Author Archives: filmtoppings

09.27.24
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Saturday Night

Saturday Night takes us to the fateful night of October 11, 1975 in Manhattan, where Lorne Michaels tried to launch his sketch comedy show for its first-ever episode, which we now know as the iconic and influential Saturday Night Live nearly 50 years later.

A film about SNL should make us laugh, feel revealing, and be packed with celebrity and pop culture history, and that’s exactly what Jason Reitman’s take on the sketch show’s beginning offers plenty of. The lovely 70mm look, long takes throughout the studio, and energetic score from Jon Batiste give the film a strong and dedicated technical edge.

While many films based on true stories have one or two casting choices that feel inspired, Saturday Night has dozens. Gabriel LaBelle, who’s probably a decade younger than Lorne Michaels was when this all went down, plays the creator with a contagious ambition to make magic for audiences on the stage. Rachel Sennott is sometimes the scene-stealer and the heart of it all, while Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd is one of his most fun performances in years. Cory Michael Smith brilliantly portrays the unstable ego of Chevy Chase, one of the most infamous members of the show’s original cast, while Matt Wood is uncanny in his recreation of the late John Belushi. Nicholas Braun is impeccable and unforgettable as not one but two cultural icons; they’re a pair of performances you have to see to believe. And we haven’t even mentioned Lamorne Morris, Cooper Hoffman, and Matthew Rhys, the latter of whom chews up the scenery as comedian George Carlin. More recognizable names Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons are also excellent and hysterical. The best part about this cast is that it reflects how Reitman wants us to feel about the characters and circumstances in the film — a ragtag group of youngsters with the potential to make us laugh, joining forces hoping to change the world.

As we know, the events of this movie, as chaotic as they unfold, did change the world. The most wonderful part about Saturday Night is that it celebrates the convergence of culture for half a decade, which began as NBC’s laughing stock but has since brought together millions with the arts of comedy, music, and performance joining together. The movie itself isn’t as funny as it thinks it is, but when a film celebrates laughter while making you laugh, those ingredients are the perfect groundwork for a purely entertaining wonder, even as you watch everything go wrong (at first). Fans of SNL will have a delightful time with the mythology of 20th-century American comedy, but anyone else will still have a great time with Reitman’s love letter to popular culture, humor, New York City, and the underdog.

09.25.24
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Megalopolis

Megalopolis is the ambitious new epic fantasy/sci-fi drama from cinema legend Francis Ford Coppola. In the city of New Rome, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel) is torn between the ideas and loyalties of architect Cesar Catalina (Adam Driver), who sets out to reinvent the NYC-esque city entirely into a utopia of his imagining, and her father (Giancarlo Esposito), the mayor who wants to keep things as they are.

Megalopolis sets out to be the most ambitious movie meant for a large screen in ages, with outrageous ideas coming at us straight from Coppola’s mind (and pockets, too). Unfortunately, shooting for the moon doesn’t land Megalopolis among the stars, more so the dirt. It’s a canvas of messy ideas that come together without reward, prestige, or even sense. The dialogue is unintelligible, the story is impossible to follow, and the green screen and effects that try to imagine out-of-this-world visuals in line with Doctor Strange look rather hideous and more in line with Spy Kids or Speed Racer. The film poorly utilizes its stacked cast that includes Driver, Emmanuel, Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, and more. They’re all given surface-level characters with awful dialogue and absolutely no idea what to do with them. An early scene featuring a number of the principal cast debating on the city’s feature feels more like a drunken celebrity costume party than a scripted and rehearsed scene in a film. The characters are inconsistent (and have unexplained superpowers?), and LaBeouf’s antagonist is laughable and serves no threat whatsoever. Fishburne’s narration is indulgent and unnecessary — the movie begins with Coppola conveying to the audience through Fishburne that he sees parallels between our modern metropolises and Ancient Rome, and then proceeds to spoonfeed that same message to us for 138 minutes with no further nuance.

You may be glad you chose to see Megalopolis on a huge screen… for about two minutes, and then everything goes haywire. The mess of tones and logic is the least of the audience’s worries here; it’s a sensory disaster and a meaningless, incomprehensible drag with hollow ideas and distracting visuals. Things don’t explain themselves or mean things in Megalopolis. They just happen. Yet there’s no mystery underneath to unlock and no sense of intrigue, maturity, or intellect whatsoever from the man who directed The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, and The Conversation. If, like me, you don’t manage to hop on board with this puzzling vision from a filmmaking master devoid of wonder or enjoyment, this is one city you’ll be itching to escape from.

09.23.24
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The Wild Robot

ROZZUM unit 7134, or “Roz” for short, is an intelligent robot who finds herself shipwrecked on an island, where she learns to coexist with the animals living there and becomes the adopted parent of an orphaned baby goose, all as the rest of robot-kind awaits her return.

The Wild Robot breathes new life into themes we’ve explored plenty in animated films. The animation is absolutely gorgeous; the storybook-esque coloring that DreamWorks also embraced with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish makes the forest Roz explores look stunning, and makes room for creative liberties with some of the coloring — overly red fires look beautiful in the night sky, and water looks absolutely magnificent. The movie isn’t overly concerned with shoving in action sequences for the sake of youngsters’ attention, nor does it feel pressed to pace itself quicker; the time jumps and lower stakes often benefit the film. Lupita Nyong’o was likely the only person who could’ve voiced Roz with such audacious surprise and innocent gentleness, capturing her eagerness to help, learn, and soon, live the way she wants with and for whom she wants. Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara round out the great batch of animal voices, though Stephanie Hsu especially kills it as an antagonist.

Though there are moments earlier in The Wild Robot where the animal chase scenes may feel more child-aimed, the movie wisely strips its themes down to the core, about difference and found family, and of course, kindness, to feel fresh and fascinating even compared to many other animated films that have been about the exact same thing. It’s a film that’s sure to touch as much as it will entertain, and the visual and emotional experience of the film together will resonate with all ages. Is it DreamWorks’ best film since the How To Train Your Dragon movies? Perhaps, but it’s also sure to stand the test of time as strongly as some of their greatest classics.

09.18.24
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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Deetz family returns after a family tragedy to the old home they left behind in Winter River. But Betelgeuse returns into their lives — just as Lydia Deetz feared — when her daughter Astrid accidentally lets the dead loose.

The long-awaited sequel to one of Tim Burton’s films that’s best stood the test of time — and one of his most purely fun — comes over 35 years after its predecessor. It offers the same classic Halloween feeling audiences enjoyed about the first film, and more of pretty much everything else that movie had as well, for better or worse. The music, comedy, and practical effects all work just as well so many years later, and there’s even another phenomenal musical number. It’s delightful to see Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara back in their roles, and just as great at them. The heart of the film comes from O’Hara and Jenna Ortega; O’Hara’s goofy yet conscious grandmother provides so many laughs and her energy as an actress stands out, while Ortega perfectly brings a deadpan charm that’s visibly intrigued but not too shocked at all the insanity she’s yanked into.

The humor often hits the mark, including the titular character’s outlandish remarks and plenty of physical and cynical comedy in typical Burton fashion, but the movie does make a few missteps as the runtime goes along. Its most glaring one is introducing an antagonist played by Monica Bellucci in an incredibly strong first scene for the character, and then hardly utilizing her until much, much later. Though the mother-daughter dynamic between Ryder and Ortega is sweet, the overall objective of the story becomes muddled in the later act. It won’t pack any surprises for fans of the first film, but is entertaining and good-hearted enough to offer some creepily comic fun.

08.26.24
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Blink Twice

Waitress Frida meets cocktail billionaire Slater King at his fundraising gala, and the next thing she knows, she and her friend Jess are invited to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. But reality starts to close in on itself when strange occurrences start to happen to Frida.

Blink Twice is as colorful as it is relentlessly violent, reality-bending, and darkly humorous in the most horrific of situations. Naomi Ackie is amazing in what starts as her loosest and most charismatic performance to date, but soon she grips us when she has to act shocked, horrified, and straight-up puzzled for most of the movie. Channing Tatum was perhaps perfect for the character of Slater King, whose mask of cluelessness and charm makes him appear apologetic and soft with the right edge of craziness. Adria Arjona also particularly shines, throwing subtle comedy into pressing fear and paranoia. The film not only has a vivid look and energy, it’s also got genuine intrigue to its mystery, even if you might know where it’s going. It’s a film in the vein of Get Out, The Menu, Fresh, and even Last Night in Soho, and I’m not here to say it’s incredibly different or original compared to other modern dark satirical comedy thrillers like those. Its social and feminist undertones wouldn’t have left as much food for thought if not for the memorable mood and tone debut director Zoe Kravitz brings. Every single cast member is memorable, even if their characters don’t have much under the surface, and motifs like nail polish, a jazz song, or other seemingly harmless objects stick out to the mind. The way the editing reveals things as a sudden retrieval of memory by the mind is also masterfully done. The violence is a lot to watch but culminates in some macabre pleasure that allows for that release of audience excitement, and the movie doesn’t overstay its welcome at all either. Blink Twice is a dark and relentless thriller that takes its time to set the groundwork for the insanity that’s to come in the final act, and once you reach the end, you’ll feel that the buildup was completely worth it.

08.18.24
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Alien: Romulus

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.

Alien: Romulus distances itself from much of the story of the other films, to create a contained haunted house/spaceship thriller. The film manages to give us enough interesting characters to attach us to the action and root for certain ones to make it out, though a few others are simply irritating. Making the premise about a “heist gone wrong” makes it feel unique and gives the film a more fun hook than expected. Cailee Spaeny, who needs no introduction at this point, is not only a terrific lead but perhaps the best person who could’ve played this role, flawlessly balancing the terrified and badass sides to Rain without feeling like Ripley, Shaw, or Daniels 2.0, giving a protective and resourceful edge to her strength. David Jonsson gets a lot to work with as Rain’s surrogate brother Andy, and Isabela Merced absolutely owns her screen time with the terror her character goes through. I mean, who can blame anyone for reacting in such horror after looking at a Xenomorph for the first time?

The effects of the creatures are seamless and innovative, and the gore that unfolds throughout the runtime does not relent or let you feel safe. Though it takes a bit to get going, the thrills get more and more innovative as we explore deeper and deeper through the titular space station. Though it’s often visually stunning, including shots of asteroid belts, planets, and spaceships, the darker lighting makes the shots not quite as gorgeous to look at as Prometheus and Covenant. It embraces enough of the formula that’s made past films work while finding enough in this story to induce curiosity and excitement. It thankfully stands on its own but the action scenes may end up ranking high for fans of the franchise, and ultimately deliver the sophisticated mix of science fiction, action, and horror that have made these films, 45 years later, still feel gripping and cool.

07.28.24
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Sing Sing

Sing Sing takes place in the titular New York prison and focuses on inmates involved in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, as they work through their traumas to find redemption through acting.

Colman Domingo beautifully leads this film as one of the only actors not starring as themselves, opening us to a completely different side of him from his turn in Rustin, but equally moving and majestic. His charisma and soul commands the screen like not many actors can, balancing authority in his efforts to strengthen camaraderie throughout the RTA’s production at Sing Sing, and a longing to leave his imprisonment and prove his innocence from a crime he’s doing time for that he didn’t commit. He makes us deeply care for Divine G’s struggle but his “performance within a performance” scenes are also impossible to look away from. Paul Raci is also lovely as the RTA director encouraging the inmates to open up and unlock their deepest feelings through the process of acting and imagination. Besides those two Oscar nominees, almost everyone else is a veteran of the RTA program playing themselves, unlocking a naturalistic sincerity in not just the characters but the experience (similar to watching Frances McDormand interact with real-life nomads in Nomadland).

As these inmates find the hidden parts of themselves and get in touch with their most vulnerable sides, the experience of watching Sing Sing becomes just that for the audience. We’re left reflecting on our own livelihoods we’ve taken for granted, and the times we may have felt trapped and longed to escape from realities of our own. Acting is not just redemption for these characters we grow to feel deeply for — it reinvigorates their love for being alive, and reminds them of something to fight for, including their brothers on the stage with them. The film frames this rehabilitative process as a reclamation of the self, even behind bars where people are often treated as, well, less than people. It’s a rare experience that breaks down barriers and makes us feel close to characters that would often frighten us from the outside in any other film. Beyond those discussions about empathy it may stir within us, the film is kind-hearted and funny even amidst the most difficult of settings. In this mix of Oscar-nominated actors alongside a number of men playing themselves, the real often blends with the scripted, both for the characters and the art, that invites audiences for a complex but loving and extraordinary drama of raw and beautiful storytelling.

07.25.24
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Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool enters the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe when he’s called upon by the TVA to save his timeline from erasure — or in other words, a Disney acquisition.

Deadpool continuing into the larger MCU, and with a larger sandbox to reference and joke with, only feels right, with the character reminding us that anything and everything in the world of entertainment need not be taken so seriously. Excitingly, it’s not just the convergence of the Fox Marvel heroes and the MCU, but also Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine, whom Deadpool has already poked fun of in his films. The film asks, what if two people who can’t die and have no temper but are polar opposites need to get along (but can’t)? That buddy comedy aspect drives the film, as do the multiverse-level visuals. In addition to Reynolds’ increasingly impressive commitment to one of the most foul-mouthed heroes to ever wear spandex, and Jackman’s rage-filled but emotionally charged take on a Wolverine different from the one we parted ways from in Logan, Emma Corrin shines and never feels lesser than the two A-listers when on screen with them. Corrin gives a delightfully cruel and loose performance as Cassandra Nova, and certainly not right-minded, almost like a Mad Max character given Professor X’s powers. Matthew Macfadyen also gives the film some great fun as a TVA agent whose a little murkier than the ones we met in Loki.

The film’s writing for its lead character doesn’t really hit hard on a deep level, and Wade’s relationship with Vanessa feels like a superficial conflict thrown in for the sake of necessity. Their arc worked way better in Deadpool 2, and here, this variant of Logan is by far the more inviting emotional aspect of the film. Despite Deadpool’s growth as a person taking a backseat, this is a film where the experience is reliant on the action, humor, and surprises, and it delivers on all three fronts. The action scenes are creative, eye-popping, and cheerfully graphic, from an opening that’s one of the most brilliant fight scenes in the trilogy to much, much more that comes after. The jokes come at light speed and have something belly laugh-inducing for everyone, including references to the actors’ filmography. The film also embraces the idea of the multiverse with cameos to behold that’s been kept secret from the marketing for our enjoyment in the theater. It’s probably why Deadpool & Wolverine, despite not having a marginally original story, is such a memorable crowd experience and action blockbuster that does not hold back, continuing to push the limits of how much the blood, raunchiness, and self-awareness can surprise and amuse us. But it’s not just irreverent for the sake of it — the humor and energy of the film brilliantly mesh with the CGI-heavy worldbuilding of the MCU, so come the chemistry that’s promised from the title and meta potential of these franchises colliding, and though that’s the mainstay here, it’s more than enough devoted fans of the superhero genre and the collective theater experience.

07.15.24
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Twisters

Kate Cooper, a retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist, is persuaded by her former colleague Javi to return to work with a new team and new technologies to stop deadly new tornadoes from wreaking havoc on central Oklahoma.

Twisters is a film that takes a vastly similar premise to the original, and a genre that’s been tired and torn since that first film’s release — a few good-looking movie stars trying to survive a deadly natural disaster — but winds up being better and more engaging than that first film in just about every way. The stars’ endless charm is the film’s secret weapon. Often in a modern effects-centric disaster film, one might find themselves either bored to death by the human scenes or yelling at their dumb decisions. The characters here aren’t just compelling, they’re also so much darn fun to watch. Daisy Edgar-Jones (of Normal People, Fresh, and Where the Crawdads Sing fame) is one of the reasons the film is so interesting to watch, and Kate’s intelligence, empathy, and passion for making a difference through science make for an emotional lead. If Hit Man hadn’t already proved that Glen Powell was a superstar here to stay, he’s again awesome here as a scientifically smart, behaviorally dumb Internet-famous tornado chaser whose group and approaches clash with Kate’s. His character genuinely feels layered, in addition to the funny cowboy side we first meet, and his chemistry with Edgar-Jones is irresistible. Not many actors have the charm Anthony Ramos has given every film he graces, and his presence in the film isn’t taken for granted. A few great actors like Brandon Perea and Sasha Lane could’ve been given a little more to do, though.

In addition to genuinely wanting to watch these characters interact and survive, the tornado action and destruction are a blast. The effects look like a great blend of that Amblin Spielbergian practical look and some large CGI set pieces. They all come together seamlessly with the booming sound effects to create an edge-of-your-seat experience. But director Lee Isaac Chung’s style is never only about big effects and havoc. The characters, science, and even the editing are always key to the story and pace here — not to mention, the soundtrack adds a terrific lot to the film. This new take on a familiar story meshes the old and the new with plenty of genuine thrills that I haven’t felt in many franchise films this year. But none of it matters without its stars’ infectious charisma, which, together with the tornado action, will put a big smile on your face and prove one of the year’s strongest blockbuster sequels that undoubtedly tops the first.

07.13.24
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Fly Me to the Moon

Marketing specialist Kelly Jones and launch director Cole Davis cross paths at the Kennedy Space Center and sell America the race to put a man on the moon. But things get truly complicated when NASA orders Jones to come up with a contingency plan to mankind’s greatest achievement.

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum shine in this romantic star vehicle set in the backdrop of the space race, but the film flourishes most when focused on its playful interactions with history and period mood. Tatum is particularly strong as a character whose authority is thrown into messy situations, and Jim Rash is a hilarious standout as a director friend of Johansson’s character. Ray Romano also gives potentially his most delightful performance since The Big Sick as a NASA scientist who gets some of the film’s most touching dialogue. The $100 million budget also pays off as you feel the grand scale of NASA’s sites and activity, as well as the gravity (no pun intended) of this place and its happenings for the world and human possibility. Some scenes may fall into the shadow of First Man due to some of the same events being covered, but it’s not really fair to compare any film to that one technically. The film work’s best when embracing this ambition alongside it’s bright, comedic tone, and this energy creates an engaging watch, even when the film is low on substance — or the substance to the lead characters just isn’t that memorable. Still, Johansson and Tatum’s performances are enough to entice the audience and though the editing is a bit aggressive at times, and the film doesn’t leave you with as much food for that as it does toying around with history, it brings its 60s time period — and the wonder that came with NASA at the time — to life with enough flare to induce smiles, laughs, and a nice trip to the movies for all.