It Ends with Us

 Did anyone expect me to review this film? 

I almost didn't, but with a movie theater gift card, I decided to give it a go. And so, let's check out It Ends with Us, and see what the fuss is all about.

Christy Hall adapted Colleen Hoover's novel for Justin Baldoni to direct and star in. But before we meet his Ryle Kinkaid, we meet the actual protagonist, Lily Bloom (Blake Lively). After a prologue, in which she struggles to say anything for her dad's funeral (for good reason, as we later learn), Lily returns to Boston to set up her own florist shop. She decides to enjoy the view atop a random apartment building, and that's where she, and we, meet Ryle, a famous surgeon, kicking a chair. She's still intrigued by this handsome stranger, and he with her, but they only hit it off after she hires his sister, Allysa (Jenny Slate).

Ryle, despite his charm, has a violent temper that he takes out on Lily. It gets worse when Lily reunites with her high school sweetheart, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Skelnar), who is now a famous restaurateur. Not even Ryle and Lily getting married is enough to calm his jealous rage. Lily is no stranger to domestic abuse, for she grew up watching her dad abuse her mom (there's your good reason). How will she end her family's history of violence?

Lily's blanking out at her dad's funeral is awkwardly funny. Once we learn of her dad's abuse, that lapse becomes fully understandable, and perhaps a bit justified. "It's one of the most beautiful things I've never written." she says of her eulogy for him. She has great chemistry with Atlas, both as adults and as high schoolers (Isabella Ferrer & Alex Neustaeder are their younger selves). She spends most of the movie walking on eggshells around Ryle. We fear for her safety and somewhat understand her reluctance to leave him, or even get help. Therefore, Lively gets her best acted moment when Lily somewhat subtly calls Ryle out. All in all, she makes for a fine protagonist.

Ryle, once we get past the chair-kicking, seems like a charming guy. He may be a bit too insistent at times, but it's easy to see how he wins over Lily and her mom Jenny (Amy Morton). He's pretty believable as a nice guy, but he truly becomes frightening once his violent temper becomes impossible to ignore. The first instance he lashes out at Lily seems like a genuine accident; not so much the second. His mere presence was enough to make me shake in my seat. He does have a traumatic incident that the film, thankfully, doesn't want to use as an excuse. He's a bit graceful when Lily leaves him for good, so that's something nice.

Slate, as Allysa, is this film's ray of sunshine. She's not only funny, but she's a genuinely good friend for her eventual sister-in-law. She gets the film's single best-acted scene when she reveals the aforementioned traumatic incident and implores Lily to leave Ryle. If only one of the cast ends up getting Oscar-nominated, it should be her, and that scene will be why. Her husband, Marshall (Hasan Minhaj), is a similar breath of fresh air. How he and Alyssa announce their upcoming parenthood is pretty amusing.

The screenplay accidentally stretches itself beyond credibility thanks to a pivotal flashback. See, not only did Daddy Dearest (Kevin McKidd) abuse his wife, but he also clobbered Atlas when he caught him with Lily. The film really doesn't address the fallout of that incident, other than Atlas getting loaded into an ambulance. I'd think that would make his violent temper also impossible to ignore. So, a eulogizer speaking so highly of him at his funeral is appalling in hindsight. Another writing quibble, albeit a lighter issue, is that the finale is a bit too long.

The opening shot, as photographed by Barry Petersen, is a stunning flyover of smalltown Maine, complete with the sky reflected in a river. It's accompanied by a wonderful opening theme from composers Rob Simonsen & Duncan Blickenstaff. In terms of production design, Ryle's apartment and Atlas's restaurant are great to look at. Some of the violence is a bit incomprehensible, but I think you'll get some of the point rather well.

There's a sequel novel, It Starts with Us, that I'm not too interested in seeing as a film. For one thing, I don't like what I've read about it. For another, as imperfect as how It Ends with Us ended, it's still nice & rewarding. The feud between Lively and Baldoni might make a sequel moot anyway, but at least we have this movie. Now that I've seen it, I think it's a decent romantic drama. It's still in theaters, if you're curious about it ... or not.

I Saw the TV Glow

I Saw the TV Glow last night. I saw all the pretty colors form into sequential images that told me a story. The story spoke to me and …

JETHRO! What are you doing?!

Oh, hi Vance. I got lost in the moment.

Obviously. What is this film you’re reviewing?

It’s called I Saw the TV Glow, which ran in theaters a few months ago, but I only saw last night on Amazon Prime. This is the latest film from writer/director Jane Schoenbrun. Sit back and let me tell you a sequential tale.

Go on.

One night in 1996, Owen (Ian Foreman), a shy middle-schooler, finds upperclassman Maddy (Brigitte Lundy-Paine) reading up on the hit TV show The Pink Opaque. The show follows two girls, Isabel & Tara (Helena Howard & Lindsey Jordan) as they battle “Big Bad” Mr. Melancholy (Emma Portner) and his monsters-of-the-week. Owen is intrigued by the show, while his parents Frank & Brenda (Fred Durst & Danielle Deadwyler) don’t see what the fuss is about. All it takes is for one impromptu sleepover at Maddy’s place and he’s hooked.

Over the next two years, Owen (now Justice Smith) avidly watches the show on VHS tapes made for him by Maddy. The show is suddenly canceled that fall, just as Maddy runs away and Brenda dies of cancer. Over the next eight years, Owen leads a monotonous life, until Maddy reappears, firmly believing that they are actually Isabel and Tara. Has she been watching too much TV, or is there some truth to her claims?

This is a horror film all about existential dread. The scariest thing about it isn't the monsters, gruesome as they are, but the prospect of living a lonely life. We see Owen living that life as the years go on. He finds it hard to connect to people, while the one person he did connect to heads off to pursue a "fantasy." That existential dread actually amplifies the surreality of it all, especially after he watches The Pink Opaque's final episode. In the last scene, Owen suffers a breakdown which nobody notices, before things get especially strange. How can you not empathize with Owen after all is said and done?

It's more enjoyable to see Owen and Maddy initially bond over The Pink Opaque. She doesn't see any issue in introducing him to her favorite show; instead, she easily lends him her episode guide. It's quite admirable to see them become friends that quickly. Lundy-Paine gets some standout acting moments as Maddy's "stability" deteriorates. At one point, an episode of The Pink Opaque suddenly moves her to tears; at another, she gives a disturbing monologue about her trying to relive the show's last episode. That involves her being buried alive, and she even pitches Owen the idea of joining her. If I haven't made myself clear, Maddy is an especially compelling deuterogamist. 

Perhaps the only comic relief comes later on, when Owen revisits the show and realizes that it's a hokey bowl of mush instead of an intense Buffy-esque drama. I'm sure we can relate to that shock to some extent. I'd be here all day if I were to thematically dissect this film.

Instead, I'll get to its technical qualities. The cinematography by Erik K. Yue is illuminated with mesmerizing neon purple, while the production design by Brandon Tonnor-Connolly accentuates Owen & Maddy's forlorn life rather well. The Pink Opaque even looks like a relic of its time from what we see of it. I'm not exaggerating when I say how The Pink Opaque's monsters are all gruesome. Mr. Melancholy, his twin demons Marco (also Portner) and Polo (Madaline Riley), and the ice cream man Mr. Sprinkly (Albert Birney), are all nightmare-fuel incarnate, and the makeup and visual effects people responsible need to be commended for that. The foreboding score by Alex G and intense sound mix are also worthy of praise.

All in all, I Saw the TV Glow isn't an easy film to watch. It's also not that easy to succinctly describe. Whatever the case, I'm sure you'll get an unforgettable movie experience if you can relate to its young protagonists' existential dread. See it soon if you want to see what I mean. But whatever you do, don't watch this before bedtime! Next episode: a surprise movie review!

The Crow

His name is Eric. 

He's not The Crow, but he might as well be on the basis of "sure, why not?" 

Whatever his name is, James O'Barr's undead comic book superhero is back to haunt movie theaters. When Alex Proyas adapted The Crow in 1994, he created a film defined by its gothic aesthetics and, unfortunately, the on-set death of star Brandon Lee in a mishap with a prop gun. This new film spent years in development hell, cycling in directors and stars before Rupert Sanders and Bill Skarsgard swooped in. Was it worth it?

Eric (Skarsgard) is a tortured soul living a quiet life at rehab. A new resident, Shelly (FKA Twigs), catches his eye, and the feelings are mutual. Shelly has incriminating evidence against the literally demonic crime lord Vincent Roeg (Danny Huston). She and Eric escape rehab when Roeg and his goons come looking for her. The goons eventually find her and kill them both.

As Shelly sinks below an otherworldly river, Eric finds himself at an otherworldly trainyard. Kronos (Sami Bouajila) assigns him to find Roeg, who is centuries past his expiration date, and kill him and his goons. Eric takes up his undead quest for vengeance with the help of a ghostly crow. Roeg soon decides to extract Eric's secret of immortality. Eventually.

The screenplay by Zach Baylin & William Schneider takes quite a while before it gets to Eric & Shelly's murders, and quite longer before Eric commits to his superhero look. In the meantime, we get plenty of time to see Eric & Shelly bond together through music. Eric also has flashbacks to a horse he failed to save from a barbed wire fence. The film treats the horse like Poe's Lenore, but we learn practically nothing about it. Roeg has the ability to compel people to murder or suicide, an ability which he uses in his first scene. That's about the most interesting thing about this villain. His compelling voice also plays into Shelly's dark secret, which makes it a bit time consuming when it tests Eric's love for her. Overall, the film has a thin plot stretched over 111 minutes, and I thought going in it would be longer.

Was there anything that worked? Eric and Shelly are quite likable, both together and apart, and it's perfectly horrifying when Roeg's goons find them. Eric spends most of his quest as an immortal punching bag for Roeg's goons, albeit one that shoots back. It's still satisfying when he cuts through them at an Opera House. That scene is a decent showcase for Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable, and not, as I thought, one of many operas based on the myth of Orpheus. Marian (Laura Birn), Roeg's right-hand woman, gets a decent pity moment before Eric gets to her, even if it's too little, too late. Shelly's friends, Zadie (Isabella Wei) and Dorm (Sebastian Orozco), may have limited screentime, but they are still pitiable. 

What really helps the film is its technicals, particularly Steve Annis's cinematography and the production design. It's nothing less than stunning when we see a massive murder of crows swarming around that ghostly trainyard. There's also some great location filming in the Prague and Munich. There's some great makeup work for Eric's evolving looks and a decent score by Volker Bertelmann. Their work is much more memorable than the story, for sure.

Was it a bad idea to remake The Crow? Not necessarily, for its central premise has always been pretty compelling. It is a bad idea, however, to make this new film this slow. It's still quite stunning in places, and its big Opera fight scene is almost worth sitting through it all. Maybe Eric's next cinematic life will be as successful as his first. Until then, I got to fly off and find the source of my next review. Expect one before the month is out.

Back to Black

 Did you think I forgot about this movie? 

No, I was biding my time until it became available for streaming. And then, I bided my time until it got to Peacock. And then, I bided my time until I finally decided to get to it. I know I teased you about it, but it's happening. In short, it's finally time to get back to Back to Black.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson reunites with her Nowhere Boy screenwriter, Matt Greenlagh, for this biopic of Amy Winehouse. We're first introduced to Amy (Marisa Abela) as an aspiring musician in London. She quickly gets famous when she gets the opportunity to do her debut album, Frank. Her record label immediately wants her to change her stage persona, which she doesn't want to do. She meets Blake Fielder-Civil (Jack O'Connell) at a pub, and they quickly hit it off. Their stormy relationship leads to them getting married. All the while, Amy is inspired to write the titular album, her last one.

My summary sounds like a bunch of bullet points, but that's because the film pretty much is that. Let's take her rise to fame, for example. She gets a demo submitted to 19 Management; she tells them she doesn't want to be like the Spice Girls, whom 19 also managed; and bam, she's famous. We barely see, and are mostly told, about her creating her music. Blake's assault of a pub owner is also relegated to "tell, not show." The film shoulders her with her eventually fatal addictions, with her dad, Mitch (Eddie Marsan), and Blake (himself portrayed as an addict) trying in vain to reach her. Mitch catching her with marijuana leads to an unintentionally parodic argument. It's kind of difficult to care about Amy's eventual fate with the film's distance. 

Abela is still likable as Amy. Despite the film's narrative shortcomings, I cared about her relationship with her grandma, Cynthia (Lesley Manville), and Cynthia's eventual death. The title song plays around Cynthia's funeral, and it cutting to her actually recording it, and her breakdown upon finishing, is still effective. On a lighter note, it's nice to see Amy pal around with two other girls, even if those two are rendered irrelevant past their early scene. Her winning her multiple Grammies was also a strong moment. Abela's actual singing as Amy is almost on-point with the actual singer. The makeup and hairstylists also do a pretty good job recreating Amy's various looks.

What else can I say about it? Blake is presented as a dashing rogue who tries to overcome his demons. His audience sympathy may vary, but at least he's more memorable than whoever Amy's boyfriend was at the start. Mitch joining Amy in a duet of Fly Me to the Moon is his most memorable scene; otherwise, he is just fine. Cynthia, as I alluded to above, is the film's most memorable supporting character. I also liked the location filming at the London Zoo. Yeah, that's it.

Back to Black's is a confounding film. I didn't hate the film, but I wasn't too impressed with it. I never saw the documentary Amy, but I'd imagine part of why it won the Oscar years ago was because it made people care about her eventual fate. Say what you want of Bohemian Rhapsody, but its musical performances were nothing short of electric. Back to Black's bullet-pointed script doesn't give us much context into its subject's short life. It's only elevated somewhat above "meh" because of Abela's performance. It's still on Peacock if you want to watch it. Do you?

Alien: Romulus

Transcript of Radio Message

STAR DATE: 8/X/20XX

Can you hear me?

This is Jethro the Cat, helmsman of the USCSS CONRAD. A funny thing happened today; you see, while we were scavenging on Planet Whattever, I was telling the crew about my opinions on the two Alien prequels, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. I told them I thought they weren't bad, and in fact, I even admired the epic esoterisms of Prometheus. They immediately marooned me.

Fortunately, I have a slew of movies to keep me company on this rock. One of them is Alien: Romulus, Fede Alvarez's interquel between 1979's Alien and 1986's Aliens. I'll tell you about it while I wait for a rescue.

On the mining colony of Jackson's Star, Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), her adopted android brother Andy (David Jonsson) and her friends, are overworked by the ominous Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Their planet is devoid of daylight and fair working conditions, but they see a better future on the much more hospitable Yvaga III. They just need to prepare for a nine-year voyage to that planet, somehow.

When the space station Renaissance suddenly drifts into orbit, Rain's friends - siblings Tyler (Archie Renaux) & Kay (Isabella Merced), their cousin Bjorn (Spike Fearn) and his adopted sister Navarro (Aileen Wu) - plot to abscond with the station's cryopods. Andy is needed to interface with the station, while Rain sees this as her first opportunity to get off the planet. The Renaissance will crash into the planetary rings in a few days, but the job will take them much less than that. Surely, it will work, right? Of course, not!

Our heroes get aboard the Renaissance, which is split into the subsections Romulus and Remus, rather easily. But they find out that the cryopods won't last them the whole nine-years. That's when they come across the station's biological experiments, the Xenomorphs themselves, who don't intend to let anyone leave alive. To make matters worse, the countdown to destruction rapidly accelerates to less than an hour. Nobody's safe, but our heroes have to escape somehow.

Alvarez has assembled a good cast to play the crew. Jonsson technically plays two characters, for while Andy is normally socially awkward, he becomes colder with increased intelligence after an upgrade. You'll be impressed with the contrast once you see it. Rain, meanwhile, is quite compelling as she tries to work her way through her predicaments. You'll be impressed with her resourcefulness when it's all done. Bjorn's abrasive attitude makes him a bit unlikable, but he's still pitiable when everything goes wrong. By contrast, you will feel sorry for Kay when it's all done. Tyler is an okay guy, though him teaching Rain how to use a pulse rifle has an amusing twist. Navarro makes the most of her limited screentime.

There's another person you'll remember here. He's Daniel Betts, who is remolded through digital trickery into the likeness of Ian Holm's Ash from the first film, to play the new android Rook. The digital facelift mostly works, though it was appallingly done when we first get a look at him. The digital voice, meanwhile, is scarily flawless. He's quite believable when he tries to warn the crew of the Xenomorphs. He's still believable when he leaves the crew to die "for the company's interest," and later, when he breaks after Rain outwits him. The digital impersonation might be unnecessary, but Rook is still a memorable movie villain.

The technicals mostly work wonderfully aside from that facelift. Whether it's the opening scene set aboard the wreckage of the first film's Nostromo, or the up-close planetary rings, the outer space scenery is nothing short of outstanding thanks to cinematographer Galo Olivares and the visual effects team. The Renaissance is a marvelous feat of Naaman Marshall's production design. It only gets better whenever the station experiences fits of zero gravity. The Xenomorphs are perfectly gruesome organisms brought to life with a seamless mix of puppetry and CGI. Just wait until you see the final Xenomorph. The action scenes, as edited by Jake Roberts and scored by Benjamin Wallfisch, are all unforgettable set-pieces. The only reason I had to check my watch was to see if the countdown took as long as it said it be. To my surprise, both movie and real times pretty much matched.

This maybe the closest we'll get to a film based on the video game Alien: Isolation. Alien: Romulus nails its tension and visual style rather well. Unlike the actual video game movie I reviewed this week, this one actually has characters you'll easily get invested with. You'll still want the best for this crew even if they're at their worst. This is nearly two-hours well spent at any price. So, with that in mind, this is Jethro, previously of the Conrad, signing off.

PS: Jethro was rescued within a day of this message.

UPDATE: Edited error in character relations.

Borderlands

 Let's get a move on with Borderlands, in which Eli Roth tries to replicate the visuals and audacity of Gearbox's celebrated video games. I'm sure that a decade spent in development has given us something great, right?

Right?!

Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is an intergalactic "scumbag bounty hunter" who'd rather shoot people than talk to them. One day, Deukalian Atlas (Edgar Ramirez), the richest man in the universe, hires her for an important mission. His daughter, Tiny Tina (Ariana Greenblatt), was taken by the rogue soldier Roland (Kevin Hart) to Pandora, a backwater planet where various rogues and monsters roam. Lilith is also from Pandora, but she doesn't want to go back home. But who can say no to a lot of money?

As it turns out, there's an ancient MacGuffin vault left by the Eridians, Pandora's previous inhabitants, that Tiny Tina was cloned to open. Roland and the masked "Psycho" Krieg (Florian Munteanu) took her to Pandora on her own volition. Lilith and her robot "buddy" Claptrap (Jack Black) join them on their Vault Hunt as soon as they find them. They're soon joined by Dr. Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and are briefly assisted by Mad Moxxi (Gina Gershon). Will this ragtag bunch of misfits reach the vault before Atlas does?

Theoretically speaking, the casting is fine. Technically, nothing's wrong with casting Blanchett and Curtis as Lilith and Tannis, even if they're decades older than their game characters. However, the script by Roth and Joe Crombie (along with several uncredited writers), gives them little to do. Most of the characters are rather meh, saved for the unhinged Krieg and Tiny Tina, the latter of whom has some decent pathos as she describes her life growing up in a lab. I wasn't exactly gripped when Roland had his last stand against several hostile Psychos; it was beyond obvious this wouldn't be his last stand. Atlas is a rather bland villain, while Commander Knoxx (Janina Gavankar), has a severely quick change of heart.  

What other quibbles do I have about the writing? Lilith quickly abandons her "shoot first, ask never" approach once Atlas pays her handsomely upfront. Maybe it's for the best, as it got old quickly in that one scene. The other characters refer to her as a "scumbag bounty hunter" so many times like it's her character class in Dungeons and Dragons. Is it a character class in the games? Lilith is given a constant narration to compensate for the film's protracted post-production, which had Tim Miller fill in for Roth when he was filming Thanksgiving. The film rushes Lilith to meet tour guide Marcus (Benjamin Byron Davis) the minute she lands on Pandora with the "help" of some narration. The Eridian technology buried in the Vault is as utterly irrelevant as the God-Like monster trapped with it. Let's move onto the technical stuff.

The film does a decent job in translating the games' outlandish universe into live action. I'm certain that a film with masked Psychos, Tiny Tina's bunny ears and Pandora's unusual geysers can't be taken too seriously. The production and costume designers convey that point rather well. Claptrap's CGI effects mesh well with his environments, though the humans have some glaringly obvious chroma keying in places. Steve Jablonsky's score isn't exactly memorable, but it's probably worth a listen. I think I said enough.

The phrase "Yeah, that happened" summarizes Borderlands. It's not a masterpiece, nor is it unwatchable; instead, it's a film that exists. I'm sure it'll do some good if it gets someone to play the video games. But for me, it's just a way to spend 102-minutes if you have nothing else to do. I don't want to imagine how it could have been worse. I will instead focus on the next film I have on my docket. Prepare to scream in space when it arrives either tomorrow or early Saturday.

Young Woman and the Sea

Are you up for epic sports stories after the Olympics? 

Disney has a new sports film, Young Woman and the Sea, that made satisfy your need. Joachim Rønning's biopic of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, debuted on Disney Plus a few weeks ago after a limited theatrical release in May. Let's see how it is.

In 1914 New York, Trudy (Daisy Ridley) had an almost fatal bout of measles. She pulls through just after the doctor gives up all hope, though her hearing starts to decline afterwards. Her sister, Meg (Tilda Cobham-Harvey), takes up swimming lessons at their mother, Gertrude's (Jeanette Hain) insistence; Trudy later joins at Gertrude's reluctance. Trudy proves to be such a swimming pro that she is eventually scouted for the 1924 Paris Olympics. However, partially because of her trainer, Jabez Wolffe's (Christopher Eccleston) interference, she only gets a bronze medal. That's when she decides to swim the English Channel. She'll have to overcome natural and human difficulties to make that epic swim.

The screenplay, which Jeff Nathanson adapted from Glenn Stout's 2009 book, feels like many of Disney's inspirational sports dramas from back in the day (like Secretariat, which I reviewed in this blog's first year). I'm sure you'll recognize the formula once the montages kick in; we get at least two in quick succession when Trudy takes up swimming! But I can't deny how engrossing it gets at times, partially because both sets of actresses playing Meg and Trudy feel like real sisters. You'll be moved when Trudy recovers from measles, and later laugh when the sisters ditch a suitor on a pier. Even with its sports movie formula, you'll also feel something when the British shore lights up with bonfires to guide Trudy to the beach.

Trudy maybe a simple movie underdog, but it's beyond easy to cheer for her when she proves her doubters wrong. Just ask James Sullivan (Glenn Fleshler), a bigwig who only sponsors her after she beats his seemingly impossible swim challenge. She's surrounded by a much more supportive cast of characters, which include swim coach Charlotte Epstein (Sian Clifford); her father Henry (Kim Bodnia); Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham), the second man to swim the Channel and her second trainer; and Benji Zammit (Alexander Karim), a fellow swimmer. All of them are likable in their own way. Wolffe, in contrast, might easily convince you that he's a gruff, yet fair trainer. But the nice guy act finally implodes once the film implies him sabotaging Trudy's first Channel swim.

What else can I say about it? The production design by Nora Takacs Ekberg perfectly presents New York and the open ocean as both romantic and down-to-earth. Coney Island exemplifies the former, while Epstein's dilapidated swim class exemplifies the latter. The visual effects and cinematography by Oscar Maura are equally impressive, particularly when Trudy and her guides encounter a massive school of jellyfish. An early shot, where we follow a fire truck to a plot-relevant ferry fire, is quite memorable as well. Amelia Warner's sweeping score actually gets better the more you listen to it. As a tangent, I saw the film with subtitles, but several subtitled lines aren't actually said on-screen. Did they goof, or foreshadow Trudy's worsening hearing? You make the call.

Movies like this are why I find it worth it to keep my Disney Plus subscription. While I would have liked to have seen Young Woman and the Sea on the big screen, it still makes for a fine home matinee. It may be a bit formulaic, but it's still compelling throughout its 129-minutes. Swim over to Disney Plus soon, and you might agree. My next review will see me back to the multiplexes; the only question is, will I like what I see?

Kinds of Kindness

Yorgos Lanthimos's Kinds of Kindness, his follow-up to his Oscar-winning Poor Things, has just come to a theater near me. Let's see if I can describe this nearly three-hour film succinctly.

Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou wrote the film as a "Triptych Fable" consisting of three segments. They share a combined company of Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Hong Chau, Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Yorgos Stefanakos, the last of whom appears in some form during each segment as the living MacGuffin "R.M.F."

The Death of R.M.F.: Robert Fletcher (Plemons) is a corporate drone whose personal life is dictated by his boss, Raymond (Dafoe). Robert draws the line when Raymond orders him to kill R.M.F. by car crash. His good life quickly falls apart, but he finds some help in the grim task with Rita (Stone).

This is the most visually appealing of the three segments. The film was shot in New Orleans, and there's a stunning nighttime shot of the city in neon courtesy of cinematographer Robbie Ryan. The production design by Anthony Gasparro is highlighted by Raymond's claustrophobic office and his splendorous mansion. And while the film is rather long, editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis perfectly builds up tension before each quick display of vehicular violence.

The film is about doormats content with being doormats. Robert is such a doormat that he's monotone when he's trying to be self-assertive. It's probably the funniest thing in this extremely dark comedy, other than a weird tangent about dogs in the next segment. But it's hard to get invested when Robert tries to get back into Raymond's good graces after the latter "frees" him. His compliance with Raymond's demands to drug his wife, Sarah (Chau) into infertility, makes it harder to like him. Let's move on to the next segments.

R.M.F. is Flying centers the least on R.M.F., other than an easy-to-miss cameo. It instead involves Daniel (Plemons), a police officer whose marine biologist wife, Liz (Stone), has just been rescued after she was lost at sea. But he slowly suspects that "Liz" is actually an imposter. He quickly goes mad from his paranoia. That's as about as family friendly as I can phrase it.

The level of tension here is astounding. You can actually feel Daniel's sanity crumble as Liz exhibits contradictory behavior. How so? Before, she detested chocolate, but she goes for a chocolate cake once she gets home. The horror! It gets to actual horror when Daniel and his partner, Neil (Athie), make a traffic stop that turns into a bizarre case of police brutality. Things get worse from then on, and nothing that the milquetoast Dr. Evans (Nathan Mulligan) says can assure us. By then, you'll realize that this is a portrait of an abusive marriage, which is made clear when Liz willingly obliges Daniel's nauseating requests. "Isn't it wonderful?" as the film asks repeatedly.

R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich has cultists Andrew & Emily (Plemons & Stone) search for a specific woman who can raise the dead. A woman named Rebecca points them into the direction of her veterinarian twin sister, Ruth (Qualley plays both twins). The Chosen One is supposed to have a twin sister, and Emily saw Rebecca in a dream. So, ergo, Ruth's the One. But things are complicated when Emily's estranged husband, Joseph (Alwyn), comes back into her life. There's also the requirement that the Chosen One's twin sister needs to be dead. For reasons.

R.M.F. maybe in the title, as his corpse shows up later, but this is Emily's story. She's quite sympathetic as she tries to connect with her family despite the confines of the cult (Dafoe & Chau are the leaders, Omi & AKA). She's quite pitiful, almost amusingly so, when the cult excommunicates her for "impurity." But despite her attempts to rejoin them, which involves human and animal cruelty, she shows her self-assertiveness when she disavows Joseph for his abusiveness. See, there is some light in this tunnel. That tunnel is dimmed by the finale's darkly amusing punchline.

This might be a film you'll want to see to believe, that is, if you enjoy seeing a cast of doormats getting stomped on for 164-minutes. If not, then you've got your options both on streaming and in theatres. I think that about sums this movie up. Stay tuned for the next review.

The Imaginary

This must be the year of imaginary friends.

We had Imaginary, a horror film released in March, and IF, a family film released in May. But Japan saw its own movie about imaginary friends last December with The Imaginary, Studio Ponoc's anime film based on AF Harrold's novel. It premiered on Netflix last month, and you'll hear about it now.

Rudger (Louie Rudge-Buchanan in English) is the imaginary friend of Amanda Shuffleup (Evie Kiszel). He and Amanda have been inseparable in the just over three years after her dad's death. They frequently venture off into imaginary worlds from the comfort of Amanda's attic. Her mom, Lizzie (Hayley Atwell), can't see Rudger, but she doesn't mind his invisible presence. Rudger is soon noticed by Mr. Bunting (Jeremy Sweet), a creepy man who devours "Imaginaries" like Rudger. Amanda and Rudger escape one attempt on his life, but she runs in front of a car ...

With Amanda comatose, Rudger starts to fade away into nothingness. An eerie cat named Zinzan (Kal Penn) guides him to a magical city where Imaginaries thrive on unlimited imagination. The Imaginaries are employed as day-players to join kids on their dreamtime adventures. They may even get permanently employed in a new imaginary form. Rudger, however, wants to check up on Amanda. He doesn't have much time, for Mr. Bunting is still looking for him, and it's physically impossible for him to remain outside the library for long.

Director Yoshiyuki Momose, a longtime animator for Studio Ghibli, works from a screenplay by Ponoc's founder Yoshiaki Nishimura. The story they tell is pretty good, even if the pacing is sometimes a bit off. It takes several encounters with Mr. Bunting before the story gets going. But in the meantime, we get plenty of time to know Rudger and Amanda. That makes it shocking when she gets run over. The Imaginary City is quite fascinating, as is how the Imaginaries find new real friends. A few moments, like a flashback to Amanda creating Rudger and Lizzie finding Mr. Shuffleup's last message to Amanda, are emotionally devastating. I watched the film with subtitles, so I was taken aback whenever they flip-flopped between "Rudger" and "Roger"; even the Space Opera dream Rudger joins calls him the latter! But much to my relief, this was a plot point. A good one. 

It helps that we have a tangible villain with Mr. Bunting. You'll instantly recognize him as the bad guy long before he does anything nefarious. His sniffing out Imaginaries is disturbing on so many levels, which isn't helped by his mouth turning into a void when he feeds. He savors his own villainy with every syllable he utters. His most enjoyable moment, naturally, is when he meets his demise. He has his own Imaginary, a little girl who looks awfully like Sadako, who proves quite an efficient enforcer. She's quite compelling when she makes a climactic heel-face turn, though I can't explain anymore. 

So, what about the other Imaginaries? They're all highly merchandisable, highly appealing creatures, some of whom are implied to be the muses of the likes of Shakespeare and Beethoven. Rudger's friend group consists of the human Emily (Sky Katz), the Imaginaries' de-facto leader; Snowflake (Roger Craig Smith), a cuddly hippo; Crusher-of-Bones (Courtenay Taylor), who is far less threatening than his name implies; and Fridge (LeVar Burton), an old sheepdog who proves very plot relevant. Fridge and Zinzan both make for great mentor figures. In fact, all of the Imaginaries are likable, but beware, not all of them make it out alive. What's worse is that no one remembers them soon after. Yikes.

What's far more appealing is the animation style and the score. The film's watercolored animation style works wonders for both the fantastical and ordinary realms Rudger and company inhabit. The Imaginary City takes the form of something new every night - one night, it's Venice, another it's 19th-century Nagasaki - and both forms are as appealing as the real cities. The Bookstore Lizzie and Amanda call home is, by far, the most appealing of the real-world locales. The score by Kenji Tamai and his company, agehasprings, perfectly accentuates the film's many moods. The film's opening, Amanda and Rudger's rollicking sleigh ride, and Mr. Bunting's theme, provide some of the best aural highlights.

What else can I say about it? The Imaginary is a splendid family film that will resonate with you in whatever language you watch it in. You'll have little trouble remembering anyone in the cast, whether it's the young protagonists or their monstrous villain, as their stories unfold over 105-minutes. I'd be tempted to compare this to IF, but I'd rather you Netflix and Chill and watch it for yourself. I might have made it sound a bit straightforward, but I assure you there are some surprises in store. That's it for now.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

Axel Foley has been off the movie beat since 1994, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. After thirty years of prospective scripts that went nowhere, Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop is finally back, this time on Netflix, with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. So, what brings Detroit's finest back to Beverly Hills?

Well, a few reasons. When his old pal, Jeffery (Paul Reiser), retires to save Axel's career after his latest stunt, Jeffrey encourages him to get in touch with his daughter, Jane (Taylour Paige). Jane is a defense attorney whose latest client, Sam Enriquez (Damien Diaz), is accused of killing an undercover cop, Copeland. Jane is threatened by the actual killers when she suspects that Copeland was corrupt. This forces PI Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) to summon Axel back to Beverly Hills, though he disappears when Axel arrives.

Axel quickly gets arrested after he finds the bad guys raiding Rosewood's office. This leads to a friendly reunion with his other BH buddy, now-Chief John Taggart (John Ashton), and a not-so-happy one with Jane. Jane and Axel haven't spoken in years, though they have to work together to find the exculpatory evidence Rosewood recovered. They're joined by Det. Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who happens to be Jane's ex, and are impeded by Captain Grant (Kevin Bacon), a man so smug that Axel immediately realizes that he's the big bad. Can they save the day without wrecking the city? No.

I only saw Beverly Hills Cop III on HBO eons ago, and I remember nothing about it. I think I'll have little trouble remembering this sequel, which marks the directorial debut of commercial director Mark Malloy and features several names from this summer's Bad Boys: Ride or Die (writer Will Beall, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, editor Dan Lebental and composer Lorne Balfe). A lot of it is due to Axel, who's just as spry in his sixties as he was in his twenties. His street smarts are funny, though it's quite impactful when he's too tired to use them at one point. He still gets to use them to get the drop on the bad guys. He may be irritating to some, but we see how he gets the job done. Him repairing his relationship with Jane is a compelling throughline during these crazy 117-minutes.

The opening scene has Axel set up his partner, Det. Woody (Kyle S. More), for heroism busting Hockey Game thieves. You can feel his nervousness when he joins Axel for a destructive snowplow chase. Abbot later gets his own reluctant hero moment when he commanders a helicopter that he can't fly. At all. Abbot, however, proves himself a hero when he joins Axel, Taggert and Rosewood for the final battle. Needless to say, Woody and Abbot are as likable as Axel's usual crew. 

I didn't necessarily mind Taggert being blind to Grant's obvious evil, or Rosewood being absent for most of the plot. Both men are fine. However, I did mind that Enriquez was absent after his one scene. Grant made for a decent big bad, though. Serge (Bronson Pinchot), another returning character, shows up for what is essentially an open house stakeout. His partner, Ashley's (Nasim Pedrad) cheery aggressiveness ("You guys are adorable. I honestly kind of hate it.") is more bewildering than funny.

What is funny, however, is Axel's first chase in Beverly Hills, in which he pursues Grant's goons on a Meter Maid Car, whose owner will not give up without a fight. That, in addition to all other set pieces, are as exciting as they are often funny. Balfe's score, which frequently incorporates Harold Faltermeyer's titular leitmotif, is quite good even as it gives way to returning classics like Bob Seger's Shakedown. What else can I say about it?

Anyone looking for a great action comedy will find one with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. While the story has its flaws, its main character's cinematic return is a welcome one. You won't be lost if you haven't seen any of the past films in forever, or at all. Just press play on Netflix and you'll be in for a fun home matinee. But what if you aren't in for an R-Rated action film? Well, there's a new family film on Netflix to tell you about. That review's next.

Golden Kamuy

It's a new month, which means it's time for me to review old movies. And by old, I mean several months old. Golden Kamuy, the live-action film of Satoru Nada's manga, debuted in Japan in January and premiered stateside on Netflix in May. It's already been adapted into four seasons of TV anime, of which I've seen some impressively animated snippets. Let's see some more.

Saichi Sugimoto (Kento Yamazaki) is a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War, where he was nicknamed "Immortal Sugimoto" for his persistent inability to die. By 1907, he's down on his luck, panning for gold in the Hokkaido hills. His fortunes seemingly change when a drunkard, Goto (Makita Sports), tells him of a huge stache of gold. It was stolen from the Ainu - the indigenous people of Japan - by Noppera-bo, a prisoner of the infamous Abashiri Prison. Noppera-bo tattooed a map to the gold amongst twenty-four of his fellow prisoners, all of whom soon escaped. Goto is one of those prisoners; he soon unsuccessfully tries to silence Sugimoto and is later killed by a bear.

Sugimoto sets off for the gold, joined by the Ainu huntress Asirpa (Anna Yamada), and Yoshitake Shiraishi (Yuma Yamato), another of the escapees. Asirpa's dad was among those killed for the gold by Noppera-bo, while Sugimoto's full reasons for the gold are revealed way too late in the film. In the meantime, they encounter Sugimoto's old army division, the Seventh Division, who are also looking for the gold. Their leader, the creepy First Lt. Tsurumi (Hiroshi Tamaki), won't let our heroes have it without a fight. Our heroes will have to fight to survive. I think that sums it up.

On one level, the screenplay by Tsutomu Kuroiwa is an introduction to the usually underrepresented Ainu culture. Throughout the movie, we and Sugimoto learn several Ainu words, such as aca (father), matakarip (bears who missed hibernation), and the titular kamuys (spirits). Asirpa and Sugimoto take some convincing to try each other's cuisines; Asirpa's aversion to miso is a surprisingly funny running gag. The film even opens on a contextually profound proverb, which translates to "nothing comes from Heaven without purpose." It's interesting enough to make one want to look up more on Ainu culture; I did during the writing of this review.

On another level, it's an excellent period action film. We don't learn Sugimoto's full story until the end, but he's still an engaging protagonist. We feel for him when he openly doubts his chances of going to heaven. Asirpa is a great moral anchor for Sugimoto; her chewing him out at the end funny as it is moving. Retar, her white wolf, maybe a CGI creature along with most of the wildlife, but he's still a good presence. Shiraishi is a bit too hammy, especially when he and Sugimoto fall into a freezing river, but he's all right. Tsurumi is an unnerving villain, while the twin psychopaths under him, Kohei and Yohei Nikado, are perfect hate sinks.

Any gripes I have are relatively minor. Throughout the film, Asirpa holds Sugimoto to a "don't kill humans" rule. Yet, there's little time to dwell on Sugimoto killing someone at the end. Granted, it was one of the Nikados, but that doesn't come up in the finale. There's also a third faction who also wants the gold, who are led by the historical samurai Toshizo Hijikata (Hiroshi Tachi). Hijikata knows that the gold is worth much more than what was estimated. But that revelation is also saved for the end; he never encounters Sugimoto and company. Again, those are minor gripes because the overall story is that engaging.

We are introduced to Sugimoto's luck, along with the film's excellent production design and cinematography, at the Siege of Port Arthur. That opening battle succinctly displays the actual battle's brutality in just under ten minutes. There's quite a bit of obvious CGI, especially the aforementioned animals, but it doesn't detract from the brutal violence. Just ask the Seventh Division guys who meet a bear later on. The best visual effects allow Shuntaro Yanagi to seamlessly play both Nikados at once. Its visualization of the forests of Hokkaido and the city of Otaru are much more pleasant. The characters' manga designs are approximated rather well by the makeup and costume designers. Finally, there's a grand score by Yutaka Yamada to accentuate the action.

Golden Kamuy is supposed to have a live-action sequel series, which is why we get a somewhat incomplete ending and a montage of future characters in the mid-credits. I say somewhat incomplete, because after all Aspira and Sugimoto go through, it's narratively satisfying when they affirm their partnership. It left me intrigued to see where these two would go from here. I know I could do that already with the manga and anime, but I'm still intrigued about that live-action show. See what I'm talking about once you watch Golden Kamuy on Netflix. 

Next up, more Netflix.