The Dumbest Superhero Franchise Out There is Back – and Much Improved – With ‘VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE’

September 30, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andy Serkis, Kelly Marcel, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Tom Hardy, Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Woody Harrelson 1 Comment

In a superhero market defined by over-saturation, whatever the hell Sony is doing with Venom is entirely its own beast. The first installment from maligned director Ruben Fleischer was a wacky misfire that floundered critically but made piles of money, amassing nearly a billion dollars worldwide. My complaints with the 2018 clunker started with the childish script and spiraled all the way down through the weird performances, mismashed tone, off-putting direction, and juvenile needle drops. I ultimately flunked the film and dreaded its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Much to my surprise, not only is this follow-up not an abomination but it’s actually pretty fun? Read More

‘NO TIME TO DIE’ Kills Off Daniel Craig’s Reign as 007 in Sullen, Disappointing Fashion

September 29, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ana de Armas, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Christoph Waltz, David Dencik, James Bond, Jeffrey Wright, Lashana Lynch, Léa Seydoux, Neal Purvis, No Time to Die, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ralph Fiennes, Rami Malek, Robert Wade 1 Comment

With No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s run as gentleman spy James Bond has reached its final stop. And it’s with a heavy heart that I tell you that Craig’s last turn as 007 is a lumbering swan song at best; a heaving disappointment all in all, lacking in wit, memorable spectacle, even semi-logical villainy, and sensical plotting. For a near-three hour capstone to the Daniel Craig era of James Bond, No Time to Die is both overly-plotted and undercooked, too short on whizzbang set pieces and long on trying to tie up all the loose continuity of his run. It is, in a phrase, more than past the moment to let this particular iteration of the character go. It is indeed time to die.

‘THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK’ and the Crushing Weight of Legacy

September 23, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alan Taylor, Alessandro Nivola, Billy Magnussen, Chase Vacnin, Corey Stoll, David Chase, John Magaro, Jon Bernthal, Lawrence Konner, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Ray Liotta, Robert Vincent Montano, Samson Moeakiola, The Many Saints of Newarks Leave a comment

“Remember when is the lowest form of conversation,” Tony Soprano once remarked around a table of champagne, lobster shells, Paulie Walnuts, and some one-night-only broads. Despite his seeming disdain for callbacks to the good ole days, Tony Soprano remained a man often ruled by nostalgia. His admiration for the Gary Cooper generation, the strong silent type who took their licks quietly, informed the impending storm of dread that drove him repeatedly to the therapist’s chair. Whatever the New Jersey mafia had become under his watch, it surely couldn’t measure up to the hay days of the shy guys of his father’s generation. Read More

A Gambling Oscar Isaac Bets on Salvation in Stoic Drama ‘THE CARD COUNTER’

September 9, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alexander Dynan, Oscar Isaac, Out in Theaters, Paul Schrader, Reviews, Robert Levon Been, The Card Counter, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe 1 Comment

Nihilism pairs naturally with playing cards semi-professionally. Those hitting the poker circuit know this. The most improbable river (the fifth card in a game of Texas Hold ‘em) can render the best hand and best player a loser in the wings, drawing dead. They just don’t know it yet. It seems that odds are meaningless against the tides of fate. Cold, calculating, and reductive, the best poker players are those who remove the emotional element entirely, stoic ice statues playing odds, preying on the faintest whiff of weakness. The Card Counter, the newest film from auteur Paul Schrader (First Reformed) is a nihilistic meditation on the impossibility of redemption, as a broken military man turned gifted gambler wrestles with his demons around a card table. Read More

Icy Free Solo Doc ‘THE ALPINIST’ Makes Alex Honnold Look Like a Moderate Risk-Taker

September 2, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alex Honnold, Documentary, Marc-André Leclerc, Nick Rosen, Out in Theaters, Peter Mortimer, Reviews 3 Comments

The crux of Nick Rosen and Peter Mortimer’s (The Dawn Wall) thrilling new climbing documentary The Alpinist is self-described “true dirtbag” Marc-André Leclerc. Leclerc, a 23-year old Canadian alpine free solo enthusiast-turned-pioneer, is in many ways the antithesis of many modern climbers. Seeking fame is not and never has been his purpose, the documentary beginning with Leclerc as more of a mythical easter egg, a whisper within the upper rungs of the climbing community. Much like The Sparks are “your favorite band’s favorite band”, Leclerc is your favorite climbers’ favorite climber. His bonafides are certified early on when climbing rockstar and Free Solo subject Alex Honnold choses Leclerc when asked who in the climbing world impressed him. Read More

Social Horror ‘CANDYMAN’ Radically Addresses Black Trauma in Brutal Fashion

August 25, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Candyman, Colman Domingo, John Guleserian, Jordan Peele, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Nia DaCosta, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowes, Teyonah Parris, Win Rosenfeld, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II 2 Comments

For what it does right – and it does do plenty right – Bernard Rose’s 1992 cult horror-slasher Candyman feels like a dated product of its racially off-putting times. Hone in on where it focuses the spotlight: Virginia Madsen’s curious and lily white grad student Helen Lyle, out to deconstruct the urban myths of a hook-handed boogeyman terrorizing the Black community. A white woman in distress scouring the trauma of the African-American hood, Helen is a peculiar cypher for a story about the lingering horrors of race. Read More

Fantastical but Flawed ‘SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS’ Expands MCU’s Horizons

August 23, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andrew Lanham, Awkwafina, Benedict Wong, Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton, Marvel, MCU, Meng-er Zhang, Shang-Chi, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Simu Liu, Tony Leung Chiu-wai 2 Comments

Indebted as much to Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as anything within the Marvel Cinematic Universe proper, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the MCU’s spin on a Wuxia epic. Big fantastical action mixes with Chinese mysticism and Marvel’s signature mood-lightening jokes to create a unique, if imperfect, Marvel experience, one that introduces new characters, powerful Macguffins, new brand of superpowers, and even more hidden worlds to the ever-expanding MCU. Read More

Dystopian Neo-Noir Love Story ‘REMINISCENCE’ Made Me Feel Nothing

August 19, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cliff Curtis, Hugh Jackson, Lisa Joy, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Ferguson, Reminiscence, Reviews, Thandiwe Newton 1 Comment

If it keeps on raining the levy’s going to break. As sang by Robert Plant so it goes in Reminiscence, Lisa Joy’s stodgy science fiction noir some untold years into a future devastated by climate change and war. As an increasingly uninhabitable earth grows wetter and hotter with each passing year, oceans eat away at what is left of America. The roaring heat of the daytime turns humanity into nocturnal creatures. Dry lands become the new gold standard but greedy barons snap up what they can and leave little for the masses. With populations displaced and growing civil unrest, humanity turns increasingly to memories of yesteryear. Read More

Entertaining ‘THE SUICIDE SQUAD’ Surprisingly Conventional for Comic Book Movie That Weaponizes Polka Dots

August 4, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Daniela Melchior, David Dastmalchian, DC, DCEU, Idris Elba, Jai Courtney, James Gunn, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena, Margot Robbie, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Pete Davidson, Peter Capaldi, Reviews, Sean Gunn, Storm Reid, Sylvester Stallone, The Suicide Squad, Viola Davis 1 Comment

Look no further than James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad for proof that superhero media has truly become too big to fail. As legions of old and new, traditional and bizarre, familiar and not-so-familiar heroes position themselves to win out at the box office, as well as, increasingly, on our premium streaming services, comic lore has become the last remaining monocultural tentpole of our current age. Read More

‘JUNGLE CRUISE’ Charters a Noisy, Pun-Fueled Trip Down Familiar Waters

July 29, 2021 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Disney, Dwayne Johnson, Édgar Ramírez, Emily Blunt, Glenn Fircarra, Jaume Collet-Serra, Jesse Plemons, John Requa, Jungle Cruise, Michael Green, Out in Theaters, Paul Giamatti, Reviews 1 Comment

What to say about Jungle Cruise, Disney’s latest attempt to mine existing IP for franchise potential and big box office ducats, that isn’t already implied by its existence? For all intents and purposes, the movie is fine. An unremarkable, CGI-heavy “throwback” to the swashbuckling serials of the 1920’s, Jungle Cruise doesn’t hide its obvious aspirations to turn a Disneyland ride into another major media franchise a la Pirates of the Caribbean. The result is filmmaking as pure commerce, the beancounters at the House of Mouse barely containing their cynicism for audiences who see marquee names and a decently cut trailer and rush to cinemas (or, now, Disney+) to trade in their hard earned dollars for 127 minutes of chiseled, forgettable fantasy-adventure mediocrity. Read More