Movie Reviews
Titles starting with R
Rabbit-Proof Fence
A true story of three aboriginal sisters in 1931, torn from their family by the astonishingly racist policies of the Australian government that meant to completely breed the black blood out of the population. They were taken to a prison camp where they were to be trained as servants, all for their own good, and allowed to marry other quadroons and octoroons if they were pale enough, but ... Read more »
Race
Since this is the story of Jesse Owens in the run-up to the 1936 Fucking Nazi Olympics, and his performance at same, the title has a double meaning. It is all a pretty standard story—you know, conflicts with the wife, moral decisions over whether to go or to boycott as the NAACP (as shown here, anyway) recommends, stuff like that. Since he wasn’t a case of an unknown athlete coming forward ... Read more »
Rachel Getting Married
… but it’s not really about Rachel at all, is it? It’s about Kym, her sister. As a matter of face, everything is about Kym. No matter where she goes, no matter what else is going on, Kym will be sure to make it be about Kym. She will have some crisis, or get into an argument, or say something incredibly inappropriate, and then everyone ... Read more »
Radio
Wants a little too much to be liked. Inspirational movies about mentally challenged people are tough to pull off, and this one fell short.
Radio Days
There’s hardly anything you could call a plot in this movie … and it’s one of the great ones. Mia Farrow is a cigarette girl with a harsh, terrible accent straight off the streets. She takes voice lessons, and ends up a radio personality. That’s it for plot, and it’s just a small part of the movie. What it is, is an affectionate ode to old-time radio. Music, comedy, personalities, quiz ... Read more »
Radio Flyer
Sometimes it’s just a bad idea, and sometimes it gets made anyway. Seldom so true as with this one. A very young and almost unrecognizable Elijah Wood, before he grew hair on his feet, has a younger brother who Mom’s new piece of shit boyfriend is abusing. They don’t tell on him because it would make her sad. Bad mistake, but understandable. To get little bro out of the reach of the ... Read more »
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Hurray! There’s going to be a new Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It opens on May 22nd. We might not be there that day, but certainly that week! We both loved the originals, so much that we decided it had been too long since we’d seen them. So we’re watching all three before the new one comes out. As action-adventure ... Read more »
Rain Man
When this was made autism was not well-understood by the public or even, to some extent, by the medical community. (One thing we do know is that it is not caused by childhood vaccinations.) Since then we have described what is known as the “autism spectrum.” On one end are people so handicapped that they can’t tie their shoes, and have to wear diapers. On the ... Read more »
Raising Arizona
If Blood Simple announced the arrival of Joel and Ethan Coen with a bang, this one served notice that you were never going to be sure what they might come out with next. Could two films by the same authors be further apart? Blood Simple was slyly funny, but very, very dark; this one is laugh-out-loud hilarious. I’ve never talked to ... Read more »
Raising Victor Vargas
A good story of love and romance and growing up in Latino New York. All the actors are first-time non-professionals, but several have already been cast in upcoming movies. Judy Marte is especially good, and so is Victor Rasuk.