Rated R for violence, language throughout and sexual content.
Boston police officer Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) isn’t exactly a by-the-numbers cop. At the beginning of this story, he’s finishing up a five year prison sentence for assaulting his commanding officer after discovering that he was beating his wife. Now free again, he meets up with old friend Henry (Alan Arkin) and discovers that he now has to live with an aspiring MMA fighter named Hawk (Winston Duke). However, when two old friends of Spenser’s turn up dead in supposed suicides, he finds his road back to normalcy disrupted. He knows they didn’t kill themselves, and becomes determined to find the truth. But since he isn’t a cop anymore, this won’t exactly be an easy task. As he and Hawk team up and dig deeper, they discover a criminal conspiracy that threatens the stability of Boston law enforcement, and they’ll have to work past their differences to put an end to it. This film marks the fifth consistent collaboration between Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg; both helmed films like Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day. It also marks a major stylistic shift for Berg. His last few films were dark and gritty action films that utilize shaky cam in its set pieces; a style that he does well. But this film is much lighter with more humorous elements and uses more steady cam. While I always appreciate a director willing to experiment with different styles, it’s clear from Spenser Confidential that Berg hasn’t figured out how to handle it yet. There are a number of different tones and styles all thrown at you in this movie that it becomes really hard to figure out what kind of movie it’s trying to be. It may be brighter and goofier than Berg previous films, but that doesn’t mean it’s funny. To call this a comedy is kind of a confusing sentiment. Throughout its 111 minute runtime, there aren’t any real attempts at hilarity. No one is cracking jokes, and everything seems to be played totally seriously. It feels like Berg and the screenplay by Sean O’Keefe and Brian Helgeland are trying to extract comedy from the increasingly ridiculous action sequences that often use non-sequiturs that don’t really feel deserved given the setup. Because of this, the film suffers from a major tonal imbalances. Underneath the colorful surface appears to lie a dark crime thriller that wants to break out. And for the most part, the filmmakers treat it as such. It’s obvious that they didn’t really know how to properly balance the tones they wanted to work with, and as a result, they leave us confused as to how to react to what is happening. Probably one of the redeeming elements of the film is Mark Wahlberg. His portrayal of Spenser is one of the more enjoyable parts. Even though his character is a pretty big jerk throughout, he looks like he enjoys playing it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really strike a good chemistry with co-star Winston Duke. The problem being that Duke’s character is so underdeveloped that we don’t get a sense of who he is or why he would start helping Spenser. Spenser Confidential is a different kind of film from previous collaborations between Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg, and is certainly way better than their last film; the disastrous Mile 22 from 2018. However, the two need to work a little more in balancing tones. Because despite acting like it wants to be comedic, the movie is never clear whether it really wants to be funny or be a serious thriller. It’s just confusing.
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Rated R for sexual content, language throughout and some violence.
When Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (Issa Rae) first met, it was like love at first sight. Now, four years into their relationship, they are consistently at each other’s throats about almost everything. Just as they are about to break up, their lives are uprooted by a biker they accidentally hit with their car on the way to a party. A cop commandeers their car to hunt him down and violently kill him. It soon becomes clear that this man isn’t a cop, but a cold blooded killer that they have unwillingly become accomplices to. Despite the bumps in their relationship, Jibran and Leilani will have to put them to the side in order to track down the culprit and prove they didn’t kill the man. As they dig deeper, they find themselves more immersed in a criminal underbelly that threatens their lives at every possible turn. Director Michael Showalter and star Kumail Nanjiani previously collaborated on the 2017 romantic comedy The Big Sick. That film, based on the relationship between Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon, was a hilarious and heartwarming story that felt fresh and inventive within the crowded genre. With the two teaming up again, one could hope that the same kind of magic would spark. Unfortunately, their follow-up collaboration leaves something to be desired. Rather than a sweet romantic comedy, The Lovebirds is a dark comedy about a murder spree. Combining humor with dark and violent situations is nothing new; even Nanjiani has produced similar films in the past. The goal being to extract jokes out of the most outrageous situations possible. For me, this is always a gamble; as it is easy to slip the line between clever humor and just being mean to the characters. It also doesn’t help that the script wasn’t written by Nanjiani like The Big Sick, so he isn’t really working off his own material. Three different screenwriters are credited for this film, so much of the dialogue sounds like corporate jokes ripped straight from other movies. The 86 minute runtime is loaded with pop culture references (including an 8 minute scene of references to The Amazing Race) and jokes about current societal sensitivities. Many of which fail to hit their intended targets and really drag the movie down. It also doesn’t help that the central mystery of the film isn’t the most thought out one. The story feels like a series of sketches and dark comedy tropes strung together by a loosely constructed conspiracy. And by the time we come to the big reveal, it feels unsatisfying given all the buildup. This is also a culprit of the multiple screenwriters, and the final film feels like the studio wanted a basic action comedy as a vehicle to put two relevant comedians in. I guess the only redeeming elements of the film are its leads. Nanjiani and Rae do have a nice chemistry between them that shows that, even if they aren’t able to punch up the stale jokes in the script, they look like they’re having a good time making the film. It’s their interactions that help create some of the few laughs during the film. Even if it feels like a vehicle for them, they at least try to imbue some life into it, and that’s somewhat admirable. Serviceable comedies can be fun when handled right. But it’s clear that the producers were only interested in making money off the stars rather than coming up with anything original. The result is The Lovebirds; a tired, confusing, and hollow dark comedy with two bankable leads and a few funny moments that aren’t enough to cover up the dry mystery they’re involved with. And since this didn't come out in theaters, it seems like this was Paramount’s attempt to get their hands off another mediocre decision. Rated R for Language, Some Sexuality, Graphic Nudity and Drug Use.
Young Sarah (Alison Brie) spends her days going through the same uneventful routine. She works at a strip mall craft shop, visits her horse at a local riding school, then goes home and spends her nights watching paranormal crime dramas. She doesn’t really care for the company of others, and aside from the people she talks to at work, never makes a point of interacting with anyone else, even her own roommate. But her ordinary life will change when she begins experiencing fits of sleep walking, nosebleeds, and time losses. She isn’t too sure what is happening to her, but she is determined to get to the bottom of it. As she digs deeper into her family’s past and theories surrounding a strange dream she keeps having, Sarah finds herself confronted with multiple different explanations. She becomes increasingly unhinged as a result, and the question becomes; is she losing her mind or is something watching her. From Jeff Baena, the director of Life After Beth and The Little Hours, Horse Girl isn’t as straightforward as this premise may suggest. In fact, it’s a very open-ended type of film that tells its story through bizarre and symbolic imagery. For pretty much the entire film, it’s difficult to figure out if what we are seeing is real or not. And that is entirely the point. The film is told through Sarah’s perspective, and the whole point is to show her gradual descent into madness as she slowly succumbs to schizophrenia. This is appropriate as the second half of the film devolves into more obscure events. It is clear that what we are seeing is Sarah’s mind slowly losing touch with reality. And there’s more than enough evidence to prove that this is truly what we’re seeing. However, it’s not the only explanation that works. The script, written by Baena and star Alison Brie, and its open-ended approach allows the audience to come up with multiple explanations as to the ultimate meaning of the film. It can be interpreted as symbolic of schizophrenia, but there are clues in the story to indicate that not everything we see is in Sarah’s head, and maybe she’s not entirely crazy. The final explanation is that both answers are correct, and audiences are allowed to come up with their ideas without being proven otherwise. The film uses this to its full advantage, and Baena delivers on the artsy potential by giving some really otherworldly images that are all beautiful to look at. But these pieces of eye candy are also littered with clues that help put the puzzle together. These clues are nicely blended in, and are the kind of thing that you will need to watch more than once to truly get. Thankfully, it’s easy to do this as the film is very nicely paced, and is held together by a very impressive performance from Brie. Her portrayal of Sarah goes from lovable goofball to fully unhinged and insane over the runtime. She successfully switches between the two very different personalities, and is able to confuse us as to whether she’s truly going insane. She alone really puts you on the edge of your seat wondering what’s going to happen next. Horse Girl isn’t the kind of pretentious arthouse film you might think. Sure, it’s full of symbolism and metaphors that casual moviegoers probably won’t get. But this movie doesn’t go out of its way to hide its answers from the audiences, and allows people to put together their own explanations without proving them wrong. Jeff Baena and Alison Brie do a great job putting together a tightly wound mystery, and Brie delivers a great performance at the same time. Rated TV-MA (Contains Strong Language including Sexual References and Violence Throughout - Most Involving Children)
Spoilers Ahead! On the crime-filled streets of Detroit, officer James Coffee (Ed Helms) does his best to live out his dream of protecting them. However, he is mostly inept at his job, which makes him a laughing stock among his fellow officers. At least he has seemingly found his true love in single mom Vanessa Manning. The two really care for each other; something her 12-year-old son Kareem (Terrence Little Gardenhigh) isn’t too thrilled about. So in an attempt to get things back to the way he wants it, Kareem tries to enlist the aid of local drug dealer Orlando Johnson (RonReaco Lee) to scare Coffee off. As you might expect, this goes horribly wrong and the duo find themselves on the run and blamed for numerous crimes. They’re going to have to fight for their lives, and work through their mutual hatred for each other, as they slowly uncover a brewing conspiracy within Coffee’s department. Though the idea of a kid trying to get rid of his mother’s new boyfriend isn’t anything new, it still has the potential to deliver some good laughs when done right. This film, however, does not do it right. Its biggest problem being the main kid Kareem. All he wants to do is protect the one thing he has left, which is his mom, and he’s afraid that James will take that away. It also doesn’t help that James is a cop, and Kareem is aggressively anti-authority. But the process he takes to try and get James to leave only leaves us, the audience, repulsed. Kareem, who the script says is 12-years-old, is a non-stop barrage of cursing, sex jokes, and accusations of James being “inappropriate” towards him. He never lands any of his jokes, and it becomes extremely uncomfortable to watch this preteen kid constantly make claims about how big his privates are. This adds to another of the films major issues; its reliance on rather offensive stereotypes. The abundance of African American gangster clichés really seems to be what the script wants to mine for humor. But we’re mostly left with very unlikable characters that are at the mercy of a film that seeks to use their unfortunate situations and incidents of graphic violence strictly for laughs. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been a fan of comedies that think there’s nothing funnier than watching idiots get violently maimed or blown to bits. Sadly, even the assembled cast isn’t good enough to save the day. Ed Helms, for as funny as he is, feels out of place in a cast of actors that don’t feel on the same level as him. Betty Gabriel, who plays a coworker of James, is among the worst of the cast. When it’s revealed that she’s the main villain, her performance becomes an unstable mishmash of angry shouting and casual murder. It feels like she was trying to go for something campy, but just comes off as someone so annoying, you can’t wait to watch her die. Coffee & Kareem is a very repulsive and aggressively unfunny Netflix original that does nothing to reinvent, or even gel together, the many different genres and stories it works with. Its mix of almost offensive clichés and mean-spirited humor makes for a very uncomfortable combination that will leave viewers gasping in disbelief rather than busting a gut. In this reviewers opinion, you’re probably best skipping this one. Rated TV-MA (Contains Language, Violence, and Sexual Content)
Small town defense attorney Jasmine Bryant (Bresha Webb) has begun to question her passion for the profession. Her cases never win, and she’s growing more disgusted at the criminal actions she has to prove her clients didn’t commit. That is until she gets her latest case; a murder committed by Grace Waters (Crystal Fox) against her husband and artist Shannon DeLong (Mehcad Brooks). Through a series of interviews, Jasmine learns the truth behind Grace’s actions. She and Shannon had a seemingly perfect relationship. That is, until he revealed his true nature as a manipulative abuser that pushed Grace to her breaking point. Although all signs point to her being guilty, and even with Grace’s desire to plead guilty, Jasmine sees an opportunity to prove her innocence based on her story. That’s really the main issue of the film. Right at the beginning, the film introduces various intertwining storylines, and much of the film focuses on Jasmine rather than Grace. This is a bit of a letdown as the trailers made us think the whole movie would be about Grace and what led up to the murder. But in reality, this only takes up a small portion of the film, and the rest is dedicated to her resulting trial. It becomes confusing trying to keep up with the many twists and turns that come later. We are presented with loads of clues and red herrings throughout both the present day portion and the flashbacks. But once the big reveals start to come into play, so much of the central mystery is tangled up that it’s really hard to try and connect the final revelation with the evidence given to us earlier. Barely any of it jives with what was presented. There really aren’t many redeeming qualities to this movie. It’s a standard Tyler Perry film; which basically means it’s a Lifetime Channel movie with a slightly higher budget. A soapy, salacious domestic thriller that can’t be taken seriously no matter how dark the film’s tone gets. Everything about it is so ridiculous and over-the-top that it almost stems into “so bad, it’s good” territory. Even I admit that the film was inches away from achieving guilty pleasure territory. This mostly comes from the performances of the cast. Despite the increasingly convoluted story and clunky execution, the actors and actresses seem to bounce between taking this fully seriously and realizing there’s nothing in the film worth doing so. Mehcad Brooks in particular plays the role of the abusive, manipulative husband almost as a parody of the archetype. He’s not very menacing, but there’s something about his performance that makes him one of the few entertaining parts of the film. This campy feel also applies to Perry’s script. There’s nothing original about the story he tries to tell, and by leaning so heavily into basic clichés, there are times where the film plays more like a parody of the genre. It’s clear that Perry knows his target audience will probably take it seriously, but since that’s a very niche audience, all others might get a few laughs out of the absurd attempts at thrills and various non-sequiturs. A Fall from Grace continues to prove that Tyler Perry is a really good actor, but as a filmmaker, he leaves something to be desired. Even though everyone in the movie seem to take everything around them seriously, the abundance of overplayed tropes of the genre and ridiculous plot twists make it hard for the audience to do the same. If you’re a fan of domestic thrillers, then you might find enjoyment from it, since it doesn’t do much to reinvent the concept. If you’re not, then you’ll either hate it, or find it hard not to laugh at it. |
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