Standing Up, Falling Down

Once it rushes through the unlikely bromance introductions and tropes, this ultimately has a big heart. It’s well-cast and never shies away from the realities of functional alcoholism, even as it plays some of this for laughs. Its big heart and safe resolution doesn’t dilute the tragedy here – for all of the characters, many of whom have given up on their dreams and are just biding their time. There’s no judgement of that. In fact, the movie presumes that it’s okay to give up on your dreams, and instead create new ones. That’s the truth, but it’s also kind of a tough pill.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

This was a BLAST. It’s played perfectly straight with an ensemble of highly adept British actors and the results are delightful and bad-ass. It takes a while to get to the mash-up, zombie-killing badassery, but when it arrives it’s not as incongruous as you might think. Writers walk a fine line between the Austen and the Grahame-Smith revisionism, and ultimately there’s a little more Austen in the mix. This movie is for a very specific audience, though, as you would have to be aware of and enjoy both corset flicks and zombies, because liking only one of the genres could sometimes mean you intensely dislike the other. No surprise: box-office and reviews for this were bad. But this is a hoot -- definitely worth catching. And it’s STRONGLY recommended that you view a straight Austen adaptation first, to prime the pump.

Emma.

It’s a familiar, corset-flick, Jane Austen adaptation. Filmmakers do a great job of keeping the plot moving and performances are all top-notch. The set designers and costumers were freebasing LSD, apparently, because there’s spectacular design in this. There are a couple of teeny-tiny little moments in which the filmmakers try to tell the story in a slightly atypical way. Using the camera, the filmmakers take us in closely to a finger touch or a hand hold; something that might seem minor in the modern age, but was probably a BIG FUCKING DEAL to Emma and her contemporaries. It’s a very-well executed version of its type of thing.

Mystify: Michael Hutchence

A long gestating doc about INXS singer Michael Hutchence. It’s not a happy ending, that’s for sure, and it’s hard to believe that they almost released this movie with no INXS songs in it. Hutchence's daughter intervened which allows the filmmakers to tell a complete but very sad story. Interviewees are only recorded, not shown, which makes room for filmmakers to use lots of 16mm and video footage Hutchence shot himself to fill out the film. Lots of footage is cool and very personal, albeit a bit oblique. There isn’t any wildly creative filmmaking here, but the story about the troubled popstar is fascinating and emotional.

Rams

Inspired by Kiki, who appreciates all things Icelandic, we watched an Icelandic dramedy from 2016 that’s bewilderingly poignant. Despite there being very little action and sparse dialogue, it’s an emotional and suspenseful story about redemption. Also, minimalist film compositions from the bare Icelandic farmland are unhurried and beautiful, but never boring. You learn things about sheep, which I get isn’t a big selling point. But it’s differently-paced from a mainstream American movie, even from the arthouse, and refreshingly simple.

The Lovebirds

Feels like a rough-cut – an unfinished movie. Bits of this are good and funny. But there are also moments that feel stale and clearly unnecessary. Why not trim them out? It’s as though the filmmakers were told the movie would no longer be coming out in theaters and just rush to finish it for Netflix. No market research will be allowed! There’s plenty of dramatic surprises and plenty of zingers. It could have been like Game Night, a comedy/thriller that gets more insane by the minute. But despite some laughs and manic energy, it lands roughly.

Hellboy

You never want your Hellboy to drag. But efforts to keep the budget down, maybe, yield long dialogue scenes in empty hallways. Not otherworldly and not really “fun.” It's not a complete train wreck. When the action starts, it’s suitably spectacular. But it feels like it’s lacking something. Urgency. Spectacle. Zaniness. And maybe that something is a little bit of… Guillermo del Toro.

Extraction

The most famous of the Hemsworths tries his hand at a Jason Bourne/John Wick kill fest. While there are brief attempts to be serious, giving the hero Tyler Rake (yes, that’s right, “Tyler Rake”) a sad backstory, this is mostly about the killin’. Most of the killin’ is with machine guns, but there’s still some stabbin’ and fightin’ and drivin’ to be had. The entire police force is corrupt, ya see, so there’s plenty of warm bodies for Thor to maim. But you have to wonder if some of those killed cops really WANTED to be corrupt, or they got peer-pressured into it by their corrupt cop buddies. No matter. They’re dead before you want to think about it. Kudos to Netflix for making a big-time, kick-ass action movie. But when the movie theaters start to fold, this might be the movie they point to as the final nail. That’s a good movie title: FINAL NAIL. Tyler Rake in “FINAL NAIL!” Only on Netflix!