Movies (1131)
As someone who cut my teeth on the action movies of the 1980s, I have a fondness in my heart for certain highlights of the genre. However, that fondness doesn’t always extend to the increasingly tenuous and threadbare cavalcade of churned-out sequels that often followed them well into the 21st century.
“Predator” was one of those movies, an oiled-up and explosive gun show of a film that helped catapult Arnold Schwarzenegger to the top of the action heap. Of course, it was not immune to the industry’s obsession with recycling IP, leading to a handful of middling-to-bad extensions of the franchise.
So I wasn’t necessarily expecting much from “Prey,” the new film streaming on Hulu. Sure, the conceit – a prequel of sorts, set in the Great Plains of the early 1700s – was intriguing, but there’s a lot of room for this kind of revisitation to go terribly awry.
I needn’t have worried.
Director Dan Trachtenberg, working from a screenplay by Patrick Aison (the two share story credit), has created a fantastic addition to the franchise’s canon. It is a vivid and compelling story of survival against seeming insurmountable odds, one rendered all the more engaging by an absolutely outstanding lead performance from Amber Midthunder. It is smart and sharp, packed with action while also approaching this familiar story from an unfamiliar – and extremely effective – angle.
‘Bullet Train’ is off the rails … in a (mostly) good way
Written by Allen Adams
There’s a surprising amount of malleability when it comes to action movies. There’s lots of room within the genre to tell different types of stories. Some are self-serious while others are winking. Some are subtle while others are over the top. What they all share, however, is a sense of excitement, that feeling of pumping adrenaline. They are propulsive in whatever manner best suits them.
Sometimes, that propulsive vibe is more literal. Say, if the action takes place on a (very) fast train?
“Bullet Train,” directed by David Leitch from a Zak Olkewicz screenplay adapted from Kotaro Isaka’s 2010 novel “Maria Beetle,” brings that sense of relentless motion to candy-colored life on the big screen. It’s the story of a former assassin tasked with a simple job – procure a briefcase – on a high-speed train from Tokyo to Kyoto. However, it turns out that he’s far from the only one on this train with a vested interest in said briefcase, with scattered connections red-threading their way outward and inward.
Equal parts action movie and screwball comedy, it’s a movie that weds elaborate fight choreography with slapstick elements to create moments that are both bloody and hilarious. The dialogue is packed with snappy patter and the characters are the best sorts of caricatures. It is unhinged and garish and a hell of a lot of fun, even if the narrative doesn’t quite hold together.
Comic book fare continues to rule at the cineplex. We’ve seen extensive announcements illustrating the ongoing future of various superheroic cinematic universes, with films announced for literal years down the road. While I myself ride hard for this stuff, I also understand that for those less inclined, much of it is beginning to blur together.
That’s why it’s interesting to see a film like “DC League of Super-Pets,” a more kid-oriented animated offering separate from the canon writ large. Now, if you’re like me, your initial thought was that this would be a middling kiddie flick intended primarily as a way to keep cashing those sweet comic book IP checks. Slap a cape on it and people will go, you know?
Imagine my surprise, then, when I discovered that this movie is actually … pretty good? Very much a movie for children, of course, but engaging and entertaining for the adults in the audience. It’s animals with superpowers – who doesn’t love that? Plus, the action is decent, the voice cast is stacked and the jokes largely work.
Basically, this movie is significantly better than it needed to be (a welcome departure from some of the “good enough” offerings we’ve seen from this sphere in recent years).
As a person of a certain age, my memories of my high school days have grown a bit blurry. One thing I do remember, however, is that while I and my peers faced our share of pressures, growing up today is an altogether different experience. The competitive nature of high school achievement is more intense now than ever, with kids motivated to increase their odds of admission to elite colleges in any way they can.
But just how far might they be willing to go?
That’s the central premise of “Honor Society,” a new film currently streaming on Paramount+. Directed by Oran Zegman from a script by David Goodman, it’s the story of a young woman on the cusp of graduation who wants nothing more than to go to Harvard. All she needs is one recommendation … but she’s got classmates who are angling for that same rec. To ensure her own success, she’s going to have to find ways to sabotage some of her peers.
But as her plans start to play out, she discovers that there is far more to these people than she ever might have guessed and that her scheming might well have some unintended effects.
Triple-slash projects have long been a subject of fascination for me. The amount of confidence, bravado and sheer will necessary to write, direct AND star in a film is considerable; add to that the fact that these sorts of movies tend to be passion projects and you’re almost guaranteed something that will be, if not necessarily good then at least interesting.
“Vengeance,” the new film from writer/director/star B.J. Novak, is both.
It’s a compelling tale of a writer and aspiring podcaster making his way to Texas to try and use tragedy as fodder for his own creative endeavors, marked by smartly executed mystery and plenty of dark comedy. It’s also a thoughtful exploration of the exploitative nature of a certain kind of storytelling and the impact that those stories can have not just on the audience, but the subjects.
Genre movies have long been used as delivery mechanisms for larger, deeper ideas. Sure, there are plenty that are essentially entertainment for the sake of entertainment, but for many filmmakers, the trappings of genre – sci-fi, horror, noir, Western, you name it – have provided an outlet to express insights regarding the world in which we live.
One could argue that no contemporary filmmaker has embraced that ethos as fully as Jordan Peele. His latest film is “Nope,” a sci-fi/horror/comedy mashup that has a lot to say about the evolution of our relationship to the entertainment we consume (and that, one could argue, consumes us in return). It’s a clever and weird throwback of a film, one clearly enamored with the sci-fi and monster movies of the mid-20th century even as it offers thoughts on entertainment writ large, both in the present day and in its embryonic beginnings.
Of course, while big themes and big ideas are great and all, they don’t really matter if the delivery system isn’t up to par. What Peele has done with “Nope,” just as he did with his previous two efforts “Get Out” and “Us,” is package his insights in a well-made and entertaining movie. And while this newest film is perhaps a bit shaggier and more challenging to parse, there’s no denying that he is an exceptional craftsman as both a writer and a director. That craft is on full display here.
(Note: This is a difficult film to synopsize without spoilers. I will do my best, but apologies in advance if I misstep.)
Netflix’s ‘The Gray Man’ a fun, albeit flawed action outing from the Russos
Written by Allen Adams
Say what you will about Joe and Anthony Russo, but they understand what it means for a movie to be big. There are few filmmakers currently working who understand the particulars of blockbusters as well as they do. The Russos seem to have an inherent grasp of what makes large-scale films work. So it’s no surprise that the powers that be at Netflix would tap the Russos to helm their biggest budget film to date.
That film is “The Gray Man,” an action blockbuster currently streaming on the service. The Russos direct from a script by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, adapted from the 2009 Mark Greaney novel of the same name. It has all the components of a massive movie – huge budget, A-list stars, elaborate set pieces and exotic locales, the whole shebang – so of course, why not enlist guys who fundamentally get it to steer the ship?
It’s an espionage action-thriller, a story about one man’s attempt to survive when the government agency for which he has spent over a decade working decides that he has become a liability. This is a big, loud globetrotter of an adventure, and while it perhaps doesn’t work as fully as it might have, it remains an exciting and engaging work of popcorn entertainment.
‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ strikes too many false notes
Written by Allen Adams
Confession time: I’m always just a little leery of film adaptations of recent best-sellers.
That might sound strange, coming from someone who reviews almost as many books as he does movies. And I’m not saying that recent books shouldn’t be made into films – there are plenty of quick turnaround cinematic adaptations that have worked very well.
However, just because a book is popular doesn’t mean that it will translate well to the big screen.
Such is the case with “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the new film based on the 2018 Delia Owens novel of the same name. Directed by Olivia Newman from a script adapted by Lucy Alibar, it’s the years-spanning story of a young woman who grew up largely alone and isolated in the marshes of North Carolina and the various trials and tribulations she endures, both due to her own actions and the perceptions of others.
Unfortunately, we never get much in the way of a settled tone. The emotional beats tend to whipsaw back and forth, from extremity to gentility and back, without much in the way of rhyme or reason. There are some strong performances and some beautifully atmospheric shots, but they aren’t enough to overcome the issues inherent to a film that can’t seem to stay out of its own way.
‘Persuasion’ an inconsistent, still entertaining Austen adaptation
Written by Allen Adams
As a rule, I do my best not to let the thoughts of other unduly impact my opinions about a film. That isn’t to say I’m above being influenced – we’re all subject to some extent to the constant firehose stream of hot takes, whether we want to be or not – but I try to keep my own counsel as much as possible.
Generally, my feelings about movies more or less line up with those of my peers – good, bad or indifferent – so it’s always fun when I wind up on the take less traveled.
This brings us to “Persuasion,” the new Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel. Directed by Carrie Cracknell from a script adapted by Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow, it is an attempt to infuse the story with a bit of a modern sensibility. Now, I’ll concede that said attempt isn’t a wholly successful one, but I also found that, for me, it worked more often than it didn’t. It’s an opinion that leaves me very much in the minority.
But while there are plenty of issues at play here – and I’m certainly not going to go so far as to call this a great movie (or even a particularly good one) – I can’t deny that I was engaged by the effort and found some things to enjoy. Sure, it’s gimmicky and a bit of a mishmash in terms of tone and aesthetic, and yet … I enjoyed myself.
Your mileage may (and likely will) vary.
Animated ‘Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank’ springs from an unlikely source
Written by Allen Adams
Remakes are ubiquitous. That’s just the nature of the cinematic beast these days. There’s money to be made in repurposing and/or repackaging the familiar in order to sell it to a new audience, so studios do it. Commercially, it makes sense.
But one wonders where the line might be, because if the new Nickleodeon movie “Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank” is any indication … there might not be any line at all. Why do I say that about this particular film?
Because it’s “Blazing Saddles.” For kids.
That’s right, folks – the powers that be looked at that controversial and delightfully crude 1974 Mel Brooks satire and asked themselves “What if this was an animated children’s movie?” The answer, friends, is “Paws of Fury.”
(Seriously – the writers of “Blazing Saddles” all receive screenwriting credits for this film.)
Now, it’s not exactly the same, of course. The setting is different – feudal Japan instead of the American West. The racial disparity is replaced with one motivated by species – cats hating dogs instead of the black/white dichotomy. And the language is considerably less charged, for obvious reasons.
All that said, a large amount of Brooksian DNA remains. Don’t get me wrong – it’s all been reduced in a manner that will allow more accessibility for young audiences. But “Paws of Fury” is still very much connected to its source material, which is (mostly) a good thing. Sure, the thing looks like it was plucked from the straight-to-DVD aisle in 2007, but the jokes are good, the voice cast is stacked and it never stops having fun. As far as kiddie flicks go, we’ve seen worse.
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