Week Ending 7/28/23
Fantasia Fest Week One
My first week of full Fantasia coverage is posted below with thoughts on six titles (seven if you include SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, a film I reviewed for its domestic release that also played the festival). Next week will see more (probably not as many since I’m going to try and get to PASSAGES and a couple other US releases) with the week after housing whatever stragglers I can fit in.
The past couple weeks also saw the completion of some TV shows I’d been watching.
• My partner and I finally caught up to SENSE8 with mixed feelings. Some really cool concepts and characters, but oftentimes truly godawful writing.
• The new season of IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA proved a massive return to form with a handful of hilarious episodes culminating in yet another all-timer finale focusing on Glenn Howerton’s Dennis’ surreal journey alongside his rising blood pressure.
• And SECRET INVASION completed its brief run—a series I probably liked more than most (the backlash has been over-the-top in its loathing). It wasn’t flashy, but I think that’s why it worked for me. The MCU needs more quiet interludes. Shoutout to the fantastic theme song by Kris Bowers too.
• Oh, the back half of Henry Cavill’s swan song season of THE WITCHER also dropped yesterday. It’s been another solid chapter of fantasy adventure for the show (with episode five finally playing with its storytelling again—the first time since season one’s memorably enthralling structure). Looking forward to seeing where things go now that everyone’s deception is coming to a head.
What I Watched:
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE
(in theaters)
It’s tough to follow a late-series high watermark like MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE’s duo of ROGUE NATION and FALLOUT, but Christopher McQuarrie won’t be counted out from being the writer/director to do it. He’s the one who brought those two films to life, helping rejuvenate the franchise for star/producer Tom Cruise after it appeared the studio wanted to replace him with Jeremy Renner (a year before the BOURNE films tried doing the same). So, why not go back to the well and craft another epic espionage thriller/stunt extravaganza? Why not also make it another two-parter, just a planned one this time?
While there’s nothing wrong with that plan per se, you must come up with a suitably exciting hook. Nuclear weapons have been done. So too have deadly viruses and burning agents. McQuarrie and cowriter Erik Jendresen were therefore tasked with manufacturing a new threat for Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his crew of IMF castoffs. And what better threat for 2023 (despite the film being shot between 2020 and 2021) is there than artificial intelligence? It got the WGA and SAG-AFTRA to strike and force studios to recognize they haven’t been paid fairly. It’s what has random people ruining classic movies by digitally expanding the frame. And it’s got Elon Musk morphing Twitter into X.
The issue is that AI has been done many, many times before. THE TERMINATOR is such a classic that Skynet is still the word most people use when joking about a machine uprising. More than that, though, is the fact that Jonathan Nolan has already created what might be the best science fiction use of the technology with PERSON OF INTEREST’s “Machine” vs “Samaritan” (reworked in WESTWORLD as “Rehoboam”). DEAD RECKONING’s “The Entity” was never going to have an easy time winning me over as a result. That doesn’t mean the race to shut it down (or control it) wasn’t sufficiently exhilarating or entertaining. It simply felt like an inferior copy.
That’s what happens when you follow another’s footsteps. I’ll choose “The Machine” whispering in Root’s ear (or “Samaritan” in Control’s) every day before I do “The Entity” pulling Gabriel’s (Esai Morales) strings. Because the latter never feels as menacing or scary as it should since it isn’t actually doing anything … yet. The closest it got to making my blood pressure rise was the opening submarine-set prologue where a ghost in the machine freaks out a ship’s entire, already tightly wound crew. After that display, however, McQuarrie tips his hand. He shows us that his AI is a manipulator. A disruptor. He teaches us to question everything in such a way that makes the stakes concerning “The Entity” nonexistent.
And that’s okay since it isn’t the draw. PART ONE’s mission (should you accept it) is to recover two halves of a cruciform key that may or may not access “The Entity’s” source code and thus strong-arm control over its now sentient power. Kittridge (Henry Czerny)—long since absent from the series after the original film—knows Hunt is the best man for the job because he’s willing to do anything to save the world and because Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) is already embroiled in the chase. Add The White Widow’s involvement (Vanessa Kirby) and things shape up nicely for a wholesale reunion once Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) get the call.
The AI plays the role of nuisance, toying with Hunt and the others in ways that benefit its own goals. Doing so forces him onto a collision course with elusive thief Grace (Hayley Atwell), the aforementioned Gabriel, and his hired muscle Paris (Pom Klementieff). Bring in Agents Briggs (Shea Whigham) and Degas (Greg Tarzan Davis) and Hunt is pretty much guaranteed to find himself in a few corners with seemingly nowhere to go. Some want him dead. Others arrested. And all of them want the key—for their country, buyer, or selves. That’s why Hunt refuses to quit. He’s the only one willing to do what’s right: destroy it.
If you came for the inevitable action, you won’t be disappointed. We get a crazy car chase with an unlikely lead car, a knock-down fist fight atop a train a la the original film (swapping subway tunnels for outdoor mountain vistas), and a killer close-quarters brawl cementing how much Klementieff steals the show. It’s a lot of grunting and insane physical punishment that ultimately serves to pad the runtime (PART ONE is 163 minutes alone) and distract from how pedestrian the plot otherwise proves (it’s not enough to threaten to kill Hunt’s newest “Bond Girl”, McQuarrie must fridge another without even giving her a name to set-up a mysterious yet generic origin story for Hunt and Gabriel to have more bad blood than just what’s spilled today).
That’s where this chapter loses me a bit. It’s still very good for what it is, but ROGUE NATION and FALLOUT showed that “good” was actually only good enough. Maybe I’ll reassess after PART TWO comes out so I can judge the whole narrative as a cohesive unit, but right now this is probably on the lower end of the franchise spectrum (which isn’t saying much since I’ve given every entry a 7/10 or 8/10 besides the abysmal MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II—apologies to those pretending it’s worthy of reappraisal). It’s great popcorn escapism with expert fight choreography and a much funnier, almost slapstick rapport via sleight of hand subterfuge (a comedic development I can definitely get behind).
Cruise still has it. Whigham is a nice addition playing his usual by-the-books cop. Rhames and Pegg are practically one character, bickering until something happens for the latter to run as help while the former stays behind at his screens. And Ferguson shows why she’s been one of the most intriguingly complex characters of the bunch. I liked Atwell a lot in an assertive damsel in distress role with ample room to grow, but it’s Morales and Klementieff that shine most. They’re perhaps Hunt’s most dangerous villains yet—true psychopaths with confidence to spare. I only wish they weren’t lapdogs for the real antagonist. Rather than terrorize us with their obvious unpredictability, they merely follow commands from both “The Entity” and McQuarrie.
- 7/10
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
(now in limited release)
“It shouldn't necessarily change who you root for as much as force you to confront the reality that we're all capable of heinous acts when our backs are against the wall with love on the line.”
– Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
Fantasia International Film Festival
APORIA
(world premiere)
“APORIA feels akin to PRIMER in that way. Not as heady, but there are definitely aesthetic parallels. Merge that film's intelligence with the aching heart of LITTLE FISH and you get close to anticipating the vibe on-screen.”
– Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
THE BECOMERS
(world premiere)
“[Nothing] that's revealed is surprising considering Clark does well to keep clues out in the open, but a lot is shocking insofar as how wild he's willing to [go]. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but those on its frequency should have a whale of a time.”
- Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
BOOGER
(world premiere)
“Dauterman's message is relatable. Wanting to be numb rather than confront the pain should resonate with most audiences regardless of whether the genre device used proves too much to wrap their heads around.”
– Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK
(Canadian premiere; also now in theaters)
The Japanese high school basketball National Championship is underway between dynasty team Sannoh and the out-of-nowhere upstarts Shohoku. The former doesn’t seem to quite know what to do at the beginning, probably as a result of assuming the match would be a cakewalk.
Shohoku sophomore point guard Ryota Miyagi (Shugo Nakamura) is therefore swimming with confidence early alongside his teammates to take a two-point lead into the half, forcing Sannoh’s head coach to make the necessary adjustments only hindsight can provide. Cue a second half tip-off and massive twenty-two to zero run making it so everyone on Shohoku should want to quit if not for the adversity they’ve already faced to get this far.
Based on his manga SLAMDUNK, writer/director Takehiko Inoue wields the championship game at the center of THE FIRST SLAM DUNK as a device to dig deeper into the emotional journey each starting player on the Shohoku team has endured to grab hold of this seemingly impossible opportunity. While we get brief glimpses of big man Akagi (Kenta Miyake), three-point specialist Mitsui (Jun Kasama), red-headed yet extremely green rebounder Sakuragi (Subaru Kimura), and power forward Rukawa’s (Shinichiro Kamio) moments of epiphany harkening back to a prior test of resolve, however, this is truly Ryota’s show. He’s the first character we meet playing one-on-one with his older brother eight years ago. He’s the born leader desperate to stop backing down.
It won’t be easy, though. Not with the life he’s lived to this point. His father wasn’t gone long before his brother tragically followed, leaving him and his younger sister alone to watch after their grief-stricken mother. Sota was the basketball star whose dream was to defeat Sannoh in a final. He was the one who never hesitated to step-up and comfort their mom or speak-up and lead his teammates through whatever adversity popped up.
So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone when their mother stops going to Ryota’s games. With too many memories tied to those gymnasiums for her to unravel, she couldn’t be the cheerleader he craved. But Ryota is undaunted. He’ll become the best athlete he can to honor Sota and achieve that lofty dream in his honor.
The game itself is shot like a battle. Each point is a skirmish with good guy versus bad guy and inner monologues alternating between chastisement and awe. Akagi loses his mojo. Mitsui loses his breath. They’re dead men walking before their coach lights a fire under Sakuragi, knowing his inexperience makes him the best option for riling everyone up since he doesn’t know any better.
Even then, though, they still must contend with a smart, talented, and determined group on the other side. Anyone who knows basketball knows a twenty-point lead is nothing if the other team gets hot. And since these guys are all good players, most of their troubles are mental. Can they get out of their own way?
It may feel like your usual run-of-the-mill David vs Goliath sports drama wherein the suspense is less about the result than the mini games sprinkled throughout, but Inoue choreographs it with an electric pace and infectious humor to captivate on an aesthetic level alone. The draw is what happens between these teenagers’ ears anyway—the memories conjured by each conflict on the court.
It could be a schoolyard fight or a selfish teammate. Maybe past regrets or a reminder to breathe. Some choices aren’t perfect (intentionally allowing a badly injured kid to risk his ability to walk for a game is a massive step back from present-day medical and moral consensus while an unspoken yet obvious motivation mirror between losing a game and losing your brother is misguided at best), but high stakes do lead to high drama regardless.
- 7/10
LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP
(world premiere)
Writer/director Teresa Sutherland hits the nail on the head when speaking about the sense of foreboding nature holds. Fond stories about camping with her family as a child possess the nostalgia of pure joy because one doesn’t know any better at that age. If you’re with your parents, you’re invincible. There’s nothing to worry about because they wouldn’t have taken you if there was.
Then you fast-forward to adulthood and all the possibilities for tragedy suddenly flood your vision. The reality that a cold snap could freeze you in your clearance sale sleeping bag or that a wild animal could snatch you away without warning becomes paramount above any innocently idealistic fantasy about basking in the beautiful landscape. You aren’t in control in such an uncertain environment. You’re simply trusting that your luck will win out.
It didn’t for Lennon (Georgina Campbell). She was that child—she and her sister. Unfortunately for them, however, the stark horror of the forest revealed itself much sooner than the rest. Rather than find out as adults, they experienced the nightmare of losing themselves right then and there in the blink of an eye. Jenny was gone and Lennon was left crippled beneath the weight of survivor’s guilt for not having protected her from something she could not see or understand. So, she devoted her life to never failing again, becoming a park ranger to prevent future disappearances and, perhaps, to find Jenny’s remains.
While the idea of such a tragedy is scary in its own right, Sutherland takes it one step further in LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP by adding intent. Before we hear the conspiracy theories about granite fields in Arvores National Park and the countless people who’ve never returned once stepping foot upon them, we meet Varney (Soren Hellerup). A park ranger himself, he exits his cabin in the backwoods of the preserve to write down a message as his supervisor attempts to get through roll call. Instead of declaring his presence, Varney simply keeps walking until all we can see is what he wrote: I owe the land a body.
What an ominous introduction to this quietly intense drama it proves considering his replacement is a young woman who lost a body to that same land so many years ago. What then will Lennon find? Answers or more questions? Will she discover that the solitude makes people go insane or that the theories are correct? That it isn’t a coincidence so many hikers go missing in US National Parks? (Sutherland’s director’s notes dare us to look it up if we “don’t feel like sleeping tonight.”)
The best way to know for certain is for someone else to disappear on her watch. Then we can see exactly what happens: how the rangers (led by Wai Ching Ho’s Zhang and Nick Blood’s Jackson) react both in the recovery mission and the aftermath. And since that opening prologue with Varney all but assures us that there is more than meets the eye happening, we can assume Lennon will be faced with a choice herself. Will she refuse the land its body or help its cause by letting another Jenny get forgotten?
Her response comes in the form of a lengthy journey through the recesses of her own mind. All the regret and pain Lennon has held onto since Jenny disappeared mixed with the presumably darker events that followed as she and her parents attempted to move forward. With some decent jump scares and a sufficiently moody atmosphere, you should get caught up in the shadowy labyrinth Lennon is forced to walk with disjointed voices and images pushing her to acquiesce with terror’s whims.
The result might not tread new territory insofar as aesthetic or thrills, but it does present an intriguing choice of which Campbell does well to expose its difficult psychological conundrum. Because in the end, we are trespassing. Humanity is the interloper on ground it doesn’t fully comprehend on the best days and hubristically ignores on the worst. Who are we to sabotage its desires? Because maybe those lost aren’t victims. Maybe they’re merely our penance.
- 7/10
WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS
(world premiere)
The Adams Family is back with a nasty little blood fest on the old-fashioned carnival circuit. Maggie (Toby Poser), Seven (John Adams), and Eve (Zelda Adams) are merely bit players on-stage, providing an interlude where the parents mime a dance dressed in black as their otherwise mute daughter softly sings between them in white with angel wings. Most audiences attending for grotesquery and the weird stop paying attention to mill about, but the trio doesn’t mind much. They’re not in it for the performance—just the anonymous traveling this lifestyle provides.
Because despite a seemingly calm demeanor, these three are haunted souls. Maggie’s first murder occurred as a child and she hasn’t stopped since. Seven suffers from PTSD of his time as a medic during the war, marked so deeply by the violence he witnessed that the tiniest drop of blood puts him into a catatonic state. That’s why they must always prepare their targets (mostly wealthy tycoons who look down on them and/or steal their venues from desperate owners) for death. If Seven’s eyes are covered, Maggie can do her worst. And Eve can silently smile before taking a photograph of the result.
The Adams and Poser (who write and direct together amongst most other duties in their well-documented DIY way) can’t simply get away with putting an eccentric family of psychopaths on-screen without a semblance of story, though. WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS therefore also needs a narrative hook to give purpose to the bloodshed by way of a black magic heart and deal with Satan first introduced by poem in a faux vintage prologue and next by the infamous Mr. Tipps (Sam Rodd).
As long as he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew, Tipps can dismember himself without any true harm beyond the presumed promise of his soul upon death. With the supernatural power of a stolen heart, all he must do is recite a prayer while using a needle covered in its viscera to sew back whatever appendages he lops off. It’s not an exact science, though. And he’s seen what happens when the limits of its healing potential are pushed beyond their means. So, he sticks to fingers only. Delight the bloodthirsty crowd with a few snips, reattach, and start again.
While sufficiently creepy, its narrative impact in providing that purpose will vary. I don’t personally think it’s enough on its own, but the nightmarish charm and effective gore of the whole do ultimately help get it over that hump. I’d place the film between HELLBENDER and THE DEEPER YOU DIG when it comes to the three films I’ve seen by the Adamses—the former on the higher end of success and the latter on the lower. Because while this heart does eventually give Eve and company a reason to kill that captivates beyond sheer malicious intent, it doesn’t necessarily make the journey any less shallow.
WHERE THE DEVIL ROAMS is thus more a curiosity than story. More vibe-driven than thematically charged. They use the carnival setting to create uniquely interesting characters, but we learn little to nothing about them since we mostly follow the main trio when they’re off the reservation. The back stories for Maggie and Seven may also intrigue, but both exist less as reasons for Eve’s own psychopathic proclivities than excuses. To watch them isn’t to understand them, but to see how deranged their codependent volatility might get.
Horror fans can rejoice in the knowledge that the answer is pretty darn deranged. Add some humor to the mix via easy contrasts (Maggie is less educated than Seven; he’s more forgiving than her; and they all hate the smugness of the rich) that helps make the second half more entertaining with a sharper focus on cause and effect and the circumstances for brutality only multiply. Strange will always trump blood for me, though. And you don’t much get stranger than Eve’s industrious solution to remake her parents in her own likeness. Because if she can be the best version of them both, why can’t they?
- 6/10
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This week saw ESCAPE ROOM (2019), THE ITALIAN JOB (2003), THE LADY IN THE VAN (2015), PREMIUM RUSH (2012), and SECOND ACT (2018) added to the archive. Michael Shannon joins the collection with a forceful jolt of impatience. Always heard good things about PREMIUM RUSH. Still haven’t seen it. cinematicfbombs.com
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 7/28/23 -
THE BAKER at Dipson Capitol
BRO at Regal Elmwood
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK at Regal Galleria
Thoughts are above.
HAUNTED MANSION at Dipson McKinley, Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
ROCKY AUR RANI KII PREM KAHAANI at Regal Elmwood
TALK TO ME at Dipson Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
THEATER CAMP at Dipson Amherst; Regal Galleria & Quaker
Streaming from 7/28/23 -
MIRACULOUS: LADYBUG & CAT NOIR, THE MOVIE – Netflix on 7/28)
THE BEANIE BUBBLE – AppleTV+ on 7/28)
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF MICKEY MOUSE – Disney+ on 7/28)
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
AUGUST AT TWENTY-TWO (7/25)
BLUE JEAN (7/25)
“McEwen delivers an unforgettable performance as a woman caught between the love of her partner and the acceptance of her career when one could very well erase the other in an instant.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
CLOSE TO VERMEER (7/25)
THE LITTLE MERMAID (7/25)
MOON GARDEN (7/25)
“So, while visually gorgeous in its commendable, if incomplete, message about the power of "healing", the smiles at the end feel more like resignation to me.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN UGANDA (7/25)
REVOIR PARIS (7/25)
JOY RIDE (7/28)
LITTLE NICOLAS: HAPPY AS CAN BE (7/28)
SHRAPNEL (7/28)
SUSIE SEARCHES (7/28)
“A quirky look at the destructive nature of popularity. I would question whether it's able to sustain its initial enjoyment level, though—more cutely biting than uproariously funny, such tone can prove tiring if the narrative doesn’t find a new gear.” – Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (7/28)
Link to thoughts is above.
From the press kit archive:
