NEW THIS WEEK May 17, 2024 (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO)
NEW THIS WEEK (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO):
BACK TO BLACK--Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, who proved her musical biopic chops with 2009's excellent "Nowhere Boy" (starring future husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a pre-Beatles John Lennon), lucked out when casting Marisa (HBO's "Industry") Abela as Amy Winehouse in her latest film. Abela, while more conventionally attractive than Winehouse, really nails her characterization, capturing every nuance of the rock-jazz chanteuse who died in 2011 at the age of 27. The fact that Abela also did her own singing just makes the performance all the more impressive. Growing up Jewish in North London, young Amy was essentially used as a pawn by her divorced parents. (An excellent Eddie Marsan plays her cabbie dad, Mitchell.) Amy's toxically co-dependent relationship with Blake Civil-Fielder (Jack O'Connell) is the major focus of the movie, but this is no "Sid and Nancy" despite the obvious parallels. And while Taylor-Johnson's movie isn't remotely in the same league as "Amy," Asif Kapadia's brilliant Oscar-winning 2015 Winehouse bio-doc, it's a damn sight better than some recent rock-and-roll biopics, including 2018's godawful "Bohemian Rhapsody." One of the film's many revelations is discovering just how autobiographical Winehouse's 2006 "Back to Black" album was: it essentially told the entire story of her tumultuous relationship with Civil-Fielder. As Winehouse's 1950's night club singer nan, Cynthia, the wonderful Lesley ("Phantom Thread") Manville steals every scene she's in. (B.) https://youtu.be/q9Y_4TYYdDQ?si=CtoDlVG1OCXxCCdW
IF--Venturing beyond his hugely successful "Quiet Place" sci-fi-ers--a third entry is due this summer--director John Krasinski gives family fare a try with this only fitfully charming fantasy flick. After developing a superpower that allows her to see imaginary friends abandoned by their human pals after growing up, Tweener Bea (Cailey Fleming, best known as Judith from AMC's "The Walking Dead') makes it her mission to reunite everyone. While the movie's piece de resistance is the A-list cast tasked with providing the friends' voices (including Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Emily Blunt, Sam Rockwell, Amy Schumer and George Clooney), all that star wattage ultimately overwhelms the movie's precious conceit. I was reminded of the sort of all-ages-friendly films churned out by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions back in the '80s. Unfortunately, it's closer to the deservedly forgotten "Harry and the Hendersons" and "Batteries Not Included" than classics like "Gremlins" or "Back to the Future." (C.)
https://youtu.be/mb2187ZQtBE?si=8c6epvcFyxsvMb1_
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1---After their car breaks down, Gregory (Gabriel Basso) and Maya ("Riverdale" alumnus Madelaine Petsch) take shelter in a remote cabin. Before the photogenic young lovebirds even have time to settle in for the night, three masked psychos break in to launch an all-out terror assault. The first installment in a proposed trilogy inspired by the queasily effective 2008 and 2018 "Strangers" home invasion flicks ("Chapter 2," also starring Petsch, is already in the can), Renny ("The Long Kiss Goodnight," "Die Hard 2") Harlin's creepy suspenser marks an auspicious start to a brand new horror franchise. (B MINUS.)
NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS:
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.)
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.)
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.)
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 his fellow simians. Deeply alarmed by this perversion of the original Caesar's teachings, sensitive chimp Noa (Owen Teague) teams up with human Mae (Freya Allan) 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.)
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.)
---Milan Paurich