NEW THIS WEEK May 10, 2024 (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO)
NEW THIS WEEK (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO):
BLUEBEARD--I first saw Edgar G. Ulmer's 1944 "B" cult favorite on a double-bill w/ Ulmer's equally wonderful "The Black Cat" at a Manhattan rep house in April '79. It was my introduction to Ulmer--I still hadn't seen "Detour," his most celebrated film--and I remember being surprised that the theater was packed on a Tuesday night for two relatively obscure "moldy-oldies." Made for the notoriously low-rent Producers Releasing Corporation whose most notable release until then was Douglas Sirk's luridly-monikered "Hitler's Madman," "Bluebeard" stars John Carradine as mad puppeteer/struggling artist Gaston in 19th century France who has the discomfiting habit of strangling his models and dumping them into the Seine after finishing their portraits. Freely borrowing from serial killers both factual (Jack the Ripper) and (fictional) the Phantom of the Opera, Gaston finally meets his match in Lucille (a luminous Jean Parker) who, upon discovering his murderous proclivities, makes it her mission to bring him to justice. While the Bluebeard saga has inspired numerous subsequent movies (including Charles Chaplin's masterpiece "Monsieur Verdoux," Richard Burton's campy 1972 version and Catherine Breillat's eroticized 2009 arthouse riff), Ulmer's noirish iteration deserves a place in cinema history for its silky, intensely moody b&w lensing, streamlined storytelling and Carradine's superb, oddly sympathetic performance which he always boasted was his career-best. The fact that it was shot, like most of Ulmer's early works, in less than a week is a testament to the "un cineaste maudit" auteur's worker bee mentality and his termite genius. Critic Andrew Sarris summed up Ulmer's filmography best when he opined, "That a personal style could emerge from the lowest depths of Poverty Row is a tribute to a director without alibis." The great-looking new KL Studio Classics Blu-Ray has two separate audio commentary tracks: one with historians Tom Weaver and Gregory W. Mank, and another with David Del Valle. (A.)
FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2--Eric Bana reprises his role of Australian police detective Aaron Falk in the second film based on Jane Harper's best-selling crime novels. ("The Dry"--also directed by Robert Connolly--was released stateside in 2021.) This time Falk is investigating the case of a woman (Anna Torv's Alice) who mysteriously vanished during a sylvan corporate retreat. Because Alice is a key informant in his embezzlement case, Falk automatically suspects foul play. The truth, naturally, turns out to be a lot more complicated. Flashbacks to Falk's childhood--his mother was the victim of a notorious serial killer while hiking in the same forest where Alice disappeared--feel more like padding than anything germane to the central narrative. But Bana's soulful performance helps maintain interest, even during the occasional longueurs. And the largely female supporting cast (including Torv, Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy and Jacqueline McKenzie as Falk's no-nonsense partner) all provide vividly etched characterizations. (B.) https://youtu.be/TskXE03Jtvs?si=uy1gLQqwKACGv852
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES--The fourth entry in the rebooted franchise that launched with 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" ("Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" and "War of the Planet Apes" followed in 2014 and '17) picks up 300 years after the last movie. With apes now the dominant species--and humans regressing to near-primitive levels--the "Kingdom" is ruled by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who repurposes ancient human weapons to enslave fellow simians. Deeply alarmed by this perversion of the original Caesar's teachings, sensitive chimp hunter Noa (Owen Teague) teams up with human Mae (Freya Allan, a dead-ringer for Linda Harrison from the 1968 original) to take down Proximus' tyrannic regime. Directed by Wes Bell who cut his teeth on the "Maze Runner" trilogy, it's the first of the new breed of "Apes" films where you almost take for granted Weta FX's ground-breaking motion-capture CGI. Like 2022's "Avatar: The Way of Water," it's an indisputably dazzling technical achievement that ultimately feels a tad undernourished dramatically. (B.) https://youtu.be/Kdr5oedn7q8?si=U0RN7rnDoA_fQdBk
STARTING OVER--Jill Clayburgh's screen career reached its apex in the fall of 1979 when this delightful Alan J. Pakula-directed rom-com hit theaters a mere week after Bernardo Bertolucci's "Luna"--starring an utterly fearless, take-no-prisoners Clayburgh as a celebrated opera diva who has an inappropriate relationship with her drug-addled teenage son--opened that year's New York Film Festival. The fact that Clayburgh ultimately won her second Best Actress Oscar nomination for the Pakula movie (she was nominated the previous year for Paul Mazursky's "An Unmarried Woman") rather than her more challenging role in Bertolucci's bold provocation wasn't terribly surprising. After all, "Luna" flopped with audiences and split critics down the line. Although Sally Field's win for "Norma Rae" was a popular choice, I've always felt that Clayburgh deserved the win not only as compensation for having lost the previous year, but also because it would have been a dual award for two wildly dissimilar, yet equally brilliant performances. For Pakula, "Starting Over" also marked an 180 degree turn from his recently concluded "Paranoid Trilogy" ("Klute," "The Parallax View" and "All the President's Men"). By replacing legendary "Prince of Darkness" cinematographer Gordon Willis with Ingmar Bergman's favorite d.p., Sven Nykvist, Pakula signaled that he was finally bringing the sunshine in. Adapted by future "Terms of Endearment" Oscar winner James L. Brooks (best known at the time as co-creator of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") from Dan Wakefield's novel, it stars Burt Reynolds as the recently divorced Manhattanite Phil Potter who relocates to Boston after his wife (Candice Bergen's Jessica) leaves him to "find herself" and launch a singing career despite not evincing an iota of talent. Although a new love beckons with nursery school teacher Marilyn (Clayburgh), the chronically mopey Phil needs a kick in the ass to recognize it. Pakula's recurring theme of stubbornly independent people struggling to come to terms with each other ("The Sterile Cuckoo," "Klute," "Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing," et al) reached its apotheosis in the romantic travails of Marilyn and Phil. With stellar support from Charles Durning and Frances Sternhagen as Phil's brother and sister in law, the movie is a thorough delight. Trivia note: "Starting Over" was the first film I reviewed in print (for an N.Y.U. student newspaper). The fact that the review garnered the attention of Village Voice critic Tom Allen who subsequently offered me an internship (which, of course, I accepted) only endears it to me even more. The only extra on KL Studio's Blu-Ray is an audio commentary by historians Daniel Kremer and Howard S. Berger. (A.)
UNCROPPED--D.W. Young's affectionate bio-doc about New York photojournalist James Hamilton is an elegiac look at the world of print journalism, especially alt-weeklies like The Village Voice where Hamilton worked for more than twenty years. Young makes a persuasive case that "choreographer of street life" Hamilton was the equal to better known shutterbugs like Weegee and Annie Liebovitz. Until a leg injury sidelined his career, Hamilton basically shot it all: musicians (he began his professional career at Rolling Stone competitor Crawdaddy), celebrities, politicians, criminals and even foreign wars. Some of the most entertaining passages detail Hamilton's work as a unit photographer on film shoots for directors like George A. Romero ("Knightriders" and "Creepshow"), Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale") and Wes Anderson (who became a close personal friend and executive produced this movie). Fascinating talking heads interviews with former Voice colleagues like Joe Conason, Sylvia Plachy and Richard Goldstein provide invaluable contextualization. An inveterate cinephile, Hamilton poetically describes films as "anchors for memories," and frequently cites them as key influences on his photographic work. (A MINUS.)
NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS:
ABIGAIL--A get-rich scheme to kidnap a wealthy businessman's 12-year-old daughter (Alisha Weir's titular Abigail) for a $50-million ransom goes awry when the kid turns out to be a vampire in Radio Silence duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's unapologetically gruesome horror comedy. The gang-that-couldn't-shoot-straight kidnappers--Dan Stevens, Melissa Barrera, Kevin Durand, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Giancarlo Esposito and the late Angus Cloud--are no match for their blood-sucking pre-pubescent victim: there's delicious fun in watching her gleefully and gorily dispatch them one by one. (Because Abigail is an aspiring ballerina, Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett wittily use Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" as their aural leitmotif.) Fans of the directors' previous movies (2019 sleeper "Ready or Not" and the recent "Scream" reboots) won't be disappointed. (B.)
CHALLENGERS--Erotic devil Luca ("Call Me by Your Name," "Bones and All) Guadagnino once again delivers the goods with another intoxicatingly sensual film. Set against the backdrop of professional tennis and taking place over 13 years (Jason Kuritzke's non-linear script artfully ricochets over time like a tennis ball on crack), the central trio is comprised of BFFs/doubles partners Patrick (Josh O'Connor) and Art (Mike Faist) and tennis prodigy Tashi (Zendaya). After dallying with both guys--once at the same time--Tashi marries Art, ultimately segueing into coaching after a knee injury permanently derails her burgeoning career. The movie's central metaphor of love as a tennis match wittily comes to the fore during the climactic Challengers tournament pitting Patrick against Art with Tashi on the sidelines like a tennis world Yoko Ono. Trent Reznor and Atticus Finch's pulsating electronic score provides the perfect aural accompaniment for director of photography Sayombhu Mukdeeprom's luscious, tactile visuals. It's doubtful we'll see a sexier Hollywood movie all year. (A.)
CIVIL WAR--Alex ("Ex Machina," "Annihilation") Garland's wildly topical, convulsively entertaining new movie is set in an America that looks suspiciously (and frighteningly) like the deeply divisive United States of today. A corps of journalists (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Wagner Maura, "Priscilla" breakout Cailee Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst as a veteran war photographer) take a road trip to D.C. with hopes of interviewing the megalomaniacal three-term POTUS (Nick Offerman). At the same time, the "Western Forces"--militia members from Texas and California, the two states which have already seceded from the union--are on the march as well, preparing to shoot their way into the White House. It's not long before things turn apocalyptic and things become eerily reminiscent of zombie flicks like "28 Days Later" (which Garland wrote for Danny Boyle) and "World War Z." Everything here feels disconcertingly familiar to anyone who follows the evening news: no doubt some viewers will even be highly "triggered." But anchored by Dunst's mercurial, stunningly layered performance, this is a film every American needs to see before the November election. (A MINUS.)
DOGFIGHT--Nancy Savoca made three wonderful movies with producer/co-writer husband Richard Guay between 1989-'93 then essentially disappeared. In the process, the American cinema lost one of its most singular and distinctive voices. The fact that Savoca is largely unknown today, despite this being an era which purportedly champions female directors, makes her relative obscurity both depressing and infuriating. Fortunately, Criterion is doing their part to help auto-correct that grievous injustice by releasing "Dogfight," Savoca's greatest film, on Blu Ray for the first time. (In a happy coincidence, Kino Lorber just released Savoca's two other masterworks, "True Love" and "Household Saints," on home video as well.) Savoca's only major studio production, "Dogfight" was badly marketed and barely released by Warner Brothers in the fall of 1991. I remember driving three hours round trip to see it when a single Pittsburgh theater finally opened it months after the New York premiere. Part of a sub-genre I like to refer to as the "Doomed Love Love Story"--other exemplars include Elia Kazan's "Splendor in the Grass," Alan J. Pakula's "The Sterile Cuckoo" and John Sayles' "Baby, It's You"--"Dogfight" tells the heart-wrenching story of an impactful San Francisco night shared by an 18-year-old marine (River Phoenix's Eddie Birdlace) ready to be shipped off to Vietnam and waitress/folk singer aspirant Rose (Lili Taylor) in November 1963. After impulsively inviting Rose to be his plus-one at a party (the titular "dogfight") in which the grunt with the ugliest date wins a cash prize, Eddie tries to make amends by taking her on a real date. During the course of their enchanted evening, the two find themselves connecting in ways neither could have ever anticipated. Phoenix, who was on the cusp of officially becoming "The Actor of His Generation" before his untimely death two years later, gives a performance of such aching, lacerating vulnerability that he literally takes your breath away. (Amazingly, Gus Van Sant's "My Own Private Idaho," with an equally remarkable Phoenix performance, opened the same month.) And the mercurial Taylor, in an exquisitely modulated turn, matches her co-star's brilliance every step of the way. Extras include Savoca/Guay's audio commentary recycled from a no-frills 2003 DVD release; "American Psycho"/"I Shot Andy Warhol" director Mary Harron's 32-minute interview with Savoca and Guay; a 2024 featurette in which Guay interviews the film's cinematographer, production designer, script superviser and editors; and an insightful essay, "Love and War," by critic Christina Newland. (A PLUS.)
ERIC ROHMER'S TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS--After concluding his "Six Moral Tales" and "Comedies and Proverbs" cycles, French New Wave master Eric Rohmer inaugurated "Tales of Four Seasons," another series of morality parables centered on words, thoughts and emotions rather than plot and action. All four films have been lovingly restored and released in an exquisite new Criterion Collection box set, marking it as 2024's first truly indispensable addition to any true cineaste's home video collection. Besides being one of the most intelligent and original thinkers in the history of cinema, Rohmer was also an extraordinarily sophisticated and accomplished filmmaker. Using uncomplicated, economical, but fluid camera techniques, he succeeded in capturing not only the evocative imagery of his locales, but also the inner lives of his characters and the psychological atmosphere that grows from their encounters. Technically, he was a minimalist who maximized the effect of the modest means he allowed himself in the process of making his films. Long-time New York Times critic Vincent Canby--who, along with the Village Voice's Andrew Sarris helped turn Rohmer into a household name among arthouse habitues in the '70s and '80s--famously described his ouevre as the "movie equivalent of prose that dispenses with adjectives and adverbs," and the quartet of masterpieces that comprise "Four Seasons" once again demonstrate his genius at creating narrative from the slightest of substances.
"A Tale of Springtime" (1992) pivots on the friendship between music student Natacha (Florence Darel) and philosophy professor Jeanne (Anne Teyssedre) that runs afoul when Natacha decides to play matchmaker for Jeanne and her dad (Hugues Quester).
1994's "A Tale of Winter" stars the enchanting Charlotte Very as Felice, the single mom of a five-year-old daughter who juggles two men (librarian Loic and hair salon mini-mogul Maxence) while still carrying a torch for the long-lost lover (Frederic van den Driessche's Charles) she thinks, hopes and prays will miraculously resurface one day. Along with 1988's "Boyfriends and Girlfriends," it ranks among Rohmer's most sublimely romantic films.
Although made in 1996, the quasi-autobiographical "A Tale of Summer" didn't open in the U.S. until 2014 (!?), four years after Rohmer's death at 89. Future star Melvil ("A Christmas Tale") Poupaud had a memorable early role as feckless student/aspiring musician Gaspard who, while on vacation at a Breton resort town, is pursued by three women (played by Amanda Langlet, Gwenaelle Simon and Aurelia Nolin), none of whom he's willing to commit to. The verbal chess game that ensues among the quartet is both richly amusing and achingly poignant.
Rohmer reunited with his "Claire's Knee" star Beatrice Romand for "A Tale of Autumn" (1999) which could have been a blueprint for one of Nora Ephron's Hollywood rom-coms about middle-aged women searching for love. Romand is widowed vineyard owner Magali who's being set up with the ex flame (a retired philosophy professor played by Didier Sandre) of her son's girlfriend (Alexia Portal). Simultaneously, Magali's BFF Isabelle (Marie Riviere) tries snaring eligible bachelor Gerald (Alain Libolt) under a pseudonym. A series of reversals and coincidences bubble up deliciously. But since this is Rohmer, even the frothiest exchanges come with an undercurrent of rueful melancholy.
Extras on Criterion's 2K Blu-Ray set include excerpts of radio interviews with the famously reclusive Rohmer conducted by critics Michel Ciment and Serge Daney; interviews conducted at Rohmer's house with long-time collaborators: cinematographer Diane Baratier, producer Francoise Etchegaray, sound engineer Pascal Ribier and editor Mary Stephen; Etchegaray and Jean-Andrew Fieschi's 2005 documentary about the making of "A Tale of Summer;" two rarely seen Rohmer shorts (1956's "The Kreutzer Sonata" and 1968's "A Farmer in Montfaucon"); and an essay about "Tales of Four Seasons" by critic Imogen Sara Smith. (A PLUS.)
THE FALL GUY--After a work-related injury that nearly cost him his life, stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) reluctantly goes back to work as the stunt double for Tom Cruise-y superstar Tom Ryder's new action blockbuster, "Metal Storm." The fact that "Storm" is also the directing debut of the ex (Emily Blunt's Jody Moreno) Colt still pines for also factors into his decision to accept the gig. But when Tom (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) mysteriously disappears in the middle of the shoot (some shady mobsters are involved), Jody tasks Colt with helping locate her MIA lead actor. A glossy, big-screen spin-off of the long-running 1980's Lee Major tube series, director/former stunt man David ("Bullet Train," "Deadpool 2") Leitch's film has pacing problems, especially in the first half, and is maybe a half hour too long. But Gosling and Blunt evince beaucoup chemistry and their rom-com screwball banter helps you get over some rough patches. As Jody's conniving producer, Hannah ("Ted Lasso") Waddingham steals every scene she's in. (B.)
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE--This appealing follow-up to 2021's "Afterlife" finds single mom Callie Spengler (the wonderful Carrie Coon) once again uprooting her kids (Finn Wolfhard and McKenna Grace), this time moving from podunk Oklahoma to Ghostbusting Central New York City. Because their Okie adventures gave them a taste for the paranormal, they team up with OG 'busters Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts in their new hi-tech base of operations where a Macguffin-y artifact threatens to unleash a second Ice Age. Like the best "Ghosbusters" movies--the 1984 original and "Afterlife"--this is an old-fashioned "hang-out" movie, and it's a blast spending time with Coon & Co. (Director Gil Kenan and producer/co-writer Jason Reitman wisely bring back the previous film's Paul Rudd and MVP Logan Kim, too.) If all franchise sequels were this much fun, 2024 Hollywood wouldn't seem like such a barren wasteland. (B.)
GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE--The fifth entry in Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse franchise has the misfortune to be opening four months after "Godzilla Minus One," the modestly-budgeted Japanese gojira flick that proved you don't need $200-million and state of the art Hollywood CGI to make a good monster movie. Director Adam ("You're Next") Wingard reprises his duties from 2021's "Godzilla vs. Kong," bringing along that film's Rebecca Ferguson (scientist Ilene Andrews), Bryan Tyree Henry (podcaster Bernie) and Kaylee Hottle (orphaned waif Jia who Ilene took under her wing) as well. If the scaly and hairy titans were all about battling for supremacy in "G. vs. K," this time they join forces to quell a threat from deep within earth's core that could spell imminent doom for humans and monsters alike. Although there's some eye-rolling exposition about the origins of "Hollow Earth" and Skull Island (yawn), it's best to ignore that and just concentrate on watching the big guys' passive-aggressive bro act. Wingard is too good a director to make this hooey feel entirely boilerplate, but "Minus One"--at a mere fraction of the cost--was a better and more entertaining 'zilla outing. (C PLUS.)
KUNG FU PANDA 4--The K-F Panda 'toons have been around since 2008 and their popularity has never abated thanks to the three cable/streaming spinoffs that ran on Nickleodeon, Amazon Prime and Netflix. The fact that none of the Panda movies were really "great" hardly matters. They've become the equivalent of comfort food for at least two generations of animation fans. Once again reprising his titular vocal duties, Jack Black's cuddly chop-socky enthusiast Po is tasked with training a new Dragon Warrior to help battle shapeshifting sorceress "The Chameleon" (Viola Davis). Assisting Po is fox bandit Zhen (Awkwafina), and the two get into their share of slapsticky adventures before (no surprise) saving the day. Returning to the fold are Dustin Hoffman, Bryan Cranston, Ian McShane and James Hong, and it wouldn't be a K-F Panda iteration without them. (B MINUS.)
TAROT--If you mess with Tarot card rules, you'll wind up dead. That's the grim, if predictable takeaway from Screen Gems' latest PG-13 horror flick that plays like a denatured "Final Destination" knock-off. The first film co-directed by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halberg isn't helped by a mostly unappealing, box-checked Gen Z cast which puts you in the uneasy position of actively rooting for their imminent demise. On the plus side, it's only 92 minutes long.
(D PLUS.)
TO DIE FOR--Released at the apotheosis of the American obsession with tabloid culture--and a year after O.J. Simpson became the most famous man in the world thanks to his Bronco freeway chase and Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" topped the box office charts--Gus Van Sant's gleefully amoral 1995 black comedy immediately catapulted Nicole Kidman to the top ranks of working actors. As Suzanne Stone, a TV weather girl with oversized ambitions and zero conscience, Kidman is alternately laugh-out-loud funny and utterly terrifying. Married to a nice guy (Matt Dillon's Larry) whose presence in her life has become increasingly extraneous, Suzanne somehow manages to seduce a trio of teenage stoners into killing him. Naturally her perfectly calibrated machinations ultimately self-destruct--what do you expect from high school potheads?--and Van Sant takes inordinate delight in watching his anti-heroine stew in her own malice. Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck and Alison Folland play the luckless kids Suzanne ropes into her scheme and match Kidman every step of the way. (Trivia note: Phoenix and Affleck would both go on to win Best Actor Oscars for "Joker" and "Manchester by the Sea" respectively.) Co-written by Buck ("The Graduate") Henry and Joyce Manard whose novel the film was based on, "To Die For" spun the real-life Pamela Smart case in which a New Hampshire teacher coerced four students into murdering her husband into one of the defining American movies of the decade. The newly released Criterion Collection 4-K Blu-Ray lacks the usual plethora of Criterion extras (there's an audio commentary with Van Sant, cinematographer Eric Alan Edwards and editor Curtis Clayton, a handful of deleted scenes and an essay by Berlin-based critic Jessica Kiang), but the film itself is the real star. It'll make a great future double bill with Todd Haynes' "May/December." (A.)
UNSUNG HERO--When Aussie music promoter David Smallbone (Joel Smallbone) relocates his wife Helen (Daisy Betts) and seven kids to the U.S., the family hits one crushing setback--financial and otherwise--after another. It isn't until teen daughter Rebecca (Kirrilee Berger) launches a singing career (under the nom de plume of Rebecca St. James) that the Smallbones finally heal, thanks in no small measure to their enduring Christian faith. Based on a true story, the film is very much a family affair (Joel plays his own dad and even co-directed with Richard Ramsey). Like other recent, spiritually-inclined Lionsgate films ("Ordinary Angels," "Jesus Revolution"), it shrewdly minimizes the proselytizing while amping up the entertainment value. Thanks to appealing performances (Betts is particularly impressive) and its innate, appealing earnestness, this is a very hard movie to dislike. (B MINUS.)
---Milan Paurich
