Category Archives: 2020

2020

“Artemis Fowl” a Wretched Mess

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Worse than modern Disney flops Tomorrowland, BFG and A Wrinkle in Time combined, Kenneth Branagh’s Ireland-set Artemis Fowl (F) is an unmitigated disaster, a hopeful tentpole blockbuster and young adult franchise starter completely devoid of magic and wonder. Banished to the phantom zone of a Disney+ debut after COVID-19 shuffled the studio’s theatrical releases, this misbegotten fantasy is a moribund and completely incoherent bore. At its center is a listless titular performance of a boy genius by newcomer Ferdia Shaw, who is all dressed up with nowhere to go and presumably was instructed to play the part as a boring adult tax accountant. When the boy’s father (Colin Farrell) goes missing, the tween must battle with a variety of elves, fairies and goblins, grapple with unpleasant performances by the likes of Judi Dench and Josh Gad and  parade through undistinguished low stakes landscapes. At an hour and a half running time with exposition in narration form for its duration, the film teases what happened before and after but forgets to furnish much of a coherent plot within. Even while free to Disney+ subscribers, it should be skipped.


2020, Rent It Tonight

Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” an Acting Showcase

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Spike Lee’s new join is now on Netflix.

Hollywood has a history of journeying down Vietnam’s rivers and through its jungles to heal the heartbreak shrouded in the ruins of war. Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (B) starts innocently enough with a quartet of affable modern-day African-American veterans reuniting in a Ho Chi Minh City hotel to embark on a search for the buried bones and bullion left behind by a fallen platoon leader, played in flashbacks by Chadwick Boseman. This memory film’s twisty heist plot is also a bit of a Western, as in a commentary on Western Civilization, always urgent even if occasionally overreaching or delving into myriad detours of flourish. Delroy Lindo gives a forceful, hot-headed performance as the primary old timer, the MAGA hat wearing Paul, who like his comrades, also plays himself at an earlier age without the magic of de-aging special effects. Lindo gives an astonishing muttering monologue after a critical series of action sequences that’s career best. He’s like a land mine one step away from self-actualization, and he’s fascinating to watch in his masterclass of acting. Lee’s crisscrossing techniques through history gracefully bridge past transgressions to a tableaux of modern topics ranging from imperialism to contemporary class and racial politics. The movie comes most alive in its celebrations of brotherhood and fatherhood; Jonathan Majors is memorable and moving as Paul’s estranged college son. Terence Blanchard’s music is stirring accompaniment to action and ache, with occasional soothing echoes of Marvin Gaye. After his brilliant BlacKKKlansman, Lee’s follow-up is a bit more narratively sprawling but thematically daring. The thoughtful director’s change of venue from American soil enables no less a promised land of issues to travel and unravel.

2020, Rent It Tonight

“Lovebirds” a Lot of Fun

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Now on Netflix

Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani have such spectacular comic and romantic chemistry as the central couple in Michael Showalter’s The Lovebirds (B-) that they deserve a better movie next time they collaborate. It’s clear even in the cold open introductory credits that this brilliant duo possesses charisma in spades with hilarious banter and priceless reactions. The plot is super obligatory as the twosome is unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As their quest to clear their names takes them from one extreme circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their relationship, can survive the night. Along the way, they crib from diverse sources ranging from Wayne’s World to Eyes Wide Shut with reckless abandon. Each preposterous sequence is improved by Rae and Nanjiani’s daft delivery. It’s a breezy fun time, a comedy/action confection with modest levels of sophistication hiding in the routine madness. This comic couple is definitely one to watch. 

2020, Rent It Tonight

2020’s “Bad Education” is a Gripping Drama

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Now on HBO streaming services

A new HBO film throws the book at a public school scandal but takes a little while to get to its thesis. Cory Finley’s Bad Education (B-) tells the true 2002 story of a corrupt Long Island village school superintendent responsible for the sector’s largest embezzlement in U.S. history. In this central role, Hugh Jackman plays against type: an exquisitely controlled performance of a vain, dark and diabolical heart. Viewers are left wanting more insight into what drives this man, additional details about his relationship with his financial enabler (played with relish by Allison Janney in an all too brief role) and any contours about what drives a teenage journalist protagonist (impenetrable performance by Geraldine Viswanathan) who unearths the malfeasance. Finley’s compositions of bureaucratic bungling and many droll line readings are delightful, as is the jolting, percussive score by Michael Abels. But if there were an open-ended essay pop quiz every few minutes about what makes this film more distinctive than others in the genre, creative answers would be difficult to conjure. It’s an engrossing and watchable drama nonetheless, worth watching for Jackman’s performance alone. It’s now available on HBO streaming services.

2020, Rent It Tonight

“Surviving the Silence” a Wonderful Documentary

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Coming to a film festival near you…

Behind the anti-gay military policy resulting in the dismissal of lesbian army hero Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer (famously portrayed by Glenn Close in the 1995 movie Serving in Silence), a clandestine couple — a veritable female Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in a real-life saga – provides the fascinating side story that propels its way to center stage in a pivotal moment in history. Documentarian Cindy L. Abel’s sophomore feature film Surviving the Silence (B+) unearths the narrative of Colonel Patsy Thompson, a woman from the rural south who becomes a beloved nurse in the military, harbors a closeted love in the form of life partner Barbara Brass and finds herself presiding over the board in the critical “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” case against Cammermeyer. As the film’s central subject, Thompson is a plucky protagonist who comes out late in life but consistently summons the fortitude to live with dignity amidst the various challenges confronting her. The high profile of the tense tribunal forces her to confront her own story in a journey to live out loud. Abel and her documentary team weave together this uncanny tale using archival footage, home movies and images, interviews and even animation to bring the powerful stories of these trailblazing women to the forefront. The film does a splendid job taking viewers inside the inspiring love story of Thompson and Brass, from their furtive first date to their use of secret codes to communicate during a stint at the Pentagon, which makes the film’s denouement all the more poignant. Denise Gentilini provides stirring music, especially her end-credits song. The film showcases accidental activists simply trying to live their truths. It’s a timely testament to women in love rising to the occasion of destiny.

2020

The Great Shape-Shifting Season of 2020 Movies

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Fresh off the Academy Awards triumph of the first foreign language Best Picture winner – the lush and labyrinthine Parasite – there was a sense for cinephiles that now nearly anything was possible. But the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic on American soil, complete with new concepts such as “shelter in place” and “physical distance,” put America’s hot Hollywood product on deep freeze with promising animated movies, blockbuster action films and low-key dramas all put on ice until vacated movie houses could once again be inhabitable.

As we stand on the threshold of Memorial Day weekend, usually time for a clarion call of summer box office glory, we look back at the movies that could have been big theatrical hits (and instead debuted at home) and the anticipated films slated on the horizon. Fast-forward past quarantined spring, and we have witnessed a number of pivots:

  • Universal Pictures delighted audiences but angered movie distributors by making February’s hit thriller The Invisible Man, politically prickly and long-shelved The Hunt and frothy art house fare Emma available immediately at home on digital video-on-demand (VOD) platforms, soon followed by the world premiere of Trolls: World Tour on VOD, breaking a time-honored tradition of giving theaters first rights to first-run pictures
  • Warner Bros. also sent well-regarded Ben Affleck basketball drama The Way Back to VOD after a brief March 6 weekend run in theatres and debuted animated family film Scoob (as in Scooby-Doo) on iTunes and Amazon Prime last week
  • Disney pushed CGI action fable Onward homeward as well, with a quick move to digital VOD platforms after its original March 6 debut in theaters; by April 3, it was available on Disney+
  • Despite debuting in UK theatres, Dave Bautista’s soldier-turned-CIA agent-turned-babysitter action comedy My Spy went straight to Amazon Prime here in The States
  • Studios immediately shuffled planned release dates of big films ranging from Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson’s first stand-alone film in the franchise) to Paramount’s anticipated sequel Maverick: Top Gun into new dates across late summer and fall as prestige pictures such as Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story have maintained original release dates (December 18 for the tragic tuner)
  • Other promising fare pushed to 2021 are films such as the Ghostbusters reboot and suspense thriller A Quiet Place 2
  • While indie theatres display agility to keep audiences entertained with crafty set-ups like Plaza Atlanta’s makeshift drive-ins, major movie theatre chains face uncertainty including financially troubled AMC, rumored to be an acquisition target by Amazon

Now for the next move!

Will audiences return to movie theatres in their current form? Will we really see Yankee Stadium as a giant drive-in? Will multiplexes open with social distanced tentpole movies in multiple auditoriums? Imagine Disney’s live-action Mulan across six screens and Christopher Nolan’s espionage thriller Tenet starring John David Washington (Warner Bros.) across six more. Those big pictures are slated for July. Warner Bros. is also preserving Wonder Woman 1984 for the big screen in August and willing to push it to late fall if necessary to lasso some boffo box office when maximum crowds have re-congregated. Indie fans are hoping for Wes Anderson’s quirky, star-studded The French Dispatch to get its cinematic due on some specialty screens as well.

Meanwhile the straight-to-home line-up for the month ahead includes crime dramedy The Lovebirds starring Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae, streaming May 22 on Netflix. We know we’re getting some small screen action with Spike Lee’s Vietnam drama Da 5 Bloods coming to Netflix June 12. That day Disney young adult adventure Artemis Fowl is debuting on Disney+ and Universal’s Judd Apatow helmed Pete Davidson dramedy The King of Staten Island bows on streaming sites. While Broadway’s biggest music theatre maestro waits for his delayed In the Heights to hit theatres in summer 2021 instead of this year, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s filmed version of megamusical Hamilton will rap its revolutionary way to the room where it happens in your house this year instead of next on Disney+ July 3, 2020.

Other familiar fare ranging from Bill & Ted Face the Music to The Spongebob Movie is expected ahead in movie theatres. It could be a few months before the prestige pictures find their usual place in the fall line-up.

It’s a mixed-up movie year for sure when Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the few theatrical releases to have even graced the silver screen, but hopefully soon everything will fall into its right place.

2020, Rent It Tonight

“Shithouse” is a Hidden Gem of a Coming of Age Tale

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Now on demand via Showtime.

The first year of college can feel like you’re on the verge of something amazing or the brink of tears, and for the homesick protagonist of the breakout 2020 South by Southwest film Shithouse (aka Freshman Year) (A-), it’s a vulnerable journey from mope to hope. Cooper Raif is writer, director and star of this DIY gem of a film with lived-in performances, droll dialogue and a generally appealing scrappiness portending a star being born. Dylan Gelula is excellent as the resident advisor and potential romantic partner who beguiles the confused frosh, and Logan Miller is the unreliable roommate who first tells our hero about the irreverent titular party headquarters where destinies could take a turn. There are undercurrents of Before Sunrise here in the talky travelogue of campus life but with characters who are sending very mixed signals. Raif is funny and fresh and doesn’t mind wearing his emotions on his sleeve and gives a great speech about those in a relationship at least needing to be on the same team. There are many creative conceits involving an encouraging childhood plush toy who communicates in subtitles, a wake for a reptile and a botched sex scene filmed as awkwardly as its confusing content. This is one of those movies the viewer simply chills with as opposed to being bombarded with constant jokes, and the hang is definitely worth it.

2020, Rent It Tonight

“Onward” is Fun for the Family

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Now on Disney+

Times of quarantine can benefit from a little elf help, as a major animated theatrical release careens quickly to the home screen with video-on-demand and Disney+ providing a safe social distanced landing. Dan Scanlon’s Onward (B-) is mid-tier Pixar, no doubt, filled with fanciful frames of kid-friendly highjinks before culminating in the emotional payoffs adults will dig. The medieval pixels are summoned for brotherly buddy comedy as two elf siblings in an alternate modern suburbia filled with formerly magical and mythological characters invoke an ancient spell and embark on a quest to bring back their deceased father for just one day. The story and script are a bit bland, the character renderings and landscapes a touch unappealing and the adventure pedestrian at best, but then every once in a while there’s magic in this gathering. A charming dance moment and a heartfelt hug just may touch the heart and tickle the tear ducts. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt perform the two main voice roles, and what they lack in interesting things to say is often eclipsed by solid enthusiasm. The half-dad effect, the elves themselves and a dragon-infused denouement all fail to impress, but even a sometimes lackluster lark can pass muster and time in a moment of uncertainty.

2020

“I Still Believe” Doesn’t Quite Sing

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The Erwin Brothers create faith-based movies filled with inspiration and hope. And while their latest Christian-centric biography based on a chapter in the life of worship musician Jeremy Camp, I Still Believe (C), accomplishes its goal of showcasing a moving real-life romance forged against the odds, it largely misses the mark in terms of originality and craft. KJ Apa and Britt Robertson offer earnest enough acting in their central romance filmed in a Hallmark-worthy glow but are written with such cherubic reverence that they don’t often register completely as real characters. Supporting actors Gary Sinise and Shania Twain are so underused as the leading man’s parents that it feels like they were loaned for just a day or two on set. Only Nathan Parsons as a friend, mentor and near hypoteneuse of a chaste love triangle registers as an actual conflicted human being. For a film ostensibly about overcoming illness with faith-restoring music, the film doesn’t really pulse with much of a flair for either medicine or music. When compared to a performance sequence in A Star is Born or Bohemian Rhapsody, for instance, the big concert numbers appear strangely detached, like the crowds weren’t even filmed in sync with what’s happening on stage. It all means well, of course, and the purity of the romance at the center is really what it’s all about. But for a film that praises risk-taking, it sure plays it safe.

2020, Rent It Tonight

2020 “Invisible Man” is a Fun Pre-Pandemic Thriller

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The Invisible Man 2020 remake

The audacity of a far-fetched plot in the latest remake of The Invisible Man (B) all but vanishes under the steady direction of Leigh Whannell and spellbinding central performance of Elisabeth Moss. The H.G. Wells story and classic films have been modernized with a strong woman at the center and a streamlined narrative about recovering from manipulation and abuse. Aldis Hodge is also fantastic as the heroine’s policeman friend; and while his role is somewhat “transparent,” Oliver Jackson-Cohen makes an impression in the title role, a controlling husband and Silicon Valley magnate who has invented an optical illusion suit allowing him to be fully invisible. The film is more thriller than horror film, despite the sense of dread in its first half. The stunts and visual effects are pretty nifty, and Benjamin Wallfisch’s score is sufficiently macabre, with ostinati aplenty. The film was a little too much like 1991’s Sleeping with the Enemy at times, but the twists and turns dialed up the novelty. Moss, who is seen in virtually every scene, delivers richly here and makes the entire enterprise fresh and believable. It’s nice to see popular entertainment with a smidgen of topicality so wonderfully packaged.

2020, Rent It Tonight

Awesome Documentary “Miss Americana” Shows the Shift of Swift

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Lana Wilson’s Miss Americana (B) is an enjoyable biographical documentary showcasing several years in the life of crossover country/pop music artist Taylor Swift, especially during her personal awakening into political action. The film vividly shows Swift’s rise to fame and thirst for validation as a people pleaser given energy by audiences and record sales. So it’s all the more dramatic as she begins to feel the slings and arrows of life under scrutiny in the darker side of the spotlight. It’s a shot to the heart about shared humanity and a revealing portrait of a woman finding her place in life. The film is dotted with wonderful tidbits of Swift’s confessional songwriting process. As a central subject, she is a delightful individual, spry, honest and funny. The movie provides an awesome insider glimpse at a talented role model and a stark look at the notion of standing up for convictions when self-worth, finances and reputation are on the line. Wilson’s steady hand in chronicling the complex chanteuse’s story across several tumultuous years is commendable, even if all of it doesn’t come across completely seamlessly. For fans of the artist at the film’s center, it is essential viewing.

2020, Rent It Tonight

“Birds of Prey” a Largely Fun Harley Quinn Story

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Warner Bros./DC

Cathy Yan’s bubblegum-hued crime saga Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (B-) is another origin story in the DC Extended Universe and follows Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn as she joins forces with Jurnee Smollett-Bell’s Black Canary and several vigilantes to fight Gotham City crime lord Black Mask, played by Ewan McGregor. The film is chock-full of throwaway gags, gallows humor and cartoonish violence with a tinge of sisterhood power, but it’s rarely as sharp as it needs to be. Yan scrambles the enterprise with flashbacks, animation and witty title cards, but often it feels like a magic trick to disguise a threadbare story. Although McGregor is miscast and not menacing enough, the women in the film are marvelous. Robbie is wonderful as the devil-may-care antihero, and Bell is a sonic sensation. The stunts and wall-to-wall action should please fans of the genre; it reaches mightily but doesn’t quite take the flight it promises.