'New Life' A Review

 New Life is a horror/thriller about a woman on the run, Jessica,(Hayley Erin), for unknown reasons. She is pursued by Elsa(Sonya Walger) a government contractor recently diagnosed with MS.

Erin is decent as the lead but she struggles to really find an ease with the character and as a result its a bit murkily drawn. She's compelling but especially in contrast to Walger she is the less interesting of the two leads. Walger, as always, is stupendous. The presence she brings to the this almost single-handedly elevates it from micro-budget horror to something approaching legit cinema. The subplot regarding her MS and how she is dealing with it fortunately or unfortunately overshadows the main genre storyline with its emotional power. There's a scene where she is meeting with a caretaker and a woman with MS further along that is/will be easily one of the most poignant of the year.

The movie has an overcast, handheld, gritty look and feel. Its effective but although there is tension and the reveals when they come are intriging, ultimately the story at its core is a bit derivative. Elsa's character is full, Jessica's is thin. The cat-and-mouse element is restricted by the budget and as a result feels strained and isn't as effective as it could be. Overall a promising debut from John Rosman but in and of itself uneven.

Relatively standard genre fare elevated by a sublime Walger.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

Stream It.

'Atlas' A Review

Atlas is a scifi action movie set in a vague future after the events of an AI uprising with the threat still looming. Atlas(Jennifer Lopez) an analyst with ties to the AI leader Harlan(Simu Liu) accompanies some space marines led by Elias(Sterling K. Brown) on a mission to a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy where the AI army has fled and regrouped.

Lopez is a talent, that's never changed, but the material here isn't up to snuff. She's serviceable in the way this kind of hack, derivative, obvious script is serviceable, in line with Netflix's increasing gravity of mediocrity. She's not bad but she's not particularly good either. Liu is kind of sleep walking through the part. Brown is the only one to really breathe any life into his character, he puts in considerable effort to make the character funny and have some modicum of dimension. Overall the cast is fine but within the trappings of this extremely by-the-numbers movie there's not much they can do.

The movie looks decent, the robots, the spaceships, the faraway planet most of the action takes place on- the CGI is pretty good. But ultimately there's just not much life in the project. Another entry in Netflix's brand of just-watchable-enough-not-to-turn-off approach to features.

A movie about AI that was seemingly AI generated. Bland. Diet Terminator.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.

Ping-Pong

We played a lot back then
Adam and I

unformed young men

searching, uncertain

the game a balm

a focus point

an anchor

as our adulthood emerged

looking back

those hours were precious

a necessary simplicity

a joy

the last vestige

of our adolescent days

'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' A Review

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a post-apocalyptic action movie, a prequel to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road focusing on the character Furiosa(Alyla Browne/Anya Taylor-Joy). The child Furiosa is taken from "The Green Place" where she lives by members of the Biker Horde led by Dementus(Chris Hemsworth). She's eventually traded to Immortan Joe(Lachy Hulme) and circuitously makes her way to being a member of the War Rig.

Taylor-Joy is serviceable but doesn't have much to do and struggles to fill the shoes of the originator of the role Charlize Theron, she is also hamstrung by the fact the first half of the movie Alyla Browne plays the role as an even younger version of the character. She seems lost in the performance and the script gives her virtually nothing to hold on to. Hemsworth is even further adrift. His charm is not present, his humor is incongruous, there is virtually no menace conveyed. It is a portrayal in desperate need of direction. Hemsworth is throwing everything he has at it and its too much, too unfocused. Hulme isn't in it much but, with all respect to him, Hugh Keays-Byrne he is not. Many of the returning actors from Fury Road revisiting their characters seem confused and are pretty much across the board ineffective.

Visually the movie looks cheap, the CGI is obvious particularly in wideshots, and all the energy and visceralness of Fury Road is absent. Even for the scenes actually shot on location it looks like a soundstage with CGI background. I don't know how they managed that but all-in-all it looks terrible. The script is almost tortuously derivative. The Furiosa backstory the audience lushly filled in in their imaginations with Charlize Theron's wonderful portrayal are rendered here thuddingly, pedantically, unoriginally specific. The script is clunky, we see things and revisit characters we have no desire or need for. There seems to have been a profound confusion as to why Fury Road was good and what audiences liked about it. Here we plod through plot beats we see coming a mile away, we are dragged through exposition we have absolutely no need of. The action is limited, not particularly exciting, and most importantly has no emotional stakes.

We saw the culmination of Furiosa's incredible journey in Fury Road so what does Furiosa have to say? Nothing.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' A Review

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a scifi action film, a standalone continuation of the Planet of the Apes series. Generations after the events of the previous installment apes have established various clans and humans have gone feral, mostly losing the ability for complex thought and speech. Noa(Owen Teague), part of the Eagle Clan, and his two friends embark on a coming-of-age ritual of procuring a wild eagle egg for raising. While they are out they encounter a rogue human who brings a rival clan to their territory decimating it. Noa sets out in pursuit.

Teague gives an emotive, periodically powerful, mo-cap performance as do all the supporting cast. This franchise, in general, has a stellar track record not only for its CGI rendering but for the mo-cap actors and this continues that trend with a cast of, not extremely well known but very talented roster. They are all committed and able to draw evocative nuanced characters. And Teague really delivers as the lead fulfilling the promise he showed in his somewhat uneven turn in The Stand. It's almost a shame the film isn't solely about the apes and Noa's clan just living their life as the two human actors- Freya Allan and William H. Macy- are the weak links in performance as well as the conduits by which the most obvious and predictable elements of the plot are delivered.

The film looks incredible, lush and vivid and conveys a sense or reality and immediacy sometimes undermined by this volume of CGI. The action sequences are thrilling, the soundtrack effective, the worldbuilding refreshingly subtle. As a standalone the film doesn't info dump, it provides enough context in a brief prologue to set the table but then trusts its audience enough to fill in the gaps with imagination. Its a fine line they walk with surprising assurance. It somewhat falters in the third act falling into some predictive and derivative storylines(much of which only exists to set up future installments) but overall Noa and his journey are the focus and as a result it works. The climax in particular, Noa's final confrontation with the heavy Proximus, is a homerun.

Surprisingly fun, emotional, and unencumbered.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

See It.

100 Mile Radius

Perhaps there is a cost
in experience or perspective

for living only

in this place

not straying far

from the confines

of my birth

regret strikes

on occasion

the what ifs

the paths aborted

and yet

I am more myself having stayed

roots sunk deep, ever deeper

the land more mine

and me more hers

'Gasoline Rainbow' A Review

Gasoline Rainbow is a docu-fiction drama that follows a group of five high school seniors on a road trip to the pacific coast.

The five leads use their real names and play versions of themselves, they're compelling and for the most part there's a casually effective naturalism throughout. Although the voiceover for all of them(they trade off at various points) comes across as stilted. This blending of documentary and fiction with these non-actors is interesting, it blurs the lines of reality and perhaps gets at what Herzog calls the Ecstatic Truth in its success at evoking this particular youthful transition, the ennui and the adventurousness. There is not much story to speak of just a series of events and stops on their journey from the Oregon interior to the coast. Some of which feel contrived, feel like injected(unnecessary) obstacles but overall the chemistry and charisma of the core 5 are able to smooth over these bumps without much distraction. There is one sequence where the group meets two folks who help them hop a train and those two actors feel the most real of the entire film and that scene by far the most exciting.

Shot with various cameras with various qualities the film has a rough-and-ready "gritty" type feel which mostly works. The soundtrack is mostly(if not totally) diegetic which serves in the pursuit of realism but it is slightly odd that this group of Gen Z teens don't listen to anything post 90's. The script is mostly improvised and based off a loose outline this serves the filmmakers intent for authenticity but the downside is there's a bit too much mindless partying. Ultimately these are just kids and don't have much to say or much insight about their experience, they are great at being on screen but the dialogue at times is mundane, boring, or repetitive.

Perhaps not particularly new, this feels very much in-line with recent films Nomadland and more so American Honey. Even so, there is a quiet beauty to it and gives these teens(and their generation) a film that speaks to and for them. And successfully conveys the search for and the brief attainment of a glorious freedom.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Rent It.