NEW THIS WEEK AUGUST 23, 2024 (IN THEATERS AND ON HOME VIDEO)
BETWEEN THE TEMPLES--Newly widowed cantor Ben Gottlieb (Jason Schwartzman) is recruited into helping his grade school music teacher (Carol Kane's Carla Kessler) prepare for her belated bat mitzvah.(Although born into the Jewish faith, both of Carla's parents were non-believers.) While fending off well-meaning attempts by his two moms (Caroline Aaron and Dolly DeLeon) to re-enter the dating pool, Ben finds himself weirdly, inextricably drawn to the irrepressible Carla. (Think "Harold and Maude" without the morbidity and Cat Stevens songs.) Prolific indie auteur Nathan ("Thirst Street," "The Great Pretender") Silver's charming, beautifully acted Sundance award winner deserves to be a late summer sleeper, and both Schwartzman and Kane belong in the 2024 awards conversation. (B PLUS.) https://youtu.be/DeqBcFAOOoU?si=pJGyiv9zHTKyYP5F
BLINK TWICE---Zoe ("The Batman," "Big Little Lies") Kravitz's remarkably accomplished directorial debut is sort of "Get Out" on Epstein Island during "Midsommar," but far richer and, yes, funnier than that reductive description makes it sound. While working a gig at tech billionaire Slater King's annual philanthropic gala, Manhattan cater waiter Frida (Naomi Ackie from "I Wanna Dance With Somebody") somehow manages to wrangle an invite to the mogul's private island. (It's a long story.) Tagging along is Frida's roommate Jess (Alia Shawkat), still reeling from a busted romance. Surrounded by his crew of "bros"--played by, among others, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Simon Rex and Christian Slater--the enigmatic Slater (Channing Tatum, never better) seems to be harboring a sinisteragenda, but it's not until Jess disappears that Frida gets wise that something is seriously amiss in this tropical paradise. Buoyed by stellar supporting turns from Geena Davis and Adria Arjano (as, respectively, Slater's personal assistant and on again/off again girlfriend), the film's vibe grows increasingly ominous until finally revealing itself as a feminist allegory. In a summer movie season dominated by IP franchise tentpoles, it's bracing to encounter a film that's actually a bona fide original. And, unlike Tatum's July release ("Fly Me to the Moon"), it's also a darn good one. (A MINUS.)
THE CROW--Because everything old is new again in 2024 Hollywood, it's no surprise that somebody finally got around to remaking "The Crow," the 1994 cult flick based on James O'Barr's graphic novel that could have made Brandon Lee a star if he hadn't died during the film's production. Bill ("Boy Kills World") Skarsgard plays Eric who, after being murdered along with his girlfriend (FKA Twigs' Shelley), embarks on a scorched earth vendetta from beyond the grave. Rechristened "The Crow," Eric segues between the worlds of the living and the dead to enact vengeance upon those responsible and maybe even bring Shelley back to life. Director Rupert ("Snow White and the Huntsman") Sanders shoots the whole thing like an 80's MTV video which is amusing for maybe thirty minutes before descending into inadvertent self-parody and eventual tedium. Skarsgard and Twigs are okay, but both are eclipsed by Danny Huston's diabolical Big Bad. Don't expect a sequel anytime soon. (C MINUS.)
DIDI--Director Sean Wang's semi-autobiographical filmmaking debut is set in the summer of 2008 before 12-year-old Taiwanese-American Chris (Izaac Wang) starts high school in Fremont, California. Because Chris' father is frequently away on "business," he's raised almost entirely by women: his helicopter mom (Joan Chen), grandma Nai Nai (Zhang Li Hua) and big sister Vivian (Shirley Chen). Whether pursuing his skateboarding passion, hanging out with dork buddies (Raul Dial and Aaron Chang) or crushing on the slightly older Madi (Mahaela Park), Chris--whose nickname is "Didi"--remains a charming, eminently relatable protagonist. Despite recurrent echoes of previous coming-of-age movies like "Superbad," "Mid '90s," "Booksmart" and Bing Liu's great 2018 documentary "Minding the Gap," Wang's film is very much its own thing. His already distinctive cinematic voice should serve Wang well in any future cinematic endeavors. (B PLUS.)
THE GREEN BORDER--Director Agnieszka ("Europa, Europa," "The Secret Garden") Holland's humanist masterpiece about the worldwide migrant crisis couldn't be more topical or emotionally wrenching. Set against the backdrop of the so-called "exclusion zone" separating Belarus and E.U.-sanctioned Poland, the multi-strand narrative encompasses the POV of migrants seeking a better life, guards attempting to keep them out and activists risking their lives and freedom to aid the refugees. A Syrian family of six (Jalal Altawil and Dalia Naous play the father and mother) attempts to get to Sweden where a relative awaits. Leila (Behi Djanati Atai), a middle-aged Afghan woman, joins them after their impromptu meeting en route from Turkey. Polish border guard Jan (Tomasz Wlosok) makes a futile attempt to maintain his innate decency amidst the ensuing chaos despite having a boss who claims migrants "aren't people, they're weapons of Putin and Lukasthenko." A widowed psychiatrist (Maja Ostaszewska) gets recruited by the activists who use her home to shelter a group of African refugees. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, "The Green Border" is an empathy machine of a movie that demands to be seen by every sentient being on the planet. Kino Lorber's Blu-Ray includes a Q&A with Holland, cinematographer Tomasz Naumiuk and actors Atai and Joley Mbundu taped at last fall's New York Film Festival. (A.) https://youtu.be/4Q2cNooTO0w?si=SolKyXk6Nv-iBiTU
JANET PLANET--A24 has accrued a remarkable track record producing and releasing memorable coming-of-age movies about young women in flux (including instant classics like Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" and Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade"). Playwright-turned-film-writer/director Annie Baker's supremely empathetic feature debut is another triumph for the indie stalwart. Set during a seemingly uneventful western Massachusetts summer in 1991, it stars preternaturally gifted newcomer Zoe Ziegler as Lacy, a poker-faced 11-year-old prone to typical tweener hyperbole. The film opens with Lacy calling her single mother (Julianne Nicholson's Janet) from summer camp, threatening to kill herself if she doesn't immediately pick her up. Three adults will enter Lacy and Janet's life that summer (two temperamentally different boyfriends for Janet, and an old school friend of mom who's suffering from chronic wanderlust), but it's the core relationship between mother and daughter that serves as the dramatic fulcrum for Baker's remarkable memory piece. Janet, who makes her living as an acupuncturist ("Janet Planet" is the name of her studio), never treats Lacy like a kid; she has too much respect for her daughter's intelligence to baby her. By the time summer finally draws to a close--as all seasons eventually do--their already considerable bond has only strengthened, and you know instinctively they're both going to be alright. Besides Nicholson and Ziegler's extraordinary work, there's also terrific support from Sophie Okonedo, Will Patton and Elias Koteas. Baker proves herself to be a master of nuance and understatement, giving her emotionally acute film a vaguely European quality. (I was reminded of such recent subtitled gems as "The Quiet Girl" and "Petite Maman.") Unlike more conventionally-minded, commerce-driven American movies, "Janet Planet" speaks volumes with the simplest, tiniest of gestures. I can't wait to see what Baker does next: her micro masterwork is one of the most auspicious filmmaking debuts in recent memory. (A.)
PRIME CUT--Michael ("Smile," "The Bad News Bears") Ritchie's nasty little genre movie actually opened a mere day before Ritchie's "The Candidate" in June 1972. While the latter remains the better known film--and is more representative of the New Hollywood director's oeuvre--there's a reason "Prime Cut" has gradually built up a cult following over the ensuing decades. Lee Marvin plays Chicago mob enforcer Nick Devlin who's paid $50,000 to collect a debt owed by Kansas City gangster Mary Ann (a lip-smackingly loathsome Gene Hackman in his follow-up to "The French Connection"). The fact that Nick's predecessor's remains were shipped back to Chi Town encased in hot dogs doesn't intimidate tough guy Devlin one iota: he's Lee Marvin, dammit! After discovering that Mary Ann and his idiot brother Weenie (Gregory Walcott whose lengthy resume includes a starring role in Ed Wood's "Plan Nine From Outer Space") are using their meat-packing plant as a front for sex-trafficking, Devlin rescues one of their captives (a radiant 20-year-old Sissy Spacek in her screen debut) hoping she'll be able to provide some inside information to help take down the whole sleazy operation. A waggish "North by Northwest" homage in which a threshing machine makes mincemeat out of a limousine while Devlin and Spacek's Poppy run for their lives is both wickedly funny and more than a little awe-inspiring. With the great Angel Tompkins in a juicy supporting role as a good time gal who has a romantic history with both Devlin and Mary Ann, Ritchie's movie is gleefully, unapologetically sleazy and all the better for it. The new KL Studio Classics' HDR/Dolby Vision Master Blu Ray includes two separate audio commentary tracks (one with Marvin biographer Dwayne Epstein, the other with historians Nathaniel Thompson and Steve Mitchell), as well as the original theatrical trailer. (A MINUS.)
NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS:
ALIEN ROMULUS--As someone who's liked, and sometimes loved, every "Alien" movie since the 1979 Ridley Scott original (I'm actually someone who thinks David Fincher's reviled "Alien 3" is a misunderstood masterpiece), I was understandably gung-ho about a new version populated with mostly unknown actors ("Priscilla"/"Civil War" breakout Cailee Spaeny and former Dora the Explorer Isabela Merced are the only familiar faces in the cast). Directed by Fade Alvarez who struck paydirt with 2016 sleeper "Don't Breathe," but fared less well with "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest," a misguided 2018 sequel to Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," it's a creditable addition to a 45-year-old IP, The most interesting thing about Alvarez's film is how stripped-down and elemental it feels. Youthful colonizers at an abandoned space station encounter, well, alien monsters who quickly make mincemeat out of them. Because she's the biggest "name" actor here, it's not surprising that Spaeny would fill the designated Last Girl Standing (Ripley in "Alien"-verse) role. But getting there is mostly good, icky fun, even if some of the jump scares seem a little phoned-in. I'm not sure whether "Romulus" will launch a brand-new franchise, but I'd gladly watch Spaeny in anything. Yes, she's that good. (B.)
ANSELM--If the late Rainer Werner Fassbinder was the "Father" of the German New Wave's Holy Trinity and mystic visionary Werner Herzog the "Holy Ghost," then Wim ("Wings of Desire," "Paris, Texas") Wenders should rightfully be designated the "Son." Having observed firsthand Germany's postwar "Economic Miracle"--largely fueled by American capitalism and technology--it's no wonder he became the most America-obsessed of the filmmaking trio. That economic dominance inadvertently produced a form of cultural imperialism which conveniently erased Germany's Nazi past. According to Wenders, "the need to forget 20 years created a hole, and people tried to cover this up by assimilating American culture." Ironically, the subject of Wenders' latest documentary, painter/sculptor Anselm Kiefer, made his career out of a personal reckoning with German history, including the Holocaust and Nazis. His first major work, 1969's controversial action piece "Heroic Figures," was a series of photographs in which Kiefer (ironically) gives the Nazi salute. Mortality, permanence, being and nothingness have been major themes throughout the 79-year-old Kiefer's remarkably prolific career. (An abandoned French airplane hangar was the only place large enough to house a lifetime of work.) "Anselm" isn't a conventional "Great Artist" documentary in which the arc of a subject's life is relayed through reams of archival footage and admiring talking-heads interviews with colleagues, friends and family members. Instead of an air-brushed biographical sketch, Wenders' film is instead the study of a man told almost exclusively through his art. With its free-form blending of animation, re-enactments of Kiefer's past (Wenders' great nephew, Anton, plays Kiefer as a boy; Kiefer's own son, Daniel, portrays him as a young man) and Kiefer's poetic, frequently political, occasionally rambling musings on his life, art/work and times, Wenders' portrait of the man emerges. Shot in 6K resolution, cinematographer Franz Lustig's mobile, floating-in-space 3-D imagery achieves a remarkably tactile effect: it's immersive in every sense of the word. The Janus Contemporaries new Blu-Ray set includes both 3-D and 2-D versions of the film, as well as an interview with Wenders and the theatrical trailer. (A MINUS.)
DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE--Probably the most critic-proof movie of the year, this rambunctious "R"-rated pairing of Marvel titans Deadpool and Wolverine should have no trouble ruling the box office roost for the rest of the summer. Besides being catnip for fanboys/girls, it's decent lowbrow fun for anyone with a nihilistic sense of humor and a tolerance for snarky ultra-violence. Deadpool/Wade Wilson Ryan Reynolds' re-teaming with his "Free Guy" director Shawn Levy proves fortuitous since they once again bring out the best in each other, and Jackman's chronically dyspeptic Wolverine just seems happy to be along for the ride. (B.)
DESPICABLE ME 4--Gru (Steve Carrel) and wife Lucy (Kristen Wiig) have a new baby--Gru Jr.; what else?--in the fourth official entry in Illumination Animation's all-ages-friendly franchise that kicked off in 2010. Chris Renaud, who helmed the first two movies, returns to the director's chair and it's all pretty much business as usual. After being targeted for extermination by his adolescent arch nemesis (Will Ferrell's Maxine Le Mal), the Anti-Villain League puts Gru and family into their Witness Protection Program. Subplots include Gru's unwanted new tweener protege (Netflix poster girl Joey King), a heist involving some nasty honey badgers (don't ask) and the Minions being turned into Minion Mutants. It's all so busy and episodic that the whole thing feels more like a collection of loosely connected shorts than a cohesive feature. Per usual, the Minions are the standouts, once again proving better in support than they are headlining their own middling standalone vehicles. (C PLUS.)
FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE--Chen ("The Emperor and the Assassin," "Life on a String") Kaige's 1993 arthouse smash has always felt like the movie David Lean could have made if he'd elected to follow "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Dr. Zhivago" with a Chinese-language historical romance. Despite being the first Asian film to win Cannes' Palme d'Or where it shared top honors with Jane Campion's "The Piano," 16 minutes were chopped off the original 171-minute run time by Miramax major domo Harvey "Scissorhands" Weinstein prior to the U.S. release. Finally restored to the "Cannes Cut," Criterion Collection's gorgeous new 4K Blu Ray rendering is a cause for rejoice in all self-respecting cinephile households. Along with Zhang ("Raise the Red Lantern," "Shanghai Triad") Yimou, Chen was one of the leading lights of China's "Fifth Generation" of filmmakers. A member of Mao's army in his youth, Chen frequently referred to "Concubine" as his official mea culpa for having publicly denounced his own father at the time. Spanning fifty tunultous years, this glorious old-fashioned epic--with staggering Technicolor vistas courtesy of director of photography Gu Changwei--boldly uses the wide-screen format to tell a surprisingly intimate story about the lifelong friendship between two wildly disparate orphans (brawny Duan Xiaolou and androgynous Cheng Dieyi) apprenticed to the Beijing Opera as children. During the '40s Japanese occupation, the duo makes the acquaintance of House of Blossoms' courtesan Juxian (Yimou muse Gong Li), inaugurating a love triangle which creates an irreconcilable rift between Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi) and Dieyi (best known for his starring roles in John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow" and Wong Kar-Wai's swoon-worthy gay romance, "Happy Together") who still harbors an unrequited crush on his boyhood pal. The movie heartbreakingly climaxes in the aftermath of Mao's Cultural Revolution when loyalties, and even love, were crushed by government-mandated political dogma. The Criterion disc includes a new conversation between Chinese cultural studies scholar Michael Berry and producer Janet Yang; a 2003 documentary about the making of the film; Chen's 1993 American television interview with Charlie Rose; and an essay by author/scholar Pauline Chen. (A.)
IT ENDS WITH US--Blake Lively's touching, deeply felt performance is the main reason to see director Justin ("Five Feet Apart") Baldoni's uneven adaptation of Colleen Hoover's best-selling 2016 novel. As Lily, a young woman who flees a traumatic past to take up roots in Boston, Lively is so wonderfully empathetic she makes you want to overlook some of the film's egregious casting errors. Chief among them is Baldoni himself as the neurosurgeon Lily marries after a whirlwind romance, only to discover that he's as physically and emotionally abusive as her estranged father. (The fact that Baldoni's Ryle comes off as a creep from the get-go makes you question Lily's sanity.) And Brandon ("Yellowstone" prequel "1923") Sklenar is such a wet blanket as the old boyfriend who magically reappears in Lily's life that he never feels like a worthy alternative to her crumb bum husband. Although Lively keeps you emotionally invested in her character's plight for the duration of the movie's somewhat protracted 130 minute run time, only fans of Hoover's book are likely to have a transcendent cinematic experience. (C PLUS.)
QUERELLE--The remarkably prolific German New Wave wunderkind Rainer Werner Fassbinder died in June 1982 shortly after finishing "Querelle," and when it opened in theaters the following year reviews were generally dismissive. Even New York Times critic Vincent Canby who did more than anyone to "break" Fassbinder in America found the movie disappointing. Or maybe it was simply because the (largely) heterosexual bloc of American film critics at the time failed to appreciate Fassbinder's swan song for what it was: the most luxuriously stylized evocation of Gay Sensibility ever seen in a major movie. Along with Fellini's "Satyricon," it was (and remains) pretty much the gayest film ever made: a veritable Disneyland of queerness. Luxuriating in Fassbinder's deliberately artificial mise-en-scene is like taking a hit of amyl nitrate on the dance floor at Manhattan's fabled Crisco Disco in the pre-AIDS era. Although adapted from a novel by Jean Genet, the film seems even more beholden to the homoerotic artwork of Tom of Finland. As the titular sailor, Brad ("Midnight Express") Davis practically oozes sexuality, strutting his fine self into Feria, a Brest bar/brothel run by the imperious Madame Lysiane (Nouvelle Vague diva Jeanne Moreau). In short order, Querelle gets involved in an opium deal with Lysiane's husband (Gunther Kaufmann's Nono) that climaxes with the killing of his criminal cohort. Lusted after by everyone he crosses paths with, especially his superior officer, Lieutenant Seblon (Franco Nero), Querelle is a veritable walking and talking phallus. While the film ends tragically, it's also deeply, ironically funny. (Shades of Fassbinder creative muse Douglas Sirk's gloriously overheated 1950's Hollywood melodramas.) Would the New Queer Cinema that emerged a decade later have ever taken root without Fassbinder's posthumous masterpiece? Maybe, maybe not. Both Todd ("Poison") Haynes and Gregg ("The Living End") Araki have cited the film as a key influence on their early work. What can't be disputed is that Fassbinder--who died at age 37 after having directed over 40 films, 24 plays (most of which he wrote) and three television miniseries (including his magnum opus, 1980's "Berlin Alexanderplatz")--remains, along with Jean-Luc Godard, the most compelling, provocative and singular European filmmaking voice to emerge in the post-WW II era. Extras on the new Criterion Collection Blu-Ray include an interview with Museum of the Moving Image editorial director (and Queer Cinema scholar) Michael Koresky; Wolf German's 1982 documentary, "Rainer Werner Fassbinder: Last Works;" and a compelling, appreciative essay by critic Nathan Lee. (A.)
TRAP--M. Night Shyalaman's most entertaining film since 2016's "Split" also gives the "Oppenheimer"-resurgent Josh Hartnett the juiciest role of his career. Set against the backdrop of a Taylor Swift manque's arena concert, Hartnett's Cooper is introduced as a doting dad accompanying his tween daughter Riley (Ariel Donaghue) for a night on the town. But Cooper is actually "The Butcher," a serial killer who the entire Philadelphia police department--and sundry federal agents--are swiftly closing in on. Costarring former Disney kid star Hayley Mills as a geriatric British FBI profiler,(?!), it semi-collapses in a credibility-defying third act. But Hartnett's game-changing performance deserves to launch an entirely new phase in the former teen heart-throb's career. (B.)
TWISTERS--Five years after a twister killed her boyfriend, New York meteorologist Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones from 2022 sleeper "Where the Crawdads Sing") is reluctantly dragged back into the world of storm-chasing by former colleague Javi ("In the Heights" star Anthony Ramos). Almost immediately, Kate strikes romantic sparks with "Tornado Wrangler" Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a cocky social media sensation whose biggest fan is himself. This standalone "legacy sequel" to Jan de Bont's 1996 blockbuster is a somewhat unlikely follow-up to director Lee Isaac Chung's previous film, lo-fi indie--and 2020 Best Picture nominee--"Minari." Fortunately, Chung manages to bring some of the humanist tropes from his Korean immigrant saga to the world of I.P. tentpoles. Edgar-Jones and blast of charisma Powell are predictably solid, and there's nice support from "Nope" breakout Brandon Perea and Sasha ("American Honey") Lane as members of Tyler's thrill-seeking crew. The state-of-the-art CGI easily surpasses the FX work from the earlier film, but the "wow factor" has been seriously dampened by the plethora of You Tube videos of actual tornados we've been inundated with over the past 28 years. Yes, global warming is real. (B MINUS.)
---Milan Paurich
