Review by Sean Boelman
Immediately heralded as a prime contender for top awards upon its festival debut earlier this fall, it’s understandable why Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast has been winning over audiences. It’s a crowd-pleasing, heartstring-pulling drama that is an excellent showcase for its cast of five excellent actors.
The film follows a young boy growing up in Belfast, Ireland in the late 1960s as his simple life is thrown awry by the onset of the Troubles. But even though the premise may imply otherwise, this is actually a really humble and quaint coming-of-age story, partially inspired by Branagh’s own experience in his youth. For the first twenty minutes or so, the movie gets off to a bit of a shaky start, as it seems like it is trying to be something more than it is. But once the film sets into its rhythm and sets its sights on something less ambitious, it becomes extremely charming. And at ninety-eight minutes, it’s much shorter than most prestige dramas. Branagh definitely isn’t very subtle with his script, using some pretty obvious imagery and dialogue to get his message across about empathy and acceptance. And the message is going to be palatable for white audiences, because it isn’t about an instance of discrimination that is particularly prominent today.
Perhaps most surprising about the movie is how well Branagh gets the audience invested in the story of this family. The set-up is a tad on the generic side — a father who is constantly away working forces the mother to basically raise the kids on her own — but it’s definitely compelling and relatable.
The biggest stars in the film are Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, and Ciarán Hinds, all of whom are extremely impressive in their roles (especially Dornan, who proves he has outgrown Fifty Shades eye candy characters). But the people who really impress are Caitriona Balfe and Jude Hill. Balfe is extraordinary as the mother, giving a turn that just oozes authenticity. And Hill is surprisingly charming, especially given that this is his first acting appearance. There are also some very strong technical elements in play here. The (mostly) black-and-white cinematography by Haris Zambarloukos is absolutely gorgeous, as is the score by Van Morrison. At a few points, it begins to feel as if the style is beginning to be a bit much, but it soon gets reined back in. Belfast is a much more low-key movie than one would expect given that it is a passion project for Branagh, and it’s all the better for it. Although there are much more groundbreaking films to have come out this year, it’s certainly charming enough to get attention. Belfast opens in theaters on November 12. Rating: 3.5/5
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Review by Sean Boelman
It was clear that the obvious consequence of the Disney/Fox merger would be that Disney would end up rebooting some of the most popular Fox legacy properties, and Home Sweet Home Alone is one of the most shameless cash grabs yet. However, despite the fact that this is very much an attempt to milk nostalgia, it works surprisingly well for what it is.
Much like the original film, this follows a young kid who is accidentally left alone when his family travels overseas for the holidays, as he fights back against a duo of “bandits” breaking into his home. Except this time, the villains aren’t truly bandits, but rather, a married couple looking to steal back what was already taken from them. However, even though this may seem like a simple change of having the antagonists be more likable characters, it has an unexpected effect on the audience. Instead of rooting for the Kevin McCallister stand-in to win, we’re pretty much just along for the ride to watch some goofy hijinks, which is arguably less mean-spirited and dangerous. The first half of the movie, which follows the married couple trying to find a way to sneak into the protagonist’s house, is entertaining enough, even if it is filled with mostly cheap gags. It is the second half that audiences will be tuning in for, as it features the elaborate traps which are what made this series so entertaining in the first place.
The creativity of these traps isn’t quite up to par as one would hope, but it’s still interesting to see the blend of new and old. Some of them are things that feel like stuff kids today would think of, and others are more reminiscent of the classic Home Alone traps. And they make for some fun physical comedy sequences.
There is definitely something to be said in the film about understanding one another, as the whole conflict results from a case of people assuming the worst of the opposite party. But ultimately, any positive message that the movie could theoretically have is overshadowed by the aggressive level of slapstick violence. Although young actor Archie Yates showed that he was extremely talented in his debut role as the sidekick in Jojo Rabbit, his performance doesn’t do much here. But the adult stars, Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney, are no Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, although they have strong enough comedic chemistry to carry the film. Home Sweet Home Alone isn’t going to become a holiday classic for the ages like the movie of which it is a reboot, but it’s jolly enough family fun. It’s a relatively painless ninety-ish minute watch. Home Sweet Home Alone hits Disney+ on November 12. Rating: 3.5/5 [DOC NYC 2021] LISTENING TO KENNY G -- A Music Documentary That Asks Surprisingly Hard Questions11/10/2021
Review by Sean Boelman
Penny Lane is known for making documentaries that toy with the audience’s expectations, so cinephiles were surprised to hear she would be making a film about record-breaking jazz artist Kenny G. However, Listening to Kenny G is no average music documentary, as Lane explores her subject with much more depth and complexity than anyone would ever expect.
The movie follows the meteoric rise of saxophonist Kenny G, who would become the most popular instrumentalist of all time. That said, this isn’t some puffy biography that talks about how he was able to make his records into such successes despite the odds. It’s the portrait of a man whose controversial approach to an already controversial art form caused him to become the recipient of both love and hatred. Quite a few films have discussed the potential appropriation of art forms from other cultures by white artists, but few have been as overtly confrontational as this. Lane and her interviewees pull no punches, basically asking Kenny G to his own face whether what he is doing is ethical, taking a historically Black artform and morphing it into something very different. And perhaps more refreshing is that Lane refuses to offer an easy answer to the audience. With a relatively short runtime, the movie will easily keep the viewer’s attention thanks to Lane’s kinetic direction and sense of humor. In the hands of another filmmaker, this could have been a paint-by-numbers recollection of Kenny G’s career, but the way in which it lets the audience laugh with Kenny G at his situation makes it a lot more entertaining to watch.
For a movie about a love-him-or-hate-him guy, this film sure makes it hard to dislike Kenny G. Part of the reason that this works so well is that Kenny G is such a humble guy (at least to the camera) that he doesn’t let the attacks get to him. The movie doesn’t rebut those who hate him, but the fact that he accepts these criticisms makes him feel even more likable.
That said, the film of course isn’t going to be for those who find Kenny G’s music to be obnoxious. Those who consider themselves fans, or at least casual appreciators, of his smooth sound will definitely be jamming out to this soundtrack of his greatest hits, but it certainly won’t win over any new converts. And to keep the beat rolling, Lane uses a variety of storytelling techniques. There’s a bit of everything, from animation to talking heads to observational footage of Kenny G in his daily life. It may not be the most innovative in what it uses to tell the story, but how Lane utilizes these basic building blocks to create something that feels unique is impressive. Listening to Kenny G may look like an average music documentary on its surface, but there is a lot more going on here than one would expect. The filmmaker doesn’t shy away from asking the hard questions, including some you might not have even thought about otherwise. Listening to Kenny G is screening at the 2021 DOC NYC Festival, which runs November 10-28. Rating: 4/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Mosotho filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s third feature This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection was released to great acclaim recently (and was his country’s unnominated submission for Best International Feature at last year’s Academy Awards), so it only makes sense that there is interest in his previous work. Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. may be highly experimental in nature, but it is also very powerful in what it has to say.
The movie is set in a community in Lesotho, as a young woman roams through the streets carrying a cross on her back. It’s a very symbolic film, with less of an emphasis on the images themselves and more on what they mean. It doesn’t take much to figure out where Mosese is going with his work, but it’s still going to test the patience of a lot of viewers. Still, that isn’t to say that the images that Mosese presents aren’t powerful. Pretty much anytime that religious imagery is involved, it is going to elicit a strong reaction from the audience, and in this case, it is meant to incite. And provoke it does, challenging the viewer to create an association between what they know and what they see. The cinematography in the film is shot in crisp black-and-white, and it’s absolutely a sight to behold. It’s a gorgeous style that gives the movie a surreal, somewhat nostalgic feel to it. And of course, the framing is excellent, as the positioning of the shots is what creates a lot of the symbolic meaning.
It’s really interesting to see the ways in which Mosese challenges the conventions of nonfiction filmmaking. Although the film clearly resembles a documentary in the way it depicts the reality of the society in which it is set, it also imposes this symbolic figure into the narrative. As such, the movie becomes much more about an emotional truth than an objective one.
There is also the question of the narration in the film, and quite frankly, whether it is even necessary. There is a poetic, almost lyrical quality to the words that accompany the images, but one could argue that the footage speaks loud enough on its own. At a certain point, it begins to feel like the filmmaker holding the viewer’s hand through the process. At its core, the movie is a glimpse into a culture very different from the one we are familiar with, and as is the case with every film like that, it is important to approach this with an open mind. The questions that Mosese poses about the intersection of religion and aspects of daily life are perhaps the most interesting part of the movie. Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but for those who get on its very unique wavelength, it will be a compelling watch. In terms of experimental nonfiction, it’s one of the most successful outings in recent years. Mother, I Am Suffocating. This Is My Last Film About You. hits theaters and virtual cinemas on November 12. Rating: 4/5
Review by Sean Boelman
The war film is a unique genre in that even the most obscure stories of valor can make for a compelling watch thanks to an inherent feeling of patriotism. However, canny viewers will quickly see through the visage of The War Below, an adequately crafted but entirely standard drama.
The movie follows a group of civilian miners who are recruited by the British army to tunnel under the German front and place bombs in the hopes of turning around a stalemate. While one would normally think that the front lines are where the excitement is, there have been so many films shot from that angle that the repetitiveness becomes exhausting. It is somewhat refreshing to see a movie come from a different perspective like this. As is the case with most films about war, there is some discussion of the ethics of warfare and whether or not the characters are doing the right thing. However, the focus here is more on their potential sacrifice of leaving their homefront positions for something on (or perhaps more accurately, beneath) the battlefield. The audience will definitely sympathize with the main characters thanks to their heroic actions, but they aren’t given much in the way of distinctive personalities. Instead, the development of the group is mainly of them as a holistic unit rather than one made up of individual parts. This does cause some of the emotional beats to fall flat.
Much of the cast of the movie is made up of character actors who are more famous in Britain than they are in the States, or relative unknowns. That said, the script doesn’t give any of them much to do since it is all so straightforward, but the few big and flashy moments they do get are relatively unmemorable.
Something that makes this film stand out from a lot of other movies in the genre is a short runtime. Writers J.P. Watts and Thomas Woods recognized that this story, while unique, isn’t enough to sustain the usual two-hour (or more) length of most war films. They find what is powerful in the story, communicate it, and wrap things up. Furthermore, the movie is also surprisingly well-made considering the fact that there were no A-list stars in it and presumably no epic budget with which to work. Of course, the film doesn’t have the flashy hooks that some of the more high-profile titles of late have had, but it’s well-crafted all-around. The War Below isn’t anything spectacular, but for a modest war movie with no real audience draws, it’s a lot better than one would expect. Slap a few A-listers in the leading roles, and this would have gotten a lot more attention. The War Below hits VOD on November 11. Rating: 3/5 Reviewed by Adam Donato Lair is written and directed by Adam Ethan Crow, who previously made The Conversation. Crow reteams with leading man Corey Johnson once again in this horror/thriller. Johnson plays a man whose goal is to prove the existence of demons. His plan is to rent out an apartment full of possessed items to an unsuspecting family and spy on them to see if anything happens. The film also stars Oded Fehr from The Mummy (1999), along with Alexandra Gilbreath, Alana Wallace, and Aislinn De’Ath. Does this indie horror have enough personality to stand out? The movie starts out like a typical horror movie and for the most part, the movie generally is. Tonally, the movie is giving off vibes of a James Wan supernatural horror film. The big difference between this and anything Wan has done, is this has a much darker sense of humor. Wan’s jokes are lighter a fun, while Lair’s humor comes off more mean-spirited. This is mostly accredited to Johnson’s character, Steven Caramore. Mercilessly torturing an innocent family is bad enough, but he doesn’t even put in the effort to be fake nice about it. Almost rapid fire with his jokes at times, especially when paired with Gilbreath’s character. She plays a lawyer named Wendy Coulson who has an extremely contentious relationship with Caramore, her client’s friend. Some of these jokes fall flat but hitting one of every three jokes works when you tell fifty of them. The family put in harm’s way is standard, besides the parents being a lesbian couple. There’s a scene where Caramore is watching them be intimate, which makes the movie feel like it’s going in a different direction. Besides the opening of the movie showing a pretty horrific kill, the rest of the movie gives an indication that this is all a hoax. Caramore has made faking ghost stories a regular trait. Felt like the movie was going to become about him getting caught for spying on the family. Then when the ghost is revealed, he’s proven to be true. Not innocent, but true.
For the low budget that this movie has, the look of the monster is fairly scary. It looks like the shadow of a Demogorgon from Stranger Things. The rest of the movie looks visually sub-par, but it’s a low-budget, straight-to-VOD horror movie so it doesn’t have to look great. That being said, expect this movie to stand out among the rest as the poster is this beautiful drawing. The kills also look amazing. There’s such an excessive amount of blood and gore in this movie. It’s truly stomach-twisting to see some of the character’s guts spill out of their body. Definitely enjoyable the bravest of horror fans. Lair looks too low-budget to compete with even the cheapest of theatrical horror garbage features that come out during the slowest times of the year. But as far as straight-to-VOD horror features go, this one is sure to stand above the rest. Standard horror set-up, but with a twist. Non-traditional characters with some personality. Cheesy as the movie is, it’s a good time. Lair hits VOD on November 9. Rating: 3/5
Review by Sean Boelman
One of the main charms of narrative podcasts is that the medium leaves the potential for storytelling wide open; however, when adapting these ideas into a more standard format, these restrictions are reintroduced. The Shrink Next Door definitely has a fascinating stranger-than-fiction true story at its core, but uneven execution keeps it from being especially memorable.
The show tells the story of a wealthy and troubled man who becomes the patient of a silver-tongued psychiatrist with unorthodox methods, forming a bizarre doctor-patient relationship. Based on an enormously popular true-crime podcast, there’s definitely an interesting project somewhere in here, but the series can’t decide whether it wants to be a serious drama or a dark comedy. The first three episodes (which, perhaps ironically, are being released at once) present a very different show from the remaining five. It is only in episode four when viewers will begin to get the sense that something is awry and this isn’t just an average quirky comedy, but whether or not viewers will stick with the series is more of a question. There are some interesting ideas in the series about trust and loyalty, but it is so overstuffed, even with eight episodes, that the series feels rushed. The story spans a timeline of about three decades, and the episodes just jump around time freely. And as a result, it is difficult for one to find their footing within this world.
The dynamic between the two lead characters in the show is definitely interesting, as this is what the entire arc of the show hinges on. That said, the show’s fundamental misconception is that it seems to think the audience will like both of them, even though the cunning and manipulative nature of the psychiatrist becomes obnoxious pretty quickly. And all of the supporting characters feel underutilized.
Still, the thing that is likely to draw most viewers to this show is the cast, headlined by Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, both of whom are great in their roles. Rudd, in particular, is exceptional, giving a career-best performance as a homme fatale of sorts. And Ferrell is more vulnerable here than we have seen him in quite a while. There are a lot of shortcomings with the series’s execution. The production design easily could have helped with the periodization, but with the exception of some prop changes (such characters holding iPhones all of a sudden), the style is consistent despite the show spanning such a wide period. The result is that the show feels monotonously quirky. No one can accuse The Shrink Next Door of being uninteresting, but the messy nature of the writing makes it hard to get fully invested into it. There’s enough great stuff going on here to recommend it, but in a busy month for streaming content, it’s not the most urgent watch. The Shrink Next Door streams on Apple TV+ beginning November 12, with new episodes releasing subsequent Fridays. All eight episodes reviewed. Rating: 3/5
Review by Dan Skip Allen
Movies such as The Smurfs, Garfield, Marmaduke, and many others have tried to capitalize on the craze of mixing childhood animated classics with live-action human beings and failed to capture the nostalgia of the animated show. Clifford the Big Red Dog is another film on a long list of failures in this genre.
The film version of Clifford the Big Red Dog is a far cry from the PBS animated show of the same name. John Ridder would be rolling over in his grave if he had to see this live-action animated hybrid. It has none of the charms of the animated show. It is so contrived that its contrivances have contrivances. This film doesn't make any sense at all. A girl (Darby Camp) lives in Harlem with her mother who has to go to Chicago on business. She enlists the help of her uncle (Jack Whitehall) to babysit her. They go for a walk in the park and run across a menagerie owned by an old man (John Close). He shows them a little red dog he found earlier that day. The girl falls instantly in love with the dog, but she's not able to keep him. By a confluence of events, the dog ends up in her backpack at home. She names him Clifford. She makes a wish that she can keep the dog and when she wakes up in the morning the dog isn't little anymore, he's... well, big. This film has a bunch of characters in it from a rich businessman (Tony Hale) and his assistant (Jessica Keenan Wynn) to classmates and friends of the girl (Isaac Wang) to helpful neighbors (David Alan Greer, Horatio Sanz, Paul Rodriguez) to a veterinarian (Keenan Thompson). They all play a part in this preposterous film. I guess the director, Walt Becker, thought filling out the cast with a bunch of SNL alumni and comedians would make people laugh and not think about how ridiculous this premise really is.
This story gets more ridiculous as it goes. As if a girl running over New York with a big red dog isn't ridiculous enough, the CGI used on the dog is a little wonky. There are size disparities as well. How the dog looks in various scenes is not good at times. The scale of Clifford, said to be ten feet tall, is a little bit in question. How the filmmakers use the dog's size is a little bit unbelievable. One moment he's too big to sit down, the other he's running around playing with a ball in the park that looks the same size as him but is supposed to be smaller with a man inside of it.
This film isn't for adults! It's for kids! It's just too childish and inconsistent from a story point of view for adults to honestly be into this film. The screening I was in had children laughing out loud at various scenes of Clifford doing damage to the girl's house or running amok in New York City. Honestly, this is just childish entertainment. Throw in some cheap sponsorships like Banfield Animal Hospital, a real California-based animal clinic, and you have everything you need for a big-budget (pun intended) movie about this loveable red dog. It just wasn't for me. I guess I'm too cynical to enjoy a film about a big red dog. In the end, this film doesn't know what it wants to be. A fine family film or a film with a message about the treatment of animals. The cast is huge and most of them are wasted on crazy banter or one-liners just to get a cheap laugh. The good thing is if you have Paramount+ you can watch it at home. Don't waste your money on this. Watch it at home if you must. At least your kids will probably like it. Clifford the Big Red Dog hits theaters and Paramount+ on November 10. Rating: 2/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Some of the most powerful documentaries take important but seldom-discussed historical events and use them as an indicator of the state of the system as a whole. Traci Curry and Stanley Nelson’s Attica is a great film, telling its story in a way that will be absolutely eye-opening for audiences.
The movie tells the story of the Attica prison uprising, along with the factors that led to it and the aftermath it had. Brutality in the justice system has been one of the hottest topics around for the past few years because of what has been happening in the country and the world, but Curry and Nelson make it clear that this issue has sadly always been there. Ultimately, the film can be divided into two halves — the first an academic exploration of the situation and the second an account of the uprising. For the first hour, the movie is good but a tad on the dry side, but the second half becomes absolutely harrowing in its depiction of these tragic events. Audiences will feel a variety of feelings watching this film, from sadness for the people who experienced this to disgust at the people who perpetrated it. This is a big part of what makes the movie so effective, as the strong emotional impact the film has makes the message hit so much harder.
This is a story about prison brutality and the injustice of the justice system, but it is also representative of many of the greater racial issues that plague our society. Those who are privileged find ways to keep those who are less fortunate than them out of power, and systemic racism is one of the main ways that happens.
The movie features interviews with many of the parties involved, including former inmates and other witnesses to the rebellion. Usually, documentaries are better off having fewer subjects with the audience having a closer familiarity with them, but this works by getting the audience invested in the overall movement. From a technical level, the film is also extremely impressive. Curry and Nelson blend archive footage with talking head interviews in a way that moves along the story quite nicely. The first half is admittedly a bit conventional, but the second is rather exceptional when it picks up a more unique rhythm. Attica is an extraordinary documentary, and even though it gets off to a bit of a slow start, the second half is so affecting that it has a lasting impact. It’s definitely one of the most important documentaries of the year. Attica debuts on Showtime on November 6. Rating: 4/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Sometimes a country does not submit their best film as their representative for the Academy Award for Best International Film, but rather, one that is merely good and has gotten a lot of attention on the festival circuit. That seems to be the case with Hive, a movie which garnered much acclaim at Sundance for its good intentions even though it doesn’t live up to its potential.
The film tells the story of a woman whose husband went missing in the war as she teams up with a group of other women to start a small business, much to the dismay of her patriarchal community. Blerta Basholli’s script is based on an extraordinary true story, but the way in which it is written is disappointingly standard and conventional. If Basholli’s movie should be praised for one thing, it should be that it very openly discusses these issues in a way that is much more nuanced than a lot are. Obviously, restrictively patriarchal society conventions such as these are a bad thing, but Basholli also acknowledges how difficult it is to change such a fundamental misconception. The pacing of the film is also rather ineffective. Ultimately, this is a story that likely would have made for a better short than a feature because even with a runtime under ninety minutes, it wears out its welcome rather quickly. Many of the conversations in the movie are very well-written, but it is not consistent enough to hold interest.
There is no doubt that the person who inspired the character of the protagonist is an exceptional figure in real-life, but this doesn’t translate into a compelling narrative arc. It should be empowering to watch this woman fight back against the patriarchy, but it feels too similar to so many other characters that it isn’t all that effective.
Yllka Gashi’s performance in the leading role is also very standard, which is disappointing given the fact that this film hinges on the central character having a powerful impact on the audience. A majority of the issues with her performance seem to boil down more to a lack of opportunity in the script than anything else. The movie also isn’t as impressive as one would expect for something gaining so much acclaim from festivals. There is some nice cinematography, and the blocking is strong as a whole, but the direction isn’t as strong as it should have taken to win the Directing Award at Sundance. It’s consistently competent, but largely lacks creativity and uniqueness. Hive is a decent film, but it doesn’t live up to the hype that it has built from all of this recognition. Ultimately, it seems like most people are praising the idea of the movie more so than what the film actually is. Hive is now playing in theaters. Rating: 3/5 |
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