August 15-21, 2025

Hello, friends! 

We've got lots of great movies continuing their run this week: At the Bay St. mothership, Weapons will continue to delight and terrify in its second week with us, and over on Grand Ave., the winsomely irresistible It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley will continue to croon its way into our hearts, and we've also got a handful of encore showtimes for Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight,  Cloud, and Kerouac's Road: The Beat of a Nation. 

We also have four new movies we're very excited to share with you: Spike Lee's electrifying new film, Highest 2 Lowest (Bay St.); a beautiful new 4K restoration of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (Grand Ave.); an equally beautiful 4K remaster of the terrific 2016 film Shin Godzilla (Grand Ave.); and the fantastic Sundance-award winning indie East of Wall (Grand Ave.).

It seems we have a feast of Japanese cinema this week because alongside High and Low and Cloud, we also have a brand new 4K remastering of the wildly entertaining 2016 film, Shin Godzilla, directed by Anno (Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Higuchi (Shin Ultraman) and available only in theaters. Shin Godzilla was the highest-grossing Japanese-produced Godzilla film prior to 2023's Godzilla Minus One (which is also terrific!), and it marks the fascinating and enduring legacy of the Godzilla films, the first of which appeared in 1954 in the aftermath of World War II, and tapped into historical disasters and anxieties, which are ongoing in our day. (We might wish, perhaps, the legacy didn't feel so relevant.) 

Simon Abrams noted for Ebert dot com in 2016, "Shin Godzilla is a reboot, marking the first time that the Japanese military—or the world at large—have ever encountered Godzilla. In this version, the American government is responsible for dumping nuclear waste that an extinct lizard then feeds off of. But Shin Godzilla . . . treats the monster as both a god and an act of God: He's here, and he must be dealt with regardless of who made Him."  And one of the particular joys of this film, perhaps, is not just in noting the thematic richness and sociopolitical resonances but also the cooperative human reaction it depicts to the disaster, a cooperation I find myself longing for, often, these days.  

Fraser continues in his review, "Shin Godzilla is, in that sense, about damage control. There are singular heroes, like Disaster Prevention bureau analyst/leader Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa) and consulting biologist Ogashira (Mikako Ichikawa). But for the most part the film's human-driven segments are walls of dialogue/consultation between various superintendents, supervisory committees, ministers, scientists, bureau chiefs and cabinet secretaries. Politicians scramble to take care of their end of the Godzilla situation regardless of their reasons. Some are careerists looking to get ahead. Others are civil servants looking to serve the public. . . .  But every human politician must work together to stop Godzilla regardless of their intentions or skill sets. There's no 'I' in this team." 

Shin Godzilla in 4K will look glorious at the Grand with our 4K projectors; there are few things as exhilarating as a well-made disaster-monster movie on the big screen with the best sound and projection equipment. But I think this movie offers something in the form of wish fulfillment, too, or, perhaps a real life ideal we might aspire to: a government and society that functions as one, without ego, in response to disasters, in order to promote the good of all.

East of Wall is the feature film debut from writer-director Kate Beecroft. It premiered at Sundance earlier this year and won the Audience Award in the NEXT program, a section of Sundance that features new filmmaking voices. 

It's a unique film -- showcasing a mix of non-actors or first-time actors and professional actors (Jennifer Ehle, Scoot McNairy), and the story is a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary. Robert Daniels, writing for Ebert, called it a "lyrical semi-biographical docu-fiction drama," and that's an apt description: Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga play themselves in the film, a mother-daughter duo, who have just lost their husband and father, and the two are running a 3,000 acre horse-trader ranch, training and selling horses, and struggling to make ends meet. 

Tabatha is something of a real life horse-whisperer, and she has a soft heart for teens who need a home, too, whether because the teens are struggling or because their parents are, and Tabatha and Porshia's home becomes a haven for many. The teens find a surrogate mother in Tabatha, a structure and a purpose in helping train and sell the horses, and a community on the ranch. 

Many of the teens play themselves, too, and the result, along with the real life setting, offers a sense of raw authenticity that is beautiful but often doesn't pull any punches either. As Daniels further notes in his review, "Beecroft and DP Austin Shelton possess a keen observational eye. They wrap the poetic American West landscape, in all its warmth and vibrant splendor, with the freeing horse riding by Porshia for a sense of infinite wonder. Beecroft also captures the hardscrabble economics of the area: ripped-apart trailers, abandoned cars, and the violence faced by women are some of the film's harrowing landmarks."

It's a quite extraordinary film and a true indie, a film with a fresh approach and fresh perspective that won't be found in commercial spaces. Don't miss it!