Tag: teenagers

EAST OF WALL – Review

Tabatha Zimiga as Tabatha in EAST OF WALL. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

EAST OF WALL is a low-key, low-budget, indie docu-drama, set near the South Dakota Badlands and just east of the town of Wall (home to the famous Wall Drug), where a youngish widowed rancher trains and rehabilitates rescued horses, the horses that no one wants, with the help of her teen daughters and gaggle of foster kids, mostly girls, who were abandoned or neglected by their own families. The rancher/cowgirl sells the rehabilitated horses at auction, to make a bare-bones living to support the kids and herself. EAST OF WALL’s greatest strength is its affecting portrait of this remarkable real woman doing her best to save both cast-off horses and neglected teens. That feeling is amplified by the docu-drama’s moving cinematography of the windswept scenery of the Badlands, with plenty of horses carrying joyful stunt-riding teens.

EAST OF WALL won the 2025 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for its affecting mix of documentary and family drama set in a striking western landscape. Writer/director Kate Beecroft was inspired to write this fictionalized tale after meeting rancher/horse trainer Tabatha Zimiga, a modern cowgirl in the New West. Shortly after Beecroft pulled off the rural road in South Dakota and onto Tabatha’s large ranch, she was introduced to a group of confident teen-aged girls, their hair half-shaved in warrior fashion, who poured out of a trailer and hopped onto horses. Tabatha invited Beecroft into their lives, and the result is this fly-on-the-wall drama that draws heavily on the reality of this family and life in this rural community.

In EAST OF WALL, Tabatha Zimiga stars as a version of herself, and along with her daughter Porshia, leads a cast of mostly non-actors, in a family drama of feminist grit, courage and commitment. The non-actor cast is supported by a couple of pros, Scoot McNairy as a prosperous horse buyer from Texas and Jennifer Ehle as Tabatha’s tough-gal mother Tracey, who lives on the spacious, ramshackle ranch with Tabatha and her teen charges.

Clearly, Tabitha has a good heart and a strong sense of responsibility but she is no sweet, timid flower. Frank, tattooed and often foul-mouthed, Tabitha is a rough-and-tumble cowgirl of the New West, who was raised by a tough, hard-drinking mother who had a hard life. They are surrounded by a circle of equally rough-edged women friends, plus a community of people, a mix of white and Indigenous, who also are struggling with their own hard lives, often amid an assortment of problems including abusive relationships, heavy drinking, and dysfunction. Tabatha is trying her best to keep her family together, to encourage the kids in her charge and to empower them, through what they can do for these unwanted horses.

To support the family, Tabatha sells the rehabilitated horses at local auctions, and sometimes even on TikTok, with the girls helping demonstrate how well-trained the horses are by performing stunt-riding tricks with them. But it is a struggle, profits are small, and they are on the edge financially. Tabatha worries about making a living and holding onto the ranch she inherited from her beloved husband.

Into this dire financial picture comes a new buyer, a man from Texas with deep pockets named Roy (Scoot McNairy). Roy offers to buy Tabatha’s ranch and then hired her and her teens as trainers for horses, which he will then sell in Texas for much higher prices. But Tabatha is wary and uncertain about the offer, so they enter into a temporary arrangement while she considers it.

EAST OF WALL leans heavily into observational documentary, and moves at a languid pace until late in the film. This gives the audience plenty of time to take in details of this hardscrabble life of rodeos, horse auctions, and honky-tonk bars but does not serve the fictional plot as well. Many of the people we meet are wanderers, following rodeos or dreams, while often struggling with past or even present of abuse, alcoholism and broken families. Tabatha represents a steady strength in that sea of chaotic lives, and ground that strength in her love for caring for both horses and kids.

The fictional story line is thin, enough so that one might wish that director/writer Beecroft had chosen instead to make this film as just a documentary. Scoot McNairy and Jennifer Ehle turn in nice performances, as does the cast of non-actors, but it takes awhile for the story to get going.

However, the film’s cinematographer Austin Shelton takes full advantage of the striking scenery of the Badlands. There is plenty of footage of the teens riding and doing stunts in that landscape, as well at the auctions and rodeos. The docu-drama gives a frank, slice-of-life look at this world, with various people drifting in and out, and shots of the ranch, littered with discarded cars, mining and farm equipment, as the kids hang out and bond with each other.

The slow pacing, until near the end, does not serve the fictional part of the film particularly well but audiences may still be drawn in by the real people in this film and it’s rare glimpse into a little-see world in the modern west, and particularly by the remarkable Tabatha doing her excellent, admirable work. The glimpse into that world, and the spotlight this film throws on this strong woman doing good work in rescuing both horses and teens, makes it worth a little extra patience and an ultimately rewarding experience.

EAST OF WALL opens in theaters on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025.

RATING: 2.5 out of 4 stars

MONSTERS OF CALIFORNIA – Review

(l-r) Jack Samson, Richard Kind, Gabrielle Haugh and Jared Scott, in MONSTERS OF CALIFORNIA. Courtesy of Screen Media

The title MONSTERS OF CALIFORNIA intends to refer to a variety of entities sought by three adventuresome teen lads. We meet them hunting ghosts and demons before they shift into pursuing urban legend myths and ultimately trying to prove UFOs have been visiting from other worlds. The title unintentionally winds up equally applying to many of the mere mortals among them.

Dallas Edward’s (Jack Samson) dad was a Navy pilot, presumed dead from a secrecy-shrouded mission some years before. His smart pal Riley (Jared Scott) and their goofy stoner cohort nicknamed Toe (Jack Lancaster) crash headlong into conflicts with military and covert government entities thwarting their efforts while also dogging them in search of some intel Dallas’ dad may have left behind. That bunch is headed by Casper Van Dien, playing yet another stern military man – this time with suspense in whether his motives are good, evil or mixed. Along the way, Dallas finds a potential love interest in newcomer Kelly (Gabrielle Haugh) after their rom-com-esque meet-cute.

For kickers, Dallas is pissed that his mom is dating some bland fellow, despite lingering doubt as to whether her hubby is deceased rather than MIA. Dallas yearns for the latter to be true, and hopes to discover an extant father who had to lie low for some noble purpose. Or at least to get closure from confirming dad’s demise as a byproduct of their broader quest. Three of the kids provide fairly intelligent curiosity; Toe adds the comic relief that toking sidekicks contribute to most of the cabin-in-the-woods fright-fests.

The proceedings are more frenetic than amusing or profound, except for the several times they come to a grinding halt for windy monologues about protecting the environment. All the “message” efforts about governmental cover-ups and ecology ring hollow. The film never quite settles on being something coherent within a genre. It starts off as a horror flick, dangles bits of soap opera and coming-of-age themes, before lurching into sci-fi and conspiracy territory, with an overriding “who can you believe?” theme. Playful and profound do not blend well in director/co-writer Tom DeLonge’s (of Blink182) script. The title could have been CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND.

The most intriguing feature comes from Richard Kind, who built a fine career of playing a wide range of annoying doofuses (doofi?). He’s spot-on in a role calling for a scholarly look, demeanor and intellect straight out of Alfred Molina’s wheelhouse. Nice to see Kind’s stretch, albeit in an otherwise unsatisfying package.

MONSTERS OF CALIFORNIA debuts Friday, Oct. 6, in theaters and streaming on demand.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

MORE THAN ROBOTS – Review

The movies have helped to propel our fascination (especially kids) with mechanical men. And women, since one of cinema’s most iconic fantasy images comes from the silent era, namely the female facsimile of Maria played by Brigitte Helm in the Fritz lang classic METROPOLIS, which in turn inspired the look of C-3PO in the Star Wars franchise. In those fifty years in between, there was the clunkier Tin Man of THE WIZARD OF OZ, countless slow-moving metal menaces in cheesy sci-fi and horror flicks and serials. leading to the more whimsical Robby the Robot in FORBIDDEN PLANET (who’s a not-too-distant relation of the Robot from TV’s “Lost in Space”). And there are countless more human-looking “artificials” in WESTWORLD and the many Terminator incarnations. We’re not quite there, though there have been “bot-building” contests and competitions for teens over the last thirty years. That’s the focus of this new feature-length doc which follows several of those teens from around the globe striving to show that their passion encompasses MORE THAN ROBOTS.

The camera crews are truly “globe-hopping” as they profile the different high school teams prepping for the 2019 FIRST Robotics Competition, an event begun by Dean (Mr. Segway) Kamen as a way to motivate and inspire young minds. After a brief prologue set at the big contest, the film jumps back three months to introduce several hopeful entrants. There are a couple of California-based students interviewed. In El Segundo, Jacob is proud to be part of his school’s team (each has a number and a creative name) #4201 the Vitruvian Bots, while over in Compton, Aaron has high hopes for#6904, the Terawatts. From there they skip across the “pond” to Chiba Japan where Kanon has arrived from Minnesota to be a mentor to the just-formed team at the Chiba Institute of Technology, Sakura Tempesta. And south of our border young Mariana is a big part of team #4010, Nautilis out of Mexico City. After Winter break, the different teams meet at a preview event to find out what the theme for the year requires in the way of tasks for their devices. FIRST has teamed with Lucasfilm ( a producer on this film also) as part of the Star Wars: A Force for Change initiative, and a fabled cast member of that movie franchise briefs them via video on the “mission”. Their robots will have to gather up spongy yellow balls, shoot them into hole-like “ports” (getting points for every ball going in). and then have the robots pull themselves up and balance on a lowered pole (though it resembles a huge coat hanger). Then the kids are off and running after getting a big box of assigned materials. The filmmakers follow them and their teachers and mentors through the whole process, full of long hours and mechanical “snafus”.Everyone’s laser-focused on the Spring event, not knowing that the year 2020 has a few “surprises” in store for them.

Hot on the heels of LUCY AND DESI just a couple of weeks ago, this new film marks the documentary feature debut of yet another talented comic (mainly) actress, Gillian Jacobs (best known for the TV series “Community” and soon to be seen in THE CONTRACTOR). With the confidence of an old “doc pro” Jacobs deftly balances the personal stories of the global quartet with a history of the FIRST tournies and a sweeping, up-close, in the middle of the action, overview of the big event that they’ve all working toward. The energy and enthusiasm of the young people are infectious as they scurry about, making last-minute “fixes” and cheering each other on to new heights. She captures the fervent mania of the big FIRST event which almost feels like the college basketball annual tournaments (like “March Madness”), but a big difference is extolled by the participants and the founder, Kamen. The sting of competition is softened by the fact that the teams merge, two become one, in the final challenges, learning to work together and build on their ideas and strengths. Sure, it’s mainly a “feel good” modern fable, but Jacobs shows us that all the tests and ‘trial runs” can be for naught as the machines seemingly refuse to function. But there are no wailing and gnashing of teeth (braces mostly) displays of dramatic despair, rather an “Oh well, back to the drawing board (or laptop)”. Plus there’s the unexpected element of suspense as Jacobs lets our knowledge of the early 2020 world events creep in, making the plans of the teams more poignant. And again, when the world “stopped” they go on to use their skills in another arena with a very different set of goals. We come away feeling that, yes, “the kids are alright” because their dreams are about much MORE THAN ROBOTS.

3 Out of 4

MORE THAN ROBOTS begins streaming exclusively on Disney+ on Friday, March 18, 2022

THE DARKEST MINDS – Review

Well, we thought we were finally safe. “We” being movie audiences, in case you wondered. Just a few weeks into the new year saw the final installment of the film franchise culled from the MAZE RUNNER book series. With DIVERGENT and HUNGER concluded long ago, the scourge of movies based on young adult novels (or a series) set in a dystopian future seems to have run its course. Looks like we were wrong. With just over a month left in the Summer blockbuster season, the folks at Fox have scooped up the film rights to yet another set of YA novels (those things gobble up sections of chain bookstores like starving locusts). Here’s another group of plucky, photogenic teens (and pre-teens) ready to outsmart and fight the system run by the evil elders whose dark motives emanate from THE DARKEST MINDS.

The character voice-over narrator (if you recall ADAPTATION, you know we’re off to a shaky start) fills us in on the day that changed “everything” six years ago. Ten year-old Ruby sees a classmate convulse, crush a metal cup without touching it, and collapse, lifeless onto the school cafeteria floor. She was the first victim of the new disease known as “I.A.A.N.” (which stands for….eh, doesn’t matter), which proceeds to wipe out nearly all the children of the world. Ruby’s one of the lucky (or is she) survivors. But those who don’t perish develop “abilities’ and are rounded up by government thugs and sent to “rehabilitation” camps. This even happens to the son of President Gray (Bradley Whitford, perhaps hiding behind a big grey beard), Clancy (Patrick Gibson). When her parents suddenly don’t recognize her, Ruby is scooped up and taken to one of the camps. Six years later, Ruby (Amandla Stenberg) is taken to one of the camp’s doctors who tests her for abilities. The unusually helpful doc explains to her (and us) the different ways that I.A.A.N.affected kids via a big bright chart. The poster’s inverted pyramid (looking like the “love child” of the basic food group pyramid and Homeland Security’s threat level guide) shows four colors to code the danger levels. The bottom two, yellow and blue, can be controlled (involving telekinesis and electricity manipulation). The top two, orange and red, are most deadly. The doc is stunned to see that she’s an “orange” (who’d thunk it). Before he can give her a (literal) “killer” needle shot, she grabs his arm and unleashes her “power”, with her eyes emitting glowing orange circles (aha). Seems that Ruby’s “gift” is a combo of Obi-Wan’s old “Jedi mind trick (“These aren’t the droids…”) and Kal-El’s amnesia kiss from SUPERMAN II. Luckily Ruby is aided in her escape by a sympathetic doctor, Cate (Mandy Moore), who is is part of an underground order called “The Children’s League”. But after they leave the camp, Ruby learns of the league’s methods (she can also see somebody’s past via touch) and bolts. When she runs into a mute pre-teen electric charger named Zu (Miya Cech), Ruby follows her to a van occupied by two other teens on the run: snarky pessimistic “Chubs” (oops, I haven’t earned the right to call him that…an annoying ‘call-back” bit) Charles (Skylan Brooks) and hunky telekinetic Liam (Harris Dickinson). The foursome soon hit the road, evading “tracers”, bounty hunters including the “queen” Lady Jane (Gwendoline Christie), while trying to locate the hidden sanctuary/commune run by the famous “Slip Kid” (given that nickname after he escaped multiple captors). But is this paradise truly a safe shelter from those wishing to find and eliminate the survivors? Or perhaps, to quote Admiral Akbar (hey two Star Wars riffs), “It’s a trap!”

The cast of big screen newcomers and veterans struggle to overcome this meandering, cliche-ridden SF/ teen angst drek. Sternberg’s Ruby is a more pro-active character than her sheltered Maddy in last year’s turgid teen romance EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING, and despite the confines of the YA genre (she was in the first HUNGER GAMES) the young actress has real star power. Here’s hoping the her next role in the highly anticipated THE HATE U GIVE will better showcase her blossoming talents. Unfortunately there’s little chemistry on screen with Dickinson as Liam, who seems as though he’s being groomed as the next “heart-throb du jour”, a mix of the non-threatening Ansel Elgort and Nick Robinson (former Sternberg co-star) and the lanky physicality of Liam Hemsworth. Plus he looks somewhat silly as he uses his powers, echoing the stern concentration of Andrew Stevens in THE FURY and the lead in a high school stage production of “Dracula” (with a smidge of young Magneto). He’s a hunk and a bit of a “lunk”. And he doesn’t connect well with his verbal sparring partner, Brooks as Chubs (is that supposed to be “ha ha” funny ironic because he’s slender). He doesn’t appear to have much of a gift, aside from a “green thumb” (“A green Bell pepper is a red Bell pepper, you dips*#t!”) and a sour disposition, distrustful of everything, especially Ruby. Gibson is snarky and sinister as he channels James Spader in PRETTY IN PINK when trying to be menacing, a “frat boy” super-villain. Cech quickly assumes the adoring kid sister role to Ruby, unless she’s doing her battery charger skill (after whipping off a pair of bright yellow rubber dish washing gloves). As for the screen vets, why would Whitford follow up his role in two of last year’s most acclaimed films, GET OUT and THE POST, with one of this year’s…well? He’s smart to be absent after the first act, at least. Christie, last seen as Captain Phasma in last year’s EPISODE EIGHT, is here to don a leather jacket, snarl, and drive as though she’s trying out for the next FAST AND THE FURIOUS as tracer Lady Jane (what’s with the royal moniker). And Ms. Moore, who has a big following from her hit TV show “This is Us” squanders her time away from that in a confusing, underwritten character with unclear intentions. And to her credit, like Whitford, she too disappears for a good chunk (maybe an hour) of this nonsense.

This is most disastrous live-action feature directing debut for Jennifer Yuh Nelson, best known for helming the second and third KUNG FU PANDA movies. This flick just lurches from one limp action set piece to the next, losing any momentum with its insipid romantic sub plot, even screeching to halt in order to have a “trying on silly clothes” montage at a shuttered mall (still lotsa’ stuff there somehow) just after a big “make-over” scene (Zu has a pretty red prom dress, that just happens to fit Ruby), while some forgettable pop tunes assault the soundtrack. I shouldn’t be too hard on Nelson, since she’s burdened with a wretched , unfocused script from Chad Hodge (his feature debut, too) adapting the novel from Alexandra Bracken (wonder how close it is to her work). It does borrow generously from other YA best sellers, including a love triangle ripped right from the TWILIGHT series along with the fast escapes of the MAZE RUNNER, along with liberal doses of CARRIE, FIRESTARTER, and the X-MEN dynasty. This is most evident in the ridiculous showdown near the finale that has the feds (all with gravelly voices), many with full black stocking masks, attacking with high tech copters, sound-blasting bazookas and the dreaded “red” survivors who are on chain leashes like rabid werewolves with hoods over their heads resembling massive game falcons. And what do they do? Why they shoot fire out of their mouths, of course. Yes, teenage human flame throwers. But it’s not over then. For the last minutes we get a montage that includes a visual of one of Ruby’s powers that meshes the “Thanos snap” with the black “inky” aliens of ARRIVAL, as the producers set up an EMPIRE STRIKES BACK-style cliffhanger, promising further tales of these tortured teens. But the real suffering is that of movie audiences unfortunate to sit through this. Only THE DARKEST MINDS would subject us to a follow-up to the rock bottom of the YA novel-based movies.

0 Out of 5

EIGHTH GRADE – Review

Elsie Fisher as Kayla in EIGHTH GRADE. Photo by Linda Kallerus, courtesy of A24

Writer/director Bo Burnham’s EIGHTH GRADE is a remarkably true and honest portrait of a 13-year-old girl’s journey through the last year of middle school, a refreshingly accurate snapshot of early teen years that avoids all the teen movie stereotypes and presents life, zits and all, as it really is. But the film is further boosted by an appealing performance by Elsie Fisher as Kayla trying to negotiate this territory along with her single parent dad Mark (Josh Hamilton). Well-meaning Dad is desperate to connect with his only child, and Kayla is just as desperately ignoring her poor, adoring dad.

There is plenty that is laugh-out-loud funny in this film and just as many moments that are poignant, even heartbreaking. Some people make the kind of transition that Kayla is struggling to make in high school or even college but the experience is universally familiar, although Burnham steeps it in the contemporary culture of constant smart phone use, Snap Chat, and online videos. There is even an scene, featured in the trailer, where the high school students Kayla meets while shadowing one as part of her transition to that next educational level, have their own culture shock moment, aghast at the thought that Snap Chat became a thing when Kayla was in fifth grade.

Kayla makes little self help instructional videos that are really lessons for herself. Interestingly, Bo Burnham was best known as an amateur comedian on YouTube. Burnham makes a strong feature film debut with this touching comedy, which might be a star-making vehicle for lead Elsie Fisher.

Elsie Fisher is enormously charming as shy but determined Kayla. Fisher and Burnham are not afraid to show the real awkwardness of adolescence, and to frankly tackle issues. Unlike most teen movies, Kayla has problems with her complexion, she is slightly chubby, a bit shy and socially awkward. At school, we see her encounter mean girls at lunch and we watch her participate in “active shooters” training drills. Kayla copes with some of her social awkwardness by making YouTube videos in which she gives advice one how to deal with socially difficult situations, exactly the issues she is dealing with. In her videos, she is self-assured and relaxed, but anything but that in real social situations. She rolls her eyes at her well-meaning but clueless dad, barely interrupting posting “likes” on her phone to knowledge his presence at dinner. She seems to ignore his advice, but the videos reveal she is actually listening.

We see Kayla cope with snobby popular girl Olivia (Emily Robinson), whose mother pushes her to invite Kayla to her pool party birthday party, and Kayla’s crush on a cute boy at school, Aiden (Luke Prael). The pool party sequence is both very funny and painfully touching, sure to bring back memories of awkward teen-aged moments for viewers. Despite her shyness, Kayla does some bold things and considers other things that will make parents cringe.

All in all, EIGHTH GRADE is just an excellent film, well-acted, well-shot, well-written and perfectly paced. Parents, and those of us who were once teen-aged girls, will recognize the situations and issues dealt with so well in this excellent drama. This is the kind of true-to-life approach one wishes all coming of age films would take. EIGHTH GRADE is worth seeing, for its honest approach to a difficult time in life well experience, and also for its wonderful lead performance by Elsie Fisher.

EIGHTH GRADE opens in St. Louis on Friday, July 27, at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac theaters.t. Louis on Friday, July 27, at the Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac theaters.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars