“24 Hour Party People” Review

Year: 2002, Director: Michael Winterbottom

OP-ROB RATING: ALL-NBA

Music biopics these days are mostly a load of predictable bobbins. Here is a rare one that’ll knock your Salfords off. Steve Coogan portrays the infamous Tony Wilson, co-founder of Factory Records, through the spark and flame-out of the Manchester music scene from the late-seventies through the early-nineties. Covering the heydays of The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays, the film is a non-stop Monty Python-esque romp. There are high quality and more accurate movies out there covering the same artists and topics (like “Sid and Nancy” and “Control”), but none are near as mint as this.

“Flow” Review

Year: 2024, Director: Gints Zilbalodis

OP-ROB RATING: BENCH

“Flow” is pleasant to watch. Incredibly pleasant. It’s wonderfully colorful and the sound is mesmerizing. But any meaning from the story has to be inferred. The characters are animals that act as animals would. Thus, the movie acts as a kind of personality test or exercise in film analysis. It’s kind of brilliant. And yet, I have zero desire to watch this movie again. It’s something that would be nice to have on in the background when folding laundry or writing emails. It’s an incredibly well-done animated film that amounts to little more than an elaborate screen saver.

“Women Talking” Review

Year: 2022, Director: Sarah Polley

OP-ROB RATING: ALL-STAR

Going in, I expected a peak-woke Hollywood screed that demeaned Christianity and bemoaned the oppression of women. What entailed was a fair, thought-provoking, and brilliantly acted film with fact-based roots. In “Women Talking”, dialogue is the drama. Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, and Claire Foy portray characters that lead tense debate amongst the women of an off-the-grid Mennonite community. The women have been horrifically wronged. Two decisions are on the table: stay and fight, or leave the community. Their discussions mine what it means to have faith, a dedication to duty, and the courage to choose between equally daunting options.

“8mm” Review

Year: 1999, Director: Joel Schumacher

OP-ROB RATING: STARTER, RODMAN

A kind of Heart of Darkness thriller in which a private investigator finds himself engulfed within the sadistic world of underground pornography, “8mm” is worth it for the cast led by Nic Cage, James Gandolfini, Jaoquin Phoenix, and Peter Stormare. All are great, despite the end product being lesser than. “8mm” is like the ‘12-13 Lakers, or the ‘21-22 Nets. All these all-stars but with underwhelming results. The story is kicked off by the discovery of a snuff film, which Cage tries to verify. Too many twists ensue, and the stronger personal narrative gets lost in the process.

“The Piano” Review

Year: 1993, Director: Jane Campion

OP-ROB RATING: BUST

For a story set in the wildness of 19th century colonial New Zealand, I was struck by how claustrophobic it felt. Holly Hunter portrays a mute Scottish woman who is shipped off to NZ with her sassy young daughter (Anna Paquin), and a ton of luggage, including a grand piano. She develops a steamy relationship with a mysterious long-term settler (Harvey Keitel), while struggling to connect with the man to whom she has an arranged marriage (Sam Neill). The visuals, and emotions, while beautiful, are incredibly dreary. Though aesthetically unique, I found “The Piano” to be downright suffocating.