Movie Review What Happens Later

What Happens Later (2023) 

Directed by Meg Ryan 

Written by Meg Ryan, Steven Dietz, Kirk Lynn

Starring Meg Ryan, David Duchovny 

Release Date November 3rd, 2023 

Published November 6th, 2023 

What Happens Later stars Meg Ryan as Willa and David Duchovny as William or Bill, depending on how well you know him. Some of the time he's known as W. Davis and, by coincidence, Willa's last name is also Davis. Hence they are both W. Davis. This is something that the movie finds adorable though it didn't mean much to me. Regardless, both W. Davis' are in a Midwest airport in the midst of a massive weather event and they are going to be stuck here overnight as the airport shuts down and somehow leaves only them behind. 

That both W. Davis and W. Davis happen to be ex-lovers with a lengthy and notable romantic history from their early 20s in Madison, Wisconsin, is another thing all together. When we meet these adorable travelers each is trying to avoid seeing the other. They recognize each other at different points and each tries to hide from the other without success. When they do connect they will spend the rest of the day connected, bickering back and forth about their past, their present and their future destinations. They will spend the next 24 hours going over their past and revealing things about themselves and how two people can share the same experience and still see what happened entirely different. 

Willa is on her way to Boston from her home in Austin, Texas. On the other hand, Bill is on his way to Austin from his home in Boston. Weird and cute right? Willa claims that she's going to Boston to visit an old friend and perform a cleansing ceremony for her but that's a lie that will be revealed later. Bill is heading to Austin for a meeting with his millennial boss who he cannot understand because the millennial speaks about safe spaces and doesn't like saying no. It's the kind of boomer reductive idea of millennials that has been tired for quite a long time. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review: You People

You People (2023) 

Directed by Kenya Barris 

Written by Jonah Hill, Kenya Barris

Starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Lauren London, Nia Long, David Duchovny 

Release Date January 27th, 2023 

Published January 28th, 2023 

You People is an insufferable bore featuring caricatures of white and black people who talk as if they were programmed by Boomer Facebook memes. Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill are supposed to be better than that but by the evidence of You People, they've taken the lowest hanging fruit of awkward racial humor and blended it all together and reheated it over and over and over again and then called it a movie. The characters may have a point to make about the ways white and black people fail to communicate effectively with each other but it's hard to find that point in the midst of noisy, insufferable characters intended only to inflict themselves on each other rather than talk like human beings.  

You People stars Jonah Hill as Ezra Cohen and Lauren London as Amira Mohammad. These two 30-something kids meet-cute when Ezra mistakes Amira for his Uber Driver. She happens to be lost on her way to a new job and he's able to navigate her there. Along the way, he gets her phone number and the two start a sweet romance. He works in finance but dreams of being a podcaster and she's costume designer working on various different movie and television projects. They have terrific chemistry. Only one thing stands in there way, a terrible script, no wait, I mean their parents. 

Julia Louis Dreyfuss and David Duchovny are Shelly and Arnold Cohen and Eddie Murphy and Nia Long are Akbar and Fatima Mohammad. If you haven't guessed, the Cohen's are Jewish and the Mohammad's are Muslim, how will they ever get along? Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Sarcasm. Surprise, they don't get along and when Ezra decides to ask Amira to marry him things only get worse as Shelly stumbles into ruining their relationship over her woke enthusiasm, and Akbar actively works to undermine the relationship by catching Ezra doing something wrong, whatever that might be. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media linked here 

Movie Review: X-Files I Want to Believe

X-Files I want to Believe (2009) 

Directed by Chris Carter 

Written by Frank Spotnitz 

Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Peet, Billy Connelly, Xzibit

Release Date July 25th, 2009 

Published July 24th, 2009 

As a casual fan of The X-Files tv series I can't claim any unique insight into the inner workings of Mulder and Scully or understanding of thei ongoing plight. I can tell you that when you see them in the new suspense X-Files: I Want To Believe that long time fans will be geeking out over activities that might seem commonplace to the average moviegoer.

Do not fret non-X-Philes, you won't be completely left out of the fun, as you may have been by the dense, TV plot heavy, Fight The Future. X-Files: I Want To Believe is a stand alone mystery that welcomes lovers of suspense, X-phile or non.

When last we saw Fox Mulder he was drummed out of the FBI and possibly a wanted man. He's gone off the grid and only his partner Dana Scully knows how to find him. Thus why a pair of FBI agents (Amanda Peet and Xzibit) accost Scully as she deals with a very sick boy in her new life as a surgeon. She wonders if they are looking to arrest him, but they have something completely different in mind.

A young, female FBI agent has gone missing and the only clues to her disappearance are being provided by a priest (Billy Connelly) who claims psychic abiliity. After the priest lead them to a severed arm buried in the snow, thankfully not belonging to the missing agent, they begin to take seriously his psychic abilities. Of course when dealing with a psychic you need an agent who understands such things.

Enter Fox Mulder. All will be forgiven, he can rejoin the FBI if he is willing to help locate the missing agent. Among the drawbacks? The priest is a convicted pedophile who, psychic visions aside, remains a suspect in the case. Add to that Scully's unwillingness to return with him, mostly because of the creepy pedophile, and you have quite a dilemma for Mulder.

Well, if you guessed that Mulder followed Scully's lead out the door and back into seclusion you are sorely mistaken. Joining the fray he engages and quickly comes to believe the priest. When another young woman goes missing things grow even more urgent and even more disturbing.

Unlike the dense alien stoked malaise of the first X-Files feature, Fight The Future, X-Files: I Want To Believe was directed by show creator Chris Carter with an eye toward reintroducing the brand and inviting new fans. Thus we get a stand alone mystery that leaves out much of the sticky conspiracy that was the propulsive element of the show.

Having to generate energy for a stand alone mystery is not much of a challenge for Carter, some of the series best episodes were stand alone mysteries about lone psychos, alien abductions and psychic events. The central mystery of  I Want To Believe is fully contained in the films just over 100 minute runtime and aside from some of the more grizzly elements, could have made a solid two episode arc on the old TV show.

Carter's direction is seasoned and professional with just a hint of the artist behind the craftsman. A nod to, of all people, Godard, in one scene will be missed by most but is a striking image. And don't think that Carter has left behind his love of plot thickness. Watch the way he weaves Scully's new medical career into the central plot. On the surface it seems contrived but on further thought it goes deeper than you think.

The allure of The X-Files remains squarely in the chemistry of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Returning to these roles after five years apart, they slip comfortably back into their old married couple dynamic with Mulder as the bumbling husband and Scully the loving but correcting wife. As he blunders forth with the psychic she stands behind him clucking her tongue and finding flaw.

The mystery and the supernatural elements of the X-Filles makes it much more fun and slightly more complex than it sounds. Still, the Mulder-Scully connection should be familiar to anyone familiar with the conventions of your average will they or won't they dynamic from Ross and Rachel on Friends to Harry and Sally from Rob Reiner's classic. The difference being aliens, psychics, and a body count, but even the uninitiated will get the vibe.

That's the twist, iconic romance with with a sci fi bent. You don't need to be in the fan cult to have fun with that. The 'romance' is not central or essential to the plot of I Want To Believe but it's a lot of fun and Duchovny and Anderson have been having fun with it for years, teasing fans with a kiss here, a look there.

The humor of the will they/won't they was a welcome respite from the dense conspiracy of the series and just the kind of kick the show needed to become part of pop culture beyond the alien loving set. Now in I Want To Believe it has become the default setting, a place for the story to go when things are getting a little too grim for the non-fans.

Oh, don't be mistaken, fans will find a lot to love about this as well, for some the 'romance' is why they became fans.

X-Files: I Want To Believe is filled with suspense, viscera and a hint of romantic comedy. It's fun for fans and non-fans alike. The sci-fi suspense should be appealing to any audience and the easy breezy chemistry of Mulder and Scully only makes things more appealing. Yes, the plot has some convenient moments but what works about X-Files: I Want To Believe is far more entertaining than the flaws are irritating or nagging.

Movie Review: Things We Lost in the Fire

Things We Lost in the Fire (2007) 

Directed by Susanne Bier 

Written by Allen Loeb 

Starring Halle Berry, Benicio Del Toro, David Duchovny, Omar Benson Miller, Allison Lohman

Release Date October 19th. 2007 

Published November 5th, 2007 

The Oscar curse is over for Halle Berry. After subjecting herself and us to the horrors of mainstream flotsam like Catwoman, Perfect Stranger and Gothika, following her well deserved Oscar for Monster's Ball, Halle Berry is back in stride in Things We Lost In The Fire. This difficult drama, co-starring Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro, brings Halle Berry back from the brink with a character every bit as memorable and deeply affecting as her Monster's Ball award winner.

Steven Burke (David Duchovny) was loved by his family and loyal to his friends. He was the kind of guy who would go out of his way for you, friend or stranger. When he died, he left a hole that would be impossible to fill. Steven's death is the dramatic drive of Things We Lost In The Fire which stars Halle Berry as Steven's wife Audrey and Benicio Del Toro as his troubled best friend Jerry.

Playing out in flashbacks and flash forwards we see Steven as the Mr. nice guy that he was, we see his funeral and its aftermath. The style sounds distracting but under the skilled eye of director Suzanne Bier we are never lost or confused. Bier uses this style to great advantage, setting up dramatic points and paying them off with powerful, cathartic moments.

Benicio Del Toro's Jerry is a heroin addict and yet Steven remained his friend. Taking time week after week to drop in on Jerry, Steven is saint-like in devotion to his old friend. When he dies, Jerry is the last to know and his arrival at the funeral in his rumpled over sized suit and dark circled eyes, is greeted with great discomfort.

Despite her obvious discomfort, Audrey is driven to take up her husband's cause and check in on Jerry. When she see's him honestly attempting to get sober; she does what she thinks Steven would have done and invites him to stay in their garage, easily converted to a small apartment. The conceit sounds strained, she has two kids and brings a virtual stranger and drug addict to live in her home? It's a stretch but Berry and Del Toro make us believe it.

Suzanne Bier is from Germany and she brings a distinctly European conceit to Things We Lost In The Fire. Focusing on her actors to tell the story, rather than employing an arching narrative, Bier gets inside these characters through the eyes of her actors. Tight close ups, right on the eyes truly give us a sense of these characters' pained souls.

Things We Lost In The Fire can be oppressively sad at times. This is a very downcast film. It's about loss and pain and heartache. On the other hand it's also about remembrance, recovery and catharsis. Allison Lohman plays Kelly in the film, a member of Jerry's narcotics anonymous group and she has a moment in Things We Lost In The Fire that is beautifully bold and probing. It's about remembering, it's about forgiveness and it leads to more powerful moments of catharsis.

John Carroll Lynch, so good in David Fincher's Zodiac earlier this year, is a real scene stealer as Steven and Audrey's neighbor, Howard, who adopts Jerry as his new best friend. Desperately unhappily married  Howard is kind of pathetic but in a cheery sort of way. He first meets Jerry at Steven's funeral and after Jerry moves into the garage, Howard insinuates himself into Jerry's daily life, eventually offering to help him get a job.

Like the tremendous star turns of Del Toro and Berry, these supporting turns are nearly flawless in their execution and in the way that director Suzanne Bier reveals them.

Things We Lost In The Fire has a few minor issues. The structure can be a little jarring and there is one scene, late in the film, between Del Toro and Berry involving her asking him about drugs, that is truly wrongheaded, nevertheless this is an exceptional film. The acting is phenomenal. The direction is of near perfect pitch and though it is admittedly grim in tone, the cathartic moments more than make up for the sadness.

Hey, sometimes a good cry isn't such a bad thing.

Movie Review Full Frontal

Full Frontal (2002) 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh 

Written by Steven Soderbergh 

Starring David Duchovny, Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, Nicky Katt, Catherine Keener

Release Date August 2nd, 2002 

Published August 1st, 2002 

Whenever a director tries to do something that is stylistically or thematically different from the Hollywood norm, he or she is to be commended. Even when that effort is a failure. Movies as varied as Hal Hartley’s monster fantasy No Such Thing and Todd Solondz’s multilayered Storytelling are examples of filmmakers on the edge and falling over. Director Steven Soderbergh, much like his indie brethren, made his movie Full Frontal with great ambition. Unfortunately for all the style, there is no substance.

A film about the interconnected lives of Los Angelinos in various levels of the entertainment industry, Full Frontal stars Julia Roberts because hers is the biggest name in the credits. In reality it’s supposed to be an ensemble, but I dare anyone to watch it without thinking of what Julia’s character is doing when she’s not on screen.

Blair Underwood, best known for TV’s "L.A. Law," plays an actor in a movie in which he plays an actor. Roberts is Underwood’s co-star in the movie. Underwood’s struggling actor is carrying on an affair with the wife of one of his writing partners. Catherine Keener is the wife and David Hyde Pierce the partner.

Underwood’s other partner is played by Enrico Colantoni. His character is also an actor and director, currently working on a play called The Sound and The Fuhrer. The play is a modernist take on Hitler, imagine Hitler as played hysterically by Nicky Katt, as a self involved artist who breaks up with Eva Braun because he has too much stress at work and doesn’t have time to give her proper facetime. Hitler needs his space. Katt gives the film's funniest performance in the film's least necessary subplot.

Actually there would have to be a plot for there to be a subplot. Steven Soderbergh created Full Frontal as an exercise in style and acting virtuosity. Unfortunately he forgot to give the actors a plot to focus their seemingly improvised dialogue. Occasionally the improv works for some laughs but more often it’s almost scatological, actors with no focal point simply pontificating until they can find an interesting insight or humorous observation, each of which are few and far between.

Full Frontal has the feel of an unedited film school project, with an experimental director instructing self involved actors to be more self conscious. It might make for an interesting exercise but not a very entertaining movie.