Tag: Drama

REVIEW: ‘Companion’ is an enjoyable frenzy of horror, heart and humor

This is why there was a PSA in “Futurama” with the warning “DON’T DATE ROBOTS.”

The titular companion in this sci-fi feature is Iris (Sophie Thatcher), a young woman who’s going on a weekend getaway with her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid). They’re staying with two couples Josh is friends with, Patrick and Eli, as well as Kat and Sergey.

Unbeknownst to Iris, though, is the fact that she’s actually a robot, built, designed and programmed to be a romantic partner. That fact is eventually revealed to her in the process of the friend group enacting a scheme to get rich, which puts her in danger.

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REVIEW: Celine Song’s sophomore effort ‘Materialists’ disappoints

A film from A24, written and directed Celine Song who helmed the wonderful “Past Lives” from 2023? On paper it looks like a slam dunk. Unfortunately, that’s not quite the case.

In Song’s second feature film, Dakota Johnson stars as a matchmaker in New York City named Lucy. She works for a company that specializes in setting up dates between similar people. Basically, it’s an in person dating app, but the app is a human match manager with an office.

Work is going well enough, but Lucy herself has been single for a while. That changes, though, when she meets the charming and understanding Harry (Pedro Pascal), and the two start dating. At the same time, she meets up and starts talking with former boyfriend John (Chris Evans).

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REVIEW: Wes offers style and substance again in ‘Phoenician Scheme’

Michael Cera’s career has been hitting a pretty good stride in the last few years, starring in solid flicks like “Gloria Bell,” “Barbie” and “Dream Scenario.”

That positive streak continues in his latest appearance, playing a key role in Wes Anderson’s new project. Cera co-stars in the film as Bjorn, alongside Mia Threapleton as Liesl and Benicio del Toro as Korda. The movie centers on Korda, who’s a powerful industrialist staking his empire on an infrastructure project in Phoenicia.

Making it a reality is tricky. Kordo has enemies against him and obstacles to overcome. To navigate the situation, he sets up his daughter, Liesl, to be heir to his throne in case of his demise, and brings her and Bjorn on a wide-reaching journey to make the scheme a reality.

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REVIEW: ‘Warfare’ falters from lack of depth, insight

War is hell, and that certainly is shown viscerally in this 95-minute feature. If only it did more than that.

“Warfare,” directed and penned by Alex Garland, is based on the account of U.S. Navy Seal Ray Mendoza, who shared his story as a co-writer. The movie is more or less a bottle film. There are a few overhead shots from the perspective of military aircraft and a few scenes set on roads nearby, but the great majority of “Warfare” is in a single house.

It’s 2006, and the U.S. military is engaged in the Battle of Ramadi during the Iraq War. The film centers on a group of Navy SEALS who have set themselves up in an Iraqi home to monitor activity across the street. Unfortunately, they’re soon found out and are quickly pinned down by a large group of Iraqi fighters and have to survive until they can be evacuated.

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REVIEW: ‘Last Breath’ is deep on suspense, shallow elsewhere

This film is somewhat paradoxical in that it gets about as low as you can go in terms of depth, but isn’t exactly deep.

In 2019 director Alex Parkinson released the documentary “Last Breath.” The film centered on an incident where a deep-sea diver tasked with repairing pipes was nearly lost when his umbilical cable snapped and he was left on the ocean floor. Parkinson has now followed that up with a feature length narrative film.

The movie showcases how Chris Lemons (Finn Cole) was cut off from the air supply on the seabed and ran out of oxygen. It also shows fellow divers Duncan (Woody Harrelson) and David (Simu Liu), as well as ship Captain Andre (Cliff Curtis) and repair supervisor Craig (Mark Bonnar) making rescue attempts.

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REVIEW: ‘Mickey 17’ is a clumsy creation from Bong Joon-ho

Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to “Parasite” is unfortunately, no awards contender.

The latest from the South Korean filmmaker is a dark sci-fi action-comedy centered on the character Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson). Needing to flee Earth because of a loan shark, Mickey boarded a spacecraft to a new planet, and took a job known as Expendable, where he does repairs in awful conditions.

In the case of death, his memories and personality has been downloaded, and his body can be recreated, allowing him to live on. The movie picks up with Mickey now on body 17 and surviving a dangerous incident where he should have died. As a result, an 18th Mickey is made. In doing so, their combined presence alters the course of the future for the a space colony.

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REVIEW: Angelina Jolie is at her absolute best in ‘Maria’

For the third time in a decade, director Pablo Larraín has helmed a biographical film about a complex woman, and like the other two, it’s one of the year’s best.

Larraín previously directed 2016’s “Jackie” about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and 2021’s “Spencer” which centered on Princess Diana. His latest is about the opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), though it takes place mainly after her illustrious career.

The movie focuses on the last week of the singer’s life, and explores how she was reflective of a career that she lost. Over time, her voice began to fail her, which caused her to leave her profession, and later her health began declining as well. The film is about the culmination of this, with her still at times trying to sing, while looking at the past and dealing with health issues.

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REVIEW: ‘Hard Truths’ has stirring drama but scope is limited

“Hard Truths” is a title that works for this movie. Others could have been “Mean Truths,” “Pessimistic Truths” or “Negative Truths.”

That’s because the main character in this film, Pansy Deacon (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), is dealing with depression, resentment and grief, which has manifested in aggression. Pansy is often in a state of frustration or anger, and it results in outbursts toward both family and strangers alike.

Much of this stems from conflicted feelings toward her late mother. This has caused a strain in her marriage to her husband Curtley (David Webber) and relationship with her son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett). The one person she still manages to confide in usually is her sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin).

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REVIEW: Gere lifts Schrader’s middling drama ‘Oh, Canada’

The film may be named “Oh, Canada,” but a great deal of the drama in this takes place south of that nation’s border.

“Oh Canada,” from director Paul Schrader, centers on documentary filmmaker and professor Leo Fife (Richard Gere), an American who moved to Canada to avoid the draft during the Vietnam War. The film picks up with Leo, now a terminal cancer patient, being interviewed by a former student.

Now a documentary filmmaker himself, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), is interviewing Leo for a movie about the man’s decision to avoid Vietnam and his award-winning film career. However, as Leo begins to reflect on his personal life as he is asked about various points in his past.

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REVIEW: ‘The Piano Lesson’ is a well-acted but imperfect adaptation

As someone not familiar with the source material, I can’t say I at all expected a ghostly haunting in this period piece drama.

Based on a 1987 stage play with the same name, “The Piano Lesson” centers on the Charles family. John David Washington stars as Boy Willie Charles, a young man from Mississippi who’s traveled to Pittsburgh to pick up his family’s piano and sell it. His goal is to use the money to purchase the farm where his ancestors were enslaved and have his own land.

His sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), though, is opposed to the sale, noting its importance to their family’s legacy and history. The two remain at odds through the film, and as tensions rise, eerie things start happening.

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