‘WONKA’ Delights in Making the Roald Dahl-Verse Dreamy Again

December 14, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Calah Lane, Hugh Grant, Jim Carter, Matt Lucas, Matthew Baynton, Natasha Rothwell, Neil Hannon, Olivia Colman, Paterson Joseph, Paul King, Rake Thakrar, Reviews, Rich Fulcher, Roald Dahl, Simon Farnaby, Timothée Chalamet, Tom Davis, Wonka 2 Comments

Two words: Paul. King. The 45-year old British writer/director has not so much stumbled as pioneered his way into the most winsome of formulas with his trifecta of perfectly delightful family friendly films, Paddington, Paddington 2, and, now, Wonka. By exploring the backstory of the mysterious titular character from one of Roald Dahl’s most iconic tales, King seamlessly blends the charm and whimsy that have defined his previous works with the musical fantasia of the 1971 Gene Wilder-starring film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. The result is a truly special prequel: a largely wonderful and never-not-dazzling film that revels in oodles of fun, deliciously lavish set pieces, and many a toe-tapping song and dance numbers. Read More

‘THE IRON CLAW’ Wrestles with Tragedy but Fails to Pin Down Greatness

December 12, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany, Jeremy Allen White, Maura Tierney, Sean Durkin, Stanley Simons, The Iron Claw, Zac Efron 1 Comment

The Iron Claw, Sean Durkin’s foray into the tumultuous world of the Von Erich wrestling dynasty, made up of multiple generations of wrestling stars and a number of notable title wins, juxtaposes the silly spectacle of wrestling with a profoundly dysfunctional family drama. Starring Zac Efron as much-too-beefy wrestler Kevin Von Erich, this A24 film offers an intriguing, if somewhat limited, look into the larger-than-life spectacle of the wrestling world and the grim reality of a family marred by real life tragedy. Read More

Bureaucracy of Evil: ‘THE ZONE OF INTEREST’

December 5, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Christian Friedel, Johnnie Burn, Jonathan Glazer, Lukasz Zal, Mica Levi, Reviews, Sandra Hüller, The Zone of Interest 3 Comments

How dare the guardians of hell find solace on its perimeter? That is the question that Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing holocaust drama asks. Not so much about the banality of evil as the bureaucracy of evil, the stomach-churning film ruminates on the operational complexities of the Holocaust and the monstrous administrators who oversaw its execution, making for a new entry to the Holocaust recreation sub-genre that’s starkly unique and entirely haunting. Glazer and cinematographer Lukasz Zal capture the simple, beautiful domesticity of a Germany family living just outside the barbed-wire walls of Auschwitz, juxtaposing the visually appealing nature of their idyllic grounds against the soul-piercing aural nightmare sounding on the other side of the wall. That stark contrast and cognitive dissonance – trapping the audience between seeing beauty and hearing hell – creates a truly disturbing tension in The Zone of Interest, sure to make viewers queasy and entirely unsettled. Read More

Fantastical ‘POOR THINGS’ A Madcap Adventure Through Self-Discovery

December 4, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things 5 Comments

As if involving the likes of Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, and Mark Ruffalo in a Yorgos Lanthimos film wasn’t enough of a good thing, the delightfully madcap Poor Things treats viewers to the combined prowess of these actors, harnessing their considerable talents for a wickedly funny and fresh reimagining of Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. Stone plays Bella Baxter, the creation of mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who prefers simply to go by the modest moniker “God”. Lanthimos presents Bella Baxter, a dullard reanimated beauty, as a miniature study in maturation. Viewers are invited to observe her journey, witnessing her rapid learning and growth onscreen. From her awkward first steps through her unhinged sexual awakening and eventually onto self-discovery and actualization, Bella’s odyssey is a delightful mix of hysterical black comedy and a thought-provoking feminist manifesto on personal evolution and revolution. Read More

Fiery ‘SALTBURN’ Glows With Psychosexual Heat, Palace Intrigue

November 13, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Barry Keoghan, Carey Mulligan, Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi, Linus Sandgren, Richard E. Grant, Rosamund Pike, Saltburn, Sophie Canale, Suzie Davies 3 Comments

In her second feature, writer, director, and producer Emerald Fennell digs her heels deeper into the themes of power dynamics and the consequences of privilege that she explored in 2020’s explosive Promising Young Woman, this time folding in palace intrigue by moving the action to the lofty estate of a family of aristocrats at the eponymous Saltburn. A decadent feast for the senses, Fennell’s sophomore feature calls to mind a tale as old as time framed through a modern lens: an unassuming Oxford scholar is allured by the corrosive power of wealth, finding himself sucked into a vortex of desire, greed, and materialism. It’s Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby with the hyper-modern visual high-shine of Euphoria and the cold calculation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel, plus a splash of the wealthy ennui found in a Sofia Coppola film. Read More

Off-Target, Annoying ‘NEXT GOAL WINS’ Misses Wide

November 7, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged David Fane, Elizabeth Moss, Iain Morris, Kaimana, Michael Fassbender, Next Goal Wins, Oscar Kightley, Reviews, Taika Waititi 2 Comments

How far the once bright star of Taika Waititi has fallen. Just a few years ago, Waititi was amongst the freshest new voices in the industry, having cut his teeth with heartfelt and genuinely endearing comedies like Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, as well as the sleeper vampire-comedy banger What We Do in the Shadows. His pivot to more commercial enterprises saw him direct a Marvel fan favorite in Thor: Ragnarok and earn a number of Oscar nominees for his Nazi satire Jojo Rabbit. His last few projects have been…less appealing. His return to the MCU with the fourth Thor film, Love and Thunder, was a true misfire, an early indication that the once-never-miss studio was on truly shaky ground, and his latest film, a half baked underdog sports drama once thought to have awards considerations, Next Goal Wins, has garnered the New Zealand native the worst reviews of his career. Read More

Bittersweet Symphony ‘THE HOLDOVERS’ Waxes on Holiday Loneliness

November 3, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Alexander Payne, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, David Hemingson, Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti, Reviews 3 Comments

Winter is coming. At an Exeter-esque New England prep school circa the 1970s, students ready themselves for Christmas break. All but a handful of Barton students anticipate time with family, away from the academic demands of their coursework and the prying eyes of their hawkish professors. A small collection of eponymous “holdovers” are left behind, stranded at the snow-bound school for various reasons, forsaken under the tyrannical cross-eye of Dr. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti). Amongst the abandoned is resident reprobate Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), a whip-smart smart-ass who’s a bit of a loner and has a troubled home life. There to ensure the collection is fed during their holiday stint is cafeteria manager Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), who recently lost her son, a recent Barton graduate, in the Vietnam War. Director Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, Nebraska), working from a fantastic script from long-time TV writer David Hemingson, finds every avenue to make these characters collide, collude, and refract one another in a dizzying display of heart, humanity, and humor. Read More

Scorsese’s Osage Nation Crime Opus ‘KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON’ is a Sprawling Tragedy of American Indifference

October 17, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Killers of the Flower Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robert DeNiro 5 Comments

Marty makes ‘em long. His most recent crime opus, Killers of the Flower Moon, based on David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction novel of the same name, explores themes that have long rumbled the conscience of the American auteur: corrosive greed, masculine rot, and the unsettling notion of violence as an accelerant for upward mobility. This time out, he’s dedicated 208 minutes (nearly three and a half hours, only a minute shorter than The Irishman) to telling this version of that story. That’s a full hour longer than Goodfellas, a movie that similarly deconstructed the idea of the American Dream and reframed it through the lens of rugged individualism, sickening violence, and moral decay, with startling clarity and explosive plotting. The result this time around, however, is a narrative that feels hazier in its execution, though no less lurid in its exploration of these enduring themes. By not framing this savage tale from the perspective of the affected indigenous people, Scorsese inadvertently echoes the same indifference he condemns. Read More

‘THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER’ Fails to Resurrect the Terror

October 4, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ann Dowd, David Gordon Green, Ellen Burstyn, Exorcist: Believer, Horror, Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Movie Reviews, Olivia Marcum, Out in Theaters, The Exorcist: Believer 4 Comments

If there’s one thing an Exorcist movie, be it a sequel, prequel, remake or sequel, needs to be, it’s scary. David Gordon Green’s 50-years later requel, The Exorcist: Believer fails that most fundamental test. The very celluloid of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist hums with tension and terror – each shot more possessed with unspeakable dread than the last. It’s the original nightmare-inducing horror film, a palpable shock to the system that stands up half a century later. It’s especially remarkable when you consider the context: just five years earlier, filmmakers were ensnared in the strict confines of the Hays Code, a moral guideline that prohibited profanity, suggestive nudity, graphic or realistic violence, and sexual persuasions. The thought of a 14-year-old child actor old uttering lines like, “Your mother sucks c*cks in hell” was plain unthinkable just a few years prior. It’s also pretty unthinkable today. Read More

‘THE CREATOR’ Updates Humanity With Technically Brilliant Original Sci-Fi

September 28, 2023 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Allison Janney, Chris Weitz, Gareth Edwards, Hans Zimmer, John David Washington, Ken Watanabe, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sturgill Simpson, The Creator Leave a comment

Good science fiction straddles the line between grappling with contemporary anxieties and reflecting on the essence of humanity, often through non-human characters. Movies such as Blade Runner, Ex Machina, Her, and even Terminator 2 explore the notion that our innate humanity transcends mere flesh and blood. Any truly meaningful exploration of humanity tends to exceed the boundaries of pure science and biology, delving into the metaphysical realms of the soul. Qualities like empathy, love, or even the ability to crack a good joke are as fundamentally human as opposable thumbs or the capacity to biologically reproduce. In one pivotal scene in Gareth Edwards’ stark and striking science fiction film The Creator, the best original sci-fi film in years, a group of American soldiers descend upon a village to extract the location of a concealed weapon. One of the soldier threatens to execute the dog of a trembling little girl unless she gives up information. It’s a stark reminder that humanity often eludes those who are, ostensibly, human themselves. Read More