Better Man: The best musical of the year isn't Wicked and it sure as shit isn't Emilia Perez, it's a biopic about British pop singer Robbie Williams. Starting with the choice to portray Williams as a CGI monkey (it makes total sense narratively, but I'm not going to spoil why this is the case here), Better Man spices up the routine structure of a music biopic with some huge creative swings and having the huge luxury of a subject that is unafraid to look like a huge asshole or be truly vulnerable while telling their story on screen. Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) directs with a mixture of go-for-broke energy, gonzo surrealism and astounding technical prowess as he weaves a compelling speed run through Williams unlikely path to superstardom and the depression/substance abuse/infidelity/narcissism that caused him to completely lose his way once he got to the top. The musical numbers-which are seamlessly mixed into the story-are a particularly strong showcase for what Gracey and Williams wanted to do here as they are these consistently huge, elaborate sequences that are overflowing with style and precision that also manage to really drive home the emotional high and lows of the story. Seeing a music biopic that is so daring and carefully crafted is kind of a small miracle and I really hope that this will eventually find the audience that it failed to during its theatrical run.
Grade: B+
Den of Thieves 2: Pantera: Big Nick (Gerard Butler) and Donnie (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) are back in the big game heist saddle with Den of Thieves 2 and just like it's terrific predecessor, it's a new January movie classic. The embrace of a looser, sillier tone fits the European vacation vibe of the movie without losing sight of the unapologetic macho sleaze factor that made the original so appealing, having Butler's Big Nick switch from cop to thief is a genius choice that takes great advantage of the character's pervasive natural dirtbaggery and the combative frenemy chemistry he has with Jackson Jr. and writer/director Christan Gudegast once again crafts the hell out of the film's wildly tense heist/action sequences (the final shootout/car chase through the winding tunnels and oceanside roads of the France/Italy border is IMMENSE). A 3rd round with Big Nick, Donnie and co. would be a gift, especially given the absolutely fucking insane note that this one ends on.
Grade: B+
Wolf Man: Despite operating in similar territory as his excellent remake of The Invisible Man, Leigh Whannell's second trip to the Universal Monsters well didn't go nearly as smoothly as the first. What makes Wolf Man particularly frustrating is that it doesn't just have a good idea (following a car accident in the rural Oregon woods in which he is scratched by a mysterious creature, a man begins to rapidly transform into a violent monster- putting his wife and daughter in imminent danger) for a fresh spin on the classic werewolf tale, quite a bit of it really works. The gruesome practical effects along with the "infected" human/wolf hybrid monster design look awesome, the sound design is crunchy and visceral, and Whannell's signature stylistic flourishes are on full display as he regularly puts the viewer directly into the shoes of the shocking transformations that Christopher Abbott's character goes through as his entire perception of the world shifts to that of a wolf (thermal vision, growing of claws, loss of the ability to speak or understand human languages) via some inventive camerawork, shot selections and CGI use. Where Wolf Man goes wrong is in its clunky attempts to merge the creature horror with a domestic drama. The human elements of the story-which deals with generational trauma and how it can impact your behavior and ability to build healthy relationships for a lifetime-are really underdeveloped and since so much of the story is grounded in the pain of a family seeing someone they love become a monster and a man whose been fighting his whole life to become a better person succumb to the same demons that scarred him, it lacks any form of real emotional punch. It's pretty clear that the script needed a rewrite or two to get it where it needed to be, and it really sucks that it didn't happen because there is a really great movie buried in Wolf Man that's begging to be extracted from below its merely decent surface.
Grade: B-
Presence: Marketing Steven Soderbergh's Presence as a horror movie is a really odd choice by Neon. It is very explicitly a family drama that just happens to be told from the POV perspective of a ghost that haunts a house in New Jersey that was recently purchased by a family (Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday) that's in a state of serious personal turmoil. Despite its questionable genre billing, Presence is another admirably unique dice roll from Soderbergh. The way that film is shot and cut together gives the film a voyeuristic feel that provides an intimate look at the various dynamics that exist in this fractured family as they navigate some really major shit that threatens to tear them apart forever and the performances from all four leads are all chillingly authentic. Honestly, everything was going pretty great until its abrupt, ridiculous ending occurs and takes a huge dump on what preceded it. While I still would've been puzzled by it, I would've been much more willing to accept such a jarringly cartoonish ending to an otherwise pretty grounded movie if it didn't elect to suddenly abandon several key plot threads without even providing the viewer with a sincere opportunity to draw their own conclusions in the process. Vets like Soderbergh and screenwriter David Koepp pulling off something so lazy and poorly conceived is kind of shocking and it's what I'll ultimately associate Presence with above anything else.
Grade: B-
No comments:
Post a Comment