MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 12 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

A Good Person

⭐⭐1/2

Genre: Drama

Director: Zack Braff

Starring: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Chinaza Uche, Celeste O'Connor, Molly Shannon

This film features Florence Pugh as a woman who accidentally killed her almost-sister-in-law in a car crash who falls down a drug addiction hole but joins a support group that happens to have the victim's father in it as well. A Good Person is functional, which is about the best way to describe it. Florence Pugh is really good in it, and she almost gets it bonus points, except that it just flatlines in its writing. It's an honest effort at portraying trauma and addiction but feels like a sterilized take on it. It tries to get elbow deep without getting messy, which feels counterproductive. The movie would have been more interesting if the movie were less about lifting Pugh up out of her turmoil and more about it in general, because the film feels like it's oddly trying to sugar coat depression (odd bursts of comedy throughout the movie doesn't help). At the same time, the script feels like it often pushes scenes too far, making something hard-hitting oddly softer. Certain moments feel like they should be abreviated, like they would have had greater poignancy if they had ended a few lines sooner, but the script wants each scene to end with more scripted lines of over-written insight. But A Good Person might be a helpful film for people who might find themselves relating to Pugh's position, and it might be a thereputic film for them to help them visualize a light at the end of their own tunnel. For that, I'd recommend it.

John Wick: Chapter 4

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Action

Director: Chad Stahelski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Shamier Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Lance Reddick

The latest installment of the Keanu Reeves Murders The World franchise is more of John Wick shooting all the people who want to shoot him, as he continues his war against the assassin underworld that has reluctantly pulled him back in. Chapter 4 took a little while to win me over, because as it started it just felt like more of the third installment. The third film had its astounding action too, but the problem with that film was that it never felt like it progressed. Wick felt like he was in the same position when it ended as he was when it started, and everything in between just felt like running in place. Because of that, Chapter 4 felt like it was retreading the same ground, which kept me prepared for another installment where a lot is happening but nothing really happened. But the film's momentum keeps building to the point that even if this were the filler movie the previous film was, it was doing it in ways that was pushing the envelope in the art style of meyhem. Chapter 4 is a stunning action movie ballet. Beautiful in its complex construction of choreography serving simplistic narrative decisions. So innovative in its design, other filmmakers would be fools to not take notes. And best of all, unlike the previous film, it has a conclusion, making it the film that Chapter 3 should have been. The action and stunts are jaw-dropping, an art-form unto themselves that must be experienced, from up-close brawling in the middle of traffic to the most intense attempt to climb a flight of stairs in cinema history (Rocky, eat your heart out). The dazzling momentum of the film leading to that finale breaking point not only makes it the best John Wick movie, but also one of the greatest action movies ever made. If they retired the John Wick series right here, he would go out on top.

The Lost King

⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Stephen Frears

Starring: Sally Hawkins, Steve Coogan, Mark Addy, Harry Lloyd

The Lost King tells the true(-ish) story of Philippa Langley, and her attempt to track down the long-lost grave of Richard III. I know little about this story, but something tells me she didn't hallucinate visions of the king while doing so. Strangely whimsical for a movie based on a true story, the movie is more cute than compelling. Just skimming a Wikipedia article on Langley shows that certain ideas and events don't quite add up to what really happened, choosing instead for a fantastical comedy approach that is only inspired by what really happened. But Sally Hawkins is very charming in it, and it's a lightweight watch that isn't demanding. It's more of a feel-good option for casual comfort viewers than a interesting look at a real discovery, but it still has value.

Paint

⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Comedy

Director: Brit McAdams

Starring: Owen Wilson, Michaela Watkins, Ciara Renée, Stephen Root, Wendi McLendon-Covey

The latest Regal Mystery Movie. Imagine if Bob Ross got himself into an All About Eve situation, underlined with the awkward tensions of The Office style comedy. That's the basic premise of Paint, which sees Owen Wilson playing a beloved artist on PBS, who finds his popularity threatened by new, younger talent who airs directly after him, who seems to be succeeding at everything he failed at when he was younger. It's about 20 years too late to parody Ross the way it does, but it is successfully funny. Wilson channels that Ross-persona quite perfectly, while Michaela Watkins deserves some praise for some straight-faced reaction comedy, and even has a sequence of slapstick that would make Buster Keaton proud. I had a good time watching it, though I doubt I'd come back to it any time soon.

Art Attack

Inside

⭐⭐⭐

Genre: Thriller

Director: Vasilis Katsoupis

Starring: Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe is an art thief who gets locked inside a wealthy man's apartment with no way out, surviving months on his own. Basically, Castaway in an apartment. Probably should have been titled The Room, but some bozo already took that title. Dafoe absolutely brings everything he has to this piece, but if there is anything that lets it down it's that Inside often feels like it's stretching its minimalistic premise thin to the point where I'd say if you'd seen the trailer, you've already gotten what the movie has to offer. You'd probably be losing the psychological element, but it rarely amounts to much other than Dafoe mumbling to himself repeatedly. That probably sounds much harsher on this movie than it probably deserves, because it is a good movie with a good performance at its center. I'd recommend a watch based on that if it interests you. And it is one of the few films that points out the chilling effects of the Macarana.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

65 ⭐⭐

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ⭐⭐⭐

Avatar: The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Champions ⭐⭐1/2

Cocaine Bear ⭐⭐⭐

Creed III ⭐⭐⭐

Everything Everywhere All at Once ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jesus Revolution ⭐⭐1/2

Moving On ⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Scream VI ⭐⭐1/2