Reviews

  • Astérix et la surprise de César (1985)

    Astérix et la surprise de César (1985)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, December 2020) As far as Asterix movies are concerned, there are several ages – the Golden Age of the 1960s-1970s, with two all-time animated film classics. The Dark Ages of the first live-action versions, followed by a certain renaissance throughout the 2010s. And in between, the silver age of the 1980s-1990s animated films: clearly faithful to the albums’ tone and style, generally enjoyable but not always all that memorable. Astérix et la surprise de César is perhaps the most average film of that era – solid, competent, animated about as well as the European animation studios were capable of doing at the time, but also featureless compared to other Asterix films. While this one has the catchy “Astérix est là” song from Plastic Bertrand, it doesn’t have a lot of set-pieces worth remembering. The Roman setting feels like another day in the series, and even having Ceasar around isn’t much of a distinction considering that he usually shows up in other Asterix movies at the drop of an excuse. Still, I don’t want to be too hard on it: undistinguished can still be pretty good considering the average level of that era’s Asterix films, and so Astérix et la surprise de César remains enjoyable to watch… even if you may be fuzzy on the details a few days later.

  • Four Kids and It (2020)

    Four Kids and It (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2020) A kids’ fantasy film so lightweight that it flies away as soon as it’s over, Four Kids and It looks and feels like a TV movie that somehow stumbled upon a promising cast. The story is about what happens when four kids in a newly blended family discover a mysterious beach creature with the power of making wishes real. Complications accumulate as they explore the limits of that power, and when a local aristocrat has designs on the creature. There are some interesting names in the cast: Michael Caine voicing the creature, Paula Patton and Matthew Goode as the parents of the blended family, and (sigh) Russell Brand as the villain. The special effects are generally acceptable, and the film has enough budget to indulge in its script’s flights of fancy. But there are too many problems to discount: Patton and Goode are saddled with unlikable characters that they can’t fix, while the kids are even more obnoxious than the parents. Brand seems to be playing in a film aimed at an older and more irony-appreciating audience, and the film doesn’t have enough plot to cover it 110 minutes. In the end, Four Kids and It feels like slot-filling TV: it exists because it’s cheap and fulfills some basic programming imperative, but could have been replaced by just about anything even remotely similar.

  • Housesitter (1992)

    Housesitter (1992)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, December 2020) As the 1980s became the 1990s, Steve Martin’s film career turned from absurd high-concept comedy into a safer, far more mainstream comic fare. In this lens, Housesitter is early evidence of a process that would eventually lead to Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Martin plays an architect who, after designing the ideal house, gets his heart broken and has a one-night stand that results into something much more complicated when she moves into the house and starts saying that she’s his wife. It sounds slightly creepy but the script, as directed by Frank Oz, is about as innocuous as it comes. It helps that Martin is playing opposite a perfectly charming Goldie Hawn, and a gallery of supporting characters out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Martin plays the straight man here, reacting to Hawn’s antics more than acting. The story itself is fair, but the restraint through which it’s executed is almost overbearing – Housesitter is a film that plays it incredibly safe, and could have benefited from a bit more comic audacity. But Martin’s career, as shown here and later films, has been a steady retreat into more broadly accessible fare – still funny, if less so.

  • Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

    Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) I’m not quite as positive about Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as I want to be, but it’s better than what most people would expect. Adapting a few books of short stories about which I have zero knowledge nor attachment, the film surprisingly doesn’t take the anthology route – instead, it mixes and matches several pieces of the books into things that happen to the characters when they read a cursed book, effectively introducing a whole meta-fictional “stories coming to life” aspect to it all. (This is not dissimilar to the recent Goosebumps movies either) Also notable is the film’s decision to set itself in the 1960s, and the substantial effort required to make this period setting credible. Special effects are not bad, and I do admire the film’s decision to remain within a PG-13 rating – partly in recognition of the books / film’s target audience, but also, it feels, as a game by the filmmakers to see how far they could push without getting to an R rating. The teenage actors at the middle of the film don’t do too badly, and director André Øvredal’s visual sense is pretty good, especially by the standards of introductory teen horror. And yet, and yet – even in exceeding expectations, I found Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark a bit dull despite its qualities. The narrative density seems low, and the entire thing doesn’t stick in mid very much after the end credits. This doesn’t make it a bad film, but I wish there was just a little more to it than there is now.

  • Midway (2019)

    Midway (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) The nice thing about director Roland Emmerich taking on a World War II movie is that we know what we’re going to get. Even from the title and the opening recreation of the Pearl Harbor attack, Midway’s shape quickly snaps into focus: First, the introduction of the characters through America’s humiliation, and then (after some character “development”), a vengeful final half almost entirely preoccupied with an hour-long recreation of the titular battle as an action sequence. The flaws and qualities of the film are very Emmerichian – he can do a maximalist rendition of the material he’s given, make it fun to watch, and orchestrate a good special-effects showcase… but he’s not going to rewrite dramatic material to higher standards, push his actors into doing more than the strict minimum, or weave in complex visual themes or stylistic direction. So, what you get with Midway is what you can expect from Emmerich’s Midway: A middling script but executed rather well when it comes to the action/CGI bits. Surprisingly, I liked it– I wasn’t going to the film for a history lesson (although I gather that the film is surprisingly more historically accurate than expected once you discount the enthusiastic CGI) and as a WW2 action movie, Midway is very enjoyable. The old-school moral values of the film (honour, duty, country) are generally admirable, especially if you’re looking for a modern re-skin of classic WW2 movies. No, Midway isn’t that remarkable – but I enjoyed when stuff blows up real good.

  • Crawl (2019)

    Crawl (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) Expectations didn’t run high for creature-feature Crawl, in which Floridians having enough trouble with a hurricane-flooded house also have to deal with alligators moving in. But this is the kind of film where execution can make or break a premise, and in the hands of noted horror auteur Alexandre Aja, the film manages to find an interesting balance between chills and thrills: Aja’s stylish direction goes for suspense whenever it can, but thankfully draws back on the gore and delivers a happy ending of sorts. (Don’t worry, though – the body count of the film is surprisingly high for something taking place in what’s supposed to be an evacuated part of Florida.) The atmosphere of a flooded, rain-battered house is convincing, especially given all of the CGI required for a film shot in Serbian soundstages. Acting-wise, Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper make for an effective daughter-father team, and they’re our anchors in what would otherwise be just gators chomping on supporting characters. It’s not a big or great film, but Crawl manages to hit just the right spot for a competent B-movie.

  • Angel Has Fallen (2019)

    Angel Has Fallen (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) I’ve been saying since London has Fallen that the wrong White-House-in-Peril movie got a sequel (White House Down should have been the one to get follow-ups), and now we’re adding insult to injury with an even less remarkable third film in the series. Sure, you could warm up to Olympus has Fallen and even London has Fallen because whatever their faults were, at least they aimed big: White House under attack by terrorists? G7 meeting attacked by terrorists? There’s some fun there. But in this instalment, the plot hook is just… our hero being framed by mercenaries. Oh. The much smaller scale of the action fails to impress, and it’s not as there is that much character to develop in between the action sequences – writer-director Ric Roman Waugh is content simply getting something bankable to the screen. Sure, Angel Has Fallen is watchable. Whether it will hold your interest in between other things, though, is highly debatable. At least it’s honest about what it’s trying to do: Gerard Butler is making a career out of mediocre films that know perfectly well what they’re all about, and it’s not with this third film in the series that he’s striking off in unexpected directions. At least the supporting cast also understands what kind of movie they’re playing with: John Huston makes a great heavy as usual, and Morgan Freeman plays a president like no one else can — oh, and Nick Nolte brings a welcome bit of craziness in a far too staid film. But none of this really elevates Angel Has Fallen over disappointing mediocrity. Go ahead and go rewatch White House Down instead.

  • Hellboy (2019)

    Hellboy (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) I suppose that if you must replace Ron Perlman as Hellboy, then David Harbour is not a bad choice at all. But it’s Guillermo del Toro’s absence at the helm that is most deeply felt in the 2019 Hellboy reboot. Neil Marshall is not a bad director, but del Toro’s affection for monsters and his unmistakable touch for the fantastic are what held the previous two Hellboy films together, and it’s sorely missing here. There are quite a few things that I do like here: Finally seeing fully-horned King Hellboy is nice, and the acting talent on display does include names such as Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane and Daniel Dae Kim playing were-cheetah. Harbour himself does well, and the special effects work is fun when supernatural weirdness and wide-scale destruction hit London. But the rest of the film isn’t as bad as it is instantly forgettable. The bland story retreads material far better handled in the earlier films; the tone has a lot of trouble keeping balance between end-of-the-world stakes and sardonic humour, and the over-the-top gore is off-putting, bordering on disgusting. In the end, this Hellboy feels juvenile, graceless and meaningless compared to del Toro’s dark poetry, and while this could have passed muster had earlier Hellboy films had not existed, they not only existed but justified the existence of this one. Once upon a time, Hollywood missed a fantastic opportunity to do a Hellboy 3 – but they missed it, and we’re never going to get that back, or anything approaching it.

  • Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

    Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) Considering the downward trend of the Rambo series and the less-than-stellar impression left by this latest instalment, I’m tempted to ask if they really mean it when they say Rambo: Last Blood. Is it a promise? Is it legally binding? This time, seventy-something Sylvester Stallone hauls himself from the retirement home for another go at the Rambo character. This time around, he goes off to Mexico to rescue his niece from the clutch of sex traffickers, then comes back to the farm to set up a gleefully gory series of traps meant to show that, even at an elderly age, Rambo can take on an army of ethnically coded bad guys. While I do like that this final (?) instalment closes a circle that began with a loner assaulting typical America and ended with him defending what he has against enemies, this is thin and weakly realized over-rationalization for what’s a straightforward shoot’em up. Stallone can still growl menacingly, but he still looks as if he should be taking it easy rather than play in an overly macho celebration of bloodlust. As with the previous instalment, the gory violence is disturbingly over-the-top, easily exceeding some horror movies in conscious sadism. I’m absolutely not sorry to see Rambo go off into the sunset (literally) – this is a character that has overstayed his welcome, and the series surrounding him has grown unbearably ugly.

  • Hustlers (2019)

    Hustlers (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) Welcome to the 2020s! Your new moral orthodoxy, and you don’t get to choose to accept it, is that drugging, robbing and possibly abusing people is perfectly fine as long as they’re men and you pre-emptively declare yourself the victim! Wait, what? Well, yes: While it’s absurdly reductive to see Hustlers through the lens of reactionary misandry, there’s also a lot of that in the film. Adapted from an article about real NYC strippers drugging and robbing Wall Street types, the film does become more potent as a class-war kind of screed. It does have the (belated) decency to recognize that its heroines may not be completely righteous – that once you successfully target the deserving, it’s much easier to hurt the undeserving. Fortunately, some top talent goes into the execution: written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, the film assembles an all-star cast of actors-singers like Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lizzo and Cardi B (who once said she drugged and robbed clients of their money during her early years as a stripper – role model, wooo). Nearly everyone does great work, with special attention paid to a great performance from Lopez, who hits upon a number of her personal strengths to create her character. The execution of Hustlers is a great deal better than its somewhat problematic premise, in between what could have been male exploitation of a salacious topic, on the one hand, or unrepentant man-bashing on the other. Having never been a stripper nor a strip-club patron in the past, I’m clearly not in the target audience for this film, but even I could appreciate the better moments of the film when it gets cracking on the atmosphere, the characterization and the dark irony inherent in its Robin Hood(ick) premise. Maybe it’ll go down more easily on a second viewing.

  • The Joy Luck Club (1993)

    The Joy Luck Club (1993)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2020) Even more than twenty-five years later, The Joy Luck Club remains a singular reference in American cinema. There simply aren’t that many (or any) Hollywood-affiliated films with large casts of Asian-American performers, let alone an ensemble of eight Asian-American actresses. But that’s what was needed to adapt Amy Tan’s sprawling novel of family relationships, generational continuity and cultural resilience. It’s all the more remarkable in that this is not blockbuster four-quadrant filmmaking: this is what was formerly known as “a woman’s picture” and, in modern parlance, a “literate character-driven drama for a specific demographic.” Spanning five decades, the story intersects four distinct strands during 132 minutes, and that is a lot of drama to go around. A lot of it is very accessible despite the affirmed Chinese-American context – the mother-daughter relationship material feels universal and so do many of the issues faced by the characters. And yet, as admirable as it is, it’s not perfect: Being largely focused on female characters and their problems, the film often portrays men as caricatures of evil personified, with no depth or redemption. But maybe the problem is to try to make The Joy Luck Club an exemplar of Chinese-American film representation rather than the very specific story it meant to tell. But that’s almost inevitable when a film becomes a beacon of representativeness in an otherwise barren wasteland – it was a long, long time between 1961’s Flower Drum Song, this 1993 film and 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians.

  • Gemini Man (2019)

    Gemini Man (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) As someone who read a lot of middle-tier thrillers in the 1990s, I could tell you about Richard Steinberg’s The Gemini Man… except that Gemini Man is not its adaptation. Although I originally read the novel, twenty years ago, thinking it was going to be the source of the film – the premise of having an assassin facing off against a younger clone has been kicking around Hollywood since the late 1990s, and it’s finally through director Ang Lee and Will Smith that we get to see it on screens at last. Smith is a great choice for the part – not only does he have the pedigree of an action star, he has also been in the public eye since the early 1990s, so it’s easy for viewers to feel, on an instinctual level, the impact of seeing younger and older versions of Smith on-screen at once. Meanwhile, Lee has often been attracted to technically challenging films, and Gemini Man must have been a handful to manage through complex action sequences, wall-to-wall CGI and a mixture of scientific wizardry and emotional drama for it to come together. But does it come together? There’s an undeniable thrill at seeing some of the action sequences: While the CGI is really not always convincing, it is fun to see just how (imperfectly) the state of the art has come and the ways an actor can be duplicated and de-aged. Alas, this technical trick is roughly all that Gemini Man has to offer: The rest of the film seems like a rehash of clichés, Hollywood shortcuts, dull moments, trite dialogue and genetic determinism. Despite a promising concept (dual Will Smiths, not the nonsense cloning fearmongering), the film doesn’t rise to its potential. In fact, once you snip out the CGI sequences, the rest of the film is roughly undistinguishable from dozens of already-forgotten assassin thrillers that have overloaded screens over the years. That’s the point where anyone can look at the film’s two-decade production history and say, “Really? All of this effort for such an underwhelming result?”

  • Booksmart (2019)

    Booksmart (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Amazon Streaming, December 2020) While I’ll be among the first to bemoan the excessive coarseness of today’s crop of comedy films, I also have to recognize when something works. Booksmart, for all of its raunchy foul-mouthed riot-nrrd female empowerment protagonists going out of their way to be offensive and crude, is reliably funny from beginning to end. Much of the credit for this success goes to Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein for playing a couple of best friends out to have a memorable night on the town: Their obvious rapport is delivered in high-energy fashion, through a crucial 24-hour period that goes to the extremes. Actor-turned-first-time-director Olivia Wilde also manages to nail a tricky tone that balances in-your-face excesses with a solid core of cute sentiment. Booksmart so closely embraces left-wing values of the late 2010s that I’m not sure how well it’s going to age – but then again, I’m not sure how well I’m going to age, and that means not being so quick to tut-tut the younger generations for making their own mistakes. In the meantime, we’ve got a teen comedy that pushes the envelope, sustains a fast-paced rhythm, stars two terrific performances and overcomes its grossest moments with old-school values. I’ll take it: at least it’s not another formulaic superhero film with nothing to say.

  • Guns Girls and Gangsters (1959)

    Guns Girls and Gangsters (1959)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2020) There is something a bit too easy in the way Guns Girls and Gangsters is put together – too obvious, like its title. Coming at the tail end of the original film noir movement, it’s perhaps a bit too self-aware about the elements it has to include (like, er, Guns, Girls and Gangsters) but not witty or sophisticated enough to be able to make much out of it. The story has to do with a Vegas armed car robbery pulled off by ex-convicts, complicated by a sexy seductress cheating on one of the criminals with another. Produced away from the major studios, the film feels a bit threadbare when it comes to production values – but it did have the good sense of putting its dollars where the stars were: Lee Van Cleef is an excellent choice as a vengeful husband, while Mamie Van Doren dominates the film as a sultry blonde femme fatale. The narration underscores things a bit too much, exemplifying the theme of excessive self-awareness combined with the lack of skill to pull it off. While thoroughly mediocre (easily in the lower-middle-tier of first-generation film noir thrillers), Guns Girls and Gangsters still has enough to entertain, but it’s going to be as a semi-unintentional comedy more than a hardcore noir.

  • Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

    Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2020) Some incredible movies should come with a warning, and Make Way for Tomorrow is a tragic tearjerker in sheep’s clothing. The setup looks as if it’s setting up a comforting watch, as a fifty-year-long couple is forced by economics to live apart “for a while”: They have five children, but none are able to accommodate them both. As time passes, the two elderly parents’ efforts to get back together are fruitless, and their children are of absolutely no help. But if you’re waiting for everyone to figure out a solution, for the cavalry to arrive, for the Hollywood happy ending to wrap it up, here is your last and most essential warning: This is not going to turn out well. Director Leo McCarey (often better known for comedies!) is merciless in hammering the script’s message for 92 almost unbearable minutes. If you really want to be clinical about it, this isn’t much of a film for a narrative standpoint: there is no reversal of fortune, there is no improvement, there are no twists: it just keeps getting worse every single minute. But the most tragic thing about Make Way for Tomorrow (what a title!) is not what specifically happens to the characters – it’s the cold certainty, rarely expressed in cinema, that we don’t usually get happy endings in real life. Unlike film, the camera doesn’t cut away to the ending credits: people keep on living, degrading, becoming increasingly isolated and that is the natural order of things.