Lizzie (2018)

When researching films about Lizzie Borden, a tale most of us know from a children’s rhyme, one finds there are quite a few exploitative takes on the story of a woman who allegedly, but was never convicted of, killing her father and step mother. The tale is delicious for the traditional patriarchal message of the dangers of allowing women to be independent. She is vilified in the way women who reject the need for male control in their lives often are. So in this day and age it isn’t surprising someone would turn the tables on that and make a feminist examination of the story.

Director Craig William MacNeil does this full out. He films his story methodically. He starts by showing us Lizzie is a strong and abrasive woman. Then he shows us just how monstrous her father is in his attempts to control her (which pretty much always fail) and the way he exploits the powerless but lovely housemaid who Lizzie befriends. He also shows us quite plainly how the whole social structure is set up to give her father power and take hers away. None of this is shocking to anyone who understands history at all.

He films his story in a quiet, gaslit, soft focus which is typical of art house period pieces. This adds the air of familiarity to the sort of story he is trying to tell, to legitimize and make serious his tale. He wants weight here. I’m just not sure he gets there. His story is so clearly laid out, so expected, so monolithic, that he removes any sense of power or fear. We know how this is going to go.

Then he fakes us out a bit, making the inevitable murders which we all know are coming, happen off screen, We wonder how delicate his Lizzie Borden story is going to be. But that is just a short reprieve. He flashes back to the murders, having his heroines strip naked and Lizzie brutally weird her axe, not out of delight or evil, but out of necessity. He has already made his case for why this violence was necessary and the only moral option. But the gore and unity here is titilating, directly in contrast to his quiet somber take so far. Perhaps he is saying the revolution is to be that radical from the status quo it is overturning.

But for me he film which just laid out its story so paint by numbers and in such a black and while manner, left little room for the passion I would need to feel in Lizzie’s story. There is a real urgency to the resistance to oppression which felt missing. In Lizzie it feels like we are just supposed to accept it rather than live it or feel it. It all remained rather cold for me.

However, MacNeil’s take on this legendary tale is certainly heads and shoulders above what we have seen in the past and for that he gets some credit. I just wonder if it could have found a way to make the story of these women more lived in and less text book.

Lizzie
Starring: Chloe Sevigny, Kristin Stewart, Jamie Sheridan, Fiona Shaw, Kim Dickens, Dennis O’Hare
Director: Craig William McNeil
Writer: Bryce Kass

White Boy Rick (2018)

Sometimes solid little films fly under the radar. Entertaining, well crafted, featuring strong performances, yet they don’t capture the imagination of audiences. But people later come across them, enjoy them, mention them in passing to friends. White Boy Rick falls squarely into that category. It’s a film hat you’ll be glad you saw but may not incite you to rush out to see it.

For me movies based on “true” stories are difficult. There is no way to be neutral or objective in how the story is told. White Boy Rick tells Rick’s story from a viewpoint which sympathizes strongly with him. His family is flawed but loveable. His circumstances excuse his behaviour or at least mitigate it so that his consequences were unfair. Going into “true stories” I always try to evaluate on how good it works as a movie and not so much in how authentic it is.

And as a movie White Boy Rick is quite entertaining, finding that crowd pleasuring mix of comedy and tragedy, finding a filmatic style which supports its plot, and telling a story that is truly engaging. McCaunghey and much of the cast give strong performances even if central the character played by Richie Merritt is somewhat wooden. I enjoyed seeing White Boy Rick.

Yet White Boy Rick may remain below the radar as it never distinguishes itself as anything special. But not being special isn’t an indictment. This is the kind of story that we are used to seeing and it is done well. So it’s quite satisfying even if it might blend into the background somewhat.

White Boy Rick
Starring: Richie Merritt, Matthew McConaughey, Bel Powley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Tyree Henry, Bruce Dern, Piper Laurie
Director: Yann Demange
Writers: Andy Weiss, Logan Miller, Noah Miller

Assassination Nation (2018)

Take some transinclusion feminism and mix it with violent revenge fantasy and paint it with a lot of glitter and neon and you get Assassination Nation, a film which certainly wont be to everyone’s taste but hit me right where I needed. Basically take the idea of how sexually active women, including trans women, are shit on in our culture and have them decide to fight back and you get this little romp.

It will be too stylized for some. It will be too violent for others. It will  be too funny for others still. For me writer/director Levinson strikes a clever balance of just the right amount of irreverence and sass without ignoring the gravity of the issues he is attempting to critique. The whole thing is fantasy and the film knows it but that doesnt stop it from wrestling with tough issues. And it stands up against slut shaming, against transphobia, against toxic masculinity, against suburban hypocrisy.

So for me Assassination Nation was a welcome punch in the gut. It was more than i expected. It made me think, flinch, laugh, cover my eyes, and made me angry at the world. But it also gave me hope that perhaps there are those out there who will change it.

Assassination Nation
Starring: Odessa Young, Suki Waterhouse, Hari Nef, Abra, Joel McHale
Writer/Director: Sam Levinson

All About Nina (2018)

Sometimes you walk out of a movie just overwhelmed by what you have seen and that's what happened for me with All About Nina. I've been impressed with Mary Elizabeth Winstead whenever I have seen her, but her performance here is game changing. She is a revelation in a complicated, difficult, and engrossing performance. You won't be able to get her out of your head after seeing this film.

Writer/director Eva Vives creates an incredible portrait of a women who has survived so far, meets an imperfect man, and discovers her route to success, perhaps. All About Nina isn't what you will expect but it is what we need to see.

And it's funny. It's funny in a way that hurts a bit. All About Nina needs to come with a trigger warning. If you are a woman living in America this film may speak to much of what you have gone through.

Winstead is one of the best performances you'll see all year in a movie with an incredible script, shot is a beautiful darkness. It is revelatory.

All About Nina
Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Common, Kate Del Castillo, Clea Duvall, Cameryn Manheim, Mindy Sterling, Beau Bridges, Jay Moore, Chace Crawford
Writer/Director: Eva Vives

Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)

Michael Moore is back, doing what he does best, deconstructing the machine in a way that starts out facetiously entertaining, moves through jokes into poignant moments of pathos, and ends up inspiring outrage, motivation, and deep down hope. Fahrenheit 11/9 may be typical Moore, but no one does this like he does.

There is a lot of hand-ringing going on in America (and the world) and a lot of polarization. Moore puts his finger right on the pulse of this, starting by showing us just how wrong we were back in 2016, believing that we could never end up where we ended up. He moves then into stories of optimism and hope. He brings us to the people who are surviving the tragedies of Flint and Parkland and other, bringing us face to face with the realities of all of it, but showing us the faces of those who are leading the way out.

And this is the strength of his work. He brings it to us in a way that is upfront and unflinching, yet still managing to bring us hope. His nice guy, nerdy humour, lack of subtlety, and his optimistic belief that change can come remains inspiring in the face of what is down right terrifying.

Moore is polarizing and many dismiss his work without considering it, without taking what he has to say into consideration. Perhaps this is a sign of his strength as a filmmaker and communicator. Those who are threatened by what he does can't argue directly with him so they have to just discredit him.

The critique I've heard the most about this film is an interesting one. Moore does a very clever take on an old idea, the "Hitler comparison." This is often seen as low and even meaningless as we have become so gas-lighted into thinking that nothing can be as bad as Hitler. Anyone who makes a contemporary analogy to Hitler is clearly overreacting. We are convinced that nothing so terrible can every happen again, that Nazis happened in a vacuum which can never be brought back. But he takes that head on here, showing why it is important to learn from those historical lessons. So much of that "critique" is based on minimizing modern suffering. He cleverly, in his very direct way, deconstructs this, forcing us to recon with the possibilities of what it is we are facing.

As a film Fahrenheit 11/9 works due to the formula Moore has perfected.  But more than that, Moore's folksy attack on all that got us into this mess, and his encouragement of those working to right the ship, makes this film something to experience.

Fahrenheit 11/9
Writer/Director: Michael Moore

The Angel (2018)

I try to judge a movie based on what it is, not what it could have been. Director Ariel Vromen's film The Angel truly pushed me on this. Throughout the whole movie I couldn't help but think of all the ways I wish it was different.

The Angel is based on a true story about Ashraf Marwan, the son in law of Egyptian president Nasser who worked in high levels of the Egyptian government and was reportedly a spy feeding information to Israel. Today both Israel and Egypt claim he was spying for them. There is a delicious real world mystery here which could have been explored. I kept imagining a film which played with our expectations, giving us glimpses into a mysterious man we could never truly know or trust, never confirming exactly what his motivations were, setting us to have to determine what we believe.

But The Angel doesn't go there. It sets out exactly who their Marwan is. In the Angel he's a western obsessed family man who meets all our traditional tests of what a good man is. The Angel leaves no ambiguity or mystery. He's caught in the grip of history and acts heroically. This very well could have been the real Marwan. But we don't really know. The film needs us to see him in this light.

Because the film also keeps dropping its not subtle supports for western status quo values such as capitalism, individualism, zionism. Again, not debating any of that in this review, just pointing out the movie, which had an opportunity to present a fascinatingly labyrinthine puzzle, an enigma to decipher, but instead the film makes its very concrete case and tells more of a traditional hero story.  

For me this was rather boring. I get this is the story Vromen wanted to tell. Good for him. It just did little to nothing to excite me. The story just felt very common. And I kept thinking of what it could have been.

The Angel
Starring: Marwan Kenzari, Toby Kebbell, Hannah Ware
Director: Ariel Vromen
Writer: David Arata

The Predator (2018)

Predator has never been a movie series I was very enthralled by. It falls more on the "heavy on violence, low on story end" of Hollywood fair and that admittedly is not my thing. The original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, always felt like a poor man's Terminator, a film series which remained superior even at its weakest. I'm always up for seeing a retry. Could this modern take do more with the story idea?

I guess it could have but writer/director Shane Black prefers to remain true to the films B-movie roots and stick with silly predictable story ideas, caricatures instead of characters, and "fuck yeah" style film violence. He makes exactly what you would expect from a Predator film, and not in a positive way. If all your looking for is disposable mindless violence, then The Predator meets that test.

There is yucky gender stuff in the middle which feels right out of the 80s and really has no place in modern film making. That, along with how much of the plot will make you roll your eyes, makes The Predator feel like a waste of an opportunity to make something of this franchise.

This cast really could have been up for something more. The story itself could have been something more. A bigger budget and modern effects could have made something more. But even in the realm of modern remakes/reboots, The Predator, remains the low end choice.

The Predator 
Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn, Sterling K Brown, Keegan-Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Yvonne Strahovski
Director: Shane Black
Writers: Fred Dekker, Shane Black

A Simple Favor (2018)

A Simple Favor is a delicious confection. Sassy and just a hint naughty, the film slaps a dirty little smile on your face. But half way through the film's thinness starts to become apparent. It is brought down from being evil genius by remaining far too safe. The way it revels in cliches isn't quite enough to overcome those cliches. But the performances of Kendrick and Lively are damn fine and still make it enjoyable even if you know what you're enjoying is nothing but sugar.

A Simple Favor starts well, setting us up for a sly mystery which has a cool balance of camp, raunch, and glamour. Lively's Emily is a delightful mess, the kind that everyone falls for. Kendrick's everywoman (a role she is destined to play forever) takes full advantage of her comedy chops and the two deliver.

But as I said, half way through the film's twists and turns stop feeling like marvelous send ups of melodrama, and start feeling just a little too convenient. It involves all the soapy twists one would expect (*spoiler* which I tell you you'll see a mile away, there is incest and an evil twin!! seriously). And while all that could be cool as it revels in its campy stereotypes, the film needed a bit more weight to its mayhem, otherwise it skids into spoof territory. While it doesn't quite land there, it doesn't quite rise to being brilliant satire either and settles somewhere in the middle.

The film is filled with old school queer sensibilities (I have no idea about director Feig's actual preferences but regardless he channels 80s aging gay man tropes perfectly, from the French pop music, the fetishization of men's bodies and women's shoes, to the catty banter) which add a great deal of amusement to the experience and fits the not quite too irreverent tone. There is style here, not a lot of substance, but tonnes of style.

It's fun. The film flirts with being devious but never quite sinks low enough. But it remains fun. The title is rather revelatory as the film is somewhat simple. But in the end it's not bad. It remains enjoyable. Like a light dessert which is tasty enough, not very filling, but sometimes make you wish you had indulged in the devil's food which you know you would have enjoyed even more.

A Simple Favor
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Rupert Friends, Linda Cardellini, Jane Smart
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Jessica Sharzer

Papillon (2018)

Papillon never finds traction. Shot beautifully (if somewhat fetishized) the story never truly finds a groove to get its audience immersed enough in it to resonate. Its harrowing tale, both feels drawn out and rushed, both glossed over and excruciatingly detailed. For me Papillon never gelled and felt like a whole lot of nothing.

Based on the true story of a man, wrongly convicted, sentenced to an unreasonably horrific prison for life, Papillon never decides if it's going to be an escape film, a prison drama, or weird exploitation film. Director Noer ogles the male bodies consistently throughout the film yet, just as consistently, degrades any hint of homoeroticism. This is only one of the ways the film feels schizophrenic. Like in all its identities, it can't seem to settle on one.

At the centre of the film is Charlie Hunnam giving one of his typically wooden performances, and Rami Malek, going over the top as he often can. Neither works for this film.

So Papillon ends up a mostly boring, if lushly luminous, two hours and ten minutes that feel a bit like a sentence in itself.

Papillon
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Rami Malek
Director: Michael Noer
Writer: Aaron Guzikowski