Multiplex Madness
Father Mother Sister Brother
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat
This film is a trio of short films told through awkward family interactions. I don't know why I saw this movie. I just recently experienced all I needed of this at Christmas. The first two feature adult children visiting their parents, which are depicted as strained circumstances for one reason or another. Either way, the kids clearly don't want to be there and are only doing so out of courtesy. The third switches things up, showcasing a younger pair of siblings living in the aftermath of the recent death of both of their parents. The sudden change is jarring, though likely deliberate. It feels like a dramatic presentation to hammer at the idea of cherishing your family while you have them because you don't know when they'll be gone. It's a warm idea, although quite slight for an arthouse drama. I prefer movies like this to have a meatier, more engaging idea at their core, but this is certainly a movie that was made with love.
Greenland: Migration
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Disaster
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Starring: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis
If you watched any movies at all during the Covid theater shutdown of 2020, you might remember Greenland being one of the better ones available. It was a generic looking disaster movie that wasn't so bad when you sat down and watched it. I don't know if we were in a state of mind that said "any movie is good movie" at the time, but I was one of those who did find the movie an exceptional diversion. If nothing else, it gave everyone a Gerard Butler disaster movie that wasn't Geostorm, and that's a good thing. I'm kind of surprised it got a sequel. I'm not sure how popular Greenland is as a movie. Its success is hard to gage because of the time it released and because it was primarily a VOD movie. Those VOD sales must have been pretty great for a second one to happen.
The second one picks up years after the first, and the Greenland bunker that houses survivors from the catastrophic devastation of the first movie has been compromised. Gerard Butler and his family then trek through Europe to find a rumored safe spot that is supposedly thriving. The movie is very Land Before Time, walking through a desolate landscape to find "the Great Valley," and it's ending is pretty much just War for the Planet of the Apes. But the original wasn't peak originality either. While I didn't rewatch it to see if it holds up, I do remember it being equally shameless with its trope-chasing. I think the difference between the two might be that we were running from an easily understood event in the first film, while this sequel has the characters stumbling into barely understood scenarios that are lacking context. I think the attempt at a story here is that the film is about simple people who are barely glimpsing other survivors in the middle of their own survivor story but the result feels very flakey and non-committal. Most supporting characters come and go with very little to say or do, and the movie will take them away in a moment that it implies is emotionally devastating but it's always for characters that we have no real attachment to. The movie wants to feel weighty but it doesn't have the heart to achieve it. But if you love the original Greenland, there is some base appeal in this continuation of that film's characters if you're interested in seeing if they made it or not, but it doesn't hit the same. And distanced from the trying period that the original Greenland released in, it probably was never going to.
I Was a Stranger
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: Brandt Anderson
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Yahya Mahayni, Omar Sy, Ziad Bakri, Constantine Markoulakis, Jason Beghe, Ayman Samman, Massa Daoud
Okay, fine. I'll throw Angel Studios a bone and say that, by their standards, this movie is actually pretty good. It's not a perfect film, by any means, but if they're starting to acquire more movies like this (or Sketch and Truth & Treason, for that matter) over the garbage they normally shovel, then there might be some promise in their future. I Was a Stranger incorporates a nonlinear narrative of short films centering on different protagonists who are separate from each other who finds their paths intersecting at crucial moments, helping refugees escape a war torn Syria. The plotting is not wildly imaginative, the last movie to utilize this format more effectively was the horror film Weapons, but the movie utilizes it in as a more heart-grabbing human spirit portrayal that is very targeting of Angel's favored audience. The movie is shameless in its pandering to that audience at times, as its melodrama is thick, ripe, and rank. I personally wasn't emotionally engaged because of how try-hard the movie can be, but the film's harrowing moments are quite effective. Overall, the movie is a celebration of empathy, which is something that I think the people at Angel seem to think all of their films are, they're just very one-dimensional about it. I Was a Stranger is two-dimensional in its portrayal, so it's not quite at a nuanced level but it shows improvement for the distributor that bought it. That's pending whether or not they can actually see what makes this film different than their normal fare.
Is This Thing On?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Director: Bradley Cooper
Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper is back, reminding us that he's a director now, even if we tend to forget it. That's kind of odd because he hasn't really missed thusfar. All three of his movies have been varying levels of great. Is This Thing On? is my favorite, likely because I'm a depressed middle-aged man also. The film sees Will Arnett divorcing wife Laura Dern, choosing to vent his sorrows in a humorous way as a stand-up comedian. To be fair, all the best stand-ups do this because jokes are just funnier if there is a truth underneath them (or you can be Jeff Dunham and just use puppets instead of jokes). The best thing about this movie is that it understands this. The movie is a very engaging look at how one deflects stress and trauma with humor. Will Arnett's dry delivery really enhances the experience, because he can deliver his dialogue in a hilarious way that includes undertones that he's trying to process just what is happening to him. Laura Dern is also a standout as his frustrated wife who is has an attachment to him but just can't anymore. This is also the first movie that Cooper has made that he didn't star in as the lead, though he does appear as an eccentric supporting character. I think he thinks it's the juicier role but it's actually a little forgettable. But don't tell him that because he might steal back the lead role from people like Will Arnett in the future and the films would be the poorer for it. Arnett and Cooper craft a drama that is both frustrating and humorous at the same time, and their combined strengths make it a must-see.
Primate
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Horror
Director: Johannes Roberts
Starring: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng
Oh no. Amy the Gorilla from Congo got Cujo'd and decided to do a Rise of the Planet of the Apes. 47 Meters Down helmer Johannes Roberts returns to creature features with this goofball about a pet chimp who contracts rabies and terrorizes the teenage daughters of his adopted family, who are partying with friends for the weekend. It's a movie that looked aggressively stupid in marketing but was getting positive buzz online, which took me by surprise because I was pretty certain this movie was going to be nothing. Turns out the movie has value. Primate is stupid but stupidly entertaining. The central friend group is well developed, the main set is enclosed but expansive, and violent setpieces are suspenseful and extravagant. It's a fun horror movie, which is all one can reasonably ask of it. If I were to point out a flaw in its design, it's that we don't really get any time with Ben the chimp to see his dynamic and relationships with people before he contracts rabies. It feels like there is an element of tragedy to this movie that it is not taking advantage of, because the idea of the whole movie is essentially the ending to Old Yeller. I don't think the movie is out to wrench hearts though, so it opts to keep Ben an emotionally distant antagonist so that when he meets his fate we don't feel upset about it. It's mildly disappointing that the movie didn't think it could be satisfying as a thriller and emotionally engaging at the same time but there's also very little wrong with the movie as is.
Marty Supreme ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Plague ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Song Sung Blue ⭐️⭐️1/2
We Bury the Dead ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wicked: For Good ⭐️⭐️1/2
Zootopia 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
Not Without Hope ⭐️⭐️1/2
Predator: Badlands ⭐️⭐️⭐️
New To Physical
Afterburn ⭐️⭐️1/2
Shelby Oaks ⭐️1/2
Tron: Ares ⭐️⭐️
Coming Soon!
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