MOVIE REVIEW: BABYGIRL

 

A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with a much younger intern.

Director: Halina Reijn

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, Antonio Banderas

Release Date: December 25, 2024

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity and language.

Runtime: 1h 54m

Review:

Babygirl plays like a gender-swapped version of 2002's Secretary and when it works it pulsates off the screen, but it struggles to maintain that energy despite a stellar turn from Nicole Kidman.  Writer/Director Halina Reijn has plenty on her mind as she presents a series of tantalizing themes over the course of her film.  Sexual desire, normalcy, power dynamics and age all bounce around the edges of the screen as we follow the torrid affair with her intern played by Harris Dickinson.  Kidman's performance is a study in layers as she gives the audiences glimpses of strength, intelligence, repression and shame that are all bottled up in her character.  She's consistently the most interesting performer onscreen as she crafts this fully formed character that feels like a living breathing person along with all her complications.  Her performance carries the film but the central relationship between her and the intern is a bit choppier due to a variety of reasons.  Harris Dickinson and Kidman just don't share the kind of electric chemistry together that would make their affair believable.  His character is terribly underwritten with the audience never being presented because he's so attractive to Romy.  We're told at various points that he is intelligent but never shown anything outside of the most generic sort of blackmail.  He's never portrayed with the sort of charisma or tact that he would be able to engage and enchant in the way we're led to believe on screen.  It doesn't help that he looks like any random, faceless guy you'd see on a subway or train and never give a second thought about.  The film's kinkier moments really play more like softcore Cinemax than anything else albeit with Kidman going for broke with each scene.  Antonio Banderas has a small supporting role as Kidman's husband, and he's given an impressive scene in the final act that reminds you how powerful of a performer he can be.  The film would have been well served had it given him a bit more screentime and fleshed out his character more but like most of the themes that Reijn throws onscreen such as an undercurrent about the monotony and automation of our everyday lives are never explored in any sort of meaningful way.  There's plenty left unexplored throughout which is shame because Reijn does deliver a series of energetic moments topped by a sequence in a dance club that just reverberates off the screen.  These sorts of moments highlight surges of energy in Babygirl which highlight how much more effective the film would have been if it had something substantial to say about itself.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE IRON CLAW

 

The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who make history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.

Director: Sean Durkin

Cast: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany, Lily James

Release Date: December 22, 2023

Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport

Rated R for language, suicide, some sexuality and drug use.

Runtime: 2h 12m

The Iron Claw, the tragic true-life tale of the Von Erich family, is the kind of sports movie that doesn't require you to be a fan of the sport to be moved and affected by its painful story.  Sean Durkin directs the film with a nuanced hand giving it a sweaty, gritty feel which gives the story an air of authenticity.  He makes you feel every bit of flesh hitting the mat during the wrestling sequences but adds an overreach sense of dread and sadness throughout the entire film.  Thematically, it covers well worn concepts about masculinity and overbearing fathers trying to live vicariously through their sons but does so with a surprisingly level of effectiveness thanks to its cast.  Holt McCallany is the kind of actor that can bring a certain level of intimidation, intensity without overt physicality which works incredibly well here as the family patriarch.  There's an emotional frigidity to his character that's reflected in his treatment of his sons as mere vessels to correct his list of grievances and shortcomings.  The character is cold, emotionally distant, and aloof even as tragedy continues to befall his children due in large part to his constant pushing and playing them against each other.  Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons all deliver authentic, engaging performances, each reflecting the sons burning desire to please their father at any cost.  Efron though carries the emotional weight of the film as he makes you feel the pain of his perceived failures and shortcomings early on in the story before he’s burdened by loss of his siblings along with the realization of the root cause.  It’s an excellent showcase for Efron as he emotes all the internalized pain and trauma with a level of nuance and depth that I honestly didn't think he was capable of.  His psychical transformation almost becomes an afterthought due to his committed performance which elevates the entire film and makes it easier to overlook a few pacing issues and underwritten female characters.

 

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

 

Abandoned as a girl, Kya raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. For years, rumors of the marsh girl haunted Barkley Cove, isolating the sharp and resilient Kya from her community. Drawn to two young men from town, she opens herself to a new and startling world.

Director: Olivia Newman

Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., David Strathairn

Release Date: July 13, 2022

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some violence including a sexual assault.

Runtime: 2h 5m

Review:

Where the Crawdads Sing, based on the bestselling novel, is the type of film adaptation that's desperately aspiring to land a deep and emotion punch.  Unfortunately, Olivia Newman's film never reaches those heights instead it lands like a strange low rent To Kill a Mockingbird/The Notebook hybrid.  Newman, directing her first film, shoots plenty of lovely vistas establishing the swampy marsh as a main character of the film but its all terribly sanitized which robs it of any sense of grounded authenticity.  It hampers the film's emotional impact since the entire thing feels more romanticized than gritty.  The script itself doesn't help the matter much since the majority of secondary characters are written as types with very little depth.  Daisy Edgar-Jones delivers a workmanlike performance that serves as the driving force of the entire film.  Jones is able to pull every bit of emotional resonance out of the script which is an impressive feat since it features a hefty amount of cheese.  Taylor John Smith does what he can as the film's requisite good guy and he does have passable chemistry with Jones which makes their early sequences more effective.  On the other end of the spectrum, Harris Dickinson channels a sort of 80's jerk energy which makes his and Jones scenes improbable at best.  Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr. and David Strathairn serve as the Kya's caretakers with the latter perfectly suited for the southern lawyer role.  As the film moves, slowly, towards its finale you get the sense there is a better version of this story somewhere which would make it easier to overlook some of the more non sensical and downright illogical portions of the story.  

C

MOVIE REVIEW: THE KING'S MAN

 

One man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they get together to plot a war that could wipe out millions of people and destroy humanity.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Ralph Fienne, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance

Release Date: December 22, 2021

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for sequences of strong/bloody violence, language, and some sexual material

Runtime: 2h 28m

Review:

The King's Man is one of the strangest and unnecessary prequels in recent memory.  Matthew Vaughn's film is tonally off kilter with the previous entries, deciding to go for a more self serious tone that's sure to confuse fans who come in expecting a loose goofy bit of fun.  Ralph Fienne leads the film ably even if it does feel like he's a in a different franchise all together.  To his credit, Fiennes seems fully committed to the role and he makes the entire thing much more watchable than it deserves to be.  Rhys Ifans seems to be the only one who's aware of the franchise hallmarks and he hams it up as Rasputin.  His character big action sequence is a dizzying death ballet that outlandish, goofy and one of the sole bits of fun in the entire film.  Sadly, he comes and goes far to quickly and are left with a so so WW1 drama that isn't ashamed to steal scenes from Wonder Woman.  Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou do solid supporting work but you get the distinct feeling that the film would have benefited from using their talent far more than it does.  Even worse, the film cast Daniel Brühl and decides to have him do nothing for the better part of the film.  The King's Man is a bizarre follow up that doesn't fit in the franchises tone or spirit and ultimately feels like a bad misstep.

C