Shorts from The Screening Room – July 2020

From the Video Store Shelf:

Always Shine (2016 / DVD) – A tense and peculiar thriller that sees two struggling actresses, and best friends, take a holiday in Big Sur where they will explore, to violent ends, notions of personal and professional expectations the world puts upon women.

The acting talent of the film’s leading ladies is undeniable and expertly showcased by Caitlin FitzGerald as Beth, a meek but working b-movie actress, and Mackenzie Davis as Anna, a strong and outspoken woman who’s struggling to land a role.

Director Sophia Takal (“Green”, “Black Christmas”), along with her husband, writer Lawrence Michael Levine (“Wild Canaries”, “Black Bear”), deliver a movie that succeeds at getting under the skin of perspectives some have on women and their places. The film refuses to shy away from contexts surrounding work and personal relationships, so that while it’s far from perfect, it’s honestly important and impactful, to a point.

Note: Colleen Camp (“Clue”, “Last Action Hero”) and Jane Adams (“Frasier”, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) both fill small roles.

My Admission - $5.00
One Line Review – “Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up”
MPAA Rating – Unrated for adult themes, frightening and intense scenes, language, and scenes containing alcohol

Bad Boys for Life (2020) – Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return to the action franchise with this third, and long awaited, entry. This time, on the cusp of retirement, the pair face off against a dangerous new threat and a much younger and more technologically advanced police department.

Despite some behind the scenes effort, the film is not surprising in any real way. It doesn’t push any character boundaries or stretch the tired (not “tried”) and true formula into any new areas. Ultimately, delivering about what you’d expect. It’s not an inherently bad picture, I expect you’ll have a fine enough time watching it, but it’s not a particularly memorable film either.

The film is notable for being the first to not be directed by Michael Bay (“Transformers”, “6 Underground”). Instead, directing duties have landed in the hands of Adil Arbi and Bilall Fallah (“Image”, “Black”, “Gangsta”), a Belgium-based directing duo currently attached to “Beverly Hills Cop 4”, and they do the franchise a perfectly serviceable job. I just think the material is way too tired to produce anything even remotely fresh or innovative, but should its surprises catch you unaware, Great, though I’d say it’s wasted energy to expect any miracles here.

My Admission - $4.50
One Line Review – “More, But Less, Of the Same”
MPAA Rating – R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, se*ual references and brief sr*g use

Fantasy Island (2020) – Five strangers have each won a dream vacation on the secretive and very expensive, Fantasy Island. A tropical paradise where one, but only one, of your dreams can come true; and that one dream can come at quite a heavy price.

Based on the hit television series that ran from 1977-1984, and starred Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize, this 2020 rendition doesn’t so much pale in comparison as it delivers a somewhat equivalent product of standard cautionary tales. Differently however, is an overarching subplot that steers the film in a more horrific direction. Ultimately it works, though the film looks and feels a lot like something that could have come out in the late 90s or early 2000s, so take it as you will.

Michael Pena as Mr. Rourke, an actor I love, is unfortunately not impressive here. Ricardo Montalban left quite an imprint as the island’s proprietor, and both the film and Pena’s performance don’t ever feel as suave or as resolutely in control as the icon always did.

Note: The expected nods to the original television series are there and they work well enough in the end.

My Admission - $4.00
One Line Review – “Welcome, to Endurable Island”
MPAA Rating – PG-13 for violence, terror, drug content, suggestive material and brief strong language

Gretel & Hansel (2020) – Dull and sparse, this arthouse retelling of the Grimm Fairy tale is as nearly void of character, as it is of action and excitement. Thankfully it’s shortened runtime gets you out of this forested doldrum before the boredom kills you.

The story centers on the young literary duo, this time played by Sophia Lillis (“It”, “I Am Not Okay With This”) and Samuel Leakey (“MotherFatherSon”), who after being driven out of their home by their grieving mother, come upon the forested house of an uncomfortably giving old woman, played by Alice Krige (“Ghost Story”, “Star Trek: First Contact”).

You know the story well enough, but this version, delivered by Osgood “Oz” Perkins (“The Blackcoat’s Daughter”, “I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives In the House”) is void of anything sweet. There are no gumdrops or gingerbread houses in this one. Instead, the film appears to breathe a foul stench into a grim (pun, Yo!) and already hopeless world.

Note: There are all of eight speaking roles in the film, some sparse/barren set design, and some troubling hand-held camera work that helps me think of it as a combined Robert Eggers/Yorgos Lanthimos knockoff.

My Admission - $3.00
One Line Review – “Too Dam* Grimm, Yo!”
MPAA Rating – PG-13 for disturbing images/thematic content, and brief dr*g material

In the Tall Grass (2019 / NETFLIX) – While traveling across country, a pregnant girl and her brother stop for a quick respite at a church along a deserted highway. While there, the pair hear the voice of a small boy lost in the corn-field-high grass that lines the road. Attempting to rescue him, the pair themselves will become lost in the maze and other-worldly terror of the tall grass.

Based on a short story by Stephen King and Joe Hill, “In the Tall Grass” is another mild success in the current Stephen King resurgence and Joe Hill ascension. Written and directed by Vincenzo Natali (“Cube” NBC’s “Hannibal”) the film delivers a passable amount of thrills and chills, thanks in-part to a cast that includes Laysla De Oliveira (“Locke & Key”) and Patrick Wilson (“The Conjuring”).

My Admission - $6.00
One Line Review – “Keep Out’the Grass, Yo!”
MPAA Rating – TV-MA for violence and gore, frightening and intense scenes, profanity, se*ually related discussions, and brief nudity

The Old Guard (2020 / NETFLIX) – A ghostly and covert coven of immortal militant do-gooders, led by Charlize Theron, fall prey to a money-crazed millennial scientist.

Completely standard and unsurprising in every respect, this actioner, based on the graphic novel by Greg Rucka, delivers limitedly across the board, asking more from its audience than it does from its characters. And although I can admit that it delivers some decent action and teases an interesting mythology, it also fails to imbue them with any clear sense of depth, emotion, or surprise. There is a sequel on the way that could dig into things but, much like this film, I’m not expecting it to break any new ground in genre or story.

My Admission - $5.00
One Line Review – “This Old Guard Is Old Hat”
MPAA Rating – R for sequences of graphic violence, and language

Underwater (2020 / DVD) – At the bottom of the Mariana Trench, approximately seven-miles beneath the ocean’s surface, a deep-sea research and drilling facility is all but destroyed by an underwater earthquake. A small band of survivors must risk the terrors and pressures of a decomposing facility, the unforgiving elements, and something far more dreadful, if they are to survive.
 
What begins as a potentially deep and contemplative film turns out to be a non-impressive and shockingly standard underwater horror film. I’m super bummed too, because I really wanted to like this one, especially after seeing the film’s third act reveal. In the end, it completely lacks the madness required for its subject matter, and, truth be told, it fails long before audiences have any idea that losing their minds should have been a requirement.

My Admission - $4.00
One Line Review – “What in the Mythos…Is That?”
MPAA Rating – PG-13 for sci-fi action and terror, and brief strong language

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