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ABOUT MY FATHER--Stand up comic and occasional actor Sebastian Maniscalo reunites with his "Irishman" costar Robert De Niro for a self-described "auto-biopic comedy." After Sebastian informs his Italian immigrant father Salvo (De Niro) that he's planning to pop the question to his blue blood girlfriend (Leslie Bibb's Ellie), dad decides to tag along for a weekend getaway at her family's posh estate. It's a culture clash farce pitting Salvo's earthy ethos versus the upper-crust stuffiness of Ellie's snooty parents (David Rasche and Kim Cattrall, both perfectly cast). The whole thing plays like an extended pilot for a new FOX sitcom ("Everybody Loves Salvo"?), but clocking in at a circumspect 89 minutes--including end credits--it never overstays its welcome either. (C PLUS.)
BOOK CLUB: THE NEXT CHAPTER--Carol (Mary Steenburgen), Diane (Diane Keaton), Sharon (Candice Bergen) and Vivian (Jane Fonda) take their book club to Italy in director/co-writer Bill Holderman's middling sequel to the equally middling 2018 sleeper hit. The occasion for the post-Covid trip is Vivian's imminent wedding to Arthur (Don Johnson), and the ladies cram in as much scenery (Rome, Venice and Tuscany included), wine, pasta and amour (Sharon strikes a love connection with a retired philosophy professor) as they can squeeze into roughly 100 minutes of screen time. Like the first movie, it all goes down easily enough, and it's always a pleasure to spend time with screen royalty like Fonda, Keaton, Bergen and Steenburgen. But you can't help wishing that rom-com wiz Nancy ("Something's Gotta Give," "The Holiday") Meyers was behind the camera instead of an amiable hack like Holderman. (C PLUS.)
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES--Chris Pine has his best screen role in years as disgraced knight turned common thief Edgin Darvis in a swashbuckling adventure flick based on the uber-fetishized 49-year-old board game. With the aid of barbarian partner in crime Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), hapless sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and suave nobleman Xenk ("Bridgerton" breakout star Rege-Jean Page), Edgin attempts to retrieve the legendary Tablet of Reawakening in the hopes of restoring his former life/dignity. As a bonus, the Tablet will also resurrect Edgin's dead wife and help him reconcile with his rebellious tween daughter (Chloe Coleman) who's fallen under the sway of Big Bad Farge Fitzwillian (a scene-stealing Hugh Grant). Directed by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Frances Daley who last teamed for 2018 sleeper hit "Game Night," the film is a mash-up of Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Princess Bride," "Star Wars" and probably a dozen other fanboy cultural touchstones. It's also more fun than any recent Marvel movie largely because it never makes the mistake of taking itself too seriously. (B PLUS.)
EVERYTHING WENT FINE--Adapted from Emmanuelle Bernheim's autobiographical novel, Francois ("Summer of 85," "By the Grace of God") Ozon's searing family drama concerns the emotional fallout when 84-year-old stroke victim Andre (Andre Dussollier) beseeches his daughter (Sophie Marceau's Emmanuelle) to "help me end it." By "it" he means assisted suicide which, being outlawed in France, involves a trip to Switzerland where a Death With Dignity start-up will help comply with his wishes for $10,000. (Former Fassbinder superstar Hanna Schygulla plays the organization's grandmotherly doyenne.) Marceau, who briefly flirted with Hollywood stardom in the 90's after costarring in Mel Gibson's Oscar-winning "Braveheart" and 1999 Bond flick "The World is Not Enough," has a career role here and she's flat-out extraordinary. Emmanuelle's interactions with her notoriously difficult dad--flashbacks to her childhood fill us in on just how much of a handful Andre was--are both deeply moving and frequently hilarious. As Andre's long-suffering wife, screen legend Charlotte Rampling who starred in two of Ozon's finest films, "Under the Sand" and "Swimming Pool," doesn't get nearly enough screen time, but manages to make every second count. The new Cohen Media Group Blu-Ray doesn't contain any extras, alas, but the movie is an unalloyed treasure all by itself. (A.)
EVIL DEAD RISE--The fifth entry in the gore-soaked horror franchise Sam Raim launched in 1981 feels more like a standalone movie than a sequel. (The first tip-off is the absence of a Bruce Campbell cameo.) Beth (Lily Sullivan) visits her divorced big sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) in L.A. hoping to mend their relationship. During her stay, an earthquake opens an underground tomb hidden beneath Ellie's apartment building. Before you can say, "Boo!," Ellie morphs into a deadly killing machine, and it's up to Beth to save Ellie's three kids and herself from their Monster Mommy. Director Lee ("The Hole in the Ground") Cronin gets beaucoup claustrophobic mileage out of the dingy apartment setting, and expertly choreographs the bloody carnage. (A kitchen is the setting for the most gruesome sequence.) If your taste leans more towards "PG-13" fright flicks, you're clearly not the audience for this film. But for true horror aficionados, it's a bit like an early Halloween treat. (B.)
FAST X--Like the 007 franchise which officially jumped the shark during the later Roger Moore years ("The Spy Who Loved Me," "Moonraker"), the "Fast and the Furious" franchise officially left planet earth half a dozen movies ago. This tenth iteration is no exception. Stunt work and CGI have become increasingly untethered to any sort of reality and the characters no longer seem like real human beings, just video game avatars. A new director (Louis Leterrier of the "Transporter" actioners) does nothing to rectify a ship that went off course years ago. The cursory plot involves an elaborate vendetta against Dom, Letty, Roman, Taj, et al. by a drug kingpin son's (Jason Mamoa's Dante, the best thing in the movie) The fact that the producers have somehow managed to wrangle Oscar winners Charlize Theon and Helen Mirren back into the fray is less depressing than the recruiting of additional award-winning actors (Rita Moreno and Brie Larson). Originally intended as the penultimate F&F movie, this series is now--according to a recent Deadline interview with Diesel--apparently going to run ad infinitum. Or ad nauseam, depending upon your patience for high-octane nonsense. (C MINUS.)
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOLUME 3--Rocket the Raccoon (once again voiced by Bradley Cooper) is the main focus of the last, longest (150 minutes) and arguably least of James Gunn's GOTG trilogy. When Rocket is injured in an attack on Knowhere by super villain Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), Peter (the increasingly annoying Chris Pratt) is forced to seek help from Gamora's Ravagers pals to save the smart alecky raccoon's life. More solemn than the previous installments--Gunn seems to think he's making a movie for his new D.C. bosses rather than Marvel Corp.--and egregiously bloated, the ceaseless attempts to tug at our heart strings fall as flat as most of the jokes.The series standout remains Zoe Saldana's Gamora who's been resuscitated after her death in the last chapter. The fact that a reborn Gamora no longer finds man-child Peter terribly appealing (who can blame her?) sends the once and future Star-Lord spiraling into alcoholism. (See, I told you it was dark). By the time the movie crawls to its conclusion, you might be in need of something stiffer than a Diet Coke yourself. (C MINUS.)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER IV--The fourth in Keanu Reeves' Zen-kamikaze franchise that launched in 2014 is the longest (clocking in at 169 minutes) and most extreme (I have no idea how it got an "R" rating). It could also be the finest. Former stuntman-turned-director Chad Stehelski--who helmed all the "Wick" movies--achieves genuine auteur status with this outing. It's almost entirely comprised of jaw-dropping, balletic action setpieces luxuriantly shot in long take, and they're like Sam Peckinpah directing a Sergio Leone yakuza western: a veritable grindhouse orgy of physical destruction. Still persona non grata after killing a High Table crime lord in the last film, Reeves' Wick is once again on the run as he fends off seemingly dozens of assassins contracted to take him down. The Big Bad calling the shots from his Versailles-like estate is the wonderfully creepy Marquis de Grament (played by "It" killer clown Bill Skarasgard), and Stehelski globe-hops with elan and evident relish. The Middle East, Tokyo (the setting for a Japanese garden conflagration that even surpasses the one in "Kill Bill, Volume 1"), Germany (where a futuristic night club becomes a literal killing field) and Paris (for a "you-ain't-seen-nuthin'-yet" finale featuring a vertigo-inducing 222-step stairwell) are all dutifully checked on your cine-passport. Series regulars Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne and Donnie Yen reprise their signature roles, but it's Reeves in his adieu to the Wick-ian universe that you came to see and he's ineffably "Keanu" to the core. A spin-off starring Ana de Armas is already in the can (with a rumored Reeves cameo), so it might not really be "The End" for Mr. Wick. But if this really is his long goodbye, "Chapter 4" insures that we'll never forget him. (A MINUS.)
KANDAHAR--Gerard Butler plays a C.I.A. operative working in the Middle East forced to flee Afghanistan with his Gunga Din-like interpreter (Navid Negahban) after his stealth covert mission is exposed. At least that's what an I.M.D.B. plot synopsis claims. But the film I saw is so muddled and needlessly confusing that I couldn't make heads or tails out of it. The internecine bickering between members of the Taliban and ISIS is the most provocative--and insidious thanks to some racist stereotyping--part of the movie. Director Ric Roman Waugh previously teamed with Butler on "Greenland" and "Angel Has Fallen," and this is by far their worst collaboration yet. Except for rabid FOX News viewers who might get off on the movie's right wing political agenda, I have no idea who the audience for this clunker is supposed to be since it fails as even a lowest-common-denominator action movie. (D.)
THE LITTLE MERMAID--Putting aside the question of whether the world really needed a (mostly) live action remake of the classic 1989 Disney 'toon, director Rob ("Chicago," "Into the Woods") Marshall's robustly entertaining movie justifies its existence solely by the casting of Halle Bailey as Ariel. Bailey's "star is born" performance is so enchanting that you literally can't take your eyes off her. She's also a wonderful singer. (Bailey's "Part of Your World" will make you forget you ever heard that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman standard before.) The quest of teenage mermaid Ariel to experience life on terra firma--and find true love with Prince Eric (Jonah Haver-King)--remains as captivating as ever, and spot-on casting down the line gives it a freshness and welcome new piquancy. Javier Bardem (King Triton), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian the crab), Awkwafina (seabird Scuttle), Jacob Tremblay (Flounder) and scene-stealing Melissa McCarthy's sea witch Ursula all provide invaluable comic and/or emotional ballast. I think it's a pretty safe bet that Bailey and Marshall's "Little Mermaid" will be delighting audiences for years to come. (B PLUS.)
THE MACHINE--A rowdy, drunken college semester that comedian Rob Kreischer spent in Russia--previously chronicled in a 2016 Showtime special--comes back to haunt him 23 years later in this one-joke vanity production. When Rob and his estranged dad (Mark Hamill, a long way from a galaxy far, far away) are kidnapped by Russian mobsters, he has to muster his inner Rambo--or is that Luke Sykwalker?--to save the day. The best thing in the movie is Jimmy Tatro who plays the college-age Rob in intermittent flashbacks. The fact that Tatro, unlike Kreischer, is actually pretty charming and a decent actor makes you miss him whenever he's offscreen. Unless you're a die hard Kreischer fan, there's no crying need to rush out and see this in a theater since it'll be on Netflix before Labor Day. Director Peter Atencio had much better luck corralling Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key in 2016's "Keanu." (C MINUS.)
THE SUPER MARIO BROTHERS MOVIE--"Teen Titans GO! to the Movies" directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic reteam for a DayGlo CGI 'toon adapted from the 38-year-old video game. The ubiquitous Chris Pratt voices Mario who teams up with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) and a toad (Keegan-Michael Key) to stop fire-breathing Koopa Browser (Jack Black, perfectly cast) from achieving (ho-hum) world domination. Oh yeah; Mario also needs to find brother Luigi (Chaerlie Day) who's mysteriously gone missing in the Mushroom Kingdom. Although it's primary appeal is video game cultists and young children, this is still a vast improvement over the clunky live-action 1993 Mario Bros. movie starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo. (C PLUS.)
THELMA AND LOUISE--Thirty two years later, it's ironic that a movie called "Thelma and Louise" is best remembered for introducing a young actor named Brad. That would be Oscar winner Brad Pitt who committed grand larceny in his breakthrough supporting role as the rascally J.D. in Ridley Scott and Callie Khouri's proto #TimesUp manifesto. Not that Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis--both of whom were Oscar nominated, along with Khouri (who won), Scott and cinematographer Adrian Biddle--are chopped liver. As BFFs who become inadvertent fugitives from the law when their girls' trip goes awry, Davis (mousy housewife Thelma) and Sarandon (brassy waitress Louise) are both fantastically empathetic. Thanks to combustible chemistry, you actually believe their ride-or-die friendship will literally take them off a cliff. There's also good supporting work from Harvey Keitel (the surprisingly sympathetic cop on the distaff duo's trail), Michael Madsen (Louise's good-ole-boy male pal) and Christopher McDonald (Thelma's weaselly husband). While the somewhat nihilistic ending remains a source of controversy, it felt emotionally right in 1991 and even more so today. The newly released, director-approved Blu-Ray Criterion Collection special edition includes a cornucopia of extras on two discs. Among them are two separate audio commentary tracks with Scott, Khouri, Sarandon and Davis; contemporary interviews with Scott and Khouri; a documentary featuring Sarandon, Davis, Pitt, Madsen, McDonald, Scott, Khouri and other members of the cast/crew; "Boy and Bicycle," Scott's first short film from 1965; the original theatrical featurette; storyboards, deleted and extended scenes, including an elongated ending with Scott's commentary; a music video for former Eagle Glenn Frey's "Part of Me, Part of You;" and essays by critics Rachel Syme and Jessica Kiang and Rebecca Traister, author of the seminal feminist tome, "Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger and All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation." (A.)
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AIR--The genesis of Nike's trademark Air Jordan basketball shoe in the mid-'80s is the unlikely, but highly winning premise of director Ben ("Argo," "The Town") Affleck's brash, witty, furiously paced and terrifically entertaining new docudrama. Affleck BFF Matt Damon plays Sonny Vacarro who hatches his dream shoe idea with the help of ace designer Peter Moore (Matthew Maher). But getting the preliminary go-ahead proves surprisingly fraught since neither Sonny's prickly boss (Jason Bateman) or Nike CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) don't think it's a very good idea. And securing the cooperation of Jordan's mom Deloris (a perfectly cast Viola Davis) and agent (Chris Messina) isn't going to be much easier. Fans of "Moneyball" and/or "The Social Network" are sure to love this Inside Baseball (or "Inside Basketball Shoe") movie which has the feel-good vibe of a classic sports flick. It'll make a great streaming double-bill with Apple TV+'s "Tetris" after hitting Amazon later this year. (A.)
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA--Like Taika Waititi's Thor movies, the "Ant Man" flicks have always been among the easier-to-take Marvel Corp. products, mostly due to their waggish sense of humor and inspired casting. The third of director Peyton Reed's lightly likable A-M entries reunites the old gang--forever-boyish Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Michael Douglas and, in the film's best performance, Michelle Pfeiffer--and wisely brings along some new blood, namely Jonathan ("Devotion") Majors as Big Bad Kang the Conqueror and the great Bill Murray as his puckish henchman, Lord Krylar. The plot is typical Marvel gobbledygook (something to do with the "Quantum Realm" multiverse which resembles a CGI amusement park designed by '60s maestro of psychedelia Peter Max), but Reed maintains a relatively breezy pace throughout. It's nobody's idea of "Cinema," certainly not Martin Scorsese's, but it's not half-bad either. (B MINUS.)
ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET--Based on Judy Blume's beloved YA novel, this long-gestating film version proves to have been well worth the wait. Adorable newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson plays 11-year-old Margaret who experiences major culture shock when her parents (Benny Safdie and a radiant Rachel McAdams in the beefed-up mom role) leave 1970's New York City for the Jersey suburbs. Margaret must navigate a new school with the help of a new friend and neighbor (Elle Graham), experiences her first crush (Aidan Wojtak-Hissong) and deals with menstruation, her first kiss and even religion. (A secular upbringng makes Margaret an exotic bird in her heavily Christian neighborhood.) Writer-director Kelly Freman Craig (her 2016 debut, "The Edge of Seventeen," was itself a YA classic) makes nary a false step. Her movie is funny, touching and deeply felt even for Blume initiates like me. As Safdie's Jewish mom, Kathy Bates steals her share of scenes without once veering into caricature. Like everything else here, it's perfectly judged and feels just right. (A MINUS.)
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER--The first of James Cameron's promised "Avatar" sequels (three more are currently in production) has finally arrived, a mere 13 years after the original. To be perfectly honest, I hardly remember the first "Avatar" all that well despite having put it on my 2009 10-best list. (It was #7; I looked it up.) So this $350-million follow-up felt less like a continuation of an ongoing story than a standalone movie with cutting-edge CGI that will surely become the industry standard for decades to come. Paralyzed former Marine Jake (Sam Worthington) remains the series' leading character, now a full-fledged Na'vi himself thanks to having married Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) with whom he's started a family. (They have four kids.) Their antagonists are the "Sky People," led by the dastardly Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang, another holdover from the earlier film) whose mission is to colonize Edenic Pandora with displaced earthlings, thereby upsetting the ecological balance of the universe. To help ward off this imminent threat, Jake and his fellow Na'vis form an alliance with the Metkayina clan who are pretty much identical to the Na'vis except for their Maori-like tribal tattoos. But like most Cameron movies, plot--and dialogue which remains his Achilles Heel--takes a back seat to sheer, knock-your-socks-off spectacle. And on that count, "The Way of Water" truly delivers. The underwater sequences are particularly mind-blowing: so uncannily tactile and immersive they're like a Virtual Reality theme park ride minus the dorky headsets. Cameron's assiduous attention to world-building dwarfs every other fantasy franchise/tentpole you've ever seen, and pretty much rewrites the book on what an "event movie" is supposed to be. It's safe to say that we ain't seen nuthin' yet. (A.)
BIG GEORGE FOREMAN: THE MIRACULOUS STORY OF THE ONCE AND FUTURE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD--Despite that tongue-twisting title--and somewhat protracted 128-minute run time--this is a better-than-expected biopic about the boxing great. Khris Davis does a nice job as Foreman, and the movie follows him from his difficult Texas childhood, 1968 Olympic glory (he was a gold medalist), World Heavyweight boxing championship, the near-death experience that turned him into a Born-Again Christian and minister, the George Foreman Grill (100 million units sold!) and his return to boxing where he reclaimed the title at the ripe old age of 45. That's a lot of territory to cover, but journeyman director George ("Barbershop," "The Hate U Give") Tillman Jr. handles the sheer weight of biographical exposition with relative ease. Good support from Jasmine Matthews and Forest Whitaker as, respectively, Foreman's wife and trainer/mentor. (B MINUS.)
CHAMPIONS--Apparently feeling left out after brother Peter went solo and directed the Oscar-winning "Green Book," Bobby Farrelly helms his first standalone film. (Spoiler alert: it probably won't be winning any awards.) Woody Harrelson plays a minor league basketball coach who, after running afoul of the law, is forced to do community service by mentoring a hoops squad of intellectually disabled young adults. While Farrelly's heart is clearly in the right place, this mix of "Dumb and Dumber" comedy and egregious sentimentality simply doesn't work. Harrelson is dependably strong and there's good support from Ernie Hudson, Cheech Marin and Kaitlin Olson, but the movie itself feels strangely retrograde and, worse yet, pandering. Running an indulgent two hours-plus, it merely repeats the same jokes--and tries milking the same tears--ad nauseam. Maybe Peter and Bobby should reteam in the hopes of striking gold with another "There's Something About Mary" rather than individually striking out with ho-hum movies like this and Peter's recent "The Greatest Beer Run Ever." (C MINUS.)
COCAINE BEAR--A 500-pound bear ingests a fortune in cocaine during a drug deal gone bad and goes on a nose candy-fueled rampage in Georgia's Chattahoochee National Forest. What could have been another "Snakes on a Plane"--all sizzle, no steak--is instead a surprisingly enjoyable and occasionally laugh-out-loud-funny action/horror flick. Director Elizabeth Banks really lucked out by recruiting a first-rate cast (Alden Ehrenreich, Margo Martindale, the late Ray Liotta and a reunion of "The Americans'" stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell). They help sell a high-concept premise--allegedly "inspired" by a true story--that could have been merely ludicrous instead. (B.)
CREED III--Ryan Coogler's 2015 "Creed" was an even better movie than the original, Oscar-winning "Rocky," but 2018's "Creed 11" (not helmed by Coogler who moved on to Marvel's "Black Panther" franchise) was nearly as forgettable as most of the "Rocky" sequels. For this third go-round, Creed himself (Michael B. Jordan) not only reprises his role as Apollo Creed's son, Donnie, but directs as well. While not remotely in the same league as Coogler's film, it's still a major improvement over its middling predecessor. In the latest outing, newly retired boxing champ Donnie's childhood friend Damien (Jonathan Majors) shows up after having served an 18-year prison sentence. Now living high on the hog--he's a Ralph Lauren model, owns a Rolls and manages a stable of up and coming boxers in his L.A. gym--Donnie throws Damien a bone by hiring him as a sparring partner for his pugilist proteges. But since the ex con still has a score to settle with his old pal, he challenges Donnie to a championship (grudge) match. Jordan does good work both in front of and behind the camera, and graciously cedes the movie to Majors who's nearly as memorable an antagonist as Mr. T.'s Clubber Lang in "Rocky 111." (B PLUS.)
80 FOR BRADY--For the AARP crowd who found "Book Club" too egghead-y (books, ewwww!), this gridiron-themed distaff buddy comedy stars Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno as four lifelong pals who win tickets to the 2017 Super Bowl in Houston, the better to cheer on their fave rave, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. (Brady plays himself and co-produced the film.) Hokey and too silly by half, the movie still works on the goodwill of its old pro cast. They could have cut the Guy Fieri cameo though (the supremely unctuous "Mayor of Flavortown" turns up to judge a hot wings contest). At least it's better than some of Diane Keaton's woebegone recent comedies. (C PLUS.)
THE FISHER KING--Although it was Robin Williams' Pagliacci-like turn as Parry, a medieval history professor turned homeless man, that earned the former Mork his first Oscar nomination, Terry Gilliam's fantastical 1991 urban fairy tale is actually stolen by Jeff Bridges' more subtle costarring performance. Bridges, who was doing some of the best work of his career at the time ("The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Texasville" preceded it), is fantastic playing Jack Lucas, an alcoholic Manhatan shock jock indirectly responsible for inspiring a mass shooting. (Pretty topical, huh?) Gilliam's first real studio film--and the first he made in his native America--blends pointed social satire and mythical allusions to ultimately heart-warming effect. It's like a Frank Capra movie written by Bret Ellis Easton in his "American Psycho" fabulist mode. Good support from Mercedes Ruehl (who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her bravura portrayal of Jack's video store owner girlfriend), Amanda Plummer (the waif-like object of Parry's affection who he likens to "God's symbol of divine grace") and a scene-stealing Michael Jeter as a down on his luck gay cabaret singer who does a wicked Ethel Merman imitation. The new Criterion Collection box set includes a 4K UHD disc presented in Dolby Vision HDR and a Blu-Ray which contains the film as well as supplementary bonus features. Because this is Criterion, the extras are suitably impressive. There'sGilliam's audio commentary track; interviews with Gilliam, producer Lynda Obst, screenwriter Richard LaGravenese, Bridges, Plummer and Ruehl; a 2006 Williams interview; 1991 footage of Bridges training as a disc jockey with acting coach Stephen W. Bridgewater; costume tests; deleted scenes with audio commentary from Gilliam; interviews with Keith Greco and Vincent Jefferds who designed the movie's hallucinatory "Red Knight;" and an essay by esteemed New York Magazine critic Bilge Ebiri. (A.)
GUY RITCHIE'S THE COVENANT--Jake Gyllenhaal plays U.S. Army Master Sergeant John Kinley whose life is saved by Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) during a Taliban ambush. When he learns that the military's promised safe transport of Ahmed and his family to America has been cancelled, Kinley embarks upon a suicide mission to rescue them. Although this is the first Guy ("The Gentlemen," "RocknRolla") Ritchie movie to incorporate his name in the title, it feels less like a typical Ritchie joint than Michael Bay directing a script that Clint Eastwood passed on. It's not "bad," and Gyllenhaal and Salim are both very good, but Peter Berg ("Lone Survivor") and Eastwood himself ("American Sniper") got there first and did it better. (C PLUS.)
JESUS REVOLUTION--The latest film by "American Underdog"/"I Can Only Imagine" auteur Jon Erwin tells the true-life story of how a pastor (Kelsey Grammer's Chuck Smith) invited groovy flower children into his California congregation in the late '60s, inadvertently kickstarting the "Jesus Revolution" in which disenfranchised young people, many of them hippies or hippie-adjacent, turned onto Christ after kicking dope. Grammar is fine, but the movie's real protagonist is Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney from Netflix's Kissing Booth" franchise) who picks up Smith's torch and eventually becomes a mega-church pastor. It's nicely acted (I especially liked Anna Grace Barlow as the future Mrs. Laurie), and Erwin--who co-directs this time with Brent McCorkle--has seemingly cornered the market on helming Christian-themed movies that even non-believers can enjoy. The film's major flaw is not acknowledging how Evangelism devolved over the decades, ultimately being co-opted by right-wing Republican politicians. (B MINUS.)
KNOCK AT THE CABIN--While on vacation in the Pennsylvania woods, a gay couple (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldrige) and their adopted daughter (Kristen Cui) are visited by Dave Bautista and his mysterious associates and tasked with a "Sophie's Choice" style conundrum. Do they save their family, or all of humanity? Based on Paul Tremblay's award-winning 2018 novel, M. Night Shyamalan's latest crafty, twisty, metaphysically-inclined thriller is all set-up, but that set-up--and the first half of the movie before it begins treading water--is a doozy. (B.)
LARS VON TRIER'S EUROPE TRILOGY--Kraftwerk's hypnotic techno dirge "Europe Endless" played in my head while dipping into the Criterion Collection's new box set of former enfant terrible Lars Von Trier's "Europe Trilogy." I've been a Von Trier enthusiast since first seeing "Zentropa" back in 1992 (it was originally called "Europa" before the U.S. distributer requested a title change so it wouldn't be confused with Agnieszka Holland's "Europa, Europa" released the previous year), but I'd never had the chance to check out his first two movies. 1984's "The Element of Crime" is a baroque procedural in which a retired detective (perpetually gloomy Michael Elphnick) is enlisted to help investigate a serial killer targeting young girls. Shot in sepia with the occasional pop of bold primary colors (e.g., a red Coke can), the film is actually more interesting visually than it is narratively. Von Trier himself plays dual roles in 1987's meta-before-its-time "Epidemic." Besides essaying a variation of "Lars Von Trier," a director whose most recent script vanished in a computer mishap, he also plays an epidemiologist tackling a contemporary variant of the Bubonic Plague. Needless to say it feels even more scarily relevant in today's Covid environment than it probably did at the time. Unfortunately, the movie itself is borderline jejune: one of those overweening in-jokes that must have seemed cleverer in the development stage than it does onscreen. "Zentropa," however, remains as brilliant as ever. Set in post-WW II Germany, it stars Jean-Marc Barr as an American working as a Pullman conductor who falls for the heiress (Fassbinder rep player Barbara Sukowa) whose family owned the trains used to transport Jews to concentration camps during the war. With its bravura mix of b&w and color, double-exposures and dizzying optical effects, it's a hypnotic experience that deservedly won Von Trier the 1991 Best Director prize at Cannes. Max von Sydow provides suitably otherworldly narration, Joakin Holbek's score playfully riffs on Bernard Herrmann's legendary "Vertigo" score and "Alphaville" tough guy Eddie Constantine pops up in a supporting role. Not surprisingly, the bountiful extras are Criterion-formidable. All titles include commentary tracks w/ Von Trier and sundry guests, and each disc contains separate making-of documentaries. There's also a 2005 interview with Von Trier about the trilogy; two short Von Trier student films ("Nocturne" and "Images of Liberation"); Von Trier's 1991 Danish television interview; and an essay by critic Howard Hampton which neatly contextualizes the movies within Von Trier's subsequent oeuvre. ("The Element of Crime," B; "Epidemic," C; "Zentropa," A.; cumulative grade, "A MINUS.")
LOVE AGAIN--Although her fiance has been dead for two years, Mira (Priyanka Chopra-Jones) is still sending him lovey-dovey text messages to his old cell number. Unbeknownst to Mira, that # has since been reassigned to hunky freelance journalist Rob (Sam Heughan). Because this is a rom-com, Rob naturally becomes obsessed with the mystery lady who's been sending him all those mushy missives. Serving as the film's de facto love guru is Quebecois songbird Celine Dion (playing herself) who Sam is currently profiling. If you don't think Mira and Sam will eventually meet--thanks in large measure to Celine's ministrations--and that true love will spark, you're clearly not the audience for this silly movie. Chopra-Jones remains an appealing screen presence despite all the dumb things the script forces her to do. (Hubby Nick Jonas has an amusing cameo.) Dion also contributed a few new songs to the soundtrack, none of which will make you forget "My Heart Will Go On." (C MINUS.)
MALCOLM X--A great American movie by one of America's finest living filmmakers, Spike Lee's 1992 cradle-to-the-grave biopic of the titular civil rights leader finally receives the Criterion Collection treatment--and was well worth the wait. Anchored by Denzel Washington's towering performance as the divisive Muslim figurehead who was assassinated in 1965, it's one of the few movies in modern screen history to feel truly "epic." At three hours and 21 minutes, it has the breadth, depth and scope/vision of the type of 1960's roadshow movies that, ironically, would have never deemed Malcolm an "appropriate," or even deserving subject for biographical treatment. Born to a minister father, Malcolm Little eventually rebelled from his strict religious upbringing and served jail time for burglary. It was in prison that the future Malcolm X was introduced to the Nation of Islam, becoming one of its most devout and dedicated followers. A later pilgrimage to Mecca helped Malcolm change his "whites are the devils" mantra, ultimately preaching that all races needed to coexist and work together. Superb supporting turns from Angela Bassett (Malcolm's wife, Betty), Al Freeman Jr. (Elijah Muhammad) and Delroy Lindo (West Indian Archie). The late film critic Roger Ebert once called Lee's films exercises in empathy. Besides "Do the Right Thing," I can't think of another Lee joint more worthy of that description than this masterpiece. The Criterion Blu-Ray has a cornucopia of extras, including a 2005 audio commentary with Lee, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, editor Barry Alexander Brown and costume designer Ruth E. Carter; contemporaneous chats with Lee, Brown, Lindo and composer Terrence Blanchard; a making of featurette with, among others, Lee, Washington, Dickerson, Brown, Blanchard, Carter, Ossie Davis, Martin Scorsese and Ilyasah Shabazz (Malcolm X's daughter); co-screenwriter Arnold Perl's feature-length 1972 documentary, "Malcolm X;" deleted scenes introduced by Lee; an essay by journalist/ screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper; Lee and Washington excerpts from the 1992 book, "By Any Means Necessary: The Trials of Tribulations of the Making of 'Malcolm X;'" and Davis' stirring 1965 funeral eulogy for Malcolm X. (A PLUS.)
A MAN CALLED OTTO--Based upon the Oscar-nominated 2015 Swedish film, "A Man Called Ove," director Marc ("Finding Neverland," "World War Z") Forster's pitch-perfect English-language remake gives Tom Hanks his best leading role in years. As Otto Anderson, a curmudgeonly Pittsburgh widower whose determined abrasiveness gradually melts after reluctantly making friends with his new neighbor (the wonderful Mariana Trevino), Hanks will crack you up then break your heart. This is the very definition of an old-fashioned "feel-good movie," and if Sony can't turn it into a word-of-mouth hit there really is no hope for the future of theatrical releases that aren't IP-driven or franchise and tentpole movies. (A.)
M3GAN--Robotics engineer Gemma (Allison Williams from "Get Out" and HBO's "Girls") unwisely allows A.I.-generated robot doll M3Gan (Amie Donald) to become the constant companion--surrogate parent, nanny, BFF and tutor all rolled into one--of her orphaned niece (Violet McGraw). Anyone who's seen "Child's Play," "Ex Machina," or the "Annabelle" and "Boy" movies could tell you that's probably not going to work out very well. New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone, best known for the cultish 2014 haunted domicile flick, "Housebound, brings a puckish sense of dark humor to the generic set-up, but it's nothing you haven't seen before. (C PLUS.)
OPERATION FORTUNE: RUE DE GUERRE--Mercenary-for-hire Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) is contracted by an MI6 operative (Cary Elwes) to foil Cockney billionaire arms dealer Greg Simmond's plan to sell a deadly new weapon technology (nicknamed "The Handle") to Ukranian terrorists. (Hugh Grant is amusingly cast against type as the ruthless "merchant of death.") Assisting Fortune are tech expert Sarah (Aubrey Plaza), jack of all trades J.J. (Bugzy Malone) and Hollywood action star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) who Fortune recruits because he's Simmond's favorite actor. Guy ("The Gentlemen," "Snatch") Ritchie's latest globe-hopping actioner plays like a farm team version of one of Tom Cruise's "M:I" movies. But a game cast--Plaza and Grant are the thesping standouts--make it a reasonably diverting time-killer. Originally slated for release in early 2022, the film's U.S. bow was delayed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All things considered, they should have probably just sold it to a streaming service since it's unlikely to make much of a dent in the domestic theatrical marketplace. (B MINUS.)
THE POPE'S EXORCIST--A waggish Russell Crowe is the best thing about director Julius ("Overlord," "The Samaritan") Avery's been there/exorcised that horror flick. Crowe plays the real-life Father Gabriele Amorth who served as head exorcist of the Diocese of Rome for 30 years (the film itself is wholly fictional, though). When a young boy (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney) begins evincing signs of demonic possession while living in a spooky Castilian abbey with his widowed mom and teen sister, Father Amorth is tasked by the Pope (screen legend Franco Nero) with conducting an exorcism. Blaming demonic possession on the Catholic Church's sins during the Spanish Inquisition is a bit of a stretch, but it's the only novel thing about the movie. (C.)
RENFIELD--Nicolas Cage is Dracula and Nicholas Holt the Count's manservant Renfield in Chris ("The LEGO Batman Movie") McKay's quasi-clever, semi-dumb horror comedy. Once Renfield falls for New Orleans traffic cop Awkwafina, he decides it's time to leave his toxic co-dependent relationship with the narcissistic bloodsucker. (Some of the best scenes are set in group therapy sessions run by a dweeby Brandon Scott Jones.) A subplot involving local mobsters--Ben Schwartz plays the idiot son of local crime boss Shohreh Aghdashloo--needed more fleshing out to fully work, but the lead performances are good (and funny) enough to leave you pleasantly buzzed. Best of all, the whole thing wraps up at just under 90 minutes. (B MINUS.)
SCREAM VI--When Wes Craven's "Scream" opened in December 1996, it felt like a breath of fresh air in the moribund slasher movie genre. Craven's canny mix of laughs and scares seemed downright revelatory at the time. Unfortunately, the film's sleeper success meant that a follow-up was mandatory, and the following year's "Scream 2"--not to mention the even drearier 2000 and 2011 sequels--just felt like lazy cash grabs. Which is why last year's "Scream" reboot by "Ready or Not" wiz kids Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gilllet seemed like such a pleasant surprise. Who knew there was any creative juice left from Craven's quarter century old template? In a case of history repeating itself, this rushed sequel to 2022's "Scream" has more in common with the disappointing previous "Scream" iterations than it does with the game changing film(s) that preceded it. The one innovation is moving the action to New York City where the Ghostface killer (or the latest incarnation of the Ghostface killer since their identity has changed from film to film) stalks survivors of the previous movie. Jenna (Netflix's "Wednesday") Ortega, breakout star of the '22 "Scream," is the sole redeeming feature of the movie. But bringing back Courtney Cox (again?) and the 2011 "Scream" queen Hayden Panettiere for another go-round just seems desperate. (C.)
SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS--The inevitable follow-up to 2019's D.C.-derived "Shazam" is essentially a busier (more plot) and more cluttered (thanks to a slew of guest stars including Helen Mirren as the principal Big Bad and "West Side Story" ingenue Rachel Zegler) version of the larkish original. Director David F. Sanberg, reuniting with his "Shazam" co-leads Zachary Levi and Asher Angel, once again delivers a slick tech package with a healthy dose of self-deprecating humor. The major problem this time is that everyone seems to be taking it more seriously. Which somewhat dampens the fun and makes it feel more like, well, just about every other comic book super hero movie. (C PLUS.)
65--While on a two-year exploratory mission, astronaut Mills (Adam Driver) is forced to crash land on earth...65 million years ago! Accompanied by the ship's only other survivor, a young girl named Koa (Arianna Greenblatt), Mills must ward off dinosaur attacks while hunting for the escape shuttle that can fly them home before an asteroid decimates the planet. Co-directed by "A Quiet Place" screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woody, this slapdash crossbreeding of "Planet of the Apes" and "Jurassic Park" is so brazenly wackadoodle that it can't help be mildly amusing for a mercifully brief 93 minute run time. But not even strong performances by Driver and Greenblatt can compensate for frankly middling CGI and a script that desperately needed an additional polish or two. (C.)
THREE COLORS BY KRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI--Individually great and cumulatively one of the benchmarks of contemporary European cinema, the Criterion Collection's Blu Ray box set of late Polish visionary Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Thee Color Trilogy" is the first must-own home video release of 2023. "Blue" (starring Juliette Bioche) is the darkest, most haunting of the three; the ebullient "White" (with Julie Delpy) is the closest to a flat-out comedy; and "Red," featuring an incandescent lead performance by Kieslowski muse Irene ("The Double Life of Veronique") Jacob, ranks among the greatest French language films of the post-New Wave era. Each movie is accorded its own disc and contains a plethora of mouth-watering extras. There are three "cinema lessons" with Kieslowski; interviews with cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, composer Zbigniew Preisner and actors Jacob, Delpy and Zbigniew Zamachowski; selected scene commentary with Binoche; video essays by critics Dennis Lim, Annette Insdorf and Tony Rayns; a 1995 documentary about Kieslowski; three Kieslowski short films ("The Tram," "Seven Women of Different Ages" and "Talking Heads") from 1966, 1978 and 1980 respectively; interview featurettes on Kieslowski's life and career with Binoche, Insdorf, Jacob, critic Geoff Andrew, director Agnieszka ("Europa, "Europa") Holland, cinematographer Slawomir Idziak, producer Martin Karmitz and editor Jacques Witta; behind the scenes featurettes on "White" and "Red; a short documentary on the Cannes Film Festival premiere of "Red;" essays by critics Nick James, Stuart Klawans, Georgina Evans and Colin MacCabe; excerpts from "Kirslowski on Kieslowski;" and interviews with cinematographers Idziak, Edward Klosinski and Piotr Sobocinski. (A PLUS.)
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND--Unlike most music documentaries that unimaginatively mix-and-match talking heads interviews with archival performance footage, Todd ("I'm Not There," "Velvet Goldmine") Haynes' film about the experimental and wildly influential New York rock band is itself a kind of cinematic performance art. Taking its stylistic cues from the underground movies of the 1960's--the Velvet Underground began their career as a sort of house band for Andy Warhol's Factory--Haynes' doc has as much sensory overload as a V/A live show. (Haynes uses split screen more effectively than any director since vintage Brian DePalma.) One of the most amusing revelations is that it was Warhol who insisted Nordic chanteuse Nico become a member of the Underground; he likened her presence to "a blonde iceberg in the middle of the stage." The film is as much a retrospective, and deeply nostalgic, look at '60s NYC, as it is a memorial to Lou Reed, et al. The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray includes an audio commentary with Haynes and editors Adam Kurnitz and Alfonso Goncalves; outtakes of interviews with onscreen contributors Jonathan Richman, Mary Woronov and Jonas Mekas; Haynes in a 2021 conversation with surviving V/A bandmates John Cale and Maureen Tucker; complete versions of three of the avant garde films excerpted in the movie (two by Mekas); and rock critic Greil Marcus' steely-eyed essay, originally published in the New York Review of Books. (A.)
---Milan Paurich