I haven’t been to the movie theater in weeks (damn you, COVID), so this weekend I went to four flicks across Saturday and Sunday. I love the chaos of packing as many different movies into a short period of time as possible because I find that mainlining so many varied emotions and confronting myself with a multitude of cultures and unfamiliar experiences fills my mind in ways that teach me how to grow as a member of humanity. I’m not sure I gained something from each of the ones I watched, but I’m not sure I regret any of them, either. Let’s take a quick look at them.
“A Haunting In Venice:” As much as I thought the previous Kenneth Branagh Hercule Poirot films, “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Death on the Nile,” were entertaining but forgettable, I’ve still been looking forward to the third entry in the series, “A Haunting in Venice.” We don’t get these old fashioned, big-budget murder mysteries with giant casts and lush production values much anymore (aside from the far superior “Knives Out” franchise), so as long as Branagh keeps making them, I’ll keep going.
While “Haunting” adapts an entirely new tone of rain-soaked menace and possible supernatural horror across the watery byways of Venice, the mystery itself takes a backseat to the gorgeous visual language Branagh uses. Honestly, I think this is the strongest work he has done as a director since 1996’s “Hamlet,” as he packs “Haunting” with deliriously canted Dutch angles and a color palette drenched in mood and a texture to the locations, which completely stands in opposition to the green-screened falseness of “Death on the Nile.” While the mystery didn’t do much for me, I already want to see this again in IMAX to luxuriate in the actively astonishing visuals.
“The Nun II:” Whether you like “The Nun II” is dependent on how much you enjoy the rest of the movies in “The Conjuring” Universe. Across nine films and three separate franchises, the CU doesn’t really ever break formula; instead, each film bounces between jump scares combined with loud noises, everything stopping so a character can deliver the exposition about whatever lore is connected to that movie’s specific demon or ghost and then an extended climactic set piece where the creature is vanquished by the innocent yet flawed protagonists.
It’s cool. I like the formula and have greatly enjoyed some of the films in the “Conjuring” Universe (the original “Conjuring,” and “Annabelle: Creation,”) while thinking some were pretty terrible (the original “Annabelle” and “The Curse of La Llorona”). “The Nun II” is definitely (mother) superior to the first one, while still just being a fairly average horror movie. “The Pope’s Exorcist” was a much better Catholic horror film from earlier this year, simply due to the amazingly goofball Italian accent that Russell Crowe was attempting.
“Bottoms:” Just the concept of two high school lesbian nerds who start a fight club in order to hook up with some cheerleaders is pretty classic, but the cast is stacked with such a murderers’ row of talent that even when some jokes don’t land and the plot falters, the actors carry everything with gusto. Seriously, between the always incredible Rachel Sennott, the rising star of Ayo Edibiri, a film-stealing Ruby Cruz and the sneakily great Havana Rose Liu and Kaya Gerber, a huge swath of the future of Hollywood is loaded into this movie.
“Bottoms” is very funny, dark as hell and delightfully and unapologetically queer, which gives it a leg up over most high school comedies. Honestly, it’s probably the best satirical take on high school since “Heathers” and easily the smartest comedy set in high school since “Mean Girls.” “Bottoms” is definitely a future cult classic that has moments of greatness sprinkled throughout some weird tonal issues and some inconsistent plotting, but those seem like minor problems coming from a movie this purely entertaining.
“Jules:” There’s a melancholy sense of longing that belies the charm of “Jules” that I wasn’t quite expecting from the trailer. What is ostensibly a comedy about an elderly man befriending the alien that crash-lands in his yard is also a bittersweet ode to aging gracefully. While the film is fairly slight, the three central performances of Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtain and Harriet Sansom Harris are so well developed and three dimensional that we genuinely want them to have a happy ending along with their little silent alien they named Jules.
Aside from the film’s deep lovely humanism, it also excels in being an absurd and sweet comedy about an alien and senior citizens that is completely aimed at audiences who would normally avoid movies with UFOs like the plague. It’s basically an entry level sci-fi comedy for people who say they don’t like science fiction, and anything that can expand people’s minds and get them out of their comfort zones (even if it’s just a little bit) is OK with me.
This article appears in Source Weekly September 21, 2023.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
