Multiplex Madness
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Science Fiction, Action, Superhero, Comedy
Director: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillian, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki
James Gunn has always used Guardians of the Galaxy as an outlet for his sentimental side, occupying a corner of his creative life that's separated from his violent R-rated crazytown movies like The Suicide Squad and his masterpiece, Slither. The third film finds him using his adoptive family motif to address themes of confronting personal trauma head-on, which makes it feel like the most personal of the bunch. But at the same time, it feels like he's juggling too many tones to really work his magic, as the film tries to be light, funny, touching, dark, devastating, and harrowing, and bizarrely it tries to do it all at once in select scenes. It makes the film seem jumbled for what is really just a simple story of the Guardians trying to save one of their own and doing whatever it takes. But even as simple as that idea is, the movie goes to so many places and tries to tie up so many threads that they don't always seem relevant. The anticipated character of Adam Warlock doesn't really serve much of a purpose in the film, while Quill and Gamora's subplot might baffle people hoping for it to have a more status quo ending. But on that last point, the idea of embracing what has happened and moving on to a place of healing is a large part of the film's underlying theme, so it does have a place. It's a bittersweet film about knowing where it hurts and trying to work your way through it. It's imperfect, but it understands the themes of family far more than another Vin Diesel starring franchise I can name.
Hypnotic
⭐⭐
Genre: Thriller, Action
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Starring: Ben Affleck, Alice Braga, William Fichtner
The latest Regal Mystery Movie is from notable "I make whatever the fuck movie I feel like" Desperado/From Dusk Till Dawn/Sin City/Spy Kids/Sharkboy and Lavagirl/Machete/Alita: Battle Angel filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. This time he feels like making a mind game thriller that tries to pull the wool over the audience's eyes only to big reveal a third act that, surprise surprise, reveals things are not what they seem in a movie that specializes in things not being what they seem. Ben Affleck stars as a detective chasing a man known as a "hypnotic," someone who hypnotizes people into doing his bidding. It's kind of like trying to make a feature film villain out of David Tennant's Killgrave character from Jessica Jones, but if anything the movie reminded me the most of films like the old Chris Evans/Dakota Fanning film Push, with its "people can do this and always could" lore and convoluted presentation. Maybe I'm reminded a little bit of another Ben Affleck movie from the heyday called Paycheck also, which also dealt with slow reveals and puzzle pieces. Movies like this play up their complexity in hopes of being labeled as smart, but it's hard to appreciate films that spend too much time trying to confuse the audience and then go for a third act revelation of "Ah...uh...I guess?" Normally I can find them entertaining in the moment while not really thinking twice about them as time goes on, but I found myself more scrutinizing of Hypnotic as it played out. It's first hour is a wave of actions that make little sense, as we're watching a villain do his actions by making as much noise as possible, when if he were really as powerful as the movie claims, he could have done something far more low key. The movie only makes less sense as it goes on, and it held up worse the more I thought about it. Of course, there is a twist to all of this, which comes into play at the end, which I had already figured out aspects of because they were the only way I could wrap my head around any of this. The last half hour of the film is better than everything that came before it, but there's nothing in it that made me feel like it was worth watching the film run in circles until then. The film feels like something most would regret seeing in a theater, but if you saw it streaming on Tubi, you might not think it was that bad.
Love Again
⭐⭐
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Director: James C. Strouse
Starring: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan, Celine Dion
This counterprogramming romcom that's set to get destroyed by the sure-thing blockbuster this weekend features a woman who copes with the loss of he deceased ex-boyfriend by texting his old number, only to have the current number user fall in love with her through her words. It's a fair attempt at a modern "missed connection but linked by fate" scenario that has littered the genre, ala The Shop Around the Corner (or You've Got Mail for all you Gen-Xers and Millennials that are more likely to know Tom Hanks over Jimmy Stewart). Love Again struggles to keep itself earnest enough to keep the audience fully invested in its central romance, because it's tone seems mildly self-depreciating while never outright admitting it's not taking itself seriously. The night the lady lead first texts her leading man happens on a dark and stormy night that almost seems to be implying the Hand of God is guiding them rather than leaning into the wild coincidence that should be the hook of the film. Then the movie gets to the point where is casts Celine Dion playing herself as this sort of love messiah who is constantly influencing and guiding their actions. It's so goofy that if the movie could just take a step back and look itself in the mirror, maybe it could have a moment of clarity on just how off-the-rails it got at one point. That being said, romcom hounds can (and probably have) do worse, because the leads are charming and the movie is legitimately funny at the best of times. It just cringe. I suppose that might not matter to its audience.
Art Attack
Showing Up
⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Drama
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Michelle Williams, Hong Chou, Judd Hirsch
Showing Up feels like a salute to artistic process, as we watch Michelle Williams live day-to-day, weaving through life to get a chance to take time to work on her personal craft. Those who are familiar with what this process feels like will appreciate how painstakingly it has been realized in the film. The counterpoint is casual viewers will be left bored by the film's lack of inertia. Art takes patience and time, and Showing Up is a film that requires patience as it explores personal time. It's not going to be for everyone, but the little details keep it admirable, as we often see Williams living inside her head or dealing with a sheltered form of anxiety. It's a finely detailed look at creative reality for those who will recognize it.
What's Love Got to Do with It?
⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Director: Shekhar Kapur
Starring: Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabama Azmi, Sajal Aly, Emma Thompson
The more charming romcom option (if you can find it) this week is What's Love Got to Do with It?, which despite its title is not a remake of the Tina Turner biopic...or has anything to do with the Tina Turner song that you'd assume would be in it but isn't. No, this movie features Lily James as a documentary filmmaker who decides to film her best friend (played by Star Trek: Discovery's Shazad Latif) as he goes through with an arranged marriage to a woman he has just met. This being a romcom, one can probably guess the third wheel plot twist to the story that plays out. Things go about as you'd expect them to, though the film is a bit more balanced in a look at the pros and cons of arranged marriage than most might anticipate, even if it struggles to come up with a conclusion that's not wivehat we all expect it's building toward. What's Love Got to Do with It? might have resonated more if it leaned into an unexpected outcome, as the film ventures primarily through James's character as her love life goes from low points to okay enough through a lack of contentment (there's a cute throughline of her dating life being related through implication of fairy tales she tells her nieces), meanwhile Latif has his feet more sturdily on the ground with one relationship that lacks the chaos of dating, but with a cloud of connect uncertainty. The movie's message is one of not settling for "just fine," relying on the denied romantic tension between James and Latif to sell it. James and Latif are good leads for it, and they successfully convey the complications of relationships in the many forms it takes, but to an extent it feels like it should have a more complicated outcome that it refuses to go for because a romcom needs that "JUST KISS" ending. Spoiler alert, that ending is gone for, as well as offering more than one happy little bows on certain heavy aspects of the film that are tied up to make the movie sparkle. My version of the movie would probably please less people though, because a more open ending would tie into the frustration themes of the movie and nobody wants to leave a romcom frustrated and angry. That's probably my fault for building something more complex in my head, but I'm not going to sit here and hate a movie that identifies the firmest foundation of a relationship is just finding someone to watch a whole television series with. I've identified my personal TV series for that to be Mystery Science Theater 3000, which probably makes me terminally single.
New To Streaming
How to Blow Up a Pipeline ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Inside ⭐⭐⭐
Mafia Mamma ⭐⭐1/2
Moving On ⭐⭐1/2
The Pope's Exorcist ⭐⭐1/2
Renfield ⭐⭐⭐
Sweetwater ⭐1/2
New To Physical
80 for Brady ⭐⭐1/2
Champions ⭐⭐1/2
Coming Soon!
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