I enjoy wearing my Film Critic pants and have put them on again! It's time for some capsule (short) movie reviews, so here are my thoughts on four New Releases for the week of Friday, September 27th, 2024.
Based on a series of popular children's books, this beautifully animated film tells the story of a shipwrecked robot who must adapt to the surroundings of the deserted island she finds herself on.
Called 'Roz,' this robot starts relationships with the native animals on the island and becomes a mother figure to an orphaned gosling who must learn to fly with all the other creatures' help.
It's a sweet story with a really great setup, and the first hour is absolutely fantastic. The look of the film is stunning, the wonderfully designed and executed action scenes and set pieces are often stunning, and the voicework by a stellar cast is quite impressive.
The problem is in the film's final forty minutes when a hollow, underwritten group of villains are introduced that suck every bit of sincere emotion out of the proceedings, leaving as cliched a finale as you could ever find.
The wonderful relationships and subtle emotional depth created in the first hour (and there are some truly moving moments in there) disappear entirely in favor of easy and obvious payoffs that exist only to make the audience cheer. I didn't cheer. I didn't care.
The underlying messages of acceptance, embracing parenthood, and learning from others are effective. The partial focus on global climate change is refreshing but ultimately feels tacked-on and heavy-handed.
Still, the film looks GREAT, is nicely directed by Chris Sanders (who also directed the excellent How to Train Your Dragon), and is never less than entertaining. Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Matt Berry, and Mark Hamill create some wonderful characters as well.
But, despite the amazing technical work on display here and some wonderful moments, it winds up disappointing because it could have been exceptional. It's worth seeing as it is, but it could have been so much more. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️
2) MY OLD ASS
This coming-of-age dramedy follows a girl named Elliott (Maisy Stella) as she celebrates her 18th birthday by taking some mushrooms and having a weird trip, during which she meets her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). When young Elliott doesn't listen to the advice of old Elliott, complications arise, confrontations occur, and eventually, lessons are learned.
Let me first say that, as a 59-year-old man, I am clearly NOT the target audience for this particular movie, which may partially explain why I disliked it so much.
Unlike most 59-year-old men, however, I happen to love and seriously respond to other things aimed at this kind of audience, like the TV shows "Gilmore Girls," "Felicity," "Gossip Girl," and "My So-Called Life," and the movies "Mean Girls," "Clueless," "Easy A," "Bring it On," and "The Edge of Seventeen."
Here's the difference, those things are good, and "My Old Ass' is NOT.
I didn't care about what happened to the main character because everything was trite, overdone, and predictable. The whole "talking to my older self" thing is inconsistently realized (what exactly are the rules here?) and reeks of bad "time-travel" tropes, not to mention horrific "body-switching" movie cliches.
The story about learning lessons in love and family has been told a million times before, and a million times better, so it's about as fresh as month-old bread and about as effective as a toothpaste commercial.
I won't even get into how incredibly annoying Stella is in the lead and how Plaza is barely even in the thing. It's just a huge mess, but for some reason, people (mostly young women) were crying during the screening I attended. I almost cried, too, because I flushed two hours of my life down the toilet. - ⭐️1/2
3) MEGALOPOLIS
Francis Ford Coppola's first film in 13 years is this completely insane epic fantasy that is essentially a modern-day parable about ancient Rome but transferred to modern times. I won't bother trying to summarize the story because any attempt would be futile, and, to be honest, I didn't know what the hell was going on half the time anyway.
Coppola is in symbolic territory here, and trying to make sense of any of it is absolutely NOT the point. This is a film that requires you to just sit back, open your mind, and let the insane, beautiful madness wash all over you—and my God, is it insane and beautiful.
Visually breathtaking, technically stunning, and loaded with wild, wonderfully unhinged performances by an extraordinarily motley cast of new, old, crazy, "canceled," excellent, and gifted performers who definitely showed up to play and give it all to Coppola.
It's great science fiction, a vivid fable, a potent political allegory, a funny black comedy, a searing drama, and a work of unbelievable energy made by an 85-year-old legend who throws everything he has into it, and the result is breathtakingly alive.
Now look, it's batshit crazy, seriously, absolutely batshit crazy, and you really have to be pretty game to take this challenging and sometimes maddening ride along with Coppola, but wow, is the payoff rich and wonderful.
If you're looking for something that makes sense, look elsewhere. If you want something safe and by-the-numbers, this ain't it. If you want the Coppola of "The Godfather" films and not the Coppola of "One From the Heart," stay away because this exercise makes "One From the Heart" look like a family-friendly half-hour sitcom.
You will witness a film unlike any you have ever seen before. It contains some of the most unique performances ever gathered together in one place and some of the finest technical work of any film this year. It is all for the mad vision of a legendary director who has made his most vital and important work of the past 35 years.
It's going to piss off a lot of people (A LOT of people), and it will probably confuse almost everyone who sees it, but this is a gorgeous piece of cinema that demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible and with the most open mind you have. It's also as politically timely as you can get and says more about the current climate in this country at this time than anything out there, which makes it even more uncomfortable to watch.
It's a wild, massive, and ballsy swing by Francis that some will think is a strike-out, but I think it is pretty much a home run, and I can't wait to see this thing again. Oh, also... this movie would make a kick-ass double feature with Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales," so that should give you a little idea of what to expect. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Another hugely challenging movie has come out this week, almost as good as the Coppola movie.
This brutally funny yet terribly sad black comedy stars the terrific Sebastian Stan as an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis who struggles with his disfigurement, his life at work, his terrible apartment, and his crush on a new neighbor (Renate Reinsve).
Everything gets complicated after he undergoes a radical surgery that changes his face and his life for the better, until an actor with the same condition (the outstanding Adam Pearson) enters his world and turns everything upside down.
This is dark and funny stuff directed with style and assurance and anchored by three magnificent performances. Stan, who has really become one of my favorite actors, is incredible in the lead, walking a skinny line between being likable and unbelievably unappealing.
Reinsve continues to be one of the brightest and most interesting actresses working today. Her work in this film and her heartbreaking and complex work in "The Worst Person in the World" are just stellar.
But it's Pearson who steals the show as Stan's competition, who also happens actually to have a facial disfigurement condition and uses his significant talents to steal almost everything away from Stan's character.
This film about identity, true character, and envy is absolutely devastating and almost unbearably honest. I laughed, cried, and identified with nearly every character at one point or another. The tone flips from surreal to real, sad to happy, and scary to bright without a bump, and it completely sucked me in from the opening shot.
It has some elements that may remind you of "Beau Is Afraid," "Eraserhead," "Being John Malkovich," and a few other similarly weird films, especially as it seemingly spirals completely out of control in the final third.
The movie never loses its way and stays focused and potent, and it also contains the best, most appropriate, and funniest surprise cameo of any film this year. - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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