BLACK BAG

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If ever there was a movie seemingly written by A.I. "Black Bag" is it.

Generation Jones screenwriter David Koepp ("Spider-Man" - 2002) is the culprit, but there are no clean hands on this cobbled together spy thriller.

Overly complicated and tinged with brief spurts of humor, "Black Bag" is a puzzle that falls apart like a sack of disconnected Lego pieces. This thing rattles and hurts.

Something awful has happened to Michael Fassbender. Not that Fassbender ever had much big-screen charm to begin with, but here he inhabits a negative space usually reserved for folks living in a senior care facility. Fassbender seems to be channeling the late Pier Paolo Pasolini, and it ain't pretty or even functional.

Fassbender's obnoxious British spy character George Woodhouse is married to Cate Blanchett's nearly-as-unattractive UK agent Kathryn St. Jean. I know what you're thinking, how clever to have married spies pit against each other.

Well, David Koepp was certainly in love with the idea.

Kathryn's covert activities raise hackles of suspicion for George, who has a habit of drugging co-worker dinner guests with truth serum in order to extract facts that would otherwise be left to the "Black Bag," a spy term for secrets-never-to-be-revealed.

Yawning all of the time now.

An utter lack of likable, empathetic, or even knowable characters, doom the movie to be little more than a 93-minute distraction from any other mean-spirited interaction you're likely to have on a New York City street.

As disappointing as it is to see Cate Blanchett in such a diminished role, it's some consolation to know that Pierce Brosnan got a payday out of it all.

Steven Soderbergh is no David Fincher, and David Koepp is no Tony Gilroy.

March is rarely a good month for the movies. Here's your proof.

Rated R. 93 mins.

ANORA — CANNES 2024

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LOVE FOR SALE:

SEAN BAKER'S CINEMA OF SATISFACTION

Sean Baker has stepped firmly into the role of America's most sophisticated, articulate, and socially meaningful filmmaker.

Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Ken Loach, and Mike Leigh should be falling over themselves, praising Sean Baker for his filmmaking gifts.

Not the least of which is Mr. Baker's seamless ability to slip intimately between American regions (Florida, Texas, New York City) to create thoroughly researched, locality specific, stories that ring like a bell with authenticity and humor.

Sex-work in America is the topic that Sean Baker continues to mine in all of his films.

Mikey Madison takes no prisoners in her fearless performance as Anora. Russian/American "Ani" works at a Brighton Beach strip club where she meets Vanya (Mark Eidelshtein), the over-privileged son to Russian oligarch, Nikolai Zakharov (Aleksey Serebryakov). 

Shit hits the fan when Vanya's filthy rich folks find out that their son and a stripper are a thing.

Darya Ekamasova is hilarious as Galina Zakharov, a woman with way too much money and power. 

The film's remarkable ensemble cast feeds on the material to achieve incredible set-piece action sequences that explode like indoor fireworks.

"Anora," is yet another film (behind "Starlet," "Tangerine," "The Florida Project," and "Red Rocket") that Mr. Baker wrote, cast, directed, and edited, is yet another quantum leap in modernday cinematic storytelling.

This is a movie that gets into your bones.

It is inspiring that Sean Baker is able to write screenplays with such precise novelistic detail about people interacting in overlooked aspects of day-to-day life in America.

Mr. Baker's dialogue is modernday Shakespearean.

Just stunning.

You want Neo-Modern-Realist Cinema, well here it is. Serious adult filmmaking doesn't get any better than this. All NYU film students should be studying Mr. Baker's films.

You can easily tell in its first 15 minutes why "Anora" won the coveted Palme d'Or at Cannes.

"Anora" is a winner, and an instant classic of American Independent Cinema.

Rated R. 140 mins.

THE FALL GUY — EXTENDED CUT

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Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does. This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel. Punk heart still beating.

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It is only until now that an all-out action romance comedy, shamelessly celebrating stunt people and their teams of assistants, has been made.

A lot of stunt people and film crew assistants are cheering over this great movie.

Genius British screenwriter Drew Pearce provides a highly polished script, steeped in the lexicon of movie crew lingo .

 "Holster that."

The wild stunts and over-the-top action sequences serve to accentuate bang-on performances by Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, two of the finest actors in the business.

Ryan Gosling is redeemed for his toolishness regarding everything and anything "Barbie."

Just, Ryan, don't do it again.

Emily Blunt is sensational as always.

Director David Leitch ("Bullet Train"), a stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and actor, shows off his virtuosic skills with splash and fury.

If ever there was a big screen IMAX movie to sit with your pals and eat popcorn, "The Fall Guy" is that precious movie.

The extended cut does go on a bit too long for its own good, but sometimes more is more.

I had so much fun watching this masterfully crafted action/romance picture that I could watch it again anytime if even just for its clever dialogue, and to see Emily Blunt do her thing of course.

Fast, sexy, hilarious, and endlessly entertaining, "The Fall Guy" is a true masterpiece regardless of whether it's the short or long version that you see.

Memo to the Academy, if you want greater viewership then start giving out Oscars for Stunt People.

Rated PG-13. 146 mins.