Trap
A father and teen daughter attend a pop concert, where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.
I must give some credit to M. Night Shyamalan. He has broken himself out of director jail by really pushing himself by throwing whatever concept he thinks of at the wall and seeing if it sticks. It worked for Split and missed with Old, and 2024s Trap lies somewhere in between. From the atrocious and unnatural dialogue to contrived storytelling, it contains all the worst characteristics of Shyamalan. Yet, it somewhat works with Trap as it fully embraces this bad storytelling. Which ultimately creates a campy movie that is undoubtedly a fun mess. Josh Hartnett owns the screen as this deranged serial killer stuck in a concert. The script is terrible, yet Hartnett makes it work in his own way. If it weren’t for Hartnett, this movie would have fallen flat on its face. Overall, it is a bad movie, but it is hard not to have fun with it.
My Rating: B-
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Didi
In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what his family can’t teach him: how to skate, how to flirt, and how to love your mom.
Zillennials were you at because we finally have our own coming of age film. In this semi-autobiographical film, we witness the good, the bad, and the hormones of coming of age. From familial to romantic relationship, Didi fully explores the complicated side of forming relationships and finding yourself in a world that is constantly changing. Furthermore, it explores the struggles of growing up as an Asian-American. The struggles of trying to fit in suburban americana and your own cultural group is a struggle that many will relate to, even if you are not Asian-American. Performances across the board are outstanding. Writer and director Sean Wang makes a phenomenal debut here with Didi and I can’t wait to see what he makes next.
My Rating: A-
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Kneecap
When fate brings Belfast teacher JJ into the orbit of self-confessed ‘low life scum’ Naoise and Liam Og, the needle drops on a hip hop act like no other. Rapping in their native Irish, they lead a movement to save their mother tongue.
Kneecap is Ireland’s official Oscar submission for Best International Feature, and within the opening minutes, it is hard not to see why. From beginning to end, the film is a missive middle finger to England as it highlights one of the most important music groups to come out of Ireland in the past decade, Kneecap, an Irish-language rap group who uses their music to protest England’s occupation in Ireland and as a means to preserve the Irish language. The members of Kneecap play fictionalized versions of themselves, and to my surprise their performances are outstanding. None of them are professionally trained actors, which makes their performances all the more impressive. Furthermore, it is unapologetically politically incorrect and outright hysterical, with some of the best editing that I have seen all year. Even though, the film might be over stimulating at points, it is still an excellent film that should not be slept on.
My Rating: A-
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Blink Twice
When tech billionaire Slater King meets cocktail waitress Frida at his fundraising gala, he invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. As strange things start to happen, Frida questions her reality.
A good rule of thumb is don’t go to a private island with a bunch of people you don’t don’t. Blink Twice follows two best friends as they are invited to a billionaire’s private island. What starts off as a tropical paradise slowly turns into a nightmare. On paper, this is nothing particularly new and the film doesn’t really go beyond surface level thematic exploration. But in execution, Zoe Kravitz makes a strong directorial debut. From beginning to end you constantly feel a state of unrest and that is all due to Kravitz direction. The sound design, cinematography, editing, and overall direction constantly leaves you in an unsettling atmosphere in a tropical paradise.
The performances across the board are great, especially from Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, and Adria Arjona. However, with that praise this film does have a particularly weak script as it does have several glaring plot holes and lacks in internal logic. Furthermore, the ending is thematically convoluted, leaving many viewers with mixed reactions.
Overall, Blink Twice is a fun time. It may not be the best movie of the year, but it does show the potential of Zoe Kravitz.
My Rating: B
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Strange Darling
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Strange Darling is a subversive serial killer thriller that will challenge your views of this genre. The story is relatively straightforward, but told non-linearly over the course of six chapters. Each of these chapters subvert our expectations of the genre in a refreshing, albeit somewhat predictable manner. Despite this predictability the film is still a fun time. Willa Fitzgerald steals the screen with a star making performance as The Lady as she is both unpredictable and wildly charismatic. Overall, don’t overlook this small indie thriller.
My Rating: A-
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Alien: Romulus
Space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life-form in the universe while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station.
Alien: Romulus takes the Alien franchise back to its survival horror roots. From immersive production design to the practical effect of the Xenomorphs and Facehuggers, the franchise feels at home. Horror is where this franchise is at its best and Romulus fully realizes it with numerous scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The characters will never be as memorable as the original ensemble, but this ensemble gives a pretty good effort with Cailee Spaeny, and especially David Jonsson being the biggest standouts. However, despite this praise the film still runs into several problems. The characters are unbelievably stupid as they lack all survival instinct. To cover this up, the film relies on cheap fanservice. One of these cheap jabs left a terrible taste in my mouth as the film decided to resurrect an actor who sadly passed away a couple of years ago. This felt very disrespectful to the actor and cheapened the story and characters. Overall, Alien: Romulus is a solid entry into the Alien franchise that sadly hits several turbulences during take off.
My Rating: B
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Between the Temples
A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher reenters his life as his new adult bat mitzvah student.
Between the Temples is a small intimate drama about traversing grief and rediscovering your faith. This intimacy is explored through the relationship between a cantor and his former music teacher. What began as an awkward acquaintance, slowly turns into a meaningful relationship as both characters rediscover themselves. This evolving relationship is beautifully portrayed by Jason Shwartzman and Carol Kane, who have perfect chemistry with one another. However, this intimate drama is told in a manner that will offput many audience members. The editing is jarring, the dialogue between characters is annoying, and you will be feeling second hand embarrassment throughout the entire runtime. So overall, Between the Temples is not for everyone and it is far from perfect, but it is a fascinating character drama.
My Rating: B
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