Rated R for violence and language.
Psychologist Anna Fox (Amy Adams) is an agoraphobic, afraid to step outside of her luxurious Manhattan brownstone. She doesn’t keep up many friendships outside of her basement tenant David (Wyatt Russell). One night, she unexpectedly lets in Jane Russell (Julianne Moore), her neighbor from across the street. They form a quick bond over their personal lives, though Jane seems reluctant to share anything about her life. But that all comes to an end when Anna seemingly witnesses Jane getting murdered by someone in her home. After calling the police, Jane’s husband Alistair (Gary Oldman) claims that she was not murdered, and presents someone completely different (Jennifer Jason Leigh), claiming her to be his wife. Anna knows something terrible is going on, and she’ll have to solve the mystery before those involved come for her next. The Woman in the Window is based on the novel of the same name by A.J. Finn. Produced by 20th Century Fox, it’s clear that the studio was looking to repeat the success of their critically acclaimed thriller Gone Girl. It’s the same kind of story for the same kind of audience. It also makes sense that they recruited director Joe Wright, who just came off the success of his Oscar darling Darkest Hour. Unfortunately, the end result isn’t the masterpiece they hoped for. Instead, The Woman in the Window is a hackneyed mess of a murder mystery that’s so bad, it’s almost hilarious. It seems to have been made with the thought that it would be this arthouse darling, full of flashy imagery and surreal set pieces. However, the sheer abundance of these never quite fits the tone of the film. Honestly, that’s probably the film’s biggest flaw. It’s way over-stylized. There are so many out-of-place moments and over-the-top scenes that it’s hard to take anything on screen seriously. It’s almost impossible to really get into the mystery of the story when there’s an overly artsy moment with no real explanation around every corner. There really is no reason for any of it to be happening. It looks like Wright seems to want it to have some kind of meaning, but none of it jives with what’s happening in the story. For a movie to have surreal moments, they need to have some kind of connection to the overall story. But here, it just seems like they’ve been included as a way to lazily reel the audience back in from checking out of its uninteresting mystery. This also isn’t helped by how unoriginal the story is. Aside from the aforementioned Gone Girl, the film seems to take majorly from the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window. It has almost the exact same plot, right down to even the littlest of details. It all ends in a conclusion that doesn’t do anything to subvert your expectations. It just happens, and never feels like it was worth the wacky ride it took to get there. The performances of the cast also don’t help, who all seem to not be taking the film seriously either. For having such an A-list ensemble, no one does anything to elevate their characters beyond surface level stereotypes. Even Amy Adams, who usually excels in anything she’s in, seems bored by her role. She never brings Anna Fox to life, only looking like she’s on cruise control until she can get through the terrible script. The Woman in the Window is an absolute mess; focusing way too much on its own style to stand on the same level as the domestic murder mysteries that inspired it. It’s almost hilarious how goofy and out-of-place much of the film’s imagery seems, and not even the stellar cast can be bothered to try and salvage it. It’s clear that the Oscar fame of Darkest Hour went to Joe Wright’s head, as this film is nowhere near as profound and shocking as he seems to think it is.
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Rated R for pervasive language and sexual content.
Deep into the night, filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) are returning from the premiere of the former’s newest film. Though the initial response seems glowing, Malcolm is completely hung up on what critics are going to say about it. Marie is also hung up on something, but not dealing with the critical response of the film. Marie is hung up on Malcolm not acknowledging her during his speech at the premiere. Though Malcolm doesn’t think much of it, for Marie, this stirs up old bones in their relationship. This leads to several arguments between the couple that bring into question their true feelings about each other. Malcolm & Marie was one of the first feature film projects shot during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s certainly one of the first to make headlines, given everything and everyone involved. It was written and directed by the creator of HBO’s Euphoria Sam Levinson, and this film came from a desire between him and the show’s star Zendaya to make something during the global crisis. Hence the extremely stripped down story of the film. This film is nothing but conversations between the two title characters as they sift through the flaws in their relationship. They are the only two people every seen onscreen, which makes the film easy to produce during something like a pandemic. But despite these limited elements, Levinson really knows how to make it all work. The dialogue is made up of expertly crafted conversations that really open a door to their feelings. It’s really hard to make a film that relies entirely on dialogue, but the way he writes it makes it engaging and fascinating. Yes, you will be required to pay close attention to all the little details. But if you’re willing to do that, you’ll be able to get the full picture. The dialogue is held together by the stellar performances of Washington and Zendaya. The two have a great chemistry between them that makes each of the conversations, both high and low, feel genuine. Zendaya, in particular, really shows off her acting chops in a role that is far more mature than anything she’s done before. And this movie proves she has the talent to pull off a role like this. Malcolm & Marie tells a very unique and intriguing story entirely and expertly through the conversations of a deteriorating relationship between its two title characters. For having very limited resources given the circumstances, director Sam Levinson and stars John David Washington and Zendaya make the most out of all of it. It may not be a particularly fun watch, but it’s a great achievement nonetheless. Rated R for strong bloody violence, drug content, language and some sexual content.
In the small town of Shadyside in the year 1994, high school student Deena (Kiana Madeira) dreams of nothing more than to escape the town. The town is famous for numerous murders throughout the centuries, all stemming back to the legend of Sarah Fier, a witch that terrorized the town back when it was first founded. Many believe the murders are the witch enacting her revenge on the town for putting an end to her wrath. After a football game against Shadyside’s rival town Sunnyvale doesn’t end well, Deena and her ex-girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) somehow become the next targets of the witch’s evil, being hunted by the spirits of past killers. Along with Deena’s brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) and her two friends Kate (Julia Rehwald) and Simon (Fred Hechinger), they must solve the mystery before they become the latest in a long line of victims. This is the first installment in the Fear Street trilogy of horror films. Originally intended for a theatrical release over a three month period, the series was instead brought over to Netflix and released over three weeks instead. Ambitious projects like this are rare in the current state of the film industry, as most franchise only start with the first film and see how that one does rather than just filming the whole thing at once. So I was definitely curious how this was going to turn out, especially coming from a book series created by Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine. Unfortunately, Fear Street: Part One - 1994 is not a great start to the series. While it does feel like a good homage to horror films of the 90s, it puts a little too much emphasis on the in-your-face, slightly obnoxious mindset that also came out of that era. This really comes from the characters, who embody little more than slightly developed teen personas from other films. They start the film as selfish, know-it-all stereotypes that immediately makes the audience annoyed by their presence. These also isn’t much in the way of character development throughout, and the little tidbits we get don’t make them any more likable. All in all, when the slashing really begins, it’s not that big a loss when they finally get hacked to pieces. The performances of the cast also don’t aid this, as they really embody that mindset that makes them so unlikable. They don’t do anything to elevate the characters above the stereotypes they’ve been written as. There are also times when their performances are just about as good as the television adaptation of the aforementioned Goosebumps books, but at least those kid actors knew how to play likable characters. Ultimately, this is a fairly standard slasher film that really could’ve been something special. Instead, the cast of irritating characters drown out pretty much any bright spot that film has going for it. There are a number of interesting surprises, especially down towards the third act, but like I said before, many of the characters getting killed are ones I didn’t mind getting killed in the first place. So it kind of washes the surprise away in the end. Fear Street: Part One - 1994 is a disappointingly bland start to its ambitiously constructed trilogy. Populated by obnoxious characters that I wouldn’t mind getting hacked to pieces, it never does anything to truly elevate itself above the hollow homage it is. It is the first installment in a series, so maybe things can improve in the next chapters, even if this one wasn’t a good sign of things to come. Rated TV-14 (Contains Some Disturbing Images)
An unnamed woman (Mélanie Laurent) wakes up in a mysterious pod. She has no memory of her past and no idea how she got there. Her only companion is a virtual medical assistant named MILO (Mathieu Amalric). As she tries to piece together the reason why she is trapped, she discovers that things aren’t really what they seem. With her oxygen supply running out, she’ll have to figure out the truth or face death. That’s really it when it comes to this film. Oxygen is a very simple film working off a very familiar formula. We’ve seen many films about a single character trapped in a confining state, with other characters being unseen vocal performances. If this movie can be compared to anything else, it would be the 2010 thriller Buried starring Ryan Reynolds. So, obviously this film doesn’t take the idea in many new directions. This type of film can only go in so many directions and all hinges on the central mystery of why the character is trapped. But if that central mystery is a good one, and the movie does a good keeping it a secret until the reveal, then this proven formula can work several times. And for this one, it works. For me, these kinds of films are fun because they leave nearly everything to the imagination. With many of the film’s side characters being voiced through phone calls, the audience is forced to put those scenes together in their heads. I always love it when a movie wants me to use my imagination. The film is also held together by a great performance by Mélanie Laurent. It’s always difficult to be the only visible character in a film, as she is tasked with doing all the heavy lifting herself. Luckily, she is up to the task, and she delivers a performance that really captures the horrors of what she is forced to go through. You are able to connect with her and hope that she is able to make it out alive. I also want to complement the production design of the film. It’s one small set, the pod that Laurent is trapped in, is very well designed. This, along with director Alexander Aja’s use of the setting, really help capture the claustrophobia of the situation. He really knows how to wring the most tension out of the premise, and this makes the film so much more immersive. Oxygen works off a very familiar premise, but knows how to use it to make a very engaging mystery. Held together by Mélanie Laurent’s stellar lead performance and Alexander Aja’s great direction, the film ends in a way that we’ve seen before, but it keeps that reveal secret long enough to make it a genuinely satisfying ride by the end. Rated TV-MA (Contains Intense Sequences and Brief Violence)
Astronauts Zoe (Anna Kendrick), David (Daniel Dae Kim) and Marina (Toni Collette) are on a mission that will change the course of human history. They are on their way to Mars to take the first steps to setting up the first colony on the planet, finally giving humanity a second home. They are confident that they can get the results that their superiors are seeking. However, not to long into their mission, they discover a wrinkle in their plan. A man named Michael (Shamier Anderson) is discovered within the walls of the ship, unconscious and injured. His discovery leads to the damage of a vital life support system, meaning the ship doesn’t have enough oxygen for all of them. They’ll have to solve this extreme moral dilemma in order to ensure the success of the mission, and the survival of themselves. Stowaway is the second film from director Joe Penna, who arrived onto the scene in 2019 with his survival film Arctic starring Mads Mikkelsen. That film showed that he had a strength for films that are light on characters and dialogue, but are capable of holding our attention with big ideas. Here, he takes the same formula and applies it to a science fiction story. Unfortunately, much of what made his first film so great isn’t present in Stowaway. He is able to fill the film with gorgeous visuals that make any sci-fi film enjoyable, but the thought-provoking themes tackled here are undone by the film’s overlong runtime. At 116 minutes, the story moves at a rather slow pace, with many scenes dragging on needlessly. It’s clear that this film should have been cut down by about 20 to 30 minutes. The concept just doesn’t have the strength to carry a story this big. Many of the conversations between the characters go on longer than they should, and many scenes don’t add much of anything to the overall story. It just feels like the film is a bit too over-bloated. It also doesn’t help that the story plays out pretty much how you would expect it to. There are many chances where Penna and co-writer Ryan Morrison have the opportunity to subvert the typical directions that films like this tend to go down. Unfortunately, they never take those opportunities, and the end result is something you can see coming a mile away. The film never takes any chance to twist your expectations. However, the film is mostly held together by the work of the cast. Kendrick, Dae Kim, and Collette have a great chemistry between them that make the earlier scenes fun to watch. This also helps later on when the tensions start to rise, and we’re able to really feel the stress of their situation. I also have to give credit to Anderson, who really nails the complex and emotional situations his character is forced to go through. Stowaway is visually stunning, has a great cast, and some thought-provoking ideas, but it is ultimately undone by an overlong story that never goes anywhere you don’t expect. For all the chances it had to be something different in a long line of similar films, it’s disappointing how rote it seems content to be. While I still believe that Penna has potential as a director, it’s clear that the style of film that made him noticeable can only go so far. |
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