MOVIE REVIEW: Thelma

Well, eat your f’n heart out, Tom Cruise! In the first lead performance of her seven-decade career, June Squibb proves she can get around just fine at a venerable age of 93! Sure, the speeds of the pursuits are exponentially slower and the heights of the obstacles are far closer to the ground, but, make no mistake, there are thrills to be had and laughs to be enjoyed with Thelma. With all due respect to Ryan Gosling, Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and Glen Powell, June just leapfrogged them all to be the must-see action hero of the 2024 summer blockbuster season.

MOVIE REVIEW: Kinds of Kindness

Each chapter has their zany swerve at that magic 50-minute mark that throws viewers for a reflective loop while also grinding any earned momentum to a halt. The twists are so obscure, even by Lanthimos’ standards, that any salted suspension of disbelief strains credulity worth any investment in by the time the hammer falls for a mid-movie roll of credits and a hard transition. That kind of abruptness happens three times, sometimes right when a tangential storyline was hitting a grove, making the shifts to entire new settings and characters jarring and, worse, defeating.

MOVIE REVIEW: Ezra

That is the imperfect and crooked road taken by Ezra helmed by actor/director Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss, Someone Like You). The sincere film dives into the complicated dynamics within the extended family of the titular young boy. Embodied by pre-teen neurodiverse actor William Fitzgerald in his feature film debut, Ezra is diagnosed with autism and is indeed the kind of apple where the tree that bore it demands its own attention.

MOVIE REVIEW: Bang Bang

Sure, it may have taken a bit to get there, but talented writer-director Vincent Grashaw demonstrated the shrewd patience to make those culminating moments happen on their own time and without some grand public showdown or audience. The “what for” and the “why” came to a head with dramatic focus. Bang Bang was never built to be anything close to a cliched sports movie. Instead, what burned intimately for the people involved stayed intimate to the bitter–and therefore realistic–end.

MOVIE REVIEW: Guy Friends

Guy Friends circles its wagons and makes the fresh duo of Jaime and Sandy the core of the film. The main plot and their gestating sample examination of friendship establishment are shot in black-and-white by writer-director Jonathan Smith and mirror little full-color vignette testimonies of real people describing how they became best friends. In less witty hands, these arcs of burgeoning female connection and the well-worn looking-for-love plight would conveniently be vanquished in a grandiose and, in all likelihood preposterous, rom-com climax involving some kind of public shenanigans.

MOVIE REVIEW: Hit Man

This baked-in layer of brains amid the brawn in Hit Man is credited to Linklater and Powell working together to punch up a screenplay together allowing fun to frolic next to intrigue. All of the nerdy philosophy would normally feel like serendipitous mumbo-jumbo tacked on a less intelligent premise. Instead, Hit Man’s slick polish and playful panache combine to create witty smartness seething with sensational sexiness at a level higher and hotter than we have seen in years with romantic comedies and crime capers. This date night delight is just what this summer season needs, be that in a theater or on your Netflix couch.

2024, 5 STARS, Home Media, MOVIE REVIEW, StreamingDon ShanahanMay 24, 2024Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Richard Linklater, Hit Man, NetflixComment

MOVIE REVIEW: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

This new sequel promised the origin story of Mad Max: Fury Road’s scene-stealing and far-and-away best character. The enigmatic starlet Anya Taylor-Joy of The Queen’s Gambit walks into Charlize Theron’s past and shadow to take viewers into the campfire tale history that would forge cinema’s toughest broad this side of Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor. Fill up the gas tank and toss us the keys to the multiplex, right? Not so fast. Pump the brakes and skid across the sand to a stop.

MOVIE REVIEW: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

With time in mind, patience is indeed required when it comes to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. For three films in a row, “expansive” has become the perfect descriptor, and it suits this fourth entry as well. Even with new studio stewardship (Disney igniting the former Fox property) and a new creative braintrust led by Ball, this franchise marches to a different drum and blazes new trails. They are setting yet another stage for an epic crowd pleaser. Among the trend of heavily predictable genre movies with low stakes, this one is going to ponderous and exciting places simultaneously, and it’s all the better for it.

2024, 4 STARS, MOVIE REVIEWDon ShanahanMay 14, 2024Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Wes BallComment

MOVIE REVIEW: The Fall Guy

Through a cavalcade of creatively designed set pieces, Leitch and The Fall Guy put the bang in “the whole shebang” with this kinetic crowd pleaser positioned to open the 2024 summer movie season with that very sound effect. After years of development hell, Universal Pictures found their perfect stewards with David Leitch and Ryan Gosling and indulged their pyrotechnic and brawny dreams to bust every block in sight. The TV show’s awareness and appreciation for these behind-the-scenes champions has now become Leitch’s own.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Idea of You

Not to equate an actress to a videogame or pro wrestling, but Anne Hathaway has a unique and refined moveset as a performer. Her most front-and-center and patented gimmick has always been her wide and radiant smile. When all else fails, Anne can pull that out and win just about any heart. Strategically, though, she has an even stronger bread-and-butter maneuver, and it comes out distinctly in her new film The Idea of You. It’s the “look-away.”

MOVIE REVIEW: The Moon & Back

Smooth one, Peter. Leave it to dads to gladly go beyond their reach and overdo a promise to impress their spouse and children. Why? Because dads are meant to be larger than life and therefore operate the same way. Well, “to the moon and back” sure worked on Peter Gilbert’s daughter Lydia (Isabel May of I Want You Back) every time it was shared. The Moon & Back confirms that claim with evidence captured with the framing and resolution of old VHS.

MOVIE REVIEW: The Brink Of

Make no mistake. Unspoken history exists between Lena and James. At this recorded moment, they may or may not share the inquiring answer the host is hoping to extract. Nevertheless, there’s a story here that promises a long and difficult road merging togetherness and stardom. Using deft and economical storytelling, writer-director Patrick Meaney (House of Demons) has crafted The Brink Of to reveal this little melodrama nimbly.