Protruding from its mythical head is a dubious “L.” A24’s anticipated creature feature debuted at South by Southwest; and in one sour swoop this mediocre movie diminished both the lure of an infallible indie studio’s track record and the lore of its buzzy film festival launchpad. A vehicular collision with a mighty beast possessing a horn of plentiful power presents complications for an ensemble of morally dubious characters in Alex Scharfman’s comic cautionary tale Death of a Unicorn (C). It’s a film that rarely lives up to the convictions or creativity of its outrageous high concept, despite some initially funny flourishes. As father and daughter at the movie’s core, both Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega fail to showcase why they are usually regarded as such agreeable stars. Their uninspired characters could no sooner train a dragon or drain a unicorn of its majesty than deliver a compelling line of dialogue. Thankfully two supporting characters living a life of leisure, mother and son played by Téa Leoni and Will Poulter, understand the assignment and provide the story’s main laughs with outrageous affronts to dignity and decency. Scharfman rarely sharpens the teeth or social commentary of his “eat the rich” and “don’t mess with Mother Nature” parable platforms, simply rehashing Jurassic Park style chases but with underwhelming visual effects. He ultimately abandons the wit of the successful first act for a series of stunts and silly sequences representing diminishing returns. A few fun kills provide brief thrills, but the movie lacks imagination and surprises. The film’s novelty is initially nifty but then is revealed for what it is: all horned up with no place to go.
Fair warning to moviegoers with short attention spans, audiences expecting a thriller with rollicking action or viewers opting to experience this film streaming rather than in theatres: this isn’t for you. Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag (A-) is a brisk and efficient espionage caper that demands, nay, requires your attention to appreciate the art and slow-burn of its double crosses and droll wit. An impeccable British sextet of spies engage in enjoyable mind games resembling a whodunit in one of David Koepp’s most nuanced scripts. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett give restrained but memorable performances as the central married couple who are also British intelligence operatives. This duo’s marital bond is eclipsed only by devotion to their fidelity to their nation. Marisa Abela and Tom Burke bring humor and Naomie Harris and Rege-Jean Page bring solemnity to the table as the London-based characters engage in a metaphorical chess match. Pierce Brosnan also has a small but pivotal part in the ensemble and gets some nice grace notes. Soderbergh clearly relishes his role as a veteran cinematic showman and purveyor of a terrific twisty story. The plot is contained to just a handful of days and a few nifty locations, but it contains multitudes in a streamlined package. The polygraph sequence alone overshadows the creativity of most movies’ gadget lairs. This is the kind of well-crafted drama for adults Hollywood rarely doles out these days. Soderbergh has made dozens of movies, but it plays like a brand new discovery. See it; it’s clutch.
Doused with deliberate doses of both sweet and sadistic sequences, co-directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s action comedy Novocaine (B) offers constant injections of surface fun in a high-concept package. Durable actor Jack Quaid plays a bank executive with a rare condition: he is incapable of feeling physical pain. He’s also smitten with his co-worker and emerging girlfriend played beautifully by Amber Midthunder, but the burgeoning courtship is hastily interrupted by the actions of a criminal ring led by the very charismatic Ray Nicholson. Spidey saga sidekick Jacob Batalon is also effective as the film’s amusing wingman. Quaid fully commits to the peculiar physicality of the role, and the story keeps upping the ante in terms of its Everyman ensconced in epic urban action. Mostly the story is outrageous, but the joke of being immune to a constant cavalcade of tortures keeps delivering. Early sequences between Quaid and Midthunder portend a more romantic, possibly better film; but pain is so close to pleasure as silly adventure ensues. It’s a giddy, guilty pleasure experience.
When presented visionary new work by a filmmaker with such creative feats of derring-do as Bong Joon ho, you grant grace to aspects of the movie more successful than others. But the director’s latest science fiction black comedy Mickey 17 (C) swings and misses in equal measures and ends up in the “mildly unrecommended” category. In a dehumanizing future, our hero Mickey is an “expendable,” a kind of human lab rat dispatched for dangerous intergalactic tasks; and if any of those fool’s errands turn out fatal, voila, we print out a new Mickey clone with a brand new body but memories intact. Robert Pattinson plays all the Mickeys and gives special manic attention to two of them. He’s a lot of fun with his Everyman accents and aw-shucks mannerisms. Naomie Ackie plays a fellow voyager, security agent and love interest and is a delight making the most of her role opposite the protagonist. Steven Yeun gets a bit less to do as a pilot and childhood friend. Then there’s Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette, who seem to be acting in a whole other universe as a devious political couple who appear to be channeling a mash-up of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker and The Trumps. Their sinister sequences are grating and misbegotten more than enlightening or funny. So after a promising opening salvo, the movie actually becomes a bit tedious and ultimately lands in a moribund final act on an ice planet filled with rather uninspired wiggle worm inhabitants. So we are left with an enthusiastic series of central performances by one talented actor and a clever foil and not much interesting going on around them. The lavish production design and effects are all vintage Bong Joon ho (food never looks very good in his steampunk future) but the commentary about capitalism and worker’s rights are mostly muddled and rarely come into farcical focus. Often bombastic and bloated, the film’s themes start gnashing and clashing into a dystopian doom scroll. It all looks like one of the director’s films, but something is off.
The 35th Marvel Cinematic Universe film mixes Tom Clancy style espionage with the increasingly complicated trappings of serialized superheroism, and the whole hulking smash-up faces an identity and creativity crisis. Julius Onah’s Captain America: Brave New World (C) chronicles two characters in the honeymoon periods of newfound careers: Harrison Ford as newly elected and problematic U.S. President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson who assumes the mantle of the Captain America persona with a touch of imposter syndrome. A proposed team-up between commander-in-chief and the newly coronated Cap is quickly jeopardized by a series of meddling menaces plus raiders of a lost “adamantium” element that proves to be a MacGuffin most mid. The story fails to transport viewers to interesting places despite the fact that one location is intriguingly titled Celestial Island and then not developed in the slightest. Conversely the production devotes multiple minutes to a junkyard fight and one single row of cherry blossom trees shot from various angles. A presidential security advisor played by Shira Haas is furnished limited lines when there could have been a smart political subtext unfolding. Danny Ramirez coasts on charisma as Joaquin Torres/Falcon, a sidekick who’s both silly and sentimental and generally the most genuinely entertaining part of the movie. The action sequences move fast, largely masking any real momentum, while generally the film’s pace crawls. Much of this installment plays out like a chore with phoned-in performances, despite the participation of multiple past Oscar nominees. Ford and Mackie are game for the drama, but the temperamental POTUS and the bearer of the shield can only wield so much life out of this flimsy episode.
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The square-jawed protagonist of a new Yuletide actioner is equal parts dubious and daring, and he’s definitely in danger. Director Jaume Collet-Serra’s Carry-On (B-) puts substantial decision-making on the shoulders of a humble LAX TSA agent played with aplomb by Taron Egerton, whose character is mid at adulting even as his pregnant girlfriend (Sofia Carson) shares he’s on the brink of zaddy-hood. But when an earpiece emitting the somber, sinister and sus voice of Jason Bateman comes through the conveyor belt tray with very specific instructions, it’s Nick of Time slash Die Harder vibes for our reluctant hero rizzing to the occasion to outwit terrorists commandeering a prominent plane on a Christmas Eve crash course with destiny. Meanwhile in what at first occupies a completely distinct tonal universe, Danielle Deadwyler is doing the most as the LAPD agent connecting a series of homeland homicides with the action afoot at the airport. Things get more interesting when hunty gets stunty. The film flashes some creative communications and surveillance graphics and waves some wondrous wands once the plot finally progresses into full cat and mouse-dom. It’s familiar stuff, to be sure, and it’s not quite as funny or fleet of foot as Egerton’s committed central everyman performance or American accent. It also feels Bateman’s screen time is so slight, he may as well have been contracted via Cameo for his flash of a part. Overall, expect a slightly better than average good time out of this thriller with just enough EQ in the eggnoggin to please those gathered for the holidays.
The palace intrigue and visual effects both get mighty upgrades — albeit with fewer iconic declarations of dialogue — as Ridley Scott returns to the ring for a highly enjoyable Gladiator II (B+). While many of the story beats represent a retread of the Best Picture winning 2000 original film, Paul Mescal steps comfortably into the sandals of the protagonist role and draws viewers in as his character watches Roman emperors (Pedro Pascal among the leaders) conquer his homeland before he endeavors to return a legendary land to glory. As an empire-adjacent antagonist, Denzel Washington is also a highlight as a complex power broker with constant surprises around every turn. His scenery chewing rivals Joaquin Phoenix from the first film. The sequel’s action set pieces including a clash of warriors on ships within a coliseum are stunning. After one questionable sequence involving fake CGI monkeys early on, the film’s visual effects are roundly glorious. There’s a lingering feeling of wanting just a little more emotionally from this film, but it’s hard to argue with the brutal bacchanal of pulpy violence and vengeance on display here. Overall the film is a marvelous and rousing adventure.
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 Alvarez, 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. Alvarez 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.
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.
In the service of a more mature and madcap Marvel installment, Disney has cracked open its most violent and vulgar vaults to unleash a buddy comedy adventure with its own crass love language. The mouse is definitely out of the house with superkillafragilistic, zipadeedickjokes, hakunayomama abandon. Except for over-staying its welcome by a short hair, Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine (A-) is an absolute laugh machine throughout with a singularly sensational “meta”-morphosis of the superhero form. If there were a fifth and sixth wall to break, consider them toppled. The plot involves snarky mercenary Deadpool (a series best performance by riotously funny Ryan Reynolds) recruited to safeguard the multiverse by uniting with his would-be pal Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, in great stoic form for action and comedy) to save the world from an existential threat and villain (Emma Corrin at the height of her powers). Despite their outward swagger, both titular costumed crusaders must overcome a crisis of confidence, and it’s in their tentativeness and vulnerability that many of the film’s most delicious zingers and gags are born. It helps to know comic book, movie studio and pop cultural lore to fully follow some of the funniest and most subversive laugh lines. The stunts and action choreography are top-notch with excellent needle drops and kick-ass sass rivaling the first film in the series. The film outwardly acknowledges past Disney/Fox rivalries and casting incongruities, and it remedies some of the vexing variances in clever and convincing ways. Expect some stale conventions to get upended and some new directions for the franchise to come of age based on this fierce installment.
Plan to get sucked up, whisked away and a bit wonderstruck by an utterly crowd-pleasing entry into this summer’s multiplex fare. Lee Isaac Chung’s 2024 action film Twisters (A), ostensibly a standalone sequel to the 1996 tornado disaster flick, is both practically and metaphorically about Americans coming together to weather the storm. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, both magnificent in their physical and emotional roles, play very different leaders of chaser teams with divergent goals converged in the heartland of Oklahoma. The film’s humane exploration of characters ranging from a committed entrepreneur played by Anthony Ramos to a wily mom portrayed by Maura Tierney help the film transcend its deceivingly simple storytelling contours. The movie’s visual and sound effects are superb, peppering realistic rural landscapes and quaint hometowns with impressive funnel fantasia. Chung’s film deftly asks viewers to re-examine how neighbors should treat one another, elevates the pursuit of science and philanthropy into central themes and doesn’t waste a moment of its running time with anything short of human or natural revelation. With a backdrop of Benjamin Wallfisch’s gripping score and rip-roaring country music needle drops, this observant and opulent film gorgeously fills the screen all the way through a very exciting finale including meta homage to the ritual of gathering for entertainment. This is a wonderful companion piece to Jordan Peele’s Nope, another smart reflection on spectacle by an American auteur. Expect to be pleasantly surprised by this well assembled action epic.
The third installment in a film series about a world invasion by aliens with acute hearing, Michael Sarnoski’s prequel A Quiet Place: Day One (A-) is part apocalyptic horror tale, part romantic drama and part sci-fi spinoff. Because the characters have to remain largely silent to avoid the invaders’ detection, it is a showcase of the exquisite and expressive acting talents of Lupita Nyong’o as a terminally ill poet and Joseph Quinn as a British law student, plus one of the best feline performances committed to film (actually played by two talented cats!). This movie highlights the initial terrifying takeover by the earful extraterrestrials as they descend on New York City and lends an array of labyrinthine set pieces to the dystopian dread. It’s very exciting as the creatures chase the protagonists through alleyways, subway tunnels, turnstiles, cathedrals, harbors and beyond, with only water as a safe space for humans. The film is elegiac as a dying woman simply wants to consume a slice of her favorite pizza from Harlem, intruders be damned, and very charming as she and the legal lad showcase some serious chemistry and connection. Nyong’o in particular shines in this layered role. Within all the mayhem in Manhattan, the film is also an artful love letter to NYC. The opening titles share that the collective noise at any given point in the bustling metropolis is akin to a scream, and it’s moving to watch some of the charms of city living when divorced from the decibels. Sarnoski’s film stands alone as a suspenseful story but transcends the formula by digging deep into its central characters. It is trippy and taut and masterfully transposes the series’ rural family milieu into an urban adventure. Day One delivers.
Our reviews of A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II:
