Netflix And Chill: To Leslie (2022)

Like most people, I first heard about To Leslie when there was some minor scandal about how it started to get more notice in the run up to the 2023 Academy Awards. It was a strange affair, mainly because I assumed that all movies without a huge marketing campaign behind them would end up being noticed and discussed in the same way during awards season, but, despite no Oscar going to Andrea Riseborough for her performance here, I am thankful that I was at least made aware of the film.

I would also be aware of it nowadays from the times that Marc Maron has discussed it on his podcast. Arguably still known best for his stand-up comedy, despite putting in some great acting performances, whatever size the role, over the past decade or so, Maron has been podcasting for about 15 years now, and throughout that time he has been incredibly honest and insightful about addiction issues, which adds a sweet layer to the role he plays here.

Let's get to the actual film though. Riseborough is Leslie, a single mother who finds her life changed completely when she wins a large sum of cash in the lottery. That doesn't last as long as she thinks it will though, and some years later we see that Riseborough is destitute, can't really maintain a relatonship with her now-grown son (James, played by Owen Teague), and seems unable to drag herself out of the bottom of whatever glass or bottle full of alcohol she can get her hands on. She is given a chance to turn things around when offered a cleaning job by Sweeney (Maron), but an addict can only ever be helped if they want to change.

I can see why people were discussing the performance from Riseborough here. It's pretty great, and more than enough to make up for the fact that the screenplay (only the second one from Ryan Binaco to make it to the screen) makes a number of surprisingly safe choices throughout. There's an ugliness throughout this, and a feeling of desperation and self-esteem that has been eroded into near-non-existence, but it holds back from some of the really dark depths that many addicts find themselves in, whether that indelibly stains their character or irrevocably damages their body. Director Michael Morris has some great TV work under his belt already, but his move to film is impressive. He stays focused on the characters, knowing when to push in further and when to move back a step, and uses his cast to really lift Binaco's solid writing.

Aside from Riseborough, who somehow also keeps you on her side even as she is at her lowest and most sickeningly selfish, Maron is allowed to be wonderfully sweet and funny as the one person, maybe the only person, that she needs to be given help from. Teague makes a strong impression with his limited screentime, as do the reliable Allison Janney, Andre Royo, Stephen Root, and James Landry Hébert, who all match the intensity and authenticity of Riseborough in a variety of ways.

Not an easy watch, especially for those (like myself) who may have direct, or even indirect, experience of dealing with addiction issues. It feels very well-handled throughout though, showing that there's not necessarily a point of no return for anyone who eventually realises the damage being caused by that very strong and heavy monkey they can struggle to shake off their back.

8/10

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Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (2024)

Let's start this review with a reminder that no film is strictly necessary. When people say that a film is completely unnecessary then they are usually referring to some remake or sequel, but films are made by a bunch of people who just want to make films. And often those behind the scenes who just want to make money. Now that we've established that premise, Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes certainly feels less necessary than almost any other film I can think of in recent years. We've had the original movie series, we've had animated and live-action TV shows, we've had a Tim Burton interpretation, and we've had the hugely successful blockbuster trilogy that started with Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and ended back in 2017 with War For The Planet Of The Apes.

This film takes place a few generations after the last time we joined the apes. Caesar is long gone, but his legacy lives on, although different apes have very different ideas about the way forward. Noa (Owen Teague) is part of a peaceful group, but his whole life is upended when he is targeted by an ape, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), aiming to be a new ruler over all. Noa is smart, Proximus Caesar is strong, and a young girl named Nova (Freya Allan) ends up trying to survive in between their negotiations.

Writer Josh Friedman has a very mixed filmography, but I'm not sure that he can be fully blamed for the screenplay here. It feels as if he was restricted within certain parameters, and one or two scenes are there just to showcase the apparent realism of the computer-generated apes. Still, having agreed to take on the job, he could at least have tried to give us a more interesting lead and some supporting characters who make a strong impression. William H. Macy aside, who is here in human form, this has neither.

Director Wes Ball is best known for his work helming the enjoyable The Maze Runner trilogy (note to self - I STILL need to watch the third one), but his apparent step up the Hollywood ladder here looks to have turned him into someone far too cautious to deliver anything other than bland medicority with occasionally pretty visuals. As with Friedman, he's arguably hampered by what needs to be done to launch a whole new chapter in this modern incarnation of Apes movies, but there's no excuse for it all feeling so lifeless and limp. There's no real tension here, partly because it all feels so familiar and partly because there aren't any characters you really care about, and the most fun to be had comes from enjoying moments that harken back to some of the lesser-appreciated instalments of the original movie series . . . and then belatedly admiring that film even more for taking the kind of risks that this film so adamantly avoids.

Durand is an excellent presence, and the star ape here, but Teague sadly isn't. Peter Macon, Lydia Peckham, and Travis Jeffery are perfectly fine, but it's really only Macon, playing a wise orangutan, who gets to deliver a performance that comes close to being memorable. Sadly, the only other performances worth mentioning are those from Allan and Macy, the former playing the typical spirited human who wants to upset the status quo, the latter stealing a number of scenes as an educated man aiming for self-preservation ahead of anything else. It's a real shame that the two main humans visible onscreen are the ones you may remember most when the end credits roll. Previous entries in this franchise, whether good or bad, at least left you wirh a strong impression of the simian characters, first and foremost.

I'll rewatch this one day, and maybe I'll be kinder to it then, but I'm not in any rush. Nothing stands out, and the 145-minute runtime is a hell of an investment for something that offers so little reward. I would put it at, or very close to, the very bottom of any ranked list of the Apes movies, but the apparent box office success of it seems to put me firmly in the minority. I'll be very interested to see what happens with any plans for future instalments though, because I suspect people will have at least cottoned on to the idea that each prospective new feature could offer sadly diminishing returns.

5/10

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Prime Time: Mary (2019)

I think the best way to warn people against Mary, a painfully poor horror movie from the director of the stupid-and-why-can't-more-people-see-it-is-stupid Megan Is Missing (honestly, I have no idea how so many people were so affected by that film, apart from considering it an internet-savvy way of tapping into the modern equivalent of Satanic panic), is to describe it as a film that could have easily been put out by Dark Castle at the turn of the 21st century. The big difference is that Dark Castle would have delivered some much better production design and visuals, thrown around some blood and fun scares, and not made the mistake of thinking the silly premise could be turned into something serious.

The plot is quite simple to summarise. A family buy a boat, and that boat turns out to be, well, not very nice. It may even have an evil spirit on it. As the family are taken further out to sea, things get more dangerous. That's all you need to know. Oh, there's also some tension, of course, between the husband and wife, because one partner had an affair.

I can only assume that the script, by Anthony Jaswinski, seemed like something that might work better when adapted to screen. Or maybe those involved were just big fans of The Shallows (also written by Jaswinski). I can't think of any other reason for both Gary Oldman and Emily Mortimer to sign on for this. I really like both actors, but they are unable to do anything here to outweigh the dire material. Maybe they both had large, unexpected, bills that needed paid. People do what they have to do for a decent payday. And I am not saying that they are bad here, just to clarify, I am just saying that they're unable to polish this turd.

Others acting alongside Oldman and Mortimer are Stefanie Scott and Chloe Perrin (playing their daughters, Lindsey and Mary), Owen Teague, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Jennifer Esposito. Teague and Garcia-Rulfo are wasted, at least Scott and Perrin get one or two decent moments between them, and Esposito feels like a character drafted in from a more straightforward cop thriller flick.

Mary is more annoying for the fact that it could easily have been something pleasantly surprising and fun. But that would have meant someone at the helm who wanted to show that they cared about the thing. Director Michael Goi doesn't want to do that. He instead just meanders from one moment of melodrama to the next, occasionally stopping for a bit of horrible CGI to shake up one of the main characters, and keeps heading towards an ending that is as bad as everything else that precedes it. Although most of the problems stem from the script, a bit of restructuring and some time spent working on the overall tone could have made this less of an endurance test. The runtime is only 84 minutes, yet it feels like it goes on so much longer than that.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: I See You (2019)

What starts off as a fairly routine, perhaps even substandard, thriller soon turns into something much more interesting by the time you get to the second half, and I am happy to highly recommend I See You to everyone who enjoys a film with some decent twists and turns.

It starts with the abduction of a young boy. This leads to Detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) diving into a case that feels very similar to one that everyone thought was all wrapped up. And missing teens aren't the only thing troubling Harper, as he deals with problems at home, mostly in the shape of infidelity committed by his wife, Jackie (Helen Hunt), and the anger this has stirred up in their teen son, Connor (Judah Lewis). There are also two other important characters, Alec and Mindy, but they come along later on, so I won't be focusing on them just now.

A big step up from director Adam Randall's previous movie (the disappointing iBoy), I See You works so well thanks to the script from first-timer Devon Graye. People may be a bit disappointed during the opening scenes, with the first half of the film playing out in a way that implies a supernatural element some won't want to accept, but patience is rewarded in a back end that is loaded with enjoyable revelations. Graye plots everything tightly enough, making the less believable moments easier to swallow as he starts to tighten the coiled spring you know will be loosed by the finale.

A lot of scenes feature some nicely "floating" camerawork, accompanied by a brooding score, that maintains the feeling of characters being watched by something in the house, be it an intruder or some kind of supernatural force. The conversations between various characters all feel loaded with much more than just the words being said, and that's even more apparent when viewers are given a different perspective on things.

Although Hunt is the big name at the heart of the cast, this is very much an ensemble piece. Tenney is an imposing presence throughout, and it's easy to stay on his side for a lot of the runtime, considering what he's dealing with, while Lewis is allowed to play his character as a teen with plenty of anger that is absolutely understandable. Owen Teague and Libe Barer are Alec and Mindy, respectively, and both give great performances, although it is Teague who ends up carrying a lot of the responsibility for how you ultimately react to things, his character arguably going through more changes than anyone else. Gregory Alan Williams does very well as the other detective, Spitzky, who wants to find out what the hell is going on with this new case of missing kids bringing a dark past crashing back into the present, and Sam Trammell has a small, but pivotal, role in the proceedings.

One to watch before you read too much about it, trust me when I tell you that you should end up satisfied with this one if you trust the people guiding you through the twists and turns. It has some great tension, it has some thrills, and it has an emotional core that, once revealed, feels very plausible and completely earned.

8/10

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