A couple days ago we got our first look at the inevitable sequel to 2019’s low budget but highly profitable “Escape Room”. That film was an overly simplistic yet mildly entertaining horror thriller that eventually ran out of steam before completely flying off the rails in its attempt at setting up a sequel. Now we get the hilariously titled follow-up “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” which looks to be equally silly horror-lite escapism. The film sees the return of director Adam Robitel along with star Taylor Russell.
The first trailer all but promises more of the same as Russell’s character is once again thrust into a series of lethal escape rooms. Once inside she and the new group of victims must solve each puzzle in order to get out of the room alive. Then it’s on to the next one. This time around the rooms look more elaborate and interesting (though undeniably ridiculous). Hopefully this time there is a better story thread to hold everything together. If it manages that this could be a fairly fun diversion. But I’m not getting my hopes up.
“Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” opens in theaters July 16th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
A lot of people were caught off-guard by 2018’s terrific “A Quiet Place”. Director, co-writer, and star John Krasinski not only put together one of the best horror movies in recent years, but he made a touching family story that really hit this father-of-two right in the feels. The modestly budgeted chiller was both a hit with critics and a box office smash for Paramount. And while a sequel wasn’t originally planned, the first film’s success eventually led to Krasinski putting ideas together for a follow-up. Soon he was hired to both write and direct the film.
“A Quiet Place Part II” is a sequel in the literal sense but it’s more of a direct continuation of the first film. It takes no time for Krasinski to pull his audience right back into his tense and terrifying world. And while it lacks the intimacy of its predecessor, the story’s chief focus remains on the tight-knit Abbott family. Emily Blunt returns as Evelyn who’s still reeling from the death of her husband Lee (Krasinski’s character) yet is determined to protect her kids at any cost. Millicent Simmonds is back as Evelyn’s deaf daughter Regan and Noah Jupe reprises his role as her son Marcus.
Image Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
The film opens with a fantastic flashback sequence showing the day that the blind but hyper-sound-sensitive alien creatures first arrived and began savagely attacking humanity. Krasinski wisely doesn’t get bogged down in the details, instead showing the chaos that follows from the terrified Abbott family’s perspective. The sequence makes for a perfect reintroduction to the characters. And the impeccable mix of camerawork, sound design, and editing create the kind of nail-biting tension that will run throughout the film’s taut 97-minute runtime.
After the title card we move ahead 474 days to the scene that ended the first film. Evelyn, the resilient Regan, the timid younger Marcus, and newborn baby leave their farm after taking out the creatures who killed the family’s patriarch Lee. With the house in shambles the remaining Abbotts are forced to relocate, hoping to find other survivors who can take them in. After several miles of walking they run into an old friend of Lee’s named Emmett (Cillian Murphy) who’s holed up in a rusted-out steel mill. Emmett isn’t keen to help them at first, having lost his own family and essentially given up hope. He’s a tragic character and a nice fit with the story.
One of the things I love most is that Lee’s death hasn’t been forgotten. In fact it’s woven into much of this film. It’s seen most in Regan who becomes more and more like her father as the story progresses. She has his smarts, stubbornness, and ingenuity. It’s how she learned that pairing her cochlear implant with a portable guitar amp can emit a high-frequency screech that hurts the creatures. And it’s what drives her (against her mother’s wishes) to venture off on her own to try and reach the source of a radio signal that she can use to broadcast the screech to other survivors. Simmonds is a star, deaf from birth but using her impairment as a strength. She’s very much a co-lead, full of grit and determination. It’s such a good performance.
Image Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
For the most part the action plays out on two fronts (and for a brief time three). Evelyn stays at the steel mill to protect Marcus and the baby while Emmett is convinced to go out and find Regan who is on her own in a perilous world filled with dangers of both the alien and human kind. A couple of cheap jump scares aside, Krasinski’s smart and effective ‘less-is-more’ approach allows us to watch, anticipate, and experience ourselves. And clever touches such as utilizing silence to unsettle his audience is a big reason why Krasinski can still wring a steady stream of edge-of-your-seat suspense out of his simple yet gripping premise.
Where the first film left the door open for a potential sequel, this film all but confirms there will be a third installment. Its abrupt ending leaves several glaring questions. It’s hardly a graceful finish and one of the only places where Krasinski doesn’t quite hit his mark. And as he broadens his world inevitable questions pop up, mostly about the creatures. One way he gets around it is by always seeing things from the family’s perspective. As their knowledge is limited, so is ours. But the former star of “The Office“ and real-life husband to Emily Blunt puts his money on the audience being onboard and along for the ride. And when that ride is this thrilling and the characters this appealing, those aforementioned questions become less and less significant. “A Quiet Place Part II” opens today (May 28th) in theaters.
We only got a tiny nibble of M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming new film “Old” during the Super Bowl. Today Universal Pictures gave us a full plate by dropping the film’s first trailer. I don’t like to put too much into trailers as they have shown to be pretty unreliable when it comes to gauging movies. But this one has me really interested in Shyamalan’s latest effort. The film looks weird, creepy, and it has the kind of mindbending plot I can really get into.
Shyamalan puts together an intriguing cast for his horror thriller about vacationing families on a secluded tropical beach. Their time of relaxing family fun turns to terror once they begin to age incredibly fast. To make matters worse, every attempt to leave the beach is repelled by unknown forces. The film features Gael García Bernal, Vicky Krieps (so good in “The Phantom Thread”), Thomasin McKenzie, Rufus Sewell, Eliza Scanlen, Alex Wolff, and more. While many people are still leery when it comes to Shyamalan, I enjoyed each of his last three movies. So sign me up.
“Old” opens in theaters July 23rd. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Certain to be dismissed by many on all sides of the class warfare/income inequality discussion, “New Order” is a movie that doesn’t blindly take sides and doesn’t let anyone off the hook. The film plays like a “what if” story warning the audience of what could happen rather than championing a specific point-of-view. Mexican director Michel Franco dares to critique societal breakdowns as they’re actually occurring across our present-day world which likely won’t sit well will those who are deeply committed to certain movements or social statuses.
This nasty and confrontational coup d’etat horror film paints a bleak and hopeless picture of our future society if we don’t start facing certain realities. In Franco’s movie no one benefits and no one wins. There are no heroes riding in on white horses to save the day. Once everything begins to fall apart it only gets darker and harder to watch. Franco pulls no punches, subjecting his audience to all kinds of stomach-churning horror yet creating the kind of tension that’s hard to turn away from.
Image Courtesy of NEON
“New Order” is a portrait of human depravity and the many wickedly oppressive forms it takes. It ends in a much different place than where it begins. Franco (who also wrote screenplay) starts his story at a posh upper-class wedding party in a wealthy Mexico City neighborhood. For nearly twenty minutes Franco’s camera moves around the party, setting the scene visually rather than spelling it out. By simple observation we meet numerous party-goers stylishly dressed and fully immersed in their privilege. Guests greet and exchange pleasantries as the mostly indigenous workers park cars and prepare the food.
The bride Marianne (an exceptional Naian González Norvind) is the closest we come to a lead character. Like everyone else at the party she comes from a family of wealth and is blissfully in love with her architect fiance Alan (Darío Yazbek Bernal). And just like everyone else at the party she seems completely impervious to what’s happening outside of their high society walls. But we see what differentiates Marianne from her family when a former employee named Rolando (Eligio Meléndez) comes by in desperate need of money for his wife’s heart valve replacement surgery. Mariannne’s parents and older brother Daniel (Diego Boneta) give him a little cash and then coldly brush him off. A frustrated Marianne presses her folks and her fiance but all she gets in return is “It’s your wedding day. Enjoy yourself.”
Meanwhile only blocks away, the city is crumbling as protests over economic disparity are overtaken by angry mobs mostly driven by the influence of violent revolutionaries. I won’t spoil what happens, but the first of many shocking moments comes when armed members of the mob invade the wedding party. As looting and murder spreads, the revolutionaries begin taking prisoners from the wealthy districts and holding them for ransom. Meanwhile the military seizes their opportunity and uses the violent uprising to impose their own fascist order.
Needless to say the movie has numerous moving parts and mining Franco’s overall meaning can be difficult at first. “New Order” is an angry film but its ire isn’t aimed in any one single direction. Instead its goal is to viscerally explore the utter collapse of a society and the many elements that contribute to it. The film delves into the ugly side of human nature, exhibiting what happens when morality gives way to anger, rage, greed, or indifference. In Franco’s scenario no one is exonerated, whether it’s the impoverished lower-class who turn from protests to violence or the privileged wealthy who dismiss the plight of the poor with ease. We do get small glimmers of compassion from each side – Marianne from the 1%, Marta (Mónica Del Carmen) and her son Cristian (Fernando Cuautle) from the other. But you never get a sense that their kindness will be rewarded.
Image Courtesy of NEON
The sheer brutality of “New Order” is effective yet hard to watch. Torture, rape, mass executions – its all vividly portrayed. Even when Franco turns his camera rather than subject us to the savagery, the implications are still carved into our minds. And then there are instances where he simply goes too far, portraying horrifying cruelty that’s sure to have some of his audience checking out. Yet through it all there are clear signs of brilliant filmmaking, especially in Franco’s ability to develop and maintain an unsettling tension, often through the camera work of DP Yves Cape. I was glued to every frame despite being frustrated by some of the excesses.
I’m betting there are deeper meanings buried within “New Order” that Mexican audiences will pick up but that I missed. It’s that kind of movie – one that doesn’t allow for a single-minded reading and that’s open for a range of interpretations. If you can approach the film with an open mind (and a strong stomach), you’ll find a movie willing to confront the way many people think about things today. That doesn’t let it off the hook for occasionally crossing the line of taste. But it does result in a thought-provoking nail-biter that covers some of the same subjects as the Oscar-winning “Parasite” but from a much angrier and more cynical point-of-view. “New Order” is out now in select theaters.
A few days ago we got a tiny teaser for Amazon’s “The Tomorrow War”. Today the streaming studio dropped the first full trailer for this upcoming action science-fiction flick and one-time Paramount property. The film is directed by Chris McKay who’s probably best known for “The Lego Batman Movie”. This was yet another victim of the COVID-19 delays and was quickly gobbled up by Amazon just last month. Now it’s all set for an early July release.
Chris Pratt stars a former Delta Force operator who in order to save his family must join a fight in the future to save the planet. Sound confusing? The trailer only gives us the basics which leaves a lot of questions that hopefully will be answered. In a nutshell the military of the future are under siege by an attacking alien species. So they develop a technology to travel back in time in order to draft soldiers from the past to bring back to the future. Now you have even more questions, right? Anyway, this could be a fun popcorn flick if they’re able to make some sense of it all. The trailer doesn’t sell itself very well with a pretty generic feel and numerous hokey, overly dramatic lines. But the concept has me holding out hope.
“The Tomorrow War” premieres July 2nd on Amazon Prime streaming. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Since seeing its first trailer three months ago, Disney’s new film “Cruella” has had me in a shared state of fascination and bewilderment. On one hand I couldn’t wait to see Emma Stone dive headfirst into a demented character like Cruella de Vil. On the other hand how would Disney treat the backstory of one of the company’s most devious and notorious villains? Would they soften the edges of her story and go a more sympathetic route?
To no surprise Disney teases but ultimately steers clear of classic Cruella’s more diabolical character traits. Instead, any real evil is channeled through an entirely new character played by Emma Thompson. This Cruella is painted as a tragic figure whose pain turns her into a peculiar anti-hero of sorts. I’m not sure how this will sit with the devoted Cruella purists (if those people even exist), but I absolutely loved this deliciously unruly romp and the movie exceeded what expectations I had in every way imaginable.
Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios
“Cruella” comes from director Craig Gillespie and is a surprising step up from the many Disney live-action remakes. Okay, so this isn’t a ‘remake’ per se, but it does add a stylish new spin to an iconic character. Clocking in at two hours and fourteen minutes I was a little nervous. But at no time was I checking my watch or feeling the length. That’s because Gillespie, co-writers Dana Fox and Tony McNamara, and one of the best acting ensembles of the year pour every bit of themselves into this wickedly (and unexpectedly) fun origin story.
Emma Stone absolutely crackles in the titular role, adding heaps of seasoning to both sides of her character. Through Stone’s narration and a really well done prologue we meet Estella, played in flashbacks by a delightful Tipper Seifert-Cleveland. She’s a spirited young girl and aspiring fashion designer who has stood out from the crowd from the day she popped out of the womb. As Stone wryly explains “From the very beginningI’ve always made a statement,” and not just by her natural half-black, half-white mane. It’s her mischievous and assertive personality that makes her a handful for her mother (Emily Beecham) and gets her into the most trouble.
I won’t spoil the entire prologue but a young and alone Estella ends up in London after her mother’s tragic death. There she falls in with two pickpocketing orphans Jasper and Horace who live in the attic of an old abandoned church. Jump ahead several years and the three of them have made a decent living bopping around 1970s London swiping wallets and pulling small heists. Estella (now played by Stone) uses her fashion design genius to make their disguises while Jasper (the always great Joel Frey) and Horace (the scene-stealing Paul Walter Hauser) do a lot of the legwork.
Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios
Things slowly begin to change after Jasper gets Estella an entry-level position at a renowned fashion house ran by the devilishly chic and grossly narcissistic Baroness von Hellman (Thompson). It offers Estella a chance to get her foot in the door and finally realize her dream. But she quickly learns what all the other employees know but are too afraid to say – working for the relentlessly cruel Baroness isn’t easy.
Soon the Baroness’ nastiness and vainglory (mixed with a big reveal or two) gives birth to Estella’s flamboyant alter ego Cruella, a rather twisted amalgam of her pain and personality. It leads to a bitter rivalry between a haute and haughty industry legend and a ferocious new fashion provocateur. And as the mysterious Cruella captures more and more headlines, Estella starts to slowly fade into the background, becoming more of a disguise than a true identity.
From its earliest moments “Cruella” zips along with tenacious energy and a rich visual style. The stellar production design, the exquisite fashion, and DP Nicolas Karakatsanis’ lively camera ensure that there is always something to catch your eye. Oscar nominations for Hair and Makeup and Costume Design are all but assured. And I’m guessing a big chunk of the budget must have went towards the soundtrack. It seems every other scene features another great song. Blondie, ELO, Deep Purple, Queen, and so many more. I was bouncing my head through the entire movie. Sometimes that can feel like a crutch, but here it fits with the film’s carefree anarchic attitude.
Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios
And then you get back to the performances. Stone really sinks her teeth into the role, brilliantly capturing Cruella’s razor-sharp cunning and devilish charm. There’s even a subtle glint of vulnerability in the rare quiet scenes, namely her visits to the fountain in Region’s Park where she has heartfelt conversations with her late mother. And then you have Emma Thompson matching Stone step-for-step. Who knew vanity could be so hilarious? Thompson is given so many good lines that she delivers with the perfect mix of venom and spot-on comic timing. Her black-hearted Baroness is as funny as she is detestable. Both Stone and Thompson are helped by ace supporting performances across the board. Frey, Hauser, Beecham, Mark Strong, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Ed Birch – just some of the film’s many essential pieces.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but “Cruella” could end up being the biggest surprise of 2021. It’s brash, rowdy, and wickedly entertaining from start to finish. It fills its running time with great faces, a fabulous 1970’s London aesthetic, and killer music drops at every turn. It’s not an overstatement to say both Stone and Thompson deserve Oscar nominations for giving us two of the most warped yet entertaining characters we are likely to get all year. A part of me wishes they hadn’t played it so safe and let Cruella off her leash to truly become a villain. But in fairness Disney isn’t much for venturing into darker places these days, and the fact they went this far was a real treat. “Cruella” releases in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access this Friday, May 28th.
Keith & the Movies 