Tag: Film Review

Vacation Friends 2 (2023) | REVIEW

Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, Meredith Hagner, and John Cena in VACATION FRIENDS 2 — PHOTO: Katrina Marcinowski / 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Clay Tarver — Screenplay by Clay Tarver.

Two years ago, Vacation Friends was released on Hulu, Disney+, or one of the other international Disney-owned streaming services. It boasted a relatively strong main cast, and it was a solid and charming enough comedy flick that I enjoyed much more than I expected to. Back then, I found that John Cena’s excitable comedic energy elevated what was essentially a passable but definitely enjoyable streaming comedy. Parts of that first film felt disposable, but there was enough good there for me to remember the so-so original comedy fondly. Now, two years later, Clay Tarver and 20th Century Studios have gotten the original cast back together for a direct sequel hoping to recapture that same magic. Tarver doesn’t fully succeed, even though there are moments here that do work (and some that work better on paper than as it has been carried out on screen).

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Strays (2023) | REVIEW

Bug, Reggie, Maggie, and Hunter are considering whether they should eat the mushrooms in front of them. — PHOTO: UNIVERSAL PICTURES.

Directed by Josh Greenbaum — Screenplay by Dan Perrault.

Recently, Adam Devine blamed superhero films for comedies failing in theaters (or not even being given a theatrical release). I’ve opined elsewhere that I don’t think that tells the full story. I think the Adam Sandler-Netflix comedy deal, which sent several Sandler-led or produced comedies straight to the streaming service, has changed the landscape for the genre by changing where audiences expect to see comedies. With that deal, I suspect audiences have been trained to think that the comedy genre’s biggest stars call streaming services their home. With the state of modern theatrically released comedies being what it is, I absolutely would love to champion the latest of the bunch to go with a familiar concept and take it in a direction that you haven’t seen before. Strays (or Doggy Style as it is called in certain territories, including mine) is essentially a modern retelling of Homeward Bound but with the kind of R-rated comedy that worked wonderfully for films like Ted but not so much for Sausage Party. Unfortunately, I can’t fully support Strays. Because even though it does have its moments here and there, it’s ultimately just the kind of repetitive and immature raunchy comedy that made me ponder who exactly it was made for in the first place. Frankly, its repetitive comedy would probably be a better fit — and be easier to excuse — on, well, a streaming service.

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Extraction 2 (2023) | REVIEW

Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake in EXTRACTION 2 — PHOTO: Jasin Boland / Netflix.

Directed by Sam Hargrave (Extraction) — Screenplay by Joe Russo (The Gray Man; Avengers: Endgame).

Sam Hargrave’s Extraction 2 takes place nine months after the events of the first film. The so-called ‘myth of Mumbai,’ Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth) has opted to retire from his time as a mercenary to live a quiet life in Austria and recover. That’s until a stranger (played by Idris Elba) approaches him with another extraction mission. Ketevan (played by Tinatin Dalakishvili), the sister of Rake’s ex-wife, has alongside her two children been locked up by her incarcerated Georgian crime boss husband, who abuses and manipulates his family. It is Rake’s job to get Ketevan and her children out alive, and, in the process, take on a crime syndicate and an entire prison in the process.

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Vanskabte Land (2022) | REVIEW

Elliott Crosset Hove as ‘Lucas’ in GODLAND / VANSKABTE LAND — PHOTO: Maria von Hausswolff / Scanbox Entertainment.

International Title: Godland — Icelandic Title: Volaða land — Directed by Hlynur Pálmason — Screenplay by Hlynur Pálmason.

Hlynur Pálmason’s Vanskabte Land takes place in the late 19th Century when Iceland was under Danish rule. The film follows a young Danish priest named Lucas (played by Elliott Crosset Hove) who is instructed to travel to Iceland and oversee the establishment of a new parish church in a Danish settlement. In spite of the fact that he has been warned about the harsh weather, the landscape, and the overwhelming temperatures, Lucas decides against merely sailing directly to the Danish settlement, and he, instead, decides to take on an arduous journey across Iceland and witness the country’s wonders and dangers firsthand for the purpose of documenting it with his extremely heavy camera equipment. Lucas, however, has bit off way more than he can chew, as the new overwhelming environment makes him ill-tempered and unprepared to even try to learn the language. When he loses his translator, Lucas is overcome with despair and growing animosity towards his guide, Ragnar (played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson), who has a complicated relationship with the Danish language.

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Den Store Stilhed (2023) | REVIEW

Kristine Kujath Thorp plays the Norwegian nun Alma in Katrine Brocks’ DEN STORE STILHED — PHOTO: Mia Mai Dengsø Graabæk, DFF.

International Title: The Great Silence — Directed by Katrine Brocks — Screenplay by Katrine Brocks and Marianne Lentz.

Katrine Brocks’ The Great Silence follows Alma (played by Kristine Kujath Thorp), a Norwegian nun in a Catholic convent in Denmark. Alma is preparing for her perpetual vows — her marriage to God, as some characters put it — when her Danish half-brother Erik (played by Elliott Crosset Hove), a recovering alcoholic, stops by to ask for his half of the inheritance that their father left her. However, Alma, formerly named Silje, has already donated the entire inheritance to the convent so that they can repair their leaky ceiling. Hoping that Alma can also repair her relationship with her brother, the Mother Superior bends the rules and invites Erik to stay for a few days. Having him back in her life brings back traumatic memories that she may now finally have to confront.

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They Cloned Tyrone (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx, and John Boyega in THEY CLONED TYRONE — PHOTO: NETFLIX.

Directed by Juel Taylor — Screenplay by Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor.

Last week, moviegoers flocked to theaters — most of them dressed in pink — and walked down the pink carpet to take part in the movie event of the year known as Barbenheimer — i.e. the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. We were lucky to have two films that were so excellent released on the same day so that people of all ages could celebrate movie theaters all over the world. However, that same weekend, there was also a third film released that cineastes ought to check out. Released on Netflix just last week, Juel Taylor’s feature directorial debut They Cloned Tyrone is a genuinely funny and stylized sci-fi comedy that I highly recommend to audiences looking for something special from the comfort of their own home. 

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Oppenheimer (2023) | REVIEW

Cillian Murphy is outstanding as the titular theoretical physicist in Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER — PHOTO: Universal Pictures.

Directed by Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk; Tenet) — Screenplay by Christopher Nolan.

In 1965, famed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer appeared on a television broadcast, and, on said broadcast, he gave an account of how people reacted and what went through his head during the so-called ‘Trinity Test’ in 1945, when Oppenheimer and a group of physicists had successfully created and detonated the first nuclear weapon. Oppenheimer claimed that a specific line from the Hindu scripture the Bhagavad Gita popped into his head: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” It is a chilling quote that has echoed through generations and had a life of its own. For the twelfth feature film in his oeuvre, the immensely popular auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan opted to tell J. Robert Oppenheimer’s story. It’s a film about a man full of paradoxes, such as how he became a political figure with strong left-wing disarmament views but was also the man who is known for having willfully created a weapon that once dwarfed all others and forever changed warfare and foreign policy. But it is also a film that gets to the heart of the rot of the American soul in the 20th Century. It is an intimate account of the complicated headspace of a historically significant genius, but it is also a haunting and damning cautionary tale about learning the wrong lessons, naivete, guilt, covetousness, and ripple effects. It is an astoundingly brilliant achievement and much more than your average biopic.

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Barbie (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Ryan Gosling as ‘Ken’ and Margot Robbie as ‘Barbie’ in Greta Gerwig’s BARBIE — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women) — Screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story).

This weekend, the movie event of the year finally arrived with the release of the escapist comedy and social satire picture Barbie and the dark and dense historical epic and biopic Oppenheimer. The simultaneous release of two films from modern auteurs Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan couldn’t just be counterprogramming. Rather, the internet decided that it had to be a meme (Barbenheimer, it’s been dubbed). Theater owners all over the world ought to be rejoicing at the internet’s impromptu online public support for a double billing of two films that in most ways couldn’t be farther apart. Moviegoing audiences are also in luck, because it just so happens that both films are terrific. Although the very pink and mostly lighthearted IP-driven comedy from Greta Gerwig may, from the outset, seem trivial when compared to the adult-oriented three-hour Christopher Nolan epic about our ability to destroy ourselves, the Barbie movie does have quite a bit to say, and it would be wrong to disregard it as a cynical cash grab or a marketing exercise. This one is as fun and lighthearted as it is critical.

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Bird Box Barcelona (2023) | REVIEW

(L-R) Gonzalo De Castro, Georgina Campbell, Mario Casas and Naila Schuberth in BIRD BOX BARCELONA — PHOTO: Andrea Resmini / Netflix.

Directed by Álex and David Pastor — Screenplay by Álex and David Pastor.

In the late 2010s, sensory-based apocalyptic horror-thrillers were all the rage. John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (2018) was a box office success, spawned a sequel, and was Oscar-nominated. Susanne Bier’s Bird Box (2018) was met with mixed reviews but was still a massive hit for Netflix yet it also inspired a hazardous and controversial social media blindfold challenge. Then there was something like John R. Leonetti’s The Silence (2019), which was another Netflix release, but Leonetti’s film was quite rough in most ways. Well, now Netflix has decided to cash in on the brand recognition of Bird Box by releasing its first sequel titled Bird Box Barcelona, a mostly Spanish-languaged spin-off that I don’t think has all that much new to say, unfortunately. 

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Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023) | REVIEW

Hayley Atwell and Tom Cruise driving a yellow Fiat 500 through Rome in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE — Photo: Paramount Pictures.

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie (M:I – Fallout) — Screenplay by Christopher McQuarrie and Erik Jendresen.

During, and in the immediate aftermath of, the COVID-19 pandemic, certain films tried and failed to bring loads of people back into theaters. When all else — including a pretty good and underappreciated Christopher Nolan film — failed to win back the moviegoing audience, Tom Cruise, in true Ethan Hunt fashion, accepted the mission to ‘save cinema.’ And, well, he sort of did. His and Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun Maverick (in which Cruise’s hero, in a way, sets out to prove that human beings are more capable than unmanned fighter aircrafts) was such a hit that Steven Spielberg reportedly proclaimed that Tom Cruise, now 61 years of age, “saved Hollywood’s ass,” and that his film might have “saved the entire theatrical distribution.” “Is there anything Tom Cruise can’t do?” you might ask. He seems adamant to test that question out with the awe-inspiring stunts that he insists on doing each and every time he headlines a major motion picture nowadays. Now, with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One, Tom Cruise, the savior of the theatrical industry, is back as Ethan Hunt, the IMF agent and so-called living manifestation of destiny, and this time he wants to fight back against AI and algorithms (some might even suggest he’s up against streaming algorithms, thus taking that saving cinema allegory even farther). That’s right, it’s the second Tom Cruise film in a row to be about a man fighting back against technological advancements, and, once again, it doesn’t disappoint. This movie is a lot of fun. 

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