Month: February 2023

‘Let It Be Morning’ offers important messages but not a lot of sunshine

Jeff Mitchell

“Let It Be Morning” (2021) – “We gotta get out of this place if it’s the last thing we ever do.” – The Animals, 1965 The said lyric is exactly how Sami (Alex Bakri) feels.  Sami, his wife Mira (Juna Suleiman), and his young son are trapped in purgatory.  No, not in a religious netherworld due to past sins, but in a tangible place:  his hometown.  While visiting this tiny, remote village to attend his brother Aziz’s (Samer Bisharat) wedding, a small band of military types blocks the one road…

Big-screen legends have fun in ’80 for Brady’, but the movie doesn’t throw it deep

Jeff Mitchell

“80 for Brady” (2023) – 335; 649; 7,753; 89,214; and 97.2. What are these numbers?  Are they significant?  They are related, but how?  Here are two more integers that double as hints:  7 and 12. Okay, let’s decode the numeric mystery. 335 games, 649 touchdowns, 7,753 completions, 89,214 yards, a 97.2 quarterback rating, and 7 Super Bowl victories belong to one individual, #12 Tom Brady. He’s the greatest quarterback in National Football League history, an organization founded in 1920, so standing tall – at 6’ 4” – on top of…

‘Turn Every Page’ is a big-screen page-turner

Jeff Mitchell

“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” (2022) – “50 years.  5 books.  4,888 pages.” Robert Caro wrote five books, and Robert Gottlieb edited them, works that helped uncover the inner workings of American government, the invisible machinery to John and Jane Q. Citizen, and these legislative levers – constructed from backroom dealings and human ambition – forged massive changes to infrastructure and everyday ways of life for millions and millions of the aforementioned residents. Power is the throughline subject of Caro and Gottlieb’s labors…