Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Paul Greengrass
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Jamie Bell, Stephen Dillane

Synopsis: Based on the true story of the uprising that inspired the legend of Robin Hood, Andrew Garfield stars as the leader of a rebellion against the tyranny of King Richard II in a fight for justice.

First, the new Andrew Garfield film The Uprising is the type of film that doesn’t pull any punches, and does not have time to have its characters grieve. The movie’s characters are fueled by pure, unadulterated rage and adrenaline, channeling our current reality, where the rich get richer, by gutting the poor through exploitation, pillaging, and squeezing them dry so they can not offend political allies and keep their war chests above the threshold. 

There is a viciousness about The Uprising that is cathartic, because it is universal, as many understand macro and mezzo institutions and officials exploit the unfortunate to enrich themselves or keep themselves solvent. That is the film’s secret weapon, tapping into a population that knows what it feels like to be squeezed, because it is a tale as old as time. That fury gives the film its power, even when the execution in the final moments loses its way. 

The story follows a simple farmer known as the Ploughman (Academy Award nominee Andrew Garfield) around 1381, in the wake of the Black Death, which killed nearly half of England’s population—just over two million of its citizens. Of course, when you lose half the population, there is far less tax revenue to go around. So, with the teenage king considered too young to rule, the governing council decides to increase taxes on the poor.

Of course, why tax the Church or the merchant class when the council could lose political power? So, down the rabbit hole we go, taxing those who barely have enough to survive (sound familiar?). The Ploughman is a time bomb ready to explode, still mourning the deaths of his wife and two children. In a disturbing scene, tax collectors begin to “examine” young women to determine their taxable age, something the Ploughman will not let stand, sparking a revolt. 

The Ploughman’s actions unite the peasants, including Wat Tyler (Cosmo Jarvis of Shōgun fame), who once served the king’s father in the military, as well as a local priest, John Ball (Jamie Bell), an outsider within the Church. The theme of institutional mistreatment runs throughout the film, particularly through Alyce (Leave No Trace’s Thomasin McKenzie), a young woman and former nun who left her calling after suffering abuse at the hands of a bishop.

The Uprising is from writer/director Paul Greengrass, who has made a name for himself with Captain Phillips and the majority of the Jason Bourne franchise. Known for his talent for controlled chaos, Greengrass has delivered breathtaking scenes, like the passengers storming the cockpit in United 93 or the march turning violent in Bloody Sunday. Yet some of his films have a penchant for replacing depth with urgency.

This can feel like a sugar rush, that is energizing in the moment, but will leave you in the moment feeling empty afterward. The initial riot sequence, that extends from the collector to the arrival of local officials, is peak Greengrass. Taut, with gripping white knuckle rising tension, the scene sets the tone. However, the final battle scene is a bit convoluted, with major characters being drawn away that feels unnatural. 

Then there is the final sequence, which is truncated, clumsy, and lacking resonance, including a scene involving someone having a nightmare that feels amateurish at best. The entire film builds to that moment, not just as a payoff and earned retribution, but as the much-talked-about Robin Hood connection whose arrow ultimately misses the mark completely. Frustrating, considering there’s enough excitement and suspense to see the story through to the end. 

Still, Greengrass’s modern, kinetic style feels lived-in. Along with Garfield’s blistering turn, serviceable supporting performances, and propulsive action, The Uprising is a bruising piece of historical rage that works far better in the midst of rebellion than when it dives headfirst into sentimental humanism that rings false by the film’s end, soaring with anger, but falters when trying to reach grace.

You can watch The Uprising exclusively in theaters starting September 11th!

Grade: C+

Director: Susanne Bier
Writers: Akiva Goldsman, Georgia Pritchett
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Joey King

Synopsis: A multi generational family of witches, cursed to be loveless for centuries, attempts to break the spell by confronting dark secrets and sacrificing for each other.

Egad! You can hear the exclamations and groans from across the many minds of movie lovers: ANOTHER legacy sequel?! Yes, yes, this has become the ultimate harbinger of vacuuming cash in the Hollywood system with films like Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and, more recently, Freakier Friday, but it’s been proven a couple of times that there can be quality to mine from the legacy sequel lexicon. Top Gun: Maverick and Blade Runner 2049 are sequels that manage to extend themselves from their originals in great ways, and even a film like The Devil Wears Prada 2 was able to make great use of its 20 years between movies in relation to the journalism landscape. This makes a sequel like Practical Magic 2 even more interesting, as the latest is now aiming for nostalgia points mainly because of the titular legacy of its original. The first Practical Magic was far from beloved when it was originally released, and it took time for it to reach its eventual cult status. Even today, many view it as a fun but utterly messy tonal nightmare, so if anything, Practical Magic 2 had the chance to even surpass its original’s legacy and bring its themes of sisterhood into new light. 

Unfortunately, Practical Magic 2 is about as lifeless and overwrought as some of the most monotonous legacy sequels get and makes the original look like a masterclass of pacing and filmmaking in comparison; filled with overly convoluted story elements, cozy fall vibes traded for those of an infomercial, and, most unforgivable, it’s at 130 minutes in length. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are yet again the strongest aspects, but there’s only so much that their chemistry can do with such lifelessly predictable material and jokes that barely register. Some ultra fans of the original might still walk away satisfied with enough callbacks to such fond memories, but one has to question how far this magic from the spellbook of legacy sequel laziness can truly last.

The sequel takes place in the modern day, but it first recaps where things stand after the original. The Owens family, at the end of the first film, thought they finally got rid of the curse that kills everyone they love, but once Sally Owens’ (Bullock) second husband dies, she decides to completely shut out love and magic from her life, never tell her daughters of their abilities, and make her sister Gillian (Kidman) promise to keep her secret, as well. Now, in the present day, Gillian still loves magic (and casual dating hookups), and the lovely aunts, Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing), still cast remedy spells for townspeople in need, while Sally still represses her true self and her now college-aged daughters, Kylie (Joey King) and Antonia (Maisie Williams). 

The dam soon starts to burst on Sally’s secrets once Aunt Jet discovers a mysterious book in Sally’s library, covered with dark magic, that might have the key to finally undoing their generational curse between its pages. Not long after, when Kylie admits her love for her boyfriend Gideon (Xolo Maridueña), tragedy inevitably strikes when he gets run over by a car in a traffic incident and is sent into a coma. It doesn’t take long before Kylie puts the pieces together that the rumors spread about her family being witches and their curse is real. She’s enraged at her mother for keeping things locked away and flees to London with the book of dark magic in hand to attempt to break the curse herself. With Kylie in danger of falling into dark magic, Sally and Gillian set off on a journey to find Kylie and, in the process, learn more about their family’s lineage and the further extent of their magic.

It’s a fairly obvious saving grace, to be honest, but the chemistry of Bullock and Kidman as Owens sisters is one of the few things in Practical Magic 2 that has even a faint pulse. The sisters have always been near opposites personality-wise: Gillian far more outgoing and eccentric about her heritage compared to her understandably reserved sister, but that’s part of what makes large sections of their dynamic, whether through bickering or bonding, so fun to watch. The two actresses, alongside a fine enough side role from Lee Pace as Dr. Ian Wright, produce marginal enchantment in what is otherwise such charmless material.

The original, for all its many flaws, at the very least was distinctive in its inherent nature. It was the type of film that contained the insane tonal whiplash of following up a scene of the sisters burying Gillian’s abusive ex-boyfriend with the famous midnight margaritas, but there existed such a vibe to its strange wavelength of film archetypes and cozy fall vibes that it’s not hard to see why it cultivated the following it did. Aside from one scene of Pace giving Bullock some delicious custard pie, even from the most basic of standpoints, the sequel seems to completely miss virtually any aspect of the original, as it tends to opt for colorless cinematography, laborious exposition dumps that attempt to further the lore of the Owens family, or repeated story elements that never want to stray too far from the original. 

Speaking of repetition, that would be what this sequel’s strategy is, at least for most of the extended comedic bits to be found here. More often than not, a joke between the sisters or scenes where banter is stretched out often start out humorous enough, but then a line is repeated, or it runs into that ground where it makes the funnier beats of situational comedy grow tiresome, and bits that already weren’t funny (the film thinks carrying heavy luggage is so funny, for some reason) start to become entirely obnoxious. The chemistry of Kidman and Bullock can only save so many lines and those lines definitely aren’t the sink in your seat worthy Tinder jokes.

Then there’s the story itself, which has a myriad of issues, but again, so did the original; the reason this sequel gets away with far less is that its attempts at extending the emotional satisfaction of the original are fundamentally broken at the core. Neither of Sally’s daughters ever form any unique distinctions of their own from the typical legacy sequel trapping, and this is especially true for Antonia, who has so little to do in the film as a character that she could’ve been cut out with a few script tweaks and virtually nothing would change. The bigger issue, however, is the pure predictability within all the messiness; it’s admirable to see the film trying to bring a bigger emphasis to the themes of sisterhood that are at one with these two movies, but it’s nearly impossible to have any true emotional investment in anything when you can see virtually every plot beat and emotional sacrifice or discussion coming about 20 minutes before the film actually executes on it. By the time you reach the film’s piss poor CGI climax, followed by 25 minutes of epilogue that only serve to tick off legacy sequel reference moments that haven’t been hit yet in an already far too long movie, any investment has completely evaporated.

Practical Magic 2 is such an overly drab and lifeless sequel that it just might make those who still dislike the original have their appreciation grow for it. Filled with more misses than hits in the joke department, a story that’s both predictable and needlessly all over the place, and an atmosphere in both shot composition and soundtrack that can’t hold a candle (ha ha) to the first, Practical Magic 2 cast a spell of pure boredom across the legacy sequel assembly line. It’s to the point where, besides Bullock and Kidman’s enticing chemistry, it’s a wonder if even mega fans of the original could come away satisfied with such an overlong and lazy continuation.

Grade: D+

Director: Asghar Farhadi
Writers: Asghar Farhadi, Massoumeh Lahidji
Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney

Synopsis: In search of inspiration for her new novel, Sylvie begins spying on her neighbors across the street.

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog: Six (or A Short Film About Love, whichever version you prefer) is one of the greatest movies ever made. Scratch that, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog compendium is one of the greatest movies ever made. A masterclass in visual (and thematic) storytelling, Kieślowski’s ten intersecting stories, each based on the respective Ten Commandments, pose weighty existential parables and make us aware of the human condition more than any other filmmaker – past and present. 

It baffles the mind that anyone else would dare remake (or reinterpret) one of Kieślowski’s stories within his 10-hour Dekalog, but this is what Asghar Farhadi attempts with Parallel Tales. Attempts, because it won’t take long for you to figure out that the acclaimed Iranian filmmaker, in his second French-language film after 2013’s The Past, has completely fumbled the bag and proves to all of us that no one – not even the greatest living artist – will ever successfully remake, reinterpret, or “loosely adapt” stories based on Kieślowski’s ultimate masterpiece. 

It doesn’t matter if Farhadi has composer Zbigniew Preisner by his side – the same composer who gave us the ethereal musical patterns of Dekalog – there’s no saving this disastrously misguided (and overlong) drama, which twists itself to its head until it becomes painfully boring. What starts off as a story that takes the core essence of Dekalog: Six and expands upon it – Kieślowski’s scathing critique of voyeurism by putting it on the same pedestal as adultery – rapidly spirals out of control and loses our interest, especially in how it wastes not one, but six of the finest French actors working today. 

To their credit, there isn’t a single bad performance in Parallel Tales’ ensemble. They do the best they can with what is possibly the flimsiest screenplay of their respective careers. But they’ve been in so much better stuff that it almost feels criminal to waste their talents in a movie that does them zero favors. The main problem that Farhadi deals with is how he refuses to limit his “voyeur” to one character, as Kieślowski did, until a pivotal turn that saw Grażyna Szapołowska’s Magda become the voyeur herself, after longing for Tomek’s (Olaf Lubaszenko) gaze, without knowing that he had attempted suicide following what he believed was a soul-crushing rejection. 

Parallel Tales begins with Isabelle Huppert’s Sylvie as the voyeur, but eventually all characters become the very thing they’re seemingly against. Huppert’s character is currently finding inspiration for her book about her mother’s upbringing in the apartment where her mother lived right across the street from Sylvie. As such, she spies on the three people who currently inhabit this abode: sound-effects artists Nita (Virginie Efira), Théo (Pierre Niney), and Nicolas (Vincent Cassel). Writing a story based on the things she sees (not necessarily the things that are happening), Farhadi begins to mix A Short Film About Love with A Short Film About Killing (or Dekalog: Five) until these stories don’t matter much because they were all a fabric of the author’s imagination. 

Imagination eventually becomes reality as Sylvie’s newly hired assistant, Adam (played by Extraction’s Adam Bessa), stumbles upon her manuscript and begins to stalk the neighbors across the street. What follows next is a series of contrivances so ridiculous that it almost defies categorization and makes us even wonder if Farhadi was ever good in the first place. After all, his previous film, 2022’s A Hero, was widely contested as plagiarized until the filmmaker was acquitted of all charges in 2024. Whether or not he was acquitted should still make us question exactly what kind of filmmaker he is and what stories he tells as a distinct voice within world cinema. 

There’s nothing distinct or singular in Parallel Tales. The glimmers of aesthetic flourishes at the top of the movie are quickly dismissed by the time Farhadi introduces us to all his characters. The “binocular view” shots are, of course, a direct copy (there it is) of the way Kieślowski floated his camera in Dekalog: Six. There isn’t anything that feels inherently part of Farhadi’s own DNA in this movie, even if he can direct known actors well. They’re not the problem here. Isabelle Huppert is obviously great. I mean, the scene where she lights a cigarette with a toaster alone is worth the price of admission (the way it builds up to that humorous moment is a feat unto itself, thanks in no small part to Huppert’s no-nonsense attitude). 

Virginie Efira is also excellent. When has she given a bad performance? (And we haven’t seen anything yet this year from her, if the resounding praise for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden is real) Especially in the last few scenes, the resounding emotional catharsis she feels is genuinely heartbreaking, even if the clumsy “fiction meets reality” sequence that occurs earlier doesn’t make much narrative (or thematic) sense. The actors do their best. They are not at fault. It’s Farhadi’s handling of Kieślowski’s parables that sinks the movie, because he has no idea what to say about the subject of voyeurism and obsession. Adam becomes obsessed with Nita, until it reveals something in Théo that she wasn’t aware of. Who’s obsessed with who now? Farhadi never bothers to explore thoughtful themes that are at the forefront of the picture, but certainly meanders for two hours and twenty painstakingly long minutes. 

Many dialogues (and situations) are endlessly repeated, none of them actually adding anything tangible to the proceedings. It’s a ponderous, lethargic affair that exposes how misguided of a filmmaker Farhadi actually is, especially when given the task of handling one of the densest and most thematically-rich filmic texts of all time. There isn’t anything quite like the Dekalog. It is, no pun intended, a spiritual experience. Your perception of humanity is completely renewed (or maybe worsened, depending on your interpretation of the work) by the time you’ve gone through its ten hours. By the time you’re done with Parallel Tales, the only thing you’ll feel is a deep sense of relief that it’s finally over and I can finally return home to think of other things instead of the film I’ve just seen…

Grade: D-

Director: Saturnin Kondratiew
Writers: Adler Floyd, Saturnin Kondratiew
Stars: David Lucas, Aries Spears, Gad Saad

Synopsis: Gripping documentary dives into one of the most controversial freedom of speech cases in Canadian history. When comedian Mike Ward made a joke about Jeremy Gabriel it started a legal battle that climbed all the way to the Supreme Court.

Political documentaries have always been in fashion, but with the world constantly on the edge of a precipice, and entire governmental systems collapsing, economic crises taking place one after the other, and political leaders adamant on making this planet a hellspace, they are no longer a luxury. They are obligatory portals into intercultural dynamics, on both governmental levels and even between different nations. 

Director Saturnin Kondratiew’s American Troll is an exceptional piece of documentary filmmaking for multiple reasons. First of all, it tackles the uncomfortable topic of comedy, and whether the new era of political correctness has hurt true comedy and comedians. Every day, one of America’s most famous comedians would come out and say that a particular comedy movie everyone considers a classic wouldn’t be made today because the studios are risk averse or because there is a fear of hurting the wrong group. Second of all, Kondratiew tackles freedom of speech, and how laws differ from one country to another, that a harmless joke could actually end up with its owner in jail. This is what almost happened to the subject of our film: Quebec comedian Mike Ward.

The documentary centers around Ward throwing a dark joke -an insensitive one, but didn’t a lot of comedians who didn’t age well throw similar jokes back in the day- about a Quebecois celebrity, a young boy named Jeremy Gabriel with a rare genetic disorder. It would be a sacrilege to reveal the joke here, and it would kill the joy of discovering what Ward said, and the domino effect that followed, wrecking his life completely. So it’s safe to say it’s an insensitive joke directed at a little boy with a disability, and yet it cost Ward more than he bargained for. 

Whose side is Kondratiew on? After watching the entire thing, it’s obvious that Kondratiew is on Ward’s side. He gives space for Gabriel to express himself and tell his side of the story but the whole thing is framed like a cry out for help before it’s too late and people in Canada are gagged for good. It’s also an analysis of who gets to decide what’s acceptable and what’s not, and how the general consensus can sometimes be as harmful as it seems empowering in driving societal change through lawmakers’ decisions.

Kondratiew’s filmmaking style is traditional to say the least. Nothing revolutionary jumps off the screen to meet the viewer. It’s what one would expect from investigative, expository-documentary filmmaking. There are interviews with both parties in the dispute. There is archival material that Kondratiew digs from the depths of the internet even though he is underfunded. Because of the uncomfortable nature of his project, not a lot of sponsors were willing to back him up. The bravery of modern directors seeking the truth and the ways by which they self-fund artistic endeavors that no longer find funding through the proper routes. For this film, Kondratiew spent seven years of his life, interviewing, gathering archival material, and relying on tight financial resources to complete it. The director also expands his point of view to include the freedom of speech laws in Canada, and many other comedians are mentioned and interviewed about problems they have faced with the censorship and the freedom of expression. The line to be crossed is getting thinner by day, and yet, accusations of racism, cultural appropriation, and political incorrectness are also important to put into perspective.

The journey of making the film itself is inspiring. But does the subject matter live up to the hype? In many ways, American Troll is one man’s gain reciprocated into pain for the other. The director bringing both points of view to the forefront stays neutral, or at least attempts to do that with his set of skills and the limited amount of material he has at his disposal. The result may not be groundbreaking, but a story worth telling and watching, especially in discussing topics that are gaining more and more sensitivity by day. But if the fight against comedy takes a turn for the worse, and more voices are silenced, will a noble cause like protecting an innocent disabled kid’s feelings be used as a double-edged weapon to silence comedians mocking corrupt politicians? It’s a fine line to walk.

Grade: B

Director: Michael W. Gray
Writers: Michael W. Gray, Jennifer B. White, Marc Prey
Stars: Steve Guttenberg, Cullen Moss, Mia Talerico

Synopsis: Older Mikey reflects on a past summer when he met “the” girl + scored a spot on the team. All while his US army dad is missing overseas. A heartwarming coming-of-age family film, humor, baseball, summer love, and a puppy who saves the day.

A wise person once said, “Every movie that is made is a miracle.” In some cases, I think that is true, but not in the case of the movie American Summer. I couldn’t believe that an indie coming-of-age rom-com made in the 2020s could be so platitudinous. The romance between the young leads isn’t touching or believable. The comedy is so deadpan and corny that it would make the writers of Nothing But Trouble recoil and wipe a bead of sweat from their foreheads. The filmmakers and creative team should have taken the right steps as leaders to make this a movie worth watching.

Heartthrob of yesteryear Steve Guttenberg plays the older version of the main character, Mikey. He spends an afternoon on his porch reminiscing about that special summer before high school, the summer when he got “the” girl, won a spot on the travel baseball team, grew out of boyhood, and more. Guttenberg’s Mikey is 60 years old. The filmmakers tried to hide things in the scenes set in the past that would reveal they were actually filmed in the present day (Yes I’m talking to you PS5 and Nerds gummy clusters!). This movie should have been filmed with a budget that allowed it to be set in the ’70s or early ’80s.

Young Mikey (Logan Gray) and his friends encounter some interesting characters, such as Buck Mulvaney, a member of the travel baseball team who has deep insecurities due to how his father treats him and the fact that he looks like a super senior. In one scene, Mikey tries to give Buck the benefit of the doubt, and the two talk about baseball. A few scenes later, Buck tries to run off with the girl Mikey is crushing on, Kelly, played by Mia Talerico. There are a few dream sequences including young Mikey and Kelly that felt like they were added in to fill the run time. 

Co-writer and director Michael W. Gray is a first-time director who decided to pay some sort of homage to his favorite coming-of-age films while adding a little good old patriotism through the subplot of young Mikey’s father being lost at war overseas. Don’t even get me started on Dan Lauria playing Mikey’s grandfather. They must have thought, “Let’s cast Dan because he was Kevin’s dad in The Wonder Years.” The story even glosses over the fact that the grandfather is a compulsive gambler who gives his grandsons lazy advice. In a better movie, there would be more exploration of the grandfather’s character, going into detail about his addiction and perhaps having him do more than simply apologize to his grandsons for their mother being so hard on them.

Most of the characters are underdeveloped and underutilized in this movie. I think this is because of both the lack of budget and the half-baked script. Mikey’s mom doesn’t have any dialogue that feels heartfelt or meaningful. She lashes out at him for keeping to himself during a time-sensitive moment involving one of his friend’s whereabouts. This friend later passes out in the woods due to hypoglycemia. Does he learn from this as the film progresses? No. They simply move past it, and he continues to serve as the picture’s “comic relief.”

I think Gray can churn out a better script and an all-around better film. Instead of relying on plotlines from other movies and writing dialogue they think sounds accurate to what kids would say, perhaps they should make a rom-com with adult characters and draw from experiences of their own.

Grade: F

Director: Gang Zhang
Writers: Gang Shang
Stars: Li Baixin, Mino Eek, Zhang Gang

Synopsis: During a chase inside a museum, Tom and Jerry find a magical object and end up being transported through time. Lost in a distant era, they will need to work together to find a way back home.

Rarely does a film gobsmack me for the completely wrong reasons. I grew up watching Tom and Jerry with my grandmother and I didn’t hate the 2021 Tom and Jerry film (which was largely panned). All to say, that at the very least, the slapstick comedy of Tom and Jerry is just enough to keep me engaged and all of the extra stuff is supplemental. Fast forward to last Tuesday, August 25th – my editor questioned why no one was reviewing this film. Hell, while not his real name, we have a guy whose bit with InSession is that he “talks about the toons” and goes by ‘Toontalks’ – and not even he wished to take on this film. Which should’ve been a sign, but blinded by the hopes of something remotely decent or enjoyable, I foolishly entered the AMC in Times Square this morning; which was one of the very few theaters showing this movie on opening day – another sign. What I was hoping for was slapstick, and even if the narrative wasn’t all there I’d cut it some slack for kooky cat and mouse antics. Instead Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is what I believe was a kindergarten teacher’s Benadryl fever dream after accidentally leaving the Boomerang channel on (derogatory).

One thing I didn’t anticipate was that Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is a Chinese production and would also be the first completely CG Tom and Jerry film. The director has no previous work that I could find, and I don’t know who at Warner Bros gave the greenlight for this to be made. Before even getting into the movie itself, I am perplexed at how this thing exists. Were there local or international tax incentives that made this a favorable production? I can assure you no compelling script was made for this film to be made. Whatever it is, nothing about this film is redeemable to have drug the Tom and Jerry brand through the mud. I wouldn’t even call it dragging through the mud, this film doesn’t deserve to be in the same sentence as mud. You can call bad movies as ‘catering to the lowest common denominator’, ‘bottom of the barrel’, ‘slop’, or any variation of that, but Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass boldly goes past that into an unknown territory. We are in levels of bad whose description could not be used by the verbiage we have now; my guess would be that lingo was lost in the burning of the Library of Alexandria or is used by an alien species we have yet to meet.

The pace of this film is unsustainable to any viewer anywhere, even people whose attention span has been shot by TikTok AI fruit videos or 20 second clips of television shows with a narrator dryly describing the scene couldn’t follow this nonsense. The production company crawl at the start of the film sprints and by the time you can collect yourself Tom and Jerry are chasing each other around The Met in NYC. Then yada yada yah, poopity scoopity poo, they go back in time to ancient China and tweedledy weedledy dumb, humpty dumpty doo they somehow get involved with whatever the hell is happening. I’m not here to speak to the plot points or logic of a children’s movie, but there is absolutely nothing to glean from this movie. The whiplash the viewer has by the end of this movie is as severe as the car accident I had in 2015 where my 2001 Ford Taurus was completely brutalized. Granted, I know that there are films where the design is to just fire off as many stimulants as possible and as long as your kid is satisfied with the upkick in dopamine then mission accomplished. But Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass feels like an affront to cinema, an affront to your intelligence, and an affront to your children’s mental development.

I have friends with young children, my sisters either have kids or are currently expecting, and in no circumstance would I give these kids this film to watch – not even as a bit. It seems a little silly to derail a children’s movie this much, and there’s almost a guarantee of some random online seeing how much I hate this movie and saying “it’s just a kid’s movie – get over yourself”. Tom and Jerry: Forbidden Compass is the type of film that would be used in the Ludovico Technique, with your eyes clamped open and body strapped to a chair. The entirety of this review feels a little hyperbolic (and it probably is at times), but you should never subjugate yourself to this trash that is taking away your hard earned money and very important time. It is an absolute travesty that something like this exists.

Grade: F

Director: Na Hong-jin
Writer: Na Hong-jin
Stars: Hwang Jung-min, Zo In-sung, Hoyeon

Synopsis: A mysterious discovery is made on the outskirts of the remote harbor town. The residents find themselves in a desperate fight for survival against something they have never encountered before.

Let me cut to the chase, Hope kicks extreme ass. If you know nothing before going in (like I did), take the first sentence, close this review, and get tickets when the film comes out. Hope starts as something small and completely unravels into the most nerve thumping and jaw ripping a movie can get. By the time the hefty two and a half plus hours run past, you are itching for more and the open ending leaves an entire freight train of narrative to go. It isn’t without its issues, and you shouldn’t go in expecting something layered or complex. But if you are missing radical and absurd filmmaking, you will get that in droves with Na Hong-jin’s newest feature, Hope.

Hope follows an incident in a port town named Hope Harbor where a violently sliced cow appears in the middle of the road. The local police chief, Go Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), sets off to investigate along with a group of local hunters, which includes the police chief’s extended cousin – Go Sung-ki (Zo In-sung). The film escalates from there as an investigative thriller, then a hide-and-seek style horror film, then a creature feature, then into a massive sci-fi picture. By the end of the film you are on the verge of a nearly apocalyptic situation (?) Whaaaaaaaaaaat – what are the townsfolk of Hope going to do about this?

The evolution in narrative and theme is a slow press on the gas until we get to the final moment and is done so with masterful precision. While you are given a lot of time in this cinematic world, you are given adequate time to accustom yourself to these characters and world and not a single moment feels wasted. You get a world that feels lived in, characters that know each other, and events that genuinely feel like they’ll impact these characters as if they’re real people. That may seem like the bare minimum, but with everything else going on the fine balance is what makes this even more impressive. Most films would crumble under the weight of this narrative, but the control behind the camera ensures this film doesn’t become entirely muddled and lost. 

If you missed the campiness of something like Transformers, then you’ll be right at home here. In some of the most violent or should-be-serious moments you see these folks squabble or say the most nonsensical things – and it’s incredible. Rookie cop Lim Sung-ae (played by Hoyeon from season 1 of Squid Game) comes into every scene like a complete badass just blowing things up without an ounce of fear in her blood. The thrill factor comes and goes in Hope but when it’s firing off it is firing off. As if the thrill factor is staring at you at a stop light, revving and waiting for the light to turn green. Hope is completely batsh*t and is worth your valuable time.

While I do greatly enjoy this film, there are some parts that bog it down. It feels counterproductive to discuss the quality of CGI, but at times the creatures look like they’re straight out of a PlayStation 3 game. Since it’s in the trailer, the first creature that’s encountered looks like the Labyrinth Madman enemy from Bloodborne (if you played Bloodborne, you know those things are scary as hell!). Then it devolves into creatures that look monstrously campy, or like the demogorgon from Stranger Things. The juxtaposition of the human characters undergoing the trials and pains they’re facing and it being done at the hands of silly looking creatures sort of sucks the intensity out of the scene.

With that said, there are moments where the stunts bring the intensity into view – a scene involving the lights on the top of a cop car comes to mind where I sat there with my heart in my stomach. Hope asks the viewer to suspend their sense of belief a great deal at times but the reward for doing so is oh so sweet. In a consequential scene a character is telling a story about how much worse the situation at hand really is, while simultaneously talking about holding in his poop. It is by design that Hope is a little overly silly, and it doesn’t fit into some scenes that are meant to be more dour. But in the face of what Hope gets right, these issues melt away. 

With the summer blockbuster season coming to an end, there’s no better way to cap it off than with a little Hope. Violence, explosions, weird looking creatures, crazy stunts – all things that feed this simple minded soul. The sequel this ending promises is only going to get bigger, crazier, and hopefully more violent. Plus, the post credits scene? C’mon, just total batsh*t insanity. You will not want to miss Hope.

Grade: B

Director: Elegance Britton
Writer: Sascha Penn
Stars: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Beharie

Synopsis:  A notorious mafia hitman and a young Black FBI agent team up to investigate the murders of civil rights leaders in 1966 Mississippi.

By no means should By Any Means be held in the same regard as such landmark civil rights thrillers as Mississippi Burning, In the Heat of the Night, BlacKkKlansman, or Judas and the Black Messiah. The film never digs nearly as deeply into the roots of hatred or the systems that allow it to flourish, trading thematic complexity for a conventional buddy-cop revenge thriller.

Yet, what an incredible story By Any Means is, even though I think it would have been better served as a limited streaming series, allowing its bigger themes more time to percolate and settle. The movie plays more like a tall tale, with stories that grow more embellished with each generous mug of sudsy beer, as legendary folklore often does. 

The result is a series of familiar beats, delivered with such conviction that they reverberate with genuine tension.

The story follows Wayne Strider (Ambulance’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a Black FBI special agent in the 1960s. Strider worked for the Bureau’s Chicago office but returned to the Mississippi field office to make a difference. Wayne grew up there and feels responsible for the community. Unfortunately, he finds himself stuck on desk duty.

He accompanies his wife, Allison (Miss Juneteenth’s Nicole Beharie), to a community gathering where a wealthy local Black business owner, Vernon Dahmer (Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad fame), is offering to pay the “poll tax,” a two-dollar fee required to vote that many poor Black residents could not afford. This makes Vernon a target and makes the case personal for Wayne.

Initially, Wayne’s boss (David Strathairn) refuses to let him investigate, knowing the law will prevent any meaningful investigation. However, that changes when the Bureau arranges a secret plan to bring in notorious Mafia hitman Greg Scarpa (Oscar-nominee Mark Wahlberg), telling Wayne that he is simply to accompany Scarpa, not ask questions. 

Based on real events, By Any Means immerses itself in the ethical ambiguity of being a conscientious observer with a badge. Director Elegance Bratton (The Inspection) and writer Sascha Penn (1992) draw its central tension from the true story of a Colombo crime family who viewed himself as a James Bond, helping locate the bodies and killers of civil rights activists.

At times, the film is remarkably effective, deftly handling genre picture duties with a handful of tragically powerful moments, including another remarkable cameo by Lisa Gay Hamilton, a character actress of extraordinary grace, whom you may recognize from Beautiful Boy, Vice, and Jackie Brown. These scenes give the audience permission to root for vengeance later. 

Of course, at some point, every man needs a code and picks which side of the law he needs to be on, giving the audience a glimpse of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s character willing to step into a world he never thought possible. Strider is reportedly loosely based on agent Lindley DeVecchio, Scarpa’s handler during the period the film covers.

For all the bluster, By Any Means is, at its core, a morally complicated genre thriller that’s well-acted, well-crafted, and well-paced. The shame is that much of its potential thematic depth is set aside for familiar genre conventions, though Esposito and Hamilton’s scenes help elevate the picture. A familiar road, but this story and performances make the movie worth your time.  

By no means does By Any Means reinvent the civil rights thriller, but it tells one hell of a story with conviction.

You can watch By Any Means exclusively in theaters starting September 4th!

Grade: B-