Review by Sean Boelman
Although Fantasia is primarily known as a genre film festival, it also showcases some of the most impressive international animated movies that moviegoers can see that year. The French production Princesse Dragon, directed by Jean-Jacques Denis and Anthony Roux, is one such highlight that audiences will want to keep an eye out for in its release.
The film is a fairytale-like story of a little girl raised by dragons who embarks on a journey into the world of man after she is forced to flee the family cave. It’s a mix of beats from fables we have seen before, and yet the unabashed optimism of the movie allows it to feel refreshingly wholesome. Clocking in at under eighty minutes, there are certainly portions of the film that feel rushed, but for younger audiences with short attention spans, it’s the perfect length. And unlike a lot of other children’s fantasy movies, it strikes the right balance of being action-packed without being too intense for the little ones. Of course, as is the case with any great fable, there are wonderful messages in the film. And somehow, it manages to effectively address the topics of the dangers of greed, the importance of family, and accepting one another for who we are, all in its short runtime. While the things the movie has to say about these themes aren’t particularly new, the way in which the message is delivered is admirable. Perhaps most surprising is how effectively the film gets the audience invested in its characters. What Denis and Roux do with the classic mythological character of the Dragon is fascinating, taking an approach to the figure that is much more empathetic than usual. And as if you could expect any less, the eponymous protagonist is entirely charming and lovable. Jérémie Covillault’s voice performance as the Dragon is without a doubt one of the voice acting highlights of the year so far. He is building upon a legacy of voice actors who have brought this mythology to life for decades and expands upon it in a nuanced, emotional way. He pulls off both the intimidating and sensitive aspects of the character, and it adds a lot to the movie. The animation isn’t as consistent as one would like, with some significant ups and downs. For every background that is as gorgeous as can be, there is a secondary character design that is lacking. The style has some elements of realism, fantasy, and cartoonishness, and the three of those don’t always mesh together well. Princesse Dragon is a simple film in many ways, but it is thoroughly charming nevertheless. Even though its animation is its weakest element, it more than makes up for that in its script and voice acting. Princesse Dragon screened at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs July 14 through August 3. Rating: 4/5
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Review by Sean Boelman
Shinichiro Ueda’s sophomore feature One Cut of the Dead became an international cult hit thanks to his unique brand of zaniness, and while his next effort, Special Actors, didn’t receive a worldwide release, it was cut from the same cloth. Popran is arguably Ueda’s wackiest film yet, and while it doesn’t always make the most out of its outlandish premise, it’s absolutely wonderful when it does.
The movie follows a successful CEO whose life goes awry when his genitals spontaneously disappear, flying off as a sentient organism and leaving him six days to catch them before his condition becomes permanent. The concept of flying penises is just as absurd in execution as it sounds, but if anyone was going to be able to pull it off, it was Ueda. Ueda uses this ridiculous, humorous premise for the purpose of exploring the fragility of the male ego. And while the film is certainly insightful in the way it glimpses into the male mind, it feels very broad with what it has to say. It would have been nice had the movie taken a much harder stance on some of these themes. The film’s premise does also wear itself a bit thin after a while. There are a few funny moments in the second and third acts, but for the most part, it’s a very one-note script. Once you see the first few jokes, you can tell pretty much exactly where the rest of the movie is going. It still gets a laugh from time to time, but it’s not as riotous as Ueda’s last two efforts. And while the film tries to make up for that in emotional resonance, it also doesn’t work all the time. There are some really fantastic moments in the movie, but most of the character’s growth follows a pretty standard Scrooge-like arc. And the film doesn’t have enough wacky supporting characters to make up for it. Still, Yoji Minagawa gives a performance in his leading role that is undeniably exceptional. It’s a role that asks for a lot — doing physical comedy right before pivoting into emotional drama, and having to deliver one of the most ridiculous premises ever done with a straight face. And yet, he manages to do so convincingly. The world-building of the movie is one of its stronger aspects. Perhaps due to budget, out of fear of censorship, or to not lean too heavily on the immature humor, the film doesn’t show many of the disembodied and sentient flying penises. Nevertheless, Ueda draws the viewer into this uncanny world. Popran’s concept is nothing short of bizarre, and while it does lead to some hilarious moments and good thematic exploration, it leaves something to be desired. Although Ueda’s big swing is not a home run, it shows that he isn’t running low on creativity. Popran screened at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs July 14 through August 3. Rating: 3/5 ANONYMOUS CLUB -- A Compelling, Sincere Representation of Singer-Songwriter Courtney Barnett7/15/2022 Review by Tatiana Miranda Anonymous Club isn’t any old musician-centered documentary. Instead, it’s an intimate representation of the artist herself and a companion to her music. The artist in question is Courtney Barnett, a fairly up-and-coming alternative musician from Sydney, Australia. Through the lens of her close friend and collaborator Danny Cohen, Anonymous Club hones in on the more particular moments of Barnett’s career as she navigates stardom. The documentary is what every celebrity biopic or documentary strives to be: a representation of the artist it’s trying to portray. Cohen nails this, with Courtney Barnett’s emotional honesty and raw lyricism showcased in every second of the movie. Shot on 16mm film, there is a hazy, grainy filter over Barnett’s live performances and everyday life while on tour. Spanning over three years while on tour and working on her next album, Cohen originally prompted Barnett to keep an audio diary to log her emotions and experiences. These audio recordings are part of what makes Anonymous Club so special. They turn the movie from a documentary into a sort of group therapy session for Barnett, as well as the viewer. Since Courtney Barnett is a notoriously shy individual, her audio recordings give insight into her opinions on touring, writing, interviewing, etc. While her opinions on the matter aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, they feel more understandable than how other celebrities seem to approach their criticism of fame. Anonymous Club’s content doesn’t shy away from portraying Barnett’s anxious moments, but Cohen’s directorial work treats them with a sense of care and vulnerability that comes across as incredibly sincere. As Barnett’s talent becomes more widely recognized – playing sold-out shows and receiving music awards, these life-changing moments are contrasted with her down-to-earth approach to the songwriting process and the way she handles live performances. Placed next to clips of her appearing on Ellen, she is then later shown song-writing with her friend, the two of them banging on a piece of rusted metal to use in one of her songs. Anonymous Club covers the whole picture of what it means to be a singer-songwriter in the age of DIY recording studios and therapeutic lyricism. The variety of Courtney Barnett’s experiences aren’t portrayed as one being more important than the other though, but instead, they are all placed on a level playing field, each sequence of events integral to her experience as a musician.
As the documentary begins to close, Barnett makes one of the most profound statements out of the entirety of the film. She states, “My albums won’t be with me on my deathbed holding my hand, this film will not be with us as we lie dying – but I’d like to think in the bigger scheme of things, it will live on and help other people, or inspire other people, or create some sort of conversation.” This is the crux of Anonymous Club – it’s wholly inspiring and will likely live on as a representation of the creative process in the 21st century. Anonymous Club is now playing in theaters. Rating: 5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Joe and Anthony Russo have had a pretty good career since hooking up with Kevin Fiege and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since then, their AGBO Production company has made a handful of films starring actors they worked with in the MCU — 21 Bridges, Extraction, and Cherry — as well as the widely popular Everything Everywhere All at Once directed by Daniels. The Russos' next film, The Gray Man, stars Chris Evans, another frequent MCU collaborator of theirs, alongside Ryan Gosling, a newcomer into their fold. Connor Gentry (Ryan Gosling) is a prisoner serving a long sentence for murder. When CIA Operative Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) comes to recruit him to be an asset for his elite team, the Sierra Six, he reluctantly says yes. Over the years, he becomes the best asset the CIA has. When he is sent to take out one of his own team, it raises red flags, and he is now considered public enemy number one. When the CIA realizes what has happened, they send other members of the elite team to take him out, led by Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) The Russos have assembled an all-star cast for this action thriller set in a fictional world of spies and assassins. Ana De Armas, Regé-Jean Page, and Jessica Henwick play teammates or men and women out to get Gosling's character. Julia Butters plays the teenage daughter of Billy Bob Thornton's character. This cast is fantastic, all playing their roles to a tee. Some are a bit over the top, but since that's what the film is going for, it works perfectly fine. A MacGuffin is an item or person that helps the story progress without much explanation. In this film, it's a computer drive that supposedly contains CIA secrets. Most of the action in the movie is due to the cast chasing after Gosling's character, who possesses this drive. All of this action is fantastic. There are chase sequences on foot and car chases and fights that rival any MCU movie the Russo's have done. The action in this film is first-rate and a lot of fun to follow. The film is based on the book by Mark Greaney. It is a book in the Gray Man series and focuses mainly on the Sierra Six, this elite group of CIA Operatives. The script is penned by two popular men who had worked with the Russo's before: Christophe Markus and Stephen McFeely. They have made the dialogue in the film fast-paced and very witty. Each actor, especially Chris Evans, has time to shine in this film with their dialogue. The fast action of the film lends itself perfectly to the equally quick script which the actors run with. This helps because some of the story is a bit formulaic.
Thornton's character says at the beginning of the film that he and his team work in the grey area of the world and society and that coins the film's title. Boy, did he mean business because this film goes everywhere from Vienna to Prague to Bangkok, and that globetrotting helped make the movie and story a lot more fun to watch. All the action spanned the globe, and I was utterly engrossed in everything I saw and had the pleasure of enjoying in The Gray Man. Netflix might have another hit on its hands with this film which could be a franchise. Let's not put the cart before the horse just yet, though. The Gray Man reminded me of all the action films and franchises I saw in the '80s and '90s, like Mission: Impossible, James Bond, Lethal Weapon, and Die Hard. These franchises started with a pretty simple concept and ran with it. The action sequences and fight scenes are first-rate, and the script and dialogue lend themselves to the absurdity of the overall film. The Russos assembled an all-star cast to bring this book to life, and if audiences respond to it as I did, there might be a few more of these Gray Man films coming down the pipeline. The Gray Man is now playing in theaters and streams on Netflix beginning July 22. Rating: 4/5 Review by Paris Jade The horror queen, Jenna Ortega, is back with another film in this scary comedy: American Carnage. After a new governor issues an executive order to capture and arrest all the children of undocumented immigrants, they are given a chance to have their charges dropped if they attend a program taking care of the elderly. The budget for this film is very apparent. You can tell that it’s low due to the poor visual effects and simple settings. There is one scene in particular in which there is a turn in the plot involving an elderly person and Allen Maldonado’s character. Suddenly you know where their entire budget went. Besides the special effects, the set dressing and cinematography all look great, and they did a good job with however much they were working with. Jorge Lendeborg Jr. gave an exceptional performance along with his costars Jenna Ortega and Allen Maldonado. Lendeborg was great as a lead and will keep you engaged in the story. However, Maldonado carried the movie with his comedic timing. His character will be an audience favorite and the most memorable. Ortega, for once, had a less memorable role, but like always, she played it to bits and continues to be a perfect actress, whether leading or supporting. She’ll keep climbing the ladder to success. As for the plot itself, it honestly is a bit of a crazy movie. Try your best to go into the film as blind as you can — it makes the experience much better without knowing much. The horror elements don’t begin to reveal themselves until about 25 to 30 minutes in. The first time it happens, it feels a bit random since those first 30 minutes don’t have a horror-esque feel to the point that you’ll forget that it’s even horror. Once you do hit that first point of eerie events, it slowly goes down further into a pit of horror, and you don’t feel thrown off by it anymore. Besides that little blip, it is a thoroughly entertaining film filled with thrill, comedy, and excitement. There won’t be a moment where you’re bored, searching for how much time you might have left on the movie.
American Carnage is a simple horror-comedy that anyone could enjoy. This is a great film to see in the summer, and the casual horror fan or movie-goer will have a good time watching it. The cast is great, and even with a lower budget, the team pulled it off. Watch American Carnage in theaters and on VOD on July 15. Rating: 4/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Billy Porter is a beloved performer, so his directorial debut was naturally something that many people were excited for. Fans will be disappointed to hear that Anything’s Possible is an unexpectedly standard and safe outing, wasting its potentially powerful premise on a generic, histrionic romance.
The film follows a trans teen girl who experiences her unlikely first love with one of the popular boys in school. The movie follows the beats of the star-crossed lovers formula pretty much to a tee, but the big distinguishing factor here is the LGBTQ representation, which has the potential to be revolutionary. Unfortunately, the film struggles to find its identity from the beginning. It clearly wants to be a revolutionary piece of LGBTQ media, but it settles for being a cutesy teen romance. Ximena García Lecuona’s script doesn’t rein in the melodramatic tendencies of this type of story, and it’s a bit excessive as a result. Although seeing a trans coming-of-age story is welcome representation, it can’t be forgiven for its shortcomings just because it means well. While the story preaches a message of acceptance and love, it does so in a way that is so frustratingly derivative and reductive that it is almost embarrassing.
The movie also makes the somewhat questionable decision of framing the story significantly through the perspective of a cis male character. Thankfully, Kelsa isn’t relegated to just being a love interest — but it often feels as if her growth is dependent on validation by cis people, which keeps the film from being as groundbreaking as it clearly wants to be.
The acting is also a significant shortcoming for the movie. The chemistry between Eva Reign and Abubakr Ali is just not there. It feels very strained and awkward, and more so than your average high school relationship should be. And individually, each of them feels like they are giving a performance on the level of a teen soap on network television. Unfortunately, the film also struggles stylistically. More often than not, it feels like a movie made for the TikTok generation by someone who doesn’t quite understand the meaning of social media. There are some points in which Billy Porter’s personality shines through, but more often than not, it just feels shockingly out-of-touch. Anything’s Possible could have been great, and while it isn’t insufferable, it’s just merely alright. And given Porter’s talents and the potential it had to actually be something important, it’s underwhelming. Anything’s Possible streams on Prime Video beginning July 22. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Hayao Miyazaki is considered one of the great animated film directors of all time, and his films have garnered much critical acclaim and fan support. With this being the case, that means getting followers who want to be animated creators like him. That's where GKIDS comes in. These people have made a handful of films since Miyazaki's retirement, including their newest work, The Deer King. The Deer King is a warrior named Van who was enslaved by a group of people who had gathered the art of riding and training deer. While working at the mine, a group of dogs attacks everyone there. Van ends up being the only survivor with a little girl. This attack causes a plague in the land where the film takes place. Also, a doctor and tracker try to figure out what is actually going on in this land and how it involves Van and the little girl. This film was hard to follow because there were a lot of strange words that represented places and people in the movie. The lands and different groups of people were very confusing to me. Sometimes these films don't translate to American audiences, but I wish they could have screened this with dubbed voices for critics so it wasn't lost in translation as much. That being said, what I could follow along with was enjoyable and entertaining. The father-daughter angle worked for me. The fantasy aspects were a bit hit and miss, though. The animation in these films can be a bit of an acquired taste, but in this film, the animation was a bit straightforward. I think that played better for the story the filmmakers were trying to tell. I really liked it. The filmmakers contrasted vibrant colors against the more drab colors of the animals and the costumes, creating a nice dichotomy. The animation was one of the film's more enjoyable parts.
Despite all the feuding lands, the main storyline of the father figure trying to find and rescue the little girl was the best part of the film. Both have a connection to the overall storyline, but they mean more to one another. Even though she isn't his real child, she still calls him Dada. She has accepted him as her father and caregiver. They settled in a nice little town, and it worked for them both before all craziness started to happen. The Deer King was a nice film for fans of this type of anime style. The story itself was more underwhelming. The father-daughter aspect is the best part of the film. Many movies and television shows have been doing the Lone Wolf and Cub type of story, and it's getting overdone lately. Still, the animation was good, opting for something more straightforward. This film might be enjoyable for some, but it was pretty confusing for me. Still, the redeeming qualities make it worth a watch. The Deer King screens in theaters nationwide on July 13 and 14 before opening on July 15. Rating: 3/5 Review by Adam Donato With Disney doing their darndest to monopolize the industry, the last month has shown plenty of meat on the bone for other studios to capitalize upon. Minions: The Rise of Gru made comparable box office returns in its opening weekend to that of Lightyear's entire run. One might wonder why a smaller studio would release Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank just two weeks after Minions mania. Not to mention Thor: Love and Thunder will undoubtedly dominate the box office in its second weekend, but critics complained about the humor being too focused on the younger crowd. Will Paws of Fury get the word of mouth necessary to make a box office dent in the waning hours of the summer movie season? While Minions is one of the non-Disney franchises that has found a way to translate to mainstream audiences and not just children, Pixar was known to have a reputation for appealing to adults as well as children. On the other hand, Paws of Fury looked so exclusively for children that theaters would have to hand out neck pillows to adults so they could at least get a good nap in. Most would be surprised to hear that one of the leading creative forces behind the movie is comedy legend Mel Brooks himself. This became clear after watching as this movie reads as the children's version of Blazing Saddles. The few parents who make that connection might justify the experience of viewing it in theaters. Surprisingly, this is not the worst movie of the year. It's actually quite enjoyable. Not to overhype the film, as it's decent at best, but for cinephiles who dread looking at the poster standee of the movie, it's not bad. The humor is the best aspect of the movie, as it almost feels fresh in a sea of Disney mediocrity and Minion babbling. A collection of self-aware jokes feels right out of a classic Mel Brooks comedy. With expectations as context, it wouldn't be surprising to hear some viewers find this movie funnier than the cringe-inducing Thor: Love and Thunder. Somehow, Paws of Fury is the funniest theatrically released animated movie of the year.
The animation probably drew most audiences away as it looks cheap and uninspired. There's nothing to be desired visually from this movie in any way. The voice performances, on the other hand, are surprisingly solid. Samuel L. Jackson is always a welcome sound to hear, but the standouts here are certainly Michael Cera and Ricky Gervais. Not that they did anything exceptionally well, they just haven't been on the big screen limelight in a while, and it was nice to get some of their personal comedic flavors. Parents will be more attracted to the name-brand recognition of animated blockbusters like Lightyear, Minions, and DC League of Super Pets. Still, if their child drags them to Paws of Fury, they won't be too disappointed. To the cinephiles who watch everything that comes out in theaters, it's the last priority, but the creative team behind it makes it worth the watch. Mel Brooks fans specifically will have a hoot hearing his voice and seeing his comedic style still prevailing to this day. Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank hits theaters on July 15. Rating: 3/5 Review by Cole Groth It’s been 14 years since we were introduced to beloved panda Po Ping and his kick-ass Kung Fu skills, and in that time, we’ve been treated to three excellent films. What makes those films so good is how unique the setting is, how the script treats his character, and the general sense of adventure that being the Dragon Warrior takes Po on. After two TV series expanded the series without Jack Black as the voice of Po, it’s nice to see that Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight brings back Black in what’s supposed to be more of a return to form. However, bringing back the original voice actors isn’t enough to salvage this incredibly cheap production of lazy animation and boring storytelling. One of my biggest gripes with this show is how they treat Po’s character. Within the first 15 minutes or so of the first episode, Po’s legacy as the Dragon Master is stripped from him after a disastrous adventure to get “Fat Gobs” (a term which makes as little sense as it sounds and is repeated dozens of times in the first episode). It’s a jarring exchange that feels largely unfair to his character. It doesn’t help either that the awful writing makes this an unbearable show for anybody but little children. While discussing my dislike for the show with my dad, he commented that it’s okay for the show to be bad “because it’s for kids.” I absolutely hate that excuse. I understand that the show isn’t meant to be a work of art, but this entire franchise has focused on children as the primary audience, and so far, they haven’t missed. This show ultimately feels like a lazy attempt at continuing the franchise. What makes it so apparent is just how bad the animation is. Some moments go into a traditional 2D animation style that is visually very appealing, and it makes me wonder why they didn’t do it for the whole series. Except for those moments, we’re stuck with this poorly-lit, uncanny valley version of our lovable titular Kung Fu Panda. In addition to the poor animation, the new characters and story we follow are lame as can be. We no longer get to see the Furious Five in action to face the new threat, two whiny rat-like creatures who steal a mighty gauntlet. Instead, we follow an unlikeable female warrior who only focuses on how much better than Po she is. I would appreciate this series more if we didn’t have to sit through nearly a dozen episodes slandering Po as anything less than the most powerful warrior in all of China. On a more serious note, the dialogue is a complete struggle to get through, with each twenty-minute episode containing dozens of lines that’ll make even the intended audience cringe.
Overall, it’s nice to see that there’s still a story available for Po, but it’s a shame that this new adventure for Po is quite possibly his lamest yet. If people who cared more about this franchise developed this, we could’ve seen a genuinely great TV series with the original cast returning. Hopefully, Netflix will learn from this, but if history shows us anything, they won’t. Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight will stream on Netflix starting July 14th. All eleven episodes reviewed. Rating: 1.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Filmmaker Hannah Marks has made some of the funniest cringe comedies to come out in recent years, but her newest film, Don’t Make Me Go, is an entirely different beast. Although there are still moments of tenderness and awkward humor, some baffling decisions make this an underwhelming effort.
The movie follows a single father who, after being diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor, decides to take one last road trip with his daughter to allow her to reconnect with her mother who left them years before. For most of the film, it’s an innocent if conventional road movie until it takes a preposterous shift in the last twenty minutes. It’s not necessarily that the final act is bad in and of itself — but the way it is handled makes it outright infuriating. Other films have done the exact same thing before but better and more sensitively. As it is done here, it feels like cheap emotional manipulation used for little more than to pull at the heartstrings. While it is certainly nice to see a movie exploring these issues from the lens of single fatherhood, it would have been better had it actually done something with them. Instead, the film settles for a mixture of low-hanging fruit, from obvious jokes to “heartwarming” moments we have seen hundreds of times before.
The dynamic between the two lead characters is certainly what sells the movie. Even when the humor becomes overly broad, the father-daughter relationship that serves as the emotional core is strong. It could have done without some of the more generic cancer movie beats, but they are somewhat necessary to push the story along.
Cho is clearly a very talented actor, and this role allows him to flex his comedic chops a bit more than usual. The dialogue is frequently bland, but even so, Cho is able to bring out an extraordinary amount of emotion. Mia Isaac also shows a great deal of potential in her debut role, having excellent chemistry with her co-star. And for a road movie, the film has a surprising shortage of beautiful sights. Even road movies that are primarily set in cars find a way to make the audience feel like they are along for the ride, traversing the country with the characters, and that is Marks’s biggest failure with her approach to this film. Don’t Make Me Go has some compelling moments, but it completely fumbles its final third with an embarrassing twist. It’s too bad, because the pairing of John Cho and Mia Isaac shows some real spark — they just needed a better script to work with. Don’t Make Me Go hits Prime Video on July 15. Rating: 2.5/5 |
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