Well, it’s a new year, and I’m not sure I’m fully satisfied with how the last year ended, mainly because I never got around to writing up my top 15 for the year. I may still do so, but I have so much in terms of deadlines to take care of over the next couple weeks, I’ll be shocked if I can keep this column going on any sort of regular basis.
If nothing else, this is a lighter week with only one new wide release and a couple limiteds, so we’ll see how much I can get through if I maintain the same two-hour rule that I did in the latter part of 2022
M3GAN (Universal)
There have been so many generously successful horror movies opening the year in the first weekend of January, that it seems like a given that a new movie from Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster would get a January launch, since it’s as good a time as any to try to get young moviegoers back into theaters.
The movie stars Allison Williams as Gemma, a brilliant robotics expert who works at the toy company Funki, and who has invented a life-like thinking android dubbed M3gan. Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw) just lost both her parents in a car accident, and in order to try to cheer her up, Gemma pairs Cady with M3gan, with the prime directive to protect Cady from physical and emotional harm. Things are going fine at first, but as Gemma is preparing a big presentation of what M3gan can do, the android has started to go rogue on her.
Co-written by Wan with Akela Cooper – who also co-wrote Wan’s last film, Malignant – this high-concept horror film is directed by Gerard Johnstone (Housebound), and it starts out well enough, but really takes some time before it gets into any of the horror promised. Williams does a good job holding things down, but many of the actors around her just don’t cut it, including young Violet McGraw who plays Cady as such a brat that you may have trouble feeling sorry for her having lost her parents. M3gan herself is portrayed by two actresses, one as her body (Amie Donald) and one as her voice (Jenna Davis), and that is quite a brilliant way of bringing the doll to life.
It’s not a movie without problems, though, and one of the big ones is how long the movie takes to get to anything resembling horror. Those looking for scares and horror might be disappointed by the movie’s watered-down PG-13 violence. There’s also some credibility issues in how Gemma is able to build M3gan from scratch in her home workshop, seemingly overnight. There’s also a number of awkwardly hilarious moments, like when M3gan starts singing to try to make Cady feel better. It’s pretty weird, and it happens a few times.
Sure, M3GAN is for the most part a modern-day upgrade of Child’s Play, but it also has a bit of The Terminator and even Westworld (the movie, not the show) mixed in, and there’s enough refreshing fun along the way that you can’t fully hate the movie.
Rating: 7/10
ALCARRÀS (Mubi)
Sadly, Spain’s submission for the Oscars didn’t make the shortlist a couple weeks back, but thanks to Mubi, Carla Simón’s family drama will still get a U.S. theatrical release at places like New York’s Quad Cinema and maybe a few other places. It revolves around a Catalan family of peach farmers whose land is being sold out from under them, adding to the growing problems they’ve been facing. This was quite an enjoyable film, mainly due to the cast of characters Ms. Simón pulled together, particularly the kids, who are so rambunctious that their joy while playing their fantasy games is quite infectious. As with the films of Almodovar, Ms. Simón also uses her film platform to deal with some political issues that affect Spanish farmers, but that doesn’t take away from the family dynamics that drive Alcarrás.
THE OLD WAY (Saban Films/Capstone Pictures)
Nicholas Cage stars in this Western from director Brett Donowho (Acts of Violence), in which Cage plays a gunslinger living with his daughter, who are plagued by the son of a man he murdered years earlier seeking revenge. Unfortunately, my ongoing problem with finding time to watch screeners has continued into 2023.
Oddly, this is also playing at the Quad Cinema.
1. Avatar: The Way of Water (20th Century/Disney) - $31 million -54%
2. M3GAN (Universal) - $22.5 million N/A
3. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) - $8.2 million -51%
4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Marvel/Disney) - $2.3 million -55%
5. I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Sony) - $1.9 million -51%
6. Babylon (Paramount) - $1.2 million -53%
7. Violent Night (Universal) - $900k - 55%
8. The Whale (A24) - $750k - 45%
9. The Fabelmans (Universal) - $600k -40%
10. The Menu (Searchlight Studios) - $550k - 47%
I’m going to try to bring back some of the New York repertory stuff, because honestly, there’s a lot of stuff coming up this month.
It’s pretty exciting to start a new year, especially with the amazing repertory series taking place at the Metrograph this month. There’s some really good stuff on the way. This week begins “Live by the Sword, Die by the Gun,” a series that features some classic Westerns and samurai movies. This weekend, they’re screening John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946) and Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 film, Django, which as you may have guessed, was a huge inspiration for Tarantino’s Django Unchained. “Also Starring… Joe Pesci” is exactly what it sounds like, and it kicks off with the comedy Easy Money (1983) and Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990). Both of these series extend throughout January. “Metrograph Presents A to Z” continues with Bong Joonho’s The Host (2006) and Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure (2014).
Screening a 4k restoration of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970) as well as a one-week program of James Baldwin Abroad.
Thursday night, Jordan Peele is bringing a 70mm print of his recent film Nope as part of his curated series “The Lost Rider: A Chronicle of Hollywood Sacrifice,” which will include an eclectic line-up including The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz, Stand by Me, and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
George Romero’s Land of the Dead is screening as part of the “Waverly Midnights: Midnights of the Living Dead” series.
Playing Steven Spielberg’s Amistad (1997) and Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtman’s Contract (1982) on Saturday, and the latter also on Sunday.
That’s it for this week. Next week I’m back in the studio so we’ll see if I have time to write something, though there are a bunch of new movies, including A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks; Plane, starring Gerard Butler and Mike Coulter; a remake of House Party from Warner Bros, and something called The Devil’s Conspiracy.