Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
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Reviews of movies showing in theaters or streaming online
‘THE ADAM PROJECT’: What if you had a chance, as an adult, to revisit nagging issues with your parents? To reconcile with your younger self ? Could it fix the past, or possibly even the future? This is the question undertaken rather literally in Shawn Levy’s clever time travel flick
“The Adam Project.” Levy and star Ryan Reynolds recently collaborated on “Free Guy,” and “The Adam Project,” written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin, makes similar use of Reynolds’ strength as a motor-mouthed leading man, a movie star who can simultaneously pull off comedy and action hero antics. “The Adam Project” is doubly quippy with the presence of Walker Scobell, who plays Young Adam to Reynold’s Big Adam, and matches him beat for beat when they meet in their respective timelines. As the film explains, “time travel exists, you just don’t know it yet,” asking the audience to suspend their disbelief and just go on this journey, a high-concept sci-fi action adventure that’s more about the symbolic repair of father-son relationships than it’s actually about time travel. 1:46 2 stars. Streaming on Netflix. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
‘AFTER YANG’: In Kogonada’s directorial debut, “Columbus,” he explored the “modernism of the soul,” through the architecture of Columbus, Indiana, and the unique connection between two strangers seeing each other, and themselves, against the backdrop of the environments they share. In his second feature film, “After Yang,” Kogonada once again takes up the question of the soul and its existence in modern, even postmodern, times. But while “Columbus” was an exploration of the soul in a space, “After Yang” takes up the question of the soul throughout time. Kogonada adapted “After Yang” from the short story “Saying Goodbye to Yang” from the book “Children of the New World” by Alexander Weinstein, and the film takes place in a near future that looks a bit different, but functions in the same way. This sleekly modern world is informed by East Asian aesthetics, food and culture, and the advanced technologies are familiar: FaceTime, self-driving cars, video games, animated photo snippets. It is a world so close we might reach out touch it, and with the warm, comfortable production design by Alexandra Schaller and gauzy cinematography by Benjamin Loeb, Kogonada makes the film an almost tactile experience. 1:36. 4 stars. Streaming on Showtime. — Katie Walsh
‘THE BATMAN’: Just when you’ve had it with Gotham City, caped crusaders and the whole franchise, along comes a good Batman movie — easily the best since “The Dark Knight” 14 years and an entire film industry ago. “The Batman” features a solemnly effective new Bruce Wayne/ Batman courtesy of Robert Pattinson. He has a superb counterpoint/frenemy/ soul mate in Zoe Kravitz’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Selina works as a nightclub hostess (vaguely defined on purpose) in a mob hangout frequented by John Turturro’s Falcone, who is outfitted by sunglasses handed down, apparently, from Sam Giancana. “Oz” Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, reports to Falcone but isn’t happy about the arrangement. He’s played by an unrecognizable Colin Farrell. Meanwhile, Andy Serkis as Wayne’s guardian Alfred Pennyworth is lovely, a naturally civilized antidote to all the hellishness swirling around him. All it takes for Gotham, aka America, to give into pure chaos, is simple:
“fear, and a little focused violence,” according to
Paul Dano’s Riddler. “The Batman,” rated PG-13 but barely, plays all the sides of Gotham’s mean streets more compellingly, and without mainlining the viciousness “Joker” style. I don’t know if we needed “The Batman,” but Matt Reeves, the director and co-writer, and company certainly elevated it. 2:56. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
‘CYRANO’: The new “Cyrano” movie is an eyeful; but for the ear, more like half-full. But you always take your chances with a musical adaptation of the 1897 Edmond Rostand play about the poet warrior of the title who embarks on an anguished ghostwriting project to help out his fellow soldier, Christian, at the behest of Roxanne, who has fallen in love with Christian at first sight. Peter Dinklage originated his Cyrano at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut in 2018, then went off-Broadway in 2019. Erica Schmidt, who is married to Dinklage, directed and wrote the book for that show. Director Joe Wright enlisted her to do the screenplay for the new film, and here we have it: a swank but errant enterprise, with many confident elements very nearly making up for a movie that doesn’t really benefit from song or dance. 2:04. 2 ½ stars. — Michael Phillips
‘DEEP WATER’: Whither the erotic thriller? The genre, so popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s, is a dying breed in the current Hollywood landscape, so any time one makes it to the screen, it’s a cause for celebration, or at least notice. Especially one directed by Adrian Lyne, the king of the erotic thrillers, having directed “Fatal Attraction,” “9 ½ Weeks,” “Indecent Proposal” and “Unfaithful.” His latest film, “Deep Water,” is a husband “allowing” his wife to conduct extramarital affairs in order to keep her within the family fold. But Vic Van Allen (Ben Affleck) doesn’t seem to allow, so much as he barely tolerates, visibly grimacing when Melinda (Ana de Armas) parades her lovers under his nose. Outside of the complex central relationship to which Lyne dedicates his attention, the supporting characters are disposable. “Deep Water” is ridiculous and trashy, but in that “Saturday night, bottle of wine, bowl of popcorn on the couch” kind of way. 1:55. 2 ½ stars. Streaming on Hulu. — Katie Walsh
‘THE OUTFIT’: Leonard (Mark Rylance), the proprietor of the finest bespoke suiting shop in 1956 Chicago, wants to make one thing very clear: He’s not a tailor, he’s a cutter. “Anyone with a needle and thread can call themselves a tailor,” he sniffs.
No, Leonard trained for years on legendary Savile Row in London learning the art of cutting suits from fine cloth, and he wields his trusty old shears with the precision and confidence that comes from decades dedicated to his craft. “The Outfit,” written by Johnathan McClain and Graham Moore, is the directorial debut of Moore, who won the adapted screenplay Oscar for “The Imitation Game.” It takes place entirely within the confines of Leonard’s shop, a cozy respite from the freezing, seemingly bulletriddled Chicago streets. But the gang warfare creeps beyond the threshold of L. Burling Bespoke, and the result is a twisty, blood-soaked chamber piece, a retro gangster noir as meticulously crafted as a fine custom suit. 1:45. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh
‘TURNING RED’: “Turning Red” is the first Pixar feature on which a female filmmaker — co-writer and director Domee Shi — ran the show and receives sole directorial credit. In deft strokes “Turning Red” introduces the highly verbal, high-achieving, authority-pleasing Mei and her three best friends, voiced by Ava Morse,
Hyein Park and Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. They’re a wonderful group of varying personalities. The girls yearn to catch an upcoming concert featuring their favorite crushworthy boy band, 4-Town (inexplicably, there are five of them). Doing so requires significant deception, along with dubious fundraising methods. The larger plot development here relates to the ancient Chinese family curse causing the presenttense problems for Mei. Sandra Oh voices the role of Mei’s mother, who knows more than she initially tells. “Turning Red” is pure Pixar in its imaginative clash of genres and impulses.
Yet it’s something new, too, its own cultural- and gender-specific creation. 1:40. 3 ½ stars. Streaming on Disney+.
Phillips
RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.