It’s easy to start believing in curses, when bad things keep happening to you. For Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron), the eldest brother of the family at the center of The Iron Claw, the idea of a curse goes from being laughable to credible with each mounting tragedy. I can’t blame him for deciding that his children will not inherit the Von Erich last name, because if there really is a curse, it surely would pass over someone named Adkisson.
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Like many people, I was very skeptical about Wonka. The trailer, which tries too hard to appeal to younger and older audiences, had turned Willy Wonka into a guileless nerd who is singularly fixated on chocolate. Yes, this movie is a prequel (of sorts), but I couldn’t see how the character ever becomes the one in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I suspect that won’t happen, as Timothy Chalamet’s Wonka is far removed from Gene Wilder’s version of the character. Having grown up with the 1971 movie, no one could ever match Gene Wilder’s eccentric performance in my mind. So it stands to reason that this movie wouldn’t even try to go there. Instead, Chalamet’s Wonka is nothing like Wilder’s Wonka. (Sorry, but Depp’s version doesn’t exist to me.) While this Wonka may look like his predecessor, his personality is the polar opposite. Instead of being bitter and isolated, he’s full of youthful optimism and naivete. Like the movie that surrounds him, this Wonka is funny, clever and cares about others, and I was won over by the end of the opening musical number. Like Wilder, Chalamet isn’t a song and dance man. However, his talent makes up for his lack of a musical actor’s pedigree. However, he has enough handsomeness and charm to spare, and he sells his seven (7) numbers well enough in my opinion. (Chalamet’s performance is akin to Ryan Gosling’s in La La Land in this regard.)
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He came. He saw. He conquered–in spite of himself.
Napoleon may look like a classic historical epic from the Fifties, but director Ridley Scott–who has made several pictures in this category, is not interested in treating his subject with admiration or even respect. Instead, his movie mocks Napoleon from beginning to end, resulting in the cinematic equivalent of a rude gesture delivered for over two hours.
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Priscilla opens with a signature Sofia Coppola montage. Threaded with the credits are images of personal items that belong to the eponymous character, as well as close-ups of her applying eyeliner and false eyelashes. As it turns out, the special event in question is not just a very consequential one in Priscilla Presley’s life, but also one of the few instances where she will have the attention of the media. When you’re married to The King of Rock & Roll, you have to make the most of what few opportunities have to make a good impression. The irony of the event and Pricilla’s preparation for it speaks volumes about how dramatically her life had changed in the eight years since she met Elvis.
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The Evil Dead franchise is known for its wicked sense of humor, so what better way to kick off this latest entry than with a dig at dead teenager films? Unlike its predecessors, Evil Dead Rise isn’t set in a secluded cabin in the woods, but at a cabin by a lake. The sun is shining, the water is glistening and a couple of teenagers are annoying each other. (Ah, hormones.) The standoffish Teresa (Mirabai Pease) defiantly reads her paperback copy of Wuthering Heights while trying to ignore Caleb (Richard Crouchley), her cousin Jessica’s oafish boyfriend. If you’ve seen more than one slasher movie, you know that these characters will soon be dead. That’s true here, but this movie definitely wants to make a statement in that regard.
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Bottom Line: Scanners is an entertaining mashup of Cronenberg’s fascination with freaks and a traditional spy movie, with Michael Ironside and Patrick McGoohan bringing ample menace and mystery to their supporting roles. Ignore the silly genre stuff and stick around for the mental gymnastics.
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Among Denzel Washington’s many talents as an actor is his ability to play a character with no redeeming qualities and still be likable. In movies like Training Day (corrupt detective), Flight (drug-abusing pilot) and American Gangster (gangster), his characters reveal themselves as bad news from the moment they first appear, and yet we still can’t help being drawn to them. Washington, with his indelible screen presence and charisma, makes it easy for us to root for him no matter how good or bad his characters are. He could play the Devil and we’d still love him, even while he’s condemning a doomed soul to burn forever in Hell. Washington would flash that sly grin of his and we’d be happy for him even though we can hear the victim’s cries for help in the background. Gotta give the Devil his due.
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Like 2020’s excellent The Invisible Man, Birth/Rebirth makes an old monster relevant by viewing it from a woman’s perspective. Recommended. Continue reading Birth/Rebirth
Every year Hollywood releases a silly blockbuster that wants nothing more than to entertain us. Two years ago it was Venom: There Will Be Carnage. Last year brought Jurassic World: Dominion. This year’s model is Meg 2: The Trench, a movie that figures the best way to keep the audience amused is not by being just a Jaws rip-off, like its predecessor, but by ripping off as many movies as possible within its two hour runtime. Never fear, the Jaws elements are still there. However, they are left in the dust in this movie’s quest to become the buffet dinner version of action movies. Case in point: the opening scene, where a prehistoric monster eats a prehistoric monster until our friend the Megaladon arrives. I half expected to see Adam Driver’s ship land in the background. (For those unaware, that’s a 65 reference.)
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Sooner or later, artificial Intelligence will kill humanity. That’s what science fiction has been predicting for decades. From N.O.M.A.D. in the original Star Trek series to Skynet in the Terminator movies to The Matrix, it’s just a matter of time before AI takes over and pushes humanity aside for good. I always figured we had more time, given that science fiction is about the future, which I assumed was decades away. Unfortunately, as Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 tells us, the future is now. AI’s first salvo is when it sabotages a Russian sub in the movie’s opening moments, a sequence that made me think wistfully about The Hunt for Red October. Alas, the bad guy isn’t a Russkie hell-bent on destroying America, but a glowing orb on a computer screen. If only HAL were here to witness the ultimate triumph of your kind.
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Detroit Cineaste 