I was the rare bird that enjoyed M Night Shyamalan’s Glass, as the conclusion to his superhero trilogy, but that was 4 years ago, and everyone can agree he’s had more misses than hits over the last 20 years (though his show Servant on Apple+ is quite good, especially the first season or two). Despite rough reviews for his newest film, Knock at the Cabin, I gave it a go. The results are as to be expected, though at least it avoids using a big “surprise” as Shyamalan is known to do. Eric and his husband Andrew have rented a secluded cabin for a vacation with their daughter Wen, but the quiet is shattered when they are visited by a quartet of people who break into the cabin and take the family hostage. The four visitors claim to be normal people, there for a purpose: strangers to each other until recently, they have each seen a vision of the end of the world and have been “told by God” that the only way to avert disaster is to come to this cabin on this day and convince the family of the world’s plight. If the family can agree to sacrifice one of their own, and kill the “lamb” on their own without help, the world will be saved. The family needs to decide quickly though: at specific times over the next 24 hours, one of the four captors will be killed by their own, which will signal a new calamity that will hit the world, i.e. Egypt’s plagues kind of calamity. Of course Eric and Andrew don’t believe them, but they don’t have an answer when the TV news reports crazy shit going down around the globe. This movie is neither scary nor thrilling, and really is just a hyped up drama (but low on drama). Mildly amusing at times, but honestly one of Shyamalan’s weakest efforts. ★★
The Other Tom is a film out of Mexico but is mostly in English, so don’t fret for those that don’t like reading subtitles! But you should fret if you are wanting a good movie, unfortunately. The brief synopsis online is that it is about a mom who refuses ADHD meds for her rambunctious son, but the movie is about a lot more than that. Unfortunately a lot more doesn’t mean a lot better. Tommy is disruptive in class and constantly in trouble, so a therapist recommends getting him on meds. Initially, Elena goes along with it, in hopes that Tommy can do better in school, and initially his grades do get better. However, he becomes withdrawn and depressed, and one day, jumps out of moving car while fighting with his mom. This “suicide attempt” causes people to point out to Elena that those meds Tommy is taking may have side effects that could be detrimental to his mental well being, and she takes him off them. This gets them back to square one. Throughout the movie too is Tommy’s insistence that he get to see his dead-beat dad, but Elena never has the money to make the trek to see him, and she’s not in a rush to even if she did have the cash. The dad hasn’t made an effort in years, and she doesn’t want Tommy to be disappointed. Which is funny because she spends much of the movie not being a very good mom herself. She’s condescending and harsh to Tommy, and has a giant chip on her shoulder, being abrasive and combative to every authority figure she comes across. Doesn’t get a lot of sympathy from the people she is asking for help, nor the viewer of the film. Some of that may be just the bad acting, and there’s a lot of that in this low budget film full of nobodies. The movie just rambles along without a clear direction, and ends as abruptly as most of its scenes. Not sure why the critics seem to be in love with this one. ★½
I really wanted to like Emily; as a period drama it has everything I would normally love, but while it is gorgeously filmed and beautifully told, I couldn’t quite get into it. The film takes facts we know of the Brontë family and weaves a fictional story about the life of the author of Wuthering Heights, which I have recently read for the first time (and loved). Emily is sort of the forgotten child in the family. Her dad has high hopes for eldest daughter Charlotte (who, as a docile and obedient girl, seems destined to fulfill her father’s dreams) as well as son Branwell (who is a free spirit, and continues to disappoint and shame the family). Emily is more like Branwell than Charlotte, but is able to time and again evade trouble. When a young, dashing clergyman named William comes to the area, Emily clashes with him over religion, but eventually the two start a relationship. William is enamored by Emily’s writing, which she does in secret sharing only with William and Branwell, but with William’s line of work, a public relationship is impossible, and does not end well. The film does a good job of showing the turmoil that Emily may have faced (may being the key, as it is a film of fiction) to drive her to write her one and only famous novel, but it didn’t draw me into Emily’s plight, as much as it tried. Perhaps it just caught me on a bad day. ★★½
Champions is a comedy starring Woody Harrelson as Marcus, a basketball coach with a once-promising career who can’t get out of his own way. After a confrontation with a player years ago, he’s been relegated to an assistant coach in an obscure developmental league in Iowa. He screws that up one day too when he shoves the head coach over a disagreement, and later that night, crashes his car while drunk. The judge forgoes jail time and sentences him to community service, as the local learning disabilities basketball team needs a coach. Marcus unwillingly takes to his new job, but along the way, the team will teach him a thing or two about life and relationships. Mildly funny at times, the film unfortunately is as paint-by-numbers as they come. There are absolutely zero surprises, to the point that I felt like I’d seen this movie a dozen times before. And it comes off as patronizing to the players on the team, people with real impairments. Purported to be lifting them up, they are merely tools for Marcus’s rehabilitation. Left me feeling a bit icky. ★½
I was hoping for something to save this set of reviews, so I turned to one of my favorite actors as a child. Still: A Michael J Fox Movie is a new documentary on Apple+, and for anyone who grew up watching TV and movies in the 80s and 90s, this is right up your alley. Out of the spotlight for quite awhile now due to Parkinson’s disease, Fox sits down for a series of interviews to relive his life, from his childhood up through when he came public with his disease in 1998. The movie has tons of clips of his roles during those years, as well as a few home movies, and it shows a lot of his life today: his struggles, his physical and emotional therapy, and his wrestling with everyday tasks. While he is very candid about the depression and alcoholism he went through after his diagnosis, today Fox displays the humor that we all remember from his films. There’s some sad moments, but Fox is quick to point out that he doesn’t want pity; he is unabashed that this is who he is. The title obviously has a double meaning: he points out early in the film that he couldn’t sit still when he is young, and he still can’t, for a different reason, now that he is older. But Still also means that he is still Michael J Fox. Watching this wonderful film, I don’t know how anyone could ever forget that. ★★★★½
- TV series recently watched: The Great (season 3), It’s Always Sunny (seasons 13-15), Tehran (season 1)
- Book currently reading: Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne
Jons Movie Takes 