One Battle After Another: More Than Timely and Powerful and Quirky

My son (Simon Vozick-Levinson, Deputy Music Editor at Rolling Stone) invited me to see One Battle After Another with him (he wanted to see it a second time), and I'm sure glad that I just did.  Paul Thomas Anderson's movie (based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland, which I haven't read) opened in New York City and around the country last month, on September 25.  It tells the story of resistance to a fascist United States of America, a story which is becoming ever more like the reality of ICE and government agents pepper-spraying clergy, pulling innocent American citizens off the street for deportation without a hearing, that we see every day on television and social media.

The only difference is Federal police in One Battle After Another fire real bullets not pepper-spray.  But the dystopian movie -- this fictional film of a Hitlerian dystopia that is nearly here -- gives us a frightening portrayal of the racism and xenophobia of the rich white men and military who order ICE to go out and do their worst.  At the same time, the movie portrays those who are driven to violence to oppose what they rightly see as the destruction of America.

One Battle After Another indeed shows us two generations of opposition to fascist government in the USA.  This has two narrative dividends.  First, it enriches the narrative, exploring the family dynamics of the revolutionaries.  Also first,  it provides a truthful historical depth to the story: in our offscreen reality, fascism and its attendant racism didn't originate in the past ten or twenty years.  It has roots that go back centuries not decades to the birth of America, and its acceptance of slavery.

The movie is also brilliantly acted.  Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro never disappoint, and they all were outstanding in this movie.  Chase Infiniti, who was memorable in the TV series Presumed Innocent, was powerful in One Battle After Another, as was Teyana Taylor.  It was also great to see Wood Harris (The Wire) and Tony Goldwyn (Law & Order)  and Brooklyn Demme on the big screen. (Demme was interviewed on the Being Frank podcast this past April, in an episode that ended with Frank LoBuono playing my song "Alpha Centauri").

Speaking of songs, there was some excellent music, across a diversity of times. My favorite was "Soldier Boy" by the Shirelles, which was eerily satisfying to hear, given that it was on Top 40 radio in 1962, the happiest time in politics in my recollection, a time that sparkled with promise and progress, in such stark contrast to this wrought movie and our country today. And there was indeed some gallows humor that was pretty funny in One Battle After Another, which was also a tonic for what was happening on the screen. 

The action scenes were excellent, too. One of my favorite was Del Toro’s character Sensei Sergio St. Carlos escaping via a tunnel under his house, something I’ve always wanted to construct, and one thing I’ve admired about El Chapo. The car chases were exceptional, with one blockbuster chase involving three cars driving at lightning speed in hilly terrain, each driver having a separate agenda, something I've never seen before, even in a James Bond movie.

But the undeniable strength of this movie is its warning against what America is becoming before our very eyes -- a sober warning delivered with all manner of quirks and idiosyncratic characters that all too often border on gonzo -- which couldn't have been delivered at a better, more necessary time.

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Simon Vozick-Levinson's A Guide to the Revolutionary Music in ‘One Battle After Another’ in Rolling Stone, September 29, 2025

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Reptile: Like a Season of True Detective in a Movie

I saw Reptile on Netflix last night, a movie with touches of Body Heat and Blue Velvet.  But it's most like True Detective, the anthology (new characters every season) but brilliant HBO series coming back with a new season in January 2024.

Meanwhile, Reptile has its grit and mix of painfully honest and corrupt detectives, investigating a lurid murder case.  The victim is a real estate agent, in a less than happy relationship with her boyfriend, and--

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

It looks like the boyfriend didn't do it.  But it turns out he did, and with a vicious vengeance.  And when I say corrupt detectives, it turns out just about everyone working above or on the same level as lead detective Tom Nichols is running or turning a blind eye to a drug ring that Summer, a real estate agent and the murder victim, was unknowingly involved in.  If this sounds complicated and little difficult to follow, it is.  But the movie is lifted by some great music -- a new version of "Angel of the Morning" by Evie Sands Courtesy at the beginning and in the middle, and Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" at the end.  And some superb acting.

Benicio Del Toro is always memorable on the screen, but he's better than ever in Reptile as Tom Nichols. Eric Bogosian, Domenick Lombardozzi, and Mike Pniewski are effective as Tom's varyingly corrupt superiors, Ato Essandoh is good as Nichols' junior and devoted partner Dan Cleary, and so is Alicia Silverstone as Tom's wife.  Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake is just perfect as Summer's boyfriend Will Grady, though for some reason his excellent performances in just about every movie he's in continue to surprise me.

Del Toro, by the way, co-wrote the screenplay for Reptile, which has some fine film noir dialogue, with Grant Singer and Benjamin Brewer, and those two also wrote the story.  Singer directed the movie.  So a lot of talent went in to making this movie, and I'd say the movie amply reflects it.  Indeed, I'll predict that Reptile will become something of a classic in the years to come.

Escape at Dannemora 1-3: Cold True Crime

Tina and I have been watching and enjoying Escape at Dannemora - first three episodes - and I thought I'd check in with a review.

It's a docudrama, based on real events, that occurred when we were up on Cape Cod in June a few years ago.  Prison breaks make for good movies and TV series, especially when they're based on real escapes, and Escape at Dannemora doesn't disappoint.  Richard Matt and David Sweat are the inmates who have nothing to lose, and seduce Tilly Mitchell who works at the prison into having sex with them (at this point, it's not yet a threesome) and helping them escape.  Or, to be more precise, the seduction is sort of mutual, and at first she doesn't know the tools she's smuggling into them are being used to cut through walls.  Matt's a painter, and he tells he needs the tools to make picture frames,

The acting is superb.  Patricia Arquette as Mitchell is different from her usual roles and outstanding. Same for Benicio Del Toro as Matt, who never disappoints. Paul Dano as Sweat is good, too.  What makes the story so compelling is that Matt and Sweat, against all odds, manage to pull of the escape.  That much I remember from the news, and remembering it doesn't weaken watching the series in the slightest.

There's a lot more to be told.  I recall the ending in reality, but not exactly how Matt and Sweat and Mitchell get there.  I'll be watching the rest of this, and the great upstate New York scenery, with great interest.  It's a lot more fun learning about an actual prison break when it's a finely crafted docudrama, rather than seeing it played out on the night news.   I'll see you here next week, and let you know how it goes.

 

Stars Wars The Last Jedi: Enjoyable Birds and Storylines

Well, Tina and I finally got around seeing Star Wars The Last Jedi - in a very comfortable new iPic theater, right next to a new, delicious restaurant - City Perch, in Dobbs Ferry.   The movie had birds and was very enjoyable, too.

It hit most of the classic Star Wars notes, my favorite being those adorable birds, one of which winds up next to Chewbacca in the cockpit during a crucial aerial fight.  There's been an adorable critter thread throughout the Star Wars sagas, and the birds carried it forth perfectly - i.e., with the perfect mixture of poignance and laugh-out-loud fun.

On to the main stories, there was a lot that was predictable, but that was ok.   Kalo killing Snoke in that pivotal scene rather than Rey was predictable, but saved by Kalo still being bad in the aftermath.  Similarly, Luke appearing just in time to save the day was predictable, but saved by the reveal that he wasn't physically there.

DJ selling out was a little harder to see, but consistent with what Lando did in The Empire, and Benicio Del Toro was just right for the part.   Rose is a good new character, and I'm glad she survived.  But speaking of survival, I think I missed what it was that saved Princess Leia from getting  instantly frozen with no space suit on in deep space.

I was sad to see Luke go, just as I was Han in the immediately preceding movie in this long story, but Rey will make a remarkable new Jedi, the first woman in the role.  The Jedi's have been compared to the Jesuits in our reality, and it will be interesting to see if they make the same leap (I predict that, someday, they will).

Kalo makes an especially powerful villain, because he has such vulnerabilities.   He killed his father, and tried to kill his mother, and may be on his way to becoming even more than Supreme Leader.  Although Yoda and Luke (not to mention Obi Wan) can come forth to oppose him, Rey among the living will still be his best and ultimate opponent, and I'm still wondering if Luke might not be her father, after all.

And I'll be back with more after the next movie.