Category Archives: New In Theaters

Reviews of what’s out now

New In Theaters

Won’t You Say You Love Me Too?

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Buddy

by Hope Madden

If you ever watched the old Barney & Friends TV show and worried that a big dinosaur who loses his temper could easily kill a bunch of children, well, you and Casper Kelly both.

Kelly’s been making goofy horror for years: Adult Swim Yule Log, “Fun Size” from V/H/S Halloween, the “Cheddar Goblin” bit in Mandy. (That last one is genius, let’s be honest.) With Buddy, he takes us into the make-believe world of a kids’ TV show, trapped probably somewhere in the 1990s, starring a big, fuzzy, orange unicorn.

Freckle faced Freddy (Delaney Quinn) is the first to notice that something seems wrong with Buddy. Just a minute ago, Buddy was helping Josh (Luke Speakman) realize that he really did want to dance. Even though Josh was pretty clear that he did not want to dance.

But where is Josh? And why is Josh’s book all covered in blood?

Kelly mines the unwholesome within the wholesome thanks in large part to committed set design and spot-on child performances. Plus the voice talent is nuts. Keegan-Michael Key is Buddy, Patton Oswalt does the voice of a backpack named Strappy, and Michael Shannon voices a Howdy Doody style marionette.

Make believe set-up in place, Buddy jumps from TV land into the real world just long enough to hint at a larger tale.

Here Topher Grace (essentially playing Topher Grace) and Cristin Milioti (wonderful) are raising their two sons, but Mom feels like something is off. Wrong. Missing.

Kelly, writing with Jamie King, understands how to subvert TV logic, whether sit-com or live-action kid stuff. His instincts in the land of make believe are especially on-point. There’s something unsettling about those shows, dating back to Mr. Rogers and those terrifying puppets. Or Captain Kangaroo. What was his deal?!

And Quinn guarantees you’ve emotionally invested, which is a rarity in such Midnight Movie fare. Kelly pushes the limits of the idea with a running time just over 90 minutes, but Buddy is a real unicorn. The film is clever, funny, gory, and surprisingly moving.

New In Theaters

On the Road Again and Again and Again

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It Ends

by George Wolf

Just in case Backrooms was too abstract about the anxieties plaguing Gen Z right now, It Ends arrives to hammer the point home more directly. Writer/director Alex Ullom’s feature debut is a well-constructed metaphor for a timely existential dread, with a slam-bang setup fueled by one early kickass jump scare.

Four twenty-something friends pile in a trusty four-door and head out. They’re laughing, talking and trusting their GPS until driver Tyler (Michael Cole) suspects that something doesn’t seem right.

He’s correct.

One wrong turn has trapped them on a never-ending backroad through the woods, where stopping for even a few minutes can be deadly. Don’t worry about the gas gauge, bathroom breaks or starvation, Ullom sees those questions coming. Instead, worry about how Tyler, Day (Akira Jackson), Fisher (Noah Toth) and James (Phinehas Yoon) will try to deconstruct this road trip rubric, and what they’ll learn as the miles add up.

If you’re thinking Exit 8, understandable, but that game offered a finish line that these drivers can only dream of.

They’re fresh out of college, and now they’re just facing an endless road of toil and frustration, managing a few fleeting moments of joy while they hang on to the hope that one day they might find salvation.

What kind of life is that?

Horror movies have always reflected generational fears, and this particular anxiety continues to resonate as an anchor for psychological torment. After that first act blast of terror, Ullom settles into a groove of introspection and gloom, with his four talented actors elevating a script that is a bit light on character development.

The important thing is, we believe these people are friends, and for the most part, their reactions to the situation (and, by extension, what it represents) seem genuine. The road only gets bumpy in act three, when Ullon seems desperate to reach a feature length runtime, spinning his wheels a bit before hitting us with his Rod Serling-esque finale.

It Ends still leaves a well-earned mark. It’s more proof that horror can be trusted to these talented young storytellers, and the future is looking scary good.

New In Theaters

Attention Frightened Shoppers

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Colony

by Hope Madden

Before filmmaker Yeon Sang-ho thrilled and devastated in equal measure with his 2016 zombie masterpiece Train to Busan, he scared us with its animated prequel (Seoul Station). The filmmaker book a break from the undead after the underwhelming Busan sequel Peninsula, turning to religious horror and crime thrillers.

And while his latest, Colony, is not technically a zombie movie because the ravenous hordes are not, in face, undead, you should still steer clear of their mouths.

Colony is sort of REC meets Dawn of the Dead, but with a hive mind, a little 28 Days Later, a touch of The Thing, and a lot of mucous.

Professor Se Jeong (Jun Ji-Hyun) attends a conference that detours to chaos when a disgruntled scientist unleashes a biochemical that mutates the affected into a zombie-like mob with a single consciousness. As SWAT quarantines the building, which is attached to a mall, Se Jeong must try to deliver Patient X to the rescue team for use as a vaccine against infection.

The film seems to have a lot on its mind: the surveillance state, contagion anxiety and lockdown trauma, disinformation and vaccines, even a very polite form of fascism. And at just over 2 hours, you’d think Colony might have mined those ideas a little more powerfully.

Instead, it hints at these, mainly borrowing pretty liberally from films that dug in deeper. Nor does Yeon develop the emotional connections that has me bawling every time I watch Busan, although solid performances help the characters draw your empathy.

Still, the filmmaker injects an intriguing element with the communication aspect—the infected being able to share information, even see what each other sees. And his precisely choreographed bloody, gory, gooey action mayhem is again on point.

Colony won’t shred your nerves or emotions the way Train to Busan did, but maybe it’s unfair to expect Yeon to meet that high water mark. It’s a mainly clever, well staged and quick paced action horror.  

New In Theaters

I’m Not Looney, I’m Just Drawn That Way

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Coyote vs. ACME

by Hope Madden

Three years after Warner Brothers shelved Coyote vs. ACME for a tax write off, the delightful live action/animation hybrid finally hits big screens this week.

My interest hardly needed nudging after last year’s surprisingly entertaining The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. The fact that Coyote vs. ACME is about a soulless corporation willing to sacrifice cartoons because of its greed only increased its appeal. I love a good “art imitates life” story.

And this one did not disappoint. Will Forte is Kevin Avery of the injury law firm Avery, Jones, and Maltese—the first of about a billion nods to the brain trust that created the nearly century-old Looney Tunes. Kevin makes a living helping cartoon characters settle disputes with ACME for a couple hundred per case of backfiring rocket skates, anvil incidents, and whatnot.

Then Wile E. Coyote walks into Kevin’s office with a bottomless knapsack full of whatnot and suddenly Kevin’s facing a case that might be bigger than he even wants to deal with.

Kevin’s nemesis, ACME Corp’s slick talking attorney Buddy Crane (John Cena), offers a sweet settlement, but Mr. Coyote’s having none of it.

Coyote vs. ACME delivers a classic legal thriller punctuated with laughs and loving nods to animated history. Director Dave Green and a writing team led by Samy Burch (May December) follow in Who Framed Roger Rabbit’s footsteps in more ways than one. The filmmakers’ Looney Tunes love runs deep, and their knack for sight gags is as on-point as their instincts with a David vs. Goliath storyline.

It’s a smart script, and Forte, Cena, and P.J. Byrne (as Cena’s assistant) are a riot. Coyote vs. ACME never aims for the heights of Roger Rabbit (which was, let’s be honest, essentially a brilliantly disguised Chinatown for a new generation), but it doesn’t try to.

Green’s film celebrates generations of animated history with love and skill while it tells a story that’s relevance is as timeless as the Looney Tunes.

New In Theaters

Trickery, Trees & Tomato Sauce

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The Magic Faraway Tree

by Hope Madden

“The magic of childhood is always forgot, but this is the story of one who did not.”

So begins The Magic Faraway Tree, director Ben Gregor’s fantasy about unplugging the family and rediscovering magic.

Tim Thompson (Andrew Garfield) is the one adult still searching for some joy, maybe even magic, for his family. When his wife Polly (Claire Foy) quits her corporate job (and the family immediately loses the corporate apartment and car), Tim has a grand idea. They’ll move to the country, live off the land and make pasta sauce.

Garfield’s a brilliant fit as the emotionally available dad, ready to make friends with a rooster and play Gregorian chants for his tomato plants. Tim and Polly’s kids fare less well without their devices, until they find a giant magic tree and make friends with the mainly friendly fae folk who live therein.

These folk include a fairy (Nicola Coughlan), a pixie (Hiran Abeysekera), and a saucepan man (Dustin Demri-Burns). What?

Writer Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2) adapts one of Enid Blyton’s beloved old books to tell a good story, but it’s caught in a trap. The fantastical elements are fun and brightly colored, but not nearly as interesting as the family drama.

This is partly a testament to the talent of the cast. Both Foy and Garfield are routinely wonderful but rarely does either get to play a loving parent and spouse finding silly ways to be with their family. Both seem to truly enjoy the work.

The child actors (Billie Gadsdon, Delilah Bennett-Cardy, and Phoenix Laroche) charm scene after scene. The crux of the drama falls on Bennett-Cardy, and she handles it beautifully.

Rebecca Ferguson, however, is criminally underused as the villainous Miss Snap. This is part of the trouble. The film gives more space to the non-magical side of the story, which leaves the magical portion feeling underfed.  

It’s unfortunate that Gregor couldn’t find a more whimsical balance for the film, or simply streamlined the fae adventure to a more precise, if smaller, supporting side plot. Instead, the family drama feels like a full film often weighed down by a shapeless, overly busy but under developed side quest.  

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Problem Child

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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

by Hope Madden

Don’t make the mistake of assuming Jane Schoenbrun’s new feature Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is a slasher. Or a slasher spoof. Or a satire about slashers.

It’s a sexual awakening brought about by Gillian Anderson. Obviously.

Up-and-coming (pun intended) queer filmmaker Kris (a wondrously vulnerable Hannah Einbinder) has been tapped to reboot a problematic slasher IP. She hopes to convince the Final Girl of the first installment, Billy (Anderson the Great), to return to cinema and star in the film. Turns out, Billy’s a recluse who bought and now lives in the camp from the original film. She hosts Kris for several days of movies, junk food, pot, and deeply sensuous slasher nerdery.

This is—and I say this with as much delight as possible—the nerdiest horror movie ever. How nerdy? The very second you hear yourself saying “that’s a split diopter,” Schoenbrun stand-in Kris says it out loud. When Kris apologizes for asking too personal a question of Billy, fearing it could be a #metoo violation, Billy replies, “I auditioned for The Burning. You know who made that, right?”

Nerds! And the best kind of nerds. Horror movie nerds! Sleepaway Camp trivia meets Friday the 13th nostalgia in a gloriously queer, brazenly shameless, wonderfully horny new horror film.

Like their last two features, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma concerns itself with transformation, identity, and horror. But Schoenbrun’s latest drops the dreamy melancholy of the previous films in favor of something tender, beautiful, and accepting.

The gender iconography littered across every scene finds its zenith in Little Death (that name!), the transgender marauder with a double-blade spear and an air vent helmet. (Honestly, if you haven’t read Carol J. Clover’s Men, Women, and Chain Saws, you should. Schoenbrun certainly has.)

TSADACM, like Schoenbrun’s last two films, is a gorgeous watercolor fever dream. It’s funny, incredibly bloody, and unabashedly in love with the aggressively sexual and sexually ambiguous slasher, no matter how problematic. Perhaps because it’s problematic.

The film is not just a wonderful walk through another person’s psyche, although it is that. It’s also a fascinating, deeply satisfying kick of a horror movie. You should go.  

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Kitchen Knives Out

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Tony

by George Wolf

Among other things, Tony is another reminder that we’d all be better off if everyone’s first job was in a restaurant. It certainly altered the course of Anthony Bourdain’s life, and director/co-writer Matt Johnson makes the most of focusing his biopic squarely in that one eventful summer of 1975.

“Tony” was 19 then, and by his own admission decades later in the Kitchen Confidential memoir, a narcissistic lout in need of a “good ass kicking.” The story of that BTA wakeup call makes for an entertaining coming-of-age tale full of humor, humanity and one righteous clambake.

Dominic Sessa is exceptional as the young Bourdain, who is so caught up in his future writing genius that he lies to everyone about the huge Vassar fellowship that he didn’t get. Following his crush Nancy (Emila Jones) to Provincetown, Mass., Tony is forced to earn his keep by washing dishes at The Flagship restaurant and sleeping in Chef’s (Antonio Banderas) hammock out back.

And so the education begins. While co-worker Sal (Tuner‘s Leo Woodall) schools him on the local women and party life, Chef’s gentle and patient influence nudges Tony to stop pretending and follow his passions.

Sessa, with his frantic hair and brooding intensity, makes the gradual transition frustrating, relatable and heartfelt. His chemistry with Banderas (in a performance perfectly suited for an Oscar nod) is warm and real, providing the film a reliable anchor that does not disappoint.

Johnson (Blackberry, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie) has been clear that he came to the project with little knowledge of the Bourdain brand. That helps the film avoid undue reverence, and lets Tony’s future accomplishments hang bittersweetly in the air, an unspoken but understood step in this character arc from lout to legend.

Because in the summer of 1975, Bourdain’s future could have taken many different paths. Though the end was tragic, Tony finds a messy, inspiration joy in the beginning, and in the subtle twists of fate that can change lives forever.

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Payback’s a Bee-yotch

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The Rivals of Amziah King

by George Wolf

Back in 2019, Andrew Patterson’s debut feature The Vast of Night was a welcome surprise. Meticulously crafted with a detailed throwback vibe and some snappy dialog, it got me excited for what Patterson had in store.

We finally get his second feature with The Rivals of Amziah King, and once again, I am charmed.

His timeline shifts to present day, and the setting moves from New Mexico to Oklahoma for an adventure filled with rousing roots music, the basics of beekeeping, a Southern Gothic mystery and one clever plan for revenge.

Matthew McConaughey is electric as Amziah King, a rural beekeeper, musician and all around character who’s asked to help find the rightful owner of twenty barrels full of stolen honey. But after some absurdist violence, a reconnection with his former foster daughter Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass in a captivating debut) and a memorable pot luck/jam session, King finds his own bee colony has been lifted.

Kateri’s affection for King as a father figure has never wavered over their years apart, and she commits herself to payback for the guilty party. And she’s pretty sure the trail will lead right to local tycoon Dob McCoy (Kurt Russell).

Patterson has a delightfully unique brand of storytelling, one that retains a youthful innocence no matter what adult themes are being juggled. His wordplay is fresh and often deadpan funny, and his camera can oscillate between fluidity and bits of slo-motion for effect.

Two films in, it’s clear Patterson is a skilled world-builder. And here, that world is a small Oklahoma community with many interconnected parts and memorable personalities. The parallels that Patterson draws with bee colonies are clear but not force-fed, and his wonderfully eclectic ensemble makes it a kick to follow them around.

Patterson seems to be enjoying the bigger canvas for his second film, with a few strands of excess and a 130-minute run time that does get a tad bloated when we reach some odes to Huck Finn in Act III. But it always feels in service of a big swing and a committed vision, and that will always bee easy to forgive.

Yes, bee.

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A Good Day to be Clean

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Union County

by George Wolf

Union County is an absolutely stunning feature debut from writer/director Adam Meeks. Expanding his short from 2020, Meeks delivers a film that feels like a persistent memory, one with a deceptively subtle grip not easy to shake.

Gripping performances from Will Poulter and Noah Centineo blend seamlessly with a supporting cast of predominantly non-professional actors, imbedding us within a rural Ohio community struggling to escape the opioid epidemic.

Cody Parsons (Poulter) and his brother Jack (Centineo) are both addicts, but they navigate the court-mandated drug rehabilitation program is strikingly different ways. Jack is upbeat and smiley, charming girls at a local bonfire with an aura of positivity. But Cody, from his first day in the 18-month program, is reserved and quietly intense.

The heart and soul of the recovery program – and of the film – is Annette (Annette Deao). She is a tireless anchor of hope for the addicts, picking up the phone at all hours and absorbing their anger and frustration with the patience of a sage who knows there can be better days ahead.

Meeks, an Ohio native, goes straight to the frontlines of this national crisis, but he is careful to show us more than the grim, barren landscapes that so often characterize the Midwest. From the blooming of greenery to the changes in wardrobe to the rebuilding of a wrecked car, Meeks finds understated metaphors that gracefully mirror the journeys in play. His pace is led by a compassion that never wavers, no matter the tragedy or roadblock.

Poulter, who has been compiling a litany of standout performances since his teens, has never been better. We feel Cody’s struggle even in his quietest moments. And when he finally allows himself enough joy to smile, Poulter makes it a moment of internalized triumph. It’s a towering, award-worthy performance.

With more limited screen time, Centineo finds the wayward, fractured heart of a man whose more frequent moments of celebration may be misplaced, given the never-ending road he’s traveling. Jack is the loose family cannon, but Centineo makes his relationship with Cody, and their cautious sister Kat (Emily Meade, also terrific), both sympathetic and heartbreaking. 

And Deao? She’s a revelation. As a fictionalized version of herself, Annette (who did study acting years before her current career) consistently grounds the film with the unwavering commitment to all those – like herself – who are a daily lifeline for their community members just struggling to see another one. One of the film’s most pivotal moments comes from Deao’s real experience in the program, and it’s just one reminder of the life-and-death work being done in these American trenches every single day. 

The struggle is indeed real, in rural Ohio and so many other areas like it. But the hope, the humanity and the steps forward are equally real. Union County doesn’t rest until you feel every bit of all of it, and feel thankful for the time you spent here. 

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Always Be Cookie-ing

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Cookie Queens

by George Wolf

Did you ever look at the girl selling you Thin Mints and think, “she’s going to be a Supreme Court justice some day?”

You might start, once you meet the youngsters of Cookie Queens, a triumphant look at goal setting, upselling and the fleeting years of girlhood.

Writer/director Alysha Nahmias travels to North Carolina, Texas and California to immerse us in the frenzied weeks of cookie season with four budding entrepreneurs. There’s Ara in San Diego, an impossibly cute and precocious 5-year-old who hopes to be strong enough to pull her own wagon of treats. 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth is in El Paso, practicing karate and trying to make sure her parents don’t have to skip a mortgage payment to pay for unsold cookies. Nikki is a 9-year-old in Chino, who has a family tradition to uphold while she’s chasing enough sales to earn a trip to Europe. And then there’s 12-year-old Olive, the future Supreme who sets sales records, schools her troop on upselling, and already frets about disparities in the relationship between management and labor.

With a week-by-week countdown and some helpful onscreen stats, Nahmias builds a subtle layer of sales tension while letting us glimpse how these girls, their families and friends are navigating life. It’s all endlessly engaging, full of inspiration, frustration and some way-too-early hints about the ways of the world.

We see older teenage sisters pine wistfully for the carefree days of youth, while those younger ones are already wondering about their purpose in life and learning that success can hinge on their appearance.

Yes, some parents can Cookie vicariously, but Cookie Queens never lets the focus stray from these wonderful young ladies. Even with all they are juggling during the height of selling season, their sparks of joy and enthusiasm can’t be denied.

And for us grown-ups, the film might make you sorry about the world we’re leaving these kids. But would I bet against them growing up and changing it?

Not a chance.