New This Week (05/10/2024): Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Evil Does Not Exist, & More!
By John Corrado
New releases for the week of May 10th, 2024.
(L-R): Noa (played by Owen Teague) , Freya Allan as Nova and Raka (played by Peter Macon) in 20th Century Studios’ KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Theatrical Releases:
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (Wide Release): This latest film in the Apes saga is a solid start to this next chapter of the franchise, focused on a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) several generations after the rise of Caesar. Directed by Wes Ball (The Maze Runner), taking over for Matt Reeves, Kingdom doesn’t quite reach the heights of the previous trilogy, but it’s a solid, thematically rich blockbuster. There’s a real sense of discovery to how the new characters explore this world, with wonder and danger around every corner. This has turned into one of the best modern blockbuster franchises, and I’m looking forward to seeing where they take this series next. (Full Review)
Evil Does Not Exist (Limited Release): Japanese filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s followup to his Oscar-winning Drive My Car follows a father (Hitoshi Omika) and daughter (Ryo Nishikawa) who live in the forest outside Tokyo, but have their way of life is threatened by corporate developers. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa, it offers a very interesting cinematic experience that mixes elements of nature film, eco-drama, and thriller. (TIFF 2023 Review)
We Grown Now (Limited Release): Filmmaker Minhal Haig’s We Grown Now offers a vivid portrait of childhood and growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects circa 1992, centred around best friends Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez). The real standout is Patrick Scola’s pretty incredible cinematography. (Full Review)
The Burning Season (Limited Release): This latest collaboration between Canadian director Sean Garrity and star Jonas Chernick is a simmering romantic drama that starts at the end and works its way back to the beginning, charting the long-running summer affair between JB (Chernick) and Alena (Sara Canning). (Canadian Film Fest Review)
More Releases: Chicken for Linda! (TIFF Lightbox), Carlos (Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema), The Arc of Oblivion (Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema), Not Another Church Movie (Limited)
Streaming Releases:
The Beatles: Let It Be (Disney+), Mother of the Bride (Netflix), Dark Matter (Apple TV+)
Movie Review: We Grown Now
By John Corrado
In We Grown Now, writer-director Minhal Haig offers a vivid portrait of childhood and growing up in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing projects circa 1992.
Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) are two young Black boys who are best friends. They hang out together in an abandoned unit, and the film opens with them dragging an old mattress into the street. It’s a rite of passage to “jump,” i.e., taking a flying leap onto a pile of mattresses set up on the concrete.
Malik lives with his single mother (Jurnee Smollett) and grandma (S. Epatha Merkerson), who are originally from Mississippi. Eric lives with his single dad (Lil Rel Howery, wonderful in a dramatic role), but is often over at Malik’s apartment. The two boys are inseparable. But when a tragedy happens in the community, they are warned to stay inside.
It’s an event that not only forces the boys to confront mature emotions, but also alters the course of their friendship. In her third feature, Haig presents herself as a promising new voice, establishing a distinct style. The film feels influenced by the work of Barry Jenkins, but also by Joe Talbot’s The Last Black Man in San Francisco, with a sense of lyricism to it. Her sensitive direction also guides the natural performances of her young cast.
Cinematographer Patrick Scola shoots the hell out of the film, including smooth panning shots and unique camera angles. These framing choices add an almost magical realist quality to the film; in one sequence, the boys sneak away to the Art Institute, where all of the adults appear to stand still. Jay Wadley’s lovely, at times mournful jazz score provides fitting accompaniment.
The film serves as a sort of eulogy for the now-demolished Cabrini-Green and the people who lived there, showing how this housing complex is the whole world to these boys. We Grown Now might be a small film with a somewhat simple narrative, but it’s one that indelibly captures little moments from a child’s eye view, building to an emotionally resonant coda.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez in WE GROWN NOW. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
We Grown Now opens exclusively in theatres in limited release on May 10th. It’s being distributed in Canada by Mongrel Media.
Movie Review: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
By John Corrado
When the Planet of the Apes series was revived in 2011 with the pleasantly surprising Rise of the Planet of the Apes, it led to one of the best modern blockbuster trilogies with the two Matt Reeves-directed follow-ups Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes.
This was always going to be a tough act to follow, but the latest film in the series, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, presents a solid start to this next chapter of the franchise. It doesn’t quite reach the heights of the previous trilogy, but director Wes Ball (The Maze Runner), taking over from Reeves, crafts a strong adventure movie.
The film is set several generations after the death of Caesar, who has now become a Christ-like figure. The apes have become the planet’s domination civilization, with humans having returned to being primitive creatures. The story centres around Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape living in a clan that raises eagles as companions.
One of the best aspects of Kingdom is how there’s a real sense of discovery to how the new characters explore their surroundings. The film opens with Noa and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffrey) and Soona (Lydia Peckham) swinging through the trees and towers they have built in search of eggs. There is an early civilization feel to their village, rich with its own customs and traditions that have formed outside the influences of the rest of the world.
Noa finds wonder and danger around every corner as he learns about humans (“echoes,” as his clan calls them), and discovers the history of Caesar. The curious young ape gets swept off on an adventure when his village is attacked by Proximous Caesar (Kevin Durand), a powerful king who has perverted Caesar’s teachings to build what is essentially a cult with himself as ruler.
Noa encounters a wild human woman (Freya Allan) also fighting for survival, as well as Raka (Peter Macon), a wise and peaceful senior orangutan. The screenplay by Josh Friedman explores the different cultures that have branched off and formed following a few centuries of ape evolution, as well as the different religious factions that have have developed around what amounts to a worship of Caesar.
Despite its underpinnings as an action-adventure movie, and it delivers on that front, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes also doesn’t shy away from the more philosophical ideas of the series. While the apes have now evolved to our level, they have also taken on our most unfortunate traits of falling prey to tribalism and fundamentalism (the seeds of this were planted in the prior movies).
It’s a thematically textured blockbuster that takes its time (the film does run a little long at 145 minutes), giving us more to chew on as it builds to the well-orchestrated suspense of the grand finale. Despite this being the first of the new Apes movies not to feature Andy Serkis, the motion capture performances remain compelling. Teague’s Noa is an inquisitive, fully-formed character, while Durand’s Proximous Caesar is a threatening and imposing figure. The visual effects blending these talking animal characters with real backgrounds are seamless.
This is a different film from the saga of Rise, Dawn and War, setting things far into the future (there are remnants of human civilization beneath the overgrowth of the jungle), but having the feel of a classic frontier Western. There are also, of course, hints at what we know is to come in the original franchise that began in 1968. I’m looking forward to seeing where they take this series next, because it remains one of the best blockbuster franchises we currently have going.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
(L-R): Raka (played by Peter Macon), Noa (played by Owen Teague) , and Freya Allan as Nova in 20th Century Studios’ KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens exclusively in theatres on May 10th.
Movie Review: The Beatles: Let It Be (Disney+)
By John Corrado
Released in 1970 amidst the band’s public breakup, director Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s infamous music documentary Let It Be offered a candid portrait of The Beatles recording their album of the same name in 1969.
Behind the scenes footage from these sessions provided the basis for director Peter Jackson’s in-depth docuseries The Beatles: Get Back. Released in 2021, Jackson’s mini-series was culled together from hundreds of hours of fully restored archival material shot by Lindsay-Hogg, capturing the band experiencing growing pains that would lead to their demise.
After years of essentially being lost media, Lindsay-Hogg’s original 16mm film Let It Be has now been fully restored by Jackson and his team, and is finally receiving a wide release on Disney Plus. Largely remembered as an unglamorous portrait of the band (perhaps best symbolized by the shot of a partially eaten green apple decaying on the piano), the film is fascinating to watch now with for its historical importance to fans of the group.
Like was explored in the series, Let It Be showcases John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr rehearsing songs for their Let It Be album and figuring out arrangements. Being filmed for a potential TV special, the camera puts us right there with them in the sparse studio Twickenham Film Studios. We see glimpses of McCartney’s young daughter Heather joyfully twirling and dancing around the studio.
But we also sense the tensions between McCartney and Lennon (who often has Yoko Ono silently sitting beside him), which has led to Let It Be gaining a reputation as the band’s breakup movie. For much of its 81 minute runtime, Lindsay-Hogg’s documentary fascinatingly pulls back the curtain on Beatlemania to show a group of musicians (including Billy Preston, adding accompaniment on the piano) plugging away at their craft, and sometimes bickering with each other.
That is, until the joyous celebration of its last act, when the band has moved to the studios at Apple Corps in London, and take to the rooftop for a spontaneous concert performing several of their songs, with spectators gathering below to watch and police taking notice. This footage, as thrilling as it ever was, is also bittersweet as it would become their final performance.
The restored documentary opens with a new introduction by Jackson and Lindsay-Hogg, offering some historical context on the film’s legacy. What makes The Beatles: Let It Be such a treat to watch, despite its reputation over the years as being a somewhat unflattering portrait, is how it captures the brilliance of the band even in some of their most fraught moments.
Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)
(L-R): Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon in THE BEATLES: LET IT BE. Photo by Ethan A. Russell. © 2024 Apple Corps Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
The Beatles: Let It Be is available to stream exclusively on Disney Plus as of May 8th.
By John Corrado
Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is an awkward high school loner in 1989 who falls for the reanimated corpse of a man from the Victorian era whose grave she likes to visit in the horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein, written by Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body).
Following the horror movie death of her mother, Lisa lives with her vacuous, popular stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano), mean stepmom Janet (Carla Gugino), and oblivious dad Dale (Joe Chrest). Lisa would rather spend her time writing dark poetry and making etchings of the tombstones in the abandoned graveyard behind their home.
But she gets dragged to a house party one night by Taffy, where things end badly, and an ensuing lightning storm gives life to the dug up corpse from her favourite grave. The undead young man (played by Cole Sprouse), known as The Creature, becomes a companion to Lisa that she hides in her closet. He communicates through grunts, and needs help locating replacements for his missing body parts.
In theory, Lisa Frankenstein should have a lot of elements to like about it, from Cody’s screenplay to the colourful 1980s setting and soundtrack. But the film never quite comes together. It’s not dark enough to function as horror, the script isn’t funny or clever enough as a comedy, and it’s not romantic enough to work as a romance. Tonally, the film feels uneven; the characters are inconsistent and underdeveloped, and scenes often seem strung together, missing somewhat of a cohesive narrative structure.
Directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin Williams) in her feature directorial debut, the film feels “Frankensteined” together, drawing influences from a variety of horror comedies and ‘80s teen movies but not really regurgitating them into an appealing whole. The lead characters aren’t endearing or sympathetic enough for this Edward Scissorhands riff to really work on its own, and the PG-13 rating often makes it feel like it is holding back.
We are left with a film that feels half-baked. While Sprouse’s physical performance is the best aspect of the movie, Newton never quite finds the right balance between emo goth girl and campy comedy in her portrayal of the titular Lisa, leaving her character feeling unmoored and unbalanced. If Jennifer’s Body was under appreciated at the time of its release, but has now been reclaimed as a cult classic, it’s hard to say if Lisa Frankenstein will ever face the same reappraisal.
Film Rating: ★★ (out of 4)
Bonus Features (Blu-ray):
Cole Sprouse stars as The Creature and Kathryn Newton as Lisa Swallows in LISA FRANKENSTEIN, a Focus Features release. Credit: Michele K. Short / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC
The Blu-ray also includes a selection of deleted scenes, three featurettes, a gag reel, and a director’s commentary track. The release ships with a standard slipcover.
• Deleted Scenes (Play All – 3 minutes, 37 seconds)
• Get Me Out of Hell! (27 seconds)
• Knock Knock (41 seconds)
• Music Lovers (28 seconds)
• Incredible Friend (1 minute, 39 seconds)
• Breaking News (22 seconds)
• Gag Reel (2 minutes, 26 seconds)
• An Electric Connection (4 minutes, 43 seconds): Williams and Cody talk about casting Newton and Sprouse in the leading roles, and the chemistry between them.
• Resurrecting the 1980’s (4 minutes, 34 seconds): A look at recreating the decade, including through the costumes and heightened production design.
• A Dark Comedy Duo (4 minutes, 1 second): Williams and Cody talk about collaborating together on the film (Cody mentions that she didn’t initially intend for the story to be funny, which might explain some of the film’s awkward tonal shifts).
• Feature Commentary with Director Zelda Williams
Lisa Frankenstein is a Universal Pictures Home Entertainment release. It’s 101 minutes and rated 14A.
Street Date: April 23rd, 2024
#HotDocs24 Review: Whatever It Takes
By John Corrado
The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival ran from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto
In 2019, Ina Steiner and her husband David, the bloggers behind the website EcommerceBytes who specialized in providing advice to eBay sellers, began receiving a series of threatening and intimidating messages. These messages gave way to a series of increasingly disturbing packages being delivered to their home in Natick, Massachusetts, and mysterious cars trailing them soon after that.
Director Jenny Carchman charts this investigation in her documentary Whatever It Takes, a disturbing and thought-provoking real life cyber crimes thriller. In uncovering the origins of the creepy packages (including a bloody pig mask from one of the Saw movies) that were being sent to this unsuspecting couple, her film takes us down a rabbit hole of corporate greed and power-hungry players within the ruthless world of Silicon Valley.
Ina and David Steiner are merely some of the sympathetic victims at the centre of it, and Carchman is wise to frame her film around their horrified reactions to being repeatedly doxed and swatted, getting the local Natick police department involved. The engaging documentary is edited together to move at a quick clip, mixing interviews, Ring doorbell footage, messages on screen, and even movie clips to immerse us in the paranoia and revealing details of the case.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
This is Going to Be Big screened as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival.
#HotDocs24 Review: This is Going to Be Big
By John Corrado
The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival ran from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto
This is Going to Be Big is a very heartwarming and inspiring documentary that follows a group of neurodiverse high schoolers in Australia preparing for a school play, and is refreshingly told from the perspectives of the students themselves.
Every two years, the students at a specialized school for people with disabilities in Victoria perform an elaborate play, which takes months of planning and casting. Their latest production is a time-travelling tribute to Australian singer John Farnham that will see different students playing him in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Director Thomas Charles Hyland, who worked with the subjects through a collaborative process, follows a quartet of students over the several months leading up to the play.
Halle is on the autism spectrum, and wants to take on the role of Farnham to perform his hit song “You’re the Voice” in honour of her late aunt. Josh, who is also autistic, is excited to perform, but his real dream is to join the airforce. For Elyse, who has seizures and severe anxiety, made worse by the bullying she faced at her old school, the show is about becoming more confident. Chelsea, who has an acquired brain injury after being hit by a car as a child, is a natural star seeking her time in the spotlight.
The teachers provide support and direction when needed, but don’t take over. Hyland himself stays behind the camera, crafting a vérité portrait that takes us into the lives of the students, charting the hurdles they face (and overcome) in the months and weeks before taking the stage. It’s wonderful to watch the self-confidence they gain through the entire process.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
This is Going to Be Big screened as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival.
#HotDocs24 Review: Secret Mall Apartment
By John Corrado
The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto
In 2003, a collective of eight artists in Rhode Island stealthily moved into a hidden space within the Providence Place Mall, and lived there undetected for four years. The story of their elaborate ruse is told in director Jeremy Workman’s documentary Secret Mall Apartment, which plays as a fun and enjoyable ode to guerrilla art.
The project was led by Michael Townsend, an artist who specializes in tape art; temporary murals done with masking tape stuck on walls and the sides of buildings. The idea of moving into the mall started as a protest of the shopping centre’s construction, but turned into a years-long effort that included buying furniture from Salvation Army (which had to be snuck in through a back door in the parking garage and dragged up a ladder), and constructing a wall and door for more privacy.
The film is told through a playful mix of their early-2000s digital camera footage, artistic recreations, and talking-head interviews with the artists. By having the artists tell the story in their own words, the film offers insight into how they pulled off living in the mall for so long, as well as their thinking at the time. Was this merely a quirky living arrangement, or an elaborate anti-consumerist art project? And could it even be considered public art, if it was done only for an audience of themselves, and with no real end in sight?
The film carefully ponders these questions, while wisely leaving the answers up to the viewer. It’s easy to watch Workman’s documentary thinking about how this could have easily been the basis for a narrative feature, with its vaguely heist-like elements. It’s simply that good and intriguing of a true story.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
Secret Mall Apartment screens as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.
By John Corrado
The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto
The documentary Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story is a very sweet and beautifully filmed portrait of a childless couple and the wild otter they adopt into their lives. Billy and his wife Susan live in the Scottish Shetland Islands with their dog Jade, right on the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Susan’s voiceover narration at the beginning tells us that her husband was struggling to find a sense of purpose, when a skinny young otter started scurrying onto their dock looking for food. Billy instantly bonds with the seemingly orphaned creature, naming her Molly, and almost treating her like a surrogate daughter. Caring for her becomes an all-consuming job, from making sure there is enough fish for her to eat, to providing her a sheltered place to sleep outside.
Directed by Charlie Hamilton Jones, the documentary follows the couple over the course of several seasons. There are shades of My Octopus Teacher in the story of the bond between human and wild animal. The heart of the film comes from watching Molly grow up and become self-sufficient, forcing Billy to grapple with the increasingly diminished role that he needs to play in her life, not unlike what all parents eventually have to go through. Making use of adorable footage of the titular otter, and gorgeous images of the natural landscapes, Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story is an enjoyable and heartwarming experience.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
Billy and Molly sit in Billy’s rowing boat in the sea just off West Shetland. (National Geographic/Johnny Rolt)
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story screens as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.
By John Corrado
The 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival runs from April 25th to May 5th in Toronto
In their documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, co-directors Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson take us into the world of Swamp Dogg, an aging musician with a storied, unconventional career. Born Jerry Williams, he adopted the moniker Swamp Dogg partway through his music career to focus on putting out a series of quirky, singular recordings (with comical album covers glimpsed throughout the film).
Swamp Dogg now lives with fellow musicians Guitar Shorty and Moogstar (who is always accompanied by the plush monkey hanging around his neck) at a house in California, where the three men chill, create music, and reminisce about their careers. Instead of being a traditional music biodoc, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted is more of a hangout film, built around scenes of the guys sitting around the backyard pool, as an artist works on painting a design on the bottom (the title is literal, with the progress being amusingly charted throughout the film).
Friends like Tom Kenny and Jonny Knoxville drop by, adding to the free-flowing, anything goes nature of the film, which includes animated and AI-generated touches that add to the trippy feel of it all (like a hand-drawn Scooby Doo sequence recounting Moogstar’s spiritual encounter in a graveyard). It works as a quirky and enjoyable portrait of the eccentric Swamp Dogg and his friends.
Film Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)
Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted screens as part of the 2024 Hot Docs Film Festival, more information on tickets and showtimes can be found right here.
The Joy of Movies 