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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 12 August 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

ALIEN ROMULUS (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Fede Alvarez

ALIEN ROMULUS is a 2024 American science fiction horror film.  Directed by Fede Álvarez, (EVIL DEAD, 2013 and DON’T BREATHE) who co-wrote it with Rodo Sayagues, the film was produced by Scott Free Productions and Brandywine Productions. It appears that the director of the regional ALIEN Ridley Scott can just sit back and collect the money from this cash cow franchise leaving the directing to someone else.  The film is the seventh installment in the Alien franchise and serves as a standalone sequel set between the events of ALIEN (1979) and ALIENS(1986).

ALIEN ROMULUS is set between the events of ALIEN (1979) and ALIENS (1986).  The story concerns a group of young space colonists who, while scavenging a derelict space station, come face to face with a Xenomorph.  The cast and colonists include:

Cailee Spaeny as Rain Carradine, an orphan working a dead-end job at a mining colony

David Jonsson as Andy, an android programmed by Rain's father to act as her brother

Archie Renaux as Tyler, Rain's ex-boyfriend and Kay’s brother

Isabela Merced as Kay, Tyler's younger sister

Spike Fearn as Bjorn, Tyler and Kay’s cousin

Aileen Wu as Navarro, a pilot and Bjorn's girlfriend

The film has a strong female slant with Rain Carradine being the main female protagonist, as do many of the other films in the franchise which featured Sigourney Weaver.

ALIEN ROMULUS should satisfy its ALIEN fans and win more over because director Alvarez plays it safe, as the film contains many elements seen and made popular by other ALIEN films.  Much of what is expected is delivered like gooey births of aliens sprouting from a human being’s chest like an overgrown parasite.  Again there are close-ups of the monster's face right up close to the female protagonist, the alien’s mouth dripping with drool and other disgusting fluids.  The dialogue contains phrases like Die bitch and die motherfucker as the heroes destroy the monsters.  Included in the dialogue are a few lame astronaut jokes like: “I cannot put down the book on zero gravity” and ‘The claustrophobic astronaut needs space”.

The alien, nicely done by the special effects make-up crew worthy of the best of the ALIEN films is called the xenomorph (also known as a Xenomorph XX121 or Internecivus raptus, a fictional endoparasitoid extraterrestrial species that serves as the title antagonist of the Alien franchise.

The question on the audience’s mind is why the film is called ALIEN ROMULUS.   In Roman mythology, Romulus is one of the twin brothers who founded Rome. The name could imply themes of origin, creation, or the founding of something new, which might relate to the plot or the nature of the alien species in the film.  The title might refer to a specific place, such as a planet or colony named Romulus within the universe of the film. This could be a key setting where significant events unfold.  The reason is not made clear, however, there is one brief scene in which neon lights flash the word ROMULUS at the top of the screen which could imply perhaps the name of a space station in the film.

Trailer: 

CLOSE TO TOU (UK/Canada 2024) *

Directed by Dominic Savage

CLOSE TO You, an intimate family drama on the effects of family dynamics on transitioning, stars Elliot (formerly Ellen) Page.  On December 1, 2020, Page himself came out on social media as a trans man, specifying his pronouns as he and they, and revealed his new name, Elliot. Who better than Page, a Canadian actor and producer with accolades including nominations for an Academy Award,  (for JUNO) three British Academy Film Awards, a Golden Globe Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, to play the role of a trans returning from Toronto to the small town of Cobourg to visit for her father’s birthday.  Cobourg is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario 95 km (59 mi) east of Toronto and 62 km (39 mi) east of Oshawa.  It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County.  The film is shot in both Toronto and Cobourg.

Living in downtown Toronto, Sam (Page) hasn’t been back to his hometown of Cobourg since he transitioned.  Now, after a four-year absence, he’s returning for his father’s birthday and a dreaded family reunion.  The family was what made Sam leave Cobourg in the first place.  On the train, Sam has a chance encounter with Katherine (Hillary Baack), an old friend he has not seen since high school.  The two were once very close.  Although Katherine is settled in Cobourg and married with children, the spark between them is still there.  “You look so good… the same, just more you,” she says.  Meanwhile, the family visit itself will force Sam to confront long-buried memories, and not-so-good ones at that,

Despite what appears to be a simple family drama, Page is an excellent actor, bringing meaning and thought to every line she recites from the script.  Director Savage knows this, and utilizes Page as best he can, Page appearing in almost every scene in the film.

Canadian actors Wendy Crewson and Peter Outerbridge play Sam’s parents while Alex Paxton-Beesley, Janet Porter and Daniel Maslany play the siblings, and David Reale and Andrew Bushell his brothers-in-law..  There is also a cameo at the film’s start by former CITY TV icon Sook-Yin Lee as Sam’s roommate in Toronto’s Kensington Market area.

The one problem with films where a dysfunctional family meets on some occasion is that all the skeletons in the closet come out, which though might be different for different films, still feel cliched and forced into the script.  The treatment of Sam’s family towards her and her transition all come out during the short gathering, which is of course, too much for any person to take in.  The rekindled romance between Sam and her high school friend now currently married does not really work either.

The film is extremely personal with the topic transitioning and for this reason, will be a hard sell to the commercial public despite decent and committed portrayals in the film.

CLOSE TO YOU opens August 16 across Canada, including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Calgary, Victoria and more!

Trailer: 

JACKPOT! (original title: Grand Death Auto) (USA 2024) **
Directed by Paul Feig

JACKPOT! is an outrageous action-comedy about a ‘Grand Lottery’ with a catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot

Any title with the word death or hell or something bad almost seems a curse on the success of a movie.  An example is the Sylvester Stallone flop HELL’S KITCHEN re-titled PARADISE ALLEY though the tactic did not work.  The new MGM Studios Prime Video action comedy also goes on with the name change to JACKPOT! but the film, basically a one-joke movie runs out of steam faster than Katie can run out of her predators.

The premise is set in the dystopian future not too far off, where in order for California to obtain funds, they have created a lottery.  When the lottery winner is announced the whole of California will be allowed to hunt down and kill the winner and thus recover the prize money.  The only rule is that no guns are allowed.  Everything is within the law.  So unsuspecting Katie (Awkwafina) who has just arrived in California finds herself the recipient of the prize, only to be hunted down by everyone else (well, almost) including her roommate.  Enter the scene Noel (John Cena) who provides protection to the winner for 10% of the stake.  It is Noel and Katie versus the rest of California.

The story is a bit of a take-off of the successful PURGE franchise.  In THE PURGE, a day is allotted in the United States where any crime can be committed, killings included in which all is lawful.  It is a silly and unbelievable premise, according to this reviewer and one of the surprises is how this franchise has managed to do so well and spawned so many sequels including a sort of rip-off like JACKPOT!

Cena and Awkwafina make a good pairing but a one-joke movie can only go so far.  Also, the action comedy genre has been more than overdone this year with films like THE FALL GUY and the recent DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE that is still playing in the theatres.  Even director Paul Feig, best known for his terribly funny BRIDESMAIDS is unable to do much for the film.  The only person to come out unscathed in the film is Simu Liu who plays the villain Louis Lewis.

The film does have a bright start with Seann William Scott (from the GOON movies and the AMERICAN PIE movies) being a lottery winner and running away before entering the apartment of a granny played by Dolly de Leon (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS).  These are two big-name stars who make their cameo appearances during the film’s introductory segment.  But whatever anticipation is soon lost after the segment.

Note that The JACKPOT! Jackpot Sweepstakes is launching with the campaign. Fans can go to TheJackpotJackpot.com to enter for a chance to win GOLD, CASH and BUFFALO WILD WINGS FOR A DECADE!! (Combined value is over $35,000 for one lucky winner.)

JACKPOT! Premieres Globally on Prime Video on August 15, 2024

Trailer:

MY PENGUIN FRIEND (USA/Brazil 2024) **
Directed by David Schurmann

With the closing credits comes the line: “The filmmakers wish to save the planet and all its precious inhabitants.”  Inspired by a true story, MY PENGUIN FRIEND is a sappy story of a simple human being, a fisherman and his penguin friend.  The penguin is not my pet, but my friend.  What one would expect is a family movie so endearing that it can be a bit sickening -  even though one might think that it is impossible to dislike a film about a human being and his trusty penguin.  Aimed at pulling at the audience’s heartstrings at all costs, the film treads the fine line between credibility and ridiculousness.  The film stars French actor Jean Reno who has been in French action films, though he was also in the disastrous Pink Panther film with Steve Martin.

Inspired by a true story; an enchanting adventure about a lost penguin rescued from an oil spill, who transforms the life of a heartbroken fisherman. The two soon become unlikely friends, so bonded that even the vast ocean cannot divide them.

The story begins with Jaoa's (Jena Reno) loss of his son as he takes him fishing on his birthday in the boat that capsized.  As if by Providence, Jaoa is gifted with the rescue of a penguin who becomes friends with Jaoa and his wife, Maria.  Every year, this penguin swims 5000 miles back to Antarctica only to return to the island to reunite with Jaoa.  Brazilian marine biologists discover this and the two are made famous.  ‘You can interview me, but Dimdin (the name given to the penguin) comes and goes as he pleases.’   But offered a grant if the penguin is given to the university for research, poor Dimdin is captured only to escape a story that seems too incredible to be true.  Director Schurmann makes no effort to create credibility in the story.  The impossible incident involves Jaoa finding his penguin unconscious in the water at night around the island.

Many will not be familiar with the island where the film is set.  The setting is Ilha Grande, one of the most pristine examples of Brazil's endangered Atlantic rainforest habitat, containing a multitude of species of plants and animals. A hotspot for biodiversity and conservation, Ilha Grande is home to at least 110 resident and migratory avian species, including Magellanic penguins, the one assumed to be the species the penguin in the film belongs to.

Good intentions aside, MY PENGUIN FRIEND is too implausibly made to be believed even though the film claims that a true story inspires it.  Only young kids will believe what they see and perhaps that would be the target audience of this impossible film.

Director Schurmasnn is known to be fluent in creating poignant stories.  His directorial debut, "Little Secret," was a triumph, representing Brazil at the 2017 Oscars. Based on the true story of his adopted sister, Katherine Schurmann, the film highlighted Schurmann's ability to craft poignant tales that leave a lasting impact on viewers.  To his credit, beyond his cinematic pursuits, Schurmann leads the environmental initiative "Voice of the Oceans," raising awareness about critical ocean-related issues and demonstrating his commitment to positive change.

The film will open across Canada on Friday, August 16.

Trailer: 

THE UNION (USA 2024) **
Directed by Julian Farino

A construction worker(Mark Wahlberg)  is roped into the espionage world by his former high school girlfriend (Halle Berry).

Lots of small talk in the film.  When Mike talks about last night, his woman tells him that it is their last night.  Or during the meeting, Mike and Roxanne talk about puking on his tuxedo in high school that he claims he can still wear.  The small talk runs throughout the film which is typical for a film that runs out of ideas for an action comedy.

The film is called THE UNION not because of the union between the two leads but because it stands for the name of a covert spy agency that works with ordinary working people like Mike who is a construction worker.  The agency trains them with James Bond-type skills. The audience is to believe so, that Mike can turn into James Bond, driving fast cars and fighting enemy agents, Director Julian Farino is a British director and producer best known for his TV film MARVELLOUS which won him the BAFTA Television Craft Award for Best Director.

Unfortunately, neither director Farino, Halle Berry nor Mark Wahlberg is able to bring any fresh excitement to this well-worked romantic action comedy genre, the likes of which have seen better days in the recent THE FALL GUY or even FLY ME TO THE MOON.  The film contains at most decent action, mostly missing in the first half of its running time,  There is also little comedy, unless one likes small talk, not to mention the lack of Chemistry between the two stars.  No one really cares if their mission is successful.

THE UNION is a Netflix original 9though one can hardly call it that) open for streaming this week.

Trailer: 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 August 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

BETWEEN THE TEMPLES (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Nathan Silver

Which race or religion would one immediately think of when the word ‘neurotic’ is mentioned?  Neurotic Jewish old women are often portrayed in films but always in the form of entertainment.  When the film BETWEEN THE TEMPLES opens, the audience sees neuroticism at its fullest.  The protagonist is a cantor (the one singing at the temple or synagogue) as a job who cannot sing and one who’s two mothers, one of whom is played by the Filipino Dolly de Leon who was first seen in the artistic hit TRIANGLE OF SADNESS,  While getting drunk act the local bar, he meets his old music teacher and they form a strong relationship that tells the rest of what can be called an endearing story rich with Jewish norms.

Jason Schwartzman (a Wes Anderson regular) and Carol Kane (veteran actress of films way back) star in Nathan Silver’s BETWEEN The TEMPLES, an off-beat Jewish comedy about a floundering cantor who finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher enters his life as a bat mitzvah student.  

Since his wife’s sudden passing, cantor Ben (Schwartzman) has lost his voice, perhaps his faith and definitely his zest for living.  He’s now even living with his two mothers (Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon) in their upstate New York house.  But then one night at a bar, he runs into Carla (Kane), his former music teacher.  He’s drowning himself in mudslides. He gets punched ninth the face after an altercation with another customer (John Magary, who also is the film’s editor).  She’s there for weekly karaoke.  Although born Jewish, Carla explains
why she never had a bat mitzvah.  And would Ben take her on as a student?

  Despite a good 30 years apart in age, the two have a lot in common.  Both are widowed, Carla’s out of a job, and Ben can’t figure out why he still has one, given he can’t sing.  Ben teaches Carla about the Jewish faith and she gives him exercises to restore his voice.  It’s obvious the two are smitten, much to the surprise of Carla’s son (Matthew Shear), Ben’s mothers and the rabbi (Robert Smigel) who tries to match up Ben with his daughter (Madeline Weinstein), although the rabbi does warn Ben: “She’s a mess.”

The restaurant scene at the Chained Duck with the oversized menus is the film’s prized hilarious segment.

Schwartzman plays the role of a typical neurotic non-winner the type that is a mamma’s boy, in this case, a two mamma’s boy.  Cane is always a pleasure to watch whether she is doing drama or comedy.  Despite the complexity of life, the characters and actors’ large age difference, their chemistry plays well, a fact that makes the movie work and reveals the wonders of life experiences, whether bad or good and what one can learn from them.  Though one might complain of the script’s lack of focus on any problem, that is actually the way life plays out.  Like life, the film is best enjoyed by just sitting back and seeing how it plays out.

BETWEEN THE TEMPLES made its debut at Sundance this year and opens on August 23in Toronto (TIFF Lightbox), Vancouver and Montreal!  The film also opens throughout the summer in other cities.

Trailer: 

BLINK TWICE  (USA/Mexico 2024) ****
Directed by Zoe Kravitz

When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It is supposed to be paradise, but is it?  Wild nights blend into sun-soaked days and everyone's having a great time. Nobody wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question the reality., especially when the friend she has brought with her disappears.  Something is wrong with this place. She'll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.

The best looking actor in the film is not one of the females but Levon Hawke, making his debut as a minor character, also called Mr. Nobody or Mr. Nothing.  Tall, lean, blondish white, he could be a model for any design house.  Hawke is the son of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke and is a sight for sore eyes.

The film’s changed title name from PUSSY ISLAND to BLINK TWICE which is not that catchy, is understandable.  The film tackles the #MeTooMovement while punishing the males for their sins.  Calling the film PUSSY ISLAND would diminish the purpose of the movement.  With the new title come catchy phrases like: “Are you having a good time? (at the private island resort?)

The film has to be credited for its sharp camera placement as well as film editing by Kathryn.  Shots of close-ups of the head of a snake, the faces of the guests and broken items all add to the shock effects of the movie creating the best of a psychological thriller, murder mystery and dark comedy.

Zoe Kravitz daughter of Lenny Kravitz, makes this impressive debut in a film that has already received accolades at previews everywhere.  The film is scripted by Zoë Kravitz and  E.T. Feigenbaum.

The film contains a twist ending that though is not that credible but given the mood of the film is completely acceptable,  The audience is expected to believe a whole lot of nonsense, which fortunately is very entertaining nonsense that propels the plot to a higher level.  Director Kravitz paces her film well, building up suspense to the very climax.  A few individual black comedic set pieces deserve mention,  The best of these is the dinner segment in which Frida and the other girls after taking the snake venom, have regained their memories of being abused, unknown to Slater King and his cohorts.  The females have to act as if they are still under the influence while they are clearly getting over it.  It is an extremely tense and imaginative thought-up scene both brilliantly funny and scary at the same time.

The humour, mostly black works well.  A few references to movies are made, and those catching them will be pleased.  One is the Christian Slater character being introduced and then after a girl being introduced as Heather.  (Slater rose to fame with his first film called HEATHERS).

BLINK TWICE opens in theatres on August 23rd.  One of the freshest films of the year and the film gets my vote for this year’s Best First Feature.

Trailer: 

THE CLEAN UP CREW (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Jon Keeyes

(Review is withheld till August 19th upon request.)

Whenever, there is blood, corpses, or rubbish leftover from a crime, the clean-up crew is called to clear the mess.  When the crew comes upon a stash of money, all hell breaks loose.

THE CLEAN UP CREW is an upcoming American action crime thriller film shot in Ireland with many of its characters speaking with an Irish accent (even Melissa Leo who is an American actress), written by Matthew Rogers, directed by Jon Keeyes, and starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Melissa Leo and Antonio Banderas.  The film boasts an impressive cast of an Academy Award Winner, a Golden Globe Winner and an Oscar nominee.  The cast includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Alex; Melissa Leo as Siobhan; Antonio Banderas as Gabriel; Ekaterina Baker as Meagan; Laurence Kinlan as Danny and Andy Kellegher as Jack among others.

The film opens nonchalantly with two characters, Officer James (Conor Mullen) and mob kingpin Gabriel (Antonio Banderas) in a tense meeting, weapons drawn in which the dirty cop is bargaining for a share of the racketeering Gabriel is involved.  They agree on payment.  But three years after ( as the film also moves forward) late payment appears to be missed with Officer James once again showing up at Gabriel’s door.

The next scene has two men from each side trying to exchange the suitcase of cash payment only to, instead result in a disastrous shootout leaving all four dead.  A Clean up Crew is called, made up of Alex and his girl, Meagan (Ekaterina Baker) and their hard boss, Siobhan (Leo), and a psycho worker.  They discover the suitcase and decide to take the cash with the two sides now after them.

As cliches go, when there is money, there is greed.  This turns the members of the clean-up crew against each other.  Meg convinces Alex to steal the money.  Nothing is expected here, except to see how each twist in the story plays out.  To the script and director’s credit, it is unfair to say that this time waster is a forgettable one, as there are a few nuanced well thought action and dramatic scenes, if not super impressive but could be described as memorable,

There is nothing really fresh in the storyline, something that audiences have seen time and again in a British gangster movie, British or American in one form or another.  Still, the film, running at an efficient 95 minutes is a fast and entertaining watch primarily for the reason that the impressive cast take the script by Matthew Rogers quite seriously.    Director Jon Keeyes, an American film director, producer and screenwriter made his first movie, AMERICAN NIGHTMARE, which became a cult hit and has never been out of distribution.

THE CLEAN UP CREW from Saban Films opens on August 20th on demand and on VOD.

(Please note that the review would have been posted last week but the filmmakers via the publicists are kindly asking for all reviews and reactions to be held until Monday, August 19th.)

Trailer: 

THE CROW (USA 2024) **

(to be posted weekend)

THE DELIVERANCE (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Lee Daniels

THE DELIVERANCE is a film, as the titles indicate at the start, simpered by true events.  It deals with a family moving into a new house - apparently haunted by a family’s death last occurring there. the closing credits also inform that as of today, strange occurrences are still happening on the property though the house has been bulldozed down.

Director Lee Daniel is best known for the breakout film PRECIOUS.  The film did not with faults but it displayed promise, especially in outlandish over-the-top direction,  The same trend is observable in the new horror/ inspired by a true story THE DELIVERANCE.

The film is clear to distinguish, and once again in the dialogue later in the film the difference between deliverance and exorcism.  But the difference though noted, does not make that much difference in the film.

To match Lee’s over-the-top direction are also two excellent performances.  One is from Academy Award Nominee Glenn Close, an excellent actress who should have won hr deserved Oscar by now by have not.  Here she plays the white mother of Ebony (the reason is that she sleeps with bald men), a mother who ignored the abuses of Ebony’s father, a fact that Ebony (Andra Day)has never forgotten, less forgiven,  Alberta is also suffering from cancer is undergoing chemo.  Yet she flirts with men as if she is still in her youth.  She looks both gorgeous wth her curled hair wedges, showing her bosom, while also looking frumpy with her home clothes and bald head, her hair lost from the chemo.  The other performance belongs to Mo’Nique who plays a stern about Ebony’s care for her children. Childs Care Worker delivers in contrast an understated role that is both sympathetic and stern.

The actors playing the three troubled children are also good.  Anthony B. Jenkins plays Andre, Ebony's youngest son; Caleb McLaughlin plays Nate, the  eldest son while

Demi Singleton plays Shante, Ebony's daughter.

Director Daniels portrays family drama well.  Did Ebony hither children”  Is she a good mother though she drinks heavily and smokes the occasional wed,

Glenn Close is brave enough to show her ‘ugly’ side, especially in the scene with her possessed by the demon, with a bald head and sharp teeth.

The film is gripping and scary during the first three quarters only failing in the last quarter when Lee goes overboard with the exorcism, sorry deliverance, complete with the possessed child breaking her straps and crawling up the sides of the walls of the hospital.

The first sign of something going wrong in the house is the existence of flies amidst a terrible odour emitted from the basement, late shown to be a dead cat.  The fly use is very effective as the first time one fly buzzed around, I thought that there was a fly in the theatre before soon realizing it was a fly in the film.

THE DELIVERANCE is currently playing at the TIFF Lightbox before opening on Netflix on August 30th.

Trailer: 

INCOMING (USA 2024) **
Directed by Dave Chermin

INCOMING is a 2024 American teen comedy film written and directed by Dave Chernin and John Chernin, in their feature-length debut.  Four teenagers navigate through their first-ever high school party   Before one can dismiss this high school teen comedy as a waste of time, one must remember that there are a few classics in this genre, among them John Hughes’ films like THE BREAKFAST CLUB.

Other memorable and well-made high school films include  Greg Beeman’s LICENCE TO DIVE (1988) in which the young Corey Hairm makes it his life’s quest to get a licence in order to get a hot date and Olivia Wilde’s BOOKSMART in which Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever learn that one can get into the best universities without studying all the time and giving up partying.

The question is how INCOMING will fare.  Or will it simply be funny enough to remind them of one of their high school days?

Unfortunately, this teen film is in plain words, u funny.  The jokes are infantile, such as making a speech in front of a mirror and then kissing it - only to get the door slammed in the face among other silly antics.  All the characters are also ‘unfunny’.

The film tries too hard to cover all areas like family relationships, trying to be cool and political correctness.  With a minor gay theme and Ben’s girlfriend being coloured, it is obvious that the film is not going the]way it is supposed to be.  Also included are gross-out jokes like fart and shit jokes and sex jokes,  Again all unfunny!

INCOMING is a Netflix original film opening this week for streaming,

LOVE, 2000 (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Jacqueline Joseph

The Pandemic that changed the world, mainly for the worse, is finally almost over.  But in insight, the world underwent a lot, and many of those in the competitive sporting world were affected the most, with the Olympics postponed, and almost cancelled for the sake of saving lives.  The doc LOVE, 2000 concentrates on tennis players.

LOVE, 2000 is an entertaining story of hope about athletes from all over the world who came to NYC to compete on the global stage at the 2020 US Open, using their rackets and voices to unite people and help lead NYC and the world forward during unprecedented times.

A captivating players' eye view inside the "secure bubble" at the first live international event held during the Pandemic, the groundbreaking 2020 US Open, which "changed the game" on, and off, the court.

Players from the US, Europe and Asia share their journeys competing at the most activist tennis tournament ever in New York, the epicenter of the global Pandemic and where some of the biggest protests in the world took place.

A unique global lens through which to explore the role and power of sports to lead, inspire, unite and spark change in society. A moment in tennis, sports and world history unlike any other. A once-in-a-lifetime story set in New York, but international in spirit and impact.

The doc includes the experiences of world top tennis players as they speak to the car about what they had gone through.  The impressive list of players includes:

Frances Tiafoe (USA), career-high #10, 2022 US Open semifinalist – upsetting Rafael Nadal en route to becoming the first Black American to reach the semis since Arthur Ashe, 2019 Australian Open quarterfinalist and 2020 ATP Tour Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award recipient, established Frances Tiafoe Fund through the USTA Foundation to use tennis to change the lives of under-resourced youth and be a force for positive social change

Jamie Murray (Great Britain), career-high #1 doubles player, 7-time doubles/mixed Grand Slam Champion, 2020 ATP Tour Fan Favorite Doubles team

Rohan Bopanna (India), career-high #1 doubles player, 26 titles, 2024 Australian Open Men's Doubles Champion and 2017 French Open Mixed Doubles Champion and was awarded the Padma Shri honor by the President of India in 2024

Kristie Ahn (USA), career-high #87 and WTA Tour Board member who reached the round of 16 at the 2019 US Open

Bradley Klahn (USA), career-high #63 and 2010 NCAA Champion

Diede de Groot (Netherlands), #1 wheelchair tennis player, 41 Grand Slam titles, winner of a singles Grand Slam in 2021/2022/2023 and a "Golden Grand Slam" in 2021 (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open and Tokyo Paralympic Gold Medal)

Yui Kamiji (Japan), #2 wheelchair tennis player, 28 Grand Slam titles and Tokyo Paralympic Silver Medalist

But most of them have nothing really concrete to say, except complain about the Pandemic and just serve to show that many if not all the tennis players want to play.  Myself, I am a tennis player and the courts closed in Toronto because the Pandemic had a big effect on me.  They locked the public courts but us players climbed over the gates to play.  So the obsession with tennis is clearly understandable in the film.  As the celebrities on film say: “If there is no tennis, there is nothing!”

The doc recaps and captures the dismal times the world, including tennis players endured.  Though nothing really new is put forward that audiences have not experienced or known of, the doc does remind one of human resilience amidst crises.

LOVE, 2000 is available on demand on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, August 23.

Trailer:  

SECRET LIVES OF ORANGUTANS (UK 2024) ***
Directed by Huw Cordey

SECRET LIVES OF ORANGUTANS follows a multi-generational orangutan family through their treetop triumphs and travails in this immersive documentary narrated by David Attenborough.

Orangutan is a Malay/Indonesian word.  It means humans of the forest.  The pronunciation in Malay is ‘oh-rung-oo-ton’, not rang-a-tang which the Western world pronounces.

The Netflix original doc, narrated by David Attenborough has the word pronounced correctly.

Orangutans are red apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. The nones in the film are found and filmed in the North of Sumatra in a region bounded by a river which protects them from civilization.  But they are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China.  Classified in the genus Pongo, orangutans were originally considered to be one species.  The orangutans are the only surviving species of the subfamily Ponginae, which diverged genetically from the other hominids (gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans) between 19.3 and 15.7 million years ago.

The most arboreal of the great apes, orangutans spend most of their time in trees.  The doc informs that some of them spend their entire lives never setting foot on the ground They have proportionally long arms and short legs, and have reddish-brown hair covering their bodies. Adult males weigh about 75 kg (165 lb), while females reach about 37 kg (82 lb). 

The doc is privileged to be narrated by Sir David Attenborough, now 98 years of age.  Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a British broadcaster, biologist, natural historian, and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature documentary series forming the Life Collection, a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth

The secret lives refer to the lives of three females- hence the doc’s female slant.  The three females are the 60-year-old Friska, her daughter Ellie and Ellie’s daughter Eden.  The audience is informed that these observations of their lives were both possible in the past but are now made possible by filming using small drones.  First observed is the mother and daughter,  and keep the mother in sight in order to learn how to eat.  Eden as the daughter has to follow mum and learn how to eat and what to eat.

The doc is pleasant to watch because of the pleasant music played throughout the soundtrack and Attenborough’s soothing voice.  The film is also family-watching fare, with little violence and gore.  There are no scenes of animals killed as prey.  Even male dominance is decided by a test of strength rather than a fight. Fascinating is that orangs eat termites.  One scene has one holding a termite’s nest and eating it.  Besides being interesting, one can appreciate the difficulty of filming the oranges as well as devising a story about them.  The doc contains a bit of humour, generated primarily from Attenborough’s insights on mammals.

SECRET LIVES OF ORANGUTANS, a Netflix original documentary is available for streaming this week on Netflix.

Trailer: 

STRANGE DARLING (USA 2023) ***
Directed by JT Mollner

Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer's vicious murder spree.  The stories, 6 chapters in all begin with Chapter 3 which introduces the audience to both these characters - the supposedly demon after the lady who escapes on a variation of a slasher version of NATURAL BORN KILLERS.

The film unveils in 6 chapters, each with a different title in the order as shown below:

Chapter 3: Can you Help me, Please?

Chapter 5: Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty

Chapter 1: Mister Snuffles

Chapter 4: The Mountain People

Chapter 2: Do you like the Party?

Chapter 6: Who’s Gary Gilmore?

… followed by an epilogue.

As can be observed, the story is not told in chronological order.  The order is clearly in the order of nastiness, each chapter, nastier than the previous with the ending in a very, very nasty climax.  STRANGE DARLING is indeed the nastiest film to be seen on the screen this year.  Whether the nastiness would entertain one is of course, up to the individual’s taste, but the film is to director JT Mollner’s credit, is quite well put together with a solid build-up.  The cinematography is impressive and is by actor Giovanni Ribisi who also lends his voice to one of the story’s characters.

The film is mostly a two-handler with predator and prey.  The opening credits introduce actress Willa Fitzgerald as the Lady and Kyle Gallner as the demon, but the labels begin to blur as the story unfolds. The first chapter introduces these two characters. The predator chases the lady into the woods, and she takes refuge in a house where he hunts her down with the words: Here, Kitty Kitty Kitty.

STRANGE DARLING opens in theatres on August 23rd and can be said to be seen to be believed.  Inspired by true killings in America.

Trailer: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 04 August 2024

LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL 2024

The Locarno Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland.  It specializes in after-cinema, supposedly showcasing the best of auteur cinema,  Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narrative, documentary, short, avant-garde, and retrospective programs. The Piazza Grande section is held in an open-air venue that seats 8,000 spectators.

The top prize of the festival is the Golden Leopard, awarded to the best film in the International Competition. Other awards include the Leopard of Honour for career achievement, and the Prix du Public, the public choice award.

This is the first year afro-toronto is covering the Locarno Film Festival.

The embargo for film reviews will be lifted 30 minutes after the first public screening Locarno time.  If a film is reviewed here before its Locarno opening, it means that the film has been screened at other festivals before such as Cannes and the Annoy Animation Film Festivals.

This article will be updated daily till August the 31st as reviews are added,  Capsule reviews only, with full reviews banked upon full release in Toronto.

CAPSULE REVIEWS OF SELECT FILMS:

BANG BANG (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Vincent Grashaw

After two moderate hits, WHAT JOSIAH SAW (2022) and COLDWATER (2013), writer/director Vincent Grashaw returns with a gritty boxing grandfather/grandson drama that pulls all the punches or the lying low life.  Tim Blake Nelson stars as "Bang Bang" Rozyski, an eccentric retired pugilist obsessed with rectifying the sins of his past who is forced to look after his grandson while his daughter needs to work for a living.  Nelson is an excellent actor with a fine C.V. including THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (the Cohen Brothers) which he again proves in the film, smart-talking and moving around in a wheelchair because his dick is too heavy to carry around,  Director Grashaw captures the atmosphere and mood of the city’s underbelly while showing that there is a glimmer of hope aided by the resilience of the human spirit,  Never has a feel-good themed film look so gloomy.

FIORE MIO (A Flower of Mine)(Italy/Belgium 2024) ***
Directed by Paolo Cognetti

In the vein of the success of the Cannes Winner THE EIGHT MOUNTAINS in 2022, based on his novel of the same title arrives the much touted Paolo Cognetti’s new ‘mountain’ film A FLOWER OF MINE (Fiore Mio).  As the director saw the spring run completely dry at his home in Estoul, a small village about 1700 metres above the valley of Brusson, Cognetti tells the story of his mountain.  The film begins with stunning scenes of the mountain and valley as the audience sees a man (with skis to help him walk in the snow) and his dog take into the mountains during spring when the ice is melting.  This is a film about the beauty of the mountains, with not much story nor dialogue.  Singer-songwriter Vasco Brondi, a friend who is like a brother for Cognetti, wrote the entire original soundtrack for a film. also performing a new song, “Ascoltare gli alberi” (Listen to the Trees), which is the closing music to the documentary.

FOUL EVIL DEEDS (UK 2024) ***
Directed by Richard Hunter

Writer/director Richard Hunter’s feature debut intertwines a collection of stories involving FOUL EVIL DEEDS showcasing the wide variety of evil behaviour human beings are capable of.  Among them is a man coming to grips with his new life cleaning toilets, a family man dealing with a moment of weakness, an accountant submitting to his needs, a group of friends fumbling a prank, a vicar and his wife disposing of an accident, and a lawyer ending his marriage.  Director Hunter initially shows promise in the first 30 minutes displaying a wry sense of filmmaking similar to Roy Andersson.  However, the fire sizzles out fast for the prime reason that these stories are not foul or evil enough.  Do not expect anything as wild as the Argentine festival hit WILD TALES an anthology of wild tales told one after another.

LIVING LARGE (Czech/Slovakia.France 2024) ***** Top 10

Directed by Kristina Dufkova 

(Premiered at Annecy)

A coming-of-age story of 12-year-old Papethca, as he juggles what paths are considered the most pressing at the time.  On the first day of school, he is bullied for his weight, and falls in love with a fellow classmate, while venturing into his career as a chef or as a rap band member with his buddy.  At the same time, he has to deal with his divorced parents - he is living and cooking for his mother and coping with his father and his new girlfriend.  All this is a lot to take in for a 12-year-old but director Kristina Dufkova blends all the issues effortlessly in an entertaining film that is both hilarious and emotional. You have to love a movie that has on its soundtrack classic opera, rap, ac/dc and piano.  The film shifts into full gear when Papethca decides to go on a diet.  The film is based on the novel ‘Ma Vie, En Gros’ and has the look of the Academy Award-nominated MA VIE EN COURGETTE, the recent animated claymation feature also on the topic of adolescence.  One of the strongest points of this best-animated feature is the positive and feel-good message it has for people living large.

https://mubi.com/en/films/living-large/trailer

MEXICO 86 (Mexico 2024) ***½

Directed by César Díaz

After winning Cannes' Camera d’Or with OUR MOTHERS (NUESTRAS MADRES) (2019), César Díaz returns with a very tense and intimate dramatic thriller MEXICO 86, inspired by his own story.  The film’s setting is 1976.  Death threats force Maria (Argentine-born actress, Berenice Bejo), a Guatemalan rebel activist fighting against the corrupt military dictatorship, to flee to Mexico, leaving her infant son behind with her mother.  It is 10 years later when the boy is forced to come to live with her when his grandmother is diagnosed with terminal cancer.   Maria is forced to choose between her duties as a mother and continuing her revolutionary activism.  Director Diaz is clearly an expert manipulator of moods and atmosphere, filming in the shadows when conversations become brutally for example, honest between Marianna and her son.  At one point, he shows that the cause Maria is fighting for has no sympathy for her former or her son.  Having worked prior in editing documentaries, Diaz also brings a credible reason to his tale aided by Bejo’s often mesmerizing performance.

LA MORT VIENDRA (DEATH WILL COME)(Germany/Luxembourg/Belgium 2024) ***
Directed by Christoph Hochhäusler 

Inspired by the crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, Christoph Hochhäusler’ s crime thriller which contains stunning cinematography reminiscent of Melville, follows a hit man or rather hit woman who goes by the name of Tez.  LA MORT VIENDRA is shot in French.  Tez is not short for anything, says the girl with very little background.  Tez kills for money.  Charles Mahr, a legendary gangster, hires her to avenge the murder of one of his couriers.  Once in Brussels, Tez gets caught up in the thicket of an intrigue in which she herself becomes the prey. Tez has to decide whose instrument she wants to be.  Director Hochhäusler displays his fascination for gangster films looking at how now can speak of fate and death, circumventing the realisms of contemporary cinema.  LA MORT VIENDRA achieves a good blend of action and realism.

SLEEP #2 (Romania 2024)**
Directed by Radu Jude

Romanian director Brady Jude returns to Locarno after his Award-Winning film last year DO NOT EXPECT MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD.  Jude is an award-winning director known best for the previous film and BAD LUCK BAGING OR LOONEY PORN.  Jude is what I would label a badass director.  SLEEP #2, his latest film, however, is rather tame and indescribable.  The film comes with the title of a desktop film by Radu Jude.  There is no plot or structure just camera work using timelapse photography.  The audience has to suffer through 10 minutes to watch objects on a hill slope at the beginning followed by an extended watch on the grave of Andy Warhol lasting from summer to winter and the entire film, including night photography in which one can see a deer nibbling by the grave.  Not a leaf was stirring.  An awesome Summer.”  come the words.  One has to sit through this hour and 1 minute film.

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 31 July 2024

BORDERLESS FOG (Indonesia2024) ***1/2
Directed by Edwin

The new Netflix Indonesian crime thriller is called BORDERLESS FOG as the setting is along the border in Borneo of Malaysia and Indonesia.  Knowledge of the local Geography and politics would enhance the appreciation of this movie’s setting.

Firstly, the film is set in Borneo.  Borneo is the third largest island in the world.  Borneo, a giant, rugged island in Southeast Asia’s Malay Archipelago, is shared by the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, Indonesian Kalimantan and the tiny nation of Brunei. It is known for its beaches and ancient, biodiverse rainforest, home to wildlife including orangutans and clouded leopards.  It is sparsely populated but contains riches in natural beauty and minerals. 

The film’s setting is along the border of Malaysia and Indonesia.  There had been political conflict in the past involving the communist insurgency.  The Dyaks are the native people of the island as the Maoris are of New Zealand and the Aborigines are to Australia.  They are often looked down upon as are all indigenous peoples.  There are also fighting communist insurgents, the leaders of one of which died and his ghost was reported to be haunting the area of the story’s setting.

A detective is forced to confront the ghosts of her past while investigating a mysterious serial murder case along the Indonesia-Malaysia border.   When the story of Borderless Fog begins, a body falls down from a tree into a food stall. The body has been decapitated and it turns out the head and body are from two different victims. And before long, more murders happen that affect the local Dayak community.

Sanja Arunika is a detective with the rank of Second Police Inspector (Ipda) who comes from a big city, Jakarta, on the island of Sumatra, the capital of Indonesia. When Sanja was transferred from Jakarta to Kalimantan, she was given the task of investigating a serial murder case that occurred on the border between Indonesia and Malaysia.  When Santa first meets her counterparts in the place when she arrives, the chief remarks to her:  “Nice glasses.  Very suitable for the Borneo Fashion week, “ to which Santa replies: “I might lend them to you  to use.”  The interaction of a displaced but efficient cop in a different environment is not new fodder but quite good entertainment fodder, reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s cop in Do Siegel’s COOGAN'S BLUFFin which Eastwood had to take matters into his own hands when not receiving any cooperation from his peers.

The chase and the use of firearms become inevitable when Sanja starts hunting for the alleged perpetrator. From his investigations, she slowly succeeded in uncovering various mysteries.

BORDERLESS FOG is a neat, efficient, and entertaining crime drama, the first I have seen from Indonesia that blends the cop caper with the rich local culture and politics.   Indonesian films come with varied quality but glad to say, this one comes with high production values.  BORDERLESS FOG opens for streaming this week on Netflix and deserves a look.

Trailer: 

KNEECAP (Ireland 2024) ***
Directed by Rich Peppiatt

A country that does not speak its own language is only half a nation.  These are the important words uttered as the Northern Irish fight for the use and practice of the Irish language.  Irish was banned by the British for years and only recognized as a language in the U.K. in 2022. Two films will make history in championing this course.  In Colm Bairéad’s 2022 THE QUIET GIRL, most of the film’s dialogue was shot in Waterford Irish, a form of Munster Irish.  That excellent film on my top 10 list of 2022 was Ireland's submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, and became the first Irish film in history to achieve the nomination.  It also received BAFTA Award nominations for Best Film Not in the English Language and Best Adapted Screenplay.  The other film is KNEECAP has already won the Sundance Audience Award.  The two films are highly different. THE QUIET GIRL is quiet and pensive while KNEECAP is loud and boisterous, about an Irish rap trio.  The trio reluctantly call themselves KNEECAP

The rap trio KNEECAP is made up of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí who play themselves in the film, a sort of loose biopic.  They have built up a notoriety for themselves that hasn't been seen in Irish music for many years, perhaps ever.  Their use of foul language and drug dealing will infuriate many.  But they rap in Irish thus promoting the cause.  The film, often all over the place as can be witnessed in the film’s initial 15 minutes, and not for want of energy, demonstrates for better or for worse, the frighteningly articulate rap group.  Merging Irish with English, satire with socially conscious lyrics, and reality with absurdity, this voice comes screaming from the too-often deprived areas of the North of Ireland, speaking in a language that is too often ignored, and it makes for suitably electrifying stuff.   There seems to be no stopping their spectacular rise, with sold-out tours in the US and UK and even bigger plans to come

The film begins with the story of Irish militant Arlo.  Arlo (played by Michael Fassbender, HUNGER) is presumed dead though his body was never found.  He advises his son on the importance of the Irish language saying that a word spoken in the language is like a bullet fired for Irish freedom.  The son and his best friend sell drugs when they aren’t partying.  But their lives change after meeting music teacher JJ who turns their notebook scribblings into songs.  The film follows the formation of the group while celebrating their songs, often with rude lyrics.

Director Peppiatt appears desperate for his film to have a solid ending.  But the appearance of the peelers (what they call the cops) at the end of the film chasing them backstage while Arlo appears comes across as too incredible to be true.

KNEECAP opens on August 2 across Canada, including Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal!

Trailer: 

SAVING BIKINI BOTTOM: THE SANDY CHEEKS MOVIE (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Liza Johnson

Bikini Bottom has been stolen. Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob watch in disbelief as everyone's favorite town is scooped out of the ocean by a sinister, mysterious company. Now, Sandy and SpongeBob must go on an epic quest to Sandy's home state of Texas and enlist her family to help save Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs and the rest of the gang before time runs out.

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg that first aired on Nickelodeon as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999, and officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It chronicles the adventures of the title character and his aquatic friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series received worldwide critical acclaim and gained popularity in its second season. As of 2019, the series is the fifth-longest-running American animated series

SpongeBob SquarePants?  SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic yellow sea sponge who lives in a submerged pineapple. SpongeBob has a childlike enthusiasm for life, which carries over to his job as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab. One of his life's greatest goals is to obtain a boat-driving license from Mrs. Puff's Boating School, but he never succeeds. His favourite pastimes include "jellyfishing", which involves catching jellyfish with a net in a manner similar to butterfly catching, and blowing soap bubbles into elaborate shapes. He has a pet sea snail with a pink shell and a blue body named Gary, who meows like a cat.

Who would want to watch a SpongeBob SquarePants movie?  I asked around and many I spoke to said that it was a cartoon of their time.  Myself, I have watched a few and found them really silly.  But not silly stupid but silly funny.  There's not much to concentrate on, but just sit back and have a good laugh with the kids.  Their new Netflix original animated feature is open for streaming this week and serves much of the same - silly but funny entertainment that should have you laugh aloud a couple of times, never mind you have not learned anything about life or anything else.

What is Bikini Bottom?  Bikini Bottom is the main setting in the SpongeBob SquarePants series. It is an undersea city-state where SpongeBob and his friends live.  Bikini Bottom is located in the Pacific Ocean, beneath Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  The city is run by the mayor, and governed by the royal family, as they rule over the entire ocean.

It consists of several various different businesses, including restaurants, stores, and manufacturers.  Bikini Bottom is home to almost all of the entire central cast of SpongeBob SquarePants.

In this film, Sandy Cheeks is the main star.  She is an American squirrel from the surface who wears a diving suit and lives in an air-filled glass treedome to survive underwater. She is voiced by Carolyn Lawrence.  Sandy is a thrill seeker who loves extreme sports, and karate. Having come from the state of Texas, she has a Southern drawl and a love for rodeos. She works as a scientist and builds both her freedom and air suit and helmet herself. She is also a member of the Gal Pals along with Karen, Mrs. Puff, and Pearl.

SAVING BIKINI BOTTOM: THE SANDY CHEEKS MOVIE is exactly what is to be expected from a SpongeBob SquarePants movie - madcap and irrelevant silly fun.

THE SHAKEDOWN (South Africa 2024) ***

Directed by Ari Kruger

THE SHAKEDOWN refers to the shakedown devised by the story’s protagonist a fitness golden boy attempting to keep his reputation after being blackmailed by his physiotherapist.  He arranges for two of his brother’s hitmen to use scare tactics to effect a shakedown on her.  But things go wrong.  Not only is the girl killed instead of being scared, but the dead girl is the wrong person.

From South Africa comes this new amusing crime comedy.  Crime comedies are not that common not to mention humour coming from South Africa.  Not many, myself included can tell if someone is from South Africa from their accent.  If the accent is not quite British, Australian, or New Zealand, then it must be South African.  THE SHAKEDOWN, a crime comedy offers the rare chance to be entertained with South African Humour, and the film is funny, delivering mouth a high hit-and-miss ratio and many countless laugh-out laugh moments.

THE SHAKEDOWN is a Fargo-esque comedy-of-errors that follows Justin Diamond (Carl Beukes), a well-respected family man and medical aid broker who finds himself being blackmailed after his physiotherapist threatens to reveal the secret of their affair.

Desperate to maintain his golden boy reputation, Justin teams up with his 'black sheep' brother Dovi, to handle the escalating chaos. However, both their actions lead them down a path filled with dangerous criminals, mistaken identities, and comic mishaps into the clumsiness of the Cape Town underworld.

Being a touted comedy, director Kruger keeps the violence at a minimum, or rather controlled..  One violent scene occurred at the hospital where the patient was being tortured with a hammer to the legs and knees in  order to get information.  The violent scene adds comedy to it, as the patient is in a partial coma, impervious to pain.

Director Ari Kruger proves his talent for comedy.  THE SHAKEDOWN marks Kruger’s feature directorial debut. He had previously earned three Best Comedy Director nods at the South African Film & Television Awards for his work on the “Tali’s Diary” series, while also directing award-winning short films, TV commercials and comedy specials for Nik Rabinowitz and Marc Lottering.

The film reveals the serval variations of love.  Justin truly loves his family and two children as well as his fitness routines.  He does not endorse his crooked brother who has been in jail and does not invite the brother to his daughter’s grand bar mitzvah.  The brother shows up.  The brother, apparently single, loves family putting family above all else.  He is upset that he has not been invited to his brother's children's functions such as their birthday parties and now the bar mitzvah.  The wife loves Justin but also regular sex.  When the frequency of sex decreases, she resorts to the purchase of a celebrity sex doll to fluff her sexual, appetite on the advice of her friend.  Her fantasy is Antonio, short for Antonio Banderas.

PRIME VIDEO will release its first South African original film, the Cape Town-set crime caper comedy THE SHAKEDOWN which will be available globally (Prime Video) on the streamer Aug. 8.

Trailer: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 19 July 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

CROSSING (Sweden/Denmark/France/Turkey/Georgia 2024) ****

Directed by Levan Akin

CROSSING could refer to the crossing from Georgia into Istanbul, a journey undertaken by the story’s two protagonists, or the crossing from male to female gender of the trans subject who the protagonists are searching for.

The film is a rare production from the country of Georgia which many are likely unfamiliar with.  The film boasts to be largely shot in Georgia, according to the film’s credits though the majority of the story is set in Istanbul.  Georgia borders Turkey but to travel to Istanbul which is west of Turkey, a ferry is the fastest and most efficient way.  Lia and Achi travel by ferry to Istanbul.

Lia, a retired teacher, has made a promise to find out what happened to her long-lost niece, Tekla.  Tekla is Lia’s sister’s son who apparently has trans into a female.  When Lia learns from a neighbour, Achi, that Tekla might have left their Georgian homeland and be living in Turkey, Lia and Achi set off together to find her.   The problems whether Tekla wishes to be found.  Achi lies that Tekla had given him an address resulting in Lia allowing him to travel with her.  She is low on money and he has practically none.  Arriving in Istanbul, they discover a beautiful city full of connections and possibilities.  But searching for someone who never intended to be found is harder than they expected – until they meet Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights. As Lia and Achi weave their way through the city’s backstreets, Tekla starts to feel closer than ever.

Director Akin’s film takes a while before getting its footing and allowing the audience to relate to both Lia and Achi.  Achi appears to be a habitual liar also fooling Lia that he can speak Turkish.  The film covers a few different subjects, one of which is the relationship between the young and curious Achi and the older and more mature Lia.   The film holds interest in the love/hate relationship between the two.  One key scene has Achi save some sweet desserts wrapped for Lia after he has spent a night on the town while another has Lia looking for ache after she kicks him out of the hotel room.  The film is also about life, finding the importance of one’s family - both Lia and Achi are identical loners in their respect - and the difficulty of the relationship shows.  Lia is also he mother figure that Achin never has.

Director Akin also keeps the audience guessing about the key plot point as to whether Tekla can be found.  The point is satisfactorily resolved, though how, will not be revealed in this review.

Superior performances by Mzia Arabuli, Lucas Kankavan and Deniz Dumanli as Lia, Acgi, and Evrim respectively.

The film shows the lifestyle of the marginalized community of trans prostitutes while also depicting the poorer lifestyle in Georgia, compared to Turkey.  There seems to be a tone of camaraderie among the Turks, the Georgians and the trans people.

CROSSING which opens in theatres July 26th is definitely an intriguing film that is well worth a look.

Trailer: 

DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE (USA 2024) ****
Directed by Shawn Levy

The plot of the new DEADPOOL movie is quite complicated, but it is all to be taken in stride for vulgar fun and entertainment, throwing caution and credibility to the wind.

In 2018, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) of Earth-10005 used Cable's time-traveling device to travel to Earth-616, the "Sacred Timeline", where he attempts to join the Avengers, his dream but his dream is dashed as he is rejected.  In 2024, Wilson retired from being the masked mercenary known as Deadpool and began to work as a used car salesman after breaking up with his girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle.  During his birthday party, the Time Variance Authority (TVA) captures Wilson and delivers him to Mr. Paradox (the excellent Matthew Macfadyen who delivers the film's most nuanced performance), who offers him to join Earth-616. However, Paradox also reveals that Wilson's timeline would deteriorate as a result of the death of James "Logan" Howlett (Hugh Jackman), who is revealed to be the timeline's "anchor being". Wilson steals Paradox's TemPad to travel the multiverse and find a variant of Logan to save his timeline.

As in every DEADPOOL movie, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool is in motor-mouth mode spewing out a joke every second, irrelevant or not.  For example, when suddenly faced with dozens of the enemy he says” There are 206 bones in the body.  207 if I am watching Gossip  Girl.  They are also original ones involving real life like the buying of 20th Century Fox by Disney and the Marvel rights.  The best joke in the film is a visual one - the one where in a scene, there is the huge 20th-Century Fox structure half buried in the sand, as in the ending of the first Charlton Heston Franklin J, Schaffner PLANET ON THE APES climax, also signalling the end of 20th Century Fox, sold to Disney.

The best nod is paid to the recent MAD MAX film FURIOSA, with an extended segment shot in a desert landscape that could be taken right out of the George Miller FURIOSA movie with trucks and vehicles carrying ridiculous gadgets driving around in the sand,

The film is given a female slant with a nasty female villain in the form of Cassandra Nova(Emma Corrin), a mutant with telekinetic and telepathic powers, who is the twin sister of Charles Xavier with other-worldly origins.

Actors reprising their MCU roles in the film are Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15, a TVA Hunter; Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan; and Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

Most of the tunes featured in the film are a variety of hits of the past.  The song “Only You” by the Platters for example is used at the film’s start when Deadpool goes to the cemetery to dig up the bones of Wolverine.  The Madonna song “Say a Little Prayer for You,” is used in the climactic fight scene at the end.  Whether these songs work is up to the individual’s decision.

Rob Simonsen composes the film's score, previously working with Levy on The Adam Project and the fourth season of Stranger Things.  The soundtrack album includes 17 songs featured in, or inspired by, the film along with Simonsen's theme for the film.

At a cost of $200 million with nary a dull moment, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE should entertain Marvel fans with more vulgar humour than most, and easily earn its production dollars.

Trailer: 

DIDI (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Sean Yang

It is of interest to note that in the film Chris speaks English to his mother while she speaks mostly Mandarin back to him.  Chris obviously understands every word his mother says and is more comfortable speaking back in English which she understands.  The dialogue emphasizes the fact that the mother was educated in Mandarin in Taiwan, while the boy is in English with their comfort level reflected in the language each speaks.

Though the film is called DIDI which translates to Little Brother in English, the meaning is slightly different in English and in Mandarin.  In English, the term DIDI is not normally used by a mother (or father) but by an elder sibling.   But in the Asian culture, the term DIDI can be equally be used by any of the family.  In the movie, therefore, it is less strange that the film called DIDI is focused on the mother/younger son relationship and not on the elders sister/younger brother relationship.

DIDI is occasionally a powerful family relationship drama.  There are many dramatic set pieces like the one where DIDI runs away from the mother, and the one in which he returns her to the bedroom among others.  The film, however, with its loose narrative, fails to link all the segments in a strong coming-of-age story with a solid beginning and ending.  The film’s premise which is: “Set in 2008, a 13-year-old Taiwanese-American boy learns how to skate, flirt, and love his mother.” hints that the film will not gel the three items together.  A few things are left hanging such as the relationship of the brother and sister suddenly patched up without much reason given or the reason DIDI behaves poorly besides him reaching puberty age and the influence of questionable friends.

DIDI is more of a Joan Chen film.  Chen together with Chris Columbus who made teen movies in the 80s served as two of the film’s executive producers.

Director Wang is best known for last year’s Academy Award Best Documentary Short Nominee, Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó.  It did not win but demonstrated an impressive debut, also with a loose narrative structure  Chen plays the long-suffering mother who has to put up with both other children’s nonsense, not to mention her own mother who is constantly on her nerves

DIDI was shot in July 2023 in Fremont, California. The film consists mostly of first-time actors from the Bay Area. The film was previously selected for the 2023 Sundance Institute Screenwriting & Directors Lab and the 2022 SFFILM Rainin Grant.

DIDI has made its rounds worldwide in international film festivals.  Dìdi had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2024.   A few days later, Focus Features acquired distribution rights to the film.  It also screened at South by Southwest on March 12, 2024, and closed the 11th edition of Sundance London on June 9, 2024.  It also had its international premiere at the Beijing International Film Festival on April 19, 2024.DIDI now opens on July 26, 2024.

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HOUSE OF GA’A Nigeria 2024) ***
Directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters

Forget the ridiculous Hollywood Viola Davis WOMAN KING in 2022 in which blacks are touted in a silly display of power and rights.  HOUSE OF GA’A is the real thing, a non-documentary biopic from Nigeria with actors portraying real characters in History.

HOUSE OF GA’A is a period film about the life of the infamous Bashorun Ga’a.

The biopic is set in the 18th century when the real Bashorun Ga’a became so powerful he enthroned kings and dethroned them for sport.  This ruthless Prime Minister desperate for revenge ferociously rises to power, stopping at nothing to become more powerful than the kings he served.

The film begins at the heart of the ancient Oyo Empire.   A big battle is about to be fought, a battle Bashorun Ga’a and his son lead.  Bashorun is shown as commanding the troops and winning the battle, returning to his village to announce to the King of the Victory.  He takes away the spoils of war and slaves from the defeated village.  He also brings the head of the enemy Emir to his King.  What is more important is not the ballet itself, shown only in brief but what occurs afterwards at the village  Bashorun’s wife is pregnant while he takes a young beautiful slave to his chamber, much to the dirty looks of his pregnant wife.  But still, apart from that Nashorun is a great warrior loved by all.  He thus rises to power after a triumphant victory against the army of Nupe.  Celebrated as a hero, he is appointed Prime Minister by the Alaafin thereby solidifying his influence.

Despite being a Historical war film, there is much drama as in the drama faced by Bashorun.  When the young and beautiful slave who is called Zeibab is brought to his chambers, she tells him that she will be his slave and that her whole body belongs to him, but not her heart, to which he retorts: “What good is the heart anyway?”

HOUSE OF GA’A is what is called a Hollywood blockbuster.  It tires of copycatting the Hollywood big production but from the props, one can immediately see that the film has a modest budget - from the tacky-looking weapons and armour worn and the short battle scenes, all used at least without CGI and shot the old fashioned way, making it look more credible.

However, beneath his success lies ambition, betrayal and tragedy.  As Bashorun consolidates authority, he faces opposition from the Oyo Mesi council and contends with familial strife, all of hihi is caused by himself with no one else to blame.  His quest for power leads to disastrous consequences, including the deaths of rival kings and his own descent into treachery.  Amidst political intrigue and personal vendettas, themes of loyalty and justice emerge, shaping the fates of Bashorun and those around him.  As alliances shift and betrayals unfold, the House of Ga'a becomes a battleground culminating in a tragic showdown that forever changes the kingdom of Oyo.

The film streams on Netflix on 26th July of 2024.

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NON NEGOTIABLE (No Negociable) (MEXICO 20224) ***
Directed by Juan Taratuto

NON NEGOTIABLE (No Negociable) is the new Netflix original movie coming from Mexico touted as an action-packed thriller with comedy, action and suspense, set to premiere on Netflix on July 26th.   This much-anticipated film follows Alan Bender, a seasoned hostage negotiator, as he navigates a difficult situation that tests his professional skills and personal resolve amidst a dramatic hostage crisis.

An expert negotiator is often called in when there is a kidnapping ransom or a suicide but he or she often takes a secondary role.  In this flick the negotiator takes the central role for a change as the audience sees the vocation taken in a different light, often seeing what this person faces.  In the film, the stakes skyrocket when the President is kidnapped, and Bender is called upon to secure his release.  As Bender discovers his wife is also a captive of the same ruthless kidnappers, Bender is faced with a conflict of interests.  Who should he put first?  The President or his wife?

The film’s protagonist is Alan Bender.  What is this guy with an English name (though pronounced in Spanish) and a Spanish accent doing in a Mexican Spanish movie?  The real commercial reason is to have more American audiences tune in to this film.

Alan Bender is first seen in the introduction segment of a film that is barely 90 minutes negotiating with a gunman who’s a gun to a woman’s head.  He gives him the three options, shoot, don’t shoot outrun himself in.  Amidst the negotiation, he gets a call from his cell phone company warning him of his limited time left but he tells the gunman that it is the D.A.  promising the gunman leniency if he turns himself in.  Bender entered this situation while driving his wife and daughter.  The segment which has little to do with the rest of the story does set up the tone for comedy, suspense and a little action in what is to follow.

The film also demonstrates the art of negotiation.  Hostage Negotiation Tactics form an intricate process of psychology and strategy, that audiences can learn to appreciate as well. Typically, negotiators employ techniques such as building rapport with captors, maintaining calm communication, and subtly influencing outcomes.  These tactics are tied in with Bender’s behaviour driven by the conflicting interest o save both the President and his wife.

The script also includes a few twists in the plot, which will not be mentioned in this review.  There is no credit for the script in the closing credits though it is stated that the story is based on an original idea.

NON-NEGOTIABLE is thus an efficient little Mexican film, entertaining enough without having to resort to ridiculous special effects and expensive production costs or even star names.  The largely unknown cast delivers credible performances and the suspenseful action thriller works, especially if one can watch it on Netflix and save money from going to the cinema.

NON NEGOTIABLE (No Negociable), a Netflix original film streams on Netflix on June 26th, 2024.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 18 July 2024

Capsule Review of BOOKWORM, the opening night film:

 FANTASIA SCREENING DETAILS:
Opening Night Film
Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 6:30 PM 
Auditorium des diplômés de la SGWU (Théâtre Hall)
1455 rue Maisonneuve O (rue Bishop)
Montréal QC H3G 1M8
Click here for more information.

BOOKWORM (New Zealand 2023) ***½

Directed by Ant Timpson

During a time of crisis, a freak electrical accident involving a faulty toaster switch results in a mother being in a coma and then recovering.  A washed-up American magician Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood) and his precocious estranged daughter Mildred (Nell Fisher) take to the New Zealand wilderness, in search of a mythical black panther for a much-needed reward money..  The script contains quirky dialogue expected from a film entitled and about a BOOKWORM.   The film clearly demonstrates how fresh and entertaining it can be with smart yet simple dialogue without any resort to expensive CGI special effects, action sequences and pyrotechnics.  The young daughter has a lot of smart talk that is naturally believable because she is a well-read bookworm.  The film is beautifully shot in a contemporary setting g showing the beauty of New Zealand with its rocky mountains, rivers and natural beauty, but it is more engaging unlike in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy where everything looks mythical.  The film contains almost all the elements of a movie including drama, adventure, action, suspense and comedy.  There is a bit of everything for everyone.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 17 July 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER  (LA BELLA ESTATE) (Italy 2023) ***
Directed by Laura Luchett 

Turin, 1938. Young Ginia has just left the countryside with her brother in search of a new life in the city. Though Turin lies in the shadow of a rising fascistic government and her brother yearns to return home, Ginia is more optimistic about the future. In a short time, she excels in her work as a seamstress at an atelier, gaining new clients with her designs and impressing her otherwise irascible employer. Restless and seeking adventure, Ginia soon finds it in a beautiful, enigmatic young woman named Amelia. Though similar in age, her new friend’s sensuality and confidence among the bohemian artists she socializes with embolden Ginia to begin modeling for the male painters in her circle.  A whirlwind affair ensues, and the young seamstress finds herself swept up in this new and unfamiliar world, all the while never escaping Amelia’s spell. The young women grow closer, and Ginia makes an emotional journey toward self-discovery over the course of one beautiful, sun-dappled summer.

Making a life in the countryside is hard work.  We do not belong to the big cities.  These are the words spoken by Ferucci to her sister Ginia as they discuss their possible futures.  She has bruised hands from overwork as a seamstress and the brother has almost given up his University studies believing that University is mainly for wealthy people.  The siblings illustrate the struggle of the poorer country folk compared to their more fortunate city counterparts.  The siblings argue but they care for each other.

From the stunning cinematography of the countryside that includes scenes of the lakes, rivers and woods, there is an obvious bias of the film towards life in the country as opposed to the city.  Yet Ginia is seduced by the city as she grows fond of a girl that she had just met, Amelia who works as a model for painters, often using nude for them.

The same-sex relationship between Ginia and Amelia is gradual.  Ginia first eyes Amelia emerging from the water of a lake after swimming, her nipples observably erect from her wet top, the appearance similar to Ursula Andress and Halle Berry as they emerged from the water in the James Bond films.  They meet again at a bar and their friendship goes from there, leading to a relationship that is unacceptable at the time.  Their first kiss occurs only after the one-hour mark of the film - quite a wait.  In the meantime and also after, Ginia flirts with a painter.  From her looks during the lovemaking, courtesy of the camerawork, one can see from her facial expressions that Ginia is quite uncomfortable while making love to a male.  In one scene she says” “There is too much light.”  Too bad as the male is quite good-looking.

Because of the period and the fact that the film is set in the Italian countryside, it is reminiscent of the disturbing recent Italian film FIREWORKS about two boys who find love who are eventually murdered by the villagers in disapproval - a disturbing true story.  This film is one of the best I have seen this year and is now available on demand.  THE BEAUTIFUL SUMMER is a fleeting, light coming-of-age story that celebrates the Italian countryside,  The music and light treatment of the period piece is also reminiscent of Fellini’s AMACORD.

The Locarno Audience Award Nominee premiers via VOD and Digital and streams on SVOD (Movement Plus) on August the 9th

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BORDERLANDS (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Eli Roth

BORDERLANDS is based on a video game.

Borderlands is an action role-playing first-person looter shooter video game franchise in a space Western science fantasy setting, created and produced by Gearbox Software and published by 2K for multiple platforms.  The series consists of seven games, each with multiple downloadable content packs.  The series has received critical acclaim and commercial success for its loot-driven multiplayer co-op gameplay and its sense of humour. It is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. so a film adaptation of the series is inevitable and arrives this week.

It is difficult to get excited with a film adaptation of a video game.  But BORDERLANDS has two things going for it.  Firstly, it is a highly successful, well-known and critically acclaimed video game and secondly, it is directed by Eli Roth, though the reshoots were done by Tim Miller (DEADPOOL) due to a conflicting schedule.

` Like the video game, the film’s setting takes place on the planet of Pandora, a horrid planet where law and order is absent and anarchy exists to its fullest.  The planet contains a vault that contains the secret tooth Universe, which in this case is all the tech information needed to rule the Universe, in short AI.  The planet has many vault hunters looking for the location of the vault and the key to opening it.

Lilith (Cate Blanchett), an infamous outlaw with a mysterious past, reluctantly returns to her home planet of Pandora to find the missing daughter of the universe's most powerful S.O.B., Atlas (Edgar Ramirez). Lilith forms an alliance with an unexpected team – Roland (Kevin Hart), a former elite mercenary, now desperate for redemption; Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), a feral teenage demolitionist; Krieg, Tina's musclebound, rhetorically challenged protector; Tannis, the scientist with a tenuous grip on sanity; and Claptrap (voiced by Jack Black), a persistent wiseass robot. These unlikely heroes must battle alien monsters and dangerous bandits to find and protect the missing girl, who may hold the key to unimaginable power. The fate of the universe could be in their hands but they'll be fighting for something more: each other.

Academy Award Winner Catt Blanchett lends her acting chops as the action hero in the film. She is, as usual good but do not expect any groundbreaking performances of the TAR or CAROL quality.  Cate Blanchett was cast as Lilith in May 2020.  Speaking of her decision to join the project, Blanchett said: "The gun-slinging stuff was so much fun. I got absorbed in that whole world. I think there also may have been a little Covid madness.  An impressive cast rounds off some solid comic performances.  Thank God the annoying Jack Black can only be heard and not seen.  Motor-mouthed Black is actually quite good here, as in KUNGFU PANDA.

It appears that filmgoers love humour in action-packed sci-fi futuristic action movies as in the recent record-breaking DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE

BORDERLANDS which hosts $100 million to make is from Lionsgate Studios.  The film opens Friday, August the 2nd.

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CUCKOO (USA/Germany 2024) ***

Directed by Tilman Singer

Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) leaves her American home to live with her father (Marton Csokas), who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König (Dan Stevens), her father's boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen's mute half-sister Alma (Mila Lieu). Something doesn't seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.

The film introduces audiences to a horrible event that results in what is known in science as an emaciated twin.  The young step-sister is the surviving twin while in the womb of her pregnant mother.  In the case of pregnancy continuation, the dead twin will progressively transform into “fetus papyraceous” due to the absorption of the soft tissues, and placental and amniotic fluids.  The dead fetus will be found compressed between the amniotic sac of the survival twin and the uterine wall.   A wide range of structural abnormalities have been reported in the surviving twin such as neural tube defects, optic nerve hypoplasia, hypoxic-ischemic lesions of the white matter (multicystic encephalomalacia), microcephaly (cerebral atrophy), hydranencephaly, porencephaly, hemorrhagic lesions of white matter, posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus, and bilateral renal cortical necrosis.  All this is pretty scary.

At the film’s 30-minute mark, director Kruger has his audience guessing as to what the hell is going on.  The female protagonist has just escaped from everyone at the resort where she is staying and working and taken off, on a whim with a French girl from Paris in a car.  She has stolen all the cash from the resort’s cash register.  They have a catastrophic road accident which then leaves her in the hospital.  Before this 30-minute mark, Gretchen sees a mysterious woman that is as yet unexplained.  She is accosted by a so-called detective to help solve a murder case.  Her father has had enough of her. Alma suffers from epileptic fits.  No one works at the reception of the resort after 10 pm the time weird things start to happen. If ever a film has sparked interest in the audience or created anticipation, this film is the one that excels.   The question then comes as to whether the re of the film can live to the early build-up and whether all the mysteries can be explained creditably.

Unfortunately, the film starts showing cracks during the second half.  Not every incident can be explained, like the toilet scene, and a few of these seem to be put there just for jump scares.  The repeated jolts in time -why so many characters suffer the same demise are not explained.

Performances-wise, Hunter Schafer as the 17-year-old serves the horror feature well.  British actor Dam Steves appears all weird here, sporting a German accent and trying his best to pass for German.

CUCKOO plays for horror and scare effects, coming from plot and camera techniques while paying less attention to story continuity or ending.  (A similar recent horror film is LONGLEGS.)

CUCKOO is in theatres on August 9th.

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DANCE FIRST (USA/UK/Belgium/Hungary2023) ***
Directed by James Marsh

The film documents the life of Irish writer’ Samuel Beckett, from his childhood, his friendship with James Joyce until the incarceration of the latter's mentally ill daughter Lucia Joyce, his relationship with his future wife Suzanne Dumesnil, his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War, his postwar literary rise and subsequent Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, his affair with translator Barbara Bray and his later life right until his death in 1989. Throughout the film, Beckett carries out an interior monologue

There are two ways to shoot a biopic.  One is to tell the story straightforwardly, whether in chronological order or non-chronological order with the often use of flashbacks - commonly used in most biopic films.  The other is a risky varied approach as in DANCE FIRST, the biopic of Irish Pulitzer Prize Winner Samuel Beckett using a style befitting to what the world has claimed as one of the best writers of the century and a literary genius.  The biopic unfolds with Beckett speaking to himself as his story unfolds.

Literary genius Samuel Beckett lived a life of many parts: Parisian bon vivant, WWII Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband, and recluse. But despite all the adulation that came his way, he was a man acutely aware of his own failings. The biopic is entitled DANCE FIRST, titled after Beckett’s famous ethos Dance first, think later.  The film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.

Samuel Barclay Beckett, who passed as recently as in December 1989, was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and tragicomic experiences of life, often coupled with black comedy and nonsense.  His work became increasingly minimalist as his career progressed, involving more aesthetic and linguistic experimentation, with techniques of stream-of-consciousness repetition and self-reference.   He is considered one of the last modernist writers, and one of the key figures in what Martin Esslin called the Theatre of the Absurd.  His most notable play is WAITING FOR GODOT written originally in French and translated also into English.  A resident of Paris for most of his adult life, Beckett wrote in both French and English.  During the Second World War, Beckett was a member of the French Resistance group Gloria SMH  and was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1949.  He was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The film begins with the older Beckett (Gabriel Byrne) at the ceremony where he wins the Novel Prize and the money.  He climbs up through the theatre to a cave where he meets himself and together they try to decide what to do with the cash!   This chat provides the scenario for a retrospective of the man's life.   As Beckett often used in his writing, a technique called ‘stream of consciousness’, this method issued in the telling of his life story in the biopic.   (In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which [sic] pass through the mind" of a narrator.)

This method used in the biopic by director Marsh (MAN ON WIRE, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING) is admirable though it does not really work in terms of dramatic impact but serves to often blur the story which the audience has to decipher.  Byrne’s performance is lacklustre compared to Aikden Gillen who plays his younger counterpart.

At its best, the film captures the spirit of love and regret as well as the process of growing old but it fails to account for Beckett’s genius - what it is that literalists really like and where his genius originated from.

DANCDE FRIST does provide a comprehensive account of  his life and his philandering ways.

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INSIDE THE MIND OF A DOG (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Andy Knight Mitchell

Writer’s note: I am a dog owner and a proud one at that.  My puppy, a Rhodesian Ridgeback (Lucy) just turned one on August 2nd.  I am thus affected by this documentary INSIDE THE MIND OF A DOG, and I am hoping to benefit from some insights.

Netflix’s new doggie documentary INSIDE THE MIND OF A DOG aims to explore the ancient and complex human-dog relationship, reveal cutting-edge research and offer at-home tips for dog owners everywhere.  The doc begins by saying that most people might know the inside of the mind of a dog but modern studies have discovered more information that will benefit both the canine and the human species.   Following three main characters – a brilliant, super-trained border collie; a precocious pug; and a lovable rescued mutt – the doc’s team of elite canine experts from across the globe, dive deep into our best friend’s hidden mind, to answer everyone’s biggest canine questions.

The doc is filled with fun facts that one might already know or not know.  The average number of a litter is 6, the record being 24.  Dogs have nose prints just as human beings have unique fingerprints.  Dogs are as unique as their nose prints are, and researchers are trying to find out why.  Dogs understand human gestures better than apes as shown in the finger pointing cognitive experiment.  Puppies are born blind and deaf and their sight develops only after a period of three weeks.  The sight of newly born puppies finding their way to the milk of their mother and feeding on her is just such an endearing sight, powerful enough to warn the heart of the most evil villain.  The reason dogs are so adorable are their sad puppy eyes, the white part that can be seen that absolutely drives humans crazy. Friendliness rules.  Dogs use this element to bond with humans and survive.  The most popular dog breed was the golden retriever now overtaken by the  French bulldog.  My own dog breed was shown at the beginning of the doc as a standing tall canine Rhodesian Ridgeback, standing tall, bred originally from Africa.

The doc’s information comes from many sources including a canine research facility dedicated to understand the behaviour of dogs.  Canine Companion is another started up by Charles Schultz’s Peanuts and Snoopy.  The disc includes segments of the training of guide dogs.

The director of the film is Andy Knight Mitchell, a four-time Emmy Award winner, returning to direct the new documentary following the 2022 movie INSIDE THE MIND OF A CAT.  It did quite well on Netflix following its release in August 2022.  It was featured on Netflix's daily top 10s in over 49 countries and in the global top 10s for a single week, picking up 6.99 million hours of TV time.  Andy Knight Mitchell

has worked for most distributors, including National Geographic, Disney+, Nat Geo Wild, Discovery, and Animal Planet.  

INSIDE THE MIND OF A DOG, total entertaining for both dog lovers and non-dog lovers with insight and fun-filled facts, is available for streaming on Netflix this week. 

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IT ENDS WITH US (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Justin Baldoni

The new female-slanted romantic drama centering on female abuse IT ENDS WITH US  is based on the romance novel of the same name, by Colleen Hoover, published by Atria Books on August 2, 2016.  Based on the relationship between her mother and father, author Hoover described it as "the hardest book I've ever written.”

The IT in the title of both the book and the film refers to the abuse of the Bloom family - the abuse faced and suffered by both the mother and daughter at the hands of violent men.  The meaning is only made clear at the end of the movie bringing the film to a satisfactory explained closed ending.

IT ENDS WITH US could have been titled THE ABUSE ENDS WITH US, but then the entire story would have been too pious and expected.

IT ENDS WITH US, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the compelling story of Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own flower shop business.  A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni who also directed the movie) sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents' relationship.  (i.e. the violent abuse)  When Lily's first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

The film’s treatment of abuse can be looked upon in two ways.  In the first, it is romanticized and accepted, as Lily accepts Ryle’s abuse of her as being acceptable only because the abuse was different from her mother’s.  Ryle always has an excuse which Lily always readily accepts.  Finally, however, she separates from him at the end with the words “It (the abuse) ends with us) referring to the baby born of the abuse which is Ryle’s rape).  The story also offers Ryle an excuse for his violent behaviour which is attributed to the traumatic accidental killing of his younger brother when Ryle was a child.

Despite being directed by a male, the film has a strong female slant from the source material with a female author and a strong female protagonist supported by a lively performance by Blake Lively, pardon the pun.  The male characters are treated as secondary and mere pawns in the story, subject to where the plot of the film leads.

The flashbacks shown of Lily’s parents’s abuse are vague and it is difficult to determine what exactly is going on, despite the scene being repeated a number of times.  If this is director Baldoni’s purpose to reflect the vagueness of Lily’s own memory, then why show it a number of times? One can hardly tell too if the father was having sex with the mother or another woman or even with his daughter in the room, which makes the story confusing at that point.

Running at 130 minutes and despite being a female-slanted film and its questionable treatment of the sensitive topic, IT ENDS WITH US engages both genders with what abuse and violence can do to a relationship.

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LOLO AND THE KID (Philippines 2024) **
Directed by Benedict Mique

“Say it’s only a PAPER MOON, sailing over a cardboard sky.  But it’s only make-believe if you believe in me."  So go the words of the theme song of the 1973 Peter Bogdanovic hit starring real-life father and daughter Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal about a father and daughter con team that won the hearts of moviegoers everywhere and made PAPER MOON a classic hit.  There are many things that can be learned from that movie, but apparently, the new Netflix Filipino film LOLO AND THE KID about a kid and grandpa con team, fails to have taken up any pointers.

The opening scene of LOLO AND THE KID introduces the protagonists of the movie, LOLO which means grandpa in Filipino and his supposedly grandson.  They sit on a curb eating rice mixed with soya sauce as observed by a sympathetic couple.  Gemma and Alan admit that they want to adopt the kid, making it clear that they have tried everything to have kids before, but nothing worked for them. This request throws Grandpa Lolo off, but he agrees, leaving Kid behind, who seems distraught. This is a tearjerker scene which is perhaps the film’s best moment as it is revealed later than it is one that has fooled the audience.  It is revealed that this was all part of their con, and the duo leaves the house with plenty to sell and earn some money.

Unfortunately, the film falls apart right at this point.  The two continue to dupe others and as the audience is already familiar with the scheme, it gets boring quickly.  In PAPER MOON, the scams are different and there are other twists in the plot that make the film more intriguing with hardly a dull moment, aided by Tantum O’Neal’s fantastic performance earning her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, also making her the youngest winner in Oscar history.

In LOLO AND THE KID, however, director Mique plays at the heartstrings of the viewers instead, as many Filipino movies do, falling into cliched melodrama. But in contrast, the characters are also quick to play with the emotions of other people to earn a living.

As expected and as cliches go, things change, and Lolo realizes that Kid can’t live like this forever, so he makes a difficult decision on behalf of both of them. It is insightful to examine how PAPER MOON avoids this pitfall by ending the story before this consideration occurs.

Joel Torres who plays Lolo, the grandpa does his best in his role but is unable to save the film.

LOLO AND THE KID plays like a melodramatic pauper’s version of the Peter Bogdanovic’s classic PAPER MOON in which two family con artists set up to make a living act at the expense of sympathetic victims.   It lacks originality, humour and drama making a dry and ultimately boring 90 minutes.  The awful dragged-on climax aimed at tearing the heartstrings is too much to bear.

LOLO AND THE KID is a Philippines Netflix original film that opens for streaming this week.  Best to rent PAPER MOON again and watch that instead.

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SUGARCANE (USA/Canada 2024) ***
Directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie

The film begins with an advisory warning.  The film is about Indian and residential schools and contains discussions on sexual violence.

SUGARCANE is the name of an Indigenous Reservation in British Columbia, Canada.  The doc serves as a tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life.  SUGARCANE is the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, which is a cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning.  

It all began in 2021 when evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada.  The doc spent time investigating and excavating a few graves.  Since then and after years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities.   Services and gatherings with interviews of those attending attest to the importance of these meetings.

Canadians have been bombarded with the news of uncovered graves, and indeed many, many more have been discovered since then, and not only in the province of British Columba.  The doc takes a personal look at this shameful segment of History of Canada by focusing on Julian and his family and how they had been affected by the news.

As most Canadians have already been bombarded with so much news of the unmarked graves in residential schools, there is nothing new that Canadians have not already heard of.  But by looking from Julian’s family’s perspective, all the bad stuff has been made more credible and unaccepting.  It makes a difference when one hears a testimony firsthand compared to the reading of what has happened in the news.

A woman tells of her Indigenous experiences.  We were given all these strict rules to obey and the ones that broke them were the people in charge.  She woman also testified of herself being sexually abused and when she informed the authorities, they did not believe her.

A segment of the doc is devoted to the procedure of the investigation.

Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, SUGARCANE illuminates the heartbreak and beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to survive.

After making its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year — where it won the U.S. Documentary Competition Directing Award — the film went on to receive the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award from the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the 2024 Filmmaker Award from the Margaret Mead Film Festival. To date, SUGARCANE has won over a dozen awards, including Best Documentary Feature Awards from Mountainfilm, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival and Sarasota Film Festival, along with Special Jury Prizes at the Seattle International Film Festival and the International Film Festival of Boston.

SUGARCANE opens in the U.S. and Canadian Theatres August 9. 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 July 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

THE CHAMPION (EL CAMPEON)(Spain 2024) ***1/2
Directed by Carlos Theron

In the light of the current football craze as the world watches the world’s best team play for the Eurocup, comes this Spanish comedy about a champion footballer, who is Spain’s top scorer.  From the age of 6, his father has groomed Diego to be a footballer, arming him for all the right clubs, etc.  He is called, a champion, just as the title of the film implies.  But Diego, the champion can also be described as a hooligan.  He was given a red card after head-butting not the football but his team captain, and suspended for two games and maybe a third. 

So, this hot-headed football star has had it all until a fight gets him benched and assigned a new tutor: a reclusive academic who'll teach him to face his fears.  Though advertised as a sports drama, it is a light one with many humourous light touches.  The teacher discovers that Diego suffers from dyslexia.  

  At its best, THE CHAMPION captures both the spirit of the sport of football as well as the problems associated with dyslexia.  It is a sensitive and moving story encapsulated in an occasionally brilliant script

The film is about two highly different personalities.  Though it sounds like a movie with a story to avoid, a story of how two mismatched characters interact and learn from each other - the film ends up quite endearing.  The character study makes good observations, revealing similarities as well as differences between the two, otherwise, hotheads, one keeping it all inside and the other always letting it out on someone else.  And the whole thing works, thankfully for the two actors who play the two leads.  At its best, the film is moving demonstrating the resilience of the human spirit.

THE CHAMPION, filmed in Spanish, opens for streaming on Friday the 12th on Netflix.

FLY ME TO THE MOON (USA 2024) ***½

Directed by Greg Berlanti

It has been almost 50 years since Peter Hyams’ famous action thriller CAPRICORN One graced the screens about a totally faked Mars Mission landing.  The caption went like this: “Would you be shocked if the greatest moment in history never happened?”  Elliot Gould discovered the truth in the film and had to fight for his dear life.  Something sort of similar occurs in FLY ME TO THE MOON.  The actual moon landing! The United States figures might not be as glamorous as the actual one occurring and decides to have a fake one filmed and teslas to the world instead.

FLY ME TO THE MOON is set during the 1960s Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. a relationship develops between the NASA director, Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) in charge of the Apollo 11 launch, and the marketing specialist, Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson)  brought in to fix NASA's public image and stage a "backup" fake Moon landing.  She brings in her own director, described as the best director no one has heard of, Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash) to do the honours of filming the fake moon landing.  Lance is a perfectionist and needles to say, impossible to work with.  At one point, Kelly says that she should have got Kubrick instead.

But FLY ME TO THE MOON is a romantic comedy, the type of the 60’s the typical Rock Hudson and Doris Day pairing but with the roles reversed in this one.  Tatum plays the prissy follow-the-rules shy romantic while Johnson plays the brash independent female who is a con artist at heart.   The film works as a romantic comedy as the romance plays second fiddle to the NASA story, where the audience is drawn to the intrigue of NASA and its problems.

The film contains a great assortment of ‘moon songs including of course “Fly Me to the Moon” the 1954 song by Bart Howard, and the classic 1961 “Moon River” performed by Aretha Franklin.

FLY ME TO THE MOON is Greg Berlanti’s feature-directing debut.  Though his name is not that well known, Berlanti once made Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.  In the 2017–2018 television season, Berlanti tied Jerry Bruckheimer's 2005–2006 record in having 10 different live-action scripted television series airing on various networks and digital platforms and took sole possession of the record, with 14 airing in the 2018–19 television season, having signed the most expensive producer deal at that time (June 2018) with Warner Bros.  But it is Johansson’s movie.  Besides serving as one of the film’s producers, she delivers a stellar performance as Kelly the female sweet-talking con artist.  Her performance is so good that director Berlanti omitted the dialogue and scene where she convinces two cops to pardon a shop breaking in to give her an escorted ride back to Nasa.  Omitted dialogue is very effective but not so widely used if the audience knows the gist of what is to be said as in Hitchcocks TORN CURTAIN and Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN where the tactic was used,

Though running a bit long over 2 hours, the chemistry of the two leads Tatum and Johansson works well making FLY ME TOTHE MOON  a successful and entertaining romantic comedy with the backdrop of the Nasa moon landing. 

LONGLEGS (USA 2023) ***½

Directed by Osgood Perkins

The new horror film LONGLEGS begins old-school Italian Gallo style with the screen all red, and one can tell that something terrible is going to happen.  FBI agents including Lee Parker are briefed that a serial killer is in the neighbourhood and they are to go door-to-door asking questions while being fully aware of how dangerous the killer is.  Lee and her partner are in the squad car and the partner leaves her in the car to do the door questions.  Lee then tells him that the killer is in the next house.  And to call it in.  When asked how she skins and she replied that she has a hunch.  Her partner goes to the door of the house and knocks on the door.  The partner is then blasted with a shotgun.  The scene pays homage to Gallo Maestro Dario Argento who has made incredible horror slasher films including SUSPIRA, OPERA, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMMAGE, and his latest DARK EYES.  In his movies there is always some danger behind a door or curtain, and before any reason can be given the thing behind the barrier has lashed out and killed its victim.  The same can be said in this scene i which no reason needs to be given that Lee has the hunch the killer is in that house, and the killer does away with the victim in the same horrific way tight one would expect from Argento.

The film unfolds in three chapters, the first one untitled.  Not that it matters!

The story is set in the 1990s. New FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) was assigned to an unsolved case involving a Satanic serial killer known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage).   As the investigation becomes more complicated with occult evidence uncovered, Harker realizes a personal link to the killer and must act quickly to prevent another family murder.

Watching LONGLEGS is like getting one’s senses jarred, not once but many times and with different means, be it sudden loud screeching sounds or sudden appearing frightening scenes.  It feels like the answer to a riddle is given and then it is a task to figure out the question.  Not everything makes sense and there are non-chronological moments.  One one confrontational scene between mother and daughter, the mother tells her that the daughter is allowed to grow up.  “What do you remember, mum?  the daughter asks.  “I forget but there are things in your room that will help you remember.”  is her mother’s reply.  At its best, the tactics used by writer/director Nichols work as a fresh and scary horror movie and at its worst, one is left trying to figure out what the last segment meant.

LONGLEGS is not Osgood Perkins's first feature. Perkins wrote and directed the horror films The Blackcoat's Daughter (2015) and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and directed the dark fantasy-horror adaptation Gretel & Hansel (2020).   He is also the second elder son of Anthony Perkins who starred as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’ Psycho.  He also played Norman

Nicholas Cage, the Academy Award Winner for LEAVING LAS VEGAS who loves playing weird roles has one of the weirdest I’m his career as the serial killer LONGLEGS.  When he first appears, he is totally unrecognizable, looking like a team with his long white hair and screechy voice.  Yes, and Cage’s character gets weirder as the story progresses.  Cage also serves as the producer of the film.

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SISI & I (Sisi & Ich)(Austria/Germany/Switzerland 2022) ****
Directed by Frauke Finsterwalder

Sissi (or Sisi) is the name often used for Empress Elisabeth.  Many films including the series THE EMPRESS from Netflix, a 1955 Austrian film SISSI and the recent CORSAGE have been made on the Empress, a famous figure in History.  Some history is useful in the appreciation of the new handsome period piece SISSIS and I.

Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on 24 April 1854 until her assassination in 1898. Elisabeth was born into the Ducal royal branch of the Bavarian House of Wittelsbach but enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying her first cousin, Emperor Franz Joseph I, at 16. The marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared and which she found suffocating.  The birth of a son, Crown Prince Rudolf, improved Elisabeth's standing at court, but her health suffered under the strain.  The death of Elisabeth's only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera in a murder-suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which the Empress never recovered.  In 1890, she had the palace Achilleion built on the Greek island of Corfu the setting of the film. The palace featured an elaborate mythological motif and served as a refuge, which Elisabeth visited often. She was obsessively concerned with maintaining her youthful figure and beauty, developing a restrictive diet and wearing extremely tightlaced corsets (hence the title of the recent film CORSGE) to keep her waist looking very small. The story of the Empress is told and given from a different point-of-view as the title of the film implies, that of her Lady-In-Waiting, Irma played by Academy Award Nominee Sandra Huger (ANATOMY OF A FALL).  She calls the Empress a stupid cow in one scene and ‘your majesty’ in the next,

The film opens in the late 19th century. The single, middle-aged Hungarian countess Irma Sztáray, (Huller)  having rejected marriage and the convent, is forced by her overbearing mother to apply to be handmaiden to the increasingly reclusive Empress Elisabeth of Austria, aka Sisi (Susanne Wolff).  An extravagant and temperamental woman, Sisi has been separated from her husband for many years and is living in an aristocratic women-only commune in Corfu, Greece. After a humiliating interview by her predecessor, Irma arrives at the estate seasick and heatstruck and is immediately put through her paces by her new mistress. Though initially uncertain, Irma soon bows to the will of the Empress in all things, curbing her healthy appetite to match Sisi's obsessively restricted one and parting with her frou-frou ribbons and lace to adopt Sisi's preferred, Japanese-influenced style. Irma falls madly in love with the Empress, and as they travel from Corfu to Algiers, Bavaria to England, the two develop a co-dependent bond – though naturally, only as close as Sisi will allow. But when they return to Vienna, their lives change drastically. After her husband the Emperor rapes her, Sisi pressures Irma to murder her with a shiv, blaming an Italian anarchist.

SISI & I can be distinguished from the other films made of the Austrian Empress as this one is told from the pout of view of her Lady-In-Waiting, Irma and best of all played with constraint and elegance by Sandra Huller.  Director Frauke Finsterwalder creates an irrelevant tale full of detail, pleasures and decadence that feel so important to Sissi and Irma.  A wonderfully and stunning film and is entertaining from start to end.

SISI & I opens theatrically July 12th.

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TOUCH (Iceland/USA 2014) ***

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur

TOUCH is a senior love story of regrets and missed opportunities. It also encompasses two enormous events or rather catastrophic world disasters that affect the lives of everyone living on the planet - the bombing of Hiroshima (and Nagasaki) ending the Second World War and the COVID-19 pandemic.  These events affect the lives of the film’s protagonist and it is up to him to use the strength of the human will to overcome the difficulties.

Kristofer (played in the younger self by Pálmi Kormákur, the director’s son) is a young student in London who because of the tumultuous times of protests had to quit his studies,   He finds work, initially as a dishwasher at a Japanese restaurant (also in London) called Nippon, which is the old name for Japan.   He meets and gradually falls in love with the owner's daughter.  But separation ends their romance from the part of the father who takes his daughter back to Japan after finding that she is pregnant with child.

The time is the present 2020 and widower Kris When his doctor advises him that is time to tend to unfinished business, Kristofer takes the advice to heart.  He closes his Rekyavik restaurant, mutters a quiet “Forgive me” to a framed photograph of his late wife, and flies to London, just as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions are ramping up.  He stays at a hotel that is just about to be in lockdown mode.

The story contains a few too many coincidental incidents, and thoughts can be blamed on the source material, which is the novel of the same name.  One is the coincidence of the dementia and the other is that he is free to travel as his wife has already died.  Other coincidences include him meeting another widower, who shares the same demise and who also helps him in his journey.   It is a journey to search for a loved one.  As the film moves very slowly, one can feel the effects of a difficult search

The two timelines are intercut with the film moving forwards and backward, in fact rather clumsily in flashbacks.  At least with different actors playing the couple in different stages, one can tell when the setting is in the '60s and during the Pandemic.

The film is shot in both Japan and London, and the period atmosphere is effectively captured under the limitations of a tight budget.  For example, the older double-decker London bus is shown but with no other vehicles on the street.

The two lovers eventually meet at the end, in a satisfactory climax.  This can be compared to Jacques Demy’s LES PARAPLUIES DE CHERBOURG in which the lovers just miss each other in a tear-jerking finale.

This reviewer could be nasty and say that the film TOUCH, because of its theme, pace and characters is a film for old people, but I would rather say that TOUCH has the older audience as its target audience.  And to this effect, TOUCH succeeds,  but it is difficult to see the youth getting excited about a 50-year-old love romantic saga.  They have to wait their time.

Focus Features and Universal Pictures Canada will release TOUCH In-Theatres Nationwide on Friday, July 12th

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WILD WILD PUNJAB (India 2024) **
Directed by Simarpreet Singh

In the tradition of movies with goofy losers like the HAROLD AND KUMAR, HEY DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR and THE HANGOVER movies comes this film set in Punjab about 4  yes, goofy Punjabi goofballs who have nothing to do but hang around to complete one nonsensical task.  WILD WILD PUNJAB as the comedy is appropriately called is a nonsensical and goofy comedy that tests one’s patience more than testing one's funny bone.

The (irrelevant) premise of the movie goes like this:  Khanne has had a breakup. He's upset, but he has friends like Arore, Jainu and Honey Paaji who encourage him to face this breakup head-on and move on. They embark on a trip across Punjab to help Khanne find the closure he desires.

The four friends are an assortment of losers who are introduced in the film one by one.  The first is a college dropout staying in college because of his mixed martial arts ‘abilities’.

Arore (Sunny Singh) is introduced as a sex fiend, banging away girl after girl in a car that belongs to the second loser dude Jainu (Jassie Gill) who lives under his greedy father’s thumb.  The dad is busy counting the loot dowry given by the ‘papaji’ of sonny boy’s would-be-bride.  The father threatens Jaini that if he misbehaves, he will go back 26 years in time and use a condom - perhaps the film's one of the few funny jokes.  The third is the chubby and annoying Khanne (Varun Sharma), the one been dumped.  He cannot get over it and his friends, with him, are now travelling in the fourth’s SUV to her wedding to yell at her: ‘I’m Over You!” in front of all the wedding guests.  This person is drunk in the car all the way, creating more annoyance besides silly and unfunny shenanigans.  These include quite a few comedic set-pieces that are generally sillier than funny.  One is the toll gate fight in which the four engage in some kick-box choreography that also includes Khanne peeing on the toll barrier.  His pee apparently can set the toll gate on fire (Really?) and they make off without a scratch,  The fourth and thankfully the last is Honey Paaji (Manjot Singh), a rich dude of has a result of his father’s successful transport company, who owns his prized (cannot leave a scratch on it) SUV they are all driving up in.

The one positive thing about the film is its Punjabi setting which North Americans seldom see.  The costumes streets, and celebrations are all quite colourful (while stereotyping to an extent) though the shenanigans of the four are not that different from the youth of the Western countries.  The wedding is an excuse for some Bollywood song and dance numbers, the choreography with the 4 dancing in unison not being too bad.

 The wedding is an excuse for some Bollywood song and dance numbers, the choreography with the 4 dancing in unison not being too bad.

While a little entertaining, this goofy teen Punjabi comedy about drunken loser friends is nothing to write home about. Forgettable for sure, but not really good guilty entertainment.  One of the 4 friends says at one point in the movie: This is no HANGOVER movie!:  He is absolutely right!  WILD WILD PUNJAB: country of origin: India; and filmed in Hindi) is a Netflix original film that opens for streaming this week the recent Wednesday.

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VANISHED INTO THE NGIHT (Svaniti Nella Notte) (Italy 2024) **

Directed by (dirreto da) Renato de Maria

In the Pierre Morel actioncter TAKEN starring Liam Neeson that spun several sequels,  Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), a former government operative, is trying to reconnect with his daughter, Kim. Then his worst fears become real when sex slavers abduct Kim and her friend shortly after they arrive in Paris for vacation.  The new Netflix thriller from Italy VANISHED INTO THE NIGHT follows the rescue of a couple’s taken children, Giovanni and Bianca by the father in what is a mediocre action mystery thriller that suffers from a sluggish pace despite some fine performances of its leads.  This film is based on the 2017 Argentinian/Spanish thriller SEPTIMO (THE 7TH FLOOR) directed Patxi Amezcua, a box-office success and thus this remake.  Director Amexcua is one of the three co-writers for this script.

The film opens with a family outing on a luxurious boat in the sea where the family of four, Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio) and Elena (Annabelle Wallis) and the two children swimming in the sea.  The father and mother find the two kids missing only to discover that they have hidden in the boat.  The next scene has the couple in a lawyer’s office arguing over custody of the two kids.  From here, it is obvious that there are problems with the script.  It is immediately confusing not to say disconcerting to see the loving couple arguing and separating over the two kids in two scenes next to each other.  There is also the question of the purpose of the two children hiding to fool their parents, as this has nothing to do with the rest of the story, except for the fact that they do disappear one night under the watch of Pietro.  From the scene in the lawyer’s office, the audience learns that the couple do not make the perfect pair.  Elena was addicted to opiates after being given addictive painkillers while Pietro accumulated a huge gambling debt of $250,000 euros.

The children disappear when staying with the father.  At night they disappear without a trace and Pietro receives a ransom call.  Pietro assumes that is the creditor that is responsible and goes to see Nicola, an old crooked acquaintance that he now has severed ties with,  Having no choice, he agrees to be a drug mule using his boat. As it turns out there is more mystery than action in the kidnapping story.  The only action is a fight between Nicola and Pietro later in the film and the mystery occurs when the kids suddenly appear at their mother’s house and the kids are in no way aware, as Elena too, of any kidnapping.  Pietro figures out the mystery’s solution, which is the main twist in the story.  The trouble is that the twist occurs too early and the film ponders clumsily after that,

The script has a good story but is executed a bit clumsily resulting in a lacklustre mystery thriller without much action or suspense. At best the cinematography around the Bari area in Italy is quite stunning. Bari is a port city on the Adriatic Sea and the capital of southern Italy’s Puglia region. Performances by the two leads are ok.

The film is shot in Italian and English.  VANISHED IN TO THE NIGHT opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 01 July 2024

The American Independence Day weekend proves to be a boom for new films opening.  Netflix has two winners opening - GOYO and the Japanese animated THE IMAGINARY.  And also streaming is the long-awaited Eddie Murphy BEVERLY HILLS COP: ALEX F.  For family, DESPICABLE ME 4 is the best of the franchise and for action films, KILL from India is action-packed aboard a crowded train.

FILM REVIEWS:

BEVERLY HILLS COP: ALEX F (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Mark Molloy

The 4th installment of the BEVERLY HILLS COP franchise which began in 1984 when Eddie Murphy was a mere 22 years of age begins with the same hit song ‘The Heat is On’  from that film playing at the film’s start.   Eddie Murphy’s Alex Foley has highjacked a snow plow and raced through the streets of Detroit demolishing cars in the city in a high-speed chase.   It is a high adrenaline-fuelled chase scene well executed with enough energy of hilarity and crashes that should keep the audience’s blood pumping.

So effective is this tactic of combining a super popular tune to a car chase that the same is repeated with the Pointer Sisters' song “Neutron Dance” with another chase this time with Foley on a parking cop’s scooter.  And then one-third time with a lesser-known song and another chase.

Eddie Murphy is now 60.  The latest in the franchise BEVERLY HILLS COP: ALEX F is produced by both Murphy as well as Jerry Bruckheimer.  Has Murphy still got what it takes?  Apparently he has as he is still able to keep audiences laughing with his outrageous shenanigans - as when he touts the name Foley against the name Saunders that his estranged daughter has taken to conning victims with his sweet talk and calling them names like ‘Smart Pants’.  Murphy has trouble getting his character’s sincerity believable on screen.  In his defense, audiences come to see this film to laugh not to watch serious drama.

Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart police lieutenant from Detroit, Michigan, who frequently travelled to Beverly Hills to investigate crimes that previously had mutual colleagues or friends of his wounded or killed.This time, Foley returns to Beverly Hills after his daughter Jane's (Taylour Paige) life is threatened. She and Axel team up with her ex-boyfriend, Detective Abbott Bobbitt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)  and his old pals, John Taggart (John Ashton) and Billy Rosewood, (Judge Reinhold) to uncover a conspiracy.

Two good cameos deserve mention.  One is the return of Bronson Pinchot as Serge, a former art gallery salesman turned weapons dealer who worked for Victor Maitland. Pinchot returns to the role after 30 years from Beverly Hills Cop III.  The other is actor Luis Guzmán as Chalino Valdemoro.  Kevin Bacon plays the villain,  corrupt cop wearing Rolex and thousand dollar shoes.

Murphy has come a long way since his first BEVERLY HILLS COP film in 1984.  Murphy was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor DREAMGIRLS but did not win, likely because he lost his clout with his comedy NORBITT released the same time as DREAMGIRLS in which he played Norbitt, Norbitt’s over-obese wife Rasputia as well as Mr. Wong.  Someone this silly should not deserve the Oscar. This thought was likely in the minds of the Academy voters.  Murphy was almost the MC for the Oscars - he would have been perfect and hilarious but had to bow out due to some controversy at the time.  Murphy is still the funny donkey in SHREK.

BEVERLY HILLS COP: ALEX F is a long-anticipated Beverly Hills Cop Netflix original.  It succeeds as forgettable entertainment as his fans should not be disappointed.

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DESPICABLE ME 4 (USA 2024) ****
Directed by Chris Renaud

One might think that with the 4th installment of the DESPICABLE ME franchise, the filmmakers would have run out of ideas with Gru (Steve Carrell) and his minions, but truth be told, DESPICABLE ME 4 is the best of the series yet.  Not only is DESPICABLE ME 4 full of fresh ideas but the voice characterizations and animation are top-notch aided by several fresh and hilarious comedic set pieces, the funniest happening at the film’s start as a parody of an Awards ceremony.  DESPICABLE 4 is so far the most entertaining animated feature this year and not only for kids loving those pesky cutesy minions.  The trailer is funny enough but more hilarity is on screen not shown in the trailer.

DESPICABLE ME is an American media franchise created by Sergio Pablos, Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio.  It centres on a former supervillain turned secret agent named Gru, his adoptive daughters, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, and his yellow-coloured Minions. The franchise is produced by Illumination Paris, and distributed by its parent company Universal Pictures.

At Lycée Pas Bon, Gru's alma mater, set in a remote castle in a mountainous region, a reception is taking place: the Award for the Best Pupil among the alumni of the year 1985 is awarded to Maxime Le Mal, who has equipped himself with embedded cockroach body parts. But Gru and Anti-Villain League (AVL) agents manage to arrest him at the end of the ceremony. Following his escape from prison, he and his girlfriend Valentina seek revenge on Gru and his family, including his baby son, Gru Jr.  The AVL puts the whole family into relocation for their protection, under new identities, with only three Minions. Gru's new name is Chet Cunningham, a salesman for solar panels, while Lucy is excited to become a hairdresser. The rest of the Minions are moved to the AVL headquarters, where five of them are augmented with superpowers. But the short career as superheroes of these Mega-Minions is a flop. In their new well-off residential town, Gru and his family meet their new neighbours, the Prescotts, and their teenage daughter Poppy. The latter recognizes Gru and blackmails him into a spectacular robbery: stealing Lycée Pas Bon's mascot, Lenny, a ferocious badger. Gru, Gru Jr and the three Minions ally with Poppy on this mission. They all go home with Lenny, but the badger's collar contains a tracker. Maxime is thus informed of the secret location of Gru and his family and kidnaps Gru Jr. in his flying cockroach vessel. Gru finally saves him with the help of Poppy.

Several hilarious comedic set pieces include a supermarket chase down the food aisles, Poppy’s engineered heist that also includes a chase by the old headmistress in a wheelchair, the Mega Minions, the tennis games and the beginning Awards ceremony.  Will Farrel and Steve Coogan steal the show in their voice characterizations the former as the villain and the other a James Bond type M.

For information, the franchise began with the 2010 film of the same name, which was followed by three sequels, Despicable Me 2 (2013), Despicable Me 3 (2017), and Despicable Me 4 (2024) and by two spin-off prequels, Minions (2015) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). The franchise also includes many short films, a television special, several video games, and a theme park attraction. 

DESPICABLE ME 4 opens July 4th.

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GOYO (Argentina 2024) ***½

Directed by Marcos Carnevale

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes i.e. Goya was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters.  Goya is often referred to as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.  The new romantic comedy/drama GOYO features an autistic protagonist who loves to paint, which is a name probably a derivation of the famous painter’s name Goya.

A young autistic museum guide lives by a strict routine until he falls in love with his coworker and must confront a whirlwind of new, intense emotions.

One can tell from the start of a film how the movie will turn out.  The same can be said when watching the first few scenes of GOYO.  The audience sees Goyo, an autistic man (he has Asperger’s) taking his pill medication, capsules in blue and black, also the colour of his checked shirt.  Such coordinating details imply that a lot of details will be put into the filming.  And indeed this can be experienced as the film progresses.   The film’s setting is Buenos Aires, observable from the words on the side of the metro train at the station in one scene,

GOYO is a rare film made with not only care but with sensitivity considering the issues covered.  A romantic comedy where the girl faces prejudice when her friends warn her of her beau not being normal,  Yet it is most moving when someone tells her she cannot expect more when someone loves and admires her this much, does tons for her and loves her unconditionally.  And him being cute as hell too.  

Nicolás Furtado portrays the autistic Goyo with his hair slicked back and with his gait with his arms unmoving by his side.  Her facial mannerisms with his sudden stares all reliably reflect a person with autism.   Goyo is irritated with loud sounds, especially sudden ones.   The dialogue reflects his character’s accuracy with numbers.  He remembers dates while being good with numbers and historical data.  The film also celebrates women’s independence.  The security guard he falls for has just kicked her husband out and has to look after her two sons, the elder one exhibiting teenage rebelliousness,  She puts him in place.  Yet, the film shows her as a vulnerable person, having to smoke up to calm her nerves,  The care and thought that goes into the making and writing of this film are very impressive.  The best trailer used in the script - Goyo cannot and does not lie.

The film compels one to admire diversity while reflecting on one's values as well as others’ prejudices.  The film also contains extra with Down syndrome, celebrating diversity in film.

GOYO is a Netflix original film that opens for streaming this week.  Don’t let the romantic comedy genre put you off as this is a rare and endearing film moving and brave as well.

Trailer: 

THE IMAGINARY (Japan 2023) ***½
Directed by Yoshiyuki Momose and written by Yoshiaki Nishimura,

The much anticipated Netflix original animation THE IMAGINARY by Studio Ponoc based on hand drawing animation, the dominant form of animation before the switch to computer-generated animation, is based on the 2014 British children's novel written by A. F. Harrold and illustrated by Emily Gravett.  It is about a small girl, Amanda, and her imaginary friend, Rudger.  The book has been described as not quite as innovative as it might be, but nevertheless a winningly whimsical celebration of the imagination, beautifully enhanced by both black-and-white and full-color illustrations.   (Kirkus Reviews found it "Wonderfully entertaining”)

The Japanese title of the film THE IMAGINARY is Yaneura no Rajā, which means  'Rudger in the Attic’. Rodger is the name of Amanda’s imaginary friend.

In a world where imaginations can live and be eaten by others, Rudger, an Imaginary boy, can be seen by no one but his creator, a young girl named Amanda. Their shared existence is confined to the attic of Amanda's residence, where they delve into her vibrant imagination.  Always protect each other - Never cry! However, Imaginaries are subject to an inexorable fate: dissolution with human forgetfulness. Baffled by this eventuality, Rudger clings to a glimmer of hope, embarking on an inconspicuous odyssey after Mr. Bunting, who hunts Imaginaries, arrives at Amanda's doorstep. His journey leads him to the enclave referred to as "the town of Imaginaries", a sanctuary for forgotten Imaginaries. This encounter initiates a monumental voyage that steers the course of familial bonds and cherished connections, shaping their forthcoming trajectories.

There are deeper issues dealing with imaginary playmates.  The most pressing issue is whether an imaginary playmate would do more harm than good for the child in particular.  Why would a child have an imaginary playmate?  The best reason even is the child’s loneliness which leads to the classic joke: I was so alone as a child that even my imaginary playmate refused to play with me. (the origin of the joke: the play STEEL MAGNOLIAS).  The next question is the issue of what determines the nature of the imaginary friend.  Horror films often use psychological troubling issues of the mind to create a monster.  The reason for Rutger’s existence is not given till half the film has passed.

The source material is British.  There are two versions of the film, a Japanese-voiced and an English-voiced version.  But the British setting is kept, with English names for the story’s characters and words in English (like the signs on shops and on busses) in the Japanese version.  The villain has a British name, Mr. Bunting.

The film takes flight into a world of imaginaries in the part where Rudger discovers others of the same, and many taking different shapes and forms such as Snowflake the pig and other animals and mechanical distortions.

THE IMAGINARY is an imaginative and worthwhile watch from another Japanese Animation Studio that takes a fresh look at an English children’s novel - imagination that can turn into hope and then into reality.  It opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

Trailer: 

JUNE ZERO (USA/Israel 2023) ***½

Directed by Jake Paltrow

Shot in super 16mm in Israel and Ukraine, writer/director Jake Paltrow’s JUNE ZERO is an ambitious film that puts his mark with some insight based on true events in which Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, whose one signature would send thousands of Jews to their death in gas chambers, is being tried.  And he is convicted.  During the trial, he did not deny the Holocaust or his role in organizing it but said he was simply following orders in a totalitarian Führerprinzip system.  He was found guilty on all of the charges and was executed by hanging on 1 June 1962.  The trial was widely followed in the media and was later the subject of several books and of this Paltrow film, including Hannah Arendt's 'Eichmann in Jerusalem', in which Arendt coined the phrase 'the banality of evil' to describe Eichmann.

Why is the film called JUNE ZERO?  The film’s title references a tabloid that keeps popping up in the story (based on a real magazine from that era, kind of a cross-between Charlie Hebdo, Playboy and New York Post).  “June 0” is the date printed on the execution issue, so as not to commemorate the event.

The anthology-styled film contains three stories bookended by the first about a Palestinian boy’ coming-of-age while working for a Jewish oven maker.  All stories are based on the fact that the State of Israel is facing the question of how to keep Adolf Eichmann's grave from becoming a neo-Nazi pilgrimage site and how they got to keep him alive and out of public publicity before his execution.

The stories include Eichmann’s Jewish Moroccan prison guard, an Israeli investigator who also happens to be a Holocaust survivor and David, a precocious and clever 13-year-old Libyan immigrant.  The three are inexorably connected through the parts they played in this seminal moment of Jewish history.  The best story is the one of the boy David while one of the guards is glorified and the one of the survivors least pressing.  According to the press notes, director Jake Paltrow who co-wrote the script with Israeli writer Tom Shova drew inspiration from his father (late filmmaker Bruce Paltrow) who passed on a deep interest in World War II and Jewish history to him. 

Paltrow’s film contains moments of suspense (the barber cutting the prisoner’s hair), lightheartedness (David’s shenanigans) and sensitivity (the Israel investigator’s experiences).

Added authenticity is provided with the film shot in 16mm, giving it a period feel, as well as being voiced mostly in Hebrew.

JUNE ZERO underscores the notion that shared traumas have the power to forge the strongest bonds and give rise to unexpected moments of triumph and connection.  The film stands as a fable on the current Hamas and Israel war on how Palestinians and Jews could function together utilizing the best of their human abilities.   As the film delves into the complexities of the human experience during this pivotal trial, it serves as a poignant reminder that history's impact can be both diverse and unifying.

JUNE ZERO opens in theatres on July 5th at the Varsity.

Trailer: 

KILL (India 2023) ****
Directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat

The title KILL appears only after the one-hour mark of the film.  The action is so fast and furious no one would’ve noticed the title not appearing on the screen as yet,

When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards a New Delhi-bound train in a daring quest to derail the arranged marriage. But when a gang of knife-wielding thieves led by the ruthless Fani (Raghav Juyal) begin to terrorize innocent passengers on his train, Amrit takes them on himself in a death-defying kill-spree to save those around him — turning what should have been a typical commute into an adrenaline-fueled thrill ride.

The train saga pays a nod to the famous Bong Jung-Ho’s SNOWPIERCER in which different classes of people are kept in different carriages of the train.  In KILL, the train bandits are stuck within one lot of carriages while the wedding party is in others.

Several factors make KILL more interesting and entertaining than most martial arts action flicks besides the fact that all the action-taking place in close-quartered train carriages.  The story involves a father-and-son relationship of the bandits.  The father and son never agree on anything and when things spiral out of control with the bandits, the father and son still argue, as to what to do with one of the hostages on the train, the train transport owner.  Another is the romance built into the action plot.  The main action lead’s character was planning to elope with the daughter of the wealthy transport owner.  The fight sequences are all masterly executed with more than a touch of violence.  There are tons of beatings and punches but the characters never stay down and never seem to have any broken bones.  They keep coming up fighting.  In many films like this, the fights look ridiculous but in KILL< the excitement is maintained.  Also inserted into the mix are characters like a cousin of the head bandit, who is a strongman that cannot be defeated, just like the tough baddie Odd Job, the Korean with the steel bowler hat in James Bond’s GOLDFINGER.

KILL is inspired by real-life train robberies in India by a class of criminals known as “dacoits,” KILL laces its high-concept premise with familial melodrama that cuts across both sides of the battle lines.  Desperate to protect Tulika and her family, Amrit and Viresh parry all manner of knives into gangster heads, shoulders, knees, and toes and, as the body count rises, so too does the ire of the crooks, especially that of the clan’s psychotic black sheep Fani, portrayed with charismatic lunacy by Raghav Juyal.  The climax includes a violent fight to the death, as in most classic action Hollywood films, of the hero and villain.  A predictable fight yes, but a necessary one in the true classic tradition.

Indian director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat proves to be a force to be reckoned with.  He already has multiple film and television credits including Long Live Brij Mohan (2017), The Gone Game (2020) and Hurdang (2022).  KILL premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year to become the runner-up winner for the Midnight Madness Section.

KILL, action aboard a packed train ranks with THE BEEKEEPER as the top 2 action films of 2024.

Trailer: 

MAXXXINE (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Ti West

MAXXXINE, is, as slasher horror fans of filmmaker Ti West and Hollywood slasher queen Main Goth already know, the third of the trilogy of ‘X’ films beginning with X and PEARL.  PEARL is the best of the lot - hard shoes to fill, but their latest MAXXXINE isn’t half bad either.

The X movies proved to be surprise hits for the A24 movie studio (their most recent being their largest production ever, CIVIL WAR), garnering acclaim from both critics and horror fans alike, doing immense success at the box office.  X and  PEARL were made around the same time during the pandemic (to their credit) and released in 2022.  PEARL was a prequel to X, and featuring Mia Goth’s character of a young girl (similar to SHOWGIRLS, but meaner and more daring) insatiable desire for fame and stardom at all costs.  MAXXXINE pays tribute to the Bette Davis (and Joan Crawford) classic WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? with young Maxine trying to please her father as a child star as Baby Jane Hudson did in the film.

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break.  But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.  Of course, Maxine discovers the one responsible and takes things into her own hands.

The impressive cast includes Kevon Bacon.  Bacon plays a private investigator who is good at the job but not good at taking care of himself.  He gets beaten up by Maxine with his nose broken and a plaster (the Brit term for Band-Aid) across his nose, looking pretty much like Jack Nicholson in Roman Polanski’s masterpiece CHINATOWN.  Director Ti West pays tribute to  CHINATOWN.  One wishes Bacon’s character survives but unfortunately does not.  Bacon is an excellent actor and he is always a pleasure to watch on the screen, regardless of the character he plays.  Director West obviously knows this and uses it to his best advantage.

But the prize performance belongs to Elizabeth Debeicki who plays the talented and impossible-to-work-with director of Maxine’s movie,  The actors playing the two detectives trying to solve the case of the serial killer are also entertaining to watch.

Director West’s slasher horror black comedy is still an entertaining watch given the over-used plot of a novice actress trying to succeed in Hollywood.  But Mia Goth is quite the prized actress and a pretty good one at that, as can be observed in her audition film at the art of the film.  In that scene, she really nails it.  And her character does say to the rest at the auditions to go home as she had already nailed the part.

Already passed on June the 25th, but audiences can get back to where it all began when Ti West’s deadly slasher PEARL is returning to theatres with a special sneak peek of MAXXXINE for a one-night-only special event!  (Pearl – Fan Event Featuring MAXXXINE Sneak Peek – June 25, 2024).  For Toronto, the event took place at the The Fox Theatre, Toronto)

Ti West and Mia Goth make an excellent pair of filmmakers.  One wonders what comes next after the trilogy.

Trailer: 

POPULATION PURGE (USA 2024) **

Directed by Brian Johnson

There are ripoff films and films that do worse than ripoffs.  The new action dystopian film POPULATION PURGE belongs to the latter category.  The film rips the word ‘purge’ from the box-office successful THE PURGE franchise.  From the title POPULATION PURGE, one would immediately connect the film to one of the PURGE films but this film has nothing to do with the Purge film franchise except that both are dystopian action horror films,

It is easy to see the reason the film is so named.  Though the franchise has received a mixed critical reception, it has grossed over $450m overall, against a combined production budget of $53m.   THE PURGE films are written and in some cases also directed by James DeMonaco. The films present a seemingly normal, crime-free America in the near future. However, the country is a dystopia that observes an annual event known as "the Purge", in which all crime, including murder, is legal for a 12-hour period.

In a dystopian world where a radical government has unleashed a deadly poison to control the population, only those with blood type AB-positive remain unscathed. But instead of outright death, the rest of the population is left to suffer in a state of chronic illness, causing widespread chaos and panic. As the majority slowly succumbs to the effects of the poison, their only hope lies in receiving transfusions of AB-positive blood from the few immune survivors, like Charlie and his granddaughter Maya. Living in the decrepit remains of an abandoned amusement park, Charlie is a renegade supplier of blood to the underground market. But their sanctuary is threatened by the iron-fisted rule of District 22's ruthless warden, Onslow, who will stop at nothing to save his own dying son. As Charlie and Maya fight to defend their haven and their own sanity, the eccentric duo must navigate through a world of danger and betrayal.

Though the premise is relatively simple, the script and direction of the first 15 minutes are terribly confusing and one wonders who is who and what which group are survivors and which are not.  Once it is established who Charlie and his granddaughter are and who the members of District 22 with the warden are, the film starts to flow, but not necessarily for the better.

The actors either resort to over-acting with screaming and venting at the top of their lungs or just really poor laughable performances.  It might have come across as quite entertaining and funny but they are too loud and annoying.

Director Johnson makes no special effort to make any of his characters particularly likable.  If one dies, no one really cares.  The action sequences are executed with not much aplomb either, with many victims down away with by shotgun or crossbow.

POPULATION PURGE was written by Brian Johnson and Toby Osborne and directed by Johnson. To give the film some credit it did win awards at numerous festivals including Best Feature Film / Best Cinematography at the 2023 Los Angeles Cinematography Film Festival, Best 1st Time Director of a Feature Film at the Best Actor & Director Awards, and Best Feature Under $250,000 at the 2023 International New York Film Festival.

POPULATION PURGE  will be released on digital platforms on July 9, 2024.

Trailer: