August movie reviews

In theaters:

THE GREEN KNIGHT

Well, this is definitely an A24 version of a medieval epic. Some people fucking loved this movie. I'm more in the middle on it. The cinematography is stellar, Dev Patel is a terrific lead, and Alicia Vikander is great as always (and super cute with short hair). But the middle third of this movie is especially boring and slow (I nodded off once or twice).

STILLWATER

Great movie, one of the year's best so far. Matt Damon is a US southerner in France trying to get his daughter out of prison. This could have gone the Taken route but it has so much more going on. It's part procedural, part mystery, part fish out of water, part romance even. It all works. I was particularly fond of the storyline involving Damon, the French woman who helps him out, and her adorable and charming daughter. I really got invested in this, to the point that there is a moment where you know things are about to turn bad and I got the biggest "oh no" feeling I've had at a movie in a long time. Damon is as good as he has ever been in a part that could have so easily gone cliche. The little French girl steals the movie. Only misstep is probably Abigail Breslin as Damon's daughter. She's not bad, but a better actress could have really made more out of that part.

NINE DAYS 

Another outstanding film, this one a true original. It takes place not in the afterlife, but in the beforelife. A group of candidates is put through a series of tests to determine which one of them gets to be born. This movie hits on so many different ideas that at times it can feel overstuffed, but most of it is terrific. You'd think this would come off as some kind of religious screed, but it feels incredibly sincere. I liked how the ensemble is mutli-cultural but they don't make any deal about it. Winston Duke (M'Baku) is the lead, and great, but there's also fabulous stuff here from Benedict Wong and the stunning Zazie Beetz. And like most great films it ends strong, with a dazzling final scene that feels really cathartic. 

JUNGLE CRUISE 

A perfectly serviceable version of what it wants to be. Nothing more. It clearly wants to be the new Pirates Of The Caribbean, and it's better than any of those sequels, but that's an extremely low bar. Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt turn on the star charm and keep it entertaining. 

FREE GUY

Ryan Reynolds is an NPC in a video game who decides he wants more. The movie is a stew of Wreck It Ralph, Ready Player One, and The Truman Show, with a little Lego Movie in there. Like Jungle Cruise this goes a long way on star charm. Reynolds can play this kind of affable doofus in his sleep. Jodie Comer owns this movie as both Reynolds sort of love interest and a real world character. I enjoyed basically everything in this movie that took place within the game world. But an awful lot takes place in the real world, including a fairly drippy romance, and a whole lot of Taika Waititi doing some seriously grating overacting as the bad guy video game boss. 

DON'T BREATHE 2

The first Don't Breathe was a decent.horror thriller, that featured Stephen Lang as a seriously.fucked up villain. This sequel also features Lang, and strangely.tries to present him as almost the hero of the movie, as if nobody watching will remember that he is a psychopath. He faces off with some seriously skeezy lowlifes, with a young girl caught in the middle. The movie isn't incompetently made, but it just sort of rehashes the home invasion plot, and makes far less use of the hook that Lang is blind. There's some nasty gore and a couple demented plot twists, but I was mostly bored. 

THE PROTEGE

It was about damn time that Maggie Q got her own action movie. And this movie delivers, even if it hardly breaks any new ground. Maggie is strikingly hot in this, and more than credible in the action. And her performance is pretty good too. Enjoyed her sparring with Michael Keaton, who is way too old for his.part, but the tradeoff means we get Keaton, so it's worth it. Sam Jackson is, well, Sam Jackson, but is better here than in Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard for sure. Sadly this made no money even by pandemic era standards, so a franchise this will not be. But hopefully Maggie gets another shot at an action lead. 

THE NIGHT HOUSE

Rebecca Hall is one of the most underrated actresses, and she really carries this movie, which was marketed as a horror movie but is more of a drama with flashes of horror. It's incredibly slow paced at times, but it also works better dramatically than if it had gone full horror.

RESPECT

This Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson takes 2 1/2 hours to basically just follow the biopic formula, offering nothing new to the genre. It has some unexpectedly sharp casting with Marlon Wayans and Marc Maron. And Hudson has evolved quite a bit as an actress since Dreamgirls (she is better here). It's worth watching just for her. 

CANDYMAN

Wasn't a fan at all of the older Candyman movies (I think I only saw the first one), so I would definitely say this is the best entry in the franchise. But despite having Jordan Peele's involvement this is nowhere near as good as Get Out or Us. Future The Marvels director Nia DaCosta made this, and she has a great eye, but I wasn't into this much. Performances are fine. Writing is fine. But it kind of passes over most of the chances to be a horror movie about police brutality. That stuff only gets in there at the cool ending. 

REMINISCENCE 

A big budget futuristic noir. Yeah this was always gonna lose money. I didn't think it was bad though. The world building is interesting. Hugh Jackman is always a strong anchor. There's some striking visuals. It never really gels together though. 

Everything else:

KATIE SAYS GOODBYE

Olivia Cooke is amazing in this as a poor small town waitress hoping to get out of town. She is saddled with an awful haircut but is still cute as hell, and creates such a sunny, warm character that the rather shockingly dark turn the last act of the movie takes is really wrenching (one scene in particular is just brutal to watch). 

A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK

Yeah I know, how dare I watch a Woody Allen movie. Well considering this may be the last film of his to ever be released in America I thought I'd check it out. It's nothing special, and Allen writing for a bunch of college kids feels off from the beginning. Really great performance though by Selena Gomez, whose ability to do deadpan humor has never been utilized so well.