I have returned to wearing my Film Critic pants for some capsule (short) movie reviews of five New Releases for the week of Friday, August 30th, 2024.
1) REAGAN
A jaw-droppingly disingenuous piece of propaganda disguised as a biography, this horrendous, incompetently made nonsense exists only to make the late former president look like a saint.
Dennis Quaid (what the hell happened to Dennis Quaid??) plays Ronald Reagan in a performance between bad impersonation (it reminded me a lot of Johnny Carson's absurd take on Reagan) and blind hero worship. It certainly isn't a real performance of any kind, as it is completely devoid of any nuance, complexity, or depth. Still, it's consistent with the tone of this entire sad, misguided project.
Inexplicably told from the point of view of a fictionalized KGB agent (played hilariously by the insane Jon Voight), this movie tells Reagan's well-known story from his childhood to his career as an actor, his time as Governor of California and his years as President of the United States. It includes highlights that only make Reagan look good and mainly focuses on Reagan's attempts to destroy Communism.
Along the way, the movie gifts us with many strange, unintentionally funny moments mixed in with some deeply offensive portrayals of people (including the Berkeley protestors of 1969, any pro-union characters, and the "evil" press) and specifically chosen situations that make Ronnie look great.
Huge chunks of his questionable legacy are conveniently left out. There is no mention of his horrific handling of the AIDS crisis, the disastrous effects of his trickle-down economics, or anything else that may make the former President look like anything less than a god.
Aside from the movie's questionable politics and a relentless Christian agenda, it's just plain BAD.
The acting ranges from tired and uninspired to downright embarrassing (Scott Stapp, from the rock group Creed, appears as Frank Sinatra — yeah, enough said). The technical aspect of the film is a joke. The weird mix of real archival footage and unfocused re-creation makes the whole enterprise look like a bad FOX News TV special, and that's kind of what it is.
This is truly as bad as it gets. Zero Stars
2) 1992
This heist thriller/social drama takes place on April 29, 1992, the day of the Rodney King verdict, and tells the stories of two separate father/son relationships amid the chaos of L.A. during the riots.
Tyrese Gibson is the main character, and the film follows his attempts to keep his teenage son on the straight-and-narrow while a group of thieves plan a heist that will inevitably involve them.
There's a lot of yelling, passionate speechifying, shootouts, and emotional reflection, but it all really adds up to nothing but recycled dramatics and tired tropes.
Gibson rises above the material and gives a pretty decent performance. Since this is the great Ray Liotta's last film, there is a morbid curiosity in watching his scenes, but the varying elements never come together.
The film does have its heart in the right place and ultimately has a positive message, but it's a pretty long slog to get there. ⭐️⭐️
3) SLINGSHOT
Here's the deal: this is basically a break-up movie disguised as a science fiction thriller mixed with a psychological space opera and a special effects extravaganza...but it's a breakup movie.
Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone star as a trio of astronauts who are on a years-long journey to Saturn's moon of Titan. They must deal with being in space for years while trying to handle a series of maneuvers that will get them to their destination.
Affleck's character begins to lose his grip on reality (and has some serious ex-girlfriend issues and visions), which causes tensions and complications in the mission. Everything else that happens is either a fantasy or a reality; it's up to you to figure that out.
I stopped caring pretty early in this deeply flawed and poorly paced mess that, despite Fishburne and Affleck's best efforts, none of it really works at all. It also doesn't help that this film will inevitably be compared to such incredible work as "Solaris," "Ad Astra," and "Interstellar," and it definitely doesn't hold a candle to those movies. ⭐️1/2
4) THE WASP
The less said about the plot of this thriller, the better. It stars the terrific duo of Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer, who play childhood friends reconnecting in an attempt to solve their very big marital and personal problems through a series of secret (and illegal) meetings and actions.
Again, I won't give anything away, but despite a few missteps here and there and more than a few familiar plot twists, this thing really works. The tension builds nicely, and there are some genuinely shocking moments that kick the film into gear exactly when it needs to be kicked into gear.
Expertly directed by the very talented Guillem Morales (whose outstanding 2010 thriller "Julia's Eyes" is a wildly entertaining and underappreciated gem), "The Wasp" builds beautifully to a surprise ending that I didn't see coming and leaves a nasty but fun taste in the mouth.
The real draw here, though, is the two lead portrayals by Harris and Dormer. It's a truly great pair of performances that carry the movie along brilliantly and keep the audience hanging on every word and gesture they provide. Funny, sharp, and sometimes scary, these actresses give huge weight to the material and basically kick ass in every scene. ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Production studio Blumhouse, which mostly produces horror films, has a hit-or-miss list of credits that includes good films like "Get Out," "The Invisible Man," "Hush," and, inexplicably, "Whiplash." But they are also responsible for such nonsense as the "Paranormal Activity" series, the "Purge" movies, the "Halloween" reboot and sequels, and the "Insidious" and "Sinister" chapters. So, yeah, it's a mixed bag at best.
Blumhouse's latest entry, "AFRAID," is yet another attempt to do a horror take on AI technology (like they did last year with the killer doll movie "M3GAN"). Even though it was hidden from the press and not screened for the critics (which is usually a terrible sign), it's really not a bad movie.
Briefly, John Cho and Katherine Waterston (a pair of actors that I really love) play a successful couple with three kids who volunteer to have an experimental new AI assistant installed in their home, and of course, all hell breaks loose.
The movie starts terrifically with a clever, surprisingly funny setup and hits all the right beats.
Once the creepy "AIA" (as she is called) begins to infiltrate every part of the family's lives and ultimately causes death, mayhem, and the appearance of dead parents and armed lunatics, the movie loses all focus.
The major problem is that this film has very clearly been tampered with, and someone (the studio presumably) cut the shit out of this thing, leaving a flimsy 83-minute running time (including a long final credits roll) with plot holes the size of Texas left intact. There must be a two-hour version of this movie that is quite good and is a potent satire of our modern zeitgeist.
What's left in this cut are a few strong performances (my boy David Dastmalchian shows up to chew up some scenery beautifully), a couple of cool scares, and a bunch of huge laughs at the expense of annoying modern technology that is pretty insightful satire.
Also, no one told me that Keith Carradine is in this thing!!!! Hell YEAH!
Written and directed by Chris Weitz, the man behind "American Pie," "About a Boy," "The Golden Compass" and the Chris Rock comedy "Down to Earth," this unlikely horror film from a guy who doesn't make horror films is surprisingly effective, but primarily for its comedic content. Judging by his other work, that really shouldn't be a surprise.
I can't really recommend "AFRAID," but it's better than I expected it to be, and one day, I hope we get to see Weitz's full version because that's a movie we need at this time. ⭐️⭐️
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