Rate That Movie Part IV: Movies Never Sleep

[transformers2]

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 8.5/10
Shang-Chi is the right movie at the right time for Marvel. This superhero origin story meets faithful, loving homage to Hong Kong martial arts and wuxia films is the perfect foil to their massive 2021 slate that had up to this point primarily served as an infuriating showcase of the worst things about Kevin Feige's towering empire (Teases for future projects taking precedent over the story they're telling in that moment, bland villains and poorly-constructed action sequences). The story is completely focused on introducing Shang-Chi (the very magnetic Simu Liu) and why the lineage he's running from makes him so powerful, good character development and an equally imposing and quietly somber performance from Hong Kong cinema legend Tony Leung makes Xu Wenwu an instant top-tier MCU villain and up until the inevitable disorienting CGI bonanza at the film's climax, the action is martial arts-driven and brimming with playful humor, dazzling stuntwork and fluid camerawork/editing that's akin to a vintage Jackie Chan project. While Awkwafina's presence as Shang-Chi's quip-hurling best friend and the aforementioned CGI-riddled climax serve as clear reminders of its place in a broader cinematic ecosystem, Shang-Chi operates on enough of its own distinct wavelength to standout as a needed and refreshing variation on the usual MCU mold. Here's to hoping that Eternals can achieve something similar before the multiverse onslaught starts with Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Malignant 8/10
Between Saw, Aquaman and the first two Conjuring movies, James Wan has established himself as one of the most reliable Hollywood hitmakers of the past 20 years. Achieving that level of consistent financial success as a director has a tendency to open doors to secure funding for an unconventional passion project every once in a blue moon. Wan finally got to make his with Malignant, and let's just say that he really seized the opportunity.

For much of the film's runtime, Wan sits back and smirks like somebody who knows a secret that nobody else is privy to yet as he assembles a competent, but kind of unassuming supernatural mystery tale centered around a Seattle woman named Maddy (Anabelle Wallis) whose suddenly haunted by visions of murders being committed by a mysterious figure from her past named Gabriel (physically portrayed by Marina Mazepa and voiced by Ray Chase). There's the usual scenes where secondary characters question Maddy's mental state, some dead bodies that can be easily linked back to Maddy are discovered, etc. and plenty of Wan's signature creepy atmospherics and slick visuals. Then courtesy of a gruesome third act reveal that reframes the entire narrative and blesses gorehounds with a bonkers 25 minute stretch of cinema that is pretty much destined to be the highlight of their respective years, the film ends up arriving at a place that is much more depraved and proudly over-the-top than anticipated.

Wan is clearly having a blast mixing so many different genres together (aside from the aforementioned supernatural mystery elements, Malignant touches on everything from action to nearly every horror subgenre that doesn't involve aliens or haunted houses)and the confidence and craftsmanship he's picked up after making 10 features allows for this ambitious mixture of ingredients to seamlessly blend together to make this a delightfully campy, sadistic B-movie buffet.

Kate 8/10
Yes, Kate can be compared to a zillion other movies from John Wick to The Professional to July's Gunpowder Milkshake without stretching too hard. But I'll tell you what I wasn't thinking about while watching Netflix's latest hard-R action extravaganza: What movies it does or does not share some DNA with. Like the titular sharp-shooting, ass-kicking assassin, Kate hits every target its asked to take out. Mary Elizabeth Winstead shoots, stabs and smolders her way through the Yakuza-run Tokyo underworld with aplomb, the action sequences feature the level of exquisite choreography, clean editing and brutal, hard-earned kills that a David Leitch-backed production can be counted onto deliver and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan provides the proceedings with energetic direction and the underrated virtue of knowing exactly when to wrap things up. It may not be on the level of last year's standout efforts Extraction and The Old Guard, but Kate is another very successful outing that further solidifies Netflix's standing as a rising titan in the action movie space.

Copshop 7.5/10
The 2021 Joe Carnahan Comeback Tour continues with another modest success in Copshop. Carnahan combines the deliberate pacing of The Grey with the trashy 70's vibe of Smokin Aces' in this contained action thriller that sees a small town Nevada police station turn into a deadly battleground after a con man (Frank Grillo) embroiled in a major political conspiracy is brought in on an assault charge by a rookie officer (Alexis Louder)-only to promptly get hunted down by two hitmen (Gerard Butler, Toby Huss) that are chasing the sizable bounty on his head. The overly convoluted nature of the event that sets this cops vs. con man vs. hitmen showdown into motion and an underwhelming climax deflates some of the fun, but the moody modern western aesthetic, snappy dialogue and magnetic performances from all four leads provide Copshop with enough vintage, hard-nosed charms to make it another solid entry into Carnahan's underrated filmography.

The Card Counter 6/10
Paul Schrader follows up the unnerving triumph of First Reformed with a shockingly bland film that boasts clunky dialogue, subpar supporting performances and an ending that can be telegraphed from a million miles away. Only the great work of Oscar Isaac as the tortured Iraq war criminal turned meticulous regimented under-the-radar traveling poker player who sits at this center of this grim character study manages to standout and save this film from being completely forgettable. By adding a sense of intrigue, intensity and thinly-veiled torment to every scene, Isaac provides The Card Counter with the explosive presence it needed for its tragic narrative to achieve its desired impact while also unintentionally exploiting how the collective missteps of Schrader and his co-stars (Tye Sheridan, Tiffany Haddish, Willem Dafoe) managed to suffocate the haunting visceral emotion a story about the far-reaching psychological impacts of violent trauma should have by not putting enough raw gusto into their work. History says Schrader will probably bounce back before too long, but the disappointment brought on by The Card Counter's largely unexceptional quality will certainly sting in the interim.

Prisoners of the Ghostland 5/10
While the English-language debut from cult favorite Japanese director Sion Sono has oddity, absurdity and surrealism aplenty, its cornucopia of artsy outlandishness never translates into anything overly compelling. The pacing is brutally slow without much of a payoff, the ambitious blending of genres it attempts (western, dystopian, chambara) never manages to cohesively meld together and the lack of consistent entertainment value present really exposes how incoherent and nonsensical the story is. Even the people that are eager to add new highlights to the Nicolas Cage freakout reel aren't likely to find a lot to like here outside of a single scene in the final 30 minutes that seems destined to be enshrined in the pantheon of his most celebrated overacting moments. There's enough hypnotic visuals and occasional glimpses of inspired lunacy present here to reaffirm the immense potential that a Cage/Sono vehicle had. Unfortunately, they're just not nearly frequent enough to save Prisoners of the Ghostland from escaping the desolate wasteland it damned itself to when it executed the bulk of its nutty ideas in the most bafflingly dull ways imaginable.

[Buscemi2]

My Son 3/10

No wonder why this went straight-to-Peacock. This boring thriller is basically your prototypical Lifetime Movie Network movie with better actors, with a predictable story, twists that can be seen a mile away, and a grim tone that we've seen in every other recent thriller trying to be edgy. In the end, you get a film that says little and could be used as a cure for insomnia. Why James McAvoy agreed to do this one is a mystery.

[Buscemi2]

Nightbooks 3/10

Lame attempt by Netflix to create a new kid-friendly horror classic, made not a complete waste by Krysten Ritter, who's not given much to do in the villain role. The idea to do a throwback to the dark Disney movies of the past with Sam Raimi producing is an intriguing one but as seen here, it feels less like a movie that hooks you and more the false 80's nostalgia that horror filmmakers and fans cannot get away from. It's more references (from 1,001 Arabian Nights and Hansel & Gretel to The Lost Boys and Creepshow) than story and without the moments that approach PG-13 territory, you're basically watching a Disney Channel movie.

The ending is left open for a sequel but I'd be surprised if Nightbooks 2 came to entertain kids under 12 and horror nostalgia freaks and bore everyone else like this one does.

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TIFf Batch

A Tale of Love and Desire: 5/10
Diverting but forgettable love story about two students studying Arabic poetry in Paris. There are some nice themes at play as the two try to work through their own hang-ups, and the cast are decent, but it doesn't stick in one's memory.

Inexorable: 5/10
Fabrice Du Welz reins in his wilder streak to tell a rather staid story about a writer and his publisher wife who move into the family mansion in rural France, and end up hiring a strange young woman who at first seems kind to their daughter, but reveals dark secrets about the writer. It attempts to be Hitchcockian and there are some good moments, but it doesn't really add up to much.

Encounter: 6/10
A great cast really help this ambitious but self-sabotaging sci-fi. Riz Ahmed is incredible as a veteran marine who is convinced that alien parasites are invading the planet, and attempts to take his two estranged children on a road journey. Impeccable acting, but, without hinting at any spoilers, the attempts to subvert the genre create certain expectations that will never be met, resulting in a frustrating film at times.

You Are Not My Mother: 6/10
Flawed debut Irish horror feature. This is about a teen girl with a troubled mother, who becomes convinced that something strange is happening as her mother finds new energy and enthusiasm. Shot on a tiny budget, this film works best as it explores the anxiety and dread of seeing a loved one struggle with mental illness, but struggles as a genre film.

The Pink Cloud: 6/10
Oddly prescient sci-fi drama (shot and completed before COVID, as mentioned at the start), set in a flat in Brazil where a fling turns into a long-term relationship as the couple are forced to remin indoors as a poisonous cloud sweeps the earth. The short-term optimism soon fades in different ways as the cloud refuses to leave. I'm not sure it would be as engaging if COVID never came, but nevertheless there's something compelling about this.

Ali and Ava: 7/10
Beautiful if subdued romance about two people from the opposite sides of... Bedford? A small, poor town in the UK, it's about a white, middle-aged teaching assistant who befriends a Muslim guy in a broken marriage, and soon it becomes a greater bond. Excellent performances and a dash of optimism elevate this social realist drama, and the scenes of the two un-selfconsciously connecting over music are heart-warming.

After Blue: 3/10
Unwatchable nonsense. What aims to be a version of Barberella-by-Jodorosky is really a corny, cheesy erotic fantasy about a young woman who rescues a prisoner (named Kate Bush), only to be forced to hunt Kate Bush down. Oh, and its set on a planet where only women exist and have strage fur growing on them. Maybe if it was brief and just an excuse for trippy visuals, it could be fun, but its lesbian love scenes and awful performances make it tedious.

Zalava: 7/10
Impressive Iranian horror film, set in a village of settled nomads who feel a demon is amongst them. In steps the local police chief, convinced it's all nonsense as he arrests the local exorcist who claims to have the demon trapped in a jar. What's great about the film is that it never quite gives us an answer, instead making us question whether the tense scenes that transpire are due to human hysteria or supernatural influence. Clever and simple.

[Buscemi2]

Untold: Deal with the Devil 9/10

The best of the Untold documentaries I've seen so far. The story of Christy Martin, the first superstar of women's boxing, is told and I have to wonder how we didn't really know this story. The story is crazy and with more twists and turns than a Christopher Nolan movie (but in a good way). The best way to describe it is that it's kind of like I, Tonya but there is a redemption angle with this one. With all that is presented here, I'll be surprised if Netflix doesn't adapt it into a narrative feature but for now, we have what is perhaps the crown jewel of the series.

[Buscemi2]

Titane 9/10

After so many films have either not lived up to the hype or been just plain bad, we manage to get something that fulfills every positive thing said about it and then some. Describing a basic plotline would be a great disservice because 1. it's hard to describe the premise and 2. it would give too much away. Let's just say that it grab you by the throat once it starts and never lets go. And even though it probably gets snubbed once the Oscars come around, it is going to be difficult to top Agathe Rousselle's performance here. Few actors would be willing to perform such a demanding character like this one and she knocks it out of the park. And the film does atmosphere in such a way that you wish more films would make it mesh with the film instead of simply making it a selling point. The sense of dread is real.

I'll be surprised if I see a better narrative film this year.

[transformers2]

Venom: Let There Be Carnage 7.5/10
Let There Be Carnage is so fun as a screwball pseudo-romantic comedy between Eddie Brock and Venom that it's actually kind of unfortunate whenever it goes back to being a superhero movie. Seeing two CGI aliens wrestle in confined spaces and Woody Harrelson's Carnage reconnect with his own demented love interest (Naomie Harris) is just no match for the joy of watching Brock lecture Venom about what (and who) he can and can't eat or Venom confidently parade around a rave before hopping on stage to deliver a heartfelt monologue about how mankind needs to learn to coexist with killer intergalactic species like him. Let There Be Carnage shows off a really weird, silly soul in these little character moments that makes it standout and as long as it continues to prioritize Hardy's committed dual threat performance and the lovingly combative interplay between the characters he plays over its generic superhero elements, the Venom brand will continue to be a refreshing departure from the genre norm.

Titane 7.5/10
I still haven't seen Raw, so this was my initial experience with a Julia Ducournau movie and it was memorable to say the least. The constant shifting between genres and tones that comes with its alternately disgusting, tender and absurd storyline results in a project that is full of rough patches and ideas that don't quite stick the landing, but its fearless delivery, sheer ambition and the amount of different emotions it's able to evoke throughout makes it uniquely compelling.

The Guilty 8/10
To be honest, I liked it better than the Danish version. Jake Gyllenhaal turns in his finest performance since NIghtcrawler by really getting to the core of the deeply broken, vengeful protagonist, Riley Keough does some really special work as the distressed caller who forces Gyllenhaal's character to reevaluate his entire life and Antoine Fuqua does a great job of further emphasizing the police brutality subtext (as he should since this is an American film) without taking away from the slowly escalating tension that defined the original.

[Buscemi2]

Raw is quite the ride too. And you might recognize the lead in that one.

[Buscemi2]

Lamb 8/10

Noomi Rapace plays a sheep farmer who decides to take the lamb of one of her ewes and raise her as her own. Soon, she and her husband become convinced that the lamb is human and their daughter. This one isn't going to be for everyone but if you're in the right frame of mind, you see the beauty and psychological terror of the premise. It's more than just weirdness and you can see why A24 took a chance with distributing this one. It's a story that is original and once you get past the initial shock of the concept, you can understand its emotion.

[Buscemi2]

Halloween Kills 3/10

Once again, retconning leads to no one learning from the past. Though not quite as low for a Halloween entry as Resurrection, Halloween Kills is a violent, unpleasant exercise in pointless backstory and vigilante hero-worshiping. Jamie Lee Curtis is given little to do this time as she spends much of the film out of action as instead, we get to see stereotypes and angry mobs get slaughtered while the story stops on occasion to give us new details on the first film's killings we didn't need to know about or shamelessly use the original's film footage to integrate said new footage into. For a 105 minute film, there's maybe about a half hour of actual plot and the rest is pointless flashbacks or one-note characters written in for a quick kill.

No wonder why Universal chose to dump this into day-and-date status. And if word-of-mouth is terrible, I could see Halloween Ends (I hope so, as this franchise is out of ideas) being exclusive to Peacock.

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Prisoners of the Ghostland: 5/10
And we're back to the silly world of OTT Cage, in Sion Sono's English language debut. This sci-fi Western lacks any real shocks or trippy moments, besides one ball-busting scene, and is sadly forgettable.

The Power of the Dog: 7/10
Jane Campion's finest film since The Piano, this starts off as a somewhat predictable story about two brothers who run a ranch, with one wanting to settle down while the othwer clinging to stories of youthful abandon. When a woman and her teenage son comes into the mix, the wilder brother decides to psychologically torment her. Beautifully shot and performed, this film surprises with some itneresting twists that make it more distinct than you'd think.

The Card Counter: 5/10
Mediocre and occasionally clunky film about a professional gambler who takes a young man under his wing to try and help him, but has to face his own path. Despite the great Oscar Isaac taking the lead, the performances are a little wooden and characters and relationships never quite work.

The Mad Women's Ball: 4/10
Melanie Laurent's latest film as a director is a total bore. A young woman with an ability to commune with the dead is sent to a mental asylum for women, and mistreated predictably. It's slow, overlong, and struggles to balance the magical with the real.

The Many Saints of Newark: 5/10
Another pointless exercise in milk existing IP, this time a sort of Sopranos prequel that tells us little of the show's world, instead dealing with a teen Tony Soprano's uncle, whose criminal lifestyle and occasional burst of anger get him into increasingly hot water. Written like a TV series, with all its subplots and superfluous characters, it fails to work on its own.

The Green Knight: 7/10
A stunning-looking take on the old English myth feels fresh and exciting, with Dev Patel excellent as the wet-behind-the-ears knight in seek of glory, only to sign up to a promise that may end his life, as he kills a supernatural knight and must return to his lair a year later to receive the same treatment. It's a story of true honour and accountability, and plays brilliantly with the original story. The first half does need a good edit, but the second half improves dramatically.

[Ron Burgundy]

Wow, 2 7's from 6! Me likey

[Screen203]

No Time To Die was okay. It did not need to be almost three hours long. One thing I didn't understand is why De Armas was only in the movie for one scene.

[Buscemi2]

Probably for the same reason why Monica Bellucci was in so little of Spectre despite her appearance being hyped, even leading to rumors that her character would be set up with Bond. Or why Gemma Arterton gets killed off of Quantum of Solace so quickly. The producers love to hype up certain characters and aspects but end up doing very little with them (remember those spinoffs with Michelle Yeoh and Halle Berry that were supposed to happen but didn't?). They want to entice us with broken promises but when they dangle that carrot, they know audiences will take it.

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LFF Batch

Titane: 7/10
A glorious mess, as many of my friends call it. Ducournau's 2nd film is far more unwieldy than her first, lacking a cohesive story but instead feels like some ideas thrown together that mutated into something bizarre. Yet, this story of a dangerous young woman who ends up pretending to be someone else (consciously avoiding spoilers here) is fascinating in its ambition and defiance, pushing boundaries and remaining skillful in its moments, its wit salvaging its more silly scenes, even if the parts are more than the sum of the whole. I'm glad it won the Palme D'Or - cinema needs to be shook up in this way.

Hinterland: 5/10
Odd, consciously stagey detective story set in Vienna in the aftermath of WWI. Likely filmed during lockdown in a confied greenscreen studio, the effect makes it feel like German Expressionism, but the story lacks anything special.

Belfast: 5/10
The likely Best Picture winner is phoney. An attempt to be Roma, its less skilled in the hands of Brannagh but just as self-indulgant. Here, it's his story as a kid in the troubled city during the 60s, as his family feel a pressure to leave, despite a strong bond with its community. The main kid is totally unconvincing, many of the subplots are cliched and under-developed, with cringe-worthy dialogue. The only saving grace are the characters and performances of Ciaran Hinds and Judy Dench, but that's not enough.

Nitram: 6/10
Unnerving drama about the guy who committed mass murder in Australia, Justin Kurzel returns to his Snowtown roots and delivers an authentically weird film about a man whose oddness turns into violence. Great performances help despite the film never feeling particularly impactful or meaningful, despite the end credits' insistence.

Bull: 4/10
An apt title for this underwhelming British revenge thriller. Neil Maskell plays the avenger, going after his old boss who was convinced he was dead. These gritty genre films are a dime a dozen, and the surprise twist ending doesn't do enough to justify a rather dull film.

DASHCAM: 5/10
A diverting found footage film from the team behind Host. This time a right-wing troll evades lockdown by travelling to England, only to get involved in some demonic activity. The main character (played by an actress playing herself) is interesting, although when the scares come in we're in familiar territory.

Flee: 6/10
An engage animated documentary (think a less bold Waltz with Bashir) about a family who flee from Afghanistan, and their nightmare story of trying to find a home to live. It's brief but emotive, and is certainly worth a watch.

Hit the Road: 7/10
Nepotism is justified in this excellent debut film from the son of Jafar Panahi. Here, a famiyl drive to the Iranian border to say goodbye to one of them. The characters are rich and interesting, smart and funny and self-aware, and the film is as witty as it is moving. A fine movie indeed.