'Superintelligence' A Review

Superintelligence is a rom-com with a scifi twist, Carol(Melissa McCarthy) is a former tech executive in Seattle who is struggling to find her way. She's befriended by a super intelligent AI who intends to study humanity through her and assist in her reconciling with her ex George(Bobby Carnivale). 

McCarthy is charming and funny, no surprise there. Carnivale is also charming and funny and seems to relish not playing a heavy and having a role with some levity. The two have an easy but effective chemistry which is almost too subtle for the volume of the bits that surround it. Brian Tyree Henry is nice in a supporting role as Carol's friend Dennis and Sam Richardson is great as an NSA agent but the supporting cast are for the most part very minor, the story focusing somewhat on McCarthy and Carnivale but mostly just McCarthy and the voice of the AI done by James Corden.

Solid production design is somewhat perverted by a series of blatant tech product placement, presumably why it was filmed/set in Seattle was a stipulation of the funding. That aside it is a somewhat successful piece of light entertainment although in total it feels kind of retro- an echo/a reflection of something we've seen ten plus years ago. With the strength of McCarthy and Carnivale it would have been more successful as a straight two-hander the conceit- possible malevolent AI as defacto godmother- is intriguing in theory but in practice it mostly distracts from the talent of the human leads.

Diverting, playful, with heart but lacking in cohesion.

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

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'Belushi' A Review

Belushi is a documentary about the life and career of the late John Belushi. Through archival footage, stills, and audio interviews the life of Belushi is explored. Beginning with a brief exploration of his childhood it follows his career first in summerstock, then Second City, then National Lampoons Radio, then SNL, then films, concluding with his untimely death.

The movie is odd in that it was clearly repurposed from an attempt at an oral-history book, so although there are extensive audio interviews, most notably with Belushi's widow Judith Belushi Pisano, it feels as if it should have been an audiobook, and aside from her testimony there is not much new that hasn't been covered numerous times over the years in biographies, documentaries, biopics, and E! True Hollywood Stories. That's not to say it's not well done, it is, but there is nothing new as far as information and no new side of Belushi that is explored. And the runtime feels a bit bloated, the languorous pace and incessant audio interviews over still photographs strains patience within the context of a feature.

Addiction is sad and destructive, death as a result of addiction is always a tragedy, and that more so than his talent have defined Belushi's legacy. As such its strange the movie does not delve deeper as to his talent nor his addiction, not attempting or daring to explore his singular comedic perspective(simply summarizing it) or lay any responsibility for his drug use at his feet or anyone elses.

The lesson of Belushi and so many others is that success, fame, wealth these things will not make you happy, they carry with them no contentment or satisfaction unless you already have a measure of those things. Alcohol and drugs do not enhance the artist they only serve to gradually consume them. And famous people, rich people, more so than others have little to no accountability in their lives and as such it is more difficult for them to face the reality of consequence that an addict needs to make a change. It's sad but it's not mysterious, it's tragic but it's not mythical. And Belushi seems to trade on the same old troupes, more interested in the legend of Belushi rather than the man.

Currently streaming on Showtime.

Don't See It.

'Gamemaster' A Review

Gamemaster is a documentary broadly about modern tabletop gaming and loosely follows four aspiring game designers. Through talking-head interviews, archival footage, and some miscellaneous Cinéma Vérité at conventions and following the four subjects around the casual documentary delves into the passion and the industry of tabletop gaming.

A slamdunk for any tabletop gaming fan and an interesting enough dive for the layman, there's nothing particularly original or flashy about the form but the subject is unique and niche enough to hold attention and there is some intriguing points made about tabletop gaming as an artform in and of itself and the it's possible influence. Although not a major theme the movie does examine diversity and inclusion within the industry, or lack there of, so it is not a simple hoorah.

With the advent of streaming, documentaries, famously the cheapest too produce, have become the go-to to fill out streaming platforms library and although they rarely hit the mark of Cinema the breadth of subject matter and the somewhat democratization of who can actually make one and make it available is exciting.

Light entertainment, a look at a former powerhouse industry that endures.

Currently available on Amazon.

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Dawn, Day, Dusk, Dark

Gradations of light
reflections of
the soul's health 

or torment

'Jiu Jitsu' A Review

Jiu Jitsu is a scifi/martial arts movie about an amnesiac fighter Jake(Alain Moussi) who bounces between the US military, a secret society of which he's apparently a part, and a murderous alien. Jake must face his fears, with the help of eccentric hermit Wylie(Nicolas Cage), and stand up to Brax the predator derivative alien threat. The world is at stake!

Moussi along with basically the entire cast is woefully wooden, and the convoluted meandering script do no favors for these (excellent) martial artists and stunt people turned actors. Cage is the only one who is giving anything in the realm of a performance and although he's fun, as always, he's not doing anything particularly unique(for him) or putting in a ton of effort.

The low budget CGI isn't half bad, and the action sequences/fight choreography are well done and even have some ambition, although not always successful it's at least competent bordering on interesting. But the story is so abysmally paced, the back bone of the narrative so amorphous, it's not entirely apparent what is supposed to be happening at any given time, none of the characters motivations are ever really clear so they simply float through this already undefined wasteland of a story.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms. 

Don't See It.

'The New Mutants' A Review

The New Mutants is a superhero movie with a veneer of horror about a group of young mutants just discovering their powers who are being kept at a secure facility in order to undergo therapy to, supposedly, prepare them for release. The movie opens on Dani(Blu Hunt) awakened by her dad in their home when some kind of disaster is devastating her reservation, she fleets and falls unconscious only to awaken in the facility under the watchful eye of Dr. Reyes(Alice Braga). She meets the other teens in attendance who have various powers- Rahne(Maisie Williams), Illyana(Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam(Charlie Heaton), and Bobby(Henry Zaga). At first at odds then beginning to grow closer(a la Breakfast Club) the group then begins to be plagued by dark visions and Dr. Reyes motives come into question.

Hunt is a little green here but to be fair she's asked to do some substantial heavy lifting, although not totally effective she's passable. Williams is clearly committed and does a better job than the relatively light subject matter really calls for and her and Hunt's chemistry is wonderful if a bit, appropriately, twee. Taylor-Joy, Heaton, and Zaga are all decent but the movie comes in at a very clipped 90 minutes and although the momentum never suffers some of the character development does.

Competent, contained, and entertaining there is certainly room for improvement but this defacto X-Men spinoff lands securely in the 18-25 demographic in which it was intended. There is no real sign of why this production was so troubled, delayed multiple times with reshoots, as it works just fine although not particularly inspired. The haunted house lay on to the superhero story is an interesting one and would have paid greater dividends if more time had been spent on flushing out the characters outside of one brief montage.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

Rent It.

Bay Window

Like the prow of a ship
traversing not space but time

In this age of confined solitude

it pierces the wave of hours

A portal to the tides occasion

held aloft by the days duration

Cutting through the clock's soft chime.

'Kajillionaire' A Review

Kajillionaire is a dramedy about a con-artist couple- Robert(Richard Jenkins) and Theresa(Debra Winger)- and their adult daughter Old Dolio(Evan Rachel Wood). The three barely subside with two-bit cons which seem to be rarely successful, they live in a delineated storefront office space that is overcome with bubbles from an adjacent factory twice a day. In order to make back rent they enact a scheme to collect travel insurance during the course of which they meet Melanie(Gina Rodriguez) who inexplicably becomes part of their grifts.

Wood gives a perfectly balanced performance between quirk and pathos, with an odd restless physicality and a dull low register vocal affect, she's able to play a Character while still conveying heartbreaking emotion. Jenkins and Winger are simply too awful to be tolerable, whether this was acting choice, direction, or the script they are painful to watch and absolutely bring down the film from eccentric interest to misery. Rodriguez brings her charm and magnetism to bear and it's effective, her chemistry with Wood is undeniable, but the character is so thinly drawn her involvement with this trio at any point strains credulity, she functions in a way like an inverted manic pixie dream girl, a simplification that doesn't do her talent, or the narrative potential of this set up, justice.

Particular and evocative production design, and a bizarre but effective score, make for a solid and interesting frame work with a couple very interesting shots and sequences- the pink bubbles glooping down in the trios "home", an extended sequence where the main characters pretend to be the family of a dying man while they search his house for his checkbook, Old Dolio dancing for the first time. But ultimately the sum is somewhat less than it's parts. It feels unfinished, a rough draft, the modulation of characters uneven, the story in and of itself not only bizarre but preposterous, the "happy" ending almost moot by the total grinding desperation of what proceeded it. Ambitious and intriguing but bleak to the point of pointlessness save for the award-worthy performance of Wood.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

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'The Trial Of The Chicago 7' A Review

The Trial Of The Chicago 7 is a period courtroom drama based on the real trial following the 1968 Chicago riots. The film follows the trial and flashes back to the events that lead up to the '68 democratic convention and the subsequent riots.

The ensemble cast is brimming with talent but the story moves so quickly, is conveniently truncated to heighten the titular trial, that no character has enough screentime to be an actual person. Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman gets the closest and Jeremy Strong as Jerry Rubin is actually playful but the rest aren't given much time or much in the way of actual characterization. Eddie Redmayne as Tom Hayden particularly suffers from this thinness of detectable personality and comes across as an two dimensional bore. There are far too many characters and too much ground to cover to do the story justice in a feature run time as such some incredible talent is wasted- Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Fred Hampton alone would be worth a feature.

The period production is effective and you can't argue with the hook and momentum or writer/director Sorkin's dialogue but the film has a Hollywood slickness to it, an inappropriate breeziness, that given our current socio-political upheaval seems somewhat baffling. The courtroom sequences particularly are broad to the point of ludicrousness, and it's possible they reflect the reality but if so more attention should have been paid to there construction. Given the recent popularity of true crime I don't think any viewer watching The Trial Of The Chicago 7 would not know immediately that it would be overturned on appeal, and as such the trial itself has little to no tension, and what we are left with is thin characters in a court room drama more in line with the taste of Sorkin's 90's heyday(Rainmaker, Time To Kill) than our present.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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'Rogue City' A Review

Rogue City is a French crime thriller about the anti-robbery/anti-gang division of the Marseille policy department. The story follows Vronski(Lannick Gautry) as he navigates and participates in an incredibly convoluted snarl of corruption with local drug traffickers and his own department.

Seemingly aping 80's US action films the cast all look and act straight out of the Stallone/Schwarzenegger heyday. There is little to no character development, little to no actual acting going on aside from either impassivity or sneering cruelty. And unlike the US 80's films from which it is seemingly inspired it has a nihilistic bleakness to it that prevents it from actually being fun.

Filmed on location in the south of France the locales are wonderful and every cop has a bafflingly gorgeous and large villa. The look of all the actors, virtually every character has long shaggy hair, is retro to the point of ludicrousness. The script is presumably some attempt at Training Day by way of the intensity of Deer Hunter and it is an astonishing failure. Every couple is cheating on each other(maybe that's just French or the scripts attempted shortcut to character), threats of rape are the criminals go-to, and the transparent and consistent corruption of the cops is presumably acceptable because of the circumstances, at least within the context of the story. The brief action sequences are decent but far from enough to balance out the vileness and tedium of the characters and narrative.

In a year mostly bereft of action fair due to scheduling delays Rogue City is definitively not even a mild substitute.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

Form And Substance

Consider the nature of a thing
it's form and function

take for instance

a squeaky floor

and a sturdy board

on one you may

tread lightly

in order to avoid its shriek

on the other

one may walk stolidly

in deference to it's strength

or perhaps deliberately clomp

to revel in the creaks and clatter

or slide along the smooth

robustness like a playful satyr

Consider the nature of a thing

it's form and function

each with it's part to play

in life's marvelous conjunction

'2067' A Review

2067 is a science fiction movie set in a dystopian future where all plant life has been wiped out and the surviving human population is slowly dying from the limited synthetic oxygen supply. Orphaned city power plant worker Ethan(Kodi Smit-McPhee) fixes the ailing nuclear reactor with his best friend Jude(Ryan Kwanten) when they called in to meet with the top brass at the synthetic oxygen company Ethan's father use to work at as a head scientist. They discover he invented a time machine to communicate with the future and they received a message to "Send Ethan Whyte" thinking this could be the key to a cure and human survival Ethan is sent forward four hundred years. But things are not what they seem!

Smit-McPhee is a little out of his depth as the heroic lead and this is exacerbated by the stilted dialogue and some rough plot mechanics. Kwanten is a bit more confident and comfortable and the two have decent chemistry but the ambitious ideas aren't quite bolstered up by the mostly flat characters and overwrought emotions.

Slick and creative production design and an effective score help to elevate 2067 beyond the garish and there are some genuinely intriguing scifi concepts but script itself is under-baked and can succeed only to a point.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

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Duty

Life is full of responsibility
small daily obligation

they can overwhelm, erode

however easy 

or inconsequential

by shear volume 

and ceaselessness

but there is satisfaction

in commitment fulfilled,

in balance.

I had agreed to give 

my oldest friend's

teenage son

a motorcycle ride

and although

the logistics

were quite circuitous

the deed itself

was energizing.

Mega Man 2

From out of the mist

of twenty five years

a blue clad man

spewing orbs,

memories of fevered hours

inside the gloom

of the Muldowney's basement

in pursuit of Dr. Willy

and his rogue creations.

'The Witches' A Review

The Witches is a fantasy/dark comedy based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. In 1968 a young boy, Hero Boy(Jahzir Kadeem Bruno), goes to live with his grandmother, Grandma(Octavia Spencer), in Alabama after the tragic death of his parents. After encountering a witch at the local general store the two go to hide out at a nearby hotel. Unfortunately the hotel is hosting an anti-child cruelty convention at the same time which is in fact a cover for the yearly witch gathering headed by the Grand High Witch herself(Anne Hathaway).

Bruno shows natural talent and exceptional ease on screen, using his charm and emotion to ground the story but also able to play up the more horrific/comedic/absurd notes. Spencer, as always, is a delight, the beating real heart of the film, able to fluidly move through the various tones and moods so nothing is discordant, a significant challenge given the material. Her performance is especially impressive given a majority of her scenes are with CG animals. Hathaway as the extremely over-the-top thickly accented GHW is fun but not particularly inspired especially, and perhaps unfairly, with the inevitable comparison to Angelica Huston who played the same roll in the 1990 incarnation with more menace and relish. The supporting cast are all decent but no one really floats to the top, not a surprise, given the pacing is relatively(and justly) clipped and any spare time for character development is given to Bruno and Spencer.

A wonderful soundtrack and immaculate production design create a wonderful world for the story but writer/director Robert Zemeckis bizarre fixation with CGI and trudging through the uncanny valley significantly detracts from the experience particularly with regards to the CG animals and the witches aesthetic.

A solid cast, some intriguing ideas, and a mostly successful production make for decent entertainment but nothing that surprising. The biggest disappointment is that its potential is clear but it fails to meet it.

Currently streaming on HBOMax.

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'Time' A Review

Time is a documentary about Fox Rich, entrepreneur, abolitionist, and mother of six, as she fights for the release of her husband who is serving a 60-year sentence for an armed robbery they both committed, she entered a plea bargain and served 3 years out of a 12 year sentence, and he tried the case receiving a vindictive sentence. The film unfolds through extensive home video footage shot by Rich cut with produced footage from the present.

In unassuming black and white with a lyrical almost dream like piano score the film fluidly morphs through 20 years of the family's struggle, focusing predominately on Rich but by extension her children, crosscutting them as children and as young men. Not only is it a powerful political film, more intimate than it's counterparts The House I Live In and 13th Amendment, it is a meditation on time, courage, and love. The film doesn't necessarily get into policy specifics in regards to systemic oppression and mass incarceration it focuses on how these institutions directly effect people, families, and life. What the cost is on a human level. It's incredibly potent.

More wispy dream or gentle breeze than fiery social statement it none the less gets to the heart of the issue by focusing on the individuals effected, the pain and frustration and anxiety, the valor and endurance needed to survive let alone triumph. It focuses on empathy rather than policy and perhaps that can change minds more effectively than information. A must watch for these turbulent times.

Currently streaming on Amazon.

Don't Miss It.