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Everyday People

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The Lost Bus

by George Wolf

Paul Greengrass loves him a true survival story. And with Captain Phillips, United 93, Bloody Sunday and more, he’s shown great instincts for bringing those stories to the screen. That craftsmanship is on display again in The Lost Bus, a harrowing retelling of a heroic rescue from Northern California’s catastrophic Camp Fire that killed 85 people and destroyed ninety percent of a city’s homes in 2018.

Adapting Lizzie Johnson’s book, Greengrass and co – writer Brad Ingelsby get us up to speed early and effectively. The town of Paradise has not had rain for over 200 days, and the threat of wind gusts up to 90 mph bring multiple wildfire warnings.

Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey) is begging for extra shifts as a school bus driver, trying to keep his life together amid an aging mother (McConaughey’s mother Kay), a rebellious son (McConaughey’s son Levi), a disappointed ex-wife (Kimberli Flores), an impatient boss (Ashlie Atkinson) and a dying dog.

He’s also struggling with guilt after his father’s death, and it’s only McConaughey’s skill with grounding the character that keeps Kevin from collapsing under the strain of an overly tortured and reluctant hero.

A faulty power line ignites a small fire that quickly grows to overwhelm firefighters, and as evacuation panic sets in, a call goes out to any bus drivers able to rescue a group of stranded schoolchildren. McKay answers, picking up teacher Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera) and her class of 22 kids. The radios are out and the bus is unreachable, adding even more anxiety to the frightened parents waiting at a shelter.

Ferrera also does wonders with a broadly drawn character. She and McConaughey create effective snapshots of everyday heroes pushed to the brink, the perfect anchor for Greengrass’s frenzied shaky-cam plunge into the fire. What the effects team accomplishes with the mix of embers, wind and flame is just spectacular, and though none of the bus’s perilous moments surpass the white knuckle nerve-shredding of Sorcerer, just the fact that Greengrass can bring Friedkin’s classic to mind is a high-five in itself.

McKay and Ludwig certainly deserve plenty of those. And the bluntly titled The Lost Bus gives them their due in grand, appropriately no-nonsense fashion. Unimaginable circumstances bring on an unparalleled fight for survival, and heroes emerge. Hold on tight for a gripping ride, especially if you can catch this Apple TV release on the big screen.

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My Mind on Mega and Mega on My Mind

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Megadoc

by George Wolf

I saw Megalopolis when it debuted last year. I liked it, didn’t love it. It was a big, messy cinematic swing from Francis Ford Coppola, and even those who hated it – there were plenty – had to admire FFC’s commitment to a project that he started over thirty years prior.

Coppola put up his own fortune to get the film done, including selling a stake in his winery. And that meant Coppola answered only to Coppola, which adds a captivating element to Megadoc, Mike Figgis’s behind-the-scenes documentary on the chaotic production.

Coppola invited the veteran Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) on set, which gave him nearly unlimited access to cast and crew. FFC’s head butts with the difficult Shia LeBeouf are frequently captured, while the more calculated Adam Driver needs some time to feel comfortable with Figgis’s presence.

The first run at filming Megalopolis came in the early 2000s, and footage from those early table reads and green screen shoots with some different cast members are juxtaposed with current footage to hypnotic effect.

But the real attraction of Megadoc lies well beyond any movie star posturing or agent demands. We get an up-close look at Coppola’s broad creative process, and the conflicts that come from the famed director thinking of his passion project as “play, while they want to work at it.”

Half the crew walks out, actors question the director’s choices, while FFC often retreats to the isolation of a trailer where he can call the shots remotely. And Figgis is always there, sometimes abusing his privileges and becoming more of a proud participant than impartial observer.

And ironically, that ends up making Megadoc even more of a necessary bookend to Hearts of Darkness, Eleanor Coppola’s 1991 doc on the making of Apocalypse Now. Decades later, the frenzied director on the verge of losing it all has become a legend more than at peace with risking it all. That’s a fascinating transformation to observe, and any fan of filmmaking should embrace the chance to do it.

Outtakes

Scrolling in the Deep

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Swiped

by George Wolf

2012, what a time to be young and upwardly mobile. Barack Obama was re-elected, “Gangnam Style” seemed to burst from every speaker, and Facebook’s IPO made social media technology the new capitalist battleground.

But when we first meet a young Whitney Wolfe – the future founder of Bumble – she’s a whip-smart, idealistic young woman looking for a tech startup that would easily connect volunteers to orphanages in need. Hulu’s Swiped presents her shift into dating apps as a dizzying, formulaic ride through ambition, greed, traumatic harassment and well-earned triumph.

Lily James is perfect in the lead. Wolfe’s seduction by the rush of the tech boom, and by her quick rise up the ladder at the firm launching Twitter, seems authentic. Whitney is well aware of how male-dominated the tech industry is, and when she initially puts aside some micro aggressions for a continued belief in CEO Sean Rad (Ben Schnetzer), James gives Whitney enough layers to craft a sympathetic internal conflict.

Director and co-writer Rachel Lee Goldenberg (Unpregnant, 2020’s Valley Girl) strikes a tone and pace that can feel rushed among the recognizable time stamp. These online rules “were written by men,” and Twitter’s explosion at the Winter Olympics ushers in the era of toxic behavior and dick pics. Wolfe’s subsequent push for some app safeguards at the same time her relationship with a fellow Tinder founder (Jackson White) is crumbling makes her a target.

The abuse gets intense, and sexual harassment charges follow.

An NDA eventually signed by Wolfe (now Wolfe-Herd) meant she couldn’t directly consult on the film – and Goldenberg makes it clear she did indeed take creative license – but Swiped paints an effective big picture. Could it have dug deeper? Most definitely, but you never get the feeling that it wants to explore any of the larger “social commodity” issues confronted by Celine Song’s Materialists from earlier this year, or the intricate empire building of 2010’s seminal The Social Network.

The aim here is an entertaining streamer, one that will engage with energy and polish while it introduces you to a hero from the tech wars that you may not know. And though you really won’t know her after watching Swiped, you’ll get a version of her story that’s always watchable, just never a match for memorable social commentary.

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Again Tonight They’re Gonna Rock You Tonight

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Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

by George Wolf

In the 41 years since the iconic This Is Spinal Tap, the “mockumentary” approach has become so prevalent that even Christopher Guest (Best in Show, For Your Consideration, A Mighty Wind, etc.) admitted he doesn’t see much point in returning to the form he’s executed so brilliantly over the years.

The point of doing just that for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is clearly nostalgic fun, something the film manages just enough of to please longtime devotees.

Guest (David St. Hubbins) reunites with Michael McKean (Nigel Tufel), Harry Schearer (bassist Derek Smalls), and director Rob Reiner (director Marty DiBergi) to catch up with the Tap as they come together for the first time in 15 years.

It’s a logical catalyst for another mock, and a perfectly organic excuse to reach out to some famous drummers (settling on Valerie Franco as Didi Crockett), welcome some legends (Sir Paul, Sir Elton) and break out the classics. “Big Bottom,” “Bitch School,” “Cups and Cakes,” “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” and more are all still hilarious bangers, and the hit parade gets to the heart of what this movie does best: remind you how much you still love the first one.

This film feels more slight than usual, and the 82 minute running time is littered with brief reunions (Bobbi Fleckman, Artie Fufkin, Jeanine) and flashbacks to scenes from the original. It all seems a bit like the gang didn’t really have enough “A” material for a feature, but gave it a go for old times sake.

And for that sake, it works well enough. The “these go to eleven” and Stonehenge bits get well-played homages, Sir Elton is a gas and a few of the deadpan punchlines hit home. But if you’re expecting the elderly rock star bit to get the same level of inspired skewering the young rockers did four decades ago, forget it.

Tap II just plays the hits.

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The Cost of Doing Business

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The Man in My Basement

by George Wolf

You see Willem Dafoe is starring in a film called The Man in My Basement, and you suspect things could get freaky – in ways both hilarious and perverse. But if you’re at all familiar with Walter Mosley’s source novel, you know this basement business will deal in the bonds of history, the questions of philosophy and the responsibility of heritage.

The basement belongs to Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins), an African American man in Sag Harbor whose life is slowly unraveling. With his parents deceased, Charles lives alone in his ancestral home, surrounded by artifacts he only values for possible sale.

Unemployed, Charles spends his days drinking, gambling and aimlessly drifting through life. With no motivation or prospects, Charles has little hope of saving the house from foreclosure, until Anniston Bennet (Dafoe) shows up on his door with an unusual offer.

If Bennet can rent the basement of the house, he’ll pay Charles one thousand dollars a day for 65 days. And he’ll pay in cash. What luck.

But of course, once Bennet moves in, Charles begins to discover the strings attached to the offer, and director Nadia Latif – adapting the screenplay with Mosley – zeroes in on the psychological battle downstairs.

Hawkins is impressive, with an understated approach that lends valuable authenticity to Charles’s gradual awakening. Through conversations with Bennet, and his growing friendship with a local curator (Anna Diop), Charles begins to the see the world – and his place in it – in an important new light.

Bennet’s unusual charm seems effortless for Dafoe. Is he angel or devil? Teacher or student? Prisoner or warden? From the minute Bennet’s offer is accepted, you know there will be consequences, and Dafoe has little problem upping the ante with a persuasive intensity.

Latif’s defiant final shot lands more securely than the attempts to paint the film as more of a danger-filled thriller than it really is. Charles’s nightmares seem more tailored to beefing up the trailer than the narrative, ultimately adding to a frustrating superficiality that dulls the edges of otherwise compelling themes.

The meaningful weight is found in the back and forth between Charles and Bennet. Hawkins and Dafoe flesh out both similarities and differences, and how each man is changed from the encounter. It is in these moments that the film finds its voice, and you end up wanting to push aside the overt symbolism, hoping to find a little more boundary pushing.

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Say Yes to This

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Hamilton

by George Wolf

Five years after Hamilton hit streaming, who ever could have predicted its lesson of resisting a dictator would feel even more urgent?

I know, plenty of people. Still, after all the sold out performances, the Tony awards, the historical debates and a Pulitzer, the worldwide phenomenon that is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton finally comes to theaters.

Number one, if you’re somehow new to Hamilton, you’re going to discover what a fantastic show it is. But then the exhilarating nature of this movie is how well it translates the live theater experience to the big screen. And they are two totally different entertainment experiences, so what director Thomas Kail pulls off here is not easy.

The difference between seeing something live and feeling the energy exchange between cast and audience, as opposed to watching it on a screen where you’re removed from the human element of it, is often hard to overcome. (Remember Cats?) But Kail – who also directed the 2016 Broadway shows that were recorded for this film – has crafted a near perfect mix of spatial movement and character intimacy.

This original Broadway cast, including Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Jonathan Groff, Chris Jackson and even a pre-Oscar Ariana DuBose in the ensemble, is spectacular. Miranda’s sing-through soundtrack is littered with highlights from “My Shot”, “The Schuyler Sisters”, “Say No to This”, and “Helpless”, to “Satisfied”, “The Room Where It Happens”, “Burn” and King George’s delightfully mad trilogy.

The technical craftsmanship here never suffers a misstep. Kail makes sure we get close enough to see the sweat (and sometimes the spittle) on the actors’ faces, before pulling back to showcase choreography, set construction and the artful, hypnotic movement of the entire production. Jonah Moran’s editing is downright masterful, displaying a wonderful instinct for layering intimate moments and energetic flow.

And even more so today than when it first hit Disney+, the film reminds us how hard it was to birth this country. Of course Miranda took creative liberties, but time has only increased the weight of this lesson in the price of democracy, and the importance of fighting for it.

Half a decade later, Hamilton still stands as a high water mark for bringing a stage musical to the screen. It’s hard to imagine it being done any better.

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War Rooms

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The Roses

by George Wolf

If you’re anything like me, you’d pay to see Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch do anything from cranking up polka music to telling a story about a rucksack full of coke and a sword. Well, good news for both of us. They do all that and plenty more in The Roses, a fun and funny update of The War of the Roses from 36 years ago.

Director Jay Roach starts with a flashback (and some nifty de-aging) to give us the impulsive and passionate start to Theo (Cumberbatch) and Ivy’s (Colman) relationship. Ten years later and the married Brits have moved to California where he’s an architect, she’s a part-time culinary artist and they have two pre-teens.

Life is good, until the worst night of Theo’s professional life also gives Ivy a springboard to becoming a celebrity chef. Three more years go by, and she’s the jet-setting breadwinner while he’s staying home and raising the kids via a regimented, competitive style that Ivy always resented.

Colman and Cumberbatch are perfection, with an instant chemistry that lets the cracks in the marriage seem organic and relatable. Trouble is brewing, and it’s sensed by their group of friends Including Zoe Chao, Andy Samberg and a priceless Kate McKinnon as a woman not shy about awkwardly exploring social boundaries.

It’s all very clever and witty in an acerbic and oh-so-British sort of way, until screenwriter Tony McNamara adds some good ol’ American meanness to the mix. From then on, The Roses gets laugh-out-loud funny. McNamara (The Favourite, Poor Things) serves up a riotous contrast between the American and British ways of arguing, and this cast brilliantly turns his phrases into moments of joyful vitriol.

Then, for the push over the cliff, Alison Janney strolls in with a fire-breathing cameo as a brutal divorce lawyer, and the down-and-dirty battle we’ve been waiting for finally begins.

Anyone who remembers the original will appreciate the subtle twist of this war’s end. But The Roses has no trouble standing on its own. Sharply written, nicely paced and impeccably performed, it’s a winning adult comedy that finds big laughs inside some all too familiar modern foibles.

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Suspicious Minds

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Eden

by George Wolf

Eden tells a fascinating story. And it tells that story in a star-studded, well-crafted way that’s rarely dull, even when the weight of its melodrama gets heavy enough to be nearly undone by the film’s parting shot.

Director Ron Howard joins co-writer Noah Pink to recount a historical tale “inspired by the accounts of those who survived” as a parable of greed, power, suspicion and annoying neighbors.

“Democracy, Fascism, war. Repeat.” So yeah, still plenty timely.

In the years just after WW1, Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Jude Law) and his partner, Dore Strauch (Vanessa Kirby), left civilization for a hardscrabble existence on the Galapagos Island of Floreana. Convinced that mankind was finished, Ritter became determined to write a new philosophy that would save humanity from itself, and in pain…find salvation.

His writings were picked up by the occasional passing ship, eventually attracting quite a following among others looking for a new life. And that, of course, led to the very thing Ritter didn’t want on his island: more people.

Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Brühl), and his wife Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) arrive first, inspired by Ritter’s vision and hoping for a better climate for their son Harry’s (Jonathan Wittel) tuberculosis.

The Wittmers – especially Margaret – prove tougher than Ritter imagines, but the Baroness Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas, scene-stealing and never better) is a larger-than-life problem no one expected.

The Baroness arrives on Floreana with servants/lovers and a grand plan to build an ulta-exclusive hotel for the wealthiest of tourists. De Armas digs in, crafting her as a shameless narcissist, so ruthless and sociopathic that she’d be cartoonishly absurd if not for the gaslighting cult of personality we wake up to every day.

The entire cast shines. And like her or don’t, Sweeney continues to impress with another film that challenges her range and physicality (Margaret must fight off wild dogs and give birth alone…damn!) while eschewing any shades of empty pinup girl glamour.

The running time pushes well past 90 minutes, but Howard keeps things humming right along. The dangerous motives, shifting alliances and double crosses create an over the top, sometimes darkly funny concoction that pulls us in, fascinated by who will emerge the victor in this battle for the unhappy high ground.

And when the inevitable historical update arrives with the credits, we see footage of the actual people who fought this fight…and they’re laughing, smiling, waving! Like the surprising Maria Callas footage in last year’s Maria, you wonder where these happy people have been hiding the last two hours.

Bet they could have shed more light on what life was really like on the island of lost smiles.

But would they have been as much primal, pulpy fun?

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Feels Like Injustice

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The Knife

by George Wolf

Suspicion, fear, perception and manipulation all converge in The Knife, a briskly-paced thriller that examines action and consequence as it picks at the scabs of modern anxieties.

This is the feature debut as a director and co-writer (with Mark Duplass) for Nnamdi Asomugha, a former NFL star who began a second career in film shortly before his playing career ended in 2013. Asomugha also stars as Chris, a construction worker whose night – and maybe life – is quickly unraveling.

After some very late night flirting that gives us a warm and effective introduction to the characters, Chris and his wife Alex (Aja Naomi King) decide they’re just too damn tired for any sexy time. They’ve got three young kids in the house, and that morning alarm is coming way too soon.

But sleep has to wait thanks to some bumps in the night. Chris gets up to investigate, and finds a strange, haggard woman in his kitchen. By the time Alex arrives for backup, the old woman is unconscious on the floor with a knife nearby, and Chris doesn’t remember what happened.

Alex is plenty wary of inviting cops into the situation, but things could get worse if they don’t. So their “bad” neighborhood gets lit up with cruisers, and Detective Carlsen (Oscar winner Melissa Leo) arrives to ask some increasingly difficult questions.

There are issues raised about memory, medications in the house and whether or not that knife may have been tampered with. Asomugha and Duplass make sure these can seem justified, just as much as the interrogations feel escalated by assumption and profiling.

With a run time of barely 80 minutes, the most glaring weakness in The Knife is its lack of investment in a more satisfying payoff. The tension is relatable and relevant, with complexities of truth-gathering added organically until a nice little pot of motivational stew is boiling. It’s enough to make you eager for a memorable, world weary punch that never gets thrown.

Though it feels unfinished, Asomugha’s step up the film ladder is taut, self-contained and promising. The Knife may ultimately offer more questions than answers, but the conversations it could start are well worth having.

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You Gotta Live It Every Day

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East of Wall

by George Wolf

With a narrative structure that recalls The Florida Project and Nomandland among a few others, East of Wall immerses you in a way of life among the actual people who are living it. Buoyed by two veteran acting talents, a fiercely strong woman and her extended family become a testament to will and commitment.

In the Badlands of South Dakota, Tabitha Zimiga (as herself) runs a broken down ranch where she trains and sells horses, earning a reputation as a nearly unmatched horse whisperer. With tattoos, piercings, a half-shaven head and a take-no-shit attitude, Zimiga cuts an imposing figure. And after the death of her husband John a year ago, Tabitha’s intimidating nature helps her deal with a rowdy mother (Jennifer Ehle) and a houseful of seven teenagers – only some of which are her own.

One of those, Porshia Zimiga (as herself) is a barrel racing champ who helps her mother out come auction time, but the horses just aren’t bringing the prices they should be.

Big time rancher Roy Waters (the always welcome Scott McNairy) offers a way out: he’ll buy all of Tabitha’s 3,000 acres, with a promise that the family can stay. Maybe so, but their birthrite will be gone, and Tabitha has little problem sizing Roy up while she weighs his offer.

This is the feature debut for writer/director Kate Beecroft, and it’s crafted with loving tenacity that echoes the hardscrabble nature of these family bonds. The camerawork is intimate and assured, while Austin Shelton’s cinematography delivers beauty of horses and majesty of land in equal measure.

East of Wall is the type of film that should be sought out by those complaining about sequels and superheroes. It’s a sobering, no-frills story of strong women carving out a life of meaning and a place to call their own, told with an honesty that makes it hard to look away.