I've reviewed films for more than 30 years. Current movie reviews of new theatrical releases and streaming films are added weekly to the Silver Screen Capture movie news site. Many capsule critiques originally appeared in expanded form in my syndicated Lights Camera Reaction column.
There’s almost always that one person on a foreign travel excursion known for perpetually making the whole group late, constantly questioning the order of things and generally eclipsing the far-flung location with sheer force of personality. Kieran Culkin marvelously portrays such A Real Pain (B+) as one half of odd couple cousins abroad, opposite Jesse Eisenberg, who also wrote and directed the film. The gents’ mutual destination is Poland, where they trace Jewish family roots and trade barbs in an unlikely comedy set amidst a terrain of trauma. Culkin is a fabulous scene-stealer, full of bluster and usually brandishing a blunt, and Eisenberg holds his own as the uptight nebbish admiring and abhorring him in equal measure. In minor roles backing up this two-hander travelogue, Will Sharpe is solid as the group’s tour guide, and Jennifer Grey is delightful if a bit underused as an intriguing fellow traveler. In his mode as filmmaker, Eisenberg exerts incredible discipline telling the story of mismatched men on a mission while chronicling a concurrent commentary about the wry observations of traveling to painful places. Despite the novelty of most of the dramatic interactions, there is still an aching notion the film could have plumbed even deeper themes. In this artful production, subtle sentiment and amusing interactions go with the territory.
In a season of crazy conspiracies, extended delirious dancing and popular public figures melting under spotlights and scrutiny (describing not just the current political race but recent plots of Trap and The Substance), Parker Finn’s Smile 2 (B-) mostly delivers on its gonzo premise: that life as a global music icon is akin to enduring a perpetual horror movie. All eyes are on expressive actress Naomi Scott whose central pop princess character embodies all the requisite tropes: a raving fanbase, a beloved songbook, rumors, scandal, addiction, exhaustion and the company of a questionable squad from before the fame era. Finn as writer/director poses the question: What if those crazed demonic grinning faces popularized in his surprise 2022 hit film were just par for the world tour? In the age of the trauma narrative, why can’t the final girl victim simply be tortured for most of the film’s running time? And stage moms, crazed fans, paparazzi, even product placements are all the glaring, encroaching objets de terreur. It’s all overwhelming enough to make a mere mortal feel more comfortably numb than Pink Floyd in a hotel room adorned with lots of glass coffee tables. Revisiting this franchise’s formula meant reimagining it, and Finn’s candid camera captures an ornate and jump scare filled glam paradise. After an awesome cold open set far from the neon lights, the film’s biggest surprise is there frankly aren’t many. With full “who’s afraid of little old me” gusto, Naomi Scott magnificently chews the scenery of life on the wicked stage and conjures myriad ways to generate poses of sheer fright. Scott bears the film’s repetitive burden on her shoulders and makes it all look good in lavish costumes and with pretty authentic songs. Only some of it is actually scary. It’s all highly watchable but could have used judicious edits to be a bit more, well, swift. Still, in a world of recent auteurs adding song and dance to supercharge their fever dream sequels, Finn hits most of his marks.
Ah, to be young, gifted, Black and a Lego! Director Morgan Neville’s remarkable stop-motion animated documentary Piece by Piece (B) chronicles the life and career of contemporary musician Pharrell Williams through the kaleidoscopic lens of swirling brick building blocks, with many African-American mini-figurines and whimsical instruments developed specifically for the movie. A singular display of synesthesia as the young trucker hat clad creator imagines beats and compositions coming to life in vivid colors and shapes, the story transports viewers from Virginia Beach garage band grassroots of our hero’s bands The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. to his heights of hit-making for the likes of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, Britney Spears, Snoop Dogg and more, not to mention his own iconic anthem “Happy.” The voice cast is stacked. In this unconventional autobiography, Williams is frontin’ faith, falsetto, future centricity and ferocity of imagination while conjuring soundscapes as both performer and producer. The subject finds himself carried away and getting comeuppance, enjoying jokey interludes and participating in solemn episodes of protest and unrest. Undoubtedly the adventurous animation brings the mystical melody and milkshake to the fanboys and girls in the yard, but the film too often skims the plastic surface, glossing over serious moments with mayhem and montage; and Pharrell’s five ho-hum original songs don’t add much to his already catchy catalogue. In terms of its visual palette, however, the movie is a Lego liquid rush of dreamers and drumlines, of freestylin’ and freewheeling creativity, transporting viewers to churches and cookouts, to studios and open seas, like a soulful Saint-Exupéry expedition. The Lego aesthetic veers into a variety of textures: mock archival footage, behind the scenes segments, even rap videos and international travelogues with subtitles. The filmmakers’ purity of spirit and uplift and the sheer gorgeousness of the movie’s craft possess the artisan majesty of a picture book brought to life. The movie’s manner and style belie its subject’s seriousness; some will be tempted to drop it like it’s not for them. But this clever deconstruction of both a modern genius and the documentary form showcasing his life and times is undoubtedly Leg-it: a bountiful brick and block party capable of inspiring the next wunderkind of humble origins to dream big.
Trying out different environments for size, two longtime buddies contemplate changes afoot in their lives while embarking on a revelatory journey. Josh Greenbaum’s meditative documentary Will & Harper (A) traces a 17-day westbound road trip across America via station wagon with friends comic actor Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, a 61-year-old comic writer transitioning from male to female. Thoughtful questions, thorny run-ins, poignant discussions and witty encounters mark this life-affirming chronicle as Harper tells her goofy pal no question is off limits. Scored to a jukebox of great needle drops by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel and Bon Iver with some “Wagon Wheel” and “Luck Be a Lady” tossed in for good measure, the film contemplates the notion of living lonely versus living authentically out in the world. Joyful adventures abound, ranging from riding hot air balloons over Albuquerque to standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and the Mighty Mississippi. Acceptance comes in unexpected biker bars, just as a restaurant stopover results in a cascade of mean tweets. Ferrell, known for doing whatever it takes for comedy, tones it down to put his friend on a pedestal (several moments overwhelm him) and assembles some of their well-known Saturday Night Live collaborators for some bright cameos. The movie makes an important statement about friendship and acceptance without ever being preachy or treacly. It’s a beauty of a film.
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.
One of the best animated features ever committed to film, The Wild Robot (A+), written and directed by Chris Sanders based on a book series by Peter Brown, is a glorious must-see movie on the theme that kindness is a survival skill. Sure it has requisite robot chases and cute talking animals to please a full spectrum of family members, but this heartwarming parable will also leave you motivated and possibly deeply moved about what can be achieved when society comes together for the common good. It’s also a testament to “being more than you’re programmed for” in terms of acting with instincts of integrity. The story centers on Roz (voice of Lupita Nyong’o), a robot shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, who goes rogue and builds relationships with local wildlife and becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose, Brightbill (Kit Connor). The film deftly handles the robot’s adaptation and translation of language so she can communicate with the likes of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara and Ving Rhames as a wily fox, protective opossum and sage falcon, respectively. The film is a full-throttled beastly feast of expressive characters and expansive wilderness landscapes resembling paintings, thanks to production designer Raymond Zibach. It features a propulsive narrative against the backdrop of a memorable score by Kris Bowers and two soaring songs by Maren Morris. The film’s themes and touching tone are deeply resonant, so bring tissues as many of the sensitive sequences may prompt a watercooler waterworks, especially for parents. The voice ensemble is full of talented actors who drop great wisdom throughout the tale. It’s reassuring to see an animated movie in which all elements excel, and it surely will take its place in the pantheon of the year’s very best films.
Director Todd Phillips had a very novel approach for his 2019 take on the Joker character embodied by Joaquin Phoenix in an acclaimed, unhinged performance of the title role with Gotham City inhabitants in a “mean streets” milieu. Filmmaker Phillips and his star Phoenix return for the sequel, and although it has some flickers of inspiration and takes a big swing by being a hybrid courtroom drama in the form of a golden age musical, Joker: Folie à Deux (D) is an unmitigated disaster in execution. In an asylum while awaiting trial for a half dozen murders, Arthur Fleck/Joker meets a kindred spirit played by Lady Gaga, and a bad romance ensues, complete with real and imagined production numbers of showtunes such as “Get Happy,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “That’s Entertainment!” About one and a half of the musical numbers actually work, but with Joaquin croaking out a rocker voice and Gaga sing-whispering with little gusto to blend in duets, it’s not a pretty soundscape. I love musicals and cringed each time a song started. It’s mostly like a broken record. The film is all over the map in terms of tone and doesn’t clearly articulate its thesis if there is one. It is dull, drab and a chore to watch. Goodwill related to the first film’s originality is undercut with this debacle of a follow-up.
Attracting moviegoers to the in-theatre experience is re-invigorating techniques which would make classic movie impresario William Castle proud!
A24, in partnership with Joya Studio, has announced multi-sensory experience screenings of Heretic, exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse theaters nationwide for one-night-only October 30, 2024. This unique experience will fully immerse audiences in the cinematic journey by activating their sense of smell. A highlight of the film features the delightful aroma of blueberry pie, inviting viewers to savor the scent wafting through the theater during this moment in the film. Fans can also look out for exclusive treats and scratch-and-sniff cards at all other advanced screenings of Heretic nationwide on October 30, allowing them to actively participate in the experience and enjoy the aroma during this pivotal scene.
The film Heretic follows two young missionaries played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, played against type by Hugh Grant, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. Heretic hits theaters nationwide November 8.
A24 X Joya Studio genre-themed candles ranging from romcom to western
Joya Studio, known for innovative candles and fragrances, has long been a collaborator with A24. Joya produced an innovative line of genre-themed candles as well as products inspired by the Best Picture-winning film Everything Everywhere All At Once. Joya’s atomization technology is a refined scent experience suiting any space or mood, employing cold-air diffusion to disperse scented molecules as fine, dry air—without the use of heat, water, alcohol or petrochemical-based solvents—creating a safe, eco-friendly and consistent experience. This is the purest possible expression, preserving not only the scent’s aesthetic integrity but also its therapeutic properties.
According to Heretic co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, “The blueberry pie is activated by Hugh Grant’s Mr. Reed as a metaphor for blind faith and a disturbing reminder to question everything. When we first heard A24’s bold idea to resurrect the multi-sensory experience to underline this crucial sequence, it made us howl with laughter. We’re so excited that audiences have this unique opportunity to be immersed in the world of the film.”
Frederick Bouchardy, founder of Joya Studio, adds he was “fully fired up” the moment he heard about this initiative. “We have enjoyed the collaboration with A24 for years, challenged our own vision with respect to scent design and R&D—always kept this element of humor involved, which I think is really missing from the fragrance world by and large. Every creation at Joya Studio reflects my personal belief in activating the senses, our aliveness. I happen to know that ‘blueberry pie’ translates beautifully in scent, believing we could and would create something at once sophisticated, mouth-watering, uncanny and funny.”
This new movie tie-in stands on the giants of many legendary uses of olfactory gimmicks offered in movie theatres dating back to the late ’50s when exhibitors were looking for a way to lure those smitten with new television contraptions to return to the glory of communal moviegoing.
Leveraging the sense of smell in cinema began with Smell-O-Vision, a system that released odor during the projection of a film via vials connected via tubes to theatre seats so viewers could physically smell what was happening in the movie. Created by Mike Todd Jr. and Hans Laube, the technique triggered by a film soundtrack and previewed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, made its only theatrical appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery with a notorious tobacco scent at a critical moment.
An alternate process, AromaRama, invented by Charles Weiss, emitted scents through the air-conditioning system of a theater for the film Behind the Great Wall, which opened a mere month before Scent in December 1959. More than 70 different aromas ranging from fireworks to restaurants to horses to spices were injected into the theater during the film. Competition between these two scent-laden films was dubbed by Variety Magazine as “the battle of the smellies.”
The Odorama card from Polyester
In homage to these classic techniques, John Waters released an enhanced “Odorama” version of his 1981 film Polyester including scratch and sniff cards with ten numbered spots audiences could follow along with while watching the movie, with corresponding numbers flashing on the bottom of the screen to prompt a next waft.
The RugratsGo Wild scratch and sniff card
The 2003 animated film Rugrats Go Wild, the 2010 Norwegian film Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch and 2011’s family comedy Spy Kids: All the Tme in the World also included scent cards distributed to moviegoers accompanying numbers on screen to unlock sequential scents. The latter was advertised as “4D Aroma-Scope.”
The Spy Kids 4 scratch and sniff card
Disney has used technologies evocative of classic inventions in U.S. theme park attractions including It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Horizons and Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue.
The Soarin’ Over California and Soarin’ Around the World films at Disneyland and Walt Disney World respectively inject fragrances into their vast auditoriums including orange and cherry blossoms, pine forests, grass and sea air as motion simulated scenery flies on a big screen below the passengers riding on faux hang gliders.
In 2006, Japanese telecom company NTT Communications developed a scent technique for Terrence Malick’s The New World. During seven key moments in the film, scents were emitted by an internet server linked to the film reel, downloading fragrances including floral scents for romantic sequences; peppermint and rosemary smells for tear-jerking moments; orange and grapefruit effects for scenes of joy; and the essence of eucalyptus, tea tree and herbs for sequences featuring angry characters and actions.
Regal Cinemas’ 18 theatres with “4DX” technology installed incorporate strong smells into the movie experience along with motion enabled chairs, fog and water and air to simulate wind and rain for movies such as Twisters. Scents are also included along with haptic sensations in Darren Aronofsky’s 2023 4D nature filmPostcard from Earth, playing exclusively at The Sphere in Las Vegas. This year a company Olorama has also introduced a scent device for the home to accompany films.
A24’s Heretic arrives in immersive form exclusively at Alamo Drafthouse theaters nationwide for one-night-only October 30, 2024. The film opens wide throughout the U.S. November 8.
Shoppers looking for rare, interesting and unusual items will welcome this upcoming liquidation sale of items used on movies and film sets. This unique collection presented by Peachtree Battle Estate Sales includes a few thousand props, furniture, home décor items and accessories, along with one-of-a-kind pieces. All items are available for purchase at an Atlanta warehouse location to be announced on Tuesday, October 29. The sale will begin on Wednesday, October 30 through Sunday, November 3 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
If you’re looking for a treasure hunt for the unexpected, check out this special sale as pallets are being unloaded daily. Imagine a 150,000 square feet football field array of props and items amassed from major films and television.
Robert and Christy Ahlers, founders of Ahlers and Ogletree Auction Gallery and Peachtree Battle Estate Sales, remarked, “We are excited to present this one-of-a-kind sale liquidating props and a wide variety of collectibles to the public from the film world.”
From ancient times to modern furniture and a variety of genres including antiques, rustic and trendy, you’ll find unusual items such as a life-sized subway train car to African masks, a whale replica, a medieval horse and line-up of canoes, suits of armor, home décor items and beyond. The location of the sale will be announced on Tuesday, October 30 and will begin on Wednesday, October 30 and continue through Sunday, November 3. For more information: www.atlantaestatesales.com
When NBC’s SNL ushered in a new format of bawdy and topical sketch comedy nearly a half century ago, it arrived in the world via a most improbable birth. The 90 or so tense minutes leading up to the live pilot episode are the subject of Jason Reitman’s punchy, energetic ensemble dramedy Saturday Night (B+). Gabriel LaBelle masterfully plays optimistic show runner Lorne Michaels opposite an array of splendid fellow writers (a whip-smart Rachel Sennott and deadpan-droll Tommy Dewey are fantastic) and legendary on-air comedians (really solid impressionistic impersonations by Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd and Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris). The movie crackles with kinetic energy as last-minute wardrobe fitting, set building, camera testing and script doctoring activities collide with the madcap antics of these delirious denizens of the famed 30 Rockefeller Plaza studio. Reitman justifiably ribs the old guard of classic TV production in the form of a smarmy executive (Willem Dafoe) and a really dickish Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons) as he curates a near real-time portrait of art and anarchy in the making. The film is consistently entertaining, even if a bit lightweight in terms of story or substance. It’s a whirling dervish energy fueled showcase of how unusual and disparate ingredients collide like fermenting hops in a creative home-brew. The film offers the thrills of artists working at the top of their game in a pressure cooker, and it’s a bright return to form for Reitman who cracks open what seems like a familiar vault and unleashes a vibe of his own. The inventive comic syncopations he puts into motion will tickle and tantalize.
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 surefire clarion call. Adam Driver’s monotone character contemplates solutions in a conflicted fictional future U.S. city reminiscent of Manhattan with hints of Rome, and it’s not completely clear which characters are worth tracking at any given time. 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 ponderous 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 adrift, 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 as an enduring curiosity from a cinematic master.
It’s generally cause for distress when your enchanted pumpkin carriage or lovable Mogwai has overextended forbidden activities beyond midnight. But age-old adages about the exact time when perceived Hollywood beauty expires go into audacious overtime in the contemporary satirical body horror film The Substance (B+), written, directed and co-edited with glorious gore and gusto by Coralie Fargeat. A stunning Demi Moore lunges into a memorable central performance as a driven 50-year-old TV aerobics superstar facing career decline and experimenting with a black market medical regimen billed as a fountain of youth. Margaret Qualley occupies a symbiotic doppelgänger role, an object of fantasy and fury in delicate balance with the leading lady. Both actresses are incredible in their mirror-image parts on various ends of the glamor spectrum, and it’s clear from how game they are in service to Fargeat’s vision that they are pursuing their roles with zero vanity. There are jaw-dropping sequences of blood and bombast, but the film’s watershed moment involves Moore’s character at the looking-glass, hesitating in numerous bittersweet ways as she prepares for a date because she doesn’t feel pretty. Benjamin Kracun’s candy-colored cinematography and Raffertie’s explosive score complement the outstanding 29-member makeup department and Emmanuelle Youchnovski’s standout costumes. Dennis Quaid and other male characters in the film are written quite broadly, which works well as parody but generates a distancing effect to interactions. Frequent allegory paints with a thick brush over a few inconvenient plot points. The overall grotesquerie will please ardent Fangoria Magazine readers but could turn away other viewers who would savor the fresh commentary. With her singularity of vision and hypnotic, horrific stylings, Fargeat invites comparisons to Kubrick, Cronenberg and De Palma but ironically could have nipped and tucked a few impulses causing the film to wear out its welcome long after making its point. This film itself is far from a fading star!
