A Reel Preview: The Year in Film 2023 - Episode IX

The Summer Movie Season may be over, but things won’t be cooling down in theatres, as September is packed with sequels and horror films. Here’s what’s coming to the big screen for the ninth month of the year. 

 

 

 

THE EQUALIZER 3 – Denzel Washington returns for the third and perhaps final time as retired CIA operative Robert McCall, who this time moves to Italy to hide from his past…only to face off against the Sicilian Mafia. Dakota Fanning co-stars, and it is directed by Antoine Fuqua, who helmed the first two films. 

 

 

ALL FUN AND GAMES – In this horror film, teenagers in Salem find a cursed knife which forces them to play a series of deadly games. Asa Butterfield (HUGO), and Natalia Dyer (TV’s STRANGER THINGS), lead the cast. 

 

 

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 – The third film in the GREEK WEDDING cinematic universe, which this time sees the Portokalos family travel to Greece for a family reunion. Nia Vardalos reprises her role as Fotoula, and she also writes and directs. 

 

 

THE NUN II – The second film in THE NUN franchise, which is also the ninth film in THE CONJURING franchise (everybody got that?). Set four years after the events of THE NUN, Sister Irene once again comes face to face with the demon. 

 

 

A HAUNTING IN VENICE – Kenneth Branagh reprises his role as famous detective Hercule Poirot in this spooky whodunit. Tina Fey and Michelle Yeoh co-star. 

 

 

THE INVENTOR – This is a stop-motion animated film about the life of Leonardo DaVinci. The voice-cast includes Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, and Daisy Ridley. 

 

 

THE EXPEND4BLES – The fourth film in the stinking, rotting, shitting EXPENDABLES franchise. Sylvester Stallone returns to fight off bad guys looking to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia. The cast includes Jason Statham, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, and Randy Couture. 

 

 

DUMB MONEY – Craig Gillespie (I, TONYA), directs this biographical comedy-drama about the GameStop short-squeeze of 2021 that shook Wall Street. The cast includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, and Dane DeHaan. 

 

 

THE CREATOR – Gareth Edwards, the director of STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE, brings us this original sci-fi flick about a future war with humankind and artificial intelligence. The cast includes John David Washington (son of Denzel), Gemma Chan, and Ken Watanabe. 

 

 

SAW X – The tenth film in the SAW horror franchise. This film serves as a direct sequel to the original film and takes place before SAW II. The cast includes Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith. It is directed by Kevin Greutert, who helmed SAW VI (2009), and SAW 3D (2010). 

 

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Next month, Reel Speak previews the massive month of November. 

 

 

 

 

A Reel 50: AMERICAN GRAFFITI

“It doesn’t make sense to leave home to look for home, to give up a life to find a new life, to say goodbye to friends you love just to find new friends.”

 

This month marks the 50^th anniversary of George Lucas’ AMERICAN GRAFFITI. 

 

The second feature film directed by Lucas, AMERICAN GRAFFITI took place on a summer evening in 1962, with high school graduates ending their summer vacation and suddenly faced with the daunting black hole of what to do with the rest of their lives. The film was inspired by Lucas’ own teenage years, with much of the action, drama, romance, and comedy taking place as teens cruised a main drag in their cars. 

 

In 1969 (real time), Lucas had taken his first feature film, THX-1138, to the Cannes Film Festival. There, he made pitch to United Artists to do a rock n’ roll movie, with cruising, music, and deejays. With the help of his friend and producer Francis Ford Coppola, AMERICAN GRAFFITI would eventually land at Universal with Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck assisting with the screenplay. 

 

The casting would involve a future roster of Hollywood stars and artists: Ron Howard, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith, and Cindy Williams…and they would be joined by Paul le Mat, Candy Clark, and Mackenzie Phillips. Famed radio deejay Wolfman Jack would be heard in the film throughout the radios of the many hot rods and classic cars. 

 

Filming began in San Rafael but would eventually relocate to Petaluma, both in California. Famed editor Verna Fields, who still had an Oscar in her future for cutting JAWS (1975), would edit. The initial cut of the film was asked to be made shorter by the studio, but thanks to a famous shouting match led by Coppola, only five minutes were cut. The soundtrack would be packed with 41 songs from 35 groups…including Bill Hailey and the Comets, Buddy Holly, The Beach Boys, and Del Shannon. 

 

Reviews were sensational, and with a budget of only $700K, the box office numbers would be one of the biggest returns in history at the time. At the 46^th Academy Awards, it would be nominated for five Oscars: Best Picture, Director (Lucas), Supporting Actress (Clark), Screenplay, and Editing (Fields). The Golden Globes would name it the Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Paul le Mat would win Most Promising Newcomer (male). In 1995, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. 

 

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George Lucas not only recreated his teenage years with AMERICAN GRAFFITI, but he had also created a unique style with several different and unrelated stories intertwining. This was a new technique that both cinema and television would latch onto to this day. The film’s use of musical collages to underscore the action and reinforce the time period was also something new. On a technical level, it advanced camerawork and cinematography for filming at night. 

 

AMERICAN GRAFFITI was another signal at the time of the new wave of directors that were about to take over Hollywood and set things on a drag race that continues to this day. Coppola’s THE GODFATHER had come just the year before, and a kid by the name of Spielberg was just two years away from becoming a household name. The film looks at the end of innocence for the characters (unbeknownst to the players, JFK was in his last days…who has an unseen presence), and it stands as a bookmark for when Hollywood would also find its own high school days about to end. 

 

Change was certainly on the way, starting with the cast. Harrison Ford would have Indiana Jones and Han Solo in his future, Ron Howard would move into directing, Richard Dreyfuss found his star in ascension, and Cindy Williams would be on her way to a successful career in TV. As for Lucas, AMERICAN GRAFFITI elevated his name to a top-notch filmmaker, but we would still be unprepared for what he would do next. 

 

“You’re the most beautiful, exciting thing I’ve ever seen in my life and don’t know anything about you.”

A Reel Review: BLUE BEETLE

BLUE BEETLE is the latest attempt from DC to get something, anything going after a tumultuous few years of flops, bombs, mulligans, and cancellations. The superhero, whose roots go all the way back to 1939, is not well known as his super-caped and masked counterparts, but does have all the right pieces for something special. 

 

Jaimie (Xolo Mariduena), is chosen by a mysterious scarab, which grants him an embedded super-powered armor. He is then pursued by the powerful corporate weapons company Kord, led by CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon). 

 

Directed by Angel Manuel Soto, BLUE BEETLE sets itself up as a standard superhero origin story. Jaimie and his new powers don’t get along at first, and he is assisted by Victoria’s niece (Bruna Marquezine), and his entire family (Elpidia Carrillo, Adriana Barraza, Damian Alcazar, Rocio Reyes, and George Lopez). The pursuit of Jaimie’s new powers leads them to many secrets behind the scarab while he learns to get along with his new armor which has a mind of its own. 

 

What BLUE BEETLE does different for an origin story is that this time there are few secrets to be kept from Jaimie’s family. There is no secret identity to be messed with, as his family is right there with him from the start and act as his support team. It’s a statement on family and just how tight-knit Hispanic culture can be, and it gives BLUE BEETLE a strong identity. This really works and makes for some surprising emotional moments. 

 

Once the film moves past that, things sadly fall into cliché and bland territory. Victoria the CEO, while she has an axe to grind as a woman who has been stepped over, just comes off as a ho-hum power-hungry villain. Action scenes are a noisy blur, and characters over-react ridiculously by SCREAMING REAL LOUD every five seconds. Other story beats are predictable; rock music for action scenes, grandma dropping witty one-liners, and Victoria’s henchmen (Raoul Max Trujillo) eventually turning against her. 

 

Acting is mostly superb. Xolo Mariduena is excellent when he isn’t being asked to SCREAM all the time. Bruna Marquezine is a delight, and Elpidia Carrillo, as Jaimie’s sister, steals the show. Susan Sarandon doesn’t look like she understands a word of the comic-book heavy lines she is given. 

 

BLUE BEETLE may or not be involved in future plans for DC movies, and that is frustrating because there are enough good pieces here that could be improved upon for sequels or a shared universe. For now, BLUE BEETLE on its own is equally frustrating because for every one thing it does well, it does two things lousy. Maybe next time, DC. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it 

A Reel Review: THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Bram Stoker’s 1897 horror novel Dracula has served as ground zero for all screen interpretations of the famed vampire; from the 1931 classic with Bela Lugosi, to the gothic takes by Hammer Films, to Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 masterpiece. Dracula’s newest appearance on the big screen only focuses on one element of the book: The Captain’s Log chapter for THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER. 

Clemens (Corey Hawkins), a doctor, joins the crew of the Demeter, a ship en route from Bulgaria to London with mysterious cargo. Once at sea, Clemens, the Captain (Liam Cunningham), and the crew find themselves battling a bloodthirsty evil, an evil known as Dracula. 

Directed by Andre Ovredal, THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER plays out like a good ol’ fashioned horror/slasher flick, with crew members picked off one by one as the ship makes its way across the sea. It’s a closed-quarters terror that owes much of its DNA to ALIEN (1979), or even the films of the Hammer Studios collection. It is thin on plot and is a basic survival flick for all characters. 

Complexities arise on the voyage when Clemens discovers a stowaway on-board (Aisling Franciosi), who was to serve as a food source for Dracula during the trip. The presence of a woman on a sailing ship upsets the sailors, including the abrasive First Mate (David Dastmalchian). Characters collide frequently, with Clemens seemingly the only good guy of the bunch. Eventually the characters stop going after each other’s throats once they start facing the terror on board who seems to like throats himself. It’s a little by-the-numbers, but workable. 

Director Andre Ovredal, who has dabbled in horror with success, brings about a great sense of claustrophobia aboard the ship. At sea, there’s nowhere to run to, and the cramped quarters below decks give the film a very un-nerving feel. The gore is there, but feels like it was pulled back in many places, although the death of the Captain’s young nephew comes as a shock. If we’re grading the film on scariness and atmosphere, it does work.  Ovredal keeps the voyage moving well, although there are some editing issues; characters often take way too long to run from one end of the ship to the other, and the second act gets bogged down from too much repetitive exposition. Visual effects are impressive, including Dracula appearing in his man-bat form, and the Demeter herself is done so well that the ship is basically a character in the film. 

Acting is excellent. Corey Hawkins carries the film on his shoulders, and Aisling Franciosi matches him nicely. David Dastmalchian and Liam Cunningham are very good, as is young Woody Norman, who plays the Captain’s doomed nephew. 

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER does not give us a lot to sink our teeth into, but it does satisfy a thirst for a basic horror flick. Just like the chapter of the novel it is based on, it is meant to get Dracula from one place to another, and despite knowing how it has to end, still makes for a worthwhile journey. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it

 

A Reel 70: FROM HERE TO ETERNITY

“Nobody ever lies about being lonely.”

 

This month marks the 70^th anniversary of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. 

 

A record-breaking Oscar winner and often considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY was directed by Fred Zinneman and was based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. The plot followed three United States Army soldiers stationed in Hawaii in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

 

The strong cast would be assembled of names that would eventually become Hollywood legend: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Jack Warden, and Ernest Borgnine. George Reeves, who played Superman in TV’S ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN (1952-1958), also had a small role. The directing job would go to Fred Zinnemann, who had just completed the acclaimed Western HIGH NOON (1952). 

 

The novel, which had controversial plot points including homosexuality and suicide, was adapted for the screen by screenwriter Daniel Taradash. The production was overseen by the Army, who needed to approve to allow production to film on location. The novel’s controversial elements were eliminated.

 

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY would open to rave reviews, and would hold the top box office spot for four weeks. At the 26^th Academy Awards, the film would win eight of its 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Director (Zinnemann), Supporting Actress (Reed), Screenplay (Taradash), and Best Supporting Actor for Frank Sinatra. Its eight Oscars would match the record set by GONE WITH THE WIND in 1939. Sinatra and Zinnemann would also win Golden Globes. The American Film Institute (AFI) ranked the film as the 52^ndgreatest film ever made, and in 2002, it was selected for preservation in the United States Film Registry by the Library of Congress. 

 

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Over the decades, there have been many films which have focused on a historical, large-scale battle as its plot. But FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, much like Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998), uses its big ol’ battle as a backdrop. ETERNITY, even though it is labeled as a war film, only brings on the attack on Pearl Harbor late in the third act, as most of its business has to do with its characters. The characters in ETERNITY go through very human issues: infidelity, trauma, lack of self-confidence, rage, and love. The ensemble cast makes it all work, and from Sinatra’s drunken soldier to Borgnine’s villainous turn, to Clift’s troubled youth to the steamy, iconic beach scene with Lancaster and Kerr, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY is a film that will always be remembered…from 1953 to eternity. 

 

“A man should be what he can do.”

 

William Friedkin 1935 - 2023

William Friedkin has passed away at 87. 

 

One of the elite group of “New Hollywood” directors of the 1970’s, and the helmer of two of the best films out of that era, William David Friedkin was born in Chicago in 1935. He cited CITIZEN KANE as one of his earliest influences, and started his directorial career doing live television shows and documentaries. His documentary THE PEOPLE VS. PAUL CRUMP won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1962. 

 

In 1965 he directed one of the final episodes of THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR. That same year he directed his first feature film, GOOD TIMES starring Sonny and Cher. 

 

In 1971 he released what is considered to be his best film, THE FRENCH CONNECTION starring Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. Filmed in a gritty style that was akin to documentaries at the time, the film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Friedkin. His very next film was THE EXORCIST, a horror film which would redefine the genre for generations. Starring Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, and Jason Miller, THE EXORCIST would be nominated for 10 Oscars, winning two. 

 

His following films would not see success right away. His thriller film SORCERER in 1977 would be overshadowed by the success of STAR WARS that same year, but the film would find an audience and earn a cult following in the decades to come. He would team up with Chevy Chase for the critically panned DEAL OF THE CENTURY in 1983, but would rebound in 1985 with the acclaimed TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. crime thriller. 

 

He would dip back into the supernatural with THE GUARDIAN (1990), put Shaq on the big screen with BLUE CHIPS (1994), put Tommy Lee Jones and Sam Jackson against each other in the military drama RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (2000), and would turn Matthew McConaughey into a hitman in KILLER JOE in 2011. 

 

His final film, THE CAINE MUTINY COURT MARTIAL, is set to premiere at the Venice International Film Festival this September. 

 

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When the conversation moves to the best filmmakers that came out of the heralded 1970’s, William Friedkin is often overlooked in favor of names such as Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, and Scorsese. This is a shame, as Friedkin deserves to be up there with the best. His incredible action scenes in THE FRENCH CONNECTION and his un-nerving touch in THE EXORCIST captures dread and gets the heart pumping every time, and his boldness kept us squirming. He sadly passes in the same year that THE EXORCIST turns 50 years old (December), and this year we will certainly be celebrating the film and man who made it. 

A Reel Preview: The Year in Film 2023 - Episode VIII

The Summer Movie Season has seen more than its share of ups and downs. While BARBENHEIMER continues to impress and Pixar’s ELEMENTAL has quietly made dough, other big titles like MISSION IMPOSSIBLE and INDIANA JONES have struggled. It’s a shame, as the quality has been good. Now it’s August, the final month of the season, and we have a handful of films looking to end the Summer on a high note. Here’s what’s coming to the big screen for the dog days of Summer: 

 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM – Our favorite heroes in a half-shell return to the big screen for the seventh time, this time in a unique 3D animated romp. The cast includes several young newcomers, along with veteran actors Rose Byrne, John Cena, Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jackie Chan, and Ice Cube. 

 

 

MEG 2: THE TRENCH – Jason Statham leads the way in this sequel to the 2018 horror adventure, with giant underwater terrors out for a hot lunch. 

 

 

 

JULES – In this sci-fi comedy, Ben Kingsley plays an old man who befriends an alien. 

 

 

 

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMENTER – In this adaptation of a single chapter from the horror novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the doomed crew of the merchant ship Dementer are stalked by an unknown terror while crossing the Atlantic. Corey Hawkins stars, and it is directed by Andre Ovredal (TROLL HUNTER, THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE). 

 

 

OLDBOY – The famous horror film from 2003 gets a re-release this month for its 20^th anniversary. 

 

 

BLUE BEETLE – From DC Comics comes this superhero origin tale about a young man who his chosen to be a symbiotic host to the Scarab, an ancient alien tech that gives him superpowers. 

 

 

STRAYS – A movie full of talking dogs in this hybrid of live-action and CG. The cast includes Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx, Will Forte, Isla Fisher, Randall Park, and Josh Gad. 

 

 

GOLDA – In what could be an early Oscar contender, Helen Mirren plays Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel during the Yom Kippur War. It is directed by Guy Nattiv, whose short-film SKIN won Best Short Film at the 91^st Academy Awards. 

 

 

GRAN TURISMO – Based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, a Gran Turismo gamer whose skills earned him a seat as a professional race driver. The cast includes Orlando Bloom, David Harbour, Djimon Hounsou, and Geri Halliwell. It is directed by Neill Blomkamp (DISTRICT 9). 

 

 

THE HILL – Based on the true story of Major League Baseball player Rickey Hill, who overcame a physical handicap to make it to the Bigs. Colin Ford plays Hill, and Dennis Quaid co-stars. 

 

 

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Next month, Reel Speak previews the month of September.