Self Reliance (02.23.24)

 

There is a thin line between a mediocre movie that makes me sad and angry for having wasted my time on it and a mediocre movie that is harmless but that one can still appreciate for its intent and vibe. This distinction is in no small part thanks to the budget and personal touch that a picture enjoys. If it’s a big ol' wide release with a bajillion dollars behind it and it sucks I will judge it a lot harsher than I would if it were a not-very-good indie project. I like Jake Johnson and I wanted Self Reliance, which he directed, wrote, and starred in, to be good. It is, unfortunately, pretty middling, but that doesn’t mean I hate myself for watching it.  

The plot is patently absurd—Jake Johnson’s character, finding himself in a rut, agrees to participate in a dark web-hosted gameshow in which he could win a million dollars if he survives thirty days of being hunted by various professional assassins. He quickly finds a loophole, however: Participants can only be killed when they are alone. During his thirty days he forms an alliance with a fellow player played by Anna Kendrick, reconciles with his father, and learns to live every day to its fullest. To say that this set up requires a healthy dose of suspension of disbelief is putting it mildly, and the film makes the unfortunate choice of playing this silly premise more or less completely straight, stretching its acceptability to the breaking point. I would not have been nearly as bothered by the illogical nature of the game if the film were played as an absurdist comedy, yet the film never goes as far as it should, instead insisting that we take things at face value.  

Self Reliance has its amusing bits, yes, but it is not what I would call funny, which is a darn shame considering the talent behind it. And if you got the impression that it is an exciting film from my description you would also be mistaken, as the menace doesn’t ever feel too inescapable, nor is it the type of movie to have drawn-out fight scenes, gun fights, or explosions. It is much more character driven, and it’s not even really great at that, as the characters are fairly one-dimensional and bland. Anna Kendrick’s character in particular is completely devoid of anything even resembling an arc, her personality a mystery even at the end of the film.  

So why didn’t I dislike Self Reliance more? I guess it’s because the movie and the people who put the work into making it had their hearts in the right place, which goes pretty far for me when it comes to judging films. It’s short, has a few feel-good moments, and ultimately I didn’t hate that I spent a bit of my evening watching it. It could have been better and should have been better, but it could have also been much, much worse.    

Self Reliance is now available on Hulu.  

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on February 23^rd, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com

Upgraded (02.16.24)

 

Much like action films, romantic comedies do not necessarily have to reinvent the wheel to be enjoyable. I would argue, in fact, that to be successful romcoms only have to do two things: Be funny, naturally, and also bring the warm fuzzies. Amazon Prime’s new Upgraded is predictable and boasts a hook that isn’t particularly interesting, but also left me with a smile on my face thanks to its strong performances, well-written jokes, and an unexpected deeper theme or two.

Upgraded has some romance in it, yes, but the centrality of this love affair waxes and wanes in concert with the focus on main character Ana’s up-and-coming art career. Like so many other romantic comedies of its ilk, the biggest conflict is set off by a simple white lie that spirals out of control, in this case the lie that Ana (who is played by Camila Mendes of Riverdale) is a fancy curator instead of an art house intern, a seemingly harmless fib that comes about when her flight ticket is upgraded from coach to first class. Sure, this set up results in her falling in love with a hottie named William (Archie Renaux of Shadow and Bone) in London, but it also sets the scene for an interesting (if mostly surface-level) look at the topic of women helping women in the professional world. Upgraded is about ambition as much as it is about love, a duality that is being seen more and more in our modern-day romcom films.

Romantic comedies are only as strong as the chemistry between the leads and the performances of each, and Mendes and Renaux both prove up to the task. Their supporting cast is equally as delightful, particularly Anthony Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame as the campy Julian and Marisa Tomei of every preteen’s sexual awakening as Claire, the actual fancy curator who could give Miranda Priestly of The Devil Wears Prada a run for her money in the mean boss department. They’re all character archetypes that have been done to death several times over, mind you—the quirky best friend who offers relationship advice, the hunky love interest who is rich but doesn’t care about riches, the sassy gay pal, the wicked stepsister-esque coworkers—but they are done so well here that you could forgive the film a bit for trafficking in cliche. 

And do you know what? Upgraded is actually pretty funny when it wants to be. It’s not super jokey, by any means, but when this romcom goes for the com it mostly succeeds (my favorite joke comes from when Claire asks one of the wicked stepsister-esque coworkers what’s wrong with her and she answers “so many things”-- just brilliant delivery by Rachel Matthews, whose character is mostly there just to be hated up until that point). When it wants to go for the aaaws it also mostly succeeds. When it comes to this particular genre I don’t think you need much else to walk away satisfied.

Upgraded is now available on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in the KeizerTimes on February 16, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/

Society of the Snow (01.12.24)

 

They say that it is much safer to travel by plane than it is by car as there isn't exactly a lot of stuff to run into up there. But in the defense of those with aviophobia, you also aren’t likely to be stranded in a place that makes rescue difficult, like the ocean or the Andes Mountain, if you get into a car accident. The likelihood of never being found rises exponentially if you crash while flying, a horrifying fate that nearly befell the passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972.

Their story is one that has been told previously (most famously in 1993’s Alive, starring John Malkovich and Ethan Hawke), but it is hard to imagine it being told better than in Society of the Snow, a Spanish movie that premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival in 2023 and was recently released internationally on Netflix. As with most (if not all) foreign films, the story is best experienced in its original language with English subtitles rather than Netflix’s default of dubbing over lines, the better to convey the raw emotion that the actors portray at heart-wrenching levels. This impressive cast is mostly made up of newcomers to the industry if Wikipedia is to be believed, a fact that is not easily apparent with the outstanding quality of the work they put in. I would be lying if I said I didn’t often get confused as to who was who—I don’t recall any actual character names, but I don’t think they were “kid who kind of looks like Adam Driver" or “guy who resembles a kid who wasn’t very nice to me in high school.” But the loss of each one is still felt heavily as the struggle unfolds, a fact that speaks to the quality of the script, acting, and directing.

Society of the Snow does not shy away from some pretty grim subject matter, nor does it try to sugarcoat horrific topics like cannibalizing the bodies of the deceased in extreme survival situations. It isn’t afraid to get gross, in other words, and I therefore wouldn’t recommend it to everyone, especially those who are squeamish or can’t stand the sounds of people crying out in agony and sheer terror. The cannibalization mention may seem like a spoiler, but everything in this film is fairly predictable: Society of the Snow ultimately touches on most of the themes you would expect of a movie of its ilk. But that is not a thing I can hold against a film that is based on actual events, of course.

In the end the unflinching exploration of the ugly depths that these people sunk to helps to make the heights of their triumphs feel all the higher for it. Because at the center of Society of the Snow is the simple message that hope and the human spirit are resilient things, and by the end of the film I felt not only exhausted and emotionally drained but also elated. Just don’t put me in an airplane anytime soon.

Society of the Snow is now available on Netflix. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on January 12^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.

The Family Plan (01.05.24)

 

I am still not really sold on the merits of Mark Wahlberg as an actor, but I do think he puts in some pretty solid work whenever a script calls for him to lean into his funny side. The Other Guys was decent, as was Ted (and The Happening was absolutely hysterical, although that one wasn’t on purpose). And hey, the dude is buff and totally believable as an action star because of it (The Italian Job, The Fighter, etc.) The new Apple film The Family Plan is a movie that plays to Marky Mark's strengths, being billed as both a comedy and a family-oriented action romp, and just like its star it is pretty passable if not particularly compelling.

The Family Plan feels familiar almost immediately and never stops being predictable, leaving little room for any feeling of originality. The plot has been done before and all of the beats have been beaten, be they comedic or dramatic. This makes the proceedings drag on with all the haste of a particularly lethargic lump of molasses, as everyone knows what’s going to happen, so why not just get there? The only twist I was truly surprised at does nothing to add to the story, seemingly existing just for the sake of it. At two hours The Family Plan feels entirely too long, although it does still manage to show some signs of life on the way.

The action in The Family Plan isn’t anything special but it does do the job pretty well, injecting energy into the runtime when things get boring. There are some amusing fight scenes, including one that involves a baby Bjorn-clad Wahlberg in a knife fight and another that involves a car chase, a minivan, noise cancelling earphones, and an Enya track. And hey, plenty of people get beaten up as things go along. That’s pretty cool.

The jokes aren’t nearly as funny as they should be for something claiming to be a comedy, mostly omitting clever writing and instead repeatedly drawing from the well that is reaction shots of a (sometimes obviously CGI) baby being amused at various violent situations. But the actors do their thing earnestly, keeping things from getting too painful. When the film shoots for heartwarming it hits its target often enough, even if the characters skew a bit unlikable at times (or maybe I just hate teenagers and teenager problems). The logic of The Family Plan is sometimes suspect as well, as the screenwriters are sometimes less concerned with how things actually work in favor of how they want those things to serve the story, such as one bafflingly illogical lazer tag scene and the uncanny ability Michelle Monaghan’s character has to somehow change a baby’s diaper as she is holding said baby.

Will Mark Wahlberg ever be the leading man Hollywood wants him to be? Perhaps not, but I think we have at last found a niche that works for him—middling action films with a side of comedy. You can do worse.

The Family Plan is now available on Apple TV+. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on January 5^th, 2024. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.

Candy Cane Lane (12.22.23)

 Was there a bigger comedic superstar in the late 20th century than Eddie Murphy? Saturday Night Live, Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places—even the earliest days of the 21st gave us his iconic turn as a magical talking CGI ass. And then he just kind of… disappeared. Then in 2021 Amazon evidently thought it was high time that he had a career resurgence with Coming 2 America, a sequel that no one was really asking for and, if the various review aggregate websites are to believed, most people didn’t particularly care for. Now the Amazon Eddie Murphy meh-naissance continues with Candy Cane Lane, a truly forgetful holiday film that is uneven, mostly unfunny, and a bunch of other not-great “un” words.

It takes what feels like a half hour for Candy Cane Lane to settle into its plot—that of a wish gone awry, a vengeful elf, and the Twelve Days of Christmas brought to life. By the time they actually got to things I was already bored, wishing that the movie had instead focused on one of the many other aspects of the plot that turned out to be backstory rather than the actual meat of the film. And then it keeps on going for another hour and a half. At the very least I was hoping for Eddie Murphy to say or do something funny, a hope that goes mostly unfulfilled as the two hours dragged on and on (although I must say that it was nice to see him give a more understated performance and that he pulls off the dad roll quite well). Jillian Bell, who plays the aforementioned vengeful elf, is the only person that is consistently amusing, as is Timothy Simons in his bit part of a jaded newscaster. Sure, others try to make you laugh, but it just doesn’t work most of the time, as the writers and actors often seemed to confuse being loud with being funny. The group of sentient miniature porcelain figures is particularly insufferable, their only actually amusing quality being the novelty of hearing Nick Offerman speak with a British accent.

Sometimes Candy Cane Lane is a corny family drama as Murphy’s character grapples with his kids growing up and having thoroughly cliché and uninteresting kid problems. Sometimes it’s a wacky find-the-MacGuffin treasure hunt. It’s about not envying others, it’s about family, it’s about spreading Christmas joy, it’s about everything, which kind of dilutes the messages and meaning. Hallmark Christmas films may be a dime-a-dozen and they may be as equally as forgettable, but at least they have an endearing kind of cheese that makes some people feel the holiday spirit. Candy Cane Lane is as corporate and algorithmic as you can get; just like the porcelain figurines in this film seem to mistake volume with humor, the makers of Candy Cane Lane seemed to believe that stuffing their movie full of pretty lights and classic Christmas songs is the same as filling it with genuine heart.

If you’re looking for some holiday fun this season I recommend looking elsewhere.

Candy Cane Lane is now available on Amazon Prime.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on December 22^nd, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com. 

Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials- The Star Beast and Wild Blue Yonder (12.08.23)

 

The British have an interesting habit of keeping the runs of their television shows short and sweet, a practice that seems antithetical to the American way of doing things. In this, Doctor Who is undoubtably an outlier—a British television staple that has been an almost constant presence since it premiered in the early 1960s. Yet despite its impressive streak, Doctor Who endures because it is constantly refreshing itself, offering new beginnings and opportunities for the curious to hop on and become fans. In this spirit it was announced last year that everyone’s favorite Time Lord would find new life in the States at Disney+, starting with the three-part 60th anniversary celebration. As of this review two of them have been released, The Star Beast and Wild Blue Yonder, and while these episodes are probably a little more difficult for newcomers to completely comprehend than they should have been there is no doubt that they will win over some new hearts.

Well, Wild Blue Yonder will, anyway. The Star Beast is a bit rougher, if still endearing in that cheesy way that only Doctor Who can pull off. While it is still thoroughly a BBC production, it is obvious that The Star Beast had some of that Disney money behind it that it wanted to flex, leading to a more action-packed adventure than usual for the Doctor, which in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. But the main plot revolving around the titular star beast is bland and uninspired, and perhaps even more questionable is the fact that the episode chooses to resolve a big ongoing plot point that was introduced all the way back in 2008. As a relatively longtime Whovian I found this resolution incredibly unsatisfying, and I’m sure that newcomers will be completely baffled no matter how many let’s-catch-you-up conversations and recaps there are.

Wild Blue Yonder, on the other hand, is classic Who. I’ve always felt that the show was at its best when it was smaller, more thoughtful, and even a little creepy. The sci-fi elements and the core mystery are satisfactorily compelling, and even though a past episode or two are alluded to it doesn’t feel like you need to go back and do some homework to understand things moving forward. Perhaps the best part of this episode is the fact that it takes the time to slow down a bit and focus on David Tennant’s Doctor and Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble, two fan favorites whose return was one of the main selling points of the anniversary specials. They are as fun to watch as ever, neither missing a beat as they step back into roles that they haven’t inhabited in years.

Six decades and fifteen actors later the future of Doctor Who looks as bright as it ever did. Jump on in, if you’re curious. The fandom's warm.

The first two Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials are now available on Disney+. A third one will release on December 9th followed by a fourth on Christmas Day.

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on December 8^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.

 

Note: when this was published the third special had not come out yet, but as of the repost on my blog it is now available.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (11.24.23)

 

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, with its poor box office performance and passionate fanbase, is the definition of a cult classic. Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, the 2010 film boasted novel visuals, a cute little plot, and the sharp wit and humor of writer/director Edgar Wright, but as many of the fans of the source material can tell you, as a straight adaptation it is only passable. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a Netflix reimagining thirteen years later, initially looked like it would tackle this complaint. It did not. Yet despite Takes Off being more of an unexpected “what if" reinterpretation of the comic and film, having lower energy, and less novelty, it still ultimately has the same spirit and quality as its counterparts.

The entire core cast of the 2010 film returns to voice their animated counterparts, an impressive feat when you consider how many of them have become superstars since then (Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Anna Kendrick, and Aubrey Plaza, to name a few). The energy and enthusiasm they bring to their roles is somewhat cancelled out by the questionable editing, however—there is often too long of a gap between when one character stops speaking and another begins, a relatively minor issue that amounts to a perceptively slower pace when it happens back to back to back. The energy of Takes Off feels odd because of this, especially when you compare it to the frantic nature of the 2010 film, and I sometimes watched the cartoon at 1.25 speed just to speed things up a bit. And while the animation in Takes Off looks exactly like a moving version of the original comic art there is no denying that the medium makes the new adaptation less novel than the 2010 film, which derived a lot of its charm from the marriage of live-action realism with cartoony violence and tropes. When it’s all a cartoon to begin with it’s just not as unique.

But I suppose these criticisms are only criticisms because I am comparing the new to the old. When taken on its own Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a whole lot of fun, and it does have a lot of uniqueness and charm to it. The reworked plot and longer length allow for more focus on the characters themselves, although at 8 episodes at 25 minutes each it is still a pretty short watch, and the fight scenes are truly a blast to watch. It could have used some more of that Edgar Wright wit, admittedly (he also returned but only to produce this time around), but the humor still lands when it appears in its less concentrated form. I have not read the graphic novels but it feels very much like their souls are still intact in the new show, even if the plots are not. Fans of the film and fans of the comic could do much worse than that.

Scott Pilgrims Takes Off is now available in its entirety on Netflix. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on November 24^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com.