Movie Review: Fresh (R – 114 Minutes)

 

From time to time you stumble across a movie you have heard very little about. This is very rare, as most trailers today show nearly the entire movie.  Fresh was something I was glad I knew next to nothing about.

Fresh begins by following Noa, a young woman who is struggling with modern dating. We see her using an app and going out with a guy who reminds her three times the restaurant they are going to only takes cash.  While on the date, he comments about her appearance multiple times and then is a jerk when she tells him no, thanks to a second date.  After venting to her best friend, she randomly meets a guy while grocery shopping. He seems really nice, is a doctor, and looks just like the Winter Soldier, so she gives him her number.

They head out for dinner, have a lovely time, and after a few dates, she decides to be adventurous and go away for the weekend with him.  Mollie, the aforementioned best friend, cautions against this idea and does some surface digital stalking, but learns very little about this Steve.  Steve takes Noa to his gorgeous home with the promise of heading out on the next day and things take a turn from there. 

Some Spoilers from this point on – seriously – it is worth watching this horror-thriller-dark comedy as cold as possible.  You can stream it on Hulu.

Written by Lauryn Kahn and directed by Mimi Cave, this movie was surprising, funny, and deeply dark and twisted.  It takes the horrors of modern dating to a new level, and definitely made me tell my best friends we needed a code phrase so that if someone else takes my phone and is texting from it, they would know it wasn’t me and would immediately send help!  The movie is short and quick with a dark and moody look and the cast all help elevate the story.

Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Noa with a relatability that was key for the role. Noa feels like everybody’s friend, either you or someone you know.  You begin the movie feeling for her as she struggles through terrible dates and end the movie cheering for her as she takes control of her situation – and maybe decides that being single is the very best thing ever.

Sebastian Stan continues to be weird and excellent in everything he does. Steve comes off as so charming and trustworthy at first, but if you pay attention, he is throwing little red flags in there all over the place. “Who have you told about me?”  Come on Noa – read between the lines!

As with any dark comedy, the best friend does get the scene-stealing moments and Jojo Gibbs as Mollie certainly steals some here. She figures out very quickly that Steve is not what he appears to be and is the one who discovers his plans, but then also falls prey to them, allowing Noa to be the hero of the story.

Dayo Okeniyi plays Paul, Mollie’s former hook-up who is a bartender at one of the places Steve and Noa had a date.  I really appreciated how the movie set up the potential for him to be the hero to save the day, but really it was the women who rescued themselves at the end.

Andrea Bang from Kim’s Convenience (watch all of that on Netflix if you have not already) plays Penny, who helps Noa figure out what is going on and how to deal with it. 

Charlotte le Bon plays Ann, who is Brendan’s wife and accomplice.  She does such a good job that you almost want to know a little more about her character - but it works just fine knowing almost nothing. 

Overall, I highly recommend checking this out, it is weird and funny and upsetting and dark.  Definitely a hard R, with a few really gross moments, but a great ending.  It is always good to see the bad guys get what is coming to them! 

8 out of 10

And not to worry - if Steve creeps you out too much in this, you can always re-watch Falcon & Winter Soldier on Disney+ for some Bucky palate cleansing. 

Movie Review: CODA (PG13 – 111 minutes)

 

As I attempt to make my way through the Best Picture Oscar nominees, I watched CODA on Apple + TV. 

The movie tells the story of Ruby, a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults), who is the only hearing member of her family. Her mom, dad, and brother are all deaf. She helps her father and brother on their fishing boat and functions as an interpreter when bringing in and selling the fish to a distributor.  She is finishing up high school, which proves to be even more difficult for her due to the bullying she receives – high school is the worst.  While signing up for extra curriculars, she follows her crush, Miles, to choir. She figures since she loves to sing on the boat while working, why not give it a try.

After getting over her fear with the assistance of her amazing choir instructor Bernardo Villalobos, she works towards embracing her love for singing, and the terrifying possibility of a life away from her family. 

The movie is fantastic, positive and uplifting – which I feel is always far too rare among award-season films.  It is based on a French movie called The Belier Family which was met with some criticism when it was released because two of the main deaf characters were played by hearing actors. Here – the family is all played by deaf actors, and star Emilia Jones spent months learning ASL to act with them.  As the story proceeds, it is not just a coming of age movie for Ruby as she learns to embrace her own existence, it functions a bit as a coming-of-age for the family as well as they learn they are able to operate without Ruby’s constant presence to translate and help them function. There have been other stories about parents struggling to let their kids go off to college, but this story adds the layer of the parents viewing their kid as their lifeline and connection to the world.  Eventually, they begin to trust and join the community around them.  

Emilia Jones absolutely shines as Ruby, somehow able to simultaneously show love and devotion to her family while feeling stifled and overwhelmed by the sense of duty and obligation she feels towards them.

Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as her parents Jackie and Frank are unsurprisingly fantastic – equal parts hilarious, embarrassing, and genuinely heartbreaking.  Matlin has been exceptional for a long time, but Kotsur was a bit of a surprise for me. He has more emotional heavy lifting to do, and steals the scenes he is in.  Daniel Durant plays their son, Leo, and he gets some comic relief bits but also gets to be frustrated that his parents depend so much on Ruby when he keeps telling them he can help.

I really enjoyed Amy Forsyth as Gertie, Ruby’s best friend. She is straightforward and clear about her intentions – mainly getting with Leo – but provides some really fun moments.  Between her and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Miles, Ruby’s crush, then friend, then singing partner, then boyfriend – Ruby has at least a couple of good folks around her.

Eugenio Derbez is wonderful as he always is as Mr. V, the choir teacher. He helps Ruby face her fear and be strong enough to go after what she wants.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I think you should make the time to watch this one. Currently it’s on Apple+, but I believe you can rent it in other places as well, Amazon and such. It has been wining quite a few awards to date, and I think Kotsur might be a lock for best supporting actor.  Give it a shot, it is beautiful, painful, and joyful.

8 out of 10.

Movie Review: The Adam Project (PG13 – 106 minutes)

 

Ryan Reynolds continues his dependable relationship with Netflix with this new family flick – The Adam Project.

The story begins with Adam, a pilot in the future, narrowly escaping capture by jumping through a wormhole.  We then join the story of younger Adam in middle school, still attempting to recover from the death of his father and getting into fights in school, much to the frustration of his mother.  Future Adam pops in on current Adam to bandage himself up and get some help fixing up his ship.  He’s lost his wife and is bound and determined to fix the future where time travel is a thing, but a not-quite-as-great-as-you-think thing.  In order to do that, he needs to have a confrontation with his father’s business partner, Maya, years ago before his father died and Maya took over the company – steering the time travel business in the wrong direction. Together, both Adams head back to meet up with their dad, save the future, and do some emotional healing.

The movie is directed by Shawn Levy who did the excellent Free Guy (which is now on Disney+, so be sure to check that out if you haven’t seen it).  Levy has just been announced as the director for Deadpool 3 and if this is any indication of he and Reynolds’ partnership, I am really looking forward to it.  The story is a little confusing and thrown at you just fast enough that you don’t really think about it too hard – the action is fun, the time travel effects are good enough, but the absolute winner of this movie is Reynolds, his charm, and the rest of the cast.  

Ryan Reynolds continues his snarky good humor. He is a little one note, but again – if it is one note that works well and he keeps picking projects that suit that note, I do not have an issue with it. Here, he manages to add layers of heart and emotion to the snark of a man willing to go back in time to fix the hurt he feels. Walker Scobell takes on the daunting task of being young Ryan Reynolds and does a great job. He’s equal parts charming and irritating and I enjoyed him interacting with his older self as they help each other realize they have both done a terrible job dealing with their losses.

I loved the movie 13 going on 30 from 2004, so it is a true treat to see Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner as the Adam parents in this movie.  Ruffalo feels very Bruce Banner (which is fine by me) as a scientist who is well aware he has created time travel. Garner plays a woman who loves her husband even though his work dominates his experience. Once he is gone, she deals with his loss as best she can.  The two of them are great in their individual scenes but even better in the scenes they have together.

Zoe Saldana plays Laura, the wife that future Adam found and lost and went back to not necessarily save, but preserve her legacy.  She doesn’t have much to do, but makes the most of what she has. 

I don’t recall if I have ever seen Catherine Keener play the heavy before, but after this – I am thinking she should be the bad guy more often. She is perfect as the slick corporate villain putting her success and money above all else – including those that used to be her friends.

Overall, the movie is fun and sweet, fast-paced, and at just over an hour and a half - the perfect running time for a fantastic streaming family flick for a Friday night in.

7 out of 10 - Time travel doesn't have to be confusing or depressing - just push through it quickly and use it for family therapy!

Movie Review: Death on the Nile (PG13 – 127 minutes)

 

Agatha Christie originally wrote Death on the Nile in 1937.  Peter Ustinov played Christie’s famous detective and mustache enthusiast Hercule Poirot (one of six times) in the 1978 movie version of the story.  Here – it is Director Kenneth Branagh’s second appearance as Poirot in his follow-up to the 2017 Murder on the Orient Express.

As with many Poirot mysteries, this story begins with a fairly simple set-up: Poirot is on semi-vacation in Egypt when he meets up with his friend Bouc and Bouc’s mother, in town for the wedding celebration holiday for socialite Linnet Ridgeway and her new Husband Simon Doyle.  Linnet approaches Poirot and asks him to join due to some worries about her former friend Jacqueline de Bellefort.  As Simon’s former fiancée, she is slightly unhinged and has begun stalking the couple.  From there, things get more complicated as each of the guests seems to have shady reasons for being there and legitimate reasons for disliking Linnet.  Her former fiancée, Linus Windlesham, is also aboard, along with her cousin and business trustee Andres Katchadourian.  Linnet’s personal maid seems to have some suspicious intentions, as well as Salome Otterbourne, a famous jazz singer and Salome’s manager/niece, Rosalie.  There’s also Linnet’s godmother, Marie Van Schuyler, who recently became a communist, and her nurse, Mrs. Bowers – who may or may not just be along to watch Marie’s health.

As the trip goes along, sure enough, Linnet ends up dead on a boat, and Poirot has to prove – in very dramatic fashion - which of the very suspicious guests committed the murder. 

Once again directed by Branagh, the movie looks lovely for the most part, but does seem to drag a bit more than its predecessor.  This is not entirely unexpected. With this many suspects, it does take time to explain them all and provide reasons they are on the boat and their relationship to the victim. Branagh does well with that, but adds a backstory for Poirot and his mustache that was never in the Christie books.  That feels both self-indulgent and oddly necessary to cement Poirot as the lead and central character in a movie that spends a lot of time on everyone else.  The cast is all good, but there are so many of them, it did feel like I needed one of the papers from my Clue: Master Detective game to keep everyone straight. 

Tom Bateman returns as Bouc from the Orient Express – he functions both as guest and Poirot’s assistance and friend.  Annette Bening joins as Euphemia, Bouc’s mother. She is a very serious painter and has no interest in allowing Bouc to fraternize with Rosalie, who he has fallen in love with.  Letitia Wright brings just the right level of energy to Rosalie and Sophie Okonedo is very fun as Salome, who is less interested in Rosalie and Bouc’s relationship, but more interested in flirting with Poirot.

Gal Gadot seems perfectly cast as the aloof socialite Linnet and Armie Hammer fits well as her new husband.  It’s pretty easy to see why so many have an issue with her, and the marriage. Although, step one for them may have been to not invite so many former fiancees on the trip. Rose Leslie plays Linnet’s personal maid, Louise Bourget, and of course, Linnet doesn’t treat her all that well, so she certainly looks like a suspect.

Emma Mackey was interesting as Jacqueline – she is very up front about her intentions to simply cause havoc.  She knows Simon is still in love with her and lets Poirot know she intends to keep stalking the couple until he admits it.  Nothing like being up front about your intentions.

Russell Brand plays Dr. Windlesham and again, seems very unhappy about being on board for his former fiancee’s wedding celebration.  Ali Fazal plays her cousin and he is just a little too concerned about bringing up business decisions at random times.

French & Saunders reunite to play Bowers and Marie Von Schuyler, which is a treat for those who remember their sketch comedy pairings.  Here, Marie is just a little too loud about how much money her goddaughter has, and Bowers is conveniently ready to help out with spending it.

Overall, the movie in entertaining and it is always fun to try to figure out exactly who the killer is as the story unfolds. I started out right, then changed my mind, then was way wrong, then came back to being right.  That is one of the appeals of a murder mystery.  I will say that I found this one a little slow with too many characters.  That is a bit of an odd complaint on my part as I learned the book had even more characters and suspects!

5 out of 10 – better streaming than in the theater is my recommendation!