Review Round-Up: "Immaculate," "Road House," "Wicked Little Letters," "Late Night..." and "Monkey Man"
A set of capsule reviews of five films I've watched these past few weeks.
Although I primarily do full-length reviews, because I can’t review every new release due to reasons like not having enough thoughts for a full review or life stuff, I figured I’d get more into the habit of capsules and not just write them when doing festival coverage. In this post, I did write-ups of five new titles I’ve watched recently. One of which I saw via a screener and is currently expanding wide. Interestingly, the four others are titles that premiered at SXSW, either this or last year.
Immaculate:
After helping give life back to the studio rom-com in the amusing Anyone But You, and coming out of Madame Web unscathed, in-demand actress/producer Sydney Sweeney flexes her horror muscles with Immaculate. As Sister Cecilia, a novice nun from America matriculating into an Italian convent, Sweeney is a force of nature. The storyline involving its protagonist experiencing a miraculous pregnancy with almost everyone conspiring against her borrows too much from the Rosemary’s Baby playbook. Also, how it wastes Simona Tabasco, the Emmy-nominated breakout star of the second season of The White Lotus, is utterly horrific. Yet, Immaculate still thrives on being a tense directing exercise with a good first two acts and a killer third act. The stressful final scene makes Sydney Sweeney a worthy entry in the scream queen pantheon.
Grade: B
Road House (2024):
Admittedly, I had little interest in a Road House remake despite the involvement of star Jake Gyllenhaal. But then came the first on-set still of Jake Gyllenhaal showing his bare physique. Given how a good chunk of the film’s promotion involved videos of him getting into shape for the role, and the trailer showed glimpses of shirtless Jake, it feels like even those involved knew it’d be a way to get people to tune in.
It does have Jake Gyllenhaal carrying the film with seamless charisma while showing his sweaty beefcake. But, it also has a generic action plot, an underused Jessica Williams, and whatever Conor MacGregor was doing with that performance. If you want a turn-your-brain-off actioner or are a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal (in terms of both looks and acting), it’s a doable option. Otherwise, you can skip this one.
Grade: C
Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman star in Thea Sharrock’s “Wicked Little Letters.” (Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
Wicked Little Letters:
Thea Sharrock’s latest is a biting, cuss-laden romp that re-unites actress greats, and The Lost Daughter co-stars, Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. We never saw them on screen because they shared the same role in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s feature debut. But in this film where we get to, they are superb as neighbors quarreling over a string of anonymous foul-mouthed letters being sent across their small town which Buckley’s character, Irish migrant Rose Gooding, becomes accused of writing.
Olivia Colman once again proves herself an acting marvel as the initially skillfully elusive Edith Swan. However, it’s co-star Jessie Buckley who fires up the screen. She brings fiery charisma and sly sensitivity to her portrayal of a woman who’ll take whatever verbal beating the public gives her even as her bruises grow. Also, every sharply comical line reading she gives had me thinking, “Cast her in a Yorgos Lanthimos film ASAP.” Bonus points for superb supporting work from Anjana Vasan as Woman Police Officer Gladys Moss.
That being said, as it follows Gladys’ role as a woman in the male-dominated police force, the film does have a missed opportunity to add another dimension to her character by diving into her experience as a woman of color within her workplace and at the time the film takes place in. Despite that script quibble, Wicked Little Letters is still worth watching for the dynamic, profanity-laden lead performances.
Grade: B+
Late Night With the Devil:
Next up is the other religious horror film besides Immaculate that’s had the highest wide opening yet for its indie studio. Set throughout one Halloween night, Late Night With the Devil is an engaging enough reinvigoration of the demonic possession picture involving Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), an opportunistic talk show host, who gets more than he bargained for when he has a possessed teenage girl appear on his show to boost ratings.
Carried by a charismatic central performance by David Dastmalchian, who’s given an overdue leading role after years of being a scene-stealing supporting player, Late Night With the Devil does lose momentum with its sluggish pacing and cop-out ending. It even gets a demerit for using images of AI art. But if you have an affinity for 70’s horror, this film which takes place in that time is a doable throwback. It’s not a traditional jump-out-of-your-seat thriller, but it may give you goosebumps.
Grade: B-
Dev Patel as Kid in his feature directorial debut “Monkey Man.” (Photo courtesy of Universal Studios)
Monkey Man:
Dev Patel’s newest directorial debut shows that the man can do anything. He can play a dashing romantic lead, he can do drama, and, as we see in Monkey Man, he can pull off being an action star. Labeled as John Wick in India, Monkey Man almost warrants that title by being a revenge story with similar lighting and club fight sequences only its commentary on India’s caste system helps set it apart along with it playing into the theme of honoring the marginalized by spotlighting the trans community who play a vital role in the hero’s battle against the film’s villainous political leaders.
However, Monkey Man still leans into the tired “fridged woman” trope in action films where a woman’s death is a chief motivator for the male protagonist’s pursuit of vengeance. In this case, it is the hero’s mother. Despite such script fumblings, Monkey Man allows Patel to fire all cylinders with his physical performance as the hero known as Kid and the directing. Along with the fight sequences, even the training montage makes the film feel designed to be seen on the big screen and not on Netflix, where it almost went originally (Not solely because it features Patel sweaty and shirtless, I promise). Its kinetic, pulsating action sequences fully warrant a big-screen viewing.
Grade: B+