Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

My sister and I are big fans of the Planet of the Apes trilogy so we were really excited to see the latest installment, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, last night.  We both found it to be incredibly thought-provoking with amazing visual effects.  Many generations after the rule of Caesar, Noa (Owen Teague) is a young chimpanzee in an isolated clan that raises eagles and other birds of prey.  Wanting to impress his father Koro (Neil Sandilands), the master of the birds, Noa goes on a reckless journey to find an eagle egg and inadvertently leads a violent clan ruled by the brutal Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) to his village.  Noa is injured, his father is killed, and the rest of the clan is taken.  Noa begins searching for his family and notices that a human is following him from a distance.  He also meets an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), a member of the Order of Caesar who follows the teachings of the former leader, and he informs Noa that humans and apes once lived peacefully together and that he should trust the human.  Noa and the human, who eventually tells him that her name is Mae (Freya Allan), are captured by Proximus and taken to his settlement.  Proximus reveals that he rules in Caesar's name and that all apes should join together to keep the humans subjugated no matter the cost.  Noa must decide who to trust if he is to save his clan.  The story is so thematically dense that my sister and I couldn't stop talking about it afterwards (and the more we talked about it the more ideas we discovered) but my main takeaway is that history and mythology are often distorted to manipulate the uninformed and that knowledge is the true power.  This does take a little while to get going but everything eventually comes together in the end (I loved the significance of the eagles) and the tension-filled action sequences in third act had me on the edge of my seat.  The images on the screen are simply spectacular with unbelievably realistic motion-capture performances and visual effects combined with shots on location.  Noa is a compelling character and is easy to root for, particularly as he struggles to make sense of events that happened in the past, and Proximus is a great villain (my sister thought he was terrifying).  This is a worthy successor to the original trilogy and sets the stage for further installments.  I highly recommend it!

Note:  It was so fun to see this with my sister!  She doesn't see very many movies in the theater but she has a list for the ones she wants to see this summer.

The Phantom Menace

I have very vivid memories of seeing The Phantom Menace with my friend Tony on opening day when it was first released.  We were able to get advance tickets but, because seats were not assigned back in the day, we decided to go really early to make sure we got good ones.  When we got to the theater the line was already stretched out to the parking lot (we still got good seats) but it was so much fun because the anticipation and excitement were palpable!  I remember how thrilling it was to hear the instantly recognizable fanfare while watching a new opening crawl!  I almost couldn't contain myself!  Tony and I (and the rowdy crowd we saw it with) really liked it and we were surprised by the critical response because it sets up the characters Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine to become who they are in the original trilogy in a really intriguing way and it is dazzling to look at (there has been a big reassessment of the prequel trilogy in recent years but I always liked them).  Episode I is now back in theaters in honor of its 25th Anniversary and it was so much fun to see it on the big screen again last night with a large crowd!  Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) are assigned to negotiate the end of the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo but are unable to prevent the invasion of the planet.  They eventually rescue the young queen, Amidala (Natalie Portman), and escape but are forced to land on Tatooine for engine repairs.  There they meet a young slave named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) who helps them get the parts they need.  He also makes a big impression on Qui-Gon who arranges for his release.  They travel to Coruscant where Amidala and Palpatine (Iam McDiarmid), the senator from Naboo, hope to plead their case to the Senate only to discover that the blockade is just the beginning a sinister plot by the long dormant Sith to control the galaxy.  This is a movie that definitely should be seen on the big screen because the worldbuilding and visuals are so spectacular, especially the architecture on Naboo, the underwater world of the Gungun, and the senate chamber on Coruscant, and the sound design during the podrace is absolutely epic.  The action sequences are impressive, particularly the aforementioned podrace, the battle against the droid army, the gunfight in the throne room, and the starfighter battle against the droid control ship.  It also features what is widely considered to be the best lightsaber duel in the entire series when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fight Darth Maul (accompanied by "Duel of the Fates" which is one of my favorite pieces from all of the Star Wars soundtracks).  Neeson has a suitably imposing presence as the Jedi Master and I think McGregor is an entirely believable younger version of Obi-Wan as portrayed by Alec Guinness.  Lloyd's performance as Anakin has been much maligned but the farewell scene with his mother is genuinely heartbreaking (and really sets his path to the dark side in motion).  Some of the characters are still problematic (although Jar Jar Binks isn't as annoying as I remember him) and the dialogue is really clunky but it is definitely worth seeing while it is back in theaters (especially if you have never seen it on the big screen).

The Fall Guy

Last night I went to see The Fall Guy looking for a fun summer blockbuster and that is exactly what I got!  After an accident on set Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling), the stunt double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), walks away from the movie business and his camerawoman girlfriend Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).  Eighteen months later producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) convinces him to return to Tom's latest movie because it is being directed by Jody and she has requested him.  When he gets to set he discovers that Jody is not over their break-up and that Gail really summoned him to locate Tom because he has mysteriously disappeared.  Soon he is being blown up, shot at, and set on fire both on set and in real life as he tries to find Tom.  Eventually, he becomes the fall guy in more ways than one and it takes the stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke), Jody, and the entire crew to help him clear his name in an epic stunt.  The story is an absolute mess (I think they should have spent more time developing the central romance rather than the mystery) but the action sequences, and the accompanying adrenaline-fueled soundtrack, are so much fun.  It is definitely an homage to stunt work, and filmmaking in general, and I enjoyed seeing glimpses of what it takes to create the stunts we see on the screen as well as all of the nods to recognizable stunts from other movies.  Gosling, especially, and Blunt are charismatic as the leads and they have sizzling chemistry with each other (as previously mentioned they should have had more interactions together).  Some of the humor doesn't quite land but I laughed out loud during a relationship montage to "All Too Well" by Taylor Swift and several scenes involving a French speaking stunt dog named Jean-Claude.  There are flaws but it is wildly entertaining and the perfect start to the summer blockbuster season.

Challengers

I have been anticipating seeing Challengers for a very long time and I was really excited to finally have the chance last night.  I loved it even more than I was expecting to!  Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) is a champion tennis player who is in a slump after recovering from an injury.  His wife and coach Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), herself a former prodigy, suggests that he play as a wild card in a lower level challenger event to boost his confidence before the U.S. Open.  Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor) is a down-on-his-luck former prodigy who sleeps in his car and plays in challenger events for the meager prize money.  Art and Patrick end up facing each other in the final of this challenger event and, through flashbacks as they play in this heated match, the audience learns that they have a complicated past with each other and with Tashi and that the stakes are even higher than they realize but not what they imagine.  Zendaya gives an absolutely riveting performance and both O'Connor and Faist match her in intensity.  The three of them have absolutely insane chemistry with each other and I honestly cannot decide what was sexier: a scene in a sauna or a scene involving a churro.  The use of tennis as a metaphor is very clever with all of the back and forth that happens between the characters and I loved the exploration of power and what happens to relationships when the power dynamic shifts.  Having a nonlinear timeline, which can sometimes disrupt the pacing, is very effective in this movie because the flashbacks slowly reveal events that directly inform what is happening on the court in the final match and the tension is palpable (I laughed out loud when I realized how Patrick was going to serve the ball and what it meant within the context of the past).  I don't follow tennis or understand much about the game but the way in which the tennis scenes were filmed is incredibly dynamic and exciting.  I especially loved the scenes from the POV of the ball!  Finally, the techno score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is amazing and really amps up the energy in every scene ("Compress/ Repress" is basically a NIN song and I loved it).  I am sure that this is going to be one of my top movies of 2024 and I highly recommend it!

Abigail

Yesterday I spontaneously decided to see Abigail and I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!  A mastermind named Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) assembles a group of criminals with the pseudonyms Frank (Dan Stevens), Joey (Melissa Barrera), Sammy (Kathryn Newton), Dean (Angus Cloud), Rickles (Will Catlett), and Peter (Kevin Durand) to kidnap Abigail (Alisha Weir), the 12-year-old daughter of a powerful underworld crime boss, for a ransom of $50 million.  They bring her to a creepy and secluded mansion (with lots of atmospheric lighting and creaking floorboards) and are told to hold her there for 24 hours but, when Abigail starts to kill them one by one, they realize that she is not an ordinary girl.  This puts an entertaining spin (pun intended) on the usual tropes by having Abigail be a ballerina because this adds a lot of visual flair (and a score by Tchaikovsky) to the action sequences.  Abigail is also a vampire (I almost wish that this had not be revealed in the trailers because not knowing anything about the killer would have added a lot more tension to the first act) so these action sequences also feature enough blood and gore to keep horror fans very happy.  While the characters are incredibly one-note (they are each assigned a defining trait, from which they never deviate, when Joey proves that she can read people), the campy performances are really fun to watch, especially Stevens, because he steals every scene he is in as his character becomes more and more unhinged (he is having quite the year), and Weir, because she has a very compelling presence as both a terrified little girl and a terrifying villain.  Despite a few flaws, I had a bloody good time with this and I think fans of the genre will, too.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

I usually really enjoy Guy Ritchie's movies (I have expunged King Arthur: Legend of the Sword from my memory) so I was really excited to see The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare last night.  This is inspired by a true story based on recently declassified files about a daring mission during World War II that led to the formation of the SAS and I had a lot of fun with it.  German U-boats control the Atlantic Ocean making it difficult for the Americans to join the war effort which Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) is desperate for them to do to alleviate the stress of constant bombing by the Lutwaffe and to stop his advisors from pushing for an appeasement agreement with Germany.  Brigadier Colin Gubbins (Cary Elwes) and Ian Fleming (Freddie Fox), a member of Naval Intelligence, come up with a bold but unsanctioned plan to destroy the U-boat supply ship, Duchessa d'Aosta, stationed at an island off the coast of West Africa called Fernando Po.  They recruit Major Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill), an insubordinate officer serving time in prison, to lead Operation Postmaster and he assembles his own team, including Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin), Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding), and Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson).  Agents Richard Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza Gonzalez) are sent ahead to distract Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger), the SS commandant of Fernando Po, while Gus and his crew make a detour to rescue Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pattyfer), a saboteur being held in the Canary Islands by the Gestapo.  When their plan goes awry they must use unconventional methods to achieve their mission.  This features everything I love about a Guy Ritchie movie: exciting action sequences, a distinctive score that adds to the mayhem, and a wise-cracking protagonist with a bunch of misfit sidekicks.  Cavill is incredibly charismatic as the agent who is believed to have inspired Ian Fleming to create James Bond and, even though Kinnear is probably the worst Churchill I have seen on film (he doesn't look or sound anything like him), the rest of the cast is *ahem* a lot of fun to watch and they have great chemistry with each other.  The story itself is compelling but I didn't really feel a lot of tension or suspense (the Nazis are dispatched almost too easily).  I was, however, very entertained and I recommend it to fans of Ritchie.

La Chimera

After seeing all of the rave reviews for La Chimera I was really excited to see it at the Broadway last night.  It is incredibly thought provoking and, the more I think about it, the more I like it.  Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is a British archaeologist who has just been released from a stint in prison for grave robbing and is returning to a small town in Tuscany.  He visits Flora (Isabella Rossellini), the mother of a former girlfriend named Beniamina (Yile Yara Vianello) who has disappeared from his life but still haunts his dreams, and he befriends Flora's no nonsense music student and housekeeper Italia (Carol Duarte).  However, he soon finds himself back with an eccentric group of tomb raiders using his gift of divining, during which he goes into a fugue state, to locate ancient Etruscan antiquities to sell on the black market through an enigmatic broker named Spartaco (Alba Rohrwacher).  When he finds an untouched tomb full of treasure he must decide of he wants to live in the past or the present.  The story meanders very slowly and there are many shifts in tone (Arthur is a morose and melancholy character while his crew is wild and boisterous, there are images of a sun-dappled Tuscany juxtaposed with dark and gloomy underground tombs, and scenes depicting stark reality are interspersed with magical realism) and changes in format which are sometimes quite disorienting (by design).  Everything suddenly comes together in the end (and upon further reflection) but there were many times when I wondered what was going on and this kept me surprisingly engaged.  The haunting and beautiful final scene is worth all of the effort it takes to untangle the narrative (the allusions to Ariadne and Theseus are brilliant).  O'Connor's moody and otherworldly performance is perfect because Arthur is odds with everyone and everything around him (at one point I wondered if it was all just a dream) and I loved Rossellini's turn as an imperious aristocrat living in a crumbling mansion.  This movie defies description and categorization but I know I will be thinking about it for a long time to come!

Civil War

I have heard lots of different takes about the movie Civil War so I was very excited to have a chance to see it at the Broadway last night so that I could make up my own mind.  It is intense and often difficult to watch but I found it to be incredibly thought provoking with a message about war that really resonated with me.  In a dystopian future, the U.S. has descended into a civil war with Loyalist States led by a dictatorial third-term president (Nick Offerman) fighting against various factions, including the Western Forces (Texas and California), the Florida Alliance, and the New People's Army.  Two journalists, Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and Joel (Wagner Moura), covering the conflict in New York decide to head to Washington, D.C. to try and interview the heavily guarded president before the Western Forces make a final push to capture the capitol.  Their colleague Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) asks to join them as far as the front lines in Charlottesville, Virginia and, despite the fact that he is old and infirm, they allow him to come.  Joel also allows Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young and aspiring photographer who idolizes Lee, to join them despite Lee's objections.  They document the ongoing conflict as they make the increasingly dangerous journey through civilian populations, who are doing whatever they need to in order to survive, which culminates in a dramatic assault on the White House.  This movie uses the lens of journalistic objectivity to focus more on what is happening rather than why it is happening.  It portrays urban warfare very realistically and it is incredibly shocking and violent with a discomfiting sound design that adds to the tension.  The fact that it does not espouse an ideological viewpoint (which has been problematic for many) and that it is difficult to watch (which has also been problematic for others) is actually the point because the message, in my opinion, is that war (and the subsequent collapse of societal norms) is catastrophic no matter the cause.  What I found most riveting is the juxtaposition between Lee, the hardened veteran of many foreign conflicts, and Jessie, the inexperienced newcomer who reacts emotionally to everything she sees, because they slowly trade personas as the narrative progresses.  The performances, especially by Dunst and Spaeny as well as a menacing cameo by Jesse Plemons that made me jump twice, are also very compelling.  I would rate this as one of my favorites this year but the choice to have characters of color on the receiving end of most of the violence made me extremely uncomfortable.  Nonetheless, I would definitely recommend it.

Wicked Little Letters

I have been looking forward to seeing Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley together in Wicked Little Letters ever since I saw the trailer and I finally had the chance last night at the Broadway.  I loved this charming British period piece and I laughed out loud more times than I can count (as did the entire audience).  Edith Swan (Colman), a devout spinster who lives with her controlling and misogynistic father Edward (Timothy Spall) and her sympathetic mother Victoria (Gemma Jones) in Littlehampton, England during the 1920s, has been receiving anonymous letters that are deeply disturbing to her because they contain vulgar insults and profanity.  She suspects that her neighbor Rose Gooding (Buckley), a wild and foul-mouthed single mother from Ireland, is responsible for these letters and has the dim-witted Constable Papperwick (Hugh Skinner) arrest her.  Rose denies writing them and a female police officer named Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) believes her because there is no credible evidence against her.  However, Chief Constable Spedding (Paul Chahidi), who is under pressure from Parliament to solve the case, dismisses her concerns so she enlists several eccentric women from the village (Joanna Scanlan, Lolly Adefope, and Eileen Atkins) to help her find the proof to clear Rose.  Colman is absolutely hilarious as a seemingly pious woman who is secretly delighted by all of the attention she is receiving from this scandal and I wanted to cheer when she finally confronts her father.  Buckley is always a lot of fun when she plays a brash young woman but she is very affecting as a mother who wants a better life for her daughter.  I also really enjoyed Vasan's performance as a woman undaunted by discrimination she faces in the police department and the rest of the cast is delightful.  I figured out the mystery, based on a true story, early on but it didn't matter because the characters are all so engaging.  This is a crowd-pleaser that I recommend to fans of British comedies with the proviso that it obviously includes a lot of profanity (albeit with very charming accents).

Gone with the Wind

Last night I got to see Gone with the Wind on the big screen in honor of its 85th anniversary and it was an amazing experience to see this epic movie presented as it was meant to be seen!  On the eve of the Civil War, the spoiled and petulant Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) thinks only of attending genteel parties at neighboring plantations and of catching the eye of the soft-spoken Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard).  Her life is forever changed when war is declared and when Ashley marries Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland).  Through sheer determination and force of will she does whatever it takes to survive the horrors of the war and keep Tara, her family's plantation, during the turbulent days of Reconstruction all while continuing to pine for Ashley.  However, she meets her match in the rakish blockade runner Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) and she eventually marries him despite the fact that she doesn't love him.  It takes a tragedy for Scarlett to realize that her love for Ashley was an illusion, just like life in the South before the war, and that Rhett is the one she truly loves.  She begs him for a reconciliation but he tells her that it is too late which prompts her to return to Tara which is the source of her strength.  While this movie is very problematic, especially how it romanticizes the Antebellum South as a time of chivalry with knights and their ladies fair and the portrayal of slaves as docile and content to be owned by their benevolent masters, I really love the underlying story about perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds (especially by a woman), the iconic performances of both Leigh and Gable, and the stunning cinematography (the wide shot of Scarlett walking among the Confederate dead and wounded and the silhouettes against the burning of Atlanta are breathtaking).  It was so much fun to see this with a crowd because there were cheers during all of the familiar quotes and applause at the end.  There is one more chance to see this as part of Fathom's Big Screen Classics series (go here for information and tickets) and I highly recommend it.

The First Omen

The second movie in my double feature last night was The First Omen, a prequel to The Omen, and it has such an atmosphere of escalating dread that I was genuinely scared at times (which doesn't happen that often for me).  In 1971 Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a young American novitiate with a troubled past, travels to Rome at the invitation of her mentor Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) to work at an orphanage before taking her vows.  Margaret immediately bonds with Carlita (Nicole Sorace), an older orphan who has hallucinations that are similar to those she experienced as a child, and she is troubled by how the nuns, especially Sister Silvia (Sonia Braga), respond to her.  Her unease eventually turns to terror when Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) warns her that Carlita may be part of a sinister plot to bring about the birth of the Antichrist.  I really enjoyed the story and not just because of how well it leads to the events of the earlier movie but also because of how it incorporates the social and political turmoil of the 1970s as well as the lack of bodily autonomy faced by women (it has themes similar to Immaculate).  I found it very unsettling because of the atmospheric lighting, graphic visuals (that are quite provocative), immersive sound design (I got goosebumps every time I heard whispered prayers), ominous score (which pays homage to the original movie), and body horror that had people in my audience gasping out loud (the birth scene is intense).  The 1970s period verisimilitude is amazing because this looks like it was produced at the same time as The Omen (which I watched again as soon as I got home).  Finally, Nell Tiger Free gives an incredibly compelling performance and there is one scene in particular that is worth the price of admission alone.  This is honestly so much better than I was expecting (it is definitely my favorite horror movie so far this year) and I recommend it to fans of the genre.

Monkey Man

Last night I had a really fun double feature which began with Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man.  I am a huge fan of Patel so I was very excited to see this and I was definitely not disappointed!  Inspired by the legend of Hanuman (a powerful deity in the shape of a monkey) which was told to him as a child by his mother, an anonymous man (Patel) earns a living wearing a monkey mask while losing to more popular fighters in an illegal ring run by Tiger (Sharlto Copley).  Motivated by revenge, he also takes a job working at an exclusive club frequented by Rana Singh (Sikandar Kher), the chief of police who beat his mother to death while evacuating their village at the behest of a supposed holy man Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) who wanted the land for a commune.  However, his attempt to assassinate Rana is unsuccessful and, even though he is severely wounded, he manages to elude Rana and his men as well as escape from police custody (in some exhilarating sequences).  He is taken in by a hijra, or transgender woman, named Alpha (Vipin Sharma) who helps him recuperate and train by reminding him of who he is and what he is really fighting for.  Inspired once more by Hanuman and aided by Alpha and her group, an epic battle with Rana and Baba ensues.  I loved so many things about this movie!  The action is both incredibly stylish and shockingly violent and the frenetic way in which it was filmed makes it so exciting to watch.  It is an absolute adrenaline rush from beginning to end, especially a training sequence accompanied by drums and the final battle at the club.  Patel is definitely an entertaining action star (he has been my choice to play James Bond ever since I saw him in The Wedding Guest) but I was also impressed by the way his eyes express everything his character is feeling.  It is more than just a revenge action thriller because it is also features a scathing indictment of the corruption and hypocrisy that affects the marginalized people of India (I particularly loved the treatment of the hijras) as well as a moving exploration of Hindu mythology.  It is obvious that this is Patel's passion project (he broke his hand while filming the first scene) so I am really glad that it received a theatrical release.  Go see it on the big screen if you are a fan of the genre!

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Last night I went to a Thursday preview of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and, as is the case with the other movies in the MonsterVerse (Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Godzilla vs. Kong), the monsters are compelling and so much fun to watch and the humans exist only to provide convoluted exposition.  Kong has taken up residence in Hollow Earth but, because he is lonely, he ventures deeper and deeper into uncharted territory looking for other apes.  He finds a tribe, including a young ape named Suko and their brutal leader Skar King who controls the powerful ice titan Shimo.  The scientists working at a Monarch outpost, including Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), pick up an unexplained signal which is especially distressing to Jia (Kaylee Hottle) and triggers Godzilla to go on the move.  Andrews, Jia, a daredevil veterinarian named Trapper (Dan Stevens), and the conspiracy theory podcaster Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry) travel to Hollow Earth and discover that the last remaining members of the Iwi tribe, from which Jia is descended, sent the signal requesting help against Shimo.  Kong fights Skar King and Shimo but is outmatched and wounded (prompting Trapper to give him a mechanized arm) so Jia awakens Mothra who convinces Godzilla to join forces with Kong.  An epic battle ensues.  The first two acts are kind of a slog to get through with a few fun moments, such as Henry providing comic relief and the touching relationship between Kong and his mini-me Suko, but the third act is amazing with exhilarating battle sequences both inside Hollow Earth and on Earth (the Iwi have technology that controls gravity because of course they do).  All of the visuals are absolutely incredible, especially the Iwi's civilization in Hollow Earth, Godzilla's dorsal plates when they light up, and Mothra's wings.  This is probably the most ridiculous and least interesting installment in the MonsterVerse but I would by lying if I said I didn't enjoy it!  I recommend it to fans of the franchise.

Immaculate

I was very excited to see Immaculate after all of the positive reviews from SXSW but, after seeing it last night, I was still surprised by how much I enjoyed it.  Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is a devout young woman searching for God's will after being saved from a near death experience as a child and this search eventually brings her to a remote convent in the Italian countryside.  She takes her vows and attempts to integrate with life in the convent but begins noticing strange goings-on in the middle of the night.  Strangest of all is when she discovers that she is pregnant despite the fact that she is a virgin.  Cardinal Franco Merola (Giorgio Colangeli) and Father Tedeschi (Alvaro Morte) proclaim it to be a miracle and, while most of the nuns venerate her as a saint, one attempts to kill her which leads her to suspect that something more sinister is going on.  The first two acts are unsettling and slowly build a sense of dread with a gloomy location (lots of long corridors), atmospheric lighting (lots of glimmering candles), ominous sound design, and eerie religious chanting.  Then the final act becomes a suspenseful survival thriller with impressive amounts of gore and an ending that is incredibly bold (it won't be for everyone but I liked the focus on the evils of man rather than the supernatural).  Sweeney gives one of her best performances because her escalating fear and desperation are palpable, especially in a long tracking shot through catacombs and in a haunting final shot.  Character development is very surface level and there are some inconsistencies that are never fully resolved but the narrative is an interesting twist on religious horror and I appreciated the tension and the mood.  I really dug this and recommend it to fans of the genre.

Late Night with the Devil

The next movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Late Night with the Devil and it was fun seeing this with a large late-night crowd!  This begins like a documentary investigating a disturbing incident that happened during a live broadcast of a late night talk show called Night Owls with Jack Delroy on October 31, 1977.  We learn details about Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), including his career trajectory and competition with Johnny Carson, his mysterious connection to an exclusive men's club, the death of his wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig) which has caused his show to suffer a steady decline, and his decision, against the objections of his sidekick Gus McConnell (Rhys Auteri), to do an occult-themed show on Halloween in order to boost ratings.  Then it shifts to the "found footage" from the episode featuring Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), a medium, Carmichael the Conjurer (Ian Bliss), a former magician turned skeptic, Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), a parapsychologist, and her subject Lilly D'Abo (Ingrid Torelli), a survivor of a Satanic cult who seems to be possessed by a demon.  During the course of the broadcast, Jack and his producer Leo Fiske (Josh Quong Tart) convince June to summon the demon with terrifying results.  I found the premise to be very interesting but I was a bit disappointed with the ending because the message about the high cost of success is a bit jumbled.  However, I really loved Dastmalchian's performance because he nails the smarmy persona of the late night talk show hosts of the era (more about that) and he portrays Delroy's uncertainty about what is happening so well that the audience begins to question it as well.  The rest of the cast commits fully to the bit but Torelli is especially unnerving!  The 1970s vibe is absolutely brilliant and I loved the retro design of the brown and orange set, the cheesy theme music, the period costumes and hairstyles, the aspect ratio, and the grainy film aesthetic.  This is more unsettling than scary (although there are some suitably gory sequences) but it is really entertaining, especially with a crowd, and I recommend it.

Problemista

Last night I had another double feature at the Broadway starting with Problemista.  I saw a preview for this last fall and it really piqued my interest but it got delayed so I've been waiting a long time to see it.  It was worth the wait because I loved this imaginative and whimsical take on the American dream.  Alejandro (Julio Torres) is an aspiring toy designer from El Salvador who keeps getting rejected from a development training program at Hasbro.  In the meantime, he works at a cryogenics facility and is tasked with monitoring the frozen body of an artist named Bobby (RZA) but an incident with the power generator gets him fired which puts his work visa in jeopardy.  On his way out he meets Bobby's eccentric wife Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), an art critic who has alienated everyone in the art world with her outrageous and deranged behavior.  She decides to hire Alejandro, after he lies about knowing FileMaker Pro (a hilarious running joke), to help her curate a show of Bobby's paintings.  She promises him that she will sponsor him on his visa application if the show is a success but she is almost impossible to please and seems to create obstacle after obstacle.  However, he ends up being the one person who understands her and she ends up giving him the confidence to go after his dream.  As someone who has had dealings with the immigration system in the U.S., I found the surrealistic portrayal of the bureaucracy involved to be both hilarious and poignant, especially when Alejandro must climb through an endless maze that gets him nowhere as the sands in an hourglass fall faster and faster.  I also loved the personification of Craigslist (Larry Owens) as a genie, who Alejandro uses to find jobs that pay under the table, to be really clever.  Torres gives a subdued performance as Alejandro shuffles through (literally) all of the outlandish situations in which he finds himself and this is highly effective in juxtaposition to Swinton's over the top portrayal of entitlement on steroids.  This is definitely a social satire about inequality but it is one with a highly original vision that mostly succeeds and I couldn't stop laughing!

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

I actually had a lot of fun with Ghostbusters: Afterlife so I decided to see the latest installment in the franchise, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, last night.  There is a good movie in there somewhere but, unfortunately, it is overstuffed with nostalgia, unnecessary characters, and distracting subplots.  Callie Spengler (Carrie Coon), her children Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace), and her boyfriend Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) are now living in the iconic fire station in NYC and working as ghostbusters.  Their latest exploit leads to a lot of collateral damage which gets the attention of Mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton) who wants to shut them down.  He settles for suspending Phoebe because she is a minor.  This leads the rebellious Phoebe, who feels useless and left out, to befriend Melody (Emily Alyn Lind), a restless ghost desperate to reunite with her family who died in a fire.  Meanwhile, Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani) sells an ancient artifact once owned by his grandmother to Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) because he is now collecting cursed objects.  A demonic god named Garraka, who uses fear to lower the temperature to absolute zero, is trapped inside but Melody, who hopes that Garraka will reunite her with her family, uses Phoebe to free it from the artifact which unleashes a new ice age on NYC.  Phoebe must join forces with Melody and Razmaadi, who has heretofore unknown powers as the Fire Master, to stop it.  This story takes a really long time to get going but it is the best part of the movie.  However, it becomes a convoluted mess with the addition of nostalgia characters such as Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), and Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), who do nothing but provide callbacks to the original movie, unnecessary characters such as Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O'Connor), who do nothing but provide callbacks to the last move, and characters, such as Dr. Lars Pinfield (James Acaster) and Dr. Hubert Wartzki (Patton Osward), who exist only to provide endless exposition dumps.  There are also some subplots, including Trevor's desire to to be taken seriously as an adult, Gary's struggle to be a father figure, and Ray's fear of irrelevance, that don't really come together.  I liked Phoebe's arc and I really enjoyed Nanjiani because he provides a lot of comic relief but the rest of it is a slog to get through.  I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a die hard fan of the franchise but, honestly, Afterlife is a much better legacy sequel.

Note:  I think, going forward, the movies should only focus on the younger Spenglers or it might be time to end this franchise.

Arthur the King

Mark Wahlberg is hit or miss with me but I love dogs so I decided to see Arthur the King last night and, for the second night in a row, I needed tissues for another inspirational true story.  Michael Light (Wahlberg) is an adventure racer desperate for what might be his last chance to win after failing to complete his last race.  He assembles a team for the world championships in the Dominican Republic including Chik (Ali Suliman), who was dropped by his former team after a knee injury, Olivia (Nathalie Emmanuel), who is fighting her own demons, and Leo (Simu Liu), a former teammate stipulated by a sponsor because of his large social media following.  As they begin the grueling race, which consists of trekking through dense vegetation, mountain climbing, biking through treacherous terrain, and kayaking, Michael notices an injured stray dog at a transition station and feeds him.  The dog, who they name Arthur, begins following them and, at a crucial moment, he saves their lives.  Michael bonds with him as he becomes a sort of mascot for the team and this friendship becomes more important than winning.  I really enjoyed this movie because it features exciting action, including an incredibly tense scene involving a zip-line, a compelling character seeking redemption for past failures, and an emotional story about a man and a dog who end up saving each other.  Wahlberg actually does a great job portraying the bond between his character and Arthur and has undeniable chemistry with Ukai (the dog who plays Arthur), especially in a scene where he has to coax Arthur into a crate.  I was very invested in their friendship and I was definitely crying during several emotional moments (I was not the only one).  This is not very deep or groundbreaking but it is a feel-good movie that dog lovers are sure to enjoy!

One Life

Last night I went to see a Thursday preview of One Life, the true story of how an ordinary man did something extraordinary to save hundreds of children on the eve of World War II, and I am glad I brought tissues because I definitely needed them!  In 1988, Nicholas Winton (Anthony Hopkins) is retired and living in Maidenhead, England with his wife Grete (Lena Olin).  She is exasperated by all of the clutter that he has held on to over the years so, while she is out of town, he attempts to organize it and finds a scrapbook from his time helping refugees in Czechoslovakia.  As he thinks about what to do with the scrapbook, the narrative shifts to 1938 when twenty-nine year old Nicholas Winton (Johnny Flynn) visits Czechoslovakia after the Munich Agreement gives Hitler control of the Sudetenland.  He is horrified by the appalling conditions in which many of the refugees, but especially the children, pouring into Prague are forced to live and requests that Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai), the head of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia, help them but she tells him that she must prioritize the political figures facing arrest.  He decides to evacuate the children himself with the help of his mother Babi (Helena Bonham Carter), herself a former refugee.  Nicholas and his mother overcome tremendous obstacles to acquire visas, raise funds, and find foster homes in England for 669 children, most of whom are Jewish, before the border is closed after the German invasion of Poland.  The narrative then shifts back to 1988 after Winton's scrapbook ends up with the producers of the That's Life! TV show.  He is invited to a taping of the show but is surprised to discover that many of the children he saved are in the audience (I loved that the descendants of the children saved by Winton were used as extras in this scene) and has an emotional reunion with them.  This movie is a very conventional British period piece in terms of execution (luckily I happen to love these) but it is elevated by an incredibly compelling and moving story and by wonderful performances.  I loved learning more about this unlikely hero who acts simply because of a sense of altruism and there are several poignant scenes that had me (and most of the audience) crying, especially one where Winton is finally able to express his feelings after repressing his guilt at not being able to save all of the children for so long and multiple scenes where parents say heart wrenching goodbyes to the children they will most likely never see again as they board the trains to England.  I also really liked a scene where the young Winton gives his reasons why a rabbi should trust him with a list of children's names.  Hopkins is brilliant, particularly in the silences, but I really love the way in which Flynn, in one of his best performances, adopts all of his mannerisms and the two of them really do seem like an older and younger version of the same person.  Bonham Carter is also a standout, especially when Babi imperiously tells a bureaucrat to sit down and listen to her and, even though Doreen is not a very well-developed character, Garai portrays her frustration in a very visceral way.  The message that one man can make a difference in the world is a powerful one and I highly recommend this inspiring movie (just bring lots of tissues).

Io Capitano

Last night I went to the Broadway to see Io Capitano, which was nominated for the Best International Feature Academy Award and won the Silver Lion for director Matteo Garrone at the Venice Film Festival, and I was incredibly moved by this powerful story of migration.  Two Senegalese teens, Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and his cousin Moussa (Moustapha Fall), secretly work construction jobs for six months to earn enough money to emigrate to Europe for a better life. Seydou begins having second thoughts about the dangers involved but Moussa convinces him and they leave without telling their families.  They pay an exorbitant price to be taken across the Sahara Desert during a harrowing journey with a group on foot but they are separated when Moussa is arrested and Seydou ends up in a detention camp in Libya.  Seydou survives the horrors of the detention camp and being sold into indentured servitude with the help of a fellow detainee named Martin (Issaka Sawagodo) who takes him under his wing but he refuses to continue on to Italy with him in order to stay and search for Moussa in Tripoli.  He eventually finds Moussa only to discover that he was shot while escaping from prison.  Desperate to get Moussa to Italy for medical care, Seydou takes the only option available to him which is to pilot a boat, overcrowded with desperate woman and children for whom he feels responsible, in a daring journey across the Mediterranean Sea.  It was sometimes very difficult to watch everything that Seydou and Moussa go through but, even though there are lots of people who ruthlessly take advantage of their situation, there are just as many people who show them kindness and I loved the use of magical realism as a way of coping with the horrors they are experiencing.  Both Sarr and Fall give highly sympathetic and compelling performances but I was especially invested in Seydou's fate because we see everything through his eyes and he humanizes a global problem.  The suspense is almost unbearable in the third act because of how much I had come to care for these characters but I loved the ending because it is cautiously optimistic without minimizing the dangers they still face.  I loved this and would highly recommend it.