Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 4 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Fear

⭐

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Deon Taylor

Starring:  Joseph Sikora, Andrew Bachelor, Annie Ilonzeh, Ruby Modine, Iddo Goldberg, Terence Jenkins, Jessica Alain, Tip "T.I." Harris

It's cliché to say that the best part of a bad movie are the credits, but in this case the opening credits are legitimately hardcore and the rest of it is really bad.  The movie is a bit of a riff on The Haunting and The House on Haunted Hill, seeing a group gathering at a lodge only to find supernatural shenanigans afoot.  Fear was filmed during the pandemic and partially takes Covid inspiration into the story, though not in a way that really infuses the plot with any inspiration.  Rather it's used as a flimsy excuse to keep the group locked up in the haunted house instead of, ya know, leaving.  It only loses what little logic it has from there, as characters start behaving oddly without much reason to their actions.  The film wants to be a take on how paranoia affects us when it shouldn't, but it just never works up a screenplay to back it up.  Direction is low level "person turns around, soundtrack shrieks" shocks, while half the actors feel miscast.  It's a film where almost nothing about it snaps into place.

Infinity Pool

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Science Fiction, Horror

Director:  Brandon Cronenberg

Starring:  Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman

Fans of the Cronenberg family tradition of making art out of the fucked up will find Infinity Pool giving them what they want.  The film revolves around a group of tourists who go on vacations to commit crimes and watch clones of themselves get executed for them.  The movie has a lot of thought put into its style, which is a film that wants to depict an out of control addiction to get away from a life under-fulfilled.  You really need to ride this movie's wave of style and vibes to be fully invested, because if they want me to believe that cloning technology exists only for the very specific use of letting people get out of execution...yeah, I'm not there.  Still, fans of Mia Goth will love her here, because she's in top form.

Maybe I Do

⭐

Genre:  Comedy, Romance

Director:  Michael Jacobs

Starring:  Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, William H. Macy, Emma Roberts, Luke Bracey

Made primarily for people who miss 90's romcoms starring Richard Gere, the most enjoyable moment of the movie for me was reading Emma Roberts' name in the cast list because I hadn't seen her in a movie in a while.  Granted, I haven't seen Richard Gere in a movie in a while either, but he had a rich career, while Emma Roberts had Scream 4 and We're the Millers, and she was awesome in both then just vanished.  The movie is very obviously based on a stage play, as everyone has very bold and large dialogue that is designed to play up to an in-theater audience for a reaction.  The movie thinks it's a daring analysis on aging, sex, and marriage, but in reality it's a bunch of sitcom tropes colliding into a film that's pandering to a non-existant laugh track.  Susan Sarandon seems game to elevate the material, and everyone lets their romcom spirit out for the awkward situation third act even if they're coasting on a lackluster screenplay.  It's a stale waste of a good cast, and that's a shame.

Art Attack

Living

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Oscars Nominated:  Best Actor - Bill Nighy, Best Adapted Screenplay - Kazuo Ishiguro

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Oliver Hermanus

Starring:  Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp, Tom Burke

Based on one of Akira Kurosawa's best films, Ikiru, Living sees Bill Nighy take on Takashi Shimura's legendary role of a bureaucrat who lives a dull life who learns he has a few months to live and decides to learn from those around him how to live life to its fullest.  Nighy plays the role with such dry grace that he seems to have been the perfect choice to take on this character's legacy, while Aimee Lou Wood charms as his bubbly companion.  Fans of Ikiru will be pleased to know the story and themes of life are largely intact, just about a half-hour shorter and in English.  It's a more efficient film than Ikiru, however Ikiru's longer runtime allowed it to feel more contemplative.  Living is a good crack at the bat, nevertheless.

Netflix & Chill

The Lair

⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Shudder

Genre:  Horror, Action

Director:  Neil Marshall

Starring:  Charlotte Kirk, Jamie Bamber, Jonathan Howard

This new movie by Neil Marshall sees him return to his Dog Soldiers roots, as he creates a brand new low budget soldiers vs. monsters flick, but I don't see this one making the cult waves his debut did.  Co-written and starring his wife Charlotte Kirk, The Lair sees her as a soldier shot down in Afghanistan and hiding out from the enemy in an old Russian facility, which she soon finds houses mutated beasts that she accidentally frees.  The movie has the energy of a fun romp, but none of the excitement.  The action choreography is stiff while practically everyone is a cartoon character, including Battlestar Galactica star Jamie Bamber, who is doing the most absurd Matthew McConaughey impression you'll ever hear.  It seems a little disingenuous to say that the movie didn't have potential to be campy fun, and it's arguably a more promising turn for Marshall's career than that Hellboy reboot from a few years back, but it also seems like a long stretch from the promise he showed with films like The Descent.

Shotgun Wedding

⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Prime

Genre:  Comedy, Action

Director:  Jason Moore

Starring:  Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin, Lenny Kravitz

Goofy action/comedy sees JLo and Josh Duhamel as a couple on their wedding day too busy arguing to notice that their wedding guests have been taken hostage by pirates.  Shenanigans ensue, seeing the couple becoming reluctant action heroes.  Fun concept of "Die Hard at a Wedding" doesn't always pan out due to the script's uneven comedic stabs, often feeling too zany and screwball to take advantage of the film's R rating.  The movie feels too stale and tiresome until the main plot is in play, but starts becoming more evenly amusing as it goes on.  That's mostly because the film's slapstick comedy is much funnier than its verbal comedy, so it starts to spring to life during its silly action scenes.  It's just too bad it can't find a way to make it's non-event scenes less annoying.

You People

⭐⭐1/2

Streaming On:  Netflix

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Kenya Barris

Starring:  Jonah Hill, Lauren London, Eddie Murphy, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Nia Long, David Duchovny

In case what you wondered what Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? would be like with different kinds of racial tension, here is You People.  This movie is less about a family's reluctant acceptance of a child's mixed race relationship and more about two families from different cultures intermingling with messy results.  You People doesn't have a lot fresh to say about racial relation, but it's an enjoyable comedic package with a great cast to sell it.  It's cuter than I thought it would be and it does have interesting insight to its points, even if I found it's laughs a little dry for my taste.  But if you have a Netflix account and just want something funny for the weekend, you could do worse.

Oscar's Trash Can

For Oscar nominated movies that passed me by that I'm catching up on.

All Quiet on the Western Front

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oscars Nominated:  Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay - Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, Best International Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Make-Up and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects

Genre:  War, Drama

Director: Edward Berger

Starring:  Felix Krammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl

The latest adaptation of the famous German anti-war novel actually has the bragging rights of actually have been made in Germany with real Germans and everything.  All Quiet on the Western Front is chillingly effective, warning of propaganda, glorifying military, and contrasting it with brutal reality.  The film features some of the more harrowing war sequences I've ever seen, littered with chaotic violence, featuring teenage protagonists running around scared and almost lucking their way into survival.  It's a hauntingly violent work that advocates for peace and rejects the idea of using the naive and young for other's glory.  And now nearly a century after the original adaptation took home Best Picture in 1930, this new take seems poised for Oscar gold as well.  I'm curious to see how far it goes.

Turning Red

⭐⭐⭐

Oscars Nominated:  Best Animated Feature Film

Genre:  Comedy, Fantasy

Director:  Domee Shi

Starring:  Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, Hyein Park, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Orion Lee, Wai Ching Ho, Tristan Allerick Chen, James Hong

It's rare that a Pixar movie makes it past me, but Disney's post-pandemic (panda-demic?) streaming dumps make me less than enthusiastic about keeping up with them.  I knew very little about Turning Red other than seeing a trailer once, knowing it was supposed to be a metaphor for puberty, and that people either seemed to really love it or really hate it.  Finally sitting down to watch it as it got nominated for Best Animated Feature, it's good.  Calling it a metaphor for puberty is accurate, but a little overly simplistic.  It's a metaphor for a lot of things in early teenagehood, from puberty to shifting relationships with family and friends.  There are a few points where I feel its metaphor and it premise run in opposite directions, but it always finds a way to snap back and become a whole.  If nothing else, Turning Red features charming animation and is an impressive feature debut for Domee Shi, who feels like she has a promising career in front of her.  She laces this movie with such an exuberant stylized depiction of the strong emotional bursts that teenagers have while also taking influence from the popular animation styles of the time period portrayed.  It's fun, smart, energetic, and lively, and worth a watch.

Oscar Nominees (bold indicates Best Picture nominee)

Afterson N/A

All That Breathes N/A

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed N/A

All Quiet on the Western Front ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Argentina, 1985 N/A

Avatar:  The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Babylon ⭐⭐

The Banshees of Inisherin ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths N/A

The Batman ⭐⭐⭐

Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Blonde N/A

Causeway N/A

Close N/A

Elvis ⭐⭐⭐1/2

EO ⭐⭐⭐

Everything Everywhere All at Once ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

Fire of Love N/A

Glass Onion ⭐⭐⭐1/2

A House Made of Splinters N/A

Living ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On N/A

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris ⭐⭐⭐

Navalny N/A

Pinocchio ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Quiet Girl N/A

RRR N/A

The Sea Beast N/A

Tár ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Tell It Like a Woman N/A

To Leslie N/A

Top Gun:  Maverick ⭐⭐⭐

Triangle of Sadness N/A

Turning Red ⭐⭐⭐

The Whale ⭐⭐⭐

Women Talking ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Avatar:  The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Banshees of Inisherin ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Elvis ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Everything Everywhere All at Once ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

House Party ⭐⭐

I Wanna Dance with Somebody ⭐⭐1/2

M3GAN ⭐⭐⭐

A Man Called Otto ⭐⭐⭐

Missing ⭐⭐⭐

Plane ⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Tár ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Skinamarink ⭐⭐

The Whale ⭐⭐⭐

Women Talking ⭐⭐⭐1/2

New To Streaming

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

New To Physical

Violent Night ⭐⭐⭐

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 3 (My Cinema Playground)

Art Attack

The Son

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Florian Zeller

Starring:  Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins

Interestingly after getting out of The Son I found out that it was a companion film to The Father, a film that has been on my watch list for a few years now but haven't gotten around to yet.  Anthony Hopkins even reprises his role from that film here, albeit briefly.  While I can't say anything about how The Son compares to The Father at this time, what I can say is that The Son does stand on its own two legs fairly sturdily as a look at family ties and dealing with depression.  The story revolves around a divorced couple trying to cope with their son, who has become more secluded and depressed in his teenage years as they struggle to understand it or even identify the source.  Hugh Jackman and Laura Dern do good work here.  Jackman might even be shooting for an Oscar, but the film itself might not stick out against its competition.  Part of this has to do with the film's script, as it handles complicated and fragile problems with care, but can't help but be a little clumsy, especially in its ending.  It can be overbearing, but it's hard to deny it's effective in the best of moments.

Women Talking

⭐⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Sarah Polley

Starring:  Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Wishaw, Frances McDormand

The title Women Talking is very much a literal, because the entire premise of the film is women talking in a barn.  It's very 12 Angry Men, just with far angrier women.  Women Talking has a lot to do with oppression, repression, trauma, love, forgiveness, and what it means to forgive, as it tells of a self-sustaining farming community isolated from the rest of the world who have had their women assaulted both physically and sexually for years, and the women discuss options on whether to leave the colony.  The movie's dialogue is very weighted, not only because it's discussing heavy subjects, but rather because everyone if the film has large amounts of dialogue to spill.  Everyone has at least one monologue that sounds more than a little rehearsed as they seem to be counting the minutes until its time to deliver it.  The movie has a basic stage play structure, as if everyone is on their marks and waiting for their turn to speak.  The film almost feels like a stumble because of this, but the subject of the film hits hard enough to overcome it.  It's a film that is made with passion, by both the filmmakers and the actors, and that passion helps it shine.

Netflix & Chill

Sick

⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Peacock

Genre:  Horror

Director:  John Hyams

Starring:  Gideon Adlon, Beth Million, Dillon Sprayberry, Joel Courtney, Marc Menchaca, Jane Adams

Sick was co-penned by Kevin Williamson, best known as the man who turned the slasher genre on its head during the 90's and made it hot again.  The flick starts out familiar to his best known films, with killers sending messages to their victims in the vein of "Do you like scary movies?" and "I know what you did last summer."  From there it turns into a pretty standard slash and chase, using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to keep its characters isolated.  An issue arises when it becomes clear that our cast is so small that there is no way that the killer can be someone we've met before, leading us to prepare for a random reveal that may or may not have little to nothing to do with the events that precede.  But while the reveal works okay enough, the issue becomes that the whole scenario presents a rather backwards message that the people who take Covid seriously are the crazy ones and the people who thoughtlessly spread it around are the true victims.  I'm assuming this is unintentional, but it's pretty fucked.  And as someone who has lost family to the virus, I did not gel with that.  Ignoring that, the film is tightly directed by Alone director John Hyams, has decent suspense sequences, and doesn't wear out its welcome at a brisk eighty minutes.  Horror fans looking for a light hack 'n' slash will find this of interest, but I can't fully promise that it's a memorable experience.

Sorry About the Demon

⭐1/2

Streaming On:  Shudder

Genre:  Comedy, Horror

Director:  Emily Hagins

Starring:  Presley Allard, Paige Evans, Kristen MacCulloch, Jon Michael Simpson, Olivia Ducayen, Lucy Banner

Sorry About the Demon is a comedy about a guy who was recently dumped and moves into a haunted house while he tries to figure his life out.  As the demon who resides inside rejects him and tries to make him leave, he finds himself with nowhere to go and just puts up with it.  Focusing on the positives, the idea behind this movie is really funny.  I love a lot of the scenes in concept, like the demon trying to spook our protagonist in traditionally creepy ways only to have him vent his frustrations out on it while half-acknowledging it's efforts.  The movie trips over its script way too often to ignore, as the comedy is too bright and peppy, presumably to contrast the sinister goings on.  This approach has limited appeal unless you're a Halloween special on the Disney Channel targeting tweens, so unless you're a ten-year-old and with a Shudder account, it's hard to recommend.  Sorry About the Demon may have been better off leaning into something more aggressive, both with its comedy and its horror, so the two could merge cozier than they do in this product.  Director Emily Hagins directed one of the more amusing segments in the comedic horror anthology Scare Package, which makes it more surprising that this full length offering drowns as thoroughly as it does.  I can't really justify sitting through a hundred minutes of this movie when you can get less cringe paranormal comedy in a half hour by watching Ghosts on CBS.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Avatar:  The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Devil Conspiracy ⭐⭐

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

House Party ⭐⭐

I Wanna Dance with Somebody ⭐⭐1/2

M3GAN ⭐⭐⭐

A Man Called Otto ⭐⭐⭐

Missing ⭐⭐⭐

Plane ⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Skinamarink ⭐⭐

The Whale ⭐⭐⭐

New To Streaming

Bones and All ⭐⭐⭐

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

Till ⭐⭐⭐

New To Physical

The Menu ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Till ⭐⭐⭐

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 2 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Decided to retitle this section from last week to separate different theater experiences.

The Devil Conspiracy

⭐⭐

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror

Director:  Nathan Frankowski

Starring:  Alice Orr-Ewing, Joe Doyle, Eveline Hall, Peter Mensah, Joe Anderson

Goofy, but not-uninteresting, attempt at a fantasy blockbuster out of Christian mythology is not out of line from what you'd expect from traditional January-released action/fantasy content.  I'm somewhat charmed by the swings it takes, but unfortunately while it tries to strut with confidence, it all feels like a facade for a film that is touching and feeling in the dark.  The film has handsome and detailed production work, with some excellent make-up, which creates frustration as it fails to live up to them.  Moments of unintentional hilarity offset the movie's horror and melodrama, which can perk up viewers looking for a doofus bad movie for the weekend.

House Party

⭐⭐

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Calmatic

Starring:  Tosin Cole, Jacob Latimore, Karen Obilom, D.C. Young Fly, Scott Mescudi

I think the original House Party was a little bit before my time.  I'm old enough to remember the VHS cover at the rental store back in the day, but wasn't old enough to rent it.  Leading up to this reboot's release, I heard more and more about it being a genre classic, so I probably should check it out at some point, but I don't really have a point of reference for this reboot.  I did get enough laughs to say I had fun watching it.  Leads Jacob Latimore and former Doctor Who star Tosin Cole are an enjoyable duo to follow around, which is enough to hold up its stupid but enjoyable first two acts.  The movie dips more into the absurd for its climax, where it feels far more desperate for attention and gives a more lukewarm final impression of the film that everything that proceeded it.  But I can't deny that I was enjoying this party until then, and even got to see not one, but two guest star Power Rangers along the way.  That's a night well spent, in my book.

Missing

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Thriller, Mystery

Director:  Nick Johnson, Will Merrick

Starring:  Storm Reid, Joaquin de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney, Nia Long

Lately I've been taking in Regal's new "Mystery Movie" offers, where they debut a new movie ahead of its release.  The first few I've caught have been Apple debuts The Greatest Beer Run Ever and Spirited, which led me to believe this was a promotional deal with Apple and I had no reason to doubt this would be the same.  Instead this new movie turned out to be Missing, which was Sony's sequel to the movie Searching from a few years back.  I was pleasantly surprised, because I thought Searching was quite excellent.

The problem with doing a sequel to Searching is that it's hard to create a mystery plot in that format that doesn't come off as derivative of what they've already done.  Missing's plot does feature interesting turns that are unique to it, but it mostly feels like another trip through the same grinder.  The film is also sorely missing John Cho as its lead, and while Storm Reid is more than capable of playing the role given to her, a teenage girl is a shallow substitute for a protective father.  The role reversal doesn't quite work.  That doesn't quite mean the movie isn't worth your time, because it is successfully thrilling and quite emotional.  There are twists that will rock you, and there is some light commentary on "Social Media Commentary" that was quite sharp.  I'd heavily suggest checking out Searching if you haven't seen it before Missing, as the latter is a good, but faded imitation of it.

Plane

⭐⭐1/2

Genre:  Action

Director:  Jean-Françios Richet

Starring:  Gerard Butler, Mike Colter, Daniella Pineda, Yoson An, Tony Goldwyn, Paul Ben-Victor

Call me a snob, but I'm not convinced Airplane needed a dark n gritty reboot.

This Gerard Butler vehicle sees the 300 hunk as a pilot who is forced to land his jet on an island full of seditionists, where his passengers are taken hostage and he has to blow up heads to get them back.  Serviceable, if light, Plane feels like it's only two-thirds of the movie it should be, as it ends right when it feels like its amping up.  The action is solid, but while stakes are present, they don't feel weighted, as the actual casualty rate in this movie is mostly reduced to nameless extras instead of anybody with heavy screen time.  Because of that, Plane doesn't feel like it has any suspense to it.  You could say it has trouble taking off, and I am just enough of a hack to make that joke.

Shin Ultraman

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Kaiju, Superhero, Science Fiction, Fantasy

Director:  Shinji Higuchi

Starring:  Takumi Saitoh, Masami Nagasawa, Daiki Arioka, Akari Hayami, Tetsushi Tanaka, Hidetoshi Nishijima

The long awaited and Covid delayed follow-up to Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno's Shin Godzilla is less of a scathing political criticism with toku ties and more of a beautiful love letter to one of toku's most beloved franchises, Shin Ultraman is a film most worthwhile for those who are familiar with the Ultraman franchise, specifically its original incarnations.  The film is a much more episodic experience than Shin Godzilla, in tribute to its TV show source material.  It starts out with with an prologue that pays homage to prequel series Ultra Q that is an absolute delight, then goes through the effort to recreate some of original Ultraman's earliest episodes for nostalgic warmth.  As the movie tries to settle into a plot, it feels disjointed as it runs in more directions.  That being said, it's a fun and smart diversion for fans of Showa era tokusatsu, Ultraman especially, as it shows off the heroes greatest hits with updated, but still loveably hokey (often intentionally created to be), effects.  I'll confess to liking Shin Godzilla more because I felt the plot structure held up better, but there is a warmth to Shin Ultraman that is hard to resist.  Higuchi and Anno have Shin Kamen Rider on their plate next, and I am fully on board.

Skinamarink

⭐⭐

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Kyle Edward Ball

Starring:  Endless amounts of drywall

Skinamarink has been advertised by saying it rewards patience, and while I found myself patient enough with it, I never found myself rewarded by it.  Shot on a budget of $15,000, the film depicts a pair of children who find their house acting strangely, which is fair enough, but more of an excuse for abstract cinematography than any worth in relating a story.  In fact, the movie doesn't tell a story.  It wants the audience to guess if they can figure out what the story is.  My personal take is that Skinamarink is a child's nightmare, perhaps manifesting a childish fear of the boogeyman for a nonexistent villain.  My issue becomes that while Skinamarink has interesting elements to it, I felt like it's artistic experimentation bordered on gimmickry, which hampered my interest in it.  It started feeling like less of an artistic exercise and more like a simulator of what it looks like when a cinematographer doesn't know which way the camera should be facing, set to the score of a white noise generator.  I'm not sorry I saw it, I'm just sorry I didn't like it.

Art Attack

This section is reserved for films that I see at my local art house cinema.

Corsage

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Marie Kreutzer

Starring:  Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz, Jeanne Werner, Alma Hasun, Manuel Rubey, Finnegan Oldfield, Aaron Fries, Rosa Hajjaj, Lilly Marie Tschörtner, Colin Morgan

This Austrian film tells of Empress Elisabeth following her 40th birthday, seeing her bored with privilege and feeling depressed with aging, as she tries to find color and purpose in a life that requires her to be compliant and beautiful.  The film seems to be a largely fictional narrative, but it's an interesting one, commenting on aging femininity in a masculine surrounding that's trying to control it.  Star Vicky Krieps is the main attraction of the film, and her performance helps keeps the audience invested in the character's mental state.

EO

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama

Director:  Jerzy Skolimowski

Starring:  Some stubborn jackass

It's bold of a movie to try and get a performance out of a jackass, but that doesn't stop anyone from working with Jared Leto, so...

EO is a Polish film about a circus donkey who has been repossessed and sold off, who goes from owner to owner of the span of its lifetime.  Basically, the film is about man's treatment of animals, as EO goes from place to place and is treated differently by different people, some with kindness, some with cruelty, and some with indifference, all the while longing for the one owner that treated him with love.  The movie is kind of similar to the Steven Spielberg film War Horse but less extravagant and more low to the ground.  There is beautiful cinematography about and is constantly lovely to look at, underlined with some excellent animal and nature work for the bulk of the movie.  If it drops the ball anywhere, sometimes it drifts in and out of storylines that feel they require more context, but the movie doesn't bother going in depth with them because they have nothing to do with EO.  If nothing else, if it gets you thinking about how you treat your pets, that's exactly the reaction the movie wants.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Avatar:  The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Babylon ⭐⭐

Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

I Wanna Dance with Somebody ⭐⭐1/2

M3GAN ⭐⭐⭐

A Man Called Otto ⭐⭐⭐

The Menu ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Whale ⭐⭐⭐

New To Streaming

Devotion ⭐⭐1/2

The Estate ⭐⭐

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

New To Physical

She Said ⭐⭐1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2023: Week 1 (My Cinema Playground)

The Theatrical Experience

Now playing in theaters, for those who like to go out and see stuff on the big screen.

M3GAN

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Horror, Comedy

Director:  Gerard Johnstone

Starring:  Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis

M3GAN is the best movie of the year.  And now that I've gotten that dad joke out of the way, this movie is an absolute gas.  While it's another "tech-gone-mad" story featuring a killer toy, bearing more than a little similarity to 2019's remake of Child's Play if it starred Sim-Pal Cindy from 2000's The 6th Day, it's a film that boasts efficient direction and a darkly humorous script that isn't afraid to dial its parody up to 11 for a guaranteed laugh at the expense of corporate greed, marketing, and even tech-reliance creating social withdrawal.  The movie is legitimately funny in ways you wouldn't expect, even as it mines some horror tropes that might be tired, even if it wields them effectively.  Conversely, the film has a few narrative hiccups that make the story a bit of a bumpy road, which is keeping me from praising it to the level that I want to.  But it's also a movie that gets by on charisma, and if you're in the market for a fun horror flick, it's an effortlessly entertaining one.

A Man Called Otto

⭐⭐⭐

Genre:  Drama, Comedy

Director:  Marc Forster

Starring:  Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, Manuel Garcia-Rolfo

A Man Called Otto is an Americanized remake of the Best Foreign Language Academy Award nominated film A Man Called Ove, and readaptation of the novel of the same name.  It's a solid "cold heart melted by warm people" story that tugs at the heartstrings of people who just want a cozy story to fuel their soul while watching Tom Hanks work his magic.  Hanks is solid here, playing a suicidal man who just won't be left alone by his friendly neighbors.  Also worthy of note is Mariana Treviño, who plays the consistent pest in his business, as her charisma and chemistry with Hanks helps sell the story.  Narratively, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but is just looking to fill a few hearts with joy and maybe jerk a few tears.  It will give the audience that seeks it out exactly that.

Netflix & Chill

With this section I try to watch at least one new streaming release per week for those homebodies who just want movies without the theater hassle.

The Pale Blue Eye

⭐⭐

Streaming On:  Netflix

Genre:  Thriller, Mystery

Director:  Scott Cooper

Starring:  Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Robert DuVall, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones

This thriller from the director of Antlers features Batman, Dudley Dursley, and Agent Scully, as a murder at a military academy in the early 1800's, where a detective is called in to solve the case with the help of a cadet named Edgar Allan Poe.  Yes, that Edgar Allan Poe.  The Pale Blue Eye has a lot going for it, including strong performances from Christian Bale and Henry Melling, handsome cinematography, and excellent direction.  It faces an uphill battle in maintaining viewer attention, though, as it is a thriller that isn't that thrilling and features a mystery that it doesn't seem too attentive to, even if it does have an intriguing conclusion.  The movie does quite a few things right to prevent it from being a complete wash, but it doesn't seem entirely interested in its own big picture, which makes it a bore.

Movies Still At My Theater

Avatar:  The Way of Water ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Babylon ⭐⭐

Black Panther:  Wakanda Forever ⭐⭐⭐1/2

The Fabelmans ⭐⭐⭐

I Wanna Dance with Somebody ⭐⭐1/2

The Menu ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Puss in Boots:  The Last Wish ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Violent Night ⭐⭐⭐

The Whale ⭐⭐⭐

New To Streaming

The Menu ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Prey for the Devil ⭐1/2

Tár ⭐⭐⭐1/2

New To Physical

Armageddon Time ⭐⭐⭐

Black Adam ⭐⭐1/2

Prey for the Devil ⭐1/2

COMING SOON!