Selah and the Spades

April 17, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, benjamin leonard

Written and directed by Tayarisha Poe
Starring Lovie Simone, Jharrel Jerome and Celeste O'Connor
MPAA rating: R for teen drug content, and language
Running time: 1 hour and 37 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

You know that feeling you get when you see a movie and it makes you excited to see what the filmmaker will do next? Selah and the Spades is the debut feature from writer/director Tayarisha Poe and it does just that. Her only other credit that you may be familiar with was still photography on 2016’s The Fits. Poe is a West Philly native that attended Swarthmore College for Film and Literature and has set her feature at a fiction boarding school (Haldwell) in the distant suburbs of the city. So, if for nothing else, you should check this out just to show your Philly pride.

Les Misérables

January 23, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, film fest, philadelphia film festiva, benjamin leonard

Written by Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini and Alexis Manenti
Directed by Ladj Ly
Starring Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti and Djibril Zonga
MPAA rating: R for language throughout, some disturbing/violent content, and sexual references
Running time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Sadly, this film may suffer some blowback because France chose it over Portrait of a Lady on Fire as its Oscar submission this year. And while I love Portrait, I can understand why they chose this instead. While Portrait’s story is timeless and could take place anywhere, Ladj Ly’s feature debut, Les Misérables, is urgent and (while you can translate the events to many places) very much a story about France, the suburbs of Paris and, specifically, Montfermeil (where Victor Hugo wrote the novel of the same name).

Varda by Agnès

October 19, 2019 by Rosalie Leonard in this wasn't worth $10, tiff, philly film fest, film fest, benjamin leonard

Written and directed by Agnès Varda
Starring Agnès Varda, Sandrine Bonnaire and Hervé Chandès
Running time: 1 hour and 55 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

I’d seen clips of this mini-series-turned-film when I wrote my piece on Vagabond for our print issue a while back. I was watching to get some background of her process while making the film but was taken by how the clips were, not only, moving and informational, but also beautiful to look at. I watched the film in its entirety at TIFF this year and, if you’re in the Philly area, you can see it this Sunday, the 20th at 12:15 PM at the Ritz East. I was glad to see that her discussions about the rest of her career were as in depth and artful.

Jojo Rabbit

October 18, 2019 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, film fest, tiff, benjamin leonard, philly film fest

Written and directed by Taika Waititi
Adapted from the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens
Starring Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie and Scarlett Johansson
MPAA rating: PG-13 for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, violence, and language
Running time: 1 hour and 48 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Rosalie and I saw this one at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) though we saw it at different screenings, we had a lot to talk about afterwards. We both knew the basic premise going in, and thought that it could go one of two ways, cringy or fun and silly as hell. Thankfully, it was the latter. In case you don’t know what the story is about, it is set in Nazi Germany and we follow young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) and Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) a young Jewish woman that Rosie is hiding in their house. The comedy comes from the fact that Jojo is so enamoured with Hitler that he becomes his imaginary friend. When Jojo finds out that his mother is harbouring a Jew, he is obviously upset but doesn’t want to get his mother into trouble. There was a hint of cringiness in this movie but it didn’t ruin the rest of the film for me and it would be spoilery to discuss. So I will not do so until the very bottom of this review.

The Lighthouse

October 16, 2019 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, film fest, tiff, rosalie kicks, benjamin leonard

Directed by Robert Eggers
Written by Max Eggers and Robert Eggers
Starring Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Valeriia Karaman
Running time 1 hour, 49 minutes
MPAA rating R - because of the mermaid sex, farts and f-bombs

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

“Bad luck to kill a seabird.”

There is a lot to unpack in Robert Eggers’ latest feature, The Lighthouse, so it only made sense to have this review be more of a conversational piece. After you view the film, it will most likely make sense how we arrived at this decision. It is one of those movies that immediately upon exiting the theater there is an urge to discuss every frame that was seen, every sound bite that was heard and all the feels that were experience. Sit back, relax and join Moviejawn’s Old Sport and Best Boy on the high seas to discuss this hypnotic tale of adventure about two lighthouse keepers.

TIFF 2019 Preview

August 28, 2019 by Rosalie Leonard in movie preview, tiff, rosalie kicks, benjamin leonard

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Making a watch list for TIFF is no easy feat. With four hundred and fourteen films screening at this year’s fest, it is impossible to see every film… even if you are staying for the entire duration. This means that flick picks are a serious matter. There are some flicks that automatically make the cut, such as: Jo Jo Rabbit (better see it before Disney buries it), Knives Out (we are all about Michael Shannon in his sweater) and of course the oddly anticipated (*editor’s note: only Old Sport is excited for this) Joker.

However, the reason to go to a fest like this is to find the diamonds in the rough and to possibly see something that you would not have an opportunity to otherwise. With just a short synopsis, eye-catching photo and cast list, sometimes you take the chance and do the dance. Hey who knows… that movie you took a gamble on could be your next favorite talkie.

Love, Antosha

August 16, 2019 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, benjamin leonard

Directed by Garret Price
Starring Anton Yelchin, J.J. Abrams, Sofia Boutella and John Cho
MPAA rating: R for language, some sexual content and nudity
Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Sure, you know who Anton Yelchin was. You’d seen him in a few movies. Probably the Star Treks. Likely in Green Room, Fright Night or as the titular Charlie Bartlett. You might even remember him for his roles in Terminator Salvation, Alpha Dogs or Hearts in Atlantis. Can you believe that in his 27 years (only 17 of which was he acting) that this young man accrued sixty-nine film and television credits? Stylistically, these roles were all over the place but he was memorable in each of them.

The Mountain

July 31, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Directed and co-written by Rick Alverson
Starring Tye Sheridan, Jeff Goldblum, Hannah Gross and Denis Lavant
Not rated, but there’s a bit of nudity, swearing and some disturbing images of lobotomies
Running time: 1 hour and 46 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

This is the first film I’ve watched by Alverson and I’d heard his earlier work (Entertainment and The Comedy) proved to be “difficult” for many. The quick and dirty on this film is that it stars Jeff Goldblum as one of the few remaining doctors in the early 1950s to be a proponent of lobotomy and Tye Sheridan plays his photodocumentarian. So I wasn’t exactly sure what to think going into this. My only expectation was that it might be overwhelming at times. For better or worse, that wasn’t the case.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

July 02, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, rosalie kicks, reviews

Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers
Directed by Jon Watts
Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jon Favreau
MPAA rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments
Running time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

by Rosalie Kicks, Old Sport and Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

“Does anyone have any neighborhood questions?” - Spider-Man

Best Boy (BB): As a general rule, I’ve never really been a fan of the Spider-Men (Into the Spider-Verse excluded). For the most part, they’ve been portrayed as whiney, mopey teens that I just couldn’t get behind.To quote Rocket, “I don’t care if it’s mean, everyone’s got dead people!” And I never got into the Avengers as comics OR movies. So when I was at my peak of traveling for work, I gave a chance to a lot of movie I wouldn’t normally have bothered with. One of those was Spider-Man: Homecoming and I ended up really enjoying it. This Holland kid was great at playing up his awe of working with the Avengers and leaning into the awkward teen angle rather than the mopey side. I liked it so much that I bought it right when it came out and forced Kicks to watch it shortly thereafter.

Diamantino

June 27, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Written and directed by Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt
Starring Carloto Cotta, Cleo Tavares and Anabela and Margarida Moreira
Running time: 1 hour and 36 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

In ridiculousness, Diamantino lives up to its poster, but that’s not all it has to offer. Rather than just being a guns-blazing, gonzo romp, it is a biting satire with a laser-focus on a number of topics without ever really getting bogged down or too preachy about any of them. Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt have worked on a couple of shorts as a team and a number of features separately, but this is their first feature as a team.

Shadow

May 18, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Written by Wei Li and Yimou Zhang
Directed by Yimou Zhang
Starring Chao Deng, Li Sun and Ryan Zheng
Running time: 1 hour and 56 minutes

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

The main thing that drove my interest to see Shadow was my love for co-writer/director Yimou Zhang’s 2002 Hero. Sure, this isn’t going to have Jet Li’s charisma but, the mood and visual style of Zhang’s work captivates me. My favorite scene from Hero is the fight set to the zither music in the rain. Shadow is almost ALL zither and rain! (It is referred to as a zither in the subtitles but, I believe, is normally called a guzheng.)

High Life

April 10, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Written and directed by Claire Denis
Starring Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche and André Benjamin
Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes
MPAA rating: R for disturbing sexual and violent content including sexual assault, graphic nudity, and for language

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

I went into this film knowing only that it was about Monte, who is a father played by Robert Pattinson, and his daughter surviving alone in deep space and that it was directed by Claire Denis. Ok. Now look at the MPAA rating reasoning up above. Perhaps add to it that, in addition to the humans, there are animals in some dire conditions that don’t turn out so great either. These graphic depictions aren’t done without reason and aren’t gratuitous, but they exist and it’s worth warning people if they aren’t up for that sort of thing. These are probably the only things you really need to know going into this.

Never Look Away

February 18, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer and Saskia Rosendahl
Running time: 3 hours and 8 minutes
MPAA rating: R for graphic nudity, sexuality, and brief violent images

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

I’m not gonna lie. Looking down the barrel of a three + hour long subtitled movie about being an artist under fascist regimes, I felt daunted. I was afraid this may be a tough watch, but Never Look Away is nominated for Best Foreign Film and Best Cinematography at the Oscars this year. I’ve seen (or plan to see) everything else in these categories, I might as well try to have the most informed opinion I can when I sit down and look at the results that Monday morning following the Oscars. (It is increasingly unlikely that the three + hour long shit-show could possibly be worth actually viewing. If there is anything of value, it’ll be available to see that next morning.)

Capernaum

January 26, 2019 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Written and directed by Nadine Labaki
Starring Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw and Boluwatife Treasure Bankole
Running time: 2 hours and 6 minutes
Rated R because it acknowledges that drugs exist and a kid with a shitty upbringing swears a little.

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

I went into this film knowing virtually nothing about it. IMDb said it was about a kid that was suing his parents for the “crime” of giving him life. All of this seemed to be represented with a mix of heart and humor and, I gotta say, this appeals to my brand of wry nihilism. So I was interested in checking it out. However, while looking up cast and crew info in preparation for writing this, I stumbled across a number of people bickering back and forth online about the social and political motives of some of the people involved in the film and some questionable things in their pasts. I’ll tell you, after twenty minutes of going down the internet rabbit hole of trying to see what was truth and what was bullshit in these arguments, I’ve got zero resolution and am merely more annoyed with humanity.

Deadpoo' 2: The Fuckless Boogaloo

December 13, 2018 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews

Directed by David Leitch
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Fred Savage and Zazie Beetz
Running time: I dunno, the original was 1 hour 59. With all the cuts and adds, it probably shakes out the same
MPAA rating: PG-13 for chopping out all the fucks and reducing the flow and context of much of the action

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

You may or may not have read my review of the original theatrical release of this movie. Well if you didn’t follow the link, I was dealing with a sick pet and that didn’t end up working out too well. The movie was fine but not as over the top as I’d hoped/expected.

El Angel

November 18, 2018 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, reviews, philly film fest

Directed by Luis Ortega
Written by Luis Ortega, Sergio Olguín and Rodolfo Palacios
Starring Lorenzo Ferro, Chino Darín, and Daniel Fanego
Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes
MPAA rating: unrated (Not for kids. There’s a little scrotum, crime and blood, you get the idea)

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

“Fortune favors the bold” is a quote often used for situations that I never care about. Usually it’s in some 300 sort of a movie where it’s “a story of a man, conquering a nation” or some such horseshit. However in the past month, I’ve have seen two movies that made me think of the phrase even though they didn’t mention it themselves. The first was Bohemian Rhapsody, which was really fun but not especially good, and then there was El Angel, which was fun in many parts and was exceedingly good throughout.

27th Philadelphia Film Festival Preview

October 18, 2018 by Guest User in philly film fest, rosalie kicks, benjamin leonard, jaime davis

Guys. The 27th Philly Film Fest is here, and I am super stoked! For the past two years, I have ventured to Canada with my movie pal, MJ’s Fixer, Jaime Davis to attend the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). By the time the Philly Film Fest arrives, we’ve already seen many of the flicks during our adventure at TIFF. But this year is different!

PUFF 3 Wrap Up

September 10, 2018 by Guest User in benjamin leonard, film fest

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

This past weekend, while Emmi Kurowski, The Fixer, and The Old Sport were all checking out the Toronto International Film Festival, I was stuck in rain-drenched Philadelphia. (We got over seven inches of rain this weekend!) But it wasn't really all that terrible because I was afforded the privilege of attending a good portion of the 3rd annual Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival!

Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival 2018 Preview

September 06, 2018 by Guest User in benjamin leonard

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

This weekend, September 6th-9th, the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival will be screening eleven features and innumerable shorts at The Proscenium at the Drake (and one block of shorts at South Street Cinema). The films are generally recently released horror/cult/genre oddities from all around the world and, while they all look to have their merits, I wanted to highlight a few that I’m really looking forward to checking out.

Kin

August 31, 2018 by Guest User in reviews, benjamin leonard

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Kin is very simple story set in the cliché of downtrodden, hard-workin Detroit but with a Paper Girls-like sci-fi twist.