Review: Irresistible

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

Jon Stewart, former "Daily Show" host and comedian, has long been one of America's sharpest political satirists, so it's disappointing that his second feature as a director - following 2014's much better Iran-set drama "Rosewater" - feels tone deaf and, considering all that has occurred in the United States these past weeks and months, somewhat dated.

The film is a satire on big money in politics, and as such it scores some points - two of its three lead characters are political consultants from the two major parties. But when it comes to depicting middle America - hell, its portrayal of "big city" Democrats fares even worse - the film often comes off as condescending and misguided.

Steve Carrell plays Gary Zimmer, a longtime political strategist who's shocked to see Hillary Clinton lose to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. As a means of revitalizing his image, he spots a video of a small town Wisconsin military man lambasting that town's public council for its treatment of immigrants, and decides to convince the man to run as a Democrat for mayor. He and his other Washington D.C.-based political consultants believe the best way to win the country back from the deplorables is one small office in one small town at a time - or something like that.

The military man, named Jack Hastings, is played as a silent type with a sense of wrong and right by Chris Cooper - who else? - and he agrees to Zimmer's scheme suspiciously quickly, especially considering that his town typically only votes Republican. Jack's daughter, Diana (Mackenzie Davis), gets involved in the campaign as well, and she often acts as the voice of conscience to Zimmer.

Zimmer is tormented upon the arrival of Faith Brewster (Rose Byrne), a GOP operative who lies with impunity, and for whom no low is too low. Faith is brought in to help the struggling campaign of the town's Republican mayor, whom Hastings is challenging.

So far, so food, right? Well, "Irresistible" takes a number of misguided steps that are difficult to discuss without giving away too much. Suffice it to say there's a plot twist late in the film that throws Hastings's motives for giving the speech about immigration that drew so much attention into question. However, Stewart aims to use this twist as a Capra-esque statement about good natured people from small towns working together to swindle big city types - a theme present in numerous Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s.

However, in this case, Hastings's speech is piggy backing off actual immigrant woes, so that so-called "real Americans" of the predominantly white, rural heartland can save their own community. Even worse, there's a scene in which Hastings appears before a wealthy group of New York City-based Democratic donors, and they are supposed to represent the greed of the major parties.

However, this is the film's only scene in which a multi-ethnic group of people - comprised of women and people of color - are gathered in one place, and yet this group of people supposedly represents the flaws of our electoral system, while the camaraderie of the lily white Wisconsin community in which Hastings lives is supposed to be symbolic of the American spirit - or some such thing.

There's even a scene early in the film in which "special interests" are smugly referred to - and we are to take that to mean the concerns of the numerous groups that make up the Democratic Party. Don't get me wrong - the film's lone GOP party representative isn't portrayed very kindly either, but the myth of the sympathetic small town community - which we are reminded again and again is a conservative town - is perpetuated here, while the snobby, big city liberals who drink lattes and discuss the struggles of immigrants and women having control over their own bodies - and yes, the GOP party shill played by Byrne - are the villains.

It's an odd stance, especially coming from Jon Stewart - and especially in this day and age. Spike Lee's recent "Da 5 Bloods" was prescient in a powerful way, while this film feels instantly dated, much as Zimmer's approach to campaigns felt so after 2016.

"Irresistible" has some decent arguments to make about the need to get big money out of politics, and although its plot twist is far fetched, there's something to be said about average Americans working together, rather than relying on corrupt party politics - and there are a few funny moments, including a surreal sequence in which a billionaire with an electronic voice box that responds in a sing-song manner visits Hastings's campaign and a few others involving the absurdity of how campaigns use polling. But otherwise, this sophomore feature from one of our nation's best political satirists should have been much sharper than it is.

Review: Wasp Network

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Much like his 2010 masterpiece "Carlos," Olivier Assayas's new film, "Wasp Network," packs in a lot of story and includes political intrigue, betrayals, terrorism and a real-life story set in a previous era. But while his previous picture unloaded all of this information across the span of four-plus hours, the director's latest crams it all in in just over two hours.

In other words, there's a little bit too much going on in "Wasp Network" and there are too many characters - often more than one can process, thereby making it somewhat of a challenge to figure out how each of them fit into the narrative. That being said, the picture is not the misfire it was represented to be after debuting on last year's fall film festival circuit. No, it's not among Assayas's best films - especially considering the very strong run he's had this past decade - but it's still good and intriguing.

The film follows a group of individuals from Cuba who, in the early 1990s, made their way to the United States, mostly through defection, for purposes that aren't quite made clear until halfway through the movie. We first meet one of these individuals - Rene Gonzalez (played by Edgar Ramirez, who portrayed Carlos in Assayas's film) - as he lands in Miami and renounces his home country.

Rene is a pilot, and he claims that the rationing in Cuba made it impossible for him to fly - or ever become a commercial pilot. He leaves behind a young daughter and wife, Olga (Penelope Cruz), who don't understand why Rene has abandoned them. They are later reunited in the United States through the help of a man named Gerardo Hernandez (Gael Garcia Bernal), who has a mission of his own in America.

In another story, a soldier named Juan Pablo Roque (Wagner Moura) has fled Cuba by swimming to Guantanamo Bay, where he announces that he has defected. He quickly finds success in the United States - and one of the film's weaknesses is that it doesn't make it very clear how he has done so - and meets a young woman named Ana (Ana de Armas), whom he plans to marry.

The film purposely keeps the relationship between all of these various characters nebulous intentionally, so that an element of surprise is possible when all is revealed later in the movie. Rene flies missions for a group of well-to-do Cubans in Miami who have fled Havana during which he drops rescue items to people on rafts who have also left their old country behind. They also drop fliers over Havana that speak out against Fidel Castro's regime.

The film's later half includes terrorist attacks, a character defecting again back to Cuba, espionage and all sorts of other intrigue. At times, this wealth of material feels rushed, and the film might have benefited from the running time Assayas dedicated to "Carlos." Plus, a number of secondary characters who are introduced add slightly to the confusion.

Regardless, the film is gorgeous to look at, features a number of strong performances and the material is nearly always captivating, even when there's an overabundance of it. Assayas is among the world's most interesting directors, and he's had a particularly productive run during the past 10 years, which saw some of his finest efforts - "Carlos," "Something in the Air," "Clouds of Sils Maria," "Personal Shopper" and "Non-fiction."

"Wasp Network" would be considered a weaker film among that bunch, but it's still well worth a watch. There's a lot going on in the film, and most of it is intriguing, even if it's occasionally difficult to figure out how one piece - or character - fits in with another. Still, the film is proof that even a minor work from a major director has its share of benefits.

Review: Da 5 Bloods

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Spike Lee's powerful new film, "Da 5 Bloods," provides a history of the past 50 years in America through a series of quick, iconic snippets - the moon landing, Johnson announcing he won't seek another term and Nixon resigning, the killings at Kent State, a helicopter being pushed overboard following Operation Frequent Wind, the execution of Viet Cong member Nguyen Van Lem and speeches about the war in Vietnam and African Americans' struggles by Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Kwame Ture - but it's a Martin Luther King Jr. speech, which took place about a year before his assassination, culminating the picture that truly captures its essence.

Reading from Langston Hughes's "Let America Be America Again" - chosen for many reasons, most likely, but especially as a rebuttal to "Make America Great Again" - MLK reads:

O yes, I say it plain
America was never America to me
And yet I swear this oath
America shall be!

It's an unexpectedly hopeful way to end a film that goes to some pretty dark places and ends with a series of violent, bloody scenes. But Lee's film ends on a note of optimism using historical footage that bookends the story well, just as "BlackKklansman" culminated with the emotional gut punch of the scene in Charlottesville.

Lee's work has always been prescient and consistently interesting - even in films that don't quite work, such as "Da Sweet Blood of Jesus" or "She Hate Me" - but he's recently been on fire. "BlackKklansman" was his best film in two decades (and one of his best overall) and "Da 5 Bloods" would also rank highly in his overall body of work.

The director has tackled the topic of black veterans before - with the World War II-set "Miracle at St. Anna" - but this new film does so with much greater success. The film follows the story of four Vietnam vets - who call each other "bloods" - named Otis (Clarke Peters), the voice of reason among the group; Eddie (Norm Lewis), who owns a successful car dealership; Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), the joker of the group; and Paul (Delroy Lindo), a troubled man whose demons are just below the surface.

At the film's beginning, the men have a reunion in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) with a mission on their mind - they will attempt to exhume the body of their former squad leader, Stormin' Norman (Chadwick Boseman), who was killed in Vietnam, and dig up a box of gold bars they buried years before in the jungle. Norman, portrayed in flashback, is a mythical presence - Otis refers to him as the group's "Martin and Malcolm" - who schools the group on black history - from Crispus Attucks, the first black man killed in the American revolution, to Milton Olive III, the first black soldier in Vietnam to be awarded the Medal of Honor - and counsels them through MLK's death.

Tensions soon arise after the four men reunite. Otis reconnects with Tien (Y. Lan), an old flame with whom he learns he has a daughter, and Paul doesn't trust her; plus, the slightly shady French smuggler (Jean Reno) with whom they'll work to get the gold out of Vietnam doesn't inspire much confidence. There's also a group led by a young Frenchwoman, Hedy (Melanie Thierry), that dismantles bombs and joins up with the veterans, and David becomes interested in Hedy, causing a rift with Paul, who doesn't trust Hedy or her group's other two members.

Also, Paul's bitterness and anger threaten to explode at any minute. Just moments after a joyous dance sequence during which the Bloods seem to float across the dance floor at a nightclub to Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" - which bears similarity to the cathartic moment in "BlackKklansman" during which the characters did the same to the Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose's "Too Late to Turn Back Now" - the other three men learn that Paul is a Trump supporter.

Not only does he advocate for building the wall on Mexico's border, but he has anti-immigrant tendencies and seems to recoil whenever he comes into contact with the Vietnamese - most notably, during a scene in which the men travel down a river on a boat and are approached by merchants. Paul dons a MAGA hat throughout the film, and it occasionally passes to other characters, becoming almost a character in itself. Otis is shocked that Paul could support "President Fake Bone Spurs," while Paul's own son refers to the "klansman in the White House."

While Trump is obviously a presence in the film - and viewed as dangerous - Paul's character is also the most complex, a man whose country has failed him and who - rather than leaning toward empathy as Otis does - has been swayed by the MAGA tenet of selfishness, even when it's at other's expense. A character who could have been a caricature, Paul is a fascinating individual, and what goes a long way in making him so is Lindo's terrific performance - probably the best I've seen this year so far. Often wearing more than one emotion on his face at a time, Lindo gives a titanic performance that reaches its crescendo during a long monologue directly into the camera as he wanders lost in the jungle.

In terms of plot, Lee borrows from some other films - "Apocalypse Now" and especially "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," even replicating two of that film's scenes - but he makes the references feel like an homage, rather than regurgitation. One particularly effective stylistic touch is Lee's use of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album - the film uses seven tracks at various points in the film to comment on the action.

But, perhaps, the most interesting stylistic touch in the picture is in the flashback scenes. Rather than using special effects - as "The Irishman" did - to de-age the characters, all four of the older actors look exactly the same in flashback, with Boseman looking obviously younger, as they do in the present. While some might question why Lee didn't instead choose four younger actors to portray the characters in flashback, there are some hints to explain his choice.

At more than one point, characters in the film note that those who take part in a war never actually leave it - for them, it never actually ends, as certainly evidenced by Paul. This, coupled with the possibility that the flashbacks are meant to be the four surviving men viewing their experiences again through older eyes, is likely the explanation for how they are portrayed during the flashbacks. These men are still reliving their traumatic experiences, and so the scenes in flashback remain raw to them 50 years later.

"Da 5 Bloods" is, at times, not quite as smooth in transitioning from various tones, such as humor to horror, as "BlackKklansman" was, but its ambition, heart, terrific performances and remarkable timeliness - there's even a Black Lives Matter sequence late in the movie - make for a great viewing experience, regardless. Its four lead characters are men who made sacrifices to a country that refused to grant them equal rights when they returned home - but despite America never living up to the  promise of freedom it claims to provide for its citizens, similar to Langston Hughes's oath in "Let America Be America Again," the film's characters hold out hope that someday it will. The finale of Lee's film shows that the director holds out that same hope. This is one of the year's best movies.

Review: Shirley

Image courtesy of Neon.

Elisabeth Moss has been literally all over the place these past few years - TV shows, horror movies, indies - and Josephine Decker's "Shirley" is yet further proof that there's seemingly nothing she can't do. From her years as Peggy on "Mad Men" to the present, Moss has never been anything less than consistently interesting to watch.

As iconic Gothic horror writer Shirley Jackson, her latest role feels more in synch with her performance in last year's "Her Smell" than other recent work in that the film doesn't ask you to like the character, and yet it's hard to take one's eyes off individuals who are such intriguing messes. Decker's film is good overall - in fact, it's the acclaimed experimental filmmaker's best picture so far, in my opinion - but it's Moss who holds it all together with her riveting performance.

For those unfamiliar with Jackson's work, she wrote one of the most memorable of all American short stories - "The Lottery" - as well as the "The Haunting of Hill House," which is frequently cited as one of the greatest ghost stories ever written (it's also spawned numerous movies). My personal favorite of her work is "We Have Always Lived in the Castle," which Decker's film strangely mimics somewhat in terms of plot, although the film is set much earlier when Jackson's sophomore novel, "Hangsaman," is being written.

When we meet Jackson, she's at a party with her womanizing professor husband, Stanley Hyman (Michael Stuhlbarg), who is entertaining the guests. When pushed to answer a question by an attendee, Jackson clams up and the whole affair becomes a little awkward. Arriving in the middle of the party is a young couple - Rose (Odessa Young) and Fred Nemser (Logan Lerman) - who will stay in the famous writer's home while Fred pursues a teaching position at Bennington College.

Rather than receive a warm welcome, Shirley immediately senses that Rose is in the early stages of pregnancy and harangues her about it, while Stanley makes flirtatious overtures toward Rose. Things also become awkward when Stanley takes a roundabout way of suggesting that the young couple do some work around the house - making meals, cleaning up, etc.

The film is told from the perspective of Rose, who at first dislikes Shirley, but eventually forms a strange bond with her as the novelist attempts to overcome writer's block and finds in Rose an inspiration - the other inspiration is a true case story of a young woman who disappeared in the nearby woods. As Rose and Shirley's friendship develops, tensions arise between Rose and Fred, and Fred and Stanley, who smirks at the young professor-to-be's dissertation. The film culminates in an unusual way that suggests one character has almost taken on the personality of another.

Decker's previous films - "Maleline's Madeline," "Thou Wast Mild and Lovely" and "Butter on the Latch" - could best be described as avant garde, experimental works that frequently include elements of horror and occasionally explore various stages of psychosis. "Shirley" includes some of these motifs, such as Jackson's apparently troubled state of mind, and Decker's camera drifts to rest on close-ups of objects such as snails or mist, giving it an occasional surreal vibe. For me personally, the technique worked better for me in "Shirley" than in her previous films because the more avant garde elements of the picture were jarring when combined with a more straightforward narrative.

There's fine acting from each cast member - Young gives a complex portrayal of a young woman discovering herself, while Stuhlbarg projects the same professorial vibe that he did in "Call Me By Your Name," but in this case he's a devious pot stirrer, rather than the understanding dad - but it's Moss who carries the whole thing. As is the case with much of the actress's work, she loses herself in the role, giving the character a sense of pathos even when she's being horrid toward her boarders. "Shirley" is an offbeat biopic that's made all the better by the fact that its filmmaker rarely plays by the rules of that subgenre.

Review: The Vast Of Night

Image courtesy of Amazon.

Andrew Patterson's inventive, low-budget sci-fi yarn "The Vast of Night" is one of the year's great discoveries. My only gripe is that I haven't had the chance to catch it on the big screen (thanks a lot, coronavirus).

Set in the center of UFO sightings - a small town in New Mexico circa late 1950s - the picture does a great job of creating a sense of community in the fictional town of Cayuga, although the picture is primarily a two-person show with two fantastic supporting roles that exist to move the film's brisk story forward.

The film opens with a high school basketball game about to start - the fans are in the stands or eating food in their cars before the game and the players are warming up. Inside the stadium, a local radio disc jockey named Everett (Jake Horowitz) is attempting to help out with a problem involving flickering lights. A mixup involving his name provides one of the film's heartier chuckles.

As he's about to leave to head back to the radio station where he hosts "Highway Hits," an evening broadcast with a self-described audience of five, he's accompanied by Fay (Sierra McCormick), who operates the town's switchboard. Fay is a science junkie, and she regales him with predictions for the future that she's read about in various magazines. He shows her how to use a piece of recording equipment to carry out interviews.

For the first 15 minutes or so of the film, their conversation is held in a long shot as they walk through the dark streets of their small town toward their respective places of work. The effect is aimed at slightly distancing us from the characters - another such effect is portraying the entire movie as an episode of a "Twilight Zone" type of television show that kicks off in black and white through a TV screen.

But we soon get better glimpses of the characters, especially Fay, during a terrific 10-minute close up of her operating the town's switchboard and dealing with various people on the line. During this sequence, she notices a strange noise interrupting Everett's radio show at a station known as WOTW (could that possibly stand for "War of the Worlds"?). She calls him, and the two begin playing detective.

After playing the noise over the airwaves, they get the first of two calls that will set the course for the rest of the story. A man named Billy calls to tell them a story about how he once worked on a top secret project in the desert years before when he was in the military. In one of the film's most poignant scenes, Billy says that the military felt safe with him knowing about the project because - since he's black - no one would believe him if he spilled the beans.

The second call to the station is from an elderly woman with a creepy story to tell - and a visit to her house is among the picture's more unnerving scenes. For a sci-fi movie about a possible alien invasion, I found it fascinating that two of the best set pieces in the picture involved long stretches of conversation - one in which the screen occasionally fades to black for periods of time - rather than special effects (although there are a few of those too near the end).

The film's piece de resistance is an incredible tracking shot that begins at Fay's switchboard office, travels through the streets of the town, a field, a parking lot, through the stadium where the basketball game is being played, out the window, back out onto the road and winds up at WOTW. The sequence is an amazing visual representation of how information can spread across a town, and it's impressive that such a shot could be pulled off successfully in a debut film.

"The Vast of Night" isn't just one of the best science fiction thrillers I've seen in a while, it's one of the best movies I've seen this year so far, period. Its two leads are both very good and do a convincing job of carrying off the snappy, 1950s lingo, all the while making their characters sympathetic and a pleasure to be around. The film is also suspenseful and Patterson has learned a great lesson from the best examples of the genre - that withholding can often make a good story into a great movie. It's what we don't see in "The Vast of Night" that makes it even more compelling. This is an impressive and very enjoyable first feature.

Review: The Lovebirds

Image courtesy of Netflix.

Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae make for nice company and have good chemistry in the new comedy "The Lovebirds," which was originally slated for theatrical release earlier this year and since picked up by Netflix, so it's a shame that the film feels like a missed opportunity. The duo does a nice job of creating the vibe of two people who make for good hangout pals, but come to grow tired of each other while dealing with the realities of romantic relationships and living with someone else.

This chemistry between the pair finds itself dropped into a silly story in which the couple - Jibran (Nanjiani), a documentary filmmaker who is sensitive about his work, and Leilani (Rae), an advertising executive - witnesses the murder of a guy on a bike when a mustachioed man commandeers their car and runs over him, and then the couple freaks out and flees from the scene, thinking they are the police's prime suspects in the murder.

Jibran and Leilani attempt to do the thing that only people in movies do - crack the case themselves. This leads them to break into a frat house, where they are led to believe the murderer has some connection with its inhabitants. Prior to that, they get taken captive by a woman who offers them their choice of torture - hot grease to the face or being kicked in the chest by a horse. Late in the film, they end up at a ritualistic orgy that looks like lost footage from "Eyes Wide Shut."

Nanjiani and Rae make the material watchable because they are both likable and funny, but the material just isn't that good to begin with. Nanjiani proved himself an actor worthy of funny line readings, but also pathos, in the acclaimed "The Big Sick," while Rae recently impressed in the romantic drama "The Photograph." In each case, the actors were given more to do than try to sell somewhat stale comedy gags as they are forced to do here.

One of the few funny jokes that lands is their being seen by all who come across them as the annoying couple that argues - and their constant squabbling over nonsense (such as details surrounding the TV show "The Amazing Race," for instance) is relatable because you feel like you've come across such a couple in your own experience. I laughed a few other times during "The Lovebirds," but not nearly enough considering the talent involved. It's not a bad movie - just a mostly forgettable comedy of the type that Hollywood cranks out multiple times per year.

Review: Capone

Image courtesy of Vertical Entertainment.

I'll say this for Josh Trank's "Capone" - despite its flaws, the film keeps one's attention at all times. To answer the question: yes, the film is as outlandish and over-the-top as you might have heard - but no, it's not quite as bad. Which is not to say that it's good either.

Tom Hardy gives the type of oddball performance that only someone great like Marlon Brando could have provided - one that involves a fair amount of hamming it up, but completely committed to the role and operating on its own wavelength.

For those who are expecting - or hoping for - a biopic of America's most notorious gangster, disappointment might be the instant reaction. The picture is set during the final year of Al Capone's life, and he has been released from prison to rot away in his gaudy mansion in Florida, while the ghosts of his past haunt him and his body degenerates from neurosyphilis and dementia. More of a phantasmagoria that has more in common with, say, "The Shining" than "The Untouchables," Trank's film is a slowly paced, but often deliriously strange, chronicle of one man's descent into madness and decay.

Throughout the course of the film, Hardy's Capone mostly communicates by blurting out "eh" to questions from the concerned family members, who refer to him as "Fonse" and don't know how to handle his falling apart at the seams. A man played by Matt Dillon appears to question Capone about $10 million that he apparently hid away somewhere - although he's forgotten the location due to his decline in health - but we later question exactly who the Dillon character is.

Lawmen listen in to Capone's conversations via wire, and a doctor played by Kyle MacLachlan, who also has his own schemes planned, also attempt to get information from Capone, but with little luck. Fonse's patient wife (Linda Cardellini) and son are frustrated at their incapacity to help Capone as he wastes away.

The film is filled with nutty moments - Capone shoots an alligator that steals a fish he's caught on a line, a possible dream sequence in which he shoots a gold-plated tommy gun at family and friends is especially jarring and another moment during which Fonse leaves the house incognito in women's clothing has to be seen to be believed.

All the while, Hardy rasps, mutters and looks like a half-dead zombie in his kooky - but energetic - portrayal of Capone. In fact, the actor - and the gorgeous photography - are really the main reason the film remains mostly watchable. I'm not sure what Trank, who also wrote the script, is trying to convey in this film - it's somewhat without a purpose - and it's unclear whether it's over-the-top vibe is intentional or accidental.

All in all, "Capone" is sort of a mess - but a good looking one with a compelling lead performance. I can't exactly recommend it, but it's occasionally transfixing.