REVIEW: “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” (2024)

November 11, 2024 by Keith Garlington

I personally enjoy Christmas movies. Old ones, new ones, serious ones, silly ones – there is a wide variety that my family and I watch each year. But they only really resonate with me during the Christmas season. For me that starts in earnest on the day after Thanksgiving. So watching and reviewing a new Christmas movie outside of those silly self-imposed parameters is a risky prospect.

But a big tip of the toboggan to “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever”, a genuinely funny and uplifting holiday dramedy from director Dallas Jenkins. Written for the screen by the trio of Ryan Swanson, Platte Clark, and Darin McDaniel, this big-hearted family-friendly feature is an adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s beloved 1972 children’s novel of the same name. And what can I say – it has all the makings of a new perennial Christmastime favorite.

“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” uses a similar framework as the beloved yuletide classic “A Christmas Story”. It features a narrator sharing a meaningful story from their childhood. But instead of the bespectacled Ralphie, here it’s young Beth Bradley (Molly Belle Wright) who lives with her mother Grace (a terrific Judy Greer), her dad Bob (Pete Holmes), and her kid brother Charlie (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) in the cozy little town of Emmanuel.

Emmanuel is perhaps best known for two things: their annual Christmas pageant which is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary, and the Herdman kids – unruly terrors from the proverbial other side of the tracks who are known to lie, fight, bully, cuss, steal, and occasionally set a fire or two around town. Needless to say, everybody in Emmanuel knows the six rowdy Herdmans – Ralph, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, Gladys, and their tough-as-leather leader Imogene.

Everyone is anticipating this year’s pageant to be the biggest one ever. But things take a turn after its long-time organizer and director, the stern Mrs. Armstrong (Mariam Bernstein) takes a spill and breaks both her legs. With no one stepping up to take the reins, Grace volunteers to head this year’s pageant. It’s a noble undertaking that proves to be more challenging than she ever expected.

As Grace holds her first casting meeting at the local church, she’s shocked by the sudden appearance of the Herdmans who stake their claims on the Nativity’s biggest roles while daring any of the other kids to try out. The rough and gruff Imogene is expressly intent on playing Mary which raises the ire of several other parents. So Grace finds herself in a pickle. Does she let the unchurched Herdmans participate and risk ruining the biggest Christmas pageant in its 75-year history? Or does she take the safe route and replace them, losing the true meaning of the season in the process?

It’s not too hard to figure out where things go, especially considering movies like this tend to follow similar paths. And you’ll spot several well-worn Christmas tropes scattered around. Yet “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” maintains an irresistible charm and a heartfelt sincerity that never turns saccharine. It’s also consistently funny and surprisingly self-aware. And while it clearly has something to say, it doesn’t beat anyone over the head. Instead, its message flows naturally throughout the story, from its playful opening to its affecting finish.

“The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” turns out to be a bona fide delight that’s sure to warm the heart of the jolliest elf or the most hardened Grinch. A perfectly tuned Judy Greer is a treat while Beatrice Schneider as Imogene is a revelation. They’re joined by a fun and festive ensemble who help make this holiday feature one of the most joyous surprises of 2024. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Anora” (2024)

November 9, 2024 by Keith Garlington

Sean Baker’s “Anora” premiered with a bang, winning the prestigious Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Surprisingly it’s the first American film to do so since Terrence Malick’s sublime 2011 masterpiece “The Tree of Life”. Unfortunately “Anora” falls well short of that lofty masterpiece status. Instead it’s a draining exercise in indulgent filmmaking that puts its focus on most of the wrong things.

“Anora” sees Baker gravitating towards the same problems that plagued his previous feature, 2021’s “Red Rocket”. His films set out to be raw, gloss-free windows into overlooked American subcultures and that’s a good thing. But too often his tawdry obsessions come at the expense of much-needed attention to his characters and/or their relationships. Never has that been more true than in “Anora” – one of the loudest and longest 140 minutes you’ll endure.

“Anora” is a blaring example of what a lack of restraint can do to a movie. Baker’s inability to know when to ease off the gas and let his characters breathe becomes one of the film’s biggest problems. We’re left with surface-level treatments rather than any meaningful development. And good luck finding an emotional core amid the endless yelling, constant arguing, and (at times) brain-melting dialogue.

The film’s star Mikey Madison is the biggest victim playing Anora, a 23-year-old lap dancer at a high-end New York City strip club. Much like Emma Stone for Yorgos Lanthimos, Madison lays bare and fully commits to her male director’s vision. But despite routinely stripping down and screaming on demand, Baker never gives her the material she needs to stretch her role beyond rank exhibitionism. Yet in a weird way it fits with the aggressive amorality of Baker’s crass and cranked-up world.

Madison’s Anora, who goes by Ani, works at Club HQ making her money fulfilling the 15-minute fantasies of her diverse clientele. One evening she dances for a rich and pampered young Russian named Vanya (Mark Eidelshtein) – an easy frontrunner for the most obnoxious movie character of the year. He’s immediately attracted to Ani, showering her with C-notes and inviting her to his family’s modernistic mansion for some sex work on the side. It’s a proposition Ani happily accepts.

Ani is framed as a savvy young woman who understands the ins-and-outs of the game she plays. She uses manipulation like a scalpel, shrewdly seducing customers by catering to their desires for her own self-interests. But her supposed agency and acumen are unintentionally undermined by her relationship with Vanya. Her tough and confident persona takes a “Pretty Woman” turn after she accepts $15,000 to be his girlfriend for a week.

Following six days of rampant sex, drugs, and partying (which Baker numbingly depicts for what seems like an eternity), Ani and Vanya fly to Vegas on a whim and get married. Nothing about their sudden nuptials makes sense mostly because the pair spend too much time in a haze of debauchery to develop any believable emotional attachment.

Or maybe Ani is just in it for the money. But that makes us question everything we thought we knew about her. How could she not see through the patently flighty and profligate Vanya? We certainly can. The problem is we don’t really know because so much screentime is wasted on superfluous things that we never get a good sense of Ani’s true feelings, sensibilities, or even her motivations.

In reality the marriage is little more than a device used to turn the second act of “Anora” into a half-baked screwball romp across New York City. After word of Vanya’s exploits reaches his wealthy parents back in Russia, they send their son’s Brooklyn-based handler, Toros (Karren Karagulian) and his two bumbling goons, Igor (Yuriy Borisov) and Garnick (Vache Tovmasyan) to get the marriage annulled. But once they arrive at the family estate Vanya splits, leaving the angry Ani to join the three inept tough guys in their citywide search for him.

As “Anora” takes its dramatic turn it only gets more narratively and tonally chaotic. The one consistent throughline is the incessant yelling, ranting and raving which is so prevalent that it feels like a running joke I must not get. Meanwhile the world Baker recreates has a striking air of accuracy due to his choice to shoot on location. It’s too bad his characters don’t possess the same authenticity. Instead they find themselves trapped within a proudly profane yet frustratingly hollow construct that gives the appearance of something raw and dazzling but is actually a repetitive and exhausting grind.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Don’t Move” (2024)

November 8, 2024 by Keith Garlington

It’s always nice when Netflix surprises you with something you weren’t expecting. Such is the case with the Sam Raimi produced “Don’t Move”, the platform’s recently released feature, co-directed by Adam Schindler and Brian Netto and co-written by TJ Cimfel and David White. Set mostly in the California wilderness, “Don’t Move” meshes together psychological and survival elements into a taut and high-stakes thriller.

Kelsey Asbille (“Yellowstone”) plays Iris, a grieving young mother who recently lost her son Mateo in a tragic hiking accident. One morning she wakes up and slips away into the California mountains to the site of her son’s death with the intent of taking her own life. But while there she’s surprised by a stranger named Richard (Finn Wittrock) who quite literally talks her off a ledge.

But Richard’s kindness turns to malice after he suddenly attacks and injects Iris with a strong paralytic. He informs her that her body will quickly shut down and she’ll be temporarily paralyzed. But Iris is able to escape through the woods with Richard leisurely following behind. But the farther she goes the more she begins to lose her body’s functions which sets up a key part of the movie’s suspense. How does she survive all alone, off the grid, and with no use of her body?

Asbille gets a role that’s light on dialogue, but she does a stellar job selling Iris’ dread through her physicality and ability to express. Meanwhile Wittrock is convincing as a misogynistic charmer who’s barely able to conceal his sociopathic desires. A couple of well-acted side characters (played by Moray Treadwell and Daniel Francis respectively) pop up mainly to help ratchet up the tension and build Richard’s cold-blooded pathology.

Handsomely shot by cinematographer Zach Kuperstein, propulsively directed by Schindler and Netto, and fiercely acted by Asbille and Wittrock, “Don’t Move” makes for a thoroughly satisfying watch-at-home escape. Its simple and straightforward story arc follows a fairly obvious course so it’s easy to guess where it’s going. But there’s enough along the way to keep you on the edge of your seat and glued to the screen. “Don’t Move” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Small Things Like These” (2024)

November 7, 2024 by Keith Garlington

Cillian Murphy follows his brilliant Oscar-winning performance in “Oppenheimer” with an equally stunning turn in “Small Things Like These”, a wrenching historical drama based on the 2021 best-selling and award-winning novella of the same name by Claire Keegan. The story is set against the backdrop of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries – institutions ran by Catholic orders with the complicity of the Irish government for over two centuries.

For those unfamiliar – in Ireland, many who were categorized as “fallen women” were sent to workhouses often posing as convents for “penance and rehabilitation”. Against their will, they were isolated from society and forced to work insufferable jobs, mostly in laundries, with no compensation. It wasn’t until 1993, when the bodies of 155 women were discovered in unmarked graves on the grounds of a Dublin convent, that the oppressive institutions were brought into the public eye.

Set in the mid-1980s, Murphy plays Bill Furlong, a loving and devoted father and a coal merchant who owns his own business, Furlong’s Coal & Fuel. Bill is a hard-working man who puts in long hours to support his wife Eileen (Eileen Walsh) and their five daughters in the Irish town of New Ross.

Director Tim Mielants uses the strengths of Frank van den Eeden’s cinematography and Paki Smith’s production design to portray Bill’s lived-in and richly detailed blue-collar life. From the tight-quartered interiors of the Furlong home to Bill’s coal dust coated depot, a big effort is put into recreating a realistic representation. It’s one of the film’s many strengths.

While out delivering bags of coal, Bill makes his regular stop at a convent sitting on the outskirts of town. While there, he witnesses a distressed young woman being forced inside. It’s a troubling scene that clearly rattles Bill. Yet we’re left with the feeling that he’s not completely surprised. Over time we get the sense that not just Bill but most of the town are aware that something is going on at the convent. But the people are content with remaining quiet. They see it better to do nothing and stay on the right side of certain powerful people, namely Sister Mary (Emily Watson), the local Mother superior.

Much of the film focuses on Bill’s internal struggle with what he knows is happening and his feelings of complicity for staying silent. Mielants visualizes that struggle in a variety of ways including the image of Bill washing his hands. When arriving home each evening the first thing he does is go to the bathroom sink, fill it with water, take soap and a brush, and feverishly cleans his hands of the coal dust and grime. But over time his scrubbing gets more intense, a metaphor for his anguished efforts to cleanse himself of guilt.

Bill’s feelings are amplified by his own traumatic childhood which is shared through a series of well implemented flashbacks. There we see a young Bill (played by Louis Kirwan) forced to deal with the sudden death of his mother Sarah (Agnes O’Casey). There’s also the fear of what could happen to any of his five daughters if he gets on the wrong side of the convent. “It’s none of our business”, his wife contends, more out of anxiety than apathy.

But the naturally soft-hearted Bill reaches his breaking point after discovering a visibly shaken young woman (Zara Devlin) locked in the convent’s coal shed. Does he risk his family’s well-being and incur the wrath of the Sisters just for doing the right thing? What will his wife say? Will the community rise up and support him? Mielants doesn’t answer all of those questions, and the potential consequences for Bill leave us with a lingering sense of concern.

We live in a day where there is no shortage of anti-Catholic sentiment circulating in the form of entertainment. But that doesn’t mean the Catholic Church is above scrutiny, especially with its troubled history. Mielants maintains a razor-sharp and deeply human focus that never allows his film to turn into some agenda-driven hit piece. Instead, he has made a gripping character study about turning a blind eye in the face of horrendous institutional abuse. And it’s relayed through another brilliant Oscar-worthy turn from Cillian Murphy.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

New on Home Video : “Trap” on 4K Ultra HD + Digital Copy

November 4, 2024 by Keith Garlington

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment is bringing M. Night Shyamalan’s latest psychological thriller “Trap” to home video. The movie continues the career resurgence of Josh Hartnett who plays a father hiding a deep dark secret. It also stars Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan, Alison Pill, Hayley Mills, and Jonathan Langdon. Check out my full film review [HERE].

This 4K Ultra HD edition of “Trap” includes a digital copy of the film and will be available to purchase on November 5th. See below for a full synopsis and release information including special features.

About the Film:

Year: 2024

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Directors: M. Night Shayamalan

Screenwriters: M. Night Shayamalan

Cast: Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shayamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill

Rating: PG-13

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a new experience in the world of M. Night Shayamalan – Trap – featuring performances by rising music star Saleka Shayamalan. A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.

Special Features:

Trap Premium Digital Ownership, 4K UHD and Blu-ray contain the following:

Setting the Trap: A New M. Night Shayamalan Experience
Saleka as Lady Raven
Deleted Scenes
- Cooper Gets Stopped by SWAT
- Riley Shows Lady Raven Her Room
- Cooper Takes a Hostage and Slips Away
Extended Concert Scene: Where Did She Go

REVIEW: “Here” (2024)

November 2, 2024 by Keith Garlington

Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks have a history of making some pretty good movie magic together. 1994’s “Forrest Gump” won six Academy Awards. 2000’s “Cast Away” remains a personal favorite of mine. 2004’s “The Polar Express” has become a perennial Christmas classic for many. And regardless of what my film critic colleagues say, 2022’s live-action “Pinocchio” had more than enough heart, charm, and creative vision to “justify its existence”.

Now Zemeckis and Hanks team up for the fifth time with “Here”, a warm-hearted drama built around a gutsy high-concept idea that works in more ways than it doesn’t. The film is based on a six-page comic strip by Richard McGuire that was published in 1989 and turned into a graphic novel in 2014. Written for the screen by fellow Oscar winners Zemeckis and Eric Roth, “Here” is a bold and ambitious adaptation that may not reach the full potential of its concept, but that swings for the fences nevertheless, challenging cinematic norms and touching our souls along the way.

A part of me wonders if we’ve grown too cynical and jaded for a movie like “Here”. Not so much for its technical conceit, but for its earnest and open-hearted vision. There’s little resembling a cohesive plot. Instead “Here” functions as a thematically rich experience you absorb and relate to. It can be sweet and unashamedly sentimental. But it’s also honest and straightforward with its intentions.

With “Here”, Zemeckis presents a multi-generational saga that explores the various phases of life, the persistence of time, the immeasurable value of family, and the power of unfailing love in light of our human fallibility. And it all unfolds through the lens of a single static camera with a fixed point-of-view, set upon one small parcel of New England land. As the camera sits stationary for the duration of the film, centuries of life play out before our eyes, most involving a single family and the colonial house they share.

“Here” takes a non-linear approach to storytelling, artfully moving us back-and-forth to different points on the timeline while telling several stories along the way. We see the house being built in 1911 and meet the first of several generations of residents, an aviation enthusiast (Gwilym Lee) and his disapproving wife (Michelle Dockery). A little later it’s occupied by an easygoing inventor (David Flynn) and his high-energy wife (Ophelia Lovibond). And in our current day, it’s a young couple (Nikki Amuka-Bird and Nicholas Pinnock) and their teenage son (Cache Vanderpuye). We also get (briefly), dinosaurs, Native Americans, and Ben Franklin.

But the bulk of its time follows the Young family. In 1943, Al (Paul Bettany) and his wife Rose (Kelly Reilly) buy the house after he returns from World War II. Al is a heavy drinker and struggles with PTSD. But he’s a hard worker who desperately wants to provide for his family. Meanwhile Rose proves to be the home’s stabilizing force. They go on to raise three kids in the house, one of them being Richard (Tom Hanks), the film’s most prominent character.

Richard meets and falls for Margaret (fellow “Forrest Gump” alum Robin Wright) who he brings home to meet his family. Later, after discovering Margaret is pregnant, the two get married and end up living with Al and Rose. Before long their daughter Vanessa is born. From there we follow the ebb and flow of the Young family’s life playing out in their living room. And similar to the bustling world outside of their big bay window, there’s a lot of beauty, chaos, and change to behold.

As Zemeckis plays hopscotch across his timeline, he uses a variety of young performers and digital de-aging technology to follow his characters through various stages of their lives. The effects work can occasionally be jarring, but it’s often mind-blowing. Meanwhile the evocative score from Alan Silvestri (yet another “Forrest Gump” alum) is teeming with warmth yet with an ache that’s befitting of the realities being explored.

“Here” is an experiment for you to sit back and emotionally savor as it chronicles the circle of life with all of its joy, sorrow, and bittersweetness. It’s not a movie custom-made for social media buzz. It doesn’t milk the celebrity status of hot young stars. It doesn’t cater to any edgy popular trend. It’s simply a movie about life where we watch significant events unfold on screen that distinctly relate to our own real-world experiences. It’s all conveyed through amazing visual craft and a cast putting every bit of themselves into realizing a powerful shared vision. “Here” is in theaters now.