New In Theaters

To Sheep With Anger

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The Sheep Detectives

by George Wolf

I was expecting to enjoy The Sheep Detectives. And I did, but for reasons I hadn’t prepared for.

What seemed like a silly showcase for sleuthing sheep in a droll knockoff of the whodunnit formula also turns out to be warm, human and downright touching.

Shepherd George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) tends his flock with loving care in the quaint English village of Denbrook. He also reads the animals mystery stories in the evening. So when George turns up dead and the bumbling Officer Derry (Nicholas Braun) is ready to rule “heart attack,” woolly suspicions erupt.

This was murder! And the sheep are going follow the lead of their “night stories” to guide these dimwitted humans toward the evidence that will root out the guilty party.

Director Kyle Balda (Minions, Despicable Me 3) and writer Craig Mazin adapt Leonie Swann’s novel “Three Bags Full” with tenderness, wit, and a big assist from pristine production design and the CGI department’s wonderfully rendered talking animals.

Mazin’s resume runs the gamut from the Chernobyl series to The Hangover franchise, so the warm fuzzies here are another welcome surprise. The humor is more amusing than LOL, but the stellar cast of bodies (including Emma Thompson, Hong Chau, and Molly Gordon) and voices (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sir Patrick Stewart, Regina Hall and Bryan Cranston) work together in landing every opportunity for mirth, mystery and meaning.

The film’s foray into darker themes earns the PG-rating, but there is fertile ground here for all-ages family bonding over lessons on kindness, belonging, and loss. You might come for the funny talking sheep, but you can expect to be thoroughly delighted by the mix of Knives Out and Charlotte’s Web that was hiding in plain sight.

New In Theaters

Toasty!

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Mortal Kombat II

by Hope Madden

I went into 2021’s Mortal Kombat with the lowest possible expectations. Maybe that’s why I liked it so much. It was dumb. So dumb! But director Simon McQuoid made excellent use of that R rating, there were some real laughs thanks to one character, and more than enough goretastic violence to make up for a lot.  

We lost Hiroyuki Sanada in the first installment, though, which left the franchise with no actors. Who can act, I mean. So, McQuoid, returning for Mortal Kombat II, relies on the ever-reliable Karl Urban to punch things up.

Urban is Johnny F. Cage, washed up 90s action hero (tipped hair and all!). And he’s not interested when the elder gods come calling. Tournament to the death? Dude, he’s got stunt guys for that!

There’s also a necromancer, which means more returning cast than you might expect. This is sometimes a really good thing.

And there’s not that much plot to slog through between the lightning bolts and blood spatter. What’s there involves a subjugated princess (Adeline Rudolph), a very big dude bent on inter-realm domination (Martyn Ford), a Thunder God who oversees warriors of the Earthrealm (Tadanobu Asano), said warriors (Jessica McNamee, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Lewis Tan), a washed-up action hero, an amulet, very toothy people, and a bunch of battles to the death.

Less time is spent this go-round on the super meaningful weighty drama of each back story, leaving more time for bloody fisticuffs and what not. These fight sequences lack a lot of the zest for violence and fatalities of McQuoid’s first film, but the Cage foolishness helps to pull the film back from its several brinks of tediousness.

It’s a full 2-hour runtime, just like last time, which is still wildly unnecessary. But casting the fool as the hero helps engagement, especially when the necromancer (Reggie Herriman) starts bringing back the fun guys.

Is Mortal Kombat II as dumb as the first? Almost. Is it as fun? Not quite. But as a bloody, lightningy time waster, it’s A-OK. B-OK. It’s B-OK.

Outtakes

Octopus’s Garden

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

by Hope Madden

It’s never not a joy to see Sally Field’s irrepressible smile onscreen
(2023’s 80 for Brady notwithstanding). The two-time Oscar winner is effortlessly likeable (as she clarified in one of those two acceptance speeches), and the older she gets, the easier she is to root for.

This week, the 80-year-old delightfully curmudgeons her way through Netflix’s smalltown dramedy Remarkably Bright Creatures. Field is Tova, who lives alone in a big, gorgeous old home in the Pacific Northwest and works nights cleaning the town’s aquarium. She doesn’t exactly need the work. But she likes her work buddies.

These include Marcellus, an aging octopus voiced by Alfred Molina. This is where director Olivia Newman’s take on Shelby Van Pelt’s novel can’t help but be a little syrupy. Marcellus narrates much of the film, explaining what he—with his superior intellect—sees in the one human he doesn’t disdain, the cleaning lady.

And then, “the juvenile” (Lewis Pullman) starts cleaning, and Marcellus doesn’t care for that one.

Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing), who co-writes the adaptation with John Whittington (Swapped), isn’t out to change cinema. Just charm you. The beautiful coastal backdrop, gaggle of well-meaning if quaintly unrealistic townies, and admirable performances ensure she does just that.

The film folds in enough side and sub-plots to keep it from ever being entirely predictable, but Newman’s direction is assured enough that it’s not overstuffed, either. Most of the minor characters feel underdrawn, certainly, but it’s the main trio—Tova, the Juvenile, Marcellus—who interest you, anyway.

Remarkably Bright Creatures understands the peace of an aquarium. I’m not sure it convinces that life outside the aquarium is that hectic. But Sally Field reminds you that sometimes people choose loneliness, and sometimes that choice suits them until it doesn’t.

Remarkably Bright Creatures is no masterpiece, but it’s a really good-looking film brimming with heart and elevated by the time and care of one of the industry’s all-time greatest.

The Screening Room

Screening Room: Devil Wears Prada 2, Hokum, Deep Water & More

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On this week’s Screening Room Podcast, Hope & George look at the new releases: The Devil Wears Prada 2, Hokum, Deep Water, Animal Farm, Swapped, Heresy, Salt Along the Tongue, and Didn’t Die. PLUS! The Schlocketeer Daniel Baldwin joins us with movie news & notes!

Outtakes

Furry Feathered Friday

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Swapped

by Hope Madden

Director Nathan Greno pulls from a lot of influences for his new feature, the Netflix exclusive Swapped. The vibrant colors and poetically gorgeous woodland creatures conjure Miyazaki, particularly the more serene scenes from Princess Mononoke. And the bit where the little chipmunk looking thing and the big plumy bird switch bodies, that is obviously the Disney classic Freaky Friday. 

Swapped is a visual feast, especially the earliest sequences when a young Pookoo (chipmunk like thing) named Ollie (voiced in youth by Camden Brooks and in adulthood by Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan) explores the waters around Pookoo Island. But Ollie’s mom and dad (Justina Machado, Cedric The Entertainer) warn him that everything off island is dangerous. Everything!

Ollie doesn’t believe them, so things, of course, go terribly wrong. Mean birds steal the seeds that keep the Pookoo alive, and Ollie has to make things right. But instead, he Freaky Fridays with one of those birds (Juno Temple), and suddenly everybody’s in a terrible state.

Swapped takes that time honored tale to share a meaningful fable on the power of empathy. Temple and Jordan both provide strong voice talent—Temple is especially on point.

Tracy Morgan is ideal as Boogle, an enormous, simple-minded fish. Honestly, Swapped offers Morgan more of an opportunity to stretch than any role he’s had in recent memory, and he nails it.

And while the story leans into familiar territory, its tale is important. Greno and his team of writers don’t complicate it beyond what youngsters will gladly follow, nor do they water down their message. The result is emotional, funny, sometimes even harrowing. And really gorgeous.

Swapped doesn’t do enough to set itself apart from other animated wonders, but what it does it does really well. It’s a powerful story beautifully animated and well told.

Outtakes

Last Podcast Standing

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Didn’t Die

by Rachel Willis

For her 100th podcast episode, Vinita (Kiran Deol) is hosting a live broadcast. Only warm bodies allowed – no biters! Director Meera Menon, co-writing with Paul Gleason, brings her own vision to life during a zombie apocalypse in Didn’t Die.

The people of this world have been surviving among zombies for some time. So, rather than bearing witness to the beginning of an outbreak of flesh-hungry undead, we get to occupy a world that’s more “been there, done that.”

Of course, every aspect of the zombie genre has been mined countless times in various mediums, so this take isn’t exactly new, either. However, Menon offers something a bit different in just how dull the apocalypse turns out to be.

There are several interesting elements at play. Zombies, known as biters, tend to lie dormant during the day. That leaves them vulnerable, but not everyone is comfortable killing them. One woman laments that her beloved dogs were bitten and had to be killed. These aspects create a lived-in world that helps ground the characters.

However, Menon struggles with the film’s tone, and Vinita never feels like a fully realized character. It’s clear that the intention is to paint Vinita as someone closed off from those around her; the way in which it is done, however, doesn’t allow for a connection with the audience.

For this reason, the movie lacks emotional depth. Though the second half picks up in intensity, without a connection to characters, the tension never quite leaves you on the edge of your seat.

The filmmakers are clearly doing what they can to create something different with Didn’t Die. They just don’t quite get there.

Outtakes

Hell’s Kitchen

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Salt Along the Tongue

by Matt Weiner

It should be a given that any good exorcism movie worth its, well, salt comes with a massive trigger warning for emetophobia – fear of vomiting. And that applies to the stylish and sensuous Salt Along the Tongue, sure. But the gripping new possession horror from writer-director Parish Malfitano spends more time reveling in the potent allure of food and its power to bring together cultures, families and more than a few primordial memories that have been buried far too long.

Awkward and shy Mattia (Laneikka Denne) has her insular life turned upside down when her mother Mina (Dina Panozzo) dies suddenly. While Mattia would prefer to stay with Mina’s pregnant partner Yuma (Mayu Iwasaki), the lack of a specified guardian forces her to move in with Mina’s estranged twin sister, Carol (also Panozzo).

The boisterous and self-assured Carol welcomes Mattia into her confident world. Carol stars in a cooking show that she films with her friends and partner. Mattia has inherited her family’s aptitude for cooking (if not her aunt’s camera-ready demeanor), and Carol swiftly thrusts Mattia onto the show. The all-female cast gives Mattia a safe sisterhood to assert her own identity while working through the trauma and grief of her mother’s passing.

Soon this trauma seems to take on a malevolent physical form. Carol suspects the work of the malocchio (evil eye), which the film tells us is a curse caused by envy or jealousy. But whether the culprit is Mattia, the work of Mina from beyond the grave or something else entirely is a mystery Carol needs to solve before the entity fully takes over Mattia and destroys Carol.

Given the budget, the film’s horror draws from the atmospheric and thematic side over splashy scares. But this ends up being an asset under Malfitano’s direction. There’s a pervasive tension that echoes the film’s clear influences from both The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, with the ratcheting unease and stomach-churning secrets providing more than enough shocks.

There are some threads that you wish Malfitano pulled on a little harder. The film sets up so much visually, including some clever doubling between Mina/Carol and Mattia, that the actual climax felt almost rushed and perfunctory. 

But Malfitano and the film’s stars do a lot with what they have. The food on display opens up a gateway to illicit desires and the past, with Proustian reverie giving way to demonic nightmares. There’s more than enough to chew on here.

New In Theaters

Fashion Comeback

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The Devil Wears Prada 2

by Hope Madden

It has been 20 years since Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) learned how to dress. And now, after two decades of award-winning investigative work, she’s back at Runway Magazine thanks to the death of journalism.

What makes her think print magazines aren’t also mortally wounded?

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is essentially a mash note to all things analog. Can Andy and the gang save this fashion icon through sheer determination, journalistic integrity and fashion sense?

Hathaway’s co-stars return: Emily Blunt as the irascible Emily, Stanley Tucci as the warm yet caustic Nigel, and Meryl Streep as the formidable Miranda Priestly. Also returning: impeccable costuming, gorgeous locations and glamour. And quips, acerbic remarks, and fish-out-of-water humor. Amanda Priestly flying coach?! Bon dieu!

Yes, Miranda’s lost a bit of her bite. She’s even hanging up her own coat now, thanks to the ever-present HR checklist (a fairly funny gag during staff meetings). No, the real villain in TDWP2 is the soulless maw of progress, personified by the CEO’s son (B.J. Novak) and Emily’s billionaire boyfriend (Justin Theroux). And fast fashion.

While Blunt, Tucci and Streep slip easily back into the old skin, it’s tough to believe Hathaway’s Andy, after years of global investigative journalism, hasn’t developed a thicker skin. Indeed, Andy’s well-intentioned naivete causes as many problems this go-round as it did in 2006.

But that’s the point, right? Update context to the degree necessary but play the hits. Returning director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna understand the assignment.

The stakes never feel as high as they should, the resolution is a telegraphed fantasy, and it’s less fun seeing Miranda Priestly brought down a peg than you’d expect. But Streep looks amazing, and she gives Miranda’s third act the bittersweet vulnerability it deserves. She has too few scenes with Tucci if only because the two are so effortlessly perfect onscreen together. Still, his eye-rolling snarky nurturing is as charming as ever.

Blunt is again the butt of the joke and, again, she shoulders the comedic weight with aplomb.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 ends up being a jacket that doesn’t fit quite as well as it did years ago, but it’s comfortable and it still looks pretty good.  

New In Theaters

Serkis Circus

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Animal Farm

by George Wolf

You may have questions going into the newly realized Animal Farm. And it’s a good bet you’ll have more coming out.

Who is this for exactly? What’s with these changes? Did someone think Orwell didn’t get the point across? And just…why?

For his part, director Andy Serkis has addressed some of these concerns in the weeks leading up to the film’s release. Serkis has stressed that he worked closely with Orwell’s estate, striving to update the classic tale with modern themes and a nod toward understanding “the contradictions within its author.”

That is an ambitious goal, to say the least, and one that Serkis, screenwriter Nicholas Stoller and a star-studded voice cast can’t completely bring to market.

The first major adjustment is adding the character of Lucky (voiced by Gatan Matarazzo), a young pig that serves as a moral compass for younger viewers. Lucky is easily influenced by boss hog Napoleon (Seth Rogen) as the farm rules of equality and fairness are twisted and broken.

Lucky is key to Napoleon’s plan of exploitation, and to making hard working animals like Boxer (Woody Harrelson) believe Napoleon has their best interests at heart. So why is he cozying up to the cyber truck driving tycoon Frieda Pilkington (Glenn Close) and Mr. Whymper the banker (Steve Buscemi)?

Well, some animals are more equal than others. That’s always been the rule!

The fart jokes and obvious humor are a bit jarring for such cherished material, but make it clear Serkis is aiming to give younger audiences a primer in Orwell’s belief that absolute power corrupts absolutely. It’s best to keep that in mind when the movie delivers a new, hope-filled ending that’s a few pastures away from Orwell’s bleak reveal.

To adults who revere that original cautionary tale, much of this overhaul may feel like a blasphemous Chicken Run rebellion. These animals have to decide for themselves that they’ve been hoodwinked, don’t they? So isn’t Lucky’s hand-holding a bit contradictory? And as well meaning as this might be, why risk diluting the power of Orwell that will come when the kids are old enough to grasp it?

After a series of examples both pro and anti-capitalism, the end credits montage cements the message that the enemies are the absolutely corrupt of any ilk. And history has shown they can be overcome.

Some of it works, yes. But honestly, it’s just impossible to come at it with the fresh eyes and clear heads of the ones it appears to be meant for. Do I respect what this Serkis circus is trying to do? Yes.

Do I wish he did it with an original story not named Animal Farm?

Also yes.

New In Theaters

Wrecked Him? Nearly Killed Him!

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Deep Water

by George Wolf

It isn’t too long before counting all the borrowed ideas becomes the most fun Deep Water is offering.

It’s a shark movie, so…Jaws. But you’ll also spot Titanic, the Airport franchise, The Shallows, Train to Busan, The Perfect Storm and a good bit of The Poseidon Adventure.

At least they acknowledge that last one with a Shelly Winters wisecrack, and it’s welcome. Because for a film that seems to think it’s farther above a Sharknado sequel than it ends up being, a bit of self awareness is long overdue.

First, director Renny Harlin has to get us on a plane to Shanghai, so the team of six screenwriters (six!) runs us through a some broadly-drawn Airport style intros of passengers and crew.

In the cockpit we meet the rugged First Officer with personal demons (Aaron Eckhart), the veteran Captain with scalawag charm (Sir Ben Kingsley), and the patient flight attendants (Lucy Barrett, Chrissy Jin). On the passenger list we have the asshole (Angus Sampson), the idiot parents looking to join the Mile High Club (Kelly Gale and Ryan Bown), kids in peril (Molly Belle Wright and Elijah Tamati), the Shelly Winters (Kate Fitzpatrick) and two twentysomething dudes who almost throw hands early on (might they be forced to put aside petty differences and work together??)

The plane crashes into the sea, and the placement of the two main chunks of wreckage allows Harlin to execute some Poseidon-esque set pieces in between shark attacks. Those sharks are CGI, of course, and their ridiculous gymnastics make you long for the true tension of a mechanical maneater that often broke down.

Nothing here is the least bit scary, the writing is obvious and overwrought, and the entire tone is caught awkwardly between giving in to sharksploitation silliness and striving for a well-plotted thriller.

Only Kingsley seems to know which end of the pool Deep Water belongs in. Too bad nobody else let the Cap’n make something fun happen with all these remnants of better movies..

Hope Madden and George Wolf … get it?