Ashton Kutcher Talks Thinking His Acting Career Was Over After Medical Episode And Why He Hates When Other Celebs Say They’re Retired
Vin Diesel Hypes Fast X’s Trailer With Jason Momoa Set Photo
Alec Baldwin And Rust Armorer Officially Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter
Harry Potter’s Rupert Grint Explains The Downside To Playing Ron Weasley For So Long
Salma Hayek Recalls Jimmy Kimmel’s Crazy Oscars When The Wrong Winner Was Announced And Why She Knew What Had Happened Right Away
Super Mario Bros. Clip Reveals Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong Voice, And The Internet (Unsurprisingly) Has Thoughts
Why Creed III's Jonathan Majors Didn't Mind Getting Hit For Real By Michael B. Jordan While Filming
A Look At Jeremy Renner's Career So Far In Pictures
The Ark Review: Syfy Spaceship Drama Navigates an Enticing Mystery
Astronomer and all-around multi-hyphenate Carl Sagan only published one full work of fiction in his life, but Contact was nonetheless a treasure trove of fascinating, deeply meaningful sentiments, everywhere as beautiful as his popular science manifesto, Cosmos. “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space," wrote Sagan. “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.” Perhaps those two sentiments, simultaneously optimistic and melancholic, accurately describe the feeling of journeying through space.
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Chris Hemsworth And Elsa Pataky Aged Up For Disney+ Project, And I Hope I Look That Good In 45 Years
Blake Lively Hilariously Got An ESPN+ Account Just So She Could Troll Ryan Reynolds With It
M. Night Shyamalan Responded After Sarah Michelle Gellar Admits She Spoiled The Sixth Sense For Freddie Prinze Jr
Dior Took Flack For Working With Johnny Depp After The Amber Heard Trial. Turns Out, It’s Going Well
Jennifer Lopez Reveals ‘Scary As F*ck’ Moment She Nearly Fell Off A Cliff Filming Shotgun Wedding
Will Avatar 3 Actually Come Out On Time? Here’s What James Cameron Says
No Big Deal, Just Olivia Wilde And Jason Sudeikis Hugging It Out Months After Custody Drama
Kevin Bacon Dropped An Honest Response After Fan Calls For Tremors 3
Turns Out We Can Thank Teenagers For Why M3GAN Wasn't 'Way Gorier'
Brendan Fraser Gets Real About The Physical Struggles He Experienced Near The End Of His Stint In The Mummy Franchise
‘You People’ Traffics In Progressive Guilt, Lack of Laughter
Some modern movies wallow in woke bromides. Others have a progressive lecture or two, but otherwise offer straightforward stories.
And then there’s “You People.”
The film doesn’t flirt with woke asides or stop for Important Lessons on Race or the Patriarchy. Woke is built into the film’s DNA, intertwined with every scene.
That’s two strikes against most projects, but “You People” offers a brilliant cast to pull off its talking points. It’s not enough, sadly, even with Eddie Murphy showing he hasn’t lost an ounce of his comic brio.
Jonah Hill stars as Ezra, a 30-something Jewish man whose dating life has hit a rough spot. No one seems to “get” him, and even the women who seem like prime dating material can’t make his heart flutter.
Then he meets (cute) Amira (Lauren London), a fiercely independent woman who happens to be black. Love blooms in a hurry, and six months later the couple is talking marriage. That’s the worst news possible for Amira’s parents (Murphy, Nia Long), strict Muslims who see Ezra as a horrible match for their daughter.
Ezra’s parents (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Duchovny) bleed progressive blue, and they’re delighted to invite a woman of color into their family.
“We’re gonna have brown grandchildren,” Louis-Dreyfus’s character squeals.
Cultures clash and Ezra’s parents behave like the most ignorant liberals on Planet Earth. A prime example? Duchovny’s character can’t stop genuflecting at the altar of the rapper Xzibit. Because he’s black, you see, and so is Amira. Get it? Does anyone actually think like this?
That’s just one of many problems plaguing “You People.”
My first exposure to stand up comedy was a cassette tape of Eddie Murphy’s Delirious.
Now I’m in a movie with him.
What a life.“You People” out now on Netflix. INDULGE!!! pic.twitter.com/IGZXlJU7gY
— Andrew Schulz
HEZI (@andrewschulz) January 27, 2023
Louis-Dreyfus’ Shelley never feels like a real person. She’s a comically warped wokester who apparently hasn’t met a black person in her life. She fawns over Amira’s hair and nails, turning tone deaf compliments into offensive riffs.
Is it funny? Not particularly, but co-writers Kenya Barris (who directs) and Hill must have thought it’s fall-down hysterical. Why else would they repeat the comic beat over, and over again?
The other note beaten to death? Ezra is so eager to please his future father in law, Akbar, that he lies through his teeth when he’s with him.
Every. Single. Time.
Big. Embarrassing. Easily provable lies.
Combine these two unfunny plot lines and you’ve essentially sunk the film.
Somehow, Ezra and Amira exude, if not chemistry, the sense that they’re lovers staring down a brutal reality. And, in the eyes of Barris and Hill, interracial marriage seems like “Mission: Impossible” in 2023. Yet every other commercial shows an interracial couple, so we know that’s not accurate.
Every character here, like the movie itself, is progressive to the core. It’s hard to watch people mired in microaggression misery when you’re trying to enjoy a rom-com.
Ezra’s every fiber apologizes for his so-called white privilege. Amira sees racism everywhere, like when she blames it for missing a plum work assignment. People of every race, creed and color miss out on plum assignments all the time.
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In one of many cringe-worthy scenes, the couple’s respective families fight over who had it worse – Jews via the Holocaust or black Americans due to slavery.
Those awful chapters in world history are joined by dramatically smaller narratives, part of the progressive mindset that Barris and Hill drill into their story. That includes an early shout out to President Barack Obama and Ezra’s podcaster partner (Sam Jay) explaining that black people can never forgive whites for slavery.
A generous way to process that thought? It’s an homage to “When Harry Met Sally,” and how Harry insists men and women can never be friends if there’s a romantic spark between them.
Sadly, most of the black characters initially dismiss Ezra and his family because of their skin color, bigotry the film frames as casual, almost expected.
The bigger issues plaguing “You People” are easy to spot. It’s hard to develop flesh and blood characters when everyone is a talking point, a progressive op-ed or signifier of a larger cultural complaint.
Other key details are simply missing.
We’re told Ezra is willing to throw away his staid career as a broker to become a professional podcaster, but there’s little proof his talent is worth the risk. We never get to see why Ezra and Amira click, and the film introduces Akbar’s strong Islamic faith (he loves the Rev. Louis Farrakhan!) but that bullet point fades over time.
The biggest sin? The film’s third act requires audiences to forget everything they were told for 90 minutes in order to swallow it.
Barris’ film does offer a briskly paced narrative, and it’s impossible to look away at select points in the story. “You People” is a narrative train wreck, and we’re inclined to stare at disasters.
HiT or Miss: “You People” begins with a strong premise along with some solid laughs. In short order the laughs dry up and the concept hits a thematic iceberg.
The post ‘You People’ Traffics In Progressive Guilt, Lack of Laughter appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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Why Susan Sarandon Says She Won’t Apologize For Daughter Eva Amurri’s Upbringing Being Like A ‘Circus’
Nia Long Reveals Why She Was Rejected During Charlie's Angels Audition
As Austin Butler’s Elvis Voice Draws Mixed Reactions From Fans, Director Baz Luhrmann Weighs In With Thoughts
Fans Are Not Happy About Blake Lively's Casting In That Colleen Hoover Movie
James Cameron's Avatar: The Way Of Water Just Hit Another Box Office Milestone As It Gets Closer To Becoming The No. 1 Movie Of All Time
Creed III’s Jonathan Majors Worked Out Hard To Play A Bodybuilder And Ate An Incredible Number Of Calories In The Process
Would Eddie Murphy Come Back For Shrek 5? The Comedian Weighs In If He’d Play Donkey Again While Throwing Shade At Puss In Boots
You People Review: All-Star Comedy Trivializes Societal Divisions
You People trivializes love, religion, and race relations in its attempt at incisive humor. Director/co-writer Kenya Barris, a Hollywood stalwart known primarily for Black-ish and its spin-offs, pokes fun at extremes with a barrage of verbose banter. An all-star cast riffs incessantly like auditioning for improv night at a local comedy club. Some of the jabs land as funny, but the overall experience isn't comical, and there's no surprise to the outcome with an excessive runtime. It's the standard vapid plot of a boy meets girl romance — the father hates his guts, and he's forced to make good.
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Top Gun: Maverick Producer Explains Why He Thinks Top Gun 3 Could Happen, As Long As Tom Cruise Survives Making Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
Could Scooby-Doo 3 Still Happen? Here’s What Sarah Michelle Gellar Thinks
Brendan Fraser Reacts To The Term ‘Brenaissance’ In A+ Way
Anna Kendrick Admits The Hardest Things She Was Ever Asked To Do For Press (And How Terrified Everyone Is Of David Letterman)
Kristen Stewart Already Has Another Directing Job Lined Up Ahead Of Her Directorial Debut
Halle Berry Sent Love To All The Oscar Nominees, But Especially These Badass Ladies
'Shazam! Fury of the Gods' Trailer 2 Reaction And Discussion
Salma Hayek’s The Latest Celeb To Rock A See-Through Look On The Red Carpet, And She Took A Note From Megan Fox
No Big Deal, Just The Rock Doing Crazy Squats With Chains And Less Than 90 Seconds Between Sets
Fancy Dance Review: Coming-of-Age Amidst the Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Fancy Dance may be her first feature film, but "debut" doesn't feel like the appropriate word to describe Erica Tremblay's latest film. Indeed, there's nothing "amateur" about the nuance and precision with which she examines a post-colonial America through the perspective of the Indigenous community. After all, Tremblay, who belongs to the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, has always turned her lens towards her own community in her past filmmaking efforts, from directing the documentary In the Turn to serving on the story editing and co-writing teams of AMC's Dark Winds and FX's Reservation Dogs. So, no, Fancy Dance isn't just a triumphant narrative debut for the director — it's an arrival.
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Emilia Clarke’s The Pod Generation Is A Clever Sci-Fi Satire About The Future Of Pregnancy
Paul Mescal Got His First Oscar Nomination For Aftersun, And Fans Are Ecstatic
Fear Review: Intense, Clever Horror Film Finds Friends Facing Their Fears
Basic fear is an evolutionary response that warns us animals of threatening stimuli; in short, fear is supposed to keep the mortality rate down. There are different types of fear, though. Fear is biological, but its more nefarious variant, hysteria, is social, a collective cumulation of fear that takes what are logical defense responses and turns them into illogical, dangerous behavior. The fear of being in a crowded space while millions of people around the world are dying of a contagious airborne disease is rational; the fear of not having enough toilet paper during a disease which has nothing to do with gastrointestinal distress is irrational.
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Blumhouse Combined M3GAN With The Prince Harry Documentary, And I Can’t Look Away
Shrinking Review: A Therapy Comedy That Does Not Meet Standards
What happens when your therapist needs just as much help as you do? The subject of mental health, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns began, has been a point of discussion throughout the world as people began to suffer from the negative consequences of being isolated and cut off from the world as they knew it. This was an issue simmering beneath the surface of society even before then; discussions about mental health problems were beginning, but they were not as commonplace in certain countries and cultures until the pandemic. While therapy has been somewhat inaccessible to some populations due to stigmas and financial situations, it can be recommended that someone at least try therapy once if they can afford it, even if they think everything is fine.
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M3GAN Star Reportedly Earned A Huge Bonus Thanks To The Horror Film's Box Office Success
Director Sarah Polley's Oscar Expectations For Women Talking Were So Low She Scheduled A Doctor's Appointment For Today
Infinity Pool Reviews Are Here, See What Critics Are Saying About Alexander Skarsgård And Mia Goth's New Horror Movie
The Internet Is Obsessed With Allison Williams And Riz Ahmed's Oscar Nomination Presentation
Cat Person Turns Viral Short Story Into A Paranoia-Fueled Horror For The Modern Dating Scene
Tiffany Haddish Stood Her Ground At Sundance After An Audience Member Griped About Her New Film
Rita Ora Addresses Claims That She, Taika Waititi And Tessa Thompson Were A Throuple
Twitter Users Are Just Finding Out The Plot Of Tom Brady’s 80 For Brady Movie, And They Have A Lot Of Thoughts
Jennifer Connolly Explains Just Why Tom Cruise Deserves An Oscar Nomination For All His Hard Work On Top Gun: Maverick: ‘He’s Extraordinary’
Channing Tatum Claims He’s Better At Stripping Than Hustlers’ JLo And His Magic Mike Co-Star
Machine Gun Kelly And His Movie With Megan Fox Got A Ton Of Razzie Noms
L'Immensità Review: Penelopé Cruz Is Sublime in Emanuele Crialese's Transportive Family Drama
We have been graced with many autobiographical movies from major filmmakers throughout the course of cinema history. Just last year, for instance, we saw Empire of Light from Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. While the former fizzled with critics and audiences, the latter has become a force to be reckoned with this awards season. Whether good or bad, there's nonetheless something immediately interesting whenever a director decides to turn the camera towards themselves. This is precisely what Italian filmmaker Emanuele Crialese has done with L'Immensità .
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Johnny Knoxville’s Divorce Isn’t The Only Legal Action The Jackass Star Is Facing Right Now
Why Goonies And Indiana Jones Star Ke Huy Quan Returned To Acting After 20 Years
Vivica A. Fox Talks Going Viral With Kill Bill-Themed Music Video And What She’s Heard About A Third Movie
It Cracks Anna Kendrick Up How Twilight Stars Went From Heartthrobs To ‘The Butt Of Every Joke’
While We Wait For Salem's Lot, Another Exciting 2023 Stephen King Movie Is Moving From Streaming To Theaters
Titanic Is Coming Back To Theaters. James Cameron Shares Honest Reason Why This Year ‘Made Sense’
Michael J. Fox And Christopher Lloyd Connected In A Very Different Way During Back To The Future III
IT's Andy Muschietti Shares Sweet Post On The 10th Anniversary Of His Directorial Debut
Emma Roberts Explains Why She Was Excited To Work With Her Aunt Julia Roberts' Longtime Co-Star Richard Gere
Ghostface Used A Shotgun In Scream VI's Trailer, And Fans Have Thoughts
Creed III's Jonathan Majors Discusses His 'Physical Triad' Of Films And The Challenges Of Getting In Shape
How Alec Baldwin Is Reportedly Doing After Being Charged In Rust Investigation Surrounding Halyna Hutchins’ Death
Looks Like We Might Be Getting Another Friday The 13th Movie Alongside Bryan Fuller's TV Prequel
Eddie Murphy Reveals Why He Was Convinced To Do Beverly Hills Cop 4
Watch Cocaine Bear’s Elizabeth Banks Try Tom Hanks’ Diet Coke And Champagne Cocktail ‘Diet Cokagne’
Sometimes I Think About Dying Review: A Deeply Human Excavation of Our Difficult Existence
It may not seem like it at first, based on the title, but Sometimes I Think About Dying is actually the perfect movie to kick off opening night of Sundance Film Festival 2023. This year marks the return of in-person events after the last two annual festivals pivoted towards a solely virtual experience as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. What's more, Sundance 2023 will still be offering online screenings to ticket holders around the world, thereby emphasizing the notions of community and connection. Indeed, both of these ideas have long been entrenched in the movie-going experience, but what Sometimes I Think About Dying offers is a deeply human, and effectively singular, perspective on them.
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Tom Hanks Talks Getting That Infamous Tom Cruise Christmas Cake In The Mail Every Year
Are The Fantastic Beasts Movies Officially Dead? Newt Scamander Himself, Eddie Redmayne, Speaks Out
Austin Butler Keeps Getting Roasted For His Elvis Voice, But Now His Voice Coach Has Defended Him
Robert Pattinson Shares Worried Opinion About All Those Viral Deepfakes Using His Face
James Cameron Doesn't Want You To Watch Avatar 2 On Your Phone - But Not For The Reason You'd Think
‘Missing’ Shows Potential, and Pitfalls, of Digital Storytelling
Found footage has given way to Laptop Cinema.
“Missing,” like its spiritual predecessor “Searching,” is told entirely via the screens that dominate the culture… and our lives. Storm Reid plays a teen trying to local her missing mother, and she’ll use all her digital resources to crack the case.
What follows is smart, albeit too smart for its own good. The third act collapses in a crush of “c’mon … really” revelations that threatens to derail the film’s intentions.
Reid plays June, or Junebug to her devoted Mom (Nia Long). The teen rebels against her mother’s suffocating, but warm, embrace in ways many teens will understand. That dynamic shifts when the mother goes missing after a romantic Colombia getaway with her new beau (Ken Leung).
June goes into sleuth mode immediately, frustrated by the police’s inability to make inroads into the disappearance. She hires a foreign gig worker (charmingly played by Joaquim de Almeida) to help her search and uses the web to translate Spanish to English (and back again). She quickly susses out some real clues, and that’s when the confusion kicks in.
The screenplay serves up some very human touches despite the extreme reliance on apps, Big Tech platforms and other digital screens. That gives “Missing” a human touch that’s sorely needed. Reid is relentless as June, showcasing the teen’s natural intelligence without becoming a super sleuth before our eyes.
She stumbles along the way, and it’s refreshing.
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What “Missing” attempts, though, is a modern screenwriter trope that has pummeled more than a few thrillers. No one is who they appear to be, and the many twists and turns begin piling up mid-movie in an exasperating way.
Call it the “Glass Onion” effect.
By the third act, just when the hunt for the missing Ma is heating up, the revelations wear down our resolve. That, and various plot holes that become too hard to overlook, rob “Missing” of some of its urgency.
That Found Footage-style gimmick also wears out its welcome. Turns out you can deliver a slick thriller just by using various screens and cameras, but “Missing” shows the limits of that approach.
A little cheat now and then would be forgivable, and the film would benefit from being less faithful to the format.
Storm Reid has been juggling a still-blossoming entertainment career with higher education since the fall of 2021, and she appreciates the chance to have a bit of normal in between her buzzy movie and TV sets https://t.co/uxufbt8ehS
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 15, 2023
“Missing” offers a not-so-subtle mash note to parenthood, the sacrifices Moms make for their children’s safety and how much teens appreciate that approach once it goes “Missing.”
It’s not heavy handed, though, and the emphasis is always on the mystery. A few less shocking reveals, and “Missing” might have been a first-rate thriller.
As is, the film’s ingenious trappings, and Reid’s diligent work, make it worth a look.
HiT or Miss: it’s hard not to be wowed by “Missing,” from its intrepid heroine to its slick storytelling tics. Too bad the story is too clever for its own good.
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Seth Rogen, Chelsea Handler And Other Celebs Hilariously Respond About Getting Asked To Pose In Front Of Critics’ Choice’s Ridiculous Cold Stone Wall
Jared Leto's Tron Movie Is Moving Forward, And A Disney Vet May Have Scored The Director's Chair
Margot Robbie Says People Back Home In Australia Pronounce Her Name Differently
Avatar 3 Will Apparently Continue A Major Relationship (And Grudge) From The Way Of Water's Finale
Fans Have All The Michael B. Jordan-Related Thoughts After Lori Harvey Steps Out With New Beau Damson Idris
Machine Gun Kelly Clapped Back After Getting Roasted Over Fashion Week Ensemble, But It’s Not Even The Wildest Thing He’s Worn Recently
Happy Death Day Director Offers Update For Fans Who Want A Third Movie
Brendan Fraser Tells Sweet Story About Encountering Leonardo DiCaprio In Hollywood Early In His Career
Avatar Producer Reveals The Big Questions Surrounding The Threequel Following The Way Of Water
Turns Out Being An Ousted CEO Isn’t So Bad, As New Details Reveal Bob Chapek’s Massive Exit Package
That Time George Clooney, Class Act, Donated Thousands To Flood Victims
Scream’s Kevin Williamson Offers High Praise For Scream VI’s Contents
Brie Larson Shows Off Abs While Rocking A Sleeve Of Temporary Tattoos
Jeff Bridges’ Co-Star Describes Working With Him During Cancer Diagnosis
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‘There’s Something Wrong with the Children’ (But Not This Movie)
Creepy kids are a staple of horror movies, but child actors hold the key to the thrills.
No amount of FX trickery can bring a bland performance to life or make an adorable lad into a monster.
Kudos to young stars Briella Guiza and David Mattle for giving “There’s Something Wrong with the Children” the snap it demands. That, plus the real-world tensions surrounding parenthood, make “Children” a nasty treat.
Two couples unite for a relaxing weekend away from the hustle bustle. Margaret and Ben (Alisha Wainwright and Zach Gilford) don’t have children, yet, but Ellie and Thomas (Amanda Crew, Carlos Santos) have two adorable tykes in tow.
The trouble begins when the vacationers visit a local cave featuring a steep, scary pit. The children seem fascinating by that pit, drawn to it in a way beyond childhood curiosity.
Later, the kids start acting in erratic ways, but only Ben spots their behavior. Is it Ben’s fear of parenthood spiking at the worst possible time, or did that cave somehow impact these otherwise adorable kids?
The cast of There’s Something Wrong with the Children on what makes a good horror movie#technology #technologynews #technewshttps://t.co/sHfRxtN1MX
— Pure Tech (@Pur3Tech) January 15, 2023
Screenwriters T.J. Cimfel and David White let the actors explore the boundaries of parenthood and how marriage impacts the characters’ love lives. There’s a salty subplot about sexual experimentation, for starters, and one couple is struggling to recapture the spark of their early romance.
Plus, a few moments touch on how men and women bond on vacation, tells that show the “Children” team care about more than just scares with their story.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a couple weigh the perils of parenthood, but Wainwright and Gilford repeat those talking points without phoning the emotions in.
This is still a horror movie, of course, and after a gentle start the tension enters the frame. It helps that the film’s score is bracingly original, both modern in style yet with operatic flourishes you might hear in an ‘80s thriller.
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Guiza and Mattle prove playful at first, but their actions grow more sinister as the title suggests. Child actors in general have stepped up their craftsmanship in recent years on screen, and that’s particular true of the horror genre.
The film’s threadbare budget, shown by the film’s visual restraint, isn’t an obstacle. In fact, the clever use of shadows to insinuate a threat in the third act proves superior to any visual the movie’s FX team could conjure.
Less is almost always more, especially with a delicate genre tale like this.
HiT or Miss: “There’s Something Wrong with the Children” balances real-world fears with a supernatural twist that should make parents everywhere squirm.
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Jethica Review: Small-Scale, Offbeat, and Packs a Punch
Prepare to be thrown for a loop upon seeing Jethica. Now in select theaters, the offbeat delight is a terrific blend of different genres across its tight 70-minute length. The film takes place in New Mexico, where Elena (Callie Hernandez) is hiding out after a freak accident. She runs into Jessica (Ashley Denise Robinson), an old friend from high school — who has a stalker. And when the stalker suddenly shows up at their door, the two must seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him for good.
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A Teenager Is Dead After A Shooting Inside A Movie Theater In Pennsylvania
People Love Telling Don Cheadle Ocean’s 12 ‘Sucked.’ It Was Still His And Matt Damon’s Most 'Fun' To Film
The Last of Us Premiere Review: A Faithful & Visceral Adaptation of the Blockbuster Video Game
Naughty Dog's blockbuster video game gets faithfully adapted in a visceral series premiere. The Last of Us opens like a punch to the gut. Civilization crumbles in the face of a terrifying apocalypse. Panic, horror, and heartbreak harden into the bitter resolve of a barbaric new age. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann capture the source material's raw intensity. Big-budget production values sell the breathtaking scope. But captivating performances by talented leads carry the emotional weight of humanity's desperate survivors. Fans and neophytes alike are going to be thrilled here.
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Jamie Lee Curtis Shared Sweet Response After Her Reaction To Michelle Yeoh's Golden Globes Win Went Viral
‘Sick’ Gets Socially Conscious Horror Right
For many, revisiting the pandemic’s early days is a horror movie unto itself.
- The over-reaching lockdowns
- Officials filling skate parks with sand and taking down basketball nets
- The big, fat, juicy lie of our age – “two weeks to slow the curve”
“Sick,” screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s trip back to those awful, awful days, is ripe for lectures from an industry that told ordinary Americans what was best for them.
Masks … good! Vaccines … better! Dr. Fauci … sainthood!
Except the “Scream” scribe doesn’t ladle out bromides from the Left or Right. The film’s COVID-19 allegories are sly enough to inspire multiple interpretations. Meanwhile, one of Hollywood’s most agile, and lesser-known, directors fashions a relentless fight for survival.
It’s the dawn of the COVID-19 outbreak, and young Parker (Gideon Adlon, daughter of Pamela Adlon) escapes lockdown mania by fleeing to her family’s cabin retreat. She’s joined by her good chum Miri (Beth Million), and they do what young people in horror movies always do
They exchange meaningless banter that shows their age and lack of worldly sophistication. That’s in between following and ignoring the new pandemic playbook.
Mask on, mask off. It’s like pulling it down between bites and sips on an airplane.
We get to know Parker, Miri and, eventually, DJ (Dylan Sprayberry), who arrives unannounced at the cabin hoping to reunite with Parker. There’s someone else at the cabin, though, a stranger seen in the film’s chilling prologue.
And he’s got a very sharp knife.
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Once director John Hyams of “Alone” fame sets his pieces in motion “Sick” refuses to ease up on the gas pedal. The film, so lethargic for 30-plus minutes, wakes up in a big way, and everything wraps in under 90 minutes.
Take note of that lean, mean number, Hollywood.
The film’s pandemic setting adds some texture to the story, but for a while, it seems like a curious attempt at period storytelling. There’s more afoot, and some of the surprises make sense.
Others? Well, “Sick” has plenty of plot holes and head-smacking moments, the latter all but mandatory for the genre.
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The film’s main characters are women, but Parker and Miri are far from perfect. Parker seems oblivious to her sorta-kinda boyfriend’s mental state, and Miri nags everyone about wearing a mask but later forgets all about them.
They’re relatable, and Williamson lets them flash both fear and some impressive survival skills. He also pays homage to his original “Scream” thriller via a prologue. It’s slick, no doubt, but it can’t compete with Wes Craven’s 1996 frightmare.
Williamson, to his credit, abandons that franchise’s meta shtick for “Sick,” already played out despite the saga’s unwillingness to call it a day.
The rest is up to Hyams, who once directed generic thrillers like “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” but is having a career resurgence.
Hyams stages some bravura scares mid-movie, the kind that make audiences re-evaluate what they’ve seen up until then. It’s taut filmmaking, aware of both the physical limitations of the cabin and the fear of being up close and personal with a killing machine.
Long story short: There will be blood.
It’s almost #sick time .@peacock #SICKmovie pic.twitter.com/EHymnXgfJ4
— (@_UniHorror) January 13, 2023
Conservatives will read plenty into the killer’s motivations, while liberals may sense “Sick” shreds those who didn’t take the pandemic seriously. Both may be right. It’s hard to tell since the screenwriter and Hyams keep the focus on the thrills.
This isn’t Williamson’s best screenplay, but it’s woke-free and devoid of finger-wagging asides.
That’s not “Sick.” It’s wonderful.
HiT or Miss: “Sick” starts slowly, but it evolves into a nuanced blend of social commentary and slick genre treats.
The post ‘Sick’ Gets Socially Conscious Horror Right appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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James Cameron Added A Titanic Nod To Avatar: The Way Of Water Without Realizing He’d Already Written It For Jack
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The Navy Worked With Top Gun: Maverick To Film, But They Weren't Messing Around When It Came To Sensitive Information
Avatar 2: James Cameron Explains Why Kate Winslet’s Underwater Work Was So ‘Cathartic’
Michael Bay Has Gotten A Lawyer Involved After Story Claimed He’d Been Charged With Killing A Pigeon
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‘On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier’ Will Get Under Your Skin
Seth Breedlove and his team have done it again, and this time they used a helicopter to get you to their new adventure.
“On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier” is the latest installment from Small Town Monsters. The filmmakers travel to Alaska and open up a can of worms in a place you would think the elusive wild beast might roam.
When the crew sets out on the frozen tundra the film feels like an epic adventure. However, as Breedlove sits with town folk who share their Bigfoot lore it becomes an intimate portrait of people who say they’ve had real face time with the legend.
What moves the subject into a stream-of-consciousness memory is the way Breedlove removes himself from the his subjects and lets them have a private moment in front of the camera, a moment of something horrible from their past.
One especially intriguing interview is with an indigenous woman now in her golden years recalling a story from the 1960s. That may seem like a long time ago, but she tells her tale with such detail and recollection, with place and time intact, you know she had a real experience.
Her recollection is left up to the viewer as to how to take her statement.
Happy Halloween!
Seth Breedlove’s Ohio-based @SmlTownMonsters production company scares up quite a fright.
We caught up with Breedlove to talk monsters, myths and what creatures he is chasing now. https://t.co/8qdL8ilbFw pic.twitter.com/AD4kq3uPq4
— Ohio Magazine (@OhioMagazine) October 31, 2022
It’s another reason why Small Town Monsters has been so successful for so long. They’re not interested in sensationalizing content just for the sake of it. You get the feeling Breedlove is on a quest for some kind of truth.
He’s not a weekend warrior.
Moving the films’ narrative along are excellent CGI graphics of Sasquatch crafted in a way that moves one to imagine what the beast would look like should you find it in the frozen tundra.
If creepy and spooky are what you’re looking for, “On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier” brings it a most original way. One element proves so unnerving I still think about to this day.
Audio recordings caught what seems to be a baby crying in the forest, along with howls and whooping noises. The sound of Bigfoot is something overlooked in most films on this subject.
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My only bone of contention is a technical one. At times the sound falls out or is so consumed by background noise and wind that it’s tough to make out some of what’s happening.
Overall, the film is well written, professionally crafted and thoughtful. It’s another Breedlove and Small Town Monsters production that won’t let you down if this is the formula that gets your Bigfoot going.
The post ‘On the Trail of Bigfoot: Last Frontier’ Will Get Under Your Skin appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
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‘Man Called Otto’ Is All Wrong for Hanks … and Us
Marc Forster’s “A Man Named Otto” stars Tom Hanks in the title role as an angry, eccentric old man who effectively shuts everyone out of his life.
Call it “Forrest Grump.”
Otto lives alone, resents his being downsized at work is dubbed a “retirement” and is a nuisance to his neighbors. Inside his apartment, Otto misses his late wife and contemplates suicide.
Will the new nosy but affectionate new neighbors turn Otto around? Will Otto come out of his shell and teach one of the neighbors how to drive? Will there be bedside hospital scenes and even a birthing scene? Will being around extroverted misfits force Otto to be a better man?
Have you ever seen a movie before?
I don’t blame you if you love this movie. In fact, I know at least a dozen people who will probably adore this and eventually tell me how it made them cry. That’s fine. No judgment from me. On my end of the aisle, I found it completely resistible, by-the-numbers and irritating.
“A Man Called Otto” is based on a popular 2015 Swedish film titled “A Man Called Ove,” which was originally a 2013 novel. If you’ve seen “As Good As it Gets” (1997), “Everybody’s Fine” (either version) or any movie about a geriatric curmudgeon who needs to embrace the cracked friendships around him, then you’ll be a step ahead of this one the whole way.
It all goes exactly as you’d expect it, as there’s hardly a character introduction you can’t get ahead of (think Otto is always going to hate that cat? Think again!) in a screenplay that is entirely predictable.
In Hanks’ long, interesting but not always wise body of work, this fits alongside the curious choices that might have looked intriguing on paper but he should have passed on. Put Otto next to his turns in “A Hologram for the King,” “News of the World,” “The Circle,” the baffling “Cloud Atlas,” and, the other whopper of a 2022 misstep, “Elvis.”
Hanks is typically the best thing in bad movies or, at the very least, tries his hardest to breathe life into a deflating raft of a screenplay.
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Playing Otto, Hanks is too youthful, and his choice of roles still so adventurous, for him to settle down into a “Gran Turino” knockoff. Perhaps that was the idea – Hanks worked with Clint Eastwood in “Sully” and his Otto is a gruff take on Eastwood, right?
Well, Eastwood, on and offscreen, always coveys deeper layers than anything in this movie and Hanks’ “gruff” voice is on and off.
Hanks has a big monologue at the end, in which Otto explains “I lived for Sonya.” He delivers it with such matter-of-fact subtlety, it another moment where he deliver master class acting in an unworthy vehicle.
Hanks can make us believe almost anything, even a moment stolen outright from Sylvester Stallone: Otto sits at his wife’s tombstone and reads her the paper, a touch right of “Rocky Balboa” (2006).
Forster is a filmmaker with a few movies I liked but many more I’d never sit through again. The reason- he has too heavy a hand and struggles making tonal shifts. As with most of his creative output, the moments of grit and sentimentality don’t creep in as much as they tackle the audience outright.
The supporting characters are all obviously representatives of character traits that Otto must eventually warm up to. A braver, smarter film will recognize that Otto doesn’t need to conform to these holly jolly nitwits.
Here, we’re supposed to warm up to this bunch of broad stereotypes. The equivalent of Helen Hunt’s waitress in “As Good As it Gets” is absent, as there’s no center to the ensemble. Mike Birbiglia is misused in a small role as a heavy, and there’s a genuinely affecting transgender character who should have had a greater focus, instead of being used as a plot device.
The actors are doing what they’re told but on the screenplay level, these characters are insufferable.
The many flashbacks are uninteresting, as everything they reveal are inevitable. Yes, the rule of cinema is to show rather than tell, but this could have excised all of the Young Otto years. A subplot involving a viral event and how it plays into the climactic standoff is pure hokum.
If there’s an irredeemable low point, it must be when Otto punches out as hospital clown. Talk about low hanging fruit.
A close second is a shameless, unforgivable use of Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” which deserves its place in “She’s Having a Baby” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” but is out of place and desperate here.
Tom Hanks Talks Son Truman’s Acting Debut in A Man Called Otto https://t.co/uRUqeePY4T
— ComingSoon.net (@comingsoonnet) December 23, 2022
“A Man Called Otto” has multiple endings, with each one making that EXIT door seem further and further away. Hanks clearly had his heart set on this one, as he and his wife, Rita Wilson, not only produced this, but Wilson provides a closing song over the end credits.
The last time Hanks wore his heart on his sleeve so openly, it was when he wrote, starred and directed “Larry Crowne,” another movie I’d never suffer through a second time.
Hanks will overcome this year of creative stumbles – playing Otto, Geppetto and Col. Tom Parker would put most actors in movie jail, but not Hanks! If you’re a lifelong fan like I am, he will inevitably bounce back, like he always does.
For those who think Hanks can do no wrong, and haven’t watched every gooey holiday comedy on the Hallmark Channel, then there’s always “A Man Called Otto.”
One and a Half Stars
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