Karl Delossantos

Dear Evan Hansen, you owe us an apology | TIFF movie review
Dear Evan Hansen follows a high school senior with a social anxiety disorder who suddenly finds himself as the hero of his town after a student commits suicide

Undoubtedly one of the worst movie-musicals ever made. Overwrought and emotionless at the same time, insensitive towards trauma and mental illness, and out of touch with reality. Jail to everyone.

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today was not a good day because I was subjected to watching you.

Sincerely,
Me

Usually I don’t like being mean about the films I don’t like. Also, I’m a firm believer that almost every film made with the best of intentions has some good you can derive from it. However, Dear Evan Hansen doesn’t sit right with me. At its root, it feels rotten. Like its intentions are misplaced or, given the benefit of the doubt, misunderstood. Director Stephen Chbosky, whose films The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Wonder I truly enjoy, was simply handed a bad project.

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The movie follows Evan Hansen (played by Ben Platt), your typical high school senior with a social anxiety disorder who is tasked by his therapist to write a letter to himself every day. After a misunderstanding causes him to become the hero of his town following the suicide of his classmate Connor (Colton Ryan), Evan must continually expand his web of lies and keep all he has gained from the fallout.

This includes lying to Connor’s family (Amy Adams and Danny Pino) about being friends with their son, dating Connor’s sister (Kaitlyn Dever), working with Alana (Amandla Stenberg) on an entire organization and fundraiser honoring him. The list goes on and on. No one is safe from his deceit. The fact that this is a musical is confounding because watching Evan spin lie after lie in songs like “For Forever” and, even more maliciously, fabricate evidence in “Sincerely, Me” almost makes light of the damage his actions are bound to cause.

At this point, if you’re already asking yourself why this seemingly terrible human is the protagonist of the story then we are on the same page. The film, which is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name featuring music by Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, was meant to “immortalize” 27-year-old Platt’s Tony-winning performance. However, Dear Evan Hansen seems to be a story that only worked in the thin period of time when it came out. It already feels dated — as does Platt’s hair.

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Reportedly, changes were made in the adaptation to address some of the more polarizing issues with the story. If that’s the case, then I’d hate to see what was wrong with the musical. At its core, the musical is meant to preach that everyone is dealing with their own traumas whether it be depression, social anxiety, suicidal thoughts, insecurities, however it doesn’t take any time to actually explore the reality of those traumas. Instead, it’s a surface level assessment of them. Hollywood’s “glamourized” version where consequences don’t exist.

Because of its purely uninformed and disingenuous portrayal of mental illness — and apparent disregard of therapy — the movie feels overwrought and emotionless at the same time. It mines melodrama with no actual basis for it. It feels like the characters are just pawns in this power grab for sympathy. And while there is some good acting here — Julianne Moore, Amandla Stenberg, and Kaitlyn Dever, in particular — the rest of the cast feels like they’re in a competition of who can ugly cry the most.

Evan Hansen, whose actions throughout the film could only be described as monstrous, is meant to meet consequences at the end of the film and Connor is meant to be humanized. Instead, Evan’s behavior, which is harmful to the stigma around mental illness, is excused as a product of past trauma. Something the movie was supposedly supposed to fix. Or maybe, just maybe, this was a story we didn’t need to have told again.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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September 10, 2021
‘Old’ is perhaps M. Night Shyamalan’s weirdest | movie review

In M. Night Shyamalan’s Old a group of vacationers become trapped on an isolated beach where time is sped up and everyone is aging rapidly

Old is a weird psychological body horror that’ll divide audiences. The odd tone of that film makes for an interesting B-horror movie that either you’ll love, hate, or love to hate. The precise wavelength that Old is on is hard to catch, but once you do it’s almost impossible not to enjoy. Grab some popcorn, sneak some alcohol in a water bottle, and check your cynicism at the door,

Just when you thought The Happening was M. Night Shyamalan‘s most bizarre movie along comes Old. But if you know anything about the director, it’s that when he swings he swings hard and when he misses it’s in spectacular fashion. Old is no exception. There’s a level of delusion when it comes to M. Night Shyamalan that I love. For the most part, I think he’s in on the joke of his films — at their core, they’re midnight B-movie features. However, I think there’s a bit of him that’s still stuck in The Sixth Sense of it all where he believes he’s a prestige filmmaker — and that’s alright.

Old follows the Capa Family — Prisca (Phantom Thread‘s terrific Vicky Krieps), her husband Guy (Gael Garcia Bernal), and their kids, preteen Maddox (Alexa Swinton) and six-year-old Trent (Nolan River) as they arrive at a luxurious tropical resort. They’re greeted by warm faces, exotic drinks, and a vacation riddled with clunky expository dialogue. And I mean bad… like “I’m an actuary, I analyze risk!” bad. Actually, every character is defined by their occupation and proudly announces it every time they get — phrases like “I’m a doctor” and “I work in a museum” are exclaimed almost every five minutes. There’s even a rapper called Mid-Sized Sedan. You can’t make this stuff up.

Suggesting they get off the beaten path, the hotel concierge gives them directions and passage to a secluded beach that can only be reached through a narrow canyon pass. Along with other guests from the hotel — doctor Charles (Rufus Sewell), his young wife Chrystal (Abbey Lee) and their daughter Kara (Kyle Bailey) — they settle in for the longest day of their lives… literally.

Before long they discover the body of a woman in the water who died of unknown causes which immediately makes the group suspicious of Mid-Sized Sedan (Aaron Pierre), who was the only person on the beach when they arrived. Long-married couple Jarin (Ken Leung) and Patricia (Nikki Amuka-Bird) — he’s a nurse! she’s a therapist! — join the group and try to turn back for help, but quickly realize that they can’t leave the beach because of some unseen force. With no way to call for help and no way to leave, they’re left waiting for rescue. However, waiting on this beach isn’t exactly an option as each of the kids begins to age rapidly before their eyes.

The cast of Old. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

They soon calculate that one hour on the beach equals two years. “Racing against the clock” takes on new meaning. As things go from odd to downright absurd, the group struggles to find a way off the beach before they die. And die they do in spectacular fashion.

Shyamalan has never been one for true horror. He’s famously said he’s not a horror filmmaker even though his film The Sixth Sense is one of the few horror movies to be nominated for Best Picture. However, Old is a psychological thriller that uses body horror elements to make you feel uncomfortable in a way that only some filmmakers can hope to achieve. The fear of aging and our own mortality is enough horror.

And the way that Shyamalan moves the story along is quite brilliant. One incident folds into the next and as time marches along the revelations, particularly to the teen versions of the children played masterfully by Hereditary‘s Alex Woolf, Eliza Scanlen and Jojo Rabbit‘s Thomasin McKenzie, become increasingly shocking. It’s quite incredible how well-paced the movie is despite its bizarreness.

The tone is something you’ll either love or hate and have you questioning whether Old is as serious as it’s meant to be. There’s a sense of camp to it all. For example, the therapist character chides at precisely the wrong moment that she, “doesn’t like the relationship dynamic here.” And another character who is slowly succumbing to some mental illness repeatedly asks what the movie with Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson is — it’s The Missouri Breaks, by the way. It’s over-the-top, but never not entertaining.

Can I call Old a good movie? I’m not sure. Shyamalan has used the “you didn’t get that this was a satire” defense when it came to The Happening, which in some ways I accept. The odd tone of that film does make for an interesting B-horror movie that either you’ll love, hate, or love to hate. The precise wavelength that Old is on is hard to catch, but once you do it’s almost impossible not to enjoy. Grab some popcorn, sneak some alcohol in a water bottle, and check your cynicism at the door.

July 22, 2021
‘Poser’ is a punk-rock exploration of obsession — Tribeca 2021
Poser follows an underground alt music fan as she finds a way to infiltrate the community and get closer to her idol

Poser is an engrossing, darkly funny, and embarrassingly relatable trip into the underground alt music scene that proves we’re all posers in some way.

Poser, which premiered in the U.S. Narrative Competition at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, begins with a question, “how would you describe your music?” The answers range from queer death pop to experimental indie to indie pop to “I’m in a duo, I wouldn’t really identify ourselves as a band.” It’s directors Ori Segev and Noah Dixon’s — the film is their film debut — tongue-in-cheek way to tell us that they’re in on the joke — even if they have complete reverence for the underground alt scene that they’re exploring.

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The movie’s protagonist Lennon (Sylvie Mix) also has reverence for the community. Actually, reverence might be too light of a word. Obsession is more apt. She’s driven by her desire to be a part of it to start a podcast which brings her through warehouse shows, house parties, and underground concerts where she seeks to learn exactly what makes the people she looks up to tick. That’s when she encounters Bobbi Kitten — the lead singer of Columbus, Ohio based band Damn the Witch Siren.

Bobbi is everything Lennon wants to be. Confident, cool, creative, and a fixture in the scene. Lennon uses her podcast to learn more about each artist, what makes them tick, and taking recordings of their song — keeping them highly obsessively organized on cassette tapes in her small apartment. Though hilariously she tells her sister she wants an apartment where “the bed is in the kitchen.” You know, for the vibes.

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Eventually, her podcast and connections lead her to Bobbi. When Lennon mentions she’s also a songwriter Bobbi asks her to perform a song, which she does. This leads her to becoming Bobbi’s sort-of protege, shadowing her through her life — exactly what she wanted. You could guess where this leads.

Poser, for better or worse never quite goes full-tilt horror, like its clear inspirations — Single White Female and Persona chief among them — however what it does become is an engrossing psychodrama about obsession, creativity, and the very human desire to be a part of something. Lennon makes a few errors along the way as she finally begins to assimilate in the community she desperately wants to participate in and it all begins to crumble around her.

But Poser never goes as far as you want it to. At least genre-wise. Still, it’s impressively assured for a first feature, especially considering the very premise could go off the rails extremely fast. Constantly engaging, darkly funny, and, especially for us indie kids, immensely (and embarrassingly relatable) — I worked for an alternative radio station in college for god’s sake.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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June 16, 2021
‘Wrath of Man’ delivers classic Jason Statham | movie review
In Wrath of Man, Jason Statham plays a mysterious stranger who joins an armored truck company with an undercover mission looking to seek revenge

Wrath of Man comes really close to being the loud dumb revenge action movie you want it to be. And even if it doesn’t get completely there, Jason Statham’s classic hero performance and the twisty plot keep you in the vault.

The best loud dumb action movies are the ones that realize they’re a loud dumb action movie. John Wick fueled three movies with its tongue-in-cheek approach to presenting its characters and story — and of course, some incredible action choreography. The moment I discovered Wrath of Man had the same realization is when Terry (Eddie Marsan) says about Jason Statham’s H, “I’m starting to think he’s a psychopath.”

Admittedly, Wrath of Man is nowhere near as subversive or innovative as the John Wick series. However, it does evoke a lot of the same feelings. In the genuinely thrilling opening scene, that we’ll see litigated several times throughout the film, two armed truck guards are driving the vehicle out of the holding facility to make a drop. From the inside of the truck in a single shot, we see them blocked by a cement truck and forced out as the robbers cut their way inside. We hear three gunshots before cutting to black.

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We’re then introduced to Patrick Hill (Statham) as he goes through the interview and vetting process to join a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week. His supervisor Bullet (Holt McCallany) dubs him as “H” and shows him the ropes. H is proficient, but not perfect. In fact, he scores a 70 on all the assessments, just enough to pass. Little do his coworkers know, H has a secret agenda to joining the company which becomes clear when a job he’s on is the target of a robbery — the robbers include rapper Post Malone. H singlehandedly takes down every single assailant — and his warpath isn’t over.

Eventually, Wrath of Man reveals itself as a revenge movie through a series of flashbacks that are as thrilling as the movie’s first third. Though the action is more subdued, Statham’s stone-faced assassin character leaves you leaning into the screen. Director Guy Ritchie lets the world unfold before your eyes without explaining every single detail giving you time to be enveloped by the story and never giving you a moment to rest. Wrath of Man is a surprising success because it doesn’t necessarily do anything new. Statham is playing the exact character he’s known for playing — he even parodied it in Paul Feig’s Spy. However, Ritchie is a master at tone knowing exactly when to lean into action, drama, or the satirical elements of the story. Wrath of Man is a lean 120 minutes of pure fun that’ll even have you chuckling here and there.

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May 7, 2021
What to Stream Vol 2: The Invitation, The Farewell, The Half of It

Welcome to What to Stream, our weekly roundup of the best movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, and HBO Max. Today’s theme: Asian directors

Happy Thursday! May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which celebrates the contributions of AAPI Americans. Today’s recommendations are all films directed by AAPI women. This was originally published in my weekly newsletter that helps readers know what to stream.

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Enjoy the beautiful weekend!

The Invitation ?

▶ Streaming on Netflix

Tammy Blanchard in The Invitation. Courtesy of Drafthouse Films.

Why it’s great: The Invitation is the perfect kind of slow-burn. Kusama is extremely patient. She waits and makes you question what kind of movie it is until it finally reveals itself in a stunning manner.

With a jangling score and off-putting visuals, it slowly ratchets up the tension to an unbearable degree. Every beat feels like it’s going to be the moment that something is going to happen. You’re constantly preparing yourself for the jump and when it comes it’s as satisfying as you’d imagine. 100 mins.

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The Farewell ?

▶︎ Streaming on Prime Video

The Farewell is based in part on director Lulu Wang’s life. After finding out her grandmother — who she affectionately calls Nai Nai (Zhao Shuzhen) is terminally ill, Chinese-American writer Billie (Awkwafina) travels back home to China to say goodbye. Instead, though, her family hides the diagnosis from Nai Nai and creates an elaborate fake wedding to keep it from her. Here’s the trailer.

Zhao Shuzhen and Awkwafina in The Farewell. Image courtesy of A24.

Why it’s great: The Farewell is a movie of dichotomies — Chinese culture and American culture, parents and children, mourning and celebrating, youth and old age — that appropriately straddles the line between drama and comedy. Even during dramatic moments, it seems that there’s always something fun going on in the background to remind us that everything in the movie is based in love.

It’s so difficult to make the exploration of emotions and family strife entertaining, but director Lulu Wang was able to pull it off by avoiding the melodramatics and instead focusing on the characters, their experiences, and their relationships with each other. 100 mins. [Full review]

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The Half of It ?

▶ Streaming on Netflix

The Half of It, directed by Alice Wu, follows Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a straight-A student who helps her father with the bills by writing papers for other students. This is why she’s approached by sweet but hopeless jock Paul (Daniel Diemer) for help writing love letters to the school’s misunderstood it-girl Aster (Alexxis Leimer). While Alice and Paul’s friendship develops, so do Alice’s feelings for Aster. Thank you to Alison for the recommendation. I’ll send you my therapy bill. Here’s the trailer.

Leah Lewis and Alexxis Lemer in The Half of It. Images courtesy of Netflix.

Why it’s great: On the surface, The Half of It is a serviceable high school dramedy. However, at its core, it’s a sensitive character study of identity and how the town we grew up in shapes it, for better and worse. And though it only skims the surface of sexuality, it’s distinctly queer. The gaze is queer. The themes are queer. This is a movie that only a person that has experienced it could accomplish. And although it has all this complexity, it still has the moments of joy and levity we crave in a coming-of-age. However, those moments happen where — and between characters — we least expect them. This is a love story. But not between who you think.

There’s a chance The Half of It fades into the background of the multitudes of Netflix romantic comedies that are shuffled away in the mysterious algorithm. But I hope that the right audience sees it. It feels like a cliche now, but if I had seen this movie when I was a kid, I feel like the world would have been different for me. I’d see it differently. I’d understand myself and how to love differently. I’d understand that confusion is just a part of understanding. And that running after a train may look ridiculous, but that’s love. 105 mins. [Full review]

? P.S. You can see every movie I’ve ever recommended right here.
? I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes! You can find new movie reviews here and here.

May 6, 2021
‘Golden Arm’ strikes gold | movie review
Golden Arm follows a down-on-her-luck baker is convinced by her college roommate to train for and compete an arm wrestling competition

Golden Arm is an irresistibly charming and funny tongue-in-cheek sports movie that overcomes its unevenness with a knockout lead performance by Mary Holland.

▶︎ Available to buy or rent

I first discovered Mary Holland last year in Clea DuVall’s Happiest Season, where she was the clear scene stealer as overlooked sister Jane. Her oddly charismatic deadpan style that always seemed to hit the exact hilariously self-deprecating note was hard to resist. But with Golden Arm, a new comedy from director Maureen Bharoocha, she trades her scene-stealing role for a lead one. And she… well she’s the golden arm.

Holland plays Melanie, a down-on-her-luck baker with a slimy ex-husband and an inability to stand up for herself. Sensing that she needs a change, her old college roommate Danny (Betsy Sodaro) convinces her to join in on a cross-country big rig delivery she’s making. However, Danny has ulterior motives. After losing an arm wrestling match to Brenda the Bone Crusher (Olivia Stambouliah, she wants to train Melanie to take her place in a tournament and take Brenda down.

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Along the way, Melanie has a Rocky-like training session with Big Sexy (the delightful Dot Marie Jones), a run-in with a very angry bar owner (Kate Flannery), and some touching moments with Danny about her recent divorce. That last point is a light thematic line throughout the film that gives it some meaning and development for Melanie making Golden Arm more than a fun satirical romp. While the movie’s plot feels familiar — and takes a while to find its footing — Holland’s endearing performance matched with Sodaro’s energetic one keeps you hooked and rooting for them both.

By the end, through some chuckles and genuinely heartwarming moments Golden Arm ends up greater than the sum of its parts. It manages to be a comedic feminist spin on the classic sports film by simply empowering its characters — and performers — to be all they can be. It’s a more than enjoyable 90 minutes that leave you charmed and smiling.

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May 4, 2021
What to Stream Vol 1: Mad Max: Fury Road, Speed, The Mitchells vs. The Machines

Welcome to What to Stream, our weekly recommendation for movies streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, and HBO Max. Today’s theme: action.

Happy Thursday! Since my dad said I recommend too many sad and slow movies that “normal people” wouldn’t like, today’s recommendations are three thrilling, non-stop action movies featuring some stellar car chases. This was originally published in my weekly newsletter that helps readers know what to stream.

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In movie news: The Oscars were this Sunday and… they got weird. Nomadland led the field with 3 awards including Picture, Actress for Frances McDormand, and Best Director for Chloé Zhao — she’s the first woman of color and second woman ever to win the award. Here are my full thoughts.

Enjoy the beautiful weekend!

Mad Max: Fury Road ?

▶ Streaming on HBO Max

Mad Max: Fury Road finds us further into the post-apocalyptic wasteland where the original took place where a tyrannical ruler called Immortan Joe has taken four women as his prisoner wives. With the help of warrior Furiosa (Charlize Theron), wannabe soldier Nux (Nicholas Hoult), and a drifter named Max (Tom Hardy) they escape but quickly find themselves hotly pursued by an army. Here’s the trailer.

Why it’s great: Mad Max: Fury Road is one of my favorite Best Picture nominees of all time for its pure audaciousness. It is the fourth installment of a cult 80s post-apocalyptic action series that spent nearly a decade in development hell — yet, it feels like a fully realized magnum opus of an action movie.

From the opening shot, it immerses you in George Miller’s carefully crafted world and then immediately slams on the pedal and goes. Miller utilizes every cinematic tool available to him to take over your senses and completely control your perception of what is happening on screen giving you no choice but to get lost. 120 mins.

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Speed ?

▶︎ Streaming on HBO Max

One bus. One bomb. 50 mph. One Keanu. Speed follows police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) who, along with passenger Annie (Sandra Bullock) has to prevent a mad bomber from blowing up a bus and killing those aboard by keeping it traveling at 50 mph. Here’s the trailer.

Why it’s great: Speed is the quintessential 90s action flick filled with corny dialogue, ridiculous stunts, a hilariously thin plot, and Keanu Reeves — but these are all the reasons it works so well.

Fueled by Keanu doing the thing that makes Keanu Keanu, Speed is an irresistibly fun and fast-paced action-thriller that is literally all gas, no brakes. Before the end, you’ll find yourself cheering for our heroes and saying “okay, we’ll have to base it on sex then.” 115 mins.

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The Mitchells vs. The Machines ?

▶ Streaming on Netflix (starting tomorrow)

The Mitchells vs. The Machines follows the eponymous Mitchells, your run-of-the-mill dysfunctional family on a road trip to bring daughter Katie (Abbi Jacobson) across the country to film school. During their trip, however, Mark Bowman (Eric Andre) a tech tycoon reminiscent of another Mark, unintentionally unleashes a robot apocalypse led by a Siri-like smart assistant called Pal (Olivia Colman). Finding themselves as the last humans left to save the planet, the Mitchells have to do something they’ve never done well: work together. Here’s the trailer.

Why it’s great: Produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller — best known for The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse — The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a colorful and hilarious assault on the senses that functions perfectly as an action movie, family movie, comedy, and audacious exercise in animation.

Like the pair’s other films, The Mitchells constantly challenges and subverts what an animated movie can be while still being completely reverent and masterful. Basically, they punch you in the face with graphics and color and then put you in a chokehold with profound explorations of real issues we find in our relationships. However, unlike some other studios *cough* Pixar *cough* The Mitchells vs. the Machines is unapologetically for kids and it’s all the better for it. 113 minutes. Full review.

? P.S. You can see every movie I’ve ever recommended right here.
? I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes! You can find new movie reviews here and here.

April 29, 2021
‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’ is a winning match | movie review
A quirky less-than-perfect family finds themselves as humanity’s last hope as robots take over the world in Netflix’s new animated film The Mitchells vs. The Machines

No one is doing animation quite like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. From the pure audacious laugh-a-minute humor of The Lego Movie or the inventiveness — and reinventive-ness — of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, the pair constantly challenges and subverts what an animated movie can be while still being completely reverent and masterful. Basically, they punch you in the face with graphics and color and then put you in a chokehold with profound explorations of real issues we find in our relationships. However, unlike some other studios *cough* Pixar *cough* The Mitchells vs. the Machines is unapologetically for kids and it’s all the better for it.

The Mitchells are your run-of-mill dysfunctional family that aspiring filmmaker Katie (Abbi Jacobson) is eager to get away from as she goes to film school across the country in California. Her mother Linda (Maya Rudolph) tries to be supportive of her dream as she tries to keep the family together, but Katie’s father Rick (Danny McBride) can never seem to get the “supportive parent” role right. The relationship between Katie and Rick is a central throughline throughout the movie that shows an understanding of the psychology between parent and child so well. McBride’s vocal acting of a father trying not to assume he’s always right is priceless.

In an effort to patch things up, he takes it upon himself to plan a cross-country journey to take Katie to school — yeah that’s going to work. However, in the middle of their travels, tech tycoon Dr. Mark Bowman (Eric Andre) mistakenly causes a robot uprising led by a Siri-like personal assistant called Pal (Olivia Colman). Finding themselves as the last humans on Earth capable of stopping the apocalypse, the family, including dinosaur-obsessed younger son Aaron (director Mike Rianda), have to work together to shut Pal down. The movie’s then set out into an action-packed, color-splashed unrolling ball of hilarity that maintains its poignancy throughout.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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April 28, 2021
‘Wrong Turn’ is a slasher so right | movie review
A group of friends on a hiking trip on the Appalachian trail take a Wrong Turn and stumble upon a primitive society cut off from the modern world who are determined to use any mean necessary to keep outsiders out

Wrong Turn combines the pure genre thrills of early aughts slashers with more modern horror sensibilities to make a surprisingly satisfying folk horror romp.

There’s something so comforting about Wrong Turn. Wait. That sounds wrong when people are literally being killed and mutilated in the woods. I guess a more apt description is that it’s nostalgic. It’s comforting because it feels so familiar. The Wrong Turn franchise was a staple of the bad slasher series boom of the aughts that was mostly dominated by reboots of 80s films that removed everything that made them the genre so enjoyable to watch. However, with Mike P. Nelson at the helm directing from a screenplay by Alan B. McElroy — infamously known for writing Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and the original Wrong Turn — this iteration gets it just right.

Jen (Charlotte Vega), her boyfriend Darius (Adain Bradley), and their friends arrive in a small town in rural Virginia where they plan to start a hike on the Appalachian trail. Before they leave, they’re warned by local Nate (Tim de Zarn) to stick to the marked trails as the woods contain unseen dangers. Horror fans should recognize de Zarn as “the harbinger” in The Cabin in the Woods. You know, the man that is basically wearing a “you will die” sign as the hapless teenagers march towards their bloody fate. That would’ve come in handy for this group since they ignore his warning and… take a wrong turn off the trail.

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Unlike its previous installments, or most early aughts slashers, Wrong Turn isn’t afraid of a losing your attention. Nelson is patient as he slowly builds the dread-filled atmosphere with Stephen Lukach’s musical score. Even when after a giant log comes careening down the hill at the hikers sending them the clear signal that something is amiss, he allows the event to sink in and chill you. It feels more akin to a folk horror like The Descent or The Blair Witch Project.

It would be a disservice to spoil exactly what is going on in the woods, but the way that the screenplay retcons the original lore is effective and extremely entertaining, even if it’s somewhat clunky in its execution. The second act can’t meet the pure genre satisfaction of the first, but by the ending it’s all worth it. When Wrong Turn doesn’t try to have too much on its mind, it’s a horror nut’s dream movie filled with great scares, inventive kills, and just enough plot to stitch it all together. And its ending (and I truly mean the last 30 seconds) is so great that it’ll leave you more than satisfied.

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Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.

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April 25, 2021
The Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies (and where to stream them)
Jake Gyllenhaal, the Oscar-less powerhouse actor, has turned it iconic performance after performance in some of the greatest movies of the century. Here’s where to watch them.

Jake Gyllenhaal is arguably one of the greatest actors of his generation making his Oscar-less status a bit confounding. Nonetheless, he’s turned in some of the best performances of the 21st century in some beloved films. Even better, he rarely repeats a performance, so every movie is different. Here are some of our favorite Jake Gyllenhaal movies and where to stream them.

Zodiac ♌️

▶ Streaming on Prime Video

Zodiac tells the very true and very terrifying story of the infamous “Zodiac Killer,” who terrorized the San Francisco bay area in the late 1960s and early 70s. The movie follows three men obsessed with figuring out who the killer is: political cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), journalist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), and detective Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). Here’s the trailer.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

Why it’s great: I often cite Zodiac as my favorite David Fincher movie — although if you ask me any other day that might change. It’s a dark and menacing crime thriller on its surface like Se7en, mixed in with an investigative drama. But Fincher is doing a lot more when you dig deeper. It’s a disorienting story. He plays with time and place to confuse you and put you in the headspace of the characters. Those characters are complex and motivated to a fault — Gyllenhaal’s Graysmith is borderline obsessive. You realize then that this isn’t a police procedural. You’re not watching to solve the mystery — you’re watching to solve the characters. 162 mins.

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Enemy ?

▶︎ Streaming on Hulu

Enemy follows Adam Bell (Gyllenhaal) is a college professor living an unremarkable life. That is until he watches a movie and discovers one of the actors (also Gyllenhaal) looks exactly like him. He becomes obsessed with learning the identity of his doppelgänger, but what he finds is even crazier than he — and us — could imagine. Here’s the trailer.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy. Courtesy of Hulu.

Why it’s great: Enemy is a puzzle that needs — and wants — to be solved. However, director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Javier Gullón don’t make it easy for you, which makes the movie so fun to watch over and over again. They’re careful to give you clues and hints — some obvious and some you have to work for — that will guide you to some conclusion. But the real joy of the movie is that everyone’s conclusion will be different. Gyllenhaal gives two of his best performances as very distinct characters that share some bond. Look out for the small inflections he uses to differentiate the two. It’s masterful. 90 mins.

Nightcrawler ?

▶ Streaming on Netflix

Nightcrawler is about perpetual hustler Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) and his endless pursuit for success. One night, after witnessing stringers—freelance video journalists—recording footage from a car accident he finds his new line of work. As he dives deeper into the L.A. underbelly of crime, he maybe becomes too involved in getting the story. Here’s the trailer.

Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler. Courtesy of Netflix.

Why it’s great: Nightcrawler takes clear inspiration from two of my favorite Martin Scorcese movies — The King of Comedy and Taxi Driver — but it’s careful to emulate and not imitate. Instead, Lou Bloom is a wholly original and terrifyingly compelling anti-hero. His extreme obsession with his new career is offset by the fact that he’s actually good at it—for all the wrong reasons. As he defies any moral standard to get his story, we watch almost helplessly as people around him become pawns in his game rather than actual humans. And while a lesser movie would mine that for pure horror, Nightcrawler asks whether or not that’s already happening anyway in our society.

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Okja ♌️

▶ Streaming on Netflix

In Okja, set in the not too distant future, The Mirando Corporation led by CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) announces that they’ve bred a new species that they’re dubbing a “super pig.” They send the pigs out to 26 different farmers to find the best way to raise them. One of those farmers is Mija’s (Ahn Seo-hyun) grandfather. The young girl forges a bond with their super pig who they name Okja. So, when the Mirando Corporation and their hired animal “expert” Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) take Okja away, Mija goes on a globe-trotting adventure to save her friend. Here’s the trailer.

Why it’s great: To try and classify Okja would be a disservice to the movie. It’s as one of a kind of a film as they come — and that’s its greatest virtue. For this movie to work, it has to march to the beat of its own drum. That beat is a wonderfully unconventional movie that’s sometimes satire, sometimes dark comedy, but all heart. And like any great Bong Joon-ho movie — and there are a lot of them — the biggest success is its characters. From Tilda Swinton’s wonderfully camp Lucy Mirando to Paul Dano’s cool and calm animal right activist Jay to Ahn Seo-hyun’s quiet but tough Mija to Okja herself, just like the movie’s style they’re wonderfully off-kilter and colorful, making them a delight to watch. 120 mins.

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April 16, 2021
‘The Feast’ will leave you satisfied | SXSW review
The Feast is a Welsh folk horror tale that follows a family that reaps the consequences of their greed during a dinner party

The Feast is slow and somewhat simple, but it’s also a deliciously satisfying folk horror that quite literally says “eat the rich.”

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The opening scenes of The Feast, a new Welsh folk horror that premiered in the Midnighters section at the 2021 Online SXSW Film Festival, give you everything you need to know about the wealthy family at the center of the film.

There’s matriarch Glenda (Nia Roberts), the picture-perfect politician’s wife, her Parliament member husband Gwyn (Julian Lewis Jones), a no-nonsense caricature of a politician, and their two sons. There’s recovering drug addict Guto (Steffan Cennydd), who is confined to his family home until he kicks the habit and can return to London and Gweirydd (Siôn Alun Davies), a narcissistic former doctor obsessed with training for a triathlon.

And while The Feast is the slowest of burns, it immediately sets up its dark and dread-filled atmosphere with its setting at the family’s remote home on the Welsh countryside — Glenda takes pride in everyone inch of the impeccably designed modern estate — and a highly effective score by Samuel Sim.

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We’re soon introduced to Cadi (Annes Elwy), a local waitress who has been hired by Glenda to help with a dinner party she’s throwing for a local land developer and the neighbor they hope to convince into selling their land. However, there’s something about Cadi. Perhaps it’s the blank stares off into space or the creepy folk tune she hums while walking down the dark corridors or the soil that seems to appear on every surface she touches.

The majority of the film consists of atmospheric horror that primes you for the diabolical third act that some could see as gratuitous, but is exactly what The Feast needs to build up to to work. The nightmarish imagery throughout and the hypnotic cadence of the Welsh dialogue is enough to keep you engaged — although some moments of levity in the bleak story would have been a welcome respite from the gloom — it’s when the mystery comes fully into view that the movie truly satisfies your craving for folk horror.

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March 19, 2021
‘Alone Together’ finds Charli XCX at her most vulnerable | SXSW
Alone Together follows musician Charli XCX as she writes and records her album how i’m feeling now while under lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic

While working through the writing, producing, and release of her album how I’m feeling now, Charli XCX explores creativity, self-doubt, and connection in the age of the pandemic to great and surprisingly poignant effect in Alone Together.

Music documentaries that follow an artist’s creative process — Lady Gaga’s Five Foot Six or Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana come to mind — are meant to drive (or combat) a narrative that is put onto them. But with an almost blank slate to write in for her public persona, Charli XCX is able to do something completely unheard of: be herself.

Despite her mainstream success with singles like “Fancy” and “Boom Clap,” Charli XCX has become somewhat of an underground sensation. You can’t walk into a gay club without at least one of her tracks bumping out of the speakers. In letting go of her preconceived notions of success, Charli has found exactly that. She was on a roll in 2019 and early 2020 after a well-received fourth studio album sent her across the world on tour for thousands of fans. Full disclosure: I was one of those fans in New York.

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However, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, like everyone else she was under lockdown in her home in Los Angeles. When the film begins, she already made the decision to do the impossible: write, record, and release her fourth album in under five weeks. The album would be called how i’m feeling now and she commits to capturing the entire process along with her two managers and boyfriend Huck.

What makes Alone Together such a successful documentary is that it isn’t trying to capture Charli’s career as a whole or explain the essence of who she is off the stage as Charlotte Emma Aitchison is. The film captures a specific moment of time and all the very raw and intimate feelings she encountered during it. From her self-hatred and doubt to her trepidation about the future of her relationship and frustrations during the creative process.

Though there are moments that feel too Gen Z to be genuine, the end result is powerful and profound because Charli anchors the whole film in her psyche. You come away knowing more about the musician, but more importantly you see her doing what we all have been doing this year: finding ways to cope. In that case, Alone Together is a more than apt title.

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March 18, 2021
Hulu’s ‘WeWork’ documentary isn’t a disaster, and that’s the problem | SXSW review
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn is a step by step telling of how Adam Neumann founded a company so big it was bound to fail

While the rise and fall of WeWork is an interesting enough fable to fuel Hulu’s WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn for some time, it’s not a spectacular enough disaster to be anything more than a rundown of facts.

WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn is just one of the many films attempting to chronicle the age-old story of humans and their misguided belief that they’re too big and too important to fail. Most notably, Netflix and Hulu’s dueling Fyre Festival documentaries — Fyre and Fyre Fraud, respectively — offered two different approaches to telling the tale of overinflated ego and the gloriously entertaining burst that follows.

Netflix’s Fyre approaches the subject almost as a true-crime documentary by giving us the breadcrumbs — with a suspenseful atmosphere — that eventually led to disaster. On the other hand, Hulu’s Fyre Fraud was a satirical comedy of errors that took a social media angle to the Fyre disaster. Both have their merits — though Netflix’s film is more successful — because their angle on the subject is clear. WeWork, on the other hand, tries to piece together the best of both approaches but ends up feeling less than the sum of its parts.

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Just like the title tells us, the movie begins with the making of WeWork. It gives us the background of New York City’s cutthroat real estate market, founder Adam Neumann’s early years in the US after immigrating from Israel, and how the idea of a futuristic coworking space would come to life. We follow the early development years that those of us that have worked in a startup knows all too well — long hours, impossible deadlines, and stretch resources. But the team did it.

However, the one thing missing from the narrative is Chekov’s gun, a narrative concept that presupposes that if a story element is introduced in the first act (ex. A pistol hanging on the wall), then it has to come into play in the second act (ex. Firing the pistol). WeWork doesn’t tell us exactly what is going to lead to the downfall. If anything, it does a lot of work to tell us why WeWork *will* work instead of why it won’t.

There are perhaps flashes of it. A throughline in the first half is Neumann’s pushback at the categorization of a real estate company. “It’s a community,” he’d reply. Another bit of foreshadowing involves Neumann’s wife Rebekah, Gwyneth Paltrow’s cousin — a fact she points out frequently as one former employee notes, and her surprising amount of control over the business. However, neither thread payoff.

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WeWork’s flaw that it devotes precisely the wrong amount of time to both the “making” and “breaking” of the business without intermingling the two. What made the Fyre or even something like The Social Network so compelling is they give you the signs that point to the imminent failure. Instead, WeWork does exactly what Neumann does: sell us the vision.

However, when the movie moves to the downfall of why his vision doesn’t work, it feels like it’s telling us rather than showing. And because of that, it’s never as entertaining or biting as your want it to be. Perhaps it’s because the story of WeWork isn’t as much of a spectacular disaster as the Fyre festival and Neumann isn’t as intriguing of a figure as Billy McFarland or Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos fame.

For those not familiar with WeWork’s downfall, the documentary is a more than serviceable Wikipedia entry to catch you up. However, if you followed the news, the WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn doesn’t add as much color to the story as one might have hoped. If you already knew that WeWork was a highly expensive train barrelling towards an unfinished bridge, then you already know the story.

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March 17, 2021
‘I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)’ is the first great pandemic-era film | SXSW review
I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) follows a young mother as she tries to collect enough money to pay for an apartment for her and her daughter in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic

I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking), with its highly empathetic approach to telling a story of financial struggle during the coronavirus pandemic, is one of the best films about 2020. Entertaining, emotional, and highly effective, it will be a film we go back to a decade from now and marvel at our resilience.

Even though I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) takes place during the pandemic, it’s not about the pandemic. It’s about what we do to ourselves (and each other) in times of strife. It’s about the inability to give an honest answer to “how are you?” It’s about those small nuances in our human existence that make us so resilient — and so fragile. Because of those things, I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is the first great movie about the cursed year that is 2020.

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When we first meet Danny (co-director Kelley Kali), a recently widowed hairdresser, and her 8-year-old daughter Wes (Wesley Moss) they’re sleeping in a tent just off the side of the road — a “fun camping trip” as Danny puts it to Wes. However, we soon find out that their fun camping trip isn’t exactly optional as they lost their home during the pandemic following the death of Danny’s husband Sam.

Now with just one day to collect the money for a security deposit on an apartment, Danny crisscrosses around the city in her rollerblades taking hair clients, running delivery service gigs, and chasing down any avenue to make the payment. It doesn’t go well.

Kelley Kali, co-director and star of I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking). Premiering at the 2021 Online SXSW Film Festival. Credit: Elton Anderson

A series of unfortunate events set her back every step of the way leaving her tired, depressed, and angry at her situation. It oddly plays like a suspenseful slow-burn thriller that is set against a racing clock — Uncut Gems comes to mind — but with a charm and humor to it. However, Kali and co-director Angelique Molina never let the movie stray into absurd. What they’re telling is a very real tale.

Despite her frustrations, Danny doesn’t actually tell anyone the predicament that she’s in, whether out of pride, embarrassment, or not wanting to make someone feel uncomfortable. More than once someone asks her how she’s doing to which she responds, “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” However, the people asking don’t want their real answer. In one scene, an acquaintance equates Danny’s husband dying to losing her husband’s cousin’s coworker.

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That is the brilliance of I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking). The cultural objects of the pandemic are present — the masks, the distancing, the closed shops — but it instead focuses on the individual struggle and the keenly human nature of making every situation about yourself. How can one be empathetic to another’s struggle when you’re “struggling” yourself?

After accidentally tripping into a puddle while high — a long story — Danny finds herself underwater. Money, her husband’s ring, and her rollerskates float around her. She is quite literally drowning. Of course, this is just a hallucinatory dream caused by the unintentionally powerful weed her friend gave her thinking it’s what she needed — instead of actual help. That’s the feeling that I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is trying to make you empathetic to. Even though the pandemic was hard for you, there are people that are actually drowning. You just have to take a second and ask, “how are you doing?”

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March 17, 2021
‘See You Then’ untangles the nuances of being a transwoman | SXSW review

See You Then follows two college exes, one of whom has come out as a transwoman, who reunite more than a decade after a contentious split

See You Then explores and challenges the nuances of being a woman and being a transwoman through a deeply satisfying conversation between two exes — masterfully portrayed by Pooya Mohseni and Lynn Chen.

What is most remarkable about See You Then, which premiered in the narrative spotlight section of the 2021 Online SXSW Film Festival, is how unremarkable it treats its story of two old college friends catching up after a sudden breakup. And it is remarkable because the main impetus of the story is Kris (Pooya Mohseni) coming out as trans and catching up with her ex-girlfriend Naomi (Lynn Chen) after a decade of silence.

Instead of adding over-the-top dramatics or watershed emotional grandstands, writer/director Mari Walker allows the conversation, which takes place over one night on their old college campus, to unfold organically. Truly, just two people whose lives intersected for a moment in time untangling their pasts and how it’s affected their present.

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As we learn in the first strained minutes of their reunion, Kris and Naomi once dated in college before Kris was out as a transwoman. However, just as she started to discover those feelings she left without notice leaving Naomi devastated. Now, thirteen years later, Kris has returned to make amends and explain her disappearance.

It’s a slow burn as the women’s experiences over the past decade come into focus — Kris transitioned and is living in Arizona and Naomi is married with two kids having given up her art career to become a professor. However, both of their lives are filled with regrets. Kris deals with the goon of time stealing away the time she could have had as her real self while also dealing with the limitations of being a transwoman, in particular those around love. Naomi, on the other hand, struggles with the stability that married life and motherhood present. Both experiences feel lived in and real.

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However, the restrained direction eventually gives way to a powerhouse final scene where Walker uses every tool available to her to deliver an emotional gut-punch that leaves you stunned. The mix of visuals, sound, and two massively impressive performances by Mohseni and Chen catapult us into a neat, but profound end that is worth the trip for.

Perhaps See You Then will be a film that cispeople will watch and begin to understand the nuances of being trans. “My life didn’t even begin until 14 years ago,” Kris says in one scene. The film explains that while there is something to gain from the trauma of being trans and transitioning, it’s not as empowering as people think it is. Our society doesn’t let it. See You Then gives us a moment to meditate on that.

? Hey, I’m Karl! Thanks for reading. Follow me on Twitter and Letterboxd. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved film critic.

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March 16, 2021