Shenanigans

GAME NIGHT (B-minus) - If you find Jason Bateman as funny as I do, then this will be worth it. He rescues scene after scene of this average suburban caper movie with his classic comedic timing. The premise revolves around a group of dorky adult couple friends who geek out playing party games.

Bateman's Max bristles whenever his wife, Annie (Rachel McAdams), compares him to his brother, Brooks (Kyle Chandler), even more so when Brooks insists on crashing Game Night with what he considers the ultimate stumper of a premise. Things get wacky, and it's hard to tell what's real and what's not, when it appears that thugs have hijacked the game.

There's a creepy neighbor, Gary (TV actor Jesse Plemons), who has been disinvited from Game Night because his wife left him, leaving him the odd man out and forcing the others to come up with elaborate ways to sneak around to avoid him. Gary is a dorky law enforcement officer, and if you think he'll figure out a way to play the hero, you're only halfway to the series of plot twists.

But too often the comedy feels forced and the gags obvious. A running joke involving one couple's squabble over which celebrity the wife once slept with grates and fails to pay off. The other couple involves a randy bachelor, notorious for bringing very young, dim-witted dates to Game Night, instead pairing with an age-appropriate woman with a brain. That plot string goes nowhere, either. But there's Bateman, crushing it in the clutch just when you think it's time to bail on this lightweight effort.

THE APARTMENT (A) - Billy Wilder's masterpiece (at least one of them) coasts on Jack Lemmon's energy and charm as a insurance company nebbish, C.C. Baxter, who lets the higher-ups use his apartments for their extramarital dalliances, with the promise of a corner office near the morally bankrupt boss, played by Fred MacMurray (from Wilder's early noir "Double Indemnity").

And Shirley MacLaine, in her debut, is adorable and incorrigible as Baxter's love interest, Miss Kubelik. There's the classic Wilder snap to the dialogue (written here with partner I.A.L. Diamond), including the patented adoption of the slang of the day -- here the overused suffix -wise, as in my favorite line, "That's the way it crumbles -- cookie-wise."

The plot thickens, as Baxter is more and more put out by the shenanigans, and his landlady and neighbors are more and more appalled by his misbegotten reputation as a playboy. A complicated love triangle ensues, but while the pathos builds, the comedy keeps an even keel. There's not a false move here.
 

New to the Queue

Coasting ...

A documentary about about the bad-boy behind the Sex Pistols and PIL, "The Public Image is Rotten."

Nicole Holofcener ("Enough Said," "Lovely & Amazing") makes a welcome return with another slice-of-life drama, "The Land of Steady Habits."

A debut documentary walks in the footsteps of photographer Walker Evans in small-town Alabama, "Hale County This Morning, This Evening."

Watching a Michael Moore film has felt redundant the past decade or two, but, with fond memories of hustling to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" on opening day, we're game for the bookend, "Fahrenheit 11/9."

Talented French Director Jacques Audiard ("A Prophet," "Dheepan," "Rust and Bone") teams John C. Reilly with Joaquin Phoenix and a few other ringers for the comic western "The Sisters Brothers."
 

This Modern World

WHAT LIES UPSTREAM (B+) - Cullen Hoback, who calls himself an investigative filmmaker, broke bread with me more than a decade ago at the Santa Fe Film Festival when he was still in the feature-film biz, pitching a wonderful little hourlong romp called "Freedom State," about a group of mental patients navigating life after the apocalypse. He was a friendly guy and an earnest filmmaker. He has since embraced the documentary format and went on to solid success with "Terms and Conditions May Apply" in 2013, and now this thorough examination of the horrors that have befallen our nation's water supply.

Hoback focuses on a chemical spill in West Virginia in 2015 that nearly went unnoticed. He is meticulous in following the science and in holding public officials to account, in particular a local director of Public Health who later graduates to the same position with the state and starts to back off his straight talk, giving in to the system. Hoback befriends a rather clueless director of the state's environment department, a frat-boy type in the mold of "Heckuva job, Brownie." Hoback walks in on a back-room legislative meeting where the manufacturers' association -- water suppliers, chemical companies -- are literally drafting an industry-friendly bill to hand to a dim-witted and mean state legislator for him to put his name to.

This is compelling and diligently reported. Hoback connects this one incident to the lead-pipe catastrophe in Flint, Mich., and to the dangers lurking in the water lines from coast to coast.

IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE (B) - A languorous examination of the noise in society that inundates us constantly and the ways in which silence can calm the mind. There are zen acolytes and other experts in silence who use their indoor voices for the crisp 81-minute running time, as well as a young cross-country traveler who has taken a vow of silence. Peaceful nature shots abound, rudely interrupted by buzzsaws and subway trains. Another reminder to slow down and shut up. Try to sit still for it in its entirety.
  

Street Punks

SKATE KITCHEN (B+) - Crystal Moselle, who embedded herself with unnaturally sheltered siblings for her breakthrough documentary "The Wolfpack," cozies up to some real-life New York skate punks, fictionalizing their lives for this hybrid film about teen girls getting by. Bespectacled Camille (Rachelle Vinberg) is a lonely 18-year-old who escapes a nagging mother on Long Island and falls in with a ragtag gang of girls in Manhattan. 

Camille slowly falls for a co-worker (played by Jaden Smith) who has a history with one of the other girls in the group. Some of the drama feels a little forced, but Moselle has a way of humanizing these teens, not unlike Eliza Hitzman's intimate portrayal of teen hookup culture, "It Felt Like Love." And the hand-held camerawork around New York feels fresh and urgent.

The interaction between the diverse group of girls seems relaxed and natural, and they are fun to be around. Little of it seems forced.

BONUS TRACK
From the closing credits, Khalid with "Young Dumb & Broke":


 

New to the Queue

Real life intervenes ...

A documentary about New York City cops fighting the injustices of the policing system, "Crime + Punishment."

Robert Greene ("Actress," "Kate Plays Christine") looks to be back on his game with the story of labor and immigration unrest during World War I, "Bisbee '17."

A documentary about one of the great filmmakers of the 1970s, Hal Ashby ("Harold and Maude," "Shampoo," "Being There"), "Hal."

Another doc, this one about the postwar New York street photographer, "Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable."

And a loving look back a the sweetheart of the original "Saturday Night Live," "Love, Gilda."
 

Polemics

BLACKkKLANSMAN (B-minus) - This disappointing missed opportunity is a scattershot attack at racism, yet another Spike Lee joint that makes you miss the '90s. What are we to make of the cartoonish depictions of bumbling klansmen in Colorado Springs in 1972, or of a racist couple canoodling in bed, romantically rhapsodizing about realizing their dreams of defeating the inferior races? Such scenes are lost in the gulf between parody and ham-handed revisionist history.

Lee's heart is in this, but he undercuts his polemic with amateurish flourishes. The screenplay (by Lee as part of a committee, interpreting a memoir by officer Ron Stallworth) could have been written by a college freshman overdosing on Wikipedia entries, as clunky as the historical references get. The echoes between past and present are notable, but Lee, never one for subtlety, nudges the viewer in the ribs constantly. He does himself no favors with a final flourish of real-life news clips from the 2017 Charlottesville riot instigated by white supremacists; his quaint period piece looks simplistic by comparison.

John David Washington is rather drab as Stallworth, a black police officer who engages none other than David Duke over the phone, seeking to infiltrate the klan. The department sends in a fellow detective (Adam Driver) to stand in for Stallworth. Driver struggles to find the right tone as a Jew tossing around the n-word with this basket of deplorables. A trite love story also ensues -- gee, will the cute gal get peeved when she finds out Stallworth infiltrated the Black Power movement, too? Everyone involved here looks like they are grappling with Lee's shifts in tone, like a jazz combo without enough practice. Lee might want to just acknowledge that his greatest strength during the second half of his career lies in documentary filmmaking ("When the Levees Broke," "4 Little Girls") and not in two-hour-plus features overstuffed with undercooked ideas.

AMERICAN SOCIALIST (C+) - This paint-by-numbers biography of turn-of-the-century lefty Eugene V. Debs is useful if you don't know much about the man. This is what you would expect to see in a freshman survey course of socialism. Director Yale Strom frames the story with Debs' stints in prison, early on for trade union activities and later for speech violations during World War I. The diehard ran for president several times, peaking at 6 percent of the vote in 1912. Strom hits the highlights here.
  

The Uplift

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR (A-minus) - It's just a matter of timing as to how and when you'll be brought to tears by this faithful examination of the life of Fred Rogers, the mastermind behind the beloved PBS children's show. Director Morgan Neville, who last yanked our heartstrings with "20 Feet From Stardom," packs an emotional punch with this examination of the too-good-to-be-true children's show host.

Members of the "Mr. Rogers" troupe have nothing but positive things to say. Credit to Neville for at least including the fact that the pioneering black cast member was kept in the closet by the host's fear of exposing kids to homosexuality. Sweet and bittersweet.

DON'T STOP BELIEVIN': EVERYMAN'S JOURNEY (2012) (B) - This is the heartwarming story of Arnel Pineda, who was an obscure cover-band singer in the Philippines before being discovered on YouTube by the members of Journey, who invited him to become an arena-rock legend. PBS veteran Ramona S. Diaz turns in a workmanlike biography of Pineda, exploring his roots (singing for his supper on the streets of Manila) and studying the effects of American superstardom on her sensitive subject.

A trip back to Pineda's hometown doesn't deliver the zip it should. There's nothing deep about this tale. The founders of Journey took a chance on a YouTube sensation, blessed him with riches, and the band is enjoying a resurgence in popularity. It worked out well for everyone. Pineda seems grateful, and he proved he belongs in the big show. Good for him.
 

Noir Chronicles II

A couple more from the Guild Cinema's annual Film Noir fest, plus a bonus track:

ON DANGEROUS GROUND (1951) (B) - Ida Lupino actually co-directed this noir classic with legendary director Nicholas Ray, and she stars as a woman caught between the cop investigating a murder and her brother, a suspect. Robert Ryan is solid as Jim Wilson, a big-city cop, suffering from burnout, who gets sent upstate to the boonies to investigate a local murder. There he falls for Lupino's Mary Malden, a blind woman seeking to protect her brother. A warmth slowly develops between Jim and Mary. A few corny touches detract from Ray's gritty camerawork, but Ryan and Lupino make it work in the end.

Spotted:  Nita Talbot (later the green-eyed guest star on "The Fugitive," "Mannix" and "Hogan's Heroes") as a drunken flirt in a bar.

CHOOSE ME (1984) (C+) - This artsy wank from Alan Rudolph ("Trouble in Mind") has not aged well. Early '80s poodle cuts clash with smooth Teddy Pendergrass slow jams, while Lesley Ann Warren and Keith Carradine age out of their '70s precociousness. The only things that qualify this as noir are the constant smoking, the movie-set hookers and neon signs outside of the hangout bar, and the incessant saxophone swirls (which apparently escaped from an old Billy Joel song) slithering around the soundtrack.

The plot is a combination of confusing and boring. Genevieve Bujold plays a radio sex therapist. One of her regular callers is Eve (Warren), the bar owners. One barfly is young flirty Pearl (Rae Dawn Chong, another key '80s marker), who struggles as a poet and fails in a marriage to an older man. Keith Carradine shows up as Mickey, a greaser with a shady past. He serially seduces the women to various degrees.

The artificial sets and the excessive chatting (often over the phone and mostly women whining about relationships) spill from Rudolph's male ego. What might have seemed edgy or avant-garde in 1984 now feels tacky.

Spotted: John Larroquette (on the brink of "Night Court") trying to be dramatic as a bartender named Billy Ace.

BONUS TRACK
THE LOST WEEKEND (1945) (A-minus) - Ray Milland is powerful in this classic from Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett about a failed writer plumbing the depths of a weekend bender. The usual Wilder snap to the dialogue is present, including some slang of the day. The banter between Milland's Don Birnam and his beleaguered gal-pal Helen St. James (Jane Wyman) also has the familiar crackle.

Wilder shoots in the streets and hallway of wartime New York City for a story that was ground-breaking at the time and still reverberates with the authenticity of addiction. A scene in which Birnam lands in a hospital's dry-dock with others suffering from the DTs is harrowing. The supporting cast is strong, too.  Doris Dowling (bearing a strong resemblance to Kathryn Hahn) smolders as the love-sick barfly lonely enough to give a drunk a pass just to cure her own loneliness  and desperation. This is another timeless picture from one of the all-time great filmmakers. 

Spotted: Frank Faylen (the father on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis") as the wise and wise-cracking nurse Bim in the DT ward.
  

New to the Queue

Coasting ...

Spike Lee's latest provocation looks like a fun romp through the 1970s, "BlackKklansman."

A slow-paced drama from Norway studies love and loss, "Gavagai."

Andrew Bujalski ("Computer Chess," "Results") returns with a slice of life about the working class, "Support the Girls."

A study of teens hanging out on the streets, the fact-fiction hybrid "Skate Kitchen."

A full-on documentary about skateboarders in Rockford, Ill., "Minding the Gap."
  

Family Reckonings

THE ENDLESS (A-minus) - This is the best philosophical time-travel buddy-movie mind-fuck since "Primer." Two brothers, who as teens had escaped from a cult their parents had dragged them to, receive a mysterious videotape from the cult and, at the urging of one of them, return to the cult's bucolic playground.

Justin Benson writes, stars and directs, along with co-star Aaron Moorhead, and the pair pull off a clever debut film. They play with time loops and sci-fi tricks. The ordinariness of the Heaven's Gate-like cult brings to mind the idea of the banality of evil. As IMDb puts it succinctly: "As the members prepare for the coming of a mysterious event, the brothers race to unravel the seemingly impossible truth before their lives become permanently entangled with the cult." This is a smart thriller.

IN THE FADE (C+) - Quite a mess and a disappointment, this is a run-of-the-mill revenge flick teaming striking lead actress Diane Kruger ("Farewell, My Queen") with onetime wunderkind Turkish-German director Fatih Akin, who has shown diminishing returns from "Head On" in 2004, to "The Edge of Heaven" in 2007, and "Soul Kitchen" in 2009.

Hopefully this is the bottom for Akin. He has little new to offer on the idea of a woman whose husband and child are killed and who goes on a mission to exact justice after being let down by the justice system. Akin blandly breaks this into three parts -- the love affair and family bliss interrupted by tragedy; a Farhadi-Lite court procedural; and then a stalker's revenge fantasy.

Kruger is stone-faced throughout, and she brings nothing fresh to the role of a wronged woman. Akin strains to create moods. A compelling quick-cut from the court verdict to the widow getting violently tattooed only serves to highlight the dull throb of the rest of the film. Not even a shock ending rescues it.
 

New to the Queue

Down in the groove ...

Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior") finally follows up her perfect debut with a story of a teen in 1993 going through gay-conversion therapy, "The Miseducation of Cameron Post."

A family interview turns into a documentary about activism in Serbia (and the former Yugoslavia), "The Other Side of Everything."

Lauren Greenfield continues to explore the themes from "The Queen of Versailles," with a documentary about enthusiastic capitalists, "Generation Wealth."

A late '70s documentary tracing back the socialist labor movement back to the turn of the century, "Prairie Trilogy."

A documentary about the prototypical gay gigolo of Hollywood's golden era, "Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood."

The Noir Chronicles

Another summer festival at the Guild Cinema, from postwar nuggets to that '70s drift:

THE LATE SHOW (1977) (A) - Modern noir from Robert Benton ("Kramer vs. Kramer," "Nobody's Fool") has Art Carney, in the gritty L.A. footsteps of Elliott Gould in Robert Altman's '73 classic "The Long Goodbye," limping around as over-the-hill Ira Wells, who gets odd-coupled with young new agey Margo Sterling (a perfectly manic Lily Tomlin), ostensibly to help find her cat.

Character actors Bill Macy ("Maude") and Eugene Roche (you'll recognize him) help zip this along, spitting out Benton's one-liners that are by turn clever and kitschy, homage with a twist. Carney is grizzled, grumpy and living on Alka Seltzer. Tomlin meditates, designs her own clothes and trusts in the universe. When Ira's old colleague shows up on his doorstep gutshot, Ira is determined to track down his killer and unravel the mystery involving Roche's slick-talking fence, a cheating wife, and a stolen stamp collection.

The dialogue sparkles, and Carney and Tomlin have undeniable chemistry, two talented comics bringing depth and heart to their characters.

Spotted: Joanna Cassidy ("Blade Runner," TV's "Buffalo Bill") as the femme fatale with the great gams. 

D.O.A. (1949) (B) - Edmond O'Brien is solid as a poisoned man determined to solve his own murder in the hours before he succumbs. He combs the streets of San Francisco and L.A., interacting with thugs and dames, as he slowly falters from the poison coursing through his system. Femmes fatale like Lynn Baggett and Beverly Garland (later of "My Three Sons") contrast with the secretary who pines for the hero, a perky turn by Pamela Britton (later TV's Blondie). Sharp dialogue emanates from the typewriters of Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene (they also wrote "Pillow Talk") in Rudolph Mate's moody gem.

Spotted: Jerry Paris ("The Dick van Dyke Show") as a bellhop.

RED LIGHT (1949) (D+) - Absolutely ridiculous, this revenge thriller plays like a parody of classic noir tropes. The plot literally makes no sense. Raymond Burr proves that he has little range beyond criminal-defense lawyer and disabled private eye. And George Raft might have been a star in his day, but here he's an unreconcilable ham as a businessman trying to solve the mystery of his war-hero priest brother's death.

Spotted: William Frawley ("I Love Lucy"), who elicited snickers throughout the audience when he confronts someone he suspects of being a detective with the question, "Are you a dick?"
  

Missing the Mark

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (C+) - A lot of good ideas here fail to find traction or go off on tangents, and the cast often seems to work at cross-purposes.

It's as if Spike Lee, having never been to film school, tried to meld "Get Out" with "Idiocracy" for his debut feature. Lakeith Stanfield was quite the discovery in "Short Term 12," but he was forgettable in "Get Out," and he strikes the wrong tone here as a telemarketing employee tempted by corporate riches, falling short as a leading man. He can be forgiven for failing to grasp the gestalt in this mess, though Tessa Thompson ("Creed," "Dear White People") is electrifying, as usual, as the subversive artist girlfriend. Armie Hammer, playing the face of corporate evil, is a dud, as usual.

Hip hopper Boots Riley (The Coup) never corrals his big ideas about capitalism, greed, race and class. He's directing with boxing gloves on. A bizarre twist midway through the film is, frankly, preposterous, and it's hard to take any of this polemic seriously. Maybe that's the point, but I don't think it is. There's visual panache, but that's what music videos are for.

VALLEY OF LOVE (B-minus) - Worth it for the pairing of screen legends Isabelle Huppert and Gerard Depardieu, this story of a son's suicide bringing back together his long-estranged parents to, of all places, Death Valley in California, suffers from a slow pace and a lack of a payoff.

But there's something about this slow grind that keeps you hooked. It's certainly not the sight of Depardieu's enormous, hideous gut, which is often on prominent display. It's more the volumes that Huppert speaks through simple casual glances and imperceptible arches of an eyebrow. There is sadness here but also healthy nostalgia for those fulfilling, captivating relationships of your 20s and 30s that launched your adulthood.

BONUS TRACK
The Coup, featuring Stanfield, with "OYAHYTT" from the "Sorry" soundtrack:


 

Heart of Darkness

FIRST REFORMED (B) - Ethan Hawke is solid as a depressed alcoholic priest in Paul Schrader's latest journey into the darkness of the heart. Hawke's Rev. Toller is haunted by personal demons from his past and in despair over the viability of the quaint, historic church he oversees in upstate New York.

Amanda Seyfried has a deft touch with the role of Mary (major symbolism flying around here), a woman who goes to the Reverend concerned that her husband is planning to carry out eco-terrorism. Meantime, fossil-fuel bigwigs donate blood money to the little church on the eve of a major anniversary. Cedric (the Entertainer) Kyles is perfect as the head of a nearby megachurch, a man with good intentions who sees no need to crush its dying rival, which has more tourists than parishioners.

The mood is puritanically grim. Toller scrawls rants in a diary while keeping a steady pour from the hard stuff. Things bog down about halfway through, and a 20-minute trim would have been helpful. But the final 15 minutes are harrowing, as Schrader knits together subtle horror/suspense elements and visual shocks that might haunt you for days afterward.

THE PARTY (C) - A decent ensemble case fumbles around with a wisp of a story in Sally Potters arch art film in which the slaughter rule should be invoked as style wins over substance. Potter ("Orlando," the galling "Yes") shoots in crisp black-and-white for this expanded ensemble ripoff of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Kristin Scott-Thomas draws a blank as an ambitious British politician seemingly weighed down by her sickly pathetic husband (Timothy Spall). Patricia Clarkson is annoying as her annoying, sycophantic, stuck-up friend who spars constantly with her German lover (Bruno Ganz). Cherry Jones and Emily Mortimer have a spark as a bickering lesbian couple. But soon Cillian Murphy shows up as a coked-up businessman whining about his missing lover, the Godot of the story that everyone seems to be waiting for.

There is little chemistry among all of the permutations here. Rarely has so much talent gone to waste. Even at a slim 71 minutes you'll be tempted to fast-forward through the pretentious dialogue and the theatrical buffoonery.
 

Pulp Fiction - Summer Edition

DEADPOOL 2 (B) - Ryan Reynolds is a charmer, even when being a nihilistic smart-ass in a super-hero movie.  The original "Deadpool," which we recently caught up with as show prep, required some fast-forwarding through the violent scenes, and I wish I'd had that option at the megaplex for the sequel. But this zips by fast enough in right around two hours, and if you are inured to cartoon violence you might not mind it.

Reynolds besieges the viewer with randy one-liners, fleeting pop-culture references, and obscure Marvel call-backs (and loopy call-backs to call-backs).  T.J. Miller has a bigger role, and he and Reynolds have a verbal sizzle together. The story is far-fetched, as you'd expect. Characters die but come back via the after-life. Leslie Uggams' blind lady character walks the line between offensive and hilarious.  Reynolds seems all in (he gets a screenwriting credit), and a CGI scene that gives him "baby legs" (complete with "Basic Instinct" leg-crossing) is one for the ages, certain to give teenage boys a go-to reference decades hence in a way that "Caddyshack" once did for us. (And I never tired of his quaint exchanges with the super-perky Yukio (Shioli Kutsuna).)

The self-mocking swagger takes the air (the piss?) out of the usual Marvel bloat, and I alternated between laughing out loud at some of the gags and rolling my eyes as the stupid battle scenes. It's all embarrassingly good, raunchy fun.

OCEAN'S EIGHT (B) - A great cast elevates a clever script that tries a little too hard to be clever in this female counterpart to the Steven Soderbergh's tripartite tribute to the Rat Pack, back at the turn of the millennium, when Harvey Weinstein's boys had all of the toys. Sandra Bullock, whose comedic chops we discovered in "The Heat," is more muted than she's been in the past, but she's generous with her co-stars. 

Gen X and Millennial uber stars like Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway savor their juicy bad-girl roles. Dame Helena Bonham Carter is charmingly daffy. The single-named Rihanna and Awkwafina bring a punk freshness to the genre. And Sarah Paulson and Mindy Kaling solidify the middle of the lineup.

The plot is clever. You can spot a few holes, but for Hollywood summer fare, the plausibility ranking is unusually high. Director Gary Ross does his usually workmanlike job behind the camera, with a writing assist from newcomer Olivia Milch. Celebrity cameos whiz by. Bullock wisecracks like Barbara Stanwyck. The 110 minutes fly by pretty quickly, and you end up more entertained than insulted. Good enough for summer.