Year: 2021

‘C’mon C’mon’ is a beautiful but untethered journey

Jeff Mitchell

“C’mon C’mon” (2021) – Writer/director Mike Mills’ last two films – “Beginners” (2010) and “20th Century Women” (2016) – look to the past. His past.  “Beginners” – starring Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, and Melanie Laurent – is based on Mills’ dad.  Hal (Plummer) comes out during his golden years, and Plummer won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his revelatory performance.  Six years later, Mills turns to his mother with “20th Century Women”, as Annette Bening plays Dorothea, a single mom who reaches out to a 30-something (Greta Gerwig) and…

‘Julia’: An enjoyable, breezy, and well-prepared doc

Jeff Mitchell

“Julia” (2021) – “Don’t be afraid of failure.” – Julia Child Good advice! Julia Child – television’s premiere cooking personality, who paved the way for hundreds (or is it thousands or tens of thousands?) of local, national, and worldwide on-air chefs – took her advice.  Naturally, she was speaking about culinary gymnastics, but directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West – the dynamic documentary-duo behind “RBG” (2018) and “My Name is Pauli Murray” (2021) – clearly reveal that Ms. Child applied those same principles outside the kitchen as well.  Cohen and…

Movie of the Week: ‘The Color Purple’

Jeff Mitchell

“The Color Purple” (1985) – Whoopi Goldberg is unforgettable as Celie, a poor and humble Georgian who suffers under unthinkable abuse from her father and husband (Danny Glover) for years and years.  Celie swallows the constant mistreatment, but we hope that she’ll transform these harmful encounters into some morsels of strength to move on.  The problem is she has nowhere to go.  Steven Spielberg adapts Alice Walker’s novel – set at the turn of the 20th century – and he offers a 154-minute runtime to let the story breathe on-screen. …