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Review by Adam Donato  Stephen King adaptations are a subgenre all to itself. There’s three such movies coming out this year alone. The Long Walk is about a society that forces young men into a competition where they have to walk at a certain pace for as long as they can and the last man standing wins untold riches. Leading this walk is Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson. Both young actors have made impressions in the last few years, but have yet to reach household name status. Francis Lawrence, known for his work on the Hunger Games franchise, returns to a similar vibe of post apocalyptic young adult action drama territory. With an R rating and a September release date, it will be interesting to see if this can get a good cut of the box office. Weapons is still holding strong, meanwhile a new Conjuring movie comes out the week before and a Peele/Wayans collab comes out the week after, so the horror market is filled with options. The Long Walk certainly has the quality to lure people into the box office. The subject matter does demand an R rating, but there’s a way to cut around the gore to make this movie PG-13 to try to squeeze out some extra bucks. The gore is so necessary here as the film goes from light banter among young men to tragic horror. This juxtaposition elevates both sides and is really the balance that this film thrives on. The concept of the film is trying to be grounded and taken seriously, but it’s ripe for nitpickers who don’t find this athletic feat achievable. Even if their lives are on the line and even after they explain how they do things like going to the bathroom. It feels like the movie would’ve benefited from a shorter runtime and it would’ve made the plot more realistic. It’s also very light on world building, but that may be for the best because the whole idea of this competition is ridiculous.  Hoffman and Jonsson are two of the best young actors working today. If you were not previously on board, now is a great opportunity. Hoffman in Licorice Pizza and Jonsson in Alien: Romulus are both performances that put these two on the map, but they’ve not reached household name status. It would be great for this movie to be a success because this film definitely keeps the ball rolling. They have wonderful chemistry together and are playing different types of characters than we’ve seen from them before. Their budding friendship is the lifeblood of the movie.
The Long Walk feels destined to reach cult classic status. It’s very good, but the tone of the movie is too niche. It’s too gory for drama fans and too tame for horror fans. Not to mention it’s rated R so the teen demographic that this movie seems to appeal to will have to wait until streaming. Regardless, this was a wonderful opportunity for Hoffman and Jonsson to showcase their capabilities. The concept is a bit out there, but it’s got that Stephen King horror charm to it. Be sure to check this one out in theaters while it’s still there. The Long Walk is in theaters on September 12. Rating: 4/5
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Review by Daniel Lima  Michael Strassner and Liz Larsen in Jay Duplass’s THE BALTIMORONS. Sometimes a film comes out at just the right time to be appreciated for what it is. Ten or fifteen years ago, the prospect of an airy, weightless romcom running entirely on charm and vibes from one of the mumblecore guys would have made me break out in hives. In the cinematic landscape of today, however, The Baltimorons stands out simply by portraying a complicated, messy world grounded in reality. It’s hard not to get swept up in it, even as the flaws are readily evident. Taking place over one long Christmas Eve in Baltimore, the film follows a man who, after an emergency dental visit, ends up spending the day with his dentist. He is a genial thirty-something recovering alcoholic who has abandoned his creative ambitions for a “real job”; she is an acerbic middle-aged divorcee who finds herself alone for the holiday. Through a series of mishaps and misadventures, the two grow closer, revealing parts of themselves to each other they never thought they’d reveal to a complete stranger. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the work of director Jay Duplass, and the mumblecore subgenre he helped define, will know what to expect here. Emerging in the 2000s, mumblecore films were typified by low budgets, naturalistic dialogue, nonprofessional actors, location shooting, handheld camerawork, aimless plots, and directionless characters. They provided an antidote to slick artifice and twee sentimentality of both studio comedies and the kind of indie that would go over well at Sundance, affecting a realism that reflected the lives of the filmmakers producing them. The Baltimorons follows these conventions to a tee. Though the dialogue isn’t improvised, it clearly is meant to mimic how people talk to each other in real life rather than the stylized patter of a Judd Apatow or Diablo Cody. Stars Liz Larsen and Michael Strassner (the latter also getting co-writer credit) are practically unknown, as is most of the rest of the cast. The city of Baltimore is captured warts and all, shot on location with unfussy handheld camerawork that shows the city as it is. The plot is mostly an excuse to hang out with these characters and share their world, making only a cursory attempt to fit things within a traditional narrative structure. In just about every way, this is classic mumblecore. The beating heart of the film is the chemistry between Larsen and Strassner; if they have no spark, there is no movie. Fortunately, the two bounce off each other beautifully. Strassner provides the kind of genuine, understated warmth that could thaw even the most ornery spirit, and Larsen is as good capturing that ornery spirit as she is the excitable, bubbly person underneath it. The material they have to work with is less than stellar, a consequence of the adherence to how real people talk rather than a comedy film, but they inject it with such verve that even though there’s precious few laugh lines, spending time with them was constantly pleasant.  If the film had the look and feel of a modern comedy, that might not be the case. Unlike the textureless, airbrushed streaming slop that makes up most romcoms today, The Baltimorons feels like a snapshot of a real place. The ensemble is not made up of beautiful celebrities, they are a diverse group of people that are reflective of the average citizen. Their living spaces have the familiar clutter that always accumulates, their hangouts are the cozy places you could imagine spending hours in, and scenic nightlife is photographed with the same detail as a dingy repo yard in an underpass. That the film moves so lackadaisically, with none of the urgency of a traditional narrative, goes a long way in selling the character of the setting.
Of course, mumblecore did go somewhat out of fashion for a reason. Over the years, the same traits that made these films unique ossified into a style in its own right, paradoxically making the effort to get away from the cliches of more mainstream fare into a cliché itself. As novel as something like this is today, it hews so closely to the template of those earlier films that it can hardly be called “fresh”. That besides, the attempt to strip away Hollywood artifice also rendered many of these films little more than a stylistic exercise, offering little beyond the feeling of being immersed in an insular little world. That constraint is certainly felt here, as the film has little going on under the surface. If you aren’t bought into this burgeoning relationship, there’s nothing here. Which isn’t to say there is no character drama. Though the film is largely a two-hander, it is Strassner who gets a complete arc, as he grapples with both his sobriety and the adult responsibilities he has on the horizon. Strassner has said that the script is rooted in his personal experience, and while the attempt to explore it like this is commendable, The Baltimorons is at its weakest when it is directly addressing his turmoil. These are the parts where the film looks the most like a conventional indie dramedy, and the gear switch into that from the deliberately unconventional mumblecore trappings is not smooth. Some scenes work better than others, and there is at times a certain inelegant beauty in watching the characters fumble their way through deeply emotional conversations, but it largely ends up casting off the best aspects of the movie. Yet these aren’t the moments that stand out when thinking about watching this. It’s the joy on the faces of two strangers who have met someone they can connect to. It’s the lived-in feeling of the Baltimore streets they walk across, the coziness between them driving through an icy winter’s day. Perhaps I would be less kind to The Baltimorons if I were watching this in 2012, but today, I find myself won over. How lucky we would be if more films were content in just being this human. The Baltimorons is now in theaters. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Camden Ferrell  James Sweeney made a splash on the scene with his debut feature Straight Up, which played extensively on the festival circuit in 2019. His long-awaited follow up, Twinless, had its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival where it won the coveted Audience Award. His newest film doubles down on all the strengths of his first feature while also benefitting from an amazing turn from lead actor Dylan O’Brien. Roman and Dennis meet in a support group for those whose twins have died, and they quickly form a bond together. They both search for comfort in the face of tragedy and learn how to navigate life without their other half. While the central themes of the movie are more somber than his last feature, Sweeney finds a way to navigate this story with a darkly comic perspective to keep it light. Sweeney’s writing has improved with his newest feature. He didn’t sacrifice any of the wit or quirkiness that made his first movie memorable, but he did find a way to blend with a greater sense of earnestness. He understands how to balance the mature themes of grief with the humor and heart he seems to enjoy exploring in a friendship. It also has some great narrative twists and angles that make this an engaging and rewarding watch.  While Sweeney’s acting is more or less similar to his previous work (your mileage may vary), he still is a competent leading man to introduce his signature style of performance into the film. However, his co-lead Dylan O’Brien is the clear standout in this movie. Mostly known for his YA movies and shows, he has displayed a true flair for more serious roles, and this movie proves yet again what he’s capable of. I think it’s a very nuanced role that requires grief, humor, and controlled rage, and it’s something he handles expertly. It’s hard to imagine the final product without him because he really helps the movie come alive.
Something that appeals to me greatly about Sweeney as an artist is how finely tuned his technical aspirations are with a movie. He reunites with cinematographer Greg Cotten to double down on all of the visual quirks of his first movie to better effect. His camera is static for a majority of the movie with any motion being incredibly controlled and surprisingly creative. He employs the use of split screen expertly to enhance the themes he’s exploring while also leveraging it as a storytelling mechanism. Pair this with an amazing score from Jung Jae-il, and you have a clear and concise vision from Sweeney across all the creative aspects of the production. Twinless is one of the year’s best movies. Sweeney has proven himself as a filmmaker to keep on your radar for the foreseeable future, and I hope this lands O’Brien some much deserved serious roles as an actor. It’s a movie that I think will speak to general audiences for one reason or another, whether it’s the film’s quirkiness, humor, or genuine exploration of grief and loss. Twinless is in theaters September 5. Rating: 4.5/5 |