MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 45

Multiplex Madness

Anora

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Simon Baker

Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov

A stripper/prostitute elopes with a wealthy Russian party boy, only to be caught off guard when his parents send a group of henchmen to force their annulment. The movie sounds simple, but there is a sublimeness to its presentation that make it emotionally viable. It owes a lot to Mikey Madison, who glows in the title role and acts as a force of energy as a chaotic woman in a chaotic situation insisting that she's found true love when all signs point to her being used as a symbol of frivolity. Her attachment to the idea that she has found love makes her plight heartbreaking. She's quite funny in the movie too, highlighted by an extended scene where a group of men try to calm her down, but she grows so violent that they have to subdue her, carefully trying not to make her feel like she's being assaulted but she's so out of control that the situation grows out of hand. It's likely one of the best comedic setpieces you'll see in any movie this year, while it also highlights her emotional stress throughout the movie. She is a woman who firmly believes that she has found her life outside of being used by men, only for it to sink in that the idea she thought of as love might just be her being used more thoroughly than usual. It's a lovely look at one woman's idealism and how it can be thrown away.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Comedy, Faith

Director: Dallas Jenkins

Starring: Judy Greer, Peter Holmes, Molly Belle Wright, Lauren Graham

It's usually a general rule that the earlier in November that your Christmas movie opens, the worse it probably is, and if it opens in October then it needs to be ignored entirely. Or it means it's opening early so it can flop and hit streaming by December. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever opened as early in November as it possibly could have, so I didn't have high expectations. The movie is better than you'd might think, though. How much you enjoy it will depend on how embraclsive you are of its quaintness. The film sees Judy Greer putting on a Christmas pageant for her local church, which is upended by a group of out-of-control troublemaking children. It's simple and goofy, but it does so for broad family appeal, which is to be expected for a Christmas movie that doesn't star Billy Bob Thornton. Is the movie funny? Eh...more silly and rambunctious. The film works more thematically than it does as a laugh riot. The movie makes a point to target the idolization of the story of Christmas to the point that the story is softened up and loses its meaning, utilizing characters in poverty to show that the story is actually about perseverance through hardship and belief in something greater. It's a quality moral for a Christmas movie, and one a lot of faith movies could learn from, because most movies of this type are about white middle-to-upper class pricks acting as if they're being persecuted against because atheism exists. The movie actually parodies the dismissive attitude of the Christian church quite poignantly, showcasing that self-serving evangelical type that works against their religious teachings because their religion makes them feel above the downtrodden. The moral becomes about the perversion of faith in the hands of the privileged and how it becomes separated from the people it might actually mean something to. It's probably the best, most in-the-weeds moral I've seen in any Christmas movie I've seen in a while. It's likely to fall on deaf ears, but that's not the movie's fault. Its heart is full and in the right place, even if it could stand to be a little less vanilla when it's entire point is to give Christmas a little bit of an edge. It's made by people who don't know where the edge is, but I appreciate the effort.

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Comedy

Director: Tyler Thomas Taormina

Starring: Matilda Fleming, Maria Dizzia, Ben Shenkman, Francesca Scorsese, Elsie Fisher, Lev Cameron, Sawyer Spielberg, Gregg Turkington, Michael Cera

Oh boy. Another Christmas movie before Thanksgiving. Just what I wanted, tow in on one weekend. This one is an indie comedy that sees a family gathering at their grandmother's house for what may be their last holiday party before the sale of the house and putting her into a nursing home. Laughter ensues as we watch family relations get out of hand. The movie is very good at depicting that rowdy Christmas atmosphere of a family holiday get-together, from the people who live for it down to the people who don't want to be there. It then sideramps into a slight teens-be-teens adventure to highlight that underground spirit of individuality breaking free from their roots, but still coming home in the end. Michael Cera and Gregg Turkington are also in this movie, looking out of place as they lean more into quirky character comedians instead of the silly family archetype the rest of the movie works with. Because of that, the movie struggles to maintain a consistent tone at times, but that's only five percent of a movie that mostly works.

Elevation

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller

Director: George Nolfi

Starring: Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson, Tony Goldwyn

Mankind becomes an endangered species yet again in another post-apocalyptic thriller with creepy crawlies running around. Indestructible beasties cannot exceed above a certain elevation, so camps of survivors retreat into the mountains. Why can't they go up there? The movie doesn't explain. Maybe they don't like hard nipples and shrinkage. But Anthony Mackie needs medical equipment for his son, so he needs to venture out into the danger zone to retrieve it. If you've seen movies like Elevation before, then you've already seen Elevation. It's an unambitious, exposition-heavy script from people who have probably seen a hundred episodes of The Walking Dead, memorized every trope, and generalized them to their bare bones, ensuring Elevation is only passive entertainment. But solid actors and decent creature feature action help balance it's less polished edges. Mackie is a likeable leading man, and Morena Baccarin manages to make the movie heavier in some beats than it has any right to be. With a script this threadbare, the cast upping their game is a plus. The film climaxes on a bizarre ending that is unadulterated silliness, answering some questions but asking a hundred more, feeling like it's promising a franchise that it takes optimism to assume an audience will demand. The movie cost only $18 million to produce (and it resources it very smartly, in all fairness), so it wouldn't take that much to make it a success. It still feels like a lot to ask an audience to like this movie enough to want another one.

Heretic

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Starring: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East

Heretic is the latest genre offering from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who are best known as the writers of A Quiet Place, though they have been trying to build a directing career outside of that film since even before it came out. They had a minor indie spooky house flick called Haunt, and last year they went blockbuster by shooting laser guns at dinosaurs in 65. Heretic is a snap back to lower-budget fare, and it's probably one of the better scripts they've put out. I say this with a huge caveat, because I'm not really one that gets into movies that are theological discussions that are clearly created by someone with a one-sided bias (probably the worst example of this is last year's Nefarious, which was so theologically naive that it felt like it was written by a grade-schooler). Heretic's screenplay sometimes comes off like it was written by the type who brags about being an athiest every time someone brings up their own faith, who convinced himself he's doing so to make a point, but is really doing it because he likes the way it feels to be a smug asshole. So, already there's a certain level of obnoxiousness to this movie that turns me off, but it's a tight screenplay and a well-crafted production, which does put my hesitancy on the backseat. Heritic's story is about two Mormon girls who are invited into the house of Hugh Grant to discuss his potentially joining the church. The tables start to turn when Grant plays mind games with the girls, seemingly pushing them to test their faith in front of him. What is his game? It has a few crazy turns, though I'll admit being a little underwhelmed with the final reveal. The movie is cautiously intricate, though despite that, it can't help but delve into clumsy habits. Grant is given a lot of detailed dialogue, and he belts it out effortlessly and with intense charisma. But as good as Grant is and despite the movie's theology pretense, it really just boils down to an old man being a dick to two young girls. It's a good thing it's an engaging example of that. Once you accept the meat and potatoes of the meal, it's a solid ride of twistedness. It's probably not one that was ever destined to win me over, but it's probably the highlight of Beck and Woods' resume to date.

Meanwhile on Earth

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Science Fiction

Director: Jérémy Clapin

Starring: Megan Northam, Catherine Salée, Sam Louwyck

French science fiction film features a woman is contacted by a disembodied voice, which tells her that it can bring back her brother, who was lost on a space mission years prior. Thematically, the film is about how loss haunts a person and the will to make that which is gone return to you. The movie is fueled by forceful sound design, mixed with intense cinematography focused on a locked in performance by Megan Northam. The vibes of the film are mostly grounded, coming off as an indie drama about mourning with psychological supernatural elements. As such, the movie is more about its metaphor than its premise, so it doesn't end on a note of full closure. The movie is lovely in that regard, though it never really breaks away from its modesty.

Small Things like These

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama

Director: Tim Mielants

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley, Clare Dunne, Helen Behan, Emily Watson

Fresh off his Oscar win, Cillain Murphy goes back to the Award-baiting performance well with this story where he plays a delivery man who suspects that women taken in by a local convention are being mistreated and abused. Normally movies like this are about confrontation with the people who do bad deeds, but Small Things like These is more about internal conflict. The film tells a story of a man living a mundane life who notices something is amiss, which gives him the turmoil of whether to keep his head down in his normalcy or to get involved in something outside his small world. The film has a low-scale view of this type of story, focusing on the moral stress of being the man to notice a wrong rather than an effort to right it. The film's sloth pace will be appreciated by some more than others, as it takes a while to get going and, even when it does, it focuses on Murphy's contemplation. If one is a Murphy fan, it's definitely a performance to chew on in a movie with an intriguing approach to its subject matter.

Weekend in Taipei

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Action, Comedy

Director: George Huang

Starring: Luke Evans, Gwei Lun-mei, Sung Kang

This inconsistent martial arts flick has Luke Evans as an American agent in Taiwan, where he leads a team tasked with taking down corrupt billionaire Sung Kang, going out of his way to protect the wife and son who have been leaking him information. The movie is primarily a throwback to the type of imported Asian action flick that swelled in the market about thirty years ago, though the film never reaches the heights of that subgenre. After a while it tonally downgrades into a low rent Jason Statham movie that borders on a bargain basement Steven Seagal movie. It never commits to any of the charm either could offer, just tiring out and working hard to end itself. Casting Luke Evans in a 90s martial arts action-comedy homage is like casting Bruce Willis when Jackie Chan and Jet Li won't return your calls. Sure, he'll get the job done, but there's a disconnect in style. In fairness, The movie's action is on point, but it's comedy is overtly staged and hammed up until it loses all impact. For example, the movie's female lead is introduced in a rather bizarre Breakfast at Tiffany's homage, dressing like Audrey Hepburn and with an instrumental of Moon River playing, before sucker punching us with her closing the scene with her racing a car through the streets that would make her co-stars who have been in Fast & Furious movies envious. That's only a slight hint at how stilted and awkward the movie can be, though it's moderately entertaining if you're only here to see people get punched.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Conclave ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Here ⭐️⭐️

Smile 2 ⭐️⭐️1/2

Terrifier 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Twisters ⭐️⭐️

Venom: The Last Dance ⭐️⭐️

We Live in Time ⭐️⭐️1/2

The Wild Robot ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

New To Digital

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2