Of the recent wave of movies dealing with the subject of racism, one of the lesser talked about films is Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “Monsters and Men”. It premiered at Sundance 2018, was picked up for distribution by Neon, and was released in late September to very little buzz. That’s a shame because most of what we get works exceptionally well.

The movie is broken into three acts, each linked by a single incident that takes place in a Brooklyn neighborhood. The first two are the most organically connected while the third is more out on its own. It’s also the one story that is the most obvious and easily the most predictable. While the story seems ripped from the headlines, Green attempts to dig beneath them to show three unique perspectives and the impact the incident has on these three lives.

A powerful opening starts things on a strong foot. A law-abiding black man is driving through the city singing along to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”. For seemingly no reason blue lights flash and he’s pulled over. Director Green and his cinematographer Patrick Scola keep the camera on the driver’s face in an intense closeup that shows the boiling frustration but also the keen awareness of senseless danger. The black man is Dennis Williams (John David Washington), an off duty Brooklyn cop. We later discover it’s the sixth time he’s been pulled over in six months.

The first act centers around Manny Ortega (Anthony Ramos) who lives in his mother’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood apartment with his expecting wife and their young daughter. While on his way to meet friends he witnesses an altercation between a local fixture Darius “Big D” Larson (Samuel Edwards) and the NYPD. Darius is shot dead and Manny captures it all on his phone. Now he must decide whether to share the footage with the world or keep it to himself and protect his family.

The second act moves back to Dennis, a well-respected police officer and devoted family man. His precinct faces strong public backlash following the shooting and Dennis struggles to make sense of it all. He’s a good cop who knows first-hand the reality of racial profiling in the department but also the dangers police officers face anytime they strap on the vest. Washington gives the film’s standout performance, deeply sensitive and effortlessly charismatic.

The third act doesn’t quite pack the punch of the other two and comes across as more calculated. It’s premise is good. Zyrick (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a promising high school baseball prospect who has pro scouts salivating. This excites his father (the always good Rob Morgan) who sees this as his son’s ticket out of the inner city. But after the shooting of Big D, Zyrick is compelled to join a protest group and let his voice be heard. But at what cost to his bright future?

Green makes several interesting choices. First we never see the altercation between Big D and the police with our own eyes. Instead we see the reactions to the video from the film’s three key players. Perhaps most interesting is how none of the three stories have a tidy ending. Is it because we still don’t have a satisfying real-world answer? Is it to allow us to wrestle with and resolve their stories for ourselves? Either way I found it effective.

Despite losing steam in its third act, “Monsters and Men” maintains a steady sense of intimacy and relevance. Its stories feel personal and offer unique points of view on a smoldering current issue. And they’re told through several really good performances, especially from John David Washington. With only a handful of films under his acting belt, he’s already shown himself to be one of the industry’s most charismatic talents.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

Say what you want to about the film, but you can’t deny that the man behind it certainly went with an attention-grabbing title for his feature film debut. Robert D. Krzykowski’s  “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot” screams low-budget pulp. Who knew it was actually a meditative character study full of deep feeling and pathos. Don’t let it’s peculiar title fool you.

The film had a much different shape when Krzykowski begin writing the script some twelve years ago. His original concept was more of a playful exploitation film that fell in line with the quirkiness of its title. Over time it took on a more pensive form in large part due to real-life emotions Krzykowski was dealing with.

It instantly makes a good impression by casting Sam Elliott as its lead. He has always been an actor who could instantly grab the audience’s trust. He’s effortlessly charismatic and consistently great. Krzykowski hands him a role tailor-made for his down-to-earth and quietly rugged strengths.

Elliott plays a melancholy World War 2 veteran named Calvin Barr. He’s a man coming to terms with his old age and still reckoning with past choices that he either made or in some cases didn’t make. Krzykowski gives us several of Calvin’s simple day-to-day moments. To be honest I would enjoy watching Sam Elliott walk his dog or get a haircut for a full 90 minutes. But these moments actually give some meaningful insight into his character and what makes him tick. He’s a lonely man who has an occasional conversation with his little brother Ed (Larry Miller) or his bartender friend George (Alton White). But his closest confidant is Ralph, his faithful Golden Retriever.

Interestingly there is a second timeline which follows young Calvin (Aiden Turner) both during and surrounding WW2. Several of the things we see there get to the roots of old man Calvin’s state of mind. They include him falling for a charming young school teacher named Maxine (Caitlin FitzGerald) and of course the covert military mission alluded to in the title. Krzykowski clearly wants to give both timelines space to have their own identity but it’s almost unavoidable that we find ourselves wanting to getting back to Elliott. Still the flashback timeline works.

While the film is fully aware of the absurdity it dangles in front of its audience, it manages to take itself seriously mainly because it takes Calvin seriously. It treats him in a way that both demands and earns our empathy. Whether he’s sifting through his feelings of remorse and regret or wrestling with the ideas of heroism and being an unheralded legend. So when Calvin in approached by government agents seeking his help in hunting down the plague-spreading Bigfoot, we strangely care about his decision despite the sheer nuttiness of it all.

That gets to what I love most about “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot”. It’s unashamedly preposterous yet so earnest where it counts most. There is a crazy yet fascinating harmony to these two seemingly opposites and the movie has a much deeper core than you might think. And it doesn’t hurt to have a fabulous Sam Elliott performance at the center. It’s a movie certain to clash with some people’s expectations, but once I got in with its unusual rhythms I was completely hooked.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Filmmaker Bing Liu grew up in Rockford, Illinois a struggling city of approximately 150,000 people. At 14 he was given his first video camera and almost immediately he began making his first short films. At age 19 he began a project concentrating on growing up in the skateboarding community. This would become “Minding the Gap”, now an Oscar-nominated documentary which is anything but ‘another skateboarding movie’.

For Liu “Minding the Gap” is a deeply personal exploration. He serves as director, cinematographer, co-editor, and co-producer, but his deeper connection is with the subject matter itself. The film revolves around three friends: Keire, Zack, and Bing. The film’s deftly shot opening shows the friends skateboarding across a seemingly vacant downtown Rockford. We quickly learn this is more than just social time. It’s their time to release and escape from the hands life has dealt them.

A heartbreaking through-line becomes evident the more we get to know these three young men. Keire is African-American and sports a million dollar smile and an infectious personality. But beneath the surface he struggles with troubling memories of his late father who, despite their complex past, Keire misses greatly. He’s such an endearing person and your heart aches for him.

Zack is a bit of a wild-child with an unhealthy love for alcohol. His edgy and reckless lifestyle was his response to growing up with a cruel and oppressive father. But he smacks headfirst into reality after his girlfriend Nina finds out she’s pregnant. Liu’s camera careful documents Zack’s attempted transition from rebellious rowdy to responsible father.

Later Liu brings his own personal story into focus revealing that he too was the victim of an abusive father. For Liu making the film is a means of catharsis and it opens up an opportunity for him to reckon with his painful childhood. His story seamlessly intertwines with the others making each feel distinct and personal yet all part of a single powerful and moving theme.

You can’t say enough about the film’s subtle transformation from an observational study of young adulthood to a piercing examination of domestic abuse and its lasting effects. Liu displays such control of his vision and a good sense of how to bring it all together. He shows it most in the editing room (alongside co-editor Joshua Altman) where they cut through nearly twelve years of footage yet still create something strikingly intimate.

I doubt “Minding the Gap” would be as effective without fully embracing the cinéma vérité approach. The rawness of Liu’s images and the bare, unrestrained conversations are purely organic and sole-baring. There are instances where Liu is perhaps so dedicated to allowing things to play out naturally that people suffer as a result. It poses an interesting question of how much a filmmaker (particularly a documentarian) should get involved when he/she knows something bad has happened. And how much (if any) responsibility lies at their feet? This was a question I still struggle with concerning a couple of the film’s darker moments.

Still, there’s no denying the emotional gut-punch “Minding the Gap” packs. It’s all about the heart-breaking struggles of Keire, Zack, and Liu and the different life paths each of them travel. Will they be able the mend the wounds of past abuse? Will they repeat the sins of their fathers? It can all be pretty tough to watch. But just when we need it, we’re given one of those freeing skateboarding sequences – beautifully shot and full of smiles, laughter and energy. They offer us glimmers of hope for these young men, so full of life yet burdened by their pasts and uncertain of their futures.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

I found the very concept of “Miss Bala” to be promising. It’s a female-driven crime-thriller with a predominantly Latino cast and crew built around an interesting story premise and with plenty of big action. I found myself genuinely hopeful and rooting for the movie to offer a new and unique point of view.

We certainly get glimpses of that as director Catherine Hardwicke tries to walk the line between fresh and conventional. For the most part she succeeds. To my surprise “Miss Bala” isn’t wall-to-wall action with story beats only meant to move us to the next set piece. Instead Hardwicke and writer Gareth Dunnett-Alcocer give more attention to storytelling than to bullet-soaked bravado. If only the script had covered all its bases.

The film stars Gina Rodriguez who gives a truly eye-opening performance. She plays Gloria, an ambitious make-up artist working in Los Angeles. She heads to Tijuana, Mexico to visit and help her best friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) prepare for the Miss Baja beauty pageant. The trouble starts when the two friends go to a swanky nightclub in hopes of making connections with some of the pageant bigwigs. A shootout breaks out, Suzu disappears and Gloria finds herself in the clutches of a ruthless boy band…..errr… drug gang.

The leader of this young and often shirtless band of hoodlums is Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova). He tells Gloria he’ll help her find Suzu but first she has to do some jobs for him (not that she really has a choice in the matter). At the same time the DEA gets wind of her and demands she works as their mole in Lino’s gang in exchange for their protection. Gloria ends up a pawn between two warring groups and must play both sides in order to stay alive.

“Miss Bala” is most effective when it centers on Gloria’s quest to survive in a world dominated by devious, power-hungry men. Rodriguez sells fear and dread at the perfect temperature. Her emotions ring true and every action she takes feels as though they are coming from a real place. In other words she is no female take on John Rambo. Hardwicke’s perspective always keeps her humanity in focus.

Where the film falls short is in its characterization of its villains. First off it never goes as deep as it should in describing who these violent baddies are. Does the strangely dreamy Lino and his goons work for a cartel? Are they middlemen or do they run the show? The other group is just as undefined – generic corrupt politicians somehow linked to a sex trafficking ring. It also doesn’t help that most of them are as smart as a bag of rocks.

“Miss Bala” lacks the edge you would expect from this type of movie and its story plays out in the most implausible way. I also think you could argue that the film comes a little to close to glamorizing gang life. But Rodriguez is really good and she’s given just enough to keep us invested in her and her survival despite the pieces around her sometimes falling short. She ends up being enough for me to recommend the film while at the same team fully realizing it could have been a lot better.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

In the new Netflix Original “Malevolent” siblings Angela (Florence Pugh) and Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) own and operate Sayers Medium Service. It’s basically a paranormal racket where they dupe grieving clients into believing they can communicate with their loved ones or in some cases drive out their ghosts. I bet you can already see where this is going.

The story is set in 1986 Glasgow. I’m not really sure about the significance of 1986 other than it conveniently rules out cellphones and it forces the twenty-something hucksters to use older (and potentially spookier) recording equipment when pulling off their ruse. Regardless, Angela is contacted by Mrs. Green (a very good Celia Imrie) who lives in a creepy old foster home she once ran. Mrs. Green claims ghosts of the little girls haunt the home and she desperately wants them silenced.

Angela turns down the job as she is growing more and more uncomfortable with their scam. After a little haggling over some old family baggage, Jackson calls Mrs. Green back and promptly accepts. Turns out he owes money to some pretty bad dudes and is in quick need of some cash. Along with their cameraman Elliot (Scott Chambers) and equipment operator Beth (Georgina Bevan) the siblings head to Mrs. Green’s remote and fittingly spooky place.

To no viewer’s surprise there is something freaky going on at Mrs. Green’s foster home. Icelandic director Olaf de Fleur leans on a handful of conventional horror tropes but wisely he never fully relies on them. Instead he toys with us about what we are seeing. Is it psychological or in fact ghostly? That question lingers until the macabre final act that feels slightly at odds tonally but admittedly fun and satisfying.

Another strength is Pugh’s performance. She is the film’s emotional center and asked to carry that load throughout the movie. She’s an impressive young actress as evident by her work in 2016’s highly acclaimed “Lady Macbeth”. Here the camera puts a lot of its focus on her. The material doesn’t allow for a particularly dynamic performance but she is still consistently good.

While “Malevolent” does a lot of things right I still wouldn’t call it a game-changer or even particularly fresh. But several smart decisions turns it into a surprisingly effective genre movie. And in a day when really bad horror movies are churned out by the dozens, “Malevolent” does stand out. So perhaps it’s a little bit fresher than I’m giving it credit for.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS