A Quiet Place: Day One - Review: Sound Off for a Prequel

 

Less than a decade ago, the first “Quiet Place” film leapt into cinemas as a bold and fresh horror/thriller film that worked shockingly well and took the world by storm. Now, we have the series’ third film and first prequel, “A Quiet Place: Day One,” which shifts focus and locations completely to take us back to the day this invasion first began. 

Set in the hustle and bustle of New York City, the film follows Samira, played by Lupita Nyong’o (“Black Panther,” “Us”), a jaded cancer patient who travels into the city one day with her therapy group and group leader Reuben, played by Alex Wolff (“Hereditary,” “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”), for pizza and a puppet show. That day just so happens to be the day of the alien invasion that kicks off the apocalyptic events that these films follow. Now, Samira finds herself wandering a freshly abandoned New York City in a desperate bid for survival, accompanied by only her cat and apathetic businessman Eric, played by Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things,” “Dickensian”). 

Unsurprising to anyone who’s ever watched a film starring either of the two leads, Nyong’o and Quinn absolutely carry the entire film together. Even as things progress and the action and events get more generic, their central performances elevate the material and do a great deal to keep the viewer locked into this world. Nyong’o in particular continues to showcase her talents and ability to bring a sense of life to any role, regardless of genre. Her eyes in particular remain one of her best assets and are utilized to chilling effect here. Quinn is also excellent, and he rides the very thin line between making Eric hapless and accident prone without turning him into a sad puppy. 

Given the fact that this is the third film within this world, many of the unknown aspects of the horror have gone by the wayside. Whereas in the first film, the creatures were teased and weren’t even fully shown until the very end, this one has them leaping and running across cityscapes with reckless abandon. It’s an interesting choice from writer/director Michael Sarnoski (“Pig (2021)”) and co-writer John Krasinski (“Promised Land,” “IF (2024)”) as it almost completely removes any aspect of horror from the film. There are plenty of effective chase sequences throughout the city, and it's shot with a very detailed eye by cinematographer Pat Scola (“Pig (2021),” “Sing Sing”), but it means the film is more thriller than horror sa a result.  

This creates an issue as these moments, while certainly not boring, feel particularly average compared to the rest of the action/thriller genre. And despite being excessively detailed, the creatures just aren’t particularly scary in that context, coming across more as generic four-legged monstrous things than anything more memorable. Also lacking is the film’s central premise. Despite literally being called “Day One”, not much happens on the first day of the invasion, and the film is hardly concerned with it outside of the first twenty minutes. Yes, it's still the early days of this invasion, but once the film actually gets going, there’s little to distinguish it from the previous two films, which took place years into the conflict. 

Outside of the action-packed sequences, there’s a film about two lost and broken people finding solace in each other and a broken world. It cannot be overstated how fantastic these scenes between Nyong’o and Quinn are, and even if you actively hate the film’s action sequences, they’re worth getting through for these character driven moments. The quality spikes so much as to entirely give the film its reason for existing. A gorgeous musical score from Alexis Grapsas (“Pig 2021),” “Big Shot”) keeps these moments grounded and real, leading to a particularly cathartic last five minutes that make everything prior worth it. 

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is certainly the weakest of the series thus far. There’s a lack of compelling scares and the action sequences can’t really hold a candle to other great examples of the genre. It also fails to compellingly utilize its title concept, but the character work from Nyong’o and Quinn truly transform the work and make the film worth watching. It’s a bumpy road, but one that’s well worth seeing to the end with these two leads. 3.5/5

Kinds of Kindness - Review: Three is Not a Magic Number

 

A little over six months after the release of his previous film and Oscar darling “Poor Things,” writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite,” “The Lobster”) and his now frequent collaborator Emma Stone (“La La Land,” “Poor Things”) have reunited in an anthology film that retains the style of Lanthimos’s previous works, while stretching out the length to almost three hours and plopping it directly into a distinctly simplistic reality compared to his previous works. This is “Kinds of Kindness.” 

The film tells three different tales: the first, “The Death of R.M.F.,” follows Robert, played by Jesse Plemmons (“Game Night,” “The Power of the Dog”), is being manipulated by his boss and lover Raymond, played by Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man 2,” “Poor Things”), into living his life as he sees fit. When he decides to break those orders, his wife Sarah, played by Hong Chau (“The Whale,” “Downsizing”), leaves him, and he finds himself distraught and his life in shambles. The second, “R.M.F. Is Flying,” follows Daniel, played by Plemmons, who finds himself distraught after his wife Liz, played by Stone, returns home after seemingly being lost at sea. As time passes though, he becomes increasingly convinced she is not his actual wife. The third, “"R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich,” follows Andrew and Emily, played by Plemmons and Stone respectively, a pair of cultists looking for a woman who can bring people back from the dead. After sleeping with someone outside of the cult, Emily is banished by the cult’s leaders Omi, played by Dafoe, and Aka, played by Chau, and begins a quest to find the woman so she may be allowed back into the cult. 

When judging an anthology film, it can be difficult to give a resounding critique on the work as a whole given the sometimes varying number of actors, directors, writers, etc. involved. Luckily, since Lanthimos is the only director and co-wrote the whole thing with Efthimis Filippou (“The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”) and each story shares the same cast of actors, it becomes a bit easier. However, make no mistake, these three stories are of varying quality based purely on their own writing. The script as a whole keeps Lanthimos’s typically stinted and deliberate dialogue, but each tale has disparate tones. “Death” feels almost like a classic sex-comedy, but with a modernized sense of thinking, yet somehow manages to be the most blase tale of the whole film. “Flying” meanwhile teeters into uncomfortable and confusing territory, and not in the playful kind that Lanthimos normally works in. “Sandwich” is the only one that really genuinely works, and it's not hard to see an entire film made out of just that one tale. It’s the most fleshed out, most interesting, and has the most for the actors involved to play with. 

Stone is great, but severely limited by the fluctuating quality of the writing she’s working with. Plemmons fairs much better given that he’s the lead in all but one, so his blend of puppy eyes and quiet menace can work its magic. Dafoe seems as though he’s just going through the motions, doing the same “Dafoe thing” he’s been doing for the latter half of his career. Meanwhile, Chau feels flatly underutilized, as do Mamoudou Athie (“Jurassic World Dominion,” “Elemental”) and Margaret Qualley (“Drive Away Dolls,” “Maid”), popping up only occasionally and making little impact when they do, save for Qualley in “Sandwich.” 

Given Lanthimos and cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s (“Poor Things,” “The Favourite”) previous works together, it’s alarming how flat all of “Kindness” looks. While there is plenty of great usage of natural lighting and lit cityscapes, especially in “Death,” the film as a whole looks remarkably bland, even taking Lanthimos other works out of the equation. The musical score from Jerskin Fendrix (“Poor Things”) is painfully monotonous, droning on without really adding anything to the material, simply drilling in emotions forced by its musical cues. 

Worse than all of this not working, it all has a painfully forced feeling of self-importance about it that makes it an example of some of the worst aspects of quote-unquote indie films. Especially odd is that, for a director who’s past two works featured sex and sexuality in a very mature way, the usage here seems more for either titillation or to add another layer of “wackiness” to some of the storylines. Weirdly enough, once again the only time this doesn’t really apply is with the third story “Sandwich,” as it simply seems like a more fleshed out tale than the rest. 

“Kinds of Kindness” might be a film about three different kinds of “kindness” being doled out to the people within the tales, but the resulting film is anything but kind to the viewer. While some of the performances manage to elevate the material, and the third tale manages to be better than the entire rest of the film period, it's a blandly shot movie with a script a times dull and others uncomfortable, telling tales of woe that acts as a bizarre follow up to Lanthimos’s previous two films and a bizarre latest chapter in the career of a director with plenty of bizarre chapters. 2/5

Thelma (2024) - Review: This Ain't Your Grandma's Grandma

 

There’s something really delightful about getting to see older, experienced performers get to “act their age” so to speak. In an industry constantly chasing after the new, hip, young thing, seeing an aged film star come back to lead a film or to a role they played when they were younger is always a good feeling. Doubly so when that actor gets to lead a film that could only exist for someone their age, as is the case here with the delightful little tale of “Thelma.” 

The film follows the titular elderly woman, played with spirit by June Squibb (“Nebraska,” “About Schmidt”), who sends her family into a tizzy after she falls for a phone scam that results in her sending ten thousand dollars to a random address, believing her grandson Danny, played by Fred Hechinger (“Eighth Grade,” “News of the World”), is in jail. After she learns how worried they are that this trick is a result of her mind deteriorating, she enlists in the help of her fellow elderly friend Ben, played by Richard Roundtree (“Shaft (1971),” “Being Mary Jane”), to track down the scammers and get her money back. 

If there’s one surefire thing from both the premise and the actress cast in its lead, “Thelma” is certainly going to let Squibb have an absolute blast. It’s a good thing that writer/director/editor Josh Margolin (“Deep Murder”) is content to let her run as wild as her orthopedic sneakers can let her in the film’s brisk 98-minute runtime. Squibb has always been a source of laughs and glee, wisely aware of her age and the expectations surrounding it. She embraces the role with vigor and delight, taking on the material with the confidence and security of an action star to make it all sing. 

Roundtree plays a perfect straight man to her shenanigans, and it ends up being a fantastically charming and subdued posthumous performance for the legendary actor to go out on. Hechinger is also great as Danny, a hodge-podge of various arrested development youth tropes, but when he and Squibb are on screen together, they shine. The rest of the cast are also great, although they’re simply damned with less screentime. Clark Gregg (“The Avengers,” “The West Wing”) and Parker Posey (“Dazed and Confused,” “Josie and the Pussycats (2001)”) are great as Thelma’s daughter and son-in-law/Danny’s parents Alan and Gail, respectively, and there’s a great little role from Malcolm McDowell (“A Clockwork Orange,” “Mozart in the Jungle”) here as well. But Gregg and Posey simply don’t get much to do apart from show up and be charming, which they succeed at, and McDowell’s role might as well be a cameo, as fantastic as he still manages to be with that limited time. 

It’s a quaint little movie in most aspects outside of the cast. While they get a lot of mileage out of Los Angeles and it is all shockingly well shot by cinematographer David Bolen (“Some Kind of Heaven”), there is a very simple sense of vision to it all. This isn’t a bad thing, as it clearly exists as a showcase for an actress like Squibb; it ends up feeling like a movie that could’ve been shot in a week around the city by a bunch of actors simply looking to have a good time. The score from Nick Chuba (“Dr. Death”) is remarkably excellent, standing out from the rest of the production's aspects thanks to a mixture of simple strings and quieter melodies and riffs on the typical “spy/espionage” movie theme sounds. 

Within those simpler elements, and bolstered by Bolen’s cinematography, is a movie that has a shocking number of layers to it. For a silly movie about an elderly woman looking to get her money back, there’s a lot to be said about how we treat the elderly and how we can over-care for those we love. It isn't getting into things with the depth that a two-hour drama might, but the handful of moments where we simply sit, wordlessly with Thelma and the rest of the characters are both gorgeous and remarkably profound. 

“Thelma” has everything you could want in a movie! Elderly hijinks, revenge on scammers who take advantage of those who don’t know better, June Squibb, electric scooter chases! It's the kind of good ol’ fashioned fun time at the movies that can often be forgotten about or taken for granted nowadays, much like it’s elderly lead, with just enough to think about under the surface. With Squibb at the helm, it’s a movie that practically dares you not to have a good time 4.5/5

The Bikeriders - Review: Just Along for the Ride

 

If there is a movement, some kind of cause that makes an impact on the world, chances are there will someday be a film made about it. Writer/director Jeff Nichols (“Midnight Special,” “Mud”) has looked to the past to create a film about such a movement, basing it around the motorcycle clubs of the 1960s and 70s, with “The Bikeriders.” 

Starting in 1965, the film follows the creation and eventual downfall of the Vandals Motorcycle club, documented by photo-journalist Danny Lyons, played by Mike Faist (“West Side Story (2021),” “Challengers”), and focusing on the creation of the club by President Johnny Davis, played by Tom Hardy (“Venom,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”), and the romance between biker Benny Cross, played by Austin Butler (“Elvis,” “Dune Part Two”), and outsider Kathy Bauer, played by Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve,” “The Last Duel”), with an ensemble cast consisting of Michael Shannon (“Midnight Special,” “Revolutionary Road”), Boyd Holbrook (“Logan,” “The Sandman”), Norman Reedus (“The Walking Dead,” “The Boondock Saints”), among others. 

There’s a casual, lowkey nature to the entire film that adds to the hangout vibes of the story being told. Much of it is recounted to Lyons by Bauer at various points of her life, and the events not only have a wistful, nostalgia twinge to them, but also stark reality to things. Comer herself lays her accent on thick and is fairly good at the role, maintaining a good line between narrator and character within the tale. Hardy and Butler really steal the show, with the former employing a fantastically implausible accent to portray his vision of subdued and suppressed masculinity and anger.  

Meanwhile, Butler plays his role with an opposite kind of perspective, whereas Hardy fills his performance with grand displays of manly protection, Butler keeps things wound tight until the most opportune moments to let them unfurl. The rest of the ensemble cast is a delight, all embodying some fun, larger than life personas that fill out the film well. Faist is the only one who feels purely underutilized, instead wasting a strong actor on a role that feels like little more than a narrator who just happens to physically be there. 

The musical score from David Wingo (“Midnight Special,” “Barry”) is absolutely beautiful and helps to build the setting alongside some shockingly gorgeous and underplayed cinematography from Adam Stone (“Loving,” “Midnight Special”) which come together to create a great and realized vision of the 60s and 70s biking movement. While there isn’t an overall story perse, the film does exist on an engaging thread of tales and misadventures of the characters themselves, telling the story through small moment-to-moment escapades. 

Nichols zeroes in on the different kinds of masculinity and expressions of it therein to tell the arc of Hardy and Butler’s characters, and it quickly becomes apparent that this is where his interests lie the most. It is a very well realized and interesting story, but there is also a blaise feeling to it all that makes it hard to love. It's the sort of movie where nothing is objectively wrong or bad, but the elements don’t really come together to create a perfect film. Rather, they’re all good, just not great. 

That might sound like damning with faint praise, but don’t mistake “The Bikeriders” for a movie not worth your time. It’s a rousing and nostalgic drama that feels like part period piece for the 60s and 70s and part hangout movie, that still finds time to deconstruct two very different types of masculinity within its club. Its two lead performances are terrific, and the ensemble cast is also great. It does meander a bit too much and might overall feel like less than the sum of its parts, but those individual parts are still wholly enjoyable. 4/5 

Ghostlight - Review: All of Life's A Stage

 

Sometimes the best kinds of closure can come from the most unexpected of places. Nowhere can that be more apparent than on stage, in the theatre. There have been plays about a variety of subjects, from the crude to the cute, over hundreds of hundreds of years, and they can all affect us in differing ways. That’s the healing power of the theatre, after all. “Ghostlight” is a film that seeks to not only embrace that idea, but to zero in on why and how that can come to pass for even the most curmudgeonly of subjects. 

The film follows Dan Mueller, played by Keith Kupferer (“Our Father,” “Monuments”), a father struggling with his rebelling teenaged daughter Daisy, played by Katherine Mallen Kupferer (“Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.”), an incoming wrongful death lawsuit, and a fading relationship with his wife Sharon, played by Tara Mallen. After an incident at work puts him in the view of Rita, played by Dolly de Leon (“Triangle of Sadness,” “Between the Temples”), she asks Dan to join her amateur theatre group in a production of “Romeo and Juliet,” despite his lack of acting experience. The rehearsals and play prove to be an effective emotional outlet for Dan, even as the play begins to reflect his own real-life experiences. 

Co-directed by Kelly O'Sullivan (“Saint Frances,” “Sirens”) and Alex Thompson (“Saint Frances,” “Our Father”) and written by O’Sullivan, “Ghostlight” keeps things almost exceptionally low-key and simple to the point of feeling like you’re listening to a story told by a neighbor or family member. This is absolutely to the film’s benefit, as it works in communicating the emotions of the tale in a raw and digestible way. Kupferer’s performance feels deeply authentic, like he himself just stumbled on to the set of the film one day, and it’s one that remains powerful and incredibly emotional the entire way through. 

Both Mallen and Katherine are just as excellent, with Katherine specifically lighting up the screen and stealing every scene she’s in. She delivers a spitfire of a performance that will surely be a highlight of the film for many, while Mallen’s role goes for a more subdued, but still nuanced and evolving motherly role. It also works on another level given that Keith and Sharon are married in real life, and Katherine is Keith’s actual daughter. de Leon’s performance has less of an evolution compared to the main trio, and while she’s still fantastic, it is clear that her role isn’t the one O’Sullivan and Thompson are most intrigued by. 

This is a very small film by its nature, with only a handful of locations at play and a budget than amounts to less than a million dollars. Yet this seems to be where O’Sullivan and Thompson are most comfortable, because within those cheaper constraints is an exceptionally deep film. This is a picture that doesn’t purport to have all the answers or even know all of the right questions to ask. Instead, it prides itself on dragging the roller coaster of feelings out and dealing with each in turn. It might be Dan’s story at its core, but Sharon and Daisy get plenty of room to grow and shine. A scene halfway through the film has Dan reciting lines to Sharon, and it's a fantastic example of O’Sullivan and Thompson’s abilities to make sure both characters have their moments of personality, growth, and impact, even if one gets more screentime than the other. 

“Ghostlight” is a quaint little indie film that’s big on charm, performances, and emotion. It’s the kind of film that is easy to invest in and provides an almost cathartic kind of emotional release by the time it's over. The central three performances are really excellent, with Katherine Mallen Kupferer stealing the show, and a controlled and nuanced direction from Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson. It all goes back to that idea of catharsis, and the film’s ability to navigate that feeling without ever becoming overbearing is an achievement that shines brighter than the titular light ever could. 5/5 

Inside Out 2 – Review: All I Want Is to Have My Peace of Mind

 

There’s a world of emotions inside of every person, which means there’s plenty of room for a sequel to Pixar’s 2015 modern classic “Inside Out,” a film showcasing the world inside the mind of a pre-teen girl. And appropriately, the aptly titled “Inside Out 2” showcases that same girl’s mind, now at the frightening cusp of puberty and filled with anxieties. 

Picking up a few years after the end of the first film, Riley, voiced by Kensington Tallman, has now turned 13 and her emotions Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation,” “Mean Girls”), Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith (“The Office,” “The OA”), Anger, voiced by Lewis Black (“Accepted,” “The Daily Show”), Fear, voiced by Tony Hale (“Arrested Development,” “Veep”), and Disgust, voiced by Liza Lapria (“The Equalizer,” “Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23”), must now confront a new group of emotions who’ve taken hold of Riley’s mind: Embarrassment, voiced by Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird,” “Richard Jewel”), Envy, voiced by Ayo Edeberi (“Bottoms,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”), Ennui, voiced by Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Blue Is The Warmest Color,” “Passage”), and their defacto leader Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke (“Stranger Things,” “Do Revenge”). 

There’s clearly a lot to dig into with a concept like this. Introducing just Anxiety herself could provide for a boatload of new storytelling material, but the new emotions all balance out well without overloading each other or the story. The returning cast is all excellent, with Black in particular adding some more depth to his Anger through a softer vocal performance and Hale and Lapria doing a good job filling in for their role's original voices. Hawke meanwhile is an absolute powerhouse. Her Anxiety is a delight, running rampant with fantastic delivery and pained self-idolizations. Much like Poehler in the first film, she turns what should be a predictable one-note character into one that’s easy to feel for. 

Not much has changed in the visual style from the first film, but that’s not at all a bad thing. Instead, Pixar and its animation wizards have continued to flesh out the existing world within Riley’s mind. The textures and colors continue to pop will vibrance and glee, and there are now different styles of animation, such as hand-drawn 2D and early PlayStation-style graphics, for minor characters and elements that make for great bits of variance. 

The musical score also maintains the greatness of Giacchino’s score from the first film, even if it doesn’t retain Giacchino. Andrea Datzman fills in his shoes competently, crafting new and great musical motifs when needed and blending them with the original film’s themes when appropriate. However, in actuality, there isn’t a whole lot different between the first film’s score and this one, and that actually leads to the only real issue with the film. 

Given the nature of the film and the world that Pixar has created with these tales, there’s only so much co-writer/director Kelsey Mann and writers Meg LeFauve (“Inside Out,” “The Good Dinosaur”) and Dave Holstein (“Kidding,” “Weeds”) can do to differentiate things. It can therefore feel like the story itself is simply repeating what came before but with some variances. It’s within those variances though that Mann, LeFauve, and Holstein mine for unique scenarios and emotional humor.

That humor has a bit more of a cheeky, almost Simpsons-esque sense of silliness to it all, mining individual moments for visual and script gags. More than any Pixar film previously, there's a squash and stretch to everything, mimicking the kind of playful exaggeration in the likes of old school Looney Tunes cartoons. Anxiety chugs 5 energy drinks at once whilst Envy's eyes grow to be the size of her head, creating not only an amusing visual palette, but a stark different between the human world and the emotion world. It not only helps separate these worlds but draws a distinction between these humorous moments and the ones that are deeply serious and deliberate.

Even if it feels routine, it's still a deeply emotional journey to go on with these characters, and Pixar once again refuses to take the easy way out. The third act is remarkably complex and complicated, arguably more so than the first film’s, to a degree that feels almost unnecessarily ambitious. It refuses to take a simpler, easy way out, instead tackling the changes associated with growing up and puberty head on. So many films focus on the awkwardness of those physical, external changes, but it feels refreshing to see one directly tackling the internal. 

“Inside Out 2” has plenty of similarities to the first film, but these lay the groundwork for more expansions on its initial concept and the characters, internal and otherwise, therein. The vocal cast is still exceptional, with Hawke and Poehler turning in some truly fantastic performances, and it’s still an exceptional visual treat. There’s some déjà vu, but it doesn’t harm what’s still a fun, funny, and emotionally charged adventure that refuses to take the easy way out. It may be a sequel to a beloved original film, but make no mistake, nobody would’ve made this like Pixar has. 4.5/5

Am I OK? - Review: Sometimes, That's All You Need to Be

 

Most coming-of-age films tend to take place during their character’s teenaged years for good reason. It’s one of the more awkward times in one's life, as you’re attempting to figure yourself out and determine what kind of person you might want to be as you grow older. Which is why the act of coming out can make you feel as though you’re going through a second set of teenage years, making a film like “Am I Ok?” feel like a coming-of-age movie for the mid-30s crowd. 

The film follows Lucy, played by Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Madame Web”), a mid-30s woman living in Los Angeles working as a receptionist at a spa who mostly spends time drinking with her best friend Jane, played by Sonoya Mizuno (“House of the Dragon,” “Devs”), and Jane’s boyfriend Danny, played by Jermaine Fowler (“Superior Donuts,” “Coming 2 America”). After many failed attempts at dating men and spurred by the thoughts of flirtatious new masseuse Brittany, played by Kiersey Clemons (“Dope,” “Hearts Beat Loud”), Lucy realizes that she is a lesbian and begins to step into her new experiences, struggling with her late-bloomer revelation and new world. 

Especially after years of playing more unflattering roles in films like the “Fifty Shades” trilogy, Johnson has emerged in recent times much like Kristen Stewart did in her post-”Twilight” career: she’s flourished in a realm of fresher, deeper, more emotionally complicated role. “Ok” is no different, and she somehow turns a quieter role into one of real vulnerability and honest humor. Her chemistry with Mizuno is fantastic, and their friendship really feels believable and works as the anchor for the entire film. Likewise, Mizuno is also great, and the pair of them develop a friendship that feels messy and complicated and real, unlike most other fake feeling movie friends. 

The rest of the cast are all good, serving their roles well, but aren’t majorly memorable. Fowler does a great job as the doting, humorus, self-effacing boyfriend role, and Clemons plays the stereotypical “early-20s, overly flirtatious girl” role well. But neither the script from writer Lauren Pomerantz (“Strange Planet,” “Saturday Night Live”) nor their performances do much to break out of these kinds of archetypes. Likewise, even for a fairly simplistic movie, co-directors Tig Notaro (“One Mississippi,” “Star Trek: Discovery”) and Stephanie Allynne (“Dream Corp LLC,” “The L Word: Generation Q”) struggle to do more than point and shoot for much of the film’s runtime. 

It’s a well-directed film in terms of getting lots of good dialogue-based scenes and moments of honest humor, but there isn’t any real sense of dramatic flair or flashiness. Not that it needs it, but eventually it stops feeling like a movie and more just like a filmed play because of this. There’s a good but not particularly memorable score from Craig Wedren (“School of Rock,” “Velvet Goldmine”) and Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) as well, and it ends up feeding into the film’s main issue. It’s a fine story that's well-acted and clearly has a lot of emotion put into it. But it fails to make any real impact from a craft perspective. 

Unfortunately, despite Johnson’s great performance, the queer elements of the story don’t really feel explored beyond a base level. It's fun to see her go on dates and discover herself, and plenty of great scenes come from this. A particularly excellent one sees Lucy and Jane lying in bed for a sleepover with Lucy slowly realizing her female attractions and working through it by talking to Jane. But it feels as though it stops short of really allowing Lucy to explore herself onscreen. Yes, the film is clearly moreso about their friendship, but given how much of it is central to Lucy’s coming out and self-exploration, it’s disappointing we don’t see more of it. 

“Am I Ok?” is a well-acted and sweet tale that buoys itself around excellent chemistry between Johnson and Mizuno. But it never really feels like it gets deeper into any of the subjects it brings up, resulting in an emotionally charged, important, but ultimately rather surface level exploration of the middle-age coming out experience. It’s worth watching certainly, but it fails to make a major impression like one might hope given the material and those involved. 3/5

The Garfield Movie - Review: A Big Fat Hairy Deal

 

Somehow, the rotund orange tabby cat with a love of lasagna and a hatred of Mondays by the name of Garfield has managed to keep a stranglehold on the Sunday comics market for the better part of the last 45 years. After metric tons of merchandise, television specials, and two live-action films, the character finally has his first feature-length animated film released in theatres, the creatively titled “The Garfield Movie.” 

The film stars Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Parks and Recreation”) as Garfield, the titular lazy fat cat, who gets cat-napped alongside his dimwitted dog pal Odie, voiced by Harvey Guillén (“What We Do In The Shadows (2019),” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”). They’re dragged out of the house by the villainous cat Jinx, voiced by Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso,” “Sex Education”), who seeks revenge against Garfield’s father Vic, voiced by Samuel L. Jackson (“Pulp Fiction,” “Django Unchained”). She forces the trio on a heist, which quickly goes awry, leading Garfield and his father to butt heads and cause chaos, all while Garfield’s owner Jon, voiced by Nicholas Hoult (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “The Menu”), awaits their return. 

It’s quite an adventurous tale for such a lethargic cat, and the script, written by Paul A. Kaplan (“Spin City,” “Raising Hope”), Mark Torgove (“Spin City,” “Raising Hope”), and David Reynolds (“The Emperor’s New Groove,” “Finding Nemo”), goes to great lengths to get the tabby out of the house. Unfortunately, the adventure itself ends up as a mostly bland tale that recycles much of the same plotting and character beats seen in numerous other animated family films. The film’s sense of humor and the gags throughout are still amusing and maintain the wry, broad sense of silliness that the comic strip is known for, but the overall plot feels stitched together from other, better, family films. 

The vocal performances are a complete mixed bag. While none are really doing any difficult work, mostly residing in the realm of “celebrities doing their own voices”, some fit the characters far worse than others. The big stickler is Pratt, and his performance is fine enough but at no point ever gives the impression that it’s Garfield you’re listening to. Meanwhile Jackson is fine enough, with Hoult stealing the show in his minor appearances. Waddingham is also just fine, and Guillén does a lot of very amusing yipping and barking as Garfield’s technically mute canine companion. 

Visually, it's a somewhat bland film. It looks technically nice, with lots of painted looking backgrounds and warm autumnal colors to showcase a generalized picture of midwestern US landscapes. But it's a very serviceable look, with nothing standing out stylistically or visually. The film’s visual identity, or lack thereof, actually ends up speaking to the larger issues with the movie as a whole. 

Despite having an experienced director at the helm in Mark Dindal (“The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin”), the film lacks anything memorable about it, existing more as an animated babysitter for the kids and a contractual obligation. You simply need more than a recognizable face or an experienced director to make something memorable, as those elements can get butts in seats, but do not guarantee a good or enjoyable product. Luckily, the film itself does manage to be amusing and silly enough to be a fun waste of 90 minutes, but it lacks any legitimate reason to exist. It’s made even worse given the numerous amounts of product placement in the film, which eventually borders on inane. Family films like this will always have some kind of tie-in or product placement, but there the small moments of real brands and restaurants being shown and then some that feel like short ads meant to be airing on TV that accidentally got spliced into the final film.

“The Garfield Movie” continues the orange tabby’s tradition of starring in serviceable but lackluster family films, and it's at least better than the previous live action works. It’s pretty to look at but bland overall, in both story and overall visual style. Its voice cast is mostly good, and the sense of humor is fun, but it’s hard to imagine anyone remembering anything about this film a year from now, beyond the bizarre casting of its title role. 2.5/5

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga - Review: A Fantastic and Furious Femme Fatale Fable

 

After thirty years since the release of “Beyond Thunderdome,” George Miller (“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” “Babe”), the original creator of the “Mad Max” franchise returned with the acclaimed and lauded “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which not only introduced a new Max and new style to the series, but also a new lead in Imperator Furiosa, a badass war-rig driver with a buzz cut and a metal arm played by Charlize Theron. Miller now returns to the character to tell the story of her life up to the events of “Fury Road” with a film simply titled “Furiosa.”

Played now by Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Menu,” “The Queen’s Gambit”) in her teen years and beyond and by Alyla Browne (“Three Thousand Years of Longing”) as a young child, the film is a sprawling, borderline Shakespearean tale of Furiosa’s life after she was taken from her paradisal home known as The Green Place by Dr. Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth (“Thor,” “The Cabin in the Woods”), and his biker gang. She seeks revenge on him for stealing her away and killing her mother, while rising through the ranks of the War Boys and warriors of Immortan Joe, played by Lachy Hulme (“The Matrix Reloaded,” “Offspring”), working alongside his own Praetorian Jack, played by Tom Burke (“Mank,” “Strike”).

More than ever before, thanks to the length of the film’s scope and its runtime, Miller dives headfirst into the wasteland with more detail and lore than ever before. With his co-writer Nico Lathouris (“Mad Max: Fury Road”), the pair further expand the wasteland to show locations only heard about before and also new aspects of their culture. The film’s unreliable narrator is someone referred to as a History Man, played by George Shevtsov (“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” “Stormworld”), a man literally tattooed with numerous words, turns of phrase, and definitions, literally called upon at some points to define complicated words or give synonyms for what Dementus is saying.

As Miller continues to mine the depths of his world, so does he connect himself with actors ready to throw themselves to the floor for these characters. Taylor-Joy is a genuine revelation, giving what is borderline the best performance of her career. So much of the film is based on her body language, movements, and intense gaze. Even when going long stretches without speaking, she commands the attention of the camera and world itself to tell this story.

Hemsworth, meanwhile, goes for broke to an almost comedic degree. His Dementus is a fascinating villain, maintaining a level of charisma and apathy that makes it a wonder to watch his downfall. As he continues to spiral downwards, it becomes a marvelous display of hubris as Dementus falls from grace despite his continued best efforts. The supporting cast is also packed full of great performances straddling the line between insanity and seriousness. Angus Sampson (“Heartbreak High (2022),” “Insidious”) as Dementus’s Organic Mechanic, John Howard (“The Girl from Tomorrow,” “All Saints”) as Joe’s advisor known as The People Eater, and Charlee Fraser (“Anyone But You”) in an impactfully small chunk of time as Furiosa’s mother, Mary.

The fact that Miller takes these smaller roles so seriously despite their insane names, physicalities, and demeanors is a testament to his approach with this film and what makes it so different from “Fury Road” before it. Whereas “Fury Road” was a shot of adrenaline that never lets up, with harsh searing colors and camerawork, “Furiosa” spends a shocking amount of time going slower, with a focus on building up the titular heroine’s characterizations. The previous Shakespearean comparison is no accident; it's an extremely apt comparison rather. As the

History Man narrates, we realize we’re being told a story, and given that no one ever really thinks they’re insane in their own story, we get a tale of a wasteland that’s still crazy, but in a more reserved way. Imagine having someone explain one of the most bizarre experiences they’ve ever had to you in the calmest manner possible, and you’ve got a good idea of the level “Furiosa” is operating on.

Even if it isn’t flying by at two-hundred-mph or shot with the bright yellow haze that sears your eyeballs, what’s here is still a massive technical and visual achievement. From numerous sequences involving complicated stunt works or massive vehicular destruction to the way various locations are dressed and designed, Miller’s wasteland continues to be a feast for the senses, shot with glee by cinematographer Simon Duggan (“Warcraft,” “The Great Gatsby (2013)”), and even if there are fewer of them, the action sequences that do exist are still thrilling to behold, thumping along to a chunky electric score from Tom Holkenborg (“Deadpool,” “Mad Max: Fury Road”).

Slightly disappointing though, for all the fantastic stunt work and practical production designs, there are a few glaring moments of visual weirdness that seem out of place given the budget and level of care given to the rest of the film. For example, while there’s some really impressive work with meshing Taylor-Joy and Browne’s faces for young Furiosa and creating the Bullet Farm leader’s face entirely out of CGI, there are also moments of glaring obviousness. Shots of the War Boys standing atop a Rig with clearly green screened backgrounds behind them, as well as various CGI vehicles and crashes that look less than convincing. It wouldn’t be such a discredit if not for the impressive practical work on every front, leading to a jarring clash when these less than stellar elements do appear.

The end result of the film’s various disparate elements is something quite bizarre and unique. It’s a serious film filled with insanity, that never fails to take everything to heart. It’s a work located mostly in deserts and dilapidated locals, but that often looks beautiful in its technical and production design aspects, and it’s lead by two career best performances from two actors who’ve already given plenty of fantastic performances in the past. It lacks that immediate, genre defining momentum that “Fury Road” delivered, not surprising given that film’s lighting in a bottle nature. It’s a fascinatingly different take on a world Miller has had the reins on for his entire career, and it’s worth a watch for that aspect alone. 4.5/5

IF (2024) - Review: A Messy, Uneven, Big Hearted Family Flick

 

It takes a lot for a studio to bankroll an original family film with zero ties to any kind of book, game, television series, or other merchandisable immediacy, especially for a budget of $110 million. But when you have the goodwill of the public and have made said studio over $600 million with two films who’s combined budget was a little under $80 million, you can snag yourself a blank check feature, much like John Krasinski (“A Quiet Place,” “The Office”) has with his latest film, “IF.”

Starting a few years after the loss of her mother, the film follows twelve-year-old Bea, played by Cailey Fleming (“The Walking Dead”), back in New York staying with her grandmother Margaret, played by Fiona Shaw (“Enola Holmes,” “Killing Eve”), whilst her father, played by Krasinski, is in the hospital. While there, she finds her upstairs neighbor Cal, played by Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool,” “Free Guy”), with an apartment full of imaginary friends, known as IFs, such as Blossom, voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”), and Blue, voiced by Steve Carell (“The Office,” “Despicable Me”). Since she can see them, they enlist in her help to pair them with new kids since their old ones have grown up and forgotten them.

There’s definitely whimsy to behold here, and a lot of that comes down to the titular IFs themselves. Packed to the gills with varying styles and aesthetics, each one makes a visual impact, brought to life with a colorful and charming voice from a celebrity cast that could alone fill an entire theatre. Krasinski does smartly play them down though, letting the voices just be voices and not winks for the parents. Louis Gossett Jr. (“An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Roots”) voices Louis, an elderly teddy bear who runs the IFs retirement home, and his voice lends a lot of warmth to the proceedings, becoming a calming bright spot for the film overall.

Waller-Bridge and Carell do a good job with their IFs, but they mostly plod along with the same kind of candor you’d expect from most celebrity voiced animated characters. The voices do fit the parts, but they never excel in a particular way. Reynolds, meanwhile, plays mostly against type for the first time in a while. Calvin is more subdued and downplayed than pretty much every other character he’s played for the last decade, and it's a welcome strength. Fleming is okay, doing the best with a script that’s mostly asking her to stand around, look wide-eyed at the IFs, and ask questions so the film can explain its premise(s).

The elephant, or IF, in the room for the film is that script and the wild tonal shifts it takes throughout. Shortly after meeting the IFs, Bea is reduced to asking a lot of questions and looking astonished. It stifles her character and gives the movie a stalling pace. It’s as if Krasinski won’t let us continue without really really making sure we understand what’s going on. The film also swings wildly between being full of whimsy and remarkably sad and melancholy. This isn’t a problem since it does commit to these differing tones, but it is an interesting choice, nonetheless.

Visually, there is a lot to like here, and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński’s (“Saving Private Ryan,” “West Side Story (2021)”) work pairs beautifully with a score from Michael Giacchino (“Up,” “Inside Out”). The visual effects and practical sets blend together seamlessly, and the IFs themselves really do look fantastic. Kamiński’s camerawork maintains a level of professionalism and playfulness, making sure we get the best possible views of this adventure without feeling stale or stiff.

“IF” is a very odd and conflicting film. It’s a family movie aimed at kids that might be too mature for them. It’s a movie that wants to make you feel the whimsy but is better at conjuring it when it's not trying to conjure it. It’s also funny and fun, but remarkably sad as well. In some ways, it's a head scratcher; will this be a movie kids pick to watch on a car ride or sleepover over other picks like “Toy Story” or “Despicable Me”? It isn’t that it's too complex for younger audiences or that it isn’t actually a movie for them. It just ends up being a lot for a young mind to handle.

Krasinski clearly has a lot of ambition here, and it works on most levels, especially visually. Yet the script kneecaps its protagonist once its most interesting element comes into play, and it struggles with wanting to spark joy and magic versus when it actually does. Reynolds is a surprisingly subdued highlight, and it’ll definitely make most smile and tear up. But those going in expecting a lighthearted family romp should be warned: this one is gonna get a bit heavy and messy. 3.5/5