October 25, 2024
This may be my favorite time of the year as a movie fan. We have a number of high-quality films coming out soon as the studios prepare their award-season campaign, following the busy festival season. And of course, it’s October which means scary movie season. It was a bit of an uneven month for me in that department. I had fun watching Smile 2, which was as good as (if not better) than the original. Writer-director Parker Finn assembled a brand new cast of characters, led by the terrific Naomi Scott as a global superstar pop singer tormented by the mysterious entity. If you liked the original, you’ll find this one just as entertaining.
I also liked Woman of the Hour, the thriller starring Anna Kendrick, who also directed the true story of a woman who appeared on The Dating Game and was matched up with a serial killer. You can find that one on Netflix. Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the remake of Salem’s Lot, which felt like a lesser-rate TV movie and found the Rosemary’s Baby prequel Apartment 7A to be kind of boring and not very scary. That’s ok. I found some additional scares by leaning on some older favorites like Poltergeist, It Follows, and Psycho. And I think I might round out scary movie season with The Others and The Silence of the Lambs this coming week. Two classics that never get old.
Let’s begin this month’s report with a film that I somehow mistook for a horror movie when I wrote my preview last month.
Put Down Your Phone – It’s What Inside
One of the buzziest films to premiere at Sundance this year, It’s What Inside was snatched up by Netflix following a bidding war among different studios. For some reason, this picture was marketed as a horror movie, but it’s just an old-fashioned thriller set at a creepy house. Most importantly, it has a great premise with a science-fiction twist and a few jump scares thrown in for good measure. The movie is organized around a reunion of college friends who have gathered to celebrate one member’s upcoming wedding. We quickly learn about the current and past tension among the group based on recent events, and what transpired during their college days. And then things get interesting. A man who was tangentially associated with the group arrives at the party with a game that promises something truly unique. I won’t spoil what the game is, except to say that it’s very important that you pay attention to what happens in the movie to enjoy it. If you are second-screening this one while scrolling your phone, you will miss some key sequences and details that writer-director Greg Jardin included in his feature film debut. A fun and original story that will keep you guessing as you try to wrap your brain around what is happening on screen. It’s What Inside is now streaming on Netflix.
Big Swings Don’t Always Result in Big Hits – Joker: Folie à Deux and Megalopolis
Hmmm…..how do I sum up two movies that made headlines across the film industry for all of the wrong reasons? How about “YIKES!” Two critical and commercial misfires that each cost a fortune to make. Now, normally I don’t necessarily care if a movie loses money at the box-office. What I do care about is quality and both of these films were pretty rough, albeit for different reasons.
One wonders why we needed a sequel to 2019’s Joker, which won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar for his performance (the award that should have gone to Leo for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood). Oh yes, I know the reason – the original movie grossed over a billion dollars. What we didn’t need is the misguided film that director Todd Phillips created with Joker: Folie à Deux Now, Phoenix and his co-star Lady Gaga are fantastic. The production design is great and the musical sequences mostly work. Yes, this is kind of a musical, with mostly classic songs and standards that play out in Joker’s imagination. I just found the story boring. It’s mostly focused on Joker’s time in prison and his pending trial for the crimes he committed in the first movie. Once we actually get to some interesting sequences, the film is basically over. Thankfully, this will be the last we see of this franchise. Joker: Folie à Deux (if you dare) is now playing in theaters and will be available on demand next week.
Francis Ford Coppola’s forty year mission to bring his passion project to the big screen was realized last month when the world got to see Megalopolis. In the lead up to this film’s release, much was made about the batshit crazy story, a strange scene where the main character (played by Adam Driver) interacts with a member of the audience (look it up – it’s too long of a story to share here), and the enormous investment made by Coppola to make this movie with his own money. So, my expectations were very low for a film that most people laughed at and called baffling.
Megalopolis takes place in New Rome, a stand-in for New York City in this story’s alternate United States. Driver plays an architect who has invented a groundbreaking material, which he hopes to use in building Megalopolis, the city of the future. He wants to solve all of the world’s problems with his utopia. Oh yeah, he has the power to stop time. Don’t ask. Now, unlike Joker: Folie à Deux, I actually found the story in Megalopolis kind of interesting at times and I get what Coppola was after in terms of the need to rebuild a world that seems to be falling apart. However, the story is very messy, the performances are uneven, and you certainly feel its bloated runtime during portions of the film. Whereas Phillips and Phoenix seemed to put in a half-assed effort to cash a huge paycheck with the new Joker, Coppola actually took a risk with a story he passionately believes in. Despite my feelings, I’m glad I saw it and was happy my son wanted to join me. It’s the kind of movie you need to talk about with someone else who has seen it. Megalopolis is certainly worth watching for the curiosity factor alone, just lower your expectations. A lot. Megalopolis is now playing in theaters and should be available on demand in November.
An Animated Film for Everyone – The Wild Robot
OK, let’s wash off the stink of those two movies with a picture that is one of my favorites of 2024 and may have the inside track to win Best Animated Film at this year’s Oscars. The Wild Robot is based on a 2016 children’s book, but before you dismiss this as a “kids movie” or a “cartoon,” this is a touching story about family, growing up, and life’s tough decisions. Like many of the best animated films, it combines the story with incredible visuals and a top-notch cast of voice actors.
Leading that cast is Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Roz, a task robot that accidentally lands on an island inhabited by wild animals. Not realizing what has happened, she searches around for her taskmaster, trying to help the animals she encounters, only to discover that no one is interested. When she accidentally crushes a goose nest, the only surviving gosling mistakes her for his mom and a new family unit has been created. As Roz raises the goose, she gets help from other animals in the forest, but her experiences are not without conflict as these animals are not natural friends. But Roz is not programmed to fight battles – her main mission is to complete tasks and she uses her skills to build bridges among the natural enemies.
When it comes to animated films, I consider myself a casual viewer. I certainly don’t see a high number of them each year, but will usually check out the highly rated ones. In fact, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was one of my favorites of 2023. I’m certainly glad I decided to give The Wild Robot a try and you should too. This is not just a movie for kids. In fact, it’s the best kind of movie – one that resonates with everyone. The Wild Robot is now playing in theaters and available to rent on demand. I highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.
A Fantastic Dark Comedy – A Different Man
Most people wouldn’t consider Sebastian Stan a household name when it comes to actors working today, but with any luck, he will be soon. Stan is probably best known for supporting character Bucky Barnes in the Marvel films of the last decade, but he has also been slowly building a solid resume based on his work in other films the last several years. This past month Stan played the lead character in two very different movies that only had one thing in common – his strong performances. First up was The Apprentice in which he played a certain despicable real-life person who you may have seen in political ads on your television or social media feeds every 30 seconds the last several months. The story is set in the 1970s when he was an unknown scumbag, long before he became a famous scumbag and the most disgraceful individual to occupy the White House. Great performance. Pretty good movie. I felt like I needed a shower afterwards.
The second film Stan starred in is one I would highly recommend. In A Different Man, Stan plays Edward, who desperately wants to be an actor, but suffers from a disfiguring disease that limits his options. He stumbles upon an experimental treatment that cures his disease and he is suddenly a handsome man who can get anything he wants. He soon learns that his former next-door neighbor has written a play about him and maneuvers his way into the lead role, not telling her his true identity. After all, this was the part he was born to play. But someone else comes along who might be an even better fit, which causes Edward to lose his shit. I don’t want to spoil any more of the plot, except to say that A Different Man is an excellent dark comedy about how sometimes getting everything you want isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. This one is worth it for the clever script and strong lead performances from Stan, Renate Reinsve (as his neighbor), and Adam Pearson who brings something special to the second half of the movie. A Different Man is now playing in theaters and will be on demand on November 5th.
Conflicted Feelings – Eno
Call me old-fashioned. Or just call me old. I have a strong allergy to (what I consider to be) the latest fad in every part of our lives these days – Artificial Intelligence. No, I’m not worried about machines taking over the world as James Cameron warned us about 40 years ago. I just find the obsession with AI being able to solve all of the world’s problems akin to a snake oil salesman. It’s like PT Barnum for the 21st century. I’m sure there are aspects of this technology that can be put to good use, but when it comes to the creative arts, I’m not a fan. Being a parent of a musician and an artist, being such a huge movie fan, and enjoying the challenge of crafting my thoughts into a film review is probably why I cringe whenever I hear how AI can make music, images, or even videos. Shoot that shit straight into the sun. I have much more appreciation for an artist’s work, knowing that they pushed their creative limits to make something for others to appreciate.
That being said, I was naturally intrigued when I read the premise about Eno, a new documentary about musician, filmmaker and record producer Brian Eno. He is probably best known for producing some of the more iconic artists of our time, including David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell, and Coldplay. In fact, his experience is so rich, you could make a several hour film (or television series) about his life story.
Director Gary Hustwit decided to do something revolutionary with Eno’s story. He had been thinking for several years about a way to make a film that would be a different experience every time you watched it. Much like you may see your favorite band play the same song over and over again, technically, each performance is different. Now, for a fan of bands that change their setlists and performances every night, this idea clicked immediately when I heard it. Hustwit decided to use the treasure trove of archival video of Eno, as well as dozens of hours of interviews he conducted to create a film that is unlike anything ever created.
Eno uses a generative software that creates and edits the film as it is playing in the theater. Hustwit created the movie so that there are modular sequences that the program can tap into as it constructs a coherent narrative story for the viewer. As you are watching the movie, you can see brief flashes on the screen where the program dials up the next scene, which is surprisingly not distracting – in fact, it’s kind of cool. Think about this. If you ever see this movie, it will be a unique version for that viewing experience. You can watch it again and it will be a different film. As I was reading reviews, someone commented on a scene where Eno cursed out YouTube ads, wondering why he didn’t pay for YouTube premium. I thought “Hm, I must have missed that scene.” Then, I realized, “Oh shit, it wasn’t in my version!”
So, while I thought Eno was an interesting experiment, I had conflicted feelings given my opinion of AI in the creative arts. I think I’ve come around to being ok with what Hustwit did here, primarily because everything in the film is something he created. It’s not someone using Chat GPT to scrape the internet and passing off other people’s work as their own. That being said, I do worry about the slippery slope of AI in the creative arts in the future. Now, one big question – how to see this film? Hustwit noted in an interview that he is working with streaming services to figure out how to replicate the viewing experience at home, but it’s unclear how, if, or when it will happen. Stay tuned and you can learn more about Eno here.
Live From New York…. – Saturday Night
I’m happy to report that a movie that could have gone so wrong in so many ways is actually a delightful film. Writer-director Jason Reitman is a hit or miss filmmaker for me and when he announced his intentions to tell the story of how Lorne Michaels and his band of misfits pulled off the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975, I was skeptical. Some of SNL’s best sketches over the years were the comedians skewering celebrities and politicians with first-rate impressions. But we all know that a lot of those didn’t work and just weren’t funny. What if Reitman’s movie turned out like a bad SNL sketch? Fortunately, while the story has a few messy spots, Reitman absolutely NAILED the casting for this film.
Saturday Night takes place in (almost) real-time in the 90 minute runup to the debut of the legendary show that was seen as a big gamble by NBC, particularly taking a chance on 30 year-old Lorne Michaels, played wonderfully by Gabriel LaBelle. He is now on the list of up and coming actors to keep an eye on after his great lead performance in The Fabelmans as a young Steven Spielberg stand-in, and the very funny teen comedy Snack Shack, released earlier this year. At Michaels’ side is Dick Ebersol, played by Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza), who would go on to an incredible career at NBC, particularly his revolutionary work running NBC Sports. Quick personal sidebar incoming.
April 2019. I was getting ready to leave my company and my boss was kind enough to offer me four excellent tickets to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park. These were the company seats and someone more important must have canceled, because I got the offer at the last minute. My friends and I were thrilled to be sitting not too far from the Red Sox dugout. Shortly before the game started, we noticed Dick Ebersol and his wife Susan Saint James, along with their grandchildren, coming down into our section. Oh yeah. This was also the day that Tiger Woods made his improbable comeback to win the Masters. The final round was being played while we were at the game, so in between pitches, I was glancing at the CBS coverage on my phone. Ebersol was sitting next to me and overheard my frequent Masters leaderboard updates to my friends and we started chatting. Imagine talking about sports with the guy who built NBC Sports into a juggernaut in the 1990s. He then kept asking for updates on the golf tournament, and I found myself (literally) doing play-by-play for a sports broadcasting legend, recapping all of the player movement up and down the leaderboard, right up until Woods made the winning putt. That was a fun day for a lot of reasons.
Anyway, back to Saturday Night. If you know a little about the history of SNL or are a fan of the early days, you will most likely enjoy this film. I give Reitman credit for the actors he picked for all of the roles, especially the very famous people. The actors’ performances are just close enough to resemble their real-life counterparts, without feeling like over-the-top caricatures and distracting from the story. Yes, there are some spots in the movie where you wonder if the scene in question technically happened on that night, or at some point later in the show’s tenure. It doesn’t matter. Those little nostalgia hits were fun. If you want the no bullshit, true story of SNL, I highly recommend reading Live From New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. It’s a phenomenal oral history of the show with incredible access to many people who worked at SNL over the years. And if you want a great time at the movies, check out Saturday Night, now playing in theaters.
Coming Attractions – Highlights from The Philadelphia Film Festival
For the third straight year, I traveled down to Philadelphia for the first weekend of their film festival and once again, it did not disappoint. I was fortunate to see a wide variety of movies, crammed into four days, prioritizing my love of film over healthy eating and sleeping – that’s ok, I’ll catch up now that I’m back. Here are a few of the highlights:
- I’m pleased to report that the next brilliant journalism movie is coming soon. September 5 was the festival’s opening night movie, taking us inside the control room at ABC Sports at the 1972 Munich Olympics on the day the Israeli hostage tragedy unfolded. You probably know the story, but this is a fascinating examination of the challenges the team faced in covering an international incident. They were used to covering sports and now had to cover a real news story, one with the highest stakes. An excellent cast elevates this journalistic thriller. I felt like I held my breath during the entire 90 minute runtime. Look for September 5 in theaters in mid-December.
- One of the more popular films playing the PFF this year was Anora, which won the Palme d’Or (Best Picture equivalent) at the Cannes Film Festival. Mikey Madison plays the title character in a performance that has made her a strong Best Actress contender for this year’s Oscars. Anora is the story of an exotic dancer who meets the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch and the two embark on a wild adventure over the course of a few weeks. Let’s just say that things start wild and get wilder as the story unfolds. Madison is outstanding, as are her co-stars in a film that is downright hysterical at times, and heartwarming at others. Sean Baker wrote and directed Anora and his movies are not for everyone. He’s not afraid to tell realistic stories that don’t sugarcoat the experiences of his characters, which means Anora has some scenes (and language) that some people might not appreciate. I’m not easily offended and I thought this movie was brilliant. Anora will be released wide in theaters in the coming weeks.
- Another likely Best Picture nominee I was fortunate to see this year was Nickel Boys, the devastating story of two boys who were sent to a reform school during the 1960s, where they were frequently abused by the staff there. The film is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and is a breathtaking examination of these boys’ experiences told through a unique storytelling style. Director RaMell Ross chose to show us the events of the film through primarily a first-person view, which was a little disorienting at the start, but I quickly got used to it. It also helped that there are sequences in the movie that are probably some of the best filmmaking you’ll ever see on screen. A few minutes into the screening, the person next to me leaned over and said, “This is winning Best Cinematography at the Oscars.” I think she might be right. Look for Nickel Boys in late December or early January in theaters.
- Did you like the “Movies are too long and need intermissions” discourse when Killers of the Flower Moon was released last year? Let me introduce you to The Brutalist, an outstanding epic that weighs in at three hours and forty-five minutes, including a fifteen-minute intermission. At the center of the story is Laszlo Toth (played by Adrien Brody in a performance that may earn him his second Oscar), a Jewish Hungarian immigrant architect who travels to America following World War II looking for a better life. He connects with a wealthy benefactor played by Guy Pearce (another likely Oscar nominee) who is willing to help him, for a price. The Brutalist was written and directed by Brady Corbet who has created an incredible film about the American dream through a fascinating set of characters over the course of thirty years. I found the first half of this picture riveting and incredible, leading me to think we might have the next great American epic masterpiece on our hands. I was slightly underwhelmed by how the film ended and some story choices Corbet made in the second half. But overall, this was a great moviegoing experience and one I won’t soon forget. The Brutalist will have a limited release in late December and go wide early next year.
That’s all for this month. I hope you found some movies to see or add to your watchlist. I’ll be back in a few weeks with a look at the career of the great Ridley Scott, ahead of his next epic film, Gladiator II. Thanks for reading and if you’d like to be notified of future posts, you can subscribe below.