Rev. Peggy Bryan

Flying Under the Radar

Devotion -2022 – PG13

I’d been admiring the trailer for Devotion so caught the film on opening day but somehow missed it being based on a true story until the end credits rolled featuring dual photos of the actors with their real life counterparts. Had I known that fact, it would have softened my critical attitude towards the inordinate amount of film time dedicated to character development of military hero Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors). After the first hour and only one combat scene, I was simmering and grumbling about a war movie with no action. And no, the obligatory and predictable shore leave bar fight doesn’t count.

When the story shifted from the Mediterranean to Korea, the action picked up and I perked up. Then I was able to better appreciate the historic role Jesse Brown played as a racial pioneer, the U.S. Navy’s first African-American pilot, and to digest Brown’s race defying relationship with his white wingman, Lt. Tom Hudner (Glen Powell). Tom was the product of a wealthy New England family, Jesse was born into a family of sharecroppers who lived in a shack. The film pinnacle caught me completely off guard. Remember, I’m still thinking Devotion a work of fiction, spun to shed light on America’s “forgotten war” using an unlikely pairing of two pilots as the plot vehicle. So when I learned the truth, it was a stunning revelation. I can’t give away the climax without playing spoiler but you will know immediately when it happens, a moment of true heroism and brotherhood, yes, an act of pure devotion that will inspire and stir you through inescapable tears.

On the technical side, the too long film (139 minutes) needed editing, starting out painstakingly slow and including curious dialogues that did not advance the story; sound quality was inexplicably murky at times; cinematography unnecessarily shadowy except for the aerial scenes which were sensational. It’s a great story on many levels but if I’m entirely honest, I’d stick with the 2017 book, Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos. I hear the film closely mirrors the book. Or read the book first and see the movie after to fully appreciate the amazing and uplifting heroism, service and friendship of Jesse Brown and Tom Hudner.

Water, Water Everywhere

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – 2022 – PG13

As a kid growing up in the 1960s, comic books were a huge part of my summer reading pleasure, but I was a total DC fan, Superman my hero, Aquaman runner-up. Marvel did not figure in the mix which explains why I missed the genesis of Wakanda in July 1966’s Fantastic Four. Black Panther was a complete unknown to me until the film was released in 2018 and lit up the Academy Awards, nominated for seven, winning three, and the first superhero movie ever to receive Best Picture nomination. So when the sequel, Wakanda Forever was released, it was a must-see on my list.

What worked: The opening tribute to Chadwick Boseman was creative and touching. Boseman won international accolades for playing the Black Panther, tragically dying in 2020 after battling colon cancer since 2016, unbeknownst to the Marvel universe. A film featuring the strength and courage of women is a timely balance to the concurrently released Harvey Weinstein exposé She Said and the narcissistic #MeToo saga TÁR. Angela Bassett (Queen Ramonda), Letitia Wright (Princess Shuri), Lupita Nyong’o (T’Challa’s lover and spy Nakia), Danai Gurira (General Okoye) and Dominique Thorne (MIT student Riri Williams) create a formidable female team as they take on a new undersea enemy. And therein lies what didn’t work.

This new enemy is the Vibranium rich underwater kingdom of Talokan led by King Namor, a feathered serpent god. Vibranium, formed from a meteorite collision with Earth, is the strongest metal in the world, rare and extremely expensive, an asset Wakanda, thinking it only theirs, hid for years. King Namor talks Princess Shuri into a tour of Talokan and meeting the blue-skinned water-breathing superhumans which he has protected from discovery for centuries. Carrying a grudge towards “the surface world” for enslaving the Maya, Namor proposes an alliance with Wakanda to torch this surface world but threatens to first annihilate Wakanda if they refuse. Call me pollyanna but harboring bitterness for five centuries seems excessive. Why not wreck havoc and revenge after maybe 100 years rather than 500? Why wait? And Namor threatening to destroy Wakanda, a civilization with which Talokan shares similar roots, treasures and challenges, feels arbitrary and contrived. Two powerful, intelligent nations with common interests, common identities and no historic or contemporary conflicts between each other, now wage an absurd war that consumes the (very, very long) movie. So much water. So much mayhem.

Queen Ramonda faces some United Nations type interrogation about hoarding vibranium. And then the CIA and Navy Seals use a vibranium-detecting machine to locate a deposit in the Atlantic. And then Namor intercepts and wipes them out. And then Namor demands that Shuri, who kidnaps Riri for her own protection, to return Riri, who made the machine for a school project, to Talokan for execution. Whew! Oh, and then there is the heart-shaped herb pressed into magical action. Oh, and so is the Midnight Angel armor. And then, and then, and then…..too long, too convoluted, too nonsensical. Film editing apparently is out. Snooze. Sigh. Oh, and then my final comment: don’t leave before the credits roll or you will miss the groundwork for Wakanda the sequel. Sigh.

Demons and Donkeys

The Banshees of Inisherin – 2022 – R

Let’s start with how many fingers are needed to play a violin? Well, somewhere between one and five but definitely more than none. I’ll leave it there and encourage you to check out this odd little film for yourself. In fact, I’ll add the caveat that this “odd little film” could well be a sleeper for an Academy Award.

Set in 1923 on the fictitious island of Inisherin off the coast of Ireland, gritty villagers revolve around a crowded pub, post office and Catholic church, going about their rural business as the IRA and Irish Free Staters battle on the mainland, occasional canon fire and explosions dotting the horizon. Corollary to that civil war is the erupting civil conflict between dairy farmer Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and his longtime best friend and fiddler Colm (Brendan Gleeson) who abruptly cuts Pádraic off, saying without any warning, “I just don’t like ya no more.” From that simple yet puzzling pronouncement, friendships bitterly deteriorate, despair escalates into rage, and rage into revenge leaving us dumbfounded and collectively squirming from our distant shore of time and culture.

Colm is facing a life crisis over his legacy, “Who remembers anyone who’s nice?” No time for the ordinary, he assigns Pádraic to the mundane declaring him “dull” and plunges into composing fiddle pieces, teaching music students and performing with his pub band. Pádraic, like any of us, can’t accept the rejection and keeps challenging Colm for an explanation or better yet, reconciliation. Colm stiffens. Never has a declaration of dull led to such a dark litany of pain with even village pets bearing the unfortunate consequences of human reprisal. Accidental be damned. Apologies futile. Regret meaningless. A friendship meltdown generates the Irish theater of the absurd, seeding the germs of a bitterly rooted forever feud and indeed, the genesis of war, an island fire mirroring mainland bombs. Humanity fault lines are exposed where dull and simple and nice devolve into a mystifying recipe for hatred and violence.

Only Pádraic’s rational and reasonable sister Siobhán escapes the madness, her smile widening as she catches the ferry to a library job on the mainland. The town innocent and simpleton, Dominic, ironically offers the obvious insights, a compelling and cogent narrative on the town lunacy. “Why does he not want to be friends with you no more? What is he, 12?” Abused by his sheriff father, rejected by his unrequited love interest and repulsed by the meanness of his only friend, Dominic is perhaps the most tragic victim in this black comedy followed closely by loyal and loving Jenny, Pádraic’s diminutive donkey. Stunning how quickly and easily the frailty of our human condition morphs into mayhem and barbarity! Stunning and sick. Sick and senseless. Yet, the engaging characters, beautiful setting, comedic interludes and unique storyline weaves together my strong endorsement to seek out The Banshees of Inisherin and settle in for a wickedly dark but deceptively enchanting Irish tale.

Kya Meet Scout

Where the Crawdads Sing – 2022- PG13

I’m guessing practically everyone who reported to the theater to watch Where the Crawdads Sing read Delia Owen’s 2018 novel of the same name. As usual, the book was so much better that it’s hard to fairly grade the film. My rather wishy-washy summation is this: Enjoyed the book, a lot. Enjoyed the movie, mostly. The cinematography was stunning. Although the novel was set in the marshes of North Carolina, filming actually took place in Louisiana, in the wetlands on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. Score one for the movie. The characters that played Kya, Tate and Chase matched up to the images the book created in my imagination. Score two for the movie. The biggest gap was the lack of character development for “Marsh Girl” Kya, a gifted wildlife artist, self-taught naturalist and gritty survivor of abuse, neglect and abandonment, by family and community. Focus on any of those. Please. Instead the emphasis was on the Kya/Tate/Chase “kiss and don’t tell” romantic interests. We lost the depth of Kya to the shallows of unrequited love. The reliance on flashbacks felt disjointed. As a fellow reviewer penned (far better than I), “…it elongates a predictable love story, distances us from any suspense of learning the outcome and makes the court case feel longer than the O.J. Simpson trial.” Lastly, the casting of Kya’s attorney Tom Milton (David Stathairn) was so Atticus Finch that I could not help drifting from Barkley Cove to Maycomb, Alabama. I kept expecting Scout to pop up in the courtroom’s segregated balcony. So there you have it. Enjoyed the movie…mostly. Suffice to say, if you have to choose, skip the movie and read the book.

Beginning or the End?

Downton Abbey: A New Era -2022 -PG13

Ok, I’m an Anglophile, I admit it. At 3:00 in the morning of April 29th, 2011, I hosted a royal wedding watch party to celebrate the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Friends expectantly gathered in splendid hats—meaning lots of feathers of course, our best American fashion effort. My peacock plume matched my teal pajamas perfectly, bought new from Ross for this regal occasion. Earl Grey tea, scones, clotted cream, lemon curd and orange marmalade were daintily served in my 1973 wedding china. Finally, a use for those fancy gold-trimmed cups and plates! No surprise when Downton Abbey debuted also in 2011 on PBS Masterpiece Theater, it was totally, absolutely, utterly must-watch tv in my home. I adored every single member of the Crawley family and their household staff (well, except nasty Miss O’Brien).

Cue the Downton Abbey theme song “a character in its own right” and I’m scanning the Yorkshire countryside for the Dowager of Grantham to emerge, an ever sarcastic comment on her lips, petite cane in hand. Which brings me to one complaint about the film, when was it ever acceptable for the inimitable Violet Crawley (Dame Maggie Smith) to be called “Old Lady Grantham”? That was jarring and wrong! The story itself included so many red herrings that early on I deliberately switched from hunt to enjoyment mode and stopped chasing after the who’s who of sick and dying (Cora & Violet Crawley) and the South of France Crawley field trip “who’s your daddy” plot line (Robert Crawley). Back at the Downton estate, a silent movie is being filmed, “The Gambler,” keeping Lady Mary busy (and tempted), especially when the film is canceled midstream: suddenly silents are out, talkies are in. No! Downton’s leaky roof needs the revenue! Never fear, Mary and her elegant voiceovers save the day. Even the 1920 film industry gets a new lease on life! A new cinematic era!

Just like the film title declares, the various characters move into neat and tidy new beginnings, most definitely offering a satisfying “happily ever after” ladies’ curtsy and gentlemen’s bow for each as the Downton Abbey saga (may) finally come to an end. Let’s all lift our pinkies to creator Julian Fellowes in hopes of a third Downton Abbey adventure, a dignified one of course.

Great Balls of Fire!

Top Gun: Maverick – 2022 – PG13

Curbing my enthusiasm was not in the cards when I heard TG2 would be released on my June 2020 birthday! Girls night out! Top Gun hats for party favors! And then came Covid, pandemic, quarantine. Grounded! Instead I celebrated with a small group of intrepid, socially distanced friends for a backyard projection of the 1986 original. When the sequel was finally released this summer, two years later than expected and 36 years after cult favorites Maverick, Iceman and Goose roared overhead and buzzed the control tower, true confessions, it felt a tiny bit anticlimactic. Tiny. But once settled into the theater, everything was right with the sky and I even did my best to drum the sparse, docile crowd into a Super Hornet jet frenzy with cheers and applause. The film is a blast, full of ridiculous human drama and a military mission straight from Star Wars, but such loud fun!

Two gripes though: one, the whole Rooster-son-of-tragically-killed-TG1-Goose grudge storyline detracted from the ensemble of characters. Too much unnecessary tension. Two, ghosting Charlie (Kelly McGillis) with Penny (Jennifer Connelly) as Maverick’s TG2 new love interest might make sense from a casting point of view but I needed Charlie to minimally make a cameo! Boo! However, kudos to the producers for Iceman Val Kilmer’s inclusion. He is one of my all time favorite actors (Doc Holliday in Tombstone, epic!) who, surviving throat cancer, needed AI technology and archival audio for his voice to be recreated. The exchange between Cruise and Kilmer made me absolutely verklempt.

All in all, locked and loaded with superb action, defying stunts, booms and blasts, gasps and laughs….buckle up for an emotional and aerial big screen adventure. EXACTLY why I go to the movies! Now, if I could just figure out how to buzz the projection room! Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Memphis Magic

Elvis -2022-PG13

I was just a nosy little kid in 1957 when I eavesdropped on my older sister whispering to her friend over the phone that “Elvis the Pelvis” was about to perform on tv. The Ed Sullivan “we have a really big show tonight” was a Sunday staple at our home so I expectantly curled up on the green divan next to my mom hoping Topo Gigio wouldn’t take up too much of the time—I couldn’t wait to see this Elvis person do his crazy gyrations. To my 6-year old dismay, the cameras shot only from his waist up! Meh. Done with Elvis. Bookending my ho-hum relationship with Elvis Presley was turning down tickets to see his last Bay Area performance, November 28, 1976 at the Cow Palace. Ridiculous white jumpsuit. Too fat, too old. He died a few months later, August 16, 1977. Blowing off that concert opportunity ranks as one of my life’s biggest regrets. Fortunately, this film filled in much of the Elvis era that I shrugged off. A lot of the (too long) 159 minutes underscored what is common pop knowledge: PFC Elvis looking absolutely fab in an army uniform, gorgeous Priscilla, love and marriage, welcome to the one and only Lisa Marie, hello Hollywood, Viva Las Vegas, professional exploitation, mommy madness, daddy disturbances, medical mayhem, sex, drugs and rock and roll….leading to the tragic yet predictable finalé, Elvis has left the building. Framing the rise and fall of Elvis (fabulous Austin Butler) through the eyes of his lifelong agent, Colonel Tom Parker (enigmatic Tom Hanks) was an innovative storytelling twist that perked me up. A domineering and abusive presence, this Mississippi to Memphis saga is narrated from Parker’s self righteous and self serving point of view, forcing me and the three other blue hair patrons in the theater to silently protest and defend poor Elvis from our heated Cinemark recliners. Then there was a subtle, cryptic corollary—that I’m still mulling over—between a charismatic experience that overcame Elvis as a boy at a Pentecostal tent revival and the swooning, screaming, sobbing female crowds overwhelming Elvis as a singer. Was there a mystical or psychological connection? Maybe, maybe not but these oddly parallel phenomena make for fascinating fodder. If you like Elvis songs, the movie is crammed full. If you are an aficionado of rock icons curious about the “King of Rock and Roll” Elvis is worth your time. Me, I’m now planning a double feature of Jailhouse Rock and Blue Hawaii. BYO-popcorn!

Nothing There

Nope -2022-R

“Jordan Peele is so amazing and edgy and inspiring! His new film defies description, amazing on multiple levels, creative and so sophisticated that Nope is impossible to quantify! Perhaps the best film EVER! I can’t wait to see it!” —Voice from the Peele Herd-
Nope, not me. Sorry to claim lone dissenter status but Nope is a film equivalent of the ageless folktale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. Everyone is impressed with well, nothing. The foolish, royal dude is proudly parading naked. Nothing on. That’s how I felt leaving the theater, reflecting on multiple layers of nothing. Here’s my summary: A fist-bumping chimp who whacks out and chews the faces off a few studio hosts was the horror. Check. A floating, mattress-like alien spacecraft was the sci-fi. Check. A quick witted, smack talking, wannabe rapper sister teamed with a stoic, single utterance, wannabe Clint Eastwood cowboy brother and a bored, techno savvy rough-and-ready Fry’s guy were the combined weird Peele deal. Yep. Check. Check. Check. But, I couldn’t make sense of any of it. Coherent? Nope. Scary? Nope. Captivating, spellbinding, riveting? Nope, nope nope! A group of 20 somethings grabbed their popcorn and walked-out sometime between the marauding monkey and the mystifying mattress. More followed. I stayed. Regrettably. But hey it’s Jordan Awesome Peele! Maybe you will spot the invisible clothes that I missed. So have a go and let me know.

Bond Bust

No Time to Die – 2021 – PG13

First of all, I’m not a James Bond aficionado, my most vivid memory will show my age: a sleek woman covered in gold, unfortunately dead from the dreaded “skin suffocation” revealed five plus decades ago in Goldfinger, 007’s third movie. That said, let me offer a few reflections on installment #25, No Time to Die. My summary comment and accompanying suggestion is this: settle down and watch 2015’s Spectre in order to prepare for this 2021 storyline. Otherwise you risk spending the entire 163 minute run time wondering what, who and why—like I did. Until I got home and read a few reviews I thought Spectre was an incognito character, only to be illuminated that it’s a long established (genesis 1965’s Thunderball) international criminal organization, Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. Then there is the mayhem at Vesper’s tomb, a pivotal plot moment that, without any prior context, I puzzled over the chaos to the point of dozing off. If I don’t know the characters it’s a stretch to care and, apparently for me, stay awake. Admittedly my reclining heated theater lounge chair didn’t help. After ho-humming through the human carnage from bombs, guns, knives and car chases across Italy, Cuba and London, my more alert moments were in Norway when young Madeleine witnesses the murder of her mother by bad boy Safin (Rami Malek) in a failed attempt to kill Madeleine’s bad guy father. Definitely broke the big screen ice. I also perked up in Jamaica where James (Daniel Craig) retires to a life of isolated, fishing bliss only to be talked back into global spy action by the British Secret Service’s new 007, Nomi (Lashana Lynch), and Bond’s reconnection with grown up Madeleine (Léa Seydoux) after a five year hiatus since a sadly severed love affair. A sweet Norwegian surprise is tucked away. The charming revelation awaits but, but, but….the Madeline/James rekindled romance is too May-December for me. Not quite dirty old man but a tiny bit ewwww. The finalé is staged at an abandoned World War 2 submarine base on an island between Japan and Russia, Safin’s eve of destruction nanobot headquarters. The destiny of untold millions of humans are at stake. Shocking. Positively shocking. Can Bond open the silo doors to enable a missile strike and save humanity? What do you think? Uh……fill in the obvious blank. Relax and relish the epic annihilation. What’s in 007’s cinematic future? This film will leave you wondering. No concrete ideas to offer except whoever or whatever’s next, without a doubt the name’s Bond. James Bond.

Urban Exuberance!

In the Heights – 2021 – PG13

Finally!! In the Heights hit the theaters and won our hearts! For a a year and a half our neighborhoods represented doom and gloom, glaring danger zones, In the Pits! The summer opening of Lin Manuel Miranda’s new film “In the Heights” matches perfectly the summer reopening of American society. Heck, while I didn’t dance up and down the aisles of Trader Joe’s this week, I didn’t have to stand on a socially distanced X waiting to check out. While I didn’t somersault into the community pool, I didn’t have to wear a mask on the pool deck. Yep, all good, a happy dance in my head. Community coming alive!

Meet New York’s Washington Heights, a vibrant, diverse, multigenerational community fighting to stay alive. Count up the international flags during the “Carnaval del Barrio” number and you will appreciate the cultural mix of this Upper Manhatten neighborhood. Members of the Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican and Cuban communities take turns waving their flags during this show-stopping, dazzling, eye-candy number. Facing inevitable gentrification, the characters hang tenaciously to their sueñitos, little dreams—but face the vexing, perennial question, do I stay or do I go? For some, like boisterous beauty shop owner Daniela facing steep rent increases, moving to the Bronx is the answer. While for others, like our Heights bodega hero, Usnavi, does the dream lay in his Dominican island homeland or on Manhatten Island? Nina, the rising pride of the neighborhood, comes home—and intends to stay there—escaping an unkind, unwelcoming year at Stanford. Then challenged by the fate of undocumented, lovable dreamer Sonny, Nina weighs returning for that equally vexing “greater good” sacrifice. Abuela Claudio, matriarch and surrogate grandmother to many, must choose life or life hereafter. Vanessa, aspiring fashion designer, can’t wait to race away only to fall….in love….and well, that’s really what this movie is about: friendship, loyalty, gratitude…old world values in new world realities. Merengue and salsa verve infused into hip hop, rambunctious razzle dazzle. There are undercurrents of racism, politics and poverty but there are no villains here. In the Heights skirts around those potentially and realistically crushing themes. We get relationship over rebellion, bonding over breaking. Activists will lament missed opportunity. There is probably some truth there but for sheer movie magic and the 143 minute run time, yep, all good.

For classic musical film buffs, old world cinema school infiltrated this fabulous flick. Nina and Benny’s spectacular tenement wall waltz stands on the shoulders of Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding (1951) or Donald O’Connor’s Make ‘em Laugh number in the best musical ever made, Singin’ in the Rain (1952). In the “96,000” and it’s 600 extras swimming pool number, check out Esther Williams and any of her MGM 1950’s elaborately staged synchronized swimming movie scenes. They do make ’em like this any more! Enjoy!