I've reviewed films for more than 35 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.
Even the Queen of Soul herself can be enhanced by a judicious editor, and Liesl Tommy’s Aretha Franklin biopic Respect (C) would have been improved if the filmmakers had commenced to condense. Instead the film takes a fairly circuitous journey in the telling of the songstress’ life and gives cursory treatment to some significant incidents of trauma she experiences as both a child and adult. Jennifer Hudson’s singing is sublime, but there’s a hollowness to the character and portrayal, slighted and undermined by unfocused writing and narrative. Forest Whitaker and Marlon Wayans also have rather thankless roles as the controlling men in the musician’s life. There’s also a relative paucity of musical sequences, which is disappointing given the film’s ample duration. After a rather absorbing first hour, the film doesn’t trust its most creative instincts and instead resorts to paint-by-numbers behind-the-music conventions for nearly 90 more minutes. The movie imparts lots of great data points about why Aretha Franklin was a trailblazer, but Tommy’s film largely misses the mark in taking viewers beneath the surface of the legend.
This reboot of a cult comic book ensemble film is distinguished by a parade of sensational casting and visual choices. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (A-) is a splattery spectacular madcap adventure with rousing action, vivid effects, ribald humor and idiosyncratic characters. Although its violence is not for the faint of heart, Gunn’s film is tonally and thematically one of the most winning DC Comics adaptations yet. The story revolves around the government sending the world’s most dangerous supervillains including Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena) Ratcatcher (Daniela Melchior) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) to a remote, enemy-infused island for a search-and-destroy mission related to a science conspiracy. Interlaced into the propulsive plot is a menagerie of exquisite weaponry, human/animal hybrids, throwaway gags, witty asides and just about any treasures Gunn can bury in the cartoonish carnage. It’s a rollicking ride with Robbie again a delightful standout and Melchior a winning find as a pied piper of both CGI rodents and some surprisingly emotional moments. Add in an anthropomorphic shark, stunning stunts and an epic showdown finale, and many will agree Gunn has assembled one helluva Squad.
Welcome to the Arthurian art film that’s about to get medieval on your streaming service. A trippy and faithful adaptation of a 14th century poem, David Lowery’s Green Knight (aka Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous) (B+) is both cerebral and eerie in its duration, culminating in a brilliant near dialogue free final act as the protagonist faces his fears. It’s essentially about a bit of a deal with the devil and the ensuing consequences as a knight musters the courage for a showdown that will seal his destiny. Dev Patel is engaging as flawed protagonist Gawain. Alicia Vikander as two characters – Essel and the Lady – and Joel Edgerton as The Lord also turn in outstanding performances as pivotal pawns along the massive chess board of an epic. The film is earthy, pulpy and often looks like a Renaissance painting come to life. The production design and costuming are exquisite. Because it is rather intellectual and episodic (with lovely ornate title cards, incidentally), it’s sometimes difficult to trace exactly where the film is headed (or beheaded) in the journey of its sweeping storyline; but even when the pace is slow, it is a mesmerizing piece of cinema.
Hot off a series of horror movies and Liam Neeson-led thrillers, director Jaume Collet-Serra is an unlikely choice to helm an old-fashioned Disney adventure based on a classic theme park ride but acquits himself nicely in the pleasant summer escapism fare of Jungle Cruise (B-). Similarly, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, best known for muscular action films, gets to flex his unexpectedly assured comedic timing to successful avail as a South American skipper of a small riverboat who takes a group of travelers including siblings played by Emily Blunt and Jack Whitehall through a jungle in search of the Tree of Life. Johnson and Blunt are winning comic and would-be romantic partners with verbal and physical pratfalls aplenty, as he wields dad jokes and swagger in equal doses to her acerbic and acrobatic spunkiness. Faring less on the likability scale are characters played by Jesse Plemmons, Paul Giamatti and a coterie of cursed conquistadors in cartoonish or CGI villainous roles which add very little menace opposite the explorers. The film works best in rip-roaring action sequences and when Blunt and Whitehall provide some droll fish-out-of-water entanglements. As for the plot, we’ve been down this river many times in much better films. The first hour is fairly breezy fun; then as the protagonists get closer to their goal, the sogginess sets into sluggishness for a good while. Still, it’s competently made family friendly fun, and most of the kids haven’t seen the movies this riffs on, so it may all be new to them. Like its Adventureland origin attraction, you get to sit down in the shade and take a breezy ride for a while with a smile on your face for much of its duration, and that may be all we need this summer.
This summer writer/director M. Night Shyamalan invites you to his private coastal paradise for a reverse-Cocoon Geriatric Park with the potential to push every Benjamin Button of your patience. The film Old (D) is a disorienting suspense thriller with about one and a half intriguing ideas very poorly executed including the notion of accelerated aging as a plot device and its effect on a bevy of unsuspecting vacationers. The ensemble including the talented Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps and Rufus Sewell seems as adrift as the viewers in this filmmaker’s typical parade of nonsense followed by final act reveals. Without a clear protagonist and in some cases with the same characters played by multiple actors, this seaside spectacle is a cacophonous cavalcade for most of its duration. Shyamalan can occasionally stage an interesting action sequence or a supernatural Twilight Zone-esque twist, and it’s a game attempt at terror in the daylight, but he neither nails the play nor the payoff this time around. After a few films of creative redemption since his lowest point with the waterlogged Lady in the Water, the director’s latest aquatic fare is to be avoided like a Baby Ruth in the country club swimming pool.
A striking lived-in central performance by Mark Wahlberg as an anti-bullying crusader lifts Reinaldo Marcus Green’s frank biographical tale of Joe Bell (B-) above its sentimental R-rated afterschool special conceits. Structurally wobbly and a touch treacly, the film about a father’s road to redemption after not doing all he could to save his gay son from abuse at the hands of his high school classmates is often quite moving and revealing. Connie Britton is wonderful as well as the family matriarch, and Reid Miller gives a sensitive portrayal of the troubled teen: fragile, flamboyant and fiery. Green tinges the threadbare story with moments of realism, poignancy and heartbreaking self-reflection; it is best in its most small and intimate moments as opposed to its large gestures. The film is superb in depicting little-seen insights into the father-son bond and showcasing what it means to be strong in your own skin, and Wahlberg nails the central role. Even when the film sometimes stumbles in storytelling, it is a well-meaning summons to travel the world with head held high. It imparts lessons the world still needs to hear.
The nuclear family of superhero assassins comprised of Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz and David Harbour are pretty much the anti-Incredibles in Marvel’s new action installment. Also not so incredible: the languid pacing of Cate Shortland’s Black Widow (B), but this somewhat perfunctory saga still showcases some interesting backstory, a few well choreographed action sequences and some committed acting from the ensemble. Actually the three characters who are not the lead are the ones who contribute the most to this installment. The plot finds Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff a fugitive on the run who’s forced to confront a conspiracy tied to her past, and Pugh gamely plays her estranged little sister with dollops of deadpans. The humor in this episode centers on the sibling’s wisecracks about the titular character’s self-important poses and the witty dialogue of Harbour’s spandex festooned Russian super soldier who’s a second-rate mixed bag of hero and father figure. Shortland loves to pull back from her stunt sequences to show what an epic landscape she is painting on, but all the globetrotting still feels more surface than lived-in. There aren’t too many surprises, but altogether it’s a pretty sturdy entry into the MCU canon with action and heart.
An inventive free-for-all based on a frenzied series of real-life eyewitness tweets about the misadventures of two women on an extraordinary road trip, Janicza Bravo’s Zola (B+) brims with mirthful dark comedy and unexpected detours. Breakthrough star Taylour Paige is a delight as the wry title character “@zola,” a part-time exotic dancer lured into a Florida getaway by Riley Keough’s outrageous “@stefani.” They make a madcap duo, and Keough is a riot with a manipulative medicine show of emotions in her arsenal. Colman Domingo manages to steal a few scenes from these brash co-stars as the ominous “X,” teetering on a line between charming and sinister. With surprises aplenty and shocks around every bend, Bravo marshals her ensemble with grit and grace. The tropical color palette and snappy editing plus droll throwaway one-liners provide the film with myriad memorable moments. The fact that it’s all a bit of a lark doesn’t take away from the creativity and the committed acting on display. This is a breezy joyride of an indie destined to coast into cult status.
Betting on the scrappiness of a bunch of bros who become woke in a history-bending take on the founding of the country, Matt Thompson’s America: The Motion Picture (B-) is an irreverent and often quite funny animated film aimed at the adults of the household. The movie’s tipsy time bandits traversing a stew of history involving George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Geronimo, a female Thomas Edison and many others throw out a lot of vulgar gags and end up with a winning comedy in the tradition of the South Park movie, Team America: World Police or even the live action This is the End. Channing Tatum, Jason Mantzoukas, Olivia Munn, Killer Mike and Andy Samberg are among the spry voice cast ensemble in this veritable Mad or National Lampoon magazine come to life. The animation is accomplished and the profane and prophetic jokes abundant enough to keep surprising even the most academic viewers. It’s anachronistic, anarchic and lots of mindless fun and ultimately pulses with a patriotic heart.
More like watching a Twitch video game play feed than enjoying an actual movie, the act of witnessing Chris McKay’s The Tomorrow War (C) is an experience of viewing it all play out and all the while second-guessing. Shoddy effects and ham-fisted acting mar this mediocre dystopian sci-fi adventure in which Chris Pratt’s character is drafted to fight in a future battle against aliens, and the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront his past. Yvonne Strahovski and Sam Richardson are among an ensemble with little remarkable to do in a past, present and future tale that is far from Dickensian. Pratt tries out myriad befuddled faces and shoots or punches amorphous creatures for most of the film’s bloated duration. Any novelty to the story or surprises in its warped timeline wear out their welcome fast. This action movie will definitely not be one for the record books.
The Fast and the Furious films aren’t known for their adherence to physics, but it would be prudent indeed if science could improve the wooden performances of Vin Diesel and John Cena as unlikely rival brothers in the treacly backstory bogging down Justin Lin’s F9 The Fast Saga (C+). A stunt show in search of a through line, this sequel rarely gets lift-off except when foreboding land mines and traffic-jamming electromagnets are involved. It’s never a good sign in an action movie when the arrival of Dame Helen Mirren heralds an “ok, now it’s getting good,” but aside from another sassy bit by Charlize Theron, the ensemble film is severely lacking in character. Thank goodness for the witty trio of Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel and Tyrese Gibson who ground even the most Moonraker-esque lunacy with fun-filled quips and quandaries. The final act chase is truly spectacular even if a bit familiar, and the aforementioned magnets are the gimmick that keeps on giving. But aside from very well staged action sequences, this entry into the saga drifts quite resolutely into the mediocre lane.
A joyful ode to “finding your island”even when it’s a place where you’ve been all along, Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights (B) is a faithful and often fanciful extravaganza with creative song sequences showcasing camaraderie and community, athletic choreography featuring hundreds of dancers and a colorful panoramic tour of the Washington Heights neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. The sing-speak spectacular is a celebration of the trials, travails and cultural contributions of Dominican, Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrants in a one-of-a-kind district; and as a whole, the mirthful, hopeful energy transcends a threadbare storyline by highlighting various choose-your-own pathways to big dreams (sueñitos). The individual characters get short shrift in the bombast and swirl, and Chu shifts tone and perspective a few too many times including with an unnecessary framing device; but these are small complaints in a film of overall genuine goodness. The female performances surrounding a charismatic Anthony Ramos as the shopkeeper narrator are the breakout stars, particularly Melissa Barrera as an aspiring fashion designer who wants to escape her humble roots and Leslie Grace as the high-achieving student returning from a first semester of college with her tail between her legs, hoping to be renewed by the uplift of her neighborhood. Both actresses imbue their characters with sweet sentiment and occasional pent-up ferocity. Much of the musical infusion plays out Rent-style, with young characters professing love amidst struggle. After a maudlin middle act that brings the film’s festive outlook to a bit of a halt with some clunky sequences, it is a delightful Daphne Rubin-Vega as a firebrand beautician who brings the film roaring back to life. The best moments fuse winning songs with creative harmonies or set pieces, especially as the film’s community denizens rally within an oversized Esther Williams inspired pool or as two lovers defy gravity by dancing up and down the side of a brownstone high-rise. This film will be remembered for its verve and representation, for bursts of brilliance that are maintained in spurts. When it hits those titular heights, though, oh how it soars!
