Multiplex Madness
Companion
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Thriller, Comedy
Director: Drew Hancock
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend
Jack Quaid's new girlfriend is Sophie Thatcher, but she's not quite what she seems. Unless you're expecting her to be a cybernetic sex doll, then she's exactly what she seems. At any rate, the couple live happily together until they go on a retreat with some friends, where things go horribly wrong and Thatcher begins to become aware of who and what she is. The ads for Companion lean heavily on being from the producers of horror hit Barbarian from several years back, even though the two movies don't have a terrible amount in common. Barbarian had twists and laughs, but it was played more for shocks than Companion, which is more of a metaphorical satire. Companion has a lot on its mind, from how we treat people/romantic partners to how we treat technology, and how there is probably a lot of overlap in how we can abuse both. If nothing else, the movie is a full-on metaphore for a woman in a toxic relationship and breaking free from it, gaining her independent identity. It's also presented in a playful, entertaining, and hilarious way. Companion is a dark comedy for those who like them with a little bit of blood and tears in between the laughs. Sometimes, there are some logic holes the movie struggles to work around, opting to just ignore them in hopes the audience won't ask questions, which does hamper the film's pace slightly. But Companion is a blast from start to finish, and it's a ride that I was fully on-board for.
Dog Man
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Comedy, Superhero, Action
Director: Peter Hastings
Starring: Peter Hastings, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Isla Fisher, Poppy Liu, Stephen Root, Billy Boyd, Ricky Gervais
DreamWorks Animation adapts another of Dav Pilkey's humorous picture book franchises, following their moderate success with Captain Underpants in 2017. Dog Man sees a cop and his dog blown up by a bomb, only to be stitched together into a Frankenstein "Supa Cop" named Dog Man, who quests to be the savior of OK City and stop evil genius cat Petey. What you see is what you get with Dog Man, offering up an absudist parody of pulp hero fiction and action cinema. The laughs are geared more toward kids than adults, but its comedy is appealing to adults in its clever construction. The animation is designed to mimic the art of the book, with only light florishes to make it cinematic. For the most part, the film's cinematography is designed to recreate the framing of a comic panel, likely to not overstimulate the senses of its young fans. Or because of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But while Dog Man has a tendency to tucker itself out with its strained plot of rambunctiousness, it is wise to keep its antics below the ninety minute mark. The movie is a hoot, but we don't really need more of it than we get.
Love Me
⭐️1/2
Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance, Fantasy
Director: Sam Zuchero, Andy Zuchero
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Steven Yeun
I'm all in favor of artistic expression and all that bullshit, but...what a weird fucking movie. Love Me takes place long after the extinction of all life on Earth (it's unspecified in the film, but I'm going to assume it's all the fault of Elon Musk), and a computerized buoy at sea begins to contact a satellite orbiting the Earth, which happens to have stored all the information on humanity, just in case aliens ever visit our dead world. The buoy sorts through the information and becomes obsessed with human relationships, seeking to create a virtual world where she and the satellite are in love with each other, and are also Twilight's Kristen Stewart and The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun.
Say what you will about this movie's wild swing at a premise, but it certainly has ambition. That's something I can respect. But very little about it works, so I'm still going to kick it because it's easy and fun. The film's attempt at an AI love story on a dying world is a little bit Wall-E, but much dumber. Its attempt to give these little doodads sentience never quite pans out because it's almost as if they just suddenly decided they were sentient rather than supposed to be sentient. When it comes to the actual love story, the film has a lot on its mind, from identity to social media addiction to loneliness even within a relationship, while also attempting to portray love as a little blip that means little to the universe but everything to an individual. The movie clearly wants to be existential, but it only comes off as being a simulator for what it's like to be really angsty and in a clingy relationship with someone who has high anxiety. It fumbles its themes in favor of trying to be cute. To be fair, Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun and both really good in this, and both they and the screenplay commit to the bit, which is actually quite admirable. Unfortunately, the movie never figures out how to weild its theme in a meaningful way, desiring to be philisophical but settling on just being quirky. But I guarantee you it's probably the most unconventional romance you could watch on this upcoming Valentine's Day. Just be prepared to be frustrated with how much it seems lost on what to do with itself.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscars Nominated: Best Inernational Feature Film
Genre: Drama
Director: Mohammad Rasoulof
Starring: Sopheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki, Niousha Akhshi, Amineh Arani
From what I gather, Mohammad Rasoulof is a rebellious filmmaker. And I mean this in a litteral sense, as his political commentary filmmaking has gotten him arrested in his home country of Iran. In the case of The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof filmed it in secret and had to flee to Germany in order to release it. The film was submitted to the Academy for the International Oscar by Germany, even though it's not really a German production. But I don't think Iran would have submitted a film like this to the Oscars, particularly ones that are government and propaganda critical and reflective. For the record, Iran submitted a film called In the Arms of the Tree to the Oscars, which appears to be an arthouse family drama with zero politics. The film was not nominated. The Seed of the Sacred Fig was. I'm sure that pissed somebody off.
The film centers on the family of a lawyer who has been cornered into approving judgments against uprising protesters against the government, including executions. His teenage daughters begin to grow more uncomfortable with the propaganda on television, as well as their parent's indifference to it. Tensions begin rising within their family as they begin to decide whether blood or country is more important. The movie is admirably dangerous, because it's a very raw look at living under oppression and being unable to speak your mind, and being under the wing of those who might know exactly what the government is doing, but must cater to it out of fear disguised as loyalty. It's a very realistic portrayal, and the movie is quite compelling in its drama. I'm curious if all the social media footage is from actual protests in Iran, but I couldn't find any concrete information on that aspect. If it's specially filmed for the movie, it looks harrowing and real. If it wasn't, well damn. There is some shocking stuff in this movie. If I were to be critical of anything, it's that its slow-burn presentation might dawdle a bit too much, as it takes over an hour for the ball to start rolling and the movie's spice begins to grip the viewer. Once it does, though, it's an unforgettable experience.
Valiant One
⭐️
Genre: War, Action, Adventure
Director: Steve Barnett
Starring: Chase Stokes, Lana Condor, Desmin Borges, Callan Mulvey, Jonathan Whitesell, Daniel Jun
A U.S. military crew's helicopter crashes in North Korea, and the survivors make a run for the border with enemy soldiers hot on their tale. Valiant One is a low rent Black Hawk Down that doesn't even reach entertainment heights of something like Behind Enemy Lines. It's very clear that the filmmakers have very little cash on-hand, so they play a penny-pinching game hoping to save what they do have for the film's climax. I don't know about you, but I'm always super pumped when a movie cuts away from the action because they can't afford to film it. The film can only rely on its screenplay until then, which is thinly-written, pandering, and even kind of insulting. It finally gets to some pizzazz in its final half-hour, but by then I was worn down by the propaganda machine and just didn't care. The cast tries their best with what little character their given, even Lana Condor, who seems miscast on the surface level because she is so petite, and she's clearly so much shorter than the rest of her castmates, that dudded up in all of that military gear she looks like a turtle. But Condor also gives one of the more soulful performances in the movie, turning this thankless role into as much as she can munster for it. That performance is almost impressive in of itself, but it's not worth watching the movie to see. If you really must see every military movie ever made, Valiant One Will pass the time. If you want one that's compelling or exciting, this one is a hard pass.
Art Attack
September 5
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oscars Nominated: Best Original Screenplay
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director: Tim Fehlbaum
Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, John Megaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch
I've been hearing some curious rumblings about September 5 for a while now, because the word was from the people who loved it were fully going to bat for it and saying that it was absolutely winning Best Picture this year, while others were saying "It's good, but let's not go crazy." It wasn't even nominated. It did take a screenplay nomination, though. Let's take the wins where we can get them.
The film is almost a companion piece to Steven Spielberg's Munich, which also centered on the Black September terrorist attack of September 5th, 1972, where the Israeli Olympic athletes were all taken hostage and killed in Germany during that summer's Olympic games. This film takes the focus of the ABC crew who were reporting on the Olympics only to suddenly find themselves televising the event. September 5 is an interesting movie, even if its drama isn't quite as powerful as it seems to think it is. The film deserves credit for recreating the atmosphere of being stuck in a room and working with what information you get as it comes to you, even though there are sacrifices to the narrative that come with it. The movie is so tightly confined in very few rooms that I found myself thankful to leave the theater just to stretch my legs. Because of this, the dramatic momentum can stall at a few points, and the film's big dramatic beats can feel a little stunted, especially since we already know how this story played out and this is a movie about people being told what happened and telling other people. That being said, the movie's themes are worth sticking around for, as it has heavy "in-the-moment" broadcast drama and asks questions of their own purpose, wondering if airing such an event on live television did more harm than good. The film can get a little on-the-nose with it, with characters openly questioning whether what they were doing was exploitation, but they are interesting questions to ponder, so I'll let it slide.
Oscar's Trash Can
Maria
⭐️⭐️
Oscars Nominated: Best Cinematography
Genre: Drama
Director: Pablo Larraín
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alba Rohrwacher, Haluk Bilginer, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Lukewarm biopic stars Anjelina Jolie as famed opera singer Maria Callas in declining health, reflecting on her life in the days before her death. Visually beautiful, if inert, Maria feels as if it has little interest in captivating the viewer and more ambitions in gathering accolades: it wants praise for its star, its design, and its techinque, and to hell with storytelling. It's the definition of an "Oscar Bait" movie, yet the only nomination it walked away with was for cinematography, which is admittedly its best attribute, so I can't complain. If the film wants to be successful at anything, it wants to be one of those contemplative dramas with the central character making peace with one's past at the end of life. It never revs up its engine to really put the full life on display, though, instead coming off as a collection of scenes featuring Jolie as a frustrated diva interrupted by the occasional flashback. To be fair, Jolie is a pretty good diva, so she's well-used here. The thing is, I can handle good movies and bad movies, but the movie's that I get frustrated at are movies like Maria, which are technically competent, but never take a concrete swing at something. Maybe it's one of those movies where they didn't know what it was until it was fully formed in front of them, and it just fell short. In that case, then it frustrates me to see so many talented people pour their souls into a movie that isn't really anything.
The Six Triple Eight
⭐️⭐️
Oscars Nominated: Best Original Song - "The Journey"
Genre: Drama
Director: Tyler Perry
Starring: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Oprah Winfrey
Tyler Perry's latest melodrama is based on the true story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black female battalion who was put in charge of sorting through thought-to-be undeliverable mail from soldiers during World War II. The point of the movie is clear that a small touch of humanity in the worst of times is important, while also portraying strength against adversity in how this batallion is treated by their contomporaries in a racist and sexist environment. All of this is admirable enough, though the film is only compelling on basic surface-level portrayal rather than skillful dramatic execution. I don't know if Perry has much experience with films like this, and his filmography is too sizeable to do a dive into just what he gets up to, but as a period drama, The Six Triple Eight looks amateurish. But I can't throw that out all willy-nilly, because of all the things you can say about Tyler Perry's filmography, an amateur he is not. After twenty years in the business, he has a filmography the size of someone who has spent fifty years doing the same. He just has a particular sensibility and style that allows him to pump out work at a constant rate, whereas other directors usually allow themselves longer prep time and production. I wouldn't be surprised if Perry's prep was much smaller while this film wasn't the sole focus of his attention, as he undoubtedly had several other projects in the works. The Six Triple Eight didn't gain attention from the Oscars for anything it does particularly well, though, rather being nominated for having a song written by the Academy's longtime flirtation Diane Warren, who delivers a schmaltzy tune to be paired with a schmaltzy movie. Warren is likely to lose again, but she keeps on shooting for the moon.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Brave the Dark ⭐️⭐️
The Brutalist ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Complete Unknown ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Flight Risk ⭐️⭐️
Moana 2 ⭐️⭐️
Mufasa: The Lion King ⭐️⭐️1/2
Nosferatu ⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of Them Days ⭐️⭐️1/2
Presence ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ⭐️⭐️1/2
Wicked Part I ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Wolf Man ⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
Babygirl ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Bonhoeffer ⭐️⭐️
The Fire Inside ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Moana 2 ⭐️⭐️
Sing Sing ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Oscar Nominations
A Lien (N/A)
Alien: Romulus ⭐️⭐️1/2
Anora ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2Anuja (N/A)
The Apprentice ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Beautiful Men (N/A)
Better Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Black Box Diaries ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Brutalist ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A Complete Unknown ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Conclave ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Death by Numbers (N/A)
A Different Man ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Dune Part Two ⭐️⭐️1/2
Elton John: Never Too Late (N/A)
Emilia Pérez (N/A)
Flow ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Girl with the Needle (N/A)
Gladiator II ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I Am Ready, Warden (N/A)
I'm Not a Robot (N/A)
I'm Still Here (N/A)
Incident (N/A)
Inside Out 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Instruments of a Beating Heart (N/A)
In the Shadow of the Cypress (N/A)
The Last Ranger (N/A)
Magic Candles (N/A)
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent (N/A)
Maria ⭐️⭐️
Memoir of a Snail (N/A)
Nickel Boys ⭐️⭐️⭐️
No Other Land (N/A)
Nosferatu ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Only Girl in the Orchestra (N/A)
Porcelain War (N/A)
A Real Pain ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Seed of the Sacred Fig ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
September 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sing Sing ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Six Triple Eight ⭐️⭐️
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (N/A)
The Substance ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Sugarcane (N/A)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (N/A)
Wander to Wonder (N/A)
Wicked Part I ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
The Wild Robot ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Yuck! (N/A)
Coming Soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment