Review by Camden Ferrell
Greenland is the newest film from director Ric Roman Waugh, and it was one of the major studio releases to be delayed due to the global pandemic. Luckily, in these trying times, this is a movie that provides plenty of mindless apocalyptic fun even if it isn’t very original.
In this movie, citizens around the world are gathered to watch Clark, a celestial comet, enter Earth’s atmosphere and touchdown in the ocean. However, this does not happen and the comet fragments and creates devastating crashes worldwide. In the face of impending apocalypse, John desperately tries to get him and his family to safety. This is a fun premise that is perfect for casual action and thrills. It’s not very layered or subtle, but it is sufficient for the genre. The script, written by Chris Sparling, is very forgettable but ultimately adequate for the type of movie they are trying to make. It relies heavily on explosions and chaos, and it doesn’t do much else to develop its characters or situations. Granted, when it does try to explore character’s backstories, it interrupts its momentum, and it doesn’t always work to the benefit of the film. The acting in this movie is also very adequate. Gerald Butler leads in a performance that is not so different from his other films. He gives the same stoic performance that one would expect from an action film protagonist, and there isn’t anything special about it. Morena Baccarin co-stars as Allison, John’s wife. Her performance is easily the best, and there are some really great moments of fear and desperation, but her character can often be reduced to a very standard maternal archetype.
One of the reasons why the movie works is due to its stakes. Its highly unrealistic apocalyptic stakes allow the viewer to shut off their mind and just enjoy the widespread chaos. This approach works really well in providing an escape from the actual horrors our world faces today. Thankfully, the film understands that for its sake, bigger is better, and this is a grandiose story.
The action itself is decently enjoyable. It is full of devastating debris from the comets, shockwaves, explosions, and everything else you can think of. It spreads these moments out fairly well through its two-hour runtime, and it doesn’t try and cram too much into one particular part of the film. While the film is enjoyable, it is hard to overlook just how passable the film is. It doesn’t break new ground, and it doesn’t quite live up to past disaster movies, but it is still just about what you would expect from a film such as this. It’s fairly derivative, but it ends up being a mindless two-hours that are pretty entertaining. Greenland is perfect for fans of action and mindless chaos. It’s a fun movie that doesn’t require any effort from the viewer, and it should satiate your big blockbuster needs until theaters are once again reopened. Greenland is available on VOD December 18. Rating: 3/5
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Review by Sean Boelman
To an outsider, Paul Taylor’s documentary The Art of Political Murder would likely seem like a bleak look at Latin American history, when in reality, it’s something more nuanced and complex. Although there are some pacing issues, this in-depth examination of one of the most shocking moments in Guatemala’s past is a fascinating watch.
The film takes a look at the murder of Bishop Juan Gerardi, who took a stand against the Guatemalan government for the atrocities they committed during the country’s Civil War. It’s hard-to-watch in many ways, but the message that this story has to offer about freedom of speech is just as important today as it was then. This is definitely a very big story, but ultimately, only a small portion of the viewership is going to care about the nuances and intricacies of the situation. The ninety-minute runtime forces it to streamline itself in a way as to make the information more accessible to general audiences. Even though there is enough material here for a longer-form project, that doesn’t mean it was necessary. At the core of this story is corruption, and Taylor takes a very hardline stance on the situation. It can understandably be hard to get to the bottom of an issue such as this, when there was a certain point at which people were scared to speak out due to a legitimate and warranted fear of being silenced by violent means.
From historians who provide commentary on the situation to the investigators who were tasked with uncovering the truth, Taylor assembled a solid group of interviewees to tell Gerardi’s story. Even if one knows about the incident, the different angles which the movie explores offer some new insight into the case.
Taylor cuts the film in a way that is very deliberate. He blends the interviews and archive materials in a way that is paced quite well. Once the movie hooks you early on, it holds your attention as the layers of the mystery are unwrapped one by one. It’s a rather traditional set-up, but an effective one nevertheless. There are definitely some times in which the film feels like it is going to fall back on the tendencies of the true crime genre. This is particularly the case when the movie starts to discuss the crime scene and the evidence that was found. However, Taylor clearly understands what Gerardi stood for in the greater scheme of things, and he emphasizes that. The Art of Political Murder takes what initially may seem like a niche topic and tells it in a way that is interesting and relevant on a bigger scale. For those who enjoy political or crime documentaries, this is definitely a worthwhile watch. The Art of Political Murder airs on HBO on December 16 at 9pm ET/PT. Rating: 3.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
For the most part, retro nostalgia is a pretty fun and harmless trend, but some of the concepts that have been done again and again have worn themselves thin. And while Max Cloud desperately wants to be quirky fun, its campiness instead comes off as an annoying attempt at pandering.
The film follows a teen gamer who accidentally gets sucked into her favorite video game and must embark on an intergalactic adventure to finish the game and escape. It’s a lot like the recent Jumanji reboot and its sequel, albeit with sci-fi switched in for adventure, and it doesn’t feel particularly original as a result. One of the big issues with the movie is that it struggles to find the right mix of action and comedy. The script really separates the two genres, with an action sequence followed by the characters cracking a few jokes and then another fight. Even the attempts at fish-out-of-water physical comedy are underwhelming. Another thing that is missing from this film is deep world-building. The video game is clearly influenced by classic sci-fi properties like Star Trek, and what works about those franchises so well is how immersive they are. Here, it feels like a nondescript spacefaring world riddled with stock characters.
It’s obvious from the beginning that the budget for this movie is pretty low, and it’s seemingly meant to be endearing. And while the cartoonish production design is funny at first, it loses its value rather quickly when there isn’t much of an investment otherwise into establishing the world in which the film is set.
Even more frustrating is the fact that the character development of the real-world characters is so thin. The movie attempts to establish a dynamic between the protagonist stuck in the video game and her buddy controlling her from outside, but fails to make anything out of it. A subplot involving the protagonist’s father is also a nonstarter. The cast is filled with familiar faces, and they are really the only thing that makes this glorified B-movie worth watching. Scott Adkins plays the eponymous hero, and as a parody of sci-fi badasses, he’s pretty fun to watch. The antagonists are played by Lashanna Lynch (who is about to break out big) and John Hannah (who it’s nice to see again) and are also fun in a goofy way. Max Cloud sounds like it should be a lot of fun, and although there are some good moments, it is largely an imitation of better, more enjoyable flicks. The concept is good, but the story isn’t, leading this to feel frustratingly derivative. Max Cloud hits VOD on December 18. Rating: 2.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Fans are having to wait longer than anticipated for the next season of Creepshow, but Shudder has brought plenty of treats including October’s animated special and this month’s A Creepshow Holiday Special. Campy in all the right ways, this holiday horror comedy will certainly make its way into yearly rotations.
Based on a short story by J.A. Konrath, the hour-long special entitled “Shapeshifters Anonymous” tells the story of a man who, fearing that he is a murderer, attends a support group for people who share his unusual condition. It’s an interesting idea made even wackier by the holiday tie-in that almost feels forced but is still very fun regardless. Those hoping that this will be a jolly Christmas special with singing and dancing clearly aren’t familiar with Creepshow. But those fans who are expecting killer Santas and tongue-in-cheek humor will find themselves giddy from Konrath’s admittedly ridiculous blend of goofiness and dark comedy. The first half of the episode is largely exposition, explaining the rules and backstory of the world, only for things to go off the rails in the last twenty minutes. The action-oriented portions of the special do feel a bit rushed, so it would have been nice if they had a bit more time to breathe, but viewers will never be bored.
Something of note when it comes to this special is that it doesn’t have a particular moral to impart on its audiences. It’s just forty-five minutes of mindless fun, and that’s fine, but it is a bit unexpected. This also causes the thin character development to be even more evident, as the archetypal characters can’t be explained away by the lesson being taught.
The two main stars of the episode are Adam Pally and Anna Camp, and both of them are a ton of fun to watch. However, it is the supporting cast that mostly steals the show. The other members of the eponymous group of therianthropes each get their moment in the spotlight and even hold their own against the more experienced leads. On a technical level, the crew really went all-out on this special. One doesn’t normally expect anything extravagant for specials like this — just enough to keep the fans happy until the full season — but Greg Nicotero doesn’t hold back. Even though the episode is set mostly in a single location, it feels surprisingly expansive in scale. A Creepshow Holiday Special is a ton of fun and will keep viewers satisfied until season two can come out next year. It may be a bit less substantial than most Creepshow stories, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is tons of campy fun. A Creepshow Holiday Special streams on Shudder beginning December 18. Rating: 3.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
There has been a recent trend in the genre drifting towards more culturally-specific horror stories. And while Reine Stewart’s directorial debut The Hex offers some interesting ideas and disturbing imagery, more often than not, it fails to make much of an impact due to its disjointed story.
The film follows a grieving young woman who discovers that her mother’s murder may be tied to a curse from a South African witch doctor, sending her on a journey to investigate and discover the secrets it holds. And even though this is an interesting set-up, it’s hard to get invested in the mystery, and so it doesn’t work particularly well in execution. Many of the pacing issues can be attributed to the fact that the movie can’t seem to decide exactly what it wants the audience to take it to be. At times, the jump scares take over and it becomes generic B-movie schlock, but at other points, it is clear that the film aspires to be a weightier drama with tinges of horror. The original title of the movie was “Heks”, which translates from Afrikaans into “Witch”. Although that name is just a little bit less generic-sounding than The Hex, it also more accurately points to the script’s focus. Stewart’s film is at its best when it is an exploration of the witch doctors that are a part of the African culture in which it is set.
One of the main shortcomings of the movie is that the character development is so thin. Even though this is supposedly a story about grief, there’s very little emotional investment in the story. Instead, Stewart seems more concerned with providing a few good scares and the occasional bit of thoughtfulness.
Coco Lloyd plays the lead, and being that screaming loudly is basically the only thing she is given to do, she does a decent job. The supporting cast is mostly forgettable simply due to the fact that their roles are written so shallowly and as such, their performances start to blend together along with their characters. Visually, there are some very strong moments, but also parts that feel almost stagnant in the way they build suspense. A few scenes feature some absolutely horrifying imagery, and others are so dimly lit that it becomes difficult to see the action. It is sadly a film of stark contrasts: something that looks great followed by something that doesn’t, and a scene that is scary followed by a long stretch of dullness. There is some really interesting stuff happening in The Hex, but audiences will be left wishing that Reine Stewart had gone into more depth in these areas. Instead, we get a mostly conventional and underwhelming B-horror. The Hex hits VOD on December 15. Rating: 2.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Although the pandemic has resulted in many of the most exciting movies 2020 has to offer being delayed or skipping theaters altogether, Emerald Fennell’s darkly comedic thriller Promising Young Woman will stand out as one of the year’s most memorable theatrical releases. Insane and unpredictable in every sense of the world, this is the type of film that has to be seen to be believed.
The movie follows a young woman who, years after having her future ruined following a traumatic event, sets out to get revenge against those who wronged her. Part of what makes the film so interesting is that Fennell takes the common tropes of the genre and spins them in a way to make them feel refreshing and original. Much of the movie’s charm comes from the fact that the film is repeatedly shocking and surprising. Viewers will be on the edge of their seats, not in anticipation of what is coming next, but in disbelief of what they just saw. With this, Fennell eschews traditional suspense in favor of something more complex, getting viewers invested in the movie more deeply. Subtlety isn’t one of the film’s biggest strengths, but Fennell’s direct commentary is exactly what is needed right now. Sure, the movie may be a bit on-the-nose, but part of society still struggles to understand these concepts that should be extremely basic. And some of the questions that the script poses about complicity and being a bystander are interesting.
Fennell does a wonderful job of making her characters three-dimensional. The protagonist is obviously a very complex character, testing the viewer’s preconceptions about right and wrong. The villainous characters that are introduced throughout are written well too, feeling unsettlingly and realistically sleazy.
Also uniformly strong are the film’s performances. Carey Mulligan gives a layered performance as the protagonist, nailing both the genre elements of the script and the more weighty and dramatic moments. The supporting cast is also filled with great players, like Bo Burnham, Allison Brie, Alfred Molina, Laverne Cox, and Connie Britton, who all have some memorable scenes. For a feature debut, Fennell’s style is surprisingly accomplished, not falling victim to the first-time director clichés. Key elements include the soundtrack and art direction, both of which create a playful atmosphere for the movie and juxtapose brilliantly with the dark and edgy subject matter of the story. Promising Young Woman is a very impressive thriller that will keep even the most seasoned of viewers on their toes. The great performances and stylish visuals will hook you, but it is the intelligent script that will stick with you long after the credits roll. Promising Young Woman opens in theaters on December 25. Rating: 4.5/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen As a sports fan, I can say that being a part of a community or a team and a town is pretty special. The camaraderie you feel at being part of something bigger and greater than yourself is an incredible feeling. Having coached football and been part of some very good teams feels great. That being said, the college experience is even bigger and better than the high school experience. Having been to Clemson in South Carolina four times, I can say it's one of the best college environments in the entire country. It truly is a family atmosphere and community. As in Safety, they come together to help anyone in need, especially one of their own. Safety depicts the events surrounding Ray McElrathbey (Ray Reeves) and his little brother, Fahmarr (Thaddeus J. Mixson). After health issues with their mother, Ray is forced to take Fahmarr into his college dorm. With the help of his teammates, his girlfriend Kaycee Stone (Corrine Foxx), and his coach Brad Simmons (James Badge Dale), Ray has to deal with taking care of a sibling. Feeding him and taking him to school is just a couple of things that become a struggle for him. As far as sports films go, they have to inspire and pull at the heartstrings of the said person watching them. Safety does that. If you don't have a tear in your eye at the end of this film, you're just not human. This film has those moments in it. It doesn't have enough of them, though. The struggle Ray is going through is real, but they aren't as real as something like Rudy or The Express. That didn't mean this is a bad film because it's not. Disney and the filmmakers make sure it's a good film. This film would be considered a football movie but there isn't much football in it. There are a lot of practice sequences, though. A few game sequences are okay, but not great. There have been other Disney football movies that are better in that aspect. They focused more on the relationships of Ray, his brother, girlfriend, and coaches. The more character-driven stuff is the meat and potatoes of the film.
Disney has cornered the market of inspiring sports films. This one is good, but not great. Still, Safety is a solid film with a very good story and message behind it. The setting was a character in the film and that was cool to see the film set on the campus of Clemson. Having been there, it was nice to see the film showing Howard's Rock and Death Valley, the stadium, and running down the hill. This is a very inspiring and entertaining film for football fans and anybody else looking to see something good in this tough year for a lot of people. Safety is now streaming on Disney+. Rating: 4/5 Review by Dan Skip Allen Alex Wheatle is the latest episode of the Small Axe series of films from acclaimed writer/director Steve McQueen. These films focus on the West Indies community in England. This is the true story of Alex (Sheyi Cole), an award-winning writer. Alex is a young man brought up in a foster home. He had no drive to succeed or ambition until he found reggae music and djing. When he moved to Brixton, England, he found a home and people he can relate to. He inadvertently ends up involved with the Brixton Riot of 1981 and ends up in prison. This is the defining moment in his life. As with previous films of the Small Axe series, Alex Wheatle shows the strife and oppression the West Indies community has with the police in England. The music he listens to influences him to create songs of his own that his people can get behind. This doesn't sit well with the local law enforcement. He had become a symbol for his people. McQueen has used different techniques in all of his Small Axe Films. This time, he uses a framing sequence and a back and forth between the prison Alex is in and the past. He has a cellmate that gets under his skin, Simeon (Robbie Gee). "If you don't know your past, you don't know your future," is a creed he lives by. It is something Alex embraces about himself. As a novelist, Alex takes his experiences and puts them on paper and pen. This allows him to share the experiences of his friends and the community that has embraced him. He has written fifteen novels to date for the young adult audience. He has become an idol of many youths who read his books growing up.
McQueen does what he has done in previous installments of this series of films. He has tapped into the world these films take place in with the hair, clothes, and production design. The streets and buildings reflect the period this film takes place in. It is probably easier if all the same people are working on every film in the series. That helps give the films a resemblance to one another. The acting is superb by all the actors playing Alex's friends and compatriots as well as his prison cellmate. All of these films tap into these unique stories within the community, but they all have a unique feel. They do all look similar because of the aesthetic McQueen is going for. Alex Wheatle is another terrific addition to the series. Alex Wheatle is now streaming on Amazon Prime. New installments of Small Axe stream every Friday. Rating: 4/5
Review by Sean Boelman
The Western drama News of the World features the reunion of director-actor duo Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks, who last worked together on the magnificent Captain Phillips. Yet despite some great visuals and a decent Hanks performance, the film is almost excruciatingly dull because of a generic script.
The movie follows a former Civil War captain who travels the country reading the news to illiterate crowds as he is tasked with escorting a young girl to her family over a journey of hundreds of miles. It’s a pretty simple set-up for the genre, like True Grit without the added conflict of a mystery, and so it ends up feeling blandly traditional and familiar. There are some moments in which the greater purpose to which the film is aspiring becomes clear, such as one in which he encounters a corrupt businessman turned lawman who is trying to force the people of his town into compliance. But more often than not, Greengrass and co-writer Luke Davies seem content with just being a standard Western. At nearly two hours long, the movie feels like it outstayed its welcome. Unlike a lot of book-to-screen adaptations, it seems as if the writers adapted a lot of the material as-is. However, some of the more intimate moments simply don’t work in the type of Western epic that this film is obviously trying to be.
The attempts to give the protagonist a backstory have little to no effect. The audience will relate to him thanks to Hanks’s natural charisma, and because of a bit of sympathy for his altruism, but the character doesn’t have a particularly deep arc. As for his young companion, she is annoying more often than not.
Hanks does a great job with the material that he is given, but even he can only elevate the movie so far. When he is given the chance to do a monologue reading the headlines of the post-war West, he absolutely commands the screen. In other parts, Hanks is the only person adding any element of emotion to the scene. Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography is absolutely the highlight of the film. It’s gorgeous when it takes advantage of the beautiful landscapes of the West, but in the few action sequences, it also does a great job. Admittedly, it can become a bit difficult to see in the scenes set at night, as they are largely lit by oil light, but apart from that, it’s visually magnificent. Basically all of the problems with News of the World come down to the script. The talent is in place in front of and behind the camera for it to be a success, but the story simply isn’t compelling enough to make for a cinematic Western. News of the World opens in theaters on December 25. Rating: 2.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
While a Michael Bay-produced thriller set during the pandemic sounds like a bad idea on paper, and a poor-quality trailer did it no favors, Songbird actually provides a solid bit of unexpected escapism. A mostly entertaining (if entirely conventional) romantic thriller, this is the type of popcorn flick that would soon be forgotten if not for its supposedly controversial context.
The film is set in 2024 as the COVID virus has mutated and society under lockdown has devolved into an authoritarian state, following a young delivery boy who tries to rescue his lover from the grips of the corrupt Department of Sanitation. And even though the premise may sound like hyper-paranoid conservative conspiracy theory, the joke is really on the people who break the rules. Writers Adam Mason and Simon Boyes seem to be approaching the movie as they would an ensemble drama, and it’s pretty clear that a more straightforward, action-oriented approach would have been more effective. Although the main story is a bit too simple to work on its own, there isn’t enough time to fully develop a web of subplots. All of the moving parts do eventually come together, and surprisingly cohesively, but there are a lot of parts that feel empty. There is a disabled character who was already isolated from the world before quarantine, and the film barely explores that angle. And the movie introduces some interesting ideas about industries that will be fundamentally changed in the aftermath of the pandemic, but never explores them.
Instead, the film is more or less a story of how love conquers all. And while it’s likely that no one would go into this expecting a measured and in-depth exploration of the impact that COVID has had and will have on society, it’s also unlikely that anyone would go in anticipating something so meaningless and inoffensive.
That said, the ensemble that Mason was able to assemble for the movie is definitely very impressive (perhaps because it was one of the first films shot during quarantine and these actors weren’t doing anything else). Turns from Paul Walter Hauser, Craig Robinson, Bradley Whitford, and Demi Moore are all fine, even if their roles are too small to be particularly impactful. Peter Stormare steals the show, though, as the enjoyably over-the-top villain. The movie is also surprisingly strong on a technical level. Given the obvious limitations the filmmakers faced and the fact that there are no more than two or three actors on screen at any given time, it’s actually much more cinematic than one would imagine. And even though there isn’t a ton of action, it’s pretty exciting when it’s there. If it weren’t such a prime example of opportunism, Songbird probably would have come and gone. It’s a fun but not particularly memorable action movie, and for ninety minutes worth of entertainment, it’s not a bad choice. Songbird hits VOD on December 11. Rating: 3/5 |
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