Cinema Cat

Queen & Slim Directed by Melina Matsoukas Daniel Kaluuya Jodie Turner-Smith If you're like this movie-lover, you start making predictions right away, from the opening scenes.  In Queen & Slim, we open to witness a Tinder date going poorly.  But you know these two are going to fall in love, right?  The draw is not knowing how it will happen.  We want to know.  We're already pulling for them and trying to imagine what the catalyst will be, how the facades will crumble away. Daniel Kaluuya 's character, who is never referred to as Slim, is without pretense, if cautious in his efforts to discover the chink in the formidable armor of Jodie Turner-Smith's character, who is never referred to as Queen.   But alas, the date is a bust.  He's driving her home - his license plate reads "Trust God" - when fateful events unfold.  A rogue, racist cop pulls them over and the first stones of dismay and disbelief tumble...

Gloria Bell Directed by Sebastian Lelio Julianne Moore John Turturro Michael Cera Alanna Ubach We cannot help wondering where Gloria Bell will end up. Played by Julianne Moore with a big heart and a fragile edge, Gloria's been on her own since her divorce 15 years ago.   She’s not going to inherit from her mom who’s living long enough and well enough to exhaust her own retirement money.    Her employer downsizes Gloria’s coworker, an older woman not yet ready to retire.   Puts her out the door with not a little foreshadowing as to what might lie ahead when Gloria herself triggers that same age + salary-schedule nexus.   Her kids are grown and immersed in their own lives.    And her goals are non-specific.   What does Gloria  want, beyond dancing? You might say Gloria’s prospects are thin. But there is something in Gloria.   Let’s call it an urge to live.   To live life. ...

Us Directed by Jordan Peele Lupita Nyong’o Winston Duke Elisabeth Moss Here’s the thing about Jordan Peele ~ he’s so damn smart.   And he’s funny.   AND, he has something to say. You gotta love Jordan Peele.   If you never watched “ Key & Peele, ” find it now and watch it.   Right away.   That is some smart, funny, sketch comedy.   And it is thoughtful.   Good stuff.   Great.   Honestly. If you saw “ Get Out ,” written and directed by Jordan Peele, then, like me, you most likely felt so pleased for him and proud of him and happy to know him as much as a fan knows the subject of her admiration.   I’m pulling for this guy.   His success makes me happy. This was my mindset going into “Us.”   Oh boy!   Jordan Peele!   He’s made another scary movie!   I CAN’T WAIT to see it! So right there was my problem.   I sidestepped one of my own cardinal rules o...

    Murder on the Orient Express Kenneth Branagh, Director   Overheard during Previews of Coming Attractions:  “Well, I like Liam Neeson , but that looks stupid.” We feel ya, lady seated in the next row back.  We like Kenneth Branagh , and Johnny Depp , and Judi Dench , and Willem Dafoe , and Michelle Pfeiffer , and Penelope Cruz (well, sorta), and Josh Gad and Derek Jacobi …but this movie is stupid. OK.  Maybe we’re out of line to say such a thing about this lush production full of all these beautiful people.  There were at least a couple of noteworthy elements to this 70mm spectacle:  1. Branagh’s mesmerizing mustache and 2. that super cool avalanche. It probably is unjust to impugn a film when you’re not the intended audience.  And there was fair warning.  We knew going in that it was an Agatha Christie murder mystery; that Hercule Poirot would treat us like Perry Mason treated our mothers back in...

Human Flow Ai Weiwei, Director 5 0ut of 6 Ai Weiwei , artist and activist, made the film, Human Flow, to call attention to a humanitarian crisis across the globe – that of refugees.  He traveled to 23 countries documenting the plight of throngs of people – hundreds of thousands; millions – forced to flee their homelands because of the violence of war, religious persecution, drought, plague of disease and every other creator of misery known to man. We get the impression early on that Ai kept a written journal along with his video journal, and somewhere late in the process, maybe in post-production, the pages of the journal were torn from their binding and scattered in the wind.  He collected them all and reassembled them with little concern for chronology, context, or linear thinking.  He’s an artist , after all. His product is beautiful in so many aspects.  Breathtaking images of sunsets, seas, and the mesmerizin...

The Florida Project Willem Dafoe Brooklynn Prince Valeria Cotto Bria Vinaite Sean Baker, Director  Right out of the chute, The Florida Project thrusts us back into the free-wheeling summer vacations and that big-world-no-worries life that children lead.  Remember when school let out, and June, July, and August stretched to the horizon like Route 66 across New Mexico?  So we freely surrender to Sean Baker , the striking cotton candy colors of Florida, and these precocious kids’ point of view.  Moonee (Brooklynn Prince), Jancey (Valeria Cotto), and Scooty (Christopher Rivera) travel at will among the brightly-painted yet seedy residence motels just outside of – and galaxies away from  – Walt Disney World.  The kids’ shenanigans seem mostly child-like and harmless until a seeping realization forms in the periphery:  While this sense of freedom and unlimited time seem familiar, this is not a replay of the innocen...