Handsome, Dull ‘DEATH ON THE NILE’ Paddles Towards Predictability

February 10, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Agatha Christie, Annette Bening, Armie Hammer, Death on the Nile, Emma Mackey, Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Letita Wright, Michael Green, Reviews, Russel Brand, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Bateman 1 Comment

Death on the Nile begins with the origin story of Hercule Poirot’s (Kenneth Branagh) ridiculous mustache. His face was half-blown off in WWI you see, this facial deformity informing his older self’s reclusive and fussy nature. The overly coiffed, quadruple-pronged mustache was a cover up all along. A way to throw people off the scent of his great trauma and deep-seated pain. The detective, it seems, is indeed human after all. Surmising why the world-famous detective became who he is proves the best material in this sequel to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, a murder mystery that is otherwise haunted by an almost total lack of mystery. Read More

‘MOONFALL’ A Crash Course on Big Dumb Havoc Wreaking

February 3, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlie Plummer, Chris Sandiford, Halle Berry, John Bradley, Kelly Reilly, Michael Pena, Moonfall, Out in Theaters, Patrick Wilson, Review, Reviews, Roland Emmerich Leave a comment

The master of disaster is back to ruin the world again with Moonfall, a shamelessly bonkers sci-fi disaster movie where the moon is suddenly on a collision course with earth. A select few suspect aliens are involved. Following a string of disappointments, director Roland Emmerich’s latest is a bit of a return to form, or at least whatever form best suits Emmerich. Moonfall is an uncompromisingly ridiculous disaster epic where the scale is as massive as the plot-holes and the human element is consistently overshadowed by destruction special effects. It’s big, it’s loud, it’s dumb, and by the time the whole thing takes shape, it’s almost too much fun to deny its simple pleasures. Almost. Read More

‘JACKASS FOREVER’: A Confederacy of Dunces

February 2, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chris Pontius, Dave England, Ehren McGhehey, Eric André, Jackass Forever, Jasper Dolphin, Jeff Tremaine, Johnny Knoxville, Machine Gun Kelly, Preston Lacy, Reviews, Sean McInerney, Steve-O, Wee-Man Leave a comment

It’s a remarkable feat that all these years later, MTV’s original confederacy of dunces still can withstand this level of pain. Jackass Forever, as directed by longtime ringmaster Jeff Tremaine, forgoes any suggestion of maturity and sticks with the simple premise of dick-punching, bone-shattering, concussion-friendly gags that these cackling hyena’s den of pranksters have long delivered for the juvenile, puerile, infantile amongst us. It’s just as recklessly funny as it’s always been. Read More

Sundance ’22: Finnish Horror ‘HATCHING’ Gives Birth to Fowl Play

January 24, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Hanna Bergholm, Hatching, Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Sundance, Sundance 2022 Leave a comment

An ooey, gooey suburban creature feature about motherhood and maintaining the illusion of perfection, Hatching expertly blends the weirder side of horror with a deeper message. Motherhood – at any age – requires great sacrifice. It’s often nasty, inglorious business. Hatching is not elevated horror. Nor is it shlock. Instead, this Finnish import about a newly hatched bird-human hybrid pulls from E.T. and Troma films, utilizing great practical effects to pluck at ideas of puberty and motherhood. Read More

SUNDANCE ’22: Carla Juri Shines in Understated Romance ‘BLOOD’

January 24, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged blood, Bradley Rust Gray, Carla Juri, Reviews, Sundance, Sundance 2022, Takashi Ueno Leave a comment

Following the death of her husband, photographer Chloe (Carla Juri) moves to Japan to try to start anew in blood. She’s welcome by their jovial old friend and traveling musician Toshi (Takashi Ueno) as well as the beguiling mysteries that every new city holds. As Chloe wanders the city streets and inviting countryside with her camera, she makes new acquaintances, including a man whose wife is battling cancer, a kind-hearted kindred spirit florist, and a dance choreographer. But none quite see her as fully as Toshi does. As a yearning and perhaps forbidden attraction takes root, the widowed Chloe must contend with allowing herself to feel romantically for someone again. Read More

SUNDANCE ’22: Love and Lust Challenges High School Girls in Thoughtful ‘GIRL PICTURE’

January 24, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Aamu Milonoff, Alli Haapasalo, Eleonoora Kauhanen, Girl Picture, Linnea Leino, Sundance, Sundance 2022 Leave a comment

Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) are Finnish High School students and ride-or-die best friends. In Alli Haapasalo’s Girl Picture, the inseparable duo attend school before working together at the mall where they hawk smoothies with names like “It Takes Two to Mango” or “Just Breathe”. On the clock, they dish about romantic trysts and the upcoming Friday’s party, sometimes to the chagrin of their customers. When Emma (Linnea Leino), their classmate and an obsessive figure skater who dreams of becoming the future European Champion, falls into Mimmi’s orbit, the pair flirt with first love. Meanwhile Rönkkö struggles through a series of unsatisfying romantic entanglements with a revolving door of expectant young men. Read More

Sundance ’22: Existential Sci-Fi ‘AFTER YANG’ Grapples With the Great A.I. Beyond

January 24, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, After Yang, Alexander Weinstein, Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith., Justin H. Min, Kogonada, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Sundance, Sundance 2022 Leave a comment

On being, Descartes famously opined, “I think therefore I am.” Well, actually, he said, “Cogito, ergo sum,” but no one speaks Latin these days so you get the gist. After Yang, an existential science fiction movie from video essayist turned director Kogonada (Columbus), takes a step beyond the 17-century French philosopher to ponder what constitutes being in a world where humans and artificially-intelligent robots known as “technosapien” co-exist. Read More

SUNDANCE ’22: The Hefty Cost of Righteousness in ‘GOD’S COUNTRY’

January 23, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged God's Country, Jefferson White, Joris Jarsky, Julian Higgins, Kai Lennox, Reviews, Sundance, Sundance 2022, Thandiwe Newton Leave a comment

When a red truck is left parked on her property, a public speaking professor inadvertently begins an escalating feud with two townie hunters. Based on the short story “Winter Light” by James Lee Burke, God’s Country is a frosty thriller about bad blood in the Alaskan backcountry where an attempt to be reasonable breaks down into white hot confrontation. Led by a commanding turn from Thandiwe Newton, the debut film from Julian Higgins spotlights the spurned Sandra approaching a breaking point, as her better judgment is overtaken by frustration with a community that doesn’t see her as an equal or want to take her seriously. Read More

Sundance ’22: ’Til Distance Do Us Part With ‘ALICE’

January 23, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Alice, Common, Jonny Lee Miller, Keke Palmer, Krystin Ver Linden, Sundance, Sundance 2022 Leave a comment

’Til distance do us part. Not death. These are the vows of the slave – or “domestic” – in Krystin Ver Linden’s Alice. But death may always interfere. And distance – through space and through time – proves to be but an illusion. Alice (Keke Palmer) is a slave. She wants for liberation, daring for escape from the Spanish moss-covered Georgian plantation where she was raised. Freedom, it turns out, is just beyond her front door. All she needs is distance. Read More

Sundance ’22: ‘CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH’ Channels ‘The Graduate’ for Zoomer Generation

January 23, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews, Most Popular Tagged Cha Cha Real Smooth, Cooper Raif, Dakota Johnson, Evan Assante, Leslie Mann, Vanessa Burkhardt Leave a comment

In life, one always has the option of just being nice. With the endearing SXSW Grand Jury Prize winner Shithouse – an overtly sensitive college-campus drama that riffs on the sub-genre of conversation-driven romance films like Before Midnight – and now with Cha Cha Real Smooth, writer/director/star Cooper Raif has proven this to be his modus operadi. Raif’s second feature is an unironically nice film about a recent college grad who falls for the attractive – and engaged – mom of a middle schooler with autism. The kind-hearted temperament of Raif’s films are disarmingly genuine, if skirting the line with being almost – to put it in middle school terms – lame. But for those who can vibe on Raif’s decidedly kind wavelengths, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a feel-good crowdpleaser – with enough complications to keep things interesting. Read More