REVIEW: “Prisoner’s Daughter” (2023)

June 27, 2023 by Keith Garlington

After premiering at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, director Catherine Hardwicke’s film “Prisoner’s Daughter” is finally getting its proper release. The rather straightforwardly titled drama is written by Mark Bacci who puts together a touching yet routinely formulaic story. Yet he crafts characters who are easy to invest in largely because of the two terrific performances from Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox.

“Prisoner’s Daughter” is a nice return for Hardwicke whose earlier 2023 film “Mafia Mamma” didn’t exactly hit its marks. Here she explores a number of familiar themes yet they’re ones rooted in real-life circumstances. It explores shattered relationships, forgiveness, and second chances in a way that won’t catch anyone by surprise. Still the sincerity that Hardwicke and her cast bring out of these characters forms the backbone of what is a heartwarming family drama.

Cox plays Max MacLeary, a well respected inmate in a Las Vegas prison who is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer while serving his sentence. His doctor gives him four maybe five months to live. Elsewhere his estranged daughter Maxine (Beckinsale) struggles to support her whip-smart twelve-year-old son Ezra. She works long hours at several low-paying jobs and still can’t afford her son’s epilepsy medication. To make matters worse, her deadbeat drug-addicted ex Tyler (Tyson Ritter) keeps showing up and causing trouble.

Max is surprised when the prison’s sympathetic warden informs him of an opportunity. He can leave prison and spend his remaining days under house arrest. But there’s one significant catch – his daughter must agree to let him live with her. At first Maxine wants no part of it. She hasn’t spoken to her father in twelve years and the wounds from their turbulent past are still deep. But due to her desperate need of money, she agrees so long as he pays rent and covers his own expenses.

This sets up the family dynamic that sits at the core of the “Prisoner’s Daughter”. Its overall trajectory is pretty obvious and (again) not much about it will catch you by surprise. The only real suspense comes in the last 15 minutes where the film takes a clever yet not especially cathartic turn. Still we remain engaged thanks to Beckinsale and Cox who create and develop an organic and compelling central relationship through performances that feel rooted in the real world.

There are a few more touches that I enjoyed. For example I always enjoy seeing Ernie Hudson. Here he plays Max’s old friend who mentors and trains young boxers at his downtown gym. I also appreciated how Hardwicke tells her story while (mostly) steering clear of schmaltz.

Overall “Prisoner’s Daughter” may not do enough to set itself apart from the multitude of other redemption and reconciliation movies out there. But it gets by on the heartfelt chemistry of Kate Beckinsale and Brian Cox. They take a fairly routine arc and infuse it with a welcoming emotional heft that keeps us invested even if we have a good idea of where their story is going to end up. “Prisoner’s Daughter” releases in select theaters on June 30th.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

REVIEW: “Asteroid City” (2023)

June 26, 2023 by Keith Garlington

It seems unnecessary, but for some reason I begin every Wes Anderson movie review with a PSA. That’s because after eleven feature films to his credit, one thing is for sure – Anderson has a profoundly unique style all his own. It’s unmistakably his and he has stuck with that style throughout his career. It’s equally evident that his same strikingly unique style isn’t for everyone. And if you’ve seen any of Wes Anderson’s movies you should have a good idea of what to expect whenever a new one comes around.

The newest comes in the form of “Asteroid City”, another star-studded comedy full of Anderson faithfuls and a few new names hopping into the filmmaker’s sphere for the first time. Old reliables like Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, and Willem Dafoe (among others) pop up throughout his latest yarn. And then newcomers like Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Margot Robbie, Maya Hawke, and Steve Carell take swings at Anderson’s specific brand of humor. It’s a robust cast who really help bring this wacky world and even wackier story to life.

Throughout his career Anderson has used quirk like a French impressionist used oil paints. In “Asteroid City” it colors nearly every inch of his cinematic canvas. If you’ve watched any of the trailers it’s obviously seen in the film’s peculiar yet eye-popping visual style. But true to Anderson’s other work, it’s also seen in the gaggle of eccentric (and routinely funny) characters. And of course there’s the story itself which has quirk sewn into its very fabric.

In “Asteroid City” we’re treated to a light and playful yet warmhearted and philosophical Wes Anderson. He bounces back-and-forth between two connected stories, each brimming with scenes that are unapologetically silly but often laced with a surprising amount of heartbreak.

This is also one of Anderson’s most visually arresting films, with his deliberately crafted artificiality and meticulous attention to detail resulting in one coffee-table art book-quality shot after another. It’s a stunning movie to simply look at and absorb. And just as much humor is conveyed through the compositions and framing as through anything in Anderson’s script.

The movie opens up like a 1950s television special – one with an unnamed host played by a fantastic Bryan Cranston. The show chronicles the creation, development, and premiere performance of Asteroid City, a stage production from acclaimed playwright Conrad Earp (Norton). Anderson shoots these scenes in crisp black-and-white and the boxy Academy ratio which is in sharp contrast to the bright dreamlike glow of the reenactment scenes. More on them in a second.

Earp connects with a stage actor named Jones Hall (Schwartzman) who serves as inspiration for his play’s lead character, Augie Steenbeck. Earp reaches out to an teacher at a local acting school named Saltzburg Keitel (Dafoe) to help finish his script and recruit a reliable cast. Then there is the play’s director, Schubert Green (a scene-stealing Brody). He’s a bit of a slime, strangely likable yet oblivious to his own womanizing.

Then the you have the reenactment of the play itself with its vivid sun-baked colors and shot in gorgeous widescreen. In these scenes we’re transported to Asteroid City, a small desert town with a population of 87 people and one curious roadrunner. The ‘pay attention or you’ll miss it” community is built next to a crater created by a meteorite years earlier. Asteroid City is set to host their annual Junior Stargazer convention hosted by General Grif Gibson (Jeffrey Wright) and astronomer Dr. Hickenlooper (Swinton). That’s where a select group of young students will share their space-inspired inventions for a chance to win a $5,000 fellowship award.

War photographer and recently widowed Augie (Schwartzman again) arrives at Asteroid City early with his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and three younger daughters. After his car breaks down Augie calls his father-in-law Stanley (Hanks) to drive out and help with the girls. In the meantime, disenchanted television actress Midge Campbell (Johansson) arrives with her daughter Dinah (Grace Edwards) as does a busload of elementary school children and their teacher June (Hawke) and a group of singing cowboys led by their lead singer Montana (Rupert Friend). Meanwhile they’re all being secretly monitored by a team of hysterically not-so-covert government agents.

The two-sided story mostly comes together as Anderson’s inherently goofy dialogue and equally goofy characters combine to deliver one smile-inducing comic bit after another. Most of Anderson’s choices gel much better this time around than in his last film, 2021’s “The French Dispatch” although a few feel arbitrary and out-of-the-blue (such as one seemingly pointless flash of nudity that serves no other purpose than cementing an R rating).

While Anderson’s unique style and perspective takes center stage, his carefully chosen and top-to-bottom great ensemble are essential. With a couple of exceptions most have small roles and intermittently pop up at different times throughout the film. It’s such a good recipe and everyone operates on the same wacky wavelength. They’re key in making “Asteroid City” a truly delightful entry into the Anderson oeuvre. Not quite in the upper echelon, but pretty much exactly what this Wes Anderson fan was hoping for. “Asteroid City” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “God Is a Bullet” (2023)

June 23, 2023 by Keith Garlington

(CLICK HERE for my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

After his wife is savagely murdered and his daughter is kidnapped, a sheriff’s deputy quits his job and seeks out an insidious cult believed to responsible for the crimes. That’s the gist of the bleak and violent new action thriller “God Is a Bullet” from writer and director Nick Cassavetes. There’s nothing pretty about this hopelessly dark and seemingly endless 2 hour 35 minute malaise of misery that eventually wears you down and even worse tests your patience.

Among the film’s many issues are the narrative shortcuts that undermine so much of the storytelling. It’s hard to imagine a 155 minute movie about a dad searching for his daughter taking many shortcuts but there are plenty of examples. They end up leaving the ghastly world we spend so much time in feeling remarkably shallow. Sure, the deviants within it make us squirm with their head-to-toe tattoos and insatiable bloodlust. But (with maybe one lone exception) they’re all cut out the exact same mold.

And then you have the meat of the story itself. Cassavetes takes the framework of a simple revenge thriller and attempts to make it more layered than it actually is. This mostly comes through a couple of second half twists. But they’re underdeveloped to the point that they leave far more questions than answers. And they end up highlighting just how clunky and unsure of itself the movie seems to be. None of the twists feel natural to the story. They feel thrown in and tacked on rather than organic.

About the story, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Bob Hightower, a police officer in Mint County, California. Bob enjoys living in his “small Christian community” and has hopes of being promoted to detective despite the lack of support from his chief, Sgt. John Lee Bacon (Paul Johansson). But his good life is shattered after members of a maniacal cult called “Followers of the Left-Handed Path” brutally murder his ex-wife and her husband and abducts his 14-year-old daughter Gabi (Chloe Guy).

The police aren’t much help, but Bob finds an unexpected ally in Case (Maika Monroe) who was kidnapped by the same cult when she was only eleven. She was abused, raised and indoctrinated by the group and its sadistic leader, Cyrus (Karl Glusman). He’s the vile sort and the film goes out of its way to show it. But his one-dimensional evil bend results in a villain who’s too over-the-top and even cartoonish at times.

The crass and no-nonsense Case agrees to help Bob find his daughter all while hiding her own very personal motivations. She starts by taking him to a guy with connections called The Ferryman (Jamie Foxx in a truly wacky role) who tattoos much of Bob’s body so that he will blend it (which is really funny considering Bob spends most of the movie with them covered under a long-sleeve shirt). The unlikely duo then sink deep into the mire of the film’s cult subculture where they stay for what seems like an eternity.

Later a few other characters are introduced in an attempt at adding a new dimension to the story. But it only succeeds in cluttering up the film’s final hour by adding in a thinly conceived shoehorned angle that lacks a rewarding conclusion.

The same could be said for Bob’s overall arc. Coster-Waldau is a terrific actor and does his very best playing the film’s protagonist. He gives a sturdy performance that takes the character to some pretty horrifying depths. But Bob never fully comes together in a satisfying way. And there’s hardly any meaningful internal conflict in his descent from honest God-fearing cop to hardened revenge-fulled killer. He just moves from point to point in his journey, following Case wherever she leads him.

“God Is a Bullet” has a potentially interesting idea, but nearly everything that springs from it falls short. From the supposedly super-secret underworld where everyone seems to live in the wide open to the random moments of oddly on-the-nose philosophizing. Even the sudden bursts of extreme violence can’t bring an infusion of much needed energy. Altogether it feels like a portrait that’s only half painted; a model that’s missing half of its pieces. And it’s that lack of depth and detail that makes it all a really tough sell. “God Is a Bullet” is out now in select theaters.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Maggie Moore(s)” (2023)

June 22, 2023 by Keith Garlington

It’s definitely not the easiest title to write or even say, but it’s fitting of this wonky genre cocktail from director (yes, director) John Slattery. “Maggie Moore(s)” sees Slattery reteaming with his old “Mad Men” foil Jon Hamm for a film that is certain to throw some viewers for a loop. In relatively small portions it manages to be a dark comedy, a murder mystery, a police procedural, a true crime thriller, and a sweet adult romance all in one.

There’s a fun throwback quality to “Maggie Moore(s)” and it’s hard to miss the Coen brothers inspiration. Yet the movie stands on its own thanks to its snappy dialogue penned by Paul Bernbaum and a crackling cast led by the always reliable Hamm, the infinitely likable Tina Fey, and the film’s scene-stealing MVP Nick Mohammed. It’s uneven in places and perhaps not as suspenseful as it could have been. But Slattery knows how to hold his audience’s attention and he shows good instincts in keeping things moving forward.

Borrowing ever so slightly from a true account (the movie actually opens with the tag “Some of this actually happened”), the story sets us down in rural New Mexico. There we meet Police Chief Jordan Sanders (Hamm), a recent widower who’s having a tough time getting back into the swing of things. His small town is rocked when not one, but two women named Maggie Moore are brutally murdered. He and his often inappropriate yet fervently loyal deputy (Mohammed) immediately get on the case.

The movie doesn’t really hide its culprits. The only real mystery is in how things are going to play out. Bernbaum introduces us to a slew of slightly offbeat characters to tell his story. There’s Jay Moore (Micah Stock), an obnoxious cash-strapped schlub whose illegal dealings with a local miscreant named Tommy T (Derek Basco) gets him in hot water with his wife, Maggie #1 (Louisa Krause). She’s ready to turn him in to the cops and he’s desperate to make sure she doesn’t. Of course she ends up dead.

Fey plays their observant and recently divorced neighbor named Rita who overhears an argument between the couple that leads to Jay being thrown out of the house. She shares what she saw to Chief Sanders and the two hit it off. The light yet charming romance that follows isn’t all that fleshed out. But there’s a genuine sweetness to their relationship and Hamm and Fey have such a good rapport and it’s hard not to fall in with them.

And then there’s the other Maggie Moore (Mary Holland), a successful suburban businesswoman who’s married to a slimeball named Andy (Christopher Denham). She too ends up dead which adds an entirely new layer to Sanders’ investigation. Corporate fraud, child pornography, a cold-blooded hitman – they all find their way into this twisted and quirky neo-noir tale.

The movie ends with a violent blood-splattered finish and then tops it with a genuinely heartwarming final scene that really serves the movie well. It’s a final 15 minutes that could have easily clashed. But Slattery brings it all together and makes it gel, leaning on his terrific batch of characters who truly are the film’s biggest strength. They have so much individual personality and together make the movie’s more obvious issues feel like little more than nitpicks. “Maggie Moore(s)” is now showing in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Mad Heidi” (2023)

June 21, 2023 by Keith Garlington

When you describe yourself as “a modern grindhouse epic” and “the world’s first Swissploitation film” you instantly have my attention. That’s the case with “Mad Heidi”, the patently trashy and gleefully gory ode to the grindhouse exploitation films that found a home in rundown movie theaters during the 1970s. Now audiences will have a chance to experience it for themselves during a special one-night engagement on Wednesday, June 21st courtesy of Fathom Events.

Co-directors (and first-time filmmakers) Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein crowdfunded their movie and put it together over the course of several years. “No studios. No corporations involved. Just love for film.” But don’t let that fool you. The movie is actually very well made. It’s nicely shot, has a good production design, and features some impressively gory effects, all while maintaining the throwback style it’s going for.

Hartmann and Klopfstein have clearly done their homework and put great effort into recreating the grindhouse experience. From the bad writing, corny acting, and gratuitous content to more specific details such as the cheap grainy intro, the funky 1970s music, and even an unexpected instance of film burn. It’s all glaringly self-aware and it’s custom made to be seen with an audience who knows exactly what they’re in for.

The utterly absurd story goes something like this. 24-year-old Heidi (Alice Lucy) lives a cozy and simple life high up in the beautiful Swiss Alps. She lives with her loving but overprotective grandfather Alpöhi (David Schofield) and is not-so-secretly dating a local goat-herder fittingly named Goat Peter (Kel Matsena). Altogether it makes for a sweet idyllic setting plucked straight out of a storybook.

But following what may be my favorite opening credits sequence of the year so far, we quickly learn that this dystopian Switzerland is no sweet and innocent fairytale land. The country is ran by a ruthless President (Casper Van Dien) who is always addressed by his terrified underlings as “Our Very Swiss Leader”. He’s a megalomaniacal dictator who believes dairy is his key to world domination and that lactose intolerance is a threat to the Swiss way of life. And yes, it’s every bit as absurd as it sounds.

When Goat Peter is caught illegally selling goat cheese like a crack dealer the President’s second in command, the cartoonishly sadistic Kommandant Knorr (Max Rüdlinger), has him publicly executed. And after learning of his relationship with Heidi, Knorr hunts her down, burns her house to the ground, and leaves her grandfather to die. She’s taken away to a women’s prison ran by the oppressive Warden Rottweiler (Katja Kolm). There she befriends a fellow prisoner named Klara (Almar G. Sato) and absorbs the abuse of two rather beefy cellmates, all while planning her escape.

The utterly wacky final half of the movie follows Heidi satisfying her insatiable hunger for revenge. Hartmann and Klopfstein ramp up the silliness and the violence as the President merciless pushes for dairy dominance and Heidi trains “Kill Bill” style into an ultimate killing machine. It’s hard not to appreciate the willingness to embrace the ridiculous. And some of the comedy bits are nothing short of hysterical.

That said, over time the central conceit gradually begins to wear thin and the movie slowly starts to run out of steam. Still its admirable that the filmmakers would stick so close to their vision. In doing so they pull from a variety of fun B-quality genre influences including spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, and chop-socky cinema. And while it’s little more than disposable entertainment, I can see it being a good time. As long as you keep your expectations in check.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

New on Home Video: “Evil Dead Rise” 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital Combo Pack

June 21, 2023 by Keith Garlington

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is bringing home the year’s best horror film to date. “Evil Dead Rise” from director Lee Cronin brings the classic horror franchise back to life with a new installment that features several big changes while maintaining the terrifying, gory, and at times darkly funny identity the Evil Dead films are known for. This killer combo edition is light on bonus features but presents the film on stunning 4K Ultra HD. It also includes both a Blu-ray and digital copy. Read my full review of the film HERE.

The new 4K UHD combo pack of “Evil Dead Rise” will release on June 27th, 2023. See below for a full synopsis and release information.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Year: 2023

Runtime: 97 Minutes

Director: Lee Cronin

Screenwriter: Lee Cronin

Cast: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols, Nell Fisher, Noah Paul, Richard Crouchley, Mirabai Pease, Anna-Maree Thomas, Mark Mitchinson

Rating: R (strong bloody horror violence and gore, some language)

FROM THE STUDIO

“EVIL DEAD RISE” is directed by Lee Cronin, starring Lily Sullivan (“I Met a Girl,” TV’s “Barkskins”) and Alyssa Sutherland (TV’s “New Gold Mountain,” TV’s “Vikings). The film will be available to purchase on 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD beginning on June 27.

From New Line Cinema and Renaissance Pictures, the film also stars Morgan Davies (TV’s “The End,” “Storm Boy”), Gabrielle Echols (“Reminiscence”) and introducing Nell Fisher (“Northspur”). The film was produced by longtime franchise producer Rob Tapert and executive produced by series creator and horror icon Sam Raimi and cult legend and “Ash” himself, Bruce Campbell, along with John Keville, Macdara Kelleher, Richard Brener, Dave Neustadter, Romel Adam and Victoria Palmeri.

In “Evil Dead Rise,” the action moves out of the woods and into the city, and tells a twisted tale of two estranged sisters, played by Sullivan and Sutherland, whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable.