By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week I got to check out a few more high profile new releases, plus catch up on some of the summer’s flicks I couldn’t/wouldn’t do in theaters.
607. The Holdovers
I’ve not always been the biggest Alexander Payne fan, but I quite loved this one, a spitting image of a 70s character drama right down to the retro MPAA warning, and chock full of excellent performances. Paul Giamatti is stupendous as an abrasive private high school professor who’s stuck watching a group of kids (and eventually just one- Dominic Sessa) with a cook who recently lost her son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar-worthy) over the winter holidays. Just writing + acting + characterwork + aesthetics all pulling perfectly in the same direction. Two Beers.
608. A Silence
This Belgian film will make a lot more sense if you know some of the particulars of the explosive murder case turned different but bigger scandal that it’s based on (common knowledge in that country, apparently, but not so much here). This is a slow-burn character-driven drama about characters ignoring an ugly truth, but not built in such a way that this truth is an explosive revelation or anything… so I’d recommend reading up just a tad beforehand. Three Beers.
609. The Killer
I’ve seen an interesting divide among my friends about this one, who fall into two camps: “meh, didn’t get anything out of it” or “one of Fincher’s 5 best?” I kind of fall in between- I appreciate what Fincher is going for and fail to see some of the common criticisms of the film (the voiceover is very much there on purpose, and Tilda Swinton is superb as always), but also can’t shake the feeling that this falls more on the minor side of his filmography. Two Beers.
610. The Burial
This feels like a throwback 90s Oscar juggernaut, and while in this day and age it’s unlikely to be that, this based on a true story courtroom drama (set in the 90s) about a funeral home director and the flamboyant personal injury attorney he hires on to help him take on an international conglomerate who’s trying to screw him over is hella entertaining. Tommy Lee Jones and Jamie Foxx (and Jurnee Smollett and Mamadou Athie as the principal opposition and a junior lawyer whose idea hiring Foxx was) command the screen as they play off each other. Two Beers.
611. The Lesson
This is a dry and sardonic look at the literary world, and stars Richard E. Grant as a famous author who’s not put out a book in years who hires a young aspiring writer (Daryl McCormack, just as magnetic as he was in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) to tutor his high school age son, as they and his art collector wife (Julie Delpy, forbidding) grieve the suicide of their older son. This is a sharp, vicious, and well-plotted drama. Two Beers.
612. Carmen
This retelling of the classic Opera transposes its setting to the American Southwest, kind of (the plot starts to stray after awhile). Anyway, Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal are dynamite as a star-crossed couple trying to escape a violent incident at the border, and I enjoyed a lot of the individual artistic choices (several of the musical numbers, especially the confusing but nonetheless impressive flamenco cabaret scene showcasing Almodovar regular Rossy de Palma, do bang), but the whole package is a bit of a hodgepodge of ideas. Three Beers.
613. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
I’m sad to say that large stretches of the last Indiana Jones film feel like even more of a pandering boring rehash than the previous one (although don’t worry, everyone’s favorite Mutt died invisibly in between films). Mads Mikkelsen is incapable of being unwatchable, though, and the opening deaging CGI is actually kind of excellent, and in the end there’s one hell of a plot twist/leap that is actually a kind of touching end for the Archaeologist turned tentpole summer action star. Four Beers.
614. Meg 2: The Trench
New and very head-scratching director Ben Wheatley is very aware that this franchise is trash, and really needn’t aspire to be more than trash, but rather lean into it, like wave-jumping megashark spear-bombing lean into it. And I’m here for it. Just look at that picture up there. More of that is promised and delivered. Four Beers.
615. Heart of Stone
Netflix action films are starting to get a bit of a bad rap, and while there’s definitely an argument to be made that throwing this much money at action film veterans in the same way they do for auteurs isn’t the smartest business plan, I did think this Gal Gadot vehicle was entertaining enough. There’s action and quips that don’t make your teeth rot, and Netflix’s balance sheet isn’t my concern. Three Beers.
616. Biosphere
This was last year’s surprise screening at TIFF, and while it has the requisite star power in Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass, you’ll only need a half hour or so to see why this last two men on Earth survival dramedy hasn’t caught on in the zeitgeist. I actually think the plot and the way it is handled is well-acted, funny, and even strangely sweet, but, well, you’ll have to see it to believe it. Three Beers.
617. The Heiress and the Heist
This documentary series profiles the strange story of Rose Dugdale, a daughter of the English upper crust who went on to join the IRA and even help mastermind a series of high profile art thefts from her former family friends, culminating in one of the largest art heists in history. This is more of a straight retelling than one that gets particularly deep into her psyche and motivations, but it’s a fascinating story. Three Beers.
618. Philly D.A.
This PBS documentary series follows Larry Krasner, a civil rights defense attorney who runs for and secures the office at the root of much that he’d opposed in his career- the other side of the courtroom, the district attorney’s office. It’s a fascinating warts and all embedding into this social experiment that meets challenges both anticipated and not, and demonstrates the imperfection of even the best intentions at times. Two Beers.
619. The Staircase
Something feels a bit ooky about the dramatization of a story that is so extremely well covered as a documentary, but this HBO series avoids the obvious pitfalls and does a good job of expanding the scope of the story, to include Toni Collette’s victim’s perspective which is impossible for the documentary to feature, as well as the perspective of the documentarians. Colin Firth and Collette in particular are great, as are the multiple dramatizations of that fateful night that intertwine with the facts and the characters in fascinating ways. Two Beers.
620. The Flash
While this not being the surprise hit WB was so desperately hoping for has probably ended this man’s career (plus all that other stuff, obviously), Ezra Miller sure was a charismatic and amusing lead while it lasted, in the extreme vacuum of the silver screen. This suffers from a lot of the big ‘ol fight climax and franchise storytelling obligations that are currently dragging Marvel down, but double the Miller is actually double the fun, and the cameos and in-jokes facilitated by the multiversal storytelling are a good time. Four Beers.
621. A Good Person
Zach Braff’s earnestness as a director and storyteller is not everyone’s cup of tea- far from it in fact. This story of a broken pair of souls who meet in an AA meeting (although hold a much deeper and more tragic connection) can be accused of schmaltz, but performers the caliber of Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman can really sell you on that, and they do here. Three Beers.
622. Dreamin’ Wild
Love & Mercy‘s Bill Pohlad returns to the director’s chair to tell another true story of musicians, although from a much different perspective than that Brian Wilson story. Casey Affleck and Walton Goggins star as brothers who made a single album when they were teens in the 70s- and that was it. Or it was until the album is rediscovered by collectors and starts to jump in popularity as a lost classic. The point of the piece is what effect this has on the brothers and the family who supported them (Beau Bridges is heartbreaking as their dad), and the cast draws out their regrets and still flickering dreams superbly. Three Beers.
623. An American Tragedy
This documentary available on Prime is about murderer Jeffrey Ferguson as he faces his last days on Death Row, and the family of the girl he killed who are also facing down the end of a tragic story that has consumed decades of their lives. Ferguson has undergone quite a transformation in the years he spent in prison, but that will not stop the march of justice, particularly in Missouri. A potent story of the possibility of forgiveness and what overcoming a crime like this can even possibly be. Three Beers.
624. Vacation Friends 2
Hey, I’m just going to admit that I’m here for this cast for any beach-set adventure they care to embark upon in the future. There’s a zany energy shared between these four actors and the behind the scenes team that is infectiously fun, and it’s full of things like John Cena breaking out actually pretty decent Korean in a drinking contest that constantly surprise. Two Beers.
625. The Fifth Thoracic Vertebrae
This crazy Korean creature feature is about a mattress so dirty, so disgusting, that its mold gains sentience and starts to consume the vertebrae of those crazy enough to make bodily contact with it. While it’s as grotesque as that logline promises, it’s also more of a trippy arthouse film than a grungy pulp horror, so your mileage will assuredly vary. Four Beers.
626. Another Body
It’s perhaps not until a half an hour or so into this documentary, when it’s revealed that all of the interviews you’ve seen so far have been deepfaked, that the truly disturbing nature of the crime of deepfaked porn begins to emerge- a crime only a few jurisdictions, that is. A few girls recount discovering that their faces have been overlaid on strangers’ bodies to create shockingly realistic pornography, and their windy, often dead-ended quest for justice in this clear violation of their person. A documentary that gives just a glimpse of the fucked up precipice we’re on the end of with the recent advances in A.I. Two Beers.
