Priscilla (2023)
Priscilla is a 2023 American biographical drama film written, directed and produced by Sofia Coppola, based on the 1985 memoir Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley (sho serves as executive producer). It follows the life of Priscilla (played by Cailee Spaeny) and her relationship with Elvis Presley (Jacob Elordi).
In 1959, 14-year old Priscilla Beaulieu is residing with her family in Bad Naheim, Germany where her father stationed in the US Military. At a party on the base, Priscilla maeets 24-year old famous singer, Elvis Presely, who is also in the military. Elvis takes an instant interest in Priscilla, and the two begin a casual romantic relationship despite her parents’ concern over their age difference and Elvis’s fame. Elvis eventually returns to the U.S. after his service and loses contact with Priscilla, leaving her disheartened.
In 1962, Elvis reconnects with Priscilla, proclaiming his love for her and asks that she come to U.S. to live with him at his estate in Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland. Elvis purchases her a ticket to come, where she is welcomed by Elvis, friends and business partners, and his grandmother. The couple take a trip to Las Vegas, where Priscilla takes drugs with Elvis. An unkempt Priscilla returns to Germany, and with Elvis’ help, convinces her hesitant parents to allow her to move to Graceland and complete high school in Memphis in 1963.
While her time spent at Graceland is happy, Priscilla is treated as an object of intrigue and ridicule at her Catholic school due to her association with Elvis. Though she is welcomed by Elvis’s grandmother and his staff at Graceland, Priscilla finds herself controlled by Elvis’s strict father and stepmother, and isolated during Elvis’s long trips away to Los Angeles, where he is shooting a number of musical films. On one occasion, Elvis has Priscilla model dresses for him and his friends, and encourages her to makeover her appearance by dying her hair black and wearing more eye makeup. Distracted by her new lifestyle, Priscilla manages barely graduate high school.
Priscilla’s isoloation and compartmentalization of her life begins to take a toll on her mental state, which is made worse by the highly publicized rumors of Elvis’s alleged infidelities, including with his co-star Ann Margaret. Priscilla makes an unexpected appearance in Los Angeles to confront Elvis about the affair, but is stopped when Elvis threatens her and insists that she must accept his behavior.
Eventually, in 1967, Elvis proposes to Priscilla, and the two marry. Their happiness is fading, however, as Elvis’s career pressures and worsening substance abuse negatively affects the couple’s relationship. Priscilla quickly becomes pregant, and gives birth to their daughter Lisa Marie, in early 1968, as Elvis is preparing for his comeback special for NBC. Priscilla struggles to navigate the relationship as Elvis grows more violent, and the two begin leading separate lives, with Priscilla spending most of her time in California, and becoming romantically involved with Mike Stone, her karate instructor. While visiting Elvis’s hotel room after a performance in 1973, Priscilla finds him intoxicated, and he makes forceful sexual advances toward her.
Sofia Coppola’s approach in telling the story of Elvis and Priscilla is done very well, although the film is very slow for the majority of its runtime. You see Elvis treat Priscilla like a girlfriend, a wife, sexual object, and just a friend. You also see him being like a second father to her when he enrolls in her in school in Memphis and makes sure she does her homework. You not only learn her side of the relationship, but you also see how both of them were crazy about each other, and in one scene it shows them staying in bed for days and in another scene Elvis is shown taking lots of pictures of Priscilla. So you see the crazy in love side of the couple, as well as them living different lives.
Priscilla starts to see Elvis’s flirty and unfaithful side when he flirts with a fan at a Bible reading, and she instantly becomes jealous, upset, and angry. She confronts him multiple times throughout the film about his infidelities, after she spots him flirting with a girl, and finds love letters from other girls. His anger issues come and go throughout the movie as well, a side that wasn’t shown as much in last year’s Elvis film with Austin Butler. You see in this film that Elvis was really crazy about Priscilla, but he couldn’t keep his hands off other girls and couldn’t stop his drinking and drug abuse.
Cailee Spaeny does great job as Priscilla, though she doesn’t look much like the real one did, even though Priscilla helped choose her for the role. Jacob Elordi does a really good job, as far as acting goes, but the voice was not a very Elvis sounding voice, fading from Mr. Presley, to a normal southern accent. Elordi only sings once and it’s not even his own song, it’s Jerry Lee Lewis. He also only dances a few times and it’s more like a good Elvis impersonator you see in Vegas, than an actor that has actually studied the musician. Elordi does look a bit like Elvis but not as much as Austin Butler.
This film shows sides to both Priscilla and Elvis, most don’t know of. You see the good and the bad, the sweet, funny, and sad. This film is very slow most of the runtime, and the couple spends a lot time kissing, making love, staying in bed, and fighting. Had there been more scenes of Priscilla and Elvis in California, Vegas, or other places, and had it had less kissing and less sex scenes and been less slow paced, it sould have been more enjoyable. There were even times when I couldn’t hear what the two main characters were saying when they were whispering and I was in a theater.
The costumes, makeup, and hair were great and the soundtrack, as well as the scenery. The acting was really good, apart from Elordi’s bad accent. Sofia Coppola might not have the looks down perfectly for the main characters, but she does know talent, but she also is known for slow and depressing films. At least this one had some fun and sweet moments. As far as as what was the better Elvis related film, last year’s Elvis was A LOT better, even though this is Priscilla’s story, I just think the portrayal of Elvis was better and the acting was better too. Also it is too soon to revisit Elvis, Priscilla, and Graceland.
I loved seeing her side of their relationship and how her parents just let their young daughter date and then move in with an older man when she was just a teenager. (Thank goodness he waits to marry her.) You wonder at first what he saw in her apart from being pretty, (which she was), because you think she’s really nothing special, and she was pretty ordinary, but then you learn about her charm, her sweetness, her intellegence, and sexuality. You learn about how mature she was and how she at times was more like an adult in a teenage girl’s body and your opinion is changed.
Not the best Elvis and Priscilla film, but not the worst either. The acting is good, the actors didn’t look that much like the real people they were portraying, and the accents are off, but overall, this a rather lukewarm telling of a former wife’s relationship with one of the most famous men in history. I bet Elvis and his daughter are rolling over in their graves. 18+ 3.5/5
Best Movies, Documentaries, and Miniseries About Child Abuse
1. Bastard Out of Carolina – 1996
2. The Color Purple – 1985
3. This Boy’s Life – 1993
4. The Perks of Being a Walflower – 2012
5. Capturing the Fiedmans – 2003
6. Good Will Hunting – 1997
7. The Girl Next Door – 2007
8. The Tale – 2018
9 . Gracie’s Choice – 2004
10. Carrie – 1976
11. Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story – 2022
12. Antwone Fisher – 2002
13. Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story – 2003
14. Tell Me Who I Am – 2019
15. Precious – 2009
16. The Reckoning – 2023
17. Song for a Raggy Boy – 2003
18. Taking Care of Maya – 2023
19. Aurora – 2010
20. Athlete A – 2020
21. At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal – 2019
22. Dead Poets Society – 1989
23. The Unloved – 2009
24. I, Tonya – 2017
25. Rewind – 2019
26. Lost Children – 2005
27. Twist of Faith – 2004
28. Una – 2016
29. Once Were Warrios – 1994
30. Short Term 12 – 2013
31. Moonlight – 2016
32. Children Underground – 2001
33. Abducted in Plain Sight – 2017
34. Capernaum – 2018
35. The Hunting Ground – 2015
36. Prisoners – 2013
37. Mystic River – 2003
38. Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey – 2022
39. Trust – 2010
40. The War Zone – 1999
41. Procession – 2021
42. Sons of Perdition – 2010
43. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez – 2020
44. Pretty Baby – 1978
45. Sling Blade – 1996
46. Victim/Suspect – 2023
47. Dolores Claiborne – 1995
48. Mommy Dead and Dearest – 2017
49. Prophet’s Prey – 2015
50. I Can Only Imangine – 2018
51. Southwest of Salem: The True Story of the San Antonio Four – 2016
52. Things Behind the Sun – 2001
53. The Perfection – 2018
54. Happy Valley – 2014
55. Broken Child – 2000
56. Nasty Love – 1995
57. Because We Are Girls – 2019
58. Examination of Conscience – 2019
59. Paterno – 2018
60. Sands of Silence: Waves of Courage – 2016
61. Sleepers – 1996
62. Call Me Lucky – 2015
63. Witch Hunt – 2008
64. Caught in the Net – 2020
65. Buck – 2011
66. Swift Current – 2016
67. October Country – 2009
68. Spotlight – 2015
69. House of Chains – 2022
70. The Burning Bed – 1984
71. Mockingbird Don’t Sing – 2001
72. A Peloton of One – 2020
73. The Hunt – 2012
74. The Boys of St. Vincent – 1992
75. The Woodsman – 2004
76. Room – 2015
77. Big Boys Don’t Cry – 2020
78. Father and Master – 1977
79. For the Love of a Child – 2006
80. Little Children – 2006
81. David – 1988
82. By the Grace of God – 2018
83. Lilya 4-Ever – 2002
84. What Happened at Fells Acres? – 2023
85. Doubt – 2008
86. Calvary – 2014
87. Primal Fear – 1996
88. Camp – 2013
89. Sparrows – 1926
90. Mysterious Skin – 2004
91. Romans – 2017
92. I Know My Name is Steven – 1989
93. The People Under the Stairs – 1991
94. Hard Candy – 2005
95. The Wonder – 2022
96. Matilda – 1996
97. Joker – 2019
98. The Breakfast Club – 1985
99. Forrest Gump – 1994
100. Custody – 2017
Greatest Movies About Money and Wealth
- The Wolf of Wall Street – 2013
- Slumdog Millionaire – 2008
- Moneyball – 2011
- Too Big to Fail – 2011
- Margin Call – 2011
- How to Marry a Millionaire – 1953
- Working Girl – 1988
- In Debt We Trust – 2006
- Trading Places – 1983
- It’s a Wonderful Life – 1946
- The Pursuit of Happyness – 2006
- Glengarry Glen Ross – 1992
- Wall Street – 1987
- The Big Short – 2015
- Living on One Dollar – 2013
- Barbarians at the Gate – 1993
- Maxed Out – 2006
- Jerry Maguire – 1996
- Inside Job – 2010
- Generation: Freedom – 2019
- How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – 1967
- Owning Mahowny – 2003
- The Untouchables – 1987
- The Firm – 1993
- Ocean’s Eleven – 2001
- Casino – 1995
- The Social Network – 2010
- The Founder – 2016
- Citizen Kane – 1941
- Catch Me If You Can – 2002
- There Will Be Blood – 2007
- Boogie Nights – 1997
- Goodfellas – 1990
- Capitalism: A Love Story – 2009
- The Color of Money – 1986
- I.O.U.S.A. – 2008
- Office Space – 1999
- The Sting – 1973
- The One Percent – 2006
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room – 2005
- Arbitrage – 2012
- The Compnay Men – 2010
- Food, Inc. – 2008
- Christmas in July – 1940
- L’Argent – 1983
- Dollars – 1971
- American Made – 2017
- Zola – 2020
- Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – 1953
- It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – 1963
- Double Indemnity – 1944
- Fox and His Friends – 1975
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – 1936
- The Counterfeiters – 2007
- Gold Diggers of 1933 – 1933
- Uncut Gems – 2019
- Scarface – 1983
- Scarface – 1932
- American Hustle – 2013
- Molly’s Game – 2017
- The Banker – 2020
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – 1988
- It Could Happen to You – 1994
- Lucky Logan – 2017
- The Jerk – 1979
- The Gambler – 1974
- Win It All – 2017
- The Godfather – 1972
- Boiler Room – 200
- Crazy Rich Asians – 2018
- Arthur – 1981
- The Devil Wears Prada – 2006
- Limitless – 2011
- The Talented Mr. Ripley – 1999
- Sunset Blvd. – 1950
- A simple Plan – 1998
- Clueless – 1995
- The Aviator – 2004
- Knives Out – 2019
- Dumb Money – 2023
- All the Money in the World – 2017
- Blue Jasmine – 2013
- Waking Ned Devine – 1998
- Money and Medicine – 2012
- No Country for Old Men – 2007
- The Queen of Versailles – 2012
- The Infiltrator – 2016
- Born Rich – 2003
- Hell or High Water – 2016
- Stella Dallas – 1937
- Inside Man – 2006
- The Philadelphia Story – 1940
- The Italian Job – 2003
- The Italian Job – 1969
- Amores Perros – 2000
- The Bank Dick – 1940
- Dark Money – 2018
- Money Shot: The Pornhub Story – 2023
- The China Hustle – 2017
- The Men Who Stole the World – 2018
Classic of the Week: What’s Up Doc? (1972)
What’s Up Doc? is a 1972 American romantic screwball comedy film directed by Petrer Bogdanovich and starring Barbara Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. It was intended to pay homage to the comedy films of the 30s and 40s, particularly Bringing Up Baby and Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons. The film was loosely based on A Glimpse of Tiger by Herman Raucher.
Dr. Howard Bannister, a musicologist from the Iowa Conservatory of Music, has made a trip to San Fransisco to compete for a research grant offered by Frederick Larrabee. Howard is accompanied by his oppressive fiancee Eunice Burns. As the two check into the Hotel Bristol, Howard runs into the charming troublemaker Judy Maxwell in the hotel’s drugstore. She never finished college, but has collected a considerable amount of knowledge from all the academic institutions from which she has been expelled. She begins to pursue Howard and checks into a room in the hotel without paying.
Coincidentally, four parties are staying on the same floor of the hotel, all carrying identical plaid overnight bags. Howard’s bag has igneous “tambula” rocks have certain musical properties. The mysterious “Mr. Smith” has a bag containing top-secret government papers, which he has gotten illegally. Wealthy socialite Mrs. Van Hoskinshas a bag containing her sizable collection of valuable jewels. Judy’s bag is filled with her clothing and a large dictionary.
Over the course of the evening, the bags are switched randomly from room to room as the four parties unwittingly take one other’s bags. Howard ends up withe jewels, judy with the documents, Mr. Smith with Judy’s clothes, and thieves with the rocks.
Judy pretending to be Eunice at the musicologists’ banquet, uses her humor and academic knowledge to charm everyone except Howard’s competitor Hugh Simon. Unable to get over Judy’s masquerade – realizing Larrabee’s infatuation with her might win him the grant – Howard denies knowing the real Eunice when she hysterically tries to enter the banquet. Judy later sneaks into Howard’s hotel room. His attemps to try and hide Judy from Eunice lead to a fire and the destroying of the room.
The next day, everyone makes their way to a reception in the Larrabee’s fancy Victoriian house, where a fight breaks out, involving guns, furniture, and pies. Howard and Judy take all four bags and escape the fight, first on a delivery bike, and a Volkswagen Beetle, stolen from a wedding, chased by Mr, Smith and Mr. Jones, the jewel thieves.
Everyone ends up in court, where Judge Maxwell, already close to a nervous breakdown, tires to clear up the matter, but only advances in finding his daughter Judy the cause of all the trouble.
This film is a lot like classic screwball comedies. It is both hilarious and romantic, but also nothing but one shenanigan after another. There is no drama and Streisand’s character Judy is very annoying for a vast majority of the film. She won’t leave Howard alone to save her life, and yes, O’Neal’s Howard was a handsome fella, but he was not interested in her (at first) and was very annoyed by her. Although Howard is engaged to Madeline Kahn’s Eunice, he doesn’t seem to love her much as he treats her at times, like an annoyance and often ignores her and doesn’t seem like he really wants to marry her . Eunice’s wig is a redhead, flipped out bob with bangs and you can tell it’s a wig. Eunice is a worrywart and wants to control Howard. Howard and Eunice do not go together, but that is probably the point.
Kenneth Mars’s Hugh Simon, Howard’s rival, is super competitive, self-centered, and pretentious. Austin Pendelton’s Frederick Larrabee is extremely nerdy and wealthy, but weak as far as defending himself or others go.
This is a very silly movie, with no seriousness at all. There is some romance, but it is briefly shown. The main characters spend almost the entire runtime getting in trouble, which is entertaining, but it cuts the storyline short. Had there been less action and more dramedy type scenes, the story would have been better and the film would have been more enjoyable. The film jumps right into the screwball comedy too fast and you really don’t learn much about the characters. The acting is great from the majority of the cast, but that still doesn’t make this a great movie. Yes, it is funny, and fairly romantic, but that is all.
The characters disaters are funny, but that is all this story is, nothing more. There is no real depth, not much heart is more like Chaplin or Keaton film mixed with the Three Stooges, mixed with a rom-com, which doesn’t make for a great movie, although it is quite entertaining, it lacks a lot in the plot. There is very little you get to know about the characters, making them all rather dull and not interesting at all, even stylish Judy. This is a very one dimensional film with far too much humor and very little heart. 10+ 3.5/5
Classic of the Week: The Man With the Golden Arm (1955)
The Man With the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama and film noir film directed by Otto Preminger, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren. Starring Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin, it tells the story of a drug addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to to stay clean outside of jail. Although the drug is never mentioned in the film, according to the American Film Institute “most contemporary and modern sources assume that it is heroin,” although in Algren’s book it is morphine. The film’s initial release was controversial for its treatment of the then taboo themes of drug addiction and infidelity
Frankie Machine is released from the Federal Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, with a set of drums and a new outlook on life, and returns to his decrepit neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago. A drug addict, Frankie becomes clean in prison. On the outside, he greets friends and acquaintances. Sparrow, who runs a sting selling homeless dogs, clings to him like a younger brother, but Schwiefka, whom Frankie used to deal for in his illegal card games, has more menacing reasons for welcoming him back, as does Louie, Machine’s former drug dealer.
Frankie returns home to his wife Zosh, who supposedly needs to use a wheelchair after a car accident some years before that was caused by Frankie driving drunk. Zosh secretly recovered, but pretends to be unable to walk to keep making Frankie feel guilty so he will stay with her. Frankie comments on the whistle she wears around her neck, a tool she used when Frankie was gone to call for a neighbor, Vi, when needed. With Frankie home, Zosh traps him in their small apartment and blocks his attempt to make something of himself. He thinks he has what it takes to play drums for a big band. While calling to make appointment, he bumps into an old flame, Molly, who works in a local strip joint as a hostess and lives in the apartment below Frankie’s. Unlike Zosh, Molly encourages him to follow his dream of being a drummer.
Frankie soon gets himself an audition and asks Sparrow to get him a new suit, but the suit is a stolen one and he ends up back in jail. Schwiefka offers to pay the bail. Frankie refuses, but soon changes his mind when his sees a drug addict on the edge becomes too much for him. Now, to repay the debt, he must deal cards for Schwiefka again. Louie is trying to hook him on drugs again, and with no job and Zosch to please, pressure is building from all directions.
Soon Frankie gives in and is back on drugs and dealing all-night card games for Schwiefka. Molly sees he is using drugs again and runs away from him. He gets an audition as a drummer but spends 24 hours straight dealing a poker game, during which he is found cheating and beaten up. Desperately needing a fix, Frankie follows Louie home, attacks him, and destroys his house, but cannot find his drug stash. At the audition, with withdrawal coming on, Frankie can’t keep the beat and ruins his chance of getting the drummer job. When Louie goes to see to find Frankie, Louie finds out that Zosch has been faking her paralysis and can walk. Zosh, scared of being found out, pushes Louie over the railing of the stairs to his death, but things rebound when Frankie is pursued for Louie’s murder.
Frank Sinatra is mostly known for his music, but people either don’t know or forget that his was also an equally talented actor. Though this film is from is the 50’s, it is just as relevent today as it was then. It shows the way drug additction can completely destroy a person and their relationships. In the film, Frankie Machine’s life is totally destroyed by his addiction, to what is most likely heroin or morphine. He is also addicted to gambling. He wants to be a drummer, but ruins every tryout. He also frequently leaves his wife Zosch alone in their tiny apartment, stays out all night drugging, drinking, or gambling, sometimes all three and he cheats on his wife with night club employee, Molly.
Frankie eventually quits drugs and drinking cold turkey, after Molly convinces him if he wants to stand a chance with the police. Throughout the movie, you see him doped up and drunk, and in a few scenes you see him go through withdrawal from not having the substances his body is craving. Frank Sinatra is fantastic as Frankie Machine, making the character seem so so real, you forget that he isn’t. You really believe that Frank is wasting his life away on drugs, booze, gambling, and an affair. You forget this is the man that was also a popular crooner of songs such as “Come Fly With Me” and “Strangers in the Night,” that is how talented Frank was, or I should say he was multi-talented. Sinatra spent time in drug rehabilitation clinics observing addicts going cold turkey to prepare for his role. He also learned to play drums from drummer Shelley Manne.
Eleanor Parker does a great job as Sophia “Zosch” Machine, Frankie’s wife. Kim Novack is also great as Molly Novotny the nightclub worker. Arnold Stang is does a fine job as Sparrow, Frankie’s friend who sells strays dogs illegally. Darren McGavin does a good job as “Nitty Louie,” and Robert Strauss is equally good as Zero Schwiefka.
Otto Preminger had a hard time getting a Code seal of approval, because of the films content dealing with drug usage, gambling, heavy drinking, and scenes dealing with an affair. Many theaters banned the film, but many still showed it, despite the lack of Code. The movie did receive the Production Code in 1961. Despite the all the controversy, even from the Catholic Church and other conservative religious groups, the film was a critical success.
This film is very slow for the majority of its two hour runtime, but the stellar acting is what makes this film one of the greatest on the subject of addiction. This film could have had more action, to make it more exciting, for those that don’t like super slow and dramatic movies, and yes, I agree to a point, but I also think Sinatra’s acting skills in this picture, make up for that for the most part. Had the lead role gone to Marlon Brando as originally intended, it likely would have had more action, and he would’ve done a really good job, but I don’t think he could have gotten the musician part down. The role was made for Sinatra, though the author wanted Brando and they weren’t satisfied with the end production because of this. Like how Truman Capote who wrote “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” wanted Marilyn Monroe for the lead character in the film version and not Audrey Hepburn.
This movie proved that some singers can do more than just sing. Sinatra proved he could be more than a Rat Pack member, he could sing, dance, and act. He could be romantic, funny, and dramatic. He could do serious and not so serious roles. There is not one happy moment in this entire film, it is depressing and deep, but in ways that make it terrific. You see addiction through the eyes and mind of the addicted, you can almost feel their pain, their sadness, their anger, all their emotions, as well as their highs and lows, great filmmaking does this. It took a really brave and first class director to produce such a film for the time period and he did it with such expertise, on such powerful and controversial subject matters. Not many other films today that deal with the same topic(s), conquer it quite as ingeniously as this one, as they usually go straight to the subject matter and there’s not much else to the plot.
The Man With the Golden Arm goes deep, really deep, then climbs its way out, then digs, and climbs out again, taking you on a two hour ride through the mind and heart of a junkie and gambler. A truly superb and gripping motion picture. 18+ 4.5/5
The Greatest Movies, Docuseries, and TV Shows About Cults
- Faults – 2014
- The Endless – 2017
- The Master 2012
- The House of the Devil – 2009
- The Wicker Man – 1973
- The Seventh Victim – 1943
- The Empty Man – 2020
- Rosemary’s Baby 1968
- Split Image – 1982
- The Invitation – 2022
- Apostle – 2018
- Martha Marcy May Marlene – 2011
- Sound of My Voice – 2011
- Son – 2021
- The Black Cat – 1934
- The Devil Rides Out – 1968
- Susperia – 1977
- Eyes Wide Shut – 1999
- The City of the Dead – 1960
- The Devils – 1971
- The Cabin in the Woods – 2011
- Kill List – 2011
- Starry Eyes – 2014
- Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple – 2006
- Mandy – 2018
- Fresh – 2022
- The Perfection – 2018
- Jonestown: Paradise Lost – 2007
- V/H/S/2 – 2013
- V/H/S/94 – 2021
- Jesus Camp – 2006
- Waco: The Rules of Engagement 1997
- The Source Family – 2012
- The Other Lamb – 2019
- Wild Wild Country – 2018
- Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief – 2015
- Children of God: Lost and Found – 2007
- Manson – 1973
- El Topo – 1970
- Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults – 2020
- The Lodge – 2019
- Prophet’s prey – 2015
- God Told Me To – 1976
- The Deep End – 2018
- The End of the World Cult – 2007
- Waco – 2018
- My Scientology Movie – 2015
- Sons of Perdition – 2010
- Seduced: Indside the NXIVM Cult – 2020
- The Cult of the Family – 2019
- Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst – 2004
- Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath – 2016-2019
- Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey – 2022
- Orgasm Inc.: The SStory of OneTaste – 2022
- The Way Down – 2021
- The Secrets of Hillsong – 2023
- Devil in Ohio – 2022
- Murder Among the Mormons – 2021
- Under the Banner of Heaven – 2022
- The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter – 2008
- Unorthodox – 2020
- Big Love 2006-2011
- Cults and Extreme Beliefs – 2018
- Lyle – 2014
- Waiting for John – 2015
- Yellowjackets – 2021-
- Help! – 1965
- Julieta – 2016
- The Siege at Ruby Ridge – 1996
- Welcome to Leith – 2015
- The Keepers – 2017
- Kumare – 2011
- A – 1998
- One of Us – 2017
- The Lost Key – 2014
- Elmer Gantry – 1960
- God Loves Uganda – 2013
- Gonzalez: Falsos Profetas – 2014
- Higher Ground – 2011
- Marjoe – 1972
- The Magdalene Sisters – 2002
- Boy Erased – 2018
- The Miseducation of Cameron Post – 2018
- Cross of Fire – 1989
- The Prophet Mimi – 1973
- The Wave – 2008
- Frailty – 2001
- The Unknown Saint – 2019
- Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator – 2019
- Women Talking – 2022
- Deprogrammed – 2015
- Waco: The American Apocalypse – 2023
- Orphan Black -2013-2017
- John of God: The Crimes of Spiritual Healer – 2021
- Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo – 2022
- Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence – 2023
- Sins Among the Amish – 2022
- In the Name of the Father – 2023
- Cult Killer: The Story of Rick Rodriguez – 2006
- Archive 81 – 29022
Oppenheimer (2023)
Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic American biographical thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film follows the career of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The story predominantly focuses on Oppenheimer’s early studies, his involvement in the Manhattan Project during World War II, and his fall from grace due to his 1954 security hearing. Cillian Murphy stars as the title character, Emily Blunt as his wife Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as Leslie Groves, the director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a senior member of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The cast also includes Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh.
In 1926, the 22-year-ols doctoral student J. Robert Oppenheimer suffers from homesickness and anxiety while studying under experimental physicist Patrick Blackett at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. Upset with Blackett, Oppenheimer fights back by leaving him a poisoned apple, then barely stops visiting scientistNiels Bohr from eating it. Oppenheimer completes his physics PHD in Germany, and later meets theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg at a conference in Switzerland. He returns to the United States, hoping to expand quantum physics research there, and starts teaching at the University of California, Berkeley and California Institute of technology; not long after, World War II breaks out in Europe. He meets his future wife, Katherine Puening, a biologist and ex-communist, and also has an intermittent affair with Jean Tatlock, a member of the Communist Party USA, until her suicide a few years later.
In 1942, U.S. Army General Leslie Groves recruits Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb after Oppenheimer gives promise that he has communist ties or sympathies. Oppenheimer, who is Jewish, is particulary driven by the Nazis’ potentially completing their nuclear weapons program that Heisenberg heads. Oppenheimer assembles a scientific team including Edward Teller and Isidor Isaac Rabi in Los Alamos, New Mexico to secretly create the bomb. Oppenheimer works with scientists to Enrico Fermi and David L. Hill, and he and Albert Einstein discuss how an atomic bomb risks triggering an unstoppable chain reaction that could destroy the world.
After Germany surrenders, several project scientists question the bomb’s continued importance, but Oppenheimer emphasizes it will end the war in the Pacific. The Trenity test is successfully conducted just before the Postdam Conference. President Harry S. Truman orders Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be bombed, forcing Japan’s surrender. Oppenheimer is thrown into the public eye as the “father of the atomic bomb” but the immense destruction and massive fatalities haunts him. He urges Truman to restrict further nuclear weapon developmen, but he president rejects Oppenheimer’s advice, calling it weak.
At a hearing intended to eliminate his political influence, Oppenheimer is betrayed by Teller and other colleagues. Strauss exploits Oppenheimer’s associations with Communists such as Tatlock and Oppenheimer brother, Frank. Despite Rabi and several other allies testifying in Oppenheimer’s defense, his security clearance is prematurely revoked, damaging his public image and neutralizing his policy influence.
As an advisor to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, Oppenheimer advocates against further nuclear research, especially the hydrogen bomb, started by Teller. His stance becomes a point of dispute amid the intense Cold War with the Soviet Union. AEC Chairman Lewis Strauss resents Oppenheimer for publicly dismissing his worries about the export of radiosotopes and recommending arms talks with the Soviet Union.
At a hearing intended to stop political influence, Oppenheinmer is betrayed by Teller and others. Strauss exploits Oppenheimer’s associations with communists such as Tatlock and Oppenheimer’s brother, Frank. Despite Rabi and several other partners testifying in Oppenheimer’s defense, his security clearance is revoked, ruining his public image and annulling his policy influence. At Strauss’s later Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce, Hill testifies about Strauss’s personal motives in engineering Oppenheimer’s deposition. The senate votes against Strauss’s nomination.
In 1963, President Lyndon B. Johnson presents Oppenheimer with the Enrico Fermi Award as an act of political recovery.
This a really long film at over three hours in runtime. Towards the end, it does drag on, making you wonder if it will ever end, but the amazing story and outstanding acting and cinematography make up for that. There is a lot of talking, almost too much, but there is a lot action and drama as well, that make the movie entertaining. Nolan goes long and deep in the making of the bomb, an astonishing and horrifying process. He doesn’t restage the attacks though; there are no documentary shots of deaths or scenes of cities in ruin, choices that show his ethicality in directing. The horros of the bombings and the aftermath and the magnitude of the suffering they caused, permeate the film. Oppenheimer is a magnificent achievement in the art of filmmaking, absorbing the history of the story beautifully.
The story chronicles Oppenheimer, played with extreme intensity by Cillian Murphy, covering decades, starting in the 1920s with him as a young adult and it continues until his hair grays. The film involves the professional and personal achievements, including his work on the bomb, the controversies surrounding him, the anti-Communism and the attacks that almost destroyed him, as well as his romances and friendships that helped him grow, but also disturbed him.
This is a very deep story that is filled with event after event that Nolan tells with pure genius that not many other filmmakers today can do. He goes from color to black and white, zooms in and zooms out, uses intense sound effects and no sound at all, as well as intense effects to caputre the life of one of the most important, yet complicated men American history, a man who never won the Nobel Prize like he should have (yet 31 one other scientists on the Manhattan project did) for such an achievement.
Although the film doesn’t tell of his upbringing as a child, it does tell of his love for science at a very early age and how he got interested and started in quantum physics. Yes, it would have been very interesting to learn about Oppenheimer’s childhood, but it would have made the film probably close to five hours or more. There are books and documentaries that talk about his life as a child for those wanting to learn about it.
Yes, this is a really long movie. It does spend a lot of time on the hearings, but it also spends a lot of time as well on the concieving of the idea and the building of the bomb as well. Had the ending been shorter, you wouldn’t have learned much about Oppenheimer’s relationship with Albert Einstein, or how the hearings went down and their results.
Cillian Murphy is amazing as J. Robert Oppenheimer, a role only he could play. Emily Blunt is great as “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Matt Damon is excellent as General Leslie Groves. Robert Downey Jr. is outstanding as Lewis Strauss. Florence Pugh is really good in her role as Jean Tatlock, the psychiatrist and Communist Party USA member, whom J. Robert had a relationship and eventual affair with. Joshn Hartnett in his best role to date, is great in the role as nuclear phsicist and Nobel Prize winner Ernest Lawrence. Casey Affleck is really good as U.S. Army military intelligence officer Boris Pash. Rami Malek is good, not great as nuclear physicist David L. Hill. Kenneth Branagh does a fine job as Danish physicist Neils Bohr.
This film, though long and dragged out, still has Oscars written all over it. This is one of the greatest biopics of all time alongside others like Capote, 12 Years a Slave, and Schindler’s List. The way Christopher Nolan uses color, as well as black and white, and goes from past to present, to time periods in between, is pure genius. This movie, shot on Imax 70mm film, makes it as breathtaking as it is shocking, along with the fantanstic acting, costuming, effects, cinematography, and soundtrack. Nolan captures Oppenheimer and The Manhattan Project so spectacuraly, it sucks you in and takes you on a ride of romance, war, science, bombs, and legal trails. The director also uses no CGI to capture the effects, which very few directors today do, which make the film even more captivating and can lead it to more award nominations, and possible wins.
Overall, this is an extraordinary film, a must-see. If you only go to see one movie this year, make it this one. Sure, Barbie is cute and fun, but you’ll likely forget about it in a couple years or so. Oppenheimer you’ll probably never forget whether you’ve seen it once or over one-hundred times. Stunning, stunning, stunning, a masterpiece of cinematic art. 18+ 4.5/5
Barbie (2023)
Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig and written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after many computer-animated direct-tovideo and streaming television films. The film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, who go on an adventure of self-discovery following an existential crisis, with an ensamble cast that includes America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Helen Mirren, and Will Ferrell.
Stereotypical Barbie (“Barbie”) and a wide range of other Barbies all live in Barbieland, a matriachal society where all women are self-confident, self-sufficient, and successful. While their Ken counterparts spend their days enjoying recreational activities at the beach, the Barbies hold all important job positions such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Stereotypical Ken (“Ken”), Barbies boyfriend, is only happy when with Barbie and wants a closer relationship, but Barbie turns him down for a life of independence and female friendships.
During a dance party, Barbie suddenly starts to worry about death. The next day, she finds she can no longer complete her usual routine and discovers blemishes on her skin and imperfections in her hair. Weird Barbie, a smart, but disfigured outcast, tells her that to cure her problems, she must travel into the real world and find the child playing with her. On her way to the real world, Barbie finds Ken in the backseat of her car, and hesitantly allows him to go with her.
Arriving at Venice Beach, the two cause chaos and are arrested, alarming the Mattel, CEO, who demands they be caught right right away. Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween named Sasha, who criticizes her for glamourising unrealistic beauty standards. Upset, Barbie discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee and Sasha’s mother is the reason for her existential crisis, transferring her concerns to Barbie. Gloria and Sasha rescue Barbie for the Mattel CEO and the three go to Barbieland together.
Meanwhile, Ken learns about the American patriachal system, and feels important and accepted for the first time. Returning to Barbieland, Ken convinces the Kens to into taking over and the Barbies are forced into submissive roles such as maids, housewives and girlfriends. Barbie arrives and tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were, only to turned down. She gets upset, but Gloria inspires her with a speech about the problems of being a woman. With the encouragement of Sasha, Gloria, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other discontinued Barbies, they free themselves from the Kens. They minipulate the Kens to fight amound themselves, allowing the Barbies to regain their systemic power, and preventing the Kens from altering Barbieland for male superiority.
This isn’t your typical Barbie film, not just because it’s not animated, but because it is aimed at older audiences. There is lots of sexual innuendos and mild inappropriate language, except for the “f-word” being bleeped. There is also violence, but it is mild and played for comedy. Other than these things, there is no other adult content like drugs, drinking, or smoking.
This is a fun, and funny film for the most part, but at times, it is overly cute and cheesy, almost to the point of being unenjoyable. There are quite a few really fun moments, like the dancing scenes and the scene where Barbie, Gloria, and Sasha are being chased by the Mattel CEO and his upper level employees. Margot Robbie was an excellent choice to play Barbie, although she’s not quite as thin as a typical Barbie. Ryan Gosling did a really job, but he was miscast as Ken, as Ken is supposed to be perfect in every way, and Gosling has a lazy eye, that at times in the movie, you can’t unsee. Nothing against lazy eyes (I have one myself), it’s just not the “Ken” look and this could have been fixed for the film.
Margot Robbie does an outstanding job. Rhea Perlman is great as Ruth Handler, the inventor of Barbie. America Ferrera is fantastic as Gloria. Ariana Greenblatt does a fine job as Sahsa. Issa Ray is good, not great. Kate McKinnon is excellent as Weird Barbie. Micahel Cera does fine as Allan. Helen Mirren is the perfect narrator for the movie. As far as Will Ferrell in this feature, this is another typical WF role for him, although he is funny in a few scenes, his character is also very annoying, and the film could’ve done without him.
Despite the cheesiness of this movie, it is still very entertaining for the most part. The costumes, makeup, and hairstyling is fantastic. The soundtrack is perfect, except when The Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine” is played, it doesn’t fit, but I think that’s the point. The sets are amazing too. Some of the Barbie and Ken characters (not the main two) are miscast, as they don’t fit the look of any of the dolls.
There are a few scens that will make you cry, some that will make you laugh out loud, and some that make you want to get up and dance. This film may or may not have you wanting to go down the Barbie aisle, digging through boxes to find your old Barbies, or buying a collectable on eBay, but it will have you entertained for a little less than two hours.
Overall, this movie is a bit too silly, at moments a bit too cutesy, but a pretty enjoyable film. Would I go see it again? No. If the plotline had been different and many other things like Gosling as Ken and the over-the-top silliness had changed as well, I would’ve enjoyed it more. In a way, it almost seems offensive to make children’s toys into foul-mouthed adults, but at the same time, if you look past that, it almost works. 13+ 3.5/5
Romantic Movies Give Us Unrealistic Expectations of Love
Romantic movies give us unrealistic expectations of love. How the couple meets, at first they hate each other, but in so many, they also fall in love so fast. They barely (or even not at all) know each other, and somehow fall head over heels for each other. So much of the time, the two don’t even seem to take the time to get to know each other before they seem to fall deeply and madly in love.
It doesn’t matter if the movie is animated or not, if it’s romantic, it’s bound to be unrealistic. In the 1950 Disney animated classic Cinderella, fantasy stuff aside, the prince falls in love with Cinderella after just seeing and dancing with her at the ball. He knows nothing about her except how she looks and the sound of her voice. This gives children the idea that as long as you fancy up and just show up, you’re gonna find true love. Then you get hit with reality and realize that that is not how love goes, it’s a long process.
In John Lennon’s song “Mind Games” he says, “Love is the flower you have to let grow,” and that is so true. In romantic films, the love seems to blossom almost right away, unless it is based on a true story. They show how love can happen in the blink of an eye, which isn’t true. Hopeless romantics will many times buy into fictional film versions of falling in love, then realize that’s not how it really is.
Love is not formed at first sight, it needs time to grow, you need to get to know the person first. Movies come out every year with plotlines filled with silly love stories that could never happen in real life. Why do directors do this? Because who wants to see a film where the couple’s love forms slowly like in real life. Who wants to set and watch a couple talk and casually date for weeks or more? Not many. Audiences want to get straight to the meat of the tale, straight to lovey dovey, mushy gushy stuff. They don’t care that much about how the couple fell in love, they just want them to fall in love.
No great, lasting relationship of any kind happens right away, but movie directors seem to always erase that fact. We are lead into fantasy worlds where couples who weren’t fond of each other, end up living happily ever after. The nerd or geek when the heart of the hot jock, the pauper wins the heart of a rich character, the couple that hated each other at first, end up head over heels, yes these scenarios can happen, but there is a low chance. Not many people end up living that happy for life lifestyle, and just because the lovers ride off in a carriage or on a horse or whatever in the end of the story, that’s it, toll credits. You don’t know what happens afterward (unless there is a sequel). The couple could up seperating, divorcing, etc. That is not what Disney and other production companies want people to know.
Children need to learn the real ways of relationships, the smooth and the rocky, and that not all couples are happy and that many aren’t meant to be together. I’m not saying children to see abusive marriages and stuff like that, but just not the sugarcoated stories that are marketed to them. They need to learn that no relationship is perfect like those on screen. Love takes time and it’s time that films start showing more of that.
Love is not perfect, so come on directors, show a real kind of relationship.