Author Archives: Keith Garlington

REVIEW: “Code Name Banshee” (2022)

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Antonio Banderas has that special something. Sure he’s a great actor with an incredible range. Yes he’s a natural at drama, comedy, action, you name it. But there’s something about him that always grabs my attention. He’s effortlessly suave and charismatic and it’s hard not to be drawn to his characters, even in smaller movies like his latest, “Code Name Banshee”. But despite his special sauce, Banderas can’t save every movie. Such is the case for this decent yet unremarkable action thriller.

Despite its rather bland title, the Jon Keeyes directed “Code Name Banshee” has its high points. There’s some well-shot action and that above-mentioned Banderas allure is certainly present. But the whole thing is extremely straightforward. There are no twists, no turns, no surprises. The story just plays out exactly as it tells us it will. Even the “big” final act showdown (because we have to have a final act showdown) lacks pizzazz. And the movie dips whenever Banderas is off screen, which is more often than I expected.

Image Courtesy of Screen Media Films

Storywise, the main character is Banshee (Jaime King), an assassin who works high-paying contracts with the help of her computer hacker friend and veritable ‘eyes and ears’, Kronos (Aleksander Vayshelboym). She’s your typical movie assassin type – quiet, lethal, and laser-focused on the job at hand. She never asks questions about her targets, “I’m the executioner, not the judge.”

I an a roundabout way we learn that Banshee’s father and his best friend and black ops partner Caleb (Banderas) have been branded traitors by the CIA. Caleb has vanished off the grid. Banshee’s father is believed to be dead, killed by a ruthless mercenary named Anthony Green (Tommy Flanagan).

Banshee and Green have a face-to-face when he beats her to one of her contracts. Green informs her that Caleb has a $10 million bounty on his head and he intends to collect it. Green offers her $1 million if she’ll give up Caleb’s whereabouts. Rather than accept, she blasts through Green’s goons and sets out to warn her former mentor and maybe recruit him to help her kill the man who may have axed her father.

Image Courtesy of Screen Media Films

For someone described as a “ghost”, Caleb turns out to be hilariously easy to find. These days he’s a bar owner in New Jersey who lives with his daughter, Hailey (Catherine Davis). With the help of Kronos, Banshee pinpoints Caleb’s location and pays him a surprise visit. After reassuring him she’s not there to kill him, Banshee tells Caleb that Green and his henchman are on their way. After dealing with some old baggage, the two realize that they have a chance to take out their mutual enemy. But it’ll take putting aside their past differences and a lot of bullets.

To no one’s surprise, there is quite a bit of John Wick-inspired gunplay. Some of it is pretty fun with headshots galore, each accompanied by a computer-generated spray of blood. There’s also some pretty good fight choreography, the best involving Banderas. King has a splashy scene or two, particularly in the early moments of the film. But it’s all things we’ve seen before. And the movie’s ultimate inability to maintain its energy makes it a hard one to latch onto. “Code Name Banshee” is out now in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “The Forgiven” (2022)

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

Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain make for a captivating duo in John Michael McDonagh’s new drama “The Forgiven”. McDonagh, the man behind 2014’s exceptional “Calvary”, has a knack for digging deep into individual human complexity and examining the dark side of human nature. In “Calvary” is was through a troubled Catholic priest. Here, it’s a married couple whose relationship has soured beyond repair. McDonagh uses their toxicity and disillusionment as a means to explore a range of themes. Unfortunately the movie never quite gels, and McDonagh’s good intentions often feel more patronizing than insightful.

“The Forgiven” uncoils over a weekend near the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. It follows the consequences of one lone incident and its ripple effect on the lives of several people from dramatically different walks of life. The premise is promising especially when you have actors the caliber Fiennes and Chastain. But this sordid morality play never rises above its promise, and it skirts around the edges of its themes rather than deal with them in a meaningful way.

Fiennes and Chastain play David and Jo Henninger. He’s a physician fresh off a malpractice suit. She’s a children’s author who hasn’t written a new book in eight years. They’re a privileged couple who spend more time sniping at each other than showing any signs of actual affection. Their conversations are littered with condescending put-downs such as him calling her a “harpy” and “shrill“ or her mocking him as “highly functioning alcoholic”. They are a picture of misery, wrapped up in fake smiles and elegant clothes.

After arriving in Morocco, David and Jo head out on a road-trip to a garish desert villa belonging to their wealthy friend Richard (Matt Smith) and his neurotic partner, Dally (Caleb Landry Jones). Once there the Henningers, along with a few more of Richard’s European and American hedonistic chums, are to enjoy a weekend-long bacchanalia of rich people excess.

But on the way, a drunk and distracted David barrels down a dark desert road, not noticing a local teen named Driss (Omar Ghazaoui) who steps out into his path. He runs over the boy, killing him instantly. While it’s ultimately an accident, the couple’s response speaks volumes. Rather than feel remorse, David and Jo are more annoyed by the inconvenience. They throw the boy’s body in the backseat of their car and drive to Richard and Dally’s estate. Richard pays off the local police and they start the party as if nothing had happened.

Image Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

But the next morning they’re surprised when a jeep carrying three Moroccan Berbers come to retrieve the body, one being the boy’s father, Abdellah (Ismael Kanater). The father’s lone request is that David accompany him to his village deep in the desert for the boy’s burial. It’s their custom, or so we’re told. Seeing no other way out, a worn-down David reluctantly agrees. He loads up with the three men and is driven off into the night to whatever fate awaits him. It’s one of the film’s better moments and it injects the story with some much-needed suspense.

Jo stays behind as Richard nonchalantly cranks his party back up. Rather than worry about her husband, the guilt-free Jo lets her hair down. She guzzles alcohol, snorts coke, and openly flirts with one of the other guests, a slyly off-putting financial analyst named Tom (Christopher Abbott). While Tom is far from fleshed out, there’s a little more to him than the rest of the insufferable party-goers. McDonagh wants us to despise them (and we do). But it’s hard to see anything other than boozy, coked-up Westerners. They’re paper-thin caricatures whose inflammatory blabber comes across as manufactured more so than authentic.

The scenes with David and the Berber locals have a little more to offer. But while McDonagh is clearly sympathetic towards the indigenous people, it always seems like he’s viewing them through a first-world lens. The film paints their plight with such broad strokes and often speaks to their circumstances in crude generalities. It’s unfortunate because the movie obviously wants to say something. But it does so at the expense of the victims whose individual stories would have been far more interesting than watching the benders of some hedonistic elitists.

Aside from some good scenes at Abdellah’s village, the film is helped by Fiennes and Chastain. Fiennes is so convincingly vile that we can’t help but view any tiny emergence of a conscience with skepticism. Chastain doesn’t get as much to work with, but makes her scenes count. But the two can only do so much with a film this unsure of itself. Its messages are clear, but the shaky conveying of those messages leaves “The Forgiven” less of a sharp-edged critique and more of a well-meaning misfire. “The Forgiven” is now playing in select theaters.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” (2022)

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(CLICK HERE to read my full review on the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

For a long time Leslie Manville has shown why she’s not only one of our best actresses working today, but also one of our most diverse. Case in point: just in the last few years she’s played a mad scientist, a pixie-fairy, a bristly manager of an esteemed fashion house, a woman struggling with breast cancer, and a venomous backwoods matriarch. Now, thanks to her new film “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”, you can add a sweet and spritely cleaning lady determined to get her very own Christian Dior evening gown.

Based on the 1958 novel “Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris” by Paul Gallico, this adorable big screen adaptation of (almost) the same name is just the kind of light and lively escape I tend to gravitate towards from time to time. If Manville wasn’t reason enough, the film also stars the magnificent Isabelle Huppert, Jason Isaacs (one of my personal favorites), and the seasoned Lambert Wilson. Directed by Anthony Fabian, the film is the fourth adaptation of Gallico’s popular work.

“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” is a period crowdpleaser full of playful energy and feel-good vibes. It’s about dreaming big but not at the expense of true happiness. It’s about believing in who you are and being true to yourself. It’s about the power of selflessness and generosity. It’s about moving on from heartbreaking loss. That may sound like a lot, but it’s all keenly woven together in the titular character’s story.

In 1957 London, Ada Harris (Manville) cleans houses for several well-to-do clients. Among them are a businessman with an uncomfortable taste for MUCH younger women, a high-maintenance diva, and a wealthy self-important Madame. Away from work, she enjoys hanging out with her best friend and fellow housekeeper, Vi (Ellen Thomas) and Archie (Isaacs), a good-natured bookie who clearly has an eye for her. But inside, Ada’s heart is aching. She’s still quietly holding out hope that the love of her life, her husband Eddie, is returning home from the war. Deep down she knows he isn’t. She just isn’t ready to face the reality.

While cleaning the haughty Madame’s bedroom, Ada catches a glimpse of an elegant 500-quid Christian Dior gown. She’s instantly enchanted by the lavender frock and filled with big dreams of travelling to Paris to buy a couture Dior dress of her very own. At first it seems like pie in the sky. But driven by her intense desire along with the sudden urge for a much-needed adventure, Ada decides to go for it. She works tirelessly to save up her money and soon has enough to set off for the City of Lights.

The culture clash comedy elements kick in when Ada arrives in Paris and unintentionally crashes the House of Dior on the very day the designer is set to reveal his 10th Anniversary Collection. Needless to say she stands out from the normal clientele that includes countesses, baronesses, and even Princess Margaret. And just as she’s about to be escorted out by the House’s crabby directress Madame Colbert (Huppert), Ada finds a sympathetic ally in the Marquis of Chassagne (Wilson), a suave and sympathetic gentleman who insists she watch the fashion show as his guest.

I won’t give away the details, but soon Ada begins to win the hearts of the fashion house with her inherent kindness and sensitivity. She shows motherly compassion to a Hepburn-esque young model named Natasha (Alba Baptista). She helps the generous Monsieur André (Lucas Bravo) to find his confidence. She even leaves an impression on the renowned Christian Dior himself (Philippe Bertin). And while there’s an inescapable predictability to stories like these, it’s hard even for us not to be charmed by Mrs. Harris and her light-hearted yarn.

Visually, there’s nothing particularly profound about the look of the film. Yet I found myself drawn to DP Felix Wiedemann’s cinematography. From the old-fashioned vibes he brings to some of the more playful scenes, to his sumptuous gaze when pulling us into the exquisite world of haute couture. And it’s all bathed in the swooning sounds of Rael Jones’ original score. Again, nothing especially original, but perfectly form-fitting for a story like this.

There are a few passing nods to social issues such as class struggles and labor strikes. But they’re very much passing nods. The movie has no real interest in going down those paths. Instead, it keeps things light and trusts Manville to win our hearts. And she does. Neither she or the movie reinvents the wheel or challenge us on some deep intellectual or existential level. But that’s fine. Not every movie or performance needs to. Sometimes all you want is some whimsical feel-good comfort food. And sometimes all you need is an actress like Manville to give it some special flavor.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “X” (2022)

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Ti West’s “X” is an unashamed ode to slasher movies that manages to capture what makes the good ones good while still being hampered by what makes the bad ones bad. Written and directed by West and produced by A24, “X” tips its hat to several movies both from the horror genre and beyond. West pulls most from 1974’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – the blue van, the Texas country roads, a stop at an old gas station, the remote farmhouse. Even camera shots are ripped straight from Hooper’s classic.

Let me just say “X” is a far cry from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. Perhaps that’s an unfair comparison. But for a movie that calls back as much as this one, it’s a comparison that’s kinda hard to avoid. “X” shows it has the setting, the atmosphere, and at times a filmmaker with the technical know-how to create something in the “Chainsaw” vein.

But West leans on the wrong things and wastes too much time spinning his wheels. Worst of all, it all feels like an imitation. And most of its attempts at “freshness” feel like gimmicks just to make things racier or edgier. It’s as if he’s trying to rekindle the feel of the old grindhouse movies. But aside from its steady dose of sleaze and its retro credits sequences, even the grindhouse comparison falls short.

Image Courtesy of A24

The best scene (and some of the movie’s best pure filmmaking) is the opening. West sits his camera in the doorway of a barn peering at an old farmhouse that’s bookended by two police cars. A third cop car comes into the shot driven by Sheriff Dentler (James Gaylyn). The camera then slowly creeps out of the barn and locks onto the Sheriff as he walks to the house. Dead bodies litter this blood-soaked crime scene. West’s camera and his reliance on ambient sounds enhance the unsettling mood and help the scene foreshadow what’s to come.

But then we jump to just 24 hours earlier (the timeline in this thing never quite adds up). It’s 1979 and a group of friends load into an old dodge van and leave Houston for the countryside to shoot an amateur porno movie called “The Farmer’s Daughters”. The project’s executive producer Wayne (Martin Henderson) has rented a cabin belonging to a sickly elderly couple, Howard and Pearl. It sits roughly 100 yards from the old couple’s farmhouse which should be enough privacy for their shoot. But there’s a catch. Wayne never told Howard they would be shooting a skin flick. Oops.

Joining Wayne is his coked-up girlfriend and aspiring porn-superstar, Maxine (Mia Goth). There’s the blonde diva wannabe Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and her boyfriend/scene-partner, Jackson (rapper Kid Cudi). There’s the porn film’s director and cameraman RJ (Owen Campbell) who sits under the delusion that he’s about to make a true piece of cinema. And then there’s Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), RJ’s girlfriend and boom operator who reluctantly agrees to come along. Nicknamed “church mouse” by Wayne, Lorraine represents some kind of moral hesitation that the movie does nothing with.

Image Courtesy of A24

After an uneven and sometimes yawny first hour where West’s infatuation with his porno movie-inside-the-movie chews up most of the screen time, the movie finally lets loose and delivers what slasher fans are there for. As you can probably guess, the old couple turn out to be geriatric psychopaths, especially Pearl who’s also played by Goth decked out in wonky looking prosthetics. It’s here that the already shallow characters make some of the same dumb choices we’ve seen countless times before (it’s no wonder they always die in these movies).

Throughout, “X” finds itself trapped between honoring slasher tropes and its aim to be “artful” or “elevated”. None of it is particularly convincing. The movie seems to want to say something about aging and sexual freedom. But it’s hard to take seriously when the characters feel so false. Even the jarringly abrupt attempts to humanize the killers are borderline comical. Like the film’s trite critique of religion which mainly comes through the blanket representation of a reappearing fire-and-brimstone TV preacher, none of it feels meaningful.

Yes it’s fun to see a nod to “Psycho”, a nod to “The Shining”, even a nod to 1980’s “Alligator”. Yes some of the gruesome kills in the final 30 minutes are well executed (pun intended). And yes I know the slasher genre is known for their collection of dumb people. But that doesn’t mean “X” gets a pass on its slew of missteps. In the end it simply feels like a trashy knock-off. And the things it does to supposedly freshen up the slasher genre are so minute that it’s hard to call anything about it “original”. “X” is now available on VOD.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

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When examining the individual character-centered movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Thor films have been the most uneven. Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 “Thor” was a nice mix of superhero action and ‘fish out of water’ humor. Alan Taylor’s 2013 “Thor: The Dark World” had its moments, but as a whole was a little dry and derivative. And then you have Taika Waititi’s 2017 “Thor: Ragnarok”, a decent standalone comedy but a mediocre MCU movie with an out-of-whack tone and characters who often clashed with their previous MCU portrayals.

But audiences loved “Ragnarok” to the tune of over $850 million. That, along with lead actor Chris Hemsworth’s love for playing the character, made a fourth film inevitable. Enter “Thor: Love and Thunder”, a movie that mostly follows in the tracks of its immediate predecessor. That’s largely because of the returning Waititi who this time not only directs but writes the script along with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.

“Love and Thunder” tries a little of everything and it results in a pretty disappointing mess. Of course Waititi’s lean towards humor is impossible to miss and leads to some of the same issues I had with “Ragnarok”. The problem here is that Waititi doesn’t seem to have a valve, and he goes so heavy into making this a comedy that it almost feels like a spoof of a Marvel film rather than a significant entry into the MCU. And much like the movie before it, “Love and Thunder” once again makes its main character a walking punchline rather than a character you can take seriously.

Casual fans with no real affinity for the comics (or for a cohesive flow of the overall universe) will probably enjoy “Love and Thunder”. It once again gives us ‘buffoon Thor’ and goes out of its way to squeeze a joke out of nearly every scene. Not only does it lead to instances were the comedy seems annoyingly forced, but it also smothers some of the more dramatic scenes. Worst of all, Waititi puts so much time into making jokes that he shortchanges other characters and their stories. There are numerous holes that could have easily been filled if Waititi would have simply dialed it back and given more thought to his overall story rather than making his audience giggle at every other line of dialogue.

In between the movie’s screaming goat gags and lazy Guns N’ Roses needle-drops is the tragic (and woefully under-served) story of Gorr (a terrific but wasted Christian Bale). The movie opens with his young daughter dying in his arms. After his prayers to save his little girl go unanswered, a humble Gorr approaches his god pleading for answers but only receives ridicule and mockery. He’s then (somehow) chosen by a weapon called the Necrosword which imbues its wielder with the ability to slay gods (don’t expect much of an explanation for the Necrosword. It’s one of several things the movie throws in but doesn’t bother with any details).

From their Gorr takes one of several extended leaves. The story shifts to Thor (Hemsworth) who is still out cruising around space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. After a silly (and visually shaky) “action” sequence on an embattled planet, the Guardians are quickly sent packing (more for story convenience than for any meaningful reason) and halfwit Thor is off to answer a distress call from Sif (Jaimie Alexander). She warns him of Gorr and his plan to eradicate all gods. Gorr’s first target – New Asgard.

If you remember, New Asgard is a village in Norway under the rule of Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). As leader, Valkyrie has turned New Asgard into a popular cruise ship tourist destination where visitors can enjoy rides and corny stage reenactments of Thor’s adventures. They can even see the fragments of Thor’s mighty hammer, Mjollnir prominently displayed in a glass case.

This is also where we get reintroduced to Thor’s ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (a returning Natalie Portman). Speaking of a character who gets the short end of the stick, Jane hasn’t played a significant part in the MCU since 2013’s “The Dark World”. She’s brought back to play a major role, but because of her long absence Waititi has a lot to catch us up on. We learn Jane has stage 4 cancer and hasn’t much time to live. For reasons barely explained, Jane feels Mjollnir calling her to New Asgard (it has something to do with an accidental enchantment years earlier. Again, it’s an explanation given out of convenience more so than good storytelling). When Jane arrives, Mjollnir magically reforges and Jane is transformed into Mighty Thor. Just like that.

After Gorr attacks New Asgard and makes off with the village’s children, Thor and Jane are reunited. And with Valkyrie tagging along as the perpetual third wheel, the trio sets off to stop the God Butcher and bring the kidnapped Asgardian kiddos back home. But to do so will require a visit to Zeus (a campy Russell Crowe) to warn him and the other gods and recruit an army. More goofiness follows, we get more iffy special effects, more time is spent away from the truly compelling elements of the story, and we’re given more reasons to grow frustrated with Waititi’s antics.

So Jane’s story is rushed and there’s hardly any spark between her and Thor. Valkyrie (a character in desperate need of some kind of meaningful arc) is too often left on the story’s fringes. Korg (voiced by Waititi) tags along for comic relief (as if the movie needed comic “relief”). And Gorr is left sitting on the sidelines while Waititi yucks it up to the point of overkill. And that’s notable for a movie with a father grieving the death of a child and stage four cancer as key story points. But “Love and Thunder” isn’t too concerned with all of that weighty stuff. And who cares if it’s a tonal disaster as long as you wedge a gag into nearly every scene. That seems to be the blueprint of the MCU’s latest underwhelming installment. “Thor: Love and Thunder” is out now in theaters.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

First Glance: “The Invitation”

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I enjoy doing this ‘First Glance’ feature. It’s a chance to inform folks about upcoming movies on the horizon by showcasing new trailers. But this is the first installment where I’ve highlighted a movie while issuing this warning – You may not wan’t to watch the attached trailer! I say that because it’s an unfortunate case of the studios revealing waaaaay too much (at least I think so). In it we see a seemingly noteworthy reveal that (I’m guessing) plays a significant part in the movie. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

I’ll dance around the plot, but without spoiling things the story revolves around a young woman named Evie (Nathalee Emmanuel) who learns she has some extended family she’s never met. She travels to England to meet her newfound second cousin, Oliver (Thomas Doherty) who invites her to attend a family wedding. Evie is hesitant at first but agrees and that’s where the movie takes its sinister turn. The movie is directed by Jessica M. Thompson who co-wrote the script with Blair Butler. They certainly seem to have a knack for atmosphere and tension. I’m interested to see how this one turns out.

“The Invitation” drops exclusively in theaters on August 26. Check out the trailer below (at your own risk) and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.