My Old Ass review

MY OLD ASS: 

GET YOUR ASS INTO A MOVIE THEATER SEAT AND WATCH THIS STELLAR COMEDY-DRAMA WITH YOUR OLD ASS! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

MGM

Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella in My Old Ass

 

            Before anyone asks, yes this is the better Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Safety Not Guaranteed, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates) movie that came out during Megalopolis weekend. In the tradition of the Bruce Willis Disney comedy, The Kid, 13 Going on 30, and 17 Again, we have another movie about a person meeting/turning into their future/past self, but this time with significantly more F-bombs and hallucinogenic mushrooms in the new comedy-drama, My Old Ass. 

            The film is written and directed by Megan Park (The Fallout) and adds a new twist to the whole “If you could talk to your past/future self, what would you say?” trope. The movie looked interesting and quite funny by the trailer though I had only seen it a couple of times in theaters and wasn’t super high on my movie watching agenda. 

            Let’s just say after watching it, I am so happy I parked my ass in a movie theater seat to watch this film because My Old Ass is fantastic…oh, and so is the movie. I found this to be a very funny, heartfelt, and surprisingly clever take on a story we’ve heard many times before. 

            The film follows Elliott (Maisy Stella-Nashville, Spirit: Riding Free; in her feature film debut), an eighteen year old girl who takes a mushroom trip on her birthday and comes face to face with her wisecracking 39-year-old future self (Played by Plaza). But when her “old ass” starts warning her about what she should and shouldn’t do with her life (Specifically to avoid people named Chad), Elliott realizes she has to rethink everything about family, love, and what’s becoming a transformative summer. 

            The film also stars Percy Hynes White (Rupture, The Gifted, Pretty Hard Cases) as Chad, Maddie Ziegler (To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, The Fallout, West Side Story (2021)) as Ruthie, Maria Dizzia (The Other Woman, Margin Call, Late Night) as Kathy, and Seth Isaac Johnson (The Killing) as Max. 

            Overall, My Old Ass is one of the most pleasant surprises I had all year (Though I’m sure I said that a lot this year with certain films) and found it incredibly funny and charming throughout. I love how the film doesn’t need to explain or go into much detail as to how Maisy’s Elliott is able to see and interact with her future self. 

Any other movie would either build up the future version or overly explain how this is happening. Instead, she takes mushrooms and now she sees her future self, that’s it and she’s there literally at the beginning of the film which is great. 

I also admire how the film keeps a lot of details vague, most notably the future 39-year-old Elliott lives in. Aside from a few background noises when past Elliott is on the phone with her “Old Ass” and some references to events future Elliott experienced you, like Elliott herself don’t know what the future has in store which is very smart and leaves a ton of mystery to what has yet to come. 

Both Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza are excellent as Elliott, I’m not familiar with Stella’s other work, but I thought she had great comedic timing and also sells her dramatic and heartwarming moments as well while also having great chemistry not just with her future self but her family members, friends, and the infamous Chad. Aubrey Plaza as a wisecracking and somewhat cynical older version of Elliott I feel needs no introduction since she can pretty much play this role in her sleep, she is hilarious in this movie and most of it comes from her comedic delivery without ever hijacking the film. 

The movie even managed to surprise me with a couple of its twists revolving around some characters and quite effectively. I won’t give any away here and if you’ve seen it already then you should know what I’m talking about. 

Not sure what else to say, My Old Ass is a funny, charming coming-of-age story about a teenager and her future self brilliantly portrayed by its two leads with a captivating story to boot. The only other thing I can say is get your old (or young) asses into those movie theater seats and watch this incredible film now. 

The Wild Robot review

THE WILD ROBOT: 

ANIMATED DREAMWORKS ROBOT MOVIE IS QUITE POSSIBLY THE STUDIO’S BEST FILM YET! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

Roz the Robot in The Wild Robot

 

            A service robot ends up shipwrecked on an island uninhabited by humans and must learn to adapt and survive in The Wild Robot, the latest film from DreamWorks Animation and director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods) based on the book series of the same name by Peter Brown. DreamWorks’ animated films can be hit-or-miss in terms of their quality and consistency, but when they knock it out of the park they can bring some of the best animated features in the same boat as Disney and Pixar including the first two Shrek movies, How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, the first three Kung Fu Panda movies, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, etc. 

            The Wild Robot seemed like it was going to be one of those films on the DreamWorks totem pole which I was onboard for after a rather disappointing 2023 for DreamWorks and even earlier this year with Kung Fu Panda 4 (A movie I liked fine, but didn’t love compared to its predecessors). Well, I’m happy to report that The Wild Robot isn’t just one of the best DreamWorks animated films, but it might even be the best by far. 

             That is quite a statement given how much I love films like How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Shrek 2, but The Wild Robot has an incredibly bold story that hits on a lot of heavy subject matter (Especially for an animated film aimed at kids and families) and a thought-provoking message about how families are perceived, has a dark (PG-rated) edge to it with intense moments and even jokes about death, and is emotionally powerful throughout. The gorgeous animation that is some of DreamWorks’ best ever is just the icing on the cake. 

            The film is set on a futuristic Earth and follows a robot nicknamed Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o-12 Years a Slave, Black Panther 1 and 2, A Quiet Place: Day One) that ends up on an island uninhabited by humans after a cargo ship carrying all-purpose ROZZUM robots is shipwrecked in a typhoon. But when Roz discovers a lone Goose egg that hatches into a newborn gosling, she and a mischievous red fox she befriends named Fink (voiced by Pedro Pascal-The Mandalorian, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Gladiator II) help the runt gosling named Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor-Get Santa, Rocketman, Heartstopper) learn to swim and fly before winter all the while learning about what truly makes a family as Roz raises Brightbill like her own son. 

            The film also features the voices of Catherine O’Hara (Beetlejuice 1 and 2, Home Alone 1 and 2, The Nightmare Before Christmas) as Pinktail, Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Shaun of the Dead, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) as Longneck, Stephanie Hsu (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fall Guy) as Vontra, Mark Hamill (Star Wars franchise, Batman: The Animated Series, Metalocalypse) as Thorn, Matt Berry (Moon, Snow White & the Huntsman, The SpongeBob Movie 2 and 3) as Paddler, and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction, Mission: Impossible franchise, Wendell & Wild) as Thunderbolt. 

            Overall, The Wild Robot completely exceeded my expectations (and I was already looking forward to it, mind you!) and delivered one of DreamWorks’ most mature and ironically human animated films…yet it revolves around a robot and a bunch of animals. The film in a nutshell is essentially about the intensity of parenting with Roz (A robot with artificial intelligence) gaining emotions, becoming a caring and responsible mother for this gosling, and learning when to let her child fly (Quite literally in this film’s case) and it’s handled spectacularly well here. 

            Adults can see this movie and instantly connect with Roz and everything she’s doing to raise her child and the lessons she learns along the way while kids can relate with Brightbill being a runt with small wings and doesn’t fit in with the rest of the flock, but he works hard for his goals over the course of the film and by the end he achieves them. Both Roz and Brightbill are the emotional anchors of the film that I think most audiences are going to get the most connections with and ironically the movie itself has more layers to it than onions and ogres. 

Truth be told I almost got teary eyed at various scenes in the film which hasn’t happened to me with a DreamWorks movie since probably Kung Fu Panda 2. Not necessarily because of how sad it is but because of how heavy and beautifully handled the film’s themes are, you may be with a robot, fox, and gosling but anyone can relate to anything these characters are going through. 

            This movie also gets dark, it is also a PG-RATED animated feature that EARNS the rating. You have jokes about death, the movie literally begins with a bird’s head getting chopped off, and even animal cubs getting eaten by predators (There’s one brilliantly dark joke regarding that). On top of all that, the main characters are surviving in this dangerous, bloodthirsty environment where animals eat and kill each other left and right. 

I would not recommend taking very young kids to this movie because even as an adult there were moments of this film I couldn’t believe were in a family movie (Moana 2 will likely be that G-rated movie desperately pretending to be a PG movie but actually isn’t so I’d suggest waiting for that if you have super little kids). Or at the very least accompany your young ones to see this movie with PARENTAL GUIDANCE which is what PG is supposed to stand for so why do movies like Frozen, Inside Out, and Trolls require it? Sorry, went on a tangent there! 

The Wild Robot has officially dethroned Inside Out 2 as currently the best animated film I’ve seen in 2024 and my new favorite DreamWorks movie. It’s a beautifully animated, funny, and extremely touching feature that even rivals some of the best Pixar and Disney films and must be seen NOW! 

Wall-E, eat your heart out…if you have one! 

Megalopolis review

MEGALOPOLIS: 

LATEST FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA MOVIE BROKE ME! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: 😐 out of 4

LIONSGATE

Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel in Megalopolis

 

            Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, Bram Stoker’s Dracula) finally brings his long-awaited vanity project to the screen in the new epic sci-fi drama, Megalopolis. I won’t be discussing any controversial behind the scenes drama that went down during the making of this film, I’m here to discuss the movie and that is exactly what I am going to do. 

            The trailers caught my interest when I first saw them and while I’ve admired many of Coppola’s previous projects, I’ll admit not all of his films are perfect (He directed that awful Robin Williams comedy, Jack). But even when he fails, they’re usually very fascinating and unique failures. 

            Seems like that was going to be the case with Megalopolis after it received polarizing reactions at film festivals. The 2019 Joker was also very divisive when it came out and I ended up loving that movie so I was curious to see where I’d fall under with Megalopolis.

            Yeah, this is less like Joker and more along the lines of Babylon or Beau is Afraid where it’s a movie where I don’t know what to make of it because of its bonkers execution. It’s one thing to actually sit down and watch it, but to discuss it afterwards is a different beast altogether, but I will (attempt to) do just that. 

            The film is set in an alternate reality American Republic and follows futuristic architect, Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver-Star Wars franchise, Marriage Story, Ferrari) (Who also has the ability to stop time, just roll with it!) who invented a revolutionary bio-adaptive building material known as Megalon which he believes can change the world. But Cesar’s opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito-Breaking Bad, The Mandalorian, MaXXXine) and people in power remain committed to a regressive status quo and don’t want things to change. 

            Meanwhile the mayor’s daughter, Julia Cicero (Nathalie Emmanuel-Maze Runner 2 and 3, Fast & Furiousfranchise, Arthur the King) falls in love with Cesar thus dividing her beliefs and forcing her to decide on what humanity truly deserves.

            The film also stars Aubrey Plaza (Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Safety Not Guaranteed, My Old Ass) as Wow Platinum, Shia LaBeouf (Transformers 1-3, Fury, Honey Boy) as Clodio Pulcher, Jon Voight (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, National Treasure 1 and 2, Transformers) as Hamilton Crassus III, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix 1-3, Contagion, John Wick 2-4) as Fundi Romaine, Jason Schwartzman (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Scott Pilgrim VS the World, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) as Jason Zanderz, Kathryn Hunter (Harry Potter franchise, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Andor) as Teresa Cicero, and Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate, Kramer VS Kramer, Kung Fu Panda franchise) as Nush Berman. 

            Overall, Megalopolis is undoubtedly one of Francis Ford Coppola’s most ambitious movies in a very long time and is impressive on a technical level (I saw it in IMAX which was really neat), but its scatterbrained plot and handling of its subject matter leaves a lot to be desired and will certainly not appeal to everyone. I’m torn on this movie because there are things I like about it like the production design, visual style, and some of the ideas it explores, but I was also frequently baffled by various scenes and many lines of dialogue to the point of laughter (And probably not intentional laughter). 

            It’s as if the script for a bad Shyamalan movie somehow landed in Coppola’s hands and he decided to use that as a template for his supposed magnum opus. The audience I was with laughed hard at some of these lines and I couldn’t believe this was from the same man who gave us two of the greatest films of all time. 

            I think I sort of understood Coppola’s intentions of making the movie as a cautionary tale of what can happen to a great empire or country due to violence, greed, and corruption. But the way these ideas are told and executed in the final product make it difficult to be fully engaged and captivated by its messages where all I saw were some good ideas stuck in a cluttered mess. 

            This is also an example of a film that prioritizes themes and messages over good character development despite the cast mostly giving decent performances. I could not give two shits about a single character in this movie because most of the supposed character development consists of talks of philosophy, destiny, and social commentary without really giving audiences reasons to like them or be invested in their stories, still this movie did give us Shia LaBeouf in drag and Jon Voight off his rocker (Even more so than he already is, hey-oh!). 

            The movie looks fantastic in terms of the production design, cinematography, and visuals and is definitely worth experiencing on the big screen (IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO!). Even though I wasn’t exactly compelled by the film, I was marveling at it from a visual perspective especially the scenes showcasing the futuristic megalopolis which are wildly imaginative and stunning to watch and this one sequence of a car driving in the rain with statues coming to life, I thought that was really cool. 

            Despite the questionable material, I thought most of the performances were solid with the cast clearly giving their all. Granted, nobody is a huge standout but this is more like a group of talented actors trying to make this baffling film work which I admire. 

            Megalopolis is definitely a low-point in Francis Ford Coppola’s filmography, but it is a fascinating blunder of a movie that almost reaches “So Bad It’s Good” territory. The polarizing reactions are very much warranted and I don’t see many casual moviegoers watching it and being captivated by it though it will certainly lead to interesting conversations afterwards. 

            This is a difficult movie to recommend because on one hand, the film itself looks spectacular on the big screen, but the overall execution is a giant mess. If you know what you’re getting into then go for it, but everyone else should approach this megalopolis with caution. 

The Substance review

THE SUBSTANCE: 

A GRUESOME MASTERPIECE OF MADNESS; OH, AND DEMI MOORE’S IN IT TOO! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

MUBI

Demi Moore in The Substance

 

            Demi Moore (Ghost, A Few Good Men, G.I. Jane) takes a substance that creates a younger, better version of herself in the form of Margaret Qualley-The Nice Guys, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Kinds of Kindness) in The Substance, the new body horror film from director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge (2017)). I have not seen Fargeat’s previous movie, I just came in as someone who was incredibly fascinated by the trailer and wanted to see what it was about. 

            This could have easily flown under my radar in favor of much bigger releases, but since I saw the trailer a few times in theaters and it caught my interest, I made sure to check it out when it’s out. And I’m glad I did because this movie is good…like, really, REALLY fucking good! 

            This is easily the most horrifying and grotesque film I’ve seen all year (Makes Alien: Romulus look like a Disney film by comparison…oh, wait!) yet it’s also one of the most brilliantly told and entertaining watches as well. I would strongly encourage audiences to go in with as little expectations as possible (Have the trailer be your only prior knowledge to it) and not to come in on a full stomach…for the sake of your health (Trust me on this!). 

            The film follows fading celebrity, Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) who is the host of a popular aerobics show that she is fired from after her fiftieth birthday. Desperate to keep her career and success in check, she takes a black market drug that creates a younger, better version of herself named Sue (Qualley) who almost instantly becomes a star because of her looks. 

            However, there is a catch with the drug requiring them to switch places every seven days and when the substance is constantly misused, horrible side effects begin to happen that are the stuff of nightmares. All in the name of beauty and fame. 

            The film also stars Dennis Quaid (Traffic, The Rookie, The Day After Tomorrow) as a slimy TV executive named Harvey (I wonder if that was intentional?). 

            Overall, The Substance is an unapologetically gruesome, shocking, and insanely clever body horror film that lives up to the ones that came before it while somehow reaching new levels of madness. Even when gory and twisted things aren’t happening, the film is shot and edited in a way where everything looks and feels intense and over-the-top from foreboding production design that’s reminiscent of a Stanley Kubrick movie to extreme close-ups of slimy executives shouting and eating intensely. 

The movie somehow manages to make the simple act of gnawing on shrimp in a restaurant look unpleasant and disgusting; puts Sausage Party to shame and surprisingly not the only connection to sausages in the film. 

Actually, one of my favorite scenes in the movie is the way it opens up showing Demi Moore’s character’s Walk of Fame star over the years from its construction and glamorous ceremony to it becoming cracked and faded today. That is such an effective way to begin a film like this and it does make a return in the end. 

            The sad part is that a lot of the things I praised about this film would require going into spoilers and I have no desire in doing that with a movie like this. I will simply say that the gore and makeup effects in this movie are freaking phenomenal and some of the best I’ve seen in a long time; if this doesn’t get at least an Oscar nomination for makeup I will be so pissed off. 

            Demi Moore gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from her, she goes all out with her performance here and delivers something truly memorable and endearing with just the right amount of crazy. Margaret Qualley is also fantastic as this young entity intended to make Elisabeth’s life better but only ends up screwing her over greatly because of her substance addiction. 

            On the surface, this sounds like some of the foulest, grungiest schlock ever put to film that only bloodthirsty psychopaths would love, but it’s actually surprisingly very clever and thought-provoking in terms of how Hollywood and the general public perceive beauty and how far celebrities will go to retain it. It’s also an effective cautionary tale on substance abuse and how something made to make your life better can actually make it worse in reality. 

            The Substance is one of those body horror movies (with a twisted sense of humor) that must be seen to be believed, it is a 2-hour and 20 minute film with excessive gore, grotesque side effects from a black market drug, and actors hamming it up that had my eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end. Might even be a contender for my Best Film of the Year (At least so far), I loved this movie and I eagerly await discussing it amongst other fellow moviegoers. 

If you’re a fan of Stanley Kubrick and/or David Cronenberg’s work then this is a mandatory watch, just don’t eat anything before or during it, this shit gets ugly. 

Transformers One review

TRANSFORMERS ONE: 

NEW ANIMATED ORIGIN IS ONE OF THE FRANCHISE’S BEST! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND HASBRO

Bumblebee, D-16/Megatron, Orion Pax/Optimus Prime, and Elita-1 in Transformers One

 

            The Transformers are back on the big screen (This time fully animated!) in Transformers One, the latest film based on the Hasbro Transformers toy line and an animated origin story showing the events leading up to the rivalry between Autobot and Decepticon leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron. Despite the title, this is not the first time the Autobots and Decepticons hit the big screen in animation form as there was already the 1986 hand-drawn animated film based on the Transformers cartoon series, The Transformers: The Movie. 

            But this is the first fully animated Transformers movie since 1986 after several live-action/CG animated movies with varying results (Though I enjoy the first Michael Bay movie from 2007 and his third installment as a guilty pleasure). However, 2018’s Bumblebee certainly felt like an animated movie in terms of its storytelling and direction with a Lilo & Stitch and Iron Giant vibe. 

            After Bumblebee and last year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts resurrected the franchise and gave it some well-deserved fresh blood, Transformers One rolls in with many of the same producers of the live-action Transformersmovies including Michael Bay (Who directed the first five movies) returning and Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) as the director. 

            The movie looked fine by the trailers, but the most polarizing thing about it seemed to be casting celebrity voices as the Transformers so we have Chris Hemsworth (Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rush, Extraction 1 and 2) instead of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Brian Tyree Henry (If Beale Street Could Talk, Spider-Verse, Bullet Train) instead of Frank Welker as Megatron and a lot of reliance on comedy (Thankfully, not Michael Bay-style comedy). But then early reactions hailed it as the best Transformers movie ever made which certainly got my attention and…yeah, I really enjoyed this. 

            I still stand by Bumblebee as the best film in the series and Transformers (2007) will always have a special place in my heart, but this is a solid and entertaining origin story to Optimus Prime, Megatron, and the War on Planet Cybertron. This is also coming from someone who got most of his Transformers knowledge from the first Bay movie and is not a purist on Transformers lore. 

            The film is set on Planet Cybertron (Home of the Transformers) and follows fellow brothers, Orion Pax (voiced by Hemsworth) and D-16 (voiced by Tyree-Henry) working as Energon (The energy fuel of the Transformers race) miners which has become scarce on the planet after the fall of the Primes under command of their leader, Sentinel Prime (voiced by Jon Hamm-Mad Men, Million Dollar Arm, Baby Driver). But when they discover a map leading to the Matrix of Leadership (A powerful artifact that can restore Cybertron’s Energon), Orion Pax, D-16, and friends Elita-1 (voiced by Scarlett Johansson-Lost in Translation, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Under the Skin) and B-127/Bumblebee (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key-Key & Peele, Hotel Transylvania franchise, Toy Story 4) venture off to the surface of Cybertron in order to locate the Matrix and save their planet while along the way gaining their abilities to transform into vehicles and chronicling the events leading up to the literal transformations of the heroic, Optimus Prime and the villainous, Megatron. 

            The film also features the voices of Steve Buscemi (The Big Lebowski, Monsters, Inc., Hotel Transylvaniafranchise) as eventual Decepticon Starscream, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix franchise, Mystic River, Ant-Man and the Wasp) as Alpha Trion, Isaac C. Singleton Jr. (Planet of the Apes (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Deadpool) as Darkwing (No relation to Darkwing Duck), and the Honest Trailers guy Jon Bailey reprising his role from Bumblebee as the voice of Soundwave. 

            Overall, Transformers One brings the franchise back to its roots with a colorfully animated, action-packed and surprisingly character driven origin story that puts the majority of live-action Transformers films to shame. Despite enjoying a few of the live-action movies and the 1986 animated film, this is the most I’ve ever cared about Optimus Prime and Megatron in any of the Transformers movies because Optimus isn’t the badass hero and Megatron isn’t the vengeful, power-hungry bad guy yet, they’re just two brothers and friends trying to save their planet and their dynamic reminded me an awful lot of Charles Xavier and Magneto’s relationship in X-Men: First Class at various points in the film. 

            A lot of the impact of their origins comes from Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry’s vocal performances (Yes, you read that correctly!). Peter Cullen and Frank Welker will always be definitive Optimus Prime and Megatron voices, but I don’t think they’d fit with the tone of this movie and how the Transformers are characterized here. 

            Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax as very mischievous and troublesome while Brian Tyree Henry voices D-16 as essentially the straight man (or robot) to Orion’s shenanigans. Both are portrayed incredibly well and you buy their friendship which makes D-16’s inevitable “Transformation” into Megatron all the more tragic when he does go bad. 

            Scarlett Johansson as Elita is fine though she just sounds like Scarlett Johansson and Keegan Michael-Key gets a few laughs as the childlike Bumblebee though the “Badassatron” bit gets old pretty quick. Speaking of which, I thought most the comedy was fine, it wasn’t knee-slapping hilarious but there are some good jokes here like in the beginning where Orion “Transforms” to escape security and a gag later when they’re recruiting robots to join the fight that made me laugh out loud. 

            The action is a lot of fun and not an overblown clusterf*ck like in the Michael Bay movies, definitely worth seeing on the big screen. It isn’t just robots punching and shooting each other for long stretches of time, this movie incorporates their transforming abilities into the action scenes and leads to some creative and genuinely exciting sequences. 

            Transformers One joins Bumblebee as one of the best Transformers films of all time and just a fun, animated take on a beloved property much like the Spider-Verse movies and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Hopefully this will continue to lead to more experimental film projects in the Transformers series and less Michael Bay explosion-fests with little substance because with this, Bumblebee, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, there really is more to this franchise than meets the eye (And now, I regret already using that to close my Rise of the Beasts review last year). 

Speak No Evil review

SPEAK NO EVIL: 

JAMES MCAVOY GOES BONKERS IN CHILLING HORROR REMAKE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

James McAvoy in Speak No Evil

 

            A couple (and their daughter) is invited to another couple’s country home only to discover it’s not as it seems in Speak No Evil, the latest horror film from Blumhouse. The film is directed by James Watkins (The Woman in Black) and is a remake of a 2022 Danish horror movie of the same name. 

            I should make this clear, I’ve never seen the original movie so I don’t know how faithful this American version is though I am curious to check it out someday. I’ll be judging this film on its own and truth be told, I wasn’t really that impressed by the trailers. 

            Not that it looked bad or anything, but it looked like every other Blumhouse horror movie to me and their 2024 releases weren’t exactly that spectacular (Night Swim, Imaginary, AfrAId). But I kept an open mind about it when the time came to discuss it and I have to say, as someone who has never seen the original, this is a solid and downright chilling horror movie that exceeded my expectations in just about every way. 

            The film follows Louise (Mackenzie Davis-The Martian, Blade Runner 2049, Tully) and Ben Dalton (Scoot McNairy-Art School Confidential, Argo, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), a couple from America who moved to London with their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) meeting and befriending free-spirited British couple, Paddy (James McAvoy-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, X-Men franchise, Split) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi-Game of Thrones, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Stopmotion) and their son who doesn’t speak named Ant (Dan Hough). Paddy and Ciara invite Louise, Ben, and Agnes to stay at their country home in the middle of nowhere for a weekend holiday but the vacation soon warps into a disturbing psychological nightmare. 

            Overall, Speak No Evil is a well-crafted, suspenseful, and decidedly slow descent into terror and chaos that doesn’t fall victim to typical Blumhouse clichés. That’s not to say Blumhouse movies are bad (I enjoyed a fair amount of them), but a lot of their works often rely heavily on jump scares which are more annoying and uninspired than scary. 

            This movie takes its time to build up its scares (as it’s a more psychological film rather than a straight-up “Boo!” fest) and for a good chunk of the runtime there is hardly anything frightening, but you just know something about this place and these people feel off. I know a slow burn is not everyone’s cup of tea (Especially if it’s a horror movie), but I thought it worked really well here and made the scares all the more effective than if it started right up with the scares. 

            Atmosphere aside, James McAvoy is what carries this film because he is phenomenal here and does a great flipflopping between being charming to deranged. It often reminded me of his performance as Kevin in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Glass in terms of how over-the-top and crazy he gets throughout the film which I gladly welcome as he makes it extremely entertaining whenever he’s onscreen (Which fortunately is a lot). 

            Probably the most polarizing aspect of the movie is the couple themselves because they are constantly making the wrong decisions in these types of situations and that the audience is much smarter than them. Why is this couple vacationing at these peoples’ remote farmhouse that they just met and why are they giving them their home address among other pieces of information? Dumb decisions galore! 

This will either be a turnoff point for you or you’ll accept it as part of the film’s intention as a cautionary tale about how we can find ourselves in dire situations because of our kindness and I’m positive this also plays a huge factor in the original Danish movie. It honestly also made me think back to Disney’s Frozen and how that movie made a huge deal about marrying someone you just met that day which also led to one of the protagonists getting stuck in a dire situation because of it, it just goes to show you don’t marry someone you just met and you certainly don’t vacation at a remote place with people you just met. 

The moment when the family discovers what’s really going on and they try to leave without being impolite are easily the most tense and spine-tingling bits of the film. They just leave you on the edge of your seat questioning how these scenes are going to play out and what will happen when the other couple catches on to what they’re trying to do, you’re constantly on edge during this film and I love it because of that. 

Without going into spoilers, I found the first two acts to be the strongest parts of the film and while I was still invested in the last act, there wasn’t really much surprise anymore. It just turns into another escape from the creepy house and people climax that’s done well, but I’ve seen it before in many other movies.

I had a blast with Speak No Evil and will gladly hail it as Blumhouse’s best horror movie of 2024 (Which I know isn’t saying much, but this feels like a return to form for them after a string of misfires this year). It’s a creepy and thought-provoking psychological horror film about what can happen when we’re too kind and how our kindness can put us in dire situations if we’re not careful which is honestly more terrifying than anything supernatural. 

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