IRIS

(2014) Directed by documentary filmmaking legend Albert Maysles, Iris is the story of Iris Apfel, who along with her husband Carl already had long-held successful interior design and fabric businesses when, at the age of 90+, Iris's decades of collecting clothing and accessories from around the world jump-started her new career as fashion icon. Always a prominent figure in New York's fashion and social scenes due to her eclectic, one-of-a-kind style in mixing top designers with bargain basement accessories to create art, the film is a perfect showcase for the incredible energy, wit, passion, and love for life that turned a working-class girl from Queens into a much-emulated hometown celebrity. It took me all of maybe three minutes to fall in love with Iris's spirit and down-to-earth mindset; never once do you hear/see her critique what anyone else is wearing or saying, as first and foremost Iris believes everyone should be comfortable with and love themselves first; she's her own person, and respects the same in anyone else. A truly inspiring, funny lady beloved by so many, both in her industry and out, and after watching this documentary it's easy to see why. How wonderful it would be just to hang out with her, even for an hour. (rated PG-13)  8/10 stars

I DON'T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE

(2017) So much about this quirky indie film feels like watching a condensed season of "Fargo" (and that's meant in the best way); star Melanie Lynskey not only resembles Allison Tolman from the series, but also has a similar grit, determination, yet childlike naivety that gets Lynskey's character here - Ruth - into a whole lot of trouble. Ruth is an assistant nurse at a care facility whose personality and personal life seem almost as bland as they come; she lets people cut her off on the freeway, duck ahead of her in line at the grocery even when she was there first; she'll even pick up something that another person knocked off a shelf in the store and put it back for them, with nary more than a look. She can't fathom people's ambivalence or lack of caring for each other, but lives in the middle of it all without upsetting the cart ... that is, until the day when she comes home to find her house burglarized and cops couldn't care less - and then, worse yet, finally finds the guy whose been walking his dog every day by her house and letting it poop in her yard, without picking it up again, even though Ruth has a no-poop sign on display (swear to God). Tony (Elijah Wood) thinks Ruth is a bit of a nut when she literally throws the poop at him soon after passing by her yard with his dog, but apologies without emotion - his life seemingly as "beige" as hers - and it's only when Ruth tracks down her stolen laptop through its GPS, then comes to Tony for help when the police won't do anything, that a pair of milquetoasts who've both let the world step on them one too many times have, at last, had it and fight back. Lynskey is just wonderful as the much-beleaguered Ruth, finally getting her Ripley on in a big way as she follows the trail to not just get her stuff back but also see justice done - Wood, as Tony, her perfect oddball foil as the nerd who throws ninja stars and firecrackers and loves a perfect froth on a cappuccino. The story travels in some bizarre, funny, even perplexing (and violent) directions, but its really easy to identify with a pair of heroes the world has stomped on; even easier to see why this film was a darling at Sundance. (rated TV-MA)  7.5/10 stars

THE CRAFT

(1996) One of my goals for 2018 is to watch a dozen films, each at least a decade old, that I have heard so much good stuff about over the years but have yet to see myself. The Craft is first up - about a high school girl named Sarah (Robin Tunney) who, with her own dark past, moves from San Francisco to Los Angeles with her dad and step-mom, where she attends a Catholic prep school and immediately falls under the spell of both the token skirt-chasing jock (Skeet Ulrich), as well as a trio of fellow female classmates - led by gothette Nancy (Fairuza Balk) - who may or may not be practicing witches. Turns out Nancy, along with Rochelle (Rachel True) and Bonnie (Neve Campbell, just prior to breaking to film stardom with Scream) are indeed spellcasters ... but it's only when Sarah, with her own supernatural gifts, completes their circle do the quartet realize their potential, when each of them casts a spell that actually ends up working (the womanizing jock falls in love, a bully gets payback, long-term permanent scars are miraculously healed). As the girls grow in both power and ego, and Nancy's own spell finally comes to fruition, it becomes apparent that anyone who crosses these ladies will pay - even someone within their own ranks. Even Sarah herself. The Craft is a funny, wicked little film that's a lot of fun to watch if willing to sort of shut off your brain and enjoy. Balk, a bit bananas as Nancy, reins her performance in just short enough to not come off as hamming it up, and it was really cool to see both Ulrich and Campbell together in a film pre-Scream, though their characters don't really interact on-screen here. The witchcraft comes a bit easy to these young gals, and a subplot involving the owner of a local occult store goes nowhere, but The Craft still somehow feels fresh over two decades later. Think a low-budget The Lost Boys, only with witches instead of vampires. (rated R)  7.5/10 stars

KING COBRA

(2016) King Cobra is based on the true story of gay porn star Brent Corrigan, who started life as Sean Lockhart, living on his mom's couch in San Diego with a dream of being a film director one day when he meets photographer/film producer Stephen (Christian Slater) who realizes that the near-ethereal beauty of the young man could make them both a sh*tload of money. Nude photos start the proceedings, but before he can blink Sean - renamed Brent Corrigan by Sean himself - is talked into doing his first film ... and a star is born. Brent Corrigan instantly burns up the internet soon becoming the #1 attraction in the business - a fact not lost on a rival gay porn filmmaker, the mentally unstable control freak Joe (James Franco), and his own boyfriend/boy-toy protegee star Harlow (Keegan Allen). a kid with a great body and big appendage but the mentality of a child with his own dark secrets to bear. When Brent realizes how much Stephen is making off him while he gets chump change, his break from the producer causes a chain of events that end in nothing short of murder - not to mention what was, surprisingly, a watchable, enjoyable film! Definitely low budget, I wondered what might draw actors like Slater and Franco to such a project - even Molly Ringwald, playing Slater's unsuspecting sister (I LOVE YOU, MOLLY!) - prior to viewing, but watching the film I get it entirely. King Cobra, even without big dollars behind it, is a legitimately entertaining and fun expose. Sordid and decadent, yes, but here that's a great thing because the cast, writing, and writer/director Justin Kelly have perfectly captured the raw sexual edge and overall seediness of the business on-screen; the film purports to be nothing more than what it is, and does a brilliant job of portraying that world in all its "glory". I can totally see what would draw Slater and Franco - even Keegan - to the controversial subject matter/true story, and though still raw in spots the entire production is held together beautifully by Garrett Clayton as porn star-who-would-be-king Brent Corrigan himself. It should be illegal to be as good-looking as Clayton is, and fortunately for the film he embraces the role of Brent with abandon, giving his porn star layers that suggest maybe Sean - pre-Brent - wasn't so innocent a boy as the opening moments of the film would imply, either. Impressive and a nicely-packaged (shut up, yes of course I meant to do that) surprise. (not rated)  7.5/10 stars

DUNKIRK

(2017) Christopher Nolan's epic depiction of the evacuation of Dunkirk - when 400,000 soldiers from England, France, and Belgium were surrounded by the German army during WWII and herded to the open beaches of Dunkirk, France to be picked off - is a curiously bloodless war film that, by far, concentrates more on the war through the eyes of the young, inexperienced soldiers who lived (or didn't live) to tell about it. Fionn Whitehead is ideal in the lead role of Tommy, an idealistic and wide-eyed young British soldier losing more of his innocence every day, but in truth the film's strength lies in its exceptional ensemble cast: from Mark Rylance and Tom Glynn-Carney as a father-son duo hauling their asses - and small civilian cruiser - to Dunkirk to help with the evacuation; to Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden as RAF pilots heading to Dunkirk to keep the German Luftwaffe from picking off Allied soldiers, but find problems of their own on the way; to Kenneth Branagh and James D'Arcy as officers stuck in the middle of it all, having to make impossible decisions that will both save and cost lives - the screen is awash in top-tier talent sharing the screen with equally gifted newcomers who match them stride for stride. Even knowing how things turn out (if you know your history), and a lack of blood and guts normally found in war pictures, doesn't harm the emotional or visual impact of Nolan's vision on the viewer; in fact, quite the contrary. Somehow, again, the one-of-a-kind writer/director has tossed a bunch of balls in the air, juggling them with ease while creating a symphony of sight, sound and story on-screen - and never drops even one. (rated PG-13)  9.5/10 stars

30 DAYS OF NIGHT

(2007) Ten years after its initial release - and to celebrate that it's back on Netflix streaming (yay!) - this review of one of the best damned vampire films ever made is about a film that takes the sparkle out of the undead and any chance of insipid romance out of the equation by giving you vampires at their goriest, baddest-ass selves. True creatures of the night that, at the time of this film's release, hadn't been depicted so viscerally - so wonderfully - since the brilliant Near Dark. Josh Hartnett stars as Eben Oleson, a conscientious and caring small-time sheriff in the smaller-time isolated town of Barrow, Alaska, which as the film opens is in the midst of shuttering down as the area is about to fall under thirty days of wintry darkness. Most of the pipeline workers and their families, as well as some of the other residents, are flying out as the town closes up, with maybe thirty or so staying behind ... but that's not counting the gang of vicious vampires, led by Marlow (a genuinely frightening Danny Huston), slowly making their way toward the unsuspecting town to feast and kill and leave no one alive to tell about it. Can't stress it enough, these vamps are not of the Twilight variety, and exist only in the darkest dreams of Anne Rice; they speak their own guttural language, have zero empathy for their prey - often teasing and torturing before killing - and move with unprecedented speed, strength and agility. And as Eben's town falls around him, he rallies together his teenage brother Jake (Mark Rendall) and what few fellow citizens remain (including Eben's deputy/ex-wife Stella, played by Melissa George, who was supposed to have been on the last flight out but missed it) to figure out how to either fight the nightmarish monsters ... or, somehow, survive this darkest of months until the sun can rise again. One of the best in its genre, 30 Days of Night is a thrilling, high-octane, take-no-prisoners, bloody and relentless trip to hell, with an outstanding ending that, for once in Hollywood, truly and poignantly fits the film that came before it. So brilliant. (rated R)  9/10 stars

BABY DRIVER

(2017) Baby (Golden Globe-nominated Ansel Elgort) is a young, good-looking man with one particular talent: due to having tinnitus in both ears, after surviving a car accident as a child that killed both his parents, Baby is constantly plugged into his iPod so the music will drown it out ... and through that music, has become one hell of a getaway driver. He works for crime boss Doc (Kevin Spacey), to pay off a debt he owes him, by driving various members of Doc's crew to help commit their crimes and escape without capture - and damn, Baby is good, Atlanta authorities in an uproar with the gang's escapades. Baby's life only seems to finally be on track again when he meets a pretty waitress named Debora (Lily James) at around the same time finally paying off his debt to Doc ... until Doc comes back seeking Baby's help for yet another run, and vaguely threatens Debora's safety if Baby refuses. Worse, this time around Doc has put together a crew that includes the short-fused, hot-tempered Bats - a hyped-up, paranoid thug who lives up to his name, and whose dangerous mental state threatens to expose them all and kill off any chance of Baby's happiness for good. While the film has its moments (particularly the driving/chase sequences), I admit to not get all the hype behind Baby Driver. Most of it, to me, comes off as a cookie cutter compilation of everything we've already seen in similar films; the nice guy pulled into one "last" heist, the working class romance, rebellious teens breaking free to run away together, the highly-stylized robbery sequences and chase scenes - it's all not only been done before, but been done repeatedly before, to the point you already know, here, where things were going halfway through the film. Foxx is good but sometimes hams it up for the camera and spoils the effect - and while I've always liked Elgort, and this should (especially with the Golden Globe nomination) be his breakout role, I didn't find him a hundred percent believable as Baby, either. Not throughout the entire film. Aside from the whole tinnitus/obsession with music aspects of Baby's character, Baby Driver just feels like a retread of highway we've traveled - often - before. (rated R)  5/10 stars

LION

(2016) In a small village in central India, five-year-old Saroo (a remarkable Sunny Pawar) happily lives with his mother and sister, whom he loves, as well as his older brother Guddu (Abhishek Bharate), whom he idolizes and wants to be like. Wide-eyed and innocent, Saroo can also be stubborn, pushing his brother to take him along to his overnight job ... and soon Saroo is separated from his brother and lost, trapped on an empty express train traveling thousand of miles across the country. Scared and alone, the boy ends up on the urban streets of Calcutta, surviving hunger and kidnappers and worse, until finally drawing the attention of a kindly female social worker who, when her efforts to find his family fail (illiterate and too young, Saroo doesn't know his mother's real name or family surname, and can only pronounce his village's name phonetically), sets up an adoption - and soon Saroo is whisked off to Tasmania where his new mother Sue (Nicole Kidman) and father John (David Wenham) await. But two decades later, the college-aged Saroo (Dev Patel) is haunted by memories of his home, his mother, and the brother who meant the world to him. Family he knows must still be haunted, as well, wondering what happened to him; if he is still even alive. So what starts as an online search becomes a years-long obsession, the adult Saroo giving up the present to find his past - to see his brother and beloved mother again - at all cost. To go home. Based on a true story, Lion was the best film I saw in 2017; a compassionate, heart-tugging, brilliantly (and beautifully) told story of finding where you belong in this world, no matter the odds. With a universally spot-on cast, A-listers like Kidman and Patel step aside to give young Sunny Pawar the film's spotlight all the way; he is the heart of the film, and one look at that kid's soulful gaze will both mend and break your heart, every time. Have tissues handy, lots of them, for this beautifully-rendered masterpiece. (rated PG-13)  10/10 stars

LOEV

(2015) Sahil (Dhruv Ganesh) is a gay music producer living with his handsome but immature slacker boyfriend Alex (Siddharth Menon) - whom Sahil treats rather more like his child than his partner - when he gets word that his old friend Jai (Shiv Pandit), now a big-shot Wall Street success living in New York, is coming to Mumbai on business. Dropping everything to spend time with his long-term buddy, Sahil takes Jai out to the country for a relaxing get-back to nature, prior to Jai's meetings, and it soon becomes apparent that, in the time they've been apart, an electricity - an attraction - between the two exists that is hard to ignore (and comes off very palpable on-screen). Jai knows Sahil is gay - has even met and knows Alex - but it's particularly obvious his teasings have turned to flirtations, and as the two spend time hiking and enjoy the beautiful countryside the tension builds with the question many of us have asked ourselves over time: can long-term friends turn that corner and become more? Should they? And if so, what might it cost the friendship? Loev answers the question slowly, building up the relationship of these two long-term best friends who know and care for each other, but also know how to push each other's buttons until an explosive, impetuous act changes things forever. Ganesh (who, tragically, died at age 29 just prior to the film's release) and Pandit are perfectly cast and have brilliant chemistry on-screen, in a love story that depicts "loev" very much as it is in real life: messy, imperfect, unpredictable - sometimes even devastating. (not rated)  8/10 stars