National Track Series 2022: Round 2 - Cambridge.

 

Series Review: "D. B. Cooper: Where Are You?!" (2022).

From Netflix and the director of The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin comes D. B. Cooper: Where Are You?! This documentary series directed by Marina Zenovich. In 1971, a skyjacker parachutes off a plane with a bag of stolen cash — and gets away with it. Decades later, his identity remains a compelling mystery.

On the afternoon of November 24, 1971, an unidentified man hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft operated by Northwest Orient Airlines, in United States airspace. The aircraft was flying from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. The hijacker extorted $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to $1,338,000 in 2021), asked to be flown to Mexico City, then parachuted to an uncertain fate over southwestern Washington part-way through the second flight. In 1980, a small portion of the ransom was found along the banks of the Columbia River, which triggered renewed interest but ultimately only deepened the mystery; the great majority of the ransom remains unrecovered. The man purchased his airline ticket using the alias Dan Cooper but, because of a news miscommunication, became known in popular culture as D. B. Cooper. For forty-five years after the hijacking, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) maintained an active investigation. Despite compiling an extensive case file over that period, no definitive conclusions were reached regarding Cooper's true identity or fate. The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history. Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed over the years by investigators, reporters, and amateur enthusiasts. The FBI's best guess is that Cooper did not survive the jump, for several reasons: the rainy and dangerous conditions for skydiving on the night of the hijacking; Cooper's lack of proper equipment; the landing area being a wilderness; the apparent lack of detailed knowledge Cooper had of his landing area; and the rest of the ransom money never turning up even after decades, suggesting it was never spent. In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended active investigation of the case.The hijacking had major implications for commercial aviation and airport security. Cooper's brazen hijacking, and a slew of Cooper imitators in the following year, caused security procedure to become stricter. Metal detectors and compulsory searching of baggage became standard, and paying for flights the same day of their departure with cash became a cause for scrutiny. Aircraft design was modified with Cooper vanes that would prevent the aft staircase from being lowered while in flight. By 1973, the pace of hijackings greatly slowed as the new security measures successfully dissuaded would-be hijackers whose motive was only money.

A fascinating true-crime documentary series that is as perplexing in its mystery as it is entertaining in its execution. However, by turning this narrative into a search for an identification that seems increasingly unlikely to ever happen, Zenovich loses focus, and we become just as lost as the hundreds of people convinced they know what happened to D.B. Cooper.

Simon says D. B. Cooper: Where Are You?! receives:

Also, see my review for The Way Down: God, Greed and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin.

Film Review: "Girl in the Picture" (2022).

"Her identify was a mystery to everyone. Even her" in Girl in the Picture. This documentary film directed by Skye Borgman and is based on the books A Beautiful Child and Finding Sharon by Matt Birkbeck. The jaw-dropping true crime story of a search to solve a thirty-year old mystery: who was Sharon Marshall, and why was her real identity unknown to everyone - even her?

American murderer, rapist and death row inmate, Franklin Delano Floyd, was convicted of the 1989 murder of Cheryl Ann Commesso, as well as the kidnapping of six-year-old Michael Anthony Hughes, who he claimed was his son, from his elementary school in Choctaw, Oklahoma. Floyd is also considered a person of interest in the 1990 hit-and-run death of his second wife Sharon Marshall, mother of Michael Anthony Hughes. It was later discovered that before becoming his wife, Sharon had been raised by Floyd from an early age as his daughter and was kidnapped by Floyd as a child. Marshall's true identity remained a mystery until 2014 when she was positively identified as Suzanne Marie Sevakis, the daughter of a woman to whom Floyd was briefly married. He disappeared with Sevakis, her two sisters, and infant brother Phillip (also known as "Stevie") while her mother was serving a 30-day jail sentence in 1975. Sevakis' brother remained missing until 2019 when a man came forward believing he was Phillip; DNA tests confirmed his identity in 2020.

This saga went on for years and as strange as it sounds, nothing can prepare you for hearing the first-hand account of how this sociopath destroyed so many people's lives. It's a decently made one and it has a good way of telling its story. It has an important message in that it wants to help prevent other families from going through this. A complete and informative movie regarding a bizarre case of obsession and mischief. It's scary to admit this actually happened. A troubling but important story for people to hear...one of the craziest documentaries I've ever seen, albeit not the best produced. The reenactments were incredibly unsettling and confusing. Borgman handles these confessions responsibly. A lot of painful truth -- about the escalating nature of sin, for example -- comes from watching Floyd crumple into tears as he recounts his crimes. Shocking and provocative, Borgman's film upholds the binge watching generation's fascination with the true crime documentary. If there is a point to the film beyond simply retelling the saga's many horrors and waiting for the viewer's jaw to drop, it might be its own principals' disbelief. Disturbing but not irredeemably horrible. More it's a fascinating story of misplaced trust and single minded obsession that's a must-watch for true crime nerds and documentary fiends. However, this mind-boggling, aggravating account of child kidnapping compresses an entire season's supply of bizarre, shocking twists into one-hundred minutes. Nonetheless, the film is one of the most harrowing true-crime documentaries I've ever seen. The film is a remarkable and unforgettable kidnapping story.

Simon says Girl in the Picture receives:

Also, see my review for Dead Asleep.

Film Review: "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022).

"Not every god has a plan" in Thor: Love and Thunder. This superhero film directed by Taika Waititi, written by Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, based on the Marvel Comics character Thor created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, and produced by Marvel Studios. It is the sequel to Thor: Ragnarok (2017) and the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film finds Thor on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced - a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher, who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie, Korg, and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster, who - to Thor’s surprise - inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.

In November 2017, shortly after the critically and commercially successful release of Thor: Ragnarok, Waititi and Marvel Studios met to discuss ideas for another film, which was ultimately green-lit. In January 2018, Chris Hemsworth indicated in that he was interested in continuing to play Thor in the MCU, despite his contract with Marvel Studios being set to expire after Avengers: Endgame (2019). In July 2019, Waititi officially signed on to write and direct a fourth film. Later that month, at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced the film, with a Thor: Love and Thunder and a November 5, 2021 release date. Hemsworth, Waititi, Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman were confirmed to be reprising their roles. In February 2020, Robinson was hired to pen the installment with Waititi. In early April, Disney shifted much of their Phase Four slate of films due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving the film's release date to February 18, 2022. Therefore, pre-production on the film was delayed due to the pandemic, with Waititi unsure when production would continue. At the end of the month, Disney moved the release date up to February 11, 2022. By late January 2021, Christian Bale and Russell Crowe rounded out the film's cast as newcomers, with Jaimie Alexander, Chris Pratt, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Sean Gunn reprising their roles. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early June. Filming took place at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, under the working title The Big Salad. Filming was delayed from an initial August 2020 start date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2021, the film's release date was once again delayed to July 8, 2022.

Hemsworth impressively fleshes out Thor even further, Bale is striking in his role and the rest of the cast are uniformly good.

In a sense, it's sort of the Return of the Jedi of the Thor films: It's solid, it's engaging, but yeah, it's also a kind of a step down from the previous three.

Simon says Thor: Love and Thunder receives:

Also, see my reviews for Thor: Ragnarok and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

IFF Film Review: "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell" (1968).

"Take someone you love to a nice, warm, funny picture about a nice, warm, unwed mother." This is Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. This comedy film directed by Melvin Frank, adapted by Frank, Denis Norden and Sheldon Keller and based on the short story of the same title by Aiken Morewood. During World War II, an Italian villager befriends three American soldiers. Later, when unsure which of them fathered the daughter she has, she invents a dead captain named Campbell, declares herself his widow and accepts support checks from all three soldiers. Twenty years later, a reunion unexpectedly brings the three veterans -- and their wives and children -- back to Italy. Mrs. Campbell panics as she endeavors to keep her lively past from her daughter.

By early September 1967, Gina Lollobrigida, Janet Margolin, Philippe Leroy, Naomi Stevens, Phil Silvers, Shelley Winters, Peter Lawford, Marian Moses, Telly Savalas, Lee Grant, and Giovanna Galletti were cast in a film adaptation of Morewood's short story, Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, with Frank as director and penned by Frank with Norden and Keller. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place throughout Lazio, Italy and at Cinecittà Studios in Rome.

The film stars Lollobrigida, Margolin, Leroy, Stevens, Silvers, Winters, Lawford, Moses, Savalas, Grant, and Galletti. It would be easy to underrate the deceptively effortless master acting class that Lollobrigida puts on here. As for the rest of the cast, you sense that they were thinking what you're thinking: That they couldn't actually be in this movie. Silvers, Lawford and Savalas have a great time playing the dimwits who may be Gia's dad.

The film has been made with the most delicious, joyful abandon and all it asks is that you joyfully and deliciously abandon yourself to it and don't make too many observations. Like a big gay Terminator, the film will track down your cynicism and blast it into smithereens: it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you're having fun. Yeah, it's all a little bit on the camp side. It's a comedy based on Morewood's short story. A little bit camp is probably the height of restraint. It can be seen as not fun or carefree, it's just tacky - lost in a sea of clichés and contrivances that somehow makes even its fantastic music lose its appeal. A chintzy valentine to the world-shaking ebullience of one's own flimsily "empowered" friendships and one's most offhanded and tarted-up whims. The film was so exciting and entertaining that I felt swept away. As if I was a wedding attendee, cheering on Sophie to discover herself and for her mother to find happiness. You could spend all week eating bacon at a pig farm and still find more ham in the film, an irrepressible, unstoppable kaleidoscope of karaoke camp gone berserk that features a cast happily mainlining Morewood's short story. The movie gets by on sheer exuberance. Your appreciation of it, I suspect, will strongly depend on your mood and the enthusiasm of the audience members around you.

Simon says Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell receives:

Also, see my IFF review for Stromboli (Stromboli, terra di Dio).

IFF Film Review: "Stromboli" ("Stromboli, terra di Dio") (1950).

"Raging Island...Raging Passions!" This is Stromboli (Stromboli, terra di Dio). This Italian-American film directed by Roberto Rossellini and written by Sergio Amidei, Gian Paolo Callegari, Art Cohn and Renzo Cesana. Lithuanian Karin flees her war-ravaged home country and winds up in Italy, where she's sent to an internment camp. There, she meets Antonio, a POW who's just been freed. They enjoy a brief romance, punctuated by Antonio's marriage proposal, and Karin, seeing her chance to escape the camp, accepts. But Antonio takes her back to Stromboli, the volcanic island he lives on, and Karin struggles with a language barrier, brutal living conditions and her outsider status.

The film is the result of a famous letter from Ingrid Bergman to Rossellini, in which she wrote that she admired his work and wanted to make a movie with him. Rossellini worked with no written screenplay but a handful of personal notes. Rossellini and she set up a joint production company for the film, Societ per Azioni Berit (Berit Films, sometimes written as Bero Films), and she also helped Rossellini to secure a production and distribution deal with RKO and its then owner, Howard Hughes, thus securing most of the budget together with international distribution for the film. Originally, she had approached Samuel Goldwyn, but he bowed out after having seen Rossellini's film Germany, Year Zero (1948). The film is perhaps best remembered for the extramarital affair between Rossellini and Bergman that began during the production of the film, as well as their child born out of wedlock a few weeks before the film's American release. In fact, the affair caused such a scandal in the United States that church groups, women's clubs, and legislators in more than a dozen states around the country called for the film to be banned. Furthermore, Bergman's Hollywood career was halted for a number of years, until she won an Academy Award for her performance in Anastasia (1956). Modern sources list the release year as either 1949 or 1950, but an Associated Press article dated March 12, 1950, reported that the film had not yet been shown publicly in Italy. Apparently, few Italians had a chance to see the film until it was screened at the 11th Venice International Film Festival on August 26, 1950. On February 15, 1950, the film was released in the United States and was a box-office bomb, but did better overseas, where Bergman and Rossellini's affair was considered less scandalous. In all, RKO lost $200,000 on the picture.

The film stars Bergman, Mario Vitale, Renzo Cesana and Mario Sponzo. Despite all the irritating behavior exhibited by the characters, especially Bergman's, the film is ultimately a work of great compassion.

The film is a delicately and delightfully crafted exploration of relationships, complacency, and the evocation of our connections to our anthropological roots. The film is a searing portrait of love turning sour under the Italian sun and a bold adventure in a new kind of filmmaking.

Simon says Stromboli (Stromboli, terra di Dio) receives:

Also, see my IFF review for Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta).

Film Review: "Minions: The Rise of Gru" (2022).

"A villain will rise" in Minions: The Rise of Gru. This computer-animated action comedy film directed by Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson and Jonathan del Val, written by Brian Lynch and Matthew Fogel, based on the characters created by Sergio Pablos, and produced by Illumination. It is the sequel to the spin-off prequel Minions (2015) and the fifth installment in the Despicable Me franchise. In the heart of the 1970s, amidst a flurry of feathered hair and flared jeans, Gru is growing up in the suburbs. A fanboy of a supervillain supergroup known as the Vicious 6, Gru hatches a plan to become evil enough to join them. Luckily, he gets some mayhem-making back-up from his loyal followers, the Minions. Together, Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto - a new Minion sporting braces and a desperate need to please - deploy their skills as they and Gru build their first lair, experiment with their first weapons, and pull off their first missions. When the Vicious 6 oust their leader, legendary fighter Wild Knuckles, Gru interviews to become their newest member. It doesn't go well (to say the least), and only gets worse after Gru outsmarts them and suddenly finds himself the mortal enemy of the apex of evil. On the run, Gru will turn to an unlikely source for guidance, Wild Knuckles, and discover that even bad guys need a little help from their friends.

In January 2017, Universal Pictures and Illumination announced the sequel to their 2015 animated spin-off, Minions. In July, the film began production commenced with Balda, Ableson and del Val as co-directors. In May 2019, the film's title was revealed as Minions: The Rise of Gru. In December, it was announced that Pierre Coffin and Steve Carell would be reprising their roles as the Minions and Gru, respectively. Taraji P. Henson, Michelle Yeoh, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lucy Lawless, Dolph Lundgren , Danny Trejo, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Alan Arkin and RZA rounded out the film's voice cast. The production shifted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, following the temporary closure of Illumination Mac Guff. The film was originally scheduled for a July 3, 2020 release date, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and their incomplete status with Illumination Mac Guff's temporary closure in response to that event, it was pushed back to July 2, 2021, and later to July 1, 2022.

The film features the voice talents of Carell, Coffin, Henson, Yeoh, Van Damme, Lawless, Lundgren , Trejo, Brand, Andrews, Arkin and RZA. The cast and their endless roll of jokes ensures this is sublime dumb-but-smart entertainment.

The film has a hard time holding up as a story on its own. Although the antics of Gru, Kevin, Stuart, and Bob keep the laughs coming, the story fizzles out in the middle. Rarely attempts to appeal directly to a grown-up audience, instead concentrating all efforts on colorful, sophomoric spectacles and rambunctious escapades. Let's start with what the film gets right: It's a mercifully short eighty-eight minutes long. But even at that length, it still feels padded.

Simon says Minions: The Rise of Gru receives:

Also, see my reviews for Despicable Me 3 and Sing 2.