Special-K88 Reviews

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

weird and wonderful

[29 April 2024]

From the wonderfully warped, miraculous mind of Tim Burton comes this magical, mythical, highly imaginative and most unusual fable. A blithesome, door-to-door Avon lady (warmly played by Wiest) one day ventures out to a decrepit castle atop the mountain behind her suburban neighborhood. What she doesn't know is that the castle is home to Edward, a lonely humanoid with bladed hands who's the brainchild of a brilliant old inventor (played with gusto by Price). She decides to bring Edward home to stay with her family where he gets a taste of cozy suburban life, and also bonds with her doe-eyed, teenage daughter. A strange little idea imbued with Burton's wistful sensibilities turn this into a rich, emotional fantasy showcasing pivotal themes of isolation, self-discovery, and love, uplifted by a wonderous score from Danny Elfman. It also has a cheeky since of humor that pokes fun at the clockwork and monotony of its pastel-painted suburbia with nosy neighbors, and how gossip can spread through a community like wildfire. Depp is asked a lot of in the title role, and really nails each unique facet of a most unique character; this is the first of what became many collaborations between the unparalleled tag team of Burton & Depp, it's wholly original and thus undeniable. ***

Dick (1999)

cute and sly satire

[26 April 2024]

A witty, cheery comedic reimagining of the Nixon Presidency--forever linked in infamy to Watergate, which subsequently led to the first and only Presidential resignation in 1974--but as seen through the eyes of two sweet, dewy-eyed high school girls with little going on upstairs who get appointed as "official White House dog walkers." While bumbling in and out of interactions with key political players, they unknowingly become the inspiration for whistleblower Deep Throat as the controversial scandal begins to unfold. Pinpoint casting and writing allow Dunst and Williams to be adorably and hilariously obtuse while regurgitating double entendres and getting mixed up in a major upheaval without ever realizing just how much trouble they're in; a spot-on Hedaya's also a hoot while embodying the many nuances of Tricky Dick. ***

American Son (2019)

tries oh so hard, much too hard to make its point

[18 April 2024]

Contentious and claustrophobic drama set on a dark and stormy night in a Miami police station where an aggrieved black woman butts heads with an insouciant white police officer as she tries in vain to discover the whereabouts of her son, a biracial teen who's abruptly vanished without a trace. Things only flare up when her estranged husband, a true-blue white federal officer, arrives on the scene. The subject matter alone should make this a grabber, but teary-eyed Washington is allowed to overplay it in this elongated, heavy-handed with a capital H vignette that tries oh so excruciatingly hard to pummel the viewer over the head with its message about stereotyping, racial inequality, and police impropriety. Adapted from a Broadway play it likely works better on a stage than on a screen, though the ending still delivers a punch to the gut; if only it weren't so inordinately preachy during the build up to it. **

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

a powerful, praiseworthy showing

[23 March 2024]

DreamWorks Pictures conceived this sweeping animated take on The Exodus, set in Ancient Egypt where the enslaved Hebrews face the wrath of Pharoah Seti when he orders mass infanticide of their newborn boys, but one of them (Moses) is rescued from a river and then raised in a family of royalty alongside older brother Rameses by Seti himself, a family where one weak link can break the chain of a mighty dynasty. As the elder son Rameses is chosen to rule, but the pendulum of power shifts once Moses realizes who he truly is, and God's decree that he must lead his people to freedom. A host of well-defined characters, the stupendous and awe-inspiring visuals, plus the resonating soundtrack are just some of the many highlights in this triumphant and majestic story, even better that it features a magnificent group of actors who lend their voices to bring it all to life, with special props to Kilmer and Fiennes as the quarreling siblings. ***

The Big Lebowski (1998)

weirdly hilarious

[11 March 2024]

In the early 1990s an idle, carefree Los Angeles "Dude" who likes to bowl and is particularly fond of his rug at home gets mistaken for a disabled, goldbricking and pompous millionaire with the same name. This sets off a chain of events involving a kidnap-and-ransom exchange that gets him (and his pals) entangled with an indelible assortment of weirdos including the millionaire's spoiled tween of a trophy wife, as well as his brazen, sensual daughter, plus a knockabout group of nihilists. Flippant, bizarro Coen brothers dark comedy has quotable lines, voluminous swearing, plenty of laughs, and a purposely silly storyline that isn't required to make sense; plays like a series of strange (to put it mildly) segments patched together but it's proficiently cast all-around with a memorable outing for Bridges who nonchalantly loafs through the picture, and a juicy part for Goodman as The Dude's violence-prone bowling buddy. Audacious and outrageous it's definitely an acquired taste, but if it's fun to watch then why complain too much? **½

American Fiction (2023)

witty, laugh-out-loud funny script and solid performances make for an entertaining watch

[10 March 2024]

Intelligent, outspoken black writer and west coast college professor Thelonious Ellison is going through a tumultuous period: his published novels receive academic praise yet remain unpopular and sell poorly, plus his latest manuscript is rejected for not being "black" enough. On top of that, he travels to Boston to see his less than ideal family, but being around them won't exactly take the edge off. Out of frustration, he writes a novel that panders to the stereotypical African-American experience while adopting the pseudonym "Stagg R. Lee," but is floored when it begins to sell like gangbusters! Now he has to keep up with the ridiculous charade if he hopes to maintain his success. Wright gives an impeccably nuanced performance in this smart, hilariously profane and provocative satire that features characters who talk and act like real people, and also struggle to deal with relatable family conflicts. Brown is also solid in a showy role as Wright's good-for-nothing little brother, though he could've benefited from more screentime. An imperfect ending doesn't provide quite the same amount of punch as the rest of the movie, but that doesn't diminish the viewing experience either. ***

Poor Things (2023)

may not be for everyone, but will stick with you for quite some time

[9 March 2024]

Set in a reimagined version of what (appears?) to be Victorian London comes this audacious, highly imaginative tale that could be seen as a black comedy, sci-fi fantasy, and some kind of screwy rom-com all in one! Dr. Godwin Baxter, a far-out, groundbreaking experimental surgeon whose moral code has many shades of gray, reanimates the brain of an unborn baby into the body of an adult woman resulting in the creation of Bella Baxter, a babbling "experiment" whose mental age and body are unsynchronized, but whose intelligence progresses at an accelerated rate. Max McCandles is the medical student hired to aid Godwin in monitoring Bella's growth, but when libertine lawyer Duncan Wedderburn enters the picture, Bella becomes insatiably curious about herself and the outside world...and so begins her grand, ubiquitous journey of self-discovery and liberation. Moviegoers with puritanical attitudes be warned: this risky, randy, unpredictable fare never attempts to shy away from any furious jumping, thus raunchy subject matter is plentiful and leaves little to the imagination, but still it's frequently hilarious and consistently engaging. Lanthimos has really outdone himself with the eye-catching visual schematics, and cast it to perfection with Ruffalo who's bumbling and over-the-top, Dafoe his usual, formidable self even behind the heavy prosthetics, Youssef who has a thankless yet still effective straight role, but without a doubt the real linchpin to this daring, wacky, twisted endeavor is a phenomenally fearless and freakishly funny Emma Stone who sheds all inhibitions to deliver what's arguably a career-best performance, one that's almost certain to live rent free in your head. While the story momentum does slow a bit in the latter half, there's still no denying the overall impact. ***

She Came to Me (2023)

lots going on but not for any good reason

[9 March 2024]

Anxiety-ridden Brooklyn opera composer is stuck with a temporary mental block, even though he's married to his former therapist. Even though it behooves a person of his fragility to have an on-call therapist at his disposal, it still isn't sparking his creative muse. While meandering, he meets and then has a quickie with a deadpan yet sunny tugboat captain out of Baton Rouge who identifies herself as a "romance addict." He can't admit to himself how he feels about this strange mariner, but lo and behold, their casual encounter lights a fire under him. Off-kilter but futile blend of the comedic and the dramatic mixes a lot of subplots together which aren't very engaging, with a group of people hard to care much about, despite the talent at its disposal: Dinklage manages a layered performance and Tomei is bursting with energy, meanwhile Hathaway plays a character who's difficult to even get a handle on. It's never obvious where this is going, and yet it never feels like it matters. **

La La Land (2016)

a tip-top showing with a little bit of something for everyone

[26 February 2024]

Damien Chazelle's jazzy, snazzy, and starry-eyed musical is truly a labor of love that resembles something straight out of the Golden Age of Hollywood, one that'll evoke feelings of nostalgia for true fans. Sebastian, a struggling jazz pianist, and Mia, a barista and aspiring actress, are each preoccupied with their own ambitions, but the stars align so to speak when they meet and a mutual attraction sparks. Frenetic, episodic, glitzy, glamorous and dreamy, this isn't just a musical but also a very personal story of fate, chance, love, and the pursuit of one's hopes and dreams with fantastical dance choreography and mesmerizing scenery. Stone and Gosling are so perfectly in sync, singing and dancing with such pizazz and generating such fevered excitement you'd think they'd been playing these characters for years. ***

Mea Culpa (2024)

tune in if you've got a few hours to kill

[24 February 2024]

A successful Chicago defense attorney whose marriage is hardly ideal and whose in-laws are the epitome of condescension, gets drawn into a high-profile case when she elects to represent an enigmatic artist who's accused of murdering his girlfriend, a definite conflict for reasons not given away in the movie's trailer. Steamy but mostly silly thriller is interesting early on but believability soon goes out the window with inexplicable actions from the characters, not to mention a magnitude of nonsensical plot threads that cause it to completely fall apart by the end. Rowland has the thankless, unenviable role of playing a character who starts out by using her brain, before doing a complete 180 that ends up making her look like a moron, while Rhodes is pretty much one-note whenever he's on screen. One could probably enjoy this as escapist fare, if only it didn't try and stay rooted in some form of reality; written and directed by Tyler Perry who as audiences are well aware can do much better than this. **

Ferrari (2023)

you'd expect more than this given the caliber of those involved

[12 February 2024]

Post-war Italy 1947 is where Enzo Ferrari and his wife Laura laid the foundation for what would become a widely known auto manufacturing business, but ten years later Enzo is beset with numerous problems, both personally as well as professionally as he tries to find a way to compete in the Mille Miglia auto race. After previously collaborating with Ridley Scott on House of Gucci it appears easy for Adam Driver to slide back into an Italian accent, and thanks to some convincing makeup he also looks age-appropriate to portray the legendary entrepreneur at 59. Family drama takes center stage over racing here, as focus is placed heavily on his deteriorating marriage with estranged wife Cruz (looking deliberately haggard in appearance and delivering a gripping, almost ghostly performance), as well as his relationship with mistress Woodley and their illegitimate son. Quiet, atmospheric, but a mostly underpowered showing (quite the surprise from a director of Michael Mann's caliber) this offers some, but not enough riveting moments to justify the length of the story, plus it doesn't come anywhere close to providing sufficient insight into the mind of the central character. The acting is enough to give it a watch, though it feels like it could've been so much more. **½

Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)

take the stairs into a different movie...

[7 February 2024]

Hannah's a youthful but ridiculously bright Chicagoan and recent college graduate interning at a production company, but she's not entirely satisfied in her relationship with her current boyfriend. She feels comfortable in the workplace and is crushing on a few of the men there, so will this give her a chance to find a new suitor? Better question for the viewer: should you care either way? Low-budget indie kitsch that's meant to feel raw and real, but instead is just a collection of uninteresting characters sitting around gabbing about nothing particularly invigorating, showing off their middling instrumental skills, breaking into random dance moves, getting physical when the urge hits, so on and so forth, but none of it really carries much weight and the occasional shots of Chicago scenery thrown in do absolutely nothing to redeem it. So-called naturalistic filmmaking, just not at its finest reportedly allowed the movie to be shot without a script, and it clearly shows as it's without an incisive narrative to keep the viewer engaged. **

Nights and Weekends (2008)

there's no doubt a target audience for this sort of thing

[3 February 2024]

This mumblecore drama is shot in the style of a homemade movie and takes a close (at times too close) look at Mattie, who resides in The City That Never Sleeps, and James, who resides in The Windy City, a fun-loving, hot and heavy young couple and the severe strain they face while trying to hold onto their passionate but unsustainable long-distance relationship. Will they prevail, or is their steamy love affair already kaput? The low-budget filmmaking style does create a welcomed sense of spontaneity that makes the characters and dialogue feel authentic, plus it really allows the two central actors to embody most of the awkwardness and complexities between the two of them, but still it's not very deep or profound, nor does it have a true plot to propel the scenes forward, thus making it feel like a prolonged and gratuitous exercise despite the relatively short running time. **

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

a lot spent with little to show for it

[2 February 2024]

The crumbling DCEU remains behind the eight ball and continues to do a bang-up job by presenting this forgettable, waterlogged sequel. It's four years later and even though numerous atrocities continue above water, Arthur Curry has become a domesticated husband and father, and oh yeah he finally has a job: king of Atlantis--a position that's not all it's cracked up to be as his mostly surface-dwelling sensibilities clash with the traditional ways of the Atlantean council. Meanwhile in other, unsurprising news: David Kane now Black Manta will stop at nothing to destroy the half-breed honcho and his aquatic domain, forcing Arthur to team up with long-imprisoned little brother Orm, their relationship which is the equivalent of oil and water. Momoa is his usual, unflappable self and while some of the petty bickering between him and debased Wilson produces a few chuckles, the rest of the returning characters are wasted, any new characters are superfluous, visual effects are second-rate, and the story never does anything exciting or memorable. Scuttlebutt is that this was a post-production nightmare due to all of the extensive cuts and reshoots, making it curious what was originally intended, but all we get here is a trivial, two-hour excursion. They say everybody is good at something, just too bad the producers weren't good at making a worthwhile sequel. **

Lola Versus (2012)

sloppy execution of a familiar premise

[26 January 2024]

Already feeling old on her 29th birthday, a perky PhD student who ponders over keeping things exactly as they are but believes that change is inevitable prophesizes that her life will soon be turned upside down. It of course is when her longtime artist boyfriend pops the question, but then her world is shattered when he ends their relationship just weeks before the big date. Now, she has to adjust, or rather evolve (with great difficulty) to living the life of a single woman in the big city as she prepares to enter her thirties; needless to say that the results are quite messy. The characters may be believable but are mostly unappealing, the script is jumbled with awkward lines resulting in ham-fisted attempts at humor, and the frequent emotional outbursts feel forced and out of place. While the setup may be real and relatable there isn't much insight or poignancy to go along with it, and even though Gerwig is somewhat of a bright light, many of the actors aren't really given their due. **

Wonka (2023)

a nice but far from wonderful showing

[22 January 2024]

The third live-action adaptation of Roald Dahl's much beloved children's novel chronicles everyone's favorite candymaker in his early days as an ambitious, itinerant young chocolatier who arrives in Europe hoping to perfect his craft. Naturally his path to chocolate bliss takes some detours, and he has to finagle the rotten, beady-eyed proprietors of a boarding house, as well as the corrupt, imposing Chocolate Cartel if he hopes to make his fortune. Not bad but not especially memorable this offers its share of warmth and charm, featuring affable characters and a couple of likable songs, along with a few nods to Mel Stuart's 1971 version, plus a jolly, vigorous display from Timothée Chalamet who carries the role of a winsome, wide-eyed Willy Wonka with aplomb. Despite a good message and some sweet (no, not the candy kind) moments sewn in the final act is surprisingly ineffectual, but you'll probably like it even if you can't really love it. **½

The Marvels (2023)

nothing to Mar-Vell at

[19 January 2024]

The MCU's 33rd film serves as further proof that the once thriving comic book juggernaut is now running on fumes. For reasons not explained very well, the world-weary Carol Danvers, scientific Monica Rambeau, and youthful Kamala Khan form a trifecta when their electromagnetically altered powers put them in a switchy entanglement situation. With all that going on, they then tangle with the villainous Dar-Benn (looking like the illegitimate daughter of Ronan--cough, cough) who's using her hammer thingy in the name of Hala to siphon atmospheres as vengeance against the "annihilator." The production costs of this Marvel Comics misstep may have been a king's ransom but the results certainly aren't worthy of royal adulation; tonally it's all over the place with familial sentiment, goofy humor that belongs in a sitcom, random song and dance, and other poorly developed subplots. Vellani has the most pep in her step, Larson looks a bit aloof, Parris does what she can do, meanwhile big bad Ashton clenches her teeth a lot but doesn't get to do anything interesting. The lowest grossing MCU picture to date generated some controversy as perturbed cast and crew members insinuated that external factors contributed to its downfall, but given the quality of the finished results it's pretty easy to balk at that. Memo to Marvel: you may want to revamp your product, otherwise you'll continue to disintegrate and put out subpar showings like this one. **

Saw X (2023)

we get it: people have to die in horrific ways

[18 January 2024]

X sure doesn't mark the spot in this latest addition to the series which, no matter how much time passes in between films, just refuses to end. Combined prequel and sequel finds an ailing John Kramer in an advanced stage of brain cancer with only months to live, until he's offered experimental treatment from an independent medical group that's conveniently located off the grid. So as expected they're not who they say they are, but boy did they pick the wrong guy to run a game on. The ick factor certainly hasn't been dialed down in this one as the amount of blood and guts is more than sufficient to spoon-feed rabid fans, and conversely force-feed those who are completely new to the series, but despite any of the story twists, or the fact that many despicable people get what's coming to them, this is yet another gratuitous gorefest. Viewers do get to see their favorite architect of torture in a much different light than any of the previous films, the trouble though is finding a reason to care about him. **

Leave the World Behind (2023)

there's good stuff here, it just doesn't know how to wrap it up

[16 January 2024]

Cynical and misanthropic Brooklyn marketer Roberts is married to nonplussed college professor Hawke and they take their two kids on an impromptu weekend getaway to a vacation rental home on Long Island. All seems normal at first, till the arrival of total stranger Ali and his unapologetic daughter, the self-professed owners of the home who seek solace during a citywide blackout. Though incredulous they agree to the arrangement, but what happens next is totally unexpected. Slow but never without some bit of intrigue, this mind-eff thriller teases various themes like fear, paranoia, conspiracy theories, and dependence on technology, all in a way that never seems too familiar. A first-rate cast of actors, plus Esmail's innovative direction and camera tricks fill this with tension, but more importantly it doesn't spell it all out for the audience and instead requires them to think...it's just too bad that it doesn't know how to conclude things on a high note, going out with a whimper instead of a bang. **½

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

a good mix of the right ingredients make it work

[7 January 2024]

Roberts is perfectly cast as a twenty-seven-year-old New York City food critic who's just weeks away from her birthday, which recalls a pact with longtime best friend (and ex-lover) Mulroney that if they're both still single at 28 they'll agree to marry each other. Much to her chagrin, he's set to wed another woman in less than a week. In the guise of being the maid of honor, she flies out to Chicago to stop the pending nuptials between him and peppy blonde Diaz, a twenty-year-old college student and daughter of an affluent businessman who owns the White Sox. Charming, funny rom-com concoction really allows Julia to show off her physical comedy skills, but also features an ideal supporting cast, good lines, some great musical selections, and enough complications in the script to keep the outcome from being too predictable. Everett is truly a standout as Roberts' editor and confidant. ***

Spiral (2021)

a downward spiral that makes it hard to fathom why they even bothered

[1 January 2024]

Needless Saw spin-off with Chris Rock as a petulant homicide detective who's stuck living in the shadow of his father (retired police captain Jackson), while also trying to track down a Jigsaw copycat killer. That's pretty much the gist of it, as the rest of the movie snowballs into a laborious exercise in extreme violence, foul language, and pointless plot twists, except maybe to give some disreputable characters their comeuppance. Some fans may be taken aback by all the guts and gore, loyal fans may like what they see, but the outcome is fairly mediocre no matter which camp you fall into. Figuring out why Rock and Jackson felt obligated to sign on for this one is a much bigger mystery than anything that actually happens in the movie itself. *½

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

he gives audiences another solid outing

[1 January 2024]

Prolific writer-director Christopher Nolan brings out the big guns in this sweeping, star-studded look at the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a brilliant American theoretical physicist who'll become known as the father of the atomic bomb. In the late 1930s Oppenheimer is a physics golden boy who's committed to thinking freely about how to improve the world, but to some important people he's a dilettante, a womanizer, even a suspected communist. No matter where his loyalties lie, he's recruited to head the Manhattan Project--a chain reaction which could destroy the world, but that's secondary to the American military as long as they can make a breakthrough before the Nazis can. Run time makes it hard to keep the heightened tension flowing but Nolan shows a mastery of visual spectacle, and he's also chosen his cast wisely as no matter the scope of the role each actor is in top form, with a confident Murphy in the lead, plus strong work from an underhanded Downey as well. Nolan's script is drawn out, even didactic at times, but rife with spellbinding moments and intelligent dialogue, perfectly captured by an outstanding ensemble. ***

Good Burger 2 (2023)

one serving was enough...

[29 December 2023]

Welcome to Good Burger, home of the...well most viewers should probably know the rest of it by now. Scheming independent businessman and supposedly super successful entrepreneur Dexter Reed has hit rock bottom; in desperation (which could accurately describe most of the movie's gags) he must turn to best buddy and simpleton Ed, who's now running the flagship Good Burger restaurant. Unfortunately Dex's overambitious nature along with Ed's gullibility puts the entire restaurant chain in jeopardy. Some forced cameos here and there, in-jokes, the expected nostalgia, but there's no momentum or comedic spark, no inspired ideas, instead it's just a lot of actors who stand around chitchatting as they try their best to make something out of nothing...problem is they still end up with nothing. Chronic goofball Mitchell and underutilized straight man Thompson are their usual, likable selves, but their long-awaited reunion doesn't prove efficacious in elevating such worn-out material. Did a sequel to a movie based on a kid's television show sketch really need to be made twenty-six years later? *½

The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

does too much to arrive at a resolution that provides too little

[10 December 2023]

New York Congressman David Norris runs, albeit unsuccessfully, for a seat on the US Senate, but that seems a lot less pertinent after his chance encounter with Elise Sellas; she's a down-to-earth dancer whom he becomes fixated with...but his fixation doesn't sit well with an agency of "case workers" whose duty is tinkering with the fabric of reality to fall in line with the Plan, but then what happens when Norris chooses to make his own plan? Politics take a backseat to science fiction, existentialism, and romance in this intriguing yarn that also toys around with concepts of free will and predetermination. There are some unique twists and nifty visuals, plus Damon and Blunt lend it credibility, but it doesn't quite stick the landing as a weak ending succumbs to a familiar love story cliché. **½

The Ice Storm (1997)

well-made but not easy to endure

[20 November 2023]

Set against the backdrop of the much talked about Watergate scandal comes this morose look at two dysfunctional families found in Connecticut suburbia who dabble often in substance abuse, adultery, sexual promiscuity, and other things as they try to cope with all their insecurities and frustrations during the changing times. Kline and Allen are married with two kids, however he's dissatisfied with things and caught up in an affair with neighbor Weaver, she too is unhappily married. Maguire is a lovesick sixteen-year-old boarding student hung up on a classmate though she doesn't reciprocate his feelings; fourteen-year-old Ricci is his anti-establishment little sister who's well-versed in the birds and the bees and just beginning to explore her budding sexuality. Somber, thoughtful drama refuses to pull any punches and has interesting characters who speak like real people brought to life by superb all-around casting. It's capable of holding one's attention, may even leave them awestruck at times though it does tend to wander, but still manages to go out strong due to a particularly memorable finale that may leave the viewer feeling a bit woozy. **½