Review by Dan Skip Allen Death can lead to drastically different reactions within the family structure. The Adults is a film that deals with various family issues after the death of a loved one, and is maybe one of the best movies I've seen about this topic in recent years. Eric (Michael Cera, known primarily as a comedic actor), returns home to where he grew up to visit his sisters and find a poker game to play in. What he finds when he gets there is one sister, Rachel (Hannah Gross), who has had a hard time dealing with the loss of their mother, and another sister Maggie (Sophia Lillis, from the It franchise), who is glad to see her brother and get some quality time with him. The director/writer of this film, Dustin Guy Defa, creates a terrific dynamic between these three siblings. Even though they haven't seen each other for three years, they fall back into many things they did together when they were younger, like singing and making up goofy creative songs or creating characters and voice impressions. These can mask how these people actually feel at times, and it is not fun when they get into arguments using these voice impressions, but they do work as a way to get anger or other emotions of disappointment out. There are deep-seated emotions that have been locked away for quite a while, especially for Gross’s character. She holds resentment towards her brother, who left and didn't call or visit for so long. She even held on to the family home, which is something of a bone of contention between them. Lillis’s character tries to be a peacekeeper, but she is in her own world of what her life holds for herself because she made a decision that didn't make her brother happy. These siblings are as realistic as I've seen written lately by any screenwriter. There is a subplot in the movie that takes up a lot of time, and that is that Cera has an ulterior motive for coming home besides visiting his two sisters. He's looking for a poker game. He finds one, and once he gets his head into the world of gambling, he can't stop thinking about it. He is very set on getting back to another game, and even postpones his flight a few times to play high-leverage games. Cera has a history with poker, as he was in Molly's Game, where he played a fictional version of Tobey Maguire. So this subplot had to interest him in the script when he read it. He's good at playing this type of character.
As someone with three siblings, I can say some of the dialogue and plot are very good. The story is very realistic toward families and siblings, but that is not the only thing that is good about this film. The cinematography is beautiful at times. The director takes moments off from the tension to showcase various locations in and around where this movie was made, and it's good as a respite for the dramatic sequences between the three siblings and the poker games. I was instantly enthralled by the look of the film from the beginning. The Adults might not be the most accessible film for everybody, but for me it was very realistic in its portrayals of these three siblings. They all had their moments to shine within the script, and the direction and writing by Defa is some of the best this year. If viewers want a story about real people, this is it. I was completely invested in this family and their story through the good moments and the bad. The Adults hits theaters on August 18. Rating: 4/5
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Review by Dan Skip Allen Frankenstein is one of my favorite horror movies. It was so popular back in the day it spawned a sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein, also directed by James Whale. It was a film that, when I watched it, made me think that maybe people could come back from the dead. And then of course, many years later, George A. Romero started the zombie genre with Night of the Living Dead. Then I forgot all about that thought I had about people coming back from the dead. That is until I saw birth/rebirth. This movie brought back the science of bringing people back from the dead in a realistic way. It focuses on a morgue technician and a nurse who is the mother of a little girl. They are both dedicated to their jobs at the same hospital in different ways. The mother, played by Judy Reyes, works a lot and leaves her daughter with the neighbor across the hall. When a tragedy happens and the little girl dies of bacterial meningitis, it tears her apart. When the body ends up in the morgue, the doctor in charge played by Marin Ireland takes the opportunity to try an experiment on the child, which has some interesting results. This film has a realistic take on a horrifying story. When I saw The Bride of Frankenstein, it threw me for a loop, but birth/rebirth was very dark in its science and the way these two women handled this situation. They do things no medical personnel should ever do in their careers. They comprise their Hippocratic oath for the sake of personal and scientific gain. This film tries to say a mother would do anything for a child, but I think there is a line they wouldn't cross. The two main actresses are very believable in their roles as a doctor and nurse. All the various medical jargon is used in a real way. I felt like these women knew what they were talking about, even when they were doing questionable things, like ordering the wrong tests or stealing things from the hospital they work for. These women did an exceptional job.
Director/writer Laura Moss creates an atmosphere full of anxiety and suspicion. That's the scariest part about birth/rebirth. There are many kinds of horror movies, and this is one of the scariest I've seen because it could actually happen someday. The two main actresses Reyes and Ireland were very believable in their roles. They actually made me scared because of what they were doing and could potentially do if this was a real situation. This movie built suspense until it got completely batshit crazy, and it’s effective as a result. birth/rebirth hits theaters on August 18. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Coming-of-age films come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them are better than others, though. Miguel Wants to Fight isn't one of the best coming of age films I've seen. It lacks a realistic approach that could have made it much better. Maybe it is geared towards a younger audience that can relate to it much better than I did, but however you look at it, it's just not very good. Miguel (Tyler Dean Florez) is a teenager with a group of friends in Syracuse, New York. Sometimes, they get into fights for various reasons, but Miguel doesn't seem to jump in when his friends are fighting, even though his father (Raul Castillo), is a boxing trainer. He is a pacifist. When he gets some bad news, he decides to show his friend he can fight. He decides to pick somebody at his school with whom he or one of his friends had a disagreement for one reason or another. The problem is that every time he picks someone to fight, something happens, and he ends up not fighting them. The filmmaker Oz Rodriguez uses boxing-esque subtitles to show the viewers who he plans to fight and on which day. This film has a feel of a popular anime called One Punch Man. The main character is a fan of martial arts films and fighting shows like this. The filmmaker and writers, Shea Serrano and Jason Concepcion, use dream sequences to depict what these various fights could look like, including one that is animated and is a total tribute to what it's trying to be, One Punch Man. These sequences add a funny element to the film. Aside from Castillo and Dasha Polanco as the kids' hot English teacher, the cast is filled with many young actors in their first or one of their earliest roles. The four main kid actors are fine. They have good chemistry with each other and the smaller characters in the movie. I just wasn't blown away by their performances. The script doesn't lend itself to hard coming-of-age topics. This story is rather light on those elements.
The comedic nature of a kid trying to get into a fight before an event happens lends itself to a lot of funny moments. How all these scenarios play into the teen angst in the movie is fun, but they didn't do anything new or interesting for the coming-of-age genre. Some kids who are into manga or anime might like this film, but I didn't care for it much. Miguel Wants To Fight is a funny take on the coming-of-age genre. The dream sequences and set up for some potential fight added a chuckle or two to my face, but as a whole, the film just didn't do it for me. I'm just not the target audience for a coming-of-age film set around One Punch Man. The cast and direction were fine, but the script wasn’t very good and weighed the film down. It didn't add anything new to this storied genre. Miguel Wants to Fight streams on Hulu beginning August 16. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Britain and the United States have been allies for many years. Our politicians visit England and sometimes help in peace talks, and members of the Royal Family come to the United States to show our people they appreciate us. But in the fictional world of the film Red, White & Royal Blue, things get a little more interesting between our countries — specifically between the President's son and the Prince of England. Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) is a young man who was very ordinary until his mother became President of the United States. This means he has to do photo ops and go to parties in foreign countries. Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) is a snobbish royal who is standoffish toward most people. When the two meet at a royal gathering, things get a little troublesome for the pair. There is a connection that forms afterward that neither saw coming after the incident at the royal gathering. Red, White & Royal Blue is refreshing within the canon of LGBTQIA+ cinema because it has a lighter side. Although there are many politically charged subplots in the film, it's mainly a more relaxing type of movie featuring this kind of romantic entanglement. The fun of the film comes from the challenge of hiding their relationship, given their extremely public personas. This film is based on the book of the same name by Casey McQuiston. It's a good story that is adapted by co-writer/director Matthew Lopez and writer Ted Malawere, touching on subjects that rarely come up in most political films. Studios are looking for all kinds of good material to turn into films and television series. Prime Video is seemingly all in on turning popular books into films or television series. This is just one of many they have made into films. It deals with a specific demographic that a lot of the IPs they have don't deal with. Mix the political stuff and romantic stuff with a bit of shady journalism and jealousy from a jilted ex, and this film is more than just a LGBTQIA+ rom-com. It has a message about today's society and how we perceive our leaders.
The director assembles a good cast of mostly unknowns, but he adds a few heavy hitters in Uma Thurman as the President of the United States and Clifton Collins as her husband, the parents of Perez's character. They play a huge part in the film. They are very good parents to him, while also being high-profile political figures. A conversation about protection involving sex was quite awkward, but provides a humorous moment. And Stephen Fry plays the King of England, and like always, he is a pretty funny guy no matter what character he is playing. There are aspects that are different in this movie that made me emotional while watching it. One is a rendition of “Fools Rush In” while the two main characters visit a museum in England after a passionate conversation. It is one of the most tender moments in any film I've seen this year. Red, White & Royal Blue deals with pretty serious subject matter, but it handles it with a lighter tone. Political undertones and diplomatic relations are put on the back burner to focus more on the romance between these twenty-somethings who aren't supposed to be together. Love comes in all shapes and sizes. The world is hard, and happiness and love are a virtue. This movie shows that. I hope people have a chance to see it. Red, White & Royal Blue streams on Prime Video beginning August 11. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen I've seen many films dealing with sick family members experiencing debilitating illnesses, such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. It's usually not a fun or enjoyable experience watching a film about ailing elderly people. The Eternal Memory is another such film, and it doesn't hold back on the difficulty factor regarding the illness of an elderly man. Augusto Gongora was a journalist in Chile for many years. He covered various events in the country's history, including political strife and unrest among the people of his country. He was a father of two, a boy and a girl. He is now in another relationship, which he's been in for twenty years, with Paulina Urrutia. She was in charge of the arts in Chile, and she's still a stage actress from time to time when she's not taking care of her ailing partner, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Paulina is at Augusto's every beck and call, from when he wakes up in the morning to when he goes to sleep at night. That is if and when he decides to go to sleep. She bathes him and feeds him. They go on walks, she reads to him, and they talk about their lives together. She is with him at all times. That's what this relationship has become because of his illness. Most of the time, he's disoriented and doesn't know where he’s at or who he's with. She has to remind him he's with her, and sometimes what he did the previous day and or night. There are also many home videos showing the man featured in the film when he was younger or with his kids. Add in the occasional archival footage of him reporting during difficult times in the country's history and interviewing people, and this film has a mix of different styles to tell this man's story. However, the main one is fly-on-the-wall footage of the present time.
Filmmaker Maite Alberdi creates a film about how just because some people are ill doesn't mean they can't still live a productive life. The relationship between Augusto and Paulina is a beautiful one. She cares for his every need, but he shows her he still loves her. They have various moments of tenderness, as well as crying. The emotions this man has run the gambit. Sometimes it's hard to watch because he's so disoriented. And as a viewer, I feel a bit of what he's going through. The Eternal Memory is a documentary that doesn't hold back on what it's like for those who are stricken with this debilitating disease and how it affects loved ones in an emotionally real way. Not having any knowledge of this man before watching the film made it even sadder for me because I don't want anybody to go through this type of thing. It is not easy to deal with no matter how you look at it, but this film handled this topic very well. The Eternal Memory hits theaters on August 11. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen The second season of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty focuses on more of the leaner years for the Lakers during this time in their storied history. The years, 1980 & 1982, of winning the NBA Championship were over, and constant problems were on the horizon for the purple and gold-clad team from Los Angeles. The Lakers were on a high after their two championship seasons, but things started to unravel for them. Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) was alienating the team with his crazy offense. It didn't allow Magic (Quincy Isaiah) to shine the way he was used to. A problem with a leg injury caused issues with him and his teammates. Combined with a huge salary increase from his father figure and Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), you have the makings of a tumultuous time for the Showtime Lakers. This wasn't an easy time to be the daughter of Jerry Buss, either, as Jeanie (Hadley Robinson) frequently found out. Season 2 of Winning Time is a bit more disjointed than season one was. Showtime was in full swing in season 1, but it had some cracks that didn't have time to heal in season 2. The writing is solid, but when the truth is out there, it's hard to change much from that original story. These Lakers and the owner were everywhere at this time. They were on television, in magazines, and in newspapers. They couldn't get out of the limelight for one minute to breathe. That was a problem. The partying and high life caught up to them. The writing captured all the dirty laundry in full effect. There was a parallel storyline going on in season 2 that I was glad to see: the story of the rivalry between Red Auerbach (Michael Chiklis) and Jerry Buss, as well as Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small) and Magic Johnson. The Celtics and Lakers rivalry made the NBA what it became in the ‘80s, and it's because of these men. They all had huge egos, and they wanted to win and make the others lose and be pissed off for another year while they stewed in their juices. One episode in particular, "The Second Coming," focused on Larry Bird almost the entire time. It showed how badly he, Auerbach, and the Boston Celtics wanted to win. Patrick Small is still amazing as Bird as well. There are a few techniques that the showrunners used, similar to season one, that make the show different from other shows. They use archival footage of famous games inter-spliced with footage they shot on a recreation of the actual courts these teams played on. This showed viewers how these events happened in the real-world scenario. Also, not as much in season 2 as in season 1, but still occasionally, there was some breaking of the fourth wall. This is mostly by Isiah's character of Magic Johnson, and a few times with Brody's character of Pat Reilly to give viewers a little information where it is needed. The film grain is also a key to make this show look like it takes place during this time. Various film reel tricks of fast-forwarding or going back in time in flashbacks helped show the motivations of the characters in the series. I guess it looked like an old camera reel, with skips and the sides showing. Information was also put on screen, like years and dates, but one funny thing was the line "this actually happened" to show how some of the events were filmed in real-time. This show uses many tricks to tell its story, and I enjoyed all of them.
With a show and cast as vast as this, you have to talk about some of the bigger names that played a big part in these events. Jason Clarke is Jerry West, Solomon Hughes is Kareem Abdul Jabar, and Spencer Garrett plays the legendary announcer of the Lakers, Chick Hearn. This cast is vast, and everybody pulled their weight and were given their moments to shine. The series used a lot of music in the credits and opening sequences to elicit a response from viewers, such as songs by The Who and Willie Nelson. A rap song in the credits produced by Nicholas Britell and sung by Robert Gaspar was powerful. They did the opening credits song in the first season as well. The music plays into all the emotions characters are feeling, and all the songs work on their own for the show. What I was glad of while watching season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty was that Adam McKay and the showrunners didn't sugarcoat anything regarding all the bad stuff that happened to various characters in this era. This is what makes this show work so well. It doesn't hold back all the dirty stuff in these people's lives. Season 2 isn't as glamorous as season 1, but it has much more drama on and off the court. The cast brings everything they have in their power to show how bad it was during this time in the Lakers’ history. Add in a rivalry that will forever be remembered in annals of time, with Larry Bird, Red Auerbach and the Boston Celtics — which I loved — and you have another solid season of this series. It’s not quite as good as season 1, but still very good. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty debuts on HBO on August 6 at 9pm ET/PT. All seven episodes reviewed. Rating: 4/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Films come in all shapes and sizes, with filmmakers from all around the world contributing their unique voices. That's what makes cinema and filmmaking so exciting as an art form. A Night of Knowing Nothing is a film from India — a documentary about important subject matter that people in America maybe could have related to many years ago, in the ‘60s and ‘70s when the story took place, but could struggle to find sympathetic in today’s era. This film uses Bhumisuta Das as a narrator reading the letters of L, a student writing to her estranged lover. Das reads the letters throughout the documentary, describing the events that are going on during this time. Director Payal Kapadia uses this technique to tell this story from various points of view. The cinematography is mostly in black and white, with a few segments of color thrown in for good measure, all presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The footage is taken from images captured at various events in India during this time. While Kapadia’s approach is an older style, it has been used in films from this era quite a bit. The documentary focuses mainly on younger people at universities and in the fledgling entertainment industry in India. Students are trying to make films and get their freedom from certain Indian religious dogma, such as Hinduism — a big subsection in this country. The leaders of the country put people in powerful positions that don't go along with the way many youth think at the time. It's reminiscent of our country in the same era. Many youth in this country rebelled against the powers that be.
The motto at the time in India's history was “Educate, Agitate, Organize.” This is the way the youth of India thought at the time, and the film strives to capture this through their first-hand stories. We hear of an act called the Citizen Rejuvenation Act that was put into place to bring the youth back, and a friend of the youth who dies as a martyr, giving this movement a real reason to fight against the status quo in the government. We are told these stories in the film, but we never feel a full connection. A Night of Knowing Nothing is not an easy movie to watch. Maybe younger people may relate to it more because of how the film tries to give youth in India a voice, but it didn't work for me. Although the narration and filmmaking style are compelling, the political activism and violent nature of the film can be somewhat overwhelming. I am always up to watch experimental films, but this one wasn't my cup of tea. A Night of Knowing Nothing screens in theaters as a special event on July 28. Rating: 2/5 ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (Season 3) -- Not as Snappy or Enjoyable as Past Seasons, but Still Fun7/27/2023 Review by Dan Skip Allen Only Murders in the Building took the world by storm a few years ago. It was this show that wasn't like anything on television or streaming. It starred two heavyweights of comedy — both alumni of SNL — Steve Martin and Martin Short, and child star turned megastar Selena Gomez. An unlikely trio if I ever heard of one. They made magic together in the first two seasons of this show. I laughed so much while watching it. The third season is a bit different and doesn't have the charm or laugh factor of the first two seasons. The third season is centered around a production of a new play by Short's character Oliver. He has assembled a new cast of actors for the play, including Martin's, Charles's character, Paul Rudd, and Meryl Streep, who are new members of the show as cast members of the show’s cast. The new cast members bring a fun and entertaining element to the show, but in a good turn, they aren't in every episode, which allows the original three to shine more. Gomez's character Mabel is again the center of the story. She has a good rapport with the other two guys, and she bounces back between them in the story. Her character is more concise in the story. We, the viewer, live vicariously through her. She finds clues and starts using them to investigate the murder centered in the series. I would call her the emotional support animal within the series. If that makes sense at all. Everybody relies on her to be their stability within the show. The fourth episode, mostly featuring Martin's character, “The White Room,” was one of my favorites of the series. He is supposed to sing or say a patter song about the supposed murderers in the play, which is now a musical because of the death of a character in the play. Everything he sings while doing the patter song causes him to crack up and ends up in a white room. It's pretty funny. One of the fun additions to this series is how relationships, or specifically love, play into the show. All the main characters have experienced love at one time or another in the series, but this season love is in the air quite a bit. All our main characters have some kind of love entanglement, which all play a big part in the show, but specifically, episode five shows a lot of this behavior with these characters and their significant others. It's a good diversion from the main storyline in episode 5, “Ah, Love!” I love a good murder mystery, that's why I love this show so much. There are all these twists and turns that I love so much in this season, as well as the past seasons. The clues are always right there for us to see. Just like the main characters, we have to put them all together so they make sense. The obligatory miscues happen and people are accused without a warrant, but that always happens in this kind of mystery show. Eventually, the clues fall into place, though.
The Arconia is the setting of this series, but in seasons past, it played a bigger part in the murder mystery. This season is more of a glamorous place the showrunners and writers use as a place the characters love and cherish. This is a beautiful building with a fantastic set and production design. These rooms look amazing. Despite my hatred for New York, this seems like a great place to live and mingle with the neighbors upstairs, downstairs, and across the hall. The showrunners have made this a glamorous place. Season three of Only Murders In the Building starts a bit confusing and clunky, but settles into the usual fun and enjoyment fans of this series have come to know. Episode 6, “Ghost Light” is the best episode of the season. It has multiple stories going on at the same time, but the main characters all have good arcs. The unsung hero of the show is Michael Cyril Creighton as Howard. He has a lot to do this season, and he takes the challenge of that. He is an underrated actor, and I'm glad to see him shine in this role. There are a lot of clues that help everyone solve this mystery murder. Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building is a mixed bag. There are a handful of episodes that fans of the series will surely enjoy, but lose their way from time to time. The three main actors, Martin, Short, and Gomez, all have various episodes and arcs where they shine as usual. The supporting cast, Streep, Rudd, and especially Cyril Richardson, are all very good in their various roles. The story as a whole isn't of the quality of the first two seasons. And the laughs aren't as frequent either. I'm still a fan of this show, but it lacks the quality all the way around seasons one and two. It's hard for a series to continue to keep up a successful pace, as this one has, so it makes sense it takes a small dip in quality. Only Murders in the Building streams on Hulu beginning August 8. Eight out of ten episodes reviewed. Rating: 3.5/5 THE DEEPEST BREATH -- The Dangerous Sport of Freediving is Evidently Realized in This Beautiful Film7/14/2023 Review by Dan Skip Allen A few years ago, a documentary came out called Free Solo about free climbing cliffs and mountains without a harness. The Deepest Breath is a similar type of documentary, but instead of climbing, it's about freediving — deep diving at depths unlike anything heard of from a normal person's perspective. This film focuses on two main subjects. The first is Steve Keenan, an Irishman who traveled the world trying to find himself until he landed in Dahab, Egypt, where he started a diving school adjacent to a deep Blue Hole, an 85-foot-deep tunnel. The other person it focuses on is Alessia Zecchini, an Italian young lady who found her love of the water intoxicating. She became a diver at a young age and started in pools, before changing to deep water depths and freediving competitions. These two were destined to meet and become friends due to their love of freediving. The documentary spans multiple years and various locations, such as Rome, Ireland, the Bahamas, and Greece, in addition to Egypt. Like most films of this nature, it uses archival footage of these people and their families, talking heads of friends, co-workers, and family members discussing these two people, and voice-over from the two main characters and others. All these tricks work in the context of the story the documentary is trying to tell. Filmmaker Laura McCann has been very successful in this regard. Most of the film surrounds a freediving competition at the Vertical Blue in Homeland, Bahamas. All the main players in the documentary go here for the competition, including a rival diver named Hanako Hirose from Japan. She pushes Alessia to her limits, while everybody, including Steven — who is a safety diver — is there to watch these feeds of amazing freediving. They hold their breath for an extremely long time while underwater. If it hasn't been mentioned by me by now, I must say from watching this film I have got a whole new outlook on swimming and diving. This is a very dangerous sport that people have died from and could continue to die weeks or months down the line. The film shows that clearly. One individual who was a record holder vanished while freediving.
This documentary doesn't do everything like many other films like this, though. The director of photography Tim Cragg mixes in beautiful shots of the ocean with all the already existing footage of the underwater sequences. Another aspect I quite liked in the film was the music composed by Nainita Disai. The music went in perfect harmony with the film. Netflix and A24 made a documentary that was much more than just a bunch of Italian subtitles. It was an amazing story with beautiful music and visuals to boot. The Deepest Breath combined many elements we've seen before in documentaries with some other elements that made the film much better. The story was very engaging, while the claustrophobic and dangerous nature of freediving was very evident and fascinating to me. The writer/director Laura MaCann made a film similar to another documentary that won an Academy Award. If this one is received as well as that, people will be talking about it for a while. The Deepest Breath streams on Netflix beginning July 19. Rating: 3.5/5 THE MIRACLE CLUB -- A Film with Four Very Good Performances, but It May Not Be Everyone's Cup of Tea7/13/2023 Review by Dan Skip Allen I've watched many films that have not been something I could relate to in my day, but I have still enjoyed them for various other qualities they may have had. The Miracle Club has a subplot I can relate to that I didn't expect, and an overall quality that I liked. Along with an excellent cast of seasoned performers, the story was rather interesting, especially for the older crowd who should check out this film. This story takes place in Ballygar, a section of Dublin, Ireland in 1967. It focuses on a handful of women. Three generations have lived in this community all their lives, except one. The fourth returned because of the passing of her mother. Her return causes unresolved issues between her and the other women to rise to the surface involving a secret that they all share. The cast is pretty stacked with Emmy and Oscar winners. Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey), Laura Linney (Ozark), Kathy Bates (Misery), and Agnes O'Casey — a revelation — are the four women. They have very good chemistry with each other while they go on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, a mecca for religious people looking for some sort of salvation — whether in physical healing or an answer to unresolved trauma from the past. Each of the women's stories has different repercussions in their lives, whether it's back home while they're gone, between each other, and from the past. All the stories have an equal effect while watching the movie. The writing fleshed these stories out in a good way. Directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, the film is based on the life of the writer Jimmy Smallhorne. He had a difficult history with the women in his life. The subplot I alluded to was that of a child in the film. He reminded me of my life growing up. I had a learning disability and still do to some extent. I also wore a hockey helmet because of a head injury I sustained as a baby in my mother's womb. I was very quiet for that period in my life. My twin brother spoke for me often. I was surprised when I saw this little boy and what he and his mother were going through. It hit home for me.
There is another aspect of this movie that I have had an up-and-down relationship with: religion — especially Catholicism. I grew up as a Catholic in Massachusetts, but my religious beliefs have waned over the years. The whole savior factor of Jesus has been something I've believed in my whole life, but religion as a whole has been a big problem for me. This movie deals with religion interestingly and satisfactorily. The Miracle Club has many funny moments that go along with some difficult questions it asks the viewer to deal with. My relatability to the subject matter made me enjoy it more than others might. The religious stuff might turn some people off. The cast was fine, and O'Casey as the little boy's mother was a new find as far as an actress for me. She is amazing in her role as a mother looking for answers in religion. This film isn't going to be for everyone, but it was for me. The Miracle Club hits theaters on July 14. Rating: 3.5/5 |
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