Recent theatrical viewings

[Rev. Powell]

KKurosawa really seems to have made "underwhelming" horror/thrillers the mission statement of his career. I like parts of all his films (which I've seen) yet only CHARISMA congeals for me into a great film... I realize most people say CURE. He keeps makin' 'em and people keep watchin' 'em, but is the genre any fun for him?

Maybe not, since this was not horror (though he kept in some jump scares). If the first half of the movie matched the black comedy/action tone of the second half, I think this might have been a success.

I like (but don't love) CURE.

[M.10rda]

CAUGHT STEALING (2025):
First half of a drive-in double bill. A straightforward thriller that takes place in a mostly realistic NYC generally bound by laws of physics was probably a good pivot for Darren Aranofsky at this point in his career. Although its advertising kinda' sells it like a wacky comedy, it's a pretty gritty and tense thriller with occasional dashes of wry humor. It reminded me most of RUNNING SCARED, the taut '06 Vera Farmiga thriller, but one of the plot twists and the presence of Griffin Dunne in a supporting role also make me think AFTER HOURS was an influence. I didn't see Austin Butler as Elvis and didn't care to, but he does a good job carrying this film. (Ironically he looks nothing like Elvis here but very much like Elvis-enthusiast Nic Cage, as well as a little bit like Ryan Gosling.) All the acting is good. I don't usually like Matt Smith at all, but he is used very well here. And - no spoilers and try to go into this blind if possible - exceptional casting of Liev Schreiver and Vincent D'Onofrio.   

4/5

CAT-CENTRIC SPOILERS FOR CAT LOVERS:
The incredibly awesome cat is threatened and is mildly injured (offscreen) but escapes fatal harm.   

[jimpickens]

Deranged the 1974 movie loosely based on ED Gein pretty effective although not as accurate as the 2001 movie but still scary

[M.10rda]

SUPERMAN (2025): Superman, aided by Krypton the dog and the "Justice Gang," battles Lex Luthor. Sloppily-plotted, lore-heavy, obvious, by-the-comic-book feature enacting exactly the formula you expect from James Gunn. Disclaimer: I don't generally like superhero movies, and particularly not Superman movies, and Gunn is very hit or miss for me--when he's being lazy, as he is here, he's a miss. 2.5/5.

SUPERMAN (2025) I thought I'd balance the Rev's negative review with my own thoughts on this film.
The phrase "feel-good movie" is overused, to be sure, but I walked out of this movie with a smile on my face and hope in my heart.  Doing the right thing because it IS the right thing, and because you are striving to be a good person, is what this movie is all about.  The world needs more of that right now. 5/5

Second-half of last night's double-bill:
SUPERMAN (2025):
Good (the best?) Lois Lane, good/offbeat Ma & Pa Kent (I mean, Pruitt Taylor Vince?!), very good job utilizing all of the minor characters hanging around the Daily Planet and LexCorp (Jimmy Olsen = MVP!), nice job re/introducing the Justice "Gang" efficiently and w/ no fanfare whatsoever, thereby circumventing all potential "Release The Snyder Cut"-style nonsense. Good job starting (well) in media res and only alluding to necessary lore. I appreciate that Mister Terrific looks like he does in the comics (Edi Gathegi slays it), and Metamorpho looks like he does in the comics, and Superman & Supergirl look like they look in the comics - all frankly improbable or even silly, yet realism be damned!

I don't think James Gunn was being lazy here - I think he was being responsible w/ the entire future of the WB/DC franchise, and his career. His broader/wackier instincts were put to outstanding use in the original GOTG (a smash hit) and THE SUICIDE SQUAD (a critical hit but widely considered a financial failure). I prefer that Gunn - apprentice to Lloyd Kaufman on TROMEO & JULIET. But I respect Gunn's ability to submerge some of the more overtly combative qualities of his filmmaking in favor of superficial homogeneity, while amping up some of his more significantly subversive leanings, which eventually are impossible to ignore.

I overheard the following complaint from a vendor at a recent comic convention: Why was Lex Luthor so angry instead of funny? While I can't think of one legitimate rationale for Luthor ever being "funny", his anger and unvarnished malice felt very apropos to me. I'll quote user "Reece" from Letterboxd here:
>>>so nice for a superhero movie villain to actually be evil and not just "bad guy because the movie says he is bad"...
This was exactly my response to the High Evolutionary from GOTG3 - easily the most actively despicable villain in any Avengersverse film I've seen. Gunn made me loathe him and desperately want to see him defeated and (more) punished/humiliated - as he does in SUPERMAN w/ Luthor and Vladimir Johnson or whatever the President of Boravia is named. This doesn't strike me as "lazy" on Gunn's part. He's striving to get viewers to connect emotionally, via onscreen dynamics that parallel ones IRL, in a genre that has become largely mechanical and indifferent.

A messianic Superman such as those in previous films and many comics might come up short in conflict w/ Gunn's antagonists. Instead we get David Corenswet in a passable performance as a very distinct and interesting Superman (as written). He's prone to anger and has acted rashly in the past, but he clearly cares about every last innocent living thing jeopardized by the mayhem he attracts. Lois mocks Clark Kent at one point for identifying as "punk" though the bands he claims to like are pedestrian, commercial pop-punk bands that Lois sneers at. Then back at Ma and Pa's place, in a couple understated moments, Lois realizes that young Clark Kent was a true believer - as punk as it probably got in Smallville, KS. Almost everyone on Earth hates him at that point and he'd be justified to stay home in bed. Instead he shrugs off his ubermensch destiny and goes toe-to-toe with the world's wealthiest and most powerful fascists to protect a bunch of raggedy-looking poor people. Ultimately Superman doesn't want to badly hurt anyone, even the baddest bad guys, but he'll stand aside taciturnly while Hawkgirl and Krypto work 'em over. I call this a massive improvement over WW84.......

4/5
I missed Uncle Lloyd's cameo this time but I'm confident he's in there somewhere.

[Rev. Powell]

THE TOXIC AVENGER (2023): Peter Dinklage (!) stars as the mild-mannered janitor who gets dumped into a vat of toxic waste, turning him into an avenging superhero, in this slick remake of the Tromatic 1984 classick. Unexpectedly, the comedy here largely misses the mark, but the film is peppy and energetic and honors the tradition of over-the-top gore, adding a fun pair of villains (Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood). I'm thinking folks here will like, not love, this one, although there will probably be those who think the whole project is sacrilege. 3/5.

[M.10rda]

THE TOXIC AVENGER (2023):

Was this sitting unreleased for two years? (I do remember hearing about it quite a ways back.)

[Rev. Powell]

THE TOXIC AVENGER (2023):

Was this sitting unreleased for two years? (I do remember hearing about it quite a ways back.)

Yes. It spent a year in festivals but then it sat for another full year.

[M.10rda]

Oy. That's a shame... still, I guess it could've disappeared onto streaming w/ no theatre run. Distribution is in such a weird place right now. Movies w/ huge stars make no impact on one platform... weird little flicks somehow occasionally get play on big screens... perhaps this is the last desperate spasm of movie theaters, but it's more interesting to me than the status quo from 10 years ago.......

[M.10rda]

IT IS UP TO US (2025):
On Saturday morning I enjoyed the privilege of attending the world premiere public screening of a new documentary produced by and featuring Stephen McKinley Henderson. It's on Letterboxd and credited to Steve as "Directed by", but there's no "Director" credit on the film proper. Instead Steve shares a "producer" credit with Stephen Rosenthal, who also co-hosts/narrates the film w/ SMH. Also, Letterboxd gets the title wrong! But anyway:
https://letterboxd.com/film/its-up-to-us/

I know that Rev. Powell recognizes Henderson, and you might, too, as he's co-starred in a Best Picture Oscar nominee during seven of the past fourteen years, which is a contemporary critical success record that might be shy of DiCaprio but seems on-par or better than that of Joaquin Phoenix (onscreen with Henderson in BEAU IS AFRAID, which wasn't a BP nominee) and definitely better than the generally retired Daniel Day-Lewis (onscreen with Henderson in LINCOLN, which of course was a BP nominee). Anyway, very humble brag, Steve Henderson still considers himself a resident of Buffalo, NY, and I've known him (and sometimes worked with or near him on theatre projects) since around the time his coolest screen credit was Lodge Kerrigan's KEANE, where he's in an extreme wide shot for about 45 seconds. 

Henderson and Rosenthal call IT IS UP TO US "a brief [feature-length] history of racism in America, with the hope of promoting equity." It's a documentary with the emphasis on "document", presenting a lot of historical evidence, through primary documents and contextualization from experts. If you don't live in "America" (as I realize some of us don't), it may be of limited or no interest to you... and for that matter, it may well be of limited or no interest to many Americans, at this utterly fractured and compromised moment in American history. The filmmakers don't appear too worried about winning over any who have already made up their minds that the United States has no history of racist sentiment or institutionalized behavior worth remembering (such as Tim Scott, Kristi Noem, and other more high-profile holders of current public office). The Stephens make no effort to offer equal time to the other side of the conversation (so to speak), as that Side currently enjoys the full support and endorsement of the Federal Government and isn't shy about promoting its perspective through official channels and executive orders. So, IT IS UP TO US definitely qualifies as propaganda, but propaganda needn't be a pack of lies... it can (and should, ideally!) be true and factually accurate, and to the best of my prior knowledge on the subject(s) and my ability to sniff out BS, IT IS UP TO US gets the facts right. Hey, if propaganda can be used for Evil and misinformation, why shouldn't it be used for education and Good?

Also of limited interest to many, I imagine: IIUTU uses Buffalo to exemplify many of its (accurate) claims. Both producers live in Buffalo and thus are familiar with the region and its problems, but in a larger context it's fair to say that Buffalo suffered from the 20th century policies of institutionalized racism as much as any other Northern U.S. city, including Detroit and Flint (with which several parallels are drawn). Buffalo was also the site of the racially and politically motivated 2022 Tops supermarket massacre, which is addressed in the film (and which occurred about half a mile from where I used to work).

I'll skip giving this one a score, since I am a bit impartial here. The producers requested written feedback after the show, which suggests they might also continue re-editing as they submit IIUTU to numerous festivals. I will say the film looks great (including highly effective use of slow zooms on speakers  ), the speakers themselves are highly compelling, and the project overall is "compelling" to the extent of sometimes feeling grueling, as suits the subject. Letterboxd says "120 minutes" but I think it was more like 105 and it flew by. Steve himself tells a couple stories from his childhood in Kansas City that I'd never heard before. Prior to the screening he said he hoped that IIUTU would outlive his other screen work. Clearly what Steve meant was that he hoped the factual history within the film would be preserved and would outlive the federal government's attempts to erase it. I guess I personally hope that Steve (who is 76) and I live to see a U.S. where this documentary seems rather quaint because every citizen acknowledges the material and works in small and large ways to address and resolve these issues.  That seems like a pipe dream, but good for Steve Henderson for taking action towards that objective.

[Rev. Powell]

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: A burnt-out former radical (Leonardo di Caprio) races to save his abducted daughter from a fascistic army colonel (Sean Penn). Tremendously entertaining, if at times excessively broad, satire based very loosely on a Thomas Pynchon novel. Contains more code words and secret passages than any other movie you'll see this year. 4.5/5.

[Rev. Powell]

DEMON SLAYER: INFINITY CASTLE: Scattered after being sucked into the Infinity Castle, the Demon Slayers face off against hordes of demons as they search for the elusive Muzan. Probably incomprehensible to newcomers to the series, this entry follows the usual formula of a series of duels interspersed with surprisingly tender backstories; the animation quality is top-notch and best experienced on the big screen. It is admittedly a bit too long at 2.5 hours. 3.5/5.