Dumb Money: Does Dumb Money deliver on its expectation to serve as this generation's The Big Short? Sadly, no. Is it still a fun exploration of the GameStop short squeeze phenomenon spawned by finance YouTuber Roaring Kitty (played here by Paul Dano) and Reddit board /WallStreetBets that took a blowtorch to the way that hedge fund's conduct their business? Absolutely. Craig Gillespie's manic directorial style is a good fit for this David vs. Goliath tale that effectively pinballs back and forth between the perspectives of Kitty's trying to balance a normal life with his new baby, wife (Shailene Woodley) and family (Pete Davidson, Clancy Brown, Kate Burton) with his unintentional ascent to internet stardom and the unforeseen consequences that came with it, a handful of retail investors from all over the US (America Ferrera, Myha'la Herrold, Talia Ryder, Anthony Ramos) that Kitty inspired to buy GameStop stock, the hedge fund owners (Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Vincent D'Onofrio) that took a big financial beating from the GameStop short squeeze and the CEO's of popular financial app Robinhood (Sebastian Stan, Rushi Kota) that got caught in the crossfire between the two sides in this stock war without ever getting disjointed or overwhelming and Dano-getting the rare opportunity to play a regular guy-does a nice job of making Kitty an unlikely hero that's worth rallying around. The script definitely could've used another pass or two to add some more depth to the human arcs that are sitting underneath the meme stock mania and it's definitely not as funny as it hopes to be, but it's an easy, fun watch full of magnetic actors turning in good work that should connect with people.
Grade: B
It Lives Inside: Part supernatural creature horror, part earnest look at the plight of a first-generation American child of immigrants who doesn't belong anywhere, It Lives Inside is a generally effective genre hybrid. The shame, isolation and confusion that comes with the struggle to assimilate to American life as well embrace the culture of your family's homeland (in this case, India) is portrayed in vivid, uncomfortable detail, the Hindu/Buddhist deity the Pishacha, a shape-shifting demon who is known for feeding off any negative energy, that terrorizes the film's characters is given a gradual buildup and reveal that is really well-handled, and star Megan Suri (Missing, Poker Face) continues her strong 2023 with a great lead performance that beautifully conveys the suffocating feelings of alienating pressure she's facing as tries to handle a slew of identity, self-esteem and relationship issues.
As well-crafted and engaging as much of It Lives Inside is, it's not really all that scary. While its eerie creature design, use of surprisingly gruesome imagery for a PG-13 movie and a shocking death scene that comes completely out of left field provide some fleeting freaky moments, writer/director Bishal Dutta struggles to build tension or deliver big jump scare-laden setpieces-which leaves the film in a uniquely precarious position where its approach to the genre simultaneously aggravates fans of cerebral, psychological horror and mainstream-friendly shockfests. If the scares had been there, Dutta could've cooked up something really special, but instead we're left with a solid little movie full of unfulfilled potential from a first-time filmmaker that doesn't have a complete handle on all the nuances of the gig quite yet.
Grade: B-
No One Will Save You: For much of its running time, No One Will Save You is a standout genre piece. Writer/director Brian Duffield keeps throwing curveballs without ever taking his foot off the gas as he explores an alien invasion from the perspective of an isolated young woman living alone (Kaitlyn Dever) on a farm who is woken up one night by an extraterrestrial break-in at her residence, its visual and auditory storytelling are exceptional as the film opts to portray the unknown, immediately life-altering terror of the invasion through sights and sounds rather than a conventional narrative with loads of exposition and Dever gives what just might be her most impressive film performance to-date as she consistently brings powerful, urgent emotion to the screen with almost zero dialogue or human scene partners.
What happens at the end of the film can only be described as a plane missing the runaway upon landing and ending up in a fucking cornfield. While Duffield's efforts to lean into a message of overcoming grief and how the darkest moments of a person's life don't always define their character are certainly admirable, they're delivered in such a muddled, puzzling fashion that they don't provide the big emotional crescendo he was hoping for. On top of that, the actions of the aliens in these waning moments are really hard to find a justification for given everything that preceded these events in the film-resulting in a deeply harmful string of WTF creative decisions will live in infamy in my stupid little head for the rest of time. As rough as the final act proves to be, No One Will Save You is otherwise so imaginative, suspenseful and compelling that it makes this Hulu project well worth a look.
Grade: B
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