[The 60th annual Chicago International Film Festival is underway through October 27. Watch for my exclusive reviews of CIFF films on this website.]
I'm putting on my Film Critic pants again. They're a bit tight, so I've got to cut back on the sweets. It's time for some capsule (short) movie reviews of four New Releases for the week of Friday, October 18, 2024.
1) SMILE 2
Like "The First Omen" from earlier this year, this sequel to "Smile," the horror hit from 2022, is a massive surprise that is so shockingly good that it's actually one of the year's best films.
My expectations were pretty low for this film, considering the first "Smile" left me cold, despite a great opening 10 minutes and a great closing 10 minutes. The original movie was admittedly well made, but the script, which was about an entity that attaches itself to someone who must spread it like a disease, was just a simplistic knockoff of "The Ring," "Sinister," and especially the extraordinary "It Follows." "Smile 2" however, is an entirely different ballgame.
Writer/director Parker Finn returns here, and after the extraordinary opening seven minutes (edited seamlessly to look like one long take), he all but abandons the derivative gimmick of the first film to tell a completely different story about a huge pop star trying to restart her career after dark secrets, substance abuse, and a horrible car accident nearly killed her.
Naomi Scott plays the megastar who is losing her grip on reality as she embarks on a new world tour with her team, led by her manager mother (Rosemarie DeWitt), that proves to be a terrifying undertaking as her past haunts her, and what seem to be smiling demons accosting her at every turn.
The creepy image of smiling weirdos and entities remains the same, but this sequel is much more than just cheap shocks like the first film, although there are PLENTY of cheap shocks in this one.
This movie is actually about something, and that something is sobriety, mental health, and how addiction destroys lives. Yeah, REAL horror.
Out of nowhere has come this Hollywood sequel that says more about the grip of addiction and the damage it does to the person with an addiction, their friends and family, and their lives/careers than any film has since the brilliant "To Leslie" from 2022.
It does all of this while still paying off hugely in the horror department with potent jump-scares, imaginative nightmare sequences, outstanding special makeup effects, and tremendous gore. It's still a horror movie with all the goods, but it also has brains and a heart, and ultimately, it's devastating.
Naomi Scott is an absolute revelation here, and like Nell Tiger Free in "The First Omen," she is put through the wringer in this thing, giving a fearless, exhausting, truly astonishing performance that deserves all the accolades in the world. Her work in this film grounds it in a heartbreaking reality that makes all of the crazy shit that happens seem real.
I was floored by this movie and blindsided by how effectively and honestly it deals with sobriety and addiction while maintaining its scare-the-shit-out-of-you style. Those smiling monsters following and attacking the main character are the literal demons of addiction, and the metaphor works brilliantly.
By the way, to all of the people who have been overly praising "The Substance" as a Body Horror masterpiece, you are definitely going to eat those words after seeing this much smarter film. Especially during its unbelievable and outrageously gory climax, which blows that overrated Demi Moore thing out of the water in both style and, no pun intended, substance. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This debut feature film from artist Titus Kaphar is a solid and honest semi-autobiographical drama about a black artist (Andre Holland) whose life is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father (John Earl Jelks), a recovering addict who wants to reconcile.
The film also deals with painful pasts, night terrors, the art world, and the artist's family life with his wife, child, and mother. Kaphar juggles these elements smoothly for the most part and smartly avoids the tired cliches that are so often associated with this type of material.
Oddly, the family drama elements of the film work much better than the art world elements, which often feel forced and preachy. Incorporating Kaphar's real art into the film seems forced and unnecessary, distracting from the film's core. The movie's title is also a bit too on-the-nose and seems a bit pompous and forward.
The film's real highlights, however, belong to the actors, who are all superb. Holland is outstanding in the lead, and Jelks is a commanding presence who makes beautifully subtle choices with material that easily could have been overplayed. Andra Day as the wife and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as the mother are both outstanding and add enormously to the power of the film. -⭐️⭐️⭐️
3) RUMOURS
Well, this thing is certainly something. It's a wildly unpredictable black comedy about a group of G7 summit world leaders who meet to write a joint statement about an unspecified global crisis but get lost in the foggy woods instead.
While in the woods, dealing with their relationships and passions, they encounter zombies, imagined demons, and a giant slimy brain, which could lead to the end of the world—you know, that old story.
Written and directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, this Canadian and German production is subtle compared to the previous work of these three gentlemen. This is especially true of installation artist Maddin, whose crazy and awesome earlier work includes "Tales from the Gimli Hospital," "The Saddest Music in the World," "Branded Upon the Brain," and "My Winnipeg."
The outstanding cast, who seem game for ANYTHING, includes Cate Blanchett as the Chancellor of Germany, Alicia Vikander as the Secretary General of the European Commission, Charles Dance as the U.S. President, and Roy Dupuis as the Prime Minister of Canada. They are all terrific.
The political satire here is very smart and potent, the jokes are built nicely, and because Maddin and his collaborators love Canada so much, Dupuis gets the best stuff to do in the film. The Canadian rep is treated as a hero while displaying some serious tortured soul antics. Of course, he is also a great lover who has slept with every female politician in the world. And he has a man-bun.
There are some laugh-out-loud moments involving the Minister of Italy carrying meat in his pockets, the mysterious British accent of the U.S. President, the President of France's need to be carried in a wheelbarrow, the fact that all of the leaders don't recognize or understand the Swedish language, and hilarious visits by the bog zombies who enjoy participating in group circle jerks.
Yes, it's all insane, and yes, it's all ridiculous. Still, the underlying messages of the dangers of political incompetence, the ignorance of history, and the petty jealousies of people in power are important and come across that way even during the film's most outrageous moments. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
4) GOODRICH
In the world of filmmaking, you often see the offspring of directors going on to become directors themselves. Like any filmmaker, sometimes they are successful, and sometimes they aren't. It is also interesting to see how different the offspring is from their parents, like Sofia Coppola, whose work is brilliant but nothing like her famous father Francis, or Nick Cassavetes, whose father John would probably have some really interesting things to say about his son's work.
Sometimes, the apple does not fall from the tree. For instance, Brandon Cronenberg is clearly inspired by the work of his father, David; "The Watchers," Ishana Night Shyamalan's feature debut from earlier this year, is similar to and just as terrible as her father M.'s movies.
That brings us to Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the daughter of filmmakers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer. Their credits (together and apart) include the romantic comedies "Father of the Bride," "Baby Boom," "It's Complicated," "The Holiday," and "Something's Gotta Give," among others. Well, Meyers-Shyer's apple did NOT fall far from the tree.
Her new film, which she wrote and directed, is called "Goodrich. " It stars Michael Keaton as an L.A. art dealer whose life is upended when his second wife enters a 90-day rehab and leaves him to take care of their 9-year-old twins while he deals with his struggling art gallery and his strained relationship with his thirtysomething daughter from his first marriage, who also happens to be pregnant.
The material is so similar to Meyers-Shyer's family work that I wouldn't have been surprised to see her mom Nancy's name all over this thing. It's also insanely similar to some very popular and well-known past stuff that Keaton himself has been featured in.
There is a TON of "Mr. Mom" in here, including not knowing how to talk to his kids, not knowing how to feed them, and, in general, his missing out on their childhood by working too much. If the incessant "Mr. Mom" callbacks aren't enough, well, there are also cues from "The Founder" and "Post Grad," a lot of "Clean and Sober," a bit of "Gung Ho," and hell, even Andie MacDowell shows up to remind us all of "Multiplicity."
Reminding viewers of much better Michael Keaton movies is just one of the many issues with this derivative tripe, which follows all the predictable tropes you would expect from this type of story. The expected lessons are learned, the hurt relationships are mended, and the healing happens when it's convenient for the screenplay.
Luckily for Meyers-Shyer, she has the always-good Keaton as her lead. He supplies almost all of the gravity to the material and makes even the most embarrassing scenes work, including the scene in which a gay friend kisses him after a sip of whiskey, the scene when Keaton visits a feminist poetry slam, or the many awkward scenes with the young kids. Somehow, Keaton escapes these moments unscathed.
The excellent Mila Kunis ably supports him as his daughter, and rounding out the competent and smart cast are the aforementioned MacDowell, Carmen Ejogo, Kevin Pollak, Michael Urie, Nico Hiraga, Laura Benanti and an absolutely hilarious Poorna Jagannathan as perhaps the funniest babysitter in film history.
However, the terrific cast is just not enough to overcome the problems with little things like story, script, and execution. The film is just a lark for sure, and it goes by quickly, but when it tries to get serious (which is often), it fails miserably and is ultimately a waste of a great actor. - ⭐️1/2
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