Multiplex Madness
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
⭐⭐⭐1/2
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Kelly Freman Craig
Starring: Abby Ryder Forston, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Benny Safdie, Elle Graham
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret has been advertising itself with "Introducing: Abby Ryder Forston" as the title character, which is a bald-faced lie. Abby Ryder Forston has been in movies for a while now, specifically playing the memorable role of Cassie in the first two Ant-Man movies. This is probably her first starring role, however, and she definitely deserved one. The one she received is based on a classic novel about a young girl named Margaret making her way through sixth grade, working through puberty and intently anticipating her looming adolescence. The film's fidelity to its source is something I can't comment on, because the novel was novel was not a staple in my childhood as it seems to be for most, but the film itself is charming enough to stand on its own two feet. It's an encompassing look back at an awkward period when you're on the cusp of that young adulthood where everything changes. The film, like the novel itself, primarily deals with the growing issues of girls becoming women, though I found a lot of its walk-through-life story universal, as Margaret deals with growing up, learning more about the opposite sex, discovering who the people around her are as she goes, and ponders her placement and her life beliefs. The film feels a bit laggy as it sometimes panders to a sitcom nature, but it's not hard to glance over to just enjoy Margaret's little tale of who she's growing into.
Big George Foreman
⭐⭐
Genre: Drama, Sports
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Starring: Khris Davis, Forest Whitaker, Jasmine Mathews, John Magaro, Sullivan Jones, Lawrence Gillard Jr., Sonya Sohn
Nearly decided to skip this one. Word on the street said it wasn't very good and I wasn't too interested in it. This also came in an afternoon where I had to scrap some showtimes due to bad traffic (my arthouse watch of Showing Up, which I'll hopefully have time for next week, was already in the trash can this week), and my Regal had a last minute addition to their showtimes with low budget shark movie called The Black Demon. I mean, SHARK MOVIE! With a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes! How can you tempt me with such beauty? I could have just crossed this showtime out and seen that instead, because it sounded more appealing. Plus after Sweetwater, I think I've had my fill of lackluster sports biopics. But I stuck with the original plan and saw Big George Foreman, which is thankfully a better movie than Sweetwater. Sweetwater was flooded with bad storytelling judgment calls that just choked the life out of the story it was trying to tell. Big George Foreman has different vices, but it feels more honestly presented than Sweetwater. Undemanding sports fans may enjoy this abridged tale of the Heavyweight Champion, but it's one of those movies that's so into its own rhythm that it can't tell how jumpy it is. The movie jumps through Foreman's life so heavily and casually that it's hard to invest in where Foreman is at any given moment because he's constantly doing something different every five minutes. It is also deep into melodramatics, but while it's annoying, it's far from its worst problem. Maybe I'm just disappointed there wasn't an entire segment of him doing George Foreman Grill infomercials.
Polite Society
⭐⭐⭐1/2
Genre: Comedy, Action
Director: Nida Manzoor
Starring: Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Nimrah Bucha, Akshay Khanna, Seraphina Beh, Ella Bruccoleri, Shona Babayemi
The sensation of being the hero of your own story fuels Polite Society, which is the story of a high school girl who does everything in her power to stop her sister from getting married. The catch of the film is that it's presented like a youthful good vs. evil fantasy, with action, conspiracies, and villains and everything. It's a film made for those who remember that exuberance of a time when you're nothing but piss and vinegar, and used it to build a dream in their head of how they're going to take on the world and show it who's boss. The film lifts off primarily because of its manic Edgar Wright style energy, specifically films like Hot Fuzz, The World's End, and a dash of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but while the film is Wright in flavor, debut director Nida Manzoor makes her own dish in this deliciously entertaining comedy.
Netflix & Chill
Peter Pan and Wendy
⭐⭐⭐
Streaming On: Disney+
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Director: David Lowrey
Starring: Alexander Molony, Ever Anderson, Jude Law, Yara Shahidi, Joshua Pickering, Jacobi Jupe, Jim Gaffigan, Alan Tudyk, Molly Parker
It's admittedly been a red hot minute since I've seen Disney's Peter Pan movie (Hook is probably fresher in my memory), which I recall enjoying while a lad, but it was never a favorite. But after the last decade of being pummelled by Disney's live-action remakes, I can safely say Peter Pan & Wendy is one of the better ones. It's a status that can be achieved by attaining the bare minimum of the "Sure, it's fine, I guess." sort of reactions, but it is a legitimately good movie. Sadly, the worst of these always seem to be the ones that do well at the box office, thank you very much Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King (I enjoyed Guy Ritchie's Aladdin movie, though), so this one was dumped on Disney+. This film was made by David Lowery, who also directed the remake of Pete's Dragon earlier in his career, which I haven't seen but heard was actually surprisingly great. Since then he's been making more arty fare, like his previous film, The Green Knight, which is one of the best looking movies I've ever seen that I just did not give a single shit about while watching. But at least the man knows how to make a handsome production, and Peter Pan & Wendy is handsome, lavish, and breathtaking from a production standpoint. Probably easily the best-looking streaming film you'll watch this year. If there is one thing holding it back, and I hope you'll forgive me for nitpicking a child actor, it would be Alexander Molony as Peter Pan. Peter is a tricky character to play, because he needs to an extent be smarmy and insufferable, but not unlikeable. Molony reels in Peter's attitude to keep him from becoming an asshat, but while he's delivering Pan's brazenness, it's without flair. He is supported well by his other cast members, though. Wendy is played charismatically by Ever Anderson, the daughter of Milla Jovavich and her husband/Resident Evil director Paul W.S. Anderson. After a few supporting roles over the years (including Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with mommy and daddy), this is her first starring role and she carries the film splendedly. Yara Shahidi is a delight as Tinkerbell and Jude Law is an excellent antagonist as Hook. The movie does so much so well, but Peter himself is a letdown. The result is a movie that isn't always high flying, but does one thing most of these live-action remakes forget to do: it reminds us how we felt watching our favorite Disney movies when we were kids.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Air ⭐⭐⭐
Beau is Afraid ⭐⭐⭐
Chevalier ⭐⭐⭐1/2
The Covenant ⭐⭐⭐
Evil Dead Rise ⭐⭐⭐
John Wick: Chapter 4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Pope's Exorcist ⭐⭐1/2
Renfield ⭐⭐⭐
Sisu ⭐⭐⭐
New To Streaming
Return to Seoul ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Scream VI ⭐⭐1/2
New To Physical
Coming Soon!
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