Tag Archives: film

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 10, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Almost Famous (2000) Re-Visit

It has been a long time since I last watched “Almost Famous” and it was probably the year 2000 when I last saw it on screen in a movie theater. Both of those deficiencies were recently corrected when I attended a screening at the Paramount Theater as part of their fan support program as the theater gets ready for a year long restoration process. This was a great choice for movie fans because the film will remind us of the reasons we go to the movies in the first place. We want to be entertained and stimulated, and “Almost Famous” does those things for it’s entire running time.

We are presented a number of moral quandaries that we will ask ourselves. How far are you willing to go to “make it”? When is it appropriate to lie, and when is it better to tell the truth? Can you be rich or famous and maintain integrity? What is the meaning of friendship? Can music save your mortal soul? The film is filled with characters who face this issues throughout the story. Russell Hammond, played by Billy Crudup, is a touchstone for most of those issues. As the lead guitarist and chief songwriter of the band “Stillwater”, he comes across as if he is trying to maintain integrity as a musician, but he falls prey to all the trappings of rock excess including rationalizing cheating on his partner. His sincerity is undermined by his actions.

The hero of the story is William Miller, 1 15 year old kid who writes like a veteran journalist, but is being swallowed up by the music machine as he struggles to get to the heart of the band.   Rock and Roll is full of dangerous offramps and he is operating with the most important navigational tool available , the band aid (not groupie) Penny Lane. That these two characters are able to charm us is not only due to the writing of director Cameron Crowe, but to the casting of two young actors who were completely up to the task. Patrick Fugit has the naive expression and longing eyes that make his charter feel convincing as a young writer. He is assisted by the legendary Phillip Seymour Hoffman, playing the legendary real life Lester Bangs, a gonzo journalist of the era.

The not so secret weapon of the whole enterprise  is the luminescent Kate Hudson as Penny Lane. Just about every scene she appears in, she dominates the  moment by her look and graceful movements. If ever there were a star making part for an actress this century, it is this one. She was a joy to watch and listen to, and the audience at the screening seemed to respond to her character warmly, and the last shot of her leaves us with a positive stage on which to exit the theater, happy in knowing that life can go on, regardless of disappointments.

I will just add that the screening gave us a chance to chat with some of our friends on the staff of the Paramount Film crew. Erin and Kevin were as happy to see us as we were to see them. The Summer Classic Film Series will be moving to the State Theater Next door while the restoration project is in progress. It is a smaller venue so some nights this coming summer may get a little crowded, but we all hope for the best for both theaters as the long term project plays out. 

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 9, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come (2026)

There is literally no need for a sequel to the 2019 horror comedy , “Ready or Not” . That film was a nifty little thriller that accomplished its goal in a less than 2 hour time slot and left.you completely satisfied with the outcome. The only reason to follow up is to have some more fun or to make more money. I am not an investor in a movie studio,.so for me, the only thing that matters, is the movie fun?

My answer is yes. “Ready or Not 2”  is a lot of fun, although it does suffer as most sequels do from not being as fresh as the original. The film basically reboots the same scenario as the original film, but throws in additional characters and motives and provides the kind of World building that would allow such an expansion. In fact , the film picks up exactly where the first one left off , with Grace, played by Samara Weaving, sitting on the steps of the La Domas mansion , smoking a cigarette and trying to recover from her ordeal. Almost immediately, she becomes a suspect in the burning down of the house, and the vanishing of all of her in-laws, and her husband. 

The LA Domas Family Dominion turns out to be part of a cabal of satanists who basically run the world as oligarchs, controlling huge swaths of wealth and power. Director David Cronenberg appears as the head of the entire syndicate of evil doers .and Grace’s victory in the game leads to a new set of circumstances. This reset the rules for the organization and required a follow up game. Elijah Woods appears as the enigmatic attorney who represents Mr. Le Bail, the devil-like figurehead that all of the families are subservient to.

With a little retconning and a lot of exposition provided by various members of the families and by the Woods character, we see how a new game is going to play out and  the added wrinkle of multiple families competing to kill Grace is also layered with a family dynamic that we weren’t expecting. Grace has an estranged younger sister, who accidentally becomes involved in the game herself. So now we have the 2 women racing against 5 other families in an attempt to survive a more elaborate game of Hide and Seek, with the stakes being control of the world.

If the set up sounds convoluted , well , frankly , it is. I didn’t mind that. In fact, it makes some of the fun that follows more interesting and feels like it’s got bigger stakes. The intensity of the violence is turned up, as is some of the character humor of the twisted  oligarchs.as they jockey for position and control. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Hatosy play the children of Cronenberg’s character who become the main antagonists. Hatosy , in particular, is shown as a dangerously venal monster, with only a desire to  satisfy his own interests. 

Grace’s sister Faith is played by actress Kathryn Newton, and the two sisters’ estrangement and reconciliation becomes an important part of the secondary plot. In the long run, it is a lot of foolishness, designed merely to give us a reason for a group of people to try desperately to kill another group of people, and in the end, for us to clearly root for one side. The film is funny and the sick way that the original was. There are several twists along the way , some of which you see coming , some of which are a surprise. If you are a fan of the first film , you will most likely enjoy this one, Just probably not as much.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

April 5, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Project Hail Mary (2026)

At this point, it is completely unnecessary to encourage anyone to see this, it is already a success and the word of mouth on it has been so good that people are probably tired of hearing it talked up. Regardless, I do think I want to share a few brief comments and give you access to my own thoughts on the film.

This is a science fiction film, with an alien, so it may not sound that like a serious Sandra Hüllers film to you. While the premise is a little far fetched, the narrative raises some interesting questions and validates some moral standards that we as a species adhere to. The character of Ryland Grace, played by Ryan Gosling, is not a hero in the traditional sense. As we learn, his resistance to accepting the mission goes far beyond doubting himself and reveal a character flaw that might make us despair of human reliability. Eva Stratt, the single minded authoritarian head of the project to save the world, played by Sandra Hüller, makes a decision that while expedient and necessary, raises issues about autonomy and freedom which would normally be important but are dwarfed by the circumstances. Grace responds but the exigencies of his actions are maybe not as altruistic as we expect. In the end however, we discover a strength that the character has that he did not see in himself.

The greatest advantage this movie has in connecting with an audience is the fact that the charismatic Gosling is interacting with real sets and not green screens that so often make a film feel artificial, in spite of their detail and craftsmanship.  The movie feels more real than any comic book movie, not because of the premise but because of the look. This is particularly true when dealing with “Rocky” the alien that is shown on screen as a puppet rather than a digital creature. So much of the success of the film depends on the relationship between Grace and Rocky, that the tangible presence is needed.  Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made the right choices on all the technical aspects of the film.

The only reservations I have are a result of reading the novel before seeing the film. There were moments and character points that I wanted to have in the film but could not be accomplished effectively without making the film slow down too much. Transitioning a book into cinema always changes things and that is simply the nature of the different mediums. 

If you want more detail, you should check out the LAMBcast that is linked below. None of my criticisms are meant to denigrate the movie, and Ryan Gosling should get most of the credit for the movie because his performance sells the concept tremendously.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 28, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) Revisit

I love returning to films that I have not really posted on before, because it gives me an opportunity to think about the reason they stay in my head so long that I want to revisit them. “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” has not been ignored on this site, it was part of a Triple Feature Screening Video that I posted 9 years ago.  This however is the first time I am writing about the movie, and that requires some thought and analysis as well as some cheerleading. 

The main reason that anyone should be coming back to this subject for a sequel, four years after the original, is to spend more time with nearly everyone’s favorite character from the first film, Ian Malcom. In the original “Jurassic Park” once you get past the dinosaurs, which were terrific innovations at the time, the most interesting element of the film is Jeff Goldblum as  chaotician Dr. Ian Malcom. The character has all the idiosyncrasies of the actor, plus the clever lines of humor, as well as narration of  the science and the morality issues in the film. Goldblum brings the standard thriller adventure to life with, as John Hammond says” You’ll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm, he suffers from a deplorable excess of personality”. In “The Lost World” you get a double dose of that personality, with frequent and completely justifiable moments of “I told you so.” There are new characters for him to mock, cajole and kibitz with. Whatever they paid Goldblum was completely worth it.

Of the new characters, Pete Postlethwaite as Roland Tembo, the big game hunter brought in to collect specimens from the laboratory island for the new zoo attraction, is the most interesting and fun. He has no sense of humor and feels quite stern, bit his aura of authority keeps the action together once the shit hits the fan in the plot. Julianne Moore as Ian’s girlfriend and paleontologist, Sarah, is the new John Hammond, at least when it comes to making mistakes about how to deal with the animals. She is responsible for the biggest error in the decision being made when she brings the wounded baby T-Rex into their mobile lab. It creates the scenario that produces one of the best examples of Steven Spielberg action directing, you will ever find.   I will get to that in a moment. Vince Vaugh is a serviceable action hero during the second act, and Arliss Howard as the unctuous Peter Ludlow, the new Chair of InGen, is suitably loathsome while also being out of his depth. One more character that deserves mention is played by future West Wing star Richard Schiff as Eddie Carr, the logistics man for Malcom’s expedition to the island. Schiff is surprisingly great as a man of action, who performs the most heroic deeds in the film. His on screen death was one that was not played for laughs like Gennaro in the first film, but as a tragedy for all still alive.

The most spectacular set piece is the dual T-Rex attack on the mobile laboratory and the struggle of the character to survive. Spielberg paints a picture of the attack, mostly from inside of the vehicle. There are a few exterior shots, but mostly the action plays out in the confines of a double long recreational vehicle. The roll over effect is nicely staged, and the pushing of the vehicle so that the trailer half is hanging off the side of the cliff, makes the car in the tree scene form “Jurassic Park” look like the warm up act. When people criticize sequels for just repeating stories with bigger budgets, they would be ignoring this scene which also has bigger stakes and technical planning. The ambition compounds the threat, includes more of the dinosaurs and ratches up the tension repeatedly. There are multiple moments when the situation grows worse, and just as they start to resolve a complication, something new arises and doubles down on the characters desperation.  This is Spielberg at his merciless best in building tension and releasing it over and over. This scene stands up next to the T-Rex attack in “Jurassic Park”, without any need to feel inadequate. It is an exquisite four minutes of movie magic.

One of the biggest criticisms of the film when it was first released was the final chapter set in San Diego. I recall people saying that it cheapened the film, but I always thought it answered the problem of Ian Malcom’s credibility quite effectively, and it set the stage for InGen as a villain in subsequent films. They are always chasing the dollar, and underestimating the risks at someone else’s expense.   Besides, there are two or three great visuals in that sequence, the Venture coming out of the dark and running into the dock is frightening and the T-Rex in the backyard, with the doghouse dangling from it’s maw is disturbing. 

Even the moments in the film which are contrived, such as the gymnastic move by Ian’s daughter, still work because Spielberg knows timing and setting well enough to make us invested, even in the ridiculous. We saw this film at an Alamo Movie Party Screening, and audiences are encouraged to react out loud to things on screen. This moment got some hoots, but not a lot, and there was even some cheering when the raptor goes down. 

This movie is not as essential as it’s progenitor, but it is entertaining as hell, with laughs provided by Malcom’s sanctimony and thrills provided by other characters stupidity. This may be the reason we keep going to films in this franchise, because we know, sometimes in spite of the obviousness, we can be entertained by suspense and action that is well done. 

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 13, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Jurassic Park (1993) Revisit [Alamo Rant]

I have written about “Jurassic Park” on many previous posts. (Here, Here, and Here), so there is plenty of content on the site to cover the film I saw again on the big screen last weekend. 

Instead of elaborating ore on a film you all know, I want to take this opportunity to vent. I am frustrated to no end by a decision made by one of my beloved movie chains.

Alamo Drafthouse popularized the idea of theater dining and drinking. Those have never been my favorite part of going to an Alamo Presentation, but the experience has been less intrusive than I feared when the whole thing began. (Disclosure: The first in theater Dining Experience I had was at an AMC) The idea of waiters delivering food and taking orders while a movie was playing seems antithetical to me. The process is disruptive to the viewing experience. 

Alamo had managed it as well as could be expected, but they have suddenly stepped into their own trap. For years, the thing that was unique about the Alamo Drafthouse Experience was the forcefulness of their no phone policy. 

Last year they introduced an option to use your phone before the movie, as a way to order. This year, it has become mandatory. If you want any concession, food order or assistance, you have to use your phone. This was our first time under the new exclusive ordering system, and it was not a pleasant experience. Everyone in our row was grouching about the idea that to get concession items, you have to violate the long time “No Phones” policy. When the No Phone Slide shows up on screen before the film starts, it has a disclaimer now, excluding their own app. You could hear derisive laughter throughout the theater. 

As long as this new policy stays in place, I will be resisting it the best way that I can. The Alamo Experience had two things going for it, They have the best programming and they had the no phones policy. To me, the food and drink service was always secondary at best.  We did often order food and we enjoyed it, but it is not special enough to continue if this intrusive Phone approach is going to stay in place. So, AMC and Cinemark, you will see me more often. I’m not canceling my Alamo Movie Pass, I’m just not going to order anything when I go to a film that I can only find at the Drafthouse. Local eating establishments will be getting my business if I am hungry. #sneekinginmyjuniormints. 

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

March 13, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die (2026)

Gore Verbinski  has created a lot of films that I’ve enjoyed , most of which have a strange twist or odd angle to them. One of my favorites is Rango, the animated film that earned him a very deserved Academy Award, because let’s face it no one is going to give him an award for overseeing the chaos that is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, regardless of how much he managed to make sense of it all.

In anticipating “Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die”, I was expecting the usual degree of visual insanity and quirky characters that have characterized much of his previous work. To be honest a lot of it is here, but somewhere the funny got lost and instead of having a light touch with a serious subject, this movie feels as if it has a heavy thumb on the scale of sadness. 

I can’t fault Sam Rockwell as the star of the film because he does exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. He is maniacal, controlling, and at the center of all of the chaos. It’s just that the chaos doesn’t feel quite as chaotic as it should, and even though the premise is off center, it just doesn’t feel off center enough. To me, the best section of the film is the opening where his character shows up and appears to be recruiting a team from the patrons of the diner that he’s in.  We are led to believe that he’s done this over 100 times before and is simply looking for the right combination of customers to get into his desired objective. The way in which he rejects or demands participation is truly amusing. Unfortunately once they escape the diner, what follows is a rather mundane Quest picture where the quest is just not as interesting as it should be.

The last half hour of the film does attempt to reinvigorate the crazy sensibility of the story. The fact that it is so dominated by visual effects that probably use the same kind of computer technology that the story is ultimately about, feels like it is undercutting the goal. I appreciate the characters of the company that Rockwell takes on his mission, and as we lose a couple on the way I was sad because they provided some of the best moments of the film.  

It’s hard to understand what’s going on from the very beginning, but as we get closer to the climax we do get a sense of what it all means. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but there is  another twist at the end, and although I could see it coming, that doesn’t mean that I thought it was appropriate. Let’s just say if we take the film at face value we are only watching a single chapter in a book that is not going to be completed. If there was hope that this could be a continuing series that has probably been dashed by the lack of box office, not to mention the less than enthusiastic reviews.

I’m glad I saw the movie, and I would certainly recommend it to fans of Sam Rockwell, because after all everything is better because he’s in it. Since his failure with the Lone Ranger a dozen years ago, Verbenski has not been able to get a movie made on the scale of his previous dozen years. I’m afraid this movie is not going to change his situation. He has a great visual eye, but his storytelling chops seem to be muted at least for the moment. So let me finish by saying good luck, trying to figure out how this all works, have fun, watching the Clockwork Orange turn, and don’t die from your bloated expectations.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 20, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Send Help (2026)

Director Sam Rami has been a favorite of mine since the Evil Dead movies of the late ’80s. In fact I recently wrote about two of his films that I saw in theaters this year, “Darkman” and “The Quick and the Dead”. It’s been a while since he’s had a film out that was clearly something that he was built for. He did the best he could to mold “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” into a Sam Rami film, but it still had to be a Marvel product.

With “Send Help”, he returns to the horror genre at least peripherally. While not a straight horror film, “Send Help” does have several horror elements to it, and a couple of good jump scares, one of which is clearly horror motivated. It is the scenario set up by the story that makes this more of an adventure drama, but the way Rami directs it, you will feel tension and revulsion as if you were watching a horror film.

One of the things that is unique about this movie, is that it will make us feel sympathetic to someone who commits some atrocious acts. Rachel McAdams stars as the put-upon data analyst and accounting specialist, Linda Liddle,  who is passed over for a promotion by someone who is younger, less experienced and of a different gender. This is done largely because the new head of the firm, the son of the firm’s founder, is buddies with the guy and it’s an old school approach to business.

After having been demeaned and ridiculed by her coworkers and boss, Linda gains the upper hand when their private jet crashes and she and her boss are stranded on an island, with a little chance of rescue. What follows is a series of events where the two characters fight, bond, fight some more, and deal with ambiguous relational issues. You never however get the feeling that all is going to be right. The boss, Bradley, played by Dylan O’Brien, continues to be a person whose lack of power drives him to do things to gain the upper hand. McAdams on the other hand, relishes her situation so much that she ignores some potential opportunities to escape the situation. It may be a trope in these revenge horror type films, that we sympathize with a dangerous character. I remember seeing Willard back in 1971, and knowing that even though he was a little deranged and murderous, I wanted him to get the best of his tormentors.

Surprisingly there are times when we can sympathize with the boss as well. Every time however, that he seems to be more human and someone who can work with his employee, he slips back into the habit of trying to one up his partner in the situation. Sam Rami lights us up with dangerous situations, sudden animal attacks, and a variety of injuries and poisons that make life on this island feel very tentative and risky.

As usual there are a couple of twists in the story, and when the final ones are revealed I think you will discover that the film is a very satisfying two hours of entertainment. That is if you enjoy Sam Rami’s camera style and dark sense of humor. In case you haven’t guessed I do.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

February 8, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

The Quick and the Dead (1995) Re-visit

I make no secret of the fact that this is my favorite Sam rami film, yes even ahead of “Evil Dead 2” and “Army of Darkness” and all the Spider-Man movies. The reasons are apparent when you look at the trailer: it is a western, it stars Gene Hackman, and it features a badass woman with a gun. That is a formula that is hard to screw up, and when you add in Sam Rami’s directing style and Sharon Stone as the Lady, it is perfect.  (Which I said back in 2013). 

We saw this as part of an Alamo series of films, saluting Gene Hackman and David Lynch and others. Those of you here for the first time will learn that Gene Hackman is my favorite actor and this is one of his great villain performances. John Herod is an evil prairie scum who has leveraged his way into absolute authority over a border town, and maintains control by holding a quick draw contest each year to preoccupy and identify potential threats.  There is always a threat from Leo DiCaprio who may be Herod’s illegitimate son. There are rival gunslingers who show up to challenge the undisputed dictator of the town of Redemption, and there is a mysterious woman who challenges the expectations of the 19th century Western Frontier, played by the aforementioned Sharon Stone. 

The movie is a homage to the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, borrowing heavily from “Once Upon  a Time in the West” but also Leone’s style. There are sequences where the close ups get closer and they linger for more time than is comfortable. There are beads of perspiration that tell stories all by themselves, and the music while not being epic like Morricone, uses the instruments they way the master would, to set mood and accentuate a scene. Alan Silvestri is a terrific composer of movie scores and his work here is equal to the task. 

I listened to a podcast “That’s Da Bomb” on this film, and after the BS that starts the show, there is a nice discussion of this movie, although my opinion of the film is far higher than theirs. Even better, I went back and listened to the “Lambcast MOTM from February 2022″ where five of us discussed the movie in some detail. Once again, I am an outlier but I am also right. “The Quick and the Dead” rules, and there are just not enough people out there who appreciate to the degree that it deserves. 

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

January 16, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Darkman (1990) Revisit

I have loved Sam Rami films ever since I discovered “the Evil Dead”. His style of film making is vibrant, eclectic and the stories that he tells are off kilter enough that they are memorable, even if they are buried in a genre that gets easily dismissed. He has a new film coming out in a couple of weeks that I am looking forward to, and this coming weekend, I will also be seeing my favorite Sam Rami film, “The Quick and the Dead”. Last weekend however, I got to see his 1990 Comic Book hero creation, “Darkman”, starring Liam Neeson in action mode, years before “Taken” launched him as a senior citizen tough guy.

This is a standard origin story, but it is about a character who is not standard at all. Peyton Westlake becomes the Darkman because of a vicious attack by gangsters, and an accident of medical intervention that results in rage generated strength while being largely impervious to pain. Because he was a scientist, working on artificial skin, he has the ability to create flesh masks of anyone he can obtain a photograph of. Thus he can disguise himself in a way that allows him to manipulate the men who disfigured him, in a way that turns them against each other. 

Westlake also has to create a mask of himself, to be able to reach out to his girlfriend, played by future three time Academy Award winning actress Francis McDormand. Neeson plays a tortured scientist, who pines for the life he lost, and also rages against those who mutilated him and murdered his colleague. Wearing his own face as a mask, there are several scenes where his interaction with Julie, McDormand’s character, go off the track. In an incident at a carnival, Peyton’s temper gets the best of him and director Rami amps up the situation with Dutch angles, zoom close ups, and intercutting of disturbing carnival images. It is very much like one of his Evil Dead movies for a moment. 

The main villain is played by Larry Drake, who was well known at the time as a benign character on “L.A. Law”, so here he was playing against type and he was great. Robert Durant is a confident bully who delights in removing the fingers from his victims, in a dispassionate manner. As if his lack of emotional display is a sign of professionalism rather than sociopathy. There were two direct to video sequels to this film, the first of which revived the character of Durant from the dead. This is a bit like killing the survivors of  “Aliens” to start the third film, it undermines some of the things that were great about the earlier film. 

The music score was from Danny Elfman, who had done “Batman” the previous year. This second dark hero has a theme that is familiar enough to echo the famous Batman theme, but distinctive enough to clearly fit with the aesthetic of a Sam Rami movie. Jenny Agutter shows up in a scene as the neurologist treating the injured Dr. Westlake, she reportedly did so as a favor to John Landis, who has a tenuous  connection to the film, including a part as an extra. There were a series of novels following the further adventures of Darkman, most of which were too dark to consider basing a movie on. This Alamo screening was a blast and I laughed with delight at a number of moments. The make-up effects are also pretty spectacular, you can see that Darkman is a forerunner of Two Face in the “Dark Night” Batman movie.

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

January 16, 2026

Posted under

Uncategorized

Comments

Leave a comment

Dead Man’s Wire (2026)

We got an early peek the other night at one of the films that will certainly be a highlight of the first quarter of 2026. This movie features two stellar performances, and a very efficient reenactment of a real life event from 1977. I was in college in 1977, but I’d been doing quite a bit of traveling with the debate team, and at the time that this news event took place I was only vaguely aware of it. I’m glad that I didn’t have a complete memory of what happened, so although there was an actual historical antecedent I was surprised by the turnout of the events.

“Dead Man’s Wire” tells the story of a man frustrated by his inability to overcome economic forces that were crushing him. If you took the hostage drama of “Dog Day Afternoon” and combined it with the injustices that drive the characters in “Hell or High Water”, you would have a pretty good template for this movie. Tony Kiritsis takes a man hostage by looping a wire around the man’s head connected to a sawed-off shotgun with another wire connected to Tony. His goal is to recover economically from the dirty deed that a mortgage company has done to him, or at least that’s how he sees it. There’s been a long-standing dispute between Tony and the company over his mortgage on a piece of property that he hoped to develop in which he claims the mortgage company interfered with in order to force him into liquidation. It’s not merely the money however it bothers him. Tony is on a righteous crusade to get an apology from the president of the mortgage company who was his original target, but instead he is forced to take the vice president, who is the son of the president, as his hostage.

The real life incident took place in Indianapolis, and the filmmakers do a good job replicating the feel of 1977. The film stock seems to be from that era, with a good clear image, but a patina of shading it seems authentic to the time. Indianapolis is not a big city like New York, they didn’t necessarily have a hostage negotiator available, or a specialized SWAT team trained in all kinds of responses. Frankly the authorities are befuddled as to how to proceed. The suspense derives from the fact that any assault on Tony would result in the immediate death of his victim Richard.

Tony is played with gusto by the versatile Bill Skarsgård, who has become an obsession of my daughter. I think I saw three films starring Skarsgård last year. I can say however that this is his best performance without being under a pile of makeup. Tony has a righteous indignation, but he is not particularly cruel or vindictive to Richard. That helps keep him a sympathetic character which is exactly what the real Tony Kiritsis became to the public back in the day. He feels like a crusading Robin Hood trying to right a wrong that everybody else could identify as a thing they could easily have fallen prey to. The little guy against the system is the main theme of the film. Although the movie is very serious, like “Dog Day Afternoon”, there are moments of levity that occur because of the quirks of the characters.

Richard is played by actor Dacre Montgomery, best known for his portrayal of Billy in the show “Stranger Things”. He looks completely different in this role, and unlike the muscle bound preening Billy of the TV show, here he comes across as a bit of a nebish with a stoop and an awkward way of being polite that puts him at odds with Tony. These two actors account for most of the screen time but there is some other activity that’s worth mentioning. Richard’s father, the real villain of the piece, is played by Al Pacino with a little too much of that Foghorn Leghorn articulation that he’s developed over the years. If there is a weak link in the film, it’s from the most experienced of the actors. The father is equally self-righteous that he has done nothing wrong, to the point where he abuses his son Richard almost as much as Tony did.

The collection of local officials, some of whom knew Tony, as a local businessman, bar buddy, and occasional public nuisance. The undercover police officer who first arrives at the scene of the original kidnapping, is an acquaintance of Tony from a local bar. No one can believe that Tony is attempting this audacious Act of Justice, which violates the law and decency in an attempt to be treated decently. The cop is played by an unrecognizable Cary Elwes, and he is also terrific in the part. Even more impressive, once again, is Colman Domingo, who plays a local DJ, Fred Temple, who takes Tony’s call and helps mediate the crisis while trying to keep things cool.

There’s also a huge amount of social commentary in the way the news business handles this event. In the days before 24 hour cable news, local stations provided updates but not the continuous coverage that we would see today. The local news gets picked up for National presentation, so the two and a half days that this incident covers was closely watched by a nation that was not used to seeing crimes carried out live on TV.

As an audience, our sympathies are with both men, Tony for the Injustice done to him and Richard for the threat that’s being placed on his life. Neither man deserves what is happening. The police, and ultimately the FBI, arrange a deal with Tony, that you hope is going to resolve things. I won’t spoil the resolution for you, but I will say that it is a real world illustration of how the justice system can get something right even though they do so in the wrong way.

This movie deserves your attention, and it will command your interest through the performances of the two leads in the improbable but real life story. It’s hard to believe that it took 50 years to turn this into a movie, but first time screenwriter Austin Kolodney has done a nice job taking the unusual aspects of the real life story and turning it into a compelling narrative with an interesting theme. The movie is seamlessly directed by veteran Gus Van Zant. This may be the most accessible film he’s made since “Good Will Hunting”. Hopefully it’ll enjoy a good deal of success and bring attention to the actors who deserve credit for making us care.