Movie Reviews

Can Your Pet Do This?

Away We Go

"The Neon Highway" has various twists in it and photography is unique, centering on faces and emotions other than body language. The soundtrack lingers in the mind.

I grew up not far from a large church that I called Saint Francis Cabrini and it was known for their wonderful autumn spaghetti suppers as a fundraiser. In later years, I realized my error and the patron saint was not a man, but an Italian woman, named Saint Francesca Xavier Cabrini, who founded churches, schools and hospitals around the world. She was the first American citizen to be canonized as a saint. Director/co-scriptwriter Alejandro Monteverde gives us the early days of Saint Francesca from life in Italy to arriving in New York City. Poverty is abundant throughout the world, and shown here in Italy and America. Obstacles are always present, both in keeping healthy and dealing with men in the distinctly masculine society of that time, which is shown here in 1889, when the Sisterhood lands in New York City. Cinematography by Gorka Gomez Andreu gives us, in depth, the poverty of the time. However, in contrast to that, Gene Back’s soundtrack could be softer for better effect.

Italy is a country of leisure vacations, pasta, wine, warm bread and afternoon siestas. That is the scene people think of, however, we are in another century now, and immigrants have come into Italy to the extent that eight percent of the population is now of another ancestry. With a mix of cultures in the country, rules begin to change. People move and take their culture and habits with them. Such is the story of two Afro-Italian brothers in Italy. One, Patrick of slender build (Maurizio Bousso) lives with their mother in what could be considered a slum area of Rome. They have come to Italy from Cameroon. Patrick is against ever being evicted. The other brother, Daniel (Germano Gentile) is a well-built police officer in the Reparto Mobile (riot squad). Director Hieb Papou, himself born in Belarus but living in Italy, brings to life what it is like to have such a division within a family unit. One brother lives just under the law, while the other brother upholds the law. There is police brutality here.

Do you feel the itching in the palm of your hands?  Anxious to grab a pool stick and go for a game or two?  In “Double Down South,” the game is on with a capital “O.”  Not only is it pool, but add Keno to it and you have a pool table with a special addition at the end of the table---one with holes in it so the cue ball can go in special holes.  Holes that mean winning money for the player. Ingenious, yes, and what will they come up with next?  A special upward tube for the ball to enter and then spin downward to a hole on the table? The film doesn’t go there yet, it is content to draw your attention to what it takes to be a winner.  An honest winner, that is.

Another year rolls along and it is time to go through the list of films out in 2023. This list contains three lists of films from 2023. The first is the Best Films of 2023, the second is The Worst Films of 2023 and the third and final list is the remarkable Indie Films of 2023. Enjoy.

There are the daring, and then again, the daring. Going back a few years to the film “Free Solo” about a man climbing a mountain with bare hands and feet. Now, we have “Nyad,” about Diana Nyad, the championship swimmer and her 100 mile-plus trek from Cuba to the United States swimming all the way.  

This 1978 film of a band trying to form in Chicago and the obstacles it meets with finding musicians, getting instruments and finding a practice place is a gigantic project.  Persistence is the name of the game and music is what ties them together. Music is in their DNA and they can’t quit, no matter what. Cinematographer Tak Fujimoto’s work of the city at night, along with memorable soundtrack by David Matthews makes this a glowing background for the stories of the musicians. Oh, those 1970’s cars that take up half a block when cruising down the street and the 1970’s saxophones. A delight.

Film audiences are sure to recognize the name of one of the main characters in “The Shift.”  It is Neal McDonough who had a major role in Season 2 of television’s “Yellowstone.”  McDonough is one of the leads in this film by Brock Heasley, that tries to bring together religion and science fiction. Kristoffer Polaha is the other lead in “The Shift,” that of Kevin, who has quite a journey to make in the storyline. Supposedly, this story could be akin to Job of the Old Testament, but it misses the mark there.  Instead, it is science fiction with a villain, time warp and reminiscence  of television’s “Quantum Leap.”