MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 8 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Drive-Away Dolls

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy

Director: Ethan Coen

Starring: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, Matt Damon

The Coen Brothers continue an experiment in directing apart, with Joel directing The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ethan taking the helm of this Screenplay he had co-written nearly two decades ago that went unproductive, the title changed from "Drive-Away Dykes" to something that will cause less of a stir (though Coen playfully kicks whatever studio note changed the title by referencing the original title in the end credits). The film sees two lesbians taking a road trip to Tallahassee, accidentally taking a rental car with stolen goods in the trunk. If the movie reminds me of one film from the Coens' filmography, it would be Crimewave, their first writing credit for Sam Raimi's forgotten Evil Dead follow-up. Both films are nutty caper parody films that basically cover schmuck pulled into shady shenanigans, while also being stylized with broad humor. Very little of Drive-Away Dolls feels like a portrayal of reality. Every actor looks like they're putting on a performance of a caricature, angles and lighting are ostentatious, and everything is theatrically exaggerated for comedic effect. It's unfortunate it's only moderately amusing instead of a riot. I giggled quite a few times and maintained a steady stream of amusement, but the film never really picked itself up off the ground. It tries to. Sometimes way too hard. The film's reliance on very heavy lesbian sex-driven dialogue comes off more as a male-indulging kink that is being bellowed out to the world rather than a storytelling device. Sometimes the film's matter-of-factly sexcapades is rambunctious and loveable, and in others it just slows the plot down just so Margare Qualley can divebomb her face into a woman's crotch. It's a stop-and-go ride that make the movie's eighty minute runtime seem longer than it should, but it's not one that necessarily should be avoided.

Ordinary Angels

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama, Faith

Director: Jon Gunn

Starring: Hillary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, Tamala Jones

Hillary Swank flirts with the audience in this charisma-filled drama where she plays a recovering alcoholic hairdresser who tries to help a widower with medical bills for his ill daughter. Based on a true story from the mid-90s, Ordinary Angels gets by on Swank's effortless chatterbox appeal, and her chemistry with former Ninja Turtle Alan Ritchson is more endearing than one might expect. The film will lay the schmaltz on thick, which will be one audience's flavor and another's distaste. It's not unusual for faith filmmaking to do this, though, in more movies than not, it's unearned. Ordinary Angels puts the effort into itself to make it work, to tell an uplifting story about people helping each other. Occasionally it will slip up, such as Swank flavorfully talking a hospital into wiping clean $400,000 in debt with a trite speech (I have no clue if this actually happened or not, but it's the most eye-rolling moment in the movie). Like it's subjects, it's an imperfect entity. The people who will love it won't change a thing about it, though.

Seagrass

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama

Director: Meredith Hama-Brown

Starring: Ally Maki, Luke Roberts, Nyah Huang-Breitkeuz, Remy MarthalleeraChris Pang, Hannah Bos

An interracial family go on a therapy retreat in this Canadian indie that analyzes the the complexities of human emotion. Each family member has their own journey, as the mother works through emotional and racial barriers between her and her husband, the husband struggles to understand what is wrong with his marriage and why they're there, the older daughter works to fit in among peers, and the youngest daughter deals with loneliness and the fears that come within being in a strange environment. The authenticity the film is it's greatest strength, because everyone featured in the film feels real and lived in. It is also enhanced by its intense cinematography choices, which cause the film's thematic elements to echo. It's an excellent look at personal isolation even when we're with others, and an emotional journey in a film that's powerful and devastating in ways you wouldn't expect.

The Stolen Valley

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Adventure, Action

Director: Jesse Edwards

Starring: Eileen Sutton Hethcoat, Briza Covarrubias

Spirited, but uneven, gal pal neo-western chase movie sees a woman who ventures to meet her mysterious father who is accidentally hijacked by another woman running from a man who put a bounty on her head. The movie lacks a sturdy script, coming off very stilted and hastily constructed (and it has a habit of thinking you can just walk off a bullet to the leg), but it's not without its pleasures. Eileen Sutton Hethcoat and Briza Covarrubias are appealing leads, there is quality landscape cinematography, and the film is enveloped in themes of Native American heritage. It's not a creative movie, and it presents itself as something meatier than it is. That aspect feels deceptive, but the movie's self confidence is admirable.

Stopmotion

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Horror

Director: Robert Morgan

Starring: Aisling Fanciosi

This British film (which will also release on Shudder in a few weeks) tells of an emotionally abused stop-motion animator who's life becomes more maddening as she creates a new film. From King Kong to Nightmare Before Christmas, stop-motion always seemed to have an intimate relationship with the macabre, so it doesn't surprise me to see a horror movie homage to the format. The movie is a loving ode to the craft, while also creating a dark fantasy about the artistic process. Unfortunately, it's also slow burn to a fault. The third act is an unnerving treasure, and Aisling Fanciosi is terrific in it, and I respect that the film wants to earn it, but the movie has a hard time making keeping its story engrossing until that point. The animation sections are always the most interesting, but when it cuts to the actors, the film is a bore. Suddenly the movie grows its own personality as it leans into its own madness, and the film becomes an unhinged gem. It's too bad it doesn't feel alive until then.

Oscar Nominees

20 Days in Mariupol ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The ABCs of Book Banning ⭐⭐1/2

The After ⭐️⭐️⭐️

American Fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

American Symphany (N/A)

Anatomy of a Fall ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Barber of Little Rock ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Barbie ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Bobi Wine: The People's President (N/A)

The Boy and the Heron ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

El Conde (N/A)