Female Film Critics 24/375
Few filmmakers harmonize emotions and melodies outside a standard musical as well as John Carney, who has a knack for stories of discordant relationships, star-crossed connections, and second chances, explored and resolved through music. Power Ballad isn’t about rocking the biggest stage but about defining success by what makes your heart sing.
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Wain’s fish-out-of-water comedy relies heavily on increasingly ridiculous situations to carry the comedy. No stranger to getting silly, Filmmaker David Wain’s satire is very rarely anything but silly. Charming performances by Deutch and especially Slattery, Wang, and very game Jon Hamm can’t glue the “situational” aspect of the film together to form something particularly sustained and more than occasionally funny. Set piece after set piece grows tiring even if you’re on board with the over-the-top nature of everything.
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Rick Power, is an aging suburban rocker dad working as a wedding singer with the Irish party group The Bride and Groove. He has a flash of greatness when he meets a fading boy band star, Danny Wilson, at a local gig. The two bond over their music and end up having a late-night jam session. From that sesh comes the smash hit song that propels Danny back into the spotlight and leaves Rick POWERless…legally. Crazy antics abound, themes of self-respect and ambition are explored, and there’s lots of great music…unless you aren’t a fan of Danny and Rick’s new hit…its played a lot.
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Judging by its outlandish subject matter, I expected writer/director Alex Scharfman’s Death of a Unicorn to – at the very least – be an intriguing fantasy/satire. Instead it’s astoundingly awful! The overly complicated central conflict descends into predictably tedious mayhem with R-rated graphic gore revolving around monstrous CGI creatures whose shaggy heads resemble donkeys more than horses.
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Like its vault for containing trapped ghosts, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is creaky and overstuffed. Full of references to the 1984 original, it has a plot that’s more complicated that it needs to be, jarring errors in continuity and logic, and characters with little to do. That’s a shame because, along with a passionate fan base, the Ghostbusters franchise often mixes screwball shenanigans with heart. The gentle reboot of 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, while uneven, struck the right notes, following the daughter and grandchildren of Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis) in Oklahoma. The family uncovered a paranormal secret and reconnected with the surviving Ghostbusters, giving Egon a proper sendoff.
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In this newest sequel, the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, making Ghostbusters new and old join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second ice age. All the beloved cast from the previous film have returned, but this time around filmmaker Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the original movies, sticks to co-writing credits and Gil Kenan steps in as director. It’s possible this was the first mistake, as Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is a disjointed mess, bloated with too many scattered storylines.
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Just be thankful you didn’t squander your money at the box-office for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, one of the most worthless entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Paul Rudd’s third Ant-Man escapade is basically a family vacation gone wrong. His ex-con alter-ego Scott Lang, who was once fired from Baskin Robbins, is living it up in San Francisco as a minor celebrity who now has a best-selling memoir Look Out for the Little Guy! about his Avengers adventure.
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Even though the newest Ant-Man didn’t quite meet my expectations, I did manage to have fun with it. These newer phases aren’t capturing the same Marvel magic we experienced before Endgame, but I think we should hold out hope for Guardians of the Galaxay 3. In the meantime, we can enjoy the continuation of some beloved Avengers and the introduction to the franchise of a new “big bad” villain.
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sends Marvel’s size-defying heroes on their biggest adventure beyond assisting the Avengers. Yet by teeing up another giant villain for Marvel’s ongoing cinematic universe, the film shrinks some of the duo’s quirky charm and relatable, everyday appeal. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania leaves some unanswered questions, and its action scenes rely more on fisticuffs than clever size-shifting props and fight choreography. It’s still a fun outing with likable characters, just not a fantastic voyage.
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The series is based on a podcast of the same name and tells the true story of Martin “Marty” Markowitz and his psychiatrist Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf. Over the course of 30 years, Herschkopf scammed Markowitz out of millions of dollars, inspired his estrangement from his friends and family, and took control of his family estate in the Hamptons.
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