MOVIE REVIEW: PRISCILLA

 

When teenager Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who's already a meteoric rock 'n' roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, and a gentle best friend.

Director: Sofia Coppola

Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Dagmara Domińczyk, Ari Cohen, Tim Post, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Luke Humphrey, Dan Beirne

Release Date: September 4, 2023

Genre: Biography, Drama, Music

Rated R for drug use and some language.

Runtime: 1h 53m

Sofia Coppola's Priscilla is a visually striking film that establishes a consistent mood throughout but its frustratingly distance from its central character.  Coppola's film is meticulously constructed from start to finish and she sets up dreamlike moments that will linger long after the movie is over.  She creates a palpable sense of innocent infatuation that overcomes Priscilla as she falls hopelessly in love with Elvis.  You get the sense of naivety that comes with her youth, something the film makes sure to mention on multiple occasions, as she goes through a whirlwind romance with the superstar.  Once the action moves to Graceland, Coppola subtlety begins to give us glimpses of isolation and loneliness Priscilla experiences as she becomes Elvis's sort of kind of main squeeze.  There are a variety of long shots that drive home the relationship's power structure by placing the 5'1" Cailee Spaeny next to Jacob Elordi's towering 6′ 5″ frame.  Its a nuanced approach that works well in the film's favor and manages to make up for some of the film's shortcomings.  Cailee Spaeny delivers solid work in the central role especially in the first half as she gives the character a believable sense of youth and naiveite.  Sadly, the character inner thoughts and motivations are kept at arms length which makes it hard to connect to her on an emotional level.  She's a cypher for the majority of the film even as we're presented with some of the uglier, less glamourous aspects of the relationship.  The audience never gets a real understanding of what makes her tick or experience her emotional growth until it just happens in the film's final act which feels like a wasted opportunity.  Jacob Elordi's Elvis is less glossy than Austin Butler's turn for good reason as we get a sense of the subtle manipulation, overbearing and controlling nature at play.  Its odd but the film offers a better window into his psyche more so than we do into Priscilla's which seems like a strange choice.  There's plenty of fertile ground that's left unused which is a shame but Priscilla makes for an excellent juxtaposition in terms of style and subject matter vs Baz Luhrmann's Elvis.

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S

A troubled security guard begins working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the late shift at Freddy's won't be so easy to make it through.

Director: Emma Tammi

Cast:  Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Mary Stuart Masterson, Matthew Lillard

Release Date: October 27, 2023

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content, bloody images and language.

Runtime: 1h 50m

Five Nights at Freddy's is a rather bland, uninspired slog of a horror movie that's decidedly light on scares and mostly devoid of fun.  Emma Tammi's film is surprisingly self serious with only small slivers of humor sprinkled throughout its overlong runtime.  Its a strange choice for a video game adaptation about possessed animatronics from an 80's pizza place and it doesn't pay off since the story doesn't offer anything terribly engaging or fresh.  The whole thing plays out in fairly predictable fashion which kills any sense of tension since every surprise is telegraphed from a mile away.  Scares are decidedly sparse with only a handful of cheap jump scares sprinkled throughout.  Josh Hutcherson, for his part, tries his best to bring some sort of energy and life to the whole thing.  He does admirable work by giving his character far more depth and texture than the film deserves.  Elizabeth Lail is saddled with a paper thin character, an overly invested local cop, it doesn't help that she doesn't share much believable chemistry with Hutcherson.  Piper Rubio fares better with a likable turn as the little sister that manages to be cute but never annoying.  Ultimately, Five Nights at Freddy's falls flat offering little outside of Easter Eggs for fans of the game but if you must get your film of haunted 80's pizza palaces you'd be better off watching recent films like The Banana Splits Movie or Willy's Wonderland.

 

D

MOVIE REVIEW: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

In the 1920s, members of the Osage Native American tribe of Osage County, Oklahoma, are murdered after oil is found on their land, and the FBI decides to investigate.

Director: Martin Scorsese

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser

Release Date: October 20, 2023

Genre: Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Thriller, Western

Rated R for violence, some grisly images, and language

Runtime: 3h 26m

Martin Scorsese's massive Killers of the Flower Moon is epic in thematic scope while being grounded by powerful performances from its cast.  Scorsese's sprawling story moves at a methodical pace as he lets his film linger in the quieter, character moments that serve  as the lifeblood of the story.  His meticulous style is perfectly suited to the larger story at play onscreen as he recounts a sordid tale of sorrow that had mostly been forgotten to history much like the Tulsa Race Massacre which is referenced at various points during the film.  The murders are grimy ugly affairs and Scorsese aptly portrays those moments with noticeable bluntness as members of the Osage Nation are pruned off with wonton, greedy brutality.  The central trio of characters played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert De Niro serve as the anchor of the story.  De Niro is far more engaged that he has been in years, playing the manipulative mastermind behind the bloody plot who believably vacillates between earnest and caring to cold blood opportunist with incredible ease.  Leonardo DiCaprio plays his brutish, dullard of a nephew that's tasked with starting a relationship with Lily Gladstone's Mollie whose family holds a large amount of oil wealth.  DiCaprio could easily play this character as a one dimensional thug but he manages to give his portrayal layers that gives it far more depth.  His character is shown to be a murderous opportunist but there are tangible moments of heartfelt love for Mollie even as he's slowly killing her.  DiCaprio's turn manages to let the audience experience these conflicting emotions especially as the film moves on.  Lily Gladstone's soulful performance makes the tragic story all the more impactful as she brings a level of authenticity and earnestness to the role.  Gladstone makes you feel every moment of pain that her character experiences throughout her Jobian level of misery and betrayal.  It’s an understated, nuanced performance that makes you empathize with her plight especially since her character struggles with the reality of the situation before finally coming to grips with it.  Gladstone and DiCaprio share a handful of moments, especially in the film's back half that are truly devastating and heartbreaking for multiple reasons.  Killers of the Flower Moon is filled with subtle, delicate moments, deliberately paced for ultimate effect which demands your attention.

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER

When his daughter, Angela, and her friend Katherine, show signs of demonic possession, it unleashes a chain of events that forces single father Victor Fielding to confront the nadir of evil. Terrified and desperate, he seeks out Chris MacNeil, the only person alive who's witnessed anything like it before.

Director: David Gordon Green

Cast: Leslie Odom Jr., Ann Dowd, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Lidya Jewett, Olivia Marcum, Ellen Burstyn

Release Date: October 6, 2023

Genre: Horror

Rated R for some violent content, disturbing images, language and sexual references.

Runtime: 1h 51m

David Gordon Green's The Exorcist: Believer is more than capable of echoing William Friedkin's original, especially during its opening act, but it ultimately proves to be nothing more than hollow mimicry.  Green hits some incredibly familiar beats throughout this legacy sequel with camera shots or visual cues but there's a noticeable disconnect as the film rapidly moves through sequences to get to the possession portion of the film.  Once those moments arrive, we're treated to a series of cheap jump scares and gore that feel more in line with the Insidious films than a direct follow up to the original Exorcist.  The script doesn't help matters much since it throws a series of one dimensional characters at the screen and expects you to care about them.  There's a kernel of a solid idea that expands the idea of evil beyond the Catholic rite but the story has no idea how to take a nuanced, measured approach to the subject matter.  Instead, the film devolves into a series of standard shocks we've seen plenty of times before which highlights the fact that script and director doesn't understand what made the original so effective and unsettling, a sense of grounded humanity.  It’s a missed opportunity on multiple levels especially since the film is blessed with game actors who are looking for something more substantial.  Leslie Odom Jr. turns in a earnest performance as the father of one of the possessed girls.  Odom Jr. does his best with the smallest slivers of depth the script affords but the film simply doesn't have the patience to let any of it germinate organically since it wants to get to the next scare as soon as possible. Norbert Leo and Jennifer Nettles fare even worse as they are given the thankless roles of the parents of the other possessed girl who characterization is little more than broadly written evangelicals.  Ann Dowd, who plays a neighbor/nurse with a past, seems perfectly suited for this type of role but the film also rushes through her backstory which robs the character of any sort of emotional weight.  The biggest misstep is getting Ellen Burstyn back into the fold only to misuse the actress and character to a shocking degree.  That kind of haphazard mishandling of the material just shows that while The Exorcist: Believer might be able to create a facsimile it clearly never understood the material of the original.   

C-

MOVIE REVIEW: SAW X

 

Hoping for a miraculous cure, John Kramer travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure, only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, the infamous serial killer uses deranged and ingenious traps to turn the tables on the con artists.

Director: Kevin Greutert

Cast:  Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, Michael Beach, Renata Vaca

Release Date: September 29, 2023

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for sequences of grisly bloody violence and torture, language and some drug use.

Runtime: 1h 58m

Saw X really has very little reason to exist with pretty much every permutation of the gory franchise seemingly exhausted including a semi reboot since the primary character is dead.  Smartly, the script moves the action back in time by placing it shortly after the original entry.  Doing so strips away all the mythology and entanglements of the future installments resulting in a leaner, more focused story that highlights Tobin Bell's John Kramer.  The opening act allows the audience to spend time with Kramer and his search for salvation from his terminal cancer.  Its surprisingly restrained character study also gives Tobin Bell plenty of time to show off some of his acting chops before the story moves into its gruesome menagerie of bodily harm.  This set up gives us enough insight into Kramer's mentality to make him engaging on a human level.  Bell can still deliver sinister game instructions with sinister zeal but here the man is far more interesting.  Shawnee Smith returns as Kramer's aspiring apprentice, Amanda, which gives the character another layer that hadn't been explored enough in previous entries.  Smith, sporting a Vulcan wig, and Bell have solid chemistry together onscreen which makes their mentorship relationship far more interesting and engaging.  The plot allows this to blossom naturally by keeping everything very linear by having the entire group of victims on stage at once.  Those victims are played with varying levels of effectiveness with Synnøve Macody Lund, a doctor by way of Swedish Bikini team, and Octavio Hinojosa bringing the most energy to their performances even if they serve as little more than meat for the grinder.  There are still plenty of plot holes, logical leaps and telegraphed surprises, something that's plagued the series, Saw X still manages to be one of the best entries in the long running series.  

B

MOVIE REVIEW: THE CREATOR

 

As a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence rages on, ex-special forces agent Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI. The Creator has developed a mysterious weapon that has the power to end the war and all of mankind. As Joshua and his team of elite operatives venture into enemy-occupied territory, they soon discover the world-ending weapon is actually an AI in the form of a young child.

Director: Gareth Edwards

Cast: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney

Release Date: September 29, 2023

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence, some bloody images and strong language

Runtime: 2h 15m

Gareth Edwards The Creator is a sprawling sci-fi epic that's got a distinctive visual style that echoes its massive scope.  Edwards mines a variety of sources such as Blade Runner, District 9, Children of Men, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and a small dash of Kubrick's 2001 in the final shot.  The result is a cornucopia of fully realized settings that feel lived in and real that keeps the film from feeling too artificial.  Story wise it's equally expansive and grounded even as it traverses some well worn story threads, particularly the child messiah idea from The Terminator but opting to flip the script.  It’s a dense story that throws a hefty amount of thematic ideas that makes the film work both as something literal and as a more allegorical tale which the best kind of sci-fi tends to do.  Needless to say, it’s the kind of hard sci-fi that we rarely see these days especially on the scope and scale that Edwards delivers.  Its deadly serious from start to finish with performances that are equally committed to their roles.  John David Washington leads the film with a heartfelt, driven performance which gives him ample time to shine.  He serves as the anchor of the film, keeping everything tethered to the emotional core of the story.  Newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles, who plays Alphie the child AI, is impressive throughout with her and Washington sharing strong chemistry together even as the script starts to thug on heartstrings a tad too much in the final act.  The supporting cast is solid even if they do take a backseat to the central relationship with Ken Watanabe and Allison Janney leaving the biggest impression.  Watanabe gets his moments, but the film would have been smart to take better advantage of his talented presence.  Janney does get more screen time which she uses to deliver an icy, stone cold killer turn that could have come off as cartoonish in lesser hands.  She makes for a compelling villain, but the script doesn't give the character a ton of depth outside of a few passing lines of dialogue early on.  Its one of the minor issues that peppers the film in addition to pacing issues here and there that make the film feel longer than its actual runtime and some fairly noticeable logical leaps the story ask you make at various points in the plot.  Still, The Creator is an achievement on multiple levels from its stark visuals to its ability to take well worn tropes feel fresh again.

B+