Multiplex Madness
Rental Family
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Director: Hikari
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman, Akira Emoto, Shino Shinozaki
Brendan Fraser takes his first major starring role since winning an Oscar in a soft schmaltzy dramedy where he plays a down-on-his-luck actor living in Japan who takes a job with a unique business where clients hire actors to perform certain roles in their personal lives. Fraser is hired to pretend he's the long lost father of a little girl, only to wind up closely bonding with her. I'm not entirely sure I understand the business at the center of this movie. I understand the concept, because it's basically RPG prostitution, but it seems very niche, and the film both portrays it as being publicly successful and also underground simultaneously. But it's an interesting idea that is therapeutic in theory. Though, I also can't help but feel a lot of these problems are solved by therapy dogs (because PUPPY). Taking the premise at face value, the movie is cute while also a bit potentially therapeutic in helping viewers identify potential voids in their own lives. Fraser is constantly one of the most written-off actors of his generation but there's a huggable lug genuineness to him that I've always found charming. That aspect of his profile is helpful here because Fraser is very tender and heartfelt in his role. He plays a character who is dismayed at his lack of success but finds spending time with his make-believe family might actually fulfill something he didn't even know was missing. Sometimes the movie gets so lost in the function of the business he's working for that it strays from that, but it's a worthwhile film for sentimentalists with a strong glow to it.
Sisu: Road to Revenge
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Action
Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake
Sisu dun killed all the Nazis. There are no Nazis left to kill. He's gotta kill all the Commies now. This sequel to the instant action classic sees the mute gold miner, who I assume is named Paul Marion Sisu and I'm not even going to look that up because that's how certain I'm right I am, returning to his Finland home post-World War II. Unfortunately, Finland suceeded the land it was settled on to the Soviet Union, and Paul Marion Sisu pulls down his house board for board and moves it back to Finnish territory to rebuild it. The Russians however hatch a plan to kill the "legend" who turned a host of Germans into splatter and unleash a man connected to Paul Marion Sisu's past to kill him before he leaves the country. If you loved Sisu, Road to Revenge is even more Sisu. Maybe a little bigger and wackier. There are huge setpieces in this movie, and one might as well call it Sisu: Fury Road as it's one big long road chase movie with epic death and destruction. A lot of the stunts and action look pretty great for such a low budget movie, making the film an easy recommend for action enthusiasts. The one thing I feel holds it back is that the movie probably goes a little heavy on its comedy. I recall the first Sisu being fairly grim and angry, and the second one seems a little lighter in its mood, which is not entirely unwelcome. The film can take it to a far-fetched level, turning action sequences into slapstick comedy. There is a sequence where our protagonist sneaks through a group of sleeping Russians that is basically just Buster Keaton with gore and beheading. But the movie is a rollicking good time, and the franchise is certainly begging for a third installment. We made it this far, might as well ride it out.
Wicked: For Good
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Fantasy, Musical
Director: Jon M. Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang
Wicked is back, I guess. This time adapting the second act of the Broadway musical, but most of the interesting shit is over and all of this could have been an email. This one sees Glinda stepping into the role of the Good Witch while the Wizard begins a campaign to mark Elphaba as "the Wicked Witch of the West," an existential threat to the people of Oz. Meanwhile, a random house from Kansas falls on Elphaba's sister and you know what happens there because we all saw that movie.
To be frank, this movie is not anywhere near as fun as the first. Most of that has to do with how little story it has left to tell and how unnecessary that story seems. If you cut the fat from both of these films, Wicked could have been a solid three-hour movie. Instead, they turned the meat of the musical into a good movie and made mediocrity out of whatever was left in hopes for that lucrative rabid fan cash. What's sad is that probably worked out for them. As a movie, Wicked Part Duex: The Final Reckoning pads like a motherfucker, offering offering up redundancies and Easter eggs to more widely known Wizard of Oz canon. The first half of the film feels like its repeating beats we established in the previous film. Elphaba re-establishes herself as the odd outsider and Glinda is a peppy girl who is sad inside. Then the movie pushes itself as the side quest happening around Dorothy and Toto and it just flunks. Finally incorporating the classic Wizard of Oz tale into the movie is jarring, with the movie stumbling to latch its take of the characters onto the traditional story. The implication that both of these stories are happening simultaneously feels nonsensical. Offering up origins for the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion is interesting, but they're all rushed and a little dumb. I'm still trying to figure out the Scarecrow storyline because its so underexplained and unnecessary. Then there is the scene where Dorothy's house crushes Elphaba's sister, sending Dorothy on her journey down the Yellow Brick Road. The entire sequence is just weird, as the movie seems to want to give Elphaba an emotional scene to mourn her sister, but it undercutting it a comical bitchslap fight with Glinda. I'm not sure I know what the movie wants me to take away from this.
Looking at the positives, strengths of the production do carry over from one film to the next. Production and costume design are still aces (though if this film wins both of these categories at the Oscars two years in a row when it's competing against Frankenstein, I'm going to riot). Acting in all roles remains committed and quirky. There is some juicy material here that saves the film from being a disaster, even if it just flings it into being joyously uneven. What's interesting about this portion of the story is that Jeff Goldblum's role as the Wizard feels like it's hitting current political relevance, as the Wizard is a ham selling lies and knows people don't care that they're lies, while demonizing an "other" for the sake of misdirection from his own bullshit. I'm still not convinced the Wicked Witch of the West is a good avatar for that. She's one of the most generic villains you can have, so projecting onto her is easy, but she's also iconic as a cackling bitch and characterizing her as anything else feels forced. Wicked humanizing her as an noble misunderstood outsider who has been masked with that iconography never fully worked for me. That's probably what gets under my skin the most, because one could look at the first film as quirky fan fiction, while the second is "This is the real canon that they don't want you to know about." It doesn't work, but they had fun trying. Wicked fans will love it because it's more Wicked. Maybe that's enough.
Art Attack
Sentimental Value
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Drama
Director: Joachim Trier
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning
Art Attack is back, Jack! This section has been on hiatus for a while for a couple of reasons. First of all, my multiplex has been mostly gauntlets this year, which has been hogging my attention away from the indie cinema. I attribute this to blockbusters failing to bust blocks, lately. Incidentally, a lot of movies from my arthouse theater wound up at the multiplex to fill screens for a week anyway, which is probably for that afore mentioned reason, so I wasn't missing more than a handful of movies. The weeks where new releases have been lighter showed the little theater wasn't showing anything of interest that I hadn't already seen (and a few screenings of classics to fill showtimes), so there just wasn't anything to write about. But now we have Sentimental Value. This was a movie I felt I needed to jump over there to see because of the strong word-of-mouth on it.
Renate Reinsve reunites with her Worst Person in the World director Joachim Trier for a new drama taking critics by storm, where she plays...another woman who is kind of a fuck up with emotional issues. Boy, I'm sure glad she's showing her range. Her father is played by Stellan Skarsgård, a film director who comes home hoping to film a movie based on his mother with her in the starring role. Based on their bitter past, she refuses, forcing him to turn to Hollywood starlet Elle Fanning to fill the void. If I'm to be honest, Fanning is slightly miscast here. She's basically playing a Margot Robbie type "It Girl," and, as talented as Fanning is, that feels like it's a step beyond her profile. Fanning is fine here, but she feels a little too meek to be the focus of so much attention. The film's theme primarily seems concentrated on the idea of life influencing art, both intentionally and accidentally. Skarsgård is a bit of an self-indulgent artist who lets his personal relationships suffer at the hands of his filmmaking, Reinsve is a stage actress who uses her personal pain to power her performance. It's pretty good stuff, and it has a few digs at Netflix that won me over, because Netflix can rot. I wish I loved it more, but I appreciate it for what it did achieve.
Netflix & Chill
Deathstalker
⭐️⭐️⭐️
🏆"Hurts So Good" Must-See Bad Movie Award🏆
Streaming On: Video on demand
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director: Steven Kostanski
Starring: Daniel Bernhardt, Laurie Field, Patton Oswalt, Christina Orjalo, Paul Lazenby, Nina Bergman
It's not often that properties featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 have a life after being featured on the show. Godzilla and Gamera are the big exceptions, but that's because the former is a global icon and while the latter is less so, its films are from a country that has more reverence to Gamera than MST3K, while US reverence for both Gamera and MST3K probably run about even (and overlap more than don't). Diabolik is another example, though that's a popular Italian comic book character and a reboot in a field of comic book movies dominating filmmaking was inevitable. Even rarer is a sequel to a film featured on the show that gained a degree of popularity because it was on it. Hobgoblins 2 only exists because MST3K showed Hobgoblins. Demon Squad 2 is filmed with release pending, which is owed to being supported by MST3K fans through Kickstarter. And, more relevantly, we have Deathstalker. I don't think we can claim Deathstalker was rebooted because of MST3K, but Shout Studios currently owns the rights to both the Deathstalker franchise and MST3K, as well as the title role of the reboot being played by the star of one of MST3K's most popular movies with an onscreen MST3K actor in a supporting voice-over role, so it's hard to separate the Deathstalker reboot and the show.
Of course, Deathstalker is a reboot of, ya know, Deathstalker, the Roger Corman produced answer to Conan the Barbarian. The latest film has Future War star Daniel Bernhardt take the mantle of the titular antihero, a wandering asshole who happens to be a badass warrior and accidentally gets caught up in heroics when all he wants to do is get paid and get laid. Deathstalker winds up with a magical amulet, which has chosen Deathstalker to be the one who destroys an evil necromancer. This is mostly an excuse for Deathstalker to wisecrack and kick ass. The movie doesn't bother to "improve" Deathstalker. It knows exactly what Deathstalker is and crafts a modern day love letter to the trashy subgenre that spawned Deathstalker. The only step-up it has is more confident stunt choreography and imaginative, if intentionally camp, effects design. The only thing in Deathstalker legacy that it doesn't indulge in is the exploitation of nudity and sexuality, but Deathstalker was a rapist in his original incarnation, so maybe it's for the best he has been toned down here. Bernhardt's the oldest actor to tackle the role, but he's also the most charismatic. His Deathstalker is kind of a delight and his smugness isn't off-putting, which is common for Deathstalker. His little sidekicks are a treat as well, with Laurie Field playing the tiny wizard with Jeepers Creepers face Doodad, Patton Oswalt overdubbing Doodad's voice, and Christina Orjalo as the bratty theif Brisbayne. The trio is a hoot.
If I were to describe this Deathstalker movie in comparison to the others, I'd say it's not a trend-chasing cashgrab and is made with wit and heart. Imagine a movie with the limited resources of the direct-to-video Scorpion King sequels, but made by people putting in overtime to legitimately make it fun. This and the new Toxic Avenger movie were the camp reboots I didn't know I needed. I never thought I'd say this but I hope there's more Deathstalker movies in our future.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Black Phone 2 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Die My Love ⭐️⭐️
Keeper ⭐️⭐️
Now You See Me: Now You Don't ⭐️⭐️1/2
Nuremberg ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Predator: Badlands ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Regretting You ⭐️⭐️1/2
The Running Man ⭐️⭐️1/2
Tron: Ares ⭐️⭐️
New To Digital
Anniversary ⭐️⭐️
Bone Lake ⭐️⭐️1/2
Roofman ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelby Oaks ⭐️1/2
Stitch Head ⭐️⭐️1/2
New To Physical
House on Eden ⭐️1/2
Splitsville ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Coming Soon!
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