Movie Review He Went That Way

He Went That Way (2024) 

Directed by Jeffrey Darling 

Written by Evan M. Weiner

Starring Jacob Elordi, Zachary Quinto, Chimpanzee 

Release Date January 5th, 2023 

Published January 7th, 2023 

He Went That Way is a deeply misguided movie. Despite a unique true story basis, the movie cannot figure out what it wants to be. Is it a thriller? Is it a road movie? Is it a thrilling road movie? It's deeply unclear and wildly strange but not in a very interesting way. The film stars of the moment star Jacob Elordi as a serial murderer and Zachary Quinto as the trainer of a world-famous chimpanzee named Spanky. No, I didn't make that up, that's the actual character dynamic. A road movie featuring a serial murderer, an animal trainer, and a chimpanzee. Ugh!

Jim Goodwin (Quinto) is slowly losing everything. His marriage is struggling, he and his chimpanzee, Spanky, have lost their television show, and now he's on the road and possibly having to beg someone who owes him money to finally pay him. With his vehicle breaking down, Jim stops at a gas station. There, he meets Bobby Falls (Jacob Elordi), a drifter thumbing a ride on Route 66. Jim offers to take him as far as Chicago, Jim's destination, and they hit the road. 

On their first stop, a roadside motel, Bobby reveals that he's carrying a gun. He threatens Jim, steals his wallet and ring, and demands that Jim take him to Michigan where Bobby claims he has a girl waiting for him. In flashbacks following this scene, we see flashes of some of the murders Bobby has committed. He's murdered several people since coming back from, what we assume is Vietnam, though the movie isn't clear about this idea. The film actually opens with Bobby dumping a dead body out of a car, unrelated to anything to do with Jim and Spanky. 

And from there, Jim spends several days trying to convince Bobby not to kill him and, perhaps return his wallet and pinky ring. Jim also has the tricky task of keeping Bobby from killing the people that they meet along their way, including a pair of teenage girls that Jim picks up for them by introducing them to Spanky the Chimp. This could work, I guess, as a story, if it were played as wildly absurd but Quinto and Elordi play these scenes completely straight and the direction is basic and adds nothing stylistically to underline how bizarre this story is. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Saltburn

Saltburn (2023) 

Directed by Emerald Fennell 

Written by Emerald Fennell 

Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe 

Release Date November 17th, 2023 

Published November 27th, 2023 

Saltburn stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, an outcast at Cambridge University. Oliver is a scholarship kid from a middle-class family. He's a little awkward, a little shy, and doesn't make friends easily. When he meets Felix Carlton it's quite clear that Oliver sees Felix in a more than friendly fashion. He's practically falling all over himself to catch a glimpse of Felix and that makes sense, Felix is a young God. As captured by director Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi's Felix is among the most attractive human beings on the planet. 

Felix will also prove to be incredibly kind as when Oliver offers to help him with a broken bike wheel, Felix adopts the outcast as a friend and brings him into his popular Cambridge friend group. When Oliver proves to be a loyal and devoted friend, Felix returns the favor by inviting him to parties and introducing him to others. Eventually, when the holidays arrive and Oliver has nowhere to go home to, Felix invites him to Saltburn, the name of Felix's family property, a sprawling mansion in the English countryside. 

Oliver even gets the bedroom next door to Felix, connected by a shared bathroom. It's more than Oliver could dream of, though Felix seems unaware that Oliver has feelings for him that go beyond friendship. One person who does appear to be on to Oliver's romantic obsession is Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), Felix's best friend and a close friend of the Carlton family. Farleigh delights in needling Oliver, even as Archie seems to be holding more than friendly feelings as well. At the very least, both young men exhibit a fluid sexuality. 

Slowly but surely, Oliver weasels his way into the good graces of the Carlton family, removing obstacles like Farleigh, and earning the trust of Felix's parents, Lady Elspeth Carlton (Rosamund Pike) and Sir James Carlton (Richard E. Grant). If you haven't caught on that this is all part of a master plan hatched by Felix to break into a rich family, then you aren't paying very close attention. For all of Oliver's awkwardness and creepiness, he's not the wilting violet that he would lead you to believe. as Saltburn careens toward its unexpected ending, Oliver's duplicitousness comes to the fore in nasty, bitter fashion. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Priscilla

Priscilla (2023) 

Directed by Sofia Coppola 

Written by Sofia Coppola 

Starring Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

Release Date 11-03-2023 

Published 11-04-2023 

Sofia Coppola is one of the best directors on the planet. She has a distinctive style, a mastery of tone, and the patience required to tell stories in a way only she can. A Sofia Coppola movie will not be mistaken for another director. Coppola's style is hypnotic and gorgeous. Her patient approach to allowing her characters to reveal themselves via action rather than clumsy dialogue is almost unmatched. There is no bombast, no major theatrics, and a distinct lack of commerciality. It's a kind of direction that simply speaks to me and how I enjoy experiencing a movie. 

Priscilla is a unique challenge for Sofia Coppola. She's used to being the complete master of her narrative. Here however, she has a template, a kind of history that requires a fealty to the memory of generations. The life of Elvis Presley is among the most well-known and documented in human history, matched only perhaps, by the life of Marilyn Monroe. People have particular expectations of a movie that is going to depict even a fraction of that life. Priscilla, obviously, isn't about Elvis but by his design, her life is defined in many ways by him. 

We are entirely in Priscilla's space in Priscilla but because Elvis was a controlling man, a man unaware that he is an abuser, few abusers see themselves as they are, Priscilla has no life that isn't defined by his wants, his desires, and his schedule. And that's the hallmark of this story. As much as Priscilla Presley doesn't want to demonize her ex-husband and the father of her child, his actions speak for themselves in how he isolated a young woman from her support system and used emotional and financial abuse tactics to keep Priscilla under control. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media