Runner

Last night I also saw Runner and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would.  Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson) is a former Navy SEAL who is also a recovering alcoholic dealing with the trauma of losing his daughter to leukemia.  He works as a courier transporting both legal and illegal items for paying clients in Brisbane, Australia.  His latest assignment is to deliver a donor organ, needed by a critically ill seven-year-old girl, and its messenger Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson) to a hospital an hour away before it loses viability.  Mayhem ensues when they are pursued by Damian Zadivar (Rodrigo Santoro), the leader of a brutal Colombian drug cartel, who may or may not want to sell it on the black market.  The story is simple but it features some fun and thrilling action set pieces and, even though it seems like they have been edited to get a PG-13 rating, they are still plenty violent for an Angel Studios release.  I especially loved an extended sequence featuring hand to hand combat between Hank and Damian in a hospital corridor that culminates over the gurney of the little girl waiting for the transplant.  It is absolutely relentless (Leila George, who plays the mother of the little girl, even gets in on the action).  Ritchson seems to be the next big action star in the same vein as Jason Statham and he gives an intense physical performance that is fun to watch.  He also adds some humanity to the character with quite a few poignant moments with Wilson who also acts as an obnoxious entertaining foil to his straight man (I laughed out loud at a running bit between them involving an exotic parrot that Hank was unable to deliver).  Santoro is a great villain (although I am not sure why he inexplicably speaks Portuguese throughout) because, even though he is ruthless, he is not entirely unsympathetic because he has a compelling motivation for what he does.  This is something you would usually see on a streaming platform rather than the big screen but it is so much better than I expected.  I recommend it to fans of action thrillers.

Practical Magic 2

Last night I went to see Practical Magic 2 and, much like The Devil Wears Prada 2, it features a lot of nostalgia (including midnight margaritas) but it doesn't quite capture the *ahem* magic of the original.  After her second husband dies as a result of the Owens Curse, Sally Owens (Sandra Bullock) casts a spell to make her daughters Antonia (Maisie Williams) and Kylie (Joey King) forget that they are witches and then vows never to use magic again.  Years later, Kylie tells her boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Mariduena) that she loves him and the next day he is hit by a car and falls into a coma.  Gillian (Nicole Kidman) urges her sister to reveal the truth but all of Sally's secrets cause a rift between mother and daughter.  Kylie finds a powerful spellbook belonging to Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Franny (Stockard Channing) which contains an incantation to break the curse but the pertinent pages are fused together.  Determined to get answers, she travels to England, the birthplace of her ancestor Maria Owens, but she finds another descendant (Solly McLeod) who wants to steal her magic.  Sally must embrace her magic once again, with the help of local witchcraft expert Ian Wright (Lee Pace), in order to save Kylie and break the curse.  I found the story to be very convoluted and bloated with too many secondary characters.  However, it is a lot of fun to watch the straight-laced Sally and the free-spirited Gillian bicker back and forth again (there is a hilarious running bit involving all of Gillian's luggage) and Bullock and Kidman are fantastic with tremendous chemistry.  My biggest complaint is that the straight-laced Antonia and the free-spirited Kylie should have been given the same opportunity to interact in order to continue the theme of sisterhood but Williams has very little screen time.  I also wanted to see more of Wiest and Channing but Jet and Franny are basically replaced by Ian to prioritize a romantic relationship in a movie supposedly about female empowerment.  Still, die-hard fans of the first movie are sure to love it and I enjoyed it enough as a casual fan to recommend it.

The Uprising

Last night my nephew and I went to see The Uprising in a packed theater.  We were both really excited for this movie and we both liked it.  After the Black Death decimates the population, England is in need of revenue and the council who rules for the weak and ineffective 14-year-old King Richard II (Woody Norman), including Sir Robert Hales (Tom Hollander) and the Archbishop of Canterbury (Stephen Dillane), decides to increase taxes for the peasants. A Ploughman (Andrew Garfield), who is barely surviving after the death of his wife and children, objects to the new tax and kills the soldier who tries to arrest him for resisting.  Soon his entire village stands with him and this inspires revolts across the country.  He reluctantly joins with John Ball (Jamie Bell), an outspoken priest, and Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis), a soldier who fought with the late king, to lead a march on London to petition the king about their grievances.  However, the king's council advises him not to meet with them and the peasants sack London in response.  The king, who suffers from nightmares about mobs and demons, eventually meets with the peasants and the Ploughman persuades him to grant charters of self-determination and he also gives his tacit approval for them to bring the council to justice themselves.  When the peasants meet the king to receive the charters, they are betrayed by him and his new advisor William Walworth (Jonny Lee Miller) but this leads to unexpected consequences when a small band survives the ambush.  I found the true story of the Peasants' Revolt to be both compelling and incredibly moving, especially in light of the fact that history seems to be repeating itself with corrupt leaders who are out of touch with the suffering of the people, and I actually really liked the ending (although it has been very divisive). Garfield does a great job as a simple man who unexpectedly sparks a revolution that he doesn't know how to control and I was especially impressed by his quiet anguish.  All of the supporting performances are also very strong but I was really struck by Katherine Waterston as Joan of Kent, particularly her silent response to her son's treachery.  I do have criticisms about the pacing because the conflict is set in motion with breakneck speed without much exposition and I didn't always know what was happening because the editing is often disjointed.  Also, Paul Greengrass is known for his immersive hand-held camera work and, while it is effective in the battle sequences, it is very distracting in the quieter moments (some scenes even look out of focus).  I loved the story even if I didn't always love the way it is told so I would recommend it.

Hope

Last night I went back to the Broadway (my happy place) to see Hope, a movie I have been anticipating ever since it premiered at Cannes earlier this year, and it is absolutely wild!  When Ko Sung-ki (Zo In-sung) and a group of his friends discover a bull that was killed by an unknown but unusually large predator lying in the middle of the road, he calls his cousin Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), the police chief of the small South Korean village of Hope Harbor, to investigate.  The young men think it might be a tiger so Bum-seok sends them into the nearby forest to search while he investigates the village.  He discovers more dead livestock and several dead people before he sees that something large has rampaged through the streets.  As he slowly walks through the carnage, he encounters several people, including a retired colonel named Ahn Nak-yeon (Lee Sang-hee), who have survived attacks by a large and seemingly indestructible creature until he, too, is pursued by it.  He and Im Sung-ae (Hoyeon), a rookie on the police force, are eventually able to kill the creature and, in the aftermath, they learn why it attacked the village and that there are more of them in the forest.  Meanwhile, Sung-ki and his friends discover what the creatures are (sort of) but they are attacked until only he is left alive.  Bum-seok, Nak-yeon, and Sung-ae rush to the forest to rescue Sung-ki which leads to an epic show-down (sort of).  I found this a bit confounding but it hardly matters because it is just so entertaining.  The tension builds and builds with the creature always one step ahead of Bum-soek as he tracks it through the streets and it is almost unbearable because you only see the devastating effects of the creature rather than the creature itself for almost an hour of the runtime (the camera work in these scenes is brilliant).  The action sequences are an absolute adrenaline rush and I was holding my breath during several thrilling high speed car chases and an equally thrilling chase on horseback through the forest.  The creatures, portrayed by Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, Taylor Russell, and Cameron Britton, look great but the CGI is sometimes really wonky when they move and, because they are so much larger than the humans, the perspective is weirdly skewed and the distance between them is frequently off during the chases.  A lot of the dark comedy, which did make me laugh out loud (I especially enjoyed a running joke in which Bum-seok questions where everyone got the guns they are using), is sometimes really jarring in the middle of all of the destruction and the pacing grinds to a halt in the second act with unnecessary and lengthy scenes.  Finally, all of the spectacle is ultimately meaningless because we know so little about the creatures and their motivation and, just when we start to learn something, the screen suddenly goes to black (I was actually shocked when it ended and I was not alone judging from the response of my audience).  However, I have to say that I had an absolute blast watching this because it is so completely bonkers and I think people will either love it or hate it!

Colony

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Colony and I found it very entertaining and compelling.  A disgruntled biologist named Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan) deliberately releases a virus he engineered during a biotechnology conference being held in a high-rise building in Seoul, South Korea, and informs the police that he has ingested the only antidote.  Those infected by the virus immediately mutate into violent and aggressive zombies and soon all but a small group of survivors, led by a controversial biotechnology professor named Kwon Se-jeong (Gianna Jun), are affected so the government seals the building under a military quarantine.  As the trapped survivors attempt to elude the zombies, they are horrified to discover that the virus has given them a collective hive mind and that they all share any sensory input received by one of them.  This allows them to evolve and adapt to any strategy the survivors use to escape.  They are forced to search the building for Young-cheol because he is their only hope for an antidote but he is also their biggest threat because he controls the zombies.  This is incredibly suspenseful because the survivors must travel from floor to floor to escape from zombies who are always one step ahead of them.  The character design for the zombies, including the prostheses and makeup, as well as the way they contort their bodies make them terrifying.  The action sequences are epic and I loved the synchronized movements used by the zombies as they receive new input, particularly the scene in which they are overwhelmed by faulty information and devolve to their primitive state.  Finally, I found the message about the dangers of groupthink to be very thought-provoking and I loved that Se-jeong and another biotechnologist named Gong Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-been), two women who are outliers in their field and think for themselves, are the ones who stop the zombies.  This is a fresh take on the zombie genre and I highly recommend it.

The Sun Never Sets

Since the mainstream releases were a bust this weekend I decided on an indie double feature at the Broadway last night.  I started with The Sun Never Sets mostly because I loved the beautiful Alaskan scenery featured in the trailer but I ended up enjoying it.  Wendy (Dakota Fanning) is a thirty-something woman who is in a long-term relationship with Jack (Jake Johnson), an older man with two children from a previous marriage.  He is very set in his ways and does not share her passion for the great outdoors but, more importantly, he has no desire to get married again or have more children.  She has adapted to fit into his life because she loves him but her reaction to the news that her best friend Lindsay (Debby Ryan) is pregnant has him worried that she might regret her decision not to have children in the future.  He suggests that they take a break for six months so she can explore her options and decide if she really wants to be with him on his terms.  She objects but he finally coerces convinces her and she goes on several amusing blind dates.  While on one of these dates, she runs into Chuck (Cory Michael Smith), an ex-boyfriend who has recently returned to Anchorage, and she resumes a relationship with him.  This makes Jack extremely jealous and he suddenly wants her back on any terms but now she is unsure.  Jack then begins dating Sara (Karley Sciortino), a woman his age with whom he is very compatible.  Chuck begins exhibiting the behavior that made Wendy break up with him in the first place and, when she learns about Sara, she is jealous and wants Jack back.  Confusion (and many screaming matches) ensues.  What I especially liked is that the characters are complicated, flawed, and messy because I think they really reflect the uncertainty that many young adults feel when their lives don't look like everyone else's (I definitely went through this when I was in my early thirties).  I found it very interesting that the free-spirited and immature Chuck is obviously meant to be the villain but Jack, who is more settled and responsible, is even more problematic because he is so controlling and manipulative (one scene, in particular, in which he is trying to get her to come home with him is extremely disturbing in my opinion).  This is why I loved the final resolution because it is so empowering that she doesn't settle. Fanning gives an incredibly nuanced performance, one of her very best, because Wendy is often frustrating but you still like her enough to root for her to succeed.  I wanted to see more of the Alaskan wilderness and the bickering between the characters does go on a bit longer than it needs to but I liked this and recommend it to fans of romantic dramas.

Onslaught

There were three new releases in theaters over the long Labor Day weekend, including By Any Means, Fall 2: Deadpoint, and Onslaught, but because I am not a big fan of Mark Walhberg and because I don't particularly like heights, my nephew and I defaulted to Onslaught last night.  Let's just say that it wasn't a good weekend for new movies.  Celeste (Adria Arjona) is a former Army sniper suffering from PTSD who now manages a trailer park in a remote desert in New Mexico.  At a nearby top secret government facility, the maniacal Nazi scientist Dr. Hans Krammer (Dan Stevens) is leading an experimental program to develop a group of super soldiers who do not have a conscience, who do not feel pain, and who will not stop until the mission is complete.  During a training exercise, the latest subjects, known as the Crybaby (Tyler Hall), the Cockroach (Dave Campbell), and the Butcher (Alex Pereira), escape from the compound and terrorize the civilian population.  They end up at the trailer park and kill the majority of the residents until Celeste, her young daughter (Blake Kennedy), a grizzled Vietnam veteran (Reginald VelJohnson), and a police officer (Eric Wareheim) make a stand against them.  Meanwhile, a government operative named Cyrus (Drew Starkey) is called in to contain the situation but is revealed to be working with Dr. Krammer's widow Hanna (Rebecca Hall) to observe the effects of the experiment.  This is an obvious pastiche of much better slasher movies from the 1980s, especially those of John Carpenter, and I was really disappointed by the action sequences because, while some of them are suitably fun and gory (particularly the one at a convenience store), the super soldiers spend more time posing in silhouette than attacking and the final confrontation is very anticlimactic.  There are some weird tonal shifts (Stevens and Starkey are both little freaks in some shocking scenes that are completely superfluous) as well as commentary about the military that is introduced and then goes nowhere.  Arjona does a good job with what she is given but her character is thinly drawn and the belabored connection between Celeste and the Butcher does not have much impact. This is definitely one you can miss (maybe we should have seen By Any Means instead).

Note:  My nephew and I were the only ones in the theater (that should have been our first clue) and I lost count of how many times we looked at each other with a WTF expression on our faces.

Coyote vs. Acme

The second movie in my double feature last night was Coyote vs. Acme and, as someone who grew up watching Looney Tunes cartoons every Saturday morning while eating cereal, I absolutely loved it!  After many years of using defective Acme products to catch the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote hires a third rate personal injury lawyer named Kevin Avery (Will Avery) after he sees his face on a giant billboard.  He wants to sue the company for damages but Kevin wants to settle so he doesn't have to face Acme's legal counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) at trial.  Coyote refuses the settlement so Kevin, with the help of his idealistic intern Paige (Lana Condor), tries to subpoena Road Runner as a witness, follows up on a tip from Bugs Bunny, an anonymous whistleblower, and meets with Daffy Duck, a former Acme employee.  They eventually uncover a sinister plot, known as Project Sisyphus, in which Acme knowingly used cartoons to test products for human use.  They call Acme's Head of HR, the Tasmanian Devil, to testify about Project Sisyphus and chaos ensues so Judge Troppogrosso (Luis Guzman) dismisses the case.  However, a congressional hearing is convened by Senator Elmer Fudd but Acme CEO Foghorn Leghorn argues that cartoon testing is necessary for progress and that the pain felt by cartoons doesn't matter so the committee decides not to pursue federal charges.  Road Runner eventually arrives to save the day and testifies that Coyote is his friend and that he has suffered.  This is a blend of live action and animation (Eric Bauza voices most of the cartoon characters) that is very clever and very funny (I laughed out loud multiple times).  This is also a scathing indictment of corporate greed, unfair monopolies, judicial and political corruption, and exploitation of marginalized consumers (I didn't expect it to go this hard) but I really loved the powerful portrayal of perseverance in the face of adversity (I was unprepared for so much emotion).  Finally, this is incredibly nostalgic with lots of fun Easter eggs (I loved the green Batman suit).  This is one of the most delightful movies I've seen this year and, if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you check it out on the big screen!

The Dog Stars

Last night I had another double feature because I am still trying to catch up on movies I missed last weekend.  I started with The Dog Stars and, even though it seems like everyone hated it, I enjoyed it for the most part.  After a worldwide flu decimated most of the population, a former mechanic named Hig (Jacob Elordi) lives in an abandoned airplane hangar with his dog Jasper and a militant former Marine named Bangley (Josh Brolin).  He often flies a small propeller plane to nearby Denver for supplies which, to Bangley's dismay, he shares with a nearby Mennonite community led by Aaron (Benedict Wong).  Bangley is vigilant about keeping outsiders from their land and, much to Hig's dismay, he shoots any who approach from his lookout tower.  Their difference of opinion about the nature of humanity leads Hig to leave in search of a radio signal coming from from Grand Junction.  He is forced to land his plane in a meadow after experiencing mechanical failure and encounters a suspicious rancher named Jake (Guy Pearce) and his daughter Cima (Margaret Qualley).  They reluctantly help him fix his plane so he will leave them in peace but are forced to escape with him when their farm is attacked by raiders.  They eventually arrive in Grand Junction only to discover a cannibalistic group under the control of a psychotic former flight attendant named Darlene (Allison Janney).  Hig ultimately decides to return to Bangley rather than continue to look for other people.  I really loved the beautiful cinematography, especially all of the flying sequences over the mountains and lakes of Colorado, and there are some dynamic action set pieces when the raiders attack.  Elordi gives a sensitive performance as a man trying not to lose his compassion for people and Brolin is having a lot of fun as a man willing to do whatever it takes to survive.  I found the push and pull between the instinct for self-protection and the need for connection to be very compelling and I liked the more contemplative pace (not everything needs to be explicitly spelled out for the audience).  However, the tonal shift that happens during the scenes in Grand Junction is so jarring that they seem like they are in a different movie and the message is really muddled by the time we reach the happy conclusion with the Mennonites.  Both episodes are very different from the novel and I wish the movie had maintained the vibe of the first two acts because that is what worked for me.  Still, I didn't dislike it and think it is better than some critics would suggest.

Finding Emily

Last night my nephew and I went to the Broadway to see Finding Emily (I have quite a few movies from last weekend to catch up on).  I am not a big fan of romantic comedies but I thoroughly enjoyed this!  Owen Brompton (Spike Fearn) is a sound engineer at a student bar near Manchester City University where he meets and forms an immediate connection with a girl named Emily (Sadie Soverall).  She quickly gives him her phone number when she leaves the bar but, when he tries to call her the next day, he realizes that she made a typo in her haste.  He is desperate to find her so he begins looking for her at the university.  His search leads him to another Emily (Angourie Rice), a psychology student working on her thesis about the self-destructive nature of romantic attachment, and she thinks he will be a perfect case study for her research so she offers to help him find his Emily.  Of course Owen and Emily fall for each other, which invalidates her conclusions, but not before they cause mayhem on campus with their search and eventually find the original Emily.  This is incredibly predictable and you know exactly what will happen beat for beat as soon as Owen interrupts Emily's class for their meet cute but it has a sparkling energy and a message about the travails of finding love in the digital age that I found compelling.  I really loved the music (any movie that features "Blue Monday" by New Order will always get a positive review from me) and I enjoyed all of the eccentric side characters, particularly a militant Emily (Kat Ronney) who mobilizes all of the other Emilys on campus against Owen because she believes he is a stalker.  Fearn, who is so endearing, and Rice, who gives a delightfully earnest performance, have genuine chemistry and are very charming together.  It does go on a bit longer than it needs to but I had so much fun watching this (I laughed out loud multiple times) and I highly recommend it!

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

I loved I Saw the TV Glow so I was very eager to see Jane Schoenbrun's latest movie, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, and I finally had the opportunity last night.  The Camp Miasma horror franchise has become stale after too many sub-par sequels so Kris Williams (Hannah Einbinder), a well-regarded indie filmmaker, has been hired to reboot it.  She is a huge fan of the series and wants to involve Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson), the actress who played the "final girl" in the original movie, in the new production.  Billy lives at the remote camp where the first movie was filmed and has become a virtual recluse but Kris tracks her down and visits her.  She explains to Billy that she was hired to fix the problematic transphobic premise of the movies for a modern audience because she is a queer filmmaker so she wants to explore a different perspective on identity.  Billy believes that she is over-intellectualizing the horror genre and that she should simply let it be a visceral experience.  The two of them eventually watch the first movie together (insert the plots of Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp with a killer known as Little Death into the movie within a movie) and Kris tells her that she has always been fascinated by the look in Billy's eye during the sex scene.  She reveals that it was at that moment her character found sexual release because she was about to be killed.  Billy initiates sex but Kris rebuffs her and confesses that she has never enjoyed it because she has some kind of mental block.  Billy suggests that she is, once again, over-intellectualizing it and that they should reenact the pivotal sex scene so she can become the main character and feel the terror before Little Death kills her.  Mayhem ensues!  I really enjoyed this, especially the idea that the movies you love shape who you are, but I do think that it belabors the central metaphor (it is definitely not subtle) and I started to feel like everything is a metaphor for sex (the candy, the metal vent worn by the killer, the weapon used by the killer, the winter setting which changes to spring, etc.).  I loved that the movie within a movie is basically a parody of slasher film tropes (the use of "A Long December" by Counting Crows made me laugh out loud) with kills that are hilariously over the top and full of sexual imagery.  Finally, Anderson is so entertaining to watch because she fully commits to the role (I laughed at the suggestion that Billy is channeling Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard).  I had a lot of fun seeing this late at night with a big crowd and I think it might become a cult classic!

Union County

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Union County and I really appreciated the humane and honest portrayal of addiction but I found the observational approach to be a bit slow and remote.  Cody Parsons (Will Poulter) is an addict who is in a mandated recovery program along with his foster brother Jack (Noah Centineo).  He is barely hanging on as he struggles to attend required drug tests, support groups, and court appearances while living in his car and working a menial job at a lumber mill.  After a relapse which lands him in jail and Jack in rehab, he recommits to the program with the help of his counselor Annette (Annette Deao) and a fellow addict named Anna (Elise Kibler).  He begins taking the meetings seriously and has a breakthrough which leads to a reconciliation with his sister Katrina (Emily Meade).  However, a tragedy threatens his hard-won sobriety.  This features performances from people who are actually involved with the Adult Recovery Court in Ohio, including Deao, a social worker, Kevin T. Braig, a judge, as well as addicts who tell their own recovery stories in the court and support group scenes.  This (along with shooting locations in central Ohio and austere cinematography) gives the narrative an authenticity that is palpable and I was impressed by how seamless their performances are with those of the actors. Centineo is a live wire and Poulter is a coiled spring who telegraphs all of the pain and guilt Cody is feeling through facial expressions and physicality rather than dialogue.  It is a powerful and empathetic performance that does much to destigmatize addiction but the long silences sometimes become tiresome (my mind wandered at times) and there are a few scenes that require a bit more context.  This is a movie that I admire more than I love but I still recommend it.

Late Fame

Last night I had another double feature at the Broadway beginning with Late Fame.  I was intrigued by the trailer and I found it very charming.  Ed Saxberger (Willem Dafoe) was once a member of the bohemian art scene in the 1970s and even had a volume of poetry titled Way Past Go published but he now works at the U.S. Postal Service and spends his evenings playing pool with a group of working class men at a local bar.  One evening he is approached by a wealthy and pretentious young man named Meyers (Edmund Donovan) who tells him that he and his artistic friends, who call themselves the Enthusiasm Society, have recently discovered his poetry and would love to have him join their group.  He grows to love how much they fawn over him, especially an exotic and mysterious actress named Gloria (Greta Lee), and this gives him a renewed passion for the arts.  However, even though he is very well-received at a poetry reading organized on his behalf by the group, he eventually realizes that he no longer belongs in this milieu and that Meyers and his friends are mere dilettantes.  The portrayal of the Enthusiasm Society is often very humorous and I especially enjoyed seeing Meyers' apartment because, even though he professes a disdain for contemporary culture, it is sleek and modern and filled with every technological advance (I laughed out when it was revealed).  I also enjoyed the juxtaposition between real artists, embodied by Ed and Gloria, and the poseurs, represented by Meyers and his group, who use them for authenticity.  The cinematography evokes the NYC of a bygone era, particularly a sequence in which Ed wanders the city looking for inspiration for a new poem, and I love that the members of the Enthusiasm Society dress like Victorian-era dandies.  Finally, Dafoe gives a grounded and effortless performance as a man who ultimately discovers that he is living a romanticized version of his past but Lee steals every scene she is in as the flamboyant Gloria, especially when she performs "Surabaya Johnny" at a club.  This is a sometimes funny and sometimes melancholy character study and I really enjoyed it.  Definitely seek it out.

Tony

Last night I went to see Tony with my nephew and I think it is a brilliant coming of age story (or bildungsroman as Tony would say).  Anthony "Tony" Bourdain (Dominic Sessa) is a brash and arrogant student at Vassar studying writing.  He applies for a prestigious fellowship but, when he doesn't get it, he tells his parents that he did and follows his crush Nancy (Emilia Jones) to Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she has a summer job.  When he sees that she already has a boyfriend, he goes to a local restaurant called The Flagship and gets drunk.  This eventually leads to a job there as a dishwasher and he soon becomes immersed in the chaos of the kitchen.  He also befriends a volatile and heroin addicted cook named Sal (Leo Woodall) and pursues Nancy by lying about the fellowship.  After Sal goes on a bender and is fired, Tony lies about his restaurant experience and is given his job.  The Chef (Antonio Banderas) takes him under his wing and begins teaching him, but when Tony makes an error trying to impress Nancy which results in a catastrophic fire, he realizes that Tony lied and he fires him.  Tony has a moment of truth and ultimately confesses to Nancy and makes amends to Chef who, in turn, gives him a letter of recommendation for the Culinary Institute of America.  This reminded me of the biopics by Pablo Larrain about Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, and Maria Callas because it focuses on one pivotal period of time that changes the trajectory of Bourdain's life rather than the entire story and this approach is extremely effective.  I did not know much about Bourdain, beyond the fact that he was a chef who explored cuisine around the world, but I think this stands on its own as a universal coming of age story and I found it very compelling.  I think Sessa is strangely appealing (I adored him in The Holdovers) and his performance as an aimless young man trying to find his way is incredibly nuanced.  I was especially struck by the stark contrast between his interview for the writing fellowship at Vassar and his interview for admission to the Culinary Institute of America.  Banderas and Woodall (who is playing against type) are also outstanding and have a lived-in chemistry with Sessa.  Finally, I loved the 1970s aesthetic in the production design (especially the music and the costumes).  This is a definite crowd-pleaser and I highly recommend it.

Mutiny

Whenever there is a new movie featuring Jason Statham kicking ass, my nephew and I will always be seated (we got two of them this year) so we went to see Mutiny last night. One never goes to these movies expecting a masterpiece but, even though I enjoyed it, I found it very boring slow at times.  Cole Reed (Statham) is a former Marine and police officer with a troubled past who now works as a personal bodyguard to Tibu Campollo (Ramon Tikaram), the CEO of the shipping company KMG based in Bangkok.  After brokering a deal to sell the company at the behest of his son Kameron (Chaneil Kular), Tibu is ambushed on the road and killed.  Cole is framed for the murder so he begins investigating and discovers that one of the assassins worked for KMG on the cargo ship Artemis.  He sneaks on board pretending to be the assassin but soon encounters the assassin's last-minute replacement Angie Ellis (Annabelle Wallis) and they find evidence of a human trafficking operation conducted by Captain Marko Madsen (Roland Moller) and the rest of the crew.  Cole surmises that Tibu was killed to stop the sale of the company in order to keep the human trafficking operation going and mayhem ensues when he tries to save the hostages and take vengeance for Tibu's death.  One goes to these movies for the action and there are some great set pieces where Cole must fight everyone on board the ship.  My favorite scene involves an epic confrontation between Cole and Madsen on a moving gangway with a hatchet, a knife, a fishing hook, and a harpoon.  Wallis also gets in on the action, particularly when Ellis must fight her way out of the bridge.  However, there are long stretches where both Cole and Ellis, together and separately, are running around the ship or trying to escape from confined spaces and my mind definitely wandered.  The story is also a bit convoluted and I was baffled by a subplot involving a U.S. Coast Guard ship that intercepts a distress signal from the Artemis because there is a lot of buildup only to have them arrive after the ship has been secured (their arrival could have been a great action sequence).  Still, we had a good time and I recommend this to fans of Statham.

The Rivals of Amziah King

Last night I went to the Broadway to see The Rivals of Amziah King and I was completely charmed by this movie.  Amziah King (Matthew McConaughey) is a beekeeper, bluegrass musician, and born-again Christian in rural Oklahoma.  He is the undisputed leader of his tight-knit community and hosts impromptu jam-sessions with members of his band, employs wayward young men in his honey making operation, attends pot-luck dinners at his church, and frequently helps out with bee emergencies in town.  After he encounters his former foster daughter Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) when she returns to the area, he integrates her into his circle of friends and instructs her in the characteristics of his bees.  When one of his rivals, Dob McCoy (Kurt Russell), steals all of Amziah's bee hives, Kateri rallies his friends to help her get them back and exact revenge.  The first act features several vignettes of Amziah interacting with his eccentric friends and these scenes are filled with joy, exuberance, and wonderful music (not to mention a lot of comedy which made me and the rest of the audience laugh out loud).  McConaughey gives one of his most charismatic performances to date and his scenes with LookingGlass are incredibly touching. The second and third acts then become a tension-filled revenge thriller with a brilliant breakout performance from LookingGlass.  So many of the sequences that seem totally random in the first act suddenly make sense as each of Amziah's friends use their unique skills to help Kateri in her quest.  I really loved the message about the importance of community and I also loved that Amziah's community mimics the structure of his bee hives (the line that bees know when to find a new queen really struck me).  I honestly did not know what to expect but this quirky and atmospheric movie pulled me in and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I think it is definitely worth seeking out!

The End of Oak Street

Last night I went to see The End of Oak Street with my nephew.  We have both been anticipating this all summer and we really enjoyed it.  Denise Platt (Anne Hathaway) and her husband Greg (Ewan McGregor) are at odds with each other and with their dull suburban life.  Their children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), who have problems of their own, have begun to notice the strain between them.  One night there is a strange atmospheric anomaly that produces an unusually bright light and causes a power outage.  When the power is still off in the morning, they go out to investigate and discover that their entire neighborhood has been transported back in time to the Jurassic period by a wormhole and that dinosaurs are roaming the streets.  They barely escape from the ensuing carnage and barricade their house in order to stay safe.  However, Brian sneaks out hoping to rescue his dog Starbuck and soon Audrey and then Denise and Greg go out to look for him.  They eventually realize that they must work together if they are going to survive.  This is a campy homage to the action adventure movies that Steven Spielberg used to make in the 1980s and if you can view it through that lens you will definitely have a good time with it.  The dialogue is sometimes a bit clunky and the ending features some major plot holes (I suggest that you don't think too much about the time paradox) but it hardly matters.  I loved the nostalgia and the 1980s aesthetic used throughout, especially a needle drop that had me singing out loud, but my nephew thinks that the filmmakers should have used 35mm film stock from that era for more authenticity.  I also loved the poignant family dynamic in which the fear of losing each other brings them closer together (Hathaway and McGregor do a great job portraying this).  Finally, I especially loved the truly frightening (and at one point amusing) action sequences involving the dinosaurs.  Showing the impact of the dinosaurs before actually revealing them is very effective at building tension and seeing them wreak havoc in a suburban environment is unusual and therefore very unsettling.  This is a really fun summer blockbuster and I recommend that you suspend your disbelief and just go with it (Gen Xers who grew up with Steven Spielberg movies are sure to love it).

Six The Musical Live

I think the musical SIX is incredibly clever (it is framed as a pop concert and the queens are modeled on contemporary pop stars) and I love it so much I drove to Las Vegas to see the Broadway touring production at the Smith Center and then I saw it twice when it came to the Eccles Theatre in SLC.  I was, therefore, beyond excited when I learned that the original West End queens, Jarneia Richard-Noel as Catherine of Aragon, Millie O'Connell as Anne Boleyn, Natalie Paris as Jane Seymour, Alexia McIntosh as Anna of Cleeves, Aimie Atkinson as Katherine Howard, and Maiya Quansah-Breed as Catherine Parr, reunited in June and July of 2022 to film performances at the Vaudeville Theatre in London for a theatrical release.  I was able to see the proshot yesterday with a large crowd and it was so much fun!  The former wives of of King Henry VIII get together to determine who suffered the most and decide upon a singing competition to crown a winner.  Catherine of Aragon sings "No Way" and argues that she agreed to leave her homeland at 15, come to a country where she didn't speak the language, marry a man who died soon after, spend seven years in a nunnery, then marry the man's brother but she did not agree to be replaced.  Anne Boleyn sings "Don't Lose Ur Head" and argues that everyone overreacted when she just wanted to have a little fun (what was she meant to do?).  Jane Seymour sings "Heart of Stone" and argues that she suffered the most because she loved Henry the most but he only loved her because of her son.  Anna of Cleeves sings "Get Down" and argues that she was rejected by Henry because of her looks but concedes that she probably won't win the competition because she made the most of her situation.  Katherine Howard sings "All You Wanna Do" and argues that all of the men in her life, including Henry, used her for one thing without her consent.  Finally, Catherine Parr sings "I Don't Need Your Love" and argues that, even though she survived, she sacrificed true love for an arranged marriage with Henry.  They ultimately decide to abandon the competition because they do not want to be defined by Henry and rewrite their stories in "Six."  All six queens give powerful and electrifying performances in which they belt out their songs with enthusiasm, engage in banter with each other that is hilariously catty, and execute the stylized choreography with precision.  I especially enjoyed Paris's emotional rendition of "Heart of Stone" (my favorite song in the show) but the highlight for me was Atkinson's version of "All You Wanna Do" because her voice and facial expressions slowly change (I loved all of the close up shots) with each verse as she realizes that her beauty is more a curse than a blessing.  I loved having a front row seat for the sleek scenic design, the dramatic lighting, and the sassy costumes that feature both a Renaissance silhouette and enough bling to rival any pop princess.  My only complaint (and this is also my complaint about the stage show) is that it is over very quickly.  This reminded me of a concert film (complimentary) and I love that this entertaining show can now be experienced again and again!  It is in theaters for a short run so, whether you are a long-time member of the "Queendom" or have never seen it before, I highly recommend getting a ticket.

The Piano

I am so happy that The Piano is back in theaters because I think it is an atmospheric masterpiece and I have always wanted to experience it on the big screen (I missed it during its original theatrical run).  I went to see it yesterday at the Broadway and I was completely mesmerized.  Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) is a Scottish woman in the mid-19th century who has been mute by choice since childhood.  She travels to New Zealand with her precocious daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) and her cherished piano for an arranged marriage to a colonial settler named Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill).  When she arrives, Alisdair refuses to transport the piano from the beach to his settlement and this alienates her from him.  She asks Alisdair's neighbor, George Baines (Harvey Keitel), to take her back to the beach and he falls in love with her after he witnesses a passionate performance.  Baines has her piano taken to his house and then offers Alisdair a piece of property in exchange for lessons from Ada, which Alisdair compels her to give.  However, Baines tells Ada that he will trade the piano back to her, key by key, if he can listen to her play in various stages of undress during encounters that become more and more intimate.  He eventually gives the piano back to her before she fulfills their agreement and they begin an intense affair with tragic consequences after Alisdair learns the truth from Flora.  Many find the narrative to be problematic but I have a different interpretation. I think the piano represents Ada's voice because she communicates by playing it rather than by speaking.  Both Alisdair and Baines manipulate her with their control of the piano and getting it back represents that she is able to choose her destiny.  This is why she is able to leave it behind in the middle of the ocean and why she begins speaking after she is rid of it.  I love Hunter's performance because, even though she is incredibly stoic, you can still see everything she is feeling in her eyes and her piano playing is incredibly impressive.  I also love Paquin's performance because it is so nuanced and strikes a delicate balance between innocence and mischievousness.  The visuals are gorgeous (New Zealand is one of my very favorite trips) and I was blown away by many of the evocative shot compositions.  Finally, the score by Michael Nyman is hauntingly beautiful, particularly the main theme "The Heart Asks Pleasure First."  This is brilliant on so many levels and I highly recommend it (especially if you have a chance to see it on the big screen).

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

I have been anticipating Spider-Man: Brand New Day ever since the trailer dropped because it looked really good! I finally had a chance to see it last night at a Thursday preview I am happy to say that it lived up to my impossibly high expectations!  In fact, it equals Spider-Man 2 (with Tobey Maguire in the title role) as my favorite movie featuring the web-slinger.  Four years after Dr. Strange made the world forget Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Spider-Man anonymously protects New York City from villains such as Mac Gargan/ Scorpion (Michael Mando) and members of the Hand as an unofficial liaison to NYPD Det. Jean DeWolff (Liza Colon-Zayas) and an uneasy rival to Frank Castle/ Punisher (Jon Bernthal).  He is feeling increasingly isolated and an emotional encounter with his former friends MJ Watson (Zendaya) and Ned Leeds (Jacob Balaton) triggers a mutation that enhances his spider senses.  He eventually turns to Dr. Banner/ Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) to help him control his new abilities and to Yelena Belova/ Back Widow (Florence Pugh) to help him uncover a powerful new villain (Sadie Sink) for Bill Metzger (Tramell Tillman), the head of the Department of Damage Control.  I really enjoyed this more grounded and character-driven story as Peter grapples with the personal sacrifices that come with being a superhero (the message that no one is really alone is a powerful one) and I think this is Holland's best performance as the character (I also think this is the most comic book accurate depiction in the MCU).  I especially loved several poignant interactions that Peter has at various times with MJ, Castle, and Sink's character (Zendaya and Bernthal are really great and have palpable chemistry with Holland but Sink gives an amazing performance and I am really excited to see more of her character).  I also loved the fun action set-pieces, particularly a spectacular fight between Spider-Man and members of the Hand and all of the exhilarating web-swinging sequences.  My only minor criticism is that the scenes with Black Widow don't really add much to the narrative and seem shoe-horned in to set up future events in the MCU (the Hulk's inclusion is a bit more organic).  Still, I really loved seeing this with a large and enthusiastic crowd (I'm actually more excited for Avengers: Doomsday) and I highly recommend it.

Note:  I am now completely obsessed with the song “Loser” by Tame Impala.