MST3K, RiffTrax, and Beyond: Cinema Playground Journal 2024: Week 31 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Coup!

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller

Director: Austin Stark, Joseph Schuman

Starring: Peter Skarsgaard, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Skye P. Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielson, Fisher Stephens

Interesting, if muddled, film has a wealthy journalist isolating in his mansion with his family during the 1918 influenza epidemic. He grows increasingly more paranoid at their most recent servant hire, who he believes might be trying to ruin his life. I can easily imagine someone brainstorming a movie like this during the COVID-19 pandemic, crafting an absurdist suspense dark comedy to help cope with the legthy lockdown periods. Whether or not Coup! has anything interesting to say about it depends on what you read into it, because it both seems to have politics on the mind but also isn't meaty enough on them to actually follow through on it. Instead, the movie seems like a clever play on the "snobs vs. slobs" storyline without ever exploring it fully enough to be satisfying. It's inconsistently engaging, but it has a lively anarchic spirit. I might have have found the movie more digestible if had had gone full steam ahead, but there's enough effort here to give it a pass.

Harold and the Purple Crayon

⭐️1/2

Genre: Comedy, Fantasy

Director: Carlos Saldanha

Starring: Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Roberts, Alfred Molina

Based on the classic children's book, Harold and the Purple Crayon sees the titular infant grow into adulthood, yet still wearing a onesie and drawing on the walls. Like a lot of bad movies based on fantasy characters, Harold gets sucked into the real world, and now he and his magic crayon have to deal with real people. Y'know, it's the Masters of the Universe movie but if He-Man were a man-child. Probably the worst thing that the Sonic the Hedghog movies did was that it tricked Hollywood back into thinking that audiences always liked movies like this when it's really the exact opposite. Nobody wants fantastical characters in the real world. The real world sucks. It dilutes the fantastical. What if Harold was an adult man? What if his animal friends were real people instead of animals? I don't think anybody who read the Harold books ever asked any of these questions. And bizarrely enough, the movie feels like it needs to be a superhero fable as well, as Harold gets into a magic crayon duel with a bad guy like Green Lantern squaring off with Sinestro. I don't know why you would do this with this particular franchise. It's a scenario of a movie trying to outsmart it's source material and just creating something that blows up in its face. If any of this is going to work, then it needs more people in it like Tanya Reynolds, who jumps in with earnest enthusiasm for her role as Porcupine, rather than just mugging for the camera with a childish grin like everyone else. On the brighter side, there are a couple of legitimately good slapstick sequences in the film, which elevates family viewing value, but it's not going to be the optimal choice for families when there is a movie with Minions in it playing at the same theater.

To add insult to injury, the movie opens with an animated sequence of classic Harold that is quaint and cute. If you have this license, why aren't you making that movie instead of...whatever this is?

Kneecap

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Director: Rich Peppiatt

Starring: Naoise Ó Carealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh, JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Josie Walker, Fionnualla Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds, Adam Best, Simone Kirby, Michael Fassbender

This movie tells the true story of the origin of Irish hip hop group Kneecap, which also stars the actual group members, showing how they rose to fame in their signature style of rapping in their indigenous Irish language when politicians were trying to opress it. The story has a rousing spirit of refusing to let culture and heritage die even when the world is trying to kill it, and it's told with an offbeat playfulness that keeps its audience entertained. The members of Kneecap themselves aren't always engaging enough as actors to carry the movie, but their spirit and message works hard to overcome their shortcomings. The movie could probably be a hard sell in the States, as it requires a love of hip hop, following interchanges between English and Irish on a dime often, and it's very invested in Irish politics, but those who take the plunge will likely be impressed with what the band achieved with this movie.

Peak Season

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance

Director: Steven Kanter, Henry Loevner

Starring: Claudia Restrepo, Derrick Joseph DeBlasis, Ben Coleman

Very low budget indie sees engaged couple Max and Amy spending the summer in a resort town in Wyoming. The trip doesn't goes as planned as Max spends his time continuing to bury himself in his work, while Amy starts to grow a close friendship with a local wilderness guide. Peak Season clearly has a limited amount of money to work with, but it uses it wisely, telling a story with limited characters in personal situations, usually in wilderness settings where nobody is around. There is a lovely sense of authenticity to the film, making it feel genuine even when it's a tad too quaint for its own good. The movie is a contemplative character piece, though it runs head-first into screwball comedy in intervals. The balancing act never works, at least not in the way it's shooting for. It's charming in its own way, though it never breaks free from its own modesty.

Trap

⭐️⭐️

Genre: Thriller

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, Allison Pill

Sigh. Goddammit. It's another Shyamalan movie. It feels like we just had one, but then I have to remind myself that was a different Shyamalan.

Shyamalan's latest is more Hitchcockian than his output normally is, which sees Josh Hartnett taking his tween daughter to a pop concert only to discover that the police are closing in on a serial killer at that very concert. Plot twist: Hartnett is that very killer! Now he has to use his wits to escape from the concert with his daughter without getting caught. Trap is half the most interesting movie Shyamalan has made in years and half the biggest missed opportunity. Subtlety has never been a strength in Shyamalan movies and he sure as hell seem to be starting now. Hartnett, in particular, has the opportunity to do a performance with his eyes, but instead is encouraged to do broad facial reactions that kill the mood. Because of that, the movie's flavor never takes hold, even when suspense setpieces show promise. And even still, the film's plotting trips up in spurts, leading to four different climaxes that in a row, not even ending on the best one. I can't blame myself, because I never expect much of anything from Shyamalan movies. In the case of Trap, I found moments where the movie was willing to engage me on a level that intrigued me, only to break itself after trying too hard to maintain it. Sorry, movie. That tells me that it's not me, it's you.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Deadpool & Wolverine ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Despicable Me 4 ⭐️⭐️1/2

The Fabulous Four ⭐️⭐️

Fly Me to the Moon ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Inside Out 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Longlegs ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

A Quiet Place: Day One ⭐️⭐️

Twisters ⭐️⭐️

New To Digital

Daddio ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Janet Planet ⭐️⭐️⭐️