At the Movies with Kane and BN

[Kane52630]

The Forgiven

It's John Michael McDonagh trying to do what he did in the past by making a dark comedy/drama about a central issue and for this it's white privilege and guilt. The movie kinda hits you over the head showcasing how disgusting and ugly these rich white people are and how they view Muslims and I feel like it doesn't given you enough time with the Moroccans... even when Ralph Fiennes travels to Ismael Kanater's home who I thought was phenomenal in this. I also thought Saïd Taghmaoui was great in here with the limited screen time he has in here. The movie spends too much time with the Jessica Chastain, Matt Smith, and Christopher Abbott characters and their plot doesn't feel all that interesting. I feel like they could have shorten it with just the Abbey Lee character who's does a good job playing up the oblivious blonde trope. The movie also ends in a way that feels like it wasn't earned given how the Ralph Fiennes character changed perspectives so easily. Overall, not bad but not great. I get where they're going for but I feel like they focused too much on the wrong part of the plot.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Marry Me

It's hilarious that the movie thinks late talk shows actually do their shows late night and have breaking gossip news on the ready.

It's pretty much the same Nora Ephron style romantic comedy that they've copied and pasted on to so many other movies, but this time it's loosely based on Jennifer Lopez's real life. It's got the same structure and even the same kind of musical score to it with the same kind of light and airy performances. I will say I thought the original songs does sound like it would play on the radio in real life which is not really surprising because it's JLO. Overall, outside from a couple of moments, it's a nothing burger of a movie and I feel like The Valet did a much better job doing this same movie. Even the comedy was better.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

Vengeance

They really did a shameless product placement of Whataburger and somehow it totally works.

It's a pretty decent murder mystery dark comedy that uses the "big city liberal vs small town conservative in America" idea as the basis of the movie. You can tell right away that BJ Novak was trying to follow a similar quirky indie film formula with this as a first time director/writer. I did like the comedic scenes that you expect a movie like this to have, but they do attempt to have more depth to it which really happens in the 3rd act. I thought Boyd Holbrook was great, but shockingly, I thought Ashton Kutcher was incredible for the two/three scenes he was in here and it's probably my favorite performance from him. Overall, I dug it a lot. It's a movie that could have been even better if it was under a more experienced director, but there's some ideas in here that are really resonate in 2022.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

DC League of Super-Pets

Dog-El. That's all.

Pretty much what you expected with a big name animated movie that centers around all the pets from the DC universe. It goes for all the obvious pet jokes and the common DCU jokes that's been made many times before (and done better). The Rock is still playing himself as Krypto and Kevin Hart is playing a more reserve version of himself playing Ace. It becomes a slightly better movie once Kate McKinnon as Lulu enters the picture, but even that got pretty tiring when it got to the end. It's as if this movie got all the leftovers of a plot and jokes from the Teen Titan Go movie and the Lego Batman movie. Overall, just average. This should have gone straight to HBO Max.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Not Okay

Emily is for sure not in Paris.

A really well made dramady that goes after Millennial/Gen Z clout chasers and social media and it deals with the repercussions of an elaborate lie. While I did like the set up and the obnoxious main character played really well by Zoey Dutch, the first 20 or so minutes were a bit nauseating to get through. It wasn't really until they introduced Mia Isaac's character that they found what this movie is really about. Her performance was phenomenal and the movie really pays off when you get to the final scene where it flips for the better. Oh and I guess Dylan O'Brien was in this but it was a character that anyone could play. Overall, great stuff. It started off rough but it really won me over by the end.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

It's one of those feel good British comedy/dramas that you swear was made 20 years ago that only plays on PBS. The lightness and sentimentality work for something like Paddington, but here the story feels a bit lost in their own obsession with fashion and especially French culture. It's really like someone made Phantom Thread in the way of Mary Poppins but not at all interesting. That being said, Lesley Manville does carry the film pretty well despite the story not really working for me. Oh and I also thought Alba Baptista was pretty good in here. Overall, it's just not for me but I can see why others might like it.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

Honor Society

This was basically a 2022 remake of Election where Angourie Rice plays Tracy Flick if she had social media.

That being said, Honor Society is more of a coming-of-age story where it doesn't really do anything new outside of breaking the 4th wall. Still, it's charming enough to keep the movie going and Angourie Rice really honed in on her acting ability and she really carries the film. The supporting cast was fine and I thought Gaten Matarazzo and Amy Keum were the highlights. Overall, not bad but not super original.
3/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Prey

Amber Midthunder is simply great as the lead here. Some cliches aside, this was pretty damn fun to watch. Not second best in this compulsive series of flicks, as that spot still belongs to 'Predators'. Some of the cgi was eh at times, but the brutal action killing moments more than makes up for it. I believe this could've had a very solid box office, especially with them reviews.

3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Bullet Train

[insert witty Thomas the Tank Engine reference here]

A pretty fun stylized action flick on a train with a giant cast that got better as it went along. I have no doubt that David Leitch totally wanted to do a Pulp Fiction-style movie, but done under his ultra vibrant neon world. It's a lot of multilayered stories clashing into each other while everyone is delivering some witty banter at each other. Brad Pitt carries it well as expected and he's clearly having fun with it playing this goofy assassin. Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were also a lot of fun who stood out more and they are pretty much the Jules and Vincent of the movie. Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joey King, and Michael Shannon all had their moments to shine as well. They even gave Bad Bunny the Desperado treatment and he was great for the limited screen time he had. I will say the 3rd act kinda saves the movie because of how it all tied well together even if you kinda saw it coming. Overall, a lot of fun.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Resurrection

That intern was probably jobhunting on linkedin right after that monologue.

A very surreal and haunting thriller. At first I thought that Shudder logo was a misdirect but nope there are some wild horror moments baked in this thriller. Rebecca Hall is really finding her place as the best actress you want for a thriller because between this, The Night House, The Gift, and Christine, she's been killing it and really gave it her all in this performance. Tim Roth was also phenomenal in this and not to give away who he is in this story, he manage to deliver some of the most disturbing lines of dialogue I've heard in a while. It's got a slow pace that probably won't work if it weren't for the unnerving final moments of this movie. Overall, incredibly good. Rebecca Hall gave one of the best performances of the year next to Maika Monroe in Watcher and Michelle Yeoh in EEAAO.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Prey

Yautja's workout routine must have been insane to get that 20 pack.

F**kin loved it. Dan Trachtenberg stays winning as he manages to go back to basics on why the first Predator worked so well. It's got a very straightforward narrative where it's set on Comanche lands in the early 1700s and centers on Naru who wants to prove her worth as a warrior. Where the first Predator's story takes a piss on the macho men of the 80s and pretty much turns Arnold into the final girl in a slasher, this story is way more traditional in what it's trying to say, which I don't mind at all. Dan Trachtenberg does a phenomenal job setting up mood and atmosphere to the point where I would have loved to see the first 20 minutes before the predator shows up as its own movie. And once it got into the action part, Trachtenberg really has a great sense of what people love to play in video games depicted in live action. It's very much in the same wheelhouse as Neill Blomkamp. I really liked how different this Predator was from previous ones and how different his style is when it comes to combat and his tech. And I'm finally glad that Amber Midthunder found the role most people will remember her by, she was phenomenal in it from start to finish. It also has an incredible score by Sarah Schachner which reminded me of Hans Zimmer back when he used a lot of strings. Overall, It's pretty much exactly the Predator movie I've always wanted for years done by the people I've always admired. Pretty much perfect in my eyes. Hopefully, we can get more time period-based Predator movies.
5/5

 

[Kane52630]

RRR

It's wild to see the letterboxd/film twitter crowd go nuts for something that doesn't really do anything new in South Asian cinema.

RRR is another entry in the crazy filmography from S. S. Rajamouli who really prides himself in the over the top action scenes that feel like something out of a Greek mythology painting or some anime (E.g. the Baahubali films). With RRR, it seems like he wanted to take some real life history of going after oppressed British rule in India and make it like a superhero origin story which I'm all for. I will say whenever the action setpieces hit, they do hit even if there's some obvious green screen and wirework or some questionable CG with some odd lighting. That being said, the money still shows on screen even with that clean digital look. In between the action, this follows every typical Bollywood and Tollywood plot where it tries to please everyone with some comedy/musical/romance. Still not sure how I am supposed to feel about the white love interest where they try to give it the "Not all imperial British people are bad" take. While I saw it in the Hindi dub, the performances still came through for me and it's still not all good. No disrespect to Ram Charan and N. T. Rama Rao Jr., but a lot of the dialogue was pretty trashy and two-dimensional especially when it comes to the white people like Ray Stevenson and Alison Doody. The only part that felt truly real performance-wise was when Ajay Devgn showed up (who's great in Singham btw) and for a second it almost became a real drama that worked. Overall, while I kinda understand people in the west going crazy for this, to me (considering I kinda grew up watching Bollywood films) this movie feels pretty basic that only gets elevated by the inventive direction/action.
3/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Official Competition

A wealthy businessman hires a famous filmmaker to help make a smash hit film.

Penelope Cruz-the director
Antonio Banderas- the movie star
Oscar Martinez- the accomplished method actor

This was a lot of fun. All three actors have great chemistry with one another. I've always felt like Antonio Banderas never got the acting respect he deserves in America. His performances in his native tongue can make him go toe to toe with ANY so called great American/British actor, any of them. Cruz was great as usual here an the director trying to keep this from falling apart, while also being a narcissist herself. Martinez Oscar rehearsal speech in the bathroom was a highlight. This did feel a bit too long to me tho. I do see this being remade with an english speaking cast at some point, the plot is just too simple and good to not do so.

3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Bodies Bodies Bodies

The craziest thing about this movie is actually their iPhone batteries that happen to last all night with the flash on.

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a cleverly well done whodunit slasher for the Gen Z and TikTok generation that fully knows what it's trying to be. It takes the better elements of movies like the new Scream and Spring Breakers (or The Bling Ring or Assassination Nation) and make it smart enough that it has something to say while also having really fun with it. Similar to Good Time, the movie is also mostly a comedy of errors that gets funnier and wilder as the plot escalates. The cast is brilliantly well placed and the performances are hysterical especially with Rachel Sennott, Chase Sui Wonders, and Amandla Stenberg. They do a good job giving Maria Bakalova the relatable role who they make out to be the outsider in the group. This also has my favorite Pete Davidson scene where he pretty much laid out what the movie is kinda about. Overall, a fun horror slasher and it's worth seeing even if you don't think you'll like it.
4.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Emily the Criminal

April Ludgate tasering a couple for stealing Champion the dog is exactly something you'd see on Parks and Rec.

It's a mostly solid crime thriller that deals with credit card fraud that is carried mostly by Aubrey Plaza's performance. Between the plot and character, it kinda feels like a throwback to the 00s where you'd see more anti-hero crime thriller plots that follows a familiar road. The set up is solid enough where it takes you into the world of the grift that's led by Theo Rossi. It's got some Breaking Bad sensibilities, but it's not as thorough as it could be. There are some great moments in here where you do root for Aubrey Plaza to get away with it. It all gets pretty predictable once they introduce the romantic subplot. From there on you kinda know where its head and he movie never got back from being that intriguing. Overall, it's pretty good enough, but i've seen it done better.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Fall

Chekhov's knowledge of pro wrestling.

It's a survival thriller that does exactly what you think it does. I feel like it's trying to go for something like The Shallows or Frozen (2010) but set on a 2,000 foot high TV tower and it never really clicked script wise. They do a good job directing some of those vertigo scenes and they do a lot with little. That being said, when the movie started with a "Buzzfeed Studios" logo, it kinda tells you everything. All the dialogue was incredibly generic and the characters themselves were mostly cardboard cutouts of young female climbers who have almost no personality. And because of that the movie sometimes becomes unintentionally hilarious which I suppose keeps it entertaining. Grace Currey and Virginia Gardner's performances started off pretty rough but by the end it got better. The movie also kinda saves itself in the 3rd act a bit but not by much. It's a movie that would have come out straight to video 10 years ago. Overall, not incredibly awful but not great.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Day Shift

The guidebook on making a movie set in LA must be Step 1: Play California Love by Tupac and you're good.

This was pretty by the book action horror stuff. The movie is essentially using John Carpenter's Vampires as a basis and mixing it in with Starsky and Hutch and all the other 70s buddy cop shows. The plot is second rate and almost too generic for this kind of concept and it even ends exactly the way you think it does with the same kind of dialogue. The villain was super flat and nothing about her character was anything interesting. It almost feels like the writer played too much GTA 5. That being said, the only thing worth seeing here are the stunts and the action that does bring it up a bit. While Jamie Foxx is playing Jamie Foxx yet again, he does have his moments whenever he's with Dave Franco and Snoop Dogg. Overall, it's just average in a almost forgettable kind of way.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Trainwreck: Woodstock ’99

Who knew the lead singer of Korn came off as the most sane person from this doc.

It's a pretty straightforward documentary that covers the infamous Woodstock 99 that actually have the people who ran it come in and talk about it. It didn't take much before you're instantly transported back to what American pop culture was like in the late 90s where white dude bros and white girls were font and center with pop and nu metal rock. The doc does a good job breaking down each day with each episode and giving it a timestamp of what was happening and what went wrong. It's obvious how they got this idea after how successful the Fyre Fest documentaries were so there's a lot in here that mirrors each other. The big meaty part with this doc is that it became apparent how the main two promoters never felt accountable for what they did and allowed back then and even today. It seems like it was one giant mistake of combing corporate greed, cheap management, and toxic masculinity and putting together it in a blender. Overall, solid entertaining stuff but nothing groundbreaking when it comes to documentary itself.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Also Ananda Lewis is a vampire, she has not aged a bit.

 

[Kane52630]

The Fallout

I really felt my age when I saw Shailene Woodley playing a therapist.

A really well done character driven teen drama that looks at the process of someone's PTSD after a school shooting. It's pretty obvious this was done during COVID times, but it actually adds towards the quiet indie sensibilities that helps make this movie stand out from the rest. For her first feature debut, Megan Park did a great job directing this while also doing a great job writing these characters to make them sound as authentic and of the time as possible for the Gen Z crowd. Jenna Ortega (who's been killing it this year) pretty much have to carry this movie mostly by herself and she was incredible. Overall, for an actors movie, this was incredible.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Orphan: First Kill

It's like Julia Stiles didn't learn anything from The Omen.

This...was not good. It's a prequel that plays out almost everything were were told about in the original Orphan. Knowing that Will Bell directed this tells you everything about this movie. Where the first Orphan does a lot of great character development work and show off some really good performances even before the twist even shows up, this cuts all the corners and it just gets you to the point. There's not a second here where you buy that Isabelle Fuhrman is still playing a 9-year-old. Even when they're not digitally face swapping, they shoot it where it obviously hides her height. The digital smoothness of the movie also doesn't help it at all. It's not shot well and it always seems like there's a smudge on the camera the entire time (which wasn't the case in the first movie). Now, with all that being said, there is a big twist like an hour in that you don't see coming and it's utterly ridiculous just like Will Bell's other movie, The Boy. From there on it's actually somewhat entertaining on a "so bad it's good" level. Still doesn't save the movie, but it's wild. Overall, pretty bad and it's a shame Isabelle Fuhrman came back for this considering how incredible she was in The Novice. It's another Will Bell movie who somehow continues getting work.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Beast

Idris Elba and his Cat trilogy is now complete.

This was pretty much as advertised. It's Idris Elba and his family plus Sharlto Copley trying to survive a rogue Lion attack for 90 minutes. This has elements of a few movies like A Quiet Place, The Ghost and the Darkness, Jurassic Park, and even The Revenant that's all streamlined together and kept it simple. Speaking of The Revenant, the director Baltasar Kormákur, does copy the style in which there's plenty of continuous shots that's peppered in this movie whenever there's tension. And on top of that there's a very similar fight scene, but for this case, it's a lion instead of bear. What really elevates it from a typical b movie was writing the characters and making the side story mean something. Overall, a very simple but effective animal thriller that does exactly what it's supposed to do but nothing more.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Spin Me Round

Getting tricked into going aboard to Italy to what is ultimately a summer school for Olive Garden is my personal hell.

This was a decent and small indie romcom that slowly turns into a bizarre thriller. The movie gets fumbled a bit once Alison Brie leaves the the comedy part of the movie where she's stuck with a group of odd managers who got invited for this trip and gets to the Alessandro Nivola part of the movie. Aubrey Plaza wasn't in it for long but her scenes were great. Some of the jokes do hit and knowing it's produced by the Duplass Brothers, there's a bit of mumblecore in this. Overall, it's not super great but there are some enjoyable moments that kept this movie going.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Happening

Audrey Diwan must love back of the head and OTS cinematography.

This was not only timely but incredibly well done for an abortion character drama set in 60s France. The director Audrey Diwan does a great job focusing on the landscape of women's rights at the time in a subtle way without hitting you over the head with it. It's also Anamaria Vartolomei's realistic performance that makes this movie work the way it did. In a lot of ways it's similar to the other abortion drama, Rarely Never Sometimes Always but it's got a bit more going for it. Overall, it's a very solid film that I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up during the awards race.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Samaritan

I wouldn't be surprised if Schwarzenegger pulled another Stop or My Mom Will Shoot when this movie was getting made.

Samaritan feels like it came out of that haze between Batman & Robin and Spider-Man 2002 where comic book movies like Steel and Spawn were coming out. It's essentially Julius Avery trying to make a movie that feels like a combination of Unbreakable and the Robocop movies without the metatext that make them stand out. That being said, I thought Sylvester Stallone did try in this and he was easily the best actor in this movie which isn't surprising. I also enjoyed the production value/design of making a city look like it's rotten from the inside. And the other positive I have for this is I actually liked the execution of the twist even though I saw it coming. Other than that, this was pretty basic and the villains are paper thin and they deliver some very bland dialogue. I also thought the kid they got here can't act. Overall, while I get trying to give Stallone his "old man but still a badass" moment but this fell short.
2.5/5