Three Thousand Years of Longing: Truly magical

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated R, for graphic nudity, sensuality and occasional violence

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.26.22

Director George Miller’s unusual new fantasy is both intimate and opulent, delicate and explosive, genteel and vulgar.

 

Alithea (Tilda Swinton), an academic and longtime creature of logic and reason, finds
her core beliefs continuously challenged by probing questions from the acutely
perceptive Djinn (Idris Elba) that suddenly enters her life.

It seems a highly unlikely film to be made at a time when so much of the world is bitterly divided along partisan and sectarian lines … and yet, perhaps, this is precisely the right time to be reminded of the comforting and enduring power of storytelling and myth.

Miller and co-scripter Augusta Gore based this beguiling piece on the title tale in British novelist A. S. Byatt’s 1994 short story collection, “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye.” Byatt — the pen name of Dame Antonia Susan Duffy — also holds the conventions of folk and fairy tales as a revealing mirror of contemporary society; there’s a strong sense in her work — and in Miller’s film — that those who ignore or dismiss myth are much the poorer for having done so.

 

Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a narratologist who has focused her career on how fables and myths have affected human development, is introduced as she arrives — the guest of honor — for a conference in Istanbul.

 

Her scholarly focus notwithstanding, she’s a stoic academic and creature of logic and reason: someone who long ago abandoned any desire to pursue romantic intangibles such as true love or unbridled passion. Swinton’s performance, in these early scenes, is brusque but not unfriendly, although close colleagues find Alithea’s demeanor a bit baffling (given her field of study).

 

That said, she’s also prone to occasional visions of fantastical beings from some sort of long-ago realm. 

 

It’s no accident, as she and her entourage make their way to the packed auditorium that awaits her presentation, that they pass a reference to a local production of Scheherazade.

 

The following day, seeking a bauble to commemorate this visit, she impulsively selects a delicate blue bottle from within an exotic gift shop. Back in her hotel room, she cleans it in the sink, snatching an electric toothbrush to scrub away the inset swirls.

 

And poof! The bottle top shoots out, and the room fills with a purplish-red mist laced with sparkling electromagnetic elements. They coalesce — at first massively, but ultimately at a somewhat more conventional size and shape — into a regal Djinn (Idris Elba) whose voice suggests thunder, even when calm and restrained.

Samaritan: Not worth saving

Samaritan (2022) • View trailer

Two stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for strong violence and profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang

Well … at least this Sylvester Stallone project is age-appropriate.

 

Director Julius Avery’s fitfully entertaining urban drama is an inner-city spin on the superhero genre, although Bragi F. Schut’s script is far better suited to the graphic novel format that preceded this film by almost a decade. 

 

To the exasperated frustration of Joe (Sylvester Stallone, right), young Sam
(Javon "Wanna" Walton, left) is convinced that his grizzled neighbor actually is a
former superhero, now living incognito.

Either way, Schut’s premise is mildly novel, although the execution leaves much to be desired; viewers will depart this film vexed by a glaring hanging chad.

At its core, this story echoes the famous line from John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

 

As explained in a comic book-style flashback that introduces this film, Granite City once hosted a pair of supers: the virtuous Samaritan and his equally powered villainous rival, Nemesis. Their ongoing skirmishes climaxed in an epic battle 25 years ago, which claimed both their lives.

 

Since then, much of Granite City has become a crime-infested slum burdened by the disenfranchised and helpless homeless, overrun with greed and corruption, and ruled by roving gangs of criminal thugs.

 

Cinematographer David Ungaro and production designers Greg Berry and Christopher Glass certainly make everything look gritty and grimy.

 

Thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary (Javon “Wanna” Walton), thoroughly absorbed by the legend of Samaritan, has clung to the notion that — somehow — his hero actually survived that clash. This obsession has prompted him to mistakenly assume “superhuman qualities” in a long list of ordinary citizens, much to the annoyance of bookstore owner/journalist Albert Casler (Martin Starr), who has long investigated what actually is known about their city’s former supers.

 

Sam’s fixation also is a burden on his mother, Tiffany (Dascha Polanco), a single parent just barely making ends meet. Indeed, she often doesn’t make them meet, which prompts Sam — against his better judgment — to accept some easy money from local gang lord Cyrus (the hissably evil Pilou Asbæk, well remembered as the similarly vile Euron Greyjoy, in Game of Thrones).

 

Asbæk is totally terrifying, particularly when — with eyes widened and bulging to an almost impossible degree — he leans into somebody else’s face, either with quiet menace or enraged explosions of temper.

 

Sam also has been paying attention to Joe (Stallone), a reclusive garbage collector who repairs broken appliances in an apartment across the street from the boy’s bedroom window. Sam’s curiosity is further piqued when Joe rescues the boy from a beating by a trio of teenage thugs led by Reza (Moises Arias, memorably nasty); the older man handles the punks with eyebrow-lifting ease.

 

Joe rebuffs the boy’s excited curiosity for a time, but a subsequent incident removes all doubt; the older man definitely is an enhanced being.

 

Bullet Train: One helluva ride!

Bullet Train (2022) • View trailer

Four stars (out of five). Rated R, for strong bloody violence, gore, relentless profanity and brief sexuality

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

The first 10-15 minutes of this film are remarkably off-putting.

 

We’re dumped into the midst of a story in progress, with numerous characters muttering sotto voce dialogue that gets buried beneath a shrieking pop score soundtrack. A gory and unpalatable flashback illuminates a running argument between two posh assassins over whether they’ve thus far killed 16 or 17 people.

 

Ladybug (Brad Pitt, left) believes that he has made an easy score, when he quickly
locates the metal briefcase he's been hired to snatch. Then he encounters Wolf
(Benito A Martinez Ocasio), merely the first of numerous assassins on this
bullet train run from Tokyo to Kyoto.

Elsewhere, Brad Pitt wanders amid the cacophony of late-night Tokyo — bewildered but purposeful — following instructions from a cool, soothing female “handler” at the other end of his phone.

Honestly, you’ll be tempted to bail …

 

… but that would be a mistake.

 

Once this film settles into its groove — and, more importantly, once viewers embrace that groove — this stylish, gleefully violent romp is a lot of fun.

 

Due in great part to Pitt’s increasingly amusing “Who, me?” performance.

 

Director David Leitch’s heavily stylized, unapologetically brutal thriller is a mash-up of Guy Ritchie-style crime romps and bloodthirsty Japanese yakuza epics, replete with wrathful assassins who go by code names, and have various scores to settle. Pitt’s character — dubbed “Ladybug” for the purposes of this snatch-and-grab assignment — swans not-quite-helplessly through this increasingly lethal chaos: the ultimate (comparative) innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

He has been tasked with retrieving a certain metal briefcase on the Töhoku Shinkansen Hayate bullet train run between Tokyo and Kyoto. It should be simple: Find the briefcase, depart the train at its next stop, liaise with his unseen handler.

 

What poor Ladybug doesn’t know — what we also don’t know, and learn only in fits and starts, as he does — is that the case is in the possession of the useless, wayward son (Logan Lerman) of White Death (Michael Shannon), a reclusive and much-feared Russian kingpin within the international crime scene.

 

White Wolf’s son is being chaperoned by professional killers Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry). The former is a Savile dandy with slicked-back hair and a penchant for erudite, long-winded speeches; the latter has a guileless demeanor and an uncanny ability to “read” people honed from (I’m not making this up) a lifelong study of Thomas the Tank Engine.

 

Ah, but this is a very busy train. The passengers also include Kimura (Andrew Koji), an alcoholic, low-level Tokyo criminal who has hit rock-bottom after failing to stop the unknown culprit who shoved his young son off the roof of a tall building. With family honor at stake, Kimura has concocted a mad scheme that will put him face-to-face with his target.

 

Then there’s Wolf (Benito A Martinez Ocasio), a rage-fueled assassin with a score to settle against Ladybug; The Hornet (Zazie Beetz), a master of disguise with a lethal sting, who travels beneath the radar of every job she accepts; and Prince (Joey King), a seemingly angelic young woman whose sweet looks and tender voice conceal torturous tendencies.

 

Oh, and let’s not forget the boomslang, a highly dangerous snake stolen from the Tokyo Zoo, whose highly toxic venom causes victims to bleed out from every bodily orifice within 90 seconds.

 

And off we go…

Day Shift: Well-done stake

Day Shift (2022) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated R, for strong violence, gore and profanity

Available via: Netflix

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.19.22

This is the sort of film that would have scandalized your parents, had they caught you watching it as a kid.

 

Actually, more than a few adults likely would be similarly horrified, were they to dial it up by mistake.

 

When the vampire-hunting Bud (Jamie Foxx, right) is saddled with Seth (Dave Franco),
a nerdish, pencil-pushing babysitter, the latter is warned to stay the heck out of the way.
What could possibly go wrong?

The rest of us will have a grand time.

Director J.J. Perry’s kick-ass horror comedy won’t be more than a gory footnote in cinema history, but it boasts momentum, a sassy script by Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten, and a richly entertaining performance by star Jamie Foxx. It’s fun to see him return to his comedy roots, although this isn’t actually a comedic performance; the humor derives from the way Foxx plays this material straight, with deadpan sincerity, even as everything around him slides into cheerfully gruesome lunacy.

 

Matters begin innocuously, as San Fernando Valley pool cleaner Bud Jablonski (Foxx) arrives at the home of his latest client. Ah, but Bud isn’t your average pool cleaner. Trays of chemicals are a cover for somewhat more lethal tools, as he quietly slides inside this homeowner’s residence.

 

And the apparently terrified little old lady within isn’t nearly as helpless or frail as she seems.

 

Let us pause, for a moment, to acknowledge that this isn’t an old-school vampire movie, wherein the fanged nasties can be dispatched with a simple wooden stake through the heart. No, Tice and Hatten have gone old-school, where legend dictated that decapitation was the only way to truly kill a vampire.

 

Needless to say, make-up designer Christopher Nelson and his massive team are kept quite busy, with what soon follows.

 

Bud’s unusual profession notwithstanding, he’s an ordinary blue-collar guy struggling to make ends meet. The financial situation suddenly grows dire when his estranged wife, Jocelyn (Meagan Good), threatens to move their daughter Paige (Zion Broadnax) to Florida. This isn’t a fit of pique; Bud and Jocelyn’s relationship is prickly but still mutually devoted. She simply can’t get by on what Bud has been providing.

 

Things have indeed been tight, since the headstrong Bud was thrown out of the more lucrative international union of vampire hunters, following numerous code violations. It has been difficult to make ends meet, when his only income has derived from selling fangs to seedy black-market dealers such as Troy (Peter Stormare).

 

Bud begs for just a few more days; he then swallows his pride, enlists the support of his legendary vampire-hunting pal, Big John Elliott (Snoop Dogg), and begs to be reinstated by hard-ass union boss Seeger (Eric Lange).

 

Seeger derives considerable joy from agreeing, with a no-argument stipulation: Bud must be babysat by nerdy union rep Seth (Dave Franco), a desk-bound pencil-pusher who’s finicky enough to note even the slightest transgression.

Luck: It could use more

Luck (2022) • View trailer

Three stars (out of five). Rated G, and suitable for all ages

Available via: Apple TV+

By Derrick Bang

It has been said — of some poor souls — that if they didn’t have bad luck, they’d have no luck at all.

 

Sam Greenfield (voiced by Eva Noblezada) falls into that category. Toasters malfunction, door knobs fall apart, bicycle tires go flat and pump handles break. Sadly, she also has spent her entire life at the Summerland Home for Girls, as an orphan never lucky enough to find new parents who would offer her a “forever home.”

 

Although Bob the cat regards the Land of Luck's workings as "just another day at the
office," Sam — a human in a realm where she doesn't belong — is amazed by all of
its wonders.

Now, having just turned 18, she has “aged out” and must make her own way in the big, bad world.

Director Peggy Holmes’ Luck is the newest release from Skydance Animation, and the first to emerge since former Pixar guru John Lasseter came on board in early 2019. Although Lasseter is credited solely as co-producer, this film definitely has familiar, Pixar-esque elements that suggest he had a guiding hand in shaping the script: not least of which is the aforementioned first act, as the characters of Sam and her adolescent best friend Hazel (Adelynn Spoon) are established.

 

You’ll detect the mildly retro, heart-tugging pathos that was so important to films such as Toy Story, Up and Inside Out.

 

Hazel, poised to meet an adoptive couple who might become her “forever family,” has stacked the deck as only a child could: with a cigar box filled with good-luck tokens. She needs only a “lucky penny” to complete what she believes will be her can’t-miss shot at happiness.

 

Sam, although desperate to oblige, has enough trouble coping with her own newly acquired adult responsibilities … starting with a darling studio apartment that conspires to make her late for her first day as a clerk at an arts and crafts big box store. This emporium is run by the cheerful Marvin (Lil Rel Howery), who — upon seeing how Sam makes utter hash of even simple assignments — wisely sends her outside on “cart patrol.”

 

At the end of this long, accident-prone day, a dejected Sam sits on the curb and impulsively shares her panini with a stoic black cat. After it departs, she spots — could it be? — a lucky penny.

 

Sam’s subsequent investigation of this coin’s power is a riot, particularly with respect to its control over the jelly-side-down principle. But this applies only when the penny is in her possession; she guards it carefully, intending to pass it along to Hazel.

 

Alas, not carefully enough.

Mack & Rita: Body-swap redux

Mack & Rita (2022) • View trailer

Two stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for sexual candor, drug use and occasional profanity

Available via: Movie theaters

By Derrick Bang

This is a modestly entertaining rom-com fantasy … when it gets out of its own way.

 

Actress-turned-first-time-director Katie Aselton tries much too hard at times, particularly during an off-putting first act that smacks of desperation. She tolerates the over-acting and breathlessly exaggerated line deliveries that suggest she and the cast don’t entirely trust Madeline Walter and Paul Welsh’s script.

 

"Aunt Rita" (Diane Keaton, center), encouraged by the younger self within her old body,
attempts to make the most of a group exercise session

Matters aren’t helped when the flow constantly is interrupted by Leo Birenberg’s overstated score and a paralyzingly loud assortment of raucous pop tunes. Or by the fact that Walter and Welsh open their story with a tiresome dog-pee incident. (Isn’t it time to retire this sight gag for eternity?)

Things improve as the tone settles down, and the story establishes its identity. By the final act, the actors have settled into their roles; the characters have grown on us, and the conclusion — although blatantly obvious throughout — is rather sweet.

 

Fledgling author Mack (Elizabeth Lail), with one published book under her belt, struggles — under the “guidance” of her smug and condescending agent (Patti Harrison, thoroughly obnoxious) — to generate “content” for a social media realm of influencers and “likes.” And she wonders: Is this really writing? (Answer: Of course not.)

 

The situation is worsened by Mack’s inherent nature; she’s an “old soul” in a young body, having been raised by a grandmother who encouraged her interest in retro clothes and genteel manners. None of this is appropriate behavior or attire for the wedding plans being made for longtime best friend Carla (Taylour Paige), who has arranged a “gal pal” weekend Palm Springs retreat with party-hearty posse buddies Sunita (Aimee Carrero) and Ali (Addie Weyrich).

 

Aselton obviously encouraged Carrero and Weyrich to be as aggressively unpleasant as possible: a challenge they embrace with enthusiasm. One wonders: Are they supposed to be funny? If so, they miss by a mile.

 

Worn down by too much drinking and clubbing, Mack opts out of a flash concert, choosing instead to investigate the offer of spiritual relaxation in a tent set up in an otherwise vacant lot. (You gotta just roll with this.) Much like Doctor Who’s TARDIS, this tent is much larger on the inside; Mack cheerfully parts with her credit card in order to embrace her true inner self in a “regression pod” that looks suspiciously like a recycled tanning booth. (You really gotta just roll with this.)

 

After screaming her desire to become the 70-year-old she knows resides inside her, Mack gets her wish; when she emerges, fresh-faced Lail has been replaced by Diane Keaton.

 

Although disorientation and hysteria seem a reasonable first response, Keaton wildly overplays these early scenes, to a degree that’s embarrassing. 

Thirteen Lives: Absolutely riveting

Thirteen Lives (2022) • View trailer

Five stars (out of five). Rated PG-13, for dramatic intensity and brief profanity

Available via: Amazon Prime

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 8.5.22

Lightning does strike twice in the same spot.

 

Back in 1995, with Apollo 13, director Ron Howard achieved the impossible: He generated minute-by-minute, edge-of-the-seat suspense despite the fact that we knew, going in, what the outcome would be.

 

As the Thai Navy SEALs watch dubiously, British Cave Rescue Council divers Rick Stanton
(Viggo Mortensen, foreground left) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell, foreground right)
begin their attempt to penetrate deep into the cave system, in order to determine if the
missing children are alive.

He has achieved the same with Thirteen Lives.

This was another “The whole world is watching” event, during late June and early July 2018. Social media shared updates in real time; eyes were glued to televised news feeds. Given what eventually went down, a big-screen drama was inevitable.

 

The result — in the hands of Howard and scripters William Nicholson and Don MacPherson — is must-see cinema.

 

(That said, this is not a film for claustrophobes.)

 

On June 23, following a playful afternoon scrimmage, 12 members of the “Wild Boars” Thai soccer team, ages 11 to 16, impulsively decide to visit the popular Tham Luang cave beneath Doi Nang Non, a mountain range bordering Thailand and Myanmar. Their assistant coach (played by James Teeradon Sahajak) insists on chaperoning. 

 

Back in their Chiang Rai province village, the team parents have gathered for one boy’s birthday party. When the team fails to show up on time, amid the drenching rain of an unexpectedly early monsoon, one lad — who opted out of the cave excursion — tells where they all went. As a body, everybody rushes to Tham Luang.

 

They find the boys’ parked bicycles at the cave entrance, but there’s no sign of anybody … and the water level inside the cave is rising rapidly.

 

What happens next ultimately involves roughly 100 government officials, 900 police officers, 2,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 volunteers from 18 countries, all of whom rapidly build what essentially becomes a bustling pop-up city outside the cave.

 

It’s barely organized chaos, but Howard has long excelled at finding the small moments and key individuals amid such bedlam; that’s where gripping drama resides. Nicholson and MacPherson’s script enhances the tension by delivering key dollops of information — such as the cave’s length — in small increments.

 

The film’s first audacious move comes when days pass, and the focus remains on the expanding rescue operation; we get no cut-aways to the boys and their coach, and we wonder: Are they even alive?

 

On top of which, as we learn more about the lengthy cave’s various zones, twists and turns — now mostly flooded — the situation seems dire. Hopeless. Impossible.