With a screenplay written by, and based on the real life experiences of Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, The Big Sick , is a heartfelt romantic comedy that does its best to tell both sides of a relationship, (despite its female lead being in a coma for half the film). This is only the third film directed by Michael Showalter, including The Baxter , and last year’s Hello, My Name is Doris , and it may be his best yet. Kumail Nanjiani plays himself, with Zoe Kazan as his then girlfriend, (now wife), Emily Gordon. Their relationship begins after Zoe watches Kumail (an Uber driver by day), performing stand up comedy. He tries some of his tried and true pick up lines on her, and after hooking up for one night, they continue to date despite both being hesitant. Emily is currently working on her Master’s degree in Social Work and Kumail knows that his traditional Muslim family from Pakistan will not approve of a white girlfriend. While we watch the relationship between Kumail and Emily blossom, we also bear witness to Kumail’s relationship with his family. Having regular dinners with his parents, brother and sister-in-law, Kumail’s mother is portrayed a bit stereotypically as the meddlesome mom, hoping to set her son up with a nice Muslim girl, and convince him to give up comedy and become a lawyer. A revolving door of potential mates just happens to “stop by” while they are having family dinner, each one attempting to make a connection with Kumail. Each time, he deposits their headshots into a cigar box in his bedroom. Kumail keeps this from Emily even as their relationship grows more serious. Emily’s parents eventually plan to visit, and want to meet her new boyfriend. This leads to an argument when Emily ultimately finds the cigar box, bringing the issue of their own future to a head and Emily leaves, ending their relationship. The film then takes a major turn when Kumail days later receives a phone call from one of Emily’s friends. She is at the hospital and needs someone to check on her. A scared, pissed off Emily, is unhappy to see Kumail there. She looks terrible and her condition is worsening. With moments to spare, Emily’s doctor tells Kumail he needs “her husband’s” permission to put Emily into a medically induced coma while they treat her body for infection. It’s during this second act that we meet Emily’s parents, Beth and Terry, played excellently by Holly Hunter and Ray Romano. Holly Hunter’s Beth is a force to be reckoned with; she wants nothing to do with Kumail who recently broke her daughter’s heart. This is probably one of my favorite performances by Ray Romano. He plays Terry as both a fumbling teacher – grappling with his daughter’s condition, constantly taking detailed notes – and a downtrodden husband, deferring to Beth on all major decisions. Eventually, Terry extends an olive branch, inviting Kumail to join them for lunch at the hospital cafeteria. Our first exchange between them is awkward but hilarious; we watch as Terry, attempting to make conversation, asks Kumail about September 11th. Kumail doesn’t miss a beat quipping, “We lost 19 of our best men that day,” before awkwardly apologizing and stating what a horrible tragedy September 11th was. These first few interactions between girlfriend’s parents and uncomfortable boyfriend definitely ring true, even without Emily being in a coma. Her parents need a distraction that night, so Terry invites himself to watch Kumail do a stand up performance. Beth begrudgingly tags along, but once a racist heckler from the audience starts yelling, “go back to ISIS” she does a 180: becoming a protective mama bear, unafraid to take on the white frat boy. They go toe to toe until Beth is kicked out of the club while Terry does his best to reign in his anger. This incident changes the dynamic between Kumail and Emily’s parents. They go back to Emily’s apartment where they now drink, “stress eat,” and listen to Terry tell jokes that Beth describes are as funny as, “a fart at a funeral.” Kumail is accepted, maybe more so by Emily’s parents, than by his own. I think one of things I really appreciate in the film is that it humanizes Emily’s parents, fleshing them out as full characters besides being parents. We see them bombarded with medical jargon from a parade of doctors working on their daughter’s condition to no avail. We watch a frantic Beth looking up the ratings of their hospital while she Googles the potential side effects of her daughter’s infection and treatment. But the parents also argue and struggle with their own relationship while faced with the stress of their daughter’s condition. They each have their own flaws and wisdom to bestow upon Kumail while he waits anxiously for Emily to wake up. My major criticism of The Big Sick is that we do not see the same amount of time and depth of characters devoted to Kumail’s own parents. We come understand Beth and Terry’s relationship as Kumail begins to comprehend his own feelings for Emily. We observe Kumail break down on stage as he learns she may not recover. And while this speech gets filmed and posted to the Internet as a major fail by the stand up community, it’s the honesty and raw emotion of Kumail’s words that help him earn Emily back later on. The third act of the film is a major wake up call for Kumail as Emily finally wakes up, and it comes back to Emily V. Gordon giving her side of the story. Because while Kumail spent eight intense days with Emily’s parents figuring out his true feelings regarding Emily, (and commitment in general), she was in a coma. Emily wakes up like it was yesterday; full of the anger she felt when Kumail was hiding their relationship from his family, and acting like an ass. She explains this to Kumail and it takes him (and the audience) a minute to realize that she is right. So Kumail is faced with the daunting task, (and the opportunity) to make himself better on his own. He makes a last ditch attempt at winning Emily back when Beth invites him to a “welcome home” party held in her honor. He even takes Emily’s pre-coma suggestion of putting more of himself and his family into his one-man show. But when she finally comes to see him, he has already made the decision to move with two of his friends to New York to pursue a career in comedy. I was happy to see Kumail leave for New York. Even with a slightly estranged relationship with his parents, they still urge him to text them when he arrives, there even though his mother is not speaking to him. And while Kumail doesn’t win Emily back initially, we see the hope of a future when she shows up again in the audience at one of his New York stand up performances. As the credits roll, we see photos of the real life Emily and Kumail, getting married. We have our happy ending without a big budget romance. While I wish we had a chance to get to know more about Kumail’s family, or some of the many prospective Pakistani women, we did get a chance to know Kumail and see him develop. The film is ultimately his journey and we’re just along for the Uber. Diana DiMuro Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #DianaDiMuro #TheBigSick #July2017

I have some vague memories of seeing Can’t Buy Me Love in the movie theatre. Vague, most likely, because I was six years old in 1987. I remember going with my cousin and my two, much older sisters while we were visiting my grandparents. Going to the movies was a regular occurrence when visiting my mom’s parents and they usually did not go with us. I fell asleep sporadically during my first viewing of Can’t Buy Me Love , Steve Rash’s 80’s romantic comedy, but the two major things that stand out in my memory after all these years are: a young, pre-McDreamy-Patrick Dempsey, playing Ronnie Miller, (a so-called high school “nerd,” hoping to gain popularity by paying a cheerleader to pretend to be his girlfriend) and the finale, where he and his cheerleader love interest Cindy, (RIP Amanda Peterson), ride off into the sunset on a lawn mower to the titular Beatles’ hit. I remember Can’t Buy Me Love as part of my “cousin-canon”: movies I watched frequently at a young age with my cousin, (usually early in the morning before anyone else woke up and realized we were watching them). The cousin canon contained other 80’s films such as: The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Labyrinth, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Better Off Dead, Adventures in Babysitting, The Goonies, Stand By Me, Some Kind of Wonderful and even the very very sad, Project X . So where did Can’t Buy Me Love fit into the mix? Was it just fueled by a love of the excellently coiffed Patrick Dempsey? Why didn’t we just watch Loverboy more? So to try to figure this out, I did it; I rewatched Can’t Buy Me Love 30 years later. These are my initial thoughts in random order: Seth Green. I did not remember a young Seth Green playing the precocious wisecracking little brother, Chuckie Miller. Even in 1987 he is SO SETH GREEN. The things identified as “nerdy,” in the film, (like wearing berets and Buddy Holly glasses, or playing poker on a Saturday night with your friends), are now deemed cool. Hell, they were still pretty cool even in the 80’s, just apparently not in the Tucson, AZ high school where the film takes place. There are some pretty offensive “retard” jokes in this film. Several of them. Not okay. There’s also plenty of fart jokes. If given the option, I prefer those. Steve Rash directed the excellent, Buddy Holly Story , but he also directed Pauly Shore in Son In Law . Consider that. My biggest takeaway from watching the film? Dating an older college guy sucks. So with that in mind, let’s take a deeper look at the film. Our leading lady Cindy spends the beginning of the film waiting for her old boyfriend Bobby to return her calls, but now that he is off playing football in college he seems to be blowing her off. Cindy’s dad is not in the picture either, as we witness her mom’s sleazy new boyfriend hit on Cindy while he stops by to pick up her mom for a date. After her mom says no, Cindy disobeys her by borrowing an expensive white suede outfit for a party, which she later admits was just to impress her friends. She lies, saying Bobby sent it to her, shortly before major scumbag, Quint, (played by Cort McCown), spills red wine all over her. The next day, Cindy goes to the mall in tears and begs the storeowner to let her work there in exchange for a new outfit so she can avoid telling her mom what happened. Meanwhile across the way, Ronald (Dempsey) is about to put the one thousand dollars he has earned mowing lawns over the last several years to use to buy a telescope. He spots Cindy in her moment of need and rushes to her aid, pitching a proposal: pretend to be his girlfriend for an entire month and help him become popular, and he will give her the one thousand dollars to buy a new outfit. After Cindy agrees, the two promise never to reveal their deal to anyone. A little hair mousse and some ripped sleeves later, and Ronald is ready to pose as Cindy’s new boyfriend. After a few awkward encounters with her jock and popular friends, they are surprisingly accepting. They pose the, “well if he’s with Cindy he’s cool” attitude, which in reality is how things should be. Too bad Ronald and Cindy couldn’t have met and become friends on their own without a financial exchange. As they continue their planned lunches, pizza after school and “dates” on Saturdays, Cindy and Ronald actually become friends and grow to truly like each other. They open up to each other: Ronald about his own insecurities and hopes to become popular, while Cindy let’s Ronald read some of her bad poetry and swears him to secrecy. He tells her during a moment of doubt that she can do anything she wants, “anything you put your heart and mind into.” Poor Cindy who lacks a positive male influence in her life, mostly just likes cheerleading and shopping. We think, “This must be it!” Maybe Ronald is going to help Cindy embrace her inner nerd, write more poetry, and accept him for himself in the process. But alas, that isn’t exactly what happens next. After a particularly romantic last date at a graveyard for historic planes, Cindy thinks Ronald is finally going to confess real feelings for her (or maybe just kiss her), but instead he asks, “How should we plan our big breakup at school?” This is when Ronald lets us down. Rather than falling for Cindy as she has for him, he has his eye on the prize: popularity. He uses her materialism against her, claiming loudly at school that she has sucked him dry financially, and that he is “sick of being compared to Bobby.” This hits Cindy surprisingly hard. Her “staged” slap across Ronald’s face is all too real. But their stunt works; Ronald stays friends with the jocks (including a character called “Big John” who looks like he is 40), and suddenly Cindy’s girlfriends are vying for Ronald’s affection. In a surprise twist, Cindy tries to warn Ronald to stay true to himself. But his answer to his sudden rise in popularity is to use more hair gel, and wear a bolo tie with a blazer that looks like it was made from a large Navajo blanket. We are eventually led to the treat of seeing Ronald at a high school dance. In an earlier scene he frantically practices dance moves from what he thinks is American Bandstand , but what is really an African Cultural Hour program on PBS. He takes these new moves out onto the dance floor, and in another completely fictional best-case scenario, all the popular kids accept it and play along, learning and mimicking the dance moves. That would never happen in real life. Never. Ever. Cindy is pissed and storms off with her new longhaired, leather-jacket-wearing college boyfriend who happens to drive a fancy sports car, and frequently demands extra thick milkshakes. Cindy later sees Ronald and realizes that she doesn’t need this college tool, dumping a milkshake over his head onto his fancy white sports car, maybe a subtle comment on her rejecting the use of her mom’s white suede outfit earlier in the film. She appeals to Ronald one last time, saying she has written a new poem just for him, and asks about hanging out again at the airplane graveyard. But it is too late. Popularity has gone to “Ronnie’s” head. He no longer has time for Cindy, because it reminds him of his old nerdy self. Throughout Ronald’s transformation from “nerd” to “cool” we see his best friend, (the ginger fox Kenneth played by Courtney Gains), try to reach out to him again and again to reason with him. But Ronald continues to blow him off as well for his new friends, the popular crowd. Gains plays Kenneth as sort of a cross between a young Ron Howard and Bill Gates. He is sweet and loyal and unapologetically himself. From the beginning of the film when Ronald first suggests “Wouldn’t it be nice to be popular?” Kenneth replies, “And be in a clique?” Naw, he likes who he is and where he is now. Ronald destroys his friendship with Kenneth however, when he accompanies his new jock “friends” while they prank houses on Mischief Night before Halloween. Not realizing they are going to Kenneth’s house until it is too late, Ronald tries to suggest going elsewhere but is forced to choose. And he chooses to throw a bag of dog poop at Kenneth’s front door. So. Goddamn. Lame. When Kenneth catches him, he is so surprised to find that it is Ronald that he lets him go before his dad can call the cops. But Kenneth won’t forgive Ronald afterwards no matter how many times he apologizes. This leads to possibly the most dramatic scene in the film where an angry Kenneth cries/screams, “You shit on my house, man!” slamming him against an arcade game and bringing both him and Ronald practically to tears. Ronald’s fifteen minutes of fame are up though on New Year’s Eve, when a drunk and annoyed Cindy overhears Ronald spewing some of her bad poetry to another girl just to get laid. Bobby, Cindy’s ultra lame college boyfriend finally returns, (since all his friends are apparently still in high school), and he gets ‘roid rage angry with Cindy, demanding answers about her supposed relationship with Ronald. Cindy finally spills the beans and roasts Ronald in front of everyone, blowing his cover and explaining their one thousand dollar deal. Suddenly no one will speak to or even look at him. This is also in my opinion, unbelievable. There had to be someone at that party that actually didn’t like Cindy. Or didn’t care. No high school student is that moral. But Ronald ends New Year’s Eve in the shed where he keeps his lawn mower, lying on what appears to be a burlap sack, crying himself to sleep. Sheesh. Ronald continues to attempt reconciliation not only with Kenneth, but also with Cindy. Telling her he made a mistake and lost himself in becoming popular, he says she, “Brought him back to reality,” and all he ever wanted (apparently) was to become close to her. Even though we can tell Cindy feels bad about what she did, she continues to avoid Ronald, along with everyone else at school. He is no longer welcome within any clique or crowd. Shunned at lunch, he is forced to eat alone. Later when ginger underdog Kenneth becomes interested in his own cheerleading babe Patty, (Darcy DeMoss), he helps her with her math homework during lunch, until Quint, the biggest sleaze-jerk, harasses him. Quint tells him to leave their side of the cafeteria and stop, “pulling a Ronald Miller.” Cindy appeals to the other jocks, asking if they are going to stop Quint from hurting Kenneth, but they just shrug and continue to watch. Suddenly Ronald grabs a baseball bat (because apparently the jocks all play baseball as well as football?), and the music swells dramatically while Ronald tells Quint to leave Kenneth alone. When Quint refuses, Ronald threatens to break his “pitching arm” and slams the bat on the table to show that he means it; he’s crazy man. Ronald then brings up how back in sixth grade when they were all still friends, Quint had fallen out of Ronald’s tree house and broke his arm. Kenneth and Ronald had carried Quint 12 blocks to the hospital back then, with Kenneth commenting that Quint had, “cried the whole way there.” Ronald then delivers the line: “Nerds, jocks. My side, your side. It’s all bullshit. It’s hard enough just trying to be yourself,” before handing over the bat and walking away. Quint and ginger prince Kenneth then shake hands and everyone starts clapping, while the only female teacher and the African American Biology teacher (who never takes off his lab coat) look on approvingly. We conclude our story with Ronald back where he started: mowing Cindy’s lawn. Cindy is about to go off with friends. Ronald is wearing the same “You are here” t-shirt with an arrow pointing to a spot in the Milky Way, that he was wearing at the start of the film, but he has traded his “nerdy” safari hat for a “cool” black cowboy hat, a sign of his character arc apparently. As he turns his back and continues to mow, we hear a frantic sounding call of “Ronald?” and find Cindy, out of the car, looking his way expectantly. Her friends cheer her on and she runs up and jumps on the back of his lawn mower, taking his cowboy hat and putting it on in the process. They start discussing plans for “this time around” before Ronald asks, “What about kissing?” We then finally see them kiss as they ride off into the sunset on the mower, while the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” loudly plays. Goddamn, Patrick Dempsey’s hair is so good in this movie, but I still don’t think that makes up for most of the rest of the film. I looked up writer, Michael Swerdlick on IMDB to see what else he had done, and besides Can’t Buy Me Love , his major credits include: Doogie Howser , an episode of Boy Meets World and two movies starring the Olsen twins. Needless to say, he is no John Hughes. While the moral of the story to be true to yourself is a good one, it rings a bit false by the end of the film. The sweetness and chemistry between Ronald and Cindy, (thanks to Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson) seems genuine and sincere, but I wish we could have seen Ronald figure things out a bit more on his own before being outted to the popular kids, but hell, it’s still an iconic end scene and a happy ending. Diana DiMuro Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #CantBuyMeLove #DianaDiMuro #30thAnniversary #1987 #August2017

The Frighteners : directed by Peter Jackson, co-written with Fran Walsh, produced by Robert Zemeckis, and music by Danny Elfman! This is a group of heavy hitters! Who knew that this endearing 1996 horror-romantic-comedy would lead to the creation of the entire Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies?! Peter Jackson’s special effects company, Weta Digital, used a complicated combination of real scale models, prosthetic makeup, practical effects and computer-generated imagery to create The Frighteners’ cast of ghostly characters. Weta Digital had only been around for three years, but it produced some of the most advanced digital effects of that time period, leading Jackson to take his newfound technological advancements to tackle Tolkien’s classics. But let’s get back to The Frighteners . Starring teen heartthrob Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, the film tells the story of a once successful architect (Frank), who loses his wife after a horrible car accident, and through the traumatic experience, is now able to see and communicate with ghosts. Frank abandons architecture and uses these newfound abilities to literally “scare” up a living; he and three ghosts – 70’s Cyrus (Chi McBride), nerdy Stuart (Jim Fyfe), and the Tombstone -esque Judge (John Astin) – have developed a ruse of “haunting” people who then contact Frank to “exorcise” the spirits from their homes, (for a fee of course). While many consider Frank to be a con man that hangs out at funerals, his ability to predict deaths puts him on the watch list of both the police and the FBI. Frank has started to see burning numbers carved into the foreheads of the increasing number of victims in his town shortly before they die. These people are all reported as having had symptoms of a heart attack, but Frank knows better. He has seen a tall shrouded figure killing these people: the Grim Reaper. Trini Alvarado, (Meg from Little Women and a definite doppelgänger for Andie McDowell), plays Dr. Lucy Lynskey. Lucy is unhappy with her marriage to husband Ray, (played by Peter Dobson). After Frank crashes his car through Ray’s fence, he sends the ghosts over to haunt Frank and Lucy’s house, leaving them no choice but to call him for an exorcism. Ray is convinced that Frank is a crackpot until he himself is murdered. Now Ray is only able to communicate with his wife through Frank, (leading to an awkward anniversary dinner where Frank joins Lucy and Ray’s ghost at a theme restaurant called, “Excalibur.” While Frank tries to help Ray and Lucy, we learn more about his own backstory: he does not remember what happened after he and his wife crashed their car in the woods. AND he woke up to find his wife dead, with the number 13 carved into her forehead. After the accident, Frank gave up on building their “dream house,” which now remains partially built, in disarray, and completely open to the elements, housed by ghosts: Cyrus, Stuart and The Judge. As the Grim Reaper’s body count increases, Frank becomes more and more of a suspect to the police, always showing up just before someone else dies. A showdown at a local museum leads to The Judge finally meeting his maker at the hands of the Grim Reaper and leads Frank to turn himself in. At the police station we meet FBI Special Agent Milton Dammers, (played excellently by Jeffrey Combs), as a shell-shocked agent who has survived countless undercover cases with various cult groups. These cases have taken a toll on Dammers, both mentally and physically. He holds a grudge, believing that Frank is a liar who uses his, “psychic abilities” as a cover up for committing murder. Although she barely knows him, Lucy cannot believe that Frank has done anything wrong. Dammers suggests that Frank even murdered his own wife, stating that a box cutter bearing Frank’s initials was never found, (it was thought to be the weapon which carved the number 13 into his wife’s forehead). Lucy tries to convince Frank of his own innocence and shake him out of his funk by taking a risky trip to the home of Patricia Ann Bradley and her mother. Years after a huge mass murder by her then lover, Johnny Bartlett, Patricia is kept at home, a prisoner of her mother. Lucy visits the house and finds Frank’s box cutter, still bearing his initials, in the closet of Patricia’s mother. She expects the worst of the mother and tries to get Patricia to escape. With this proof she is able to snap Frank out of his stupor, just in time for the Grim Reaper to come to collect her life as body number 41. Cyrus and Stuart do their best to help Frank defend Lucy, but each meets his own demise. Frank realizes that he cannot fight back against a spirit as a living body. He almost attempts suicide before Lucy convinces him there is another way: she administers drugs and puts his body in a freezer to lower his heart rate, enabling him to have an out-of-body-experience in order to combat the Grim Reaper. Agent Dammer sees this opportunity and abducts Lucy in an effort to prevent her from awakening a frozen Frank, but Frank’s spirit ultimately comes to the rescue. He is able to fight the Grim Reaper head to head, until Lucy shocks him back to life. But during Frank’s time as a spirit, he saw the face of the Grim Reaper: the long dead Johnny Bartlett. Frank is convinced that Patricia is in danger and warns Lucy to save her. With this news, Lucy rushes back to the house to convince Patricia to leave before Johnny returns. Little does she know, Patricia was in on the murders all along; she still communicates with the spirit of Johnny, and has been helping him increase his death toll. Frank shows up at the house just in time to save Lucy, and together they steal the ashes of Johnny Bartlett, in an effort to destroy his spirit by taking it to consecrated ground: the chapel in an old abandoned hospital where the mass murders originally took place. As Patricia follows them with shotgun in hand, Frank is able to see flashbacks of the murder as it originally happened, helping him find his way through the now decrepit hospital. This also allows us to see a scary younger version of Patricia, helping carve numbers into the foreheads of each person Johnny kills with a scalpel. Lucy takes Johnny’s ashes and attempts to find the chapel while Frank continues to evade Patricia. Eventually, it is Frank who almost destroys Johnny, but the insane Agent Dammer interrupts him again. Dammer casts the ashes into the wind and shoots Frank in the arm. As Frank turns around, he sees that Patricia is approaching from the opposite direction, ready to shoot her shotgun. Patricia shoots and Frank ducks, falling through the rotted wood floor, and through several other floors, while Dammer takes the bullet meant for Frank and is killed. We think Frank is finally safe, but then in true horror fashion, Patricia pops up and begins strangling him with her shotgun. We see the big wormhole to heaven open in the sky and Frank’s spirit is guided towards it, but as his spirit leaves his body, he is able to wrestle Patricia’s spirit out of hers. A panicked Johnny’s ghost follows, trying to free Patricia, until they finally separate themselves from Frank. They believe they will be able to return to earth to continue their killing spree, but instead they are taken straight to Hell. Frank, reunited with his spirit friends, Cyrus and Stuart, (now in better clothing and no longer leaking ectoplasm), also gets to see his deceased wife, Debra. Finally at peace, Frank is actually denied stay in the afterlife. It’s not his time yet; he must return to earth to finish living and “be happy.” Frank returns to Lucy to whom he has grown close, tears down his old house and starts a new life with her. Through the ordeal, Lucy has also developed the ability to see ghosts, but she hasn’t lost her sense of humor. She chases after a happy Frank, under a blanket, doing her best ghost impression. Frank finally learns that he needed to die in order to truly live. Diana DiMuro Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Review #TheFrighteners #DianaDiMuro #BeaconHorrorShow3 #PeterJackson #Horror #Comedy #MichaelJFox

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t watched it yet, I recommend going into Dark , Netflix’s new German series, cold. Don’t read on; just go watch. Also, this show is not in English. Netflix will auto play a terrible dubbed version in English, but do yourself a favor and change your audio settings to German with English subtitles. If you’ve already finished watching the series, or don’t like surprises, read on. While some critics and reviews are drawing comparisons between Dark and Stranger Things , there is little similarity between the show’s tones. Created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, Dark is just that: a somber look at the small German town of Winden, where the families there are connected in more ways than they know or can even understand. The catalyst for the show’s events is the disappearance of two boys, Erik and Mikkel. After teenage Erik disappears, three friends: Jonas (Louis Hofmann), Bartosz (Paul Lux), and Magnus (Moritz Jahn), decide to hike into the woods to look for Erik’s hidden stash of drugs. Magnus’ sister Martha (Lisa Vicari), and little brother Mikkel (Daan Lennard Liebrenz), tags along. What happens that night is where the series starts down a sci-fi path: after hearing several strange sounds coming from the Winden caves, power surges and dead birds falling from the sky, Mikkel disappears. The question of the show is: not where, but when? The series starts out as a dreary family drama, showcasing a small town whose residents have several secrets behind their current relationships. After the disappearance of Mikkel however, the big reveal is the issue of time. Mikkel is gone, not from Winden, but from Winden in 2019. Mikkel’s disappearance brings several issues between its residents to a head: Jonas’ mother Hannah (played in 2019 by Maja Schöne), has been having an affair with Mikkel’s father Ulrich (Oliver Masucci), after the suicide of her husband, Michael. A distraught Ulrich decides to end the affair to focus on finding his son and take care of his family, much to the dismay of an obsessive Hannah. In 2019, Ulrich is a police officer married to Katharina (Jördis Triebel). Katharina is both principal of Winden high school, and tough-love mother to Martha, Magnus and Mikkel. Initially, the series deals with the characters of 2019 Winden, with our main protagonist, Jonas, helping us understand who’s who. Back after a “summer in France,” Jonas must readjust to regular life and high school when really he spent the past couple months in a mental hospital following his father’s death. Jonas is plagued by bad dreams about his father and questions about why Michael committed suicide. His old flame Martha is now dating his best friend, Bartosz, although after her brother Mikkel disappears, she finds herself drawn back to Jonas. Bartosz is a rich kid with his own strange family dynamics. Bartosz’s father, Aleksander (Peter Benedict), is in charge of the shady nuclear power plant centered in Winden, while his mother Regina (Deborah Kaufmann), runs a fancy but frequently empty hotel, now that word of dead bodies and missing children has hit the local news. Karoline Eichorn’s understated and determined Chief of Police, Charlotte Doppler, puts her own daughter and husband on the back burner as she throws herself into the case. But when the body of an unidentified child is found in the woods, complete with ‘80’s Walkman, and with eyes burned and eardrums destroyed, things really start to get interesting. The plot of Dark deals with the idea of time travel, splintering timelines, each 33 years apart: 1953, 1986 and 2019. It gets pretty confusing at times, keeping track of all the characters, each in various timelines at various ages, but the show’s creators make a concerted effort to show us both young and old versions of characters while slowly revealing their backstories and how they have become the present day 2019 versions of themselves. Jonas, a surrogate for the audience, finds clues left for him by a wandering stranger (played by Andreas Pietschmann). A letter from his father, along with a handwritten map of the Winden caves, a Geiger counter, and a strange Ikea-looking futuristic flashlight lead Jonas to explore the caves searching for the truth: Mikkel is stuck in Winden in 1986. Without giving too much else away, we learn more about how the families of Winden are connected by events happening in 1953, 1986 and 2019. At times, the show drags, in particular during semi-convoluted discussions about time and fate, held between the wandering stranger and H.G. Tannhaus (Arnd Klawitter/Christian Steyer), a local watchmaker whose book “A Journey Through Time,” becomes an important clue throughout the series. On the periphery is the strange character of Noah, a priest (whether in uniform only), who doesn’t seem to age. Noah (Mark Waschke) is responsible for the body count of children piling up over the years with their eyes burned and eardrums destroyed. I found a lot of weird similarities between him and Lost’s Man in Black, sort of a fictional representation of evil, of dark against the light. But the tricky part about the show is that there never seems to be a 100 percent “light” character. Dark’s entire cast has secrets, ulterior motives or is flawed in some way (save maybe for Jonas). As we learn more about each of the characters, we start to care about them more, but we also see how messed up they are. The idea of the future affecting the past, just as much as the past affects the future, comes into play more and more, as more characters are seen entering and exiting the Winden caves. One of my favorite parts of Dark is definitely the music, with a dramatic original score by Ben Frost, and songs from the 1980’s, as well as several by contemporary indie musicians. The opening credits of the show are a montage of mirrored images, made to look like a Rorschach inkblot test, set to "Goodbye," by Apparat (featuring Soap & Skin). It is an eerie song that starts to swell, both in volume and emotion, and as the series progresses, the images become increasingly more interesting, giving clues to the questions of the series. And dang, do I have questions. Let’s hope Netflix renews Dark for a second season. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #Dark #DianaDiMuro #December2017 #Netflix #TV #German #TimeTravel

When looking back on the movies I saw in 2017 certain things stood out. The following are the performances, writing and much more, that really stuck out for me in a sea of noteworthy films. Here are my “Honorable Mentions” for the films of 2017: Michael Stuhlbarg and Tracy Letts Whew! 2017 was the year of the character actor, and I want to point out two of my favorites: Michael Stuhlbarg and Tracy Letts. Whether playing accepting fathers, newspaper men, jilted lovers or super spies, both these actors melted into each of the roles they played, making me forget who they were until I was ecstatic to recognize them again. See Michael Stuhlbarg in: The Post, The Shape of Water, and (my personal fav) Call Me By Your Name . See Tracy Letts in: The Lovers, Lady Bird and The Post. The Losers Club from It Dang these kids. I loved the Losers Club and you will too. The sweet stuttering Jaeden Lieberher as Bill, New-Kids-On-The-Block-quoting Jeremy Ray Taylor as Ben, and serious hypochondriac Jack Dylan Grazer as Eddie, were my personal favorites, but the entire cast held it down. Well, except for Chosen Jacobs as Mike, because they barely gave him any story or any lines. Sorry, Mike. Sophia Lillis kills it as a badass updated-for-the-times Beverly (even though the movie is set in the ‘80’s); despite being abused, she stands bravely till the very end. James McAvoy and Anya Taylor-Joy in Split I had my fears about the latest M. Night Shyamalan film. Namely: was it going to be completely comical to watch James McAvoy pretend to have 23 distinct personalities? Actually, it wasn’t. It was equal parts scary and impressive. Anya Taylor-Joy, (who headlined The VVitch ), is eye of the storm: calm while others freak out around her. Way better than I expected, this film is worth a viewing. The Writing of The Big Sick Only a film written by husband and wife, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, could so accurately portray the humor and pain of a relationship formed under such intense circumstances. This could have easily just been Kumail’s story while future wife Emily lays in a coma, however; Gordon gives Emily’s voice just as much depth and heft to put Kumail in his place. Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are awesome as Emily’s parents too (just sayin’). The Cinematography of Star Wars: The Last Jedi Long-time cinematographer for films by Rian Johnson, Steve Yedlin creates a color palette that is both understated in some scenes, and blinding in others. That final battle scene on Crait, when the Resistance fighters are kicking up all that red dust in the wake of their skimmers is stunning. The use of color throughout the film is really striking and stayed with me long after the film was over. The Soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Rarely do I look forward to a film’s soundtrack as much as its sequel. Guardians 2 did just that for me. While I am sure writer/director James Gunn had more than his two cents worth for the soundtrack, the music department for the film really pulled it off this time around. Daddy issues AND Cat Stevens? Well, sheeeeet. A Superhero Film For The Ages: Wonder Woman Patty Jenkins directed a superhero movie that proved to be a symbol of momentous cultural progress for the genre. It was also just a damn good movie, giving us an origin story with a female lead from her perspective, rather than using her as a side-note character or love interest for a man. Funny, charismatic Chris Pine as Steve Trevor was a great foil as he played extremely well off of earnest, compassionate (yet still funny) Gal Gadot as Diana, aka Wonder Woman. This was a kickass inspiring action film with kickass inspiring female characters (Robin Wright’s Antiope among them), that led to a cultural movement of female empowerment in 2017. There is no denying that and Wonder Woman is most worthy of its recognition. I can’t wait to see what Jenkins and Gadot do in their next films. To read more, check out Bernadette Gorman’s in-depth article here . Romain Duris (aka “Cinquanta”) in All The Money In the World While the big story may have been Christopher Plummer reshooting all of Kevin Spacey’s scenes, Romain Duris steals the show (in my opinion) as one of the kidnappers holding John Paul Getty III hostage. Call it stockholm syndrome, but by the film’s end you grow to care just as much about Cinquanta escaping as you do about the young Mr. Getty. Also, jeezzzus Michelle Williams is an ACT-TOR. Check her out. PUH-LEEZE. Visual Effects of War for the Planet of the Apes This film deserves to win an Oscar for best Visual Effects. And if Andy Serkis doesn’t win a special Oscar, created solely for him, to recognize his work in motion capture, IN ADDITION to being a mighty fine actor, I will probably throw something at whatever screen I watch the Oscars on this year. Out of Matt Reeves’ three Planet of the Apes films, I enjoyed this one the most. And I can honestly say, it was because it finally centered on the apes as the main characters. Apes together strong. The writing/directing of Noah Baumbach – The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) Noah Baumbach has, (to quote Mike Birbiglia), “that secret special skill,” that causes me both anxiety and deep appreciation when watching his films. The Meyerowitz Stories , centers around brother and sister, Danny and Jean, (Adam Sandler and Elizabeth Marvel), their half brother, Matthew (Ben Stiller), and aging patriarch, Harold (played most annoyingly in excellent fashion by Dustin Hoffman). Adam Sandler’s Danny is a sweet, sad, Punch Drunk Love of a son, always feeling inferior in his father’s eyes, but a loving father to his daughter, Eliza (Grace Van Patten). As Danny watches Eliza go off to college, he gets a second chance to spend more time with his father, encouraging him to submit a sculpture to a faculty show at Bard College. The events of the movie center around the time leading up to this show, Harold’s failing health, and all the shenanigans in between. But the reason I want to commend Noah Baumbach, is because of how real his dialogue feels. When Ben Stiller’s Matthew talks over his brother, neither hearing what the other is saying, I found myself nodding and laughing. And when Dustin Hoffman’s Harold, quietly brings down his sons’ confidence, I found myself quiet with understanding. The kids are pains in the asses – adults who fuck up – and I found myself rooting for them. The Amazing Ensemble Cast of Patti Cake$: Danielle Macdonald (Patti), Bridget Everett (Barb), Siddharth Dhananjay (Jheri), Mamoudou Athie (Basterd) and Cathy Moriarty (Nana) This killer cast almost granted Patti Cake$ a place on my “Top Ten of 2017” list. It was a tough decision, and I think this film is a very close #11. Danielle Macdonald is the titular Patti: hard working, passionate about writing, and dreaming of hitting it big. Her rhymes slay and so does her performance. Just as devastating is Bridget Everett as her mother, Barb. With a powerhouse voice and a disturbing personal life, Barb comes around to be there for Patti by the end. Patti’s group, “PB&J,” is made up of her best friend Jheri (an infectious and likeable Siddharth Dhananjay), and the mysterious Basterd, (the somber and later, sweet Mamoudou Athie). To cap it all off, Cathy Moriarty plays Nana, the most badass grandma you could ever hope for. Patti Cake$'s cast may be struggling and hoping for a better life, but they have a pretty good situation with each other. Kyle Mooney in Brigsby Bear I don’t want to give anything away, but the earnest and authentic delivery of Kyle Mooney as James Pope in Brigsby Bear alone is worth the viewing. Also, Mark Hamill makes a surprise appearance. Go watch this. Now. Here. Sam Rockwell in Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri Sam Rockwell as Officer Dixon is one complex mofo of a character. I in no way condone the character himself or his actions in the film, but Sam Rockwell’s performance is hands down incredible. *Runner-up to Honorable Mention: Caleb Landry Jones for his kooky and loveable performance as Red Welby. Coco I always put off going to see the latest Pixar film. I always think, “I prefer old school animation,” and every time I leave the theatre thinking, “that WAS AWESOME.” Coco was no different. Directors Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina do an amazing job honoring the tradition of Dia de los Muertos, while bringing new characters to life. Visually, this movie is saturated with color. It literally glows as main character Miguel navigates his way through the land of the dead. While the music is catchy, it is the message of family, and remembering your loved ones that stays with you long after the movie has finished. Dunkirk Dunkirk was amazing for its panic-inducing multiple takes of the same events, making me question the time of the film constantly. In the same instance, the cast – whose names you barely learn or can even remember – still stay with you throughout the film as you root and pray for them to return home alive. Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Homecoming I kinda thought I didn’t want another Spider-Man reboot. I was wrong. Who knew Tom Holland was British? I didn’t. His Queens accent is ON POINT. Plus Marisa Tomei as hot Aunt May, a surprise performance by Donald Glover, and a sassy-sans-make-up Zendaya as a potential future love interest for Peter Parker? Dang son, keep it coming. I’m ready for this reboot. Thor, aka Chris Hemsworth, in Thor: Ragnarok Don’t get me wrong, I love Loki. Tom Hiddleston is one of the best parts of the Thor movies for me. And Tessa Thompson’s breakout kick-butt performance as Valkyrie left me pumped after the credits rolled. But it was a newly shorn, shorthaired Hemsworth as Thor in Ragnarok which really made the film enjoyable. Breaking the wall to address the audience from the very beginning, Hemsworth finally seems to be truly enjoying himself, even during his kingdom’s total demise. This is definitely worth a watch. And so… …I saw a lot of movies this year and still it wasn’t enough. After reading through the rest of the Story Screen family’s top picks for 2017, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say they influenced my own choices. I thought long and hard about all the films I saw this past year, and I wished multiple times that I could watch several of them again before writing to you readers now. But deep down, I think I knew which films of 2017 really struck me and why. So now, without further ado, here is my personal “Top Ten of 2017.” I hope you enjoy. Number 10: Logan I feel pretty strongly that James Mangold should have received an Oscar nomination for Best Directing. Ah well. I am holding out hope for the Best Adapted Screenplay category. I love X-Men movies, and this one changes the game. I could watch aging Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart bicker like they're in The Odd Couple for years to come. But this swan song for Jackman’s Wolverine is an extremely satisfying end. Logan’s angry attempt at parenting Laura (as she yells at him in Spanish), is amazing. Patrick Stewart’s performance is good it hurts, and (who knew?) Stephen Merchant is the albino mutant you wish you had seen in earlier films. Number 9: Baby Driver I wasn’t sure the teen heartthrob from The Fault In Our Stars was going to be able to carry the lead role in Edgar Wright’s latest film, but he most certainly does, and carries it well. Ansel Elgort is the titular Baby, and it is Baby’s condition of tinnitus (a personal fear of mine), that prefaces the film’s ingenious use of music. The film’s soundtrack is so strong it crosses over to the audience to tell mood and become an additional character to an already extremely strong cast. For further input into why this is a truly excellent and worthy musical experience, check out Mike Burdge’s excellent article here . Number 8: Detroit Dang, Kathryn Bigelow. Dang. How could this film have not been nominated for anything? No Golden Globe? No Oscar nod? I am floored. This is a tough watch. There’s no denying that. But the same tension that Bigelow brought to Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker , pumps through Detroit’s historical look back on an incident that is more pertinent to modern times than I wish it were. Where I definitely appreciated the value of said earlier films, it is Detroit by far, that makes you care for its characters, fear for their lives, and experience raging anger at the injustice of it all. John Boyega puts forth a stunning performance that blows his Star Wars character out of the water, and Will Poulter’s performance is incredible, even as it is cringe-worthy to watch. Number 7: Get Out Go See this movie NOW. It is not a comedy, and while there are definitely funny parts, placing Get Out in that category was an insult to the film at the Golden Globes. I would love to see Director Jordan Peele go on to make many more films. Whether in the genres of horror or social commentary, (or both like Get Out ), I know that he has much more to come. Daniel Kaluuya is instantly likeable and wary all at once as Chris, our main character. And Catherine Keener and Bradley Whitford, (normally actors I would love to have as parents), are so goddamn awful and creepy it is downright amazing. The scariest character however, may actually be Caleb Landry Jones, (that’s right, my loveable Red from Three Billboards ) as their son Jeremy, whereas Allison Williams's turn as daughter Rose (Chris’s girlfriend) is played to perfection. Number 6: I, Tonya There are three main reasons I am putting I, Tonya on my Top Ten: the extremely memorable performances by its three leads, Margot Robbie (Tonya), Sebastian Stan (playing her husband, Jeff) and Allison Janney as Tonya’s mother, LaVona Golden. When I realized that director Craig Gillespie had also directed Lars and the Real Girl , things started to make a lot more sense for me. This movie takes the nation-captivating tabloid story and gives it both humor and heart. I never expected to have so much sympathy for Tonya Harding, nor did I expect to laugh that hard. Number 5: The Florida Project My first of two experiences going to Disney World was with my older sister and my grandparents when I was in the second grade. In stark contrast to decadent theme park hotels, we were staying outside the park at a budget motel. Every day my grandparents would drive us back from the Magic Kingdom, during which we would pass “Orange World” multiple times while they argued in Spanish, before I realized we were again indeed lost. The Florida Project is a beautiful movie. It shows that seedy underbelly outside the theme parks while still containing the joy of being a kid playing with her friends over summer break. Brooklynn Prince as Moonee captivates as she causes mischief and tries the patience of her young mother, Halley, (played excellently by Bria Vinaite) and the owner of the motel where they live, Bobby (played by Willem Dafoe, one of the only star actors in the film). Number 4: The Post If Detroit and Get Out are relevant to today’s events, so is Steven Spielberg’s The Post . It is to his credit that another historic film depicting events we already know the outcome of is so entirely engrossing. The Post boasts a hugely star-studded cast: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts (awesome!), Bradley Whitford (creep!), Matthew Rhys and Alison Brie among others. But while the film handles the ever-pertinent battle of the Press trying to tell the Public the Truth (while our government would prefer to tell their own version of it), I was just as captivated by Streep’s performance as Washington Post owner, Kay Graham. I go into Streep’s films often thinking, “Isn’t it time someone else had a chance?” and I am always blown away by her performance. Kay’s story of struggling to lead in the boys club environment of the 60’s – having her thoughts and decisions constantly second-guessed by those who feel more entitled than her – is a struggle women continue to face today. It was inspiring to watch her and the staff of the paper raise a fist and take a stand. The Post left me feeling something I had experienced little of in 2017: hope for future change. Number 3: Blade Runner 2049 This was a tough one. I considered moving it up on my list and moved it back down a few times, but I feel good about it making my top three films of 2017. Blade Runner 2049 is worth your time; it is entirely engrossing and engaging whether or not it connects to the original film. Its main character K, played by Ryan Gosling, is so understated, yet so captivating. Roger A. Deakins has been nominated for an Oscar in cinematography so many times over the years (but has never won I might add), that it speaks volumes to say this may be his best film yet. You are truly immersed and lost in 2049 : the color, the scale, it is a depressing view of the future and yet one I could easily dive into. Take your time with this one. Let it wash over you. Then, wait a day or two and watch it again. Number 2: Lady Bird After enjoying her in Greenberg and Frances Ha , (for which she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach), I was eager to see Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut. I was not disappointed. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Saoirse Ronan), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Laurie Metcalf), Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay (also Greta Gerwig), I am keeping my fingers crossed for Lady Bird on Oscar’s night. I love Laurie Metcalf’s judgmental and overprotective mother, Marion. She smothers, she argues, and she loves. Gerwig captures the feeling of the early 2000’s (complete with Dave Matthews Band). She shows us Saoirse Ronan (Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson), struggling to find her place in the world and dying to escape the confines of Sacramento, California. While it tackles the emotion and growth of Lady Bird as a character, the story also shows real depth and the struggle within Metcalf’s Marion, trying to let go of her daughter as she grows up. Number 1: Call Me By Your Name Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This movie is beautiful. Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Elio broke my heart and really hit home. Being a teenager, feeling lost and unsure about what you want, being influenced by someone so strongly, and trying to decide whether or not to take a chance at being who you feel you really are – these are some of the central themes in Call Me By Your Name . Elio, a seventeen-year-old, living the good life in Northern Italy, has his world turned upside-down when his professor father welcomes an American doctoral student, Oliver, (played tremendously by Armie Hammer) for the summer. While initially glib with American slang (“Later”), Oliver eventually has a life-changing impact on Elio, and Elio on Oliver, creating a love story where the real enemy is time, or not enough of it. As the summer comes to end, so does their relationship. But this relationship has transformed Elio. Elio also has some of the best movie parents I have ever witnessed, played by Amira Casar (his mother, Annella) and Michael Stuhlbarg (as his father). One of the last scenes of the film features a conversation between Elio and his father where they discuss his relationship with Oliver, and Elio’s wish to forget the whole thing. Stuhlbarg’s Mr. Perlman recounts his own experiences and gives his son some powerful advice: “Look,” he interrupted. “You had a beautiful friendship. Maybe more than a friendship. And I envy you. In my place, most parents would hope the whole thing goes away, or pray that their sons land on their feet soon enough. But I am not such a parent. In your place, if there is pain, nurse it, and if there is a flame, don’t snuff it out, don’t be brutal with it… …How you live your life is your business, just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once. And before you know it, your heart is worn out, and as for your body, there comes a point when no one looks at it, much less wants to come near it. Right now, there’s sorrow, pain. Don’t kill it and with it the joy you’ve felt.” Elio goes on to embrace his love and his anguish at its end. And his tearful face at the film’s conclusion is a testament to the strength of his love. I hope both Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet go on to make more films that push the boundaries of what most find comfortable or normal. Their portrayal of love is universal. And it is beautiful. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Article #Top10 #Bestof #2017 #Bestof2017 #January2018 #DianaDiMuro #HonorableMentions

Love, Simon is the story of teenager Simon Spier, a boy “just like you,” except for one huge secret: no one knows he is gay. Based on the book, ‘Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda’ by Becky Albertalli, the film is written by Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker, ( This is Us and About A Boy ), and directed by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti (a gay man himself) has created, written, directed or produced some of my favorite TV series ( Everwood, Dawson’s Creek ), and has now seemingly inherited heaven and earth as both creator and executive producer of several shows on the CW, including Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Riverdale, The Flash, Supergirl , and Arrow. The film opens with Simon, played endearingly by Nick Robinson ( The Kings of Summer, Everything, Everything ), describing his life: his loving parents and younger sister that he “actually likes,” his three closest friends, Abby, Nick and Leah, and their routine of drinking too much iced coffee, watching 90’s movies and eating way too many carbs. Watching Simon drive his friends to school while dancing and singing in the car, Love, Simon has a very John Hughes vibe to it. Berlanti sets the stage for you to initially be jealous of this loving and seemingly content teenager. But despite his supportive surroundings, Simon struggles with the secret that he is gay. He envisions coming out to his family and friends, but he doesn’t. He’s afraid. One of the film’s funnier sequences is when Simon imagines all of his straight friends having to “come out” to their families. He plans to coast a bit longer until high school is over, and imagines embracing gay culture when he goes off to college (this includes a dream dance sequence to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ that reminded me a bit of JGL dancing around in 500 Days of Summer ). Anyone who has ever been in the closet at any point understands what it’s like to fear coming out, to rationalize that you are just going to “wait until…” before you finally tell someone else you are gay, even those with a supportive family and friends like Simon. But things finally change once Simon reads a post online by a fellow closeted gay student, written under the pseudonym, ‘Blue.’ Simon reaches out to Blue, confessing his own situation, signing his email as ‘Jacques’ (a reference to ‘Jacques a dit,’ meaning ‘Simon Says’ in French). The two boys soon develop a connection, confiding in each other what they are unable to tell their family and friends. Each gives the other courage, as Blue becomes determined to tell his family, and Simon finally comes out to his friend, Abby. With each email exchange, Simon imagines who at school might be Blue. The beauty of this method of storytelling is that it allows Simon (and the viewer) to imagine his love interest as any boy – white, black, jock, musician, nerd – we watch, hoping just as Simon does, that each person will be the one for him. As he grows a little braver, Simon also gets his heart broken repeatedly each time he finds out a potential ‘Blue’ is not the one. He envies Ethan, the only out gay kid at school, who despite being openly mocked by bullies, is still open in his gayness in front of other students. During this entire internal struggle, someone finally forces Simon’s hand: Martin (Logan Miller), a fellow cast member in the school’s production of Cabaret. Martin sees Simon’s email exchanges with Blue, and decides to take screen-shots of them for blackmail. Martin has a crush on Simon’s friend Abby (Alexandra Shipp), and he wants Simon’s help, using his knowledge as leverage. Martin could have been just a stereotypical jerk, but his character is actually way more fleshed out than that. In a scene where Martin, Abby and Simon are all rehearsing lines at a local Waffle House, Martin gets a sad and distressed Abby to very publicly exclaim to the rest of the diners that she deserves a “goddamn superhero” after telling the boys about her parent’s divorce. In that moment, Abby actually sees something admirable in Martin, before everything quickly goes to hell. Martin’s attempt to woo Abby ultimately fails, after a huge public gesture much like Heath Ledger’s in 1 0 Things I Hate About You . Simon is outed online to his entire school by a humiliated Martin looking for someone else to take the spotlight. This is cringe worthy, but it is also completely understandable behavior. Martin isn’t evil; he is immediately remorseful and goes to apologize to Simon, who he now views as a friend. But in one of the film’s most memorable scenes Simon argues that, “I’m supposed to be the one that decides when and where and who knows; that’s supposed to be my thing!” He’s right. Martin has taken that away from him. Simon takes this opportunity to finally come out to his family over Christmas break. His parents (played by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel), along with his little sister, Nora (Talitha Bateman) all respond awkwardly, albeit with good intentions. They don’t always say the perfect thing, his dad makes dumb jokes that are insensitive, and his little sister even suggests that he could just “pretend not to be gay.” This feels like a real family. They love him, but no one is perfect. Their initial mistakes, and their subsequent attempts to make it right later on, feel genuine. While the main focus of the story is its titular character, Love, Simon also does a decent job of fleshing out its other teenage protagonists with realistic struggles and insecurities. Simon’s best friends are all dealing with their own issues of finding love and acceptance. His friend Nick (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), seems like a confident jock, but he is just as unsure of himself in pursuing their friend, Abby, while at the same time Simon mistakes the actions of his best friend Leah ( 13 Reasons Why star, Katherine Langford) for jealousy, and he attempts to set her up with Nick. After he is outed to his entire school, Simon’s friends are hurt. He lied to them, manipulating them out of fear that Martin would reveal his secret. Leah comes clean: she actually has harbored feelings for Simon all these years, not their friend Nick. And while he was working up the courage to tell Leah he was gay, she in turn was struggling to reveal her own feelings for him. This is not a new predicament when it comes to friends and teenagers, falling in and out of love and hurting each other’s feelings. But showing it in terms of being gay is what’s new and meaningful. Having it be a part of the conversation, and normalizing a gay teenager as the hero and love interest of the story, is what makes Love, Simon so worthwhile. I’ve read some criticism that the film is not edgy or “gay enough.” But I think most teenagers are not shown enough examples of gay characters experiencing love and acceptance, as they also face insecurity and struggle in film. Audiences are not given enough gay characters that they can see as worthy of love and acceptance. Growing up, I never saw anyone on TV or in film that I identified with who was not completely heterosexual. It took years, until I was almost finished with college, before I started to see characters on TV or in movies that were gay or bisexual who were portrayed positively or in a healthy relationship. One of my top picks for 2017 was the beautiful film, Call Me By Your Name . Love, Simon is by far a much more mainstream, teen-focused story, but I sincerely hope we will continue to see more representation like it on screen in years to come. Working on Love, Simon has since inspired two of its own actors, Keiynan Lonsdale and Joey Pollari (as well as the real-life younger brother of Nick Robinson) to come out publicly. While Simon’s story is not perfect, he most definitely does deserve “a great love story.” But getting back to Simon: once Blue learns Simon’s identity, and witnesses the aftermath of him being outed at school, he retreats and cuts off communication. Simon is devastated. In the film’s final act, he attempts to repair his situation. He talks to his family. He reaches out and apologizes to his friends. And he concocts his own grand gesture: putting himself out there (on his terms) for all of his school to know, and inviting Blue to meet him on the ferris wheel after the school play at the school’s carnival. Simon’s friends finally make amends and they are there to cheer him on. We wait as Simon rides the ferris wheel, again and again, alone. It is a pretty brutal scene. Martin, feeling bad about his actions, pretends to be Blue, but finally just buys Simon one more ride on the ferris wheel before Blue finally arrives. Blue turns out to be fellow student and jock, Bram (Keiynan Lonsdale) whom Simon had originally hoped was his crush at the start of the film. We see these two characters ride the ferris wheel and kiss, (repeatedly), to the cheers of their classmates. But this is not the end. The film finishes much like it started: with Simon picking up his friends before school, only this time, buying an extra ice coffee for Bram before they all drive off together. This act alone creates a sense of routine and normalcy; it shows us a group of teenagers: happy, blasting music, and driving off together into the distance. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #Love #LoveSimon #DianaDiMuro #Romance #Comedy #Teen #Drama #April2018

After writing The Orphanage , and The Impossible , (both directed by J.A. Bayona), Sergio G. Sánchez makes his directorial debut with 2017’s psychological horror piece, Marrowbone . The film stars George MacKay, ( Captain Fantastic, How I Live Now ), along with Anna Taylor-Joy ( Split, The VVitch, Morgan ), Charlie Heaton ( Stranger Things ), Mia Goth ( A Cure for Wellness ) and Kyle Soller ( Poldark ). This period piece ultimately reveals that it takes place during 1969, but begins with a much earlier feel. It begins with a British family being brought by their American mother to her abandoned childhood home, “It is not like I remembered,” resonates in more ways than one. The house is dilapidated, empty and eerie, the perfect setting for a slow-burn ghost story. Leaving England to escape (at what is hinted at as an abusive father), their mother tells them that they will start over and forget all that has happened before. From now on, they will take on her maiden name, Marrowbone, and stick together, no matter what. The family consists of oldest son Jack, (MacKay), daughter Jane, (Goth), brother Billy, (Heaton), and youngest son, Sam (played by Matthew Stagg). We are also introduced early on to their neighbor and new friend, Allie (Taylor-Joy), during that initial happy and peaceful summer before things take a turn for the worse. Allie photographs the siblings after an epic day by the sea, and it is the last time we see the group truly happy together. Shortly afterwards, the Marrowbones lose their mother to illness and bury her on their property to avoid going to the orphanage. Jack has promised his mother that they will lay low and avoid others until he turns 21 and can become their legal guardian. “We are one,” they repeat, after Jack makes them promise not to reveal their mother’s death and to stick together. Their mother also reveals a small metal case, once belonging to Jack’s father, which they thought she had left behind. This lie, and the resulting isolation felt by their mother’s death, takes a toll on the Marrowbone children. We see them trying their best to live a happy life, until one day a figure out of the woods shoots a bullet through their mother’s window, and the film skips ahead six months. The Marrowbone children do their best to live in hiding. Jane becomes the surrogate mother, homeschooling the youngest brother, Sam. Billy, wearing overalls and carrying a gun, hunts and paces testily, a teenager in a cage, while Jack, the only one who leaves the property, enters town for groceries and to occasionally steal kisses from Allie, who works at the local library. It is this first visit to town that reveals a television showing the first moon landing, the clothing and other small details of the Marrowbone’s neighbors, including Porter (Kyle Soller) who both fancies Allie for himself, and is put off by the strange quiet behavior of Jack and his family. The fear of the Marrowbone’s returning father, along with the building dread of the other townsfolk finding out about their mother’s death may be the scariest part of the film. Six months after the gunman appeared, Jack appears rattled, with a large healing gash on his forehead, as he avoids outside contact until a scheduled visit by Porter approaches to finalize his mother’s inheritance of the Marrowbone home. Allie, both sensitive and well read, seems a tad out of place in the small anonymous Maine town, enough so that Porter tries to persuade her to join him when he is offered a new job in New York City. But her heart already belongs to Jack, despite his secretive nature and hesitance for her to come back and visit his siblings until after he turns 21. Allie probes Jack for more details about his life and family, but she is shut out when she asks about his father, whom Jack only describes as a “monster.” Back home, the Marrowbone children are frantic about what to do to satisfy the approaching Porter. They need a bank check and a document signed by their (now dead) mother. Again, the suspense of whether they will be discovered is often scarier than any other potential villains thus far. There is a strange stain soaking through the ceiling from the attic that Jack paints over before Porter arrives, and Jane practices her mother’s signature over and over, while the children discuss where to get the money. The metal case from their father becomes a point of contention. Billy and Jack agree it is the only way to save them, while Jane, the moral compass of the group, believes that anything from their father can only bring bad luck. Jack reclaims the case, hidden out amongst the rocks by the beach. Once opened, it is filled with British pounds, and some other stolen belongings. They take the money and Billy brings the box and its remaining contents up to the roof and drops it down the chimney. Jane believes the money is cursed – much like the monkey’s paw in the short story by W. W. Jacobs – it will only bring them despair. Although suspicious and displeased with his visit to the Marrowbone estate, Porter takes the money and the forged documents signed by Jane. While snooping around, he sees that a door leading upstairs has been bricked off. After this visit, the children hope that all will be well, but we, the audience, know it most certainly will not be. Sam, the youngest of the group, becomes our chorus. He serves as a way to show the viewer the fear of childhood in a creaky old house, and as a way for us to both draw conclusions and ask further questions about what the heck is going on. Afraid of the “ghost” that inhabits their house, Sam asks Jack to cover all the mirrors or hide them from view. His fear is part childish imagination, part the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when you know something is wrong. Sam wishes to visit his mother’s room now that she is dead, but Jack will not allow it. When most frightened, the entire group of Marrowbone children run and hide inside their “fortress” – a homemade bunker of blankets and pillows complete with a record player playing The Beach Boys. Here they feel safe. The children are frustrated and scared in hiding but they carry on. They play games, feed stray raccoons, pick berries and even communicate with neighbor Allie via Morse code, using lanterns from their windows. But the eerie presence of something lurks inside the house. The moans heard from upstairs, the stain coming through the ceiling, the bricked up door leading to the attic, we know something else is going on. Sam’s “ghost” is actually the man who shot at the Marrowbone house six months ago. Little by little we learn through hints and whispers that it may be the Marrowbone children’s father. But is it? Are they just scared of being found out? Jack tells Allie that their father is dead, but is he, really? Is the ghost just their fear of an abusive father returning, or is there more to it? Porter, still suspicious, has seen the door to the room that is entirely bricked shut. Angry after Allie rejects his offer to go to New York, he taunts her with secrets about Jack and his family. She learns through files of newspaper clippings that their father was a convicted murderer in England whom Jack testified against in court. He has escaped, and the whereabouts of both father and family are currently unknown. In yet another subplot (that in my opinion is not needed), Porter is put in a position where he may lose his one ticket out of this small town if he is not able to buy his way into a new position as a partner at the New York firm he plans to join. He blackmails Jack, telling him he wants money or else. He knows that the papers were forged and assumes something happened to their mother. They need the cursed money again to save their secret. But how can they get at it now that Billy has dropped it down the chimney leading to the bricked off room? In one of the scarier physical sequences of the film, Billy climbs down a rope to get to the box at the bottom of the chimney. There he finds buckets of rainwater and dead animals, and (presumably) a dead body, covered by a sheet in the corner. As he leaves to climb out with the box, someone comes after him, someone that has been surviving in that bricked up room. The idea that there is a body in the sealed up attic still alive is a terrifying one. The fact that the Marrowbone children potentially put that body up there is even worse. Is it their father? It is all in their minds? Will they kill Porter to keep their secret? Will Allie find out the truth and leave Jack? And why does Jack keep having headaches or seizures and blacking out? How did he get the big gash on his head? This entire build-up and suspense works really well until the last act of the film, when Jack is put in a position to deal with Porter, revealing the truth and all hell breaks loose. Part of me wishes that Allie and Porter were never a part of Sanchez’s plot. Keeping things pared down to just the Marrowbone children (who have great and believable chemistry as siblings) within the confines of a beautiful but scary Gothic house, would have been enough. What if the body up in the attic is really dead? It could have been a fairly satisfying enough ghost story to have the body actually be their dead father, whose memory never releases his terrifying grip on the minds of his children. But Sanchez decides to add too many subplots that need explanation and rips them all open during the film’s conclusion. After Jack suffers a particularly bad seizure and blackout, Allie learns the truth about the Marrowbone family and what happened that fateful day a man shot a bullet through their window. In flashbacks, we learn that it was indeed their father, returning to hurt his family and reclaim the stolen goods in the metal case. Jack locks his siblings up in the attic room for their protection, and goes to confront their father. He attempts to take the blame and the brunt of their father’s anger but fails. His father bludgeons him with the metal case and throws him off a cliff by the sea, returning to the house to wreak havoc on the remaining children. When Jack awakens, he runs frantically back to the house, grabbing his father’s gun in the process. Allie, who has been reading Jack’s account through a family journal, goes to the Marrowbone home, finding Jack hiding within their family “fortress,” speaking as both himself and his siblings. Jane, Billy and Sam, are nowhere to be found; Jack has split personalities representing each of them. This big reveal, while understandable, is hard to take. Allie, finding Porter’s belongings near the door, searches the Marrowbone house for him, until she finds the once bricked shut door now broken open, and a bleeding Porter lying on the ground near the uncovered dead bodies of the other Marrowbone children. Porter discovered them earlier before being attacked himself. The Marrowbone’s father, left up in the attic to die, has survived on rainwater and eating vermin. He comes to attack Allie just before Jack saves her life, shooting his father with his own stolen gun. We learn that Jack’s siblings died that day six months ago, up in the attic with their father, and Jack sealed them all in, hoping his father would starve to death up there. Everything since then has happened within Jack’s mind. This could have been the film’s end, but unfortunately Sanchez takes it a few clumsy steps further with an epilogue. Sanchez shows us that Allie has chosen to remain with Jack after all that happened, speaking to a doctor about his split personality disorder and the medication needed to keep it at bay. The doctor cautions Allie that she is young and giving up all chances at a “normal” life and family of her own. But Allie returns to the Marrowbone estate, and we see her place a full bottle of medication into a bathroom cabinet with several others that have remained untouched. She wakes Jack who is napping, and gives him a photograph of his family from that wonderful day on the beach. This helps the audience at least believe that the rest of Jack’s family were real to begin with, and not just a figment of his imagination. Allie leaves Jack sitting outside then to “speak” to his siblings, whether as ghosts, or the addled memories of his mind; she has become an accomplice to his mental illness as a way for him to hold on to his family. I could have done without this drawn out conclusion, ending the story with the death of his monster of a father. But to be honest, the reality of “ghosts” in our own memories or lives, created by the real life horrors of abusive parents was a much scarier villain to me. I would have liked the film to be more centered on the destruction of a family, damaged by their own parents and fear. Learning to deal with that fear and heal together as a family would have been a much happier ending, but all in all, Marrowbone is still a fairly enjoyable watch with a great ensemble cast, that drips in spooky Gothic eeriness. Worth a watch on a rainy afternoon for sure, so go check it out. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #DianaDiMuro #Marrowbone #Horror #Suspense #JABayona #June2018

I’ve been in a few bands over the years, and none of them hit it big. But that never really mattered. To me, it was always more enjoyable just to make music – playing with friends, improvising, writing songs together – these were my favorite parts. Songwriting, whether it is lyrics or music, can be a really cathartic experience. It is a way to leave behind emotions or ideas you’ve been struggling with by the end of the song, or better yet, a way to finally deal with them. And there is an undeniable rush to taking those creations and performing them live for an audience, whether that audience is five, or forty-five, people. After college, I did some serious research into getting myself a small business loan. My dream at the time was to open a record store near Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I had my eye on a vacant store space (that is now a real estate office) and I made a point to visit as many other music stores as possible for “research purposes.” I wanted my own High Fidelity , and I was confident in a college town record store, despite the increasing trend of digital music. Eventually, I left that dream (and New York) altogether, and went out west to fall into other dreams and careers. But now I’m back (in Poughkeepsie) and I still think about making and performing music. 2018’s Hearts Beat Loud , directed by Brett Haley and co-written by Marc Basch ( I’ll See You In My Dreams, The Hero ), connected with me on many levels. It is an ultimately sweet and hopeful film. But I think its biggest strengths are the camaraderie of its fantastic cast, and the appreciation and love it pays towards creating music, especially at times of change or turmoil in life. Nick Offerman plays Frank Fisher, the owner of Red Hook Records in Brooklyn, NY. He is seen grumpily smoking and intently watching a YouTube video of Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco and Tweedy fame) and he definitely channels his inner Rob Gordon as he tells a complaining customer that he will stop smoking in the store if he buys a record. Offerman initially appears so downtrodden. He has to tell his landlord Leslie (played by Toni Collette) that after 17 years of business, he will not be renewing his lease. Leslie says she has held off raising the rent as long as she could. She and Frank are friends who share a love of music, and a love of the institution that is a brick and mortar record store. But Frank is ready for some changes too: his daughter, Sam, is just about to go off to college at UCLA to study medicine. Once home, you realize that Frank is a single dad. Sam (Kiersey Clemons), seems over her dad’s shenanigans while she studies pre-med courses the summer before leaving New York. Their dynamic is one where daughter seems to look after father (or at least thinks she looks after her father). Frank bugs Sam until she gives in to “jam sesh time,” where they play music together. This is where the movie really gains steam. Watching them play off of each other as father and daughter, but also as mentor and mentee is a delight. The process of writing music, and giving each other notes on it, is never boring. When Sam reveals a song she has written just earlier that day, their exchange goes like this: Frank: You can’t make your heart feel like what? Sam: It’s just a bunch words. Frank: I want it that way? They want what, what way? Sam: I’m sorry, are you bringing up the Backstreet Boys? Frank: It’s actually a pretty good song. This kind of sums up Frank’s character in a nutshell. While his daughter claims that he is responsible for making her a “music snob,” Frank never puts down any artists or musicians during the movie. He enjoys sharing music, recommending artists to Leslie or Sam, to share what he loves and is excited about. We watch Sam (Kiersey Clemons just kills it) belt out lyrics and contend with her dad’s enthusiasm that they should name their band. “We’re not a band,” she says firmly, to which Frank says, “I like it.” As much as I identify and sympathize with Frank’s character, I have been in Sam’s position too. One where a parent pushes ahead with what they want or think is best for you, despite your own attempts to make yourself heard. This is a constant theme throughout the film, as Sam readies herself to leave, and Frank struggles to let her go. Amidst trying to study the human heart and writing songs with her dad, Sam does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Sasha Lane ( American Honey ) plays Rose, an artist who Sam connects with in a gallery. While Sam explains that she has lived her whole life in New York and wants to get away, Rose understands because she came to New York for the very same reason. She tries to explain to Sam, though, that it’s “not New York” that she is escaping. What I love about this side plot is how little a deal is made out of the fact that it is a same sex relationship. It is treated as normal, and healthy and loving. When Sam reveals more lyrics to Frank, he knows that it is a love song. “Every song is a love song…technically,” Sam counters. But her dad knows. He asks first, if she has a girlfriend, then a boyfriend (to which she scoffs). She tells him about Rose, and there is a realistic awkwardness to their exchange that comes from telling a parent about who you are dating, regardless of what sex that person is. Frank never judges or shows any signs of disappointment that his daughter is in a relationship with another woman. In addition to the revelation of Sam’s relationship, Frank’s own interracial relationship with his wife and mother of Sam is also never mentioned. It is just treated as a loving, talented person that both Frank and Sam miss. As Sam and Rose’s relationship grows, we glean more backstory about Sam’s mother. She died in Brooklyn in a biking accident, and Sam has never learned how to ride a bicycle because of it. She was also a singer and musician with Frank, and it is easy to see why he tries to channel that esteem and love of music into Sam. He views Sam’s raw talent as a gift that should not be wasted, and tries to convince her of it. Sam, who tries so hard to be a steady and responsible influence in her father’s life, finally lets her guard down with Rose. She opens herself up to love, but also to dealing with the death of her mom and missing her. While there is a pretty weak side plot about Frank’s aging kleptomaniac mother (played by Blythe Danner) we do get to see Frank interact with the rest of an awesome cast, which includes Toni Collette and Ted Danson. Ted Danson plays Dave, Frank’s friend and the owner of a neighborhood watering hole that Frank frequents. As Frank drowns his sorrows after committing to the decision to close his record store, Dave has some sage advice: “We don’t always get to do what we love, so we need to love what we do.” Part of his shtick as a wise bartender (hello, Cheers ) is comical, as we listen to the aging silver fox comment on his love of upstate New York’s trees and smoking lots of marijuana. But when Frank’s in trouble, he is a dear friend, cutting him off and giving him real talk. Frank’s other friend and counterpoint in the film is his landlord, Leslie. They have undeniable chemistry, and they commiserate about their children growing up and leaving. But it’s easy to groan a bit as we watch Frank try to avoid crossing the line with his landlord, and failing. Leslie tries to save the record store by offering to become co-owner and backing some improvements (including the addition of a barista) but ultimately Frank refuses. He doesn’t want to be strung along despite Leslie’s good intentions. Just when we see Frank kind of hit rock bottom, he hears the song he and Sam recorded being played in his favorite local bakery. He uploaded it to Spotify and now it is on a suggested indie music playlist. It is both hilarious and spot on endearing to watch Frank being so proud of his daughter and excited about their band. He then goes a bit overboard, buying more equipment and a new guitar, and writing out a plan for the future, including a wish list of music venues they should play. He is ready to suggest Sam put off college once a music rep stops by his store. Sam is the voice of reason, she doesn’t want to be in a band, she is going off to become a doctor. Frank tries to use her mother as leverage, but that pushes Sam too far. Later on when Frank finally plays a song for Sam that he wrote for his wife, we realize that not all of Sam’s musical talent comes from her mother. All of the film’s original music (composed by Keegan DeWitt) is earnest and heartfelt. The songs make you happy and excited and feel better. The soundtrack wears its heart on its sleeve; it is pop music indeed. Kiersey Clemons’ bluesy voice steals the show, but it is watching both her and Nick Offerman perform and play off of each other, loop pedals and all, that makes the movie so memorable. While Sam struggles both with leaving her new love, Rose, and the end of her childhood (her growth is literally recorded on the wall inside Red Hook Records), she decides to boost her dad’s spirits by suggesting their first and only live performance as “We’re Not A Band” on the final evening that Frank’s record store is open. We get to see Sam be the brave one as she encourages her dad before they start playing. And she is truly brave. After Frank pushes her, we watch her lay her heart out in the love song “Blink” that she penned for Rose, before they perform their finale “Everything Must Go,” which Frank wrote as a way to deal with the closing of his record store, the loss of his wife and the end of an era with his daughter, Sam. After the store finally closes, a hesitant Sam asks Frank, “What if I stayed?” This is a believable option: staying for love (both romantic and familial) and the comforts and familiarity of home. But I am glad the film did not end on this path. We see some time has passed and Frank is now working as a bartender at Dave’s establishment, where Leslie pays him a visit. But the real possibility is with Sam. After we see a text message to Frank in which she has sent a new song and wants help with the bridge, we watch her out in California, still in school, get up at a café to play music solo for the first time. Hearts Beat Loud may not be a life changing film, but the performances by its charming and talented cast, along with a contagious musical score, left me feeling both hopeful and nostalgic at the same time. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #HeartsBeatLoud #Review #Reviews #August2018 #DianaDiMuro #Comedy #Music #Parenting #Representation

If you asked me back in 2007 after watching Superbad which of the two leads I thought would go on to one day direct, I would not have picked Jonah Hill. But this article isn’t so much about Hill and his career, it’s about the visible passion – nostalgic or not – that he pours into his directorial debut, Mid90’s . The A24 produced Mid90’s is the story of Stevie, played by Sunny Suljic, a scrawny, young-for-his-age thirteen year old, growing up in Los Angeles during the 1990’s. (Shout out to Sunny for being the sad little brother in The Killing of A Sacred Deer ). Now, I’m not a boy and I never learned to skateboard, but I still majorly identified with Stevie throughout this story. The film opens with a jarring scene of Stevie getting the literal crap beaten out of him by his older brother, Ian (played impeccably against type by Lucas Hedges). He is told to stay, “out of my fucking room,” by Ian before Stevie leads us, straight into that sacred bedroom space, and thus, into the nineties. Watching Stevie poke through his brother’s cd collection - writing down names of artists (ahem, Fat Joe) and albums – evoked that same deep feeling of awe and admiration that I had for my own older siblings and peers while growing up. As the youngest of three kids (by quite a few years) my introduction to music and what was “cool” was from my older sisters. I tagged along – whether they wanted me to or not – with their friends, admiring them and mimicking them. Now, let me preface this with the fact that Stevie has a shitty role model in Ian. Ian is totally reminiscent of many a white boy in the ‘burbs who listens to rap and tries to act tough. He’s a bully and he doesn’t look out for his little brother, nor does he appreciate any of Stevie’s admiration or attempts early on in the movie at making peace. Stevie’s mom, Dabney (played by growing star Katherine Waterson) had Ian when she was very young. Their mother-son relationship is strained at best, but you can tell she has a closer bond with Stevie. The boys’ dad (or different dads?) is totally out of the picture. We never even hear about him. We do hear Ian mention all of the various men Dabney used to bring home while Ian was little. This is described in confidence (but more like a taunt to bring their mom down a notch) after Stevie witnesses one man leaving his mother’s room in the morning. Despite the visitor, these days Dabney seems to be a hard working single mom, who spends most of her nights at home, watching movies with Stevie. With a crappy older brother who beats on him and a single mom working most of the time, Stevie is left to his own devices over the summer. He watches a group of boys from afar who hang out on the streets and skateboard. After hanging out a bit at the local skate shop, he meets Ruben (Gio Galicia), the youngest of the group. Ruben sees Stevie as someone he can mentor (and potentially boss around) but welcomes him. The rest of the clan comprises of Fourth Grade (Ryder McLaughlin), Fuckshit (Olan Prenatt) and Ray (played by break out star, Na-kel Smith). McLaughlin, Prenatt and Smith are all skaters first. They knew each other from skating together, not acting. That helps the film immeasurably. While it could have been a detriment, it actually makes it that much better having kids skate first and figure out the acting as they go. It is interesting to hear that Sunny Suljic (Stevie) also grew up skating, and thus, had to act at “skating badly.” Stevie eventually barters with his brother for an old skateboard and he starts practicing. I like the fact that we see Stevie practice and fall repeatedly throughout the film. He doesn’t all of a sudden become a skating pro. But we do witness him nail a kickflip for the first time, ecstatic and triumphant after hours of failure, despite no one else being there to witness it. Stevie definitely idolizes Fuckshit and Ray, the two oldest and coolest kids of the group. While both are great skaters, Ray takes it more seriously. For him, skating is a way to get out of their neighborhood. For Fuckshit (whose nickname alone gives you an idea) life is more about enjoying the ride and getting messed up in the process. As Stevie earns his own nickname, “Sunburn” and gains more clout within the group, things become strained between him and Ruben. Stevie has a lot of “firsts” throughout the movie as a result of his newfound friends: first time in a car without a parent, first cigarette, first drink of alcohol, first kiss or any kind of sexual activity. But early on, we witness that Stevie is still fairly innocent and unscathed. He is appreciative of being included, one of the pack. When he attempts to make a jump over a gap between buildings that the older kids easily clear, we are terrified. Stevie drops like a sack of potatoes and smacks his head on the table below. He could be dead, but we see him hold a t-shirt to his bleeding head and earn the respect of his peers. Later, after an emboldened Stevie comes home drunk from a party, he has a huge fight with his brother. But he isn’t all of a sudden big and able to take him on. He screams and runs away and gets the crap beat out of him again. Ian’s earlier taunts of Stevie and his “ghetto-ass friends” hits home. One of the standout sequences of the film is when Stevie and Ray have a heart to heart the next day after the whole ordeal. Ray says that, “A lot of the time, we feel like our lives are the worst, but think if you looked in anybody else’s closet, you wouldn’t trade your shit for their shit.” He helps Stevie see that all of them each have their own problems to deal with. Fourth Grade is one of the poorest kids he knows, Ruben’s mom beats up him and his sister, his relationship with Fuckshit is strained as he dabbles more and more into alcohol and drugs, and Ray himself, lost his own little brother. So he gets Stevie to snap out of it by telling him, “Let’s go,” and taking him skating. The experience of skating and being together with someone who feels like family more than your own family is what truly helps Stevie. Ray proves to be more of brother and role model to Stevie than his own flesh and blood. But despite all of the positives that come from making a new pack of friends and experiencing a lot of firsts, Stevie is definitely also gaining some bad influences. Like watching the characters change and evolve in Lords of Dogtown , you see tension build between Fuckshit and Ray as Ray meets professional skaters and works on building his reputation, just as Fuckshit seems to trash his. Fourth Grade, (teased at having a fourth grade vocabulary), films his friends, another throwback to Dogtown and Z-Boys . He captures the skating and experiences of his friends, giving us another lens to view them. The skating feels real, but so does the dialogue between these teenagers. It is often homophobic, misogynistic and even racist at times. This is not to condone any of this speech or behavior, but I found myself agreeing that it would be unrealistic to portray this group of boys any other way. One of the most effective methods Jonah Hill uses to build camaraderie and mood throughout Mid90's is through music, utilizing both well-known songs and an original score created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Back when my older sister was listening to Nine Inch Nails, I had no idea that Trent Reznor would go on to create some of the best “mood pieces” in film. I should have known. That being said, the real piece de resistance is the handpicked movie soundtrack by Hill. Hill has said in interviews, “The music in Mid90's is incredibly personal to me” and it shows. Hill even went on to curate a playlist of the soundtrack and additional songs inspired by the movie that you can check out on Spotify. The movie’s trailer highlights the Wu-Tang Clan’s, “After the Laughter Comes Tears,” featuring samples from the original, “After Laughter Comes Tears” by Wendy Rene. The soundtrack is a mix of artists like A Tribe Called Quest, The Pixies, Del The Funky Homo Sapien, Bad Brains, GZA and more. Stevie’s mom finally blows her stack, coming into the skate shop to reprimand the rest of the boys. She doesn’t want him hanging out with them anymore. But for the first time, Stevie acts like a teenager, yelling and screaming in disagreement with her. During the film’s final act, Stevie seems to be on a downward spiral, drinking and getting into fights with Ruben and anyone else who push him. After a night out when the group seems to be falling apart, Fuckshit wants to drive them to one more party. He is clearly drunk, but everyone gets in the car with him anyway. It leads to a horrific accident where only Stevie really gets hurt and ends up in the hospital. He wakes up with his arm in a cast and his brother, Ian waiting there for him with a peace offering of orange juice. A distraught Dabney finds all of the other boys asleep on chairs in the waiting room of the ER. She comes to terms with the fact that whether or not they are a good influence, they care about Stevie, and she lets them visit him. The film definitely ends on a more nostalgic note, with Fourth Grade playing his edited short skate film of them for the entire group in Stevie’s hospital room. We don’t know what is going to happen to each of these boys but we do know they have each other. It’s Jonah Hill’s first film. I’ll let him have this one. The love he seems to have for this time period and the experience of friends-as-chosen-family is one I can identify with. The actors’ strong performances alone (anchored in particular by Na-kel Smith) make seeing this film worthwhile. The movie has a purposefully gritty quality to it that feels true. It is definitely worth a watch (and a listen to that soundtrack). Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #DianaDiMuro #Mid90s #Skating #Soundtrack #Nostalgia #JonahHill

I never watch enough movies. Try as I may to cram in as many as I can before thinking about my favorite films of the year, there are always more to be seen. At the time of writing this I have still not seen: We the Animals, Skate Kitchen, Mirai, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Bohemian Rhapsody, Shoplifters, Free Solo, Burning, Shirkers, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Destroyer, A Private War, The Wife, Capernaum, Cold War and Love, Gilda . I know, right? I KNOW. I feel that some of these films may have factored into the mix if I had only seen them in time. Ah well my friends, better luck next year. Needless to say, I still have some favorites of 2018. When considering why my favorites are such, I look for the common threads and what left them lingering in my mind long after the credits finished rolling. Some were my favorites sheerly because they gave me hope and a bit of much needed encouragement to “keep on, keeping on,” during a year that was exceptionally traumatic at times. Many of the films I watched in 2018 took place in the past, (a few in other dimensions) but despite their time period, several alluded to events and issues we are still dealing with today, making them seem more relevant than ever. I have tried to consider these films while reflecting back on 2018 as a whole, for better or for worse. And since I continually struggle with whittling down my list of favorites to a “top ten,” I decided to include some very honorable mentions that also merit your attention (should you find the time to watch). Ensemble Casts There were so many films in 2018 where the greatest pleasure was to sit back and enjoy the dialogue and camaraderie between their characters. Some of my favorites include: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Black Panther (“What are those???”) and Avengers: Infinity War (“Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the wizards”) but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the casts of both Annihilation and Support the Girls (thanks for the recommendation, Obama). The surreal visuals of Alex Garland’s Annihilation would have made less of an impact on me had it not been for his use of a stellar female cast, exploring themes of guilt, self-destruction and metamorphosis. Regina Hall is excellent in Support the Girls , but she is at her best when playing off of her costars, Shayna McHayle and Haley Lu Richardson. If you get a chance, check out: Support the Girls, Annihilation, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Avengers: Infinity War , and Black Panther. 15. Isle of Dogs I place Wes Anderson’s latest in my own personal category of “great ensemble casts” because it honors his tradition of using a large group of amazing actors (even in cameos and bit parts). I love Fantastic Mr. Fox , and was pumped for Isle of Dogs . It was pretty much bonkers and delightful start to finish. Anderson’s usual attention to detail and set design is magnified in creating stop motion animation. If you find time to watch any of the behind the scenes footage of Dogs being made, I urge you to do so. It’s awesome. I loved that it did not matter that I do not speak Japanese; it was not a hindrance to understanding the movie. In fact, it made it more believable, more immersive in Anderson’s world to constantly switch between languages. The varied cast of characters voiced by a huge roster of big players is led by Bryan Cranston as Chief. I could rattle off the names of others in the film to entice you to watch but I don’t think I need to. It’s worth a viewing. Check it out. Keeping It Real 2018 had some hard hitters in the documentary category. Many of them featured personal heroes of mine, including André the Giant and Robin Williams. This past year often featured news events fueled by prejudice and misogyny; I found solace, strength and inspiration from real life heroes like Fred Rogers and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. That leads me to the next entry on my list: 14. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? This was a tough one because I saw both RGB and Neighbor? the same week; both were excellent. Morgan Neville’s documentary is as sad as it is moving. It shows the viewer how much (and how little) has changed over the years. Fred Rogers’ message to children was that it was okay to be sad or angry at times; he liked them just as they were. While Rogers was incredibly progressive in showing himself and François Clemmons together on his show with their bare feet in a kid pool during times of segregation, Neville’s documentary doesn’t sugarcoat it. He makes a point to address that at the time Rogers was not accepting of Clemmons’ sexuality, but he learned to change with time. This is what really gave me hope. That even Mister Rogers had some room to grow and change, and he did. With the current political climate, Neighbor? shows that there is still power in kindness and tolerance. Other films worth your time: RGB, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind , and André the Giant. Love Represent! 2018 was a pretty decent year for love in the movies. Not just love, but love in all colors of the rainbow. We received some game-changing casts and main characters of all sexes, colors, races, and gender identities. I think how exciting and how important this past year has been in showing audiences so many types of people portraying the hero. I think about how important it is for audiences young and old alike to see a mainstream teen romantic comedy like Love, Simon . Or how electric it was to be in a packed theatre watching Black Panther. Here’s a look at a few movies that represented love to me in 2018, (even the most untraditional). 13. Mandy Mandy is terrifying and gory and psychedelic but it is also a heartbreaking love story. While this sort of movie is not usually what I would call my “cup of tea,” I feel it definitely merits mention. Nicolas Cage and Andrea Riseborough play Red Miller and the titular Mandy, two lovers who are torn apart by a cult and demon-like biker gang. The film is like a Tangerine Dream music video for the movie Legend ON ACID, and it is beautiful. But the scene that stayed with me long afterwards was when Nic Cage’s Red first lays eyes on his future love, Mandy, and feelings that spark between them. 12. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before This movie fell under the radar for me initially because I had not read the popular book it is based on. The thing that did draw me in was that its trailer was reminiscent of a John Hughes romantic comedy, only modern day, starring Lana Condor, a Vietnamese-born American actress. The film’s plot of a boy and girl “pretending to date” to make others jealous, has definitely been done before many times (like here ). But the film’s leads (Lana as Lara Jean) and Noah Centineo (as Peter), have awesome chemistry. It is hard not to root for them to have the happy ending. While the success of All the Boys is definitely due in part to great source material, it is the film’s leads that make it memorable. I look forward to seeing what both actors do next. 11. If Beale Street Could Talk Barry Jenkins delivers another beautiful film, that despite taking place in the 1970’s, still has relevance today. Regina King kills it as mother Sharon Rivers, and she deserves all of the praise and Oscar buzz she is receiving. I hope she wins. That being said, the film does not have a happy ending. It has a real life one concerning main character, Fonny, (played by Stephan James) and the love of his life Tish, (played by the amazing KiKi Layne). This movie hurts because it is true. Other tales of love and representation worth checking out from 2018 include: Boy Erased, Love, Simon, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Black Panther, BlackKklannsman, Sorry to Bother You, The Hate U Give , and Crazy Rich Asians . Alright so let’s get down to the top ten: 10. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Miles Morales IS Spider-Man. But he isn’t. First he has to learn for himself that he can be. This movie floored me with its animation and its smart, funny dialogue, awesome soundtrack and ability to cause a knot to form in my throat as much as any Pixar film ever has. The plot device of a multiverse converging to show us multiple “Spider-People” with similar yet different backstories was always self-aware and always entertaining. There are touching and poignant moments and the humor and pathos of Jake Johnson’s aging Peter Parker killed me. Spider-Verse draws from a story that many know, but offers a new spin that many will enjoy. Seeing teenage Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) find the confidence within himself to become the new Spider-Man is truly something to see. 9. Blindspotting I was really surprised by how blown away I was by Blindspotting , the passion project of Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal. Casal plays Miles, the kind of friend that you love, but you constantly find yourself shaking your head at. As you continue to grow up, you realize that maybe you and your friend are growing apart as he falls more and more into trouble. The film simmers uncomfortably long before it rolls into the full boil of Collin (Diggs) delivering a soliloquy in battle-rap style during the film’s climax. The movie deals with the issues of race, gentrification, cultural appropriation and even just how personal growth can change your relationships with friends and family. I hope Diggs and Casal continue to make more films together. They’ve just gotten started and it’s already awesome. 8. A Star Is Born Bradley Cooper, man. Bradley Cooper!! This is a killer performance. He sings! He learns to play guitar! He transforms into an aging alcoholic. AND he directed the movie. For me, Lady Gaga was always going to deliver in the music department, but in Star she also shows how well she can act. The chemistry between our two leads (and between Cooper and Sam Elliott as his older brother) is intense and all consuming and entirely believable. While Gaga’s Ally is the star on the rise, it is Cooper’s Jack that really steals the show and breaks your heart. It doesn’t hurt that the film has a great soundtrack as well, that will get stuck in your brain for days. Keep on, keeping on, Mr. Cooper. I hope you have many more movies up your sleeve. Dads: the Good, the Bad and the F*cked Up 2018 was a mixed bag in the dad department. Many of the movie dads were just trying their best to connect with their sons or daughters, to teach them something meaningful; many of them seriously screwed up along the way. Here are a few of my favorite films featuring dads in 2018. 7. Eighth Grade Sheeeeeeeeeeet Eighth Grade hurts. It was painful and scary and stressful to watch at various times, but it was excellent. I can’t imagine having gone through the hell of middle school with a cell phone and constant access to social media. Elsie Fisher shines as the main character, Kayla, but so does her dad Mark, (played by Josh Hamilton). While watching the film, I identified with both Kayla (feeling terrible) and her dad (wanting to tell her that she is awesome and that things will be okay eventually). Scenes of Kayla interacting with her peers were realistic and anxiety-inducing, but my favorite scenes always featured Kayla interacting with her dad. This movie really hit me where it hurts. Bravo. Other excellent films in the key of dad include: Thunder Road, Hearts Beat Loud, Leave No Trace, Beautiful Boy, The Hate You Give , and Love, Simon . (Bonus entry: Hereditary for a couple of seriously messed up mamas and grand-mamas. I’m looking at you Toni Collette and Ann Dowd). 6. First Man Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong kind of falls into both categories of good and bad dads. Gosling’s performance as Armstrong is so understated that I worry he will get overlooked during awards season. That’s a shame because his performance is excellent. Damien Chazelle’s latest film is less La La Land and more Whiplash . It has an amazing cast, but it really is Gosling as Armstrong, and Claire Foy as his wife, Janet, that hold it down. Getting to the Moon becomes more and more dangerous and terrifying as the film goes on, with Neil dealing with immense grief after the death of his young daughter. He throws himself into his work and thus, puts up a wall between himself and his family. When he finally returns to Earth, there is a literal glass wall separating him and Janet, who will have to deal with the consequences. Strong AF Women Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Tessa Thompson aside, 2018 was an awesome year for watching badass women in film. Widows , directed by Steve McQueen has an amazing cast, with Viola Davis as both a pillar of strength and a grieving woman just trying to hold it together. Here are my other favorites in the strong lady department for 2018: 5. The Favourite The Favourite has an exceptional cast that includes Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, but I love love love Olivia Colman as Queen Anne. Yorgos Lanthimos is able to combine weird fisheye lens shots and modern dance moves with elaborate set design in this absurd historical fiction film about the life and reign of Queen Anne (Colman) and her confidant Lady Sarah (Weisz). When Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Stone) comes calling hoping to better her status, the aftermath is hilarious but also heartbreaking. Colman’s performance alone makes this a worthwhile watch. 4. Wildlife Paul Dano’s directorial debut is an adaptation of a Richard Ford novel, that he co-wrote with his partner, Zoe Kazan. I feel the importance of mentioning this because it is evident in the feel of the movie and in the dialogue between its characters. This is a look at a marriage - the disintegration of it - and the effect that it has on Joe, an only child, played by newcomer Ed Oxenbould. Ed’s dad, Jerry, (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is lost. He has recently been fired and feels adrift, without purpose and unable to provide for his family. He escapes by volunteering to work helping put out forest fires outside the small Montana town where he has recently moved his family. The real star of this movie is Carrie Mulligan. Her character, Jeanette, holds the film in place much like she does as the matriarch of the family. As Jeanette starts to question her life and her choices, we watch her unravel. She is grasping at straws for new possibilities, all the while taking Joe along for the ride. This movie is thoughtful and slow paced initially as Joe starts to learn that both of his parents are flawed real people. As Joe experiences more and more chaos within his own life, it stands to reason that he becomes more and more sure of himself. By the film’s end we have an entirely different Joe than at the start. And that journey is worth watching. 3. Roma Alfonso Cuaron’s film is an extremely intimate look at the life of a middle class family in Mexico during the 1970’s, but it is told from the point of view of the family’s nanny, Cleo, played by the amazing Yalitza Aparicio. This film is gorgeous aesthetically, but the way it captures the feeling of real people, while also showing us terrible historic events through their eyes is incredible. Cuaron has said that this film speaks to his own nanny, and his own family and childhood in Mexico. It addresses how lives can be sheltered by wealth and comfort, or the naivete childhood, helping some of the film’s main characters avoid witnessing the terrible things happening around them until it is too late. When Yalitza’s Cleo finally braves the ocean (despite not knowing how to swim) to save the children in her care, they are all finally privy to seeing behind the curtain, as the entire family collapses in tears and comforts each other. My sincerest honorable mention goes to A Fantastic Woman . Technically A Fantastic Woman was released in 2017, but it wasn’t widely released until 2018. Daniela Vega stars as Marina Vidal, a transgender woman in Chile who is devastated when her older lover, Orlando, passes away. This movie is just as much about love and grief, as it is about prejudice and transphobia. Director Sebastían Lelio uses so much color and emotion throughout the film, and Daniela Vega is truly una mujer fantástica. Please take the time to watch this one when you can. We Don’t Care About the Young Folks In 2018, many of the films that struck me most featured protagonists that were on the brink of adulthood and just a little bit lost, trying to find their place in the world. Some of them were craving love and acceptance, others, just some semblance of order in the midst of chaos. Films that did not make this list but still really left their mark, included: Leave No Trace and Mid90s . 2. Lean On Pete I didn’t expect this movie to affect me as much as it did. But the reason it did (I am confident) is because of the performance by the film’s lead, Charlie Plummer. Plummer plays Charley, a teenager who has again and again been left or disappointed, who struggles with poverty and to take care of a father who may as well be his peer. When he connects with an aging racehorse, Lean On Pete, I wanted so badly for this to be his salvation. I think of The Black Stallion as an example of when boy and horse triumphed against the world. But this isn’t that film. This film is bleak AF. And heartbreaking. And Plummer’s performance as Charley is incredible. His resilience until the very end of the movie is like holding one long painful breath. And it is worth it just to exhale in relief. 1. The Rider Director Chloé Zhao and cinematographer Joshua James Richards show us the beauty of the Dakota prairies in this story that features nonprofessional actors playing versions of themselves. Our main character Brady, (played by Brady Jandreau) has sustained a major skull fracture from riding a bronco. The injury leaves him with neurological damage that despite ignoring, continue to cause seizures along the right side of his body. Brady was on the up and up in the rodeo community, and being told that he can no longer go to rodeos or ride horses totally destroys his sense of self. It is like part of Brady has died, and he goes through the many stages of grief while he learns how to live his life now. As he tries and tries again to find his footing and regain his strength, we too, struggle with him. But we don’t feel sorry for him. He makes sure of that. Some of the best sequences in this film are between Brady and his friend Lane, who also due to rodeo riding, is now paralyzed and has lost the ability to speak. They still communicate however, and seeing them interact and look back at old footage of Lane in his prime is what helps ground Brady enough not to give up. Part of why I enjoyed this film so much is because it doesn’t have all of the answers. It doesn’t tell you exactly what happens to Brady next. It is open to possibility. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #DianaDiMuro #Article #Bestof2018 #IsleofDogs #WontYouBeMyNeighbor #Mandy #ToAlltheBoysIveLovedBefore #IfBealeStreetCouldTalk #SpiderMan #IntotheSpiderVerse #Blindspotting #AStarisBorn #EighthGrade #FirstMan #TheFavourite #Wildlife #Roma #LeanonPete #TheRider

I Am the Night is a TNT six episode mini-series, created by Patty Jenkins ( Wonder Woman, Monster ), and her screenwriter/producer husband, Sam Sheridan ( Warrior, Seal Team ). The show is based on the life of Fauna Hodel, played by India Eisley. Fauna grew up during the 1960’s in a black family, believing she was of biracial descent. Later in life she learned, that not only was she entirely white, she was also the granddaughter of Dr. George Hodel, one of the leading suspects in the 1947 unsolved murder case of Elizabeth Short (aka the “Black Dahlia”). Fauna’s autobiography, One Day She’ll Darken: the Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel , deals mostly with her young life struggling to belong in a black community, until she learns that her real mother gave her up for adoption at age 15, and lied about the race of her father. As Fauna goes to greater and greater lengths to learn more about herself, she also learns more about the Hodel family and its patriarch, Dr. George Hodel. In the TNT mini-series, Fauna travels to visit Dr. Hodel in Los Angeles, where he is both a wealthy surgeon and a great patron of Surrealist art, but once Fauna arrives in L.A., things become more and more odd. I Am the Night , although inspired by Fauna’s autobiography, is a fictionalized account of her story. My favorite character (and perhaps the most compelling character of the mini-series) is reporter Jay Singletary, played by Chris Pine. Singletary, a PTSD suffering Korean War veteran, started his career as a young prodigy amongst the L.A. newspaper circuit. Leland Orser plays Jay’s seemingly Mad Men inspired editor, Peter Sullivan, who meets with his reporters inside dark bars to discuss story pitches. Jay’s career seems to be on the outs in the show’s present day 1965 Los Angeles, where he struggles to assimilate into post-war life. But Sullivan ultimately has a soft spot for Jay, as does Jay’s fellow war buddy and current L.A. detective, Ohls (in an understated but endearing performance by actor Jay Paulson). Jay’s drunken rants and scrapes with the police, all in the name of journalism, are some of the most entertaining and compelling parts of the mini-series. He refuses to take the minor tabloid-esque stories he is given. Instead, Jay chooses to further pursue his failed attempt at investigating the well-protected Dr. George Hodel. Jay’s early career was capsized after Hodel was proven innocent of moral crimes against his daughter (incest) and sued Singletary for libel. In I Am the Night , Jay has never truly recovered, not from the Korean War, or from his failure to tackle George Hodel in the media. Pine is a pleasure to watch as the angry, slightly psychotic and occasionally drug-addled Jay. He is no longer the dashing young lead of Star Trek or even Wonder Woman . In Night , Pine shows some gray hairs; his character is both tragic and strange, but entirely engrossing to watch. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed when I found out Pine’s character was not based on a real person, but rather an amalgamation of various reporters Fauna Hodel had met during her life while trying to learn more about her family. The real life Fauna Hodel met and befriended Patty Jenkins late in her life. Jenkins was supposedly so captivated by her story that she agreed to become Executive Producer of a mini-series based on Hodel’s autobiography. Jenkins directs the first two of the series’ six episodes, and it shows. I wish she had directed them all. A close second in caliber, are the third and fourth episodes, directed by Victoria Mahoney, who seems to be a regular when it comes to TV suspense. These episodes are weird and stressful and engaging all the same. The show’s final two episodes are directed by Carl Franklin, whose credits include the crime film, Devil in A Blue Dress , episodes of House of Cards , and the upcoming season of Mindhunter . Overall, the mini-series - shot entirely in 35 mm in both Los Angeles and Hawaii - is beautiful. It’s saturated with color and dramatic shadows. Visually, I can’t complain about the series. The show even shoots several scenes at the historic Sowden house where Dr. Hodel and his family once lived. But despite the extremely interesting story of Fauna Hodel’s life and its unfolding connections with the unsolved Black Dahlia murder case, I Am the Night ultimately falls flat. It starts out strong, but leans heavily on some film noir cliches, feeling reminiscent of L.A. Confidential . If you have recently watched the third season of HBO’s True Detective , you may find yourself doing a double-take. Both Chris Pine and True Detective’s Mahershala Ali, play war-torn veterans, dealing with the demons of their past, as they fight the demons of their present. Jay is often plagued with visions of those he has killed, as is Ali’s Detective Wayne Hays. For my two cents, I prefer True Detective overall as a show, but I still can’t recommend Pine’s performance in Night enough. The show takes some liberties with the plot of Fauna’s autobiography, (particularly in creating the character Jay Singletary) but ultimately, it is still Fauna’s story. By the show’s third act, Jay becomes a supporting character. Fauna is led to challenge her grandfather to make a name and a life for herself, while Jay is left to disappear into the shadows with his remaining demons. My ultimate takeaway from watching I Am the Night is how crazy and interesting the actual real life story of Fauna Hodel is. Watching the mini-series led me to read more about her life, as well as the case of the Black Dahlia murder itself. Fauna passed away after battling breast cancer in 2017, but after the series aired on TNT, her two daughters, Rasha and Yvette, went on to host the podcast, Root of Evil: the True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia , which uses taped interviews from many members of the Hodel family (including several recorded by Fauna) to give a more complete picture of the Hodel family history. I listened to the first five episodes of the podcast, and so far, it is far more gruesome in detail, but much less fantastic than the TNT mini-series. I definitely recommend it, if only to really give the real-life Fauna and her daughters the respect and closure they deserve. Her family’s true story is captivating. And as for Chris Pine? I think his career has only just begun to pick up steam. I look forward to seeing him portray more charismatic yet flawed individuals as he ages, ones that are less “beautiful” on the outside, but still just as worthy of your patience and understanding, perhaps even more so. Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Reviews #DianaDiMuro #IAmtheNight #TNT #TV #ChrisPine #PattyJenkins #TrueCrime #Drama

The Dark Crystal . “HmmmMmmmmm.” One sound that triggers all kinds of memories: good and bad. Even though I loved all things Muppets as a child (and frankly, I still do as an adult), I was even more fascinated by all things scary Muppets. I watched The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth many, many times during my formative years, so much so, that I regularly scared my sister by imitating the sounds of the evil Skeksis from The Dark Crystal , particularly the Chamberlain: Why did I love The Dark Crystal so much? It was a movie that most certainly gave me nightmares, but it also sparked my imagination. The Muppets Take Manhattan is easily one of my other favorite Muppet movies, but it always felt grounded in the real world. Sesame Street (at least in my childhood mind) was a real place - where both people and Muppets existed. But the world of Thra where The Dark Crystal took place, has always been a completely different world, full of unfamiliar creatures and new mythologies. There’s a lot to unpack once you start reading more about the conception and creation of The Dark Crystal . Although it was released in 1982, Jim Henson began the process long in advance. But before we delve into the nitty-gritty of the making of The Dark Crystal and what makes it so special, let’s revisit the story. (SPOILER ALERT for The Dark Crystal ) The tale revolves around the titular “Dark Crystal,” which cracked a thousand years ago, allowing for the creation of two races: the peaceful wizards, known as the Mystics, and the evil Skeksis. A prophecy foretold that a Gelfling would one day heal the Crystal, causing the “the Great Conjunction” to begin, reuniting the Skeksis and the Mystics as one race. The Gelflings (who in all honesty look a bit like elves with 70’s haircuts) were all but wiped out by the malevolent Skeksis. At the beginning of the movie we meet Jen, the last Gelfling, who has been raised by the leader of the remaining Mystics. As the Mystic master nears death, he tells Jen about the prophecy to “heal the Crystal.” He tells Jen to seek Aughra and the shard; if Jen fails to do this before the three suns align, the Skeksis will rule forever. "When single shines the triple sun, What was sundered and undone Shall be whole, the two made one, By Gelfling hand, or else by none." After the Mystic master dies, Jen embarks on a journey to find the astronomer Aughra and seek the Crystal shard. Once he finds her, Aughra warns Jen of the prophecy. Jen uses his musical flute to locate the true Crystal shard, but shortly afterwards, Aughra’s home is attacked by the crab-like Garthim sent by the Skeksis. Unbeknownst to Jen, the Emperor of the Skeksis has also died. The Skeksis, a cross between vultures and reptiles, fight amongst themselves to pick a new ruler. The Skeksis’ Chamberlain fights their General and loses, after which he is stripped of his clothing and banished from the castle. The Skeksis send the Garthim to kill Jen who escapes, but Aughra is captured and brought to their castle. Jen runs away and encounters a small dog-like creature, Fizzgig, and its owner, Kira, a female Gelfling in the woods. Before Jen knows what is happening, he and Kira share a telepathic connection, sharing memories of their childhoods - Jen with the Mystics, and Kira being raised by the peaceful Podlings - after each lost their parents to the Skeksis. Kira can communicate with animals, and she vows to help Jen on his quest to fulfill the prophecy. After a short respite with the Podlings (who in a lot of ways are the predecessors of the Ewoks), the village is attacked by the Garthim. Jen, Kira and Fizzgig flee, only to encounter the Skeksis Chamberlain who implores them to come back to the castle with him. They escape the Chamberlain but journey to the castle to free a group of captured Podlings and heal the Crystal with the shard. All the while, the Mystics are slowly but surely also approaching the castle of the Skeksis. During the film’s final act, Kira is separated from Jen and Fizgigg and captured. The Skeksis use the power of the Dark Crystal to attempt to “drain her essence” (a procedure they have used on several Podlings to retain their youth). During the attempt, a captured Aughra yells to Kira to “call the animals” to help her and she escapes. Kira finds Jen, just as he is trying to get to the Dark Crystal. He leaps onto the Crystal but drops the shard. Here Kira helps him by throwing him the shard, but she is stabbed by a Skeksis and dies in the process. As the three suns align, Jen thrusts the shard back into the Crystal and all of the Skeksis and Mystics are caught in beams of light passing through the Dark Crystal. The Mystics and Skeksis are rejoined as one race, becoming the UrSkeks. The Skeksis’ castle begins to crumble, revealing a white crystal castle underneath. The leader of the UrSkeks explains that they had once shattered the Crystal long ago, splitting them into two races and that Jen, in fulfilling the prophecy, has restored them. Jen is completely distraught as he holds Kira’s body, but the UrSkeks tell him to hold her close as they are, “a part of each other.” Kira revives and the UrSkeks tell them to make their new world in the Crystal’s light. THE END. Now that we’ve refreshed our collective memory of this complex and detailed story, let’s take a look at the long road to its creation, and what comes next. Jim Henson was first inspired to create The Dark Crystal by the artwork of artist Brian Froud. In 1976, after seeing Froud’s cover art for a book titled, “Once Upon A Time,” Henson immediately set up a meeting with Froud. Within a year, they had made a deal to work together on Henson’s next film. The story goes, that in February of 1978, Jim and his daughter, Cheryl, were snowed in during a blizzard in New York on their way to JFK Airport. While they were stuck at a Howard Johnson’s for 72 hours, Jim came up with the idea for The Dark Crystal , and wrote an entire outline for what would later become the film. While in New York, Henson also hired a recent graduate, Wendy Midener, to help develop characters for The Dark Crystal . He was so impressed with her talent, that he sent her along with Frank Oz to help create and develop Yoda for The Empire Strikes Back . Midener continued to work with Henson on Crystal and later Labyrinth . (Her collaboration with Brian Froud on these films also led to the two getting married.) For Crystal , Henson brought on longtime writer for The Muppet Show , David Odell, to write the screenplay based on his story. He asked Frank Oz to co-direct the film with him, giving Frank his directorial debut. Oz has been the puppeteer and voice actor of some of the most memorable of Jim Henson’s creatures: Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Grover, Cookie Monster, Bert, Yoda and so many more. But the crazy thing that I did not realize until I did a little digging on IMDb , was just how many excellent movies Frank Oz went on to direct after Dark Crystal - The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob? - to name a few. In a 2007 interview for the San Francisco Gate , Oz recalled: "When it was maybe six months away from shooting, we were on a plane trip to London for something else, and he asked me if I wanted to co-direct with him. I said, ‘I never directed, Jim. Why do you want me?’ And this was typical Jim, he said, ‘Because it would be better.’ He didn’t care about credit at all — he cared about how good the movie was. He probably directed 70 percent of the movie and I kind of filled in." In 1979, Jim purchased the building in England that would eventually become the headquarters for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The Dark Crystal was the first ever live action movie to be filmed starring only puppets. The film predates much of the CGI/motion-capture technology that has now become the norm in films starring animated characters. In several interviews, both Henson and Oz have stressed that creating the film’s villains, the Skeksis, was a huge challenge. There were performers inside of the costumes, but Henson and Oz wanted them to be perceived as creatures themselves, ones that were far from human. The Skeksis’ head was really a hand puppet that was being performed above the puppeteer’s own head, while the puppeteer watched from the inside of the costume on a small TV monitor. Additional performers were used to operate the Skeksis’ arms and all of their facial movements. Sometimes up to five or six puppeteers were needed for each individual Skeksis. During an interview on The Russell Harty Show in 1983, Frank Oz said the important thing for he and Jim was that people believed in their characters. They didn’t want the audience to be taken out of the experience thinking about the puppeteers inside, they wanted viewers to be encapsulated in this new world and with all of its creatures. (You can watch a clip of the Harty interview and see some of the puppets from the film here . The Dark Crystal was filmed at Elstree Studios near London, with exterior shots filmed in the Scottish Highlands, as well as at a variety of landscapes throughout England. While Brian Froud was responsible for the Concept Design of an entire new world, Creative Supervisor Sherry Amott assembled a team of 60 animatronic fabricators to sculpt, sew, mold and create the puppets for the film. (Amott worked on several of Henson’s projects, and later was Head of Fabrication for Audrey II in Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors ). Many of Henson’s tried and true puppeteers performed as the Skeksis, Gelflings and Podlings in the movie, while dancers, clowns, acrobats and mimes were recruited to perform as the gentle Mystics. Again, pre-CGI, the puppets were controlled through a variety of radio, mechanical, electrical and hydraulic systems (this continues to blow my mind). The Dark Crystal used miniatures, painted sets and blue screen technology to create the world of Thra. Henson was so thorough and imaginative that originally the Skeksis spoke an entirely made up language (one based on Egyptian and ancient Greek). Initially, test audiences found Crystal confusing, particularly the language of the Skeksis. After these test audiences responded poorly, Henson decided to go back and have Odell create English dialogue that was dubbed in after shooting. However, when the film’s investors, along with the new management team of the film’s production and distribution company (ITC Entertainment), wanted to make even more major changes, Henson refused to budge. He bought the film back with his own money for $15 million to keep the integrity of his story. After its release in 1982, The Dark Crystal had mixed reviews with audiences - many parents were concerned with the dark nature of these new creatures, and feared their disturbing affect on their children. Henson, for his part, believed in a healthy dose of fear. According to interviews with Frank Oz after Henson’s death, Henson “didn’t think it was healthy for children to always feel safe.” Henson himself felt that children were more open and willing to accept new things than society gave them credit for, but he did attempt to prepare audiences for this change in tone by having public exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles prior to the film’s release. These exhibits showcased the film’s artwork, puppets, costumes and even some of the set pieces from the film. Henson even commissioned a design team to create a limited edition fashion collection based on the movie’s costumes that was sold at high-end department stores in London, New York, San Francisco and Houston. But despite Henson’s attempts to prepare audiences, many were disappointed at this departure from Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. In doing a little research on the history of The Dark Crystal , I came across an interview with Jim Henson and Frank Oz on a 1982 episode of Entertainment Tonight . In the interview, Henson warns that the film is really different from the Muppets many fans know and love. Frank Oz describes the film as a movie, “entirely of Yodas and E.T.s.” At a certain point, the interviewer asks Henson and Oz, “What did the film cost to make?” Initially, they avoid answering the question, but when it comes out that the film cost somewhere between $20-25 million dollars both Henson and Oz have some really great replies. Oz stresses that he got annoyed talking about the cost of a film because, “that’s not what you do a film for... you’re really doing a film cuz’ it excites you.” Oz tries to impress upon the interviewer and viewers at home, that when they are making these creatures for the film, they are creating their own movie stars from scratch, and the technical aspects of the filming adds about twenty-five percent more time to the shooting of the movie. This is something to consider, even today when watching movies like The Lord of the Rings Trilogy or Rise of the Planet of the Apes , or the stop-motion work of Fantastic Mr. Fox or Isle of Dogs . The number of skilled talent behind the creation of The Dark Crystal in all of its facets - set design, costumes, jewelry, props, sculpting, leather-working, puppeteering, electrical engineering, voice acting and more - is astounding. In the years following Jim Henson’s death, writer David Odell and his wife, Annette Duffy, attempted to piece together the ideas that he and Jim had originally discussed as a possible sequel to The Dark Crystal . Several attempts were made to get this project going, but ultimately the film was scrapped, and Odell’s screenplay was adapted into a 12 comic book series, “The Power of the Dark Crystal” released in 2017. In May 2017, The Jim Henson Company and Netflix announced that they were teaming up to create a prequel to The Dark Crystal called, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Shooting began in Fall of 2017. The prequel will be a ten episode series that will explore the world leading up to the original movie. A teaser was released by Netflix back in 2017: Since then, three actors have been announced as voices of characters in Resistance : Taron Egerton (of Kingsman fame), Anya Taylor-Joy ( The VVitch, Split, Glass ), and Nathalie Emmanuel ( Game of Thrones ). I, for one, am pretty excited to see this new work by The Jim Henson Company, to witness a combination of practical effects and new advances in technology that Jim himself would surely have been excited by. I hope in the days leading up to this new chapter’s release that you will revisit the 1982 work of Henson and Oz. Whether it is as a brand new viewer or an adult who enjoyed it as a kid, take the time to get completely lost and immersed in the mythical world of Thra, root for our heroes Jen and Kira, and let yourself be scared by the Skeksis. After all, it’s healthy to be scared now and then. Want to read more about The Dark Crystal , including the full original script? Visit www.darkcrystal.com Diana DiMuro Associate Editor Besides watching movies, Diana likes the great outdoors, drawing and reading comics, and just generally rocking out. She has a BA in English Literature and is an art school drop out. IG: @dldimuro #Newsletter #Article #TheDarkCrystal #JimHenson #DianaDiMuro #Puppets #Muppets #Fantasy