The Unofficial Ongoing Current Movies in Theaters thread

[dookeyXXX]

F1
It is crazy entertaining as long as you don’t give it much thought. Kudos go out to the cast—Pitt is the epitome of a Movie Star in that he just idly seems to charm his way through the tried-and-true familiar plot points; the rest of the cast shines, too—and director Kosinski who keeps the pacing taut.
As long as you let yourself get sucked into the adrenaline rush it’s mad fun.
The problems arise post-screening when you realize that you’ve seen this film before (it was called Driven back in 2001) and that it’s basically Bull Durham, but with cars instead of baseballs. Plus it succumbs to a grip of Hollywood tropes and cliches, including “The Great White Savior,” “The Underdog Triumphs,” and of course the ever popular 20-year age difference between the romantic leads, amongst others. Once you realize that the film is ultimately a paint-by-numbers affair, some of the allure wears off.
But damn is it a fun and breezy ride in the moment.

[dookeyXXX]

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - THE FINAL RECKONING
What is hopefully the final entry in the series had some good beats, but most of the film felt like it was lurching along on a spotty pacemaker.
Pretty much all of the action sequences were meh and just stretched on forever.
And they pulled a Marvel move by all of a sudden revealing that every other film’s plot was leading up to this one (I’m not sure, but I never heard anybody talk about the series being a long game where all the previous films were interconnected, so it felt like they just decided to say “hey, look, we’ve been setting up this conclusion for years!”).
There was no further character development, the interaction between characters was minimal, and everybody just felt like they were phoning in their roles and along for the ride and the paycheck.
That said, the editing in parts was really kind of cool as they bounced between different scenes here and there and had them almost dancing with one another. But honestly that wasn’t enough to elevate it above being a ho-hum mediocre summer blockbuster (or in this case, a lackluster…).

[dookeyXXX]

The Phoenician Scheme
Just when I thought I might be done with Wes Anderson’s affected cinematic milieu he drops this little number which has just moved up the ranks to become my favorite film of his.
A lot of this is due to the core thespian trio anchoring the film: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera. All three deliver in spades. Additionally, while the film is drenched in Anderson’s patented style, it seems a bit more open and spacious in terms of production design and feels more like it’s influenced by classic silent cinema.
Sure, some of the high profile cameos come off a bit forced, but main actors bring their A Game, the pacing is whiz-bang, and the story in itself is a convoluted MacGuffin that actually works.
A bravura affair of high order, imho.

[Elkhound Odin]

A thought the Phoenician Scheme was too chaotic. The fast fire dialog lost it's appeal and become hard to focus as the story wore on. I liked Hotel Budapest better.

[dookeyXXX]

BALLERINA
In the realm of the John Wick films, this is my third favorite now.
It’s also the best homage to the cheesy 1980s action films that I grew up on-/you know the ones starring Arnie, Sly, Bruce, JCVD, and Seagal—that’s comes down the pike in a long while.
That said, it’s chock full of stilted and stiff line readings from all involved, Angelica Huston is a distraction both in appearance (I read somewhere that she has been battling cancer so perhaps the treatments have something to do with this) and acting (she isn’t nearly as campy as she should be), and the rest of the high profile cameos come off as being phoned in.
Oh, and the revenge plot we’ve seen before, not to mention the whole “Assassin With a Heart of Gold” trope.
But hot damn are the action sequences amongst the best in the franchise!
Filmed wide to encompass all the acrobatics and ballistic ballet movements, the screen bristles with flurry and fury in every hand-to-hand encounter and bullet riddled melee.
And the third act fiery finale?
Holeeee sheet!!!
It’s blisteringly awesome.
Basically, if you let your mind wander during the dialogue bits and then give yourself over fully to the bonkers good action, then it’s a rollicking good time at the movies.

[dookeyXXX]

28 YEARS LATER
For the record, I wasn't much of a fan of the original 28 Days Later or it's "sequel" 28 Weeks Later when they were originally released in cinemas 2002 and 2007, respectively. My ultimate zombie film is Dawn of the Dead, the original, so that's the "gold standard" I judge all other zombie flicks by. And yes, I realize that the 28 films aren't technically zombie films, but they borrow a lot of the established tropes.
Any way, prior to this new reboot I revisited the two earlier films and found, much to my surprise, that they have aged really well and I actually enjoyed them tremendously all these years later.
Sadly, I wish I could say the same for the new entry.
Alex Gardner, who usually pens some solid material basically cribs story ideas and plot points from all of George Romero's films (specifically Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead) as well as elements of the comedy series Z Nation.
Familiar tropes aside, the film also commits a major faux pas/sin in that it's merely a set-up for the next film. Unlike the two previous films, which while loosely connected, also managed to work as stand-alone stories, this one strings us along for 2+ hours and climaxes with a cliffhanger setting up the already filmed and in the can sequel, which doesn't drop until 2026.
Maybe this works for you, but this is a growing trend in Hollywood that I despise (The Thunderbolts suffered the same fate as it ended up being nothing more than a set-up for the latest Fantastic Four film, as well as the upcoming new Avengers films).
The joy of the first two 28 films is that they were separate stories taking place in the same universe. Sure, this new film is kind of the same, but to me it felt contrived and nothing more than a stop-gap leading up to next year's film. Honestly, it would have worked much better as a 6 or 12-episode series rather than a movie that doesn't really work by itself.
That said, I am more excited about the next film given how this one ended. Also, the director of the upcoming film, Nia DaCosta, did a whiz-bang job with her Candyman revision, so here's hoping that she comes just a creative and hard and that Garland delivers some originality in that script.

[dookeyXXX]

DON'T LET'S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT
Based on the memoirs of Alexandra Fuller, this coming-of-age-tale is anchored by a precocious and mesmerizing performance by Lexi Venter, who brings to mind the early work of Tatum O'Neal, Jodi Foster, and Drew Barrymore.
Sadly, the story, about white English ex-pats living in Africa, succumbs to all the familiar tropes and loses some of its power and charm because of this.
Still, the acting is top-notch, the direction crisp, the scenery lush (in a dusty and heat-riddled way), and the pacing decent.
While not having read the source material, I feel like this film only covers a fraction of it and perhaps might have worked better as a series.

[dookeyXXX]

SUPERMAN
When I first learned that James Gunn was gonna "reboot" the DC Comics Cinematic Universe with a new Superman movie, I literally groaned. With the exception of the first two Christopher Reeves movies, all of the Superman films have kind of sucked. It felt like he was beating a dead horse.
But I gotta say, dude nailed it.
I was pleasantly surprised, but also not surprised once I remembered Gunn's tracks record with superhero films.
I laughed.
I cried.
I cheered.
Sure there are some wonky moments, but the story is lean and topical without feeling forced.
And the cast is great.
What I am beginning to notice with Gunn’s films—particularly the GotG trilogy, The Suicide Squad, and this film—is that he is so obviously influenced by the likes of Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges and other Golden Era Hollywood directors/screenwriters in that he knows how to write characters we immediately love and care about and connect with, his dialogue is snappy, and he knows how to balance schmaltz and drama.
Oh, and his pacing is impeccable.
Furthermore, the nods to the 1978 film were great. The inclusion of some not-terribly mainstream/well-known heroes was awesome— and a true tip of the hat to hardcore comic geeks.
The inclusion of Krypto at first turned me off, but I momentarily forgot how well Gunn makes us empathize with animorphic characters; hat character ends up being well utilized and a boon to the film (and this is coming from an avowed cat person).
There is one element of the story, that while borrowing from older Superman source material, visually felt like they jacked it from The Boys. I wish they had tweaked that element a bit, both in subject and look.

In the end, I walked out of the theater rather elated.
This is a really good movie. Period.

All of that said, it’s setting the bar incredibly high for the rest of the DCU slate and I fear that most of the directors they’ve hired to helm the other films won’t live up to what Gunn has laid down here…

[mcski]

Great review. I’m not a super hero guy and def not Superman but your review has me wanting to see it. I did like his work on GotG and can see what you me by Wilder influences

[dookeyXXX]

btw, I meant “anthropomorphic” not “animorphic.”
but if I had gone in and edited it, it would render the post full of

breaks and other gobbledygook

[dookeyXXX]

The first War was bonkers and has one of the craziest item dance sequences I have seen to date.
Furthermore, it’s unabashed and unashamed rip-off of just about every Hollywood action film ever made is wonderfully insane.
The film is so over/the-top that I always wish I had seen it in theaters.
The sequel looks even more ridiculous.


It’s actually playing in 2 screens in Reno, one screen has the Hindi version and the other is playing the Teluga.

[yeahman]

Saw Weapons today. Very weird movie. I wasn't bored. Worth seeing if you're a fan of the horror genre.

[dookeyXXX]

EDDINGTON
Ari Aster’s latest cinematic endeavor is sure to be a divisive effort for some. Heck, when I initially exited the theater I was less than elated about the film. However, after some enlightened and energetic conversations about the film with some co-workers I may have changed my opinion a smidge.
One thing’s for sure: the film is a hodge-podge mash-up of genres. It starts out like a small town soap opera, turns into social/political commentary, goes full-tilt revenge, and even flips off the rails into Rambo flamboyant mayhem.
Characters are all over the map and some of them are down right frustrating people. But then as one of my buddies put it, the film doesn’t offer up anything in strict and plain black&white, but rather a lot of shades of grey and ambiguity. Which is probably why the film took me for a loop.; I looked at it more as lazy storytelling, but then Aster’s previous works were all tightly knit, so perhaps that was his modus operandi.
There are really only 3 aspects of the film that either could or should have been left on the editing room floor. The first is Emma Stone’s character who while serving a plot element, just isn’t fleshed out enough to make her presence worth the while. The second is a charismatic cult leader bit that goes nowhere. And the third is an Antifa allusion. Often with these (and other aspects of the story) it felt as if Aster just had too many ideas bouncing around in his head and decided that instead of self-editing, he’d just toss them all into the film. Perhaps there’s a 4-hour “Director’s Cut” lurking somewhere that he plans to release down the road like he did with Midsommar?
In the end, Eddington is an often confusing, yet never boring multi-layered film that may deserve multiple viewings to fully understand what Aster was going for.
If nothing else, it’s the first film to capture the confusing, dividing, often volatile elements of the 2020 Covid quarantine mandate era.

[dookeyXXX]

TOGETHER
Welcome to the first(?) horror film to examine the detriments of a co-dependent relationship.
Why they didn’t use The Beatles’ “Come Together” as the theme song I don’t know (other than perhaps it would have inflated the budget something fierce).
On the surface this is a bugged out body horror film with nods to John Carpenter’s The Thing, Brian Yuzna’s under appreciated Society, and creepy 1970s occult thrillers like The Sentinel, but underneath it’s a sweet examination of love and devotion. Yeah, right!
The main characters of Tim and Millie (real life husband and wife Dave Franco and Alison Brie) can be downright annoying; Tim has no backbone and Millie comes off as overbearing and dominating. Yet their blatantly yin/yang personalities make perfect sense when the conclusion of the film smacks you in the face.
My only real complaint is the intermingled use of practical and CGI effects. The practical stuff is super cool. However some of the CGI is kind of low-budget and distracting.
What the film does get right is a sense of creepiness and unnervingness, plus there are some great ongoing callbacks and wonderful foreshadowing set-ups.

[dookeyXXX]

WEAPONS
Zach Cregger’s sophomore effort brings a bit more heat than his bugged out 2022 debut, Barbarian.
Like that film there’s plenty of intensive set-up leading to a bonkers conclusion. Although the final moments of this film are bit unintentionally hilarious/absurd.
Where this film succeeds is in its structure, which is more-or-less a whodunnit augmented by elements of genuine WTFness.
The tension surrounding the mystery is well strung, the acting throughout is superb, and the pacing is just right. The third act gets crazy with some nods to Pennywise (the clown, not the band), Baba Yaga, the Pied Piper mythos, and other insanity, which makes sitting through the previous two acts well worth it.
For those looking for similarities, this film is in the same wheelhouse as Longlegs and Cuckoo.

[dookeyXXX]

WAR2
The sequel to 2019’s War is gloriously over-the-top absurd, straight ripping off both the James Bond and M:I franchises, not to mention Marvel and DC superhero fare. I am giving this film a heap of what I call “exotic bias,” yet its sheer chutzpah makes the last several Fast films seems like student directorial endeavors.
Fueled by unrealistic fight sequences, bad CGI, non-stop costume changes, loud music (the villain has his own theme song) and fantastic hairdos, the film barely comes up for air.
That said, and as entertainingly fast paced as this film is, it’s a pale shade of the original film, which had one of the greatest (in my humble and limited experience with the genre opinion) item dance numbers ever. Here, the one dance number and one romantic interlude/flashback are pretty weak, with actors obviously lip synching and the choreography just coming off as ho-hum.
The weakness of this film, again in my humble and limited opinion, is the absence of director Siddharth Anand, who formerly directed the two best entries in what is known as the YRF Spyverse (he also directed Pathaan.) Why he wasn’t onboard for this entry is beyond me (and word is that he won’t be directing Pathaan2, either.)
Regardless of its shortcomings, this is still a highly entertaining bucket of popcorn cinema; most notable is the opening sequence that gives nods to Kurosawa by way of Tarantino and a landlocked cargo tanker fight scene that culminates with sledgehammer ballroom dancing on top of an industrial crane. Oh, and one character tames a rabid wolf just by staring at it.
Just leave your brain at the door and make sure your eyes are well-rested for the deluge of subtitles.

[dookeyXXX]

AMERICANA
i will straight up admit that I went to see this flick because of all the hullabaloo currently surrounding Sydney Sweeney and her choice in jeans.
I am damn glad I went, too, as this is a highly entertaining cinematic undertaking.
Heavily influenced by the Coen Bros (specifically BLOOD SIMPLE, FARGO, and THE BIG LEBOWSKI) and Tarantino, this is a western noir that succeeds due to a stellar cast, some genuinely good plot twists, and wonderful pacing.
At first I was a bit turned off by the writer/director wearing his influences so heavily in his sleeves, but the cast won me over as well as the quirk.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[PB]

Yes! A good, well-done Western is Eternal.

[dookeyXXX]

PLAYING THIS WEEK:

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST



RELAY



HONEY DON’T

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Going to catch Honey Don't this week.

[dookeyXXX]

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST
Caught the new Spike Lee joint today at this swanky theater in a rundown and 3/4 empty mall in a semi-debatable region of Sacramento (interesting is that they just retrofit and upgraded the theater, too, even though the mall is like a prop from some post-apocalyptic zombie flick).

Anyway, I have not seen the Kurosawa film that this is based on nor read the Ed McBain book that both films are based on, so I can only remark on it as a Spike Lee joint.

While I dug it, the first act suffered because Spike had the score running nonstop; not to mention that it was kind of slick and often felt like intrusive Muzak. Only when he finally let some scenes exist without background music did the film start to carry some weight; this really didn’t start to happen until Act 2.

Denzel and Jeffrey Wright rule the screen. Sadly most of the supporting cast is either stiff or a bit over-the-top.

Yet when Spike hits some of his signature visual notes it’s on point (though some of the pro NYC bits feel a little forced and juvenile to me).

Still, while not of the caliber of his earlier work, there is enough goodness herein to recommend it; the second act chase and third act revenge/payback sequences are $$$$$!

On a side note, an arthouse down in the foothills (Nevada City) is screening Kurosawa’s HIGH AND LOW on Sunday and I am hoping to catch it.

[mcski]

Arden Fair? Haven’t been there in ages but that’s my dystopian mall guess!

[dookeyXXX]

Country Club Plaza on Watt and El Camino…

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Caught Honey Don't! at a matinee with wifey yesterday, all the reviews are correct - Fantastic credit roll at the opening, a great cast, but a completely disjointed plot and somehow missing an entire third act. Margaret Qaulley and Lera Abova are sure easy on the eyes, though. All in all, entertaining but the brothers need to make up and get together again.

[dookeyXXX]

Your take sounds about right what I figured it would be, kinda Drive-Away Dolls Part Deux…