First Glance: “Honest Thief”

July 31, 2020 by Keith Garlington

Liam Neeson has been busy. After already flexing his dramatic muscles in two earlier 2020 dramas (“Ordinary Love” and “Made in Italy”), Neeson gets back in crowdpleasing mode with his upcoming banger “Honest Thief”. And judging by the new trailer, the film has all the markings of a Neeson action-thriller right down to the signature gravelly-voiced one-liner “I’m comin’ for you.” Sound familiar?

Neeson plays a highly-skilled bank robber who the authorities have never managed to snag. But he turns over a new leaf once he meets and falls for Annie (Kate Walsh). Hungry for clean living, he prepares to surrender the money to police in exchange for a immunity. Two crooked cops and a shot federal agent later, Neeson finds himself framed for murder with two money-hungry detectives on his tail. I’m in.

“Honest Thief” opens October 9th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Radioactive” (2020)

July 30, 2020 by Keith Garlington

Biographical films aren’t as easy to pull off as it may seem. There are plenty of conventional biopic trappings and many movies fall victim to them. But I appreciate the ones that open my eyes in meaningful ways to people I’m not familiar with. Shamefully Marie Sklodowska-Curie is one such person and the new film “Radioactive” from Amazon Studios offers a good yet flawed look into her fascinating life.

Madame Curie made groundbreaking discoveries in the world of science while paving the way for other women in a male-dominated field. Among her many notable accomplishments: She discovered two new elements, discovered and even coined the term “radioactivity”, and championed the use of X-rays during World War I which saved countless lives. She also became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person (man or woman) to win it twice, and the first female professor at the University of Paris.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

“Radioactive” from director Marjane Satrapi works hard to avoid hitting the routine biopic beats with varying degrees of success. It’s most notable attempts come in its frequent use of flashbacks and (much more prominently) flash-forwards. They’re ambitious choices that yank us out of her personal drama to show the reverberation of her discoveries through the decades that follow. They are mostly well crafted but jarring interludes that leaves the impression of a movie torn between admiration and scorn.

The sturdy, unshakable, and always convincing Rosamund Pike plays Madame Curie and as usual she seems altogether comfortable in her character’s skin. In 1893 Paris, the Polish-born physicist and chemist finds herself booted from her laboratory for her big ideas and willingness to buck the stuffy male authority. She applies for other labs but is turned down by each. Then she (quite literally) bumps into Pierre Curie (Sam Riley), a fellow pariah among the Paris science elites. Pierre offers Marie a spot at his small but suitable laboratory. The socially awkward and boldly independent Marie initially turns him down, but soon after she accepts his offer. The two develop an impassioned, life-changing partnership that extends to both science and marriage.

From their Satrapi zips through chunks of Marie’s story, stopping briefly for key events such as the couple’s discovery of the elements radium and polonium along with their theory of radioactivity. “Well, I guess everything changes now, doesn’t it?” a character asks. Of course we know things do indeed change and the film stresses that many of those changes haven’t been for the better. Flash-forwards to the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima, the Chernobyl disaster, the nuclear testing in Nevada during the early sixties (you even get to watch a baby mannequin burn, melt, and get swallowed up by the ground just to stress the point). A vignette on cancer treatment is the lone positive mentioned although even it comes with its own harmful caveat.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

I like the film’s willingness to wrestle with the pros and cons of Marie’s discoveries, even if it pulls away from the movie’s biggest strength – Rosamund Pike. She carries the load with an undeniable bravura and commitment to detail that captures Madame Curie both inside and out. She’s especially good when the story moves away from beakers, flasks, and test tubes and into a more personal space. Pike really brings out the humanity, showing off Marie’s drive and grit but also her insecurities and vulnerabilities. This is most vividly seen through Marie’s devoted marriage to Pierre, a devastating tragedy, and an ill-advised affair leading to her being ravaged by the headhunting press.

Some of my favorite scenes come in the last act with Marie and her now grown daughter Irene (Ana Taylor-Joy) on a World War I battlefield bringing mobile X-ray machines to field hospitals. It’s such a fitting place for someone who has battled both as a woman and a scientist. But on that battlefield it wasn’t for notoriety or advancement. It was to save the lives and livelihoods of young soldiers. Those scenes speak volumes about Madame Curie. The movie isn’t always as clear spoken. Some of the early science talk is painfully on-the-nose and the flash-forwards are audacious but a bit too invasive. Still, “Radioactive” did what I want biopics to do, and with a performer like Rosamund Pike doing this level of work, it’s hard not to be impressed. “Radioactive” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Seberg” (2020)

July 29, 2020 by Keith Garlington

I still remember my first time seeing Jean-Luc Godard’s French New Wave classic “Breathless”. It was right after discovering Francois Truffaut’s sublime “The 400 Blows” (a movie that has remained an all-time favorite of mine). I instantly wanted to dig deeper into La Nouvelle Vague and “Breathless” was the logical next choice. Within seconds I was drawn to the enchanting presence of a young American woman selling newspapers on the Champs-Élysées. It was of course Jean Seberg.

For Seberg, what started as a Cinderella story ended in heartbreak and tragedy. As an 18-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa she was discovered in a talent search for a lead role in an Otto Preminger picture. But it was Godard’s “Breathless” that made her an international sensation with a promising career ahead. She became a target of Hoover’s FBI for her large donations to civil rights groups and alleged affairs with black militants. The FBI began a vile smear campaign to “cheapen her in the eyes of the public.” Their relentless pressure pushed her over the edge. Only a few years later she would be dead of an apparent suicide, her body found decomposing in the back seat of a car. She was only 40-years-old.

As you can tell there is plenty of material for a thoughtful and compelling biopic about this troubled life. “Seberg” from director Benedict Andrews could have been that movie, but its vision ends up being too narrow and certain creative choices, specifically from Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse’s script, leaves the complex actress and fashion icon sadly short-changed.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

It doesn’t take long to notice the film’s chief goal. “Seberg” is oddly focused on martyrdom over illumination. To accomplish that, Seberg’s artistry is tossed aside for politics making this a very one-dimensional look at her life. Her career work and creative talents are all but ignored, only occasionally referenced in passing comments. The film skips past the early details of her life, even her star-making work with Godard. There’s simply no interest in Seberg the actress.

Instead the filmmakers make their movie all about her activism. It settles in once Seberg (Kristen Stewart) meets a black revolutionary named Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie) on a flight from Paris to Los Angeles. She’s immediately attached to his cause but with no real burgeoning conviction. Seberg was certainly an activist, but here it comes across as spontaneous and out-of-the-blue. Her motivations are simplistic and often muddled making some of her later rhetoric toothless and hard to buy.

Jean and Hakim begin a torrid affair despite both of them being married. It’s one of several bad choices Jean makes that puts her in the crosshairs of a crooked and relentless FBI. At the time Hoover was looking to quell any possible black uprising either peaceful or militant. Jean’s financial support of such groups mixed with her celebrity platform leads to her being deemed “a threat to the protective organs of the body politic.” In response the Bureau begins a vicious and destructive campaign to turn the public against Jean Seberg.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

From there the movie turns into a psychological thriller of sorts as paranoia sets in and Jean slowly comes unraveled. But through it all it seems like Seberg is competing for time in her own biopic. That’s because a lot of time is given to a young FBI agent played by Jack O’Connell. He’s a fictional concoction whose only purpose seems to be to add some semblance of humanity to the FBI. His struggles with his conscience and the strain his job puts on his marriage. It’s all handled well enough, but it pulls too much time away from Seberg and adds practically nothing to HER story.

As for Stewart, she definitely has the chic blonde pixie girl hair and stylish verve. But there’s only so much she can do when major qualities of her character are this thinly sketched. She gives a performance of commitment and compassion, but it’s hardly a fully realized portrayal. There are good supporting turns from Mackie, O’Connell, Yvan Attal, and Vince Vaughn. Meanwhile Margaret Qualley and Zazie Beetz get what amounts to throwaway roles, relegated to playing little more than jealous wives.

“Seberg” taps into the enigma that was Jean Seberg but doesn’t go much further than that. So much of what made her fascinating is either shortchanged or simply not addressed at all. What’s left is a well-meaning misfire that gets too caught up in its message, leaving the audience to still pose the question “Who is Jean Seberg?”

VERDICT – 2 STARS

First Glance: “Centigrade”

July 28, 2020 by Keith Garlington

Calling director Brendan Walsh’s new film “claustrophobic” may be the understatement of the year. “Centigrade” is a film built on a suffocating premise. And as far as these types of tightly confined movies go, it’s a ‘based on a true story’ thriller that shows a lot of promise.

The film follows husband and wife Matt and Naomi (played by Vincent Piazza and Genesis Rodriguez). We don’t really know the cause, but the two of them find themselves stranded in a stalled car that’s buried under ice and snow. With both food and patience running out, the couple are pushed to the very edge in their attempts at surviving. Oh, and there are a couple of other interesting details in the new trailer I’ll let you discover for yourself.

“Centigrade” premieres in select theaters and on VOD August 28th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Enter the Fat Dragon” (2020)

July 27, 2020 by Keith Garlington

Ok, first off I want everyone to know I’m not making this movie up. I know it sports a title that seems too ridiculous to be true, but I promise you it is real. In fact this utterly absurd action-comedy is actually a remake of a 1978 Sammo Hung film of the same name. So regardless of how it sounds “Enter the Fat Dragon” is an actual thing – a full length feature film with one of Hong Kong’s biggest movie stars attached.

With that out of the way, “Enter the Fat Dragon” is really a remake in title only. Both films are (obviously) riffing on Bruce Lee’s classic “Enter the Dragon” and are as much comedies as action flicks. But that’s about as far as the similarities go. The 2020 version from co-directors Kenji Tanigaki and Wong Jing is very much it’s own thing; as silly as its title suggests and held together by several well-choreographed action sequences.

The film’s biggest draw is veteran Chinese actor Donnie Yen, a martial arts action star who manages to make everything he’s in better. He plays Hong Kong police officer Fallon Zhou whose full-throttled, ‘never slow down’ attitude keeps him in constant trouble with his superiors at the department. It also doesn’t help his relationship with Chloe (Niki Chow), a second-rate TV actress who thinks she’s top-tier talent. She also happens to be his fiancé and his high-octane antics has them constantly at each other’s throats.

While meeting Chloe for their wedding pictures Fallon cant resist the temptation to intervene with a crime in progress. He catches the bad guys but ruins the photo shoot and puts countless innocent lives in danger. It’s the last straw for both Chloe who leaves him and his captain who moves him off the street and into the basement’s evidence room. Six months of melancholy pass during which a more rotund Fallon gives himself over to overeating and vegging out on the couch watching Bruce Lee DVDs.

Then a friend on the police force offers Fallon a chance to redeem himself. All he has to do escort a key witness to Tokyo and hand him over to authorities. Easy right? Well, shortly after they arrive in Japan the witness disappears, Fallon runs afoul of a dapper Yakuza boss (Joey Tee), some crooked cops come into play, even Chloe ends up involved. With the help of a local ex-cop named Titus (played by co-director Wong Jing) Fallon sets out to do what he does and maybe win Chloe back in the process.

The story (it too by Wong Jing) maintains a steadily playful tone even during its action sequences. Nothing is taken seriously which ends up being both good and bad. In one respect it makes the overall silliness a little more palatable. But it also makes the whole thing feel pretty shallow. Adding to that feeling is the inconsistency of the humor. The high-spirited banter and dashes of slapstick work fine. But the eye-rolling butt gags and fart jokes are cheap and lazy. Also there are countless out-of-the-blue plot pieces that get no attention whatsoever or simply make no sense at all. They just add to the messiness.

Strangely the entire overweight angle (that is featured so prominently in the title) doesn’t play much of a role in film. In fact other than having a star like Donnie Yen running around in layers of prosthetic flab, it’s pretty inconsequential. Surprisingly (and thankfully) there are very few weight jokes. Instead you could almost say the film promotes a positive message of self-confidence, although saying it’s fully committed to that message would be a stretch.

While I wouldn’t call “Enter the Fat Dragon” a good movie, Donnie Yen at least makes it entertaining. He’s fun to watch as a kind and well-meaning flub-up. But (as you would expect) he shines brightest in the action scenes, all expertly choreographed, shot, and performed. Yen may be in his late 50s, but he can still blow your mind whether it’s in a thrilling car chase or a 1 vs 20 martial arts throwdown. Watch it for Yen and IF anything sticks with you it’ll probably be him. Ultimately he’s the one who makes this goofy mess of a movie worth seeing. “Enter the Fat Dragon” is now available on VOD.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “My Spy” (2020)

July 24, 2020 by Keith Garlington

What is it with ex-wrestlers turned movie stars starring alongside super-cute kids in corny action-comedies? Hulk Hogan did it years ago with “Mr. Nanny”. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made “Tooth Fairy” and “The Game Plan”. Paul “Triple H” Levesque starred in “The Chaperone”. And just last year John Cena made “Playing with Fire”. Not to be outdone, Dave Bautista now takes his turn with “My Spy”, a film originally set for a big screen release but bought by Amazon after the COVID-19 theater closings.

The film comes from director Peter Segal and was written by Jon and Erich Hoeber. In it Bautista plays a hardened CIA agent named JJ. He’s rather new to the whole spy game yet for some logic-defying reason his boss (Ken Jeong) sends him on a solo mission to Russia to infiltrate an illegal weapons exchange. What’s on the line? Only enough plutonium to blow up a major city. JJ botches the job killing everyone except one guy who slips away with half of the plutonium.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon

As a result of blowing his mission JJ gets moved to surveillance where he’s teamed with an air-headed tech specialist named Bobbi (Kristen Schaal) who happens to be his biggest fan (I’m still not sure why. All I can figure is she likes that he kills a lot of people and has big muscles). The two are sent to Chicago where they are to keep tabs on a young widow named Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley) and her 9-year-old daughter Sophie (Chloe Coleman). They’re on the run from an evil in-law named Victor (Greg Bryk) who believes Kate is hiding plans for a nuclear bomb given to her by her late husband.

That’s already more information than you really need because plot-wise none of that stuff is remotely convincing. But if the CIA angle still wasn’t absurd enough, within minutes of getting the surveillance equipment up and running, JJ and Bobbi are discovered by Sophie who records them admitting they are CIA operatives. She then uses the recording to blackmail JJ into doing the typical stuff – taking her ice skating, getting her ice cream, going to parent day at her school, and of course teaching her how to be a spy (as if JJ would know). In a goofy bit of irony, Bobbi (framed as the dumbest character in the movie) is the only one who can see how nuts all of this is. Go figure.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon

From there it follows an insanely predictable path. The brawny tough guy does a lot of silly stuff and begins to soften up. A chemistry-less romance between JJ and Kate springs up. And of course once the bad guy inevitable surfaces we get a violent by-the-books action finale. There isn’t a box that “My Spy” doesn’t check. The lone saving grace is young Coleman who despite being trapped in a derivative story has enough charm to divert our attention (at least a little).

It’s tempting to dismiss my own opinion by simply accepting that I’m not the target audience. Then again I’m not quite sure who the target audience is. The dead bodies and the smattering of crude dialogue are enough to muddle the lines. So I’ll stick with my take – “My Spy” misses its mark, nothing about it seems fresh or original, and Dave Bautista may not quite be ready for leading roles. Still, he’s not the first wrestler-turned-actor to do this kind of movie. Probably won’t be the last. “My Spy” is now playing on Amazon Prime.