Rated R for strong crude material and dangerous stunts, graphic nudity and language throughout.
Since 2000, actor and stuntman Johnny Knoxville has been one of the leading men of the MTV franchise Jackass. He and his team of friends and fellow stuntmen performed dangerous stunts and pulled practical jokes both on each other and in public with hidden cameras, putting their lives in danger for the sick amusement of themselves and their audiences. Though the show attracted numerous controversies, they managed to keep it going for over 20 years. Now that the team is approaching middle age, they are no longer in the condition they once were to perform the same dangerous stunts. But that won’t stop them from trying. They have assembled once again for one final outing, along with the help of a host of newcomers, many of whom grew up watching the original series. It’s a reunion that will put a painful punctuation mark on the gang’s endearing legacy. Like the original series and the other films, Jackass Forever is a kind of unevenness that can’t be found in any other comedy. The various stunts are either uproariously hilarious or horrifically disgusting. The whole team may be reaching their 50s, but that doesn’t change the high level of immaturity they rely on for their comedy. And your enjoyment of the film will depend on your tolerance for that kind of humor. That being said, when the skits are funny, they are absolutely hysterical. Of course, every single one of them involves bodily harm in some form, but the successful bits are the ones that mostly focus on the teams’ interactions over the amount of pain or grossness they inflict on one another. It’s the ones that allow you to ignore the kind of harm being done and focus on the clever stupidity that goes into them that earn the biggest laughs. That’s really the appeal of this film. It’s a reunion of friends who have been with each other for decades. For the audience, it feels like getting together with people you haven’t seen for a long time and looking back on the stupid things you did years ago. It’s filled with lots of great callbacks to previous stunts, and they find ways to reinvent them that push the danger limits more than they did previously. However, as I said above, your enjoyment depends on your tolerance for their style of humor. Not only do the skits involve bodily harm, but many also involve bodily functions and fluids. They tend to go so far that even the least squeamish person may retch at some of their stunts. I found myself looking away from the screen as much as bursting into laughter, as well as regretting buying a popcorn to eat during this film. Like reminiscing with friends about past actions, Jackass Forever is a hilarious look back at what made us laugh as kids while also reminding us of how stupid those actions really were. It’s fun to see the team back together for one last kick to the face (and groin), and they manage to wring some final moments of hilarity out of their signature stupidity. It’s not something I’m eager to go through again, but it’s an effective one time reunion.
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Rated R for strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and brief graphic nudity.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on HBO Max Until September 5 Intelligence officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is the head of Task Force X, a project that uses the world’s most powerful and dangerous super-villains for global missions in exchange for lighter sentences. Because of the dangerous missions and their expendability, the degenerate criminals have nicknamed themselves the Suicide Squad. Now, the squad is sent on their deadliest mission yet. On a South American island nation, a totalitarian regime is working with something known as Project Starfish, involving a malicious, extraterrestrial creature. With the project threatening to cause a global catastrophe, Waller sends super-villains Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Peacemaker (John Cena), King Shark (Sylvester Stallone), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) to put an end to it. Probably the biggest question everyone will have about The Suicide Squad is, “is it better than the first movie?” Yes, we all know the first Suicide Squad from 2016 was a terrible movie, plagued with bad, exposition-heavy dialogue and forgettable characters. While it did have some good performance, specifically from Margot Robbie and Will Smith, their charismatic presences weren’t enough to save the movie overall. Now this sequel, which acts more like a reboot rather than a sequel, brings in the talents of writer/director James Gunn. It’s actually kind of hilarious how much of a middle finger this movie is towards Disney. It’s like Gunn saying, “you want to fire me from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? Fine, then I’ll go to your biggest rival and make the least family-friendly movie possible.” The high ratings this movie is currently receiving almost reinforce this standpoint. Unfortunately, while I appreciate Gunn’s efforts to give this movie its own flavor, I didn’t enjoy the film overall. I joked that it would be really hard for this movie to be as awful as its predecessor, but turns out it wasn’t that hard at all. And while this movie is certainly not as bad as the first one, it’s sadly not much better, and suffers from some of that movie’s same flaws as well as a series of new ones. Let’s tackle what’s good about the film. Once again, the cast is the major highlight. I have to give particular praise to Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, and John Cena. Robbie continues to be the most consistent, and arguably best, part of the DC franchise, and Cena continues to show that he has a lot of range as an actor. I’ve alway been a fan of Elba, and it was nice to have his particular charm within the cast of mostly newbies. I also appreciate James Gunn’s personal style with the film. It’s clear that Warner Bros. gave him full creative control here, and it gives a lot more personality to the material when compared to the first film. Every frame oozes and life, color, and charm. The movie is allowed to be its own thing instead of being stylistically in service of the rest of the franchise. It’s this individuality that makes me love the DC franchise more than the Marvel franchise. While the film gets off to a promising start, it isn’t long before it begins to run out of steam. There’s only so many juvenile jokes and people getting torn to pieces I can take before it starts feeling tedious and unnecessary. I’ve never been a fan of gross-out sexual jokes or graphically killing someone just for the sake of laughs. So for this movie’s sense of humor to rely fully on this meant that I didn’t get much out of it. But it’s not just those jokes that didn’t work. Many of the film’s other gags fall flat due to bad pacing and just being really obvious. For example, there’s the joke in the trailer where the squad is preparing to launch an epic rescue mission for Harley Quinn, only for her to show up unexpectedly, having escaped without their help. Without spoiling anything, the way it plays out in the film completely butchers its potential and the whole bit ends up largely laugh free. In fact, the story as a whole feels very disjointed and badly paced. There are multiple sequences where we jump back and forth between different perspectives, which end up stunting the movie’s progression. There’s also a series of subplots and setups that in the end never get the pay off they tease. There’s really loads of moments in the film where Gunn seems to think he’s subverting our expectations, but really just leaves us feeling cheated. It’s kind of annoying that, as the DC universe expands into R-rated territory, the characters are starting to devolve as a result. The way the characters act in this film make them feel less like redeemable villains and more like violent psychopaths. The characters we actually get invested in are often killed off unceremoniously, and the ones that survive are the ones I kind of wanted to see get killed instead. It’s hard to like the movie when the characters aren’t worth rooting for. While definitely an improvement over its predecessor, The Suicide Squad suffers from a whole host of new problems that make it a different kind of unpleasant experience. Maybe I’m just not a fan of James Gunn’s style, but I don’t get much joy out of his giddiness to wring laughs from consistent dick jokes and graphic kills, or his ensemble of one-dimensional murderers. I still isn’t as bad as the first film, but it’s still not as fun as the concept might suggest. Rated R for strong/bloody violence, and language throughout.
In 2040, United States Presidential nominee Charlie Roan successfully dethroned the New Founding Fathers of America and abolished the Purge, the national holiday where all crime, including murder, is legal for 12 hours. With the vast majority of the public knowledgable of the NFFA’s true purpose of using the Purge to eliminate lower income citizens, many were willing to do away with the event once and for all. However, since the abolishment, American anger and hatred continued to grow. So, following the end of President Roan’s two terms in 2048, the NFFA is voted back into office and immediately reinstate the Purge. But with so much time without the annual event of lawlessness, those who support it aren’t willing to let it go again. Following the ending of this latest Purge, millions of America’s across the country refuse to stop rampaging when the sirens sound. As chaos and murder begin to consume the nation, Mexican couple Adela (Ana de la Reguera) and Juan (Tenoch Huerta), who illegally came to the United States before the Purge was reinstated, are forced to fight back alongside the wealthy Tucker family, Dylan (Josh Lucas), his wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman), and his sister Harper (Leven Rambin). They’ll have to work together to reach a safe haven as America falls to pieces around them. The Forever Purge, the fifth and final installment in Blumhouse’s very successful Purge franchise, goes for broke in trying to bring it to a close. The film sheds all of what little subtly the series had to begin with and throws us into a full blown apocalyptic disaster where Americans finally turn on each other. In a normal world, this would have been a fun piece of “what if” science fiction. But after everything that has happened in the last year, this film has become much more relevant, and as a result, The Forever Purge is easily the scariest film in the series. Right from the beginning, there’s a foreboding atmosphere that constantly kept me on edge. The film opens with a montage of paintings that show a picturesque America before each one transforms into a terrifying visage of violence. Then, in the lead up to the Purge itself, there’s a constant presence of an occult-like symbol used by the Forever Purgers. It’s an incredibly tense setup that really unsettles you. You know something big is coming, and the movie makes it feel like the end of the world, because that’s what it basically becomes. It all boils to a 2nd act that gave me chills I haven’t felt since 2018’s Hereditary. From there we’re presented with the same skillful action that the series excels at. There are still many graphic kills and thrilling action sequences. New director Everardo Valerio Gout crafts an effective mix of action and gore like James DeMonaco and Gerard McMurray brought to the first four movies. But now that the Purge violence is happening during the daytime, there’s an extra, terrifying layer that makes it much more disturbing. The action is helped by the film’s cast. Featuring no appearances or mention of characters from previous films, we’re given an entirely new ensemble led by Reguera and Huerta. The two not only prove themselves capable of handling the film’s most horrific action scenes, but also have a great chemistry that make them feel like a genuine couple worth rooting for while they try to survive the collapsing nation. There’s also the film’s handling of the other characters. While the movie has a lot of racist jerks running around, the central Tucker family isn’t apart of that group. They are initially implied to have racist views of Adela and Juan, but the film’s few character moments reveal this to not actually be true. It’s just great that the movie doesn’t flatly call all white people racist, showing there to be a variety of people in the chaos. The Purge franchise has always been about old-fashioned exploitation fare that screams without really saying anything. And The Forever Purge is no exception, finally tossing out all good people think the Purge brings but really is more of a pulpy action flick. This is what makes this film, and really the entire series, as fun as it is. They’re all fantasy fulfillment films that use topical themes as jumping off points for bloody fun. That’s really all they can be, but that’s all they need to be. The Forever Purge brings the series to a satisfying conclusion with a movie that feels much more relevant then when it was shot back in 2019. Shifting the Purge violence from nighttime to daytime makes for an incredibly intense atmosphere that almost makes the film more upsetting than terrifying. But thanks to some great action that expertly combines violence with horror and a cast of capable leads, this series ends on a high note that puts a bloody punctuation mark on everything the franchise stands for. Rated R for terror, violence and some disturbing images.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on HBO Max Until July 4 In 1981, demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) are in the middle of saving the soul of 8-year-old David Glatzel (Julian Hilliard) from a demon that has infiltrated his family’s home. While they are successful in getting the evil spirit out of the boy, it merely transfers itself into the body of their family friend Arne Johnson (Ruairi O’Connor). With this new vessel, it manages to trick Arne into murdering his apartment landlord Bruno Sauls (Ronnie Gene Blevins). Arne is arrested, and with no other alternative, the Warrens convince his lawyer to use demonic possession as his defense in court. It obviously doesn’t go well, and they are forced to find a way to prove this. Now, they are on the hunt for the source behind this demonic activity, which leads them to discover that the demon may be under the influence of someone else. They must find and stop this person before their evil can spread any further. After the first two Conjuring films, my hopes were almost impossibly high for the long-awaited third installment in the main timeline of the Conjuring Universe. It’s been amazing getting a cinematic universe that doesn’t act like an over-bloated television series like the Marvel universe. And for it to focus on the case files of the Warrens, who I’ve been fans of since I was a kid, it felt like I finally had something I could latch onto. However, there were things that tempered my expectations going into The Devil Made Me Do It. The biggest one being the departing of original director James Wan. He really is the one who made the first two films as terrifying as they are, and turned them into the franchise we have today. But now that he’s making films for the DC Extended Universe, he opted to not direct this latest chapter. Not only that, but the person he handed the reigns to is Michael Chaves, the director of The Curse of La Llorona. While that movie does have a handful of clever scares and is, for the most part, a fun entry in the franchise, it certainly is one of the weaker films. Chaves can conjure a good scare, but doesn’t really have the same level of craft that Wan excels at. And as a result, The Devil Made Me Do It doesn’t live up to my high expectations. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a really good movie and smartly tries something new after two films that were basically the same haunted house premise done twice over. After this long, it seems a bit overdue for the franchise to try and reinvent itself, and to its credit, it mostly succeeds with this change up. Rather than a haunted house movie, this film is more a supernatural murder mystery, having the Warrens act like police investigators rather than simply demonologists. Screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick does a good job of crafting a mystery that keeps the audience on their toes with some clever plot twists. And as with the first two films, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are fantastic as Ed and Lorraine Warren. It’s their performances and chemistry that are really the heart and soul of the Conjuring Universe. Here, they continue to show off said chemistry as the scary situations ramp up. They really feel like a loving couple throughout, which gives us more than enough reasons to root for them as the danger grows. Unfortunately, the biggest issue with the film that keeps it from being great goes back the change in directors. Like The Curse of La Llorona, Michael Chaves crafts set pieces that give us a good jolts and occasionally get under out skin. But his scares never really linger as much as the iconic sequences that James Wan put together. There are also moments where points of the script feel underdeveloped. There are several subplots throughout that don’t really get the attention they need to feel necessary for the story as a whole. For instance, a subplot involving a heart attack that Ed sustains during the opening sequence that gravely affects his health doesn’t offer much outside of small stakes added to the narrative, but doesn’t really affect it in any substantial way. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It may not be on the same level as its predecessors, but despite that, it’s still a worthy entry into the ever expanding Conjuring Universe. It has a fair amount of fun jolts and scary moments, and the performances of Wilson and Farmiga hold the film up even in its weaker moments. Even if it doesn’t have the lingering dread of the previous films, it's still one of the stronger ones in the franchise. Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on HBO Max Until May 23 WARNING: Possible Spoilers! MMA fighter Cole Young (Lewis Tan) loves what he does, but isn’t having the best of luck. He isn’t able to keep up the winning streak he used to have, even though his wife and daughter still believe in his skills. But just when he seems to be giving up on himself, he is called upon to participate in a battle older than any recorded history; one that goes beyond the borders of our own dimension. This tournament, known as Mortal Kombat, is a violent competition where champions between our world and a dimension known as Outworld fight to the death. If Earth loses the next battle, then the forces of Outworld will be aloud to conquer it. Cole is only the latest in a collection of warriors from around the world, all barring the same dragon marking that grants them special powers. They’ll have to work together to discover their true potential and protect the world from the evils of Outworld. On the surface, this new theatrical adaptation of the iconic Mortal Kombat video game series has all the same clichés found in most modern blockbusters, especially ones that are meant to start their own franchises. This new film is pretty much a feature-length setup for future films, spending its runtime introducing us to the characters and ending with a very obvious cliffhanger leading to the next installment. Once again, it’s a movie that was made with the mentality that the studio cares more about what’s next then what’s happening right now. You would think that, because of this, this would be another movie that I give a pass to. After all, there’s no current movie cliché I hate more than egregious sequel setup. However, despite this, I still found myself enjoying the overall ride. The new Mortal Kombat continues to represent the higher levels of effort studios are finally putting into video game adaptations. Rather than phoning it in right at the start of production, it’s clear that director Simon McQuoid and his team have a real love for the property and truly tried to make this the best film they could. Don’t get me wrong, it still doesn’t get anywhere close to being a great, or even good, film. At most, it’s a dumb action film that you can have fun with if you’re willing to shut your brain off and enjoy the blood-splatter. If you can’t, then you’ll be forced to go through things like mediocre performances, clunky expositional dialogue, and a very barebones story that only follows the most basic script structure. Luckily, it makes up for this with some really fun action scenes. Right from the start, the film embraces the more violent nature of the games with an opening fight set in 17th-century Japan. The battle is very bloody with swords cutting off limbs, harpoons firing through heads, and many other forms of dismemberment. It’s this kind of violence that punctuates the majority of the film’s action. And that’s what makes it so fun. Whether you like graphic violence or not, the blood sure helps to make these scenes fun. There are some times when it still feels like it’s not taking full advantage of the violence, even when there’s a scene where a character is cut clean in half. The truly graphic scenes are surprisingly few and far between, making it feel like they’re playing it safe even while trying to be more faithful to the games. Overall, it’s a movie that feels conflicted about its own identity. It wants to be a sleek and serious modern blockbuster, while at the same time still tap into the 80s/90s campiness of the game series. The film switches back and forth between these tones usually at inappropriate times, but ends up being enough of both to achieve that cheesy flair without dipping far enough into stupidity that it ruins the overall fun. Mortal Kombat is exactly what you would expect it to be; a modern franchise starter that, much like the games that inspired it, cares more about its gimmick than its potential. But thankfully, it embraces that gimmick enough that it manages to mostly outshine its flaws and become a stupid fun action film. And frankly, for a movie based on a video game that I know very little about, that’s good enough for me. Rated TV-MA (Contains Language Including Talk of Violence, Sexual Material, Drug and Alcohol Use)
Now Streaming on Apple TV+ Across the United States, phones connect us with each other. They help us through our daily lives, acting as computers, assistants, and sometimes necessary entertainment. They’ve become more than we ever thought they would be. But what if phones had the ability to connect us to something else? Over the course of one year, nine different groups of strangers across the country are finding themselves in increasingly strange situations. Their phone calls are getting rerouted to something unknown, something that defies all know laws of physics and the universe. Though at first it seems like some divine force is giving them a second chance at certain decisions, they quickly realize that messing with this phenomenon may cost them their lives. That’s about as vague a summary I can give without spoiling much of the story, as this series is very hard to describe. Calls, an English language remake of a French series, is very unique in terms of its presentation. The show has no visible characters and is told entirely from their phone calls. All we hear are the cellular conversations, represented visually through abstract images. But we never see the characters or what they see. The horror of this show lies in what we, the audience, conjure up in our minds based on what we are hearing. It’s a relatively new way to approach storytelling, but it’s something that is absolutely worth exploring. Because Calls is something truly special; a “visually” stunning and immersive experience that goes into so many twisted directions over the course of its nine episode first season. Now when I say visually, obviously I mean the images that are used to help represent the conversations between the characters and the situations they’re in. For example, one episode is a call between three characters. Each of their respective text is displayed on a point of a triangle, symbolizing the core relationships between them. The abstract digital shapes are gorgeously rendered and really help the audience to visualize the story. These relationships are successfully brought to life by a very talented ensemble cast. The vocal performers include Karen Gillian, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Mark Duplass, Rosario Dawson, Aubrey Plaza, and many other recognizable names. All of them give great performances that make us see them as their true characters. Not just big names speaking lines, but real people caught up in strange and terrifying situations. But I have to give extra credit to Aubrey Plaza. Ever since she started playing more serious roles, like the 2019 Child’s Play reboot, she’s shown that she really has range as an actress. Her role in this series has a big part, both narratively and emotionally, to play as the mystery unfolds, and she is able to pull it off with a very committed vocal performance that perfectly captures the wide range of feelings she’s being put through. All of this is in service of a story that comes together at a perfect pace. The show’s central mystery continuously pulls the rug out from under you in very interesting ways, making you think one thing before twisting it into something completely different. It also does a great job of crafting believable characters that get you emotionally invested in their separate stories and making you care about their eventual fates. Calls has its own unique personality, and it succeeds just on that alone. It’s a great mystery series that takes full advantage of its unconventional presentation to deliver something investing and entertaining. While it is currently unclear if Apple will renew the series for a second season (though this season comes to a satisfying conclusion), I think that this format of storytelling is something worth expanding upon. Rated R for some full nudity.
Now Playing In Theaters and Streaming on Hulu After losing both her job and her husband, Fern (Frances McDormand) doesn’t have much left in the world. She decides to give up most of her belongings and travel the country as a nomad; working seasonal jobs and living in a van. As she moves from place to place, she comes across more people reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, and overtime finds herself more at home without a home. There isn’t much more to the plot. It’s a rather simple tale that just fellows a year in Fern’s life as she becomes adjusted to her new life on the road. However, just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, as many film reviewers have already declared, Nomadland is one of the best films of 2020. Watching this, I got the same awestruck feeling that I had when I saw Soul for the first time. Words almost can’t describe how beautiful this movie is. Probably the best things about it is how natural it all feels. There’s something about the way writer/director Chloë Zhao structures and presents the film that makes it feels less like a movie and more like a window into Fern’s new life. Everything from the screenplay to the handheld camera shots to the sound design feel real. The screenplay is really the biggest contributing factor to this naturalistic feel. The dialogue between the characters feels like real conversations. They talk about real things while occasionally stumbling over each other’s words or struggling to find a way to continue. We’ve all had moments like that between us and other people, and this movie is one of the best examples of how to properly portray that type of speech. But it’s also the technical departments that help achieve the feeling as well. The cinematography and sound design invoked certain feelings in me. I felt like I was truly with Fern in places like the Amazon factory or the various camps she lives at. It’s not everyday that we get a low budget independent film that feels this immersive, and it saddens me that I wasn’t able to see it in an IMAX theater. The look of the film really captures the overall tone of the film. Fern’s situation isn’t exactly the greatest. She chooses to live on the road after a series of circumstances basically force her to do so. The look of the movie is dark, dreary, and almost barren. It helps to portray the kind of wasteland feel the country went through around that time, and to some extent, still going through now. The performance of Frances McDormand is also worth highlighting. It’s probably her best role since her Oscar winning role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. She does an amazing job capturing the character of Fern and all of the emotions she’s forced to go through over the course of the film. While she may not speak that much, her expressions and body language speak volumes. Even the supporting cast does fantastic in their roles. David Strathairn deserves major props for his captivating and emotionally powerful role of Fern’s roadside companion Dave. But the film features numerous real nomads in supporting roles, like Bob Wells and Swankie. Both of them, among others, are wonderful despite little to no acting experience before hand. It also helps add to the realism to have real nomads act as Fern’s mentors. Nomadland is a poignant and beautiful character study that feels very timely in our age of consistent financial struggles. With so many normal people unable to afford homes, it seems like more are turning to this style of living. And while it may not be the most glamorous lifestyle, this movie shows that home is really where you feel the most at home, even if it’s not in a building. Rated R for strong bloody horror violence, sexual content, and language throughout.
High school student Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) lives a fairly uneventful life in the little town of Blissfield. She’s bullied frequently by her classmates, but has two friends; the proudly gay Josh (Misha Osherovich) and the proudly PC Nyla (Celeste O’Connor). However, when Millie is left alone after her school’s homecoming game, she becomes the next target of the infamous Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn). Even though he fails to stab her to death, she is definitely left scarred. But the nightmare isn’t over when Millie and the Butcher wake up the next morning in each others’ bodies. As it turns out, the dagger he used was a mystical artifact that switched their consciousnesses. With the Butcher taking full advantage of his new appearance, Millie must find a way to retrieve the dagger and switch back before the curse keeps the switch permanent and the Butcher turns her school into a bloodbath. Freaky, directed by Christopher Landon of the Happy Death Day series, represents another step up in his directorial craft. He has spent most of his career making horror/comedy hybrids that simultaneously pay homage to the slasher genre in various ways while also satirizing its various clichés. With every movie he makes, he gets closer and closer to achieving that perfect balance between the funny and the scary. And with this latest film, he has finally done. Freaky is one of the best combinations of horror and comedy in the surprisingly long history of the genre mashup. The humor is funny without ever feeling forced, and the horror elements are able to gel with the humor without feeling jarring or mean-spirited. It’s a difficult balancing act, and Landon is able to achieve it without ever faulting. The best examples of this are the performances of Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton. Both are tasked with portraying a mild-mannered teenage girl and a psychopathic serial killer. These are two very different personalities that would be a challenge for two actors to pull off at the same time. But Vaughn and Newton really become their characters and imbue them enough humor and terror to make them come alive without ever feeling campy. But praise should also be given to Misha Osherovich and Celeste O’Connor, who’s gay stereotype vs. PC stereotype generates some of the biggest laughs throughout the film. Their back and forth banter plays like a satire of our modern cultures’ obsession with societal sensitivities without ever feeling overly offensive. And since a lot of Blumhouse’s recent output has leaned heavily into embracing this divisive culture, it’s positively refreshing to see them poking fun at it for once. They also manage to spark a great chemistry with the two leads. Even after Vaughn and Newton trade places, the former slips perfectly into the budding relationship with Osherovich and O’Connor. Their interactions with him bubble with the same energy as their scenes with Newton, making it really feel like a whole other consciousness is inhabiting Vaughn’s body. The script, from Landon and Michael Kennedy, is so clever and so well written that it can be not to start crying from how hilarious it is. The writers take full advantage of the inherent ridiculousness of the story, but never just relies on it. It uses it as a springboard for extremely hilarious jokes and relatable situations along with creative kills that are manage to make you laugh and scream at the same time. Freaky is another hit for Blumhouse, and quite possibly the best film from writer/director Christopher Landon. It strikes the perfect balance of the horror and comedy genres that is very hard to achieve, and Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton turn in impressive performances playing two very different characters. Whether we get a sequel to this or another original project, I’m very excited to see what Landon does next. Rated R for strong violence and language throughout.
Now playing wherever theaters are open. In these modern times, we find ourselves more reckless and mean-spirited when we get behind the wheel. Now, I’m not saying everyone goes straight for road rage, but there does seem to be an increase in angry reactions towards messy drivers. Many attribute this to everything happening in the world, from economical issues to racial inequality to other things. It just seems like more people are angrier than ever. This is the issue explored in the new thriller Unhinged, starring Academy Award winner Russell Crowe as a man who has been driven mad by all of the shortcomings in his life. Now, he’ll cross paths with Rachel (Caren Pistorius), a single mother who is struggling with her own frustrations along with her son Kyle (Gabriel Bateman). When she angrily honks Crowe’s unhinged character at an intersection, she finds herself the newest victim in his path of destruction. Based on this premise, if you’re going in thinking this is going to be a deep character study about the effects road rage has on our society, you’re going to be disappointed. This concept is nothing more than jumping off point for the film, before diving headfirst into 90 minutes of basic road thriller clichés. However, while it would be super easy for the movie to fall short because of this, Unhinged doesn’t. What the movie is is a fun throwback to pulpy 80s thrillers that exploited our fears of everyday problems to create a good time. While it could’ve benefitted more from a much deeper study of its themes and characters, director Derrick Borte and writer Carl Ellsworth craft a decently entertaining film nonetheless. One of the film’s biggest advantages is its inclusion of the world around our hero Rachel. A fair amount of thrillers try to pen the lead as crazy to everyone around them so they’ll be forced to face the villain alone. In this film, Rachel receives help from almost everyone around her. The police are also smarter than in most thrillers. All this involvement from the greater environment makes the movie feel more unique and immersive. It’s also unique in the way it portrays its central villain. While he is a psychopath that kills anyone that stands in his way, there’s something almost sympathetic about his motivations. We’ve all had days where we’ve felt like we wanted to take our anger out on the world. It’s weird to say this, but the fact that we know about what makes him so mad makes him more watchable. This is also aided by the performance of Russell Crowe. He has played many different roles during his career, but most of them have been serious, or larger budget films. Here, he gets to try his hand at a low-budget thriller, and does a great job in the end. While the character is interestingly written, Crowe’s performance also makes him quite watchable, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role after watching him. There are also some well crafted action and thriller set pieces throughout. A lot of them rely on people getting run over by cars and trucks that come out of nowhere. These jump moments are some of the most entertaining ones, as they help us to realize that this stranger isn’t messing around. Unhinged isn’t a reinvention of the genre of “psychos on the road,” but it plays with the formula in a way that makes it fun nonetheless. It wrings thrilling action out of our fears of excessive road rage, and Russell Crowe makes for an entertaining and somewhat sympathetic killer. It may not dive too deep into the potential of its concept, but it’s fun enough to be forgiven for being a somewhat run-of-the-mill thriller. Rated R for violence, bloody images, drug content and some language.
Now Streaming on Netflix In the streets of New Orleans, an underground operation is forming. A shadowy organization is preparing to launch a new drug into the city. But this drug is much more than the standard cannabis you’d find dealers selling. This drug, codenamed Power, has the ability to give you superpowers for five minutes. You don’t know what kind of power you get unless you take it, and depending on what it is, it might just end up killing you. Six weeks after the drug’s arrival, people are already using it to commit crimes or live out their wildest fantasies. The city is under siege by the growing amount of users; and three people are out to stop it. Officer Frank Shaver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is attempting to control the violent criminals with the help of young dealer Robin (Dominique Fishback), while a man named Art (Jamie Foxx) hopes to find the source and settle a personal score with the men in charge. They will have to work together to stop the drug from spreading worldwide and tearing apart society. The main problem that comes with the ever-increasing scope of Netflix original films is that they’re not meant to be seen on small screens. Big movies are meant to be seen on big screens. Watching them on televisions, computers, or phones doesn’t give the same feeling as they would on the silver screen. Sadly, that’s one of the main reasons why this movie didn’t work. Project Power has a good concept, and is somewhat saved by the great performances and stylish direction by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Unfortunately, its action can’t truly be appreciated with the platform it’s been released on. It’s also hampered by a screenplay that, despite the potential of its premise, relies on a story that treads familiar tropes and fails to answer some of its most basic questions. It is mostly the cast that carries the film. Foxx, Levitt, and Fishback all give good performances as their respective characters. Even if their characters aren’t the freshest personalities we’ve seen from cop movies, they are able to make them people that we want to root for. That’s one of the keys to making a movie like this watchable, and they do a pretty decent job. The movie also boasts a very unique visual style thanks to the directors. This feels like a natural step forward for their style after directing the 2016 thriller Nerve, and there are times where this film feels like a larger version of that one. The blend of CGI and mild shaky cam makes some of the shots look straight out of a comic book. It feels very refreshing; like the film had its own personality. However, it’s about as generic as you get when it comes to the film’s story. The concept of a drug that gives you superpowers is an interesting one, but the story doesn’t do anything to really develop this. Once the film really begins, the hunt to find the source becomes any given drug investigation from any given cop thriller. It doesn’t do much to shake up the formula or twist the conventions we’re used to. It also fails to follow its own basic logic. The powers people obtain are somewhat explained, but very soon after, something happens that only raises more questions. The same goes for many of the character motivations, and even the origin of the drug. There are never any clear answers to the questions the film asks. By the end, we’re not really sure what to think and it feels rather unsatisfying. Though the film may by stylish and action-packed, it’s large-scale trappings can’t be appreciated on a small screen. I don’t care if people think it’s more convenient to watch movies at home. It’s nearly impossible to really enjoy a movie like this when I watch it on a TV. Watching it in a movie theater allows you to be more immersed in the visual splendor, and no such immersion happens just watching it at home. Project Power’s central concept has the potential to be a fun action movie, and at times a basic story is enough to make a film like this fun. But a lack of cohesive answers and an unwillingness to make its small-screen platform feel investing makes it feel just mediocre. It’s sad that its talented cast isn’t enough to help save this film, but good action films are about much more than just big names. If this truly is the future of movie watching, it’s not a bright future. |