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Review by Sean Boelman
[From left to right] Joanna Lumley as “Meghan” and Danielle Macdonald as “Millie” in Ben Lewin’s FALLING FOR FIGARO. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.
Danielle Macdonald’s career has (perhaps ironically) come full-circle as she broke out with her starring role in Patti Cake$, an underdog story about an underground musician, and now her newest turn sees her on the opposite end of the musical spectrum. Falling for Figaro is a charming little film, even if its contentment to settle for the tropes can be a bit annoying at times.
The movie follows a successful business woman who decides to drop everything in her life and move to Scotland to compete in a singing competition to become a professional opera singer. It does feel as if this is the type of film that would have been a hit a decade ago, as this type of singing competition was all the rage back then and has since subsided in its popularity. Still, for a movie about a type of performance that is generally considered to be for a niche, upscale audience, the film is surprisingly accessible. The brief hour and forty-five minute runtime flies by, in large part due to the fact that the movie hits only the major beats. The film covers an extensive training process and only shows the viewer minimal details, although that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As one would expect, the message here is the same old “follow your dreams” inspiration that has been done hundreds of times before. This wouldn’t be a problem if everything wasn’t developed to the bare minimum. It’s still a heartwarming and crowd-pleasing movie, but it pulls all of its punches. 
Danielle Macdonald as “Millie” in Ben Lewin’s FALLING FOR FIGARO. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.
Additionally, the character development in the film is frustrating. Although the protagonist has a compelling and fully fleshed-out arc, a lot of the other characters are disappointingly shallow. Everything is set up for her mentor to have some strong growth, but this storyline goes nowhere (perhaps to keep the runtime short). And the “nemesis” turns into a predictable love triangle storyline.
That said, the strength of the movie is in its performances. Macdonald is great in her role, showing that she is able to be really powerful on screen even when the material she is working with is pretty standard. Her chemistry with Joanna Lumley is brilliant, and the moments in which they are together are absolutely the highlights of the film. From a technical standpoint, the movie is rather by-the-book. It would have been nice to see more done in terms of artistry. Even the final competition towards which the entire film is building is rather plain. It’s a bunch of people standing on stage singing (the most well-known opera songs, for that matter), with the camera pointing at them statically. The execution is sorely lacking in energy, but the actors are thankfully able to save it. Falling for Figaro is a very pleasant movie all-around. While it doesn’t break any new cinematic ground, and there are plenty of more memorable films to have done the same thing, strong performances make this worth a go nevertheless. Falling for Figaro hits theaters and VOD on October 1. Rating: 3.5/5
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Review by Dan Skip Allen  To say that the Western genre is full of classics would be an understatement. High Noon, Once Upon a Time in the West, and various Clint Eastwood films including Unforgiven are all among some of the best films ever made. That said, Westerns have been a little hit and miss in the last two decades. Old Henry is a hit by anybody's standards. Tim Blake Nelson plays the lead character. He's a farmer in the midwest with a teenage son who, like most teenagers, thinks he knows everything. While out riding on his land, he finds an injured man lying in a creek bed and a bag of cash. The father and son take the man back to their house to help nurse him back to health. They eventually get him healthy and ask him about who he is. The thing is he's not that trustworthy because men come looking for him. Nelson has had a very fascinating career. He's actually been in a few Westerns before this one. Mostly he plays villains though. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is the film that was his breakout role. He was hilarious in that Coen Brothers film. Recently he was in Just Mercy and he did great in a small role in that film. He has even been in a couple of comic book movies. Maybe his character will come back from The Incredible Hulk. Henry, though, is the best character he ever played.  Old Henry has that Lone Wolf and Cub feeling to it. It reminds me of a few Clint Eastwood films as well as the Christian Bale/Russell Crowe version of 3:10 to Yuma. This old grizzled man mentors a young man. We've seen this before in films. The thing is it's so spot on once again. Nelson is perfect in this role. He even has some secrets that come out by the end of the film. Secrets that even I didn't see coming. I usually snuff out movie secrets because I see so many movies.
With all heroes must also come a villain. And Stephen Dorff plays that baddie in this film. He's a bit subdued but violent when he needs to be. We've seen better villains in westerns in the past. This film isn't about the bad guys, though. It's about Henry and his relationship with his son and the man they saved. The bad guys are a necessary evil of the film. They are there for the violence to take its shape for lack of a better word. Old Henry treads similar ground to a lot of Westerns in the past. The thing that sets this film apart from the others is the performance by Tim Blake Nelson. He gave the performance of his career in the role. The setting and backdrop were pretty cool as well. The director did a very good job fleshing out the characters and their secrets. That helped keep the story flowing nicely even though it was a pretty short film. It flew by in a good way. Old Henry hits theaters and VOD on October 1. Rating: 4/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato  Nothing is more subjective than comedy. That being said, if someone was opposed to the concept of a comedy film where the plot is centered around the COVID-19 pandemic, then that would be fair. Bo Burnham basically made a movie about his time spent during the pandemic and how mentally damaging the experience was. Is it in poor taste or is it timely and relevant? It could go either way, but that’s not the question at hand. The question is: Is Stop and Go good? The film is written by its two main stars Whitney Call and Mallory Everton. It’s also directed by Everton who shared directorial duties with Stephen Meek. Call and Everton are most known for their various roles in the sketch comedy show called Studio C. The two ladies play sisters who go on a road trip during the pandemic to save their at-risk grandmother from getting COVID at her nursing home. Along the way, they goof around with each other and text some guy one of them hooked up with right before the pandemic started. It goes without saying that the two leads have chemistry. They've been working together for about a decade, so they better have chemistry. That’s not the problem. The problem is that they are not funny. Making funny faces is good if you’re Jim Carrey or if your audience is just small children, but here it was just annoying. It’s interesting that the two leads wrote the script because it would not be surprising to find out that there was no script. They probably just wrote a loose outline of the plot and thought they would be funny enough to improvise the whole movie in the car. The nicest way to say that the movie is not funny is by looking at the genres on IMDb. It’s listed as a drama and nothing else. That’s fair.  The plot is also terrible. There’s little to none character or plot resolution that could be considered satisfying. Remember the movie Locke starring Tom Hardy? The movie where a man is in a car on the phone for 90 minutes. This movie is very reminiscent of that as so much of it is just them sitting in the car. It's the easiest type of movie to film: just them goofing off with each other in the car. Nothing happens. There’s a kid taking care of their mice and some guy is accidentally sending pictures of his junk to one of the girls. That is the entire second act of the movie. None of it is funny. The only interesting part about the story is how it portrays the fear and confusion associated with living through the beginning of the pandemic. Disinfecting the groceries? That one hit home. Relatives who think it's all a hoax? That one might be too soon.
Overall, it’s harmless. There’s nothing really offensive in regards to the story being about the pandemic. It’s a thing that happened and changed everything forever. Of course there are going to be movies about it. To answer the question, it’s not a good movie. The humor is annoying, the plot barely exists, and the setting will just remind you how everything sucks. If you’re going to watch this movie, wear a mask so you can use it to cover your eyes and take a nap. Stop and Go hits theaters and VOD on October 1. Rating: 1/5
Review by Sean Boelman
James Bond (Daniel Craig) prepares to shoot in NO TIME TO DIE, an EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios film. Credit: Nicola Dove.
The newest James Bond film was one of the first to be delayed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is finally making its way to theaters after a year and a half of being delayed. The question that most viewers will be asking is whether No Time to Die was worth the wait, and the answer is mostly a no.
The movie follows James Bond who, having retired from service, is pulled back into action when an old friend comes knocking asking him to thwart a conspiracy involving a dangerous new weapon and unexpected connections to his past. In terms of story, it’s an old-school 007 thriller, the legendary superspy fighting against a villain with big ideas but questionable methods. Perhaps the thing working the most against this film is its massive runtime. It clocks in at two hours and forty-three minutes, a full fifteen minutes longer than the previous longest entry, Spectre, which was criticized for having too much dead space. Although the story here is a lot more refined and deliberate, it still has some weak portions. It’s interesting to see the franchise take a more character-driven route in this entry. This is undoubtedly the most vulnerable we have seen Bond yet, and it’s a good look for the character. Of course, we get to see the normal swagger and strength, but the script peels that back, which combined with Craig’s best performance ever in the role, makes it all the more compelling. 
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) drive through Matera, Italy in NO TIME TO DIE, an EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios film. Credit: Nicola Dove.
On the other hand, the villain in the movie is highly disappointing. Having a recent Academy Award winner in Rami Malek seemed like a good idea on paper, but his performance here just comes across as unnatural. Javier Bardem and Cristoph Waltz were highlights of their respective films as villains, but Malek’s turn will simply be forgettable.
As always, the movie has a message to go along with its villain, and it’s very obvious what it is from the beginning. However, this isn’t very distinctive in the Bond franchise or the espionage genre as a whole. The part that is more interesting is Bond’s personal arc, coming to terms with his past. It’s not always fully developed, but it poses some interesting questions. From a technical level, the film isn’t as gorgeous as the Mendes entries, as director Cary Joji Fukunaga brings a much grittier style. The action is pretty straightforward, and while it is still exciting enough to be fun, it lacks that creative energy that would have made it stand out. And of course, Billie Eilish’s title sequence song is great. No Time to Die is definitely a very interesting and different entry into a long-running franchise, but its attempts to blend old and new don’t always pay off. Still, it’s a mostly satisfying conclusion to Daniel Craig’s run in the lead role, and it should definitely be praised for its ambition. No Time to Die hits theaters on October 8. Rating: 4/5
Review by Dan Skip Allen
HBO hit the jackpot when David Chase came to them with the idea of a gang boss who has everyday problems and family issues. The show won many, many awards for its cast, and the producers, directors, and writers. It ushered in a new era in television watching. It may have coined the phrase appointment TV, where everybody tunes in each week without fail to see the next episode and talk about it at work the next day at the water cooler.
When Chase came back to them with the idea of a prequel movie to show how all these characters became who they were in The Sopranos, of course, they jumped on the idea. It was a no-brainer to greenlight a movie based on these widely popular characters that have been gone from the public consciousness for about a decade or so. Chase's career after The Sopranos is a bit spotty, but he knows this world and those within it very vividly. The Many Saints of Newark takes place in the tumultuous times of the late '60s and early '70s when the country was at a turning point. This era was a powder keg. The film focuses on a character not seen in the show Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola, The Art of Self Defense), the uncle of young Anthony "Tony" Soprano (Michael Gandolfini and William Ludwig). Other prominent actors playing roles in the film are Ray Liotta, Leslie Odom Jr., Cory Stoll, Vera Farmiga, and Jon Bernthal. They play various family members and acquaintances as well as enemies in the film. Besides being a coming-of-age story for young Tony, it's also a true-to-life gangster picture. Chase set the stage for the show perfectly, introducing many of the characters we already know from the show as well as ones we hadn't been introduced to yet but heard about on the show. It was the perfect way to bring older viewers who were already familiar with the characters back into the fold. The problem is if you weren't familiar with the show, it would be a little confusing. That's where the actual gangster plot comes in. The film stands on its own in that aspect. It's a very engaging gangster film and Dickie is a worthwhile lead character. 
(L-r) COREY STOLL as Junior Soprano, unnamed extra, VERA FARMIGA as Livia Soprano, JON BERNTHAL as Johnny Soprano, MICHAEL GANDOLFINI as Teenage Tony Soprano, GABRIELLA PIAZZA as Joanne Moltisanti and ALESSANDRO NIVOLA as Dickie Moltisanti in New Line Cinema and Home Box Office’s mob drama “THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Barry Wetcher.
The film has a narrator to bring the viewers into the world once again or for the first time. A crane shot moves the camera over a graveyard and various characters speak as it passes their tombstones. It finally settles on the gravestone of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli). From this point on, he narrates the film. This is an effective method of explaining what's going on for the viewers who aren't familiar with this world or its characters.
Chase weaved in subplots for those long-time fans of the show. Those were moments that made me happy because I liked how these characters were left so we then can see them picked up on the show. Especially young Tony and Junior Soprano. Their arcs in the film were very satisfying indeed. Seeing where Chase left them off almost made me want to go home and start watching the show from the very beginning once again. This was a very satisfying ending to the film. The production value of the film was great. I felt like I was back in that period with the clothes, cars, and hairstyles the women wore. The storefronts were right out of the period as well. It reminded me of other classic gangster films such as Goodfellas. I always worry when my hype for a film outweighs the actual product that comes out. The anticipation of this film was worth the wait, though. For me, it brought me back into the world of these characters and created a new enthusiasm for these new characters. This movie comes full circle and I can't be happier. That being said, it's a little too niche for casual viewers. They should be able to follow it through, even if they probably won't know all the stuff big fans will know. The Many Saints of Newark hits theaters and HBO Max on October 1. Rating: 4/5 |