Trying to take advantage of the AMC Stubbs membership and this unemployment free-time to catch more movies in theaters.
You may have (but probably didn’t) notice that I missed last week’s post. Sometimes when things are so slow I have trouble focusing on anything at all. Trying to keep myself up and active regardless of the current stagnation of the industry. I definitely know that I’m not alone here.
Anyhoo— Here are three June new releases and some of my thoughts!
Kinds of Kindness - Yorgos Lanthimos
Hmm. This film is a triptych, three mini-movies rolled into one. I loved The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite, and Poor Things, so I was super excited to see what it was all about after the Cannes press tour. I’m disappointed to say that I really struggled with this one. With my focus and my ability to connect.
The first story felt the strongest to me. It follows Plemons as he tries to fall back in good standing with his boss who dictates every aspect of his life. The pacing builds to a great final beat, and overall this story works well in a truncated short form.
In the second story, Plemons is a husband whose wife has returned from an accident as a marine biologist, but he doesn’t believe it’s really her. He tests her, leading to some great gags. But ultimately this whole short felt the weakest to me. It felt weird for the sake of being weird.
By the third story my patience was wearing, and thus made it feel like the story meandered. Thinking back on it, my issue with the third story, which follows Stone as a member of a water-loving-sex-cult as she hunts for a magical healer, is that it felt half-baked in this short-form and could have made the most viable as a stand alone 90 minute movie. But watching them in succession like this didn’t work for me.
All three of them together felt shapeless and redundant. I was really looking for the point to the whole movie, and sure there are reoccurring themes, but I really don’t know... Why do them in a triptych like this and not release them separately or as full films?
Stone, Plemons, and the supporting cast deliver top-notch performances as always. They totally understand the tone of the films. This almost emotionless, amateur style of performance takes a lot of skill, and I wish I could see behind the scenes of Lanthimos directing everyone to get to this “bad acting” cadence/delivery.
That being said: the co-star one-line roles really stood out to me. The audience laughed so hard at these moments of terrible acting/delivery, and it made me wonder: were these folks in on the joke or did Lanthimos purposefully cast people who couldn’t act? If that’s the case, that makes me feel bad for them, feels almost like bullying.
In addition to this style of performance, the script is also purposefully poorly written with clunky dialogue and pedantic beats. It almost seemed like it was written by AI. I get that this is the style Lanthimos was going for, but it just didn’t come together for me. Maybe if the whole cast had been more unknown it would have worked for me, but seeing a brilliant actor like Mamoudou Athie giving a terribly expositional line delivery just made me feel Hmmmm.
If you're a big fan of Lanthimos’ early work it will be worth checking out (I’m not familiar with these early movies). There are fun moments within this film, and I will see anything that Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are in. If you’re expecting a similar tone to Poor Things, you won’t find it here.
Thelma - Josh Margolin
Go see this movie. I have been telling everyone since I saw it at the Annapolis Film Festival earlier this year.
June Squibb is iconic in this; it follows her character Thelma as she attempts to track down the man who impersonated her grandson and scammed her.
It is amazing to see a 94 year old woman taking helm in an action-thriller movie, and the direction by Margolin is just perfect.
The film itself has silly and fun moments, but it never veers into the unbelievable. It remains grounded and real throughout. If Margolin had made the choice to use a stunt double or have Thelma in crazy unreasonable situations it wouldn’t have worked for me as well as it did. But seeing the “high-speed” chase in an electric scooter or the classic “room of lasers” type scene but done in an antiques store just totally nailed it for me.
Also this movie solidified Fred Hechinger as someone to watch going forward. His aloof gen-Z brother role in White Lotus was endearing, but this takes it to the next level. I hope whoever casts the Haymitch Hunger Games prequel saw my instagram story and casts him as a young Woody Harrelson.
And back to the fact that June Squibb is starring in an action movie at the age of 94. I mean come on. THIS IS WHAT WE WANT TO SEE. I can’t believe it took all these years for her to be given the opportunity to lead a movie. I just hope studios are taking note of what people are turning up to see in theaters.
It’s heartwarming, it’s hilarious. 10/10 no notes.
A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE - Michael Sarnoski
This is a prequel to A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place II, and I have to say I’m all for expanding the universe.
I’m a sucker for an end-of-days thriller and this hit all the marks for me.
To start: Lupita Nyong'o. Just such an incredible performer, and brought a real depth to this character and story. She plays a cancer patient in a hospice facility who is caught in the chaos of the alien invasion while on a day trip with several other patients.
I was curious to see what Joseph Quinn would get into after his breakout in Stranger Things. He totally nails this role for me; his performance is endearing and earnest, and like Lupita’s it never borders on the genre cliches. I think in other hands these roles and this movie wouldn’t have had the heart that these two actors brought.
There is also a cat named Frodo and he was so sweet and deserves to be nominated for his work. (Meow)
This feels like a slice of life amidst the chaos of the initial invasion. There are no plots to figure things out, or to win/defeat the invaders. It’s all about survival and companionship. And I honestly will keep going to see A Quiet Place movies if they continue to make them like this. Give me new cities and interesting characters; I don’t really care so much about continuing the story from A Quiet Place II or getting answers, I’m just in it for the jump scares and the tension.
I’m glad they got the tone right with this one; it could have easily gone into cliche territory but they kept it real and terrifying nonetheless. Would definitely recommend for a fun movie-going experience.