ALEXXANDAR MOVIE REVIEWS: Next ‘It’ has it

Published 3:00 pm Monday, September 23, 2019

“It Chapter Two” (Horror/Fantasy: 2 hours, 39 minutes)

Starring: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Isaiah Mustafa, Bill Skarsgård and Bill Hader

Director: Andy Muschietti

Rated: R (Violence, mature themes, profanity, brief nudity and gore)

Movie Review: “It Chapter Two” and its prequel “It” are both from the mind of novelist Stephen King, and both movies directed by Andy Muschietti. 

The movies tie into each other skillfully. While longer than necessary, Muschietti and the screenplay writer create a dramatic horror adventure that entertains.

Evil shape-shifting clown Pennywise (Skarsgård) returns 27 years later after having been defeated by the child members of the Losers Club. Now adults, members of the club, led by Mike Hanlon (Mustafa), return to Derry, Maine. The gang returns for a final battle with Pennywise, who is more powerful.

An opening scene for this horror is unneeded. The reintroduction of Pennywise could be swift and more potent without the very brutal hate crime that initiates this horror. “It Chapter Two” is packed with a surplus of ostentatiousness moments. They extend a lengthy runtime retelling the adult characters’ childhoods.

That aside, “Chapter Two” does provide nice acting, grand visuals and an adventurous fantasy. A larger cast, especially James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Skarsgård and some child actors, provide nice performances. Each character has their moment in a manner that adds to the story. The lengthy narrative gives one a chance to know each persona.

The characters embark on a journey to defeat an enemy. Their mission is an adventure, and it comes along with frights and nice visual effects. These facets create entertaining moments for audiences.

Grade: B (A good next chapter)

“Hustlers” (Drama/Crime: 1 hour, 50 minutes)

Starring: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles and Keke Palmer

Director: Lorene Scafaria

Rated: R (Profanity, sexuality, nudity, mature themes and drug content.)

Movie Review: Inspired by Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article, “Hustlers” is a savvy movie about the ins and outs of exotic dancing. It is a cunning movie about the exploitation of men by women who are objectified by their bodies. The women get their revenge and audiences get a welcome treat.

Ramona (Lopez) and Destiny (Wu) lead a crew of savvy former strip club employees. The women use their attractive appearances and seductive charms to embezzle money from their Wall Street clients. The gig is good for a while, but the women become just as greedy as the financial investors they swindle. Their overindulgences lead to their downfall. 

Director-writer Lorene Scafaria (“Seeking a Friend for the End of the World,” 2012) crafts an interesting movie for those searching for a crime movie with strong women. Lopez and Wu offer nice turns, leading this female-dominated cast.

Some elements of the movie are iffy, especially the insertion of Julia Stiles’ role. Additionally, some weak acting moments by supporting cast members exist. However, the movie’s two lead actresses are worthy of accolades with their portrayals.

Wu (“Crazy Rich Asians,” 2018) is the movie’s talented lead. However, Lopez brilliantly steals scenes often as a supporting lead. The actresses play their roles well, but Lopez has an advantage. Lopez’s Ramona is a very colorful woman and Lopez plays her part with zeal; she outshines her colleagues. 

“Hustlers” is based on real people. The movie offers serendipitous revenge for women objectified by men. The men think they are using the women in this movie, but it is the women who are really achieving their goal. This makes an amusing screenplay.

Grade: B (They work hard for your money.)

“The Goldfinch” (Drama: 2 hours, 29 minutes)

Starring: Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Finn Wolfhard, Nicole Kidman and Jeffrey Wright

Director: John Crowley

Rated: R (Profanity, violence and drug content)

Movie Review: “The Goldfinch” is one of those movies being compared to its source, an adaptation of Donna Tartt’s bestseller of the same title. The book won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Numerous people who have read the book note the movie is not as potent as the book. That is an unfair assessment of the movie. 

This movie is about the span of a young adult’s life. The movie is a Cliff Note of the book and only has a limited time to capture moments of a life. Where the movie should be attacked is its non-linear chronology by the director John Crowley (“Brooklyn,” 2015). It starts as an excellent coming-of-age drama but quickly rushes through a less than reliable ending.

Theodore Decker (Oakes Fegley) is 13 years old when his mother was killed in a terrorist attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Decker is forever changed by the tragedy and his life goes on a downward spiral from his teen years to adulthood (the adult Decker played by Ansel Elgort). 

Sorrow and remorse become angst that leads the young man to drugs. Decker can only hang on to a painting from the museum titled “The Goldfinch.” 

Elgort and Fegley play the leads in this remarkably well-acted drama. Each man portrays their respective adult and teen roles well. Elgort always plays his characters keenly. He has a finesse for making his personas tangible. 

Fegley plays the young Decker with a solemn refined manner that easily garners sympathy for a young man who just tragically lost his mother. The two men are part of a large talented cast.

Nicole Kidman and Jeffrey Wright are always dependable actors. Kidman is as charming and beautiful as she is talented. Wright provides a certain grandfatherly charm that works well opposite of Elgort and Fegley. As supporting cast members, they still provide nice turns as caring mentors and parental figures.

Several others also provide solid performances. Finn Wolfhard of television’s “Stranger Things,” Sarah Paulson and Luke Wilson as Decker’s abusive father. They offer insight into Decker.

The movie is beautifully shot. The cinematography and set designs fit the actors’ moments. Each scene offers further insight into the mind of Decker as a teen and adult. The acting and the movie have Oscar written all over them.

That Academy Award perception is ruined by director John Crowley and writer Peter Straughan’s jittery time displacements. The movie could not decide whether it wants to focus on Decker’s teenage years or his adult years. The process has the movie’s two time periods competing. Instead, Crowley should have just told the movie in chronological order. That is this narrative’s downfall. It is told in an irritating manner, robbing the movie of its otherwise fine performances and good technical attributes.

Grade: B- (A good painting obscured by temporal mechanics.)

“Brittany Runs a Marathon” (Comedy/Romance: 1 hour, 44 minutes)

Starring: Jillian Bell, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Lil Rel Howery

Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo

Rated: R (Profanity and sexuality)

Movie Review: Mainly a television star, Jillian Bell, offers audiences a comedy with romantic drama overtones. Bell offers viewers a moment to be amused at her character’s trials while training to participate in a marathon. 

Some stereotypical moments exist in this movie that has a rough starting pace, but “Brittany Runs a Marathon” crosses the finish line in good condition.

Brittany Forgler is a young woman who realizes she is out of shape when she decides to train for the New York City Marathon. At 27 and overweight, Forgler realizes she needs to change her life. She becomes health conscious and also wakes up about certain people in her life. 

Enter, Jillian Bell. She stars as the lead. She is mainly a television actress. However, Bell is the star here. She more than earns her keep. She makes her character funny and inspirational simultaneously, fine played mixture.

“Brittany Runs a Marathon” is about self-discovery. It is a dramedy of sorts, an amusing movie that is not really a comedy. It is a movie about the determination to complete a goal with some humor added. When the humor settles, this is a sports movie with serious scenes but with an actress meant to inspire bits of drollery.

The humor is self-inflicted and intentional by Bell and the producers of this movie. The result is a movie that has one cheering for Bell and her triumphs over moments of self-pity and those who ridicule her appearance.

In his directorial debut, Paul Downs Colaizzo gives audiences a reason to like Brittany Forgler, but it takes some time. This occurs because Colaizzo waffles on how much of a comedy he wants this to be. He applies some unneeded humor during beginning scenes because a movie about a woman where her weight is part of the story requires a certain subtlety.

Such a finesse of this story is unneeded because Brittany’s story is one about a character finding her own happiness succeeding at a goal. Therefore, audiences need to see her at what Forgler thinks is her worst before viewers see her at her best. Colaizzo gets to this, but it takes a moment for his screenplay to hit its stride.

Grade: B- (She ultimately runs a good race.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar lives and works in Valdosta.