Multiplex Madness
Absolution
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director: Hans Petter Moland
Starring: Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman, Yolonda Ross, Daniel Diemer
Liam Neeson is back punching people in his latest aging-man thriller, though this one is more contemplative than most. Neeson plays a gangster who finds out his mind is going, and he tries to spend his remaining time trying to establish bridges with his estranged daughter, which is easier said than done. The movie is somewhat similar to Michael Keaton's Knox Goes Away earlier this year, which was a forgettable movie itself. That being said, it had more meat on its bones than Absolution. Neeson seems keen to play a more dramatic role than most of this fare allows him to do, but he seems to be lost in an indie drama that he has created in his own mind while the movie isn't willing to meet him at his level. The movie isn't really that thrilling while the drama runs inert looking for a place to go. The conclusion is only satisfying in that noir sense of nobody really getting what they want, though the resolution doesn't really make the premise feel whole. Those looking for a dementia thriller will be better off with Keaton's film, though it's not an absolute whether they'll think highly of it. Neeson's fans are better off checking out In the Land of Saints and Sinners from earlier this year instead.
Here
Lost on a Mountain in Maine
Time Cut
Christopher Landon may have accidentally sparked a meta slasher revolution when he made his goofy Groundhog Day homage in Happy Death Day, following it up with a killer take on Freaky Friday in Freaky. Last year alone, we had It's a Wonderful Knife, the holiday themed slasher take on It's a Wonderful Life, and Totally Killer, which genre crossed with Back to the Future. The last one is of particular note, because it seems as if it weren't the only film that aimed for that high concept premise. Time Cut was filmed a year before Totally Killer was, but for some reason it released a year after. I'm assuming there isn't much of a story to this, because Time Cut seems to be an independent acquisition by Netflix while Totally Killer was made in-house by Amazon/MGM to debut on Prime. The former works more slowly than the latter. One can tell the movie is just barely outdated, because it dropped a reference to being "viral on Twitter." Obviously it was written and filmed before that platform rehaul and gutting, but even if this was filmed before that, the trendier reference would have been TikTok.
Here
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly
I want nothing more than to be able to say Robert Zemeckis is one of the greatest living directors. The man has some of the greatest films ever made under his belt, and as the man progresses deeper into his career, he continues to try and experiment and innovate, wanting to make unique films that are unlike anything else on the market. Unfortunately, he sometimes struggles to make his experimentation and innovation pay off. Ever since he gave the world that nightmare of a Polar Express movie, something seems to have broken inside of him.
His latest movie is called Here, based on graphic novel of the same name. Here is a high-concept study of the passage of time and all the events that can happen in one spot over the course of years, decades, centuries, and even millenia. It's about the nostalgic memories you have in your home, even the other people who lived in it before you, and even the ones who lived in it after you. The movie simultaniously tells several life tales that happen in one living room in Pennsylvania and all the people who occupied it: An aviation pilot and his badgering wife (played by Downton Abbey allum Michelle Dockery), a guy who invents the La-Z-Boy recliner and his model wife, a modern family living through the COVID-19 pandemic, and even periods before the house existed during colonial times, the American Revolution, and a pantomime love story between Native Americans. The main narrive takes place when a digitally de-aged Paul Bettany moves in with his wife, an equally de-aged Kelly Reilly. They raise a family of which their eldest son grows into an even more digitally de-aged Tom Hanks, telling his love story with his high school sweetheart and de-aged Forrest Gump co-star Robin Wright. That's a lot of CGI face-lifts right there. It's bizarre if you think about it, because Hanks and Wright spend most of this movie playing versions of their characters in their 20s, while Hanks' parents are played by actors that are younger than both of them. I understand why you'd want actors as good as Hanks and Wright in this movie, but it occurs to me that this movie could have probably been made for half the cost if they used younger actors instead and utilized make-up instead of CGI. This is a movie where the camera stays in one spot, for god's sake. Why does it have so many special effects?
Zemeckis deserves credit for ambition in a film that strives to be poetry over narrative. He's tripped up when his presentation feels too staged for his metaphor of life and time to hit as hard as it wants to. The movie is jovial enough to be enjoyable, while its drama is lifeless because he has to play it up to the camera, which is only in one corner of the room. It's like putting on a theater production for drywall. It feels like the movie tries to mask this with its storytelling device, where the film uses framing panels to show different things happening in the room during different time periods, which it uses to transition to different stories. Unfortunately, the nonlinear narrative is so rapid fire that it's disorienting. It becomes distracting to switch from one story to another, getting deep into the Hanks/Wright narrative only to switch to someone else, having to remember who the new people in front of you are, only to switch to something different seconds later. The movie can come off as homework because of that. It's too bad, because deep in my heart I was rooting for this movie. It's not that bad, and I'd even argue that it's worth a watch. The movie might be overly sentimental for most of its duration, but I'd argue if one type of story earns sentimentality, it would be a life-spanning narrative like this. It's just hard to watch this movie without an nagging thought in the back of your head telling you that it should be great, but it isn't.
Hitpig
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Adventure
Director: Cinzia Angelini, David Feiss
Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Lilly Singh, Rainn Wilson, Anitta, RuPaul, Hannah Gadsby, Charlie Adler
Goofy, under-the-radar animated offering sees a pig who is raised to be a bounty hunter tracking down an elephant to return to her owner. Hitpig is not an entirely disposable offering, as its cast has some notable names, and it can get a laugh at some of its dumbest lines, my favorite being "You just cracked a baby back rib." This movie is a pun machine. In its defense, some of the puns are actually pretty funny, though a movie with this many dad jokes and little narrative isn't justifiable as a theatrical experience. Hitpig is a movie that feels destined to be a distraction for five-year-olds whenever it hits Netflix. Going out of your way to see it is hard to envision. But it might be ideal for a home viewing scenario, while I can't picture it being played on rotation to the points parents will be driven insane. Is that a plus? I don't know. I'm gonna assume it is.
Lost on a Mountain in Maine
⭐️1/2
Genre: Drama, Adventure
Director: Andrew Boodhoo Knightlinger
Starring: Luke David Blum, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Griffin Wallace Henkel, Paul Sparks
Based on the true story of Donn Fendler, a 12-year-old who was lost in the wilderness for over a week in 1939. The film follows his survival trek through the woods while his parents launch a rescue effort. It's a pretty interesting story that is killed by the movie's hackneyed tendencies. The movie's hard lean into melodrama makes it less compelling than it would be if it had just used the same script but with less heavy filmmaking florishes, which give the impression that they didn't trust the audience to feel emotion without assistance. There is so much slow-motion, self-monologues, even a few patches a dream sequences that feel like the result of hard drugs. Was the kid licking toadstools out there? Because that's the impression I'm getting. From what I gather, Fendler did experience hallucinations during his time in the wilderness, so maybe I'm being harsh. The movie's presentation of them can get quite bizarre, though. I'd probably give them a pass if the movie had more ambition than the vibes of an ABC Movie of the Week, but it doesn't and here we are. This story could probably inspire an excellent movie. It's too bad that it didn't.
Netflix & Chill
Time Cut
⭐️1/2
Streaming On: Netflix
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction
Director: Hannah Macpherson
Starring: Madison Bailey, Antonia Gentry, Griffin Gluck
Christopher Landon may have accidentally sparked a meta slasher revolution when he made his goofy Groundhog Day homage in Happy Death Day, following it up with a killer take on Freaky Friday in Freaky. Last year alone, we had It's a Wonderful Knife, the holiday themed slasher take on It's a Wonderful Life, and Totally Killer, which genre crossed with Back to the Future. The last one is of particular note, because it seems as if it weren't the only film that aimed for that high concept premise. Time Cut was filmed a year before Totally Killer was, but for some reason it released a year after. I'm assuming there isn't much of a story to this, because Time Cut seems to be an independent acquisition by Netflix while Totally Killer was made in-house by Amazon/MGM to debut on Prime. The former works more slowly than the latter. One can tell the movie is just barely outdated, because it dropped a reference to being "viral on Twitter." Obviously it was written and filmed before that platform rehaul and gutting, but even if this was filmed before that, the trendier reference would have been TikTok.
As you might have guessed, this is another movie about a teenager being flung back in time and stuck in the middle of a serial killer rampage from the past. This time it's a girl who's sister was murdered before she was born, and she arrives in the year 2003 and gets to know the sister she never had while also trying to save her life. There is a sweetness to the sibling story that is hard to deny, though the movie tends to do a meandering stumble over its plot points, just kinda of mentioning them in passing rather than showing them unfold. The movie is obsessed with its characters talking about their feelings, which would be fine and dandy if this were a drama, but it's a high-concept time travel slasher movie. Plot twists need to be exciting. This movie gets lost in its sisterly tale and forgets what it's supposed to be doing.
When the movie does remember what it is, it doesn't do it particularly well. The movie is PG-13, and slasher action is more implication than startling. The movie hints that the killer probably does creative kills for the gore fanatics, but it cuts away from them, ensuring that audience will be disappointed. There is a subconscious element to this that is kind of perfect, because there were a lot of movies in the post-Scream/pre-Saw era that tried to cash in but diluted the product for a broader rating, but that's probably not a type of movie I'd craft a nostalgiac homage to. Even the time travel story feels anemic. The generational cross between Gen Z and Millennial has less to offer than the Gen Z and Gen X that Totally Killer brought to the table. Totally Killer was a vibe. The movie was aggressively culture clash in audacious ways, to the point where the killer wore a Max Headroom mask. With Time Cut, the culture clash is just a few social media namedrops contending with a lot of people wearing sweatpants, while the antagonist has no specific era motif about him other than he stabbed a guy with a broken DVD. Even the murder mystery isn't that good, as the obvious red harring is barely in it and the killer is the only person it could logically be; and when it turns out it is, the motive is unsatisfactory. I'll give Time Cut some minor points because the family story is cute enough, but everything revolving around it is such a missed opportunity that I can't find myself recommending it even for that. The director successfully got their 2000's mix CD playlist into a movie, though.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Conclave ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Godzilla Minus One ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Piece by Piece ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Smile 2 ⭐️⭐️1/2
Terrifier 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
We Live in Time ⭐️⭐️1/2
White Bird ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wild Robot ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
New To Digital
The Apprentice ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joker: Folie à Deux ⭐️1/2
A Mistake ⭐️⭐️1/2
Piece by Piece ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Substance ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
White Bird ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Coming Soon!
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