THE WEEKEND WARRIOR Sept. 1, 2023
KOREAN CINEMA’s GOLDEN DECADE, THE EQUALIZER 3, BOTTOMS, PERPETRATOR, BEATEN TO DEATH, FREMONT
It’s Labor Day weekend, so it’s officially the end of summer and the start of September, and really, everything changes at this point of the year with no more sure-things for a while*, studios shifting more towards awards fare, but there’s also a slew of sequels and horror movies coming out over the next couple months. (*Except for that Taylor Swift: The ERAS Tour that was just announced for October.)
If you want to know more about what’s opening in September, a great place to look is my monthly Gold Derby column on just that.
We’ll start this week with repertory stuff, but for good reason, because the wonderful Subway Cinema is running a terrific series called “Korean Cinema’s Golden Decade: the 1960s” up at Film at Lincoln Center, starting Sept. 1 and running through the 17th. Although Kim Ki-young’s The Housemaid has been a staple of repertory theaters in New York for the past few years, there’s a lot of stuff that I’ve never known about or that just flew under my radar. Kim Ki-young’s 1963 movie, Goryeojang, is one such movie that has played at the Metrograph a few times, but there’s a lot I would like to see if I wasn’t going out of town for the Toronto International Film Festival next week. You can see the full list of movies here, and I trust that Subway Cinema has picked some great ones.
The Paris has been closed for a few weeks for renovations but it’s coming back “BIGGER AND LOUDER” with a 70mm series that includes many films screened in Dolby Atmos for the first time in ages. It’s “Bigger and Louder” and “Big and Loud” series run over the course of September from Sept 1 through Sept 24, and some of the films showing this week include Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm, Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now: Final Cut in Dolby Atmos, Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm, Blade Runner: The Final Cut in Dolby Atmos, Baraka in 70mm, Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma in 70mm and in Atmos (two separate showings), and one I’m looking forward to, Jacques Tati’s Playtime in 70mm. The latter on Friday night is sold out and many of the others have sold a LOT of tickets, so you might have to wait and see some of these in later showings. Either way, the Paris is back, and it’s showing a lot of cool stuff around its regular Netflix offerings.
And of course, back at my local arthouse, September means a slew of new series, some that I don’t know much about, such as “Life in Film: A Babette Mangolte Retrospective,” “Paul Vecchiali, Producer,” and “It Takes a Village” – I know absolutely nada about any of the films in these series, and I guess I’ve just been lucky with the movies from Christian Slater, Kirsten Dunst, and F. Gary Gray they showed last month.
The other new series, “Close-Up: Films on Film” and “Animal Farm: Rabbits” are probably more in my wheelhouse. The former includes screenings of the musical Singin’ in the Rain (1952), my all-time favorite Robert Altman film, The Player (1992), starring Tim Robbins; and Jack Black’s Be Kind Rewind… and yes, I’ll be seeing all three of those over Labor Day weekend, thank you very much. Then, the latter series shows Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, Space Jam, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and Davis Lynch’s Inland Empire
Metrograph is also screening World on a Wire as part of its “Fassbinder Serials” series.
Film Forum has been showing Michael Roemer’s The Plot Against Harry (1969), and that should continue through the weekend. It’s also screening William Richert’s Winter Kills (1979), starring Jeff Bridges, John Huston, and Anthony Perkins, and that will continue, as will the 60th anniversary 4k restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt (1963). On Monday, Film Forum is screening Miss Sadie Thompson (1953) in 3D, starring Rita Hayworth, and I have no idea how I haven’t made it to its “A Deeper Look: Hollywood’s First 3-D Wave, 1953-1954” series yet. That continues through November.
Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring (2013) is playing as part of the IFC Center’s “The Red Eye” midnight series, while the thriller Jawbreaker is playing Friday and Saturday after midnight as part of the theater’s Staff Picks, as is Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993) (a 30th anniversary 4k restoration!), and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011).
Roxy is showing all of Madonna’s movies, including Who’s That Girl and Dick Tracy tonight, Evita on Friday and Sunday, as well as showing a 35mm print of Rio Bravo on Saturday and Sunday and the sports drama Vision Quest on Saturday.
As part of the ongoing “Real Rap: Hip Hop Stars on Screen,” MOMI is showing Eminem’s 8 Mile on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. The series “Infinite Beauty: Muslim and Menasa Identity Onscreen” will include screenings of My Beautiful Laundrette and Brick Lane on Saturday, as well as Bend It Like Beckham on Monday. They’re also doing a special The Wrong Guy Reunion Screening on Sunday with Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall, who is also in town to perform in Kevin MacDonald Superstar (A Rock Opera) at the Bell House with my pal John W from Late Cambrian as musical director and playing guitar and my other friend Jeremy Wein presenting it. (That’s tonight, which is sold out, and tomorrow, Sept. 1) Every afternoon this weekend (Saturday thought Monday), they’re showing LAIKA’s animated Kubo and the Two Strings as part of its “World of Animation” series. There’s also a tribute to Sinead O’Connor with the doc Nothing Compares and The Butcher Boy on Sunday. And just cause they have the screens, they’re showing the comedy classic, Airplane!, on Saturday evening.
Although I haven’t been including the Alamo in these repertory wrap-ups in recent months, I have to mention that the Alamo is using September to show a “Complete Kubrick” retrospective of the great Stanley Kubrick, which is exactly what it says with all of the master filmmaker’s works showed at a variety of locations. I’ve already seen most of the movies and unfortunately, the timing means I’ll be out of town for most of it AND many of the bigger movies like A Clockwork Orange have already sold out at my local Alamos, so you’ll just have to
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming i.e. the new movies hitting theaters this weekend…
THE EQUALIZER 3 (Sony)
I probably won’t have to explain what this movie is, because the number “3” in the title should be giveaway, but yes, Denzel Washington is indeed back as Robert McCall, and this time he’s in Southern Italy taking on the Camorra and terrorists with his typically violent methods. But also, he’s settling down in the seaside village of Altamonte where he’s welcomed in like a member of the community, though is RnR doesn’t last, as soon the Camorra finds him and starts terrorizing the people of Altamonte to get what they need out of the townspeople.
I generally can’t remember if I liked The Equalizer 2 as much as the original The Equalizer. I never saw either movie again, and I just didn’t have time to watch either of them before watching what’s being dubbed as the finale of a trilogy. I’m not sure I believe that, because with the character of Robert McCall, Washington has found his John Wick, and his partnership with director Antoine Fuqua seems to get better with each installment.
The film starts with a gory intro showing us a number of brutally murdered men, before we see Robert tied to a chair with a gun to his head, that doesn’t last long, nor does our imagination of what killed the dead men, since we see that in a gory flashback. Robert has messed with the wrong people, and he eventually ends up being taken down and begins the healing process through the kindness of a local doctor at a village. As McCall starts to heal, the ruthless local drug kingpin Vincent (Andrea Scarduzio), who might be involved with the earlier fracas, comes to Altamonte to set up a base there.
The first thing that really sets #3 apart from the previous movies is its much-needed change of setting, and the beautiful Italian landscapes gives Fuqua a chance to really show off that beautiful locale, thanks to having the great Robert Richardson behind the camera (who also shot last year’s Emancipation). The entire film looks fantastic, but it continues to be quite violent and gory, maybe more than the previous two movies.
When you watch a movie like The Equalizer 3, you immediately realize why Denzel Washington is such a massive box office superstar, having a real presence whenever he’s on screen and bringing even more charm to McCall this time than before. He even has a semi love interest this time, but that doesn’t really go anywhere. He’s eventually teamed with Dakota Fanning as a CIA analyst, although her scenes seem much clunkier, even if it’s nice to see this Man on Fire reunion nearly twenty years later. But the storytelling, with another great Richard Wenk script, is spot-on in setting up some of the climactic action in the final act.
Another thing that brings so much to this threequel is the score by Marcelo Zarvos, which uses such unique instrumentations to constantly keep the film sonically interesting, matching the visuals. (Zarvos also reunites with Fuqua after Emancipation.)
The Equalizer 3 might be too gory for the faint of heart, but there’s not much that can take away from how great Washington is in this role, and it would be a real shame if this is indeed his final time. This one just naturally works better than the previous installments thank to the change in scenery.
Rating: 7.5/10
BOTTOMS (MGM)
I saw this a few weeks ago at a members only screening at Metrograph, but I also saw it again at the Alamo, and I really enjoyed it, much more than Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby, which so many people have been raving about for years. (I watched it again more recently, and I still think it’s just good, not great.)
Bottoms is such a different film even with Rachel Sennott from Shiva Baby in one of the key roles (she also co-wrote it with Seligman!). Sennott plays PJ, who is plotting with her best friend Josie (Ayo Edebiri) for both of them to pop their lesbian cherry, hopefully with their cheerleader crushes Brittany and Isabel (Kaia Gerber, Havana Rose Liu), the latter who is dating the school’s star quarterback, Jeff (Nicholas Galitzine).
A few situations lead to Josie and PJ being brought to the principal, so they make up a story about them starting a self-defense club for the school’s female populace to protect themselves against any male that might come up on them. Their ulterior motion is to get close to some of the pretty cheerleaders they like, but it involves quite a bit of lying. Another key character is Ruby Cruz’s Hazel, who starts the rumor that her two friends spent the summer in juvie, which makes them somewhat legendary, and eventually they do get closer to the cheerleaders they lust after.
I generally love high school coming-of-age comedies and Bottoms fills well into the Superbad/Book Smart mold in terms of just having so many great characters and situations, but mostly Sennott and Edebiri (who apparently did a series on Comedy Central that I really want to see). If you think about those other two comedies I mentioned and how pivotal they were to the careers of those involved, Bottoms should help alot. There were some great comedic surprises like Marshawn Lynch (who wasn’t really familiar with) as the girls’ inappropriate teacher who agrees to be an advisor for what turns into a “fight club.” I was a bit mixed on Havana Rose Liu as Josie’s love interest.
If nothing else, Bottoms is a great showcase for what Seligman can do with more money, and it builds to an amazing (and quite bloody) climax that shows she can handle much bigger set pieces than anything in Shiva Baby.
Seligman’s latest is already looking to become a bit of a cult comedy favorite ala Heathers (which I just saw recently at Metrograph), and I can’t recommend this enough if you really want to laugh… a lot.
Rating: 8/10
THE BOX OFFICE CHART
The below are all four-day projections…
1. The Equalizer 3 (Sony) - $33.5 million N/A
2. Barbie (Warner Bros.) - $13.8 million -9%
3. Gran Turismo (Sony) - $10 million -43%
4. Blue Beetle (Warner Bros.) - $9.8 million -20%
5. Oppenheimer (Universal) - $6.2 million -21%
6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Paramount) - $5.8 million -21%
7. Strays (Universal) - $3.2 million -35%
8. Meg 2: The Trench (Warner Bros.) - $3.1 million -37%
9. Bottoms (MGM) - $2.5 million +520%
10. Retribution (Roadside Attractions) - $2.1 million -40%
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to watch much else this week due to other obligations, but there’s a bunch of stuff
PERPETRATOR (Shudder)
Jennifer (Knives and Skin) Reeder’s horror film involves a teen named Jonny (Kiah McKirnan), who begins to experience a change called the Forevering on her 18th birthday after being sent to live with her Aunt Hildie. When other girls at her school go missing, the now-feral Jonny goes after the Perpetrator. I missed this at the Tribeca Film Festival, but I really didn’t like Reeder’s previous film, and I through maybe 25 to 30 minutes of this, so probably won’t be reviewing.
BEATEN TO DEATH (Welcome Villain)
Sam Curtain’s thriller involves a guy named Jack (Thomas Roach) who is stranded in the idle of nowhere after a horrible assault, encountering the deranged locals who seem to want to make it harder for Jack to survive.
THE GOOD MOTHER (Vertical)
Miles Joris-Peyrafitte’s drama stars Hilary Swank as journalist Marissa Bennings who joins up with her estranged son’s pregnant girlfriend Paige (Olivia Cooke) to find out who killed him, discovering a world of corruption and drugs in the process.
MR. JIMMY (Abramorama)
This doc by Peter Michael Dowd (which premiered at SXSW way back in 2019!) looks at Japanese guitarist Ako Sakurai, who has dedicated his life to honoring the work of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page by recreating classic Zeppelin concerts in small Tokyo clubs.
ERNEST & CELESTINE: A TRIP TO GIBBERITIA (GKDS)
The sequel to the Oscar-nominated French animated feature Ernest & Celestine from 2012 marks their return to Ernest’s country to have his broken violin fixed, only to learn that music has been barred in that country.
FREMONT (Music Box Films)
The new film from Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali (Radio Dreams, Frontier Blues) follows Donya (Anaita Wali Zada), a lonely Afghan fortune factory workers, who gets promoted to writing the fortunes, something she uses to send messages out into the world. Oddly, this movie also stars Jeremy Allen White from The Bear and Greg Turkington. It opens at the IFC Center (with Jalali doing QnAs on Sunday, Sept. 3) in New York and L.A.’s Nuart Theater. (I’m actually going to go see this on Sunday evening.)
ONE PIECE (Netflix)
This new live action series based on the long-running anime series looks like it could be pretty cool, but it also looks very expensive, so we’ll see if it gets a second season. I haven’t watched the original anime at all, but I’m curious about this one, and it might get me to go back to watch some of them on Crunchyroll.
More movies out this weekend…
ALL FUN AND GAMES (Vertical)
THE MOUNTAIN (Strand Releasing)
ORCA (Blue Fox Entertainment)
NANDOR FODOR AND THE TALKING MONGOOSE (Saban Films/Paramount)
DON’T LOOK AWAY (Level 33)
Next week, it’s THE NUN II (Warner Bros.) vs. MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 (Focus Features) vs. JAWAN (Yash Raj Films), and I’m heading up to Toronto for TIFF, so hopefully I can write something, even though I won’t have seen any of the wide releases before doing so.