Admittedly, I tend to enter a Yorgos Lanthimos film with a fair amount of caution. The tireless Greek filmmaker has gained a high standing among many critics and awards voters, releasing three features in three years, all to widespread acclaim. The first was “Poor Things”, an amalgamation of Lanthimos’s worst tendencies ramped up to 100. Last year we got the equally bad but even more forgettable “Kinds of Kindness”. Now this year it’s “Bugonia”,

Lanthimos brings back Emma Stone for their fourth consecutive collaboration. As Lanthimos’s muse, Stone takes the brunt of his vision, working within the punishing boundaries of the director’s harsh worldview. But unlike the exploitative carnality of something like “Poor Things”, Lanthimos only asks her to shave her head for “Bugonia” – a peculiar demand that only serves one reoccurring joke. But “Bugonia” gives us a lot more to talk about than peculiar hair choices.

As with every Lanthimos movie, you go into them expecting a bonkers story featuring off-kilter characters who at some point run the risk of mentally imploding to one degree or another. This is certainly true of “Bugonia”, a wacky adaptation of the 2003 South Korean genre mashup “Save the Green Planet!” from director Jang Joon-hwan. It’s penned by Will Tracy who also co-wrote 2022’s exceptional “The Menu”. And joining Stone is the film’s true star, Jesse Plemons along with Aidan Delbis, a terrific young actor on the autism spectrum. All three deliver in spades.

To be clear, “Bugonia” is bleak, cynical, and even nihilistic in its merciless critique of humankind. It’s a movie void of hope and with a grim outlook that fully manifests itself through gruesome and gory violence. Yet incredibly it’s simultaneously an absurdist comedy with pitch-black humor that surfaces throughout the movie. Somehow Lanthimos finds the balance between the two, and all while touching on such serious themes as alienation, dehumanization, societal collapse, and corporate duplicity.

Plemons plays Teddy Gatz a bee enthusiast and rabid conspiracy theorist who lives in his family’s old farmhouse with his neurodivergent cousin and only friend Don (Delbis). When not tending to his handful of bee houses, Teddy is filling Don’s head with a wild array of political, medical, biological, and social conspiracies. His biggest crackpot theory is that an alien race known as the Andromedans have infiltrated humanity, camouflaging themselves as people in power in an effort to take over Earth.

Elsewhere Michelle Fuller (Stone), the powerful CEO of the pharmaceutical company Auxolith, is going through the motions of polishing up her company’s public image. Amid shooting disingenuous HR videos about diversity and inclusion, she’s also deceitfully touting a new culture at Auxolith where the needs and wellbeing of workers is a new priority. But her facade of ‘benevolence’ shows cracks with such edicts as “Feel free to leave early,” followed with the qualifier, “Unless you have things to do.”

Teddy is convinced Michelle is an embedded Andromedan who is preparing things for the alien invasion. So he manipulates Don into helping him kidnap Michelle with plans of using her to negotiate a full retreat with the Andromedan Emperor. After snatching her, Teddy and Don sedate Michelle before taking her to the basement of their farmhouse. There they shave off her hair to keep her from communicating with her mothership and lube her down with antihistamine cream to keep her from being tracked. From there they must wait four days until the lunar eclipse which is when her mothership can arrive undetected.

It’s all so utterly absurd which Michelle is quick to explain to her captors. But Teddy is resolute in his warped convictions and pitiless in his responses to Michelle’s resistance. Interestingly though, while his life is marked by self-ruin, Teddy’s madness is rooted in tragedy which comes more into focus as Lanthimos steers him forward. It’s not enough to excuse his cruel and/or maniacal actions. But it gives meaning to his personal agenda while shaping Teddy into something more than an aimless head case.

As for Michelle, she’s no angel herself. The movie certainly urges us to root for her in her efforts to escape. But while it’s true she is a victim, Lanthimos frequently reminds us that Michelle is crafty and cutthroat to the bone. Her shady corporate savvy makes her a formidable opponent for Teddy, leading to a fascinating face-off between two iron wills. She’s just as ruthless with Don, aggressively manipulating him by shrewdly using her humanity as a weapon.

Things escalate quickly in the final 30 minutes as the violence ratchets up and the suspense builds to a boil. It leads to a gonzo ending that is utterly preposterous yet hits like a ton of bricks. It’s an emotional exclamation point that emphasizes the movie’s most urgent theme. There are some noticeable holes that are left unfilled which isn’t unusual for a Lanthimos film. But it’s still an issue that shortchanges both the audience and the story. Yet “Bugonia” overcomes its issues in ways most other Lanthimos movies have not, making it the director’s most satisfying effort to date.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Colin Farrell brings every bit of his charisma and charm to his latest film, “Ballad of a Small Player”, a perplexing psychological drama that has so much going for it starting with it’s fully committed star. It’s directed by Edward Berger who is coming off of back-to-back Best Picture Oscar nominations for “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Conclave”. Those two names alone should be enough to pique any movie lover’s interest.

But Farrell’s wholehearted efforts and Berger’s sumptuous visual artistry can’t overcome the movie’s single biggest hurdle – its script. Adapting the 2014 Lawrence Osborne novel of the same name, screenwriter Rowan Joffé takes on the daunting challenge of untangling the already knotty original material. The film gets off to a good start, nicely setting the table both narratively and visually. But problems spring up alarmingly fast as the movie swings from stylishly intriguing to frustratingly convoluted.

Farrell plays Lord Doyle, a high-rolling gambling addict who has made his way to Macau, “the gambling capital of the universe”. We learn rather quickly that Doyle is in trouble. For starters, he fled to Macau after swindling over $900,000 from a wealthy elderly widow. But he gambled it all away in a run of bad luck. To complicate matters, he has ran up a debt of 352,000 Hong Kong dollars with a swanky Macau hotel and they’ve given him three days to pay up or they’re calling the police.

Doyle’s flawed addict’s logic tells him statistical probability is on his side and he’ll start winning soon. He’s convinced that he played his way into this mess and he can play his way out, with the right financial backing of course. But he’s having a difficult time finding a casino that will extend him credit. He finds hope in the enigmatic Dao Ming (Fala Chen), a casino hostess and loan shack who is in a pickle of her own. Doyle tries to persuade her to fund him, insisting that one big win would solve both of their problems.

As if that wasn’t enough, hot on Doyle’s heels is Cynthia Blythe (Tilda Swinton), a pesky private investigator who gives him 24 hours to come up with the widow’s money or she’ll have him deported back to London. Cynthia adds an interesting layer, but the story is more about Doyle’s mysterious relationship with Dao Ming who disappears, suddenly reappears, and then disappears again. Her presence and absence both play crucial roles in understanding Doyle’s arc. But the hazy storytelling makes getting to any deeper meaning a chore.

At its core, “Ballad of a Small Player” is a redemption story that offers an unorthodox representation of addiction. It boldly serves us its story with helpings of existentialism and tragedy. And its near purgatorial perspective keeps us questioning what we’re seeing. But all of those big ambitious lead to trappings that the movie can’t escape. Even worse, the lack of clarity leaves things murky to point that deciphering it all can be a headache.

“Ballad of a Small Player” is one of the most visually striking movies of the year. It’s also one of the year’s bigger disappointments. The movie is a visual feast, brimming with neon-bathed imagery and richly detailed compositions. And it’s anchored by a tremendous lead performance from Colin Farrell who deserved more fully realized material than he was given. But even with his eye-popping presentation, Berger can’t wrangle together the wealth of big ideas he clearly has. For that reason, his latest film falls well short of his previous two award winners.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

In several ways, the first hour of “Bone Lake” plays like one of those steamy thrillers that frequented late-night cable television in the late 80s and early 90s. It works hard to be seductive, even veering towards trashy on occasions. And it attempts to give its story a sharp psychological edge. But neither the pseudo-eroticism or the overly familiar mind games can make this genre flick crackle the way it clearly wants and desperately needs to.

Directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan, “Bone Lake” seems to have a clear vision of what it wants to be yet it never fully commits to it. Though never boring, much of it feels like reheated material from other features. It isn’t until the last fifteen minutes that the movie lets its proverbial hair down. Its big crazy finish wraps things up with a devilishly gory payoff that really doesn’t make much sense but is a lot of fun nonetheless.

Diego (Marco Pigossi) and Sage (Maddie Hasson) are a seemingly happy couple who book a weekend getaway at a lavish lakeside estate. A nervous but excited Diego plans on asking Sage to marry him. But Sage clearly has some buried reservations about their relationship which comes more into play as the story moves forward. But things really get complicated with the sudden and unexpected arrival of a second couple.

Diego and Sage are surprised by the arrival of Will (Alex Roe) and Cin (Andra Nechita). “It’s short for Cinnamon,” she’s quick to clarify. The latter couple reveal they too have booked the place for the weekend which leads to a table-setting conundrum. With both couples unable to reach the property owner and with the nearest hotel some 50-plus miles away, they make the ill-fated decision to share the place for the night. Bad idea.

From there it doesn’t take long for one of the movie’s more noticeable flaws to surface. “Bone Lake” makes the mistake of tipping its hand too early and openly. Simply put, Will and Cin are too transparent from the start. In no time they are openly flirting, planting lies, and manipulating Diego and Sage in ways that can be frustrating to watch. It’s one of those cases where most of the issues could easily be solved with the slightest bit of communication. Unfortunately…

Diego and Sage only make their situation worse through their maddening choices which move the plot to where it needs to go but leaves them looking like buffoons in the process. Such as Sage taking off and driving into town with the flirty Will while Diego stays behind in the house with the seductive Cin. What could possible go wrong? And when our protagonists finally have the conversations they should have had much earlier, it’s too late (of course).

Again, the movie does finish with an entertaining blood-drenched final 20 minutes that almost makes it worth the journey to get to it. But outside of that, “Bone Lake” tells an familiar story patched together with ideas from more recent films like “Barbarian” to earlier movies like Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games”. The performances are serviceable and the gore is a blast (minus a pointlessly graphic opening sequence). But the film never goes as bonkers as it needs to, leaving us with little more than a tame and trite time-passer. “Bone Lake” opens in theaters October 3rd.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

Given the current cynical and hyper-polarized state of our society, a movie like “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” runs the risk of facing two vastly different reactions. It could end up being too earnest and sentimental for the more calloused hearts. But it could also be just the kind of warm and touching movie some people are yearning for during this strangely turbulent moment in time. I tend to fall in with the latter group. If only the movie delivered on its potential.

“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” is the third film from video essayist turned filmmaker Kogonada. His previous two indie features, “Columbus” (2017) and “After Yang” (2021), both left long-lasting impressions on me while vividly defining Kogonada’s keen visual craftsmanship and distinct approach to storytelling. His latest veers slightly more mainstream while maintaining a semblance of the quiet patient rhythm and introspective gaze from his earlier works.

The problem is Kogonada’s virtuosity can’t fully make up for the film’s biggest issue – the script. Rather than directing his own material as he did with “Columbus” and “After Yang”, this time Kogonada works from a screenplay written by Seth Reiss. To be fair, the script has its strengths. There are several pure moments of heart and humanity. And the characters are given more than enough space to develop. Even more, its themes of memory and reflection are the very ideas that Kogonada has shown to be interested in.

But “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” can’t quite live up to its enticing title, mostly because its script is littered with shortcuts and slow patches. There are several times where the story jumps from one point to the next, skipping information and details it doesn’t seem interested in sharing. Even more, there are other instances where any momentum grinds to a halt. It can be maddeningly lethargic as it sluggishly navigates a tale with surprisingly little substance.

The movie certainly has the star power in Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie. But they’re somewhat of a mismatched pair, struggling to develop the kind of chemistry a story like this desperately needs but doesn’t provide. Farrell plays David, a lonely New Yorker on his way to a friend’s wedding. He stops at the generically named The Car Rental Agency where he’s greeted by two oddball attendants (Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They give him the keys to a 1994 Saturn, complete with a very unique GPS.

At the wedding David has an abrupt meet-cute with fellow lost soul, Sarah (Margot Robbie). She’s a straightforward free-spirit who does some playful flirting with him before going her own way. Later, as David is leaving, his now seemingly sentient GPS guides him to a Burger King where he unexpectedly bumps into Sarah. This kicks off an unexpected road trip of self-reflection as David and Sarah follow the GPS to a series of doors standing in remote locations, each transporting them to specific moments from their individual pasts.

Though their lives have followed dramatically different paths, David and Sarah possess a similar sense of emptiness. Learning who they are by revisiting their pasts is the story’s most interesting thread. Some doorway adventures work better than others by giving us some crisp insight into who these characters are. Others are either drawn out for too long or play out exactly how you would expect them to. But what slows things down the most are the conversations in between them. Farrell and Robbie do their very best to make the dialogue meaningful. But for every good exchange there are two that go nowhere.

As for the more obvious question of who or what brought David and Sarah together and who or what is guiding their journey? Well, who knows? Is it fate, destiny, or something else supernatural? We’re never told or shown. The film shows no real interest in explaining in detail or even lightly ruminating. Perhaps in a better movie it wouldn’t matter. But with “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”, I found myself searching for something to grab my imagination. Kogonada’s striking visuals could only do it for so long. And my affection for Farrell and Robbie just left me wishing they had been given better material to work with.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

Tim (Matthias Schweighöfer) is a video game designer; his wife Olivia (Ruby O. Fee) is an architect. The relatively young couple have made good memories together. But their relationship hasn’t been the same since losing their child in a heart-shattering miscarriage. Since then, a grieving Tim has lost himself in his new game, prompting Olivia to propose a getaway to Paris for a much needed reset. But Tim resists, telling her he can’t leave work.

The next morning Olivia wakes Tim with news that she’s leaving him. As she attempts to walk out she makes an alarming discovery. She opens the door to find it walled in by a mysterious black brick-like material. They check the windows and even drill through the walls only to learn their apartment is completely encased in the impenetrable and indestructible matter. That’s the setup for “Brick”, a new German thriller from director Philip Koch.

In many ways the movie stands out for its simplicity, but it’s not without something to say. “Brick” uses its high-concept premise to explore themes of isolation, survival, misinformation, and grief. Many of these themes play out in Tim and Olivia’s relationship which is helped by the solid performances from real-life couple Schweighöfer and Fee.

But the others take form with the introduction of other characters. With no cell phone signal, no wi-fi, and no water, a desperate Tim and Olivia discover that they can break through walls to other apartments. First they make contact with their next door neighbors, the whacked-out Marvin (Frederick Lau) and his more composed girlfriend Ana (Salber Lee Williams). Later they encounter the elderly Oswalt (Axel Werner) and his plucky granddaughter Lea (Sira-Anna Faal). Finally there’s the mysterious Russian named Yuri (Murathan Muslu), a cryptic former cop with some wild ideas about what’s happening.

Each new character comes with their own strength and weakness. Some are considerably more impactful than others and certain fates are pretty easy to predict. The inevitable interpersonal conflicts manage to muster up some drama but nothing we haven’t seen before. Outside of Tim and Olivia, the characters simply aren’t given enough depth to stand out. And despite the good performances, they too often feel like plot devices rather than meaningful additions.

But Koch deserves credit for constantly keeping us guessing. He introduces a plethora of possibilities, each with the potential to explain what is going on. Are they unwilling players in some kind of twisted Squid Game? Is the wall somehow connected to the strange explosion one day earlier? Is it meant to protect them from a cataclysmic disaster? Is it alien in origin? Clues are dropped throughout and finally bring everything into focus. And while it’s not the most mind-blowing payoff, it satisfies enough to make the journey worth taking. “Brick” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 3 STARS