‘Joy Ride’ Puts the Pedal to the Metal, But Does It Also Deliver the Laughs?

July 6, 2023

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They love to ride. (CREDIT: Ed Araquel/Lionsgate)

Starring: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu

Director: Adele Lim

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Rating: R for Some Quick Outrageous Nudity and Non-Stop Outrageous Dialogue

Release Date: July 7, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Audrey (Ashley Park) and Lolo (Sherry Cola) have been inseparable besties since they met on the playground as kiddos. But now that they’re young adults, their lives have turned out a little differently. Audrey is a high-powered attorney, while Lolo is a struggling artist, and proud of it. When Audrey’s job sends her off to China to land a big new client (Ronny Chieng), it’s also an opportunity for her and Lolo to get in touch with their roots. Audrey was born in China and adopted by white American parents, while Lolo is a second-generation Asian American. The dynamics get a little bumpy along the way when they’re joined by Lolo’s awkward cousin Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) and rather snippy when they’re accompanied by Audrey’s college friend Kat (Stephanie Hsu). But these ladies are so horny and outrageous that shenanigans were always going to be part of the agenda. Amidst this whirlwind, will they somehow also have time to meet Audrey’s birth mother?

What Made an Impression?: Asians Represent: Joy Ride is at its strongest when interrogating what it means to these characters to be Asian American and exist within the wider Asian cultural world in general. The endearing opening scene features Audrey’s parents (David Denman, Annie Mumolo) asking Lolo’s mom and dad if their little girl is Chinese. It’s obviously an uncomfortable question to field from random white people, until they see the little Asian girl hiding behind them. Similar fun is had when the girls land in China, and Lolo runs through a taxonomy of various Asian people, along with a harried warning not to confuse the visiting Koreans with the home citizens.
Coming in Hot: The Joy Ride crew aims for a “girls can just be as gross as the guys!” ethos, which is a valiant enough goal. But I fear that the outrageous-to-funny ratio might have been zapped up way too far in one direction. Your mileage may vary, but I found myself exhausted much more often than I was laughing. Maybe it was just a weird day for me, and perhaps the chuckles could come on a more receptive moment. Nevertheless, I appreciate the effort, and the uniqueness therein. After all, what other movie in this genre would have retired NBA All-Star Baron Davis show up as himself to save the day?
Tattoo You: While the outrageousness wasn’t always working for me in the humor department, I couldn’t help but be struck by a recurring gag about a tattoo on a very sensitive area of Kat’s anatomy. There’s constant speculation from the others about the ink’s design, and the eventual reveal certainly doesn’t flinch. How much it makes you laugh will depend on your sensibilities, but no matter what, it delivers plenty of cosmic energy.
A Sight for Sore Eyes: Joy Ride and I are on the same wavelength when it settles down and lets its character truly take stock of their situations. And in one of those moments, a familiar actor shows up in a surprise role and really brings the emotion home. I won’t spoil who exactly that is (though you can certainly look it up online if you’re happy to be teased), though I will say that this person delivers exactly what is needed with wisdom and grace.

Joy Ride is Recommended If You Like: Mining quarter-life crises for comedy, K-pop, Getting sloppy 24/7

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Tattoos

It’s the End of the World as We Know It, and ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ Feels Fine

July 5, 2023

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Which one’s Dead and which one’s Reckoning? (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures and Skydance)

Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis

Director: Christopher McQuarrie

Running Time: 163 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for A Reckless Relationship with Gravity

Release Date: July 12, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: This might just be the most impossible mission yet! That may sound like hyperbole for a series that’s famously death-defying, but honestly it lives up to the hype. Ethan Hunt (the freakishly indefatigable Tom Cruise) and his pared-down IMF team must somehow figure out how to dispatch a new enemy that threatens to wipe out humanity as we know it by reverting society to an analog dystopia. Of course, that premise is just a setup for the shameless stunts and sizzling globetrotting. In addition to this all-encompassing terror, Ethan is also being chased down by some law enforcement types who aren’t so sure he should be able to operate without impunity anymore.

What Made an Impression?: What’s All This Now?: The Mission: Impossible series combines elements of espionage, big budgets extravaganza, and practical stunt work, all genres that are notorious for being accompanied by nonsensical plots. And Dead Reckoning Part One might just be the nonsensical one yet! As far as I could tell, the enemy wasn’t exactly human, but it could take human form. Or maybe I misunderstood that. But I don’t think I did! The opening scene provided a very thorough explanation, after all. Anyway, I’m pretty sure that Esai Morales plays the villain in question, but confusion still lingered with me by the end. If you find yourself just as confused as I was, you can still enjoy the movie, though you’ll also probably find yourself mulling it over more than you need to.
New and Old, Which One’s New?: In terms of character carryover, Mission: Impossible is kind of like the hall-of-mirrors version of Fast & Furious, if some of those mirrors were covered by blackout blinds. In addition to Cruise as Hunt, you can rely on Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg to be there as his regular IMF buddies. But on the flip side, you could have a love interest like M:I 3‘s Michelle Monagahn just unceremoniously disappear. There’s also a little bit of room for new favorites like Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby to remain after their initial appearances, and for new recruits like Hayley Atwell to seamlessly find their place. And we can even reach way back for originals like Henry Czerny who were there in the beginning but have taken most of the sequels off, and you can be tricked into thinking that they’ve been there all along. Basically, the casting in this franchise is a magic act.
So Much Delivered, So Much More to Come: But let’s finally get down to the bread and butter. The best setpieces all involve a climactic train ride. There’s a cliffside jump to arrive on the train, fights within and outside the train, and a desperate scramble to stay alive and not fall off the train. Before that choo-choo checks in, you might actually wonder what’s taking so long for Dead Reckoning to go for broke as much as usual. But once it does, the massively wound ball of tension lets loose and doesn’t give you any time to catch your breath. And this is just Part One! A nearly three-hour opening chapter, after that. (Or the first half of the seventh chapter, from another point of view.) This is just the latest 2023 blockbuster that forces you to wait another year for the end of the story, but you won’t feel deprived. Dead Reckoning Part One can stand fully on its own, and quite frankly, you’ll need all those extra months to recover.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is Recommended If You Like: Saying “Huh?” and “Woo-hoo!” at the same time

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Trains

‘Indiana Jones’ and Some Thoughts About Destiny

July 3, 2023

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Destiny. Why did it have to be destiny? (CREDIT: Lucasfilm/Screenshot)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Ethann Isidore, Jonathan Rhys Davies, Thomas Kretschmann

Director: James Mangold

Running Time: 154 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 30, 2023 (Theaters)

I genuinely believe that it was my destiny to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. But what exactly did that destiny look like? Not all that much like the late 60s in particular, except for when “Magical Mystery Tour” blared out of the speakers. I think there should have been more Space Race vibes, probably. Anyway, everybody seemed to be having fun running around. They certainly had some adventures I bet they’ll never forget! I also would have recommended drawing out the scorpion scene.

Grade: Adjust the Coordinates a Little Bit

I’m Feeling ‘Elemental’

July 1, 2023

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Like Water for Fire (CREDIT: Pixar/Screenshot)

Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McClendon-Covey, Catherine O’Hara

Director: Peter Sohn

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Rating: PG

Release Date: June 16, 2023 (Theaters)

For someone who often reviews movies by asking, “Do I want to be/do what’s in the movie?,” Elemental is a dream come true! A love story between a Fire Person and a Water Creature? Yes, please! Personally, I always feel like I’ve got flames and waterfalls swirling around inside myself. So maybe what I really want is a love story between two fire-water hybrids? In the meantime, though, this works perfectly well enough.

P.S.: Fern Joe Pera talks with us about bureaucracy.

Grade: 4 Conflagrations out of 5 Cascades/4 Monsoons out of 5 Blazes

‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ Explores What It’s Like to Be a Sea Monster Family Living Amongst the Humans

June 29, 2023

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What’s Kraken? (CREDIT: DreamWorks)

Starring: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Colman Domingo, Jaboukie Young-White, Liza Koshy, Blue Chapman, Eduardo Franco, Ramona Young

Director: Kirk DeMicco

Running Time: 91 Minutes

Rating: PG for Colorful, Town-Upending Sea Creature Battles

Release Date: June 30, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: 15-year-old Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) lives with her parents and younger brother in the oceanside town of Oceanside, but she’s not allowed to ever go in the water. She soon discovers why, as an impromptu attempt to save her crush from drowning results in her blowing up into a certain gigantic legendary sea creature. As it turns out, her mom Agatha (Toni Collette) chose to raise her kids on dry land to escape the eternal underwater struggle for power. But once Ruby discovers that her grandmother (Jane Fonda), who insists on being called “Grandmamah,” emphasis on the last syllable, is the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas, she happily embraces her royal heritage. On top of all that, Ruby becomes fast friends with a new girl in town who’s also a mermaid (Annie Murphy), whose eagerness to please might just merit a little skepticism.

What Made an Impression?: Oh, Canada, That Explains Everything: One gag that I wish Ruby Gillman had leaned on a little harder is the Gillman family cover story. They’re non-human creatures living amongst humans, so they explain away their cerulean hue and swishy physicality by insisting that they’re from Canada. It’s like the Coneheads saying that they’re from France: there was nothing particularly French about those SNL aliens, just as there’s nothing particularly maple-filled aboot these krakens. But it’s delightful to witness their neighbors accept that claim at face value. Instead of serving as a running gag, though, it’s just an appetizer to the fantastical adventure.
It Runs in the Family: With its transformational premise, you’d think that Ruby Gillman is primarily a metaphor about adolescence, and I suppose it is. But what struck me more was the focus on conflicting parenting philosophies. Or rather, accidentally similar mothering despite a concerted effort to avoid the previous generation’s mistakes. Agatha appears to be much more sensitive to Ruby’s predicament than Grandmamah ever was to her, but she’s also just as insistent that her kids must live a particular way. In a key scene, Fonda and Collette throw down in a tête-à-tête that illuminates the importance of granting grace to our family members, especially in the face of a wider threat.
Where There’s a Will: Ruby Gillman brings the comic relief in the form of some reliable yukmeisters. First, there’s Sam Richardson as Agatha’s eternally positive brother Brill, and then especially, the good humor cranks up when Will Forte makes waves as the wary but determined old sailor Gordon Lighthouse. This is the sort of character whose maiden is the sea, as he devotes himself to hunting down underwater creatures with Ahab-like devotion. Forte excels at these types who exist on the fringes of society, and he’s a welcome joy to leaven the scary-by-PG-standards action.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is Recommended If You: Suspect that mermaids are hiding something

Grade: 3 out of 5 Tentacles

‘Every Body’ is an Essential Documentary About the Intersex Community

June 27, 2023

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Every Body, EVERY Body, Every Body, EVERY Body (CREDIT: Courtesy of FOCUS FEATURES / © 2023 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)

Starring: River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, Sean Saifa Wall

Director: Julie Cohen

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: R for A Little Bit of Language and Nude Images

Release Date: June 30, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Perhaps the least widely understood letter in the acronym LGBTQIA is the “I.” It stands for “intersex,” which refers to individuals with biological sex characteristics that don’t fit neatly into the male/female binary. It’s estimated that about 1.7% of the population have some sort of intersex characteristics. In some cases, those traits may remain undetected, but in others, surgery may happen to confirm a particular sex assignment. The documentary Every Body focuses on the stories of three intersex individuals (River Gallo, Alicia Roth Weigel, Sean Saifa Wall) of varying physical appearance and gender identity to posit that maybe the treatment of intersex people shouldn’t be as one-size-fits-all as it has historically been.

What Made an Impression?: Gender Reveal Pandemonium: Every Body opens with a montage of gender reveal parties and their elaborate, often violent methods of introducing a coming baby’s identity. The sequence is matter-of-factly over-the-top, even without showing some of the most notoriously destructive examples of this phenomenon. The point is that society is so focused on gender, often to a comical extreme, which ultimately leads to the suggestion that ultimately maybe we could settle down a bit and replace these gender reveals with the theoretically simpler alternative of “human reveal parties.”
An Infamous Case: Perhaps the most crucial sequence of Every Body involves River, Alicia, and Sean being introduced to the story of one of the most well-known intersex persons, who actually wasn’t intersex at all. Born in 1965, David Reimer’s penis was mutilated when he was a baby by a botched circumcision. Reconstructive surgery was pretty much nonexistent at the time, so his mother followed the teachings of psychologist John Money, who believed that gender identity could be conditioned through behavioral intervention. So David was raised as a girl, but his fundamental boyhood couldn’t hide for very long. His story is presented here mostly in the form of an old Dateline episode, but his story remains vital, and the added context of everyone’s reactions justify its conclusion.
Getting to Know Them: A documentary like this one is only as compelling as its subjects, and on that score, River, Alicia, and Sean are interesting and inviting individuals. Their viewpoints of the intersex parts of their identity are deeply and firmly considered, and they’re happy to explain themselves to a cinematic audience. And chances are you’ll also be happy to start a parasocial relationship with them.

Every Body is Recommended If You Like: The concept of cura personalis

Grade: 4 out of 5 Humans

‘No Hard Feelings’ Features More Than One Hard Feeling

June 26, 2023

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No Hard Feelings, but Yes Dog Feelings (CREDIT: Macall Polay/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Natalie Morales, Scott MacArthur, Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti, Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Director: Gene Stupnitsky

Running Time: 103 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: June 23, 2023 (Theaters)

No Hard Feelings, eh? I think I developed some soft feelings, actually! What I’m trying to say is that this movie has a gooey heart at its center. Do I want to have no hard feelings? Quite frankly, I don’t think I could stop myself from having them even if I wanted to try. Nor do I think anybody could really. They’ll come out eventually, no helicopter parenting intervention necessary.

Grade: 2 Rollerblades in 3 Long Island Iced Teas

Once Upon a Father’s Day Juneteenth Weekend… at the Movies

June 21, 2023

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I’ll be back Under the Sea in a Flash… (CREDIT: DC/Screenshot; Walt Disney Studios/Screenshot)

The Flash:

Starring: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue

Director: Andy Muschietti

Running Time: 144 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 16, 2023 (Theaters)

The Little Mermaid:

Starring: Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay, Noma Dumezweni, Art Malik

Director: Rob Marshall

Running Time: 135 Minutes

Rating: PG

Release Date: May 26, 2023

More

‘The Blackening’ is Happening

June 14, 2023

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Oh, by the way, which one’s Black? (CREDIT: Glen Wilson/Lionsgate)

Starring: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji, Diedrich Bader, James Preston Rogers

Director: Tim Story

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: R for Language, Molly, and Bows and Arrows

Release Date: June 16, 2023 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Based on a comedy sketch from 2018 of the same name, The Blackening follows a group of friends converging at a nice little cabin in the woods for a Juneteenth getaway. Alas, there are some bad vibes suggesting that not everybody is going to survive the vacation. At first, it’s just little things, like a creepy cashier staring one of them down in a convenience store, or a park ranger asking to see everyone’s IDs before they enter their rental. But then it quickly becomes a lot more explicitly brutal and racist, with blood on the floor and a creepy board game with a Black Sambo face right in the middle of the board. With a Ghostface-style voice, an unseen gamemaster subjects the friends to a series of ludicrous and sadistic challenges to prove their Blackness (or lack thereof). In these types of movies, it’s usually the Black character who dies first, but when they’ve all got plenty of melanin, it makes for a formula of reckless, satirical shenanigans amidst the mayhem.

What Made an Impression?: See It with a Dang Crowd: I caught The Blackening at its New York Premiere at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which is pretty much the Platonic ideal for experiencing this type of movie. If it’s been forever since you’ve seen a comedy with a raucous, no-holds-barred crowd, then this is the perfect opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the magic of cinematic social bonding. Watching The Blackening is not the time to be self-conscious. So bring along your whole crew, and then laugh, hoot, and holler to your heart’s content! These characters were written knowing that they would be received that way, and they’re ready for it.
Black History on Juneteenth: The Blackening scene destined to become the most iconic puts everyone’s Blackness to the test with a series of questions about Black history and popular culture. The queries cover such important, wide-ranging topics as Sojourner Truth, the NAACP, and the two Aunt Vivs on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But then the gauntlet is truly thrown when the players must identify some Black person – ANY Black person! – who ever appeared on Friends. Bona fides will be tested, so feel free to play along … if you dare.
Blunt AND Clever: Parodies and satire of horror are as old as the genre itself, ranging from the silliness of Abbott and Costello and Scary Movie, to the self-awareness of Scream and Cabin in the Woods. The Blackening manages to lie somewhere in the middle, while capturing the best of both approaches. This is the sort of movie where the most prominent white character is called none other than “Ranger White.” But it’s also the type of movie where the villain is genuinely terrifying, with grievances that are taken deeply and seriously. And it’s also also the type of movie featuring telepathic communication that makes you go, “Yeah, that’s pretty realistic.”

The Blackening is Recommended If You Like: Scream, Undercover Brother, Cabin in the Woods, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Black Jeopardy!

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Rap Snacks

Wes Anderson Invites Us to Look to the Skies in ‘Asteroid City’

June 13, 2023

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3 Men, 1 Asteroid (CREDIT: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features)

Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Jake Ryan, Scarlett Johansson, Grace Edwards, Tom Hanks, Ella Faris, Gracie Faris, Willan Faris, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jeff Goldblum, Sophia Lillis, Fisher Stevens, Ethan Josh Lee, Aristou Meehan, Rita Wilson, Jarvis Cocker, Bob Balaban, Seu Jorge

Director: Wes Anderson

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Mild Adult Themes and A Shot of Nudity at a Distorted Angle

Release Date: June 16, 2023 (Limited Theaters)/June 23, 2023 (Expands Wide)

What’s It About?: A motley crew of various characters converge in the titular town of Asteroid City in Wes Anderson’s latest ode to symmetry and midcentury vibes. They’re there for the Junior Stargazer convention, and some surprise visitors might just stop by as well. Front and center in the cavalcade are Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman), a war photographer whose father-in-law (Tom Hanks) keeps reminding him that he needs to tell his son Woodrow (Jake Ryan) and triplet daughters (Ella, Gracie, and Willan Faris) that their mother has recently died. And he’ll have plenty of time to do that now that their car has comically broken down!

In the meantime, he also strikes up a medium-hot rapport with movie star Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), while her brainiac teenage daughter Dinah (newcomer Grace Edwards) and Woodrow form a smarty-pants committee with the other young budding astronomers in town. And it’s also worth noting that Asteroid City doesn’t actually exist, as the movie is presented as a play-within-a-movie, with occasional peeks behind the walls and curtains.

Don’t make an Asteroid out of yourself (CREDIT: Courtesy of Pop. 87 Productions/Focus Features)

What Made an Impression?: To B a Movie: Essentially, Asteroid City seems to be the end result of Wes Anderson watching a whole bunch of 50s and 60s sci-fi B movies and then going, “Okay, what if we made another one of those, but did it a little like this?” This is something that would’ve been called “The Terror in the Skies” back in the day, although in Wes’ version, the real terror comes from all the heavy emotions in our hearts that we haven’t fully confronted yet. But thanks to his signature gentle approach, we feel safe that we’ll get there. It’s the inverse of Nope: instead of freaking out at a potential extraterrestrial, we lean in and start thinking, “Hey there, stranger.”
The Persistence of Memory: Perhaps the most striking scene in Asteroid City (at least from my vantage point) is a memory game played by Woodrow, Dinah, and a few other junior stargazers. They take turns naming a famous person, and these brainiacs all choose some of the most difficult-to-pronounce monikers in the world. Invariably, though, they have no trouble keeping any of them straight. That scene isn’t representative of the entire movie from a plot standpoint, but it does capture the vibe in full.
The Gang’s All There: Asteroid City‘s major movie star cast is as much a bounty of riches as any other Wes Anderson flick, perhaps more than ever. A few of the players just pop in for little more than cameos, and the whole adventure can feel a little overwhelming. There’s a lot packed into just an hour and 45 minutes! On top of that, the play-within-a-movie structure presents more to keep track of than I was expecting. For full digestion, you might want a second viewing, for both intellectual and emotional fulfillment.

Asteroid City is Recommended If You Like: B flicks, Dusty summer camps, Burial ceremonies

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Stargazers

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