Category Archives: 2024

Conclave

Conclave              4 ½ stars

In Edward Berger’s new movie Conclave, we get a peek at one of the most secret societies in the world. (Berger previously gave us All Quiet on the Western Front in 2022.) The conclave is the Catholic Church’s process for selecting a new Pope after the passing of the preceding his Holiness. In the movie, based on the book by Robert Harris, the Pope has just passed away and within hours Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) arrives and finds that it is his job to manage the conclave, only he is experiencing his own crisis of faith. He also considered the father to be a friend. As the cardinals gather, we learn who some of the candidates are and that some have their own agenda and that there are some who had deep disagreements with the progressiveness of the former pope. We also see that divisions between the cardinals extend beyond church policy and into race and country of origin. As we get into the voting process, secrets are revealed, and the intrigue expands. We learn of secret meetings that the Pope had just before his passing. To an extent the story is like a spy story or even a murder mystery. The cardinals are split into two camps, the old school conservatives and the progressives who preach tolerance of other faiths and the LGTBQ community. Each faction is maneuvering to get their guy to the necessary number votes to be named the new Pope. I appreciated the efforts of the filmmakers in making sure we can identify all the important characters. Many movies miss on this matter. There are a few surprises that occur late in the story, and I cannot say more about them for fear of spoiling your enjoyment. The movie should not be considered a form of high literature and is really just interesting entertainment that includes some very good performances. I expect to see some Academy Award nominations including acting awards for Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci. I would not count on it to win Best Picture at this point though. Just go see it and enjoy the experience.

Your Monster

Your Monster    3 stars

Once again, I had the chance to see a film in the theaters that I missed this year at Sundance. Your Monster by first time director Caroline Lindy is a sort of rom-com horror movie for women coming out of a bad relationship. In the movie Laura (Melissa Barrera of 2021’s In the Heights) is an actor and musical theater geek who has been dating Jacob (Edmund Donovan), a theater director for five years and has been helping him with developing his musical production. That is, until Laura is diagnosed with cancer and the douchebag, Jacob decides to leave her. (It is reported that Lindy came up with the story based on her own experience with a douchebag; hence the movie trailer claim: “based on a true-ish story”). With the help of her only friend, Masie (Kayla Foster), Laura moves into her mother’s house and becomes an emotional wreck (an understatement to be sure). It is there that she discovers that there is a rather fearsome looking monster living in her bedroom closet and that he has been there since Laura was a child. The monster is played by Tommy Dewey who is also the executive producer of the movie. At first, Laura is scared to death of this creature, and he wants her out of the house. But since she has no place to go, they tolerate each other and try to work out a living arrangement. As the two become more familiar, the monster, who sports a beard and has a catlike appearance, encourages her to audition for a part in Jacob’s musical and she gives it a try, landing an understudy role for the part that was originally intended for her. Then as things progress, she finds that this monster also has an interest in literature and theater, so the two become a little too close. Eventually, the monster becomes like an inner voice to Laura, making her realize how she has been wronged by Jacob and should find a way to express her feelings. Naturally, things go a little too far with some brutal and bloody consequences, a requirement of most horror movies even if it is a romcom. Most of the movie though has a light feel to it thanks to the numerous musical numbers that could come out of a forties or fifties musical comedy. I thought it was an interesting take on the comedy horror genre, but I found the monster to be a little too perfect for Laura to really buy it. (If he spends all his time in the closet and under the bed, why should he know so much about the outside world after all.) For a better performance by Tommy Dewey, you should see the movie Saturday Night where he plays the head writer of Saturday Night, Michael O’Donoghue. For a more entertaining comedy horror movie I recommend Ginger Snaps which I reviewed last year.

Saturday Night

Saturday Night  4 stars

Chevy Chase at the Weekend Update news desk. John Belushi in a bee costume. A profusely bleeding Julia Child. The infamous Land Shark. These are all very familiar images to the fans of Saturday Night Live in its first incarnation back in 1975. Saturday Night, directed and co-written by Jason Reitman (Whiplash, Juno) takes us back to the night in October, 1975, when in 90 minutes the first episode of a revolutionary new comedy show called Saturday Night is set to go live on NBC. The show went on to become a staple of late night television, but those who were there that night had no way of knowing that. Calling the scenes chaotic would be an understatement. In 90 minutes, we see fights breaking out between actors, a fire burning on stage, the sound system failing, one cast member refusing to sign his contract because of a bee costume, a few confrontations with the network censor who can’t quite grasp some of the script’s sexual references and a studio executive threatening to air a Johnny Carson rerun in place of the show. According to what I have read, much of what we are seeing is based on recollections from those who were there on October 11, 1975. It’s hard to imagine that the show was not better planned and had so many loose ends before airing, but this is what we are to believe. Much of the credit for the success of the movie must go to lead actor Gabriel Labelle, (of The Fabelmans) who portrays producer Lorne Michaels trying to keep his cool and deal with a myriad of mishaps. There are a few familiar faces in the cast that include J. K. Simmons as an arrogant Milton Berle, Willem Dafoe as NBC studio executive David Tebet, Matthew Rhys as the show’s host, George Carlin and Nicolas Braun as both a whiny Jim Henson and nervous comedian Andy Kaufman. Jon Batiste appears briefly as musical guest Billy Preston. The casting of the Not Ready for Primetime Players was spot on. The young cast is made up of practically all unknown actors that I did not recognize, but I had no difficulty picking out who it was they were portraying. The look of the comic actors was near perfect from the style of Chevy Chase, the moodiness of John Belushi to the wackiness of Gilda Radnor. The only cast actors that I did recognize were Lamorne Morris (New Girl) as Garrett Morris and Rachel Sennott (Bottoms) as Lorne Michael’s wife and show writer Rosie Shuster. (Rosie plays an important role in convincing John Belushi not to walk out on the show before it even starts.) We gain some insights about the show along the way including that some studio execs wanted the show to fail and were only using it as leverage against Johnny Carson. And we see how Chevy Chase and John Belushi hated each other. (And how head writer, Michael O’Donoghue hated everybody.) We even catch a glimpse of writing team Al Franken and Tom Davis. Those of you who were around for the beginning of Saturday Night Live should definitely see it to see what happened before Chevy Chase said “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!” for the first time. Afterward I went back and watched the first episode again. I must say the magic was still there.

The Substance

The Substance  4 ½ stars

For a searing indictment of the obsession with youthful looks and beauty double standard in today’s society combined with some of the grossest scenes Hollywood has produced lately, you can’t miss with The Substance currently in theaters. This science fiction horror film by French director Coralie Fargeat is sure to be remembered by all who see it. (She previously brought us the over-the-top and bloody as hell revenge movie aptly titled Revenge in 2017 that was a condemnation of rich white men who have little regard for women.) In The Substance we first meet Elizabeth Sparkle (a still stunning Demi Moore in one of her finest performances), who rose to stardom in the nineties and now stars on her morning workout show. But the sexist producer, Harvey (Dennis Quaid) wants to dump her and replace her with someone younger and hotter. Elizabeth learns of a black-market treatment called The Substance that claims to create a new, better version of yourself. Who wouldn’t want that? She quickly signs up for it and is directed by a mysterious voice on the phone of how to get it and implement the procedure. In a very long sequence with no dialogue, she carefully does as told, injecting the drug, leading to the resulting division of her body into two, one the new younger version (Margaret Qualley of Drive-Away Dolls) and the other, her original self. Part of the bargain is that Elizabeth must alternate between the two bodies every seven days, using the correct food and stabilizer that are provided. Both bodies are her and she must “respect the balance” as the mysterious voice says. Otherwise, things can get ugly. The young Elizabeth, who goes by Sue lands the part of the new star of the workout show with her youthful body being ogled by older men. Everything seems great, especially when she is offered the opportunity to host a New Year’s Eve show; that is, until Sue takes more than the designated amount of time creating a conflict between the two bodies. As one would predict this leads some very unfortunate consequences for the pair. What follows can best be described as a David Cronenberg horror movie on steroids as the amount of blood and gore reaches new and absurd heights. There is an abundance of closeup shots when things get messy as well as on Dennis Quaid’s face (and his sloppy eating habits) as well as loud sound effects to emphasize how gross it gets. The film certainly gets very self-indulgent, but it delivers on its message of condemning the impossible beauty standards of our society. It reminds us that trying to relive one’s past can only result in disappointment. If you like this movie for its action and blood you should be sure to find Fargeat’s Revenge. You won’t be disappointed.

Drive-Away Dolls

Drive-Away Dolls              3 stars

If you are going to see a Coen brothers movie you know you are going to get some violent scenes often with inept crooks, some dark humor and some rather odd characters. Just think of The Big Lebowski, Burn After Reading or Fargo. With this year’s Drive-Away Dolls we only have Ethan Coen directing, joined by Tricia Cooke’s writing, but we do get most of the usual elements. What we also get is a road buddy movie with a pair of lesbians on a mission to get laid, combined with plenty of dick gags. We start out in 1999 with a “Collector” (Pedro Pascal from The Last of Us and The Mandalorian) receiving a package in a briefcase but is quickly robbed and murdered by a pair of goons (Joey Slotnick and C. J. Wilson). We cut to our two heroes, Jamie (Margaret Qualley of The Nice Guys and Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan of Bad Education and Cat Person), who are both lesbians and best friends. Jamie is the adventurous one always looking for her next sexual exploit and Marian is the high strung, but intellectual one. They have a plan to do a drive away from New England to Tallahassee, Florida. This is a cheap way to travel by driving a car that the car’s owner needs delivered to another city. Hence, the title: Drive-Away Dolls. Only Jamie also plans to find all the lesbian hangouts along the way so that the repressed Marian can get laid. In Coen fashion the plan gets complicated when by accident the girls pick up a car that was intended for the pair of goons identified earlier and happens also to contain two special “packages” in the trunk. The boss of the criminal enterprise, (Colman Domingo) is none too pleased by the turn of events and tasks the goons to track the girls down and retrieve the packages. What follows then are the sexual adventures of the two women that happens to include an interlude with an all-lesbian soccer team, combined with the total ineptitude of our two goons trying to find them. (They get a little help from another lesbian friend of Jamie’s called Sukie (Beanie Feldstein of Booksmart) who also happens to be a cop. But this meeting doesn’t go well for the goons.) I must not neglect to mention that there is one additional character that appears briefly but is very pivotal to the story. And he is played by Matt Damon. (Also, this character’s penis figures prominently into the plot.) So, anyone who is a Matt Damon fan should not miss it. Overall, the movie has its moments, but it seems like a mixture of two films that don’t mesh very well. It’s good for a few laughs.

Blink Twice

Blink Twice         3 ½ stars

Actress Zoe Kravitz of Big Little Lies enters the writer/director role with her directorial debut in Blink Twice, a thriller/mystery that will really grab your attention and keep you guessing for much of the movie. The lead character, Frida (Naomie Ackie of I Wanna Dance with Somebody as Whitney Houston) should take a lesson from The Menu and Glass Onion. That is, if a billionaire tycoon invites you to his own private island, you should take a pass. I will try not to give away too many spoilers, but I will compare the movie to Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Midsommar as it involves a deadly trap for the welcome guests and to Promising Young Woman for its indictment of toxic masculinity in misogynistic white men. Frida and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat of Arrested Development) are cocktail waitresses at a gala for a foundation put on by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum of Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street). King says he is making amends for his past bad behavior, thus the foundation. Frida and Jess decide to crash the party as guests in evening gowns and soon Frida finds herself noticed by said billionaire and the two friends are invited to his private island for a lavish vacation with several of his rich friends. These include Vic (Christian Slater) who repeatedly takes Polaroid photos of the guests, a professional chef (Simon Rex), an actor (Haley Joel Osment in a beard), a tech wiz (Levon Hawke), a bodyguard and an assistant (Geena Davis) who seems very confused. Besides Frida and Jess, there are several other women guests who spend their time lounging at the pool, running across the immense property, having top rated meals prepared by the chef and consuming hallucinogenic drugs. Also, they are all dressed in the same white bikini outfits provided in their rooms and strangely enough, do not already know one another. (This should be a clue about their situation.) Kravitz takes her time in the early part of the movie focusing on the narcissistic behavior of the various guests inserting many humorous moments including a few well-placed pranks. (You could say that Haley Joel Osment’s character is a real dickhead.) Eventually, Frida and Jess get the sense that something is not right, and they start to realize what Slater King is really all about. I’ll leave it there for you to decide if the movie is for you. There is a warning on the screen at the start saying that there are some disturbing, graphic scenes in the movie. That is accurate as the violence and blood is comparable to that in Halloween. It becomes a revenge movie much like Promising Young Woman and Revenge. While the scenes are well put together and the characters are well acted, I couldn’t help but feel it has all been done before. We have had so many condemn the rich movies, that it is getting a bit tiresome.

Didi

Didi        5 stars

Once again, I had the chance to see a popular movie that first appeared at the Sundance Film Festival but couldn’t see while there because of its high demand. Didi, a coming-of-age movie about a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who is struggling, (though very badly) through those tough adolescent years. Writer director Sean Wang has created a semi-biographical film about a boy trying to make sense of his changing world and be popular but manages to be a complete jerk in going about it. Chris (or Didi as his mom calls him) lives with Mom, his older sister who is about to leave for college and Nai Nai, his father’s elderly mother. Father is absent, while working to support the family. Chris constantly gets into arguments with his sister and his mom and makes life hell for them. To call him an annoying little brother is an understatement. (How would you like to discover that someone peed in your skin lotion?) In this immigrant family the adults speak almost exclusively Chinese, while the kids understand it, but only speak English, an interesting dynamic. He has a circle of guy friends who are all East Asian that he hangs out with and occasionally goes to parties where there are girls including one he is interested in. Their language is graphic and typical for kids of this age. While not being a total jack ass, he spends his time making videos and skateboarding, the only interests he seems to have. It is 2008 and Facebook and YouTube have just become a thing. (It is fascinating to see again how social media worked back in this time.) Chris keeps track of his friends on Facebook, a list that becomes progressively shorter as his actions turn them away. At one point he meets some older kids who are not Asian but are skateboarders, so he tries to get in with them by claiming to be good at filming scenes of action, while at the same time disenfranchising his other friends. His temper is not limited to his family as he at one point physically assaults another boy, creating another headache for his suffering mom who must also take criticism from the mother-in-law. It is not spoiling anything to say that eventually Chris must come to realize that he is creating hell on his mother who does everything in support of him. At the same time, he learns that in real life not all relationships can be repaired, but hopefully the most important ones can. In the long list of coming-of-age movies, Didi ranks high. It was recently released in theaters and hopefully will soon be available on streaming.

MaXXXine

MaXXXine           3 ½ stars

In a throwback to slasher flicks of the 1980’s, director Ti West brings us MaXXXine, a story of blood, lust and murder set in 1985 Hollywood. Although there are a few suspects, MaXXXine is not really a murder mystery but a test to see how much blood and brutality the audience can endure. It can also be seen as a portrayal of how cruel the entertainment industry can be to those who seek their fortune there as untold numbers have learned. For the third time West teams up with star Mia Goth, the scream queen of the 21st century. Previously, they made X and Pearl in 2022. Goth plays Maxine Minx, an established porn actress with a very southern accent seeking greater stardom so she auditions for a role in a new film. The film, The Puritan II, seems like the ideal vehicle and the film’s director (Elizabeth Debicki) sees something in Maxine and gives her the role. But in this time of VHS tapes and St. Elmo’s Fire, there is a darkness looming. A serial killer called the Night Stalker has been hunting starlets and the police are nowhere in the search for the killer. There are flashbacks going through Maxine’s mind about killings, so we know she has a dark past. We also can see that she can be a fearsome force such as when she confronts a would-be attacker and bashes his testicles with graphic effect. A few times we catch glimpses of a masked, glove wearing figure wandering the porn parlors. Maxine is confronted by an old gumshoe (Kevin Bacon at his creepiest) who explains that he has a client who is demanding to meet her, but she wants nothing to do with this offer. Shortly, some of her friends in the industry turn up dead with horrible burns in the shape of satanic symbols. Though she is asked by police detectives (Bobby Canavale and Michelle Monaghan) for cooperation in finding the killer, she refuses, opting for protection offered by her agent (Giancarlo Esposito). Like any good slasher movie there must be a final confrontation between the film’s star and the killer where the bodies fall, and body parts get chopped up and bloodied. In this respect MaXXXine delivers very well even though it takes a while to get there. It feels very much like the genre it imitates. Along the way we even get to see some famous movie sets put to good use including a certain iconic sign in the Hollywood Hills.

Babes

Babes                    4 ½ stars

It has been a few weeks since this one went in and out of the theaters, but I knew I wanted to see it and so finally checked out Babes, the comedy about two women who are best friends facing the challenges of pregnancy and motherhood. There has been a myriad of comedies dealing with the subject over the years, (Remember Knocked Up, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, Waitress and Nine Months to name a few. One of my favorites was Junebug.) but I would dare say few of them tackle the messiness of pregnancy the way that Babes does as presented by first time director Pamela Adlon. The two main characters are Eden (Ilana Glazer of Broad City) and Dawn (Michelle Buteau of Marry Me) who have been best buddies since childhood. They are now in their thirties with Dawn already married and living in the suburbs with her husband and one child and about to give birth to a second. Eden is single and living on her own in an apartment that looks like she is still in college. The two live far apart in New York but still make time for each other. They are on their annual Thanksgiving date when Dawn starts to “leak” and have contractions but can’t believe the moment of truth has really arrived. It is up to Eden to diagnose the situation by inspecting the affected area, with descriptions of the wet fluid and dilation as required and convince Dawn that she needs to get to the hospital. What follows is one of the funniest depictions of the pain of childbirth that I can remember, including descriptions of all the bodily fluids involved that one can imagine. This adventure is followed by Eden getting kicked out of the hospital and taking four trains back home, but not before meeting a handsome stranger named Claude with whom she has a close connection. Naturally, the two end up in bed together with unprotected sex (because Eden still believes you can’t get pregnant on your period). Before long the inevitable symptoms come for Eden and she must face the new reality that she is pregnant, along with all the changes a female body must go through. The movie is mostly about dealing with the physical issues of pregnancy, but it is also about female friendship and the ups and downs of their changing relationship. (They must be able to forgive their mistakes as we see in one episode involving a viewing of The Omen.) The two actresses are professional comediennes with Glazer being one of the co-writers of the film. They are both experts at expressing the feelings and the comedy that the scenes call for. Special recognition must also go to character actor John Carroll Lynch who plays the doctor with a baldness problem. Lynch is easily remembered from Fargo, Shutter Island and Jackie among his many roles. Hasan Minhaj is also effective in the role of Dawn’s understanding husband. While I strongly recommend the movie, those that are offended by the many poop jokes may find Babes a little uncomfortable.

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1                  3 ½ stars

If you go to see Kevin Costner’s sweeping epic of the Old West, Horizon: An American Saga, you had better make sure you are in for the long haul. The movie clocks in at more than three hours and has a multitude of characters for you to keep track of. As the title implies, this is chapter 1 of what will eventually be a four-part series of movies, all of which lead to and center on a growing community in the American Southwest called Horizon. Early in the movie there is a scene of a celebration at a barn dance one night in the new town. Some nearby Apache Indians are not so enthralled with their new neighbors, so a group of them launches an attack on the new settlers in one of the most brutal scenes I can remember in the movies. (It’s on a scale of what I remember in The Revenant.) The town ends up destroyed with most of the residents dead, including many of one family, the Kittredges who put up a tremendous fight. The matriarch, Francis (Sienna Miller) and her daughter alone survive. There is a nearby US Army outpost with a contingent of soldiers that comes to the rescue, though they are too late to be of help. One soldier in particular, Lt. Gephardt (Sam Worthington) delivers a message to the survivors that they should reconsider their decision to come to this land inhabited by hostile Indians, but the settlers are unwilling to take this advise and there lies the drama and the message of the film. The lure of this land to be settled by the white travelers (and other races) leaving their former homes cannot be quenched. They must stay and others like them will continue to come, drawn by the promise of a better life. Repeatedly we see a poster about Horizon, promising unlimited land to those brave enough to make the journey. Other story lines also find characters finding their way here, one of them involving a horse trader who has found various ways of making a living named Hayes Ellison (Kevin Costner). Ellison, who is very accomplished at handling a gun, finds his life entwined with a young woman, Marigold (Abbey Lee) who is on the run from men who would like to see her dead. This mysterious man will be drawn to Horizon as well. An additional story line focuses on the Apache Indian tribe and the internal divisions that occur as a result of the incursions of the white folk. One of them, Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe) is the leader of the war party, but he cannot defend his people from the inevitable retaliation from the armed settlers who practice scalping the dead for bounty. Finally, we follow a wagon train coming from Kansas on the Santa Fe trail, also seeking the new land, led by Matthew (Luke Wilson) who must deal with all the internal problems of the pioneers and be concerned about Indian attacks as well. It is a challenge for the viewer to keep up with the various stories and so many characters as the story seems so expansive. It is likely this is what Costner intended as this series has long been a dream of his that is now becoming reality. There is plenty more promised as we see at the end of the movie from a long montage of scenes involving our characters and some new ones that preview what is to come. Horizon should be considered to be more of a mini-series than a movie. Chapter 2 is expected sometime this fall, with additional chapters next year. Chapter 3 is about to begin production. Chapter 1 felt like a marathon. I am hoping that the next ones will be less than three hours!