by Sam Juliano
My family will be departing New Jersey for the NC/SC border (Sunset Beach, just minutes from Myrtle Beach) very early Monday morning, so I won’t be seeing this MMD until I check it on a laptop on Monday evening. The sad but inevitable passing of the 50 year old son of good Fairview friends from returning cancer resulted in our delaying our planned Sunday morning exit so we could attend today’s wake. Jim Clark and J.D. Lafrance, two gifted Canadians will continue to pen fabulous film reviews moving forward. Clark’s staggering essay on Wong Kar Wai’s “Happy Together” posted this past week.
The summer has been alternately scorching and rainy in this Metropolitan area in northeastern NJ across the river from Manhattan, but the fact that only three weeks remain before September and the start of the new school year is startling. The Halloween Horror series, usually engineered by Jamie Uhler as an e mail endeavor will be posted on future MMDs as we approach that always entertaining time of the year.
Two exceptional films (both would rate 4.5 of 5.0 for me) were watched this weekend in Secaucus and Edgewater. An African-American played by John David Washington infiltrates the local KKK in Colorado Springs in 1972 based on a memoir by Ron Stallworth. There are admittedly tonal inconsistencies in “Blackkklansman”, but acting (especially by Washington and Adam Driver) and writing are excellent, and this is Spike Lee’s most entertaining and provocative film in years. The director includes a telling video of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and footage of Trump’s patronizing commentary. Newcomer Bo Burnham’s maiden coming-of-age feature “Eighth Grade” is a gem, and remarkable in the way it perceptively and intimately probes the psych and social media hankering of a girl during the final year of her middle school tenure living with a doting father who is confronted with the inevitable communication problems. Young Elsie Fisher delivers a brilliant performance as Kayla. Both films deserve year-end scrutiny when Best of lists are sorted out.
Blackkklansman **** 1/2 (Friday) Secaucus
Eighth Grade **** 1/2 (Saturday) Edgewater
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Writers/Founders
Wonders in the Dark 
Have a good time in the Carolinas, y’all.
Thank you as ever my great friend!!! Best to you and Pam!
Oh, hello: I’ve just spotted that we’ve crossed in the cyberpost on this.
Aye John, I was (finally) responding to the comment you generously left under last week’s MMD. 🙂
Have a great vacation and I am sorry for the sad delay.
I actually watched a movie this week THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND SWEET POTATO PEEL SOCIETY 9 on Netflix) it was so true to the book and a wonderful adaptation.
Happy Birthday a wee bit early. I am celebrating early because my daughter is getting married the next day and I wanted to focus on that rather than me… Hope your trip is pure relaxation and joy
Thank you so much Patricia! Though I am told we had rainy weather all week back home in NJ., down here it was sunny and hot. Kids went to the pool with abandon. Yes it was a sad departure and some other older people we know passed on during the time we were down here. In any case we had a nice time aside from four hours of severe stress on Thursday when our miniature pincher escaped and it took us a long time to find him in a situation we can summarily describe as lucky. Happy Birthday and wishing you all a fabulous time at your daughter’s wedding! I am not familiar with that movie you name but will investigate. Thank you my friend!