The debate over box office tally size may be a non-starter as a buzzed-about biopic won’t likely recruit many butts onto its golden seats. An unflattering origin story preceding modern times of the 45th presidency of the United States, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice (C) stars Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and traces his ascendant real estate career and moral ambiguities in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. Maria Bakalova appears as his wife Ivana, but that’s not really much of a focus; instead the film centers around Trump’s synergy with notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong. Both Stan and Strong are solid in their roles, and the imprinting of guiding principles about the importance of winning and the loose definition of truth make for an interesting exchange; but the film is heavy handed and provides few insights surprising to anyone who even slightly follows politics. Stan has the moves and mannerisms down like a champ for his portrait of a con artist as a young man. The movie wants to be like an Omen prequel but gives off “movie of the week” vibe with a little bit of language and nudity thrown in to make it edgier. It’s a film with neither the rage about the polarizing politician nor an effective character study about the men in full. The film gives both Cohn and Trump short shrift given the oversized drama of their real ambitions and back stories. Despite relatively competent filmmaking, this movie that looks to factor “bigly” into mass consciousness doesn’t measure up to much.
Earning high praise for ambition and scope but faltering in terms of story and tone, Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling Megalopolis (C-) is a fever dream of a melodrama about characters contemplating the type of world in which they want to live. Seemingly primed to be prescient for election season, the contours aren’t colored with enough clarity to serve as a passable clarion call. Adam Driver’s monotone character contemplates solutions in a conflicted fictional future U.S. city reminiscent of Manhattan with hints of Rome mixed with barely concealed downtown Atlanta shooting locations. The movie is chock full of imaginative set pieces such as a press conference suspended over an urban diorama, a coliseum three-ring circus complete with a bacchanal and a virgin auction and an art deco skyscraper home of an invention lab, and yet the banal screenplay and insufficient visual effects consistently grind momentum to a halt. There’s ultimately a hopeful lilt to the proceedings about the quest for one’s personal utopia, but it’s too often blunted by characters finding themselves derailed (Dustin Hoffman), incomprehensible (Jon Voight), understated (Giancarlo Esposito) or underwritten (Shia LaBeouf). Actresses in the ensemble fare better including Aubrey Plaza who is witty and watchable as a spunky reporter, Talia Shire as Driver’s character’s sassy mom and Nathalie Emmanuel as his love interest from a rival family. The standout music by Osvaldo Noé Golijov punctuates the jarring proceedings with operatic bursts of bombast. The film’s tone careens wildly between sequences, rarely fixing itself upon a compelling narrative. There’s a singular interesting sequence of intrigue late in the film, one genuinely surprising jump scare and several lovely composite images, but the movie’s overall look and feel fails to match the scale of its set-up. Parallels between modern-day political shenanigans and Roman Empire machinations aren’t executed with consistent gravitas. And for its promise of a brave new world, much of the film is inert and ponderous, and the actors all seem to be occupying space in completely different movies. Neither meta conventions nor specific tiny details inspire the requisite alchemy to help this story cross the chasm to a place of either adequate art house or mainstream appeal. It’s clunky, well-meaning and may spark some conversations.
After a sparse sputtering pipeline of movie content following 2023 strikes and 2024 threats of same, an array of festival films and several high-profile “tent pole” multiplex motion pictures are finally about to be unleashed or streamed to the viewers of America.
Here’s our signature Silver Screen Capture take on ten categories of films to anticipate in the waning weeks of fall 2024. Nightbitches, green witches, barn burners and page turners plus many other surprises await on the big and small screen between September and December. Some are potential guilty pleasures, and others are Oscar ceremony bound! Grab your designer popcorn dispenser, and don one of those fancy moving seats (or just see movies straight-up like I do!), and get ready for some curious cinematic clusters.
Horror films are generally a highlight of fall, and with Beetlejuice Beetlejuiceand the Speak No Evil remake continuing domination in cinemas through Halloween, there are some others ready to exhibit like a jump-scare around the bend. Looking ahead, we get The Heretic with Hugh Grant as a nasty homeowner who terrorizes two visiting missionaries; Apartment 7A, a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby starring Julie Garner of Ozark as a struggling dancer in NYC finding herself drawn into dark forces; and the Nosferatu passion project remake of the 1922 silent film by cult film favorite Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse) in which an ancient Transylvanian vampire (Bill Skarsgård of It and Barbarian) stalks a haunted young woman in 19th-century Germany. The latter wouldn’t be an obsessive gothic love story without a small part played by Eggers muse Willem Dafoe.
There’s no shortage of sequels this season, with Joaquin Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role of “Joker” Arthur Fleck opposite Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux. Director Todd Phillips is back at the helm. Two years after the events of the 2019 film, Joker is now a patient at Arkham Asylum, falls in love with his fetching fellow inmate, and the two experience musical madness as the antihero’s followers start a movement to liberate him. Director Ridley Scott returns to his Oscar-winning sword and sandals territory as well, with Gladiator II. The story follows Lucius (cerebral actor Paul Mescal, in his first all-out action arena), the former heir to the Roman Empire, who becomes a fighter after his home is invaded by the Roman army, led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal). Denzel Washington co-stars as a cunning mentor to our hero. Moana 2 continues the popular 2016 Disney animated adventure, reuniting the primary voice talents of the first film as our heroine is chosen by the ocean to battle the dreaded underworld gods and save the world. Curiously, although this is still a musical, this time she’s dreaming of the water without songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Two young actors with hoards of Internet fans and stans each have two prestigious films respectively coming out this fall Sebastian Stan plays a young Donald Trump being mentored by Roy Cohn Jeremy Strong in 70s and 80s New York in The Apprentice. The actor also plays A Different Man with neurofibromatosis undergoing surgery for a fresh start who becomes fixated on an actor with the same condition playing his real life story in a stage production based on his former life. Saoirse Ronin plays a woman coping with alcohol addiction in The Outrun, an autobiographical memoir of a Scottish journalist in a performance lauded at springs Sundance Film Festival She next stars in Steve McQueen’s WWII set film Blitz, in which she plays a distraught mother searching for her defiant son on a dangerous adventure in London. Will these two young stars compete against themselves for awards with this many dramatic takes in the mix?
Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Red Rocket) is getting lots of buzz for his Cannes Palm d’Or winner Anora, a comedy drama starring actress Mikey Madison in the title role of an exotic dancer. The film follows her beleaguered romance with the son of a Russian oligarch. Moonlight director Barry Jenkins takes on Disney photorealistic animation with Mufasa: The Lion King, both a prequel and sequel to the 2019 remake of the 1994 traditionally animated film. The musical drama is notable for the film debut of Blue Ivy Carter. And if there’s anyone who hasn’t heard, Francis Ford Coppola of Apocalypse Now and Godfather saga fame is releasing his self-funded dystopian opus of ideas, Megalopolis, in IMAX theatres. This epic indie stars Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Giancarlo Esposito, John Voight, Aubrey Plaza and more as a battle begins to rebuild a city after disaster. It’s pretty likely to polarize many audiences, but the promise of an unhinged fever dream from such a renowned director in a very experimental mode has been catnip for intrigued cinephiles. (Some of us have already visited Coppola’s Georgia hotel to spy artifacts).
Joaquin and Gaga aren’t the only crooners of fall, as an anticipated quartet of films in the pop, folk, opera and Broadway idioms are warming up for arrival. Musician Pharrell Williams tells the rhythmic story of his life and times via the LEGO aesthetic in the unconventional documentary Piece by Piece, featuring five new songs by the artist. Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and Gwen Stefani also appear in mini-fig form. The Spanish language Emilia Pérez by French director Jacques Audiard is a musical crime comedy based on Audiard’s own opera libretto. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. This musical odyssey follows the journey of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Selena Gomez also has a buzzed-about role! The first half of the hit Broadway Land of Oz prequel musical saga Wicked comes to the screen with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as mismatched university roommates (the former is a green outcast) who discover a scandal in the Emerald City. The anticipated film is directed by Jon M. Chu, who helmed the little-seen but glorious adaptation ofIn the Heights after the hit Crazy Rich Asians. Wonka star Timothée Chalamet, who already earned praise this year in the Dune sequel, takes on the central role of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, directed by James Mangold (let’s hope it’s more Walk the Line thanIndiana Jones 5!)
Actresses are getting some superb showcases this year, and one of the most talked-about is the return of Demi Moore in The Substance, a cautionary tale as a fading celebrity and TV aerobics star who decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself, unknowingly giving her horrifying side effects. In addition to Moore’s audacious and vanity-free performance, Margaret Qualley is superb in this one. Angelina Jolie stars as Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria. It is the third and final film in Larraín’s trilogy of 20th century iconic women movies following Jackie andSpencer. Jolie is said to have a mesmerizing return to form in this psychological drama set during Callas’ final years in ’70s Paris. Nicole Kidman won the Venice Film Festival playing a high-powered CEO embroiled in a scandal in the erotic thriller Babygirl. Her character’s affair with a much younger intern (Harris Dickinson) sets off the plot of a film that explores the complexities of power dynamics and sexuality within a professional setting.
Get out your handkerchiefs for a heartwarming good cry. Robert Zemeckis reunites his Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in Here, a story covering the events of a single spot of land and its inhabitants, spanning from the past to well into the future. De-aging effects will factor in, and we trust there will be no Polar Express eyes. Rachel Morrison’s inspiring sports biopic The Fire Inside chronicles female boxer and mixed martial artist Claressa “T. Rex” Shields played by Ryan Destiny alongside Brian Tyree Henry. The story takes place during the training for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh are paired in the romantic comedy drama We Live in Time, and Will Ferrell and longtime friend Harper Steele are the central characters of Will & Harper, a documentary road trip in which the comedian learns more about his friend’s gender transition. The filmmakers initially considered deliberately creating comedic moments but instead decided to let funny moments occur spontaneously along the touching journey.
Many legends of the fall film line-up are part of sprawling ensembles. Cooper Hoffman, Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennottand Dylan O’Brien are among the young cast of Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which chronicles the lunacy and real-time story about the night of the 1975 premiere of long-running TV comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live. Another movie, September 5, transports audiences to the 1972 Munich Olympics, when an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes. Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro and Ben Chaplin are among the cast. The psychological thriller Conclave, directed by Edward Berger (2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front), takes audiences inside the decisions of a cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) tasked with organizing the election of the successor to the deceased Pope as a secret is revealed. This dramatic tale also includes Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rosellini.
The high-brow offerings continues with Julianna Moore and Tilda Swinton in Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s first American-language feature, The Room Next Door. In the film, a woman’s strained relationship with her mother fractures completely when a misunderstanding drives them apart. Jesse Eisenberg directs and co-stars with Kieran Culkin A Real Pain about two mismatched cousins who reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist traces 30 years in the life of László Tóth (Adrian Brody), a Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust. After WWII, he emigrates with his wife (Felicity Jones) to the United States, where things do not go as planned. Set during the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson, adapted by Malcolm Washington from the August Wilson play, stars John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Corey Hawkins and Samuel L. Jackson. The film follows the lives of a Pittsburgh family and a family piano heirloom decorated with designs carved by an enslaved ancestor. Many who have seen the film say Deadwyler is a standout. And Luca Guadagnino, who already made a splash this year with the sexy tennis drama Challengers, returns with Queer, starring Daniel Craig in a romance set in ’40s Mexico. Not to be outdone by Kidman in Babygirl, Craig’s entanglement is also with someone much younger, played by Drew Starkey of Outer Banks.
There are an array of book adaptations coming to the screen. Undoubtedly many don’t measure up to their source material, but some will be revelations. The Nickel Boys movie directed by feature film newcomer RaMell Ross, is famously told from the camera’s first-person youth point of view. The story follows two African American boys sent to an abusive reform school called the Nickel Academy in ’60s Florida. Amy Adams stars in Nightbitch, adapted and directed by Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), the tale of a motherhood descending into mayhem with an “is it real or is it metaphor?” transformation into canine form. The latest Lord of the Rings adaptation is animated and subtitled The War of the Rohirrim and involves defending a kingdom from an army 183 years before the events of the live-action film trilogy. In a season in which Kieran Culkin and Jeremy Strong have films too, their Succession show dad Brian Cox plays the voice of the hot-tempered king in the fantasy adventure. Finally, based on a book series of the same name, The Wild Robot is an anticipated animated science fiction survival story directed by Chris Sanders with Lupita Nyong’o voicing the title character, an abandoned robot that was washed onto a forest island and learns to adapt to the new environment, partially by using her processing ability to learn how to communicate with native animals, and becomes an adoptive mother of a goose voiced by Kit Connor. Buoyed by a cast menagerie of stars playing animal characters (Catherine O’Hara as an opossum, Pedro Pascal as a fox, Ving Rhames as a falcon and more), it is set to be an unassuming cult sensation.
A debilitating accident that would have banished a mere mortal to a fortress of solitude instead prompts a popular actor to soar even higher as a crusading hero in Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (A-). Nearly a decade since his passing, remembered through the eyes of those who knew and loved him, this bittersweet biographical documentary presents the Superman movie actor’s highs and lows as he endeavors to stay grounded in the wake of global superstardom, to break the cycle of a fractured family and distant father and to find power and meaning in his life’s work to advance stem cell science. After an equestrian competition tumble leaves him paralyzed from the neck down, the adrenaline junkie actor turns activist and becomes the man of the masses worthy of his mythic status. Flashbacks to his film career are brief and enjoyable, but this chronicle focuses more on the final chapter of Reeve’s life. It’s also a testament to the love of his life with wife Dana in an intimate and moving portrait of resilience. The film’s format is fairly straightforward, yet a strange connective device in which apparent Kryptonite starts growing on the spine of a cosmos-floating disembodied statue of the actor is not all that fetching. Interviews with the mother of two of Reeve’s children and with his trio of offspring plus fellow thespians Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Daniels and Susan Sarandon enliven the storytelling. And appearances by Christopher’s college roommate and lifelong friend Robin Williams add to the film’s plaintive portrait of a man with steely resolve. The tale of a man who changed the planet, daily, may also challenge viewers’ superpowers of stoicism.
Just two years after the disturbing Danish horror film of the same name, a twisty and much more broadly comic 2024 American remake of Speak No Evil (B-) provides a highly watchable cautionary tale about two families who become friends on vacation and discover an altogether different relationship when they reunite on one couple’s home turf. James Watkins adapts the story from the austere foreign language template and directs this new version with gusto, offering a witty waltz through modern mores in which tensions rise on the grounds of a remote farmhouse. James McAvoy is the larger than life standout of the story as a burly alpha male who looks like he wandered off the set of a Brawny commercial. The actor relishes the wily role and brings a smoldering menace to the tale, dialing up the gamesmanship until the film’s flimsy final act. Scoot McNairy is effective in a thankless part as the wimpy, reticent foil, and Mackenzie Davis is far more interesting and nuanced as his sometimes steely spouse. The film is less an exercise in terror than a mash-up of comedy of manners conventions and home invasion conceits. The child actors land some intriguing moments in their own right as the fractured families realize their escalating riffs until all are rendered mute. The plot gets far-fetched and careens deeply into high camp, devolving from competent paranoid thriller into a “throw everything including the kitchen sink” showdown. All the while, McAvoy makes his mark, including some witty role play in a restaurant and crooning ballads of ‘80s pop songstresses. If you like watching awkwardness get amplified, see this flick in a packed theatre and expect a surround sound of bewildered reactions at many characters’ bad decisions. It’ll have you at “oh, hell no.”
Out on Film presented by GILEAD has announced the lineup of films and events for the 37th Anniversary edition of the Atlanta-based LGBTQIA+ film festival.
Both an Oscar and BAFTA qualifying film festival, Out on Film will open on Thurs., Sept. 26 with Anthony Schatteman’s Young Hearts, about a 14-year-old who realizes he has fallen in love with his new neighbor but interactions with family and friends bring more questions than answers. The Southeastern premiere of Marco Calvani’s High Tide will take place on Closing Night, Sun., Oct. 6. The film follows a young undocumented immigrant (Marco Pigossi) searching for purpose in Provincetown, who starts an intense and unexpected new romance. The supporting cast includes Oscar winner Marisa Tomei, Jams Bland, Bryan Batt, Chrissy Judy’s Todd Flaherty and Mya Taylor.
Centerpiece screenings include Juan Pablo di Pace’s Duino, Andrea James’ and Puppett’s Becoming a Man in 127 Easy Steps and Kat Rohrer’s What a Feeling. Out On Film will host 15 world premieres as part of the 2024 festival.
Out On Film 37 offers a diverse selection that includes 35 features (22 narrative films, 12 documentaries and one special event), five streaming-only films and 111 shorts films (in 18 shorts programs) for a total of 151 films.
“Our 37th Anniversary presentation is a wonderful celebration of celebrated films from all around the world and from Atlanta,” explained Out on Film Festival Director Jim Farmer. “We’ve never had this much ATL in our festival. I’m also particularly proud of our short films, which includes work from Emmy nominee Nava Mau, Meg Statler, Elliot Page and Alex Hedison and Jodie Foster.”
Since its official inception in 1987, Out On Film has grown to become one of the major LGBTQIA+ film festivals in the country. Now one of USA Today‘s 2020 Reader’s’ Choice picks as one of the top 20 film festivals in North America, Out On Film hosts an 11-day film festival in the fall as well as programming throughout the year.
High TideA House is Not a DiscoYoung HeartsDuinoClose to You
Director Tim Burton raises an undead franchise with a story so sputtering it seems more like a merciless cash grab than a creative revisit to the ghastly scene of the crime. Despite the nostalgia factor reserved for the 1988 original film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (C-) offers too little too late as characters return to their countryside home for more adventures in and out of the afterlife. The big surprise is Michael Keaton, three decades after originating an iconic mischievous performance as the titular demon, doesn’t miss a beat in picking up where he left off in his high jinks; he’s largely an underused comic delight and gets to partake in a gaggle of fun gags including one in a foreign language. Winona Ryder (her character now a reality show ghost hunter) and Catherine O’Hara (still a dotty artist and stepmom who is rarely home alone) reprise their roles too with flickers of gusto but are overshadowed by Jenna Ortega as a new protagonist with some far fresher takes. The first hour of the film suffers from exposition overload, with obtuse explanations – some pithy and some prolonged – as to why certain characters aren’t present in this episode. The second hour is largely unexpurgated madness and mayhem, with frivolous plot points featuring Willem Dafoe and Monica Bellucci going absolutely nowhere fast. Thankfully sight gags and sing-a-longs are stitched together in the final act for old times’ sake, equal parts fringe and cringe. The humor and gore are sometimes a bit darker than the first, but the movie’s devil-may-care spirit consistently conveys it’s not working all that hard to impress. There’s a twist or two and a bit of novelty at the very end that stand out, but mostly the movie feels like returning to one’s old haunts where nothing is functioning as effectively as it did before. Even Danny Elfman’s music only comes alive when riffing on past themes. After all these years, Burton still loses track of story in service of shiny objects, even if some are clever indeed. This sequel may appear in some ways like a dead ringer full of zingers akin to the first film; but it mainly plays like a sketch stretched out to feature movie length.
Our human protagonist embarks on a “too good to be true” mission in a film that is often stylistically a good bit better than one would expect. 2024’s Alien: Romulus (B+) directed and co-written by Fede Álvarez, is the seventh installment in the long-running series as well as an “interquel” set between the events of the 1979 Ridley Scott original and the James Cameron 1986 sequel. In this film, a group of young space colonists scavenging a dilapidated space station confront one of the most terrifying life forms in the universe. Fascinating actress Cailee Spaeny is the head and shoulders standout in an otherwise unremarkable ensemble, and the dialogue isn’t going to win any awards; but the production design, spectacle and action sequences are all dynamite. Álvarez definitely makes his distinctive mark with a top-tier entry in the saga, buoyed by sinister cinematography courtesy of Galo Olivares, nimble editing by Jake Roberts and gripping orchestral music by Benjamin Wallfisch. As far as the film’s twisty plot points, there’s enough toxic masculinity and planned parenthood to fuel a national political campaign. There aren’t a lot of wasted shots once the action fully whips itself into an interstellar frenzy; then it’s almost too much of a good thing with a barrage of impressive stunts and sensational chases. This movie offers an entertaining thrill ride with plenty to enjoy for fans of the franchise.
The show must go on for maximum security prisoners participating in a rehabilitative theatre troupe in Greg Kwedar’s tenderly humane and moving real-life drama Sing Sing (A). Colman Domingo marvelously anchors the story as a long-time inmate on the verge of a clemency hearing who has become the central journeyman performer in an acting class coached by a character wonderfully played by Paul Raci. Sean San José is also splendid as one of the central prisoners, and many such as Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin brilliantly play their true-life selves. Kwedar has a real eye for the humanity of the characters without ever overly sliding into sentiment, and there are funny touches in the original work the men rehearse and present (their populist work includes characters ranging from Hamlet to Freddy Krueger). Bryce Dessner’s cerebral music offers a wistful, delicate accompaniment to the story. Domingo steals the show with a feast of a performance, and the whole ensemble shines with poignancy and panache. It’s a remarkable tale encouraging viewers to rethink perspectives and engage differently with men who may not have otherwise gotten their second act of redemption. It’s a fantastic entry on the 2024 film festival circuit certainly en route to Oscar glory.
Director Greg Kwedar describes the film to Silver Screen Capture on the red carpet of closing night at the Atlanta Film Festival 2024:
Serendipitously, Coppola protégé Akshay Bhatia has made a short film about an offer that can’t be refused in the sophisticated and splendid cautionary tale The Preakness (A). One drunken night, a down-on-his-luck ranch owner and horse trainer (Jeffrey Pierce) receives a visit from a mysterious and insistent lobbyist (Gena Shaw) with a proposition that could change his personal destiny and possibly history. The movie begins with a soliloquy about slaughterhouses with enough extraordinary exposition to fill a meatpacking district; it’s fascinating stuff that transcends the two-hander form. Soon a deal with a devil is on the proverbial table. There is rich subtext in the dialogue between the hunter and the prey, and both Pierce and Shaw give masterclass performances imbued with mounting tension. Bhatia stages the hard-hitting chess moves of his compelling narrative with impeccable precision, set to the syncopation and paranoid pounding of Dan Deacon’s brilliant score. The literary luster of the work is evocative of “The Cask of Amontillado” or “Everything That Rises Must Converge” with cunning cataloguing of history, lyrical flashbacks and flash-forwards and searing consequences. The movie’s directing, writing, acting and crafts are top-notch and promise to intrigue and fascinate audiences in its grip. Topical themes and pop psychology collide in this spellbinding work.
Want to know the identity of serial killer The Butcher, who smothers and scatters frightful fragments of his helpless victims for the world to witness? His name is M. Night Shyamalan, and two and a half decades since his brilliant trick ending Best Picture nominee, he’s been consistently guilty of serving up large helpings of uneven cold product. The promising premise of his paranoid thriller Trap (C-) is that Philly police know a multiple murderer is at large and planning to attend a major concert, and the squad endeavors to contain and apprehend him in the arena before the show is over. Josh Hartnett and Ariel Donoghue play the zany zaddy of a father and the eye-rolling daughter at the center of the action in the general admission pit of the music event, with Hayley Mills as a mysterious sniffer of sociopaths leveraging her nose for this nuisance (please tell me she wasn’t cast in the film because she starred in the original Parent Trap, and it just seemed like too good a play on words!). Shyamalan stages a mild fantasia of a show-within-the-story on the stage with R&B singer Saleka (she’s perhaps the sassiest discovery) parallel to the pressure cooker of the coliseum as its own experiment for an escape artist. What starts out not feeling particularly well acted or authentic simply gets more preposterous by the final act. It’s poorly written and paced and rarely ratchets up the action or trademark turns to much significant effect. Parts of the movie are suspenseful and others boring, and the far-fetched elements fail to work as a cohesive whole. Nobody wins in this slow-burn setlist, especially the audience. This moviemaker needs someone who can control his inner demons which keep getting manifested as feature films.
Like Once and The Commitments before it, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap (B-) follows in a grand tradition of Ireland-set ragtag musical dramas with a splash of comedy and political revelations thrown in for good measure. Set in post-Troubles Belfast, this Sundance tuner tells the origin story of the titular trio of real-life bandmates – Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin, and JJ Ó Dochartaigh rapping a blend of English and native Irish rhymes for politically charged times. The characters become accidental activists as their Gaelic native tongue is on the brink of being banned by the government. Kneecap’s music sweeps viewers up into a ketamine-fueled, energetic series of episodes to encounter the meaning of pure defiance, laced with funny animated lyrics and playful surprises. Michael Fassbender helps ground the grassroots story as a martyred leader in exile. He’s head over heels better at acting than his fellow mates in the ensemble; by what the Kneecap bandmates lack in natural acting, they make up in manic energy. It’s a rollicking, rebellious rap revolution with a heart for preserving the best of one’s cultural heritage and a lovely sense of anarchy.
