I ironed my Film Critic pants, put them on, and now I'm ready! It's time for some capsule (short) movie reviews of four New Releases for the week of Friday, November 8, 2024.
1) HERETIC
This late-in-the-year entry to the Awards Season mix is easily one of the year's best horror films and the best films of any genre.
Taking off from a simple premise in which two young Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) are out trying to convert lost souls, they knock on the door of an isolated cottage occupied by Mr. Reed, a charming man (Hugh Grant), who turns out to be a lot more dangerous and terrifying than he appears.
What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between Mr. Reed and the now captured girls, involving in-depth discussions about religion, history, theology, and faith and horrifying encounters with what might be the supernatural—depending on your beliefs, perhaps.
I won't give away any of this terrific film's secrets, twists, or surprises, but I will say that the script by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (both of whom also direct here) is a miracle of construction, ideas, and execution. The complexity of the revealed character development, the brilliantly written dialogue, and the economical use of time and place make this one of the year's best screenplays.
The most impressive aspects of the intricate screenplay include the rich exchange of ideas, the startlingly intelligent theological debates, and the fun use of pop culture to give the viewer much food for thought and add to the almost unbearable suspense.
Beck and Wood's brilliant direction is extraordinarily tight, focused, and intense. Their handling of the very game actors is absolutely top-notch, showcasing three of the finest performances of 2024. And yes, Hugh Grant is as great as everyone is saying. He deserves an Oscar nomination for his funny, detailed, and terrifying work in this movie.
It takes a while for "Heretic" to become a true horror movie, but when it does (after about an hour of nerve-racking dialogue and quiet tension), it transforms into one of the scariest and most shocking films of the year, complete with some good screams, jumps and gore.
I loved everything about this movie, from the stellar work of Grant, Thatcher, and East to the brilliant direction, the moody score, lovely sets, rich cinematography, and tight editing. Everything about this intelligent, terrifying film works. You will also be talking about this thought-provoking movie for a long time after you see it.
Oh, yeah. In addition to all the scary stuff, it is a long-overdue and unapologetic love letter to the great British Invasion band The Hollies. You'll see. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
2) BLITZ
The latest from writer/director Steve McQueen ("Hunger," "Shame," "12 Years a Slave," "Widows") is a World War II drama about a London mother (Saoirse Ronan) who, during the blitz bombings, chooses to evacuate her 9-year-old son (Elliott Heffernan) from the city to the countryside. However, when her son defiantly jumps from the train to go back home, a three-day adventure and search begin.
While I have never been a huge fan of the overrated McQueen's past work (with the exception of "Widows," which is truly excellent), this film is, without question, the least interesting, most derivative thing he has ever done.
The story unfolds with absolutely no urgency and very little tension, and the choppy flashback/dream sequence structure only highlights the script's emotional hollowness. McQueen's direction is stilted and inconsistent, resulting in one of the least compelling WWII films I have ever seen.
It's not the actors' fault, though. The always outstanding Ronan does the best she can with a painfully underwritten role, and newcomer Heffernan is excellent as her son, giving a layered, complex performance that is way beyond his years.
Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, and the outstanding Stephen Graham round out the supporting cast. They do their best with this sub-par material, but it never takes off.
There is one really memorable and well-executed sequence involving Heffernan's character trying to find shelter during one of the bombings that stands out, and a subplot involving an organized marauding gang's exploits in the bombed-out buildings of the city that is interesting but woefully underdeveloped.
Overall, this is dull, unremarkable, and stereotypical in every way. It is another disappointing work by Steve McQueen, who continues to bite off a lot more than he can chew. In this one, he jams in as much as possible, including music, a love story, and commentary about race, feminism, and class, and it all seems incredibly forced.
The one good thing about this movie is that it reminded me that it's been far too long since I watched John Boorman's magnificent "Hope and Glory" from 1987, which is also a coming-of-age story that takes place during the Blitz, only that film is a flat-out masterpiece...."Blitz" is not. - ⭐️⭐️
Cillian Murphy stars in this quiet but intensely effective film as a coal man in County Wexford, Ireland, in the early 1980s. He discovers some horrible secrets about the Magdelene Laundries, the Catholic Church's home for unwed mothers located next to his business.
Based on Claire Keegan's historical novel, inspired by actual events that took place in that area over many years, the screenplay is structured around Murphy's character's memories of his troubled childhood growing up with a mistreated and disturbed unwed mother.
The film's flashback structure is a bit choppy. Still, the content is powerful, anchored by some truly outstanding performances by Murphy, Eileen Walsh, Amy De Bhrun, Michelle Farley, and a chilling, perfectly cast Emily Watson as the Mother Superior.
The movie's brutal effectiveness comes from its unblinking honesty. The simple shared trauma of the main characters is enough to evoke terror without resorting to cheap, over-the-top dramatics.
Director Tim Mielants deftly handles the tone of sadness and oppression without hammering the audience with histrionics, which makes many of the film's quietest scenes (especially those of everyday family life at Christmas time) absolutely devastating.
At the center of it all is Murphy, who continues to prove what a remarkable actor he truly is. Often without uttering a word, his magnificent face says volumes about what his character has gone through and what he is witnessing.
There are no pat solutions in this film, and in the end, when the main character makes what appears to be a brave choice on the surface, the audience is left with an overwhelming feeling that there will be calamitous consequences. "Small Things Like These" is uncompromising and brilliant. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Based on the very popular 1972 book by Barbara Robinson, this is a heavy-handed, manipulative nightmare of a holiday comedy by Christian filmmaker and creator of Vertical Church Films (which began out of a church here in Chicago), Dallas Jenkins.
With this movie, Jenkins continues to provide the world with simplistic, ineptly made nonsense that might speak to a certain segment of the population, but it does not speak to me.
This is the second time this well-known book has been adapted to the screen. The first was a 1983 made-for-TV movie starring Loretta Swit and a very young, pre-Return to Oz Fairuza Balk. That version is "Citizen Kane" compared to this latest version.
The plot is about the Herdmans, described as the "worst kids in the history of the world," who like to lie, steal, cheat, smoke, burn things down, swear, and take the Lord's name in vain, and how they join the annual Christmas pageant to the disproval of the whole community.
Pete Holmes (why?) stars a congenial dad whose wife, played by Judy Greer (why?), takes over the pageant and allows the Herdmans to participate in the festivities despite their lack of knowledge of the Nativity or Christ. Don't worry; wackiness ensues, cliches fly, and many obvious and annoying lessons are learned.
I am certainly not the target demographic for this movie, nor am I a huge fan of this type of holiday slop that shoves its messages down your throat with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the quality of a cheesy Hallmark card. I'm not sure who is.
To me, great holiday entertainment is stuff like "Black Christmas," "The Ice Harvest," and "The Ref," so yeah, this isn't for me. But even so, this is rank material loaded with lousy performances (the kids...oh my God), blunt slapstick, and weepy melodrama.
The only positive thing about this holiday hogwash is that it is smartly and charmingly narrated by the exquisite Lauren Graham (yeah, Lorelai Gilmore herself!). But that only made me think of Graham in "Bad Santa," which is definitely NOT what the guy who makes movies out of his church wants me to think about, trust me. - ⭐️
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