AmakoaAkana Reviews

The Crossing (2020)

Childlike sweetness in the face of brutality.

[10/10 · 17 October 2021]

I Just finished a fabulous film, just what I was looking for. A Norwegian film: Flukten Over Grensen (The Crossing 2020) about three Norwegian children who try and help two Norwegian Jewish children escape across the border to Sweden. I loved it, just what I needed was a lot of childlike sweetness in the face of brutality and terror. If I had to choose between rewatching Schindler's List, and this film, I would choose this one.

I would also like to draw attention to the perfect performance by the unknown child actress who played Sarah, Bianca Ghilardi-Hellste and Greda played by Anna Sofie Skarholt. It has been a very long time since I have seen such sweetness in a relationship on film.

Note that the terror and brutality are not graphic, there are no massacres, no machine-gunning. But the children know what awaits them if they make an error, and as real life children do, they make plenty of them.

American films have got to be pretty bad. I haven't cheered one in months. They seem cold and most often depend on violence and other dystopian action. A rare find, I cheered this movie.

Extinction (2018)

Primitive Invasion with Children

[7/10 · 30 September 2021]

Until about halfway through, the only thing that kept me watching were the two children: Lucy played by. Erica Tremblay, and Hannah, played by Amelia Crouch. Without them, there is no movie, no one to protect or care about, essentially just a bunch of barbaric aliens invading the Earth with strangely primitive weapons. In spite of all the bad-mouthing in other reviews, I found the children to do a pretty good job of acting like children in the circumstances. Lucy, and her stuffed monkey, plays a key scene early in the invasion and in the entire moral and emotional plot line.

I mean, when are they going to make a film where the alien weapons are silent, like a virus or a prion or some other fantastically advanced organic and sneaky way to take over the planet. Why do aliens always have their machines that look like insects (or squids?) and creak and groan and bust up everything in the way. Nevertheless, fans of blowing up whole cities with maximum explosives will love this.

So, I would have given the film a 9 on the children's roles, and a 4 on the primitive alien invasion. And a half point added to the average for the last twenty minutes.

My Extraordinary Summer with Tess (2019)

Tess is perfectly real.

[10/10 · 15 May 2021]

Coming of age movies have become a rare genre and excellent ones even rarer. My Extraordinary Summer with Tess deserves a place with the classics, a near perfect C of A movie.

To begin with, the scenery around the Dutch island is fabulous. I always wondered what those Friesland islands look like, and now I know. Miles of nearly empty white sand beaches, but beware of the muddy quicksand at low tide, as you will see. In addition, the lighthouse becomes, to me, an important character.

Eleven-year-old, Josephine Arendsen plays Tess and switches between moods lightning fast. Unlike many off the present day crop of Coming of Age movies, she is utterly real. Not adorable, not particularly feminine or pretty, or nerdy, she just comes across as a real person. I suppose my favorite part is when she shows Sam, the young boy who falls in love with her, her diary documenting the search for her father. Sam, bumbles his way through being Tess' companion in her search, his relationship with her echoing through his head while he wanders the island training himself to be alone.

I am not much of a reviewer, but since this movie doesn't seem to have a review, and was featured on IMDb today, I wanted to let folks know that I have included my copy along with the best of Coming of Age movies and highly recommend it.

Michelle & Isabelle (2009)

Best friends, forever?

[10/10 · 10 March 2021]

An almost perfectly filmed coming of age focusing on the friendship between two bubbly eleven year old girls and the boys and adults who effect their day to day life. It reminded me of when my daughter was that age.

I do wonder why the scary parts were added, that part of the story, in my opinion, was never really filled in. nevertheless, the girls' reaction to it does fill in as part of the way they react to truth and fear.

What the Night Can Do (2020)

Fell asleep.

[5/10 · 4 March 2021]

I usually love this genre of coming of age movie, but this film put me to sleep, so I missed half of it. There was way too much moralizing by the adult actors, especially the "Grandpa" and I never did figure out what all the conflict between the adults was all about. or care about it. Maybe that was because I snoozed. Whatever! I didn't like any of them and certainly didn't like their mistreatment of their daughter. I even disliked the dog! One exception to the horrid characters and bad acting was the Black woman, I never figured out what her role was... at first I thought Grandpa's new wife, or girl friend or house keeper or nurse??? She was likeable.

So why give it six stars? Well, mostly because of Luana, played by Peyton Kennedy. I mean, I tuned into this movie as a Coming of Age movie and Luana was an interesting character, understandable, believable in her role. I did care about her and felt bad about her losses. So she gets seven stars and the rest of the film gets one star. Do the math!

The Passage (2019)

2021. Best pilot I have seen in years.

[10/10 · 28 February 2021]

I have binged watched many many series and just this minute finished Episode 1 of the Passage. Great pilot! Better than most movies.

For one thing the actress, Saniyya Sidney, who plays the little girl, Amy, has given a multi-faceted perfect performance. I almost instantly wanted to protect her from the nefarious forces of the Homeland security chuds who kidnapped her. I saw her in Fast Color and she is an actress to put on your list of future Oscar winners. She nails her part in The Passage!

Maybe because of the COVID pandemic, I am addicted to apocalypse movies. While I wish that the pandemics in these movies would get away from vampires, walking dead and zombies... the vampire scenes here don't overwhelm the episode. The main plot (so far anyway) is one empathetic, humane rogue agent saving a little girl from a nefarious immoral government bent on destroying her. If you liked Firestarter, you'll like The Passage.

Added after binge watching the entire series in early 2021.I Binge watched the entire series. Now I guess I will have to read the overtly progressive books.

Pre-post-apocalyptic pandemic from a book written in 2010, and turned into a series in 2019. I do wish that nearly all the book and movie pandemics weren't zombies and vampires and spread through air or water, and that the diseases didn't have to be spread by violence. And maybe they could solve the problems using mutual aid and intelligent planning/response instead of machine guns.

That being said, this series actually humanizes the sick atypical-for-movies) vampires and focuses on the relationship between an empathetic rogue federal agent and a little Black girl swept up into deadly weapons experiments. The little girl, Amy, is played by Saniyya Sidney, who has appeared in Roots, Fences, Fast Color and Hidden Figures, is one of the best child actors I have had the privilege to watch turn her roles into magic.

Troop Zero (2019)

A Multi-layered Work of Genius in the Brat Pack Genre

[10/10 · 1 February 2020]

This is one of the few movies that I watched again right after the ending. I have been watching "brat pack" movies since Hal Roach's "Our Gang" and it is one off the best of the genre. I laughed and cried throughout the film. The second time was better than the first, and I can tell that a third and fourth time will bring even more out. For example, listen very carefully at the very end to Christmas; every word to hear something I missed completely the first time round.

It has many points of genius that set it apart from other brat pack films and IMO will make this movie remembered as a classic. I didn't realize it the first time I ran the film but Lucy Alibar, the screenwriter for "Beasts of the Southern Wild" wrote this one. The screenplay, like "Beasts", is multi-layered, talks to me in little girl girl voices from some sort of magical world of remembered hurts and joys and friendships. The detailed settings by the The Art Department are rich and colorful. A movie like this I may watch a dozen times in the coming years and I am certain i will find new fun things in the settings each time. Another point of genius was brought by the the casting people: Lindsay Graham and Mary Vernieu. They brought a perfect child actor and actresses for each role. Its the actresses and actor playing the children of "Troop Zero" which capped off a near perfect "brat pack" movie:

Grace McKenna should be nominated for a "Best Young Actress" Award for her work in this role. I have seen her in Mr. Church (2016), Gifted (2017), How To Be a Latin Lover (2017), and I, Tonya (2017) previously (and some of her TV appearances). In "Troop Zero" she plays Christmas Flint in what is one of the more touching roles I have seen a little girl play in a long time. She reminds me of Mary Kornman, an adorable girl lead in Hal Roach's Our Gang who was special in the same sort of way. Another comparison might be made with Mhairi Anderson in The Daisy Chain (2008). She is so vulnerable and at the same time strong, funny, pathetic, adorable and, well, special in a way that I can't quite pin down.

But it doesn't stop there, all the kids were perfect: Milan Ray as the bulling poor girl with nothing to lose named "Hell-No" Price; The painfully shy little Jesus loving Anne-Claire who has a piece of cardboard covering her missing eye played by Bella Higginbotham; Christmas's best friend Joseph, "half-boy and half-girl" played by Charlie Shotwell; and last but not not least, the chubby "Smash", who lives up to her name smashing everything in sight played by Johanna Colón. The combination of the five is dynamic.

Its been called on many reviews a "little movie" and still rated highly. I may be the first to write that I consider it an instant brat pack classic with a unique focus on girls.

Disclosure: I don't work for or have I worked for, or know anybody involved in this movie or the movie industry. I did write an unpublished thesis on girls in film history which includes "Beasts" and McKenna Grace.

Waldo's Last Stand (1940)

Best Child Tap Dance of All-Time

[10/10 · 13 January 2020]

I was brought up with these shorts as a child and they were my favorite programs in the fifties. What makes this one extra special is one of the Meglin Kiddies as lead tap dancer starting at about 3:45 and lasting until about 5:00. Being sort of a fan of dancing I consider this 1:10 of tap dancing to be the best number of all-time. I haven't ever been able to figure out what the dancer's name was. Her dance and tap is as clear as a bell, she is lighter than air, and the expression on her face is adorable.

I have probably watched all of, certainly almost all of, Shirley Temple's dance numbers, and even her most excellent 10 star numbers like "We Should Get Together" in "Little Miss Broadway" and "At the Codefish Ball" in Captain January are not as clear and light as this one.

If anyone happens to know the name of this tap dancer.... I would appreciate it be posted.

Summer 1993 (2017)

A classic intimate portrait of childhood.

[10/10 · 28 December 2019]

I give this movie a ten star rating. I suspect it will be remembered as a classic. The general feeling of the film and six year old Freda (Laia Artigas) remind me of The Spirit of the Beehive and Anna Torrent. Apparently other reviewers have felt the same. The film is perfectly and beautifully directed and filmed.

The film is intimate, as if I am one of the characters in a family trying to raise a niece whose mother has just died of what in the early 90's was a mysterious disease. I could feel Freda's loneliness, pain, confusion and fear as well as her kind aunt and uncle's failure to breakthrough the child's depression.

There is an undercurrent of fear that three year old Anna (Paula Robles) will fall victim to one of Freda's sometimes strange behaviors. The disease isn't specifically named but it is thought to be spread by touching the blood of someone who has it, that Freda might have it and accidentally spread it around the playground or to her new little sister. Freda is mystified by this, as well as a strange statue of the Virgin Mary in a nook of the forest. These sorts of scenes are to me much more spine-chilling than a bunch of boring, idiotic weirdly dressed super-heroes/action celebrities killing each other.

There are plenty of the joys of childhood that are shared and balance the film.: Eating ice pops, learning to swim, taking the training wheels off of her bicycle, or the two little girls playing together around the farm, woods and farmhouse.

In sum: A lovely film destined to become a classic intimate portrait of childhood.

Buttons, A New Musical Film (I) (2018)

Focuses on children, not on adult romance or Santa Claus

[8/10 · 25 December 2019]

It has been increasingly hard to find Christmas movies that focus on children so I am glad I found this movie to watch on Christmas Eve. It took me awhile to find "Buttons" amidst all kinds of "Life-mark or "Hall-time" stupid adult Christmas romances/Santa Claus. The period set design and costuming was attractive and colorful, often reminiscent of a Dickens piece. I especially enjoyed the workhouse setting. The music was OK enough and not so much of it as to be distracting or annoying. The story was touching even if I knew how it was going to end. In spite of what some grinchy critics have written, the acting was good and the children adorable.

There is one song towards the beginning that reminds me of a forgotten Shirley Temple song and dance (or was it Annie??). Alivia Clark, the main child character playing Annabelle definitely isn't Shirley Temple. I kept waiting for her to do a duet tap dance with her guardian angel, but it never happened. The filmmakers could have done a bit better with her choreography. In her own way though she is more pleasant than Shirley.

As a Christmas movie to watch with the kids (or in my case as an elderly person by myself), I found it considerably quieter, much less commercial oriented (AKA Santa Claus, gifts, malls, adult romance) and more Christmas appropriate than most Christmas fare and would like to strongly encourage filmmakers to make more movies like this. So, there are some minor criticisms and I have deducted 2 points from a perfect 10.

Emergence (2019–2020)

Hypnotizing Performance by Alexa Swinton

[10/10 · 23 December 2019]

Alexa Swinton who plays the little girl, Piper, in this series is one of the most fascinating children I have seen in recent times. At episode 3 I am not sure what exactly she is (an extraterrestrial, a robot, a normal little girl, who knows?? but I certainly care.) Her performance is hypnotizing.

And the other child actress, Ashley Aufderheide, who plays her "foster sister" is such a nice, loving character that I can't help but love her as well.

I watch a lot of "cop shows" and "sci-fi" shows and this one is a near perfect mix. The characters that I'd like to know in real life. And its a good story.

The Young Black Stallion (2003)

A breathtaking girl & horse movie in the Arabian Desert

[10/10 · 7 August 2017]

I love this short movie. Its a simple girl and horse film but special. A girl lost in the desert finds a young colt. They become friends as they wander. . . Patriarchal standards block her potential.

So, how is it special?

First, the cinematography in the desert is awe-inspiring, heart- heartbreakingly beautiful. Second, Biana Tamimi (Neera), who is not an actress, but an equestrian, is a joy to watch. I enjoy her amateurish acting and girlish enthusiasm. Third, The costumes are beautiful, even if I have no idea if they are authentic. Neera's hijab even looks beautiful. Fourth, the villains, especially the one in the black beard, are villainously delightful. And last, The race course is the most difficult I've seen on film and the horse race the toughest I have ever seen, made especially heart-stopping because we know the stakes for Neera.

I agree with other reviewers that the film seemed too short. I could have easily watched more of Neera wandering through the desert looking for water, and more training in her secret valley.

Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (2017)

Light, funny, and lovable

[10/10 · 25 July 2017]

I loved the characters, all of them. Even the outrageous psycho train dick.

Ashleigh Murray plays Deidra, the oldest sister, highly intelligent, valedictorian, the only one in her class with any hopes of getting into a top university. But when her Mother gets thrown into jail in a fit of insanity, Deidra is left to try and pay the bills and her college dreams fade. Food is down to a half bag of potato chips. Social services is pounding on her door, threatening to take her siblings Laney, played by Rachel Crow, and her brother to foster homes.

Deidra comes up with a plan: robbing freight trains that roll by her backyard with her shy little sister, a helmeted teddy bear, and fencing the stuff (detergent as an example, until they learn to read the labels on the crates) wholesale. Through the planning of the robberies and subsequent twists and turns, I fell in love with the two sisters, rooting for them to succeed at every turn.

Sounds heavy, but the movie is light, funny, and lovable. For me, Deidra & Laney is an edge of the midnight movie seat, unable to even take a break to grab a snack, and staying until the last credit rolled movie. And lastly, I appreciated a plot I haven't seen before, in a rural poverty stricken setting, and having mixed race kids as the protagonists.

Raising Izzie (2012 TV Movie)

The whole movie is its own spoiler alert.

[4/10 · 1 July 2017]

I picked this movie because I like orphans on their own stories. I loved "About Scout", "Chestnut", "Rabbit Proof Fence", three of my 10 star ratings in the genre. Unfortunately, nowhere did I read that "Raising Izzie" was a fundamentalist Christian propaganda film with Jesus as a main character (never on screen of course). Frankly, if I want to be preached at about the miracle of prayer, or lack thereof, I want to see it advertised in the plot line.

What saved the movie from being nuked with the delete button was the relationship between the two orphans. Izzie, played by Kyla Kennedy (A Gift Horse, a much better movie I rated 8 stars) is the every optimistic little 8 (?) year old who is being taken care of by her 14 year old sister Gracie, played by Victoria Staley who is a pretty good mother. Better than most, if I do say so. What kept me watching was to see how they would survive. I really don't understand why they cast a 19 year old as 14, I suppose they wanted Gracie to appear more mature than her character's age.

The adults were disasters. I hated them both: the gorgeous, sweet, prying, nosebag schoolteacher and her Jesus brainwashed husband. Rockmond Dunbar, playing Greg, the meddlesome school teacher's husband, was funny now and again but had a confused character simultaneously being quite loving and at the same time a grump about kids. The school teacher (played by Vanessa Williams) just plain made me angry for getting involved in obviously non-abused children's private lives, all behind a passive-aggressive smiley face.

OK! I gave the movie as a whole four stars based only on the relationship between the two girls. If everyone else in the movie disappeared I might give their subplot a much higher rating. Otherwise I would give the movie a 1 star based on being fooled into watching a Christian faith movie with too much preaching, unpleasant adults (not mean, just unpleasantly self- righteous), a overcooked plot-line and an ending one could accurately predict the first time Mr. Greg pulls the car over for a long, rambling prayer shortly followed by another predictable result.

Annie (2014)

Quvenzhané Wallis the perfect Annie

[10/10 · 13 June 2017]

The 1982 Annie is one my top five most perfectly adorable movies of all time. To me it has a special place in the above ten star category, like fifteen stars. The story, music, choreography acting and flow were perfectly done. So, trying to compare the newer versions is difficult.

This version of Annie is modernized, with cell phones and all kinds of electric gadgets. I didn't mind the modernization, it was fun to see the story in a different setting with enough new plot points to keep me wondering what going to happen next. The colors were brilliant, a real feast. The dance choreography is comparatively sparse, particularly "Hard Knock Life". There are additional songs, one of which (a rather quiet solo by Annie from her super-modern bed) I thought was a welcome addition, the others forgettable. The costumes were beautifully done. The movie as a whole was fun. My little nieces (6 & 12) watched it twice with sound full blast.

What makes this version a ten star film rests on Quvenzhané Wallis being an absolute perfect Annie. No red hair, but well, her acting is adorable, funny, and lighter than air like the best young dancers. She out-sparkled even the very sparkly Aileen Quinn (Annie, 1982).

Jamie Foxx as Stack is an extra bonus, a very funny "Warbucks". Taylor Richardson who introduces the movie as "Red-haired Annie" set the stage perfectly, so let me recommend seeing her more extensive role in Jack of the Red Hearts(2015), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. The rest of the cast fine, but nothing to stand out or criticize.

Cootie Contagion (2012)

Infectious Cootieosis

[10/10 · 15 September 2016]

Rarely do I find a short film so clear and concisely written and directed, sweet and memorable with such wonderful child actors.

I specifically tuned into this film because, having been a purveyor of cooties my entire life, I am sorry that even at 70 I have not been cured. I do wish there had been a specialist, a Dr. Cootie, to help me with the problem. Certainly, commercial products were ineffective and a waste of money, although "bay rum" has relieved some of the symptoms.

Anyway, I loved this film and gave it ten stars and shared it with my now grown up daughters and grandchildren.

Highly recommended.

Child of Grace (2014)

minimalist amount of victim-hood and preaching.

[10/10 · 1 May 2016]

I acquired this movie because of Maggie Elizabeth Jones being a lead actress as she was in two other movies I loved: We Bought a Zoo and Away and Back. The plot of a young girl with an apparently loving daddy on an endless road trip seeing a missing child poster with what looks like herself, even down to the birthmark, intrigued me. What does a child think when she is abruptly confronted with what appears to be a new reality that her Dad may or may not be her real Dad, but a kidnapper? The script writer should be congratulated and the novelist Chris Fabry, author of June Bug (highly recommended) on which the movie is based should be congratulated for a touching cliffhanger.

The opening credits, as both of her previous movies, was brilliant with lovely views of her and her father sharing adventures in the western USA, but with a barely noticeable foreboding at the same time. From the opening credits onward there is not a moment where I wasn't on the edge of my chair wondering how the whole thing is going to work out.

Its strange that in the past few years girls have been playing different roles in American culture. The victim role is an old cliché by now. For awhile there were two other common roles for girls: horror and fantasy. I never liked the horror any better than the victim. Fantasy? I wish they'd make the Golden Compass series into a TV series. Girl heroes, love it. Lately girls are starring in Christian redemption movies. these can be icky but better than horror or victim, only if it isn't preaching into my face. Child of Grace, in spite of the title, gets by with a minimalist amount of victim-hood, horror and preaching.

Philosophically there are three things I object to. The first is depicting God as forgiving the most atrocious of behavior. I myself am not forgiving. The second is the complete lack of rights of the child to be anything but property by blood and excusing toxic behavior because it is the law. The third is treating men worse than dogs. Child of Grace deals with these issues. How successfully it does is up to the viewer in accordance with their ideology and belief.

An excellent movie. Ten stars.

Gallows Road (2015)

Family drama set in a fundamentalist, violent, and still racially tense Texas

[7/10 · 25 December 2015]

Generally I can't sit through a movie with a Christian theme, but somehow it was done here so it fit in neatly with the Texas setting. A movie without Jesus in the Bible Belt would be like a movie about India without a Hindu. The Christian theme was light enough to not rob the movie of vitality. So, maybe I would call it a family drama set in a still violent, sometimes racist Texas.

The story kept me on the edge of my seat, rare for me since all but the better movies put me to sleep. I didn't even get up for a bag of licorice sticks.

I enjoyed the sets, the Collins brother's antique store was particularly fascinating and worth a few still captures to enjoy the detail.

The friendly relationship between the black Collins boy played by Isaac Smith and Puck, the blond daughter of a broken down drunk, played by Megan Dalby, given the racial tensions in the movie, scared me from the first. This is Megan's first movie, and as the previous reviewer said, she lit up the screen in every scene.

Northpole: Open for Christmas (2015 TV Movie)

Adorable Kids and Simple Plot

[9/10 · 30 November 2015]

Although it seems to me that Christmas in America has turned into Black Friday for adults, every year I look for a Christmas movie(s) with adorable kids, lots of silly magic, and a simple plot. Unfortunately, most Christmas movies are adult romances with not a child in sight. Because Bailee Madison (Bridges to Terebitha, Cowboys and Angels) and Ava Telek (Flowers in the Attic) are listed as main characters I acquired this and was happily surprised. Bailee is one of the few child actors who has become even more adorable as a teenager and together with Ava, they light up the screen with their smiles. Even now, days later, I giggle thinking about them. They remind me nostalgically of my girls when they were small and Christmas happy.

OK, the plot is a remake of a hundred other kid and matchmaker and Santa Claus movies. Thats fine with me, I like the variations of this often repeated story and, year after year, try to find the movie that does it best. This may not be the very best of all time (Miracle on 34th Street and The Grinch Before Christmas might be), but I clapped at the end.

I also might note that the opening credits montage is worth the price of admission. Also, I hope Bailee continues to do family movies and doesn't get sidetracked into depressing teenage sex and drugs chic flicks.

Zoey to the Max (2015)

A sweet family movie

[8/10 · 2 November 2015]

I am the kind of moviegoer who wants to see a simple, happy family movie and Zoey to the Max was almost perfect for me. Cassidy Mack played 13 year old Zoey, a naive shy girl who can never do anything right and is shuffled from home to home until she ends up in jail, after a misadventure with bullies. I don't think I have seen any young teenage characters being so painfully shy and sweet as Zoey, not even Charlie in Perks of a Wallflower.

The movie is simple kind of silly fare, just the thing for someone who doesn't want violence, sex, drug and/or deeply depressing details to invade their enjoyment. It sort of reminds me of the classic Savannah Smiles. (see) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084633/