Mary Elizabeth Winstead knocks it out of the park in Eva Vives' bracing ALL ABOUT NINA

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Let's face it: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is one of the great-yet-underrated talents of our time. And regarding this compelling and versatile actress, the usual "rule" -- oh, well, she hasn't starred in a successful blockbuster yet, so that's why she's not on the map -- doesn't quire apply. She did indeed star in 10 Cloverfield Lane, which came reasonably close to blockbuster status. No matter. She'll be remembered for the "little" movies she made in which her performances proved indelible: from Smashed to Faults (probably the most underseen, close-to-perfect film of the millenium) to Alex of Venice and now ALL ABOUT NINA. A certain Mrs Maisel, not to mention Hannah Gadsby, may be the female comedians of the moment, but once you've met Nina Geld, you will have to make room for one more.

In this new film, written and directed by Eva Vives (shown at right), Ms Winstead, in the poster above and photo below, plays an ought-to-be-very-successful-but-isn't comedian who keeps shooting herself in the foot. (Or, as Nina's own fouled-mouth feminist repertoire might put it, "in the cunt.")

Our girl is about as self-destructive as they come: missing appointments, screwing up auditions, and ruining every possible decent relationship with a male that comes her way, while always opting for the very worst of the bunch.

But, oh, boy, she is funny -- as the bits and pieces of her act that we hear throughout the film will prove. Winstead keeps her character's guard up very cleverly, turning her bile on men and women alike, deserved or not. Her take-down early on of a fellow comedian played by Jay Mohr is priceless. When, later in the game, she gives him what he wants, you will note how far she has sunk.

The new man in Nina's life turns out to be played by Common (shown above, left), that actor with the one-word moniker whom I wish would change his name to Uncommon; he's that good. Seen only last week in the not-so-hot A Happening of Monumental Proportions (which his performance made a bit better), here his good work helps a very smart film take flight. How his character (Rafe) and Nina meet, bond and try to work things out proves both believable and sweetly compelling.

In the supporting cast are some other fine actors -- Camryn Manheim (above) as Nina's mom, Chace Crawford (below, left) as her sleazy ex, and Kate del Castillo as the very new-age Southern Californian woman with who Nina's agent (Angelique Cabral) has set up to care for her client while she is visiting the west coast. Everyone comes through just fine, but it is, top-to-bottom, Nina's movie. And Ms Winstead could hardly be better.

She has always been the kind of actress able to offer a huge range without the viewer even realizing the distance that has been travelled. She is not simply "realistic"; she inhabits each moment, each thought and feeling, so fully and completely that there no room to cavil. Oh, sure: We may wonder why she does some of the stuff she does. But we never question the fact that she has done it.

Ms Vives doesn't always or fully "explain" the why. There's no need. Winstead's performance proves good enough to easily carry us and the film along. I do wish that the movie's resolution did not seem quite so pat, however. Not that Vives ties it all up with a bright red bow. But it will take more than merely this to turn Nina into a better functioning adult professional. Still, the film is often wonderful. And Winstead is simply great -- as always. Few actresses ever get a role this good, let alone do it full justice, as here.

From The Orchard and running a swift 97 minutes, All About Nina opens this Friday, September 28, in New York (at the AMC Empire 25 and Regal Union Square 14) and in Los Angeles (at the AMC Sunset 5 and AMC Burbank Town Center 8). Elsewhere. Hope so. But as The Orchard has not seen fit to even list the film on its web site as of today, who knows?

Streaming "must": Amazon's THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL is all you've heard -- and more!

What a glory is both this new show (available now via Amazon Prime) and its star, the ravishing Rachel Brosnahan. Turns out I have seen Ms Brosnahan numerous times previously (from Netflix's House of Cards and Burn Country to James White and Patriots Day) but have managed to not really "notice" her until now. That won't happen again. THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL gives Brosnahan the kind of role actors would die for, and she fills it so completely and spectacularly that you cannot imagine anyone else possibly doing the job any better.

The brainchild of writer/director/producer Amy Sherman-Palladino and her producer/writer/director husband, Daniel Palladino (the pair shown at left), the series comes to immediate and fine life at the mid-1950s wedding, below, of Miriam Weissman (Ms Brosnahan) to Joel Maisel (the excellent Michael Zegen) and then moves mostly forward but occasionally back in time as the character and personality of our heroine come clear. What is most clear from the very start is that Miriam ("Midge") Maisel is a born comic: someone who is innately funny and can't help sharing this fact with the rest of the world. And yet, unlike so many stand-up comics who must always "own the room," Mrs. Maisel (and, it would seem, Brosnahan, too) leavens this need for control with such a dose of sweetness and charm that she completely seduces her audience. And us.

The arc of the series has our heroine moving from housewife and mother (a good one in both cases) to comic, and this turns out to be no easy task or any kind of overnight success. It's a slow (but always funny and entertaining) process, full of backsliding and doubt, while trying to appease some folk while keeping this goal a secret from the others.

The first-rate supporting cast includes the likes of Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle (above) as Midge's parents, and the wonderful Alex Borstein (below: remember MAD-TV's Ms Swan?) as Susie, the"gate-keeper"at the comedy club who pushes Midge into performing, after seeing her surprising and intoxicated stage debut (two photos below).

This series continually fosters a real and a deep appreciation of women's roles in our society, while keeping us laughing about these at the same time. The combination of Sherman-Palladino's writing skills and Brosnahan's performance turns The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel into something sneakily ground-breaking.

It will have you loving and appreciating all the women you see here, including even Penny Pan (Holly Curran), the home-wrecking secretary who helps cause the Maisels' separation, as well as Rose, Midge's strait-laced, appearances-are-all mother, whom Ms Hinkle bring to wonderful, sad life. You may not agree with these women or their choices, but you do understand them and feel for them.

This empathy extends to the men on view, too -- Midge's husband (Mr. Zegen is shown above, left, and below, right), her father and even her father-in-law (Kevin Pollack). We laugh at these guys, but we understand then and finally come to care about them.

Succulent smaller roles are brought to rich life by actors like Mary Testa (as Rose's fortune teller), David Paymer (as a higher-level agent/manager to whom Susie must turn for help), and Luke Kirby, doing a surprising and terrific turn as Lenny Bruce, whose path Midge crosses a number of times during this premiere season.

Especially commanding is Jane Lynch, above, who gets one episode nearly all to herself, playing a famous comic named Sophie Lennon (think maybe a combo of Sophie Tucker and Joan Rivers) who gives our gal advice that is used quite otherwise than intended. Ms Lynch is memorable indeed, and what Midge does with her advice is even more so.

Questions have been raised as to the provenance of the lead character. Is she based, for instance, on Joan Rivers? Yes, there is some similarity between Rivers' early work and what we see here. But not all that much. It seems to me that Miriam "Midge" Maisel is a character cut almost totally from "whole cloth" and all the better for it. Someone like this never really exited in the mid-20th-century, although comedy, New York and the world at large would have been better if she had.

By the time we've reached the end of this ten-episode (each around 50 minutes) series, everything is in place for what may be the most wonderfully "earned" and perfect ending in the history of exceptional television seasons. Oh, boy: what a moment. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel streams now via Amazon, and the series alone is worth the yearly hundred-dollar Prime membership fee. Whatever you do, don't miss Mrs. Maisel.

DeNiro and a fine ensemble cast bring Taylor Hackford's THE COMEDIAN to crackling life

Liveliness is what most distinguishes THE COMEDIAN, the new film directed by Taylor Hackford and co-written by a quartet of scribes. There is hardly a moment here that does not absolutely crackle with life, and because that life is lived via a bunch of first-rate actors, the movie tumbles along like a boulder careening downhill. Mr. Hackford (pictured below) has done a commendable job of helming his film -- keeping the pace fast and frisky, while allowing the occasional tender moment to shine as brightly as it needs.

The Comedian is also notable for giving Robert De Niro (below and further below) his best role in a long while, one that he fills with the kind of charisma we haven't seen this actor display for some time. (He was good in The Intern, but here is a role that requires, and is given, the turkey, as well as all the trimmings.) The story concerns an over-the-hill comedian named Jackie who once had a hit TV series, which appears to be what his fans remember best and only want more of. The movie opens with his appearance at an out-of-the-way comedy club, during which one insulting and rowdy-for-a-reason audience member brings out such ire in Jackie that our hero is given a short prison sentence for his time and trouble.

One of the movie's great strengths is how it is able -- via script, direction and actors -- to allow us to see both sides of just about everyone's story so that we can understand the viewpoint of each, while also understanding and accepting the other side of the situation. And because the film is practically non-stop confrontation, one person against another, this ability to understand both sides makes the movie much more believable, more human and humane, than the usual situation comedy.

The supporting ensemble includes a bevy of top-notchers, starting with Leslie Mann (above, right), who proves utterly charming, sad and angry as the unexpected recipient of Jackie's attraction. Harvey Keitel (below, left) plays her wealthy and controlling father with an unusually potent mixture of contempt and affection.

Danny DeVito (below, right) and Patti LuPone (left) essay the roles of Jackie's brother and sister-in-law, and both are as on-the-mark as you'd expect, with DeVito an exquisite combo of love and disappointment. while LuPone takes constantly simmering rage to new and hilarious heights.

Being all about comedians (particularly those of the "insult" variety) and the art of performing, the movie is chock-a-block with notable faces (yes, that's Billy Crystal, below, right) who pop up throughout -- usually accompanied by a nasty/funny volley of insults.

Perhaps the movie's signature scene is devoted to a Friar's Club roast of an aging comedy queen, played by Cloris Leachman (below), the result of which is jaw-droppingly dark and hilarious. We also get a fine and funny scene of performing in a Florida home for the aged, which struck us new-to-Florida aged residents as absolutely on the money. (The scene includes a very nice rendition of the Sondheim standard Being Alive, used of course for rather ironic effect.)

TrustMovies makes no claim of greatness for The Comedian. It's a thoroughly independent/mainstream endeavor. But as such, it is surprisingly adept, sharp, funny -- and, ah, those terrific performances! (That's Edie Falco, below, playing Jackie's put-upon but quite helpful, longtime agent.)

The movie -- from Sony Pictures Classics and running a surprisingly swift two hours -- opens just about everywhere this Friday, February 3, and should prove, once word-of-mouth sets in, something of a box-office bonanza for its distributor. To find the theaters nearest you, click here -- and then click on GET TICKETS.

ENTERTAINMENT isn't -- unless you're on that very special Rick Alverson wavelength

When TrustMovies sat down to view ENTERTAINMENT, the latest film from Rick Alverson, he vaguely recalled the filmmaker's name. After watching Entertainment, he looked up Alverson and realized that, sure enough, he'd seen the filmmaker's earlier work, The Comedy (TM's review of which can be found here). In the annals of filmmaking, I suspect that Mr. Alverson, shown below, may rate as one of the oddest ever to see his films obtain theatrical release: the least desirous (and perhaps the least able) of giving audiences anything like what they are used to (and most probably both expect and want to be) seeing and hearing.

This writer/director (his co-writers here are his star, Gregg Turkington, and Tim Heidecker, who starred in The Comedy) has again come up with a character and situation, the likes of which you'll have never encountered in your wildest dreams: a stand-up comic whose routine barely qualifies as funny and whose audience is made up of outliers from prisoners to the denizens of comedy clubs in deserted areas which civilization seems to have bypassed completely.

The Comedian, for that is how he is billed (played by Turkington, below), tells jokes in an angry fashion, and when he is heckled by those in his audience, which occurs with some regularity, lashes out at them fiercely.

His act is preceded by that of a young man (Tye Sheridan, below, of Mud and Joe) who wears a semi-clown costume and whose "comedy" consists solely of bouncing up and down. Whether the filmmaker means us to take this as the level to which our current "entertainment" has fallen, or maybe to understand that this is the best that outlying audiences would deserve, I can't say.

Either way, unless Mr. Alverson is trying to prove himself a modern-day Samuel Beckett, his film makes little sense on any kind of literal level. As it proceeds, the comedian makes regular phones call to his daughter, all unanswered, and so he leaves short, longing messages. But as there is no back-story, we're only left to wonder about all this, which in any case seems designed to give us a reason a care about our our poor, nutty protagonist. But the comedian hates his audience (Alverson must, as well), and of course he also hates himself.

Subsidiary characters include John C. Reilly (above) as some kind of cousin/friend, who gives the comedian advice; Michael Cera, sporting very short hair, as a rest-stop hitch-hiker; and Lotte Verbeek as a :Chromotherapist, giving a lecture on color; plus a few more well-known indie performers.

Repetitive beyond understanding, as well as perhaps the indie endurance test of all time, Entertainment proves a vision of hell for the performers, their audience -- and us, the real audience here. Offering ultra-widescreen vistas (of little that proves interesting), the movie builds (I use that word loosely) to a climax involving the opportunity to do his stand-up act at the estate of an important Hollywood big boy. What happens is... oh, but why spoil it for you?

The IMDB credits list 30 producers on this film, which may be -- short of Kickstarter-funded movies -- some sort of record. I think it may have been since viewing Gus van Sant's Gerry that I've seen a film this wayward and pointless. But if you prize something slow and different above all else, Entertainment may prove to be yours -- in spades.

The movie -- from Magnolia Pictures and running 110 very long minutes -- opens tomorrow, Friday, November 13, in New York City at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and in Toronto at the Carlton Cinema. In the weeks to come it will hit a number of other major cities across the country. Click here to see all currently scheduled playdates with cities and theaters listed.

Borscht Belt beginnings--Ron Frank/Mevlut Akkaya: WHEN COMEDY WENT TO SCHOOL

Here's a statistic TrustMovies didn't know: In a 1970's survey, it was found that although Jews represented approximately 3% of the total U.S. population, they accounted for 80% of professional comedians. Wow. (I suspect that if that survey were taken today, the percentage of Jewish comedians would be less -- while still remaining far out of proportion to their number in the general population.) The how and why of this statistic can be found in the relatively low-key but quite entertaining, even endearing new documentary, WHEN COMEDY WENT TO SCHOOL, directed by Ron Frank and Mevlut Akkaya, the latter of whom is shown below.

Many of us non-Jews may have known something about the Catskill Mountains (a.k.a. the Borscht Belt) -- former home to the many resorts at which these budding comics honed their skills. Even so, this new doc provides a wealth of history, humor and nostalgia as it looks into everything from the coming of Jews to America, the Catskills and the rise of their resorts, the comedians themselves, their humor, and how all of this has changed down the decades.

There's a raft of famous funnymen shown here (with Joan Rivers, representing the gals), both now, in their senior years, and earlier, in their prime: Sid Caesar (at right) and Jerry Lewis (two photos below) to Jerry Stiller and the late Danny Kaye (shown below, right, even prior to his spec-tacular heyday. Robert Klein (in the penultimate photo) does a fine job of narration, and we see a lot of one of my favorite comedians, Mort Sahl (shown at bottom), who clearly still possesses his dry and rapier-like wit.

There's a plethora of fine archival photos and footage, as well, taking us back to the early part of the 20th Century and those middle post-war years, when Jews would never have considered taking a vacation to the Europe from which they recently escaped. Instead they went only to the Catskills.

In a documentary about comedy and humor, we'd expect plenty of just that, and while some of it is as old as the hills, most of it still proves pretty funny. Some jokes -- "take my wife" -- really are evergreen. And misogynistic.

So why did those famous Catskill resorts mostly disappear? Times changed, as the movie demonstrates, and so did audien-ces. During the 1960s, protest was hot, and comedians like Dick Gregory, at left, reached out to a different clientele. (We get just one joke from this guy, but it's terrific.) In one of the most telling moments, we learn that, during this time, breakfast at Grossinger's changed from seven kinds of herring -- to... granola!

Perhaps the most surprising revelation is handed us by Larry King, not officially a stand-up comedian, who tells of his assignations with a married woman while he was a bus boy/waiter at a Catskills resort, and the time he spilled hot soup on her husband as he was serving them dinner.

Musically, the movie brings back some fun melodies, among them of course, "Make 'em Laugh!" and, in an unusual usage, "Send in the Clowns," Sondheim's rueful love song, here heard as a kind of mournful dirge for comedians everywhere.

When Comedy Went to School -- from International Film Circuit, running just 76 minutes, and a shoo-in for Jews, seniors, comedy lovers and nostalgia buffs -- opens tomorrow, July 31, in New York City at the IFC Center and the JCC, and in the Los Angeles area on August 16 at Laemmle's Town Center 5 and Music Hall 3.  To view all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters, click here.

David Wexler's THE STAND UP proves a pleasant wish-fulfillment rom-com about love, loss and growing up

The first thing you'll probably question during David Wexler's new rom-com-dram about love and loss is, "How the hell did a guy like this get a girl like that?" To the film's great credit, by the finale -- when our hero has moved from one beauty to the next, growing up a bit in the process -- you'll accept it as pretty much par for his course. After all, it is just a movie. And not a bad one, either, once you agree to play by its rather odd rules.

THE STAND UP has a dual meaning, as it turns out. The lead character, Zoe, sports a strange name (for a fellow, at least) that proves a good indication of things to come. Played as a pudgy and none too glamorous performer by actor Jonathan Sollis (above), he's a stand-up comic to whom life tosses a metaphorical grenade; how he recovers from the explosion and finds the will to stand up again is the arc of the plot.

Filmmaker Wexler (shown at left) wants us to take as a given that Zoe's a fairly successful comic. From the on-stage bits we barely see and hear, you'll have to take this on faith. Ditto the relationship between Zoe and his gorgeous girlfriend, Miranda (played by Julia Dennis, below). What's this about? How did they meet and fall in love? What drew her to him? Don't bother asking: It's a fait accompli. Maybe it's just because the guy is so f-ing taletned. Look at Billy Joel (among others) and his parade of paramours.

In any case, tragedy strikes, and Zoe loses Miranda. How? Why? Don't ask, because neither I, nor the film, will tell you. So we must stop mourning and move on. Now the film begins to get interesting. Zoe has moved back in with his dad (a fine Aidan Quinn, below) who eventually wants him out of the house and on his own again, but to that end, Zoe needs a job. Dad conveniently runs what is referred to as public school in the city, but it seems in such good shape and with such small classes that the filmmaker must be using the term as the Brits use it for their public schools.

Sooner than you can say convenience and coincidence, our guy is teaching kindergarten to an adorable class (below) and of course doing a pretty good job of it. It's interesting that here, in the  classroom, Mr. Wexler let's us see Zoe's penchant for humor and smarts better than in the club. (How he works "the body of Christ" into his chatter to the kids is classic.)

Our hero also meets another young and quite attractive teacher (played by Margarita Levieva, below) who comes complete with her own conveniently sad love story. Now, if it sounds as though I am dissing this little movie, I'm not. While it is manufactured and full of too-easy stuff, it's also quite enjoyable to sit through -- thanks to the performances of the entire cast, and to the quick-wittedness of the filmmaker as writer and director.

Mr. Sollis is quite winning and so is Ms Levieva, and Quinn is his usual good self. The pacing is swift, and the film is full of spontaneity and charm, never more so than in the scene in which Zoe catches his dad in a compromising position. The Stand Up should make a fine date movie for folk who want a good time but don't want to sit too long (it's only 83 minutes, including credits).

The movie, from Cinetic Media, opens this Friday, September 14, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, and perhaps elsewhere, eventually. (If not, it will certainly be available in time on DVD and/or digitally.)