Disappointing ‘GLADIATOR II’ Offers Bread and Circus

November 11, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Denzel Washington, Fred Hechinger, Gladiator II, Joseph Quinn, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Reviews, Ridley Scott 6 Comments

When civilization is on the brink of collapse, proffer bread and circus. The entire spectacle of Roman gladiatorial battles was perhaps history’s most extravagant example of distracting the hoi polloi with empty spectacle as the structural integrity of their civilization collapsed around them. At least until the end-stage capitalistic United States came along. So long as bellies are full and minds are lulled by materially empty entertainment, the masses remain appeased. Nearly two millennia later, we very much live in an age of bread and circus (thanks a lot Captain America), and that’s exactly what Ridley Scott offers with his long-awaited sequel, Gladiator II – a film that, despite its supreme spectacle, feels calorically empty and narratively unsatisfying. Read More

‘DRIVE AWAY DOLLS’ A Perplexing Lesbian Road Trip Caper From One Half of the Coen Bros

February 21, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beanie Feldstein, Bill Camp, Colman Domingo, Drive Away Dolls, Ethan Coen’, Geraldine Viswanathan, Margaret Qualley, Matt Damon, Miley Cyrus, Pedro Pascal 1 Comment

A pair of odd couple lesbians head to Tallahassee in Ethan Coen’s (of the Coen brothers) bizarre comedy caper, Drive Away Dolls. Each looking for a fresh start, Jaime (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) form an unlikely pair. One is a fast-talkin’, easy-lovin’ free spirit. The other is an over-thinking, uptight introvert. But their friendship persists through their differences and after a breakup and professional stall-out the duo journey south in a “drive away” car, a service that allows renters to transports vehicles across state lines. One case of mistaken identity and a drive away car mix-up later, the pair realize they are transporting a valuable case of personal effects hidden in the car’s boot. A couple of inept goons are hot on their tail as their road trip takes them to various gay bars, touristy pit stops, and run-ins with the law in what can only be described as a bizarre herky-jerky pre-Y2K slapstick attempt. It’s at once perplexing, engaging, annoying, and utterly sloppy, and really serves to highlight just how much the Coen Brothers need one another as collaborators. Read More

Sundance ‘24: ‘FREAKY TALES’ A Disjointed Tapestry of Stories, Ideas, and Tones, with Nazis

January 19, 2024 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Angus Cloud, Anna Boden, Ben Mendelsohn, Freaky Tales, Jay Ellis, Pedro Pascal, Ryan Fleck, Sundance, Sundance 2024 2 Comments

Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s Freaky Tales, a madcap 1987 Oakland-set anthology, is a lot. Told in four loosely threaded together chapters, this interconnected story of the intersection of corruption, subculture, and violence in Reagan-era west coast America bites off more than it can chew, becoming more of an implosive collision than a meaningful exploration of much as it stretches on. As is often the case with anthological features, each individual story only feels half-baked, the germ of a story not afforded the room to grow and develop into something more. They’re connected in only the loosest of senses, making the sloppy whole certainly less than the sum of its sometimes interesting parts. Read More

Uninspired ’WONDER WOMAN 1984’ A Careless Sequel I Wish Didn’t Exist

December 23, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chris Pine, Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Out in Theaters, Patty Jenkins, Pedro Pascal, Reviews, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 1 Comment

An aimless, uninteresting, and frankly deeply disappointing follow-up to 2017’s critically beloved and widely-adored Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 is a top-down failure of a sequel. Losing nearly all the magic of what made the Diana Prince character work so well in her first solo venture and throughout her tenure in the DCEU, this unintelligible next chapter is a total overstuffed mess that somehow manages to be both too heavy and too thin on plot, one that shambles around for a two-and-a-half-hour runtime without ever truly convincing us that it has much of a story to tell in the first place. Folks, it’s a damn mess. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE GREAT WALL’

February 16, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jin Tian, Matt Damon, Out in Theaters, Pedro Pascal, Reviews, The Great Wall, Willem Dafoe, Zhang Yimou 1 Comment

An unmitigated juggernaut of bad, pointless cinema, The Great Wall is what happens when globalization and movie-making meets. A historical epic-meets-monster movie ostensibly designed for Chinese and American audiences both, the latest Matt Damon vehicle fails on nearly every level. However if you can feign excitement for a sleep-walking Damon channeling Hobbit-era Legolas to shoot arrows at an endless horde of dog-raptors then please read no further; The Great Wall is the flick for you. If that does not describe your tastes then beware, you’re in store for a long walk off a short plank of stupidity. At only 90 minutes, The Great Wall somehow begins to strain credulity in the shallows of the first act and it only gets worse from there. Read More