Indian Cinema Goes Mainstream in “RRR”

by Chris Narloch

The letters in “RRR” stand for S.S. Rajamouli, the genius director of the film, and Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr., the two incredibly hunky Indian superstars who paly real-life freedom fighters in a fictitious adventure set before the two heroes started fighting for their country in the 1920s.

The thrilling three-hour epic is a must for action flick fans — and for gay men who enjoy seeing buff, bronzed studs with their shirts off! — and it should have been nominated for Oscars in more categories, including Best International Feature or even Best Picture. (If I had a vote for the Oscar’s top award, I would have nominated the exhilarating “RRR” over James Cameron’s turgid turd, “Avatar: The Way of Water.”)

“RRR” will have to settle for (probably) winning the Oscar in the Best Original Song category, for “Naatu Naatu,” the catchy tune that provides the soundtrack for an amazing dance battle between the two male leads that hilariously interrupts the action.

In addition to incredible stunts, “RRR” also contains a powerful plot line about the evils of British colonialism. The movie recently returned to the big screen where it belongs, and it was still playing at Sacramento’s Tower Theatre as I wrote this. However you see it, don’t miss “RRR.”

Two Terrific Titles at the Tower Plus, “Creed lll” & “Cocaine Bear”

by Chris Narloch

They say variety is the spice of life, and so I divide my moviegoing time between the indie flicks and foreign films that play at Sacramento’s Tower Theatre, and the more commercial blockbusters that fill multiplexes. Read on for my latest movie reviews.

Jonathan Majors is having a moment, with two big movies currently in theaters (this film and the new “Ant-Man” movie). The talented actor plays villains you love to hate in both movies, and he is especially good as the frenemy of Michael B. Jordan’s character in the new “Creed” sequel.

Mr. Jordan effectively takes over the reins as director this time out, for an intense story about two former friends separated by a prison sentence who are reunited in the ring for the requisite climactic boxing battle.

Rocky Balboa (and Sylvester Stallone) is nowhere to be seen onscreen this time out, and “Creed lll” is darker in tone than Stallone’s “Rocky” films, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, which boasts very strong performances from the two male leads, as well as solid supporting work by Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad. In wide theatrical release.

Cocaine Bear

Movie titles don’t mess around anymore – they tell you exactly what to expect – and lately we have had “Plane,” “Women Talking,” and now “Cocaine Bear” which is indeed about a coked-up bear that gets the munchies for the dumb denizens of northeast Georgia. Actress Elizabeth Banks found just the right script for her limited directorial skills, and she has a lot of fun staging kill scenes that are more funny than scary, although the movie is also very gory.

My favorite sequence in the film involves a speeding ambulance, the airborne bear, and actress Margo Martindale, who plays a trigger-happy, white trash park ranger to the hilt. In addition to Martindale, the mostly strong cast includes the late, great Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

I enjoy a trashy B-movie that knows that’s all it is, and on that level “Cocaine Bear,” which is very loosely inspired by a true story, delivers. In wide theatrical release.

Emily

This fascinating film is a revisionist, feminist biopic of Emily Bronte, the brilliant British novelist who wrote “Wuthering Heights” when she was in her 20s and then died a year after its publication, at the age of 30.

Emma Mackey is superb as the rebellious misfit Bronte sister – her sibling Charlotte wrote “Jane Eyre” – and handsome Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays a curate who engages in a torrid but disastrous secret affair with Emily, in the film’s imagined history of a complex and talented woman who was by all accounts private, reclusive, and difficult during her much too short life.

The Quiet Girl

Deservedly Oscar-nominated this year in the Best International Feature category, this sad stunner from Ireland follows a withdrawn nine-year-old girl who experiences a loving home for the first time when she spends the summer on a farm with a middle-aged couple, distant relatives who have lost a child.

Catherine Clinch is perfect as the young girl, saying more with her eyes and body language than all her minimal dialogue combined. “The Quiet Girl” is a simple story beautifully told.

“The Quiet Girl” and “Emily” were still playing at Sacramento’s Tower Theatre as we went to press.