What I’m Watching: a superhero film and a frightening documentary

Date: 7/25/2022

On Netflix: “The Girl in the Picture”

True crime is a huge genre and it’s clear that people just can’t get enough of it. I think there is a certain level of emotional satisfaction with the idea that within a couple of hours a person can see a hideous crime committed and then the perpetrator is caught and punished.

There are some true crime documentaries that seem to have the tone of a freak show. They show something that may be grim and horrible but it’s for our entertainment.

This new documentary from Netflix is different. By the end of the movie, one feels profound sadness rather than some sort of triumph that a criminal – in this case a true sociopath ¬ is behind bars. The filmmakers present the case of a young woman who was abducted, abused beyond belief and murdered in a way that you ache for her.

And the fact the man responsible for this truly disgusting crime is on death row does not compensate for the terrible things he did.

The man – whose identity was ultimately confirmed as Franklyn Floyd – kidnapped the young daughter of a woman whom he married, called her his daughter, married her and forced her to do many things that she clearly didn’t want to do. The girl, and then young woman, was known under many names, which made the initial case of discovering her body along a highway in Oklahoma a difficult one to solve.

The persistence of members in law enforcement is to be congratulated as it took years to go through the multiple layers of evidence – and victims – in this story.

This is a truly a remarkable film as although the details of the case are essentially a horror film, the director Skye Borgman never lets the audience forget that Sharon Marshall was a person with dreams, an honor student in high school who wanted to go to college. By making sure we feel the reality of the victim, this film is elevated from just being another true crime story to a very real tragedy.

In Theaters: “Thor: Love and Thunder”
Director Taika Waititi comes back with another story about everyone’s favorite God of Thunder and it’s heroic, touching and funny, just as his previous film “Thor: Ragnarok.”

I had no idea that Waititi’s Thor films are so polarizing among some fans who don’t like his tone. You never quite know in what direction, either dramatically or comedic, the film may go. I enjoy it a great deal.

The film opens with a narrative structure that allows people who have not seen the previous film to understand what is going on, a very smart move. It is also structured to be a fitting conclusion to the Thor story or to be open for a possible sequel. Either way the film works very well.

In this film, Thor must address an entity called Gorr, the God Butcher (played with great intensity by Christian Bale) who is traveling around the galaxy slaying all of the gods of various planets. Needless to say, the idea that all of the gods could perish is a good spark plug for the plot.

Chris Hemsworth once again shows his range in both drama and comedy as Thor. Natalie Portman reprises her role as Jane Foster and her storyline is surprisingly compelling.

There are a lot of surprises in the film and I thoroughly enjoyed it. You might as well.