4.5 stars out of 5
Thank goodness lead actor Ubeimar Rios wears a beard throughout this film, or else my fellow moviegoers might’ve thought I was him sneaking in for a screening. And there’s not just a physical resemblance that connected me to this schlubby middle-aged character Oscar Restrepo; he’s a writer whose professional and personal lives used to show much more promise, yet he remains stubbornly idealistic.
Oscar lives with his elderly mother. The pressure is on from his sister and brother-in-law to start earning some money (which would also help pay for college for his estranged teen daughter). He reluctantly begins a high-school teaching job, but his beloved liquid courage doesn’t get him off to a good start in the classroom. However, one student grabs his attention: Yurlady, a fellow poet. He decides to become her mentor, which has both positive and very negative consequences for Oscar.
I so appreciated that this movie didn’t try to do too much except portray real life and real problems. We’re in Colombia but there are no drug lords or corrupt government officials, etc. etc. Instead, the film asks some very basic questions: Are people capable of change? Can we mend broken relationships? Is it possible to fulfill our dreams through another person? And a bigger query: What is the role of art in society? This is addressed through a wicked satire of socioeconomic patronization in the local poetry community.
Oh, and I should mention that A Poet is also very, very funny. We’re rooting for Oscar but can’t help but laugh as he stumbles through his existence. I would also be rooting for the movie for an Oscar, but although it was the Colombian entry as Best International Film, it was inexplicably not nominated. That is not poetic justice.
Movie Review: A Poet
Aquarium Playlist, 2/17/26
EPISODE #681: BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2026
Amos Milburn — “My Baby’s Boogying” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Carter Brothers — “Southern Country Boy”
The Sapphires — “Where Is Johnny Now?”
Skip James — “Drunken Spree”
Little Willie John — “I’m Shakin’”
Dee Dee Warwick — “Girls Need Love”
Lee Dorsey — “Working in the Coalmine”
The Clovers — “Lovey”
McFadden & Whitehead — “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”
Billy Preston — “Get Back”
The Five Stairsteps — “O-o-h Child”
Living Colour — “Glamour Boys”
Sade — “No Ordinary Love”
The Three Degrees — “When Will I See You Again”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/10/26
EPISODE #680: VALENTINE’S DAY 2026 (HUGS)
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
The Sweet Teens — “My Valentine”
Hemmy Hemmerich — “Free Hugs”
Booker T. & the MG’s — “Hip Hug-Her”
Lightheaded — “Hugging Horizons”
European Sun — “Hugs”
Torres — “Hug From a Dinosaur”
Erika Sherger — “Hugging the Coastline”
Morrissey — “Darling, I Hug a Pillow”
Kimya Dawson & Antsy Pants — “Tree Hugger”
The Wrens — “Jane Fakes a Hug”
Rain Recordings — “Every Time I Hug You to Leave”
The Lil’ Hospital — “Hugless”
Maita — “Best Wishes, XO, Hugs and Kisses, Goodbye”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Send Help
3 stars out of 5
I’ve been an admirer (cough, cough) of Rachel McAdams for 20+ years. But it was the combined presence of her and director Sam Raimi that convinced me to see Send Help. They last worked together in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and I thought that effort came together very well.
Here, McAdams is Linda Liddle, nebbishy loner but a numbers whiz at her finance job, where she’s just been passed over for a promised promotion to VP. However, 24’s President David Palmer, just before cashing his paycheck for a glorified cameo, convinces dickhead young boss Brad (Dylan O’Brien) to bring Linda along on an important trip to Asia. And just like in 2005’s Red Eye, McAdams finds herself on a very troubled flight.
Linda and Brad realize they are the only survivors of the plane crash on some remote island. But here, Survivor superfan/wannabe contestant Linda thrives with her mad skills regarding food and shelter, and busted-leg Brad is the weak one. In the hands of an anonymous director, this could be a really crummy role-reversal-revenge movie. But good ol’ Sam Raimi knows how to make it fun and funny. A scene with McAdams hunting a wild boar is a particular highlight.
Alas, Raimi didn’t write this movie (and hasn’t written one since 2009’s Drag Me to Hell). And the screenwriting duo Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (who have only previously scripted movies about Freddy, Jason, and Baywatch) – if you’ll excuse the metaphor – don’t know how to land this plane once they have it up in the air. They want to add another twist but the plot gets away from them, and the second half of the movie meanders.
Overall, it’s still entertaining enough as an indictment of corporate bro culture and as a you-shouldn’t-assume-things-about-people survival horror comedy. But next time Shannon and Swift get a screenplay greenlit… send help.
Aquarium Playlist, 2/3/26
EPISODE #679: FUCK ICE
Bruce Springsteen — “Streets of Minneapolis” [ALTERNATE THEME]
Mad Doctors — “Fuck Sean Hannity”
Jack White — “ICE Station Zebra”
Karl Hendricks Trio — “Fuck Shit Up”
Vehicle Flips — “ICE Jam”
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers — “Fuck Up”
Naughty Clouds — “ICE on Trees”
Joy Cleaner — “Fuck Up and Run”
Celibate Rifles — “ICE Blue”
The Replacements — “Fuck School” [live at Maxwell’s, 1986]
The Dismemberment Plan — “ICE of Boston”
Grandaddy — “Fuck the Valley Fudge”
Clem Snide — “ICE Cube”
Mitch & Mickey — “Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” r.i.p. Catherine O’Hara
Creedence Clearwater Revival — “Fortunate Son” r.i.p. James McMahon Sr.
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: A Private Life
4 stars out of 5
First of all, how come no one told me that a remake of Emmanuelle came out in 2024?!? Well, the co-writer of that, Rebecca Zlotowski, is also the co-writer – and the director — of A Private Life. I’m guessing these are very different films (and as soon as I post this review I will immediately research if Emmanuelle is streaming).
I was drawn in to A Private Life because it stars Jodie Foster in a French thriller, which are two of my favorite things. Or three. And I even recognized a couple of the French dudes in the trailer: Daniel Auteuil who I first saw onscreen in college in Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, and Mathieu Amalric from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and a few Wes Anderson flicks.
Then the opening credits begin and we hear “Psycho Killer” – the Talking Heads song with French in it! Tres bon!
Foster is American psychiatrist in Paris Lilian Steiner, an old-school Freudian. Trouble is, she loses two patients in rapid succession. And one is due to death. Which she soon finds herself investigating, because this is a movie. Steiner enlists the assistance of a hypnotist (skeptical Steiner hypnotized? She must really be on edge) and Auteuil as Gaby, her ex-husband eye doctor. Foster and Auteuil are tres magnifique together, like a French Nick and Nora Charles. You can feel the love still between them after all these years, and the easy give-and-take. Plus what a warm, kind face the 75-year-old Auteuil has.
Was Steiner’s late patient murdered? And if so – by who? Perhaps daughter Valerie, intriguingly played by Luana Bajrami, who was in the superb 2022 film Happening. Or maybe it was the client’s hothead husband Simon, portrayed by Amalric. He was a Bond villain in Quantum of Solace, after all.
We end up with a smart modern noir with a strong dash of humor along with explorations of psychology and family dynamics. There’s also Judaism which you don’t find in a ton of thrillers, and kudos for casting a disabled person in a very small role that didn’t require a disability. (The Farrelly brothers always do this and I’m happy to see it in another movie.) I liked A Private Life it a lot but hell, I would’ve bought a ticket just to hear Jodie Foster speak French so expertly.
Movie Review: 28 Years Later — Bone Temple
4 stars out of 5
We had to wait 18 years for a sequel to 28 Weeks Later, so they’re really spoiling us with another installment just 7 months later. From 28 Years Later, the unstoppable Alex Garland returns as screenwriter, while director Danny Boyle sits this one out, handing the reins to Nia DaCosta. The only other movie I’ve seen by her was the godawful The Marvels, but Boyle and Garland have this British zombie world pretty well-defined so I wasn’t overly concerned.
When last we were here, our 12-year-old protagonist Spike (Alfie Williams) was rescued/captured by Sir Jimmy Crystal and his band of Droogies uh I mean Jimmies. In the previous film, young Alfie got to display a wide range of emotions; here he’s pretty much just worrried/scared. But that’s OK, Jack O’Connell as Jimmy C is ready to pick up the mantle of primary character. And he has a field day, equally adept at terrorizing others or being a comic presence.
Ralph Fiennes is also back as Dr. Felton, and he gets to have more fun this time, dancing about, and going all My Fair Lady with rehabilitating zombie Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). We were promised the return of Cillian Murphy in this movie and he does show up, but it looks like his fan club will really have to wait for Part 3.
Bone Temple may not have the emotional heft of its predecessor, but it’s still a highly entertaining film and – make no bones about it — certainly does its job setting us up for the final chapter.
Aquarium Playlist, 1/27/26
EPISODE #678: ROMEO AND FLOYD
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Michael Penn — “No Myth”
Edward Rogers — “Romeo”
Wipers — “Romeo”
Dawn Landes — “Romeo”
Steve Forbert — “Romeo’s Tune”
Red Dons — “Just Write Romeo”
Michael & the Messengers — “Romeo & Juliet”
Chambers Brothers — “Romeo and Juliet”
Dire Straits — “Romeo and Juliet”
R.I.P. Uncle Floyd Vivino
Jack Silbert feat. James Bally — “Slip Away”
Cowboy Charlie & his Corral Chums — “Deep in the Heart of Jersey”
Uncle Floyd & Oogie — “Shaving Cream” [punk lyrics version]
Uncle Floyd & Oogie spoken segment
Uncle Floyd — “Cheerio, Cherry Lips, Cheerio”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Movie Review: Father Mother Sister Brother
3.5 stars out of 5
I was initially disappointed learning that this wasn’t a feature length exploration of Richie Cunningham’s fake fraternity, Mama Papa Sister. But I was even more disappointed to discover that this is Jim Jarmusch’s most boring film by a long shot.
Now, I love Jim Jarmusch, going back to his 1980s triumphs Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, and Mystery Train (the first movie of his I saw in a theater). And he hasn’t let me down since: Night on Earth, Ghost Dog (loved Ghost Dog!!), Broken Flowers, even the challenging Limits of Control. In the past decade-plus I loved Only Lovers Left Alive, thought Paterson was perfection, and was even delighted by the generally panned zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die. His movies are cool, stylish, grungey. Saxophones and coffee and cigarettes and darkened streets. Hell, I own the soundtracks to at least four of his flicks.
I certainly don’t mind Jarmusch trying something new, because he always has. But focusing on aging parents of the upper middle class? Leave that to EVERY OTHER WRITER/DIRECTOR OF A CERTAIN AGE, Jim. You’re better than that! (Oops sorry, my caps lock was stuck.)
This is an anthology, like Mystery Train and Night on Earth. The only reason I was sad to find that out: I was looking forward to an entire movie of Tom Waits. (At least memorizing 110 pages of dialogue would be a decent excuse for still not making a new album.) First of three stories is Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik (hey why not) visiting their down-and-out dad Waits. Second is an adorably nerdy Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps (who I thought was superb in Phantom Thread and Hold Me Tight) visiting Charlotte Rampling. And third is I don’t know and I don’t know (I was getting a little sleepy by this point, sorry) visiting their dead parents’ apartment.
We see common themes of estrangement, sibling rivalry, and pretending you’re something that you’re not. These are high-quality actors and Jarmusch puts them in recognizable situations. Wow, I could feel sitting there with grown children Adam and Mayim as the room gets darker and the afternoon gets longer thinking “When can I leave.” There are a few laughs too. It’s not a bad movie; it’s a pretty good movie, but it’s very very talky and not particularly compelling. And for Jarmusch, that’s a letdown. I feel like Jimmy in Quadrophenia finding out Ace Face is now a bellboy. Now that was a cool movie!
Aquarium Playlist, 1/20/26
EPISODE #677: ROBOTS II
The Who — “Happy Jack” [THEME]
Stereolab — “Robot Riot”
Freedy Johnston — “Madeline’s Eye”
The Buggles — “I Love You (Miss Robot)”
Magnetic Fields — “The Little Robot Girl”
Heather Cook — “Robot Prom”
Dentist — “Robot”
Dennis Young — “Radical Robots”
Flaming Lips — “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1”
They Might Be Giants — “Unctuous Robot”
Devo — “Mechanical Man” [Booji Boy version]
Hoodie Allen — “You Are Not a Robot”
The Saints — “International Robots”
Bern & the Brights — “Thieves, Creeps, and Automatons”
Jack Silbert proudly records the Aquarium podcast in Hoboken, NJ.
Jack Silbert, curator