Astute horror movie aficionados may remember a 2005 film called “Boogeyman”. It wasn’t well-recieved by critics, but it did earn enough money for two straight-to-video sequels. Anyway, the upcoming chiller “The Boogeyman” isn’t connected to those three films in any way. This one is a film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1973 short story of the same name. It comes from director Rob Savage and is taken from a story conceived by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the duo who wrote “A Quiet Place”.
“The Boogeyman” follows two sisters (Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair) who have been emotionally devastated by the recent death of their mother. The hurting young girls haven’t gotten much support from their grieving father (Chris Messina). The struggling family soon find themselves being preyed upon by a malevolent spirit who targets their pain and feeds on their crippling feelings of loss. There seems to be some compelling themes at work even if the trailer puts off a pretty conventional horror vibe. I’m interested to see how it turns out.
“The Boogeyman” opens in theaters on June 2nd. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
The very title “Mafia Mamma” doesn’t exactly encourage optimism. To the film’s credit it does offer up an enticing cast, namely Toni Collette and Monica Bellucci. But even they are eventually brought down by the progressively bad material. Good actors can carry a movie, but even they need a little something to work with. “Mafia Mamma” leaves everyone high and dry. I will say it looks like they had a good time shooting it. I wish I could say the same about watching it.
The film is written for the screen by Michael J. Feldman and Debbie Jhoon who are working from an original story by Amanda Sthers. It’s directed by Catherine Hardwicke who handles things well enough from the technical side of things. But the management of the film’s ever-shifting tone is another thing altogether. It’s all over the map to the point that it has no real identity. One minute it’s a mobster movie; a minute later it’s a raunchy comedy; yet a minute later it hits you with grisly violence. It’s hard to make out what the movie wants to be. I’m guessing it looked better on paper than in how it turned out.
Image Courtesy of Bleecker Street
I really like Toni Collette, but she’s handed an impossible task. The movie attempts to take her character Kristin on a wild and crazy journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Yet they spend the bulk of the film’s 101 minutes making her out to be weak, shallow, and borderline insufferable. And regardless of how good of an actress Collette is, even she can’t take ten minutes at the end of the film and turn her character into a believably strong and self-reliant woman.
We first meet Kristin as a kind-hearted yet slightly naive woman living on the West Coast with her dolt of a husband Paul (Tim Daish) and her college-bound son Domenick (Tommy Rodger). She works an unfulfilling job as a marketing strategist for a pharmaceutical company where she’s constantly overlooked due to the boy’s club mentality of her male counterparts. Meanwhile her brash and outspoken best friend (because it seems we always need a brash and outspoken best friend character) Jenny (Sophia Nomvete) pushes her to get a backbone and start looking out for herself.
Kristin is surprised by a phone call from a woman named Bianca (Bellucci) who tells her the grandfather she doesn’t even know, Giuseppe Balbano (Alessandro Bressanello), has died and she’s needed in Italy to help settle his affairs. Obviously it doesn’t make sense considering she hasn’t been to Italy or seen any family there since she was a baby. But with her marriage souring and her work stalling she decides to go. I mean who knows, maybe she can have her own “Under the Tuscan Sun” moment.
Once she arrives in beautiful sun-soaked Italy Kristin discovers the first of several family secrets. She learns that her grandfather wasn’t the winemaker he masqueraded as. He was actually a powerful mafia don who was killed in a gunfight along with the head of the rival Romano gang. With a potential mob war looming, both families scramble for new bosses. Next in line to lead the Romanos is Carlo Romano (Giuseppe Zeno). It’s a little more complicated for the Balbanos.
Image Courtesy of Bleecker Street
Hungry to lead the Balbanos is the late Don’s hot-headed and ambitious nephew, Fabrizio (Eduardo Scarpetta). But in a video recording left behind by the late Don Giuseppe, he shares his last wishes – he inexplicably wants Kristin, his only grandchild, to take his place as head of the family and entrusts his loyal general Bianca to ensure it happens. Obviously, nothing about his decision makes sense. Why would any mafia don hand over his entire operation to someone he hasn’t laid eyes on in decades? It’s so ridiculous that you keep waiting for what feels like a pretty obvious twist that never comes.
For the rest of the way the mostly suspense-free story haplessly bops along, tossing in some mostly thrill-free action and taking some mostly laugh-free swings at humor. Sadly nothing it throws at the screen really sticks. The ‘fish out of water’ stuff gets old pretty quick. The sudden jolts of gore feel more haphazard than thought out. And so many of the characters are stuck as lame caricatures with no relatable qualities whatsoever. Those things might be easier to overlook if the movie was half as funny as it tries to be. Sadly, it’s not. “Mafia Mamma” is out now in theaters.
“White Bird” is an upcoming inspirational war drama from director Marc Forster (“Finding Neverland”, “World War Z”, “A Man Called Otto”). It’s written by Mark Bomback and is an adaptation of R. J. Palacio’s 2019 graphic novel of the same name. The film is being called a spin-off and a companion piece to the 2017 coming-of-age drama “Wonder”. The first trailer has been released by Lionsgate and reveals a warm-hearted period film packed with a powerful message.
The trailer shows Bryce Gheisar reprising his role as Julian Albans, the school bully from “Wonder” who was expelled from his former school. Julian is payed a visit by his grandmother from Paris (played by Helen Mirren) who shares the story of her childhood in Nazi-occupied France. Through it Julian learns a valuable life lesson. He learns that a little kindness and empathy can go a long way. The film also stars Gillian Anderson, Ariella Glaser, and Orlando Schwerdt.
“White Bird” lands in theaters August 18th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
At times you’ll swear the simple yet ominously titled “The Tank” is a by-the-numbers garden variety chiller. But writer-director-producer Scott Walker peppers the film with just enough of his own seasoning to make even the familiar enjoyable. And then just when you think you have him and his movie figured out, he flips a switch and takes things in a whole different direction. And it turns out to be a pretty fun direction.
Walker’s obvious love for genre is on full display as he hops all around the horror map. You see the influences of haunted house movies. There are dashes of psychological horror. It even becomes a full-blown creature-feature with a finish full of scenes that play like odes to James Cameron’s “Aliens”. And that’s when it really hits its stride. The last 20 minutes or so is nothing short of classic B-movie joy.
Set in 1978, Ben Adams (Matt Whelan) lives in Oakland, California with his wife Jules (Luciane Buchanan) and their precocious young daughter Reia (Zara Nausbaum). Ben and Jules run a pet shop called “Raining Cats and Dogs” while also attending veterinarian school. One evening at closing time a gentlemanly lawyer with a really bad wig comes into the shop and informs Ben that he has inherited some coastal property in Oregon called Hobbit’s Bay from his late mother. The news comes as a complete surprise to Ben, as his mother never mentioned the land.
It may seem like an odd thing for Ben’s mother to forget, but as the old lawyer says “Some families have secrets. You’d be surprised at what people find out after a loved one dies.” Ben’s family’s secrets come to light once he and his family travel to Hobbit’s Bay. After a long drive their map leads them deep into a beautiful forest, down and old dirt road, and finally to an old grown-up cottage. It looks rundown, but then they see the gorgeous view.
After a night’s sleep they begin cleaning up the place for a potential sell. Inside the cottage they discover a bunch of old photos and newspaper clippings revealing a troubled family history Ben never knew about. Meanwhile outside he comes across a concrete slab with a hatch leading down to an underground water tank. Inside the tank he encounters something more shocking, more terrifying, and more deadly. Many of the answers are hinted at through some clever foreshadowing, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.
As I said, early on “The Tank” can come across as fairly conventional. Also, as with so many movies like this, we witness characters make some truly head-scratching choices – the kind that make you want to yell at the screen. And the early attempts at frights consist mostly of things we’ve all seen many times before – creaking floors, the occasional slamming door, glimpses of something lurking outside the window, etc. These scenes are well executed but pretty much standard-fare.
But then Walker makes his big turn and takes his film to a much different place. I’m intentionally dancing around it, because part of the fun for me came by going in blind. But I will say I love how bonkers it gets. It takes us in some wild directions while at the same time making me better appreciate the buildup. There are some cool effects, some gnarly kills, and a gonzo schlocky vibe that left a big dumb smile on my face (I’m still chuckling at a hilariously bad and out-of-the-blue one-liner during the film’s big finish). Sure, it has its issues. But I love when directors take big swings and tinker with genres. That’s what makes this one a winner.
“The Tank” opens in select theaters on April 21st and on VOD April 25th.
Riding on the wacky idea of Nicolas Cage playing the iconic Count Dracula, the blood-drenched vampire movie “Renfield” looked to have the markings of a potential sleeper hit. But after a grim opening weekend at the box office, it looks as if Universal Pictures has a major bomb on their hands. It’s hard to put much blame on the studio. They’ve had a nice run of successful surprises and they’ve certainly promoted this film. But I think it’s safe to say that something about “Renfield” hasn’t clicked with audiences.
What went wrong is anyone’s guess. Maybe there actually aren’t many folks out there smitten with the idea of Count Cage. Perhaps it was hard for some people to get a good read on this action-horror-comedy mashup. Whatever the reason, people haven’t turned out and its first-week numbers are dreadful. And it’s only amplified by the film’s hefty $65 million budget (before advertising).
I hate to kick a movie when it’s down. I really wish I could be a positive force and say it’s worth a trip to theater. Sadly “Renfield” is a unexpectedly limp and frustratingly hollow experience that squanders most of the potential it had. It starts with promise, setting up its goofy premise in a fun and imaginative way. But once it establishes itself it really has nothing else to offer. Instead it sputters along, milking its one good joke dry and leaving us to ponder what could have been. Even the unflappable Nic Cage can’t ham it up enough to save the movie from its many self-inflicted wounds.
It’s sad to say, but once you get past that initial setup it’s hard to find much to latch onto. There’s probably enough good material for a few SNL sketches, but the bulk of the rest is pretty tough to endure. The film is plagued with issues such as uninteresting side stories, revelations that come with poor buildups and (in some cases) no resolutions, humor that often lands with a deafening thud, and gory action that resembles what you would see in a cheap splatter film rather than a $65 million studio project.
For a while Cage is the film’s saving grace. His manic charm and giddy theatrics imbues his version on Dracula with the kind of preposterous spin we’re looking for. He completely goes for it which is a key reason he is so enjoyable. The bummer of it all is that he isn’t in the movie nearly as much as you might expect. And the movie certainly struggles whenever he’s away from the screen.
“Reinfield” comes from director Chris McKay (“The Lego Batman Movie”, “The Tomorrow War”). It’s written by Ryan Ridley who’s working from a story pitched by Robert “The Walking Dead” Kirkman. The script follows Robert Montague Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), the indebted and long-suffering servant of the Prince of Darkness himself. Renfield is tasked with supplying his master with human blood, the more innocent the tastier. But Dracula’s penchant for blood-sucking benders means the pair are constantly having to move from city to city. Their latest stop – New Orleans.
Dracula has blessed (or cursed) Renfield with immortality as a reward for his faithful service. Renfield also has been granted superpowers that are activated whenever he eats a bug (???). Yet despite the ‘benefits’, Dracula’s demanding personality and unbridled narcissism puts a strain on their relationship. So much so that Renfield wants out. He wants a normal life. He has joined a support group to help people with codependency, but so far it hasn’t helped him muster the courage leave his oppressive master.
The best material is found in the main storyline where Renfield tries to find the strength to stand up to Dracula. Unfortunately we have to endure all of the side stuff which really weighs the movie down. Awkwafina is woefully unconvincing playing a dutiful New Orleans cop named Rebecca Quincy. She has an axe to grind with a local crime family ran by matriarch Bellafrancesca Lobo (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and her obnoxious son Teddy (Ben Schwartz playing one of the most insufferable characters I’ve seen on screen all year). There’s nothing remotely fun or interesting about these characters, and their ill-conceived stories offer little more than dead weight.
I will say Hoult gives a good performance. His ingratiating timidity is both endearing and humorous, and the film is at its best when he and Cage are sharing the screen. But the movie’s misfires are aplenty – the half-baked storytelling; the flat and uninspired humor; the wildly inconsistent action sequences; the even more inconsistent visual effects. They take what should have been a goofy, over-the-top good time and turns it into a 90-minute slog. “Renfield” is in theaters now.
Out of the many Star Wars streaming shows Disney has put out, I’m not sure any have been as well received as the first season of “Andor”. The amount of love it has gotten from both fans and critics has been surprising and (in some cases) suspicious. While some like pretty much anything Star Wars related, there are those who are put out with the franchise and like “Andor” simply because it bucks traditional Star Wars trends. Cynical nonsense aside, what matters most is “Andor” is good – legitimately good and among the best of the franchise’s streaming series.
Without question, “Andor” was quite the gamble for Kathleen Kennedy and the heads at Disney. The character for which the show is named, Cassian Andor (exceptionally played by Diego Luna), first appeared in the 2016 film “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”. He was hardly a top-tier player in the ‘galaxy far, far away’, so a lot of people were surprised to see him getting his own dedicated streaming series. But like every show thus far, his series doesn’t have a singular focus. It’s not wrapped up in following one character alone. It is just as interested in broadening our understanding of the greater Star Wars universe.
“Andor” certainly gives us a a better picture of Cassian by showing his life leading up to the events of “Rogue One”. But it’s just interested in the tumultuous galaxy around him. Creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy takes us to new places, introduces us to new characters, and offers up new perspectives during the volatile time between “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and “Episode IV: A New Hope”. It’s a time when the evil Empire was tightening its grip on planets and peoples. It’s also the time where we see the genesis of a young rebellion. It’s an interesting period made even more compelling thanks to Gilroy’s incredible vision.
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
“Oppression breeds rebellion.” It’s a line that gets to heart on “Andor”. Gilroy gives us a clear-eyed view of what drives people to rise up and revolt. Poverty, oppression, subjugation – they’re just some of the things we see that plants the first seeds of rebellion. The series also puts a heavy emphasis on the chasm between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’; between those reaping the benefits of the Empire’s aggression and those being crushed by it. There are fascinating dynamics of all kinds scattered throughout its twelve episodes.
“Andor” starts slow and deliberate and the first couple of episodes may try the patience of those looking for a more traditional Star Wars experience. But from the very start, Gilroy is working towards something and he takes his time getting there. He doesn’t gloss over his world. He wants us to feel a part of it. And he doesn’t just introduce characters. He gives them depth which helps us understand their place in his world. Those are signatures of good storytelling, and they prove to be the backbone of the entire series.
Much of the show’s story is a chain reaction of events leading to its many pieces coming together in a combustible season-ending episode. Early on we spend time with Cassian who’s forced to go on the run after killing two antagonizing security guards on the industrial planet of Morlana One. It catches the attention of Syril Karn (Kyle Soller), an overambitious Deputy Inspector for a corporate trade conglomerate called Preox-Morlana. While Cassian heads to his home planet of Ferrix to cook up an alibi, Syril disobeys the direct order of his superior and begins an aggressive investigation into the two deaths.
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
Elsewhere we’re introduced to the Imperial Security Bureau, the Empire’s secret police and intelligence agency that’s in the same vein as the KGB and Gestapo. It’s headed by Major Partagaz (an outstanding Anton Lesser) who reports directly to Emperor Palpatine. Rising fast within the ISB ranks is a motivated young supervisor Lieutenant Dedra Meero (Denise Gough). Her keen instincts lead her to suspect that recent heists of Imperial weaponry might be a coordinated effort, potentially by a fledgling rebellion. Convincing her superiors won’t be easy.
Another key player is Senator Mon Mothma (wonderfully played by a returning Genevieve O’Reilly). She works on the political frontlines on the capital planet of Coruscant, slowing down the Emperor’s intensifying power grab the best she can without exposing her opposition to the Empire. Behind the scenes she’s secretly funding the growing rebel efforts, a task that is growing more difficult and that’s even harder to hide.
Then you have the mysterious Luthen Rael, played by the beguiling Stellan Skarsgård. Luthen is a fierce underground orchestrator of the new Rebel Alliance who secretly masquerades as an flamboyant dealer of fine antiquities on Coruscant. He takes a special interest in Cassian, yet throughout the series we never quite know what to make of him. He’s a fascinating presence.
Image Courtesy of Lucasfilm
As it progresses the show expands even further. We spend more time on Ferrix where those close to Cassian, including his old flame Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona) and adopted mother Maarva (Fiona Shaw), do their best to evade the suspicious Empire. We go on a heist with Cassian and a group of rebels on the planet Aldhani. Lead by Vel Sartha (Faye Marsay), the mission’s target is an Imperial garrison that houses the bankroll for an entire sector. There’s even a prison storyline where we’re introduced to Kino Loy, played by the indomitable Andy Serkis.
There’s just so much to explore, experience, and unpack in the twelve episodes of “Andor”. While it’s visually captivating on many different levels, it’s really the writing that sets the series apart. The team of Tony Gilroy, his brother Dan Gilroy, Stephen Schiff, and Beau Willimon handle the script duties. Admittedly, as a longtime fan I do like a little more action in my Star Wars. That said, the show’s intense focus on character is both exhilarating and rewarding. And while there may be less action, every episode offers lovers of Star Wars mythology and world-building (like me) so much to chew on.
I could write another ten paragraphs on “Andor”. There’s that much to dig into. What was expected to be a revealing series about a main character from “Rogue One” turned out to be so much more. We definitely do get a clearer picture and better understanding of Cassian Andor. He’s our conduit into the story and the connecting tissue that brings all the show’s moving parts together. But we also see the trials, tribulations, and tragedies of a young rebellion. We see how the growing Empire spreads its power and how people are pushed to point of fighting back. We see oppressive strategies, overzealous ambition, and lust for power. But we also see resilience, heroism, self-sacrifice, and a love for freedom. The clashing ideals and the characters behind them are the meat and potatoes of “Andor” Season 1. Now bring on Season 2.
