by Sam Juliano
Many of us feel much more comfortable now and have ventured out armed with the vaccinations but are still staying the course wearing masks and socially distancing. After one full year and thirteen days we returned to a movie theater one Tuesday night. I escorted Lucille, Jeremy and Sammy to the AMC Ridgefield Park multiplex to see the devastating British drama about encroaching dementia and memory loss, THE FATHER starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman. The four of us were the only people in the theater for the 7:40 P.M. show aside from one middle-aged man seated behind us. It seems incredible and inconceivable that we were (like everyone else) forced to watch all our movies this past year at home after a lifetime of theater hopping, but it was so wonderful to return. We subsequently staged an encore on Saturday evening, again with the four of us taking in the powerful black panther drama JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH on Saturday night at the Clifton Commons at 9:30 P.M. Via streaming and now with these two theatrical appearances we have rallied to see the vast majority of the films most critics and award givers have praised and even a few that were panned. At home this past week we also watched two other films that we give high marks to in a high quality week in every cinematic sense: the deeply-moving and picturesque NEWS OF THE WORLD and the tense Bosnian political drama QUO VADIS AIDA. I offer up the ratings on these four at the conclusion of this brief MMD entry.
A difficult week with passings, even if all were relatively well on in age. (and beyond in two cases): the beloved actor George Segal at 87; the titanic French director Bertrand Tavernier at 79; the television and film actress Jessica Walter at 80; and children’s book author Beverly Cleary at the remarkable age of 104. J.D. Lafrance has returned this week with a fabulous essay on Sam Peckinpah’s THE GETAWAY.
The Father (Tuesday night) **** 1/2 (Ridgefield Park multiplex)
Judas and the Black Messiah **** 1/2 (Saturday night) Clifton Commons
News of the World **** (Wednesday night) Amazon Prime
Quo Vadis Aida **** (Thursday night) Amazon Prime