The Farewell is one of those movies that challenges the audience to be curious about the people in our family we care most about.   What impact do our family members have on our own lives?  I found The Farewell to be engrossing, but also melancholy. The film has that reticent tone where the audience knows that the story is not meant to be uplifting. It has some humorous moments, but it is a drama, not a comedy.

The Farewell focuses on a Chinese family. This family finds out their grandmother does not have much time left and is soon to die. This motivates the family to want to put together a semi-special and memorable ceremony before she dies. The focus of the movie is the granddaughter Billi (played by Awkwafina). She returns from New York because of her grandmother being terminally ill.  Billi faces challenges with the other family members based what they believe is the right way to handle the situation. Most of her family believe they should keep her grandma in the dark about the fact that she is going to die. This creates some harsh tides between Billi and her family.

The Farewell depicts a family trying to remain in silence so the person who is suffering can die peacefully and without stress or tension. For Billi, she views this approach as absurd and negative. The director, Lulu Wang directed another drama that also dealt with the handling of negative news. He did so with Posthumous (2014) and now he is again with the Farewell. However, Posthumous featured challenging legal issues, and the Farewell is all about family matters.

During the Farewell, I was intrigued with how Billi’s issues are brought into the conflict with her grandmother. Her parents challenge her decisions and what she wants to do with her life. They do that because they want Billi to remain focused on her future and not on her grandma. There are several moments where Billi finds herself in personal distress wondering about the next steps to take in her own life.

The Farewell is not amazing, but it is vivid with strong writing and acting. I was captivated by the characterization and drama. The film has some well-executed thematic elements. Also, the lack of music and the subdued lighting sets the tone for the dark topic of the movie. I give the Farewell three and a half stars.

Now this is one of films that makes the top of my list for 2019. Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is the flick by Quentin Tarantino that fans have been waiting for. It is vivid, intriguing, deliberate, and lethally funny. The film is Pulp Fiction (1994) meets the 1960’s era of Hollywood, but it focuses on two men in the movie industry, not two mobsters. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, and many other actors deliver knockout performances. This film does have moments that will leave viewers breathless and dying in laughter. I laughed so hard throughout Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood that my chest hurt.

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is about a fictional actor named Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). Rick is an actor that has life easy, but feels he is not getting the roles that fit him best. Cliff is on the same page as Rick as they try to find their way to fame in the Golden Age of Hollywood in 1969. The big actress that is the focus of the movie is Sharon Tate (Robbie). Given this film is set in that era, the film crosses between real-life events of that time, various celebrities rising to fame, and even connections to Tarantino’s other films.

This is one of Tarantino’s least violent films, but it is still a clever, visual masterpiece. The way that real-life events are brought into the world of the fictional characters, Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth, make Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood a thrill-ride full of tension which includes weird yet inviting scenarios, and some outcomes that are brilliant and creative. The real-life events the film links to involve the Manson family, the Playboy Mansion, and struggling film studios. The specifics as to how these elements connect in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood are something that viewers need to see in order to figure out why they play an important role in the era that Tarantino has chosen to have the film set in.

In terms of DiCaprio, I have never seen him in a role that I dislike, although there have been a few where the plots seem dry although his performances are always stellar. He is known to play crazy tycoons or characters who have emotional issues. In Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, he is a man that continues to party and drink like an emperor as he did in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). He also portrays moments of grief and heavy stress. However, instead of worsening his depression (like he does in his other films), he turns it into catastrophe and madness. That is why I have lots of respect for DiCaprio, because he always chooses to take roles that he knows that are right for him. This is the reasons that many of his films have had such positive recognition and why he has been nominated for Oscars (winning once for best actor in 2015). DiCaprio may have been out of the spotlight since The Revenant (2015), but he has returned under Tarantino’s expert direction to the streets of 1960s Hollywood.

Pitt does what he does best in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. He keeps his laid-back attitude and plays the opposite type of character that viewers expect. He is nice and positive, but at unexpected moments he gets vicious and quite brutal with violence. His performance is a bit like his character in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) which is someone with a funny, dark sense of humor and some disturbing tactics. Pitt and DiCaprio keep viewers curious and interested throughout the duration of the film.

The other characters do well in the movie also. Kurt Russell is Randy, and he is someone that works in the film industry in the movie. Damon Herriman is Charles Manson, Al Pacino is Marvin Schwarz, Damien Lewis is Steve McQueen, and Timothy Olyphant is James Stacy. While all of them are in the movie for just a brief time, they still fit with the setting and play an important part in Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Their performances are all stellar!

For Tarantino, this film only has a couple of scenes of brutality, but not consistently like his other movies. The film is a lot more enticing with its dialogue, the conflicts with the characters, the historic events tied into the film, and its scenery. And it is still brilliant! These three major elements make this movie engrossing from beginning to end.  And because it is so interesting, the film does not feel like close to three hours..it goes fast.

Now this movie is playing everywhere, but the format that it is truly meant to be seen in is 70 MM projection. I saw this in 70 MM at the Music Box Theatre in downtown Chicago, and in the Chicago land area, Music Box is the only theatre that has it in this format. The 70 MM projection made me feel like I was in the time period of 1960’s Hollywood. That is because the color and graphics with the projection made the experience feel so real. The scenery all just looks like its naturally shot and not faded. My advice is to make it down to Music Box to see this in 70 MM as it will not be there long. If you can’t make it, it is still definitely worth seeing in regular digital format.

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is the best film of the summer for me so far.  I predict that it will be getting tons of buzz the more the word gets out about how good it is. I was hooked on this movie. I knew from the start of the movie that I was in for a wild ride of fun, crazy situations, and hysterical humor. DiCaprio and Pitt are the two key reasons that Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is a masterpiece. I highly recommend that you take a ride back in time and see what can go wrong in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Four stars for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.

Jesse Eisenberg is known to play characters that are not tough at all. In the Art of Self Defense he starts out that way, but slowly emerges to become more sinister. The Art of Self Defense is a fun yet daring movie about elements of one man’s life going awry. Eisenberg is quite the character in this movie. He is mellow and non-confrontational, but then builds an ego as the film progresses.

Jesse Eisenberg is Casey and he plays someone who was just brutally mugged by people on motorcycles. The attack causes Casey to suffer severe trauma which is so bad that he is afraid to go out in public. This makes him start to think of strategies to keep himself safe. He comes across a karate studio ran by a rather interesting sensei, played by Alessandro Nivola. Casey takes his class starting out as a white belt, but then he starts to earn higher belts. The accomplishments help Casey seem tougher and better about himself, however they also have negative consequences.

What I enjoyed about the Art of Self Defense is that it depicts Casey wanting to feel accomplished. There are moments in which he causes conflicts and resolves them. He also practices his bizarre moves and words in his spare time to make himself feel like he is a king. The film is Napoleon Dynamite (2004) meets The Karate Kid (1984), but with some evil elements that get disturbing. Those disturbing elements are ones that viewers need to see for themselves by watching the film.

I did find the Art of Self Defense to be funny at moments. However, there were many more quiet scenes than the limited unexpected humorous ones.  The lack of music and sound effects helps to create the feeling of not knowing what to expect with the movie. Especially with Eisenberg and Nivola, who are both very meditative characters in the film. Neither appears to be up to any good.

I would give the Art of Self Defense three and a half stars. My attention was captured the whole time and I was deep in thought throughout the movie. I was curious at moments about who was the true sensei. Viewers will wonder if it is Eisenberg or Nivola. There is a moment of conflict which is thought-provoking, and that is why this movie is worth seeing.