(CLICK HERE for my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

Creepy children have become a stalwart in horror movies. They’ve pretty much overtaken zombies, vampires, and the like as the genre’s go-to source of scares. The latest film to tap into this deep well is the Shudder Original “The Twin”. But there is more to this surprisingly rich and layered chiller than meets the eye. In fact, Finnish director Taneli Mustonen’s film may be a horror movie, but it pulls from a variety of influences.

Teresa Palmer plays Rachel, a mother in mourning after her young son Nathan is tragically killed in a car accident. Struggling to cope, Rachel and her husband Anthony (Steven Cree) move from the States to his family’s old home place in northern Finland. They bring along their son and Nathan’s twin brother Elliot (Tristan Ruggeri) who’s dealing with the loss in his own way.

Grief lies at the core of “The Twin”, and by making this a horror movie, Mustonen (who also co-wrote the script along with Aleksi Hyvärinen) is able to use the genre’s diversity to dig into the various facets of the theme. As a result we get a film that is equal part psychological and supernatural. There’s even a taste of old-fashioned folk horror that really comes into view during the third act.

Rachel’s hope is that she and her family can move past their devastation and make a fresh start in the tranquil Finnish countryside. But (of course) those hopes slowly unravel. It starts with Elliot who spends his time playing with Nathan’s old toys and even asks to have an extra bed put in his room for his deceased brother. Rachel feels sympathy and goes along with it, feeling Elliot needs the time and space to come to terms in his own way. Anthony feels it’s hindering Elliot’s ability to get past the tragedy. That husband-wife tension only intensifies throughout the film.

Adding to the growing sense of unease are the fittingly creepy locals who take a special interest in the young family. A ‘welcome to the neighborhood’ party introduces the folk horror element which festers into something unexpected (I’ll let you find out for yourself). A wild card in the story comes in the form of an eccentric village outcast named Helen (Barbara Marten). She’s considered a crackpot by the townsfolk and Anthony. But she issues a dire yet vague warning to Rachel – “Your son has made a wish, and it has been granted.”

Terrifying dreams, eerie visions, Elliot’s startling behavior – it all factors in as Mustonen patiently feeds us bits of his slow-boiling mystery. And while I eventually began to suspect where the story might be heading, the movie never fully tips its hand. Unfortunately not everything comes together in the end, and there were some holes in the story that I just couldn’t fill. But kudos to Mustonen. Even if it’s not entirely seamless, “The Twin” kept me interested and engaged. “The Twin” hits select theaters, VOD, and will be streaming exclusively on Shudder beginning today (May 6th).

VERDICT – 4 STARS

For New Yorkers, the new film “Topside” may cover some pretty familiar ground. But this cutting drama from the filmmaking duo of Celine Held and Logan George has a lot for the rest of us to chew on and it should open the eyes and touch the hearts of anyone with a soul. Held and George both co-wrote and co-directed this hard-hitting indie with Held also starring in one of the film’s two lead roles.

“Topside” actually premiered way back in 2020 at the Venice Film Festival and now is finally set for its release here in the States. The movie brings to mind a number of other terrific independent films from the past several years. It’s kinda like “Beasts of the Southern Wild” but minus the fantasy element. It’s a bit like “Room” but without the hostage angle. Yet it’s also very much its own thing, and it has a powerful real-world story to tell.

The movie opens with a quote that stayed in the back of my mind for the duration of the movie. It’s from Jennifer Toth’s 1993 book “The Mole People: Life In The Tunnels Beneath New York City”. It reads “J.C. told me initially that his community had no children. After a moment he added, ‘We have adults as young as five.’” It doesn’t take long for the quote’s relevance to be realized.

Much of the film’s first act is spent on setting up its world. Held and George do a great job visualizing the subterranean homeless community living deep underneath the concrete jungle of New York City. In a dark deserted dead-end section of the subway system, a small group has made homes out of shipping pallets, sheets of tin, and tarp. It’s in this world where we meet 5-year-old Little (played by the remarkable young actress Zhaila Farmer).

“Topside” is mostly told from Little’s unique perspective. Early on we watch her innocently soaking up the few rays of sun beaming through a couple of gaps in the concrete above. It’s all she’s ever seen of the outside world. She’s never been “topside”. Her mother Nikki (wonderfully played by Held) tells her she has to wait for her wings to grow. It’s one of several made-up stories Nikki tells her daughter in order to shield her from their real-life situation.

Nikki is very well aware of their condition. She slips away while Little sleeps and goes topside to get what money and supplies she can. We get the sense that Nikki’s time above is more complicated than she lets on, but it isn’t until later that the film really shows where desperation has led this single mother. While Nikki is gone, Little is looked after by a fellow dweller named John (Fatlip). He’s a mysterious character but buried within his short temper is genuine concern for Little.

While Nikki and Little seem settled into their circumstances, we know that it’s doomed. Glimpses of trespassing notices and warnings to evacuate go unheeded by the community and sets up what’s to come. And it comes to a head early one morning when a group of city workers surprise the community with strict orders to leave. Knowing she’ll loose her daughter to Social Services if they’re caught, Nikki takes Little and runs.

As everything she has told her daughter about the topside crumbles under the weight of reality, Nikki frantically scrambles to shield and protect Little despite having no money, no food, and no place to go. In the meantime Nikki’s above-ground connections begin painting a clearer picture of this loving yet troubled mother. Interestingly, the movie doesn’t get lost in Nikki’s backstory or explaining how she ended up in the situation she’s in. It stays fully focused in the present. That willingness to stay centered in the here-and-now is a key reason the story packs such a punch.

As the mother and daughter flee, the movie takes a heart-shattering turn. Nikki escapes topside, exposing Little to the real world for the very first time. The young child’s fear is palpable as she’s overwhelmed by the city’s blinding lights and assaultive collection of sounds. DP Lowell A. Meyer’s visceral camerawork is constantly shooting from the little girl’s point-of-view, conveying a real sense of terror and anxiety. It’s harrowing stuff.

“Topside” embodies everything I love about independent cinema. It tells a fiercely intimate story without any obligations to studio guidelines or genre expectations. It features an unflinching authenticity that comes through the fantastic cinematography, the moving script, its crisp editing, and two phenomenal performances from Held and Farmer. At times it plays like a hellish thriller. But that’s a testament to the film’s ability to draw us closer to the uncomfortable themes it’s dealing with. And while it can be troubling and hard to watch, it’s also honest and straightforward, which is exactly what this kind of material needs. “Topside” premieres Friday in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

(CLICK HERE for my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

None of the countless attempts at remaking, rebooting, or following the original “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” have been able to hold a candle to the original. I say that because I hold Hooper’s ‘74 film in such high regard. It’s a horror movie that I still vividly remember seeing for the first time. It would have been in the mid-1980s on a VHS tape rented from one of my hometown video rental shops. I remember being unnerved from the very start as a young John Laroquette, with the tension-soaked seriousness of an investigative reporter, warns us about the events we are about to see. I remember the queasy whine of a photographer’s flashbulbs as he or she shoots a gruesome crime scene. Within seconds Hooper had me in his clutches and kept me there all the way through. I can’t say the same for the other “Chainsaw” movies.

Directed by David Blue Garcia and written for the screen by Chris Thomas Devlin, this new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” caught my attention by framing itself as a direct sequel to Hooper’s original. The problem is it doesn’t resemble the original in any way – not in style, not in tone, and certainly not in story. In fact there’s practically no connecting tissue whatsoever other than a madman with a chainsaw who wears a mask of human flesh and the pointless inclusion of Sally Hardesty, the lone survivor of the first film (she was originally played by the late Marilyn Burns but here by Olwen Fouéré).

Set nearly 50 years after the events of the first film, “Chainsaw” 2022 follows a group of four twentysomethings who we’re supposed to believe are fledgling entrepreneurs. A wacky business venture takes them to the dried-up Texas town of Harlow (which looks more like a studio lot than an actual place). If I understand it correctly (because the movie isn’t much for details), the bank reclaimed all of Harlow’s properties. Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and Dante (Jacob Latimore) acquired the properties and are scheduled to host a group of investors to come tour the place. They’ll then auction off parts of the town to the highest bidders who will then bring in businesses and rebuild Harlow in their own idealistic image.

While waiting on the tour bus full of investors to arrive, Melody, her troubled sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), Dante, and his girlfriend Ruth (Nell Hudson) begin exploring the deserted town. While checking out an old orphanage, they’re surprised to learn that not all of the townsfolk have left. More specifically, a sickly old lady and her hulking son who for some reason wears a butcher’s apron and always has his face conveniently obscured by shadows.

As you can probably guess, the woman’s son is indeed the brutally terrifying Leatherface and things quickly turn nasty. But don’t expect anything in terms of backstory. Garcia and Devlin don’t tell us anything about who this woman is, how she and Leatherface came together, or what they’re doing in Harlow. They’re just there. This wouldn’t be much of an issue if this was just another tired reboot. But when you tout your movie as a direct sequel, questions like this are inevitable. Yet they’re all but ignored by a film that’s far more interested in showering its audience in blood and guts.

Full disclosure: I’m not a crusader against gore, especially in slasher movies where it’s more of a celebrated trope rather than something taken seriously. This new “Chainsaw” goes full-on slasher and is loaded with enough grisly carnage to make gorehounds giddy. And if I were to praise one element of the movie as a legitimate strength, it would be the wickedly creative ways they devise for Leatherface to kill his faceless rabble of victims.

Here’s the problem, Hooper’s original was raw and harrowing, but it wasn’t a slasher film. Yes, it thrusts the viewer into a macabre world marked by its unsettling indifference to human suffering. But it relied on building discomfort and a persistent sense of dread rather than graphic bloodshed. It’s a much different story with this “sequel”. Creative carnage is all it has which is yet another way it feels at odds with the 1974 film it claims to follow.

Other than a handful of cool Easter eggs, there’s not much else worth mentioning. I can’t praise the story which is too shallow to be a standalone horror movie much less a sequel to a revered classic. I certainly can’t praise the bland and flavorless characters, none worse than Sally Hardesty who’s shamelessly thrown into a couple of scenes just so they can call this a sequel. But in reality this iteration is nothing more than a hollow forgettable disappointment. One that borrows the name “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, but has no real resemblance to the movie that made that title famous. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

While its title may be lacking, there’s certainly no shortage of star wattage in the upcoming action spy thriller “The 355”. Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Sebastian Stan and Édgar Ramírez front-load this straightforward female-led romp that finds itself in the dismal movie wasteland known as January. That’s when studios notoriously dump movies they don’t really expect to do well.

“The 355” doesn’t exactly break the mold, but it’s also not your usually January movie mush. It’s actually the kind of movie that comes at just the right time for me. After two months of cramming in countless films for end-of-the-year awards consideration and with the surging Omicron variant weighing down morale, spending two hours with an action-packed shoot-em-up filled with personalities I enjoy doesn’t sound too bad.

With “The 355”, Simon Kinberg directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Theresa Rebeck. Think “Mission: Impossible” meets the “Oceans” movie but with a little flavor of its own. The film opens in Columbia where with a cartel boss attempting to sell a Euro-terrorist a data key that can hack into and control any closed network in the world. Power grids, jet planes, cell phones – whoever possesses the key can essentially control (or destroy) anything. The deal goes bad and Colombian Intelligence led by Agent Luis Rojas (Ramírez) swoop down and secure the hard drive that contains the data key.

From Colombia to Paris, CIA agents Mace (Chastain) and her colleague/close friend Nick Fowler (Stan) converge on the City of Lights after getting wind that Luis has went rogue and is set to sell the hard drive (or is he?). But just as they’re about to apprehend Luis, Agent Marie Schmidt (Kruger) of Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (that’s their CIA) crashes the op in order to seize the hard drive for her government. Both sides want to ensure the data key doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, but they keep getting in each other’s way.

Add to the equation Graciela (Cruz), a psychologist for Colombia’s DNI (yep, that’s their intelligence agency). She’s sent to Paris to convince Luis to come back to Columbia and turn himself in. Meanwhile Mace travels to London to recruit her old friend Khadijah (Nyong’o), a tech savvy cyber-security expert and former MI6 agent, to help track down Luis. And if all of that isn’t enough, another mysterious party (Bingbing) is observing from afar. What’s she after? Who does she work for?

As all of these agencies battle logistics, bureaucracies and each other, the real villains are able to secure the hard drive. This forces Mace, Marie, Khadijah and Graciela to reluctantly join forces if they’re to have any hope of stopping the baddies from potentially triggering World War III. It’s rough going at first, with all of them operating under the mantra “don’t trust anyone”. But as the plot thickens and the action intensifies, the ladies begin to gel.

While there’s plenty about the story that’s familiar, there are enough twists, turns and double-crosses to keep us guessing. And while these genre flicks tend to be pretty outrageous, Kinberg’s pacing is brisk and fluid to the point that we’re always moving forward and never have time to worry if all the pieces perfectly fit into place. And of course there’s the action. With the exception of one motorcycle get-away that’s edited within an inch of its life, the action is fun and kinetic. Highlights include a couple of terrific fight sequences with Chastain and a jaw-dropping bullet-ridden finale through the top floors of a skyscraper.

I also enjoyed the performances which (considering the talent) shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear are really good. The actresses are handed characters who are given a few extra layers of depth (not many but enough). For example, Mace’s intense dedication and commitment to her work helps hide the loneliness she feels when not on a mission. The hard-nosed Marie has a track record of insubordination to go along with some serious daddy issues. Graciela is a therapist rather than field agent, and she only wants to go back home to her husband and young son in Colombia. Khadijah has found happiness after leaving MI6 but leaves it behind for another field mission.

“The 355” won’t exactly stick with you long after seeing it, nor is it the kind of movie that will wow you with its originality and vision. But it is light and breezy entertainment that happily wears its influences on it’s sleeve. A great female-led cast brings confidence and energy to material that at times needs to be propped up. Still, I was in just the right mood for something like this – something where I could kick back, soak up the style, giggle at the silliness, be thrilled by the physicality, and watch performers I enjoy having an absolute blast. Ultimately, what’s wrong with that? “The 355” opens in theaters tomorrow (1/7).

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Writer-director Joel Coen slips away from his filmmaking partner and close brother Ethan in his first solo effort, “The Tragedy of MacBeth”. Coen (who also produced the film alongside his wife Frances McDormand) takes on William Shakespeare’s classic Scottish play, stripping it down and putting just as much emphasis on the haunting visuals as the bard’s eloquent words.

Joel Coen’s captivating take on MacBeth is shot in high-contrast black-and-white and in 1.19:1 boxy aspect ratio which immediately hearkens back to the golden age of cinema. At the same time, some of the images he and DP Bruno Delbonnel capture could be pulled from the pages of a graphic novel. The movie was filmed entirely on soundstages allowing Coen, Delbonnel, and set designer Stefan Dechant to create a bleak and foreboding hellscape, perfectly fitting for the story’s psychological and bloody descent.

Who better than Denzel Washington to play the titular Thane of Glamis, a valiant and renowned general in the Scottish army. We first see MacBeth on his way to report his war victories to the benevolent King Duncan (Brendan Gleeson). While journeying across the hot sands with his trusted friend Banquo (Bertie Carvel), MacBeth encounters three witches (played by a terrifying Kathryn Hunter) who prophesy of his rise to power.

The first part of the crones’ vision comes true, but MacBeth is quickly consumed with the rest. He wants more power – he wants Duncan’s throne. Urged by his wicked wife (McDormand), MacBeth hatches a plan to commit the damnable offense of regicide. But such wickedness comes with consequences, and soon guilt and paranoia drive the unrighteous new king to the brink of madness.

While watching Coen unfurl his dark vision of MacBeth, you’ll notice more than a hint of theatricality. There’s an undeniable stagy aspect to the film both visually and narratively. At the same time, it’s a stunningly cinematic movie with the seasoned filmmaker making terrific use of space, light and shadows. Surround the imagery with Carter Burwell’s stark and ominous score, and you have a grim and forbidding atmosphere that serves the material well.

Back to the performances, Coen brings together a stellar supporting cast that includes McDormand, Gleeson, Hunter, a terrific Corey Hawkins as Lord Macduff, the Thane of Fife, Harry Melling as King Duncan’s son Malcolm, Alex Hassell as the vulturous Ross, and Ralph Ineson as The Captain. But it all comes back to Washington who delivers the dense period language with confidence and grace. His Macbeth is more calculated than brutish, although as his heart grows colder Washington shows us a more chilling side of madness.

With his version of “MacBeth” Joel Coen proves himself as a solo director, but is that surprising to anyone? He and his brother Ethan have cemented themselves as arguably the best filmmaking duo of our time. Here, the elder Coen brings his proven visual and screenwriting know-how to some well-traveled material, joining two Oscar winners to put a new spin on a timeless Shakespeare’s tragedy. The results are wickedly satisfying.

“The Tragedy of MacBeth” will have a limited theatrical release December 25th before streaming on Apple TV+ on January 14th.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Actor turned mostly director George Clooney helms “The Tender Bar”, an upcoming adaptation of J. R. Moehringer’s 2005 memoir which recounted his life growing up in a complicated Long Island family. Set mostly in the 1970s and 80s, the story (written by William Monahan) bounces back-and-forth between J.R.’s early childhood years and his time at Yale University in New Haven.

The film opens in 1973 with a dirty beat-up Ford Fairlane chugging down the highway. A mattress is strapped to the top of the car, the trunk lid tied down, and “Radar Love” by Golden Earring plays on the radio. Inside is young J.R. (portrayed by expressive newcomer Daniel Ranieri) and his mother Dorothy (Lily Rabe). Unable to pay their rent, the two are moving back to Long Island to stay with her disapproving father (Christopher Lloyd) until she can get back on her feet.

Through the solemnly observant eyes of young J.R. we learn a lot about his ‘complicated’ family situation. It turns out his deadbeat father (Max Martini) is a popular New York City radio DJ known as “The Voice” who left his family shortly after J.R. was born. He makes the occasional guilt-ridden phone call to his son, but J.R. is mostly left listening to the radio if he wants to hear his father’s voice.

In Long Island, J.R.’s family is a colorful lot. His grandpa’s house is a circus full of aunts, uncles, and cousins. At the top of the list is Uncle Charlie (a terrific Ben Affleck), a much needed father figure who takes J.R. under his wing. Charlie is a brutally honest yet warm-hearted straight-shooter who runs a bar called The Dickens (named after Charles Dickens). There he gives his nephew lessons on “male science” while pushing him to read and write (and discouraging him from playing sports. “You’re not that good.”)

The 1980s scenes sees Tye Sheridan in the role of an older J.R. They follow his time at Yale where he first meets an enchanting yet fickle young woman named Sydney (Briana Middleton). Later we see him finally stepping out to pursue his dream of being a writer. But looming throughout the entire film is his father. Deep down J.R. still holds out hope for his dad and he finally reaches a point where he needs to know where they stand.

The early scenes with young Ranieri are the film’s best (with the exception of a needless gassy grandpa gag) and they do a good job of setting up J.R.’s childhood in a way that helps us to understand the character well. There are some especially good scenes between Ranieri and Affleck, and Rabe gets several strong moments that add important layers to Dorothy.

The later scenes with Sheridan are a mixed bag. This chapter of J.R.’s life at times feels rushed and there were gaps in his story that I would have loved to see filled. I also grew annoyed at his on-again-off-again “relationship” with Sidney. While Middleton is undeniable charming, her character is frustratingly underwritten and ultimately adds nothing to the movie. It’s also a bummer that Rabe more or less vanishes in the second half. But Sheridan is good and he too gets some really strong scenes with Affleck who ends up stealing the show.

With “The Tender Bar” Amazon Studios gives us a thoughtful coming-of-age drama that has the personality and heart you look for in movies like this. Clooney’s direction, though a little scattershot at times, keeps the story together and moving forward. He also knows what he has in the sincere and grounded Affleck who ultimately steals the show. It’s the script the holds things back. There a few too many holes in J.R.’s timeline. And while Clooney tries to plug them the best he can, the story ends up needing more to make it stand out as something special.

“The Tender Bar” is set for a limited theatrical release starting December 17th before releasing on Amazon Prime January 7th.

VERDICT – 3 STARS