MOVIE REVIEW: COCAINE BEAR

After a 500-pound black bear consumes a significant amount of cocaine and embarks on a drug-fueled rampage, an eccentric gathering of cops, criminals, tourists, and teenagers assemble in a Georgia forest.

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Cast: Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, Matthew Rhys, Ray Liotta

Release Date: February 24, 2023

Genre: Comedy, Thriller

Rated R for bloody violence and gore, drug content and language throughout

Runtime: 1h 35m

Review:

Cocaine Bear is a gory comedy that embraces the goofiness of its premise.  Elizabeth Banks knows exactly what kind of movie she's making and doesn't saddle it with too much extraneous baggage that keeps the film moving at a brisk pace.  Its straightforward in the best way possible spending a little time early on introducing the players before the inevitable mayhem begins.  The cast and director are both on the same page as there's a decidedly cartoonish air about the characters and performances.  The ensemble cast is peppered with recognizable character actors, including Ray Liotta's final onscreen appearance, who are clearly having a ball playing their roles.  Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Alden Ehrenreich get the biggest portion of the screen time with the latter two providing the best onscreen chemistry.  Margo Martindale, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Isiah Whitlock Jr. make the most of their limited screen time in supporting roles.  The titular bear is a solid, but it’s never photo realistic enough to make you forget you are watching CGI animal.  The plot and characters are thinly written which makes it difficult to maintain its initial energy before it sputters into its finale. Ultimately, Cocaine Bear is a solid piece of mindless, goofy fun that's easy to enjoy even though you'll probably forget about it shortly there after.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that pushes them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.

Director:  Peyton Reed

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, William Jackson Harper, Katy O'Brian, Bill Murray

Release Date: February 17, 2023

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence/action, and language

Runtime: 2h 5m

Review:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania gets credit for delivering one of the tripper entries into the Marvel monolith.  Peyton Reed waste little time throwing the audience into the Quantum Realm and peppering the screen with all variety of sci-fi weirdness and oddities.  It’s a visual cornucopia that just assaults the senses from all sides as the cast ventures through the worlds.  There's nearly enough there to make you ignore the fact that the event which kicks off the entire plot is even more contrived than Spider-Man: No Way Home starting point.  It shouldn't come as that much of a surprise since this is the film that kicks off the newest phase of Marvel's ongoing opus.  Specifically, this film serves as an introduction to the new big bad that will be the serve as the primary villain over the next few years.  In that regard, they have been blessed with Jonathan Majors and his impressive acting talents.  Once Majors appears onscreen, he dominates the film with an impressively nuanced turn that bodes well for future appearances.  Up to that point the cast had delivered a surprisingly choppy collection of performances which is disappointing considering the assembled talent.  Rudd is his usual dependable self, giving the impression that he could play this role in his sleep by this point.  Rudd and Evangeline Lilly still don't have much onscreen chemistry which keeps their story line from really carrying the sort of weight you'd expect by the third film.  Kathryn Newton joins the cast as their now grown daughter and brings a spark of youthful energy even if her character veers close to annoying is spots.  Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas sadly seem to be going through the motions even though Pfeiffer gets a decent size of the plot.  Both are never outright bad but you get the sense they aren't giving it their all.  There's a tonal imbalance throughout the whole film which shifts from quippy goofiness to drop dead serious sometime in the occurring in the same scene.  There are points were you start to feel that Majors deserved to be in a better more serious film which would have taken advantage of performance.  As is, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania does its job in setting up the future, especially with two rather important post credit scenes, and doing it in an enjoyable but ultimately forgettable film.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: SKINAMARINK

 

Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.

Director: Kyle Edward Ball

Cast: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, Jaime Hill

Release Date: January 13, 2023

Genre: Horror

Not Rated

Runtime: 1h 40m

Review:

Skinamarink is an audacious if confounding bit of experimental filmmaking that delivers an experience which is sure to frustrate a large portion of the audience during its unnecessarily long runtime.  Director Kyle Edward Ball should be applauded for delivering a singular experience that’s likely to stick in your mind long after you’ve finished watching the actual film.  His film’s sparsely peppered narrative plays more like an extended ASMR excursion into a minimalist nightmare than a traditional film.  It leans heavily into its weirdness much like 2021 We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.  Much like that film, the effectiveness of the overall gimmick varies from scene to scene.  A full immersion into its conceit does provide some genuine shocks and scares but the film makes you work for those moments and by the time they hit many in the audience may have already checked out.  Skinamarink is the type of film that’s going to be divisive simply due to its structure and approach, especially once the rather abrupt ending hits.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: KNOCK AT THE CABIN

 

While vacationing at a remote cabin in the woods, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand they make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. Confused, scared and with limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Cast: Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, Rupert Grint

Release Date: February 3, 2023

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Rated R for violence and language

Runtime: 1h 40m

Review:

Knock at the Cabin is the type of film that lays bare all of M. Night Shyamalan pros and cons as a filmmaker.  The concept and set up are well executed with the film wasting very little time to get the plot moving along.  The script, as usual with his films, has its fair share of clunky dialogue but the cast is able to elevate it with committed performances by giving it a tangible urgency and intensity.  Dave Bautista, in particular, delivers a rather impressive turn as one of the main invaders.  Bautista has quietly been putting together a rather diverse acting resume that shows off a concerted effort to be more than movie muscle.  Here, he gives his character a believably tortured vulnerability which works well as a juxtaposition to his imposing figure.  He drives the first half of the film as he lays out the concept and what his group has been tasked to do.  Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn and Rupert Grint put in solid supporting turns as the other intruders.  Out of the three, Grint gets the least amount of screen time but he makes the most of it, making you wish the film had made better use of his rather unexpected turn.  Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge are saddled with far less interesting roles as the couple being held hostage with their daughter played by Kristen Cui.  Groff and Aldridge do their best to overcome lazy writing by giving their characters more depth than actually on the page.  Kristen Cui, for her part, is the rare child actor that's able to authentically emote throughout while avoiding those annoying child pitfalls.  Even with its noticeable flaws, the film is efficient and engaging enough to keep your attention until the final act hits.  The film sets up a variety of themes which work better had Shyamalan left the ending more ambiguous, something the book does to my understanding, but instead he leans into a cheap and lazy finale that robs the story of its impact. 

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: INFINITY POOL

 

Guided by a seductive and mysterious woman, a couple on vacation venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism and untold horror. A tragic accident soon leaves them facing a zero tolerance policy for crime: either you'll be executed, or, if you're rich enough to afford it, you can watch yourself die instead.

Director: Brandon Cronenberg

Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman, Jalil Lespert, Thomas Kretschmann, Amanda Brugel

Release Date: January 27, 2023

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for graphic violence, disturbing material, strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language

Runtime: 1h 57m

Review:

Infinity Pool is a nightmarish, hallucinogenic fever dream of a film that keeps you off balance throughout.  Brandon Cronenberg's is disorienting almost from the moment it starts and it rarely lets the gas off the petal as it descends further into twisted tale.  His film borrows inspiration from the work of Kubrick, Polanski, Giallo and his father's earlier films.  Together it makes for strangely beautiful collection of wonderfully composed shots of horrible images that leave a lasting impression.  A handful of scenes area a full-on assault on the senses which will leave your retinas burning if you don't break into an elliptic seizure.  This is the type of film that delivers certain sequences which will be burned into your mind and linger long after the film's finished.  The madness onscreen wouldn't work as well if you didn't have such committed turns from the film's leads.  Luckily, Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth are locked in throughout delivered layered but gonzo performances.  Skarsgård's uses his general good looks to his advantage by playing against type as the film's reveals the sad sack of man his character truly is.  It’s incredibly effective especially since the film keeps you wondering who or what we are watching make great use of the unreliable narrator.  Mia Goth continues her recent hot streak with another fascinating turn that ranges from alluring to manipulative to malicious.  Goth moves so easily between these different emotions and attitudes that you can't keep her eyes off her when she's onscreen.  Skarsgård and Goth make for an excellent juxtaposition as his turn is far more subtle and measured while she slowly reveals the extent of her character's manic depravity with impressive aplomb.  The story once you have a moment to gather your thought is thematically dense enough to leave you thinking about what it’s trying to say about the excesses of the rich among other things.  Infinity Pool isn't the kind of film that will be for everyone but that doesn't make it any less impactful or effective.   

A

MOVIE REVIEW: MISSING

 

When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June's search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it's too late. However, as she digs ever deeper, her digital sleuthing soon raises more questions than answers.

Director: Nicholas D. Johnson, Will Merrick

Cast:  Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney, Nia Long

Release Date: January 20, 2023 

Genre: Drama, Thriller 

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence, language, teen drinking, and thematic material.

Runtime: 1h 51m

Review:

2018's Searching was a fairly impressive thriller that used our modern screen centric life to great effect.  Missing serves as an in universe follow up with a stand alone story that only references the first film in passing during it's opening via a true crime show retelling. First time directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick do a solid job of establishing their setting and character dynamics early on before moving onto the central mystery.  It’s a kinetic series of window and screens that feel authentic for the better part of the film even when the plot starts to stretch credibility.  The central mystery is engaging enough to let you buy into some of larger logical leaps the story takes especially in its final act.  It’s an immensely watchable film due in large part to its effective cast lead by Storm Reid.  Reid carries the film with impressive ease especially since she's mainly performing on her own and reacting to what she sees onscreen.  She possesses a believable authenticity which makes the film work much more than it would in the hands of a lesser actress.  The supporting cast is solid but there's a noticeable drop off from Reid's work with Joaquim de Almeida faring the best.  Missing does falter a bit once the reveal occurs, especially since its telegraphed fairly early on, but that doesn't keep the film from being far more engrossing and entertaining than it should be.

B