A movie that is essentially exactly what I imagined it to be from its premise(ie - a more prestige take on Renaissance Man with Danny DeVito meets Shawshank Redemption). We follow a group of inmates at Sing Sing prison who find meaning through the RTA(Rehabilitation Through the Arts) program.
Along the way, we meet a motley crew of characters, lovably damaged. In particular, we have Colman Domingo as Divine G, the group's unofficial leader, booksmart and serious about theater, preparing…
Loose and funny showbiz/gangster movie hybrid where a Woody Allen stand-in David (John Cusack) plays a tortured playwright desperate to have his next play made. In a comic Faustian bargain, his producer casts a showgirl named Olive(Jennifer Tilly) the girlfriend of a known mobster(Joe Viterelli) in the play in a significant supporting role.
This alone provides enough comic juice to drive the film's farcical comedy. Olive struggling with the material that's somewhat outside of her untrained grasp provides some laughs…
Kind of shocked how little of this actually works. Bong Joon Ho's English language work always is a little broad and Gilliamesque. So I was expecting that tonal quality here. But Okja and Snowpiercer manage to function fundamentally as narratives with scenes and character beats that move with some degree of success.
Long chunks of this movie are just dead air that fail to deliver on narrative, emotion, or comedy. The satire is thin. The film possesses the silly tone(and…
A child with impossible powers washes up on the shore of an isolationist island community and transforms their entire way of being. When a complication threatens their new status quo, factions are created and toxic conflicts arise.
Part of the fun here is just jumping into this very slow burn and going on the ride. The ad materials for this movie suck, the poster makes it look like a Candyman spinoff. I'll say this contains notes of The Mist, Midnight Mass, Wicker Man, Lord of the Flies. It's also an unofficial Rectify reunion.
Tense, engaging, REALLY pushes your patience but mostly rewards it.
