I wanted to be a little more ambitious this weekend since it’s technically a holiday, but yours truly unfortunately had to work (seems hypocritical, no?). I did the best I could, but being tired also won over, too.
The Toxic Avenger – I had heard about this film once in passing a little while ago not realizig it had its festival run back in 2023. Apparently it couldn’t find a distributor due to its “graphic nature.” I don’t know if distributors have never seen more graphic movies, but I sure have. Maybe it has to do with the fact that “avegner” is in its name and it’s kind of about superheroes. Well, it’s at least about good verses evil. Winston is a janitor for a nasty company that’s pumped so much pollution into this town’s water that it basically mutates anything that comes into contact with it. He finds out that he’s dying, so instead of the company’s CEO helping him out, instead he gets busted for robbing the place and thrown into the polluted water to die. Jokes on them because even though Winston comes out a mutated mess, he also gets the chance to save a lot of people from these bad guys. The kills are actually kind of funny, and Kevin Bacon as the bad guy is top tier casting. In fact, the whole cast is pretty fantastic, so I am glad that this film was able to see the light of day. Admittedly, this is one of the strangest films I may have ever seen, but it was still a good time.
The Roses – Having no clue what the novel or original film was like, I can only judge this film based on what I saw. Which was in a word, caustic. Theo is an architect and Ivy is a chef, and together they live a pretty idyllic and happy life. At least for a little while. Theo is thriving in his career and offers to let Ivy build and run a little restaurant by the sea. But one poorly designed museum later puts Theo out of work and caring for their kids instead while Ivy’s dishes soar in critics’ circles. She’s got multiple restaurants running and Theo can’t help but be bitter about it. I guess Ivy’s biggest flaw is she’s bad at apologizing, but a lot of what Theo throws out there is truly mean. They keep hanging on because there are still signs of their old love there, but when things finally seem like they can’t be mended, well, each of them really go for the juggular. Upon reflection, this movie was kind of a bummer.
Eric Larue – This debut feature film from Michael Shannon first launched at Tribeca a few years ago, but unfortunately not a part of their virtual lineup at the time. That means I held out until it was a reasonable price to rent to finally see it. Admittedly, the whole time I’m watching this I’m thinking that Mass did it better, but then I did some research. This film was apparently based on a play from 2002 of the same name. Much earlier than a lot of other films dealing with school shootings that are sadly more and more common by the day. This time around, the film is focused on the parents of the shooter and their grief of how to deal with what happened, but also grappling with how to move forward. The film centers more around Janice, who seems to want to find solice in her faith but is finding it hard to just accept what pastors have been spewing since forever. For me, the most engrossing scene comes at the end when finally, after a year, Janice goes to visit her son in prison. I won’t spoil any of that interaction, but I understand that this film isn’t for everyone. Personally, I think I would have rather seen this as a play.