A Brief History of a Long War: A Graphic (Novel) History

It didn't start in 2022. It just got a heck of a lot worse. Russia has been attempting to conquer, subjugate, and obliterate Ukraine for centuries, even though the democratic nation considerably predates its frequently belligerent neighbor. Educator Mariam Naiem takes a wide-angle perspective on Putin’s illegal war, tracing its historical roots in A Brief History of a Long War: Ukraine’s Fight Against Russian Domination, illustrated by Yulia Vus and Ivan Kypibid, which goes on-sale today.

What is now referred to as Kyivan Rus formed in the 9^th Century, ultimately evolving into modern day Ukraine. Do not let the “Rus” part fool you. Russia came much later, but they adopted much from Kyivan Rus, including Cyrillic letters. However, instead of gratitude, Russia responded with war and cultural appropriation.

Indeed, Naiem’s “brief history” is often illuminating, as when she explains, through character proxies, how Soviet propaganda successfully demonized Ukraine’s traditional folk heroes: the Cossacks. She spends considerable time on the Holodomor, the Soviet-engineered Ukraine genocide-by-famine. Frankly, she maybe gives the Soviet state too much credit for their ambitions of industrialization and the “foreign hostility” they allegedly faced. However, the horrific consequences for Ukraine are inescapable.

Educated readers should be familiar to some extent with the Holodomor—even though it is doubtful many students learn about it in American public schools. In addition, Naiem also offers nutshell lessons in less-publicized Soviet assaults on Ukrainian nationhood and identity, like “The Executed Renaissance,” the systemic purge and execution of Ukraine’s leading artists and intellectuals during the 1920s. History subsequently repeated itself in the 1960s, when the dissident activists known as the “Sixtiers” faced similar treatment from Khrushchev, the “reformer.”

Wild Cards, Season Three, on CW

Say it isn’t so. Surely Max Mitchell, the thief and con artist forced to serve as a “consultant” to the Vancouver police hasn’t gone straight? Okay, it isn’t so, but she really wanted to. She was also ready to run off with Det. Cole Ellis, her on-again-off-again partner, whose will-they-or-won’t-they romantic tension never lets up. Unfortunately, she stood him up due to some unusually messy family business, even by her standards. Yet, she still hopes to remain a reformed crime-fighter in the third season of creator Michael Konyves’s Wild Cards, which premieres tonight on CW.

Ellis is back from his head-clearing Mexican vacation and fully cleared by Internal Affairs, so Chief Li immediately re-teams him with Mitchell. She wants to explain, but finds him strangely chill with regards to her apparent rejection. Frankly, she seems more distracted than Ellis as they work the case of a murdered pool player.

Mitchell has a right to be a bit preoccupied. During the season two cliffhanger finale, she discovered her supposedly dead mother Vivienne faked her demise, after stealing 98 million from Gedeon Varga, a Keyser Soze-like crime figure. Now, she is back, to beg for all the money from the big score Mitchell and her father George Graham pulled off at the end of season two. Of course, she’ll need to cover interest too, so Varga’s intimidating associate, Tomo Hayashi suggests a little job to clear their debt: stealing a big Hopey diamond.

Understandably Mitchell’s bestie Ricky Wilson is dashed resentful to find himself caught-up in Vivienne’s mess—and out several million dollars. Regardless, Mitchell has murders to solve, starting with the pool hustler in “Rack ‘Em Up,” written by Konyves and directed by Andy Mikita. Of course, we know from past episodes Mitchell is also quite the pool shark. In fact, it is rather fun to watch this episode riff on The Color of Money, when the victim’s stake-horse, a former hustler himself, emerges as a prime suspect.

“Quit Playing Games (with My Life),” directed by Mikita and written by Kristin Slaney, leans heavily into 1990s boyband nostalgia, or at least the idea of it. None of the guest stars are notable boy band alumni, but they can carry a tune okay, and look like aging idols. The mystery isn’t terribly written, but the real murder conspicuously stands out due to lack of subtlety in the performance and direction. Regardless, a lot viewers will relate to this episode. Plus, there is some decent comic relief from Amy Goodmurphy and Michael Xavier as somewhat rival Detectives Yates and Simmons.

In Cold Light

Ava Bly’s semi-estranged father Will is a cowboy. She is the outlaw. Unbeknownst to her judgmental father, her brother Tom took over her drug-dealing network, after she went to prison. It is quite a dangerous business to keep in the family. For the Bly clan to survive, they must come together as a unit, but dying might be a lot easier in Maxime Giroux’s In Cold Light, which is now playing in theaters.

The freshly paroled Bly was jammed-up because of other people’s mistakes, but the people on the outside can always safely blame the people behind bars. She wants to take control again, but Tom and his crew think they have things well in hand. They don’t. That becomes evident when Bly narrowly escapes an ambush launched during a traffic stop, with the clear assistance of the police. Pivoting the crooked cops, led by Det. Bob Whyte, frame her for murder, turning her into a fugitive.

Of course, her ex-rodeo star father initially believes them instead of her. Nevertheless, Bly must protect old man Will, for the sake of their remaining family, Somehow, Bly must negotiate a truce with Claire, the drug lord calling the shots, but she is a little short on leverage.

In Cold Light is ambitiously gritty (somewhat like King Ivory also released by Saban), but Patrick Whistler’s screenplay holds no surprises. Frankly, it feels self-consciously serious and aggressively downbeat and dour. It is like Giroux and Whistler are ashamed by the film’s genre elements, so they compensated by draining out all the fun.

Still, the cast is definitely first-rate. Maika Monroe broods like classic film noir stars (including the hardnosed dudes). She and Troy Kotsur also quite convincingly look like daughter and father. Kotsur is aptly flinty and leathered as the old cowpuncher, but he has some truly poignant scenes down the stretch.

Arco, in Cinema Daily US

Bright, colorful, and freshly Oscar-nominated, ARCO  starts slow, but builds into a smartand surprisingly poignant animated time-travel fable. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

To Save and Project ’26: Free Jazz on Film

Jazz hasn’t been considered popular music since the mid-1940’s. Even so, Free Jazz has always been and probably shall always be jazz’s least commercial style. Yet, like all jazz musicians, Free Jazz artists consistently find greener pastures abroad. Not surprisingly, most (or perhaps all) of these Free Jazz short documentaries were filmed on foreign soil. Cecil Taylor had a high-profile concert gig in Paris. Archie Shepp was touring Africa. Plus, Sun Ra might have been playing on the planet Saturn—at least in spirit. Yet, their music—though free—is more accessible than you might expect, when their respective films screen today as part of the “Free Jazz on Film” program, during MoMA’s 2026 To Save and Project festival at MoMA.

Phil Niblock’s The Magic Sun might even be more experimental than Sun Ra’s music. Using stark reverse negative black-and-white cinematography and extreme close-ups, Niblock captures Sun Ra and his Arkestra in performance. It is not your grandpa’s big band jazz, but it is big—and a band. It is also funky and psychedelic. This is a great example of why Sun Ra was a huge influence on bands like Sonic Youth.

At seventeen minutes, it certainly constitutes a short film. However, you could also think of it as the Sun Ra video that should have aired on MTV.  Even today, it looks cutting edge, but it also serves as relatively easy entry point into Free Jazz. However, Sun Ra was always just as much a big band leader as he was a Free Jazz artist. Indeed, his final A&M records were largely straight-ahead, but still funky.

Ghaouti Bendeddouche’s We Came Back (Archie Shepp Chez Tauregs) has always been hard to find but the live recording of the Panafrican Festival performance it documents has been much easier to get your hands on. It was a celebration of culture and radical politics, but fortunately the speeches and sloganeering Bendeddouche excerpts are relatively bland out of context.

Arguably, this features the most stirring music of the three-film block. Shepp starts out quite free, playing with the anguished expressiveness that defined his style. However, the rhythm and instrumentation of the Yoruba and Berber musicians accompanying him impose structure that brings out the best in Shepp.

In fact, Shepp could play it straight quite eloquently. His two duo standards albums with Horace Parlan, Trouble in Mind and Goin’ Home, are bluesey and truly beautiful.

Gerard Patris’s Great Rehearsals: Cecil Taylor in Paris is exactly what the title suggests. This is Taylor at his prime, with an accomplished and highly compatible combo, including Jimmy Lyons on alto, Alan Silva on bass, and Andrw Cyrille on drums. This is as free as the triple feature is going to get, but the first two films should partially acclimate viewers.

Return to Silent Hill: The Third Film, Based on the Second Game

The Konami videogames never explicitly identified Silent Hill’s state, but it was generally understood to be somewhere in New England, even though it was inspired by the real-life ghost town, Centralia, PA, which was evacuated due to toxic coal mines fires that continue smoldering decades later. However, the first two films located the nefarious burg in West Virginia. Now, the third installment geographically shifts the ominous town to Maine, more in keeping with game lore. Regardless, Silent Hill is a nice place to be from—far from. Nevertheless, James Sunderland revisits his late wife's hometown after several years away, when he receives a mysterious letter from her in Christophe Gans’s Return to Silent Hill, which opens today in theaters.

Presumably, Mary Crane died during the environmental disaster that devastated Silent Hill, but the details were sketchy, so Sunderland still holds out hope. Of course, the letter’s inexplicable arrival clearly suggests a sinister force is luring the grieving artist into Silent Hill’s supernatural peril.

Obviously, this is not the picturesque Silent Hill Sunderland remembers. The air is now foul and cloudy, while monsters roam the ruins, definitely including Pyramid Head, who has been slightly redesigned since the previous two films. Yet, we can tell from flashbacks, evil always lurked below the surface in Silent Hill. That was especially true of the sinister cult founded by Crane’s father, who acted like they had been evicted from the Dakota Building (a.k.a. The Bramford in Rosemary’s Baby).

Naturally, Sunderland eventually finds his way to the Silent Hill hospital, because faceless nurses are an iconic element of the games. Along the way, he encounters Maria, a human survivor, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Crane, except she carries herself in a much more provocative manner. Indeed, she seems torn between helping and seducing Sunderland.

Return to Silent Hill is set in the same cinematic world as the first two films, but it adapts the storyline of the second game release—relatively faithfully. Unfortunately, the most notable deviations devised by Gans and co-screenwriters Sandra Vo-Anh and Will Schneider are uniformly bad, because they dispel the mood and kill the tension. Arguably, the new bits might even undermine franchise mythology, depending how viewers interpret them.

It is strange Gans took such a misstep, because has always maintained a good rep with fans for his understanding of and enthusiasm for the franchise. Indeed, Return does a lot of things right from the perspective of the fanbase, especially the score penned by Akira Yamaoka, the longtime composer for the games. Loyalists will likely also appreciate seeing Evie Templeton reprise her role as Laura, the strange street waif who somehow survived the town’s horrors, from the recent remake of Silent Hill 2, the game (not the movie).

The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of Merlin, on Daily Wire+

If King Arthur wasn’t Christian, why was the quest for the Holy Grail so important to him? The truth is, we’ve become so accustomed to the revisionist King Arthur, we’ve lost sight of what his legend really meant for centuries. He was a defender of the Christian faith against pagan savages. Stephen R. Lawhead’s Arthurian cycle re-centered the Once and Future King in a Christian context. Of course, that is precisely the reason his novels became popular. Showrunner-co-director Jeremy Boreing adapts the first two Pendragon novels, Taliesin and Merlin, in the new seven-episode series, The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of Merlin, which premieres today on Daily Wire+.

Like any good epic, Pendragon Cycle starts with the origins of the origins. In this case, the supposedly cursed Elphin rescues a foundling from the salmon weir. Recognized as a child of destiny by the druid seer, Taliesin becomes Elphin’s redemption. Yet, as the grand tragedy requires, even the grown Taliesin’s remarkable powers of song cannot save his people from the pagan hordes.

No Arthur yet. Even Merlin remains one generation away. Eventually, he will be played by Tom Sharp, but we only see him fleetingly in a brief flashforward during the two episodes provided for review. However, Merlin’s parents are impressive—and their romance will be quite a story.

Merlin’s father will be Taliesin, who both curses and saves his people when he declines a Faustian offer from one of the nasty “Old Ones.” His mother will be Charis, a princess of Atlantis, who performs for the island city-state’s patron deity in the gladiatorial arena. She too rejects the enslavement demanded by her supposed demigod. Of course, we know what happens to Atlantis.

Consequently, Taliesin and Charis meet in Roman (for now) Briton, which is steadily falling to the barbarians. Elphin’s people have already been displaced, so they seek sanctuary on lands currently controlled by Charis’s father, Avallach, the exiled King of Atlantis. There is great friction between Elphin and Avallach. Sparks also fly between Taliesin and Charis, but it is a whole different dynamic. However, that does not sit well with Charis’s jealous sister, Morgain, who already dabbles in dangerous necromancy.

Indeed, Morgain is the most recognizably Arthurian character at this point, but she should be more than enough to keep Round Table fans hooked. Frankly, Rose Reid and Emree Franklin are terrific as the Atlantean sisters. Seriously, Boreing’s adaptation of Lawhead faithfully retains the Christian themes, but it is not prudish. Frankly, there is more heat going on here than in The Winter King the gritty Arthurian retelling based on Bernard Cornwell’s books. Taliesin’s Faustian temptation scene is also executed with the intensity of a quality horror film.

Reid and Franklin deserve to be breakout stars for their work in Pendragon. Yet, James Arden still holds his own appearing opposite them, singing and fighting with conviction, as Taliesin. The principal casting is truly first-rate, while the supporting players deliver suitably colorful, professional-grade-plus performances. Duran Fulton Brown is a particularly notable standout, portraying Elphin over a span of several decades.

The Curse, on Viaplay

Curses are usually the stuff of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, but occasionally Church clergy will indulge—usually with good reason. For instance, Bishop Dunbar famously cursed the border reivers. Similarly, the Pope supposedly cursed Boguslaw Brzezinski for stealing a painting with healing properties (stealing is a sin, after all). Unfortunately, the curse still plagues Brzezinski’s descendants. That would be Monia and Nastka and their mother and grandma. Tired of their constant misfortune, the current surviving Brzezinski progenies try to break their family hex, through some extreme (and hopefully) comedic measures in Tomasz Konecki’s The Curse, which premieres tomorrow on Viaplay.

Monia was supposed to leave on a Parisian vacation, but, somehow, she sabotaged it, as usual. Instead, she decides to visit her mom and grandmother, but is disappointed to find her irresponsible sister Nastka is also cashing with them. She too has suffered more of her usual mishaps. Finally, grandma levels with them. It isn’t their fault, she explains as the backyard gazebo burns down for the sixth or seventh time. It all goes back to old Boguslaw and the Pope.

As the conservative, responsible sister, Monia is initially skeptical, but soon she and Nastka start digging through archives in search of the painting, in hopes of returning it to the Vatican. Conveniently, for the film’s budget, the fateful canvas happens to hang in the local parish church, where it draws a steady stream of pilgrims, since it really seems to work. Of course, the priest takes appropriate precautions with a relic of such power and value. That leaves option two, sacrificing the oldest living family member. That would be the sisters’ semi-estranged aunt, who seems completely unaffected by the curse.

The term “cursed” holds dark supernatural significance, but as a genre film, Konecki’s Curse makes Hallmark’s Good Witch look like The Exorcist. Everything is played for laughs rather than scares. Unfortunately, the humor is always quite broad and usually very shticky. Frankly, most viewers will groan more than laugh.

Steal, on Prime Video

The truth is governments steal from pension funds all the time. It’s politely called inflation. You could say these armed robbers are more honest about it. They force the money managers at Lochwood Capital to transfer four billion Pounds to an offshore account. Obviously, that sort of job requires an inside person. Zara Dunne would like to know who that is. Technically, she was the one that facilitated the larcenous transaction, admittedly at gunpoint. Consequently, her position becomes rather awkward during the aftermath in creator-writer Sotiris Nikias’s six-episode Steal, which premieres tomorrow on Prime Video.

The actual heist only takes one episode. Somehow, the gang knew Lochwood had temporarily moved 4 billion into cash accounts—and they chose the one day of the week when the executive committee meets, so they could approve the transfer (under duress). They still needed someone in operations to assure the bank everything was on the up and up. Dunne’s office pal Luke started the transfer, but when he froze, she stepped up. Initially, everyone was grateful for her quick thinking, but once the armed robbers left, the dire implications—for union and government pensioners—inevitably set in.

DCI Rhys Covac sounds reassuring while interviewing witnesses, but he has almost no leads to follow, thanks to the gang’s precautions, like prosthetics that defeat facial recognition software. It also seems like Covac is being set-up to fail, especially when MI-5 muscles in on the case. The DCI must also deal with the pressure of his gambling debts, which he must pay-off in seven days, or they will be sold off to underworld leg-breakers.

It is pretty obvious to DCI Covac and Darren Yoshida, the forensic financial crime investigator, that Dunne is not a particularly reliable witness, for various reasons, including her multiple personal and professional grievances. Nevertheless, Dunne reluctantly starts cooperating with Covac, after witnessing strong-arm tactics from both the robbers and MI-5.

Despite the tiresome whining over capital markets (as if any income not generated toiling in a factory or on a farm is necessarily illegitimate), Steal is grabby caper thriller that focuses on the getaway rather than the step-by-step planning and execution. The shadowy political and corporate intrigue duly keeps viewers guessing. Covac is also compellingly flawed. However, Nikias so thoroughly establishes Dunne’s unlikable loser status, spending screentime with her gets to be a real chore.

Mother of Flies, on Shudder

Mickey considers Solvieg a healer. The locals call her a witch. This is not a case of potato-potahto. Viewers can tell from some of the flashbacks that the locals are probably more right than wrong. Either way, Mickey entrusts herself to the strange woman’s care in the latest film from the Adams Filmmaking Family (John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser), Mother of Flies, which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Sadly, Mickey’s cancer has returned while she was away at college—aggressively. Exhausted with conventional treatments, she has convinced her father Jake to accompany her while she visits Solveig. Of course, Jake is suspicious, but Micky assures him Solveig is not trying to swindle her. She didn’t even advertise or pitch her services in a commercial sense. According to Mickey, Solveig came to her in a dream.

Jake is still skeptical, as well he should be. He doesn’t take to Solveig’s vegetarian cooking, while some of the “healer’s” “treatments” look quite distressing. Yet, Mickey believes Solveig’s weird occult remedies must be working. Awkwardly, the college student starts to resent her father’s doubts, arguing they undermine the faith Solveig’s treatment requires.

The Adamses have confirmed Mother of Flies was inspired by their own family history of cancer survival, but most viewers could guess as much just from watching. Every frame rings with uncomfortable authenticity, while a good deal of dialogue sounds adapted from memory. It is definitely one of the most emotionally sophisticated horror films of the year. To some extent, the serious, very mortal issues of mortality overshadow the supernatural horror that should drive the film. However, Solveig is always massively creepy.

The Internship: A Strike Back Reunion

They were developed to be a little army of Hannas. As usual, they don’t like the CIA anymore than Saoirse Ronan’s character in the Joe Wright movie did. However, it is the Russian FSB that is out to kill them in James Bamford’s The Internship, which is now available on VOD.

The ironically named “Internship” was the brainchild of rogue CIA director Henry Byrne (the same ethically flexible spymaster in The Painter, also produced by Steven Paul, played by Jon Voight, who only appears in this film as a dossier picture).  Since then, it has been mothballed by his successors and the “interns” scattered to the winds. However, the FSB kept tabs on the now mature super-spies produced by Byrne’s secret program. Frankly, FSB director Dimitri Lebedev has been somewhat obsessed, because Russian attempts at their own Internship always ended in the subjects’ complete madness.

Tired of dodging FSB goons, “Catalyst” breaks into the former KGB headquarters to steal their intel. However, it turns into a bloodbath, igniting a war between the Internship and the FSB, in the film’s best action sequence. Learning Catalyst is the daughter she gave up for adoption (before enlisting in the military), high ranking CIA Officer Candace Dalton requests the help of her former colleague (and former lover) Nelson, to find Catalyst and the other Interns who joined up with her.

Nelson ended his Agency career when he knocked-out cold Deputy Director Dick Jones. He admits it was a bad career move, even though most of thir colleagues agreed he had it coming (after all, he has the same name as Ronny Cox’s character in Robocop).

J.D. Zeik’s screenplay (based on Paul’s story) is pretty terrible PR for the CIA, which comes across as decidedly Machiavellian. If its any consolation, it depicts the FSB as being even more ruthless and devious. However, they also come out of the film looking much more competent than their CIA rivals. Indeed, if viewers actually care about America’s national security, the “surprise” ending is a total downer.

However, fans of Strike Back might appreciate The Internship for reuniting Sullivan Stapleton and Philip Winchester, as Nelson and Jones. Stapleton clearly has the more enjoyable assignment as the likably grungy, food truck burger-grilling Nelson.

To Save and Project ’26: The Ozu Diaries

His films are distinguished by their quiet calm, which rather counterintuitively makes him one of the most easily identifiable auteurs of the 20^th Century. You can recognize a Yasujiro Ozu film in under 30 seconds. Even sixty-plus years after his death. nobody does family dramas better. Daniel Raim pays tribute to the master, using his own words in The Ozu Diaries, which screens tomorrow as part of the 2026 To Save and Project festival at MoMA.

After his death, scholars discovered dozens of Ozu’s journals, from which most of Koi Ohori’s narration was drawn. As the revered filmmaker recalled in his journals, when he fell in love with cinema, it was not considered respectable work by Japanese society. Young Ozu also rarely saw his father, who left seeking work in Tokyo, much like Chishu Ryu’s character in There Was a Father.

Fulfilling his childhood ambition, Ozu did indeed find employment in the movie industry. Ironically, he allegedly earned his opportunity to direct through what is now referred to as the “Curry Rice Incident, illustrated by Patrick Mate’s original manga-style art. According to the legend, Shochiku studio chairman Shiro Kido was perversely impressed by the fit the very junior Ozu threw in the company cafeteria, when served after a senior director, despite ordering first.

As cineastes probably know, Ozu was the last major Japanese director to transition from silent film to talkies. Yet, Raim’s small but distinguished battery of experts make a good case his perfection of silent techniques directly shaped his mature style. Unfortunately, Ozu’s transition to sound was also delayed by his WWII military service, which Raim chronicles at length. However, he mostly focuses on Ozu’s enlisted comradery with his friend and fellow film director Sadao Yamanaka, rather than the details of their armed duties—although he carefully establishes Ozu was transferred to Nanjing after the notorious massacre.

Although small in number, Raim’s carefully selected assembly of talking heads nicely compliment the diary voice-overs. Hearing from the great Kyoko Kagawa adds an apostolic connection to Tokyo Story, which is especially notable considering how few thesps from that era yet remain with us. In addition, we hear from accomplished filmmakers like Wim Wenders, Luc Dardenne, Tsai Ming-liang, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who all were influenced by the master, to varying degrees.

The Nowhere Man, on Starz

Lukas Nkosi is a bit like the South African Reacher. He has some serious commando experience, but he has been living a little rough. Unfortunately, Nkosi has not yet achieved the kind of Zen we associate with Reacher, especially when Lee Child’s signature character binges diner food. Ruby, the devout mercy shelter director has put him on a more righteous path, but rather ill-advisedly, bad guys keep forcing Nkosi to revert to his old ways in showrunner-writer-director Gareth Crocker’s six-part The Nowhere Man, which premieres today on Starz (only in the app, not linear).

It is hard to keep up a shelter, so Nkosi often helps by scrounging second-hand goods to fix, sell, or incorporate into his industrial sculpture. Being compassionate, Dr. Neo volunteers to rummage around her tony airbnb for stuff to donate (surely the owners won’t mind), but as Nkosi waits unobtrusively, a gang of ruffians force their way in. We soon learn they work for convicted drug kingpin Phumza Sithole, Neo’s ex-husband. When she discovered the truth about Sithole, she testified against him—and has been running ever since.

Initially, Nkosi is reluctant to get further involved, but Ruby encourages him to use his skills for those in trouble—like the Equalizer. Sithole offers further motivation through his reckless violence. Of course, other criminals will also need Nkosi’s attention, including the proprietors of an underground fight club preying on the shelter’s clients, in the third somewhat standalone-ish episode. Yet, probably the worst villains turn out to be Nkosi’s former associates from his merc days.

Awkwardly, judging whether his old comrade Jonah is also a threat will be tricky. For years, Nkosi tormented himself over his friend’s presumed death. Given his harrowing experiences, Jonah understandably remains deeply traumatized, but he often lashes out in erratic and illogical ways.

Although never ground-breaking, Nowhere Man is a consistently entertaining testosterone-driven action series. Honestly, Nkosi definitely has his Reacher-worthy moments, in nifty combat sequences deftly devised by fight choreographer Lubabalo Nontwana. Frankly, the series does not inspire much confidence in South African law enforcement, since there is hardly ever a cop in sight. Indeed, some of the best stunt work comes during Sithole’s prison break, which is largely facilitated by prison guards.

120 Bahadur: Heroism in the India-China War

Why would any country ever trust the CCP's PRC? After all, India considered China a close friend and ally, yet the Communist regime launched the 1962 India-China War for the purpose of annexing resource-rich territory. Granted, that was over sixty years ago, but the same oppressive Communist Party still rules with an iron fist. Since then, relations between the two BRIC’s have been interesting. Likewise, the results of the short war were complicated. It is generally conceded that India lost, but it would have been much worse were it not for Maj. Shaitan Singh Bhati’s last stand at the Battle of Rezang La, dramatized in Razneesh “Razy” Ghai’s 120 Bahadur, which releases tomorrow for Prime subscribers in most territories.

Much to India’s shock and outrage (made clear by Amitabh Bachchan’s Morgan Freeman-esque narration), China used a flimsy pretext to invade across the Northeast border, near Bhutan. Fortunately, the resourceful and inspiring Singh had been assigned to Charlie Company, but, ironically, he was put in command of the storied Kumaon Regiment, which by that point, consisted solely of green provincial recruits, who had never experienced snow or high altitude.

The Regiment also gets a new radio operator, Sepoy Ramchander Yadav, transferred straight from a quiet office assignment. He just begs for regimental hazing, even though Singh discourages such practices. Naturally, the Major immediately recognizes the narrow Rezang La pass as the spot the Red Army will press their advance on the crucial Chushul Airfield. Consequently, only Singh’s 120 men will be there to stop them.

There might be some spin added, but screenwriter Rajiv G. Menon’s presentation of the Battle of Rezang La largely conforms to accepted history. As a winter storm approached, the 120 held off the thousand-plus-strong Red Army long enough to close the window on Chushul. It would also take several months for the Indian Army to determine their fate, because the snow-covered battlefield had frozen solid, even though the fictional composite Yadav lived to tell their story.

Obviously, 120 Bahadur never opened in China. Most likely, the studio never even tried. Somewhat oddly, the regular Indian non-commissioned soldiers rarely refer to the PRC directly. However, Ghai pulls no punches when depicting the carnage left behind when the PLA massacres the entire village of Chagga. The film also suggests Mao micromanaged every tactical decision of the Red Army, through his ventriloquist dummy intermediary, General Gao.

Don’t panic. There are also several musical numbers. Mostly they are Singh’s flashbacks to his courtship of Shugan Kanwari Singh and their early wedded bliss. Frankly, Ghai skillfully integrates them, so they are not as tonally jarring as you would assume. However, none of the tunes is particularly memorable.

Still, the dance numbers certainly prove Farhan Akhtar’s versatility. He has decent moves and seriously steely screen presence. Although not as buff as Salman Khan, he has a Jon Bernthal vibe that serves the picture well. Indeed, Akhtar’s forcefulness is intrinsic to the film’s best scene, introducing viewers to Singh, as he faces down a PLA sniper.

Ponies, on Peacock

During the Cold War, Communist propaganda trumpeted the high numbers of women licensed to practice medicine in the USSR. They neglected to mention, as a profession, doctors lacked the sort of status they were afforded in the West (and faced a constant threat of purges). In reality, Soviet Socialism utterly failed to liberate, economically or sexually. However, the Party’s misogyny becomes key to two new CIA recruits’ covers. As the widows of suddenly deceased embassy staffers (well known to be CIA officers), the regime considers them persons of no interest (PONI’s) in co-creators Susanna Fogel & David Iserson’s eight-part Ponies, which premieres tomorrow on Peacock.

Chris Grant and Tom Hasbeck were working a really big source when, suddenly, the flight nobody knew they were taking crashed over Siberia. The grieving widows, Bea Grant and Twila Hasbeck were quickly ushered out of the country. However, as they puzzled over the mysterious official story, they convince Moscow Station Chief Dane Walter to usher them back into Russia. As returning embassy clerical staff, they could investigate without arousing the KGB’s suspicions. To the Commies, they are just women and therefore PONI’s.

It turns out they complement each other better than Walter expected. Grant speaks Russian fluently and is well versed in Russian history and culture. She can also operate the latest 1970s office devices. Hasbeck doesn’t know any of that, but she has the street smarts and survival instincts clandestine operatives need. Together, they generate regular stress headaches for Walter. However, they regularly uncover fresh intel, even including some secrets Walter hoped to withhold from them.

The stakes really start to rise when Grant starts dating Andrei Vasiliev, under her Belorussian school teacher alias. Technically married, Vasiliev is a ruthless counter-intelligence officer, leading (and exploiting) the KGB’s industrialized Kompromat campaign. He also seems to be responsible for a rash of murdered sex-workers (the Soviet definitely did not call them that), which Hasbeck sleuths out, despite the state media’s strenuous efforts to sweep it under the rug.

Throughout Ponies, Hasbeck and Grant kvetch like Peter Falk and Alan Arkin in The In-Laws. Yet, Fogel, Iserson, and their co-writers never let the bickering banter overshadow the Cold War intrigue. This is surprisingly sophisticated skullduggery, that springs several clever surprises as it chugs along. For the most part, it largely casts the Communists as the villains. Without question, Vasiliev is unambiguous cruel and unpredictably violent. Plus, it is crystal clear from the first minutes, Communism has been an abject failure, judging from the depressed and dilapidated conditions in Moscow.

Eventually, Fogel and Iserson start revealing the CIA’s ethical flexibility, but by that time, Vasiliev has racked up an impressive body-count and menaced countless more. In an unnecessary, unforced error, George H.W. Bush deserves a better depiction than he receives here (played by Patrick Fabian), in really every respect. Regardless, the series clearly gives free enterprise the overwhelming advantage over socialism. Unfortunately, the careful plotting starts to unravel down the stretch and the ultimate conclusion is deeply unsatisfying (and quite far from conclusive).

All You Need is Kill, in Cinema Daily US

Based on the same light novel that inspired EDGE OF TOMORROW, GKIDS' anime feature ALL YOU NEED IS KILL is an enormously entertaining action-driven science fiction time-loop, rndered with striking visuals and dazzling colors. CINEMA DAILY US review up here. 

The Choral Opens Nationally

Dr. Henry Guthrie is not exactly Mr. Holland. As bandleaders go, he is not the nurturing type. Maybe it was all the time he spent in Germany. Of course, that made his return to England rather awkward after WWI broke out. Still, he knows music, so he is the most qualified candidate to lead a smalltown Yorkshire choir. Yet, even Guthrie’s keen musical mind struggles with the challenges of retention and repertoire, thanks to wartime complications in Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral, which opens nationally this Friday (having already opened in New York).

Much to the frustration of Alderman Bernard Duxbury, the director of the Ramsden Choir just enlisted out of patriotic fervor. Duxbury happens to be the choir’s featured tenor, not coincidentally because he foots the bills. There are not a lot of able-bodied men with any kind of musical knowledge left. Guthrie happens to be one of them. Despite his initial protests, Gutherie reluctantly accepts—and immediately starts trimming the deadwood that had been grandfathered into the choir. That does not yet include Duxbury, because there aren’t any better options.

The community seems rather mixed on Gutherie, judging from the note wrapped around the brick that crashed through the choir’s window. Like it or not, Guthrie is the director, so he and Duxbury hope anglicizing their repertoire will satisfy the malcontents. That means cutting Bach (and also Mozart and Beethoven), in favor of the very British (and very demanding) Sir Edward Elgar.

Maybe The Choral could lead to a fresh wave of popularity for Elgar’s compositions, but this seems unlikely. His progressive sacred music basically has something to put off just about every end of the contemporary listening spectrum. However, the way Gutherie’s working-class choral embraces Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius is quite uplifting. (It sort of brings to mind the manner in which patrons of the Louisville Orchestra rallied around contemporary classical music in the mid-20^th Century.)

Nevertheless, The Choral is quite predictable in many respects. Alan Benett’s screenplay often appears to be repurposing elements scavenged from Brassed Off. Of course, they will stage their concert—no matter what opposition they might face.

What sets the film apart happens outside of the rehearsal hall. Hytner quite poignantly depicts the devastating impact of the war on the naïve Ramsden community. Arguably, if The Choral had been more of a snapshot-like portrait of the village, as their collective optimism turns to grief, much in the Terence Davies tradition, it would have resonated far more deeply.

Du Welz’s Maldoror

Frankly, Inspector Clouseau inspires more confidence than these Belgian cops. At least he always thought he was working with his colleagues to catch criminals, albeit in his own incompetent and delusional way. In the case of Marcel Dedieu (transparently based on the real-life Marc Dutroux), the cops spend more time fighting over bureaucratic turf and protecting sources than investigating the abduction of two little girls, Cecile and Elina. Disillusioned and disgusted, Gendarme Paul Chartier quickly turns into a loose cannon, who becomes a danger to the guilty, the enablers, and himself, in Fabrice Du Welz’s Maldoror, which releases Friday on VOD.

In the late 90’s, the Belgian justice ministry finally resolved to merge the three Belgian state police forces: the Gendarmerie, the National Police, and the Judicial Police. Ironically, this only intensified the rivalries between the three forces. During the investigation of the missing girls, the respective police forces barely talk to each other, despite their overlapping jurisdictions. Resentment starts to boil over in the Italian community, as Chartier knows only too well. His fiancée, Gina Ferrara hails from a large Sicilian family.

In a bitter twist of irony, Chartier’s Gendarmerie commander, Col. Hinkel launches an investigation into Dedieu, a convicted sex offender, dubbed Operation Maldoror, but insists on narrowing the focus to stolen goods. Consequently, Chartier is absolutely forbidden to look in Dedieu’s cellar, which supposedly does not exist in the first place.

Shockingly, Du Welz and co-screenwriter follow the documented facts of the Dutroux far more faithfully than viewers would like to believe. The most egregious derelictions of duty are all based in fact.

As a result, viewers easily understand Chartier’s outrage. Anthony Bajon does not look like a typical action movie hero. However, we quickly understand his unprepossessing physicality forced him to adopt a pugnaciousness that he has trouble dialing down. It is a twitchy, nervy, acutely tragic performance.

Likewise, Sergi Lopez (whom Francophiles might recognize from prestige pictures like Leaving) has never been scummier or scarier than he is here, portraying Dedieu. There is nothing to humanize or excuse him. Yet, he is always terrifyingly believable.

Godzilla: Heist, the Comic Story

Godzilla is surprisingly fast for his size and he is always furious. Still, he is not an obvious accomplice for a caper, because he is impossible to control. Nevertheless, there is no denying he can create quite a distraction. That is what Jai will count on in the collected issues of Van Jensen’s Godzilla: Heist, illustrated by Kelsey Ramsay, which goes on-sale this Tuesday.

The highly motivated Jai discovered how to use radio frequencies to lure Godzilla to a location, like a casino in Macau, and to employ an energy beam focus his fury on a specific area, like a vault. Jai’s fleet of spherical drones also help lead Godzilla back to the sea, once he has secured the loot. It goes off like clockwork thanks to the big guy, but it is only a warm up for the main event.

Soon, a professional crew of hardboiled thieves and mercs approaches Jai for help with a really big score. They don’t explain why, but they want Godzilla’s help (via Jai) to break into a vault underneath the British Defense Ministry at Whitehall. Jai plays it cool, but that was his plan all along.

Obviously, Jai intends to double-cross them at some point, so it is a safe bet the Roman Letter Gang (Alpha, Beta, Kappa, Chi) would double-cross him too. The question is where will the inevitable triple-cross come into play. Of course, none of this matters to Godzilla, who will be smashing things regardless.

These are bulish days for Godzilla. On the big screen, Godzilla Minus One was a breakout hit, while in comics, Godzilla has encountered Marvel and DC superheroes—and even the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Jensen’s Heist is a clever concept and the execution clearly shows a deep understanding and affection for the Kaiju genre. It is fun in an aptly capery way, but Jensen still addresses the human collateral damage (including a lot of British servicemen guarding Whitehall).

Frankly, Jai is really the only character who gets much development, but his motivations are fully explained. Most of the bad guys are basically stock figures, but seriously, they are going to be overshadowed by Godzilla anyway.

Bookish, on PBS

Believe it or not, you can find a lot of helpful information in books. This wasn’t such a shocking statement in 1946, back when people were smarter. Gabriel Book would have been considered intelligent during any era, but being a second-hand bookseller sounds like an unlikely background for an amateur detective to many post-War observers. However, Book has connections that help him investigate unusual cases, whether the police like it or not (spoiler alert: they usually don’t). It all seems particularly strange to his new assistant, especially since he has no idea why Book hired him in creator-star Mark Gatiss’s six-episode Bookish, which premieres tomorrow on PBS.

Jack Blunt doesn’t know anything about bookselling. However, he knows a little about crime, having just been released from prison. Regardless, he does not know Book from Adam, so he has no idea why he was hired sight-unseen. Clearly, the Books (Gabriel and Trottie) have some kind of connection to the moody (but essentially decent) young man. Of course, Gatiss takes his time revealing their secret histories, until around the end of episode four.

In the meantime, there will be mysteries to solve, like the suicide of Harkup, the grouchy old pharmacist, which isn’t really a suicide in the first two-parter, “Slightly Foxed.” Arguably, these episodes best capitalize on the post-War setting, because the murder somehow also involves the discovery of an ancient plague pit, unearthed beneath the rubble of a London Blitz bomb-site.

“Deadly Nitrate” evokes the spirit of vintage 1940s-Cecil Beaton British movie glamor, without actually depicting any real-life stars. Instead, a fan dies from poisoned chocolates intended for either Stewart Howard or Sandra Dare, the fictional reigning sweethearts of the screen. Part one starts strong, but part two bogs down in a frustrating preoccupation with Book’s sexuality, which starts to sabotage the cozy mystery vibe.

Unfortunately, both parts of “Such Devoted Sisters” take these identity themes even further. Having temporarily fallen out with Book, Blunt accepts a position as a bodyguard for expatriate Balkan princesses dispossessed by the Communist regime. It seems their persons really did need guarding, when a caddish playboy war vet suddenly croaks after drinking a cocktail mixed for one of the princesses. However, Gatiss and co-writers Matthew Sweet and Tim Morris have far less sympathy for the refugee royals then they do for Eadie Rattle, a stridently Marxist hotel maid—even though by this time, the Soviet horrors were already coming to light.

A show like Bookish is at its best when it is light and frothy. Generally, that is how Gatiss plays Book too, emphasizing his erudition. Yet, he and the series are undermined by the intrusive class warfare and sexual orientation politics. Indeed, the concluding two-parter gets downright lectury, whereas the only social issue Bookish should fixate on is literacy.

Primate, in Cinema Daily US

PRIMATE probably won't earn endorsements from many zoologists, but it is trashy fun, thanks to the deranged eneergy of the practical effects. Mostly that means the guy in the killer chimp suit. CINEMA DAILY US review up here.

Oscar Shaw, Starring Michael Jai White

The Disney Company is sure to love this movie, since the leader of the drug-dealing Park Side Killers gang dubbed himself “Tron.” Possibly, he was referring to another Tron, like a vacuum tube magnetron or a public weighing station. Regardless, Tron is very bad for business for the bodegas he shakes down and terrorizes. Sharp dressing Oscar Shaw is appalled by their cruelty, but the ex-cop involuntarily retired from law enforcement. Yet, things get so bad his conscience will not allow him to stay on the sidelines in R. Ellis Frazier & Justin Nesbitt’s Oscar Shaw, which releases today on VOD.

Any sane police captain would want cops played by Michael Jai White and Tyrese Gibson on the streets, busting criminals. However, their thoroughly corrupt boss Archer scapegoated them—and then got promoted to commander.

The unnamed city has not fared well since then. Tron and his accomplices just shot the owner of Shaw’s favorite bodega and kidnapped his daughter. The last straw breaks when his former partner Ray Jay is killed in a highly suspicious home invasion. Nothing was stolen, but they also killed Jay’s cat, Buster (don’t worry, it isn’t shown on-screen).

Soon, Shaw is asking tough questions, attracting the attention of Tron’s Killers. Nevertheless, Shaw devotes equal time (if not more) to straightening out Andre, a basically good kid, stuck with an abusive addict for a father.

Although Frazier and Nesbitt fail to capitalize on White’s martial arts chops, Oscar Shaw still definitely lands well within the action genre. However, the most memorable scenes are not fights or shootouts. Instead, they viscerally and graphically depict the horrifying reality of street crime. The menacing of Jintao Kwon’s bodega-owning family and the overdose death of a young single mother are deeply disturbing to witness—as indeed they should be.

To some extent, Oscar Shaw appears to be an attempt at a grittier, revisionist vehicle for White. However, it lacks the depth of Eastwood’s Gran Torino, or even more thoughtful and mature Van Damme movies, like The Bouncer and Darkness of Man (both of which are unfairly underappreciated). Still, the ambition is appreciated.

When Fall is Coming, on OVID.tv

After butter, garlic, and mirepoix, French cuisine really ought to have some champignons. Michelle Giraud certainly agrees. Unfortunately, her overemotional grown daughter, Valerie Tessier (but soon to be Giraud again) takes it poorly when her mother serves her some bad mushrooms. Having long nursed resentments against her Giraud, Tessier uses the incident as a pretext to forbid her contact with her treasured grandson. However, that spitefulness produces unintended tragedy in Francois Ozon’s When Fall is Coming, which premieres today on OVID.tv.

Neither Giraud nor young Lucas Tesssier ate the mushrooms, so they were fine, while his mom needed a good stomach-pumping and a round of anti-biotics. Branding Giraud irresponsible, she bars her contact with Lucas. Giraud’s old crony Marie-Claude Perrin was the real mushroom forager, so she blames herself for not checking Giraud’s basket.

Perrin has plenty to deal with as well. The two elderly women share a scandalous past their provincial town will never let them forget. Tessier responded by hating her mother, whereas Perrin’s son Vincent lashed out at their detractors. That did not work out well for him, but he has finally been released after serving several years in prison. Now that he is out, Giraud generously hires him to help with landscaping and related manly chores. In fact, she seems to get on better with him than his skeptical mother, who fears backsliding. Maybe she isn’t wrong, because Perrin will be responsible for the film’s shocking turning-point.

When Fall is Coming is a perfect example of the thriller-that-really-isn’t-a-thriller that has become one of Ozon’s many specialties. It is both sophisticated and slightly cynical, displaying the quiet refinement that distinguishes his best films. Yet, its bloodless politeness can also be frustrating.

I Was a Stranger, in The Epoch Times

Despite preachy advocacy, I WAS A STRANGER, from Angel Studios, viscrally depicts the old (Iranian-backed) regime's brutality in Aleppo and maintains a gripping sense of tension. EPOCH TIMES review up here.

The Game, on BritBox

Unlike the scandal-tarred and cowardly West Midlands police leadership, Huw Miller was a conscientious, well-intentioned cop. Yet, he can’t even retire properly. Maddeningly, the serial killer who got away continues to humiliate him. Still, his up-close poking and prodding might open up an opportunity for redemption in creator-writer Tim Grieves’ four-episode The Game, which premieres tomorrow on BritBox.

Somewhat reluctantly, Miller retires in his mid-50’s and only DS Jenny Atkins is sad to see him go. Sad is a strong word. It is more like she feels sorry for him. Miller was once a rising star, but he made a dog’s dinner of the Ripton Stalker. Basically, the killer ran circles around Miller, tricking him into arresting an innocent man, while mocking him with a constant stream of insulting letters.

There is still a lot of golf to be played. Unfortunately, Frank Byrne, Miller’s neighbor and partner on the links, soon dies in a supposed overdose the he finds suspicious. The ex-cop soon realizes Patrick Harbottle, the new guy on the block, is indeed the Ripton Stalker, who has resumed tormenting Miller for his own amusement—probably even murdering Byrne, so he could move into his house. At least Miller is pretty sure he is.

As per his M.O., Harbottle fabricates embarrassing incidents to turn the neighborhood against him. Frustratingly, the awkward Miller is often Harbottle’s best ally in that regard. Frankly, it is often painful to watch poor Miller blunder about. Nevertheless, he is still smarter than all the other characters, except, Harbottle, of course.

Even though it excessively stacks the deck against Miller, there is still a lot of tense cat-and-mouse stuff in The Game. It just would have been even effective if Miller and Harbottle seemed more evenly matched. Instead, several sequences basically amount to watch Miller stepping on one rake after another.

Chicago P.D.: Born Screaming

The police portion of Dick Wolf’s One Chicago serves as a telling Rorschach test. 97% of the world identifies with hard-charging but undeniably dedicated Sgt. Hank Voight, while most of the nation’s big city mayors and DA’s probably root for Internal Affairs Commander Mark Devlin to end Voight’s career. As revealed right before the mid-season break, Devlin even resorted to blackmailing Voight with the threat of unjustly tarnishing his heroic late father’s name. That remains a problem, but Voight has more pressing issues, like the unit member stuck in a serial killer’s house, under iffy circumstances, in “Born Screaming,” the mid-season premiere of Chicago P.D., which airs tonight on NBC.

Voight’s Intelligence Unit always knew Raymond Bell was bad news, but they could never get anything to stick. Since new member Eva Imani has even less patience for procedure than Voight (which is saying something), she came charging in when Bell’s granddaughter (and ward) Julie called for help (she hardly seems intended as a tribute to the cult-favorite artist). Now Imani is in a bit of a tight spot.

Of course, Devlin is there to gum at the works every step of the way. It’s not like lives are at stake, except for maybe a few innocent civilians. Indeed, this episode takes a grisly turn, in keeping with some of the most lurid serial killer movies.

Holding Liat

One of the great ironies of the 10/7 Hamas atrocities was the fact that many of the murdered and abducted Israelis advocated liberal positions of peace and reconciliation with respect to Palestinians. Such was definitely the case for the Atzili family. Aviv and Liat were kidnapped and held captive in Gaza, leaving behind their grown children and elderly parents. Yet, Liat Atzili’s father Yehuda Beinin was no shrinking violet. He dutifully sat for media interviews to raise awareness for his daughter and son-in-law, but he also freely offered his opinions on Netanyahu, whether or not people wanted to hear them—and they usually didn’t. Beinin’s distant cousin (by marriage) Brandon Kramer documented the family during their long, painful crisis in Holding Liat, which opens Friday in theaters.

Beinin, his wife Chaya, and their daughter are American citizens, but they have lived in Israel for many years. They are also definitely leftwing, Netanyahu-despising Kibbutzniks, but that made no difference when Hamas abducted Liat and Aviv. Initially, their U.S. citizenship is presumed to be an advantage, but that starts to look questionable as her captivity drags on and on.

Likewise, Beinin’s strong personality clearly often cut both ways. Yet, his brother, a further-left professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history is even more pronounced in his sympathies for the Palestinian cause. Frankly, many families of hostages would be uncomfortable with either brother speaking on their behalf. However, Yehuda Beinin seems to understand this, at least to an extent.

Obviously, viewers immediately sympathize and identify with the Atzili and Beinin family. What they endure is horrible to even imagine. That said, Kramer missed the opportunity to probe Beinin (or his brother) on any of their forcefully expressed opinions—in a genuinely curious, nonconfrontational way. In fact, they might have had interesting answers for questions like “how do you work towards peace with people who’d rather continue killing” and “just who could be Israel’s partner for peace in Gaza?”