THE WEEKEND WARRIOR 3/29/24
IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS, DOGMAN, WICKED LITTLE LETTERS, LOUSY CARTER, AND MORE
Well, I had to take last week off ‘cause I had too many other obligation, but one of them was appearing on “Talking Pictures with Neil Rosen” which will air on PBS All-Arts on Friday, April 5, so I saw a few movies for that. This week, there’s only one new ultrawide release, Adam Wingard’s giant monster sequel, GODZILLA X KONG: A NEW EMPIRE (Warner Bros.), and that’s embargoed until Thursday at noon, so I’ve written a separate review for that, which may go live either before or after this column on Thursday. If it goes up after this column, I’ll put a link right here.
In case you’re unaware, this is Easter weekend, so schools are out on Good Friday (and many are already on spring break), so it’s going to be a busier than usual Friday and then things settle down more than usual on Easter weekend.
IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS (Samuel Goldwyn)
This movie was always supposed to get a wide release this weekend, but the studio decided to bide its time in reporting, and it is indeed going to open in 896 theaters, which may be enough to get into the top 10.
Directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert Lorenz, it stars Liam Neeson as Finbar Murphy, a man whose family was killed in an IRA bombing years earlier, and … he kills a few people, but it’s not revenge so much? He may be an assassin, but this plot and Neeson’s character are so vague that I honestly have no idea where to even begin with this movie, except that it takes place in Ireland in 1974? That’s pretty much it.
Mini-Review: If you’re looking for an extremely Irish movie this weekend and have already seen The Banshees of Inisherin, maybe you should just watch that one again. This movie, which tries so hard to ape the distinctive style of Martin McDonagh, while also being a typical Liam Neeson revenge thriller, just doesn’t work in either regard. As I mentioned above, I wasn’t even quite sure what I was watching, because Neeson’s character is a killer, but he doesn’t exactly do much killing. He seems to be dead-set against it, in fact, although he does kill a few people.
The comparisons to The Banshees of Inisherin are driven home with a role played by Kerry Condon, who curses up a storm as the film’s primary baddie, Doireann McCann, someone related to the IRA, that might be in hiding on this island? There are also a number of random goons, few with any real personality to set them apart from each other.
Lorenz previously directed Neeson in The Marksman, which I don’t remember being very good. This one is a little bit better, maybe? It’s hard to tell with a plot that just goes all over the place and never really grabs the viewer in any particular way.
I’ve seen a lot of great dramas and thrillers about the “Troubles,” but this is not one of them, and it’s kind of disappointing how there’s so much promise with the cast (which also includes Irish greats Ciaran Hinds and Colm Meaney), yet it just dodges and weaves around any sort of coherent plot, making most of it instantly forgettable. I had hopes this would be the movie that returns Neeson to some form of greatness, but that just wasn’t going to be.
Rating: 6/10
THE BOX OFFICE CHART
1. Godzilla x Kong: A New Empire (Warner Bros.) - $53.5 million N/A
2. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) - $20.5 million -55%
3. Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.) - $10.2 million -40%
4. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal) - $9.1 million -45%
5. Immaculate (NEON) - $2.6 million -51%
6. Arthur the King (Lionsgate) - $2.4 million -45%
7. Late Night with the Devil (IFC Films) - $1.4 million -50%
8. Imaginary (Lionsgate) - $1.3 million -53%
9. In the Land of Saints and Sinners (Samuel Goldwyn) - $1.2 million N/A
10. Loves Lies Bleeding (A24) - $900k -43%
DOGMAN (Briarcliff)
Caleb Landry Jones stars in the first Luc Besson-directed movie in many years – the French filmmaker was semi-cancelled due to a number of allegations, I think, which I believe were dropped? I honestly have no idea, but he was able to get another movie financed and made, so maybe things work differently in France*? Not that I mind as I’m generally a fan of Besson’s work, interviewed him many times, and DogMan is an interesting one. Jones plays Douglas, a man who has surrounded himself with dogs after a childhood of abuse that has left him in a wheelchair, though we also learn that he uses the dogs in a variety of crimes. This will get a limited release this weekend but then will expand into more theaters next Friday.
Mini-Review: Luc Besson has directed a number of straight-ahead action movies over the years, but he also sometimes goes into really strange directions, and that’s the case with DogMan, which probably works mainly because his star, Caleb Landry Jones, is so invested in going into such crazy places that it really makes this film quite entertaining.
There are aspects to DogMan that might make it seem like a straight-ahead action-thriller, other than Jones’ portrayal of Douglas that has elements of craziness on par with Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Joker. Maybe that’s what they were going for, or maybe that’s just where things landed, but it’s definitely a choice.
We meet Douglas as he’s discovered by cops in a truck full of dogs, and he ends up having to explain himself to a psychiatrist (Jojo T. Gibbs), and relays his life story to her. Probably the strangest part of the film comes when Douglas decides to break into crossdressing, taking on a gig as a female impersonator performing Edith Piaf. Oddly, this is where the movie got kind of strange and unusual and more interesting for me. (Oddly, there’s an upcoming movie called Boy Kills World that seems to be in a similar vein as this one, in terms of weirdness.)
I know I probably do say this a lot, but DogMan really won’t be for everyone, and in this case, I do mean it. There’s some great action that might appeal to some of Besson’s long-time fans, but they might be put off by some of the odder elements. For those just looking for a couple hours of unusual entertainment, Jones gives such a memorable performance, and then, of course, there are all those adorable dogs to drive things home.
Rating: 7.5/10
(*I may regret making this statement with a movie being released next week.)
WICKED LITTLE LETTERS (Sony Pictures Classics)
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley – who played the same woman in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter (and both received Oscar nominations for doing so!) – play neighbors in a small British village in the 1920s, who end up in a bit of a conflict when Colman’s character starts receiving rude letters from someone, the writer she believes to be her feisty foul-mouthed neighbor Rose. Then others in the village start getting their own rude letters, and it becomes a thing, as Rose is accused and even prosecuted.
Mini-Review: It’s hard to believe that a quaint British comedy like this one could actually have more obscenities than the saltiest of Scorsese flicks, but that is part of the charm of this film well-directed by Thea Sharrock, whose The One and Only Ivan for Disney I quite liked, despite it being sidelined by the pandemic.
Colman plays Edith Swan, part of a highly-religious family with a strict father (played by Tim Spall), who gets into a dispute with her feisty neighbor Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), who has such a foul mouth that when Edith starts receiving rude letters from someone, she assumes they’re from Rose. It’s not a premise one might think can sustain a whole movie, but one of other characters who bolsters the storytelling is Anjana Vasan’s Police Officer Gladys Moss, a rare female officer in those days who isn’t really given much room to investigate the mysterious letters.
I’m a fan of both Colman and Buckley, but I generally preferred Buckley’s sassy character to the stiff and prudish Colman, and there’s a certain point where you probably will figure out what is going on and where the letters are actually coming from. It’s not too groundbreaking in that respect, as far as its storytelling.
I’m not sure Wicked Little Letters will be for everyone – see? I said it again. I really need to get off this kick of mine – but it’s not a bad addition to the realm of British comedy, since it has such a different feel that’s far sassier than the norm.
Rating: 7.5/10
LOUSY CARTER (Magnolia)
David Krumholtz (who just starred in the Best Picture-winning Oppenheimer) stars in this new movie from Bob Byington, who directed a movie called Somebody Up There Likes Me a few years back that I became quite obsessed with. In this one, David plays the title character – yes, his name is “Lousy Carter,” a literary professor who finds out he only has a few months to live, so he decides he needs to focus on finishing his animated Nobokov film and maybe have an affair with a much-younger student (Luxy Banner). He’s also having an affair with the wife of his colleague and friend (Martin Starr), while another Oppenheimer star, Olivia Thirlby, plays Lousy’s ex-wife.
Mini-Review: I didn’t realize until after I watched this movie that it was directed by Byington, whose Somebody Up There Likes Me I happened to have a screener of in 2013 when I ended up in Ohio being treated for leukemia, and I ended up watching it repeatedly while high on a lot of cancer meds. It was so bizarre and strange that I ended up watching it over and over again, to this day unsure if I loved the movie or was just so high on meds that I would have liked anything. I guess we’ll never know since I have no idea where I put that screener, and Byington is now making movies like this one.
Lousy Carter is a different story, and the fact that the movie and character are named that is just asking for trouble when you make a movie as bad as this one. From jump, Krumholtz’s character is so unlikeable with a performance that barely gets the viewer invested in anything relating to his character. His whole relationship with Luxy Banner’s student is so cringe-inducing, which is shame, because she’s quite good, but even Martin Starr (Silicon Valley) can’t get a single laugh out of the movie as a staid fellow professor. Thirlby usually is better than this, but she’s given such a nothing character was Carter’s ex-wife, and most of the movie just relies heavily on Krumholtz, who gives such a blasé performance, there are very few scenes that can rise above that lousy performance (ha ha, see what I mean?)
That’s the other thing. If you’re going to make your main plot about a character who is dying, maybe don’t make that character so despicable and gross the viewer just can’t wait for them to die.
Lousy Carter is not particularly funny or clever or even strange. Instead, it’s an ill-conceived indie that tries so hard to be too smart for its own good and will likely end up alienating anyone who tries to get anything out of it.
Rating: 4.5/10
LA CHIMERA (NEON)
I’m not going to review the new movie from Alice Rohrwacher (Happy as Lazzaro), because like that movie, I wasn’t able to get through the whole thing. The fact is that I just don’t get her storytelling and filmmaking sense whatsoever even though this one at least stars fairly well-known stars in Josh O’Connor (The Crown) and Isabella Rosellini. I’m just not quite sure I can even describe the plot, which involves an archive hunter (played by O’Connor) and others trying to find items. I kind of tuned out after an hour and then kind of gave up on it. So that’s 0 for 2 for Rohrwacher.
Other movies out this week include….
ASPHALT CITY (Vertical/Roadside Attractions)
FAREWELL MR. HAFFMAN (Menemsha Films)
THE LISTENER (Vertical)
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (Netflix)
AGAINST ALL ENEMIES (Mighty Pictures)
NYC REPERTORY
The March series continue to roll along with “Bad Actress” screening Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1966) a few more times through April 4, but also Josephine Decker’s fantastic, Madeline’s Madeline (2018), and Midi Z’s #MeToo thriller Nina Wu (2019).
“Forever Young” will screen Wong Kar-wai’s As Tears Go By (1988) and Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971), the latter one of my all-time favorite movies.
The “Divine Intervention” series will screen Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire (1987) and Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice (1986) – boy, those rep theatrs really love Tarkovsky, huH?
The “Mad House or Mad World” offerings are Frederick Wiseman’s directorial debut Titicut Follies and Peter Brooks’ Marat/Sade, both from 1967, both screened in 35mm.
“Animal Farm: Pigs” will screen Jim Henson’s The Great Muppet Caper (1981), while “Also Starring… John Cazale” will screen The Deer Hunter (1978) a few times this weekend.
The last screening for “Remember Every Frame: Edited by Dede Allen” will be a Thursday afternoon screening of The Addams Family (1991).
Fireflies Press presents La Captive author Christine Smallwood, who will screen Chantal Akerman’s 2000 adaptation of her book, as well as Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), both on Saturday.
Film Forum will begin a run of a new 4k restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville’s crime noir, LE SAMOURAÏ (1967) on Friday, while Claude Sautet’s Classe Tous Risques (1960) and Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia (1983) have both been held over until Thursday, April 4. I know very little about those three movies but one movie I do know and absolutely LOVE is Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) which will play as part of “Film Forum Jr.” on Easter Sunday morning. I wish I could get over to see it, even though I’ve seen it on television a hundred times or more. It’s indeed a classic.
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook (2014) will be screening on Friday night as part of “Shadows of Change: Women and Horror in 2014” as will A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, Adam Wingard’s The Guest, and many more. 2014 really was a great year for horror, I guess. This weekend’s “Late Night Favorites” is an Anime classic, Satoshi Kon’s Paprika (2006), plus they’re showing the original 1999 The Blair Witch Project (as opposed to Wingard’s lame Blair Witch remake).
Friday afternoon will be a screening of Powell and Pressburger’s 1948 film The Red Shoes, plus Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1989) will play a couple times this weekend, ‘cause… Easter! They’ll also be screening Ang Lee’s terrific 1993 film, The Wedding Banquet a couple times.
The 1974 “Milestone Movies” series has a few more screenings through Thursday, but then the Paris is going straight into “Criss Cross: Highsmith and Zaillian On Screen” which seems like a bit of an eclectic mix of movies but will include 35mm screenings of Hitchcock’s Strangers On a Train (1951), Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011), Wim Wenders’ The American Friend (1977), Scorsese’s The Irishman (2019), Ridley Scott’s American Gangster (2007), and more… just a great bunch of movies over the next week that makes me wish I lived closer to this midtown theater.
As part of its ongoing 35mm series, the Village East will screen the Bill Murray comedy Stripes on Monday, April 1.
“The Long Strange Trips of Wojciech Jerzy” continues through Sunday, March 31, but I really don’t know enough about the Polish filmmaker to elaborate. Sorry.
That’s it for this week. Next week, it’s August, and there are a bunch of new movies, maybe even a few worth seeing?