yooper365 Reviews

Le loup et le lion (2021)

Family film for animal lovers.

[6/10 · 4 February 2022]

This is a family film for animal lovers who want nothing but good things to be shown on screen. The lovable pups playing together as they grow up and interacting with this young woman who also introduces them into classical music that she performs on the piano. It's all a wonderful setting on a small island property that she has inherited, enabling the unlikely coming together of these creatures and her desire to keep them safe and away from the grasp people wanting to exploit them. You must suspend all thoughts of time passage and quick changes in location and just allow all the heart-warming scenes to just wash over you.

Here Today (2021)

Pure Billy Crystal

[6/10 · 8 May 2021]

Directed and co-written by Billy Crystal, thus we get his classic style of wit and delivery. Haddish has come into her own as an A-list comedian and here belting out several high energy songs. The film has a comedy troupe that has writers and performers working within a live sketch television show very much like SNL. Charlie is suffering with onset dementia having trouble remembering names, including his own kids, and is having difficulty writing a memoir of his deceased wife who is told in flashbacks. Some of the scenes are very funny, some mildly funny and some that just fall flat. The story turns serious and heart warming when he must confront his memories, his distant children and of course his relationship with Emma. We haven't seen much of Crystal of late, so if your a fan, its a nice little movie.

UnRepresented (2019)

Washington corruption revealed

[10/10 · 7 September 2020]

Saw it online with the Threadbare Mitten Film Fest Sept 5, 2020. The Documentary lays "bare" most of what's wrong with the federal government. Loaded with statistical data, talking heads and so in depth as to boggle the mind. I must say it puts in perspective what I believe, but incapable to put anywhere near in the order which this documentary lays out. Must of us knew its all about the money and that it doesn't matter which party is in control, so thanks for all the facts and figures presented. Just too bad politics of the few over rides the true democracy our founding fathers envisioned.

The Gentlemen (2019)

Another classic highly stylized Great Britain bad guys romp from Guy Ritchie

[7/10 · 30 January 2020]

Writer/Director Guy Ritchie does his usual unique Great Britain style of foul fast talking, double crossing ruthless killer criminals that keeps you on your toes trying to keep up with just who is doing what to whom. The dialog is delivered tough and hard-line until the recipient has had enough and takes charge of the situation. Hugh Grant (Fletcher) has observed this bunch of outlaws from afar, then with that knowledge puts it in script form and confronts them to extort many multi millions to enrich himself. Ritchie is a filmmaker so the script form figures as does the many references to movie pop culture seeps into the dialog. It dazzles the brain to keep up with the mayhem while delivering a million British style one-liners to make you smile and giggle. Its a lot of fun but a bit confusing so I'm giving it 7 out 10.

Reinventing Rosalee (2018)

A life well lived

[9/10 · 11 November 2019]

Saw this film at the 13th annual Riverside Saginaw Film Festival and Its hard to believe I found a documentary as the, best-of-the-fest, out of 10 movies I saw at the Fest this year. Well in this case Rosalee's daughter, very lovingly, put together this wonderful story of her mother's touching and somewhat painful long life story. She gathers together a vast collection of visual material from old movies, news photos and war time films to piece together just what hardships this woman endured early in her life, while telling much of it with Rosalee herself on camera. Director Glass: a Psychologist, book author and body language expert, then documents her late life resurgence with plenty of video of her acting, the beauty contest in her 90s, and of course her dog sledding adventure. The film also shows the two on camera revisiting her homeland of Poland to acknowledge those family members lost to the war and her hardships in Siberia under Russian rule. Plenty of applause from the very attentive festival Audience.

The Hate U Give (2018)

A well written and performed narrative of a very divisive issue.

[7/10 · 25 October 2018]

It's a given that this film would be taking on the "Black Lives Matter" from the P.O.V. of those bringing the issue to light. I feel this production succeeded in doing it without over-vilifying the officer, instead just letting that action remain in the background. We instead are enlightened on how a parent must have that talk with his children on how to react in the presence of an officer, how African American's may have some difficulty in a mostly white school setting and of course the living in a community where protest and being a "snitch" may have dire consequence. The approach here was presented with as much grace as possible, given the divisive issue.

Thunder Road (2018)

Is Jim Cummings the next can do it all rising star???

[9/10 · 2 October 2018]

Saw this a Hell's Half Mile Film fest in Bay City, Michigan and Jim Cummings wrote, directed and gave a stunning lead performance in this festival gem, which I believe is his first full feature after bouncing around doing short films and a little TV work. He has the acting chops to pull off his own written vision of this unstable police officer who can slip from calm, deranged and sorrowful multiple times within one scene. Impressive for he must do this most if not all of this 90 minute film carrying off this complicated character through losing his mother, wife in divorce, his job and every thing he holds dear as he sinks into despair. I hope this propels his movie making skills to new wide release films in the future.