The new movies this week include several that are wonderful and some that are huge, but I also have to admit one that I have covered before.
Kímmapiiyipitssini: the meaning of empathy is a moving and thoughtful documentary on the current drug overdose crisis. It is from Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, a promising and talented filmmaker. He shows a more compassionate way of dealing with victims that his mother, a medical doctor, introduced in southern Alberta when modeling the Vancouver approach. I gave the film 4 stars when it was screened at the DOXA festival. Now he’s back at the Vancity Theater. Look at the notes here.
And read about these here …
Eternals: 3 stars
Red Notice: 4
End of the river: 3½
13 minutes: 2½
ETERNAL: Chloé Zhao won a pair of Oscars for Nomadland and critical praise for The horseman, both quiet and character-driven dramas. So what is he doing directing and co-writing a Marvel movie? She says that she has long been a fan of science fiction and anime and wanted to give a superhero movie a more human touch. That’s exactly where she falls short here. It’s not his fault, really. There are too many characters to introduce: 10 of them, with little time to get to know them. Plus, there’s a lot of backstory to tell. The result is a movie that is too long and feels like this.
The history of the comics written by Jack Kirby has a complex mythology about space beings, perhaps gods, who thousands of years ago sent a band of superheroes to protect the Earth from malevolent beings called Deviants. The Eternals drove them away, withdrew but stayed and reunited when the creatures reappeared. Kirby imagined them as beings with an agenda. In the movie, they are just hungry monsters. The Eternals have individual powers to fight them. Thena (Angelina Jolie) creates a sword out of nothing; Ikaris (Richard Madden) shoots lasers out of his eyes, Kingo (Kumail Nanjiani) shoots fireballs (and became a Bollywood star during downtime). And so on. There is a debate about the rules by which they are governed. Eternals cannot interfere in human affairs. Humans must learn from their mistakes, they are told. That main theme is soon interrupted by the great battle ahead. The story is confusing, but the movie is a visual treat and has a couple of firsts for Marvel, a sex scene, and a gay character. (Fifth Avenue, Scotiabank, Marine Gateway, and suburban theaters). 3 of 5
RED NOTICE: Three of the biggest movie stars right now in a Netflix movie? And get a very limited early turnout in theaters? What’s up with that? COVID-19, that is. Delayed twice from last year, picked up by Netflix, and now on some big screens, this is a comedic game with no deeper purpose than good old fun. Ryan Reynolds, a huge fan favorite, Dwayne Johnson, the top earner, and Gal Gadot, the Wonder Woman, get tangled up in some kind of jewelry heist prank. Dwayne is an FBI agent who hunts down Ryan and Gal, who are jewel thieves competing to be proclaimed the best in the world.
The movie imagines three sets of egg-shaped jewels that Anthony gave to Cleopatra, a Middle Eastern potentate who wants them all to appear at his daughter’s wedding, and our three characters trying to find them, with an Interpol agent (Ritu Arya) watching them. Two eggs are found; The third party’s whereabouts are unknown (except for Gadot’s character) and persecution, competition, and betrayal are underway. The movie takes on a goofy tone and huge momentum early on and never stops. There is a lot of ingenuity. Ryan and Dwayne exchange hilarious responses and Gal is spared one of the best threats ever: “And I also know your browser history.” Rumor has it that the movie cost $ 200 million. It seems that this may be true. (Vancity, and four times in Hollywood, plus theaters in the suburbs and around BC) 4 of 5
SPENCER: Kristen Stewart isn’t the first person I envision playing Lady Diana, but she’s absolutely believable in the role. He has the accent, the look quite often, and a sense of loneliness that is very poignant. She’s almost an outsider when the royal family gathers for a Christmas weekend on a massive estate in Norfolk. Charles is distant to her; The Queen is uncommitted, and Camilla, seen across the party room, is sneaky. A security assistant with a military background (Timothy Spall) is there to keep an eye on Diana and constantly remind her of the rules of protocol. She has also chosen dresses for herself for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. His discomfort is palpable as he grows older.
This is the weekend that Diana decided to rebel and give up her marriage and the overwhelming rules of royalty. The film shows that progression strongly, although it is a question how much do you imagine. He hugs a scarecrow in a field because he reminds him of his father. She sneaks into the abandoned house next door because she grew up there and imagines scenes of herself as a child. It’s a different image of Diana than all those television movies gave us. His psychological state is adrift. She is in a bad mood and misbehaves. She imagines Ana Bolena as a confidante and herself as a victim. Pablo Larraín’s film is almost surreal, more of an impression than a real image. Naturally. Much of this is conjecture. You’ll find heartbreaking and comic elements here, making this movie uneven, yet well presented. (International Village, Fifth Avenue and some suburban theaters). 3 of 5
ONLY ANIMALSHere is a movie that you can fully enjoy, especially if you like riddles and mysteries. It’s built so cleverly that it’s sure to grab you. In the center is a missing woman in cold, snowy, rural France. What happened to him is revealed little by little through the stories of other people. It’s a bit like the classic Rashomon where different people have different interpretations of the same events. Here, people have only a small connection, some have just crossed paths with the main story. Big or small, the evidence accumulates.
It is difficult to tell more because the pleasure is in watching the story unfold. No spoilers, but keep in mind that the woman is the wife of a city businessman visiting an agricultural region. There is a waitress, a lonely farmer, a waitress, a social worker having an affair, her husband surfing the Internet, and a PC user in Africa who delights his friends with his surfing. A gendarme investigates and the television has reports from time to time. How are all of these connected? Brilliant by director and co-writer Dominik Moll. Based on a novel. (Vancity Theater.) 4½ of 5
LOTUSLAND: High house prices in Vancouver, a crisis for some, have been well covered by the newspapers for several years. If you’ve read them, you won’t find much new in this documentary. If not, this is a pretty good overview, as told by many of the common voices. Jim Pattison says Asian buyers discovered us after Expo86. Ian Young from South China Morning Post He says that many came by devious means and some were dirty. Shachi Kurl of the Angus Reid Institute reports what people have told their pollsters, that they are discounted and “miserable.” Attorney General David Eby says something needs to be done about it.
The movie puts most of the blame on foreign money and quite a bit on money laundering, which it says has added $ 30,000 to the cost of a home. It allows people to blame Ottawa and hardly mentions the role of Vancouver. The city welcomed foreign money and allowed huge houses to be built that no one can afford. Now he wants apartment buildings on residential streets. A real estate agent says build, build. But a Chinatown activist says: Why build more houses that people can’t buy? Attila Luca’s film covers all angles, but in doing so, it ends without a perceptible attitude of its own. Saturday’s screening includes a panel discussion that could add something. (Vancity Theater.) 2½ of 5
END OF THE RIVER: This is a documentary with a bite. It’s about California, it claims to be relevant around the world, and even with doubts about it, it sends a powerful message. Water is an endangered resource, he says, in large part because, as the sunny state shows, competing interests are after it. The movie explains the water fight that was shown in the 1974 movie. Chinatown. In that movie, Los Angeles draws water from an agricultural area further inland. It’s happening again, but this time in a region near San Francisco, where two rivers feed a delta and agriculture has thrived for decades.
There is a plan to build a tunnel and channel the water south to Los Angeles. The film speaks for the farms and salmon in the waterway to the Pacific and the whales that feed on them. FOX News mocked activists for putting “two-inch fish” on people, and Donald Trump repeated the same thing. The film covers much more, including the power agricultural interests wield to obtain water. Almond growers are among the pickiest users and anyone buying California produce – basically most of us – should be interested. (Available on demand on Apple TV / iTunes and other platforms). 3½ of 5
13 MINUTES: That’s the amount of time four families in Oklahoma have to take shelter when a giant tornado hits. But it takes almost an hour to get to this movie, so authentic are the filmmakers they try to be. They are trying to keep things exciting and first let us meet the people who are going to be impressed by it. Focusing on how you impact real people is an admirable goal, but it cuts off the emotions. And why is this the time for a young man to finally tell his parents that he is gay? Why is it the time for a young woman to tell her boyfriend that she is pregnant and he replies that he does not want to have anything to do with the baby because he is married and already has two children? There is also the wife of an undocumented immigrant and a much more relevant partner, a television meteorologist and his emergency response wife.
Director Lindsay Gossling and co-writer Travis Farncombe are Canadian. He’s a longtime storm chaser himself and that adds to the authenticity here. They filmed in an Oklahoma city known for tornadoes. And when the storm finally arrives, it is terrifying with its power and destruction. But then it was gone, like they were real tornadoes. The film is educational in showing both the mistakes and the successes people make. Good intentions. Regular movie. (International Village and Cineplex Langley, with video-on-demand streaming available November 19) 2½ of 5
Reference-www.nationalobserver.com