Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 47 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Napoleon

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Drama, War

Director:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby

Ridley Scott returns to his Happy Place of just making a bloated historical epic that one will watch and go "Yeah, that sure was long."  This one is based on the reign of Napoleon Bonapart as the Emperor of France, from leading the armies to numerous victories all the way to his exile.  This Napoleon movie comes to life during the war segments, in which the various conflicts are realized with detail and excitement.  Scott tries to create a through-line to the film as an unconventional love story between Napoleon and his first wife, Josephine, which seems like a nice idea, but this loosely categorized romance is so cold that while it has its interesting elements, getting swept up in it is a trial rather than an experience.  Scott does use that thread to weave look at a human behind the towering reputation, and he makes no qualms about it that Napoleon was an uncouth jackass.  It's something to be of two minds of, because it's easy to see what film Scott was trying to make, with solid performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, but it's one that is muted and difficult to really care about.

Saltburn

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama, Comedy, Thriller

Director:  Emerald Fennell

Starring:  Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe

Barry Keoghan plays a socially awkward boy who becomes infatuated with a wealthy student at college who invites him to his family's estate for the summer and treats him like a pet.  That's just the starting point to Saltburn, which has a collected exterior but so many cranks inside of it making things more complicated.  It's almost like an anxiety.  The film is confident and intriguing, I'll give it that much.  It's sometimes a tad bit too eager to give away its hand, and when it does finally show its cards, it feels like a partial bluff because it concludes with an ending that it has heavily alluded to but also doesn't quite make sense.  But it has an interesting tone that keeps it flavorful, though it can sometimes be vain enough to admire itself when it really shouldn't.  The film's enhancement of social awkwardness is so pungent that it often overwhelms the film and even its attempt at being a pressure cooker drama comes off as more awkward than Keoghan's character.  There's a certain type of filmgoer who will watch this movie and find it their favorite movie of the year.  There is also an audience who will just look at it and say "What the fuck?"

Wish

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Fantasy

Director:  Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn

Starring:  Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk

Simple, but likable, offering from Disney's animation studio celebrates the company's 100th anniversary with a film that paints itself with elements from much of its rich history, but also feels like a bit of a cluttered gathering.  The story tells of a kingdom led by a king who keeps everyone's wish safe in his castle, but a young girl seeks to free them once she sees how much the townsfolk lost by giving them up.  It's a well intentioned movie about the importance of desire, heart, and ambition, and how it's drives each of us.  Recent Oscar winner Ariana DeBose sparkles in her lead role, using that singing talent she put on display in West Side Story to good use with some memorable musical numbers.  If the movie fully formed around her, I'd probably be more enthusiastic about it, though she's a powerhouse standout.  By comparison, Chris Pine's antagonistic king is woefully undercharacterized, as he just seems driven by wonky mood swings rather than any internal logic (and he's given a couple of forgettable power ballads that Pine just belts through).  If one is familiar with Disney's film history, one can enjoy picking out the various easter eggs throughout, from supporting characters clearly based on the Seven Dwarfs to an unexpected reference to the premise of Zootopia (but I'd be more impressed if they referenced Treasure Planet).  Those looking toward Wish looking for the next Encanto or Moana will likely leave disappointed, though it's a far better movie than, say, Frozen II.  Those willing to let Wish be itself may find that it's pretty delightful family entertainment.

Netflix & Chill

Good Burger 2

⭐⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Paramount+

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Phil Traill

Starring:  Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell

Appealing solely to very young children or middle-aged men of a certain generation who don't give a shit if this movie is trash or not, Good Burger 2 is a sequel to Good Burger, and a prequel to the eventual Oscar winner Good Burger 3:  Return of the Burger King.  This epic sequel that was twenty-five years in the making brings back the former Nickelodeon superstar alum Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell reprising their roles of fast-food employees Dexter and Ed, who are now in their late-forties and still working at Good Burger, who find their business threatened again when a conglomerate seeks to take over the restaurant and franchise it.  It's an idea that's not that evil if you think about it, but only becomes backhanded because they're doing it just because they hate the joint so much (so much that they want to make more of it?  Nickelodeon villain logic).  So really the villain of the Good Burger movies is soulless capitalism, and the good guys are small business who fight to maintain their share of the marketplace (even though their particular building would probably never pass a health inspection).  There's not a lot to say about Good Burger 2 in its defense or detriment, because I imagine most already know whether or not they're going to watch it, and if they are, they'd probably get a kick out of it.  It's about as good as you can expect a Good Burger sequel to be, for better or worse.  The movie is very much a Good Burger movie, albeit one that featuring men in their forties with looks of "What the hell am I even doing back here?" on their faces.  It's dumb, but it's playful.  These guys created a sort of wavelength of simple comedy that defined a decade of children's entertainment.  If you grew up with the original Good Burger movie, All That, and Kenan & Kel and just see that poster and feel all warm and nostalgic, it might be worth a spin.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Five Nights at Freddy's ⭐⭐

The Holdovers ⭐⭐⭐

The Hunger Games:  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (no)

Journey to Bethlehem ⭐⭐⭐

Killers of the Flower Moon ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Marvels ⭐⭐1/2

Next Goal Wins ⭐⭐1/2

Priscilla ⭐⭐⭐

Taylor Swift:  The Eras Tour ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (probably)

Thanksgiving ⭐⭐1/2

Trolls Band Together ⭐⭐1/2

New To Digital

The Marsh King's Daughter ⭐⭐1/2

Oppenheimer ⭐⭐⭐

New To Physical

Expend4bles ⭐⭐

Oppenheimer ⭐⭐⭐

Saw X ⭐⭐⭐

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 46 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Slim pickings this week, I know.  If only there was some major blockbuster sequel in a Hollywood franchise that came out this weekend, but, alas, there wasn't one that I saw.  Nope.  Not a single one.  What a missed opportunity.

Oh wait, my mistake.  There is one.  It's called Trolls Band Together.

Next Goal Wins

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Comedy, Sports

Director:  Taika Watiti

Starring:  Michael Fassbender, Oscar Knightly, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Elizabeth Moss, Will Arnett

Based on the almost inspiring story of how the American Samoa national soccer team banded together and aspired to not be the lowest ranked team in the league, Next Goal Wins stars Michael Fassbender as their temperamental coach Thomas Rogan, Kaimana as barrier breaking transgender player Jaiyah Saelua, and is directed by Taika Watiti.  That last point might be what makes or breaks this film for most viewers, as he is in the middle of his career backlash phase, because he's an Oscar winner who isn't Martin Scorsese and has worked with Marvel Studios, therefore film bros have deduced that he must be destroyed.  Next Goal Wins posted the weakest reviews of Watiti's career, and I don't necessarily know if that's anything substantial (I haven't seen every Watiti film, okay?), but the film is entertaining, if uneven.  Watiti does have vices, and he loves to indulge in them.  Sometimes to the detriment of the movie he's making, as he'll take away from a movie's structure, pacing, and substance for a sudden burst of silliness.  Next Goal Wins suffers from a lot of that, because it often feels like its lost in the wind and it's hard to grasp its rhythm because it's opting not to have one.  By the end of the movie, the story feels incomplete and we're told characters have opened up and changed without ever really witnessing it.  Maybe that's because they didn't, because the achievement of the film is really just a bare minimum.  These players didn't jump into the game and take it by storm.  They just wanted to take a first step to not being a laughing stock.  That might frustrate those hoping for a journey for these characters, but in some cases that first step is the hardest.  There is a simple beauty to just having the dream of "just one goal."  Next Goal Wins is a clumsy portrayal of it, but it comes close to hitting the net.

Thanksgiving

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Horror, Comedy

Director:  Eli Roth

Starring:  Nell Verlaque, Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon

Slowly but surely, the filmmakers who created trailers for the cult movie double feature Grindhouse are creating actual movies out of them, which has resulted in movies like Machete and Hobo with a Shotgun.  Eli Roth steps up to the plate by turning his Thanksgiving trailer into a movie, which just leaves Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie to get off their asses to make this weird franchise complete.  I actually have never seen Grindhouse or its associated movies, so I went into Thanksgiving very fresh faced.  The premise takes place a year after a Black Friday sale left several dead and many injured, as a group of teens find themselves stalked by someone linked to the massacre.  The movie would probably be nothing if it weren't for its cheekiness.  It's intentionally written and presented like a second rate slasher movie from the 80's, so much so that the fact that it's a glossy, stylized movie set in the present day almost destroys it's vibe.  But the movie's close mimicry of the feel of this type of movie is impressive, and the film's absurdist sense of humor just seasons it beautifully.  It utilizes a lot of Thanksgiving tropes for silly themed ghoulishness, while the Black Friday opening is probably one of the most memorable uses of consumerism in horror to ever be filmed.  The movie is cleverly funny in its fake sincerity, though I imagine those looking for an actual slasher movie will leave it angry.

Trolls Band Together

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Comedy, Musical, Fantasy

Director:  Walt Dahm

Starring:  Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake, Amy Schumer, Camilla Cabello, Eric André, Troye Sivan, Kid Cudi, Daveed Diggs, RuPaul, Andrew Rannells, Zosia Mamet

I'm not sure if I ever saw the first Trolls movie in its entirety.  I know I've seen parts of it, and I do know that the second one was one of the first movies I saw in theaters when they briefly reopened in 2020 during the pandemic, and while I wouldn't call that movie great, I did have a great time watching it.  Now we have a third one.  Okie dokie.  This one is a premise in-joke of Justin Timberlake's Troll character of whatshisname needing to rejoin his family boy band in order to rescue their fifth brother from having his talent slowly drained by a couple of talentless pop stars.  But plot is beside the point, because Troll movies are more about vibe than story.  It's about colorful characters singing covers of pop tunes while the animators go crazy with aesthetic choices.  That aesthetic is what makes a Trolls movie a blast to watch, this one featuring a velvet Muppet land and weird Popeye-like human characters.  They're hollow goofball movies full of music.  Kids will have fun, adults will probably smile, get a few laughs, and probably never think about it ever again.  Until the next sequel, of course.

Art Attack

The Persian Version

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Comedy, Drama

Director:  Maryam Keshavarz

Starring:  Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor, Bijan Daneshmand, Bella Warda, Tom Byrne

Influenced by writer/director Maryam Keshavarz's real life familial bonds, The Persian Version tells the story of an Iranian-American lesbian who becomes pregnant after a one-night-stand with a drag performer (yes, she knows, she's not stupid), and as she carries the baby to term, she reevaluates her relationship with her own mother.  The film owes a lot to its lively presentation, with the action pausing so our main character can address the audience by breaking the fourth wall and breaking down her life ala Clarissa Explains It All.  The movie is vibrantly humorous, sometimes in a carefree way that might be crossing a line (there is an early joke in the movie where the punchline is the explosion of the Challenger, which...you know, you do you movie, but I personally would have avoided that).  The movie is a audacious exploration of maternity, family, heritage, and sexuality, and how messy and complicated each can prove to be.  None of the relationships in this movie are simple.  Not even a traditional mother/daughter relationship.  There is baggage on the table, and it's a movie that takes its time unpacking it, discovering the nuances to how our characters present themselves along the way.  It's a journey that starts funny and gets heavier and more dramatic as it goes.  While there are imperfections along the way, the movie leads up to its final scene, which is just a simple moment between a mother and daughter and one you might have already seen coming based on how the film played out.  The two have just one exchange, but based on what we discover throughout the film, it was the perfect moment in between the two that means the entire world to them and it's one that will hit its audience like an emotional truckload of bricks.  It's a precision moment for a tearjerker ending that movies like this can only dream of.

What Happens Later

⭐⭐

Genre:  Comedy, Drama

Director:  Meg Ryan

Starring:  Meg Ryan, David Duchovny

Meg Ryan directs this adaptation of a stage play called Shooting Star, though she missed a step in not retitling it When Mulder Met Sally.  The film focuses on her and David Duchovny, two former lovers who happen to bump into each other at a snowed-in airport where all flights are delayed.  While waiting for their flight they discuss their past with each other, their present without each other, and what the future might bring.  Ryan goes for broke on making this the most cutesy movie to ever be given an R rating.  And I get it.  She's the romcom sweetheart of the 90's (at least, when Julia Roberts wasn't hogging the spotlight).  Cutesy is what she does.  My reservations about What Happens Later is that maybe she's chasing the wrong rabbit down the rabbit hole.  I admire Ryan's certainty of what kind of movie she wants to make, but the more she doubles down on it the more it becomes clear that the movie just doesn't work.  Ryan takes an almost fantastical approach to the subject, bringing about subjects of fate while the movie's airport surrounding almost feels surrealist.  The only main character besides Ryan and Duchovny is a character on the intercom, who seems to be talking to them directly, while there are other touches that make the movie feel like a fairy tale, such as the airport seemingly emptying out to the point where Ryan and Duchovny are the only characters in it (plus there is also an ad for a movie that's just simply titled "Rom Com," and I can't tell if that's adorably cheeky or just absurdly lazy).  I imagine Shooting Star was a better play than What Happens Later is as a movie, because I was constantly looking at scenes that thinking they felt like they'd work better on a stage than on a screen.  But what the movie does do right is that to make an audience interested in a film that's just an extended conversation between two characters, you need to have two actors who are funny and engaging, which Ryan and Duchovny are.  If the movie works in any of its moments, you can thank them.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

The Creator ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Five Nights at Freddy's ⭐⭐

The Holdovers ⭐⭐⭐

The Hunger Games:  The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (no)

It's a Wonderful Knife ⭐⭐

Journey to Bethlehem ⭐⭐⭐

Killers of the Flower Moon ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Marvels ⭐⭐1/2

Priscilla ⭐⭐⭐

Taylor Swift:  The Eras Tour ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (probably)

New To Digital

The Creator ⭐⭐⭐1/2

New To Physical

The Equalizer 3 ⭐⭐⭐

The Nun II ⭐1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 45 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

The Holdovers

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Alexander Payne

Starring:  Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Painstakingly stylized like a high school comedy straight out of the 1970's (right down to ensuring the trailer held the same aesthetic as trailers of the period), The Holdovers sees Paul Giamatti playing a hardass teacher at a prep school tasked with looking over the group of students who are unable to return home for the holidays.  The film is a more interesting creative exorcise than it is a story, as director Alexander Payne recreates a lot of flourishes with a fine attention to detail.  Even the script evokes the feel of a film from the period, including their faults.  The screenplay works as a bit of an allegory for holiday depression, taking a look at characters who are all feeling some lonesome blues due to one circumstance or another and coping with it however they can.  But for a movie called The Holdovers, they abandon the plural of the concept quite early on to focus on bonding Giamatti with only one of his students.  This is either smart, because it simplifies the film's focus, or a missed opportunity, because so many characters are dropped so suddenly that one wonders if they could have been made similar mentor connections and had made the film richer.  Given what the movie did decide to go with, the movie works some successful stabs at comedy and even pretty sweet at times.  Giamatti also does great work to hold this movie on his shoulders, trusting Payne to construct the rest around him.  If nothing else, they're the perfect pairing for this.

It's a Wonderful Knife

⭐⭐

Genre:  Horror, Comedy

Director:  Tyler MacEntyre

Starring:  Jane Widdop, Jess McLeod, Joel McHale, Justin Long, Katherine Isabelle, Cassandra Naud

Last month we checked Back to the Future off of the "classic movie slasher remake fad" list, and just in time for the holidays, we have one for It's a Wonderful Life.  Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!

This flick sees a teenage girl stop a masked killer one fateful Christmas Eve, then finding her a year later with her life worse for the wear.  Thinking she's at the end of her rope, she makes that Jimmy Stewart wish of wanting to never be born, only to find it granted instantly.  Now she's trapped in an alternate reality where she doesn't exist, and a serial killer has been roaming free for the past year.  Clever ideas are implemented, but to cut to the chase, this movie isn't very good.  It's script feels rough around the edges, with plot points that are clumsily executed to make the movie move faster.  The movie also struggles with budget limitations, and it does the best it can with what it has to work with, though the suspense scenes suffer for the sake of keeping the movie a lighthearted goof.  The thing that makes this movie worth a watch, especially if you love doofy little horror movies that lack logic, is that all of the performers are all-in on this movie.  We even have some seasoned horror veterans hamming it up to give the movie some charisma, including Ginger Snaps' Katherine Isabelle, Influencer's Cassandra Naud, and Jeepers Creepers/Tusk/Barbarian's king of weird, Justin Long, giving the most off-putting performance of his career, aided by a spray-on tan, blue contact lenses, false teeth, and a bad wig.  That's not even mentioning the lesser known actresses at its center.  Jane Widdop is an excellent lead that works in the movie's favor even when it's at its most absurd, and even better is Jess McLeod as the town outcast who is the only one who believes her story.  Widdop and McLeod's relationship in the film is the most driven aspect of it, and through them the movie builds on It's a Wonderful Life's "one life can influence everyone around them" in cute and surprisingly touching ways.  The duo puts out two lovely performances that keep the movie's heart beating.  I wish they were in a better movie, but it was worth the sit-down just to watch them shine.

Journey to Bethlehem

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Faith, Musical

Director:  Adam Anders

Starring:  Antonio Banderas, Fiona Palomo, Milo Manheim

This is not a recommendation for general movie-goers, but given what this movie is, if you're on the market for faith movies in general, then I'd say this is probably a must-see (unless you need the dramatic preaching to the choir, then you'd probably be better off seeing Jesus Revolution).  I've seen quite a few faith movies with this cursed movie pass that I have that allows these blog entries to be possible, and a lot of them are complete garbage.  Many of them I don't know what they are going in.  Some are more obvious, and I don't always see because some week's I'm like "I just can't."  Journey to Bethlehem is a title that had full clarity to what audience it was made for, and I did give it a little consideration to...just not.  While I, personally, probably would have treasured sleeping in more than seeing this movie, I'm a little glad I did give this movie a chance during the same year I saw a dumpster fire like Southern Gospel, because if I am going to see a faith movie, I'd much rather it be this.

The film is the story of Mary and Joseph's romance and the Nativity told as a pop artist Christian Rock opera.  And if it weren't already clear enough, the movie is a total cornball.  It's drama can be hammy and its comedy broad and silly.  I feel in my gut that the intent of the movie was to tell this story like a 90's Disney Renaissance flick.  At least, to the best of their ability.  There are limits to what they can do, and it's hard to do catchy musical numbers through gospel.  They give it their best go, though, even if it results in anachronistic silliness most of the time.  It's a movie that takes its knocks on the chin, but stands proudly with its faults without care of being judged.  It just wants to exist as a wholesome entertainer for Christian families.  If your Christian faith is an important part of your life and are looking for something faith-affirming to watch with your kids (who aren't ready to see how brutally this child is going to get killed in the gritty sequel, Passion of the Christ), this is probably going to be your favorite movie of the year.

The Marvels

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Superhero, Action, Adventure, Science Fiction

Director:  Nia DaCosta

Starring:  Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Oman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton

Entertaining but slight offering from the usual banger tentpole machine at Marvel Studios (I will not apologize for liking the delightfully weird Quantumania, thank you) sees Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers' powers get entangled with Kamala "Ms. Marvel" Khan and Monica "Insert Superhero Name Here" Rambeau, causing them to switch places whenever they use them.  Things go from bad to worse as the Kree begin to plunder other planets for resources, causing the three to somehow figure out a way to work in unison.  Energy is high in The Marvels, which gets by with loads of charisma from its three charming leads, but that energy also leads to a certain hectic plotting, which makes the film come off more like clumsy chaos.  The film isn't broken because of it, but it does feel like its lacking details that would allow more clarity.  Plot points are brushed past (it almost feels as if there was a Captain Marvel sequel that wasn't made that we missed that was supposed to set this movie up), while the switching mechanic that the movie sells itself on doesn't help, as it becomes difficult to keep track of who is where and where the stakes are at because of it.  But it's a fun idea, and there's a wild movie at its core.  It feels compromised away from the movie it should have been, though.

Netflix & Chill

The Killer

⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Netflix

Genre:  Thriller

Director:  David Fincher

Starring:  Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell

"If I'm effective, it's because of one simple fact:  I.  Don't.  Give.  A.  Fuck."

Well, that makes two of us.

David Fincher's latest sees Michael Fassbender play an assassin who goes on a revenge-spree after a botched job where, after his lengthy preparation method, he accidentally shoots a dominatrix in the ass.  Which is actually a really funny plot point if you think about it.  What kills me in particular is that it takes twenty minutes leading up to that point, where we just watch him wait, while he drives us mad with psychobabble narration, then the whole thing is spoiled by a booty in latex.  That's very much intentional, because the entire point of the sequence is to envelope the audience in Fassbender's patent method.  That's fine and dandy.  It's not interesting though.  It's derivative and dull.  He's a perfectionist.  I get it.  I don't need to hear his repetitive thought-mumble saying the same thing in different variations for a full third of an hour.  And some of it is just nonsense as well.  One of his first thoughts after his plan goes wrong is "What would John Wilkes Booth do?"  He'd scream "Sic semper tyrannis!" to a room full of people anyway?  The man wasn't a professional assassin, he was someone who busted in and created a scene to make a political statement.  Why is he this guy's measuring stick?  The movie just kind of trudges along from there, always trying to play it cool, but never actually doing anything worth watching.  I assume we're supposed to be invested in the calculated method in which Fassbender does his business, but it all just feels like variations on scenes we've already seen earlier in the film.  And even still, he has several methods that are just eye-rolling.  He goes by several obvious aliases that are derivative of classic sitcom characters, which I think is supposed to be humorous but just kind of sucks.  A man who is supposed to be a ghost using names from pop culture is a method of standing out when his effort is trying to lie low.  It's the sign of a carefree uncreative mind when he's supposed to be meticulous and careful.  David Fincher knows how to make a solid thriller; he has many under his belt, and I have no doubt he'll have more in the future.  While The Killer has that Fincher flair, it's not exciting and there is nothing to latch onto.  Like the main character of the film, he just had a misfire.  Something that went wrong.  He'll probably bounce back.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Anatomy of a Fall ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Creator ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Five Nights at Freddy's ⭐⭐

Freelance ⭐

A Haunting in Venice ⭐⭐⭐

Killers of the Flower Moon ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Marsh King's Daughter ⭐⭐1/2

Priscilla ⭐⭐⭐

Taylor Swift:  The Eras Tour ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (probably)

New To Digital

Dicks:  The Musical ⭐⭐1/2

Dumb Money ⭐⭐⭐

New To Physical

Gran Turismo ⭐⭐1/2

The Miracle Club ⭐⭐1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 44 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Divinity

⭐⭐

Genre:  Science Fiction

Director:  Eddie Alcazar

Starring:  Stephen Dorff, Moises Arias, Jason Genao, Karrueche Tran, Bella Thorne, Scott Bakula

A miracle drug is created that keeps people young and fit, but a pair of mysterious strangers kidnap the creator and pump his system full of it, amongst other weird shit involving sex, drugs, aliens, and hookers in leotards.  It's a movie that feels like it's made by film students who find movies only worth watching if they were made by Lynch and Cronenberg and lets 80's infomercials and MTV be their entire vibe (while even stealing the OCP logo from RoboCop to complete it).  It's that vibe that the movie tries to coast on, being a product that looks cool and wants to be deciphered.  I've never cared for movies like this, because while I might be visually engaged for five minutes, I find myself even more disinterested as it goes on because it becomes clear it's just style over substance.  Does the movie have a point?  Maybe, but probably not (the movie might be an anti-abortion/stem cell research film, but that's a whole discussion).  And if it does, it prefers to get lost in its own abstract surrealism rather than...be anything.  It wants you to take out of it whatever you need to.  What I took out of it was some nice visuals, I got to see some boobs and a lot of butts, and there was an anime influenced stop motion sequence out of nowhere that was pretty funny, but absolutely nothing else.

Lonesome Soldier

⭐

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Nino Aldi

Starring:  Jackson Harlow, Lisa Grosjean

Based upon a true story (though you wouldn't be convinced of it), Lonesome Soldier is about a man who joins the military, but returns home injured and with PTSD and learns to cope with it.  It's a movie that seems to understand the presentation of a story but can't figure out how to make it function.  I suspect that the movie was made by people who are stark military and veteran supporters, and they're very compelled by this man's story.  Issues arise in that if his story is unique, the film sucks its uniqueness dry by blending it with ideas and methods that have been done many times over by better movies (this movie has an unironic "Unclean! I can't get the blood off my hands!" sequence).  To be fair to it, it's a well-shot movie that works well with what seems to be a limited budget.  But I look at this movie and feel like there is a gaze of glancing at one's own art with rose-colored glasses and refusing to see what's wrong with it.  Even if this movie weren't a sappy attempt at something trite, it feels inauthentic and cynically manipulative.  The acting has its moments, but it feels like there only select moments that the movie is actually invested in, and the rest of the time it's rushing through itself because, while those scenes might be necessary to advance itself, it's not invested in them.  And when it is invested in itself, the just hammers the audience with a greasy melodrama that will clog your arteries.  Maybe if you're invested heavily in military stories, this movie might be of interest.  I just think veterans deserve something better than something this gutless.

The Marsh King's Daughter

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Thriller

Director:  Neil Burger

Starring:  Daisy Ridley, Ben Mendelsohn, Garrett Hedlund, Gil Birmingham, Careen Pistorious, Brooklyn Prince

Based on the 2017 novel (and it feels it), The Marsh King's Daughter sees Daisy Ridley as an adult woman who left an abusive and traumatic relationship with her survivalist father behind after he was arrested when she was a child, only to be haunted and hunted by him when he escapes.  The film is stilted to a fault, with stiff performances that often feel like the actors have memorized their lines phonetically.  The actors aren't to blame for this, because the film feels more like a dramatic reading of its novel than an adaptation of it, as each actor patiently waits their turn to speak with a mound of dialogue on the tip of their tongue.  To be fair, setting aside the type of performance Daisy Ridley is asked to give in this movie, she is actually pretty good in it.  Ben Mendelsohn is properly intimidating as her father, though he slips in and out of his accent pretty often.  The savior of this movie actually winds up being its story, which is interesting in spite of scripting issues and uneven plotting.  I was interested in Ridley's story and was invested enough to see it through to its end.  I feel like The Marsh King's Daughter is going to play better with certain viewers more than others, and those viewers will likely adore it.  Those viewers might be book fans, because there is a certain feel to this movie that reminds me of last year's Where the Crawdads Sing, which was loved by fans of the novel and dismissed by everyone else.  I liked Marsh King a bit more than Crawdads, because Marsh King's story is a more interesting visual narrative than Crawdads, which relied more on trying to be subtle without having the patience to be.  The Marsh King's Daughter is a bit corny and a bit trashy, but it knows how to use it.  Like a shitty page-turner that you can't put down for some reason.

Priscilla

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Sofia Coppola

Starring:  Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

In a way it's a teenage girl's fairy tale:  to meet and be whisked away by the world's biggest superstar.  It's also kinda weird and off-putting, watching a 15-year-old girl being courted by a man ten years her senior and one of the biggest celebrities who ever lived, plucking her pretty much straight from high school and trapping her in a celebrity whirlwind that changes her.  Following last year's Academy Award nominated biopic of Elvis Presley, Sophia Coppola offers up an alternate gaze on the music icon, telling the story of his wife Priscilla and the unusual story of how he courted and borderline groomed her to be his wife (some might argue that there was no "borderline" about it).  I haven't seen Baz Luhrmann's Elvis film since it came out and, admittedly, I don't remember how deep it dived into Elvis and Priscilla's relationship, though I recall it being relatively minor and dismissive.  If there is any contradiction between the two, I can't really engage in that, but the depiction of Elvis between the two films is a bit startling.  Last year's film focused on the showman aspect, but Coppola tells an "evil that men do" narrative, showing him as intimidating, distant, and manipulative.  His relationship with Priscilla is often on his terms, as he takes a soft-spoken high school girl and molds her to be his idea of a what his wife should be, rarely allowing her to have any input into who she gets to be even when he's not around because Elvis's world revolves around him.

Priscilla seems to intentionally choose to not have much of anything to do with what's outside of Priscilla and Elvis's love affair, which can be a bit limiting.  The film abruptly starts when Priscilla is invited to a get-together being held by Elvis and it abruptly ends when Priscilla leaves her husband.  It's laser focus isn't a bad thing, but it also limits it by boxing it in, with limited view of the entire picture.  But it's Priscilla's movie, and what she sees is the most important to it.  It might feel limited because she had a limited life within this scenario, as the film is depicting that she wasn't allowed to have one outside of her husband, while he was having an entire life without her.  That aspect works because, while they're husband and wife, they never feel like they're all that close, which alludes that they're both living separately under the lie that they're together.  The film reinforces that by lingering on those moments where they're tender with each other and makes them feel hollow.  Interestingly, while there is quite a bit of era-setting music in this movie, there is very little actual Elvis music.  Maybe that's a metaphor for how little he was in her life.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Barbie ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Creator ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Exorcist:  Believer ⭐⭐

Five Nights at Freddy's ⭐⭐

Freelance ⭐

Gran Turismo ⭐⭐1/2

A Haunting in Venice ⭐⭐⭐

Killers of the Flower Moon ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Nightmare Before Christmas ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Oppenheimer ⭐⭐⭐

The Other Zoey ⭐⭐

Paw Patrol:  The Mighty Movie ⭐⭐⭐

Saw X ⭐⭐⭐

Taylor Swift:  The Eras Tour ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (probably)

New To Digital

A Haunting in Venice ⭐⭐⭐

Paw Patrol:  The Mighty Movie ⭐⭐⭐

New To Physical

Blue Beetle ⭐⭐⭐

The Good Mother ⭐1/2

Mission:  Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One ⭐⭐⭐

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 ⭐⭐1/2

Retribution ⭐1/2

Coming Soon!