He-Man slices: Nicholas Galitzine in ‘Masters of the Universe’.
SCARY MOVIE *** (96 minutes) MA
As if answering the call about how we all could do with some good, cheap laughs right about now, Scary Movie – or, more accurately, Scary Movie 6, a sequel-of-sorts in the spoof-comedy franchise – arrives to dutifully deliver more of the same. And for this we give thanks.
Nothing special here, to be honest, and no great shakes.
Still, it’s funny enough, firing off the usual barrage of enjoyable, energetically discharged gags roping in a raft of recent horror films including Scream, Terrifier, M3gan, Get Out, Weapons and so forth.
A fun time killer, there are some good jokes lambasting identity politics, leftist groupthink and black stereotypes (very funny) as well as a few jabs at internet memes, which is a new addition to the parody recipe.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE *** (134 minutes) M
A standard, super-sized blob of blockbuster chewing gum, this very large, very loud, big-budget reboot of the toy-based fantasy adventure 1987 movie with Dolph Lundgren (who pops up in a cameo) features the usual slabs VFX-laden action, with the all-too-familiar blender editing every second or so.
Thankfully, the throwaway soiree is buoyed by a sparky central performance from Nicholas Galitzine (also in The Sheep Detectives as a journalist) as He-Man, whose early scenes on Earth working for a HR firm could have made a film on its own.
Also stealing his fair share of scenes is a hidden Jared Leto as Skeletor, the super villain who rules Eternia, He-Man’s home planet.
Though the brand has a big fanbase, the film is perfectly suited for non-fans who will enjoy how cheesy and fun it is.
Only, that 134-minute running time is generous by about half an hour. Will Hollywood ever return to the good ol’ days when films of this ilk were nice and lean? Even Superman IV was 90 minutes. Just saying.
THE CHRISTOPHERS *** (100 minutes) MA
In this engaging, cheeky art-world comedy from Steven Soderbergh, Ian McKellen clocks in with a tangy turn as Julian Sklar, an irascible old painter who knocks heads with his new assistant Lori (nicely played by Michaela Coel; also in Mother Mary).
She’s been tasked by Sklar’s comically snarky offspring (James Corden & Jessica Gunning) to locate a series of unfinished paintings and secretly complete them by copying his style. The goal is to sell them after he dies, unworried about the forgery.
With the two leads bouncing off each other nicely, it’s a very easy sit.
SOUND OF FALLING *** (149 minutes) MA
It might not sound like a whole lotta fun, yet this German art movie opus is a beguiling piece that discerning audiences hungry for something different and diverting will likely disappear into.
The fractured, non-linear narrative spans across several generations of a family and is mostly set in a farming homestead. The scramble of storylines include death, rape, incest and the lengths some mothers will go to so as to keep their son from going to war.
Admittedly, some might find the trek an endurance test – a fear that permeates the first reel or two – yet the photography is so lyrical and the direction by Mascha Schilinski so delicate that it’s never dull, even though all the floating elements never coalesce into a story.
Then again, all the film’s narrative gossamers do circle around a central question – who or what is watching all these events unfold? Something has to account for why, mid-scene, a character looks straight into the camera.
Rather intriguing.
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