The Reel World

Not since Snakes on a Plane has a title for a movie  been so absurd that I just had to see the movie. While Snakes on a Plane delivered on its B-movie camp, it was still kind of a bad movie no matter how hard Samuel L Jackson seemed to try to carry that film.  Cocaine Bear embraces its absurd title, and it goes over the top and beyond with a black ear ingesting more cocaine than Tony Montana would ever dare to snort. The film is loosely based on true events, the truth being that a drug runner did die while tossing numerous bags of cocaine out of a plane in 1985 and that a bear was found dead after ingesting a large quantity of cocaine. This film attempts to rewrite history by posing the “what if?” that the bear encounters many unfortunate humans while on its cocaine binge.  For me the moment I heard they were making this a movie,  it was on my radar. I mean, this is the kind of storyline that gets me grinning ear to ear, because I know it has the potential to be great if put into the right hands. The Broken Lizard gang (Super Troopers) or David Wain (Role Models) would have been my first guesses at who would snatch up this project, but when I heard Elizabeth Banks was going to be at the helm, I’ll admit I was a bit hesitant. As an actress I love her work, but behind the camera she had Pitch Perfect 2, which was of course successful, but let’s face it, I’m not the film’s demographic. Then she had the recent Charlie’s Angels reboot, and we all know how that did.  I wanted to remain optimistic till I at least saw the trailer to see how she’d tackle the project, because honestly this was either going to be a hit or a miss, but when I saw that trailer my worries were put at ease, and this was back to being one of my more anticipated movies of the year.

The film opens up in 1985 over Georgia, and we see Thornton (Matthew Rhys) tossing the cocaine-filled bags out of the plane and then his unfortunate (yet humorous) demise. We  then get to met  a charming couple that is on a hike in the hills of Chattahoochee, Georgia. They are the first to cross paths with the “cocaine bear”, and, well, let’s just say nature isn’t too kind to them. While these opening minutes set the tone of the film, buckle up, because things are only going to get crazier as the film progresses. As for the actual plot of the film, it is a bit of an ensemble piece with a bunch of characters that are doing their own thing, but the “cocaine bear” just is wreaking havoc and is simply making everyone’s bad day even worse.

I think it’s best that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the last in the series. That is not meant as a condemnation of the film; in my opinion after this outing, it is hard to see how the series fits into Marvel’s overall plans. I’m sure Ant-Man and the Wasp will be featured in the future Avengers movies, and that is fine, but as a solo vehicle, this film kind of showed that the prestige for this franchise has faded. When the first film was released, I was skeptical of what value it could bring to the franchise, and I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it far more than I expected to. The sequel was decent enough, while in some cases lacking some of the comedic elements of the first one. This time, the film seems to have lost all the lighthearted humor and felt forced. Rudd does his best to endear the character to the audience, but in this incarnation, he feels more like a secondary character in a film where he plays the titular character. Then there is the other titular character, the Wasp, a.k.a. Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne. Her role, too, feels reduced. When the two main characters become the least significant characters in their own franchise, I believe that signifies that the writing is on the wall. It’s time to hang it up.

That said, there were still things that I greatly appreciated about the film. Most notably, another opportunity to observe Jonathan Majors as a villain. His introduction in Loki garnered a lot of intrigue, and despite that short appearance, it was clear that he was going to be a significant force going forward. It left us starving for more, and he did not disappoint on this second outing. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that he became the biggest draw for the film. Jonathan Majors is an actor who seems to have exploded on the scene. He brings something different to every performance. This is a quality that is greatly appreciated, and needed given the person that he is portraying. This version of Kang is not the version we met in Loki. In Loki, we met He Who Remains; here we are being introduced to the Conqueror for the first time. The film does a great job of building up the mystique of the character long before we see him on the screen via the fear that characters such as Janet Van Dyne (Pfeiffer) exhibit at the mere mention of him. And then we see him, and he embodies everything that you want in a Marvel villain. Majors delivers a compelling performance. Though his interpretation, Kang has a quiet strength. He hardly raises his voice, but he intimidates you all the same. There is an intensity to him; the smallest gestures have deep impact. A perfect example of this is shown when he disciplines an underling for stepping out of place. He barely twitches a finger, but the end result demonstrates why this character is as feared as he is. Only Majors could command that kind of presence in my opinion. Presence is what the franchise needs as they look to reestablish their dominance following the epic conclusion of the Infinity Saga. As we enter the Multiverse Saga, I believe Majors will be relied on greatly to propel the franchise forward, and I have no doubt that he is up to the task.

"You see, the four of us have a very important job to do. In fact, it might be the most important job in the history of the world."

What is it about a cabin in the woods that makes it a good place for the apocalypse? When I think of those isolated cabins, I think of good ol' Abe Lincoln or a group of guys bonding over a fishing/hunting weekend. But when it comes to folks like Joss Whedon or now M. Night Shyamalan, they see disaster. Where I see a day on the lake, these guys see the end of the world. It's not like Shyamalan hasn't brought us there before. The box office bomb After Earth comes to mind. So what about his latest effort, Knock At The Cabin? The trailers appear to pretty much give the plot away, but pleasantly there's a little bit more to it than that. I'm a huge fan of the man's mostly early works. The Sixth Sense, The Village, Signs, Unbreakable, and even the more recent Split and Glass are all first-rate films in my book. But lately it's been more hit than miss from the guy who grew up in the same Philly area playpen where I grew up. So, flop or fantastic? Knock At The Cabin falls somewhere in the middle, which is a new experience for me from a Shyamalan movie.

"She doesn't look confused. She just looks demented."

One of the problems about this job is that we spend so much of our time at the end of the year watching so many serious films for awards considerations and the like that by the time the year is over it starts to get a little too heavy. I always look to try to start my new year with something fun and entertaining. I just want to sit down and have a good time while watching a movie. Akela Cooper and James Wan have written the perfect prescription for that critic malady, and director Gerald Johnstone delivered the proper dose. There's nothing great or grandiose about M3GAN, but if you're in need of a good time at the movies, this will cure what ails you.

"The way of water has no beginning and no end."

We all know better than that, don't we? It's been 13 years since James Cameron first brought us to the moon planet of Pandora. What I remember most from that 2009 experience was the milestone breakthroughs in filmmaking that Cameron brought to the screen. Avatar reinvented 3D for theaters and created a new wave of 3D releases thanks to a technology that made the experience smoother and allowed us to enjoy the spectacle in a whole new light. Cameron also brought us some wonderful innovations in cinematography, motion capture performance, and the nearly seamless blend with the computer-generated artificial and live-action photography. It was a marvel, to be sure. What I didn't walk away from that experience with was a strong emotional connection to the story or characters. I've often called it The Smurfs version of Dances With Wolves. The story never really grabbed me and, for me at least, the film remained nothing more than the technological marvel that it was.

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, that can mean only one thing; that Christmas is just around the corner. Normally this time of year the theaters are filled with movies that are either A) jockeying for awards consideration or B) are big-budget blockbusters, and then if you are lucky there are a few holiday films sprinkled in for good measure. It has been a while since there has been a holiday film that has appealed to me. Some of the best ones in recent memory are Better Watch Out (2016) and Krampus (2015), so I think it is fair to say we are long overdue for a great Christmas film.  At first glimpse, Violent Night doesn’t look the part of what you’d traditionally call a Christmas film, but even the trailers for the film market this as a mash-up of Die Hard meets Home Alone, and that’s exactly what you get, and it is gloriously violent and heartwarming.

When we first meet Santa (David Harbour), he’s taking a break from delivering presents and is in a bar enjoying some drinks. This isn’t the cheerful Santa with rosy cheeks and filled with the ho-ho-ho holiday spirit; instead he’s a jaded and broken-down man who has become cynical about what the world has become. This opening scene does a fantastic job of setting the tone of the film, and seeing Harbour in the full Santa costume and makeup just makes me happy, as much as I love him in Stranger Things, I think I’m always going to see him as Santa because of this film.

I’ve seen Bones and All twice now, and I have to say this is certainly one of the standout films of 2022. A road film that plays out as a romance between two young cannibals trying to find their place in the Reagan era America, well, it’s just the strange mix that works.  Horror isn’t supposed to be this sweet, and romance isn’t supposed to be so gruesome, but director Luca Guadagnino manages to put together a film that is so good that I believe it has a real shot at winning some prestigious awards, and it is so well deserved. I’m going to recommend going into this knowing as little as possible. Just simply allow the film to expose its dark and bloody underbelly to you, and just let yourself care for these monsters that are simply trying to find their place in the world and in the process even fall in love.

Maren (Taylor Russell) is a teen that has grown up with her father. The pair have traveled city to city having to use different aliases because Maren is different; she’s an “Eater”.  Eaters are slightly different from your typical cannibal; an Eater does so because it’s a need, sort of like a vampire, and they also have a heightened sense of smell, which comes in handy when coming across other Eaters. When Maren attacks a girl at a sleepover, it’s time for her and her father to go on the run again, though the dad has decided he’s done all he can for his daughter and he leaves her behind with some money, a cassette tape, and her birth certificate.  This sets Maren on her path to finding out who her mother is and on her journey to understanding who she is and along this journey she meets some unique and frightening characters along the way.

"Life is not like the movies."

Maybe sometimes life is exactly like the movies. You know the old phrase of art imitating life and that kind of thing. That's exactly the territory that's covered in Steven Spielberg's latest film The Fabelmans. It's an autobiographical film where the names are changed to protect both the guilty and the innocent. It's also the first time that Spielberg has directed his own writing in over 20 years. In those 20 years Spielberg has become something of a movie-making machine, and I think he felt it was time that the machine walked away from the spotlight for a minute and allowed the man behind the machine to show his face again. It used to be about heart; lately it's been about box office, and more recently it's been about surviving after the hit the industry took with COVID. I think that Spielberg had a lot of things to get off his chest, and it looks like he might have found the time and place to do just that. While the film is a love letter to people who still think movies are a kind of wizard's magic, it was also a little bit of therapy for this particular wizard. Like all autobiographies, it's not really finished, and that's the most profound takeaway I had when the film ended.

“Some people aren’t meant to be heroes.”

Black Adam was a unique experience. It was an occasion where a being that kills without hesitation is viewed as more of a hero than those that exercise restraint while fighting for justice. This is a principle that was leaned into during the film’s marketing campaign, which for me generated a great deal of intrigue, and I was glad that it was not just a marketing ploy. The fact is that Black Adam is very much an anti-hero. However, he did not start out that way. He was initially just a supervillain, one that was and likely still is intended to serve as the primary antagonist to Zachary Levi’s Shazam. For this film, he embraces the role of anti-hero, which is in keeping with his comic book roots, which saw the character shift from villain to anti-hero. Simply put, he is a dark hero; someone you love watching even when he is doing morally questionable things. Who better to embody that idea than Dwayne Johnson. During his wrestling days, Dwayne Johnson, then known as The Rock, did stints as both a face (a good guy) and a heel (bad guy). Even when he was a heel, he was among the most popular superstars of that era. He could make you cheer for him, even when he was cheating. He had presence. And in Black Adam, Johnson very much calls on those talents.

As I mentioned in my review for Amsterdam, it’s awards season, and the studios are churning out the films they hope will garner praise and a lot of statues celebrating how great their film is. Spoiler alert, Amsterdam won’t be one of those films, but one that will be is a film that is easily one of the top films I’ve seen this year, and it’s The Banshees of Inisherin.  Because of the title I know many have been put off from watching the film because they think it is going to be a horror film. Well, let me assure you that this isn’t a horror film, nor are there any banshees in the film. As to why the film is called that, well, you’ll have to see it to find out for yourself.

This is the first film writer and director Martin McDonagh has done since his critically acclaimed film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and as great as that film was, I feel he’s managed to outdo himself with The Banshees of Inisherin. Though the film may be simple in plot, the characters he’s crafted for this story are so well done that every scene they populate they are engaging. The dialog is sharp, and the actors deliver some of the years best performances that just makes this such an enjoyable experience to watch.