'A Working Man' A Review

A Working Man is an action revenge picture about former Royal Marine and current construction foreman Levon(Jason Statham) who's bosses daughter is kidnapped, big mistake!

Statham does what he does, nothing particularly new about this incarnation which he's been trading on since 2002's The Transporter. He's compelling particularly in the action sequences but he, and the movie as a whole, really struggle when it veers into actually taking itself seriously. The emotion doesn't really track, the feinting at actual human trafficking and drug issues really doesn't work. It seems writer/director David Ayer took the wrong lesson from the surprise success of last year's The Beekeeper, it wasn't the reality that made that movie fun it was that it was clearly heightened, clearly a fantasy. The cast is talented but there's clearly confusion about the tone and many of the European actors struggle with their American accents.

The movie looks good, gotta give Ayer that, he knows how to put together a solid flick on a mid-sized budget(Hollywood take note). Although it is clearly shot in the UK and is set in Chicago splicing in drone footage and dash cam shots of the actual city with locations that are clearly not in the US let alone Chicago. It's an odd choice and given the subject matter a bit insulting, the Chicago in the movie is painted like a Fox News lawless Thunderdome run by the Russian mob. This heightened portrayal wouldn't matter as much if there was some coherence in tone. Excellent, over-the-top action sequences are spliced with 'heartfelt' scenes of Statham and his daughter he's battling custody for, drugged up torture scenes follow grief-stricken scenes with Statham and Michael Peña(the father of the kidnapped teen). It's just bizarre and incongruous and on top of that at about two hours the pacing isn't great.

Still, not terrible, and nice to see more entries in the action genre at the mid-budget level. This will most definitely make a profit and serves as a reminder that exhibition needs variety and that that will be rewarded by the movie going public.

Currently in theaters.

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'Death Of A Unicorn' A Review

Death Of A Unicorn is a horror movie(billed as a horror/comedy) about Elliot(Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley(Jenna Ortega) as they travel to a remote lodge for a weekend business trip of Elliot's. On their way there they hit a unicorn and troubles ensue.

Rudd brings his patented aw-shucks affability to the role but it doesn't really play as his character, as written, is a shit and his shoehorned moment of redemption at the end is unearned and unmotivated. Ortega fairs better as the only recognizable human being in the entire cast but she is equally hamstrung by a script that feels like it was only in its first draft. The supporting cast have some spark- Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant- all playing terrible rich people and Anthony Carrigan as their obsequious servant is great. But there's simply not enough comedy and what of it there is lands inconsistently.

On a small budget the movie looks surprisingly good and it's judicious and effective with the CGI unicorn monsters where tension is well built, maintained, and paid off. The plot though and the characters inhabiting it are mostly bland, uncompelling, unbelievable, and at times grating. Writer/director Alex Scharfman fails at his #1 job which is to manage tone. The comedy almost categorically doesn't work, the attempts at social commentary(ie eat-the-rich) are confused, but the monster movie aspect is quite successful. All in all it's diverting but more streaming quality than cinematic.

A good idea with uneven execution.

Currently in theaters.

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Wondrous Momentum

Schedule
becomes routine
becomes discipline

and this serves

as bulwark

to the unexpected

propellent

in the face of trial

comfort

when distress looms

a track to follow

into life's unrelenting

forward progress

'Eephus' A Review

Eephus is a slice-of-life sports dramedy about the last game of a men's rec league before their field is demolished and replaced by a school.

Sporting a cast of incredible talent of mostly unknowns and perhaps some non-professional actors this 90's set Massachusetts small town is translated intricately, beautifully, and with a profound dignity. Through the course of the game, which comprises basically the run time, themes of time, companionship, ambition, aging, and of course sport are explored. It's artsy in its subtlety but it's unpretentious. A tone poem with humor, insight, joy, and a delicate melancholy. We get a full sense of the characters through their interactions and how they play the game but there is little to no exposition. Most of what we see and learn is on the field, as it should be.

Shot impeccably on location on film(it looks like, could be a digital approximation) it pairs perfectly with the story evoking a feeling of fall afternoons, camaraderie, fun, and a degree of introspection, of meditation, as well as place.

A crystalline, graceful, powerful piece of cinema. One of the best of the year.

Currently in theaters.

Don't Miss It.

The Hangers-On

Occasionally at a Meeting
you'll get a tourist

someone without a drinking problem

(or to use the current nomenclature

Substance Use Disorder)

who just wants some group therapy

or companionship

on the cheap

lonely, awkward, self-diluted

they meet

(or claim they meet)

the only requirement for membership

a desire to stop drinking

these people used to bug me

but over time

and with no small amount of effort

this gave way to a detached pity

for those lost searchers

who wind up in the rooms

because they have no where else to go

yet fail to grasp their purview or purpose

'Black Bag' A Review

Black Bag is an espionage thriller about a married couple both working at MI6. George(Michael Fassbender) is given a list of potential moles and tasked to root out the traitor. His wife Kathryn(Cate Blanchett) is on the list.

Fassbender and Blanchett are both in top form and have an instant and easy chemistry. Two of our greatest film stars doing what they do best without a lot of frills or distractions. Committed, precise, and compelling. The supporting cast is made up primarily of the other suspects range from good, Regé-Jean Page & Tom Burke, to great, Naomie Harris and particularly Marisa Abela who brings a needed chaotic electricity. Pierce Brosnan is in this too but it's essentially a cameo but still great to see him.

Visually, no surprise coming from director/cinematographer/editor Soderbergh, it looks great. It flows, has movement, has surprises, has a POV. Even if some of the soft focus shots don't exactly work, unlike so many modern movies, it's shot with the goal of having a style. The score effectively enhances the already solid script which is tight, has twists and turns, and still allows the actors to cut out some real, breathing characters. It's the kind of solid, meat-and-potatoes adult entertainment we used to get a lot more of.

Twenty years ago this kind of movie wouldn't be such a gem but given the ascendence of IP and studio focus on broad demographic appeal this is a must see.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

'The Electric State' A Review

The Electric State is a 90's set dystopian scifi adventure with a plot so convoluted and uncompelling it doesn't warrant a summary.

Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt sleepwalk through this AI generated slop in turns vacant and vapid yet always lacking any spark of humanity or vitality. The star studded cast is absolutely wasted and seem to have been given little or no direction(Stanley Tucci as the antagonist seems confused why he is there and what he is supposed to do).

Visually flat, uninspired, and borderline insufferable it plays like an interminable cut-scene from a rushed, over produced, obligatory late series IP video game. The worldbuilding and overall narrative are incoherent. The only actual emotion on display comes, rarely, from the robots. The product placement is excruciating. The whole experience is insulting in its clearly deliberate lack of any semblance of quality.

This is one of the most expensive movies ever made, at a budget of $320M one must ask, where did it all go? How many great movies or TV series did Netflix not make in order to make this...cinematic malignance.

It brings to mind that scene from Billy Madison when the principle says "Everyone is now dumber."

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

'CHAOS: The Manson Murders' A Review

CHAOS: The Manson Murders is a documentary from Errol Morris about the titular case, the subsequent enduring cultural fascination with the case, as well as the idea Mason may have had involvement with covert government operatives who were in turn connected to covert ops MK-Ultra and Operation: CHAOS. Through archival footage and talking-head interviews, conducted as usual by Morris himself, these ideas are explored.

At first blush the subject matter seems a bit mainstream from one of, if not the, greatest living documentarian but it becomes increasingly clear Morris is less interested in the particulars of the case and more in it's broad and lasting appeal and what it may have to tell us about our past that could inform our present. No surprise, the film looks great, it's paced great, it's perfectly scored. It's a return to form for Morris whose 2017 limited series Wormwood was stunning but who hasn't had a knock out feature since 2008's Standard Operating Procedure.

Through the Manson case and the people involved in it from perpetrators to journalists compelling questions are raised that echo through our current landscape of blind political homogenization and surreptitious and overt government overreach. It reminds us that systems of control have always been in place, that those in power have always sought to perfect those systems of control, and any wistful talk of past benevolence in the government in the US are woefully naïve.

It informs but it stirs fear. It entertains but it cautions.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Don't Miss It.

Let It Slide

after giving up booze
pills and powders

deception in various forms

the ongoing and perpetual task

is the search and attainment

of peace, inside

the obstacle of which

is the impulse to control

anxiety and worry

the battle against

the pervasive day-to-day creep

of the untoward, the unsettled

letting that which does not matter

truly go

The daily struggle.

'Paddington In Peru' A Review

Paddington In Peru is an adventure-comedy movie, the third in the Paddington series. Paddington returns to his home in Peru, with the Browns in toe, worried about his Aunt Lucy.

Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington maintains his affable charm but doesn't bring anything particularly new. The same is true of the returning cast save for the, kind of jarring, casting swap of Sally Hawkins for Emily Mortimer, Hawkins evidently wanted to move on but her presence is missed here. As with the previous two Paddington films the real fun is had by the A-list guest stars in this case Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas, who both give it 100% and are having a blast. A solid cast if lacking some of the spontaneity and spark of the predecessors.

The production is solid but there's more CGI here and less of an opportunity for the fun, intricate set pieces which made Paddington and Paddington 2 great. The script is successful, the journey has a continuity of style and feeling with the 'franchise' but it all just feels like a bit of a reach, a bit forced. It's not bad by any means, it's fun and entertaining and plucks at the heart strings but with how good the series has been so far this definitely does not top in anyway what has gone before. Maybe that's an unfair yardstick to measure this by but it's impossible not to compare.

Pleasant, pleasing, but perhaps too formulaic and in the shadow of its own success.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.

'Mickey 17' A Review

Mickey 17 is a scifi film set in the not-to-distant future about 'Expendable' Mickey(Robert Pattinson) as he travels on a colony ship to distant planet Niflheim.

Pattinson is compelling and nuanced in the multiple role, bringing a delicate balance of humor and pathos to the various versions of Mickey and differentiating them with minor but impactful differences. Naomi Ackie as Nasha brings a chaos and energy to the cast which is much needed, a much better showcase for her than her more contained/reactionary performance in Blink Twice. The rest of the cast are having a ball and fill out the world in an odd but wonderful way- Mark Ruffalo as Kenneth the pompous defacto leader, Toni Collette as Ylfa his wife both play cartoonish rich villains deliciously, Steven Yeun in a too small role is great, and it's wonderful to see Taskmaster alum Tim Key as Pigeon Man. All in all a stellar cast.

Visually the film is rich and evocative, the alien creature design inspired, the ship and it's various scifi machinery really great. The future world in which the film is set is fully formed and feels lived in. The score subtle and effective, the costuming equally understated but pitch-perfect. There's no question writer/director Bong Joon-ho is at the top of his game in regards to his production prowess. Where the film somewhat stumbles is in in the script/edit. The novel on which the movie is based is kind of scruffy and disjointed, rich with ideas but not particularly cogent narratively, and this quality was carried over to the screenplay. At a 137 minute run time the pacing at times lags, unnecessary diversions are taken(which are intriguing) at the cost of the overall effect. It's not a huge detractor but with a $118 million budget and a marketing campaign clearly setting this up as a blockbuster the final product(which is more akin to a thought-provoking indie) doesn't match that intent.

An engrossing and thrilling piece of filmmaking which will most likely stumble at the box office before becoming a 'cult' hit.

Currently in theaters.

See It.

'We Beat The Dream Team' A Review

We Beat The Dream Team is a documentary about the college select team that the 'Dream Team' played in practice as they prepared for the '92 summer Olympics.

Through archival footage and talking head interviews the story of the scrappy college students who played the greatest professional basketball team ever assembled on their march to the gold is told. There's not a lot to it that can't be gleaned from the title and it's a times a little hokey but still an entertaining low stakes, small scope, sports doc set in one of the greatest times for the game- the 90's.

Fun, fell good, if a little thin. A diverting flick if no where near the impact of something like The Last Dance or a top tier 30 For 30.

Currently streaming on Max.

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Adulting

As a child
adulthood seems lofty

exciting

replete with adventure

and choice,

you don't consider

the admin.