Last year, I tried my hand at writing about a newer release, Killers of the Flower Moon. The Oklahoma/Scorsese/Gladstone of it all was the main motivator for writing it, but I did think about coming back and writing about newer releases after that. On the one hand, here I am making good on that five months later. On the other, I did pick four movies so I’m making up for lost time. Obviously, I didn’t go as in depth with these like I did with KOTFM but I hope to do so with others when life isn’t as busy. Can’t wait to do this again in another five months1. In the meantime…
Okay, onto the movies.
MONKEY MAN
Last week, I did a double feature with Civil War and Monkey Man. It was a lot but if you’re gonna do both, I recommend that order, so you don’t go out into the night on a bummer note. Coming out of Monkey Man though, I felt running through a wall. I did and bruised several areas of my body.
The action sequences are what make the Monkey Man. The story feels thin, which you really notice when the movie slows down to move it along, but it does set up some incredible scenes with some of the gnarliest violence I’ve seen in a while. I’m still a chicken with certain violent movies—hands over the eyes and all—but I enjoy watching when it’s this beautifully executed.
Dev Patel has the goods as a director, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. If the powers that be2 weren’t afraid of the internet crapping its pants, he’d be the front runner for the next Bond.
CIVIL WAR
In a sea of Super Normal reactions and takes on the Alex Garland’s Civil War, I think Jamelle Bouie has a great one:
More than anything else, “Civil War” is plugged into this almost libidinal desire. It shows people, on both sides of the conflict, relishing the opportunity to kill — taking pleasure in the chance to wipe their enemies from the earth. In depicting this, “Civil War” is asking its American viewers to take a long, hard look at what it means to want to bring harm to their fellow citizens.
Scrambling the politics both helps and hurts the movie, in my opinion. I’m eternally grateful that Garland didn’t try to replicate the America of today but I do think more of an explanation of how this version of America went off the rails would’ve helped give a better sense of the stakes.
But what it does get right is that a certain point, ideology really doesn’t matter in this kind of conflict. For some folks, I imagine it would fall away as soon as they’re allowed to kill someone they deem not American enough or that they just don’t like. Two scenes—one at a gas station and another with militia man Jesse Plemons—effectively illustrate this.
And look, I too was upset that known British man Alex Garland dared to make a movie about America because if anyone knows how to be completely objective about their own history and place in the world, it’s Americans.
HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS
Sometimes you read a movie premise and pray to God the actual movie is as bonkers as it promises to be. Hundreds of Beavers fully exceeded my hopes in being maybe the most bonkers movie I’ve seen this year. It’s truly impressive because it’s not just a bunch of gags stringed together. Each one builds on the other, doubling down on the absurd premise of a man trying to kill hundreds (possibly thousands) of actors in beaver costumes. It’s so good, I really don’t know what else to write about it, just that I recommend the film Hundreds of Beavers.
TÓTEM
Last year, I watched Eye Two Times Mouth, a short written and directed by Lila Avilés. This led me to her debut, The Chambermaid, which I watched a couple of months ago and really loved. Her latest, Tótem, is now streaming on the Criterion Channel and it’s already one of my favorites of the year. It’s one of the best depictions I’ve seen of collective grief, told through the perspective of a young girl as her family gets ready for her ailing dad’s birthday party.
It reminded me a lot of Aftersun, another story of a kid trying to make sense of the complicated adults raising them. Despite the heavy subject matter, Avilés takes a very tender approach and is full of compassion for each person we encounter.
That’s all I’ve got for now. Until next time.
Kidding. I’ll shoot for two or three.
The Broccoli family, I’m assuming.