A Pop Star Shares the Stage with a Deadly Curse

Naomi Scott in "Smile 2"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

In 2022, writer-director Parker Finn expanded his 2020 short film, “Laura Hasn’t Slept,” into the disturbing feature, “Smile.”  Similar to “Saw,” “Mama,” and “Lights Out,” Finn continued the tradition of filmmakers taking their small horror ideas and expanding them into movies that chill, petrify, or both.  Through strong acting and some very creepy visuals, Finn gave us a memorable shocker that announced him as a new talent to watch in horror cinema.

Finn now returns to write and direct “Smile 2,” where he delivers a sequel that isn’t only as good as the original, but might even surpass it in some respects, boasting a stellar lead performance, strong technical prowess, and a story that’s both tense and grim.

Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) is a pop star who’s trying to get her life back on track after suffering from loss and addiction.  When she becomes the latest victim of a curse, Skye is plagued by frightening occurrences as she prepares for her comeback tour.

Scott delivers an emotionally visceral performance of someone who’s trying to heal from previous devastating life changes while facing a curse that manages to resurrect the demons she’s tried to cast away.  She exhibits an intensity in Skye becoming unraveled as each day brings a deeper horror into her life and cripples her sanity.  This is a performance that hooks you into the frightful nature of the scenario, with Scott displaying the depths of Skye’s pain as she faces a past that continues to haunt her.  It’s work that mixes fear, sadness, and anger, and Scott elicits a power from each of those feelings as her character becomes more and more desperate to save herself from a horrible fate.  With this being Scott’s first horror film, she couldn’t have made a bigger entrance than with a portrayal that has you experience her fear and desperation as the curse closes in on her.

Out of all of the supporting performances, the standout is Lukas Gage, who portrays an acquaintance of Skye’s.  In just one scene near the start of the film, he absorbs you in the crushing fear in which the curse has enveloped him, giving a crazed portrayal of someone who knows he’s at the end of the line and all out of options.  It’s a sequence that rattles you, not only because of the unsettling aesthetic, but because of his performance that absorbs you back into the fear and paranoia that was felt in the first movie.  We know the horror that’s in store for Skye, and Gage’s performance presents the similar sense of dread that Skye will carry for the rest of the film.

Although the screenplay by Finn follows several of the first film’s principal beats, he makes up for that with the effectiveness in which he utilizes the music-industry setting.  The story builds in a way that has you think about just how much worse Skye’s life can spiral out of control.  With Skye not being able to tell what’s real and what’s not, we begin to understand that manipulation the narrative is using, having us wonder what’s real and what the curse wants Skye to see.  The story places her in several scenarios that would put a character in her profession on edge in a normal life, but with the curse that’s added into the mix, the apprehension is ramped up as the film goes from an everyday person of the first film to someone in this film who’s always in the public eye.  Due to the people that Skye surrounds herself with as a celebrity, the narrative gives plenty of characters with whom Skye interacts, and this allows us to get to know who she is and how she expresses the tension and fear that she feels as it becomes stronger.

Charlie Sarroff, who provided the cinematography for the first film, gives some great lensing, particularly in the opening scene, which is filmed all in one take.  It’s a scene that invests you right away in the movie and offers you a clue to the creativity of the camerawork that you’ll see throughout the film, and it doesn’t disappoint.  Sarroff also takes advantage in the way he photographs the expansive settings of the film, be it concert venues or Skye’s spacious NYC apartment.  And, just like in the first movie, Sarroff isn’t afraid to go a little weird with the imagery.  With the sequel going bigger, Sarroff ensures that the ambition of his camerawork reflects the film’s wider scope and makes this curse seem that much more terrifying.

Finn constructs a very unsettling movie that shows a continued determination to build his still-young horror profile within features, and he does so by using a bigger setting and impactful dramatic stakes with the main character.  After showing filmmaking confidence when making his short film into a feature, he exhibits dedication to the overall story of this series, having delivered two films that get under your skin from beginning to end by delivering great jump scares and some harrowing emotion.  Finn is a director who has an ability to add smarts into mainstream horror entertainment, and whenever he moves on to something outside of “Smile,” he’ll surely deliver a must-see.

Finn’s multiplex success all started with an 11-minute short film, and “Smile 2” offers a terrific new chapter in this story.  And, whether or not Finn makes a third feature from this, we can agree his “Smile” movies aren’t afraid to bear their teeth.

Grade: A-

One Night, the Birth of a Cultural Institution

Cooper Hoffman (left) and Gabriel LaBelle
in "Saturday Night"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Next year, it’ll be 50 years since “Saturday Night Live” premiered on television.  Introducing audiences to a show revolving around a group of unknown comedians doing sketch comedy was a huge risk, but it paid off.  Nearly five decades later, which have been full of memorable cast members and characters, this show became one of the most influential entertainment touchstones of the 20th century, launching many careers and delivering laughs to our living rooms week after week.

For director Jason Reitman’s latest film, “Saturday Night,” he dives into the minutes leading up to the series premiere of “SNL.”  With a stellar cast, great jokes, and an electric feeling of watching people make television history, we get a fun show-business movie that takes us behind the scenes of what went into the harried production of the show’s first episode.

On October 11, 1975, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is at Studio 8H in Rockefeller Plaza trying to take care of last-minute problems leading up to the launch of “SNL.”  With more fires starting than can be put out, Lorne will do whatever he can to make the show work.  And, with many careers on the line, including his own, failure isn’t an option.

After exhibiting a ton of potential when leading Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” two years ago in a breakout performance, LaBelle displays that talent again when showing Lorne as a mad scientist of television trying to bring his precarious creation to life.  Throughout his work here, LaBelle holds onto the nervous energy as Lorne tries to orchestrate everything to make sure the production goes according to plan.  LaBelle has a wonderful ability to go from someone who truly believes that this could all work to someone who’s being crushed under the weight of everyone’s good and bad expectations.  He brings across the intense apprehension of what this night could mean for all involved, having us feel every ounce of pressure of having all eyes on him.  This is a performance that needs LaBelle to always be moving around and interacting with others, and you sometimes feel out of breath when you go along with him as he seems to cover every inch of Rockefeller Plaza, and LaBelle’s work in this film absorbs you in the whirlwind in which Lorne finds himself.

With this being a peek at a big chapter in the television industry, the movie boasts a sizable supporting cast, all of whom make their mark.  Some of these include Rachel Sennott as “SNL” writer and Lorne’s wife, Rosie Shuster; Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Matt Wood, and Lamorne Morris as original show cast members Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and Garret Morris, respectively; Nicholas Braun in a dual performance as comedian Andy Kaufman and Muppets-creator Jim Henson; Cooper Hoffman and Willem Dafoe as as network executives Dick Ebersol and David Tebet, respectively; and Matthew Rhys as iconic comedian George Carlin, who hosted the premiere of “SNL.”  However, the two standouts of the supporting cast are Corey Michael Smith, who delivers a note-perfect portrayal of original cast member Chevy Chase, and J.K. Simmons, who brings very funny egotism as comedian Milton Berle.  What really makes you remember these two performances is one of the film’s best and funniest scenes, where Chase and Berle have a confrontation over each other’s star power.  The jabs they share are increasingly vicious and witty, and you wish the scene could go on for another minute to watch these two verbally duke it out.

The screenplay by Reitman and Gil Kenan feels just a tad drawn out at times, but for the most part, the film glides by with its constant flow of dialogue and the move from place to place within the studio.  This is a screenplay that has the dialogue flow like water from a hydrant with characters digging into their lines and sometimes having to talk over each other, and you can tell that the cast members relish the best of the comedic lines that they’re given, as well as the discussions that are more heated.  The story takes us through hallways, onstage, backstage, the writer’s room, elevators, stairways, etc., and the narrative juggles its many characters and settings well as the cast members constantly move around the different settings and must face new problems as the night goes on.

Eric Steelberg, who provided the cinematography for all of Reitman’s films since “Juno,”  offers a grainy texture that harkens back to the ‘70s, while also employing a documentary-like style of camera movements that capture the behind-the-scenes chaos of that first night at “SNL.”  In the middle of this, Steelberg uses several single takes that have the camera travel through the many spaces of Studio 8H as everything unfolds.  A notable example of this is the first scene within the hallways of the studio, with Steelberg providing a minutes-long take that’s a fine introduction to the hectic nature that we can expect from this setting.

While Reitman has shown an ability to explore characters through the relatively laid-back environments of his comedies and dramas, he has to do something very different here.  In this film, he gets to expand his filmmaking abilities by presenting a story that’s built on disarray.  This is a film that has countless moving parts and requires a lot of complex scene-blocking, and Reitman’s able to handle it all while maintaining the energy and tension felt by all involved with making “SNL.”  He has a firm command in making sure the movements of the camera and the cast remain hectic, but in such a way that we can still comprehend what’s going on and remain invested in the race-against-time scenario.

There’s so much history behind the decades of “SNL,” and with “Saturday Night,” we have a wonderful tribute to the night that started it all.

Grade: A-

From Street Clown to Court Jester

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in 
"Joker: Folie à Deux"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Five years ago, director Todd Phillips delivered a disturbing, yet fascinating examination of Batman’s arch-nemesis in “Joker.”  Playing out like a psychological thriller, Joaquin Phoenix portrayed the title character in a way we’ve never seen, bringing out a blazing performance that invited us into an interpretation of Gotham City that reflected the griminess of late-‘70s/early-‘80s New York City in such a way that got under your skin every bit as much as the lead performance.  Given how Phillips was mainly known for directing comedies before this, “Joker” offered a new depth into the filmmaker’s capabilities that showed something that was far, far removed from his usual style.

Phillips now returns to direct the sequel, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” this time venturing into this mythology in the form of a musical thriller.  As a film that’s vastly different from what came before, it has its flaws, but is kept afloat by its visual designs and two central performances.  

Two years after the events of the first film, Arthur Fleck (aka Joker) is in Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for his crimes.  While there, he befriends fellow patient Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga).  As the two form a romance, they’ll indulge in each other’s delusions to have the world see who they really are.

Phoenix does just as well as he did in the first film when it comes to showing his severely damaged character.  He exhibits an Arthur who’s reserved in his confinement, while still showing glimpses of the cracked mentality that lingers beneath him.  However, it’s his courtroom scenes and musical numbers where Phoenix gets to showcase Arthur’s true Joker persona, where we see more of the man he became at the end of the first movie.  When he’s put on the world’s stage, Phoenix displays Arthur's psychotic showmanship that’s been building up in him that he wants to unleash upon Gotham. In the five years that have passed since he last played this role, Phoenix hasn’t lost any of the terrifying rage that plagues his character, ensuring that your eyes won’t be on anything else but him as he grabs each of his scenes by the collar and throttles them.

Although Harleen Quinzel isn’t very developed in the film, Gaga still does what she can to provide a memorable rendition of Joker’s infamous love interest who takes to his destruction dreams.  Just as she accomplished with her breakout film performance in “A Star is Born,” Gaga gets to display both her acting and singing abilities in portraying a character who shares Arthur’s need to be noticed.  She exhibits fine chemistry with Phoenix as she talks and sings with him, showing a desire to want to build a chaotic life with him.  This is Gaga’s third top-billing role, and she continues to prove that she could have a film career that’s every bit as successful as that of her music.  The concert stage might be her first home, but the big screen could easily be her second.

The main issue with the film is the screenplay by Phillips and Scott Silver, who co-wrote the first film.  With this movie being over two hours, there’s not a lot of story to make that runtime worthwhile.  Pretty much the whole movie goes between Arkham and the courthouse, and while these scenes really give the cast many chances to put their hearts into the material and have some engaging interactions, the story is pretty much kept in the same place.  Although there might be a few too many musical numbers inserted into the story, they offer a look into the minds of Joker and Harleen, all while providing some energy to the narrative in the middle of the constant back-and-forth between the two main locations of the film.  

Despite the underwhelming screenplay, Phillips still manages to craft a movie that has the same strong technical aspects as the first movie.  To score the film, he brings back Hildur Guðnadóttir, who delivers music that really makes you feel the dark nature that permeates Gotham and the mind of the Joker.  In terms of visuals, Phillips re-teams with Lawrence Sher, who provided the camerawork for the previous “Joker” and every Phillips movie since “The Hangover.”  Aside from the eye-catching imagery of the musical numbers and some subtle motifs that reflect aspects of the characters, a highlight of his lensing is a superb single-take sequence during the movie’s finale.  It’s a tense scene that drags you into the citywide tumultuousness that the Joker spawns.  There’s also accomplished production design from Mark Friedberg (another “Joker” collaborator) that has you experience the griminess of the spaces that Joker and Harleen occupy, as well as the flashy Broadway-esque set designs of the musical numbers.  Even with the relatively thin story, it’s nevertheless intriguing to see Phillips and his team try something that we haven’t seen in his other movies.

While “Joker: Folie à Deux” is a few steps down from what came before, the pairing of Phoenix and Phillips have at least given us their sparks of vision in the ever-evolving Batman mythology.

Grade: B-

Inside a Robot is the Heart and Soul of Parenthood

Lupita Nyong'o in "The Wild Robot"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

One of many things that movies have taught us over the years, especially those that are animated, is that characters made of wires and machinery can be just as warm and heartfelt as those made of flesh and blood.  A couple of the finest cases in this matter are Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant” and Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E.”  Through these titular characters, we saw how they interacted with our world and expressed feelings that are all too human, and in the process, brought forth stories that resonated because of how deep their emotions ran.

Writer-director Chris Sanders now adds his stamp to this type of narrative with “The Wild Robot,” an adaptation of the first book in author-illustrator Peter Brown’s trilogy of children’s books.  Through superb voice performances, dazzling animation, and an approach that grasps the ethos of the source material, this is a movie that’ll capture your imagination.

ROZZUM unit 7134, or “Roz” (Lupita Nyong’o) is a robot who’s shipwrecked on a deserted island.  As she spends more time there and adapts to her new environment, she’ll soon become a mother to an orphaned goose, Brightbill (Kit Connor).

Nyong’o gives a soulful voice performance as Roz, bringing to life a character who becomes much more than she ever expected, finding inside herself someone who’s capable of feelings that were once beyond her programming.  As her character begins her journey, Nyong’o exhibits the humor of Roz trying to understand what’s foreign to her, exploring her surroundings and understanding how the wildlife operates.  When the film moves forward, Nyong’o makes a smooth shift from her strictly robotic cadences to that of a loving parent who tries to comprehend having emotions, and then implements them towards her newfound family.  This vocal performance has a warmth to it that has you know, even if circumstances get tough for the characters, Roz will be there to protect her friends and family, and the strength of Nyong’o’s work has you hang onto every hopeful word she speaks.

Connor has strong emotional chemistry with Nyong’o, portraying someone who feels ostracized from everyone and trying to come into his own.  The connection that they build is something that shows the affection they have for each other, but also the tension in knowing that they don’t quite have the parent-child bond that the other animals have.  The film’s best drama comes from Connor and Nyong’o bonding and trying to understand each other, and it’s a connection that, as it goes on, does well in showing how each of them will move forward in their separate journeys.

Alongside Nyong’o and Connor are some fine supporting performances from Pedro Pascal, voicing a sly fox who advises Roz about the ins and outs of the animal kingdom; Catherine O’Hara, who turns in some very funny work as an opossum who teaches Roz about motherhood; and Bill Nighy as a goose who tries to help Brightbill through his first migration from home.  Through their work, we not only get some laughs, but also moments of warmth as they interact with Roz and help her come to terms with the new emotions that she’s experiencing.

The screenplay by Sanders crafts a faithful adaptation of Brown’s bestselling book that makes the characters as lovable as they are on the page.  We get a sense of who they are as Sanders takes his time in setting up Roz’s journey of motherhood, having a lot of the first third of the movie show her getting to know the landscape and inhabitants of the island and how she’s going to navigate it all with her adopted son.  This makes way for the rest of the narrative to show the deeper aspects of these characters, displaying a strong focus on the challenges that Roz and the other animals face, both within their own groups and as a whole community.  In relation to this, Sanders doesn’t shy away from the book’s somewhat darker edges that involve animal nature and what it takes to survive, adding a layer to these characters as they go up against several threats.

Brown’s books include terrific black-and-white illustrations, and Sanders presents them through stunning animation that places 3D characters against hand-painted backdrops, allowing for a distinct visual style that provokes the feeling of seeing something wondrous.  The breathtaking images match the strong emotions of the story, immersing you in a lush, colorful world that displays the beauty and danger that encompasses nature, and this provides a grandness to the scenery that has us see the world with the same sense of wonder as Roz.  Backing up Sanders’ vibrant visuals is a powerful score from Kris Bowers that captures the dramatic highs of the characters and their perilous, yet moving adventures.

Given how Sanders and his team were able to capture the essence of Brown’s work, they prove to be a perfect match to the trilogy if they choose to adapt the other two books, “The Wild Robot Escapes” and “The Wild Robot Protects.”  As a robot getting to know the world, there’s still much for Roz to learn, and much for audiences to learn about her.

Grade: A