Up until now, I’ve enjoyed the Fast and Furious films for what they are: mindless action, yes, but always fun and exciting. Unfortunately that trend ends with Fast X, the latest in the series. And what’s worse, there’s another (supposed finale) coming. But let’s stick with this one first. There’s a new bad guy, Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), who is the son of the fifth film’s (Fast Five’s) bad guy, Hernan Reyes. When Hernan was killed in that film, Dante swore revenge, but he doesn’t just want to kill Dominic Toretto and his team of do-gooders: he wants to make Dominic suffer first. And since Dominic values family and friends above all else, those people become Dante’s targets. As in the past, this film delivers on the action, both in the car and with hand-to-hand fighting, but the action is idiotic at times, and that’s saying something for a franchise that asks you suspend belief in order to enjoy it. On past films, I was able to do that, but this movie ups the silliness factor to a place beyond the scale, to a point where incredulity takes over. Add to this a gluttonous-sized cast that has grown to an unsustainable number; it’s to the point that a character shows up and I have to struggle to remember what film they were in, and what their backstory is. All of that I could forgive, if the movie was fun, but it wasn’t. And it’s never a good thing when an action movie becomes boring. ★
The Artifice Girl is probably the best movie that no one has seen, and I can’t speak highly enough about it. It is a super low budget film with a handful of actors you’ve never seen/heard of, but don’t let that deter you; it is one of the most thought-provoking movies I’ve seen in a very long time. It begins in an interrogation room, where a man, Gareth, is being grilled by a couple of investigators named Amos and Deena. The two aren’t cops, but we don’t know exactly who they are in the beginning, only that they’ve been hunting Gareth for awhile now. When they present evidence that they know who he is, a man involved with enticing online sexual predators, Gareth finally comes clean: yes, he is a man who has been entrapping predators and secretly turning them in to the authorities. Amos and Deena are most interested in the girl Gareth has been using to lure the predators, but Gareth has a surprise for them: the girl, Cherry, isn’t a girl at all. She/it is an A.I., a program built that can render itself in real time to appear to be a young pre-teen in front of a webcam, tempting would-be creepsters into outing themselves. Over the course of the rest of the movie, which takes place over decades, all kinds of ethical ideas and issues are raised, as “Cherry” grows far outside of the confines of her original programing. I remember how I felt after watching Alex Garland’s groundbreaking Ex Machina, and while that film had a decent budget and featured some strong visuals that this movie does not, it had the same kind of exploratory ideas that left you thinking long after the movie ended. The Artifice Girl is 95% dialogue, with no real action to speak of, but it is dialogue that is timely for today, and will stimulate the mind and leave a lasting impression. ★★★★★
The Night of the 12th is a French mystery/police drama about the case of a woman who was attacked coming home from a party in 2016 (a fictional film about a real event). Clara was walking home around 3am when a man came up to her, sprayed her with a flammable liquid, and threw a lighter at her, engulfing her in flames. She died quickly, but afterwards, the case went unsolved. The film follows the investigating team as they track down and interview a series of suspects over a period of 3 years, mostly old boyfriends. Clara had a taste for bad boys, so while none of the men are upstanding citizens, they each have rock solid alibis for the night of the 12th. The film flat out tells the viewer in the beginning that France has a high percentage of unsolved murders every year, so I’m not giving anything away when I say that if you are hoping for a resolution to Clara’s case, prepare to be disappointed. The case’s solving is not the story here, it is the frustrations that come with being unable to find closure, for both Clara’s parents and friends, as well as for the cops striving to find justice. A very good film, as long as you are a fan of the path and not necessarily the goal. ★★★
Gerard Butler usually delivers when it comes to action films, his bread and butter. Even when critics disagree, I often enjoy them. But not this time. In Kandahar, he plays Tom Harris, a freelance mercenary who usually works with “the good guys.” His latest mission has him in Iran working for the CIA, where he is able to infiltrate their nuclear program, giving the CIA access so that they are able to cause a meltdown of the facility. Afterwards, he takes up another mission to Afghanistan, but before he can complete the mission there, his cover is blown. A Pentagon whistleblower has outed CIA missions in the area, including his last one, and the world has his picture plastered on every TV screen. Now Tom has to find a way out of the region, with both Iran’s intelligence forces and the Taliban hot on his heels. The action sequences are still good, don’t get me wrong, but there’s not enough of them for a Butler film, especially in the first half, and despite the setup of all this political intrigue between various nations in the middle east, the movie devolves into Tom just killing one bad guy at a time. They can’t all be winners, Gerard. ★½
The Starling Girl is a coming-of-age movie in a rarely explored setting. Jem Starling is a typical 17 year old girl with raging hormones, but she is taught to suppress everything by her devout parents in their Christian fundamentalist church group. Jem is very devout too, making sure that her dance performances in church give glory to God rather than to herself, and crying with shame one day when someone points out that her bra can be seen through her shirt. Things start unraveling for her though, first at home, when her Dad’s old friend dies from suicide and her Dad starts drinking again, a habit he had kicked before Jem was born. Then, Jem starts finding herself attracted to Owen, the pastor’s oldest son, who is recently returned with his wife from a mission trip to Puerto Rico. Owen has come back with new ideas, and is less beholden to his father the pastor’s doctrines. As a viewer, we see immediately that Owen is showing predatory moves towards Jem, but as an impressionable and innocent young woman, she falls head over heals “in love.” It’s a tightrope that no one can balance forever, and it isn’t long before Jem and Owen are found out, and everything comes crashing down. Very well acted film, especially from Eliza Scanlen as Jem. Scanlen was the fourth March sister in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 version of Little Women, and while she had a big role in that film, the other sisters were heaver hitters Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, and Florence Pugh; easy to get lost in that all-star group. Here, she has the film to herself, and shines. ★★★½
- TV series recently watched: Star Trek Strange New Worlds (season 2, The Last of Us (season 1), Black Bird (series), The Patient (series), Secret Invasion (series)
- Book currently reading: Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Jons Movie Takes 