The Stop Button

American Fiction (2023) D: Cord Jefferson. S: Jeffrey Wright, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Tracee Ellis Ross. Sublime deconstruction of the American academia novel, as through the eyes of exhausted ultra-brow author Wright, who realizes maybe he is willing to sell out to get rich. Especially since he’s back home visiting mom Uggams, sister Ross, and brother Brown. Great performances—Wright’s fantastic–with just the right amount of big twists and little. Stellar feature debut from Jefferson, who adapted Percival Everett’s novel ERASURE.

Argylle (2024) D: Matthew Vaughn. S: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson. Spy novel writer Howard finds her fictional hero (Cavill) has an unlikely real-life counterpart (Rockwell). Numerous good moments, but it’s always a little too desperate and too cheap. Lots of the cast seems checked out, with Howard doing the lion’s share. Bad special effects don’t help either.

Bruce Springsteen – The Promise – The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (2010) D: Thom Zimny. S: Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel, Roy Bittan, Clarence Clemons, Jimmy Iovine, Nils Lofgren, Patti Smith. Okay assembled footage doc with the E Street Band recounting the creation of the DARKNESS album. Zimmy’s way too lazy when it comes to structure, but there’s some great Springsteen interviewing. It just needs about ten more minutes to contextualize. Alas, no. But for some Boss process insights? All good.

Drag Me to Hell (2009) D: Sam Raimi. S: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Reggie Lee. Bank loan manager Lohman pisses off old lady Raver, who puts a curse on her just as she’s up for a promotion and meeting boyfriend Long’s parents for the first time. Even worse… the curse is real. Often great direction, but the script’s a passively misogynist mess, Lohman’s barely okay, Long’s bad, and the end stinks.

The Evil Dead (1981) D: Sam Raimi. S: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker, Theresa Tilly. Now classic low-budget young adults in a haunted cabin gore-feast is a great debut for director Raimi and leading man Campbell. Great, gruesome special effects, terrifying sequences, and untold buckets of blood abound. Excellent production values for the money, with outstanding photography from Tim Philo and a perfect score by Joseph LoDuca. Edited by Joel Coen! For DVD, Raimi reframed the 4:3 16mm to an HD aspect radio SPECIAL EDITION, which was anything but. The reframing killed the timing, atmosphere, and almost everything else. Blu-ray and UHD restored the original aspect ratio, thank goodness. Followed by EVIL DEAD II.

Evita (1996) D: Alan Parker. S: Madonna, Antonio Banderas, Jonathan Pryce, Jimmy Nail, Victoria Sus, Julian Littman, Olga Merediz. Adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical about Argentine “Spirtual Leader” Eva Peron features an almost really good Banderas and a very blah Madonna. Director Parker does a bad job filming an otherwise handsome production. There are a handful of really good numbers, but Banderas can only compensate for so much.

Gimme Shelter (1970) D: David Maysles. S: Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor. Singular documentary covering The Rolling Stones’s 1969 U.S. tour and the disaster of its last venue, the Altamont Free Concert. Phenomenal multi-layered document of tragedy, with artful control throughout. Absolutely devastating and, in hindsight, hopeless.

Knights of Badassdom (2013) D: Joe Lynch. S: Peter Dinklage, Summer Glau, Steve Zahn, Ryan Kwanten, Margarita Levieva, Jimmi Simpson, Brett Gipson. Nearly clever fantasy-horror-comedy about Live Action Role-Players (LARPers) unleashing a demon during a tournament. The acting’s never terrible just bland. Dinklage, Simpson, and Gipson are pretty good. The too bumpy third act does it in.

Moonage Daydream (2022) D: Brett Morgen. S: David Bowie. Way too long super-cut of extremely on television David Bowie with music video footage and interviews providing the career retrospective “narrative.” Bowie’s charisma carries the entire thing, though can’t stop the drag or the trite. The world’s best and worst greatest hits promo video.

Moulin Rouge! (2001) D: Baz Luhrmann. S: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman. Abjectly terrible tale of famous Paris nightspot and its star crossed denizens. Many levels of atrocious on display, whether it’s the writing (ha), choreography (bigger ha), or Kidman’s performance (biggest ha). Sadly, the joke’s on the viewer. Amusing–for a fraction of a second–to see McGregor act (in a bad part) while Kidman’s incapable of doing so.

Nanny (2022) D: Nikyatu Jusu. S: Anna Diop, Michelle Monaghan, Sinqua Walls, Morgan Spector, Rose Decker, Leslie Uggams, Olamide Candide Johnson. Real deal performance from Anna Diop as a nanny suffering shitty white people to the point it affects her mental health. Also, there’s maybe magic. Incredibly tense, nice support from everyone, great photography, real good direction. The second to third act transition is rocky, but the film comes through big.

One, Two, Three (1961) D: Billy Wilder. S: James Cagney, Liselotte Pulver, Horst Buchholz, Pamela Tiffin, Hanns Lothar, Arlene Francis, Leon Askin. Brisk but empty madcap comedy about Coca-Cola rep Cagney’s shockingly sexist (even for 1961) adventures in pre-Wall Berlin, trying to sell Coke to the Russians while cheating on wife Francis with secretary Pulver and keeping boss’s horny daughter Tiffin away from East Berliner Buchholz.Lots of wink-wink-nudge-nudge ex-Nazi jokes. Buccholz’s awful, Francis’s great; everyone else is in between.

Suitable Flesh (2023) D: Joe Lynch. S: Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Bruce Davison, Johnathon Schaech, Barbara Crampton, Hunter Womack. Weird, icky homage to eighties Lovecraft adaptations with some creepy moments and wacky performances, particularly Graham and Lewis–with everyone having at least two great moments. Quirk overcomes the forecasted, predictable conclusion.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021) D: Questlove. S: Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, Sly Stone. Consistently awesome documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival (aka Black Woodstock). They filmed the whole thing and then couldn’t sell it. Fifty years later, SUMMER resurrects the memories. Some original footage was lost and it would’ve put things over the top. It could easily run twice as long without drag. So good.

Under Suspicion (1991) D: Simon Moore. S: Liam Neeson, Laura San Giacomo, Kenneth Cranham, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Maggie O’Neill, Stephen Moore, Malcolm Storry. Moody 1950s-set British thriller about man slut P.I. Neeson getting into trouble after rigging a divorce case and romancing client’s mistress San Giacomo. Director Moore’s script tries hard not to be predictable but eats its own tail. Neeson’s fine, San Giacomo’s not; Cranham’s good as Neeson’s sidekick.

Willy’s Wonderland (2021) D: Kevin Lewis. S: Nicolas Cage, Emily Tosta, Beth Grant, Ric Reitz, Chris Warner, Kai Kadlec, Caylee Cowan. Silent man with a muscle car Cage finds himself broken down in a tiny town, working off his repairs at a Chuckie Cheese-style joint. Only the animatronic animals are all killer monsters who eat people. Never quite good, never too bad; it tries and succeeds at being a gory lot.