Female Film Critics 24/375
Austin Butler takes the lead and runs with it in Caught Stealing, a slice-of-the-nineties crime drama about a New York City bartender on a wrong-man odyssey with the Russian mob and more on his tail. Though not a home run, Caught Stealing has twists that surprise Hank as much as the audience. It’s diverting enough as a crime story but a more satisfying study of a character caught in the clutch, with a resolution that covers all the bases.
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Caught Stealing tries to please all audiences. There’s criminal activity, violence, a little romance, motherly and grandmotherly love, Russian henchmen, Orthodox Jewish gangsters performing mitzvahs while concealing their tzitzit and silencers, a Puerto Rican kingpin, corrupt police and a sweet cat who’s poop is the root of all evil.
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Ever wanted to sneak behind-closed-doors and see what propels the Hollywood Dream Machine? That’s what happens in the cameo-cluttered, 10-episode satire The Studio, skewering the perennial Art-vs-Commerce dilemma. When delusional dreamer Matt Remick (co-creator Seth Rogen) becomes the head of Continental Studios , he’s told by CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) that his job is to make IP-driven movies that will succeed at the box-office, not “artsy-fartsy films.” Problem is: pretentious cinephile Matt thinks he can do both
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Zoë Kravitz has her finger on the pulse with some extremely pertinent contemporary ideas and is using genre cinema to explore them. The film is competently directed with some excellent set pieces but lacks a final polish. However, better an imperfect film swinging with big ideas and sometimes misses than a safe movie with limited ideas. Blink Twice is chilling, turning all too real daily concerns women face into a fight some men enjoy a little too much. Keep an eye on Zoë Kravitz, one day she’s going to blow you away.
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Zoë Kravitz makes her directorial debut with Blink Twice, a film which she also wrote. It stars her fiancé, Channing Tatum, as tech billionaire Slater King. The megalomaniac invites a group of men and a bevy of beautiful women to vacation on his Love Island one Midsommar day, but the ladies soon realize THEY are on The Menu and they can’t Get Out.
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The Batman actor Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, Blink Twice, will be released globally in theaters on August 23, 2024. The suspense thriller, formerly titled Pussy Island, is being released by Amazon MGM Studios. Along with helming the film, Kravitz penned the script with E.T. Feigenbaum, one of the writers of the 2020 Hulu series High Fidelity, which Kravitz wrote on, starred in and executive produced.
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Matt Reeves’ The Batman is a brooding, noir’ish interpretation of the DC Comics superhero, focusing for almost three hours on a sorrowful, conflicted Dark Knight, haunted by serious psychological issues involving his late father. Working with cinematographer Greig Fraser and production designer James Chinlund, director/writer Matt Reeves bathes the film in a bleak, inky blackness, enhanced by Michael Giacchino’s symphonic score.
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The Batman is set 20 years after the murder of young Bruce Wayne’s parents. It’s Halloween and Gotham’s “on the take” political leaders are being killed by the sadistic Riddler…forcing Batman to scrutinize the city’s corruption and the Wayne family’s possible involvement. The Batman is a throwback private eye film and a psychological thriller. It’s more True Detective and less Super Hero.
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Kimi, like Siri and Alexa, is the name of a voice-activated digital assistant (a VADA?). Kimi’s job is to help customers shop, cook, turn on lights, etc. Angela Childs’ job is to repair techno-booboos, so she has to listen. While Angela keeps her ear cocked for mistakes in the system, she hears what might be a murder.
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Steven Soderbergh’s low-budget techno-thriller revolves around a next-generation virtual assistant, like Siri and Alexa, but named Kimi. Paranoid Angela Childs is a tech analyst, working remotely from her sprawling Seattle loft/apartment. Since she’s agoraphobic, she spends a great deal of time looking out of the window. So do her nosy neighbors Terry from across the street who makes periodic booty calls and creepy Kevin armed with binoculars
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