MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 10 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Accidental Texan

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director: Mark Lambert Bristol

Starring: Thomas Haden Church, Rudy Pankow, Carrie-Anne Moss, Bruce Dern

Accidental Texan is a movie that feels like it was made in the wrong era. The film centers on a struggling actor who finds himself stranded in a small Texas town, where he is enlisted by a small-time oil driller who hopes to tap a well before he loses it to competitors. The fish-out-of-water comedy is old fashioned, but the thing that really makes Accidental Texan feel past its expiration date is its oil drilling plot. It feels like it's meant to have blue-collar appeal, and maybe it does, but it's premise would have felt more at home during the Reagan/Bush era and doesn't hit the same in 2024. That being said, those who long for a certain type of comedic "crossing of two worlds" premise will find the film to be adequate comfort food cinema. Thomas Haden Church and Carrie-Anne Moss add more credibility to it with their committed presence, though it's weird to see them in awe of a "movie star" even though they're both way more famous than their young co-star, Rudy Pankow. If your favorite movie of all time is, oh say, City Slickers, the movie might be worth a watch. Just expect it to be a humble offering.

Cabrini

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Drama

Direcror: Alejandro Monteverde

Starring: Cristiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, Ramona Maggiora Vergano, Federico Ielapi, Virginia Bocelli, Rolando Villazon, Giancarlo Giannini, John Lithgow

Based on the life of missionary Francesca Cambini, this film tells of her venturing to America to help Italian immigrants and orphaned children, facing anti-Italian discrimination and hardship and daring to stand up to it. The movie is well-intentioned, and at times it's even very good, but it's tendency to slip into boldly operatic melodrama shoots itself in the foot. Cristiana Dell'Anna is asked to carry the weight of the movie on her shoulders, and she seems willing to do so, but the indulgences of the film's construction weigh her down and she begins to buckle under the added weight. Alejandro Monteverde certainly doesn't seem to be an incompetent filmmaker, though his efforts to go out of his way for a more flourished camera shot seems like it's done at the story's annoyance, because it often requires stilted blocking that seems awkward in execution. At the same time, this is a movie where the heroic acts are humanitarianism, and the antagonists are discrimination and sexism. The film's celebration of immigration is commendable, and even a timely message in today's political climate. It's just a movie that in its own way.

Imaginary

⭐1/2

Genre: Horror, Fantasy

Director: Jeff Wadlow

Starring: DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegan Burns, Pyper Braun, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcon, Betty Buckley

From the visionary mind that brought you modern day Blumhouse classics such as Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island comes a movie that's exactly as good as you think it is after reading this sentence. Jeff Wadlow continues to crank out horror flicks for the Blumhouse machine, and sadly we're still waiting for one that's feels like more than a baseline concept. This one's concept is about a little girl who finds a teddy bear, which is haunted by an entity that presents itself as her imaginary friend. It's a movie that comes off as if it was made by someone who watched Child's Play and Annabelle and thought "I can do that." Credit where credit is due, the film has effective moments, with a few scenes of well-executed suspense and a couple of wry gags that hit. It just makes it all-the-more disappointing that the majority of the movie is flaccid. The movie has a lot of ideas. Not original ideas, but there are certain ones that might provide the basis for a solid entertainer if you pursued them. Imaginary chooses to cram them together and tries not to think too hard about them. Maybe it's a budget thing keeping it from going for broke, but that doesn't forgive its stilted scripting and hasty plotting. The movie pushes itself forward with plot beats that either fall flat or make little sense. It's a movie that just sits there, thinking maybe you can close your eyes and imagine a better movie instead.

Kung Fu Panda 4

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director: Mike Mitchell

Starring: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, Ke Huy Quan, Dustin Hoffman

DreamWorks Animation seems to be in the middle of an effort to re-establish its co-dominance in the animation market, after losing steam in the last ten years and becoming eclipsed by Illumination's rise to power. But they managed to revitalize interest in the Shrek franchise with the surprisingly excellent Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, so who's to say they couldn't do the same with Kung Fu Panda? That may or may not happen, but Kung Fu Panda 4 is a bit of a let-down compared to previous Kung Fu Panda movies, and it certainly doesn't crack the bat like The Last Wish did. This latest installment has the title panda "Dragon Warrior" Po in the position where he must pass his title to a successor, and subsequently teams up with a shady fox (who is played by Awkwafina, continuing her invasion of every animated property ever made) to stop a shapeshifting villain from threatening the land. The movie lacks the lavish beauty that Jennifer Yuh Nelson brought the last two installments, showcasing a far simpler, less emotional story, with more slapstick-oriented direction by Mike Mitchell. I suppose the Kung Fu Panda franchise was in a corner, because the movies looked like they were getting more expensive and the returns weren't growing, so they were forced to scale back. This means a smaller cast, as the Furious Five is conspicuously absent throughout the movie, likely because they wanted to save a few dollars on casting. What makes this doubly disappointing is the use of a shape-shifting villain in the film, and when you have a baddie that can be anyone, a larger cast of characters would be a benefit. Viola Davis is good as the villain, doing what she's allowed to do, but it feels like she should be doing more. But the good-natured comedy of the film is still charming and fun, and parents with rowdy children will definitely want to check it out. I just can't help but be a little let down at how basic the franchise has narrowed itself into when it has also given us a powerhouse like Kung Fu Panda 2.

Art Attack

The Peasants

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Drama

Director: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman

Starring: Kamila Urzedowska, Albert Gulaczyk, Miroslaw Baka, Sonia Mietoelica, Ewa Kasprzyk

Polish filmmakers Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman follow up their rotoscope oil painting animation Finding Vincent with a brand-new luscious flick that puts the "art" in arthouse. The film tells a period piece story of a young girl who has an affair with a married man, only to be linked into an arranged marriage with his father. From what I can tell, The Peasants was deemed a bit of a disappointment, with criticisms leveled at the story being simple and uninvolving. I'll agree that the film is very basic in premise, though I found the drama more investing than most. Ideally, a film style this innovative would be pushed to the limit with a script with towering ambition, though I feel like this animation style calls for sacrificing portions of its narrative to concentrate on its beauty. Maybe one day a film like this can be a sweeping epic, but a film like The Peasants is a stepping stone to getting there. What is here narratively is a story of a woman who has been wronged by the evils of men, as she is dragged through the dirt whether she is compliant or defiant through a life she did not ask for. It doesn't break new ground, but paired with the format, the film is arresting. I hope these filmmakers continue to hone their craft and get stronger with it, because they've carved their own little niche in animation and in the end, they might have a career for the ages.

Oscar's Trash Can

Perfect Days

⭐⭐⭐

Oscars Nominated: Best International Film

Genre: Drama

Director: Wim Wenders

Starring: Koji Yakusho

I had seen trailers for Perfect Days at my multiplex months ago, and I thought it was eventually going to play in my area, but it never even came to my arthouse. I figured they might play it before the Oscars, maybe? But alas, it hit streaming rental without it coming up on the schedule over there, so I took it however I could get it. This film was Japan's submission to the International category, skipping out over their smash hit Godzilla Minus One, though Perfect Days was selected for submission before Godzilla was released in the US to great acclaim. Even still, Perfect Days got nominated, so perhaps they made the right call.

Interestingly, both Godzilla Minus One and Perfect Days went up against each other for this year's Best Film award at the Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony (these are Japan's own local Oscars) and Godzilla won, also topping the night with eight awards. Perfect Days won two (Best Director and Best Actor), and both were awards Godzilla was up for.

I'm on the record saying I don't care for slice-of-life dramas. Never have, probably never will. I can appreciate a well-made one, but they're just not for me. Usually, they need a hook to really seal the deal. Zone of Interest, for example. A slice-of-life drama about people who casually commit genocide...now that's interesting. Perfect Days has less genocide in it, because it revolves around a restroom maintenance employee who is just living out his simple life. It feels like an exploration of a repressed introvert, who lives a life to his own quiet contentment, interacting with people who are in the middle of more heightened experiences that might be their own personal slice-of-life dramas. What is he to them? Not much. He doesn't seem to make a habit of being noticed. But he is friendly toward them, and as their lives take upturns and downturns, his stays the same. The character is basically what an NPC is in a video game, someone who you'd bump into that has little bearing on what you're doing, but is just there. One strength Perfect Days has is that despite this, it never forgets that its "his story." We're given little context clues as to what his story is, though his character journey itself is limited because he doesn't really have an ambition except be what he is. Because of that, my interest in this movie is limited, but Koji Yakusho is really good in it, successfully conveying what it's like to be content while also yearning at the same time.

Oscar Nominees

20 Days in Mariupol ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The ABCs of Book Banning ⭐⭐1/2

The After ⭐️⭐️⭐️

American Fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

American Symphany (N/A)

Anatomy of a Fall ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Barber of Little Rock ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Barbie ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Bobi Wine: The People's President (N/A)

The Boy and the Heron ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

El Conde (N/A)