Familyfaire: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) Van Helsing (voiced by Jim Gaffigan) has invented a ‘Monsterfication Ray’ that has gone haywire, and Drac (voiced by Brian Hull) and all his monster friends have been transformed into something horrible; humans. I have not been a big fan of this series, but since this is the fourth film under the Hotel Transylvania banner, somebody must like them. This is the first film in the series where Adam Sandler is not the voice of Dracula (now voiced by Brian Hull), but since the film is pretty weak to begin with, Sandler isn’t missed. The film has plenty of action for young kids to be entertained by, but I was bored by the plot, and like the last two films, the jokes continually fall flat, making the film feel very long and unfunny. Luckily, the studio has decided to let parents off the hook and is releasing this film directly to Amazon Prime, so it won’t cost you an arm and a leg to sit through this poorly done attempt at animated humor. My Rating: Cable Hotel Transylvania: Tranformania Website Now available on the Amazon Prime platform.
Indiefest: Drive My Car (2021) Yûsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) is a well-known actor and director who is happily married to his screenwriter wife, Oto (Reika Kirishima), when she suddenly dies. Two years after her death, Yûsuke is asked to put on a play in a town across the country and is given a driver (Tôko Miura) to transport him from his remote hotel to the rehearsal space. On the long trips, Yûsuke listens to a tape that Oto recorded for him before her death, and it brings back old memories, both good and bad. I will warn you from the start that this film is three hours long, so pack a lunch when you watch it. I mean, the opening credits don’t happen until 40 minutes into the film, with a prologue that will give you more questions than answers. And yes, you should watch it as it is filled with marvelous and moving performances. I will admit, I would have cut about 20 minutes of the film. There are a few sequences that drag a bit, but almost everything that is in this film pushes us to understand the three main characters; Yûsuke and his very complicated but loving relationship with his wife, Oto, and Yûsuke’s driver, who we are let to know slowly through their guarded interactions. This is a film full of character studies as we get to know the stories behind why almost everyone in the movie behaves the way that they do. Driving My Car is a surefire Academy Award-nominated film and probably the frontrunner for Best International Picture (the film was the pick of two of my critic group's International picture of the year). So pile into the backseat and get ready to go down the road with Yûsuke and his driver. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again Drive My Car Website Now playing in select theatres.
Indiefest: Belle (2021) PG Suzu is a 17-year-old shy high-school student living in a rural village with her father. One day, she enters ‘U,’ a virtual world with over 5 billion members on the Internet. In the ‘U,’ she becomes Belle, a world-famous singer, and she embarks on a journey of discovery, challenges, and love that will change her forever. This is a beautiful and thrilling new version of Beauty and the Beast, with a big twist. The film is more about a shy, young woman who has never gotten over her mother's death, and that death has taken both her confidence in herself and her singing voice. With the help of a friend, Suzu escapes into the virtual world of the ‘U,’ where you can become another person. As Belle in the ‘U, Suzu becomes a singing sensation and suddenly Suzu, as Belle, is incredibly popular. In the ‘U,’ she meets a mysterious and seemingly dangerous character, The Beast, who is continually angry and is on a constant tear to take on all challengers in battle. But the ‘U’ and its universe is only half of this film. The other half is a film about growing up in the overly connected social network world of high school and how an innocent act of kindness can be overblown instantly. I watched the film in Japanese, and I loved the music in this film. Belle’s songs of love and courage are just magical. From reading a few reviews, I understand that the English version is just as lovely. The film is filled with meaning and has great heart, as we follow Suzu on her adventures, both in the real world (full of crushes and strife) and in the ‘U’ world (full of adventure and mystery). Belle is about finding the courage to take a stand and be yourself while also taking the chance on other people. So enter the ‘U’ and go on a journey of discovery with Suzu and Belle. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again Belle Website Now playing in select theatres.
Indiefest: The House (2022) This is an eccentric, dark comedy about a house, told through three surreal tales of the individuals who made it their home through the years. This film comprises three stop-motion animated stories that take place in the same home. The first story is the most enjoyable of the three, about a family that moves from their falling apart home to a newly built house given to them under mysterious circumstances. The family moves into the house and the young daughter, Mabel, soon learns that this gift has come with a price. Mabel’s parents, once loving and attentive, become distracted and uncaring. The house becomes filled with traps and obstacles, to where Mable and her baby sister are constantly trying to overcome, as this nightmare of a house becomes ugly and threatening. It’s a wonderfully told tale that is a bit scary and full of surprises. The remaining two tales are a little less captivating. The second is a tale of a mouse who is going about trying to re-build and flip a house with his life savings, only to have two intruders, one, a group of bugs and another, a couple of potential buyers, invade his remodeled home. The second tale never quite fully develops any tension or scares. The third tale is about a young cat trying to turn the house into an apartment building but is foiled by her lack of funds and two tenants who pay with fish or rocks rather than money. The third tale is probably the weakest of the three, with an ending that just left me wanting more. I wish the second and third tales had the imagination and the scares of the first story, but I still enjoyed the stop-motion animation of all three stories and their different filmmaking styles. While an animated film, please note that The House is for more adult audiences than kids, especially the first tale, which may be too scary for little ones. My Rating: Bargain Matinee The House Website Now available on the Netflix platform.
Indiefest: Italian Studies (2021) The story of a young writer, Alina (Vanessa Kirby), who has suddenly lost her memory. Alina is now adrift in NYC, not knowing who she is or how she got there. She connects with a group of teenagers that promise to help her find her way home, but Alina has no way to know if what she is experiencing is real or imagined. Man, this is a strange film and one that I did not enjoy. It reminded me of the stream of consciousness films that came out of France in the 60s and 70s. This film follows Alina, who goes for a walk with her dog, enters a store, and then forgets who she is. The rest of the film is Alina wandering the streets of New York, meeting people and trying to figure out who she is. But the problem with this film is that Alina is trying to figure out who she is but takes such a rambling, lazy approach to it that it can be maddening how laissez-faire her attitude is. The film goes back and forth with the character interviewing the teens she has interacted with during her memory loss, but it’s never clear when or if these interviews really happen. Italian Studies is a mess of a film that, even as fine as an actor Vanessa Kirby, can’t overcome a plot with no middle or end. My Rating: Cable Italian Studies Website Now playing in select theatres
Indiefest: The Velvet Queen (2021) The Velvet Queen is a documentary about Vincent Munier, one of the world’s greatest wildlife photographers, who takes novelist Sylvain Tesson (In the Forest of Siberia) on a journey in the Tibetan plateau in search of one of the rarest big cats on the planet, the snow leopard. I loved this film, and I wish I had seen it in a theatre (instead of my computer) as the cinematography is stunningly beautiful. This is a story of a quest that is more about the journey and what you experience than what the goal is. The film explores what it is like to be so immersed in a world that you soon discover that while watching these animals, they have been studying you long before you noticed them. This film explores the wonder and beauty of the stark wilderness of Tibet, filled with wildlife that constantly surprises you as these two explorers go deeper and deeper into a world that few humans have seen or experienced. The Velvet Queen is a film that makes you appreciate the beauty of nature and how we as humans have lost contact with that world. It’s a film filled with beauty and just how diverse the animal world is. My Rating: Full Price The Velvet Queen Website Now playing in select theatres.
Forgotten Film: Never Cry Wolf (1983) PG A government researcher, Farley Mowat (Charles Martin Smith), is set down by a bush pilot in the Arctic wilderness, where he will, camping out on his own, will study wolves, seen as only a menace to mankind. What Farley learns about wolves will change the way we see the species' impact on the environment and how they are integral to the ecosystem's survival. While Farley learns about wolves and their true beneficial impact on nature, he will also learn about himself. This is a film that would, if made today, have to be made either as an online streamer or an Indie, but at the time was made by Disney and got a major release. The film is a wonderful study of an ill-equipped man trying to survive in the wild on his own while learning that almost everything he knows about a species is wrong. The cinematography is gorgeous, and the wildlife scenes are realistically staged. Charles Martin Smith gives a winning performance of the researcher who learns how to survive in the wild and appreciate the beauty surrounding him. This film and the book it is based on changed the way we think about wolves and their impact on their environment. Once thought of as a menace, wolves are now seen as essential parts of nature’s ecosystem. Like Farley, go and spend some time with wolves and learn their ways with Never Cry Wolf. My Rating; Full Price Never Cry Wolf Info
Weird Credits: From the credits of Scream: Toolperson
Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Moonfall (2022) PG-13 A mysterious force has knocked the moon from its orbit and is in a collision course with Earth. A former astronaut, Jo Fowler (Halle Berry), enlists a ragtag team (Patrick Wilson, John Bradley) to help her go on an impossible mission, leaving everything they love behind to try to save the Earth. The only problem, the moon isn’t what we think it is. Moonfall looks like it could be a lot of fun and could be one of those films to just go have a blast with, no pun intended. Moonfall Website
