The Reel World

“All I know is that girl came into your life for a reason.”

A love story that transcends time and space. Now, granted, this is not a brand new occurrence; we’ve seen several examples of characters falling in love despite not being from the same time. I mean, there’s The Time Traveler’s Wife with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams (which is currently slated to become an HBO series featuring Theo James and Rose Leslie), Kate and Leopold with Hugh Jackman and Meg Ryan, and who could forget About Time with Domhnall Gleeson and again Rachel McAdams. However, I dare say that Long Weekend may have just revitalized the idea.

"The thing is, I was born brilliant, born bad, and a little bit mad. I'm Cruella." 

Growing up just about every kid I knew saw 101 Dalmatians in one form or another. It was released the year I was born, so I didn't get to see it originally on the big screen. Still it was a part of those magical Disney features that found a way to reach you and eventually into your heart. While the film's stars were the dogs, of course every good story needs a good villain. The villain in 101 Dalmatians was the white/black split-haired Cruella de Vil. With the help of an iconic Sherman Brothers' song children would be able to tell you about it in verse. You're left with the idea that "if she doesn't scare you no evil thing will".

If it feels like you’ve been waiting a while for this film, well, you wouldn’t be wrong. Originally the plan was to release the film March 20, 2020 but this would be one of the first of many films that would be shelved due to the pandemic. There was talk about possibly releasing the film on one of the numerous streaming services out there, but thankfully it was decided to hold out till the lockdowns would end and movie theaters would open up wide across the US. It’s been a long wait for this highly anticipated sequel. Was it worth it?  I didn’t review the first film, but while I wasn’t exactly blown away by the film the first time around, as I’ve revisited the film I have to admit the film has grown on me, and I’d say it was my second favorite horror film released in 2018 (Sorry, Hereditary continues to knock my socks off to this day.)

Just when you thought the Saw franchise had finally claimed its final victim in Jigsaw, Lionsgate has decided to keep the gruesome franchise going with Spiral.  I know it seemed like the character of Jigsaw had finally been milked (or bled) for all its worth, what more can they do with this franchise?  Honestly when I first heard about this film I groaned, I love horror and I love gore but even I was feeling the franchise had gotten a bit stale.  As it turns out there does seem to be more story to be juiced from this franchise and I’ll say it right now, this film was the game changer the franchise needed and it helps pave the way for plenty of pain, revenge and justice down the road.  This is a film that was long overdue to the franchise and I’ll go so far as to say it’s perhaps my favorite film of the series since the release of the first film.

“Creeks lead to rivers. Rivers lead to towns.”

With a little more character development, Those Who Wish Me Dead would have been a really intriguing story. The film had a winning recipe: A script written by the man who gave us Hell Or High Water/Sicario (Taylor Sheridan), a cast that include talent like Angelina Jolie, Jon Bernthal, Nicholas Hoult, and Aidan Gillen, as well as a rifle-toting pregnant woman on horseback. What more could you ask for? If only adequate time had been spent flushing the characters out and answering some of the question that were posed during the film’s runtime. As it stands, the film never gets past the initial intrigue phase because despite all the things the film did have, it’s what the film was missing that defines it.

Based on a true story, Burden shows how one town’s African-Americans fight back against racial prejudices brought on by the local Ku Klux Klan.  The film is well written by Andrew Heckler and has a fine cast that makes their characters believable.  Largely unknown, the historical incident was brought to light by New York Times writer Rick Bragg on November 17, 1996.  The heart-wrenching story shows how one town fought back to free itself from a racist act. Tom Griffin (Tom Wilkinson) and his ward Mike Burden (Garrett Hedlund) decide to reopen the abandoned movie theater as a museum for the KKK in the center of their small town of Laurens, South Carolina in spring of 1996. It’s an act of pride for the hooded organization and yet an obvious planned affront to half the population of the county. But Griffin owns the property, and his long-time membership in the KKK has brought him to the racist decision. The local preacher Reverend Kennedy (Forest Whitaker) is up in arms over the audacity of Griffin’s venture and starts to gather his flock to protest the museum.

Taking it to the net, Ben Affleck gives his all for the camera as a man who has hit bottom.  It’s a performance that brings out the serious side of a character, and not anything like his superhero turns in the barrel. But it’s what the doctor ordered, as its classic Affleck and a joy to watch.  If you want to see a comeback to cheer for, it’s Ben Affleck in The Way Back. Down in the dumps for initial reasons unknown except that his wife has left him in a trial separation, ex high school basketball great Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) needs something to lift him out of a death spiral induced by alcohol abuse. It comes with an offer from his old high school that had a coach who crapped out in the middle of a losing season.  Taking over the team after some pressure from the padre of the parochial school, he starts to wonder what he got himself into.  With the help of his assistant coach, Dan (Al Madrigal) and the padre on the bench, he tries to keep from cursing at the refs and drinking on the job. It’s those supporters and the desire to bounce back that are the catalyst that draws the man out of the mouse he had become.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Universal was seriously attempting to develop a Dark Universe for their classic monsters. Things changed after the releases of Dracula Untold and The Mummy after their poor box office showings, but having seen those two films, I feel fans were spared in the long run from a disaster that could have been.  Then in 2019 word got out that Blumhouse was going to be doing The Invisible Man, and this somewhat reignited the talks of a Dark Universe project.  When I first heard Blumhouse was backing the film, I was cautiously optimistic about the project; where the company does have its hits like Happy Death Day and Get Out, there are plenty of duds as well.  It’s when Leigh Whannell got attached and I had some hope for the film.  For those unfamiliar with the name, Whannell is the writer responsible for the Saw franchise as well as the Insidious franchise.  Now the wait is over and the film has been seen; how does it turn out?

Jack London’s 1903 novel The Call Of The Wild has become a great American classic that hasn’t been out of print ever in over 100 years. There have currently been over 1000 editions in every major language of the world. One of the aspects of its endurance is that it has such wild appeal. I read the book first when I was around 10 years old, and the imagery has remained throughout my entire life. I still consider it one of the best novels I have ever read. The novel also has great appeal among older readers because of the story’s engaging adventure elements, and, of course, the story is about a dog. London managed to bring the canine character alive with wonderfully visceral accounts of the dog, Buck’s life of adventure that includes both tragedy and triumph. The story has been to the screen both large and small several times to date including a classic 1935 film staring Hollywood legend Clark Gable. Every generation before and since (there was an earlier 1923 version) has witnessed at least one new version of the film. The most recent was a 2009 3D release that made it a kid film with Christopher Lloyd and Timothy Bottoms. Now The Call Of The Wild returns to the big screen as the first Disney release under the newly acquired Fox purchase to sport the entity’s new name, which drops the Fox name and is now merely 20^th Century Studios. It’s somewhat the perfect film to bridge the old Fox with Disney, as this is very much a family film.

"When I saw the photo he took of me, I didn't see myself. I saw someone who looked happier than me."

This little romance, The Photograph, tugs at the heartstrings and should work well with a female audience. Lost love and missed opportunities set the tone for this storyline, and the complications resonate with today’s social values. The film plays out like a Saturday matinee, where a release on Lifetime would have been a better choice.  While the theater experience is the norm, the budget for the movie would have fared better had they chose a more apt venue.  The acting is very good, direction pinpoint, but the storyline is ordinary to timeworn. Michael Block (LaKeith Stanfield), a writer for The Republic, is doing a story on Christina Eames (Chante Adams), a famous photographer who had recently died, for his column.  To get some background he interviews her daughter Mae (Issa Rae), who lives in New York City. Their romance gets steamy and genuine, but Mae is cautious so she won’t get hurt.