George Washington/Kevin Sorbo tells Bernie a thing or two.
I knew what I was getting into when I watched the new Bernie Sanders "satire" Free Lunch Express. Producer and Mendon resident Bradford Broyles, who contacted me about the film, is the president of Vermont-based Right and Funny Productions. The film's executive producer, Lenore Broughton, is one of Vermont's biggest Republican donors. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" star Kevin Sorbo, who makes a cameo in the film, has gained quite a bit of notice lately for his right-of-center views.
In a recent Daily Beast interview, which is an excellent read, Marlow Stern quizzes Sorbo about his role in the Bernie film and the film's many inaccuracies when it comes to Sanders' bio, including its depiction of the young Bernie as entering into a blood pact with Josef Stalin.
So, yeah. This film has a point of view. But why should left-wingers and counterculture types have a monopoly on political satire? To explore how comedy looks from the other side, I watched Free Lunch Express and wrote a little real-time viewing diary.
Cries of "fake news" fill the political sphere. Social media companies reckon with a misinformation epidemic. Newsrooms confront their own biases. Clearly, 2020 is a pivotal year for journalism, and this year's Vermont International Film Festival is taking a long, hard look at the profession.
Running from October 23 to November 1, this year's VTIFF is all virtual, with a program of 12 films arranged in six pairs. Each pair is accompanied by a Q&A. Ticket holders have a three-day window to view each film, with the livestreamed discussion falling within that window.
Kent Osborne and Jane Adams in the Vermont-shot film Build the Wall
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The deal
No, this movie is not a pro-Trump statement (though you will find plenty of impassioned defenses of the border wall if you simply plug the title into a search engine). It’s a low-budget, low-key drama that was shot by prominent indie film figures in Hardwick, Vt.
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
This week, I’m complementing my cover story about Vermonters rediscovering the drive-in picture show in the summer of COVID-19 with a review of a 2017 documentary about some folks who were ahead of the curve.
The film At the Drive-In
Where to see it
Kanopy, Tubi, Amazon Prime Video; rentable on other platforms
The deal
Located in rural Lehighton, Pa., the Mahoning Drive-In has been showing movies since 1949. Its single screen is one of the largest CinemaScope screens — designed for the widescreen spectaculars that flourished at midcentury — on the East Coast.
On Friday, August 28, Essex Cinemas will open its indoor movie theaters for the first time since the March lockdown, with a raft of new safety precautions in place, according to Peter Edelmann, owner of the Essex Experience.
The move follows the reopening this week of select locations of AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas — national chains with no Vermont presence. "We're watching what they're doing," Edelmann said in a phone conversation.
He plans to start with a week of already released movies and "work out the logistics before bringing a new release in," Edelmann said. That could be Christopher Nolan's Tenet — which, after multiple delays, is currently scheduled for a September 3 release.
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The film Support the Girls
Where to see it
Hulu; rentable on various other platforms
The deal
Lisa (Regina Hall) is the general manager of Double Whammies, a Texas strip-mall restaurant devoted to “beer, boobs and big screens.” She cares a lot about her employees, sometimes to the point of running afoul of the owner, Cubby (James LeGros). On this particular day, a series of mishaps heats things to the boiling point.
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The film: The Goldfinch
Where to see it:
Amazon Prime Video; rentable on various platforms
The deal:
In this adaptation of Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a terrorist bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art changes everything for 13-year-old Theo Decker (Oakes Fegley). His mother is killed in the blast, setting him adrift to find a home first with the cultured matriarch (Nicole Kidman) of a Park Avenue family, then with his deadbeat dad (Luke Wilson) amid the foreclosed homes of Las Vegas, then with a sympathetic antiques dealer (Jeffrey Wright).
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The film: The Old Guard
Where to see it:
Netflix
The deal:
Her name is Andromache of Scythia (Charlize Theron), but you can call her Andy, and nothing can kill her. Stalking around in black jeans and sporting the deadpan charisma of vintage Clint Eastwood, Andy leads a team of centuries-old warriors with miraculous regenerative abilities. Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) date from the Crusades; Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) from Napoleonic France. Together they while away their seeming immortality by fighting for good causes.
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The film: Palm Springs
Where to see it:
Hulu
The deal:
At a swanky wedding in the desert, two disaffected guests meet cute — sort of. Sarah (Cristin Milioti), the sister of the bride, is drinking hard and on the verge of making a scene. Nyles (Andy Samberg), a bridesmaid’s date, isn’t particularly concerned when he catches his girlfriend (Meredith Hagner) hooking up with a groomsman. In fact, he isn’t particularly concerned about anything, including the armed mystery man (J.K. Simmons) who appears from nowhere and attacks him just as he and Sarah are about to have an ill-advised hookup of their own.
Where do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.
The series:
“The Great” (10 episodes, 2020)
Where to see it:
Hulu
The deal:
In 18th-century Russia, a teenage princess arrives at the imperial court for an arranged marriage to the young emperor. Theirs is not a match made in heaven. While the bride, Catherine (Elle Fanning), is a dreamy bookworm who worships the thinkers of the French Enlightenment, the groom, Peter III (Nicholas Hoult), is a spoiled man-child who enjoys boozing, killing things, recreational sex and more boozing.
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