"Past Lives" - Review

Nora (Greta Lee), formerly Na Young, is a Korean woman who has a crush on a boy in her class called Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). They have a date as children and seem to hit it off. But then Nora moves to America when her parents emigrate there. Now adults, Hae Sung gets in touch with Nora and hopes to catch up, and the two of them seem to hit it off...

A devastating, emotionally mature film about longing and things never quite being as simple as they want to be. It's rich, wonderfully shot, and a fully immersive, endearing three hander (John Magaro shows up and is bloody brilliant, getting my favourite, gut wrenching, quietly devastating scenes) with electrifying chemistry not seen since Hawke and Delpy. The final shots got me crying.
Highly recommended.

"Assassin Club" - Review

Morgan (Henry Golding, I had to look up his character's name) is an assassin. With the aid of his British handler Caldwell (Sam Neill) he embarks on missions to assassinate people across the globe. He is assigned a selection of targets who have all been assigned to kill him...

We did it! We found the worst film of 2023!
A sloppily edited "John Wick" wannabe, with a protagonist who teleports if only to escape the many blades of the cutting room floor and the ever-vibrating shaky cam. Daniela Melchior, always welcome, is given the thankless task of "Wife", "Damsel in Distress" and "Deserves Better"; whilst Noomi Rapace is given the task of "Generic Villain", because writing more than one woman is hard, guys.
It has no ambitions other than being a straight to DVD "John Wick" knockoff crossed with Bond, but has the budget of a 2000s era Van Damme, half of the charm, and the film making talent of current era Steven Seagal.
Highlight is Sam Neill bobble-heading his performance.

"The Lesson" - Review

Liam Sommers (Daryl McCormack) is an aspiring novelist hired to be the tutor to young Bertie Sinclair (Stephen McMillan), the son of esteemed novelist J.M Sinclair (Richard E Grant at his most Richard E Grant), of whom Liam is an enormous fan. Settling into his enormous house with Sinclair's French wife Helene (the treasure Julie Delpy) and their guarded butler Ellis (Crispin Letts), Sommers is both the pupil and mentor when it comes to how to write...

A 3 or 4 hander, very much a slow burn, it feels like a stage play were it not for Alice Troughton (known primarily for her television work, particularly with Russell T Davies) and her long, sometimes experimental shots. It largely works, and feels exceedingly 90s and European in a good way. Delpy is always welcome, and Grant is always great. I was expecting the whole thing to get gory or properly nuts, but it still kind of works.
Side note: off the back of this and "Good Luck to You, Leo Grande" (which is fantastic, by the way) I am convinced that Daryl McCormack is on a mission to only do movies where he sleeps with esteemed older actresses. Based. I'm all for it.

"Cobweb" - Review

Peter (Woody Norman) is living a sheltered life with his parents (Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Starr), who are still living in the shadow of a child's disappearence years before. Bullied at school and plagued by nightmares, he starts leaping at shadows... What is a boy to do?

A slippery, tricksy, unpredictable movie, and something of a pleasant surprise in today's market. It wove itself insidiously between genres, using shadows and light to create an atmosphere of unease and dread (check out the "Nosferatu"-esque shadows on the stairs, and the very 70s stares and stark shots of certain characters. The director Samuel Bodin has a good eye for this sort of thing); whilst playing form a child's eye view leaves it so much murkier, and unpleasant. Lizzy Caplan (welcome in movies, and against type here) and Anthony Starr do well as a suburban couple with something going on behind that veneer of pleasantness. This is the first thing I've seen Anthony Starr in, and he's pretty good. Still not watching "The Boys" though.
Anyway, the film's unpredictability is done via its use of your expectations of horror: you KNOW something is wrong here, you KNOW something is going to burst out of the woodwork, it's just a case of WHAT is going to do so. And when that 3rd act rolls around? It's great.

"Mercy Falls" - Review

A group of friends set off for the Scottish highlands to find the cabin left to Rhona (Lauren Lyle) by her father. She hopes to hook up with Donnie (Joe Rising), is accompanied by her boisterous best friend Heather (Layla Kirk), and her quiet unassuming boyfriend Donnie (James Watterson), and concerned that Donnie has brought his arsehole friend Andy (Eoin Sweeney) along. But soon the group have bigger problems when they run into Carla (Nicoletta McKeown), a mysterious drifter...

It's a rather generic affair, where I was waiting for the script to pop or subvert things, with little in the way of atmosphere. Still, I can't be mad at it as it was clearly made for about 20 quid, and it's competent enough fare set to be a film on the Horror Channel.

"Theater Camp" - Review

Every year, the AdirondACTS theatre camp run by Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) is home to the outcast, the fabulous and the theatrical kids, underdogs all, who come together to learn about acting, singing, dancing, stage craft and how to put on the best show you've ever seen! This year, there is a documentary crew here to follow Joan and her arts. But when she suffers a seizure, and falls into a coma (the first ever "Bye Bye Birdie" related injury ni the county's history), the documentary makers are forced to move onto new subjects on the first day of shooting. Namely, we follow acting teacher Amos Klobuchar (Ben Platt), and his co-dependent best friend; the new Age past life-healer and musical director Rebecca-Diane (Molly Gordon) as they must contend with the news, putting on a musical in Joan's memory, the new stewardship of the camp under her son Troy (Jimmy Tatro), his attempts to save it from financial ruin, and the new influx of kids this year. Complicating this already huge task is the revelation that a Ms Krauss (Patti Harrison), a representative from a rival camp, is here to buy them out, and the new kids have their own issues they have brought to camp this year...

This movie was absolutely fucking brilliant.
A madcap spiritual successor to "Waiting for Guffman", with rapid fire jokes not seen on a level since "Booksmart" (featuring some of its alumnii, as a matter of fact! But I get ahead of myself...), razor sharp scriptwriting and a runtime which never outstays its welcome come together to make a witty and sweet comedy: the pace is something to behold.
Ben Platt is great in this, and actually won me over after playing Dear Evan Hansen in that bad version of "World's Greatest Dad", here relishing the part.
But I was here for my queen Molly Gordon, frequently the best thing about whatever she is in (a welcome anti-anxiety medication in "Shiva Baby", a hilarious best friend in "Broken Hearts Gallery", the antagonist and zinger-master in "Good Boys" and the one whose simple delivery of "Where the fuck do you live?" in "Booksmart" still has me in stitches to this day) and here finally relishing the chance to play a role she has wanted for her entire career. They carry the production wonderfully, and the supporting characters all get a chance to shine. The pace of jokes never let up, and they land each and every time in their celebration of this mad, "theatre kid energy", and even the age-old reaction shots of people having to put up with this bullshit never gets old. Troy is essentially Tatro's character from "American Vandal" again, and most welcome here, and the performers across the board all get given gems. Not a single scene goes by without somebody getting a great joke in. Noah Galvin from "Booksmart" also shows up, and "Booksmart" cast members are always welcome. From Troy trying to bond with the kids and calling them "Fam", "Squad" and the like, only to be called "Cishet" to mocking laughter; to the efforts of oddly talented yet overlooked theatre kid Glenn (Galvin) trying to keep the place going; to the new teacher Janet (Ayo Edebiri) bluffing her way through every class after lying on her CV; Rebecca-Diane and Amos trying to just make and write a damn musical: it juggles an enormous number of plates in the air, a huge number of funny characters, and has them all pay off in terms of punchlines, big and small, and emotional, satisfying arcs by the end of the story. It includes 2 coming out jokes, bookending the story, and has not a single mean spirited bone in its body.
Come for Molly Gordon and the redemption of Ben Platt, stay for the antics of Troy, the drama of shows, a cocaine-based musical number, a disatissfied Air B'n'B guest, a welcome cameo from Patti Harrison, and the warmth of its heart.
A fantastic debut, and I unironically want a TV show based on this, and a full length musical based on the final number.

"Blue Beetle" Review

Jaime Reyes (Xolo Mariduena) has returned from college to his family, delighted to have him back in Palmera City. Unfortunately they are set to lose their home to the greed of the ever expanding Kord Industries, headed by Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), and Jaime's father Alberto (Damian Alacazar) has just lost his job after a heart attack. On the ropes, broke, but surrounded by love: Reyes is forced to get himself a job to support his family. The kid gets caught up in a hunt for a mysterious artefact, and adventure ensues.

This movie was just fun.
It's a bright, vibrant, 90s as hell poppy explosion of delights, all about family, fun, and the plight of migrant communities doing battle with corporate overlords and laserbeams. IT has a breezy sensibility to it, but doesn't forget the characters along the way: a lovable family surrounding Reyes, who is himself a good wholesome boy. His banter/rapport and growth with the bloodthirsty robot alien parasite Khaji Da (Becky G) is the throughline of the film and where much of the jokes and humour come from, and the payoff is exactly what you want and need and expect from this film, and it works wonderfully. I'm a big Ted Kord fan, so having his robot spout "Kickstart My Heart" is the most Ted Kord thing. That's just a cute side note.
I was told that this movie (with its odd couple boy and his robot, the lovable George Lopez conspiracy theorist uncle, fighting corporations with an old robot taken from the cave of "Batman but with ADHD" which spouts out Motley Crue songs, and its anti corporation message and sweet heart) was something I would write.
I wish I could write something a tenth as good as this.
A breath of fresh air for superhero films.