The Banshees of Inisherin -8

While the movie was set in 1923 rural Ireland, it could as easily have been written then, by Sean O’Casey or J.M. Synge, so well it captured the tragedy of the Irish: men living a hardscrabble existence, playing music (hence the title), going to the pub, making a mountain out of a molehill and being stubborn till it ruins you. But my gosh, the scenery on the coast was beautiful, and the performances of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson were enough to make you cry. With only three stage sets, I could see the Irish Repertory Theatre performing this tomorrow.

Glass Onion – 4.5

Absurdly stupid or stupidly absurd, take your pick. Whereas the original Knives Out revolved around a relatable family with understandable issues, this “sequel” featured an all-star cast of incredible (as in, non-credible) characters who formed no sort of family and were hard to care about, if not actually odious. And whereas the Daniel Craig character, as I remember it, was an amusing add-on, here he was the main player, wearing out his schtick not too far into the film. The plot echoes of The Menu were just an unhappy coincidence.

She Said – 7.5

A solid telling of a heartwarming story, although we knew, of course, everything before it happened. The other challenge was how to dramatize phone calls, which led to a lot of interruptions while tending to the kids, walking down the street, meeting with the boss and sleeping. I have no idea why someone felt it necessary to cast a devilish British movie star, Carey Mulligan, as a hard-boiled New York reporter. Her character never took with me, but I quite appreciated Zoe Kazan as her running mate. The movie suffers in comparison to Spotlight, let alone the template-creator, All the President’s Men. And while Harvey Weinstein has been brought to justice (pending appeal), there remains the shadow of the press’s inability to dent Donald Trump.

The Menu – 6

A delicious spoof of foam restaurants and foodies until it takes a sour turn mid-movie and becomes a typically implausible horror flick that reduces its cast to sniveling nonentities. The setup and the characters, notably Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, make up ingredients for an entertaining parody that could, I wished, have gone in a different direction.

The Good Nurse – 7.5

Powerful. There’s not much suspense in the story, if you’ve read the book or even a movie review, but the drama is carried by a tour-de-force performance by Jessica Chastain–best I’ve ever seen her. Eddie Redmayne is the other “good nurse,” and his strange accent makes his character fairly inscrutable, which, it turns out, is the true story the film is based on. Noah Emmerich is a welcome third presence, doing his usual thing. As often, the story would not be believable if it weren’t true; it’s the acting here that is convincing.

Aftersun – 5

I have no idea what this movie was about; moreover, I couldn’t understand half the dialogue. (What language were they using – Scottish? Irish? English?) A single dad spends a vacation week with his ten-year-old daughter at a modest Turkish resort (no White Lotus), and nothing unusual happens–except they seem to manage to spend all day together without friction, complaint or misunderstanding. (I can’t imagine!) There are random flash-forwards, mainly dancing at a disco, but to what end? I’ll have to go read some reviews. Most emotional moment was a David Bowie song on the soundtrack.

Triangle of Sadness – 6

A self-evidently Northern European film in its discussions of class, capitalism, socialism, gender, race and more class. Not that it’s particularly intellectual or probing. It is, in fact, quite crude and simplistic. And half-again too long, with many scenes that drag and others–such as a forced dip in the ocean by the staff–that could have been done without. What holds it together is the relationship story of two influencers, brilliantly played by Harrison Dickinson and Charlbi Dean, she manipulative and he feckless. Their attraction to each other is just as obvious as their mismatch.

Armageddon Time – 7

A portrait of the (superhero) artist as a young man, set in 1980 Queens instead of 1914 Dublin. Our hero is likable but not commendable, and the one we feel sympathy for is his Black friend, Johnny Davis. Paul’s family, notably Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong don’t mesh, but maybe that’s the way Paul saw them. Anthony Hopkins, as his saintly grandfather, is a bit predictable. I feel a little sorry for this great actor who is now reduced to playing old men who are dying or have dementia. This movie is a snapshot in time, not quite a bildungsroman; and if there’s a moral, it’s that to get ahead in life, a) you shouldn’t be Black and b) it helps if Fred Trump is your father.

Call Jane – 8

An effective and moving dramatization of the women’s collective in Chicago, 1968, that provided compassionate but illegal abortions pre-Roe v. Wade. Sigourney Weaver is Oscar-worthy as the group’s leader and Elizabeth Banks does almost as good a job filling the screen as the Betty Crocker housewife turned activist. In its setting, its politics and its feel-good ending, Call Jane is a cinematic bookend to The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Descendant – 6.5

There is little in the way of dramatic arc or suspense in this documentary about the discovery of the last slave ship in Mobile Bay in 2020. Rather, the film should be seen as a portrait of the community of descendants from that ship’s cargo still living in the Africatown district of Mobile. The film is provocative, whether intentional or not, in exploring the expectations of the descendants: their desires to get relief from the surrounding chemical plants, or reparations, or even apology or acknowledgement from the descendants of the ship owner. Most interesting to me was the fact of this community of descendants from slaves who were brought over illegally in 1860, and were slaves for only five years before they were emancipated.