Anatomie d’une chute (2023)

written by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

directed by Justine Triet

At a chalet in the French Alps, teacher Samuel (Samuel Theis) falls out a window and is found dead by his novelist wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller) and young son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). It all points to an unfortunate accident. Or does it? As police investigate, Sandra becomes a possible murder suspect, and she turns to an old friend, Vincent (Swann Arlaud), for legal representation.

Anatomie d’une chute (English title: Anatomy of a Fall) is an enthralling legal drama, not so much because of the puzzle regarding Samuel’s death, but rather because of how it ultimately reveals the complicated relationship between two people who loved and resented each other in equal measure. Hüller’s performance is mesmerizing.

Rating: ***

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

written by Ian Goldberg and Richard Naing

directed by André Øvredal

The body of a young woman (Olwen Kelly) is discovered at the scene of a multiple homicide, unrelated to the other victims. Father-and-son coroners (Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch), must figure out the cause of death before morning. But little by little, they discover this Jane Doe ain’t no regular corpse – indeed, she’s not even dead.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is a pretty good horror creepout that works best in its early examination scenes. By the time the plot settles into the the usual tropes – flickering lights, walking cadavers, jump scares – it loses some steam, yet strong performances and stylish direction by André Øvredal make this a fun outing for horror aficionados.

Rating: **½

Cujo (1983)

written by Don Carlos Dunaway and Lauren Currier

based on the novel by Stephen King

directed by Lewis Teague

Cujo is probably my favorite low-budget adaptation of a Stephen King novel, a mean, lean thrill machine about a nice St. Bernard who gets bitten by a bat and goes rabid. Director Lewis Teague knows the payoff is in the movie’s second half, in which Cujo terrorizes a mother (Dee Wallace) and child (Danny Pintauro) trapped inside a broken-down Ford Pinto. And boy, does he ever, staging a terrifying climax in which Wallace and six-year-old Pintauro get to show off their acting chops – you’ll believe this shit is really happening to them. Also, great soundtrack by the underrated Charles Bernstein.

Rating: ***

House of Games (1987)

written by David Mamet

from a story by Jonathan Katz and David Mamet

directed by David Mamet

A bored psychiatrist (Lindsay Crouse) gets involved with a sly con man (Joe Mantegna) who teaches her the art of grifting. Eventually he lets her take part in a scam involving eighty grand borrowed from the mob, but the plan goes wrong and they find themselves on the run… until she realizes she’s always been the mark. House of Games is a fun, intriguing caper, but its twist is rather predictable and the resolution impossible to believe. Still, a skillfull directorial debut for playwright/screenwriter David Mamet.

Rating: **½

The Ides of March (2011)

written by George Clooney, Beau Willimon, and Grant Heslov

based on the play Farragut North by Beau Willimon

directed by George Clooney

The first act of The Ides of March is great. The Governor of Pennsylvania, Mike Morris (George Clooney), is running for President, and his campaign manager, Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and junior campaign manager, Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), have their hands full. Will they be able to beat the Arkansas Senator who’s also trying to win the primary? Complicating matters is the fact that Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), the Senator’s campaign manager, wants Stephen to join his team.

It’s nicely done, with restrained direction from Clooney and great performances (as usual) from Hoffman and Giamatti. But then The Ides of March takes a turn to melodrama as Stephen discovers the intern he’s having sex with is secretly pregnant… with Morris’ child. Betrayal and blackmail follow, in a quick succession of events that will likely give you a bit of whiplash. Still, there’s enough skill in The Ides of March to warrant a watch. Even Gosling is fairly good as the idealistic upstart who ends up selling his soul… and that’s saying something.

Rating: **½

Inside Out 2 (2024)

written by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein

from a story by Kelsey Mann and Meg LeFauve

directed by Kelsey Mann

I admit that, given Pixar’s rather lackluster output lately, I was a little worried that Inside Out 2, the sequel to 2015’s wonderful Inside Out, would go the disappointing way of something like The Incredibles 2 (2018). Alas, I was wrong. Set a couple of years after the events of the original, the movie follows Riley’s emotions – joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and sadness – as they realize their little girl is entering puberty, and new emotions – anxiety, envy, embarrassment, and ennui – want to take over. A smart idea, made even better by a funny, heartwarming script. Inside Out 2 doesn’t surpass the magic of the first film, but it’s probably Pixar’s finest moment since Coco (2017).

Rating: ***

Jack Reacher (2012)

based on the novel One Shot by Lee Child

written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie

An off-grid ex-US Army major, Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise), investigates a mass shooting by an Army sniper he knew in Iraq. He joins forces with the DA assigned to the case, Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), and eventually discovers that a shady Russian gangster (Werner Herzog) and his gang are the real culprits. In the 80s, Jack Reacher would’ve probably been a cheap action flick starring Chuck Norris and his patented karate moves. But in the 00s, it’s a sixty million dollar star vehicle for Tom Cruise, who prefers to beat up thugs with his fists. As an A-list thriller, I’m not sure Jack Reacher makes a lot of sense… but as a B-movie it’s certainly entertaining.

Rating: **½

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

written by Richard Wenk, Edward Zwick, and Marshall Herskovitz

based on the novel Never Go Back by Lee Child

directed by Edward Zwick

I was curious as to whether Jack Reacher: Never Go Back would follow its predecessor in the not-too-bad-for-a-rainy-day category, but this second helping is mediocre at best. This time Reacher, again played by Tom Cruise, believes a colleague (Cobie Smulders) has been framed for the murder of two soldiers in Afghanistan. Cruise sleepwalks throughout the whole thing, the action is subpar, and there’s a corny subplot involving Reacher’s bratty daughter (Danika Yarosh) that feels straight out of a television movie. Should’ve never gone back, dude.

Rating: **

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

written by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder

based on the novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White

directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Somewhere in the fictional country of Bandrika, English tourist Iris (Margaret Lockwood) boards a train bound for home. Also along for the ride is an elderly governess named Miss Froy (May Whitty), and both women talk over tea in the dining car. Iris falls asleep shortly after, and when she wakes up Miss Froy is nowhere to be found. Even stranger, none of the other passengers seem to remember the old lady. Is Iris’ mind playing tricks on her, the result of an earlier concussion? Or is something more nefarious at play?

This being an Alfred Hitchcock film, the mystery is obviously the star of the show, yet in The Lady Vanishes he effortlessly balances it with elements of comedy, romance, and even action thriller. Only two years later he’d begin his incredible Hollywood run with Rebecca (1940)… and the rest is history.

Rating: ***

The Lodge (2019)

written by Sergio Casci, Veronika Franz, and Severin Fiala

directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala

In The Lodge, brother and sister Aiden (Jaeden Martell) and Mia (Lia McHugh) are asked by their father (Richard Armitage) to warm up to their soon-to-be stepmom, Grace (Riley Keough). Thing is, Grace is a psychologically unstable survivor of a religious cult, and dad has decided to leave the kids alone with her at a remote cottage in winter. Good one, dude.

Strange things start happening: The generator goes out; food and clothing mysteriously disappear; Grace begins to hear a voice from her past. And then the twist comes – the children have been cruelly gaslighting Grace all along. But as usual in this type of film, the elaborate pranks (which include Aiden “hanging” himself, as well as a newspaper article about the three main characters being dead) stretch credulity to the brink. Also, I’m not sure children would really suffer hunger and cold in order to drive someone further mad. The Lodge is all style, no logic.

Rating: **

Men (2022)

written and directed by Alex Garland

A widow (Jessie Buckley) travels to the English countryside in order to heal from the trauma of her abusive husband’s death. She rents a house from a guy named Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), and soon after goes for a tranquil walk in the woods. Her idyll is broken by a naked man that follows her home; a boy and a vicar that harass her; a policeman and some bar patrons who terrorize her. Stranger still… they all look like Geoffrey.

Men is a horror film heavy on symbolism and allegory, a disturbing journey that explores how misoginy and toxic masculinity is passed down over the centuries (William Butler Yeats’ sonnet Leda and the Swan, about Zeus’ rape of Leda, figures in the narrative and is significant to writer/director Alex Garland’s intentions). The body horror ending is surreal and unforgettable.

Rating: ***

Pearl (2022)

written by Ti West and Mia Goth

directed by Ti West

Pearl, the prequel to writer/director Ti West’s horror flick X (2022), is the origin story of X‘s antagonist of the same name. Tellingly, both characters were performed by Mia Goth in X, and she now plays the role of young Pearl in 1918 – this, in short, is her journey from troubled farmgirl to full-on lunatic killer. And what do you know, Pearl somehow manages to surpass X in sly macabre fun, as West riffs on The Wizard of Us (1939) as much as he did on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) the first time around. Pearl is an unexpected experience, more pop art-house than B-movie slasher, and one of those rare prequels that outdoes the original.

Rating: ***

Phantasm (1979)

written and directed by Don Coscarelli

The first time I played Phantasm in my VCR, I wondered what in the hell I was watching: A funeral home overseen by a gigantic mortician; a flying silver orb that drills into people’s foreheads; hooded undead dwarves; a finger that turns into an insect. I couldn’t make sense of it, and seeing it now years later, I still can’t. And yet, this horror cult classic is memorable precisely because of its dreamy incoherence, similar to the films of Dario Argento (1977’s Suspiria was apparently an inspiration for writer/director Don Coscarelli). Also of interest to genre buffs: Be on the lookout for a scene directly lifted from Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic Dune, and check out how much writer/director Wes Craven “borrowed” to create his own horror classic A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Rating: **½

Poor Things (2023)

written by Tony McNamara

based on the novel by Alasdair Gray

directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

It’s virtually impossible to describe Poor Things – an absurdist, surreal take on Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus – in which a dead woman is brought back to life by a scientist who replaces her brain with that of her unborn fetus. The “monster,” Bella (Emma Stone), grows up (again) in 19th century London and discovers the pleasures of sex, the sorrow of inequality, and the virtues of socialism. But it’s all mostly played for shock value, and the film’s quasi-feminist leanings are betrayed by its excess – a bit more substance in Bella’s journey to become an independent, free-thinking woman would’ve gone a long way. Still, this is required viewing for fans of director Yorgos Lanthimos, who somehow succeeds in making Poor Things both a beautiful and repugnant experience.

Rating: **½

Sous la Seine (2024)

written by Yannick Dahan, Maud Heywang, Xavier Gens, Yaël Langmann, and Olivier Torres

based on an idea by Edouard Duprey and Sébastien Auscher

directed by Xavier Gens

A killer shark loose in the Seine, roaming the waters around the Eiffel Tower and about to feast on a bunch of triathlon swimmers? I would’ve greenlit that idea in a minute, and so did Netflix. Sadly, French thriller Sous la Seine (English title: Under Paris) is another bland nature-gone-wild flick. Not even five credited screenwriters could come up with a clever take on that badass premise, landing on half-serious ecological warning and half-bombastic action movie. After The Meg (2018) and this, someone needs to make a decent shark movie.

Rating: **

Speak No Evil (2022)

written by Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup

directed by Christian Tafdrup

Two families, one Danish and one Dutch, get to know each other while on vacation in Italy. Some time later, the Danes receive an invitation from the Dutch to come visit them in the Netherlands. They accept, but things grow from awkward to tense until the Danes realize the hosts are murderous psychopaths who love to prey on the weak. There’s an interesting idea here regarding social mores and the lengths we go to in order to avoid conflict, but Speak No Evil is too preposterous and illogical to explore it. An American remake is coming. I wonder if it’ll be more realistic.

Rating: **

Talk to Me (2022)

written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman

based on an idea by Daley Pearson

directed by Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou

A group of teenagers in Australia meddle with the supernatural in the form of an embalmed hand that allows them to contact the dead. Believable performances, creepy practical effects, and a dark (but spot-on) resolution make Talk to Me a pretty solid horror flick, even if the overall experience is somewhat derivative of other films in which evil spirits come a-knocking.

Rating: **½

Under the Silver Lake (2018)

written and directed by David Robert Mitchell

Sam (Andrew Garfield) is a young dude in L.A. who one night meets cute with a neighbor, Sarah (Riley Keough). They agree to see each other the next day. But when morning comes, Sam discovers that Sarah has inexplicably moved. Why? This mystery is just one of many in writer/director David Robert Mitchell’s bizarre mix of conspiracy thriller and surreal comedy, but Under the Silver Lake adds up to nothing much. Like a character says late in the film, “It’s all silly and meaningless.” No argument there.

Rating: **

Cuando acecha la maldad (2023)

written and directed by Demián Rugna

 In the world of Argentine horror flick Cuando acecha la maldad (English title: When Evil Lurks), demons are real, an occasional inconvenience that needs to be dealt with. Brothers Pedro (Ezequiel Rodríguez) and Jaime (Demián Salomon) discover a neighbor is possessed – if the evil spirit gets loose, it will infect more people. They decide to load the “rotten” into a truck and drive him miles out of town. Of course, all hell breaks loose… literally. Cuando acecha la maldad is gruesomely stylish, with a nice turn from Rodríguez as the beleaguered Pedro, but loses steam in its second half as it limps towards a silly climax involving devil children.

Rating: **½

Wonder Wheel (2017)

written and directed by Woody Allen

A former actress, Ginny (Kate Winslet), wastes away her life as a waitress in 1950s Coney Island. She longs to be young again, free from her blue-collar husband, Humpty (Jim Belushi), and their pyromaniac young son, Richie (Jack Gore). Enter Mickey (Justin Timberlake), a lifeguard with dreams of becoming a playwright, and Carolina (Juno Temple), Humpty’s estranged daughter from a previous marriage. As their lives intertwine, you will think of better movies from writer/director Woody Allen, who’s waded in these thematic waters plenty times before. Yet Wonder Wheel‘s theatrical approach is intermittently interesting, elevated in no small part by Vittorio Storaro’s feverish cinematography.

Rating: **½

Zombieland (2009)

written and directed by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

directed by Ruben Fleischer

I love zombie comedies, from The Return of the Living Dead (1985) to Shaun of the Dead (2004). Zombieland is no exception, a raucous, gory, quick-witted movie about a group of apocalypse survivors (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin) who kick undead ass on their way to an amusement park in California. And how can you not love a movie in which the heroes end up accidentally killing Bill Murray… playing himself? Zombieland is a rollicking double tap of fun.

Rating: ***

Carlos I. Cuevas