Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 13 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Asphalt City

⭐️1/2

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Jean-Stephane Sauvaire

Starring:  Sean Penn, Tye Sheridan, Katherine Waterston, Mike Tyson

Asphalt City is a paramedic film that feels like it's targeted at people who watch movies centered on corrupt, cynical beat cops, so if that sounds up your alley, then I would probably give it a watch.  From a technical standpoint, there is nothing wrong with it.  It's well-shot, visceral, and features good acting (except maybe Mike Tyson, and don't ask me to explain why Mike Tyson is in this movie, because I don't know).  Whether or not you enjoy it probably depends on how bitter and angry you like your movies.  The film's story centers on rookie paramedic Tye Sheridan being teamed up with grizzled senior medic Sean Penn, and it tells of their many nights together as they answer calls, which range from being hopeless to humiliating.  The entire underlining point of the movie is that being a paramedic sucks.  And it wants to make sure the viewer knows just how thankless and traumatizing this job is.  One can't say that they shortchange you on that.  What really weighs the movie down is how heavy-handed it is, often making its point and going a step further just to make sure the dead horse is beaten.  I like what the movie is trying to do, but every time I try to throw it a bone and let it do its thing, it decides to run to some sort of extremity that is only done to shock the viewer, while the filmmakers wear a shit-eating grin and go "lol."  And the last nail in the coffin is that nagging feeling that you can do these themes without making the people who have a thanklessly heroic task come off as jaded pricks who make selfish decisions.  That attitude is gross and disrespectful.  They already have a hard enough job, they don't need a movie that's spreading around the idea that it's mostly their fault, because "the job makes them this way."  If the movie were a film about snap decisions in the heat of the moment that may be scrutinized, it would be a different story.  Instead, it's about decisions that are done by calculated choice, and that doesn't gel with me.

Godzilla x Kong:  The New Empire

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Adventure, Fantasy, Action, Kaiju

Director:  Adam Wingard

Starring:  Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle

Hot off the coattails of Toho's 70th anniversary film for their mascot monster, Godzilla Minus One, comes an American produced Godzilla film that is actually being unleashed in Godzilla's seventieth year (though the big guy won't actually turn seventy until November).  Godzilla Minus One actually had to do an act of avoidance for Godzilla x Kong:  The New Empire, because their contract with Legendary states that they're actually not allowed to release their own Godzilla film in the same year as Legendary produces their own, which meant Godzilla Minus One had to kick off the festivities early, even if it was only the big birthday of 69 (nice).  Some have pointed to this as the reason Minus One isn't on streaming yet in the US, though I tend to believe that has more to do with the film needing a US distributor first, and Toho tends to let foreign home media releases lag behind, so they don't compete with their own domestic releases (I've been following Godzilla DVDs a long time).  So, by happenstance, Godzilla x Kong:  The New Empire is the official flick celebrating the franchise's latest milestone, though it narrowly misses Kong's 90th anniversary by a full year.  Respectively, The New Empire is the 38th Godzilla film and the 10th Kong film.

Taking place several years after Godzilla and Kong's brawl with each other that turned into a fight against a giant robot, because reasons, The New Empire sees Kong chilling in his new home in Hollow Earth, where he finally begins to see signs of a simian civilization that he might have hailed from, which is being led by a ruthless ape that has turned them against human civilization.  Kong's only chance to keep them from reaching the surface world is to team up with the lumbering brute Godzilla in a tag team match against an army of apes.

With 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, director Adam Wingard leaned heavily into the absurdity of late-Showa-era Godzilla stylings, with elaborate sci-fi production design weaving a tale of the fantastical and had no time for any sort of reality to weigh it down.  While it was rough around the edges, you could see a code to the MonsterVerse being cracked on-screen as it shed the more grounded elements that previous films in the franchise struggled with (particularly King of the Monsters, which had a balancing act of grit and camp that chained it to the ground).  With The New Empire, Wingard doubles down on his approach, making a movie that's even more absurd and silly and just making a film that was a wild ride.  This could have been either a good thing or a bad thing, as it could either be really fun or just numbing.  Turns out it's both.

A lot of Godzilla vs. Kong's suffering came at the expense that it felt like the film's plot was stripped in post-production in an attempt to keep it simple, which came at the expense of certain elements lacking coherency.  The New Empire doesn't have that problem, at least, not for a good long while.  The story is simple with a purpose, and it goes through its adventure-trotting feeling like this was what it set out to do from the beginning.  The third act is a different matter.  A new element is introduced to the film that has been kept out of the trailers, and from a screenplay perspective, it plunges the movie into chaos.  Veteran Godzilla fans will understand it, and probably dig it, sitting in their seats and going "OMG, are they doing...?  THEY ARE!"  Someone who is only versed in the MonsterVerse will probably just tilt their head and struggle to understand just what the hell is going on.  It's not their fault either, as the script doesn't really introduce it properly and it rushes through it to get to the monster action faster.

I don't think we ever had any fear that the monster action was going to be neglected though, because The New Empire is probably the most beast-heavy film of the MonsterVerse saga, and they're ready for a tumble, let me tell you.  The film is pure pulp, with the title creatures as the heroes.  Kong is Conan the Barbarian and Godzilla is John Matrix, and the Schwarzenegger-inspired duo are ready to bulldoze everything in their way.  The movie has no interest in holding them back, though one might suspect Godzilla gets sidelined in favor of Kong.  It feels like Wingard and the writers favor the ape because it's much easier to humanize him, so Godzilla gets stuck fighting a few monsters in brief matches in the meantime, ala Godzilla:  Final Wars.  And when they finally team up for the finale, it is a dizzyingly frantic showcase of CGI that will either make you vomit or leave you grinning from ear-to-ear.

It's not as good as Minus One, though it doesn't need to be.  Kaiju flicks have ranged between harrowing and spectacle, and that is part of their beauty.  The New Empire struggles on its own path, though it has a clear ambition that it comes close to achieving.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama, Thriller

Director:  Robert Lorenz

Starring:  Liam Neeson, Kerry Condon, Jack Gleeson, Colm Meaney, Ciaran Hinds

Liam Neeson plays an aged assassin yet again, putting his particular-set-of-skills to the test against a gang who are after him for killing a member of theirs.  This is better than most Neeson thrillers, as there is an effort to be more thoughtful than just have him "do the Taken voice" and punch people.  The movie almost doesn't even have a premise, as the film is more about circumstances that align and accidentally escalate.  The bad guys, led by Kerry Condon, wildly misinterpret Neeson's motives, which lead to them acting less cautiously and getting more desperate as the film goes on.  Meanwhile, the events take Neeson by surprise, which leads him with a desire to diffuse the situation, but also be ready for things to go south at any moment.  If I had any issue with the film, it would be that it takes a while to get going and the domino effect in play feels too confined, which leads to a minor anticlimactic ending.  But the movie also isn't about spectacle, so I'll forgive it for trying to find a quiet way out instead.

Art Attack

Shayda

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Noora Niasari

Starring:  Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Selina Zahedina, Osamah Sami

Australia's submission for the International Oscar is a film about an Iranian woman escaping spousal abuse with her daughter, who seeks refuge in a shelter for women and tries to take the first steps to moving on with her life.  It's a strong story about the strength to work beyond trauma, and partially about a sisterhood of support to keep a woman strong.  These things come with hurdles, because the abusive partner is still in the picture, with a court order for visitation rights that he abuses to continue harassing his ex.  It's a thorough and realistic examination of what a woman goes through even as she tries to put a horrible experience behind her, and the strength it takes to build a better life for one's self in the heat of the old one still knocking at your door.  If I were left wanting on anything, I feel some of the supporting characters deserved a stronger presence.  Part of Shayda's story lies in taking comfort in others, and those she turns to often feel neglected in favor of something more relevant to Shayda and her daughter.  I get it, though.  It's Shayda's story, and we shouldn't wrestle it away from her, though there are little bits in it that could help it feel complete if they added just that much more.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Arthur the King ⭐️⭐️

Cabrini ⭐⭐

Dune:  Part Two ⭐⭐1/2

Ghostbusters:  Frozen Empire ⭐️⭐️

Immaculate ⭐️⭐️

Kung Fu Panda 4 ⭐⭐1/2

Late Night with the Devil ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love Lies Bleeding ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Luca ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Problemista ⭐️⭐️⭐️

New To Digital

Imaginary ⭐️1/2

Ordinary Angels ⭐️⭐️⭐️

New To Physical

Good Burger 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Iron Claw ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Out of Darkness ⭐️⭐️1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 12 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Ghostbusters:  Frozen Empire

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Comedy, Fantasy, Horror

Director:  Gil Kenan

Starring:  Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckeena Grace, Kumall Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celest O'Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts

I'm pretty much resigned from the idea that Ghostbusters will ever be the great franchise that it probably had the potential to be.  I let a lot of that attachment go when Harold Ramis passed away and it was clear that if the franchise came back, it would have to reconfigure itself.  Which it did.  Twice.  Both with very, shall we say, colorful discourses about their approach.  People will have their preferences as to whether the 2016 reboot or the legacy sequel Ghostbusters:  Afterlife is a better movie, but it fully depends on what you'd like Ghostbusters to lean into.  The 2016 sided pretty heavily into madcap slapstick comedy, and while it worked in places (and in others it failed miserably, but that's an entire other conversation that I won't get into, because that movie remains a hot button topic for some stupid reason), that's not what made the original Ghostbusters work.  The first Ghostbusters was an apocalyptic fantasy movie that had comedy derived from the idea that blue-collar shlubs were the ones who stumbled into it and saved the day.  It was very Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in that manner.  Afterlife was a closer approximation of this, though blending it with an homage to an Amblin-style rural kids fantasy is questionable, but that movie is better than it should be.

Afterlife wound up being the chosen route by Sony Pictures, and here we have Ghostbusters:  Frozen Empire, which takes place three years after Afterlife and now the Spengler family and their friends have taken up the mantel of Ghostbusters in New York City.  Exactly how or why they did this is unknown, because they lived in Oklahoma and the last time I checked, the Ghostbusters business had been shut down for decades (not to mention ghosts only seem to break out when something apocalyptic is afoot, so business ebbs and flows anyway).  I'm not even sure why they would want to be Ghostbusters, either.  I get why Paul Rudd would, because he's a Gen X fan boy, but why is Carrie Coon here?  I don't have any impression as to why this business would interest her.  Why is she allowing her kids to do this?  And now New York just happens to have a regular ghost problem again, after decades of not needing Ghostbusters?  This is a lot to imply happened in between movies that Frozen Empire just waves off.  But I digress, even though I'm ten minutes in and my inner screenwriter is pulling his hair out.

Accepting all of that, Frozen Empire sees the discovery of an orb that contains another demonic entity bent of spiritual chaos, which of course gets unleashed as the film goes on so the Ghostbusters can save the day.  It's the Ghostbusters formula of the first two movies that Afterlife sidestepped, which could be a positive or a negative, depending on your point of view.  On the plus side, this is a comfort food storyline that is adequately entertaining for Ghostbusters veterans, but it's also same-old-same-old for those who think the only good movie is the first one (or none at all, but those people probably shouldn't be watching the fifth Ghostbusters movie if they don't like Ghostbusters).  The movie feels muted and through-the-motions, with a couple of inspired moments along the way.  Mckenna Grace, who is the best thing to happen to this franchise since 1984, continues to shine, and she has a subplot with a ghost girl that is cute and charming.  The movie's comedy is also successfully funny most of the time, it's just drowned out with mundaneness and pandering references.  It's hard to pinpoint what exactly goes wrong with this movie, because elements of it feel like the correct ones, displaying a Ghostbusters movie that feels like it's what a Ghostbusters movie should be, but does so without much (if you'll pardon the pun) spirit.  If you're going to coast for the ride, the movie will prove to be a solid, popcorn-munching time, but as the case for making more Ghostbusters movies, it doesn't really sell itself.

MST3K Cast Note:  Patton Oswalt has a supporting role in this film.

Immaculate

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Michael Mohan

Starring:  Sydney Sweeney, Alvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Georgio Colangeli, Simona Tobasco

Sydney Sweeney stars as a nun who joins a special convent that tends to dying and mentally unstable nuns.  This being a horror movie, there is of course a dark secret beneath all of this.  There is a little bit of a "Stop me if you heard this one..." quality to this movie.  I mean, scary things happen to a nun.  This is hardly an original premise in horror, because a nun is a symbol of purity and they have a perfect antagonist in devilish devices.  Immaculate is a movie that feels like it wants to be the most efficient example of this, but isn't quite up to the task.  The movie is wildly inconsistent about what kind of horror movie it is, switching between psychological shocker, geek show body horror, and "Boo!" jump scares.  The result is a boring movie that sometimes intrigues but often is just screaming at you.  As the movie plays out, it becomes understandable as to why it would present itself this way, and while its final revelation is interesting, it doesn't really fall into justification for the horror around it.  It's an unnerving idea, but there are extremities about everything surrounding it that feel like being grotesque for the sake of being grotesque.  I mean, this is a convent, and they are openly doing horrible things with little thought or care.  It seems you've probably lost the plot in your "service to God."  I understand that this is the point, but it's also not a well developed one.  It just becomes a movie where bad things are going on under a saintly roof because they feel like it, and that makes whatever promising aspects of the premise there may be feel like a lost cause.

Late Night with the Devil

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

Starring:  David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri

This indie horror film had been riding hype waves for months (only to face backlash at the last minute after it was revealed that the filmmakers used AI art in the film), and it's finally hitting wide release for a small theatrical run before hitting Shudder in the near future.  Late Night with the Devil gives David Dastmalchian a long overdue lead role as a late night talk show host who puts on a Halloween show devoted the supernatural.  His special guests:  a psychic, a skeptic, and a presumably possessed girl.  It's a movie that hams it up with its late night influences, working hard with that comfort atmosphere of stale jokes and performative pandering only to unfold into something spookier as it goes.  For the most part, the snowball effect works.  It does an impressive job of balancing the campy and the intense, being both silly and earnest at the same time, though it tends to slip up in balancing the theatrical with the gritty.  It might have done better if it had slowly let go of the former in favor of the latter toward the end, but it always seemed to have a death grip on keeping that talk show tone throughout.  Because of that, the horror elements can have a hard time breaking through because the movie both wants to treat them seriously and unseriously at the same time, which feels like a missed opportunity to take such a comfort format and tear it to shreds.  But the film is buoyed by a fabulous performance by Dastmalchian and young co-star Ingrid Torelli, which makes it a fun, spooky watch for a evening viewing.

Problemista

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Julio Torres

Starring:  Tilda Swinton, Julio Torres, RZA, Greta Lee, Catalina Saavedra, James Scully

Writer/director/star Julio Torres is an aspiring toy designer who finds his work visa threatened but may find his only savior with eccentric artist Tilda Swinton, as he struggles to wrangle in her erratic behavior just to stay afloat.  Torres creates a film through a lens of expressionistic imagination, as he infuses a lot of flourishes throughout the narrative based on how his main character feels through his inner anxiety.  It's a film that gets off on its own quirkiness, and it can tend to overwhelm.  That overwhelming nature is part of the point, because it metaphorically stands as a piece about how anxiety pushes itself on us during those days where we are uncertain about our lives.  Tilda Swinton toes a line between being hilarious and infuriating, though it's practically a perfect performance.  It's also the exact thing the movie needs to fully work, because of how large her personality is, fueling it's metaphor.

Netflix & Chill

Road House

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Streaming On:  Prime

Genre:  Action

Director:  Doug Liman

Starring:  Jake Gyllenhaal, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Joaquim de Almeida, Austin Post, Conor McGregor

Remaking Road House is a towering task.  It's not like remaking a normal movie.  Normally, there are certain qualities a film can have that makes it beloved, and while recreating them is challenging, there are ways to go about it that can create something fresh and enjoyable out of a new experience.  Road House is different.  The things people love about Road House are so unique to this one particular movie that is objectively awful, but so much fucking fun to watch.  That movie is a perfect storm of machismo horseshit done in such a campy way creating a movie that you just sit in your seat, drinking a beer, and nodding to yourself "Yeah, fucking Road House, yeah."

Now we finally have a remake, which switches up the machismo horseshit with a different kind of machismo horseshit, turning Road House away from being a trasy 80's VHS classic and rejiggers it into something for the Fast & Furious generation.  It's a pick your poison situation.  Instead of Patrick Swayze, we're given Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays a former UFC fighter who is hired as a bouncer to chase off thugs who have been terrorizing a roadhouse in Florida, but sees the situation escalate when it links to a real estate scheme trying to shut the place down.  The film downplays the original's camp value, but is very embrasive of its cheek.  Surprisingly, this movie doesn't try to replicate any of Swayze's iconic one-liners, opting to give Gyllenhaal his own.  Gyllenhaal's aren't as memorable, but he does keep the film upbeat and light.  The action sequences are still laughably absurd, but done in a showier manner.  These are things that might turn off a loyal Road House viewer, because the authentic Road House experience will always be the original.  But I feel there is also a sect of Road House lovers who will accept that the original lives in the 80's, while this is pretty much what the modern Road House can and should be.  I did feel like I went through the Road House wringer during this movie, which leads me to believe it's a success.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

The American Society of Magical Negroes ⭐️⭐️1/2

Arthur the King ⭐️⭐️

The Boy and the Heron ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Cabrini ⭐⭐

Dune:  Part Two ⭐⭐1/2

Imaginary ⭐1/2

Kung Fu Panda 4 ⭐⭐1/2

Love Lies Bleeding ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Luca ⭐️⭐️⭐️

New To Digital

Bob Marley:  One Love ⭐⭐1/2

Land of Bad ⭐⭐1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 11 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

The American Society of Magical Negroes

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Comedy, Romance, Fantasy

Director:  Kobi Libii

Starring:  Justice Smith, David Allen Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Witkins, Aisha Hinds, Tim Baltz, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer

Much like last year's The Blackening, The American Society of Magical Negroes acts as a deconstruction of traditional roles for African Americans in Hollywood narratives.  The term "magical negro" was coined for films that utilize a Black character who exists as a sage-like figure and acts as a source of support or inspiration for a white protagonist.  A Bagger Vance, if you will.  This film showcases the idea that there is a society of such figures who manifest themselves to comfort white people when they become upset, as a sort of pacifist activism that protects Black people in a roundabout way.  Justice Smith plays a new recruit in this society who risks his role after falling in love with his client's love interest.  The movie acts as a fairy tale spin on Men in Black, and it's inventive and fun.  It has its fair share of struggles as well, as it is often incapable of juggling its romantic plot and the client plot adequately, often shortchanged the latter in favor of the former.  But that's also kind of the point, because the movie also exists as an allegory for taking the reins of their own life and becoming the main character of their own story while also making the point that racial relations need to be a two-way street, rather than just a coddling of one side.  I do wish it had more time to marinate, possibly to flesh itself out, because it trips over itself switching back and forth between a parody of whimsy and actual whimsy, but it's cute and funny enough for an enjoyable evening.

Arthur the King

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama, Adventure

Director:  Simon Cellan Jones

Starring:  Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, Bear Grylls, Paul Guilfoyle

Based on the true story of a stray dog who followed an adventure racing team through their long journey, the plays a little bit loosey-goosey with the tale, notably making the racing team American instead of Swedish and adding extra dabs of tearjerking schmaltz here and there.  But mostly the movie wants to be a family film about a cute pup on an adventure, and on that front...it's still kind of a disappointment.  Arthur the King is tripped up by limitations, because it feels like it needed to pick and choose what it can depict, whether due to budget constraints or possibly the uncertainty of how to make its depictions engrossing.  The film has more than a few moments where it's trying to thrill the audience, but it struggles to make it exciting.  The actors lack a sense of urgency, and it can at times imply through editing rather than show (I'm mostly thinking of a cable-crossing scene early on, which is just a failure at everything it tries to do).  Meanwhile, the attempts to give the dog a personality fall short, because his training work also feels edited for implication, with quite a bit of bad ADR dog noises to try and display his emotions while the dog in question just looks neutral throughout most of the movie.  It's not the worst "People love dogs" movie I've ever seen, but it is one of the most humdrum.  It tries to be inspiring, and it's not uninspiring, so that's not nothing, I guess.

Knox Goes Away

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Thriller

Director:  Michael Keaton

Starring:  Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Suzy Nakamura, Joanna Kulig, Ray McKinnon, John Hoogenakker, Lela Loren, Marcia Gay Harden, Al Pacino

Interesting, but bland, noir directed by Michael Keaton, who also stars as a hitman fighting dementia.  His son comes to him for help after he accidentally kills the man who statutory raped his daughter, and Keaton tries to cover it up while also getting his affairs in order.  I think the premise of this movie promises a film that has more meat than is here.  It's a terrific showcase for Keaton, who is at the top of his game and is almost holding the entire film on his shoulders, but the film teeters on tedium as we await it to make it to its point.  It's enough story for a short film that has been padded out with subplots.  Some are okay enough, but they all feel like they're treading water because they need Keaton's storyline to move before they can do anything.  Keaton's counting on the psychological drama of a bad man who is counting down his final days of sanity to keep the audience engrossed.  I don't blame him for being fascinated with it, because it's his spotlight, but it's not enough.

Love Lies Bleeding

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Thriller, Comedy, Drama

Director:  Rose Glass

Starring:  Kristen Stewart, Katie O'Brian, Ed Harris, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco

Because Drive-Away Dolls dropped the ball on being the definitive lesbian crime spree movie of 2024, Love Lies Bleeding is here to pick up the slack.  This film sees Kristen Stewart falling for lady bodybuilder Katy O'Brian at her gym, but their affair grows complicated when O'Brian kills Stewart's abusive brother-in-law.  It's a less audaciously comedic film than Drive-Away Dolls, choosing to be more of a dark dramady with some humorously over-the-top moments, right down to full surrealism toward the end.  It's a stylish movie that feels both disgusted and aroused by its violent tendencies, flowing with a message of being so in love that you'll do anything, and those most toxic actions prove just how in love you are.  It indulges in itself a lot, as sometimes Katy O'Brian's "roid rage" moments come off like Bill Bixby turning into Lou Ferrigno in The Incredible Hulk TV series, though it's a movie that will keep your attention and thrill you in more ways than one.

The Prank

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Comedy, Thriller

Director:  Maureen Bharoocha

Starring:  Rita Moreno, Connor Kalopsis, Ramona Young, Meredith Salenger, Keith David

A high school student finds himself desperate when the toughest teacher in the school threatens him with a failing grade.  He then conspires with his best friend to pull a prank on her to humiliate her, but it accidentally escalates when she's arrested for murder.  Those with an affinity for Animal House style comedies where wacky students get into shenanigans and rebel against authority will probably think this sounds interesting.  It certainly has its moments, though it feels like a distinct comedic style that is hampered by budget restrictions and juvenile plotting.  The film feels like it was made by someone who grew up with a healthy stack of R.L. Stein books and with their favorite movies being 10 Things I Hate About You and Teaching Mrs. Tingle and wanted to combine those things into one entity.  Meanwhile, the movie feels at a loss of what it can and can't work into itself with its budget.  The title "prank" is actually pretty lame, and while the snowball effect has amusement value, nothing the film does with it feels all that inspired.  It even grows predictable as it enters its third act twist, which hopes to spice things up, but hardly musters a heartbeat.  I like the movie's spunk, but that only creates a few laughs in a film that isn't living up to itself.

MST3K Cast Note:  This film actually has quite a few recognizable character actors in it but keep an eye out for Tom Servo voice Baron Vaughn, who plays a newscaster that pops up at random points in the film.  Meredith Salenger, wife of Patton Oswalt, also has a supporting role in this film.

Snack Shack

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Adam Carter Rehmeier

Starring:  Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, Mika Abdalla, David Costabile, Nick Robinson

Two teens rent out a snack shack at a local pool for the summer for quick cash, and wind up falling for the same girl, which threatens their entrepreneurship and their friendship.  Snack Shack is a love letter to summertime coming-of-age tales mixed with youth bromance comedy, not unlike something the Coreys would have starred in as they were aging out of teen heartthrob status.  The film is promising, and amusing at its best moments, but meandering, as certain plot elements feel underdeveloped as the movie takes left turns away from them.  Not helping matters is that the characters are supposedly fourteen years old in the movie, even though the actors are all in their early-to-mid-twenties, which makes the creative choice a bit of a stretch.  It's not uncommon for 20somethings to play teenagers, but rarely this young.  The film's love interest lead is likely in the same age-range, maybe a few years older (she apparently has a driver's license), but the film photographs her with such a leery lens that it borders on problematic, because if the actress playing the role actually were the age of the character, the filmmakers likely would be placed on some sex offender registry.  These are all questionable creative choices for a movie that would probably be better if it weren't wandering down such a rabbit hole.  Foul mouthed, horny youth isn't a hard sell, but when you have barely non-tweens betting money at a dog race and taking out bank loans, things that they would likely be carded for, it stretches credibility and makes the choice of characterizing so young even worse.  If you were to ignore the more "why did you even do that?" elements, there is an enjoyable laugh of a movie at its core.  With the odd creativity working against it, it struggles to become anything more than diverting.

Thorns

⭐️1/2

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Douglas Schulze

Starring:  Jon Bennett, Cassandra Schomer, Doug Bradley

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Thorns was something I saw in a theater at this point.  I have seen some weird micro-budget stuff since I started doing this.  A lot of them are faith movies, but there are occasional movies that look like they were made by YouTubers with a couple hundred bucks in their pocket, such as Unfavorable Odds and Never Give Up.  Still, every time I stumble across one of these movies, I'm amazed someone actually booked it in a multiplex.  Thorns is like if someone with access to video equipment decided to make Event Horizon on the set of The Office, and is hoping red lights and flash editing will do the heavy lifting.  The film finds a former priest who currently works for NASA for reasons who finds that a observatory station has been taken over by a demonic entity that wishes to unleash hell on Earth.  The movie is clearly made by people with an affinity for Hellraiser style movies, so much so that Doug "Pinhead" Bradley has a minor role (where he gets to sit in a chair and read off cue-cards, acting like he's talking to people who are clearly not in the same room as him).  To be fair, it's not an entirely incompetent production, as there are little bits of unsettlement it's able to get across in efficient ways, though it aims to startle instead of shock.  I suspect the movie is more of a demo for the filmmakers rather than anything substantial, as most movies this low-to-the-ground are.  I just wish they had pulled it off.

Uproar

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Comedy, Drama

Director:  Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett

Starring:  Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Minnie Driver, James Rolleston, Erana James, Mabelle Dennison

Taking place in 1981 New Zealand during the Springbooks rugby tour, Julian Dennison plays a high school student who usually goes with the flow but starts to find his ideals changing as he learns more about the protests against the tour.  Uproar is a passionate movie made by people with clear worldviews that are important to them.  If only the plot had as much clarity.  The movie gives Dennison three distinct storylines involving rugby, stage drama, and activism, and while it works hard to tie the three of them together thematically, the storytelling workload proves to be cumbersome because they clash with each other.  If the movie had picked two and ran with it, there might be a more investing film on display.  But there is a powerful underlining theme of breaking free from youth and emerging as the person you're meant to be.  It works in the film's favor, even if the film doesn't always work as well as its metaphor.

Art Attack

Driving Madeleine

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Christian Carion

Starring:  Line Renaud, Dany Boon, Alice Isaaz

This French offering has a cab driver pick up an elderly woman on her way to a nursing home, and as the ride continues he hears more about the life she led.  The film is a rather basic ode to the full lives of the elderly, and how its easy to gloss over the time they had simply because it's not their time anymore.  It's a film of schmaltz that will curveball into hyper dramatic intensity when it feels like it, showcasing the heavy beats of Madeleine's life dramatized for precision effect.  I find myself wishing the film were more detailed, chronicling a full life rather than just heavy moments.  The point of the movie still gets across, though it could probably hit harder with more ambition.

One Life

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama

Director:  James Hawes

Starring:  Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Johnathan Pryce

Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn share the role of Nicholas Winton, a stockbroker whose efforts to bring refugee children out of Czechoslavakia in hopes to save them from the Nazis during Germany's invasion.  It's a gripping story of humanitarianism that makes One Life a film worth viewing, which also utilizes Hopkins as the man many years later, who finally faces just how important his action of empathy was.  It's a very interesting story that is brought to the screen with a considerable amount of respect, but like a lot of films about the Holocaust, it faces the decision of just how in-depth it wants to get.  The film is primarily about how one helping hand saved hundreds of lives, so it doesn't feel like like it wants to make the film too disturbing.  Because of that, when it's in the face of something harrowing, it feels overly reeled in, but the positive message of the film still overcomes the film's weaknesses.

Oscar Winners

20 Days in Mariupol ⭐⭐⭐⭐

American Fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Anatomy of a Fall ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Barbie ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Boy and the Heron ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Godzilla Minus One ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Holdovers ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Repair Shop ⭐⭐⭐

Oppenheimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

War is Over!  Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Zone of Interest ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Argylle ⭐️⭐️1/2

Bob Marley:  One Love ⭐⭐1/2

Cabrini ⭐⭐

Dune:  Part Two ⭐⭐1/2

Imaginary ⭐1/2

Kung Fu Panda 4 ⭐⭐1/2

Madame Web ⭐

Oppenheimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ordinary Angels ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

New To Digital

Madame Web ⭐

New To Physical

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom ⭐⭐

I.S.S. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Wish ⭐⭐1/2

Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 10 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Accidental Texan

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Comedy, Drama

Director:  Mark Lambert Bristol

Starring:  Thomas Haden Church, Rudy Pankow, Carrie-Anne Moss, Bruce Dern

Accidental Texan is a movie that feels like it was made in the wrong era.  The film centers on a struggling actor who finds himself stranded in a small Texas town, where he is enlisted by a small-time oil driller who hopes to tap a well before he loses it to competitors.  The fish-out-of-water comedy is old fashioned, but the thing that really makes Accidental Texan feel past its expiration date is its oil drilling plot.  It feels like it's meant to have blue-collar appeal, and maybe it does, but it's premise would have felt more at home during the Reagan/Bush era and doesn't hit the same in 2024.  That being said, those who long for a certain type of comedic "crossing of two worlds" premise will find the film to be adequate comfort food cinema.  Thomas Haden Church and Carrie-Anne Moss add more credibility to it with their committed presence, though it's weird to see them in awe of a "movie star" even though they're both way more famous than their young co-star, Rudy Pankow.  If your favorite movie of all time is, oh say, City Slickers, the movie might be worth a watch.  Just expect it to be a humble offering.

Cabrini

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama

Direcror:  Alejandro Monteverde

Starring:  Cristiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, Ramona Maggiora Vergano, Federico Ielapi, Virginia Bocelli, Rolando Villazon, Giancarlo Giannini, John Lithgow

Based on the life of missionary Francesca Cambini, this film tells of her venturing to America to help Italian immigrants and orphaned children, facing anti-Italian discrimination and hardship and daring to stand up to it.  The movie is well-intentioned, and at times it's even very good, but it's tendency to slip into boldly operatic melodrama shoots itself in the foot.  Cristiana Dell'Anna is asked to carry the weight of the movie on her shoulders, and she seems willing to do so, but the indulgences of the film's construction weigh her down and she begins to buckle under the added weight.  Alejandro Monteverde certainly doesn't seem to be an incompetent filmmaker, though his efforts to go out of his way for a more flourished camera shot seems like it's done at the story's annoyance, because it often requires stilted blocking that seems awkward in execution.  At the same time, this is a movie where the heroic acts are humanitarianism, and the antagonists are discrimination and sexism.  The film's celebration of immigration is commendable, and even a timely message in today's political climate.  It's just a movie that in its own way.

Imaginary

⭐1/2

Genre:  Horror, Fantasy

Director:  Jeff Wadlow

Starring:  DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegan Burns, Pyper Braun, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcon, Betty Buckley

From the visionary mind that brought you modern day Blumhouse classics such as Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island comes a movie that's exactly as good as you think it is after reading this sentence.  Jeff Wadlow continues to crank out horror flicks for the Blumhouse machine, and sadly we're still waiting for one that's feels like more than a baseline concept.  This one's concept is about a little girl who finds a teddy bear, which is haunted by an entity that presents itself as her imaginary friend.  It's a movie that comes off as if it was made by someone who watched Child's Play and Annabelle and thought "I can do that."  Credit where credit is due, the film has effective moments, with a few scenes of well-executed suspense and a couple of wry gags that hit.  It just makes it all-the-more disappointing that the majority of the movie is flaccid.  The movie has a lot of ideas.  Not original ideas, but there are certain ones that might provide the basis for a solid entertainer if you pursued them.  Imaginary chooses to cram them together and tries not to think too hard about them.  Maybe it's a budget thing keeping it from going for broke, but that doesn't forgive its stilted scripting and hasty plotting.  The movie pushes itself forward with plot beats that either fall flat or make little sense.  It's a movie that just sits there, thinking maybe you can close your eyes and imagine a better movie instead.

Kung Fu Panda 4

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Comedy, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director:  Mike Mitchell

Starring:  Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, Ke Huy Quan, Dustin Hoffman

DreamWorks Animation seems to be in the middle of an effort to re-establish its co-dominance in the animation market, after losing steam in the last ten years and becoming eclipsed by Illumination's rise to power.  But they managed to revitalize interest in the Shrek franchise with the surprisingly excellent Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish, so who's to say they couldn't do the same with Kung Fu Panda?  That may or may not happen, but Kung Fu Panda 4 is a bit of a let-down compared to previous Kung Fu Panda movies, and it certainly doesn't crack the bat like The Last Wish did.  This latest installment has the title panda "Dragon Warrior" Po in the position where he must pass his title to a successor, and subsequently teams up with a shady fox (who is played by Awkwafina, continuing her invasion of every animated property ever made) to stop a shapeshifting villain from threatening the land.  The movie lacks the lavish beauty that Jennifer Yuh Nelson brought the last two installments, showcasing a far simpler, less emotional story, with more slapstick-oriented direction by Mike Mitchell.  I suppose the Kung Fu Panda franchise was in a corner, because the movies looked like they were getting more expensive and the returns weren't growing, so they were forced to scale back.  This means a smaller cast, as the Furious Five is conspicuously absent throughout the movie, likely because they wanted to save a few dollars on casting.  What makes this doubly disappointing is the use of a shape-shifting villain in the film, and when you have a baddie that can be anyone, a larger cast of characters would be a benefit.  Viola Davis is good as the villain, doing what she's allowed to do, but it feels like she should be doing more.  But the good-natured comedy of the film is still charming and fun, and parents with rowdy children will definitely want to check it out.  I just can't help but be a little let down at how basic the franchise has narrowed itself into when it has also given us a powerhouse like Kung Fu Panda 2.

Art Attack

The Peasants

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman

Starring:  Kamila Urzedowska, Albert Gulaczyk, Miroslaw Baka, Sonia Mietoelica, Ewa Kasprzyk

Polish filmmakers Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman follow up their rotoscope oil painting animation Finding Vincent with a brand-new luscious flick that puts the "art" in arthouse.  The film tells a period piece story of a young girl who has an affair with a married man, only to be linked into an arranged marriage with his father.  From what I can tell, The Peasants was deemed a bit of a disappointment, with criticisms leveled at the story being simple and uninvolving.  I'll agree that the film is very basic in premise, though I found the drama more investing than most.  Ideally, a film style this innovative would be pushed to the limit with a script with towering ambition, though I feel like this animation style calls for sacrificing portions of its narrative to concentrate on its beauty.  Maybe one day a film like this can be a sweeping epic, but a film like The Peasants is a stepping stone to getting there.  What is here narratively is a story of a woman who has been wronged by the evils of men, as she is dragged through the dirt whether she is compliant or defiant through a life she did not ask for.  It doesn't break new ground, but paired with the format, the film is arresting.  I hope these filmmakers continue to hone their craft and get stronger with it, because they've carved their own little niche in animation and in the end, they might have a career for the ages.

Oscar's Trash Can

Perfect Days

⭐⭐⭐

Oscars Nominated:  Best International Film

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Wim Wenders

Starring:  Koji Yakusho

I had seen trailers for Perfect Days at my multiplex months ago, and I thought it was eventually going to play in my area, but it never even came to my arthouse.  I figured they might play it before the Oscars, maybe?  But alas, it hit streaming rental without it coming up on the schedule over there, so I took it however I could get it.  This film was Japan's submission to the International category, skipping out over their smash hit Godzilla Minus One, though Perfect Days was selected for submission before Godzilla was released in the US to great acclaim.  Even still, Perfect Days got nominated, so perhaps they made the right call.

Interestingly, both Godzilla Minus One and Perfect Days went up against each other for this year's Best Film award at the Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony (these are Japan's own local Oscars) and Godzilla won, also topping the night with eight awards.  Perfect Days won two (Best Director and Best Actor), and both were awards Godzilla was up for.

I'm on the record saying I don't care for slice-of-life dramas.  Never have, probably never will.  I can appreciate a well-made one, but they're just not for me.  Usually, they need a hook to really seal the deal.  Zone of Interest, for example.  A slice-of-life drama about people who casually commit genocide...now that's interesting.  Perfect Days has less genocide in it, because it revolves around a restroom maintenance employee who is just living out his simple life.  It feels like an exploration of a repressed introvert, who lives a life to his own quiet contentment, interacting with people who are in the middle of more heightened experiences that might be their own personal slice-of-life dramas.  What is he to them?  Not much.  He doesn't seem to make a habit of being noticed.  But he is friendly toward them, and as their lives take upturns and downturns, his stays the same.  The character is basically what an NPC is in a video game, someone who you'd bump into that has little bearing on what you're doing, but is just there.  One strength Perfect Days has is that despite this, it never forgets that its "his story."  We're given little context clues as to what his story is, though his character journey itself is limited because he doesn't really have an ambition except be what he is.  Because of that, my interest in this movie is limited, but Koji Yakusho is really good in it, successfully conveying what it's like to be content while also yearning at the same time.

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)

The Color Purple ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Creator ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Elemental ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Eternal Memory ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Flamin' Hot ⭐️⭐️1/2

Four Daughters (N/A)

Godzilla Minus One ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Golda ⭐️⭐️

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Holdovers ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Io Capitano (N/A)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Invincible ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Island in Between ⭐⭐⭐

Killers of the Flower Moon ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Knight of Fortune ⭐⭐⭐

The Last Repair Shop ⭐⭐⭐

Letter to a Pig ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Maestro ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

May December ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Mission:  Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Năi Nai & Wài Pó ⭐⭐⭐

Napoleon ⭐️⭐️1/2

Nimona ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ninety-Five Senses ⭐️⭐️1/2

Nyad (N/A)

Oppenheimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Our Uniform ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Past Lives ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pachyderme ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Perfect Days ⭐⭐⭐

Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Red, White, and Blue ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Robot Dreams (N/A)

Rustin ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Society of the Snow ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Spider-Man:  Across the Spider-Verse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Teachers' Lounge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

To Kill a Tiger (N/A)

War is Over!  Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Zone of Interest ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Argylle ⭐️⭐️1/2

Bob Marley:  One Love ⭐⭐1/2

Dune:  Part Two ⭐⭐1/2

Freud's Last Session ⭐⭐1/2

Madame Web ⭐

Migration⭐️⭐️1/2

Ordinary Angels ⭐️⭐️⭐️

New To Digital

Argylle ⭐️⭐️1/2

The Teachers' Lounge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Coming Soon!