Welcome to my blog dedicated to movie riffing! Here we will journey through the many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the files of RiffTrax, the DVDs of Cinematic Titanic, and hopefully many others.
Join me, won't you?
Starring: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp, Matt Damon
The Coen Brothers continue an experiment in directing apart, with Joel directing The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ethan taking the helm of this Screenplay he had co-written nearly two decades ago that went unproductive, the title changed from "Drive-Away Dykes" to something that will cause less of a stir (though Coen playfully kicks whatever studio note changed the title by referencing the original title in the end credits). The film sees two lesbians taking a road trip to Tallahassee, accidentally taking a rental car with stolen goods in the trunk. If the movie reminds me of one film from the Coens' filmography, it would be Crimewave, their first writing credit for Sam Raimi's forgotten Evil Dead follow-up. Both films are nutty caper parody films that basically cover schmuck pulled into shady shenanigans, while also being stylized with broad humor. Very little of Drive-Away Dolls feels like a portrayal of reality. Every actor looks like they're putting on a performance of a caricature, angles and lighting are ostentatious, and everything is theatrically exaggerated for comedic effect. It's unfortunate it's only moderately amusing instead of a riot. I giggled quite a few times and maintained a steady stream of amusement, but the film never really picked itself up off the ground. It tries to. Sometimes way too hard. The film's reliance on very heavy lesbian sex-driven dialogue comes off more as a male-indulging kink that is being bellowed out to the world rather than a storytelling device. Sometimes the film's matter-of-factly sexcapades is rambunctious and loveable, and in others it just slows the plot down just so Margare Qualley can divebomb her face into a woman's crotch. It's a stop-and-go ride that make the movie's eighty minute runtime seem longer than it should, but it's not one that necessarily should be avoided.
Ordinary Angels
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Faith
Director: Jon Gunn
Starring: Hillary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, Tamala Jones
Hillary Swank flirts with the audience in this charisma-filled drama where she plays a recovering alcoholic hairdresser who tries to help a widower with medical bills for his ill daughter. Based on a true story from the mid-90s, Ordinary Angels gets by on Swank's effortless chatterbox appeal, and her chemistry with former Ninja Turtle Alan Ritchson is more endearing than one might expect. The film will lay the schmaltz on thick, which will be one audience's flavor and another's distaste. It's not unusual for faith filmmaking to do this, though, in more movies than not, it's unearned. Ordinary Angels puts the effort into itself to make it work, to tell an uplifting story about people helping each other. Occasionally it will slip up, such as Swank flavorfully talking a hospital into wiping clean $400,000 in debt with a trite speech (I have no clue if this actually happened or not, but it's the most eye-rolling moment in the movie). Like it's subjects, it's an imperfect entity. The people who will love it won't change a thing about it, though.
An interracial family go on a therapy retreat in this Canadian indie that analyzes the the complexities of human emotion. Each family member has their own journey, as the mother works through emotional and racial barriers between her and her husband, the husband struggles to understand what is wrong with his marriage and why they're there, the older daughter works to fit in among peers, and the youngest daughter deals with loneliness and the fears that come within being in a strange environment. The authenticity the film is it's greatest strength, because everyone featured in the film feels real and lived in. It is also enhanced by its intense cinematography choices, which cause the film's thematic elements to echo. It's an excellent look at personal isolation even when we're with others, and an emotional journey in a film that's powerful and devastating in ways you wouldn't expect.
Spirited, but uneven, gal pal neo-western chase movie sees a woman who ventures to meet her mysterious father who is accidentally hijacked by another woman running from a man who put a bounty on her head. The movie lacks a sturdy script, coming off very stilted and hastily constructed (and it has a habit of thinking you can just walk off a bullet to the leg), but it's not without its pleasures. Eileen Sutton Hethcoat and Briza Covarrubias are appealing leads, there is quality landscape cinematography, and the film is enveloped in themes of Native American heritage. It's not a creative movie, and it presents itself as something meatier than it is. That aspect feels deceptive, but the movie's self confidence is admirable.
Stopmotion
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Horror
Director: Robert Morgan
Starring: Aisling Fanciosi
This British film (which will also release on Shudder in a few weeks) tells of an emotionally abused stop-motion animator who's life becomes more maddening as she creates a new film. From King Kong to Nightmare Before Christmas, stop-motion always seemed to have an intimate relationship with the macabre, so it doesn't surprise me to see a horror movie homage to the format. The movie is a loving ode to the craft, while also creating a dark fantasy about the artistic process. Unfortunately, it's also slow burn to a fault. The third act is an unnerving treasure, and Aisling Fanciosi is terrific in it, and I respect that the film wants to earn it, but the movie has a hard time making keeping its story engrossing until that point. The animation sections are always the most interesting, but when it cuts to the actors, the film is a bore. Suddenly the movie grows its own personality as it leans into its own madness, and the film becomes an unhinged gem. It's too bad it doesn't feel alive until then.
Starring: Kingsly Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton
Get ready for those sweet reggae beats, because it's Bob Marley's turn for a biopic. This film primarily covers Marley fleeing Jamaica and putting together his final few albums, primarily Exodus. I think for Marley fans who are intimately familiar with his work, One Love works as a small window into his life. It's not as ambitiously encompassing as other biopics, choosing to keep things narrow and tight without succumbing to bloat. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have any rhythm to it, which seems sacrilegious because if anybody knew rhythm, it was Bob Marley. The narrative is choppy and sloppy, sometimes feeling like it's not going anywhere. The movie does a trust-fall in hoping the audience bears with it as it gets ponderous, and it's lucky it has its smooth soundtrack to keep it enticing. Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch both give performances worthy of award consideration, but unless it was in a movie far more memorable than this, it's doubtful they'll be remembered by year's end.
Land of Bad
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: War, Action, Adventure
Director: William Eubank
Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, Ricky Whittle, Milo Ventimiglia
Starring Russell Crowe and every Hemsworth that isn't the famous one, Land of Bad is one of those dad-targeted movies that centers on a military ops mission with lots of jargon and gunfire thrown in, seeing Liam Hemsworth playing a soldier battling obstacles on his way to an emergency evac. It's like Behind Enemy Lines, but less straightforward. Land of Bad's biggest weakness is how hamfisted its attempts are at making its situation go sideways, sometimes going out of its way to do so. The effort is admirable, as the idea seems to be chaotic look at warfare, we're given only the information that our soldiers have and experiencing it through their eyes. That gets across, though the narrative can suffer because of it. Liam Hemsworth is a solid lead, often coming off as a demo reel to be cast as Captain America should Marvel ever need a new one. The film is directed with style to spare by Underwater filmmaker William Eubank, keeping the film constantly brisk and exciting. It's a film that will be fully embraced by its audience, though mileage may vary should you be outside it's demo.
Madame Web
⭐️
馃弳 "Hurts So Good" Must-See Bad Movie Award
Genre: Superhero, Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, Isabella Merced, Tahar Rahlm, Adam Scott, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts
Look, I'm up for adapting any obscure comic book character to the big screen you can name. Anybody who thinks differently is someone I'll never see eye-to-eye with, and they can pry my 4K copy of Howard the Duck out of my cold, dead hands. I'm skeptical of Sony's attempts to create solo films out of Spider-Man villains, not because I don't want them, but because they haven't given any indication that they're going to be made in good faith and affection for these characters. Deep down, I can see how Venom and Morbius can work as their own franchises, though I'd have preferred them done better. I can vaguely see it for Kraven, too, however Kraven's most interesting ambition is his determination to hunt Spider-Man and eliminating that deflates him. Madame Web is an interesting choice, largely because I never expected to see her in a movie at all, let alone headlining one without Spider-Man. She largely exists as someone who just spews cryptic shit for the webslinger to decipher, and as far as I know, she's never been much of an action hero. But still, she is more of a character than El Muerto, so this was never the worst idea for a movie on Sony's slate. But then Madame Web came out, and whew boy. Few movies are bigger disasters than this one.
But I want to make two things abundantly clear: This movie is really fucking stupid, and I loved every minute of it.
The story of this movie that probably shouldn't exist sees Dakota Johnson's title heroine suddenly having visions of the future, and she stumbles across three teenage girls who are fated to be killed by a man with spider powers. That's just skimming the surface of this garbled stew of nonsense. When I watch a movie like Batman & Robin, I understand what it's doing. I get what it wants to be. Madame Web is something else. The weird Spider-Man call-forwards including a villain who dresses like him, out of body sequences that are just chaotic noise, the concentrated effort in trying to make Sydney Sweeney look frumpy...Madame Web is filled to the brim with decisions so baffling that the only explanation is that they were trying to be innovative and are failing spectacularly at it. The movie takes a stab at a uniqueness in crafting action around a character who can see the future, which is similar to a Nicolas Cage movie called Next, but they scale it down and try to be more creative with it. Next is a better movie, though, and if you know how laughed out of theaters that movie was, that should tell you something. Despite what it tries to craft with the action, the movie isn't really all that much of an action movie. It centers on four women who are just stuck in an action scenario and don't know what to do. When the movie requires them to do a big stunt, they'll do it, even though it also feels as if they're out of character while doing it. Underlining all of this is the film's desperation to remind you it's Spider-Man related, doing Spider-Man references often and in full force for a character that isn't even born yet (the film features his pregnant mother as a supporting character). I assume they're trying to use this to enhance themes of fate and influence, but it all becomes a hot mess when your bad guy is basically Spider-Man if he were a prick.
This all boils down to the flaw that they chose to do a Madame Web movie at all. She's a limited character who can be interesting, but not like this. It feels like she's only being used to fish for interest in a Spider-Women movie with the brat pack heroines of this movie. If you want to do a Spider-Women move, do a Spider-Women movie. These women who are pretending to be teenagers are all in their 20's anyway, why this charade? Madame Web is just a trailer for that, albeit with cheap cosplay costumes and really bad ADR reading connecting those shots of the future lady heroes.
And yet, I had fun with it. As a movie that completely tanked itself, I had a lot of lols watching it go down in flames. There is even stuff in this movie that I loved. I like how Dakota Johnson is fumbling around in this movie without an actual plan. There is a part that she thinks she has spider powers and tries to climb a wall that made me laugh. I even think Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabella Merced, and Celeste O'Connor would be great in a proper superhero movie. It's stuff that makes it evident that the people making this movie really wanted it to be something. Oh, it's something alright. Too bad that "something" is the worst film based on a Marvel comic since the 90's Captain America film. But, I got to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. I haven't gotten this much enjoyment out of a bad movie since Ouija Shark.
Oscar Nominated Short Films: Animation
Letter to a Pig
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
A classroom listens to an account of a Holocaust survivor, who reads them a letter he wrote to a pig who he claims saved his life. Interesting use of live action with animation rotoscoped on top of it, ensuring the look of this short is very striking. I felt my interest waning as it got more surreal and expressionistic, but the lovely craft of this short helped make it a standout.
Ninety-Five Senses
⭐️⭐️1/2
Napoleon Dynamite creators Jared and Jerusha Hess helped made this short, which sees Tim Blake Nelson play a man reflecting on how his life shaped out through the sensation of his five senses. Interesting turns don't entirely capture my waning interest in this short, which has a mildly interesting premise that, if I'm being honest, feels slightly disconnected from the "senses" storytelling device, because his senses feel irrelevant to certain events that transpire and are quite possibly the least compelling thing going on. Nelson also goes full hammy redneck in his performance, which gets tiresome after several minutes. Admirable effort that just didn't click for me.
Our Uniform
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Up there with Letter to a Pig as one of the more uniquely animated efforts here, Our Uniform is a short that is told through what appears to be stop-motion on fabric, showing the story of an Iranian girl and her restrictive life in school. The story feels more like a diary entry than a narrative, but the look of the short kept me engaged and charmed throughout. Such beautiful textures and colors, this animated effort pops.
Pachyderme
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A French film stylized like a bedtime story grows darker as it goes on, as a woman recounts her childhood stays with her grandparents, in which traumatic experiences seem to be glossed over. The film is more of a metaphor than a narrative, opting a simplistic and muted view on what is implied to be a horrific experience. It feels therapeutic, but it also feels like it hasn't taken the whole journey. What more could be done with this is beyond me, because this isn't my artistic expression, but I also can't shake the feeling that it only barely reached what it grasped.
War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
This one is a bit silly if you think about it too hard, but it's lovingly animated and is full of schmaltzy spirit, which has two World War I soldiers on opposing sides playing chess via a carrier pigeon. And, of course, there is also music from John Lennon and Yoko Ono, like the title implies. There is a heartfelt metaphor of soldiers being people in the middle of a bad situation that requires the worst of them, while the short is more for "the feels" than anything stirring. It's still a lovely little short that I think animation lovers will appreciate.
BONUS:
*It appears that our short films only ran a combined fifty minutes this year, so the venue threw in a couple of bonuses from the shortlist that probably would have went unseen otherwise.
Wild Summon
⭐️⭐️⭐️
This short relates the life cycle of salmon...except they're people in scuba suits? Weird, body horror vibes from this one, which combines live action landscapes with animated fish people. I believe the intent was to show off such an alien way of life as if it were happening to humans, while asking "This is pretty fucked up, right?" It is. Very. Let's not speak of this again.
I'm Hip
⭐️⭐️
Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Moana director John Musker helms this animation over a song performed by David Frischberg, where a cat sings about how much of a cool cat he is. Didn't care for this one, which felt like someone had a lot of fondness for those animated prime-time Garfield specials from the 80's, complete with jazzy musical numbers and a singing feline, while stylized like someone with a lot of fondness for The Aristocats and Oliver & Company. All of these are things that I like, but this was just a four-minute overload of razzamatazz that I didn't particularly enjoy.
Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action
The After
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A former businessman becomes a taxi driver after the sudden loss of his wife and daughter, who confronts his grief face-on when his latest fare is a family that looks just like the one he lost. A portrayal of a man avoiding grief, this short can be a bit on-the-nose. Sometimes it just whisks up its story too much, and it comes off as either over-thought or under-thought at different points, though it is still a moving piece.
Invincible
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A troubled teen in a detention center longs to run away from his problems, but finds the further he runs, the more they follow him. Angsty teen drama feels like it's a metaphor for the struggles of change, when one feels so broken that they double down on the path they're on, even when they show promise of being something better. The short struggles to break free of repetitveness, but it's also based on a true story, so I feel like the filmmakers were a bit cornered in how to play it out. The film's title choice is interesting, relating the youthful feeling of immortality even as one takes a self-destructive journey.
Knight of Fortune
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Like The After, Knight of Fortune is another short about grief, though it's more nuanced about it. This short sees a man who has lost his wife, but finds himself unable to open the casket, who meets another man at the morgue who seems to have the same issue. Contemplative, but surprisingly funny, this short has a few unexpected turns on the way to its surprisingly sweet ending. It takes a while to get going, but it is one worth seeing through to the finish.
Red, White and Blue
⭐️⭐️⭐️
What seems like it was filmed as a reaction to the Dobbs decision, this short sees a woman crossing state lines in emergency need of an abortion. It's a timely issue, though it's also one that doesn't press as hard as it could. The film makes the unique choice in being told through misdirection and mystery boxes that pay off later. It's not frustrating, as it's only twenty minutes long, though it feels like it was filmed for its twist over its story, which holds it back. Women (and men) who support Roe v Wade will probably want to seek this short out and champion it, regardless of its faults, though.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Look, I'm not the one who's opinion you should listen to on Wes Anderson. I've always felt a little bit of Anderson goes a long way, and I'm just thankful this was a short and not a feature. Anderson did a series of shorts for Netflix that adapted short stories from Roald Dahl, of which The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar seems to be the singled-out champion. The story tells of the strange tale of Henry Sugar, who learns an uncanny ability to cheat at cards but grows morality along the way. It features a traditionally stacked Wes Anderson cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, and Richard Ayoade, all delivering Anderson's trademark wit and Dahl's trademark whimsey. I enjoyed this, mostly, because I just appreciated that I didn't have the opportunity to grow tired of it. That was not for a lack of trying, as it goes on for long patches with lengthy stories that usually tell the same joke over-and-over again. But short-form does wonders for Anderson. I'd probably be a fan if all of his movies were this long.
Art Attack
The Taste of Things
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Drama
Director: Tran Ahn Hung
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Benoit Magimel
France raised some eyebrows when they chose not to submit Anatomy of a Fall for Best International Film at the Oscars, choosing instead to favor The Taste of Things. Anatomy of a Fall wound up getting nominated for Best Picture instead, while Taste of Things got thrown in with the leftovers. It was a shortsighted move, because Anatomy of a Fall is a better, more interesting movie. The Taste of Things is quite good too, but it leans a bit more heavily in contemplative drama rather the heated drama of the moment, of which I've always found the latter far more appealing. The Taste of Things is, above all else, a film about art and appreciation of it, choosing to use the art form of filmmaking to portray culinary art. It's a hurdle, because two thirds of culinary art are smell and taste, but the visual appeal still strikes. The film centers on a restaurant owner who takes pride in his craft, and is madly in love with his cook, and together they create exquisite dishes that few can replicate. Combining the film's themes of art is also a theme about love, as the two prove to be perfect collaborators who are perfectly in sync with each other. The film tends to grow a bit wearisome though it's extensive sequences of food preparation, of which it hopes to enchant without ever really developing a flow to its presentation, but the beauty of creation keeps the film intact. The movie can get too big for its britches because of its own indulgence, but that seems poetic for a film about food.
Oscar's Trash Can
20 Days in Mariupol
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Oscars Nominated: Best Documentary
Genre: Documentary
Director: Mstyslav Chernov
Starring: Mstyslav Chernov
This harrowing, gut-punch of a documentary is not for the faint of heart. The film can be very graphic, and also features the deaths of real people, including very young children and infants. But it's powerful imagery that demands to be shown, as 20 Days in Mariupol chronicles the earliest days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, taking place in the war-ravaged city of Mariupol over the span of three weeks. A group of journalists who are still in the city use whatever tactics they can to film what they see and spread it to news outlets across the globe. It's biting stuff, but it's also haunting. The siege of Mariupol is relentless, and the footage is striking. The stakes they risked just to gain internet access to spread it also bring unexpected tension, only to have the Russian government try and deny everything shown as a form of propaganda. Seeing everything rolled out in this film makes it even more evident that everything that was shown is real, and it's also an outrage.
Of note, I watched this just after the breaking news that Alexei Navalny died in prison, which is notable because he was the subject of last year's Best Documentary winner and was a political rival of Vladimir Putin. I feel this and Navalny make a good combination for anyone who wants to go more in-depth with the atrocities that Putin has committed, though Navalny is a less heavy watch, so you may want to watch it first. May Navalny rest in power, hopefully knowing these images are still being spread throughout the world and will hopefully bring about an end to Putin's reign.
Oscar Nominated Short Films: Documentary
The ABCs of Book Banning
⭐⭐1/2
It's been no secret that certain states have been going on book banning sprees of late, and the fact that someone made a documentary on the subject isn't surprising. You probably could have gone feature-length on this topic (especially the books that teach objective history), but The ABCs of Book Banning aims to primarily show the reactions of children, those who have no say in what their state does and does not want them to read. The intentions are noble, but the sad truth is that most people who are already aware of this issue already have their minds made up on it, and those who are in favor of book banning are probably more likely to just be angry that this documentary has the children discussing topics that they would rather have them sheltered from. This documentary has heart, but it's not really informative. We get a list of books that have been banned, and while I personally agree that the practice is unfair, there is no discussion made about the subject matter in the books, who is banning them, and how best to contest it. Instead, it's all "This sucks." Yes, it does. Unfortunately, this documentary isn't going to change that.
The Barber of Little Rock
⭐⭐⭐1/2
This glint of optimism amidst the sad truths of systematic racism takes a look at Arlo Washington, a barber in Arkansas who created a community bank to help out African Americans in need when the banks fail them. Narrative is rather light in this documentary, because it largely feels like Washington's story is nowhere close to being finished. This is instead an in-depth look at the positive impact he has had on his community, with interviews of the people he has helped over the years talking about their experiences that led to Washington filling this need in their lives. Their stories can be sad, but the tone of the piece is uplifting. It feels like this could be the start of something great, and the documentary shares that rather well.
Island in Between
⭐⭐⭐
Filmmaker S. Leo Chiang visits the island of Kinmen, a small piece of land that Taiwan used to defend itself against China during the Chinese Civil War. He then relates to the viewer his relationship to Taiwan, China, and the United States, pondering which country he considers himself a true citizen of. This is an interesting piece, though I'd say it comes off as a bit of a video diary. I think those who are familiar with the history of Kinmen already will probably gain the most from Chiang's ponderings, and I'll admit that I'm not fully up to speed on Chinese-Taiwanese relations and politics. The shots of Kinmen are excellent, and I yearned to learn more. That wasn't the goal of this documentary, so I can only consider that a me-problem. It's a poetic take on Chiang's inner turmoil, though.
The Last Repair Shop
⭐⭐⭐
This documentary takes a look at a dying breed of repair centers that specializes in refurbishing musical instruments for students. The concept is rather simple for a documentary that still pushes forty minutes, which one can test patience as it sometimes treads water with students talking about their love of music. It's not irrelevant, though one would hope it would jump into the meat a bit quicker. We then get some in-depth conversations with the people who work on the instruments, some telling their backstories, which can range from sad to incredible. It's a bit of a ride, because the documentary can feel tedious at some points and compelling in others, though it wins the day by pressing its moral of "What's broken can usually be fixed."
N膬i Nai & W脿i P贸
⭐⭐⭐
Meet N膬i Nai and W脿i P贸, the grandmothers of filmmaker Sean Wang, who's daily lives are captured on film for a good twenty minutes, as we get to watch them chat, dance, accuse each other of farting, all kinds of stuff. Those who watch documentaries to learn something new will likely leave N膬i Nai & W脿i P贸 without much, as this short is more of Wang's tribute to two women he loves dearly. There's not much to glean from it other than entertainment value, and the documentary can be very, very funny at the best of times. I enjoyed spending time with N膬i Nai and W脿i P贸, and I'm happy I got to meet them. As a work itself, it gets by on personality more than anything, though.
Starring: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, Carla Gugino
Screenwriter Diablo Cody flips off those who dismissed Jennifer's Body by returning to her dark comedy sensibilities, this time aided by Zelda Williams, daughter of beloved comedian Robin Williams, making her directorial debut. Together they weave a goth fantasy romance about a young girl who accidentally reanimated a body in a cemetery, and she slowly rebuilds him out of body parts harvested from those who irritate her. Lisa Frankenstein leans heavily into its 80's horror comedy influence, and it does so really, really well. Zelda Williams approaches the movie as a bleak fairy tale, like a young Edward Scissorhands era Tim Burton, only with heavy valley girl vibes. Kathryn Newton is channeling Beetlejuice/Heathers era Winona Ryder, and absolutely owning it. The movie does so much right that it would be forgiven if you turn a blind eye to what it doesn't do as smoothly. Cody is going for a very chaotic narrative, but she plays it so deep into that chaos that it almost feels like its own coherency is escaping her. It's a movie that starts out being so lovable and offbeat but confuses itself along the way. If the film stuck the landing, this probably would have been my favorite movie of the year. Instead, it's a solid one that I had a blast watching.
Cavemen are afraid of the dark in this indie from the UK that was filmed during Covid lockdown. It sees a tribe who begin to fear something unknown in the darkness and venture to kill it before it kills them. The movie is refreshingly unique with its approach to horror, using the genre's fear of the unknown as an allegory for alienation via xenophobia. It's a noble effort that is impressively filmed for such a small-scale picture. I just can't escape the feeling that it's only halfway there. Most of the elements feel correct, but they also feel anemic. A beefier, fleshed out version of this movie would have probably driven something more compelling, because while the goals of the film are excellent, they also don't resonate. It winds up being a forgettable movie that should have been memorable.
The Teacher's Lounge
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Oscars Nominated: Best International Feature Film
Genre: Drama
Director: 脥lker 脟atak
Starring: Leonie Benesch
Look, I know we already had a German-language film in the International Oscar category, but this one is actually German. Zone of Interest hailed from the UK, which is always at a disadvantage in the International category because a non-English language is a requirement, so they just happened to have a slam dunk with their drama about Nazi Germany. The Teacher's Lounge is Germany's actual submission into the race, which also had its share of hype. It's going to lose, mind you. Zone of Interest pretty much has the trophy in the bag, which is humiliating for The Teacher's Lounge, because it's losing to a German-language movie that isn't actually German (but Germany won the award last year, so it'll get over it). It deserves a glance, though. I swear, it's always worth a look down each year's Oscar list, because while some movies will be slogs (Killers of the Flower Moon) and some might be an Academy-favored niche that might not be an individual's cup of tea (The Holdovers), the hope is eventually you'll find one that hits. The Teacher's Lounge is one of those movies that makes it worth just seeing what's going on in the prestige side of cinema, even if you can't stand prestige cinema.
The Teacher's Lounge is about a German school that has been experiencing thefts. As the school tries to find out who the culprit is among the student body, one teacher begins to suspect the faculty, and accidentally starts a domino effect that threatens to fracture the entire school. To shoot it straight, this movie is intense, but not in a thriller kind of way. It's a film about personal paranoia, and how finger-pointing and victimization can make civilization crumble. It's a series of events that goes from "Oh...shit" to "Oh shit" to "OH SHIT" as the situation grows out of control over the course of its breezy runtime. The film even acts as a social satire in its way, mimicking the pressures of scrutiny from outside eyes, as one's actions that seemed simple in the moment become not-so-simple to explain. The movie might be frustrating in certain elements of ambiguity and unresolved conflicts, but the film is such a whirlwind that the teacher at the center of the conflict just wants it to stop. Some people are left worse for the wear, and we never fully understand why. The movie just expects us to move on and live with it. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've felt that I've had to do that in my life.
A true vision of cinema: A movie about a monk...but he's got a gun!
In The Monk and the Gun, a young monk in Bhutan sets out on a search for a gun, a request by his lama. What he needs it for, he didn't say. The monk just knows he needs one. He finds one that happens to be an antique American Civil War rifle, but as he prepares to present it to his lama, an American gun collector attempts to buy it off him. This all plays out during Bhutan's switch to democracy in 2006, even though they seem to have some anachronistic confusion, because advertisements for the movie Quantum of Solace are prominently featured (and even a slight plot point), even though that film didn't come out until late 2008 (Casino Royale was the 2006 James Bond flick). The movie takes a few sharp jabs at democracy, though softly with a friendly smile. It's happy to point out the flaws and vitriol it causes, right down to a pretty on-the-nose scene where a mock election is held, and the people trying to teach democracy to the people tell them to be louder and angrier. The movie seems to not want to comment on whether democracy was a good thing for Bhutan or not, because it's portrayed as a strange idea that seems to be flowing through their contentment in this film. So, it just mocks it, instead. "Elections? Is that a new pig disease?" The movie doesn't formally announce what the theme of all these seemingly random elements are until the end, when we finally learn what the gun is for. It's a slow burn journey, but one that finds a satisfying resolution. It's not really a memorable movie, but a charming one.
Netflix & Chill
Skeletons in the Closet
⭐
Streaming On: Shudder
Genre: Horror
Director: Asif Akbar
Starring: Terrence Howard, Valery M. Ortiz, Cuba Gooding Jr.
A family's child is dying of cancer, but also seems to be haunted by a spirit as her parents do whatever it takes to find a way for her to get better. Just going to get this out of the way: This movie sucks. It really sucks. Dear god, does this movie suck. I was initially hopeful, because it's not often you see a movie on Shudder that stars Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. But then again, it wasn't every day you see a movie on Shudder that stars Eva Green, either, and that didn't save Nocebo last year. Nocebo was at least something, though. I can see why Green thought that was a movie worth making. Skeletons in the Closet doesn't even have that going for it. Maybe on paper it seemed like an interesting drama with horror undertones that might have been interesting if done well ("done well" being a generous way of saying "work of stylish brilliance"), but it is also a script that is very easily be boring if you don't know how to enhance it. And what makes this particular movie worse is just how unwilling it is to enhance itself. It leans so heavily into soap-operatics and presents itself like a TV horror movie from the early 2000s that is stuck in a limbo of between something that would be made for Showtime but sold to the Sci-Fi Channel. It devolves into chaos in the end, with flashbacks and an evil scarecrow. This movie is just an unpleasant mess.
God, I hated this movie. I spent ninety minutes waiting for it to do something, and in the end, it was just nothing. It might be the worst movie I've ever seen on Shudder.
Oscar's Trash Can
May December
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best Original Screenplay
Genre: Drama
Director: Todd Haynes
Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton
Potential can of worms being opened by this film, which is inspired by the Mary Kay Letourneau statutory rape case. Natalie Portman plays an actress who spends a period of time studying for her latest role with Julianne Moore, who was tried and convicted after having an affair with a 13 year old boy and is now happily married to him decades later. The approach of the film is unique, because it could easily be a work of damnation and shock value, but it maintains a tone of neutral observer that a lot of films probably wished they could achieve. It doesn't contest that statutory rape is a bad thing, both legally and morally, but the film has its eye set squarely on the ever after, showcasing people who had committed these sins working to live an ordinary life among those who can, and occasionally cannot, accept them. It's the basic "challenges of reform" thematic premise of Psycho II, only done as a drama. At the same time, it also tells about how the lives around them were affected and how one's sin ripples to those around them. It's a movie that looks at the human being inside of someone who was publicized as a monster, showcasing that a person is more complex than their worst deed and the steady hand trying to maintain one's humanity under intense scrutiny. It also tries to delve into the psyche of those who commit such misdeeds, though it tends to shrug its shoulders and say "Dunno. People do stupid shit." It's bound to polarize, but that doesn't diminish its brilliance.
Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Samuel L. Jackson, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose
Matthew Vaughn plays with spies once again with this new meta spy flick where Bryce Dallas Howard is the author of a spy book series who is swept up in an actual spy ring. It's like The Lost City, but with more stabbing and plot twists. Vaughn is probably the person having the most fun here, because he indulges in these hyperactive action fantasies that he clearly loves so much. It works in spurts. The fantasy Argylle scenes with Henry Cavill are like a loving homage to the campy Roger Moore era James Bond escapism. When things bleed into the real world, it gets trickier, as the movie is indecisive whether it's grounded in reality or going for something even hammier. Vaughn leans more into the latter as the film goes on, for which the film's aloof flamboyance wins light charisma points, but it also feels like he's getting carried away. If one enjoys the Kingsman movies (particularly the second one), Argylle is a pleasant diversion (and also a step up from the King's Man prequel). For many others, it might prove to be too much.
This indie dramedy sees a teenage girl who finds out she was born without a uterus. Afterward she spirals through trying to figure out what this means for herself as she aspires to be a normal, sexually-active teenager. It's an interesting story derived from a glossed over condition, and thrust upon someone who discovers an abnormality about herself and finds peace with it. Writer/director Molly McGlynn (who herself was diagnosed with MRKH syndrome) uses it to tell a story of self-acceptance, and she weaves a lovely tale of identity through it. Sometimes she tends to overplay her hand, going big when something slighter would probably hit harder, but her assurance to anyone watching that there is beauty in being different is something admirable.
Scrambled
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Leah McKendrick
Starring: Leah McKendrick, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Santino, Adam Rodreguez, Laura Cer贸n, Clancy Brown
This weekend has been jackpot for indie movies about women's vaginas, so if that's your niche, get ready for a double feature. Those who take the plunge will also want to check out this flick written, directed, and starring Leah McKendrick as a woman who decides to freeze her eggs after a breakup, just in case she meets Mr. Right late in life. It's a simple premise that could potentially be squeezed dry early if McKendrick didn't find a through-line for it, but she chooses to work it as a story of regret and the promise that hope can still bloom out of it even when you feel like you missed your best chance. She's engaging and funny throughout the film, and her colorful interactions with her friends, family, and lovers blossom the theme around a small story about ovulation. While it doesn't do anything of a seismic scale, the movie's glowing beacon of sisterhood assurance is something that will be appreciated by its targeted audience.
Art Attack
The Zone of Interest
⭐⭐⭐1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best Picture, Best Director - Jonathan Glazer, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best International Feature Film, Best Sound
Genre: Drama
Director: Jonathan Glazer
Starring: Christian Friedel, Sandra H眉ller
It's so easy to just make a movie where Indiana Jones punches Nazis. It's much harder to make a movie where Nazis are humanized. In our culture, we're so used to seeing Nazis as the evil-doers, who do the bad deeds because what they stood for and are as close to true evil as we've ever seen grace this earth. Finding humanity in people who specialized in the inhumane is a tough task, because any storyteller would have to be at war with their own empathy. Normally, the fallback on any sort of movie that has Nazis portrayed as the main characters would have the plot center around a crisis of conscience, like one might have seen with Schindler's List. The Zone of Interest chooses not to do that. The film is a slice-of-life drama centering on characters who casually commit genocide. The movie isn't about what they do, but the mundane way in which they go about it. As demonized as this group is, the reality is that they were people. They had friends, family, children, and responsibilities, and with the evil they did, there were spoils to be shared and revelled in. The film centers on the family of a high-ranking Nazis who live next to a consecration camp, as they go about their daily life, often with the sounds of horror coming over the walls. The imagery of how they casually ignore it is somehow as harrowing as even the most graphic of Holocaust depictions you'll ever see, because watching this group of people who seem normal while all lacking that basic sense of compassion is very much disturbing. It's also compounded by the way they discuss their business openly in front of their enslaved Jewish help, and underlined by their casual cruelty to them. The filmmaking of the film is interesting, with cinematography that mimics a "fly on a wall" just glimpsing their everyday function. I admit some of the more bombastic artistic choices probably dragged the movie down a bit for me, but it's one of the most fascinating films about the Holocaust ever made.
Oscar's Trash Can
The Eternal Memory
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best Documentary
Genre: Documentary
Director: Maite Alberdi
Starring: Augusto G贸ngora, Paulina Urritia
Chilean journalist Augusto G贸ngora was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2014, and this film documents his relationship with his wife, actress Paulina Urritia, during his declining years. There isn't a huge narrative string driving The Eternal Memory, as we see G贸ngora's condition shift over the course of it. What we also see is his anchor, his beloved wife, who is constantly holding his hand and guiding him through his worst days. Films like this can weigh heavily on the trying drama of the illness, though The Eternal Memory instead focuses on the love between two people, one who is very ill and the other showing how much she cares by just being there for him. While his condition does worsen over the course of the film, the film doesn't dwell on it, because his condition isn't the point. The tenderness in which he is loved during the inevitable, and the love he gives back, carries the weight of the movie. G贸ngora passed away last year, after the movie debuted. Because of that, the film never acknowledges his death, which is just as well. The movie instead leaves us with the image of him, looking past his confusion, and telling his wife how beautiful she is and how he wishes to spend the rest of his life with her. From everything shown in the movie, it's easy to see why and understand that he did.
Rustin
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best Actor - Colman Domingo
Genre: Drama
Director: George C. Wolfe
Starring: Colman Domingo, Aml Ameen, Chris Rock, Jeffery Wright, Audra McDonald
This year's Oscar race has been good to a handful of underrated African American performers, primarily two that I've appreciated for quite some time who both got nominated for Best Actor: Jeffrey Wright and Colman Domingo. My hopes are that Wright will take home the trophy for his excellent performance in American Fiction (though he also has a small role in this film), but I'll be perfectly happy if Domingo sneaks it out from under him (or the Academy can just be boring and give it to Cillian Murphy). Domingo plays civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, as it primarily chronicles the events of him organizing the 1963 March on Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. There has been a fair share of films made about the civil rights movements of the period, and a lot of them are very good. They tend to fall back on similar tones and styles, though. Rustin has several benefits in its favor, including focusing on a member who was more behind the scenes than most. It's also more rhythmicly pleasing than a lot of historical dramas, telling its story with a very jazzy flow that pairs with Rustin's rhetoric. It's not a stirring watch, like many films of its type, but it has this interesting double underline of the civil rights ideology of acceptance in that it's primarily about Rustin's trials of being accepted within his own movement, as he was also a gay man, as well. The quest to be acknowledged for your contributions in the face of dismissal fuels a lot of this film's fire, and it's a excellent showcase for Domingo's talent.
Society of the Snow
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best International Feature Film, Best Make-Up and Hairstyling
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Enzo Vogrincic, Matias Recalt, Agustin Pardella, Tomas Wolf
Yet another film based upon the 1972 plane crash in the Andes, which also includes Survive! (from The Batwoman and Santa Claus director Rene Cardona Jr) and Alive (from Frank Marshall), Society of the Snow tells of the people who survived the incident and what they had to do to get out alive (which, yes, included cannibalism). I haven't delved into the other films based on this story, but there seems to be the consensus that Society of the Snow was the best one, and I can believe it. Director J.A. Bayona uses his personal style to craft a film that is every bit as biting and as harrowing as the story would lead one to believe, making the film a tough watch for the feint of heart. It doesn't pull punches and holds nothing back, with a brutal honesty of the tramatic experience of this tale. It's a harsh movie about harsh conditions, and the will to survive when the entire world has collapsed on top of you. It's hard to picture anybody watching this movie more than once, but it's also hard to picture anybody bothering with the other dramatizations when one this good exists.
