Review by Sean Boelman
At first glance, Declawn Lawn and Adam Patterson’s Rogue Agent looks like it will be just another generic espionage thriller, but there is so much more to it than that. Thanks to an unexpected twist that is somehow true, it ends up being a much more entertaining film than it has any right to be.
It’s hard to explain what Rogue Agent is about without spoiling some of what it has in store. While it is based on a true story, it is unlikely that most viewers will be familiar with the story of subject Robert Freegard, and it is one of the most unbelievably wild true stories that you will have ever seen. The way that the story unfolds is absolutely captivating. At first, it starts out with a very heavy romance angle before it reveals its hand and turns into the thriller it is. Admittedly, one could argue that the script really hinges on its twist to the point of it being a crutch, but it’s so well-executed that it’s excusable. Admittedly, as is the case with many of these stranger-than-fiction true stories, the movie gets so caught up in the freshness of the idea that it doesn’t really use it to say much of anything. There are many potential angles that the filmmakers could have taken to give the story some sort of commentary, but they choose to be very straightforward about it.
The most effective portion of this film is the character development. The central character is not meant to be particularly likable, but he is duplicitously charming. James Norton’s extraordinary performance is one of the main things that really allows the movie to be as compelling as it is.
Gemma Arterton is also good in her role, but she is given much less to do than Norton, causing him to steal the spotlight from her more often than not. The other person in the cast who gives a notable performance is Marisa Abela (Industry), whose turn is subtly harrowing in an unexpected way. From a visual standpoint, the film is pretty straightforward, but in a way that is sleek. That said, the periodization is a bit on the messy side. It feels like a movie that could be set a few decades ago even though the story took place in the 2000s. It’s perhaps trying to go for a retro vibe, but it doesn’t go all-in enough with it to work. Rogue Agent is a compelling little movie thanks to fantastic story and acting. Its storytelling may not be completely even, but the story itself is so freaking interesting that it makes up for any of its shortcomings. Rogue Agent hits theaters and AMC+ on August 12. Rating: 4/5
0 Comments
Review by Adam Donato Summering was an official selection at Sundance Film Festival this year. It’s directed by James Ponsoldt, who is best known for the film adaptation of The Spectacular Now. The plot follows four young girls trying to enjoy the final days of summer before entering middle school and their teenage years. After finding a dead body in the woods, the girls make it their mission to solve the case and reflect upon their lives in the process. The most notable star in the movie is Lake Bell, who plays one of the girl’s mothers. While child actors are usually known for their poor acting, is Ponsoldt’s direction enough to ward off the August blues? For any film fan who is paying attention, it’s obvious that the plot of Summering has too much in common with the Stephen King classic, Stand By Me. Four kids go on an adventure centered around a dead body. This time around, the four kids are girls, so it’s not unlike Ghostbusters (2016) or Ocean’s 8. The trend of rebooting male-dominated movies with women in the starring roles lives on. That being said, the kids being girls impacts the plot more so than the franchises previously referenced. Girls at that age are going through similar, but different experiences, which adds a new perspective to this story. Most of the downtime in this movie centers around their pontifications surrounding this end of an era in their lives. Therefore, this rehash feels more justified. One stark contrast to Stand By Me in Summering is this paranormal element that comes into play. Some scenes feel like they’re straight out of a direct-to-DVD horror movie. This doesn’t not make sense in the context of the story, but it definitely stands out amongst the rest of the plot. There is a dead body, which would be a scary thing for anybody to deal with, let alone a group of little girls. Most of the movie has this indie trash vibe going on so splicing in horror sequences feels out of place. The indie trash is ripe with this one. It makes sense for the girls to be having deep conversations about life, not only because of their current station, but encountering a dead body would make anybody question their mortality.
Are child actors not good actors or are children annoying protagonists to follow in movies? One might say this movie doesn’t appeal to critics because they’re not in the demographic, which skews towards young women. If that was the case, then why would something like Eighth Grade be so critically beloved? Authenticity is one of the biggest issues when it comes to child actors. If somebody were to dismiss child performances due to the fact that kids are weird, then that’s acceptable. In Summering, the kids are weird and annoying, but that’s how kids are in real life. Obviously, don’t watch this if you can't tolerate youths. Overall this movie isn’t egregiously bad, just so dismissable. The tone is muddled and the concept is derivative. It's definitely a step down for Ponsoldt. It would be interesting to know if this movie translates with little girls, but the horror sequences are probably enough to scare away the kind of girl who would relate to having helicopter parents. This movie is for nobody. View at your own caution. Summering hits theaters on August 12. Rating: 2/5 Review by Camden Ferrell Chol Soo Lee might be a known name to people of a certain generation or a certain community, but it’s a story that could use more exposure. Directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi aim to do just that with their newest movie. Free Chol Soo Lee is a documentary that had its premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a highly informative film filled with plenty of empathy and intelligence, but it can suffer from a relatively weak execution that would lose the attention of the viewers if it weren’t for the compelling subject. Chol Soo Lee was a Korean American immigrant who is most known for being wrongly convicted for the murder of a San Francisco gang leader in 1973. He was given a life sentence in one of the most brutal prisons where he had to navigate his new life filled with degradation and violence. The injustice against Lee soon sparked a national movement of people advocating for his release from prison. This is an amazing story that reveals so much about the prison system but mostly the enduring nature of the human spirit. From the start, the documentary is adequately told and has a decent sense of storytelling. It is more informational than it is entertaining, and it needed more of a balance to truly stand out in the genre. The premise on its own is fascinating, but it still needs some personality in its structure and narrative to leave a lasting impression on the viewer. The movie features archival footage, news clippings, and other old records to help tell its story, and one of the best parts about the movie was how it all felt naturally worked into the movie and the progression was present in its evidence and B-roll. That being said, there are times where what’s happening on screen isn’t the most compelling and doesn’t help support the interesting story they’re trying to tell.
What could have been a riveting documentary about a wrongfully convicted man turns into a safe and boilerplate retelling of events. It can still adequately communicate various ideas about injustice, persistence, and optimism, but it’s a message that could have been much more effective with different execution. Regardless of its flaws, this is a culturally and historically important story that should be seen. It may not best the best documentary that could have been made about Lee, but it has the basic foundation down, and it is very informative. Free Chol Soo Lee is in select theaters August 12. Rating: 3.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Starring one of the most extraordinary stars of yesterday with some of the most exciting new talents of tomorrow, Katie Aselton’s Mack & Rita should have been, at the very least, a lovely little older-skewing comedy. Unfortunately, in its cloying attempts to pander to audiences both young and old, it manages to be both painfully unfunny and almost unwatchably dispassionate.
The film follows a thirty-year-old writer who, dissatisfied with her life, spends a wild weekend in Palm Springs and finds herself transformed into her seventy-year-old self. What seems like it should be Freaky Friday on steroids instead ends up being yet another excuse for a millennial character to vent about how bad she has it until she realizes that things might not actually be all that bad. Some of the movie’s shortcomings likely could have been forgiven if there were some substance to its themes. While the overall message of living life in the moment is nice and wholesome, the fact that this is the entirety of the film’s message makes it generally insufficient. There are some parts which seem like they are on the edge of doing something interesting by skewering influencer culture only to fall flat. The jokes in the movie generally aim for the lowest common denominator — pretty much what you would expect from a body swap comedy like this. It’s a bunch of Diane Keaton doing things that a woman Diane Keaton’s age shouldn’t be doing. Are these “antics” particularly funny? Not at all.
The film also suffers from generally insufferable characters. The younger version of the protagonist is developed primarily through her friendships, while the older version is developed mostly through an age-gap romance. The latter is a particularly bizarre choice on the part of writers Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh, and it does not pay off.
Keaton absolutely phones it in with her role, but with a filmography like hers, you could say she’s earned it. But the bigger problem is that she does not try to adapt to Elizabeth Lail’s younger performance of the character, nor does Lail really attempt to emulate Keaton’s personality. They are just woefully mismatched. Even more damning is the fact that the movie completely wastes its talented supporting cast. Taylour Paige plays the protagonist’s best friend and isn’t even able to be an amusing sidekick. Simon Rex gets a couple of scenes as the wacky character. Lois Smith is also just sort-of… there. Mack & Rita is an utterly embarrassing waste of talent of all involved. It’s a simple enough premise that it should have been a crowd-pleaser, but the issue is that no one did anything beyond the bare minimum here. Mack & Rita hits theaters on August 12. Rating: 2/5
Review by Cole Groth
Walker Scobell is one of the biggest up-and-coming child actors, but his sophomore film, Secret Headquarters, plays very similarly to his first one, The Adam Project, and not quite in a good way. Both films have issues staying too safe, lacking CGI, and overall tonal issues. In Secret Headquarters, we see Scobell again play the child of a famous actor, this time Owen Wilson. While they work together rather well as a dysfunctional father-son duo, we aren't given enough time to truly develop their relationship. It leaves the film feeling like it overstayed its welcome while simultaneously not giving us the much-needed emotional connection to make this great. As it stands, this is a simply fine, occasionally very enjoyable superhero flick for kids to watch.
Now, I was personally very excited for this film to release because I wanted to see if Walker Scobell could finally star in an amazing film. After being very disappointed by his first film, I was eager to see if this had the heart of a film like fellow star Keith Williams's Good Boys. Unfortunately, this film keeps it pretty tame. Jokes aimed at the Gen-Z crowd fall flat because they aren't quite biting enough to feel representative of this generation and also feel fairly lame. Tonally, this film is all over the place. Sometimes it feels very mature, and that's when it works best, but other times it's hard to take certain characters seriously at all. Michael Peña is the best representative of this. On the one hand, it's hard to take him as this hardcore villainous character, but he's also surprisingly effective in his uncommonly mean role.
If this film focused less on the titular "secret headquarters," it would be a much more emotionally complex story that doesn't feel quite as cheap as it does. The CGI isn't that great, and limited sets seemed to me like they all belonged in the second act of an overarching story. Owen Wilson is advertised heavily as the lead for this, which feels entirely disingenuous after spending a large majority without him even on screen. Now, I don't have a problem with this because I was a big fan of Scobell's performance as the lead, but yet again, it would've been nicer if their relationship was the core of this film rather than the main plot of Peña's character trying to steal the energy source from the kids. However, there are certainly some interesting moments to be found when you put these characters in the same space for the 100-minute runtime. I like the idea of this infinite energy source being used by one superhero for good because it does beg the question of why The Guard, Wilson's superhero persona, doesn't share his power with the rest of the world. Since we never see him actually saving anybody, it would've been more interesting if we explored the details of The Guard as a superhero.
Overall, Secret Headquarters is a film that doesn't feel like it has much substance. It's decently entertaining at times, but movies like this are missing one fundamental thing: the script to make it feel like it has a lot of emotional energy to give. By the end, I feel like I didn't learn very much about any of the characters. There's not much of a point because, in the end, it only feels like this was a bit of a bloated mess where nothing happens. It feels a lot more like sequel-bait than it does its own original film, and that's just a lame way to make a film. This doesn't leave a sour taste in my mouth — it just leaves nothing to give besides a few silent chuckles and some interesting moments. Hopefully, Scobell will choose some roles in the future that require more emotionally complex performances because this film isn't quite super enough to feel like he's ready to be the next big star. Secret Headquarters is available on Paramount+ starting August 12th. Rating: 3/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Many don’t realize that, in addition to their theatrical oeuvre, Lionsgate is one of the premier distributors of straight-to-VOD content. Sometimes, one of their films that was seemingly meant for home release finds its way into the company’s theatrical distribution arm, and that seems to be the case with the straightforward survival thriller Fall.
The movie follows two adrenaline junkies who get stuck on the top of one of the highest radio towers in America when the ladder they used to climb up breaks. In other words, it’s about a couple of people who trespass on a dangerous site and expect us to sympathize with them despite their own stupidity being the cause of their plight. Perhaps the biggest sin committed by the film is that it stretches a concept for an eighty-minute movie into an hour and forty minutes. The build-up to them actually getting onto the radio tower takes far too long. Ultimately, anyone who is going to see this movie is looking for thrills, not for character drama. It definitely could have helped if the character work weren’t so aggressively mediocre. The character motivations are so basic and generic. The script’s attempt to give the movie some emotional weight through the plot through a grief subplot would be genuinely laughable if it was even the least bit developed.
For the most part, the dynamic between the two main characters works really well. That is until, in an attempt to revitalize a narrative that is quickly running out of steam, additional drama is added to the mix with embarrassingly melodramatic results. For some reason, it couldn’t just be two friends stuck on the top of a radio tower — there had to be ridiculous drama.
Grace Fulton and Virgina Gardner are both admittedly pretty bad in their roles. Sadly, neither one has enough charisma to be the lead of a movie in which they are ultimately the only two actors for much of the runtime. The chemistry between the two isn’t bad, but it’s also not enough to carry the film. The two big names in the cast, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Mason Gooding, only get a couple of scenes each. That being said, for all of the problems the movie has with its script and acting, it’s shot decently well. Although the film obviously wasn’t shot in dangerous conditions, director Scott Mann does a good enough job of convincing us of the stakes. The action sequences are also shot in a solidly pulse-pounding way. Fall definitely isn’t a good movie, but for what it is, it’s mildly entertaining. The script is derivative, it’s too long, and the actors don't really know what they’re doing. Still, if you’re looking for a straightforward, mindless survival thriller, this could hit the spot. Fall hits theaters on August 12. Rating: 3/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen A League of Their Own, the Prime Video series, isn't just based on the 1992 film of the same name — it's based on the true events and people involved in this woman's baseball league of the 1940s. The series is a little more true to life than the film, and that's something that can be looked up on Google. The film is exaggerated, especially the Jimmy Dugan character played by Tom Hanks. It's good to see a more realistic version of this story and these women's legacy they left behind. This show is a more in-depth series of events involving the All American Women's Professional baseball league. It deals with Carson Show (Abbi Jacobson), an Idaho farm girl married to a WWII soldier, Greta (D'Arcy Carden) and her friend Jo Deluca (Melanie Field), who are looking to travel and meet men/women, the manager Casey "Dove" Porter (Nick Offerman), who is annoyed by being around all of these women and their female issues, and Max (Chante Adams), a Black woman trying to prove herself in a world that doesn't respect women or African-Americans in this day and age. This show deals with many women's issues that are prevalent today and back in the '40s, such as acceptance of the gay and LGBT community and still civil rights in this country. These parallel storylines fit nicely within the context of the film. I feel this show was more authentic to these women's true stories than the film. The movie seemed to go for laughs even though that famous line "There's no crying in baseball!" is still in the show. The cast is pretty vast besides the handful of members I've mentioned already. There is Lupe (Roberta Galindez), Jess (Kelly McCormack), Maybelle (Molly Ephraim), and Shirley (Kate Berlant), as well as Beverly, played by Dale Dickey. All of these women supplement the main characters very nicely. They all have various subplots accentuating the main plot with the main characters. The show doesn't get bogged down with any side plots, though. It knows where the bread and butter of the story is. One aspect of the show I felt could have been better is the baseball. It felt forced and not very real when it should have been a central focus of the show. The series got more into baseball playing as it went along, but the said playing of the game felt amateurish. The Negro leagues baseball seemed better, though. Maybe that was a conscious effort by the showrunners. Who knows? I just thought in a show about baseball, the baseball should be performed and portrayed better.
All my foibles about the show aside, I very much enjoyed it. The main storylines involving Jacobson, Carden, and Adams's characters were quite engrossing, and their performances drove the series forward from episode to episode. They kept me interested throughout. I learned a lot about these women that the film didn't talk about. The film detracts from the actual events in these women's lives. That makes this show relevant in the overall context of things. The production value, costumes, and hairstyling were pretty cool because authentic-looking shows are easier to get invested in. The showrunners covered all their bases, pun intended, with this show. It was nice to watch an updated, more authentic version of this story. People who haven't seen the film can now see the definitive version of this story instead of the fictionalized version. The family members of their relatives surely will be happy with this part of the show. A League of Their Own streams on Prime Video beginning August 12. All eight episodes reviewed. Rating: 4/5 Review by Tatiana Miranda Mindy Kaling's Netflix coming-of-age series Never Have I Ever is returning for its third season. The series tracks Indian-American teenager Devi Vishwakumar as she navigates high school after the unexpected death of her father. While that seems to be a heavy and emotional topic at the show's center, Never Have I Ever is more comical than depressing. Yet, it allows room for heartfelt moments as Devi grieves and grows closer to her family and heritage. Even more so, the driving force for many of Devi's actions revolves around her love life, with season two ending as she finally gets with her dream guy. This seemingly perfect relationship is what sets the stage as season three begins, yet it is quickly lost in the chaos of the show's fast-paced storytelling. Never Have I Ever's quick jumps through time are nothing new. Still, this season, they feel especially jarring as Devi continues to move from problem to problem in swift succession, never entirely slowing down in order to let the audience or characters process what is going on. Similar to the show's previous seasons, the primary characters in Never Have I Ever seem to jump from one relationship and character-building moment to the next, never taking time to let the dust settle. In season three, this bleeds into the actions of secondary characters as well as the main ones, as is the case with two of Devi's best friends, Aneesa and Fabiola. The fast-paced nature of the character development of these two characters in this season is especially striking since they take the back burner, so any abrupt shifts in their attitude or storyline feels unwarranted because they never had time to develop properly. The cast of Never Have I Ever grows bigger in season three, with the new addition of private school student Des and his mom, who each get close to Devi and her mom, respectively. Along with Des' introduction, the show also introduces his friends Parker and Addison, who is the show's first confirmed nonbinary character. The addition of these characters brings a whole new world to Devi's life, providing plenty of mishaps for her to navigate.
Season three of Never Have I Ever ends on the perfect note to prepare the audience for the next and final season. With Devi's upcoming senior year and the promise of newly kindled relationships, season four will likely be the ideal end to what has proven itself to be a one-of-a-kind teen drama. Never Have I Ever season three begins streaming on Netflix August 12. All ten episodes reviewed. Rating: 4/5 Review by Adam Donato As Marvel fanboys still find themselves inundated with the bevy of Comic-Con news regarding their favorite cinematic universe, I Am Groot arrives on Disney+ not long after. The content is a short series of bits starring everyone’s favorite vocabularist from the Guardians of the Galaxy. Including credits, the entirety of it lasts just over twenty minutes as there are about five episodes at four minutes a piece. With the Guardians franchise coming to an end with their third movie, it is quite opportune for Marvel to capitalize on their brand while they’re still around. The real question is, how will a show like this fit into the MCU? I Am Groot seems to be going the same route as fellow Disney+ series, Dug Days and Baymax! Take a cute, funny and animated side character from one of your iconic films. Give them a short, standalone, and episodic series showcasing their independent shenanigans. While it’s easy to be critical and cynical about Disney’s conveyor belt of content to maintain the necessity for audiences to subscribe to their streaming service, this seems to be the least divisive direction to go with these intellectual properties. It’s cute, fun, and full of heart. You’re in and you’re out. The show is short enough to be binged in less time than it takes to watch a movie, but can be spread out into individual bits. Unlike Baymax and Dug Days, there is zero connective tissue tying the I Am Groot episodes together. More so than the Disney+ shows, I Am Groot is quite like the Disney Animation or Pixar shorts that play before their feature films. Which begs the question, why not do this more frequently and put these shorts before MCU films. Marvel die hard fans will see every movie, but not everyone will go to the theater for a Black Widow or Eternals or Ant-Man standalone movie. That being said, everyone loves Baby Groot. Just look at the obscene amounts of Baby Yoda merch and say that a percentage of casual moviegoers would not go see a movie they normally wouldn’t see because there’s a Baby Groot short. Why limit it to just the one series? Regularly produce one shot shorts like Marvel used to do with their blu ray releases and show them before the feature. It would be a fun and low risk way to experiment with smaller characters and weird ideas. The character being limited to three words and not having any English-speaking characters to fill the void presents an opportunity for visual storytelling to take priority. With the critical disappointment that was Thor: Love and Thunder largely being due to the cringe humor, having a show where the comedic focus isn’t cheesy one liners like “Eat this hammer!” helps make the MCU feel fresh. The level of animation and special effects doesn’t feel obnoxiously different. Many fans of Monsters, Inc. were disappointed with the show Monsters at Work because it looked like a downgrade, but here, it’s not a problem. They’re harmless and goofy shorts. Hopefully Marvel takes more opportunities like this since a problem Disney recently had with Obi-Wan Kenobi was that it felt stretched out. Groot doesn’t need a big epic series. Sometimes it’s nice to just hang out with these characters.
I Am Groot is the best MCU content since Avengers: Endgame. With all these other shows feeling like such an elongated commitment, it’s nice to have something that feels like a nice little appetizer. This show is exactly perfect for what it is. Fans of the Guardians of the Galaxy are sure to be satiated. It’s not a must-see, but that’s what makes it work so well. Definitely check this one out exclusively on Disney+. I Am Groot streams on Disney+ on August 10. All five episodes reviewed. Rating: 4/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Experimental films usually can do two things: they can create an existential view of what the filmmaker is seeing and wants the viewer to see or tell a pretty straightforward story in a vastly different style. El Gran Movimento is the latter. It is the straightforward telling of the story of these people in Bolivia. The film mainly focuses on a handful of Bolivian citizens who start in Oruro and end up in La Paz. Three men who were miners leave their home in Oruro when the mine they worked for shuts down due to a work stoppage. The miners go on strike for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. While they work in another town, one gets sick in the mine. That's where the other two main characters in the film come in: an old hermit lady who walks around talking to people and is also a friend to the guys and an old medicine man. He travels around as well, but he tries to help the sick elder. This film does a few other interesting things. Between the narrative story of the film, Kiro Russo shows the country and how it works from the standpoint of the various aspects of the industry. Camera shots showing crumbling buildings, rainy shots of the city from afar, and the hustle and bustle of the people who work in a grocery alley help maintain the working environment in the area. Also, out of nowhere, similar to a Bollywood film, there is a dance number right in the middle of the film. Why? I have no idea, but it was set to electronic music, and it broke up the monotony of the rest of the film. Russo did a few strange things like this but didn't hinder the overall narrative much. If anything, they made the film a little more understandable and easier to watch.
The filmmaking style was a bit muted, though, probably because he didn't have the best technology to work with. It looked like it was filmed a while ago and took a long time to come out. It just didn't look new like most films do. Even period piece films look newer than this. The budget was probably pretty small, and this may have been a guerrilla filmmaking crew since these actors seemed like natives from Bolivia he just followed around and created a narrative film with. Who knows, though? El Gran Movimento was a solid film. There have been bigger named filmmakers to make this type of film, but this had an interesting style and narrative that made it work. Besides oddities in the overall production, it wasn't an awful film. It wasn't great either, but I give the cast and crew the benefit of the doubt because they made a solid effort. El Gran Movimiento hits theaters on August 12. Rating: 3/5 |
Archives
June 2023
Authors
All
|