Pig (2021)

Pig will defy your expectations. When presented with the premise that Nicholas Cage is playing a man searching for his kidnapped pig, the mind, with all the Cage baggage of the past few decades, goes immediately the place of an absurd and likely violent romp. Pig is none of that. It is a quiet, contemplative exploration of loss and connection where Cage is more the Leaving Las Vegas/City of Angels Cage than the Cage that we currently expect to fly off the handle and chew all the scenery. Pig is a lovely story filled with pain and redemption.

It is best to go into Pig with as little expectation as possible and just experience it as it unfolds. I wills ay this reminds you just how strong an actor Cage is. He delivers a sensitive and complicated performance that is both moving and funny. And the film gives up and comer Alex Wolff one of his best opportunities to break beyond his Jumanji stereotyping. 

I will warn you that the films relies of a number of coincidences which may be a bit of stretch. Setting the film is a city like Portland and within a very specific community may help make those coincidences feel a bit more acceptable. But even if not, the film's story is powerful enough to make those irrelevant. The story rings true even with some logical leaps. 

Pig is a delightful surprise, unlike much else you'll see out there, and an exciting debut of a new film maker right out of the gate.

Pig

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Arkin

Writer/Director: Michael Sarnoski

 

The Green Knight (2021) REVISIT

Sometimes a film hits you differently after seeing it more than once. My first experience with The Green Knight was a mixed bag. But watching it again I gained appreciation for what director Lowrey was doing with his journey here and I've updated my thoughts. 

Nothing in Lowery's catalogue had prepared me for this stunning art film dressed up as a fantasy epic. His work is hot and cold for me as his Ghost Story frustrated me but his adaptation of Pete's Dragon surprised and impressed me. But regardless of that The Green Knight is a memorable experience. Imagine Julie Taymour, Tarsem, and Terrence Malick decided to tell an Arhurian legend and you approximate what watching The Green Knight is like. It is visually striking, rather slow, with a poetic narrative that often leaves you pondering what is happening throughout. 

The story actually sticks rather closely to the ancient legend, a morality tale about sticking to your word. I mean I think so. The film ends suddenly on a note of mystery, sort of. So maybe the ending doesn't quite... well that really isn't that important. The strength of the film isn't in literally interpreting the story, which meanders a bit. It is in the emotional journey we are on with Patel's knight. 

The Green Knight is just damn striking to watch. Lowery sticks to his operatic vision creating a mythical world for his hero to quest in. It is a verdant, overgrown medieval kingdom of animism. The human artistry is equally lush. Everything about the film is aesthetically rich. And with all this it is incredibly lived in. Patels' hero is beaten down and we feel it. There is a deep visceral texture to the story that exhausts us (in a good way) so that the emotion of the crusade is felt. People don't speak naturally; instead they give speeches outlining their philosophies and confess their deepest desires suddenly and without prompting. Because this is legend. It isn't reality. It is emotion. 

And at the heart of this film is Patel in a beautiful and painful performance. His heroic journey is painstaking so there is no doubting his character's authenticity. His story is a bit episodic but it maintains a consistency, especially in Patel's performance, building his character's arc intricately.  

Then, as the film reaches its ending, there is the moment of truth, and then it just ends. Are to insert the ending of the legend as written centuries ago or are we do interpret our own ending for Gawain? The more I thought about it the more I appreciated the ambiguity which lets us explore different options. 

The Green Knight was fascinating throughout even when it felt it dragged a bit on some of Lowery's side quests. Still The Green Knight was a spectacle that still gave me somethings to contemplate and that made it worth the runtime. 

The Green Knight

Starring: Deve Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie

Writer/Director: David Lowery 

 

Old (2021)

Old is the most Shyamalan film M Night Shyamalan has done in a while. It's like a return to his classic style. Old is an intriguing if absurd premise with a big ass twist near the end that changes how you look at things. Also stylistically he has returned to form with his signature expository talky dialogue and unsettling cinematography. His style has a love-it-or-hate-it quality that is polarizing. For me, even when his films don't quite work, I usually still enjoy them and get something out of them. That's pretty much true of Old as well. 

Old, like a lot of his films, is a Twilight Zone style story, unsettling without being typically scary. If you are familiar at all with the premise then you know it's about a group of people stuck on a beach who start rapidly aging. The concept is very high but he commits to it. What I struggled with was the way the characters explained what was going on to each other (and therefore us) all the time, but as they did I still found myself getting pulled deeper and deeper into the mystery and the quite horrifying truth that was coming at the end of it. Why the story works is that if you can get past some of the clunkiness of the narrative, it does get you to think about things fascinating things. It makes you ask questions that don't have easy or nice answers. For me the story and performances were compelling enough to get me to the part that was really interesting and I could get stuck there on that island too. 

Then comes the twist, a twist which makes us ask a whole new set of questions. I didn't enjoy the rapid wrapping up of the story which felt a little too easy. It could have been less "resolved" in the end and had the same effect, or perhaps an even better effect. But I still enjoyed where the film went with the story, both in terms of how narratively it works (it explains quite a bit that otherwise would have felt too pat) but also the moral quandary of the new reality is also quite interesting. 

So in the end I appreciated that Shyamalan is back to doing his thing. I know that for many it's just not to their taste and I get that. But I can get on board one of his wild rides. This one had some bumps that almost threw me off, but I stuck with it and was glad I did in the end. 

Old

Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Vicky Krieps, Rufus Sewell, Alex Wolff, Thomasin McKenzie, Abbey Lee, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Ken Leung, Eliza Scanlen, Aaron Pierre, M Night Shyamalan

Writer/Director: M Night Shyamalan 

 

Blood Red Sky (2021)

I love the sort of B-movie that commits to its idea and takes itself seriously enough to tell a good story. The idea, vampires on a plane, could be high camp, but this film instead tells an engaging and involved story that is still about vampires on a plane but manages to still tell a very human story that grips you from the beginning. 

Like most good vampire films, there is a big tragic arc here. When terrorists hijack a plane on route to NYC a widow and mother who is hiding her vampirism is the only one to save the day, until someone gets bit and then there are many blood suckers who don't have as altruistic of intentions as our heroine. The film is gory but never devolves into silliness sticking to its story. 

The film even plays with our expectations a bit, including deconstructing some stereotypes about homosexuals and muslims. The film easily could have gone off course a few times but the film makers keep it on track and stick the landing giving us a satisfying adventure with just the right balance of violence and characterization to keep us riveted. 

Blood Red Sky

Starring: Peri Baumeister, Dominic Purcell, Kais Setti, Graham McTavish, Alexander Scheer, Carl Anton Koch

Director: Peter Thorwarth

Writers: Stefan Holtz, Peter Thorwarth

 

A Classic Horror Story (2021)

The name of this film is very appropriate. It follows the classic horror movie formula to a T. A group of friends head out to the "woods," get stranded, and encounter a killer, having to fight their way out to survive. Yes you've seen this story a hundred times. Having said that, the question is then does this entry into the genre add something valuable. It is at least a very well made version of this typical story? Does it reinvent something, making us see things a new way? I'm not sure it does the latter but it is the former. 

The film is self-conscious about its relationship to the genre and the movies that have come before. Characters reference having seen films with certain characteristics, speak of how we as a culture often enjoy violence "like in a bad movie." Based on this I kept thinking the film was going somewhere with that but as it played on it kept pretty strictly to the formula. While it did this effectively, I'm not sure it managed to do anything else. 

It's beautifully shot but it's The Wicker Man or Midsommer all over again. There are even elements of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre here. But never does it transcend those precedents or offer anything new. And the film does revel in its gore and violence a bit more that I would have appreciated. It throws at us some comments early on about how that's problematic but then doesn't ever address it. There is a cruelty to this film that is never quite dealt with or addressed sufficiently. 

Fans of the genre may enjoy it but it certainly won't win over any converts who aren't already horror fans. 

A Classic Horror Story

Starring: Matilda Lutz, Will Merrick, Peppino Mazzotto, Francesco Russo

Directors: Roberto de Feo, Paolo Stippoli 

Writers: Lucio Besana, David Bellini, Milo Tissone, Roberto de Feo, Paolo Stippoli   

 

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

I have a soft spot for pulpy, stylish crime tales featuring a central protagonist going up against, well everyone, and redeeming themselves by putting it all on the line to do the right thing. I want it to drip style (from the costumes, to the cinematography, to the art direction) and to feature a string a campy characters with fun backstories and overflowing with moral ambiguity. When there is a dream cast along the likes of this one it all comes together a sweet treat that i can't resist. 

Gunpowder Milkshake embraces its genre tropes and focuses on (1) telling a fun, over the top caper and (2) being as much fun stylistically as it is narratively. It doesn't attempt to elevate it into something more serious while also never talking down to its audience. Director Papushado offers us a fun time and delivers. Sure the film veers off into the silly occasionally but mostly stays on track to deliver its simple but satisfying plot. 

I probably would have enjoyed it even more if the film had done any sort of in depth analysis of some of the issues staring it in the face. There's a rudimentary feminist message here but it's so basic it is almost missed. The film really never seems overly interested in anything beyond the. most simple of motivations for its characters but the story remains damn entertaining regardless. That paired with Papushado's sense of style, make Gunpowder Milkshake rather delicious.  

So like the title suggests while there is little substance or nutrients to this confection, it is rather delicious and a guilty pleasure. Next time more Yoeh and Bassett please. Don't save the best you have for the sidelines. 

Gunpowder Milkshake

Starring: Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yoeh, Carla Gugino, Paul Giamatti, Chloe Coleman

Director: Navot Papushado

Writers: Ehud Lavski Navot Papushado

 

The Trouble With Harry (1955) REVISIT

I had never seen The Trouble With Harry before and nothing really prepared me. It is like no other Hitchcock film I've seen and is really more in the spirit of a Wes Anderson film. It's absurd, and romantic, and darkly comic. I spent the entire movie not believing what I was seeing.

A young boy finds a dead body in the woods on a lovely fall day and then the film progresses through a number of people stumbling across him, none seeming to be very upset he's dead, each perhaps believing they were the ones to do him in only to discover they weren't. They bury him, dig him up, and repeat that process. Along the way two couples fall in love and move on, all better off Harry is gone. 

There were moments I laughed out loud, more out of surprise at what I was seeing than in reaction to a real joke. But the film is quite funny in its way. But that's the thing about Harry, it's its own animal. It's not romantic like romantic movies. It's not mysterious like mysteries. It's not darkly comic like most dark comedies. 

The film with its technicolour pastoral setting and twisty plot remains absurd in its sensibilities. It is a strong shift from most of the director's work leading up to it, almost like he was trying something completely different. I understand the film wasn't a commercial success and perhaps that could be expected as film makers get boxed into a certain type and have a hard time breaking out. He had just made the masterpiece Rear Window and the romance To Catch a Thief. He would go on to remake The Man Who Knew Too Much and would go on to make his signature films Vertigo and Psycho. But in the middle he made this quirky, weird, oddball of a film and in someways that in itself is fascinating. 

The Trouble With Harry

Starring: Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick, Royal Dano

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writer: John Michael Hayes

 

Fear Street Part One 1994, Part Two 1978, Part Three 1666 (2021)

Most of us have memories of watching slasher films as teens, with its cathartic unleashing of our fears and torments put into a palpable but safe format for us to exorcise. Each generation has theirs (Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream). They are a right of passage. Perhaps its fitting the latest entry into this legacy is a streaming series, the way the newest generation consumes movies. 

The Fear Street Trilogy is an homage to teen slasher films of the past from the 70s through to today. A group of teens are hunted by a knife wielding killer, some meet gruesome deaths, others become the heroes of the story, and there is a built in legacy element that usually develops over a series of films, here mapped out entirely as part of this experiment in tribute. And it's all packaged in a teen friendly, so not too gruesome with just the right amount of sex and violence to make it palatable, ready to consume, format that is all about the fun of the classic slasher genre. 

There's a good story here. None of it is dumb or silly (at least not any more than it is supposed to be). Director Janiak does a great job of capturing the tropes of the genre while investing us in the characters and telling us a fun, bloody story. Each chapter has its own feel, set in different times and capturing the magic of each era's conventions, but each contributing to the overall main story. Interestingly the progression moves us back through time so we get the most modern story first and the events of the past are revealed more slowly. 

In the first part, set in 1994, and featuring a soundtrack that won't let you forget the mid-90s, there are all the hallmarks one would expect. The opening sacrifice scene, the set up of the main cast who will be chased by the killers, especially the heroine (cause it's always a girl at the centre of these stories) who saves the day, and the twist and mystery that gives the story its edge. It is set in a suburban community where teens are tormented by a slasher, just like the classics of that era (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) evoking the nostalgia for that time. Plus there is just enough of a tease for the next chapter which will bring us back to 1978 and set us in the world of a summer camp terrorized by a homicidal maniac. 

Part Two 1978 has all the killer at a summer camp fun and hi-jinx one would expect. With its 70s soundtrack and wardrobe it is an adoring homage to the Friday the 13th style slasher films a generation grew up on. But it also connects quite nicely to the main story which started with 1994 and sets up the final instalment which brings us all the way back to the beginning in 1666... as any good middle chapter should. Now all that's left is to flash back to the past and the origin of all the evil in the final Part Three. 

The final chapter takes us back to  the 17th century and sets us right in the heart of the witch hysteria. The "twist" (not really hard to figure out) here is interesting because the slasher genre has already struggled with a kind of brutal but complicated misogyny that revels in brutality towards women, especially attractive sexually active young women, while also elevating one idealized woman to the status of hero. Witch trials are also of coarse based in hatred of women and the attempted control of women through violence. As the plot unfolds we discover the curses we have been following for the first two movies is based on patriarchal violence. The centring of queer women in the earlier films wasn't just a device but central to the story which explores this evil as a male domination which has to be overcome. All of this makes Fear Street not just escapist entertainment but a comment on how gender violence has been woven through American history so thoroughly. 

The point of the films is to bring us back to our memories and love of these films while also making it accessible for the Gen Z audience who is just discovering this genre. Fear Street is a love letter. It's not a spoof, doesn't go into being self-aware, and doesn't try to deconstruct the meaning of these horror films or our twisted society. Fear Street just embraces what it is for what it is. Like the book series its based on it attempts to create a very specific mood and tone. In so many ways it was a refreshing and surprisingly fun roller coaster. You'll scream. You'll giggle and be grossed out. You'll have the kind of cathartic good time that a good slasher film can provide, all within the safe boundaries of a PG-13 horror film. Generally it's a bloody good time. 

Fear Street Part One 1994, Part Two 1978, Part Three 1666

Staring: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger

Director: Leigh Janiak

Writers: Phil Graziacei, Leigh Janiak 

No Sudden Move (2021)

For a film maker who was retiring Steven Soderbergh certainly makes a lot of movies. His latest, the classically themed crime noir No Sudden Move, is one of his stronger of late. For me his work is all over the map from the good, the bad, and the ugly. Fortunately this one is really good. 

No Sudden Move revels in the genres classic tropes in a way that feels fresh and alive. It's a loving homage and never feels cliche. Soderbergh starts his tale with a delicious intro which sets out the story, the stakes, and who the characters are, getting us into the heart of the tale. He doesn't waste time but he also doesn't rush. The film doesn't feel economical. It's just enough to submerge us into the narrative and the lives of its inhabitants. From there his film, drenched in rich colours and shot through a washed out palette with dim lights, runs us through its caper and we are along for the ride no matter what. 

This is a dream cast. Cheadle and Del Toro are the centre of it and they each bring their A game, and each has a wonderful A game. But the supporting cast, filled with some delightful surprises, all bring it home. The film achieves high levels of intensity due to how strong the cast is in bringing this story to life. The whole thing is just a joy to watch. 

I'm going to throw out a controversial take. This may be Soderbergh's best film (at least since Out of Sight). This is coming from someone who doesn't tend to enjoy his work. But in this case he hit all my buttons. And I can't recommend it enough. 

No Sudden Move

Starring: Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Hamm, Ray Liotta, Brendan Fraser, David Harbour, Amy Seimetz, Kieran Culkin, Noah Jupe, Bill Duke, Julia Fox, Matt Damon

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Ed Solomon

 

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Many comments about The Tomorrow War focus on how it is visually spectacular and a great premise but the execution is lacking. I think the last part is true but I'm not sure about the first parts. I'm not sure the premise, people from the "present" being recruited to go to the future to fight an alien invasion, is really that great a premise. I'm not saying any of it is bad, it's just the film feels a bit lacklustre. Maybe there is a reason this one didn't get saved for the big screen. 

First the story. It's an idea and it works... enough. I would have liked it if the film had found more of a reason for its gimmicks. Instead it feels more like the idea playing out is the whole reason for the film and the story never quite lives up to it. There are "twists" but none of them can't be seen coming a mile away and mostly there are a lot of contrived convenient coincidences. Again it's not a terrible story, it's just never overly interesting. And it's long, too long for a story that its audience might not be totally invested in. 

In 2021 for effects to be "spectacular" they have to somehow impact in a way that doesn't distract from the story but really take it to the next level. I'm not sure The Tomorrow War gets there. Nothing in the visual presentation of The Tomorrow War blew me away. 

Pretty much everything about The Tomorrow War is just okay. It never wrestles with any of the questions it story brings up just by the nature of such a tale, instead looking for easy answers or just turning a blind eye to things. And, like a lot of films with time travel plots, it falls into some problems with the timelines that just are better not to think so much about. 

I guess I wouldn't warn people not to see The Tomorrow War. I just wouldn't recommend it if they were on the fence. It's a very surface level adventure and rather forgettable in the end. 

The Tomorrow War

Starring: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, JK Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson

Director: Chris McKay

Writer: Zach Dean 

 

America the Motion Picture (2021)

For me the work of animation "it" guys Lord and Miller is hit or miss. While The Lego Movie and Into the Spider-Verse were minor masterpieces, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the recent The Mitchells Vs. the Machines were completely overrated disappointments. Well their latest experiment, an Archer-like irreverent take on the founding of the United States of America, with heavy doses of revisionist history, is a clunky, unfunny mess that often leaves you wondering WTF is the point?

The clear intention is to comment on Americana with a violent, sexually explicit, and expletive laden retelling of the founding of "America" which sounds great in principal but in execution ends up on the boring side. Little about the film entertains. The story seems focused more on getting from one over the top joke to the next instead of telling a story. There are weird developments like Lincoln and Edison being contemporaries of Washington and other anachronistic plot points. But the worst part is that its irreverence is limited to being silly and gross and never ends up clever or cutting. There is no critique in this film. 

For a project like this to work you need a point, a thesis, that the film explores about the nature of Americaness. America the Motion Picture doesn't say anything, well nothing interesting. Despite how many F-bombs it drops the film remains rather safe. And that is the biggest disappointment of all. 

America the Motion Picture

Starring: Channing Tatum, Simon Pegg, Judy Greer, Olivia Munn, Will Forte, Jason Mantzoukas, Andy Samberg

Director: Matt Thompson

Writer: Dave Callaham