This weekend I caught four movies in a row at the theater and now my entire brain feels funny. Here’s what I saw:
The Wild Robot: At the bookstore I work at, we’re constantly selling copies of the 2016 novel by Peter Brown to kids so excited to read it that they’re bursting to get out of the store and bury their brains in the book. Now I get why. “The Wild Robot” tells the story of a helper robot named Rez who accidentally ends up in the forest trying to do things for animals that are only terrified and confused by her. Any film that tries to teach the youth lessons about non-violence and how to cultivate a peaceful existence is OK by me.
Smile 2: The first “Smile” was easily one of the spookiest movies I’ve seen in the last couple years, so maybe I was unrealistically excited for the new one, but I found the sequel to be a bit of a mixed bag. While writer/director Parker Finn has serious talent and is definitely trying to infuse modern, dread-soaked horror with a formalist Kubrickian vibe, he’s still so new as a filmmaker that the seams are showing in his influences. Fun in the moment, but ultimately nothing too memorable.
Venom-The Last Dance: This series has always been buoyed by astonishing talents (the first film was shot by the great cinematographer Matthew Libatique and scored by certified genius Ludwig Gรถransson, the second was directed by Gollum himself, Andy Serkis, and shot by Robert Richardson.) Nothing about the “Venom” movies seems to have earned this level of talent behind the camera. Too bad that level of talent was curated for the screenwriters who, led by Kelly Marcel, do a great job crafting a funny and charming relationship between Eddie Brock (Hardy) and his alien parasite (voiced by Hardy), but the stories they’re asked to participate in are ridiculous. Basically, I like these movies more than I actually respect them.
Heretic: Why hasn’t Hugh Grant been making creepy psychological thrillers for years? “Heretic” follows two young Mormon women (the flawless Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who visit an Englishman in his deceptively large home in an attempt to win him over to the church. What begins as a discussion between the three about the history of organized religion and its effects on society ends up slowly twisting into a dangerous game of cat, mouse and mouse. From the tightly written and unpredictable script to the three excellent central performances and the assured direction from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, “Heretic” is an absolute blast.
This article appears in Source Weekly November 14, 2024.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
