Multiplex Madness
Borderlands
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction, Action
Director: Eli Roth (and Tim Miller)
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Jamie Lee Curtis, Edgar Ramírez, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon
Based on the hit video game series, Borderlands sees a surprisingly heavy-hitting cast deliver berserker material as they play a group of misfits looking for a mysterious vault in the far reaches of outer space. All sources point to an assembly of a film that's just as crazy as the Borderlands franchise probably has earned, as rumored issues with the initial print called for reshoots, of which original director Eli Roth was unavailable for (he was already committed to last year's Thanksgiving, which is admittedly a better film than Borderlands). They then passed the baton to Tim Miller to get the movie across the finish line. This doesn't necessarily mean the movie is going to be a flat-out disaster, and I'd argue that the movie isn't, but you can definitely tell the movie isn't all there. Borderlands is choppy and clumsy, hoping to use it's irreverence to weild it's own chaos, which is like trying to stop a wrecking ball with a catcher's mitt. Any charisma it might have lies with its cast, who deliver the movie's cheeky insanity with the right amount of snark and hamfistedness to make the movie entertaining even when it's failing to convey a plot. The movie is being dragged through the mud by critics, but I didn't hate it. If nothing else, the movie being a weird Frankenstein freak of obnoxiousness seems right on point for the series it's adapting.
Cuckoo
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Horror
Director: Tilman Singer
Starring: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jan Bluthhardt, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csokas
Cuckoo is hard to sum up in a few sentences, though it's main premise boils down to Hunter Schafer moving into the Alps with her father and step-family only to be followed by a mysterious screaming woman. That only scratches the surface of a film that's surprisingly lore heavy and cryptic, often bothersome in how unbalanced it is between the two. Cuckoo wears a mask of intense melodrama as it gets invested in its own mystery boxes. Payoff is a mixed bag because it's a neat idea in a convoluted presentation. I almost admire just how kamikaze the movie is with it's horror elements invading it's dramatic presentation, though it feels muted in its impact when it can't seem to find a narrative that isn't at the very least a partial mess.
It Ends with Us
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director: Justin Baldoni
Starring: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Hassan Minhaj, Brandon Sklenar, Isabella Ferrer, Alex Neustaedter
The beloved Colleen Hoover novel makes its way to the big screen, with Blake Lively taking the role of a flower shop owner who enters a romance with a neurosurgeon, which grows complicated when she bumps into her first love. And by complicated, I mean heavy complicated. Like in an "Oh shit, that's what this story's about?!" plot turn kind of way. It takes a while for It Ends with Us to express its point, which is admittedly for good reason, because the movie masks its theme in subtle and admittedly clever ways that enhance the theme in question. I wish I could praise it more because the rest of the movie is like a brick. The dialogue is hefty and erratic, like the movie is trying to come off as naturalistic but diverges to the point where it's failing to make its sentences make sense. The main romance of the film is uninteresting, clearly meant to play up for someone whose idea of steamy stems from reruns of Grey's Anatomy. The secondary flashback romance is a little more nimble and sweeter, but the film focuses on it far less because it's less important. My mood just felt weighed down by the entire experience, because I tried to like it, and there were indeed moments where I went "Okay, yeah, that was pretty good," but the movie never took hold. There are small moments of strength to its presentation, though it becomes hard to forgive how bland, passive, and clunky it is for two thirds of its runtime.
The Last Front
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, War
Director: Julien Hayet-Kerknawi
Starring: Iain Glen, Sasha Luss, Joe Anderson, David Calder, Koen De Bouw
Bless this movie's heart, it tries so hard. Too bad what it's trying to do is replicate a made for TV war drama that your history teacher would show you on VHS for a movie day. Taking place in Belgium during World War I, Iain Glen plays a farmer whose life is upended when the Germans come to his land and murder his son. He, his daughter, and his son's pregnant finance then flee with other nearby villagers to escape to the French border. The dramatic idea is sturdy, but it's yearning for a less hamfisted execution. The movie has no concept of subtlety. It's fiercely dramatic to a fault. It's hard to engage with the movie when it could just allow the acting to do the talking but instead clots it up with intense presentation cholesterol such as swelling music and overtly theatrical staging. Characterization also suffers, especially with its one-dimensional villains. One of the ranking Germans has compassionate and understanding dad vibes while the other (who I guess is his son for some reason, which explains the dad vibes) is a dick for the sake of being a dick, getting off on shooting people in the face. Their dramatic conflict is that they're having a civil disagreement on just how many war crimes they should be committing. It's laughably poor writing in a movie that doesn't want to be laughed at. It's a shame. Iain Glen gives it his all, but the movie doesn't earn his performance.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Deadpool & Wolverine ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Despicable Me 4 ⭐️⭐️1/2
Fly Me to the Moon ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Inside Out 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Longlegs ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Trap ⭐️⭐️
Twisters ⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
Despicable Me 4 ⭐️⭐️1/2
New To Physical
Babes ⭐️⭐️1/2
Coming Soon!
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