Lightning Round Catch-up: Yes, I Know It's Been Seven Weeks.
Hello, hello, sorry for the delay. As I feared, I got swamped by blu-ray supplement deadlines, which ate up a chunk of time that wasn’t already devoted to pitching and reviewing. Not great, tbh, but for now this newsletter has to take second priority to…all that.
This first newsletter back is understandably devoted to catch-up, starting with links to stuff from the past, oh, seven weeks. I may also write something on Tuesday about why I disliked The Last of Us’s big fork-in-the-road twist. Let’s see if things go to plan. And as usual, let me know if you’d rather that I write about something else, I’m usually open to suggestions. Thanks and thanks for bearing with me.
Reviews, let’s start with reviews. These were all published at Roger Ebert dot com, which has assigned me a number of strong titles to review this year. Not Gunslingers, the Z-grade Nicolas Cage western, which also stars Stephen Dorff and Heather Graham; that movie is bad. I did, however, write mixed-topositive reviews for Hell of a Summer, Finn “Stranger Things” Wolfhard’s uneven slasher comedy, and It Feeds, a wobbly but promising mother/daughter psychic procedural. And I liked Bullet Train Explosion, Shinji “Shin Godzilla” Higuchi’s entertaining followup to the apparently still well-liked Bullet Train (1975). I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out two gems from the past few weeks: Misericordia, Alain Guiraudie’s latest farcical Hitchockothriller, and Viet and Nam, a tragic Vietnamese drama about two lovers.
I also wrote a feature for The Hollywood Reporter about how the writers of the original Until Dawn video game are not credited in the new movie. Not surprising, alas, but still disappointing since the writers in question are indie horror faves Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, both of whom won a Guinness World Record for producing the longest video game script of all time. Still, while neither Fessenden nor Reznick expects acknowledgment from Sony, that first game and the ensuing series would likely not be a hit without their contributions, so I tried to figure out why this omission happened. Like a number of you, I’m a big Glass Eye Pix fan, so I was very happy that this pitch got picked up and that the article turned out as well as it did.
There’s also been some recent blu-ray releases featuring new supplements by me, as you might imagine. March alone had three blu-rays with new audio commentaries by me released over two weeks. Mostly very positive reviews, too, so that’s nice, especially since you can never tell if or when these things will get reviewed at all.
Kino Lorber put out blu-rays of The Black Tulip, the 1964 Alain Delon swashbuckler, and Hi-Jack Highway, the 1955 Jean Gabin trucker noir. They also released the 1996 Chris Farley/David Spade buddy comedy Black Sheep with a new audio commentary by me and director Penelope Spheeris. That was a fun one to record. And this past week Kino Lorber released a blu-ray of Ealing Studio’s 1953 Battle of the Atlantic drama The Cruel Sea, which also features an audio commentary by me. I’m so behind that I also need to inform you know that Vinegar Syndrome will soon release the 1994 Wesley Snipes parachute thriller Drop Zone, which features a new booklet essay by me. And by “soon”, I mean this week. More hot news when I have it!
Woof, what else did I miss? I’m blanking at the moment, so let’s just get into another lightning round rundown of new releases from this and last year. As usual, it would be greatly appreciated if you would consider signing up for a paid subscription. New paid subscribers get free media and at no extra cost. That’s all for now, thanks.
Aggro Dr1ft: Harmony Korine’s big Edgelord debut is better than expected, but not quite as good as, say, The Beach Bum. Still, this is fine. B.
All We Imagine As Light: Glad to see that the first recent Malayalam language Indian drama to crossover with American cinephiles also happens to be pretty good. A-.
Ash: Steven “Flying Lotus” Ellison made a perfectly good Alien ripoff, so there. A-.
Ballot: A stirring and almost great Filipino election fraud thriller. On Netflix. B.
Black Bag: You see, a good marriage is just like peeling an orange… A-.
Black Box Diaries: An essential story with some good story-telling. B+.
Chaava: The action and filmmaking in this Bollywood period epic is a cut above other Rajamouli Lite trend-chasers. And while the ending is drawn out to the point of distraction, the battle scenes alone are worth the price of admission. On Netflix. B+.
Close Your Eyes: Victor “Spirit of the Beehive” Erice’s latest is…pretty good, idk. A-.
Conclave: Eh. C.
A Different Man: I’m still amazed at how much better this is compared to Chained for Life, director Aaron Schimberg and actor Adam Pearson’s earlier collaboration. This is really strong; pitiless and dry, which makes for a satisfying black comedy. A-.
The Empire: I’d been looking forward to Bruno Dumont’s alien invasion comedy since it was announced a couple of years ago. Surprise, it’s a Bruno Dumont alien invasion comedy! A-.
Good One: An aptly named father/daughter camping drama. Very satisfying. A-.
Grand Theft Hamlet: A moving and very funny documentary about a pair of out-of-work actors who, at the start of the pandemic, try to drum up interest in their work by staging a production of Hamlet in some Grand Theft Auto sequel or other. Best movie of the year so far. A.
Guna Guna Istri Muda: Lurid fun. An Indonesian black magic tug of war between an adulterous social climber and the witchy mother of one of her jilted lovers. On Netflix. A-.
Have You Got It Yet? The True Story of Syd Barret and Pink Floyd: Lovely archival footage and touching, informative new interviews with the surviving band members. B+.
I, The Executioner: Veteran 2: The latest Korean action thriller from Ryu Seung-wan isn’t as good as Veteran, but it is still good enough. When will Ryu and Don Lee get together? They could really use each other. And how about that Chang Kiha score? B+.
It’s Not Me: Oh, yes it is. A-.
Juror #2: Abstain. C+.
Locked: Two of my best friends urged me to see this high-concept remake, which follows would-be carjacker Bill Skarsgard after he gets trapped in sadistic rich guy Anthony Hopkins’ luxury car. They were right, this is fun. B.
Meanwhile on Earth: Okay. B.
Mickey 17: Good! B+.
The Monkey: And the Plywood violin?! C-.
One of Them Days: Conceptually rich but dramatically staid buddy comedy that’s better directed than expected and full of solid comedic performances. B.
Only the River Flows: I don’t know what they’re feeding these Chinese neo-noir directors, but this one news one is also pretty good. A-.
The Primevals: Yup, that’s a Full Moon-produced stop-motion King King ripoff alright! B+.
Pushpa 2—The Rule: Definitely a sequel to the Telugu-language Indian blockbuster Pushpa—The Rise. Big Swinging Dick Energy, some visual flair, nutty twists, decent action/musical numbers. But gosh, such a dull plot and such underwhelming characters. C.
The Redemption of Sin: Really enjoyed this Indonesian horror drama about a grieving mother and a hungry podcaster. A bit played out during its more horror-y moments, but otherwise pretty stirring. On Netflix. B+.
Revelations: Yeon “Train to Busan” Sang-ho’s latest definitely feels like an extension of his recent work on the supernatural conspiracy thriller K-drama Hellbound. It’s also engaging and twisty throughout, so idk what to tell the nay-sayers. On Netflix. B.
Reversi: A surprisingly moving and thoughtful Malaysian time travel drama. On Netflix. B.
The Room Next Door: It seems that I’ve somehow fallen out of step with my fellow Almodovar fans since I found this to be much stronger than, say, Pain & Glory. Oh well. A-.
Rumours: Guy Maddin’s latest is fine, I just couldn’t get as far into it as some of his other recent efforts. B.
Separated: Wasn’t wild about the dramatizations in Errol Morris’s otherwise strong Mexican border doc, but whatcha gonna do? B.
Seven Veils: Atom Egoyan’s Opera. Amanda Seyfried, wow. A-.
Sinners: The hype’s not wrong! A-.
Small Things Like These: Yes, fine. B.
Squad 36: A perfectly ok French policier amidst a wave of pulpy French policiers from Netflix. C+.
Tumbbad: A very enjoyable Indian gothic chiller. On Prime Video. A-.
An Unfinished Film: This Chinese docudrama, about a group of filmmakers who try to finish a years-old movie but are pre-empted by the 2020 Wuhan outbreak, is easily my favorite by director Lou Ye. It’s also one of the year’s best releases, too. A.
Viduthalai: Part II: Lots to admire, but didn’t get very far with Vetrimaaran’s over-extended sequel. There were a few moments where I thought it was going to be great though and that’s not nothing. B.
Wicked: Lovely singers, forgettable material and mediocre filmmaking. C.