Category: $6 Marcus Special

This film is what’s known as a “vanity” piece because it’s funded by the same person who stars in it. In this case, the First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs. Melania Trump. Now I’ll stop right there to steal a line from Melanie McDonah, who opines in The Standard, and I paraphrase, “If you don’t like Donald Trump to the point where seeing some of him is actually a neuralgic thing, this may not be for you.” That is some classic movie reviewing right there and probably better than anything I’m going to come up with.

However, if you’re a political wonk, I’m not sure how you could miss it. A few things about this movie you may already know. It boasts one of the highest acquisitions ever for a documentary. We can thank our Amazon Prime accounts for that. Mr. Jeff Bezos found it expedient to expend 40 million for distribution rights and 35 million for global marketing. He also has a cameo in the movie sitting at the President and Melania’s table during the 2025 inaugural gala dinner. An event that ties together the entire narrative. Another element to note is that the director of this film is Brett Ratner, you may be familiar with his work in the Epstein Files. 

I noted that there were many interesting things in this film. And D noted that many interesting things does not make an interesting film. There are a few things we learn along the way. For example D leaned over to ask me where Melania was from? I knew the answer was not Queens. I shrugged in the dark. …Slovenia! Our first lady is an immigrant from Slovenia. Also, she uses an Apple computer when Zooming with world leaders like Brigitte Macron, who you may know from her work slapping her husband in the face.  

It feels like the entire first third of the film includes more dress fittings than anything before or after Phantom Thread. And there are more motorcades in an hour and 44 minutes than in all 4 seasons of Succession combined. We learn that Melania’s mother died on January 9th, 2024. Exactly one year later, Melania decides to light a candle for her at a church. If you’re Melania Trump, this requires police cars, the Secret Service, a limo, the closure of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral to the public and a personal blessing from the clergy. As she walks out, a crowd has formed on 5Th Avenue. No one boos, no one cheers, no one takes pictures. Melania is an enigma. And this film doesn’t do much to dispel that hard plastic feeling that you sense from her aura. 

There is one scene where she meets with Aviva Siegel who was held hostage by Hamas for 51 days. At the time of the meeting, her husband Keith is also being held hostage. There was a lot of humanity in that scene. Aviva says, “There is too much hate in the world. Too much hate.” An important message. I don’t doubt Melania believes this as well. However, she is so detached from reality, I’m not sure how much it matters. It’s her film, though, so it’s her message.

I find a movie like this interesting for the Rashomon effect moments. More than one person sees the exact same event but interprets it in totally different ways. Traditionally, the incoming President and first lady spend the night before the inauguration at Blair House. In the morning, they are asked to take a photo with about 20 household staff members on their way to the ceremony. Melania, in her black dress and infamous, D would say Hamburgler style, massively brimmed hat is so incongruous with this group. Dental work is easier to sit through than watching this upstairs downstairs collision. And yet, if you’re a Melania fan, you don’t see the cringe, you simply see your heroine being cool with the staff…or however they might characterize this. Again, it’s a vanity piece, and I’m certain that this scene made the final cut because depicting empathy is the intention.

The film ends with on screen text listing Melania’s accomplishments and, as she would say, initiatives. And these deal with helping foster kids and supporting legislation against using AI deep fakes unethically, as in revenge porn. Who could really argue with this? Melania also touts her 2020 Rose Garden renovation. Of course the President paved over the grassy area she installed with a stone patio in 2025. And let’s not even talk about what he did with her office (hint, it was in the East Wing). But Melania truly doesn’t seem to be phased at all by these changes. In one genuinely brilliant scene, she is on the phone with “Mr. President” and he is asking her if she has seen the final election results. You can tell she is busy with so many other things, isn’t interested and can’t wait to get off the phone. “I’ll watch it later, dear.” It’s great comedy and probably the only scene that organically grows from real life. Melania has other pressing initiatives on her mind. Other state dinners to organize featuring gold leafed eggs stuffed with caviar. Her Style to maintain in exacting detail.

One thing D mentioned in passing which I can’t stop thinking about is how this film would play without the constant voiceover from the first lady. She’s a #1 NYT best selling author, after all, so I’m sure she can’t help herself. But if this film only featured found sounds, diegetic sounds, like a classic cinéma vérité Frederick Wiseman film, it would truly be elevated. Instead, this slice of life has more akin with an IMAX nature documentary than anything a person can really relate to. 

If the opening scene of Anora doesn’t get your blood moving one way or another, I have terrible news for you. You have died. … The silver lining is of course that even as a dead person, you’re still able to watch movies and read movie reviews. That opening shot, tracking across a line of guys getting lap dances, drops you right into the world of eponymous heroine, Anora, with no apologies. It’s made apparent quickly enough that for these working women, it’s just another day at the office. Except that in this career there is no 401(k), health insurance or paid time off. This is the world of men. If you don’t like it, there’s the door. 

It’s within this milieu that Anora, who shares an apartment with her sister and brother-in-law, takes on escort work. Back at Headquarters strip club, as a Russian speaker, she’s assigned to entertain the son of a wealthy oligarch, who asks if he can see her outside of work. Here the so-called fun and games of the story ensue. And they do ensue, extending Act I almost uncomfortably. Has the director lost control of this story? — Or what you realize later. You’ve been wonderfully set up.

Act II takes you into the realm of comedy but with the real threat of violence underpinning every moment. It’s unnerving but you settle into it. The strength of Anora is that it simultaneously holds what could be an absurd Eastern European folktale within the bounds of a tangible New York City universe. Here, broken noses are felt. As our friend B., who’s an M.D., leaned over to give us a real-time diagnosis of one of the characters. The prognosis wasn’t good. The severity of the mounting symptoms meant that the other characters needed to rush the injured one to the ER. STAT.

And broken dreams are deeply felt as well. Disappointment is the millstone that’s anchored around every neck in Anora. And one apparent theme is that just because you wish something to be real, doesn’t mean it is. 

There are a few outrageous and memorable scenes in Anora. The Coney Island tow truck scene stays with you. And the haunting final scene reveals the depth and complexities of the characters. Cutting to a silent credit sequence gives you no reprieve and invites reflection. A perfect antithesis to the chaotic euphoria of the opening shot. 

It doesn’t surprise me that Director, Sean Baker, a kid from New Jersey, walked away with the Palm d’Or at Cannes for Anora. He has a track record of fearless filmmaking, expressing himself by any means at his disposal. In the character of Anora he found a kindred spirit. 

Conclave is a surprising film. In fact, its theme is don’t be confident that what you think is true. The question is posed and answered by Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), the Dean or manager of the conclave to elect a new pope, “If we were certain of the answers, why would we need faith?” 

Although I wasn’t thrilled with the plodding pace of the film, the plot got more intriguing as the story grew more complex. A solid performance by Stanley Tucci (most recently seen eating his way through Italy in a Max series) and star turns by Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Carlos Diehz, Lucian Msamati and Isabella Rossellini leave a lasting impression on the viewer.  

As usual, your faithful correspondents, L & D could be heard laughing at all the wrong places and zinging away with our zingers. But there were quite a few other folks in the theater (another surprise) and so a little restraint by us was in order. 

The film really got interesting when D. started applying his “This Film is like The Shining” theory on the fly. We recently watched the 40th anniversary release of The Shining on the silver screen (I’m still processing) and lo and behold the analogy between these films can easily be made. The cardinals are sequestered in a hotel with long hallways. There is a room that no one is allowed to enter, which the pope died in. There is intense cello playing throughout. The footprint here is indeed one of a horror film. The horror being that the Church may decide to turn its back on the progress it’s made in becoming a voice for peace.

I won’t say more except Conclave is well worth the watch and way over the $6 Tuesday bar. Be prepared to check your assumptions at the church steps.   

Once you know that Director Simon Hacker was an apprentice to the Safdie brothers, a lot of the style of Notice to Quit becomes apparent. Like their Uncut Gems, the New York that’s depicted on screen is a blistering, suffocating and crushing one. If you’ve ever been in that particular mother of all concrete jungles in the middle of Summer, you’ll have a visceral reaction to the heat in Notice to Quit. And also to its almost mythological level of adoration of the otherwise ubiquitous air conditioner. The protagonist, Andy Singer (Michael Zegen) in fact carries an air conditioner around, like Sisyphus pushing a boulder, for what feels like the entirety of the movie. 

However, unlike Uncut Gems, there is room to breathe in Notice to Quit. This is wholly due to the presence of Andy’s daughter, Anna (Kasey Bella Suarez) a 10-year-old who needs her Dad to step up and save her from a life-altering move to Florida. But Andy, he can’t even take care of himself. He’s four months behind on his rent, a scam to skim appliances has backfired big time and he can’t seem to walk a straight line without having a coffee cup face plant itself on his dress shirt. Forget about the apartments he’s supposed to be renting as a broker. His listings include a place with a toilet in the living room. 

The film is easily stolen with the appearance of Andy’s dad, played brilliantly by Robert Klein. When Klein’s roommate Marvin (Rao Rampilla) quotes Death of a Salesman in a sleeveless T-shirt, “A man is not a piece of fruit.” Andy says he doesn’t understand how this applies to his father not being willing to look after Anna. To which Klein says definitively, “It applies.”

Notice to Quit is an homage to independent films like the Wim Wenders classic, Alice in the Cities. It’s also shot on 35mm film, which lends itself to the throwback feel. It’s a character driven film that works within the constraints of a single day and the end of a chapter in the relationship of this father and daughter. There are plenty of real moments, of fun and games and most of all a lot of heartfelt emotions. 

One last thing. Not only the Writer and Director, Simon Hacker is the Producer and Distributor. He got tired of waiting for other distributors to get his movie on screens so he, in indie style, figured out how to do it himself. I’m glad I caught Notice to Quit on the big screen and I look forward to Simon Hacker’s next Directorial effort. 

I initially stayed away from The Iron Claw because it seemed to be a sports satire à la Will Farrell in Semi-Pro. But as the other $6 Tuesday offerings at Marcus Cinema got dimmer and dimmer, the spotlight on The Iron Claw intensified. A strong nudge came from my friend Bob, a former Incredibly Strange Wrestler in San Francisco and host of the insightful and hilarious podcast, “Old Movies for Young Stoners”. After this, I read that the film was based on a true story, also intriguing. The Metacritic score, for whatever that’s worth, was off the charts. I was finally ready to give The Iron Claw a chance. 

As a child of the 80s I was as geeked up as any kid about pro wrestling, using living room furniture to springboard on an already subdued opponent and land a victorious pin. However, I had never heard or at least not remembered the Von Erich family. Their story had an eerie familiarity but was still obscure to me. Some words I’d use to describe The Iron Claw are unsettling and disturbing. It at times elicited in me feelings of a horror movie like Final Destination or Midsommar. The drama suffocating, every early scene recognizable as foreshadowing, all the fun and games leading to inevitable disappointment if not demise. However, the film never goes full Aronofsky, who I’ve said, should really clean up his shock directing schtick. The Iron Claw never feels like it’s putting the audience through an emotional grinder just because it can. It always feels like it’s telling you an improbable yet simultaneously plausible story.

The questions provoked by the film included, how do you define bad luck vs ill fate? Free will vs determinism? Self-sabotage vs destiny? People have been debating these questions since before the Greek stoics codified them thousands of years ago. And leaving aside the theological conundrum that if the creator knows all, including what you will do with your so-called free will, do you even have it? Determinism could simply be related as, if you engage in high-risk activities then chances are greater that you will have poor outcomes. You could blame it on bad luck or fate. Or you could stop wrestling, as friend of LnD, B, who sat next to us, kept yelling at the screen. All to say, this film fulfills one of the criteria I have for a good film, that it’s thought provoking. 

Another movie that The Iron Claw reminds me of is the great, I Tonya. A story about a struggling family, graced with immense athletic talent, that’s pulled by dark forces around them. The difference here is that the dark force emanates from within and spreads like a low speed lava flow, slowing destroying everything in its path. Holt McCallany is rightly cast as the patriarch who leads his flock into a metaphysical desert. And I found Zac Efron’s performance compelling as he traversed love and tragedy. I was at times as frustrated by the choices of his character, Kevin Von Erich, as B was. However, I could understand his case of Stockholm syndrome and feel sympathy for these brothers who were convinced they were on a righteous path. A notable performance was turned in by Aaron Dean Eisenberg who was totally convincing as an unhinged yet sympathetic “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. He steals every scene he is in. 

I should add, there is plenty of fun in this film, scream at the screen and laugh out loud moments to go with the intense drama. Watching someone’s head get dragged along the top rope will produce some reaction from you, one way or the other. Both D and I found the scene that brothers David (Harris Dickinson) and Kevin (the aforementioned Zac Efron) share with a toilet bowl mesmerizing and funny at the same time. 

If you’re interested in a well-crafted film, with strong performances, that will take you down memory lane while instigating self-reflection on a few of the Big questions, I highly recommend The Iron Claw to you. 

It will drop kick you in the solar plexus in the best way possible.