Author: Jeff Mitchell

‘Between the Temples’: Schwartzman and Kane offer keen performances in this eccentric comedy

Jeff Mitchell

“Between the Temples” (2024) – Benjamin Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is having a bad day.  While sitting in a local Upstate New York bar, minding his own business, and drinking a mudslide, Ben overhears a stranger poking fun at him.  Ben, to his credit, confronts the bully but is knocked to the floor with one punch.    Ooof. A random patron (Carol Kane) comes to Ben’s aid, but in a rare moment of fate, Ben realizes that this Good Samaritan is his elementary school music teacher, Mrs. O’Connor, who now goes…

‘Twisters’ spins in place compared to its 28-year-old predecessor

Jeff Mitchell

“Twisters” (2024) – In 1996, “Twister”, a tornado-chasing action-adventure flick starring Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, took movie audiences by storm and funneled a massive box-office take of just under half a billion dollars. Director Jan de Bont’s 90s disaster thriller is filled with twisty terror but also whimsy as a ragtag collection of scientists and researchers regularly encircle, with daredevil abandon, nature’s whirlwinds.  However, the will-they-or-won’t-they romantic tension between Bill (Paxton) and Jo (Hunt) is the emotional glue that holds this entertaining picture together. Twenty-eight years later, a sequel,…

‘Touch’ taps into tangible feelings of love found and lost

Jeff Mitchell

“Touch” (2024) – “Looking back as days go by.” – Kristofer (Egill Olafsson) Director/co-writer Baltasar Kormakur’s film “Touch”, based on co-writer Olaf Olafsson’s 2022 novel, taps into tangible feelings of love found and lost.  It’s about aging and taking inventory of one’s life.  It’s about looking back, touching memories of first love, reaching out for closure, and either shutting a door forever or leaving it open for a second chance.  Well, “Touch” is a sweet, tender, and worthwhile story that swims in cross-cultural waters, but it wades in place at…