gortx
Joined Jan 2000
Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Reviews957
gortx's rating
A REAL PAIN (2024) Hulu. Jesse Eisenberg's sobering story about two cousins, Benji (Kieran Culkin) and David (Eisenberg), who embark on a trip from New York to Poland to honor their dear Grandmother's memory. She was a holocaust survivor from their destination. It's a small guided tour for Jewish visitors. Also in the tour group is a converted African man (Kurt Egyiawan), a married couple (Daniel Oreskes and Liza Sadovy) and a woman on the rebound (Jennifer Grey). The British tour guide (Will Sharpe) isn't of the faith, but he's a scholar in the field.
At first, Benji and David seem poles apart with Culkin's character being boisterous and always loudly stating what's on his mind - without a care about his surroundings. Eisenberg's David is more reserved and 'responsible', publicly apologizing to the others while privately raging about his cousin's behavior and attitude. David is married, with a good job, a wife and a child, while Benji is a layabout still trying to 'grow up'. Psychological disorders abound and before long, it's clear that the pair are more alike than David would care to admit.
Eisenberg has long been one of his acting generation's more neurotic personalities, and he is well-matched here by Culkin. As the movie progresses, both actors reveal more levels of their performances. There are visits to their Grandmother's old home and the Majdanek concentration camp. Eisenberg handles the transitions solemnly and with respect, even if there are a few bumps along the way for a relative novice behind the camera The supporting actors are solid, with Grey's Marcia getting the most attention along with Sharpe.
To Eisenberg's credit, he doesn't fall back on having some extraordinary event juice up his decidedly intimate tale. There are no great epiphanies along the way. He understands that one road trip can't heal a lifetime of ills. It's a moment in time for the cousins. An important one, perhaps. Only time will tell.
At first, Benji and David seem poles apart with Culkin's character being boisterous and always loudly stating what's on his mind - without a care about his surroundings. Eisenberg's David is more reserved and 'responsible', publicly apologizing to the others while privately raging about his cousin's behavior and attitude. David is married, with a good job, a wife and a child, while Benji is a layabout still trying to 'grow up'. Psychological disorders abound and before long, it's clear that the pair are more alike than David would care to admit.
Eisenberg has long been one of his acting generation's more neurotic personalities, and he is well-matched here by Culkin. As the movie progresses, both actors reveal more levels of their performances. There are visits to their Grandmother's old home and the Majdanek concentration camp. Eisenberg handles the transitions solemnly and with respect, even if there are a few bumps along the way for a relative novice behind the camera The supporting actors are solid, with Grey's Marcia getting the most attention along with Sharpe.
To Eisenberg's credit, he doesn't fall back on having some extraordinary event juice up his decidedly intimate tale. There are no great epiphanies along the way. He understands that one road trip can't heal a lifetime of ills. It's a moment in time for the cousins. An important one, perhaps. Only time will tell.
SING SING (2024) - Oscar nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin) leads the cast of this prison drama based on an actual program helping rehab inmates. Domingo plays 'Divine G' who has written books while in the joint and is the semi-leader of a theatrical troupe within the infamous New York facility which gives the film its title.
SING SING is an ensemble film with real prisoners mixed in with professional actors for added verisimilitude (and shot on 16mm for added grit). The professional cast also features Paul Raci (SOUND OF METAL). Director Greg Kwedar co-wrote the screenplay with Clint Bentley. They collaborated on the story with the real Divine G (John Whitfield) and ex-con Clarence Maclin - the latter stars in the movie as himself.
The screenplay has a bit of a predictable arc with Divine G and Maclin butting heads at the outset, but eventually working together for the good of the play. Raci is very good as Brent, the Theater Director brought in to put the prisoner-actors through their paces. Domingo is excellent here and has the flashiest role, but the script does give the character some reason to be that way.
It's not the most original tale, but the fact that it's based on a true project (RTA - Rehabilitation Through The Arts) allows some leeway whenever the movie feels a bit too good (and gentle) to be true. Kwedar uses handheld camera and actual film to give it an intimacy, but he, smartly, doesn't try and open things up. It's a prison film, and he keeps it within those boundaries.
While SING SING may not yield too many surprises, the acting is so genuine that one can't help but root for these thieves, drug dealers and murderers. The joy on their faces as they perform on stage in the video clips that play at the end lights up the screen.
SING SING is an ensemble film with real prisoners mixed in with professional actors for added verisimilitude (and shot on 16mm for added grit). The professional cast also features Paul Raci (SOUND OF METAL). Director Greg Kwedar co-wrote the screenplay with Clint Bentley. They collaborated on the story with the real Divine G (John Whitfield) and ex-con Clarence Maclin - the latter stars in the movie as himself.
The screenplay has a bit of a predictable arc with Divine G and Maclin butting heads at the outset, but eventually working together for the good of the play. Raci is very good as Brent, the Theater Director brought in to put the prisoner-actors through their paces. Domingo is excellent here and has the flashiest role, but the script does give the character some reason to be that way.
It's not the most original tale, but the fact that it's based on a true project (RTA - Rehabilitation Through The Arts) allows some leeway whenever the movie feels a bit too good (and gentle) to be true. Kwedar uses handheld camera and actual film to give it an intimacy, but he, smartly, doesn't try and open things up. It's a prison film, and he keeps it within those boundaries.
While SING SING may not yield too many surprises, the acting is so genuine that one can't help but root for these thieves, drug dealers and murderers. The joy on their faces as they perform on stage in the video clips that play at the end lights up the screen.
When German-Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum began writing SEPTMEBER 5 he couldn't have imagined how cogent his movie about the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany would be upon its current release.
The events of September 5th, 1972 and its aftermath have been well documented over the decades (including Spielberg's excellent MUNICH). Fehlbaum (who also co-wrote) focuses exclusively on the men and women at ABC Sports who were covering the Olympics. Very early on that fateful day, a group of Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli athletes' housing residence, killed two and took the other nine hostage. The event took place before the network's broadcast coverage began that day. By happenstance, the ABC studio was a mere 500 yards from the Olympic village where the crime took place.
The excellent ensemble cast give lived in performances. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is in charge, but it never feels as the character is the center of attention. John Magaro is thrown into the role of the Director of the broadcast, Geoffrey Mason, even with little experience in such a high pressure position. Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) is the main reprentative of ABC's news division on the ground. A German translator, Marianne (Leonie Benesch who was excellent in last year's Oscar nominated TEACHERS LOUNGE) ends up being an increasingly valuable member of the team.
Fehlbaum and his team keep the focus entirely within the studio. The story is how a group of individuals who mere moments later were covering sports events were thrust into the most important story in the world. Jim McCay was roused from apartment and tossed into anchoring the telescast which was being beamed by satellite all over the planet. McCay is seen primarily in actual footage of that day with just minor body double work. The acclaimed sportscaster turned in a performance that day worthy of Murrow and Cronkite.
SEPTEMBER 5 palpably displays not only how intense the situation was, but how startingly Analog it all was. Giant reels of videotape, 16mm film footage that had to be devolped on the spot before airing. Cameras weren't easily mobile, so to get a simple shot of the Olympic village took a small crew to literally wheel an enormous studio camera outside the building to get a shot just over a soccer field's distance away. Graphics had to be worked up in the studio and superimposed over the footage (including an amusinb bit about how ABC plastered their own logo on the images being beamed worldwide).
The highs and lows of the events of that day are reflected in the differing viewpoints of the personnel involved. The dialogue, with just a couple of too on-point bits, feels natural and real. All of the actors are very good here, but none stand out - by design. It takes a You Are There approach (a Conkite hosted series of the same name was having a revival in 1972). Markus Forderer's documentary style cinematography (a combination of digital and 16mm) and Lorenz Dangel's low key score blend in smoothly. SEPTEMBER 5 is a reminder not only of that tragic day, but of how the media should responsibly cover such incidents. It's gripping.
The events of September 5th, 1972 and its aftermath have been well documented over the decades (including Spielberg's excellent MUNICH). Fehlbaum (who also co-wrote) focuses exclusively on the men and women at ABC Sports who were covering the Olympics. Very early on that fateful day, a group of Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli athletes' housing residence, killed two and took the other nine hostage. The event took place before the network's broadcast coverage began that day. By happenstance, the ABC studio was a mere 500 yards from the Olympic village where the crime took place.
The excellent ensemble cast give lived in performances. Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) is in charge, but it never feels as the character is the center of attention. John Magaro is thrown into the role of the Director of the broadcast, Geoffrey Mason, even with little experience in such a high pressure position. Peter Jennings (Benjamin Walker) is the main reprentative of ABC's news division on the ground. A German translator, Marianne (Leonie Benesch who was excellent in last year's Oscar nominated TEACHERS LOUNGE) ends up being an increasingly valuable member of the team.
Fehlbaum and his team keep the focus entirely within the studio. The story is how a group of individuals who mere moments later were covering sports events were thrust into the most important story in the world. Jim McCay was roused from apartment and tossed into anchoring the telescast which was being beamed by satellite all over the planet. McCay is seen primarily in actual footage of that day with just minor body double work. The acclaimed sportscaster turned in a performance that day worthy of Murrow and Cronkite.
SEPTEMBER 5 palpably displays not only how intense the situation was, but how startingly Analog it all was. Giant reels of videotape, 16mm film footage that had to be devolped on the spot before airing. Cameras weren't easily mobile, so to get a simple shot of the Olympic village took a small crew to literally wheel an enormous studio camera outside the building to get a shot just over a soccer field's distance away. Graphics had to be worked up in the studio and superimposed over the footage (including an amusinb bit about how ABC plastered their own logo on the images being beamed worldwide).
The highs and lows of the events of that day are reflected in the differing viewpoints of the personnel involved. The dialogue, with just a couple of too on-point bits, feels natural and real. All of the actors are very good here, but none stand out - by design. It takes a You Are There approach (a Conkite hosted series of the same name was having a revival in 1972). Markus Forderer's documentary style cinematography (a combination of digital and 16mm) and Lorenz Dangel's low key score blend in smoothly. SEPTEMBER 5 is a reminder not only of that tragic day, but of how the media should responsibly cover such incidents. It's gripping.