BODIES BODIES BODIES, NOT OKAY, NOPE, VENGEANCE, HONK FOR JESUS SAVE YOUR SOUL, THE SANDMAN

BODIES BODIES BODIES |A-24 | Director Halina Reijn | Screenplay/Story Sarah DeLappe, Kristen Roupenian

An accomplished actor and director in her native Netherlands, Halina Reijn makes her English-language directorial debut with Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. She explains “The core theme of the film is, ‘Is the killer outside of you, or is he inside of you? Are we beasts, or are we civilized?” Besides the mystery/horror elements, I read where she wanted to project a vibe like Lena Dunham’s Girls (specifically the “Beach House” episode). I’m in the middle of re-watching this show, so I know exactly what she means and feel she nailed it.

“Bodies Bodies Bodies” opens with Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new girlfriend, Bee (Maria Bakalova from “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”) kissing. We learn Sophie has recently finished a stint in rehab and met Bee shortly after returning to the real world, newly sober. They are on their way to a hurricane party Sophie’s best friend David (Pete Davidson) is throwing. This will be the first time Sophie has communicated with any of the gang since going into rehab.

When Sophie and Bee arrive at the crazy rich family mansion of David’s parents. Bee is rightfully nervous and runs back to the car to check her face in the lighted visor mirror, but doesn’t close it. Right away we know this will be a set up for a dead battery scenario when the action heats up.

The rest of the gang consists of Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), an inspiring actress and David’s girlfriend; Alice (Rachel Sennott) an insecure Podcaster; she’s brought along her new older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace); Jordan (Myha’la Herrold) has an immediately off-putting personality, her “boyfriend” Max (Conner O’Malley) has already left the party due to some dust up with David over Emma.

Sophie is welcomed by the group, but not with open arms, there’s a lot of underlining tensions and talk of her not committing to attending on the group chat. There are some insincere expressions of admiration for her newly sober state. But it doesn’t curb anyone’s behavior of multiple shots of tequila, bottles of champagne, lines of coke and the likes.

The group moves from poolside to inside, as the storm begins to kick up. Someone suggests they play a round of “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” a role-playing murder game where everyone chooses a piece of paper and on one of the sheets is written murderer and one murdered. The lights go off and people try to avoid each other in the dark. Although some are wearing glow stick necklaces. Which we received along with themed cocktails at the preview screening at The Philadelphia Film Center.

Needless to say, the murder game turns into the actual dead body of one of the friends, which sets these overly dramatic, self-absorbed Gen Z-ers down a chaotic path of blame, mistrust, revelations, and more dead BODIES BODIES BODIES.

This is far more mainstream than what A24 has been putting out lately. It’s an enjoyable whodunit – part satire, part gruesome deaths, part contemporary soap opera. It’s interesting watching the interconnected relationships unfold as they discuss privilege and biases, and views on society; you get a glimpse into how this generation relates to one another or at least if feels accurate, and funny.

T&T LAMB rating: 4 outta 5

NOT OKAY | Searchlight Pictures |Writer/Director Quinn Shephard

How do you become the most canceled person in America? Well it starts with a little lie, a lot of Photoshop and then a bigger lie because you have to double down on the first lie. Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) is not very well liked at her job as a photo editor at a trendy magazine. Mostly because she tries too hard to fit in and is a bit vacuous. She’s got a crush on this douche of a co-worker Colin (Dylan O’Brien) with a tight insta game. In trying to impress him, she prevaricates that she’s been accepted into a writing program in France. She hasn’t even applied to one and can’t afford a trip to Paris. However, she decides to use her photo skills to make it appear that she’s gone. And her Instagram followers immediately pick up. One morning, she posts a photo of herself at the Arc de Triomphe, only minutes later the city has a terrorist attack, including a bomb going off where she supposedly just took the pic.

Rather than admit to everyone she had never even left the country, Danni decides to go with it, pretending to be a survivor, which boosts her social media and IRL persona to celeb status. She soon befriends a survivor named Rowan (Mia Isaac), who has a huge following having become an outspoken activist after a school shooting.

Of course a film like this is all about the fall on the way down, which is brutal!

But is it wrong that I wanted her to get away with her lie? In a world where being your own commodity feels so important, it seems like anything legal is on the table. Besides, she really becomes a better person through the pretense than she would have without the journey it takes her on.

Quinn Shephard came on the scene with a super impressive directorial debut BLAME (2017), her Q&A for that film is still one of the most watched videos on Tinsel & Tine’s YouTube channel. I did miss her film MIDNIGHT SUN (2018). I’m sure she made a way for that to be better than it sounds, but she seems too smart for a typical “I’m dying” yet falling in love, kinda teen romance.

NOT OKAY however, feels like the voice Shephard is developing; it’s a mix of comedy and satire, providing perfect visual tones and small but brilliant contemporary details. And for me, Danni is likably flawed, and not so easily cancelled.

T&T LAMB Rating: 4 outta 5

NOPE | Universal Pictures | Writer/Director/Producer Jordan Peele

In watching and reading interviews with Jordan Peele, he says with NOPE that he wanted to hone in on Spectacle (definition: an event or scene regarded in terms of its visual impact) he seems to be looking at the negative impact of this display on society and yet admits that ironically, he wanted to create a “spectacle” that everyone would want to go see this summer in the theater; so there’s that. Personally, my brain is too overtaxed this week to sit and ponder on the meaning of this word and it’s affect on humanity, but in terms of the film, “Nope” is definitely visually striking. Particularly those wide mountain shots both in broad daylight and starry nights, filmed in the Agua Dulce desert in northern Los Angeles County at the Firestone Ranch.

In the film this ranch is owned by a black family – Otis Haywood Sr., (Keith David) Otis “OJ” Haywood, Jr. (Daniel Kaluuya) and Emerald “Em” Haywood (Keke Palmer) they train horses for Hollywood movies and commercials. The brother and sister dynamic is the crux of the film. Their relationship, like most brothers and sisters is antagonistic, yet bonded. They have completely different temperaments – OJ is so taciturn, and low-key, he’s all about duty and mainly communicates with those uniquely, sad, soulful Kaluuya eyes. Em is all personality and bravado, full of dreams and schemes, but never over-the-top; she’s good at hyping the family biz, but has little to no interest in the actual day to day running of the ranch.

After the initial incident, the majority of the film is build up, reminding me of Hitchcock’s The Birds where there’s a lot of atmosphere, a lot of visual cues and unhurried storytelling. We meet Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) who runs Jupiter’s Claim, a Western Theme park in the middle of the California desert. Park has been buying horses from OJ, but he also has a connection to the opening scene of a Chimpanzee TV star, who goes ape and viciously attacks his co-stars on set. Adding another theme throughout about man vs beast, which is interestingly layered.

Later we meet Angel Torres (Brandon Perea) he’s at techy guy who works at a Best Buys type store where Em & OJ go to buy surveillance equipment. Angel manages to insert himself into the goings on at the ranch. Then there’s the brooding, raspy, director guy, Antlers Hols (Michael Wincott) who adds a tremendous amount of flavor to what becomes operation getting the “Oprah Shot”.

I’m not gonna describe the sci-fi UFO aspects of the film, I was glad I knew very little going in and don’t wanna spoil anything for others. Of course, we were all waiting for the title of the film to be a line in the film, and it doesn’t disappoint. Basically, I’d say with each film, Jordan Peele has proven himself to be a true auteur.

T&T rating: 4.5 outta 5

While You’re Here Check Out T&T US Review, which I didn’t like as much, but think I may have been expecting something more linear. This time, with NOPE, I was more open.
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VENGEANCE |Focus Features | Writer/Director B.J. Novak

Ben Manalowitz (B.J. Novak) is a New York journalist and wanna be podcaster. He’s a liberal, pseudo-intellectual, whose life consists of writing, friends and random hookups, basically your average nebbish-y, nice guy. One day he gets a call from the brother (Boyd Holbrook) of one of the girls he hooks up with when it’s convenient for them both, very causal relationship; so he’s shocked to not only hear the girl is dead, but that the brother thinks Ben was her boyfriend and expects him to travel from New York City to West Texas for the funeral.

Once there, he finds more affinity for these right-leaning, gun-toting, Texans than he ever would have imagined, and starts to take into account some of the speculation that perhaps the girl’s death could have been a homicide. He’s been trying to find a good angle to get a podcast started under a network run by a Podcast Producing Queen (Issa Rae) and this could be it!

It’s a little hard to believe Ben would actually feel guilty enough to attend this girl’s funeral. But that aside, the premise works to deliver a fish outta water trope to good advantage. There’s a great scene with superb dialogue, which Ashton Kutcher nails – but too many other scenes feel overwritten. And in terms of the ending, I get the decision, but hate it just the same.

T&T LAMB Score: 2.5 Outta 5