On this week’s Extra Film, Ryan and Jay continue their David Fincher Movie Series with Fight Club, and then they review the indie documentary, You Can’t Kill David Arquette.
Marred as one of the most controversial films of the 1990s, Fight Club seems to have gained this reputation through a misunderstanding of what this Fincher classic is. It’s of course about two men who start a fight club, but its more about hyper-masculinity and the destroying of consumerism. Back by wonderful performances, a unique style, and an all-time twist, the Extra Film boys gave a lot of praise to this entry from Fincher.
After that, the guys turn to You Cannot Kill David Arquette. While it was supposed to premiere at this year’s SXSW, the wrestling documentary following famed actor David Arquette was released to surprising acclaim on VOD. The film chronicles Arquette’s relationship with the sport of wrestling, dating back to the 1990s when he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Known for being one of the worst moves in WCW history, and an all-time bad wrestler, Arquette sets out to prove everyone wrong as he attempts a comeback. While the film worked more for Jay than it did Ryan, the guys had another interesting discussion you aren’t gonna want to miss.
Thanks for listening!
– Movie Review: Fight Club (5:15) Director: David Fincher Screenplay: Jim Uhls Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, Meat Loaf, Jared Leto
– Movie Review: You Cannot Kill David Arquette (57:51) Directors: David Darg, Price James Stars: David Arquette
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Director: Armando Iannucci Writer: Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Charles Dickens Stars: Dev Patel, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Peter Capaldi, Rosalind Eleazar, Benedict Wong
Synopsis: A modern take on Charles Dickens’s classic tale of a young orphan who is able to triumph over many obstacles.
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Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield uses its distinctive storytelling and colorblind casting to put a unique spin on a Charles Dickens’ classic. Even with its diverse cast and modern twists, the film is unmistakably Dickensian. It’s not as dark and depressing as many of Dickens’ books. Instead, it’s a mostly bright and quirky story that follows the life of one man – David Copperfield (Dev Patel) – from his childhood onwards.
The plot of this film, like many stories written by Dickens, is extensive. It’s a semi-autobiographical story featuring a young man, David Copperfield, who has to struggle to survive after losing his parents. Along the way, he meets a variety of strange and interesting characters -some good, some not so good- who all affect his life. David’s ability to adapt to any situation and to mimic the people around him, even changing his name to what they prefer, is his greatest asset and what makes this story interesting.
Dev Patel does a fantastic job leading this film, and he alone should be enough to convince anyone to give this film a shot. The entire ensemble is outstanding, featuring everyone from Doctor Who to Dr. House. In the cast, we have two Academy Award winners, multiple Golden Globe winners and nominees, and a handful of BAFTA Film Award recipients. The decision to go with colorblind casting was a brilliant one and something that should be done in more films. Casting the actor based on if they’d be right for the role instead of if they “are similar to the perceived idea of what the character should look like” is something that should be much more common. Standouts in the cast were Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie as Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Rosalind Eleazar as Agnes, and Peter Capaldi as Mr. Micawber.
In addition to the cast, another positive the film had was how it told the story. Dev Patel narrates the film as adult David Copperfield and tells the story of his life while his younger self is experiencing it. During these narrations, the scene changes are done through projections on walls, David crouching down to talk to the child version of himself, and other methods. It was an exciting way to keep the story moving and emphasize the journey of the main character.
There isn’t much negative criticism to give The Personal History of David Copperfield. Nearly all complaints have been about the casting or that the story is complicated, and neither of those criticisms should prevent you from seeing the film. If you are familiar with any of Charles Dickens’ books, you know that the plot is going to be convoluted; that’s just his style. If you have an issue with non-white actors being cast in an adaptation of a 19th-century book, then you have more significant problems to sort out. The only negative this film has are some of the characters are unlikable, and the title is a little long, but overall, it’s a great movie. It’s not entirely accurate to the book, so be aware of that if you are a fan of the novel or are trying to skip reading it for school.
The Personal History of David Copperfield is a beautiful adaptation of Charles Dickens’ cherished work. It tells the story of a man who finds himself through life’s ups and downs. It’s a film everyone should consider watching., and I’m interested to see if it gets any buzz come awards season.
Director: Niki Caro Writers: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek & Elizabeth Martin Stars: Liu Yifei, Gong Li, Jason Scott Lee, Tzi Ma, Yoson An, Donnie Yen, Jet Li
Synopsis: A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. A live-action feature film based on Disney’s Mulan.
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It is a tall order to provide a refreshing experience when your blueprint is a Disney Renaissance title born out of Robert D. San Souci’s idea, but that is precisely what’s served here. Like 2015’s Cinderella and 2016’s The Jungle Book, the new Mulan, from Niki Caro, wisely sees its reason for being as a chance to explore elements further and, if need be, upgrade them instead of to reanimate and reclothe with assets afforded by a titanic budget. With both respect to what’s done and commitment on what can be done, this Mulan is an epic delight — as much as the 1998 film and as its own entity.
The Mulan we get to meet after the brief narration from her “guardian angel,” father Hua Zhou (Tzi Ma, always a warm presence), is yet the renowned warrior from the ballad or the startlingly ill-prepared bride-to-be (Liu Yifei). At the moment, she is still a youngster (Crystal Rao) who is chasing a chicken all over her tulou, not caring that she is disrupting everybody’s day. Aside from Grant Major’s inclusion of an anachronistic — if beautifully constructed — structure and editor David Coulson’s semi-manic action cutting, our senses are entertained on the same level as those within this adolescent Mulan; every beat in her poultry chase blazes past just the first of Bina Daigeler’s vivid fabrics, of Harry Gregson-Williams’ rousing notes (and, at times, subtle cues to the animation’s songs) and of d.p. Mandy Walker’s near-endless supply of extravagant frames. At the very least, it’s the first of the film’s many newnesses that pay tribute to and widen the scope of 1998 work. Mulan is an outlier of a daughter not because she’s the classic adorably-incompatible-turned-everyone’ s-savior character but because she’s born-courageous. Here she has an arachnophobic younger sister, Hua Xiu (Xana Tang), who, albeit fleetingly, gives her more pressure to be the model “calm and obedient” woman.
And soon to descend from the north to face Mulan aren’t a Hun warrior and his falcon but a Rouran leader, Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee, with intimidating aura), and his sorceress sidekick Xian Lang (Gong Li, with controlled iciness) who can shapeshift into a falcon. Or possess people.
One can sense that the purists who have been fuming since knowing Mushu and singing won’t be in Mulan are approaching supernova. Don’t be, please, as with her new, distinctive qualities, this Mulan is still a girl woman worth fighting for. Ensuring this is the script from blockbuster husband-wife team Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver, Lauren Hynek, and Elizabeth Martin (where are the Asians?) that amplifies Mulan’s journey towards validation in thoughtful and suspenseful ways. She expresses pain when she couldn’t adhere to the third of the core tenets “Loyal, Brave and True” etched on her family’s sword and underscored by the all-male battalion. A scene, directed with solemnity, features a fellow soldier facing the consequence of being untruthful during training. Every tête-à-tête with Xian Lang scratches at the possibility that she and Mulan aren’t all that different, just women — or laotong — staking their claim in uber-masculine systems. The protagonist’s defining character moment is now purposeful rather than accidental. In these moments, Liu proves she is the actress meant to play this part, boasting only grace while under fire and nothing else besides fire during pivotal wuxia-inspired fights coordinated by Ben Cooke.
For some, these are just temporary lures from the potential elephants in the room. Aside from the aforementioned ones, they include the splitting of Li Shang into a commander (Donnie Yen) and a cocky recruit (Yoson An), the downsizing of the Ling, Yao & Chien-Po trio (Jimmy Wong, Chen Tang & Doua Moua), and the literal personification of Cri-Kee (Jun Yu). Thing is, director Caro and company seem to have set out to make their Mulan a capital-H her story, a “Her” to “Hero” tableau sharing the same roots but grows its own branches — making everything else a distraction. But from what is seen and heard, the film might have chosen the right business to get down to.
It will make a Mulan fan out of you if you aren’t one already. And if you already are, it will provide you with an ideal animation-and-live-action pairing.
To many cinephiles, a new film directed by Christopher Nolan is like a holiday. Known for shrouding his movies in secrecy, Nolan has been making “thinking man’s blockbusters” ever since he took on Batman back in 2005, and has been primarily focused on the manipulation of time in all of his original projects. Since then he has developed what is arguably the most loyal fan base for any filmmaker working today (“Nolanites”); whether you’re one of those people or not, no one can deny that Nolan’s desire to make challenging commercial entertainment is a great step for Hollywood’s push toward more original content, regardless of what you think of his films. And yet, to those who are fans of his, there barely seems to be a consensus as to which of his films is his “best”.
We already asked this question back when Interstellar was first released, but we figured times may have changed since then. With that said, what is your favorite Christopher Nolan movie?
As we enter the Fall, Criterion’s next set of new releases and re-releases are part of the continuing recognition of these visionaries in their achievements. One independent trailblazer has two films getting rechristened in the collection, three directors are getting another of their works added, and the great Martin Scorsese’s pursuit for a more rediscovered, global cinema has another volume for us to see.
Brute Force (1947)/The Naked City (1948)
Jules Dassin’s two gritty crime dramas are getting the re-releases they deserve, both of them in the U.S. before the Red Scare sent him into France for life. In Brute Force, Burt Landcaster plays a prisoner who seeks to escape the confines of his powder keg setting led by a sadistic warden to be with his wife, ill from cancer. What is a prison film noir features striking political parallels. Dassin, a Jew with left-wing views, saw the convicts as the oppressed people and Jewish Holocaust victims, and the guards as Nazis and greedy capitalists who get the pleasure to see the workers struggle. It is less about why they are there, but about the conditions they live in which make them riled up, ready to uprise (as in the end) against their overlords.
The Naked City is a clean-cut police procedure movie with a realist bent. It was shot on location – the streets of New York City and around landmarks – and made in such a documentary style that it didn’t have the feel for being a movie. And yet, it’s naturalistic cinematography and editing both won an Academy Award. A detective goes on the hunt for the killer of a model, asking witnesses and studying the crime scene intensely to give chase all the way to the Williamsburg Bridge. The narration sets us up as New York City being stripped bare, no more glamour or glitz, but a city with its own dark scenes. The last line summarizes it: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.”
Christ Stopped At Eboli (1979)
Based on a true story, Francesco Rosi tells the life of Carlo Levi, an anti-fascist in Mussolini’s Italy who is arrested and exiled in Southern Italy, an area stricken with poverty for the undesirables to live in. During his year-long stay, Levi is taken in with the locals who, aware of how the fascists look down upon them, keep up with their traditions even with the surrounding tragedy. It was a TV film and here it remains in four-parts with Gian Maria Volonte as Levi, learning more than he bargained for and finding some light from his own situation.
The Elephant Man (1980)
David Lynch’s sophomore effort after Eraserhead was his first foray into the studio system with the true story of Joseph Merrick (John Hurt), a man born with major bodily deformities who is first used as a circus freak before befriending a prominent doctor (Anthony Hopkins) that studies Merrick in the hospital to show he is human. Gothic, dark, and Neo-Victorian, it is about humanity and the difficulties both men would face to prove it to a cruel British society. An uncredited producer is Mel Brooks, who felt that people would believe it to be a comedy if his name was attached, so his name was absent. It was the first Oscar nominations Lynch would receive and the film received 8 in total, but would not win any.
Beau Travail (1999)
This film I’ve been waiting for quite a bit because it is Claire Denis and I have not seen this film. But I am very aware of her breakout, set in Djibouti surrounding two white French Foreign Legion officers who engage in a homoerotic tangle of wits through dance, physicality, and internal admiration. It’s loosely based on the short story and opera Billy Budd by Herman Melville and the music included keeps viewers following what it seems to be a hypnotic style using Djibouti’s natural landscape to stage a gaze of love.
Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project – Volume 3
The master also is a leader in the preservation of international films from hidden places around the world, especially third-world countries. A number of them you can find already on the Criterion Channel from the first two volumes. In Volume 3, six more have been brought on board for safekeeping. 1968’s Lucia is set in three different periods of Cuban history through a woman who is always fighting for her own dignity. From Indonesia, 1954’s After The Curfew follows an ex-soldier, already disillusioned from reality after the country’s independence, decides to fight the corrupt state still present at home. 1934’s Dos Monjes is one of Mexico’s early sound films and a mini soap opera, following two men and their love for a woman which becomes tragic.
From 1970, Soleil Ô from the former French colony of Mauritania is a direct attack on racism, following an immigrant who goes to Paris for work. Director Med Hondo had already made the move to Paris where he got constant work as an actor, using his own money to fund his first film that took four years to make. Downpour, from 1972, was a film pre-Iranian New Wave that fell into disrepair and nearly forgotten. The one surviving print was found in the hands of the director, Bahram Bayzai, who is still with us and now lives in California. The last one, a film that could be seen already on the Criterion Channel, is the very brutal Pixote from Hector Babenco, following a group of homeless youths who suffer at the hands of the corrupt law enforcement and breakout in their long struggle to just survive on the streets of Brazil.
Director: Josh Boone Writer: Josh Boone, Knate Lee Stars: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Blu Hunt, Alice Braga
Synopsis: Five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.
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The New Mutants isn’t the best X-Men film, but it’s definitely not the worst. It’s an odd mash-up of teen or coming of age flick with bits of psychological horror thrown in for good measure. It gives the audience a variety of interesting characters with different powers and backgrounds but doesn’t fully give any of them a good arc. The film also comes with a lot of baggage due to its original 2018 release date being pushed back several times for reshoots, editing, and then Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Even with the indeterminate genre and the assumed expectations brought on by years of delays, The New Mutants is an interesting addition to the X-Men franchise, worthy of checking out.
The New Mutants follows the main protagonist, Danielle Moonstar (Blue Hunt), who is admitted to a hospital after a traumatic event. She is told that she is a mutant with undetermined powers and she, along with four others, is there to learn what her powers are and can’t leave until Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) decides she can control them. The group dynamic changes after Dani arrives and unexplained things start happening at the Hospital.
This film’s greatest asset is its diverse group of characters. Each mutant has a has their own past, problems they have to overcome, and new powers to deal with. The New Mutants are not a group of characters we’ve seen before on the big screen (save for one, Sunspot, but he was barely in the previous movie). That’s one of the good and bad things about bringing any of the X-Men to life- there are so many to choose from. There are over 200 characters that belong to the X-Men at one time or another so you never know who you’re going to get when they make a new movie. The New Mutants features Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin, an abrasive but powerful mutant who is the only one who seems to understand what’s actually going on at the hospital. Maisie Williams plays Rahne Sinclair, the most welcoming of the group and a devout Scottish catholic with a werewolf-like mutation. Sam Guthrie is portrayed by Charlie Heaton, a shy but polite country boy who always seems to have a lot on his shoulders. Roberto da Costa is played by Henry Zaga, a Brazilian playboy with wealthy parents who doesn’t like to talk about his past.
This film was much less teen horror and more psychologically disturbing than I expected. I had to double-check the rating because at times it felt more R than PG-13. This isn’t necessarily a good or bad thing, just not what I was expecting from a movie with a PG-13 rating about teenagers. I like the dark and scary side of comic book films and look forward to seeing more with a horror twist to them. The New Mutants does a great job building tension and creating scary scenes without the overuse of jump scares. Another positive check for this movie is the effects. After two years of delays, you’d hope they nailed the look of the mutants and their powers and they more or less did. Rahne was a little teen-wolf looking at times, but all movies (and tv shows) seem to struggle coming up with a convincing-looking half-wolf/half-human
Overall, I enjoyed The New Mutants but there were a few things that I had an issue with. The most problematic is the racist comments Illyana makes towards Dani. She says offensive things to Dani about her Indigenous background, including derogatory remarks about buffalo and even calling her “Pocahontas”. I’m not sure why this was included? Illyana is rude and abrasive and openly admits to killing people, but racist comments are out of character for her and therefore unnecessary. It did nothing for either character that couldn’t have been accomplished with your run of the mill teen bullying. The only explanation I can think of for including it is either the director and writer are oblivious to how offensive those comments are, or they were trying to make fun of things President Trump has said. Either way, it didn’t work, they shouldn’t have been left in there, they had two years to realize it was a mistake so I’m going to hold it against them. Additionally, Roberto’s (Henry Zaga) backstory is the only one that was dramatically changed from the comics. I’m not sure why they would do that when the others were fairly similar to their source material. In the comics, his powers are initially triggered after a racially motivated attack and they didn’t use that for the film. Especially in today’s world, why would they change something so (unfortunately) relatable and on top of that include the racist dialogue aimed at Dani? It doesn’t sit right with me.
Another complaint I have is with the character development. I felt that it was rushed; one minute the characters are struggling with their inner demons and don’t have control of their powers, the next they’ve mastered them and are amazing teenage mutants. They skipped a step and it was noticeable. They also didn’t explain Dani’s powers very well, especially the beginning of the film and why her powers manifested in the first place. I’m eager to see these characters in future films- learning from Professor X maybe? – I am interested to see what is next for the New Mutants.
To wrap up, The New Mutants is an interesting film. I both liked and disliked it, either way, I would definitely watch it again. Anya Taylor-Joy was a clear standout and if she does not appear in future Marvel/X-Men films I will be both furious and devastated. The film definitely pushes the limit on PG-13 so if you are considering taking kids to see it, I would watch the trailers and read some reviews before making that decision. All in all, a decent addition to the X-Men franchise.
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we round out the summer movie season by discussing a pair of Tim Burton films in Batman and Batman Returns! Plus, a few thoughts on the very sad and unfortunate passing of Chadwick Boseman.
2020 has been quite the year and its whirlwinds show no sign of slowing down. It happens ever year, obviously, but the people we’ve lost this year from the film industry seem more poignant than usual. And more frequent. Some are expected given their age, but nothing can prepare you for what happened to Boseman. It’s tragic and he will be dearly missed. On the other end of that coin though, it’s the end of the summer and we felt like going out with a bang as we prepare for the fall season. Given all the Batman news we’ve seen recently, coupled with our review of Batman Forever last week, it just made sense to dive into the more critically acclaimed Batman films on this episode. And spoiler alert, it was a lot of fun.
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Movie Review: Batman (6:10) Director: Tim Burton Writer: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger
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Director: Dean Parisot Writer: Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon Stars: Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine
Synopsis: A visitor from the future tells best friends Bill and Ted that one of their songs can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe.
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Sometimes, you see a movie at just the right time. Like it was meant to be. If you had told me that Bill & Ted Face The Music would be that movie for me in 2020, I do not think I would have believed you. But, as the film itself tells us, “sometimes, things don’t make sense until the end of the story.” Now, to be ultra honest about my biases, I am a big fan of the Bill and Ted movies, especially given that the first movie, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, was released in 1989 when I was ten years old. The perfect age for a stoner comedy without any actual drug use. Outside of a frankly dated slur, the movie is harmless, though my incessant rewatching might have caused harm to my parent’s sanity.
So let’s get the nonsense out of the way. No, it’s not a perfect movie. Yes, some of the special effects are genuinely awful. And a couple of the side characters (I’m looking at you weird murder robot) are a bit groan-worthy. But let’s be real. Did you expect incredible CGI? This is a movie that just barely got made in terms of time and money.
Bill & Ted Face The Music has a difficult task. It must not only tap into nostalgia after a tremendous gap of time but also build upon it. Oh, and it also has to end perfectly. After all, with your stars getting older (Keanu as a vampire, notwithstanding), they cannot simply stretch out the time travel aspect over more and more movies. But let’s take a moment to shine some light on our titular characters. Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) also have an incredibly difficult job in this third movie. They are, as always, basically positive characters that have a great attitude even in dire circumstances. But this time, it is a little different. Neither character is a young man anymore, and, as such, there are some pretty serious problems they have to deal with.
Always a team, both Bill and Ted, are struggling. They still haven’t written the song to unite humanity and create complete harmony, and time is running out. Ted, especially, is experiencing intense self-doubt and starts to wonder if they should just pack it in. After all, if you feel destined to create something great and have continually failed, how long do you keep trying? Bill is much more positive, but as the movie wears on, you can see the doubt increasing in him, as well. But, of course, even the serious subject matter is played with a knowing grin, and it is better for it.
One of the best choices the script makes, written by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson, is splitting the movie into Bill and Ted’s journey and their daughter’s story. Thea (a delightful Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine, doing the best late 80’s Keanu impression imaginable) are honestly the movie’s two stars. Their journey to put together a band to help their dads manages to capture the original story of Excellent Adventure, while also expanding upon it and focusing on the music (as opposed to a history report). These two never miss a beat and get what a Bill and Ted movie is supposed to feel like.
Bill & Ted Face The Music is surprisingly about a lot of things, including legacy. It deftly examines the idea that our legacies are not just our own, but shared. We never genuinely do things on our own, in a vacuum. In Bill and Ted’s case, this involves their friends, like Death (William Sadler), their daughters as mentioned earlier, and their wives Elizabeth (Erinn Hayes) and Joanna (Jayma Mays). And it should be noted that they don’t do it on their own. They listen to their loved ones, almost all women, which leads them to where they need to be on that fateful day. The one male presenting character they deal with, in Death, leads to a problem, and it’s solved through non-stereotypical ways, like discussion and apology. Like most of the movie, the way it handles conflict is truly a breath of fresh air.
Without giving away the ending, it is basically flawless. These are silly comedies, always have been, so it was never going to be a simple end. As mentioned, the film tells us that it will all make sense when we get there, and although unpredictable, it works. This may seem like a strange comparison, but Bill & Ted Face The Music made me think of The Before Trilogy. Both series looks at a similar relationship, but with each entry, it’s a different lens because of the passage of time. A few years ago, when this was announced, many complained that we didn’t need another Bill and Ted movie. I am happy to report that they were wrong. Now, especially in 2020, a story of family, forgiveness, and connection is precisely what we need.
Director: Michael Almereyda Writer: Michael Almereyda Stars: Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Jim Gaffigan, Kyle MacLachlan
Synopsis: Visionary inventor Nikola Tesla fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition, then faces thornier challenges with his new system for worldwide wireless energy.
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Look, let’s just get this out of the way. There is almost nothing tougher to make great than a biopic. Most of them are not memorable. Most of them are not terrible. The vast majority of them just sit there, like a side dish that you just can’t get excited about. It doesn’t disgust you, but your taste buds aren’t exactly jumping for joy. The best of them are big and broad; they cover more than life. Lawrence of Arabia and Malcolm X fit in that category. The other interesting biopics are because they glance off the full biography to tell a subtler story, like A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Despite all of this, I was still excited about Tesla. Yes, a biopic but one about a primarily misunderstood figure and starring one of our best actors of the past two decades.
But, it is with great regret that I report that Tesla is just another forgettable biopic. It is neither good enough nor bad enough to be remembered for much even a few days later. But let’s start with the positives. Ok, a positive. Ethan Hawke is predictably good in the lead role. As expected, he is asked to do a lot, including a mild affectation to his voice, and to portray a complicated figure with little to no emotional material afforded by the script. But there is something just behind the eyes that lets us in. Hawke allows us inside of Tesla’s mind for the briefest of moments, and that is when it shines. Well that, and the much-discussed scene of him singing “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears For Fears. It’s as incredible as you’ve heard. Does it make a lick of sense in the way the movie is structured? Absolutely not. But honestly, I wish Tesla took more risks like this.
The creator of Tesla, writer/director Michael Almereyda, certainly thinks he’s making something risky and different. But frankly, Tesla is about as exciting as someone trying to recite a Wikipedia entry about the man half from memory, all the while checking their notes. And this is represented on screen, with our narrator talking about how many Google images of Tesla are on the search engine compared to other luminaries. Of course, the idea is that this great man and inventor should be remembered as more than just Edison-lite. But this message has been communicated better in films in which Tesla is a minor character, like The Prestige. Here, it feels as if we are spending about 100 minutes merely scratching the surface of who this man is. There is no depth afforded to him as the film leaps back and forth between vignettes and half-truths. This could be entertaining if done well, but only if.
Almereyda’s direction is one of the film’s most significant flaws in the entire picture. This should not be a massive surprise as, regardless of quality, his recent movies, including Marjorie Prime and Experimenter, haven’t been precisely awe-inspiring in their visuals. But when you have a polarizing figure like Tesla, combined with the obvious visual appeal of electricity in general, and the electric chair in specific, any director should be able to put an aesthetically noticeable stamp on someone like Tesla. But, the film being what it is, there isn’t a single shot that stands out above the rest. In that way, his direction is quite representative of the film as a whole. Not good, not bad, just serviceable at best.
One last diamond in the rough is Kyle MacLachlan, a pleasure to see on screen as always. In a reunion of Almereyda’s Hamlet, McLachlan portrays Tesla’s rival, Thomas Edison. MacLachlan relishes every opportunity to play the film’s villain. All of his precious few scenes, both real and imagined, almost make the movie worth the price of admission. I mean, how can you pass up a chance to see McLachlan and Hawke share not only the screen but also smash ice cream in each other’s faces. Yes, that happens. And no, no further context will be given.
So, is Tesla a bad movie? No, you can certainly do worse. Plus, accomplished actors Hawke and MacLachlan carry it across the mediocre finish line. Is it a good movie, though? Definitely not. It is stunningly without a singular above-average moment, outside of Ethan Hawke singing in full character. But, frankly, it is just not enough. It is more ill-conceived than most biopics but also lacks any character to make it memorable.
On this week’s Extra Film, Ryan and Jay continue their David Fincher Movie Series with The Game, and then they review the indie biopic, Tesla.
After a wonderful review of Se7en last week, the boys dive into Fincher’s follow up from 1997. With Se7en being such a success, Fincher was riding high in Hollywood, able to make whatever he wanted next. What we got was a puzzle box film about a man signing up to partake in a game that he can’t control. The Game is looked upon as the most forgotten and underrated film in Fincher’s career, with it also being the only film to get a good treatment from the Criterion Collection. But, as the boys start their review, it’s clear they aren’t big fans of the film, leading to a surprisingly negative response. It’s a lot of fun listening to Ryan and Jay get frustrated with this one.
After that, the guys turn to Tesla, the lastest Sundance release from director Michael Almereyda. Following the life of Nikola Tesla, we see an unconventional look at this inventor’s life with another solid lead performance from the great Ethan Hawke. While the film was trashed at Sundance, Tesla received better reviews from the Extra Film guys on this show. Though their reviews were more middle of the road, Ryan was higher on it than Jay, and it led to another interesting discussion.
Thanks for listening!
– Movie Review: The Game (3:33) Director: David Fincher Screenplay: John Brancato, Michael Ferris Stars: Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn, Deborah Kara Unger
– Movie Review: Tesla (47:32) Directors: Michael Almereyda Screenplay: Michael Almereyda Stars: Ethan Hawke, Eve Hewson, Jim Gaffigan, Kyle MacLachlan
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Director: Charlie Kaufman Writer: Charlie Kaufman Stars: Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons, Toni Collette, David Thewlis
Synopsis: Full of misgivings, a young woman travels with her new boyfriend to his parents’ secluded farm. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself.
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Reviewing I’m Thinking of Ending Things after one viewing is unfair. It is unfair to the film. It is unfair to the reviewer. Charlie Kaufman has always been a tough nut to crack, especially when he sits in the director’s chair, but the freedom of a Netflix deal and whatever seems to be troubling Kaufman these days brought about his most elusive film, to date. However, a piece of art being elusive does not restrict it from being worthwhile. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a, in typical Kaufman fashion, a tragicomedy drenched in self-doubt, loaded with self-loathing, and sprinkled with self-importance. Whether or not the film is knowingly, playfully self-important or oblivious to its pretense is sure to be touched upon in nearly every review of the film– for the record, I believe that Charlie Kaufman was born with his tongue firmly planted to his cheek and has never bothered to move it. He knows he’s smart, but he also makes movies that show how little that matters. Whether tackling ideas of death, aging, media, relationships, or so much more, the film is always engaging, even when you feel mentally defeated. It’s a film that demands a second watch, but watching it will never feel like a chore. It works both as a dreamlike journey and as a rigorous mental exercise.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things is the story of a young woman (referred to in the marketing material as The Young Woman), played by Jesse Buckley, on her way to visit her new boyfriend’s parents for the first time. The problem is, as the title implies, she has a distinct feeling that their relationship won’t last. Her inner-thoughts are communicated through narration frequently, allowing Kaufman to flex his writing muscles. The prose is biting, thoughtful, and hilarious. Her boyfriend, Jake (Jesse Plemons), treats his girlfriend well, but his insecurity and short temper flare up regularly. The film starts with a car ride that takes up the better part of 20 minutes. During the ride, the eeriness of suburbia and classical Americana (well-trodden territory in the abstract works of directors like David Lynch, Tim Burton, and the Coen Brothers, among numerous others) becomes apparent. An intense snowstorm swirls around them as the soundtrack for Oklahoma plays on the radio.
When the couple arrives at the farmhouse, things feel… off. It is as if our characters stepped into The Matrix, surrounded by several glitches that disconnect them from reality. Jake’s parents, played by David Thewlis and Toni Collette, are socially inept. His father seems incapable of looking in people’s eyes until he suddenly decides to look too directly and too aggressively in people’s eyes. His mother is gunning for the world record for most awkward laughs at a single dinner. The performances here by Thewlis and Collette are remarkable, especially when you look back at all the things they end up being asked to do in a compressed amount of time, the details of which would spoil some of the film’s funniest and most heartbreaking bits. The portion at the farmhouse is the most accessible and mainstream part of the film, which is remarkable considering the abstract leaps and bold visual choices during that portion of the film. With the film’s most literal scenes out of the way, the weirdness turns up a notch when the couple heads home in an even stronger storm. Trying to explain the plot after that would read like a Mad Lib written by a man going through some sort of emotional crisis.
The dialogue sequences in the car are cinematic thanks to creative camerawork from cinematographer Łukasz Żal, who further establishes himself as one of the best cinematographers on Earth after getting an Academy Award nomination for 2018’s Cold War. In a film with multiple long stretches of two people simply talking, Żal’s role is crucial. Buckley and Plemons never seem to be seen the same way twice. This is obviously impossible, considering how much time we spend in the vehicle. Still, the illusion is played effectively thanks to angles that all feel unique, excellent coverage, and crisp editing. I’m Thinking of Ending Things also gets a lot of mileage out of stellar sound design. Whether used for comedic effect or to accentuate Kaufman’s unique sense of dread with the steady hammering of windshield wipers, audio is a valuable weapon in this film’s arsenal.
While all of the technical elements are top-notch, at the end of the day, a Charlie Kaufman film is about the ideas that Kaufman’s bringing to the table, and with I’m Thinking of Ending Things, he’s brought a family buffet that cannot possibly be consumed in one sitting. The metatextual device that weaves throughout the film is the constant referencing of other creative work. Jake’s childhood bedroom is littered with old VHS tapes, weighty poetry collections, and the writings of the great critic, Pauline Kael (between this film and his recent novel, Antkind, Kaufman seems to be on a film critic kick.). Often, the work of others is directly quoted. Characters seem to be possessed by other creatives as they spit out the exact words written or spoken by someone in the past. The film copies some of cinema’s most famous shots. Kaufman posits that ripping off other people can, in fact, lift the original work to a greater plane, if the original creator has been established. However, he also believes that, in many cases, the initial work will be credited to the thief. Against an artist’s will, their work can be taken away from them. This idea is more a battle Kaufman seems to be fighting than a lecture he’s yelling at the audience, but the through-line is a fascinating one. Many audience members will recognize homages to films like Fargo, but there are so many others that many people (including some of the best film critics in the world) will miss and falsely associate as original to I’m Thinking of Ending Things.
It’s also imbued with an incredible sense of dread and sadness. Kaufman’s writing is always full of self-doubt and a feeling of loneliness. Still, when he also directs his work, it becomes more akin to horror films than the more accessible works of directors who have adapted his writing, like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. I’m Thinking of Ending Things isn’t quite as singularly-focused on death as his fantastic film, Synecdoche, New York, but it certainly has an eye on the subject. Jake sees death as a natural implication of life (the farm boy in him) and a gross inconvenience (the city boy in him). There is a beauty in the gentleness of the aged, but also something off-putting about their reliance on others. Death is handled almost like a hand-off by those responsible for someone on Earth to whatever comes next. There are no tearful goodbyes or funerals, just people leaving rooms or supernatural entities acting as guides down a hallway. The only things the characters have when they approach death are their memories. They pass through us all for our entire lives, the wind pushing towards the sails of existence. Inner-lives can feel wholly separated from the public lives these people lead. Identity is an abstraction, built by self-assuredness and stability, neither of which Buckley’s character has. Her reality crumbles alongside her sense of direction and confidence in her place in the universe. It is another successful assault on human emotion from Charlie Kaufman.
That is not to say that I’m Thinking of Ending Things won’t frustrate. The car scenes can feel drawn out, and sometimes the barrage of ideas and abstract tools used can feel a bit too untethered. That said, it is an incredibly special film that has the power to overwhelm, mentally, and emotionally. This should absolutely not be the first Charlie Kaufman film anyone watches, but fans of his work will find it incredibly rewarding. Rarely does a film strike a chord this powerful. The film covers an incredible breadth of ideas and digs into incredible emotional depths. It is one of the greatest films released by Netflix and one of the best films that 2020 has to offer. It is very fitting that a movie that presents human thought as a virus consuming our reality is, perhaps, the peak of COVID-19 cinema.
Holy Batman, Batman! When has Batman never been part of the discourse? As a pop culture icon, Batman is one of the most popular and long-running, from his creation in the late 1930’s by Bob Kane and Bill Finger to countless movies and shows, both animated and live-action. And now, thanks to DC FanDome, the Batman hype has once again grown exponentially, include Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman with Robert Pattinson, and the knowledge that BOTH Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton will be reprising the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Flash. Batman is no joke, so let’s celebrate his best and battiest cinematic achievements.
And, we have the second wave coming. We opened up early, the number of cases went up, skeptics are learning the hard way, and I’m being forced to suffocate some more with my mask going outside. It’s the thick of summer, hot and heavy in South Florida, and I (and JD) will just stay inside to cool off and watch more streaming movies. Even if my theaters open up, I don’t know if I will go unless I’m all alone. As we wait patiently still for more COVID relief, here are some more films from the Channel that I saw.
Things To Come (1936)
H.G. Wells personally adapted his own novel in collaboration with noted producer Alexander Korda. His vision is of a dystopian world, where the world goes at war indefinitely and the pursuit of great technology fuels the conflict. From Everytown, England, a simple man named Cabal joins the Royal Air Force and becomes a lifelong pilot pushing technology to the Moon. Back on Earth, the land becomes a wasteland where a warlord simply called The Boss has total control over the whole area that Cabal has to come down to save. Set from 1940 to 2036, it is considered an early masterpiece of the sci-fi genre.
Rocco And His Brothers (1960)
Luchiano Visconti’s three-hour social realist trek follows a family who moves from the Italian South, poorer and rural-based, to the industrial Northern city of Milan during the Italian economic boom. The eldest son has already moved over and is married; the matriarch and her four other sons join in the trek where each brother takes a different path in their new surroundings. It is Rocco (played by Alain Delon), the middle brother, who is the central character as his innocence is challenged by his older brother and their romantic interest in the same woman. Blood is thicker than water, but it is tested all the way to its breaking point in a family’s struggle to adapt to Northern ways of life.
Meantime (1983)
Mike Leigh, a director I profiled on this site before, has his brilliant drama about a working-class family living off the dole in Thatcher’s England on the channel along with other wonderful films of his including Life Is Sweet,Naked, Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, and Another Year. His early film produced for TV follows the Pollocks, living in London’s East End in an apartment struggling for work. It contrasts with another family member’s marriage to a man with plenty of money, but it is an unhappy one. The main action follows the two adult sons played by Tim Roth and Eric Daniels plus the film debut of Gary Oldman who plays a skinhead friendly to one of the sons. It’s a slice-of-life of struggle in the family with commonplace events that fall in between.
Mysterious Skin (2005)
Director Gregg Araki, a figure associated in the New Queer Cinema movement from the 1990s, has a trio of films out. There’s the “gay Thelma and Louise” called The Living End, Totally Fucked Up, and this 2005 dark drama starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It’s certainly not one to just drop in watching, showing the lives of two friends who go on split paths after a horrific event marks them for life. The genre falls under coming-of-age as both characters enter their late teens, but its subject matter is handled delicately within the realm of coming to terms with the tragedy that connects them.
Pioneers Of African-American Cinema
Black cinema has been around since the 1920s, forced to work independently and thrive within their own communities, as well as the outreach to white audiences who cared for and supported their industry. Two decades worth of films, both silent and sound, available with an incredible eye into a world no one can understand as it was back then in the era of Jim Crow and the lack of stories told from the Black perspective. Two films, in particular, stood out for me: Body And Soul from the “Czar of Black Hollywood,” Oscar Micheaux, and The Blood of Jesus from Spencer Williams, who would gain more notoriety for TVs Amos n’ Andy in the 50s.
Body And Soul was the film debut of Paul Robeson, who plays an escaped prisoner that parades himself as a preacher planning to steal money from a congregation, only to be confronted with his past by one of the parishioners. One of only three silent films to survive of Micheaux’s, it is presented with a lively jazz score from the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. The Blood of Jesus is a fable about a dying woman who is at the crossroads between heaven and hell and is caught between temptation run by Satan and unification with Jesus Himself. It was shot in Texas for $5000 and used non-professionals except for Williams himself. Both movies represent the Afro-American life of the past, telling the stories Christian faith the community lives with to this day.
This week on Episode 392 of the InSession Film Podcast, inspired by our review of Batman Forever, we discussed our Top 3 nostalgic blinder movies. This was a very rewarding exercise. It’s always fun to look back at our childhood’s and examine the films that helped shape us into who we are now. Many of those films hold special places in our hearts and we’ll defend them regardless of their objective quality. And that’s the heart of our lists this week. Perhaps more subjective than usual, but it was a joy to go back in time and cuddle up to our nostalgia as we talk about the films that meant the world to us as kids. That said, here are our lists:
(Note: Please keep in mind that we each had different criteria for our selections)
JD
1) Men in Black
2) The Rock
3) My Girl
Jay
1) The Fox and the Hound
2) Rookie of the Year
3) Muppets from Space
Honorable Mentions (Combined) Top Gun, The Lion King, Mulan, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Independence Day, I Robot, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Space Jam, Rush Hour, The Boondock Saints, Pearl Harbor, Batman Forever, Angles in the Outfield, Jumanji, Antz, Small Soldiers, Homeward Bound, Free Willy, The Sandlot, The Little Rascals, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, The Mighty Ducks, D2, A Goofy Movie, Jungle 2 Jungle, Man of the House, Air Bud, The Pagemaster, The Rescuers Down Under, Milo and Otis, The Kid (2001)
Hopefully you guys enjoyed our lists and if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. A topic like this is going to be very subjective given its personal nature, so it’s very likely your list will be different than ours. That being said, what would be your Top 3? Leave a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, Jay fills in for Brendan as we discuss Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever and the movies that we’ll always defend because of what they meant to us growing up. Plus, a few thoughts on the news from DC FanDome.
Big thanks to Jay for filling in once again. What a fun show this week. We hadn’t seen Batman Forever in…forever? Okay, well about 15-20 years and that seems like forever ago. It was a staple of JD’s childhood, so it was a treat to not only revisit the film, but have a Top 3 that looks back at our childhoods and the films that will always mean something to us. The nostalgia is palpable on this episode.
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Movie Review: Batman Forever (5:31) Director: Joel Schumacher Writer: Lee Batchler, Janet Scott Batchler, Akiva Goldsman Stars: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman
– Notes / DC FanDome / Boys State (1:01:29)
This week for our discussion segment, JD offers up a few thoughts on the documentary Boys State, but mostly we spend time talking about The Batman and Justice League. (stay tuned for final thoughts at the end of the show where we talk The Suicide Squad)
– Top 3 Nostalgic Blinder Movies (1:32:18)
This was a very rewarding exercise. It’s always fun to look back at our childhood’s and examine the films that helped shape us into who we are now. Many of those films hold special places in our hearts and we’ll defend them regardless of their objective quality. And that’s the heart of our lists this week. Perhaps more subjective than usual, but it was a joy to go back in time and cuddle up to our nostalgia as we talk about the films that meant the world to us as kids. That said, what would be your Top 3?
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
Director: David Ayer Writer: David Ayer Stars: Bobby Soto, Shia LaBeouf, George Lopez
Synopsis: A “tax collector” working for a local crime lord finds his family’s safety compromised when the rival of his boss shows up in L.A. and upends the business.
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SPOILERS BELOW
David Ayer is one of those writer-directors whose career seems to be very hit or miss. He is a guy I’ve found myself either defending or rolling my eyes till the end credits started to run. Sure he’s had a few hits along the way leading up to The Tax Collector, writing scripts for The Fast and the Furious and Training Day. But he’s also had some stinkers along the way with SWAT, Sabotage, and Suicide Squad. (Maybe he really should stop creating films that start with the letter S.) Even though it wasn’t well-received, I liked Suicide Squad because it was a lot of fun and embraced what it was, a popcorn summer flick looking to entertain all who watched it. And despite Jared Leto as the Joker, I think Suicide Squad was an all-around entertaining movie, but that’s another article for another day.
With the honor of reviewing his latest feature, I kind of gave Ayer the benefit of the doubt since he was coming off Suicide Squad and a lot of criticism. In the end, I kicked myself for even giving it an ounce of the benefit of the doubt it deserves.
The Tax Collector is the story of a man who collects “taxes” on the gangs in Los Angeles for his family, who runs the cartels from inside a prison cell. Something happens on the inside of the prison that not puts a new guy on the streets trying to take over the accounts and run the world of taxing. Still with me? When the new taxman offers the old tax man a job, and he refuses, he then kills everyone around him, including the current tax man’s wife. So the current tax man then enlists the help of the leader of the Bloods, maybe, to go on a mission to save his kids and kill the new taxman for killing his wife. But wait, it was a test, or something, from someone inside the prison the whole time, and on and on it went.
I’m not kidding when I wrote the convoluted paragraph above, it’s as one-note and confusing as that. That’s the entire movie, there’s zero subtext to this family, these characters, and this whole plot. The editing was a sloppy mess, from quick cuts to side texts, that have zero to do with the money. In the end, despite two scenes working here, this movie just felt like a student film with no real purpose or plan in life.
Let’s talk those two quick scenes, shall we? Despite the mess that this movie finds itself in really quick, you do feel really bad when the only redeeming character in this movie, Alexis (Cinthya Carmona), the wife of our main character David (Bobby Soto), is murdered. She’s genuinely sweet, and Carmona plays her as sympathetic and robust. The other scene that got a genuine reaction from me was when David is interrogating one of the “new tax collectors” goons. As the leader of the Bloods is driving a car, he opens up the door and holds his face against the pavement, causing an injury that we see in its fullest, with super impressive makeup and effects.
I wish there were more to this than what I’ve stated, but honestly, there is not. The climax to the movie happens too quickly, but then also, this whole movie moves so fast that there’s no actual time to really care about what you’re watching because you find yourself asking if you truly care for any of these people. And that’s where I want to bring David Ayer back into this because, despite his few highs, there are many more lows here. It isn’t quite Uwe Boll territory, but I wouldn’t doubt it if that’s where he heads because I was just left feeling unsatisfied with this movie. Sure, I could’ve said the cinematography is crisp but is it? If anything, this movie makes me pretty damn sad that there are struggling writers out there trying to get their work financed and greenlit, yet here’s another chance for a guy who has proven he can’t handle storytelling. But hey “That’s Showbiz”!
Should you see it? Do whatever you want, you’re an adult, and no one is stopping you. But know you aren’t missing out on anything special if you don’t watch it.
On this week’s Extra Film, Ryan and Jay continue their David Fincher Movie Series with Se7en, and then they review the political documentary, Boys State.
With the beginning of the Fincher Movie Series last week, the boys move towards what many consider the first true Fincher film in Se7en. After a terrible experience with his debut, Fincher almost didn’t direct another film. But the studio gave him the script for Se7en, and the young director got the itch to create another cinematic project. Known for being a shocking police procedural, both Ryan and Jay realized how influential Se7en has become to the mystery genre since it’s release. It’s a special film and it’s a lot of fun to listen to the guys give it such a glowing review. Warning: there are spoilers in the final thoughts section of this review.
After that, the guys transition to the documentary, Boys State. Hailed as one of the best films of 2020,Boys State examines a mock political event that takes place in Austin, TX each year with some of the youngest men in the state. Disturbing and unbelievable, our own JD Duran called it “the best horror film of the year.” And based on this review, Ryan and Jay agree, saying it was a terrifying look at the future of American politics. Both hosts liked the film, though one of them claimed it as their new favorite movie of the year. Listen to see which one it is.
Thanks for listening!
– Movie Review: Se7en (3:51) Director: David Fincher Screenplay: Andrew Kevin Walker Stars: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, John C. McGinley
– Movie Review: Boys State (1:01:59) Directors: Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine
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Director: Chris Lofing, Travis Cluff Writer: Chris Lofing, Travis Cluff Stars: Ema Horvath, Chris Milligan, Brittany Falardeau
Synopsis: When Auna Rue transfers to a prestigious new acting school, she encounters a malevolent spirit after participating in a viral challenge.
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Well, the good news is that The Gallows Act II is better than its predecessor, but only barely. The Gallows was one of my least favorite movies of 2015. I found it narratively derivative and visually messy with a lot of mediocre acting. Look, there are some genuinely fantastic found-footage horror films out there, but it’s a subgenre that is overflowing of crap. And it’s understandable why. It’s an aesthetic style that is pretty cheap to produce. A production company could fund a few found footage films for what it might cost to shoot just one conventionally-made movie; profit is the name of the game. Of course, if made cleverly and inventively, a found footage flick can wind up quite useful. Unfortunately, the majority are pretty shoddy and unexceptional, which is why found footage does not get much respect, even within the horror community. The term is practically a punchline among some. And films like The Gallows have a lot to do with that poor reputation. Thankfully, The Gallows Act II manages to be marginally superior to the first “act,” but it’s still far from great.
The writing-directing duo of Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing returned for this latest installment. To shake things up, they boldly forwent their found-footage style. For the most part, The Gallows Act II is filmed more traditionally. Keeping true to its predecessor, this sequel’s cold open begins with some “self-filmed” material—teens videoing themselves getting into supernatural shenanigans, as teens are wont to do. But then the tape experiences digital interference, and we cut to a standard establishing shot of a house. From here on, most of the movie is shot “normally.” This reminds me of when [REC] 3: Genesis made the artistic choice to abandon the first two installments style, but it seems more natural than it happens with a second installment rather than a third entry. Occasionally, though, The Gallows Act II still utilizes motivated recording sources when it’s called for.
One of those motivated sources is the webcam of our protagonist. Ema Horvath plays Auna Rue, an adolescent who yearns for viral fame. She’s a vlogger with hundreds of subscribers, but hardly any friends in real life. But hey, to paraphrase my life coach Jill Roberts from Scream 4: who needs friends when you can have fans? Horvath is a highlight here. She has great charisma and a lot of charm, and she’s the only thing holding the picture together. Her Auna Rue (a somewhat silly name that manages to stick, so I’ll give Cluff and Lofing credit there) is an outsider at a new school, which has a well-respected theatre program—because of course she also wants to be an actor. The manner with which this film depicts drama classes is… interesting. It makes you wonder if the directors ever took one. Because, having taken several myself, I can assure you that acting students rehearse more than just the same one friggin monologue all semester. When reciting hers, Horvath purposefully takes charge of a pitfall that many fledgling actors walk into unintentionally. While monologuing, Auna Rue dons an “actor voice,” this faux-heightened form of enunciating immediately reads as I’M ACTING. There’s a way of doing it properly, and then there’s the way most untrained young actors do it. It’s expressly prevalent when performing classical and period pieces.
Which totally makes sense here. Because her solo is from *bum bum bum* “The Gallows,” a cursed play about… a guy who gets executed? I dunno? What draws Auna Rue (good lord, that name) to “The Gallows” is not its plot but its infamy—and the social media videos associated with it. The Charlie Challenge involves teens reading passages from the script aloud on camera as weird stuff happens around them. Think of it as Gen Z’s version of invoking Bloody Mary or Candyman. The titular Charlie is Charlie Grimille, an actor who died during a high school production of the play when the titular gallows malfunctioned. (This is why we have unions.) So now Charlie’s ghost haunts teenagers who utter the words from the play that killed him, naturally. And it’s not exactly a secret? Charlie has a following akin to Slenderman. And, in search of her own following, Auna Rue does the challenge repeatedly—even with mounting evidence that Charlie’s spirit is absolutely real and rather malicious. Her hubris blinds her to the apparent danger she’s brought upon herself; instead of fright, she’s filled with exhilaration. What starts with your basic inanimate objects whipping across the room steadily escalates to the point of no return for Auna Rue. Sounds cool, but I assure you Horvath’s performance continues to be the only exciting thing as the story builds because it’s certainly not the jump scares.
Seriously. There are approximately 832 attempted jump scares in this 99-minute movie. A couple of them are successful, but the other 830 are done so poorly and unnecessary that the efforts become laughable. Jump scares get a bad rap, but they are not inherently a bad thing. However, an overreliance on them signals a lack of narrative confidence. Likewise, so is a reusing a plot device repeatedly—namely showing your audience something horrific (like the sudden, gruesome death of one of the characters) only for there to be a hard cut revealing that it wasn’t real at all, merely a vision. It’s lame and grows rather annoying after the third or fourth one.
But you know what, I actually would’ve been okay with the filmmakers doing it one last time if it had been done to erase the godawful ending. The conclusion of the film completely undercuts everything that came before it—not to mention it is super disrespectful to its protagonist. It’s a mean-spirited finale that doesn’t feel justified in any meaningful way and plays out like a big middle finger to the audience and Auna Rue herself. I honestly felt somewhat bad for Ema Horvath. She deserves better. And frankly, so does the audience. To put your viewers through an hour and a half of hackneyed horror tropes and technical misfires only to dole out a real dud of an ending is just straight-up rude—Justice for Ema Horvath.
Back in June of this year, we tragically lost director Joel Schumacher. While he wasn’t the most “acclaimed” of filmmakers, many of his movies have developed a cult following over the years, and rightfully so. Primarily known for directing two of the the campiest Batman movies, he also crafted some incredibly efficient thrillers since the early 1980’s, many of them still being celebrated today (one of them even got a remake only a few short years ago). It’s safe to say that Joel Schumacher left behind a legacy, not just because of his untimely death, but because as an artist he was, dare I say, underrated. That legacy served as the inspiration for our poll this week.
With that said, what is your favorite film directed by Joel Schumacher?
Director: Brandon Trost Writer: Simon Rich Stars: Seth Rogen, Sarah Snook
Synopsis: An immigrant worker at a pickle factory is accidentally preserved for 100 years and wakes up in modern-day Brooklyn.
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From a mention in the Torah to the centerpiece of deli meals, the pickle is inherently Jewish food. Even in Jewish villages in eastern Europe, the brined cucumber was an integral part of finding solid food that would survive during harsh conditions. For those reasons, the most Jewish film of 2020 is titled An American Pickle. Adapted from the short story ‘Sell Out’ by Simon Rich, who also wrote the screenplay, the film feels like an elevator pitch in search of a film. The film features the leader of stoner Jews, Seth Rogen, in dual roles. The first is Ben Greenbaum, a freelance app developer living in Brooklyn, and the second is Ben’s great-grandfather, Herschel Greenbaum, who worked in a pickle factory in 1919 and fell into a vat of pickle juice where he was brined for a hundred years. Suddenly, it’s 2019, and Herschel is wandering the streets of New York.
Herschel Greenbaum came to New York with his wife, Sarah, after growing up and working in an eastern Europe shtetl. After he’d been salted for years, the movie sets up a series of plot threads but doesn’t follow through on any of them. There’s an element of Herschel being a fish out of water, where every new piece of technology is a confusing and scary thing to be learned. While there are moments of humor and levity here (for example, when Ben shows his great grandfather how he can easily make seltzer water at home), most of the comedy is tame and average. Tangents about Herschel starting his pickle business, Brooklyn hipsters, and cancel culture mostly feel like padding for a movie that never really finds its footing.
The film’s best moments are about Jewish heritage and the lineage of Jewish culture. Out of a lot of modern Jewish artists, Seth Rogen seems like he might be one of the few who is seriously concerned with what Judaism might look like through the lens of pop culture. Like many other 30 something-year-old Jews, he seems to have seriously invested in his ancestry and religious customs. By having Rogen play both a failed 21st century Jew and his downtrodden great grandfather, he comfortably splits the difference between two historical figures of the religion. But An American Pickle isn’t entirely Rogen’s film, and to some degree, that’s where it falters.
Simon Rich is a great short story writer, but it doesn’t seem as if his strong suit comes with screenplays. He briefly worked on SNL, writes often for The New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs section, and even produced a TV show based on a collection of his short stories. But his first feature script feels like a collection of plot strands without a unifying plot. It also seems like Rich and Rogen are interested in two different things: while Rogen attempts to turn this into an exploration of Jewishness with a cute penultimate scene in a shul, Rich seems stuck on the observational humor he excels at. In an attempt to mend the two together, they get stuck in no man’s land.
