September Stew: A Haunting in Venice, The Inventor, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

September featured an assortment of random films at the movie theaters and so now here's an assortment of reviews for your perusal.

A Haunting in Venice: Apparently Kenneth Branagh has decided that all he is doing from here on out is Hercule Poirot movies. And frankly, I’m not mad about it. Are these movies works of art? No. But am I a massive Agatha Christie fan who enjoys any adaptations of her work and is pleasantly surprised at the set pieces Branagh conjures up for each new film? You betcha.

In this installment, writer Michael Green has adapted the novel, Hallowe'en Party, which is set in a quintessentially English village, and instead moved it to midnight at Venice. This film is absolutely *brimming* with ambiance. And yes, it's a typical Poirot murder mystery where someone will get killed and our Belgian detective must employ his little gray cells to figure out who the killer is. But there are a lot of mystical and fantastical elements at play as well, which make this quite a spooky movie. It isn't quite horror, but it certainly features a number of jump scares and an eerie score by Hildur Guonadottir that will keep you on your toes. 

Like the previous films, this is a stacked cast, featuring people like Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly, and Michelle Yeoh. They all look like they're having a whale of a time running around this creepy palazzo, trying not to get murdered, while a storm rages outside and Venice is flooding. It's a fun, creepy, entertaining film, and definitely one of your better options this weekend at the theater. 

The Inventor: I'll be honest, I watched this movie a few weeks ago and have already forgotten most of it. Which is not to say that it's bad, but I was sitting next to a very noisy family with young children, and as such it was a little hard to pay attention. Word of advice: while this is an animated film, it is probably too high-concept to keep a child entertained for 90 minutes. 

Directed by Jim Copobianco, this is a movie about Leonardo da Vinci (delightfully voiced by Stephen Fry) when he moved from Italy to France, and pursued a vision of designing the ideal city. It is gently funny but still informative, and would delight anyway who is into history, art, da Vinci, or just beautiful stop-motion animation in general. But it is also weirdly a musical. Which was very funny because Fry would just speak-sing his bits, while it turns out Daisy Ridley, who voices Princess Marguerite, has a rather lovely singing voice. Apart from that though, I can't say anything else really stood out. This is the kind of film that might be great to nap to during an afternoon because it is so soothing and beautiful. I know that's not much of an endorsement, but I know there are people for whom this is exactly the kind of thing they are seeking, so there you go! 

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3: Yes, I know, I was really scraping the barrel in my need to watch movies on the big screen this month. I'll say it right off the bat - this is not a good movie. But given that it is officially fall and it has been cold and rainy for a week, you might greatly enjoy escaping to the sunny climes of Greece for an hour and a half and getting hungry at the lashes of food featured in nearly every scene. But that's about it. 

Nia Vardalos still stars as Toula, but she also wrote and directed, and oof this script is a hot mess. It was honestly laughable how it would move from one scene to a completely unrelated next scene, and the dialogue felt like a kindergarten play. There are lots of little side-plots, none of which are remotely fleshed out, and they all get tied up neatly with a bow almost as soon as they are presented. Everyone looks like they are having a grand time, because they are in Greece after all, but other than that, this movie is so shoddy. But to be clear, it's bad in a bewildering way, not in a frustrating way. I didn't leave the theater feeling mad about wasting my time, I just left feeling very bemused about what the filmmakers were even thinking. Because again, there's nothing else to watch these days, and at least I got to vacation in Greece for a bit. So, the bar is already pretty low, and yet this film does not manage to clear it. Opa!

Bottoms: A New Kind of High School Movie

It's slim pickings at the movie theater right now, which is all the more reason you should run over to watch Bottoms. Directed by Emma Seligman (whose first feature, Shiva Baby, should be the first thing on your streaming watchlist if you haven't seen it already), this is a raucous film that heralds the evolution of the high school movie genre for our current generation. 

Rachel Sennott (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Seligman) and Ayo Edebiri star as PJ and Josie, two losers who are at the bottom of their high school's social hierarchy. They are both lesbians with crushes on Isabel and Brittany (Havana Rose Liu and Kaia Gerber), two pretty cheerleaders, and they simply do not have a shot. But then, a series of events transpire, and they come up with the idea of starting a self-defense class for the women of the school. They hope that Isabel and Brittany will join, of course, but turns out there are a lot of random girls in the school who want a taste of female empowerment. All of a sudden, they have a female fight club on their hands.

I would like to be clear, this movie is spectacularly dumb. But it is spectacularly dumb in the best way, the way that we love about all high school movies we harbor a nostalgic fondness for. The cast is wonderful, the friendships and heartbreak and unrequited love all feels earned and true, and there is oh so much adolescent queer angst. But also, there is a lot of over-the-top violence and bloodshed, and a diabolical plot with a rival high school that certainly escalates to extreme levels.

Bottoms is a thoroughly entertaining and raunchy ride that is almost exclusively about women and written and directed by women. The most significant male characters are the douchey quarterback, Jeff (played hilarious by Nicholas Galitzine, who was just playing a very prim and proper prince in Red, White & Royal Blue), and Mr. G, played by Marshawn Lynch, who does a wonderful job as the teacher who serves as the club's advisor and starts to get really into feminism as he learns more about the struggle to be a teenage girl. Also, this movie is only 88 minutes long and has a blooper reel over the end credits. Seriously, how could it not be worth your time? 

September Scams: BS High & Telemarketers

Are you in the mood for a very specific binge? Well, I've got two compelling scammer documentaries that you might want to dive into.

BS High: This is a fascinating movie about Roy Johnson, a man who essentially created a fake high school called Bishop Sycamore High that purported to be a football powerhouse. He recruited young athletes who didn't get football scholarships out of high school or were otherwise disenfranchised, and promised to prep them for a year to play at an elite level and get the notice of college recruiters so all their football dreams would come true.

As you can imagine, this is a terrible story about a con artist and the families he swindled. What's fascinating about it is that Johnson is the star of the documentary, willingly talking to the filmmakers about his scam, and displaying an almost pathological intensity to lie...but in an honest way? The man is an absolute piece of garbage, but you know what's worse? The fact that he got away with this whole scheme and didn't end up in jail. Because the things he did were deemed so nuts, that no one thought you even needed to write a law to say "hey, don't do that." 

This is a very American tale about football, hubris, lack of opportunity for disadvantaged youths, and the complete unwillingness of government bureaucracy to do anything to right a local wrong unless something is broadcast on television and gets a national spotlight. I can't promise you will feel good after watching this film, but it is certainly compelling viewing.

Telemarketers: This is a three-part documentary series that was filmed over the course of two decades by Sam Lipman-Stern, a man who worked at a New Jersey office of Civic Development Group (CDG), a telemarketing company. He joined CDG as a wayward teenager, a high-school dropout who needed a way to make money, and CDG was known as a place that would hire anyone as long as they could make sales. Sam started filming the shenanigans that went on at this inane office, a place that was the stuff of HR nightmares. Many of the employees were former prisoners or drug dealers, but Sam befriends a man named Pat Pespas. While Pat was a heroin addict, he was also an expert salesman and would rack up commissions daily even if he was almost falling asleep at his desk. But when Pat realizes that his calls and scripts where CDG purports to be fundraising for various charities feel bogus, he and Sam embark on an epic years-long investigation to discover just how deep this conspiracy goes.

The show is definitely shaggy and not terribly well-edited. Sam never quite made it as a filmmaker, and bits of footage are repetitive and cobbled together haphazardly. But the central tenet is still fascinating, a vast conspiracy between the police and telemarketing companies designed to fleece people (mostly elderly folks who are the only ones who answer their phones anymore, and immigrants who are terrified of the police) of money that ultimately goes to line the pockets of greedy businessmen. And as with BS High, this is yet another example of folks who get by without breaking any major laws and therefore periodically get a slap on the wrist before they just start the whole scheme up again under a new name.

Again, this is not a movie designed to make you feel good about anything that's going on, and again, it will leave you with plenty of distaste for the American political system and the bureaucracy that impedes the ability to actually protect citizens from scam artists. But the beautiful thing about both these movies is that you feel like they are going to get results simply because now these stories have been broadcast and lawmakers will be subject to the most motivating feeling of all...shame. So go ahead and watch Telemarketers. The more eyeballs we get on it, the closer we might be to shutting down these fraudsters for good. 

Comedy Binges: Jury Duty & Deadloch

Are you in need of a new show to binge through in one epic afternoon? Well I have two excellent suggestions for you. 

Jury Duty: The premise is simple - there's a man named Ronald who has been called in for jury duty. A film crew is present and he has been told that they are here to film a documentary about the jury duty process. Unbeknownst to Ronald, however, this is not a documentary, this is a set-up. He is the only regular person on this set. Everyone else -- the judge, the lawyers, the plaintiff, the defendant, and his fellow jury members -- are all actors. And for the next week, he is embroiled in a fake trial that has been fully scripted, with the only outlier being that the actors have no idea how Ronald will react to their shenanigans and will have to improvise accordingly. Oh also, one of the actors, is the very recognizable actor James Marsden, who plays "himself" except as a blowhard who keeps trying to get our of jury duty and puts Ronald into very compromising situations.

This show had the potential to be a prank show that mocked the unwitting Ronald. But what makes it so truly excellent is that the crew are committed to ensuring Ronald is the hero of the show. They let him drive decisions, and there is always a Plan A and a Plan B based on his reactions to ensure that if anything they do makes him feel bad, they immediately rectify the situation. Yes, he is put into some uncomfortable situations, but he rallies like a champ and over the course of jury duty, you can see how a true camaraderie builds between Ronald and the other actors because he is genuinely such a sweet and accommodating guy. 

Created by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, Jury Duty is a wonderful hybrid reality-sitcom with a lot of heart and humor. It is constantly funny and surprising, and the final episode, when all is revealed to Ronald, further emphasizes what a massively well-orchestrated show this is, where so many things could have gone wrong at any minute, but somehow miraculously didn't. This is a show unlike anything you've seen before, and it will thoroughly entertain you for eight short episodes. What are you waiting for?

Deadloch: Speaking of shows unlike anything you've seen before, strap in for an incredible gruesome Australian murder mystery that is somehow also insanely funny. Honestly, I do not know how the creators, Kate McCartney and Kate McLennon, developed the tone for this show, but it is absolutely remarkable how a show about a serial killer in a sleepy town in Tasmania where everyone has lots of angsty secrets also manages to be a hysterical comedy about a town that is overrun by a bunch of lesbians.

Yeah, this is a very queer show and it is spectacular. The senior sergeant of the local police station is Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and she is a very reserved and logical woman. Unfortunately, when the dead body shows up, management sends in Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami), an extremely brash detective from Darwin who is the polar opposite of Dulcie in terms of her approach to following police procedure. But of course, while this unlikely duo initially butt heads, soon enough they join forces to investigate this crime as the body count starts to go alarmingly high and the inhabitants of the entire town are spiraling out of control with doubt and suspicion.

There are plenty of red herrings, lots of personal drama, and I promise the resolution of the mystery is satisfying but somehow also elicits a wry chuckle as the killer and their motives tie back to this show's overall feminist, queer ethos. I love mysteries, I love feminists, and having a show where for eight episodes you watch two complicated but determined women solve a gruesome murder case despite all the obstacles thrown their way by cis het white dudes is a pure joy. And lest I forget, there is a whole other storyline on colonialism and the Aboriginal land that this town was built on in the first place. So yeah, Deadloch really checks all the boxes and is quite possibly going to be the best thing you binge all year. Get to it.

August Movies Part 2: Strays; Blue Beetle; Red, White & Royal Blue

August is winding down with a bit of a whimper in the movie department. However, there have still been some decent movies to watch in the theater or on streaming, so here are three suggestions for your upcoming weekend.

Strays: Directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Dan Perrault, this is the story of Reggie, a naive little dog who thinks his owner, Doug (Will Forte), is just playing a game with him where he throws a ball a long way, says Fetch, and then drives off, only to be flummoxed when Reggie returns hours later with the ball. Doug, of course, is a terrible man who should be carted off to a police station immediately for animal cruelty, but Reggie just keeps trying to play with his human. Until finally, Doug drives him all the way to the big city, abandons him there, and Reggie is forced to confront the fact that maybe his owner doesn't want him.

What follows is a grand adventure where Reggie teams up with a bunch of dogs who all agree to help him find Doug and avenge himself. There are a bunch of shenanigans along the way (almost all of which you will be able to see in the trailer for this film) but it is all very silly, sweet, and heartwarming, and extremely R-rated. The voice cast of this film is what truly sells it - you've got Will Ferrell playing Reggie, and the supporting dogs are voiced by Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, and Randall Park, who all have very distinct personalities and do a wonderful job. This is the ideal summer comedy - raunchy, dumb, but entertaining and with a surprisingly sweet message about the importance of chosen family. And with a tight 93-minute runtime, you won't ever get bored.

Blue Beetle: The DC Cinematic Universe is under new management, and they have kicked things off with this assured film directed by Angel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Here, we get the story of Jaime Reyes (Cobra Kai's wonderful Xolo Mariduena), a young college graduate who returns home to Palmera City, only to find that his family might be getting evicted and money is tight. Desperate to help out, he seeks out an opportunity at Kord Industries, a giant corporation that is very into manufacturing weapons and glorying in the excesses of capitalism. Unfortunately, he gets caught up in some unexpected drama between Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine), the granddaughter of the man who founded Kord Industries, and her aunt, Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). Victoria is the villain of the piece, a woman who is hell bent on using the Scarab, an ancient artefact that has the potential to be a gamechanger in weapons technology. But when Jaime gets a hold of the Scarab instead, it fuses with him, turning him into the Blue Beetle.

Many shenanigans ensue. Initially, it's all very funny as Jaime is being controlled by this strange weapon that has chosen him to be its host and is capable of all manner of wizardry. But then things get serious as his family is threatened, and he needs to learn to fight back to protect them. There's nothing in this film that is particularly revelatory from a superhero origin standpoint. But what IS fresh and exciting is that this is a Mexican superhero with a very involved family. The supporting cast of Adriana Barraza, Elpidia Carrillo, Damian Alcazar, Belissa Escobedo, and George Lopez, who play Jaime's grandmother, mother, father, sister, and uncle, is fantastic, and helps to elevate this film from being a paint-by-the-numbers superhero movie. They bring humor and heart, and while the action sequences wore on me after a while, I never got tired of scenes with Jaime and his family. This is a fun film that doesn't take itself too seriously, and while it's a bit bloated, it has enough charm to be a worthy addition to your summer movie list.

Red, White & Royal Blue: I had already devoured the novel by Casey McQuiston last year, so was very excited to hear that this film adaptation was coming to Amazon Prime. Directed by Matthew Lopez, from a script he adapted with Ted Malawer, this is a breezy enemies-to-lovers queer romantic comedy about what happens when the American President's son, Alex (Taylow Zakhar Perez), discovers that maybe he has a thing for Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), second-in-line to the British throne. Yup, this plot takes the US-UK "special relationship" to a whole other level.

Listen, I can't possibly convince you either way on this movie. If, like me, you are already a huge fan of romance novels and/or queer love stories, you will be entertained to see this tale on the big screen. Of course I think the book is better, but this adaptation is a creditable effort to bring this story to life, and it's just nice to see two hot men get it on and have silly romantic drama that is all going to come to a  gloriously satisfying resolution at the end (spoiler alert!). If you are a snob who looks down on the romance genre in literature and movies, you won't be bothered to give this movie a try. If you're a homophobe, who has no interest in watching a gay love story, why are you even reading my blog, move on! So yeah, log on to Amazon Prime and prepare for two hours of silly, splendid, swoony good times (and also Uma Thurman doing a hilarious Texan accent). After which, I hope you will pick up the book and then come to me for a reading list of other romances you absolutely have to read next.

August Movies Part 1: Shortcomings, Dreamin' Wild, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I have kicked off August with a series of dude-heavy movies. If you're interested in the travails of a grumpy Asian hipster, the true-life fairytale of a washed-up musician who discovered he may not be so washed-up, or the adventures of a bunch of teenage...mutant...ninja...turtles, keep reading.

Shortcomings: Written by Adrian Tomine (based on his graphic novel of the same name), this is Randall Park's directorial debut and presents the tale of Ben (Justin H. Min) an Asian-American man in LA who manages a movie theater, has very pretentious opinions on film, and has been living with Miko (Ally Maki), his filmmaker girlfriend for several years. When Miko gets an internship in New York, they agree to "take a break" which he interprets as license to try and date some white women. His best friend, Alice (the amazing Sherry Cola who is bringing a very similar chaotic queer energy like she did in Joy Ride), meanwhile also decamps to New York after a bad break-up. So finally, Ben flies over to New York to see her and figure out what Miko has been up to. 

This is a meandering, cringey tale about a rather terrible man who treats women poorly and has a lot of hang-ups about Asian identity. He is mad at the success of a Hollywood movie with an all-Asian cast (a fun little satire of Crazy Rich Asians) but Miko loves it, claiming that the success of this film will allow smaller, indie tales of other Asians to be told. Which is all very meta and fun, as that is emphatically the reason why we are now getting this movie. But at the end of the day, I did not particularly enjoy spending an hour and a half with a broody dude who made all the women around him mad. I get enough of that in real life, thank you very much. It's a perfectly well-directed film and Randall Park is clearly perfectly capable of making great movies, but this is not a story I was clamoring for.

Dreamin' Wild: Written and directed by Bill Pohlad, from an article by Steven Kurutz, this is the true story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, two brothers in Washington who made a record called Dreamin' Wild when they were teenagers in 1979. The record went nowhere, and the film opens with them in their 40s, Donnie still running a music studio and playing music with his wife and a band at local gigs, while Joe helps their father out on the family farm. However, when a music producer named Matt (Chris Messina) shows up at the farm with an old copy of Dreamin' Wild that has resurfaced in some record store and has become a cult favorite in music circles, their lives are forever changed.

This is a beautiful story about thwarted ambition, supportive families, and finally seeing your dreams come true. Casey Affleck plays older Donnie, while there are constant flashbacks to Noah Jupe as the young Donnie putting together this record, and both actors are wonderful at conveying the urgency and passion he felt for his music. Walton Goggins is great as the older Joe, a man who was not as talented as his brother, but still loved making music with him and quietly struggled, even though he continues to put a brave face on things, and Beau Bridges is stellar as their incredibly supportive father. I remember first hearing "Baby" from this record on the soundtrack of a film in 2012 and instantly loving it. Now all these years later, we have the origin story of the track and the amazing men who put it together, and their amazing family who supported them for all these decades until they were re-discovered and received their rightful due. While the film could do with some judicious editing, it's still emotionally resonant, thanks to some great performances, and that perennially evocative soundtrack.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: Turtle power! What do you want me to tell you about this movie? I mean, you're either in or you're out. I do not have a deep connection to the TMNT franchise, having briefly watched the cartoons as a kid, but this film is definitely a fun one to watch if you love animation and you love New York (which of course, I do). The animation style is vivid and fun, and feels like a new style, similar to how the animated Spider-Man films have felt so fresh and visually arresting. And of course, there are lots of references to New York and the joys of getting a bacon, egg, and cheese. 

This is the origin story of the four turtles, so if you were hazy on the details (I certainly was), this will be a useful primer as to how they were contaminated by some ooze and became mutants who now live in the sewer with Slither, their adoptive rat father (voiced brilliantly by Jackie Chan). There's a villain named Superfly (voiced equally brilliantly by Ice Cube) who has a diabolical plot, and they need to stop him with their ninja skills and the help of a high-school girl named April O'Neill (voiced by the great Ayo Edebiri). There are many fun action sequences, all set to a bopping hip-hop soundtrack and score by the Oscar-winning duo of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, so be prepared for some propulsive thrills. For 100 minutes, this film is perfectly entertaining and beautiful to look at. It is also very funny and you won't be bored for a second. But again. Depending on your tolerance for mutant ninja turtles, your mileage may vary.

Summer Binges: Stath Lets Flats, Survival of the Thickest, Hijack

I've been watching some very random TV this month and now it's your turn to dive in. There's a very silly British comedy, a very exciting British thriller, or a charming American comedy with heart. You can't go wrong.

Stath Lets Flats: I mean, just the title is fun to say. The show stars Jamie Demetriou (who also wrote and created the entire endeavor) as Stath, a Greek-Cypriot man in London who works for his father's letting agency (for Americans - he's a real estate broker who helps renters find apartments), and is painfully terrible at his job. Every episode, you will watch him try and convince some hapless Londoners to rent a flat, and every time it's an abject disaster. His other colleagues include his sweet but incredibly dumb sister, Sophie (Natasia Demetriou - Jamie's real-life sister!), Al (the very sweet Al Roberts) who is best friends with Stath and definitely has a bit of a thing for Sophie, Carole (Katy Wix), who is a go-getter and the only one at the agency who actually seems to be earning any commissions, and Dean (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) who hates this job but doesn't have anything else he can do.

This show ran for three seasons on Channel 4 and I am very late to the party since it wrapped up in 2021. But it’s never too late to discover a British comedy gem. There are only eighteen episodes, as each season was six episodes long in typical British fashion, but each character has such a wonderful arc and their relationships with each other evolve and grow in surprising and often hilarious ways. And while Stath never quite stops being an incompetent moron, you’ll be hard-pressed not to be very fond of him by the end. You still won’t want to let a flat from him though.

Survival of the Thickest: Michelle Buteau is a great stand-up comedian, but here she gets to show off her acting chops and be the star of a wonderful, heartfelt little gem of a show that is based on her memoir. Buteau plays Mavis, an assistant stylist in New York who is great at her job and is on the verge of a big break. Everything seems to be going her way. Until, of course, she walks in on her long-term boyfriend having sex with someone else and her life immediately implodes. 

What follows is a classic journey of self-discovery where a Black woman in her late thirties has to reinvent herself, move out to live in a cramped apartment with a strange white woman in Brooklyn (oh the horror), and pursue her dreams without letting men mess her around. It’s also a great show about body positivity and celebrating curvy women and making them feel good, and also celebrating trans folk and drag performers and revealing in their artistry. This is a show that aims to put marginalized voices front and center and not take any shit from anyone. It’s very sweet and hopeful, and to be clear, it is also chock-full of jokes and funny as hell. It’s a quick and easy binge, and perfect for a lazy summer afternoon, so what are you waiting for?

Hijack: Nothing about this show is quick and easy but my God it was the highlight of my week every Wednesday when I had a new episode to watch. Honestly, I don’t know if I would even want to binge this show because it is such a high-octane thriller, but if that’s the kind of thing you’re into, inject this show directly into your veins.

Idris Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate negotiator who ordinarily helps businesses come up with deals during mergers and acquisitions. However, when he gets on a flight from Dubai to London, he ends up having to use his negotiating skills for far more exciting work when the plane is hijacked. Over the course of seven episodes, you are going to be treated to a brilliantly twisty plot from writer George Kay, who created this show with Jim Field Smith. The production values are insane, the cast is fantastic, and every episode ends with a crazy cliffhanger that keeps your heart thumping. The final episode was emotional and cathartic and I was so glad they brought this show in for a smooth landing (yes, pun very much intended). Hijack will keep you guessing and keep you on your toes, but it also gets you emotionally invested in the various characters on board this flight. It a beautiful piece of storytelling and an absolutely epic binge for a day when you do not want to leave your couch.