Week Ending 1/24/25
"Nominees To Be Determined ... Producers"
The Oscar nominations are out and the PGA has some work to do figuring out who is worthy of a gold statuette. I’m just glad Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott had the sense of humor to laugh at the absurdity of reading the “to be determined” line so often during the Best Picture list.
No Challengers to be seen? Can’t say I’m surprised. The movie is fine. I was more shocked our local critics group loved it as much as they did to give it four awards including Best Picture.
No Marianne Jean-Baptiste? That’s the real heartbreaker. The Academy’s love for musicals knows no bounds if it got them picking Cynthia Erivo and Karla Sofía Gascón over the Hard Truths star. At least Fernanda Torres made it in. And I’m happy for Demi Moore. The sentimental pick was always going to be her over Pamela Anderson.
A couple surprises for me are Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice and Isabella Rossellini for Conclave. Not because they weren’t legitimate contenders, but because they were legitimate contenders. Keith Kupferer, Danielle Deadwyler, and Natasha Lyonne, anyone? I guess that’s what the Independent Spirit Awards are for (and Lyonne got snubbed there too).
Glad to see September 5 get in for script, though. And Nickel Boys in script and Best Picture (but no Cinematography is wild). All in all, a pretty uneventful list beyond I’m Still Here squeezing out a Best Picture slot. Just goes to show that buzz around a performance like Torres gets voters eyes on the film too.
Hoping to get screeners of the shorts soon. In the meantime, I’ll need to catch Alien: Romulus and Gladiator II to continue my pursuit of 100%-ing the Oscars (And, despite just getting a Song nom, The Six Triple Eight and Elton John: Never Too Late too). I also need to see Better Man and Porcelain War, but I don’t have access to those two yet.
My thoughts on all of the nominees.
What I Watched:
THE COLORS WITHIN
[Kimi no iro]
(in theaters)
“Totsu, Kimi, and Rui are able to reconcile the two halves of themselves together and see a way forward via compromise for both. Maybe bending the rules will actually get them closer to God than if they blindly followed each to the letter.”
– Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.
HARD TRUTHS
(in theaters)
“But it's Jean-Baptiste who shines brightest by showcasing her talent to maintain humanity through despicable behavior. For all the bile [Pansy] spews, the person who ends up hurt most by it is her.”
– Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.
KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
(streaming on Hulu)
Generations after Caesar sacrifices his life for the independence of his apes, we enter a village secluded from the overgrown cities on the other end of a derelict tunnel. Home to the Eagle Clan, Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham), and Anaya (Travis Jeffery) are off to climb for eagle eggs as part of a coming-of-age "bonding" ceremony wherein they learn to befriend and utilize the birds for the benefit of the community. The trio goes a bit out of their comfort zone to accomplish the feat and are celebrating on the journey home when they find what they believe to be an "echo." While their elders decide to scare it off and preserve their isolation, however, another faction of apes seeks to capture it.
It's the latter clan, led by Proximus (Kevin Durand), that first speaks Caesar's name. The use is jarring because our assumption is that the peaceful Eagle Clan are his descendants. Familiarity (and a brief prologue) has us believing this initial stop in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is our connection to the previous trilogy—not a ruthless, mask-wearing battalion of violent killers. That's why we need Raka (Peter Macon) to set things straight after Noa finds his brethren gone. It's his search to bring them back that leads him to this elder historian whose mission is to preserve Caesar's memory and place in the annals of their species. The real Caesar, not this king using his name to consolidate power.
Directed by Wes Ball (now that Matt Reeves has moved onto Batman) and written by Josh Friedman, this latest installment of the franchise appears to be flirting with full CG-animated territory a la Disney's The Lion King with apes versus apes fireworks looming on the horizon. Raka will educate Noa, he'll in turn educate his clan, and a battle will ensue between good and evil—rehashing the Caesar versus Koba argument, which itself rehashes the Professor X versus Magneto argument, which is surely based on countless other wars between compassionate co-existence and cutthroat domination. By the time we reach Proximus's kingdom, the comparison point to "The Walking Dead" and Negan was my analogy.
And while Kingdom is that conflict at its core, there's still the human in the room with which to contend. Because what Eagle Clan calls "echoes" are us—or the current version of us that hews much closer to the past version of us before evolution. If you don't remember, the virus that ultimately gave Caesar and the apes their intelligence also wiped away the same from humanity. But, just like the initial wave of that disease only killed a majority of the population, its current iteration only stole the ability to talk from a majority of those who were left. That means some, like Mae (Freya Allan), the young woman Noa and his friends saw at the beginning, retained cognition. What's more: they retained their history.
This is therefore a perfect film for the current climate's misinformation, book burning, and full-scale assault on reality. Truth is our most dangerous weapon against tyranny and why the Republican party is so keen on erasing it from our collective memory. They want us to be like the Eagle Clan—docile, insular, uncurious—because that allows them to use us like Proximus for their own gain. Because he knows a bit about the truth (courtesy of William H. Macy's Trevathan) himself. Enough to fear what happens if the humans acquire what he knows to be right beneath his feet first. The problem, though, is that he can't know everything because he wasn't there. And if apes don't even remember their heroic Caesar, why would they know anything else?
So, we also can't quite put our finger on what's happening because generations have passed and we don't know for sure what has survived beyond these apes. Maybe humanity is all but wiped out besides herds of "wild" wanderers and the ever sparse few with speech. Or maybe they've been waiting, building, and strengthening their numbers in the shadows. Is Proximus therefore wrong for wanting the power of guns and transportation lying in wait behind the vault door where he's constructed his fort? Mankind is violent and opportunistic. They would try and destroy the apes the first chance they got. Does that fact mean the apes should lose their "humanity" to stop them, though? Is living under Proximus's thumb any better than living in mankind's cages?
These are questions Noa cannot afford to ask yet. Not when his loved ones are at risk. Maybe he doesn't have to fully trust who Mae is and what she stands for, but he does need her help to survive, and vice versa. It's an enemy of my enemy situation wherein hope in Raka's lessons has us wondering if it might also be a friends working together to create a brighter future of coexistence situation. Kingdom is therefore the perfect upside-down bridge from its predecessors to what we assume from the ending will be at least one more subsequent chapter. This is the true circle of life wherein oppressed rebels inevitably become domineering oppressors ... and back again. Because while cognition does breed empathy, fear-driven self-preservation always seems to win out.
That's the beauty of these films, though. They allow us to see ourselves in the faction trying to live and the faction trying to ensure they can't. That we really don't know which is which is the point considering way too many of us can't see it in real life either when the thought of actually seeing their party's surrogate give a Nazi salute on live television would break their brain. And it's easy to get confused when the visual effects work is this good. I didn't need to know who Noa was because Owen Teague's eyes were staring back at me. He and Durand are the only "apes" I knew going in and the filmmakers really did find a way to transform these actors rather than replace them. It's impressive and ensures our ease with the relating to them as much as the humans.
- 8/10
WOMAN OF THE HOUR
(streaming on Netflix)
The first of Rodney Alcala's (Daniel Zovatto) victims is shown dying with the caption 1977. The second dies in 1979. It's therefore no coincidence that director Anna Kendrick and screenwriter Ian McDonald split those scenes with our introduction to an aspiring actress (Kendrick's Sheryl) who just booked a spot on "The Dating Game" as a way for her agent to save face in 1978. They want us to know that Rodney isn't stopped as a result of being on national television that year. They want us to wonder if Sheryl might become one of his victims too.
That's where the suspense lies: with the women he kills. This isn't a police hunt between the law and the lawless. It's not a portrait of a hero finally being able to take this monster down (although we also get that anyway). No, it's about survival in a country where the burden of proof for the murder of a woman is often placed upon her own dead shoulders. "She should have known better." "She should have fought harder." "She should have told someone." The number of women who did all those things and still found themselves taking their last breath beneath Rodney's hands will never be known. Because no one believed them.
This is a man who picked his targets with purpose. We're talking about people already in a vulnerable state who needed assistance. So, why not ask for or accept it from this kindly photographer roaming the streets with a smile? He has a full portfolio of models, a job at a reputable publication, an available ear. He's everything your ex, father, and neighbor isn't. A "good" one ... until he's not. And, considering we see many of his crimes sprinkled through Woman of the Hour, he's a man who adapts. He's learned when to turn the reel and when to pounce. He's perfected the "where" to ensure nobody has an opportunity to get away.
Sheryl is an outlier. She never should have been on his radar. When he gets bold and goes on TV, Rodney does so under the assumption that the contestant who will have no choice but to choose him on charm alone can be easily manipulated and malleable—a woman without options. Sheryl is only put in that position because she's giving the whole acting thing one last shot and was told this exposure could push her over the edge. It would have too in a perfect world—one where her success at playing to the crowd meant more than a vindictive host (Tony Hale's Ed) who believes he was showed up. But she isn't afraid of going back home or rocking the boat.
She also sees men for who they are. Her "friend" Terry (Pete Holmes), who's obviously leveraging kindness for sex. Ed, objectifying her backstage without the courtesy of listening to anything she says. Rodney, once he can no long hide behind the frosted glass of a game show set. It's what makes her improvised questions so biting and hilarious. Sheryl clocks each of the three contestants (Matt Visser's idiot and Jedidiah Goodacre's philanderer round them out) and caters her script to them in a way that gives her the autonomy sitting in that chair should provide. Because it's all a performance. It must be for a woman whose life depends on knowing who the men entering her bubble truly are.
Kendrick expertly weaves this tale together in a way that gradually gives Sheryl power while also taking it away from Rodney. The flashbacks of his kills are precisely laid out so that we see him at his most ruthless and precise before witnessing how emotions risk derailing everything (either via what we presume is his first and what we hope is his last). It keeps the whole teetering because we don't quite know where Sheryl and he lie on that spectrum. We don't even know if their story is the main one with past and future coming and going or if she too is another flashback for the real lead: Autumn Best's Amy.
Add Nicolette Robinson's Laura (someone who went to the police to report Rodney as a person of interest in the rape and murder of her friend) and Dylan Schmid's Mario (a co-worker and model of Rodney's) and we begin to see the fear that too few of these serial killer stories possess. When the victims are pawns for the cat and mouse, it becomes about glorification versus abhorrence. When the victims become the point, we see the micro-expressions and backtracking and desperation. That's when we notice the moments of clarity and pivots of power necessary for escape. This is life under toxic patriarchal rule. You only hope you can clock the monsters before it's too late.
- 8/10
QUICK HITS:
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 1/24/25 -
BRAVE THE DARK at AMC Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
THE BRUTALIST at North Park Theatre; Dipson Amherst; AMC Maple Ridge; Regal Elmwood & Transit
“Above the script's elucidations, Corbet's assured direction, and the impressive production design, though, are too of the year's finest performances courtesy of Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce.” – Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.
THE COLORS WITHIN at Regal Elmwood, Galleria & Quaker
Thoughts are linked above.
FLIGHT RISK at Dipson Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
HARD TRUTHS at Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
Thoughts are linked above.
INHERITANCE at Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
NICKEL BOYS at AMC Market Arcade; Regal Transit, Galleria & Quaker
“The film is a harrowing piece of American history and inspiring tale of mankind's perseverance to overcome overall, but its pieces are just as powerful—in some cases more.” – Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.
PRESENCE at Dipson Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge; Regal Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
SKY FORCE at Regal Elmwood
Streaming from 1/24/25 -
GRAFTED – Shudder on 1/24
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE – MUBI on 1/24
“Prepare yourself for a wild, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful final third as von Horn discovers there's an infinite number of rugs beneath Karoline's feet that can still be yanked. Both Sonne and Dyrholm excel.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
THE SAND CASTLE – Netflix on 1/24
THIS IS THE TOM GREEN DOCUMENTARY – Prime on 1/24
YOUR MONSTER – Max on 1/24
YOU’RE CORDIALLY INVITED – Prime on 1/30
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
BONHOEFFER (1/21)
BYSTANDERS (1/21)
THE DAMNED (1/21)
THE END (1/21)
“Shannon and Swinton are the ones doing the heavy emotional lifting by letting the twenty-year-old masks they've forgotten were glued to their faces slip.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
A LEGEND (1/21)
NOSFERATU (1/21)
“That leveling up of intention, violence, and horror runs throughout Eggers' adaptation. More than just expanding upon the mythology, he's increasing the brutality with a greater sense of visceral potency than mere dread.” – Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.
OH, CANADA (1/21)
“In the end, the film isn’t even really about Leonard at all. It's about culture and history and how all of it is colored by the desires of the people documenting it for the future.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
ROCKY’S (1/21)
SNIPER: THE LAST STAND (1/21)
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (1/21)
STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF KITTIES (1/21)
THE GIRL WITH THE NEEDLE (1/24)
“Prepare yourself for a wild, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful final third as von Horn discovers there's an infinite number of rugs beneath Karoline's feet that can still be yanked. Both Sonne and Dyrholm excel.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
NIGHT CALL (1/24)
SUNRAY: FALLEN SOLDIER (1/24)