Artsies:
Farmer of the Year – 3 stars
When Hap Anderson, a widowed 83-year-old Minnesota farmer who thinks he’s still quite the ladies’ man, sells his family farm, he finds himself adrift and staring a short future in the face. Driven by the possibility of showing up with an old flame and impressing his old army buddies, he sets out in a dilapidated Winnebago to attend his 65th WWII reunion in California with his directionless and unreasonably self-confident granddaughter, Ashley. Along the way they begin to understand and appreciate each other as individuals while discovering that being young and being old, aren’t all that different. Read More
Director: Vince O’Connell, Kathy Swanson
Starring: Barry Corbin, Mackinlee Waddell, Terry Kiser
Monos — 3 1/2 stars
MONOS, Alejandro Landes’ third feature, is a survivalist saga set on a remote mountain in Latin America. The film tracks a young group of soldiers and rebels — bearing names like Rambo, Smurf, Bigfoot, Wolf and Boom-Boom — who keep watch over an American hostage, Doctora (Julianne Nicholson). The teenage commandos perform military training exercises by day and indulge in youthful hedonism by night, an unconventional family bound together under a shadowy force know only as The Organization. After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle, both the mission and the intricate bonds between the group begin to disintegrate. Order descends into chaos and within MONOS the strong begin to prey on the weak in this vivid, cautionary fever-dream.
Director: Alejandro Landes
Starring: Sofia Buenaventura, Moises Arias, Julianne Nicholson
Fartsies:
Joker — 2 stars
“Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fracturedsociety. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study. Read More
Director: Todd Phillips
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz
Opening next week:
The Addams Family
Gemini Man
Jexi
Lucy in the Sky
