Incisive ‘PARASITE’ a Boundary-Smashing Stroke of Genius

October 22, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Best of 2019, Bong Joon Ho, Hye-jin Jang), Hyun-jun Jung), Ji-so Jung, Jin Won-han, Kang-ho Song), Parasite, So-dam Park, Sun-kyun Lee, Woo-sik Choi, Yeo-jeong Jo 1 Comment

Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite, a film that has received near universe praise since its Cannes debut, is a masterful synthesis of the director’s great skill as a filmmaker. The South Korean storyteller, who has been active since 1994, is known to dabble in difficult-to-confine genres, sampling his funky take on crime epics (Memories of Murder), creature features (The Host), and sci-fi larks (Snowpiercer) but always with a flair for the theatrical, a knack for the oddball, and with a good store of surprises up his sleeve. Even his sloppiest film (Okja) reveals a storyteller with an iron-clad command over his intentions. His best works though can be truly transcendent. And that is what we’re dealing with here. Read More

‘GREENER GRASS’ a WTF Explosion of Boundless Weirdness and Creativity

October 17, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beck Bennett, D’Arcy Carden, Dawn Luebbe, Greener Grass, IFC Midnight, Jocelyn DeBoer, Neil Casey, Out in Theaters, Reviews, WTF Leave a comment

Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe have done it. They have made the weirdest, most inexplicable, indescribable film of 2019. And I kinda love it. The pair write, direct, and star in Greener Grass, a feature-length adaptation of their 2015 of the same name, fulfilling a hole in the market for those craving a mighty scoop of WTF in with their satirical entertainment. The result is like if Yorgos Lanthimos directed an episode of Sesame Street, a highly-mannered bizarro world where citizens battle self-preservation instincts in order to appease faux-friendly neighbors. Read More

‘ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP’ Is Mindless Zom-Com with Neither Bite Nor a Point

October 16, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Abigail Breslin, Dave Callaham, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Luke Wilson, Out in Theaters, Paul Wernick, Reviews, Rhett Reese, Rosario Dawson, Ruben Fleischer, Thomas Middleditch, Woody Harrelson, Zoey Deutch, Zombieland 2, Zombieland: Double Tap Leave a comment

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) have taken up residence in the White House to brave the lingering zombie apocalypse. Their days spent coiled like dragons atop stockpiles of munitions and supplies have led to a general sense of longing. For Tallahassee, it’s the road that’s calling. Witchita meanwhile can’t calm her fear of committment while Little Rock longs for a romantic companion of her own. It’s only the group nerd Columbus who seems to enjoy a sense of post-apocalyptic calm, probably because the apocalypse has afforded him the impossible scenario of hooking up with Emma Stone. When the ladies unexpectedly pack up and head out one night, Tallahassee and Columbus meet a new tagalong in Madison (Zoey Deutch) and brave the great zombieland unknown to reunite the group. Read More

‘DOLEMITE IS MY NAME ‘ Puts Eddie Murphy Back in the Spotlight, Right Where He Belongs

October 15, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bob Odenkirk, Chris Rock, Craig Brewer, Craig Robinson, Da-Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite is My Name, Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Larry Karaszewski, Mike Epps, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rudy Ray Moore, Scott Alexander, Snoop Dogg, Tituss Burgess, Wesley Snipes 2 Comments

Dolemite is My Name, or How Eddie Murphy Got His Groove Back, is one of those movies about a bunch of guys who don’t know how to make a movie making a movie. Craig Brewer’s biopic of industrious comedian-turned-actor/producer Rudy Ray Moore shares similar broad strokes to James Franco’s The Disaster Artist in that capacity but the flavor here is unmistakably ebony. Also, there is much clearer deference to the film’s subject and his undeniable talents. Read More

Expect Double the Will Smith, Half the Fun in ‘GEMINI MAN’ Dud

October 9, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ang Lee, Benedict Wong, Billy Ray, Clive Owen, Darren Lemke, David Benioff, Gemini Man, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Will Smith Leave a comment

All Will Smith’s Henry Brogan wants is to retire in Ang Lee’s muddled faux-cerebral actioner Gemini Man but perhaps it’s the once-celebrated director who should be submitting his resignation instead. The two-time Oscar winner is nearly unrecognizable in his new role as a beta-James Cameron techno-chaser, confusing higher frame rates, CGI Frankenstein creations, and 4k projection for the inklings of a passable story. But even if you remove the muddled slop-fest that is Gemini Man’s narrative out of the equation, you’re left with jumbled CGI-heavy action scenes and distinctly unsophisticated moral imperatives. Read More

Roommates are Awful, Especially in Eggers’ Brilliant ‘THE LIGHTHOUSE’

October 8, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Horror, Robert Eggers, Robert Pattinson, The Lighthouse, Willem Dafoe 1 Comment

In the rundown of worst roommate habits, persistent flatulence has to rank pretty highly. But I can’t imagine even the gnarliest gas could possibly compete with the sour stench of stale pee stewing in a bedpan in a tight communal space. Which brings us to The Lighthouse, a film wherein, from the first moments, odors assert themselves. The celluloid reeks of old piss, beefy farts, caked-up spunk, “rotten foreskin”, man musk, and drinkable kerosene. This is a movie that would tear down the house in Smell-O-Vision. Fortunately, we do not have to endure its reek. Read More

Takashi Miike’s ‘FIRST LOVE’ Is a Rambunctious Yakuza Rom-Com, and That’s Awesome

October 3, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged First Love, Gangster, Masa Nakamura, Masataka Kubota, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Eri Rabone, Reviews, Sakurako Konishi, Takashi Miike Leave a comment

For a man 59-years of age with well over 100 feature films under his belt, Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike shows no signs of slowing down. The prolific auteur has dabbled in everything from sweeping historical epics (13 Assassins) to slow-burn horror showstoppers (Audition) to schlocky gangster yarns (Ichi the Killer) to gory Samurai adventure flicks (Blade of the Immortal) to child-centric ninja fare (Ninja Kids!!!) with literal countless smaller projects filling in the gaps between those more high-profile pictures that end up playing in theaters internationally. With the director often making upwards of five, six, or seven films a year, it’s nothing short of incredible that he’s able to craft something as wildly enjoyable, energetic, and giddy as his most recent film, First Love, and yet here we are. Read More

With Phoenix’s Bleak ‘JOKER’, a Good Punchline Can Re-Write History

October 2, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Arthur Fleck, Batman, Frances Conroy, Joaquin Phoenix, Joker, Robert De Niro, Todd Phillips, Zazie Beetz 2 Comments

Trash is piling up in Gotham City. Plunged into a recess of political gridlock, societal malaise, and civil unrest, the city is steeped in refuge. Waste management services are on strike. Black bags of Gotham’s waste line the streets. Arthur Fleck counts himself amongst the discarded. He’s trash personified; tossed out alongside his creepy cackle. According to Arthur, he hasn’t had a happy day in his life. A simmering hotpot of childhood trauma, deep-set depression, daddy issues, hallucination-prone psychosis, sexual repression, and rage-onset tendencies, Arthur just ain’t a happy camper. And yet, he’s told to smile, to grin and bear it, to play nice. Read More

Scuzzy ‘HARPOON’ a Stripped-Down Malevolent Dark Comedy At Sea

October 1, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brett Gelman, Christopher Gray, Emily Tyra, Harpoon, Horror, Munro Chambers, Rob Grant Leave a comment

Aristotle posits that there are three types of friendships, those based in utility, pleasure or virtue, but Harpoon’s narrator (Stranger Thing’s Brett Gelman) would like to add a fourth: the friendship of history. These are friends by virtue of having been friends. Turns out that these friendships aren’t always the most healthy. Especially when you’re out to sea and uncover a love triangle of infidelity and have a harpoon (or speargun rather) at your immediate disposal. Read More

Zellweger Stages a Full-Throated Comeback In ‘JUDY’, A Sturdy Biopic That Doesn’t Quite Find Next Gear

September 23, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andy Nyman, Biopic, Darci Shaw, Finn Wittrock, Jessie Buckley, Judy, Out in Theaters, Peter Quilter, Renée Zellweger, Reviews, Rupert Goold, Tom Edge Leave a comment

Fame is toxic. Particularly for the young. Ask River Phoenix. Or Lindsay Lohan. Brittany Spears. Macaulay Culkin. We’ve seen the tragedy of adolescent fame, one as old as the concept of fame itself, play out across history time and again. In Judy, the prepubescent bargain for fame opens the film. Flanked by a yellow brick road, a young Judy Garland (played by Darci Shaw) trades her songbird voice and every ounce of independence for the opportunity to be more than “just a mother” or another “office girl”. For the chance to be seen, admired, beloved by a nation. Unknowingly selling her soul to the devil of entertainment and damning herself to a challenging life of self-commodification, Judy is the OG tragedy girl struck down by fame’s cantankerous venom. Read More