Watching Nature (CREDIT: IFC Films/Screenshot; Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)
In a Violent Nature
Starring: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, Lauren Taylor, Timothy Paul McCarthy
Director: Chris Nash
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: May 31, 2024 (Theaters)
Stomach was knotted (from ice cream)
The Watchers
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Olwen Fouéré, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Alistair Brammer, John Lynch
There are a handful of movies I saw in May that I haven’t shared any extended thoughts about yet, so here’s a Spring Cleaning-themed review roundup. Typically May is considered part of the summer movie season, but that leaves short shrift to the time of year when it actually is spring. If May 1-Labor Day is Summer Movie Season, and October-December is Fall Movie Season, and Thanksgiving-New Year’s is Holiday Movie Season, and January-February is Awards Holdovers/Winter Dumping Ground Season, well then, we really only March and April for Spring Movie Season, and a good chunk of March is spent fretting about the Oscars! So let’s give some love to the month with the best weather of the year (apologies to those of you with vernal allergies) and check in on the May spring movies.
Will Fantasmas be fantasmic? (CREDIT: HBO/Screenshot)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Theaters) – This is the fourth Bad Boys. The third one was called “for Life.”
–I Used to Be Funny (Theaters) – Rachel Sennott is in this.
–Tuesday (Theaters)
–The Watchers (Theaters)
TV
–Fantasmas Series Premiere (June 7 on HBO) – Starring Julio Torres.
Music
-Aurora, What Happened to the Heart?
-Bon Jovi, Forever
-Charli XCX, Brat
Sports
-Belmont Stakes (June 8 on FOX)
-2024 US Open (June 13-16 on NBC, USA, and Peacock) – Golfing in Pinehurst Resort.
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, what you gonna ride? What you gonna ride, when you ride or die? (CREDIT: Frank Masi/Columbia Pictures)
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Rhea Seehorn, Joe Pantoliano, Tiffany Haddish, John Salley, DJ Khaled, Dennis Greene, Quinn Hemphill
Directors: Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Rating: R for Heavy Artillery and the Dirty Cops That Fire Them
Release Date: June 7, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Don’t speak ill of the dead, or a couple of flashy Miami police detectives might just start investigating your ass. When the late Captain Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano) is posthumously accused of collaborating with a drug cartel, Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) set out to clear their mentor’s good name. It seems stunningly obvious that Howard is innocent, but the cartel’s tendrils of influence are inescapable, and their arsenal is bottomless. Plus, it doesn’t help that the best course of action involves transferring Mike’s incarcerated son Armando (Jacob Scipio) so that he can ID the real perp. Adding to the hurricane is the fact that Captain Howard’s US Marshal daughter Judy (Rhea Seehorn) has her own plan to clear her dad’s name that doesn’t involve trusting Mike or Marcus.
What Made an Impression?: They’re Really Getting Too Old For This S-:The last Bad Boys flick came out four years ago, and it was already the sort of legacy action sequel that was majorly about how its main characters are aging out of their high-octane lifestyles. Ride or Die ramps that angle up right from the get-go, with Marcus suffering a widow maker heart attack after indulging in a few too many Skittles and gas station hot dogs. Meanwhile, Mike is having a series of inexplicable panic attacks. As it plays out, though, this is really more about the odd couple dynamic, as Lawrence was never exactly the action star specimen that Smith has been for most of his career. While this thread could have been more meditative, I appreciate that it’s at least occasionally psychedelic, with Marcus going on a rather visually inventive spiritual journey following his heart attack. The rest of the movie is typical gunfire-filled mayhem, but at least there’s room for the leads to occasionally riff about mystical mumbo-jumbo. Fancy Bad Boys: Sometimes I just want to spotlight one weird specific moment from a movie without covering too many of the most important details. Ride or Die is pretty much a retread of Bad Boys for Life, after all (at least in terms of vibes, if not necessarily plot). But what For Life didn’t have is Mike and Marcus pretending to be Reba McEntire superfans to get themselves out of a pickle. If you’ve seen the trailer, you already know that they’re forced at gunpoint to sing their favorite song by the country superstar to prove their bona fides. And if that moment had you wondering if we get a Reba rendition of the Inner Circle song that serves as this franchise’s namesake, well, then I must say that you are thinking clearly. And that’s what I’m going to choose to focus on whenever I think about this movie.
Bad Boys: Ride or Die is Recommended If You Like: Martin Lawrence being really silly, Will Smith being really annoyed, Rhea Seehorn being really serious
Who’s watching The Watchers? (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)
They keep making new movies, and some of them are even worth watching. Here’s what’s at the top of the slate for June 2024:
The Watchers: Perhaps the greatest twist of all … is our ability to reproduce? We’ll find out soon enough when Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M. Night) releases her feature directorial debut about a group of entrapped people coming to grips with their mysterious voyeurs.
The Watchers will be watched in movie theaters beginning June 7.
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Ezra (Theaters) – Some notable names in the cast, so it might be worth checking out.
–Handling the Undead (Theaters)
–In a Violent Nature (Theaters)
–Robot Dreams (Theaters)
TV
–Name That Tune Season Premiere (June 3 on FOX)
–The 1% Club Series Premiere (June 3 on FOX) – New game show hosted by Patton Oswalt.
–The Acolyte Series Premiere (June 4 on Disney+) – Another new Star Wars show.
–Clipped Miniseries Premiere (June 4 on Hulu) – The Downfall of Donald Sterling
Music
-Bat for Lashes, The Dream of Delphi
-Maya Hawke, Chaos Angel
-Crowded House, Gravity Stairs
Release Date: May 31, 2024 (IFC Center in New York City)/June 7, 2024 (Select Cities)
What’s It About?: A woman finds her catatonic elderly mother in her kitchen. A man is informed that his wife is inexplicably alive after a car accident despite an ostensibly insufficient amount of oxygen. An older man digs up his dead grandson, much to the horror of his daughter who’s also the boy’s mother. In case you haven’t figured it out already, the dead have risen in Oslo. But they’re not the lumbering, ravenous zombies that we’re used to. Instead, they’re enigmas for their loved ones, is there hope that they could be fully resurrected, or is this just a never-ending tragedy?
What Made an Impression?: When to Let Go: For the most part, the undead in Handling the Undead don’t seem to be putting their family in any immediate danger (although that eventually changes). But the emotional stress they inflict is profound and inescapable. When they eventually become bitey, it literalizes the lesson they’re imparting: clinging too tightly to the departed can be lethal. Once you notice your own health withering away in this situation, it’s probably time to let go. We Need a Prescription: When a zombie film opts for an atypical approach, it often does so from a postmodern lens, with the characters within the movie familiar with the lessons of previous zombie narratives. But in the case of Handling the Undead, it’s not clear if these people have any of that genre savvy. Even if they do, they don’t really realize that they’re dealing with zombies until it’s too late. Doctors are too puzzled to offer anything resembling a diagnosis. Indeed, no experts are available to suggest any helpful course of action. This complicates the lesson of letting go; sometimes it’s not clear when the end has arrived, and in the meantime, we must sit with the existential ambiguity and simmering threat of danger.
Handling the Undead is Recommended If You Like: Let the Right One In, Let Me In, Going heavy on the subwoofer
A Robot and a Dog Displaying Water Safety Practices (CREDIT: NEON)
Starring: A Dog and a Robot
Director: Pablo Berger
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Rating: Unrated (G-Level with Maybe a Hint of Danger)
Release Date: May 31, 2024 (New York Theaters)/June 7, 2024 (Los Angeles)
What’s It About?: Have you ever seen a movie about a human befriending a machine? Or what about a human befriending a furry fellow? Surely you already know that there’s plenty of both of those! But what Robot Dreams presupposes is: instead of a human, what if an animal and a robot become friends with … each other? And so it goes, as a dog named Dog assembles himself a robot friend, and they quickly become inseparable. They head down to Coney Island one day for a beach outing, but Robot gets stuck in the sand and becomes too heavy for Dog to move him. He tries to come back to retrieve him the next day, but alas, the beach is now closed until next summer, so Dog is forced to be extraordinarily patient if he wants to reunite with his best friend. Will they be able to survive the wait, or does fate have something even more whimsical in store for them? In the meantime, Robot will have to settle for having vivid dreams about their reunion.
What Made an Impression?: Ba-dee-ah: Do you dream in music? Well, Dog and Robot dream in earth, wind, and fire. Specifically, they dream in “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s also a big part of their waking life as well. It’s the signature song to the soundtrack of their lives, and the potential calling card should they ever be reunited. This is transcendentally joyful funk R&B that strikes right at the connection-forming core of my psyche. I imagine that even viewers who have somehow never heard this song before will have a similar reaction. No Chance for Reassurance: In between seeing Robot Dreams and writing this review, I read about the efforts to reunite migrant families separated at the border during President Trump’s zero tolerance policy. Some reunions have been successful but also profoundly unsatisfying, as the children were too young to understand that their parents were constantly trying to find them. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the predicament of Robot, who remains similarly unaware of Dog’s efforts to track him down. To be clear, Robot Dreams is not at all as depressing as that real-world tragedy. Quite frankly, I can only hope that those children can be soothed by an imagination as vibrant as the one that Robot displays. This movie isn’t a matter of life and death, but it does offer a portrait of inspiring resilience, which quite frankly we can never have enough of. So if you have the good fortune of free time, do yourself a favor and allow Robot Dreams to place a balm on your soul.
Robot Dreams is Recommended If You Like: Bittersweet memories of happy days
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Theaters)
–Hit Man (May 24 in Theaters, June 7 on Netflix) – Glen Powell starring role.
TV
-“South Park: The End of Obesity” (May 24 on Paramount+)
–My Adventures with Superman Season 2 Premiere (May 25 on Adult Swim)
–Beat Shazam Season Premiere (May 28 on FOX)
–The Quiz with Balls Series Premiere (May 28 on FOX) – SNL alum (Jay Pharoah) hosts a new game show.
Music
-Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light
-twenty one pilots, Clancy
Sports
-French Open (May 26-June 9 on Tennis Channel, NBC, and Peacock)
-U.S. Women’s Open (May 30-June 2 on USA, Peacock, and NBC) – The golf version.
You’re driving me Furiosa! (CREDIT: Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, John Howard, Charlee Fraser, Angus Sampson, Quaden Bayles, Daniel Webber, Jacob Tomuri, Elsa Pataky
Director: George Miller
Running Time: 148 Minutes
Rating: R for The Bloody Violence and Grisly Gruesomeness of the Desert
Release Date: May 24, 2024 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Imperator Furiosa was the breakout character of Mad Max: Fury Road, and now she’s got her very own prequel! Yes indeed, it’s time once again to return to the sandy, fiery post-apocalypse of the Australian Outback. Originally brought to life inimitably by Charlize Theron nearly a decade ago, the mantle of Furiosa now falls to Alyla Browne as a tween and Anya Taylor-Joy in young adult form. She grows up in one of the few areas in this wasteland where vegetation grows plentifully, but then she’s kidnapped into a life of servitude and forced to watch the execution of her mother (Charlee Fraser). She initially winds up in the clutches of the vulture-nosed warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) before getting passed over to big baddie Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), who’s happy to have her as one of his many brides. But her mechanical skills, slippery resourcefulness, lust for vengeance, and an unquenchable desire to return home ensures that her life won’t be quite so simple or quite so repressed
What Made an Impression?: Predictable, But Also Not Predictable:Mad Max is one of those franchises where continuity really doesn’t matter. Every single entry has been directed (or co-directed) and co-written by George Miller, but he’s never exactly felt bound by what he himself has established. Fury Road, for example, played more like a reboot rather than a legacy sequel (understandably so, considering its recasting of the lead role and the fact that it came out 30 years after the previous entry). So it’s a little surprising then that Furiosa plays similarly to Rogue One‘s place in the Star Wars timeline, insofar as it barrels right towards the point where Fury Road kicks off. But that’s not to say that Miller is doing anything obvious. It may be true this time that the continuity is more linear than usual, but the depth of imagination is still staggering. Miller doesn’t give us what we think we want, because he’s speaking an entirely different language than anybody else on the planet. How’d He Do Dat?: I’m not sure if I’m fully enthralled by Furiosa’s world. Similarly, I admired Fury Road more than I adored it, and my initial reaction to this distaff follow-up is pretty similar. (Though I wouldn’t be surprised if I gradually start feeling a bit zestier). But I can say without reservation that I am absolutely in awe of George Miller’s nutty band of merry stunt workers. With all sorts of sand bikes, monster trucks, and precision-strike firearms, it’s hard to believe that everyone survived the production. (I pray that no terrible exposés emerge to reveal otherwise!) Fury Road already flame-threw the action adventure genre to levels never witnessed before, and Furiosa somehow manages to be even more relentless. It’s nonstop set piece after set piece, each one of them thoroughly thrilling, witty, and reality-altering. This is cinema, baby!
Furiosa is Recommended If You Like: Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, Stunts, and also Stunts
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