Posts by Brent Lorentson

When watching Quiz Lady, the first thing that came to me was this strange wave of 90s nostalgia. It was like I was watching the early films of Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Farley, and Will Ferrell, only this time it had Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in the starring roles. This isn’t a slight against the film, but instead I found it a bit refreshing, despite being a familiar formula. While this time of year a lot of us are used to seeing films that are heavy on the drama and are fighting for awards contention, this is a film that is instead a fun comedy that definitely doesn’t take itself seriously. Anne (Awkwafina), is a boring young woman who is single and lives on her own, well, at least with the exception of her adorable pug, Linguini. The only thing that seems to bring any excitement (I’m being generous here) is that every evening at 7 o-clock she watches her favorite game show, “Can’t Stop The Quiz”. The game show is a lot like Jeopardy and has Will Ferrell playing the mild-mannered host who Anne has a bit of an obsession with. While Anne may be content with her boring life along with having to deal with her curmudgeon of a neighbor, Francine (Holland Taylor), her life is about to get thrown for a loop when she finds out her mom has escaped the nursing home. It turns out Anne’s mom has fled the country to run away from some gambling debts ($80 thousand worth, to be exact), and this is when her sister, Jenny (Sandra Oh) enters the picture looking for a place to stay. Of course, in this scenario Jenny is the total opposite of Anne; she’s fun, charming, aloof, and completely irresponsible, so we all know this Odd Couple situation is just a recipe for disaster. That disaster turns out to be a gangster kidnapping Linguini as way to get Anne to pay off her mother’s debts. If this sounds silly and ridiculous, I can assure you it is even more absurd than it sounds, but that’s OK; Awkwafina and Sandra Oh make this work.

Just how do these oddball siblings get out of this mess, you may ask? Jenny has decided to become a life coach and wants to make Anne her first project. Jenny has seen that her sister is pretty much Rain Man when it comes to her quiz show, and she plans to make Anne a contestant on the show and win it to get the money and pay off the gangster and get her adorable pug back … I did say this got more absurd, right? As the film progresses, there are several entertaining characters, and one little surprise appearance along the way that I couldn’t help but smile about. I feel like when you see it, you’ll know what I mean. Will Ferrell does great here. It’s hard not to think about his portrayal of Alex Trebek on SNL, but he injects a bit more charm in this role; and then there is Jason Schwartzman, who seems to be having fun playing a smarmy returning game show champion.

Well, it is officially that time of the year when studios start cranking out the films they hope will receive some awards attention. Netflix has a stable of strong contenders this year, and Nyad is the first to be released. This is a film that is mostly flying under the radar despite starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster. I really didn’t expect much out of this film, and I think because there were no expectations, no real buzz behind this film, that I was surprised how caught up in the story I found myself. If you are a fan of underdog stories, this is definitely for you, but the true spotlight belongs to Foster and Bening, who are here to show us all that they not only still have what it takes to carry a film, but they also deliver some of their best performances in ages. In 1979, when Diana Nyad (Annette Bening) turned 30, she made her first attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida. That’s basically 110 miles of water she attempted to cross.  It was meant to be the feat that she would retire her long distance swimming career on, but unfortunately she never made it to Florida. We see this through old news footage before it cuts to thirty years later, just before she’s about to turn 60. She’s an angry older woman who is obsessed with her former glory and decides that she wants to see if she can do the impossible, to complete that epic 110-mile swim.  This time she’ll have her best friend, Bonnie Stoll (Jodie Foster) as her coach and #1 cheerleader. Immediately this feels like a movie-of-the-week kind of story. We’ve all seen this before, where someone wants to attempt something difficult or impossible, and over the course of the film they are confronted with challenges, but they persevere, and in the end they are a success. We know these underdog stories, and for some reason we still love them. I’ll admit they are a guilty pleasure despite how formulaic they can be. But rarely do these films have the caliber of actors like Bening and Foster, and honestly this film is 100% driven by these women and their fantastic performances.

It’s when this film gets to Nyad’s first (well, second) attempt to make her epic swim that I feel this film really elevates itself on a technical level. The way the open water swim is filmed really helps capture just how small we are in such a large and hostile body of water. The film does a great job at showing us just how dangerous this lofty goal is as she has to contend with weather, sharks, and jellyfish on top of the physically grueling 50-plus hours the swim is expected to take. The makeup on this film does an impressive job as we see  the toll the salt water can take on the body. We also see Diana fail and try again, and again, and again. While it’s easy to respect her determination, Diana is a really difficult person to like, and at times you’d expect her team to walk out on her because of how egocentric she can be, and then there is Bonnie, who puts up with the borderline abuse from her friend. The filmmakers kind of cheat to earn some sympathy from the viewers as we get flashbacks to Diana’s childhood and the sexual abuse she encountered from her swimming coach she was enamored with. These flashbacks can be unsettling for some, and in a way it distracts from the main story, but I get why it’s included. It’s simply a personal hurdle she was forced to overcome, and if she can overcome that, what’s 110 miles of water by comparison?

Just to be out in the open, I’m a bit of a fanboy when it comes to David Fincher. He’s one of those directors that when he does a film, I don’t care what the plot is; I’m going to watch it. It’s not so much that I think he’s the best director (though he’s one of my favorites), but I simply just love his style. He’s one of the few filmmakers working where  you can watch a couple seconds of his work and instantly know you are watching a David Fincher film, and for me, I find his work to be what cinema is all about. It’s always a work of art, and sometimes the plot can have a habit of ruining things. Alien 3, for example: not a great movie, but it looks great … Fight Club, Seven, Zodiac, those are his masterpieces  and they look fantastic. Even Mank: sure, it is a divisive film, but still looks great. Despite how busy David Fincher is with projects, his shows on Netflix and music videos, it’s his movies I really crave, and when you realize the last thriller he had out in theaters was 2014 with Gone Girl, I was more than a little excited by the announcement of him filming The Killer, from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker (who wrote the brilliant Seven). There was no way I was going to miss this film, but for this one I knew I had to rein in my emotions and proceed with caution … So with the cinematic shots fired on the screen, how did I feel about the new Michael Fassbender assassin film?

After the stylish opening credits, you’d expect this to be a fast-paced thriller, but immediately this film subverts your expectations as it takes you into the mind of the assassin credited as The Killer (Michael Fassbender). We’re introduced to this life of a killer, not with excitement, but with the tedium of waiting for the one perfect moment to take that shot and eliminate the target. This first act really sets the tone for the rest of the film. If you are gripped by the tension that builds with him finally getting his moment and taking his shot, then I feel you’ll have fun with the rest of the film.  As for those who may find the tedium a bit too much and may nod off, well, this film may be something you should pass on. Despite this being a quasi-revenge film, it is definitely a slow burn with an ending that definitely will subvert your expectations of the genre. The thing is, that’s what I feel this film is all about … It brings us into what is most likely the real life of a killer for hire. It’s not a life of gunfights and car chases, but instead a lot of waiting in empty rooms, being lonely, and having serious trust issues towards everyone around you.

Any time a film is released that is directed by Martin Scorsese, it’s something any film fan should get excited about, especially because we just don’t know how many more of these films we’ll have to look forward to. He’s one of the few working directors who you can argue has numerous masterpieces on his resume, films that are classics that have stood the test of time and will continue to do so for decades to come. Its why when I hear people scoff at the 3-hour 30 min running time of Killers of the Flower Moon and complain it’s too long, I feel like they are forgetting who they are talking about.  If anything, when there is a 3-hour film like Oppenheimer that has grossed over $900 million worldwide, it shows that people will flock to the theaters and sit through an epic film if the film is good. Sure, there is already Oscar buzz around Oppenheimer, but in my eyes the film to beat this year is Killers of the Flower Moon, an epic western, crime saga and romance all wrapped up into one film that has me close to calling it a masterpiece, but I need a couple more viewings before I feel comfortable saying that.

The film introduces us to the Osage nation and them finding wealth with the discovery of oil on their land. The members of the Osage tribe, for their time, were some of the wealthiest people on earth, and we get to see them living their extravagant lives. While this is happening, numerous members of the tribe were found dead, yet no proper investigation was ever made.

It’s October, so that means all the studios and streaming services are going to be unleashing some spooky new releases to please their viewers who are attempting to get into the Halloween spirit. This weekend Amazon Prime is releasing Totally Killer, a Blumhouse production that continues to ride the wave of 80s nostalgia with a time travel slasher film. The trailers looked fun and with Kiernan Shipka (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) in the lead, and I’m always in the mood for a new slasher with franchise potential. Does the film deliver the goods, or is this one dead on arrival? It’s time to strap in and travel back to 1987 and see what this is all about. In 1987 the town of North Vernon was terrorized by the “the Sweet 16 Killer” after he killed three high school girls, stabbing them sixteen times each. 35 years later, Pam (Julie Bowen) still hasn’t gotten over the murder of her three friends and has become very protective of her teenage daughter, Jamie (Kiernan Shipka). Now it is Halloween night, and Jamie is eager to go to a concert with her best friend, Amelia (Kelcey Mawema). Jamie is only allowed to go if her dad, Blake (Lochlyn Munro) drives them. As it turns out, this was a disastrous decision for Pam, because it’s this night that “the Sweet 16 Killer” has returned to finish what he’s started. In the aftermath of her mom’s death, Jamie goes to the science fair with Amelia. Her big project is to finish what her mother started back in the 80s to create a time machine. Things go awry with another appearance by “the Sweet 16 Killer”, and in an attempt to escape, Jamie is sent back to 1987 just before the murders take place.

OK, the first act of this film has a lot of narrative to set things up.  I enjoyed the world that was being created here, and there are some fun characters, but when it comes to the horror elements of this film, well, to be fair, they are basically Goosebumps-level scares, but it’s only the first thirty minutes of the film, so I haven’t given up hope yet …