Adventures in Words

     Ricky Gervais and Brandy in “After Life.”  Netflix image via IMDB It's a comedy about death, depression, suicide and loneliness. When it contemplates God and religion – which it does a lot – it comes up with cynical wisecracks in place of anything more hopeful. Several characters are foul mouthed beyond belief; luckily their London accents are so thick you miss half of what they're saying. True, it surprises you how often it makes you laugh out loud – but rarely without crying, too. God, I love this show. After taking a cheap shot at Ricky Gervais in a recent blog about the Golden Globes, I wanted to set the record straight here. I am, in fact, a huge fan, among the legions who really love the guy, no matter how unlovable he keeps trying to be. The third season of “After Life” debuted on Netflix a couple of weeks ago, following a long hiatus after season two. It picks up the sad life of Tony Johnson (Gervais), a feature writer for the tiny Tambury Gazette who's been di

       Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”  Apple TV image, photo by Alison  Cohen Rosa In his lifetime he was said to be a dramatist and poet of some renown, but 400 years later William Shakespeare is a man of mystery.  English scholars at Oxford and Cambridge passionately argue the true identity of the so-called Bard of Avon. Some say the man by that name was an illiterate real estate speculator who couldn't even sign his name. They put forward other, more cultured members of the court who might have appropriated the nom de plume to conceal their true identities. One literary conspiracy theory insists the playwright was, in fact, a woman. Oscar-winning filmmaker Joel Coen nicely sidesteps the issue. He claims the screenwriting credit for “The Tragedy of Macbeth” for himself – but quickly acknowledges, “based on the play by William Shakespeare.” The distinction between play and screenplay is central to this striking production. Shooting in exquisit

      Nicolas Cage and Alex Wolff in “Pig.”  Neon image via IMDB If you're a first time feature filmmaker, you've gotta be pretty sure of yourself to title your movie “Pig.” Granted, pigs are no strangers to starring roles in movies. Who can forget Wilbur in “Charlotte's Web” – ? Or “Babe,” even though that particular porcine heartthrob had identity issues and thought he was a sheepdog. But writer-director Michael Sarnoski went with the obvious, figuring “Pig” was a fine title for his tale of an off-the-grid hermit named Rob (Nicolas Cage) who has to revisit his very civilized former life in the city to search for his truffle-sniffing housemate after she's stolen from his cabin in the woods. Sarnoski was just named best new filmmaker in the Hawaii Film Critics Society 2022 awards ( http://hifilmcriticssociety.org ), where his leading man Cage was named best actor. But it was an enthusiastic recommendation from my brother-in-law and his wife who had just seen “Pig” on Hu

     Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie in “Last Night in Soho.”  FOCUS FEATURES LLC photo by Parisa Taghizadeh via IMDB If there's no TV show, no ceremony and no Ricky Gervais to insult everybody, is it still the Golden Globes? That was the question this week – sort of an update on the old tree falling in the forest riddle. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association went ahead and bestowed the awards anyway, announcing the winners on social media last Sunday. My choices coincided with the Globes voters in most of the major categories: Best Actor: Will Smith in “King Richard”; Best Actress: Nicole Kidman in “Being the Ricardos”; Best Director: Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog,” which also nabbed the Best Picture prize. I had submitted my votes  to the Hawaii Film Critics Society before the Globes were announced. The HFCS will announce its own movie award winners on Friday. We had to make new choices a couple of days later after many of the races had resulted in ties. (Tha

       Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan in “The Tender Bar.”  Amazon image via IMDB For all the high wattage in the credits – Ben Affleck toplining the cast, George Clooney in the director's chair – “The Tender Bar” still feels like a little movie. Unassuming, likable, heartfelt, but more like a labor of love from filmmakers early in their careers, running on high hopes and maxed-out credit cards than another tag team effort from Affleck and Clooney, already high on Hollywood's A-plus list with a handful of Oscars between them. William Monahan wrote the screenplay, adapting J.R. Moehringer's memoir about a little boy named Jr (Daniel Ranieri), who wants to be a writer when he grows up. He and his single mom (Lily Rabe) have to move into grandpa (Christopher Lloyd)'s house in working-class Long Island after they are deserted by Jr's daddy (Max Martini). In the credits daddy is identified as “The Voice,” since he's a New York broadcaster. Although he's a perennial

       Woody Norman and Joaquin Phoenix in “C'mon C'mon.”  A24 image via IMDB Watching the new movie “C'mon C'mon” reminded me of a Zen koan. It's the one about a virtuous monk in old Japan who receives a visit from a young woman and her father. She has just given birth to a child and her father is furious to know the identity of the baby's father. To protect her lover, the woman accuses the monk, and her father demands that the holy man raise the infant. “Is that so?” is the monk's reply, before taking the child as his own and devoting his life to it. After a year of guilt, the woman confesses the child's true paternity. She and her father return to the now disgraced monk, deeply apologetic as they ask for the child back for her to raise with her husband. Giving them the child, the monk's only words are, “Is that so?” I'm not suggesting that writer-director Mike Mills was trying to illustrate the parable … or that he's even familiar with it.

       Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant in “CODA.”  Apple TV+ image via IMDB So, once the world ends what's left to say? That was the question I faced after last week's review of “Don't Look Up.” Despite setting a blog record for views with its A-list cast and director, the film's grin-and-bear-it version of cleverness takes a psychic toll. It didn't leave me feeling very energetic as I faced the still formidable mountain of DVDs left to view before casting my votes for the year's best film achievements. Luckily Apple TV has the antidote. It's called “CODA” and it's as uplifting as the last film was dispiriting. Granted there are tears involved – it's hard to even watch the trailer without puddling up – but they're the good kind. Although the title sounds like an espionage or sci-fi thriller, it stands for Children of Deaf Adults. When Ruby (Emilia Jones) was born to Frank and Jackie Rossi (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin)