Kate Beckinsale is handed a rather…electric role in the new action thriller “Jolt” which is set to premiere on Amazon Prime streaming near the end of this month. The first trailer dropped recently and we learn pretty quick that Beckinsale’s character Lindy isn’t someone you mess with. She has some rather severe anger issues which tends to get her into trouble. It’s also tough for the people around her, like the poor schlub who makes the mistake of eating a sandwich and invading her space on the subway. I’m guessing he’s not chewing much at all after their encounter.
The only way Lindy can control her bad temper and violent tendencies is through a peculiar form of shock therapy prescribed to her by Stanley Tucci. But when her boyfriend is murdered Tucci’s electrified meds can’t stop her from seeking revenge. The killer supporting cast includes Jai Courtney, Bobby Cannavale, Susan Surandon, Laverne Cox, and David Bradley. I’m a Beckinsale fan and the “Underworld” star knows her way around action movies. So this could end up being a lot of fun. We won’t have to wait long to find out.
“Jolt” premieres July 23rd on Amazon Prime. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Since it started in 2013 with Ethan Hawke playing an opportunistic security system salesman, The Purge movies have been a guilty pleasure of mine. But it’s grown harder to use the word “pleasure” as the franchise that has gotten weaker and more heavy-handed with each new installment. The slick yet effective subtleties of the first film have given way to a bludgeoning messaging and a complete lack of nuance. Even worse, the later movies cross a line the first couple manage to straddle – one that sees them relishing the very violence they priggishly condemn.
“The Forever Purge” is the fifth and allegedly final film of the franchise and a direct sequel to 2016’s “The Purge: Election Year”. The story is once again written by series creator James DeMonaco but he hands the directing duties to Everardo Gout. In this newest chapter DeMonaco once again infuses his dystopian world with his own cynical and damning vision of current events; essentially looking at America through the same critical lens as his last films. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just don’t expect “The Forever Purge” to explore any of its themes in a meaningful or insightful way.
Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures
“The Purge” movies have always been built on a concept that sounds dumb on the surface but potentially provocative and daring underneath. Unfortunately by constantly getting in its own way the movies never fully realize that potential. If you need a refresher, the Purge is a government sanctioned ‘holiday’ where all crime including murder is permitted for one night. For twelve hours all police and emergency services are suspended. It was created and put into law by the New Founding Fathers in response to America’s rising crime rates and economic collapse. Of course deep down there were far more nefarious motivations at work.
Never above shamelessly exploiting the political hot-topic of the day, the newest chapter latches onto America’s ongoing southern border crisis. We first meet husband and wife Juan (Tenoch Huerta) and Adela (Ana de la Reguera) as the illegally cross from Mexico into the United States. Skip ahead a few months and Adela is working at a meatpacking plant while Juan trains horses for a wealthy white family on their Texas ranch. The ranch owner Caleb Tucker (Will Patton) treats Juan well, even giving him a bonus to help keep his wife safe during the upcoming Purge. That’s not the case with his son Dylan (Josh Lucas) who comes across as a little jealous of his father’s affection for Juan.
Purge night comes and goes leaving the small town soaked in blood and bodies. Having survived their first Purge, a relieved Juan and Adela join others who survived the night and try to get back to their normal routine. But little do they know a countrywide movement of deranged extremists have determined one night of purging isn’t enough. This cartoonishly bigoted “Ever After” group launches its campaign of hate and supremacy all over the country apparently with numbers similar to that of an invading nation’s army (It’s best not to wonder how such a widespread violent rebellion was organized without being detected. Questioning things like that in these movies usually doesn’t pay dividends.)
Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures
As Adela heads back to work she finds herself trapped by bunny-masked crazies. Meanwhile Juan and fellow undocumented ranch hand T.T. (Alejandro Edda) arrive at the Tucker’s ranch to find Dylan, his father, his pregnant wife Cassie (Cassidy Freeman), and his sister Harper (Leven Rambin) about to be executed by a band of purge-happy cowboys. The Mexican immigrants rescue the privileged white family setting up a pretty predictable “I was wrong about you” reconciliation. But before that can happen they have to find Adela and scurry to Mexico which is accepting American refugees but is about to close its border as violence intensifies across the U.S.
“The Forever Purge” continues the franchise’s slide away from horror and towards gun-heavy action. We do get a few utterly pointless nods to its horror roots mainly through a handful of lazy jump scares. Other than that this is mostly a straight-up action flick. Gout clearly has a way with the camera and he puts together several visually impressive sequences. My favorite is a killer tracking shot that follows our protagonists through the violent and ravaged nighttime streets of El Paso. There is also a propulsive energy to Gout’s direction that keeps his audience locked in moving forward.
Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures
While Gout manages to keep things reasonably entertaining, DeMonaco’s script often finds a way of undermining what the director is doing. At its core this really is just a variation of the same simple survival story that we’ve gotten since the second film. Different characters and a much different location, but it’s still about getting from point A to point B in a certain amount of time and staying alive while doing so. It may sound routine but you can still do some fun and clever things with it despite its simplicity. In fact, in some ways DeMonaco’s use of setting makes this film considerably more engaging than his last two efforts.
It’s when DeMonaco begins pounding his pulpit with the subtlety of a sledgehammer that things unravel. At times his dialogue is laughably blunt and his message so brazenly in-your-face that you can’t help but roll your eyes. And then there are the few times when his unwavering allegiance to his convictions lead to carelessness. Take the ending newsreel that could almost be interpreted as a reckless call to arms and a stamp of approval on a second Civil War. The optimist in me would like to believe he has other intentions such as issuing a warning in hopes of preventing that future. But when so much of his movie’s messaging is frank and on-the-nose, it’s hard to really know for sure. “The Forever Purge” is now playing in theaters.
A romantic vacation turns messy for John David Washington in the upcoming action thriller “Beckett”. This new Netflix film comes from Italian director Ferdinando Cito Filomarino, screenwriter Kevin A. Rice, and producer Luca Guadagnino. Right off the bat you can’t help but be drawn to its intriguing cast including Washington, Alicia Vikander, Vicky Krieps, and Boyd Holbrook.
Washington plays the title character Beckett, an American tourist who is vacationing in Greece with his girlfriend April (Vikander). After a car accident Beckett wakes up in a hospital with April nowhere in sight. Police question him and immediately become suspicious of his story. Soon a puzzled and frightened Beckett finds himself the target in a run-for-your-life manhunt through a country he doesn’t know. Clearly there are numerous secrets and potential conspiracies boiling under the film’s surface as Washington tries to survive. Shot in Athens, Filomarino seems to be leaning into the beautiful location and the action beats looks to be pretty thrilling.
“Beckett” premieres on Netflix August 13th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
When it comes to the new film “The Tomorrow War” you could waste a lot of time pointing out its flaws or picking apart the science. But that would be far more boring than the actual movie itself. Following some fairly mediocre promotion, I didn’t have high hopes for this sci-fi action blockbuster. But to my surprise “The Tomorrow War” is pure popcorn entertainment that delivers. It’s fun, energetic, and a visual feast that left me wishing I could have seen it on the big screen.
Originally slated as Paramount Pictures’ big budget 2020 Christmas Day release, “The Tomorrow War” was delayed due to COVID-19 and then shuffled around on their release schedule before eventually being sold to Amazon Studios. In a way the film highlights both the strengths and frustrations with the potential “streaming future”. By dropping it on Prime streaming, Amazon saved it from oblivion and gave their subscribers quick and easy access to it. At the same time this is a movie clearly made for the big screen and not having that option robbed viewers of that experience.
“The Tomorrow War” is the first live-action feature for director Chris McKay whose previous film credit was helming “The LEGO Batman Movie”. Here he’s working from a screenplay by Zach Dean that borrows from countless other sci-fi movie concepts and puts them all together in a filling, check-your-brain-at-the-door stew. The ever likable Chris Pratt puts on his best regular-guy charm and earnestness to play a cardigan-wearing high school biology teacher named Dan Forester. He has a loving wife Emmy (Betty Gilpin) and a 9-year-old sweetheart of a daughter daughter Muri (Ryan Keira Armstrong). But since leaving the military where he ran combat missions during his two tours in Iraq, the seemingly happy Dan has struggled to find his purpose.
Image Courtesy of Amazon Studios
Quite literally everything changes when a misty, crackling portal opens up on the field of a globally televised soccer match. Out of it walks a handful of super-serious soldiers from 28 years in the future who plead with the present day world to help them fight a war that humanity is losing. Their arrival sends the globe scrambling to help stave off human extinction. In the future war humanity is on its heels and has taken catastrophic losses. In an act of desperation, scientists from 2051 develop a shaky time travel tech in hopes of recruiting and bringing back soldiers and researchers from the past to help defeat the alien invaders.
Obviously a lot of questions pop up with the introduction of time travel into the story. Most notably, why not just travel to the time the aliens arrive and meet them head-on? For the most part McKay and Dean answer them all by stressing the technology’s unreliability and limitations. The scientists are able to jump people back-and-forth from these two set points on the timeline but not without some potentially deadly risks. Still have questions? Don’t worry, things happen later in the movie that plug a few more holes. It doesn’t all fit together seamlessly, but easily enough to get by.
Before long a world-wide draft is instituted and civilians including Dan are called to duty. It doesn’t sound bad at first with the news that deployments only last seven days. But the mood changes a bit when they’re informed the survival rate is less than 20%. Dan hits it off with a fellow draftee named Charlie, a chatty scientist full of nervous energy. He’s played by a terrific Sam Richardson who provides some perfectly modulated comic relief. With practically no training the ragtag group of ‘soldiers’ are sent to war-ravaged Miami Beach in 2051. But a fatal malfunction in the time jump forces Dan to lead what’s left of his unit. He’s contacted by a hardened Colonel (Yvonne Strahovski) who begins walking him through their mission. But Dan and his team quickly learn that it won’t be easy, especially after getting their first look at the alien threat.
The creatures are designed by Ken Barthelmey and have small resemblances to the Xenomorphs in “Aliens”, the Arachnids in “Starship Troopers”, and even the alien monsters in “A Quiet Place”. But Barthelmey’s creatures are distinctly his own. They’re labeled White Spikes because of their milky colored exterior and the piercing bone-like spikes they shoot from their flailing tentacles. They’re ferocious, terrifying, and sometimes attack in overwhelming packs (think the zombies in “World War Z”). They bring an palpable level of tension the film really needs.
Image Courtesy of Amazon Studios
While the story builds itself around a cool and interesting concept, it’s the sheer action spectacle that stays with you. This movie really is a sight to behold from its pulsating man-versus-alien combat to some truly exhilarating set pieces. I was also caught off guard by its sprawling epic scale. McKay, cinematographer Larry Fong, and the busy digital effects team put together one visually impressive scene after another and you can see the bulk of the film’s hefty budget on the screen.
The story has its moments too in large part thanks to the performances. Pratt is just naturally down-to-earth and amusing which is very much his character here. He also has some good and crafty chemistry with both Armstrong and Strahovski. We even get the always welcomed J.K. Simmons playing Dan’s father, an off-the-radar Vietnam vet with a intense distrust of the federal government. There are some pretty deep daddy issues there that don’t get the full attention they deserve, but Simmons is terrific as always.
Still the storytelling isn’t without flaws. There are some cool revelations in the final act, but the entire setup to it is just too far-fetched even for a movie about humans traveling to the future to fight a war with aliens. And while fun, the movie is unquestionably familiar, especially in its ultimate execution. You can guess how things are going to turn out almost to the detail. But put those knocks aside. I had a blast with “The Tomorrow War” and it was just the kind of movie I needed right now. And in a tender way it has a moving message for us fathers – spend your time on what’s most important. Because your greatest purpose in life may be those sweet little eyes adoringly looking up at their daddy. “The Tomorrow War” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Well, vacation came and went in a blur but it was such a fun time with my family. Lots of sand, sun, and seafood over the last several days. Below you’ll find just a few pics from a remarkable and relaxing getaway. Now it’s back to work and back to movies. I missed my screening window on “Black Widow” while I was gone so a review for it won’t be until Friday. But I do have “The Tomorrow War”, “The Forever Purge”, ” Fear Street Part 2: 1978″, and a few more things lined up for this week.
So…let’s get back to talking about movies. And to my American friends celebrating today, Happy 4th of July!
(I swear this isn’t a vanity photo, I just loved the reflection in the glasses)The clouds….Balcony shot…
Sony has dropped the wicked new trailer for their upcoming “Don’t Breathe 2”. It’s a sequel to the surprisingly good 2016 film which was co-produced by Sam Raimi. That film introduced Norman Nordstrom, a blind Gulf War veteran with…shall we say…a dark side. In the first film his Detroit home was invaded by some delinquent thieves leading to some pretty violent results. This time around we get a deeper dive into Norman and (you guessed it) with more violent results.
Stephen Lang reprises his role as Nordstrom, not a hero or even an anti-hero. But as screenwriter Fede Alvarez puts it, Norman is an “anti-villain”. This time around he has taken in a young girl orphaned from a terrible house fire. Their quiet and private life is interrupted by kidnappers who seem to know all about Norman’s dark past. They take the girl forcing the blind “anti-villain” to leave the seclusion of his home to rescue his adopted daughter. Fans of the first film will have tons of questions, most notably how can they make a villainous character like the Norman from the earlier movie somehow sympathetic? I’m anxious to see.
“Don’t Breathe 2” hits theaters August 13th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Keith & the Movies 