Ridley Scott’s (Aliens, All the Money in the World) The Last Duel has been my most anticipated theater-going experience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last 19 months, I’ve been to the movie theater 20-25 times, far more than anyone I know. Theater attendance is down, as would be expected. I purchased a ticket 15 minutes after the previews started (customary for me when I see movies alone). My showing was at 11:00 a.m., but it was also the day after it was released. There were 15 moviegoers in a theater that held 250. It’s been a struggle to get back to the theater, especially with many movies having a same-day Video on Demand release or a release to popular streaming services much sooner than pre-pandemic days.
Category Archives: Based on a True Story
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)
Jessica Chastain (Molly’s Game, Zero Dark Thirty) is attempting to become the second actress to win a Lead Actress Oscar and a Lead Actress Emmy in the same year. After just two episodes of the five-part HBO miniseries Scenes from a Marriage, Chastain seems like a shoo-in to win an Emmy for her role as Mira, a middle-aged wife, opposite Oscar Isaac. The latter encounters some of the most challenging struggles a married person might ever have. It’s a hard-hitting, riveting drama that could sweep awards season in the miniseries category. Chastain further showcases her acting prowess as Tammy Fay Baker, the televangelist and our protagonist in Michael Showalter’s (The Big Sick, Hello, My Name is Doris).
Flag Day (2021)
n a film he directed, Sean Penn (The Indian Runner, The Crossing Guard) picked a fine time to put himself in front of the camera for the first time. Flag Day is just Penn’s sixth directing effort and only his second since 2007’s Into the Wild, which he has openly admitted is the pinnacle of his Hollywood career. That is a crazy thing for someone who had won an Oscar for Best Actor just a few years prior (Mystic River) and again a year later (Milk). In an interview promoting Flag Day, I read that Penn had written two books and would have continued to write more had they had the same success. However, with those novels faltering, perhaps he felt directing gave Penn more autonomy than directing and that this is how he wanted his accomplishments to be with his work behind the lens rather than in front of it.
Joe Bell (2020)
Sometimes, when producing a movie, it is based on having a great story, while at other times, it is based on having a great cast. Of course, many other factors can make or break a film, but let’s concentrate on these first two and ask a simple but essential question. What happens when you potentially have the first two, but they conflict? I believe that director Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard, Monsters and Men) likely faced that decision in Joe Bell. Here, he had the true story of a father walking from his hometown in Oregon to New York City to raise awareness for bullying after Jadin (Reid Miller), his openly gay 15-year-old son, committed suicide after being repeatedly tormented at school because of his sexual orientation.
Judas and The Black Messiah (2021)
Of the three best picture Oscar-nominated movies (Mank, The Trial of the Chicago Seven) that have a chance to knock off Nomadland, the odds on favorite to be selected as the year’s best movie, Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah was undoubtedly my favorite. It’s ironic since the other two films have a better chance of earning the night’s biggest prize. But much like the other five nominated pictures, there isn’t anything particularly remarkable about this trio. As a whole, it wasn’t a great year for movies. There were some great acting performances during the year. Judas and the Black Messiah was no exception, earning not one but two nods for Best Supporting Actor.