Cinema Playground Journal 2025: Week 24 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

How to Train Your Dragon

⭐️

Genre:  Fantasy, Adventure

Director:  Dean DeBlois

Starring:  Gerard Butler, Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gabriel Howell, Julien Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Nick Frost, Peter Serafinowicz

I'm not one to be so arrogant as to say when a movie shouldn't have been made.  However, I am adept at figuring out when a movie was made for all the wrong reasons, purposefully refusing to acknowledge the things that could have made it something interesting, opting to be creatively inert because it makes them more money.  That doesn't necessarily make a bad movie, because I love quite a few films that were only made to turn a profit.  What makes a bad movie is when even the movie itself doesn't seem to care, which is the experience of watching the remake of How to Train Your Dragon.  Granted, the movie sometimes goes to great lengths to capture the same beats as the first film, but at the expense of putting actual heart in its own production.  It's an apallingly lazy movie, with the only ambition being to cozy up to the safest possible course to make sure they don't put off anybody who already likes this series.  That is, unless you liked this series because of how creative, touching, adventurous, and fun it is.  If so, this new film will absolutely turn you off, because its about as anti-creative as it can be while not alive enough to be recreate the emotion and excitement of the previous films.  It's an assembly line production waiting for you to hand it money.  I kept waiting for this movie to give me just one reason to justify coming to the theater and watching it instead of staying home and watching the original.  In response, it kept asking me if it could borrow five dollars.

But let's just take a moment and pretend the original doesn't exist and look at it from a production standpoint.  How to Train Your Dragon is loosely based on the children's book series, telling of a Viking boy named Hiccup who is taught to hate and fear dragons by his village.  One day, he captures a Night Fury dragon that he names Toothless, who he is unable to kill.  The two become friends, learning to trust each other while overcoming the fear between the two species.  It's a good script, and we know this because they already made a good movie out of it.  Using it a second time seems to be a safe bet, at first.  Plays can do multiple productions based on one script, and they are often worth seeing.  Some can crash and burn with that exact same script, too.  In the case of How to Train Your Dragon, a lot of what this script was was based on the fact that it was written specifically for animation, and trying to adapt these lines and gestures into live-action requires some sort of effort.  The movie doesn't put this effort forth, often reciting the script word-for-word because it worked the first time.  This leads to a lot of stilted delivery, as actors all recite their lines in a way that makes it sound phonetically rather than organic.  The performances in this movie are trash.  The drama doesn't take hold because nobody feels authentic, and the levity humor doesn't land because the movie just delivers it incorrectly (the new moment of "Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile." is quite possibly the worst line-delivery I've heard all year).  Even Gerard Butler, who is reprising a role he played in the original, looks like he is performing in two separate movies.  One where he is fierce and humorless, and another where he is jolly and whimsical.  On a brighter note, I have slight praise for Nico Parker and Harry Tavaldwyn, who both seem to at least have some vision of adequately adapting their respective characters of Astrid and Tuffnut to a live-action setting.

And while I can lay some of this at the performers' feet, the truth is that a lot of the movie's problems are a production issue.  To be frank, none of the actors look as if they're occupying the same space as the CGI dragons, looking like they are glancing at harmless ping-pong balls rather than the fierce firebreathers that they should be afraid of.  Bringing up the dragons, some of them look fine, while some of them are off-putting, because the film takes the original designs and is afraid to change them.  This hurts Toothless the most, because the movie wants him to be recognizable for marketing and merchandising, but they are taking a design that was specifically designed to fit the aesthetic of the animated movies and tossing it into a completely different aesthetic entirely.  Toothless looks odd and out-of-place, looking like an overly textured cartoon character.  If the movie were more stylized, like a Tim Burton or Guillermo del Toro movie, maybe this could have worked (the word "maybe" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there).  This is the first live-action movie from Dean DeBlois, who directed the previous three How to Train Your Dragon movies, so we know there is talent there.  These production faults fall squarely on him, because everything about this film hurts from inexperience in a format.  There is no comfort in what he is doing, hoping just trying a rough equivalence will make things balance out, but instead everything bursts into flames.

Am I being harsh on this movie?  Is the truth really that it's not that bad?  Possibly.  The truth is that I don't much care.  I had a miserable time watching this and I hated just about every minute of it.  If the ambition of this movie was to take a great script that already made a great movie and make something that wasn't fun in the slightest, then all I can say is mission fucking accomplished.

The Life of Chuck

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama, Fantasy

Director:  Mike Flanagan

Starring:  Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill

Mike Flanagan's first non-thriller movie, though he does jump into the well of horror maestro Stephen King's infinite stories to find it.  The Life of Chuck is Flanagan's third King adaptation, following Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep, and he is already in production of his fourth, a miniseries adaptation of Carrie.  The Life of Chuck sees Flanagan trying to emulate that of Frank Darabont when he brought The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile to the big screen.  Life of Chuck feels probably closer to Forrest Gump with how schmaltzy it is, so be warned that it's not exactly an apple-to-apples comparison.  As to what the movie is about, it feels like it's more about the discovery of what it's story is than an actual story that can be summed up.  If anything, the film's story is more metaphor than narrative, with the titular Chuck being a stand-in for anyone who walks this earth.  Chuck is a man with dreams and passions who lives to be an adult who had to let them slip away.  Mortality is a presence in the movie, as it is contemplative of the ultimate abrupt end while bellowing an idea above it to live life without being haunted by it.  The movie is abstract and sentimental, sometimes to its detrement, but it's destined to be on someone's all-time favorite list based on its fearless face.  It's going to inspire someone, despite its imperfections.  That someone is going to do great things.

Materialists

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama, Romance

Director:  Celine Song

Starring:  Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal

Dakota Johnson has to deal with the impossible task of choosing between a hot wealthy man who looks like Pedro Pascal and a hot struggling theater performer who looks like Chris Evans in the sophomore film of Past Lives director Celine Song.  Johnson plays a New York matchmaker for a very picky clientele, and is probably the best at her job.  But her mathematics at matchmaking are put to the test as she starts a relationship with rich dreamboat Pascal and old flame Evans stumbles back into her life.  Materialists is another analysis of romance by Song, simultaneously more upbeat than Past Lives but also just as bittersweet, in its own way.  Materialists isn't as interesting as Past Lives, which was a deeper and more nuanced movie.  Materialists does find value in a scathing analysis of dating practices, standards, and the presentation of human beings as products to be purchased, equating marriage as a business arrangement instead of a symbolic gesture of affection.  It puts on display the risks and fears of putting yourself on the market, both in the small and the extreme.  There is a lot of poetic dialogue in the film, some of which is probably too on-the-nose, but it's a passionate cry of geniuneness in an artificial climate.  At the same time, it doesn't judge or shame the struggling lonelyhearts, though it will occasionally mock those with unrealistic or trashy standards and point and laugh.  It's a smart and smooth movie that is a joy to watch.  Some storytellers run out of things to say after one all-encompassing effort but are forced into another because of success.  What's impressive about Celine Song is that she finds new things to say about love even after pouring her soul into Past Lives.  If she continues, she might become the defining romantic voice of this generation.  If she branches out away from that, I'm sure she'll succeed as long as her stories stay this distinct.

The Unholy Trinity

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Western

Director:  Richard Gray

Starring:  Pierce Brosnan, Samuel L. Jackson, Brandon Lessard, Veronica Ferres, Q'orianka Kilcher, David Arquette, Ethan Peck, Tim Daly

Sins of the father and all that jazz in this western that sees a boy traveling to a town named Trinity to avenge his father only to find all the trouble he was neck deep in.  The movie is haunted by overbearing theatrics and haphazard plot points, but Pierce Brosnan is locked-in and Samuel L. Jackson is having the time of his life.  There's not much else to say about the movie, but it's also a movie that I don't feel was specifically made to leave an impression.  I suspect it was just a western that was made for the sake of making a western.  It can fluff itself with some star power in Brosnan and Jackson, some character actors on the side, and a few fun shootouts and be a passable time waster for people who keep Gunsmoke and The Rifleman on as background noise as they go on about their lives.  There is also a hooker who shows more balls and humanity than the rest of the cast.  She dies in about five minutes because of course she does, the best characters always die in westerns.  That's about the only impact it will have on me as it comes and goes from theaters, never to be thought of again.  Movies without a particular story to tell will do that to you.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

Ballerina ⭐️⭐️1/2

Bring Her Back ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dangerous Animals ⭐️⭐️1/2

Final Destination:  Bloodlines ⭐️1/2

Friendship ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Karate Kid:  Legends ⭐️⭐️

The Last Rodeo ⭐️⭐️

Lilo & Stitch ⭐️⭐️

Mission:  Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two ⭐️⭐️1/2

The Phoenician Scheme ⭐️⭐️1/2

Thunderbolts ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

New To Digital

The Amateur ⭐️⭐️1/2

Clown in a Cornfield ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Things Like This ⭐️

New To Physical

Drop ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Friend ⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the Lost Lands ⭐️⭐️

A Working Man ⭐️⭐️

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2025: Week 23 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Ballerina

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Action

Director:  Len Wiseman

Starring:  Ana de Armas, Angelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Norman Reedus, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves

The second attempt at branching out the John Wick franchise into a Cinematic Universe, following the Continental miniseries on Peacock, Ballerina gets more in depth with what Angelica Huston was up to in the third movie.  Ana de Armas plays a Kikimora assassin who bumps back into the cultmembers who are responsible for her father's murder.  Defying the orders of her house to let sleeping dogs lie, she furthers herself into her own investigation, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.  From my understanding, Ballerina was derived from a screenplay that was inspired by John Wick but otherwise unrelated.  In a curious case of serendipity, Lionsgate purchased it and decided to incorporate it into the John Wick franchise, even setting elements up in Chapter 3 to directly tie into this film.  The film does smell like it has been shoehorned into this franchise, because it doesn't entirely feel like it's walking at the same pace.  The action is on point, and de Armas is capable lead, but the film is just too slow.  The John Wick franchise stretched itself to three-hours, and even then it never became slow.  The film is a continuous stretch of stop-and-go, slowing to a crawl and interrupting itself with a raucous action sequence.  If the film were littered with the colorful characters that John Wick is known to bring, there might be more fun to be had, but we're given a cast that's is full of stoic tropes, where everyone has a sob story and a rehearsed monologue.  Ballerina becomes a blend of that new generation post-John Wick hyperenergy while also being old fashioned to a fault.  This might be an issue that director Len Wiseman brings with him, because he is a filmmaker of the post-Matrix generation, who created action films with slow motion and wirework.  This franchise is the next level after that, and that flavor was seemingly added in reshoots with previous Wick helmer Chad Stahelski on hand as a consultant.  If Lionsgate wants John Wick to be the franchise that they seemingly want it to be, they need to learn how to do this without Stahelski, otherwise it's just going to flail and waffle off, like a fart in the wind.  That's not to say that the movie doesn't have its moments, because the flamethrower duel was worth the price of admission by itself.  There is little reason to yet be concerned that John Wick might lose its status as the defining action franchise of the post-millenium.  But if Lionsgate wants to keep pumping out spin-offs, they need to really work hard to maintain its mojo.  You can tell Ballerina tried, which is better than nothing.  But I'm going to have to insist that they push themselves until their feet bleed.  Otherwise, they're just going to die in the field.

Dangerous Animals

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Thriller

Director:  Sean Byrne

Starring:  Jai Courtney, Hassie Harrison, Josh Heuston, Rob Carlton

Jai Courtney plays a man who runs a "swim with the sharks" experience off the coast of Australia who feeds his customers to said sharks for kicks, though one wonders how he manages to actually stay in business if the mortality rate is 100%.  For the most part, Dangerous Animals is just Wolf Creek on the ocean, where unsuspecting wanderers just fall afoul of some grizzled Aussie who kills people because he's an asshole.  Simply being an asshole is one of my least favorite serial killer motivations in films like this, which is why I don't particularly care for Wolf Creek, but Jai Courtney is eating this role up and I'm going to let him have his fun.  Besides, he seems to genuinely get off on watching people get eaten, so maybe he's just really into vore.  The screenplay focuses on suvivalist elements, though feels stretched thin, while the main leads are not very compelling and some wonky CGI can take one out of the movie.  It comes back to how committed Courtney is and how tense the movie can get, and both are of a higher tier, making Dangerous Animals a casual recommend for those looking for a Saturday night thriller.

The Phoenician Scheme

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Comedy

Director:  Wes Anderson

Starring:  Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffery Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis

Oh look, Wes Anderson made a movie.  Not only that, it's a movie about arms dealers, espionage, and assassins.  I mean, the mere idea of a Wes Anderson movie with any of that is kinda funny (of course, "kinda funny" is probably the base description of Anderson's entire filmography).  Obviously, the movie needed a title like a Robert Ludlum book, because if Anderson did a Ludlum adaptation, it would likely look a lot like The Phoenician Scheme.  Benicio del Toro stars as an arms dealer who, after a near-death experience, decides to bond with his daughter (who is a nun, but wears far more make-up than any nun I've ever seen outside of pornography).  All the while, he puts forth a swindle that allows him control of Phoenician labor.  The movie is what I expected it to be, which means my experience is the same as any Anderson movie.  That is to say that I think it's amusing for a while, think it's almost over, check the time, discover there is an hour left, then wish I were dead.  I'm perfectly happy knowing that Anderson sits in his corner and does the thing that he's good at.  And as always, that's no promise that I'll care when it finds its way in front of my eyes.  As I've said many times before, a little bit of Anderson goes a long way, and I'll never be a completionist of watching his work because it really doesn't appeal to me.  Is there anything distinct about The Phoenician Scheme that sets it apart?  Nothing too notable, though Anderson does attempt to block out his unique take on an action scene toward the end.  Not sure if I've ever seen him do that before, and the result is kinda cute.  I watched the movie just fine, so I'll give it a pass.  There's nothing here to change my mind about Wes Anderson movies, though.  I'm content with accepting that, and Anderson is content with only appealing to those who are obsessed with his movies.  If it ain't broke, let's let it be.

The Ritual

⭐️1/2

Genre:  Horror

Director:  David Midell

Starring:  Al Pacino, Dan Steven's, Ashley Greene, Abigail Cowen, Maria Camila Giraldo, Meadow Williams, Patrick Fabian, Patricia Heaton

Based on a real-life, well-documented exorcism from 1928, The Ritual features Dan Stevens as a priest who assists exorcist Al Pacino with the lengthy process of expelling a demon from a young woman.  Basically the same story as every exorcism movie ever.  If you're going to do something derivative, true story or not, at least do it with personality.  The Ritual is like watching a mockbuster of The Exorcist that accidentally spent what little budget they had on Al Pacino.  That almost seems like what it's aiming for, a performance drama where we're meant to be captivated by Pacino and Stevens as they interact with one another.  There's not enough to their interactions to get excited about, unfortunately.  That means it's up to the horror to pick up the slack, but it's mostly flash zooms and screeching noises.  The film is a failure as both a drama and a shocker, making it a hollow watch.

Netflix & Chill

Predator:  Killer of Killers

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Streaming On:  Hulu

Genre:  Action, Thriller

Director:  Dan Trachtenberg

Starring:  Lindsay LaVanchy, Lewis Ozawa, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn

We need to mark this day on our calendars because for the first time in human history we have made two good Predator movies in a row.  This new one, Killer of Killers, is the first animated film in the franchise, and it's enough of an argument in the format to make me hope it isn't the last.  Probably the biggest fear when it comes to such a project is that it would turn out like The Animatrix, a wildly inconsistent collection of short stories that only served as advertisement for 2003's Matrix sequels.  Killer of Killers might be a hype-builder for this year's theatrical sequel, Predator:  Badlands, but even if it is, it works as its own individual sequel and not just a promotional tool.

The film is also an anthology of sorts, following suit of the previous Predator movie, Prey, by showcasing stories of Predators appearing throughout human history, fighting with Vikings, Samurai, and World War II soldiers.  Each story shows one human overcoming each Predator, which isn't really a spoiler because that's what happens in every Predator movie, and all come to a head when they are collected by a Predator clan that seems to specifically seek out the prey that manages to overcome their race.  I have questions about this process, seeing how this collection seemingly has been frozen for centuries only to randomly get defrosted to partake in a bitchy little honor fight for what appears to be no reason.  There's not a lot of purpose to the film's entire central premise, but it makes up for in sheer amount of badassery.  Killer of Killers exists to be a bloody showcase of the Predator franchise unrestrained.  This is seemingly what Shane Black's The Predator wanted to do with its larger budget blockbuster approach but dropped the ball on by overthinking the concept of Predator.  Killer of Killers keeps things basic and lets them build, working its way to a climax that the audience is building anticipation for as the movie gets more and more brazen with how hardcore it's going to be.  The climax is arguably the least exciting sequence in the movie, and it ends on an almost ill-advised cliffhanger that copies a better-executed ending in 2010's Predators, but the movie has earned enough good-will by this point that the whole of the film is not damaged.

Killer of Killers is enough of a sign that the franchise is in safe hands with Dan Trachtenberg, who is not only the first person to direct more than one Predator movie, he already has a third one due out in a few months.  My appetite is properly whetted as the franchise finally has found its footing after a few rough false-starts.  But we're finally getting movies that we can hold up with the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic (and the underrated 2010 sequel, but I'll forgo my soapbox for now).  That's impressive by itself, but if Trachtenberg really wants to turn this franchise into gold, he'll pick up Shane Black's baton and follow-up that plot thread of Predators harvesting autism.  If he can turn that into a coherent storyline, this franchise will truly be salvaged.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

The Accountant² ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bring Her Back ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Final Destination:  Bloodlines ⭐️1/2

Friendship ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Karate Kid:  Legends ⭐️⭐️

The Last Rodeo ⭐️⭐️

Lilo & Stitch ⭐️⭐️

Mission:  Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two ⭐️⭐️1/2

On Swift Horses ⭐️⭐️1/2

Sinners ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Thunderbolts ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

New To Digital

Hurry Up Tomorrow ⭐️

The Legend of Ochi ⭐️⭐️

Sinners ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

The Surfer ⭐️⭐️1/2

New To Physical

The Ballad of Wallis Island ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Coming Soon!

Cinema Playground Journal 2025: Week 22 (My Cinema Playground)

Multiplex Madness

Bring Her Back

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Horror

Director:  Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou

Starring:  Billy Barratt, Sora Wong, Sally Hawkins

The Philippous are back in their follow-up to one of the most impressive horror films of the century, and it's just as visceral and uncomfortable as you would hope it to be.  Bring Her Back plays with similar themes to Talk to Me, that of grief and trauma, albeit in a messier, less satisfying package.  Bring Her Back centers on a pair of siblings who are fostered after the death of their father, put in the care of Sally Hawkins, who is secretly creating a rift between the two for her own benefit, which involves spooky kids and flesh-eating.  The film is a slow-burn, offering context clues throughout the film as to what Sally Hawkins is elbow deep into without spelling it out for the audience.  This isn't exactly a problem, though its choice to end ambiguously without some clarity on this seemingly complicated process Hawkins is going through can make the film frustrating.  Compare this to Talk to Me, which swiftly establishes the rules it's playing with through naturally delivered exposition, leaves unimportant aspects to the imagination, then uses them to create an emotionally draining rollercoaster.  There feels like there is a lot that is not being said in Bring Her Back, which is likely inviting closer analysis of what's boiling underneath it.  It can make it a more interesting movie for some viewers based on that, who will likely return for repeat viewings to study and theorize, and while being a raw and uncaged movie for those who come to be disturbed.  It even delves into a level of body horror that makes Cronenberg look like he makes My Little Pony movies.  Bring Her Back delivers the goods, though it only feels like a fraction of the movie is actually onscreen.

Karate Kid:  Legends

⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Drama, Sports

Director:  Jonathan Entwistle

Starring:  Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen

I've probably seen enough of The Karate Kid to know that I like The Karate Kid, which is to say that I've watched the original and the Jackie Chan remake (which has been retconned into the same universe) and didn't watch the bad ones.  I also haven't seen Cobra Kai, because I never felt like my connection to the franchise was strong enough to merit the investment in a TV series.  Maybe if I'm bored one day and looking for a new binge, I'll give it a shot.  But it's hard not to have some reverence to the franchise if you were born in the 80's, since it was basically just Rocky for ten-year-olds (Rocky and Karate Kid even shared the same director).  Now, Karate Kid is back in theaters, and its big selling point is the franchise crossover between previous franchise leads (even though this is Hillary Swank erasure and they should be ashamed of themselves).  I think Karate Kid:  Legends wants to Karate Kid what Creed was to Rocky, but I think they undervalue just what exactly Creed brought to the table.

This time a former student of Jackie Chan's Mr. Han character has moved to New York, where he is roughed up by the karate-using hoodlums of the neighborhood, who are also linked to loan sharks who are gunning for the father of this kid's new love interest.  They go through a whole spell where new Karate Kid teaches the father character how to punch so he can win a boxing match, which is an interesting flip on the concept that never really pays off.  It is kinda funny that the adult student is played by Joshua Jackson, star of another nostalgic underdog franchise, The Mighty Ducks.  Anyway, Joshua Jackson gets beaten up, which results in Jackie Chan coming to New York...for reasons.  He also brings original Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio, along with him...for reasons.  They spruce up new Karate Kid's martial arts so he can win the local karate tournament...for retribution...or something.  I'll be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the point of this movie's third act is other than to squeeze in a karate tournament.  I'm guessing it has something to do with overcoming fear, but this plot theme is underdeveloped and only broken out when it's convenient to the climax.  Very little about the film is cohesive, which is why it's surprising that it's a hard movie to dislike.  Its story is janky and dumb, but it has a little bit of spark to it that makes it feel like the production crew had spirit and heart.  It's not enough to turn it into anything in particular, but it helps it go down easy.

I imagine the movie is going to coast hard on nostalgia, and most of my audience seemed to just be there to see familiar faces (including a cameo at the end that people clapped at).  I liked seeing Chan and Macchio.  I wish they were given something more expansive to do except bicker and flare a martial arts move every now and again, but that's just me.  But at the same time, there are few things more frustrating than watching Jackie Chan get old.  He's one of those symbols of youthful exuberance that we all wish achieved a semblance of frozen-in-time immortality.  Macchio is probably a different case, because while we always associate him as being the Karate Kid (when we're not associating him with My Cousin Vinny), we also haven't seen all that much of him over the years, so while seeing him aged is startling, it's just nice to see him at all.  Legends would have benefitted from utilizing them as much as the original films would have used Pat Morita as the beloved Mr. Miyagi, who was an actual character and not just a face.  Chan and Macchio are just faces here for appearances.  If the actual Karate Kid story were better, this might not matter, but it isn't and the whole movie rings hollow.  That being said, Legends might be the best of the not-very-good Karate Kid sequels, so it should probably take that as a win.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre:  Comedy, Romance

Director:  Laura Piani

Starring:  Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson, Annabelle Lengronne, Liz Crowther, Alan Fairbuirn, Lola Peploe

It's funny to see this movie playing mere weeks after the 2005 Jane Austen adaptation of Pride & Predjudice completed its 20th anniversary run.  I doubt this is a slight against it and more of a silly coincidence, but at any rate, here we are with a charming French romcom that takes influence from Jane Austen romanticism and goofs on it a little bit.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life centers on a bookshop worker and hopeful writer who struggles with imposter syndrome, while also finds he love life dissappointingly uneventful.  After her best friend and co-worker sends several of her chapters to Jane Austen's estate, she is accepted into a writer's retreat, while unexpectedly being thrust into a love triangle as she confronts her feelings toward her BFF and her attraction to Jane Austen's great-great-great grand nephew.  The film is mostly a pleasant romcom, but it's bristled with ideas of exploring both romantic idealism against modern day sexuality, as well as battling one's own creative frustration.  The film's answer to both of these is "Figure out your own shit," which seems brazen at first, but what makes it work is that the message isn't "Finding happiness in a good man," but rather "Find contentment in yourself, and maybe positive things will follow."  The themes are smart and relatable, though sometimes the narrative dips in favor of bending itself backwards to create its next plot complication instead of flowing straight to it.  It's enough to hold the film down as a fun evening watch as opposed to something more resonating, but there is an admirable spirit in its heart.

Tornado

⭐️⭐️1/2

Genre:  Action, Thriller

Director:  John Maclean

Starring:  Kôki, Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, Joanne Whalley

I do love me a good samurai movie.  Tornado has the makings of one, but is probably too meandering and shallow to achieve what it aims for.  The film feels like it borrows a handful of elements from 70's exploitation flicks about victims coming back to extract revenge on their aggressors, like I Spit on Your Grave or Last House on the Left.  It's not quite as extreme as those examples, but it does try to put weight behind what violence it does offer.  Each death or aggression is carried out with meaning, wanting to stir up feelings in the audience, which not a lot of films like this do.  The story is simple enough, as a young Japanese girl named Tornado is a part of a traveling puppet show, which she uses as a distraction to steal gold from local bandits.  The bandits catch wind and kill her mentor, causing her to go on the run until she gains the confidence to weild a samurai sword and take them all out.  There's not much to it, and it can get choppy in a light non-linear narrative, but there are decent thrills to be had.  The film, at times, tries to be a psychological piece, which it's not very successful at.  There just isn't enough here to gain a foothold in analyzing mankind's violent nature.  It makes the film a little slower and it builds to a soft anti-climax when it should be full adrenaline.  But Tornado is a solid watch for those who like these sort of lone-wolf-against-the-world movies.

Movies Still Playing At My Theater

The Accountant² ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Final Destination:  Bloodlines ⭐️1/2

Friendship ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Last Rodeo ⭐️⭐️

Lilo & Stitch ⭐️⭐️

Mission:  Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two ⭐️⭐️1/2

Sinners ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

Thunderbolts ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

New To Digital

Homestead ⭐️

Juliet & Romeo ⭐️

On Swift Horses ⭐️⭐️1/2

Shadow Force ⭐️1/2

Until Dawn ⭐️1/2

New To Physical

The Alto Knights ⭐️⭐️

Bottoms ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Day the Earth Blew Up ⭐️⭐️1/2

Queer ⭐️⭐️1/2

The Woman in the Yard ⭐️⭐️

Coming Soon!