Multiplex Madness
The American Society of Magical Negroes
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
Director: Kobi Libii
Starring: Justice Smith, David Allen Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Witkins, Aisha Hinds, Tim Baltz, Rupert Friend, Nicole Byer
Much like last year's The Blackening, The American Society of Magical Negroes acts as a deconstruction of traditional roles for African Americans in Hollywood narratives. The term "magical negro" was coined for films that utilize a Black character who exists as a sage-like figure and acts as a source of support or inspiration for a white protagonist. A Bagger Vance, if you will. This film showcases the idea that there is a society of such figures who manifest themselves to comfort white people when they become upset, as a sort of pacifist activism that protects Black people in a roundabout way. Justice Smith plays a new recruit in this society who risks his role after falling in love with his client's love interest. The movie acts as a fairy tale spin on Men in Black, and it's inventive and fun. It has its fair share of struggles as well, as it is often incapable of juggling its romantic plot and the client plot adequately, often shortchanged the latter in favor of the former. But that's also kind of the point, because the movie also exists as an allegory for taking the reins of their own life and becoming the main character of their own story while also making the point that racial relations need to be a two-way street, rather than just a coddling of one side. I do wish it had more time to marinate, possibly to flesh itself out, because it trips over itself switching back and forth between a parody of whimsy and actual whimsy, but it's cute and funny enough for an enjoyable evening.
Arthur the King
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Adventure
Director: Simon Cellan Jones
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance, Nathalie Emmanuel, Ali Suliman, Bear Grylls, Paul Guilfoyle
Based on the true story of a stray dog who followed an adventure racing team through their long journey, the plays a little bit loosey-goosey with the tale, notably making the racing team American instead of Swedish and adding extra dabs of tearjerking schmaltz here and there. But mostly the movie wants to be a family film about a cute pup on an adventure, and on that front...it's still kind of a disappointment. Arthur the King is tripped up by limitations, because it feels like it needed to pick and choose what it can depict, whether due to budget constraints or possibly the uncertainty of how to make its depictions engrossing. The film has more than a few moments where it's trying to thrill the audience, but it struggles to make it exciting. The actors lack a sense of urgency, and it can at times imply through editing rather than show (I'm mostly thinking of a cable-crossing scene early on, which is just a failure at everything it tries to do). Meanwhile, the attempts to give the dog a personality fall short, because his training work also feels edited for implication, with quite a bit of bad ADR dog noises to try and display his emotions while the dog in question just looks neutral throughout most of the movie. It's not the worst "People love dogs" movie I've ever seen, but it is one of the most humdrum. It tries to be inspiring, and it's not uninspiring, so that's not nothing, I guess.
Knox Goes Away
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Thriller
Director: Michael Keaton
Starring: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Suzy Nakamura, Joanna Kulig, Ray McKinnon, John Hoogenakker, Lela Loren, Marcia Gay Harden, Al Pacino
Interesting, but bland, noir directed by Michael Keaton, who also stars as a hitman fighting dementia. His son comes to him for help after he accidentally kills the man who statutory raped his daughter, and Keaton tries to cover it up while also getting his affairs in order. I think the premise of this movie promises a film that has more meat than is here. It's a terrific showcase for Keaton, who is at the top of his game and is almost holding the entire film on his shoulders, but the film teeters on tedium as we await it to make it to its point. It's enough story for a short film that has been padded out with subplots. Some are okay enough, but they all feel like they're treading water because they need Keaton's storyline to move before they can do anything. Keaton's counting on the psychological drama of a bad man who is counting down his final days of sanity to keep the audience engrossed. I don't blame him for being fascinated with it, because it's his spotlight, but it's not enough.
Love Lies Bleeding
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Thriller, Comedy, Drama
Director: Rose Glass
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katie O'Brian, Ed Harris, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco
Because Drive-Away Dolls dropped the ball on being the definitive lesbian crime spree movie of 2024, Love Lies Bleeding is here to pick up the slack. This film sees Kristen Stewart falling for lady bodybuilder Katy O'Brian at her gym, but their affair grows complicated when O'Brian kills Stewart's abusive brother-in-law. It's a less audaciously comedic film than Drive-Away Dolls, choosing to be more of a dark dramady with some humorously over-the-top moments, right down to full surrealism toward the end. It's a stylish movie that feels both disgusted and aroused by its violent tendencies, flowing with a message of being so in love that you'll do anything, and those most toxic actions prove just how in love you are. It indulges in itself a lot, as sometimes Katy O'Brian's "roid rage" moments come off like Bill Bixby turning into Lou Ferrigno in The Incredible Hulk TV series, though it's a movie that will keep your attention and thrill you in more ways than one.
The Prank
⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Thriller
Director: Maureen Bharoocha
Starring: Rita Moreno, Connor Kalopsis, Ramona Young, Meredith Salenger, Keith David
A high school student finds himself desperate when the toughest teacher in the school threatens him with a failing grade. He then conspires with his best friend to pull a prank on her to humiliate her, but it accidentally escalates when she's arrested for murder. Those with an affinity for Animal House style comedies where wacky students get into shenanigans and rebel against authority will probably think this sounds interesting. It certainly has its moments, though it feels like a distinct comedic style that is hampered by budget restrictions and juvenile plotting. The film feels like it was made by someone who grew up with a healthy stack of R.L. Stein books and with their favorite movies being 10 Things I Hate About You and Teaching Mrs. Tingle and wanted to combine those things into one entity. Meanwhile, the movie feels at a loss of what it can and can't work into itself with its budget. The title "prank" is actually pretty lame, and while the snowball effect has amusement value, nothing the film does with it feels all that inspired. It even grows predictable as it enters its third act twist, which hopes to spice things up, but hardly musters a heartbeat. I like the movie's spunk, but that only creates a few laughs in a film that isn't living up to itself.
MST3K Cast Note: This film actually has quite a few recognizable character actors in it but keep an eye out for Tom Servo voice Baron Vaughn, who plays a newscaster that pops up at random points in the film. Meredith Salenger, wife of Patton Oswalt, also has a supporting role in this film.
Snack Shack
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Comedy
Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier
Starring: Conor Sherry, Gabriel LaBelle, Mika Abdalla, David Costabile, Nick Robinson
Two teens rent out a snack shack at a local pool for the summer for quick cash, and wind up falling for the same girl, which threatens their entrepreneurship and their friendship. Snack Shack is a love letter to summertime coming-of-age tales mixed with youth bromance comedy, not unlike something the Coreys would have starred in as they were aging out of teen heartthrob status. The film is promising, and amusing at its best moments, but meandering, as certain plot elements feel underdeveloped as the movie takes left turns away from them. Not helping matters is that the characters are supposedly fourteen years old in the movie, even though the actors are all in their early-to-mid-twenties, which makes the creative choice a bit of a stretch. It's not uncommon for 20somethings to play teenagers, but rarely this young. The film's love interest lead is likely in the same age-range, maybe a few years older (she apparently has a driver's license), but the film photographs her with such a leery lens that it borders on problematic, because if the actress playing the role actually were the age of the character, the filmmakers likely would be placed on some sex offender registry. These are all questionable creative choices for a movie that would probably be better if it weren't wandering down such a rabbit hole. Foul mouthed, horny youth isn't a hard sell, but when you have barely non-tweens betting money at a dog race and taking out bank loans, things that they would likely be carded for, it stretches credibility and makes the choice of characterizing so young even worse. If you were to ignore the more "why did you even do that?" elements, there is an enjoyable laugh of a movie at its core. With the odd creativity working against it, it struggles to become anything more than diverting.
Thorns
⭐️1/2
Genre: Horror
Director: Douglas Schulze
Starring: Jon Bennett, Cassandra Schomer, Doug Bradley
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Thorns was something I saw in a theater at this point. I have seen some weird micro-budget stuff since I started doing this. A lot of them are faith movies, but there are occasional movies that look like they were made by YouTubers with a couple hundred bucks in their pocket, such as Unfavorable Odds and Never Give Up. Still, every time I stumble across one of these movies, I'm amazed someone actually booked it in a multiplex. Thorns is like if someone with access to video equipment decided to make Event Horizon on the set of The Office, and is hoping red lights and flash editing will do the heavy lifting. The film finds a former priest who currently works for NASA for reasons who finds that a observatory station has been taken over by a demonic entity that wishes to unleash hell on Earth. The movie is clearly made by people with an affinity for Hellraiser style movies, so much so that Doug "Pinhead" Bradley has a minor role (where he gets to sit in a chair and read off cue-cards, acting like he's talking to people who are clearly not in the same room as him). To be fair, it's not an entirely incompetent production, as there are little bits of unsettlement it's able to get across in efficient ways, though it aims to startle instead of shock. I suspect the movie is more of a demo for the filmmakers rather than anything substantial, as most movies this low-to-the-ground are. I just wish they had pulled it off.
Uproar
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett
Starring: Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Minnie Driver, James Rolleston, Erana James, Mabelle Dennison
Taking place in 1981 New Zealand during the Springbooks rugby tour, Julian Dennison plays a high school student who usually goes with the flow but starts to find his ideals changing as he learns more about the protests against the tour. Uproar is a passionate movie made by people with clear worldviews that are important to them. If only the plot had as much clarity. The movie gives Dennison three distinct storylines involving rugby, stage drama, and activism, and while it works hard to tie the three of them together thematically, the storytelling workload proves to be cumbersome because they clash with each other. If the movie had picked two and ran with it, there might be a more investing film on display. But there is a powerful underlining theme of breaking free from youth and emerging as the person you're meant to be. It works in the film's favor, even if the film doesn't always work as well as its metaphor.
Art Attack
Driving Madeleine
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: Line Renaud, Dany Boon, Alice Isaaz
This French offering has a cab driver pick up an elderly woman on her way to a nursing home, and as the ride continues he hears more about the life she led. The film is a rather basic ode to the full lives of the elderly, and how its easy to gloss over the time they had simply because it's not their time anymore. It's a film of schmaltz that will curveball into hyper dramatic intensity when it feels like it, showcasing the heavy beats of Madeleine's life dramatized for precision effect. I find myself wishing the film were more detailed, chronicling a full life rather than just heavy moments. The point of the movie still gets across, though it could probably hit harder with more ambition.
One Life
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: James Hawes
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Helena Bonham Carter, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Johnathan Pryce
Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn share the role of Nicholas Winton, a stockbroker whose efforts to bring refugee children out of Czechoslavakia in hopes to save them from the Nazis during Germany's invasion. It's a gripping story of humanitarianism that makes One Life a film worth viewing, which also utilizes Hopkins as the man many years later, who finally faces just how important his action of empathy was. It's a very interesting story that is brought to the screen with a considerable amount of respect, but like a lot of films about the Holocaust, it faces the decision of just how in-depth it wants to get. The film is primarily about how one helping hand saved hundreds of lives, so it doesn't feel like like it wants to make the film too disturbing. Because of that, when it's in the face of something harrowing, it feels overly reeled in, but the positive message of the film still overcomes the film's weaknesses.
Oscar Winners
20 Days in Mariupol ⭐⭐⭐⭐
American Fiction ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Anatomy of a Fall ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Barbie ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Boy and the Heron ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Godzilla Minus One ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Holdovers ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oppenheimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Zone of Interest ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Oppenheimer ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ordinary Angels ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
New To Physical
I.S.S. ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Poor Things ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wish ⭐⭐1/2
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