Long Beach
The master of the dark, very funny, crime movie, Steven Soderbergh, is back this week with “No Sudden Move” on HBO MAX. “Zola,” a theatrical film based on a series of Tweets is scattered but intriguing in a different sort of way.
It’s Viewing the Videos.
STREAMING
No Sudden Move (HBO MAX)
“No Sudden Move” features the great Steven Soderbergh in the genre where he’s at his best: a crime/heist film with a plot packed with unexpected twists and turns, featuring some great talent: Don Cheadle, Benicia Del Toro, and back from the past, Brendan Fraser of all people, channeling an overweight Marlon Brando at the end of his career.
Set in 1954 Detroit, this is the story of a plan to hold an accountant’s family hostage while the crew retrieves a document that could cause immense trouble to the automotive industry. Unlike the “Ocean’s Eleven” crew, this bunch of gangsters is not a smooth-running, sleek group of professionals.
Screenplay writer Ed Solomon’s most famous credit is probably “Men In Black” with Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, but here he’s created a bunch conspirators who aren’t exactly stupid, but aren’t necessarily George Clooney, Don Cheadle and Brad Pitt from “Ocean’s Eleven.”
Don Cheadle from the Ocean’s trilogy is here as Curt Goynes. A life of crime is not easy generally speaking, but it’s really tough for a Black guy in Detroit of the 1950s. Cheadle’s Goynes is aware of the discrimination toward Blacks and accepts it as part of life.
The plot is full of missteps and confusion. When they send accountant Matt Wertz to steal the secret document out of a safe while his family is held hostage, there’s a slight problem: it’s not there. Wertz (David Harbour) is perfect is the middle-class family man completely out of his league with this bunch of criminals who aren’t afraid to kill anybody who gets in their way.
“No Sudden Movie” is similar in tone to Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight,” where low-rent criminal George Clooney finds his plans go awry when he encounters, among other people, Don Cheadle as a double-crossing partner.
“No Sudden Move’” is a great peace of work. Soderbergh brings it in under two hours, which is something the folks who did this week’s “The Tomorrow War” could learn from.
Four Palm Trees. Don’t miss this one.
Tomorrow War (Amazon Prime)
“The Tomorrow War” is a Paramount production set for a theatrical release that ended up on Amazon Prime in the pandemic turmoil.
That’s probably a good thing, because it’s hard to see this having any kind of success in the theaters. It has a big-time, very likeable star, Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy” and the Jurassic Park reboots in 2015 and 2018) but it lacks focus, has an excessive running time of well over two hours and at least two endings.
Through some time-shifting mumbo jumbo, Dan Forester (Pratt) can travel into the future to try to figure out what kills the aliens who have invaded earth and will be successful at their domination of our planet. The plan is, he goes to the future, finds out what kills the aliens and then brings that information back and eliminates the invaders before they can take over.
And, by the way, Forester has a troubled relationship with his father and when visiting the future, encounters a grownup version of his daughter who (Surprise!) is the one working on developing a virus to kill off the aliens.
That’s an awful lot to juggle. Mix in some scary monster special effects that are well done technically but seem to be brought in just to generate some excitement to pass the time between some long, soul-searching dialogue between Forester, his wife (Betty Gilpin, excellent in a cliché role) and two versions of his daughter — Yvonne Strahovski is the grownup daughter and 11-year-old Ryan Kiera Armstrong as the young version of Forester’s daughter. This is another young actor who would seem to have a big future. Pratt has quite a bit of charisma and Armstrong is his equal in their scenes together.
This is a sprawling, unfocused picture that perhaps could have used a more experienced director than Chris McKay, who makes his live action debut after successfully helping “The Lego Movie” and “The Lego Batman Movie.”
“The Tomorrow War” is an okay way to kill two and half hours on a summer afternoon or evening, but I’m glad I didn’t pay money to see it in the theater.
Two Palm Trees. Okay if it’s for free
IN THEATERS
Zola
Movie ideas come from different places: books, plays, original scripts and now we have a movie based on Tweets and a “Rolling Stone” article.
Maybe that’s the problem here. This movie is entertaining in a chaotic sort of way, but since its source material is all those tweets, it’s not too coherent. When you take away all the “Twitterverse” aspects, it’s simply a buddy movie, about two women, Stefani and Zola, who head to Tampa to make big money at a strip club. They are accompanied by Stefani’s boyfriend and another guy, “Roommate X” who turns out to be more of a pimp.
This is the story of 72 hours in the underbelly of Tampa with strip clubs, low-rent motels and all night diners. To its credit, “Zola” is one of those small movies that feels as if it’s a documentary, instead of a scripted film.
Riley Keough is Stefani, a likeable enough character, who continues to make bad decisions in her job choice as a sex worker. Zola (Taylour Page) is the calmer of the two and tries to resist switching from being a stripper to joining Stefani in the sex trade.
Coleman Domingo is the multi-faceted “Roommate X.” He can turn on the charm but the violence and exploitation of woman is always just below the surface. Good job.
From this movie, it’s hard to say if Tweets will provide more movie stories. This is jumbled and hard to follow, but it might be the forerunner of a new genre of films based on Tweets.
Two Palm trees. Okay if it’s for free.
FROM THE VAULT
“Out of Sight”
Steve Soderbergh (“No Sudden Move”) worked with Don Cheadle in this adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel.
George Clooney (who was attached to “No Sudden Move”) joined Don Cheadle and Jennifer Lopez and stars as a small-time criminal (a very handsome one) who seems destined to spend his life in and out of prisons while dealing with criminal acquaintances who prove criminals turn to crime because they’re not smart enough to make an honest living
This is funny and stylish and jumps back and forth in time. It’s easy to follow because of Soderbergh’s consummate skill as a director and the romantic sparks between Clooney and Lopez as the U.S. Marshal on his tail.
HOW WE RATE THE FILMS
Home videos are simply rated recommended or not recommended. New Releases are rated as follows:
Five Palm Trees: Must see
Four Palm Trees: Worth seeing on the big screen.
Three Palm Trees: Recommended for home viewing or on the big screen.
Two Palm Trees: OK if you’re not paying.
One Palm Tree: Skip it. Save your money and your time.