Quick takes on Promising Young Woman and other films

Driveways is a one of those nice, quiet movies that easily moves the audience through its subtleness. It follows a single mother and her son, Kathy and Cody, as they arrive to her sister’s house in quiet suburbia. Kathy’s sister has just died with no other family, so Kathy is there to sell the house. They’ve been estranged for many years, and to Kathy’s horror, she sees that her sister was a hoarder, and the house is packed. As Kathy and Cody being to clean it up, they get to know a couple of the the neighbors, and in particular, the ornery old man next door, Del. Cody’s always had a hard time making friends, but he makes an unlikely one in the form of Del. It’s a very human story about love and understanding, and interactions between people regardless of background or ideals. Very nice work from Hong Chau, young Lucas Jaye, and especially Brian Dennehy as Del. It was one of the acclaimed actor’s last roles; he died a month before the film’s release. ★★★½

Minor Premise is about a scientist messing with human memory, and using himself as the test subject. Building off his renowned father’s work in the field, Ethan has been mapping memories in the human brain and finding a way to show them on screen like it was recorded with a camera. He makes a breakthrough and is able to map 9 distinct aspects of the human mind, with the 10th being a “default,” carrying all 9 at the same time. By looking at a map of where the activity of each aspect is most prevalent in the brain, Ethan deduces which aspect is his logic or intelligence, and turns that aspect up for 1 hour, to see if he really is smarter for that time. Unfortunately in his loosey-goosey experiment, things do not go as planned. Ethan immediately starts having blackouts, and seems to only be aware of his surroundings for a 6 minute stretch every hour or so. With the help of his research partner and former girlfriend, Ali, they determine that each aspect of Ethan’s mind is getting control of his body for 6 minutes, and then another takes control. These aren’t multiple personalities, as it is still Ethan, just different aspects of his mind, with the other parts of his mind shut off, so they aren’t remembering what each other is doing. The strain is slowly but surely killing Ethan, and so the race is on to get him back to normal, before the more violent aspects of Ethan’s mind really get him into trouble. The film has a fascinating premise (hardy har), but in practice, it wasn’t as good as the idea. Long before the credits rolled, I had almost checked out, and just watched to see how it ended. The actors are rough too, which can sometimes be forgiven for a low budget film. It was nice to see Dana Ashbrook (Bobby Riggs from Twin Peaks!), but let’s face it, he’s not winning any awards either. ★★

I’ve seen most of Ang Lee’s films (so many good ones! But The Ice Storm is probably my favorite), but I’ve somehow always missed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was finally time to cross that off the list. The film centers around a handful of main characters in 19th century China. Li Mu Bai is a renowned swordsman looking to finally lay down his mythical sword Green Destiny, and retire. He’s bested every foe put in front of him except for “the one that got away:” the Jade Fox, an assassin who killed his master many years ago. Mu Bai’s heart belongs to Yu Shu Lien, but through a twist of fate, they never pursued a relationship. In this setting, the Jade Fox returns, with a new young pupil. This mystery girl is revealed pretty early in the film, and there’s a second love story involving her and a desert bandit. If it sounds a bit convoluted, it is, but the story isn’t what people talk about most when this film comes up; that praise is saved for the action sequences. The hand-to-hand battle scenes are spectacular even 20 years after the film was released, and from what I’ve read, very little CGI was used, mostly just to remove the suspension wires that allowed the fighters to fly through the air. They’re good enough that I found myself wanting to pause the movie and rewind just to re-watch them! It’s a high-octane action film with (just) enough heart to keep you intrigued when there’s no fighting going on. ★★★★

Character development? Nope. Deep, involved plot? Who needs it?! We get mindless action in Godzilla vs Kong. I didn’t expect outstanding cinema, but I enjoyed it for the same reason I enjoy the Fast and the Furious films: they know their audience, and they deliver the thrills. In this sequel to the newer Godzilla and Kong films, our two big titans meet up to go toe to toe, wrecking any planes, boats, or skyscrapers in their way. There’s a half-assed story about a big bad tech company trying to harness power to defeat these titans at their own game, but let’s be honest, if you are watching this movie, you aren’t quibbling over a little thing like plot holes. What’s weird about this movie is, it has a really strong cast, but they actually perform “down” to their roles, rather than lift them up. There’s more eye-roll worthy moments from the dialogue alone than I recall in any movie I’ve seen lately. But damn, I was entertained. ★★★½

I’ve been hearing about Promising Young Woman, and particularly Carey Mulligan in the lead, since it came out, and I’m just now finally getting a chance to see it. It’s a great film, about a woman whose life hasn’t turned out as she expected. 30-year-old Cassie once had a promising career path, but dropped out of med school years ago, and has been living with her parents while working in a coffee shop. For kicks, she dresses up sexy and goes to bars to get picked up, but those hookups never go the way the men want. She fakes being drunk until a man takes her to his place, and just when he starts to make his movie, she sobers up quickly, all in order to frighten the man into maybe not taking advantage of another girl in the future. All of this is due to the event that set her life off course in med school. At the time, her best friend Nina was raped by a guy at a party. With Nina’s reputation for being a bit loose, the guy claimed the sex was consensual, and everyone believed him, from the school to the authorities. Cassie is now getting even in the only way she knows how, that is, until she hears that the guy that raped her friend has moved back to the area. Cassie now has a much bigger goal than just scaring guys at bars. It is a fantastic film, and a stark lesson in the “me too” movement. There’s a lot of dialogue in the film that definitely makes you think, and Mulligan’s performance is indeed off the chain. The ending was a little too tidy for my tastes; for a messy film about a messy subject, the conclusion tied things up in too pretty of a bow, but still, this is a strong film with an important message. ★★★★½