Three movies I didn't review when they were brand spanking new but opinions don't have expiration dates so why not share 'em, anyway? 150 words on each because you're busy and I'm busy, too.
War for the Planet of the Apes
The freshest character in War for... is named “Bad Ape.” But really, who’s good? The final installment of the Apes reboot is, in essence, a war picture which means everyone is compromised. Yes, even noble Caesar (Andy Serkis) is tempted to do the wrong thing repeatedly. Bad Ape (Steve Zahn) gives the movie its only moments of levity but even those are pitiable, like the abused creature himself. The new film isn’t “fun” at all but proves a fitting capper to a surprisingly meaty trilogy. It’s a danger to interpret all current cinema in light of the apocalyptic choices of the US electorate of late but boy is this thing a compelling downer; you can argue that the final film is all about racism, evil lying fascists (Woody Harrelson), and the willful self-destructiveness of the human race. Let’s hope the series (if not our planet) wraps up right here. B
The Big Sick (reviewed in full by Lynn Lee previously)
Boy and Girl meet cute. They fall in love. Girl goes into a coma. What a fresh detour for “stakes” in a romantic comedy! Only the story of The Big Sick is true so no one was cynically trying to come up with a genre-revitalizing new hook. The film tells the true story of the medically-interrupted romance between comedian Kumail Nanjiani (playing himself but withholding a bit — this must have felt like crazy self-exposure whilst filming) and Emily V. Gordon (Zoe Kazan, sweet and flirtatiously vulnerable) who eventually married. The well-scripted dramedy is elevated considerably by Oscar-nomination calibre performances from Ray Romano and Holly Hunter as Emily’s terrified but feisty parents. Perhaps it’s not a great picture but, journeyman filmmaking aside, it’s a moving and satisfying romantic comedy… in other words, just what this oft-derided and all but dead genre needed. Go see it. B/B+
The Beguiled
It begins in a dream-like fog with a little girl in the woods collecting mushrooms, avoiding the poisoned ones. It’s like a fairy tale — a grim one, pun intended. The haunting sound design makes sure we hear distant cannon explosions but the war in the background (The Civil War) is a total abstraction. For this is, in all recognizable ways, a Sofia Coppola film, which means she’s completely irised out on lost heroines, whether they’re trapped in gilded cages or, in this case, run down boarding schools. Since nothing much happens in The Beguiled until the final half hour — the drama comes from Nicole Kidman’s deadpan gruesomeness, Kirsten Dunst’s melancholia (I can’t quit with the puns today), and Colin Farrell and Elle Fanning both doing something that we only hope isn’t self-parody already (it’s too early for that, guys!). Minor Coppola but the last 20 minutes is fire. [1st Half: C / 2nd half: B+]