Harper's Review

  "Ramen Heads" is a documentary that begins by following Japan's top ramen chef Osamu Tomita, and his obsession for creating the best ramen in Japan.  Delving into the daily grind of his restaurant, Tomita takes us through the process he uses to make, what has become known as, the best ramen in Japan.  Tomita notes that while most restaurants hide their traditions and recipes, he flaunts them proudly because, "there is nothing special about how it's made."  By simply using many great ingredients in his broths, and stewing them for up to three days, he delivers award-winning flavor daily.  His commitment to the selection of ingredients used in making the noodles, as well as the process he implements is just as laborious and critical to his award-winning ramen.  By the end of this documentary, Tomita will have won Japan's "Top Ramen Chef" award, with no indication of slowing down.   As the film reaches the halway mark, we are then introduce...

  They have ideals, they have their music and they have their code. Sleep on the floor of anyone that will let your band crash.  Load the gear in the van.  Hit every diner, bar and hole-in-the wall that will take you.  Get your cut of the door cover and hope it's enough to gas up the van on the way to the next show.  If it's not you're going to have to siphon your way home.  This is the punk rock life.  This is how music was meant to be.  It means going anywhere you can get your message out, and using any means necessary to put on show after show as long as it's done your way.  In this life, you're lucky to have a room over your head and gas in the van, let alone a green room before a performance.  At least that's what they thought when they decided to take a show hosted by skin-heads.  When they accidentally became witnesses to a crime, their haven became their prison.    For those of you who aren't familiar wit...

  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy tells the story of MI6 agent George Smiley (Gary Oldman) coming out of retirement to aid in the investigation and capture of a mole planted by the Soviet Union.  It is a movie based on a miniseries of the same name from 1979 with Alec Guinness as the lead role.  This film features one of the most star-studded British casts I have seen and every player fits their role perfectly.  Gary Oldman is one of my favorite actors of all time, and is well accompanied by Colin Firth, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, Mark strong and others most will recognize.  The plot follows a team of agents who seems to work specifically against the soviet union as they utilize various intelligence resources to identify and rectify issues they are having with intelligence leaks.  That's basically the whole plot, and watching it unfold is actually very, very BORING.   I've been dancing around watching this film for a long time.  So...

  The Killing of a Sacred Deer   is a thriller that centers around a cardiac surgeon named Steven Murphy (Colin Farrell) and his family. Very early on, we are introduced to a young boy named Martin (Barry Keoghan) who Steven has taken under his wing.  Martin is very strange in some way, but Steven's life seems to be going well as a surgeon, and also as a family man.  He is happily married to an Ophthalmologist named Anna (Nicole Kidman) and has a 15 year old daughter and a 12(?) year old son.  Life seems well here, on paper, but from the very beginning something is not right about anything.  This film does an amazing job of creating a sense of unease throughout, which builds the suspense.  There is a large amount of silence surrounding the scenes, as if we are to look at whats not being said more so than what is.  The music is discordant and eerie, and the shots leave so many questions for an astute audience member.  There are a fe...

Spike Lee's new "joint," BlacKkKlansman is the tale of the first African-American to join the Colorado Springs police force.  He is recruited as such, and quickly manages to secure a position as an undercover detective who is sent to investigate the activities of the local group of Black Panthers.  This very quickly leads him also into investigating and infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan at the same time. The first and most obvious question I went into the movie with is (and I suspect everyone did), "How is this black guy going to go undercover into the KKK?" I'll admit, for a brief and awesome moment at the beginning, I suspected we were about to see Spike Lee make a movie with whiteface.  For those of you who aren't familiar with Spike Lee's work, he is pretty widely known for making films that are hard hitting about the treatment of black people and other minorities in America, as well as having very pointed shots and cinematography.  When I sit d...

Deadpool 2  is the highly anticipated sequel of Marvel's most offensive movie to date!  For those of you who haven't seen  Deadpool  and are Marvel fans over the age of 17, the first  Deadpool  is cannon!  Drop your plans and make sure you're up to date on the first film, because it is everything we want in a dark hero and a great film overall.  Also, though you may not entirely need to see the first movie to follow the sequel, you should see the first movie anyway because of it's high quality and the back-story for the main character. Ryan Reynolds plays Deadpool; a quick-witted asshole assassin with a penchant for unrelenting vulgarity and violence.  There has been no better type-cast choice to date.  One of the most admirable things about the Deadpool movies is their adherence to character.  Whereas with most of the Marvel movies that have been taking the box office by storm for past two decades, Deadpool actually looks a...