another second or third-level Marvel character “from the Spider-Man universe” given main character energy as Sony makes sure it takes every possible advantage of the contractual carve-out that gives it a small piece of the Marvel universe that isn’t run by Kevin Feige and Disney. The best I can say is that “Kraven the Hunter” is a bit better than the dismal “Madame Web” and less goofy than Tom Hardy’s “Venom: The Last Dance.”

This is the sixth of the Sony films about ancillary Spider-Man characters, the longest (2 hours, 7 minutes), and the first to be rated R.

The rating is primarily for extended bloody violence, as indicated by the poster showing Kraven’s face with specks of blood (not his) and the sobriquet “Hunter.” In the comics, he hunts Spidey because he wants to test himself against the most challenging prey. That character is inspired by Richard Connell’s short story about hunting humans, “The Most Dangerous Game.” But this movie is an origin story, and Kraven hunts bad guys.

It opens in present day, where a bus is taking men in chains to a remote Russian prison. We see the man we will come to know as Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) holding his meager bedding as he enters his cell. An extremely tough-looking guy watches him enter, then says, “I do not like roommates.” Kraven tells him that he will be gone within three days; if not, his cellmate can hit him. Kraven stays long enough to kill another prisoner, one of those still-running-the-crime-syndicate-from-prison kingpins. And then he escapes, automatic weapon bullets all around him as he races to catch the plane that was sent for him.

Flashback to 16 years earlier. Teenage Sergei Kravinoff (Levi Miller) and his half-brother Dimitri (Billy Barrett) are attending a posh boarding school in upstate New York when they are told their father has come to pick them up. He is Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), a powerful crime boss and the embodiment of toxic masculinity. He abruptly tells the boys that Sergei’s mother has committed suicide because she was “weak” and disturbed. There will be no funeral; instead he is taking his sons on a safari, so they can prove their manhood by killing dangerous animals.

Nikolai teaches his sons that the only things that matter are strength and power; they must never show weakness or fear. Sergei, who is brave and thoughtful, tries to protect his sensitive and vulnerable younger brother. When a legendary lion many hunters have failed to kill approaches them, Sergei puts himself in danger and is fatally mauled. But he is found by Calypso, a young girl on a photo safari with her parents. Her grandmother, a tarot card reader with some mystical power, had just given Calypso a vial with a potion that can “heal someone in undreamed ways.” She pours it into Sergei’s mouth and later, at the hospital, after he is pronounced dead he suddenly recovers. Between the potion and the lion’s blood that dripped into his wound, Sergei now has the powers of the world’s apex predators.

Yes, this is a superhero story about daddy issues. Nickolai is a narcissist who belittles everyone around him, including his sons and also some random guy named Aleksei Sytsevich (Alessandro Nivola) who tagged along on the safari in hopes of persuading Nickolai to allow him to be a part of all the criming. We will see him again later. When Nickolai tells Sergei he is taking him into the family business, Sergei runs away, leaving his brother behind.

Sergei becomes Kraven, living in a remote Russian forest on property once owned by his mother’s family. And he becomes a hunter, trying to balance his father’s ruthless brutality by taking out bad guys. He tracks down Calypso (Ariana DeBose), now an American lawyer working in London to thank her for saving his life and ask for her help in locating some bad guys. And then Dimitri is kidnapped, and Nickolai refuses to pay the ransom, because it will make him look weak.

All of this is just a light framework for a lot of impressive stunts. Kraven is old-school, so while people are shooting at him, he is using spears, knives, poison darts, and bear traps. At least the action scenes relieve us from the clunky dialogue and bad accents.

Parents should know that this is a very violent movie with constant action and comic-book-style chases and fight scenes and many graphic and disturbing images. A teenager gets mauled by a lion. There is a very unsympathetic discussion of suicide. Weapons include machine guns and rifles, spears, knives, poison darts, bear traps, and bombs. Characters drink alcohol and use some strong language.

Family discussion: Why did Sergei and Dimitri respond so differently to their father? What were Kraven’s strengths as a hunter? What mistakes did he make?

If you like this, try; “The Most Dangerous Game” and Taylor-Johnson’s “Bullet Train” and “Kick-Ass”