Review by Adam Donato Glory be, it’s October! The Halloween season is among us and movies are starting to get spookier. Even the kids need something to see in the theater. Enter Lyle Lyle Crocodile: a movie about a lonely crocodile who gets taken in by a friendly family, but he has a special talent in his singing ability. From the writer of How to Train your Dragon and Flushed Away and from the directing duo known for Blades of Glory and Office Christmas Party comes a movie that definitely exists. For some children, a singing crocodile will suffice, but does this live-action family musical have enough to keep adults awake? Even in the summer of 2021, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway still brought it over three times its budget. Why not adapt another piece of children’s literature in the same vein? While they do their best to paint Lyle as this cute character, it’s nowhere near the likes of Paddington or Peter Rabbit. He sings sometimes, but he can’t speak. So where Paddington and Peter Rabbit were able to function on their own, Lyle is constantly needing company. That company is subpar. Winslow Fegley, which is the name of a child, is his nervous compatriot throughout the movie and he’s an annoying child actor like most of them. Scoot McNairy is cringe. Constance Wu is the only human other than Javier Bardem to have a song. That brings us to Javier Bardem, who is boldly going for it and to an extent, his performance is the best part about the movie. With the musical stylings of the people who brought us The Greatest Showman and a leading man in Shawn Mendes, an older demographic might be enticed to enjoy this for the music. There’s not a ton of musicals on the big screen these days. The songs in Lyle Lyle Crocodile are generically fun, but mostly forgettable. The main songs "Top of the World" and "Take a Look at Us Now" are spammed throughout the movie. Both are good enough, but that's definitely where the quality stops. That's the nicest way of saying it is there certainly won’t be an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song... at least, hopefully not.
Lyle Lyle Crocodile is generally inoffensive children's fare, but it deserves to be maligned for its mediocrity. The plot is outwardly annoying. There are just as many cringe moments as there are funny moments. There’s no downloadable songs on the soundtrack. The “cute” main character is at the bottom of the barrel when standing amongst its peers. This will probably do alright at the box office since there is a void of family entertainment at theaters these days. It’s a worse version of other things and deserves the minimum amount of credit. It’s cute enough to be passable. If the kids are old enough to sit through Avatar, rewatch that. This weekend, Lyle Lyle Crocodile competes with Amsterdam and so expect those movies to not interfere with each other. General audiences are sure to find Lyle Lyle Crocodile to be charming and pure in spirit, but there’s nothing special about this crocodile. Hold out for Disney to show out this November. Lyle Lyle Crocodile hits theaters on October 7. Rating: 2/5
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Review by Camden Ferrell Many people dream of one day striking big and winning the lottery. Most of us believe that we would use the money wisely to live comfortably for the remainder of our lives, but it’s all too common we hear of lottery winners who spend it all in a frenzy and find themselves poorer than when they started. To Leslie is a movie that explores one such story. This movie is helmed by television director Michael Morris who has worked on shows like Better Call Saul. With a script penned by Ryan Binaco, this drama had its premiere at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. Andrea Riseborough is a complex and sympathetic lead, but its bloated run time and meandering can sometimes undermine what feels like an authentic story of regret and forgiveness. Leslie is a single mother in Texas who wins nearly $200,000 in the lottery. What started out as a day of jubilee and financial relief eventually turns into a life of alienation and poverty as she spends the all the money and becomes impoverished. Having burned bridges with everyone in her life, she fights to redeem herself in any way she can. This is an authentic and intimate story about one woman’s struggle that has the potential to be quite profound. And on that front, the movie mostly succeeds. It does a great job of painting a portrait of this character that feels three-dimensional. She is incredibly flawed, but the movie remembers to give her humanity and with that, it allows the audience to become empathetic to someone who is easy to write off. The characterization of Leslie is one of the better parts of the movie, but the script is also full of scenes that could have been reduced or removed all together. Andrea Riseborough leads the movie as Leslie, and she takes on the lead role well. She isn’t groundbreaking, but she is able to make the character feel realistic and believable. Her chemistry with the rest of the cast is hit or miss though. Supporting cast members include actors like Marc Maron, Owen Teague, and Alison Janney among others, and they are just decent for what it’s worth.
At nearly two hours, the movie feels too long. This is a personal and intimate story that could have been thoroughly explored in a more concise manner. Bloating the story only serves in dragging down the other things that this movie does very well. The slower pace is a deliberate choice that works about as much as it doesn’t. The director’s intentions are clear, but it seems like some better execution could have helped elevate this movie more. To Leslie is an emotional journey of one woman who confronts her past and her mistakes. The lead performance is great, and there is a powerful message that can get muddled by some of the direction and execution. However, general audiences will probably find something to relate to and empathize with in this film. To Leslie is in select theaters and on VOD October 7. Rating: 3.5/5 Review by Cole Groth There’s something about bad American horror films that stand out as particularly sterile. Horror-heavy production house Blumhouse has built a strong reputation in the last few years for its abundance of good horror films, with The Invisible Man, The Black Phone, and Get Out standing out as some of the strongest of the genre in the last several years. However, the sheer quantity of their content means that some of their films, like The Visitor, will fail to stand out. This psychological thriller, directed by Justin P. Lange, is frustratingly predictable, largely un-scary, and worst of all, unimaginative. The Visitor tells the story of Robert (Finn Jones) and Maia (Jessica McNamee), a married couple that has just moved back to Maia’s rural home down. Once he discovers an ancient portrait of a man with a shocking resemblance to Robert, his life spirals out of control. Instead of taking its time, this film takes a rather strange turn to immediately establish everything as being out of whack. It’s hard to say whether this is that bad of a thing because this manic pace at least ensures that the film didn’t drag for too long. From the get-go, Robert’s antics are unoriginal. It’s boring to see a sane man lose his marbles as the world around him turns upside down, because it’s been done so many times before. As soon as he arrives in his new house, no time is given to establish his life outside of the film. His character is so thin that it’s hard to imagine that he had a life outside of the movie. In a way, this can be seen as a stylistic choice, meant to demonstrate the twist of the film, but it ends up feeling like he’s just a lazily written character. This lazy writing doesn’t just stop with the character development, it extends through the strange twist, uncomfortable pacing, and lame ending. At best, the performances are decent. Finn Jones doesn’t have the acting range for the emotional complexity of Robert, and while he’s not a bad actor, he’s just not the best choice. Jessica McNamee gives her absolute best, to varying degrees of success. As a boring housewife, McNamee’s performance is bad, but as the film gets progressively more ridiculous, she quickly becomes the most noteworthy part of the film. Most of the other actors chew the scenery and either give uninspired performances or are wildly over-the-top.
From a technical standpoint, The Visitor is a mixed bag. The cinematography is pretty excellent, and just like McNamee’s performance, it gets much better as it goes on. There aren’t many shots that completely stand out, but many of them are at least interesting enough to keep the attention of most viewers. The editing, on the other hand, is simply bad. It ranges from being completely dull and slow, to frustratingly abrasive. Running under 90 minutes, this film manages to feel like it should’ve been 15 minutes long. It only finds itself in the last 20 minutes, with the first 70 minutes feeling like a complete waste of time. Nothing comes together at the end because the first two acts of the film are practically negated. The strongest parallel can be drawn to Hereditary, but that film utilized the first two acts to create a killer third act, whereas this film wastes its beginning and middle and focuses entirely on the ending. The biggest reason why The Visitor fails is that it ultimately means nothing. Almost nothing makes sense in this sterilized cult movie because the character development is so weak. We’re given no reason to care about any of these characters, and what happens to them is more confusing than anything else. Psychological thrillers don't work well if they're confusing for the sake of being confusing, and if Lange was trying to spread some interesting message, it winds up completely lost on the viewer. The Visitor is closing out an 8-film partnership between EPIX and Blumhouse, and this one might be better off lost in the mix. You're much better off checking out some of the much better films that this one is derived from, because this is only notable for its lack of notability. The Visitor hits VOD on October 7. Rating: 1.5/5 Review by Tatiana Miranda The infamous murder case that inspired a nursery rhyme and countless conspiracy theories now takes center stage in the film The Inhabitant, where Lizzie Borden's descendants are tormented by her ghost. Odessa A'zion, who is best known for her role in Netflix's Grand Army, stars in The Inhabitant as Tara, a teenage girl related to the Bordens on her mother's side. While she first appears to be your average seventeen-year-old, with her Stanford-bound boyfriend, soccer team bullies, and a dysfunctional family, it becomes increasingly clear that not everything is as it seems. Murderous visions begin to plague her mind, and the supposed Borden curse comes to light as Tara reflects on recent disappearances and her family ties. Lizzie Borden and the murders of her father and stepmother have been the center of fiction ever since the murders occurred, so it's no surprise that 130 years later, a new telling of the tale would arrive in The Inhabitant. While it's not necessarily the story of Lizzie Borden's infamy, as it subjects its overview to fit within the first few minutes of the film, Borden's hometown and house (plus its subsequent reference as a tourist attraction) play a large role in the plot and setting. References to her signature murder weapon, an axe, and theorized motives are abundant. Still, the film never tries to cause any doubt about the murderer but instead regards Lizzie's involvement as fact. For true crime fans fascinated with the case, the basis of The Inhabitant might seem appealing, but below all of its surface-level knowledge of the Bordens, Lizzie and the case are nothing more than a supernatural plot device used to justify lackluster jump scares and plot twists. Beyond the murderous impulses Tara is dealing with, she also is part of a detective investigation regarding a missing woman she used to babysit for. On top of that, her best friend is secretly in love with her and uses graphic self-harm to cope. At times, The Inhabitant makes the viewer wonder, "What is going on?" before jumping to a scene where Dermot Mulroney randomly appears incredibly sad and pensive. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about The Inhabitant's flaws is that it is filled with the potential to be a new film cataloged in the library of the monstrous feminine archetype. Between Tara's school conflicts, motherly role toward her younger siblings, and parental issues, her fantasies of murder make sense for her character as she navigates her coming of age. Underlying The Inhabitant is the tonal combination of horror and girlhood found in movies such as Carrie, Ginger Snaps, and Jennifer's Body, yet the film never takes that leap and instead chalks it up to the mysterious curse the women in her family are burdened with.
Even with its stellar cast and intriguing plot, The Inhabitant is nothing original for horror movies and especially nothing exciting in terms of stories about Lizzie Borden. With its lost potential and odd commentary on mental health, The Inhabitant is likely a horror movie to skip this Halloween. The Inhabitant is released in theaters on October 7th. Rating: 1/5 Review by Cole Groth If you’re into gore, then you might find a ton of pleasure in Dark Glasses. Directed by Dario Argento, this Giallo slasher doesn’t stray away from showing intense amounts of blood and grotesque injuries, which frequently feel over-the-top and pointless. However, the gore has no real substance to back it up. It’s a rather confusing, yet still short-feeling film that’s a largely unimpressive effort from everybody involved. With weak acting and an even weaker script, Argento’s experience with this type of film doesn’t show at all. Dark Glasses follows Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli), a prostitute who goes blind after being attacked by a vicious serial killer. After getting attacked, she recruits the help of a young boy, Chin (Xinyu Zhang), who got inadvertently intertwined with her attack. As the police struggle to find the killer themselves, she goes on the run to escape, finding herself in increasing amounts of peril. This plot lends itself to plenty of thrilling moments, although most of them get more frustrating over time. Many scenes are gruesome without much warning, which frequently feels unrealistic and jarring. Characters get brutally attacked and spew blood everywhere in a way that’s simultaneously realistic and far-fetched. The actual effects are rather fantastic, but the impacts that lead up to them don’t quite match. At times this film is highly reminiscent of the Saw franchise. It’s gross and feels highly uncomfortable to watch. It’s harder to judge how good a performance is when watching a foreign film, but this film does a good job of highlighting bad performances. Ilenia Pastorelli’s performance is annoying and sappy, which matches most of the other actors. She wanders around blindly for most of the film without any sense of agency which quickly wears thin as it grows repetitive. None of the other actors give performances that feel realistic, but at least the poor acting is disguised in some way. Two of the elements that stood out the most to me in a pleasant way were the cinematography and the soundtrack. With plenty of interesting shots, Matteo Cocco’s cinematography elevates many of the mundane scenes. His close-ups of the brutality found throughout are horrifying to look at but will manage to satisfy horror fans. The score by Arnaud Rebotini is also a lot of fun to listen to. Rebotini uses plenty of synths to create a uniquely entertaining soundtrack. The score undermines the terror and makes it feel a whole more exciting. This adds to the mystery aspect and the entertaining duo of Diana and Chin, which feels like a necessary route to keep the film from being a complete drag.
Speaking of, the pacing for this is not great. Even at a brisk 85 minutes, Dark Glasses meanders so frequently that it feels better suited as a 60-minute long film. Various sub-plots come on and leave with little-to-no impact on the story. These unnecessary plots are supplemented with annoying scenes of Diana and Chin struggling to get anything done. While looking for the central serial killer, they get attacked by snakes in a lake; while trying to fight back at the killer, Diana (who, as a reminder, is blind) decides to shoot her gun, rather than having Chin (the one who can see) shoot. Watching stupid characters struggle to do basic things is even more annoying when it feels like it’s in service of increasing the runtime. These frustrating moments may be added to get into the head of Diana, but frankly, Argento doesn’t seem smart enough to do that. When it all comes together, this film feels like a brutal mess with few redeeming qualities. The ending alone is rather satisfying, but everything that leads up to it is a waste of time. The motivation alone of the serial killer is so brazenly stupid that it solidifies the idea that Argento wasn’t sure what he was doing with this. Fans of Giallo films might find some interesting thrills within this, but it’s a film that feels weaker as a whole than its already weak pieces. Unless you’re a fan of intense gore, you’ll probably want to skip this and reflect on Argento’s better works. Dark Glasses hits theaters October 7 and streams on Shudder beginning October 13. Rating: 1.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
B-movie horror flicks are a dime a dozen this time of year, giving horror fans plenty to sift through in the search of the few great films to come through the cracks. Unfortunately, Dale Fabrigar’s They Crawl Beneath is not going to be one of them, as it is unable to find itself in any satisfying way.
The movie follows a man who gets trapped in his garage after an earthquake, only for things to get worse when venomous worm creatures begin to emerge from the crack in the ground. It doesn’t take much for a claustrophobic survival thriller like this to work, but in attempting to do something different, it manages to fail on even those low expectations. While this premise may sound like a decent creature feature set-up, the final product is only about 20% creature feature with the other 80% being a bland survival thriller. It’s almost as if Tricia Aurand had written a screenplay about someone getting pinned under their car, then it was decided that the stakes weren’t high enough and the way to fix it was by throwing in generic Tremors worms. In most survival thrillers, the character development is pretty sparse because the only thing it needs to be effective is basic human sympathy. However, given that the film starts with a very different tone and story from the remainder, the audience will be immediately thrown off because they don’t know who they are supposed to care about.
Joseph Almani’s performance in the leading role is rough. Movies that are largely one-man shows require a specific type of actor, and Almani does not have the charm or screen presence to pull it off. The only recognizable name in the cast is Michael Paré, whose performance is so short that it’s negligible.
Films like this live or die on establishing a sense of claustrophobia, and They Crawl Beneath comes up short in that regard. It doesn’t help that the first twenty minutes are a bunch of exposition explaining what these monster worms are before we even get into the garage that’s the movie’s main setting, but Fabrigar really struggles to find the balance between expansive and confined. The creature work — when there are creatures to be found — is surprisingly pretty decent. Sure, their design is pretty straightforward and bland, but they look solid considering the low budget that the film obviously has. The shots that are CGI-based rather than practical don’t work very well. They Crawl Beneath has some decent effects worth, but apart from that, there’s not really much to recommend here. There aren’t enough creatures for it to work as a creature feature, and it’s not claustrophobic enough to be an effective survival thriller. All in all, it’s just a frustrating experience. They Crawl Beneath is now available on VOD. Rating: 1.5/5 Review by Adam Donato Americans are so often divided about serious issues in our society. Sports rivalries are far from being one of the serious issues that turn Americans against each other, but it divides us nonetheless. The Olympics is one of the few scenarios where the entire country comes together to support one team. In the sports world, it’s a centripetal force for patriotism. Everyone knows The Dream Team that dominated basketball for the United States, but it hasn’t always been gold since then. This documentary tells the story of the team that brought American basketball back to the top. The Last Dance and 30 for 30 producer, Jon Weinbach, corrals the main stars of that team to tell the story of how they became The Redeem Team. One of the greatest draft classes of all time produced LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Carmelo Anthony among others. After a disappointing run at Olympic gold during their sophomore year, they return to bring back glory for Team USA. These are the headlining stars for The Redeem Team. Their interview footage brings plenty of insight into how everything went down with the team, but more so the camaraderie of the core itself. The Banana Boat is a nickname this trio, plus Chris Paul, is known for. Three of the biggest stars in the game, who have had stints playing with each other during their careers, all together on one team. Seeing all the old footage of these guys in their prime is one of the highlights of the documentary. They all do a great job of keeping the story light and injecting their personality into the retelling. The presentation of this story may have been different if it was made five years ago. Even two years later, the basketball world is still crushed by the loss of Kobe Bryant. His personality, skill, and legacy are synonymous to the culture of basketball today. Before the Olympics, Kobe Bryant was recruited to play for Team USA and his work ethic is strongly attributed to Team USA’s success. The amount of footage of Kobe in the documentary is far and away the best part. His approach to the game of basketball and his leadership is unmatched. A great deal of focus is put upon his inclusion and his impact on the young core of this team. Basketball fans are sure to get emotional seeing one of the greatest of all time recount one of his greatest accolades on his resume.
Basketball fans all across America can come together and enjoy this recounting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With plenty of game footage and interviews from the stars, this is definitely not a documentary to just throw on in the background. This story is a reminder to appreciate greatness while we can and to remember what Americans can accomplish when they realize they’re all on the same team. The Redeem Team streams on Netflix beginning October 7. Rating: 4/5 Review by Camden Ferrell Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is a drama film based on a Stephen King novella from his book If It Bleeds. This movie is written and directed by John Lee Hancock whose previous films consist of The Blind Side and The Little Things among others. The story has some intriguing characters, but its plot moves at a puzzling pace and ends before anything of substance really occurs or pays off. Craig is a boy in a small town who befriends an old man, the mysterious and wealthy Mr. Harrigan. He reads books to him and bonds with him as he grows up and enters high school. They bond over their love of stories and eventually over the newly released iPhone. Once Mr. Harrigan passes, Craig notices some strange occurrences with his phone. This is an interesting premise for a movie and has a lot of potential for drama, horror, and shocking twists. Hancock’s script is interesting at first but quickly loses quality as the plot meanders almost immediately. There are some decent interactions between the two main characters, and I enjoyed how their relationship was explored, but little was happening in the world around them, and it felt counterproductive to anything good that the script was doing otherwise. Aside from the scenes with Mr. Harrigan and Craig, everything else felt unnatural, forced, or rushed in comparison. The acting in this movie was decent. It’s led by Jaeden Martell who is a talented young actor. However, this movie isn’t a great showcase for his acting. He works fine with Donald Sutherland as Mr. Harrigan, but everything else is average to above average. Sutherland is reserved yet surprisingly good despite barely moving in his scenes. The rest of the cast isn’t bad, but they are definitely forgettable above all else.
The strangest part of this movie is that it ends before it feels like things come to a head. This is partially due to the inciting incident happening so late into the movie, and it leads this movie to have odd pacing. Not fast or slow, just abnormal. The movie also doesn’t expand well enough on its supernatural aspects which make this movie feel like a tepid drama more than anything. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone isn’t awful, but it certainly isn’t good. There are a few enjoyable moments, but it doesn’t outweigh all of its lackluster elements. Hancock’s direction is the same as its always been in his career, and that leads this to be a drama movie that doesn’t payoff for the viewer. Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is streaming on Netflix October 5. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Joseph Fayed The new Netflix documentary A Trip to Infinity by directors Jonathan Halperin and Drew Takahashi tackles the concept of infinity, led by experts ranging from renowned physicists to mathematicians to philosophers who offer their perspectives on the concept. The most common thread between their insight is that there is no finite answer to what infinity truly is. Set against the backdrop of different animation styles, the documentary is divided into chapters on how infinity is approached from our real-world perspective. In one memorable early sequence in the film, infinity is presented as this infinite hotel with an endless number of rooms that keep multiplying when more guests check into this hotel. The sequence is shot in the style of Steamboat Willie and is the most engaging animation we have presented in the film that truly breaks down the complex information being told by a voice-over. One recurring element of the film is the idea that we, as humans, are such small fragments of this big wide universe. One, like myself, may not fully understand the concept of infinity outside of what has been taught in a school classroom, but the aforementioned example about how small we are in this big universe is admittedly underused when discussing how vast something like a black hole can be. The segment discussing black holes in the universe does differ from the rest of the documentary when each interview subject is given a small black sphere to hold. At this point, the interviews seem to turn from how mathematics is applied to understanding infinity to how we present it to ourselves. One of the mathematicians, Steve Strogatz, uses this sphere to explain how this object is only a reflection of infinity and not an accurate representation. I could not help but laugh at that moment when I noticed how much more self-aware he is than the directors are before quickly remembering what his profession was.
It is pointed out towards the end of the film that humans are bound by rationality and creativity and that we can not be infinite. We are bounded by ourselves, essentially. There are no definite answers to be given about this. Yet, it does feel defeating to have spent ninety minutes learning about the concept of infinity only to be told that it is nearly impossible to visualize it. Ultimately, A Trip to Infinity has interesting moments, but when broken down, its segments could have easily been featured on the Netflix series Explained instead of as a feature-length documentary. A Trip to Infinity is now streaming on Netflix. Rating: 2.5/5 |
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