Saturday Night (2024) - Review: Live From New York...

Despite the cries of it “no longer being funny” or “never being funny,” the television landscape would be a starkly different place without “Saturday Night Live.” Not only would the landscape of television comedy be different, but without the show, we likely wouldn’t have the likes of Mike Myers, Will Ferrel, Amy Poehler, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler among many many many others. Even outside of those directly on the cast, without “SNL” we likely wouldn’t have had “MadTV,” “The Tracy Ulman Show,” “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?,” “Robot Chicken,” “The Muppet Show,” “All That,” “Chappelle’s Show,” “Key & Peele,” and “Mystery Science Theatre 3000.” Suffice to say, there are few shows as influential to the history of television as “SNL,” and now co-writer/director Jason Reitman (“Juno,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife”) and co-writer Gil Kenan (“Monster House,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife””) have created a film detailing the night of it’s very first show simply titled “Saturday Night.” 

On October 11th, 1975, 90 minutes before the first show of “Saturday Night,” young producer/creator of the show Lorne Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle (“The Fabelmans,” “Snack Shack”), is dealing with seemingly endless problems: his show is double its intended length, his actors, including Gilda Radner, played by Ella Hunt (“Dickinson,” “Anna and the Apocalypse”), Chevy Chase, played by Cory Michael Smith (“Gotham,” “May December”), Dan Akroyd, played by Dylan O'Brien (“The Maze Runner,” “Love & Monsters”), John Belushi, played by Matt Wood, Garret Morris, played by Lamorne Morris (“New Girl,” “Game Night”), Jane Curtin, played by Kim Matula (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Fighting With My Family”) , and Laraine Newman, played by Emily Fairn (“Chuck Chuck Baby,” Mary & George”), are all either at each other's throats or in each other’s pants, his wife Rosie Schuster, played by Rachel Sennott (“Bodies Bodies Bodies,” “Bottoms”), is a help and a hinderance to his focus, his best friend and fellow producer Dick Ebersol, played by Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza,” “Wildcat”), is helping and sabotaging his efforts, and the head of NBC talent David Tebet, played by Willem Dafoe (“Antichrist,” “”), is on patrol and looking for a reason to shut the show down before it’s even begun. 

Much like how “SNL” the show has influenced much of television comedy, the film “Saturday Night” has clearly taken a lot from other influential biopics of recent years. Mostly significantly, it wears much of the “unappreciated genius” swagger and quick-paced dialogue of the two Aaron Sorkin written films “The Social Network” and “Steve Jobs.” It’s hard to imagine the film existing in its current form without those movies, but it does manage to hold its own mostly due to the strength of its cast. Reitman and Kenan’s script itself is fairly by the numbers, walking through and over dramatizing numerous behind-the-scenes moments from the first night of the show, without really delving too deep into the through process behind it all. 

Ironically, for a film that so clearly wants to pay tribute to a specific era and iconic moment, Reitman and Kenan try to imbue the events with some warm-hearted emotion, but it mostly fails due to the film wanting to have its cake and eat it too. They want to keep the anarchistic spirit of the original seasons of “SNL” but meshing that with a big hearted “I can’t believe I’m about to be famous” ethos just doesn’t work. If they had gone for broke with the emotion or just cut it out, either would’ve worked better than it does here. It’s really bizarre when you have Chevy Chase doing Weekend Update or Andy Kaufman’s “mighty mouse” bit played as a third act emotional crescendo. 

That bizarre emotional throughline is not nearly as much of an issue as it seems though, as the film is mostly concerned with communicating the hyperactivity behind the scenes leading up to that first show. When it’s just focusing on LaBelle’s Lorne and his interplay with the cast, especially Sennott’s Schuster, it’s genuinely electric. Even the small bits involving other comedians before their prime, such as Billy Crystal, feel like great window dressing rather than distracting cameos. The claustrophobic camerawork from cinematographer Eric Steelberg (“Juno,” “Dolemite Is My Name”) mixed with an anxiety inducing musical score from Jon Batiste (“Soul,” “American Symphony”) and a chunky layer of Super 16mm grain convincingly takes you back to the era its set in, with fantastic costume work and production design. 

Speaking of the film’s best elements, the cast are absolutely electric. Maybe it’s the chance to get to play some of the most legendary comedians in modern entertainment, but each performer loses themselves in their roles to fantastic effect. Particular highlights are Sennott and LaBelle, of course, but Smith as Chase and Wood as Belushi are also absolutely phenomenal, Wood especially stealing every scene he steps into. Hoffman also excels, and the scenes between him and LaBelle elevate the film from a fun historic romp to something really special. Even the more minimal roles pop from the sheer energy and exuberance behind the eyes of each performer as they get to bring these characters to life. The only one that feels odd is Nicholas Braun (“Succession,” “@Zola”) in dual roles as Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman; his performance certainly isn’t terrible, but it feels more like, ironically, an “SNL” impersonation rather than someone trying to bring these two legendary performers to life. His Henson performance isn’t entirely his fault, as the film decides to use the puppeteer and landmark creative as a punching bag more than anything else. Ironic given that Henson alone likely has had a bigger impact on entertainment than “SNL” ever has. 

“Saturday Night” is certainly a lot of fun, and when it’s letting its young cast run away with these once-in-a-lifetime roles and simply gets out of its own way, it is a positively electric vibe and a truly fun romp. When it tries to delve into something more without letting go of its devil-may-care attitude is when things start to falter, but LaBelle and the cast carry it to the finish line with a rousing energy and spirit that makes this an easy recommendation and a fun night regardless. 3.5/5

Megalopolis - Review: Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

When you're a legendary talent like Francis Ford Coppola, the man who's directed some works that are referred to as the greatest of all time, such as "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now," and "The Conversation." He's also directed some that are referred to as some of the worst of all time, such as "Twist," the arguably bad "One from the Heart" and the infamously terrible "Jack (1996)." With a career as expansive as his, any new films, regardless of concept or origin, should be cause for celebration. His latest movie, "Megalopolis", certainly falls into one of the two previously mentioned groups. Unfortunately, it's not the good one.

Billed as "A Fable" with Coppola's own name directly above it, "Megalopolis" stars a cornucopia of actors. Adam Driver (“Marriage Story,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”) leads the pack as Cesar Catalina, an architect and leader of the Design Authority, who wants to build a massive city in New Rome made of the mysterious material Megalon. He's opposed by the mayor Franklyn Cicero, played by Giancarlo Esposito (“Breaking Bad,” “Do The Right Thing”), whose daughter Julia Cicero, played by Nathalie Emmanuel (“Hollyoaks,” “Game of Throne”), slowly begins to fall for Cesar. Meanwhile, behind all of this, Cesar's cousin Clodio Pulcher, played by Shia LaBeouf (“Holes,” “Transformers”), attempts to wrestle political and monetary power for himself, while television presented Wow Platinum, played by Aubrey Plaza (“Parks and Recreation,” “Agatha All Along”), tries to romance Cesar's uncle, the elderly bank magnate Hamilton Crassus III, played by Jon Voight (“Midnight Cowboy,” “National Treasure”), into giving his fortune to her. All of this is also loosely narrated by Cesar’s chauffeur and personal assistant Fundi Romaine, played by Laurence Fishburne (“The Matrix,” “Boyz N The Hood”).

Coppola, who's written and directed the film, has talked plenty about his inspirations for the film; there's a clear line to be drawn from "Megalopolis" back to the fall of Roman and of the Catalina Conspiracy event. He’s also been toiling with this film in some respect since the 80s, eventually forgoing any studio involvement and selling some of his wineries to self-fund the $120 million budget and make the movie his own way.

This does mean that the film we're left with is an epic example of the power of critique and criticism. So many directors in the history of cinema have been ruined simply because no one stepped in and said no. By freeing himself from any critics during the production, yes Coppola has made exactly the vision of this film he's always wanted to make. It also means the film has its head shoved so far up its own ass, it can see what it had for lunch that day.

There's a self-important air throughout the entire film, from the way it’s staged and edited down to the dialogue. At random intervals, there are bits of text shown on the screen carved into giant slabs of marble like one would see in ancient Rome. Cesar's introduction scene with the rest of the cast has him reciting about half of the "To Be or Not to Be" monologue from Hamlet. It gives the film an identity of something deeply important, but it never builds to anything. Even if the characters seem almost unchanged by the end of it all, there doesn't even seem to be a grand statement about civilization made. At one point, Cesar literally says, "We are in need of a great debate about the future" and the film simply doesn't offer anything more to say than "Boy, America sure does seem like a Roman empire, doesn't it?"

The entire cast is unfortunately let down by the man behind the camera. While so many of them have been fantastic in other works, they all just seem left out to sea here. Driver in particular has the biggest struggle; his way of playing larger than life characters with such minutia works when there's a good script to back him up. But unfortunately, the script here makes him come across more as a pompous high school theatre kid than a trained actor. Emmanuel just seems lost, like she has nothing to react against, as if she was filmed against a green screen and digitally added in after the fact. The oldest members of the cast, like Voigt and Dustin Hoffman (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “The Meyerowitz Stories”), seem like they've gone senile and are just stumbling around the set haphazardly. LaBeouf might be the worst of them all, reducing his role to the kind of stereotype of "annoying manchild with effeminate tendencies" that we thought was left behind decades ago. The only one who comes out semi-unscathed is Plaza, who does so simply by cranking up her delivery to the point where she seems to believe she's in a comedy skit that could turn into a porno at any moment, and by extent she seems like the only person involved who's having any fun.

Given the gargantuan budget, the film would at least be expected to look the part. And for the most part it does, and yet so much of it appears as though it's the first draft of a visual effects company. An early moment has Cesar and Julia standing on top of a floating clock overlooking the skyline of New Rome, later revisiting that same site with additional floating girders, suspended thousands of feet in the air. Why are these things here? Who knows! But they do look absolutely gorgeous while they're up there. And yet, later on we see amateurish and garish blemishes, like poorly composited green screen effects or just bad looking CGI. It's a comically mixed bag of visual stylings, betraying a largely gorgeous cinematic look from cinematographer Mihai Mălaimare Jr. (“The Master,” “The Harder They Fall”).

There's so much bad here and so much bizarrely well intentioned as well. But it all comes down to the film's ending. So much can be forgiven if the tale being told at least wraps up in a satisfying way or has something interesting to say. Coppola has nothing to say, seemingly, if one goes by the way the film ends. It feels like a half-gorgeous retread of the last four decades of "rich and powerful madmen" stories, as if Coppola wrote the script and simply tossed it in a drawer until he finally got the cash to bankroll it. There's a lack of a subtlety; this is a film where a Russian satellite named "Carthage" crashed into an American city named "New Rome" after all, but the biggest crime at the center of "Megalopolis" and its most depressing one: it's just kind of boring. Even draped in this bizarre visual style, dialogue, and performances, the story at the center of it all just doesn't excite or invigorating like something of this scale should.

There’s a longstanding belief that some of the best writers, directors, and creatives in any entertainment industry are great because they know how to control themselves. Infamously, many blame the unfettered and unquestioned support George Lucas received from 20th Century Fox for the state of the Star Wars prequels. Even some of the greats have spoken about how their works are so great because they have people with them willing to say no. “Megalopolis” is the ultimate example of that kind of power: yes, it is a singular vision from a filmmaking legend, exactly the kind of film he wanted to make. But it’s also garish, confusing, full of wooden and terrible performances, and either building to nothing or told so confusingly that the point it is building to is lost amongst everything else. As so many fables end with a lesson for it’s audience, and this is billed explicitly as a fable, it seems that the lesson to be learned here is the power of saying “no.” 1/5

The Wild Robot - Review: The Best Film DreamWorks Animation Has Ever Made

 

In October of 2023, it was publicly announced that “The Wild Robot” would be the last film animated in-house at DreamWorks, with all subsequent films being animated by outside studios with the internal teams being shut down. This is not uncommon in the industry, but for a studio that’s been around for 30 years, this is monumental. It’s as if Disney or Pixar or Studio Ghibli announced they would no longer be animating their own animated movies going forward. It’s a massive blow to the animation industry, and an unfortunate result of nothing but pure cost cutting measures from corporate board members and studio CEOs. It’s also unfortunate because this very human tale of a robot is without a doubt the best film to ever bear the studio’s name. 

The film follows a ROZZUM unit, also known as Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o (“Us (2019),” “12 Years a Slave”) who finds herself stuck on an island inhabited entirely by animals. After befriending some of them, such as a Fox named Fink, voiced by Pedro Pascall (“The Last of Us (2023),” “The Mandalorian”), Roz finds herself raising a runt gosling named Brightbill, voiced by Kit Connor (“Heartstopper,” “Rocket’s Island”), and attempting to prepare him for his winter migration. The film’s ensemble cast also consists of Catherine O’Hara (“Beetlejuice,” “Schitt’s Creek”) as Pinktail the opossum, Bill Nighy (“Love Actually,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest”) as Longneck the goose, Matt Berry (“What We Do In The Shadows (2019),” “Garth Marenghi's Darkplace”) as Paddler the beaver, and Ving Rhames (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” “Lilo & Stitch”) as Thunderbolt the falcon. 

Writer/director Chris Sanders (“How To Train Your Dragon,” “Lilo & Stitch”) has many years of experience working with animated tales filled with big emotions, and his work here is no exception. Roz’s tale of parenthood and naturalistic love is explored with thoughtfulness and maturity, without betraying its ease of understanding. It manages to be easily digestible without dumbing things down or coddling its audience. There are often frank discussions involving death throughout the film, without ever lingering on them or brushing too fast past them. It all builds to a film that feels remarkably adult and mature, without being crude or immature. Even the way Roz emotes has an added layer to it, forgoing giant eyebrows, a mouth, or other facial features for simple eyes and colors, all backed by her fantastical vocal performance. 

It all results in a kind of film that invites you in, enveloping you in its tale. At barely over 100 minutes, its scope and pacing feel like it tells a grand and massive tale, without ever dragging or overstaying its welcome. It leaves you with just enough, making you want slightly more but not feeling unfulfilled or underdeveloped. It’s even, somehow, almost devoid of pop culture references and poop jokes, a rarity in almost any kind of animated film nowadays. 

Nyong’o’s vocal performance is absolutely phenomenal, one packed with nuance and an evolution throughout the film. You can actively hear her inflections and nuances change as her character shifts and evolves in her new naturalistic home. Even if that change wasn’t as pronounced, her emotion and performance helps to craft Roz’s emotional journey in a fantastic way, helping to quite literally bring the character to life in a way as immediately iconic as the likes of Tom Hanks as Woody or Mike Myers as Shrek. The rest of the cast is just as good, coming across as legitimate voice acting talent, rather than celebrity voice acting stunt casts. Pascal and Connor in particular match Nyong’o’s emotional journey fantastically, and small performances from Nighy and Rhames make big impacts thanks to the strength of the casting and voices matching their characters. 

There’s a brush stroke, watercolor aesthetic to the world and animation that bring the world to life in a painterly way. It isn’t just a gorgeous look for the film, but it showcases the animal and naturalistic world in a the continues to bring it all to life. The hard metal design of Roz mixes with the world of these animals in a fascinating way, and the musical score from Kris Bowers (“Bridgerton,” “King Richard”) brings these two worlds together by fusing an orchestral score with the electronic beats inspired by Roz’s presence. 

But there’s also something here, beneath the surface, something “in the sauce” as the kids say, that sets the film apart that feels borderline unexplainable. “The Wild Robot” has that immediately timeless feeling that allows virtually anyone of any age to sit down and enjoy it to its fullest. It practically dares you not to fall in love with Roz, Brightbill, Fink, and the rest of this island. Each of the film’s individual elements build to something that is more than the sum of its already fantastic parts, and it's no hyperbole to describe the film as one of DreamWork’s best films ever, if not the best it’s ever made. 

“The Wild Robot” is a spectacle of visual beauty and deep, gorgeous emotions. Sanders has delivered a film that feels like a mission statement on the kind of universal storytelling animation can create. With his fantastic voice cast, including a career best (live action or animated) from Lupita Nyong’o, breathe life into a heart wrenching and truly spectacular tale of family, love, nature, and emotion that stakes its claim as one of the best films of the year. If this truly ends up being the final film made internally at DreamWorks, then it goes out as one of the best, possibly the best, films the studio has ever made. 5/5 

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story - Review: You'll Believe A Man Could Fly

 

Possibly one of the greatest honors for any actor is to play a role that becomes so beloved by the public that it becomes your identity. And possibly one of the greatest horrors for any actor is to play a role that becomes so beloved by the public that it becomes your identity. Christopher Reeve was one such actor, and an argument could be made that he was the first actor to be associated with a role like that by the entire world.  

Now, there’s a new documentary out focusing on that role, his subsequent career, and late-in-life tragedy that changed the way the world perceived him. It also just so happens to be produced by the studio that put him in those iconic tights in the first place. 

Titled “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” the film features a variety of interviews from all manner of Reeve’s friends, family, and colleagues including his Julliard classmate Jeff Daniels (“Dumb & Dumber,” “Pleasantville”), his children Matthew, Alexandra, and Will, Whoopi Goldberg (“Sister Act,” “Ghost”), Glenn Close (“Fatal Attraction,” “Albert Nobbs”), Gae Exton; Reeve’s ex-partner and mother of Will, “Superman” producer Pierre Spengler, and paraplegic activist and friend of Reeve Brooke Ellison. 

Like most documentaries, the film jumps around quite a bit to establish Reeve’s injury before looking back on his life and career through the lens of his paralysis. It’s a simple but smart decision to show the events of his life through a hopeful viewpoint. Reeve is clearly not a person who thought he was owed something or that the world was his for the taking. An interview shown about halfway through demonstrates this perfectly: Reeve, when talking about working with Marlon Brando on the first “Superman” film, bemoaned him not taking the material seriously, “I had a wonderful time, but the man didn't care. I'm sorry. He just took the money and ran.” 

Moments like this are throughout the film, and perfectly showcase the kind of energy and reverence Reeve had for his work, but the doc smartly doesn’t attempt to show the man as flawless by any means. There’s a significant chunk that goes into his first extended relationship with Exton and how he appeared to be an absent father during that time, leading up to borderline excused infidelity when he was abroad in America. It’s these times when Reeve becomes a much more interesting figure than just the man who could fly. He is still, as the title shows, super, but is still a man. 

There’s plenty of emotion on display, as one would expect from a documentary with a subject like this. It is extremely effective, showcasing these heartbreaking moments of sadness and inspiration, without coming across as manipulative. This is a work clearly coming from experienced documentarians; Ian Bonhôte (“Rising Pheonix,” McQueen”) and Peter Ettedgui (“Rising Pheonix,” McQueen”) don’t break into a new type of documentary, but they work effectively within the medium to great informative and emotional results. 

“Super/Man” is a great example of the documentary structure at its best: effectively emotional, full of informative and entertaining testimonies, and quickly paced. It’s over before you know it, but you’ll hardly care given that you’ll be staring at the screen through misty eyes and a heart soaring like that man who could fly. 4.5/5

A Different Man - Review: A Different Kind of Tragedy

 

There’s an old adage that’s stuck around for decades of film, television, books, stories, and more; “Be careful what you wish for.” It’s stretched throughout tales from “The Twilight Zone” to “Big” to “Click” and always manages to provide ample ground for a fun cinematic tale, whether it’s on a grand science fiction scale or a grounded slice-of-life angle. Aaron Schimberg’s (“Chained for Life”) latest film, “A Different Man,” arrives with a unique twist on that base concept that evolves into a twisty, tragic, and extremely funny drama that’s a showcase for its actors’ fantastic abilities. 

The film follows Edward, played by Sebastian Stan (“Fresh” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), a man with facial disfigurement whose affliction and general awkwardness and anxiety makes his day-to-day life difficult, including befriending his next-door neighbor, aspiring playwright Ingrid, played by Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World,” “Presumed Innocent (2024)”). After participating in an experimental clinical trial, he finds himself cured and able to pursue a more normalized life. However, soon after reintroducing himself to Ingrid and life beginning to go well, he meets Oswald, played by Adam Pearson (“Under the Skin,” “Chained for Life”), a man with the same kind of disfigurement Edward used to have, but who lives life with far more charm and energy, causing Edward to begin to spiral into madness and jealousy. 

A role like Edward’s can be a maddening task, as not only does the audience have to sympathize with him but also believe that his downward spiral is legitimate and not overblown. Which is why Stan’s performance is so utterly fantastic. He captivates in the same way a lost puppy does and becomes a maddening kind of character as he spirals, creating an extremely funny kind of self-destruction and self-pity. Reinsve gives a performance that skews closely to the tropes of the manic pixie dream girl but pushes beyond that material as the film progresses. Meanwhile Pearson is a force of complete and absolute charm. He comes across so naturally funny and breezy that the audience will likely feel as blown over and bewildered by his confidence as Edward is. All the performances are great, but his feels the most unexpectedly so. 

Schimberg’s script and direction walk a very delicate line between Hitchcockian thriller and broad comedy, crafting something that's constantly funny while also feeling like Edward might break out into madness at a moment's notice. It's a difficult feat to achieve, and his cast of actors work well to understand the tone of it all. Things never feel jokey or deathly serious, making it all feel like a series of unfortunately amusing coincidences. 

A lively and tense musical score from Umberto Smerilli (“The Bunker Game,” “Wordly Girl”) further adds to the classic thriller notes and further accentuates the film’s tragicomic tonal shifts in the last act. There’s a fantastic atmosphere crafted by every aspect of the film’s technical production. For the most minor of nitpicks, the pacing is the shakiest part of it all; the first act is pretty deliberately paced, but once Edward goes through his transformation and the intrigue picks up, things quickly take off.

“A Different Man” is a fascinating, tense, funny, and extremely wry tale of self-destruction and self-pity carried by Sebastian Stan’s leading performance. Pearson is also a phenomenal standout and the movie’s borderline cartoonish evolution of the characters makes it a thoroughly engrossing time. It's quite a different experience from any film you’ve seen so far this year. 5/5 

The Substance - Review: Becoming A Better You

There’s no shortage of horror films, be they legitimate genre fodder or tales of horrific events, surrounding women. Menstruation, assault, childbirth, etc. have all been utilized by a variety of filmmakers twisting them into creature features or works of demonic horror. Writer/director Coralie Fargeat (“Revenge”) is clearly not satisfied with those previous works; works that might be considered quaint or quiet, contemplative films. Her work of female aging satirical body horror is loud, proud, brash, thoroughly entertaining, and completely insane. Indulge yourself in “The Substance.” 

The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore (“St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Indecent Proposal”), a once beloved celebrity and television fitness host who finds herself ousted from her own show on her 50th birthday. She then finds herself utilizing a black-market mystery drug known as The Substance to make herself younger, literally. The drug creates a younger version of herself who goes by Sue, played by Margaret Qualley (“Maid,” “Drive Away Dolls”), who gets her old job, her old fame, and her old body. But as both sides fight for control, despite being the same person, things spiral towards the very worst result. 

Fargeat has crafted a world that feels truly hypnotic. Exteriors seem fairly plain and identical to those in our world, and yet each interior shot feels overly designed, trumped up and molded into a borderline horrific, or at least unsettling, version of itself. It results in a constantly shifting environment for these characters to play in, with new camera angles and atmosphere changes radically changing how things feel in each passing moment. 

Moore is absolutely fantastic, delivering a career best performance as she dives headfirst into this bizarre world and role she’s taken on. It’s an extremely physical performance that she absolutely nails, one wherein she’s able to completely immerse you in the borderline alien events going on and also drill down into the quieter emotion of these events. Qualley is also fantastic, blurring the line between spoiled brat and woman wise beyond her years. Both performances complement each other perfectly given that, as the voice of The Substance says, they are one person. 

Bright neon colors fill the screen, offsets the dimmer darker environments of the night and the progressing horrors of the film itself. There’s symbolism abound here, from a carefully crafted dark hidden closet to the film’s grotesque perspective on food, Fargeat and her team craft a borderline cartoonish world full of metaphor that never doesn’t take itself seriously. Central to its base themes, the film must take everything it does seriously, as it is essentially asking the viewers to leap off a cliff of excess into a pit full of extremes. The only way to sell those emotions and events effectively is to never break from that hold; it doesn’t matter how outlandish whatever you’re seeing is, it’s real in this film. 

The dizzying cinematography, utilizing everything from typical Hollywood wide shots to psychedelic trips to close-ups that hail from the Kubrick school of thought, is perfectly crafted by cinematographer Benjamin Kračun (“Promising Young Woman,” “Beats”). It all collides withing itself, mushing into an amalgamation of visual influences and static camera shots. There’s so much lingering on various bodies throughout, and one of the smartest things Kračun and Fargeat do is to not stop. The lingering adds to the themes of beauty standards and feminine bodily expectations, and they don’t twist it into a grotesque way using any creative camera tricks or makeup work. Those moments are simply just shot the same way they’d be on TV or in other movies wherein these bodies are the point of it all, and they just don’t stop. 

Much like the effects of The Substance itself, there are plenty of times here where the film’s themes seem to morph and change into varying different ideas. There’s the takedown of beauty standards that is at the core of it all, but there’s also very strong messages about the Hollywood system and drug addiction. Each is so carefully thought out that they all seem equally plausible as “the point” of it all, but none overwhelm the others. Even more than that, the central idea of self-control is beating throughout, as it becomes very clear halfway through the film that every problem Elisabeth and Sue encounter could be solved if they just said “no.” 

Music by Raffertie (“One Way,” “The Continental: From the World of John Wick”) thumps and pulses through the film, overloading the senses in much the same way as the visuals. Sound is such an integral part of this film, and Fargeat’s script actually has large swaths of scenes without any dialogue, allowing the visuals to completely take over. It further fuels those central ideas about visuals, looking, seeing, examining, that the film seems so extremely determined to zero in on. 

Even the voice of The Substance, a demonically sultry tone brought to life by Yann Bean, only appearing over the phone and in a promotional video, cuts through the film’s literal noise, appearing as sharp and as clear as if it were right behind you, the viewer, at any moment. Juxtaposing against this is a brash and borderline cartoonish performance from Dennis Quaid (“Far From Heaven,” “The Rookie”) as Harvey, Elisabeth and Sue’s TV executive boss, which seems so over-the-top as to just be a literal man-child, dancing through the scenes with a high-pitched voice, munching on food and ogling every woman that walks past him. As the two leading male voices in the film, the wild differences between them are a perfect dichotomy between the world in which Elisabeth and Sue inhabit, further strengthening the film’s sense of place and sense of anger. 

By the time things crescendo in the last thirty minutes, which is as insane as you’ve heard, the more squeamish viewers will have switched it off long ago. But that doesn’t change what’s here, because as potentially difficult to stomach as it might be for some, Fargeat’s sophomore feature is a thrilling and daring portrait of female aging, body standards, and deep-seated self-hatred. These themes don’t get in the way of its gonzo body-horror fun, with Morre and Qualley turning in performances almost beyond what either seemed capable of. It’s a deeply sad, angry, loud, silly, goofy, horrific, and, at its core, emotional film. It just so happens to communicate that emotional through squelches, boobs, and squirts of gore instead of teary-eyed third-act confessionals. Give in to your worst instincts and try The Substance. 5/5 

Transformers One - Review: More Mature Than Meets The Eye

 

Since the 1980s, there’s been one major toy line showing more than meets the eye. “Transformers” has always existed somewhere in pop-culture, whether in comic books, video games, the aforementioned toys, or the numerous television series or films. Now, after almost two decades of live-action films, these robots in disguise return to their original medium of animation for an origin story and their best film in decades. 

Set before they became arch-enemies, the film follows Orion Pax, voiced by Chris Hemsworth (“Thor,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”), and D-16, voiced by Brian Tyree Henry (“Atlanta,” “Bullet Train”), two bots working in the Energon mines in the city of Iacon on the planet of Cybertron. Their leader, Sentinel Prime, voiced by Jon Hamm (“Mad Men,” “Top Gun: Maverick”), is out searching for the lost Matrix of Leadership which will help bring their planet to prosperity. Determined to make a difference and help their planet, Pax and D-16, along with Elita-1, voiced by Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow,” “Marriage Story”), and B-127, voiced by Keegan Michael-Key (“Wonka,” “Schmigadoon!”), leave their city to try and find the Matrix themselves. 

Despite initially feeling like typical Hollywood celebrity stunt casting, the entire vocal cast ends up being remarkably fantastic, getting better as the film goes on. Hemsworth and Henry not only have fantastic chemistry with each other, but their own voices slowly shift as the film goes on, eventually ending up closer to the original vocal types of Optimus and Megatron. Michael-Key makes B-127 just as much of a hyperactive character as he’s been in the past, but he doesn’t feel annoying or overstay his welcome. And Johansson has a surprising level of restraint given how the film positions Elita-1's character in the overarching storyline. Hamm also makes for a great hero with more going on under the surface as Sentinel Prime, using his charming “good guy” sounding voice to expert effect. 

With someone who’s worked in animation as long as Josh Cooley (“Inside Out,” “Toy Story 4”) has directing, the film not only manages to excel with a fantastic sense of fullness and a gorgeously animated style, but it eventually shakes off some creaky opening points to really come into its own in a surprisingly mature way. The first ten-to-fifteen minutes really is the film’s weakest part, mostly because it's when the film most clearly engages in plenty of “kid’s movie” cliches. It doesn’t at all mean that the opening is bad, but it slowly morphs into a more engaging, mature, and even darker version of this story. Writers Eric Pearson (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Godzilla vs. Kong”), Andrew Barrer (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “No Exit (2022)”), and Gabriel Ferrari (“Ant-Man and the Wasp,” “No Exit (2022)”) weave tons of fanservice and deep-cut lore into a tale that embraces decades of Transformers material without ever disrespecting it or requiring that knowledge to enjoy it. They also manage to zero in on the most fundamental tragic idea of this tale and, with the help of Hemsworth and Henry’s performances, absolutely nail the brother versus brother tragedy that evolves from it. 

It cannot be understated how truly gorgeous the film looks. After decades of detailed but complicated designs, the visual aesthetic of the film is clean and retro, without sacrificing the robotic building blocks. Even the environment of this interpretation of Cybertron takes inspiration from the franchise’s 80s origins, with a sun and horizon that looks ripped from decades old VHS tapes and retro-wave stylings. Brian Tyler (“Furious 7,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron”) crafts a score that helps bolster the look of this world, bringing in big orchestral moments coupled with the electronic. It's clearly inspired by the likes of Vangelis, but it's hard to care too much when it compliments everything this well. 

Given how long the Transformers films have somewhat ignored the implications of the war and battles between these robotic people, it's refreshing to have this film treat the material with a surprising level of maturity. The film’s third act, while not devoid of silly one-liners and still entirely aimed at the twelve-year-old crowd, also manages to effectively nail the inevitable betrayal at the center of these two leads’ long lives. When it really matters, Cooley and his writers know that these kids know that there’s more than meets the eye and they treat them with the respect that they deserve. 

“Transformers One” isn’t perfect, but it is pretty great and it’s easily the best a “Transformers” movie has been for decades. A strong visual style, voice cast, and sense of maturity by the end help to smooth over its initial struggles. Once the film gets out of its own way, it barrels down the highway of fun, action, and intense stakes, amounting to an adventure and tale of brotherhood that anyone can enjoy, whether they know the difference between a Deception or an Autobot or not. 4/5

My Old Ass - Review: A Simple Premise That Isn't Ass

 

Short, sweet, and to the point. That’s a methodology that’s missing in a lot of modern filmmaking and it can lead to films that drag on far beyond their welcome. What you don’t find often nowadays is a film that's short enough to leave its audience genuinely wanting more. Megan Park’s (“The Fallout”) sophomore directorial feature is one of those kinds of short and sweet stories, mixing in just enough salt and spice and drugs and time travel shenanigans to keep it interesting. And, of course, its titled “My Old Ass.” 

The film follows 18-year-old Elliot, played by Maisy Stella (“Nashville (2012)”), the summer before she leaves for college in Toronto. On her birthday evening, Elliot takes mushrooms with her best friends Ro and Ruthie, played by Kerrice Brooks and Maddie Ziegler (“The Fallout,” “The Book of Henry”) respectively, and sees her 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza (“Parks & Recreation,” “The White Lotus”). She begins to give her younger self advice, including her order to stay away from Chad, played by Percy Hynes White (“Wednesday (2022),” “The Gifted”), a new boy working at her family’s cranberry farm over the summer. 

Park’s latest film has a clear low-stakes vision, but it never feels low budget. The natural landscapes and feel of the Canadian countryside help to give the film a homemade atmosphere. It's two steps away from being home video footage, and it crackles with a small-town warmth that sells the emotions just as well as its cast does. Park’s direction and script deliver an unexpected level of authenticity despite the high concept of the low stakes. It feels young and youthful without being annoying or cloying. Elliot and her friends talk like young adults without sounding like they’re what adults think kids sound like. 

Stella absolutely runs away with the film, bolstered by that dialogue but succeeding on an energy all her own. She easily handles herself alongside Plaza and the pair are fantastic together. But there’s an energy of youth, a spirit that flows through her entire performance that just electrifies things. On paper it’s easy to see a character like Elliot being relegated to the “slacker friend” role in another teen coming-of-age tale, but Stella breathes so much life into her here that it becomes impossible to see her as anything other than a lead. Plaza is, expectedly, just as good, giving a performance as authentically snarky as you’d expect from her, but balanced with a weathered adulthood. The film probably could have used a few more scenes with her and Stella, but those that exist are so special that it's entirely possible more with them would spoil it. 

They work so well that it ends up unfortunately affecting the rest of the cast. No one else is bad by any means, but Stella and Plaza run away with the film so effectively that it becomes difficult to care nearly as much about anyone else. This ends up hurting the film specifically with regards to Chad. White is good as this sweet, doe-eyed young man, but he struggles to break out of a two-dimensional “sweet awkward boy” stereotype as the film goes on. Stella is great with him though, as she is with brooks and Ziegler, as well as Elliot’s family, but with the latter the film begs for just a few more scenes with each of them. 

The film’s score, from composers Tyler Hilton and Jaco Caraco (“The Disinvited”) is oddly good, and it continues such a trend with this film. Park’s latest effort, on paper, could’ve easily been a crude drug trip adventure that overstayed its welcome or went off the rails. But with her tight and grounded script and a pair of leads that really work excellently together, it ends up resulting in a surprisingly sweet and effective coming-of-age film. Even if the supporting cast suffers a bit from the excellence of the two leads and it leaves you wanting just a few more scenes from each, it would be difficult not to be touched in some way by “My Old Ass.” 4/5

The 4:30 Movie - Review: Memory of a Matinee

 

Welcome back Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” “Dogma”). You were hardly even gone. After an NFT film misfire and returning to his Askew-niverse, Smith is back with his first film not related to those misfits at the Quik Stop in eight years. Loosely based on his own life, Smith mines his childhood for movie theatre teenaged nostalgia in “The 4:30 Movie.” 

Set in 1986, the film follows teenaged movie geek Brian David, played by Austin Zajur (“Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” “Clerks III”), who asks his crush Melody Barnegat, played by Siena Agudong (“Upside-Down Magic,” “Resident Evil (2022)”), to see the 4:30 showing of an R-rated detective movie. David and his two best friends Burny and Belly, played by Nicholas Cirillo (“Jesus Revolution,” “Fresh Kills”) and Reed Northrup (“Teenage Euthanasia”) respectively, spend the rest of the day at the theater waiting for Melody, sneaking into R-rated movies and avoiding annoying employees, like Manager Mike, played by Ken Jeong (“Community,” “The Hangover”), and phone calls from pestering parents. 

It's an exceptionally threadbare premise for a film, but Smith’s strength for rapid-fire dialogue shines through thanks to that low stake premise. When the film is focusing on the banter and friendship between Burny, Belly, and Brian, it's almost magical. There’s a sort of poetry and honesty to the vulgarity that makes it all work. The humor itself is more hit or miss, with plenty of jokes revolving simply around “could you imagine if that thing ever happened? As if!” It’s funny the first time, less so after the tenth. The film’s grindhouse style trailers and fake film are also fairly amusing, but are pretty surface level, driving their jokes into the ground much like the rest of the film’s humor. 

Zajur and Agudong have remarkably good chemistry, effortlessly selling the kind of teenaged puppy love that feels both enviable and also woefully short-sighted. Zajur, Northrup, and Cirillo all manage to portray that silly immature kind of teenage behavior without becoming annoying, even managing to keep a twinge of painful youthful reflection within that. Jeong is fine enough, playing the same kind of overly annoying loudmouthed character that helped launch his career, but with a handful of quieter moments of silliness. The rotating cast of cameos all do their part fine enough, popping up for brief moments that range from egregiously annoying 9I’m looking at you Ada Pally as “emo ticket taker”) to the genuinely inspired (Sam Richardson and Harley Quinn Smith are genuinely inspired in their brief appearances). 

While his films have never looked beautiful, “The 4:30 Movie” does at least manage to look like a decently average indie production. Clearly shot digitally, the film makes great use of warm 1980s inspired lighting and locations, dousing everything in a slightly bloomy haze. A lot of locations fall into typical 80s stereotypes of front porches, movie theaters, kitchens, and more. It’s honestly slightly impressive that they all look so authentic on such a low budget. The theater looking impressive is less surprising given that it’s Smith’s own theater, Smodcastle Cinemas, in New Jersey. 

There isn’t really much more going on underneath the surface of “The 4:30 Movie.” Smith has effectively made a hazy, warm dream of a film that recreates his childhood pastime of going to the movies with friends. It’s got plenty of hit or miss jokes but is loaded with charm and oddly sweet vibes. It's not his best, but it shows even more of his strengths with emotional material and serves as a nice reminder that Smith can indeed make a sweet one every once in a while. 3/5

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - Review: The Ghost With the Most

 

There are few things more attractive to Hollywood than the pull of nostalgia, and now that we’re in the full swing of decades later sequels for the likes of “Ghostbusters,” “Scream,” “Jurassic Park,” and “Top Gun”, it only makes sense that the film that popularized the “fake poster tricking moms on Facebook” trend finally gets its own actual next installment. With Burton, Keaton, and Ryder involved once again, it's time to say his name for a second time with the cleverly titled “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” 

Set a few decades after the events of the first film, this latest installment follows television psychic Lydia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder (“Stranger Things,” “Girl, Interrupted”), returning to the town of Winter River with her daughter Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday (2022),” “Scream (2022)”), and hapless boyfriend/manager Rory, played by Justin Theroux (“Mulholland Drive,” “”), in tow after the death of her father Charles. While back in town along with her stepmother Delia, played by Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt's Creek,” “Home Alone”), she encounters the bio-exorcist demon Betelgeuse, played by Michael Keaton (“Spotlight,” “Birdman”), once again as he attempts to hide from his soul-sucking ex-wife Delores, played by Monica Bellucci (“The Matrix Reloaded,” “Mozart in the Jungle”), and former-actor-turned-dead-cop Wolf Jackson, played by Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man 2,” “Poor Things”). 

It’s quite a cast, not just in terms of new and returning star power, but in terms of size as well. And that’s not even including the myriad of small cameos, as well as Astrid’s love interest in the form of Jeremy, played by Arthur Conti (“House of the Dragon”), or the number of shrunken headed grunts working for Betelgeuse. It’s quite a stuffed film and that’s honestly its biggest flaw. For as fun as it can all be, at just over 100 minutes, co-writers Alfred Gough (“Shanghai Noon,” “Wednesday (2022)”), Miles Millar (“Shanghai Noon,” “Wednesday (2022)”), and Seth Grahame-Smith (“Dark Shadows (2012),” “The LEGO Batman Movie”) have delivered what feels like too much of a good thing. There are something like three different antagonists, with each of them capable of standing on their own. By the time the third act hits, they all feel as though they get the short end of the stick, leading to an ending that feels strong thanks to the titular demon, but weak in the antagonists’ resolutions. 

Even if it has a few too many characters, those characters are all a blast to be around. It cannot be overstated how Keaton and Ryder simply slip back into these roles, seemingly completely in step with how they were decades ago. O’Hara is also excellent, keeping the same bizarro line deliveries she’s made a career staple for years now. Ortega is a fun addition to the cast, keeping in step with Ryder, although she’s a smaller part of the film than one might initially assume. Bellucci, as good as she is, feels wasted given how little she ends up on screen, and Dafoe hams is up almost too much every moment he’s on screen, a hard thing to do when you’re in a “Beetlejuice” film. Theroux meanwhile feels weirdly underbaked, a compelling antagonistic force filled with slimy buffoonery, but yet he lacks a real identity besides being a sleazy wimp. 

With Tim Burton (“Batman (1989),” “Edward Scissorhands”) back in the director’s chair, it's safe to say that the film’s effects and sets live up to his madcap sensibilities. Each moment is bent wall-to-wall angles and otherworldly locations, leading to a real tactile sense of fantasy throughout. Danny Elfman (“Men in Black,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) also returns to compose for the film, and he also steps right back into the world without missing a beat. It simply looks, feels, and sounds exactly like the world of the original film, but just expanded in some very natural ways. 

This also works as a fantastic example of Burton returning to form. While of course it makes more sense given that this is a world he’s previously inhabited, he slides back into it effortlessly. It makes the last two decades of works like his live action “Alice in Wonderland” and “Dumbo (2019)” films and "Dark Shadows” feel like they were made by a completely different person. It’s a joy to just watch him play, and even if the film has narrative issues and feels a bit overstuffed, watching a skilled director play in a space he’s so familiar with makes a lot of those issues go over much smoother. 

The cleverly titled and playful “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” might not be as much of a lightning strike as the original, but it's hard to deny the pure joy on display throughout the entire adventure. It’s a return to gothic form for Burton, and Keaton and Ryder slide back into these roles fantastically, surrounded by a tale that makes great use of virtually every practical effect and set technique in the book. It’s exactly the kind of adventure you’d expect, and despite a few too many characters giving it an overstuffed feeling by the end, it’s still a film full of ghoulish delights. 4/5