Movies with Milan

Movies with Milan

Movies reviews from Milan PaurichFull Bio

 

Movies with Milan 11-11-22

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ARMAGEDDON TIME--It feels like the end of the world to sixth grader Paul Graff (impressive newcomer Banks Repta) when he's taken out of his Queens public school and enrolled in the elite Forest Hills Academy. Not only is he leaving behind his only friend, African-American Johnny (Jaylin Webb), but he feels like a social pariah at Donald Trump's alma mater whose students are all considerably more well-off and, pointedly, a lot less Jewish. Distracted by financial hardships, Paul's \nne well-meaning parents--schoolteacher Esther (Anne Hathaway) and plumber Irving (Jeremy Strong from HBO's "Succession")--are seemingly oblivious to their son's roiling angst. As a result, he turns to his maternal grandfather, Aaron (Anthony Hopkins), for emotional succor. As a Holocaust survivor, Aaron knows a thing or two about anti-Semitism. Director James ("Ad Astra," "The Lost City of Z") Gray's semi-autobiographical chronicle of his own Queens boyhood in the early 1980's is one of the year's loveliest, most heartfelt and deeply touching films. The conspicuous lack of sentimentality that has been a hallmark of Gray's work serves him well here. This isn't one of those maudlin, rose-colored memory pieces: it's as iron-willed and devoid of self-pity as Paul and his granddad, and all the stronger for that. Which means that when you eventually shed a tear (and you will), they're both well-earned and profoundly cathartic. (A.)

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN--When lifelong friend Colm (Brendan Gleeson) announces seemingly out of the blue, "I just don't like you no more," Padraic (Colin Farrell) is so devastated he makes it his mission to change Colm's mind. Enlisting the support of his sister (Kerry Condon) and a local lad (Barry Keoghan), Padraic soon discovers that their entire island community on the west coast of Ireland has a stake in the outcome. Set in 1923, writer/director Martin ("Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) McDonagh's fantastic new movie has the whimsy and inadvertent gravity of a fable passed down through generations. McDonagh's dual career as one of the leading playwrights of his generation is evidenced in his wonderfully idiosyncratic dialogue--profane and poetic at the same time--which his stellar cast delivers in typically bravura fashion. Farrell and Gleeson, who memorably played a pair of hapless hitmen in McDonagh's 2008 filmmaking debut (2008's "In Bruges"), give career performances that are sure to be remembered at awards time. You'll never see the ending coming, but it's guaranteed to knock the wind out of your sails. I was shaken and stirred. (A.) 

BLACK ADAM--Dwayne Johnson plays D.C. Comics B-list (anti)-hero Teth "Black" Adam who's awakened after 5,000 years of hibernation to battle the Intergang rotters who violently overthrew the government of peaceful Middle Eastern kingdom Kahndaq. Hoping to keep a check on Adam's anger management issues--the big guy's first instinct is to kill anyone who annoys him--are Doctor Fate (former 007 Pierce Brosnan having a larf) and the Justice Society (whose best known member is Netflix heartthrob Noah Centineo). Director Jaume Collet-Sera's brightly colored, fast-moving $200-million comic book throwaway will probably suffice for diehard comics fans. Everyone else should probably just stay home and save their money since it'll be on HBO MAX before Christmas Day. (C PLUS.)

BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER--How do you make a 161-minute Black Panther movie without the Black Panther/King T'Challa (the late Chadwick Boseman)? Very, very carefully. Ryan Coogler's sequel to his 2018 Marvel blockbuster treads a fine line between Afrocentric boosterism and comic book mayhem, and it's not really a comfortable fit. Accordingly, the Wakanda scenes are infinitely more interesting--and certainly more colorful thanks to some truly spectacular costume and production design--than the fairly rote action setpieces. This sophomore entry in Marvel's billion dollar franchise feels like a placeholder until they finally get around to recasting the lead role. (C.)

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ--By the time he made this 1979 prison flick, director Don ("Dirty Harry") Siegel had so deliberately and meticulously stripped away the excess fat from his movies that he was able to achieve a near Bressonian level of mise-en-scene austerity. ("Alcatraz" is actually a lot closer to Bresson's "A Man Escaped" than it is to Siegel's own 1954 Big Bird Cage drama, "Riot in Cell Block 11.") And because Siegel would only direct two subsequent films (1980's jewel heist snooze-fest "Rough Cut" and the aptly monikered Bette Midler misfire "Jinxed"), it now has an almost valedictory, career-summation quality. Reuniting with his favorite leading man, Clint Eastwood, Siegel tells the true-life story of a 1960 escape from the maximum security "Rock" in which none of the "self-liberated" prisoners were ever found. Although Eastwood's convict has a name (Frank Morris), Richard Tuggle's streamlined script provides so little character background that Morris could be kith and kin of the "Man With No Name" from his fabled Sergio Leone trilogy ("A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"). Minimalism is such a dominant note here that it's almost a shock that the performances register as strongly as they do. Eastwood, of course, is masterful, saying volumes with just a few monosyllables. As his warden nemesis, Patrick McGoohan (best known from his 1967-'68 cult TV series "The Prisoner") is a memorable heavy, and Richard ("Citizen's Band," "Resurrection") Farnsworth, Jack Thibeau and, in his first major screen role, Fred Ward are all top-notch. Kino Lorber's Studio Classics 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray includes an audio commentary by film historians Nathaniel Thompson and Steve Mitchell, as well as interviews with Tuggle and renowned character actor Larry Hankin. (A.)

FANCY PANTS--The second onscreen pairing of Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, director George ("The Blue Dahlia") Marshall's color remake of Leo McCarey's 1935 classic "The Ruggles of Red Cap" is only fitfully amusing, but deeply nostalgic for anyone who grew up with Old Ski Nose and still loves Lucy. (Guilty as charged.) In a riff on his "Paleface" role, Hope plays Arthur Tyler, an unemployed actor who impersonates British manservant "Humphrey" for the nouveau riche Floud clan of New Mexico. As Agatha, the family's feisty tomboy heiress, Ball gives as good as she gets. And while you never quite believe the eventual love connection between Arthur/Humphrey and Agatha, the mutual affection between these two ace comedy performers is so infectious you're willing to suspend disbelief for the movie's breezy 90 minute run time. Although billed as a "musical," there are only two songs performed in the entire film--and Ball's singing voice is dubbed! Marshall, whose career flatlined in the '60s with a string of lame Hope vehicles ("Eight on the Lam," "Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!"), was conspicuously absent from Andrew Sarris' seminal auteurist bible, "The American Cinema." But after revisiting "Fancy Pants" (which, admittedly, I hadn't seen since UHF television in the late '60s), I think he at least deserved a "Miscellany" notation. No extras on Kino Lorber's new Studio Classics Blu-Ray, but the print is pristine. (B.) 

HALLOWEEN ENDS--Wanna bet? The conclusion of director David Gordon Green's rebooted "Halloween" trilogy climaxes with the long-teased final-final showdown between Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode and masked madman Michael Myers. If you really believe this is the end of a billion dollar slasher movie franchise, you probably think the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny vacation together every summer in Cabo. (C PLUS.)

LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE--Co-directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon--better known for adult-leaning comedies like "Office Christmas Party" and "Blades of Glory"--go the family movie route with a big-screen adaptation of Bernard Waber's beloved 1960's kid-lit series. Teen idol Shawn Mendes voices the bath-loving croc crooner who moves into the Manhattan attic of the Primm family (Scoot McNairy, Constance Wu and Winslow Fegley) with his eccentric handler, Hector Valenti (Oscar-winner Javier Bardem in a scene-stealing performance). Naturally there's a spoilsport neighbor (Brett Gelman's aptly monikered Mr. Grumps) who wants to have Lyle evicted, but Lyle's charm and innate decency eventually win the day. While it's clearly geared for a (very young) demographic, adults who dug the "Stuart Little" movies and "Clifford the Big Red Dog" won't hate themselves for accompanying their wee bairns for a matinee. (C PLUS.)

NEXT EXIT--Set in a not-so-distant future that looks a lot like today, the first film by writer-director Mali Elfman (yes, she's composer Danny Elfman's daughter) is a rom-com road movie with a haunting difference. After medical researcher Dr. Stevensen (Karen Gillan) announces to the world that she has "irrefutable evidence" of an afterlife, New Yorkers Rose (Katie Parker) and Teddy (Rahul Kohli) book appointments to end their lives at Stevensen's San Francisco-based "Life Beyond" Institute. Forced to share the cross-country ride--a car rental agency screwed up their reservations--they only gradually warm up to each other. Elfman, thanks in large measure to her enormously appealing leads, somehow manages to turn this downer of a premise into a funny, touching, suspenseful (will they or won't they?) and even life-affirming dramedy. The immensely gratifying ending is sure to elicit its share of tears. (B PLUS.)

PREY FOR THE DEVIL--A young nun with mommy issues is recruited for exorcism duties in this pro-forma horror flick by German director Daniel Stamm whose "The Last Exorcism" from 2010 was a considerably more original take on a genre that's been on life support since the mid-'70s. Sister Ann (a wan Jacqueline Byers) assists a priest (Christian Navarro) in the exorcising of the same demonic spirit who possessed her mother years earlier. Is it a coincidence, or something more sinister? Good veteran actors like Virginia Madsen and Ben Cross are wasted on nothing roles, and the whole thing has a rote, been-there-exorcised-that vibe. Your time would be much better spent rewatching 1973's "The Exorcist" on HBO MAX. (C MINUS.)  

SAM & KATE--Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Sissy Spacek are very good in writer/director Darren Le Gallo's feature debut, but it's Hoffman and Spacek's kids (Jake Hoffman and Schuyler Fisk, both outstanding) who have the titular lead roles. Sam is an aspiring artist who returns home to care for his elderly father; bookstore owner Kate keeps a watchful eye on her widowed mother. They meet cute one day when Sam stops by Kate's shop to buy a gardening book for his dad's birthday. The fact that they eventually become a couple isn't much of a surprise: besides being hugely attractive, they're also among the few thirtysomething singles in their tiny Georgia town. Hoffman's Bill and Spacek's Tina start dating, too, but their romantic path has its share of stumbling blocks. (Bill has medical problems and Tina is a hoarder whose home could double as a Goodwill Store.) The film's innate modesty is one of its most appealing features, but the performances are what make this touching dramedy worth seeking out. (B.)

SMILE--After a patient (Caitlin Stasey) kills herself during their therapy session, trauma psychologist Rose (Sosie Bacon) begins seeing the same kind of terrifying apparitions that drove her former patient to suicide. First-time feature director Parker Finn's horror flick overdoes the jump scares--and borrows a bit too promiscuously from both the "Grudge" and "Ring" playbooks--but Bacon's supremely grounded, deeply empathetic performance helps maintain viewer interest despite an overly generous 115-minute run time. (C PLUS.)

TAR--In a career-best performance, Cate Blanchett plays Lydia Tar, the morally and ethically compromised conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic who's on the verge of her very own #MeToo moment. It couldn't happen at a more inopportune time. Lydia is preparing to record Mahler's notoriously difficult Symphony #5, and her marriage to Sharon (Nina Hoss) is already on thin ice. (The couple are parents of an adopted Syrian daughter who's having difficulties of her own at school.) Writer/director Todd Field's first film since 2006's "Little Children" is the movie event of the year (so far anyway): a galvanizing character study as well as an enthralling, deep-dish immersion into its protagonist's rarefied world. I can't recommend it highly enough. (A.)

TICKET TO PARADISE--Julia Roberts and George Clooney play an acrimoniously divorced couple who reluctantly join forces to help squelch daughter Kaitlyn Dever's Bali wedding to a man she barely knows in Ole ("The Exotic Marigold Hotel" movies) Parker's modern spin on the "comedies of remarriage" ("The Awful Truth," "The Philadelphia Story," et al).that were a staple of Golden Age Hollywood. Clooney and Roberts have always had great screen chemistry; they could have been the Millennial Tracy and Hepburn if anyone was still making Tracy and Hepburn movies. And watching them trade affection-laced barbs for two hours feels a bit like nirvana in an increasingly grown-up movie-starved theatrical climate. While nobody will ever confuse this with a classic rom-com, it's still one of the season's most purely pleasurable indulgences. (B PLUS.) 

TILL--The shocking murder of 14-year-old African-American Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) in 1955 Mississippi is the subject of director Chinonye ("Clemency") Chukwu's compelling slice of modern American racial history. As Mamie Till-Mobley, Emmett's grieving mother who inadvertently became a civil rights activist, the extraordinary Danielle Deadwyler brings such palpable, throbbing humanity to her real-life protagonist that she'll shatter your heart into a million pieces--and possibly win an Oscar nomination for her bravura performance. Mamie's decision to leave her son's casket open for his funeral ("I want them to see") went a long way towards alerting white Easterners to the mortal perils facing Black citizens in the Jim Crow South. The fact that Chukwu's mournful, harrowing period film still feels so relevant in the #BlackLivesMatter era is inordinately depressing. (B PLUS.) 

THE WITCH 2: THE OTHER ONE--Utterly berserk--and all the better for it--South Korean director Park Moon-Jung's chaotic follow-up to his 2018 mega-movie, "The Witch, Part I: The Subversion," admittedly doesn't make a whole lot of sense. An amnesiac clone (Shin Si-ah) escapes from a research lab and is forced to elude a slew of pursuers. There's a steely assassin and her South African male compatriot; a sadistic crime boss; and Dr. Baek, the evil twin sister of the female scientist killed at the end of "Part 1." At heart, the "Witch" movies are a Korean equivalent to Hollywood YA franchises like "The Hunger Games" and "The Maze Runner," but considerably bloodier and, at times, almost comically hyper-violent. There's also a soupçon of buddy movie tropes and, for good measure, soupy adolescent melodrama thrown into the stew. Borrowing a page from Marvel, Park even includes a post-credit teaser for "Part 3" which I'm totally on board for. The stunning Well Go USA Blu-Ray includes a behind-the-scenes featurette, as well as an optional English language dialogue track if you don't like reading subtitles or just want to groove on the crimson-soaked visuals. (B PLUS.)  

THE WOMAN KING--Oscar winner Viola Davis is fierceness personified as General Nanisca, the early 19th century leader of an all-female cadre of elite warriors in director Gina Prince-Blythewood's nobly-intentioned, but somewhat prosaic and slackly paced historical drama. Set in the African kingdom of Dahomay, the film pits Nanisca and her Amazonian freedom fighters against both Portuguese colonizers (personified by Hero Fiennes Tiffin's Snidely Whiplash-like slave trader, Santo) and the Oyo general (Jimmy Odukoya) she has a personal beef with. (It's a long--very long--story.) Despite using spears and blades versus their enemy's guns, there's little doubt that Nanisca & Co. will ultimately prevail. And it's that predictability, as well as a bloated 135-minute run time, that makes the film more of a slog than the rip-snorter it should have been. Nice turns by newcomer Thuso Mbedu as Nanisca's newest recruit and, although it's a glorified cameo at best, "Star Wars" alum John Boyega as Dahomay's progressive-minded, albeit polygamous (!) King Ghezo. Prince-Blythewood proved her action mettle with Netflix's kick-ass "The Old Guard," and her new movie works best during the frequent (but regrettably "PG-13") battle sequences which favorably recall Mel Gibson's "Braveheart" and "Apocalypto." A weird distraction is the decision to have the Dahomay characters speak English with thick African accents while everyone else's dialogue--German, Portuguese, et al--is subtitled. (C PLUS.)

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AMSTERDAM--"Silver Linings Playbook"/"American Hustle" auteur David O. Russell's first film since 2015's "Joy" is an all-star, wildly ambitious, multi-tiered murder mystery with real-life historical bona fides. (An opening title card informs us that "A lot of this really happened.") It's also a helluva lot of fun. Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington play two American soldiers and a volunteer nurse who meet during WW I--yes, Amsterdam the city plays a major role in the plot--and become lifelong pals. The main bulk of the action takes place in 1933 New York City, however, where the reunited trio become amateur sleuths who, with the help of Robert DeNiro's retired general, help solve a murder AND uncover a fascist conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government. Any movie that finds room for juicy supporting turns by (among others) Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rami Malek, Michael Shannon, Taylor Swift and Mike Myers is clearly playing in the big leagues, and Russell's movie is an embarrassment of riches. Yes, the frenetic, frequently confounding narrative with its groaning board of characters you sometimes need a scorecard to keep track of would have probably been more ideally suited to the leisurely rhythms of a limited HBO or Netflix series. But I haven't seen a more raucously entertaining, beautifully acted, stunningly lensed (courtesy of Emmanuel Lubezki, Terrence Malick's DP of choice) or downright exhilarating studio film this year. That said, I'm not sure what multiplex audiences accustomed to the cheap sugar highs of franchise gruel will make of it. With luck, it should develop a cult following that will only grow exponentially over the years/decades. I can definitely picture it becoming a TCM programming staple in 2066. (A.)  

BARBARIAN--When she checks into the Detroit Airbnb she rented online, Tess (Georgina Campbell) is annoyed to discover that the owner double-booked and there's already a man ("It" killer clown Bill Skarsgard) staying there. Her decision to stay the night--it's late, and she's in Detroit after all--turns out to be, er, unwise. Zach Cregger's full-throttle, balls-to-the-wall horror flick is one of the most audacious, fully-realized and, yes, flat-out terrifying chiller in many a moon. And considering the fact that Cregger's sole previous directorial credit was co-helming the dreadful 2009 frat-boy comedy "Miss March," it also seems a bit like a miracle. Fans will be rehashing (and re-watching) this film for decades to come. It might even turn out to be a game-changer for the entire horror genre. (A MINUS.) 

BEAST--Idris Elba battles a ginormous rogue lion in director Baltasar ("2 Guns," "Contraband") Kormakur's South African-set action flick. The set-up is blissfully, stupidly elemental. Widowed dad Nate (Elba) brings his teenage daughters (Leah Jeffries and Iyana Halley) on safari and, after running afoul of the afore-mentioned jungle cat, spend the rest of the movie literally running for their lives. Kormakur knows how to expertly ratchet up the suspense, and its fat-free 93-minute run time feels just right. Ridiculous, yes, but also kind of fun if you're willing to check your brain at the door. (C PLUS.)

BODIES BODIES BODIES--A Gen Z hurricane party is the setting for Halina Reijn's meta horror flick that instantly renders the entire "Scream" franchise hopelessly passe. The "party," hosted by David (Pete Davidson) at his family's remote country estate, is actually more of a bacchanal thanks to the copious quantities of drugs, alcohol and polymorphous sexual activity involved. The title refers to a game in which the participants wind up being murdered (in the gnarliest fashion possible, natch). Costarring "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" breakout Maria Bakalova and Amanda Stenberg of "The Hate U Give," it's snarky, smirky and immensely pleased with itself. No doubt some people--probably moviegoers under the age of 30 who haven't seen a lot of, y'know, movies--will think it's a total hoot. But I found the whole thing off-puttingly smug and borderline-obnoxious. (C MINUS.)   

BROS--The first big studio gay rom-com since 2018's "Love, Simon," Nicholas ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall," the "Neighbors" movies) Stoller's fitfully amusing new film stars Billy ("Difficult People") Eichner as Bobby, a deeply cynical, romantically challenged podcaster who's also the director of an LGBTQ+ cultural museum. Billy's luck seems to change when he meets guppie Ken Doll Aaron (Luke Macfarland). But being the incurable pessimist he is, Billy does pretty much everything he can to sabotage their burgeoning relationship. Alternately frothy and raunchy, this is pretty much what you'd expect from producer Judd Apatow who has a knack for casting established comic performers like Amy Schumer ("Tranwreck") and Peter Davidson ("The King of Staten Island") in quasi autobiographical roles. While Eichner isn't in Schumer or even Davidson's league thesping-wise--he pretty much hits the same note whatever emotion Billy is expressing--he's a great quipster, and the movie is good, shallow fun. (B MINUS.)  

BULLET TRAIN--Brad Pitt plays conflicted assassin "Ladybug" whose most recent assignment finds him on a Tokyo to Kyoto super bullet train where he's forced to square off against rival assassins (including Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Brian Tyree Henry's "twin" hitmen brothers). That's pretty much it for the plot of David ("Atomic Blonde," "Deadpool 2") Leitch's breathlessly paced, brazenly ridiculous action flick. To complain that it's all "too much" is missing the point--if there even is one. This kind of borderline-nihilistic, "we're all just having a larf" action movie has become as commonplace in 21st century Hollywood as, well, Marvel super hero flicks. You're either with them or against them, and in this case (mostly due to Pitt and a superb supporting cast which includes Zazie Beetz, Michael Shannon and Sandra Bullock as Pitt's handler) I'm all aboard. You probably won't remember it by the time you hit the parking lot, but it's goofy fun while it lasts. (B.) 

DADDY LONGLEGS--Like Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee, brother directing team Josh and Benny Safdie clearly learned a thing or two from the loosely structured, semi-improvised films of American indie godfather John Cassavetes. In their 2009 sophomore outing, the Safdies hadn't yet begun experimenting with genre forms--that would have to wait until 2017's "Good Time" and 2019's "Uncut Gems"--which might explain why "Daddy Longlegs" feels a bit like a spin-off of Cassavetes' 1974 masterpiece, "A Woman Under the Influence." Instead of a mentally unstable housewife wreaking havoc on her suburban household, the Safdie's protagonist is a barely employed, divorced father of two young boys. Lenny ("Frownland" director Ronald Bronstein) is such a terminal screw-up that he even manages to botch the two weeks a year he's allotted to spend with his kids (real-life siblings Sage and Frey Ranaldo). So manic and undisciplined that you can have an anxiety attack just watching him navigate the mean streets of Manhattan, Lenny is nobody's idea of a "dad." Throughout the course of the film, you'll repeatedly want to reach inside the screen and forcibly remove the boys from Lenny's custody for fear they'll wind up either psychically scarred or even physically harmed. It's a real stress test of a movie. But thanks to the Safdie's incipient raw talent, and the so-real-it-hurts performances, it's also unforgettable. Bonus features on the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray include new interviews with the Ranaldo boys and their parents, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer (who plays Lenny's ex-wife in the film); a 2017 documentary about the Safdie brothers; priceless footage of the Ranaldo boys' initial meeting with Bronstein; a making-of featurette; 2008's "There's Nothing You Can Do" a Safdie short with members of the "Longlegs" cast and crew; deleted scenes; a 2008 episode of interview series "Talk Show" with cast and crew members; a 2009 interview with the Safdies; and an essay by former Cahiers du Cinema editor Stephane Delorme who programmed the Cannes Film Festival's Directors Fortnight the year "Daddy Longlegs" had its world premiere. (A.)  

D.C. LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS--When Superman (John Krasinski) and his fellow Justice Leaguers are kidnapped by Lex Luthor's evil guinea pig cohort (Kate McKinnon), Supe's super-pooch Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) rounds up animal shelter rejects Ace (Kevin Hart), PB (Vanessa Bayer), Chip (Diego Luna) and Morton (Natasha Lyonne) to brainstorm a rescue mission. (The critters have all been endowed with super-powers thanks to a dose of orange Kryptonite, making them as invincible as Krypto himself.) Director Jared Stern's surprisingly amiable CGI 'toon coasts on the distinctive charms of its amusingly eclectic vocal cast, and it's fun to see the normally too-cool-for-school D.C. multiverse relax a tad, evincing a most welcome sense of humor. Plus, any movie that has the wit to cast Keanu Reeves as Batman--even if it's only his voice--has its tongue firmly in cheek. (B.)  

DON'T WORRY, DARLING--The eagerly awaited reunion between the director (Olivia Wilde) and screenwriter (Katie Silberman) of 2019's "Booksmart" turns out to be something of a flatliner. As anyone who's seen the trailer--which was positively ubiquitous in theaters this summer--could tell you, it's basically "Stepford Wives 2.0." Or "Stepford Wives 2.0" if a Jordan Peele wannabe was calling the creative shots. The great Florence ("Midsommer," "Little Women") Pugh plays Alice, wife of yuppie hotshot Jack (former teen idol Harry Styles who's unaccountably bland and evinces zero chemistry with Pugh). The couple has recently moved into a retro SoCal subdivision that looks like something out of a 1950's fever dream where "Leave it to Beaver" wives stay home to cook and clean while their hubbies work 9 to 5 on a hush-hush project overseen by the vaguely sinister Frank (Chris Pine oozing Rat Pack sleaze). It's Alice who belatedly susses out that something's not quite right in "Victory Town." Of course, it takes the suicide of fellow housewife/BFF Margaret (KiKi Layne), one half of the only African-American couple in their cosseted enclave, to finally wake her up. Wilde's movie is all build-up, and once the pieces finally fall into place it's hard not to stifle a "saw-it-coming" yawn. Pugh and Pine are both very good, and the art direction wittily replicates the synthetic, seductive feel of '50s Americana. I just wish the film itself was worthy of their labors. (C.)

THE GOOD HOUSE--Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline reunite onscreen for the first time since Ang Lee's 1997 masterpiece "The Ice Storm" in husband-and-wife directing team Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky's decorous, but mostly effective adaptation of Ann Leary's best-selling novel. As Massachusetts realtor extraordinaire Hildy Good, Weaver--who's in nearly every scene--has her juiciest role in years. She even manages to pull off the somewhat precious device of having Hildy routinely break the fourth wall, speaking directly to the camera/audience as she narrates the story. A high-functioning alcoholic with a preference for Merlot, Hildy somehow manages to juggle her two needy adult children, the ex she's still paying alimony to, a dwindling economy and her rejuvenated affair with high school beau Frank (Kline). It's only a matter of time before everything comes crashing down. An intervention by family and friends spurred by her increasingly frequent black-out spells portends darker days ahead, yet Weaver keeps you rooting for (and liking) Hildy despite, or maybe because of, her palpable humanity. And how nice is it to see a sexagenarian romance take center stage in an American movie? (B.)

THE INVITATION--Newly orphaned Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel) takes a DNA test and discovers that she has family she's never met, or even heard of. When Benedict Cumberbatch lookalike cousin Walter (Thomas Doherty) flies to New York to meet her, she's immediately swept up in the fantasy of inheriting new kinfolk. Without thinking it through, Evie impulsively agrees to accompany him back to Old Blighty for what promises to be a lavish family wedding. Uh-oh. If "Get Out" and "Ready or Not" had been written by "Dracula" creator Bram Stoker, they might have resembled director Jessica M. Thompson's late summer Screen Gems throwaway. It's not terrible, just silly, derivative and eminently disposable. (C MINUS.)

LOST HIGHWAY--By 1997, most people seemed to have grown impatient with David Lynch. Hence the chilly reception this movie received from both critics and audiences at the time of its release. Maybe it was the lack of closure to Lynch's "Twin Peaks" TV series. Or perhaps the generally perceived "self-indulgence" of his most recent big-screen films ("Wild at Heart" and "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me") cooled them on the visionary "Eraserhead"/"Blue Velvet" auteur. But as someone who loved "Lost Highway" at first sight--I saw it on opening day at an Orlando, Florida multiplex where half the audience walked out before the movie ended--living to see the Criterion Collection release this legendary film maudit feels an awful lot like poetic justice. In a 180-degree switch from his role the previous summer as the alien-busting president in Roland Emmerich's "Independence Day," Bill Pullman plays Fred Madison, an L.A. jazz musician who's accused of murdering his wife Renee (Patricia Arquette). The fact that Fred somehow morphs into Pete (Balthazar Getty), a considerably younger auto mechanic, while cooling his heels in a jail cell is the least of the movie's bewildering dualisms. How about Renee somehow being transformed into "Alice," the mistress of an abusive hoodlum (a properly terrifying Robert Loggia)? And I haven't even mentioned the "far out, man" supporting cast which includes everyone from Richard Pryor in one of his last screen roles, Gary Busey, musician Henry Rollins, Lynch repertory player Jack Nance and Robert Blake (gulp) as "The Mystery Man" whose hauntingly cryptic words to Fred at a party ("We met at your house; as a matter of fact, I'm there right now") may--or may not--hold the secret to the myriad, shape-shifting mysteries that are afoot. As much film noir as science fiction/horror, "Highway" marked the second and final collaboration between Lynch and author Barry Gifford (who penned the book "Wild at Heart" was based on), and it's a doozy. Extras on the newly released Blu-Ray include Toby Keeler's indispensable feature-length 1997 documentary, "Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch," featuring Lynch, Gifford and frequent creative associates Angelo Badalamenti and Mary Sweeney; archival interviews with Lynch, Pullman, Arquette and Loggia; a suitably otherworldly reading by Lynch and critic Kristine McKenna of excerpts from their 2018 book, "Room to Dream;" and selections from an interview with Lynch taken from Chris Rodley's scholarly tome, "Lynch on Lynch." (A.)  

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON--Dean Fleischer-Camp's YouTube sensation of a decade ago finally receives the big screen treatment, and it's just about the most flat-out adorable and purely entertaining movie of the season. Jenny Slate once again voices the titular one-inch shell who embarks upon a journey--with grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and pet lint ball Alan--to locate her long last family. The mix of stop-motion animation and live action remains as lo-fi, DIY-funky as it did in Fleischer's three previous four-minute shorts, and it's the perfect visual correlative to the enchanting, fable-like story. That rare mixture of laugh-out-loud funny and transcendently moving, it proves that some mollusks are not only worthy of our admiration, but love. (A.) AVAILABLE FOR SALE OR RENTAL ON AMAZON AND OTHER DIGITAL PLATFORMS.

NOPE--Jordan ("Get Out," "Us") Peele, the Gen-Z answer to M. Night Shyamalan, shoots for (Steven) Spielberg status with his latest, a far-out cross between Shyamalan's "Signs" and Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Reuniting with his "Get Out" star Daniel Kaluuya, Peele aims big---outer space "big"--here, and almost hits his target. Because of Universal's "no spoilers, please" edict, it's hard to even synopsize the film without giving anything away. Suffice it to say that the excellent supporting cast includes Keke Palmer, "Minari" Oscar nominee Steven Yuen and promising newcomer Brandon Perea, and Peele fans won't dare miss it. I'm not sure whether it all adds up to a fully satisfying package (and it certainly didn't have to clock in at 135 overly generous minutes), but I can't wait to see it again. 

(B PLUS.) 

PEARL--The prequel teased in the closing credits of spring's "X" has finally arrived, and it's an even richer experience than the movie that preceded it. Set in 1918--versus the 1979 of "X"--Ti West's companion piece wittily contextualizes the character of Maxine, the bloodthirsty old lady who wreaked havoc on the amateur porn gang from the earlier film. Played by the same preternaturally gifted Mia Goth who was the ambitious starlet and "Last Girl Standing" in "X," Maxine is a young bride who's going progressively batty sequestered on her parents' Texas farm while her husband is off fighting in WW I. Maxine sets all of her showbiz dreams on a dance audition which she hopes will draw the attention of Hollywood talent scouts. But when that doesn't happen, she begins to act out in the most appalling (and gruesome) fashion possible. Shot in voluptuous widescreen color by director of photography Eliot Rockett, the movie feels a bit like the 1950's horror flick Douglas ("Imitation of Life," "Written on the Wind") Sirk never directed. It's like nothing you've ever seen before, and that's a very good thing. Like "X," cult immortality awaits the latest one-of-a-kind A24 corker. (A MINUS.) 

SEE HOW THEY RUN--A delectably old-fashioned murder mystery set against the glittery backdrop of London's West End in 1953. Sam Rockwell plays Scotland Yard Inspector Stoppard tasked with finding out who murdered Hollywood director Leo Kopernick (Adrien Brody, narrating the movie from beyond the grave) at a party commemorating the 100th performance of Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap." (Kopernick had recently been hired to helm the movie version.) Assisting Stoppard is eager beaver Police Constable Stalker (a delightful Saoirse Ronan), and the range of suspects are so vast Christie herself would have had an aneurism keeping tracking of them. Could it be the persnickety screenwriter (David Oyelow) whose script Kopernick dissed? Or maybe the "Mousetrap" star (Harris Dickinson) who thought Kopernick had romantic designs on his wife? Perhaps it's the play's suspicious producer (Ruth Wilson of Showtime's "The Affair")? Director Tom George shoots much of the film in split screen, and instead of being distracting it actually enhances both the suspense and (considerable) humor. Except for some virtue-signaling multicultural casting that dampens the otherwise spot-on period verisimilitude, fans of "Knives Out," "A Fish Called Wanda" and 1950's Ealing Studios comedies should find this a rollicking good time. (A MINUS.)

TOP GUN: MAVERICK--Tom Cruise's Navy test pilot extraordinaire Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is back to train a cadre of recent Top Gun graduates for another hush-hush overseas mission in this 37-years-later sequel to Cruise and director Tony Scott's iconic Reagan-era blockbuster. The only question is: what took them so long? The directorial baton has been passed to Joseph ("Oblivion," "Tron Legacy") Kosinski, and I knew I was in good hands when Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" is reprised for the opening credits sequence. The principal conflict this time around is between Pete and Lt. Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Miles Teller), son of Maverick's late flying partner, Goose (memorably played by Anthony Edwards before donning surgical gear for "E.R."). What's most gratifying about this belated follow-up is that it actually seems to understand what made the original work and doesn't mess with their Old Coke formula. Accordingly, Rooster has a rivalry with fellow pilot Hangman (Glen Powell) that echoes Maverick's earlier friction with Iceman (Val Kilmer who turns up in a touching cameo); Maverick once again takes time to romance an independent-minded lady (Jennifer Connelly as saloon proprietress Penny); and an oceanside touch football game wittily nods to the original's volleyball sequence and is nearly as blatantly, comically homoerotic. Playing the Navy brass who predictably disapprove of Maverick's methods but can't quit him are the always welcome Ed Harris and Jon Hamm. The soundtrack isn't as layered with the ear worms ("Take My Breath Away," "Playing With the Boys," etc.) that made the first movie's soundtrack a chart-topper, but Lady Gaga's new ballad is pretty swell and deserves to be remembered at Oscar time. The state of the art flying sequences actually surpass the ones from its predecessor (it's 2022 CGI after all), and they're unlike anything you're likely to experience outside of an actual cockpit. If "Top Gun: Maverick" isn't a summertime box-office bonanza, there's really no hope for multiplexes in our post-Covid era. (A MINUS.)   

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING--Delia Owens' best-selling 2018 novel finally hits multiplex screens, bearing the imprimatur of Reese Witherspoon as producer. (A pre-"Legally Blonde" Witherspoon would have killed it as the film's backwoods heroine.) Borrowing the bifurcated structure of the book, Olivia Newman's movie jumps between 1952 and 1969 to tell the story of itinerant North Carolina "Marsh Girl" Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones, very good) from impoverished childhood to her future infamy as a murder suspect. The two significant men in Kya's life (nasty rich kid Chase and salt of the earth Tate played, respectively, by Harris Dickinson and Taylor John Smith) make less of an impression than they probably should have, but Newman--and I'm assuming Witherspoon--clearly intended their film to be a female empowerment sudser, and men are more of a distraction than a necessity in this world. Like its literary source, the movie feels a bit like a shotgun marriage between John Grisham (the courtroom stuff) and Nicholas Sparks (the lovey-dovey stuff). But Edgar-Jones and a solid supporting cast, including the estimable David Strathairn and Garret Dillahunt, make it more substantive and enjoyable than expected. 

(B MINUS.)   

---Milan Paurich


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