REVIEW: “Replicas” (2019)

January 11, 2019 by Keith Garlington

2019 gets off to a weird start with “Replicas”, a sci-fi thriller with barely a speck of science-fiction and even less in terms of thrills. It’s not the abysmal film that a mere surface glance would lead you to expect. It’s just a hard movie to figure out mainly because it seems constantly unsure of itself. Is it a morality tale, a horror film, a dark comedy? Heck if I know.

Keanu Reeves stars as a neurochemist(?) named William Foster who has recently relocated his family to Puerto Rico to be closer to his employer’s state-of-the-art biomedical research lab. He’s nearing a breakthrough on his pet-project – to copy the human mind of a dead “donor” and transfer it into a synthetic brain. His boss at Bionyne (the kind of shady high-tech lab name you would expect in a movie) is breathing down his neck to get results or the stockholders will pull funding and shut him down.

After a terrible tragedy strikes his wife Mona (Alice Eve) and their three children, William slowly descends into mad scientist mode. With the help of his Bionyne assistant (Thomas Middleditch), William attempts to bring his family back to life by doing what any of us would do – smuggle millions of dollars worth of lab equipment into your basement and conduct the same experiment on your family that has failed with every other attempt. What could go wrong?

“Replicas” tries to ask some weighty questions particularly about morality in the face of tremendous grief and loss. But it’s hard to wrestle with those moral quandaries when everything gets so blasted silly. And the movie doesn’t make the most of some of its better ideas. For example, at one point William forces himself to make an intensely painful choice with potentially huge ramifications. As with several other things, the film never gets much mileage out of it.

Then there is the lead performance we get from Keanu Reeves. I don’t know what to say other than it’s strange and at times hilariously off-key. From the very start he seems miscast and out of place. It’s actually pretty entertaining trying to figure out what exactly he’s going for. We get steady shades of Neo, John Wick, and even Ted Logan. And then you have John Ortiz as William’s dogged boss. It’s as if he’s constantly winking at us and subliminally saying “This is some crazy stuff, right?”

I really shouldn’t be too hard on Keanu. To be honest his off-kilter performance is one of the things that makes “Replicas” kinda fun. And even though I did find it strangely entertaining, it’s just too scattered and a little too goofy to get behind it. There are plenty of other ‘playing God’ movies that do this whole ‘bring ’em back from the dead’ thing better.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “The Favourite”

January 10, 2019 by Keith Garlington

With a good sample size of movies to go by, Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has shown himself to be an acquired taste. His films tend to operate on their own quirky wavelengths often within the punishing boundaries of his harsh worldview. His characters take the brunt, but he can be just as tough on his audience especially when he muddies the line between heartbreaking and nihilistic.

“The Favourite” features many of the same Lanthimos signatures but this time with a bigger foot in the real world. Set in early 18th century Britain and taking place almost exclusively on the grounds of the Royal Palace, the story follows a sickly Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) and her conniving court of opportunists.

At the movie’s core is the toxic trinity of the Queen, the Duchess of Marlborough Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), and Sarah’s ambitious cousin Abigail Hill (Emma Stone). To no surprise Lanthimos chose the more salacious (and generally discredited) interpretation of Anne’s relationship with both Sarah and Abigail. But to be fair he’s not going for an accurate depiction. It’s the framework he wants for his bitter and twisted tale.

As England wars with the French so to does Sarah and Abigail for the Queen’s affection (because along with the Queen’s affection comes position, power and influence). Nothing is too devious or too vile for these lovely human beings. Backstabbing, deception, sexual devilry – it’s all fair game. And this is the rest of the movie in a nutshell, two ruthless vipers duking it out for their own self-absorbed reasons. The only suspense is in which one will be left standing.

This is the first time Lanthimos hasn’t directed his own script. Instead Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara pen this verbally volatile period romp. Your enjoyment may hinge on your tolerance level for nasty behavior. It can be tough finding some level of heart but we do get a taste of it in Queen Anne. She’s a sad and pitiful woman plagued by crippling gout, unbearable grief, and a ton of insecurities. While Weisz and Stone are very good at peddling malevolence, Colman offers an occasional yet welcomed breather.

There are a handful of men scattered throughout the story. All of them are more or less pawns who the women manipulate for their good pleasure. It’s fun to watch. The best of the lot is Nicholas Hoult who is a hoot playing the slimy and subtly conniving Harley. He’s a politician with an agenda and I swear his wigs get bigger and more absurd with each new scene he’s in.

While I found plenty in the story to push back on, I certainly can’t argue against Lanthimos’ incredible sense of craft. His camera employs all sorts of intriguing perspectives, interesting lens tricks, and funky angles. Sometimes it’s tough to see what he’s trying to convey but it always looks fantastic. Chipping in are some gorgeous set designs and Sandy Powell’s exquisite costumes which Lanthimos definitely takes advantage of.

“The Favourite” shines brightest through its top-notch performances across the board and in the sheer beauty of the filmmaking. That light fades when you get down to the meat of the storytelling. The bitterness wore on me, it can be pointlessly coarse, and I didn’t laugh much at all (except at Hoult). Not good for a blue-blooded black comedy. So I end up where I often do with Yorgos Lanthimos films – somewhere in the middle between impressed and frustrated.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “If Beale Street Could Talk”

January 8, 2019 by Keith Garlington

Barry Jenkins became a household name with his 2016 Best Picture winner “Moonlight”. Despite the film’s universal acclaim, I could never get in sync with its storytelling rhythm and felt it dropped off significantly in its second half. That’s certainly not the case with his follow-up feature “If Beale Street Could Talk”.

Adapted by Jenkins from James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, “Beale Street” has a very distinct voice. It’s a movie filled with longing and not just between two lovers. There is also an ever-present longing for hope, peace, equality, justice. This longing is in every frame of Jenkins’ soulful film and you see it burning in the eyes of nearly every character we encounter.

Jenkins begins his film by introducing us to Tish who is 19 and Fonny who is 22. Their opening gaze makes it clear that these inseparable childhood friends have fallen in love. They are two black kids in early 1970s Harlem with plenty of societal hurdles and a deck stacked against them. But in this early moment their love is all they see. In a very poignant way their simple yet central romance is the catalyst for everything else the film has to say.

The young couple’s world is turned upside down when Fonny is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit. He is sent to prison while Tish discovers she is pregnant with their child. Jenkins elegantly maneuvers back-and-forth on his timeline, braiding together their challenges during Fonny’s incarceration with touching looks back at their lives as a couple subtly framed as memories more so than flashbacks.

Jenkins shows off an impressive knack for drawing a ton out of his characters, not just through his dialogue but even more so from his camera. Take relative newcomer KiKi Layne who plays Tish. She brings a heartbreaking innocence and vulnerability to her character. Layne’s earnest portrayal conveys an inherent goodness in Tish which Jenkins wisely locks in on. He does the same for Stephan James as Fonny. He’s gentlemanly and sincere; so full of life and love yet slowly being drained of hope with each passing day behind bars.

Then there is the stellar supporting cast led by Regina King who is winning every award she’s nominated for. She plays Tish’s mother Sharon, a realist but also a loving encourager determined to help Fonny despite there being no easy road to justice. Colman Domingo is superb as Tish’s father, also a realist and equally compassionate, yet forced to help the kids in his own unique ways. Both performances offer up some of the year’s best supporting work.

I should also mention Brian Tyree Henry who appears in a key sequence midway through. He plays Fonny’s old friend Daniel who just got out of prison for a crime he also didn’t commit. In a bit of on-the-nose foreshadowing, Daniel shares his experience with Fonny almost like a prophet warning us of what’s to come. Obviousness aside, Jenkins allows their conversation to play out, probably a hair too long, but still in the way it needed to. And within the framework of their conversation, every word they express feels authentic and honest.

Perhaps the most magnetizing sequence sees Tish and her parents inviting Fonny’s family over to break the news of her pregnancy. It’s tense and contentious from the start eventually bringing out thoughts of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. The scene is almost undone by Fonny’s belligerent and over-the-top mother (possibly Jenkins’ attempt at channeling Baldwin’s negative perception of religion). Still, you find yourself glued to every character and every exchange.

Barry Jenkins clearly has something to say about racial injustice, not just of the past but also how it still resonates today. It forms an ominous cloud that hangs over his entire film. But at its deepest core “Beale Street” isn’t a loud, angry social lecture. It’s an aching love story lusciously shot by Jenkins favorite James Laxton and accompanied by one of the year’s best scores from Nicholas Britell. The tragedy is in how this love is forever effected by a cold, prejudicial system. Tish’s burdened father once says “These are our children, and we gotta set them free.” This becomes our longing as well.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Vice” (2018)

January 7, 2019 by Keith Garlington

Adam McKay’s makeup and costume dramedy “Vice” is quite the movie to unpack. With its double-edged title and full lather of political messaging, “Vice” resembles a progressive manifesto more than a stinging satire or credible biographical sketch. And McKay comes across as the political left’s version of Dinesh D’Souza but with a bigger budget and an attention-grabbing cast.

Now I am all for filmmakers having their own voices and relaying their own messages. It’s one of the things that makes cinema great. But when that message is used like a blunt weapon you can end up with the exhausting mess that is “Vice”. It is a frustratingly schizophrenic movie, bouncing around from scene to scene with no sense of focus. Good luck figuring out what McKay wants his film to be.

The game plan for the story was pretty simple – portray Dick Cheney to be the devil incarnate and use every single frame and every line of dialogue to do so. But in doing so, McKay ends up giving us someone who more closely resembles an 80’s Saturday morning cartoon villain than a character with any real human qualities. It’s a shame because Christian Bale’s stunning transformative performance deserves the critical acclaim it has received.

Storywise “Vice” makes the same mistake you often see in these types of movies – it tries to cover way too much ground. It starts with Cheney’s early days as a drunken “dirtbag” and then moves to his marriage to Lynne (a very good Amy Adams). It then meanders through six different presidencies showing Cheney’s various political roles in his (as McKay presents it) quest for power. Of course then there are the Bush years and Cheney’s time as VP and alleged puppet master.

And to bog things down even more why not wedge in as many conservative stalwarts as you can – Roger Ailes, Antonin Scalia, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, the Koch brothers, and that just scratches the surface. There is plenty you could say about some of these people, but they aren’t here to enrich the story. They are simply targets of McKay’s detestation both for them and Dick Cheney.

Oh, and after all of that, if somehow you didn’t get McKay’s blaring point that Chaney is pure evil in human form, you get a final 20 minutes where the director starts throwing as much as he can at the screen – Valerie Plame, the infamous hunting incident, and more. It all feels tacked on, as if he ran out of time but still didn’t know when to quit jabbing.

McKay’s structural choices aren’t much better. The story is jolted by several weird time jumps as well as out-of-the-blue attempts at humor that mostly land with a thud (apparently Cheney’s heart attacks are quite a gas). There is also an assortment of ham-fisted, on-the-nose imagery much of which probably looked better on paper than it does on the screen. But worst of all is this bizarre Jesse Plemons narration that plays out in the dopiest way imaginable.

Sam Rockwell is fun as George W. Bush but he’s not much help. His scenes are more like sketch-comedy bits than a meaningful movie role. Steve Carell comes off even worse. He plays Donald Rumsfeld as if he was doing an episode of “The Office” or another “Anchorman” sequel. Ultimately you end up clinging to Bale and Adams who give standout performances but can’t save the film from its plethora of flaws and miscalculations.

“Vice” is one big frustration especially considering the tons of potential it wastes. It’s a textbook example of how bad things can go when you have such rotten tone management and a dogged fixation on your message that smothers your storytelling and character building. To no surprise there has proven to be an audience for this slog. I can confidently say I’m not a part of it.

VERDICT 1.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Bumblebee”

January 2, 2019 by Keith Garlington

If you’re like me the very notion of a “Bumblebee” movie was easy to dismiss. I have been numb to the Transformers movie franchise since its second installment 2009. For me the movies spiraled into the kind of blockbuster I generally push back on – tons of CGI-fueled spectacle but barely a shred of story or character substance to sink your teeth into.

Then along comes “Bumblebee” and several things automatically grab your attention. For starters it’s the first Transformers film not directed by Michael Bay. Second, it stars a really good young actress in Hailee Steinfeld. Lastly, the movie is currently sitting at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. That was just enough to lure me into letting my guard down and actually going to the theater.

“Bumblebee” is both interesting and surprising – a prequel to the 2007 original film and far more intimate and clear-eyed than any of Michael Bay’s concoctions. It’s the second film from director Travis Knight, his first being the exceptional “Kubo and the Two Strings”. He and screenwriter Christina Hodson place a heavy emphasis on character which gives “Bumblebee” an emotional pulse missing from the franchise’s other installments.

As civil war rages on his home planet, Autobot soldier B-127 (later named Bumblebee) is sent to earth by leader Optimus Prime. His mission is to covertly establish a resistance base while protecting the planet if their enemies the Decepticons happen to show up. Bumblebee lands in 1987 California but has to fend off a testy government agency captained by John Cena and even worse a Decepticon who tailed him to Earth. Bumblebee survives the encounter but ends up seriously damaged, unable to speak and with a broken memory core. As a result he helplessly takes the form of a Volkswagen Beetle and shuts down.

Steinfeld’s Charlie is a bit of an outcast only days away from her 18th birthday. She still grieves the loss of her father and has been unable to move on like her mother (Pamela Adlon) who has since remarried. Charlie’s life is a perpetual state of disappointment and frustration whether it’s her downer job at a local carnival or she’s trying to fix up an old car she and her dad worked on together. She finds a glimmer of purpose in a dusty yellow Volkswagen Beetle (guess who) she discovers in her uncle’s junkyard.

While working on her new ride Charlie inadvertently wakes Bumblebee and in the process emits a signal quickly picked up by the Decepticons. The two quickly form a bond which Knight smartly spends a lot of time on. Both characters share a similar lostness but find a much-needed comfort in their relationship. This could have been an easy misfire but Hodson’s script has a legitimate heartbeat. It’s sweet and surprisingly tender without ever turning to mush. And Steinfeld is such a good actress either in the film’s softer moments or once the inevitable threat eventually arrives.

Other things that work – the movie’s sense of humor. Most of the Transformers films have tried to incorporate some level of humor. Here it comes from a better and more digestible place. It’s far from the crude and obnoxious nonsense several of Bay’s movies would peddle. “Bumblebee” also leans heavy into its 80’s setting. There are fun little 80’s nuggets spread throughout the film (who else remembers Mr. T cereal?) and the soundtrack is a blast.

As for what doesn’t quite work – while I did fall for the 80’s vibe there are moments where it is glaringly on-the-nose especially with the music. This is most noticeable in the first half (admittedly I still got a kick out of it). And then there is John Cena who inevitably pops back up as the misguided government antagonist. The character isn’t well written to begin with, but Cena doesn’t really help matters. He’s a bit is stiff, cheesy and often too cartoony to be taken seriously.

I realize calling “Bumblebee” the best film in the Transformers franchise isn’t much of a compliment. So let me try this – “Bumblebee” is a good spin-off that easily stands on its own unique merits. It’s able to dodge nearly every comparison to the more abyssmal of Michael Bay’s efforts while also giving us hope that the franchise can offer something worthwhile. The question becomes is it a case of too little too late?

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Top 10 Films of 2018

December 30, 2018 by Keith Garlington

123

It seems like I say this every time but another year has flown by. Now here we sit looking back at the movie year that was. 2018 was unique in that so many of my favorite films were never on my radar. A handful of blockbusters delivered while several small independent movies were huge surprises. Parsing this year’s batch of contenders was no easy task. Nonetheless we do these things so here we go:

As always I’ll begin by showing love to the fine movies that just missed my top 10. Here are my #11 – 20 picks:

#20 – “The 12th Man”
#19 – “Bad Times at the El Royale”
#18 – “Won’t You Be My Neighbor”
#17 – “Apostle”
#16 – “Custody”
#15 – “Eighth Grade”
#14 – “Paddington 2“
#13 – “You Were Never Really There”
#12 – “If Beale Street Could Talk”
#11 – “At Eternity’s Gate”

Here are my Top 10 films from 2018:

This innovative and surprisingly original horror film came from John Krasinski who not only starred but co-wrote and directed it. The movie’s central horror conceit is effective but at its core is the story of family shattered by grief and in a desperate struggle to pick up the pieces. Each family member is struggling under the weight of their own guilt and sense of loss. Each struggle to deal with it in their own ways. The craftiness in melding the horror and family elements can’t be praised enough.

This was easily one of the most beautiful films of 2018. It comes from French filmmaker Xavier Beauvois and tells a little known yet powerful World War I story. It’s not about the troops but the women left behind to keep their families, their farms, their livelihood together. The film’s slow observant rhythm rewards the patient viewer with a unique perspective on these characters and the uneasy drama that unfolds in the final third. Fine performances throughout and top-notch direction inspired by some of the great French filmmakers of the past.

Despite missing some key players from the first film, this worthy follow-up captured most of what made its predecessor so effective. It’s a tense, slow-boiling border thriller that tackles a highly contentious current issue and leaves neither side of it unscathed. Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin return to wreak havoc among the cartels stepping over any legal/illegal line set in front of them. Some saw the film as a pointless sequel. I saw it as opening up the series to a wealth of interesting possibilities.

The awards curcuits have been buzzing over Alfonso Cuarón’s intimate and deeply personal “Roma” and for good reason. Inspired by a key figure from his childhood, Cuarón weaves together one gorgeously crafted visual composition after another. Every frame is crafted with painstaking detail and not an inch of the shot is wasted. It’s a film that hearkens back to the filmmaking of Fellini, Tati, and even a touch of Bresson. Still, it’s much more than gorgeous eye candy and it definitely feels fresh among the steady stream of modern filmmaking conventions.

Paul Schrader’s intense yet sensitive “First Reformed” is unlike anything else I saw in 2018. It’s a film rich in themes – faith, guilt, obsession, self-destruction, and spiritual despair just to name a few. It’s a film wrestling with the idea of “a world without hope” and it does so with the most open and earnest of intentions. And then there is Ethan Hawke, a great actor giving a career best performance. As fascinating as the subject may be, it doesn’t get off the ground without Hawke who is nothing short of superb.

2018 saw Damien Chazelle follow up his award-winning “La La Land” with a biopic of the enigmatic Neil Armstrong. It was bogged down early by undeserved criticism and seemingly overlooked by many throughout its box office run. It’s a stirring portrayal that aims to be more personal than theatrical. It’s an approach I really appreciated. The movie is helped by a widely misunderstood performance from Ryan Gosling who is understated by design and hardly without an emotional underpinning. It makes for a wonderful study of an iconic American figure.

Talk about a movie I wish more people would see. Director and co-writer Debra Granik’s subtly piercing father/daughter drama left an impression on me and I have felt its emotional tug since. Granik (who gave us “Winter’s Bone”) once again gets down on the most human of levels and does it through a segment of our population on the fringes. Ben Foster’s performance is powerful in its restraint, but it’s newcomer Thomasin McKenzie who shines brightest. She’s the emotional anchor and it’s impossible to not be moved by her story.

I’ve long had reservations about Paul Dano the actor. I have no such reservations when it comes to Paul Dano the director. “Wildlife”, his directorial debut, sees him telling a piercing family story with the delicacy and precision of a seasoned filmmaker. A very good Ed Oxenbould is our eyes. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic. But this is really Carey Mulligan’s show. She brilliantly cracks open her character and works a wide range of emotions to give form to her many complexities. It’s one of the year’s best performances from one of the year’s best movies.

Whenever the Coen brothers make a movie it automatically has my attention. “Buster Scruggs” shows the siblings flexing their creative freedoms in ways we haven’t seen before. The movie is an anthology – six short stories with very different flavors but each connected with a familiar thematic throughline. While its structure is unconventional, even a bit wacky, it’s unquestionably a Coen brothers film. You’ll find their dense wordplay, beautiful visuals, and quirky sense of humor stamped all over this thing.

In a year where independent films shined the brightest for me, it’s a big budget blockbuster that was my easy choice for best of the 2018. “M:I – Fallout” tops my list for a very simple reason – it is easily the most fun I had at the theaters this year. It is exactly what I want from a blockbuster. While the action is exhilarating and the thrills non-stop, writer-director Christopher McQuarrie never shortchanges his story or his characters. For me it sets a high bar not just for the franchise itself but for what blockbusters can and should be.

There you have it. Please let me know what you think in the comments section below. What did I get right and where did I go wrong? I would love to hear you thoughts. Lets do it again next year!