REVIEW: “Ida Red” (2021)

November 4, 2021 by Keith Garlington

The grimy blue-collar crime thriller “Ida Red” opens with a stylishly filmed late night heist. Josh Hartnett and Frank Grillo masquerading as DEA agents pull over an 18-wheeler under the guise of a “routine” traffic stop. But as often happens in movies like this, things gets messy and (especially in this case) the ramifications of the botched job prove serious. It sets off an ugly domino effect that propels this gritty and tightly-made indie.

The story is set in Oklahoma and takes place sometimes in 2010. Hartnett plays Wyatt Walker, a mechanic at an auto dealership by day and an armed robber by night. He’s part of a notorious family of criminals led by his mother, the family matriarch, Ida “Red” Walker (an appropriately scary Melissa Leo). She’s serving 25 years in prison but still calls the shots. She’s also terminally ill. “Don’t let me die in here,” she makes Wyatt pledge.

Grillo is delightfully unhinged playing Wyatt’s sociopathic uncle Dallas. He’s the family member who doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty when needed, and as one particularly unsettling scene shows us, he seems to enjoy it. Dallas is the brother of Wyatt’s father who was killed during an attempted bank robbery, the same job which put Ida in prison. Now Wyatt and Dallas are left to do the legwork while the sickly Ida tries to keep things running smoothly from behind bars.

The one kink in the Walker outfit is Wyatt’s sister and Ida’s estranged daughter Jeanie (Deborah Ann Wolf). She and her lawman husband Bodie (George Carroll) disapprove of the family’s criminal enterprise which has led to some sizable brother/sister tension. To throw more gas on the already flammable situation, Jeanie’s 15-year-old delinquent daughter Darla (Sofia Hublitz) looks up to Wyatt.

Written and directed by John Swab, “Ida Red” revolves aroun a fairly basic central storyline. It’s pretty simple and it’s nothing we haven’t seen several times before. What separates it is the interest Swab has in his characters. More that just a crime story, Swab is far more intrigued by who these people are and the dynamic between them. By honing in on the many complicated relationships, Swab is able to dig into a number of compelling themes. Bloodlines, generations, and breaking destructive family cycles.

That last one really comes through in Darla’s character. “Why do you do it?” she asks Wyatt concerning his life of crime. “It’s in our blood,” he solemnly replies. In many ways her story is the film’s moral centerpiece. She’s at a crossroads and the two paths she has in front of her lead in dramatically different life-effecting directions. Does she follow her uncles who love and protect her but are on a path full of violence? Or does she set off down her own path – one that gives her a chance at hope and happiness?

The heat turns up a notch when Bodie and FBI Agent Lawrence Twilley (William Forsythe) get a sniff that puts them on Wyatt’s trail. It leads to the proverbial “one more job and we’re done” which never quite goes as planned. Along the way Swab works up some pretty good tension and the handful of action scenes (most notably a “Heat” inspired downtown shootout) are plenty fierce. There are a few odd touches as well (I’m still trying make sense of the weird Madonna “Crazy for You” needle drop during a police interrogation room).

“Ida Red” doesn’t always seem sure of itself or of the best way to get to its fairly predictable end. But John Swab does a good job building a family dynamic that’s both interesting and believable. The setting works well and the performances manage the tricky job of conveying both menace and empathy. Overall, the movie might not be anything new or unique, but it does have the kick you look for in crime thrillers of this kind. “Ida Red” releases November 5th in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

REVIEW: “Finch” (2021)

November 3, 2021 by Keith Garlington

When Apple announced their new streaming service there was already a pretty crowded field duking it out for subscribers. Needing a push, the tech giant dropped $70 million to acquire distribution rights to “Greyhound”, a terrific Tom Hanks led World War II action-thriller. The movie was a success for the platform, but it still wasn’t growing by leaps and bounds. Then along came a little show called “Ted Lasso”. You may have heard of it.

Since then Apple has continued to invest in quality feature films (“Coda” from earlier this year, Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” still to come). Among those investments is their latest Tom Hanks adventure “Finch”. Originally titled “BIOS” and set for a theater release by Universal Pictures, the film was snatched up by Apple, renamed, and set for an exclusive release on Apple TV+. It turns out to be yet another good move.

Directed by Miguel Sapochnik and co-written by Craig Luck and Ivor Powell, “Finch” is a delightfully intimate slice of post-apocalyptic science fiction. It sees Tom Hanks using his well known everyman charms to tell a story of a man, his dog, and a robot. But that’s just the dressing. At its core, “Finch” is a tender and heartwarming meditation on what it means to be human. I have to admit, it didn’t take me long to fall under its spell.

Hanks plays an ailing robotics engineer and inventor who goes by the name Finch. We first meet him clad in a protective suit to shield him from the lethal heat and UV rays, humming Don McLean’s “American Pie” as he scavenges for supplies in the shell of what was once St. Louis. Like most of the planet, the city is a sandy ghost town with no signs of life other than Finch and his dog Goodyear. We learn that a solar flare combined with mankind’s negligence led to an ecological disaster. With the ozone destroyed, the planet became one big desert plagued by skin-sizzling heat, deadly radiation, and violent storms.

Finch lives in an old tech facility where he still clocks in and out just to maintain some semblance of normalcy. In his abundance of spare time, he uses what remains of the facility’s equipment to build a fully functioning android (voiced by Caleb Landry Jones), a nice upgrade from his little scavenger bot that he affectionately calls Dewey. But before Finch can put the finishing touches on his creation, a massive superstorm gathers in the distance forcing them to evacuate. Finch plots a course west, over the Rocky Mountains to San Francisco. Soon he and his motley crew are in his modified RV and heading out on a road trip across the Midwest wasteland.

While the improbable journey is full of the kind of peril you would expect in a movie like this, the story is far more interested in Finch and his relationship with the android who later becomes known as Jeff. Over time we learn more about Finch: his past, his profession, his family. We learn he’s a man with regrets. “I wish I had done more with the time I had,” he laments. We also learn he’s unwell as evident by his frequent coughing fits and nose bleeds.

Over time something akin to a father-son relationship develops between the two as Finch teaches the ever inquisitive Jeff how to talk, how to walk, how to drive, how to take initiative. And with Jeff, there’s a starry-eyed admiration for Finch. A childlike trust and a sincere desire to please his new father figure. As Jeff’s programming adapts, his voice smoothens out and he shows what resembles maturity. And the more he experiences on the journey the more he begins to understand the complexity of human emotions.

One of the film’s more surprising and effective touches is in how it views things from Jeff’s fresh unclouded perspective. It may sound like a small thing, but seeing things through Jeff’s eyes really emphasizes the layers of humanity in Luck and Powell’s script. And Caleb Landry Jones’ voice work shrewdly reveals the evolution of his character while offering up some well-calibrated humor.

Sapochnik and his DP Jo Willems visualize a spectacular yet forbidding world. A desolate wasteland where grassy fields have become sand dunes and once bustling cities are nothing but scorched hulls. It’s a convincing setting that comes with its own unique set of dangers. It’s a spectacular

And of course Hanks is terrific as always, doing all of his acting next to an android and a dog. Yet he brings the same down-to-earth authenticity that’s essential to all of his performances. There’s an effortless connectability Hanks has with his audiences and he make us feel a part of any story he’s helping to tell. In this case it’s a story of the human experience. It’s a beautiful fable about what makes us who we are – our blemishes, our contradictions, our resiliency, our spirit. And who better than Tom Hanks, a robot, and a cute little pup to help us see ourselves clearer.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “The Harder They Fall” (2021)

November 2, 2021 by Keith Garlington

For those wondering (and I doubt many are), this isn’t a remake of Humphrey Bogart’s 1956 boxing drama. Nope, this is a stylish new Western from the folks at Netflix. Directed and co-written by singer-songwriter Jeymes Samuel, this star-studded shoot ‘em up immediately grabs your attention for its predominantly black cast. But despite a strong start and the amazing talent on screen, the film sags in the middle before limping across the finish line with its predictable ending and head-scratching sequel setup.

“The Harder They Fall” tells a fictional story but uses real 19th century Old West wranglers, lawmen and outlaws. The story begins with a bang. In the tradition of some of the great spaghetti westerns, the movie opens with a fantastic credits sequence followed by a burst of violence that will define key characters moving forward. In this case a young boy watches his parents gunned down in cold blood. It’s an exceptionally shot scene that echoes the work of the genre’s two greatest Sergio’s – Leone and Corbucci.

Years later, the traumatized boy is now a man going by the name Nat Love (played by an exceptional Jonathan Majors). Marked by a cross carved into his forehead by his parents’ killer, the revenge-fueled Nat gets wind that the man he’s looking to kill, Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), was out of prison. Helping him on his quest for vengeance is saloon owner and Nat’s former flame Stagecoach Mary (Zazie Beetz), dead-eye sharpshooter Bill Pickett (Edi Gathegi), a young quick-draw named Jim Beckworth (RJ Cyler), and Mary’s loyal saloon hand Cuffee (Danielle Deadwyler). Also joining them is seasoned lawman Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) who has a bone to pick with Nat but wants Rufus more.

Meanwhile, in one of the movie’s very best scenes both visually and performance-wise, Rufus Buck faithfuls, the surly “Treacherous” Trudy Smith (Regina King), the sly ruthless Cherokee Bill (LaKeith Stanfield) and a few disposables, bust their leader out of a prison train and then head for the town of Redwood City. Once there they kick out its crooked sheriff, once an old associate of Rufus’ named Wiley Escoe (an excellent Deon Cole), and set up shop. Sadly, it’s here where the movie begins to stall.

For some reason Idris Elba, bursting with charisma and brandishing a quiet menace, up and vanishes for a long stretch of the movie. He essentially stays shut up in Redwood City waiting for the inevitable showdown between gangs. The movie misses his presence. Majors is terrific and carries his gang’s load (he has some especially good scenes opposite of Beetz). But when it comes to Buck’s gang, King and Stanfield (both really good here) do their best but are stuck in one place basically spinning their wheels. It’s a shame, because together with Elba, the three make for a cracking combination. Each give us characters who grab us and leave us wanting more of them.

This is the feature film debut for Jeymes Samuel whose sure-handed direction and blaring style routinely gives us something cool to look at and admire. But not all of his choices work. For example, there are scattered patches of dialogue which sound plucked out of a modern day comedy rather than in the American west. There’s also a few scenes where Samuel’s ambition gets the best of him and he gets a little too carried away.

A good example is a bank robbery scene in Maysville, a town exclusively populated by wealthy white folks. The entire town is quite literally whitewashed from top to bottom. Every building, every water trough, every hitching post. Even the ground. I won’t spoil any more, but the symbolism is pretty crafty. Unfortunately the execution is so glaringly on the nose and the town so brazenly fake that it yanked me out of the movie.

While the film sometimes feels a bit too polished, its characters are full of grit. The violence is probably best described as Tarantino-light. It can be brutal and rather gruesome and other times it’s almost cartoonish. But more importantly, it works well within Samuel’s world. And while the story can be pretty grim, there’s enough witty rapport to keep things from becoming too dry and dour. Yet with all of that, the style-over-substance story can’t keep its momentum. And rather than building up to a big finish, we’re left with an overly long middle that drains too much energy and leaves you wondering “Where’s Idris?” “The Harder They Fall is now showing in select theaters and premieres on Netflix November 3rd.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

First Glance: “The Book of Boba Fett”

November 1, 2021 by Keith Garlington

So this might not be a movie preview, but it’s easily one of the most highly anticipated things this year. This morning Disney dropped the highly anticipated first trailer for their upcoming streaming series “The Book of Boba Fett”. Revealed at the end of season two of “The Mandolarian”, the Boba Fett series is set within the Mandolarian timeline. And Lucasfilm has hitched some exciting directors to head the episodes including Robert Rodriguez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jon Favreau, and of course Dave Filoni.

Temuera Morrison reprises his role as bounty hunter extraordinaire Boba Fett and the first trailer shows him taking the throne once held by the slug-like crime lord Jabba the Hutt. The trailer also shows the return of mercenary and assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) who looks to play a prominent role in the upcoming series. Those familiar with the Star Wars universe should enjoy the various looks we get at iconic locations, familiar species, etc. But the trailer also teases some new things which could/should expand the universe in a number of cool and exciting ways. I can’t wait.

The first episode of “The Book of Boba Fett” is set to premiere December 29th exclusively on Disney+. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Last Night in Soho” (2021)

November 1, 2021 by Keith Garlington

Stephen King meets “The Twilight Zone”. That’s the vibe I got from the trailers for Edgar Wright’s much anticipated new movie “Last Night in Soho”. Turns out I wasn’t too far off. This psychological horror thriller has elements that would be right at home on the pages of an early Stephen King novel or being introduced by Rod Serling on a Fall Friday evening on CBS. Yet you can’t miss Wright’s own special ingredients sewn into the fabric of his film.

“Last Night in Soho” explores the darker side of London’s West End during the not-so-groovy 1960s through the eyes of Eloise “Ellie” Turner, a young aspiring fashion designer and dressmaker. Much like Gil Pender in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris”, Ellie holds onto a romanticized image of a bygone era. For her it’s the lights, the music, and the energy of London’s Swinging Sixties. But as Wright so vividly informs us, there was a dirtier, seedier side that could eat you alive. Especially wide-eyed unsuspecting young women.

We first meet Ellie (played with mousy charm by the always terrific Thomasin McKenzie) in her own homemade dress dancing to Peter and Gordon’s “A World Without Love”. Having lost both of her parents, Ellie lives in rural Cornwall with her loving and supportive grandmother (Rita Tushingham). And then a dream comes true when she’s accepted into the London College of Fashion. Soon she’s leaving the security of home, hopping a train for London with nothing but a suitcase and a Dansette record player.

Dorm life proves to be overwhelming for Ellie with the non-stop parties and her despicable snoot of a roommate Jocasta (Synnove Karlsen). So she scraps together her money and rents out a small but cozy bedsit owned by the elderly Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg). During her first night she has a dream that transports her back to 1966. In it she walks the bustling Soho streets ending up at the Café de Paris nightclub. Inside she’s swept away by the glow of the lights and buzz of the crowd. But in the mirror she sees a reflection, not of herself, but that of a beautiful confident blonde named Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy). Sandie is charmed by the club’s manager, a shifty looking sort named Jack (Matt Smith) and the two end the dream with some bubbly Old Hollywood swoon.

Wright uses a number of cool visual touches that help tell Sandie’s story while also reminding us that this is Ellie’s dream – clever tricks that repeatedly show Sandie as Ellie’s reflection. But at times he surprises us with nearly undetectable changes in perspective where Ellie is suddenly cast as the reflection. It’s a crafty bit of foreshadowing that teases layers of the story that will be peeled back later in the movie.

As the dreams of Sandie and Jack continue each night, Ellie finds inspiration. She dyes her hair blonde and uses her visions to create new fashion designs at school. But when the dreams slowly turn to nightmares, Ellie struggles to grasp what is real and what isn’t. Is she having a breakdown much like her mother did years earlier? Is she losing her identity? Or is it something more sinister?

The story (written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns) is made up of two very different halves. Without question, the first half is the strongest both in terms of telling Ellie’s story and in transporting us back in time. The 1960s sequences are especially grand with their incredible period detail and dreamy nostalgic pull. But as Wright and Wilson-Cairns begin chipping away at that facade, they expose a tangibly dirty and forbidding underbelly. The slow shift in tone within the first half is deftly handled and builds some of film’s best tension.

The second half turns into a delirious duel-pronged mystery as we try to find out what’s going on inside Ellie’s mind, and she tries to find out the truth about Sandie. Was she real? If so, what happened to her? Several other characters play bigger roles in the second half. The great Terrance Stamp plays a creepy silver-haired gent who I wish had more screen time. Instead that time is given to Ellie’s puppy dog admirer John (Michael Ajao), an unconvincing cookie-cutter love interest who quickly wears out his welcome.

While a really good Anya Taylor-Joy has been getting much of the attention, it’s Thomasin McKenzie who propels the movie. It’s absolutely essential that we connect with her character and understand the emotional complexities Ellie brings with her to London. McKenzie makes it easy with her natural earnestness and disarming warmth. The more erratic second half leads her in a few directions that don’t exactly play to her strengths, but that’s a fault of the writing more so than the performance.

Over the years Edgar Wright has earned himself a loyal and enthusiastic following. While I admire his skill behind the camera, I haven’t always connected with his movies the way others do. That’s a big reason why I was genuinely excited to see him try something new with “Last Night in Soho”. While the results are a bit uneven, it’s an audacious effort with lots to like: the fantastic cast, the killer soundtrack, its intoxicating style and verve. And while it loses its way a bit and ends on a mixed note, Wright and his cast make this wickedly enchanting journey worthwhile. “Last Night in Soho” is now playing in theaters.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Army of Thieves” (2021)

October 29, 2021 by Keith Garlington

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

Just weeks after releasing his much talked about “Justice League” cut, filmmaker and self-promoter extraordinaire Zack Snyder announced he was doing a movie for Netflix that would lay the foundation for a brand-new cinematic universe. The movie was “Army of the Dead”, a surprisingly fun action-horror romp that played a lot like a “Kelly’s Heroes”, “The Italian Job”, “Dawn of the Dead” mash-up. Snyder wasted no time announcing the next installment – a prequel centered around one first film’s more memorable characters. It would be called “Army of Thieves” and the burgeoning franchise faithfuls wouldn’t have long to wait.

“Army of Thieves” is set roughly six years before the events of “Army of the Dead” which places it near the start of the zombie outbreak. But don’t expect the undead to play a role here. Instead, this is a heist movie centered around the comically skittish safecracker Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer). The movie fills in his backstory, revealing what led him into criminal safecracking and how he ended up chosen for the Las Vegas job in the first film. I’m not sure anyone was clamoring for a Dieter origin story, but we got one nonetheless.

“Army of Thieves” introduces us to the jittery German before he became Ludwig Dieter. Here he’s introduced as a lowly bank teller, failed YouTuber, and safecracking enthusiast named Sebastian. After posting a video on his channel about renowned yet tortured safe designer Hans Wagner, Sebastian is surprised by a comment containing a mysterious invitation to what turns out to be a high-stakes underground safecracking competition (are those a thing?).

Sebastian goes and predictably wins, but it turns out to be more than a competition. He’s unwittingly auditioning for a professional thief named Gwendoline (Nathalie Emmanuel) who’s planning a ambitious heist that requires a skilled safecracker. Tired of his boring everyday routine and ready to break free from the monotonous and the mundane, Sebastian agrees to join her and her crew of thieves.

The rest of Gwendoline’s band of criminals are Korina (Ruby O. Fee), a master hacker because you need to get past those pesky security systems; Rolph (Guz Khan), a skilled driver to ensure a clean and swift getaway; and the preening Brad Cage (Stuart Martin), who Gwendoline describes as “our very own real-life action hero.” All three bring personality and flavor to the story, but they’re more cogs than meaningful characters.

The job is a tricky one – break into the late Hans Wagner’s three master safes affectionately named Rheingold, Valkyrie and Siegfried. They’re located in “secure” banks in Paris, Prague and St. Moritz which provides the catalyst for some good old-fashioned movie globetrotting. But hot on their heels is Interpol Agent Delacroix (Jonathan Cohen), a wildly overcooked character whose dogged pursuit of Gwendoline and her crew is driven by motivations that are never all that convincing.

In addition to being the film’s star, Schweighöfer also directs with a sleek Eurocentric style that makes for a nice contrast to Snyder. Not only does “Army of Thieves” have a different look, but Schweighöfer brings along a much lighter touch. Snyder’s movie had plenty of funny moments (most from Schweighöfer himself), but this film goes heavier with the humor and even throws in a romantic angle that’s sweet but too thinly sketched for us to buy into.

There aren’t many surprises in “Army of Thieves” meaning there’s not much suspense. You see it most in the individual heist sequences. For banks that go to all the trouble to have one of the most impenetrable and complex safes ever made, you would at least expect a mildly competent security apparatus. Yet the heists (though framed as daring) are laughably easy to pull off. A hack or two here, a glaringly obvious diversion there. Done. In fairness, each safe gets a little more challenging, but it’s still hard to find much tension.

Interestingly, outside of three unbilled cameos, there’s very little in “Army of Thieves” linking it to its franchise predecessor. We do get a few passing nods to the zombie uprising happening overseas and Sebastian occasionally has these random dreams of being attacked by the undead. But in a sense part of this movie’s charm is that it feels like its own thing. Sure, it’s pretty lightweight and utterly preposterous. But it has its moments and the performances from both Schweighöfer and Emmanuel elevate things enough to hold our attention. “Army of Thieves” premieres today (October 29th) on Netflix.