MOVIE REVIEW: IMMACULATE

 

An American nun embarks on a new journey when she joins a remote convent in the Italian countryside. However, her warm welcome quickly turns into a living nightmare when she discovers her new home harbours a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.

Director: Michael Mohan

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Benedetta Porcaroli, Dora Romano, Giorgio Colangeli, Simona Tabasco

Release Date: March 22, 2024

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong and bloody violent content, grisly images, nudity and some language.

Runtime: 1h 29m

Review:

Michael Mohan's Immaculate borrows bits and pieces from a variety of sources such as Suspiria and Rosemary's Baby to create something that's initially moody before turning into something that's as nutty as it is darkly funny.  Mohan's direction is confident, and self assured with his film carrying a specific look and feel which takes full advantage of the setting and iconography of a Catholic nunnery in the Italian country side.  He creates a disconcerting, isolated setting that could serve as its own character in the grand scheme of the film's story.  Against that backdrop, Sydney Sweeney's wide eyed, naïve Cecilia enters an alien environment with sinister machinations at play.  Sweeney does some heavy lifting here as she carry's the film from start to finish as we follow her character's twisted journey.  She gives you a tangible sense of her character's lack of control over what's happening to her as things get progressively more dire.  There's an understated, restraint to her performance until the film hits its blood soaked final act where she takes a more active control over her destiny.  There's an abundance of themes you can pick through varying from religious to gender issues making it a film ready made to be dissected with think pieces.  That being said, the script relies on both sides of the board.  It’s an issue that extends to Sweeney's Cecilia who is little more than a cobbled together persona tethered together by a traumatic childhood event.  Immaculate's cathartic, finale recalls the closing moments of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with it's bloodied, primal release but you're left feeling that it would have been even more impactful if the film has more well rounded characters.     

B

MOVIE REVIEW: MADAME WEB

 

Cassandra Webb is a New York City paramedic who starts to show signs of clairvoyance. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she must protect three young women from a mysterious adversary who wants them dead.

Director: S.J. Clarkson

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott

Release Date: February 14, 2024 

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence/action and language.

Runtime: 1h 54m

Review:

Madame Web arrives onscreen barely registering a pulse thanks to a bland script and a cast that's as disinterested as the audience.  S.J. Clarkson does her best to give this low rent version of Edge of Tomorrow some life early on but using inventive angles and shots during some of the action sequences.  There are small slivers of energy, especially early, but once the film goes into an endless cycle of repetition which kills any sense of momentum or entertainment.  Those hoping for some mindless superhero action will be sorely disappointed since the majority of that occurs in a flash forward which the film never occurs in the actual film, leaving this film as nothing more than set up for a future installment.  Instead, the film follows Dakota Johnson's Cassandra Webb kidnap/rescue the trio of Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor and Isabela Merced and chaperon them around before abandoning them for an impromptu day trip to Peru.  It’s all rather nonsensical and illogical which might be goofy if any of the cast put any sort of effort into their performances.  Johnson leads the cast with one of the more uninspired performances in a big budget film in recent memory.  Her consistently monotone line delivery makes it feel like we are watching rehearsal footage instead of the final cut.  That energy runs across her supporting cast  who are saddled with the most generic clichés of early 2000's teenage girls.  It’s so painfully bad that you wouldn't be surprised if they randomly started singing Spice Girls song just to drive the point home about the live action Brats dolls assembled.  Tahar Rahim doesn't fair much better as the film's sort of evil Spider-man from the dollar store with his stilted delivery that makes Johnson look inspired in comparison.  Madame Web is a mess of a film that commits a variety of sins which would be forgivable if it wasn't so incredibly boring.

D-

MOVIE REVIEW: ANYONE BUT YOU

 

Despite an amazing first date, Bea and Ben's initial attraction quickly turns sour. However, when they unexpectedly find themselves at a destination wedding in Australia, they pretend to be the perfect couple to keep up appearances.

Director: Will Gluck

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Alexandra Shipp, GaTa, Hadley Robinson, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, Darren Barnet, Bryan Brown, Rachel Griffiths

Release Date: December 22, 2023

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Rated R for language throughout, sexual content and brief graphic nudity.

Runtime: 1h 43m

Review:

Anyone but You is a fairly paint by the numbers rom-com that toys with being a raunchier romp before settling into the usual genre clichés that we've seen plenty of times before.  To his credit, Will Gluck delivers a slick looking, breezy film that unabashedly uses Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing as its basic template while occasionally lifting full lines of dialogue from the play.   It’s an interesting choice that never works since those moments are played off as a running joke with the characters stating they just made up the rather robust bit of dialogue lifted from the Bard.  It would have been an interesting approach if they'd leaned into it instead of just sporadically shoehorning it randomly with little pretext or payoff.  The film does something similar with its random forays into raunchy territory while never committing to it.  Paired with the random Shakespearean lines, the film never finds its own flow or rhythm since everything in between is overly familiar and broad.  Gluck has proven capable of making a memorable genre film like Emma Stone's Easy A but this film relies far too heavily on tired tropes.  It’s a shame since the cast seems up for pretty much anything especially the overly attractive onscreen couple.  Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell are clearly having fun with the material which makes the film an easy watch even if decidedly forgettable.  Sweeney and Powell have solid chemistry, but you never buy the fact that the characters supposedly have a certain level of disdain for each other which makes it readily apparent they'll end up together.  The supporting cast is made up of familiar faces like Dermot Mulroney, Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Hurd and Bryan Brown but the film doesn't take advantage of the talent instead being mostly satisfied with them delivering broad strokes of comedy.  It all leaves Anyone but You as a passable but forgettable rom-com that could have been far more memorable.

C

MOVIE REVIEW: REALITY

 

A former American intelligence specialist is given the longest sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation.

Director: Tina Satter

Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Marchánt Davis, Josh Hamilton, Benny Elledge, John Way

Release Date: February 18, 2023

Genre: Drama

Rated TV-MA

Runtime: 1h 23m

Reality is a lean, laser focused adaptation of Tina Satter's stage play "Is This A Room".  Satter's debut film leans heavily into its stage roots by using a minimalist approach from start to finish.  Outside of a few visual flourishes here and there, mostly to denote redacted dialogue, Satter keeps her focus on the dialogue and performances.  This approach puts the film's success squarely on Sydney Sweeney shoulders as it asks her to carry an unglamorous, dialogue heavy role.  Sweeney proves more than capable as she delivers a role that's incredibly nuanced as we follow the character's wide ranging emotions.  It's naturalistic turn that's believable from start to finish as she processes the character's thoughts as the layers of the interrogation pull back more and more information.  Her interplay with Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton, who play two FBI agents, serves as fascinating tennis match that moves seamlessly between cordial, probing to outright aggressive from moment to moment.  The three share an impressive bit of chemistry together as they go back and forth during the interrogation, it’s a chilling unsettling experience that reminds us how powerful dialogue can be in the hands of talented performers.  

A