The latest film releases include Another Simple Favor, The Surfer, Rust, and Thunderbolts*. Weighing in are William Bibbiani, film critic for The Wrap and co-host of the Critically Acclaimed Network podcast, and Amy Nicholson, film critic for The Los Angeles Times and host of the podcast Unspooled.
Another Simple Favor
Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) and Emily (Blake Lively) reunite with director Paul Feig for a sequel to the 2018 film. This time, Stephanie goes to Italy to be Emily’s bridesmaid.
Nicholson: “This movie knows where its strengths are, which is naughty humor, absolutely ludicrous plot twists, tons of martinis, and … decent insights into female friendship and all of the different codependencies and jealousies that come with that. It's not as much fun [as the first film], even though it's bigger in every single way. … This is a movie where I think if you drink a bottle of rosé in the first 30 minutes, you'll wind up having a lot more fun.”
Bibbiani: “I'm a huge fan of A Simple Favor, it was one of my favorite movies of that year. And to try to capture that lightning in a bottle for a second time is incredibly difficult, and that they didn't succeed as well is not the worst thing in the world. It's just great to see them again.”
The Surfer
Nicholas Cage plays a dad who returns to his childhood beach to surf with his son, but aggressive locals won’t allow it. This is written by Thomas Martin and directed by Lorcan Finnegan.
Bibbiani: “This is part of a very interesting swath of films about people who have everything, like losing everything over the course of the movie, whether it's just their livelihood or their family or their sanity, or all three. … Bless Nicholas Cage. I don't think he's ever phoned in a performance in his life. He always goes all in, whether the movie deserves it or not. And here is a case where I think the movie deserves it. It is a very striking film. It's a very intense film. It is a very depressing film. I think it all hinges on: Do you believe Nicolas Cage when Nicolas Cage is losing his mind?”
Nicholson: “[The Swimmer and The Surfer] would play really well in a double feature because they both have this hallucinogenic dream-like feel, where even as an audience member, you're starting to lose track of what reality is, and … they have this expressionistic idea of showing somebody's just diminishment in status. … Cage … is barefoot, ranting, looking like a lunatic, and in the film, is aware of now how he looks in other people's eyes. … I thought this film was actually really striking.
Rust
On the set of the film, Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet out of a prop gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks, thus accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza was hit as well and survived. Souza did not want to finish the project after the fatal shooting, but Hutchins’ family wanted him to complete it, so he did.
The movie itself is a western — a boy must look after his brother after their parents’ deaths. Their grandfather, an outlaw played by Baldwin, takes them on a journey to Mexico.
Nicholson: “I knew Halyna. We actually had Thanksgiving together one year shortly before she died in 2019, so it was tough. And I was actually really familiar with her work as a cinematographer. She was a perfectionist with a really strong eye. … I did want to watch this movie, actually, to get to see her work again.
… The film does look really good. It actually opens, I think, with its strongest images, to say, ‘This is a movie that cares about cinematography. Look at this beautiful landscape, look at the snow, look at this grass.’ … I wanted the movie itself, I think, to live up to those images. But it is just a tedious western that has Alec Baldwin fairly miscast as a wild west outlaw. He just doesn't seem to have any country in him. You don't really believe he's ever had dirt under his nails. And [there are] too many characters beyond him on the side. There's just so many moving parts that don't really add up to anything more than where you think the film is going from the beginning.”
Bibbiani: “This is a very complicated film to watch. … Can you separate art from its context? … Once you know something, you can't unknow it. … And when you watch Rust, it is a film about death. It is a film about grief. The movie is a constant reminder. … The cinematography is gorgeous, and the cinematographer who finished the film is Bianca Cline, [who] is very talented. And it's abundantly clear that even though we don't know which shots were whose … we are looking at a work that is either [Hutchins’] or inspired by her work.”
Thunderbolts*
Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lewis Pullman, and David Harbour play a team of antiheroes forced into a mission that makes them confront their past. This is the latest from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Bibbiani: “There’s an asterisk because throughout the film, the name is pretty much summarily rejected by everyone on the team. … This new movie, it's really about Marvel realizing, ‘Oh, we haven't really created any hit new heroes, and a lot of the supporting characters we had, we killed off. So we're scraping the barrel on new stuff.’ … It is a film with a cast that is actually really giving it their all. They're trying to make sure that if you didn't care about these characters before, you do care about them now, and I think they succeed. … It's actually about superheroes dealing with serious mental health issues in a way that I actually felt mattered. It's a real film. And I don't think Marvel has made one of those in a couple of years.”
Nicholson: “I think a lot of why this feels like a real movie is just because of Florence Pugh herself. I think her character is really the only one that gets that much exploration. … This one is for the geeks, where, if you have not been following this entire universe, and by that, I mean not just the movies, but also the TV shows, you actually do not know who anybody is. And this movie doesn't explain who all of the characters are. … I didn't mind that it almost felt more niche Thunderbolts.”