It seems a long time since Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Pain & Glory arrived in quick succession. The weeks since then have seen the release of a string of mediocre movies, a trend that seems to be continuing…
Ad Astra is set some unspecified time in the near future. Astronaut Roy McBride (Bard Pitt) is sent on a mission to find his father’s spacecraft that was previously thought to have been lost when exploring the outer reaches of the solar system. It has to be said that this is a magnificent film to look at, thanks to the brilliant cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema who captures the space-scapes wonderfully. With Max Richter’s atmospheric score and the always good Pitt in nearly every scene, I should have been bowled over. However, the story isnt sufficiently gripping and the influences of other films, from 2001 to Interstellar and especially Apocalypse Now are all too obvious. Also, it doesn’t seem to know whether it wants to be a meditative rumination as demonstrated by Pitt’s voiceover or an adventure movie, with lunar shootouts and flying monkeys.
Rating: 6 out of 10
The Kitchen arrives amidst scathing reviews. In New York in the late 70s, three women (Melissa McCarthy, Elisabeth Moss, and Tiffany Haddish) take over their husbands’ criminal enterprise when the men are sent to prison. I found this more fun than expected. It is an enjoyable depiction of a particular time and place and Moss is very good as she transforms from timid wife to killer. But there are some serious flaws. The tone is all over the place, and the women establish themselves way too easily.
Rating: 6.5 out of 10
The Farewell has generally been much better received. A comedy drama about a Chinese family who have mostly moved abroad coming together to see the elderly Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao) when she has a terminal cancer diagnosis. But, in accordance with their culture, they keep the news from her This film has an interesting set up and nice performances from Zhao and Awkwafina as her granddaughter. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect emotionally with the story in a way that many others seem to. It stalls badly early on as the family’s decision is explained time and time again and I never became engaged with it.
Rating: 5 out of 10