No Caine, No Gain

For whatever reason, World War 1 films have never been popular fodder for Hollywood studios. Since World War 2, money makers have obsessed over this more modern conflict, leaving the War to End All Wars behind. Skewed some ten to one in favour of the 1939-1945 clash, it is refreshing to see Sam Mendes’ 1917 (which he co-writes and directs) coming out exactly one hundred years after the end of The Great War. Following Lance Corporal Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman – Tommen Baratheon in Game of Thrones) and Lance Corporal Schofield (George MacKay – Captain Fantastic), it is not surprising to first find them in a fugue-like state of nap. . . for they are now four years into a war that seems to have no end. Tasked with making a lengthy journey by dawn, the pair will have to deliver a message warning a battalion of sixteen hundred men, including Blake’s brother, Joseph (Richard Madden), that they are running into an elaborately plotted trap.

An interesting follow-up that learns from some of its mistakes while making a few more, Jumanji: The Next Level, once again co-written and directed by Jake Kasdan, flies into theatres just two short years after 2017's Welcome to the Jungle – a surprising amount of quality coming from the opportunistic sequel (that has a bit of a lackluster title). Jumanji: The Next Level, or as I like to call it, fantastical Indiana Jones-lite, picks up, like the sequel, a few years after the concluding notes of Welcome to the Jungle. The rag-tag high school team that accidentally entered the gonzo 90's style video game are now off doing their thing. . . queen bee Bethany (Madison Iseman) is helping people in impoverished countries, Anthony ‘Fridge’ Johnson (Ser’Darius Blain) is furthering his focus on fitness, while originally shy Martha (Morgan Turner) is now flourishing at college. . . nerdy Spencer (Alex Wolff) is the only one struggling a bit in his new life. Seeing his on again/off again girlfriend Martha enjoying life through social media brings him down a notch, a touch depressed in his less than fulfilling big city college world.

Every once in a while, a feel good movie is just what is needed. Like a hot cup of cocoa, it can warm the heart, enliven the spirit, and bring comfort to the troubled brain. Just what the doctor ordered this 2019, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller, reminds us just how important a man like Fred Rogers is – even eighteen years after his final episode aired (and sixteen years after his death). Based upon the article “Can You Say... ‘Hero’?” by Tom Junod (published in the November 1, 1998 Esquire magazine), it is a story that juxtaposes the harsh realities of an embittered, emotionally angry investigative journalist, Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys – The Americans), with the kind-hearted soul of PBS childhood icon Mr. Rogers (Tom Hanks), it just happens that Lloyd’s editor, Ellen (Christine Lahti), feels like it is the perfect time for the man to pull back on the reigns and do a lighter bio-piece on the beloved man.

Oh, how times flies – first they were Goodfellas. . . now they’re old fellas. Martin Scorsese re-teams with Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and adds Al Pacino (shockingly, the two had never previously worked together) to the mix in the 2019 film The Irishman. All kidding aside, it is fascinating how time changes things. Twenty-nine years ago the triumvirate mentioned above worked together on Goodfellas, three forty-something’s on the top of their game. . . arguably still on their respective games, they are all now north of seventy-five.

If you’ve ever wanted to see a film where a young boy’s imaginary friend just happens to be Adolf Hitler, then 2019's Jojo Rabbit is for you. Based upon Christine Leunens’ novel “Caging Skies”, Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows; Thor: Ragnarok) adapts and directs this unique satire on World War 2 era Germany. Amplifying an already ludicrous Nazi doctrine, Waititi transports us into the world of young Jojo (first time actor Roman Griffin Davis – a terrific find), a slightly mousy boy heading off to Hitler Youth camp. Completely immersed in a society of indoctrination, it is perhaps no surprise that his poor-advice giving imaginary friend is the Führer himself, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) – in many ways, a skewed stand-in for his missing father (who is off somewhere during the war).

One of the more unique films I’ve seen in a longtime, 2019's Parasite, co-written and directed by Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer), is a twisty movie best experienced without knowing too much – meaning that this will be as close to a spoiler free review as possible. Like many of his movies, Parasite (which he wrote along with Han Jin Won) deals with class divisions – the divide between rich and poor. In Snowpiercer, he adapted a novel that imagines a post-apocalyptic world where everyone left living resides in a specific compartment of a train depending on his or her wealth, yet this picture is grounded in a certain reality.