The Wages of Fear (2024)

I can't compare this remake with the 1953 original but even without that knowledge this is a disappointment. There is such a good story here but the film drops the ball mostly by having weekly drawn characters and a lack of self-awareness. So much could be explored in a 21st century The Wages of Fear that this movie mostly misses. 

Having said that The Wages of Fear 2024 isn't a bad movie. It's standard action fare that for a rather forgettable movie watching experience manages to be just enough. There is some wonderful cinematography and there are moments of intense action. Yes there should have been much more, along with more development of the characters and their role as mercenaries in a part of the world that isn't theirs. But without that Fear is rather watchable anyways, even if you keep thinking about how it could have been better. 

The Wages of Fear

Starring: Ana Girardot, Alban Lenoir, Franck Gastambide, Sofiane Zermani

Director: Julien Leclercq 

Writers: Hamid Hlioua, Julien Leclercq

The Beautiful Game (2024)

The Homeless World Cup is a real thing, a global soccer tournament featuring homeless players, which advocates for the end of homelessness through sport. While The Beautiful Game often feels much like a commercial for the event, it also manages to be a very entertaining and engaging film. Yes it employs the trappings of an inspirational dramedy, it does so very effectively, making watching The Beautiful Game lovely.

Much of what makes it work is owed to its stars Nighy and Ward. Nighy's screen presence is always off the charts and he brings that to this film in one of his more understated parts. Ward, who I first saw opposite Olivia Colman in Empire of Light, shines bright here too by bringing much to his leading role. 

Sharrock films her movie beautifully, especially when they get to Rome and she takes full advantage of the scenery. The Beautiful Game is a beautifully shot film which may not always delve deeply into some of the more complex issues of the unhoused, but always, 100% of the time, focus on its characters as human beings. 

And maybe the Homeless World Cup deserves such an entertaining commercial. 

The Beautiful Game

Starring: Bill Nighy, Michael Ward

Director: Thea Sharrock

Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce

 

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

The latest Godzilla and Kong mashup is a big dumb monster movie with a capital D. The plot is so silly and the characters so badly drawn your eyes will be spinning to the back of your skull while you watch it. Really the only reason to do so is for mega monster mayhem and the one saving grace is that the film actually makes the monster battles fun and entertaining. But watching The New Empire made me wonder if it would be better to just watch a bunch of battle scenes minus all the ridiculous plot used to string them together. 

I am a huge fan of genre films and we know they can make awesome Kaiju movies that have great stories and characters that are well written and believable as they immerse you into the incredible world (Godzilla Minus One). Even this series has done so (Kong Skull Island). I'm here for big monster movies that explore interesting themes about ourselves and our real world by spinning fantastic yarns (The Planet of the Apes). I can even enjoy a fun B-movie monster flick (Tremors) but this Titans series has pushed my patience as the plots become stupider and the characters become less and less real. 

Still, there is good monster battles here and I'm willing to forgive (mostly) the inanity of the script to watch the king of the lizards and the king of the apes take on their evil doppelgängers in mighty battle. I'm just not sure how much more of this series I can take.  

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen, Rachel House

Director: Adam Wingard

Writers: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater

Damsel (2024)

Millie Bobbie Brown is making a name for herself as a Gen Z action hero for the streaming world and Damsel is her latest addition. It's a fun little adventure story, even if it is a little feminist 101 (there's nothing wrong with that) filled with edge of your seat adventure and a pretty awesomely designed dragon (voiced wonderfully by Aghdashloo). It might be a bit light but it's also fun with a great cast. 

Princesses are often used as a literary device for how the feminine is seen in society so this story of one being sacrificed for the well being of the kingdom is a nice little allegory for how women's agency is sacrificed. It makes sense in a metaphorical way as well as telling a simple yet satisfying story. Here we get a hero who "slays the dragon" by different means than we're used to. 

I also appreciated the way the film subverts the evil-step mother trope. If you're going to use a princess story to invert classic princess cliches then it makes sense to do that too. And casting Bassett in this role is perfect. Also Wright, cast as a villain instead of the princess herself is ideal. 

Director Fresnadillo's horror roots inspire him here to direct a visually impressive film, which is a bit more brutal than I anticipated (perhaps not for the youngest of viewers). There may not be many surprises in this telling but what it does it does well. And it's ending is satisfying in the way a good fairy tale should be. 

Damsel

Starring: Millie Bobbie Brown, Robin Wright, Angela Bassett, Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Brooke Carter, Shohreh Aghdashloo

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Writer: Dan Mazeau

Late Night with the Devil (2024)

I was quite disappointed with Late Night with the Devil. I had ramped up my expectations that it was going to be a much different film than it was and as it played out I realized it wasn't doing what I had hoped and wanted it to do. But not only that it was doing things I don't like from a film. I tried to adjust and just consider it based on what it was doing. But even that left me disappointed. This is what high expectations can do when confronted with a rather average film, a film that otherwise you might enjoy if you hadn't built it up so much before seeing it. 

I'll start with what's good. The production design is excellent and the film's retro-cool feeling is effective. Dastmalchian is, as pretty much always, quite good, and I especially appreciated that he was playing against type. Here he isn't the outsider weirdo that we're used to him playing and he pulls off a rather complicated character very well. The world of the fictional TV show Night Owls felt very real. 

But unfortunately for me too much didn't work. The found footage genre quite often fails in actually living up to its premise. Most of the time the film's story requires there be "footage" that just has no real world explanation for how it exists or was filmed. Late Night with the Devil really drops this ball. They explain it away in world as "behind the scene footage" but what we see that isn't the actual TV show is filmed as someone (who?? not even an attempt to explain that) is walking around with a hand held camera filming what most of the time the subjects would want to be private conversations, clearly aware of a camera but not caring that their secrets are being recorded??? This could have been handled by using "security camera" style footage which would have felt real but maybe wouldn't have been as cinematic. Still this quickly took me out of the story and ruined the realness feeling this story needs to really pull it off. 

Also the script lets us down. The premise is a good one but the actual dialogue often doesn't feel realistic. I often felt that the characters just wouldn't say what they were scripted to say. Certain scenes felt crafted to explain plot points. It all just felt a little amateurish. It's too bad too because the overall arc is quite interesting and if it had been executed effectively I think it really could have been incredible. 

Finally, and this is an essential piece of any horror, the film just isn't scary. The possession scenes are filled with typical tropes, the performance of many of the actors involved aren't up to the main star's level and feel hammy. So when the film finally gets to its meaty scenes (which takes quite a while for a film that is rather short overall) they disappoint. The film makes the mistake of showing too much and not leaving enough to the imagination. What they show just isn't that horrifying and they reveal it all leaving little to no mystery. 

So overall Late Night with the Devil is rather average. It's not bad and its worth a watch, but it's not amazing, it's not that innovative. Don't expect much and you'll likely be able to enjoy it for what it is. 

Late Night With the Devil

Starring: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli

Writers/Directors: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

Shirley (2024)

Regina King is a bit of a force of nature herself. So her casting as Shirley Chisholm feels perfect. She brings the necessary strength and charisma to inhabit the role of one of America's most important figures. Chisholm helped move the country forward in a turbulent time defying all who said she couldn't. King, with her impassioned performance, and Ridley, with his lovely direction, have paid tribute to her by bringing her story to generations who may not know as much as we should about her. 

Ridley's screenplay for 12 Year's a Slave was masterful. Here he shows some strength as a director by managing to tell the story of this pioneer in a linear and accessible way, juggling the issues and perspectives of the time with the events of her presidential campaign. Perhaps the film smooths over some things and drops the ball on focusing on who Chisholm was as a person. Despite some efforts with scenes with her sister and with her husband, the film holds her up on a pedestal that doesn't give us as much of a three dimensional personhood. The film's strength is instead the way it shows just how much of a struggle she took on and just how far she dragged her country. He also films it with a loving glow making it delightful to watch, even in the difficult moments. 

The entire cast is strong including one of the Reddick's final performances but also Holland in a small but standout part. But it is really all about how amazing King is, continuing to show us she is one of the best actors of her generation. She not only takes on Chisholm's affects but truly inhabits her. She shows us just how much she was able to do in the face of so much opposition, the extraordinary strength it takes to accomplish all she did. There are small moments in the film featuring her struggling with all of the weight on her, but sometimes I wished this was more palpable as even in those moments she triumphs. 

Shirley is wonderfully watchable as a movie, the kind you can put on and it will engross you. But it also reminds us of so much we have forgot and, hopefully, that we can still move things forward, even in the face of some of the worst write supremacy and misogyny we've faced.  

Shirley

Starring: Regina King, Lance Reddick, Terrance Howard, Lucas Hedges, André Holland

Writer/Director: John Ridley

 

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

Director Glass is an exciting emerging film maker. Her Love Lies Bleeding is a pulpy crime fantasy along the lines of something we might see from a David Lynch or the Cohen Brothers at the zaniest. It is a fever dream, not based in reality but it is deeply emotionally compelling and visceral. It is definitely something to see.  

Stewart is building an incredible filmography and Love Lies Bleeding is a new jewel in that crown. Her performance as the damaged yet most capable person around her is richly intricate. Pulling off creating the world this story needs to be told in is not something any cast could do but Stewart and her cast do an admirable job. 

Glass eases us into her madness somewhat by starting off her story more reasonably and introducing the fantastic elements slowly. But be prepared. This isn't your grandmother's Thelma and Louise. This is going to some dark places and some bonkers places. But it also goes to some incredibly emotionally rich places as well. While I'm not sure the ride is completely flawless, it is worth taking it to the end. 

Love Lies Bleeding

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, Dave Franco, Ed Harris 

Director: Rose Glass

Writers: Weronika Tofilska, Rose Glass

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

I'll come clean and say that Ghostbusters isn't the franchise for me. I am not a fan of the original film and to be honest I don't think it holds up great. I don't hate any of the movies and have enjoyed them all to some degree. But usually I am underwhelmed. Frozen Empire falls into that category for me too. I am happy I saw it but it doesn't do that much for me. 

This film leans even more into the nostalgia than the last. While Afterlife attempted to tell a very different sort of Ghostbusters story set in a different environment, Empire throws us back into everything familiar (NYC in general but even more specifically, the Library, the firehall, Slimer, the Stay Pufts, even Peck!). I think if I was more of a devoted fan I would have loved seeing all these callbacks. Probably the thing I enjoyed most of these was seeing Annie Potts in the uniform. 

But for me where these films fall down is that I usually don't find much of the humour that funny (and Empire is on par with the other films for that) nor the ghosts very scary. In fact the way this franchise interprets the concept of ghosts never quite sits right with me nor does the way this series just pulls solutions out of the characters' assess most of the time without actually setting up any realistic set of rules for how spirits work and how to defeat them. But that's just me...

Generally I'll give the film credit for keeping its story tight and moving it along so that I never got bored. I will take away points for teasing a queer relationship for Grace's character but never having the strength to actually go there. It gets points for Nanjiani's character being somewhat entertaining but loses some for seeming to just want to throw in as many characters as possible without really giving them a reason to be there. So for me Frozen Empire was a mixed bag that I can like enough to just not be that impressed. What I'd really like to see is them do next is let Grace really be the star of this show and get her going off to fight ghosts in new and strange locations with a small rotating team of busters that could breath some life into this without just returning to the same few stock ideas each time. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Celeste O'Connor, Logan Kim, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster, William Atherton

Director: Gil Kenan

Writers: Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan

 

Road House (2024)

Road House is a high gloss B movie featuring an A list cast and director working on a C level script. Yeah it's dumb and rather silly over all yet occasionally director Limon's energetic shooting style and the cast clearly having a blast (especially McGregor) make you forget how ridiculously stupid and campy the story and dialogue is. It's a weird mix of good and bad that is entertaining enough but asks you to check your brain at the door. 

The film has been criticized for the way Limon shot the fight scenes. They do have a "video game" aesthetic to them which doesn't quite feel real. But honestly I think this is a good choice stylistically. Nothing about this movie feels real so why should the fighting. Instead it's a heightened, stylistic approach which amplifies the film's fantasy feel. For me this worked. Gyllenhaal and McGregor's final fight was over the top and glorious. 

But you really do have to forgive a lot about a film whose story is as damn predictable as this one and whose characters are drawn as thinly as they are here. It's not really very good but its about letting that go to have some fun. It's shallow and cheap fun and if there wasn't a cast including the likes of Williams and Gage, it would have likely felt even more obviously bad. In the end it's saved by its own embracing of its ridiculousness.  

Road House

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Jessica Williams, Lukas Gage, Billy Magnussen, Joaquim De Almeida

Director: Doug Limon

Writers: Anthony Bagarozzi, Charles Mondry 

The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024)

This film often feels like a mix of some very thoughtfully executed scenes and some hastily assembled connective tissue which feels disjointed and rushed. I oscillated between moments of clumsy execution and moments of profound insight giving my quite conflicted feelings about a film that feels like it misses its potential. 

First up, what is good. The premise, the idea is fascinating. Anyone who is part of a group that is made to feel they have to be small to accommodate the majority based on who they are will relate yet the film is set in a very specific racial and geographical community. The idea behind this is wonderful and there are moments the film delivers on this. There are conversations that feel so authentically honest, revealing much of what goes unsaid, that are liberating. You feel like you can exhale a bit watching them. This is especially true in moments featuring its star Smith.

Smith is a big part of what I liked about this film. He is incredibly charismatic and a very talented actor. His casting in this role specifically is perfect and he has both the comic skills and the dramatic to pull it all off. And there are moments in his performance, even the "big" scene at the end that he just nails. I think someone else may not have been able to make this work as well as it does. 

But so much of the film lets him down. The world building is introduced and rushed so awkwardly that it never feels authentic. It's like they can't quite commit to the idea hoping just saying it will be enough. And the film often feels like getting from one of its good scenes to the next one is just too hard so it skips over things that would make it seem lived in. For example Drew Tarver's character is just so one note it's hard to believe him. His character's believability is kind of essential to the plot and yet the film doesn't trust us enough to make him complex so he stays two-dimensional and this gives the film less weight. 

So overall I don't think The American Society of Magical Negros really works. But there are times when it does. And the ideas it is working with are important and fascinating if it can get you to contemplate them. There is even a clever "post-credit" (sort of) scene which, unlike most of these sorts of scenes, actually enriches the film by adding layers of intersectionality to the story. 

But keep watching the work of Justice Smith. He is quite magical. 

The American Society of Magical Negros

Starring: Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Rupert Friend

Writer/Director: Kobi Libii

 

Les Chambres Rouges/Red Rooms (2024)

Red Rooms explores one of the darkest subjects of any movie I've seen. Yet it handles it in a way that is incredibly sensitive and insightful. This isn't Hostel. It takes a scandalously horrific premise and uses it as an indictment of our voyeuristic culture, and one that implicates its audience, an audience that often is drawn to true crime and, by extension, the suffering of others. It explores being drawn to violence and darkness using an extreme scenario. And it plays with a protagonist we do not want to identify with. Red Rooms terrified me more than I expected. 

I appreciated the way the film never exploited its premise with an attempt to titillate with gore or sensationalism. It kept the horribleness off screen with only some suggestion of it. Plante films his story partly as courtroom drama, a method of explaining much without having to experience it visually. Yet he does so quite grippingly. Despite not seeing any of the violence, we still  feel the horror of it painfully. 

But there is horror we do witness, the actions of our protagonist which is amplified by the film's aloofness to her motives and emotions. It is watching Kelly-Anne which is the most upsetting. We can understand Clementine and her groupie like fascination, even if we don't condone her position. But Kelly-Anne, her coldness, and her steely resolve are difficult to wrap our understandings around. Plante expertly builds tension and suspense even as we abhor our protagonist. Watching her is terrifying yet we can't look away. 

And the end is something to behold. It gives us both some peace while planting something insidiously worrying in our minds. Is Kelly-Anne hero or villain? Perhaps both. How does our cultural fascination with horrible crimes connect us to her or are we more like Clementine? The thought that we could live in a world where people commit such atrocities is one horror but that we live in a world where some are fascinated by them is perhaps even worse. Red Rooms makes us contemplate all of it and in so doing is one of the scarier movies I've seen. 

Les Chambres Rouge/Red Rooms

Starring:  Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos

Writer/Director: Pascal Plante 

Solo (2024)

There is a beautiful moment near the end of Solo, where the main character is told by his sister that the power he feels when he's in drag comes from within him, that almost brought me to tears. Solo is, if anything, a love story about discovering love for one's self. Simon struggles with a toxic relationship, disconnect from his idealized mother, to find in the end that the love he needed was right there all along, in him. 

Dupuis' script and direction is gentle yet strong. She tells her story in rather typical yet subtly beautiful ways. Teamed with Pellerin, who gives a break out performance here, they craft a truly lovely story of falling in love with yourself which is powerful and inspiring. 

Filled with strong drag numbers and a beautiful central performance by Pellerin, Solo often feels like it's going to be like many other in the queer romance genre. Until it isn't and becomes something more. I love a good romance that teaches us sometimes we are better off solo. 

Solo

Starring: Théodore Pellerin, Félix Maritaud, Anne-Marie Cadieux 

Writer/Director: Sophie Dupuis

Napoleon (2023)

I hope we have finally gotten past the point where we feel that movies which go through the events of the life of "great men" make for important or entertaining films. Napoleon, an ambitious and visually spectacular film from one of the most talented directors of his generation, proves the point I am making. It's an overblown and dull film. It is beautiful and features some strong performances (especially Kirby), but it remains... well... boring. 

I guess my point is that a film has to have a story that it is passionate about telling. I don't believe that recounting historical events is enough to meet this test. There are many examples of films which take this approach and often offer little to get passionate about as a film audience despite how we have long treated these films, especially those made by "important" film directors, as special and significant. Yet do we really enjoy watching them? As I endured Napoleon, I reflected on how rarely I care about these sorts of films despite their considered status. 

Yes Napoleon shows a skilled director making a well filmed movie. There are moments that are incredibly spectacular (the battle on the frozen lake moment for example). I can see why it is up for Oscars in technical categories. The sets, costumes, cinematography are all amazing. Many talented people do wonderful work here. It is very well acted by a strong cast. The writing is tight and the score is appropriately rousing. But it all amounts to something that I never care to watch ever again. I don't feel I came out of it with anything remarkable except perhaps a little more knowledge of French history than I had before (very little). I wasn't awestruck. I wasn't enraptured. My passions weren't enflamed. 

And to be honest the film bungles some of its narrative line. In packing in the entire career of this figure of French history we jump from one aspect to another without a lot of understanding of why or what's happened in the meantime. So much is oversimplified and therefore much is lost in translation. As a historical document it fails. And if it had succeeded as entertainment that might matter less. 

Whether one is making a film about some "important" historical events or "important" historical figures, we still have to make a movie that is engaging to watch and time and time again movies like this get passes. We afford them a level of respect that they just get for existing and not being "bad". I guess my point is are they really "good" either? I likely won't get much chance to reflect on this film more as I will likely never want to watch it again. 

Napoleon

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett

Director: Ridley Scott

Writer: David Scarpa

 

Robot Dreams (2023)

Robot Dreams is a truly lovely film in all ways from its exploration of connection and loneliness to its delightful traditional animation style. It is a film told without dialogue meaning its messages can be universal. It is touching and sweet even if it does go on for a bit longer than it needs to and its ending feels a little forced. 

Robot Dreams is the sort of film that can be enjoyed by anyone and should be seen by all. I am disappointed it won't be getting a wide release prior to the Oscars which have brought it to the attention of more people. The themes here are accessible for young and old audiences of any culture. 

My main complaint is the ending. Yes I feel the film draws out its plot a little too long but that part is forgivable and it remains watchable and charming throughout. Yes it could have done with one or two less dream sequences. However the ending is predicated on the idea that we can only have connection with one other at a time which is completely nonsensical especially in the terms of this story. There is a pathos that is powerful at the end but it is easily resolved by allowing the characters to all come together. Instead the film relies on this false idea of that some have to remain apart to allow the happiness of others. 

But besides this disappointing ending the film remains one I recommend to all. If you can get a chance to see it with such a restrictive release schedule. 

Robot Dreams

Writer/Director: Pablo Berger 

 

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Not since Peter Jackson's OG Lord of the Rings trilogy has there been such an earnest and epic film adaptation of classic genre literature. Villeneuve appears to be working on his magnum opus with his Dune saga. He is digging deep into the themes of the novel (in ways I want to talk about) and bringing the world building and characters to life with a passion and love of this story that makes for incredible cinema. 

I'll start out by saying Dune: Part Two is a wonderful movie and the sort that can be enjoyed by almost any audience from the casual to the sci fi loyalists. While it may be a bit dark for the youngest of audiences its themes are accessible to older children while being complex enough for and adult crowd. Dune Part Two is the sort of film to experience on the biggest screen possible but it isn't just gorgeous visuals and spectacular action it is incredible story telling and fascinating performances. 

I maintain my position that the novel Dune is extremely problematic when viewed with a modern sensitivity and post-colonial lens with all its white saviour nonsense, the way it treats eastern aesthetics with romantic exoticism, its queer coded homophobia, and issues with female characters. Villeneuve is determined to not just wrestle with these problems in his adaptation (as he did in Dune: Part One) but he takes those bulls by the horns and takes them down. He either exorcizes those issues (as with the queer coding which is just gone) or inverts them so we experience this story from a completely different point of view. While previous filmed adaptations often end this chapter of the story triumphantly, Dune: Part Two ends with an ominous foreboding. Paul is transformed, by Villeneuve's script and by Chalamet's performance into not just an morally ambiguous protagonist, into something quite concerning. 

Villeneuve has purposely centred Chani as a way of exploring this saga as something different than how its generally experienced in popular culture. Dune: Part One starts with her and Dune: Part Two ends with her. He is inverting how hero's journey stories are told so it is transformed into something more profound. His approach is brilliant and makes this more than just a big budget Hollywood tentpole, but an old school event that captures public imagination and brings an enduring part of the culture into relevance and re-examination. 

I have to comment on how incredible the cast is. Chalamet could have treated this as his "action star" role but instead he tackles Paul in all his complexities, embracing how dark the character becomes. Yes we sympathize but we also can be quite critical of his choices and journey. The film gives him space for this and he runs with it. Ferguson gives a similar performance as her Jessica is as complicated as Paul yet she nails it. Butler has the showiest role. The film makers and the actor both clearly enjoyed taking Feyd-Rautha in a different yet completely authentic direction. Yes he'll be memorably terrifying but he is also so much dimensional than he could have been. Some of the cast feels like they are planting seeds for future films with small yet essential roles which will have more to come, similarly to how Zendaya was used in the first film. Here she truly shines bringing her signature energy and pure force of will to a role that is more and more a central part of this story. 

Dune: Part Two doesn't compromise. It gives us a deeply moving, completely engaging, and complex narrative that is going to be satisfying upon repeat viewings as its characters and plots unwind and untangle time and again. It isn't so opaque that it can't be enjoyed on its own in one sitting (it's almost 3 hour runtime flies by) but it is dense and rich enough to be savoured over time. Together Parts One and Two make up one of cinema's most recent epics. 

Dune: Part Two

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Tim Blake Nelson, Anya Taylor-Joy

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Writers: John Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve

 

Spaceman (2024)

The loneliness of space travel as narrative device for isolation in human interaction is not a new idea for a film. Spaceman not only recycles this idea in a way that doesn't offer much new, but doesn't manage its pacing very well making for a very dull and dragging first act. Sandler is an astronaut on a solo mission who spends his time reflecting on his relationships back on earth. But the film handles its metaphors about as well as it handles its pacing. The whole thing feels rather rote and uninspiring.

The main issues I had with Spaceman is its handling of relationships. So much of its journey depends on building these relationships and the struggles within them but the film fumbles most of them. Perhaps most of this lies in the complete lack of chemistry between Sandler and Mulligan who just never create a relationship that feels honest. But this spills over as it saps some of the connection between Sandler and Dano's characters or Sandler and his dead father as well. 

The film takes a turn midway to create more of an "adventure" story line but the stakes of this are still tied to our investment in the main character and his connections or lack of connections which the film hasn't built very well. The film takes a different approach to the ending than its source material, one that changes much of the point quite a bit. But I'm not sure it works based on how poorly the film does with its first half. 

There seems to be something here that should have been more interesting but it just felt really dull. Maybe Sandler wasn't the one to pull this off. Spaceman just doesn't live up to its potential. 

Spaceman

Starring: Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, Kunal Nayyar, Lena Olin, Isabella Rosselini

Director: Johan Renck

Writer: Colby Day