We're at that time of year where the number of movies being released outweighs the number of hours in the day in which to watch them. This past weekend I hit up a few different local theaters to try to catch up with some of the titles I've been missing, with decidedly mixed results. Was I a victim of my own expectations or are some movies just misfires so matter the talent behind them? Let's take a look.
"The Bikeriders"
Based on the deeply evocative photo book by Danny Lyon, "The Bikeriders" is the new film by Jeff Nichols, the mad scientist of emotionally devastating stories who was responsible for "Loving," "Take Shelter" and "Midnight Special." With a cast featuring the likes of Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, Mike Faist and Boyd Holbrook, I was abnormally excited to see Nichols take on a Chicago-based motorcycle club from the 1960s, but his take on the material is shot through with so many cliches and tin-eared dialogue that it at times feels like a Saturday Night Live parody of 1950s and '60s biker movies like "The Wild One." Nichols is usually a very incisive and emotionally intelligent writer and his work here is career-worst, by far. Also, I'm not too sure that I'm sold on Austin Butler yet. It sometimes feels like he's just too desperate to be James Dean.
"MaXXXine"
I was extremely hyped on seeing Ti West's "MaXXXine," the final part in his trilogy that includes "X" and "Pearl." Mia Goth is still incredible, and West has quite the range as a visual stylist, but "MaXXXine" doesn't have the raucous fun of "X" or the dramatic and character driven backbone of "Pearl" to bolster its spaghetti-thin story. There's just nothing to grab onto. Mia Goth's character doesn't have the same heart as Pearl or underdog spunk of Maxine from "X." She's pretty sociopathic here and doesn't have enough inner life to hang an entire movie on. I was so hyped on this, so it was a huge letdown that this trilogy capper didn't work. I think a lot of people will still like it anyway for the vibe of the entire thing, but it ends the trilogy on a low note for me.
"Thelma"
"Thelma," on the other hand, worked so much better than I expected. June Squibb plays a 94-year-old woman who gets scammed by a phone con and goes on a revenge mission to get her money back. There's a beautiful balance between the comedy of the absurdist nature of the plot and the bittersweet ode to aging that the film revels in. As a matter of fact, "Thelma" exists as a love letter to the relationships between grandmas and their grandsons. As the proud grandson of a 99-year-old firecracker named Betty, who shares more than a little resemblance to Thelma, there are moments throughout the film that made me more than a little misty, as it reminded my of my own childhood with Betty. But even more than that, the film is smart, funny and an absolute crowd-pleaser.
"Janet Planet"
Finally, I caught the new indie dramedy, "Janet Planet," a quiet and gently moving ode to a mother/daughter relationship that is somehow deeply affecting without ever once becoming sentimental. Julianne Nicholson and Zoe Ziegler create such an immediate bond on camera that it's hard not to feel like they're a real mother and daughter. That chemistry is so rare to find in movies and, come Oscar season, I would be surprised if they weren't in the conversation for some awards. The big moments in "Janet Planet" are macroscopic and almost silently affecting, so there wasn't the giant, dramatic moment of catharsis that I expected, but there's something refreshing about a movie that plays by its own set of cinematic standards. Writer/Director Annie Baker has a subtle command of nuanced silence that I found remarkable, and the weight of that childhood feeling of being the center of the universe while actually living in the periphery of most people's attention is used gorgeously here.
These four movies couldn't have less in common, and my expectations for them were all over the place. Obviously, not everything can be great, but "The Bikeriders" and "MaXXXine" were such massive letdowns while "Janet Planet" and "Thelma" were such welcome surprises, that I realized it's getting harder for me to know what to expect from movies anymore. I need a movie that does more than just pass a vibe check. Maybe not a lot more, but still.
