Rob Orme

Once in a great while I like to review a film instead of my usual music, so here goes. Just caught the new one, One Battle After Another, this afternoon. First off, at 2 hours 35 minutes, be ready to spend significant time in the theatre. Add in 20 minutes of previews, and I was in my seat close to three hours. That being said, I consider it worth it, and I don't think there are a lot of films that could hold my interest for that amount of time. Paul Thomas Anderson has garnered quite a reputation. I'm not much of a film buff, I don't watch that many movies, and I go to the theater once a year, maybe twice on the outside. But I had briefly heard of him. One Battle After Another is written, produced and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which kind of boggles my mind. Wikipedia says, "He is often described as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation." Also from Wikipedia, "There Will Be Blood (2007), Anderson's fifth film, is regarded as one of the greatest films of the 21st Century and of all time." Wowie. Guess I'll be renting that one. I also found out that Anderson directed Boogie Nights, which I own on DVD. It's an incredible and realistic documentation of the porn movie industry in the San Fernando Valley area of L.A. in the late 70's/early 80's. One Battle After Another is way too complex for me to go into the plot in detail, but to summarize, it's a battle between revolutionary anti-ICE forces led in part by Leonardo DiCaprio and opposing military factions led in part by Sean Penn. As you can imagine for any film featuring those two, the acting throughout is just way, way over the top, including Benicio Del Toro. There are a couple of prominent females in the film, but without giving the plot away, Chase Infiniti as a teenage freedom fighter is just absolutely incredible, and in the second half ot the film, she is on screen as much as anyone else. I'd say this young lady has quite a future in the biz. In real life, Infiniti is 25 years old. I caught a strong hint of political commentary regarding racism in our current administration. It's open for interpretation, but for me anyway, it was fairly obvious. This is an action film and the action never stops, the plot never quits twisting and turning. I won't go into any more plot detail other than to say once again that this film completely held my interest for just over 2-1/2 hours and that is quite an achievement. Kudos to Paul Thomas Anderson, and I sure want to see some more of his films. ENJOY.

I rented it last night and watched it at home. I was really, really stunned at how great it was. Not many films are going to hold a grip on me for 2 hours and 19 minutes, but this one did! An extremely realistic and uncompromising look at a sex worker's life. All the Academy Awards were richly deserved: Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikey Madison), Best Director (Sean Baker), and two more. Along with Madison, ALL of the performances in this film were just outstanding and entirely believable.