In “Code Name Banshee”, a former government assassin is forced back in the game after his old protégé informs him there is a bounty on his head. That premise alone is loaded with familiarity. But when you have Antonio Banderas leading the way it’s hard for me to turn a blind eye. Directed by Jon Keeyes, the action flick also stars Jaime King, Tommy Flanagan, and Catherine Davis.
Banderas plays a CIA assassin named Caleb who has went into hiding after leaving a job you never can truly leave. He’s found by his old protégé, Banshee (King) who warns him that a deadly mercenary (Flanagan) is seeking to collect a bounty that has been put on Caleb’s head. There are hints of some past tension between Caleb and Banshee, but they put it behind to try and stop their mutual enemy. The new trailer is full of action and Banderas’ suave style. I’m not sure if it offers much we haven’t seen before, but I’m certainly willing to give it a shot.
“Code Name Banshee” opens July 1st in select theaters and on VOD. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
One of my big regrets from this year’s Sundance Film Festival was missing out on “Cha Cha Real Smooth”. When sorting out my schedule, it wasn’t a movie that initially caught my eye. But after hearing the overwhelming excitement from fellow Sundancers I knew I had missed out. Apple quickly scooped up the film, and after a limited theater run, “Cha Cha” is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
It turns out “Cha Cha” earns the buzz. The light and easy dramedy teases conventionality but slyly maintains a freshness that keeps the story and characters from coming across as overly familiar. It very much feels like a movie of this era, yet it open-arm embraces several tried-and-true movie staples which is sure to give it credibility with the independent cinema scene. That may sound like a slight, but it isn’t meant to be. In fact, the movie’s fresh flavor mixed with its traditional indie movie vibe is a big part of what makes it work.
Image Courtesy of AppleTV+
“Cha Cha Real Smooth” is directed, written, produced, and co-edited by Cooper Raiff. He also stars as the film’s quintessential indie lead character. Raiff plays Andrew, 22-years-old and fresh out of college. As a character, Andrew is an interesting collage of traits. He’s a bit of a slacker and a touch selfish yet genuinely kind under the surface. He’s not lacking in self-confidence, despite still living at home with his mother (a really good Leslie Mann), step-father (Brad Garrett), and 12-year-old kid brother David (Evan Assante).
Andrew wants to work for a fancy non-profit, but his flighty lack of direction keeps him from putting in the effort. Instead he’s absorbed in thoughts of going to Barcelona where his college girlfriend is doing her Fulbright. It leaves him stuck working a go-nowhere job at a fast-food joint called “Meat Sticks” and serving as a part-time Bar Mitzvah party starter.
The movie gets going in earnest after Andrew meets a young mother named Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic teenage daughter, Lola (newcomer Vanessa Burghardt). Despite their age difference, Andrew and Domino develop an interesting relationship. Johnson is terrific playing yet another ambivalent and hard-to-read single mom with an enchanting aura of beauty surrounding a near impenetrable exterior. Domino is a devoted mother and is hesitant to put herself in any position that might compromise her first and most important calling. But there’s also a sorrow in her eyes – a sorrow that seems to vanish whenever Andrew is around.
This may sound like a pretty obvious rom-com recipe but Raiff has more on his mind. While he never goes as deep as he could have, he also doesn’t let his movie turn into a corny cringe-fest. That’s because his characters all feel natural and more akin to real life rather than the pages of some script. And the relationship between Andrew and Domino has more layers than you might expect. There’s clearly a connection between them and a strong undercurrent of passion. But it’s a classic case of “should they or shouldn’t they”. And despite their simmering mutual attraction, neither seem confident in what they really want. And things get even more complicated once Domino’s fiancé (Raúl Castillo) eases into the picture.
Image Courtesy of AppleTV+
I also loved how Raiff handles the relationship between Andrew and Lola, both on screen and off. It’s more than just a means of bringing the two adults together. It’s more than a young man’s chance to get in with a concerned and protective mom. Andrew often uses his “good guy” persona like a shrewd vendor pushing his wares. But his sincerity and kindness really comes out in his scenes with Lola. And Burghardt as terrific, bringing empathy and an authenticity to both her character and the film as a whole.
“Cha Cha Real Smooth” does a good job exploring the realities of growing up and what it means to discover one’s own direction in life. Along the way, Raiff shows keen instincts both as a director and a screenwriter, anchoring his story on familiar ground, but never letting it fall into the usual traps. And though it wears a little thin in the second half, there’s a certain messiness to these characters that I like and the film’s willingness to let them be flawed pays off in a big way. “Cha Cha Real Smooth” is streaming now on AppleTV+.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the phenomenon that is “RRR”. In addition to being the most expensive Indian movie to date and setting several worldwide box office records, the Telugu-language action-drama has won the praise of critics and audiences from around the globe. A three-hour epic set in 1920 pre-independent India may not sound like the kind of blockbuster today’s crowds are groomed to enjoy. But this is no ordinary blockbuster. “RRR” may anchor itself in rich history, but its very much a work of wild, unbridled fiction. And the sheer audacity of what we see on screen is cinema excess at its very best.
Directed and co-written by S.S. Rajamouli, the rollicking “RRR” is nearly impossible to define. It starts ferocious, turns lighthearted, plays like a comedy one minute and hits you with a musical number the next. The style-heavy action can be as brutal as it is proudly over-the-top. Yet there are also moments of silliness, heartbreak, and romance. It’s a buddy movie, a celebration of culture, a searing critique of colonialism, an ode to big screen spectacle. You could even call it a superhero movie of the most unconventional kind.
Image Courtesy of DVV Entertainment
That all may sound a little overwhelming, but don’t let it scare you away. Yes, there are numerous moving parts and even more genre influences. But Rajamouli harnesses it all into one mind-blowing stew that may defy definition, but that also reminds us of how movies can sweep us away in ways we never expect. This one certainly did me.
“RRR” (which we later learn stands for “Rise. Roar. Revolt.”) centers on two men who start as enemies, become friends, turn back to enemies, etc. The characters are based on two real-life revolutionaries, Komaram Bheem (played N. T. Rama Rao Jr.) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (played by Ram Charan). There’s no evidence the two leaders ever met in real life. But Rajamouli tosses aside any notion of historical restraints and imagines a fascinating “what-if” scenario.
The movie wastes no time setting up its villain(s) and its oppressive setting. The opening ventures deep into in the Adilabad forest where the cruel British Governor Scott Buxton (Ray Stevenson) and his equally vile wife Catherine (Alison Doody) claim for themselves a young girl named Malli (Twinkle Sharma) belonging to a quiet off-the-grid Gond tribe. The reverberations of their abhorrent act are felt through the entirety of the movie’s hefty running time.
Image Courtesy of DVV Entertainment
From there we get introductions to the two main characters and they give us a good sense of the kind of movie Rajamouli is shooting for. On the outskirts of Delhi, Raju (Ram Charan), a loyal soldier in the British army, single-handedly quells an massive uprising of angry locals with nothing more than wooden baton. Back in the forest, Bheem (N. T. Rama Rao Jr.), from the above-mentioned Gond tribe, displays his own superhuman prowess in a one-on-one with a man-eating tiger.
The paths of both men inevitably merge after Bheem is sent by his tribe to rescue Malli. But first he’ll need to find her. He begins his hunt in Delhi, masquerading as a local mechanic named Akhtar. The Governor gets word that a warrior is coming from the village, but they have no idea of his identity. Raju accepts the task of identifying and apprehending Bheem. If he brings him in alive, he’ll receive his much coveted promotion to special officer.
The first big twist follows a chance meeting where Bheem and Raju join up to save a young boy’s life. The two end up developing a close friendship, with neither realizing the other’s true identity. Their male bonding takes the story in some comical directions while a budding romance between Bheem and a kind-hearted Brit named Jenny (Olivia Morris) leads to a gloriously absurd and completely out-of-the-blue song-and-dance number (welcome to Tollywood).
Image Courtesy of DVV Entertainment
But secretly both Bheem and Raju continue their individual missions, leading to an inevitable clash once their identities are fully revealed. And all of that happens in the first half of the film. The second half isn’t as playful. It’s darker and bloodier, yet still maintains its bombast and over-the-top verve. The action scenes (shot by DP K.K. Senthil Kumar) only get wilder and are infused with mind-blowing choreography and top-notch CGI. And while the movie (to its credit) never loses sight of its two main characters, most people will leave the film talking about its outrageously fun set-pieces.
When taken all together, “RRR” plays like a rich and often pointed fable. It has an infectious charm in large part thanks to the bigger-than-life performances from Charan and Rao Jr., two of Tollywood’s biggest stars. Themes of fate, friendship, loyalty, and betrayal are intertwined with a sharp-edged dissection of colonialism and the oppression that follows in its wake. But what amazes most is the movie’s ability to be both heavy and light, funny and serious, utterly ridiculous and surprisingly thought-provoking. And Rajamouli’s ability to make it all gel is as superhuman as anything his two lead characters pull. “RRR” is now streaming on Netflix.
Adam Sandler seems to be a likable guy, but it’s been a while since I’ve really enjoyed one of his movies. The trailer for “Hustle” didn’t inspire much hope. It teased a sports movie that seemed to lean heavy on well-worn tropes and countless cameos (one of Sandler’s favorite gimmicks). And considering I just recently watched a really good basketball movie (more on it next week), I wasn’t itching to immediately watch another one. But the response to “Hustle” has been pretty great with critics I trust speaking highly of it and Sandler’s performance. And trailers aren’t always reliable, right?
“Hustle” turns out to be a mixed bag. It’s made well enough by director Jeremiah Zagar and it has some truly heartfelt moments. Sandler gives a solid performance and Juancho Hernangómez is surprisingly good. But the film has such a copy-and-paste sports story which doesn’t offer much of anything that we haven’t seen before. Co-writers Taylor Materne and Will Fetters stick too close to an overly familiar blueprint which means there isn’t an ounce of suspense about how things will turn out. You pretty much know where it’s going from the very start.
And yes, there is a deluge of cameos. So many that they quickly begin to feel like a crutch. Sandler (who also produces) and the filmmakers stuff in every basketball personality they possibly can. Mark Cuban, Doc Rivers, Julius Irving, Dirk Nowitzki, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and that just scratches the surface. It goes well beyond servicing the story, almost to the point of vanity. Yes, we get it Sandman. You know a lot of people. It doesn’t mean you need to cram them into every Happy Madison Production.
Back to the story, Sandler plays Stanley Sugerman, an aging basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. He spends his days spanning the globe, bouncing from country to country in hopes of finding the next big thing in the NBA. His dream is to finally land a coaching job which would allow him to spend more time at home with his wife, Teresa (Queen Latifah) and their teenage daughter, Alex (Jordan Hull).
His dream comes true when Sixers team owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) promotes Stanley to assistant coach. But his excitement is short lived. In the first of several contrivances you can see coming a mile away, Rex suddenly dies, leaving his conceited son Vince (Ben Foster) to handle the day-to-day operation of the team. And one of his first acts is to take Stanley off the bench and put him back on the road. Now Rex has a daughter named Kat (Heidi Gardner) who holds a prominent position with the team. Like her father, she’s close to Stanley. But she suddenly vanishes for no apparent reason other than the writers need her to.
While in Spain, Stanley happens upon a streetball game. There he gets his first look at Bo Cruz (Hernangómez), a 22-year-old phenom in work boots who hustles on the court to help support his mom (Maria Botto) and young daughter (Ainhoa Pillet). In Bo, Stanley sees his ticket back to the Sixers bench. So he takes the young man under his wing and begins prepping him for his shot at playing in the NBA. Over time, the two grow close with Stanley becoming more of a father figure/coach than a down-on-his-luck scout.
Along the way we get several of the tried-and-true sports drama story beats. For example, there’s the mandatory rah-rah training segment as Stanley works to get Bo ready for the NBA Combine. And there are the conventional hurdles that are packed into every one of these movies. You know, the ones that leave our heroes feeling defeated and thinking all is lost. That is until the music swells and they get that one last shot. There was a brief moment where I thought the movie was actually going to do something fresh and unexpected. Alas, it immediately fell back in line and wraps up exactly as expected, bypassing several glaring questions, and going straight for the feel-good jugular.
Sandler and his inherent charm is almost enough to keep things afloat. Sure he’s playing a variation of the same character he’s played in several of his movies, but that’s part of what draws people to him. He also has a natural chemistry with Hernangómez and together they form the heart of the story. But other characters don’t fare as well. Take Foster who is easily dealt the worst hand. His Vince devolves into nothing more than a one-note villain with no nuance whatsoever. And in a truly lazy bit of writing, his story angle wraps up off screen and with one simply line of dialogue from another character.
The movie is at its best in the few moments where it pulls back from basketball and allows its characters to expand beyond the game. I also like how Zagar captures the energy of the big city streetball scene. But beyond that it’s hard to find much in “Hustle” to be excited about. And that’s mainly because we’ve seen all of this before. Throw in some really shaky writing and shoddy character work and you’re left with a cookie-cutter sports movie that may please Sandler diehards but with little to offer otherwise.
TIME magazine called it “The Spielberg Summer”. 40 years ago this month, the acclaimed director of such hits as “Jaws”, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, released two big movies one week apart. “Poltergeist” hit theaters June 4th and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” followed close behind on June 11th. Both films were critical and box office successes and further cemented Steven Spielberg as the king of the Hollywood blockbuster.
“Poltergeist” ended up being the highest grossing horror film of 1982 and the year’s eighth highest grossing movie overall. It also earned three Academy Award nominations (Original Score, Sound Effects Editing, Visual Effects), losing all of them to Spielberg’s other film, “E.T.”. A global phenomenon, “E.T.” became the highest grossing film of all-time (toppling “Star Wars”), a distinction it held for eleven years until another Spielberg film, “Jurassic Park” took the honor. Still, “E.T.” left a major mark, earning nine Oscar nominations of its own, including one for Best Picture.
These days we’ve grown accustomed to franchises and tent-pole blockbusters. They’re what drive the current box office. But in 1982 it was a pretty big deal, especially coming from a filmmaker of Spielberg’s caliber. Back then more people held the big screen experience in high regard, and trips to the movie theater really meant something for many of us. In addition to the immersive and communal qualities of watching a movie in a dark room with a group of total strangers, theaters provided our only access to new films. There was no internet meaning there were no streaming services. And the video rental boom was near but it hadn’t fully bloomed yet. So we went to the theater. It was special.
“Poltergeist” is considered a Steven Spielberg film although the level of his involvement has been debated for decades. Spielberg conceived the story, co-wrote the script, and co-produced. But he was already at work making “E.T.” and a clause in his contract forbid him from directing another film while still in production. So Tobe Hooper (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) was brought on to direct. Accounts vary on who had creative control with some going as far as proclaiming Spielberg as co-director. Co-producer Frank Marshall insisted Spielberg was “the creative force of the movie” while in a 2012 interview several cast and crew members credited Hooper.
Controversy aside, “Poltergeist” has Spielberg’s fingerprints all over it. It’s perhaps best known for a chillingly calm five-year-old Heather O’Rourke standing in front of a snowy television screen uttering the words “They’re heeeere.” But watching it again I was reminded of its many strengths that go beyond its fun but somewhat dated special effects. There’s the mischievous jolt it gave to the old-fashioned ghost story. There’s its hefty focus on developing a genuine and relatable family. There’s the terrific Zelda Rubinstein as an eccentric clairvoyant who brings a wonderful energy and kookiness to the film’s second half.
“Poltergeist” was well received by audiences at the time and has won over numerous skeptics in the decades that have followed. Generally speaking, critics also liked it although there were a few notable exceptions (Pauline Kael notoriously dismissed it as a “dumb concoction” and “entertaining hash“). And while it made good money, its box office numbers could have been even higher if not for the movie that came just one week later.
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” was conceived, directed and co-produced by Spielberg, and its creative control was never in question. Despite claims he had plagiarized the film from an unproduced script by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Spielberg maintained that “E.T.” was inspired by the childhood imaginary friend he invented following his parents’ divorce. Whichever is true, “E.T.” was an instant hit. Including its two re-releases, the film has grossed just under $800 million.
Its massive popularity led to “E.T.” becoming a merchandising goldmine. Plush toys, storybooks, breakfast cereal, lunchboxes – the film generated over $1 billion in merchandising alone. Yet one reason “E.T.” remains one of Spielberg’s most beloved movies is that it wasn’t made just for kids. He gave audiences more than a suburban fairy tale about a young boy who befriends a homesick alien. He gave them a touching portrait of youth that kids of all ages could relate to.
As “Poltergeist” and “E.T.” turn 40-years-old, I can’t help but look back at June, 1982 with a particular sense of longing. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy many of today’s blockbusters, and I can get caught up in the near rabid excitement that surrounds certain high-profile releases. But this is a more homogenized era where blockbusters more often than not revolve around sequels and franchise-building. That’s why it’s easy to reflect on “The Spielberg Summer” with such fondness. It reminds me of a time when big summer movies and our first experiences with them were truly memorable. But then again, maybe I’m just old.
The hard-working Dakota Johnson stars in the upcoming Netflix Original “Persuasion”, an adaptation of author Jane Austen’s final novel. First published in 1817, “Persuasion” was initially well received but has since earned a healthy fanbase. This latest take on the beloved story is directed by Carrie Cracknell and co-written by Ronald Base and Alice Victoria Winslow.
Johnson plays Anne Elliot, a seemingly happy young English woman with plans on marrying her love, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis). But then she’s persuaded by her blue-blooded family to give him up. Years later she finds her self torn between a dashing suitor played by Henry Golding and Frederick who re-enters her life. The period setting looks well realized and the cast (which also includes Richard Grant, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Ben Bailey-Smith, among others) hints at a fresh new take on the literary classic.
“Persuasion” premieres July 15th on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Keith & the Movies 