By A.D. Beal
Ready Or Not
A new bride discovers that her groom’s family has a dark secret behind a family ritual.
What I love about Ready or Not is that it gets tons of laughs, not just because of its massive amount of gore or swearing, but because of its staging and slapstick-like comedy. The chaotic and relentless feeling, combined with the editing, gives you the feeling that you’re right there along with Grace (Samara Weaving). Weaving proves to be a true badass and manages to be a standout in a cast full of incredible performances, including Adam Brody, Henry Czerny and Andie MacDowell. Ready or Not’s only real issue is that it isn’t a particularly scary film…a difficult thing to swallow in a movie meant to be in the horror genre. The great cast, clever screenplay and well played direction keeps you entertained, nonetheless.
The Peanut Butter Falcon
A man with down syndrome runs from his home with a drifter to become a wrestler.
Sweetness is how one can describe The Peanut Butter Falcon – like the lightest Terrence Malick film never made. Peanut Butter Falcon flows freely from scene to scene, showing our characters taking in their surroundings and simply loving life. Zack Gottasgen is absolutely incredible here. This may also be Shia LaBeouf’s best performance in years and confirms that he can be a superb actor. The southern-inspired score brings a feeling of authenticity to the film. This film is best described as beautiful.
Ad Astra
An astronaut travels to the furthest areas of the solar system to find his father, who may be causing electrical signals that could wipe out life in the universe.
Ad Astra will not be for everyone. It takes its time and is not anywhere near as action packed as the trailers suggest. The performances are quiet and at times may come off as bland. However, those quiet performances leant themselves to the beautiful subtlety of the film. It subverts a typical space journey movie, providing an intimate human drama about loyalty and our beliefs versus reality. Combine a gorgeous score by Max Richter and Lorne Balfe with Hoyte van Hoytema’s beautiful cinematography, and Ad Astra is a classic in the making.
It: Chapter Two
27 years after the first film, a now-grown Losers Club returns to Derry to put an end to the returned maniacal clown.
Chapter Two shows that Andy Muschietti is a very exciting filmmaker when given free rein to do whatever he desires. The designs, locations and situations show him to be one of our more creative horror filmmakers of the day. He has a great eye for casting with the adult actors, particularly Bill Hader and James Ransone. “It’s” biggest problem is that, despite the time change and supposedly more mature themes, the movie feels no different than the previous film. We see the same humor and same style; the only real change is that now they’re adults. There seems to be a little less charm here than in the previous film. Chapter Two is visually a decent film, just a bit…. lacking in soul.
