Multiplex Madness
Friendship
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Director: Andrew DeYoung
Starring: Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer
Prepare to feel startlingly uncomfortable because this new black comedy is kind of a crossbreed between Uncut Gems and The Cable Guy, so take that as a warning for what it feels like to watch this thing. Tim Robinson plays a socially awkward middle-aged man who strikes an unlikely bromance with charismatic neighbor Paul Rudd. After Robinson makes things awkward during one of their hang-outs, Rudd attempts to cut ties with him, which makes Robinson even more frustrated and desperate for social acceptance. The film pulls no punches in depicting the awkwardness of each scenario, almost turning social anxiety into an artform. It tries to turn its cringe comedy into psychological tension, and sometimes vice versa. The scary part is that it's actually successful at it. Robinson is quite exemplary at the role he is asked to play, working a very thankless character that creates discomfort in every scenario while simultaneously making things worse because he is unable to identify the unhealthiness of his obsession with being liked by a single man. Robinson plays it in a way that is both relatable innocent and disturbingly unhinged, trying to be more like Rudd even when those attributes don't suit him, and loses himself in the effort to be someone he is not while he loses everything he does have in a quest to feel like he belongs. The one downside is that the movie leans so heavily into discomfort that it sometimes physically hurts to watch. That's a sign that it's doing what it's doing well, but it's hard to describe the reaction of "But I don't want to watch this" as a positive attribute.
The Last Rodeo
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Sports
Director: Jon Avnet
Starring: Neil McDonough, Mykelti Williamson, Sarah Jones, Dayton Swearingen, Christopher McDonald
If there are two things in this world that I have little tolerance for, they are rodeos and Angel Studios. To my surprise, I didn't hate this Angel Studios produced rodeo drama. At least, not nearly as much as I thought I was going to. Neil McDonough plays an aged bull-rider who finds out that his grandson has a brain tumor, and they don't have the money to pay for the surgery. Instead of starting a GoFundMe, like a normal person, McDonough decides he's too macho for that and returns to bull-riding for big bucks, at great risk to his injured body. It's pretty basic stuff, because many a film play with the template of "We need money fast, because affordable health care doesn't exist in America." There is a bit of a contradictory idea at play in The Last Rodeo, because when McDonough's grandson first shows signs of sickness, McDonough's first instinct is to tell him to walk it off. Meanwhile, the main conflict hinges on the possibility of his grandson getting better while putting McDonough's health at risk. That latter idea is forgivable, because it's probably the conundrum that the movie is aiming for. It's slightly deflated by McDonough's attitude of dismissing serious injury, while never actually facing repercussions for his activity, all in favor of a feel-good ending. That's also without mentioning the fact that McDonough doesn't actually need to win in order to gain the money he needs. It's stated early on that he could gain the funds he needs with a runner-up position. His being dead-set on getting first is merely for pride. I'd prefer the bills being paid as the more important conflict.
I'm almost tempted to say this movie is lightly above average, but some of the supporting acting is too rough to dismiss. I'm working under the assumption that some of the fellow bull-riders were played by real-life bull-riders because they sure as hell weren't actors. It gets kind of painful. But in all fairness to The Last Rodeo, those who are looking for something unambitious and trite will find that The Last Rodeo wears it about as well as it can without being charming enough to entertain casual audiences. Part of that is Angel Studios wallowing in its own mediocrity, though the film does have the self confidence to know exactly what it is and be content in that. If you were raised on a diet of 7th Heaven and Little House on the Prairie, I couldn't recommend this film highly enough. The target audience doesn't quite extend beyond that. But if I'm not feeling cynical, I guess it doesn't have to.
Lilo & Stitch
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction
Director: Dean Fleischer Camp
Starring: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Zach Galifianakis, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Hannah Waddingham, Tia Carrere, Amy Hill, Jason Scott Lee
For what it's worth, I'm the wrong person to ask for an opinion on a Lilo & Stitch remake, because I didn't even like the original when I was in the target demographic. The new Lilo & Stitch is slightly lesser than the original. That statement will mean something different to most people, but to me, that just means it's even more mediocre than an already mediocre movie. The story of Lilo & Stitch centers on an alien who crashes on Earth, befriending a small child and being accepted into the family. Basically, it's just E.T., only instead of being a deformed, fleshy creature, the alien is designed by committee to be as cute, cuddly, humorous, and safely merchandizable as possible. That's probably my cynical outlook at a movie that means a lot to the people who grew up with it, but that was my impression when I first saw that movie way-back-when, that's my impression every time I rewatch it to see if maybe this time it will click with me, and that's my impression when watching this remake. I've never particularly liked Stitch as a character, and find the alien lore around him haphazard. Like the original, the Lilo portion is more investing to me than the Stitch shenanigans, because it has heart to its story while the outer space nonsense is just nonstop, obnoxious noise. Even that has its limits though, because this version of the film isn't particularly good at conveying that aspect of the story because it comes off as overly manufactured. Lilo & Stitch is too slavish to the original in its attempts to recreate the tone, adapting a lot of things that work just fine in animation but are awkward in live-action. The movie's comedy is so overtly broad that very few actors come off as genuine, and it feels so scripted that very little of it is actually funny. The film's "family" message is a whiff because the unit just doesn't mesh. Kids in the audience still liked Stitch, though. I'd dare say family movie night is still on, despite my dismissal of the film in question.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Action, Adventure, Spy
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Haley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Esai Morales, Pompeii Klementiff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Henry Czerny, Angela Bassett
Ethan Hunt continues on his quest to destroy ChatGPT in the second half of the Dead Reckoning duology (we don't acknowledge the cowardly title change for douchebags in this house), which sees him trotting across the globe on several more MacGuffin chases before finally reaching the submarine that holds the secret to destroying the rogue A.I. known as "The Entity," while the Entity's failed collaborator Gabriel finds a new path in trying to control it for his own gain. Things come to a head, and old aspects of missions past unexpectedly come into play as star Tom Cruise and writer/director Christopher McQuarrie seek to give the consistently exhilarating franchise its own "Avengers: Endgame." The movie tries so blistering hard that it impresses as equally as it frustrates, telling a story across two movies and nearly six hours that a more efficient production could have done more in-depth in half of that time. Despite the high stakes at play, it's kind of amazing how little actually happens across the span of two movies, as both films wave off the intrigue of most spy thrillers and just send Tom Cruise running from one location to another to find one of several little objects that will help him save the day and stop the shadowy being that is threatening the world. I recall way back when they announced that Mission: Impossible 7 & 8 were going to be a two-part production that I jokingly referred to them as "Ethan Hunt and the Deathly Hallows." Funnily enough, that's kind of what the movies wound up being.
Bizarrely, despite there being less happening in it, and only a single MacGuffin to chase, the first film is actually the better paced movie. Part Two stops and goes at many points, often to introduce the new play and deliver a lot of exposition before the I.M.F. team carries it out. This isn't even going into a few puzzling character beats, which sees a status quo change for Ving Rhames' fan favorite character of Luther that the previous film never even hinted at and is introduced out of nowhere. Meanwhile, previous baddie Gabriel becomes more of a cackling madman, while his past with Ethan, which the previous film aggressively teased, is never embellished upon, leaving the audience to wonder what was the point of even bringing it up. The movie is beefy and disjointed, to say the least.
I'm probably dogging this movie too hard, but that's mostly because we've come to expect better from this franchise, and if Mission: Impossible II weren't as clumsy as it was, this movie would likely be the the most unsatisfactory moment for what is probably the best movie franchise that is currently running. The things that we come for in a Mission: Impossible movie still happen. Tom Cruise tries to kill himself for our entertainment by doing stuntwork that most films regulate to CGI for safety and budget concerns, there is spellbinding action, globe-trotting adventure, and a couple of the ridiculous facemasks that we all love. The movie steadily gets heavier as it goes, leading to two showstopping setpieces. The first is Ethan finally unlocking what he needs from the submarine, which is a much slower, more haunting, and more claustrophobic action sequence than we're used to. The finale is more of the areal stunts that have come to define the franchise, and it's pretty spectacular. In between all of this, many of the callbacks to previous films that come into play are actually smartly reasoned and well-integrated. The only one I'm a little iffy on being one of our characters tying into to another character from the first movie, which felt a bit muddy to me.
It's probably clear that there was more difficulty getting Dead Reckoning into cinemas than previous Mission: Impossible movies, following production delays, Covid complications, ballooning budgets, and not-so-great release dates that counter them to movies that are set to tear them apart. I'm not entirely sure how much of this particular film's less clean aspects can be blamed on those hurdles, save the stupid title change. Despite the high stakes, there is very little that seems "final" about the movie, save from a character fate or so. The movie doesn't even seem to be aware that it was supposed to bring closure to Tom Cruise playing around with this TV series from the 60's. The only argument that it puts forth that it should stop at all is because this one didn't pan out perfectly. If Mission: Impossible could still fly as high as it did a decade ago, there is little reason to stop here, even if its record is less pristine than it was a year ago. I'd still choose to accept this mission.
Netflix & Chill
Fear Street: Prom Queen
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Streaming On: Netflix
Genre: Horror
Director: Matt Palmer
Starring: India Fowler, Suzanna Son, Finna Strazza, David Iacono, Ella Rubin, Ariana Greenblatt, Lily Taylor, Katherine Waterston, Chris Klein
It's been four years since Netflix weekly dropped a trilogy of Fear Street movies, inspired by R.L. Stein's more mature alternative to Goosebumps young adult pulp novel series. The three movies were fun, if overly ambitious, providing an evolving homage to different eras and types of horror filmmaking, while not actually being based on anything from the actual book series. Their first follow-up production, by contrast, adapts a specific novel from the series, "The Prom Queen," which takes place on Prom Night of the spooky town of Shadyside, where Prom Queen nominees are brutally murdered leading up to the big crowning. Where it goes from there is largely predictable and nonsensical, though those who have watched many-an-80's-slasher and are always hungry for more will likely heed little notice to that. The movie's strongest assett is its presentation, which is far more era-influenced than the previous Fear Street films. The film's vibes are impeccable, effortlessly recreating the tone of unserious 80's gore chillers, while also replicating the feel of being a 90's kid that was locked in your room, under the covers, reading a Stein book by flashlight, while listening to a bangin' mix-tape. Those who don't appreciate the work put in to make a very specific feel to this movie will likely undervalue just exactly what this movie does, but it plays itself hard into a niche, and part of being in a niche is the risk of being watched incorrectly. The film isn't nearly the gargantuan crowd-pleaser as the trilogy it follows, but Prom Queen is arguably the more impressive and successful artistic achievement.
Thunderbolts ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Warfare ⭐️⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
Rosario ⭐️⭐️
Until Dawn ⭐️1/2
New To Physical
Presence ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Coming Soon!
